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Sam
Max is one of the hitmen who take over Henry’s diner and hold George, Nick, and Sam hostage. While Al guards Nick and Sam in the kitchen, Max stays in the front of the diner and talks to George. Max is more aggressive and talkative than his partner, Al, and Al frequently scolds him for talking “silly” or “too much.” Max is the one who tells George about the plan to kill Ole and reveals that they are only doing it “to oblige a friend,” providing a major clue about why Ole is being targeted. Max also takes on a leadership role, determining how long he and Al should wait for Ole and deciding what to do with their hostages when they finally leave.
Max Quotes in The Killers
The The Killers quotes below are all either spoken by Max or refer to Max. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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The Killers Quotes
“I’ll have a roast pork tenderloin with apple sauce and mashed potatoes,” the first man said.
“It isn’t ready yet.”
“What the hell do you put it on the card for?”
“That’s the dinner,” George explained. “You can get that at six o’clock.”
George looked at the clock on the wall behind the counter.
“It’s five o’clock.”
“The clock says it’s twenty minutes past five,” the second man said.
“It’s twenty minutes fast.”
“Oh, to hell with the clock,” the first man said. “What have you got to eat?”
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Max and Al enter the diner and assume that anything listed on the menu will be available to order. They are annoyed when George tells them that they actually can’t order whatever they want because certain options aren’t available for another hour, but their mild frustration with the situation turns to anger when George tells them they’re also reading the clock wrong because it’s twenty minutes fast. Max and Al had confidently entered the diner with the expectation that everything would be straightforward and easy to navigate, but instead they find that appearances are often at odds with reality and Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omni
“You’re a pretty bright boy, aren’t you?”
“Sure,” said George.
“Well, you’re not,” said the other little man. “Is he Al?”
“He’s dumb,” said Al.
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When George meets Max and Al’s frustration and sarcasm with a deadpan reply, the tension in the diner erupts into open hostility and insults. Max and Al want to command respect, but George’s sarcasm indicates that he doesn’t respect them as much as they think he should. Across Hemingway’s fiction, masculinity is portrayed as a necessary quality for any “real” man to have. By calling George a “boy,” Max and Al are stripping him of his masculinity, treating him as insignificant and unworthy of respect. They are also setting themselves above him: they are real men who have the authority Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta.
“Where do you think you are?”
“We know damn well where we are,” the man called Max said. “Do we look silly?”
“You talk silly,” Al said to him.
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Max ironically declares that he knows “damn well” where he and Al are just a few minutes after asking George to tell him the name of the town they’re in and declaring that he had never heard of it before. Despite the confusion they felt during their first conversation with George, Max is determined to assert himself and hopefully inspire enough fear in George and the other men in the diner that they will be compliant and easy to keep under control. On the other hand, Max’s question about looking “silly” evokes an unexpected response from Al, who tells Max Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necess
“What are you going to kill Ole Andreson for? What did he ever do to you?”
“He never had a chance to do anything to us. He never even seen us.”
“And he’s only going to see us once,” Al said from the kitchen.
“What are you going to kill him for, then?” George asked.
“We’re killing him for a friend. Just to oblige a friend, bright boy.”
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After Max tells George that he and Al are in town to kill Ole Andreson—and specifically to kill him in Henry’s diner, where he usually comes in for dinner—George is understandably horrified. He rather naively believes that Ole must have really offended or harmed Max and Al, so Max’s revelation that they were actually hired to kill Ole compounds the horror George already feels knowing Ole is going to be murdered at all. In this context, Max and Al represent the impartiality and inevitability of death; if they will kill Ole even though he hasn’t personally done anything to them, Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nos
“In their tight overcoats and derby hats they looked like a vaudeville team.”
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As George watches Max and Al leave the diner, he notices for the first time that they really do look ridiculous. Vaudevilles were a popular form of comedic entertainment in the early 20th century, so noting that Max and Al looked like they were part of a “vaudeville team” means that their appearance is actually in keeping with their theatrical and over-the-top behavior in the diner. Rather than looking like hardened criminals, Max and Al come off as a little too stereotypical, leaving the reader to wonder how dangerous they actually were. On the other hand, the fact that Max Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus co
“They put us out in the kitchen,” Nick went on. “They were going to shoot you when you came in to supper.”
Ole Andreson looked at the wall and did not say anything.
“George thought I better come and tell you about it.”
“There isn’t anything I can do about it,” Ole Andreson said.
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Nick goes to Ole Andreson’s room at a local boardinghouse with the expectation that when he tells Ole about Max and Al, Ole will be extremely grateful to him and make a quick getaway. However, when Nick tells Ole about being tied up in the kitchen and that Max and Al were going to kill him in the diner, Ole doesn’t answer and Nick becomes flustered. When Ole seems to ignore his warning, Nick begins to realize he has misjudged the situation somehow. When Ole finally does respond to Nick, he doesn’t express gratitude or surprise, but resignation. Nick meant Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliqua
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Max Character Timeline in The Killers
The timeline below shows where the character Max appears in The Killers. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
The Killers
The first man, Max, orders a roast pork dinner and George tells him that this isn’t available. When Max...
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Max makes a snide comment about how “hot” the town is and asks what it’s called....
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George brings Max and Al their meals, but they can’t remember who ordered what. As they eat, they...
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Looking at Nick, Max and Al tell the “bright boy” to go behind the counter with his “boy friend.”...
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...over and then drags him and Nick to the kitchen. Once they’re gone, George asks Max what is going on. Max calls back to Al that the “bright boy” wants to...
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Max asks George if Ole Andreson comes in every night at six, and George says that...
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Max tells Al that he has “to keep bright boy amused” and Al tells him that...
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Max instructs George to tell anyone who comes in to order dinner that the cook is...
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...order dinner, but George tells him that the cook is out and the man leaves. Max tells him “that was nice, bright boy” and Al calls out that George “knew I’d...
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...sitting in the back with a sawed-off shotgun. When George came out of the kitchen, Max said that he would “make some girl a nice wife” because he “can cook and...
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George repeats that Ole Andreson isn’t coming in and Max says they’re going to wait ten more minutes. At 7:05, Max tells Al that they...
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As Max and Al leave, they tell George that he’s “got a lot of luck” and “ought...
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...it at all” and George tells Nick that he better go warn Ole Andreson about Max and Al. Nick agrees, but Sam tells him that he “better not have anything to...
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Nick offers to tell Ole what Max and Al “were like,” but Ole tells him he doesn’t want to know and thanks...
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...all about” already and is going to do “nothing” about it. George points out that Max and Al will kill him and Nick says, “I guess they will.” George says that...
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