The Virgin Soldiers is a 1966 comic novel by Leslie Thomas, inspired by his own experiences of National Service in the British Army.
The novel was turned into a film The Virgin Soldiers in 1969, directed by John Dexter, with a screenplay by the British screenwriter John Hopkins. It starred Hywel Bennett, Nigel Patrick and Lynn Redgrave. David Bowie cut his hair short to audition for a role, but can only be seen in a brief shot in the finished movie. A sequel, Stand Up, Virgin Soldiers, followed in 1977 with Nigel Davenport repeating his role as Sgt Driscoll.
Read more about The Virgin Soldiers: Plot Summary
Famous quotes containing the words virgin and/or soldiers:
“‘Tis chastity, my brother, chastity.
She that has that is clad in complete steel,
And like a quivered nymph with arrows keen
May trace huge forests and unharbored heaths,
Infamous hills and sandy perilous wilds,
Where, through the sacred rays of chastity,
No savage fierce, bandit, or mountaineer
Will dare to soil her virgin purity.”
—John Milton (1608–1674)
“The sacred obligation to the Union soldiers must not—will not be forgotten nor neglected.... But those who fought against the Nation cannot and do not look to it for relief.... Confederate soldiers and their descendants are to share with us and our descendants the destiny of America. Whatever, therefore, we their fellow citizens can do to remove burdens from their shoulders and to brighten their lives is surely in the pathway of humanity and patriotism.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)