Death on the Nile (1978)

Peter Ustinov: Hercule Poirot

Photos 

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Quotes 

• Mrs Otterbourne : [Interrupting Poirot and Race]  Do forgive me for butting in, but I have a bet with my daughter here, that you're Hercules Porridge, the famous French sleuth.

  Hercule Poirot : Not quite. I am Hercule Poirot, the famous Belgian sleuth.

• Col. Johnny Race : [of Mrs Otterbourne]  What a perfectly dreadful woman. Why doesn't somebody shoot her, I wonder?

  Hercule Poirot : Perhaps one day, the subscribers of the lending libraries will club together and hire an assassin.

• Jim Ferguson : You damn froggy eavesdropper.

  Hercule Poirot : Belgian! Belgian eavesdropper!

• Andrew Pennington : What the hell is going on?

  Hercule Poirot : We're going through your private papers, sir, isn't that obvious?

• Jacqueline De Bellefort : Simon was mine and he loved me, then *she* came along and... sometimes, I just want to put this gun right against her head, and ever so gently, pull the trigger. When I hear that sound more and more...

  Hercule Poirot : I know how you feel. We all feel like that at times. However, I must warn you, mademoiselle: Do not allow evil into your heart, it will make a home there.

  Jacqueline De Bellefort : If love can't live there, evil will do just as well.

  Hercule Poirot : How sad, mademoiselle.

• Mrs. Van Schuyler : You perfectly foul French upstart!

  Hercule Poirot : Belgian upstart, please, madame.

• [last lines] 

  Col. Johnny Race : What are you thinking?

  Hercule Poirot : I was thinking of Molière: 'La grande ambition des femmes est d'inspirer l'amour'.

  Col. Johnny Race : [sighs]  I do wish you'd speak some *known* language...

  Hercule Poirot : 'The great ambition of women is to inspire love.'

• Hercule Poirot : Mon Dieu, j'ai faim.

  Col. Johnny Race : [whispers]  Poirot! You have a woman?

  Hercule Poirot : Not femme, faim! I am... peckish.

• Hercule Poirot : There is a dead, um, cobra over there. Do me the kindness of having it removed, please. Thank you very much. Come, Race.

  Manager Of The Karnak : A cobra? Oh cripes! Never have I seen such a reptile in a first class cabin. Never! Ooh. Ooh! Ooh.

• Hercule Poirot : [pointing the Manager of the Karnak towards the bathroom]  There is a dead cobra over there. Please do me the kindness of having it removed.

• Jacqueline De Bellefort : If you think I'm suffering, you're quite wrong. Actually, I'm rather enjoying myself.

  Hercule Poirot : Yes. Your pleasure is the very worst part of it, Mademoiselle.

• Hercule Poirot : I say bury the dead. Not as the Egyptians do, preserving the body in order to ensure the immortality of the soul. No. Properly, finally! Turn your back on the past. Look only forward. Remember, time heals - everything.

• Simon Doyle : She has a hell of a temper and a mind of her own.

  Hercule Poirot : She wishes to wear the trousers.

  Simon Doyle : Yes. And a man can't have that, can he Mr P.?

  Hercule Poirot : No. No.

• Hercule Poirot : I'm very sorry to see you here, Mademoiselle. Forgive me for saying so, but you're embarking on a hazardous journey in troubled waters. You face who knows what currents of misfortune.

• Miss Bowers : Poppycock. From whom did you hear that?

  Hercule Poirot : From your own lips, Mademoiselle, three days ago.

  Miss Bowers : How dare you listen to a private conversation!

  Hercule Poirot : Some voices carry.

• Hercule Poirot : I'm referring to the Potsdam pearls, Madame, which belong to Madame Doyle and which have been abducted.

  Mrs. Van Schuyler : Abducted?

  Hercule Poirot : Dérobé. Purloined. Pinched.

• Hercule Poirot : I tell you, mon vieux, I feel the presence of evil all about me. The sooner we reach Wadi Halfa, the better.

• Mrs Otterbourne : Will you not join me for a little refreshment? This marvellous little man here has just made me the most extraordinary concoction out of native fruit juices. It's called a "Golden Sepik" and is named after the god of the ancient city of "Crocodilopolis".

  Hercule Poirot : Not for me, thank you very much.

  Col. Johnny Race : Sometimes I do take the hair of the dog, but never the scale of the crocodile.

• Hercule Poirot : Let us change for dinner. J'ai faim.

  Col. Johnny Race : Poirot, you have a woman?

  Hercule Poirot : Femme is woman. J'ai faim. I am peckish.

• Mrs Otterbourne : If you please, leave me alone.

  Hercule Poirot : Well, if we have disturbed you, we are both desolate.

  Mrs Otterbourne : Oh, life can be so cruel! One must be brave, very brave, to bear the calumnies of life. Here, barman! This crocodile has lost its "croc"!

• Simon Doyle : I hope you got her to see some sense.

  Hercule Poirot : Alas, to her, sense is perpetual revenge.

• Hercule Poirot : The truth, yes. The truth. It's so difficult to tell.

• Simon Doyle : Are you serious?

  Hercule Poirot : I'm always serious, mon ami.

• Jacqueline De Bellefort : One must follow one's star wherever it leads.

  Hercule Poirot : Even to disaster?

  Jacqueline De Bellefort : Even to Hell itself.

• Mrs Otterbourne : You look very sleepy tonight, Monsieur Porridge.

  Hercule Poirot : Yes, I'm extremely. I'm consumed by sleep, Madame. I don't know why, but I can hardly - keep my eyes open.

  Mrs Otterbourne : Naughty. Me, too.

• Simon Doyle : Only yesterday she was saying how - everybody around her on this boat was her enemy.

  Hercule Poirot : We have reason to believe that she was right, Monsieur.

• Hercule Poirot : It will take more than a serpent to interrupt the investigation of Hercule Poirot.

• Hercule Poirot : Let's make a little pause to freshen la toilette.

• Mrs. Van Schuyler : I am the nasty little eavesdropper, Madame. I heard that you much admire these pearls, that you would give "every tooth in your head to possess them".

  Hercule Poirot : That bloody Bowers!

• Andrew Pennington : It may be the custom in Paris to go through other people's things, but we're not in Paris now!

  Hercule Poirot : Brussels, sir! The country is...

  Andrew Pennington : I don't care if it's Borneo!

• Hercule Poirot : That's the normal sediment for a great bottle of Château Pétrus. Will you join me in some?

  Col. Johnny Race : No, thanks. You stick to your wine, I'll stick to my whisky.

• Hercule Poirot : I was hoping to recount to you my recent extraordinary experience on the Orient Express.

• Hercule Poirot : It is time for these murders to stop. Already, I have, unfortunately, delayed too long, I would like to see everybody, please, in the saloon, when all will be revealed.

• Simon Doyle : What piffle!

  Hercule Poirot : Oh, no. It's not piffle.

• Hercule Poirot : Quelle tragédie...

• Hercule Poirot : Oh, mes petits! A word of advice, as they say in America, "Take it easy."

• Hercule Poirot : One thing is certain, Madame Doyle was not killed by a fish

• Hercule Poirot : I'm only saying that your testimony is irrelevant because you started to tend to Monsieur Doyle five minutes after he had been shot.

  Dr. Ludwig Bessner : But I tell you he could not have MOVED during those five minutes!

  Hercule Poirot : I agree, if he'd been shot at the time. But HAD he been?