Capt. Cassidy Quotes in Destination Tokyo (1943)

Capt. Cassidy: I hear Japs are happy to die for their emperor. A lot of them are going to be made very happy.

Capt. Cassidy: [Tom Adams has just been chided for mistaking a common seabird for an incoming bomber while he was on lookout watch; this forced the 'Copperfin' to make a needless emergency dive] That's all right, son. I'd rather submerge for one hundred birds, than NOT submerge for one plane.

Tommy Adams: [Relieved] Thank you, sir.

Capt. Cassidy: There was a democratic movement in Japan after the last war. What happened?

Reserve Officer Raymond: The leaders were assassinated.

Andy - Executive Officer: Well, what about the people?

Capt. Cassidy: They have no voice now. Starvation is the big stick, isn't it, Raymond?

Reserve Officer Raymond: That's right, sir. The big wage is seven dollars a week. They have no unions, no free press... nothing.

Capt. Cassidy: They do what they're told.

Reserve Officer Raymond: I'm afraid most of them believe what they're told - like that "hero" who knifed your torpedo man. They've been sold a swindle, and they accept it.

Andy - Executive Officer: But how can they support such big families on seven bucks a week?

Reserve Officer Raymond: They don't. Daughters of the poor are often sold to factories, or... worse - when they're about 12.

Capt. Cassidy: Females are useful there only to work or to have children. The Japs don't understand the love we have for our women. They don't even have a word for it in their language.

Capt. Cassidy: There's lots of Mikes dying right now. And a lot more Mikes will die. Until we wipe out a system that puts daggers in the hands of five-year-old children.

Reserve Officer Raymond: [during a depth charge attack] Captain, I'm no good.

Capt. Cassidy: Why's that?

Reserve Officer Raymond: I'm scared stiff.

Capt. Cassidy: How do you think the rest of us feel?

Reserve Officer Raymond: You're not scared. I've looked at your faces.

Capt. Cassidy: I've looked at yours, too. It's the same as the others.

Reserve Officer Raymond: You're scared?

Capt. Cassidy: I'll say I am. And so is everybody else.

Reserve Officer Raymond: [Just having come aboard the 'Copperfin'] Uh... How do I get below, sir? I... I've never been aboard a submarine before.

Capt. Cassidy: [Slightly bemused, as he points to the only obvious entry into the submarine] There's the hatch. It goes 'down.'

Reserve Officer Raymond: How'd you happen to volunteer for the submarine service, Captain?

Capt. Cassidy: [Coyly] Well, when I was a kid, I used to get a kick outta' swimming underwater.

Capt. Cassidy: [Holding up the fuse mechanism of the Japanese bomb that Adams just defused] Got "Made in USA" stamped on it. The appeasers' "contribution" to the war effort.

Capt. Cassidy: [Hands it to the cook] Take it and stew it, Cookie.

Capt. Cassidy: [the 'Copperfin' has just completed its long transit to just off the coast of Japan] Attention all hands: We're lying off the Japanese mainland... Thought you'd like to know.

Capt. Cassidy: [Attempting to sneak into heavily-guarded Tokyo harbor by concealing the sub under a warship overhead] Can we hug the cruiser any closer?

Sound Man: We're just about kissing her now, sir.

Capt. Cassidy: [Ponders the situation for a second] If we kiss her bottom, we get an "ash can" right down our neck.

Capt. Cassidy: [the 'Copperfin' has torpedoed, but not yet sunk, a Japanese carrier] Take her *under* the carrier - we'll finish the job with the sting from our tail.

Capt. Cassidy: Christoforo Colombo! Here comes a flattop, with a destroyer screen.