Photos
Quotes
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Tommy Gavin : You want to know how big my balls are? My balls are bigger than two of your heads duct-taped together. I've been in the middle of shit that would make you piss your pants right now. Uptown, downtown, Harlem, Brooklyn. But there ain't no medals on my chest, assholes, 'cause I ain't no hero. I'm a fireman. We're not in the business of making heroes here. We're in the business of discovering cowards, 'cause that's what you are if you can't take the heat. You're a pussy, and there ain't no room for pussies in the FDNY.
[to a snickering recruit in the first row]
Tommy Gavin : What are you laughing at, shithead? Huh? What's so god damn funny?
Recruit : I just... .
Tommy Gavin : Shut up! You speak when spoken to.
[to the entire upper class]
Tommy Gavin : You pussies better pray you don't get assigned to my firehouse. Because I have seen it all. I knew sixty men who gave their lives at Ground Zero. Sixty. Four of them from my house. Vito Castella... found him almost whole. Ricky Davis... found him almost whole, hugging a civilian woman. Bobby Vincent... found his head. And my cousin, Jimmy Keefe, my best friend. You know what they found of him? What I was able to bring back and give to his parents? A finger. That's all. A finger. These four men were better human beings and better firefighters than any of you will ever be.
Firefighting Class Instructor : Say "thank you," firefighting upper class!
Firefighting Upper Class : Thank you, Firefighter Gavin, sir!
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Jimmy Keefe : All right, hold on, hold on, hold on. Let's review. Why are you two seperated?
Tommy Gavin : According to her.
Jimmy Keefe : Yeah.
Tommy Gavin : You know, I... she says I couldn't open up, I wasn't emotionally available, blah, blah, blah.
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Tommy Gavin : I got 15 to 20 large jars of piss someone dumped down the stairs.
Chief Jerry Reilly : Are we talking about human piss?
Tommy Gavin : [to Mike] Hey kid, taste that piss and tell me if it's human.
[Mike laughs but everyone gives him a serious look]
Tommy Gavin : Sometime today would be nice.
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Tommy Gavin : He's a junkie, not an omelet.
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Chief Jerry Reilly : Look, what are the odds of you guys actually, you know, breaking up?
Tommy Gavin : [In disbelief] There's a pool on my divorce?
Chief Jerry Reilly : Nooo... . Yeah.
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Tommy Gavin : My cousin, the priest, said it's all apart of God's plan, like God's got a plan. You know what, if there is a God, then he's got a shit load of explaining to do.
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Tommy Gavin : So, you got a woman who can do the job better than the guys on my crew? Bring her on. You know? You got a martian, or a cyborg, or a China man that can do the job, bring them on too.
Dr. Goldberg : Are there any Chinese firefighters?
Tommy Gavin : Yeah, probably. Somewhere in China.
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Tommy Gavin : Jesus Christ, this is what they send us? You gotta be kidding me. What's your name?
Mike Silletti : Mike?
Tommy Gavin : You asking me or telling me?
Mike Silletti : It's Mike.
Tommy Gavin : There's too many Mikes around here. Polish Mike, Irish Mike.
Sean Garrity : Mike the Mick.
Kenneth 'Lou' Shea : Big Mike, Little Mike.
Tommy Gavin : Hey, are you Jewish?
Mike Silletti : No, why?
Tommy Gavin : Then you could be "Mike the Kike"
Mike Silletti : I'm Italian.
Sean Garrity : Forget it. There's already a Guinea Mike over at Ladder 12
Tommy Gavin : Not to mention Mike the Wop over on the Upper East Side.
Kenneth 'Lou' Shea : You know what? Screw it. New Mike.
Tommy Gavin : New Mike it is.
Mike Silletti : What if I'm here for, like, ten years?
Tommy Gavin : I don't think that's gonna be a problem, kid. Don't worry about it. Hey, New Mike. Get me a coffee.
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Tommy Gavin : You want us to talk about our feelings? Forget 9-11. Five years ago; a black kid, ten years old. I pulled him out of a closet, hot, fire all around. He's burnt, he's scared, and he's slipping and sliding around in my arms like a, like a goddamn baby seal. And I almost get him outside and then ah his skin, he's wearing nothing but underwear, and his skin comes off like wrapping paper off of a Christmas present. Slips right out of my arms and falls on the floor. So I pick him up and get him outside, few months later he dies in the burn center. Three years ago, a project fire six stories up, one bedroom apartment fifteen people living in it, and I find a little girl. She's hurt pretty bad, holding a kitten. So I bring her down, six stories, six goddamn stories I'm switching my mask off with her and the kitten, her and the kitten and me, her and the kitten and me, and she's crying up at me the whole time saying, "Please Mr. Fireman, please save my kitten, please don't let anything happen to my kitten, Mr. Fireman". And I'm biting my tongue, because I hate cats, I think they suck, I come from a dog family. Anyways long story short, cat lived. She didn't. 9-11, we lost four guys from this house, one of them was my cousin, Jimmy. My best friend. Best goddamn fireman I ever worked with. Good family man, dedicated American and blah blah blah, you know and every day I have to drive work I drive through my neighborhood I see guys, drunken assholes I went to high school with standing on the corner high, having a good time and I have to wonder why these assholes are still walking around when Jimmy Keefe ain't. My cousin the priest says it's because it's all part of God's plan, like God has a plan. You know what... If there is a God, he's got a shitload of explaining to do.
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Tommy Gavin : [after knocking out a naked junkie with a baseball bat] Take that end. Hey, think how much he weighed before he developed a cocaine habit.
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Tommy Gavin : [to his teen daughter] Don't give your mother that look. Where'd you get those jeans? Those jeans are *too* low.
