He was a skinny little bastard. Fearless. He'd hang upside down all day long in a bosun's...
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Gene McClary:
We used to make something here. Back before we got lost in the paperwork. At one time, we had a frigate, right here, back there. Guided missile cruiser. Phil started out here, in hull assembly. [laughs] Gene McClary:
He was a skinny little bastard. Fearless. He'd hang upside down all day long in a bosun's chair, 70 feet off the shop floor welding an inside seam. I mean, Jesus. Two thousand men a shift, three shifts a day. Six thousand men earned an honest wage in that room. Feb their kids, bought homes. Made enough to send their kids to college. Buy a second car. Building something they could see. Not just figures on a balance sheet, but a ship. They could see, smell, touch. Those men knew their worth, knew who they were. One day, you're making fifty dollars, the next day, 5,000. And then, one day, five million. Start out with a crazy plan. Take insane risks. Barely make enough money to feed your family. Not a chance in hell you're going to succeed. And then, all of a sudden, you've got all these things. You get terrified of losing them. Stock options, corporate jets, vacation homes in the Bahamas. You know. Truth is, I like 500-dollar lunches and 5,000-dollar hotel suites. Now, everything I spent 30 years trying to build for myself and everybody else is... gone
We used to make something here. Back before we got lost in the paperwork. At one time, we had a frigate, right here, back there. Guided missile cruiser. Phil started out here, in hull assembly. [laughs] Gene McClary:
He was a skinny little bastard. Fearless. He'd hang upside down all day long in a bosun's chair, 70 feet off the shop floor welding an inside seam. I mean, Jesus. Two thousand men a shift, three shifts a day. Six thousand men earned an honest wage in that room. Feb their kids, bought homes. Made enough to send their kids to college. Buy a second car. Building something they could see. Not just figures on a balance sheet, but a ship. They could see, smell, touch. Those men knew their worth, knew who they were. One day, you're making fifty dollars, the next day, 5,000. And then, one day, five million. Start out with a crazy plan. Take insane risks. Barely make enough money to feed your family. Not a chance in hell you're going to succeed. And then, all of a sudden, you've got all these things. You get terrified of losing them. Stock options, corporate jets, vacation homes in the Bahamas. You know. Truth is, I like 500-dollar lunches and 5,000-dollar hotel suites. Now, everything I spent 30 years trying to build for myself and everybody else is... gone
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Movie Summary
The story centers on a year in the life of three men trying to survive a round of corporate downsizing at a major company - and how that affects them, their families, and their communities.
