- If this were your bridge how would you get it under way?
- Get it under way, sir? Well, first of all, I wouldn't build it here.
— Colonel Nicholson (Alec Guinness)
12 seconds sound clip from the The Bridge on the River Kwai movie soundboard.
You can hear this line at 01:07:02.361 in the Blu-ray version of the movie.
Quote context
[...]
- A corporal should always know exactly how many men he has under him at all times.
- Have you a nervous affliction? If not, stop making those faces at once.
- It may be funny and I'm sure it's done with the best motives but it's not military behaviour.
- No, sir.
- We must put a stop to these demonstrations.
- Have you ever constructed a bridge across a stream like the Kwai?
- Yes, sir, half a dozen of them in Madras, Bengal.
- If this were your bridge how would you get it under way?
- Get it under way, sir? Well, first of all, I wouldn't build it here.
- As I was trying to tell you a while ago, sir, the Japanese couldn't have picked a worse location.
- Why, further downstream, sir. Across those narrows. Then we'd have solid bedrock on both banks.
[...]