Homer Hickam Jr quotes from October Sky (1999)

Homer, I was in the store today, and I heard some talk. Boy, it's sure hard to keep a secret in this town, isn't it? But I guess I did a pretty good job. You know, there's a rumor going around that I've been sneaking off to Welch to see some beau. I wish that rumor'd been true.

Homer Hickam Jr

Yeah.

They told me Hodgkin's can go into remission, so I might have some time.

Homer

Is there anything I can do, Miss Riley?

You can accept my apology.

Homer

For what?

My life's work is teaching. And I believed that if you boys won that science fair, got scholarships, went off and did something great with your lives, somehow my life would have counted for something. Homer. You know what? Sometimes you really can't listen to what anybody else says. You just gotta listen inside. You're not supposed to end up in those mines. You know why? 'Cause I think you made other plans. I want you to know something. I'm proud of you.

Homer

I am.

Whatever you choose.

Homer Hickam Jr

Hey, was there a wind that day?

Uh, I don't remember.

Homer

'Cause if there was, the wind probably came from the west, which means that it would've pushed the rocket...[raises his hand to point in the relative direction, then looks and slowly smiles]...right there.

Prodigious!

In the first place, you are not a member of this classroom.

Homer Hickam Jr

Neither are you, Mr. Turner. [students chuckle]

Why don't you let the boy defend himself?

And in the second place, this rocket proves nothing. You've already admitted having lost a number of your rockets. You cannot prove conclusively that another one of them didn't start that fire.

Hickam

Yes, I can. [starts drawing diagram of rocket trajectory]

Are we to conclude, Mr. Hickam, that since leaving school, you've not only become an expert in rocket science, but in the field of trigonometry?

Hickam

I didn't say that I was a rock-

Obviously, you learned more in the coal mines than you did in high school. [students chuckle again]

Let the boy talk. Go ahead, Homer.

Hickam

Now, that fire was near Welch, just under three miles from our launch pad. And at the time of the fire, the best that we could do was 1.2 miles which is exactly where we found that rocket, Mr. Turner. See, Mr. Turner, that rocket fell for about 14 seconds, which means that it flew to an altitude of 3,000 feet according to the equation [writes on blackboard] "S" equals one-half "A" "T" squared. Where "S" is the altitude, "A" is the gravity constant or 32 and "T" is the time it took for that rocket to come back down. Velocity equals acceleration times time.

Get him, Homer, get him.

Hickam

Are you following this, Mr. Turner? [students laugh again]

All right, we're all duly impressed. But do you mind telling me, if you did not start that fire, who did?

Hey, hey, don't trouble yourself, Homer. You got more important things to worry about. [derisively] Just go look for your suitcase.

Forget about it, Homer.

Homer Hickam

Shut up, Jim! [furiously goes back into house and angrily confronts his father] Listen, I'm sorry about what's going on here but it isn't my fault! What do you want from me anyway?

Better watch yourself, Homer.

Homer

If I win at Indianapolis, maybe I can go to college, maybe even get a job at Cape Canaveral! There's nothing here for me! The town is dying, even the mine is dying...EVERYBODY KNOWS THAT BUT YOU!

You want to get out so bad, then go. Go!

Homer

Yeah, I'll go! Yeah, I'll go!

GO! GO!

Homer

And I'll be gone forever! I won't even look back!!!! [angrily gets out and violently slams door behind him]

Tom Webster of Virginia State College. [slips him calling card and pats him in the back] I wanna talk to you about a scholarship.

Jack Palmer, Virginia Tech. We got the best science program in the state, buddy, okay?

Congratulations, son. Good luck to you. [leaves as Homer walks on]

What did he say to you?

Homer Hickam Jr

What did who say?

Von Braun. That was Wernher von Braun. You just shook his hand! [Homer tries to look back and see von Braun, but couldn't amidst the crowd]