Captain Dudley Smith: I wouldn’t trade places with Edmund Exley right now for all the whisky in Ireland.
Category: L.A. Confidential
L.A. Confidential (1990) is neo-noir novel by James Ellroy, and the third of his L.A. Quartet series. James Ellroy dedicated L.A.
Captain Dudley Smith: I admire you as a policeman, particularly your adherence to violence as a necessary adjunct to the job.
Dick Stensland: We’ll do the town one night on me.
Bud White: I’ll bring my wallet just in case.
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.
Lynn: 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.
Captain Dudley Smith: Don’t start tryin’ to do the right thing, boy-o. You haven’t the practice.
Captain Dudley Smith: Our justice must be swift and merciless.
Sid: Come to Los Angeles. The sun shines bright, the beaches are wide and inviting, and the orange groves stretch as far as the eye can see. There are jobs aplenty and land is cheap. Every working man can have his own house, and inside every house, a happy all-American family. You can have all this, and who knows, you can even be discovered, become a movie star, or at least see one. Life is good in Los Angeles. It’s paradise on earth. That’s what they tell you anyway, because they’re selling an image. They’re selling it through movies, radio and television. In the hit show “Badge of Honor,” the L.A. cops walk on water, as they keep the city clean of crooks. Yup, you’d think this place was the Garden of Eden. But there’s trouble in paradise.
Sid: Something has to be done, but nothing too original, because hey, this is Hollywood.
Dick: You’re like Santa Claus with that list, Bud, except everyone on it’s been naughty.
Dick: My partner stopped to help a damsel in distress. He’s got his priorities all screwed up.
Dudley: Jack, I doubt you’ve ever taken a stupid breath. Don’t start now.
Categories
I got a hot date.
Dick: I got a hot date.
Bud: Who is she, and what did you arrest her for?
Dudley: 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.
Bud White: A lot of bad stuff happened here. It’s as good a place as any for it to end.