Minority Report (2002)

Max von Sydow: Director Lamar Burgess

Photos 

Quotes 

• John Anderton : No doubt the precogs have already seen this.

  Lamar Burgess : No doubt.

  John Anderton : You see the dilemma don't you. If you don't kill me, precogs were wrong and precrime is over. If you do kill me, you go away, but it proves the system works. The precogs were right. So, what are you going to do now? What's it worth? Just one more murder? You'll rot in hell with a halo, but people will still believe in precrime. All you have to do is kill me like they said you would. Except you know your own future, which means you can change it if you want to. You still have a choice Lamar. Like I did.

• Agatha : Think about all the lives that little girl has saved.

  Lamar Burgess : Think about all the lives that little girl has saved, think about all the lives she will save, that little girl could have saved Sean.

  John Anderton : [yells]  Don't you *ever* say his name!

  Arthur : You used the memory of my dead son to set me up.

  John Anderton : [yells]  You used the memory of my dead son to set me up! That was the one thing you knew would drive me to murder.

  Dashiell : What are you going to do now, Lamar?

  John Anderton : [yells]  What're you going to do now, Lamar?

  Arthur : How are you...

  John Anderton : ...going to shut me up?

  Dashiell : I'm sorry, John.

• Lara Anderton : [starts fixing Lamar's bow tie] 

  Lamar Burgess : Listen, I'll tell you what I'll do. First thing Monday, I'll look over the Witwer evidence. And I'll have Gideon run the Containment files, see if anyone drowned a woman by the name of - what did you say her name was?

  Lara Anderton : [freezes] 

  [Lamar's bow tie falls out of her hands] 

  Lara Anderton : Anne Lively

  [pause] 

  Lara Anderton : ... but I never said she drowned.

• Danny Witwer : [Using Anderton's projector and puts a clear recorded device into it]  This is a murder of a woman named Anne Livley.

  Lamar Burgess : You got this from containment?

  Danny Witwer : Yes. This is from the twins, Arthur and Dashiell. Agatha's datastream is missing.

  [Takes out the clear device and gets out another clear device from his suit pocket] 

  Danny Witwer : This is from the Cyber Parlor.

  [Puts that clear device into Anderton's projector] 

  Danny Witwer : Anderton dowloaded this directly from Agatha, and Rufus Riley recorded it.

  Lamar Burgess : It's the same prevision.

  Danny Witwer : Not quite.

  [Gets up and goes to the video on the wall] 

  Danny Witwer : Watch the wave action across the water. Watch the ripples. Moving

  [Moves his pinky] 

  Danny Witwer : *away* from shore.

  [Goes over to the projector and changes recorded devices] 

  Danny Witwer : This is from containment what Art and Dash saw.

  [Goes back to the wall] 

  Danny Witwer : The wind has changed. The ripples are moving the other way.

  [Moves his pinky to the direction of the ripples] 

  Danny Witwer : This murder is taking place at 2 different times. The sentry has said that Anderton was actually watching this in containment right before he was tagged.

  Lamar Burgess : Yes, yes. He came to me and told me about the missing prevision. He was afraid that you might find it.

  Danny Witwer : He was right. I *did* find it. But one question remains: Why would somebody want this erased from the data file?

  Lamar Burgess : Danny. Tell me. What are you thinking?

  Danny Witwer : I'm thinking somebody got away with murder.

  Lamar Burgess : I don't understand.

  Danny Witwer : Well, Jad told me that sometimes the Pre-Cogs see the same murder more than once.

  Lamar Burgess : It's called an "echo".

  Danny Witwer : Jad calls it "Pre-Cog Deja Vu".

  Lamar Burgess : Yes. The Pre-Cog technician finds these echoes and disregard them.

  Danny Witwer : [laughs slightly]  Yes, but um... what if the technician only *thought* that he was looking at an echo? What if he was really looking at was a completely different murder altogether?

  Lamar Burgess : Uh, I don't understand.

  Danny Witwer : All you have to do is hire someone to kill Anne Livley for you, someone like a drifter, a neuroin addict, somebody with nothing to lose. Pre-Crime stops the murder from taking place, Halos the killer, takes him away but then, right then someone else that has viewed the pre-vision. Dresses in the same clothes, commits the murder in *exactly* the same way. Technician takes a look, *thinks* he's looking at an echo, erases it.

  [Brief pause] 

  Danny Witwer : Of course, this would have to be somebody with access to the previsions in the first place. Someone *fairly* high-up...

  Lamar Burgess : [Shushes Witwer]  You know what I hear Danny? Nothing. No footsteps up the stairs, no jet out of the window, no clickeyty-click of the little spiders. Do you know why I can't hear those things Danny? Because right now, the Pre-Cogs can't see a thing.

  [Shoots Danny in the chest as he slowley crumples to the floor, Burgess than comes over to Danny and shoots him in the head] 

• Lamar Burgess : My father once said to me, "You don't choose the things you believe in. They choose you."

• Director Burgess : Who's the victim?

  John Anderton : Somebody.

  Director Burgess : Who?

  John Anderton : [trying to remember the name]  Somebody. Leo Crow.

  Director Burgess : Who is he?

  John Anderton : I have no idea! I've never heard of him! But I'm supposed to kill him in less than thirty-six hours.

• Danny Witwer : He came to see you the other day right before he was tagged. What did you talk about?

  Lamar Burgess : The Mets. John doesn't think they have a deep enough pitching roster this year, and I'm inclined to...

  Danny Witwer : Why are you protecting him?

• Director Burgess : [before shooting]  Shh. Do you know what I hear? Nothing. No footsteps up the stairs, no hovercraft out the window, no clickety-click of little spiders. Do you know why I can't hear any of those things, Danny? Because right now, the precogs can't see a thing.

• Pre-Crime Public Service Announcer : Imagine, a world with out, murder. 6 years ago, the homicidal rates had reached epidemic proportions. It seemed that only a miracle could stop the blood shed, but instead of 1 miracle, we were given 3, the precognitives. Within 3 months of the precrime program, the homicidal rates in the District of Columbia had reduced 90 percent.

  Lamar Burgess : 6 Years in the precrime prgram, and there hasn't been a single murder.

  Pre-Crime Public Service Announcer : Now, the system can work for you.

  Attorney General Nash : We want to make sure that this great system is what will keep us safe will also keep us free.

  Pre-Crime Public Service Announcer : On April 24, vote yes on the national Precrime initiative.

• Lamar Burgess : You'd think we'd have found a cure for the common cold by now.

  Celeste Burgess : It's stress.

  Lamar Burgess : What's this?

  Celeste Burgess : Herbal tea with honey.

  Lamar Burgess : I hate herbal tea almost as much as I hate honey.

  Celeste Burgess : Just drink it before I pour it in your lap.

• Lamar Burgess : [as he is given a revolver]  Revolvers, like this one, were given to the generals at the end of the civil war by their troops. The chambers were loaded with 5 gold plated bullets to symbolize the end of the destruction and death that set the country apart for 5 years. Now, with Precrime going national, I think we all can look towards a time where none of us will have to discharge another firearm ever again.

  [the people applaud him] 

  Lamar Burgess : Oh, enjoy yourselves, enjoy yourselves. That's an order.

• Lamar Burgess : Right now the Precogs can't see a thing.

  [Shoots Danny] 

• John Anderton : I'm not gonna get haloed.

  Lamar Burgess : You can't run, John.

  John Anderton : Everybody runs.