Clear and Present Danger (1994)

Donald Moffat: President Bennett

Photos 

Quotes 

• The President : [on who gets punished for 'Reciprocity']  You'll take the blame. Cutter and Ritter will take some too, but it won't amount to much. They'll get a slap on the wrist and $20,000 an hour on the lecture circuit. The rest, you'll dump on Greer. Yes, you'll take him down with you. You'll *destroy* his reputation. But it won't go any further than that. It's the ol' Potomac two-step, Jack.

  Jack Ryan : I'm sorry, Mr. President, I don't dance.

• The President : How dare you come in here and lecture me!

  Jack Ryan : How dare *you*, sir!

  The President : How dare you come into this office and bark at me like some little junkyard dog? I am the President of the United States!

• The President : These drug cartels represent a clear and present danger to the national security of the United States.

• James Cutter : Are you suggesting a course of action, sir?

  The President : The course of action I'd suggest is a course of action I can't suggest.

• The President : So go down there, establish it.

  Jack Ryan : Go down where?

  The President : Colombia.

  Jack Ryan : Who, me?

• TV Reporter : The New York Times is reporting that you and Hardin were good friends. Is that true?

  The President : No, not quite.

  Jack Ryan : [watching on TV]  Shh, shh. Hey, hey, hey.

  The President : We weren't good friends, we were lifelong friends.

  Jack Ryan : I said that. I said that. I told him to say that.

  [seeing Cathy's look] 

  Jack Ryan : What?

  Cathy Ryan : I didn't say anything.

  Jack Ryan : Yeah, but you're thinking something.

• Jack Ryan : And then three years ago, Hardin received a large infusion of foreign investment capital, which he invested wisely in 20 major shopping centers from Fort Worth to Atlanta. I say "wisely" because in the middle of the recession, he posted record profits, at least to the IRS, who he apparently feared more than his own partners. To them, according to the stockholder statements he was giving them, the shopping centers weren't doing nearly as well. They were, he was just skimming the lion's share of the profits, $650 million, and putting it in numbered accounts in Luxembourg, Panama, and the Cayman Islands. They killed him for it.

  The President : Who?

  Jack Ryan : His partners.

  The President : Who were his partners?

  Jack Ryan : Well, it... it seems clear that, um... that he was laundering money for the Colombian drug cartels.

  The President : Jesus. I knew the man for 40 years. We went to school together. We almost went into business together.

• [repeated line] 

  The President : This is our money.

• Jack Ryan : 19 cartridges were recovered, as well as the, um... as the two weapons that fired them. Blood samples taken consistent with the crew. Hardin and, uh, his wife and his son and daughter. They were killed in their staterooms, apparently as they slept, dragged topside, and thrown overboard. The two men in custody surrendered after a brief attempt to outrun the Coast Guard.

  The President : What do we know about them, the men in custody?

  Jack Ryan : Uh, half a dozen arrests, uh, for drug trafficking in Bogota, Mr. President.

  The President : Drugs.

  Jack Ryan : Suspected ties to the Cali cartel, not Medellin...

  Judge Moore : [Greer gasps]  You all right, James?

  Jack Ryan : A-According to DEA.

  The President : Why?

  Robert Ritter : Nothing exotic, sir. Straight piracy and murder. It's not the first time.

  The President : [looking glaringly at Ritter]  It's the first time it was a friend of mine.

  Robert Ritter : Yes, sir.