Death Cruise (1974 TV Movie)

Michael Constantine: Dr. Burke

Quotes 

• Sylvia Carter : [shown a cigarette case]  That's Jerry's.

  Dr. Burke : It was laying on the deck. Mrs. Carter, why didn't you report your husband missing?

  Sylvia Carter : I don't know exactly that he is missing.

  Dr. Burke : Well when's the last time you saw him?

  Sylvia Carter : Dinner last night.

  Dr. Burke : He didn't return to the state room any time since then? You must've been worried.

  Sylvia Carter : I think curious would be a better word.

  Dr. Burke : Mrs. Carter, we are in a ship in the middle of the ocean. Your husband is gone all night and your feeling is one of curiosity?

  Sylvia Carter : Doctor, this is not the first time my husband didn't come home all night. At first I was worried, now I am merely curious.

  Dr. Burke : I'm sorry, Mrs. Carter, I don't mean to be rude, but the captain is very concerned. Your husband may have fallen overboard.

  [Sylvia looks at him] 

  Dr. Burke : We're searching the ship, I'll let you know as soon as we have any information.

• Captain Vettori : Dr. Burke, you're saying it's murder.

  Dr. Burke : I'm just saying that two accidental deaths with no witnesses is more than a coincidence.

  Captain Vettori : You state in your official report that Mrs. Mason fractured her skull in a fall down the stairs.

  Dr. Burke : But you see, she could just as easily have been hit over the head with a blunt object, and then dropped down the stairs.

  Captain Vettori : Then why don't you say that?

  [slaps medical report] 

  Dr. Burke : I couldn't be certain. I'm not an expert in forensic medicine. Anything is possible.

  Captain Vettori : You can't have it both ways, Doctor, what is it, accident or murder?

  Dr. Burke : The only thing I can state with medical certainty is that Mrs. Mason is certifiably dead.

  Captain Vettori : Then let's leave it at that, until we get to Maracaibo. Let them enjoy the rest of the cruise, they paid for it.

  Dr. Burke : No they didn't, not one person at that table paid for this trip. They won the cruise in a contest, all of them.

  Captain Vettori : How do you know this?

  Dr. Burke : They talked about it the first night.

  Captain Vettori : I wonder why I wasn't told? Drink?

  Dr. Burke : Thank you.

  Captain Vettori : Contests are usually coordinated through the public relation department of the steamship line. I would've been informed.

  Dr. Burke : Let's see, they said the name of the company that sponsored the contest. E and M Promotions.

  Captain Vettori : Never heard of them. Of course that doesn't mean anything, I've been sailing out of Miami for 8 years and just found out they had a football team, Miami Porpoises.

  Dr. Burke : Dolphins I think.

  Captain Vettori : [shrugs]  Same genetic family.

• Dr. Burke : What about the other 4 people, sir?

  Captain Vettori : What do you suggest? That we tell them someone's trying to kill them? Lock them in their state rooms? Change the report to murder, and I'll do that.

• Dr. Burke : Mrs. Radney, you feel like talking?

  Mary Frances Radney : That depends what you want to talk about.

  Dr. Burke : The people at table 24.

  Mary Frances Radney : What about them?

  Dr. Burke : That's what I hoped you'd tell me.

  Mary Frances Radney : Basically they were selfish, and that they were totally insensitive.

  Dr. Burke : Including your husband?

  Mary Frances Radney : My husband's dead. You leave him alone.