Tough Guy Quotes

[Ferd Burfel]

from Cool Hand Luke

Captain, Road Prison 36: What we got here is... failure to communicate.


Captain, Road Prison 36: You run one time, you got yourself a set of chains. You run twice you got yourself two sets. You ain't gonna need no third set, 'cause you gonna get your mind right.


also, pretty much everything Al Swearengen said on Deadwood

AL: I’d say that’s naming horseshit virtue. Purposes butt up against each other, and
the strong call “consolidating” bending the weak to their will. (Captain Turner
steps out) And I’d add that whoever’s behind me is about to study his guts.


Al Swearengen: As damp as your hands are, why do you continuously lick your fuckin’ thumb?
E.B.: Habit, I suppose.
Al Swearengen: Could you learn the habit of lickin’ a fuckin’ stump?

[Bayard]

There's cool menace in J.B. Books' motto, "I won't be wronged, I won't be insulted, and I won't be laid a hand on. I don't do these things to other people, and I expect the same in return." (John Wayne, in The Shootist)

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If I'm ever lined up against a wall to be shot, I hope I can come up with something as tough as Breaker Morant's final, "Shoot straight, you bastards." (Edward Woodward, Breaker Morant)

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The Sundance Kid (Robert Redford) is almost bored with his own toughness in the opening card game in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
Card Player: "You haven't lost a hand since you got the deal. What's the secret to your success?"
Sundance: "Prayer."
...
Card Player: "I didn't know you was the Sundance Kid when I said you was cheating. If I draw on you, you'll kill me."
Sundance: "There's that possibility."

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Is it OK if I offer one from real life? Winston Churchill had some of the best tough guy lines. I love, "We are waiting for the long-promised invasion. So are the fishes."

[Little Nemo]

Another Clint Eastwood line, from The Outlaw Josey Wales:

"I wish we had time to bury them fellas."
"To hell with them fellas. Buzzards gotta eat, same as worms."

[Isamu]

Another one from The Usual Suspects:

Interrogation Cop: You know what happens if you do another turn in the joint?
Hockney: Fuck your father in the shower and then have a snack? Are you going to charge me dickhead?

[Argent Towers]

Bernard, I want you to know... that I try. When Jean and the kids at the school tell me that I'm supposed to control my violent temper, and be passive and nonviolent like they are, I try. I really try. Though when I see this girl... of such a beautiful spirit... so degraded... and this boy... that I love... sprawled out by this big ape here... and this little girl, who is so special to us we call her "God's little gift of sunshine"... and I think of the number of years that she's going to have to carry in her memory... the savagery of this idiotic moment of yours... I just go BERSERK!

[cardinal_fang]

From Reservoir Dogs:

Mr. Blonde: Are you gonna bark all day, little doggy, or are you gonna bite?

From 300:

Persian General Slaughtered: Spartans, lay down your weapons.
King Leonidas: Persians! Come and get them!

Courtesy IMDB.

[cochrane]

From Planet of the Apes: "Get your stinking paws off me, you damned dirty ape!"

From Rocky III:

Clubber Lang: I'm going to bust you up.
Rocky Balboa: Go for it.

[Uncle Brother Walker]

Will Riker had one in ST:TNG: Riker participates in an officer exchange program with the Klingons. During a power struggle, Riker punches a Klingon superior officer as a rite of passage. When his replacement comes up to challenge Riker, Will says "...follow my orders. Or do you prefer the title of 'prisoner' to that of 'officer'? "

Okay, it's paraphrased, but I can't remember it all.

Although, I do try to use the this to that of that joke as much as I can.

[Labdad]

One of my favorites from The Maltese Falcon:

Sam Spade: "When you're slapped, you'll take it and like it!"

[muldoonthief]

From Reservoir Dogs:

Mr White: If you shoot this man, you die next. Repeat. If you shoot this man, you die next.


Mr. Pink: I don't wanna kill anybody. But if I gotta get out that door, and you're standing in my way, one way or the other, you're gettin' outta my way.


From Pulp Fiction:

Winston Wolfe: If I'm curt with you it's because time is a factor. I think fast, I talk fast and I need you guys to act fast if you wanna get out of this. So, pretty please... with sugar on top. Clean the fucking car.

[Chefguy]

"Call it, friendo."

[Zeldar]

Originally Posted by Chefguy

"Call it, friendo."

Damn straight!

[Merijeek]

Swayze, Roadhouse: I used to fuck guys like you in prison.

-Joe

[pravnik]

Originally Posted by Merijeek

Swayze, Roadhouse: I used to fuck guys like you in prison.

-Joe

I think that was the bad guy character, rather than Swayze's protagonist.

[Merijeek]

Originally Posted by pravnik

I think that was the bad guy character, rather than Swayze's protagonist.

Maybe so, but I like to thin of Swayze saying it.

-Joe

[Sauron]

Also from Roadhouse, Wade Garrett (after kicking a man's knee, causing him to collapse and writhe in pain): "Damn, that hurts, don't it?"

It's not so much the line, but the way Sam Elliott says it; he's got a good-old-boy smile on his face, and he's almost jovial as he leans down to talk to the guy he just put on the ground.

[Stranger On A Train]

Another from Spartan:

Grace: Nice knife.
Scott: Yeah, I got it off an East German fella.
Grace: He give it to you as a gift?
Scott: No...as I recall, he was rather reluctant to part with it.
Grace: I always knew you Marines were a weepy bunch of motherfuckers.
Scott: I think I got something in my eye.

And from Casino Royale
Dryden: Shame...we barely got to know each other. [drops hammer on an empty chamber]
Bond: I know where you keep your gun. I suppose that's something.[/indent]
Stranger

[msmith537]

Predator 2
"All right....who's next?"


Air Force One
"GET OFF MY PLANE!"



Army of Darkness
"First you wanna kill me, now you wanna kiss me...Blow."

"Yo, she-bitch! Let's go!"

"Good, bad, I'm the one with the gun."

"Alright you Primitive SCREWHEADS, listen up! You see this? This... is my BOOMSTICK! The twelve-gauge double-barreled Remington. S-Mart's top of the line. You can find this in the sporting goods department. That's right, this sweet baby was made in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Retails for about a hundred and nine, ninety five. It's got a walnut stock, cobalt blue steel, and a hair trigger. That's right. Shop smart. Shop S-Mart. YOU GOT THAT? "

"Now I swear the next one of you primates even TOUCHES me... "

"You got real ugly"

"Are all men from the future loud-mouthed braggarts?"
"Nope. Just me baby... Just me."

"Gimme some sugar, baby."


Passenger 57
"Always bet on black."


Total Recall
"Considah that a divorce!"

[Chefguy]

Crocodile Dundee: "That's not a knife. This is a knife!"

[lost4life]

Where's the love for Evil Roy Slade?

Girlfriend - I'm sad that there's so much evil in your heart.
Evil Roy- It's in my heart and in my hands, in my eyes - and a lot in my feet, I love kicking...

Girlfriend - Let's try some arithmetic. If you had six apples and your neighbor took three apples. What would you have?
Evil Roy - A dead neighbor and all six apples.

Sidekick (playing poker) - I have kings with an ace!
Evil Roy - I have threes with a gun.
Sidekick - You win!

Evil Roy - I ain't giving up. I've worked hard, it took me years to work my way to the bottom.

[Icerigger]

Lucius Vorenus from the HBO series Rome. On being asked how he would go about finding Ceasar's stolen eagle banner.

"I would take captives from all the Gallic tribes, crucify them one-by-one until someone talks."

I guess he knows how to get the job done.

[Zeldar]

Originally Posted by Icerigger

Lucius Vorenus from the HBO series Rome. On being asked how he would go about finding Ceasar's stolen eagle banner.

"I would take captives from all the Gallic tribes, crucify them one-by-one until someone talks."

I guess he knows how to get the job done.

And to think that Lucius Vorenus is now whacking up bodies on Grey's Anatomy. It's sinful, but I guess he has to work.

[KneadToKnow]

Patsy Parisi: "The last face you see won't be his, it'll be mine. It won't be cinematic."

[tr0psn4j]

Originally Posted by muldoonthief

From Pulp Fiction:

Winston Wolfe: If I'm curt with you it's because time is a factor. I think fast, I talk fast and I need you guys to act fast if you wanna get out of this. So, pretty please... with sugar on top. Clean the fucking car.

Or when he says something to the extent of "It's 45 minutes away, I'll be there in 10."

[Doom Slinger]

From True Romance:
Vincent Concotti: Do you know who I am, Mr. Worley?
Clifford Worley: I give up. Who are you?
VC: I'm the Antichrist. You got me in a vendetta kind of mood. You tell the angels in heaven you've never seen evil so singularly personified...as you did in the face of the man who killed you.

From Casino Royale (2006):
Dryden: How did he die?
James Bond: Your contact? Not well.
Dryden: Made you feel it, did he? Well, you needn't worry. The second is...
[Bond shoots Dryden]
James Bond: Yes... considerably.

[want2know]

Gotta have some Sean Connery here (from Last Crusade):

Nazi: "Vhat does the book tell you zat it does not tell us?"

Henry: "It tells me...that goose-stepping morons like yourselves should try reading books instead of BURNING THEM!"

and:

Henry: "I underestimated you, Walter. I knew you'd sell your grandmother for an Etruscan vase, but I never thought you'd sell out your country to the slime of humanity!"

Die Hard (of course):

McLane:

"Awww, no more bullets. Whaddaya think, I'm fuckin' STUPID?"

"WELCOME TO THE PARTY, PAL!!!"

"I'M GONNA FUCKIN' KILL YOU, THEN I'M GONNA COOK YOU, THEN I'M GONNA EAT YOU!"

Hans:

Holly: "You're nothing but a common thief!"
Hans: "I am an EXCEPTIONAL thief...and since I've graduated to kidnapping, you should be more polite!"

Agent Johnson (no, the other one): "Lose the grid, or you lose your job!"

Hans: "Well, this is not Hollywood, and John Wayne does not ride off into the sunset with Grace Kelly!"
McLane: "That was Gary Cooper, asshole!"

For me, the ultimate TV tough guy was Mick Belker from Hill Street Blues. I could go on and on with his quotes, but one stands out in my mind. Belker has just arrested two rich kids who were goading homeless people to kill themselves. He's got them on the edge of a rooftop scared shitless, and says:

"You see that street? That's Fulton Street! My father was a tailor there. He didn't have two nickels to rub together, but he was a MAN, because he HAD A HEART!"

[Robot Arm]

Originally Posted by lost4life

Where's the love for Evil Roy Slade?

Girlfriend - I'm sad that there's so much evil in your heart.
Evil Roy- It's in my heart and in my hands, in my eyes - and a lot in my feet, I love kicking...

Girlfriend - Let's try some arithmetic. If you had six apples and your neighbor took three apples. What would you have?
Evil Roy - A dead neighbor and all six apples.

Sidekick (playing poker) - I have kings with an ace!
Evil Roy - I have threes with a gun.
Sidekick - You win!

Evil Roy - I ain't giving up. I've worked hard, it took me years to work my way to the bottom.

Good lines, but for all his genius, John Astin is not a tough guy.

Originally Posted by tr0psn4j

The obligatory Dirty Harry quote, "I know what you're thinking. "Did he fire six shots or only five?" Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement I kind of lost track myself. But being as this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you've got to ask yourself one question: Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk? "

I've always wanted to ask this. I've seen this movie a few times, but only on TV, so I can't be sure of the editing. In the final chase at the quarry (or whatever it was), Harry fires five times, and kills Scorpio with number six. But at the bank robbery early in the film, I only count about three shots before he faces down the guy. Has anyone who's seen this unedited counted the shots in the earlier shootout, and should Harry's gun really be empty?

I do like how Eastwood varies the line. The first time is casual and confident, and the guy backs down to Harry's bluff. The second time, he's goading Scorpio; he wants him to reach for that gun.

[Elendil's Heir]

Too late in coming to this thread. A lot of my favorites have been taken:

"Try and kill me!"
"It'll hurt." - Yojimbo

"Honey, did you... kill people?"
"Ja... but they were all bad." - True Lies

"Shoot straight, you bastards - don't make a mess of it!" - said to a firing squad in Breaker Morant

Rather than the usual but overfamiliar quotations from Patton, I give you this (courtesy of IMDB.com):

Translator: The general would like to know if you will drink a toast with him.
Patton: Thank the general and tell him I have no desire to drink with him or any other Russian son of a bitch.
Translator: [Nervous] I can't tell him that!
Patton: Tell him, every word.
Translator: [In Russian] He says he will not drink with you or any Russian son of a bitch.
Russian general: [In Russian] Tell him he is a son of a bitch, too. Now!
Translator: [Very nervous] He says he thinks you are a son of a bitch, too.
Patton: [laughing] All right. All right, tell him I'll drink to that; one son of a bitch to another.

Also In the Line of Fire; Horrigan (Clinton Eastwood) is a Secret Service agent:

Lilly Raines: I heard you and Nixon didn't get along.
Frank Horrigan: Now, that's not true. His chief of staff, though, that was a different story. I remember one time, he wanted me to go out and get rid of some anti-war protestors. I said no, talking about the Bill of Rights and so on. And he says, "Look, when I'm talking to you, I am the President." I said, "The President? That's funny, you look more like a sack of shit in a cheap suit to me, sir!"
Lilly Raines: [laughs] Well, I like the "sir." It's a classy touch.
Frank Horrigan: I thought so.

Frank Horrigan: What to do you see when you're in the dark, and the demons come?
Mitch Leary: I see you, Frank. I see you standing over the grave of another dead President.
Frank Horrigan: That's not going to happen.

"Give me a martini."
"Certainly, sir. Shaken or stirred?"
"Do I look like I give a damn?" - Casino Royale (brilliantly subversive of Bond's catchphrase, IMHO)

"I... have had enough... of you!" - Said by Kirk to Kruge as he kicks him in the face and off a cliff, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

[TruCelt]

Originally Posted by tr0psn4j

"Do or do not, there is no try." From the toughest, green Muppet ever.

I have to counter that with:

"Piggy, [Gulp] will you marry me?"

I mean really, what could be braver? LOL!

[Zeldar]

Originally Posted by tr0psn4j

Or when he says something to the extent of "It's 45 minutes away, I'll be there in 10."

Or, "Let's don't start sucking each other's dicks just yet."

[Kalhoun]

"Say 'what' again, muthafuckah!"

[TruCelt]

Holly Hunter:

"Give me that Baby you Warthog from Hell!!!"

[Zeldar]

Originally Posted by Kalhoun

"Say 'what' again, muthafuckah!"

Kalhoun, if I wasn't already married, and you weren't too, I'd ask you to marry me! Oh, the fun we could have!

[Little Nemo]

Bolt: I gotta warn ya, going into the belly of the beast - danger at every turn.
Rhino: I eat danger for breakfast!
Bolt: You hungry?
Rhino: Starving!

[Southern Yankee]

From this season's 24.

Jack Bauer: "With all due respect, Madam President.... ask around."

[Elendil's Heir]

Originally Posted by Southern Yankee

From this season's 24.

Jack Bauer: "With all due respect, Madam President.... ask around."

Context, please?

[Chefguy]

(paraphrasing Billy Jack): "In a moment, I'm going to kick you up side your head...and there's nothing you can do about it."

Other guy: "Oh yeah?"

Billy Jack: "Yeah." WHACK!!

Little Bill (as he's kicking the crap out of English Bob): "You probably think I'm kickin' you, Bob!"

[HubZilla]

Originally Posted by Pushkin

Does "I find your lack of faith, disturbing" count as a tough guy quote?

I like this one better:

"Perhaps you think you are being treated unfairly?"

[lost4life]

Originally Posted by Robot Arm

Good lines, but for all his genius, John Astin is not a tough guy.

Oh, sorry. I'll just sit over here and keep quiet...carry on.

[GargoyleWB]

How about some tough girl quotes?

From Crouching Tiger...

Jen Yu: "Who are you?"
Gou Jun Pei: "I'm Shining Phoenix Mountain Gou."
Jen Yu: "Gou? I hate that name. It makes me puke! Too bad you're named Gou. You'll be the first to feel my sword today."

and

Jen Yu: "Who am I? I am the Invincible Sword Goddess, armed with the incredible Green Destiny! Be you Li or Southern Crane, lower your head and ask for mercy. I am the desert dragon. I leave no trace. Today I fly over O Mei. Tomorrow, I'll kick over Wudan Mountain!"

and From Aliens:

Hudson: "Hey Vasquez, have you ever been mistaken for a man?"
Vasquez: "No. Have you? "

[Kalhoun]

Originally Posted by Zeldar

Kalhoun, if I wasn't already married, and you weren't too, I'd ask you to marry me! Oh, the fun we could have!

I know!

[tr0psn4j]

Originally Posted by Elendil's Heir

Context, please?

She was questioning Jack's loyalty to protecting the POTUS.

I'm paraphrasing but it was something like "You're a wanted felon blah blah blah, how can I trust that you'll protect me"

"With all due respect, Madame President, ask around."

[mbh]

From City Slickers:

Billy Crystal: "Hi, Curly. Kill anyone today?"
Jack Palance: "Day ain't over yet."

In one of the Dirty Harry movies, Harry tells a crook to behave. The crook says something to the effect of "Who's going to make me?"
Harry says, "Oh, just me and Smith. And Wesson."

From Patton: "No son of a bitch ever won a war by dying for his country. Wars are won by making the OTHER son of a bitch die for HIS country."

James Earl Jones, in Conan the Barbarian: They shall all drown in lakes of blood. Now they will know why they are afraid of the dark. Now they learn why they fear the night.

A lot of people like Schwartzenegger's line about what is best in life: "To crush your enemies, to see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of their women." But he was actually quoting Genghis Khan:

Man's highest joy is victory:
To conquer one's enemies and to pursue them,
To make their beloved weep,
To deprive them of their possessions,
To ride on their horses,
And to embrace their wives and daughters.

[HoboStew]

Originally Posted by Little Nemo

Another Clint Eastwood line, from The Outlaw Josey Wales:

"I wish we had time to bury them fellas."
"To hell with them fellas. Buzzards gotta eat, same as worms."

One of my alltime favorites:

BH: I'm looking for Josey Wales.
JW: That would be me.
BH: You're wanted, Wales.
JW: Reckon I'm right popular. You a bounty hunter?
BH: Man's gotta do something for a living these days.
JW: Dying ain't much of a living, boy.

[Elendil's Heir]

Originally Posted by tr0psn4j

She was questioning Jack's loyalty to protecting the POTUS.

I'm paraphrasing but it was something like "You're a wanted felon blah blah blah, how can I trust that you'll protect me"

"With all due respect, Madame President, ask around."

Thanks!

Here's another from Breaker Morant, paraphrased:

"We didn't have fancy courtrooms out in the bush. No, sir, we didn't have motions and objections and briefs. We did what we had to do with our prisoners. We got them and we shot them under Rule .303!"

[Der Trihs]

"I'm going to let you live . . . longer than you want to." - Spawn, in the HBO ( IIRC ) cartoon version.

[KneadToKnow]

Mickey: "Don't you wanna hear my last words?"
Joe: "I just did."

Heist

[Sauron]

Thought of another one, from Sin City:

Cardinal Roark, who has orchestrated some very bad things during the movie, is being threatened by Marv:

Roark: Will that bring you satisfaction, my son? Killing a helpless old fart?

Marv: Killing? No. No satisfaction. Everything up to the killing, though ... that will be a gas.

[Lumpy]

A couple of Tough Gal quotes:

"I am Death Incarnate, and the last living thing that you are ever going to see. God sent me." -Susan Ivanova, Babylon 5.

"I will use every cannon, every bomb, every bullet, every weapon I have down to my own eye teeth to end you. I swear it! I'm coming for all of you!" -Laura Roslyn, Battlestar Galactica.

One from the Punisher (comic, not movie): "Only tough guys I know are in the pen or dead"- just before he puts several thugs in the latter category.

[Max Torque]

Originally Posted by tr0psn4j

"Do or do not, there is no try." From the toughest, green Muppet ever.

I prefer a slightly later line, after Yoda levitates Luke's X-wing out of the swamp:

Luke: Master, I...I don't believe it!
Yoda: That is why you fail.

From the underappreciated Cutthroat Island:

Pirate: We can't leave yet, Captain, we don't have enough food on board.
Dawg Brown: We need less mouths. (shoots the pirate)