The Old Man Quotes in RoboCop (1987)

The Old Man: [held at gunpoint by Jones] Dick, you're *fired*!

[Directive 4 limitation against Jones is cancelled]

RoboCop: Thank you.

[shoots Jones]

[last lines]

The Old Man: Nice shootin', son. What's your name?

RoboCop: Murphy.

The Old Man: How can we help you, officer?

RoboCop: Dick Jones is wanted for murder.

Dick Jones: [Directive 4 starts flashing on RoboCop's status monitor] This is absurd! That thing... is a violent mechanical psychopath!

RoboCop: My program will not allow me to act against an officer of this company.

The Old Man: These are serious charges. What is your evidence?

[RoboCop turns to the wall and inserts his data spike into the wall socket, a video starts to play]

Dick Jones: [from video playback] I had to kill Bob Morton because he made a mistake. Now it's time to erase that mistake. I had to kill Bob Morton because he made a mistake. Now it's time to erase that mistake.

Dick Jones: [takes a gun and holds it against the Old Man's head, wrapping his arm around his neck] Get up! Get up! I want a chopper, now! We will walk to the roof very calmly, I will board the chopper with my hostage. Anybody tries to stop me... the old geezer gets it.

The Old Man: Dick, you're fired!

[Directive 4 disappears from RoboCop's status monitor]

RoboCop: Thank you.

[the Old Man jabs Dick Jones from behind with his elbow, and RoboCop starts shooting at Dick Jones, who is no longer an OCP employee; Dick Jones falls through a glass window to the ground below and dies]

[ED-209 has malfunctioned during a demonstration, killing Kinney in the boardroom]

The Old Man: Dick, I'm very disappointed.

Dick Jones: I'm sure it's only a glitch, a temporary setback.

The Old Man: [raises his voice in anger] You call this a GLITCH?

[pause]

The Old Man: We're scheduled to begin construction in six months. Your "temporary setback" could cost us fifty million dollars in interest payments alone!

The Old Man: Old Detroit has a cancer. The cancer is crime, and it must be cut out before we employ the two million workers that will breathe life into this city again.

The Old Man: These are serious charges. What is your evidence?

The Old Man: My friends, I've had this dream for more than a decade now, a dream which I've invited you all to share with me.

The Old Man: Maybe what we need here is a fresh perspective.

The Old Man: [paraphrasing T.S. Eliot's "Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats"] The naming of cats is a difficult matter, it's not just one of your holiday games. You may think at first I'm mad as a hatter, when I tell you that each cat's got three different names.

The Old Man: You mean to say that those people know ahead of time when they're gonna die?

Logan 5: That's right.

The Old Man: Oh, that's silly. What's the reason for that?

Logan 5: That's the way things are. The way things have always been.

The Old Man: Yeah, it takes all the fun out of dying.

The Old Man: [Repeated line] Oh my!

The Old Man: [Admiring Logan and Jessica's time crystals] Can I have one of those?

Logan 5: I'm afraid that's not possible.

Logan 5: Well, has, uh, anyone else ever passed through here?

The Old Man: No. Oh, there may be a few out there. I don't know. No, I don't know.

Logan 5: What makes you think that?

The Old Man: Well, my parents told me. My mother... and my, you know, the... um, father.

Logan 5: You knew your mother and father?

The Old Man: Sure. They raised me. Uh, you know... They raised me.

Jessica 6: How were you grown? Inside your mother?

The Old Man: Right in there.

Jessica 6: Are you sure?

The Old Man: Well, that's what she told me. I have to, I have to believe her. I don't know.

Logan 5: Who are you?

The Old Man: Who are you?

Logan 5: I'm Logan 5. This is Jessica 6.

The Old Man: Well, I never much cared for my name, even when I could remember it.

Jessica 6: We're from the city.

Logan 5: Yes. Yes, we came through the ice. We got past Box.

The Old Man: Box?

Jessica 6: This is Sanctuary, isn't it?

The Old Man: Sanctuary?

The Old Man: [watching the Robocops fight] *Behave* yourselves!

Donald Johnson: Uh, sir, what if this was all the work of one individual person who had her own agenda that wasn't in sync with the goals of our company?

The Old Man: Well... that usually works. A woman who was not a team player, who violated our trust?

Mayor Kuzack: So you deliberately undermined our credit.

Holzgang: That was the easy part.

Mayor Kuzack: And engineered the police strike. Do you want Detroit to-to... to tear itself apart so you can raid it like you would any other corporation? Do you know how many people are dying out there? You're murderers.

Holzgang: I'd advise you to say nothing further. It might be... actionable.

Mayor Kuzack: It's bullshit! BULLSHIT, YA SENILE OLD BASTARD!

Poulos: All right, calm down.

Mayor Kuzack: It's bullshit!

Poulos: I think we better get out of here.

Mayor Kuzack: I'm okay!

Poulos: Calm down. I-I think we'd better leave.

Mayor Kuzack: I'm calm.

Poulos: Calm down.

[Kuzack and Poulous head towards the door]

Mayor Kuzack: I'm okay. I'm okay.

Poulos: All right. Good.

Mayor Kuzack: I'm in control. Everything is fine. It's okay. I'm fine.

Mayor Kuzack: [stops and turns around] One last thing, gentlemen: we will sue your asses.

The Old Man: Give it your best shot.

Mayor Kuzack: FUCK YOU, YA OLD SENILE BASTARD! This is bullshit! Fuck you! This is bullshit!

Mayor Kuzack: How are we supposed to raise that kind of money with things the way they are?

The Old Man: You aren't.

Mayor Kuzack: What the hell is he talking about?

The Old Man: We don't expect you to pay.

Holzgang: Let me refer you to our contract. "In the event of default, OCP shall have the uncontested right of foreclosure on all city assets."

Poulos: [reading contract for himself, then to the Mayor] You SIGNED this.

Mayor Kuzack: So you're saying we miss one payment and you can foreclose.

The Old Man: We can and we will. We're taking Detroit private.

The Old Man: This could look bad for OCP, Johnson. Scramble the best spin team we have.

The Old Man: About a year ago, we gave this city RoboCop. I think he's worked out pretty well, but things have become a little rougher out there. And now, we need a law enforcement unit capable of meeting the enemy on his own ground, and carrying enough firepower... to get the job done.

The Old Man: [a prototype model of Robocop 2 rises from the model of the proposed new city] Ladies and gentlemen, with great pleasure, I give you RoboCop 2.

The Old Man: Sometimes we just have to start over, from scratch, to make things right, and that's exactly what we're going to do. We're going to build a brand-new city where Detroit now stands - an example to the world.

The Old Man: City Hall is the decaying symbol of mismanagement and corruption.

The Old Man: These days, neighborhoods just seem to be the sort of places where bad things happen. Don't be nostalgic.

The Old Man: It's only money. What about criminal proceedings?

The Old Man: There's going to be a big call for this unit, and we'll make him right here in Detroit. That means jobs we can all be proud of, and make "Made in America" mean something again.

The Old Man: And so, people of the press, city officials, in a few minutes, Omni Consumer Products and the troubled city of Detroit will join in a bold new venture. Now, I'd like to explain just what this will mean: Sometimes, we just have to start over from scratch to make things right, and that's exactly what we're going to do. We're going to build a brand new city where Detroit now stands, an example to the world.

The Old Man: [Mayor Kuzack enters the room] My friends, welcome to our city as it should be, and as it will be in the hands of responsible private enterprise.

The Old Man: [applause] And a special welcome to mayor Kuzack and the outgoing administration.

Mayor Kuzack: Oh, we're not going anywhere.

The Old Man: [murmurs] Your Honor.

Mayor Kuzack: You'll have to tear down a lot of people's houses before you can make that thing and take away their homes.

The Old Man: We're going to raise towers of glass and steel. Every citizen will have a living unit. Safe, secure and clean. Now please, take your seat.

Mayor Kuzack: Won't be much room for neighborhoods, huh? Not like the kind that we all grew up in.

The Old Man: These days, neighborhoods just seem to be the sort of places where bad things happen. Don't be nostalgic.

Mayor Kuzack: What about democracy? Nobody elected you.

The Old Man: Anyone can buy OCP's stock and own a piece of our city. What could be more democratic than that?

Mayor Kuzack: Well, let me tell you: there are a lot of people in this town who can't afford to buy your stock, and they're not gonna let you get away with this!

The Old Man: You haven't been following the polls. Sit down.

The Old Man: Women! They let 'em vote, smoke and drive - even put 'em in pants! And what happens? A Democrat for president!

The Old Man: You girls a bunch of nudists or are you just short of clothes?

Kirk: It's a little early for that, isn't it?

The Old Man: The train is late.

Kirk: What has that got to do with it?

The Old Man: Nothing is on schedule today.

The Old Man: Honey, you - uh - what you eat seems to settle in the right places. But then you look to me like a girl with a big appetite for everything.

Varla: I try to think big!

The Old Man: Keep your thought as pure as the water.

Chandler Jarrell: Hey, this water ain't really that pure.

The Old Man: Un-heh, neither are you.

Kee Nang: Gompa, I have ruined myself with the American. He is a fool.

The Old Man: But he's brave.

Kee Nang: He is irresponsible.

The Old Man: But he's generous.

Kee Nang: He thinks of nothing but protecting his own feelings.

The Old Man: But if you touch his heart, there's nothing he wouldn't do for you.

Kee Nang: He believes in nothing.

The Old Man: Yet, still he does what is right.

Kee Nang: He is a callous, thoughtless, undisciplined fool.

The Old Man: [chuckles] Yes. I, too, like him very much. It's very hard not to.

The Old Man: We'll take you back, but we won't take the Sorceress!

Ralphie as Adult: [narrating] The old man stood there, quivering with fury, stammering as he tried to come up with a real crusher. All he got out was...

The Old Man: Naddafinga!

Randy: Meatloaf, smeatloaf, double-beatloaf. I hate meatloaf.

The Old Man: All right, I'll get that kid to eat. Where's my screwdriver and my plumber's helper? I'll open up his mouth and I'll shove it in.

The Old Man: [Watching in horror as the Bumpus hounds flee after devouring the Christmas turkey] Sons of bitches! Bumpuses!

Ralphie: Hey Dad! I'll bet you'll never guess what I got you for Christmas.

The Old Man: A new furnace.

Ralphie: Ha ha! That's a good one, Dad!

[Randy laughs]

The Old Man: [shouting] Don't anybody move! Hold it right there! The fuse is out.

Mom: [Playing Santa] And this is for Daddy...

[Picks up a gift-wrapped bowling ball and drops it in The Old Man's Lap]

Mom: Here, from me to you.

The Old Man: [high-pitched] Thanks a lot!

Ralphie: Hey Dad! I bet you never guess what I got you for Christmas!

The Old Man: [staring blissfully into space] A new furnace?

Ralphie: [chuckling] He he, that's a good one Dad!

Randy: [lauging] He he he!

Ralphie as Adult: My old man was one of the most feared furnace fighters in Northern Indiana.

The Old Man: Women! You can't live with 'em - and you can't live with 'em!

Randy Parker: I wanna go on the rides, I wanna go on the rides, I wanna go on the rides.

The Old Man: You'll just get sick again.

Randy Parker: I wanna get sick, I wanna get sick, I wanna get sick.

Furious Styles: Why is it that there is a gun shop on almost every corner in this community?

The Old Man: Why?

Furious Styles: I'll tell you why. For the same reason that there is a liquor store on almost every corner in the black community. Why? They want us to kill ourselves.

The Old Man: Ain't nobody from outside bringing down the property value. It's these folk, shootin' each other and sellin' that crack rock and shit.

Furious Styles: Well, how you think the crack rock gets into the country? We don't own any planes. We don't own no ships. We are not the people who are flyin' and floatin' that shit in here.

The Old Man: We all make our choices in life, the hard thing to do is live with them.

The Old Man: He should've been somebody everyone knows.

Rory Jansen: Yeah... but what happened?

The Old Man: Life.

The Old Man: He found out sometime later that what she'd actually said was: "Pay your check and get the hell out of here". But who is he to question fate?

The Old Man: Be careful, Lisa.

Lisa: You too, Louis.