Original subtitles

Just like swatting flies.

Bam!

Just like Nam.

Nam?

What's Nam?

What's Nam?

Vietnam.

Nam is Vietnam, buddy.

What else?

Hey, how's it going?

Don't ask.

When are you going to get a job?

I'm trying.

Sure you are.

How about this?

Better this.

Big war hero down there.

My man was coming down a valley like

this.

Comes in here like he owns the joint.

Killed this one, killed that one.

Real good point, man.

Kid from Montana.

Must have left garbage for three hours.

So, we come down here.

Signed up.

Found us a little perch.

And we bushwhacked them bushwhackers.

Bam, bam, bam!

We swatted them little sons of...

Them little suckers like flies.

He was over there in Vietnam, wasn't he,

Fred?

Yeah, I was there.

You know what it was really like?

Charlie makes it.

You hear that?

Bam, bam, bam!

Did you look at that loud mouth?

Yeah, I always told him.

This is a war.

This is a mean business.

You can't cut it.

Back behind your mama's skirts.

Pearson, come here.

Got to be a man, I said.

But some crybaby.

Pearson!

Job is to do some killing.

That's what you do.

My man, my man!

Pearson, where's your rifle?

My man, my man, my man!

What's the matter?

I told you.

You're a Marine.

This is my rifle.

It is my life.

A dirty weapon will blow up in your

face.

You don't have a clean weapon.

You're going to pay the price to Sergeant

Guido.

You're going to get dirty detail until you

puke!

Hey, Father, you all right?

That's what I told him.

You don't look too good.

Go, go, go back!

No, I'm all right.

See you guys tomorrow.

Hey, Barkey, how much do I owe you?

Six bucks.

Uh, six.

Nice shoes.

Thanks.

Bam, bam, bam.

What's your problem, fella?

Hey, Barkey.

Give this guy a drink.

Looks like he needs one.

It was him.

I know it was him.

So it was him.

What difference does it make?

He made my life hell.

That was years ago.

That was in the Marines.

Pearson, dirty detail, dirty detail.

He was out to crack me.

He wouldn't leave me alone.

Nothing I can do is right.

Dirty detail, dirty detail.

That was the Marines.

Everybody gets dirty detail in the Marines.

He had it in for me.

Everybody has it in for you.

You lost five jobs.

Your boss had it in for you.

The whole world has it in for you.

You don't know what it was like with

Guido.

We had Nam, my first firefight.

The guy standing next to me is shot.

I roll him over, and his stomach is

hanging out.

I threw up.

Guido sees that.

He laughs.

He says, Pearson, clean it up.

When we get back, you do the latrines.

Then you do the garbage pits.

Then you do the body bags.

Just take it easy now.

Come on.

Come on.

You don't want to get yourself all upset.

You don't want to have to go back

to the vet's hospital, do you?

He did it.

He broke me.

He had it out for me.

Oh, Fred.

Everybody has it in for you.

Just go to sleep.

Everything will be all right.

Okay.

It's clear.

Come on.

Pearson, come here.

When we get back, I'm going to put

you on dirty detail.

I'm going to put you on the garbage

pit.

I'm going to put you on the garbage

pit.

Go on.

Go, go, go, go, go.

Pearson.

Come on.

You're going to pay the price to Sergeant

Guido.

You hear me?

Rain, I don't have pride.

I don't have no cup with me.

The man you shaped up, Charlie saw to

it.

He shipped out in a body bag.

I got my share of lemons.

The big warrior goes back again.

What the hell?

Sure.

He'll last as long as Sergeant Guido's outfit.

Always tough on my men.

I swear some of these guys, the high

point of their life is a damn war.

I got him shipped out.

I got him shipped out alive.

A sloppy Marine's a dead Marine.

Hey, you guys owe me some beers.

I'll be back to collect.

Never mess around with crack shot Guido.

Hey, Pearson, you owe me a buck.

Would you put that cigarette out, please?

Look, kid, you're to kill or be killed.

Do you hear me?

What did I say?

Did you hear me?

What did I say?

What did I say?

Kill or be killed.

Fred?

Didn't you hear me call you?

Yeah.

I had something on my mind.

Well, where have you been?

A job.

I went to see about a job.

And?

I have to go back tomorrow.

What kind of a job?

They want a man with military experience.

That's no good for you.

You got a medical discharge.

They think I'm perfect for it.

Well, what kind of a job is it?

It's a surprise.

You'll see when I get it.

Oh, Fred, I hope it works out.

That's all you really need.

A good job would do you just fine.

It'll work out.

Don't worry.

Don't worry about anything.

Are you all right?

I mean, all that talk about your sergeant

and the Marines.

Yeah, I'm fine.

I don't even think about him anymore.

Well, are you coming to bed soon?

Soon?

Yeah.

Yeah, soon.

Ruthie, for what it's worth, I love you.

All right, Fred.

Yeah?

Yeah.

I'm in a rush.

The office is just overflowing with work.

Oh, yeah, you better hurry.

Did you sleep all right?

Fine, never better.

You were throwing yourself around.

I thought maybe those bad dreams would come

back again.

No.

No more bad dreams.

Remember, we're having dinner at my mother's tonight.

I can't go.

Why not?

The job.

I have a chance for the job.

I've got to see the man tonight.

You'll have to go to your mother's by

yourself.

All right.

You know, you haven't told me anything about

this job.

I told you it was going to be

a surprise.

Wish me luck.

Good luck.

I'll see you late tonight, then.

Yes.

I know, I know.

Sorry I ran out on you yesterday.

Here's the buck I owe you.

No sweat.

You know the guy that's been coming in

here?

The guy at the pool table?

You mean the big war hero?

Yeah.

He looked so familiar to me.

Then it dawned on me who he was.

We were in the service together.

You've got to be kidding me.

I own something.

Money?

Debts.

I always pay my debts.

Hey, Ernie.

Speaking of the devil.

Give me a shot and a beer.

Ready to get the engine started.

Hey, listen.

Pearson down at the end of the bar

says he knows you.

Says you were in the Marine Corps together.

How you doing?

You know, when it dawned on me, I

was telling Ernie.

It finally happened.

I remember where it was.

Fifth Marines.

Sergeant Guido.

That's right.

Pearson.

Private Pearson.

Come on.

You've got to remember.

You always said I was the worst recruit

you ever had.

Must hold the record for pulling the most

dirty details.

Hey, foul ball Pearson?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Foul ball Fred.

Foul ball Fred Pearson.

You should have seen this guy.

What a mess.

How you been, buddy?

Fine.

How you doing, buddy?

Well, some days are good, some days are

better.

You know how it goes.

Sure.

Here's to you, foul ball.

Here's to you, Sarge.

I knew you looked familiar.

I just couldn't figure it out.

Yeah, it's been a few years.

Yeah.

Thought about you a lot, Sarge.

Oh, right.

Yeah.

You had a strong effect on me.

Yeah?

Who was Nam together?

He was the sloppiest Marine I've ever seen.

I always was afraid you were going to

blow up the whole outfit.

Yeah, I'm beginning to remember now.

They shipped you out on a cycle, didn't

they?

Yeah.

My nerves were a little shot.

From all those dirty details.

This is why you got shipped out.

You could have gotten some of the other

guys killed.

You had to know your weapon.

You were ready to use it.

Well, good to see you, foul ball.

Yeah.

All those years, I've had something on my

mind, Sarge.

What's that?

It's a hundred bucks you loaned me.

A hundred bucks?

Yeah, you remember.

We were on liberty in Da Nang.

All the guys were partying out downtown.

I was a little low, and you helped

me out.

A hell of a guy to help me

out.

I'd pay back all my debts.

Irony?

Yeah, that's right.

I'm going to pay you back.

You owe me a hundred bucks?

Right.

Well, I'll be a son of a gun.

It's real good to see you, foul Fred.

It's terrific.

I don't have it with me.

I'm just a couple bus stops from here.

You know, we'll jump on the bus, stop

by the house, pick it up.

That's A-OK with me.

That sounds fine.

You're giving, I'm taking.

Ernie, what do you get?

Take it out of here.

No, no.

Come on.

No, no.

That's on me.

No, three bucks.

Three bucks.

No.

It's on me, buddy.

Thanks, buddy.

Here.

This is my lucky day.

Sure is.

Hello, buddy.

Just over here.

It's a long way from Da Nang, huh?

Yeah.

Lucky you could have been down when I

did.

I'm lucky to be alive.

Your money?

Thanks.

Make yourself at home.

Thanks.

That's a nice setup.

Oh, yeah.

What line of work you in?

Semi-retired.

Live alone?

I'm married.

Huh.

Where's the wife?

She works.

That's nice.

Real nice.

Sit down.

Make yourself comfortable.

Thanks.

Can I get you a drink, buddy?

Yeah, I don't mind if I do.

Rye?

Whatever you say.

You know, I just can't get over running

into you like this.

Well, some days everything just comes to you.

That's right.

Now, here's to my old buddy, Pearson.

Foul ball, Pearson.

Here's to all the dirty details you used

to give me.

I'll drink to that.

Caused me to suffer a lot, Sarge.

Oh, that's the core, Fred.

You know, make or break.

My life's never been the same.

Knowing when you can't make it, you can't

cut it.

It hurts.

Foul ball.

Your life can really get rotten.

That's the past.

Water over the dam.

How's your life, Sarge?

How you doing these days?

Oh, well.

I've been better, I've been worse.

Digged the bat with the good.

What do you do for a living?

Dirty work, I hope.

Like the dirty details you used to give

me.

Look, Pearson.

Why don't you just give me the money

you owe me and...

Money?

You think I brought you here to give

you money?

No.

I owe you something else.

What do you want?

I want to see how tough you really

are.

Yeah?

What's that supposed to mean?

You brought me here for nothing.

No, not nothing.

Oh, no.

Punk.

I wouldn't talk like that.

Not here, Sarge.

Still, a whining punk.

You have no rank here.

I got better things to do than talk

to punks.

You hold it right there!

What are you doing with that thing?

Sit down.

We're going to straighten out some things.

Are you nuts or something?

Is that thing loaded?

Yeah, it's loaded.

Remember you used to yell at me all

the time to keep it loaded?

You taught me well, Sarge.

Sit down!

You're a psycho.

It's not nice to call me names.

I'm just trying to be sociable, Sergeant.

I just want to talk about the old

times.

You remember the old times, don't you?

16 hours in the grease pits.

Look, buddy.

Garbage detail in the body bags.

Foul ball, Pearson, get in the garbage pit!

How'd you like to stuff body bags for

16 hours?

What's to stop me from putting a bullet

right through your head?

Give me one good reason.

Hey, Pearson.

Start talking, Sergeant.

Give me a reason.

That was a long time ago.

I didn't mean nothing by it.

And see, things are different now.

Not for me!

Things are the same.

Everything's the same, day in, day out.

Dirty detail, dirty detail!

I hate you just as much now as

I did then.

I want to hear you beg, Big Shot.

Start begging.

I ain't begging.

For nothing.

You're going to shoot me, go ahead and

shoot!

Maybe you got the guts, finally.

Guido.

I don't regret nothing I did.

I did what I had to do.

You weren't a Marine.

You're a sloppy punk!

You're not helping yourself, Sergeant.

You couldn't march.

You couldn't dress.

You couldn't shoot.

You're a disgrace to the Marine Corps!

You miserable coward!

An M-16.

Yeah.

It was in my outfit in Vietnam.

You vets never learn, do you?

These souvenirs are dangerous.

They kill.

Poor dumb guy.

I was his Sergeant.

I told him to keep his rifle clean.

That a dirty rifle would blow up in

his face.

He wouldn't listen.

Tried my best.

Just would never listen.