History Main / LineInTheSand

[[folder:Film]]
* In the otherwise forgettable ''Film/StreetFighter'' movie, Colonel Guile makes this speech to his men after being ordered by an ObstructiveBureaucrat to disband his men and send them home instead of going after Bison. The speech ends with: "Now, who wants to go home...and who wants to go with ME?!" Every one of his men enthusiastically opt for the latter choice.
** Every one of his men except for the cook, that is. The ObstructiveBureaucrat places the cook under armed guard to ensure that he doesn't run off, too.

* Parodied in ''TheLifeAquaticWithSteveZissou''. Zissou asks anyone in his crew who doesn't want to continue to step forward, and his confused German lieutenant does so because he thought he was supposed to cross the line if he ''did'' want to continue. Zissou said 'If you're not against me, don't cross this line! If yes, do.' so it's not just the fact the he was German that made it confusing.

* The historical genesis of this trope is parodied in VivaMax, when General Maximillian, after somewhat successfully attempting to recapture the Alamo, draws a line and asks his men who want to give in to the local sheriff's orders to leave. Everyone stars to cross, but go back when Max's assistant--the only man in the company actually carrying ammo--points a gun at them.
** Later this turns into a CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming when Max's men decide to stay on their own volition.
* In the Japanese film ''Ichi the Killer'', when heading into the final confrontation, the sadomachistic gang leader gives all of his henchmen the opportunity to back out. One of them takes him up on it, telling him that "it's time to hand back this sake cup we drank in friendship." The gangster responded by stabbing a spike through the henchman's foot and dragging him along anyway, spike and all. None of the other henchmen tried to leave.

* In the film version of ''Film/HarryPotter and the Prisoner of Azkaban'', Hagrid asks for volunteers to approach the hippogriff, and this trope happens, leaving Harry.

* ''IronJawedAngels'': Knowing anyone who joins the picket line in front of the White House after war has been declared will be imprisoned, Alice asks for volunteers and stresses that this is a choice.
* A smaller scale version happens in ''ThePatriot''. Right before the final battle, Dan and Occam and the rest of the American militia are facing down the superior British Army. Dan points out to Occam that he already served his required enlistment and that he could leave at any time. Occam confirms this [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming and decides to stay anyways so he can fight beside his comrades]].

* In ''The Battle of Algiers'', Col. Mathieu has surrounded Algerian nationalist Ali La Pointe's last safe house. La Pointe and three of his followers (including a woman and a child) hide in a wall cavity. Mathieu wires the house to explode, then shouts through the wall to urge La Pointe to at least let the little boy go. La Pointe says "Whoever wishes to may go," but the other three refuse to leave. [[spoiler: Mathieu blows up the house.]]

* Played with in ''BandOfBrothers'', where Lt. Welsh asks for volunteers to take a look at a suspicious looking house; although Blithe raises his hand, Welsh also says "You three have just volunteered too", thus ordering them to take a look instead of asking them if they want to.

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* Played straight in the second book of ''ASongOfIceAndFire'', when Theon Greyjoy, preparing to make the LastStand in hostile territory, [[PetTheDog but he let's his men choose to stay or go to Deepwood Motte]]. Most of his crew chooses to stay and die fighting with him.

* ''IronJawedAngels'': Knowing anyone who joins the picket line in front of the White House after war has been declared will be imprisoned, Alice asks for volunteers and stresses that this s a choice.

* In "The Battle of Algiers," Col. Mathieu has surrounded Algerian nationalist Ali La Pointe's last safe house. La Pointe and three of his followers (including a woman and a child) hide in a wall cavity. Mathieu wires the house to explode, then shouts through the wall to urge La Pointe to at least let the little boy go. La Pointe says "Whoever wishes to may go," but the other three refuse to leave. [[spoiler: Mathieu blows up the house.]]

* In the series finale of ''Series/StargateAtlantis'', Woolsey gives one of these to Ronon and Teyla. Doubles as a CrowningMomentofHeartwarming:

* In the series finale of StargateAtlantis, Woolsey gives one of these to Ronon and Teyla. Doubles as a CrowningMomentofHeartwarming:

* Played straight in the second book of ''ASongOfIceAndFire'', when Theon Greyjoy, preparing to make the LastStand in hostile territory, offers the choice to his men. All but a handful ''don't'' cross. Bitter but unsurprised by the lack of loyalty from his fellow Ironborn, he stays true to his word and lets them go. While '''not''' an overly sympathetic character in general, it's somewhat hard [[PetTheDog not to empathize with him there]].

* ''TheLordOfTheRings'' had a scene where Aragorn offered the people in his army a chance to do something less suicidal (by retaking an outpost) before he attacked the Black Gate. In this case, some of them actually ''do'' leave.

** Parodied in ''BoredOfTheRings''. As the Army of the West approaches the Gates of Fordor, many start to desert. Finally Arrowroot decides to shame them into being courageous.
--->'''Arrowroot''': "Peoples of the West! The battle before the Black Gate of Sorhed will be one of few against many; but the few are of pure heart and the many are of the filthy. Nevertheless, those of you who wish to cringe and run from the fight may do so to quicken our pace. Those who still ride with the King of Twodor will live forever in song and legend! The rest may go."
--->It is said that the dustcloud did not settle for many days after.

** In ''DiscWorld/AHatFullOfSky'', [[PunnyName Rob Anybody]] asked for volunteers for a mission that'd probably get everyone killed. [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Every Feegle over the age of four automatically put his hand up.]]

* ''{{Ratatouille}}'', when Linguini finally reveals the secret of his apparent ultracompetence as a chef, to the rest of the kitchen staff, just as they're getting ready to brave the critique of Antoine Ego, the most feared food-reviewer in Paris. He asks who will stand with him. They all leave. [[spoiler: The love-interest and TokenGirl comes back, though.]]

* ''Series/{{Rome}}''. Julius Caesar [[ManipulativeBastard shows how this is done]] with a RousingSpeech when he needs to take his elite 13th Legion into Italy, an illegal act. First Caesar informs them the Senate has declared him a Public Enemy. [[AFatherToHisMen His soldiers are shocked and outraged]]. He adds that [[TrueCompanion by standing with him]], the Senate is [[ASharedSuffering declaring all of them outlaws as well]]. Caesar then whips up their fervour by denouncing the [[BlatantLies treacherous attack by a thousand Pompey supporters]] on Marc Antony ''and'' the fifty 13th Legion men who were protecting him. Antony is standing there with blood on his face (which Caesar had instructed him ''not'' to wash off) as evidence of this. He declares his intention to march on Rome and save it from these {{Corrupt Politician}}s who have such contempt for Roman values. Caesar then calls out Legionary Titus Pullo from the ranks and publicly [[BenevolentBoss rewards him with a bag of silver]] (ironically Pullo set the whole incident in motion, as his attacker had a personal grudge against him).

-->'''Caesar:''' ''Titus Pullo is with me. And you, are you with me?!''

* ''Literature/TheHuntForRedOctober'': some officers are asked to volunteer for a dangerous mission, and if they opt out "nothing more will be said". They volunteer because they know something ''would'' be said [[DirtyCoward if they failed to do so]].

* In ''Series/{{Stargate SG-1}}'' General Hammond asks for volunteers to rescue SG-1, who have been captured by Hathor. Everyone steps forward before he's even finished the sentence.

A common subversion is to have most of the men step ''backward'', except one, who is considered to have [[GotVolunteered volunteered]] for the mission.

* Subverted by ''Manga/DeathNote''. Souichirou Yagami, the police chief in charge of the Kira investigation (and the killer's unknowing father), pulls exactly this speech to his subordinates, down to the letter of the trope. Most of them take his offer, and he's left with a handful of men, since the lack of apparent restrictions on who Kira can or is willing to kill has demoralized the police.

* Subverted in Disney's ''{{Ratatouille}}'', when Linguini finally reveals the secret of his apparent ultracompetence as a chef, to the rest of the kitchen staff, just as they're getting ready to brave the critique of Antoine Ego, the most feared food-reviewer in Paris. He asks who will stand with him. They all leave. [[spoiler: The love-interest and TokenGirl comes back, though.]]
* Parodied/subverted in ''TheLifeAquaticWithSteveZissou''. Zissou asks anyone in his crew who doesn't want to continue to step forward, and his confused German lieutenant does so because he thought he was supposed to cross the line if he ''did'' want to continue.
** Of course, Zissou said 'If you're not against me, don't cross this line! If yes, do.' so it's not just the fact the he was German that made it confusing.
* Double subverted in Disney's version of ''Disney/TheJungleBook'': when Col. Hati turns his back after asking for volunteers to go look for Mowgli, the entire herd steps ''back'' as one, save for one elephant. He joins the line after a moment. Hati turns around, looks at everyone for a beat, then laughs and says, "Now that's what I like to see: devotion to duty!"

* An amusing subversion takes place in the DavidDrake - Eric Flint collaboration ''[[Literature/BelisariusSeries An Oblique Approach]]''. General Belisarius asks for volunteers to come with him on a highly dangerous spy mission into a country that's planning to attack. Plenty of hands are raised. He [[GotVolunteered picks]] the three men who "had enough sense not to volunteer."
* In another Drake work, the ''Literature/HonorHarrington'' short story "A Grand Tour", the crew of a Manticoran destroyer that was attacked by a rogue Havenite cruiser manned by reluctant draftees are asked for volunteers on a potentially dangerous mission in a commandeered light cruiser of another power's SpaceNavy ([[ItsALongStory long story]]) to get revenge on the Havenites. All, of course, step forward, but in a subversion the senior surviving member ordered the survivors to step forward and volunteer. All of them, however, would probably have volunteered anyway, to get revenge for the unprovoked attack[[note]]this being prior to the official start of the war, with Manticore[=/=]Haven relations being on the edge of conflict, but neither party quite ready to kick off all-out war[[/note]].

* Subverted in ''Literature/TheHuntForRedOctober'' where some officers are asked to volunteer for a dangerous mission, and if they opt out "nothing more will be said". They volunteer of course, because they know something ''would'' be said [[DirtyCoward if they failed to do so]].

* Subverted in ''BandOfBrothers'', where Lt. Welsh asks for volunteers to take a look at a suspicious looking house; although Blithe raises his hand, Welsh also says "You three have just volunteered too", thus ordering them to take a look instead of asking them if they want to.

* ''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Deep Space Nine]]''. The subversion appears during Worf's 'bachelor party', which his human friends wrongly assume will involve the usual Klingon carousing, but is actually an ordeal of self-torture and sleep deprivation. Worf asks who's first to have his chest carved on by a wicked-looking knife, and Bashir is too dead on his feet to notice that his friends have taken a sudden step backwards, leaving him as the 'volunteer'.
** Played straight at the beginning of season two, when Sisko decides to remain on the station after being told to pull out by Starfleet.

* Subverted to hilarious effect on ''Series/{{NCIS}}''. Tony is asking his friends to help Ziva, who is framed and on the run. Palmer is alarmed to realize that they might not just end up fired, but jailed. Tony delivers the stock line for this trope, "no one's gonna think less of you if you want out, Palmer."

* The scene from ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' is recreated partially in ''Series/GameOfThrones''. In a departure from the series, more or less every Ironborn cheer loudly along with Theon's attempt at a RousingSpeech... [[SubvertedTrope Until one of them clubs him in the head]]. They then sell him out and go home.

* The Droopy Dog cartoon ''Northwest Hounded Police'' has the step backward subversion.

** In the 1990s movie, the trope is also subverted in that Santa Ana sends a message to those settlers in the Alamo that whoever leaves will be pardoned, and reminds them that Mexico knows no racial segregation. Many of the militia accept the offer and leave with their families.

*** Played straight at the beginning of season two, when Sisko decides to remain on the station after being told to pull out by Starfleet.

* Parodied in ''GetSmart''. In a spoof of ''MissionImpossible'', Max is listening to a taped briefing from the Chief.

* OlderThanFeudalism: Appears in the [[Literature/TheBible biblical]] Book of Judges, 7:3. God commands Gideon to issue two tests in order to thin out the ranks of the Israelite army so that it would be apparent that the victory was won by God's power, not simply superior military might. In addition to permitting those who were afraid to participate in the upcoming battle to leave, Gideon also observed how the soldiers drank from a river; those who knelt down to drink were sent home[[hottip:* : Some scholars believe that this test was meant to single out those who were most alert and battle-ready; the soldiers who knelt would have been at a greater disadvantage should they have been ambushed at that point.]]. These two tests thinned the Israelite army down from 32,000 to a mere 300. Oh yeah, [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome and they won too]].

* In the 2012 film of ''LesMiserables'', Enjolras gives those who want to leave the chance to go without shame when their barricade becomes the last one. No-one leaves.

* ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|Reimagined}}'' plays it nice and straight in the finale, with a line taped down the center of the flight deck. This is played rather more realistically than most examples, as there are at least twice as many people who end up on the port (non-volunteer) side of the line. Though most of those were civilians, most of the Marines and Pilots do volunteer. Later, in the briefing room, Helo again asks for volunteers to pilot the Raptors for the mission; every hand in the room is up before he even finishes speaking.

--->'''Scotty''': [[CrowningMomentOfHeartWarming I'd be grateful Admiral, if you'd give the word.]]
--->'''Kirk''': [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome Gentlemen... may the wind be at out backs. Stations, please.]]

* An amusing subversion takes place in the DavidDrake - Eric Flint collaboration ''[[BelisariusSeries An Oblique Approach]]''. General Belisarius asks for volunteers to come with him on a highly dangerous spy mission into a country that's planning to attack. Plenty of hands are raised. He [[GotVolunteered picks]] the three men who "had enough sense not to volunteer."

** Well, except for guys like Ishimaru and the basketball guys, who they didn't even think to bring with them.

* ''GundamSeed'': Of course Murrue Ramius does this to the Archangel crew. At this point, they are deserters, so she needs them to freely agree to fight at her side before she can give them orders again.
** Heck, even then only 11 left the ship.