Kiefer Sutherland credited as playing...
Lt. Jim 'Yankee' Reardon
- Dr. Coates: [to a freshly-beaten Gordon] Ah. Looks like you didn't bow. Always bow before a guard, Korean or Jap. And *never* look 'em in the eyes when they pass you: that's pure defiance. Always look away. Rules of Bushido.
- Lt. Jim Reardon: Bushido?
- Dr. Coates: Yeah. Their kind of chivalry. Respect and obligation. If you don't respect them, they feel obligated to beat you. Nothing personal.
- Ernest Gordon: Well, it sure as bloody hell feels personal.
- Dr. Coates: Yeah, well, it works both ways. They do the same to their own.
- Lt. Jim Reardon: Now there's a comfort.
- Lt. Jim Reardon: Colonel, I've been watching these Nips. There's never more than a handful of 'em guarding the perimeter at any given time. And they're not watching very closely. It just doesn't make sense to me unless...
- McLean: Unless what?
- Dr. Coates: Well, unless every prisoner's been caught or died in a thousand miles of hostile jungle. Unless the local villagers are willing to turn in a POW for a bowl of rice. Unless - escape is impossible.
- Lt. Jim 'Yankee' Reardon: Take a look around you! Take a look in the eyes of these men. You tell me what you see. That's right, Ernie, they're dead already. You know it and I know it. At least with escape, you gave us one thing. Hope. Hope, Ernie. Because without that, we might as well be sitting in there with our thumbs up our ***** waitin' for the end to come! Is that what you want?