# The Black Hole

The Black Hole is a 1979 science fiction film released from Walt Disney Productions and directed by Gary Nelson.

## Dr. Hans Reinhardt

* The word "impossible," Mr. Booth, is only found in the dictionary of fools. [Napoleon Bonaparte]
* Some cause must have created all this, but what caused that cause?
* In, through... and beyond.

## Kate McCrae

* If there's any justice at all, the black hole will be your grave!

## B.O.B.

* These poor creatures are what's left of the crew...kept alive by means I don't pretend to understand.
* [badly damaged in a shootout with Maximilian] It's no use, V.I.N.CENT! My useful days are finished! But part of me goes with ya. You'll never be obsolete. [dying, his systems failing] Carry on the tradition. We're the best... [His systems die and so does he. V.I.N.CENT's eyes slowly look down at his comrade in arms, then turns towards the probe ship, turning his head backwards to look at B.O.B. once more as he leaves.]

## V.I.N.CENT

* A wolf remains a wolf, even if it has not eaten your sheep [Manchurian proverb]
* A pint cannot hold a quart, Mr. Pizer. If it holds, the pint is doing the best it can. [Margaret Deland]
* I don't mean to sound superior, but I hate the company of robots.
* To quote Cicero: rashness is the characteristic of youth, prudence that of mellowed age, and discretion the better part of valor.
* All sunshine makes a desert, so the Arabs say.
* [to Captain S.T.A.R. being damaged having lost a match] If One Dances...One Must Pay The Piper [Captain S.T.A.R. starts smoking while throwing a fit until overloading] If There's Anything I CANNOT STAND...It's A Sore Loser [Captain S.T.A.R. blows a fuse and collapses]

## Dialogue

    Hans Reinhardt: Tonight, my friends, we stand on the brink of a feat unparalleled in space exploration. If the data on my returning probe ship matches my computerized calculations, I will travel where no man has dared to go.
    Alex Durant: Into the black hole?
    Reinhardt: In... through... and beyond.
    Harry Booth: [surprised] Why, that's crazy! [laughs] Impossible!
    Reinhardt: The word "impossible", Mr. Booth, is only found in a dictionary of fools.
    Dan Holland: Kate, try to get through to V.I.N.C.E.N.T with your E.S.P.
    Kate McCrae: I got through to V.I.N.C.E.N.T! He said there are old pilots, and there are bold pilots, but there are very few old, bold pilots! [R.J. Childerhose]
    Lieutenant Charles Pizer: She's tuned into V.I.N.C.E.N.T all right!
    Dan Holland: Good.
    B.O.B.: The officer the men trusted most was Frank McCrae.
    Charlie Pizer: Kate's father.
    B.O.B.: They turned to him when Dr. Reinhardt ignored the orders to return home. They tried to take control of the Cygnus. Reinhardt called it mutiny and killed Mr. McCrae.
    Dan Holland: What became of the crew?
    B.O.B.: They were captured by the sentry robots and they're still on board.
    Harry Booth: What?!
    Pizer: Where?
    B.O.B.: In the command tower, the power center.
    V.I.N.CENT.: Robots, Mr. Pizer! Humanoid robots!
    B.O.B.: The most valuable thing in the universe, intelligent life, means nothing to Dr. Reinhardt. Without their wills, the crew became things he can command.
    Holland: That explains the funeral.
    Pizer: Right.
    Holland: [to Harry Booth] And the limping robot you spotted.
    Booth: [to B.O.B.] Do you mean to tell me that there's actually a human body under that clothing?
    B.O.B.: Exactly, Mr. Booth.
    Holland: We can't just take off and leave these poor devils behind. Harry, it looks like we're gonna have to try your plan.
    Booth: What?! And end up just like the rest of the crew?! Well, if they couldn't pull it off, what chance do we have?
    B.O.B.: [to Dan Holland] Captain, the damage is irreversible. Death is their only release.
    Booth: That's right! For God's sakes, Dan, we can't take on that mechanical army!
    V.I.N.CENT.: Captain, I was forced to destroy two sentry robots. The others are searching now. If they're found...!
    Holland: Gotcha, V.I.N.CENT.. [to Charlie Pizer] Charlie, start the countdown.
    Pizer: Right!
    Holland: V.I.N.CENT., tell Kate I want her and Alex back here on the double!
    V.I.N.CENT: [beep] 2130; day 547. Unscheduled course correction due at 2200. Pre-correction check: rotation axis plus three degrees. Nitrous oxide pressure: 4100 rising to 5,000. Quad jet C and D on preselect. Rotor ignition sequence beginning in 3-0. Thruster line reactors on standby.
    Dan Holland: V.I.N.CENT, notify me with 15 to go. Alex?
    Durant: Yes, Dan?
    Dan Holland: Have you determined a difference in ETAs with and without our correction?
    Durant: Working on it. You know, we shouldn't be needing a correction at this time. V.I.N.CENT, run a confirmation on the last inertial fix and check it with another celestial, please.
    V.I.N.CENT: [beep] I have. It is correct. But I think I've found the reason for our present variation. Mr. Pizer?
    Lieutenant Charles Pizer: Yes, V.I.N.CENT?
    V.I.N.CENT: [beep] Mr. Pizer, I think you should come up here.
    Dan Holland: It's only dinner.
    V.I.N.CENT: Said the spider to the fly. [Mary Howitt]
    Harry Booth: If Reinhart has anti-gravity strong enough to hold us here, I figure he's got enough to pull away.
    Lieutenant Charles Pizer: So?
    Harry Booth: So? So why not take this ship and Reinhart back home?
    Dan Holland: That's a long shot you're talking, Harry.
    Harry Booth: Oh, come on! You've got two scientific wizards here who could figure out the computers and possibly even reprogram the robots. And the three of us can handle Reinhart and that pet monster of his. I tell ya... we could all be heroes.
    Dan Holland: We could also be dead.
    Lieutenant Charles Pizer: Every time I see one of those things I expect to spot some guy dressed in red with horns and a pitchfork.
    Dan Holland: It's a monster, all right.
    V.I.N.CENT: A rip in the very fabric of space and time.
    Lieutenant Charles Pizer: We'd be better off without you and Maximilian trying to knock heads.
    V.I.N.CENT: I can handle that thing.
    Lieutenant Charles Pizer: Well, far be it from you to admit there isn't anything you can't handle.
    V.I.N.CENT: There are three basic types, Mr. Pizer: the Wills, the Won'ts, and the Can'ts. The Wills accomplish everything, the Won'ts oppose everything, and the Can'ts won't try anything.
    Dan Holland: Well, do us all a favor, V.I.N.CENT, and try to be a Can't, especially where that monster is concerned. We need you, not another corkscrew.
    Dr. Alex Durant: You will be remembered as one of the biggest space scientists of all time.
    Dr. Hans Reinhardt: I've never doubted that. It's about time that people learn about their failures and my successes.
    Lieutenant Charles Pizer: [the Palomino is destroyed along with Booth who was fleeing in it; rants] I should've known he was all-talk-no-guts and locked him up!
    Dan Holland: [reassuringly defending Booth] He may have done us a favor, Charlie; at least we're alive.
    V.I.N.CENT.: And where there's life... [Ecclesiastes 9:4]
    Lieutenant Charles Pizer: [dismissive] That's just not what he had in mind; he was trying to save his own skin.
    V.I.N.CENT.: There is a saying that you can't unscramble eggs! [J.P. Morgan]
    Lieutenant Charles Pizer: A penny's worth of philosophy right now isn't gonna buy us out of this now, V.I.N.CENT.!
    V.I.N.CENT.: A good offense is the best defense!
    Lieutenant Charles Pizer: And what, go after Reinhardt and turn the ship around? It's too late for all that!
    V.I.N.CENT.: There is an alternative!
    Dan Holland: The probe ship. V.I.N.CENT., you're a genius!

## Taglines

* A journey that begins where everything ends
* [from trailer] There is an inexorable force in the cosmos where time and space converge. A place beyond man's vision, but not his reach. It is the most mysterious and awesome point in the universe, where the here and now may be forever. It is unavoidable, moving through space, swallowing everything in its path, radio waves, light, even planets and stars. Now, man is about to enter...The Black Hole. A journey that begins where everything ends.

## Cast

* Maximillian Schell - Dr. Hans Reinhardt
* Anthony Perkins - Dr. Alex Durant
* Robert Forster - Captain Don Holland
* Joseph Bottoms - Lieutenant Charlie Pizer
* Yvette Mimieux - Dr. Kate McCrae
* Ernest Borgnine - Harry Booth
* Tom McLoughlin - Captain S.T.A.R. ("Special Troops/Arms Regiment").
* Roddy McDowall - Voice of V.I.N.CENT (uncredited)
* Slim Pickens - Voice of Old B.O.B. (uncredited)

## External links

* The Black Hole quotes at the Internet Movie Database
* The Black Hole at Rotten Tomatoes