Escape from New York 1981 quotes

Bob Hauk

I'm not a fool, Plissken. [He puts his glasses on, leans forward; reading Plissken's file] S.D. Plissken... American, Lieutenant: Special Forces Unit "Black Light". Two Purple Hearts, Leningrad and Siberia. Youngest man to be decorated by the President. Then you robbed the Federal Reserve Depository... life sentence, New York maximum security penitentiary. [puts down the papers he has read; to Plissken, directly] I'm ready to kick your ass out of the world, war hero...

Snake Plissken

Who're you?

Bob Hauk

Hauk, [takes his glasses off and sets them down on his desk] Police Commissioner.

Snake Plissken

Bob Hauk...

Bob Hauk

Special Forces Unit "Texas Thunder"... we heard of you too, Plissken.

Snake Plissken

Why are we talking?

Bob Hauk

I have a deal for you. [he opens a drawer on his desk and takes out a certificate] You'll receive full pardon for every criminal action you've committed in the United States. [lays the certificate on the desk; stiffly] There was an accident. About an hour ago, a small jet went down inside New York City. The President was on board.

Snake Plissken

The President of what?

Bob Hauk

That's not funny, Plissken. You go in, find the President, bring him out in 24 hours, and you're a free man.

Snake Plissken

24 hours, huh?

Bob Hauk

I'm making you an offer.

Snake Plissken

Bullshit!

Bob Hauk

Straight, just like I said.

Snake Plissken

I'll think about it.

Bob Hauk

No time. Give me an answer.

Snake Plissken

Get a new president!

Bob Hauk

We're still at war, Plissken. We need him alive.

Snake Plissken

I don't give a **** about your war... or your president.

Bob Hauk

Is that your answer?

Snake Plissken

I'm thinking about it.

Bob Hauk

Think hard.

Snake Plissken

Why me?

Bob Hauk

You flew the Gullfire over Leningrad. You know how to get in quiet. You're all I got.

Snake Plissken

I guess I go in one way or the other... doesn't mean shit to me. All right... I'll do it. Give me the pardon paper.

Bob Hauk

When you come out.

Snake Plissken

Before.

Bob Hauk

I told you I wasn't a fool, Plissken.

Snake Plissken

Call me Snake.

Bob Hauk

You're gonna kill me now, Snake?

Snake Plissken

I'm too tired. [pause] Maybe later.

Bob Hauk

I've got another deal for you. I want you to think it over while you're resting. I want to give you a job. We'd make one hell of a team, Snake!

Snake Plissken

The name's Plissken! [leaves in disgust]

Bob Hauk

S.D. Plissken... American, Lieutenant: Special Forces Unit "Black Light". Two Purple Hearts, Leningrad and Siberia. Youngest man to be decorated by the President. Then you robbed the Federal Reserve Depository... life sentence, New York maximum security penitentiary. I'm about to kick your ass out of the world, war hero...

Snake Plissken

Who're you?

Bob Hauk

Hauk, Police Commissioner.

Snake Plissken

Bob Hauk...

Bob Hauk

Special Forces Unit "Texas Thunder"... we heard of you too, Plissken.

Bob Hauk

In 22 hours, the Hartford Summit Meeting will be over. China and the Soviet Union will go back home. Now, the President was on his way to the summit when his plane went down. He has a briefcase attached to his wrist. The tape recording inside has to reach Hartford in 22 hours.

Snake Plissken

What's on it?

Bob Hauk

You know anything about nuclear fusion?

Snake Plissken

No.

Bob Hauk

The survival of the human race, Plissken. Something you don't give a shit about.

I'm going to inject you. It will sting for a second.

Bob Hauk

That's it, Plissken.

Tell him.

Snake Plissken

Tell me what?

Bob Hauk

That idea you had about turning the Gullfire around 180 degrees and flying off to Canada.

Snake Plissken

What did you do to me, asshole!?

Bob Hauk

My idea, Plissken. Something we've been fooling around with. Two microscopic capsules lodged in your arteries. They're already starting to dissolve. In 22 hours, the cores will completely dissolve. Inside the cores are a heat-sensing charge. Not a large explosion, about the size of a pinhead, just big enough to open up both of your arteries. I'd say you'd be dead in 10-15 seconds...

Snake Plissken

Take them out, now!

They're protected by the cores. Fifteen minutes before the last hour is up, we can neutralize the charge with X-rays.

Bob Hauk

We'll burn out the charges if you have the President.

Snake Plissken

What if I'm a little late?

Bob Hauk

No more Hartford Summit. And no more Snake Plissken.

Snake Plissken

When I get back, I'm going to kill you.

Bob Hauk

The Gullfire's waiting.

Bob Hauk

Remember, once you're inside you're on your own.

Snake Plissken

Oh, you mean I can't count on you?

Bob Hauk

No.

Snake Plissken

Good!

Bob Hauk

There was an accident. About an hour ago, a small jet went down inside New York City. The President was on board.

Snake Plissken

The president of what?

Bob Hauk

We'd make one hell of a team, Snake!

Snake Plissken

The name's Plissken!

Bob Hauk

You go in, find the President, bring him out in 24 hours, and you're a free man.

Snake Plissken

24 hours, huh?

Bob Hauk

I'm making you an offer.

Snake Plissken

Bullshit!

Bob Hauk

Straight just like I said.

Snake Plissken

I'll think about it.

Bob Hauk

No time. Give me an answer.

Snake Plissken

Get a new president!

Bob Hauk

We're still at war, Plissken. We need him alive.

Snake Plissken

I don't give a **** about your war... or your president.

Bob Hauk

Is that your answer?

Snake Plissken

I'm thinking about it.

Bob Hauk

Think hard.

Snake Plissken

Why me?

Bob Hauk

You flew the Gullfire over Leningrad. You know how to get in quiet. You're all I got.

Snake Plissken

I guess I go in one way or the other... doesn't mean shit to me. All right... I'll do it. Give me the pardon paper.

Bob Hauk

When you come out.

Snake Plissken

Before.

Bob Hauk

I told you I wasn't a fool, Plissken.

Snake Plissken

Call me Snake.

Bob Hauk

You going to kill me, Snake?

Snake Plissken

Not now, I'm too tired. [pause] Maybe later.

Romero

You touch me... he dies. If you're not in the air in thirty seconds... he dies. You come back in... he dies. [takes a package out of his shirt and unwraps it to reveal the President's middle finger, complete with ring] Twenty seconds.

Bob Hauk

I'm ready to talk.

Romero

Nineteen. Eighteen.

Bob Hauk

What do you want?

Romero

Seventeen. Sixteen.

Bob Hauk

Let's go. Let's go!

Snake Plissken

All right, get your machine ready, I'm coming out.

Bob Hauk

18 hours left, Plissken!

Snake Plissken

Listen to me, Hauk. The President is dead, you got that? Somebody's had him for dinner!

Bob Hauk

Plissken, if you get back in that glider and fly back here without the tape or the President, I'll shoot you down myself! You try to climb out, I'll burn you off the wall! Do you understand that, Plissken?

Snake Plissken

A little human compassion.

Snake Plissken

Where's the President?

Cabbie

The Duke got him. Everybody knows the Duke's got him. You don't have to put a gun to my head. I'll tell you.

Snake Plissken

Who's the Duke?

Cabbie

The Duke? The Duke of New York, A-Number-1, the Big Man, that's who!

Snake Plissken

I wanna meet this Duke.

Cabbie

You can't meet the Duke! Are you crazy? Nobody gets to meet the Duke. You meet him once and then you're dead!

You're A-Number One! You're the Duke! You're the Duke! [chuckles] You're the Duke. You're A-Number One.

Attention: You are now entering the debarkation area. No talking. No smoking. Follow the orange line to the processing area. The next scheduled departure to the prison is in two hours. You now have the option to terminate and be cremated on the premises. If you elect this option, notify the duty sergeant in your processing area.

Narrator

In 1988, the crime rate in the United States rises four hundred percent. The once great city of New York becomes the one maximum security prison for the entire country. A fifty-foot containment wall is erected along the New Jersey shoreline, across the Harlem River, and down along the Brooklyn shoreline. It completely surrounds Manhattan Island. All bridges and waterways are mined. The United States Police Force, like an army, is encamped around the island. There are no guards inside the prison, only prisoners and the worlds they have made. The rules are simple: once you go in, you don't come out.