Swordfish (2001) - Quotes

Accessing Unlimited Possibilities Through Hacking

Taglines: Log On. Hack In. Go Anywhere. Get Everything.

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Access Granted

Taglines: Password Accepted

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Login and Logout Instructions

Taglines: Log In. Log Out. Leg It!

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The Power of Knowledge and Access

Taglines: Once you know the password you can go anywhere.

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Unlimited Access to Digital Theft

Taglines: Log on. Hack in. Go anywhere. Steal everything.

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Betrayal and Consequences in Politics

Gabriel: [Gabriel pulls out a gun] You tried to kill me. You've misplaced your loyalty, Senator, you've sold out America. Patriotism does not have a four-year shelf-life, but unfortunately politicians do.

Senator Reisman: Now what are you gonna do with that?

Gabriel: [[Thomas Jefferson] ] once shot a man on the White House lawn for treason.

Senator Reisman: Now hold the phone, Thomas Jefferson... (Gabriel shoots the Senator)

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The Dilemma of Greater Good

Stanley: How can you justify all this?

Gabriel: You're not looking at the big picture Stan. Here's a scenario. You have the power to cure all the world's diseases but the price for this is that you must kill a single innocent child, could you kill that child Stanley?

Stanley: No.

Gabriel: You disappoint me, it's the greatest good.

Stanley: Well how about 10 innocents?

Gabriel: Now you're gettin it, how about a hundred - how about a THOUSAND? Not to save the world but to preserve our way of life.

Stanley: No man has the right to make that decision; you're no different from any other terrorist.

Gabriel: No, you're wrong Stanley. Thousands die every day for no reason at all, where's your bleeding heart for them? You give your twenty dollars to Greenpeace every year thinking you're changing the world? What countries will harbor terrorists when they realize the consequences of what I'll do? Did you know that I can buy nuclear warheads in Minsk for forty million each? Hell, I'd buy half a dozen and even get a discount!

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A Challenge to Overcome Fear and Doubt

Stanley: I can't drive this thing!

Gabriel: Learn!

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Tension Escalates Between Characters in Crisis

Gabriel: [looks at Ginger] Twenty. She dying Stanley.

Stanley: Shut the FUCK up!

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Threatening Confrontation in Swordfish

Marco: [looks at Stanley while packing away a rocket launcher] What?

Marco: I know what you're thinking. You're thinking: If that launcher was a suppository, would that bad man stick it up my ass? Well, you eyeball me once more boy,

Marco: and i'll stick it so far up your ass you'll be begging me for this bullet.

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The Value of Personal Choice and Ignorance

Ginger: You know, you should really have let me buy you a suit, Stanley.

Stanley: I'm happy with what I'm wearing, thank you.

Ginger: Ignorance is bliss.

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The Suit That Makes the Man

Gabriel: Big Stan! Nice suit.

Stanley: Thanks.

Gabriel: They say it's the suit that makes the man.

Stanley: Buy it?

Gabriel: Hope not!

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Urgent Choices and Personal Stakes

Stanley: What are you still doing here? Look, I'm beginning to lose my sense of humor about all this.

Ginger: Ok, then I'll cut to the chase. If you want a chance in hell at getting your daughter back you better listen up. Unless of course, you want to stay here, in this loser existence, while your daughter grows up to be a fluffer in her new daddy's videos.

Stanley: Do me the courtesy of not confusing your own childhood with my daughter's.

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Finding Someone in a Chaotic World

Roberts: How do I find this guy?

Axel Torvalds: You don't find him; he finds you.

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Justifying Extreme Measures in the Fight Against Terrorism

Stanley: War? Who are we at war with?

Gabriel: Anyone who impinges on America's freedom. Terrorist states, Stanley. Someone must bring their war to them. They bomb a church, we bomb 10. They hijack a plane, we take out an airport. They execute American tourist, we tactically nuke an entire city. Our job is to make terrorism so horrific that is becomes unthinkable to attack Americans.

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Golf Skills and Personal Balance

Ginger: You're not too good at this golf thing, are you, Stan?

Stanley: You're fucking up my chi.

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Introduction Between Stanley and Ginger

Stanley: And you are?

Ginger: I'm Ginger.

Stanley: Where's Gilligan?

The Art of Misdirection in Magic

Gabriel: Have you ever heard of Harry Houdini? Well he wasn't like today's magicians who are only interested in television ratings. He was an artist. He could make an elephant disappear in the middle of a theater filled with people, and do you know how he did that? Misdirection.

Stanley: What the fuck are you talking about?

Gabriel: Misdirection. What the eyes see and the ears hear, the mind believes.

Expectations vs. Reality in Storytelling

Stanley: It's not gonna end like this.

Gabriel: Oh, come on, Stan. Not everything ends the way you think it should. Besides, audiences love happy endings.

Identity Revealed Amidst Accusations

Gabriel: Stanley, I'm about to do something that is against my better judgement. I'm going to tell you who I am.

Stanley: Don't bother. I already know who you are.

Gabriel: Really? You see I think that you think I'm a bank robber. But that's not the truth. The truth is I'm just like you.

Stanley: You're a murderer.

Gabriel: Indeed I am and worse, much worse.

Illusions of Power and Desire

Stanley: Nothing is impossible.

Axel Torvalds: He exists in a world beyond your world. What we only fantasize, he does. He lives a life where nothing is beyond him. But you know what? It's all a facade. For all his charm and charisma, his wealth, his expensive toys... he's a driven, unflinching, calculating machine. He takes what he wants, when he wants... and disappears.

Ginger: Surprised that a girl with an IQ over seventy can give you a hard on?

Unfulfilling Actions Compared to Self-Indulgence

Gabriel: It's kinda like masturbation without the payoff.

Need for Speed in High-Stakes Tasks

Gabriel: I have been told that the best crackers in the world can do this under 60 minutes but unfortunately I need someone who can do this under 60 seconds.

Critique of Realism in Modern Cinema

Gabriel: [[Dog Day Afternoon; [Al Pacino|Pacino; [Scarface; [The Godfather|Godfather Part 1; [w:Sidney Lumet|Lumet] You know what the problem with Hollywood is? They make shit. Unbelievable, unremarkable shit. Now I'm not some grungy wannabe filmmaker that's searching for existentialism through a haze of bong smoke or something. No, it's easy to pick apart bad acting, short-sighted directing, and a purely moronic stringing together of words that many of the studios term as "prose". No, I'm talking about the lack of realism. Realism; not a pervasive element in today's modern American cinematic vision. Take ], for example. Arguably ]'s best work, short of ] and ], of course. Masterpiece of directing, easily ]'s best. The cinematography, the acting, the screenplay, all top-notch. But... they didn't push the envelope. Now what if in Dog Day, Sonny REALLY wanted to get away with it? What if - now here's the tricky part - what if he started killing hostages right away? No mercy, no quarter. "Meet our demands or the pretty blonde in the bellbottoms gets it the back of the head." Bam, splat! What, still no bus? Come on! How many innocent victims splattered across a window would it take to have the city reverse its policy on hostage situations? And this is 1976; there's no CNN, there's no CNBC, there's no internet! Now fast forward to today, present time, same situation. How quickly would the modern media make a frenzy over this? In a matter of hours, it'd be biggest story from Boston to Budapest! Ten hostages die, twenty, thirty; bam bam, right after another, all caught in high-def, computer-enhanced, color corrected. You can practically taste the brain matter. All for what? A bus, a plane? A couple of million dollars that's federally insured? I don't think so. Just a thought. I mean, it's not within the realm of conventional cinema... but what if?