Chief Justice Fargo Quotes in Judge Dredd (1995)

Chief Justice Fargo: The blind lady.

Judge Dredd: Who is she, sir?

Chief Justice Fargo: Justice before your time. We should never have taken justice out of her hands.

Judge Dredd: You put order to chaos, sir.

Chief Justice Fargo: Yes, we solved many problems, but created many more.

Judge Griffin: My fellow Judges, have we forgotten the lessons of history? However quickly these block wars can be contained, it's clear that they're becoming an epidemic. An epidemic that should be dealt with immediately. The only solution is a tougher criminal code.

Judge Silver: Our situation gets worse every day. 73 citizen riots in 16 different sectors in the last 2 months alone.

Judge McGruder: Violent crimes rising at 15% every quarter. If we don't increase our resources they will be inadequate in less than three years.

Judge Esposito: Three years? Our resources are inadequate now!

Chief Justice Fargo: My fellow council members, as a city we continue to grow, and growth is painful. 65 million people living in an area designed for no more than 20. It's not enough that they rely on us for food, clothes, water, clean air...

Judge Griffin: [interrupting] Chief Justice, this city is in chaos! For social order we need tighter reigns! Incarceration hasn't worked as a deterrent, I say we expand execution to include lesser crimes!

Chief Justice Fargo: My fellow judges, I was barely in my teens when I put on this badge. When the time comes for me to take it off, please let me do so knowing that it still stands for freedom and not for oppression.

[as the last guard is about to shoot Dredd, a shot hits and kills him. An armed hooded figure appears. Dredd and Fergee stare at the hooded person, uncertain whether it is friend or foe. Dredd is surprised as the figure removes its hood, revealing itself as ex-Chief Justice Fargo - who was like a father to him]

Judge Dredd: Chief Justice!

Chief Justice Fargo: Joseph, together again.

Judge Dredd: Together again, sir.

[suddenly Fargo shrieks in agony, as he is stabbed in the back by Mean. The blade sinks into his body and protrudes from his chest]

Judge Dredd: No!

[Mean smiles viciously, as Fargo is skewered on his blade. Enraged, Dredd charges at the cyborg. Mean throws Fargo's body off his blade and faces Dredd]

Judge Dredd: No!

Fergee: God, not again!

[Dredd grabs Pa Angel's staff and attacks Mean, but Mean easily knocks the staff off Dredd's hands and butts him in the face. Dredd stumbles and falls to the floor, but immediately recovers and picks a metal bar]

Mean Machine: You got three strikes, lawman!

[Dredd strikes Mean, but Mean blocks the blow with his mechanical arm]

Mean Machine: Strike one! He-he-he...

[Dredd strikes again - again, Mean blocks the blow]

Mean Machine: Strike two!

[Dredd brings the bar heavily on Mean's head - a blow that would crack human skull, but leaves no impression on Mean. Fergee winces]

Mean Machine: Strike three. You're out, lawman!

[Mean knocks the bar off Dredd's hands and advances, waving his blades. Dredd recoils, barely evades Mean's blows]

Mean Machine: You killed Link! You killed Junior! You killed my brothers! You killed my pa...

[Mean growls and charges, but Dredd sidesteps. Mean's blades get stuck deep into the wall, so he cannot free himself. Dredd partially rips a wire from Mean's mechanism and touches its broken end at Mean's arm]

Judge Dredd: Mega City municipal code 27-22: illegal use of city electricity. How do you plead?

[Mean growls in fear and rage]

Judge Dredd: I knew you'd say that!

[Dredd attaches the wire to Mean's back, elecrocuting the monstrous cyborg to death]

[Dredd does his best to ease fatally-injured Fargo, but the old man has no hope of survival. His condition deteriorates rapidly]

Chief Justice Fargo: [gestures to one of the statues] The blind lady...

Judge Dredd: [looks at the statue] Who is she?

Chief Justice Fargo: Justice... before your time. We should never have taken justice out of her hands.

Judge Dredd: You brought order to chaos, sir.

Chief Justice Fargo: That we did. Solved many problems, and created many more... being a Judge, Joseph, perhaps too much power in one person's hands. We once tried to compensate: create the perfect Judge. We called it Janus. Four decades ago, D.N.A. samples were taken from the original council. One was chosen. Mine. We altered it to enhance the best qualities and screen out the worst: weaknesses, frailties. We created you.

Judge Dredd: You didn't create me, sir. I have a family.

Chief Justice Fargo: [shakes his head] No.

Judge Dredd: At the Academy, you told me they were killed when I was very young.

Chief Justice Fargo: A lie.

Judge Dredd: I have a picture of them.

Chief Justice Fargo: A fake. We lied... to both of you.

Judge Dredd: [puzzled] Both?

Chief Justice Fargo: There was another infant created in that experiment, but something went wrong. Genetically mutated to the perfect criminal.

Judge Dredd: I have a brother?

Chief Justice Fargo: You were best friends at the Academy. Star pupils. And then he turned. And for his crimes, you judged him.

Judge Dredd: Rico?

Chief Justice Fargo: Rico.

[shocked to hear that, Dredd stands and walks away from Fargo]

Chief Justice Fargo: Rico... you let me judge my own brother? You never told me, sir.

Chief Justice Fargo: I couldn't... you were like a son to me.

Judge Dredd: A son... my whole life is a lie.

Chief Justice Fargo: Rico had to be executed to protect you, to protect the city.

[Dredd muses about what Fargo just told him. Then he realizes something]

Judge Dredd: Rico... he's alive!

Chief Justice Fargo: No. I signed the order myself. I saw the report.

Judge Dredd: [kneels near Fargo] I didn't kill Hammond. It was him. It was his D.N.A. that convicted me.

[Fargo stares at Dredd, then he understands who was responsible for Dredd's false conviction]

Chief Justice Fargo: Griffin... it was Griffin.

Judge Dredd: Griffin, yes.

Chief Justice Fargo: We've both been deceived, Joseph. I'm so sorry. Rico's killed me and destroyed you. Fi... find him, Joseph.

Judge Dredd: [softly] Don't die.

[Fargo dies. Dredd closes his eyes in deep sorrow. Fergee lowers his head sadly. Dredd glances at the blind lady statue. He takes a gun of one of the dead guards and stand before the statue, determination grows in his heart]

Fergee: What do we do?

[Dredd does not answer]

Fergee: What do we do?

[Dredd turns to him, cocking the gun]

Judge Dredd: Find Rico!

Judge Esposito: With the charge of Pre-Meditated murder. This Tribunal has found, Joseph Dredd: Guilty as charged.

[the audience gasps in disbeleif as Dredd is holding back a disappointed face]

Chief Justice Fargo: Joseph Dredd. You are aware that this council can only provide one punishment for your crime. Death. However, it is also a tradition that the council to honor the last order of a retiring senior Judge.

[Gets up from his seat]

Chief Justice Fargo: Therefore, I step down.

[the audience gasps in disbelief and Dredd gives out a surprised face]

Chief Justice Fargo: As I now take my walk to the Cursed Earth, I would like the council to honor *my* last order: Be leniant with Judge Dredd, for this actions and his years of service.

Judge Griffin: [Gets up] We shall honor this one, Judge Fargo.

[Fargo leaves the court]

Judge Griffin: Joseph Dredd, step forward.

[Dredd Steps forward]

Judge Griffin: Your sentence shall be, life imprisonment at Aspen Penal Colony and is to be carried out immediately.

[Holds up the Book of Law]

Judge Griffin: As it is written...

Judge Hershey: [Interrupts Griffin] Justice Griffin, this trial has been a farce, I demand an appeal...

Judge Griffin: [Interrupts Hershey] You will accept the court's decision, Judge Hershey.

[Several Judges come into the courtroom and secure Dredd]

Judge Hershey: Dredd, I'm sorry.

Judge Dredd: [as the Judges begin to take him away] You did your best, hershey. Thank you.

Judge Griffin: Let the betrayal of the Law be taken from our court. May his armor be taken from him, and all of his garb of justice.

[the Judges take off his badge and tear his uniform off and cuff him]

Judge Griffin: Let him be strickened from our hearts and our memories, forever.