Stinking badges
Encyclopedia
"Badges? We don't need no stinkin' badges!" is a memorable and widely-quoted (or misquoted) line from cinematic history. In 2005, it was chosen as #36 on the American Film Institute
American Film Institute
The American Film Institute is an independent non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act...

 list, AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes. It is based on a line of dialog from a 1927 novel, first appeared in film 21 years later, and was further popularized in a parody 26 years after that.

Origin

The original version of the line appeared in B. Traven
B. Traven
B. Traven was the pen name of a German novelist, whose real name, nationality, date and place of birth and details of biography are all subject to dispute. A rare certainty is that B...

's 1927 novel The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre is a 1927 novel by the mysterious German-English bilingual author B. Traven, in which two penurious Americans of the 1920s join with an old-timer, in Mexico, to prospect for gold...

:
"All right," Curtin shouted back. "If you are the police, where are your badges? Let's see them."
"Badges, to god-damned hell with badges! We have no badges. In fact, we don't need badges. I don't have to show you any stinking badges, you god-damned cabrón and chinga tu madre! Come out from that shit-hole of yours. I have to speak to you."


The line was popularized by the 1948 film adaptation
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (film)
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre is a 1948 American film written and directed by John Huston, a feature film adaptation of B. Traven's 1927 novel of the same name, in which two Americans Fred C. Dobbs and Bob Curtin during the 1920s in Mexico join with an old-timer, Howard , to prospect for gold...

 of the novel. In one scene, a Mexican bandit leader named "Gold Hat" (portrayed by Alfonso Bedoya
Alfonso Bedoya
Alfonso Bedoya was a Mexican actor who frequently appeared in U.S. films.- Early life :Bedoya was born in Sonora. He had a nomadic childhood upbringing in Mexico, though he was educated in Houston, Texas.- Film career :...

) tries to convince Fred C. Dobbs (Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey Bogart
Humphrey DeForest Bogart was an American actor. He is widely regarded as a cultural icon.The American Film Institute ranked Bogart as the greatest male star in the history of American cinema....

) that he and his company are Federales
Federales
Federales is a short term for the Mexican Federal Police or any of its predecessors, including the Federal Investigations Agency or the Federal Preventive Police. The term gained widespread usage by English-speakers due to popularization in such films as The Wild Bunch, The Treasure of the Sierra...

:
Dobbs: "If you're the police where are your badge
Badge
A badge is a device or fashion accessory, often containing the insignia of an organization, which is presented or displayed to indicate some feat of service, a special accomplishment, a symbol of authority granted by taking an oath , a sign of legitimate employment or student status, or as a simple...

s?"
Gold Hat: "Badges? We ain't got no badges. We don't need no badges! I don't have to show you any stinkin' badges!"


Only the last sentence in this soliloquy is grammatically correct in standard English. The first two are slang, but by the end Gold Hat resorts to speaking standard English in order to communicate more effectively, thereby revealing that he is a (relatively) educated man, one reason he is the jefe of his gang. Emotion betrays character, and education is power.

In the TV show The Monkees
The Monkees (TV series)
The Monkees is an American situation comedy that aired on NBC from September 1966 to March 1968. The series follows the adventures of four young men trying to make a name for themselves as rock 'n roll singers. The show introduced a number of innovative new-wave film techniques to series...

episode 33 "A Nice Place To Visit" (1967), Micky Dolenz
Micky Dolenz
George Michael "Micky" Dolenz, Jr. is an American actor, musician, television director, radio personality and theater director, best known as a member of the 1960s made-for-television band The Monkees.-Biography:...

 further adapted this dialogue, phrasing the bandit's line as "Badges? We don't need no stinking badges".

In Mel Brooks
Mel Brooks
Mel Brooks is an American film director, screenwriter, composer, lyricist, comedian, actor and producer. He is best known as a creator of broad film farces and comic parodies. He began his career as a stand-up comic and as a writer for the early TV variety show Your Show of Shows...

' 1974 Western
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...

 parody film Blazing Saddles
Blazing Saddles
Blazing Saddles is a 1974 satirical Western comedy film directed by Mel Brooks. Starring Cleavon Little and Gene Wilder, the film was written by Brooks, Andrew Bergman, Richard Pryor, Norman Steinberg, and Al Uger, and was based on Bergman's story and draft. The movie was nominated for three...

, the line was delivered as "Badges? We don't need no stinking badges". This condensed version has become one of the most popular variations of the quotation. Many additional examples exist.

The 1985 film Gotcha!
Gotcha! (1985 film)
Gotcha! is a 1985 action film, starring Anthony Edwards and Linda Fiorentino. The movie is directed by Jeff Kanew, who also directed Anthony Edwards in Revenge of the Nerds in 1984....

likewise features the line as comic dialogue during a Mexican standoff
Mexican standoff
A Mexican standoff is a slang term defined as a stalemate or impasse; a confrontation that neither side can foreseeably win. The term is most often used in lieu of "stalemate" when the confrontational situation is exceptionally dangerous for all parties involved.In popular culture, the Mexican...

 between two CIA officers and a Mexican-American college student (Nick Corri), who is immediately backed up by a group of armed Mexican-American gang members.

In the 1989 Weird Al Yankovic film UHF
UHF (film)
UHF is a 1989 American comedy film starring "Weird Al" Yankovic, David Bowe, Fran Drescher, Victoria Jackson, Kevin McCarthy, Michael Richards, Gedde Watanabe, Billy Barty, Anthony Geary, Emo Philips and Trinidad Silva, in whose memory the film is dedicated.The title refers to Ultra High Frequency...

, the line occurs in a spoof of Raul's Wild Kingdom, during the scene where Raul (Trinidad Silva
Trinidad Silva
Trinidad Silva, Jr. was an American actor who played small supporting roles in a number of films of the 1980s. His television work includes the role of Jesus Martinez on the television series Hill Street Blues....

) receives his animal delivery. When he is asked to take a consignment of badgers, he says "Badgers? We don't need no stinking badgers!", which is itself a direct reference to the use of the line in Blazing Saddles.

External links

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