The Commuter Quotes

Joanna: It doesn't have to end this way. Think about Karen, Danny...

Michael MacCauley: Don't you dare mention their names!

[repeated line]

Michael MacCauley: What's in the bag?

Joanna: What if someone asked you to do one little thing but would affect another passenger on this train? Would you do it?

Michael MacCauley: I don't know. What's in it for me?

Michael MacCauley: What happens when you find 'em?

Joanna: They die. Hypothetically.

Joanna: What kind of person are you?

Michael MacCauley: Me? You should probably ask my wife.

[his last words before the train crashes]

Conductor Sam: Between the train and the passengers... I always knew it'd be the train.

Jackson: So this is the end of the line.

Michael MacCauley: I guess so.

Jackson: Next time, I'm taking the bus.

[last lines]

Michael MacCauley: [seeing Joanna reading "The Count of Monte Cristo"] "What makes a man is what he does when the storm comes." Alexandre Dumas. Read that one a few years back. It's got a hell of an ending. This seat taken? The 6:20 every morning to Chicago. The 5:30 home. You know, I never took your for a commuter.

Joanna: I'm sorry. Have we met?

Michael MacCauley: The way I figure it, the people you work for, Alex Murphy goes down, you win. That 16-year-old girl dies on that train, you win. You do your job, disappear, the rest of just collateral damage. You didn't pick me because the witness was on my train. You put her *on* the train. Maybe you even got me fired. Suddenly, I have motive, opportunity, just like Alex Murphy. This wasn't his operation. You played us both.

Joanna: I'm not sure what you think is gonna happen here, Michael.

Michael MacCauley: One little thing.

Joanna: And what's that?

[he shows her his detective's badge]

Alex Murphy: Mike, I get it. You wanna do the noble thing here. But I got news for you. There ain't no such thing as noble.

Michael MacCauley: [glancing at Prynne] It was you.

Alex Murphy: What are you talking about?

Michael MacCauley: You called me. You knew about the witness. You... you knew what they saw.

Alex Murphy: Yeah, I told you what happened.

Michael MacCauley: It was a cop who killed him. You set me up.

Sofia: Ricky was a city planner, and some nights he would have to work late, so I-I would go to his office to finish my homework. I was waiting for Ricky by the elevator when these two men show up. I didn't see their faces, but they were looking for Ricky. I hid 'cause I didn't wanna get him in trouble. But they wanted something from him. Then all of them start yelling, and I hear this noise. They were hurting him. I could hear him screaming. And he tells them that he doesn't have it, that it's back at his place.

Michael MacCauley: You took it.

Sofia: Of course I took it. I wanted to help. And then I look through the doorway and I see this guy. He's holding Ricky, and he hits him, and he says something about being noble.

Michael MacCauley: Noble?

Sofia: He says that doing the right thing will get you killed, and that there's no such thing as being noble. And then, they just... I didn't... I didn't know what to do. I...

Michael MacCauley: I know.

Sofia: I just took it, and... and I ran.

Michael MacCauley: Why didn't you call the police?

Sofia: I couldn't call the police. The men who killed him were cops.

Michael MacCauley: So, I heard something earlier today, a hypothetical question.

Tony: Uh-huh. What was the question?

Michael MacCauley: What if someone asked you to do one little thing, something that's meaningless to you, but would affect another passenger on this train? Would you do it?

Tony: I don't know. What's in it for me?

Michael MacCauley: $100,000.

Tony: Absolutely!

Michael MacCauley: You don't even know what it is.

Tony: It doesn't matter. Come on.

Jackson: So, what is that one little thing?

Michael MacCauley: A passenger on this train doesn't belong. They're carrying a bag, but you don't know what it looks like. All you have to do is find them before they get off.

Tony: That's it? It's not much to go on, Mike.

Michael MacCauley: Tell me about it.

Jackson: And what happens when you find 'em?

Michael MacCauley: They die. Hypothetically.

Tony: So what would you do, Mike?

Michael MacCauley: I'd get all the people left on the train in one car, propose that very scenario.

Tony: No, no, no, no, no. I mean, would you take the money?

Michael MacCauley: You know what? I already did.

Tony: Hey, Mike, what happened to the guy with the guitar?

Michael MacCauley: He got off.

[Tony looks around, confused, knowing the train is just pulling into the station]