Congo (1995)

Dylan Walsh: Dr. Peter Elliot

Photos 

Quotes 

• Dr. Peter Elliot : Excuse me, we already hired a guide: Robertson...

  Eddie Ventro : Robertson Reynolds, yeah, I fired him.

  Dr. Peter Elliot : You what?

  Eddie Ventro : Robertson Reynolds is a bird-watcher.

  Dr. Peter Elliot : I hired Robertson Reynolds!

  Eddie Ventro : You would! You have any idea what's going on in the Congo as of the radio show this morning? The Kigani have had it with Zaire, AND they're eating people. You go in there with Robertson Reynolds, you'll be coming out somebody's bowel movement.

• Monroe : And this is your cover?

  Dr. Karen Ross : Yes

  Dr. Peter Elliot : I'm nobody's cover. Cover for what?

  Monroe : ...find yourself in the middle of something.

  Dr. Peter Elliot : Cover for what?

  Monroe : I don't know and she won't tell you. But the kind of money her company's throwing around... they don't spend that on any gorilla. Relax. You're in better hands than you *should* be.

• Dr. Peter Elliot : You're some kind of criminal, aren't you?

  Monroe : Aren't we all?

  Dr. Peter Elliot : No. I'm not a criminal, I'm a scientist.

  Monroe : Scientist? I run a few guns. You sons of bitches ruin the world.

• Dr. Peter Elliot : [as everyone on the plane prepares to jump]  Why are they putting on parachutes?

  Dr. Karen Ross : FIGURE IT OUT!

  Richard : [Monroe tosses Richard a parachute]  OH NO!

  Dr. Peter Elliot : [the crew members begin jumping out of the plane. Monroe hands Peter a parachute]  This isn't going to work!

  Monroe : Oh, yes, it is. I'll take Amy.

  Dr. Peter Elliot : She might get hurt. I can't risk it!

  Monroe : Do you know how to fly this plane?

  Dr. Peter Elliot : No.

  Monroe : [nods toward the cockpit, where no one is at the controls]  Well, the pilot and co-pilot are already gone, so what are you going to do?

• [last lines] 

  Monroe : [in hot air balloon]  There's a wind.

  Dr. Peter Elliot : I hope it blows us some place good.

  Dr. Karen Ross : Me too.

• Monroe : That region of the Congo's uninhabited.

  Dr. Karen Ross : Well, something inhabits it.

  Dr. Peter Elliot : What exactly did you see on that tape?

  Dr. Karen Ross : A camp destroyed. People dead. A grey gorilla...

  Dr. Peter Elliot : There's no such thing as a grey gorilla.

  Dr. Karen Ross : Well, I saw one.

  Dr. Peter Elliot : It's hard to believe at this late date...

  Monroe : Why are you going in there?

  Dr. Karen Ross : Two men are unaccounted for: Geoffrey Weams, and Charles Travis, my fiance... My FORMER fiance.

  Monroe : Your former?

  Dr. Peter Elliot : Well, we better get to him then.

• Dr. Karen Ross : Are you sure there aren't some kind of gorillas that kill.

  Dr. Peter Elliot : Please, Dr. Ross. What's your area of expertise? Folk-singing?

  Dr. Karen Ross : [smugly]  Communications technology.

  Dr. Peter Elliot : So you're a geek with a cellular phone.

  Dr. Karen Ross : I'm a scientist. But you and your protege, as far as I can see, belong in the circus.

  [looks at Amy eating flowers] 

• Dr. Karen Ross : Name your price.

  Dr. Peter Elliot : I don't have a price! I'm not a pound of sugar, I'm a primatologist!

• Eddie : [to Karen Ross]  Mr. Travis asked me to meet you at the airport, set up your expedition.

  Dr. Peter Elliot : HER expedition? She's just along for the ride!

  Eddie : Whatever, be an asshole.

  Dr. Peter Elliot : Who is this guy?

  Eddie : Eddie Ventro, transportation and equipment. But I don't supply assholes with new personalities.

• Dr. Peter Elliot : Here's the story. They domesticated gorillas.

  Monroe : You call that domesticated? They're killing a man.

  Dr. Peter Elliot : So they taught them to be this way. They bred them to violence. They looked for the trait, and they encouraged it.

  Dr. Karen Ross : Guard dogs. And they turned on their masters.

  Monroe : What's that smell?

  Dr. Peter Elliot : [coming across a pile of bones]  These are all the bones of gorillas.

  Monroe : You mean these are the...

  Dr. Peter Elliot : No, these are the bones of normal gorillas.

  [picking a skull up] 

  Dr. Peter Elliot : This one's skull was crushed.

• Dr. Karen Ross : [Handing Peter a pistol]  Here, Peter, take this.

  Dr. Peter Elliot : I don't like guns.

  Dr. Karen Ross : I didn't ask if you like it - take it.

• Dr. Peter Elliot : They are gorillas. They're some kind of gorillas.

  Monroe : Never saw an animal move like that. They just... well, look. They just kill.

  Herkermer Homolka : So that's why Solomon's diamonds were never found. The myth of the killer ape is true!

  Dr. Peter Elliot : I can't believe it.

• Dr. Peter Elliot : [coming across a crashed plane]  Good Lord.

  Monroe : It's that plane we saw burning in the sky.

  Herkermer Homolka : Who were they?

  Dr. Karen Ross : Travis, my boss, he thought I wasn't gonna make it. He sent another expedition.

  Monroe : He tried to push away too far. Looks like a rocket got them. No point going in there.

  Dr. Karen Ross : My God, what a waste of life.

• Dr. Karen Ross : Why teach an ape to talk?

  Dr. Peter Elliot : No practical reason.

  Dr. Karen Ross : Then why'd you do it?

  Dr. Peter Elliot : "A lonely impulse of delight."

  Dr. Karen Ross : William Butler Yates.

  Dr. Peter Elliot : Very good.

  Dr. Karen Ross : Did it work?

  Dr. Peter Elliot : What do you mean?

  Dr. Karen Ross : You're not lonely anymore?

  Dr. Peter Elliot : Why are *you* going to Africa?

  Dr. Karen Ross : To find something I lost.

• Monroe : [encountering a wild silverback gorilla]  Don't move.

  Dr. Peter Elliot : I know.

  Monroe : If you run...

  Dr. Peter Elliot : He'll chase me. I know. I've read the books.

  [he remains frozen as it moves closer, averting his eyes back and forth; after a tense moment, it leaves] 

  Monroe : [coming out of his hiding spot]  You did good.

  Dr. Peter Elliot : Where'd you go?

  Monroe : I ran away. Sorry.

  Dr. Peter Elliot : He looked right into my eyes.

  Richard : [taking a picture]  It's a silverback.

  Dr. Peter Elliot : I never thought you could just be walking along... and see them.

• Monroe : [seeing Amy with a troop of wild gorillas]  Well, look at that.

  Dr. Karen Ross : Is that Amy with the...

  Dr. Peter Elliot : The silverback. So she's... I see. I see. She's home.

  [as the nearby volcano continues to erupt, the gorillas leave when they aren't looking] 

  Dr. Peter Elliot : Will she be all right?

  Monroe : They know what to do. It's us I'm worried about.

  Dr. Karen Ross : We've gotta go. Come on.

  Dr. Peter Elliot : [following them away]  Bye, Amy.

• Herkermer Homolka : [coming across a temple-like structure]  First they found the diamonds, Solomon's men, a diamond mine of incredible bounty, then they built the city around the mine... so that it should be protected. The savagery of the guards was legend. They instantly fell upon any thief, any transgressor... and the diamonds flowed to the kingdom of Solomon.

  Dr. Peter Elliot : Well, what happened? Why did the city die?

  Herkermer Homolka : I don't know.

  Monroe : Maybe the mines ran dry.

  Herkermer Homolka : No! No! The diamonds are here.

• Monroe : What the hell?

  Herkermer Homolka : It's the mines.

  Dr. Peter Elliot : "We are watching you." It's the trainers talking. Teacher is watching you.

  Monroe : Dead teachers.

• Dr. Karen Ross : They're gone.

  Monroe : Couple of hours 'til first light, then we're out of here.

  Herkermer Homolka : And those hieroglyphics we saw inscribed everywhere... I have translated them.

  Dr. Peter Elliot : What do they say?

  Herkermer Homolka : "We are... watching you."

• Dr. Peter Elliot : Somebody help me!

  Monroe : What is it?

  Dr. Peter Elliot : There's something on my... it's like a creature or a growth or something on my...

  [opening his boxers] 

  Dr. Peter Elliot : Look.

  Monroe : [peeking]  Oh, that's a leech.

  Dr. Peter Elliot : Well, take it off.

  Monroe : I'm not going to take it off. It's your leech. You take it off.

  Dr. Karen Ross : Need some help?

  Dr. Peter Elliot : No.

  Monroe : [offering his cigarillo]  Here. Burn it off with this.

  Dr. Peter Elliot : [groaning]  Ohh...

  Dr. Karen Ross : Mmm...

  Dr. Peter Elliot : This is disgusting.

  [sarcastically as she and the others snicker] 

  Dr. Peter Elliot : Thank you for your compassion.

• Dr. Peter Elliot : [signing with Amy]  Amy, where'd you go? Good gorillas? What good gorillas?

  [the silverback she came across appears nearby] 

  Dr. Peter Elliot : Handsome fella.

• Monroe : Don't go in there! I'll check it out.

  Dr. Karen Ross : Give me a gun and a flashlight!

  Monroe : Well, don't be so John Wayne. You could get killed. Now that I've said that, I'm not going in there alone, either.

  Herkermer Homolka : I must go.

  Dr. Peter Elliot : Let's all take a look.

  Richard : Uh, I-I think I'll just stay out here with Amy.

  Monroe : Not alone, you won't.

• Herkermer Homolka : I knew it was true. The City of Zinj. The diamonds...

  [blowing dirt off of one and kissing it] 

  Herkermer Homolka : Every word of it was absolutely true!

  Dr. Peter Elliot : I'd leave those alone.

  Dr. Karen Ross : Any other way out of here?

  Monroe : Not that I've noticed.

  Herkermer Homolka : Help me. Fill up everything. Come on!

  [collecting as many diamonds as he can carry] 

  Herkermer Homolka : You've got to get me out of here.

  Monroe : Take a number.

  Herkermer Homolka : But we're gonna be rich!

• Dr. Peter Elliot : See anything?

  Dr. Karen Ross : No, but I'm your last line of defense. We have sensor-operated machine pistols on tripods out there. Anything comes within 40 feet, get ready for the 4th of July.

• Dr. Karen Ross : [Amy tries to communicate with a troop of gorillas]  She doesn't really belong anywhere, does she?

  Dr. Peter Elliot : No, she belongs here.

• Dr. Peter Elliot : [after parachuting into the jungle]  Where's Amy?

  Monroe : Now, she's asleep. She's over there. On the way down, she decided to wake up. And let me tell you, that little lady has some set of teeth!

• Dr. Peter Elliot : [Their aircraft comes under fire as they cross the border into Zaire]  What's going on? What the hell is that?

  Monroe : [Waking up from a nap]  Shit! I thought we'd get a little farther.

  [Amy starts to get agitated] 

  Monroe : I'd put her out now, doctor!

  Dr. Peter Elliot : Oh you would, would you?. Who's firing on us?

  Monroe : [Ignoring him]  Kahega!

  [Kahega hands him half a banana, with a tranquilizer hidden inside] 

  Dr. Karen Ross : [Explaining to Peter]  We've crossed the border into Zaire. We're violating their airspace.

  Monroe : [Giving the drugged banana to Amy]  She likes bananas?

  Dr. Peter Elliot : Sure, she likes bananas!

  Monroe : [to Amy]  Eat this, darling!

  [to Peter] 

  Monroe : She's going to feel great.

  Dr. Peter Elliot : What do you mean?

  Monroe : Something to keep her calm. Gorilla Prozac!

• Dr. Peter Elliot : Oh, no! The bad apes have the crystal lasers!

• Dr. Peter Elliot : How about this, I taught her, now she can teach them.

  College President : Who?

  Dr. Peter Elliot : The mountain gorillas. Teach an animal to talk and we can translate what other animals are saying.

  College President : Oh, please. Making you what? Dr. Doolittle?

• Richard : A Romanian philanthropist?

  Dr. Peter Elliot : Herkermer Homolka.

  Richard : Something's voodoo.

• Dr. Peter Elliot : What are you smiling about?

  Dr. Karen Ross : You need me, Dr. Elliot.

• Dr. Karen Ross : Why teach an ape to talk?

  Dr. Peter Elliot : Why teach at all? Why teach anything to anyone? It doesn't make you rich. It doesn't get you girls. Why did Prometheus steal fire only to turn around and give it away? There's an inherent generosity in the human spirit. One of its faces is the face of the teacher.

• Dr. Karen Ross : ls that animal dangerous?

  Dr. Peter Elliot : Humans are dangerous, gorillas are very gentle.

• Dr. Peter Elliot : She's really excited. Are you excited?

  Richard : Me? I'm terrified.

  Amy : Jungle.

  Richard : Safari? I don't even like picnics.

• Monroe : What are you doing with that gorilla?

  Dr. Peter Elliot : Taking her home. She was caught in the Virunga region of the Congo.

  Monroe : You're going to try and take her back to the farm now that she's seen Par-ee?

• Dr. Peter Elliot : I'm sorry, but we have to call this off.

  Monroe : I beg your pardon?

  Dr. Peter Elliot : I'm in over my head. I'm not James Bond.

• Dr. Peter Elliot : Are they friendly?

  Monroe : They're sensitive. They're forest people.