Stinking badges explained

"Stinkin' badges" is a paraphrase of a line of dialogue from the 1948 film The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.^[1] That line was in turn derived from dialogue in the 1927 novel of the same name, which was the basis for the film.

In 2005, the full quote from the film was chosen as #36 on the American Film Institute list, AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes.^[2] The shorter, better-known version of the quote was first^[3] heard in the 1967 episode of the TV series The Monkees "It's a Nice Place to Visit". It was also included in the 1974 Mel Brooks film Blazing Saddles, and has since been included in many other films and television shows.

History

The original version of the line appeared in B. Traven's novel The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1927):

The line was popularized by John Huston's 1948 film adaptation of the novel, which was altered from its content in the novel to meet the Motion Picture Production Code regulations severely limiting profanity in film.^[4] In one scene, a Mexican bandit leader named "Gold Hat"^[5] (portrayed by Alfonso Bedoya) tries to convince Fred C. Dobbs (Humphrey Bogart)^[6] that he and his company are Federales:

Appearances in media

Comics

• In one issue of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Archie comics, the Malignoid drones Scul and Bean meet with the nihilistic industrian Null to discuss the contract between him and the Malignoid queen Maligna. When Null insists on consolidating the contract through his lawyers, either Scul or Bean yells out: "Lawyers?! We don't need no stinkin' lawyers!!"^[7]
• In the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series from Image Comics, Donatello paraphrases a variation of that sentence ("Plans?! I don't need no stinking plans!") whilst using his cyborg systems to restore a stripped-down aircar.^[8]

Games

• In the game (1993), the main protagonist has the line of dialogue, "Badges? Ve don' need no steenkin' badges!" to Cavaricchi, the aerobics instructor.^[9]

Literature

• The Luis Valdez play I Don't Have to Show You No Stinkin' Badges (1987) draws its title from this quote, and makes a specific reference to Sierra Madre.^[10]
• In Eldest (2005), the second novel in Christopher Paolini's The Inheritance Cycle series, a cobbler named Loring eschews the use of barges as a means of human transportation, saying, "Barges? We don't want no stinking barges."^[11]
• In William S. Burroughs' report on the 1968 Democratic Convention for Esquire magazine, Burroughs has a cop demand to see the permit of the candidate's entourage. The response is: "Permits? We don't have any permits. We don't have to show you any stinking permits. You are talking suh to the future President of America."^[12]

Notes and References

1. Web site: Erickson . Hal . 2010 . Alfonso Bedoya Movies . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120315050117/http://www.blockbuster.com/browse/catalog/personDetails/4404 . 2012-03-15 . 2010-04-27 . Blockbuster.
2. Web site: 2010 . AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes . 2010-04-27 . USA Today.
3. Web site: Article . This Day in Quotes.
4. Web site: 2010 . Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The (1948) . 2010-04-21 . classicfilmguide.com.
5. Web site: Erickson . Hal . 2010 . The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110905131156/http://www.blockbuster.com/browse/catalog/movieDetails/35991 . 2011-09-05 . 2010-04-21 . Blockbuster.
6. Web site: 2010 . The Treasure of the Sierra Madre . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20061117075349/http://bogartfilms.warnerbros.com/hb.movie.totsm.html . 2006-11-17 . 2010-04-21 . Warner Bros..
7. "The Man Who Sold the World". Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures #19 (April 1991)
8. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Vol.3 #10 (Juli 1997, Image Comics)
9. Web site: The Leisure Suit Larry 6 Script .
10. Web site: OLMO . FRANK del . 20 February 1986 . Needled by 'Stinking Badges' . 12 January 2019 . LA Times.
11. Book: Paolini, Christopher . Eldest . Knopf Books for Young Readers . 2005 . 037582670X . 413.
12. Book: Penguin Portable Sixties Reader . 2003 . Ann Charters.