Quotes

Dialogue

Hank Hanson: Can you get us a cup of coffee? Carter Jeffrey: [picking up a German transmission] Great. You just sent away the one person who can translate this.

Dialogue

Geoffrey Mason: We never said it was a fact. We used, "As we are hearing". Marvin Bader: That's a fucking technicality, Geoff.

Dialogue

Hank Hanson: Fucking Arabs. Jacques Lesgards: Hey, watch it. My mother is Algerian. Hank Hanson: I'm not talking about your mother. Jacques Lesgards: Just the bad Arabs?

Dialogue

Marvin Bader: [about the terrorists having access to the ABC coverage] Then they should have cut the electricity to the apartment! It's not up to us to double-check on them. Geoffrey Mason: That... Marv, it's not okay if we made it worse. You know that. Marvin Bader: We don't even know why they called it off. The Germans seem generally pretty overwhelmed. Marianne Gebhardt: They are. I'm listening to the police radio; it's local cops doing things they have never done before. The German Army gave them sniper rifles and had to instruct them on how to use them. Geoffrey Mason: Why doesn't the German Army just do it itself? Marianne Gebhardt: They're not allowed to operate here. German Constitution. Geoffrey Mason: That's ridiculous! Marvin Bader: The rumor is Israel offered to send a special unit to help them out, and that Germany refused it. Marianne Gebhardt: They are just making one mistake after another and trying to act like they've got it all under control.

Dialogue

Marianne Gebhardt: [translating interview on the radio] Someone's asking the chief of police if he thinks it was a mistake that the Olympic Village had no armed police. Jacques Lesgards: Of course it was! Marianne Gebhardt: [pause] I guess they didn't want the world to be reminded of the last time armed Germans patrolled fences. Jacques Lesgards: So, Germany's makeover is more important than people's safety? Marvin Bader: C'mon. This isn't our business. [points at TV screens] That is our business, and in less than an hour, we go live.

Dialogue

Peter Jennings: [over the phone] Whatever conception you have of Arabia or Arabs, you need to understand how sensitive this situation is. This is no longer the Olympics. Marvin Bader: Thank you, Peter, for, uh, clarifying. It does bring up a good question. What should we call them on the air? Peter Jennings: In News, we would refer to them as commando guerrillas. Roone Arledge: Commando? That sounds like we're in Vietnam or something. Geoffrey Mason: What was it they called them in German radio? Marianne Gebhardt: "Terrorists." Roone Arledge: What was that? Marianne Gebhardt: They used "terrorists." Roone Arledge: Okay. Let's... let's go with that. Peter Jennings: That's a charged term. Terrorism is the organized and systematic use of violence against civilians to affect a political goal. Marvin Bader: Isn't that pretty much what's happening here? Peter Jennings: Nobody knows yet what is happening here. So we have to be very careful about everything we say on air.

Dialogue

Marvin Bader: You don't want anybody to see their kid executed on live television. Roone Arledge: Of course not, Marv... Marvin Bader: So I... I don't know about the Israelis, but David Berger's folks are in Ohio, so I'm pretty sure they'll watch. Roone Arledge: Well, someone should tell them not to watch it.

Dialogue

Geoffrey Mason: Are you alright? Marianne Gebhardt: No... Innocent people died in Germany again. We failed. Germany failed.

Dialogue

Marvin Bader: Are your parents still around? Marianne Gebhardt: Yes. Marvin Bader: Let me guess. They didn't know either, right? Marianne Gebhardt: I'm not them.

Dialogue

Roone Arledge: I know it might not feel like it, but you did a great job today. Geoffrey Mason: It was a catastrophe.