Heartbreak Ridge (1986)

Mario Van Peebles: Corporal Stitch Jones

Photos 

Quotes 

• Highway : My name's Gunnery Sergeant Highway and I've drunk more beer and banged more quiff and pissed more blood and stomped more ass that all of you numbnuts put together. Now Major Powers has put me in charge of this reconisence platoon.

  Lance Corporal Fragatti : We take care of ourselves.

  Highway : You couldn't take care of a wet dream. God loves you.

  Collins : I know that!

  Highway : You men do not impress me!

  Profile : Recon platoon kicks butt.

  Highway : [grabs Profile by the nose]  If you ladies think that you can slip and slide just because your last sergeant was a pussy, well queer bait, you're going to start acting like marines right now!

  Lance Corporal Fragatti : Who invited ya!

  Highway : I'm not doing this because I want to take long showers with you assholes and I don't want to get my head shot off in some far away land because you don't habla, comprende?

  Aponte : Ruh!

  Highway : You?

  Quinones : Yes, Gunny.

  Corporal 'Stitch' Jones : [singing]  And you really look so fine and you've got that big behind.

  Highway : [sees Jones]  Well, well, well, well, I'm here to tell you that life as you knew it has ended. You all may as well go into town tonight. You may as well laugh and make fools out of yourselves. Rub your pathetic little peckers against your honies or stick it in a knothole in the fence but whatever it is, get rid of it. Because at 0600 tomorrow your ass is mine.

  [to Jones] 

  Highway : Where's your bunk.

  Highway : [walking toward the barracks holding Jones by the ear]  Where is it?

  Corporal 'Stitch' Jones : Where's what, man?

  Highway : The money for my ticket.

  Corporal 'Stitch' Jones : Hey, no need to resort to unnecessary violence. I was a little down on the money, you know, but I got a little money for you right here. But that's all I got.

  [hands Highway some cash] 

  Highway : And the meal.

  Corporal 'Stitch' Jones : The meal.

  Highway : Yeah, the meal.

  Corporal 'Stitch' Jones : Ok, I got a little more for you here but that's definitely all I got.

  Highway : And the tip.

  Corporal 'Stitch' Jones : No, man, that's really it that's all I got.

  Highway : You owe me.

  [rips Jones' earring off] 

  Highway : Now it's my will against yours and you will lose. So don't forget, 0600. That's six o'clock in the morning for those of you who don't habla.

• Sergeant Webster : Highway, I heard you was back.

  Highway : Webster.

  Sergeant Webster : These retards couldn't fight their way out of a shit house.

  Highway : That where you been keeping yourself lately?

  Highway : Major Powers and me are building an elite company of fightin' men.

  Highway : Webster, the only thing you could build is a good case of hemmorhoids.

  [taps Fragatti on the head] 

  Lance Corporal Fragatti : What? What?

  Highway : Well, you're blowing away all of your ammunition, Fag-eddy. Miss I ain't America's gonna make Swiss cheese out of you.

  Lance Corporal Fragatti : It's not my fuckin' fault, man. The fuckin' weapon's fuckin' fucked up.

  Highway : [takes rifle and fires at target]  There's nothing wrong with that rifle. Keep it tight.

  [moves down to Jones] 

  Highway : You wake up this morning with a piss pot on your head?

  Corporal 'Stitch' Jones : Uh, no, Gunny, I wore this in your honor.

  Highway : Is that right?

  Corporal 'Stitch' Jones : Yeah, you know, Sands of Iwo Jima, Pork Chop Hill, Kason, all that old antique shit. Sort of a tribute to an aging veteran close to retirement such as yourself.

  Highway : Well, I'm touched.

  Corporal 'Stitch' Jones : Yeah, you know, sort of a recon way of saying welcome and ineveitably, goodbye.

  Highway : And the kevlar helmet you were issued, that didn't by chance find it's way into one of the local pawn shops in town now did it?

  Corporal 'Stitch' Jones : Hey, hey, yo, that's a serious implication, Gunny. You know, we're financially responsible for these bad boys.

  Highway : That's right, you are, that's why I want to see kevlar on your head by 1900 hours or you won't have a head to put it on.

  Corporal 'Stitch' Jones : Yes, sir, Gunny Highway Sergeant, sir!

  Profile : Hey, Gunny. My weapon's jammed!

  [stands and the rifle goes off] 

  Sergeant Webster : [as the platoon is marching back]  Major Powers' gonna teach you how to discipline your men.

  Highway : Webster, if Powers ever comes to a sudden stop your face is gonna go half way up his ass.

  Lance Corporal Fragatti : Profile's never gonna make it back to the barracks.

  Corporal 'Stitch' Jones : Powers is cold blooded, man.

  Highway : [after Profile falls]  Come on, Profile. You can make it. Don't give the prick the satisfaction.

• Highway : Get in there. Tell them who you are, so no friendlies get hurt.

  Corporal 'Stitch' Jones : Hello happening hostages! I'm Stitch Jones, Mr. Funkadelic!

  Highway : Try "U.S. Marine", shithead...

• Highway : Shut your face, hippie!

  Corporal 'Stitch' Jones : Hippie?

  [whispers in ear] 

  Corporal 'Stitch' Jones : There haven't been hippies in centuries. Are you freeze-dried or doing hard time?

• Lieutenant M.R. Ring : [approaching platoon]  Good morning, men!

  [responding to salute] 

  Lieutenant M.R. Ring : Thank you, Gunny. What a marvelous day for a military exercise. Men, today we'll will execute an ambush on a numerically superior force using cover, interlocking fields of fire, and the natural aggressiveness of the United States Marine.

  Corporal 'Stitch' Jones : You show me some poontang and I'll show you an aggressive Marine.

  Lieutenant M.R. Ring : We will provide Major Powers and his elite fighting force an accessible target to sharpen their superior skills. This will be facilitated by the MILES gear that each man is wearing. As you know, when one of our men is shot this laser sensitive device emits a beeping noise.

  Highway : Excuse me, Lieutenant, but are you suggesting that we don't fight back?

  Lieutenant M.R. Ring : Well, no, Gunny, Major Powers like to use the Recon platoon as a training tool.

  Highway : Well, what happens when these men have to go into combat and they're not prepared? They just get dead.

  Lieutenant M.R. Ring : Yes, I see what you mean.

  Highway : Have you spoken to Major Powers about this?

  Lieutenant M.R. Ring : Let's move them out, Gunny.

  Highway : Are you coming with us, Lieutenant?

  Lieutenant M.R. Ring : Uh, no, Gunny. I have a doctor's appointment at 1100.

  Highway : Well, let's hope it's not something that'll keep you out of the next war. Platoon, ten-hut! Sling arms! Right face! Forward march!

• Corporal 'Stitch' Jones : [singing]  "I met her on a Monday. She was the best. Come Sunday mornin', I needed rest. She didn't shave. She didn't use Neet. She tried to use my face like a bicycle seat."

• Sergeant Webster : This gonna go hard on all y'all if you don't cooperate.

  Lance Corporal Fragatti : We ain't got nothing to say to you, Webster.

  Corporal 'Stitch' Jones : Why don't you go on back to that faggot first platoon and

  [imitating Highway] 

  Corporal 'Stitch' Jones : Don't go away mad. Just... just go away. You've been told.

• Choozoo : We went up and down that pile of dirt for four days and four nights. Fixed bayonets, hand to hand. Fought 'em something fierce. They gave back as good as they got. Lots of men died. We were with the 23rd infantry. We joined the Corps later. Hell, we were even younger than you are.

  Corporal 'Stitch' Jones : I never heard of no Heartbreak Ridge.

  Choozoo : That's 'cause it ain't in any of the history books. Just a little piece of war. Place didn't even have a name, just a number. Stoney Jackson took one look up at it and said "Ladies, if this hill doesn't kill us it'll surely break our hearts."

  Corporal 'Stitch' Jones : Who's Stoney Jackson?

  Choozoo : Little Mary's husband. He was the one who recommended Highway for his Congressional Medal of Honor.

  Corporal 'Stitch' Jones : Gunny Highway won the CMH?

  Choozoo : He charged two machine gun nests by himself. He didn't sleep for three days. The final human wave he held off almost single-handedly. When it was over there was me, Stoney Jackson and Tom Highway. We were the only ones left alive.

  Corporal 'Stitch' Jones : What happened to Jackson?

  Choozoo : He was killed in Khe Sanh in '68.

• Corporal 'Stitch' Jones : [while under heavy fire]  I wish I was back in New Jersey, man, watching the Flintstones!

• Corporal 'Stitch' Jones : If you weren't wearin' those stripes, I'd kick your fuckin' ass around the fuckin' block... yeah... but since I'm not into violence, I'll refrain from kickin' your ass at this time.

• Highway : You're dead, marine. You just stepped on four booby traps that blew your legs off and we'll have to send out a search party for your testicles. Now, where the hell's your backup?

  Lance Corporal Fragatti : Profile.

  Highway : What the fuck good you doin' back there? Without any cover fire, I get my ass blown off! While you guys are sittin' there pumpin' the neighbor's dog, we'll get every swinging dick in this platoon killed!

  Corporal 'Stitch' Jones : Hey, chill out, man. That's what we're here for.

  Highway : Say, what?

  Corporal 'Stitch' Jones : We're here for that, man. We've ambushed Major Powers three times, and always right here. We know what we're doing.

  Highway : Well, shit-for-brains, who says we're gonna ambush Major Powers right here?

  Corporal 'Stitch' Jones : Hey, didn't you hear Lieutenant Ring? Major Powers wants us to die in a loud, grotesque, military manner.

  Highway : I don't give a fuck about Major Powers. My job is to keep you men alive, now let's move on.

  [1st Platoon is approaching the ambush site] 

  Maj. Malcolm A. Powers : We'll come to the ambush site over the next hill.

  Sergeant Webster : Roger that.

  Choozoo : Sure does help knowing when and where you're gonna be hit, sir.

  [Recon watching 1st Platoon pass through a valley] 

  Highway : Easy. Give them a few more yards and we'll nail the coffin shut. Now.

  [Recon begins firing] 

  Maj. Malcolm A. Powers : [Reacting to his MILES gear going off]  You're in the wrong ambush site! Cease fire! You're in the wrong ambush site!

  [Sees Highway grinning at him] 

  Maj. Malcolm A. Powers : Sergeant Major, turn this damn thing off.

  Choozoo : Makes a hell of a racket, doesn't it, sir?

• Lance Corporal Fragatti : Prisoners secured sir!

  Lieutenant M.R. Ring : Thank you, Lance Corporal. CORPORAL Jones.

  Corporal 'Stitch' Jones : [Jones moves forward]  Sir!

  Lieutenant M.R. Ring : Move 'em out.

• Corporal 'Stitch' Jones : He climbs onto the roof to splice a cut phone line. As bullets hit the building just above his head. "Hey! Hey! Hey! Don't you know who you shootin' at? I'm the Ayatollah of Rock 'N' Rolla, baby! Yeah. Probably don't speak no English. Bunch of banana-eatin' bean-fartin' motherfuckers."