How we cite our quotes: All quotations are from Marty.
Quote #1
ANGIE: My old lady, every word outta her mouth: "When you gonna get married?"
Sometimes "old lady" means mom, and sometimes it means wife. We'll just leave that right here.
Quote #2
VIRGINIA: I don't have ten minutes privacy with my husband! We can't even have a fight! We don't have no privacy! Everybody's miserable in our house!
Does a person need privacy in order to be happy?
Quote #3
TERESA: And my sister Catherine, she's my sister, but I got to admit, she's an old goat.
Weird that Catherine is a goat while Teresa is a human lady, but they're sisters, right?
Quote #4
VIRGINIA: We thought you'd put it like how you were lonely, and why don't she come to live with you. Because that way it looks like she's doing you a favor, instead of we're throwing her out, and it won't be so cruel on her.
Are there other instances in this flick where characters have to lie to each other in order to make others feel better?
Quote #5
CATHERINE: She's a witch, that one. I tell you what happen yesterday? [...] She gave me the evil eye.
The mother-in-law/daughter-in-law conflict is strong between Catherine and Virginia. What does it seem like is at the bottom of this strife?
Quote #6
MARTY: [...] that's what I used to say. "My mother needs me." But when you really get down to it, that ain't it at all. Actually, you need your father. [...] You're living at home, and you got your father and mother there, and you can go on like that—being a little girl all your life.
"Little girl all your life" is a minus to staying at your folks' house. Pluses? Well they include laundry, TV, and a stocked pantry.
Quote #7
VIRGINIA: Tommy, I love you, and I know you feel lousy right now, but we're never gonna be happy unless we have a chance to work out our own lives. We can't keep talking in whispers like this the rest of our lives.
Multi-generational families living under one roof were totally a thing back then. How or why do you think that's changed, at least in the states?
Quote #8
MARTY: Boy, beautiful day, hey, Thomas?
THOMAS: Sure, great if you ain't married.
What a comedian! Next he's going to say: "Take my wife. No really, take her!"
Quote #9
TOMMY: What do you want to buy a shop for, will you tell me? You gotta good job, you got no wife, you got no responsibilities. Boy, I wish I was you, boy.
Let's remember Marty has been pretty relentlessly lonely for years. Is Tommy really talking about Marty, here? Or is he telling his cuz the advice he himself wishes he'd taken way back when?