There appear to be (at least) two variants of the tough talking Marine, the gruff yet endearing and the psychopathic. John Wayne's SGT Stryker in Sand of Iwo Jima (1949) is the former and Ernest Borgnine's character in From Here to Eternity (1953) is an example of the latter. (Borgnin's character was in the Army not the Marines, but the type of role is not service-specific.) Hope this helps. Peter Latham ---- To signoff SCREEN-L, e-mail [log in to unmask] and put SIGNOFF SCREEN-L in the message. Problems? Contact [log in to unmask]