Memorable quotes for
Brubaker (1980) More at IMDbPro »

Lillian Gray: You can't reform the system if you're not in it.

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

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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?

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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.

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Huey Rauch: Sanitation detail. You too, Bullen!
Richard 'Dickie' Coombes: Now, wait a minute. This man's hurt.
Huey Rauch: You just deal with colored - I'll take care of the white folks. 'Sides, I don't think Bullen's got much more'n refried shit for brains this morning.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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C.P. Woodward: I'm not in the construction business for my health.
Henry Brubaker: Or anybody else's, it seems.

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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?

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