Mulholland Falls

Hoover:
We go where the case takes us.

Fitzgerald:
Not if it takes you here you don't.

Coolidge:
Max, I'm shot.

Hoover:
Oh my God. Oh, no. Oh, no.

Coolidge:
My psychiatrist is not gonna like this, Max.

Lieutenant Maxwell Hoover:
This isn't America, Jack. This is L.A.

General Timms:
A hundred die so that a thousand may live.

Lieutenant Max Hoover:
See, that's federal property. This isn't. This is L.A. This is my town. Out here you're a trespasser. Out here I can pick you up, burn your home, f*** your wife, and kill your dog. And the only thing that'll protect you is if I can't find you. And I already found you.

General Timms:
Some people die before their time so that others can live. It's a cornerstone of civilization.

[Repeated line to Coolidge.]

Hoover:
Is that what your psychiatrist told you?

Hoover:
Let me tell ya how it goes, Elleroy. Ya meet somebody. Maybe they're a little off-center, but they tell ya the truth, and ya like 'em — ya like 'em for that. And one thing leads to another, and ya end up in bed. Now that's weak, Elleroy.

Coolidge:
Max…

Hoover:
Now listen to me! Nobody gets hurt. Now, you go home, and you see your wife, and you're feelin' bad. Ya wanna unload it, ya wanna get it off your chest. So you tell 'er. And now she's hurt. Now that's weak, too, Elleroy. But it's also cruel. It's just goddam cruel.

[Hoover turns from Coolidge, but turns back again.]

Hoover:
Take a— here, here's something for ya. Here's something that doesn't cost ya twenty-five bucks an hour. You carry your own water, Elleroy. Ya understand? Carry your own water.

Hoover:
I probably see too much.

General Timms:
What do you see?

Hoover:
People dead before their time.

General Timms:
That's the history of the world, Lieutenant. Some people die before their time so that others can live; it's the cornerstone of civilization, uh… war, religion, democracy… a hundred die so that a thousand may live.

Hoover:
Well, General, I take 'em one at a time.

Hall:
What'd Timms have to say?

Hoover:
He said the cornerstone of civilization was human sacrifice.

Hoover:
Jack Flynn?

Jack Flynn:
[hands him money] Here ya go buddy, buy yourself a good time. [turning away] They'll let anybody in here.

Hoover:
[throwing bills down] Mr. Flynn, I'm Maxwell Hoover. I'm with the Los Angeles Police Department.

Jack Flynn:
Oh, that means I get change back.

Coolidge:
[trying to thread a projector] Damn it! I can't get my finger in there. It won't fit.

Esther:
Try your dick.

Hoover:
How come you got a hot dog in your mouth while you're threading the projector? Why do you eat while you're working? Why do you eat all the time?

Coolidge:
It's all psychological, Max. I eat so I don't think about food.

Hoover:
Oh... so you eat so you don't think about food.

Coolidge:
Yeah.

Hoover:
I don't want to butt into your business, but this psychiatrist, the guy you're going to, I think he's in worse shape than you are.

General Timms:
You're much more intelligent than you appear to be, Lieutenant. Must be a big advantage in your field. In my field, everyone was always so desperate to seem cleverer than they were.