Character Analysis
Captain Dana "Dynamite" Holmes (Philip Ober) is thoroughly repulsive. There is nothing good about this dude. He's a creep who has no problem torturing a low-ranking soldier, Prewitt, for a trivial reason.
When Prewitt explains why he doesn't want to box anymore (he once blinded a friend in the ring), Holmes callously responds: "You might as well say stop war because one man got killed." Of course, a recreational sport is significantly different from a war… but not to an oafish gorilla like Holmes.
Holmes reacts to Prewitt's refusal by siccing his cronies on him. The other soldiers (with a few exceptions) all harass Prewitt for refusing to participate in the military boxing tournament. The abuse escalates, with Holmes forcing Prewitt to go on long marches up mountains and do extra chores.
Finally, Prewitt reaches breaking point when Sgt. Galovitch steps on his fingers and beats Galovitch to a pulp in a long fight. This dooms Holmes, since a high-ranking officer witnesses the fight and demands to know what caused it. When the truth comes out, Holmes is forced to resign his position.
And you know what? We didn't even cry.
But it's not just his subordinate soldiers whom Holmes mistreats—he acts horribly towards his wife, Karen, as well. He cheats on her constantly. At one point (before the action of the movie) he returns home drunk from an affair and passes out, leaving his wife to give birth to a stillborn baby without proper medical attention.
Seriously, this guy is so cartoonishly evil that we're surprised he's not stroking a white cat, twirling his moustache, and chuckling "Mwahaha."