Men of Honor (also released as Men of Honour) is a 2000 drama film about the first African American, then also the first amputee, US Navy Diver and the man who trained him.

Directed by George Tillman, Jr.. Written by Scott Marshall Smith.
History is made by those who break the rules. (tagline)

Leslie William 'Billy' Sunday

  • President Harry S. Truman had the courage and forward-thinking and enlightenment...to desegregate the United States military.
  • My name is Master Chief Billy Sunday. There was a preacher by the same name who cleaned up Chicago of all the whoring spics, drunken wops and motherfucking niggers that was making that place unfit for decent white folks to live. The only difference between me and that old preacher is that he worked for God, and I am God!
  • The Navy Diver is not a fighting man, he is a salvage expert. If it is lost underwater, he finds it. If it's sunk, he brings it up. If it's in the way, he moves it. If he's lucky, he will die young, 200 feet beneath the waves, for that is the closest he'll ever get to being a hero. Hell, I don't know why anybody'd want to be a Navy diver.
  • You see this pipe? General MacArthur himself smoked this pipe. I served with him in Leyte Gulf. Biggest naval battle in history. Kamikaze ripped into this escort carrier, name of Saint Lo. She went down on a shallow reef, trapping me and six boys in the fire room. Only one way out. (Carl Brashear: Flood the compartment and swim up.) Five decks, cookie. Five fuckin' decks. Locked bulkheads, dead bodies everywhere. You got to have your balls screwed on tight for that swim. We still had intercom. Old MacArthur himself came over that squawk box, "Sunday, you cocky son of a bitch, I bet you can't hold your breath for four minutes and swim out ofthere." Know what I said back ? "No, Mac, I can't, but I'll bet you your cob pipe I can hold it for five, 'cause that's what it's gonna take, motherfucker."
  • A Chief Petty Officer shall not drink. However, if he should drink he shall not get drunk. If he should get drunk, he shall not stagger. And if he should stagger, he shall not fall. And if he should fall, he will fall in such a manner as to cover up his rank so that passerbyers will think he is an officer.
  • Goddammit Cookie, move your ass, I want my TWELVE!
  • You know what the Chinese say Cookie, "Beware, what you wish for."

Carl Brashear

  • Sir, I am a Navy man. Where I come from, there are no oceans. Only dirt farms and ornery mules. And no self-respecting Navy man makes a living driving mules.
  • You were right, Chief. You and I have nothing in common. I may be some dirt dumb nigger from Podunk, but at least I'm making something of myself. You, you're the same hateful, little man you started out as. Without diving, you're nothing but a lost, broke-down son of a bitch who used to be something.
  • M-My name is...Boatswain's Mate Second Class... C-C-Carl Brashear. I am a Navy Diver.
  • So I'm asking this: Cut off my leg and assemble a full medical review board 12 weeks from today. It is then that I will demonstrate that I am fit to return to full diving duty.
  • Sir, I promise, if I am killed at sea, I will make every effort to die like a Navy man.

Others

  • Mac Brashear: Don't! Don't you ever come back here. Get in there and fight, Carl. Don't take promises. Bust all their rules if you have to. And when it gets hard, and it will, don't quit on me. Ever! Now, go on. Don't come back here.
  • Recruiter: You got a big future... in the U.S. Navy.
  • Mr Pappy:Billy, there may come a day when a colored diver graduates from this school, but it won't be tomorrow, or as long as I'm here.

Dialogue

Carl Brashear: Permission to relieve the man below, Master Chief.
Billy Sunday: What are you, cookie, some kind of goddamn hero ? I got no room in my class for heroes or stutterin' swim champs with a wife and kids to worry about, do you read me?
Carl Brashear: If you wanna flunk me, flunk me, but don't punish him for being decent to me.
Billy Sunday: I don't have to flunk you. You're gonna do that all on your own.
Jo: Why do you want this so bad?
Carl Brashear: Because they said I couldn't have it.
Billy Sunday: Think you deserve to be here, don't ya? Fraternizing among navy men? Think you're as good as they are? How 'bout me, cookie? You better than me?
Carl Brashear: You're damn right I am!
Jo: Don't you see? I'm not like you. The things I want... The things I want are smaller. If I just work hard and keep my head down...
Carl Brashear: Your whole life will pass you by.
Mr. Pappy: Did you know that ordinary house dust is composed primarily of human skin?
Billy Sunday: No sir, I didn't know that.
Mr. Pappy: Makes you think twice about who you invite into your home.
Carl Brashear:All I ever wanted to do was to make Master Diver.
Billy Sunday:All I ever wanted to do was stay one.
Carl Brashear: Forgive me sir, but to me, the Navy isn't a business. It's an organization of people who represent the finest aspects of our nation. We have many traditions. In my career, I have encountered most of them. Some are good, some not so good. I would, however not be here today were it not for our greatest tradition of all.
Captain Hanks: And which one is that, Chief Brashear?
Carl Brashear: Honor, sir
Diving Student: (Standing in his underwear banging a pot with a spoon) I Stole a Pie! I stole a Pie! I stole a Pie!

Tagline

  • History is made by those who break the rules.

Cast

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