L.A. Confidential

Captain Dudley Smith:
I admire you as a policeman, particularly your adherence to violence as a necessary adjunct to the job.

Jack Vincennes:
Oh, lookee here, the great jerk off case of 1953.

Captain Dudley Smith:
I wouldn't trade places with Edmund Exley right now for all the whisky in Ireland.

Captain Dudley Smith:
Wendell, I'd like full and docile co-operation on every topic.

Dick Stensland:
We'll do the town one night on me.

Bud White:
I'll bring my wallet just in case.

Brett Chase:
Excuse me, ma'am. Just the facts.

Captain Dudley Smith:
You'll do as I say, and ask no questions. Do you follow my drift?

Bud White:
In technicolor, sir.

Dick Stensland:
I got a hot date.

Bud White:
Yeah? Who is she and what did you arrest her for?

Ed Exley:
I'm talking about the gas chamber, and you haven't even asked me what this is about. You've got a big "Guilty" sign around your neck.

Jack Vincennes:
Oh, great. You get the girl, I get the coroner.

Jack Vincennes:
Why don't you and I go someplace quiet cause I'd love to give you the low-down on Mitchum.

Jack Vincennes:
Why in the world do you wanna go digging any deeper into the Nite Owl killings, Lieutenant?

Ed Exley:
Rollo Tomasi.

Jack Vincennes:
Is there more to that or am I supposed to guess?

Ed Exley:
Rolo was a purse snatcher. My father ran into him off duty, and he shot my father six times and got away clean. No one even knew who he was. I just made the name up to give him some personality.

Jack Vincennes:
What's your point?

Ed Exley:
Rolo Tomasi is the reason I became a cop. I wanted to catch the guys who thought they could get away with it. It's supposed to be about justice. Then somewhere along the way, I lost sight of that. Why'd you become a cop?

Jack Vincennes:
I don't remember.

Jack Vincennes:
I'm the technical advisor. I teach Brett Chase how to walk and talk like a cop.

Jack's Dancing Partner:
Brett Chase doesn't walk and talk like you.

Jack Vincennes:
Well, that's 'cause he's the television version. America isn't ready for the real me.

Pierce Patchett:
I use girls that look like movie stars. Sometimes I employ a plastic surgeon. When the work had been done, that's when you saw us.

Bud White:
That's why her mother couldn't I.D. her. Jesus f***ing Christ.

Pierce Patchett:
No, Mr. White. Pierce Morehouse Patchett.

Johnny Stompanato:
You want an autograph? Write to MGM.

Ed Exley:
Since when do two-bit hoods and hookers give out autographs?

Johnny Stompanato:
What'd you say to me?

Ed Exley:
LAPD. Sit down.

Lana Turner:
Who in the hell do you think you are?

Jack Vincennes:
Ed...

Ed Exley:
Take a walk, honey, before I haul your ass downtown.

Johnny Stompanato:
You are making a large mistake.

Lana Turner:
Get away from our table.

Ed Exley:
Shut up! A hooker cut to look like Lana Turner is still a hooker.

Johnny Stompanato:
Hey!

Ed Exley:
She just looks like Lana Turner.

Jack Vincennes:
She is Lana Turner.

Ed Exley:
What?

Jack Vincennes:
She is Lana Turner.

Bud White:
Well, Captain, what do you want?

Captain Dudley Smith:
Call me Dudley.

Bud White:
Dudley... what do you want?

Ed Exley:
I heard you like to shoot dogs.

Ray Collins:
Dogs got no reason to live.

Dick Stensland:
My partner stopped to help a damsel in distress. He's got his priorities all screwed up.

Bud White:
I'd like to see you again.

Lynn Bracken:
Are you asking me for a date or an appointment?

Bud White:
I don't know.

Lynn Bracken:
Well if you're asking me for a date I should know your first name.

Bud White:
Forget I asked. It was a mistake.

Bud White:
Merry Christmas.

Lynn Bracken:
Merry Christmas to you, officer.

Bud White:
That obvious, huh?

Lynn Bracken:
It's practically stamped on your forehead.

Ed Exley:
All I ever wanted was to measure up to my father.

Bud White:
Now's your chance. He died in the line of duty, didn't he?

Sid Hudgens:
Off the record, on the QT, and very hush-hush.

Lynn Bracken:
You're the first man in five years who didn't tell me I look like Veronica Lake inside of a minute.

Bud White:
You look better than Veronica Lake.

Lynn Bracken:
I see Bud because I want to. I see Bud because he can't hide the good inside of him. I see Bud because he treats me like Lynn Bracken and not some Veronica Lake look-alike who f***s for money.

Dudley Smith:
Go back to Jersey, Sonny. This is the City of the Angels and you haven't got any wings.

Captain Dudley Smith:
Don't start tryin' to do the right thing, boy-o. You haven't the practice.

Captain Dudley Smith:
I doubt you've ever taken a stupid breath. Don't start now.

Captain Dudley Smith:
Our justice must be swift and merciless.

Bud White:
The Night Owl case made you. Do you want to tear all that down?

Ed Exley:
With a wrecking ball. You want to help me swing it?

Ellis Loew:
Unless you came in here to wipe my ass, I believe we're through.

Ellis Loew:
Come on, don't try this "Good Cop-Bad Cop" crap on me. I practically invented it. So what if some homo actor is dead? Boys, girls, ten of them step off the bus to L.A. every day.

Ellis Loew:
Pull him off me, Exley!

Ed Exley:
I don't know how.

Bud White:
Now, I know you think you're the A-number one hotshot. Well, here's the juice: if I take you out, there'll be ten more lawyers to take your place tomorrow. They just won't come on the bus, that's all!

Ed Exley:
Was that how you used to run the "Good Cop-Bad Cop?"

Bud White:
What do I get if I give you your balls back, you wop cocksucker?

Jack Vincennes:
Are you sure Golden Boy is up to the task, Cap?

Capt. Dudley Smith:
Oh, I think you'd be surprised what the lad is capable of.

Bud White:
LAPD, shitbird. Get the f*** outta here or I'll call your wife to come get you!

Sid Hudgens:
"It's Christmas Eve in the City of Angels and while decent citizens sleep the sleep of the righteous, hopheads prowl for marijuana not knowing that a man is coming to stop them! Celebrity crimestopper Jack Vincennes, scourge of grasshoppers and dopefieds everywhere!" Ya like it, Jackie-Boy?

Jack Vincennes:
Yeah. Subtle.

Dudley Smith:
Hold up your badge, so they'll know you're a policeman.

Jack Vincennes:
Karen, this is Sid Hudgens of Hush-Hush Magazine.

Sid Hudgens:
Hellooooo, Karen!

Jack's Dancing Partner:
Hello yourself!

Jack Vincennes:
What's that about?

Sid Hudgens:
Eh, we ran a piece last year, "Ingenue Dykes in Hollywood." Her name got mentioned.

Captain Dudley Smith:
Have you a valediction, boy-o?

Jack Vincennes:
Rollo Tomasi.

Captain Dudley Smith:
It's best to stay away from a man when his blood is up.

Ed Exley:
His blood is always up.

Captain Dudley Smith:
Then perhaps you should stay away from him altogether.

Ed Exley:
They called you 'Sugar', 'cause you liked to give it out... so sweet.

Dudley Smith:
Edmund, you're a political animal. You have the eye for human weakness, but not the stomach.

Ed Exley:
You're wrong, sir.

Captain Dudley Smith:
Would you be willing to plant corroborative evidence on a suspect you knew to be guilty, in order to ensure an indictment?

Ed Exley:
Dudley, we've been over this.

Captain Dudley Smith:
Yes or no, Edmund?

Ed Exley:
No!

Captain Dudley Smith:
Would you be willing to beat a confession out of a suspect you knew to be guilty?

Ed Exley:
No.

Captain Dudley Smith:
Would you be willing to shoot a hardened criminal in the back, in order to offset the chance that some... lawyer...

Ed Exley:
No.

Captain Dudley Smith:
Then, for the love of God, don't be a detective. Stick to assignments where you don't have...

Ed Exley:
Dudley, I know you mean well, but I don't need to do it the way you did. Or my father.

Sid Hudgens:
Get me some narco skinny. I want to do an all-hophead issue. You know, schwartze jazz musicians and movie stars. You like it?

Ed Exley:
Bud hates himself for what he did.

Lynn Bracken:
I know how he feels.

Lynn Bracken:
Some men get the world. Others get ex-hookers and a trip to Arizona.

Lynn Bracken:
Bye.

Ed Exley:
Bye.

Ray Pinker:
Stomach of the week. Unemployed actor had frankfurter, french fries, alcohol, and sperm. Hell of a last supper, don't you think?

Bud White:
Bullshit. How would a two-bit hick like Meeks get his hands on a large supply of heroine?

Johnny Stompanato:
You're right, it's probably bullshit. Even if he did, he could never unload it. Not without drawing all kinds of attention.

Bud White:
Maybe that's why he's under a house in Elysian Park and he don't smell too good, paesano.

Bud White:
What happened?

Detective at Hush-Hush Office:
Somebody beat him to death and stole a bunch of files. Must've dug up garbage on the wrong guy. Got it narrowed down to a thousand suspects.

Sid Hudgens:
Something has to be done, but nothing too original, because hey, this is Hollywood.

Dick Stensland:
You're like Santa Claus with that list, Bud, except everyone on it's been naughty.

Captain Dudley Smith:
Bud White is a valuable officer.

Ed Exley:
White's a mindless thug.

Captain Dudley Smith:
No, Edmund, he's just a man who can answer yes to those questions I've asked you from time to time.

Ed Exley:
A naked man with a gun? Do you really expect anyone to believe that?

Bud White:
Get the f*** away from me.

Ed Exley:
How's it gonna look in your report?

Bud White:
It'll look like justice. That's what the man got. Justice.

Ed Exley:
You don't know the meaning of the word you ignorant bastard.

Bud White:
Oh yeah, well you think it means getting your picture in the paper. Why don't you go after criminals for a change instead of cops?

Ed Exley:
Stensland got what he deserved and so will you.

Captain Dudley Smith:
It's best to stay away from a man when his blood is up.

Ed Exley:
His blood is always up.

Captain Dudley Smith:
Then perhaps you should stay away from him altogether.

Sid Hudgens:
Are you tight with the DA, Jackie?

Jack Vincennes:
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. He tried to throw me off the force last Christmas as a little joke.

Captain Dudley Smith:
You're a bit of a puzzlement to me these days, Wendell. You don't seem to be your old cruel self anymore. And I had such grand plans for your future.

Sid Hudgens:
He's on a night train to the big adios.

Lynn Bracken:
You say f*** a lot.

Bud White:
You f*** for money.

Liquor Store Owner:
If I ever get held up, you guys better be here.

Ray Pinker:
Bud White, what brings you to the basement?

Bud White:
I got a couple Nite Owl questions.

Ray Pinker:
I don't know if you'd heard, but that case has been filed "solved."

Bud White:
Isn't there anything bothering you about it?

Ray Pinker:
Yeah, the fact that you guys haven't carted all this sh*t away yet.

Ray Pinker:
I got three shotguns taken from the suspects that match the strike marks on the shells from the Nite Owl. What more do you want?

Bud White:
There's blood on the wall here. I thought everybody but the cook got shot in the men's room?

Ray Pinker:
That is Stensland's blood.

Bud White:
Stensland?

Ray Pinker:
He took a blow to the head. Was probably unconscious when they dragged him in the john.

Bud White:
Did they hit anybody else?

Ray Pinker:
No. But he was a cop, he probably tried to do something.

Bud White:
Grilled cheese, black coffee... two of the victims were women, right?

Ray Pinker:
Yeah, Patti DeLuca, the late-shift waitress, and a Susan Lefferts.

Bud White:
Susan Lefferts...

Ray Pinker:
You're welcome!

Lynn Bracken:
Where'd this come from?

Bud White:
When I was twelve, my old man went after my mother with a bottle. I got in the way.

Lynn Bracken:
You saved her.

Bud White:
Not for long.

Lynn Bracken:
I'm sorry, Bud, it's none of my...

Bud White:
He tied me to the radiator. I watched him beat my mother to death with a tire iron. He left us there. It was four days before a patrol officer found us. They never found the old man.

Lynn Bracken:
Was that why you became a cop? To get even?

Bud White:
I don't know.

Bud White:
Something's wrong with the Nite Owl. I know it in here,

Bud White:
I know it. That prick Exley shot the wrong guys. I... If I could work cases like a real detective, I could prove it. But I'm not smart enough. I'm just the guy they bring in to scare the other guy shitless.

Lynn Bracken:
You're wrong. You found Patchett, you found me. You're smart enough.

Bud White:
Don't ever try to f***ing bribe me or I'll have you and Patchett in sh*t up to your ears.

Dudley Smith:
Have you a valediction, boyo?

Sgt. Jack Vincennes:
... Rollo... Tomasi

[Bud White catches a parolee beating his wife up. He lures the man out by pulling his Santa's sleigh decorations off the roof]

Wife-beater:
Who in the hell are you?!

Wendell "Bud" White:
Ghost of Christmas Past. Why don't you dance with a man for a change?

Wife-beater:
What are you, some kind of smart ass?

[tries to throw a punch at Bud. Bud beats him and handcuffs him to his porch]

Wendell "Bud" White:
You'll be out in a year and a half. I'll get cozy with your parole officer. You touch her again, I'll have you violated on a kiddie raper beef. [grabs wife beater by the head] You know what they do to kiddie-rapers in Quentin.

[Bud goes to question Lynn Bracken and encounters a client in his underwear who refuses to leave]

Man:
Everything all right, doll? Want me to get rid of him?

Bud:
Hit the road, pal.

Man:
[stepping closer] Maybe I will. Maybe I won't.

Bud:
[showing his badge] LAPD, shitbird. Get the f*** outta here or I'll call your wife to come get you.

[The man stares blankly for a moment, collects his clothes, and leaves]

Man:
[nods] Officer.

Bud:
[nods] Councilman.

[Bud has just found Buzz Meeks's decaying remains in Hilda Lefferts' crawl space. He is visibly disgusted as he climbs out.]

Hilda Lefferts:
Was it a rat?

Bud White:
Yeah. A great big one.

Jack:
Do you remember Buzz Meeks, Dudley?

Capt. Dudley Smith:
A disgrace as a police officer. Straight-D fitness reports from every CEO he ever served under. What about him?

Jack:
12 years ago he was on a Vice rouse with Dick Stensland. They questioned Pierce Patchett about a blackmail scam. Patchett had Sid Hudgens photographing prominent businessmen with hookers. Anyway, charges were dropped, insufficient evidence. You were the supervising officer on that case and I was wondering if you remember anything about it.

Capt. Dudley Smith:
What's this all about, boyo?

Jack:
Part of it has to do with a murder, I've been working with Ed Exley on it.

Capt. Dudley Smith:
You're in Narco, Jack, not Homicide. Since when do you work with Edmund Exley?

Jack:
Well, it's a private investigation. I messed something up. I'm trying to make amends.

Capt. Dudley Smith:
Don't start trying to do the right thing, boyo. You haven't had the practice. [He turns to the stove and prepares a cup of tea for Jack] Buzz Meeks and Dick Stensland. So, uh, what does Exley make of all of this?

Jack:
I haven't told him yet. I just came straight from the record to you. [Dudley suddenly turns to Jack with a pistol and shoots him once in the chest; a shocked Jack struggles to breathe as he looks up at Dudley]

Capt. Dudley Smith:
Have you a valediction, boyo?

Jack:
[in a strained whisper, on the verge of death] Rollo... Tomasi.

Detective:
Do you think you can talk your way out of this, Lieutenant?

Ed:
No... but I think I can tell the truth.

Captain Dudley Smith:
You may well reap the benefit, Edmund, but are you truly prepared to be despised within the department?

Lynn:
It would be easier for you if there was an angle wouldn't it? You're afraid of Bud because you can't figure out how to play him. He doesn't follow the same rules of politics as you do. It makes him dangerous. I see Bud because I want to I see Bud because he can't hide the good inside of him. I see Bud because he makes me feel like Lynn Bracken and not some Veronica Lake look-alike who fucks for money. I see Bud because he doesn't know how to disguise who he is. I see Bud for all the ways he's different from you.