Night Moves

Joey Ziegler:
He'd f*** a woodpile on the chance there was a snake in it.

Harry Moseby:
Yeah, but he didn't see it. He played something else and he lost. He must have regretted it every day of his life. I know I would have. As a matter of fact I do regret it, and I wasn't even born yet.

Harry Moseby:
Listen Delly, I know it doesn't make much sense when you're sixteen. Don't worry. When you get to be forty, it doesn't any better.

Harry Moseby:
You told me fairy tales... About Malone... Billy Danreuther... The President getting shot... Your erect nipples!

Ellen Moseby:
[of a football game] Who's winning?

Harry Moseby:
Nobody. One side is just losing slower than the other.

Harry:
What happened to your face?

Quentin:
I won second prize in a fight.

Arlene Iverson:
Are you the kind of detective who, once you get on a case nothing can get you off it? Bribes, beatings, the allure of a woman...

Harry:
That was true in the old days. Before we had a union.

Paula:
How do you resist Delly?

Harry:
Oh, I just think good, clean thoughts, like Thanksgiving, George Washington's teeth.

Paula:
Where were you when Kennedy got shot?

Harry:
Which Kennedy?

Paula:
Any Kennedy.

Harry:
When the president got shot, I was on my way to San Diego. Football game. When Bobby got shot, I was sitting in a car waiting for a guy to come out of a house with his girlfriend. Working on a divorce case. One of those times I wish I was in another business.

Nick:
Where do you know Arlene from?

Joey Ziegler:
From way back.

Nick:
Oh, yeah? What's your name again? Ziegler? Joey Ziegler?

Joey Ziegler:
Joey Ziegler.

Nick:
I don't think you were one of the names.

Joey Ziegler:
What names?

Nick:
One of those she cheated on Grastner with. I got them all.

Joey Ziegler:
I'm one of a small, select group. We hold meetings in a telephone booth.

Ellen (encountering Harry in the kitchen grinding up a glass in the garbage disposal):
Harry, stop that, I can’t hear myself think!

Harry:
Lucky you.

Ellen (encountering Harry in the kitchen grinding up a glass in the garbage disposal):
Harry, stop that, I can’t hear myself think!

Harry:
Lucky you.

here’s another.

Arlene Iverson (while soaking in a bubble bath and speaking to Harry:
Care to join me?

Harry:
Maybe some time when I’m feeling really dirty.

and another.

Ellen:
I’m going to a Rohmer film with a friend. Care to join us?

Harry:
No thanks. I’ve seen a Rohmer film. It was kind of like watching paint dry.

Paula:
When we all get liberated like Delly, there'll be fighting in the streets.

Joey Ziegler:
Well, the world is getting smaller, the kids are getting younger and I'm getting drunk!

Marv Ellman:
There's nothing like having a mother and a daughter. Gives you sort of a kind of perspective.

Arlene Iverson:
[shows Harry a picture] This is my second husband, Tom lverson, the bum. The only thing I got out of him was a new name. That's ahfter I quit acting. Did you ever see me in anything?

[Harry draws a blank face, chuckles and shakes his head]

Arlene Iverson:
I was never "big," not really big. There were a lot like me. You know, studio premieres, studio romances, not much talent. But I got lucky and grabbed off one of the big guns, Irving Grastner. Oh, I had lovely tits... even if I do say so myself. [sighs] Ahh, they're sitting on a little bit of silicone now... but when they were up for grabs, they were really something special.

Harry Moseby:
[speculating that the missing daughter, Delly, may be in Florida with her stepfather] My guess is that I should go down there.

Arlene Iverson:
[melodramatically] You're gonna' go all the way to Florida on a guess?

Harry Moseby:
No. I'm gonna' fly all the way to Florida on your money, Mrs. Iverson. It's up to you.

Arlene Iverson:
[indifferently] Go ahead.

Harry Moseby:
I'm looking for Delly Grastner.

Quentin:
Delly isn't around here anymore.

Harry Moseby:
You got any idea where she could be? Is she visiting friends? Is she meditating? Did she join a commune?

Quentin:
[scoffs] Delly's idea of a "commune" is her and a guy on top of her.

Harry Moseby:
You think Delly knew that Marv and her mother were making it?

Joey Ziegler:
A blind man on a galloping horse would've known. Arlene ain't Lillian Gish.

Harry Moseby:
[observing Paula, who is feeding dolphins in a special pen] What do you got 'em for?

Paula:
Well, there's a big demand for dolphins. Lots of people want 'em, you'd be surprised. People buy them for their swimming pools. They think it's chic to have a dolphin for a pet. Like that craze for baby alligators in New York years back. When they got bored with 'em, they flushed them down the john. Now they got a sewage system swarming with blind, albino, sh*t-eating alligators.

Harry Moseby:
[listening with a bemused look on his face] I'm not too sure I believe that.

Paula:
You're not one of those "intent on the truth" types, are you?

Harry Moseby:
Well, not religious about it, no, but I...

Harry Moseby:
What'd you do before this?

Paula:
[coyly] This and that... [pauses, gives him a look] I taught school, I... kept house. I waited tables... I did a little stripping, I did a little hooking... and I trod a lot of water.

Harry Moseby:
Sounds kind of bleak. Or is it just the way you tell it?

Paula:
[sharply] Do you ask these questions because you wanna' know the answer, or is it just something you think a detective should do?

Harry Moseby:
I just want you to know I'm here.

Tom Iverson:
I want that kid the hell out of here. You see, I... I get pretty foolish with her, and I... Well, you've seen her. God, there ought to be a law!

Harry Moseby:
There is.

Arlene Iverson:
Caught me in my bath.

Harry Moseby:
I'm sorry.

Arlene Iverson:
[seductively] Oh, that's all right. You could've joined me. It's a big bath.

Harry Moseby:
[with a wry grin] Maybe some other time, when I'm feeling really dirty.

Arlene Iverson:
[as Harry confronts her at her poolside, after Delly's death] So I'm not grief-stricken. What does that make me? [drunkenly] You know, Delly isn't the only kid who ever had it rough. [sighs] When I was her age... I was down on my knees to half the men in this town. I'm sorry the poor little b*tch is dead. And when the time comes, I'll cry for her... but you won't be around to see it, Mr. Smart-Ass-Moseby. So... Out... OUT! [drunkenly waves him away]

Paula:
When we're all as free as Delly there'll be rioting in the streets.