Objective, Burma! (1945)

Errol Flynn: Capt. Chuck Nelson

Photos 

Quotes 

• Capt. Nelson : [to Williams' dead body]  Oh, we won't forget you, Pop. From now on, if I ever get to buy another newspaper, I'll remember what a few cents can buy. So long.

• Capt. Nelson : [Seeing Gabby putting stagnant water in his canteen and getting ready to drink it]  Hey, do you want to get sick? Where's your purifying tablets?

  Cpl. Gabby Gordon : I lost them when we made that last river crossing.

  [Nelson gives him some of his] 

  Cpl. Gabby Gordon : They'll remember me in history. Gabby Gordon: the guy who purified all the stinkin' rivers in Burma!

• Mark Williams : What if my parachute doesn't open?

  Capt. Nelson : Then you'll be the first one on the ground.

• Capt. Nelson : [Commenting on a sleeping soldier]  That guy could go to sleep on a clothesline.

• Mark Williams : Why didn't you join the Navy?

  Capt. Nelson : I can walk better than I can swim, brother.

• Capt. Nelson : [Looking at disfigured corpses of comrades]  That's Harris... isn't it? But who are the others?

  SSgt. Treacy : [Visibly shaken]  I don't know. How do I know who they are? If they were my brothers, I still wouldn't know.

  Capt. Nelson : Take it easy... they can't feel anything... now.

• Capt. Nelson : [Upon learning that Mr. Williams, an older journalist with no real military experience, will be going on the mission]  Look, Mr. Williams, it's your life, so I'll give it to you straight. This isn't a job for you. It's a young man's job.

  Mark Williams : Well, I'm not exactly decrepit.

  Capt. Nelson : Well, maybe not. Do you know how old the colonel is in there? Thirty four. Do you know how old our commanding general is? Thirty seven. Young men, all of us. We've got to be. Do you know why? I'll give you two good reasons: We jump out of planes, and guys shoot at us. This isn't exactly healthy, unless you're young enough to take it.

• Capt. Nelson : Uh, pardon my asking, but how old are you, Mr. Williams?

  Mark Williams : That's a military secret. Now, wait a minute. Let me tell you something. You know what I did before the war? I sat on a nice soft cushion in a pine-paneled office and I gave orders, and people jumped and I made a bucket of dough per week. Now I'm out here. I came out here as I wanted to be here. Because I wanted to do what I could so the people back home would know a little better what war is about. I'm making no dough, Capt. Nelson, and I may wind up with a bullet through my, uh... typewriter. I know it isn't easy. I didn't come out here expecting it to be easy. But you're not fighting this war from behind a desk, are you?

  Capt. Nelson : No.

  Mark Williams : Well, I'm not writing it from behind one, either.

  Capt. Nelson : Okay, Pop. Maybe you're a little old, but you'll do. Glad to have you with us.