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.

Cameron Poe

• They somehow managed to get every freak and creep in the universe on this one plane, and then somehow managed to let them take it over, and then they somehow managed to stick us right smack in the middle.

U.S. Marshal Vince Larkin

• [on Cyrus "The Virus" Grissom]

This ones done it all. Kidnapping, robbery, murder, extortion. His name is Cyrus Grissom, A.K.A. Cyrus the Virus. Thirty-nine years old, twenty-five of them spent in our institutions. But he's bettered himself inside. Earned two degrees, including his juris doctorate. He's also killed eleven fellow inmates, incited three riots, and escaped twice. Likes to brag that he's killed more men than cancer. Cyrus is a poster child for the criminally insane. He's a true product of the system.

Dialogue

Guard Falzon: Well, welcome aboard. My, my; as I look around I see a lot of celebrities among us. I see eleven Current Affairs, two Hard Copies and a genuine Geraldo interviewee, [gestures at Diamond Dog] but I gotta tell you gentlemen, none of this impresses me. Because we have rules on this aircraft and they're going to be enforced. It's a lot like kindergarten. You'll keep your hands to yourself, keep the decibel level down and, if any of you should feel the need to scream, spit or bite, you get the treatment.

Con #2: [spits at Falzon's feet] Fuck you, pig

Guard Falzon: [to another guard] Gag and bag this Nazi muffin.

(Falzon strikes Con #2 with his elbow, then another guard gags Con #2 and places a mesh bag over his head)

Guard Falzon: You see, this kind of thing puts me in a foul mood. These rules will be enforced because I can't have trouble. If any of you so much as passes gas in my general direction, upsetting my delicate nasal passages, your testicles will become my personal property. That's pretty clear. Good.

---

Cyrus the Virus: [holding the pilot at gunpoint] 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.

---

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.

---

Cyrus: Good, now here are the rules, I'm going to ask a question and then you will ask a question.

Larkin: Okay.

Cyrus: Okay, here's my first question. In Carson City your boys were onto us, how?

Malloy: One of the guards- [Is cut off by Larkin]

Larkin: One of the guards faked a heart attack and we had to remove his restraints, okay?

Cyrus: Alright, now what's your question?

Larkin: Where are you going with my plane, Cyrus?

Cyrus: We're going to Disneyland.

Larkin: You're lying, Cyrus.

Cyrus: So are you, Vince.

---

[Garland Green sees Poe come up after he kills Billy Bedlam in the cargo hold]

Garland Green: Two went down. One came up.

Poe: Wasn't my fault.

Garland: Well, 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. What if I told you insane was working a 50-hour week for 50 years, at the end of which they tell you to piss off. Ending up in some retirement village, hoping to die rather than suffering the indignity of trying to make it to the toilet on time. Wouldn't you consider that to be insane?

Poe: Murdering 30 people, semantics or not, is insane.

Garland:(smiles) One girl, I drove through three states wearing her head as a hat.

Poe: It's my daughter's birthday, so please feel free not to share everything with me.

---

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

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: Nothin'.

Poe: Self educated man.

---

[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: (looks embarrassed) 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 air-tight 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 Chappelle - "Pinball" Parker

Colm Meaney - Duncan Malloy

External links

• Con Air quotes at the Internet Movie Database