Tribes (1970)

****

Having grown up a full-blown hippie, Adrian Stone gets drafted into the Marines and his groovy, mystic ways clash with the unbending stringency of boot camp. Jan-Michael Vincent stars as the starsailor recruit and his screaming company drill sergeant is played by Darren McGavin, better known for playing the dad in A Christmas Story. The dialogue of this movie is awesome. Here are some choice excerpts:

1. Hit the deck! Do push-up’s until I tell you to stop. One, two, three…stop! Why aren’t you wearing skivvies? I never wear shorts, sir. On your feet! What do you mean you never wear shorts? I like the freedom, sir. Now hear this! There will be no freedom in this camp! Is that clear? Sir, yes, sir!

2. Hey, where are you from? Oh, lots of places, I’ve been all over. Well, what did you do? Whatever comes natural. Kinda hard to get an answer out of you, isn’t it? You ever been in one of those communes? Yeah, for a while. Well, is it anything like the magazines say it is, you know, free love and everything? Well, that was a small part of it.

3. Took me a long time to realize that yesterday can’t be changed and tomorrow can’t be controlled with any certainty. I just kinda shoot for the minute.

4. You scored higher than anyone in the platoon on these tests. Did you know that? Sir, no, sir. Says you only had a year and half high school. What happened? They kick you out? Sir, no sir. I quit, thought it was a waste of time, sir. You think learning is a waste of time? Sir, no, sir. But what they had to teach me just didn’t interest me., sir. Then you tell me how you learned so much to score like this? Sir, I don’t know, sir, just hanging around, I guess. You trying to snow me, lady?

5. I’ve just about had enough of this. You know you’re out of your head, man. You know you’re messing with these guys’ minds. Hey man, so does Uncle Sam.

6. I will not stand for any more smiling during drill! Is that clear? Sir, yes, sir! I will not stand for any more lotus positions! Is that clear? Sir, yes, sir!

And that’s just the beginning of it. Tribes originally aired in 1970 as a made-for-television movie and even with a G rating, it possesses that cutting edge quality that made the boob tube great back in the days of flower power.