JFK (1991) · 57 quotes
Tied for 5th most-quoted character in JFK (1991): in 4 of its 57 quotes
Most scenes with: Jim Garrison (4), Bill Broussard (3)
We are standing in the heart of the US government's intelligence community in New Orleans. That's the FBI. That's the CIA. That's the Secret Service. That's the ONI. Isn't this a strange place for a Communist to spend his spare time?
Lou Ivon What are you driving at?
We're going back into the case. The murder of the President.
Lord, wake me. I must be dreaming.
You're awake. I'm deadly serious.
Lou Ivon The Zapruder film establishes three shots in 5.6 seconds. I'm Oswald. Time me.
Go.
Between six and seven seconds.
Lou Ivon Without really aiming. The second and third shots came almost right on top of each other. It takes a minimum of 2.3 seconds to recycle this thing. The other problem is, there was a tree blocking the first two shots when fired in the Zapruder film.
Didn't Hoover say something about leaves falling in November?
Lou Ivon It was Texas live oak, Chief. It sheds its leaves in early March. Take this Carcano, world's worst shoulder weapon and try to hit a moving target at 88 yards through heavy foliage. No way. FBI tried two sets of tests. Not one sharpshooter could match Oswald's performance. Not one. Oswald was at best a medium shot. The scope was defective on it too. This is the whole essence of the case to me. The guy couldn't do the shooting. Nobody could. And they sold this lemon to the American public.
The Zapruder film was the proof they didn't count on. We got to get our hands on it.
It means we'll have to subpoena Time-Life.
Let me ask you something. Why not just shoot Kennedy on Houston? Plenty of time. He's out in the open.
Lou Ivon I keep asking myself the same thing.
Frontal shot. Even if you miss him once, if he accelerates, you get a second shot.
Lou Ivon The only reason to get him on Elm is you got him in a triangulated crossfire. You put a team there down at the fence. Frontal shot. Flat, low trajectory. Put a third team down in this building on a low floor. When Kennedy gets in the kill zone, it's a turkey shoot.
How many men?
Lou Ivon One shooter. One spotter on a radio. Maybe three teams. These are professional riflemen. Serious people. Hunters. Patient. It takes skill to kill with a rifle. That's why no chief executive's been executed with one in 200 years.
Lou Ivon I guarantee the boss will protect you. He likes you. He likes your mind.
I just don't know who to trust anymore. I suppose I could use a pot of hot coffee and a few packs of Luckys. So, you got anything new in the investigation?
Who are you scared of?
Everybody. The Agency, mob, Cubans. Follow the Cubans. Check them out. Here. In Miami. Dallas. Check out Eladio del Valle. He used to be my paymaster when I flew missions into Cuba. Somewhere in Miami, you're on the right track. Don't write this down! I ain't cooperating with no one! What's going on here! There's a death warrant for me! Don't you get it? Damn! Wait a minute! You ain't bugged, are you? Son of a bitch, Lou! Are you?
Lou Ivon Dave, I play it square. No bugs. I'd love you to go on the record, but I'm in no hurry.
I haven't slept since that shit article come out. Why'd you guys have to go and get me involved in this?
Lou Ivon Did we involve you? Or did Clay Shaw?
Cocksucking ****. He got me by the balls.
Lou Ivon What do you mean?
You know, photographs, compromising stuff. He'll use 'em, too. Agency plays for keeps. I knew Oswald, he was in my Civil Air Patrol unit. I taught him everything. He was a wannabe. Nobody really liked him 'cause they thought he was a snitch. But I treated him good. He talked about his kid he really wanted her to grow up with a chance but
...
My neck is killing me. I've had cancer for years. Been working with mice trying to find a cure.
Lou Ivon Did you ever work for the CIA?
You make it sound like it's some remote **** experience in ancient history. Man, you don't leave the Agency. Once you're in, they got you for life.
And Shaw?
Shaw's an untouchable. Highest clearance. Shaw, Oswald, the Cubans, all Agency.
What about Ruby?
Jack was a pimp. A bagman for the Dallas mob. Ran guns to Castro when he was on our side. Castro was almost with us till we tried to whack him. Everybody keeps flipping sides. It's fun and games.
Lou Ivon How does the mob figure in this?
They're Agency too. The CIA and the Mafia worked together for years trying to whack out the beard. There's more to this than you could dream! Check out something called "Operation Mongoose." Government, Pentagon stuff. They're in charge. But who the **** pulls whose chain? Who knows? "Oh, what a deadly web we weave when we practice to deceive."
Who killed the President?
Why don't you **** stop it? Shit! This is too big for you, you know that? Who did the President? ****! It's a mystery. It's a mystery wrapped in a riddle inside an enigma! The shooters don't even know! Don't you get it? ****, man! I can't keep talking like this! They'll **** kill me! I'll **** die! Son of a bitch!
It's all right.
I don't know what happened. ****! All I wanted in the world was to be a Catholic priest. Live in a monastery. Pray. Serve God. I had one terrible **** weakness. And they defrocked me! Then I started to lose everything.
You'll be okay, Dave. You just talk to us on the record. We'll protect you, I guarantee it.
They'll get to you too. They'll destroy you. They're untouchable. I'm so **** exhausted, I can't see straight.
I don't buy it, Chief. Why would the FBI cover it up? A telex that disappears from every single FBI office in this country?
There's a word, Bill. Orders.
Or a cover up. Jesus, Bill. Don't you have enough proof of the FBI's complicity yet?
I respect this country's institutions, like you do, Susie! How the hell can you keep a conspiracy going between the mob, the CIA, the FBI, the Army Intelligence, and who the hell knows what else when you can't keep a secret in this room between 12 people? I mean, we got leaks everywhere. We are going to trial, y'all! What the hell do we really got? Oswald, Ruby, Bannister and Ferrie are dead. Shaw? Maybe he's an agent, I don't know. But, as a covert operator in my book, he is wide open for blackmail because of his homosexuality.
Shaw's our toehold, Bill. I don't know exactly what he is or where he fits, and I don't really care. But I do know he's lying through his teeth and I'm not gonna let go of him.
And that's why, for those reasons, you're going to trial against Clay Shaw, chief? Well, you're gonna lose! Let's investigate our Mafia leads here in New Orleans. Now, I can buy that a hell of a lot easier than I can the government. Ruby's all mob, knows Oswald, sets him up. Hoffa, Trafficante, Marcello, they hire some guns and they do Kennedy. And, uh, the government doesn't want to open up a whole can of worms because it used the mob to try to get to Castro. Castro assassinated by the mob, by us, sounds pretty wild to John Q. Citizen. So they close the book on JFK. Makes perfect sense to me.
I don't doubt their involvement, Bill, but at a low level. Could the mob change the parade route? Or eliminate the protection for the President? Could the mob send Oswald to Russia and get him back? Could the mob get the FBI, the CIA, and the Dallas Police to make a mess of the investigation? I mean, could the mob get the Warren Commission appointed to cover it up? Could the mob wreck the autopsy? Could the mob influence the national media to go to sleep? And since when has the mob used anything but .38s for hits up close? The mob wouldn't have the guts or the power for something of this magnitude. Assassins need payrolls, schedules, times, orders. This was a military style ambush from star to finish. A coup d'etat with Lyndon Johnson waiting in the wings.
OK. So now you're saying Lyndon Johnson was involved? The President of the United States?
I know this, Bill. Lyndon Johnson got $1 billion dollars for his Texas friends, Brown and Root, to dredge Cam Ranh Bay for the military in Vietnam.
Boss...
That's just for openers...
If I'm so far from the truth, why is the FBI bugging our offices? Huh? Why are our witnesses being bought off and murdered? And why are the federal agencies blocking our extraditions and subpoenas like we were never before?
I don't know. I don't know. Maybe there's some rogue element in the government or something, but you're not...
With a full-blown conspiracy to cover it up? You ever read Shakespeare, Bill?
Yeah, I do.
Julius Caesar? "Brutus and Cassius, they, too, are honorable men." Who killed Caesar? Ten or twelve senators. All it takes is one Judas, Bill. A few people on the inside. Pentagon, CIA, you name it.
This is Louisiana, chief. How the hell do you know who your daddy is? 'Cause your mama told ya so. You are taking a crap in the wind, boss. And I, for one, am not going along on this one.
Lou Ivon Boss, I've had my doubts all along about Bill. He's been fighting us all along.
Well, we need him back.
Boss, Broussard wasted a whole damn month trying to prove that mob boys like Jack Ruby and Brady are kind of hooked up with Hunt Oil.
Lou Ivon I don't trust this guy.
I will not hear this, gentlemen. Now, I value Bill as much as any person here. It's time we all made room for someone else's ideas, including me. Maybe Oswald is what everybody says he is and I'm just plain dumb about it.
I've seen him copying files, leaving here late at night.
Lou Ivon I just don't trust him.
Didn't you two hear what I said?! I said I will not tolerate infighting among the staff!
Lou Ivon Then I'm afraid I cannot work with Bill Broussard anymore.
Is this an ultimatum you're giving me, Lou?
Lou Ivon What?!
Are you giving me an ultimatum?
Lou Ivon Well, if that's what you want to call it. I never thought it would come to this. [sighs] I guess I am.
Well, then I won't have any more ultimatums put to me, Lou. I'll accept your resignation.
Lou Ivon Well, you sure got it. You are one stubborn son of a bitch. And you... are making a very big mistake.
Boss, aren't you being a little hard?
No, I don't think I am, Susie. Anyone else?
