The Firm (1993)

Tom Cruise: Mitch McDeere

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Quotes 

• Mitch McDeere : I got mine, Wayne, you get the rest of them.

  Wayne Tarrance : Get 'em with what? Overbilling, mail fraud? Oh, that's exciting.

  Mitch McDeere : It's not sexy, but it's got teeth! Ten thousand dollars and five years in prison. That's ten and five for each act. Have you really looked at that? You've got every partner in the firm on overbilling. There's two hundred fifty acts of documented mail fraud there. That's racketeering! That's minimum one thousand, two hundred fifty years in prison and half a million dollars in fines. That's more than you had on Capone.

• Mitch McDeere : Did I lose you?

  Abby McDeere : You look tired.

  Mitch McDeere : Did I?

  Abby McDeere : I've loved you all my life. Even before we met. Part of it wasn't even you. It was just a promise of you. But these last days... You kept your promise. How could you lose me?

• Mitch McDeere : Hey Ray, wouldn't it be funny if I went to Harvard, you went to Jail and we both ended up surrounded by crooks.

• Mitch McDeere : You want to know something funny? You actually made me think about the law. I managed to go through three years of law school without doing that.

• Ray McDeere : How'd you land a job like that with a brother in the slammer?

  [Mitch says nothing] 

  Ray McDeere : I get it. Don't worry, I'd probably have done the same thing.

  Mitch McDeere : You're always there for me, Ray...

  Ray McDeere : I'd have done the same thing. You think I want to tell the guys around here that I got a brother at Harvard?

• Wayne Tarrance : Man, I don't understand you. What'd you do it for? You didn't win a thing.

  Mitch McDeere : Oh, yes I did. I won my life back. YOU don't run me, and THEY don't run me!

• Wayne Tarrance : How about you get down on your knees and kiss my ass for not indicting you as a co-conspirator right now, you chickenshit little Harvard cocksucker?

  Mitch McDeere : I haven't done anything, and you know it!

  Wayne Tarrance : Who gives a fuck? I'm a federal agent! You know what that means, you lowlife motherfucker? It means you've got no rights, your life is mine! I could kick your teeth down your throat and yank 'em out your asshole, and I'm not even violating your civil rights!

• Mitch McDeere : What led you to law school?

  Avery Tolar : It's so far back I don't think I can remember.

  Mitch McDeere : Sure you can, Counsellor.

  Avery Tolar : I used to caddy for lawyers and their wives on summer weekends. I looked at those long tan legs and just knew I had to be a lawyer. The wives had long tan legs, too.

• Avery Tolar : Do you think l'm talking about breaking the law?

  Mitch McDeere : No, I'm just trying to figure out how far you want it bent.

  Avery Tolar : As far as you can without breaking it.

• Mitch McDeere : Are you saying my life is in danger?

  Denton Voyles : I am saying that your life as you know it is over.

• Mitch McDeere : Let me get this straight: you want me to steal files from the firm, turn them over to the FBI, send my colleagues to jail...

  Wayne Tarrance : They roped you into this.

  Mitch McDeere : Breach attorney-client privilege, thus getting myself disbarred for life, then testify in open court against the Mafia...

  Wayne Tarrance : Well, unfortunately, Mitch...

  Mitch McDeere : Let me ask you something: are you out of your fucking mind?

• Mitch McDeere : You are Agent Wayne Terrance.

  Wayne Tarrance : Yeah, you're goddamn right I am, and maybe local cops can't...

  [stops as he realizes Mitch has baited him, then answers phone when it rings] 

  Wayne Tarrance : . Yeah?

  Tammy : Is this Wayne Terrance?

  Wayne Tarrance : Who is this?

  Tammy : Is this Wayne Terrance?

  Wayne Tarrance : Yeah, this is Wayne Terrance.

  Tammy : So is this.

  [plays tape of previous, self-incriminating conversation with Mitch] 

  Mitch McDeere : [to Wayne Terrance]  Now, I think you ought to reconsider.

• [Mitch tosses a small cassette to Tarrance] 

  Mitch McDeere : It's you at the track. I could have gone public with it.

  Wayne Tarrance : Then why didn't you?

  Mitch McDeere : [smiles]  It's against the law.

• Mitch McDeere : Anything I can do for you?

  Ray McDeere : Sure. Get me outta here.

  Mitch McDeere : Where to?

  Ray McDeere : Anywhere I can see a whole lotta sky. I get through the days, I even eat the food. It's amazing how much you miss the sky.

• Mitch McDeere : [kicking DeVasher]  You sick son-of-a-bitch!

• Mitch McDeere : [First lines]  Son of a bitch! I mean your Honor, that was a hell of a shot.

• Mitch McDeere : How did you see them when they didn't see you?

  Tammy : I was under the desk... I was vacuuming the rug; you want me to draw you a diagram?

• [in the Caymans, Mitch is asking questions about the two attorneys who died in the diving accident] 

  Barry Abanks : [angrily]  I lost my son! Don't you think I would have screamed bloody murder if I thought something was wrong?

  Mitch McDeere : You're right, Mr. Abanks, I'm sorry. Okay? You're right. I'm sorry.

  Barry Abanks : Nothing to bury even. Just a stone. They never did find him or the other two.

  Mitch McDeere : What other two?

  Barry Abanks : The other two who split the charter. Your friends and two other guys.

  Mitch McDeere : Lawyers?

  Barry Abanks : They were in swimsuits, they paid cash.

  Mitch McDeere : Were they American?

  Barry Abanks : Could have been anything. One was, I don't know, squat, heavy. The other guy had long blond hair, almost white, and weird blue eyes.

• Abby McDeere : Kate was scared.

  Mitch McDeere : What? No, she was just upset.

  Abby McDeere : There's a difference between being upset and being scared. She was scared.

  Mitch McDeere : Of what? What, do you know her that well?

  Abby McDeere : Maybe not, but I have spent a lot of time with her lately. They have their own horses. Two of them. Quarter horses.

  Mitch McDeere : Does that make half a horse?

  [pause; smiles begin to form on both their faces] 

  Mitch McDeere : I'm sorry...

  [both burst into laughter] 

• Avery Tolar : We put you in deals with other clients where they may be very sensitive about exposing their relationships to outside attorneys.

  Sonny Capps : [to Mitch]  You hear that, counselor? That's a veiled threat.

  [to Avery] 

  Sonny Capps : If you're talking about our friends in Chicago, they don't make money when I pay you fees. You make money when I pay you fees. They make money being in business with me. And as long as they're makin' money, they don't give a flyin' fuck who does my taxes.

  [back to Mitch] 

  Sonny Capps : Hey, you don't know me. I'm a nice guy. You lose a million bucks for me, I'm not gonna hurt ya. I'm not gonna break your legs.

  Avery Tolar : [Worried Mitch will learn too much too soon]  Sonny, let's don't get carried away here, all right?

  Sonny Capps : What did I say?

  [Off Avery's squirming] 

  Sonny Capps : What did I say?

  Mitch McDeere : Maybe it's what you didn't say.

  Sonny Capps : 'What didn't I say.' What didn't I say?

  Mitch McDeere : 'Thank you.' Mr. Tolar handed you a schedule that virtually guarantees you zero tax with zero risk. The basis of your stock would be the face amount of the installment note, but the stock would have no value. Even so, it's deducted in offsets income. You defer your tax in full even though you have a bankable LC.

  Sonny Capps : Deferred to when?

  Mitch McDeere : What do you care? Whenever it is, it's still the best interest-free loan you'll ever get.

  Sonny Capps : So the worst is... I pay my taxes much, much later?

  Mitch McDeere : No. The worst thing is next year they're going to close the loophole, change the regs and if you haven't grabbed this proposal, you're gonna feel you were fucked with a dick big enough for an elephant to feel it.