John Mahoney: General Rogard

The Iron Giant

General Rogard

General Rogard: That missile is targeted to the giant's current position! WHERE'S THE GIANT, MANSLEY?
Kent Mansley: [notices the giant is standing just a few feet away. It glares at him] Oooh... We can duck and cover! There's a fallout shelter not far from...
General Rogard: There's no way to survive this thing, you idiot!
Kent Mansley: You mean we're all going to...
General Rogard: To die, Mansley. For our country.
Kent Mansley: Screw our country! I WANT TO LIVE!
[he jumps into a jeep and attempts to drive away, but the giant stops him by slamming his hand down like a roadblock. As Mansley recovers from the crash, some of the soldiers train their rifles on him]
General Rogard: Hold him, men! Make sure he stays here... like a good soldier...

General Rogard: You'll be Chief Inspector of Subway Toilets by the time I'm through with you!

Dean McCoppin: Don't shoot! There's a kid in his hand! Kent, he only acts defensively. If you don't shoot, he's harmless. You gotta tell the general.
Kent Mansley: This is your fault, beatnik. If you haven't interfered...
Dean McCoppin: Will you just listen? Tell the general to stop. He's got the kid with him.
Kent Mansley: I'll take care of it.
[Dean leaves; Kent goes over to General Rogard]
Kent Mansley: He said the monster has killed a kid. Sir, we must stop it at all costs.
General Rogard: [On walkie-talkie] Go to Code Red! Repeat, Code Red!

General Rogard: [the U.S. Military proves unable to take down the Giant] Nothing can stop this thing! We've hit it with everything we got!
Kent Mansley: Not everything, General. The Bomb. The Nautilus has first strike capability and is anchored just off shore.
General Rogard: [Taken aback] ... You scare me, Mansley. You want us to bomb ourselves in order to kill it?
Kent Mansley: General, the giant seems to follow whatever attacks it. We can lure it away from the town, then destroy it.
General Rogard: [Considers the thought for a moment, then to a soldier] Radio the Nautilus. Tell them to target the robot and await my command.

General Rogard: You realize how much hardware I brought out here? You just blew millions of Uncle Sam's dollars out of your butt!

Kent Mansley: Please, Sir, I've got a feeling about this one.
General Rogard: That's nice, Mansley, but let me explain how things are supposed to work. If you had, say, a footprint, I might be able to send over an expert to make a plaster cast of it. Hell, you get me a photograph of this thing, I can send some troops down there! But you tell me you've got a feeling...
Kent Mansley: All right... you want evidence? I'll get you evidence. And when I do, I'm gonna want a memo distributed!
General Rogard: That's just swell, Mansley.
Kent Mansley: And I'm gonna want that memo carbon copied and distributed...
[Rogard hangs up]

[Dean is trying to convince the General of the Giant's true nature]
General Rogard: [Shocked] What are you saying, he's friendly?
Dean McCoppin: Yes! Attacking him is triggering a defense mechanism.
Kent Mansley: Don't listen to him, General! Destroy the monster while we still have a chance!
[the Giant approaches in the mist as the soldiers ready their weapons]
Dean McCoppin: General, you shoot now and the whole thing starts all over again.
Kent Mansley: Stop it *now*, General! Our future's at stake!
Soldier: Orders, sir?
Dean McCoppin: Which is why you have got to stop, General!
Soldier: It's getting closer! Orders, sir?
Hogarth Hughes: [in the Giant's hand, emerging from the mist] Don't shoot! Don't shoot!
Annie Hughes: Hogarth!
General Rogard: Hold your fire! The boy's alive?
Kent Mansley: [now almost completely crazed] It's a trick! Launch the missile!
General Rogard: Are you mad, Mansley? All units, stand down!
[on walkie talkie]
General Rogard: Rogard to Nautilus. Come in, Nautilus.
Nautilus Captain: [over walkie talkie] This is Nautilus, standing by.
[Kent looks up to see the Giant glaring at him. Finally having lost all reason, Kent grabs the walkie talkie out of the General's hands and screams...]
Kent Mansley: LAUNCH THE MISSILE NOW!
[With a flip of a switch, the Nautilus fires off one of its atomic missiles into the sky]

[over the telephone]
Kent Mansley: Sir, this thing is a menace. It destroyed a power station, it... it caused a train wreck!
General Rogard: What did, Mansley? Tell me again, and this time, listen to yourself.
Kent Mansley: [sighs] A giant... metal monster.
[Rogard laughs uncontrollably over the phone]