Clear and Present Danger (1994)

Joaquim de Almeida: Felix Cortez

Photos 

Quotes 

• Ernesto Escobedo : Who is doing this to me?

  Felix Cortez : If I were to guess...

  Ernesto Escobedo : No, that is not I asked of you, to guess. I can guess.

• Felix Cortez : The machine is still on, Moira.

• [Cortez realizes his betrayal has been exposed] 

  Felix Cortez : [referring to Jack Ryan]  Whatever this man has told you is a lie. He LIES for a living!

  Ernesto Escobedo : He is in the Intelligence business.

  Felix Cortez : Exactly.

  Ernesto Escobedo : YOU'RE in the Intelligence business!

  [Escobedo plays back Cortez's conversation with Cutter] 

• Felix Cortez : What would you say if I promised you that I would reduce the cocaine shipments to your country by half?

  James Cutter : I'd say you were using too much of your own product.

• Felix Cortez : [a attack has occurred on the American delegation, secretly ordered by Escobedo's intelligence man Cortez]  You don't want to hear an answer.

  Ernesto Escobedo : Yes I do.

  Felix Cortez : It was done to look like you did it... by one of the others, as you suspected. It's always a friend who hates you most.

• [Cortez is blackmailing Cutter] 

  Felix Cortez : You've taken care of the *little fish*. I will take care of the one that got away. Once Escobedo is gone, I will be in the position to help you.

• Ernesto Escobedo : We lost another plane. Okay.

  [hanging up the phone] 

  Ernesto Escobedo : Who is doing this?

  Felix Cortez : If I had to guess?

  Ernesto Escobedo : No. That is not what I asked you, to guess. I can guess. Someone has been talking to the drug police.

  Felix Cortez : Now, that's impossible. If anyone spoke to the police, I would be the first to know.

  Ernesto Escobedo : You think one of the others is trying to ruin me, to steal my business after what I did to the American?

  Felix Cortez : I guess that wasn't quite the deterrent you thought it would be.

• Felix Cortez : Listen, you pay me to counsel you, and I am counseling you. I'm keeping you alive with information. Now, if you disregard my counsel, if you keep running your business the way you have been, with your balls instead of your head, two things will happen: I'll quit and you'll get killed.

  Ernesto Escobedo : You forgot to tell me about your scouting trip.

  Felix Cortez : No, I didn't.

  Ernesto Escobedo : You made another contact. Who is he?

  Felix Cortez : Castro always asked me the same question about my sources, and I always gave him the same answer.

  Ernesto Escobedo : Yes, but Castro didn't pay you what I pay you.

  Felix Cortez : This one will cost you nothing.

  Ernesto Escobedo : A woman. You're using a woman.

• Felix Cortez : [conversing in Spanish]  Do you know what you've done?

  Ernesto Escobedo : I killed a thief. A thief who was stealing from me!

  Felix Cortez : And his wife, and his son, and his daughter, apparently with no thought of the consequences.

  Ernesto Escobedo : Oh, sí, señor. Oh, I want his kids to grow up and avenge their father's death when I least expect it.

  Felix Cortez : He was a good friend and political ally of the President of the United States.

  Ernesto Escobedo : [switching to English]  That doesn't surprise me.

  Felix Cortez : It should, at the very least, concern you.

  Ernesto Escobedo : What are they going to do, come after me? Arrest me? You're scaring me.

  Felix Cortez : Will you stop long enough for me to tell you something important?

  [hitting a machine-pitched baseball, Escobedo tosses his bat to an aide] 

  Felix Cortez : Thank you.