The X-Files (TV Series)

Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose (1995)

Peter Boyle: Clyde Bruckman

Photos 

Quotes 

• Clyde Bruckman : You know, there are worse ways to go, but I can't think of a more undignified way than autoerotic asphyxiation.

  Fox Mulder : Why are you telling me that?

  Clyde Bruckman : Look, forget I mentioned it. It's none of my business.

• Clyde Bruckman : You'll find the woman tomorrow morning, by the fat little white Nazi stormtrooper at Glen View Lake. Her body is floating in Glen View Lake. Now, if you'll excuse me, I think I've seen enough death for one night.

  [cut to next scene; a body is being pulled from the water, Mulder is looking at a large round propane tank] 

  Fox Mulder : Be honest, Scully. Doesn't that propane tank bear more than just a slight resemblance to a fat little white Nazi stormtrooper?

  Dana Scully : Mulder, the human mind naturally seeks meaningful patterns and configurations in things that don't inherently have any. Given the suggestion of a particular image, you can't help but see that shape somewhere. If that tank weren't there you'd see it in a, in a rock or in a tree...

  Fox Mulder : Would you answer my question?

  Dana Scully : [grudgingly]  Yes, it looks like a fat little white Nazi storm trooper, but that only proves my point!

• [Mr. Bruckman is looking down at the carpet] 

  Fox Mulder : What is it? What do you see?

  Clyde Bruckman : He's having sex with her. There.

  Dana Scully : Is he raping her?

  Clyde Bruckman : Oh no, no no, not at all, in fact she's instigating the whole thing.

  Fox Mulder : Then what's wrong?

  Clyde Bruckman : [wistfully]  Oh, sometimes it just seems that everyone's having sex except for me.

• Dana Scully : There's something you haven't explained. Can you see your own end?

  Clyde Bruckman : I see our end. We end up in bed together. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that. I don't mean to offend you or scare you, but not here, not this bed. I just mean I see us quite clearly in bed together. You're holding my hand very tenderly, and you're looking at me with such compassion and I feel - tears are streaming down my face - I feel so grateful because it's just a very special moment neither of us will ever forget.

  Dana Scully : Mr. Bruckman, there are hits and there are misses. And then there are misses.

  Clyde Bruckman : I just call them as I see them.

• The Puppet : There's something I've been wanting to ask you for some time now. You've seen the things I do, in the past as well as in the future.

  Clyde Bruckman : They're terrible things.

  The Puppet : I know they are. So tell me, please, why have I done them?

  Clyde Bruckman : Don't you understand yet, son? Don't you get it?

  The Puppet : [shakes his head and shrugs helplessly] 

  Clyde Bruckman : You do the things you do because you're a homicidal maniac.

  [silence] 

  The Puppet : [smiles slowly]  That... that does explain a lot, doesn't it? It's all starting to make sense now.

• Fox Mulder : Step inside, Mr. Bruckman.

  Clyde Bruckman : Why? What is this all about?

  Fox Mulder : A murder was committed here earlier this evening, and we have reason to believe that it was committed by the same person who murdered the women that you found. Is there anything that you can tell us about it?

  Clyde Bruckman : I didn't do it.

  Fox Mulder : You're not under suspicion, but I do harbor a suspicion that you can see things about this crime, things that we can't see.

  Clyde Bruckman : I'm not sure I understand what you mean.

  Fox Mulder : I think you do.

  Clyde Bruckman : Yeah, right. I'd like to see both of your badges again. Right now.

  [Mulder and Scully show Clyde their badges] 

  Dana Scully : I don't blame you, Mr. Bruckman.

  Clyde Bruckman : [looking at Mulder's badge]  I'm supposed to believe that's a real name?

• Clyde Bruckman : This is real cream, not the phony stuff. I know the difference, and the chocolate! Very rich. Look at these cute little doilies they put everything on. You sure you don't want to join me?

  [Scully shakes her head "no"] 

  Clyde Bruckman : So what are you doing?

  Dana Scully : Studying background checks. This is what detective work is really like. We can't come up with suspects by having visions.

  Clyde Bruckman : Jealous?

• Clyde Bruckman : The killer's going to kill more people before you catch him.

  Dana Scully : Can you see him physically yet?

  Clyde Bruckman : No, no. Just more insight into his character which I know you hate. He thinks he's psychic.

  Fox Mulder : Is he?

  Clyde Bruckman : I hope not! I've seen some of the things he's seen.

  Fox Mulder : Like what, what does he see?

  [cut to shot of Mulder chasing after someone] 

  Clyde Bruckman : You. He sees you. Trying to catch him.

  Fox Mulder : Where does this take place?

  Clyde Bruckman : In a kitchen.

  [cut to Mulder stalking through a kitchen, gun raised] 

  Clyde Bruckman : You're looking around for someone. He's behind you now, but you don't know it. And he's stalking towards you, and, and - oh god!

  Dana Scully : What, what do you see?

  Clyde Bruckman : He's got a knife! It's got blood on it!

  Fox Mulder : Why don't I see him, what am I doing?

  Clyde Bruckman : You're looking down. You stepped in a pie that's fallen to the floor. The killer comes up to you and - coconut cream.

  Fox Mulder : What?

  Clyde Bruckman : The pie! Eh, coconut cream, or is it lemon meringue, I don't know, it's... not sure, it's hazy...

  Fox Mulder : Whatever, please continue!

  Clyde Bruckman : As you're looking down, he comes up with the knife and - banana cream! Definitely banana cream.

  Fox Mulder : All right, I'm looking down at this banana cream pie and then what?

  Clyde Bruckman : He sees himself, coming up to you from behind, and...

  [in the vision the killer slashes Mulder's throat from behind] 

  Fox Mulder : And? And what does he see?

  Clyde Bruckman : Huh. Nothing. The visions of a madman.

• Fox Mulder : Do you remember the first time you foresaw someone's death?

  Clyde Bruckman : 1959.

  Fox Mulder : What happened in 1959?

  Clyde Bruckman : Buddy Holly's plane crashed.

  Dana Scully : You prognosticated Buddy Holly's death?

  Clyde Bruckman : Oh god no. Why would I want to do that? But I did have a ticket to see him perform the next night. Actually I was a bigger fan of the Big Bopper than Buddy Holly. Chantilly Lace, that was the song.

  Fox Mulder : I'm not following.

  Clyde Bruckman : The Big Bopper was not supposed to be on the plane with Buddy Holly. He won the seat from somebody else by flipping a coin for it.

  Fox Mulder : I'm still not following.

  Clyde Bruckman : Imagine all the things that had to occur, not only in his life, but in everybody else's, to arrange it so that on that particular night, The Big Bopper would be in a position, to live or die, depending on a flipping coin. I became so obsessed with that idea, that I gradually became capable of seeing the specifics of everybody's death.

  Dana Scully : You know Mr. Bruckman, I'm not one who readily believes in that kind of thing, and if I was I still wouldn't believe *that* story.

  Clyde Bruckman : I know it sounds crazy but I swear it's true: I was a bigger fan of the Big Bopper than Buddy Holly.

• Dana Scully : All right, so, how do I die?

  Clyde Bruckman : You don't.

• Clyde Bruckman : So, General Mutual has a very comprehensive $200,000 life policy at a net annual cost of $2400.

  Young Husband : You see, the thing is... we were really hoping to buy a boat.

  Clyde Bruckman : Mr. Gordon, as a young husband, I think you're going to find that your new responsibilities to your family take precedence over you recreational needs.

  Young Husband : But this is a really good boat.

  Clyde Bruckman : You don't get it, do you, kid? Two years from now, while driving down Route 91, coming home to your wife and baby daughter, you're going to be hit head-on by a drunk, driving a blue '87 Mustang. You'll end up looking worse than 60 feet of bad road your body slides across after flying out your front windshield.

  Young Husband : Mister, you really need to work on your closing technique.

• Fox Mulder : Mr. Bruckman, this murderer has already committed four homicides.

  Clyde Bruckman : And he'll commit more whether I help you or not.

  Fox Mulder : How can you be so sure?

  Clyde Bruckman : How could I see the future if it didn't already exist?

  Fox Mulder : But if the future is written, then why bother to do anything?

  Clyde Bruckman : Now, you're catching on.

• Fox Mulder : In psychical research parlance, a correct guess is a "hit". An incorrect guess is a "miss".

  Clyde Bruckman : The guy who cast the mold for this will die of prostate cancer at the age of 82. Hit or miss?

  Fox Mulder : I have no way of verifying that information.

  Clyde Bruckman : Then why did you ask me?

  Fox Mulder : Do you receive any other impressions from it?

  Clyde Bruckman : ...It's ugly.

• Clyde Bruckman : [after the bellboy picks up a knife]  Was that not enough of a tip?

• Clyde Bruckman : [after seeing a vision of her little dog eating her dead body]  Is everything all right, Mrs. Lowell. You have enough supplies? You have enough dog food?