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We salute our veterans with 20 top military movie quotes

Posted Tuesday, November 11, 2014 at 4:09 PM Central
Last updated Tuesday, November 11, 2014 at 4:17 PM Central

by John Couture

We can never fully express our gratitude for everything that our veterans have given us. Simply having the freedom to create a website devoted to films and the autonomy to know that we are free to say whatever we want (within reason naturally) is something that Tim and I both hold dearly.

We also know that we wouldn't be able to enjoy these freedoms and liberties if it weren't for the sacrifices and duties given by the veterans of our armed forces. We could never hope to fully express our gratitude, but we thought one way that we could show our love for veterans is to come up with a list of our top quotes from our favorite military movies.

To be honest, I could have created an exhaustive list simply from Full Metal Jacket, but the language is just a bit too salty for many of our favorite quotes. So, instead, we cobbled a list of 20 quotes from a few of the best military films. Obviously this list isn't exhaustive and please feel free to add your favorites below.

As for Full Metal Jacket, a few still made the list, but I think I'll try and find it tonight and give it another watch for posterity. Man, that film is just great.

Without further ado, here is our list of top 20 quotes in military films.

  1. Captain Miller: "The Statue of Liberty is kaput" - that's disconcerting.
    - Saving Private Ryan
  2. 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.
    - Patton
  3. Gunnery Sergeant Hartman: I am Gunnery Sergeant Hartman, your senior drill instructor. From now on you will speak only when spoken to, and the first and last words out of your filthy sewers will be "Sir". Do you maggots understand that?
    Recruits: Sir, yes Sir.
    - Full Metal Jacket
  4. Kurtz: The horror... the horror...
    - Apocalypse Now
  5. Chef: Why do all you guys sit on your helmets?
    Soldier: So we don't get our balls blown off.
    - Apocalypse Now
  6. Private Reiben: I got a bad feeling about this one.
    Captain Miller: When was the last time you felt good about anything?
    - Saving Private Ryan
  7. Sergeant Horvath: I don't know. Part of me thinks the kid's right. He asks what he's done to deserve this. He wants to stay here, fine. Let's leave him and go home. But then another part of me thinks, what if by some miracle we stay, then actually make it out of here. Someday we might look back on this and decide that saving Private Ryan was the one decent thing we were able to pull out of this whole godawful, shitty mess. Like you said, Captain, maybe we do that, we all earn the right to go home.
    - Saving Private Ryan
  8. Kilgore: If I say it's safe to surf this beach, Captain, then it's safe to surf this beach! I mean, I'm not afraid to surf this place, I'll surf this whole fucking place! Charlie don't surf!
    - Apocalypse Now
  9. Gunnery Sergeant Hartman: As soon as your bunks are done, I want you two turds to clean the head.
    Joker and Cowboy: Sir, yes, sir.
    Gunnery Sergeant Hartman: I want that head so sanitary and squared-away that the Virgin Mary herself would be proud to go in and take a dump.
    - Full Metal Jacket
  10. Patton: There's only one proper way for a professional soldier to die: the last bullet of the last battle of the last war.
    - Patton
  11. Private Ryan: Hell, these guys deserve to go home as much as I do. They've fought just as hard.
    Captain Miller: Is that what I'm supposed to tell your mother when she gets another folded American flag?
    Private Ryan: You can tell her that when you found me, I was with the only brothers I had left. And that there was no way I was deserting them. I think she'd understand that.
    - Saving Private Ryan
  12. Sgt. O'Neill: Excuses are like assholes, Taylor, everybody got one.
    - Platoon
  13. Gunnery Sergeant Hartman: How tall are you, private?
    Private Cowboy: Sir, five-foot-nine, sir.
    Gunnery Sergeant Hartman: Five-foot-nine, I didn't know they stacked shit that high!
    - Full Metal Jacket
  14. Private Ryan: Picture a girl who took a nosedive from the ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down.
    - Saving Private Ryan
  15. Lieutenant Dewindt: FUBAR.
    Private Reiben: FUBAR.
    Sergeant Horvath: FUBAR.
    Captain Miller: FUBAR
    Private Jackson: Y'all got that right.
    Corporal Upham: I looked up "fubar" in the German dictionary and there's no fubar in here.
    - Saving Private Ryan
  16. Da Nang Hooker: Hey, baby. You got girlfriend Vietnam?
    Private Joker: Not just this minute.
    Da Nang Hooker: Well, baby, me so horny. Me so HORNY. Me love you long time. You party?
    Private Joker: Yeah, we might party. How much?
    Da Nang Hooker: Fifteen dollar.
    - Full Metal Jacket
  17. Captain Miller: He better be worth it. He better go home and cure a disease, or invent a longer-lasting light bulb.
    - Saving Private Ryan
  18. Private Ryan: What, sir?
    Captain Miller: James, earn this... earn it.
    - Saving Private Ryan
  19. Private Joker: Leonard, if Hartman comes in here and catches us, we'll both be in a world of shit.
    Private Gomer Pyle: I *am*... in a world... of shit.
    - Full Metal Jacket
  20. Kilgore: I love the smell of napalm in the morning... Smelled like victory.
    - Apocalypse Now