Alan Dershowitz One thing, Claus. Legally, this was an important victory. Morally -- you're on your own.
Played by Ron Silver 
Reversal of Fortune (1990) · 22 quotes
Reversal of Fortune (1990) · 22 quotes
Tied for most-quoted character in Reversal of Fortune (1990): in 17 of its 22 quotes
Most scenes with: Raj (14), Claus von Bülow (8)
If the rules don't work, you change them.
More lines from Alan Dershowitz
2 quotes Alan Dershowitz Alan Dershowitz Claus, let me explain something to you: the less you tell me, the more options I have.
Scenes with Alan Dershowitz
14 scenes Alan Dershowitz I'm not a hired gun. I've got to feel there's some moral or constitutional issue at stake.
But I'm absolutely innocent, and my civil liberties have been egregiously violated!
Alan Dershowitz I've got two black kids facing the electric chair for a crime they did not commit. THEY are innocent.
Well, before you assume I'm guilty, won't you hear my story?
Alan Dershowitz No. Never let defendants explain; puts most of them in an awkward position.
How do you mean?
Alan Dershowitz Lying.
Alan Dershowitz You do have one thing in your favor: everybody hates you.
Well, that's a start.
Alan Dershowitz Reminds me of my Hitler dream. You know, Hitler calls up, he's alive... needs a laywer. I say, "Sure, come on over." Then I have to decide: do I take the case, or do I kill him?
Elon Dershowitz
You? No question.
Alan Dershowitz I would take the case.
Elon Dershowitz
THEN kill him.
Minnie Yeah, okay, so, someone's got to defend Claus. But why you, why us?
Alan Dershowitz Look, you're my student, you, you have a choice. You don't have to do anything you don't want to do; that is your choice. The reason I take cases -- and here I'm unlike most other lawyers, who are not professors and therefore have to make a living -- I take cases because I get pissed off. And I am pissed off here. The family hired a private prosecutor: unacceptable! They conducted a private search! Now if we let them get away with that, rich people won't go to the cops any more. You know what they're going to do? They're going to get their own lawyers to collect evidence -- and then they are going to choose which evidence they feel like passing on to the DA. And the next victim isn't going to be rich, like von Bülow -- but it's going to be some poor schnook in Detroit who can't afford, or who can't find, a decent lawyer.
I agree von Bülow is guilty, but then, that's the fun -- that's the challenge.
Alan Dershowitz Now THERE is a lawyer.
Well, so much for the first coma. The second, of course, was much more theatrical.
Alan Dershowitz Theatrical? What is this, a **** game? This is life and death; your wife is lying in a coma. You, you don't even make a pretense of caring, do you?
'Course I care, Alan. It's just, I don't wear my heart on my sleeve.
Alan Dershowitz This is the most dangerous case I have ever worked on.
You find that exhilarating?
Alan Dershowitz No, I do not. I am breaking every rule. 'Cause the best way to win is to proclaim your innocence, and I have never done that for anybody. And the problem I got is, I see who you are. You'd do anything to win.
So would you.
Alan Dershowitz Yeah, but you don't trust the legal system.
You're saying I'd manufacture... witnesses? Affidavits?
Alan Dershowitz No. But you would sacrifice me.
Oh, please.
Alan Dershowitz See, the more I believe that you are innocent, the more nervous I am. I go out on a limb for you, you're proven guilty, I look like an asshole. My reputation, my credibility, my career, destroyed.
That's the risk you're taking, isn't it?
Alan Dershowitz Well, **** you, **** you, man... I'm glad we understand one another.
Alan Dershowitz Why -- why do you think this case fascinates people? 'Cause, one time or other, every man is driven crazy by his wife, and in his secret heart, he wants to do exactly what Claus is accused of: kill her in some sly, silent way that can't be detected. Claus is a scapegoat: someone has to suffer for the sin that we all want to commit.
Team member
Alan... that's ridiculous.
Alan Dershowitz It's ridiculous, you're right.
Alan Dershowitz All right, my friend...
"Friend"? I like that.
Alan Dershowitz Nothing personal.
Alan Dershowitz Our new evidence will clearly indicate...
Judge
Professor, you know there isn't a single case which allows you to introduce new evidence on appeal.
Alan Dershowitz Well, there is one, your honor, and you wrote it. Derrick. In Derrick, in Derrick, you yourself said that a case based on circumstantial theory rather than fact only stands up if no other theory makes sense. The only way to show a better theory is to present it!
Alan Dershowitz A priest? Well, a priest is the ideal witness: it's like getting the word of God
I checked. God is unavailable.
Minnie He says he doesn't have anything that'd help us.
Alan Dershowitz You with me?
Sarah Paydirt.
What's paydirt?
Alan Dershowitz He's a lawyer. If he really didn't have anything, he'd give it to us. But there's something there, and he's going to fight like hell to hold onto it.
I'm not afraid, Alan. Let the chips fall where they may.
Alan Dershowitz That's what an innocent man would say.
I know.
Alan Dershowitz You are a very strange man.
You have no idea.
