James Fox credited as playing...
Marlowe
- Corporal King: How's that chair feel?
- Marlowe: Fine.
- Corporal King: Cost me eighty bucks.
- Marlowe: Did it? Yes, well I'd never have guessed.
- Corporal King: You'da said more, huh?
- Marlowe: No, I don't think so. I don't think I'd have said anything really. I've never been a great 'chair price guesser'.
- Marlowe: [in King asking him to say something in Malay] What sort of thing?
- Corporal King: I don't care. Anything, I just wanna hear you.
- [Marlowe says a sentence in Malay]
- Corporal King: Hey, that's pretty good. You hear that, Max?
- Corporal King: [to Marlowe] What's that mean?
- Marlowe: Well, it doesn't really have a literal translation. But, uh, roughly speaking, it means, "When do I have to kiss thee on the ass?"
- Corporal King: [after all the other prisoners in the barracks turn and look] After the egg. Never before meals.
- Corporal King: [having served Marlowe a fried egg] How 'bout that?
- Marlowe: Not bad. Not bad at all.
- Corporal King: [looking slightly offended] What the hell are you talking about? The egg ain't been laid that tastes better than that.
- Marlowe: Don't get excited, Fortnum. When we say "not bad", we don't mean "not bad". We mean it's bloody marvelous.
- Corporal King: Yeah? What do you mean when you say "it's bloody marvelous"?
- Marlowe: Bit dicey.
- Corporal King: Forget it.
- Marlowe: [gratefully] You know there's nothing I can say.
- Corporal King: Well, you could say I'm a genius... a. you could say that.
- Corporal King: [displaying his footlocker laden with contraband] You want an egg?
- Marlowe: Excuse me, what's all this in aid of?
- Corporal King: Do what?
- Marlowe: I mean, people don't just give eggs away like that.
- Corporal King: Well, I'm not people, am I, Max?
- Max: [grovelling and obsequious] No, no, you're not people, King.
- Corporal King: Do you want an egg or doncha?
- Marlowe: Well, of course I want it!
- Corporal King: Okay then, you got it. How do you like it?
- Marlowe: [timidly] Fried?
- Corporal King: Okay, so you got yourself a fried egg.
- Marlowe: You're not related to Fortnum and Mason by any chance?
- Corporal King: Who are they?
- Marlowe: It doesn't really matter. They run a little family grocery shop back home.
- Marlowe: [as Weaver walks away] I wish I had your nerve, Fortnum. I couldn't talk to him. I ran away, we all did. He was so real. It was too real! God, it's mad isnt it? It's over and we've survived. But it's still all mad. What did he say to you?
- Corporal King: He just, uh, just asked me a few things.
- Marlowe: Did he say, did he tell you anything?
- Corporal King: Naw, nothing I didn't already know.
- Marlowe: It's over, isn't it? It's not a mistake?
- Corporal King: No, it's not a mistake. It's over. Forget it! You got the luck, man.
- Marlowe: Forget it? Hey, listen, I'm talking to you! You called me "sir" last night. You call me "sir", and that's the second time you've walked away from me! The war's over. That's the only thing that's changed. You and me, we're still the same. Look, people don't change because the all-clear sounds, do they? I haven't changed. I'm not ashamed or embarrassed because you're my friend. We survived it! You and me! Don't you remember what we had? I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you. Don't you remember that?
- Corporal King: You worked for me a couple of times and I paid you for it. That's all we had.
- Marlowe: Fortnum. Fortnum, friendship isn't a matter of a ten percent. Don't ask me to forget it all now. Please, not that! Otherwise, what's it all been in aid of? I'm not different.
- Corporal King: But that's just you.