Captain Dudley Smith You may well reap the benefit, Edmund, but are you truly prepared to be despised within the department?
Most-quoted character in L. A. Confidential (1997): in 8 of its 19 quotes
A line from Captain Dudley Smith (after Bud sees pictures of Ed with Lynn)I wouldn't trade places with Edmund Exley right now for all the whiskey in Ireland.
More lines from Captain Dudley Smith
5 quotes Captain Dudley Smith Captain Dudley Smith Wendell, I'd like full and docile co-operation on every topic...
Captain Dudley Smith Go back to Jersey, sonny. This is the city of the angels and you haven't got any wings.
Captain Dudley Smith Don't start trying to do the right thing, boyo. You haven't had the practice.
Captain Dudley Smith (to a person he has just fatally shot)
Have you a valediction, boyo?
Scenes with Captain Dudley Smith
2 scenes Capt. Dudley Smith Would you be willing to plant corroborative evidence on a suspect you knew to be guilty, in order to ensure an indictment?
Sgt. Ed Exley
Dudley, we've been over this.
Capt. Dudley Smith Yes or no, Edmund?
Sgt. Ed Exley
No.
Capt. Dudley Smith Would you be willing to beat a confession out of a suspect you knew to be guilty?
Sgt. Ed Exley
No.
Capt. Dudley Smith Would you be willing to shoot a hardened criminal in the back, in order to offset the chance that some...lawyer...
Sgt. Ed Exley
No.
Capt. Dudley Smith Then, for the love of God, don't be a detective. Stick to assignments where you don't have to make those kinds of choices.
Do you remember Buzz Meeks, Dudley?
Capt. Dudley Smith A disgrace as a police officer. Straight-D fitness reports from every CEO he ever served under. What about him?
12 years ago he was on a Vice rouse with Dick Stensland. They questioned Pierce Patchett about a blackmail scam. Patchett had Sid Hudgens photographing prominent businessmen with hookers. Anyway, charges were dropped, insufficient evidence. You were the supervising officer on that case and I was wondering if you remember anything about it.
Capt. Dudley Smith What's this all about, boyo?
Part of it has to do with a murder, I've been working with Ed Exley on it.
Capt. Dudley Smith You're in Narco, Jack, not Homicide. Since when do you work with Edmund Exley?
Well, it's a private investigation. I messed something up. I'm trying to make amends.
Capt. Dudley Smith Don't start trying to do the right thing, boyo. You haven't had the practice. [He turns to the stove and prepares a cup of tea for Jack] Buzz Meeks and Dick Stensland. So, uh, what does Exley make of all of this?
I haven't told him yet. I just came straight from the record to you. [Dudley suddenly turns to Jack with a pistol and shoots him once in the chest; a shocked Jack struggles to breathe as he looks up at Dudley]
Capt. Dudley Smith Have you a valediction, boyo?
Other characters in L. A. Confidential
More James Cromwell characters
Zefram Cochrane
The Colonel
Prince Philip
Adam Stefan Cardinal Sapieha
Farmer Arthur H. Hoggett
William Randolph Hearst
President Robert Fowler
Dr. Alfred Lanning