Memorable Quotes from Alf Humphreys
1 quoteAuthority and Responsibility in Law Enforcement
Deputy Lester
I was just talking to Mitch, and he said that Gault and a couple of the deputies were... a little hard on the guy.
[referring to the mistreatment of Rambo]
Capt. Kern
Assholes!
Sheriff Teasle
It doesn't make one goddamn bit of difference, Dave, and you know it! If one of my deputies... gets out of line with a prisoner then the prisoner comes to me with it. And if I find out it's like he says I kick the deputy's ass! Me! The Law! People start fucking around with the law then all hell breaks loose! Whatever possessed God in heaven to make a man like Rambo?
Trautman
God didn't make Rambo... I made him!
Teasle
Who the hell are you?
Trautman
Sam Trautman, Colonel Samuel Trautman.
Teasle
Look, we're a little busy this morning, Colonel. What can I do for you?
Trautman
I've come to get my boy.
Kern
Your boy?
Trautman
I recruited him. I trained him. I commanded him in Vietnam for three years... I'd say that makes him mine.
Teasle
I wonder why the Pentagon would send a full-bird Colonel down here to handle this.
Trautman
The Army thought I might be able to help.
Teasle
I don't know. In what way? Rambo's a civilian now, he's my problem.
[scoffs]
Trautman
I don't think you understand. I didn't come here to rescue Rambo from you. I came here to rescue you from him.
Teasle
Well, we all appreciate your concern Colonel, I will try to be extra careful!
[clearly offended by Trautman's words]
Trautman
I'm just amazed he allowed any of your posse to live.
Teasle
Is that right?
Trautman
Strictly speaking, he slipped up. You're lucky to be breathing.
Teasle
That's just great. Colonel, you came out here to find out why one of your machines blew a gasket!
[sets aside paper, annoyed at the remark]
Trautman
You don't seem to want to accept the fact that you're dealing with an expert in ], with a man who's the best! With guns, with knives, with his bare hands! A man who's been trained to ignore pain! To ignore weather! To live off the land! To eat things that would make a billy goat puke! In ] his job was to dispose of enemy personnel... to kill, period! Win by ]... well, Rambo was the best!
[[w:Guerrilla warfare|guerrilla warfare; [w:Vietnam War|Vietnam; [w:attrition warfare|attrition]
Teasle
Now we're afraid, what do you and the special forces suggest we do with the psychopath?
Trautman
Let him go.
Lester
What?
Trautman
For now. Defuse the situation, defuse him. Provide a little...gap, and let him slip through it. Then put out a nationwide APB. In a couple of weeks you'll find him in Seattle or someplace, working in a car wash. There'll be no fight and nobody else will get hurt.
Teasle
I do my own work. I don't figure the best way to do that is to close my eyes and hope he gets picked up in Seattle!
Col. Trautman
Well if you send your people in there after him they'll get killed!
Sheriff Teasle
You know, we're just a small, hick-town sheriff's department, Colonel, but we're expected to do our duty just like our heroes in the Special Forces.
[getting more irritated]
Trautman
In Special Forces we teach our people to stay alive in the line of duty.
Teasle
No shit, I never thought of that.
Trautman
You want a war you can't win?
Teasle
Are you tellin me that two hundred men against your boy is a no-win situation for us?
Trautman
You send that many, don't forget one thing.
Teasle
What?
Trautman
A good supply of body-bags.
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.