L.A. Confidential (1997)
Guy Pearce: Ed Exley
Photos
Quotes
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Captain Dudley Smith : Edmund, you're a political animal. You have the eye for human weakness, but not the stomach.
Ed Exley : You're wrong, sir.
Captain Dudley Smith : Would you be willing to plant corroborative evidence on a suspect you knew to be guilty, in order to ensure an indictment?
Ed Exley : Dudley, we've been over this.
Captain Dudley Smith : Yes or no, Edmund?
Ed Exley : No!
Captain Dudley Smith : Would you be willing to beat a confession out of a suspect you knew to be guilty?
Ed Exley : No.
Captain Dudley Smith : Would you be willing to shoot a hardened criminal in the back, in order to offset the chance that some... lawyer...
Ed Exley : No.
Captain Dudley Smith : Then, for the love of God, don't be a detective. Stick to assignments where you don't have...
Ed Exley : Dudley, I know you mean well, but I don't need to do it the way you did. Or my father.
Captain Dudley Smith : At least get rid of the glasses. I can't think of another man in the department who wears them.
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[last lines]
Lynn Bracken : Some men get the world. Others get ex-hookers and a trip to Arizona.
[She kisses Exley on the cheek]
Lynn Bracken : Bye.
Ed Exley : Bye.
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Ed Exley : Do you make the three Negroes for the Nite Owl killings?
Jack Vincennes : [puzzled] What?
Ed Exley : It's a simple question.
Jack Vincennes : Why in the world do you wanna go digging any deeper into the Nite Owl killings... Lieutenant?
Ed Exley : ...Rollo Tamasi.
Jack Vincennes : Is there more to that, or am I supposed to guess?
Ed Exley : [pauses] Rollo 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 Vincennes : What's your point?
Ed Exley : Rollo Tamasi 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 Vincennes : [hoarsely] Huh. I don't remember.
[brief hesitation]
Jack Vincennes : What do you want, Exley?
Ed Exley : I just wanna solve this thing.
Jack Vincennes : The Nite Owl *was* solved.
Ed Exley : No; I wanna do it right.
Jack Vincennes : Even if it means paying the consequences?
[Exley nods his head, Vincennes stands up from his chair]
Jack Vincennes : All right, college boy, I'll help. But there's a case you boys in Homicide don't care about, you think it's just another Hollywood "homo"-cide. Well, I don't. You help me with mine, I'll help you with yours. Deal?
Ed Exley : Deal.
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Johnny Stompanato : You want an autograph? Write to MGM.
Ed Exley : Since when do two-bit hoods and hookers give out autographs?
Johnny Stompanato : What'd you say to me?
Ed Exley : LAPD. Sit down.
Lana Turner : Who in the hell do you think you are?
Jack Vincennes : Ed...
Ed Exley : Take a walk, honey, before I haul your ass downtown.
Johnny Stompanato : You are making a large mistake.
Lana Turner : Get away from our table!
Ed Exley : Shut up! A hooker cut to look like Lana Turner is still a hooker.
Johnny Stompanato : Hey!
Ed Exley : She just looks like Lana Turner.
Jack Vincennes : She *is* Lana Turner.
Ed Exley : [stunned] What?
Jack Vincennes : She *is* Lana Turner.
[Lana throws a drink in Ed's face]
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Captain Dudley Smith : [Captain Smith briefs the squad room on Jack Vincennes' death; Exley is standing beside him] Sergeant Vincennes was killed by a .32 slug to the heart. Time of death, approximately 1 a.m. Although he was found in Echo Park, preliminary forensics indicates his body was most likely moved. I want two-man teams to scour that entire neighborhood. Our justice must be swift and merciless. That is all.
Captain Dudley Smith : [Exley starts to leave with the other officers] Edmund, might I have a word with you? We're trying to run down a lead on an associate of Vincennes. The records check has led to a dead end.
Ed Exley : What's the name?
Captain Dudley Smith : Rollo Tomasi. Have you ever heard Vincennes mention him?
Ed Exley : [poker-faced] No. No, I haven't.
Captain Dudley Smith : Well, it's probably nothing. Still, keep your eyes open, eh, boyo?
[Captain Smith exits as Exley glares at him from behind]
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Ed Exley : A naked man with a gun? Do you really expect anyone to believe that?
Bud White : Get the fuck away from me.
Ed Exley : How's it gonna look in your report?
Bud White : It'll look like justice. That's what the man got. Justice.
Ed Exley : You don't know the meaning of the word, you ignorant bastard.
Bud White : Oh yeah, well you think it means getting your picture in the paper. Why don't you go after criminals for a change, instead of cops?
[punches Exley in the shoulder and then starts to walk away]
Ed Exley : Stensland got what he deserved, and so will you.
[a furious White tries to attack Exley, only to be restrained by the Captain and by several other cops]
Captain Dudley Smith : It's best to stay away from a man when his blood is up.
Ed Exley : His blood is always up.
Captain Dudley Smith : Then perhaps you should stay away from him altogether.
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[Exley and White are waiting inside the Victory Motel with guns drawn]
Ed Exley : All I ever wanted was to measure up to my father.
Bud White : Now's your chance.
[Exley gives him a puzzled look]
Bud White : He died in the line of duty, didn't he?
[the two share a laugh, just before thugs storm the room and a gunfight begins]
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[White approaches Loew in the bathroom after he refused to answer Exley's questions]
Ellis Loew : Unless you came here to wipe my ass, I believe we're through.
[White looks at him, silently]
Ellis Loew : Come on, don't try that "Good Cop-Bad Cop" crap. I practically invented it. So what if some homo actor is dead, huh? Boys, girls, ten of them step off the bus to L.A. every day...
[White smashes Loew's head into the mirror and then sticks it into the toilet]
Ellis Loew : Pull him off me, Exley!
Ed Exley : I don't know how.
Bud White : Now, I know you think you're the A-number one hotshot. But here's the juice: if I take you out, there'll be ten more lawyers to take your place tomorrow. They just won't come on the bus, that's all!
[White drags Loew into his office and dangles him out of the window by his legs until he confesses]
Ed Exley : Was that how you used to run the "Good Cop-Bad Cop"?
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Ed Exley : Rollo Tomasi.
Captain Dudley Smith : Who is he?
Ed Exley : You are. You're the guy who gets away with it. Jack knew it, and so do I.
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Ed Exley : [they are looking at each other's faces, both bloodied by Bud] Are you okay?
Lynn Bracken : [nods] You okay?
Ed Exley : Bud hates himself for what he did.
Lynn Bracken : I know how he feels.
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Captain Dudley Smith : Bud White is a valuable officer.
Ed Exley : White's a mindless thug.
Captain Dudley Smith : No, Edmund, he's just a man who can answer yes to those questions I've asked you from time to time.
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[as Exley explains the mystery, while the Chief, Lowe and several Department officials watch through the two-way mirror]
LAPD Official : Christ, it'll stain the Department for years.
Police Chief : Decades.
Ellis Loew : If we can get the kid to play ball, who's to say what really happened? Maybe Dudley Smith died a hero.
[the interrogator leaves the room and shuts the door. Alone in the room, Exley smiles]
Police Chief : [through intercom] You want to tell me what you're smiling about?
Ed Exley : A hero.
LAPD Official : How could he know what we were saying?
Police Chief : [through intercom] And?
Ed Exley : In a situation like this, you're going to need more than one.
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Ed Exley : I'm talking about the gas chamber, and you haven't even asked me what this is about. You've got a big "Guilty" sign around your neck.
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Ed Exley : During our investigation of events surrounding the Nite Owl case, Jack Vincennes, Bud White, and I learned the following.
Ellis Loew : Your golden boy's throwing his whole life away.
Ed Exley : The three Nite Owl suspects, while guilty of kidnapping and rape, were innocent of the multiple homicides at the Nite Owl. The actual gunmen were most likely Los Angeles Police Department officers Michael Breuning and William Carlisle, and a third man who may or may not have been Captain Dudley Smith. The objective: the elimination of another police officer, Richard Stensland, who, along with former LAPD officer Leland "Buzz" Meeks, also committed multiple homicides on behalf of Captain Smith and then betrayed him over twenty-five pounds of heroin, the retrieval of which was the ultimate motivation behind the Nite Owl killings. Beginning with the incarceration of Mickey Cohen, Captain Smith has been assuming control of organized crime in the city of Los Angeles. This includes the assassinations of an unknown number of Mickey Cohen lieutenants, the systematic blackmail of city officials, and the murders of Susan Lefferts, Pierce Patchett, Sid Hudgens, and Sergeant Jack Vincennes. Captain Smith admitted as much to me before I shot him at the Victory Motel.
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[to Ray Collins]
Ed Exley : They called you 'Sugar', 'cause you liked to give it out... so sweet.
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Jack Vincennes : So you're the stellar witness. I should have known. What's the chief throwing you?
Ed Exley : Throwing me?
Jack Vincennes : Yeah, Exley, what's the payoff?
Ed Exley : You're the payoff expert. I'm just doing my duty.
Jack Vincennes : Come on. You're playing an angle here, college boy, right? You're getting something out of this so you don't have to hobknob with rank and file cops who are gonna hate your guts for snitching. Well, if they're making you detective, watch out. Some bureau guys are gonna burn in this, and you're gonna end up working with friends of theirs.
Ed Exley : What about you?
Jack Vincennes : I'm snitching three old-timers who'll be fishing in Oregon this time next week. Next to you, I'm clean. And smart.
[Exley is paged on the PA system and turns to leave]
Jack Vincennes : And remember: Bud White'll fuck you for this if it takes him the rest of his life.
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Ed Exley : I want D.A. bureau men to tail Dudley Smith and Pierce Patchett 24 hours a day. I want you to get a judge to authorize wiretaps on their home phones, and I want authorization to check their bank records.
Ellis Loew : On what evidence?
Bud White : Call it a hunch.
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Ed Exley : I heard you like to shoot dogs.
Ray Collins : Dogs got no reason to live.
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Ed Exley : [Exley curses under his breath]
Jack Vincennes : What?
Ed Exley : [Checking his breast pocket] Glasses!
Jack Vincennes : You're kidding! Well, just don't shoot me!
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Ed Exley : You Know, Ray? I'm talkin' about the gas chamber and you haven't even asked me what this was about? You got a big "guilty" sign around your neck.
