The Man Who Would Be King (film)

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Do you suppose that if a man thought twice, he'd give his life for Queen and Country? Not bloody likely! He wouldn't go near the battlefield!

The Man Who Would Be King is a 1975 film about two roguish adventurers who travel into Central Asia to become kings. Based on the story by Rudyard Kipling.

Directed by John Huston. Written by John Huston and Gladys Hill.

Peachy Carnehan[edit]

I want to remind you it was detriments like us that built this bloody Empire and the Izzat of the bloody Raj! Hats on! About turn! By the left, quick march!
  • Blast! [Carnehan realizes he has just pick-pocketed a fellow Freemason's watch]
  • Keep looking at me. It helps to keep my soul from flying off.
  • Now, the problem is, how to divide five Afghans from three mules and have two Englishmen left over.
  • Danny's only a man. But he can break wind at both ends simultaneous — which is more, I reckon, than any god can do.
  • They've twigged it Danny, you've had it!
  • We've got to brass it out, Danny. Danny brass it out!
    Bags of swank!

Daniel Dravot[edit]

  • In any place where they fight, a man who knows how to drill men can always be a King. We shall go to those parts and say to any King we find — "D'you want to vanquish your foes?' and we will show him how to drill men; for that we know better than anything else. Then we will subvert that King and seize his Throne and establish a Dynasty.
  • That's the last of them Peachy, no more gourds to burn.
  • The more tribes, the more they'll fight, and the better for us.
  • [Wistfully observing dancing women] Boil'em once or twice in hot water and they'll come out like chicken and ham! You wouldn't know them from the Gaietey Chorus!
  • [Lecturing his Er-Heb recruits while Billy Fish translates:] Now listen to me, you benighted muckers! We're going to teach you soldiering, The world's noblest profession! When we're done with you, you'll be able to stand up and slaughter your foes like civilized men! But first, you will have to learn to march in step. And do the manual of arms without even having to think! Good soldiers don't think, they just obey! Do you suppose that if a man thought twice, he'd give his life for Queen and Country? Not bloody likely! He wouldn't go near the battlefield! One look at your foolish faces tells me that you're going to be crack troops. Ohhh him there with the five-and-a-half hat size has the makings of a bloody hero!

Dialogue[edit]

But how many men have been where we've been.. ... and seen what we've seen?
Everything's all right then.
District Commissioner: It would have been wiser if you had both gone home at the end of your army service.
Peachy: Home to what? A porter's uniform outside a restaurant and tanner tips from belching civilians for closing cab doors on them and their blowzy women?
Daniel: Not for us, thank you! Not after watching Afghans come howling down out of the hills and taking battle field command when all the officers had copped it!
Peachy: Well said Brother Dravot!
District Commissioner: There may be no criminal charges against you, but I'll see these files reach Calcutta with the recommendation that you be deported as political undesirables! Detriments to the Dignity of the Empire and the Izzat of the Raj!
Peachy: Detriments you call us? Detriments? Well I want to remind you it was detriments like us that built this bloody Empire and the Izzat of the bloody Raj! Hats on! About turn! By the left, quick march!

Daniel: Peachy, in your opinion, have our lives been misspent?
Peachy: Well, that depends on how you look at it.  I wouldn’t say the world’s a better place for our having lived in it.
Daniel: No, hardly that.
Peachy: Nobody's gonna weep their eyes out at our demise.
Daniel: And who'd want them to anyway?
Peachy: And we haven't many good deeds to our credit.
Daniel: None. None to brag about.
Peachy: But how many men have been where we've been ... and seen what we've seen?
Daniel: Bloody few and that's a fact!
Peachy: Why, even now, I wouldn't change places with the viceroy himself...if it meant giving up my memories...

Billy Fish: He wants to know if you are gods?
Peachy: Not gods — Englishmen. Which is the next best thing.

Daniel: [admiring Roxanne, while a worried Peachy looks on] Just looking, Peachy. There's such a thing as admiring beauty for its own sake.
Peachy: Being only human, one thing leads to another.

Peachy: Billy Fish, mount the mule and ride! There's a chance you'll make it!
Billy Fish: Gurkha foot soldier, not cavalry! Rifleman Majendra Bahadur Gurung wishing you many good lucks! [Draws kukri and charges the mob alone] AYO-O-O GURKHALI-I-I!

Daniel: Peachy, I'm heartily ashamed for gettin' you killed instead of going home rich like you deserved to, on account of me bein' so bleedin' high and bloody mighty. Can you forgive me?
Peachy: That I can and that I do, Danny, free and full and without let or hindrance.
Daniel: Everything's all right then.

Cast[edit]

External links[edit]

Wikipedia
Wikipedia