Eat My Dust (1976)

Ron Howard: Hoover Niebold

Photos 

Quotes 

• Hoover Niebold : [referring to his father]  He named me Hoover because I put him into a depression.

• Darlene Kurtz : I feel like Goldilocks.

  Hoover Niebold : Yeah, well, watch out for the three bears.

• Hoover Niebold : Just because I've got a stupid name, it doesn't mean I'm not worth going out with.

• Sheriff Niebold : [Notices Hoover and his friends running up to the grandstand]  Hoover?

  Hoover Niebold : [Nervously]  Uh, hiya, dad.

  Sheriff Niebold : Don't you give me that.

  Hoover Niebold : What?

  Sheriff Niebold : Did you change the towels at the Exxon over on Magnolia?

  Hoover Niebold : [Looking over at he track]  Uh, yeah. Yeah, I did.

  Sheriff Niebold : Yeah? What time?

  [Noticing Hoover still staring at the track] 

  Sheriff Niebold : Pay attention to me!

  Hoover Niebold : [Still looking]  8:07.

  Sheriff Niebold : Look at me, when you're talking to me! Now, what time were you at the Exxon?

  Hoover Niebold : I told you, Dad. 9:07.

  Sheriff Niebold : 9:07, huh? Well, what time did you change the towels at the Sheriff's Office?

  Hoover Niebold : [rolls his eyes]  Between 9:16 and 9:22.

  Sheriff Niebold : Oh, yeah? Well, how did you get from the Exxon to the Sheriff's Office in nine minutes without getting a speeding ticket, huh?

  [Hoover hands his father a crumpled-up speeding ticket and joins his friends in the bleachers as everybody starts laughing] 

  Sheriff Niebold : WHAT'S SO FUNNY? Oh, it just makes me sick to see grown men laughing at something like that. You know when you laugh, it just encourages them to do more of the same! How the hell do you expect to control your kids?

  Frank Darnel : I don't know, Harry. How do YOU do it?

  [everybody starts laughing again] 

  Frank Darnel : Come on, tell me.

  Sheriff Niebold : THAT'S IT! One more word and you're under arrest.

• Sheriff Niebold : [Hoover unintentionally disables the police car Harry is riding in]  Hoover!

  Hoover Niebold : Hi, dad!

  Darlene Kurtz : Bye-bye, dad!

• Sheriff Niebold : Hoover, can you hear me?

  Hoover Niebold : I hear you, pappy, but I can't quite reach you.

• Big Bubba Jones : Hoover, you ain't got a double-D goddamn chance with these old boys. Why don't you just give yourself up?

  Hoover Niebold : Ask my father!

  Big Bubba Jones : What in holy-hollerin' hell does he got to do with it?

  Hoover Niebold : Oh, nothing! He just wants to throw me in jail, fine me a million dollars, and then feed my guts to the cat!

  Big Bubba Jones : Aw, he wouldn't do that, no. I'LL EAT 'EM MYSELF!

• Sheriff Niebold : Hoover! The only reason you won't give yourself up is because you're scared of me!

  Hoover Niebold : No, it's because of what you said you'd do to me!

  Sheriff Niebold : Aw, Jesus Christ, don't you have any guts?

• Darlene Kurtz : [Deputy Brookside is chasing after the kids]  Can they catch us?

  Hoover Niebold : Yeah, if I run into a wall or something.

• Sheriff Niebold : [angrily]  Hoover! This is your father speaking in the capacity of the sheriff!

  Oly : [singing]  I shot the sheriff...

  [Harry shakes his fist at Oly as a warning] 

  Hoover Niebold : I'm all ears!

  Sheriff Niebold : We're gonna have you boxed in in just a minute, so it's best that you give up now and make it easier on yourself.

  Hoover Niebold : What about the kids?

  Sheriff Niebold : You're stalling!

  Hoover Niebold : What about Darlene?

  Sheriff Niebold : Oh, for Christ's sake, what have you done to her?

  Hoover Niebold : Nothing you didn't teach me, Dad!

• Sheriff Niebold : [over the intercom radio as Hoover and Darlene ride back into town]  All right, son. This is my final offer: probation and thirty percent of your salary. If I tried to do anymore than that, I'd have to resign!

  Dep. Brookside : Well, you'll have to resign anyway, Harry.

  Dep. Gallo : Yeah, the jig's up!

  Dep. Brookside : Oh, yeah, you're finished.

  Sheriff Niebold : SHUT UP, WILL YA?

  Dep. Brookside : Thirty percent of what?

  Dep. Gallo : Yeah, who would give that punk a job?

  Dep. Brookside : I wouldn't!

  Sheriff Niebold : That's it, shithead! You're fired!

  Dep. Brookside : You can't fire us!

  Dep. Brookside , Dep. Gallo : WE QUIT!

  Big Bubba Jones : Shoot, sheriff. The kid's won. He can get a ride on any Double-D goddamn track in the country!

  Hoover Niebold : [to Darlene]  Is the ride over?

  Darlene Kurtz : That's up to you.

• Big Bubba Jones : [noticing Hoover is driving Mabel up a steep mountain road]  Oh, what's he doing--don't go up there, son! Mabel can't make it!

  Hoover Niebold : [over CB]  She's trying.

  Big Bubba Jones : [exasperated]  Ohh!

  Elmer : [handing Bubba a can of beer]  Have a beer.