The famous speech by war cynic and “official coward” USN Lt. Cmdr. Charlie Madison

In the days leading up to the D-Day invasion, Lt. Cmdr. Charlie Madison has to admit that he’s having a pretty good war. He’s the personal aide to Adm. William Jessup and Charlie is, if anything, making sure the admiral gets whatever he wants. Liquor, good food, female company…

 

• Release date: Oct 27, 1964
• Directors: Arthur Hiller · Al Shenberg
• Screenwriter: Paddy Chayefsky
• Story by: William Bradford Huie
• Music by: Johnny Mandel
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  James Garner on “The Americanization of Emily”

   

  

Video transcript

“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 widows who lead the Memorial Day parades . . . 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 and perpetuate war by exalting its sacrifices….

My brother died at Anzio — 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. . . . [N]ow 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, 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…”