The Desert Rats (1953)
Robert Newton: Tom Bartlett
Photos
Quotes
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Tom Bartlett : You don't know much about real fear, Tammy. Maybe it comes with age or the bottle. You don't know what it is to be a coward... really a coward. To know it, yet to hope one day something will happen to prove that you're not, yet half the time not really believing that either.
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Capt. 'Tammy' MacRoberts : How did you get into this?
Tom Bartlett : I suppose the way I get into everything. A School Master with the nickname of 'Blind Tom' doesn't last long. I got an idea I might find greener pastures in one of the dominions. Unfortunately, I picked Australia - where it appears everyone volunteers. I made my usual mistake of being in a pub the day war was declared and on a wave of beer suds...
Capt. 'Tammy' MacRoberts : If you were going to make the gesture, you might at least have got yourself a commission.
Tom Bartlett : A commission? I'm the perfect Private soldier. No worries. No responsibilities. I can't even be demoted.
Capt. 'Tammy' MacRoberts : Don't believe that for a minute. Being an infantry man is the toughest job in the army.
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Tom Bartlett : But all wars come to an end sometime. This one will too.
Capt. 'Tammy' MacRoberts : If I have anything to do with it, it will.
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Tom Bartlett : [after a battle where Capt. MacRoberts was wounded] How's your hand, Tammy?
Capt. 'Tammy' MacRoberts : Oh, burning like brimstone. But, how are you, sir?
Tom Bartlett : I found a very deep hole. If you can dig deep enough, only your pride gets hurt.
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Tom Bartlett : He's just a boy, he...
Capt. 'Tammy' MacRoberts : We've got no use for boys here - particularly not as officers.
Tom Bartlett : You can't be much older than he is.
Capt. 'Tammy' MacRoberts : I don't know whether I am or not. I do know that I've been here for a year and one of the first things I learned was that this isn't a game for children. Men get killed and stay killed.
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Tom Bartlett : It's a pretty cold estimate, Tammy.
Capt. 'Tammy' MacRoberts : Perhaps it is. But, it's the truth.