Million Dollar Baby Duty Quotes

How we cite our quotes: All quotations are from Million Dollar Baby.

Quote #4

FRANKIE: You watch it?

SCRAP: Yeah, I got HBO.

FRANKIE: Now, how can you afford HBO? How long have I been telling you save your money?

This exchange shows that Frankie feels responsible for more than just Scrap's eye. He also watches out for Scrap's finances and has a vested interest in Scrap's cable television needs. Of course, if this movie came out today, Scrap could just borrow Frankie's HBO Go password.

Quote #5

FRANKIE: I'm going to teach you how to fight. Then we'll get you a manager, and I'm off down the road.

MAGGIE: I hate to argue with you, but—

FRANKIE: Don't argue with me; that's the only way we're doing it. I teach you all you need to know, and you go off, you make a million dollars. I don't care. You get your teeth knocked out. I don't care. I don't want to hear about it either way. That's just the way it's going to be. It's the only way I'll do it.

Looks who's protecting himself now. After Big Willie, it seems that Frankie isn't looking to take on the obligation—and potential heartbreak—of another fighter.

Quote #6

SCRAP: To make a fighter, you gotta strip them down to bare wood. You can't just tell them to forget everything, you know; you gotta make them forget in their bones. Make them so tired they only listen to you, only hear your voice, only do what you say and nothing else. Show them how to keep their balance and take it away from the other guy. How to generate momentum off your right toe and how to flex your knees when you fire a jab. How to fight backing up so that the other guy doesn't want to come after you. Then you gotta show them all over again. Over and over and over... till they think they were born that way.

Here, Scrap explains a manager's duty to his or her fighter, which sounds just like how a mama bird raises a baby bird and then shoves it out of the nest—you know, except with lots of punching.