The Great Silence (1968)

Luigi Pistilli: Henry Pollicut

Photos 

Quotes 

• Pollicut : Pauline. A pleasure to see you. What can I do for you? Is there something you wanna buy?

  Pauline : I didn't come to buy. I came to sell.

  Pollicut : And what are you sellin'?

  Pauline : Our house. It cost at least five thousand dollars. I'll give it to you for a thousand... 'cause you like cheap things.

• Sheriff Burnett : Set a wagon outside of town and put as much food on it as you can spare. If they eat, they'll behave. And you women, all of you, stay inside. Understand? Now let's get moving. C'mon.

  Pollicut : Fill a wagon. So now, these bandits gotta be fought with bread and butter. When are we gonna see some law and common sense in this town?

  Regina : When somebody hangs you.

• [Silence remembers his first encounter with Pollicut... a candle in the present match-cuts to a candle burning several years earlier, as Pollicut and two bounty killers ride towards Gordon's house, who is loading a rifle] 

  Silence's Mother : No, dear. You can't... you'd better surrender!

  [Pollicut and the two killers walk up to the house] 

  Fake Sheriff : Gordon, I've got a warrant for your arrest. There's no sense for resistin'. Better let a lawyer prove you're innocent! I'll answer for your safety before you come to trial. Now act sensible. Safer for you if you're put in prison! But if you're not... some bounty hunter'll kill you for the reward!

  Gordon Sr. : Okay, sheriff. I'm surrenderin'.

  [Pollicut gestures to the two bounty killers to kill Gordon and his wife, and they do so by shooting them] 

  Silence as a Boy : Ah! Dad, dad! Mama! Mama! Mama!

  [as Gordon's son cries over the body of his mother, the bounty killer disguised as a sheriff enters, and throws away his star] 

  Fake Sheriff : Well, Pollicut? You got no call to worry about Gordon now.

  Pollicut : Maybe not. But the kid...

  Fake Sheriff : Nah...

  [the fake sheriff pulls out a bowie knife] 

  Fake Sheriff : He'll never talk again.

  [Match cut from candle in flashback to candle in the present: Gordon's son is Silence himself] 

• Pollicut : [showing his mutilated hand to Silence while raping Pauline]  You cripple just to spite the men you hate... so nobody'll be able to use a gun - against you. Maybe you ruined my hand, but still, what I come here to get, it won't matter much!

• Tigrero, a.k.a. Loco : No - if you want me to kill him, put a good price on his head.

  Pollicut : You ought to do this for nothin'! It's in your own interest, Loco. Have you forgotten who he is?

  Tigrero, a.k.a. Loco : I know him. He picks a fight, and when somebody draws, then, he shoots them!

  [chuckles] 

  Tigrero, a.k.a. Loco : Then the law calls it "self-defence". Now, I'm no fool... he's too fast for me.

  Pollicut : But you're the man he's here to get. He's paid by Pauline. He'll pick a fight with you.

  Tigrero, a.k.a. Loco : I can control my temper; he won't shoot off my thumbs.

  [wiggles his thumb in front of Pollicut, who cringes] 

  Tigrero, a.k.a. Loco : Uh-uh. And he ain't gonna kill me in self-defence, either.

  [chuckles] 

  Tigrero, a.k.a. Loco : What did you want to get rid of Pauline's husband for? I shot him 'cause that's what you paid me for, but nothin' more. If you want people shot, you pay.

• Pollicut : [about Silence]  Well, Martin, will he come out of it? Alive?

  Martin : I doubt it. When he left, he was leaking his blood all over the sidewalk.

  Pollicut : Let's hope that he lost it all. Where is he?

  Martin : He's at the girl's house.

• Tigrero, a.k.a. Loco : It's all according to the law, you should know.

  Pollicut : Yes. You see sheriff, since our friend here has to have, er... irrefutable proof of identity, as the law requires, he, ah, shows the bodies and the reward posters when he collects. It's all quite precise.

  Sheriff Burnett : Correct, huh? But, er... what's your interest in this? You're just a banker, and all you gotta do is advance me the money to pay off this man.

  Pollicut : Oh, true, true, of course, but aside from my small percentage, all cash is required to change hands in my presence... to make sure the bounty killer has been honest. The law is quite precise, sheriff.

  Tigrero, a.k.a. Loco : In this town, as in the whole United States, the law's the important thing. Am I right?

  Sheriff Burnett : All right! Pay him off and get rid of him.

• Pollicut : [with a wad of cash in hand]  May I ask what you need this for? It's a pretty good sum.

  Pauline : No.

  Pollicut : I shouldn't have brought it up. Just the same... is this to pay a man for a certain crime?

  Pauline : That's my business. Just tell me "yes" or "no"? Are you interested in my offer?

  Pollicut : Not really. You know you shouldn't crawl for money like this. I wouldn't take advantage of your situation for a thousand dollars. I want you to have it...

  [He hands the money to Pauline and forcefully kisses her. She pushes him off her, spits at him and discards the money] 

  Pauline : I wish it were poison!