Casualties of War

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Casualties of War is a 1989 film about a soldier in the Vietnam war who finds himself the outsider of his own squad when they unnecessarily kidnap, rape, and murder a female villager.

Directed by Brian De Palma. Written by David Rabe, based on the novel by Daniel Lang.
Even in war... murder is murder. taglines

Contents

[edit] Sergeant Tony Meserve

  • Some mad fuckin' minute, huh cherry?
  • Oh, you wanna take an attack posture wit' me? Yeah, you got a weapon. Clark got a weapon, Clark got a knife! We all got weapons! Anybody can blow anybody away, any second. Which is the way it ought to be. Always.
  • Yea though I walk through the valley of evil, I will fear no death. Cuz I'm the meanest motherfucker in the valley!
  • Brownie, look into my fuckin' eyes I'm gonna hypnotize you. YOU'RE FINE!
  • [Holding up his M4] The army calls this a weapon. But it ain't. [Holding his crotch] This is a weapon, [holding up the M4 again] this is a gun. This is for fighting, this is for fun.
  • A VC sympathizer can get killed real easy, don't you know that? Somebody stumbles, they don't mean to shoot you, they're sorry... friendly fuckin' casualty. I mean, a body bag's a body bag, right?
  • Di di mao, gentlemen.
  • Well, sir, I've seen a lot of killing. Which it's our duty to do. 'Cause it's kill or be killed. Sometimes you hate the enemy so badly... [grins]

[edit] Second Lieutenant Reilly

  • So about eight years ago I'm still in Two Creeks. My wife's about to give birth to her first child. I took her to the hospital, natural thing to do. Well, she was refused admittance to this hospital on the basis of her race- which is, as you might guess, Negro. Next thing I know the baby ain't about to wait. And so my son is born on the goddamn floor of this hospital's reception room... Eriksson, I flipped the fuck out. I started turnin' over chairs, kickin' lamps- wasn't long before I was in jail. Now, wasn't I on the side of righteousness? So what was I doing in jail? What I was doing, let me advise you, was fixin' to shoot some mothafucka's working in that hospital, that's what I was doing.

[edit] Captain Hill

  • Even if these guys get convicted, they're not gonna do any real time. They're gonna be out of the stockade faster than you can flick flies off a shit. And if I was them, I'd be pissed off! I'd be lookin' for a little PAYBACK!

[edit] Others

  • Eriksson: This goddamn thing's turnin' us on our heads, man! I mean, Just because any of us at any second might be blown away, everybody's acting like we can do anything, man! And it don't matter what we do! But I'm thinkin' maybe it's the other way around. You know, maybe the main thing is just the opposite. Because we might be dead in the next split second, we gotta be extra careful what we do. Jesus, man, maybe it matters more than we even know.
  • Cpl. Clark: Hey man, what happens in the field, stays in the field.
  • Brownie: First thirty days you're here you don't know shit, last thirty days you don't give a shit.

[edit] Dialogue

Capt. Hill: Eriksson- these men fucked up good. But you bringing formal charges against them- is that gonna help that poor girl one little bit?
Eriksson: Maybe if you'd have been there, sir. Maybe if you'd heard her screaming, you'd feel-
Capt. Hill: YOU DON'T TELL ME SHIT ABOUT SCREAMING, BOY! I've heard a LOT of fuckin' screaming in this country! Most of it's come from wounded American boys. [Pauses] I'm gonna transfer you out of my company, Eriksson. I'll get you out of the bush, out of the infantry- any fuckin' place you wanna go, you name it. I saw your 201 file in the rear. Said you volunteered to be a tunnel rat. Is that what you want, Eriksson?
Eriksson: I'd like to get out of this particular company, yes, sir.
Capt. Hill: Well, that's a roge, Eriksson, you're a tunnel rat. We get to the rear, you pack your trash-
Eriksson: That's not gonna keep me from trying to bring this thing out, sir.
Capt. Hill: Nobody's trying to keep you from doing a goddamn thing. My function here is to tell you just how something like this is gonna come down. And I oughta tell you that military court-martials are notoriously lenient, and stateside review boards are even more lenient. Even if these four guys get convicted they're not gonna do any real time.
Eriksson: Yes, sir.
Capt. Hill: In fact, they're gonna be out of the stockade before you can flick flies off a shit, Eriksson. And if I was them, I'd be pissed off- wouldn't you? I'd be lookin' for a little PAYBACK! Now a man like you- wife, baby daughter- I'd be considering those factors very carefully.
Eriksson: Pardon me sir, what's your point, sir?
Capt. Hill: There ain't no point, Eriksson. I'm simply trying to illuminate the terrain in which we currently find ourselves deployed. You don't mind that, do you? And if you do, FUCK YOU! You on my frequency?!
Eriksson: Yes SIR!
Capt. Hill: YOU FUCKIN' MAGGOT! Who the hell do you think you are?! You're in that report recommending Meserve for a Bronze Star- he pulled you out of a VC tunnel, boy! Now that shit with the girl, that was wrong. But he's a kid, Eriksson, he's twenty goddamn years old! And you're gonna ruin his life! He saved yours.
Clark: The army don't wanna surprise us.
Meserve: Leave it to the dinks for that, huh?
Eriksson: Give me a minute on this thing we're doing. I mean, what we're doing. What are we doing, sarge?
Meserve: We have a VC suspect. Is that what you mean? She's a VC whore and we're gonna have fun with her.
Eriksson: She's just a farm girl.
Meserve: You're the cherry here, right? So lighten up. Let me carry the weight.
Clark: What's the problem, sarge?
Meserve: He don't think our VC whore is a VC whore.
Rowan: [Eriksson is explaining the killing of the Vietnamese girl to Rowan, unaware that Clarke is behind him] Uh, was Clarke in on all this?
Eriksson: Oh, yeah, man. He's fucking nuts-
Rowan: [interrupting] He's right here.
Meserve: Don't fuck with me. You're taking your turn in there.
Eriksson: No! I ain't raping nobody!
Meserve: You think you're sayin' no to ME? You ain't hotshot enough to be sayin' no to me. [Eriksson walks out of the hut] MOTHERFUCK- MOTHERFUCKER! You think you're standin' up to me? HUH?!
Eriksson: I ain't doin' it! No way!
Meserve: Well, what's the matter, don't you like girls? Ain't you got a pair, is your problem?
Clark: What's goin' on here, sarge?
Meserve: Eriksson here don't wanna ball the dink.
Clark: Why?
Meserve: I don' know.
Meserve: I hate the army. I bet you like the army, don't you Eriksson?
Eriksson: This ain't the army. This ain't the army, sarge.
Clark: [after the rapes] When's the last time you had a real woman, Sarge?
Meserve: She was real.
Eriksson: Who got hit Sarge?
Hawthorne: The cherry. Man, that boy was bagged and tagged the minute they cut his orders to this place. They should've just shot him at home.
Eriksson: You sick son of a bitch!
Clark: I told you, cherry. What happen...
[Clark is hit in the face by Eriksson with a shovel]
Eriksson: Nobody cares, Meserve. Oh, I told everybody! I told them. You don't have to worry. You don't have to try to kill me, man. I told them, and THEY DON'T CARE!
Meserve: You dinky-dow, man. You buku dinky-dow!
Capt. Hill: You couldn't let it rest, could you? You had to push it.
Eriksson: Go to hell. SIR.
Girl on Bus: You had a bad dream, didn't you?
Eriksson: Yes.
Girl on Bus: It's over now, I think. Chao ong.

[edit] Tagline

  • Even in war... murder is murder.

[edit] Cast

[edit] External links

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