# Dreamgirls (film)

Dreamgirls is a 2006 film about a trio of black female soul singers who cross over to the pop charts in the early 1960s, facing their own personal struggles along the way.
    Directed and written by Bill Condon, adapted from the 1981 Broadway musical of the same name by Henry Krieger and Tom Eyen.

## Effie White

* [singing] And I am telling you I'm not going You're the best man I'll ever know There's no way I could ever go no, no, there's no way No, no, no, no way I'm living without you I'm stayin', I'm stayin' And you, and you...you're gonna love me.
* That's right Curtis. You stopped me once, but you'll never stop me again. [sings] 'Cause this time, Effie White's gonna win!

## Curtis Taylor, Jr.

* Deena, you know why I chose you to sing lead? Because your voice... has no personality. No depth. Except for what I put in there.

## Lorrell Robinson

* [singing] And Lorrell loves Jimmy Lorrell loves Jimmy Lorrell loves Jimmy, it's true But Lorrell and Jimmy are through

## The Dreams

* [singing] Ev'ry man has his own special dream And that dream is just about to come true Life's not as bad as it may seem If you open your eyes towards in front of you.
* [singing] We're your Dreamgirls, boy, we'll make you happy... Yeah! We're your Dreamgirls, boy, we'll always care We're your Dreamgirls, Dreamgirls will never leave you... No, no! And all you got to do is dream Baby, we'll be there.

## James "Thunder" Early

* Hey, I got soul! You can't kill a man with soul!
* I can't do it no more. I can't sing no more sad songs.
* Jimmy want a rib, Jimmy want a steak, Jimmy want a piece of your chocolate cake!

## Marty Madison

* [Referring to a club in Florida where Curtis has booked the Dreamettes] That place is so white they will not even hire us to wash dishes!
* Effie, it is time for you to perform. For the past four months I have been your food, your rent, your support network.

## Dialogue

    Effie White: Tell me something, Curtis. Do you think it's right to promote an amateur performer over a professional?
    Curtis Taylor Jr.: I'm not sure what this is about...
    Effie White: It's about fairness, Curtis. It's about people paying their dues. Isn't that what you keep telling me? "Get in line, Effie. Wait your turn". So why am I sitting here without so much as a B-side on a 45, when an amateur like Martin Luther King Jr. gets his own freaking album? I mean, can he even sing?
    M.C.: And now, the courageous, the curvaceous, Creamettes!
    Deena Jones: It's the Dreamettes! The Dreamettes!
    Curtis Taylor, Jr.: $500 says the Dreamettes do not win.
    [Contest judge takes money]
    Contest judge: Thanks a lot man, because they were going to lose anyway!
    Effie White: So... Deena's going to sing the lead 'cause you like the way she looks? Am I ugly to you, Curtis?
    Curtis Taylor Jr.: Baby, come on! You know how I feel about you, come on. Don't make it personal.
    Effie White: Well, what am I supposed to do? Deena's beautiful, and she's always been beautiful... but I've got the voice, Curtis! I've got the voice! You can't put me in back; you just can't!
    Mae Jones: I'm amazed, Mr, Taylor. As much as I love my daughter, I never thought she had much of a voice.
    Curtis Taylor, Jr.: Oh, Deena has something better. She has a... quality.
    Mae Jones: You make her sound like a product.
    Curtis Taylor, Jr.: "A product." I like that!
    Curtis Taylor Jr.: Who was the first artist to sing "Hound Dog"?
    C.C. White: Elvis Presley.
    Curtis Taylor Jr.: Big Mama Thorton. She had the number-one single on the R&B charts, but the white stations wouldn't play it, because to them it was just another race record.
    C.C. White: Isn't music supposed to express what people are feeling?
    Curtis Taylor Jr.: Music is supposed to sell.
    Effie White: [about Deena] She ain't better than anybody. She ain't nothin' but common!
    Deena Jones: Now who you callin' common, you self-indulgent, self-absorbed, non-professional?
    Effie White: You! I'm callin' you! I'm callin' you the common piece he's knockin' off!
    Deena Jones: Now you listen to me, Miss Blame-It-On-The-World, see, I put up with you for much too long. I have put up with your bitchin', I put up with your naggin', and all your screamin' too!
    Lorrell Robinson: Now when are you two gonna stop all this fighting?
    Effie White: Stay out of this, Lorrell! This is between Deena and me!
    Lorrell Robinson: Yeah? Well, it's between me too! I'm a part of this group as anybody else! And I'm tired! Effie, I'm tired of all the problems you're makin' us!
    Effie White: I always knew you two were together.
    Lorrell Robinson: What?!
    Effie White: I always knew you two were gangin' up on me!
    Deena Jones: She had nothing to do with this change. It was you! You always thinkin' of you! Always thinkin' of you!
    Curtis Taylor, Jr.: I knew you were trouble from the start.
    Effie White: Trouble?!
    Curtis Taylor, Jr.: You were real bad trouble from the start.
    Effie White: Curtis, I'm your woman!
    Curtis Taylor, Jr.: But you're gettin' out now. I'm not building this group to have you tear it apart! Go head and rant and scream and shout! Don't worry, baby, I'll buy you out.
    Effie White: There's no money dirty enough to buy me out. You remember that, Curtis!
    C.C. White: Effie, Curtis was supposed to...
    Effie White: Love me. Curtis was supposed to love me.
    Magic White: Momma, why are you so slow?
    Effie White: Because I'm old.
    C.C. White: Lay off, Effie. Just take the money and run.
    Effie White: You in this with them, C.C.?
    C.C. White: Cool it, Effie. This time you know what you've done.
    Effie White: So they bought your black ass too, huh?
    C.C. White: I said, cool it, Effie. This time you've gone too far.
    Effie White: Oh, I can go further! I can go further!

## Taglines

* Fame comes and goes, starts rise and fall, but dreams live forever.
* All you have to do is dream.
* One dream will change everything.

## External links

* Dreamgirls quotes at the Internet Movie Database
* Dreamgirls at Rotten Tomatoes