Le Jour des morts-vivants (1985)
Richard Liberty: Dr. Matthew Logan
Photos
Quotes
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Captain Rhodes : Where does it say we've got to keep those dumb-fucks next door to where we sleep? Where does it say we should do any one thing but shoot the mothers in the head?
Dr. Logan : [enters] We don't have enough ammunition, captain, to shoot them all in the head. Time to have done that would've been at the beginning. No. We let them overrun us. They have overrun us, you know? We're in the minority now. Something like four hundred thousand to one, by my calculations. I haven't eaten. Is there food?
Captain Rhodes : You were supposed to be here at seven o'clock sharp, mister.
Dr. Logan : I know. Sarah told me. I'm sorry. I couldn't break away. Is there food?
Captain Rhodes : Listen, egg head, let me bring you up to date on what's...
Dr. Logan : Excuse me.
Captain Rhodes : Let me...
Dr. Logan : Excuse me! Is there food?
Captain Rhodes : [shouting] I'm running this monkey farm now, Frankenstein, and I wanna know what the fuck you're doing with my time! 'cause if we're just jerkin' off here, I'm gonna have my men blow the piss out of those precious specimens of yours, and we're gonna get the hell out of here, and leave you and your highfalutin asshole friends to rot in this stinkin' sewer! Is that food enough for ya?
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Captain Rhodes : Is this your progress? Is this the shit that's supposed to knock our socks off?
Dr. Logan : It's the beginning, yes. It's the bare beginning of social behavior. Civilized behavior. Civil behavior is what distinguishes us from the lower forms. It's what enables us to communicate. To go about things in an orderly fashion without attacking each other like beasts in the wild. Civility must be rewarded, Captain. If it isn't rewarded, then there's no use for it. There's just no use for it at all.
Captain Rhodes : I don't want them to do anything but drop over!
Dr. Logan : Yes... well, apparently they're not inclined to do that for you, Captain.
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Dr. Logan : Civil behavior is what distinguishes us from the lower forms. It's what enables us to communicate. To go about things in an orderly fashion, without attacking each other like beasts. Civility must be rewarded, captain. If it isn't rewarded, there's no use for it. There's just no use for it at all.
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Captain Rhodes : What kind of progress? What are you talking about, "make them behave?" What does that mean?
Dr. Logan : It means keeping them from wanting to eat us for one thing. It means keeping them in check. It's controlling them. Controlling them.
Captain Rhodes : When are you going to show us something that we can understand?
Dr. Logan : Very close... very close! I think in a matter of weeks...
Sarah : [cutting Dr. Logan off] I don't think there's any way you can tell how long anything is going to take. It could be months, it could be years before we know exactly what we're dealing with here.
Dr. Logan : [to the soldiers whom are arguing] Sarah's research is more esoteric than mine. She's looking for a way to reverse the process, a way to eradicate the problem. That could take a long time. A very long time. She may never find what she is looking for. We have a limited supply of chemical agents. Our equipment is hopelessly inadequate.
Captain Rhodes : McDermott doesn't have decent radio gear. Now, you're telling me that you don't have the shit you need? We're running low on ammunition. We're running low on men for Christ's sake!
Sarah : It was very rushed! This whole operation was put together in a matter of days.
Captain Rhodes : Yeah? Well it can all be taken apart in a matter of minutes, lady! And I'm here to tell you that I'm ready to do that little thing! I'm ready to take the next train out of here!
Dr. Logan : I ask you again, Captain. Where will you go? You have no choice but to give us the weeks that we've asked for.
Sarah : You have to give us however long it takes! Look... there have to be survivors in Washington. They have more sophisticated shelters than this one. There have to be people in those shelters who know about us, who know where we are. With no radio contact, they'll come looking for us...
[Sarah's words are drowned out by the soliders arguing and protesting and jeering]
Captain Rhodes : [to the solders] Shut up! I said, shut up!
[the room is now silent as Rhodes turns back towards Sarah and the scientists and pauses for a few seconds]
Captain Rhodes : You got a little more time. A little more... I ain't saying how much. But you better start showing me some results, and you better not piss me off. You understand? Nothing happens around here without my knowing about it! And anybody who fucks with my command... they get court martialed... they get executed. You better know I mean it too, people.
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Dr. Logan : I haven't eaten. Is there food?
Captain Rhodes : You were supposed to be here at seven o'clock, mister.
Dr. Logan : I know, Sarah told me. I'm sorry, I couldn't break away. Is there food?
Captain Rhodes : Listen, Egghead, let me bring you up to date on what's...
Dr. Logan : Excuse me.
Captain Rhodes : Let me...
Dr. Logan : Excuse me! Is... there... food?
Captain Rhodes : [shouting] I'm running this monkey-farm now, Frankenstein, and I wanna know what you're doing with my time! 'Cos if we're just jerking off here, I'm gonna have my men blow the piss out of those precious specimens of yours, and we're gonna get the hell out of here and leave you and your high-falutin' asshole friends to rot in this stinkin' sewer! Is that food enough for you?
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[Bub has saluted Captain Rhodes]
Dr. Logan : Apparently he was in the military! Return the salute! See what he does!
Captain Rhodes : You want me to salute that pile of walking pus? Salute my ass!
Dr. Logan : Your ignorance is exceeded only by your charm, Captain. How can we expect them to behave if we act barbarically ourselves?
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Dr. Logan : We don't have enough ammunition to shoot them all in the head. The time to have done that would have been in the beginning. No, we let them overrun us. We are in the minority now, something like 400,000 to one by my calculation.
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Dr. Logan : It wants me! It wants food! But it has no stomach, can take no nourishment from what it ingests. It's acting on INSTINCT!
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Dr. Logan : I call him Bub. That's what the lodge fellows used to call my father. Can you imagine a surgeon called Bub? Well, he didn't mind. He was rich. My father was rich. Bub's been responding so well that I let him live.
[laughs]
Dr. Logan : But is he alive or dead? Well, that's the question nowadays isn't it? Let's just say I let him continue to exist.
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Captain Rhodes : I'm not down in this cave for my health. I'm down here on orders!
Ted Fisher : Your orders are to facilitate the job of this scientific team! This is a civilian team, and we don't have to be subjected to your tyranny.
Captain Rhodes : Who's being 'subjected' to what, Fisher? You've lost one man; we've lost five. Where does it say we gotta keep those dumb fucks next door to where we sleep? Where does it say we should do any one thing but shoot the mothers in the head?
Dr. Logan : [enters] You don't have enough ammunition, Captain, to shoot them all in the head!
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Dr. Logan : They still have motor function. Even powers of deliberation. These things can be domesticated! Don't you see? They can be conditioned to behave. To do what we want them to do.
Sarah : Oh, and all that's required is 15 hours of fancy surgery that only you and a handful of other people in this world are trained to do. I thought we were going to stop work on the neuro-physical and concentrate on something more practical.
Dr. Logan : Fine, but central to the condition... I will not stop any work that might lead to an answer. Let alone in an area that is central to the condition.
Sarah : But you're just proving theories that were advanced months ago, and you're not even proving them correctly! You're making a lot of assumptions here! You're wasting time trying to define what's happening instead of looking for what's making it happen. And just slicing up too many specimens! It is extremely dangerous to go up top to the surface and round them up in the wild where we can't control them!
[notices a dead zombie laying on the floor nearby]
Sarah : What happened to this one?
Dr. Logan : It became too unruly. I couldn't handle it. I had to destroy it. We can still get some information from it.
Sarah : Dr. Logan, we are loosing the cooperation of the men. I'm not even sure they will go up top to round up more when we run out of the specimens we already have. I'm not sure they might try to shut us down completely!
Dr. Logan : Then I'll show them results. I'll show them results. I'll show them that these creatures can be domesticated even without the surgery. Knowing what they are, we can then began to approach them properly. We can try to condition them... control them. We've go to do this, Sarah. It's our only hope.
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Rhodes : What the fuck is wrong with you people? They're dead! They're fucking dead, and you want to teach them tricks?
Dr. Logan : They have to be rewarded, Captain. Why else will they do what we want them to do?
Rhodes : I don't want 'em to do anything but drop over!
Dr. Logan : Yes, well, apparently they're not inclined to do that for you, Captain.
Rhodes : Is this your 'progress'? Is this the shit that's supposed to knock our socks off?
Dr. Logan : It's the beginning, yes. It's the bare beginning of social behavior. Of civilized behavior! Civilized behavior is what distinguishes us from the lower forms. It's what enables us to communicate, to go about things in an orderly manner, without attacking each other like beasts.
[pauses and takes a breath]
Dr. Logan : Civility must be rewarded, Captain. If it's not rewarded, then there's no use for it. There's just no use for it at all!
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Dr. Logan : They are us.
