Let's Roll

"Let's roll" is a colloquialism that has been used extensively as a command to move and start an activity, attack, mission or project.

The phrase has been used as early as 1908 in the cadence song now called "The Army Goes Rolling Along", which likely extended into tank usage. "The Roads Must Roll", a science fiction story written in 1940 by Robert A. Heinlein, mentions a re-worded version of "The Roll of the Caissons" called "Road Songs of the Transport Cadets". The protagonist of the 1937 supernatural comedy, Topper, played by Cary Grant, uses the phrase "Let's roll" to his wife, played by Constance Bennett, to indicate they should immediately exit their friend's stuffy office and find a drink. The pair are lighthearted, youthful, irresponsible, and impossibly glamorous types, and the line delivery has a decisive insouciance about it. The protagonist of Ernest Hemingway's 1950 novel Across the River and into the Trees, Colonel Dick Cantwell, based on World War II commander Charles "Buck" Lanham, uses the phrase to his driver. He knows he is facing imminent death, but tries to maintain decency, grace, and a sense of humor. The verb "roll" has been used in both the film and recording industry to signal the beginning of a film or audio recording.

"Let's roll" was commonly used in the police television series Adam-12 and the original Dragnet. It was used at the end of roll call at the beginning of each episode of 1980s television series Hill Street Blues. It has appeared, among other places, in The Transformers animated series by Optimus Prime, before entering battle or embarking on a group journey. The exact phrase was used in Season 1, Episode 3, "More than Meets the Eye" (1984) in preparation for the final showdown with Megatron and the Decepticons (as well as in the 2009 feature film Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen). It was used in the 1986 film Ferris Bueller's Day Off, and the 1987 film Matewan, where it was used by Baldwin–Felts agents before a violent attack on striking coal miners. The term was used at the end of the film Matilda, when the title character was given up for adoption. The toys use the phrase when setting out to rescue Woody in the 1999 animated children's film Toy Story 2. In the late 1990s, the term "let's roll" was frequently used to initiate a departure from any given place. Hence, the term and true context of the term "let's roll" during this time period was to initiate action from an individual to a group of friends.

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