A football player in a red jersey sprawls on a sofa in front of a game on TV, banknotes and a football on the coffee table, an agent with a briefcase in the doorway.

Original artwork, not a still

Rod Tidwell

Anyone else would have left you by now but I'm sticking with you. And if I have to ride your ass like Zorro, you're gonna show me the money.

— Jerry Maguire ‧ 1996

Behind the line

What it means

Our interpretation.

Rod's pitch is a loud joke wrapped around a real fear: that a short career will leave a family with nothing. Cuba Gooding Jr. turns it into a shouting match with Tom Cruise, and 'Show me the money' escaped the film at once, into sports radio, finance talk and every office negotiation. The Zorro part is the line fans quote when they mean sticking by someone, whatever it takes.

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In context

Spoilers for Jerry MaguireShow the scene

In the opening act of Jerry Maguire (1996), Jerry is fired and phones his clients to keep them. He reaches Arizona Cardinals receiver Rod Tidwell, a smaller player who feels underpaid. Rod answers with a long tirade about the contract extension he has not got: a football career lasts about ten years, he has five left, and his family has to live on something. Jerry has kept Rod by the end of the call but lost the rest of his clients to rival Bob Sugar. The speech ends on this threat and the phrase 'show me the money'.

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