- [last lines]
- [after Reardon has wrapped up the investigation, Kenyon congratulates him]
- R.S. Kenyon: Owing to your splendid efforts the basic rate of The Atlantic Casualty Company - as of 1947 - will probably drop one-tenth of a cent.
- [he shakes Reardon's hand]
- R.S. Kenyon: Congratulations, Mr. Reardon.
- Jim Reardon: I'd rather have a night's sleep.
- R.S. Kenyon: Why don't you take a good rest. I must say you've earned it.
- [Reardon starts to leave]
- R.S. Kenyon: This is Friday... don't come in 'til Monday.
- Jim Reardon: Thanks.
- Jail ward doctor: [speaking about the fatally wounded Blinky] Beats me. I don't know what keeps him going.
- Jim Reardon: Will he be able to talk anymore?
- Jail ward doctor: He's dead now - except he's breathing!
- 'Swede' Andersen: Why did you ever go back to him, Kitty?
- Kitty Collins: Maybe because I hate him. I'm poison, Swede, to myself and everybody around me! I'd be afraid to go with anyone I love for the harm I do to them! I don't care harming him!
- Al: You got anything to drink?
- George: I can give you soda, beer, ginger ale...
- Al: I said, 'You got anything to drink?'
- George: [intimidated] No.
- Al: This is a hot town. Whatta ya call it?
- George: Brentwood.
- Al: Did you ever hear of Brentwood?
- Max: [Max shakes his head, no]
- Al: Whatta ya do here nights?
- Max: [sarcastically] They eat the dinner. They all come here and eat the big dinner.
- George: [showing fear] That's right.
- Al: [condescendingly] You're a pretty bright boy, aren't you?
- George: [intimidated] Sure.
- Max: [contemptiously] Well you're NOT!
- Max: [to Al] Is he Al?
- Al: He's dumb!
- George: What'll it be, gentlemen?
- Max: I don't know. Whatta you want to eat, Al?
- Al: I don't know what I want to eat.
- Max: I'll have the roast pork tenderloin with apple sauce and mashed potatoes.
- George: That's not ready yet.
- Max: Then what's it on the card for?
- George: Well, that's on the dinner. You can have that at six o'clock. That clock is ten minutes fast. The dinner isn't ready yet.
- Max: Never mind the clock. What have you got to eat?
- George: Well, I can give you any kind of sandwiches: bacon and eggs, liver and bacon, ham and eggs, steak...
- Al: I'll have the chicken croquettes with the cream sauce and the green peas and the mashed potatoes.
- George: That's on the dinner too.
- Al: [with nasty edge to his voice] Everything we want's on the dinner. That's the way want's on the dinner - that's the way you work it, huh?
- George: I can give you ham and eggs, bacon and eggs...
- Al: I'll take ham and eggs.
- Max: Give me bacon and eggs.
- George: [through the service window into the kitchen] One ham and, bacon and.
- Sam: [loudly] Comin' up!
- Jim Reardon: How well did you know the Swede?
- Charleston: Me? Mister, I guess me and the Swede were about as close as two guys can get. For nearly two years we weren't more than eight and a half feet apart. That's how big the cell was.
- Jim Reardon: When was the last time you saw him?
- Charleston: Mister, did you say 'when?'
- Jim Reardon: Yes.
- Charleston: Mister, when it comes to dates, 1492 is the only one I can remember.
- Kitty Collins: I'm nervous.
- Jim Reardon: Where do you want to go?
- Kitty Collins: It doesn't matter. Take me back to your hotel with you. I'll powder my nose.
- Jim Reardon: I'll wait for you.
- Kitty Collins: Don't go away.
- Jim Reardon: [referring to the man dieing] How much time has he got?
- Lieutenant Sam Lubinsky: He's behind schedule now.
- Big Jim Colfax: [to Dum Dum] You can leave anytime you want, friend.
- 'Blinky' Franklin: [acting as peacemaker] Come on! Easy does it, fellas! Easy does it!
- 'Dum-Dum' Clarke: I don't like to be asked to come up here and then told I can go. Who do you think you're pushin' around?
- Big Jim Colfax: A minute ago we were talkin' about reputations. Well, you've got quite a reputation yourself - you're supposed to be a troublemaker.
- Big Jim Colfax: [deliberately taking the cigarette out of his mouth] Okay. Make some.
- Max: I'll tell ya what's gonna happen. We're gonna kill the Swede. You know big Swede that works over at the filling station?
- George: You mean Pete Lunn?
- Max: If that's what he calls himself. Comes in every night at six o'clock, don't he?
- George: Yes, if he comes.
- Al: We know all about that.
- George: What are you gonna kill him for? What did Pete Lunn ever do to you?
- Max: He never had a chance to do anything to us. He never even seen us.
- Al: He's only gonna see us once.
- George: What you gonna kill him for?
- Max: We're killin' him for a friend...
- 'Swede' Andersen: What am I going to do if I quit fightin'?
- Lt. Sam Lubinsky: Well, there's always the department.
- 'Swede' Andersen: No, I wouldn't want to be a copper.
- Lt. Sam Lubinsky: It's not a bad life, Ole. Twenty years and you've got a pension. And it's $2,200 a year to start.
- 'Swede' Andersen: $2,200 a year. You know something? Some months I made that much in one month. Some months.
- Lieutenant Sam Lubinsky: Ole and I ran around together when we were kids. I joined the department. He started fightin'. We always kept in touch.
- Jim Reardon: And you put the pinch on him?
- Lieutenant Sam Lubinsky: When you're a copper, you're a copper.
- Lieutenant Sam Lubinsky: Mr. Reardon is investigating his death.
- Lilly Harmon Lubinsky: He was a good boy. No one had any call to kill him.
- Lieutenant Sam Lubinsky: Lilly knew Ole too. The three of us were together a good part of the time. She was always in love with him.
- Lilly Harmon Lubinsky: Sam!
- Lieutenant Sam Lubinsky: And I was always in love with her.
- Kitty Collins: What's the matter with you?
- Big Jim Colfax: What do you mean, what's the matter?
- Kitty Collins: You're nervous. You're all in a sweat.
- Big Jim Colfax: You keep your mouth shut - if you don't want it slapped shut. You been askin' for it lately!
- 'Swede' Andersen: Hey!
- Big Jim Colfax: Any objections?
- 'Swede' Andersen: Yeah!
- 'Dum-Dum' Clarke: Keep out of this, Swede. She's his girl.
- Kitty Collins: Mind your own business, Swede. I can take care of myself. You touch me and you won't live till morning!
- Big Jim Colfax: If ya do run on to her, let me know, will ya? After you're through with her, I'd like to have a word or two with Kitty myself. We got some unfinished business.
- Kitty Collins: Kitty is innocent! I swear! Kitty is innocent! Kitty is innocent! I swear, Kitty is innocent! Kitty is innocent!
- Jim Reardon: We might still be able to do business - if you put a prize in with the Cracker Jack.
- Kitty Collins: What do you mean?
- Jim Reardon: I want a fall guy for the law.
- Kitty Collins: Who would that be?
- Jim Reardon: Colfax.
- Kitty Collins: Even the old Kitty Collins never sang, Mr. Reardon.
- Jim Reardon: Two professional killers show up in a small town and put the blast on a filling station attendant, a nobody. There was no attempt at robbery. They were out for only one thing: to kill him. Why?
- R.S. Kenyon: I don't know, and what's more, I don't care.
- Jim Reardon: [on a pay phone] I want to call Newark, honey. Market 3-2-600. Uh, Brentwood 2-7-7. This is Reardon.
- Kitty Collins: Glass of milk, hot. I haven't eaten all day.
- Jim Reardon: Steak sandwich, rare, and a glass of beer.
- Lt. Sam Lubinsky: You're done fightin', Ole. And if you want my opinion, it's a lucky thing. You aren't punchy yet. Suppose it was your brains were scrambled instead of your hand?
- Kitty Collins: [singing] The more I know of love, The less I know it... The more I give to love... The more I owe it...
- Charleston: Charleston don't talk, see. Even if he's worked over head to foot by experts.
- [takes a drink]
- Charleston: Charleston never talks.
- Jim Reardon: Good enough. You know what happened to the Swede?
- Charleston: I know plenty, mister. Plenty. Only I ain't tellin'.
- [takes a drink]
- Charleston: Old Charleston's the little monkey with his hands over his mouth.
- 'Dum-Dum' Clarke: You twitch a lot, friend. Nervous, huh? Carrying the monkey on your back, ain't you?
- 'Blinky' Franklin: I was. I'm not anymore.
- Charleston: If it's as big as you claim, it's not going to be any easy pickins. Nothing that big ever is. And that's what I want from here on in. Easy pickins.
- 'Dum-Dum' Clarke: It'd go just as hard with you if you were taken for stickin' up a shine parlor.
- Charleston: Yes, that's right, but the chances of being taken aren't as many. I don't know. Maybe - Maybe I'm just gettin' old. It's like you were saying before the Swede come in. I've done a lot of time. I've spent almost half my life in stir, and I don't intend to spend any more.