- John Wintergreen: You see, you've been back only six weeks, and I'm gonna do for you what it took somebody six months to do for me.
- Truck Driver: Yes, sir. What's that?
- John Wintergreen: Nothin'.
- John Wintergreen: I think I'll go over and check out the Black Canyon.
- Motor Officer Zipper Davis, John's Partner: Aww, there ain't no action over there!
- John Wintergreen: Zipper, that's the story of your life... there ain't no action, at no time, at no place... I'll see you later. Somebody's gotta be doing something bad somewhere!
- John Wintergreen: Loneliness. Do you know that loneliness'll kill you deader than a .357 Magnum? Did you know that?
- John Wintergreen: I need you to give me some information.
- Pig Man: I'll give you some information. You're standing in pigshit.
- Harve Poole: I'm moved to work you over. I'm moved to bust your kidneys! And I won't leave a trace. Not a mark on you! You hear what I'm saying to you? I'll work you over till you wished you died last year, you hear me?
- Harve Poole: Nine cops gunned down in two years? You call that casual statistics? A goddamned open season. The conspiracy's reaching out national proportions. This country is undergoing a precisely formulated conspiracy of police genocide. A carefully organized plan of civilian brutality, and it's just around the corner. And the sooner we get to dealing with it, the sooner I get to save your precious ass from some nigger waiting in the bushes ready to nail ya.
- [to a lineup of motor cops]
- Sgt. Ryker: Attention! Dress right. Dress! Parade rest! Good morning, pigs. Good morning, you fascists! Honkies! You killers! You bigots! You fags! You pinkos. You creeps! You bastards! Fuzz. This indoctrination of vocal harassment was compiled by our own Juvenile Division in preparation for the concert this weekend. Now men, I'm going to talk to you this morning about self-control and law enforcement.
- John Wintergreen: You listen to me, hatchet artist! You're tampering with evidence and if you put your finger on one more thing in this room, I'm going to bust your ass! That's right... the officer in charge is talking to you and he's saying that you're going to be arrested as an accessory, after the fact, in a murder case!
- Coroner: Now you listen to me. I have had had a lot of patience with you. You want to be a policeman. You want to stay on the force. Well you just get the hell out of here and get on that motorcycle and start tagging automobiles... 'cause if I hear one more peep out of that goddamn yap of yours, I'm going to see that you get sent to Sibieria!
- John Wintergreen: Did you know that me and Alan Ladd were exactly the same height? Right down to the quarter inch? Did you know that? It's just something you know, you know? Like sometimes you read a lot and you just remember a little bit? Then there's sometimes you read a little bit and you remember a whole lot. I remember one time, I heard somebody say, "Do you know what was Alan Ladd and William Bendix's first movie?" And just like that, I said 'The Blue Dahlia'. And I never even saw the movie. But I bet five dollars and I won it. Did you know that he was so short that they used to have to dig a ditch for the girls to stand in to kiss him? You didn't know that, huh?
- John Wintergreen: I hate that motorcycle they make me ride. I'm here to tell you there ain't nothing in the world I hate worse than that elephant under my ass.
- John Wintergreen: Listen, I wanna give you a little advice. Don't look for favors, 'cause that's the wrong foot to get started on. You're talkin' to a fella who knows.
- Jolene, Harve's Girlfriend: Big John?
- John Wintergreen: Yeah.
- Jolene, Harve's Girlfriend: Did you ever see 'Valley of the Dolls'?
- John Wintergreen: My dove, I got my valley of the dolls right here.
- [puts his head between Jolene's breasts]
- Jolene, Harve's Girlfriend: Drinks for the gangbusters! Zap, zap! You're dead! And I'm offering you my hospitality and it ain't nice to say no.
- Harve Poole: We found three sets of your prints in that shack, which makes me think that you're not too bright. But I suppose you're gonna tell me you dropped in for a cup of tea, is that right?
- Bob Zemko: No, sir.
- Harve Poole: You bet it isn't! Because we found a half a bushel of dope in that shack. We - we also know you were busted for dope in Vietnam and you got a track record here - as long as the Gettysburg Address.
- Zipper: You do what you gotta do, Big John. I mean, you do what's right, man. P.P.P. Proper Police Procedure.
- VW Bus Driver: Oh, man! We're getting cracked, man. We're getting cracked. I'm freaking out, man.
- Killer: Just take it easy, Hawk. Just take it easy.
- John Wintergreen: Yeah, well, the truth of the matter is, John Wintergreen, you don't know your ass from a row of rat hit in a wind storm.
- John Wintergreen: Hi there.
- John Wintergreen: I'm talking to myself.
- John Wintergreen: But I ain't listening.
- John Wintergreen: You're supposed to listen to your inner voices
- John Wintergreen: They tell you what to do.
- John Wintergreen: Ain't that funny how people do all kind of things, and most of it's just a lot of bullshit?
- John Wintergreen: You know what?
- John Wintergreen: Ninety percent of the things I've done in my life ain't as important as you sweeping that floor... or sitting there eating your sandwich.
- John Wintergreen: You know why?
- John Wintergreen: 'Cause you listen to yourself.
- John Wintergreen: Me, I listen to everybody in the whole damn world except me.
- John Wintergreen: I'd like to start all over again.
- John Wintergreen: Ain't that the damndest thing?
- John Wintergreen: My old man used to listen to himself.
- John Wintergreen: And when he died, they told me it was a thrombosis.
- John Wintergreen: But I know it was suicide.
- John Wintergreen: Loneliness.
- John Wintergreen: Do you know that lonliness'll kill you deader than a .357 Magnum?
- John Wintergreen: Did you know that?
- John Wintergreen: Old Frank is dead.
- John Wintergreen: Boy, blowed in half.
- John Wintergreen: I saw him.
- John Wintergreen: And I know who killed him.
- John Wintergreen: Now, ain't that the damndest thing?
- John Wintergreen: I just listen to myself, and I know who killed him.
- John Wintergreen: Ain't that the damnedest thing?
- Jolene, Harve's Girlfriend: Well, well, well! My two knights in shining armor. Mr. Tall and Mr. Small. I'm sorry, but the place is closed. Hey, that don't matter, because you're both very special. Come on in, gentlemen.
- Jolene, Harve's Girlfriend: [to John Wintergreen] Don't you wanna hear music? You like music, don't you, Johnny? I know you like music. Let's see, now. You got your hat, and you got your badge, and you got your boots. You got it all, don't you, Johnny? You got everything. You got it all, don't ya? You're happy, aren't you, Johnny? Well, I know just the tune that'll fit ya!
- [she deposits a coin in the jukebox and starts dancing in a flirtatious manner]
- [first lines]
- Jolene, Harve's Girlfriend: Mmm. Johnny. You really sweeten me this morning. You sweeten me so *good*. And I love you for it. You know that?
- John Wintergreen: Hello, easy street.
- Jolene, Harve's Girlfriend: Oh, Johnny, don't you ever get tired?
- John Wintergreen: I do, but the important part don't.
- Truck Driver: Since I got back, it seems like the only natural talent I got is for screwing up. It's been two months since I got back from 'Nam and I've blown two jobs. What the hell? It's no excuse. It's just a question of adjustment, you know?
- L.A. Detective: You're a joke, fella. I don't know what cracker barrel you crawled out of, but I wish you'd crawl back in it.
- Harve Poole: When the night talks to you, you gotta listen, Wintergreen. Look at that moon. Listen to that desert. That desert's gonna help me solve a murder.
- Harve Poole: This here's a winner's circle, Wintergreen. Only losers I deal in are in the jail or in the morgue.
- Harve Poole: Let me tell you something, a little something about police work and women. If you mix the two, you can't do justice to either one.
- Jolene, Harve's Girlfriend: Hollywood. Just saying that word means magic time to me. I can remember when I was a little girl. I used to sit in a movie all by myself. I used to watch those movie stars, and they just looked like they was having the best time. I couldn't imagine it, being a movie star. I just wanted to jump up out of my seat, step into that picture, just touch 'em and be with them like they were surrounded by a big rainbow. Like nothing could get to 'em. I just wanted my life to be one long, beautiful movie. But I never got to Hollywood. No, I never did. I never did.
- John Wintergreen: Well, the truth of the matter is, John Wintergreen, you don't know your ass from a row of rat shit in a wind storm.
- Harve Poole: Where would a freak like you get thirty-seven hundred dollars, Zemko? Busting gumball machines? Cashing the pennies in?
- Zipper: So everything goes. The Electra Glide goes, my police motor goes, my badge goes, my gun goes, my uniform, my pension goes. Everything goes.
- Harve Poole: [to John Wintergreen] I like to find myself out here this time of night. There's a fine young lady I'd like to introduce you to. Fine young lady. She's brought a lot of happiness in my life.