One of our favorite things about Veteran's Day, other than celebrating the heroic service to our nation from the men and women who have served in our armed forces, is the fact that it gives cable stations the perfect excuse to put together awesome war movie marathons.What better time, then, for us to bring to you some of our favorite lines from those classic films? So with that in mind, here's our list of the Most Memorable Lines in War Movie History.
Brig. Gen. Norman Cota (Robert Mitchum) in 'The Longest Day': "Only two kinds of people are gonna stay on this beach: those that are already dead and those that are gonna die. Now get off your butts. You guys are the Fighting 29th."
Lt. Col. Bill Kilgore (Robert Duvall) in 'Apocalypse Now': "I love the smell of napalm in the morning. You know, one time we had a hill bombed, for 12 hours. When it was all over, I walked up. We didn't find one of 'em, not one stinkin' dink body. The smell, you know that gasoline smell, the whole hill. Smelled like...victory. Someday this war's gonna end..."
Capt. John Miller (Tom Hanks) in 'Saving Private Ryan': "I just know that every man I kill, the farther away from home I feel."
Lt. Gen. Brian Horrocks (Edward Fox) in 'A Bridge Too Far': "I've selected you to lead us, not only because of your extraordinary fighting ability, but also because, in the unlikely event the Germans ever get you, they will assume from your attire that they've captured a wretched peasant and immediately send you on your way"
Gen George Patton (George C. Scott) in 'Patton': "Now I want you to remember that no bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country."
Gen. Jack D. Ripper (Sterling Hayden) in 'Dr. Strangelove': "War is too important to be left to politicians. They have neither the time, the training, nor the inclination for strategic thought."
William Wallace (Mel Gibson) in 'Braveheart': "They may take away our lives, but they'll never take our freedom!"
Adrian Kronauer (Robin Williams) in 'Good Morning Vietnam': "Good morning, Vietnam!"
Hoot (Eric Bana) in 'Black Hawk Down': "When I get home people will ask me, "Hey Hoot, why do you do it man? Why? You some war junkie?" You know what I'll say? I won't say a god damn word. Why? They won't understand. They won't understand why we do it. They won't understand that it's about the men next to you, and that's it. That's all it is."Chris Taylor (Charlie Sheen) in 'Platoon': "I think now, looking back, we did not fight the enemy, we fought ourselves. The enemy was in us. The war is over for me now, but it will always be there, the rest of my days."
Col. Oberst von Scherbach (Otto Preminger) in 'Stalag 17': "Nobody has ever escaped from Stalag 17. Not alive, anyway."
Col. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain (Jeff Daniels) in 'Gettysburg': "Generals can do anything. There's nothing so much like a god on earth as a General on a battlefield "
Maj. John Reisman (Lee Marvin) in 'The Dirty Dozen': "You've seen a general inspecting troops before haven't you? Just walk slow, act dumb and look stupid!"
Sgt. Major John Rawlins (Morgan Freeman) in 'Glory': "And what are you? So full of hate you want to go out and fight everybody! Because you've been whipped and chased by hounds. Well that might not be living, but it sure as hell ain't dying. And dying's been what these white boys have been doing for going on three years now! Dying by the thousands! Dying for *you*, fool! I know, 'cause I dug the graves. And all this time I keep askin' myself, when, O Lord, when it's gonna be our time?"
President Merklin Muffley (Peter Sellers) in 'Dr. Strangelove': "Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the War Room!"
Col. Mike Kirby (John Wayne) in 'The Green Berets': "Out here, due process is a bullet."
Capt. Benjamin Willard (Martin Sheen) in 'Apocalypse Now': "In a war there are many moments for compassion and tender action. There are many moments for ruthless action - what is often called ruthless - what may in many circumstances be only clarity, seeing clearly what there is to be done and doing it, directly, quickly, awake, looking at it"Paul Baumer (Lew Ayres) in 'All Quiet on the Western Front': "You still think it's beautiful to die for your country. The first bombardment taught us better. When it comes to dying for country, it's better not to die at all."
Gunnery Sgt. Hartman (Lee Ermey) in 'Full Metal Jacket': "What is your major malfunction?"
Oddball (Donald Sutherland) in 'Kelly's Heroes': "We see our role as essentially defensive in nature. While our armies are advancing so fast and everyone's knocking themselves out to be heroes, we are holding ourselves in reserve in case the Krauts mount a counteroffensive which threatens Paris... or maybe even New York. Then we can move in and stop them. But for 1.6 million dollars, we could become heroes for three days."
Maj. Clipton (James Donald) in 'The Bridge on the River Kwai': "Madness. Madness."
Related:
Best War Movies of All Time
10 Films, 10 Very Different War Veterans
Veteran's Day movies on SnagFilms
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