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Commander Bolton: You can practically see it from here.
Captain Winnant: What?
Commander Bolton: Home.
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Collins: [pursued by a German fighter] He's on me.
Farrier: [turns to pursue said fighter] I'm on him.
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Commander Bolton: The enemy tanks have stopped.
Captain Winnant: Why? Why waste precious tanks when they can pick us off from the air like a fish in a barrel?
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Mr. Dawson: Men my age dictate this war. Why should we be allowed to send our children to fight it?
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Shivering Soldier: [Referring to George] Will, uh... Will he be all right? The boy.
Peter: [after a long pause] Yeah.
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Blind Man: Well done, lads. Well done.
Alex: All we did is survive.
Blind Man: That's enough.
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Captain Winnant: [Bolton is looking through his binoculars, seeing the civilian ships arrive] What do you see?
Commander Bolton: [smiling] Home.
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Grenadier: [when Tommy stands in their line] It's grenadiers, mate.
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Irate Soldier: Where's the bloody air force?
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Alex: [about Gibson] He doesn't speak English. If he does, it's with an accent thicker than sauerkraut sauce.
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Commander Bolton: Well, I'd rather face waves than dive-bombers.
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Tommy: Wars are not won by evacuation.
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Collins: Dunkirk's so far; why couldn't they load at Calais?
Radio Communication: The enemy had something to say about it.
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Commander Bolton: The tide's turning now.
Captain Winnant: How can you tell?
Commander Bolton: The bodies are coming back.
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Peter: Careful! Careful down there!
Alex: [Alex looks up from George's body] He's dead, mate.
Peter: [Beat] So be bloody careful with him.
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Commander Bolton: Seeing home doesn't help us get there, Captain.
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Tommy: How hard is it to find a dead Englishman on Dunkirk beach? He didn't kill anyone!
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Mr. Dawson: [On the Shivering Soldier] He's shell-shocked, George. He's not himself. He might never be himself again.
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Tommy: [last dialogue] We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air. We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be...
Alex: What?
Tommy: We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches. We shall fight on the landing grounds. We shall fight in the fields and in the streets. We shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender. and even if this Island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God's good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old.
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Captain Winnant: [sighs, boards the evacuation ship] Churchill got his 30,000.
Commander Bolton: And then some. Almost 300,000...
[closes the barrier in front of him to the ship]
Commander Bolton: ... so far.
Captain Winnant: [looks up at Bolton] So far?
Commander Bolton: I'm staying. For the French.
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Collins: [Upon being rescued by Peter] Afternoon.
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[first lines]
Tommy: [to French soldiers] English! I'm English! Anglais!
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Collins: Oil. It's oil, oil - you're getting into oil!
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Shivering Soldier: Turn it around!
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Commander Bolton: Cut her loose and push her off! We can't let her sink at the mole! Push that bloody boat off!
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Tommy: It's not fair...!
Alex: Survival's not fair!
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Rear Admiral: Publicly, Churchill's told them "Bras dessous". Arm in arm, leaving together.
Commander Bolton: And privately?
Rear Admiral: We need our army back.
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Title Card: The enemy has driven the British and French armies to the sea. Trapped at Dunkirk, they await their fate. Hoping for deliverance. For a miracle.
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Mr. Dawson: [about planes approaching from behind] Spitfires, George. Greatest plane ever built.
Grenadier: You didn't even look.
Mr. Dawson: Rolls-Royce Merlin engines. Sweetest sound you could hear out here.
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Shivering Soldier: You haven't turned around.
Mr. Dawson: No, we have a job to do.
Shivering Soldier: Job? This is a pleasure yacht. You're weekend sailors, not the bloody navy. A man your age?
Mr. Dawson: Men my age dictate this war. Why should we be allowed to send our children to fight it?
Shivering Soldier: You should be at home!
Mr. Dawson: Well, there won't be any home if we allow a slaughter across the Channel.
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[Bolton and Winnant are having a heated discussion about the evacuation]
Captain Winnant: They need to send more ships. Every hour, the enemy pushes closer.
Commander Bolton: They've activated the small vessels pool.
Captain Winnant: Small vessels?
Commander Bolton: It's a list of civilian boats for requisition.
Captain Winnant: Civilian? We need destroyers...!
Commander Bolton: Small boats can load from the beach.
Captain Winnant: Not in these conditions!
Commander Bolton: Well, I'd rather fight waves than dive-bombers.
Captain Winnant: [Beat] No, you're right. They won't get up in this. The Royal Engineers are building piers from lorries. At least that should help us when the tide comes back.
Commander Bolton: Well, we'll know in six hour's time.
Captain Winnant: I thought the tides were every three?
Commander Bolton: Then it's good that you're army and I'm navy, isn't it.
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Irate Soldier: [On the pier in England, Collins steps off Dawson's boat, watching soldiers walk by. One looks at Collins angrily] Where the bloody hell were you?
Mr. Dawson: [to Collins] He knows exactly where you were.
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Shivering Soldier: Where are we going?
Mr. Dawson: Dunkirk.
Shivering Soldier: No, we're going to England!
Mr. Dawson: We have to go to Dunkirk first.
Shivering Soldier: I'm not going back!
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Shivering Soldier: You should be at home!
Mr. Dawson: There won't be any home if we allow this slaughter across the Channel. There's no hiding from this.
Dunkirk Quotes
Extended Reading
