The Sum of All Fears (2002)

Morgan Freeman: DCI William Cabot

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Quotes 

• Bill Cabot : [to Jack]  When I asked for your advice, I didn't mean that you should actually speak.

• Bill Cabot : What's the t-shirt say?

  Depot Worker : "I am a bomb technician, if you see me running...

  [laughs] 

  Depot Worker : ... try to catch up."

• [en route to Russia] 

  Cabot : Jack... Jack, what are you doing?

  Jack : Oh... I had a date tonight, so I had to call and cancel...

  Cabot : Well, don't be stupid! Tell her where you're going. In fact, tell her who you work for. She'll be impressed.

  Jack : [to Cathy, over the phone]  OK. I work for the CIA, and the Director asked me at the last minute to come with him to Russia with him to do a nuclear arms inspection. Hello?

  Cathy : That is so lame.

  Jack : No, I swear, it's because of the START treaty, we get to inspect to make sure they're really decommissioning their nuclear arsenal...

  [Cathy hangs up] 

  Jack : Hello... hello?

  [Cabot starts laughing] 

  Jack : Thanks. Thanks a lot.

• Cabot : [to Jack]  You're about to breathe air that's way over your pay grade so listen up. You're going to be asked for analysis and advice, so be God damn sure you know what you're talking about before you give it. Don't be afraid to say you don't know. Choose your words carefully, words have a habit of being turned into policy.

• [after an unpleasant silence, after Jack unintentionally and indirectly insulted Nemerov] 

  President Nemerov : [to Cabot, about Ryan]  I like him.

  Bill Cabot : In that case, so do I.

• Bill Cabot : Mr. Chairman, uh, some of our assets in the Russian government who actually know Mr. Nemerov have not had a chance to report in. I'd like to take a couple of days and get more information for you before characterizing him. But I do maintain my opinion that appearances can be deceiving.

  Senator Jessup : So you're saying I'm wrong?

  Bill Cabot : Absolutely, Mr. Chairman. I don't think you're ugly.

• Bill Cabot : [to Jack]  Welcome to the CIA, sport.

• President Fowler : We gotta update these fire drills, Billy. I mean, if the shit ever hits the fan, I'm not going underground. This place is a goddamn tomb down there!

  Bill Cabot : We've also gotta choose someone else to face off against besides the Russians all the time.

  President Fowler : Really? Let's see. Who else has 27,000 nukes for us to worry about?

  Bill Cabot : It's the guy with one I'm worried about.

• President Fowler : And don't underestimate Zorkin, pal. Between his economy, crime, Chechnya...

  Cabot : His liver.

  President Fowler : What's left of it. How is he, by the way?

  Cabot : He's got a press conference scheduled for this afternoon. So at least we know he can sit up.

• Jack Ryan : Who's the guy with Nemerov?

  Bill Cabot : Anatoli Grushkov.

  Jack Ryan : Old KGB?

  Bill Cabot : Been lurking around since Brezhnev, plays all sides and nobody's had the guts to get rid of him.

  Jack Ryan : Is that because he knows where all the bodies are buried?

  Bill Cabot : Probably because he buried them himself.

• Bill Cabot : What are three Russian atomic scientists doing in Ukraine?

• Jack Ryan : Sir, I write reports.

  Bill Cabot : I reviewed your military records, Jack. You can take care of yourself.

  Jack Ryan : Yes, sir, but I'm not trained for that.

  Bill Cabot : I'm not asking you to be an operations officer, just my eyes and ears. I can't go.

  Jack Ryan : So, this isn't sanctionend.

  Bill Cabot : [giving him a small plastic case]  I want you to give this to Clark, see what he finds out, bring it home.

  Jack Ryan : Yes, sir.

  Bill Cabot : [Jack opens the car door]  Jack. We never had this discussion.

  Jack Ryan : What discussion?

• Jack Ryan : So, uh, Intelligence Committe?

  Bill Cabot : Mm-hmm.

  Jack Ryan : I've watched these on C-SPAN. Never actually been to one.

  Bill Cabot : You've never watched one of these on C-SPAN.

• Revell : At approximately 0600 Moscow time, the Russians launched a massive artillery strike against Grozny, the capital of Chechnya. The shells contained an experimental chemical weapon known as the Novichok binary nerve agent. Saturation, you can see it on those infrared sat photos, took 20 minutes. After which, every man, woman, and child inside a radius of roughly 12 miles was rendered helpless by symptoms approximating acute, late-stage cerebral palsy.

  Secretary of State Sidney Owens : Oh, my god.

  President Robert Fowler : How many dead?

  Bill Cabot : Best guess... 80%.

  Becker : Which means Nemerov just launched the most massive attack in the history of chemical warfare.

  President Robert Fowler : Let's talk response.

  Secretary of State Sidney Owens : Worst thing we could do is nothing.

  Becker : I agree. If we let him get away with chemical weapons, what's next? Biological, nuclear?

  President Robert Fowler : Okay. Short of gassing the Kremlin, what's the strongest response we can make?

  Secretary of State Sidney Owens : We send in peacekeepers.

  Becker : Chechnya's not sovereign.

  Secretary of State Sidney Owens : Look, they requested recognition, so we recognize them. Not full diplomatic recognition; provisional. That may get the Chechens to request emergency international assistance, and we send in peacekeepers.

  President Robert Fowler : How do you get 'em in there?

  General Lasseter : The fastest way would be to fly 'em in from Turkey.

  Becker : Over Armenian airspace?

  Revell : To screw Russia, they won't complain.

• Bill Cabot : But our most important assessment comes from a highly-placed source inside the Kremlin. In his opinion, Nemerov does not owe his ascension to the military.

  Senator Jessup : Everyone has opinions, Mr. Cabot. I respect that. This morning, my wife woke up and said that I was old, bald, and ugly.

  Bill Cabot : Is that a question, Mr. Chairman?

  Senator Jessup : I told her appearances aren't everything. Would you agree Mr. Cabot?

  Bill Cabot : I certainly would, sir.

• Bill Cabot : [at the stadium in Baltimore; answers his cell phone]  Yeah, this is Cabot.

  Jack : [in a helicopter near Baltimore]  The bomb is in play! Dylan's called the AFRAT team! They're meeting me at the docks in twenty minutes! We're going to see if we can find it!

  Bill Cabot : Docks? What docks?

  Jack : Baltimore!

  Bill Cabot : You're breaking up! What did you say?

  Jack : [static over cell phone]  ... altimore!

  Bill Cabot : Look, I'm losing you! I'll call you back from...

  Jack : BALTIMORE!... Sir?

  Bill Cabot : [stands up and takes a long look around stadium, then shouts to the Secret Service agents]  John! Reggie! Let's go! Let's go!

• Cabot : Are you Ryan?

  Jack Ryan : Yes, sir.

  Cabot : What is this? The Paper Chase?

  Jack Ryan : Sir, my ah...

  Cabot : Well come on, were late.

• Bill Cabot : [meeting privately]  How's your Russian?

  John Clark : It still works. Why?

  Bill Cabot : Three Russian nuclear scientists are missing. I need to know where they are.

• Jack Ryan : Mr. President, conventional wisdom would suggest that Nemerov is playing the traditional Russian role: be aggressive, flex your muscles, dare the world to stop you. But Nemerov isn't conventional.

  Revell : He walks like a hard-liner. He talks like a hard-liner.

  Jack Ryan : Yes, but with all due respect, I don't think he is one.

  Becker : He just gassed the capital of another country, Doctor. With all due respect, you're wrong.

  Jack Ryan : [drowned out by chattering in the room]  What if he didn't order the attack?

  [louder] 

  Jack Ryan : What if Nemerov didn't order the attack? What if it was a, uh-uh... rogue general or a splinter military unit frustrated they couldn't get the rest of the rebels out of the city?

  President Robert Fowler : Have you any reason to believe he didn't order it, or are you just floating this?

  Bill Cabot : [quietly]  You don't know.

  Jack Ryan : I don't think he did it, sir. I-I would... I would bet he didn't do it.

• Jack Ryan : Nemerov has thousands of bombs. Why does he need to build a secret one?

  Bill Cabot : Deniability. Build one nobody knows about, he could drive it to Chechnya in the trunk of his Beemer. No way to track it. No way to trace it. He could set it off, sit back and say "I didn't do it."

  Jack Ryan : With all due respect, sir, I don't think that adds up.

  Bill Cabot : It adds up. You just don't like what it adds up to.

• President Nemerov : First, let me apologize for interjecting myself into your inspection tour. But there is a message I wish for you to take back to President Fowler.

  Bill Cabot : Well, you could just call him on the phone.

  President Nemerov : I would like him to hear it from you, his friend of many years who received it personally from me, saw my expression and the language of my body as I spoke it.

  Bill Cabot : I understand.

  President Nemerov : Chechnya is an internal affair. What we do there should be none of your concern.

  Bill Cabot : I will relay the message, but I don't think he will agree.

  President Nemerov : There are those in my country who will use this issue to weaken me.

  Bill Cabot : There are those in my country who say your war in Chechnya is exactly your weakness.

  President Nemerov : Chechnya is a nation of criminals. Every day brings another cowardly attack on innocent Russian citizens. It is none of your concern.

  Bill Cabot : Stability is our concern. Peace in Chechnya is our concern. And, if I may speak frankly, your control over your military concerns us, too.

• Senator Jessup : Now, this, uh, new fellow, "Nezmeroz", is that his name?

  Bill Cabot : Nemerov, sir.

  Senator Jessup : Mm-hmm. Well, despite what your source says, we hear that "Nezmeroz" is a hard-liner. Is he a hard-liner?

  Jack Ryan : [whispering to Cabot]  No.

  Bill Cabot : It's a bit too soon to make that assessment, sir.

  Senator Jessup : Well, according to CNN, your Mr. Nezmeroz is making promises to rebuild the Russian empire. That sounds pretty rash from where I sit. If I were sitting in Chechnya, I'd be even more worried.

• President Robert Fowler : Get President Zorkin on the Hot Line.

  Bill Cabot : Zorkin is missing, sir. We have reports of a coup in Moscow. General Bulgakov is calling the shots now.

  President Robert Fowler : Who the hell is Bulgakov?

  Bill Cabot : The asshole who wanted to use nukes in Chechnya.

• Jack Ryan : Sir, those three missing scientists? Milinov's expertise is detonators. Spassky's expertise is the package; the nuclear core itself. And Orlov is a mathematician whose expertise is the geometry of high explosives inside a fission bomb.

  Bill Cabot : Exact three men you would need if you wanted to build a bomb.

  Jack Ryan : Grushkov would have us believe...

  Bill Cabot : Grushkov's a liar. Milinov is not sick, Orlov hasn't taken a vacation in years, and Spassky, who was supposed to have died drivin' a car? Doesn't drive. They have no idea where these guys are.

  Jack Ryan : I'm dying to ask you how you know that.

  Bill Cabot : [turning his laptop around]  Secure source inside the Kremlin. Code name: Spinnaker. He gives me stuff. I give him stuff. We keep the back channels open in hopes of staving off disaster. Oh, and speaking of disaster, did you call your girlfriend yet?

  Jack Ryan : No. I haven't figured out how I'm gonna dig myself out of this one.

  Bill Cabot : All right, listen. Call her up and invite her to the White House Correspondents' Dinner Sunday night. It's the hottest ticket in town. She'll love it.

  Jack Ryan : Sounds great. How do I get in?

  Bill Cabot : Trust me.

• Admiral Pollack : Sir, we've got another launch, this one from Alyesk, central Russia.

  President Robert Fowler : I don't believe it. What the hell is in Alyesk?

  Bill Cabot : SS-18 ICBMs. Probable targets, New York, Washington, here.

  President Robert Fowler : How good is this ceiling?

  Bill Cabot : Anything but a direct hit.

• Jack Ryan : If I was out of line back there, I apologize.

  Bill Cabot : Senators don't like to be surprised. I always give them a hint of what it is I'm going to tell them, then I give them a little time to get used to it. Then I tell them.

  Jack Ryan : I understand.

  Bill Cabot : Good.

  Jack Ryan : But I'm right about Nemerov.

  Bill Cabot : Your girlfriend like this stubborn streak in you?

• President Robert Fowler : [getting evacuated from a football game]  What the hell is going on?

  Secret Service Agent : Sir, please stay down.

  Bill Cabot : Some Russian scientists have been working on a bomb. Nuclear. It arrived in Baltimore this morning.

  President Robert Fowler : Get those people out of the stadium.

  Secret Service Agent : We're on it! Stay down!

• Bill Cabot : Spinnaker.