In my opinion, this is the best antiwar scene ever put on celluloid. Bravo James Garner.
James Garner as Lt. Cmdr. Charles “Charlie” E. Madison, Julie Andrews as Emily Barham, and Joyce Grenfell as Mrs. Barham
Lt. Cmdr. Charles “Charlie” E. Madison: I don’t trust people who make bitter reflections about war, Mrs. Barham. It’s always the generals with the bloodiest records who are the first to shout what a Hell it is. And it’s always the war widows who lead the Memorial Day parades.
Emily Barham: That was unkind Charlie, and very rude.
Lt. Cmdr. Charles “Charlie” E. Madison: We shall never end wars, Mrs. Barham, by blaming it on ministers and generals or warmongering imperialists or all the other banal bogies. It’s the rest of us who build statues to those generals and name boulevards after those ministers; the rest of us who make heroes of our dead and shrines of our battlefields. We wear our widows’ weeds like nuns Mrs. Barham, and perpetuate war by exalting its sacrifices. My brother died at Anzio.
Emily Barham: I didn’t know that Charlie.
Lt. Cmdr. Charles “Charlie” E. Madison: Yes an everyday soldier’s death, no special heroism involved. They buried what pieces they found of him. But my mother insists he died a brave death and pretends to be very proud.
Mrs. Barham: You’re very hard on your mother. It seems a harmless enough pretense to me.
Lt. Cmdr. Charles “Charlie” E. Madison: No Mrs. Barham. No now you see my other brother can’t wait to reach enlistment age. That’ll be in September. May be ministers and generals who blunder us into wars Mrs. Barham, but the least the rest of us can do is to resist honoring the institution. What has my mother got for pretending bravery was admirable? She’s under constant sedation and terrified she may wake up one morning and find her last son has run off to be brave. I don’t think I was rude or unkind before, do you Mrs. Barham?
