The French Connection Quotes

[analyzing drug shipment]

Chemist: Blast off: one-eight-o. Two hundred: Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval. Two ten: U.S. Government certified. Two twenty: lunar trajectory, junk of the month club, sirloin steak. Two thirty: Grade A poison. Absolute dynamite. Eighty-nine percent pure junk. Best I've ever seen. If the rest is like this, you'll be dealing on this load for two years.

Joel Weinstock: So you tell me it's worth the half million?

Jimmy 'Popeye' Doyle: [Final lines] That son of a bitch is here. I saw him. I'm gonna get him.

[Popeye presses his search of the abandoned crematorium]

Jimmy 'Popeye' Doyle: This is Doyle. I'm sittin' on Frog One.

Bill Mulderig: Yeah, I know that. We got the Westbury covered like a tent.

Jimmy 'Popeye' Doyle: The Westbury my ass! I got him on the shuttle at Grand Central, now what the hell's going on up there?

Jimmy 'Popeye' Doyle: All right! You put a shiv in my partner. You know what that means? Goddammit! All winter long I got to listen to him gripe about his bowling scores. Now I'm gonna bust your ass for those three bags and I'm gonna nail you for picking your feet in Poughkeepsie.

[a few scenes later:]

Walt Simonson: Popeye. You still picking your feet in Poughkeepsie?

Walt Simonson: Brooklyn is loaded with guys that own candy stores, two cars, and like to go to nightclubs!

Buddy "Cloudy" Russo: Yeah, but you put this little candy store hustler together with Joel Weinstock and maybe we got a big score!

Walt Simonson: Score, my ass!

Salvatore "Sal" Boca: Weinstock, I'm telling you, they'll split if we don't move! This guy's got 'em like that, he's everything they say he is!

Joel Weinstock: What about you, Sal? Are you everything they say YOU are?

Salvatore "Sal" Boca: Look, I'm telling you, I'll take the deal somewhere else.

Joel Weinstock: So let him take sixty kilos of heroin somewhere else and find out how easy it is to put together half a million in cash. You won't find there's any hurry to do this kind of business.

Salvatore "Sal" Boca: The stuff is here! We can make the switch in an hour! Look Weinstock, I'm telling you they'll split if we don't move. This guy's got them like that, he's everything they say he is!

Joel Weinstock: What about you, Sal? Are you everything they say YOU are?

Alain Charnier: Our American friends are becoming overcautious.

Pierre Nicoli, Hit Man: What about our timetable?

Alain Charnier: We MUST follow it.

Pierre Nicoli, Hit Man: But will they?

Alain Charnier: I don't know. Boca's scared. He sees policemen in his soup.

Pierre Nicoli, Hit Man: He's not wrong.

Alain Charnier: The one who followed me on the subway, he's our biggest problem.

Pierre Nicoli, Hit Man: Let me handle him.

Alain Charnier: There'll be others.

Pierre Nicoli, Hit Man: So what? By Friday we'll be gone.

Jimmy 'Popeye' Doyle: If that's not a drop I'll open up a charge for you at Bloomingdale's.

Buddy "Cloudy" Russo: Make it Alexander's Toy Department.

Jimmy 'Popeye' Doyle: You dumb guinea.

Buddy "Cloudy" Russo: How the hell did I know he had a knife.

Jimmy 'Popeye' Doyle: Never trust a nigger.

Buddy "Cloudy" Russo: He could have been white.

Jimmy 'Popeye' Doyle: Never trust anyone!

[first lines]

Jimmy 'Popeye' Doyle: Merry Christmas. What's your name, little boy?

Little Boy: Eric.

Jimmy 'Popeye' Doyle: Uh-huh, Eric. What do you want for Christmas Eric? Hmmm?

Walt Simonson: Buddy, here's the warrant. The court order's in there for the wiretap, the judge gave you sixty days on it. Tell Doyle that Mulderig and Klein will sit in for the Feds. They'll make all the buys. Be sure you keep them informed of everything that goes down.

Walt Simonson: [to Mulderig] You know Doyle, don't you, Bill?

Bill Mulderig: Yeah, I know Popeye. His brilliant hunches cost the life of a good cop.

Buddy "Cloudy" Russo: Hey look, if this is the way you're coming in on this, why don't you stay home and save us all a lot of grief?

Bill Mulderig: Because that's my opinion!

Buddy "Cloudy" Russo: Shove it up your ass.

Walt Simonson: Hey Bill, look, do me a favor, give him a chance. He came in here with a little piece of information. I know you worked with him before and had a little trouble, but don't get off on the wrong foot, if you have problems, come to me with them, I'll handle it.

Bill Mulderig: I don't want to get off on the wrong foot, Simonson, just keep him off my back.

Walt Simonson: Just cool it with him. If you have any problems, come to me, I'll handle it. Do me this favor.

Bill Mulderig: I'll be happy to work with him.

Walt Simonson: Okay, he's a good cop, he's basically a good cop, he's got good hunches every once in awhile.

Bill Mulderig: Fine, fine, fine, just keep him off my back.

Jimmy 'Popeye' Doyle: Look, I say we keep sitting on Boca!

Walt Simonson: Jimmy, give it up. Give it up, it's all over with. If there was a deal, it's gone down by now. We blew it, we blew our warrants, and we blew our cover.

Jimmy 'Popeye' Doyle: Listen, I know the deal hasn't gone down yet. I KNOW it! I can feel it, I'm dead certain.

Bill Mulderig: Last time you were dead certain we had a dead cop.

[Doyle flies into a rage and attacks Mulderig]

Walt Simonson: [as Cloudy Russo and a uniformed officer help him break up the fight] Hey! Break it up! You two break it up! Hold onto yourself, what's the matter with you?

Jimmy 'Popeye' Doyle: [restrained by Cloudy] Son of a...!

Walt Simonson: [seething] Jimmy! You've wasted two months on this! No collars are coming in while you two guys are running around town jerking off! Now go back to work! You're off Special Assignment!

Jimmy 'Popeye' Doyle: I got a man in Poughkeepsie who wants to talk to you. Have you ever been in Poughkeepsie? Huh? Have you ever been in Poughkeepsie?

Brooklyn Drug Dealer: Hey, man, come on, give me a break, man. I don't know what you're talkin' about!

Jimmy 'Popeye' Doyle: Hey, come on, come on. Say it. Let me hear you say it. Come on. Have you ever been to Poughkeepsie? You've been in Poughkeepsie, haven't you? I want to hear it! Come on!

Brooklyn Drug Dealer: Yes. Yes. Yes. I've been there.

Jimmy 'Popeye' Doyle: That's the third time he's come here this week. Got anything on this building?

Buddy "Cloudy" Russo: The building's clean. I checked the tenant list. Remember Don Ameche, the actor? He lives here.

Female Reporter #1: Mr. Devereaux, is this your first trip to New York?

Devereaux: Eh, yes. It's my first trip.

Female Reporter #1: Why did you decide to come by ship?

Devereaux: The next several weeks will be very difficult for me. And, eh, the middle of the ocean is the only place where the telephone isn't ringing all the time.

Buddy "Cloudy" Russo: [Cloudy walks in Popeye's apartment and finds Popeye with his ankle handcuffed to the bed] What happened?

Jimmy 'Popeye' Doyle: [Yawns] That crazy kid. She locked me up with my own cuffs.

[sighs]

Buddy "Cloudy" Russo: Where's the keys?

Jimmy 'Popeye' Doyle: Get the warrants?

Buddy "Cloudy" Russo: Yeah. We also got two Feds. Mulderig and Klein.

Jimmy 'Popeye' Doyle: Oh, what do we need those pricks for?

Angie Boca: [Wiretapped phone conversation] Where are you?

Salvatore "Sal" Boca: Taking care of business.

Angie Boca: What do you mean taking care of business? It's after midnight.

Salvatore "Sal" Boca: You know, I had to meet some people.

Angie Boca: Get back here now. And bring a pizza with you.

Salvatore "Sal" Boca: Where am I gonna get a pizza this time of night?

Angie Boca: Well, try, okay!

Salvatore "Sal" Boca: Hey, I don't know where I'm going to find a pizza joint open.

Angie Boca: Sal, don't forget: anchovies.

Salvatore "Sal" Boca: I guess we got a deal, huh?

Joel Weinstock: What we got here, Sal, is a test. A deal for half a million dollars? Eh, maybe.

Salvatore "Sal" Boca: Maybe? Come on, Joel. The guy... he wants the bread. He wants to go back to France. This guy's not going to hang around and play games. Look, he's one of the shrewdest cats I ever come across.

Joel Weinstock: What am I? A schmuck? What's the hurry? He can see a couple of shows, visit the top of the Empire State Building.

Salvatore "Sal" Boca: Don't jerk me, Weinstock.

Joel Weinstock: One thing I've learned: move calmly, move cautiously, you'll never be sorry.

Salvatore "Sal" Boca: Look, I've been damn careful up to now!

Joel Weinstock: This is why your phone lines are tapped and the Feds are all over you like fleas.

Salvatore "Sal" Boca: [At Eastern Air Lines ticket counter] Hi. I'll have a roundtrip ticket to Washington.

Woman at Airport: Washington. Cash or charge?

Salvatore "Sal" Boca: Cash.

Woman at Airport: Cash is 54 dollars. Please print your name on both tickets before you board the plane. Bye-bye. Have a nice flight.

Buddy "Cloudy" Russo: What was the weight of the car when you got it, Irv?

Police Mechanic: 4795 pounds.

Buddy "Cloudy" Russo: You sure?

Police Mechanic: That's what it was: 4795 pounds when it came into the shop.

Buddy "Cloudy" Russo: Owners manual says 4675. That's 120 pounds overweight. And when it was booked into Marseilles it was 4-7-9-5. That's still 120 pounds overweight! Jimmy's gotta be right.

Police Mechanic: [Defensively] Listen, I ripped everything outta there except the rocker panels.

Jimmy 'Popeye' Doyle: C'mon Irv, what the hell is that!

Jimmy 'Popeye' Doyle: What about the last of the big-time spenders; you make him?

Buddy "Cloudy" Russo: No.

Jimmy 'Popeye' Doyle: He's spreadin' it around like the Russians are in Jersey.

Jimmy 'Popeye' Doyle: She's only 19, according to the marriage certificate.

Buddy "Cloudy" Russo: More 19 going on 50.

Walt Simonson: Do you believe all this crap?

Buddy "Cloudy" Russo: [after a pause] I go with my partner.

Buddy "Cloudy" Russo: [handing him a cup of cheap coffee during a stakeout] You want the red or the white?

Jimmy 'Popeye' Doyle: Pour it in your ear.