"Michele Davis: They almost bring down the U.S. economy as we know it, but we can't put restrictions on how they spend the $125 billion we're giving them because... they might not take it?"

"Timothy Geithner: I'm on the Street, Hank, and people are just going about their business. They have no idea the whole thing is about to fall down."

"Congressman Barney Frank: (reviewing the first draft of TARP) It's all for the banks. You don't want a penny for the average Joe that's about to lose his house?"

"Topher Grace - Jim Wilkinson, U.S. Treasury Chief of Staff"

"I've seen this before: CEOs panic and they sell out cheap. Right now, the Street's running around with its hair on fire, but the storm always passes. We stand strong, and on the other side, we'll eat Goldman's lunch."

"Jim Wilkinson: (watching Paulson's conversation with John McCain) He's not... threatening the Republican Presidential nominee, is he?"

"William Hurt - Henry Paulson, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury"

"Cynthia Nixon - Michele Davis, Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs"

"Paul Giamatti - Ben Bernanke, Chairman of the Federal Reserve"

"Nancy Pelosi: (when Paulson kneels down in front of her) Hank, I didn't know you were Catholic."

"Evan Handler - Lloyd Blankfein, CEO, Goldman Sachs"

"Lim Kay Tong - Colonel Huỳnh Văn Cao, ARVN"

"Ed Lauter - LTG Fred Weyand, US Army"

"Kurtwood Smith - Gen William Westmoreland, US Army"

"Bill Whelan - Ron Dray"

"Donal Logue - Steven Burnett"

"Harve Presnell - General Paul Harkins, US Army"

"Robert John Burke - Frank Drummond"

"Vivian Wu - Lee"

"[last lines] John Paul Vann was America's warrior. He personified our good intentions, our arrogance, our courage, and ultimately our folly. He had fought to redeem the unredeemable, to salvage the doomed enterprise called South Vietnam. In death, he had triumphed over defeat while the rest of us are left to ask... "Why?""

"In war as in life, the difference between truth and deception is what a man allows himself to believe."

"Bill Paxton - LTC John Paul Vann, US Army"

"[addressing US and Vietnamese troops preparing for the NVA assault on Kontum] All right, listen up, everyone. We are gonna hold the line here at Tan Canh, then mount a staged retreat back to where we are, Kontum. [describing map drawn on chalkboard] That will pull these North Vietnamese divisions out of the hills and when they do, we are gonna call in the B-52s and carpet-bomb each of these squares. We are gonna wipe out the Second, Third, and Fifth Division of the North Vietnamese Army. [gestures to Col Ly Tong Ba] My old colleague, Colonel Ba, will conduct a forward command defense and withdrawal. [shows picture an aide gives him] This is General Giap, commander of the NVA. He's a genius. He's never been beaten... till now. I've studied this man for ten years and we are gonna whip his ass. You know why? Because he wastes his men. Pours them away like piss in the wind. There's not a man in this room, not a man on that line out there I wouldn't die for. No matter what we've done with our lives, you and I can be proud today because we have the noblest of all professions. We are soldiers. The good Lord said it all about us. He said no greater love has a man than he lay down his life for another. And by God, this day will not end but I will see you all safely through it... and we will hold this ground."

"Amy Madigan - Mary Jane Vann"

"[in his briefing over what's needed for the advisory effort in South Vietnam, complete with slides] Southeast Asia. Rubber, timber and manpower. Southeast Asia, the Communists want it and we wanna stop 'em. And in my hand, I hold the secret weapon to win the war in South Asia. [shows handful of rice] Rice. Rice, gentlemen. Rice. For the Vietnamese peasant, it is everything. They fought the Chinese, the Japanese, they fought the French for their rice fields. The Communists have hijacked that rebellion. [points to slides] This man, Ho Chi Minh, and his General Giap, have promised the farmers they will give them back their rice, while our man, President Diem... continues dealing it. We must regain the goodwill of the peasants, restore the good faith of the people. To win the war in Vietnam, we must take back the rice revolution, throw out the rice dealers and give them back their rice. We must wage war for the peasants, not against them. Build their houses, don't destroy them. Kill the enemy with this [shows dagger], instead of this [pointing to slide of B-52 dropping bombs]. In short, we must harness the peasant revolution to defeat the Communist revolution. Thank you."

"Eric Bogosian - Doug Elders"

"James Rebhorn - US Ambassador to South Vietnam Ellsworth Bunker"

"It's strange that you encourage people to invest their whole life savings, go into debt, just to buy a house they can't afford."

"We be the bitches of the badlands."

"Bo never knew his parents, and we never had kids. If I didn't stay, if I left, it would be like he never existed. I couldn't pack up and move on. He loved Empire. He loved his work so much. He loved being there. Everybody loved him. So I stayed. Same town, same house. Just like my dad used to say, "What's remembered lives." I maybe spent too much of my life just remembering, Bob."

"Linda May - Linda May"

"David Strathairn - Dave"

"Charlene Swankie - Swankie"

"Merle: I worked for corporate America, you know, for 20 years. My friend Bill worked for the same company. And... He had liver failure. A week before he was due to retire, HR called him in hospice and said, you know, let's talk about your retirement. And he died 10 days later, having never been able to take that sailboat that he bought out of his driveway. And he missed out on everything. Then he told me before he died, just don't waste any time, girl. Don't waste any time. So I retired as soon as I could. I didn't want my sailboat to be in the driveway when I died. So... yeah. And it's not. My sailboat is out here in the desert."

"You know, I think that what the nomads are doing is not that different than what the pioneers did. I think Fern's part of an American tradition."

"Frances McDormand - Fern"

"Bob Wells - Himself"

"Derek Endres - Derek"

"I think of an analogy as a work horse. The work horse that is willing to work itself to death, and then be put out to pasture. And that's what happens to so many of us. If society was throwing us away and sending us as the work horse out to the pasture, we work horses have to gather together and take care of each other. And that's what this is all about. The way I see it is that the Titanic is sinking and economic times are changing. And so my goal is to get the lifeboats out and get as many people into the lifeboats as I can."

"One of the things I love most about this life is that there's no final goodbye. You know, I've met hundreds of people out here and I don't ever say a final goodbye. I always just say, "I'll see you down the road." And I do. And whether it's a month, or a year, or sometimes years, I see them again."

"Tay Strathairn - James"