Peter O'Toole
(as King Henry II)
King Henry II:
Let us drink, gentlemen. Let us drink, till we roll under the table in vomit and oblivion.
Peter O'Toole
(as King Henry II)
King Henry II:
So what in most people is morality, in you it's just an exercise in... what's the word?
Thomas a Becket: Aesthetics.
King Henry II: Yes, that's the word. Always "aesthetics."
Thomas a Becket: Aesthetics.
King Henry II: Yes, that's the word. Always "aesthetics."
Peter O'Toole
(as King Henry II)
Peter O'Toole
(as King Henry II)
King Henry II:
There. That's the Great Seal of England. Don't lose it; without the seal, there's no more England, and we'll all have to pack up and go back to Normandy.
Peter O'Toole
(as King Henry II)
Peter O'Toole
(as King Henry II)
King Henry II:
Your body, madam, was a desert that duty forced me to wander in alone. But you have never been a wife to me!
Peter O'Toole
(as King Henry II)
King Louis VII of France:
My dear man, crowned heads are free to play a little game of courtesy, but nations owe one another none.
Peter O'Toole
(as King Henry II)
King Louis VII of France:
The King of England and his Ambassadors can drown themselves in what they are impertinent enough to call their English channel.
Peter O'Toole
(as King Henry II)
[first lines]
King Henry II: Well, Thomas Becket. Are you satisfied? Here I am, stripped, kneeling at your tomb, while those treacherous Saxon monks of yours are getting ready to thrash me. Me - with my delicate skin. I bet you'd never have done the same for me. But - I suppose I have to do this penance and make my peace with you. Hmm. What a strange end to our story. How cold it was when we last met - on the shores of France. Funny, it's nearly always been cold - except at the beginning, when we were friends. We did have a few - fine summer evenings with the girls. Did you love Gwendolen, Archbishop? Did you hate me the night I took her from you, shouting "I am the king"? Perhaps that's what you could never forgive me for. Look at them lurking there, gloating. Oh, Thomas, I'm ashamed of this whole silly masquerade. All right, so I've come here to make my peace with their Saxon hero because I need them now, those Saxon peasants of yours. Now I will call them my sons, as you wanted me to. You taught me that, too. You taught me everything. Those were the happy times. You remember, at the peep of dawn, when as usual we'd been drinking and wenching in the town. You were even better at that than I was.
King Henry II: Well, Thomas Becket. Are you satisfied? Here I am, stripped, kneeling at your tomb, while those treacherous Saxon monks of yours are getting ready to thrash me. Me - with my delicate skin. I bet you'd never have done the same for me. But - I suppose I have to do this penance and make my peace with you. Hmm. What a strange end to our story. How cold it was when we last met - on the shores of France. Funny, it's nearly always been cold - except at the beginning, when we were friends. We did have a few - fine summer evenings with the girls. Did you love Gwendolen, Archbishop? Did you hate me the night I took her from you, shouting "I am the king"? Perhaps that's what you could never forgive me for. Look at them lurking there, gloating. Oh, Thomas, I'm ashamed of this whole silly masquerade. All right, so I've come here to make my peace with their Saxon hero because I need them now, those Saxon peasants of yours. Now I will call them my sons, as you wanted me to. You taught me that, too. You taught me everything. Those were the happy times. You remember, at the peep of dawn, when as usual we'd been drinking and wenching in the town. You were even better at that than I was.
Peter O'Toole
(as King Henry II)
