Ford v Ferrari (2019)

Christian Bale: Ken Miles

Photos 

33 more photos

Quotes 

• Ken Miles : You're gonna build a car to beat Ferrari with... a Ford.

  Carroll Shelby : Correct.

  Ken Miles : And how long did they tell you that they need it? Two, three hundred years?

  Carroll Shelby : Ninety days.

  [Ken laughs hysterically] 

• Ken Miles : If this were a beauty pageant, we just lost.

  Carroll Shelby : Looks aren't everything.

• Ken Miles : Look out there. Out there is the perfect lap. You see it?

  Peter Miles : I think so.

  Ken Miles : Most people can't.

• [Miles and Peter enter the showroom to look at the new Ford Mustang] 

  Peter Miles : Whoa. Dad, look at that. Hah. The Ford Mustang. What do you think?

  [Miles looks around the Mustang] 

  Ken Miles : I think it's a secretary's car.

  Peter Miles : I like it.

  [Peter opens the passenger door and looks at the interior, alarming Beebe] 

  Leo Beebe : Oh. Excu... Excuse me. Would you, would you not do that?

  Peter Miles : Oh. Sorry.

  [Peter closes the door as Miles looks at Beebe] 

  Leo Beebe : Oh, er, is this, is this your son?

  Ken Miles : Yes, it is.

  Leo Beebe : Would you ask him to keep his hands off the paintwork?

  [Peter takes his hand off the roof] 

  Ken Miles : No, no, no, Peter, You're okay.

  [looking at Beebe] 

  Ken Miles : Who are you?

  Leo Beebe : Leo Beebe, Senior Executive Vice President, Ford Motor Company.

  Ken Miles : Ah.

  Leo Beebe : I'm responsible for the launch of the Mustang.

  Ken Miles : Ah! At least now we know who's responsible. Don't get me wrong, Lenny.

  Leo Beebe : Leo.

  Ken Miles : It looks fantastic. But inside, it's a lump of lard, dressed up to fool the public. My advice is, lose the inline-six and that idiotic three-speed, shorten the wheelbase, somehow lose half a ton, and lower the price.

  Peter Miles : Dad.

  Ken Miles : But even then, I'd still choose a Chevy Chevelle. And that's a fucking terrible car.

• Ken Miles : Well, you promised me the drive. Not the win.

• Wayne - Customer : Hey, I called you three times, and you never answer the phone.

  Ken Miles : I answer the phone every time it rings.

  Wayne - Customer : No, sir, you do not.

  Ken Miles : Yes, I do.

  Wayne - Customer : No, you don't. A month ago, this car was fun. Now, it won't even start. And when it does, it's 'Boom, boom, boom!' When I pull out of the driveway, the dog has a heart attack.

  [Ken chuckles] 

  Wayne - Customer : All I'm asking is for you to make it like it was.

  Ken Miles : Yeah, you've coked up the inlet valves and the plugs. Nothing wrong with the car, just the way it's being driven.

  Wayne - Customer : The way it's being driven?

  Ken Miles : Too much fuel, not enough spark. That's what's making her misfire.

  Wayne - Customer : You wanna run that by me in English?

  Ken Miles : All right, sir.

  [Miles walks out of the car he is servicing and grabs his tin cup] 

  Ken Miles : So... that there, that is a sport car. You have to drive her like a sport car. If you drive her like a school teacher, she'll clog up. All right? Try changing up at 5,000 RPM, not two. Drive like you mean it. Hard and tight. She'll run clean.

  Wayne - Customer : Are you telling me I don't know how to drive my own car?

  Ken Miles : No. But if you ask me, this isn't your car. Your car's more a Plymouth or a Studebaker.

  Wayne - Customer : You and me have a problem, buddy?

  Ken Miles : I don't have a problem. I had an MG. Mine just ran fine.

  Wayne - Customer : Screw you, you limey prick! I want my money back.

  Ken Miles : Oh, behave. I'd give it to ya. But you haven't paid for last month's service yet.

  Wayne - Customer : This country, the customer's always right. You ever hear that?

  [Wayne enters his MG A] 

  Ken Miles : Yeah, yeah. Utter nonsense. Now remember, I advanced the timing, so a smidge twitchy in first.

  [Wayne speeds off, struggling to control his MG A] 

  Ken Miles : Get the revs up. Good lad. Revs up. Ta-ra.

• Carroll Shelby : How long have we known each other, Champ? Did I ever break a promise to you? I will put you in the driver's seat at Le Mans if you just shut your mouth and let me do my thing.

  [Miles raises his eyebrows, then punches Shelby in the face] 

  Carroll Shelby : All right.

  [Shelby tackles Miles and they fight while Mollie unfolds a chair and watches. Eventually they stop fighting and laugh] 

  Mollie Miles : Morning, Shelby.

  Carroll Shelby : Good morning, Mollie.

  Mollie Miles : [Mollie grabs some bottles of Coke at Ken's request] 

  Ken Miles : [Miles toasts Shelby] 

  Ken Miles : Up yours.

  Carroll Shelby : Oh, go to hell.

• [while racing at Willow Springs, Gurney notices Miles' broken windshield] 

  Dan Gurney : Hey, Ken. What happened to your shield?

  Ken Miles : New design.

• Carroll Shelby : It was a hell of a drive.

  Ken Miles : She's a hell of a machine.

  Carroll Shelby : Oh, she's fast.

  Ken Miles : Could be faster.

• [Miles continues to argue with the SCCA Official over the trunk space of his Cobra] 

  Ken Miles : How is that even possible? Is he putting boxes in their trunk? Is he, mate? Hey! Jim! Is he putting his bloody carryall in your trunk?

  SCCA Official : Discretionary infraction.

  [Miles pulls out the handbook] 

  Ken Miles : Nothing in there about my trunk and your lovely little portmanteau.

  SCCA Official : You're holding the '62 edition of the SCCA.

  [Miles puts down the book and removes the sticker off his hood and places it on the SCCA Official's jacket] 

  Ken Miles : And you can stick this bloody sticker where the sun don't shine!

  Carroll Shelby : Hey. Hey, Bill. What seems to be the problem, Bill?

  Ken Miles : The problem is that Bill here is an arsehole.

  Carroll Shelby : No, he doesn't mean that.

  Ken Miles : Oh, yes, he does. Yes, he does. No, he really does think that Bill is an arsehole.

  SCCA Official : I'm just doing my job here.

  Carroll Shelby : Hang on. Bill, Bill, Bill. In my experience, there is... listen to me. Something like this, there's always a middle ground. All right? Now, Ken's outta line.

  SCCA Official : And I'm just doing my job.

  Carroll Shelby : I understand you are. You know how he gets on a race day. You know that. All right? But you're not gonna DQ us over a trunk.

  [Miles grabs a hammer, opens his trunk and starts beating the inside of the trunk lid until it fits the fuel cell] 

  Ken Miles : Happy, Bill?

  Carroll Shelby : Bill, I'll handle it. I'll talk to him. I'll talk to him. You just go and have a great day.

• Carroll Shelby : Shit. Bulldog.

  Ken Miles : Huh?

  Carroll Shelby : You know who that was I was just talking to?

  Ken Miles : Bill.

  Carroll Shelby : Before that.

  Ken Miles : No.

  Carroll Shelby : It was Dieter Voss.

  Ken Miles : Who's that?

  Carroll Shelby : He runs Porsche, Ken. It's a little German car company. Maybe you heard of it.

  Ken Miles : All right.

  Carroll Shelby : He wanted you to drive at Sebring. But he heard you were difficult.

  [Miles sighs] 

  Ken Miles : I thought we felt the same way about, uh, Germans.

  [Ken turns around to work on his Cobra] 

  Carroll Shelby : Do you like losing, Ken?

  Ken Miles : Excuse me?

  Carroll Shelby : Oh, you heard me.

  Ken Miles : I don't lose.

  Carroll Shelby : Without sponsors, you get no car, Ken. And last I checked, the professionals all have a car.

  Ken Miles : Shel!

  Carroll Shelby : You cannot win the SCCA without one. If you're not winning, you are losing.

  Ken Miles : Don't make me lamp this at your head.

  Carroll Shelby : Did you bring your son all the way out here to watch you get disqualified or just act like a jackass?

  [Miles throws his wrench at Shelby, breaking the windshield of his Cobra] 

  Carroll Shelby : Well, that answers that.

• [Miles works on his Shelby Cobra while an SCCA Official loads a fuel cell in the trunk and is unable to shut the trunk lid] 

  Ken Miles : You all right?

  SCCA Official : Paragraph 15.4, section 2b of the SCCA standard dictates all AF cars must have minimum trunk space of 20 inches by 12 inches by six inches. Your trunk doesn't close. Ergo car fails standard.

  Ken Miles : Wait, wait, wait. What?

  SCCA Official : Ergo car is disqualified from said Class A competition.

  Ken Miles : Hold on a second. No, no, no. Look, look, look. Can I ask you a question, all right? When you were a little boy, did you think, 'When I grow up, I want to go to the fabled Willow Springs Raceway, and I want to enforce paragraph 15.4, section 2b of the SCCA regulations on luggage capacity'? Did you?

  SCCA Official : All right, that's it. I'm ruling you and your team disqualified from this race.

  [SCCA official places a sticker on the hood] 

• Ken Miles : So, you think that Ford are going to let you build the car that you want, the way you want it? Ford. Motor. Company. Those guys. Have you ever been to Detroit? I mean, they have floors and floors of lawyers. And millions of marketing guys. And they're all gonna want to meet you; oh, they're gonna want to get their photo taken with the great Carroll Shelby. And they're all gonna kiss your ass, and they're gonna go back to their lovely offices, and then work out new ways to screw you. Why? Because they can't help it. Because they just want to please their boss who wants to please his boss who wants to please his boss. And they hate themselves for it. But deep down, who they hate even more are guys like you. Because you're not like them, because you don't think like them, because you're different.