General Hummel Quotes in The Rock (1996)

General Hummel: Did they bother to tell you who I am and why I'm doing this or are they just using you like they do everybody else?

John Mason: All I know is that you were big in Vietnam, I saw the highlights on television.

General Hummel: Then you probably have no idea what it means to lead some of the finest men on God's earth into combat and then watch their memories get betrayed by their own fucking government.

John Mason: I don't quite see how you cherish the memory of the dead by killing another million. And, this is not combat, it's an act of lunacy, General Sir. Personally, I think you're a fucking idiot.

General Hummel: "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." Thomas Jefferson.

John Mason: "Patriotism is a virtue of the vicious," according to Oscar Wilde.

[Hummel strikes him, and he falls to his knees]

John Mason: Thank you for making my point.

General Hummel: Where are the guidance chips?

[Points his gun at Mason's head]

General Hummel: WHERE ARE THE GUIDANCE CHIPS?

John Mason: I've destroyed them.

General Hummel: That was a bad move, soldier.

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!

General Hummel: Remember Operation Desert Storm? Those surgical hits made by our smart bombs that were covered so well on CNN? It was my men on the ground that made those hits possible by lazing the targets. Twenty of those men were left to rot outside Baghdad after the conflict ended. No benefits were paid to their families. No medals conferred. These men died for their country and they weren't even given a goddamn military burial. This situation is unacceptable. You will transfer one hundred million dollars from Grand Cayman Red Sea trading company to an account I designate. From these funds, one million dollars will be paid to each of the eighty-three marines' families. The rest of the funds, I will disperse at my discretion. Do I make myself clear?

Womack: Except for the Red Sea Trading Company. What is that?

General Hummel: Identify yourself.

Womack: This is FBI Director Womack, General.

General Hummel: It's a slush-fund where the Pentagon keeps proceeds from illegal arms deals...

General Al Kramer: Jesus, Frank, this is classified information!

General Hummel: You alert the media, I launch the gas. You refuse payment, I launch the gas. You've got forty hours, until noon, day after tomorrow, to arrange transfer of the money. I am aware of your countermeasure. You know and I know it doesn't stand a chance. Hummel from Alcatraz, out.

Captain Darrow: Excuse me, general... but what about the fucking money?

General Hummel: There is no fucking money. The mission's over.

Captain Frye: Bullshit it's over!

Major Tom Baxter: You're talking to a General, soldier! Maintain discipline.

Captain Darrow: I'm not a soldier, Major. The day we took hostages, we became mercenaries. And mercenaries get paid. I want my FUCKING money!

Chief of Staff Hayden Sinclair: Southern China? We've never even admitted we sent troops into China.

General Hummel: Who is this? Identify yourself!

Chief of Staff Hayden Sinclair: White House Chief of Staff Hayden Sinclair, General.

General Hummel: How OLD are you Mr. Sinclair?

Chief of Staff Hayden Sinclair: I'm 33.

General Hummel: Well Mr. Sinclair, you've probably got no FUCKING idea what I'm talking about! By your 9th birthday, I was running BlackOps into China and my men were responsible for over two-hundred enemy kills. Now someone put some rigging tape over Mr. Sinclair's mouth, he's wasting my time!

Captain Darrow: Sergeant Crisp, secure the General. I'm relieving you of command, sir.

[pause]

Captain Darrow: SERGEANT.

[Sergeant Crisp pulls out his pistol and reaches for General Hummel's gun holster]

Sergeant Crisp: I'll have that sidearm, sir.

[General Hummel pulls out his pistol from behind his back and points it at Sergeant Crisp]

General Hummel: You mean this sidearm?

[Captains Frye and Darrow pull out their pistols and point them at General Hummel]

Captain Frye: Major Baxter, you're either with us or against us.

Major Tom Baxter: It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve with you, General.

[Pulls out his pistol and points it General Hummel]

Major Tom Baxter: But like he said, it's over.

[Shoots Captain Darrow]

General Hummel: You made a terrible mistake, and more of our brothers have died in vain. Damn you for forcing me into this position.

Major Tom Baxter: We're asking them. We're asking them for a new deadline.

General Hummel: Put the phone down.

Major Tom Baxter: The men are falling apart!

General Hummel: The men are Marines!

Major Tom Baxter: Are they?

[Hummel is silent]

Major Tom Baxter: I want to talk to General Kramer.

General Hummel: You've been asked by an old friend.

Major Tom Baxter: Put him on the phone right now.

General Hummel: You're being ordered by a superior officer.

Major Tom Baxter: This is Major Baxter...!

General Hummel: [draws] Now you're being given your last chance by a man with a gun. Put the phone down.

Major Tom Baxter: I thought you weren't ready to kill.

General Hummel: I'm warmin' up.

General Hummel: Hey, girls? You havin' a good time?

Little Girl: Yeah.

General Hummel: Will you do something for me? It's really - It's really important. I need you to tell your teacher that you need to get back on the boat and go home right now.

General Hummel: I guess you haven't completely taken care of the rat problem, Captain.

Captain Hendrix: No, sir.

General Hummel: Well, there are two dead men here who strongly suggest that you go finish the job.

Captain Hendrix: Yes, sir.

[realizing he's being given an order]

Captain Hendrix: YES, SIR!

General Hummel: The men of marine force recon are selected to carry out illegal operations throughout the world. When they don't come home, their families are told fairy tales about what happened to them... and denied compensation. Well, I have choked on these lies my entire career. Well here and now the lies stop!

Captain Frye: You changed the coordinates, didn't you, General?

General Hummel: That's affirmative, Captain.

Sergeant Crisp: So now they think we're gutless, the feds? They think we won't actually do it?

Captain Frye: They're going to come at us with everything they got. Air and sea. They're going to bomb our ass back to the Stone Age.

Major Tom Baxter: They don't know we missed on purpose.

Captain Frye: Great. We're not gutless, we're incompetent.

General Hummel: Ladies and gentlemen, you're being detained against your will, and for that I apologize. It is not our intention in any way to harm you, you will not be detained one minute longer than is necessary for us to complete our mission.

[Hummel visits his wife's grave before setting his plan into action]

General Hummel: I miss you so much.

[long pause]

General Hummel: There's something I've gotta do, Barb. Something I couldn't do while you were here. I tried. You know I tried everything, and I still don't have their attention. Let's hope this elevates their thinking. But whatever happens...

[he takes Congressional Medal of Honor out of his pocket]

General Hummel: ...please don't think less of me.

[he sets the Medal on top of the headstone, leans over and kisses it, and then walks away]

General Hummel: I'm not about to kill 80,000 innocent people! Do you think I'm out of my fucking mind? We bluffed, they called it. The mission is over.

Captain Frye: Who said anything about bluffing, General?

General Hummel: This isn't about terrorism, it's about justice. It's about reminding you people of something you find politically convenient to forget.

[first lines]

General Hummel: Congressman Weaver and esteemed members of the Special Armed Services Committee, I come before you to protest a grave injustice... It has to stop.

Bob: [Hummel and two marines walk up behind him] What's the matter fellas... something with the tour?

General Hummel: Tour's over, Bob!