Chief Insp. Cyril Willis Quotes in Rough Cut (1980)

Gillian Bromley: It doesn't trouble you that blackmail is, in fact, against the law?

Chief Insp. Cyril Willis: Policemen are constantly breaking the law. It's one of the many ways we have of upholding it.

Gillian Bromley: I have absolutely NO intention of passing on the date of that shipment.

Chief Insp. Cyril Willis: Well, let me put it another way. Do the names Halliday, Hornfield, Kinnersley and Drampton mean anything to you?

Gillian Bromley: Uh, no, I don't follow you.

Chief Insp. Cyril Willis: They're all women's prisons. Oh, there's a fairly large selection of them available in this country. But I think I should point out, they DO have one thing in common: they are ALL poisonously unpleasant.

Gillian Bromley: [Wavering somewhat] I'll manage, somehow... Others have.

Chief Insp. Cyril Willis: Yes... Well, let me draw a persuasive little picture for you. Where you will be going, they have the oddest notions of hospitality. First, they shave your head. Then, they delouse you, feed you with something a ravenous crocodile would pass up, then, lock you up for the night with unfriendly lesbian companions - and you have your own "private" little chamber pot under the bed. Oh, it is very unpleasant, I know. That's why I urge you to reflect whether you shouldn't save yourself all that misery, by passing on the date to Mr. Rhodes... Well, take your time. Reflect well.

Gillian Bromley: [after giving it a mere moment of thought] I've taken my time and I've reflected well.

Chief Insp. Cyril Willis: And?

Gillian Bromley: I've decided to save myself all that misery - I'll pass on the date.

Chief Insp. Cyril Willis: Splendid.

Gillian Bromley: When is it?

Chief Insp. Cyril Willis: You'll get it in a day or two. Run along, now.

Gillian Bromley: [Stops at the door on her way out] Oh, Inspector, I thought I might send you a little present: a kitten. They're ever such a lot of fun if you strangle them right.

Mrs. Willis: Cyril, hurry up! Your breakfast is getting cold, as usual.

Mrs. Willis: [Cyril enters] Cyril, I don't like your tie.

Chief Insp. Cyril Willis: You gave it to me, dear.

Mrs. Willis: That's no excuse.

Mrs. Willis: [Handing him the paper] Cyril, look at the newspaper.

Chief Insp. Cyril Willis: [Uninterested] Something in it?

Mrs. Willis: The date!

Chief Insp. Cyril Willis: [Sarcastic] That made the front page again?

Mrs. Willis: It's the 25th - - six more days, and you'll finish at The Yard.

Chief Insp. Cyril Willis: Hopefully in a blaze of glory. My final case - the capstone of my career.

Mrs. Willis: [Chuckles] Well, what difference would it make?

Chief Insp. Cyril Willis: Oh, it has to do with something sacred.

Mrs. Willis: Cyril, you're making no sense, as usual.

Chief Insp. Cyril Willis: It's about the sanctity of property. Of all the crimes of which man is capable, the one that really rankles me is the violation of property. Oh, there's your murder, of course - - rape, kidnap...

Chief Insp. Cyril Willis: [Looks slyly at his wife] ... wife beating.

Mrs. Willis: Don't be ridiculous.

Chief Insp. Cyril Willis: But life - - however precious, life perishes. It's only property that lives on and on. Now the man I intend to arrest had the presumption to usurp himself that which we consider to be the most valuable property of all: diamonds. The dearest, noblest, most direct link we have to the very core of the planet itself.

Mrs. Willis: The filthy bugger.

Chief Insp. Cyril Willis: Yes, dear.

Jack Rhodes: How much do you want for the diamonds?

Chief Insp. Cyril Willis: [Hesitantly] Well, um... Would you think that, um, one million dollars is fair?

Jack Rhodes: [pauses] No... I don't think one million dollars is fair... I think THREE million dollars is fair.

Chief Insp. Cyril Willis: [Surprised] Well, let me say this: I prefer YOUR definition of "fair."