Law & Order (TV Series)

Big Bang (1994)

Michael Moriarty: Executive ADA Ben Stone

Photos 

Quotes 

• Adam Schiff : If Manning swears that the theory is worthless, you gotta prove that it isn't. Now, what the hell's the theory?

  Claire Kincaid : That protons eventually fall apart.

  Adam Schiff : Is this something to be worried about?

  Claire Kincaid : It means all matter in the universe will eventually disintegrate, in a certain way.

  Adam Schiff : Terrific. Now, all we gotta do to win a larceny trial is prove how the universe will end!

  Ben Stone : No, all I do is get my own group of expert witnesses.

  Adam Schiff : Well, who are you gonna get? The Almighty?

  Ben Stone : Physics professors! That's all Manning is.

  Adam Schiff : Oh - physics professors. You better get a jury of insomniacs.

• Bill Patton : You'll fly in witnesses from all over the country to prosecute a class E felony?

  Ben Stone : If your client doesn't testify in a trial involving the murder of his wife, I'll fly 'em in from Jupiter - and tell him he can't worry about his reputation anymore; he doesn't have any.

  Edward Manning : You're ruining me as a man of science.

  Ben Stone : Sir, you did that yourself. I'm just asking you to tell the jury how you did it.

• Edward Manning : So what?

  Ben Stone : Uh, Dr. Manning - the, uh, link between Dr. Weiss and your wife? We lost it. Now you're the only person who can testify that you saw Dr. Weiss at your wife's apartment. And you're also the only person who can supply a motive.

  Edward Manning : Can I? What motive is that?

  Ben Stone : I don't play games with you, sir; don't play games with me. We know what you did to Dr. Weiss.

  Edward Manning : Oh, I see. So you want me to announce to the world that I'm a scientific thief and a fraud.

  Ben Stone : No, sir - I want you to tell the truth.

  Edward Manning : The truth, Mr. Stone, is that I am near the end of a career that I had the good fortune - or misfortune - to begin very brightly. I used to look around at meetings and laboratories; I was always the youngest person in the room. Then, one day at a conference, I looked around and I was the older person. Thirty years had slipped by. People were gathered around one of the stars - he was twenty-nine. I was the fourth speaker in the five o'clock panel. I know I have something more to contribute to physics.

• Claire Kincaid : He'll testify, won't he?

  Ben Stone : Yeah, I think he will.

  Claire Kincaid : He'll put a noose around his own neck, to defend a theory that maybe 500 people in the world understand.

  Ben Stone : I don't know; I'm beginning to think *I* understand it. Our murderer is one helluva teacher.

• Bill Patton : Plagiarism isn't larceny.

  Ben Stone : Well, I'll let a jury decide that. But don't think I won't show that jury every detail of Professor Manning's deceit.

  Edward Manning : Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't a charge of larceny presuppose that the thing allegedly stolen have value? Weiss's idea was flawed, amateurish and worthless; that's why I rejected his proposal. No serious physicist would have wasted an hour on it.

  Ben Stone : That's awfully convenient for you to say that, sir.

  Edward Manning : Yes, quite convenient. I'll be happy to testify about this at length. I'm the leading authority in the field. Ask anyone.

• Bill Patton : Anyone would make up a story to cut a deal. The police won't find any evidence to support it, because there isn't any.

  Claire Kincaid : The thirty-five hundred dollar deposit to Weiss' account was a check from your client.

  Edward Manning : Do give me some credit. I almost won the Nobel Prize; you think I'd pay a hired killer by check?

  Ben Stone : With your attitude, sir, you might think yourself too smart to get caught.

• Claire Kincaid : [on a scientific paper]  "Potential Supersymmetric Models for Higgs Scattering: An Experimental Overview", by Max Weiss.

  Ben Stone : You know what I took for my science requirement? Physics for Poets.

• [last lines] 

  Ben Stone : [after convicting a talented physicist of second-degree murder]  On the other hand, he killed a woman, so I had to play it by the book.

  Adam Schiff : You feel bad about that?

  Ben Stone : Twenty-five years - he's not your typical killer.

  Adam Schiff : He is - he killed somebody.

• Edward Manning : I'll not end my career in disgrace.

  Ben Stone : I understand, sir - but the alternative is letting your wife's murderer go free.

  Edward Manning : One single human life, on the timescale of the universe... You and I have different priorities.