Heartbreak Ridge (1986)

Everett McGill: Major Malcolm Powers

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Quotes 

• Maj. Malcolm A. Powers : Your DD 1348 forms are not filled out correctly.

  Choozoo : Yes, sir.

  Maj. Malcolm A. Powers : We're going to approach this exercise in an orderly proficiant manner, Sergeant Major. I want each round of ammunition counted and returned in the exact condition in which it was received.

  Choozoo : I'll personally dot the I's and cross the T's, sir.

  Maj. Malcolm A. Powers : Sloppiness breeds inefficiency.

  [Ring and Highway approach] 

  Maj. Malcolm A. Powers : Your outfit looks like it could use some cleaning up, Gunny.

  Highway : Sir, I'd like to issued my squad leader a set of night vision goggles.

  Lieutenant M.R. Ring : Darn, I should have thought of that.

  Maj. Malcolm A. Powers : That is not part of your TO&E.

  Highway : But, sir, I...

  Maj. Malcolm A. Powers : Fill out the proper request forms and send it through the chain of command!

  Highway : Request forms!

  Maj. Malcolm A. Powers : [Colonel gets out of car]  Atten-shun! Major Malcom Powers, sir. Annapolis class of '71.

  Colonel Meyers : How are your men doing, Major?

  Maj. Malcolm A. Powers : My men are ready to fight to the death to defend our country, sir.

  Colonel Meyers : Well, let's hope that won't be necessary.

  [Looks at Highway] 

  Colonel Meyers : Have we ever served together?

  Highway : I don't know, sir. Sergeant Major Choozoo and I were in the 2nd Battalion and 7th in '68.

  Colonel Meyers : I had a rifle company in the 1st Battalion and 7th in '68.

  Highway : Well, we sure as hell chewed some of the same dirt, sir.

  Colonel Meyers : That's for sure. What's your assessment of this exercise?

  Highway : It's a cluster fuck.

  Colonel Meyers : Say again?

  Highway : Marines are fighting men, sir. They shouldn't be sitting around on their sorry asses filling out request forms for equipment they should already have.

  Colonel Meyers : Interesting observation. Carry on, Major.

  PA Announcer : Now hear this. Now hear this.

  Maj. Malcolm A. Powers : This is it. We're going to war.

• Maj. Malcolm A. Powers : I want this battalion to be the class of the division. I expect my non-commissioned officers to lead by example. Public fighting and insubordination to civilian authority are not what I call good standards!

  Highway : It was a minor altercation, sir.

  Maj. Malcolm A. Powers : That seems to be a habit with you, Gunny! A year ago you hit an officer. I went to Annapolis with that man. You try that with me, Gunnery Sergeant Highway and you'll drag your butt in a sling for a month, you hear me, marine?

  Highway : Yes, sir.

  Maj. Malcolm A. Powers : I don't know what strings you pulled to get back into this division but I can assure you that I don't like it. This is the new Marine Corps. The new breed. Characters like you are an anachronism. You should be sealed in a case that reads break glass only in the event of war. Got no tolerance for you old timers who think that you know it better and can have it all your own way. Understand?

  Highway : I understand a lot of body bags get filled if I don't go my job, sir.

  Choozoo : Major, division has assigned Gunny Highway to our reconisance platoon.

  Maj. Malcolm A. Powers : Yes, recon. Their last sergeant was an old time combat vet, too. But he went road on me. Retired on active duty. Had a few months to retirement. Figured he'd coast. Allowed the men to lapse into mediocrity. You're close to mandatory retirement yourself, aren't you, Highway?

  Highway : That's right, Major.

  Maj. Malcolm A. Powers : Well, I ask for Marines, the division sends me relics. The men in recon platoon are less than highly motivated to say the least. I want those men in shape.

  Highway : I'll make life takers and heart breakers out of them, sir.

  Maj. Malcolm A. Powers : Dismissed.

  Highway : [after leaving the major's office]  Is he always like that or is he just trying to make a good impression?

  Choozoo : Word is that he consults the Marine Corps Manual before he mounts his old lady just to make sure that he performs in an...

  Highway , Choozoo : orderly proficiant military manner.

  Choozoo : Yeah, eat chow with Helen and me tonight, she can't wait to see you. Then later we'll go out and stomp some brain cells and tell some stories.

  Highway : Well, I'd like to, Chooz, but I think I better get organized.

  Choozoo : Sure, I understand.

• Choozoo : Hey crotch rot! You gonna slurp my lifer's juice out of my own cup?

  Highway : Yeah, I guess I should have gotten shots before hand.

  Choozoo : If your brain was half as smart as your mouth, skunk stool, you'd be a frickin' twenty star general by now.

  Choozoo : And if I were half as ugly as you are, Sergeant Major, I'd be a poster boy for a prophylactic.

  Choozoo : Still a mean and nasty bastard! Goddamn! Good to see you, Tom. Back where you belong!

  Highway : Easy now, or everyone's gonna think I'm spoken for.

  Choozoo : [seeing the major in the doorway]  Ten-hut! Morning, sir!

  Maj. Malcolm A. Powers : Sergeant Major.

  Choozoo : Coffee, sir?

  Maj. Malcolm A. Powers : Negative.

  Highway : Gunnery Sergeant Thomas Highway, reporting for duty, sir.

  [Major Powers turns and walks away] 

  Choozoo : That operations officer's fart hole's sewed so tight he shits out of his mouth.

  Highway : Academy?

  Choozoo : Big time football hero.

  Highway : When am I ever going to get a break?

  Choozoo : Never.

  Maj. Malcolm A. Powers : Sergeant Major!

  Choozoo : Sir!

  Maj. Malcolm A. Powers : Bring in Gunnery Sergeant Highway.

  [looking at Highway's file] 

  Maj. Malcolm A. Powers : Been in a long time.

  Highway : I've felt some heat, sir.

  Choozoo : Korea. Dominican. Three tours in 'Nam. Hell, this old ass in the grass bulldog's carrying around so much shrapnel he can't pass through an airport metal detector.

  Maj. Malcolm A. Powers : I haven't as yet had the privelige of combat. I've recently come over from supply and logistics.

  Choozoo : An unappreciated field of endeavor, sir.

  Maj. Malcolm A. Powers : Quite. My record of achievement thus far has been exemplary. I fully intend for that to continue.

  Highway : Sir?

• Highway : [after the students from the Grenada medical school have been rescued]  All secured, sir. No casualties, no sign of enemy.

  Maj. Malcolm A. Powers : Very good. I want to get some pictures before we wrap this mission.

  Highway : We encountered some heavy resistance along the way, sir.

  Maj. Malcolm A. Powers : Probably some local fanatics.

  Highway : Negative. Cuban regulars with Russian rifles.

  Maj. Malcolm A. Powers : That data's already been factored in.

  Choozoo : [on the phone]  Sir, Battalion!

  Maj. Malcolm A. Powers : Go ahead.

  Choozoo : Big daddy says to get off your fat ass and get back in the war. His words. He says he wants to recon that hill. One of our fly boys thinks he saw some armor.

  Highway : You're full of all kinds of good news.

  Choozoo : You're too ugly to live forever!

• Maj. Malcolm A. Powers : [approaching Highway]  Just what the hell do you think you're doing?

  Highway : Just enjoying the view, sir.

  Maj. Malcolm A. Powers : Well, you disobeyed an order. I told you to stay in contact and not take this hill without me. Damn it! Get on your feet, Highway!

  Highway : With all due respect, sir, you're beginning to bore the hell out of me.

  [sees the helicopter landing and Colonel Meyers getting out] 

  Colonel Meyers : Who's in charge here?

  Maj. Malcolm A. Powers : I am, sir. Major Malcolm Powers.

  Colonel Meyers : Did you lead this assault?

  Maj. Malcolm A. Powers : Sir, Leutenant Ring and Gunnery Sergeant Highway disobeyed a direct order. I told them to wait for support but they went up this hill anyway.

  Colonel Meyers : [to Highway]  Why?

  Highway : We're marines, sir. We're paid to adapt, to improvise.

  Lieutenant M.R. Ring : Sir, I gave the order to take this hill.

  Maj. Malcolm A. Powers : Ring, this is going to ruin your career.

  Colonel Meyers : Are you new to the infantry, Major?

  Maj. Malcolm A. Powers : Yes, sir. Just came over from supply.

  Colonel Meyers : Were you good at that?

  Maj. Malcolm A. Powers : Yes, sir!

  Colonel Meyers : Well then, stick to it because you're a walking cluster fuck as an infantry officer. My men are hard chargers, Major! Leutenant Ring and Gunny Highway took a handfull of young fire pissers, exercised some personal initiative and kicked ass!

  [to Lt. Ring] 

  Colonel Meyers : Good job, Leutenant!

  Lieutenant M.R. Ring : Thank you, sir!

  Colonel Meyers : Leutenant, see to it that those students are escorted back to Cherry Point.

  Lieutenant M.R. Ring : Yes, sir!

  Colonel Meyers : [to Powers]  Well, you're dismissed!

  [Highway and Choozoo approach] 

  Colonel Meyers : What the hell are you two sorry assed individuals looking at? Get the hell off of my LZ.

  Highway , Choozoo : Semper fi!

  Colonel Meyers : Oo-rah!

  Highway : Well, Chooz, I guess we're not 0-1-1 anymore.

• Maj. Malcolm A. Powers : [after Profile fell down, Highway speaks to him, then Profile runs off]  What did you say to him?

  Highway : I said "Don't give the prick the satisfaction," sir!

• Maj. Malcolm A. Powers : This man has usurped authority and ignored my personal directives for over a week. Why, Lieutenant?

  Lieutenant M.R. Ring : Sir, I thought the training exercise was...

  Maj. Malcolm A. Powers : You think too much and act too little. You are supposed to be an officer. Now look that word up in your platoon leader's handbook.

  [to Highway] 

  Maj. Malcolm A. Powers : Who gave you permission to deviate from the training schedule?

  Highway : I needed to evaluate my men, sir.

  Maj. Malcolm A. Powers : They're not your men, you self-centered, egocentric, son-of-a-bitch! They're the United States Marine Corps men! The Second Division's men! The Eighth Marine Regiment's men! In other words, they're MY men and SO ARE YOU, GET IT?

  Highway : The only thing I'll get is my head shot off if I go into a hot landing zone with a platoon that doesn't know it's job.

  Maj. Malcolm A. Powers : You will follow my training program to the letter. No questions asked.

  Highway : You go into combat tomorrow and you'll plant half those men.

  Maj. Malcolm A. Powers : You did it on your own, didn't you?

  Highway : I can't fix it if I don't know what's broken.

  Maj. Malcolm A. Powers : Well, you make it easy.

  [pick up the phone] 

  Lieutenant M.R. Ring : Sir, I gave the Gunny permission to freelance his, I mean, the men, sir.

  Maj. Malcolm A. Powers : [slams down the phone]  Wait outside, Ring.

  [to Highway] 

  Maj. Malcolm A. Powers : I'm going to run you out of the corps, Highway. And you know what's funny? You're going to do all the work. Sooner or later you'll disregard procedure, disobey an order, or just get drunk. You can't help it. You're too old, too prideful, too stupid to change. I'm going to enjoy seeing you fall, Highway. Now get out and send in that idiot, Ring.

  Highway : [leaves office and speaks to Lt Ring]  He wants to see you, Lieutenant.

  Lieutenant M.R. Ring : Sorry.

  Highway : No reason to be. Lieutenant? Recon!

• Highway : You're dead, marine. You just stepped on four booby traps that blew your legs off and we'll have to send out a search party for your testicles. Now, where the hell's your backup?

  Lance Corporal Fragatti : Profile.

  Highway : What the fuck good you doin' back there? Without any cover fire, I get my ass blown off! While you guys are sittin' there pumpin' the neighbor's dog, we'll get every swinging dick in this platoon killed!

  Corporal 'Stitch' Jones : Hey, chill out, man. That's what we're here for.

  Highway : Say, what?

  Corporal 'Stitch' Jones : We're here for that, man. We've ambushed Major Powers three times, and always right here. We know what we're doing.

  Highway : Well, shit-for-brains, who says we're gonna ambush Major Powers right here?

  Corporal 'Stitch' Jones : Hey, didn't you hear Lieutenant Ring? Major Powers wants us to die in a loud, grotesque, military manner.

  Highway : I don't give a fuck about Major Powers. My job is to keep you men alive, now let's move on.

  [1st Platoon is approaching the ambush site] 

  Maj. Malcolm A. Powers : We'll come to the ambush site over the next hill.

  Sergeant Webster : Roger that.

  Choozoo : Sure does help knowing when and where you're gonna be hit, sir.

  [Recon watching 1st Platoon pass through a valley] 

  Highway : Easy. Give them a few more yards and we'll nail the coffin shut. Now.

  [Recon begins firing] 

  Maj. Malcolm A. Powers : [Reacting to his MILES gear going off]  You're in the wrong ambush site! Cease fire! You're in the wrong ambush site!

  [Sees Highway grinning at him] 

  Maj. Malcolm A. Powers : Sergeant Major, turn this damn thing off.

  Choozoo : Makes a hell of a racket, doesn't it, sir?