Robert De Niro: Neil McCauley

Heat

Neil McCauley

Vincent Hanna: My life's a disaster zone. I got a stepdaughter so fucked up because her real father's this large-type asshole. I got a wife, we're passing each other on the down-slope of a marriage - my third - because I spend all my time chasing guys like you around the block. That's my life.
Neil McCauley: A guy told me one time, "Don't let yourself get attached to anything you are not willing to walk out on in 30 seconds flat if you feel the heat around the corner." Now, if you're on me and you gotta move when I move, how do you expect to keep a... a marriage?

Vincent Hanna: You know, we are sitting here, you and I, like a couple of regular fellas. You do what you do, and I do what I gotta do. And now that we've been face to face, if I'm there and I gotta put you away, I won't like it. But I tell you, if it's between you and some poor bastard whose wife you're gonna turn into a widow, brother, you are going down.
Neil McCauley: There is a flip side to that coin. What if you do got me boxed in and I gotta put you down? Cause no matter what, you will not get in my way. We've been face to face, yeah. But I will not hesitate. Not for a second.

[repeated line]
Neil McCauley: Don't let yourself get attached to anything you are not willing to walk out on in 30 seconds flat if you feel the heat around the corner.

Vincent Hanna: What are you, a monk?
Neil McCauley: I have a woman.
Vincent Hanna: What do you tell her?
Neil McCauley: I tell her I'm a salesman.
Vincent Hanna: So then, if you spot me coming around that corner... you just gonna walk out on this woman? Not say good bye?
Neil McCauley: That's the discipline.
Vincent Hanna: That's pretty vacant, you know.
Neil McCauley: Yeah, it is what it is. It's that or we both better go do something else, pal.
Vincent Hanna: I don't know how to do anything else.
Neil McCauley: Neither do I.
Vincent Hanna: I don't much want to either.
Neil McCauley: Neither do I.

Neil McCauley: I do what I do best, I take scores. You do what you do best, try to stop guys like me.

Vincent Hanna: Seven years in Folsom. In the hole for three. McNeil before that. McNeil as tough as they say?
Neil McCauley: You lookin' to become a penologist?
Vincent Hanna: You lookin' to go back? You know, I chased down some crews; guys just lookin' to fuck up, get busted back. That you?
Neil McCauley: You must've worked some dipshit crews.
Vincent Hanna: I worked all kinds.
Neil McCauley: You see me doin' thrill-seeker liquor store holdups with a "Born to Lose" tattoo on my chest?
Vincent Hanna: No, I do not.
Neil McCauley: Right. I am never goin' back.
Vincent Hanna: Then don't take down scores.

Neil McCauley: I don't even know what I'm doing anymore. I know life is short, whatever time you get is luck. You want to walk? You walk right now. Or on your own... on your own you choose to come with me. And all I know is... all I know is there's no point in me going anywhere anymore if it's going to be alone... without you.

[McCauley, Shiherlis, and Cheritto enter the lobby of the Far East Bank from different entrances, disguised as customers. Shiherlis steps up to the desk. Cheritto coughs, signalling for him and McCauley to put on their ski masks. At the desk, Shiherlis suddenly spins around and attacks one security guard, and McCauley and Cheritto draw their guns, while Shiherlis ties up and disarms the guard he has tackled, then puts his mask on]
Neil McCauley: [draws his gun on another guard] Don't move! Don't fuckin' move! Put your hands in the air! Put your hands in the air! Put 'em up!
[the terrified guard puts his hands up]
Neil McCauley: Get on your knees! Get on your knees!
[McCauley binds the guard's hands behind his back and then pushes him to the ground. McCauley then gets up on the top of one of the desks]
Neil McCauley: We want to hurt no one! We're here for the bank's money, not your money. Your money is insured by the federal government, you're not gonna lose a dime! Think of your families, don't risk your life. Don't try and be a hero!

Neil McCauley: [to Eady in her studio, referring to Michael after the bank robbery] He knew the risks, he didn't have to be there. It rains... you get wet.

Neil McCauley: [about dreams] I have one where I'm drowning. And I gotta wake myself up and start breathing or I'll die in my sleep.
Vincent Hanna: You know what that's about?
Neil McCauley: Yeah. Having enough time.
Vincent Hanna: Enough time? To do what you wanna do?
Neil McCauley: That's right.
Vincent Hanna: You doin' it now?
Neil McCauley: No, not yet.

Neil McCauley: L.A.P.D. Gee, what, where the fuck did this heat come from?
Chris Shiherlis: Maybe it's the score they were onto, the place, not us. 'Cause it's been hit a couple of times, you know, or something?
Neil McCauley: Assume they got our phones, assume they got our houses, assume they got us, right here, right now as we sit, everything. Assume it all.

Neil McCauley: [In a diner] you live in this neighborhood?
Eady: No, I live above Sunset Plaza, it's a little house I rent and it's a little rundown but has a beautiful view, what about you?
Neil McCauley: I live in Venice Boulevard, where's your family originally from?
Eady: We're Scots Irish, they immigrated to America in the late seventeen hundreds, where are you originally from?
Neil McCauley: Bay area.
Eady: Are your folks there?
Neil McCauley: My mother died a long time ago I don't know where my father is. I have a brother somewhere but sounds like you have a tight family I can tell. In L.A. the city of lights, in Fuji they have these iridescent algae that come out once a year in the water, it looks like L.A. at night.
Eady: You've been there?
Neil McCauley: No, I'm going there some day.

Neil McCauley: Chris. Hey - Chris. Listen to me. Nate's gonna pick you up. He's gonna take you to his place.
Chris Shiherlis: Where's Charlene?
Neil McCauley: We gotta get outta here. We're all over the six o'clock news. We gotta get outta here.
Chris Shiherlis: I'm not going with... out her.
Neil McCauley: Think about that. I will meet you at Nate's.
Chris Shiherlis: Where're you going?
Neil McCauley: I gotta find out if our out got spilled along with every other damn thing.
Chris Shiherlis: Who did it?
Neil McCauley: Who wasn't there? Trejo. - I'll see you at Nate's.