Brubaker (1980)

Robert Redford: Henry Brubaker

Photos 

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Quotes 

• Richard 'Dickie' Coombes : What you gon' do about Abraham?

  Henry Brubaker : I've got Purcell filling out forms in triplicate, and I'm going to get him released just as soon as I-

  Richard 'Dickie' Coombes : Now why do you wanna go and do that?

  Henry Brubaker : Do what?

  Richard 'Dickie' Coombes : Look, why don't you just leave him be. I mean, all he knows is this place.

  Henry Brubaker : You - You knew that he had been in here as long as he'd been in here.

  Richard 'Dickie' Coombes : Just leave him alone. He's not- He's not botherin' nobody here.

  Henry Brubaker : Hey... You can't hide in prison forever, Coombes.

• Henry Brubaker : Hey. Can we talk?

  Walter : Who the fuck are you? I want the man!

  Henry Brubaker : I am. I am the man. I'm the new warden here. My name's Henry Brubaker.

  Walter : [throws Bullen and advances on Brubaker]  Man, don't be fucking with my head. 'New warden' my ass!

  Henry Brubaker : It's true - I swear it.

  Walter : Then how come you look like a scumbag?

  Henry Brubaker : 'Cause I'm fooling those guys out there.

• Henry Brubaker : I don't see playing politics with the truth.

• Henry Brubaker : Mess with me now; you're gonna regret it later.

  Richard 'Dickie' Coombes : We don't work this thing out fast, mister, you're not gonna be around later.

  Henry Brubaker : Do you want ID?

  Richard 'Dickie' Coombes : Listen, man. All I have to do is raise my right hand and that tower guard's gonna blow you out.

  Henry Brubaker : ...or you can continue walking with me, like the smart escort I figure you to be.

• Henry Brubaker : What happened? What happened to your eye?

  Abraham Cook : Oh, got hit.

  Henry Brubaker : With what?

  Abraham Cook : With a baseball bat, a trace chain, and a rope with knots in it.

• Lillian Gray : I want to know why you always think you can just walk out.

  Henry Brubaker : Because that's murder they're talking about in there. And if I condone it, you can't turn around and tell these men why they're locked up. It's one standard for everyone, the way I see it.

  Lillian Gray : And you can't see any options, no middle ground.

  Henry Brubaker : No, I don't see playing politics with the truth, Lillian.

  Lillian Gray : No way to compromise?

  Henry Brubaker : Oh, on strategy, maybe... but not on principle.

  Lillian Gray : [flustered]  But that's what I... goddamn it, I agree with you...

  Henry Brubaker : [bluntly]  No you don't. Not really.

• Henry Brubaker : Why don't we build them a roof that won't cave in on their heads?

  Huey Rauch : That's enough.

  Henry Brubaker : An insured roof, this time.

  Glenn Elwood : What do you mean?

  Henry Brubaker : The collapsed roof isn't covered at all - that's what I mean. But we DO have coverage for thrashing machines, balers, swathers, a tractor...

  Huey Rauch : Sounds pretty sensible to me to have the things insured. I approved those policies personally.

  Henry Brubaker : You did more than that: your company sold us the policies. The only trouble with it is: we don't have any of that equipment on our farm. It doesn't exist.

  Huey Rauch : What you HAVE got Mr. Brubaker is a piss-poor attitude.

• Larry Lee Bullen : I got picked up for vagrancy - a misdemeanor. Next morning, the toilet's broke clean off the damn wall. There's six men in the cell, and they stick me with destruction of city property over $50. Felony number three.

  Henry Brubaker : Habitual. That judge gives you life for a toilet.

  Larry Lee Bullen : Yeah, or give me the toilet for life. Same difference. Anyhow; here I am shoveling shit for dead men.

  Henry Brubaker : Instead, how'd you like to be a trustee, and run my motorpool?

  Larry Lee Bullen : Mr. Brubaker, I've been studying you since you first come in. And it's come clear to me that you are one weird fucking individual. I ain't got you figgered out yet - whether you're a good thing or a bad one.

  Henry Brubaker : Does that mean you'll run my motorpool?

  Larry Lee Bullen : [whistles]  Wear them khakis? Get me a guitar? Be the warden's new boy?

  Henry Brubaker : No, you're smarter than that.

  Larry Lee Bullen : The whole world's fucked up, Mr. Brubaker. Ain't no use.

• Henry Brubaker : Tower number 3 - who'm I looking at? He's looking at me.

  Richard 'Dickie' Coombes : Up there, you got Douglass Mizell.

  Henry Brubaker : Who the hell is Doug Mizell?

  Richard 'Dickie' Coombes : He's a forger. Three times grand theft.

  Henry Brubaker : I want a rundown on everybody that's got tower duty. I-

  Richard 'Dickie' Coombes : I do believe that's Purcell's job, sir.

  Henry Brubaker : I want only murderers up there; one-time impulse killers.

  Richard 'Dickie' Coombes : Well, aren't you taking kind of a chance doing that? Aren't you? I mean, uh...

  Henry Brubaker : No, it's the habituals you can't trust. Murderers - most of 'em - already have it out of their system. Guys like you, right?

  Richard 'Dickie' Coombes : [laughs]  There's nobody around here like me.

• Henry Brubaker : That's murder they're talking about in there. And if they condone it, how are you gonna turn around and tell these guys why they're locked up?

• Zaranska : Let's just take a little bit off around the ears.

  [hands barber $2] 

  Barber : Costs five to get you no haircut now, Zaranska. Two only gets you a crew-cut.

  Zaranska : Fuck, I could use this on a bed.

  Barber : It'll all come off then. Maybe an ear with it.

  Barber : [later]  What's it be, my man?

  Henry Brubaker : [hands barber $5]  Leave the ears.

• C.P. Woodward : I'm not in the construction business for my health.

  Henry Brubaker : Or anybody else's, it seems.

• Richard 'Dickie' Coombes : Hey, Brubaker, you know something? That's the first time I've heard those guys laugh in fifteen years!

  Henry Brubaker : It doesn't bother you, does it?

• Henry Brubaker : You're not eating?

  Richard 'Dickie' Coombes : I don't eat that shit you're eating.

  Henry Brubaker : Do you know anything about nutrition?

  Richard 'Dickie' Coombes : I know about hungry.

• Henry Brubaker : What are you in for?

  Abraham Cook : Manslaughter. Killed my baby brother with a rock.

  Henry Brubaker : How long were you sentenced?

  Abraham Cook : 35 years.

  Henry Brubaker : [looks over Abraham's file]  How long have you been here?

  Abraham Cook : You know the answer to that.

  Henry Brubaker : Yeah, 38 years and six months.