Jake Gittes quotes from The Two Jakes (1990)

Jake Gittes

Time changes things like the fruit stand that turns into a filling station. But the footprints and signs from the past are everywhere. They've been fighting over this land since the first Spanish missionaries showed the Indians the benefits of religion, horses, and a few years of forced labor. The Indians had it right all along. They respected ghosts. You can't forget the past any more than you can change it. Hearing Katherine Mulwray's name started me thinking about old secrets, family, property, and a guy doin' his partner dirt. Memories are like that - as unpredictable as nitro, and you never know what's gonna set one off. Like the clues that keep you on the right track are never where you look for them. They fall out of the pocket of somebody else's suit you pick up at the cleaners. They're in the tune you can't stop humming, that you never heard in your life. They're at the other end of the wrong number you dial in the middle of the night. The signs are in those old familiar places you only think you've never been before. But you get used to seeing them out of the corner of your eye, and you end up tripping over the ones that are right in front of you...

Jake Gittes

I'm trying to be a gentleman here. Now, get on your knees, put your ass in the air, and don't move until I say to.

Jake Gittes

You can't trust a guy who's never lost anything.

Jake Gittes

You can follow the action, which gets you good pictures. You can follow your instincts, which'll probably get you in trouble. Or, you can follow the money, which nine times out of ten will get you closer to the truth.

Lawrence Walsh

Does that mean he wants you to prove your own client is guilty of murder?

Jake Gittes

Yeah.

Lawrence Walsh

Well, is that ethical?

Jake Gittes

Larry, he's a lawyer.

You are very successful.

Jake Gittes

Oh, I can't complain.

Does that mean you are happy?

Jake Gittes

Who can answer that question off the top of their head?

Anyone who's happy.

Jake Gittes

I wouldn't extort a nickel from my worst enemy. That's where I draw the line.

Det. Lt. Loach

Well, I'll tell you, Jake. I knew a whore once. For the right amount of money, she'd piss in a guy's face. But she wouldn't shit on his chest. You see, that's where she drew the line.

Jake Gittes

Well, Junior, all I can say is: I hope she wasn't too much of a disappointment to you.

Capt. Lou Escobar

How do you know he didn't have the gun with him?

Jake Gittes

Oh, I'd never frisk him before I let him walk in on his wife hanging on the headboard while some guy was slammin' her into the wall, Lou!

Kitty Berman

Does it ever go away?

Jake Gittes

What's that?

Kitty Berman

The past.

Jake Gittes

I think you have to work real hard on that one.

Where were we?

Jake Gittes

Well, I was accusing you of murder, Mr. Berman.

Call me Jake.

Jake Gittes

We're talkin' about oil here, right, Ty?

Tyrone Otley

Obviously. Mr. Rawley believes there's oil under the subdivision. He's endangering hundreds of lives drilling under those homes, with all the seismic activity. He's whipstocking! Someone has got to stop him!

Jake Gittes

Well, I can't do that, Ty. Nobody can. Guys like Rawley don't get arrested; they get streets named after them. In this type of situation, it's best just to leave it alone. Rawley's stealin' from Berman. It's a big thief stealin' from a little thief. Who are we to quarrel?

Det. Lt. Loach

Come on, Gittes. There you were, consorting with a known hoodlum under grand jury investigation... and known to be friendly with your client, Jake Berman.

Jake Gittes

So, what?

Det. Lt. Loach

So, either you were doing business with Mickey, or, uh...

Jake Gittes

Or what?

Plainclothes Policeman

We got a vice officer who swears you approached him and fondled his privates in the men's room.

Jake Gittes

How was it for you?