The Hard Way (1991)

Michael J. Fox: Nick Lang

Photos 

Quotes 

• Nick Lang : [on the big screen]  It's not like the movies. They get 17 takes to get it right. We get one take. It lasts our whole lives. We mess it up and we're dead.

  John Moss : [in the audience]  Hey! That's my line!

• Nick Lang : Ever killed anybody?

  John Moss : Counting today?

  Nick Lang : C'mon John. Look, my character kills this guy. It's probably an innocent by-stander. I just want to know what that's like.

  John Moss : You can't. Not by asking someone.

  Nick Lang : Will you open up? I just want to know what it feels like to be inside your skin.

  John Moss : I DON'T WANT YOU INSIDE MY SKIN, YOU UNDERSTAND? It's private! What's in there belongs to me! You're not gonna learn what it means to be a cop by eating hot dogs and picking your teeth and asking stupid questions. We live this job. It's something we are, not something we do! Every time a cop walks up to a car and has to give a speeding ticket, he know he may have to kill someone or be killed himself. That's not something you step into by strapping on a rubber gun and riding around all day. You get to go back to your million dollar beach house and your bimbos and your blow jobs and you get 17 takes to get it right. We get one take. It lasts our whole lives. We mess it up and we're dead.

  Nick Lang : [picking up a tape recorder]  Fuck was that great! John. Look. Can you just say that one more time for me, please? John.

• John Moss : Don't eat like me, don't sit like me, and do not smoke like me! I'm trying to quit, anyway.

  Nick Lang : Me too.

  John Moss : And don't quit like me, either!

• Bonnie : You look like Nick Lang

  Nick Lang : Really? Do you like Nick Lang?

  Bonnie : I used to when I was little. Now I like Mel Gibson.

  John Moss : I love him, I love Mel Gibson!

• Nick Lang : Hey, look at this. They got my billboard across the street.

  John Moss : Good, you'll be sleeping close to the one you love.

• [after being shot in the chest] 

  Nick Lang : Oh man, this is too real.

• Nick Lang : Somebody call a cop!

  [Gunfire sounds] 

  Nick Lang : I mean another cop... besides me!

• John Moss : She hates me.

  Nick Lang : Buy her a pony.

  John Moss : I mean Susan.

  Nick Lang : Buy her a horse.

• Nick Lang : When are you going to get me something with a little relevance, a little social conscience, something that doesn't have a goddamn Roman numeral in the title? You ever hear of "Hamlet III," "Midsummer Night's IV"?

  Angie : They made "Henry V"! It won awards for that little Scottish guy!

• John Moss : C'mon where are you staying? the Plaza... the Regiun... c'mon where?

  Nick Lang : I'm staying with you.

  John Moss : Maybe when my asshole learns to chew gum.

• Nick Lang : Oh, don't you take that tone with me!

• Nick Lang : Bang Bang, Nick Lang.

• Nick Lang : [about the Party Crasher]  I can't believe he'd just kill in broad daylight like that.

  John Moss : Maybe he's a big ham bone like you and he craves the attention.

  Nick Lang : Hey, John, you know what a big ham bone like me hates more than anything else in the world?

  John Moss : [not interested]  Oh, yeah? What's that?

  Nick Lang : A bad review.

  [Moss stops, getting an idea. He turns around and waves at the news crew hovering by the crime scene] 

  John Moss : Hey, Frank! Frank! You want an interview? You got it!

• Nick Lang : Nick : China, where's Moss?

  China : China : Wherever you're not.

  Nick Lang : Nick : I want to make a full confession.

  China : China : Do I look like a priest?

• John Moss : Listen, you little cockroach! I got yanked off a case so you can get wanked off being a cop groupie and now what? You wanna live in my house? I got a job to do and I'm gonna do it and I don't have time for anybody in my house, in my car, or in my life who isn't a: a cop or b: The Party Crasher. You got it?

  Nick Lang : So that's what this is all about, isn't it? You're still after this guy.

• [pulling in front of a building where the Party Crasher was spotted] 

  John Moss : Shit, I don't like it. I don't like you being here, I don't like playing wet nurse. But if you're alone, you got a right to defend yourself.

  [hands Nick a small revolver] 

  John Moss : Loaded.

  [points] 

  John Moss : That is the trigger.

  [Moss starts to exit the car. Nick reaches for his own door handle, but Moss darts back inside, slamming his door] 

  John Moss : *Do-not-move-from-this-car*! You sit here, you watch that door! If he comes out, you tell me which way he went, period! That gun is only for emergencies, got it? You got it?

  Nick Lang : I got it, I got it. It's for emergencies only.