The Manchurian Candidate Quotes

Eleanor Shaw: I will do whatever is necessary to protect America from anyone who opposes her. I can't... am I the only person in this room who's been reading these NSA reports?

Congressman Healy: I've read them.

Eleanor Shaw: All right, then. You know... you know we are on the brink of another cataclysm, probably nuclear, on our own soil.

Congresswoman Becket: Oh, Ellie, that's a bit extreme.

Eleanor Shaw: And it's not from random terrorists, but from covert alliances of disaffected nations who've all been made bold by this kind of Jordan one-worlder who believes that human beings are essentially good and that our powers are somehow, I don't know, shameful or evil and never to be used. Make no mistake. The American people are terrified. They know something's coming. They can feel it. And we can either shovel them the same old shit and call it sugar or we can arm them. We can arm them with a young, vibrant Vice President. We can give them heat, energy! Give them a war hero with heart, forged by enemy fire in the desert in the dark when American lives hung on the balance!

Raymond Shaw: I served under him. He was a good man.

Eleanor Shaw: Well, that's what the neighbors always say about serial killers.

[manipulating Raymond]

Eleanor Shaw: Sergeant Shaw.

Raymond Shaw: [Abruptly] What...?

Eleanor Shaw: Sergeant Raymond Shaw.

Raymond Shaw: Mother, I...

Eleanor Shaw: Raymond Prentiss Shaw.

Raymond Shaw: Yes.

Eleanor Shaw: Listen.

Raymond Shaw: Are we friends, Ben? I wanna believe we were friends.

Ben Marco: We are connected and that's something nobody can take from us. You coulda had me locked up, but you didn't. That's proof that there's something deep inside. There's a part that they can't get to. And it's deep inside of us. And that's where the truth is.

Delp: I thought you said you lost this.

Ben Marco: I bit a guy. I found another one.

[last lines]

Noyle: [voiceover] Now, when you're rescued and returned with your patrol to command headquarters, what will be among the first of your duties that you'll undertake?

Ben Marco: I'll recommend Sergeant Shaw for the Medal of Honor, sir. He saved our lives. He terminated the enemy. Led us across the desert to safety.

Noyle: Excellent. And there were casualties?

Ben Marco: There's always casualties in war, sir.

Ben Marco: [being brainwashed over the phone] Yes, senator?

Eleanor Shaw: Is this Captain Marco?

Ben Marco: Yep.

Eleanor Shaw: Captain Bennet Marco?

Ben Marco: Yes.

Eleanor Shaw: Bennet Ezikiel Marco?

Ben Marco: ...yes.

Eleanor Shaw: ...Listen.

Senator Thomas Jordan: And you bring me rumors and conjecture.

Ben Marco: I started with nightmares. Rumors, conjectures, that's a giant leap forward.

Ben Marco: What about my dreams?

Delp: What if all this is your dream and you are really still back in Kuwait?

Eleanor Shaw: [to Raymond] But... but when you smile... oh darling, when you smile, that's what I live for. When you smile.

[kisses his mouth]

Ben Marco: You said the army implants, they were for emergency medical data, right?

Delp: The ones they publicized were. There was a parallel project of all kinds of scary implantables. The Clinton watch dogs finally freaked out about it, closed down.

Ben Marco: Parallel project? How'd you know about that?

Delp: Manchurian Global funded me to make some of this scary shit. Heard of them? Imagine not just a corporation, Marco, but a goddamn geopolitical extension of policy for every President since Nixon.

[first lines]

Ben Marco: So why don't we just go directly right up in this route, straight in...

Laurent Tokar: Yes, I see the Captain enjoys the road less-traveled.

Ben Marco: No, the Captain enjoys not going down the highway, draggin' his ass so every Tom, Dick, Gaddafi can take a whack at it.

Ben Marco: This is rich people, Manchurian Global, funding bad science, to put a sleeper in the White House, and that's what's going on Rosie. That's what's going on.

Rosie: [holding gun on him] I want to believe you.

Ben Marco: Well, then believe me. Help me.

Rosie: Uh, uh, uh, uh.

Ben Marco: Shoot me then. Help me or shoot me, make a decision. Make a decision.

Al Melvin: [disturbingly] I have these dreams, Sir.

Ben Marco: [puzzled] Dreams?

Al Melvin: [continues] Yes, Sir. Kuwait. It's you and me, Ingram and Baker and...

[pause]

Al Melvin: Raymond Shaw.

Ben Marco: Okay.

Al Melvin: See, I remember it happened...

[pause]

Al Melvin: Like you just said and then...

[pause]

Al Melvin: I don't...

Ben Marco: Well, we had it pretty rough over there, Melvin. That was a long time ago. Memories shift...

Al Melvin: [cutting Ben off] Do you have dreams, Sir?

Ben Marco: [smiles] Everybody has dreams, Corporal...

Al Melvin: [frustratingly] No, not these!

Al Melvin: [trying to explain his dreams] I write it all down. You know, like, every night...

[he shows Marco a notebook with strange notes scribbled in it]

Al Melvin: Right when I wake up, I try to get it down. It doesn't always come together, you know? Not everything that I can remember...

Ben Marco: Maybe you should go to the V.A. Hospital. Talk to one of the doctors...

Al Melvin: [angrily throws his notebook on the floor] I've *BEEN* to doctors, man!

Al Melvin: I'm just! I'm just... I'm just a little stuck, Sir.

[pause]

Al Melvin: Because I remember, okay, Shaw...

[pause]

Al Melvin: Shaw, okay... Shaw saving us, right?

[another pause]

Al Melvin: But that doesn't make sense, because... that should've been you. Okay, if Shaw is in the Hummer...

[pause]

Al Melvin: The Toyota is here...

[breaks down to the floor and sobs]

Ben Marco: [Marco grabs him and holds him up to his feet] All right. Just get up, get up!

[pause]

Ben Marco: Listen, it's... That's over with. That's done. Okay? You gotta move on...

Al Melvin: [stutters] What I was hoping is that, you know, maybe...

Ben Marco: You need some money or something?

Al Melvin: No. No, Sir...

Ben Marco: Wait a minute...

Al Melvin: I don't need your money, man!

Ben Marco: All right. Well, it was great to see you...

[Melvin walks away]