Jump-up-and-cheer scene


It gives me goose bumps every single time. Richard Attenborough's delivery is spine tingling. It's a travesty that it's not in the quotes section. I took the time to transcribe it from the DVD, using the subtitles, and using the pause button liberally. I fixed the subtitles in 1 or 2 places.

RSM Lauderdale: [sharply] Just one moment sir! ... [controlled and quiet] If you please.

Lieut. Boniface: Well?

RSM Lauderdale: Now you listen to me, Mr. Boniface. I'm a professional soldier, born across the road from Wellington Barracks. I enlisted when I was 17. By the time I was 24 I was a Sergeant serving on the northwest frontier of India. Sometimes, Mr. Boniface I'd lay awake in my tent with a hurricane lamp, sometimes in the middle of a blizzard, reading about the exploits of other British soldiers. Sometimes I'd be lying there in my freezing cold tent actually sweating. Beads of sweat actually pouring down my face from a battle 200 years old! And later on I had a little active service of my own to take notice of. Now, what I'm coming to, sir, is this. All this experience of warfare, imaginary and otherwise, gives me a certain amount of experience to face this little misunderstanding with a [voice rising fiercely] CERTAIN AMOUNT OF SANGFROID! [bellowing] It's a fly on the wall, sir,a fight with a feather!

Lieut. Boniface: I refuse to --

RSM Lauderdale: [firmly] As far as the weapons are concerned, I was ordered by my C.O. to keep them to swat flies with. And until I get further instructions from the same source, I intend to hang onto them.

Lieut. Boniface: Now look here, sir --

RSM Lauderdale: Will you please listen to me! [gently] You seem to have gained control of this battalion by an act of mutiny; very well. You're entitled to the mess servants, because they're your countrymen, not mine. You're entitled to the mess property, because it stands on your soil. But if you think for one moment that I'm gonna hand over the lives of these people [rising to a crescendo] to the custody of a half-cooked, jumped-up, sad little blackboard warrior like yourself, YOU'RE VERY MUCH MISTAKEN!!! DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?

Lieut. Boniface: [almost whispering] Absolutely clear, Sergeant Major. [turns and exits]

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