Lion of the Desert (1980)

Rod Steiger: Benito Mussolini

Photos 

Quotes 

• 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!

• Benito Mussolini : More, more... I don't understand. We defeated the Bedouin - why are we still hanging them? Why do I have to pour troops into a victory I've already won? Ha! Oh, I wish my generals would write two different dispatches - one telling themselves of their glorious victories, and one telling me of their defeats!