The General's Daughter (1999)
John Travolta: Paul Brenner
Photos
Quotes
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[Brenner finds out from Elby that Elisabeth Campbell isn't close to her father General Campbell]
Sunhill : What about the General and Captain Campbell? Were they close?
Capt. Jake Elby : No.
Brenner : Why not?
Capt. Jake Elby : I don't know. You like your dad?
Brenner : My dad was a drunk, a gambler, and a womanizer. I worshipped him.
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Brenner : You killed her.
Lt. Gen. Joseph Campbell : What did you say?
Brenner : Seven years ago in that hospital room, when you told her to just forget about it, you killed her.
Lt. Gen. Joseph Campbell : Kent killed her.
Brenner : No. Kent just put her out of her misery.
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[last lines]
Brenner : [Brenner has the last line with General Campbell] When this all started, I told you that we would find the son of a bitch, sir. I never expected that the son of a bitch would be you.
[General Campbell holds his head in silence and walks forward, carrying the American flag behind Captain Elisabeth Campbell's coffin]
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[Brenner asks Sunhill about her marriage status]
Brenner : So... Did you ever marry, uh... Major what's-his-name with a gun?
Sunhill : Yes, I did.
Brenner : Oh... Congratulations. I'm extremely happy for you, Sarah. And I wish you both the best that life has to offer .
Sunhill : I filed for divorce.
Brenner : Good.
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[Brenner and Sunhill sit at a bar with other military uniformed men]
Sunhill : I thought you hated places like this.
Brenner : I do. However the murderer may be in this room, sitting all smug and shiny... until we walked in. And now maybe he's a little less smug and a little less shiny. And that's pretty cool, don't you think?
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Colonel Robert Moore : Do you think I'm involved in this?
Brenner : One way or another, yes, I do.
Colonel Robert Moore : Then wouldn't it behoove me to retain the services of an attorney? I know a good one.
Brenner : Two problems there. First, the obvious: there are no good ones. Second... you're not a civilian, Colonel, you're in the army. You have no rights to an attorney. You have no right to remain silent. And if you don't cooperate, I may have to put you in jail, and that would make me feel bad.
Colonel Robert Moore : You see what you're doing?
Brenner : Hmm? Looking for answers?
Colonel Robert Moore : Of course that, but how? How? You're trying to make me like you. And you know what? It's working. I do. But now, do you see what I'm trying to do? I'm trying to make you like me, too.
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[Brenner finishes fighting with the freedom fighter Belling]
Brenner : Oh, unclench your ass cheeks, Dalbert. The scary part is over.
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[Brenner finds out the alibi of Colonel Moore]
Colonel Robert Moore : When did... the event transpire?
Brenner : 0400, we think.
Colonel Robert Moore : Mmm. See that? My quick segue back to the case?
Brenner : Subtle as a chainsaw. And where were you?
Colonel Robert Moore : Snug in bed.
Brenner : Witnesses? A wife, girlfriend, roommate, hooker?
Colonel Robert Moore : I'm divorced. I'm between girlfriends, I live alone and I do not use hookers. I actually have... absolutely no alibi whatsoever. Does that make me a killer?
Brenner : No. Makes you lonely and unpopular.
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[Brenner sees Chief Yardley hanging around the crime scene]
Brenner : What are you doing here, Yardley? Shouldn't you be out night-sticking the colored folk?
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Brenner : What happened sophomore year at the Point?
[Moore doesn't answer]
Brenner : You're a murderer or an accessory to murder. Either way, you're gonna get burned at the stake. Nobody's gonna bail you out!
[Moore remains silent; exasperated, Brenner locks Moore in his cell and starts to walk away]
Colonel Robert Moore : It was awful.
Brenner : It was awful. Go ahead. What, she violated a code? She cheated? She lied? What?
Colonel Robert Moore : Worse.
Brenner : Drugs.
Colonel Robert Moore : Worse.
Brenner : Rape.
[Moore slowly moves from the back of his cell to the front, directly facing Brenner]
Colonel Robert Moore : Worse.
Brenner : What's worse than rape?
Colonel Robert Moore : When you find that out... then you'll know everything, won't you?
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[Brenner and Colonel Fowler threaten each others careers]
Brenner : You don't understand, Colonel Fowler. This is my investigation, and it's still open.
Col. George Fowler : [Fowler becomes threatening sounding] Who the hell do you think you are? It's over. Over. You better start thinking about your career, you understand me?
Brenner : [Brenner responds in a angry low voice] And you'd better start thinking about yours! You are running one lunatic base here! You want to mess with me, Colonel? Let's start gouging away.
Col. George Fowler : [Fowler looks to Sunhill, then back to Brenner] You've been warned.
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[Kent asks Brenner about their list of suspects]
Kent : Come up with anything yet?
Brenner : No. Just a preliminary list of suspects.
Kent : Already. Who?
Brenner : Everyone.
Kent : Well, you ought to start getting alibis.
Brenner : Okay, how about you?
Kent : Home in bed when the tower called.
Brenner : [Brenner sarcastically utters] Ah ha!
Kent : Fuck off, Paul. Where were you last night?
Brenner : I was too busy killing someone else. I didn't have time to kill two people.
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[Brenner questions Colonel Moore after finding his fingerprints at Elisabeth Campbell's crime scene]
Moore : Look, Paul... may I call you Paul? I so enjoyed when you took the liberty of calling me Bobby. We are, I assume, still trying to outsmart each other? Obviously, Paul... I cannot tell a lie and say... I know nothing about all of this. I also, sadly... cannot tell the truth.
Brenner : 'Cause you think silence will save your ass.
Moore : My ass, as you so delicately put it, is already in a sling, is it not?
Brenner : You mean the sex tapes.
Moore : [Moore remains silent before responding] You're good. Mmm. You're good. Great question. Almost any answer incriminates me, doesn't it?
Brenner : That's why I like it.
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[Colonel Fowler reveals to Brenner and General Campbell that he found Elisabeth Campbell dead]
Col. George Fowler : You couldn't expect the man to deal with his own child. She was screaming such vituperations at him.
Brenner : Course not.
Col. George Fowler : So he called me... and he asked me to deal with it. And I went. And I found her dead.
Brenner : [Brenner tilts his head] You found her dead?
Col. George Fowler : Of course. But you will never get me to testify against the general.
Lt. Gen. Joseph Campbell : [General Campbell looks Colonel Fowler alarmed] What?
Col. George Fowler : I've been by Joe Campbell's side too many times. Looked death in the face with him... too many times. I will not back down now.
Lt. Gen. Joseph Campbell : What in God's name are you talking about?
Col. George Fowler : [Colonel Fowler's voice starts to crack] It wasn't like she didn't give him reason.
Lt. Gen. Joseph Campbell : George, for Christ's sake!
Col. George Fowler : And then when we realized she was... fucking everybody from Bill Kent to Jake Elby, it was too late for official action.
Lt. Gen. Joseph Campbell : [General Campbell yells out] Colonel Fowler!
Col. George Fowler : We would have had to ask for all their resignations, then resign ourselves.
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[General Campbell pays a final visit to Brenner before leaving the country]
Lt. Gen. Joseph Campbell : Remember, when I asked you if you were a cop or a soldier?
Brenner : Yes, sir.
Lt. Gen. Joseph Campbell : Well, you're a soldier, Paul... and a damn fine one.
Brenner : [General Campbell salutes Brenner before walking off, as Brenner follows] General Campbell. You're wrong. I'm a rotten soldier.
Lt. Gen. Joseph Campbell : Oh? And why is that?
Brenner : You really don't get it, do you? The only mind Elisabeth wanted to fuck with, was yours.
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[Brenner tells General Campbell what he learned from Elisabeth's death]
Brenner : I once asked Moore what's worse than rape. Now I know. Betrayal.
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[Brenner and Sunhill go through Elisabeth Campbell's bathroom supplies]
Sunhill : Well, she wasn't a hypochondriac. She didn't dye her hair, she didn't have oily skin, and she keeps her method of birth control somewhere else.
Brenner : Well, or perhaps she required her men to wear condoms. Maybe you've heard that condoms are in fashion again because of disease. Nowadays you have to boil people before you can sleep with them. Care for a bath?
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[Brenner thanks Moore's attorney, Captain Goodson, for his help with Elisabeth Campbell's medical records]
Brenner : [about Colonel Moore] Now, did he instruct you to give me the medical records?
Capt. Goodson : Well, not in so many words... but I think I knew his wishes. You know, anything that might help Elisabeth. I'm sure you know how much he loved her.
Brenner : Not as much as he loved you.
Capt. Goodson : [Goodson smiles] What do you mean?
Brenner : I don't know. It's just something about the surprise way you came in that night, the extra care he had in making dinner.
Capt. Goodson : What do you plan on doing about it?
Brenner : Not a thing, other than to tell you I'm sorry about Moore and to ask you for your help.
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[Brenner reveals the names of the rapists from West Point to General Campbell]
Col. George Fowler : You were just doing what you said - Trying to protect her.
Lt. Gen. Joseph Campbell : I did what I had to. What I thought best for everyone concerned. There's nothing else that could have been done. We never would have found them anyway.
Brenner : Here you are, sir.
Lt. Gen. Joseph Campbell : [Brenner lays down a paper in front of the General] What is that?
Brenner : The names of the perpetrators my associate agent Sunhill, found with a minimum of trouble. Apple pie, sir.
Lt. Gen. Joseph Campbell : That's just brilliant.
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[Brenner asks Elisabeth Campbell where he could maybe reach her for in the future]
Brenner : Now, where would, if a fella got courageous and wanted to send you a 'thank you' notion of a bauble or basket of fruit, where might one find you?
Capt. Elisabeth Campbell : Psy Ops.
Brenner : How's that?
Capt. Elisabeth Campbell : Psychological Operations. I teach there.
Brenner : What do you teach?
Capt. Elisabeth Campbell : Mostly we fuck with people's minds.
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[Brenner threatens General Campbell with a court martial]
Brenner : You traded her trust for your career. You made a deal, didn't you? You kept silent, and they gave you another star.
Lt. Gen. Joseph Campbell : You watch your mouth, Brenner.
Brenner : I'm gonna say that in my report, that you knew she was out there, that you went out and talked to her and left her there to die.
Lt. Gen. Joseph Campbell : [General Campbell responds in a low voice] You don't have the balls.
Brenner : [Brenner chuckles] Oh, you're wrong, sir... because that's just about all I have left.
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[Brenner and Sunhill argue about their problems from their previous fling together]
Brenner : You know let's just talk about this next week, ok?
Sunhill : Fine. Just one more thing.
Brenner : Is this next week already?
Sunhill : You are such a goddamn sharp detective, aren't you? But you sure can't read yourself, and you sure as hell don't know a thing about women.
Brenner : You know... you're very cute when I'm mad at you. However... if you'll excuse me, I'll take my anger out on someone else.
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[Elisabeth Campbell stops to help Brenner change his flat tire]
Capt. Elisabeth Campbell : Out of gas?
Brenner : Yeah. That's why I'm looking at a flat tire with a pair of pliers in my hand instead of a lug wrench.
Brenner : [Brenner stands up after seeing that she's a Captain] Uhh.
Capt. Elisabeth Campbell : Uh-oh. She's a Captain.
Brenner : Uh-oh. She's a Captain.
Capt. Elisabeth Campbell : This looks like the work of 10 chimpanzees.
Brenner : Well, you just missed the other 9. They got bored and went for a beer.
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[Brenner thanks Elisabeth Campbell for changing his tire by flirting wtih her]
Brenner : Golly dang. If you like piña coladas and gettin' caught in the rain, I may just have to marry you, Captain.
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[Brenner thanks Elisabeth Campbell by giving her a basket of bath products]
Capt. Elisabeth Campbell : Uh, don't tell me - You need your oil changed.
Brenner : Nope. This is a token of my appreciation.
Capt. Elisabeth Campbell : [Brenner drops a basket on Capt. Campbell's desk] These are strange chocolates.
Brenner : Bath products. Bath products.
Capt. Elisabeth Campbell : Bath products?
Brenner : Mm-hmm.
Capt. Elisabeth Campbell : Can I take a hint?
Brenner : No, of course not. Just bath products. Everybody likes bath products.
Capt. Elisabeth Campbell : Do you?
Brenner : Yes, I do.
Capt. Elisabeth Campbell : Really? Tell me what you like about bath products.
Brenner : I - I like the pink soaps, and I like the skin softener, and I like the bath beads. I particularly like the bath beads. Sometimes I draw a tub, and I fill that tub with skin softeners and bath beads, and I light a few candles, I put on a little Coltrane, and I just soak my troubles away.
Capt. Elisabeth Campbell : Very good, First Sergeant. I levied a none-too-subtle accusation of sexism at you, and you took it three times around the dance floor.
Brenner : Not really. I just dig bath beads.
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[Brenner confronts Colonel Kent after finding out he's the murderer]
Brenner : [Brenner stands at a distance] I think the three of us need to go back to your office and talk.
Kent : I've always been an outdoorsy kind of guy. Why don't we talk here? That is if we have anything really important to talk about. I thought you'd do your job. Pin it on Moore, and move the fuck on.
Sunhill : Oh, God.
Kent : But I forgot you were the nastiest rat in the shithouse. Just goes to show you.
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[Brenner questions Colonel Moore about if he ever had sex with Elisabeth Campbell]
Brenner : Did you, uh... play together?
Colonel Robert Moore : What a truly excellent question. You see, here at Psy Ops, that's one of the things that we teach - Threatening quietly. Think of the echoes inherent in those four simple words. 'Did you... Play together?' Did you go out with her? Did you fuck her? Did you love her? If you did... Did you love her so much that you murdered her?
Brenner : I meant did you play golf or tennis or checkers or something?
Colonel Robert Moore : No, you didn't
Brenner : No, I didn't.
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[Brenner goes through Elisabeth Campbell's highly organized closet]
Brenner : Oh, my. This was one squared-away soldier. Equally prepared for a military ball or the next war in the jungle.
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[Brenner and Sunhill arrive at General Campbell's home]
Brenner : Hello, we're here to see the General. Warrant Officer Paul Brenner. Sarah Sunhill.
Capt. Jake Elby : Oh, yes. I'm Captain Elby, the General's Aide. Colonel Fowler the General's Adjutant will take you in. Please wait right here.
Sunhill : [Elby leaves the door open and goes to get Colonel Fowler] He's cute.
Brenner : Oh, please. He probably practices his salute in the mirror for hour...
Col. George Fowler : [Brenner clears his throat as Colonel Fowler approaches from behind the door] Please, come in. And thank you for coming.
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[Kent asks Sunhill where she was when Elisabeth Campbell was killed]
Sunhill : Uh, I went to the V.O.Q. at 1900 hours. I worked on my Neely case report till about midnight, and then I went home. No witnesses.
Kent : Pathetic, the both of you.
Brenner : Oh, you should have invited me into your room, and we would have had an alibi.
Sunhill : I would rather be a murder suspect.
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[Sunhill breaks down the crime scene of Elisabeth Campbell]
Sunhill : He set up a rape kit, tent pegs, and ropes, and he used it.
Brenner : Yeah.
Sunhill : [Sunhill takes the blanket off to look at Campbell's naked corpse] Well, there are no signs of a struggle. She was a strong woman. And I couldn't find a bit of dirt under her fingernails. And how did he hold a gun on her and manage to tie the ropes? Unless it was more than one person.
Brenner : What are those marks on her cheeks?
Sunhill : Those were tears, Paul.
Sunhill : [Paul sighs walking off] The panties under the rope, as if to protect the neck from a burn. I mean, what's a little rope burn if you're going to kill somebody?
Cal Seivers : [Cal turns to Brenner] Sunhill's good.
Brenner : Oh, yeah. Sunhill has spoken.
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[Colonel Kent tells Brenner that the three of them are in a minefield]
Kent : Before you come any closer, don't you want to know where you're standing?
Brenner : Where am I standing?
Kent : In a minefield.
Brenner : Aw, come on, Bill!
Kent : [Brenner see's a shovel with some fresh dirt on it] I buried some bouncing betties. Antipersonnel. You buy that? You're reasonably safe here, Paul. But Little Miss Can't-Be-Wrong over there... oh, she's deep in the hurt locker. You remember how the betty works? The first man trips the primary, mine shoots up, the rest of the column walks in the blast. Heads are removed, or limbs. Whatever.
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[Brenner guides Sunhill through the mud of a minefield]
Brenner : Backtrack the way you came.
Kent : You know, it's amazing what a load of shrapnel will do to flesh and bone.
Brenner : Sarah, you're fine.
Sunhill : God.
Kent : [Kent screams to Sunhill] Boom! Scared you, didn't I?
Sunhill : You're an asshole, Kent!
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[General Campbell asks Brenner is he's a soldier or a policeman]
Lt. Gen. Joseph Campbell : Look, let me be blunt. You're going to have to decide on this one, Paul - Are you a soldier or a policeman?
Brenner : I'm a soldier, sir.
Lt. Gen. Joseph Campbell : I'm counting on it.
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[Brenner tells General Campbell about the first time he met the General]
Brenner : Sir. When I enlisted I was underage. They - They sent me straight to Vietnam, and you were my commander. You were a captain, and I - I was so scared. And one day when I was on watch, you came by and... And - And you saw the fear. You... You said, um, 'Well, where you from? And I said, 'Boston'. And you said, 'Did you know that last night the Boston Red Sox won against the St. Louis Cardinals in the sixth game of the series'? And you just walked away. Well, I knew - I knew then that, I was gonna get through it.
Lt. Gen. Joseph Campbell : Boston lost that series.
Brenner : Yes, but I made it home. We'll find the son of a bitch, sir.
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[Colonel Fowler asks Brenner for a favor in his investigation]
Col. George Fowler : Mr. Brenner. I understand you have special arrest powers.
Brenner : Yes, sir.
Col. George Fowler : But I'm going to ask before you arrest anyone, you notify me.
Brenner : Why is that, sir?
Col. George Fowler : We don't like our personnel being arrested by outside people without our knowing about it. There are three ways of doing things - The right way, the wrong way, and the Army way. See that in doing it your way, Mr. Brenner, you don't forget about the Army way.
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[Sunhill and Brenner watch a tape of one of Elisabeth Campbell's teachings]
Capt. Elisabeth Campbell : [the tape plays] Our job here at Psy Ops is to panic the enemy, to blunt his will to fight. A Psy Operator must know the customs and habits of the enemy, the current dissensions, anxieties, and fears to determine vulnerability. To engage the enemy, you must know the enemy inside out. You must fill him with fear, and not just fear of dying. Fear of grotesque wounds is much more terrifying.
Sunhill : [Sunhill stops the tape] Ugh. Grotesque wounds.
Brenner : [Brenner smiles] I'll show you mine if you show me yours.
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[Brenner finds out the relationship Colonel Moore had with Elisabeth Campbell]
Brenner : Ok, so look, it's obvious you were very close to her. I'm just trying to find out what 'very' means.
Colonel Robert Moore : It means... Very. I was Liz's mentor. There was a trust... she was, yes, a passionate young woman, as well as she should have been, but had I ever taken advantage of that... I would've lost the trust. So did I kill her? Of course not. Did I love her? I loved her very much. Make of that what you will.
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[Brenner gets rid of Chief Yardley who keeps hanging around]
Police Chief Yardley : You got a shitload of explaining to do, son.
Brenner : May I ask what your official business is here.
Police Chief Yardley : My official business here, son, is to ask you why there's a bunch of MP's hauling furniture out of an off-post residence that belongs to a murder victim.
Brenner : The family of the deceased Chief Yardley asked me to take charge of those items and transport them here. Sunhill, remind me to call General Campbell and suggest that I take charge of those items and transport them here.
Sunhill : [Sunhill responds] You got it.
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[Brenner asks for Captain Goodson's help with questions about Colonel Moore]
Brenner : I want to know about the recreation of the original rape.
Capt. Goodson : I suppose that's what it was.
Brenner : Was it Moore's idea to do this, to kind of cleanse her of her past?
Capt. Goodson : Oh, no. Jesus, no. She thought it up. He couldn't talk her out of it.
Brenner : So he felt so bad that he killed himself?
Capt. Goodson : Look, you and I both know that's not how this happened. And that's where they screwed up, whoever did this, because they didn't know about Bob and me. Bob could no sooner have killed himself than I could pull a chicken out of my ear. But these nefarious types, they don't get that. You know, they don't understand that. Affairs of the heart. Way beyond them.
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[Brenner tells General Campbell and Colonel Fowler his theory of the murder]
Brenner : I got to thinking, what if I was wrong. What if it wasn't the same car three times, but three different cars?
Lt. Gen. Joseph Campbell : That's certainly an interesting theory, but what difference does it make since Moore is dead?
Brenner : Probably none, sir. But then it got me thinking of your daughter and what she told me she taught. 'Mostly, we fuck with people's minds', she said.
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[Colonel Moore asks Brenner if he ever went to college]
Colonel Robert Moore : Did you go to college?
Brenner : What do you think?
Colonel Robert Moore : I think you did not.
Brenner : Why, did I make a mistake in grammar?
Colonel Robert Moore : [Moore laughs] Of course not. And even if you were to, I wouldn't be rude enough to point it out. No, you have this chip on your shoulder.
Colonel Robert Moore : [Brenner remains silent] Big one. It makes you good at your job, though, doesn't it? I would imagine. Holds you in good stead when you see those commissioned officers, those spit-and-polish college types just waiting for you. You're the scoundrel in the rumbled suit with a healthy disdain for the rules, just waiting to bring them down. Am I right?
Brenner : Nah. No. I'm just here to kick ass, sleep till noon.
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[Brenner finds a shelf filled with pre-recorded tapes in the sex basement of Elisabeth Campbell's home]
Brenner : What have we got here? 10 bucks says these are not the lost Honeymooners episodes.
[Brenner plays a tape in the VCR as Brenner and Sunhill stand watching the disgusting sex acts]
Brenner : Well, how she died does appear to be linked to how she lived.
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[Brenner questions Elby about Elisabeth Campbell]
Brenner : What can you tell me about Captain Elisabeth Campbell?
Capt. Jake Elby : What about her? She was raped and killed. You know what rape usually is? It's a woman who changes her mind afterwards.
[Brenner punches Elby in the face]
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[Brenner and Sunhill talk about their suspect list growing]
Brenner : How does it feel to have our suspect list multiply exponentially?
Sunhill : Well, at least we know who the guys were on the tapes.
Brenner : Yeah. A bunch of creeps willing to risk it all for a piece of patch.
Sunhill : A piece of patch?
Brenner : Sorry, darling. I just get back on the base, and it drudges up all my old alpha male behavior.
