At one point in the boot camp portion of the movie it shows Gunny Hartman marching the recruits in formation and it sounds like he’s saying ‘Hail Colic, Hail Colic’ which I know isn’t right :). What is he actually saying?
I think what you are talking about is the very stylized rendering of “left, right, left, right” that you get from drill sergeants.
Yep. Just Hartman showing of his DI “accent.” You also get things like “Heydle die” and “Yettle roy.”
I think it translates closer to “On your left, on your left, on your left, right, left”
It’s in the beginning of this clip when the words are on the screen. So it’s just nonsense words and phrases?
“Hey, we’re walking!”
Oops, wrong movie.
That is “Forward (pause(tells someone to get their hand down)) march, left right left right left, double time, march”.
There was only one actor in that movie, and only one movie in that actor.
He says, “Left, right, left, right left. Double time, I love working for Uncle Sam.”
It is a cadence, a beat to step to, that can only be parsed out by other Marines. They created the diction such that when they are training with us Army guys, we are always looking to find the TIN HUT!
SFC Schwartz
SFC Schwartz, congratulations on the promotion.
I thought he was great in American Beauty.
I never liked Law and Order but he was on it a long time so it must have been successful.
OK, now that it’s been pointed out, I can pick out the ‘left, right, left right’. Thanks!!
Left, left, left, right, left…
A-left, a-left, a-left, right, a-left…
HAY-left, hay-left, hay-left, rattle, left…
And so on until you get the ‘D.I. accent’.
.
My father was a Marine (Parris Island Class of 45) and he was very impressed by how accurate the Boot Camp portion of the movie felt. Of course thats because R. Lee Ermy was a DI. He wrote most of his dialogue.
One of the few people ever allowed to improvise lines in a Stanley Kubrick movie.
And not coincidentally, it was the most interesting part of the film.
We called that the “Marine Yodel”.
"Left, right " becomes “HAYl, hay”
Then they throw a few extra syllables in so you hear “HAYl hay, hiddle hay, haddle hay hef ida leff”
And, of course, he was famously hired as a coach for the original actor, but it became his first role instead.