Crimson Tide (1995)

Gene Hackman: Ramsey

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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.

• 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.

• Capt. Ramsey : Mr. COB!

  Chief of the Boat : Yes, sir?

  Capt. Ramsey : You're aware of the name of this ship, aren't you Mr. COB?

  Chief of the Boat : Very aware, sir!

  Capt. Ramsey : It bears a proud name, doesn't it, Mr. COB?

  Chief of the Boat : Very proud, sir!

  Capt. Ramsey : It represents fine people.

  Chief of the Boat : Very fine people, sir!

  Capt. Ramsey : Who live in a fine, outstanding state.

  Chief of the Boat : Outstanding, sir!

  Capt. Ramsey : In the greatest country in the entire world.

  Chief of the Boat : In the entire world, sir!

  Capt. Ramsey : And what is that name, Mr. COB?

  Chief of the Boat : Alabama, sir!

  Capt. Ramsey : And what do we say?

  Capt. Ramsey , Chief of the Boat : Go Bama!

  All : Roll Tide!

• 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.

• Capt. Ramsey : I expect and demand your very best. Anything less, you should have joined the Air Force.

• Capt. Ramsey : Yeah, horses're fascinating animals. Dumb as fenceposts but very intuitive. In that way they're not too different from high school girls: they may not have a brain in their head but they do know all the boys want to fuck 'em.

• 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.

• 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.

• Capt. Ramsey : All I ask is that you keep up with me. If you can't, then that strange sensation you'll be feeling in the seat of your pants will be my boot in your ass!

• Capt. Ramsey : I have the con.

  [to hunter] 

  Capt. Ramsey : Gimme the missile key.

  [Hunter does nothing and Ramsey punches Hunter in the face] 

  Capt. Ramsey : [sternly]  Gimme the missile key Mr. Hunter.

  [Hunter takes the keys out and puts it around his neck and Ramsey punches Hunter in the face again] 

  Capt. Ramsey : [shouting]  I am the commander of this fuckin' ship! Gimme the goddamn key!

• [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] 

• Capt. Ramsey : This is the captain. Set condition 1SQ for strategic missile launch. Spin up missiles one through five, and 20 through 24. The release of nuclear weapons has been authorized. This is not a drill.

• Capt. Ramsey : [smoking a cigar]  I don't trust air I can't see.

• Capt. Ramsey : Mr. Ince, Mr. Ince, unlock the tactical firing trigger.

  Peter "Weps" Ince : Sir, it is my duty to...

  Capt. Ramsey : Son, don't talk to me about duty! Open the fucking safe!

  Peter "Weps" Ince : I can't do that, sir.

  [Ramsey draws a gun and places it to the back of Weps's head] 

  Capt. Ramsey : I'm gonna count to three, then I'm gonna blow your fucking head off! One... two...

  [no response] 

  Capt. Ramsey : ...*Shit*! It does me no good to kill you. You're the only one who knows the combination!

  [sees Weps's assistant and forces him against the wall] 

  Capt. Ramsey : But Petty Officer...

  [checks name tag] 

  Capt. Ramsey : ... Hilaire doesn't know the combination! Millions of lives are at stake here, Peter! Don't make a dumb decision.

  [He grabs Hilaire and puts the gun between his eyes] 

  Capt. Ramsey : One... two...

  Peter "Weps" Ince : *Sir*!

  [Weps unlocks the safe] 

• Capt. Ramsey : What'd you think, son? That I was just some crazy old coot, putting everyone in harm's way as I yelled "YEE-HA!"?

• Capt. Ramsey : They're fueling their missiles, we don't have time to fuck around!

• Capt. Ramsey : [to Hunter]  Now, I'm gonna give you a tiny bit of advice if you want your own boat someday. The very worst thing you can do is worry about yourself or try to impress me. I can't stand "save-asses" and I won't abide "kiss-asses". You keep your priorities straight, your mission, and your men.

• 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.