A Perfect World (1993)

Clint Eastwood: Red Garnett

Photos 

Quotes 

• [last lines] 

  Sally Gerber : You know you did everything you could. Don't you?

  Chief Red Garnett : ...I don't know nothin'... Not one damn thing.

• Butch Haynes : [meeting his Texas Ranger pursuer face-to-face]  Do I know you, friend?

  Chief Red Garnett : ...No. Not really.

• Chief Red Garnett : [interrupting a confrontation]  How do you like your steak, Sally?

  Sally Gerber : Rare.

  Chief Red Garnett : Good. Well, I'll, uh, wipe its ass, herd it through, and you can tear off a slab. How's that?

  Sally Gerber : On second thought, medium rare.

• Chief Red Garnett : I, uh... hope you don't drink before noon.

  Sally Gerber : Oh - no, I don't.

  Chief Red Garnett : The last one we had here, seemed like she was on a liquid diet.

• Tom Adler : They got T-bones in the fridge!

  Naomi Perry : Now, I don't think we should eat that - those were ordered special for the governor.

  Tom Adler : And Tater Tots!

  Naomi Perry : He might not approve of this!

  Chief Red Garnett : That so? Hmmm... I *do* like Tater Tots.

• Lt. Tom Hendricks : Cordoned off the area.

  Chief Red Garnett : Tight?

  Lt. Tom Hendricks : Watertight. Like a frog's pussy. Sorry, ma'am.

  Sally Gerber : No doubt an observation based on personal experience.

• Chief Red Garnett : She promises!

  Butch Haynes : Make her say it!

  Gladys Perry : ...Uh - I promise!

  Butch Haynes : Can we trust her?

  Phillip Perry : She's a real good mama.

• Sally Gerber : The idea is that an understanding of the particular behavioral case history should, in parole situations, help the subject to avoid habitual traps - and, in penal escape situations, could conversely identify those self-same traps as an aid to apprehension.

  Chief Red Garnett : ...Let me tell you somethin', Miss Gerber.

  Sally Gerber : Sally is fine.

  Chief Red Garnett : Let me tell you somethin', Sally: This is not a 'penal escape situation', this happens to be a manhunt. And no talkin' around in circles is gonna fix all that.

  Sally Gerber : And what will?

  Chief Red Garnett : Well, it's having a nose like a Bluetick, possum medulla, with an antenna and a lot of coffee.

• Tom Adler : One puzzler, though - they say the kid could have gotten away, but he didn't.

  Sally Gerber : Probably scared to death.

  Tom Adler : Well, one more thing: The kid stole a Halloween outfit.

  Chief Red Garnett : So they're a team.

• Sally Gerber : [imagining herself as Butch]  I killed a man when I was eight.

  Chief Red Garnett : How'd you kill him?

  Sally Gerber : Shot him with a .38 special. There was always one lyin' around the dance hall. That's what they called it, but it was a whorehouse; that's where we lived.

  Tom Adler : What'd the authorities do?

  Sally Gerber : Victim was wanted by the locals, so the whole thing got swept under the carpet, Cajun-style.

• Chief Red Garnett : Tell you the truth, I kinda hope they make it across the border; let the feds take this. I got things I could be doin' at home.

• Chief Red Garnett : Gallows humor, Sally. Without it, we'd all be losin' our lunch.

• Sally Gerber : Haynes is a criminal's criminal - armed robbery, man-on-man confrontation. Pugh, on the other hand, has a rap sheet littered with manslaughter, you name it. They'll split soon.

  Tom Adler : What about the hostages? What are they gonna do - flip a coin to see who gets to keep who?

  Sally Gerber : It's happened before. Either way, it's a dilemma they'll address soon - that's why we've got to address it now.

  Chief Red Garnett : Well, "we" don't have a dilemma. Neither do they. They'll simply get rid of one hostage, and keep the other - if they haven't done so already.

• Chief Red Garnett : You get to know me a little better, you'll find havin' a strong backside and a good sense of humor'll get you a lot.

  Sally Gerber : Yeah; well, I have a fine sense of humor - but the one thing I won't do is be your straight man, so you can play hero to a bunch of morons who think you're some kind of hillbilly Sherlock Holmes.

  Chief Red Garnett : [taking a sip of coffee]  Oh, shit. Damn... You know, Arthur Godfrey said this stuff'll keep you young, but I'm not sure it's worth it.

• Chief Red Garnett : I like the governor. He and I go quail huntin', at least once a year. But he knows - and I know - that win, lose or draw, this is my ship. You understand that?

  Sally Gerber : Oh, yeah - I got that. You know what that is? That's anarchy. And I call that horseshit, to use a cowboy colloquialism.

  Chief Red Garnett : No, I'll tell you what's horseshit, missy. Horseshit is responsibility. That's the guy who has the sleepless nights; that's the guy who has the ulcers. If this thing goes bloody - and it just might - the governor, he loses a few votes. Me? I'm the one who... I'll tell you what: You see me makin' a wrong move, you go ahead and speak up. I might not agree with ya, but I'll listen. As for steppin' on people's toes and wounded pride, I'll buy all the drinks when this is over. But right now, I got better things to think about. That fair?

• Tom Adler : The locals want to know - if they get a clean shot, should they take it?

  Chief Red Garnett : ...No. I don't want any half-assed Sergeant York takin' a pot shot with a deer rifle.

  Sally Gerber : The only thing to do - he's got the boy with him.

  Agent Bobby Lee : I guess you figure he'll just give up.

  Sally Gerber : Maybe; maybe not.

  Agent Bobby Lee : Well, now there's a safe bet.

  Sally Gerber : Well, I'll give you a safe bet - he's better off now than he was.

  Chief Red Garnett : Well, that third eye that Pugh is sportin' on the way to the morgue - that speaks otherwise.

• Sally Gerber : Haynes' juvenile court record lists you as amicus curae? Evidence given by a non-party with the intention of swaying the judge one way or the other?... Yeah - well, usually, it comes in written form, but there was no copy attached... Silence. OK. Well, at least tell me why Haynes did four years for a joyride, huh? What about probation? Boy had a home, a father.

  Chief Red Garnett : What did your file say about him?

  Sally Gerber : That he was a petty thief who did a little time - got out, and stayed pretty clean.

  Chief Red Garnett : Your precious files are wrong.

  Sally Gerber : OK. So tell me the truth.

  Chief Red Garnett : Haynes' old man - he's a... he was a career criminal. Had a soft spot for whores, and... one thing's for sure - he beat the hell out of anything he ever came across, or screwed, or fathered. If I -... If the judge had let the boy go home with him, he'd have a rap sheet as long as your arm within a year... Gatesville wasn't so bad. I've known kids there who stayed straightened up... One even became a priest.

  Sally Gerber : I don't get it.

  Chief Red Garnett : Well, you don't get it. In Texas, the bottom line is who you know, and what they owe you. It's how I do my job; it's how you got your job.

  Sally Gerber : You are tough, aren't you?

  Chief Red Garnett : I bought that judge a T-bone, and I told him to send the boy up. I told him it was the right thing to do. Judge went with me, right down the line.

• Chief Red Garnett : You got a file on me, too?

  Sally Gerber : Hey - it's the '60s, Red; they got a file on everybody, right?

  Chief Red Garnett : Just 'cause it's written down, that don't mean it's true.

• Chief Red Garnett : [slugs Lee] 

  Lt. Tom Hendricks : Whoa! Whoa! Back off!

  Tom Adler : Take it easy, Red.

  Lt. Tom Hendricks : What the hell was that all about?

  Chief Red Garnett : I didn't say "when".

  [Red walks off, and Sally knees Lee in the groin]