Bitter Victory (1957)

Capt. Leith: You're afraid to go in and kill with your bare hands. That's what makes a soldier and destroys you as a man.

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Jane Brand: What if he doesn't come back?
Capt. Leith: Then he and I and you become part of history, of its futility.
Jane Brand: Don't talk to me in riddles, Jimmy.
Capt. Leith: It's a long time since I was in Libya. The Romans built wonderful cities in Libya: dead bones sticking out of the sand. War rolled over them. It'll be good to see them again.
Jane Brand: You always seemed to prefer stones to people.
Capt. Leith: I've learned things from stones.
Jane Brand: What?
Capt. Leith: All that people have forgotten in the centuries.
Jane Brand: I seem to remember I was less than a stone to you. I loved you, Jimmy.
Capt. Leith: We'd better go in. There isn't much time.
Jane Brand: What can I say to him?
Capt. Leith: Tell him all the things that women have said to the men before they go to the wars. Tell him he's a hero. Tell him he's a good man. Tell him you'll be waiting for him when he comes back. Tell him he'll be making history.

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Capt. Leith: [on mercy-shooting one badly wounded soldier, and trying to save another who dies] I killed the living, and I saved the dead.

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Upon seeing this at the Venice Film Festival, Jean-Luc Godard said his iconic statement "Le cinema, c'est Nicholas Ray (The cinema is Nicholas Ray)."
In March 1958, this film was being shown on a double bill with Cell 2455 Death Row.
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