Crimson Tide (1995)

Denzel Washington: Hunter

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Quotes 

• Capt. Ramsey : God help you if you're wrong.

  Hunter : If I'm wrong, then we're at war; God help us all.

• Hunter : In my humble opinion, in the nuclear world, the true enemy is war itself.

• Hunter : Chief of the Boat.

  Chief of the Boat : Sir?

  Hunter : Thank you, COB.

  Chief of the Boat : Thank you? *Fuck* you! Get it straight Mr Hunter, I'm not on your side. Now you could be wrong! But wrong or right, the Captain can't just replace you at will. That was completely improper! And that's why I did what I did. By the book.

  Hunter : I thank you anyway.

• Capt. Ramsey : Speaking of horses, did you ever see those Lipizzaner stallions?

  Hunter : What?

  Capt. Ramsey : From Portugal. The Lipizzaner stallions. The most highly trained horses in the world. They're all white?

  Hunter : Yes, sir.

  Capt. Ramsey : "Yes, sir" you're aware they're all white or "Yes, sir" you've seen them?

  Hunter : Yes, sir I've seen them. Yes, sir I was aware that they are all white. They are not from Portugal; they're from Spain and at birth, they're not white; they're black. Sir.

  Capt. Ramsey : I didn't know that. But they are from Portugal.

  [Chuckling] 

  Capt. Ramsey : Some of the things they do, uh, defy belief. Their training program is simplicity itself. You just stick a cattle prod up their ass and you can get a horse to deal cards.

  [Chuckles] 

  Capt. Ramsey : Simple matter of voltage.

• Hunter : Captain Ramsey, under operating procedures governing the release of nuclear weapons, we cannot launch our missiles unless both you and I agree.

  Capt. Ramsey : [shouting over Hunter]  COB, what're you waiting for?

  Hunter : This is not a formality, sir! This is *expressly* why your command must be repeated. It requires my assent, I *do not* give it and furthermore, you continue upon this course, and insist upon this launch without confirming this message first...

  Capt. Ramsey : [shouting over Hunter]  Son of a bitch. As commanding officer of the U.S.S Alabama, I order you to place the XO under arrest under charges of mutiny!

  Hunter : I will act, backed by the rules of precedence...

  Capt. Ramsey : [shouting at COB, over Hunter]  I say again, as commanding officer of the U.S.S Alabama, I *order you*...

  Hunter : ...authority in command, regulations number 815, to relieve... you... of... command, Captain!

  Capt. Ramsey : ...to place the XO under arrest, under charges of mutiny!

  [Silence all round] 

  Capt. Ramsey : COB!

  Chief of the Boat : Captain, please, the XO is right. We can't launch unless he concurs.

  Capt. Ramsey : [angrily reads from EAM]  "To the U.S.S. Alabama: Rebel-controlled missiles being fueled. Launch codes compromised, dissidents threaten to launch at continental United States, set DEFCON 2. Immediately launch ten Trident missile sorties." They're *fueling their missiles*! We don't have time to fuck around!

  Hunter : Sir, I think you need time to think this over.

  Capt. Ramsey : [shouting]  *I* don't have to think this over!

  Hunter : [stares at Ramsey, nodding]  Captain, I relieve you of your command of this ship. COB, escort the Captain to his state room. I'm assuming command.

  Capt. Ramsey : You're not assuming anything!

  Hunter : *Chief of the Boat*, Captain Ramsey is under arrest! Lock him in his state room!

  Chief of the Boat : Captain, please...

  Hunter : [growling]  Now, COB!

• Capt. Ramsey : At the Naval War College it was metallurgy and nuclear reactors, not 19th-century philosophy.

  [Stifled laugh] 

  Capt. Ramsey : "War is a continuation of politics by other means." Von Clausewitz.

  Hunter : I think, sir, that what he was actually trying to say was a little more...

  Capt. Ramsey : Complicated?

  [Men Laughing] 

  Hunter : Yes the purpose of war is to serve a political end but hte true nature of war is to serve itself.

  Capt. Ramsey : [laughing]  I'm very impressed. In other words, the sailor most likely to win the war is the one most willing to part company with the politicians and ignore everything except the destruction of the enemy. You'd agree with that.

  Hunter : I'd agree that, um, that's what Clausewitz was trying to say.

  Capt. Ramsey : But you wouldn't agree with it?

  Hunter : No, sir, I do not. No, I just think that in the nuclear world the true enemy can't be destroyed.

  Capt. Ramsey : [chuckling, tapping glass]  Attention on deck. Von Clausewitz will now tell us exactly who the real enemy is.

  [laughing] 

  Capt. Ramsey : Von?

  [Men Laughing] 

  Hunter : In my humble opinion, in the nuclear world, the true enemy is war itself

• Capt. Ramsey : Just so we understand each other... I don't have any problems with questions or doubts. As I said to you before, I'm not seeking the company of kiss-asses. But when you got something to say to me, you say it in private. And if privacy doesn't permit itself, then you bite your fucking tongue. Are we clear about that, Commander?

  Hunter : As a bell, sir.

  Capt. Ramsey : Those sailors out there are just boys... boys who are training to do a terrible and unthinkable thing, and if that ever occurs the only reassurance they'll have that they're doing the proper thing is gonna derive from their unqualified belief in the unified chain of command. That means we don't question each other's motives in front of the crew. It means we don't undermine each other. It means in a missile drill, they hear your voice right after mine, without hesitation. Do you agree with that policy, sailor?

  Hunter : Absolutely, sir.

  Capt. Ramsey : We're here to preserve democracy, not to practice it.

• Hunter : Rivetti, what's up?

  Petty Officer First Class Danny Rivetti : I'm sorry, Sir. It's just a difference of opinion that got out of hand.

  Hunter : What about?

  Petty Officer First Class Danny Rivetti : It's really too silly to talk about, Sir. I'd really just forget about...

  Hunter : I don't give a damn about what you'd rather forget about. Why were you two fighting?

  Petty Officer First Class Danny Rivetti : I said, the Kirby Silver Surfer was the only real Silver Surfer. And that the Moebius Silver Surfer was shit. And Bennefield's a big Moebius fan. And it got of hand. I pushed him. He pushed me. I lost my head, Sir. I'm Sorry.

  Hunter : Rivetti, you're a supervisor. You can get a commission like that.

  [Snaps finger] 

  Petty Officer First Class Danny Rivetti : I know, Sir. You're 100 percent right. It will never happen again.

  Hunter : It better not happen again. If I see this kind of nonsense again, I'm going to write you up. You understand?

  Petty Officer First Class Danny Rivetti : [No answer] 

  Hunter : Do you understand?

  Petty Officer First Class Danny Rivetti : Yes, Sir.

  Hunter : You have to set an example even in the face of stupidity. Everybody who reads comic books knows that the Kirby Silver Surfer is the only true Silver Surfer. Now am I right or wrong?

  Petty Officer First Class Danny Rivetti : You're right, Sir.

  Hunter : Now get out of here.

  Petty Officer First Class Danny Rivetti : Yes, Sir.

• Capt. Ramsey : We have orders in hand. Those orders are to make a pre-emptive launch. Every second that we lose increases the chances that by the time our missiles arrive, their silos could be empty because they've flown their birds and struck us first.

  Hunter : Yes sir.

  Capt. Ramsey : You know as well as I do that any launch order received without authentication, is no order at all.

  Hunter : Yes sir.

  Capt. Ramsey : That's our number one rule.

  Hunter : [tries to get a word in]  National mil...

  Capt. Ramsey : And that rule is the basis for the scenario we've trained on, time and time again. It's a rule we follow without exception.

  Hunter : Captain, National Military Command Center knows what sector we're in. They have satellites looking down on us to see if our birds are aloft and if they're *not*, then they give our orders to somebody else. That's why we maintain more than one sub, it's what they call 'redundancy'!

  Capt. Ramsey : I know about redundancy, Mr Hunter.

  Hunter : All I'm saying...

  [Ramsey walks off] 

  Hunter : [follows Ramsey, lowers his voice]  All I'm saying Captain, is that we have backup. Now it's our duty, *not* to launch until we can confirm.

  Capt. Ramsey : You're presuming we have other submarines out there, ready to launch. Well as Captain, I must assume our submarines could've been taken out by other Akulas. We can play these games all night Mr Hunter but uh, I don't have the luxury of your presumptions.

  Hunter : Sir...

  Capt. Ramsey : Mr Hunter, we have rules that are not open to interpretation, personal intuition, gut feelings, hairs on the back of your neck, little devils or angels sitting on your shoulder. We're all very well aware of what our orders are and what those orders mean. They come down from our Commander in Chief. They contain no ambiguity.

  Hunter : Captain...

  Capt. Ramsey : Mr Hunter. I've made a decision. I'm Captain of this boat. NOW SHUT THE FUCK UP!

• Capt. Ramsey : You do qualify your remarks. If someone asked me if we should bomb Japan, a simple "Yes." By all means sir, drop that fucker, twice! I don't mean to suggest that you're indecisive, Mr Hunter. Not at all. Just, uh... complicated. 'course, that's the way the Navy wants you. Me, they wanted simple.

  Hunter : Well, you certainly fooled them, sir.

  Capt. Ramsey : [chuckles]  Be careful there, Mr Hunter. It's all I've got to rely on, being a simple-minded son of a bitch. Rickover gave me my command, a checklist, a target and a button to push. All I gotta know is how to push it, they tell me when. They seem to want you to know why.

  Hunter : I would hope they'd want us all to know why, sir.

• Hunter : Captain, here's the results from the missile drill.

  Capt. Ramsey : [looks at the missile drill results]  Is this the best they can do?

  Hunter : No sir. But, that's what they did.

  Capt. Ramsey : I want this down to five minutes. Train on it.

  Hunter : Yes, sir.

  Capt. Ramsey : Tell your buddy Weps to do it again, and keep on doing it until he gets it right.

  Hunter : Yes, sir.

  Capt. Ramsey : It looks like the whole crew needs a kick in the ass.

  Hunter : Or a pat on the back, sir. I have witnessed a fight down in crew's mess, no big deal. It appears that the crew is a bit on edge about all we're going through. Morale seems a bit low.

  Capt. Ramsey : [picks up the intercom and speaks into it]  May I have your attention please, crew of the Alabama, Mr. Hunter has brought it to my attention that Morale maybe a bit low. and you might be a bit...

  [looks to Hunter] 

  Hunter : [whispers]  On edge.

  Capt. Ramsey : [over the intercom]  On edge. so, I suggest this. Any crew member who thinks that they can't handle the situation, can leave the ship right now. Gentlemen, we are at DEFCON 3, war is imminent. This the captain. That is all.

  [hangs up the intercom] 

  Hunter : Very inspiring, sir.

• Capt. Ramsey : Short of the outbreak of World War Three, the ship sinking, or being attacked by a giant octopus, I'd like to be undisturbed for the next thirty minutes.

  Hunter : I'll see to it, sir.

• Rear Admiral Anderson, Board of Inquiry President : Now, based on the testimony from personnel on board the Alabama and, in no small measure, to that of the senior officer, Captain Ramsey, I am prepared to make my recommendations to SUBPAC.

  Hunter : Without my testimony, sir?

  Rear Admiral Anderson, Board of Inquiry President : You have a problem with that?

  Hunter : I might, sir.

  Rear Admiral Anderson, Board of Inquiry President : I have known Captain Ramsey for almost 30 years. We served together on more than a few occasions. If he is lying this will be the first I've heard of it.

  Hunter : Yes, sir.

  Rear Admiral Anderson, Board of Inquiry President : My primary concern here is the breakdown in the system. In this instance the system failed because the two senior officers did not work to resolve their differences, while preserving the chain of command. Now you may have been proven right, Mr Hunter, but insofar as the letter of the law is concerned, you were both right, and you were also both wrong. This is the dilemma that will occupy this panel, this navy, and this country's armed forces as a whole, long after you leave this room. Off the record... you've both created one hell of a mess: a mutiny aboard a United States nuclear submarine, violation of nuclear launch protocol.

• Hunter : Mr. Vossler, this is Captain Kirk! I need warp speed on that communications unit!

• Capt. Ramsey : How do you like that cigar?

  Hunter : It's good, sir.

  Capt. Ramsey : It's your first?

  Hunter : [coughing]  Yeah.

  Capt. Ramsey : Well, don't like it too much. They're more expensive than drugs.

• Capt. Ramsey : [to Hunter]  You repeat this order, or I'll find somebody who will!

  Hunter : Oh no you won't, sir.

• Peter "Weps" Ince : [answers the private phone]  Weps.

  Hunter : Weps. This is Hunter. Listen to me.

  Peter "Weps" Ince : Where are you?

  Hunter : Don't worry about where I am. Listen, we have other ships that can handle this, you can't be influenced by the captain or anybody else, you have to make up your own mind.

  Peter "Weps" Ince : [hears a beep]  Con, Weapons. Missles will be ready to launch in 4 minutes.

  Hunter : Listen Weps, listen Weps, don't do this. Don't do this Weps, once we launch, they cannot come back. They cannot come back Weps, and you know the repercussions if we're wrong, goddamnit. Weps, if we fire now, we'll be firing when we're blind and crippled, you understand that?

  Peter "Weps" Ince : Where the fuck are you?

  Hunter : Do not remove the firing trigger! Do not open that safe, Weps. It's up to you, you're the only one who knows the combination it is up to YOU Weps. It's up to you.

  [hangs up] 

  Peter "Weps" Ince : [to a petty officer]  Mind your fucking pannel!

• Hunter : [asking about the radio repair]  How long's it gonna take?

  Vossler : I don't know, sir.

  Hunter : You know what's going on here?

  Vossler : Yes sir.

  Hunter : No I don't think you do. Let me explain it to you. If we launch, and we're wrong, what's left of Russia is gonna launch at us. There will be a nuclear holocaust beyond imagination, now it's all about knowing, Mr...

  [Hunter looks at Vossler's name patch] 

  Hunter : Vossler. We have to know whether our order to launch has been recalled or not. The only way we're gonna know, is if you fix that radio, you understand?

  Vossler : [looks down] 

  Hunter : You ever watch Star Trek?

  Vossler : St- yeah, Star...

  Hunter : Star Trek! The USS Enterprise? All right, now you remember when the Klingons were gonna blow up the Enterprise and Captain Kirk calls down to Scotty he says "Scotty, I gotta have more power-"

  Vossler : He needs more, more warp speed, yeah.

  Hunter : Warp speed, exactly. Now I'm Captain Kirk, you're Scotty, I need more power. I'm telling you if you do not get this radio up, a billion people are gonna die; now it's all up to you, I know it's a shitty deal but you got it, can you handle it?

  Vossler : [silent] 

  Hunter : Scotty?

  Vossler : Aye, Captain.

• Hunter : What if Radchenko surrendered and it's over, huh? We launch. They see us, and they launch. Our birds pass each other in the air. Boom. What have you got?

  Chief of the Boat : Nuclear War.

  Hunter : Nuclear Holocaust.

• [last lines] 

  Hunter : Captain? I just wanted to say thank you.

  Capt. Ramsey : You were right, and I was wrong... about the horses, the Lippizaners. They *are* from Spain, not Portugal.

  Hunter : [smiles]  Yes, sir.

  [they salute each other] 

• Hunter : Get the radio fixed Vossler. I could've built one by now.

• [to his wife, before leaving for duty] 

  Hunter : See you in my dreams.

• Hunter : Look, it wasn't a mutiny, I did everything by the book.

  Chief of the Boat : It's not about the book. If the Russians are gonna launch and we sit here and do nothing... who's gonna stop 'em? Half of me's glad the Captain came back.

• Hunter : [over the intercom]  Radio, X-O. Mr. Zimmer, get those communication systems back online now.

  Zimmer : [over the intercom]  We're working on it sir.

  [to himself] 

  Zimmer : Aye, aye, Captain.

  Vossler : Are we ready?

  Zimmer : Yeah, we're ready. Go.

  [sparks fly when Vossler touches the circuit board with his soldering iron] 

  Vossler : Oh fuck.

  Zimmer : The system crashed, the radio buoy got severed, what the fuck does he want us to do?

  Vossler : Shit electrons?

  Zimmer : Hey, we need this radio repaired. Not smart-ass remarks.

• Hunter : Conn, sonar. Let me know when our range to that Akula's open to 1,000 yards.

  Petty Officer First Class Danny Rivetti : Conn, sonar, eye sir.

  Sonarman #3 : Goddammit, let's just shoot this fucker, what's a thousand yards for?

  Petty Officer First Class Danny Rivetti : Cuz it takes a thousand yards for the torpedoes to arm. Jesus, who'd ya fuck to get on this ship!

• Hunter : I think his dog gave me the final seal of approval.

  Lt. Bobby Dougherty : He goes everywhere with that dog. Navy looks the other way because he's Ramsey.

  Zimmer : Navy looks the other way because he's on of the few skippers who have seen combat.

  Lt. Darik Westergard : Took SEALs into Panama in 90.

  TSO Billy Linkletter : Tomahawks in the Gulf in 91.

  Lt. Bobby Dougherty : What, took out four or five XOs in 92?

  Hunter : Are you ser...

  Peter "Weps" Ince : Yeah, the last one got what, appendicitis?

• Capt. Ramsey : [Ramsey and Hunter are topside viewing the sunset before the submarine submerges]  Bravo, Hunter.

  Hunter : Sir?

  Capt. Ramsey : You knew to shut up and enjoy the view. Most eggheads want to talk it away. Your stock just went up a couple of points.

  Hunter : Thank you, sir.