L.A. CONFIDENTIAL

♦ SCREENSHOTS

PART ONE
PART TWO


Wheel of Fortune



Sid: Are you tight with the D.A., Jackie?
Jack: Sure, he just tried to throw me off the force last Christmas as a little joke.
Sid: How'd you like a little payback? Not to mention a donation to the widows and orphans fund. Did you know Loew was a swish?
. . .
Matt Reynolds: Have we met before?
Jack: Yeah.
Reynolds: Was it a party?
Jack: Something like that.



Lynn: I wondered when you might ring the bell again, Officer White.
Bud: It's Bud.



Jack: Why in the world do you want to go digging any deeper into the Nite Owl killings, lieutenant?
Exley: Rolo Tomasi.
Jack: Is there more to that, or am I supposed to guess?
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: What's your point?
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: I don't remember.



Lynn: All they get is Veronica Lake. You got the real Lynn Margaret Bracken... (seeing a scar) Where'd this come from?
Bud: When I was ten, my old man threw a bottle at my mother. I guess I got in the way.
Lynn: So you saved her.
Bud: Not for long.



Jack: Maybe White's not so dumb after all.



Johnny Stompanato: You want an autograph? Write to MGM.
Exley: Since when do two-bit hoods and hookers give out autographs?
Johnny: What'd you say to me?
Exley: LAPD. Sit down.
Lana Turner: Who in the hell do you think you are?
Jack: Ed...
Exley: Take a walk, honey, before I haul your ass downtown.
Johnny: You are making a large mistake.
Turner: Get away from our table.
Exley: Shut up! A hooker cut to look like Lana Turner is still a hooker. She just looks like Lana Turner.
Jack: She is Lana Turner.
Exley: What?
Jack: She is Lana Turner.



Exley: Why's she seeing Bud White?
Patchett: Why do men and women usually see each other?



Lynn: 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. I see him because he doesn't know how to disguise who he is.



Exley: Don't underestimate me, Miss Bracken.



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



Dudley: Have you a valediction, boy-o?
Jack: Rollo Tomasi.



Rollo Tomasi joke never gets old.



Sid: The Big V. I can tell you he's on the night train to the big adios . . . Take it easy! I didn't have anything to do with him getting killed if that's what you mean.
. . .
Dudley: Wendell. I want full and docile cooperation on all topics.
Sid: Okay. Okay. Everyone knows Patchett's worth a boat-load of greenbacks. From aviation, freeway construction. But the man has hobbies, too. He bankrolls B movies under the table and runs movie star look-alike hookers. And try this on: he's rumored to be a periodic heroin sniffer. All in all a powerful behind-the- scenes strange-o.
Dudley: And?
Sid: And what?
Dudley: Reciprocity, Mr. Hudgeons, is the key to all relationships.



Bud: You gonna tell me what happened with you and Exley?
Lynn: We talked.
Bud: So tell me about it . . . You fucked him.
Lynn: I thought I was helping you.



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



Bud: The Night Owl case made you. Do you want to tear all that down?
Exley: With a wrecking ball. You want to help me swing it?



Loew: Unless you're here to wipe my ass, I think we're through. Don't try this good cop/bad cop with me. I practically invented it. And so what if some homo actor is dead. Boys, girls, ten of them step off the bus to L.A. every day.



Bud: If I take you out, there'll be ten more lawyers tomorrow lined up to take your place. They just won't come on the bus, that's all.



Cop: Somebody beat him to death and stole a bunch of files. Must have dug up garbage on the wrong guy. We got it narrowed down to 1,000 suspects.



Exley: You figured this was a set-up? And you showed up anyway?
Bud: A lot of bad stuff happened here. It's as good a place as any for it to end.



Exley: All I ever wanted was to measure up to my father.
Bud: Now's your chance. He died in the line of duty, didn't he?



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



Thanks for advice.



Lynn: Some men get the world. Others get ex-hookers and a trip to Arizona.
(Jack: Great. You get the girl, I get the coroner. )



The End


PART ONE