Commissioner Gordon If we're going to play games, I'm going to need a cup of coffee.
5th most-quoted character in The Dark Knight (2008): in 17 of its 136 quotes
Most scenes with: Rachel Dawes (10), Bruce Wayne/Batman (5), Harvey Dent/ Two-Face (5)
He's the hero that Gotham deserves, but not the one it needs right now...and so we'll hunt him...because he can take it...because he's not our hero... he's a silent guardian, a watchful protector... the Dark Knight. [credits roll]
More lines from Commissioner Gordon
3 quotes Commissioner Gordon Commissioner Gordon [Holding a shotgun on the Joker]
We got you, you son of a bitch.
Commissioner Gordon No! Dent is there with them! We have to save Dent! I have to save Dent!
Scenes with Commissioner Gordon
13 scenes
Ramirez [Gordon is on the roof standing by the lit Batsignal, looking at it painted on the clouds, as Det. Ramirez brings him coffee]
You expecting him to show?
Gordon He often doesn't.
Ramirez Why wouldn't he show?
Gordon Hopefully... [sips his coffee] ...because he's busy.
Ramirez Then why do you light it?
Gordon I just like to remind people he's out there.
[We see a montage of people looking up at the signal from around the city; two criminals beside a car planning a crime see the signal and one gets nervous and runs off; then we see the Chechen with his crew at a parking garage looking at the signal]
That is why we bring dogs!
[We see Harvey Dent on the roof looking at the Batsignal with is on with his back to the camera; he turns around as Batman emerges from the shadows behind him] [a bit sarcastically]
You're a hard man to reach.
[Gordon storms onto the roof and angrily shuts off the Batsignal]
Lau's halfway to Hong Kong. If you would've asked, I could've taken his passports! I told you to keep me in the loop!
Gordon All that was left in the vaults were marked bills! They knew we were coming! As soon as your office got involved...[Harvey cuts him off]
My office?! You're sitting down there with scum like Wuertz and Ramirez, and you're talking to...Oh yeah, Gordon. I almost had your rookie cold on a racketeering beef!
Gordon Don't try to cloud the fact that clearly Maroni has people in your office, Dent!
[to Batman, who has remained silent, simply watching the entire exchange]
We need Lau back. But the Chinese won't extradite a national under any circumstances.
If I get him to you, can you get him to talk?
I'll get him to sing.
Gordon We're going after the mob's life savings. Things will get ugly.
I knew the risks when I took this job, Lieutenant. [turns back to Batman] How will you get him back any...
Gordon [Batman has disappeared] [to a confused and slightly shocked Dent]
He does that.
[Sal Maroni, the Chechen, and various other mobsters are eating at a restaurant while watching Harvey Dent announcing the detainment of Lau on the news]
So, with word out, we hire the clown? He was right. We need to fix real problem.
Gordon [Gordon walks into the restaurant, with a satisfied look on his face] [referring to Dent]
Our boy does look good on the tube.
You sure you wanna embarrass me in front of my friends, Lieutenant?
Gordon Oh, don't worry. They're coming too.
[At this moment, dozens of police enter the restaurant and arrest all of the mobsters and their accomplices]
Mayor Garcia [regarding The Joker]
What do we got?
Gordon Nothing. No matches on prints, DNA, dental. Clothing is custom, no labels. Nothing in his pockets but knives and lint. No name. No other alias.
Mayor Garcia Go home, Gordon. The clown'll keep 'til morning. Go get some rest. You're gonna need it. Tomorrow you take the big job. You don't have any say in the matter, Commissioner Gordon.
[The mayor and present police officers begin to applaud and cheer, only silenced when the Joker mockingly begins to clap with them]
Son
[Commissioner Gordon visits his son]
Did Batman save you, daddy?
Gordon Actually, this time I saved him.
[Gordon walks into the darkened interrogation room where the Joker calmly sits at a table] [drawling mockingly]
Evening, Commissioner.
Gordon [after sitting down]
Harvey Dent never made it home.
Of course not.
Gordon What have you done with him?
[innocently]
Me? I was right here! [shows handcuffs] Who did you leave him with, hm? Your people? Assuming, of course, that they are still your people...and not Maroni's. Does it depress you, Commissioner, to know just how alone you really are? Does it make you feel responsible for Harvey Dent's current predicament?
Gordon Where is he?
What's the time?
Gordon What difference does that make?
Well, depending on the time, he could be in one place, or several.
Gordon [uncuffs the Joker and gets up to leave]
If we're gonna play games, I'm gonna need a cup of coffee.
Gordon [as he leaves the room]
Not exactly. [closes the door]
[The lights suddenly turn on, revealing Batman standing behind the Joker, who gets his head smashed into the table]
Never start with the head, the victim gets all fuzzy. He can't feel the next...
[Batman cuts him off by smashing the Joker's knuckles with his fist] [comically waiting to register the pain]
See?
You wanted me? Here I am.
I wanted to see what you'd do. And you didn't disappoint. You let 5 people die. Then you let Dent take your place. Even to a guy like me, that's cold.
Where's Dent?
Those mob fools want you gone so they can get back to the way things were. But I know the truth. There's no going back. You've changed things...forever.
Then why'd you wanna kill me?
[laughs hysterically]
I don't wanna kill you! What would I do without you? Go back to ripping off mob dealers? No. No...no. You...you complete me.
You're garbage who kills for money.
Don't talk like one of them, you're not! Even if you'd like to be. To them, you're just a freak–like me! They need you right now. When they don't...they'll cast you out. Like a leper. See, their morals, their code: it's a bad joke. They're dropped at the first sign of trouble. They're only as good as the world allows them to be. I'll show you. When the chips are down, these, uh...civilized people, they'll eat each other. See, I'm not a monster; I'm just ahead of the curve.
You have all these rules, and you think they'll save you.
Commissioner Gordon [Batman slams the Joker against the wall] [Looking through the glass at Batman and the Joker]
He's in control.
I have one rule.
Ooh, then that's the rule you'll have to break to know the truth.
Which is?
The only sensible way to live in this world is without rules. And tonight you're gonna break your one rule.
I'm considering it.
No. You're gonna have to play my little game if you want to save one of them.
"Them?"
You know, for a while there, I thought you really were Dent. The way you threw yourself after her...[laughs]
[This comment throws Batman into a fit of rage; he flips the Joker onto the table and wedges the chair against the door handle so no one else can get in] [laughs]
Look at you go. Does Harvey know about you and his little bunny?
You choose between one life or the other. Your friend the District Attorney. Or his blushing bride to be.
[Batman punches The Joker in the face again as The Joker laughs hysterically through all of it]
You have nothing–nothing to threaten me with, nothing to do with all your strength.
[Batman picks The Joker up by his shirt]
Don't worry, I'm gonna tell you where they are. Both of 'em. And that's the point: you'll have to choose. He's at 250 52nd Street. And she's at...Avenue X at Cicero.
Gordon [Batman storms out]
Which one of them are you going after?
RACHEL! [speeds off on the Batpod]
Gordon We'll get Dent! [to the other police] We're going to 250 52nd Street!
Gordon Harvey, I'm sorry about Rachel. The doctors told me that you're in agonizing pain, but that you're refusing medication...that you refused to accept skin grafts.
Remember that nickname that you gave me when I worked in Internal Affairs...what was that?
Gordon Harvey...
Say it. [pause] Say it!
Commissioner Gordon [reluctantly]
"Two-Face". Harvey "Two-Face".
Why should I hide who I am? [reveals the burnt side of his face to an uncomfortable and guilty looking Gordon]
Gordon I know you tried to warn me before. Wuertz picked you up. Do you know who picked up Rachel?
Commissioner Gordon [Harvey merely ignores him]
Harvey, I need to know which of my men I can trust.
Why would you listen to me now?
Commissioner Gordon I'm sorry, Harvey.
[The camera reveals the burnt side of Harvey's face for the first time]
No...no you're not. Not yet.
Gordon [At an intersection, a man driving a truck attempts to kill Coleman Reese by crashing into the police van containing him and Commissioner Gordon. Seeing this about to occur, Bruce Wayne speeds up in his Lamborghini to protect the van and manages to intervene in between the two vehicles; the truck hits his Lamborghini instead]
That's Mr. Wayne's, huh? [inspecting the slightly injured Wayne] That's a very brave thing you did.
Gordon Wha–you weren't protecting the van?
Why? Who's in it?
[At this moment, Coleman Reese is being led away from the accident scene. Bruce gives him a knowing look. Realizing that the man who he had tried to sell out just saved his life, Reese hangs his head in shame and walks away] [to Gordon]
Hey, do you think I should go to the hospital?
Gordon You don't watch a whole lot of news, do you, Mr. Wayne?
Barbara [Gordon has received a phone call from his wife]
Jim, help! We're in trouble.
Gordon Calm down, Barbara. What's going on?
Barbara He's got has the kids!
Gordon Harvey? What did you do? Where's my family?
Where my family died. [hangs up]
Gordon [Two-Face has kidnapped Gordon's family, and Gordon has followed them to the place where Rachel died] [as he walks into the building]
Dent!
[after knocking Gordon to the ground from behind]
This is where they brought her, Gordon...after your men handed her over. This is where she died.
Gordon I know. I was here, trying to save her.
But you didn't!
Gordon I couldn't!
Yes, you could have. If you had listened to me...if you stood up against corruption...instead of doing your deal with the devil!
Gordon I was trying to fight the mob!
You wouldn't dare try to justify yourself if you knew what I lost. Have you ever had to talk to the person you love most? To tell them it's going to be all right, when you know that it's not? Well, you're about to know what it feels like, Gordon. Then you can look me in the eye and tell me you're sorry.
Gordon [scared]
You're not going to hurt my family.
[moving over to Gordon's wife and children with his gun out]
No, just the person you love most. [points the gun at his Gordon's wife] Is it your wife?
Gordon Put the gun down Dent! [whispers] please.
Gordon [Two-Face moves the gun to his daughter] [reaches towards them]
Please.
Gordon [Two-Face puts the gun to Gordon's son]
Goddamn it, will you stop pointing the gun at my family?!
We have a winner.
Barbara [as Harvey grabs their son]
No, Jim, stop him!
Gordon Harvey? Harvey! [desperate] I'm sorry! For everything! Please, don't hurt my son.
Gordon All they know is this is a situation. They don't know who or what, they're just creating a perimeter.
You think I want to escape from this?! There is no escape from this!
It's not about what I want! It's about what's fair! You thought we could be decent men in an indecent time! But you were wrong. The world is cruel. And the only morality in a cruel world...[pulls out his coin]...is chance. Unbiased, unprejudiced, fair. His son's got the same chance she had: 50/50.
What happened to Rachel wasn't chance. We decided to act. We three.
Then why was it me who was the only one who lost everything?!
Because you were the best of us. He wanted to prove that even someone as good as you could fall.
And he was right.
You're the one pointing the gun, Harvey. So point it at the people responsible.
Fair enough. You first. [flips his coin, it lands "tails," he shoots Batman in the stomach as Gordon's family screams] My turn [puts the gun to his own head, flips the coin and it lands "heads" up so he points the gun at Gordon's son's head]
Gordon Harvey, you're right. Rachel's death was my fault. Pl-Please, don't punish the boy. Please punish me.
[still holding the gun to the boy's head]
I'm about to. Tell your boy it's going to be all right. Lie...like I lied.
Gordon [trying to calm his son]
It's going to be all right, son.
[Two-Face flips the coin, but Batman tackles him over the side of the building before he can catch it, Batman saves Gordon's son but Harvey falls to the ground; Gordon runs over to the ledge where Batman is holding on to a pole with one hand and Gordon's son with the other, he pushes the boy up over the ledge and Gordon's wife runs over and hugs him, but before Gordon can help Batman, Batman loses his grip and crashes through several planks before he lands next to the motionless Harvey]
Gordon's Son
[after he follows Gordon down to where Batman lay unmoving next to Dent]
Daddy! Dad, is he okay?
Gordon [relieved as Batman slowly pulls himself up to his knees]
Thank you.
You don't have to thank me. [he laborously gets to his feet in obvious pain]
Gordon Yes, I do. [both look at Harvey's body on the ground] The Joker won. Harvey's prosecution, everything he fought for, undone. Every chance we had at fixing our city dies with Harvey's reputation. We bet it all on him. The Joker took the best of us and tore it down. People will lose hope.
They won't. [speaking tiredly through intense pain] They must never know what he did.
Gordon Five dead, two of them cops. You can't sweep that up.
But the Joker cannot win. [kneels down next to Harvey, whose burnt left side is facing up] Gotham needs its true hero. [turns Harvey's head so that his unmarred side faces up]
Gordon [imediately understanding, whispers]
No.
[quoting Harvey Dent]
"You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain." I can do those things because I'm not a hero, unlike Dent. I killed those people. That's what I can be.
Gordon [visibly hurt at Batman willingly sacrificing himself]
No, no! You can't, you're not!
I'm whatever Gotham needs me to be. [hands Gordon his radio] Call it in.
. . .
Gordon [speaking at a memorial for Harvey with a giant picture of Dent as he was, held in the same street as Loeb's funeral]
A hero. Not the hero we deserved, but the hero we needed. Nothing less than a knight...shining.
Gordon [talking to Batman as we see him take an ax to the Bat-signal]
They'll hunt you.
You'll hunt me. You'll condemn me, set the dogs on me. Because that's what needs to happen.
[talking to Gordon as we see Alfred burning Rachel's letter to Bruce]
Because sometimes the truth isn't good enough. Sometimes people deserve more.
[talking to Gordon as we see Lucius typing his name into the sonar display before it self-destructs]
Sometimes people deserve to have their faith rewarded. [Lucius smiles to himself and walks away]
Gordon's Son
[as Batman runs]
Batman? Batman! [looks up to Gordon] Why is he running, Dad?
Gordon Because we have to chase him.
Police officer
Okay, we're going in! Go, go! Move!
Gordon's Son
He didn't do anything wrong.
Gordon [visibly shaken, but respect clearly evident on his face]
Because he's the hero that Gotham deserves, but not the one it needs right now...[as Gordon continues, we see a wounded Batman running from the police and their dogs]...so we'll hunt him...[Batman reaches the Batpod and rides off]...because he can take it...because he's not a hero...[Batman is riding through the streets of Gotham on the Batpod]...he's a silent guardian, a watchful protector...a Dark Knight.
[title card appears and credits roll]
Jim Gordon
[Harvey Dent and Jim Gordon are meeting in Dent’s office after Sal Maroni’s trial]
I hear you've got a hell of a right cross. It’s a shame Sal's going to walk.
Well, good thing about the mob is they keep giving you second chances. [Looking through a bundle of bills] Lightly irradiated bills. Fancy stuff for a city cop. Have help?
Gordon We liaise with various agencies-
Save it, Gordon. I want to meet him.
Gordon Official policy is to arrest the vigilante know as “Batman” on sight.
And that flood light on top of M.C.U.?
Gordon If you have problems with malfunctioning equipment, I suggest you take them up with maintenance, counselor.
I've put every known money launderer in Gotham behind bars but the mob is still getting its money out. I think you and your "friend" have found the last game in town and you're trying to hit them where it hurts: their wallets. It's bold. You gonna count me in?
Gordon In this town, the fewer people know something, the safer the operation.
Gordon, I don't like that you've got your own special unit, and I don't like that it's full of cops I investigated while I was at at internal affairs.
Gordon If I didn't work with cops you'd investigated while you were making your name at I.A.- I'd be working alone. I don't get political points for being an idealist. I have to do the best I can with what I have.
You want me to back warrants for search and seizure on five banks without telling me what we're after?
Gordon I can give you the names of the banks.
Well, that's a start. I'll get you your warrants. But I want your trust.
Gordon You don’t have to sell me, Dent. We all know you’re Gotham’s white knight.
I hear they have a different name for me down at M.C.U.
Gordon [softly, with his head down]
I wouldn’t know about that..
[the Joker meets the Chechen in a warehouse; Lau is tied up on the top of a pile of cash]
No so crazy as you look.
I told you, I'm a man of my word. [slides down the pile] Where's the Italian?
Gordon [Commissioner Gordon musters the police, preparing to apprehend the Joker]
All tactical units will converge on the location in twenty minutes. I want auxiliary units to cover all possible getaway routes.
You see, I'm a guy of simple taste. I enjoy, uh, dynamite, and gunpowder, and gasoline! [Joker's men douse the pile with gasoline]
What the—
[brandishes pistol]
Ah-ta-ta-ta. And you know the thing that they have in common? They're cheap.
Reese [On TV, Coleman Reese is being interviewed by Mike Engel]
I want to know how much they're paying you to say who Batman really is.
Gordon [to police]
This is our chance. I want Lau alive. The Joker, either way.
Det. Stephens Hey, Jim, get a load of this!
Engel Let's take the next caller.
Caller
Harvey Dent didn't want to give in to this maniac. Do you think you know better than him?
Reese I think that if we could talk to Dent today, he may feel differently, um -
Engel And we wish him a speedy recovery, because God knows we need him now.
Oh, I am. [takes Chechen's cigar, blows on the end] I'm only burning my half. [throws cigar onto the pile, setting it ablaze] All you care about is money. This town deserves a better class of criminal, and I'm gonna give it to 'em. Tell your men they work for me now. This is my city.
They won't work for a freak!
[mocking the Chechen’s accent]
"Freak"… [throws a knife to his men; they drag the Chechen away] Why don't we cut you up into little pieces and feed you to your pooches? Hm? And then we'll see how loyal a hungry dog really is! It's not about money. It's about sending a message. Everything burns!
[The Joker's voice is heard on the PA systems of two ferries carrying civilians and prisoners]
Tonight you're all gonna be a part of a social experiment. Through the magic of diesel fuel and ammonium nitrate, I'm ready right now to blow you all sky-high.
Ferry Captain
[trying his radio]
Liberty, come in. [no response] It's dead.
Anyone attempts to get off their boat, you all die.
Lucius Fox
[operating sonar network at Wayne Enterprises]
I'm zeroing in.
Each of you has the remote to blow up the other boat.
Lucius Fox
The voice is on the ferry...but it's not the source. West.
Commissioner Gordon [answers his cell phone]
Gordon.
I have the Joker's location. Prewitt Building. Assemble on the building opposite.
At midnight, I blow you all up. If, however, one of you presses the button, I'll let that boat live. So, who's it gonna be? Harvey Dent's most wanted scumbag collection, or the sweet and innocent civilians? You choose. Oh, and you might want to decide quickly, because the people on the other boat may not be quite so noble.
