Beau Geste (1939)

Brian Donlevy: Sergeant Markoff

Photos 

Quotes 

• Markoff : The jewel you stole. I want it.

  Michael 'Beau' Geste : I have no jewel.

  Markoff : I know you have.

  Michael 'Beau' Geste : I haven't.

  Markoff : Are you sure?

  Michael 'Beau' Geste : Quite sure.

  Markoff : I advise you to change your mind. Otherwise, when this is over, I may have to shoot you to make sure.

  Michael 'Beau' Geste : I understand, Sergeant.

  Markoff : You mean you'd rather not hand it over now and save your life?

  Michael 'Beau' Geste : No, Sergeant.

  Markoff : That's very unfortunate... for you.

• Markoff : Keep shooting, you scum! You'll get a chance yet to die with your boots on!

• Markoff : I am Sergeant Markoff. I make soldiers out of scum like you, and I don't do it gently. You're the sloppiest looking lot I've ever seen. It's up to me to prevent you from becoming a disgrace to the Regiment. And I will prevent that if I have to kill half of you with work. But the half that lives will be soldiers. I promise you!

• [Lt. Martin is bed-ridden with a fever] 

  Markoff : How do you feel tonight, Lieutenant?

  Lt. Martin : I'm dying.

  Markoff : I hope not, sir.

  Lt. Martin : I'm going to die. I'll be buried under the sand and forgotten. When I was a little boy, I thought soldiers always died in battles. I didn't know there were so many soldiers... and so few battles... and so many fevers.

• Markoff : [as the Arabs flee]  Look at them. They come when I want them, and they go when I don't need them anymore. They're beaten, but they've put down a mutiny for me. They've given me the Legion of Honor, and they've made me an officer!

• Lt. Martin : I just witnessed that little exhibition of yours, Markoff. I don't like it!

  Markoff : You have to be strict with scum like that, sir.

  Lt. Martin : They're men. They have their rights, guaranteed within the regulations.

  Markoff : I'll keep within the regulations, sir.

  Lt. Martin : You're a good soldier, Markoff, but I doubt if you're a good sergeant. If you're not, you won't last long in the Legion. Watch your step, or I'll break you!

• Markoff : And now, you scum, it's my turn. I'm going to give you a lesson in putting down an attempted mutiny that'll be the last thing you'll ever see. Maybe this'll make you die happy. Markoff thanks you. When he's an officer and has the Legion of Honor, he'll think often of the stupid, blundering pigs that put him where he is.

• Markoff : [Markoff props a dead man on the fort's wall]  Everybody does his duty at Zinderneuf, dead or alive! We'll make those Arabs think we've got a thousand men.

• Markoff : [to a dead soldier he props on the wall]  The rest of the bullets you stop won't hurt as much as that first one.

• Markoff : That's the place for our mutineers. Up on a roost, like pigeons. If I could only afford to waste them all.