Sleuth (1972 film)

Sleuth is a 1972 mystery thriller film about the psychological game of cat-and-mouse played between a wealthy mystery writer and his wife's lover, as they engage in a series of manipulative and increasingly dangerous mind games.

Directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz. Written by Anthony Shaffer, adapting his 1970 play.

• We're all liberals here. I have no prejudice against Catholics, not even lapsed Catholics. In fact, some of my best friends are lapsed Catholics.

• I understand you want to marry my wife.

• Sex! Sex is the game! Marriage is the penalty. Round and round we jog towards each futile anniversary. Pass "Go". Collect 200 rows, 200 silences, 200 scars in the deep places.

• Never speak ill of the deadly, eh? If I choose to say that my wife converses like a child of six and makes love like an extinct shellfish, I shall, and I don't need to ask her lover's permission to do so, either.

• There are certain skills best acquired in public bars, I suppose.

• A jumped up pantry boy who doesn't know his place!

• The shortest way to a man's heart is through humiliation.

• My wife showers. I bathe.

• Barmen are notorious opponents of exactitude, Inspector. Vinous gossip is their stock in trade.

• Wit in the face of adversity! Good, you've learned something from the English.

• There's nothing like a little bit of mayhem to cheer one up.

• On the morning of his execution, King Charles the First put on two shirts. "If I tremble with the cold," he said, "my enemies will say it was from fear. I will not expose myself to such reproaches." We must also attempt this Anglo-Saxon dignity as you mount the steps to the scaffold.

• Property's always been more highly regarded in England than people.

• We are from different worlds, you and me, Andrew. In mine, there was no time for bright fancies and happy inventions, no stopping for tea. The only game we played was to survive, or go to the wall. If you didn't win, you just didn't finish. Loser, lose all. You probably don't understand that.

• For any man with half an eye,
  What stands before him he may spy.
  But optics sharp it needs, and keen,
  To see what is not to be seen.

• Andrew... remember... be sure and tell them... it was only a bloody game.

• Over the years my eyes have been adequately trained to see things for themselves, sir.

• At the risk of appearing facetious, sir, you had better tell that to a judge.

Andrew: What ever are you doing with that cue in your hand?

Milo: I was waiting for you to miss.

Andrew: It's a good thing I am pretty much of an Olympic sexual athlete.

Milo: Yes, I suppose these days you are concentrating more on the sprints than on the long distance stuff.

Andrew: Not so, dear boy! I am in the peak of condition. I could copulate for England at any distance.

Milo: Well, as they say in the Olympics: it's not the winning, it's the taking part that counts.

Milo: Alright, I'll do it. Where do you want me to break in?

Andrew: Not so fast. You've got to get disguised first.

Milo: What for?

Andrew: Suppose somebody saw you coming.

Milo: Here? In the middle of nowhere? I could hardly find this place with a bloody map!

Andrew: You never know. A dallying couple, a passing sheep-rapist.

Andrew: Item, one black facemask, one black flat cap, a striped jersey and a bag marked "Swag".

Milo: Why not a neon sign with "Burglar" on it?

Andrew: For Christ's sake Milo, they couldn't have made more noise on D-Day.

Milo: The bloody glass came out, my bloody boot got stuck and I fell down the bloody ladder!

Andrew: Well the bloody police must have heard it all the way to bloody Salisbury.

Milo: I'm sorry.

Andrew: The mistress's bedroom. Or would you know your way about?

Milo: The mistress, or her bedroom?

Milo: You're mad! You're a bloody madman!

Andrew: And you are a young man, dressed as a clown, about to be murdered.

Andrew: Finally, at your moment of dying, you are yourself — a sniveling dago clown. Farewell, Punchinello!

Milo: Please!

Andrew: You said everything was in plain view!

Milo: Well aren't I the shifty old sly boots, then.

Inspector: [after tasting caviar] Can't say I care for it much, sir. Tastes like fish eggs.

Andrew: [sarcastically] Fancy.

Milo: A turnstile to the bedrooms?

Andrew: One way or another, one always pays to get in.

Andrew: Whether I love her or not, I found her. I've kept her. She represents me. Once, she was in love with me.

Tindle: And now she's in love with me. And that's what you can't forgive, isn't it?

Andrew: You shit!

Milo: Grazie mille.

Andrew: You all-time, knockdown, champion bastard, Milo!

Milo: You're too kind.

Milo: Why don't you ask yourself how your man Merridick would go about the search?

Andrew: Merridew! Sainted Lord! Merridew!

Milo: It looks like you've had it. They're coming up the drive.

Andrew: Keep them out!

Milo: Keep the police out? It's just not done, old boy. But still, I'll try.

Andrew: You'll pay for that, I promise, you sadistic bloody wop!

Milo: I hope I didn't hear that correctly...

• If it was murder, where's the body?

• If it was murder, where's the body? If it was for a woman, which woman? If it's only a game, why the blood?

• Who was the player? Who was the pawn? In this deadly game...

• Think of the perfect crime... then go one step further.

• Laurence Olivier — Andrew Wyke

• Michael Caine — Milo Tindle

• "Anthony Shaffer’s screenplay for 'Sleuth'", cinephiliabeyond.org