Lion of the Desert (1980)

Oliver Reed: Gen. Rodolfo Graziani

Photos 

Quotes 

• Gen. Rodolfo Graziani : These chains are uncomfortable ?

  Omar Mukhtar : They are... uncomfortable facts.

• Gen. Rodolfo Graziani : I want to ask you one question. Why did you keep going for so long? I mean, surely you didn't hope to drive us out of Libya with so little, did you?

  Omar Mukhtar : We fought you. That was enough.

  Gen. Rodolfo Graziani : And you cared nothing for the ruination of your country?

  Omar Mukhtar : You are the ruination of my country. What would you do if someone occupied your land?

• Gen. Rodolfo Graziani : [Seeing Mukhtar's men appear to attack his bait]  Look, the mice. They could never resist the cheese, could they? Never...

• Gen. Rodolfo Graziani : I understand you know Omar Mukhtar?

  Sharif El Gariani : I did.

  Gen. Rodolfo Graziani : What would it take to get him to surrender?

  Sharif El Gariani : I don't know. Even as a boy, he was terribly stubborn...

• Benito Mussolini : What did Mukhtar do before the rebellion?

  Gen. Rodolfo Graziani : He was a teacher, Il Duce.

  Benito Mussolini : A teacher? I was a teacher. Be careful you don't end up as the five who went before you - taught by him.

• Gen. Rodolfo Graziani : I have a radical solution - a new Hadrian's wall. Except that Hadrian used his wall to shut the barbarian out. I shall use mine to shut him in. I propose, my Duce, to fence in Libya. To run a wall of impassible wire across the desert, from the Mediterranean to the shores of the sea of moving sand. It will cut the enemy off from his supplies out of Egypt, and cut him off from his retreat into Egypt.

  Italian Official : Duce! My Duce! Hundreds of miles of barbed wire! That is impossible - do you know the cost?

  Benito Mussolini : Why do you question Hadrian's Wall? Remember - it was Hadrian's Wall that kept the Romans in Britain one hundred years longer!

• Gen. Rodolfo Graziani : [Reading a dispatch]  What is this? Another wasted maneuver? Hm? How many dead Italians?

  Italian Officer : Twenty dead, fifty wounded, sir.

  Gen. Rodolfo Graziani : And they let him go again?

  Italian Officer : Yes, but this time he was seen.

  Gen. Rodolfo Graziani : He was *seen*? How do they know he was seen, nobody knows him, how do they know he was seen?

  Italian Officer : It was only for a moment, sir, but they're sure it was Mukhtar.

  Gen. Rodolfo Graziani : I suppose I should decorate them just for the bravery of seeing Mukhtar!