Legal films

"I want you to know that I think the whole fucking bunch of you are certifiably insane. This code of honor of yours makes me want to beat the shit out of somebody."

"We're in the business of saving lives, Matthew. That is a responsibility that I think we have to take pretty seriously. And I believe that taking a Marine who's not quite up to the job and shipping him off to some other assignment puts lives in danger. [Markinson rises to leave] Sit down, Matthew. We go back a while. We went to the Academy together, we were commissioned together, we did our tours in Vietnam together. But I've been promoted up the chain with greater speed and success than you have. Now, if that's a source of tension or embarrassment for you, I don't give a shit. We're in the business of saving lives, Lt. Col. Markinson. Don't ever question my orders in front of another officer."

"In the heart of the nation's capital, in a courthouse of the U.S. government, one man will stop at nothing to keep his honor, and one will stop at nothing to find the truth."

"Tom Cruise - Lieutenant Daniel Kaffee"

"Demi Moore - Lieutenant Commander Joanne Galloway"

"Jack Nicholson - Colonel Nathan R.Jessup"

"Kevin Bacon - Captain Jack Ross"

"Kiefer Sutherland - Lieutenant Jonathan Kendrick"

"J.T. Walsh - Lieutenant Colonel Matthew Markinson"

"Kevin Pollak - Lieutenant Junior Grade Sam Weinberg"

"James Marshall - Private First Class Louden Downey"

"Matt Craven - Lieutenant Dave Spradling"

"Wolfgang Bodison - Lance Corporal Harold W.Dawson"

"J.A. Preston - Judge Julius Alexander Randolph"

"Noah Wyle - Corporal Jeffrey Barnes"

"Cuba Gooding Jr. - Corporal Carl Hammaker"

"John M. Jackson - Captain West"

"Xander Berkeley - Captain Whitaker"

"Joshua Malina - Tom"

"Christopher Guest - Dr.Stone"

"Aaron Sorkin - Lawyer bragging in tavern"

"Behold, I send you out as sheep amidst the wolves."

"Men kill animals and eat their flesh. Phillipe Moyez killed a goat. He killed a goat, and he did it at home, in a manner consistent with his religious beliefs. Now, Mr. Merto may find that bizarre. It's certainly not a religious practice performed by everyone. It's not as common as, say, circumcision. It's not as common as the belief that wine transforms into blood. Some people handle poisonous snakes to prove their faith. Some people walk on fire. Phillipe Moyez killed a goat, and he did it while observing his constitutionally protected religious beliefs."

"Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I know you've spent all morning listening to Mr. Broygo talk. I know you're hungry. What I need to tell you won't take very long at all. I don't like Alexander Cullen. I don't think he's a nice person. I don't expect you to like him. He's been a terrible husband to all three of his wives. He's been a destructive force in the lives of his stepchildren. He's cheated the city, his partners, his employees. He's paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in penalties and fines over the years. I don't like him. I'm going to tell you some things during the course of this trial that are going to make you like him even less. But this isn't a popularity contest; it's a murder trial."

"Don't get too cocky, my boy. No matter how good you are, don't ever let them see you coming. That's the gaffe, my friend. You gotta keep yourself small, innocuous. Be the little guy. You know, the nerd, the leper, the shit-kicking surfer. Look at me. Underestimated from day one! You'd never think I was a master of the universe, now, would you?"

"A woman's shoulders are the front lines of her mystique, and her neck, if she's alive, has all the mystery of a border town. A no-man's land in that battle between the mind and the body."

"Eddie Barzoon, Eddie Barzoon… ha! I nursed him through two divorces, a cocaine rehab, and a pregnant receptionist. God's creature, right? God's special creature. I've warned him, Kevin. I've warned him every step of the way. Watching him bounce around like a fucking game. Like a wind-up toy. Like 250 pounds of self-serving greed on wheels. The next thousand years is right around the corner. Eddie Barzoon… take a good look, because he's the poster child for the next millennium. These people, it's no mystery where they come from.You sharpen the human appetite to the point where it can split atoms with its desire. You build egos the size of cathedrals, fiberoptically connect the world to every eager impulse, grease even the dullest dreams with these dollar-green, gold-plated fantasies, until every human becomes an aspiring emperor, becomes his own god. Where can you go from there? As we're scrambling from one deal to the next, who's got his eye on the planet? As the air thickens, the water sours, even the bees' honey takes on the metallic taste of radioactivity. And it just keeps coming, faster and faster. There's no chance to think, to prepare—it's "buy futures", "sell futures", when there is no future. We got a runaway train, boy. We got a billion Eddie Barzoons all jogging into the future. Every one of them is getting ready to fistfuck God's ex-planet and lick their fingers clean as they reach out toward their pristine cybernetic keyboards to tot up their fucking billable hours. And then it hits home. You gotta pay your own way, Eddie. It's a little late in the game to buy out now. Your belly's too full, your dick is sore, your eyes are bloodshot, and you're screaming for someone to help. But guess what? There's no one there! You're all alone, Eddie. You're God's special little creature. Maybe it's true. Maybe God threw the dice once too often. Maybe He let us all down."

"You've got to marshal your strength. Prioritize. Conserve your energy."

"Diaboli virtus in lumbis est. The virtue of the Devil is in his loins."

"[Last line of the film] Vanity—definitely my favorite sin."

"Evil has its winning ways."

"The newest attorney at the world's most powerful law firm has never lost a case. But he's about to lose his soul."

"Speak of the devil"

"Devil begins and wins."

"Keanu Reeves – Kevin Lomax"

"Al Pacino – John Milton"

"Charlize Theron – Mary Ann Lomax"

"Jeffrey Jones – Eddie Barzoon"

"Judith Ivey – Alice Lomax"

"Connie Nielsen – Christabella Andreoli"

"Craig T. Nelson – Alexander Cullen"

"Debra Monk – Pam Garrety"

"A Comedy of Trial and Error"

"There have been many courtroom dramas that have glorified The Great American Legal System. This is not one of them."

"Joe Pesci - Vincent LaGuardia Gambini"

"Marisa Tomei - Mona Lisa Vito"

"Ralph Macchio - Bill Gambini"

"Mitchell Whitfield - Stan Rothenstein"

"Fred Gwynne - Judge Chamberlain Haller"

"Lane Smith - D.A. Jim Trotter"

"Bruce McGill - Sheriff Farley"

"James Rebhorn - George Wilbur"

"And two weeks ago, I killed Cameron Diaz at Fred Segal, when I talked her out of buying this truly heinous angora sweater. Whoever said orange was the new pink was seriously disturbed!"

"So just because I'm not a Vanderbilt, suddenly I'm white trash? I grew up in Bel Air, Warner, across the street from Aaron Spelling. I think most people would agree that's better than some stinky old Vanderbilt."

"He's engaged! She's got the six-carat Harry Winston on her bony, unpolished finger."

"All people see when they look at me is blonde hair and big boobs."

"Bend... and snap!"

"The rules of hair care are simple and finite. Any Cosmo girl would have known."

"Exercise gives you endorphins. Endorphins make you happy. Happy people just don't shoot their husbands. They just don't!"

"I'll show you how valuable Elle Woods can be!"

"[to Warner] I've been waiting for a long time for you to say that. But if I'm going to be a partner in a law firm by the time I'm 30, I need a boyfriend who's not such a complete bonehead."

"[Speaking at the class graduation as valedictorian in Harvard.] On my very first day at Harvard, a very wise professor quoted Aristotle, "The law is reason free from passion"; Well, no offence to Aristotle, but in my three years at Harvard, I have come to find passion is the key ingredient to the study and practice of law, and of life. It is with passion, courage of conviction, and strong sense of self that we take our next steps into the world. Remembering that first impressions are not always correct, you must always have faith in people, and most importantly you must always have faith in yourself. Congratulations, Class of 2004... [excited] We did it!"

"You know, being a blonde is actually a pretty powerful thing. You hold more cards than you think you do. And I, for one, would like to see you take that power and channel it toward the greater good, you know?"

"Do you think she just woke up one morning and said, 'I think I'll go to law school today'?"

"[Elle is in tears at the salon after she finds out Warner dumped her for her new rival, Vivian] So, what does this Vivian got that you don't got - three tits?"

"Could I have been anymore goddamn spastic?"

"[to her ex-husband] I'm takin' the dog, Dumbass!"

"Elle's father: Law school is for people who are boring, and ugly, and…serious. And you, Button, are none of those things."

"Aaron Mitchell: I was first in my class at Princeton, I have an I.Q. of a hundred and eighty-seven, and it's been suggested that Stephen Hawking stole his Brief History of Time…from my fourth grade paper."

"Professor Stromwell: If you're going to let one stupid prick ruin your life, you're not the girl I thought you were."

"Professor Stromwell: A legal education means you will learn to speak in a new language. You will be taught to achieve insight into the world around you. And to sharply question what you know."

"Maurice: Oh, my God, the bend and snap! Works every time."

"Reese Witherspoon - Elle Woods"

"Matthew Davis - Warner Huntington III"

"Luke Wilson - Emmett Richmond"

"Victor Garber - Professor Callahan"

"Selma Blair - Vivian Kensington"

"Jennifer Coolidge - Paulette Bonafonté"

"Ali Larter - Brooke Wyndham"

"This summer go blonde!"

"Boldly going where no blonde has gone."

"Blondes DO have more fun!"

"Don't judge a book by its hair color!"

"Believing In Yourself NEVER Goes Out Of Style!"

"Meet Elle Woods. She's a lawyer with a heart of gold...and a mane to match!"

"For the first time in my life, I got people respecting me. Please, don't ask me to give it up."

"Not personal?! That is my work, my sweat, my time away from my kids! If that's not personal, I don't know what is!"

"[From memory, to a group of lawyers who don't think she adds anything to the case] Annabelle Daniels: 74-454-9346. 10 years old, 11 in May. Lived on the plume since birth. Wanted to be a synchronized swimmer so she spent every minute she could in the PG&E pool. She had a tumor in her brain stem detected last November, an operation on Thanksgiving, shrunk it with radiation after that. Her parents are Ted & Rita. Ted's got Crohn's disease, Rita has chronic headaches, and nausea, and underwent a hysterectomy last fall. Ted grew up in Hinkley. His brother Robbie, and his wife May and their five children: Robbie Jr, Martha, Ed, Rose & Peter also lived on the plume. Their number is 454-9554, you want their diseases?"

"Julia Roberts - Erin Brockovich"

"Albert Finney - Ed Masry"

"Aaron Eckhart - George"

"Marg Helgenberger - Donna Jensen"

"Tracey Walter - Charles Embry"

"Peter Coyote - Kurt Potter"

"Cherry Jones - Pamela Duncan"

"Erin Brockovich - Restaurant waitress"

"The guy had a criminal record as long as my dick."

"When a murder case is this shocking, which do you trust…your emotions or the evidence?"

"There are two sides of this mystery. Murder…And Passion."

"Glenn Close - Teddy Barnes"

"Jeff Bridges - Jack Forrester"

"Peter Coyote - Thomas Krasny"

"Lance Henriksen - Frank Martin"

"Robert Loggia - Sam Ransom"

"[narrating] I never woke from this coma, and I never will. I am what doctors call "persistent vegetative" -- a vegetable. According to medical experts, I could stay like this for a very long time -- brain dead, body better than ever."

"[narrating] Claus von Bülow was given a second trial, and acquitted on both counts. This is all you can know, all you can be told. When you get where I am, you will know the rest."

"If the rules don't work, you change them."

"One thing, Claus. Legally, this was an important victory. Morally -- you're on your own."

"Claus, let me explain something to you: the less you tell me, the more options I have."

"A frame-up doesn't mean he's innocent. The kids could have framed a guilty man."

"Ron Silver - Alan Dershowitz"

"Jeremy Irons - Claus von Bülow"

"Glenn Close - Sunny von Bülow"

"Annabella Sciorra - Sarah"

"Felicity Huffman - MInnie"

"Mano Singh - Raj"

"Fisher Stevens - David Marriott"

"Jack Gilpin - Peter MacIntosh"

"Christine Baranski - Andrea Reynolds"

"Stephen Mailer - Elon Dershowitz"

"Johann Carlo - Nancy"

"Keith Reddin - Dobbs"

"Mitchell Whitfield - Curly"

"Tom Wright - Jack"

"Michael Lord - Ed"

"Lisa Gay Hamilton - Mary"

"Julie Hagerty - Alexandra Isles"

"Well, I'm not used to supposin'. I'm just a workin' man. My boss does all the supposin'-- but I'll try one. Supposin' you talk us all out of this and, uh, the kid really did knife his father?"

"[To #3 after he insults #9] What are you talkin' to him like that for? Guy talks like that to an old man really oughta get stepped on, you know. You oughta have more respect, mister. If you say stuff like that to him again... I'm gonna lay you out."

"It’s very hard to keep personal prejudice out of a thing like this. And no matter where you run into it, prejudice obscures the truth."

"[Juror #7 has been throwing bits of paper at the fan. One of them bounces off it and hits #9 in the head.] That's a damn stupid thing to do."

"[Revealing that he was the first to join #8 in voting not guilty] This gentleman has been standing alone against us. It's not easy to stand alone against the ridicule of others. So he gambled for support - and I gave it to him."

"Gentlemen, that's a very sad thing...to be nothing."

"It's pretty tough to figure, isn't it? A kid kills his father. Bing! Just like that... It's the element... I'm telling ya, they let those kids run wild up there. Well, maybe it serves 'em right."

"Oh, listen, I don't see what all this stuff about the knife has got to do with anything. Somebody saw the kid stab his Father, what more do we need? You guys can talk the ears right off my head you know what I mean? I got three garages of mine going to pot while you're talking! So let's get down and get out of here!"

"Judge: If there's a reasonable doubt in your minds as to the guilt of the accused, a reasonable doubt, then you must bring me a verdict of not guilty. If however, there is no reasonable doubt, then you must in good conscience find the accused guilty. However you decide, your verdict must be unanimous. In the event that you find the accused guilty, the bench will not entertain a recommendation for mercy. The death sentence is mandatory in this case. You are faced with a grave responsibility. Thank you, gentlemen."

"Martin Balsam - Juror #1"

"John Fiedler - Juror #2"

"Lee J. Cobb - Juror #3"

"E.G. Marshall - Juror #4"

"Jack Klugman - Juror #5"

"Ed Binns - Juror #6"

"Jack Warden - Juror #7"

"Henry Fonda - Juror #8 (Davis)"

"Joseph Sweeney - Juror #9 (McCardle)"

"Ed Begley - Juror #10"

"George Voskovec - Juror #11"

"Robert Webber - Juror #12"

"First thing I ask a new client is, "Have you been saving for a rainy day? Well, guess what? It's raining!""

"Why gamble with money when you can gamble with people's lives? That was a joke. All right, I'll tell you. I believe in the notion that people are innocent until proven guilty. I believe in that notion because I choose to believe in the basic goodness of people. I choose to believe that not all crimes are committed by bad people. And I try to understand that some very, very good people do some very bad things."

"I got you now. You're the lawyer. You're his lawyer, ain't you? With your fancy suit. I heard about you. Well, my, my, you sure fucked this one up, counselor. Sounds to me like they're gonna shoot old Aaron so full of poison it'll come out his eyes!"

"He come crying to me like always, stuttering and whining. "I ca-can't take it no more, Roy. You g-got to help me". I said, "Shut your mouth, you little girl! Grow up. Be a man. Take care of yourself"."

"Janet Venable: Do you know what I would do if someone did that to me? I would kill him—I wouldn't hesitate. I would stab him 78 times. I would chop off his fingers, slash his throat open, carve numbers in his chest, gouge out his eyes, I swear to God! But that's me."

"Judge Miriam Shoat: You are making a mockery of my courtroom, and I'm not going to allow it. I suggest you start representing your client and stop representing yourself."

"Sooner or later a man who wears two faces forgets which one is real."

"Don't believe everything you see..."

"Richard Gere - Martin Vail"

"Laura Linney - Janet Venable"

"Edward Norton - Aaron Stampler/Roy"

"John Mahoney - John Shaughnessy"

"Frances McDormand - Dr. Molly Arrington"

"Alfre Woodard - Judge Miriam Shoat"

"Terry O'Quinn - Bud Yancy"

"Andre Braugher - Tommy Goodman"

"Steven Bauer - Joey Pinero"

"Joe Spano - Capt. Abel Stenner"

"Tony Plana - Martinez"

"Stanley Anderson - Archbishop Richard Rushman"

"Maura Tierney - Naomi Chance"

"Jon Seda - Alex"

"You wanna get fucked? Huh? Is that what you want?"

"Sexual harassment is about power. When did I have the power? When?"

"Why don't I just admit it? Admit that I'm that evil white guy everyone is always complaining about? Hey Chau-Minh, come down here so I can exercise my patriarchal urge!"

"Let's get down to business."

"You stick your dick in my mouth and NOW you get an attack of morality?"

"[Meredith passionately kisses Tom] There... Now that wasn't so bad, wasn't it?"

"Now you got the power. You got something I want."

"Oh, you son-of-a-bitch ... you get back in here and finish what you started. Do you hear me? Do you hear me? You get back in here and finish what you started or you're fuckin' dead. You hear me? You're FUCKIN' DEAD!"

"Oh Tom, you are the one person I know who sucks up to the people below you."

"Of course everyone knows! I'm so old fashioned, I greet my employees with a handshake!"

"An "old girlfriend"... that's about as exclusive as the White Pages!"

"Ms. Alvarez, forty-eight hours ago my husband's penis was in another woman's mouth. I don't think there's anything in the law that can help me with that."

"sex is power"

"A drink is on the table, and your future is on the line. Suddenly, an unwanted sexual advance has put you in the most uncomfortable of positions. Now, it's going to be your word... against hers!"

"Michael Douglas - Tom Sanders"

"Demi Moore - Meredith Johnson"

"Donald Sutherland - Bob Garvin"

"Caroline Goodall - Susan Hendler"

"Roma Maffia - Catherine Alvarez"

"Dylan Baker - Philip Blackburn"

"Rosemary Forsyth - Stephanie Kaplan"

"Dennis Miller - Mark Lewyn"

"Suzie Plakson - Mary Anne Hunter"

"Nicholas Sadler - Don Cherry"

"Jacqueline Kim - Cindy Chang"

"Joe Urla - John Conley Jr"

"If the First Amendment will protect a scumbag like me, it will protect all of you."

"If you don't like Hustler magazine, don't read it."

"[to Alan] You don't want to quit me, I'm your dream client: I'm the most fun, I'm rich, and I'm always in trouble."

"I got money, which gives me the power to shake up the system."

"Why do I have to go to jail to protect your freedom?"

"[Incredulous after prison sentence] Twenty-five years? All I'm guilty of is bad taste."

"I think the real obscenity comes from raisin' our youth to believe that sex is bad and ugly and dirty and yet it is heroic to go spill guts and blood in the most ghastly manner in the name of humanity. With all the taboos attached to sex, it's no wonder we have the problems we have. It's no wonder we're angry and violent and genocidal. But ask yourself the question. What is more obscene? Sex or war?"

"Opinions are like assholes, everybody's got one."

"What is more obscene: Sex or war?"

"These are my friends - lots of money, lots of friends."

"[Walking past protesters protesting outside his strip club] Thank you all for coming. Welcome to my establishment, we welcome Christians in here too."

"Unpopular speech is absolutely vital to the health of our nation."

"Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, you have heard a lot today, and I'm not gonna go back over it, but you have to go into that room and make some decisions. But before you do, there's something you need to know. I am not trying to suggest that you should like what Larry Flynt does. I don't like what Larry Flynt does, but what I do like is the fact that I live in a country where you and I can make that decision for ourselves. I like the fact that I live in a country where I can pick up Hustler magazine and read it, or throw it in the garbage can if that's where I think it belongs."

"At the heart of the First Amendment is the recognition of the fundamental importance of the free flow of ideas. Freedom to speak one's mind is not only an aspect of an individual liberty, but is essential to the quest for truth and the vitality of society as a whole. In the world of debate about public affairs, many things done with motives that are less than admirable are nonetheless protected by the first amendment."

"The reign of Christian terror is over. We're going back to our roots. We are smut peddlers again."

"Nobody on this planet wants their religion and their pornography together."

"Larry, I don't work at the magazine anymore. People there don't listen to me and they don't talk to me. They're afraid of me and they don't shake my hand... Larry, I went to Dr. Robert and... he told me that I was sick. I mean, sick, sick. I mean, I've got AIDS, Larry."

"Good morning ladies and gentlemen. Before we begin, I must apologize for the unpleasantness of this task. What you are about to see is going to take your breath away. "Hustler" magazine depicts men and women posed together in a lewd and shameful manner. "Hustler" magazine depicts women and women posed together in a lewd and shameful manner. "Hustler" magazine depicts Santa Claus posed in a lewd and shameful manner."

"Woody Harrelson - Larry Flynt"

"Courtney Love - Althea Leasure"

"Edward Norton - Alan Isaacman"

"Richard Paul - Jerry Falwell"

"James Cromwell - Charles Keating"

"Donna Hanover - Ruth Carter Stapleton"

"Crispin Glover - Arlo"

"Vincent Schiavelli - Chester"

"Brett Harrelson - Jimmy Flynt"

"Miles Chapin - Miles"

"James Carville - Simon Leis"

"Burt Neuborne - Roy Grutman"

"Jan Tříska - The Assassin"

"Norm Macdonald - Network reporter"

"Larry Flynt - Judge Morrissey"

"Gentlemen, trials are too important to be left up to juries."

"You think your average juror is King Solomon? No! He's a roofer with a mortgage. He wants to go home and sit in his Barcalounger and let the cable TV wash over him. And this man doesn't give a single, solitary droplet of shit about truth, justice or your American way."

"Everybody has a secret they don't want you to find. Find it!"

"We like fat women, people!"

"Ah, I hate Baptists almost as much as I hate Democrats."

"You may be right, but the thing of it is, I don't give a shit. What's more... I never have."

"Ladies and Gentlemen, this girl is an amateur. Do you understand? A dilettante. And I want this nonsense ended today! I want you to find her. I want you to contain her! Because you're losing me my jury!"

"What do you hope to achieve if you win? You gonna bring Jacob Wood back to life? No. You just ensure that his wife goes to the cemetery in a better car, and that the heel that she snaps on the way to the graveside belongs to a $1,200 shoe. You get your name in the paper. But Jacob Wood and all the other gun violence victims remain rotting in their crypts."

"Nicholas Easter: [after anti-gun fanatic is dragged kicking and screaming from the courtroom during jury selection, even though he claims he want to be heard] Well, I guess that's lunch..."

"Henry Jankle: ...I was under the impression that we'd already purchased ourselves a verdict."

"Wendell Rohr: Gentlemen, I have lost my footing in this trial."

"Judge Harkin: I'm not sure, but I believe I'm buying lunch."

"Doyle: It's a set-up. Don't do it!"

"John Cusack - Nicholas "Nick" Easter"

"Gene Hackman - Rankin Fitch"

"Dustin Hoffman - Wendell Rohr"

"Rachel Weisz - Marlee"

"Jeremy Piven - Lawrence Greene"

"Bruce Davison - Durwood Cable"

"Bruce McGill - Judge Frederick Harkin"

"Marguerite Moreau - Amanda Monroe"

"Nick Searcy - Doyle"

"Leland Orser - Lamb"

"Gerry Bamman - Herman Grimes"

"Lori Heuring - Maxine"

"Nestor Serrano - Janovich"

"Joanna Going - Celeste Wood"

"Cliff Curtis - Frank Herrera"

"Dylan McDermott - Jacob Wood"

"This is just like CSpan, except I'm not bored."

"Oooooh! Nice briefcase!"

"I didn't know I could be this happy without incurring credit card debt!"

"Paulette, I taught Bruiser to shop online, I think I can handle congress."

"I have always respected redheads as members of a hair color minority."

"So speak up, America. Speak up for the home of the brave. Speak up for the land of the free gift with purchase. Speak up, America! Speak up!"

"Who's ready to discharge?! Or petition a bill...or whatever!"

"Oh My God! You look like the Fourth of July! It makes me want a hot dog real bad!"

"Or something really classy-like white leather! I'll call the guy who did my car seats!"

"Her Beagle's name is Dolly Madison, which was my grandma's stripper name!"

"Take this sentence. The dragon enters blank. If any adverb fits into that sentence, it makes sense."

"Don't worry Bob I'll get her. And her little dog too."

"Snaps for Congresswoman Hauser!"

"V.E.R.S.A.C.E. tagline on website: We test makeup on animals, so you don't have to."

"Lady at Versace: You've got the wrong Versace."

"Dog Spa receptionist: Your dogs are gay!"

"Timothy McGinn: Write a bill, Britney."

"Emmett: Elle I don't care where I marry just as long as I do. I do... I do... feels good."

"Bigger. Bolder. Blonder"

"This summer. . . justice is blonde."

"Join the party!"

"Reese Witherspoon - Elle Woods"

"Sally Field - Rep. Victoria Rudd"

"Regina King - Grace Rossiter"

"Jennifer Coolidge - Paulette"

"Bruce McGill - Stanford Marks"

"Dana Ivey - Congresswoman Libby Hauser"

"Mary Lynn Rajskub - Reena Giuliani"

"Jessica Cauffiel - Margot"

"Alanna Ubach - Serena McGuire"

"J Barton - Timothy McGinn"

"Stanley Anderson - Michael Blaine"

"Bruce Thomas - UPS Guy"

"Bob Newhart - Sid Post"

"Luke Wilson - Emmett Richmond"

"Ruth Williamson - Madeline Kroft"

"For the last six months I've been spitting blood to get this agency one of the biggest account it's ever had. And at five o'clock this afternoon, we got the account. At eight o'clock, I am walking home with the vice president and tells me I'll be the next creative director of this department. I come through this door to share with my wife one of the five best days of my life, and she looks at me and tells me she doesn't want to live with me anymore! Can't you understand what she's done to me?"

"[having lunch with his boss] So the other morning, I'm at the refrigerator... you know, getting Billy ready for school. So I'm just in my underwear and he notices I've lost weight. And he comes in and pats me. He comes up to here... [touches his stomach]... and he says "Daddy, you've really lost a lot of weight", he looks up at me and he says "And it's all gone to your nose." [laughs] He was so cute. You know?"

"[in court] There's a lot of things I didn't understand, a lot of things I'd do different if I could. Just like I think there's a lot of things you wish you could change, but we can't. Some things once they're done can't be undone. My wife, my ex-wife, says that she loves Billy, and I believe she does, but I don't think that's the issue here."

"If I understand it correctly, what means the most here is what's best for our son. What's best for Billy. My wife used to always say to me: 'Why can't a woman have the same ambitions as a man?' I think you're right. And maybe I've learned that much. But by the same token, I'd like to know, what law is it that says that a woman is a better parent simply by virtue of her sex? You know, I've had a lot of time to think about what it is it that makes somebody a good parent? You know, it has to do with constancy, it has to do with patience, it has to do with listening to him. It has to do with pretending to listen to him when you can't even listen anymore. It has to do with love, like, like, like she was saying. And I don't know where it's written that it says that a woman has a corner on that market, that, that a man has any less of those emotions than a woman does."

"Billy has a home with me. I've made it the best I could. It's not perfect. I'm not a perfect parent. Sometimes I don't have enough patience because I forget that he's a little kid. But I'm there. We get up in the morning and then we eat breakfast, and he talks to me and then we go to school. And at night, we have dinner together and we talk then and I read to him. And, and we built a life together and we love each other. If you destroy that, it may be irreparable. Joanna, don't do that, please. Don't do it twice to him."

"Dustin Hoffman – Ted Kramer"

"Meryl Streep – Joanna Kramer"

"Jane Alexander – Margaret Phelps"

"Justin Henry – Billy Kramer"

"Howard Duff – John Shaunessy"

"George Coe – Jim O'Connor"

"JoBeth Williams – Phyllis Bernard (as Jobeth Williams)"

"Bill Moor – Gressen"

"Howland Chamberlain – Judge Atkins"

"Jack Ramage – Spencer"

"Jess Osuna – Ackerman"

"At this point, I would just like to say that what this committee is doing in theory is highly commendable. However, in practice, it sucks... and I'm not going to answer any more questions."

"[about Judge Rayford] This is a man bent on killing himself! It's no secret; a guard found him in his chambers once trying to hang himself! This is a man who's making value decisions on people's lives!"

"Sorry, Your Honor. Let's get back to justice. What is justice? What is the intention of justice? The intention of justice is to see that the guilty people are proven guilty and that the innocent are freed. Simple, isn't it? Only it's not that simple. However, it is the defense counsel's duty to protect the rights of the individual, as it is the prosecution's duty to uphold and defend the laws of the State. Justice for all. Only we have a problem here. And you know what it is? Both sides wanna win. We wanna win. We wanna win regardless of the truth. And we wanna win regardless of justice, regardless of who's guilty or innocent. Winning is everything!"

"Sixteen years of marriage and my wife still won't eat Chinese food. It's crazy, especially since we met in a Chinese restaurant."

"[After he fires a gun in his courtroom, to stop an argument] Gentlemen, need I remind you we are in a court of law? [long pause] Now, let's proceed in an orderly fashion."

"Prison should be a frightening place. Let those criminals create their own hellhole....I tell you, Arthur, the idea of punishment to fit the crime doesn't work. We need unjust punishment. Hang somebody for armed robbery. Try it! We've got nothin' to lose. Do you understand what I'm sayin' to you, for God's sake? You don't, do you? Oh! You fellas with your fancy ideas of rehabilitation. I tell you that the concept of rehabilitation is a farce. Do you honestly think that, that bringing Johnny Cash into prisons to sing railroad songs is gonna rehabilitate anyone? Most people are sick and tired of mugging and crime in the streets...[Arthur leaves] Arthur? Arthur?"

"Jeff McCullaugh: If everybody agrees I'm innocent, how come I'm going BACK to jail?"

"Carl Travers: I haven't left the scene of the accident, I'm in it!"

"Al Pacino - Arthur Kirkland"

"Jack Warden - Judge Francis Rayford"

"John Forsythe - Judge Henry T. Fleming"

"Lee Strasberg - Sam Kirkland"

"Jeffrey Tambor - Jay Porter"

"Christine Lahti - Gail Packer"

"Sam Levene - Arnie"

"Robert Christian - Ralph Agee"

"Thomas Waites - Jeff McCullaugh"

"Larry Bryggman - Warren Fresnell"

"Dominic Chianese - Carl Travers"

"Craig T. Nelson - Frank Bowers"

"You're my meal ticket, Marty. If you leave, it's just me and Barry in a room, and I'm trying to explain what the hell it is I do around here."

"I'm not the guy you kill, I'm the guy you buy! Are you so fucking blind that you don't even see what I am? I sold out Arthur for eighty grand and a three year contract. I'm the easiest part of your problem, and you're gonna kill me?"

"You're so fucked. Here, let me get a picture while I'm at it."

"Do I look like I'm negotiating?"

"Michael. Dear Michael. Of course it's you. Who else could they send, who else could be trusted? I… I know it's a long way, and you're ready to go to work… all I'm saying is, just wait, just… just wait, and please, just hear me out, because this is not an episode, relapse, fuck-up, it's… I'm begging you, Michael. I'm begging you. Try to make believe this is not just madness, because this is not just madness. Two weeks ago, I came out of the building, okay? I'm running across Sixth Avenue, there's a car waiting, I've got exactly thirty-eight minutes to get to the airport, and I'm dictating. There's this panicked associate sprinting along beside me, scribbling in a notepad, and suddenly she starts screaming, and I realize we're standing in the middle of the street, the light's changed, there's this wall of traffic—serious traffic—speeding towards us, and I… I freeze, I can't move, and I'm suddenly consumed with the overwhelming sensation that I'm covered in some sort of film. It's in my hair, my face… it's like a glaze… a coating, and… at first I thought, "Oh my god, I know what this is. This is some sort of amniotic—embryonic—fluid. I'm drenched in afterbirth, I've breached the chrysalis, I've been reborn." But then the traffic, the stampede, the cars, the trucks, the horns, the screaming, and I'm thinking, "No-no-no, reset, this is not rebirth, this is some kind of giddy illusion of renewal that happens in the final moment before death." And then I realize, "No-no-no, this is completely wrong," because I look back at the building, and I had the most stunning moment of clarity. I… I… I realized, Michael, that I had emerged not from the doors of Kenner, Bach, and Ledeen, not through the portals of our vast and powerful law firm, but from the asshole of an organism whose sole function is to excrete the… the… the poison, the ammo, the defoliant necessary for other, larger, more powerful organisms to destroy the miracle of humanity. And that I had been coated in this patina of shit for the best part of my life. The stench of it and the sting of it would, in all likelihood, take the rest of my life to undo. And you know what I did? I took a deep cleansing breath, and I put that notion aside. I tabled it. I said to myself, as clear as this may be, as potent a feeling as this is, as true a thing as I believe I witnessed today, it must wait. It must stand the test of time! And Michael, the time is now."

"Yes! Here we are, all together. Is everyone listening? 'Cause this is the moment you've been waiting for, a very special piece of paper. So let's have a big, paranoid, malignant round of applause… for United Northfield Culcitate Internal Research Memorandum #229! "June 19th, 1991. Conclusion: The unanticipated marketing growth for Culcitate by small farms in colder climate demands immediate cost–benefit analysis." Hah. Would you like a little bit of legal advice? Never let a scientist use the words "unanticipated" and "immediate" in the same sentence. Okay? Okay. "In-house field studies have indicated small, short-season farms dependent on well water for human consumption are at risk for toxic particulate concentrations at levels significant enough to cause serious human tissue damage." Well, this is a long way of saying that you don't even have to leave your house to be killed by our product, we'll pipe it into your kitchen sink. "Culcitate's great market advantage, that it is tasteless, colorless, and does not precipitate, has the potential to mask and intensify these potentially lethal exposures." Now, I love this. Not only is this a great product, it is a superb cancer delivery system. "Chemical modifications of the Culcitate product, the addition of a detector molecule such as an odorant or a colorant, would require a top-down redesign of the Culcitate manufacturing process. These costs, while assumed to be significant, were not summarized here." Which, loosely translated, means: "It's going to cost a fortune to go back on this, and I'm just an asshole in a lab, so could someone else please make the decision?" "Clearly, the release of these internal research documents would compromise the effective marketing of Culcitate, and must be kept within the protective confines of United Northfield's trade secret language." You don't need me… to tell you what that means. Goodbye!"

"I could sit here and tear off my fucking skin, and I could not get down to where this thing is living."

"Make Believe It's Not Just Madness"

"This is a three billion dollar class action lawsuit. In the morning, I have to call my board. I have to tell them that the architect of our defense was arrested for running naked in the street. What sickness is he talking about?"

"George Clooney – Michael Clayton"

"Tom Wilkinson – Arthur Edens"

"Tilda Swinton – Karen Crowder"

"Sydney Pollack – Marty Bach"

"Michael O'Keefe – Barry Grissom"

"Sean Cullen – Gene Clayton"

"David Lansbury – Timmy Clayton"

"Ken Howard – Don Jeffries"

"Merritt Wever – Anna"

"Austin Williams – Henry Clayton"

"Denis O'Hare – Mr. Greer"

"Julie White – Mrs. Greer"

"Bill Raymond – Gabe Zabel"

"Robert Prescott – Verne"

"Terry Serpico – Iker"

"I've been sober for three years."

"The court declared me unfit."

"I don't want a lawyer, I hate lawyers. Every lawyer we had just shafted me and my mom. I said I need a lawyer."

"Thanks, Reverend Roy. You've been a real pain in the ass."

"Susan Sarandon as Regina "Reggie" Love"

"Tommy Lee Jones as "Reverend" Roy Foltrigg"

"Brad Renfro as Mark Sway"

"Mary Louise Parker as Dianne Sway"

"David Speck as Ricky Sway"

"Anthony LaPaglia as Barry "The Blade" Muldanno"

"J. T. Walsh as Jason McThune"

"Anthony Heald as Larry Trumann"

"Bradley Whitford as Thomas Fink"

"Micole Mercurio as Momma Love"

"Ossie Davis as Judge Harry Rossevelt"

"Will Patton as Sergeant Hardy"

"Dan Castellaneta as Slick Moeller"

"Ron Dean as Uncle Johnny Sulari"

"Kim Coates as Paul Gronke"

"William H. Macy as Dr. Greenway"

"Kimberly Scott as Doreen"

"Walter Olkewicz as Jerome "Romey" Clifford"

"What is it in us that seeks the truth? Is it our minds or is it our hearts?"

"I had a great summation all worked out, full of some sharp lawyering, but I'm not going to read it. I'm here to apologize. I am young, and I am inexperienced. But you cannot hold Carl Lee Hailey responsible for my shortcomings. Do you see, in all this legal maneuvering, something has gotten lost. That something is the truth. Now, it is incumbent upon us lawyers not to just talk about the truth but to actually seek it, to find it, to live it. My teacher taught me that. Let's take Dr. Bass, for example. I would have never knowingly put a convicted felon on the stand. I hope you can believe that. But what is the truth? That, that he's a disgraced liar? What if I told you that the woman he was accused of raping was 17, he was 23, that she later became his wife, bore his child and is still married to the man today? Does that make his testimony more or less true? What is it in us that seeks the truth? Is it our minds, or is it our hearts? I set out to prove a black man could receive a fair trial in the South, that we are all equal in the eyes of the law. That's not the truth 'cause the eyes of the law are human eyes, yours and mine, and until we can see each other as equals, justice is never going to be even-handed. It will remain nothing more than a reflection of our own prejudices. So until that day, we have a duty under God to seek the truth - not with our eyes, and not with our minds where fear and hate turn commonality into prejudice, but with our hearts - but we don't know better. [pause] I want to tell you a story. I'm going to ask you all to close your eyes while I tell you the story. I want you to listen to me. I want you to listen to yourselves. Go ahead. Close your eyes, please. This is a story about a little girl walking home from the grocery store one sunny afternoon. I want you to picture this little girl. Suddenly a truck races up. Two men jump out and grab her. They drag her into a nearby field and they tie her up and they rip her clothes from her body. Now they climb on. First one, then the other, raping her, shattering everything innocent and pure with a vicious thrust in a fog of drunken breath and sweat. And when they're done, after they've killed her tiny womb, murdered any chance for her to bear children, to have life beyond her own, they decided to use her for target practice. They start throwin' full beer cans at her. They throw them so hard that it tears the flesh all the way to her bones. Then they urinate on her. Now comes the hanging. They have a rope. They tie a noose. Imagine the noose going tight around her neck and with a sudden blinding jerk, she's pulled into the air and her feet and legs go kicking. They don't find the ground. The hanging branch isn't strong enough. It snaps and she falls back to the earth. So they pick her up, throw her in the back of the truck and drive out to Foggy Creek Bridge. Pitch her over the edge. And she drops some thirty feet down to the creek bottom below. Can you see her? Her raped, beaten, broken body soaked in their urine, soaked in their semen, soaked in her blood, left to die. Can you see her? I want you to picture that little girl. [He holds back his tears as his voice breaks] Now imagine she's white."

"Matthew McConaughey - Jake Brigance"

"Sandra Bullock - Ellen Roark"

"Samuel L. Jackson - Carl Lee Hailey"

"Kevin Spacey - Rufus Buckley"

"Brenda Fricker - Ethel Twitty"

"Oliver Platt - Harry Rex Vonner"

"Charles S. Dutton - Ozzie Walls"

"Ashley Judd - Carla Brigance"

"Patrick McGoohan - Judge Omar Noose"

"Kiefer Sutherland - Freddie Lee Cobb"

"Donald Sutherland - Lucien Wilbanks"

"John Diehl - Tim Nunley"

"Doug Hutchison - James Louis "Pete" Willard"

"Nicky Katt - Billy Ray Cobb"

"Chris Cooper - Dwayne Looney"

"Anthony Heald - Dr. Wilbert Rodeheaver"

"Rae'Ven Larrymore Kelly - Tonya Hailey"

"Even a broken clock is right twice a day."

"Knowledge is pain."

"You look closely enough, you'll find that everything has a weak spot where it can break, sooner or later."

"Nicely done, Willy. Truly. A regular chain of evidence. Great stuff. Vivid. Heartbreaking. The victim cries out from beyond the grave. Yeah. Jurors love all that sort of crap, don't they? I bet you don't even need a confession anymore, do you, Willy? I tell you what, though, old sport. Let's make you a new one just in case. The real deal, all the juicy details. You can get your rocks off on that, then, can't you? Huh? I shot my wife in the face, right there. She didn't look so pretty after that. And l stood there looking down at her... and l watched her eyes go all empty. I could smell the blood and the shit. Smelled like metal. And the look on his face! He was trying to get her back to life and l was pissing myself laughing... because I took both the bastards out with one fucking bullet. Yeah. And now you've got your little bullet, haven't you? Got what you want. So bring it all on, kiddo. Bring it all into court. Except you can't, can you? Let's see, now, first year law, double jeopardy. I went to trial, you lost. Oh, pity about that. It doesn't matter what you do now. It doesn't matter what you know. I mean, she could come back from the dead, you see... and testify, spill the beans, and it would mean... nothing. So you can't touch me... ever."

"I don't think the gun grew little gun legs and walked out of the house. It's in here somewhere, find it."

"Judge Gardner: You know what nobody understands about certain kinds of low-pay public service work, every now and then you get to put a fucking stake in a bad guy's heart. I'm not supposed to talk about that when I visit third grade classes for career day and it doesn't get you very far in the country club locker room, but it's hard to beat when you actually get to do it."

"Anthony Hopkins - Theodore "Ted" Crawford"

"Ryan Gosling - William "Willy" Beachum"

"David Strathairn - District Attorney Joe Lobruto"

"Rosamund Pike - Nikki Gardner"

"Embeth Davidtz - Jennifer Crawford"

"Billy Burke - Lt. Rob Nunally"

"Cliff Curtis - Detective Flores"

"Fiona Shaw - Judge Robinson"

"Bob Gunton - Judge Frank Gardner"

"Josh Stamberg - Norman Foster"

"Xander Berkeley - Judge Moran"

"Zoe Kazan - Mona"

"Alla Korot - Russian translator"

"There was a fever over the land. A fever of disgrace, of indignity, of hunger. We had a democracy, yes, but it was torn by elements within. Above all, there was fear. Fear of today, fear of tomorrow, fear of our neighbors, and fear of ourselves. Only when you understand that - can you understand what Hitler meant to us. Because he said to us: 'Lift your heads! Be proud to be German! There are devils among us. Communists, Liberals, Jews, Gypsies! Once these devils will be destroyed, your misery will be destroyed.' It was the old, old story of the sacrificial lamb. What about those of us who knew better? We who knew the words were lies, and worse than lies? Why did we sit silent? Why did we take part? Because we loved our country! What difference does it make if a few political extremists lose their rights? What difference does it make if a few racial minorities lose their rights? It is only a passing phase. It is only a stage we are going through. It will be discarded sooner or later. Hitler himself will be discarded... sooner or later. The country is in danger. We will march out of the shadows. We will go forward. Forward is the great password. And history tells how well we succeeded, your honor. We succeeded beyond our wildest dreams. The very elements of hate and power about Hitler that mesmerized Germany, mesmerized the world! We found ourselves with sudden powerful allies. Things that had been denied to us as a democracy were open to us now. The world said 'go ahead, take it, take it! Take Sudetenland, take the Rhineland — remilitarize it — take all of Austria, take it! And then one day we looked around and found that we were in an even more terrible danger. The ritual began in this courtroom swept over the land like a raging, roaring disease. What was going to be a passing phase had become the way of life. Your honor, I was content to sit silent during this trial. I was content to tend my roses. I was even content to let counsel try to save my name, until I realized that in order to save it, he would have to raise the specter again. You have seen him do it — he has done it here in this courtroom. He has suggested that the Third Reich worked for the benefit of people. He has suggested that we sterilized men for the welfare of the country. He has suggested that perhaps the old Jew did sleep with the 16-year-old girl, after all. Once more it is being done for love of country. It is not easy to tell the truth; but if there is to be any salvation for Germany, we who know our guilt must admit it... whatever the pain and humiliation."

"We have fallen on happy times, Herr Hahn. In old times it would have made your day if I'd deigned to say good morning to you. Now that we are here in this place together... you feel obliged to tell me what to do with my life... Listen to me, Herr Hahn, there have been terrible things that have happened to me in my life. But the worst thing that has ever happened... is to find myself in the company of men like you."

"Janning, to be sure, is a tragic figure. We believe he loathed the evil he did. But compassion for the present torture of his soul must not beget forgetfulness of the torture and the death of millions by the government of which he was a part. Janning's record and his fate illuminate the most shattering truth that has emerged from this trial. If he and all of the other defendants had been degraded perverts, if all of the leaders of the Third Reich had been sadistic monsters and maniacs, then these events would have no more moral significance than an earthquake, or any other natural catastrophe. But this trial has shown that under a national crisis, ordinary, even able and extraordinary men, can delude themselves into the commission of crimes so vast and heinous that they beggar the imagination. No one who has sat through the trial can ever forget them. Men sterilized because of political belief. A mockery made of friendship and faith. The murder of children. How easily it can happen. There are those in our own country too who today speak of the 'protection of country,' of 'survival'. A decision must be made in the life of every nation at the very moment when the grasp of the enemy is at its throat. Then, it seems that the only way to survive is to use the means of the enemy, to rest survival upon what is expedient, to look the other way. Well, the answer to that is 'survival as what'? A country isn't a rock. It's not an extension of one's self. It's what it stands for. It's what it stands for when standing for something is the most difficult! Before the people of the world, let it now be noted that here, in our decision, this is what we stand for: Justice, truth, and the value of a single human being."

"Your Honor. It is my duty to defend Ernst Janning. And yet, Ernst Janning has said he is guilty. There's no doubt, he feels his guilt. He made a great error in going along with the Nazi movement, hoping it would be good for his country. But, if he is to be found guilty, there are others who also went along, who also must be found guilty. Ernst Janning said, "We succeeded beyond our wildest dreams." Why did we succeed, Your Honor? What about the rest of the world? Did it not know the intentions of the Third Reich? Did it not hear the words of Hitler's broadcast all over the world? Did it not read his intentions in Mein Kampf, published in every corner of the world? Where's the responsibility of the Soviet Union, who signed in 1939 the pact with Hitler, enabled him to make war? Are we now to find Russia guilty? Where's the responsibility of the Vatican, who signed in 1933 the Concordat with Hitler, giving him his first tremendous prestige? Are we now to find the Vatican guilty? Where's the responsibility of the world leader, Winston Churchill, who said in an open letter to the London Times in 1938 - 1938, Your Honor! "Were England to suffer national disaster, I should pray to God to send a man of the strength of mind and will of an Adolf Hitler!" Are we now to find Winston Churchill guilty? Where is the responsibility of those American industrialists, who helped Hitler to rebuild his armaments and profited by that rebuilding?! Are we now to find the American industrialists guilty? No, Your Honor! No! Germany alone is not guilty: The whole world is as responsible for Hitler's Germany! It is an easy thing to condemn one man in the dock. It is easy to condemn the German people to speak of the 'basic flaw' in the German character that allowed Hitler to rise to power - and at the same time, positively, ignore the 'basic flaw' of character that made the Russians sign pacts with him, Winston Churchill praise him, American industrialists profit by him! Ernst Janning said he is guilty. If he is, Ernst Janning's guilt is the world's guilt. No more, and no less."

"One thing about Americans: we're not cut out to be occupiers. We're new at it and not very good at it."

"Listen to me... there are things that happened on both sides. My husband was a military man, had been all his life. He was entitled to a soldier's death; he asked for that. I tried to get that for him, just that and he would die with some honor. I went from official to official. I begged for that, I begged for that, that he should be permitted the dignity of a firing squad. You know what happened. He was hanged with the others, and after that, I knew what it was to hate. I never left the house. I never left the room. I drank. I hated with every fiber of my being, I hated every American I'd ever known. But one can't live with hate. I know that. We have to forget. We have to go on living."

"The event the world will never forget."

"More than a motion picture...It is an overwhelming experience in human emotion you will never forget!"

"Once in a generation...a motion picture explodes into greatness!"

"Spencer Tracy - Chief Judge Dan Haywood"

"Burt Lancaster - Dr. Ernst Janning"

"Richard Widmark - Col. Tad Lawson"

"Maximilian Schell - Hans Rolfe"

"Werner Klemperer - Emil Hahn"

"Marlene Dietrich - Frau Bertholt"

"Montgomery Clift - Rudolph Peterson"

"Judy Garland - Irene Wallner"

"Howard Caine - Hugo Wallner"

"William Shatner - Capt. Harrison Byers"

"John Wengraf - His Honour Herr Justizrat. Dr. Karl Wieck"

"Karl Swenson - Dr. Heinrich Geuter"

"Stop saying "Leopold" like that, tenderly. It sounds funny. You can't do it with a name like Leopold."

"What is the law? It's a gun pointed at somebody's head. All depends upon which end of the gun you stand, whether the law is just or not."

"Well, it's a form of self-expression. Some people write books. Some people write music. I make speeches on street corners."

"I don't approve of, but I like people who think in terms of ideal conditions. They're the dreamers, poets, tragic figures in this world, but interesting."

"Listen, I can't hang around here even if I wanted to. Lightcap's ordered me out 50 times since last night. I'm here now only by the grace of being in his pajamas. One minute I'm out of these and I'm out on my ear!"

"This is your law and your finest possession - it makes you free men in a free country. Why have you come here to destroy it? If you know what's good for you, take those weapons home and burn them! And then think... think of this country and of the law that makes it what it is. Think of a world crying for this very law! And maybe you'll understand why you ought to guard it. Why the law has got to be the personal concern of every citizen. To uphold it for your neighbor as well as yourself. Violence against it is one mistake. Another mistake is for any man to look upon the law as just a set of principles. And just so much language printed on fine, heavy paper. Something he recites and then leans back and takes it for granted that justice is automatically being done. Both kinds of men are equally wrong! The law must be engraved in our hearts and practiced every minute to the letter and spirit. It can't even exist unless we're willing to go down into the dust and blood and fight a battle every day of our lives to preserve it. For our neighbor as well as ourself."

"Look at me, a dream of twenty years come true. More happiness than any man deserves, that chair. But now there's something Else, Nora: My friends. I want to see them as happy as I am. Nothing less will do. And Leopold, what a fine fellow - and I've been thinking, Nora, that if someone were to take his hand and say "Leopold, my wreckless friend, here's love and companionship, forever." Well, some day that man would... You see what I mean, Nora?"

"Miss Shelly, judging from the past 12 hours, how quiet do you think it could be in this house, with you in it?"

"Alright, Joseph, you conduct the law your way on random sentimentality and you will have violence and disorder."

"Nothing deranges a woman's mind more than marriage."

"He's the only honest man I've come across in this town in 20 years. Naturally, they want to hang him."

"Cary Grant - Leopold Dilg - Joseph"

"Jean Arthur - Miss Nora Shelley"

"Ronald Colman - Professor Michael Lightcap"

"Edgar Buchanan - Sam Yates"

"Glenda Farrell - Regina Bush"

"Charles Dingle - Andrew Holmes"

"Emma Dunn - Mrs. Shelley"

"Rex Ingram - Tilney"

"Leonid Kinskey - Jan Pulaski"

"Tom Tyler - Clyde Bracken"

"Don Beddoe - Police Chief"

"It's like this. A dead plaintiff is rarely worth more than a living severely-maimed plaintiff. However, if it's a long, slow, agonizing death as opposed to a quick drowning or car wreck, the value can rize considerably. A dead adult in his 20s is generally worth less than one who is middle aged. A dead woman less than a dead man. A single adult less than one who's married. Black less than white. Poor less than rich. The perfect victim is a white male professional, 40 years old, at the height of his earning power, struck down at his prime. And the most imperfect: well, in the calculus of personal injury law, a dead child is worth the least of all."

"The odd's of a plaintiff's lawyer winning in civil court are two to one against. Think about that for a second. Your odds of surviving a game of Russian roulette are better than winning a case at trial. 12 times better. So, why does anyone do that? They don't. They settle. Out of the 780,000, only 12,000 or 11/2% ever reach a verdict. The whole idea of lawsuits is to settle, to compel the other side to settle. And you do that by spending more money than you should, which forces them to spend more money than they should, and whoever comes to their senses first loses. Trials are a corruption of the entire process and only fools who have something to prove end up ensnared in them. Now when I say prove, I don't mean about the case, I mean about themselves."

"I can appreciate the theatrical value of several dead kids. I mean, like that. Obviously, that's good. That is all this case has going for it. That's not enough. Get rid of it."

"[to law students] Now, the single greatest liability a lawyer can have is pride. Pride... Pride has lost more cases than lousy evidence, idiot witnesses and a hanging judge all put together. There is absolutely no place in a courtroom for pride."

"[to secretary] Every credit card application we send in, we get two more in the mail. Here's one from some bank I've never heard of, in North Dakota. Fill it out. Fill them all in. It's the last great pyramid scheme in America."

"John Travolta - Jan Schlichtmann"

"Robert Duvall - Jerome Facher"

"Tony Shalhoub - Kevin Conway"

"William H. Macy - James Gordon"

"Zeljko Ivanek - Bill Crowley"

"Bruce Norris - William Cheeseman"

"John Lithgow - Judge Walter J. Skinner"

"Kathleen Quinlan - Anne Anderson"

"Peter Jacobson - Neil Jacobs"

"Mary Mara - Kathy Boyer"

"James Gandolfini - Al Love"

"Stephen Fry -Pinder"

"Howie Carr - Radio Talk Show Host"

"Kathy Bates - Bankruptcy Judge (uncredited)"

"Darby Shaw, you take my breath away."

"[to Darby] So you're the little lady who started this great brouhaha."

"Julia Roberts - Darby Shaw"

"Denzel Washington - Gray Grantham"

"Sam Shepard - Thomas Callahan"

"John Heard - Gavin Vereek"

"Tony Goldwyn - Fletcher Coal"

"James B. Sikking - FBI Director Denton Voyles"

"William Atherton - Bob Gminski"

"Robert Culp - President"

"Stanley Tucci - Khamel"

"Hume Cronyn - Justice Rosenberg"

"John Lithgow - Smith Keen"

"Anthony Heald - Marty Velmano"

"Stanley Anderson - Edwin Sneller"

"John Finn - Matthew Barr"

"Peter Carlin - Edward Linney"

"You want to know something funny? I discovered the law again. You actually made me think about it. I managed to go through three years of law school without doing that."

"Hey Ray, wouldn't it be funny if I went to Harvard, you went to jail and we both ended up surrounded by crooks."

"Being a tax lawyer's got nothing to do with the law. It's a game. We teach the rich how to play it so they can stay rich. The IRS keeps changing the rules so we can keep getting rich teaching them. It's a game..."

"Somewhere, inside, in the dark, the firm is listening."

"Power can be murder to resist."

"They made him an offer he should have refused."

"Tom Cruise - Mitch McDeere"

"Jeanne Tripplehorn as Abigail "Abby" McDeere"

"Gene Hackman - Avery Tolar"

"Holly Hunter - Tamara "Tammy" Hemphill"

"Ed Harris - Agent Wayne Tarrance"

"Hal Holbrook - Oliver Lambert"

"Jerry Hardin - Royce McKnight"

"David Strathairn - Ray McDeere"

"Terry Kinmey - Lamar Quinn"

"Wilford Brimley as Bill DeVasher"

"Sullivan Walker - Thomas Abanks"

"Gary Busey as Eddie Lomax"

"Steven Hill - F. Denton Voyles"

"Margo Martindale - Nina Huff"

"Paul Sorvino - mob boss Tommy Morolto (uncredited)"

"Joe Viterelli as mob boss Joey Morolto"

"Jerry Weintraub as businessman Sonny Capps"

"Tobin Bell - the Nordic Man, Morolto hitman"

"Dean Norris - the Squat Man, Morolto hitman"

"Karina Lombard - a girl who seduces McDeere"

"I could shoot you in the middle of Mardi Gras, and they can't touch me."

"I don't want to kill you, Nick. I just want you to suffer."

"I haven't felt this good since the day my husband died."

"Damn it, woman. If you don't get out of this car and go to your kid, I'm going to have you arrested... for stupidity."

"Oh, yeah. She's very pretty, for a convicted murder. I just came here as a professional courtesy since she's in New Orleans and plans on killing one of your prominent citizens."

"Oh, no you're not. You're a parole violator. You are coming back with me to Seattle... where I will demand a full pardon, a parade, and a little pink poodle. On a keychain."

"I'm a lawyer, what we think isn't supposed to matter."

"Murder isn't always a crime."

"Tommy Lee Jones - Travis Lehman"

"Ashley Judd - Elizabeth "Libby" Parsons"

"Bruce Greenwood - Nicholas "Nick" Parsons / Simon Ryder / Jonathan Devereaux"

"Jay Brazeau - Bobby Long"

"Roger R. Cross - Hotel Manager"

"Annabeth Gish - Angela "Angie" Green"

"Bruce Campbell - Bartender at Party"

"Benjamin Weir - Matty Parsons (age 4)"

"Spencer Treat Clark - Matty Parsons (age 11)"

"John MacLaren - Rudy"

"Ed Evanko - Warren"

"A guy who makes a nice chair doesn't owe money to everyone who has ever built a chair."

"You know, you really don't need a forensics team to get to the bottom of this. If you guys were the inventors of Facebook, you'd have invented Facebook."

"Erica Albright's a bitch. Do you think that's because her family changed their name from Albrecht, or do you think that's because all BU girls are bitches? For the record, she may look like a 34C, but she's getting all kinds of help from our friends at Victoria's Secret. She's a 34B as in barely anything there. False Advertising."

"A Stanford MBA named Roy Raymond wants to buy his wife some lingerie, but he's too embarrassed to shop for it at a department store. He comes up with an idea for a high end place that doesn't make you feel like a pervert. He gets a $40,000 bank loan, borrows another $40,000 from his in-laws, opens a store, and calls it Victoria's Secret. Makes a half million dollars his first year. He starts a catalog, opens three more stores, and after five years, he sells the company to Leslie Wexner and the Limited for four million dollars. Happy ending, right? Except two years later, the company's worth 500 million dollars, and Roy Raymond jumps off the Golden Gate Bridge. Poor guy just wanted to buy his wife a pair of thigh highs."

"A million dollars isn't cool. You know what's cool? A billion dollars."

"The internet isn't written in pencil, Mark. It's written in ink."

"[to Mark] You are probably going to be a very successful computer person. But you're going to go through life thinking that girls don't like you because you're a nerd. And I want you to know, from the bottom of my heart, that won't be true. It'll be because you're an asshole."

"[after Mark unsuccessfully tries to apologize for the Facemash stunt] Good luck with your video game."

"[to Mark, telling him to settle with the Winkelvoss twins for $65 million] Pay them. In the scheme of things, it's a speeding ticket."

"You're not an asshole, Mark. You're just trying so hard to be."

"Jesse Eisenberg – Mark Zuckerberg"

"Andrew Garfield – Eduardo Saverin"

"Justin Timberlake – Sean Parker"

"Armie Hammer – Cameron Winklevoss/Tyler Winklevoss"

"Max Minghella – Divya Narendra"

"Brenda Song – Christy Lee"

"Rashida Jones – Marylin Delpy"

"Joseph Mazzello – Dustin Moskovitz"

"Rooney Mara – Erica Albright"

"Dustin Fitzsimons – The Phoenix S-K Club President"

"Patrick Mapel as Chris Hughes"

"Douglas Urbanski – Larry Summers"

"Wallace Langham – Peter Thiel"

"John Getz – Sy"

"David Selby – Gage"

"Patrick Mapel – Chris Hughes"

"Dakota Johnson – Amelia Ritter"

"Malese Jow – Alice Cantwel"

"Shelby Young – K.C."

"Aaron Sorkin – Ad Executive"

"Steve Sires – Bill Gates"

"My dad hated lawyers. You might think I became one just to piss him off, but you'd be wrong. Did piss him off so much though that when he heard he fell off a ladder and didn't know who to sue first."

"Sworn in by a fool and vouched for by a scoundrel. I'm a lawyer at last."

"I knew exactly what was going on here. Just like when Daddy was in the bedroom crying and Mommy was sitting in the kitchen, face all bloody, saying that Daddy was sorry."

"What's the difference between a lawyer and a hooker? A hooker'll stop screwing you when you're dead."

"How do you know when a lawyer is lying? His lips are moving."

"There's gotta be a hundred years of law experience sitting at this very table. My staff has flunked the bar exam six times."

"Every lawyer, at least once in every case, feels himself crossing a line that he doesn't really mean to cross... it just happens... And if you cross it enough times it disappears forever. And then you're nothin' but another lawyer joke. Just another shark in the dirty water."

"You know what a Rainmaker is, kid? The bucks are gonna be falling from the sky."

"There's nothing more thrilling than nailing an insurance company."

"Matt Damon - Rudy Baylor"

"Danny DeVito - Deck Shifflet"

"Jon Voight - Leo F. Drummond"

"Claire Danes - Kelly Riker"

"Mary Kay Place - Dot Black"

"Dean Stockwell - Judge Harvey Hale"

"Virginia Madsen - Jackie Lemancyzk"

"Mickey Rourke - J. Lyman "Bruiser" Stone"

"Roy Scheider - Wilfred Keeley"

"Red West - Buddy Black"

"Johnny Whitworth - Donny Ray Black"

"Andrew Shue - Cliff Riker"

"Teresa Wright - "Miss Birdie" Birdsong (final film role)"

"Danny Glover - Judge Tyrone Kipler"

"She had patience. She could wait. This was, indeed, no ordinary woman."

"You are not to destroy him - if you do, I shall hate you as I've never hated a man."

"I have nothing more to say to you, Mr. Keane. I loved Andre Latour... and you murdered him. My life is finished; it is you yourself who have finished it. My only comfort is the hatred and contempt I feel for you!"

"Well, nice people don't go murdering other nice people."

"Gregory Peck - Anthony "Tony" Keane"

"Ann Todd - Gay Keane"

"Alida Valli - Mrs. Maddalena Anna Paradine"

"Charles Laughton - Judge Lord Thomas Horfield"

"Charles Coburn - Sir Simon Flaquer"

"Joan Tetzel - Judy Flaquer"

"Ethel Barrymore - Lady Sophie Horfield"

"Louis Jourdan - Andre Latour"

"Leo G. Carroll - Sir Joseph"

"Isobel Elsom - Innkeeper"

"[to Judge Hoyle] You couldn't hack it as a lawyer. You were a bag man for the boys downtown and you still are, I know about you."

"So Pat says, he says, "They got this new bar... and you go inside and for half a buck you get a beer, a free lunch and they take you in the back room - they get you laid... Mike says, "Now wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. Do you mean to say there's a new bar and you go inside and for a half a buck they give you a beer, a free lunch and they take you in the back room and they get you laid?" Pat says, "That's right." "Have you ever been in the bar?" And he says, "No, but me sister has.""

"You know, so much of the time we're just lost. We say, "Please, God, tell us what is right; tell us what is true." And there is no justice: the rich win, the poor are powerless. We become tired of hearing people lie. And after a time, we become dead... a little dead. We think of ourselves as victims... and we become victims. We become... we become weak. We doubt ourselves, we doubt our beliefs. We doubt our institutions. And we doubt the law. But today you are the law. You ARE the law. Not some book... not the lawyers... not the, a marble statue... or the trappings of the court. See those are just symbols of our desire to be just. They are... they are, in fact, a prayer: a fervent and a frightened prayer. In my religion, they say, "Act as if ye had faith... and faith will be given to you." IF... if we are to have faith in justice, we need only to believe in ourselves. And ACT with justice. See, I believe there is justice in our hearts."

"[to Laura] I know how you feel. You don't believe me, but I do know. I'm going to tell you something that I learned when I was your age. I'd prepared a case and old man White said to me, "How did you do?" And, uh, I said, "Did my best." And he said, "You're not paid to do your best. You're paid to win." And that's what pays for this office... pays for the pro bono work that we do for the poor... pays for the type of law that you want to practice... pays for my whiskey... pays for your clothes... pays for the leisure we have to sit back and discuss philosophy as we're doing tonight. We're paid to win the case. You finished your marriage. You wanted to come back and practice the law. You wanted to come back to the world. Welcome back."

"[to Frank] This case should never have come to trial. But you know better. You're mister independent. You want to be independent? Be independent now. I have no sympathy for you."

"Maureen Rooney: You know you guys are all the same. You don't care who gets hurt. You're a bunch of whores. You'd do anything for a dollar. You got no loyalty... No nothing... You're a bunch of whores."

"Kevin Doneghy: You guys... you guys are all the same! The doctors at the hospital, you... it's always what I'm going to do for you. And then you screw up, and it's, "Ah, we did the best that we could, I'm dreadfully sorry." And people like us live with your mistakes the rest of our lives."

"Kaitlin Costello: [testifying why she kept a copy of the admittance form] After the operation, when that poor girl she went into a coma, Dr. Towler called me in. He told me that he'd had five difficult deliveries in a row and he was tired... and he never looked at the admittance form. And he told me to change the form. He told me to change the '1' to a '9'... or else... or else he said, he said he'd fire me. He said I'd never work again. Who were these men? Who were these men? I wanted to be a nurse!"

"Paul Newman - Frank Galvin"

"Charlotte Rampling - Laura Fischer"

"Jack Warden - Mickey Morrissey"

"James Mason - Ed Concannon"

"Milo O'Shea - Judge Hoyle"

"Lindsay Crouse - Kaitlin Costello"

"Edward Binns - Bishop Brophy"

"Julie Bovasso - Maureen Rooney"

"Roxanne Hart - Sally Doneghy"

"This is what the jury is going to see. And they are going to see the girl too and you can't tell it from these. But she's tiny. She's the most defenseless looking thing you you ever saw."

"Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Paulsen has told you that the testimony of Sarah Tobias is nothing. Sarah Tobias was raped, but that is nothing. She was cut and bruised and terrorized but that is nothing. All of it happened in front of a howling crowd and that is nothing. Well, it may be nothing to Mr. Paulsen, but it is not nothing to Sarah Tobias and I don't believe it is nothing to you. Next, Mr. Paulsen tried to convince you that Kenneth Joyce was the only one in that room who knew that Sarah Tobias was being raped - the only one! Now you watched Kenneth Joyce, how did he strike you? Did he seem especially sensitive, especially observant? Did he seem so remarkable that you said to yourselves, 'Of course! This man would notice things other people wouldn't.' Do you believe that Kenneth Joyce saw something in that room that those three men didn't see? In all the time that Sarah was pinned down on that Pinball machine that other people didn't know? Kenneth Joyce confessed to you that he watched a rape and did nothing. He told you that everyone in that bar behaved badly - and he was right. But no matter how immoral it may be, it is not the crime of criminal solicitation to walk away from a rape. It is not the crime of criminal solicitation to silently watch a rape. But it is the crime of criminal solicitation to induce or entreat or encourage or persuade another person to commit a rape. 'Hold her down! Stick it to her! Make her moan!' These three men did worse than nothing. They cheered, and they clapped, and they rooted the others on. They made sure that Sarah Tobias was raped, and raped, and raped. Now you tell me, is that nothing?"

"What the hell are you talking about? You saw me at the hospital, what you think I asked for that? Is that what you think? If that's what you think then you get the fuck out of my house!"

"You don't understand how I feel! I'm standing there with my pants down and my crotch hung out for the world to see and three guys are sticking it to me, a bunch of other guys are yelling and clapping and you're standing there telling me that that's the best you can do. Well, if that's the best you could do, then your best sucks! Now, I don't know what you got for selling me out, but I sure as shit hope it was worth it!"

"Kelly McGillis - A. D. A. Kathryn Murphy"

"Jodie Foster - Sarah Tobias"

"Bernie Coulson - Ken Joyce"

"Leo Rossi - Cliff "Scorpion" Albrect"

"Ann Hearn - Sally Fraser"

"Carmen Argenziano - D. A. Paul Rudolph"

"Steve Antin - Bob Joiner"

"Tom O'Brien - Larry"

"Peter Van Norden - Attorney Paulsen"

"Terry David Mulligan - Lieutenant Duncan"

"Woody Brown - Danny"

"Scott Paulin - Attorney Ben Wainwright"

"Kim Kondrashoff - Kurt"

"I am a prosecutor. I am a part of the business of accusing, judging and punishing. I explore the evidence of a crime and determine who is charged, who is brought to this room to be tried before his peers. I present my evidence to the jury and they deliberate upon it. They must determine what really happened. If they cannot, we will not know if the accused deserves to be freed or should be punished. If they cannot find the truth, what is our hope of justice?"

"The murder of Carolyn Polhemus remains unsolved. It is a practical impossibility to try two people for the same crime. Even if it wasn't, I couldn't take his mother from my son. I am a prosecutor. I have spent my life in the assignment of blame. With all deliberation and intent, I reached for Carolyn. I cannot pretend it was an accident. I reached for Carolyn, and set off that insane mix of rage and lunacy that led one human being to kill another. There was a crime. There was a victim. And there is punishment."

"There are one hundred and fifty lawyers down there. Couldn't they find someone who didn't fuck her to handle the case?"

"You understand what happened had to happen. It couldn't have turned out any other way. A woman's depressed - with herself, with life. With her husband, who had made life possible for her, until he was bewitched by another woman. A destroyer. Abandoned. Like someone left for dead. She plans her suicide, until the dream begins. In the dream, the destroyer is destroyed. That's a dream worth living for. Now, with such simplicity, such clarity, everything falls into place. It must be a crime that her husband can declare unsolved and be believed by all the world. She must make it look like a rape, but she must leave her husband the clues. Once he discovers who it was, he'll put the case into the file of unsolved murders. Another break-in by some sex-crazed man. But all his life, he'll know that it was her. She remembers a set of glasses she bought for the woman some time before - a housewarming gift from her husband and his office. She buys another set. Her husband has a beer one night - doesn't even comment on the glass. Now she has his fingerprints. Then on a few mornings, she saves the fluid that comes out when she removes her diaphragm. Puts it in a plastic bag. Puts the bag in the basement freezer, and waits. She calls the woman and asks to see her. Stops first at the U and logs into the computer. Now she has her alibi."

"Sometimes it's dangerous to presume."

"Attraction. Desire. Deception. Murder. No one is ever completely innocent."

"Some people would kill for love."

"Harrison Ford - Rozat "Rusty" Sabich"

"Brian Dennehy - Raymond Horgan"

"Raúl Juliá - Alejandro "Sandy" Stern"

"Bonnie Bedelia - Barbara Sabich"

"Paul Winfield - Judge Larren Lyttle"

"Greta Scacchi - Carolyn Polhemus"

"John Spencer - Det. Dan Lipranzer"

"Joe Grifasi - Tommy Molto"

"Tom Mardirosian - Nico Della Guardia"

"Sab Shimono - Dr. Kumagai"

"Bradley Whitford - Jamie Kemp"

"Christine Estabrook - Lydia MacDougall"

"Michael Tolan - Mr. Polhemus"

"Jesse Bradford - Nat Sabich"

"Joseph Mazzello - Wendell McGaffen"

"Tucker Smallwood - Det. Harold Greer"

"David Wohl - Morrie Dickerman"

"The mob doesn't think. It has no mind of its own."

"I'll give them a chance that they didn't give me. They will get a legal trial in a legal courtroom. They will have a legal judge and a legal defense. They will get a legal sentence and a legal death."

""I got you a little momentum." (He meant memento.)"

"[to Joe] If those people die, Joe Wilson dies too; you know that, don't you? Wherever you go, whatever you do."

"District Attorney: [after several witnesses have lied on the stand] I wonder if I haven't been calling the defense witnesses by mistake."

"Sylvia Sidney - Katherine Grant"

"Spencer Tracy - Joe Wilson"

"Bruce Cabot - Kirby Dawson"

"Walter Abel - District Attorney"

"Edward Ellis - Sheriff"

"Walter Brennan - "Bugs" Meyers"

"Frank Albertson - Charlie"

"Morgan Wallace - Fred Garrett"

"Gwen Lee - Mrs. Fred Garrett"

"George Chandler - Milton Jackson"

"Edwin Maxwell - Vickery"

"Howard C. Hickman - Governor"

"Jonathan Hale - Defense Attorney"

"Leila Bennett - Edna Hooper"

"Esther Dale - Mrs. Whipple"

"Look at you. Death is looking down your neck, and you're playing your little male come-on games."

"I want the last face you see in this world to be the face of love, so you look at me when they do this thing. I'll be the face of love for you."

"Ain't nobody with money on death row."

"It's quiet. Only three days left. Plenty of time to read my Bible and look for a loophole."

"I just wanna say I think killin' is wrong, no matter who does it, whether it's me or y'all or your government."

"They won't care if you shot the gun. They'll be thinking of the crime. And of you as a monster. It's easy to kill a monster but hard to kill a human being."

"State trooper: I never gave a ticket to a nun before. I gave a ticket to a guy from the IRS one time. Got audited the next year. I'll tell you what, this time I'll let this one slide, but keep your speed down, yeah?"

"Susan Sarandon - Sister Helen Prejean"

"Sean Penn - Matthew Poncelet"

"Margo Martindale - Sister Colleen"

"Robert Prosky - Hilton Barber"

"Lois Smith - Helen's mother"

"Jack Black - Craig Poncelet"

"Celia Weston - Mary Beth Percy"

"Raymond J. Barry - Earl Delacroix"

"R. Lee Ermey - Clyde Percy"

"Michael Cullen - Carl Vitello"

"Scott Wilson - Chaplain Farlely"

"Roberta Maxwell - Lucille Poncelet"

"Peter Sarsgaard - Walter Delacroix"

"Well when I was an attorney, a long time ago, young man, I err...I realized after much trial and error, that in the courtroom, whoever tells the best story wins. In unlawyer-like fashion, I give you that scrap of wisdom free of charge."

"[to the Supreme Court] Your Honors, I derive much consolation from the fact that my colleague, Mr. Baldwin here, has argued the case in so able, and so complete a manner, as to leave me scarcely anything to say. However...why are we here? How is it that a simple, plain property issue should now find itself so ennobled as to be argued before the Supreme Court of the United States of America?"

"[to the Supreme Court] This is the most important case ever to come before this court. Because what it in fact concerns is the very nature of man."

"[to the Supreme Court] This man is black. We can all see that. But, can we also see as easily, that which is equally true? That he is the only true hero in this room. Now, if he were white, he wouldn't be standing before this court fighting for his life. If he were white and his enslavers were British, he wouldn't be standing, so heavy the weight of the medals and honors we would bestow upon him. Songs would be written about him. The great authors of our times would fill books about him. His story would be told and retold, in our classrooms. Our children, because we would make sure of it, would know his name as well as they know Patrick Henry's. Yet, if the South is right, what are we to do with that embarrassing, annoying document, the Declaration of Independence? What of its conceits? "All men created equal," "inalienable rights," "life, liberty," and so on and so forth? What on Earth are we to do with this? I have a modest suggestion. [tears papers in half]"

"[to the Supreme Court] Well, gentlemen, I must say I differ with the keen minds of the South and with our President, who apparently shares their views, offering that the natural state of mankind is instead - and I know this is a controversial idea - is freedom. Is freedom. And the proof is the length to which a man, woman or child will go to regain it once taken. He will break loose his chains. He will decimate his enemies. He will try and try and try, against all odds, against all prejudices, to get home."

"[to the Supreme Court] James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington...John Adams. We've long resisted asking you for guidance. Perhaps we have feared in doing so, we might acknowledge that our individuality, which we so, so revere, is not entirely our own. Perhaps we've feared an...an appeal to you might be taken for weakness. But, we've come to understand, finally, that this is not so. We understand now, we've been made to understand, and to embrace the understanding...that who we are is who we were. We desperately need your strength and wisdom to triumph over our fears, our prejudices, ourselves. Give us the courage to do what is right. And if it means civil war? Then let it come. And when it does, may it be, finally, the last battle of the American Revolution."

"In the case of the United States of America versus the Amistad Africans, it is the opinion of this Court that our treaty of 1795 with Spain, on which the prosecution has primarily based its arguments, is inapplicable. While it is clearly stipulated in Article 9 that, and I quote, "seized ships and cargo are to be returned entirely to their proprietary," the end of quote, it has not been shown to the Court's satisfaction that these particular Africans fit that description. We are then left with the alternative: that they are not slaves, and therefore, cannot be considered merchandise, but are rather free individuals with certain legal and moral rights, including the right to engage in insurrection against those who would deny them their freedom. And, therefore, over one dissent, it is the Court's judgment that the defendants are to be released from custody at once, and if they so choose, to be returned to their homes in Africa."

"Freedom is not given. It is our right at birth. But there are some moments when it must be taken."

"A true story."

"Morgan Freeman - Theodore Joadson"

"Nigel Hawthorne - Martin Van Buren"

"Anthony Hopkins - John Quincy Adams"

"Djimon Hounsou - Sengbe Pieh / Cinqué"

"Matthew McConaughey - Roger Sherman Baldwin"

"David Paymer - Secretary of State John Forsyth"

"Pete Postlethwaite - William S. Holabird"

"Stellan Skarsgård - Lewis Tappan"

"Razaaq Adoti - Yamba"

"Abu Bakaar Fofanah - Fala"

"Anna Paquin - Queen Isabella II"

"Tomas Milian - Calderon"

"Chiwetel Ejiofor - Ens. James Covey"

"Derrick Ashong - Buakei"

"Geno Silva - Ruiz"

"John Ortiz - Montes"

"Ralph Brown - Lieutenant Gedney"

"Darren E. Burrows - Lieutenant Meade"

"Allan Rich - Judge Juttson"

"Paul Guilfoyle - Attorney"

"Peter Firth - Captain Fitzgerald"

"Xander Berkeley - Hammond"

"Jeremy Northam - Judge Coglin"

"Arliss Howard - John C. Calhoun"

"Austin Pendleton - Professor Gibbs"

"Daniel von Bargen - Warden Pendleton"

"Rusty Schwimmer - Mrs. Pendleton"

"Pedro Armendáriz Jr. - General Espartero"

"Harry Blackmun - Justice Joseph Story"

"If you can't say fuck, you can't say fuck the government."

"[Fuck] sounds exactly like what it is."

"It's one of those all-purpose words."

"It's the ultimate bad word."

"The f-word is special. Everybody uses the word breakfast, but not everyone feels comfortable using the word fuck so there's an extra power behind it."

"You could think of that [word] as standing in for most of the changes that happened in the 20th century, at least many of the important ones."

"Ultimately, Fuck is a movie about free speech. ... Freedom of expression must extend to words that offend. Love it or hate it, fuck is here to stay."

"An interesting debate about censorship."

"F*ck manages to strip some of the mystique from the forbidden word, and in the end, despite some road bumps, is a satisfying f*lm."

"The most important film using fuck."

"At the forefront of the discussion is the question of freedom of speech."

"Fuck provides a highly provocative and humorous overview of a word that, love it or hate it, undoubtedly holds more power than its measly four letters might suggest."

"All in all, I’d have to say that this film was entertaining as fuck."

"For something rather different there’s F*ck, a moderately amusing documentary about the second most offensive word in the English language."

"All told, Anderson's film is surprisingly amusing, as well as insightful, even if viewers have to sit through about 800 uses of the word in the 90-minute film. (And that's a cinematic record.)"

"The documentary offers an effervescent blend of cultural history and political opinion."

"Can you support the First Amendment, and be appalled at the often-ridiculous fines levied by the FCC for a single broadcast F-bomb, and still be weary of this word's ubiquity? Anderson's movie doesn't say, but many know the answer."

"Anderson's glib approach is to the movie's advantage, allowing anything profound to seem unexpected."

"Unlike Kirby Dick's scatterbrained This Film Is Not Yet Rated, Steve Anderson's similar state-of-obscenity documentary Fuck gives both sides of the decency argument a fair hearing."

"A thesis-level course in the history, derivation and proper use of every sailor's favorite cuss, the movie has to wage a constant battle against potty-mouthed monotony. Fortunately, it emerges largely unscathed, and almost triumphant in its own single-minded way."

"Mr. Anderson’s movie is staged as a talking-head culture-war skirmish between embattled upholders of propriety (or repression, if you prefer) and proponents of free expression (or filth), but its real lesson is that the two sides depend upon each other. Or rather, that the continued vitality of the word — its unique ability to convey emphasis, relieve stress, shock grown-ups and function as adverb, noun, verb, intensifier and what linguists call 'infix' — rests on its ability to mark an edge between the permissible and the profane."

"Experience the Miracle."

"Discover the Miracle."

"If you really believe, anything can happen."

"Richard Attenborough - Kris Kringle"

"Mara Wilson - Susan Walker"

"Elizabeth Perkins - Dorey Walker"

"Dylan McDermott - Bryan Bedford"

"J. T. Walsh - Ed Collins"

"Simon Jones - Donald Shellhammer"

"James Remar - Jack Duff"

"Jane Leeves - Alberta Leonard"

"Robert Prosky - Judge Henry Harper"

"Allison Janney - Brazen Woman in Cole's Christmas Shopping Center"

"Jack McGee - Tony Falacchi"

"Joss Ackland (uncredited) - Victor Landberg"

"You see, Mrs. Walker, this is quite an opportunity for me. For the past 50 years or so I've been getting more and more worried about Christmas. Seems we're all so busy trying to beat the other fellow in making things go faster and look shinier and cost less that Christmas and I are sort of getting lost in the shuffle."

"Oh, Christmas isn't just a day, it's a frame of mind... and that's what's been changing. That's why I'm glad I'm here, maybe I can do something about it."

"Do you realize that there are thousands of children lining the streets? Children who have waited weeks just to see you? You are a disgrace to the tradition of Christmas! And I shall not allow you to malign me in public!"

"(To Sawyer)--"You have no more right to analyze Alfred than a dentist has to remove a gall bladder!""

"Susan, I speak French but that doesn't make me Joan of Arc!"

"Faith is believing in something when common sense tells you not to. Don't you see? It's not just Kris that's on trial, it's everything he stands for. It's kindness and joy and love and all the other intangibles."

"Look Doris, someday you're going to find that your way of facing this realistic world just doesn't work. And when you do, don't overlook those lovely intangibles. You'll discover those are the only things that are worthwhile."

"Mr. Shellhammer: But... but maybe he's only a little crazy like painters or composers or... or some of those men in Washington."

"Alfred, Macy janitor: Yeah, there's a lot of bad 'isms' floatin' around this world, but one of the worst is commercialism. Make a buck, make a buck. Even in Brooklyn it's the same - don't care what Christmas stands for, just make a buck, make a buck."

"Maureen O'Hara - Doris Walker"

"John Payne - Fred Gailey"

"Edmund Gwenn - Kris Kringle"

"Gene Lockhart - Judge Henry X. Harper"

"Natalie Wood - Susan Walker"

"Porter Hall - Granville Sawyer"

"William Frawley - Charlie Halloran"

"Jerome Cowan - Dist. Atty. Thomas Mara"

"Philip Tonge - Julian Shellhammer"

"It doesn't matter what others think. You know what you did."

"Everyone will hate me, but at least I'll lose."

"We need to get off this merry-go-round sir. The next mistake our countries make could be the last one. We need to have the conversation our governments can't."

"Well, the boss isn't always right. But, he's always the boss."

"What's the next move when you don't know what the game is?"

"Would it help?"

"Agent Williams: We are engaged in a war. This war does not for the moment involve men at arms; it involves information. You will be collecting information. You will be gathering intelligence about the enemy. The intelligence you gather could give us the upper hand in a full thermonuclear exchange with the Soviet Union, or it could prevent one. For public purposes, as far as your wife or mother or sweetheart or the good lord above, your mission does not exist. if it does not exist, you do not exist. You cannot be shot down. You cannot be captured."

"In a world on the brink the difference between war and peace was one honest man."

"In the shadow of war, one man showed the world what we stand for."

"Tom Hanks - James B. Donovan"

"Mark Rylance - Rudolf Abel"

"Scott Shepherd - Hoffman"

"Amy Ryan - Mary McKenna Donovan"

"Sebastian Koch - Wolfgang Vogel"

"Alan Alda - Thomas Watters"

"Austin Stowell - Francis Gary Powers"

"Billy Magnussen - Doug Forrester"

"Eve Hewson - Carol Donovan"

"Jillian Lebling - Peggy Donovan"

"Noah Schnapp - Roger Donovan"

"Jesse Plemons - Murphy"

"Michael Gaston - Williams"

"Peter McRobbie - Allen Dulles"

"Domenick Lombardozzi - Agent Blasco"

"Will Rogers - Frederic Pryor"

"Dakin Matthews - Judge Mortimer W. Byers"

"Stephen Kunken - William Tompkins"

"Joshua Harto - Bates"

"Mark Zak - Soviet Judge"

"Edward James Hyland - Chief Justice Earl Warren"

"Mikhail Gorevoy - Ivan Alexandrovich Schischkin"

"Here's my case, it's all I've got. Thirty-two years of service, thirty-two years of heroism as a United States Marine, regardless of what you decide here, Colonel Childers' career as a Marine is over. He will never again command men in combat. The Ambassador and his family are alive today because of him, and I know how the Ambassador feels because Colonel Childers saved my life too. I am alive today only because of him! I'm alive today and I have a son, because of the heroism of Colonel Childers. To ask this man to risk his life for his country, to ask this man to watch his Marines die in his arms and call it murder when he's defending himself, to call it murder for firing back when being fired upon, to call it murder for saving the lives of his countrymen under the most extreme of circumstances, that's... my fellow Marines... that's hanging him out to dry... and it's worse than leaving him wounded on a battlefield. That is something you do not do if you are a United States Marine, and it is something I pray to God you won't do here either."

"Colonel Terry Childers is a decorated war hero, a trusted leader of American Marines, and I wish that was all there was to it. Unfortunately, there are 83 dead Yemeni citizens, many of them women and children. Colonel Hodges would have you believe that this crowd was armed. He would also have you believe that there is a videotape proving this to be true. There is no tape exonerating Colonel Childers. There is no evidence exonerating Colonel Childers. Is Colonel Childers a man capable of killing defenseless, unarmed people? Is he capable of ordering the execution of innocent men and women? Is he capable of executing P.O.W.s with his own hand? Unfortunately, we have shown that he is. You have heard the sad testimony of Colonel Cao, who witnessed Colonel Childers' barbarism firsthand. You've even heard Colonel Childers' own admission that his desire was to "waste" them, regardless of who they were. Now, we are faced with the difficult prospect of convicting one of our own. None of us wants to do this, but you've heard the facts, and it is unavoidable. Colonel Terry Childers ordered the senseless slaughter of a peaceful crowd! Now, as Marines, we do not get the luxury of covering up our mistakes. We must air them, thereby ensuring that they never happen again."

"Dear God, I accept my death gladly but do not let me suffer too long. Will I be with You tonight in Paradise?"

"You claim that I am sent by the Devil. It's not true. To make me suffer, the Devil has sent you... and you... and you... and you."

"An Immortal Screen Classic that will live Forever!"

"Renée Jeanne Falconetti — Jeanne d'Arc"

"Eugène Silvain — Pierre Cauchon"

"André Berley — Jean d'Estivet"

"Maurice Schutz — Nicolas Loyseleur"

"The law. Nothing is right or wrong! It's either the law or it's not the law. Well, we got a problem here, because it's not working anymore. It turns out that right and wrong count."

"There's a lot of nobility in this room. Must be the paneling."

"Someone has taken justice and hidden it in the law."

"Newscaster: Dr. Harold Lewin, who was scheduled to go on trial next month for the courtroom shooting of a policeman, has apparently committed suicide, by taking a massive overdose of sleeping pills. Dr. Lewin is the father of 8-year-old Daniel Lewin. Daniel Lewin was one of nine children who have been brutally murdered in what police suspect may be a child pornography ring. Lawrence Monk and Arthur Cooms, who were accused of murdering Dr. Lewin's son, were released from custody, and all charges against them were dropped when Judge Steven Hardin ruled that a crucial piece of evidence linking them to the murdered child could not be used in the trial. When the ruling was announced by Judge Hardin in court, Dr. Lewin allegedly tried to shoot Monk and Cooms. In the ensuing struggle, a police officer was wounded. Dr. Lewin left a note asking his wife Carol to please forgive him."

"They meet. They judge. They execute... All in the name of the law."

"Someone has hidden justice within the law. Now justice is breaking out."

"...Where justice is served with a vengeance."

"The only one willing to stop them is one of their own. And when you know who they really are, you'll wish you didn't."

"They are the most powerful members of our community. They have a shattering secret. A secret that will affect us all. Only one man is willing to stop them. On August 5, you'll know who they really are."

"Michael Douglas - Superior Court Judge Steven R. Hardin"

"Hal Holbrook - Judge Benjamin Caulfield"

"Yaphet Kotto - Det. Harry Lowes"

"Sharon Gless - Emily Hardin"

"James B. Sikking - Dr. Harold Lewin"

"Joe Regalbuto - Arthur Cooms"

"Don Calfa - Lawrence Monk"

"David Faustino - Tony Hardin"

"Larry Hankin - Det. Kenneth Wiggan"

"Dick Anthony Williams - Det. Paul Mackey"

"DeWayne Jessie - Stanley Flowers"

"David Proval - Officer Nelson"

"Michael Ensign - Judge Kirkland"

"Diana Douglas - Adrian Caulfield"

"Frances Bergen - Mrs. Cummins"

"Robert Costanzo - Sgt. Spota"

"That's right, we're not goin' to jail because of what we did, we're goin' to jail because of who we are!"

"He does this, it's a pattern. Read his portion of the Port Huron Statement. He implies possessive pronouns and uses vague noun modifiers."

"If blood is going to flow, let it flow all over this city!"

"We've dealt with jury tampering, wiretapping, a defendant that was literally gagged, and a judge who's been handing down rulings from the bench that would be considered wrong in Honduras, so I'm a little less interested in the law than I was when this trial began."

"This is the Academy Awards of protests and as far as I'm concerned it's an honor just to be nominated."

"Eddie Redmayne - Tom Hayden"

"Sacha Baron Cohen - Abbie Hoffman"

"Alex Sharp - Rennie Davis"

"Jeremy Strong - Jerry Rubin"

"John Carroll Lynch - David Dellinger"

"Noah Robbins - Lee Weiner"

"Daniel Flaherty - John Froines"

"Yahya Abdul-Mateen II - Bobby Seale"

"Mark Rylance - William Kunstler"

"Joseph Gordon-Levitt - Richard Schultz"

"Ben Shenkman - Leonard Weinglass"

"J. C. MacKenzie - Tom Foran"

"Frank Langella - Judge Julius Hoffman"

"Kelvin Harrison Jr. - Fred Hampton"

"Michael Keaton - Ramsey Clark"

"John Doman - John N. Mitchell"

"Wayne Duvall - Paul DeLuca"

"Caitlin FitzGerald - Daphne O'Connor"

"Max Adler - Officer Stan Wojohowski"

"C. J. Wilson - Sergeant Scott Scibelli"

"Damian Young - Howard Ackerman"

"Alice Kremelberg - Bernardine"

"Alan Metoskie - Allen Ginsberg"

"I came out of law school with grand ideas in my mind about how to change the world. But Mr. McMillian made me realize we can't change the world with only ideas in our minds. We need conviction in our hearts. this man taught me how to stay hopeful, because I now know that hopelessness is the enemy of justice. Hope allows us to push for word, even when the truth is distorted by the people in power. It allows us to stand when they tell us to sit down, and to speak when they say be quiet."

"[in the US Senate hearing about the death penalty] Through this work, I've learned that each of us is more than the worst thing that we've ever done; that the opposite of poverty isn't wealth, the opposite of poverty is justice; that the character of our nation isn't reflected on how we treat the rich and the privileged, but how we treat the poor, the disfavored, and condemned."

"Michael B. Jordan as Bryan Stevenson"

"Jamie Foxx as Walter McMillian"

"Brie Larson as Eva Ansley"

"Rob Morgan as Herbert Richardson"

"Tim Blake Nelson as Ralph Myers"

"Rafe Spall as Tommy Chapman"

"O'Shea Jackson Jr. as Anthony Ray Hinton"

"As a lawyer, I've had to learn that people aren't just good or just bad. People are many things."

"The prosecution would like to separate the motive from the act. Well, that's like trying to take the core from an apple without breaking the skin."

"I'm just a humble country lawyer trying to do the best I can against this brilliant prosecutor from the big city of Lansing."

"[after cross-examining a convicted felon] Your Honor, I don't think I can dignify this - -creature - - with any more questions."

"Look, Laura, believe me, I don't usually complain of an attractive jiggle, but just you save that jiggle for your husband to look at, if and when I get him out of jail."

"Twelve people go off into a room: twelve different minds, twelve different hearts, from twelve different walks of life; twelve sets of eyes, ears, shapes, and sizes. And these twelve people are asked to judge another human being as different from them as they are from each other. And in their judgment, they must become of one mind - unanimous. It's one of the miracles of Man's disorganized soul that they can do it, and in most instances, do it right well. God bless juries."

"The lieutenant goes to Quill's place and plugs Mr. Quill about five times, which causes Mr. Quill to promptly die of lead poisoning."

"You know I used to think the world looked better through a glass of whiskey. It doesn't. I think I'll keep it this way. Looks nice."

"One judge is quite like another. The only differences may be in the state of their digestions or their proclivities for sleeping on the bench. For myself, I can digest pig iron. And while I might appear to doze occasionally, you will find that I am easily awakened, particularly if shaken gently by a good lawyer with a nice point of law."

"For the benefit of the jury, but more especially for the spectators, The garment mentioned in the testimony was, to be exact, Mrs. Manion's panties. [spectators roar with laughter] I wanted to get your snickering over and done with. This pair of panties will be mentioned again over the course of this trial, and when it is, there will not be one laugh, one snicker, one giggle or even one smirk in my courtroom. There is nothing comic about a pair of panties that resulted in the violent death of one man and the possible incarceration of another."

"Now, Mr. Dancer, get off the panties. You've done enough damage."

"James Stewart - Paul Biegler"

"Lee Remick - Laura Manion"

"Ben Gazzara - Lt. Frederick Manion"

"Arthur O'Connell - Parnell Emmett McCarthy"

"Eve Arden - Maida Rutledge"

"Kathryn Grant - Mary Pilant"

"George C. Scott - Claude Dancer"

"Orson Bean - Dr. Matthew Smith"

"Russ Brown - George Lemon"

"Murray Hamilton - Alphonse Paquette"

"Brooks West - Mitch Lodwick"

"Ken Lynch - Sgt. James Durgo"

"John Qualen - Deputy Sheriff Sulo"

"Howard McNear - Dr. Dompierre"

"Alexander Campbell - Dr. Gregory Harcourt"

"Ned Wever - Dr. Raschid"

"Jimmy Conlin - Clarence Madigan"

"Royal Beal - Sheriff Battisfore"

"Joseph Kearns - Mr. Burke, crime scene photographer"

"Don Ross - Duke Miller"

"Lloyd Le Vasseur - Court clerk"

"James Waters - Army sergeant"

"Joseph N. Welch - Judge Weaver"