At 1:40 PM 2/4/97, D. Matthew Ramsey wrote > > >For a non-American example, how about the hilarious segment from MONTY >PYTHON'S MEANING OF LIFE ("Right, off you go then!")? > Yes, and for an unintentionally funny British example, see the "tough drill sargeant type" in WILD GEESE. And, yes, it's R. Lee Ermey, a former d.i. in _Full Metal Jacket_ and the beer commercial, interacting precisely with the Duke from _Sands of Iwo Jima_. Thanks to Dennis Doros for pointing out Victor McLaglen and Edmond Loew in _What Price Glory_. (Historicize, I said before; there's a PAST to cinema.) Thus no surprise to see Victor doing it later, as I mentioned, in _Fort Apache_. And the reference to _Gomer Pyle_ and the character of Sgt. Carter, is crucial to an understanding of the whole serious issue surrounding American cinema's imaging of the tough sargeant and his "masculine" ideals, and how that infected the culture at large, and thus why this image shows up frequently in the Vietnam films like _Full Metal Jacket_, _The Boys in Company C_, _Platoon_, etc. Interesting that this question inspired the single largest number of posts to Screen-L in a LONG time! Hmmmm... David ---- To signoff SCREEN-L, e-mail [log in to unmask] and put SIGNOFF SCREEN-L in the message. Problems? Contact [log in to unmask]