Breaker Morant (1980)

Harry Morant : As a matter of interest, how many courts-martial have you done?

Peter Handcock : Jesus, they're playing with a double-headed penny, aren't they?

Major Thomas : Would you rather conduct your own defence?

George Wittow : But you have handled a lot of court cases back home, sir?

Major Thomas : No. I was a country-town solicitor. I handled land conveyancing and wills.

Peter Handcock : Wills. Might come in handy.

Harry Morant : "To do good to mankind is the chivalrous plan, And is always as nobly requited, Then battle for freedom wherever you can, And, if not shot or hang'd, You'll get knighted."

George Wittow : Did you write that, Harry?

Harry Morant : No, no. It was a minor poet, called Byron.

Peter Handcock : Never heard of him.

Harry Morant : I did say he was a minor poet.

George Wittow : [after Handcock has admitted to murdering the missionary] Major Thomas has been pleading justifying circumstances and now we're just lying.

Peter Handcock : We're lying? What about THEM? It's no bloody secret. Our graves were dug the day they arrested us at Fort Edwards.

George Wittow : Yeah, but killing a missionary, Peter?

Harry Morant : It's a new kind of war, George. A new war for a new century. I suppose this is the first time the enemy hasn't been in uniform. They're farmers. They come from small villages, and they shoot at from behind walls and from farmhouses. Some of them are women, some of them are children, and some of them... are missionaries, George.

George Wittow : [Saying his goodbyes to Morant and Handcock] Harry! Peter!

Peter Handcock : See you in hell, mate!

Harry Morant : [Gripping George's hand] Goodbye, George.

George Wittow : [Sobbing] Why did they do this to us, Harry? Why?

Harry Morant : They have to apologize for their damned war. They're trying to end it now, so they need scapegoats.

George Wittow : [Being dragged away by prison guards] HARRY! PETER!

Harry Morant : George! We're scapegoats to the bloody empire!

George Wittow : [Being led past the soldiers preparing their rifles for Morant and Handcock's firing squad] Jesus...

George Wittow : My father said the war would make a man of me.

Harry Morant : Everybody's father says that, George.

George Wittow : He believes in the British Empire, you know. We all do in my family. That's why I volunteered, to help keep the Empire together.

Peter Handcock : Yeah? I volunteered because there's a depression back there and I've got a wife and kid.

George Wittow : You believe in the Empire, Harry?

Harry Morant : Do I?

Peter Handcock : Don't reckon he does, mate.

George Wittow : Do you think they're going to imprison us or cashier us, sir? My father, if he found out...

Major Thomas : Haven't they told you? There are several murder charges. The penalty is death.

Peter Handcock : Go on, read it to us, Harry.

Harry Morant : Oh, Peter, come on. Come on. You know you loathe poetry.

George Wittow : Well, there's not much else to bloody do here. Come on, read it.

Harry Morant : "Oh, those rides across the river, Where the shallow stream runs wide, And the sunset's beams were glossing strips of sand on either side, They would cross the sparkling river on the brown horse and the bay, Watch the willows sway and shiver and the trembling shadows play, 'Tis a memory to be hoarded, Of a foolish tale and fond, Till another stream be forded, And we reach the great beyond"

George Wittow : I don't want to die.

Harry Morant : Well, every life ends in a dreadful execution, George. Yours will be much quicker and less painful than most.

George Wittow : And a lot earlier than most.

Harry Morant : They're part of the group that killed Simon Hunt.

George Wittow : How can you be sure?

Harry Morant : Kelly's commandos. The rest disbanded or moved into Portuguese territory.

Capt. Alfred Taylor : Execute them.

George Wittow : Aren't we supposed to...

Capt. Alfred Taylor : This is guerilla war, not a debutante's ball. There are no rules here.

Major Bolton : I've been wondering if you realize how anxious your own government is for a conviction.

George Wittow : What do you mean?

Major Bolton : Well, you've just become a Commonwealth. Your prime minister, Mr. Barton, wants to dissipate any lingering impressions of a frontier colony. Frontier behavior. You can be quite sure the conviction of these men will meet with Australian approval.

George Wittow : I used to hate Sundays in Melbourne. No trams or anything. On a hot day, you couldn't even get down to St. Kilda's for a swim.

Harry Morant : Did you have family readings?

George Wittow : No.

Harry Morant : We did. I had to sit in a high-backed chair wearing a white lace collar, while my father read selections from "Pilgrim's Progress": "How glorious it was to see the open region filled with horses, With trumpeters and pipers, With singers and players..." Et cetera. Et cetera. Et cetera.

Peter Handcock : Sunday was a good day for chasin' a few tarts around Bathurst. Everyone else was in church. I used to whip down the riverbank for a bit of smoochin'. Worst thing about dying, no more girls.

George Wittow : To freedom and Australia.

Harry Morant , George Wittow , Peter Handcock , Major Thomas , Capt. Alfred Taylor : Freedom and Australia!

Harry Morant : To freedom, Australia and horses.

Harry Morant , George Wittow , Peter Handcock , Major Thomas , Capt. Alfred Taylor : Freedom, Australia and horses.

Peter Handcock : Freedom, Australia, horses and women!

Harry Morant , George Wittow , Peter Handcock , Major Thomas , Capt. Alfred Taylor : Freedom, Australia, horses and women!

Harry Morant : Live every day as if it were going to be your last. One day, you're sure to be right.