The Proposition

"Australia. What fresh hell is this?"

"Arthur Burns is a monster. An abomination. You were right to break company with him. What happened at the Hopkins place was unforgivable. I have never seen such a sickening sight. Did you know that that poor woman, Eliza Hopkins, had a child in her belly?"

"You have nine days, Mr. Burns."

"I've kept company with bad men all my life."

"I will civilize this land."

"I wish to present you with a proposition. I know where Arthur Burns is. It is is a godforsaken place. The blacks won't go there, nor the trackers. Not even my own men. I suppose, in time, the bounty hunters will get him. But I have other plans. I aim to bring him down. I aim to show that he is a man like any other. I aim to hurt him. And what will most hurt him? Well, I've thought long and hard about that. And I've realized, Mr. Burns, that I must become a little more inventive in my methods."

"You touch my brother again, I'll kill you."

"One more crack about the Irish, Mr. Lamb, and I'll shoot you. Am I clear?"

"You know, Samuel, the thing I relished the most while I was away? Was not having to see your fucking face all the time."

"I'm going to be with my brother"

"Why can't you ever just … stop me?"

"You got me, Charlie. What are you gonna do now?"

"Look at that. Be humble of heart, Charlie. This is the end of things. You're my brother. You belong with me. We are a family. All of us."

"Mikey's not the same stuff as us. We will be flung to the depths, you and I."

"Love. Love is the key. Love and family. For what are night and day, the sun, the moon, the stars without love and those you love around you? What could more hollow than to die alone, unloved?"

"Molly O'Boyle, my arse."

"[After being shot] Oh, not the gut, Charlie. Shit."

"[As Samuel tries to rape Martha] Listen to that. He sings just like a bird."

"This may hurt."

"I was, in days gone by, a believer. But, alas, I came to this beleaguered land and the God in me just … evaporated. Let us change our toast, then, to the God that has forgotten us."

"Mr. Murphy, Russia, China, the Congo. Oh, I have traveled among unknown people in lands beyond the sea. But nothing, nothing could've prepared me for this godforsaken hole."

"You see, My Dude, I am something of a fortune hunter."

"[Motions for Charlie to put his gun away] No, no need for that. No need for that. We are white men, you and I!"

"Permit me to introduce myself. My name is Jellon Lamb. Citizen of the world, you might say, an adventurer, and, if I may be so bold, a man of no little education."

"Charles, eh? Perhaps you've read On the Origin of the Species by Means of Natural Selection by Charles Darwin? Oh, don't be thrown by the title, he had some most fascinating things to say. Chilling things! Mr. Darwin spent time studying Aboriginals. He claims we are, at bottom … one and the same! [Laughs] He infers, Mr. Murphy, that we a share a common ancestry with monkeys! Monkeys!"

"You've got the wrong fucking black man."

"Here's your knife back, you dog."

"I think the job's fucking done."

"It's all your fault, Charlie. You should never have left us."

"Samuel Stote: Without me and my crack shootin', you'd be fucking dingo dinner. 30 yards away, I was. And, pchoo! Blew that black bastard's head right off. It was beautiful."

"Martha Stanley: She was my friend!"

"Soldiers: [singing] On the fifth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me: five cats a-floggin, four nooses swinging, three crows a-pecking, two dogs a-pissing, and little Mikey hanging from a pear tree!"

"Eden Fletcher: If you have to kill one, make sure you bloody well kill them all."

"Jacko: Fellow in the picture, he live in a cave. Dog man. Big fella. He said Dog Man never sleep. He sit there all day. Sit down, in the cave. Way up. He live with small fella and black fella. Cannot catch him. Cannot kill him."

"Jacko: Strange mob, you whities."

"Richard Wilson – Mike Burns"

"Tom Budge – Samuel Stoat"

"Danny Huston – Arthur Burns"

"John Hurt – Jellon Lamb"

"Emily Watson – Martha Stanley"

"Guy Pearce – Charlie Burns"

"Mick Roughan – Mad Jack Bradshaw"

"Ray Winstone – Captain Stanley"