Hercules Quotes

[Last day of the Senate Committee hearings]
Sen. Ralph Owen Brewster: Mr. Hughes, did you receive $43 million to manufacture 100 XF-11 spy planes for the United States Air Force?
Howard Hughes: I did.
Sen. Ralph Owen Brewster: How many functional planes did you deliver to the United States Air Force?
Howard

Hughes: None.
Sen. Ralph Owen Brewster: Would you lean a little closer to the microphone, sir?
Howard Hughes: [annoyed, Howard does so] None!
Sen. Ralph Owen Brewster: Did you receive $13 million to manufacture a prototype of a flying boat known as The Hercules?
Howard Hughes: [clears throat] I

did.
Sen. Ralph Owen Brewster: And did you deliver that plane?
Howard Hughes: I did not.
Sen. Ralph Owen Brewster: [stunned] So, by your admission in this chamber, Mr. Hughes, you have received *$56 million*... for the United States government... for planes you never delivered.
Howard Hughes: That is

correct.
Sen. Ralph Owen Brewster: [Brewster can't believe his own luck, begins chuckling] Well, excuse me for asking, Mr. Hughes, but... where did all that money go?
Howard Hughes: Well, it went into the planes, Senator. And a lot more.
Sen. Ralph Owen Brewster: More?
[still darkly chuckling]
Sen. Ralph

Owen Brewster: Do tell, Mr. Hughes? What other larcenies did you commit?
Howard Hughes: I mean, I put *my* money into these planes, Senator. My money. See, the thing is...
Sen. Ralph Owen Brewster: [attempting to stop Howard from speaking] Mr. Hughes, your personal finances are n -- are not...
Another Senator:

[sitting next to Brewster] Let him speak.
Sen. Ralph Owen Brewster: [wary] Alright, proceed, Mr. Hughes.
Howard Hughes: See, the thing is, I care very much about aviation. It has been the great joy of my life. That's why I put my own money into these planes and I've lost millions, Senator Brewster, and I'll go on losing millions. It's just... what I

do. Now, if I've lost a lot of the government's money during the war, well, I hope folks will put that into perspective. You see, more than 60 other airplanes ordered from such firms as Lockheed, Douglas, Northrup and Boeing never saw action either. In all, more than $800 million was spent during the war on planes that never flew. Over 6 *billion* on other weapons that were never delivered. Yet,

Hughes Aircraft, with her 56 million... is the only firm under investigation here today. Now I cannot help but think that has a little more to do with TWA than planes that did not fly!
Sen. Ralph Owen Brewster: [now worried] I think you've made your point, Mr. Hughes...
Howard Hughes: One second, Senator Brewster! I have one more thing to say here to

this committee... and that has to do with The Hercules. Now, I am supposed to be... many things that are not complimentary. I am supposed to be capricious. I have been called a playboy. I've even been called an eccentric, but I do not believe I have the reputation of being a liar. Now, needless to say, The Hercules was a monumental undertaking. It is the largest plane ever built. It is over five

stories tall with a wingspan longer than a football field. That's more than a city block! Now, I put the sweat of my life into this thing, I got my reputation all rolled up in it. And I have stated several times that if The Hercules fails to fly, I will leave this country and never come back! And I mean it! Now, Senator Brewster, you can subpoena me, you can arrest me, you can claim I've folded up

and taken a run-out powder, But, well... I've just about had enough of this nonsense. Good afternoon.
[leaves]

Panic: "Hercules." Why does that name ring a bell?
Pain: I don't know. Um, maybe we owe him money?
Panic: Wait, wasn't Hercules the name of that kid we were supposed to...?
Panic, Pain: Oh, my Gods!
Pain: Run for it!
[Hades seizes them and chokes them]

Hades: So you took care of him, huh? "Dead as a doornail." Weren't those your exact words?
Pain: This might be a different Hercules!
Panic: Yeah. I mean, Hercules is a very popular name nowadays.
Pain: Remember like a few years ago, every other boy was named Jason and the girls were all named Britney?

Hades: I'm about to rearrange the cosmos... and the one schlemiel who can louse it up... is waltzing around IN THE WOODS!

The Fates: In 18 years precisely / The planets will align ever so nicely.
Hades: Ay, verse. Oy.
The Fates: The time to act will be at hand / Unleash the Titans, your monstrous band.
Hades: Mmm-hmm. Good, good.
The Fates: Then the once-proud Zeus will finally fall / And you, Hades, will

rule all!
Hades: YES! Hades rules!
The Fates: But a word of caution to this tale...
Hades: Excuse me?
The Fates: Should Hercules fight, you will fail.
[they laugh and disappear]
Hades: WHAAAT?... Okay, fine, fine. I'm cool. I'm fine.

Meg: Wonder Boy's fielding every curve ball you throw at him.
Hades: [simpers] Oh, yeah. Well, maybe I haven't been throwing the right curves at him, Meg my sweet.
Meg: Don't even go there.
Hades: He's gotta have a weakness, because everybody's got a weakness. I mean, for Pandora, it was the box thing. And for

the Trojans, hey, they bet on the wrong horse, okay? All we have to do is find out Wonder Boy's weakness.
Meg: I've done my part. Get your little imps...
Hades: They couldn't handle him as a baby. I need somebody who can... handle him as a man.
Meg: Hey, I've sworn off manhandling.
Hades: Well, you

know, that's good. Because that's what got you into this jam in the first place, isn't it? You sold your soul to me, to save your boyfriend's life. And how does this creep thank you? By running off with some babe. He hurt you real bad, didn't he, Meg?
Meg: Look, I learned my lesson, okay?
Hades: [hands her a Hercules urn] Which is exactly why I got a

feelin' you're gonna leap at my new offer. You give me the key to bringing down Wonder Breath, and I give you the thing that you crave most in the entire cosmos: your freedom.
[Meg drops the urn]