Quotes / Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique

"When I need to find something out, I just go out and find somebody that knows more than me, and I go and I ask them. Sometimes I ask pretty hard."

— Marv, Sin City

"It wasn't you losers who killed Goldie. The guy who did that knew what he was doing. Still, you got to have something to tell me. Like who it was who sent you. I don't hear you giving me any name, jerk. Guess when I shot you in the belly, I aimed a little too high. [shoots hitman in what is implied to be his groin] You keep holding out on me like this, and I'm going to have to get really nasty."

—Marv, Sin City

"The flesh is weak and the mind is strong, but torture the flesh and you destroy the mind."

— Tagline of The Red Cell

"Give me smallest finger on man's hand. I'll produce information. Computer unnecessary."

— Rorschach, Watchmen

"Well Emil, guess it's just you...me...your balls...and this drawer."

— Pep Strebeck, Dragnet

"I don't want to tell you. You'll just hurt me some more."

— Beni, The Mummy (1999)

"Tell me what I need to know and I might not snap your neck."

— Sam Fisher, Splinter Cell: Conviction

"I've been amused by the debate in America over whether torture is effective... Of course it's effective."

— The Major, Freedom™

"Let me show you something. You ever hear about the Russian Gulag? A string of prisons in northern Siberia. The Russians didn't have a lot of high-tech equipment up there, so...they kinda had to make do with what was around. Sort of like what I'm doing right now. You probably don't think that I could force this towel down your throat. But trust me, I can. All the way. Except I hold onto this one little bit at the end. When your stomach starts to digest it...I pull it out. Taking your stomach lining with it."

— Jack Bauer, 24

"You are going to tell me what I want to know, it's just a matter of how much you want it to hurt."

— Jack Bauer, 24

"You're not going to get any information out of him if you just ask. You gotta make him squeal a little! (...) If you're too squeamish or worried about being reported, I'll handle it."

— Captain Armando Bailey, Mass Effect 2

"It's something I learned long ago in C-Sec: An imminent and painful death has a way of motivating people."

— Garrus Vakarian, Mass Effect 3

"Nothing will shake a man out of his merely verbal thinking and his merely notional beliefs. He has to be knocked silly before he comes to his senses. Only torture will bring out the truth. Only under torture does he discover it himself."

— C. S. Lewis, A Grief Observed

"It’s through the pain that we find the truth of who we are. It strips us of our defenses. We are made innocent again, like children... I’m here to help you find that innocence."

— Vampiric torture technician Marcus, Angel ("In the Dark")

"A half hour's drive later I had the jump leads clamped to the skin of his balls and I'd been turning the key in the ignition for fifteen minutes and he'd shit all over himself and the world was a beautiful place."

— Frank Castle, The Punisher MAX

Mal: Now, you only gotta scare him...

Jayne: Pain is scary.

— Firefly, "Serenity"

"Fist, we're all adults here. Let's not lie to each other. It'll just lead to tragedy for your limbs. I know you're working for Saren. Now tell me why."

— Garrus, Renegade

"There's a saying in interrogation: violence perceived is violence achieved."

— Michael Westen, Burn Notice

Vision: Speak! Your lackeys will not rescue you, held at bay as they are by my comrades. Tell me of this contingency plan, and the location of the Throneworld as well.

Skrull: I... I dare not. To reveal its coordinates... is certain death.

Vision: Correction, commandant: not to do so is even more certain death.

— The Kree/Skrull War

"You're gonna tell me where Jeanette is, or I'm gonna choke the life out of you."

— Elliott Stabler, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

Narrator: Then Jotaro started his interrogation.
Jotaro: Each time that you lie, an ORA is going to meet with you.
Rubber Soul: That's scary.
Jotaro: Do you know the guy with two right hands?
Rubber Soul: Dunno.
Jotaro: ORA!
(Star Platinum punches Rubber Soul in the face.)
Rubber Soul: Euwah! I know him!
Jotaro: Then, him. What's his name?
Rubber Soul: Tom Cruise.
Jotaro: ORA!
(Both of the Star Platinums punch Rubber Soul in the face.)
Rubber Soul: Euwah! J. Geil!
Jotaro: Ah, th..then where is he?
Rubber Soul: Japan.
(Star Platinum punches Rubber Soul in the face.)
Rubber Soul: Ewahhh! I dunno!
(Both of the Star Platinums punch Rubber Soul in the face.)
Rubber Soul: I really don't know! Oww....
Jotaro: Seems like you really don't know. Then I've no need of you! Orarararararararararara!
(Star Platinum pummels Rubber Soul into oblivion.)
Rubber Soul: Ahwaimygoblarnuuu!

—Vaguely Recalling JoJo

"I'll just get what I need from your screams."

— Bullseye, Punisher Max #7

"Soundwave, we have treated you fairly. For the sake of the natives of this planet, tell us what Megatron is attempting to build before we are forced to rely upon less civil methods of interrogation."

— Optimus Prime, Transformers: Prime

"Come on, just tell me what I need to know. It will make things a lot less painful for you... in theory."

—Bluebeard, The Wolf Among Us

"Lemme tell ya how this is gonna work. I'm gonna ask you one question, you are gonna answer that question in a way I find satisfactory, and if you do not, I will saw your head off with this here appliance, you hear me?!"

—William "B.J." Blazkowics, Wolfenstein: The New Order

MC: Why in the world did you need to point a SWORD at me?

Masamune: That? Your story was so farfetched, I needed to be sure you were telling the truth. Hard to lie with a blade at your throat.

MC: (thinking) I would have told you I came from ancient Egypt to get you to NOT point a sword at my throat.

—Ikemen Sengoku

I'll only ask you one more time. Failing to answer...won't be good.

— Nash, Street Fighter: Resurrection

Kin: How did you find out about all this?

Silver: Promise me that if we get back home, you won't mention the information-gathering system we, uh, evolved. I could be subject to sever disciplinary action from the all-planet committee on anthropological research procedures.

Kin: My lips are sealed.

Silver: Marco slugs a likely-looking subjects, flies him over here and knocks the shit out of him until I've heard enough.

Kin: It's not like drawing circles in the sand, is it?

Silver: Much more efficient, though.

—Strata

Micky Duka: What's the torch for?
Frank Castle: 2000 degrees, Mick. Enough to turn steel into butter. It won't hurt at first. It's too hot, you see? The flame sears the nerve endings shut, killing them. You'll go into shock... and all you'll feel is... cold. Isn't science fun, Mickey?

—The Punisher (2004)

Westley: Give us the gate key.
Yellin: I have no gate key.
Inigo Montoya: Fezzik, tear his arms off.
Yellin: Oh, you mean *this* gate key.

—The Princess Bride

"I'm through fuckin' around. You tell me the truth or you're gonna get the living shit beat outta you."

—Jack Cates, 48 Hrs.

John Wick: Where's Viggo?
Ms. Perkins: I'm not telling you shit!
John: Do you really wanna die here, Perkins? Give me something.

—John Wick

Thea: I'm gonna go hit the streets.
Oliver: Thea, no one is gonna give up Merlyn.
Thea: Well, then I'm gonna hit people on the streets.

— Arrow, "11:59"

Hobb: Kill me...
Matthew Quigley: Where's Marston's station from here? How far's the nearest town?
Hobb: Why should I tell you?
Quigley: 'Cause if you don't, I'll let you live. Y'know, I'm new here, so I'm kinda curious. D'you think the dingoes'll get you first, or the ants?

—Quigley Down Under

Batman: Who are you working for?
Thug: Nobody! Look, we just boosted the truck, and uh...
Batman: Lie to me again, and crashing into a wall head-on will be the least painful activity of your evening.

—Batman: Under the Red Hood

"Padre... I'm beginning to like you... so don't make me hurt you, OK? Just tell me what you know... I'll buy you a beer and get you laid. Come on. If you don't tell me, I'm gonna have to start cutting on ya."

—Jack Crow to Father Adam Guiteau, John Carpenter's Vampires

"Now I'm gonna give you another slice to match the one you got from that dope-pushin' pimp, unless you tell me where he keeps the stuff!"

—Coffy to Priscilla, Coffy

"Now you listen to me. You gonna tell me what I wanna know or I will tear you to pieces. Then one of your cronies will tell me when he's done shittin' himself."

—Jake Greyman, Demon Hunter (2005)

Middle-aged Detective: If you don't want a good thrashing, then you better spill everything, you bastard!
Young Detective: S-Sir, you really shouldn't go any further...
The young detective steps in front of his superior, probably out of worry. But all he does is fluster; the younger one has no control over the other detective's movements.
Middle-aged Detective: Shut up! You don't get anything out of scumbags like him without getting your hands dirty! Watch and learn!
The Killer: Nngh...
He punches me in the gut. He avoided my solar plexus; he must be used to hitting people. I choke back my stomach acid and scoff.
The Killer: That wasn't nice. Isn't this against the Criminal Procedure Code?
Middle-aged Detective: Huh!?
The Killer: Criminal Procedure Code, Article 319. Forced confessions gained through torture and intimidation are inadmissible as evidence. Anything I tell you is invalid if you "get your hands dirty." Didn't they teach you the basics in police academy?

— Persona 4: Arena Ultimax

"I don't suppose you fought in the war, Mr. Sutton? No. I fought in several. The worst was against a...a barbaric race. But the British are nothing if not adaptable; we learn barbarism very quickly. We had a problem one day. Was the road ahead mined? We had prisoners but they wouldn't talk. So we bound them and made them lead the advance. They didn't think we would, not at first. But then the first man ahead was gone. (finger snap) Like that. An antipersonnel mine is a very nasty thing, Mr. Sutton, very nasty. And then the second man. (finger snap) And the third. And then they talked. Then they knew we meant it. A shocking story. It shocked me at the time and it still shocks me. But it was necessary to save hundreds of lives, it was necessary. I'm willing to be shocked again if necessary. (Cowley produces a hypodermic syringe) I'm going to hoist you with your own petard, Mr. Sutton. I'm going to turn you into an addict. (Sutton cringes away only to be caught in a headlock by Doyle) A crash course in addiction because we have access to the purest stuff. A craving, crawling do-anything-for-money junkie. Look at me Sutton. LOOK AT ME! Remember the road that was mined. Do you have any doubt at all that I intend doing what I say?"

— Cowley, The Professionals, "Private Madness Public Danger"

"Hmm... I believe I am getting ahead of myself. You will tell me all that you know about Shamuhaza, and his plans for Rad. I don't care if you do not know much, I will find out anyway once I get my hands on the more important scoundrels wandering about Rad. And that will not take so long."
* Beat*
"Otherwise... I will start getting creative with my blade work. So... who wants to talk first?"

— Kyril, The Night Unfurls

SpongeBob: (holding a hose of tartar sauce) Until I know who the real Mr. Krabs is, nobody moves... nobody gets hurt!
Mr. Krabs and Robot Krabs: Tartar sauce?!
Mr. Krabs: Take it easy with that thing, son! (SpongeBob blasts tartar sauce in his direction)
SpongeBob: I'll do the talking around here! I think I'll just ask you two a couple of questions! Questions only the real Mr. Krabs could answer!
Mr. Krabs: Okay, then!
SpongeBob: First question! What time does the Krusty Krab open?!
Robot Krabs: 9:30 A.M.
SpongeBob: Right! (aims hose at Mr. Krabs) That's one strike, Mr. Fake!
Mr. Krabs: But—
SpongeBob: Eh-dah! I'm running this quiz show; I'll ask the questions! If there's gonna be any "but"s, they're gonna be from me! Okay, question number two. (polishes the hose like a gun) How much does a Krabby Patty cost?
Mr. Krabs: $2.99!
SpongeBob: ...On Wednesday.
Robot Krabs: 99¢.
SpongeBob: Right again! (pokes Mr. Krabs' belly with hose) You're starting to look pretty phony right about now! I'd be nervous if I were you...

— SpongeBob SquarePants, "Imitation Krabs"

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