Sorry I don’t have more but I’m amazed at what Dopers can do with minimal information (although I still haven’t found that 90’s song about the girt waiting at the gate).
“And they knew they were going to die.”
I want to say that it was said by a woman (although I’m very unsure about this), but I’m pretty sure that the story she was telling was about soldiers during a war (what war? ummmmm . . . I can’t remember).
If that’s all you have, I doubt if one single movie is going to work. It sounds like it might have been said in any number of war movies, westerns, slasher movies, and so on.
Did you actually see such a movie?
Was there anything else going on that might supply a clue?
I’ll post more as I remember, I’m jus desperate as this has been gnawing at me for a day and it’s ALMOST there. If it helps, it was brought on by watching 300 so I’m pretty sure it deals with honor (or maybe duty) while facing a certain death.
Okay, long shot.
The Dam Busters. When the designer of the bouncing Bomb hears that several aircraft were shot down he is horrified. Someone says to him (paraphrase) if they had known they would die they would have done it anyway.
That’s one example of the meme. I’m sure there are 50 others.
Maybe Enemy at the Gates?
Marlene Dietrich says something like this to Spencer Tracy in Judgment at Nuremberg as she is explaining the lyrics of Lili Marleen. I’ll have to dig it out to get the exact quote, but it’s something like, “The soldier knows he is going to lose his girl. . . and his life.”
I’m reminded of one of Brodie’s stories from Mallrats…
I’m thinking The Others, where jesus freak mom tells the kids about the children who chose martyrdom over renouncing Christ. It doesn’t match exactly (the movie is set during a war though), but it is a woman telling about people facing death with honor. I can’t check right now because I don’t want my 3yo watching that!
Now that you mention it, that sounds familiar to me too. The one where Cousin Walt was on the plane where all the hydraulics went, he figured he’s going to die and…well, penis ensued.
Hmm, just dug up the scene on imdb (do a search for “plane”), and maybe it doesn’t fit…
I’m intrigued. Could you link to the relevant thread or recap here?
Now that you’re back, can you tell us the answer? Please.
Got it. Captain Koons’ speech from Pulp Fiction