Michael Clayton (2007)

Sydney Pollack: Marty Bach

Photos 

Quotes 

• Marty Bach : We've got 600 attorneys here. We've got to find out who's an expert on psychiatric commitment statutes.

  Michael Clayton : I can tell you who that is: Arthur.

• Michael Clayton : What if Arthur was onto something?

  Marty Bach : What do you mean? Onto what?

  Michael Clayton : U North. What if he wasn't crazy, what if he was right?

  Marty Bach : Right about what? We're on the wrong side?

  Michael Clayton : Wrong side, wrong way. Anything. All of it.

  Marty Bach : This is news? This case reeked from day one. Fifteen years in I gotta tell you how we pay the rent?

  Michael Clayton : But what would they do, what would they do if he went public?

  Marty Bach : What would they do? Are you fucking soft? They're doing it! We don't straighten this settlement out in the next twenty four hours, they're gonna withhold nine million dollars in fees. Then they're gonna pull out the video of Arthur doing his flashdance in Milwaukee, they're gonna sue us for legal malpractice. Except there won't be anything for them to win, because by then the merger with London will be dead and we'll be selling off the goddamn furniture!

  [hands Michael an envelope] 

  Marty Bach : That's eighty. We're calling it a bonus. You've got a three year contract, that's your current numbers, that's assuming this all works out.

• Marty Bach : And if it's nostalgia? "Oh boy you should've seen me when I was a D.A. back in Queens." Let me give you a serious piece of advice. Leave it there. God forbid you're not as good as you remember because I've seen that happen too.

• Marty Bach : [to Clayton]  Hey! When did you become so fuckin' delicate?

• Marty Bach : [on a cell phone conversation]  Marty Bach, how can I help you?

  Bridget Klein : Marty, hi. It's Bridget Klein. Look, we're going with a story tomorrow about a settlement in the U-North defoliant case. Do you want to comment?

  Marty Bach : The case you're referring to is now as it has been for the last six years: Pending and unresolved. Until such time as our client has their day in court, and the plantiffs come to their senses and drop the suit, I'll have nothing of value to tell you.

  Bridget Klein : Come on Marty, you're closing the U-North case, you're settling it, I know that. Okay? I know you're up there with like 600 people jamming this thing through.

  Marty Bach : Well, here's what I know: Your deadline was twenty minutes ago. So either you're fishing for a story, or you're trying to get out of writing a retraction. In either case I wish you the best of luck.

  [he hangs up] 

  Marty Bach : Where the fuck is Karen Crowder?