Jim Malone

• You just fulfilled the first rule of law enforcement: Make sure when your shift is over, you go home alive.

• You wanna get Capone? Here’s how you get him. He pulls a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue! That’s the Chicago way, and that’s how you get Capone!

• [about finding an incorruptible recruit] If you’re afraid of getting a rotten apple, don’t go to the barrel. Get it off the tree!

• [When asked about if a cop is safe] Well, he’d better be – he’s my cousin.

Alphonse Capone

• Life goes on. A man becomes preeminent, he’s expected to have enthusiasms. Enthusiasms… Enthusiasms… What are mine? What draws my admiration? What is that which gives me joy? [grabs a baseball bat] Baseball! A man stands alone at the plate. This is the time for what? For individual achievement. There he stands alone. But in the field, what? Part of a team. Teamwork…. Looks, throws, catches, hustles – part of one big team. Bats himself the live-long day, Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, and so on. If his team don’t field… what is he? You follow me? No one! Sunny day, the stands are full of fans. What does he have to say? “I’m goin’ out there for myself. But… I get nowhere unless the team wins.” [Beats his henchman to death with his bat]

• People are gonna drink – you know that, I know that, we all know that, and all I do is act on that. And all this talk of bootlegging – what is bootlegging? On a boat, it’s bootlegging. On Lake Shore Drive, it’s hospitality. I’m a businessman!

• [to Ness] You got nothing. You’re nothing but a lot of talk and a badge! You hear me? Cause you got nothing! You got nothing in court, you don’t got the bookkeeper, you got NOTHING! NOTHING! And if you were a man, you would’ve done it now! You don’t got a thing, you punk!

Dialogue

:[Malone and Ness talking about how to get Capone.]
:Malone: What are you prepared to do?
:Ness: Everything within the law.
:Malone: And then what are you prepared to do?
:[Malone is interviewing George Stone about becoming a member of Ness' group]
:Malone: [giving him a piercing look] Where are you from, Stone?
:Stone: [smiling] From the South Side.
:Malone: “Stone?” [mockingly] “George Stone?” That’s your name? What’s your real name?
:Stone: [smiling again] That is my real name.
:Malone: Nah, what was it before you changed it?
:Stone: [his smile fading] Giuseppe Petri.
:Malone: [To Ness] Geez, I knew it! That’s all you need – one thievin’ wop on the team!
:[Stone looks offended and taps Malone on the back to get his attention]
:Stone: What’s that you say?
:Malone: [Poking him with his clipboard] I said that you’re a lyin’ member of a no good race.
:[Stone angrily slams Malone's clipboard out of his hand, whips a revolver out and puts it to Malone's neck as he draws a baton]
:Stone: [coldly] It’s much better than you, you stinkin’ Irish pig!
:Malone: Oh, I like him.
:Ness: Yeah, I like him too.
[Malone shakes hands with Stone]
:Malone: You just joined the Treasury Department, son.
:Stone: Yeah, okay.
:Nitti: [About Malone] He died like a pig.
:Ness: What’s that you say?
:Nitti: I said that your friend died squealing like a stuck Irish pig! Now you think about that when I beat the rap.
:Ness: [after throwing Nitti off the rooftop] DID HE SOUND ANYTHING LIKE THAT!?
:[Ness sees Malone toying with a St. Jude medallion.]
:Ness: What is that?
:Malone: [surprised] “What is that?”
:Ness: Yes, what is it?
:Malone: God, I’m with the heathen. [shows medallion, with a key on the chain] That is my call box key, and that is St. Jude.
:Stone: Santo Jude. He’s the patron saint of the lost causes.
:Malone: And policemen.
:Ness: Patron saint of policemen?
:Malone: Everybody needs a friend.
:[Ness has just shot a gangster during the raid at the Canadian border.]
:Ness: I had to kill him.
:Malone: Oh, yeah. He’s as dead as Julius Caesar.
:[sees Ness is still not at ease]
:Malone: Would you rather it was you?
:Ness: No, I would not.
:Malone: Well, then, you’ve done your duty. Go home and sleep well tonight.
:[Ness confronts Capone, along with his son and several thugs]
:Thug: Something you want here?
:Ness: My friend was killed today.
:Thug: I don’t care.
:Ness: You don’t care?
:[Ness punches the thug out, and gets restrained by two others]
:Ness: Now he does. [to Capone] Come on here, Capone! You want to fight? You and me, right here?! That’s it, come on! What’s the matter? You afraid to come out from behind your men, you afraid to stand up for yourself?!
:Capone: You want to do it now?! You want to do it right now?!
:Ness: Yeah! Come on, you guinea son-of-a-bitch!
:Capone: What?! You talk to me like that in front of my son?! Fuck you and your family!
:Ness: Fu–
:[Ness goes for his gun, while all of Capone's thugs pull out there guns and point them at Ness]
:[Ness confronts Capone after he is found guilty]
:Ness: Never stop! never stop fighting till the fight is done!
:Capone: What’d you say? What’re you saying?
:Ness: I said, “Never stop fighting till the fight is done”!
:Capone: What?
:Ness: You heard me, Capone. It’s over.
:Capone: Get out. You’re nothing but a lot of talk and a badge.
:Ness: Here endeth the lesson.
:Reporter: They say they’re going to repeal Prohibition. What will you do then?
:Ness: I think I’ll have a drink.

Taglines

• Never stop fighting till the fight is done

• AL CAPONE. He ruled Chicago with absolute power. No one could touch him. No one could stop him. – Until Eliot Ness and a small force of men swore they’d bring him down.

• The Chicago Dream is that big.

• What are you prepared to do?

Cast

• Kevin Costner – Eliot Ness

• Sean Connery – Jim Malone

• Charles Martin Smith – Agent Oscar Wallace

• Andy Garcia – Agent George Stone

• Robert De Niro – Al Capone

• Richard Bradford – Police Chief Mike Dorsett

• Jack Kehoe – Walter Payne

• Billy Drago – Frank Nitti

• Patricia Clarkson – Catherine Ness

Source: Wikiquote