The Next Three Days (2010)

Liam Neeson: Damon Pennington

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Quotes 

• Damon Pennington : But before you do anything, you have to ask yourself if you can do it. Can you forget about ever seeing your parents again? Can you kill a guard? Leave your kid at a gas station? Push some nice old lady to the ground just because she gets between you and the door? Because to do this thing, that's who you have to become. And if you can't, don't start, 'cause you'll just get someone killed.

  John Brennan : How did you get caught?

  Damon Pennington : I gave myself up. I couldn't take wondering when someone was gonna come through the bedroom door.

• Damon Pennington : No prison in the world is airtight. Each one has a key. You just have to find it.

  John Brennan : How do you do that?

  Damon Pennington : A lot of looking. Especially at things that break up the daily routine. Guards get comfortable doing the same thing day in, day out. Something happens, that's when they make mistakes. But when you see it, you have to be ready. You have to have the entire plan already in place even before you know how you're gonna get out of jail. Escaping's easy. The hardest part is staying free.

• Damon Pennington : From the time they make the call, the police can have the center of the city sealed tight in fifteen minutes.

  John Brennan : How can they be so exact?

  Damon Pennington : After 9/11, Homeland Security made every city have a lockdown plan. Downtown Pittsburgh, Philly, Boston, Minneapolis, fifteen minutes. They can do D.C. in under ten. Within 35 minutes, they can have cops at every tollboth on the interstate and be running rolling stops on the secondary roads. They won't have your photograph yet, but they will have your description.

  John Brennan : What if you can't get out? 35 minutes is not a lot of time.

  Damon Pennington : Then surrender. Because they will shoot you on sight, along with anyone else you're with.

• Damon Pennington : Stay far away from the train and bus stations. Forget the local airports. Leave from another state. Second, identity. It's easy to find fake papers. Harder to find ones that'll get you through an airport. You'll need a passport, a driver's license, and a Social Security number. If you have to rent a car, find a place that'll take a cash deposit. They'll still run a credit check, so use a real person's name on the ID. Third, destination. You'll want somewhere that doesn't attract American tourists. Think Yemen and you get the idea. And money; you'll need a truckload of it. Everything's expensive; hotels, travel, information.

  John Brennan : How much?

  Damon Pennington : Enough to last at least five, six years. You run out of money, you run out of friends.

• John Brennan : You escaped from jail seven times.

  Damon Pennington : What do you wanna know?

  John Brennan : How you escaped when no one else could.

  Damon Pennington : Balls, and a little luck.

• John Brennan : It's a course that investigates what drives men to be free, no matter the cost.

  Damon Pennington : Some other teacher have dibs on "Papillon"?

• Damon Pennington : You have to know where you're gonna go and how you're gonna get there. You have to know how they plan to catch you, where and when.

  John Brennan : Well, how the hell are you supposed to know that?

  Damon Pennington : You pay off someone who knows. And a lot depends on if the prison is in the country or the city.

  John Brennan : City.

  Damon Pennington : Where are you from?

  John Brennan : Pittsburgh.

  Damon Pennington : Pittsburgh's tough. So many bridges and tunnels they can block off.