Sergeant Rutledge (1960)

Woody Strode: 1st Sgt. Braxton Rutledge

Photos 

Quotes 

• Capt. Shattuck : You are trying to trade your murderer's bravery for the mercy of the court! Isn't that it?

  1st Sgt. Braxton Rutledge : No, sir, that is not it at all!

  Capt. Shattuck : All right, Rutledge, if that isn't it, what was it?

  1st Sgt. Braxton Rutledge : It was because the Ninth Cavalry was my home, my real freedom, and my self-respect, and the way I was desertin' it, I wasn't

  [voice cracking] 

  1st Sgt. Braxton Rutledge : nuthin' worse than a swamp-runnin' nigger, and I ain't that! Do you hear me? I'm a man!

• [On horseback, Lieutenant Cantrell and some of his officers are escorting Mary Beecher to her home. Rutledge, handcuffed and still wounded from gunfire in his side, rides in the front alongside Cantrell] 

  Lt. Tom Cantrell : How's the side holding up, Sergeant?

  1st Sgt. Braxton Rutledge : [sardonically]  You know what they say about us, sir. We heal fast.

  Lt. Tom Cantrell : You give me your word you won't try to make an escape, I'll take those irons off you.

  1st Sgt. Braxton Rutledge : [Rutledge refuses to look at Cantrell]  I can't do that, sir. 'Cause I ain't going back to stand trial.

  Lt. Tom Cantrell : Well, don't you be a fool, Brax. What if you did get away? Why, this thing would haunt you until you couldn't stand it.

  1st Sgt. Braxton Rutledge : You forget, sir. We been haunted a long time. Too much to worry. Yeah, it was all right for Mr. Lincoln to say we were free.

  [Now he turns to look angrily at Cantrell] 

  1st Sgt. Braxton Rutledge : But that ain't so! Not yet! Maybe some day, but not yet!

• 1st Sgt. Braxton Rutledge : Anyone come, you ain't gonna be in here with me.

  Mary Beecher : What are you talking about?

  1st Sgt. Braxton Rutledge : I'm talking about you. A white woman. White women only spell trouble for any of us.

  Mary Beecher : That's nonsense. We're just two people trying to stay alive.

  1st Sgt. Braxton Rutledge : Lady, you don't know how hard I'm trying to stay alive.

• 1st Sgt. Braxton Rutledge : Soldier can never think by his heart, ma'am. He got to think by the book.

• 1st Sgt. Braxton Rutledge : You can't make self-defense out of it. There's still that dead white girl. Nobody'd believe I didn't touch her.

• [Rutledge enters the court room under guard and presents himself to the President of the Court-Martial] 

  1st Sgt. Braxton Rutledge : First Sergeant Braxton Rutledge, C Troop, Ninth United States Cavalry.

  [the spectators erupt into bedlam. Sitting in the front seats, the officers' wives, especially Mrs. Fosgate, have been chattering constantly, and a crowd of men at the back begin shouting that Rutledge should be hanged, and so forth. Fosgate bangs his gavel repeatedly] 

  Lt. Tom Cantrell : Mr. President!

  Col. Otis Fosgate - president of the court-martial : Order!

  Lt. Tom Cantrell : Mr. President! I request this court room be cleared of all spectators. This is not a public show. A soldier's on trial for his life before this court; and, furthermore, by the very nature of the charges alone, this is certainly no place for ladies.

  [the ladies, especially Mrs. Fosgate, don't like that, and they begin chattering and protesting again] 

  Col. Otis Fosgate - president of the court-martial : Request granted.

  [He glares at his wife] 

  Col. Otis Fosgate - president of the court-martial : Dickinson, clear this court room of everyone not directly connected with this case!

  [the crowd, mostly women in hats, resentfully rise and start exiting. Mary Beecher remains in her seat, looking disgruntled] 

  Mrs. Cordelia Fosgate : Otis! Otis, tell this person you don't mean *me*.

  [Dickinson takes her by the shoulder to escort her out] 

  Col. Otis Fosgate - president of the court-martial : Out, Cordelia! Captain Dickinson, escort Mrs. Fosgate and her friends to the door.

  Mrs. Cordelia Fosgate : Otis Fosgate, wait till I get you home!

  [Fosgate clears his throat and glances at the other Court Martial men, who are grinning at him] 

• 1st Sgt. Braxton Rutledge : I ain't gonna let none of this trouble run off on you. You're ninth Cavalry men, and like I've said again and again the ninth's record is going to speak for us all one day, and its gonna speak clean.