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Mr. Earl Brooks: How did you find me, Mr. Smith?
Mr. Smith: You're "Man of the Year", Mr. Brooks.
[Smith starts clapping]
Mr. Smith: Your picture's in the paper. And if it hadn't had been, I don't know. I don't know what I would've done.
Mr. Earl Brooks: Lucky me. What is it that I can help you with?
Mr. Smith: I've been watching that couple for months. Yeah, they like to make love with the blinds open. Sometimes I would take pictures; visual aids for later. It's a great way to get off, I'll tell you that. It was fun, I thought, until I saw you kill them. And I have never, ever, felt a... a... rush that like, ever. I know you're the Thumbprint Killer. You've done this before. What I want... is for you, to take me with you next time you kill someone. And I'd like that to be soon.
[Marshall laughs out loud]
Marshall: [sarcastically] And you were worried that this was going to be unpleasant? The answer is simple. Just tell Mr. Smith that you decided never to kill again, and he'll go away.
Mr. Earl Brooks: You enjoy watching me suffer, don't you?
Marshall: In a word, yes.
Mr. Earl Brooks: Where do you think he has the other pictures?
Marshall: He put them in a safety deposit box. But I'll bet the box is at the bank where he keeps his checking account. The key... is on his key chain! He really wants to do this. He's not going to the cops.
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Mr. Earl Brooks: The contents of your safety deposit box, Mr. Smith...
[Mr. Smith struggles with his gun]
Mr. Earl Brooks: Have vanished.
[Mr. Brooks hits Mr. Smith in the stomach with a shovel]
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[upon seeing that he was photographed murdering two people]
Mr. Earl Brooks: You see that, Marshall? That's why I didn't want to do the dance couple.
Marshall: Stop your fucking whining, Earl. You enjoyed doing that couple just as much as I did, and look at the bright side - he came to us. He didn't go to the cops. If he tries to shake us down, we kill him. Period. We make it fun, but we kill him! End of story.
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[last lines]
Marshall: [voice-over] Why do you fight it so hard, Earl?
Mr. Earl Brooks: [whispering to himself] God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference. Living one day at a time and enjoying one moment at a time, accepting hardships as the pathway to peace. Taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is and not as I would have it, trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His will, that I may be reasonably happy in this life, and supremely happy with Him forever in the next. Amen.
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Detective Tracy Atwood: Jesse, you know what would make me feel really safe right now? If you got hit by a truck and died!
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Mr. Earl Brooks: [after scaring Smith] Don't worry. If I were here to kill you, you would already be dead. After you left today, I realized that our friendship was a little one-sided. So tomorrow night when we meet, if you'd be so kind as to bring all the pictures and the memory card from your camera. That way we could like each other simply for who we are. If you don't show up, I will presume that you've gone to the police, and I will kill you. Even if I go to jail because of you, Mr. Smith, someone will find you, wherever you are, and they will kill you.
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Mr. Earl Brooks: [talking about Jane] Well, we were right. She was hiding something.
Marshall: Pregnant's not all of it. She's hiding something, bigger. Something much bigger.
Mr. Earl Brooks: You think so?
Marshall: I know so... and so do you.
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Marshall: For all the taxes we pay, you'd think they'd make it more difficult to hack into the police personnel file.
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Mr. Earl Brooks: Finding someone you think would be fun to kill is a bit like, well it's a bit like falling in love. You meet a lot of candidates, and you like some of them, and they're nice. But they're not right. And that special one comes along, and your heart beats faster, and you know that's the one.
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Marshall: She did it, didn't she?
Mr. Earl Brooks: Yeah. It'll take the cops a week to ten days to put their case together, and then... and then they will come back and arrest her.
Marshall: What are you going to do?
[Earl breaks down and cries, while Marshall hugs him]
Mr. Earl Brooks: Oh, God. Oh, God. I was afraid of this since before she was born. She has... she has what I have.
Marshall: Yes, she does. But you were always smart about it. She was stupid. She did it because she got off - okay, I understand. She's in it for fun - okay, I understand. But why didn't she think it through? A hatchet? And she left it there.
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Mr. Earl Brooks: Would it bother you to kill a woman?
Mr. Smith: No. No, an asshole's an asshole.
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Mr. Smith: What are we doing here, tonight?
Mr. Earl Brooks: We drive around until we see someone we think we might enjoy killing...
Mr. Smith: Can it be somebody that I know?
Mr. Earl Brooks: [laughs] No. You never kill someone you know. It's the easiest way to get caught.
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Marshall: [of Mr. Smith] Even if that guy was charming and funny, I still wouldn't like him.
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Marshall: Let the police put Jane in jail. Hopefully that will save her. And we can happily go on with our tortured lives.
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Mr. Earl Brooks: [about Mr. Smith] Maybe I should drive over there and pick him up.
Marshall: No, just honk. Maybe he'll get killed crossing the street. Save us the mess of doing it.
[Both start laughing. Then, Mr. Brooks honks the horn and Mr. Smith nearly gets hit by a car while crossing]
Mr. Earl Brooks: Almost.
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Mr. Earl Brooks: Before I was the Thumbprint Killer, Mr. Smith, I killed a lot of people in a lot of different ways.
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Mr. Earl Brooks: You always want to invest in things people can't do without. Water and cemeteries... pretty safe bets.
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Mr. Earl Brooks: I don't enjoy killing, Mr. Smith. I do it because I'm addicted to it.
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Marshall: Don't kid yourself, Earl. You're going to kill again.
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Mr. Earl Brooks: I thought the dinner was fantastic but I was not too fond of the dessert. Would you like to stop and get something sweet?
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[first title card]
Title Card: The hunger has returned to Mr. Brooks' brain.
Title Card: It never really left.
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[first lines]
Mr. Earl Brooks: [voice-over] Oh God... God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change.
Marshall: [voice-over] Why do you fight it so hard, Earl?
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Mr. Smith: [about Mr. Brooks' first kill] What was your first time like?
Mr. Earl Brooks: You really don't want to know that much about me Mr. Smith.
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Mr. Earl Brooks: Maybe I should pull over there and pick him up.
Marshall: No, just honk. Maybe he'll get killed crossing the street and save us the mess of doing it.
Mr. Earl Brooks, Marshall: [both laugh]
[Earl honks his horn, Smith crosses the street a nearly gets hit by a car]
Mr. Earl Brooks: [exclaims] Almost.
Mr. Brooks Quotes
Extended Reading
