The Duke Quotes in Escape from New York (1981)

The Duke: They sent in their best man, and when we roll across the 69th Street bridge tomorrow, on our way to freedom, we're going to have their best man leading the way - from the neck up!

[cheering erupts]

The Duke: On the hood of my car!

The Duke: [Snake's been captured after getting shot in the leg with an arrow] Who are you?

[Snake says nothing, staring defiantly; the Duke grabs the arrow in Snake's leg and twists it]

The Duke: I said, WHO ARE YOU?

[Snake... in obvious agony, still says nothing]

Brain: Snake Plissken, Duke... the Man sent him in. Somethin's goin' down, we need him...

The Duke: [releases the arrow] Snake Plissken... I've heard of you.

[strikes Snake with a tire iron, knocking him unconscious]

The Duke: I heard you were dead!

The Duke: What did I teach you?

President: Y-You are the... Duke of New... New York. You're A-Number One.

The Duke: I can't hear you!

President: Y-You... You are the Duke of New York! You're A-Number One!

The Duke: Now where have you been, you little turd pie? Hmm?

Huck Finn: Just playing with the damn dog next door.

The Duke: Oh, just playing with the little doggies, is it? Why, I outta... Just stay right here today, understand?

The Duke: They don't like to lose. Neither do I.

The Duke: Who invented this idiotic game?

Cilla: You did.

The Duke: Snap! Thought I wasn't looking? My win I think!

The Duke: [bringing Sarah out to see Lassie in the kennel] Isn't she something?

Cilla: I thought you said they wanted to keep her?

The Duke: Well, they changed their mind, didn't they? Couldn't get rid of her fast enough once the subject of money was mentioned.

Cilla: She doesn't look very happy about it.

The Duke: Nonsense!

The Duke: Mr. Hynes. Please do not say another word. Never, under any circumstances whatsoever, will I allow anybody to attack an animal of mine. Collect what wages are due to you and leave my property immediately. Otherwise I will not be answerable for the consequences.

The Duke: Are you contradicting me?

Cilla: Yes, grandpa.

The Duke: You dare say yes, you impertinent little scallywag?

Cilla: If I said no, that would be another contradiction, wouldn't it?

[to a poacher caught in a mantrap]

The Duke: Hoskins is now going to thrash you; then he'll let you go. Let this be a lesson to you not to poach on my land.

The Duke: Would you like a balloon?

The Duke: Your husband knocked him off!

Nell Nash: Don't be silly! My husband's the kind of man who takes cheese from mouse traps so the mice don't get hurt!

The Duke: I didn't say he knocked off a mouse, I said he knocked off Joe!

The Duke: I don't like this ending...

Zidler: Don't like the ending, my dear Duke?

The Duke: Why should the courtesan chose the penniless sitar player over the maharajah who is offering her a lifetime of security? That's real love. Once the sitar player has satisfied his lust he will leave her with nothing. I suggest that the courtesan chose the maharajah.

Toulouse-Lautrec: But, but tell me, that ending does not uphold the Bohemian ideals of truth, beauty, freedom, and...

The Duke: [shouts] I don't care about your ridiculous dogma! Why shouldn't the courtesan chose the maharajah?

Christian: [shouts] Because she doesn't love you!... Him... Hi-him, she doesn't love... she doesn't love him.

The Duke: Oh, I see... Monsieur Zidler, the play will be rewritten with the courtesan choosing the maharajah and without the lovers' secret song. It will be rehearsed in the morning, ready for the opening tomorrow night...

Zidler: But, my dear Duke, that will be quite impossible.

Satine: Harold, the Duke is being treated appallingly. These silly writers let their imaginations run away with themselves. Why don't you and I have a little supper, and then we can tell Monsieur Zidler how we would like the story to end.

The Duke: You expect me to believe that scantily clad, in the arms of another man, in the middle of the night, inside an elephant you were rehearsing?

Cast of Spectacular, Spectacular: [singing] So exciting, we'll make them laugh, we'll make them cry. So delighting...

The Duke: And in the end, should someone die?

Zidler: She said you make her feel "like a virgin."

The Duke: Virgin?

Zidler: You know, touched for the very first time.

The Duke: Why shouldn't the courtesan go for the maharajah?

Christian: Because she doesn't love you. Him... hi... him... sh... she doesn't love... him...

Christian: Mademaiselle Satine, I haven't quite finished writing that new scene. The "Will The Lovers Be Meeting at the Sitar Player's Humble Abode" scene. And I wondered if I could work on it with you later tonight.

The Duke: But, my dear, I've arranged a magnificent supper for us in the Gothic Tower.

Christian: It's not important. We could work on it tomorrow.

Satine: Oh, how dare you! It cannot wait until tomorrow. The "Lovers Will Be Meeting in the Sitar Player's Humble Abode" scene is the most important in the production. We will work on it tonight until I am completely satisfied.

The Duke: B-But my dear...

Satine: Dear Duke. Excuse me.

Christian: [smiles] I'm sorry.

The Duke: It's not that I'm not a jealous man. I just don't like other people touching my things.

The Duke: ...a little frog

The Duke: Generally I like it.

Christian: [singing] The courtesan and sitar man are pulled apart by an evil plan...

Satine: [singing] but in the end she hears his song...

Christian: [singing] and their love is just too strong.

The Duke: [singing] It's a little bit funny, this feeling inside.

Zidler: She is mine.

The Duke: She is mine.

The Duke: We Fascists are the only true anarchists, naturally, once we're masters of the state. In fact, the one true anarchy is that of power.

The Duke: Within a budding grove, the girls think but of love. Hear the radio, drinking tea and to hell with being free. They've no idea the bourgeoisie has never hesitated to kill its children.

The Duke: It is when I see others degraded that I rejoice knowing it is better to be me than the scum of "the people". Whenever men are equal, without that difference, happiness cannot exist. So you wouldn't aid the humble, the unhappy. In all the world no voluptuousness flatters the senses more than social privilege.

The Duke: [Renata is crying] Are you crying for your mama? Come, I'll console you! Come here to me!

The President: [singing] Come, little darling to your good daddy / He'll sing you a lullaby

The Duke: Heavens, what an opportunity you offer me. Sra Maggi's tale must be acted upon at once.

Female Victim: Sir, Sir. Pity. Respect my grief. I'm suffering so, at my mother's fate. She died for me and I'll never see her again.

The Duke: Undress her.

Female Victim: Kill me! At least God, whom I implore, will pity me. Kill me, but don't dishonor me.

The Duke: This whining's the most exciting thing I've ever heard.

[first lines]

[four men, sitting at a table, each sign a booklet]

The Duke: Your Excellency.

The Magistrate: Mr. President.

The President: My lord.

The Bishop: All's good if it's excessive.

The Duke: Dear friends, marrying each other's daughters will unite our destinies for ever.

The Duke: This howling is the most exciting thing I have ever heard.

The Duke: I remember I once had a mother too, who aroused similar feelings in me. As soon as I could, I sent her to the next world. I have never known such subtle pleasure as when she closed her eyes for the last time.

The Duke: The limit of love is always needing an accomplice!

The Duke: The obscene gesticulation is like deaf-mute's language, with a code none of us, despite unrestrained caprice, can transgress.

The Duke: [singing] On the bridge of Perati, there flies a black flag, the mourning of the Julian regiment that goes to war. On the bridge of Perati, there flies a black flag. The best young men lie under the earth.

Miguel de Cervantes: I'm a poet.

The Duke: They're putting people in prison for that?

Miguel de Cervantes: No, no, no, not for that.

The Duke: Too bad.

The Duke: I invent false information about a country and sell it to others stupid enough to believe it.

Miguel de Cervantes: Seems a sound proposition. What brought you here?

The Duke: A lapse of judgment. I told the truth.

The Duke: Listen. I own this city. Bought and paid for. I have the key to the city in my pocket and a tattoo that says "Fuck you. I'm the Mayor."

The Duke: Listen. I own this city. Bought and paid for. I have the key to the city in my pocket and a tattoo that says "Fuck you. I'm the Mayor."