King David (1985)

Edward Woodward: Saul

Photos 

Quotes 

• [first lines] 

  Saul's guard : The king cannot speak with you now. He is engaged in the affairs of state.

  Samuel : Since when have the affairs of state taken precedence over the affairs of God?

  [shoves his way past and enters Saul's throne room] 

  Saul : ...Samuel. We welcome you. With God's blessing, our victory is complete.

  Samuel : Is THIS how you show Him your gratitude... by robbing the Amalekites of their women and cattle? By holding their king in chains?

  Saul : We were discussing a possible treaty. The king is to be ransomed...

  Samuel : A *treaty?* *Ransom?* Saul, for this you have betrayed your own soul in the sight of God. His instructions were plain enough: "... Spare nothing from the sword."

  [beheads the Amalekite king] 

  Samuel : ... When our tribes clamored for a king, to make us like other nations, I answered them: "We are not like other nations. The Lord of Hosts is both our God and our King." The people said, "We want a king we can see. We want a king of our own flesh and blood."

  [holds up the severed head] 

  Samuel : Here are your kings of flesh and blood. Here is a king you can see.

  [throws the head at Saul's feet] 

• Saul : [over the defeated Goliath]  An entire army at my command. Yet it takes a shepherd boy to wipe out our disgrace.

• Saul : [to David, when they first meet]  Have you seen Him? Face to face? I saw Him... once. He smiled on me, too. But at daybreak He was gone.

• Jonathan : ...Is Israel governed by a king, Father, or by the whims of a senile old prophet?

  Saul : You cannot have the one without the other.

  Jonathan : And who's to say that Samuel is not a false prophet?

  Saul : If Samuel is a false prophet, I'm a false king. It was Samuel who annointed me, even as he has rejected me.

  Jonathan : The people still look to you as their king, Father. They have not rejected you.

  Saul : ...What was his name? The man who wrestled with me until daybreak.

  Abner : What man, My Lord?

  Jonathan : It was only a dream, Father.

  Saul : Well, if it was a dream, send in my musician; let me dream on.

• Saul : ...Hear how Jonathan warbles in praise of the cuckoo bird, David, who has fed from my table and now lies with my daughter... David has robbed me of my God, my people, even my children. What else can he take but my crown...? So long as David lives, neither I nor Jonathan nor the throne shall be safe... Samuel anointed him in my place! David! The boy I trusted and loved as my own son.

  Jonathan : Then be glad of it! Give thanks that the future of Israel belongs to a man worthy of your love.

  [Saul throws a javelin, just missing him] 

• Saul : [at Nob, shortly after David has escaped]  Abner, I want these priests killed, one by one, until their high priest "remembers" where David is, or is going. Then the killing will stop.

  Abner : No soldier would carry out such an order. These priests...

  Saul : THESE PRIESTS are maggots! In carrion! Fattening themselves on the offerings people give to the Lord! They are traitors, every one of them! And so is any soldier who refuses to obey the king's command.

  [He runs his javelin through one soldier who couldn't bring himself to slay the priests] 

  Saul : Will no one obey the king?

  [Another soldier volunteers] 

  Saul : It takes a gentile to obey.

  [the second soldier kills several priests, but still no one "remembers" David's whereabouts, so Saul kills the high priest with his javelin] 

• Jonathan : [shortly before Saul's last stand at Mount Gilboa]  David is not among the enemy, Father. It's not your honor that's at stake. It's the lives of our men.

  Saul : I will ride out against the Philistines. If I ride alone, so be it.

  Nathan : [rallying the Israelite troops while preparing to offer a sacrifice]  Rouse yourselves in anger! Lay nations at our feet! Whet your flashing swords! Make your arrows drunk with blood!

  Saul : [cutting in]  My Lord, *I* am your sacrifice.

  Nathan : This day, you will surely die.

  Saul : Then my prayer will be answered at last.

  Nathan : The Lord scorns your prayers. He has utterly rejected you.

  Saul : And Samuel, too. And Abraham and Isaac and Jacob! Even David will be forsaken at the end, for in death, we are all cut off from God's care. What purpose, then, in serving Him? He wrestles with man for the nighttime of his life, but at daybreak, He is gone.

  [calling out] 

  Saul : Who marches with the king and his sons?