"People don't go to the cinema to see love scenes. Buñuel was right when he said the most embarrassing thing, for a filmmaker, is to point a camera at a couple kissing. Nothing is more banal than a kiss. Generally you can't have love scenes in stories which are action-based – though in The Great Silence I shot quite a beautiful love scene between a black woman and a mute. There was something very beautiful and very morbid about it. This was the only love scene I ever included in a film of this genre, where the women are generally bizarre."

"I want the mute to come shoot it out with me. Just him an' me. Tell him if he don't... I'm gonna shoot every one of these people here. My friends won't interfere. So it's my life against every one of theirs."

"There wasn't time! I'm sorry. I tried... but that Loco had captured 'em. He'd taken them all as hostages to the saloon. He wants to shoot it out with you, just you and him. He said to tell you... if you don't, he'll kill every one of them! But... you can't, Silence! You're hurt real bad. Besides... I'm certain it's a trap. You can't trust him. Don't get involved. You're just one man. Please don't go. Let's run for it. There must be some place we can go. They're gonna kill 'em either way, they're all gonna die! I don't want you dead. I love you."

"Charlie: Lucky I didn't hit this critter in the face, or else they couldn't tell who he is!"

"Bruno Corazzari as Charlie"

"[last lines] There's a bounty on each one. We'll come back and collect 'em later... all according to the law."

"That's the star we're waiting for to start Christmas Eve. Do you see it? And there, below, the fog. Look. It's not fog. It's really millions of little stars."

"Albert Rémy — Jupiter"

"Hubert de Lapparent — Guillaume de Harancourt"

"Boris Vian — Cardinal Charles of Bourbon"

"Piéral — The Dwarf"

"Roland Bailly — The Hangman"

"Camille Guérini — The President"

"Damia — The Beggar"

"Marianne Oswald — La Falourdel"

"Roger Blin — Mathias Hungadi Spicali"

"Robert Lombard — Jacques Coppenole"

"Maurice Sarfati — Jehan Frollo"

"Jean Tissier — King Louis XI"

"Valentine Tessier — Aloyse de Gondelaurier"

"Philippe Clay — Clopin Trouillefou"

"Alain Cuny — Claude Frollo"

"Robert Hirsch — Pierre Gringoire"

"Jacques Hilling — Maitre Charmolue"

"Danielle Dumont — Fleur de Lys"

"You can see in these scenes why my interest was growing as a child, because I was introduced to the birds and the bees and those mysteries. Gina Lollobrigida who made up in certain departments what she lacked in actoral skills."

"It really marked my childhood and became a sentimental favorite of mine."

"Gina Lollobrigida — Esmeralda"

"Anthony Quinn — Quasimodo"

"The World's Supreme Shocker!"

"Jacques Dufilho — Guillaume Rousseau"

"Jean Danet — Phoebus de Chateaupers"

"[dying] Life is wonderful."

"All the Might, the Mystery, the Macabre Passions of an Earth-Shaking Novel! Aflame with the Fire of Filmdom's Most Sensuous Beauty!"

"Suzet Maïs - Mrs. Dolan"

"Adriano Rimoldi - Giovanni Copini"

"Luigi Tosi - Lt. Jack Frazer"

"Robert Vattier - Yves Bonnefoy"

"Charles Lémontier - Senior official"

"Vittorio Caprioli - Pietro Poltroni"

"Maurice Pierrat - French radio announcer"

"Lucien Callamand - Harbor official"

"Hans Werner - German radio announcer"

"Olivier Hussenot - Monsieur Bonnet"