Rough Riders (TV Mini Series)

Episode #1.1 (1997)

Tom Berenger: Theodore Roosevelt

Quotes 

• Theodore Roosevelt : When we were good, and not misbehaving, she made us cheese grits!

• Theodore Roosevelt : If it were up to me, we'd drive every European flag from this Hemisphere at bayonet point!

  Mademoiselle Adler : Mon dieu, help me, I feel faint.

  Edith Roosevelt : Feel free. By all means, fall right over!

• Theodore Roosevelt : [greeting dignitaries at a party]  Oh, more good Republicans!

• Col. Leonard Wood : [examining an account of the Battle of Manila Bay]  He was your appointment, was he not?

  Theodore Roosevelt : Oh, I had a hand in it!

  Col. Leonard Wood : And it was your plan to have Dewey coal his warships and set sail for Manila Bay.

  Theodore Roosevelt : Secretary Long was on vacation in New England.

  Col. Leonard Wood : So, YOU took the initiative?

  Theodore Roosevelt : I suppose so... But that Commodore Dewey was like a wolfhound slipped from the leash, wasn't he, Leonard?

  Col. Leonard Wood : I suppose he was, Theodore... And Roosevelt is like a young second lieutenant: Ambitious, often overreaching, frequently insubordinate, brash... but, successful - this time. Don't try it with me!

• Col. Leonard Wood : All in all, Theodore, you're shaping up to be a competent officer. Don't let it go to your head.

  Theodore Roosevelt : No, sir. I shall not do that!

• Theodore Roosevelt : [trying to convince Wood to be Colonel of the Rough Riders]  Come on, Leonard, you already know you're going. Why not at the head of the wildest mad cap regiment since the Mongols rode the Steppes?

  Col. Leonard Wood : Theodore, do you know that you're mad?

  Edith Roosevelt : Well, it's never bothered him before...

• Newsman : Colonel Roosevelt, what do you think of this regiment, the Rough Riders?

  Theodore Roosevelt : I think this regiment could whip Caesar's Tenth Legion! I think they could ride with Genghis Khan! They are the best examples of American manhood. We have cowboys, Ivy Leaguers, football players, polo players, bronco busters, New York City policemen... and one man, I regret to say, who used to work for the Internal Revenue Service!