Cross quotes from Chinatown (1974)

You've got a nasty reputation, Mr. Gits. I like that.

Gittes

Thanks.

If you were a bank president, that would be one thing. But in your business it's admirable and it's good advertising.

Gittes

It doesn't hurt.

It's, um, why you attracted a client like my daughter.

Gittes

Probably.

But I'm surprised you're still working for her - unless she's suddenly come up with another husband.

Gittes

No. She happens to think the last one was murdered.

Umm, how'd she get that idea?

Gittes

I think I gave it to her.

I hope you don't mind. I believe they should be served with the head.

Gittes

Fine. As long as you don't serve the chicken that way.

Gittes. You're dealing with a disturbed woman who's just lost her husband. I don't want her taken advantage of. Sit down.

Gittes

What for?

You may think you know what you're dealing with, but believe me, you don't. [Gittes smiles] Why is that funny?

Gittes

It's what the district attorney used to tell me in Chinatown.

Yeah? Was he right? Exactly what do you know about me? Sit down.

Gittes

Mainly that you're rich, and too respectable to want your name in the newspapers.

'Course I'm respectable. I'm old. Politicians, ugly buildings, and whores all get respectable if they last long enough.

What does it mean?

Gittes

That you killed Hollis Mulwray - right here - in that pond. You drowned him, and you left these [the bifocals]. Coroner's report shows Mulwray had saltwater in his lungs.

Hollis was always fascinated by tidepools. You know what he used to say?...That's where life begins. Sloughs, tidepools. When he first come out here, he figured if you dumped water into the desert sand and let it percolate down to the bedrock, it would stay there instead of evaporate the way it does in most reservoirs. You only lose 20% instead of 70 or 80. He made this city.

Gittes

That's what you were going to do in the valley.

That's what I am doing. If the bond issue passes Tuesday, there'll be eight million dollars to build an aqueduct and reservoir. I'm doing it.

Gittes

Gonna be a lot of irate citizens when they find out that they're paying for water that they're not gonna get.

Oh, that's all taken care of. You see, Mr. Gits. Either you bring the water to LA or you bring LA to the water.

Gittes

How you gonna do that?

By incorporating the valley into the city. Simple as that.

Gittes

How much are you worth?

I've no idea. How much do you want?

Gittes

I just want to know what you're worth. Over ten million?

Oh my, yes!

Gittes

Why are you doing it? How much better can you eat? What can you buy that you can't already afford?

The future, Mr. Gits - the future! Now where's the girl. I want the only daughter I've got left. As you found out, Evelyn was lost to me a long time ago.

Gittes

Who do you blame for that - her?

I don't blame myself. You see, Mr. Gits. Most people never have to face the fact that at the right time, the right place, they're capable of anything.