Original subtitles

There was a time, not so long ago, when this man, the corporal, could move like

that, fast and easy, sure-footed, alert.

Still could, of course, if he had to.

Nowadays, the Demands are less physical than they used to be.

Now he's in charge.

Age shall not weary, but it does.

Not that he'd ever admit it.

Martin!

Nearly 20 years in the service.

He made sergeant once, but he's happy as a corporal. One of the lads.

Thanks, corporal.

Martin looks too young to be a lance corporal, but he's earned that stripe.

Men have shaped up well over the last few weeks. So you haven't seen much of

the place yet, then? That's right, yeah.

Well, how about you and me tonight? We'll go and have a look at the town.

Well, thanks, Corporal, but actually I did have other plans for tonight. Well,

that lot?

Forget it, I promise you.

I'll show you a really good time, eh? Okay, Corporal. All right.

All right, get the boys back in the boat. Get them back for a meal.

Will do, Corporal. See you later on.

See you then.

You know what they say about all work and no play.

A good night on the town.

That's what the lad needs.

Seems a bit shy.

Bit of a mummy's boy.

Please buy the invitation, though.

You could see that.

The corporal's arranged to start early.

Get ashore for opening time.

Corporal? Yeah, come in.

No room in the service of softies.

He's got a plan.

He'll test the lad.

A few beers, a bit of grub, and then maybe a girl.

Great. I'm looking forward to it.

Yeah, what's that smell?

Smell? Oh, it's my new aftershave.

Oh, it's your new aftershave, is it? Yeah. You smell like a right beefer.

Come on. What do you want to wear that stuff for?

Well, the birds love it, don't they? Oh, the birds love it? Who told you that,

then? It's a fact, don't you know?

Oh, it's a fact. It's something I never knew, is it? Oh, it's a fact. Oh, that's

nice. Stay there, and I'll get you some. Hey, hey, no, no. Martin, no. Thank you

very much.

Well, thank goodness he likes birds.

Had him worried there for a minute or two.

Here you are.

Get a load of this. Come on.

Oh, blimey, it smells worse than any does on you.

No, thank you, Martin.

I think I won't have any of that. Thank you very much indeed.

This is expensive stuff. It may be expensive, son, so am I. I don't want

it.

Yeah, this'll be a night to remember.

Yeah, he'll soon look him into shape.

Show him the ropes.

Show him how a real man enjoys himself.

Well, the first stop has proved one thing. This lad's a bit tight with his

money.

Not much of a drinker, either.

Doesn't drink.

Doesn't smoke.

Probably doesn't go out with strange women, either.

Hmm.

I'll soon find out about that.

If it hadn't been for that man, who obviously... Hello, dear.

Hold on a second. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Wait a minute. You see

that sweet young girl over there?

I've got a very strong feeling that, well, we know what she is, but it

doesn't matter. I've got a very strong feeling that if we really played our

cards right, it might be in there. Give me a second, all right?

Yeah,

pretty young thing. Just Martin's time.

He'll fix it for him.

Turn on the old charm.

How are you? All right.

What's your name, then?

Samantha. That's a lovely name. What are you doing out on a night like this,

then? We're trying to get the rent money together.

Are you really?

Well, it's me and my pal around there, you know, having a roam around tonight.

And he's a young lad. He's been a bit disappointed.

Oh,

I know the type.

But no, no, what I'm trying to say is that, well, we're a bit brassic.

And, well, really and truly, I'm not really in it for the business, you know

what I mean? What do you mean?

Well, we haven't got a lot of money. How much can you afford?

Well, that's it. Nothing, really, you know what I mean?

Nothing? Yeah, all right.

Oh, blimey. Thanks very much indeed. Good night.

Ah, not very successful.

That was earlier.

I've got plenty of time, my son. Tonight is young, and you are very, very ugly.

But quickly, we're going to cross the road. Come on.

Don't worry about a thing. I'll take care of everything.

Keep going, boy. Keep going. What this boy needs is a few more pints inside

him. Loosen him up a bit.

Then he'll start enjoying himself and stop complaining.

Well, do I really have to drink this? I mean, I...

It's, you know, it's not really agreeing with me, you know what I mean? Listen,

boy, you have only had four.

Wait a minute. How many have you had?

Try and remember how many you've had.

How many have you had?

You tell me. You count them up.

Um, well, half an hour ago, I had, uh, two, one, um... This is my

fourth.

No, Martin, I think you'll find some.

If I have two more, I'll get a bit... I think you'll find one. Yeah?

Oh.

That is actually your six.

No. Because we had a pint before we left, didn't we? Tell you what I'm going

to do, I'm going to take the pressure off you a bit. Yeah, what? Because

between you and me, there's a couple of birds over there. Oh, yeah?

And I think they fancy me.

Or they fancy us. Good. One of the two.

What I'm going to do, I'm going to do you a very big favor. Yeah. I'm going to

go across there and chat them up a little bit. You know what I mean? Okay,

then. You stay here, I'll hold the fort, and I'll see what I can do, right? Okay.

A few drinks and the corporal feels capable of anything.

Good evening, ladies.

Good evening.

Quite obviously they're deeply flattered by his attention so you can sense their

eager anticipation of him

Well, you'll have a good time, I promise you.

No, thank you. Now, come on, please. You'll enjoy yourself. Please. On your

bike.

Get him on.

On your bike.

Wait a minute. Wait a minute. They're friends of mine.

Come on. I've never seen him before. Come on.

Clear off.

I told you. I thought you said we were going to have a good time.

Oh, for goodness sake. All right. All right. All right.

All right. All right. All right.

Thank you very much. Thank you very much.

I'm telling you one thing.

What? Not a word out of him. I ought to suck him down one of his own pumps, I

tell you. That's nice, outside the rain.

Don't worry.

Not a good idea, this drinking on an empty stomach.

The boy can't take it.

What he needs is a good meal. Coffee, coffee, coffee, coffee.

All right, what do you want? Two hamburgers. Yeah. Hang on.

Two coffees.

Well,

didn't I tell you I would show you a good time, my boy?

Didn't I tell you it would be all right? Now, later on, we know up to yet there

has not been a great success.

Too true. However, it will sort itself out.

I hope so. Don't worry about a thing.

Give ourselves ten minutes here.

I like this, don't you?

Yeah. Very good? Is this good? I think I'm gonna need another coffee, though.

Miss Martin's turning out to be a right misery.

It's only 10 o'clock and he wants to go home already.

What do you mean, no thanks?

Look, I'm very tired. What do you mean you're tired? What do you mean you're

tired? It won't cost us much. That's what I'm worried about. Listen, boy, you

worry too much. Get in here. Let's enjoy ourselves.

Come on.

Now,

my son.

I told you early on this evening you were going to enjoy yourself, and now

you are, aren't you?

I don't know, I'm just... It's not me, you know. What do you mean it's not you?

What's the matter? What's the matter? What are you complaining about? Well,

it's the wine. Wine? Why are you complaining about the beer just now?

What's the matter with the wine? I'll give you wine, now you're complaining

about that?

Concentrate. Don't worry about a thing.

What a beautiful girl, eh?

She's not going to go all the way, is she? Of course she's going to go all the

way. She'll clean the bloody chimneys. Don't be ridiculous.

Oh, look at that.

Isn't that beautiful?

Isn't that beautiful?

Thanks.

I'm not used to... Yeah, but be very careful. You're obviously drinking that

cigar and smoking the wine. Take it easy.

Don't you like it?

Well, sip it slowly. Don't rush it.

Oh, it's sincere.

You look beautiful.

Be careful. That moustache comes off.

That's nice.

What a lovely little band, eh?

I can

see you're not complaining about the wine now. You're getting stuck

in it now, aren't you?

Calm down, calm down. It'll be all right. We haven't seen nothing yet.

All I say is just don't get us into trouble like they did in the pub. Don't

worry about it. Don't worry about it. I think

she likes it.

You know what I mean?

Do you mind? It was a personal present from a friend of mine.

Here, put that round your neck.

No, look, I don't want that as well.

Oh, my goodness, I like this. You look like it, sir.

Actually, though, if I was you, I'd keep that. It looks a bit fidget.

Watch it.

I wonder how she does that. That's amazing.

That's amazing, isn't it?

That's amazing.

I don't believe that.

What's the matter with you?

Pull your bonnet back. You can't see her one eye. What are you talking about? Get

it off your eye.

You're looking at her one eye and I wonder if you're going to enjoy it.

She loves me, I can tell.

She brightened his life for a moment or two.

Couple more drinks and he'll be one of the boys.

Only trouble is, the pub's a shop.

Yeah, sounds good.

Hey, give us some changing.

Again?

Funny how some people object to paying for their experience.

Martin seems happy enough, but this is really not the corporal scene.

Oh, you've got something?

Yeah, it's a right dead loss, isn't it? It ain't real mugs game, is it?

Here, I tell you, Martin, I couldn't half murder another drink.

Yeah, but where are you going to get a drink at this time of night?

Well, there's only one place to get a drink this time of night. Boy, that's

Ochoa, isn't it?

You know, residence.

What, just like this?

You must be joking. Yeah.

Yeah, they've got jackets on.

What?

Oh, yeah.

Come on. Let's go and have a word with him.

Hello.

Spare us a few minutes.

Listen,

we've got a bit of a problem.

Me and my mate, we want to go on a trip tonight.

Of course, we can't get in dressed like we are.

We notice you've got a couple of jackets on. We wonder whether you'd mind lending

us your jackets for a couple of hours.

What's happening?

You won't learn them, I tell you what. All right, will you sell them now?

You'll sell them, of course you'll sell them. I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll

give you five pounds for the two, won't we?

They cost us two quid each at the Oxfam shop. Two quid each at the Oxfam shop,

that's what it looks like. I'll tell you what I'll do now. I'll give you six

quid, won't we?

We'll give you eight pounds.

I'll tell you what we'll do. We'll give you ten pounds, won't we?

Yeah, but we'll try them on first. Come on, let's have them on.

That won't fit you, that won't fit me. Let's have them on.

Oh, look at this. Perfect, my son, perfect. Give the money.

It's always me, isn't it, with the money?

There you go.

Thank you very much indeed.

There, now he's learned another valuable lesson.

Everything has its price.

Ten pounds for what, Al?

Ten pounds for this?

I bet it's not much better.

But look at the arms!

Stop looking at me. What do you mean?

Stop looking at me. Behave naturally.

Do you need a coat up or something? Just stand still.

But I don't understand.

What a stain in your shoes.

It's not my fault. We've been out five hours now.

Room 303 on the third floor. What do you

mean?

Well, there you go.

Thanks.

Hey, Corporal.

What? What's all this about room 303 on the third floor?

Where are we?

Hotel? Right, we're in a hotel, right?

And what are we doing here?

Eating biscuits.

Well, we're not eating biscuits. We come here to get a drink, aren't we? After

hours, right? You can't get a drink in a hotel unless you're a resident, right?

You're a resident of whatever room. So what's our room number?

303. 303. What's our name?

I don't know. That's right. You don't know because you don't listen. It's

Collins, room 303, all right? You leave it to me. I can't do that. Yes, you can

do that. Miss?

Oh, goodness sake.

Now, what do you want to drink?

Oh, just an orange juice.

Oh, dear. Can I have an orange juice?

And a large Bacardi and Coke, please.

Haven't you had enough?

I'll tell you something.

What? You see that bird over there? I don't look at her, you really don't.

I mean, watching her out of the corner of the eye, right? Yeah.

She's on her own, right?

Yeah. And she's looking at her watch a lot.

Yeah. And she's looking at that door.

Yeah. She's looking at the other door, right?

Yeah.

Well, what does that mean to you?

She's lost.

She's not, of course. She's not lost. She's waiting for someone, isn't she?

And he's not turned up, right? Oh.

Right, and also, she has been clocking me a little bit as well.

Oh, no.

Look, now, I mean it, you know. I've had enough tonight.

One joint from the other. That's right. That strip club, I mean, he freaked out

in that strip club.

Thank you, darling. You didn't tell me it was going to be like that. That is

room 303, college.

Thank you very much.

Right, Martin.

Yeah. You just hang on here, son.

I suppose I'll go... I will go over there.

I'll be with you in a minute, all right? You keep your fingers crossed, all

right?

This calls for all the corporal's expertise.

I do excuse me.

I've got a bit of a problem, you see.

My friend and myself were sitting there having a drink.

We've... I've been waiting for his mother, you see, and we've just had a

message that there's been some kind of accident somewhere. She's been injured

on the road. Oh, no.

We haven't heard him. We've been waiting for the news.

He's a bit upset.

Would you like me to go and speak to him? Oh, no, no, no. That's why I've

come over to speak to you, because I'm a bit up for Paul. He wants to be alone

for a few minutes, you know, so I thought I'd come over and try and talk

to him.

I tell you, it's a bit of a strength.

I'm quite pleased to speak to somebody, actually. I've been waiting for a

friend. Oh, really?

They haven't turned up, so... Have you been in there on your own, then? Yes.

Oh, it's not very nice for you, is it? Sitting around here on your own, that's

for sure. No, no, it's not. Are you sure you wouldn't like a drink?

No, no, really, I'm fine.

I don't drink very much. You don't want one, or what? We're going to have one

after that, blimey.

Listen, I haven't eaten anything all day long. Is there anywhere around here we

can eat?

Yes, I think there is somewhere that's not too far away, actually.

Oh, it's good.

Have you eaten tonight?

No. Would you like to come and eat with me?

I'd love to.

Oh, that's very, very kind of you.

You've got a car?

Oh, no, I'm afraid I haven't. Oh, well, never mind.

Well, look, we'll get a cab and wander on there. We'll have to come back and

see him in about an hour. I'm sure he'll be all right. Well, if you think he'll

be all right... He wants to be left alone. That's the whole point, you know.

Okay, fine. Lovely.

Success at last.

He won't want to come with us, you know. He is very, very upset. You just wait

there, dear, my honest.

Here, Marty.

Bye.

Quick, mate, come on now.

You got any money? How much do you want? How much you got?

Oh, goodness sake.

Here, have a look. Good boy, good boy.

I'll see you later, all right? Now, look, you're going to have a good time.

Money, no object, all right? What do you mean?

Come along, Sheila.

we're lucky look a nice blue volvo my favorite color i used to have a volvo

one time but you know we're a bit big and i don't need a big car with my kind

of business here you go my dear good evening driver we'll be with you in a

minute sheila

It's a long hike back to the barracks.

A thousand insects buzz in Martin's head and the road tilts alarmingly as he

walks. But he's relieved that the evening's over.

Soon he'll be in his pit asleep.

But it doesn't last long.

At dawn, the corporal returns.

Hey, Martin.

You awake, Martin?

You are now.

How are you, son?

I had a lovely time last night. I told you, you should have stuck with me, you

know? That bird Sheila that I met, that's what her name was, Sheila.

She was there since, mate.

Lovely house.

Bit of a gash breakfast, but never mind.

Hey, Martin, you don't seem very interested. You're not listening, eh?

Listen, boy, we were at it all night.

We've been playing mothers and fathers. You know what that means?

You know, I've got a bit of news for you.

See, I'm not really too bothered whether she becomes a mother or not, you know

what I mean?

Because I've done you a big favor, son.

What? I told her that I was you.

What do you mean?

I gave her your name, didn't I?

You what?

Is there no justice in this world?

Martin avoided the corporal when he could after that, but they had to work

together. And for the corporal, Perrin would have become a standing joke.

He never missed a chance to remind Martin of the possibilities.

They were to be abroad for the next few months on a NATO exercise.

When they returned to Plymouth later in the year, they went on speaking terms.

Martin got a letter from Sheila whilst they were away, full of words of love.

Sad it was.

He passed it on to the corporal.

Told him to own up.

Three more arrived.

Then they stopped.

The corporal must have told her.

Separately but together they go about their business training training

and more train

Day after day they move and work as a complete unit.

No one else aware of the rift between them.

Well lads I thought that was very good.

And by the look on some of your faces, you thought it was pretty good as well.

Your movement was good, but there was a deficiency in your weapon skills, and I

think you know what I'm talking about.

The next time we do the exercise, which I hope will not be the last one, because

I want to go home, we will sort it out.

I think you know what I mean.

All right, now, is there any questions?

Hang on.

What's this?

Trouble?

Right, as I was saying, any questions? Anything we can do to help ourselves

out?

That's right, that's right. Whose fault was that, then?

It's the soldier's. Right, right, right. So next time we do this exercise, we put

that right as well.

Hang on a minute.

Yeah, it's trouble.

They want to see Martin.

Bad news?

Family?

Or maybe... Anybody got any clue what that's all about?

His

child.

And Martin's getting the blame.

Damn.

They shouldn't have given Martin's name.

He'll tell them now.

own up

He's

sorry very sorry Sorry for her, and sorry to have involved Martin.

Oh, look, if there's any way I can help you out... Corporal. What? She's dead.

Oh. And stuff you made.

Because do you know what?

She's left me the whole farm, all the money, everything.

Dead?

Left everything to her lover?

Her house?

The money?

Everything. To her lover.

Martin.