"The Navy has changed a great deal. Not that the officers of my day were bad, because I served under a lot of good officers, believe me. But there were a few bad ones, too"
About this Quote
Borgnine’s line lands like a half-salute: respectful on the surface, quietly corrective underneath. He opens with an easy concession - “The Navy has changed a great deal” - then immediately braces for backlash. The rapid pivot (“Not that the officers of my day were bad... believe me”) isn’t just politeness; it’s a veteran’s instinct to avoid sounding like he’s taking a swing at the institution that shaped him. “Believe me” is doing heavy lifting: he’s asserting credibility, but also signaling he knows how quickly an anecdote can be read as an indictment.
The subtext is a negotiation between loyalty and honesty. Borgnine gives the Navy its due, foregrounding “a lot of good officers,” then slips in the truth he actually wants to preserve: hierarchy doesn’t guarantee character. “But there were a few bad ones, too” is blunt, almost anticlimactic, which is the point. No melodrama, no war-story flourish - just the plain reality that leadership is uneven, and that any system relying on rank will produce both stewards and petty tyrants.
Context matters: Borgnine wasn’t just playing tough guys; he was a WWII Navy veteran, and his screen persona traded on authenticity and lived-in decency. That makes the line feel less like nostalgia and more like a refusal of nostalgia. It’s an actor with a sailor’s cadence reminding you that “the good old days” were always messier than the myth, and that progress doesn’t erase the need for accountability.
The subtext is a negotiation between loyalty and honesty. Borgnine gives the Navy its due, foregrounding “a lot of good officers,” then slips in the truth he actually wants to preserve: hierarchy doesn’t guarantee character. “But there were a few bad ones, too” is blunt, almost anticlimactic, which is the point. No melodrama, no war-story flourish - just the plain reality that leadership is uneven, and that any system relying on rank will produce both stewards and petty tyrants.
Context matters: Borgnine wasn’t just playing tough guys; he was a WWII Navy veteran, and his screen persona traded on authenticity and lived-in decency. That makes the line feel less like nostalgia and more like a refusal of nostalgia. It’s an actor with a sailor’s cadence reminding you that “the good old days” were always messier than the myth, and that progress doesn’t erase the need for accountability.
Quote Details
| Topic | Military & Soldier |
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