Defense of the Realm (1985)

Gabriel Byrne: Nicholas 'Nick' Mullen

Photos 

Quotes 

• [SPOILER] 

  Nicholas 'Nick' Mullen : [angrily]  Where'd the tip-off come from?

  Harry Champion : Look, you know perfectly well I've got to protect my sources.

  Nicholas 'Nick' Mullen : Oh yeah? Well, from now on, nobody is protecting anybody.

  Harry Champion : I'm sorry, I can't tell you.

  Nicholas 'Nick' Mullen : I want to know who told you Kleist was KGB.

  Harry Champion : I can't tell you!

  Nicholas 'Nick' Mullen : It was the same source rang me up and gave me the Prague story, wasn't it?

  Harry Champion : I've no idea.

  Nicholas 'Nick' Mullen : [chuckles]  Come on, Harry. Who was it?

  Harry Champion : Look, he's in the Security Services. He's very, very high up. I used him for fifteen years and he's never been wrong. That's all I can tell you.

  Nicholas 'Nick' Mullen : Yeah? Well, you better get yourself a new contact, Harry.

  Harry Champion : Really.

  Nicholas 'Nick' Mullen : Yeah. Kleist is no more KGB than Kim Philby was MI6. He's a British agent.

  Harry Champion : [laughs incredulously]  Oh, that's very good. Now, where did you get that from, John le Carré?

  Nicholas 'Nick' Mullen : No. I got it from George Rydell. In black and white. Now, I want a name.

• Ministry Man : You would agree, would you not, that certain things bearing on the defence of the realm are best left unsaid.

  Nicholas 'Nick' Mullen : If you mean covered up, no, I wouldn't.

• [Mullen shows Bayliss a group photograph in which Markham and Kleist are laughing together at a Prague conference] 

  Nicholas 'Nick' Mullen : You better take a look at that, Vernon.

  Vernon Bayliss : Okay, so what does that prove?

  Nicholas 'Nick' Mullen : It proves that your friend was lyin'. He said categorically that he'd never met Kleist before.

  Vernon Bayliss : Well, isn't it possible that Kleist could just have been another face in the crowd? That Markham didn't know who he was?

  Nicholas 'Nick' Mullen : Come on, Vernon! There's Markham, there's Kleist.

  Vernon Bayliss : Well, that doesn't prove that Markham's a Russian spy. You can't use it, Nick, you'll be crucified.

  Nicholas 'Nick' Mullen : All right. For four and a half years, this guy was Chairman of the Commons Select Committee on Defence, during which time he had access to our most important secrets. Right? No, let me finish. He shares his lover with a known KGB agent. Vernon, please let me finish! They then meet in Czechoslovakia and are seen laughing and talking at a conference. I mean, I've got to use it!

  Vernon Bayliss : Dennis Markham is not a traitor.

  Nicholas 'Nick' Mullen : Oh, I see. One old comrade sticking up for another, eh?

  Vernon Bayliss : What?

  Nicholas 'Nick' Mullen : You heard.

  Vernon Bayliss : I left the Party in 1956, for God's sake!

  Nicholas 'Nick' Mullen : Well, then you're in no bloody position to be objective!

  Vernon Bayliss : Oh, objectivity being the hallmark of this great and honorable newspaper! Spare me the humbug, dear boy!

  Nicholas 'Nick' Mullen : Give me a break, Vernon, you know how it is, it's a bloody good story!

  Vernon Bayliss : Oh, well, don't let the truth get in the way of a good story.

• [last lines] 

  Nicholas 'Nick' Mullen : [smiling at Nina Beckman]  Well?

  [Shortly followed by news commentators reporting on what Nick and Nina have found]