How we cite our quotes: All quotations are from Platoon.
Quote #1
TAYLOR: We drop a lot of bombs then we walk through the jungle like ghosts in the landscape.
"Ghosts in the landscape" eh? As if didn't already have the impression that the guys in the platoon were as good as dead, Taylor gives us a handy simile to help us out: the guys are like ghosts because they're basically dead, the living dead.
Quote #2
RHAH: Whatcha doing in the underworld Taylor?
KING: This here ain't Taylor. Taylor been shot. This man here is Chris, he been resurrected
Taylor has already died once (his entrance into Vietnam was an entrance into the underworld, symbolized by the body bags on the tarmac), and this is his second death, his rebirth as a full-fledged member of the "heads" (the guys who hang out in the underworld and get stoned).
Quote #3
HARRIS: I can promise you something, if I find out there was an illegal killing, there will be a court martial.
Who is Captain Harris kidding anyway? An illegal killing? Good luck with that. His gestures towards there being some kind of rule about killing—about which enemy to kill and not kill—rings kind of hollow in the lawless world of the film, and we know nobody is going to be court martialed.