The Manchurian Candidate (2004)

Denzel Washington: Ben Marco

Photos 

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Quotes 

• Senator Thomas Jordan : And you bring me rumors and conjecture.

  Ben Marco : I started with nightmares. Rumors, conjectures, that's a giant leap forward.

• Ben Marco : [being brainwashed over the phone]  Yes, senator?

  Eleanor Shaw : Is this Captain Marco?

  Ben Marco : Yep.

  Eleanor Shaw : Captain Bennet Marco?

  Ben Marco : Yes.

  Eleanor Shaw : Bennet Ezikiel Marco?

  Ben Marco : ...yes.

  Eleanor Shaw : ...Listen.

• Al Melvin : I'm just! I'm just... I'm just a little stuck, Sir.

  [pause] 

  Al Melvin : Because I remember, okay, Shaw...

  [pause] 

  Al Melvin : Shaw, okay... Shaw saving us, right?

  [another pause] 

  Al Melvin : But that doesn't make sense, because... that should've been you. Okay, if Shaw is in the Hummer...

  [pause] 

  Al Melvin : The Toyota is here...

  [breaks down to the floor and sobs] 

  Ben Marco : [Marco grabs him and holds him up to his feet]  All right. Just get up, get up!

  [pause] 

  Ben Marco : Listen, it's... That's over with. That's done. Okay? You gotta move on...

  Al Melvin : [stutters]  What I was hoping is that, you know, maybe...

  Ben Marco : You need some money or something?

  Al Melvin : No. No, Sir...

  Ben Marco : Wait a minute...

  Al Melvin : I don't need your money, man!

  Ben Marco : All right. Well, it was great to see you...

  [Melvin walks away] 

• [last lines] 

  Noyle : [voiceover]  Now, when you're rescued and returned with your patrol to command headquarters, what will be among the first of your duties that you'll undertake?

  Ben Marco : I'll recommend Sergeant Shaw for the Medal of Honor, sir. He saved our lives. He terminated the enemy. Led us across the desert to safety.

  Noyle : Excellent. And there were casualties?

  Ben Marco : There's always casualties in war, sir.

• Raymond Shaw : Are we friends, Ben? I wanna believe we were friends.

  Ben Marco : We are connected and that's something nobody can take from us. You coulda had me locked up, but you didn't. That's proof that there's something deep inside. There's a part that they can't get to. And it's deep inside of us. And that's where the truth is.

• Al Melvin : [disturbingly]  I have these dreams, Sir.

  Ben Marco : [puzzled]  Dreams?

  Al Melvin : [continues]  Yes, Sir. Kuwait. It's you and me, Ingram and Baker and...

  [pause] 

  Al Melvin : Raymond Shaw.

  Ben Marco : Okay.

  Al Melvin : See, I remember it happened...

  [pause] 

  Al Melvin : Like you just said and then...

  [pause] 

  Al Melvin : I don't...

  Ben Marco : Well, we had it pretty rough over there, Melvin. That was a long time ago. Memories shift...

  Al Melvin : [cutting Ben off]  Do you have dreams, Sir?

  Ben Marco : [smiles]  Everybody has dreams, Corporal...

  Al Melvin : [frustratingly]  No, not these!

• Al Melvin : [trying to explain his dreams]  I write it all down. You know, like, every night...

  [he shows Marco a notebook with strange notes scribbled in it] 

  Al Melvin : Right when I wake up, I try to get it down. It doesn't always come together, you know? Not everything that I can remember...

  Ben Marco : Maybe you should go to the V.A. Hospital. Talk to one of the doctors...

  Al Melvin : [angrily throws his notebook on the floor]  I've *BEEN* to doctors, man!

• Ben Marco : What about my dreams?

  Delp : What if all this is your dream and you are really still back in Kuwait?

• Ben Marco : You said the army implants, they were for emergency medical data, right?

  Delp : The ones they publicized were. There was a parallel project of all kinds of scary implantables. The Clinton watch dogs finally freaked out about it, closed down.

  Ben Marco : Parallel project? How'd you know about that?

  Delp : Manchurian Global funded me to make some of this scary shit. Heard of them? Imagine not just a corporation, Marco, but a goddamn geopolitical extension of policy for every President since Nixon.

• Ben Marco : This is rich people, Manchurian Global, funding bad science, to put a sleeper in the White House, and that's what's going on Rosie. That's what's going on.

  Rosie : [holding gun on him]  I want to believe you.

  Ben Marco : Well, then believe me. Help me.

  Rosie : Uh, uh, uh, uh.

  Ben Marco : Shoot me then. Help me or shoot me, make a decision. Make a decision.

• [first lines] 

  Ben Marco : So why don't we just go directly right up in this route, straight in...

  Laurent Tokar : Yes, I see the Captain enjoys the road less-traveled.

  Ben Marco : No, the Captain enjoys not going down the highway, draggin' his ass so every Tom, Dick, Gaddafi can take a whack at it.

• Delp : I thought you said you lost this.

  Ben Marco : I bit a guy. I found another one.

• Ben Marco : Somebody got into our heads with big steel-toe boots, cable cutters and a chainsaw and they went to town. Neurons got got got exposed and circuits got rewired. Our brain cells got obliterated, Raymond.

• Ben Marco : This isn't an election, this is a coup.