Guard Fiction: Film and Literature

"Always smile when you enter a room dear, it relaxes others..." Anne Bancroft to Bridget Fonda in Point of No Return 1993 (remake of La Femme Nikita)

In Telefon (1977, Charles Bronson) there is a short scene where a sleeper agent attempts to fly explosives into the Naval Communications Station in Florida. As the helicopter approaches we see a man sitting alone in a bunker reading a book. He is alerted to the helicopter entering their restricted air space. He puts his helmet on, glances out his hatch, sees the helicopter, picks up a simple controller. A press of one button elevates anti-aircraft missiles from a hidden silo. He presses the second button and one missile fires, destroying the helicopter. I often think that being a guard is similar.We await until alerted (by ourselves, others or alarms) and then respond with "judical guidance".

In every film depiction of Egyptian, Roman or Medieval times, we are there in the background, standing near the door or on a wall, holding a spear.

A Few Good Men: (1992). "...they stand upon a wall and say, "Nothing's going to hurt you tonight, not on my watch.""

The Matrix (1999): That was us in the lobby with Neo and Trinity. For a little while, anyway.

Catcher in the Rye
“I’m standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff—I mean if they’re running and they don’t look where they’re going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That’s all I’d do all day. I’d just be the catcher in the rye and all.”

In an often anthologized  military science fiction short story, sorry, I can't remember the author or title, there are guard personalities stored in a computer. When the perimeter of the mysterious, protected grounds are penetrated, the guard or guards are quickened into bodies and they respond to the threat. As the centuries pass, they find the newest weapons in their guard room (and find they already know all about using them). They meanwhile think they just sit and play poker for a few hours or days (actually hundreds of years) between attempted entries.

What kind of civilian jobs do former shooters, operators or agents obtain? As exemplified at the end of the film Jarhead (2005), they get all kinds of jobs and their co-workers usually never have a clue as to their past experiences or capabilities. A low profile life is recommended, otherwise, most "regular folks" would jail or kill them in perceived but mistaken preemptive self defence. This is the common problem of civilian rulers at the end of any war.
"Have a nice day, Ma'am! Thanks for coming in! You all come back soon now!"

In the TV show Burn Notice: there is a short vignette where the hero, Michael Weston, is being offered a chance to work for a 'mysterious organization' and where if he refuses they will give him a job as a night watchman-guard and after a few years he might make supervisor. He declines. This short scene communicates the hopelessness of the guard profession.


Of course most folks think of us in terms of the movies Armed and Dangerous, Paul Blart-Mall Cop and National Security. We make great butts of jokes and as cannon fodder.