Con Air

In this 1997 film, a U.S. Marshals Service plane transporting prisoners to a new "Super Max" prison is taken over by the inmates, trapping a paroled former Army Ranger on board.

Directed by Simon West . Written by Scott Rosenberg

Starring Nicholas Cage , John Malkovich , and John Cusack .

Table of contents

1 Cameron Poe 2 Garland Green 3 Cyrus "the Virus" Grissom 4 D.E.A. Agent Duncan Malloy 5 U.S. Marshal Vince Larkin 6 Johnny Baca (a.k.a. Johnny Twenty-Three) 7 Others 8 Dialogue 9 Cast

Cameron Poe

• "They managed to get every freak and creep in the universe on this one plane, and then they let them take it over, and then they managed to stick us right smack in the middle of it."
• "Now, what would my daughter think of me if I left you to be dishonored and die?"
• "Why couldn't you put the bunny back in the box?"
• "There's only two men I trust. One of 'em's me, and the other's not you."
• "If this thing goes bad, Larkin, I'm afraid my daughter won't understand. If you see my wife again, you tell her I love her... she's my hummingbird. I just couldn't leave a fallen man behind."
• "What do you think I'm gonna do? I'm gonna save the fuckin' day."
• "Well, Baby O, it's not exactly mai-tais and Yahtzee out here — but let's do it."
• "On any other day, that might seem strange."
• "Just so's you know, Marshal Larkin, there's now three men I trust."

Garland Green

• "One girl... I drove through three states wearing her head as a hat."
• "What if I told you 'insane' was working fifty hours a week in some office for fifty years at the end of which they tell you to piss off; ending up in some retirement village hoping to die before suffering the indignity of trying to make it to the toilet on time? Wouldn't you consider that to be insane?"
• "He's a font of misplaced rage. Name your cliche: Mother held him too much or not enough, last picked at kickball, late-night sneaky uncle, whatever. Now he's so angry that moments of levity actually cause him pain... give him headaches. Happiness, for that gentleman, hurts."
• "Define 'irony': a bunch of idiots dancing around on a plane, to a song made famous by a band that died in a plane crash."

Cyrus "the Virus" Grissom

• "Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. I have the only gun on board. Welcome to Con Air."
• "You know, the next time you choose a human shield, you're better off not picking a two-bit negro crack-head."
• (singing) "Nothing makes me sadder than the agent lost his bladder in the... Ai-ai-airplane..."
• "Love your work!" (to Garland Green)
• "It's not difficult to surmise Nathan's feelings towards killing these guards; and my own proclivities are, uh, well-known and often-lamented facts of penal lore."
• "Someone alerted the authorities at Carson City. Someone told them about our Lerner rendezvous. Someone even killed poor Billy Bedlam. Now, could this all be coincidence? Perhaps. Then someone went and tied a rope to our plane. So I ask you: what is going on? And I answer: we have a traitor in our midst."
• "Make a move and the bunny gets it."
• "Before I kill you, Poe, I want you to know that the last thing little Casey Poe ever gets to smell is my stinking breath."

D.E.A. Agent Duncan Malloy

• "This is a situation that needs to get un-fucked, right now!"
• "Well, of course you can't reach him! He's off saving the rain forest or recycling his sandals or some shit!"
• "When this is over, so are you, you little prick!"

U.S. Marshal Vince Larkin

• "'The degree of civilzation in a society can be judged by observing its prisoners.' Dostoyevsky said that, after doing a little time."
• "If you can't trust a South American drug lord, who can you trust, huh?"
• "Christ, they'll be slaughtered!"

Johnny Baca (a.k.a. Johnny Twenty-Three)

• "They'd call me Johnny Six Hundred if they knew the truth."
• "I've got a spot on my arm just for you!"
• "When you wake up, bitch, I'll be Johnny Twenty-Four."

Others

• "Hey, Gomer! Thought you might need some help escorting the lady home." ~ Obnoxious drunk/future manslaughter victim
• "'Lady' is a dog in a Walt Disney cartoon. My name is Bishop. Guard Bishop to you." ~ Guard Sally Bishop
• "What you got there, Poe, is a walking, talking reason to rehabilitate." ~ Guard Sally Bishop
• "All right, you damn peckerwoods! Crack the knuckles and hit the crystals. We're about to put this baby down in a sandbox!" ~ Swamp Thing
• "Goddamn it, Poe! It's time to fight, fuck, or hit the fence! I recommend you hit the fence." ~ Baby O

Dialogue

Vince Larkin: We pick up Mr. Sindino in Carson City. From then until the plane lands in Alabama, we've got two hours to get him to talk. We got you a seat right next to him. He's known to be somewhat garrulous in the company of thieves.

Duncan Malloy: "Garrulous"? What the fuck is "garrulous"?

Larkin: That would be loquacious, verbose, effusive... how about chatty?

Malloy: (snorts) What's with dictionary boy, here?

Larkin: Thesaurus boy, I think, is more appropriate.

(Cyrus Grissom is holding the pilot at gunpoint.)

Cyrus the Virus: Say there was a disturbance but you've got it under control. Say it, or I will kill you.

Pilot: Without me you got nobody to fly the plane.

Cyrus: I never think that far ahead.

Cyrus the Virus: If we let you out, you gonna play nice, Billy?

Billy Bedlam: Probably not.

Johnny "23" Baca: Shit, that's Garland Green, man.

Cameron Poe: The Marietta Mangler.

"Baby O" Odell: That skinny little man butchered thirty-some people up and down the eastern seaboard. They say the way he killed those people makes the Manson Family look like the Partridge Family!

Poe: Well... he's on the right flight.

Diamond Dog: Yee-ha! What's on your mind, hillbilly?

Cameron Poe: Now, let's see, what was I thinking? Oh, yeah — "Yee-ha," that's right.

(In the plane's hold, Billy Bedlam has found Poe's personal effects — including Poe's parole certificate and the stuffed bunny he bought for his daughter.)

Poe: Put the bunny back in the box.

Billy Bedlam: I knew you was a punk, and I was right. You been playing us all along. You're a free man.

Poe: I said, "Put the bunny back in the box"!

...

Garland Green: Two went down. One came up.

Poe: Wasn't my fault.

Garland: Oh, you don't have to tell me. Most murders are crimes of necessity rather than desire. But the great ones... Dahmer, Gacy, Bundy... they did it because it excited them.

Poe: Don't you... I got nothing in common with them — with you! Don't you talk to me! They were insane!

Garland: Now you're talking semantics.

Cyrus the Virus: You've proven to be a most useful mammal, Poe.

Cameron Poe: "Many hands make light work." My daddy taught me that.

Cyrus: You know what my daddy taught me?

Poe: What's that?

Cyrus: Nothing.

Little girl: Are you sick?

Garland Green: Why do you ask?

Little girl: You look sick.

Garland: I am sick.

Little girl: Do you take medicine?

Garland: There is no medicine for what I have.

(Cyrus has made a map in the dirt using various bits of junk to represent buildings at Lerner Field.)

Cyrus: Considering my audience, I'm gonna make this very quick and very simple. (points with a stick) This is the boneyard. This is the hangar. This is our plane.

Viking: What's that?(points at a rock.)

Cyrus: That's a rock.

Viking: O-okay.

Cyrus: The convoy will enter the boneyard here. Initially, we take out the first car, then we take out the last, creating a trap... an airtight cage filled with lots and lots of dead people. Nathan, get everybody in position, yeah? And bring me those propane tanks!

Cast

Nicholas Cage - Cameron Poe

John Malkovich - Cyrus "the Virus" Grissom

Ving Rhames - Nathan Jones ("Diamond Dog")

Steve Buscemi - Garland Green

John Cusack - Vince Larkin

Mykelti Williamson - "Baby O" Odell

Dave Chapelle - "Pinball" Parker