Air Force One (1997) - Quotes

Leadership Under Extreme Pressure

Taglines: Harrison Ford is the President of the United States

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Titles Are Earned, Not Given

Taglines: Family Man. Commander-In-Chief. National Hero...Any title worth having is never given. It's earned.

Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.

Key Elements of a High-Stakes Situation

Taglines: The most important man, the surest airplane, the most dangerous hijackers...

Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.

Courage of One Man Determines Nation's Fate

Taglines: The fate of a nation rests on the courage of one man.

Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.

Strength and Vulnerability in Adversity

Taglines: Impenetrable. Invincible. In Trouble.

Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.

Emergency Status Update on Air Force One

Liberty Two-Four Pilot: Blue Star... Air Force One is down. I repeat, Air Force One is down!

Control Room [Blue Star]: Liberty Two-Four, do you have the president?

Control Room [Blue Star]: Liberty, DO YOU HAVE THE PRESIDENT?

Liberty Two-Four Pilot: Standby...

Liberty Two-Four crewman: Hang on... WE GOT HIM!!

Liberty Two-Four Pilot: [everybody cheers] Liberty Two-Four is changing call signs, Liberty Two-Four is now Air Force One!

Liberty Two-Four crewman: [at attention, salutes with the rest of the crew; Marshall returns salute] Mr President. Welcome aboard, sir!

Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.

Trust and Duty in Crisis

Secret Service Agent Gibbs: Give me the strap!

President James Marshall: I trusted you with my life!

Secret Service Agent Gibbs: [gestures about safety line] So will the next president! Now give it to me!

Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.

Aircraft Maneuvering Under Threat

F-15 Pilot: Sir, pull up! You've got one on your tail.

President James Marshall: Get him off my tail!

F-15 Pilot: Missile away. Air Force One, break left and climb!

Major Caldwell: Sir, we've lost countermeasures!

F-15 Pilot: [Takes the missile for Air Force One] This is Halo-2. They've lost countermeasures. I'm going in.

Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.

Fuel Negotiations Under Duress

Egor Korshunov: Madam Vice-President, the time has come for you to show your good faith. I've read your press kits. I understand Air Force One is able to refuel in midair. Well, we need fuel and we need it now.

Vice-President Kathryn Bennett: I'm sure we can come to some kind of arrangement. If you land the plane, we'll trade fuel for hostages-

Korshunov: This is bullshit! It's simple physics. Without fuel, the plane crashes, everybody dies!

Bennett: We're trying to do everything that we can-

Korshunov: [Angrily; Calmly] Tell me what I want to hear or I will execute a member of the senior staff and continue killing one hostage every minute until the plane crash or refueling plane arrive! Well, what do you say?

Bennett: Fuel's on its way.

Korshunov: [Politely] Thank you.

Quotes sourced from Wikiquote (© Wikiquote contributors), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Modified for formatting/length.

Ambitions of Power and Revenge

Vice-President Kathryn Bennett: What are your intentions?

Egor Korshunov: What arrogance to think you could ever understand my intentions.

Bennett: I want to understand what it is that you want.

Korshunov: What do I want...When Mother Russia becomes one great nation again, when the capitalists are dragged from the Kremlin and then shot in the street, when our enemies run and hide in fear at the mention of our name, and when America begs our forgiveness...on that great day of deliverance, you will know what I want.

Tension Rises Over President's Safety

Air Force General: [After hearing the president ordering them to fire on Air Force One] My God! Is he saying what I think he's saying?

Vice-President Kathryn Bennett: If we're going to act, we have to act now.

Defense Secretary Walter Dean: It's too risky.

Bennett: The president is up there with a gun to his head!

General Northwood: [sulks in his chair] He's asking us to do that? To Air Force One?!

Bennett: [leans forward to the general] He's not asking. Your commander-in-chief has issued a direct order. Do it!

Negotiation Amidst National Security Crisis

Egor Korshunov: [shoots National Security Advisor] More time? Your national security advisor has just been executed. He's a very good negotiator. He bought you another half-hour.

A List of Hostage Stakes

Egor Korshunov: When you talk to the President, you might remind him that I am holding his wife, his daughter, his chief of staff, his national security advisor, his classified papers, AND his baseball glove!

Presidential Command to Evacuate Aircraft

President James Marshall: [to a subdued Korshunov] Get off my plane!

A Pledge for Justice and Action

President James Marshall: [in Russian, addressing state dinner in Moscow; turns back to English] The dead remember our indifference; the dead remember our silence. I came here tonight to be congratulated. But today, when I visited the Red Cross camps, overwhelmed by the flood of refugees fleeing the horror of Kazakhstan, I realize I don't deserve to be congratulated. None of us do. The truth is we acted too late. Only when our own national security was threatened did we act. Radek's regime murdered over 200,000 men, women and children and we watched it on TV. We let it happen. People were being slaughtered for over a year and we issued economic sanctions and hid behind the rhetoric of diplomacy. How dare we. The dead remembered: real peace is not just the absence of conflict, it's the presence of justice. And tonight I come to you with a pledge to change America's policy. Never again will I allow our political self-interest to deter us from doing what we know to be morally right. Atrocity and terror are not political weapons, and to those who would use them, your day is over. We will never negotiate. We will no longer tolerate and we will no longer be afraid. It's your turn to be afraid.