Governor Ratcliffe Quotes in Pocahontas (1995)

Governor Ratcliffe: [taken away in chains, muffled] How dare you! Untie me at once! I'll have your heads for this!

Wiggins: [tearfully] And he came so highly recommended.

[sighs sadly]

Governor Ratcliffe: Wiggins, why do you think those insolent heathens attacked us?

Wiggins: Because we invaded their land and cut down their trees and dug up their earth?

Governor Ratcliffe: It's the gold! They have it and they don't want us to take it from them. Well, I'll just have to take it by force then, won't I?

Wiggins: Do you think we'll meet some savages?

Governor Ratcliffe: If we do, we shall be sure to give them a proper English greeting.

Wiggins: [holds up baskets of wine and cheese] Ooh, gift baskets!

Governor Ratcliffe: [groans] And he came so highly recommended.

Governor Ratcliffe: [after Powhatan has released John Smith] Now's our chance! Fire!

Thomas: No!

Governor Ratcliffe: What?

Thomas: They let him go!

Ben: They don't want to fight!

Governor Ratcliffe: It's a trick, don't you see? Fire!

[no-one moves. Ratcliff grabs someone's gun]

Governor Ratcliffe: Fine! I'll settle this myself!

[he aims at Powhatan]

John Smith: [seeing Ratcliff] No!

[he pushes Powhatan away and is shot in the stomach]

Thomas: John!

[John falls. Thomas turns on Ratcliffe]

Thomas: You shot him!

Governor Ratcliffe: He-he stepped right into it! It was his own fault!

John Smith: Look, we don't have to fight them.

Thomas: John, what's gotten into you?

John Smith: I met one of them.

Ben: You what?

Thomas: A savage!

John Smith: They're not savages, they can help us. They know the land, they know how to navigate the rivers.

[Meeko pulls out an ear of corn and gives it to John]

John Smith: And look, it's food.

Lon: What is it?

John Smith: It's better than hardtack and gruel, that's for sure.

Wiggins: I like gruel.

Governor Ratcliffe: [takes the corn and throws it on the ground] They don't want to feed us, you ninnies! They want to kill us! All of us! They've got our gold, and they'll do anything to keep it!

John Smith: But there is no gold!

Ben: No gold?

Governor Ratcliffe: [sarcastically] And I suppose your little Indian friend told you this.

John Smith: Yes.

Governor Ratcliffe: Lies! Lies, all of it! Murderous thieves. There's not room for their kind of civilized society!

John Smith: But this is their land!

Governor Ratcliffe: This is my land! I make the laws here! And I say anyone who so much as look at an Indian without killing him on sight, will be tried for treason and hanged!

Governor Ratcliffe: You there, where's Captain Smith?

Lon: Well, he's gone.

Ben: [knowingly] Aye, your singing must've scared him off!

Governor Ratcliffe: Well, then go get him, for heaven's sake!

Lon: What if we run into the Indians?

Governor Ratcliffe: That's what guns are for. Now arm yourselves and get moving!

Governor Ratcliffe: [singing] This will be the day

[spoken]

Governor Ratcliffe: Let's go, men!

Powhatan: [singing] This will be the morning

[spoken]

Powhatan: Bring out the prisoner!

Warriors: [singing] We will see them dying in the dust

Pocahontas: [singing] I don't know what I can do/Still I know I've got to try

Warriors: [singing] Now we make them pay

Pocahontas: [singing] Eagle, help my feet to fly

Warriors: [singing] Now, without a warning

Pocahontas: [singing] Mountain, help my heart be great

Warriors: [singing] Now we leave them blood and bone and rust

Pocahontas: [singing] Spirits of the Earth and sky

Warriors: [singing] It's them or us

Pocahontas: [singing] Please don't let it be too late

Warriors: [singing] They're just a bunch of filthy, stinking savages

[spoken]

Warriors: Savages! Demons! Devils!

Governor Ratcliffe: [spoken] Kill them!

Warriors: [singing] Savages, savages

Governor Ratcliffe: [singing] What are we waiting for? Destroy their evil race/Until there's not a trace left

Warriors: [singing] We will sound the drums of war

Pocahontas: [singing] How loud are the drums of war?

Warriors: [singing] Now we see what comes of trying to be chums

Pocahontas: [singing] Is the death of all I love carried in the drumming of

Warriors: [singing] War?

Pocahontas: [spoken] No!

Governor Ratcliffe: I've never been a popular man.

Wiggins: I like you.

Governor Ratcliffe: And don't think I don't know what those back stabbers at court say about me.

Wiggins: Oh, yes, all that talk about being a pathetic social climber who's failed at everything he's tried.

Governor Ratcliffe: I'm very well aware that this is my last chance for glory. But mark my words, Wiggins. When King James sees the gold these peasants unearth, success will be mine at last.

Governor Ratcliffe: Gentlemen, to work! You men, get the ship unloaded. You men, build the fort. The rest of you, break up the shovels. It's time to start digging.

Ben, Lon: [both] Digging?

Governor Ratcliffe: Why, of course. Let's not forget what the Spanish found when they came to the New World. Gold! Mountains of it. Why, for years they've been ravaging the New World of its most precious resources. But now it's our turn.

Governor Ratcliffe: Don't lose your heart, men. It won't be long before we reach the New World. And remember what awaits us there. Freedom. Prosperity. The adventure of our lives. You're the finest crew England has to offer and nothing, not wind nor a thousand bloody savages shall stand in our way. Carry on, men!

Wiggins: A stirring oration, sir. I'm sure the men were most exhilarated.

Governor Ratcliffe: Let's hope so.

[quietly to Percy]

Governor Ratcliffe: I'll need those witless peasants to dig up my gold, won't I?

Percy: [growls in agreement]

Governor Ratcliffe: [singing] The gold of Cortez, the jewels of Pizarro / Will seem like mere trinkets by this time tomorrow. / The gold we find here will dwarf them by far. / Oh, with all you got in you, boys / Dig up Virginia, boys.

Lon: [singing] We shot ourselves an injun, or maybe two or three.

Ben: [kicks him] Alright, you howling nutter! Get to work!

Lon: Come on, Ben, it's just a little fun.

Ben: [sarcastically] Oh, sure, we're having loads of fun. Right, look at us. No gold, no food, while Ratcliffe sits up in his tent all day happy as a clam.

Governor Ratcliffe: [in his tent] I'm doomed! I should be wallowing in riches right now, and I haven't found as much as a speck!

Governor Ratcliffe: [Thomas is staring after John Smith, who has just snuck off to see Pocahontas. Ratcliff appears behind him and pushes him out the fort] Follow him.

Thomas: [standing to attention] Yes, governor.

Governor Ratcliffe: I want to know where he's sneaking off to.

Thomas: Yes, sir.

Governor Ratcliffe: And if you see any Indians

[tossing Thomas a rifle]

Governor Ratcliffe: shoot them.

[Thomas looks at the rifle uncertainly]

Governor Ratcliffe: Oh, and Thomas you've been a slipshod sailor and a poor excuse for a soldier. Don't disappoint me again.

Thomas: [walks off, looking hurt]

Governor Ratcliffe: [after witnessing Thomas' lack of proficiency in using a rifle] Learn to use that thing properly. A man's not a man unless he knows how to shoot.