L.A. Confidential (1997) quotes
Director
Curtis Hanson.
As corruption grows in 1950s LA, three policemen – one strait-laced, one brutal, and one sleazy – investigate a series of murders with their own brand of justice.
Have you a valediction, boyo?
– Captain Dudley Smith
[gasping out a name] … Rollo Tamasi.
– Jack Vincennes
I wouldn’t trade places with Edmund Exley right now for all the whiskey in Ireland.
– Captain Dudley Smith
Edmund, you’re a political animal. You have the eye for human weakness, but not the stomach.
– Captain Dudley Smith
You’re wrong, sir.
– Ed Exley
Would you be willing to plant corroborative evidence on a suspect you knew to be guilty, in order to ensure an indictment?
– Captain Dudley Smith
Dudley, we’ve been over this.
– Ed Exley
Yes or no, Edmund?
– Captain Dudley Smith
No!
– Ed Exley
Would you be willing to beat a confession out of a suspect you knew to be guilty?
– Captain Dudley Smith
No.
– Ed Exley
Would you be willing to shoot a hardened criminal in the back, in order to offset the chance that some… lawyer…
– Captain Dudley Smith
No.
– Ed Exley
Then, for the love of God, don’t be a detective. Stick to assignments where you don’t have…
– Captain Dudley Smith
Dudley, I know you mean well, but I don’t need to do it the way you did. Or my father.
– Ed Exley
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 fucks for money.
– Lynn Bracken
Go back to Jersey, sonny. This is the City of the Angels, and you haven’t got any wings.
– Captain Dudley Smith
[last lines]
Some men get the world. Others get ex-hookers and a trip to Arizona.
– Lynn Bracken
[She kisses Exley on the cheek]
Bye.
– Lynn Bracken
Bye.
– Ed Exley
I’m the technical advisor. I teach Brett Chase how to walk and talk like a cop.
– Jack Vincennes
Brett Chase doesn’t walk and talk like you.
– Jack’s Dancing Partner
Well, that’s ’cause he’s the television version. America isn’t ready for the real me.
– Jack Vincennes
The Nite Owl case made you. Do you want to tear all that down?
– Bud White
With a wrecking ball… You want to help me swing it?
– Ed Exley
You’re the first man in five years who didn’t tell me I look like Veronica Lake inside of a minute.
– Lynn Bracken
You look better than Veronica Lake.
– Bud White
You’ll do as I say, and ask no questions. Do you follow my drift?
– Captain Dudley Smith
In technicolor, sir.
– Bud White
I’d like to see you again.
– Bud White
Are you asking me for a date, or an appointment?
– Lynn Bracken
…I don’t know.
– Bud White
Well, if you’re asking me for a date, I should know your first name.
– Lynn Bracken
[embarrassed] Forget I asked. It was a mistake.
– Bud White
You say “fuck” a lot.
– Lynn Bracken
You fuck for money.
– Bud White
Merry Christmas.
– Bud White
Merry Christmas to you, officer.
– Lynn Bracken
That obvious, huh?
– Bud White
It’s practically stamped on your forehead.
– Lynn Bracken
Off the record, on the QT, and very hush-hush.
– Sid Hudgens