- Dieter: I remember, I was in the attic with my brother. We were looking out, and we see this fighter plane, beautiful, coming right at us. And it's firing from its wings. And I see the machine gun, it's flashing and - whooosh - it goes flying past the house. It's so close. I mean, it's *feet* away from the house. And the canopy was open. And this pilot, he had his goggles up on his helmet. And I could see his eyes. And he was looking at me. Right at me. He's looking right at me. And then as he turns to go, he's starting back, he's looking right at me still. And the thing is, from that moment on, little Dieter, he needed to fly.
- Rescue Chopper Winchman: [hauled into rescue chopper] Who are ya buddy? Name!
- Dieter: Flight Lieutenant Dieter Dengler, U.S.S. Ranger.
- Rescue Chopper Winchman: Authenticator? What's the authenticator?
- Dieter: Rescue Dawn.
- Rescue Chopper Winchman: Louder!
- Dieter: Rescue Dawn!
- Rescue Chopper Winchman: Favorite sport?
- Dieter: [big grin now] Hunting.
- Rescue Chopper Winchman: Favorite fish?
- Dieter: Trout.
- Rescue Chopper Pilot: Confirmed, confirmed, it's him!
- Squad Leader: You're gonna be Spook's wingman. You think you can handle that?
- Dieter: I could not ask for a better man, sir. But, please, could I ask you a question?
- Squad Leader: Go ahead.
- Dieter: You know, Spook is such a goddamn daredevil, could you please order him not to try too hard to die for his country, but rather to let the son-of-a-bitch on the other side die for his instead?
- [first lines]
- Title Card: In 1965, few people believed that the still limited conflict in Viet Nam would turn into full scale war. / One of the first signs of what lay ahead was America's bombing of secret targets inside Laos.
- [last lines]
- Title Card: Soon after his rescue, Dieter Dengler retired from active duty and became a civilian test pilot. / He survived four more plane crashes.
- Spook: Shake it, Pops. He's got a nice ass for a sailor, I'll tell you that. I don't mean that in a weird way. God bless America.
- Dieter: I just thought we'd be assisting some South Vietnamese generals against a few infiltrators. Whole thing would be done in three, four weeks.
- Spook: You picked the wrong time to enlist, Dengler.
- Dieter: I know. No, but I just wanted to fly so badly, and everybody, they were telling me all about the fantastic massage parlors go-go girls, everything, and - and what did I get? Goddamn one night? One night in Saigon.
- Farkas: Yeah and that didn't go so well.
- Dieter: That's me.
- Dieter: Well, my friends, you can rot in here if you like, but I'm going to scram this very night. This hut, it ain't no prison.
- Gene: Scram. I like that. I like that. Listen, listen, my friend, you cannot escape. If you try to escape, you'll screw up our release.
- Duane: Look, I don't give a shit about our release or whatever you think is going to happen. But without water, you won't survive more than two days out there. And without water, your tracks will be visible for even more. The jungle is the prison.
- Dieter: Look, look, look, I've created a secret compartment here for the rice. It is at the bottom of my crap container. So I don't think the guards are going to want to check that.
- Dieter: that girl, you know? She smiled at me. And when she smiled, man, did I wish there was no war.
- Duane: On the top shelf is a turkey. I'm not talking Thanksgiving big. I'm talking, you know, an obscene, enormous, like, 35-pound turkey with breasts the size of Jayne Mansfield's. You know what I mean? You've got gravy, stuffing, six-pack of Budweiser.
- Duane: Hey, do yourself a favour, Kraut. Keep your head down and your mouth shut. That's your best chance of surviving.
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