Tremors (1990)

Fred Ward: Earl Bassett

Photos 

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Quotes 

• Earl Bassett : Damn it, listen to me. I'm older and wiser.

  Valentine McKee : Yeah, well you're half right.

• Earl Bassett : Is this a job for an intelligent man?

  Valentine McKee : Well, show me one and I'll ask him.

• [trapped on top of a boulder by a Graboid, Val, Earl, and Rhonda are thinking of explanations for where the creatures came from] 

  Valentine McKee : [joking]  They're mutations caused by radiation. No, wait; the government made 'em. *Big* surprise for the Russians.

  Rhonda LeBeck : Well, there's nothing like them in the fossil record, I know that for sure. Okay, so they predate the fossil record. But that'd make them a couple of billion years old... and we've just never seen one until now. Right.

  Earl Bassett : I vote for outer space. No way these are local boys.

• Earl Bassett : Run for it? Running's not a plan! Running's what you do once a plan fails!

• Earl Bassett : Hey, Rhonda you ever seen anything like this before?

  Valentine McKee : Oh, sure Earl. Everyone knows about them, we just didn't tell you!

• [Burt cuts off a piece of fuse for a bomb for Earl] 

  Earl Bassett : What kind of fuse is that?

  Burt Gummer : Cannon fuse.

  Earl Bassett : What the hell do you use it for?

  Burt Gummer : My cannon.

• Earl Bassett : Dammit, Valentine! You never go for any girl unless she fits that stupid list of yours from top to bottom.

  Valentine McKee : Well, sure.

  Earl Bassett : Yeah, and it's dumber than my hind end! Like that Bobbie Lynn Dexter.

  Valentine McKee : Tammy Lynn Baxter!

  Earl Bassett : Doesn't matter. They're all the same: dead weight. "Ooh, I broke a nail!" Ugh! Makes my skin crawl.

  Valentine McKee : Yeah, well, I'm a victim of circumstance.

  Earl Bassett : I thought you called it your pecker.

• Earl Bassett : Damn it Valentine, you never plan ahead, you never take the long view, I mean here it is Monday and I'm already thinking of Wednesday... It is Monday right?

• Earl Bassett : You little asswipe! You don't knock it off you're gonna be shittin' this basketball... pardon my French!

• Earl Bassett : Dammit, I'm gonna kick his ass!

  Valentine McKee : I'm gonna help you.

• Earl Bassett : No way those things can outrun these horses!

  Valentine McKee : Yeah, well, for all you know, they can fly.

• Earl Bassett : No breakfast?

  Valentine McKee : I did it yesterday. It was baloney and beans.

  Earl Bassett : No, it was eggs. I made eggs. Over easy.

  Valentine McKee : The hell you did! Baloney and beans. It's your turn!

  [They go through a quick game of paper-rock-scissors, which Valentine loses] 

  Valentine McKee : Well, I guess when I'm your age, I'll forget what I eat, too.

• Earl Bassett : [Valentine has just freed the truck from a hangup, after a struggle]  Y'know, that's a good way to break an axle.

  Valentine McKee : Could you shut up?

  Earl Bassett : Hey, I don't need to spend the night out here!

  Valentine McKee : [long pause]  Crybaby.

• [Monster slams into a concrete retaining wall] 

  Earl Bassett : Stupid son-of-a-bitch, knocked itself cold!

  Valentine McKee : Cold my ass. He's dead! We killed it. We killed it! FUCK! YOU!

  Rhonda LeBeck : Hey guys. What's going on? Hey, did you notice anything weird just now? I mean, it just hap-

  [she notices the dead monster] 

  Rhonda LeBeck : ... What's that?

• Earl Bassett : They must be long gone by now.

  Valentine McKee : Yeah. Hey, why don't you go take a little stroll and find out?

• Earl Bassett : You suppose he wanted to kill himself?

  Valentine McKee : Come on, somebody must'a chased him up there.

  Earl Bassett : You mean someone that ain't scared of a Winchester rifle? Then what'd they do? Camp out down below and wait for him to die?

• Earl Bassett : We gotta run. We've got a schedule to keep.

  Valentine McKee : Yeah. See, we plan ahead, that way we don't do anything right now. Earl explained it to me.

• Valentine McKee : Good luck shithead.

  Earl Bassett : Don't worry about me jerkoff.

• Walter Chang : That's what I like... Graboids. That's it, Graboids!

  Earl Bassett : Jesus, Walter.

  Walter Chang : You're gonna be sorry if you don't give it a name.

• Valentine McKee : Was it a heart attack, Doctor?

  Dr. Jim : No, died of dehydration, thirst.

  Valentine McKee : That doesn't make any sense, that takes a couple days, doesn't it?

  Dr. Jim : Maybe even three or four.

  Earl Bassett : You mean he sat up there three or four days? He just sat up there and died of thirst?

• Valentine McKee : STAMPEDE! Stampede, Earl! Get out of the way, get out of the way!

  Earl Bassett : [waking up]  You dumb shit. I was in a stampede once. Five hundred head, all hell-bent for the horizon.

  Valentine McKee : Now, exactly how many cattle are required for a stampede, Earl? Is it three or more? Is there a minimum to 'pede?

  Earl Bassett : I wish they'd stampede up your ass.

• Earl Bassett : Well, there sure as hell ain't nothing to stop us now... everybody we know between here and Bixbe's already dead.

• Earl Bassett : What're you bringin' that vacuum cleaner for?

  Valentine McKee : I like this vacuum cleaner.

  Earl Bassett : Y'never use it.

  Valentine McKee : Well, it's good for parts.

• [repeated line] 

  Earl Bassett : Pardon my French!

• Earl Bassett : [yelling]  AHHH! AHHH!

  Valentine McKee : What? What is it?

  Earl Bassett : Damn prairie dog burrow.

  Valentine McKee : Sons a bitches.

• Earl Bassett : Melvin! One of these days someone's gonna kick your ass!

• Earl Bassett : So we're stuck here. That pisses me off.

• Earl Bassett : [after digging out the dead graboid]  There's no way Walter Chang's getting his slick mits on this for no 15 bucks.

  Valentine McKee : You got that right!

• Valentine McKee : Wait wait wait. This one's not falling for it. This one ain't dumb. He's tryin' to trick us.

  Earl Bassett : Use your bomb!

  Valentine McKee : It's our *last one!*

  Earl Bassett : Well what else you gonna use it for?

  Valentine McKee : So what if we make it to the rocks? We'll be dead in three days anyway!

  Earl Bassett : Well I wanna live for the three days!

  Burt Gummer : What the hell, what's the matter? Use the bomb, for Chrissake!

  Melvin Plug : Throw that bomb, man! Scare them away!

  [pause, they look at Rhonda] 

  Rhonda LeBeck : Throw the bomb!

  Valentine McKee : [looking at the bomb]  This bastard ain't smarter than us.

  Earl Bassett : For Christ's sake, Val!

  Valentine McKee : I'm gonna go for it.

  Earl Bassett : Go for *what?*

  [Valentine takes off running; Earl runs after him as the graboid bursts out of the ground] 

  Earl Bassett : Shit! What're you *doing?*

  Valentine McKee : I GOT A GODDAMN PLAAAAN!

• [Melvin has a Graboid snake tongue wrapped around his neck] 

  Melvin Plug : [screams]  It's got me! It's got me!

  [Melvin bursts into laughter. Everyone realizes he was playing a joke] 

  Walter Chang : Melvin!

  Burt Gummer : Damn it, Melvin!

  [gets in Melvin's face and Melvin stops laughing] 

  Burt Gummer : You came that close, too close. No more games.

  Earl Bassett : Melvin, one of these days, somebody's gonna kick your ass.

• Valentine McKee : What the hell are those things? And how can they bury a whole station wagon?

  Earl Bassett : WHY would they do it?

• [Ground Starts to bulge] 

  Earl Bassett : Must be a million of them!

  [Graboid breaks through the surface of the ground] 

  Valentine McKee : Nope, just one!

• Earl Bassett : Here's the plan. We don't even stop. Ride like hell. Tonight we keep right on going. We'll walk the horses.

  Valentine McKee : That is the plan! I mean goddamn! What the hell are those things? How could they bury a whole station wagon?

  Earl Bassett : Or WHY would they do it?

• Earl Bassett : You guys gotta get the hell out of here! There's a killer on the loose!

  Howard - Roadworker : [shuts off jackhammer]  What?

  Earl Bassett : A murderer! Man a real psycho! He's he's cutting people's heads off! I'm not kidding!

• [Valentine and Earl get chased by a Graboid, they get trapped in an empty canal until the Graboid makes a huge crack in the wall] 

  Earl Bassett : [realizes nothing's happening]  Stupid son-of-a-bitch. It knocked itself cold.

  [the Graboid's snake tongue dangles lifelessly followed by bleeding] 

  Valentine McKee : Cold my ass. He's *dead.* We killed it.

  [long pause] 

  Valentine McKee : [triumphantly]  We killed it! FUCK! YOU!

• Earl Bassett : [Graboid eats Rhonda's shovel]  Don't he have a home to go to?

  Valentine McKee : That's why Edgar never got down off that damn tower.

  Rhonda LeBeck : I think I have an idea.

  Earl Bassett : You know, we're gonna have to come up with some sort of plan, he's just going to wait us to death.

• Earl Bassett : You're hung up I tell you. You're gonna burn the clutch!

• Earl Bassett : [Earl and Val have fled from the creatures into a concrete trench. One of the creatures crashes through the wall]  Stupid sumbitch. Knocked itself cold.

  Valentine McKee : Cold my ass. He's *dead.* We killed it! We killed it! FU--UCK! YOU!

  Rhonda LeBeck : Hey guys! What's going on?

  [Not seeing the monster's corpse] 

  Rhonda LeBeck : Did you notice anything weird a minute ago? I mean, it just hap-

  [finally seeing the creature] 

  Rhonda LeBeck : What's that?