Always (1989)

John Goodman: Al Yackey

Photos 

Quotes 

• Al Yackey : I miss him too! I miss him too. I miss him every day. I loved him like I've never loved a guy. And I don't love guys. You don't have an excuse, you quit. You quit, you gave up. He never quit on anything 'til it killed him, and that was his way, and there's much worse ways, and boy you sure found one.

  Dorinda Durston : I can't live with it!

  Al Yackey : Bullshit.

• Al Yackey : The hell with it. What this place reminds me of is the war in Europe.

  Pete Sandich : This is deep.

  Al Yackey : Which I was personally never at, but think about it. The beer's warm, the dance hall's a Quonset, there's B-26s outside, hotshot pilots inside, an airstrip in the woods... it's England, man! Everything but Glenn Miller! Except we go to burning places and bomb 'em till they stop burning. You see, Pete, there ain't no war here.

  Pete Sandich : What's taking her so long?

  Al Yackey : This is why they don't make movies called 'Night Raid to Boise, Idaho' or 'Firemen Strike at Dawn'. And this is why you ain't exactly a hero for taking these chances you take. You're more of what I would call a dickhead.

• Pete Sandich : Love! Ain't what it used to be.

  Al Yackey : Oh there's only ever been two kinds: There's lash fires, which are all flame, burn themselves out and leave nothing. Then there's the long burning. That is nature's burn. Even when you think it's out, the forest floor is warm to the touch. That's the kind you and Dorinda got.

  Pete Sandich : You're a poet, Al. You're a really bad poet, but you're a poet.

• Al Yackey : My engine's on fire! Can you believe that? And I was in such a good mood!

• Ted Baker : [being serenaded by the other pilots after a botched exercise]  This is first place, right?

  [Al comes roaring up in a jeep, covered in fire retardant; the crowd falls silent] 

  Al Yackey : Cute. Now we know how ready you are. We're gonna be coming into fire season soon, and if we get a big one - a real big one - they're gonna be calling guys from all over the place. They're gonna be calling veterans, first-timers, guys from all over the country if they have to. And when they call me, they're gonna say, 'Al, whaddya got?' And I'm gonna tell them I ain't got nothin'. 'Cause you're nothin'! What you did today was nothin'! Hell, you can't even hit a smoking oil drum, and a drum ain't a tree! A tree can explode like a bomb! A tree can go up like a Roman candle! And an oil drum don't have any heat! In a real fire, there's heat! There's heat that can suck you under, flip you over! There's currents that can tie a knot in a windsock! And Baker - Baker, you're on the bus. I'm going to San Diego and when I get back tomorrow, I don't want to see you in here.

• Pete Sandich : I don't know what you think you're doing, but turn this plane around. Dorinda, you never would listen to me and you always did just fine, but this isn't the same. This is Ted's mission, and you're not good enough. You're not good enough, and you won't make it! Is that what you want? That's not my girl!

  Al Yackey : [shouting over the radio]  Dorinda, God damn it! This is no time to be dickin' around with an airplane!

  [Dorinda throws her headset off as she flies into the maw of a vast wildfire] 

  Pete Sandich : Okay... let's not be rational! Throttle! More throttle! Level out... level out, level out, LEVEL OUT! And you say I flew crazy! What are you trying to do? Dorinda, fly smart! Those guys down there need you!

• Al Yackey : [exulting]  You magnificent pagan GOD!

• Al Yackey : [after taking a distress call from the smoke jumpers]  Get on the radio to the Helibase. Have the choppers warmed up and standing by.

  Ted Baker : [heading for the radio set]  Libby Operations Shack to Helibase, come in.

  Pete Sandich : Ted, those choppers are forty miles away. They fly at a hundred miles an hour.

  Ted Baker : Libby Operations Shack to Helibase. Come in.

  Pete Sandich : We're twelve miles away. We fly at 220 miles an hour.

  Air Traffic Controller : Libby Operations, this is Helibase. We read you. Over.

  Ted Baker : Air Attack 63-Echo, this is the operations shack. We will be handling this incident from here! Contact the jumper boss at Dhole Mountain and ascertain their exact location for me.

• Al Yackey : He said this was your birthday.

  Dorinda Durston : He remembered it wrong.