Three Days of the Condor quotes

View Quote [Turner stops at a deli to pick up lunch for the office.]
Jimmy: Hey, Shakespeare! How's it going?
Turner: Terrific. I'm building up a great collection of rejection slips.
Jimmy: Yeah, I know the feeling. I always wanted to be Escoffier.
Turner: Well, maybe it's not too late. You know, Van Gogh was thirty before he started to paint.
Jimmy: No kiddin'?
Turner: There's no mayonnaise on Dr. Lappe's. On the other hand, Mozart was three when he started to play the piano, and he was composing at six.
Jimmy: Fast starter. 'S probably better.
Turner: Well, I don't know. Van Gogh never sold a painting in a whole lifetime. Mozart died a pauper.
Customer: Where am I, the public library?
Jimmy: That's a very bright man.
Customer: It's educational. That's why I come in here.
Turner: You come in here to get sick like everybody else.
Jimmy: Come on.
Turner: No butter on Ray's sandwich. He gets panicky about butter.

View Quote Major: Got him.
Higgins: Let me see that. What's he doing in Brooklyn?
Mr. Wabash: Condor.
Higgins: We can get a unit--
Mr. Wabash: Wait.
Higgins: What's going on, Major?
Major: Son of bitch wired together 50 phones.
Higgins: What?
Major: Everybody in Brooklyn's talking to each other.

View Quote Mr. Wabash: Why aren't you further along, Mr. Higgins?
Higgins: With the Company, you mean?
Mr. Wabash: You seem perfect for it.
Higgins: Thank you, sir.
Mr. Wabash: Are you perfect for it, Mr. Higgins?
Higgins: I try to be.
Mr. Wabash: Were you recruited out of school?
Higgins: No, sir. The Company interviewed a few of us in Korea. You were with Mr. Donovan's OSS, weren't you sir?
Mr. Wabash: I sailed the Adriatic with a movie star at the helm! It doesn't seem like much of a war now. But it was. I go even further back than that. Ten years after The Great War, as we used to call it. Before we knew enough to number them.
Higgins: You miss that kind of action, sir?
Mr. Wabash: Nope. I miss that kind of clarity.

View Quote Turner: Why?
Joubert: I don't interest myself in "why". I think more often in terms of "when", sometimes "where"… always "how much". I suspect he was about to become an embarrassment. As you are.
Turner: So you're not finished.
Joubert: Pardon? Oh, no. I have no arrangement with the company concerning you. They didn't know you'd be here. I knew you'd be here.
Turner: But didn't you send the mailman?
Joubert: That was a business arrangement with Atwood, but you see.

View Quote Turner: Do we have plans to invade the Middle East?
Higgins: Are you crazy?
Turner: Am I?
Higgins: Look, Turner…
Turner: Do we have plans?
Higgins: No. Absolutely not. We have games. That's all. We play games. What if? How many men? What would it take? Is there a cheaper way to destabilize a regime? That's what we're paid to do.
Turner: So Atwood just took the games too seriously. He was really going to do it, wasn't he?
Higgins: A renegade operation. Atwood knew 54/12 would never authorize it, not with the heat on the company.
Turner: What if there hadn't been any heat? Suppose I hadn't stumbled on their plan?
Higgins: Different ballgame. Fact is, there was nothing wrong with the plan. Oh, the plan was all right, the plan would've worked.
Turner: Boy, what is it with you people? You think not getting caught in a lie is the same thing as telling the truth?
Higgins: No. It's simple economics. Today it's oil, right? In ten or fifteen years, food. Plutonium. And maybe even sooner. Now, what do you think the people are gonna want us to do then?
Turner: Ask them.
Higgins: Not now — then! Ask 'em when they're running out. Ask 'em when there's no heat in their homes and they're cold. Ask 'em when their engines stop. Ask 'em when people who have never known hunger start going hungry. You wanna know something? They won't want us to ask 'em. They'll just want us to get it for 'em!
Turner: Boy, have you found a home. There were seven people killed, Higgins.
Higgins: The company didn't order it.
Turner: Atwood did. Atwood did. And who the hell is Atwood? He's you. He's all you guys. Seven people killed, and you play ****ing games!
Higgins: Right. And the other side does, too. That's why we can't let you stay outside.

View Quote [to Higgins] Looks good, but, um, I have this friend, and he asked me to give you a message. Quote-- "Dear Mr. Higgins, This will introduce a friend of mine, Sparrow Hawk. Please accompany her to the Nassau Street exit of this place. Now." Personally, I'd do it, because he has this huge gun, and he's looking at us right now. I'll save this for you. Shall we?

View Quote Let's not expect too many mistakes from this man. He does seem rather more interesting than just another of our reader/researchers. For example, has he gone into business for himself? Was he turned around? Does someone operate him? Homosexual? Broke? Vulnerable? Could he be a soldier of fortune? Did he arrange the hit? Is that why he's still in flight? Still, he...may be an innocent. But then, why didn't he come in gently with Mr. Wicks?

View Quote Conclude the Condor episode; and without any more noise. We're already visible. Let's not become conspicuous. If company agents aren't enough, use freelance. Use whatever it requires, but end it.

View Quote Turner: Are you sure about this ideogram?
Janice: Look at this face. Could I be wrong about an ideogram?
[Turner laughs.]
Turner: It's a great face. But it's never been to China.

View Quote [Turner is repairing some computer equipment.]
Dr. Lappe: We have people to service these machines.
Turner: These things are really pretty simple — they just look complicated.
Dr. Lappe: Mr. Turner, I wonder if you're… entirely happy here.
Turner: Within obvious limits, yes sir.
Dr. Lappe: Obvious limits?
Turner: It bothers me that I can't tell people what I do.
Dr. Lappe: Why is it taking you so long to accept that?
Turner: Well, I actually trust a few people. That's a problem.

View Quote Joubert: Would you move from the window, please?
Janice: Pardon me? ...I won't scream.
Joubert: I know.

View Quote Major: [on the phone] This is the Major.
Turner: This is Joe Turner.
Major: Identification.
Turner: What?
Major: Identification.
Turner: My name's Turner. I work for you.
Major: Identify yourself.
Turner: I-- I don't--
Major: What is your designation?
Turner: Uh, Condor. Section 9, Department 17. The section's been hit.
Major: What level?
Turner: What level?
Major: Level of damage.
Turner: Everybody. Dr. Lappe, Janice, Ray, Harold. Harold was in the, uh--
Major: Are you on a company line?
Turner: No, I'm in a phone booth. I'm in the street.
Major: You're in violation of secure communication procedures, Condor.
Turner: Listen, you son of a bitch! I came back with lunch. The house was murdered. Everybody is dead.
Major: Has the incident been discovered by anyone outside the company?
Turner: I don't-- I don't know. I don't think so.
Major: Are you damaged?
Turner: Damaged? No.
Major: Are you armed?
Turner: I don't-- I have Mrs., uh-- I can't remember her code name. Nightingale. She kept a gun in her desk. I've got the gun.
Major: Identify the armament.
Turner: It's a .38 automatic. Will you bring me in, please? I'm not a field agent. I just read books.
Major: Leave the area.
Turner: All right. Well-- Do I come in to headquarters now?
Major: Negative. Find a secure location.
Turner: Where?
Major: Avoid any place you're known. Do not go home. Do not go home. Surface again in two hours. And call the Major. That'll be 1430 your time.
Turner: Wait-- Wait a minute. All right. 2:30 right?
Major: Walk away from the phone. Don't hang it up.
Turner: Don't--
[Click]

View Quote Fowler: Somebody took out one of your sections.
Wicks: What?
Fowler: 9/17.
Wicks: That's New York. Somebody got mugged maybe.
Fowler: They were hit.
Wicks: They're bookworms.

View Quote Higgins: Hello, Condor.
Turner: Who is this?
Higgins: Deputy Director Higgins, New York Center. I'm controlling now, Condor. Where are you?
Turner: How come I need a code name, and you don't?
Higgins: Where are you, Turner?
Turner: Here.
Higgins: You all right?
Turner: Are you insane? Everybody's dead.
Higgins: Take it easy. Just take it easy, and we'll bring you home. Here's how we'll do it. Do you know the Ansonia Hotel?
Turner: Broadway and, uh...74th st.
Higgins: Broadway and 73rd. There's an alley behind the hotel. One hour from now at exactly 1520, enter that alley from the 73rd Street side.
Turner: Will you be there?
Higgins: The head of your department just came from D.C. He'll bring you home.
Turner: I've never met him.
Higgins: Don't worry. He's studying your photos now. Turner?...Turner!
Turner: I don't know you, either.
Higgins: We'll meet. He'll be carrying a Wall Street Journal in his left hand.
Turner: There were two guys at my house.
Higgins: What were you doing there? You were told not to go there!
Turner: I was homesick. Who were they?
Higgins: They were ours.
Turner: What were they doing in my house? I'm not going into any alley. **** the Wall Street Journal!
Higgins: It's been a long day. You've been under--
Turner: Damn right I've been under.
Higgins: All right, Turner. We'll bring along a familiar face, somebody you know.
Turner: Who's left?
Higgins: Got a friend in statistics named Sam Barber.
Turner: Sam. You guys are something.
Higgins: Will he do?
Turner: Yes, Sam will do.
Higgins: All right, Turner. Stay well for 60 minutes, and you're home.
Turner: Can I ask a question?
Higgins: Sure.
Turner: What is happening?
Higgins: I'll talk to you in 60 minutes.

View Quote Kathy: [reading Turner's card] Tentrex Industries.
Turner: It's a cover. I work for the CIA.
Kathy: Oh, Jesus. Your assignment for today was to go out and kidnap a girl.
Turner: Look it up. Look it up. Tentrex Industries. Then look up the number for the CIA.
Kathy: They're listed, like my Aunt Gladys?
Turner: Under " U.S. Government Agencies." Go on. So is this what you do? This photography?
Kathy: O.K., uh--It's the same number. You could have had the card made--
Turner: Yes, I could have, but I didn't.