Peter "Weaps" Ince
So what does that make us, since we're the only nation that's ever dropped a nuclear bomb on anybody?
Captain Frank Ramsey
Gene Hackman · 21 quotes
Lt. Commander Ron Hunter
Denzel Washington · 20 quotes
Chief of the Boat
George Dzundza · 5 quotes
Most scenes together: Captain Frank Ramsey & Lt. Commander Ron Hunter (14), Lt. Commander Ron Hunter & Chief of the Boat (4), Captain Frank Ramsey & Chief of the Boat (3)
Crimson Tide quotes
Page 1 of 3
Zimmer This is a mutiny, Peter. There's only two sides to a mutiny.
Zimmer You don't put on a condom unless you're gonna ****!
[reading Hunter's file]
Annapolis. Five patrols on fast attacks. Two on boomers; one as X.O.
[Ramsey glances to Hunter for a beat and continues to read]
Hmm. A year at...[looks to Hunter, impressed] Excuse me. Harvard? [closes Hunter's file] I talked to your former C.O. He tells me he tried to adopt you. As you no doubt heard, my X.O. Has appendicitis. He's the best I ever had. I need a good man to fill his spot. Your name was at the top of the list.
Well, that's good to know, sir.
[beat]
It was a short list. Your interests, Mr. Hunter. What do you like to do? Do you, uh...Do you paint, play ball, play an instrument, ride motorcycles, what?
I ride horses.
Horses. What's the best horse you ever rode?
Arabian, sir.
An Arabian? That's a powerful animal.
Yes.
Me? Are you kidding? Nah, I couldn't handle an Arabian. Nah, just give me an old paint. Yeah, horses are fascinating animals. Dumb as fence posts but very intuitive. In that way, they're not too different from high school girls. They might not have a brain in their head but they do know all the boys want to **** 'em.
[Hunter chuckles]
Don't have to be able to read Ulysses to know where they're comin' from.
No, sir.
[Hunter notices a dog barking close to him] [referring to the dog]
He approves of you. Jack Russells. Smartest dogs alive. Name's Bear. Goes everyplace with me. Well, welcome aboard the Alabama, son. [extends his hand] Do me proud.
Oh no you won't, sir.
At the Naval War College it was metallurgy and nuclear reactors, not 19th-century philosophy.
I think, sir, that what he was actually trying to say was a little more -
Complicated?
[Men laughing]
Yes the purpose of war is to serve a political end but the true nature of war is to serve itself.
[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.
I'd agree that, um, that's what Clausewitz was trying to say.
But you wouldn't agree with it?
No, sir, I do not. No, I just think that in the nuclear world the true enemy can't be destroyed.
[Chuckling, tapping glass]
Attention on deck. Von Clausewitz will now tell us exactly who the real enemy is.
God help you if you're wrong.
If I'm wrong, then we're at war. God help us all.
How do you like that cigar?
It's good, sir.
It's your first?
Well, don't like it too much. They're more expensive than drugs.
Mr. COB!
Yes, sir?
You're aware of the name of this ship, aren't you Mr. COB?
Very aware, sir!
It bears a proud name, doesn't it, Mr. COB?
Very proud, sir!
It represents fine people.
Very fine people, sir!
Who live in a fine, outstanding state.
Outstanding, sir!
In the greatest country in the entire world.
In the entire world, sir!
And what is that name, Mr. COB?
Alabama, sir!
And what do we say?
Go Bama!
All
Roll Tide!
Short of the outbreak of World War Three, the ship sinking... being attacked by a giant octopus, I'd like to be undisturbed for the next thirty minutes.
I'll see to it sir.
Speaking of horses did you ever see those Lipizzaner stallions.
What?
From Portugal. The Lipizzaner stallions. The most highly trained horses in the world. They're all white?
Yes, sir.
"Yes, sir" you're aware they're all white or "Yes, sir" you've seen them?
Yes, sir I've seen them. Yes, sir I was aware that they're are all white. They are not from Portugal; they're from Spain and at birth, they're not white; they're black. Sir.
I didn't know that. But they are from Portugal. [Chuckling] 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] Simple matter of voltage.
Think it was a mistake, Mr. Hunter?
Sir?
Using the bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Well, if I thought that, sir, I wouldn't be here.
Interesting way you put that.
How'd I put it, sir?
Very carefully. [Chuckles]
[Men laughing]
You do qualify your remarks. If someone asked me if we should bomb Japan, a simple "Yes. By all means sir, drop that ****er, twice!"
[Men laughing]
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.
Well, you certainly fooled them, sir.
[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.
I would hope they'd want us all to know why, sir.
At the Naval War College it was metallurgy and nuclear reactors, not 19th-century philosophy. "War is a continuation of politics by other means." Von Clausewitz.
I think, sir, that what he was actually trying to say was a little more -
Complicated?
[Men laughing]
Yes, the purpose of war is to serve a political end, but the true nature of war is to serve itself.
[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.
I'd agree that, um, that's what Clausewitz was trying to say.
But you wouldn't agree with it?
No, sir, I do not. No, I just think that in the nuclear world, the true enemy can't be destroyed.
[Men look to one another as Ramsey fall silent] [Chuckling, tapping glass]
Attention on deck. Von Clausewitz will now tell us exactly who the real enemy is. [Gestures to Hunter] Von?
Capt. Ramsey
We have orders in-hand. Those orders are to make a preemptive 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.
Yes sir.
Capt. Ramsey
You know as well as I do that any launch order received without authentication, is no order at all.
Yes sir.
Capt. Ramsey
That's our number one rule.
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.
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.
All I'm saying...
[Ramsey walks off. Hunter follows him and 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. Ramsay
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 ah, I don't have the luxury of your presumptions.
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.
Captain...
Capt. Ramsey
Mr. Hunter: I've made a decision. I'm Captain of this boat. NOW SHUT THE **** UP!
You do qualify your remarks. If someone asked me if we should bomb Japan, a simple "Yes. By all means sir, drop that ****er, twice!" I don't mean to suggest that you're indecisive, Mr. Hunter. Just, uh... complicated. 'course, that's the way the Navy wants you. Me, they wanted simple.
Well, you certainly fooled them, sir.
[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.
I would hope they'd want us all to know why, sir.
CNN Reporter Richard Valeriani In the early hours of this morning, Russian Army forces moved in, and met surprisingly little resistance. There were some sporadic battles... but, apparently, the specter of fighting their countrymen proved too much for these rebel troops, and they surrendered quickly. So a crisis that seemed to be escalating beyond the point of no return, was ultimately resolved with fewer than a hundred soldiers dead. And the nuclear base captured by Radchenko is back in government hands. Reporting live from the French aircraft carrier Foch in the Mediterranean Sea, this is Richard Valeriani for CNN.