Agent Paxton Quotes in The Rock (1996)

General Hummel: Major Anderson, if you have any concern for the lives of your men, you will order them to safety their weapons and place them on the deck.

Agent Paxton: This is not happening...

Commander Anderson: Sir, we know why you're out here. God knows, I agree with you. But like you, I swore to defend this country against all enemies, foreign, sir... and domestic. General, we've spilled the same blood in the same mud. And you know god damn well I can't give that order.

Navy SEAL: We're dead!

General Hummel: Your unit is covered from an elevated position, Commander. I'm not gonna ask you again. Don't do anything stupid. No-one has to die here.

Commander Anderson: [raising his voice] You men following the General: you're under oath as United States Marines, have you forgotten that? We all have shipmates we remember, some of them were shit on and pissed on by the Pentagon. But that doesn't give you the right to mutiny!

General Hummel: You call it what you want! You're down there, we're up here! You walked into the wrong goddamn room, Commander!

Agent Paxton: [in the interrogation room] Mr. Mason, I'm Special Agent-in-Charge Ernest Paxton.

John Mason: In charge of what? Fucking me over for another three decades?

Agent Paxton: I don't know anything about your previous matters. We've brought you here because there's a situation that we think you can help us with.

John Mason: And what might that be? I've been in jail longer than Nelson Mandela, so maybe you want me to run for president.

Stanley Goodspeed: [upon entering the interrogation room] Hi, I'm an agent with the federal... FBI... Well, my, I'm Stanley Goodspeed.

John Mason: But of course you are.

Agent Paxton: Well, at least he got his name right.

Stanley Goodspeed: Of course I am.

John Mason: And you have an emergency.

Stanley Goodspeed: Right.

John Mason: And you need my help.

Stanley Goodspeed: Exactly right.

John Mason: Coffee.

Stanley Goodspeed: No, I'm fine, thank you.

John Mason: Offer me coffee.

FBI Director Womack: Great job, Goodspeed.

Agent Paxton: [sarcastically, jokingly] Why don't you throw in a trip to Tahiti while you're at it?

FBI Agent: Okay, I'll deliver this to the Attorney General...

FBI Director Womack: [Interrupts and takes the contract from Hunt] Ah, no. You'll give that to me, there's a car waiting outside for you, thank you.

[He rips up the contract]

Stanley Goodspeed: That's a signed federal document, sir. Isn't that illegal?

FBI Director Womack: You're not acquainted with the full facts, Goodspeed.

Stanley Goodspeed: With all due respect, sir, I'd like clarification. I gave that man my word.

Agent Paxton: What's status?

Stanley Goodspeed: Status... is, they're dead. They're dead! It's just me and Mason, now he says he's leaving.

Agent Paxton: That is unacceptable, do you hear me? Unacceptable!

Stanley Goodspeed: Well, there's a problem sir, he's got a gun!

Agent Paxton: What do you have, a fuckin' water pistol?

Agent Paxton: Congratulations, Dr. Goodspeed. You did it.

Dr. Stanley Goodspeed: Thank you, sir.

Agent Paxton: You know, for a while there, I didn't think you were going to make it. Well done, son. So where's Mason?

Dr. Stanley Goodspeed: Vaporized. Blown out to sea.

Agent Paxton: Blown out to sea, huh?

Dr. Stanley Goodspeed: Yeah.

Agent Paxton: [smiles] Poor bastard.

[They share a knowing glance]

FBI Director Womack: [appears] Goodspeed, where's Mason? Where's his body? I want to see that son of a bitch.

Agent Paxton: Vaporized, sir. Excuse me, gentlemen.

[leaves]

FBI Director Womack: What? Vaporized? A body can... vaporize?

Dr. Stanley Goodspeed: Oh, yeah! Absolutely, sir.

Agent Paxton: [upon entering the hotel suite] Are you the barber?

Paul (hotel barber): [slightly camp] No, stylist.

Agent Paxton: Whatever.

Agent Paxton: [talking privately, after the Navy Seals were killed by Hummel and his Marines] Now you tell me I'm on a need-to-know basis. And I'm telling you right now, I need to who the fuck John Mason is, right now sir!

Womack: You want to know? Okay. 1962: J. Edgar Hoover is the head of the FBI, some say the country. It's no secret that he kept secret files on prominent Americans and Europeans. De Gaulle, British members of Parliament, even the Prime Minister. I mean, this guy had dirt on everybody in the world.

Agent Paxton: Yeah, I know all of the cloak and dagger stories. Where does Mason fit in?

Womack: Mason was the British operative who stole the files, but our Bureau agents caught him at the Canadian border. Of course, the British claimed that they never heard of him. So we held him without trial until he gave up the microfilm. But he never did.

Agent Paxton: Well, I'm surprised Hoover didn't use his daughter as leverage.

Womack: Hoover was dead in '72, she wasn't born yet. Today... it's a different Bureau.

Agent Paxton: So, you held this guy without trial his whole life. No wonder he's pissed.

Womack: This man knows our most intimate secrets from the last half century! The alien landing at Roswell, the truth behind the J.F.K. assassination. Mason's angry, he's lethal, he's a trained killer... and he is the only hope that we have got.

John Mason: [in the interrogation room] You must see a certain pattern emerging here... Alexander Solzenhitsyn...

Agent Paxton: Yeah, I heard of him. Didn't he play hockey for the fucking Red Wings?

John Mason: That's the chap.