Sharpe (TV Series)

Sharpe's Eagle (1993)

Sean Bean: Lt., Cpt. Richard Sharpe

Photos 

Quotes 

• Maj. Hogan : [talking about of the South Essex]  Sir Henry apart, the South Essex... what do you make of them, man for man?

  Richard Sharpe : They're flogged soldiers, sir. And flogging teaches a soldier only one lesson.

  Maj. Hogan : What's that, Richard?

  Richard Sharpe : How to turn his back.

• Richard Sharpe : Those men who've fought in a big battle before, one pace forward.

  [no one moves] 

  Richard Sharpe : This place is called Talavera. There's going to be a battle here tomorrow. You'll fight in it... maybe even die in it. But you won't see it.

  [explosion] 

  Richard Sharpe : There's a lot of smoke in a battle. Our cannon, their cannon. Our shot, their shell. Our volleys, their volleys.

  [shots] 

  Richard Sharpe : You don't see a battle. You *hear* it. Black powder blasting by the ton on all sides. Black smoke blinding you and choking you and making you vomit. Then the French come out of the smoke - not in a line, but in a column. And they march towards our thin line, kettledrums hammering like hell and a golden eagle blazing overhead. They march slowly, and it takes them a long time to reach you, and you can't see them in smoke. But you can hear the drums. They march out of the smoke, and you fire a volley. And the front rank of the column falls, and the next rank steps over them, with drums hammering, and the column smashes your line like a hammer breaking glass... and Napoleon has won another battle. But if you don't run - if you stand until you can smell the garlic, and fire volley after volley, three rounds a minute - then they slow down. They stop. And then they run away. All you've got to do is stand, and fire three rounds a minute. Now, you and I know you can fire three rounds a minute. But can you stand?

• Maj. Hogan : Richard, your mind has been making appointments your body should never keep.

  Richard Sharpe : What do you mean by that?

  Maj. Hogan : You have ambition which could be the making of you but you also have a romantic soul which could be the breaking of you. Ambition and romance is a poisonous brew, and I mean to distill the one from the other.

• Sir Henry Simmerson : Do "you* know what makes a good soldier?

  Richard Sharpe : Yes, sir.

  Sir Henry Simmerson : [pause, then]  And what makes a good soldier?

  Richard Sharpe : The ability to fire three rounds a minute in any weather, sir.

• Maj. Hogan : [Sharpe has just taught the South Essex to fire three rounds a minute]  Sharpe.

  Richard Sharpe : Yes, sir?

  Maj. Hogan : Stop showing off, Sharpe.

  Richard Sharpe : [grins]  Yes, sir.

• Leroy : [he has just seen Sharpe talking with Colonel Lawford]  You and the young lord twins, or what?

  Richard Sharpe : We spent three months chained in a cell in India. He had a page of the Bible. In three months he taught me how to read and write. How can you pay back a man who teaches you how to write your own name, Captain?

• Richard Sharpe : [Lerory has just told Sharpe Simmerson's order not to "dawdle in the rear"]  Right, lads... if we can't dawdle in the rear, we may as well dawdle in the front.

  Harper : Took the words right out of me mouth, sir.

• Wellesley : Sharpe, I can make you a captain, but I cannot keep you a captain. There is talk of an imperial eagle, Sharpe. There is talk of a promise made to the late Major Lennox. Swear to me on oath that the talk is just idle gossip, Sharpe, or by God, sir, you will walk out of that door a lieutenant.

  Richard Sharpe : I swear on oath tha no one heard me make a promise in respect of an imperial eagle to Major Lennox, sir.

  Wellesley : Colonel Lawford?

  Colonel Lawford : Sir?

  Wellesley : You may escort Captain Sharpe to the door, Colonel Lawford.

• Richard Sharpe : [eulogizing the dead Major Lennox]  At a place called Assaye I saw an army about to turn and run. One Major stepped forward and steadied the line. He saved us. Major Lennox, 78th Scottish Highlanders.

  [He turns away] 

  Denny : [long pause, then to Captain Leroy]  I thought he was just an old man!

• Maj. Hogan : Do you know anything about art, Richard? - Rubens, Boticelli...?

  [puts up an unidentifiable drawing. Sharpe and Harper look at it, blankly] 

  Richard Sharpe : What the devil is it, sir?

  Maj. Hogan : It's a map of Spain! - Oh, sorry, it's upside down... Makes no difference either way!

• Sir Henry Simmerson : What makes a good soldier, Sharpe?

  Richard Sharpe : The ability to fire three rounds a minute. In any weather, sir!

• Richard Sharpe : [Starting the rifle drill of his new men]  Right, let's get to work! - And Mr. Denny, if you see any man doing anything not in the manual...

  Denny : I take his name, sir?

  Richard Sharpe : Give him half a pint of rum on the spot, Mr. Denny!

• Teresa Moreno : You think it's funny to die for an

  [French Imperial] 

  Teresa Moreno : eagle?

  Richard Sharpe : I'm a soldier. Would you care if I died?

  Teresa Moreno : Yes. - Yes!

  [They kiss] 

  Richard Sharpe : Then I shall take care not to!

• Richard Sharpe : [referring to the Chosen Men]  Where the blazes are they, Harper?

  Patrick Harper : They're hornin', sir. I told them once, I told them a thousand times, not to go hornin'. Why, says I, if you're desperate to hold on to something, hold a bottle! - It's not the best advice, sir...

  Richard Sharpe : You bloody old bishop! What's it matter if they're pissed or poxed, as long as they can fight!

• Maj. Hogan : Ambition and romance is a poisonous brew. And I mean to distill one from the other.

  [...] 

  Maj. Hogan : Oh, believe me, Richard, I've drunk of the cup. And its intoxication I can well remember!

  Richard Sharpe : I can hold my drink, sir.

  Maj. Hogan : See that you do, Sharpe. See that you do!

• Richard Sharpe : [Simmerson and the South Essex have just come upon Sharpe and the Chosen Men relaxing and enjoying freshly-cooked rabbit; to his men with a grin:]  Fall in, lads... no dawdlin' now.