Clear and Present Danger Quotes

Jack Ryan: I didn't sign up for this. This is someone's bullshit political agenda. Who authorized this? Cutter?

Ritter: Cutter couldn't tie his own shoes without permission.

Jack Ryan: If I go down you're coming with me.

Ritter: Wrong again. I have an *autographed get-out-of-jail-free card*! "The President of the United States authorizes Deputy Director of the CIA Robert Ritter to conduct 'Operation Reciprocity' including all necessary funding and support. This action is deemed important to the national security of the United States etcetera, etcetera, etcetera." You don't *have* one of these, do you Jack?

[as Ryan walks away]

Ritter: Gray! The world is gray, Jack!

The President: So go down there, establish it.

Jack Ryan: Go down where?

The President: Colombia.

Jack Ryan: Who, me?

[On whether Jack should investigate the growing scandal]

Admiral Greer: You took an oath, if you recall, when you first came to work for me. And I don't mean to the National Security Advisor of the United States, I mean to his boss... and I don't mean the President. You gave your word to his boss: you gave your word to the people of the United States. Your word is who you are.

Captain Ramirez: The chicken is in the pot, over.

Clark: Cook it!

Ritter: Jack, computer theft is a serious crime.

[hangs up the phone]

Jack Ryan: [to himself] So are crimes against the Constitution.

Jack Ryan: You're going to jail, pal!

Ritter: [seeing Ryan holding a piece of paper] What is that? What is it you *think* you have there?

Jack Ryan: You broke the law.

Ritter: You are *such* a Boy Scout! You see everything in black and white!

Jack Ryan: No, no, no! Not black and white Ritter, *right* and *wrong*!

[Jack needs a helicopter]

Jack Ryan: I'm here to rent the Huey.

Helicopter owner: We don't rent it anymore, but it is for sale.

Jack Ryan: How much?

Helicopter owner: Two million dollars.

Jack Ryan: Uh, my pilot and I will have to take it for a test drive.

Helicopter owner: Of course, you just have to leave a deposit.

Jack Ryan: How much is that?

Helicopter owner: Two million dollars.

Jack Ryan: Umm...

[Shows a CIA business card]

Jack Ryan: Would you take a company check?

Clark: Hey, get out of my chopper!

Jack Ryan: No, no - *my* chopper.

[Hands Clark receipt]

The President: How dare you come in here and lecture me!

Jack Ryan: How dare *you*, sir!

The President: How dare you come into this office and bark at me like some little junkyard dog? I am the President of the United States!

The President: [on who gets punished for 'Reciprocity'] You'll take the blame. Cutter and Ritter will take some too, but it won't amount to much. They'll get a slap on the wrist and $20,000 an hour on the lecture circuit. The rest, you'll dump on Greer. Yes, you'll take him down with you. You'll *destroy* his reputation. But it won't go any further than that. It's the ol' Potomac two-step, Jack.

Jack Ryan: I'm sorry, Mr. President, I don't dance.

[Chavez was able to close in on the Sergeant Major by using a cheeseburger wrapper as a decoy]

Sergeant Major: Soldier, how did you get that close to me?

Chavez: Sniper approached the instructor by being a sneaky bastard, Sergeant Major!

Captain Ramirez: Do you know the fine for littering in the state of California, Chavez?

Felix Cortez: What would you say if I promised you that I would reduce the cocaine shipments to your country by half?

James Cutter: I'd say you were using too much of your own product.

[Entering the White House grounds]

Jack Ryan: Uh, where do I park?

Jack Ryan: [confronting Ritter on "Reciprocity"] Why was I kept out if it?

Ritter: You weren't kept out of it, you're NECK DEEP in it! You went before Congress and you got the money for it!

Jack Ryan: Who authorized this?

Ritter: I'm sure they'll ask you that.

Jack Ryan: Who authorized it?

Ritter: I have no recollection, Senator

Felix Cortez: [a attack has occurred on the American delegation, secretly ordered by Escobedo's intelligence man Cortez] You don't want to hear an answer.

Ernesto Escobedo: Yes I do.

Felix Cortez: It was done to look like you did it... by one of the others, as you suspected. It's always a friend who hates you most.

Ernesto Escobedo: Who is doing this to me?

Felix Cortez: If I were to guess...

Ernesto Escobedo: No, that is not I asked of you, to guess. I can guess.

James Cutter: Are you suggesting a course of action, sir?

The President: The course of action I'd suggest is a course of action I can't suggest.

[the President is on TV announcing the seizure of the drug money]

Ernesto Escobedo: They're stealing MY MONEY!

[the President pretends to deny the actual amounts]

Ernesto Escobedo: [to the TV] No, you're not. You're stealing my money. I'm making it and you're STEALING IT!

Ernesto Escobedo: [to Felix] Someone will DIE for this!

[Cortez is blackmailing Cutter]

Felix Cortez: You've taken care of the *little fish*. I will take care of the one that got away. Once Escobedo is gone, I will be in the position to help you.

[Cortez realizes his betrayal has been exposed]

Felix Cortez: [referring to Jack Ryan] Whatever this man has told you is a lie. He LIES for a living!

Ernesto Escobedo: He is in the Intelligence business.

Felix Cortez: Exactly.

Ernesto Escobedo: YOU'RE in the Intelligence business!

[Escobedo plays back Cortez's conversation with Cutter]

[Escobedo hears Cortez's recorded conversation with Cutter]

Ernesto Escobedo: So. What am I supposed to do with YOU!

[slugs Cortez with a baseball bat]

Ernesto Escobedo: Perhaps I'm supposed to kill you with this bat!

[Sipo, Cortez's henchman comes in and guns down Escobedo]

John Clark: "Reciprocity." That's a clever name for it. Revenge is a very, very, very dangerous motivation.

Robert Ritter: Are you able to handle this operation or not? What I'm looking for here is a simple yes or no.

John Clark: What you're looking for is a political mess.

Robert Ritter: Yes or no?

John Clark: Is that what they want? Because that's what this is.

Robert Ritter: They want what every first-term administration wants - a second term.

Jack Ryan: Said anything yet?

FBI Agent Dan Murray: Yeah. "We're innocent."

Jack Ryan: Till the D.A. offers them a deal.

FBI Agent Dan Murray: He already has. Regular or extra crispy. He was either referring to fried chicken or the electric chair.

[repeated line]

The President: This is our money.

Admiral Greer: How high the pile on your desk?

Jack Ryan: [pantomiming] About this high.

Admiral Greer: Now it's this high.

Jack Ryan: What have you got?

Admiral Greer: You heard about that business in the south Caribbean?

Jack Ryan: Yeah, a little bit.

Admiral Greer: I need the full skinny.

Jack Ryan: By when?

Admiral Greer: As soon as you can.

Jack Ryan: Okay.

Admiral Greer: Jack?

Jack Ryan: Yes, sir?

Admiral Greer: Be discreet.

Jack Ryan: What do you mean?

Admiral Greer: You'll find out.

Jack Ryan: Mysterious. Ooh...

[Greer chuckles]

Jack Ryan: I love a mystery.

Jack Ryan: 19 cartridges were recovered, as well as the, um... as the two weapons that fired them. Blood samples taken consistent with the crew. Hardin and, uh, his wife and his son and daughter. They were killed in their staterooms, apparently as they slept, dragged topside, and thrown overboard. The two men in custody surrendered after a brief attempt to outrun the Coast Guard.

The President: What do we know about them, the men in custody?

Jack Ryan: Uh, half a dozen arrests, uh, for drug trafficking in Bogota, Mr. President.

The President: Drugs.

Jack Ryan: Suspected ties to the Cali cartel, not Medellin...

Judge Moore: [Greer gasps] You all right, James?

Jack Ryan: A-According to DEA.

The President: Why?

Robert Ritter: Nothing exotic, sir. Straight piracy and murder. It's not the first time.

The President: [looking glaringly at Ritter] It's the first time it was a friend of mine.

Robert Ritter: Yes, sir.

Jack Ryan: [leaving a briefing in the Oval Office] What was that in there? Are you all right?

Admiral Greer: Yeah.

Jack Ryan: Jeez. I haven't slept in 36 hours. I make any sense?

Admiral Greer: I don't know. What did you say?

[seeing Jack's look]

Admiral Greer: Just kidding. Good job.

Felix Cortez: [conversing in Spanish] Do you know what you've done?

Ernesto Escobedo: I killed a thief. A thief who was stealing from me!

Felix Cortez: And his wife, and his son, and his daughter, apparently with no thought of the consequences.

Ernesto Escobedo: Oh, sí, señor. Oh, I want his kids to grow up and avenge their father's death when I least expect it.

Felix Cortez: He was a good friend and political ally of the President of the United States.

Ernesto Escobedo: [switching to English] That doesn't surprise me.

Felix Cortez: It should, at the very least, concern you.

Ernesto Escobedo: What are they going to do, come after me? Arrest me? You're scaring me.

Felix Cortez: Will you stop long enough for me to tell you something important?

[hitting a machine-pitched baseball, Escobedo tosses his bat to an aide]

Felix Cortez: Thank you.

Felix Cortez: Listen, you pay me to counsel you, and I am counseling you. I'm keeping you alive with information. Now, if you disregard my counsel, if you keep running your business the way you have been, with your balls instead of your head, two things will happen: I'll quit and you'll get killed.

Ernesto Escobedo: You forgot to tell me about your scouting trip.

Felix Cortez: No, I didn't.

Ernesto Escobedo: You made another contact. Who is he?

Felix Cortez: Castro always asked me the same question about my sources, and I always gave him the same answer.

Ernesto Escobedo: Yes, but Castro didn't pay you what I pay you.

Felix Cortez: This one will cost you nothing.

Ernesto Escobedo: A woman. You're using a woman.

Admiral Greer: I thought I had the flu. I'd still think I had the flu if they weren't telling me otherwise.

Jack Ryan: Well, what are they telling you?

Admiral Greer: Pancreatic cancer of an aggressive nature, if I heard them right.

Jack Ryan: Oh, Jesus. Well, uh, what does that mean?

Admiral Greer: I guess it means I'm in big trouble.

Jack Ryan: No, I mean, can they... can they operate or...

Admiral Greer: Maybe. That's what they said, "maybe." Which sounds suspiciously like "no" to me.

Admiral Greer: I'm not dead yet. But I am in the hospital, which means that I'm not in my office, which means I don't know what's going on. I need you there.

Jack Ryan: Where?

Admiral Greer: In my office, doing my job.

Jack Ryan: Oh, wait. I...

Admiral Greer: I hate not knowing what's going on, Jack. You know that.

Jack Ryan: I wouldn't know the first thing about doing your job, sir.

Admiral Greer: You've been around. No big mystery. You've been to the White House.

Jack Ryan: Once. I hated it.

Admiral Greer: No, you didn't.

Judge Moore: I'm appointing Ryan the acting deputy director, intelligence. It'll be a provisional appointment, of course, 'til James recovers. I want you to get him up to speed on our aid program to the Colombians. He's gotta brief the oversight committee and talk 'em out of another $75 million.

Jack Ryan: And not make a complete fool out of himself.

Robert Ritter: Ryan... I can't believe it.

James Cutter: Not a team player, is that what you're saying?

Robert Ritter: Not a team player. He's a boy scout. A god damn boy scout. Believes in loyalty, cleanliness, and knot tying.

James Cutter: So leave him out of it.

Robert Ritter: He's the deputy director of intelligence, James. That's gonna be a little tricky, don't you think?

James Cutter: Why? What does he need to know?

Robert Ritter: Nothing. He needs to know nothing. He's gonna know nothing.

John Clark: I want the money in my account before I move an inch.

Robert Ritter: You got it.

John Clark: I'll need a COMSAT link.

Robert Ritter: You got it.

John Clark: An insertion team.

Robert Ritter: You can have a brigade.

John Clark: I don't want a friggin' brigade. I just need twelve men who understand discretionary warfare. Special Ops people, Spanish-speaking.

Robert Ritter: Cutter will get the military.

Cathy Ryan: Who was that?

Moira Wolfson: My new friend, Señor Roberto Landa.

Cathy Ryan: Mmm...

Moira Wolfson: Doesn't he look like Jack?

Cathy Ryan: Oh, does he? I can't quite see.

Moira Wolfson: Only Latin.

Cathy Ryan: A Latin Jack Ryan? Oh, well, this I have to see.

CIA Analyst: What are you picturing here? A hit on a respectable American businessman and his family?

Jack Ryan: You're assuming he's respectable.

Petey: [trying to crack an encrypted computer disk] People are big on birthdays. Let's start there. Bet your ATM code is your birthday.

Jack Ryan: Close.

Petey: In reverse?

FBI Agent Dan Murray: [whispering to Jack as they're walking away] You got to change your ATM code.

Jack Ryan: And then three years ago, Hardin received a large infusion of foreign investment capital, which he invested wisely in 20 major shopping centers from Fort Worth to Atlanta. I say "wisely" because in the middle of the recession, he posted record profits, at least to the IRS, who he apparently feared more than his own partners. To them, according to the stockholder statements he was giving them, the shopping centers weren't doing nearly as well. They were, he was just skimming the lion's share of the profits, $650 million, and putting it in numbered accounts in Luxembourg, Panama, and the Cayman Islands. They killed him for it.

The President: Who?

Jack Ryan: His partners.

The President: Who were his partners?

Jack Ryan: Well, it... it seems clear that, um... that he was laundering money for the Colombian drug cartels.

The President: Jesus. I knew the man for 40 years. We went to school together. We almost went into business together.

TV Reporter: The New York Times is reporting that you and Hardin were good friends. Is that true?

The President: No, not quite.

Jack Ryan: [watching on TV] Shh, shh. Hey, hey, hey.

The President: We weren't good friends, we were lifelong friends.

Jack Ryan: I said that. I said that. I told him to say that.

[seeing Cathy's look]

Jack Ryan: What?

Cathy Ryan: I didn't say anything.

Jack Ryan: Yeah, but you're thinking something.

Senator Mayo: I want to thank you, Dr. Ryan, for the information you've shared with us this afternoon.

Jack Ryan: Thank you, Senator.

Senator Mayo: I agree we have to help the Colombians in their struggle to curtail the drug cartels' activities, however, I'm confused. How do you see additional funds alone advancing this program from the utter failure that it is? You see what I'm getting at?

Jack Ryan: Um, no, I'm afraid I don't.

Senator Mayo: You said this effort would be totally benign on our part.

Jack Ryan: Well, the finding clearly states that our assistance is limited to supply and advice only, Senator.

Senator Mayo: I know. I've read that. I've also read a similar finding written 35 years ago this week regarding a little-though-of sliver of jungle in southeast Asia.

Jack Ryan: Uh, I'm sorry, you're comparing our request for supplemental antidrug funds to Vietnam?

Senator Mayo: I'm comparing it to every instance a legislative body such as this is asked to render judgment based on less than all the facts.

Jack Ryan: Well, I'm afraid I don't know what to say to that. Um...

Senator Mayo: You could begin by assuring us we have been given all the facts.

Jack Ryan: I thought I had.

Senator Mayo: You could further assure us, then, that this increase in funds, this escalation, to use your word, will not be used for any covert military action.

Jack Ryan: I-I don't know how you're getting to this.

Senator Mayo: Long experience, sir. No troops, then. I enunciate that clearly because I don't want there to be any mistake.

Jack Ryan: No troops.

Senator Mayo: You could say I have your word on that?

Jack Ryan: You could indeed, because you do.

Admiral Greer: I leave you alone for two weeks, and you walk straight into a big bear trap.

Jack Ryan: I don't know what I was thinking.

Admiral Greer: You were thinking about impressing the President of the United States, and you shouldn't do that.

Admiral Greer: How's Ritter behaving?

Jack Ryan: Ritter? Oh, Ritter's Ritter. He's leaving me alone.

Admiral Greer: Are you sure? Watch him like a hawk.

Jean Fowler: We don't have a picture. Escobedo's intelligence officer. We don't have a name, either, but we know he exists.

Jack Ryan: Invisible man, huh?

Ernesto Escobedo: We lost another plane. Okay.

[hanging up the phone]

Ernesto Escobedo: Who is doing this?

Felix Cortez: If I had to guess?

Ernesto Escobedo: No. That is not what I asked you, to guess. I can guess. Someone has been talking to the drug police.

Felix Cortez: Now, that's impossible. If anyone spoke to the police, I would be the first to know.

Ernesto Escobedo: You think one of the others is trying to ruin me, to steal my business after what I did to the American?

Felix Cortez: I guess that wasn't quite the deterrent you thought it would be.