American Splendor (2003)

Harvey Pekar: Real Harvey

Photos 

Quotes 

• Real Harvey : I felt more alone that week than any. Sometimes I'd feel a body lying next to me like an amputee feels a phantom limb. All I did was think about Jennie Gerhardt and Alice Quinn and all the decades of people I had known. The more I thought, the more I felt like crying. Life seemed so sweet and so sad, and so hard to let go of in the end. But hey, man, every day is a brand new deal, right? Just keep on working and something's bound to turn up.

• Real Harvey : [introducing on-screen character]  Here's our man. Yeah, all right. Here's me. Well, the guy playin' me anyway. Even though he don't look nothin' like me. But, whatever.

• Real Harvey : If you think reading comics about your life seems strange, try watching a play about it. God only knows how I'll feel when I see this movie.

• Real Harvey : I started record collecting when I was 15 or 16 years old. I started getting interested in jazz. Prior to that I had collected comic books. I was always a collector. I admit to having an obsessive compulsive quality in me. It's like "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" or something. You know, you go to thrift shops and you go to garage sales because you think you're going to find something that's, you know, real rare. And most of the time, it's a total waste of time. But, once in awhile, you'll, you'll come up with something and it will wet your appetite.

• Real Harvey : [the real Harvey Pekar introduces his on-screen character]  OK. This guy here, he's our man, all grown up and going nowhere. Although he's a pretty scholarly cat, he never got much of a formal education. For the most part, he's lived in shit neighborhoods, held shit jobs, and he's now knee-deep into a disastrous second marriage. So, if you're the kind of person looking for romance or escapism or some fantasy figure to save the day... guess what? You've got the wrong movie.

• Real Toby : [looking at jellybeans on a tray]  I think one might be lime. One might be like mint.

  Real Harvey : Well, what's the difference between this and this?

  Real Toby : One's cherry, one's cinnamon.

  Real Harvey : You can tell that by just looking at them?

  Real Toby : Not me. I have to put it in my mouth first.

• Real Toby : So, how do you cope with loneliness, Harvey?

  Real Harvey : Uh, did I say I watch television?

  Real Toby : Yeah. You mentioned you watch TV, you listen to your jazz records, you read, you write. You do your stick figures so you could plan for your next comic book.

  Real Harvey : Yeah.

  Real Toby : 'Cause I've seen many of your stick figures and that seems to be pretty interesting.

  Real Harvey : Yeah.

  Real Toby : [looks at a jellybean tray]  Mmm, chocolate jelly beans. I'm going to have to try one.

• Real Harvey : Sure, I'll lose the war eventually, but the goal is to win a few skirmishes along the way, right?

• Real Joyce : See, I thought I was marrying somebody with a sense of humor.

  Real Harvey : I guess I fooled you.

• Real Harvey : With a little luck, I'll get a window of good health between retirin' and dyin'. The "golden years", right?