L.A. Confidential (1997)

Kevin Spacey: Jack Vincennes

Photos 

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Quotes 

• Captain Dudley Smith : Have you a valediction, boyo?

  Jack Vincennes : [gasping out a name]  ... Rollo Tamasi.

  [laughs, painfully, to himself as he dies] 

• 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.

• 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.

• 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] 

• Jack Vincennes : Oh, great. You get the girl, I get the coroner.

• [Exley has to perform the interrogation] 

  Jack Vincennes : Are you sure Golden Boy is up to the task, Cap?

  Captain Dudley Smith : Oh, I think you'd be surprised what the lad is capable of.

• Sid Hudgens : 'It's Christmas Eve in the City of Angels and while decent citizens sleep the sleep of the righteous, hopheads prowl for marijuana, not knowing that a man is coming to stop them! Celebrity crimestopper Jack Vincennes, scourge of grasshoppers and dopefiends everywhere!' Ya like it, Jackie boy?

  Jack Vincennes : Yeah, subtle.

• Sid Hudgens : Are you tight with the DA, Jackie?

  Jack Vincennes : Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. He tried to throw me off the force last Christmas as a little joke.

• Jack Vincennes : Karen, this is Sid Hudgens of Hush-Hush Magazine.

  Sid Hudgens : Hellooooo, Karen!

  Jack's Dancing Partner : Hello yourself!

  [walks off angrily] 

  Jack Vincennes : What's that about?

  Sid Hudgens : Eh, we ran a piece last year, "Ingenue Dykes in Hollywood." Her name got mentioned.

• Jack Vincennes : Oh, lookee here: the great jerkoff case of 1953.

• Jack Vincennes : I'll need another fifty dollars. That's two twenties for the two arresting officers and a dime for the watch commander.

• 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.

• Captain Dudley Smith : What's this all about, boyo?

  Jack Vincennes : Part of it has to do with a murder. I've been working with Ed Exley on it.

  Captain Dudley Smith : You're narco, Jack, not homicide. Since when do you work with Edmund Exley?

  Jack Vincennes : Well, it's a private investigation.

  Captain Dudley Smith : Ah.

  Jack Vincennes : I messed something up; I'm trying to make amends.

  Captain Dudley Smith : Don't start trying to do the right thing, boyo. You haven't had the practice.

• Jack Vincennes : How's it hanging, Sid?

  Sid Hudgens : Down around my ankles.

• Matt Reynolds : You know, when I came out to L.A., this isn't exactly where I saw myself ending up.

  Jack Vincennes : Yeah, well... get in line.

• Jack Vincennes : Why don't you and I go someplace quiet, cause I'd love to give you the low-down on Mitchum.

• [Stensland is headed to the cell blocks for revenge on a group of Mexicans who assaulted two fellow officers] 

  Jack Vincennes : Hey, White? You'd better put a leash on your partner before he kills somebody.

• 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!

• Jack Vincennes : What do you know about Pierce Patchett?

  Sid Hudgens : Patchett? I know what you know. He's very rich. Just invested in freeway construction, which is gonna make him richer. Why do you ask?

  Jack Vincennes : I just keep hearing rumors, you know. High-class porn, drugs, hookers that look like movie stars.

  Sid Hudgens : Ha. Patchett's what I call twilight. He ain't queer and he ain't red. He cannot help me in my quest for prime sinnuendo.