The Hurt Locker The Other Quotes

How we cite our quotes: All quotations are from The Hurt Locker.

Quote #1

THOMPSON: So, if everything looks okay when I get down there, I'm just going to set it up and bip it. Give these people something to think about. Want them to know if they're going to leave a bomb on the side of the road for us, we're just going to blow up their little f***ing road.

SANBORN: Sounds good.

This is an early example of the kind of us vs. them feelings that the troops have for the people of Baghdad. Even though we're sure that most of the people using that road were not part of efforts to blow up U.S. military personnel, Thompson is imagining punishing the bomb-makers by blowing up their road.

Quote #2

MAN: Hi. Where are you from?

SANBORN: Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa...

MAN: Where are you from? California?

SANBORN: Hey, get out of here, man.

MAN: Where?

SANBORN: Hey, this ain't no f***ing meet-and-greet. Now get out of here, now! Go.

ELDRIDGE: You making friends again, Sanborn?

SANBORN: All day long.

As Sanborn is trying to monitor Thompson's progress toward a bomb, a guy comes up and tries to chat. It's not clear whether this guy is trying to interfere with the EOD team's activities or just annoy Sanborn (or, you know, be friendly—though in this case, it doesn't come off as such, necessarily). In any case, Sanborn isn't having any of it.

Quote #3

ELDRIDGE: Sanborn, butcher shop, 2 o'clock, dude has a phone!

Thompson has laid the charge to destroy the bomb and is heading back when Eldridge spots a guy with a cell. The EOD guys don't like seeing people with cell phones since they assume the phone could act as a detonator. Can you imagine if every person you saw with a cell phone seemed like a potential threat? That's what these guys are dealing with.

(And sure enough, in this case, it is a detonator. The Iraqi guy standing near the butcher shop blows up Thompson.)