Erica Quotes in Red Dawn (1984)

Matt Eckert: [after Toni and Robert are KIA, the Eckert Brothers plan a diversion while Danny and Erica cross the enemy lines] We're all that's left. Somebody's gotta live. Somebody's gotta make it. Me and Jed, we're all used up.

Erica: I'm never gonna forget... as long as I live.

Matt Eckert: Don't.

Danny: You're never gonna know who won.

Matt Eckert: Who WILL?

[last lines]

Erica: [closing narration] I never saw the Eckert Brothers again. In time, this war - like every other war - ended. But I never forgot. And I come to this place often, when no one else does.

[we see "Partisan Rock," with its memorial plaque, which she reads for us]

Erica: "... In the early days of World War 3, guerillas - mostly children - placed the names of their lost upon this rock. They fought here alone and gave up their lives, so that this nation should not perish from the earth."

Erica: You American?

Col. Andy Tanner: Red-blooded.

Erica: What's the capital of Texas?

Col. Andy Tanner: Austin.

Erica: Wrong, commie! It's Houston.

Erica: [after colonel dies] I'll never love anybody again!

Robert: If you didnt't love anybody, you wouldn't be here right now...

Erica: [to Stepan] Do you speak German?

Matt Eckert: So what if he does? You don't.

Stepan Gorsky: Gorsky, Stepan Yevgenyvitch...!

Robert: NOBODY GIVES A DAMN WHO YOU ARE!

[He and his fellow Wolverines proceed to beat up Stepan]

Danny: [as he and Toni look on] They're gonna hurt him!

Toni: Good!

Matt Eckert: Why don't you make yourself useful?

Erica: You wash it! We're never doing your washing again! Me and her is as good as any of you!

Matt Eckert: So what's up your ass?

Erica: Shut up! Don't you ever say that again! Hear me? Say that again, I'll kill you! Hear me? I'll kill you.

Matt Eckert: So what did I do?

Toni: What you said was wrong.

Erica: [Erica finds a cache of video cameras at Jeff's house] I thought all your cameras got trashed.

Jeff: Yeah, well, you can never have too many.

Stephen: Uh, Jeff, I think we've had enough videotaping for one weekend.

Erica: Yeah, dude. Tour's over.

Jeff: Well, maybe the tour's just begun, Erica, because you're walking into the official Blair store. Come on in, everybody. This is where it all begins. This is the epicenter of the Blair Witch Hunt website. Uh, let's see now... I got my sticks. You can touch these, they're for the stick men. Don't touch those, those are drying. What else?

Tristen: Jeff, did you collect these all in the Black Hills?

Jeff: Yeah, every single twig. Over here, we've got a rock formation. Oh, my God, who made that? Oh, I did earlier. Over here, we've got Parr ruins foundation dirt. That's a big item. I sell that. T-shirts, and sweatshirts and hats.

[hands Tristen a hat]

Jeff: Here, Tristen, that's for you. Gratis.

Tristen: I feel better.

Erica: May I have permission to take this leaf? Thank you!

Erica: We brought something back with us...

Erica: I can't believe my dad locked me up. He dragged me all over the world, then throws me in the slammer just because I didn't follow his every rule.

Longway: Wow. You've been around the world, huh? I've never been off this island.

Erica: Really? You got to stay in one place the whole time? A place to call home?

Longway: My father says it isn't safe out there, so I need to stay and learn traditions. Our crazy, boring traditions that nobody believes in.

Erica: What happened to the lake?

Longway: Hey! I just made a hole with my head that was so big, I drained the lake! Oh, no. My dad lectured me for hours about this.

Erica: Uh, you know, we...

Longway: All that junk about responsibility.

Erica: We could fly off this boring island and see the real world, together.

Longway: Huh? Fly off... together? Sounds amazing!

[flies up, then falls back down]

Longway: But I shouldn't leave my dad when there's all this trouble with the mal...

Erica: With the mallards? Two seconds ago you said you hated responsibility. So either you don't like mallards, or you're just a quack-job coward. Mmph!

Longway: Erica, wait! I didn't mean to...

Erica: Quack off!

Harry: I just have one question: What's with the turtlenecks? I mean it's the middle of summer.

Erica: Well I guess I'm just a turtleneck kind of gal.

Harry: You never get hot?

Erica: No.

Harry: Never?

Erica: Not lately.

Julian Mercer: I knew you'd smell good.

Erica: It's just... soap

Harry: Where's Julian?

Erica: He's back at the hotel. He said when he saw me with you, he knew I was still in love with you... what do you have to say about that?

Harry: If... if it's true, my life just got made.

Harry: [after a kiss] Soft lips.

Erica: I'm so glad they still work. I haven't used them for kissing in such a long time, more like for wearing lipstick... and whistling.

Erica: If I told you, "Don't think about the color red", what would you think about?

Matt: Sex.

Erica: Don't you ever feel like you just keep meeting the same exact people over and over? You know, like people that went to *this* kind of college and...

Matt: And now in *that* kind of job, right?

Erica: Yeah. I wanna have a party with a list on my door of all my friends and friends of friends, and if you're on that list, or know somebody on that list, then you cannot come in.

Matt: How do you know I am not on that list?

Erica: Nobody on that list would have talked to me like you did last week. Or *not* talked to me.

Erica: It's been really fun almost chatting with you. Same time next week?

Erica: [On her job as a Cyber Nanny] Some days I think that if I have to look at another blowjob I'll scream.

Sam: Hey, put that away. Books get you in trouble around here.

Erica: I can't work right now.

Sam: So go home.

Erica: I need the money.

Sam: So work.

[first lines]

[Martin and Erica are jogging along the river]

Martin: Jesus Christ! Look at this - my sneaker's ruined!

Erica: They're only thirty-five dollars.

[Erica takes Martin's shoe and cleans it off for him]

Martin: Fucking city's turning into one big pile of DOG SHIT!

[shouting at passing traffic]

Martin: Come on out and take a crap on me - everybody else is. Fuck.

[Martin lights a cigarette]

Erica: ...been jogging for 2 1/2 miles - you're giving yourself lung cancer.

Martin: I'll tell you something Erica - the longer I'm married to you the more you sound like my mother.

Erica: Clean your own sneaker.

[throws shoe at Martin]

Martin: I think you wanted me to step in it.

Erica: [laughing] You're going crazy Martin.

Martin: I am?

Erica: [laughing] Yes.

[Martin tosses his shoe over his shoulder into the river. Erica jogs away, and Martin jogs after]

[last lines]

[a very large painting is being lowered to the ground from Saul's loft]

Saul: [shouting up to the loft] OK Mario, I've got it.

Saul: [to Erica] Can you hold this a minute? You got it?

Erica: I got it.

Saul: [Saul opens his car door, looks at Erica, and smiles] Bye.

Erica: What about this?

Saul: Oh, that's for you.

Erica: How the hell am I gonna get it home?

Saul: Take a taxi.

[Saul gets in his car and drives off. Erica picks up the painting, struggling with it a bit, and begins walking home]

Dean Solomon: I gotta be honest, Erica. I'm really feeling a connection here. I mean, you're beautiful, impeccable dresser... great personality, nice hair, fat, great smile, smell good. Have you ever heard of the phrase "More cushion for the pushin"'?

Erica: Yeah, why?

Dean Solomon: Because you got it, lady.

[last lines]

Erica: There is no going back, to that other person, that other place. This thing, this stranger, she is all you are now.

Detective Mercer: How did you... pull it back together after what happened to you?

Erica: You don't

Detective Mercer: I'm sorry.

Erica: No, no.

Detective Mercer: Jacked-up question, man.

Erica: It's a fair question. You... you become someone else. A stranger.

[first lines]

Erica: [voiceover, doing her radio show] I'm Erica Bain. And as *you* know, I walk the city. I bitch and moan about it. I walk and watch and listen, a witness to all the beauty and ugliness that is disappearing from our beloved city. Last week took me to the gray depths of the East River where Dmitri Panchenko swims his morning laps, like he has every morning since the 1960s. And today I walked by the acres of scaffolding outside what used to be the Plaza Hotel. And I thought about Eloise. Remember Kay Thompson's Eloise? Eloise who lived in the Plaza Hotel with her dog Weenie, and her parents were always away, and her English nanny who had eight hair pins made out of bones. That Eloise. The adored brat of my childhood.

[indistinct overdubs for a few lines here]

Erica: ... li'l punk kids... Sid Vicious spewing beer from his teeth in the Chelsea Hotel... Andy Warhol, his sunglasses reflecting... Edgar Allan Poe, freeing live monkeys from the crates of a crumbling schooner on the oily slips of South Street. Stories of a city that is disappearing before our eyes, its people swept over the Williamsburg of those stories. So what are we left of those stories? Are we going to have to construct an imaginary city to house our memories? Because when you love something, every time a bit goes, you lose a piece of yourself. Where's Eloise going to sleep tonight? Can you hear her ghost wandering around the collapsing corridors of her beloved Plaza, trying to find her nanny's room? Calling out to the construction workers, in a voice that nobody hears, "Has anyone seen my turtle, Skipperdee?" This is Erica Bain, and you've been listening to Streetwalk, on WKNW.

Erica: I should have walked out of that train. I could have just shown them the gun, they wouldn't have hurt me. Why don't my hands shake? Why doesn't somebody stop me?

Erica: Now, who's the bitch?

Erica: I always believed that fear belonged to other people. Weaker people. It never touched me. And then it did. And when it touches you, you know... that it's been there all along. Waiting beneath the surfaces of everything you loved.

Erica: Open the door.

Crazy in the car: Uh-oh. We got us a super-cunt here.

Erica: Open the door, or I'll be the last super-cunt you'll ever see.

Erica: Do you remember what she looked like?

Pawn Shop Guy: She had two eyes, a mouth and a nose right in the middle of her face. Now please, get the fuck out.

[from trailer]

Erica: I want my dog back!

Erica: So there's nothing you can do about it?

Detective Mercer: Nothing legal. No, wait... I didn't say that.

[Erica rewinds the tape and records over it]

Detective Mercer: Thank you.

Erica: What happened to my sweet girl?

Nina: She's gone!

Erica: Shh, it's okay. I'm here. You were scratching all night.

Nina: Where's my clock?

Erica: Don't worry about that.

Nina: What time is it?

Erica: Shh.

Nina: My show is tonight.

Erica: No, no, no.

[pushes Nina back on the pillow]

Erica: No, don't worry. I called the theater and I told them you weren't feeling well.

Nina: [jumps out of bed] I have to go!

Erica: No, no lie down!

Nina: Let go of me!

[notices the door handle is missing]

Erica: You're staying in here until you feel better.

Nina: Where is it?

Erica: This role's destroying you.

Erica: No! Please! You're not well!

Nina: [yelling] Let go of me!

Erica: You can't handle this!

Nina: I can't? I'm the Swan Queen, you're the one who never left the corps!

Erica: [yelling] Nina!

Erica: Do you have any idea what time it is?

Nina: [drunk] Uh... late?

Erica: Where have you been?

Nina: To the moon!

Lily: And back.

Erica: You've been drinking.

Nina: Ding ding ding ding!

Erica: What else?

Nina: Huh?

Erica: [raises voice] What else have you been doing?

Nina: Oh, you want to know their names?

[laughs]

Erica: You need to sleep this off.

Nina: No, there were two. There was Tom, there was Jerry.

[laughing]

Erica: [interrupts] Be quiet, Nina!

Nina: And I fucked them both!

Erica: [yells] Shut your mouth!

Erica: It's the role, isn't it? It's all this pressure? I knew it would be too much. I knew it!

Nina: What are you doing here?

Lily: I just came by to apologize. You're right, I should have never spoken to him about you.

Erica: [interrupts] Sweetheart.

Nina: Give me a second.

Erica: Your dinner.

Nina: Mom! Please?

Lily: Oh, she's a trip.

[chuckles]

Nina: How do you know where I live?

Lily: I have my ways.

[notices Nina's nervousness]

Lily: Jesus, relax! I got it from Susie in the office. Look, I just feel really shitty about what I did and I just really want to make it up to you, so how about I take you out to dinner?

Nina: I don't think...

Lily: [interrupts] Ok, that's fine! What about drinks?

Erica: Sweetie, you need to rest.

Lily: [chuckles] Jesus!

Nina: Wait.

[goes into the apartment to grab shoes and a coat]

Erica: What are you doing?

Nina: Going out!

Erica: You're in a good mood.

Nina: He promised to feature me more this season.

Erica: Well, he certainly should. You've been there long enough and you're the most dedicated dancer in the company.

Erica: Has he tried anything with you? He has a reputation. I have a right to be concerned, Nina. You've been staying late so many nights rehearsing. I hope he isn't taking advantage.

Nina: He's not.

Erica: Good. I just don't want you to make the same mistake I did.

Nina: Thanks.

Erica: Not like that. I just mean as far as my career was concerned.

Nina: What career?

Erica: The one I gave up to have you.

Nina: You were 28 and only in.

[stops]

Erica: Only what?

Nina: Nothing.

Erica: What!

Nina: Nothing.

Erica: You're not my Nina right now!

Nina: It's just a rash.

Erica: [panicking] A rash? What are you talking about?

Nina: It was worse a few days ago. It's fine already.

Erica: You've been scratching yourself again.

Erica: You'll probably get to dance the Pas de Quatre again. That's such a wonderful part. Or maybe he'll make you a big swan. Either way, you'll shine.

Nina: I know.

Erica: Everything will be better in the morning. It always is.

[whispers]

Erica: Sweet girl.

Erica: You're working yourself too hard. We all have off days.

Nina: If that girl hadn't barged in.

Erica: I'm sure she didn't mean to. Remember when you first started? If I hadn't taken you to each of your classes you would have been completely lost.

Nina: I'm going to talk to him tomorrow and tell him I finished it.

Erica: You don't need to lie. You won't convince him one way or the other.

[pauses]

Erica: Sweetheart, I know it's disappointing. You start getting older there's all this ridiculous pressure. God knows I understand. But it's alright.

Erica: Sounds like quite an evening. Wish I could have been there.

Nina: You know I asked.

Erica: I know you did, Susie told me. I guess he wanted you all to himself.

Nina: That's not why.

Erica: I don't blame him.

[looks at Nina's earrings]

Erica: Where did you get these?

Nina: They're fake.

Erica: Fooled me.

Nina: [reacts to Erica undressing her] I can do it!

Erica: He must have been by your side all night showing you off.

Henry Barthes: Y'know you can't... you can't keep living on the street...

Erica: I'm not, I mean, I'm staying here with you.

Henry Barthes: Well, you can't continue to stay here with me. I'm not good for you...

Erica: That's not true. You're like, the only family I've ever had...

Henry Barthes: Well, I can't be your family, I can't give you what you need. You have to understand, you should be...

Erica: You're good and gentle, you're the most kind... I love you Henry. Don't let them take me, please nooooooooo, you're all I have, please don't let me go.

[Social workers take her away still protesting]

Angie Albright: [upon seeing a picture of a missing girl] What do you think happened to her?

Erica: Who knows? Last year, this girl went missing. Her mom was on the news. Police did a full manhunt. Turns out, she moved to Colorado with her boyfriend and just didn't tell anyone. It happens all the time. Of course, the did find some girl down in Redding all hacked up last month.

Angie Albright: Did they ever catch the guy?

Erica: I never heard anything about it if they did.

Tom: I hear actors are really self-centered, and only talk about themselves. Is that true?

Erica: Generally, yes.

Tina: Which one are we on?

Erica: "The Slaughterhouse Factor Part Three: Death Strikes Thrice."

Tom: We're only on number three?

Tina: Does anybody want something to drink?

Tom: How about a nice big cup of espresso? These crappy films are putting me to sleep.

Erica: How about a nice big cup of shut the fuck up?