Batman Begins (2005)

Michael Caine: Alfred

Photos 

Quotes 

• Alfred Pennyworth : Took quite a fall, didn't we, Master Bruce?

  Thomas Wayne : And why do we fall, Bruce? So we can learn to pick ourselves up.

• [as Wayne Manor is burning down] 

  Bruce Wayne : What have I done, Alfred? Everything my family... my father built...

  Alfred Pennyworth : The Wayne legacy is more than bricks and mortar, sir.

  Bruce Wayne : I wanted to save Gotham. I failed.

  Alfred Pennyworth : Why do we fall sir? So that we can learn to pick ourselves up.

  Bruce Wayne : You still haven't given up on me?

  Alfred Pennyworth : Never.

• Alfred Pennyworth : Why bats, Master Wayne?

  Bruce Wayne : Bats frighten me. It's time my enemies shared my dread.

• [trying to lug a burning roof beam off of a helpless Bruce] 

  Alfred Pennyworth : What is the point of all those push-ups if you can't even lift a bloody log?

• Alfred Pennyworth : Are you coming back to Gotham for long, sir?

  Bruce Wayne : As long as it takes. I'm gonna show the people of Gotham their city doesn't belong to the criminals and the corrupt.

  Alfred Pennyworth : In the depression, your father nearly bankrupted Wayne Enterprises combating poverty. He believed that his example could inspire the wealthy of Gotham to save their city.

  Bruce Wayne : Did it?

  Alfred Pennyworth : In a way. Their murder shocked the wealthy and the powerful into action.

  Bruce Wayne : People need dramatic examples to shake them out of apathy and I can't do that as Bruce Wayne. As a man, I'm flesh and blood, I can be ignored, I can be destroyed; but as a symbol... as a symbol I can be incorruptible, I can be everlasting.

  Alfred Pennyworth : What symbol?

  Bruce Wayne : Something elemental, something terrifying.

  Alfred Pennyworth : I assume that as you're taking on the underworld, this symbol is a persona to protect those you care about from reprisals.

  Bruce Wayne : You're thinking about Rachel?

  Alfred Pennyworth : Actually, sir, I was thinking of myself.

• Bruce Wayne : [as Alfred opens the curtains]  Bats are nocturnal.

  Alfred Pennyworth : Bats may be, but even for billionaire playboys, three o'clock is pushing it. The price of leading a double life, I fear. Your theatrics made an impression.

  [shows the newspaper to Bruce] 

  Bruce Wayne : Theatricality and deception are powerful weapons, Alfred. It's a good start.

  Alfred Pennyworth : If those are to be the first of many injuries to come, it would be wise to find a suitable excuse. Polo, for instance.

  Bruce Wayne : I'm not learning polo, Alfred.

  Alfred Pennyworth : Strange injuries a non-existent social life, these things beg the question as to what exactly does Bruce Wayne do with his time and his money.

  Bruce Wayne : And what does someone like me do?

  Alfred Pennyworth : Drive sports cars, date movie stars, buy things that are not for sale... who knows, Master Wayne? You start pretending to have fun, you might even have a little by accident.

• Alfred Pennyworth : Will you be heading back to Princeton after the hearing, sir, or can I persuade you to stay on for a day or two?

  Bruce Wayne : I'm not heading back at all.

  Alfred Pennyworth : You don't like it there?

  Bruce Wayne : I like it fine. They just don't feel the same way.

  Alfred Pennyworth : I've prepared the master bedroom.

  Bruce Wayne : No. My room will be fine.

  Alfred Pennyworth : With all due respect, sir, Wayne Manor is your house.

  Bruce Wayne : No, Alfred, it's my father's house.

  Alfred Pennyworth : Your father is dead, Master Wayne.

  Bruce Wayne : And this place is a mausoleum. If I have my way, I'll pull the damn thing down brick by brick.

  Alfred Pennyworth : This house, Master Wayne, has sheltered six generations of your family.

  Bruce Wayne : Why do you give a damn, Alfred? It's not your family.

  Alfred Pennyworth : I give a damn, because a good man once made me responsible for what was most precious to him in the whole world. Miss Dawes has offered to drive you to the hearing. She probably hopes to talk you out of going.

  Bruce Wayne : Should I just bury the past out there with my parents, Alfred?

  Alfred Pennyworth : I wouldn't presume to tell you what to do with your past, sir. Just know that there are those of us who care about what you do with your future.

  Bruce Wayne : Haven't given up on me yet?

  Alfred Pennyworth : Never.

• Bruce Wayne : Have you told anyone I'm coming back?

  Alfred Pennyworth : Well, I just couldn't figure the legal ramifications of bringing you back from the dead.

  Bruce Wayne : Dead?

  Alfred Pennyworth : You've been gone seven years.

  Bruce Wayne : You had me declared dead?

  Alfred Pennyworth : Well, actually it was Mr. Earle, he's taking the company public. He wanted to liquidate your majority shareholding. Those shares are worth quite a bit of money.

  Bruce Wayne : Well, it's a good thing I left everything to you, then.

  Alfred Pennyworth : Quite so, sir. And you can borrow the Rolls if you like. Just bring it back with a full tank.

• Alfred Pennyworth : [referring to ordering the separate cowl pieces from Asia]  They'll have to be, uh, large orders, uh, to avoid suspicion.

  Bruce Wayne : How large?

  Alfred Pennyworth : Say, uh, 10,000.

  Bruce Wayne : Well, at least we'll have spares.

• Rachel Dawes : [looking at the ruins of the burned down Wayne Manor]  What will you do?

  Bruce Wayne : Rebuild it. Just the way it was, brick for brick.

  Alfred Pennyworth : *Just* the way it was, sir?

  Bruce Wayne : Yeah. Why?

  Alfred Pennyworth : I thought this might be a good opportunity for improving the foundations.

  Bruce Wayne : In the south-east corner?

  Alfred Pennyworth : Precisely, sir.

• [Alfred smashes a prototype cowl with a baseball bat] 

  Alfred Pennyworth : It's a problem with the graphite, sir. The next 10,000 will be up to specifications.

  Bruce Wayne : At least they gave us a discount.

  Alfred Pennyworth : Quite. In the, uh, meantime, Sir, may I suggest you try to avoid landing on your head?

• Bruce Wayne : We need to send these people away now.

  Alfred Pennyworth : Those are Bruce Wayne's guests out there, sir. You have a name to maintain.

  Bruce Wayne : I don't care about my name.

  Alfred Pennyworth : It's not just your name, sir! It's your father's name! And it's all that's left of him. Don't destroy it.

• Alfred Pennyworth : Master Wayne, you've been gone a long time.

  Bruce Wayne : Yes I have.

  Alfred Pennyworth : You look very fashionable. Apart from the mud.

• Alfred Pennyworth : When you told me your grand plan for saving Gotham, the only thing that stopped me from calling the men in white coats was when you said that it wasn't about thrill-seeking.

  Bruce Wayne : It's not.

  Alfred Pennyworth : What would you call *that*?

  [points to a TV news report showing a helicopter shot of the Batmobile being chased down the freeway by police cars] 

  Bruce Wayne : [as he fixes his tie]  Damn good television.

  Alfred Pennyworth : It's a miracle no one was killed.

  Bruce Wayne : Didn't have time to observe the rules of the road, Alfred.

• Alfred Pennyworth : [to Bruce]  Batman may have made the front page, but Bruce Wayne got pushed to page eight.

  [Bruce reads the headline: "Drunken Billionaire Burns Down Home."] 

• Alfred Pennyworth : [walking through the Batcave]  In the Civil War, your great-great grandfather was involved in the Underground Railroad, secretly transporting freed slaves to the North. And I suspect these caverns came in handy.

• [one of Ra's' henchmen watches Wayne Manor burn, to make sure no one comes out; Alfred sneaks up and knocks him out with a golf club] 

  Alfred Pennyworth : I hope you're not a member of the fire brigade.

• Bruce Wayne : Give it a try!

  [Alfred turns on the lights of the cave] 

  Alfred Pennyworth : Charming.

  [looks up and sees thousands of bats] 

  Alfred Pennyworth : At least you'll have company.

• [greets Bruce from the entryway of a private jet, seeing him for the first time after he left Gotham City seven years before to travel the world anonymously and train himself to fight criminals] 

  Alfred Pennyworth : You look very fashionable. Apart from the mud.

• Alfred Pennyworth : [walking through the Batcave]  In the Civil War, your great-great grandfather was involved in the underground railroad, secretly transporting free slaves to the North. And I suspect these caverns came in handy.