Memorable Quotes from Bradford Dillman
9 quotesPiranha Project and Its Hidden Dangers
Paul Grogan
You must've known all along they were here.
Col. Waxman
OK. You and Miss McKeown are the only two civilians who know about this project.
Dr. Mengers
What the colonel means is that he'd like you to join us. Become one of our team.
Paul Grogan
It figures. Impossible. Look, you're a full colonel, right? I assume you can read a map. Here. We are here at the dam, OK? Over here you'll see there's a stream that feeds into it. Follow the stream back for an eighth of a mile and you see there's a fork. Take this branch, follow it downstream, and you'll see it empties into the river on the other side of the dam. In other words, the piranha have a way to get around the obstacle.
Maggie McKeown
Even if there's a chance he's right, don't you think you should do something?
Dr. Mengers
No. If a bypass exists, piranha haven't the intelligence or the motivation to find it.
Paul Grogan
But you know Hoak was breeding them for endurance and intelligence and...
Dr. Mengers
Well, Bob was a dreamer. He, er...
Paul Grogan
Bob? Dr. Hoak? You knew him?
Dr. Mengers
Fish genetics is a very small field.
Paul Grogan
You were friends?
Dr. Mengers
Let's say we were a great deal more than that.
Paul Grogan
You're covering up. Is it Waxman? Are you afraid of what the army might do to you if you...
Dr. Mengers
No, I'm not afraid. I'm a scientist. I'm head of my department. It's just that there are priorities, and...some things are more important than a few lives.
Paul Grogan
That's not how Dr Hoak felt. Not at the end.
Dr. Menger
As I said, he was a dreamer.
Col. Waxman
The situation is under control.
Paul Grogan
Hold on. What is this? Why won't you listen to me?
Col. Waxman
Would you excuse us for a moment, please? As far as you're concerned, this project does not exist. The piranha do not exist.
Paul Grogan
And if I make a squawk?
Maggie McKeown
Paul...
Col. Waxman
The interests of national security permit extreme measures.
Paul Grogan
Oh, come on! The war's over, dammit!
Col. Waxman
There'll be other wars, Mr Grogan.
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
Accountability in Scientific Research and Experimentation
Dr. Robert Hoak
It was pure research. No scrounging for grant money. No academic politics. You don't know what that means to a scientist.
Paul Grogan
You fed them. You kept them alive.
Dr. Robert Hoak
I continued the experiment. There was so much more I could do with the species. So much further I could take them. You're not holding me responsible? I think you are. You pulled the plug and you're holding me responsible. Incredible. You're blaming me.
Paul Grogan
I think if you open your mouth again I'll stick this pole in it.
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
A Plan for Distraction and Escape
Maggie McKeown
That guard is still out there.
Paul Grogan
Fine. I need you to distract him.
Maggie McKeown
What for?
Paul Grogan
So I can get away.
Maggie McKeown
So YOU can get away? What about me?
Paul Grogan
Well suit yourself. Just come onto him, tell him what an admirer you are of Army or something like that.
Maggie McKeown
What if he's gay?
Paul Grogan
Then I'll go and distract him!
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
Government Funding for Genetic Warfare Research
Paul Grogan
The government paid you?
Dr. Robert Hoak
Of course they paid. Where there's germ warfare, the bomb, chemical warfare, there's plenty of money. Special agencies. They pay. They pay a lot better than they do in private research.
Paul Hogan
For raisin fish.
Dr. Robert Hoak
Oh, no. It's a matter of genetics. Radiation. Selective breeding. They called it Operation Razorteeth.
Maggie McKeown
What was it all for?
Dr. Robert Hoak
To destroy the river systems of the North Vietnamese. Our goal was to develop a strain of this killer fish that could survive in cold water and then breed at an accelerated rate. We had everything. Blank cheque. And then the war ended.
Paul Grogan
You sound disappointed.
Dr. Robert Hoak
They poisoned the water. After all that work, they poisoned the water. But some survived. We developed a lot of mutants and a few of them were able to resist the poison. They ate their own. Their own dead. And then began to breed like some wild species. Suddenly there were hundreds. Maybe thousands.
Maggie McKeown
Our tax dollars at work, huh? That's science in the service of defence. Sure. Spreadin strains of bacteria in the subway system. You put them in the river where they could kill people. Including civilians. And kids swimming in the rivers.
Dr. Robert Hoak
I never killed anybody.
Paul Grogan
If you wanna talk about killing, talk to your politicians, the military.
Dr. Robert Hoak
No, no. I'm a scientist.
Paul Grogan
Kids in the water.
Maggie McKeown
What?
Paul Grogan
The dam. They let water through every few days to keep the level steady on the new lake. The resort's down there. Summer camp. All those kids. Come on.
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
Discussion of Nearby Locations and Shelters
Maggie McKeown
Are there any other shacks around here?
Paul Grogan
Cabins! This is a cabin!
Maggie McKeown
Well, are there any more of them? Any place they might be hole up in?
Paul Grogan
There's an old fella named Jack who has a place downriver, but he woundn't treat any hospitality towards them. Oh, and there was some kind of Army test site way up on top of the mountain. But that closed down five, six years ago.
Maggie McKeown
C'mon, let's go.
Paul Grogan
To where?
Maggie McKeown
You're taking me up there.
Paul Grogan
Oh NO I'm not!
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
Warning About Water Safety
Dr. Robert Hoak
Keep your hand out of the water.
Maggie McKeown
What's wrong with the water?
Paul Grogan
Since you're talkin this morning, buddy, how about a name?
Dr. Robert Hoak
Hoak. Dr Robert Hoak.
Maggie McKeown
What's wrong with the water?
Dr. Robert Hoak
The water is filled with carnivorous fish. Piranha.
Paul Grogan
Oh, Christ.
Maggie McKeown
In here? How did they get in?
Dr. Robert Hoak
You let them in when you drained the pond at the test site.
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
Search for Missing Campers in Mountain Area
Maggie McKeown
Mr. Grogan, I'm looking for two teenagers that disappeared a few weeks ago. Some friends of theirs said they went camping around here.
Paul Grogan
Well, I haven't seen them. You talk to the sheriff's people?
Maggie McKeown
I did. They told me that it's a pretty big mountain area.
Paul Grogan
It is.
Maggie McKeown
So... I was wondering if there are any places around here they might be or if they may have gone for a swim.
Paul Grogan
Well if they drowned, they'd be swept down to the dam. So, you're starting off at the wrong end.
Maggie McKeown
Boy, you're the wrong end all right! Look, am I interrupting something? This is kind of important.
Paul Grogan
Hey, you cool your jets, lady. I didn't axe-murder your young couple. I can't help you. I haven't seen em.
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
Questioning Choices in Troubled Relationships
Maggie McKeown
So, did you start drinking before or after?
Paul Grogan
Before or after what?
Maggie McKeown
Your wife left you.
Paul Grogan
What the hell kind of question is that?
Maggie McKeown
Look, I'm sorry. I was just interested.
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.
Confrontation Over Police Conduct and Homicide Investigation
Captain Briggs
In more than 30 years of police work, this is the single, most OUTRAGEOUS transgression of authority I ever heard about. What the HELL did you think you were doing?
[shouting]
Harry Callahan
My job.
Captain Briggs
Is it your job, to harass and incite an old man into a heart attack?
Harry Callahan
My job is to investigate homicide. That old man happens to be one of the biggest crime lords on the west coast. How the hell was I supposed to know he was gonna vapor-lock?
Captain Briggs
But you hoped he would?
Harry Callahan
The Doker case is mine. It was at a standstill. I was just trying to break it loose.
Captain Briggs
Sure, with threats and intimidation!
Harry Callahan
Any way possible!
Captain Briggs
Are you aware that you have destroyed MONTHS - of intelligence & surveillance work? We're talking thousands of dollar, hundreds of man-hours? Special investigations has been BUSTING ITS ASS preparing a case against Threlkis.
Harry Callahan
He would have just snaked his way out of it. Maybe we saved the taxpayers a little money.
Captain Briggs
I ought to bust your ass down to traffic. Or better yet, kick it off the force! You're a dinosaur, Callahan. Your ideas don't fit today.
Harry Callahan
Just what ideas are these? That murder's a crime? That it should be punished?
Captain Briggs
Hey, don't you lecture me, you son-of-a-bitch. You know who you're talking to, huh? You know MY record?
[sneering]
Harry Callahan
Yeah. You're a legend in your own mind!
Captain Briggs
Goddamn you, Callahan!
Lt. Donnelly
Commissioner, now I...
Police Commissioner
Please, Lieutenant! The press will have a field day with this latest escapade. There may be further civil & legal repercussions. As a matter of fact there may even be attempts at retaliation. I think it would be wise if the inspector took some time off.
Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.