Lock Up (1989)

Donald Sutherland: Warden Drumgoole

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Quotes 

• Warden Drumgoole : [Leone has faked an escape from Gateway. While Meissner and Braden lead a fruitless search outside the prison walls, Drumgoole double-checks the security cameras from his darkened office. Suddenly, Frank emerges from the shadows and takes the warden at knifepoint]  ... You won't get away with this. You know that, don't you?

  Frank Leone : I could've gotten out... But I'm not gonna spend my life running from you.

  [He marches Drumgoole from the warden's office to Gateway's execution chamber] 

  Frank Leone : Get your ass inside... Bolt that door, bolt it!

  Warden Drumgoole : You can't use me as a hostage...

  Frank Leone : Shut up! You recognize that chair? You built it, didn't you? Now get in it. Sit there! Don't even think about moving.

  [He goes about buckling and strapping Drumgoole into the electric chair] 

  Frank Leone : You said you'd give me a guided tour of hell; now I'll *show* you Hell! All right, move your leg...! You double-crossed Dallas and then fried him; now *you're* gonna fry...! You had First-Base murdered, broke his goddamn neck...!

  [Having been alerted to what's happening, Meissner and Braden lead a squad of armed guards toward the execution chamber] 

  Warden Drumgoole : You can't make this work. You're not smart enough. You're just a stupid piece of scum.

  Frank Leone : Shut up! We'll see who's scum.

  Warden Drumgoole : You're no murderer. You don't have the guts to kill another man, not even to save your own life.

  Frank Leone : Wanna bet...?

  [He turns on the generator and starts running it up to full power] 

  Frank Leone : Ten more years, isn't that what you said...? How about *twenty*? Or maybe *forty*...? No, it doesn't matter what they give me; because you won't be satisfied... until you've got me for *life!*

  [Outside the execution chamber, Braden moves up with a battering ram while Meissner looks on] 

  Captain Meissner : Make a hole. Take it down...!

  Frank Leone : Well, I ain't serving life for nothing!

  Captain Meissner : ...Lean on it, man!

  Warden Drumgoole : ...They're gonna break that door down, Frank. And when they come in here, they're gonna take you're fucking skull apart! You're gonna beg me to let them kill you!

  Captain Meissner : ...Come on, break it down!

  [Leone tapes his wrist to the master switch, the one that will electrocute Drumgoole] 

  Captain Meissner : Harder, man. Harder! Lean on it!

  [the door is broken down; Meissner and his men sweep into the execution chamber] 

  Warden Drumgoole : No!

  Captain Meissner : Take out the glass!

  Warden Drumgoole : No, don't shoot! He's taped himself to the lever. Don't shoot, or you'll...!

  Captain Meissner : Hold your fire. Relax - HOLD YOUR FIRE! Just relax.

  Frank Leone : I'm glad you're here, Meissner. This wouldn't be official without witnesses.

  Warden Drumgoole : He's bluffing. He wants me to take responsibility for his escape attempt, just like before.

  Frank Leone : Tell them how you set me up, how you set everything up!

  Warden Drumgoole : I don't know what you're talking about.

  Frank Leone : I'm talking about Chink Weber killing First-Base. I'm talking about that guard you sent to rape Melissa. I'm talking about that deal you cut with Dallas and then broke!

  Warden Drumgoole : Prove it! That's your problem, Frank. You can't prove *jack shit!*

  Frank Leone : I don't *need* to prove jack shit. I'm not here for a trial; I'm here for an execution.

  Warden Drumgoole : I demand to be released from here...!

  [Leone prepares to pull the lever] 

  Warden Drumgoole : ... No!

  Captain Meissner : Don't do it, Leone. Don't do it. Take it easy.

  Frank Leone : This is the way things ought to be, remember? You stood right over there, in this same room, and told me so yourself! Care to eat those words now...?

  [He gets ready to throw the master-switch] 

  Warden Drumgoole : Frank! Please, Frank. Don't kill me. It's true.

  [speaking up] 

  Warden Drumgoole : I confess, Mr. Meissner. Everything that he said is true. I set him up; I had those two prisoners murdered; I sent one of your men to rape that girl... Don't kill me, please. Don't...

  Frank Leone : It's time to take what you dished out.

  [He pulls the lever; Drumgoole reacts accordingly, but doesn't die. Then Leone opens the fuse-box, letting Meissner see that one of the fuses missing. Frank produces the missing fuse from his pocket and passes it to Meissner] 

  Frank Leone : ... Works better with this.

• Warden Drumgoole : [after Leone has gotten Drumgoole to confess, and then revealed that the electric chair's fuse had been removed beforehand]  ... Take him to the Hole, Mister Meissner.

  [Meissner doesn't move] 

  Warden Drumgoole : And *somebody get me out of this chair*... Thank you. Mister Meissner, *I said take him to the Hole*.

  Captain Meissner : Can't do that. Take the warden into custody.

  [Braden cuffs up Drumgoole] 

  Warden Drumgoole : ...Stop that! I am warden of this institution, and you will obey my - Stop it! - That was just a stupid confession I made to try and save my own life. ARE YOU INSANE, MEISSNER?

  Captain Meissner : No, but *you* are. And until this matter is resolved by a judicial inquiry, you *will* remain in our custody.

  Warden Drumgoole : I'll have your ass for this. *I'll have your sorry black ass*.

  Captain Meissner : You're welcome to it. Now *I'm* gonna tell *you* something. If so much as *half* of what he

  [indicates Leone] 

  Captain Meissner : just told us turns out to be the truth, I'll see you back in this chair... I'll *personally* throw the switch... and next time, IT *WILL* WORK.

  [to Braden] 

  Captain Meissner : Move him.

  Frank Leone : ...I just wanted to do my time, Captain.

  Captain Meissner : You'll get the chance. Move him.

• Frank Leone : [after arriving at Gateway]  You've got the wrong man! You made a mistake!

  Warden Drumgoole : There's no mistake... Welcome to Gateway, Leone.

  Frank Leone : Drumgoole?

  Captain Meissner : That's Warden Drumgoole, convict!

  Warden Drumgoole : Captain?

  Captain Meissner : Move him!

• Warden Drumgoole : [Leone has been taken to a darkened room and shut inside. He turns around and sees a glass-enclosed electric chair. Drumgoole emerges from the shadows]  Hello, Frank. In the old days, the warden would come down that private passageway from his office to this execution chamber... in order to witness the putting-to-death of a criminal. 120 men and 4 women were electrocuted in that chair before it was retired. Beautiful, isn't it? When I came to Gateway, it was falling apart. So I had it restored, put back into perfect working order, as a reminder of how things ought to be... It's been nearly five years since you escaped from Treadmore, Frank.

  Frank Leone : Time flies when you're having fun.

  Warden Drumgoole : In all the years that I was warden there, you're the only prisoner who ever made it over my wall.

  Frank Leone : So I read in the papers.

  Warden Drumgoole : Yes, of course you did. You and your lawyers made sure that everything made it into the papers, didn't you? Not to mention the media. Distorting the truth and the facts... making a criminal into a hero, and a warden into a criminal. You took my future away from me. You, and those bleeding-heart politicians, who sent me here to Gateway -- the worst rathole in the system.

  Frank Leone : You could've done something about that, instead of making it worse still! Or don't you believe in making lemonade out of lemons? Anyhow, all I had was two weeks to go before my release. I asked you -- no, *begged* you -- for one hour to visit my father before he died. You could've given me an escorted leave, with armed guards!

  Warden Drumgoole : You broke the law. And *I* was punished for it!

  Frank Leone : I got five years. I paid my debt!

  Warden Drumgoole : To the State, not to me. But you're going to.

  Frank Leone : I've got just six months left on my sentence.

  Warden Drumgoole : In Gateway, six months can -- and might -- become a lifetime... even a dozen lifetimes. Anything can, and might, happen if I see fit. Every minute here will be hard time. You have no rights here, unless I give them to you. You feel no pleasure here, unless I say you can. This is hell... and I'm about to give you the guided tour.

• Warden Drumgoole : Frank! Please, Frank. Don't kill me. It's true. I confess. I confess. Mr. Meissner, everything that he said was true. I set him up. Everything. Please. Don't kill me. Don't...

• Warden Drumgoole : [Leone has been tricked by Drumgoole into an escape attempt... along with Dallas, who is also being set up by the warden. As both prisoners reach Gateway's darkened steam plant, they are cornered by guards. Then Drumgoole emerges from the shadows]  Right on schedule, Frank.

  Dallas : I'm sorry, man; you were my ticket out of here.

  Frank Leone : Damn you! You had me set up the whole time?

  Dallas : Not the *whole* time. I got 30 years to go, man; I wouldn't have lasted half that long. The warden made me a deal, man!

  Warden Drumgoole : Wrong.

  [Shocked, Dallas whirls and stares at him] 

  Warden Drumgoole : I don't make deals with escaping prisoners.

  Dallas : What the hell are you talking about? You said if I...

  Warden Drumgoole : Shut up. You're going back to the population.

  Dallas : WHAT...? You can't do this to me, warden; you can't send me back to the population. They know I snitched him off! THEY'LL *KILL* ME, YOU *LYING BASTARD!*

  Warden Drumgoole : It takes one to know one, doesn't it?

  Dallas : I came through for you, goddamn it! You made me an offer, and I -- !

  Warden Drumgoole : And you were stupid enough to take it. That's your problem, not mine. Mister Manly, you know what to do.

  [Manly and the other guards beat Dallas to a pulp, while Drumgoole and a restrained Frank look on] 

  Frank Leone : That's enough.

  Manly : Go screw yourself, Leone!

  Frank Leone : You're gonna kill him!

  Manly : Yeah, one less mouth to feed; that's the fucking idea. Now sit on it!

  [Finally, Drumgoole motions for the guards to stand down; they leave a severely-pummeled and bleeding Dallas on the floor] 

  Warden Drumgoole : This is an automatic 10 years, Frank, for a second escape attempt. I knew you'd cross the line. I told them you were a hard-core criminal. They'll believe me now. And *you'd* better believe that you'll be a *guest of honor* here at Gateway, for the rest of your life. He's all yours, Mister Manly.

  Manly : Some dealmaker.

  [Manly deposits a groaning and barely-conscious Dallas in a drainage-pool] 

  Manly : See? Shit does floats, doesn't it?