Battle Cry

They call me Mac. The name's not important.

It's January 1942.

Marine outposts around the world have fallen to the Japanese.

Our ranks are empty and ill-equipped. We need help.

From every part of the country, kids are answering our call.

This is Baltimore, Maryland.

Detail, halt!

Left face!

You men have got a few minutes to see your folks. Fall out!

Ma and Pa's over here.

Hey, lady, my brother's a Marine.

If your father had listened to me, you wouldn't be going to war at 19.

- Mom, let's not go over that again. - I'm proud of you, son.

Danny!

Hi, Danny. I'm sorry I'm late.

- Scared? - A little.

Look, suppose I'm gone a year or two years.

Suppose you want to change your mind.

Well, we'd both be awfully hurt then.

I won't change my mind.

I just want to go on being your girl.

Kathy...

I guess this kind of makes us engaged, huh?

Yes.

All right, Section 5, all aboard!

Section 5!

Let's go, on the double, come on!

- Good luck, son. - All right, all aboard, let's go.

If they don't treat you right, you come right back.

How long can we go on like this, sneaking around, meeting in cheap joints?

- You'd get to hate me. - I could never hate you.

But your old man hates me. I won't be able to get a decent job in this lousy town.

Sue, can't you see I'd rot here? I couldn't take it!

Ski, what's gonna happen if you can't get me to California?

Baby, I'll save every nickel, and I'll send for you.

We'll be away from Philly and your old man.

- All aboard! - Oh, honey!

All right, men. Get aboard.

Come on now, hurry up!

- I've got to go, baby. - Get aboard!

Scenes like this are played all over the land...

... as boys from the cities and from the farms rush to fill our ranks.

All trains head west. Destination, San Diego.

This bunch looks like any other group we're getting.

Politics and wars make strange bedfellows.

In almost every car, you'll find a Texan with a guitar...

... an all-American boy...

... the farmer...

... the pride of the Navajos.

Then there's the slum kid...

... the bookworm...

... the lumberjack.

And there's one in every outfit.

And you'll usually find a troublemaker.

- Put it back. You didn't make your point. - What do you mean?

- You accusing me of something dishonest? - Put it back.

I was only kidding. Let's be buddies.

- Spanish Joe's a troublemaker. - Yeah.

He'll learn. The hard way.

- I wish we were in San Diego already. - We'll be there soon enough.

You're a couple of nice guys. I hope we stick together.

Be okay.

- Got a gal, Marion? - No.

How about you, Andy?

Do I got a gal? I got hundreds of them.

Every broad in the north woods knows old Andy.

Not me. I got one, that's all I need.

One?

This guy's nuts.

San Diego, the end of the line.

As they arrive at boot camp, the door to their past shuts behind them.

Get off that truck. Get off.

Quickly.

Get back in there!

Get going.

All right, you guys, follow that white line over there.

- My head feels like a prickly pear! - I've been scalped!

Gonna let my eyebrows grow out and throw them back!

Move it in, you guys!

Come on! Move out!

Over there, you skinheads!

The rest of you get in there and get deloused.

All right, you people. My name is Sergeant Beller.

You guys are going to hate the day you met me.

As far as I'm concerned, you are not human beings anymore.

And don't get the idea you're Marines!

You're recruits! Meatheads!

The lowest form of animal in this here universe.

You will refer to me as "sir."

All right.

You'll eat no candy, read no papers, hear no radios...

...and speak only when spoken to.

You will salute everything moving above the rank of private.

- What's your name, son? - I.Q. Jones.

"My name is Private Jones, I.Q., sir!"

My name is Private I.Q. Jones, sir.

Your Honor.

- Where are you from, meathead? - Cotton Plant, sir.

- Cotton Plant, what? - Arkansas.

It ain't no more than a wide spot in a thin road...

Shut up!

Who said you could talk?

- You chewing gum, son? - Yes, sir.

Swallow it.

All right, you people, from now on, it's gonna be double-time.

No more walking.

All right, you're gonna get fed now.

Personally, I think it's a waste of government money.

Right face!

Forward march!

After the cordial welcome to the Corps...

... comes the job of turning boys into men.

About face!

Face left.

Ready, front!

Let's get that hat down!

Cut down that belt!

Pull up your pants, son!

- You want that button? - Yes, sir.

- Did you shave this morning? - I shaved twice, sir.

You didn't slip up and put a blade in the razor, did you?

A blade, sir? No, sir.

Us full-blooded Indians never shave.

The Marine Corps says you gotta shave every morning whether you need it or not!

The Indian love call.

We've got a wise guy in our midst.

You guys must need some exercise.

All right. Right face!

Forward, hut!

Double-time, hut!

Lift them up! Hut!

Come on, step it up, you guys. Move!

So it goes from sunup to sundown. Days turn into weeks.

They learn that the price of the green uniform comes high.

Move! Get the lead out, you meatheads!

Move!

Then suddenly, you're beginning to learn the lesson the instructor has been pounding in.

There's no place for stragglers in the Marine Corps.

Forward.

Left oblique! Huh!

File out, file out.

Right oblique! Huh!

To the rear. Huh!

And you're sure that yours is the best outfit in boot camp.

Dear

Ten weeks have passed, and tomorrow we finish boot camp.

We hope we can stick together and go to radio school from here.

Man, this living in tents behind closed gates is tough on me.

I can't even remember what a woman looks like.

It's tougher on me. I can remember.

I'm gonna kill that Beller, I'm gonna rip him apart with my bare hands.

- Tell us your side of the story. - They got a picture tonight about Marines.

And I hate pictures about Marines.

I thought it was a cowboys-and-lndians picture.

I know that picture, cousin.

This here Marine private gets a set of dress blues...

Yeah, The Real Marine.

Isn't that the one where the broad flips her lid for the private?

That's it. He's a Marine because his daddy was a Marine.

He hates the Corps, but learns to love it just like we do.

Ends up saving the life of his drill instructor.

- What a dumb jerk. - Know what that stupid Beller says to me?

He says, "Private Jones, the Marine Corps says you all got to be entertained.

It's good for your morale.

All right, you dumb Yankees, ain't you ever gonna learn?

Jones, throw out that chest! Jones, ain't you got no chest?

All right, you dumb Yankees!

Can't you understand American when it's spoke?

Mr. Christian, 10 lashes for them Yankees!

Lick the deck! Lick the..."

Don't bother me right now, boy.

"I'll make you boys feel sorry for the day..."

Attention!

Gentlemen, don your buckets.

All right, what are you people?

We're skinheads.

- What? - Skinheads!

And stupid Yankees too!

And who do you love?

We love our Sergeant Beller!

Yes, sir!

- There's that Indian love call again. - It's the chow, sarge.

In all my 10 years in the Marine Corps, this is the first time I've been stumped.

I still don't know who the bird is.

Well, I give up.

All right, take them off.

At ease.

I just came over to tell you skinheads...

...that they're sending a bunch of you out...

...to radio school.

All right, one more thing.

You're gyrenes now.

And when you pass in review tomorrow...

...and do an eyes right...

...let me hear them eyeballs click.

Just call me Jim.

This was the day.

To a man, their hearts pound, nearly bursting with pride.

They had paid in sweat, humiliation and a few tears for the name they now carried.

They were Marines now, and they would be till the day they died.