Sharpe (TV Series)

Sharpe's Rifles (1993)

Sean Bean: Lt. Richard Sharpe

Photos 

Quotes 

• Teresa : If you were French, I would take a knife and you would tell me all I wanted to know.

  Richard Sharpe : But we are allies.

  Teresa : Allies? Do allies keep secrets from each other?

  Richard Sharpe : Lovers keep secrets from each other, yet they still make love.

• Major Hogan : Surprised to see me, Richard? Well you've done a grand job, a grand job. But now, at dawn tomorrow, with the help of my agent Commandante Teresa, who I believe you've met, I want you to seize the chapel at Torre Castro and hold it against all comers until Major Vivar has raised the gonfalon of Santiago over the chapel roof.

  Richard Sharpe : Seize Torre Castro? With six men and a straggle of Spaniards? Can't be done! May I remind you of our main mission, sir? To find a missing gentleman?

  Major Hogan : Not now, Richard. Our mission is Torre Castro. Spain is a sleeping tiger! If the people of Torre Castro rise up, even for an hour, the shock will shake the whole of Spain. Carry on, sir.

  Richard Sharpe : Rise up? Do you really believe men will fight and die for a rag on a pole?

  Major Hogan : You do, Richard, you do.

• Major Hogan : What do you do when you're short of cash, Sharpe?

  Sharpe : Do without, sir.

• Richard Sharpe : Gimme a pick-lock, Cooper.

  Cooper : Pick-lock, sir? Catch me with a pick-lock!

  Patrick Harper : They did, Coop. But when you got out of Newgate prison, you got another set, and that's the one the officer wants.

  Cooper : Do I get it back, sir?

  Richard Sharpe : Trust me.

  Cooper : It's very hard to trust a man who wants to borrow your pick-lock, sir.

• [Sharpe is asking his men about their pasts] 

  Sharpe : Well?

  Harris : Harris. From Wheatley in Oxfordshire.

  Sharpe : And previously?

  Harris : A courtier to my lord Bacchus and an unremitting debtor.

  Sharpe : You're a rake and a wastrel, Harris. Is there anything you *can* do?

  Harris : I can read, sir.

• Cooper : Can I ask you a question, sir? Where'd you learn to fight so dirty, sir?

  Richard Sharpe : Same place as you, Cooper. Saturday night in the gutters.

  Cooper : Long way from home, sir.

  Richard Sharpe : Never was much of a home, Cooper.

  Cooper : No, sir. That it weren't.

  Richard Sharpe : Did you volunteer for this lot, Cooper?

  Cooper : Uh no, not exactly sir. I was invited to join... by a magistrate.

• Richard Sharpe : So... the Chosen Men, eh? Well, I didn't choose you. But I know you, you and your kind, all my life. All I know is how to fight. So if there's any man among you expecting a quick ramble through this war, now's the time.

  [No one speaks up] 

  Richard Sharpe : You're sure, now? Right! Join the column, at the double!

• Rifleman Hagman : Daniel Hagman, poacher.

  Richard Sharpe : You a good shot, then, Hagman?

  Rifleman Hagman : Aye, I can shoot, sir.

  Richard Sharpe : Go on, then. Show me.

  [He pulls a beret out of Hagman's belt, and tosses it into the air. Hagman fires his rifle. Sharpe picks up the beret and shows him the hole in it] 

  Richard Sharpe : You've defaced the King's uniform, Hagman. I could put you up on a charge for that.

• Richard Sharpe : [glares at his riflemen]  Now listen. I'm in charge here. Not them, not Harper; I'm in command. You follow me.

• Richard Sharpe : [is helping Hagman through the marsh, and winces]  Damn knee! Old leg wound, Hagman. Rain plays the devil with it!

  Rifleman Hagman : Aye. Brown paper and paraffin oil is the only cure for a contrary leg!

• [riding in the coach with Sharpe and Teresa, Mr. and Mrs. Parker check that they are asleep, then Mr. Parker lights up a cigar and passes it to his wife, who drags contentedly. Sharpe wakes up, and Mr. Parker hurriedly takes the cigar back] 

  Richard Sharpe : I didn't know a Methodist smoked.

  Mr. Parker : Oh, it's, uh, for my lungs.

  [Sharpe drifts back asleep. Mr. Parker says something under his breath in Yiddish. Mrs. Parker replies in the same language, and Louisa smothers a giggle] 

• Wellesley : Pity about James Rothschild. I presume he's left the country?

  Major Hogan : On the contrary, sir...

  Richard Sharpe : He's here in this room, sir.

  [to Hogan's surprise, Sharpe turns and plucks off "Mrs. Parker's" wig. James Rothschild laughs and pulls an envelope from under his skirt] 

  James Rothschild : Your banker's draft, Sir Arthur.

  [to Sharpe] 

  James Rothschild : How did you know?

  Richard Sharpe : You smelled of Turkish tobacco, the kind you can't get in Spain. You wouldn't eat your roast pork at the monastery. And I remember you speaking Yiddish in the coach.

  James Rothschild : [laughs]  Sir, you are an edel mensch - a gentleman.

• Major Hogan : [tosses a coin to Sharpe]  What's that, Sharpe?

  Richard Sharpe : A shilling, sir.

  Major Hogan : The King's Shilling, Sharpe. Our last shilling. London's late, the Army's broke, and we owe the lads two months' wages... What do you do when you're out of cash, Sharpe?

  Richard Sharpe : Do without, sir.

  Major Hogan : You borrow, Richard! From a bank!

• Man in Black : There are two Spains, Lieutenant. My brother's Spain is a monastery - Silence and superstition. My Spain is a court - Science and scholarship. If you were Spanish, which would you choose?

  Richard Sharpe : I'm neither monk nor prince. So I would choose a tavern.

• Patrick Harper : We don't want to go south, sir.

  Richard Sharpe : And what the hell do I care what you and the lads want, eh? You think the British Army's a bloody dem...

  [searches] 

  Richard Sharpe : Dem...

  Harris : Democracy, sir. Comes from the Greek word "demos" and means "rule by-"

  Richard Sharpe : Shut up, Harris!

• Richard Sharpe : Name?

  Cooper : Cooper, sir.

  Richard Sharpe : Where you from, Cooper?

  Cooper : Shoreditch, sir.

  Richard Sharpe : Previous employment?

  Cooper : By way of a trader, sir. In... property and the like.

  Richard Sharpe : Would that be other people's property, Cooper?

• Rifleman Tongue : Isiah Tongue, sir!

  Richard Sharpe : Yes, I know that. Where you from, Tongue?

  Rifleman Tongue : [mumbling]  No, sir...

  Richard Sharpe : Speak up, man!

  Rifleman Tongue : Don't know, sir!

  Richard Sharpe : What about your family?

  Rifleman Tongue : Don't know, sir!

  Richard Sharpe : Previous employment?

  Rifleman Tongue : Army, sir. Just army.

• Richard Sharpe : [hands Perkins the flag of the regiment]  Perkins, I want you to protect this pennant with your life!

  Rifleman Perkins : Yes sir.

• Richard Sharpe : [Teresa and the Spanish have Sharpe and the riflemen at gunpoint, interrupting the brawl between Sharpe and Harper]  Who the devil are you?

  Major Blas Vivar : [enters]  Allow me to introduce Commandante Teresa. The commander of the guerrillas who fight the French in these mountains.

  Richard Sharpe : And who are you?

  Major Blas Vivar : I am Major Blas Vivar. Count of Mataomoro, Major General in the most holy armies of his Majesty the King of Spain. And you?

  Richard Sharpe : Lieutenant Sharpe. 95th Rifles.

  Major Blas Vivar : Only a lieutenant? Perhaps they do not promote you because you fight with your men?

  Richard Sharpe : That man is a mutineer, sir. He'll be taken back to Lisbon and shot!

• Major Blas Vivar : A toast. 'Death to the French!'

  [Sees that Sharpe is not drinking] 

  Major Blas Vivar : - Why do you not drink?

  Richard Sharpe : I never liked that toast, Major. I'm a soldier, not an assassin.