Fort Apache Quotes

Captain Yorke: Lt. O'Rourke, follow me.
2nd Lt. Michael O'Rourke: But, the troop, sir...
Captain Yorke: Don't argue. Mulcahy, take over.
2nd Lt. Michael O'Rourke: Captain Yorke, I refuse...
First Sgt. Festus Mulcahy: Get outta here, ya skirt! Or I'll put ya across me knee and belt the pants off'ya! Get out now! [O'Rourke rides after Yorke as the troopers start laughing]
First Sgt. Festus Mulcahy: As you were, men! [Draws his sabre]

Movie: Fort Apache
Ft. Apache sentry: Halt! Who goes there?
Sgt. Johnny Beaufort: The new commanding officer.
Ft. Apache sentry: Holy Moses!
Sgt. Johnny Beaufort: No, the new commanding officer.

Movie: Fort Apache
Lt. Col. Thursday: This Lt. O'Rourke - are you by chance related?
RSM Michael O'Rourke: Not by chance, sir, by blood. He's my son.
Lt. Col. Thursday: I see. How did he happen to get into West Point?
RSM Michael O'Rourke: It happened by presidential appointment, sir
Lt. Col. Thursday: Are you a former officer, O'Rourke?
RSM Michael O'Rourke: During the war, I was a major in the 69th New York regiment... The Irish Brigade, sir.
Lt. Col. Thursday: Still, it's been my impression that presidential appointments were restricted to sons of holders of the Medal of Honor.
RSM Michael O'Rourke: That is my impression, too, sir. Will that be all, sir?

Movie: Fort Apache
Lt. Col. Owen Thursday: Have the trumpeter sound officer's call.
RSM Michael O'Rourke: Officer's call?
Lt. Col. Owen Thursday: How long have you been in the army, O'Rourke?
RSM Michael O'Rourke: The United States army - fifteen years, sir.
Lt. Col. Owen Thursday: Then you've heard of officer's call. Have it sounded.
RSM Michael O'Rourke: Yes, sir.
RSM Michael O'Rourke: [to the bugler] Sound officer's call.

Movie: Fort Apache
[in the storeroom at Meacham's trading post, the soldiers find boxes marked Bibles - Col. Thursday tells the men to open them - when they do, they find kegs of whiskey instead]
Sgt. Quincannon: Bibles, sir!
Lt. Col. Owen Thursday: [Col. Thursday hands a cup to Sgt. Mulcahy] Sergeant, pour me some scripture. [Sgt. Mulcahy dips the cup into a keg and hands it to Col. Thursday. He takes a sip and spits it out]
Lt. Col. Owen Thursday: What's in this? Brimstone and sulfur?
Silas Meacham: You know what it is and I'm entitled to keep it.
Lt. Col. Owen Thursday: Your license may permit you to keep a medicinal store of whiskey, but this is no whiskey.
Silas Meacham: Perhaps you're not used to frontier whiskey.
Lt. Col. Owen Thursday: I don't know... I've tasted most everything. [to Sgt. Mulcahy]
Lt. Col. Owen Thursday: Sergeant, you a judge of whiskey?
First Sgt. Festus Mulcahy: [looks around at the others] Uh, well, sir, some people say I am and some say I'm not, sir.
Lt. Col. Owen Thursday: [hands him the cup] Tell me what you make of this.
First Sgt. Festus Mulcahy: [takes a drink - makes a face at Meacham - takes another drink] Well, uh, it's better than no whiskey at all, sir.

Movie: Fort Apache
[at Meacham's trading post]
Captain Yorke: No troop or squadron or regiment's gonna keep the Apaches on this reservation unless they want to stay here. Five years ago we made a treaty with Cochise. He and his Chiricahuas and some of the other Apache bands came on the reservation. They wanted to live here in peace... and DID for two years. And then Meacham, here, was sent by the "Indian Ring"...
Silas Meacham: That's a lie! I've been endorsed...
Captain Yorke: The dirtiest, most corrupt political group in our history. And then it began: whiskey but no beef; trinkets instead of blankets; the women degraded; the children sickly; and the men turning into drunken animals. So Cochise did the only thing a decent man could do... he left. Took most of his people and crossed the Rio Bravo into Mexico.
Silas Meacham: He broke his treaty.
Captain Yorke: Yes, rather than stay here and see his nation wiped out.
Silas Meacham: The law is the law and I DEMAND that you soldier boys enforce it!
Lt. Col. Thursday: Any demands you wish to make, you will make through official channels, Mr. Meacham. Do not again employ that word in my presence.
Silas Meacham: No offense, sir, no offense.

Movie: Fort Apache