Changeling Quotes

[last lines]
Christine Collins: Three boys made a run for it that night, detective, and if one got out, then maybe either or both of the other two did too. Maybe Walter's out there having the same fears that he did. Afraid to come home and identify himself, or afraid to get in trouble. But either way, it gives me something I didn't have before today.

Detective Lester Ybarra: What's that?
Christine Collins: Hope.

Capt. J.J. Jones: The boy, Walter Collins, was reported as missing March 10th, 1928. We then instituted a nationwide search. On August 18th, we received a cable indicating that a boy matching his description was found in DeKalb, Illinois. Upon questioning, he admitted to being Walter Collins. We then made arrangements for him to be transported back to California.

S.S. Hahn: Where Mrs. Collins told you the boy was not her son.
Capt. J.J. Jones: Yes. She denied his identity in spite of all of the evidence pointing to the contrary.
S.S. Hahn: But, as subsequent events have demonstrated, she was correct. So, what prompted you to send her for psychological evaluation?
Capt. J.J.

Jones: Whether or not this was in fact the correct boy was not relevant to my decision. Throughout this period, she acted strangely. She was often cool and aloof and unemotional, especially when confronted with the boy we found in DeKalb and in our subsequent conversation. It was because of her disturbing behavior that I submitted her for observation to the psychopathic ward of Los

Angeles County General Hospital.
S.S. Hahn: [snaps his fingers] Just like that. You snap your fingers and an innocent woman is thrown into the psycho ward.
Capt. J.J. Jones: She wasn't thrown.
S.S. Hahn: Every family in this state is in grave danger when a police captain can take a woman into his office and five minutes later

have her thrown into the psychopathic ward on his own authority!
[the courtroom erupts with applause]
Capt. J.J. Jones: She wasn't thrown. She wasn't thrown! SHE WASN'T THROWN!
S.S. Hahn: What was that, Captain?
Capt. J.J. Jones: [the courtroom stops clapping] She wasn't thrown. She was escorted.
[the courtroom

fills with laughter]
S.S. Hahn: Escorted, thrown, the verb doesn't matter, Captain. What does matter is that her incarceration was ordered without a warrant. I am holding a carbon copy of the affidavit of insanity that was issued in the case of the State of California v. Christine Collins. Who signed the affidavit?
Capt. J.J. Jones: I did.

S.S. Hahn: Well now, let me see if I have this correct. A woman was thrown into the psychopathic ward without a warrant, because no warrant existed. And when it was finally written several days later, there was no need to sign it or to go to a judge because she was already in the asylum! Is this correct, Captain?
Capt. J.J. Jones: Technically, yes.

Extraordinary steps were necessary because we were dealing - we were dealing with an extraordinary situation. Now, is it our fault that we were being deceived by a boy who claimed to be Walter Collins? No. In light of his claims and her - her disturbing behavior, who wouldn't begin to think that there was something the matter with her?
S.S. Hahn: Because she questioned you?

Capt. J.J. Jones: No, because she wouldn't listen! Because she insisted on being obstinate! Because she - because she tried to take matters into her own hand best left to qualified officers! Because once civil disobedience starts...
S.S. Hahn: Because she was fighting for the life of her son! A boy who may have still been alive while you were wasting

valuable time, denying you had done anything wrong! And in the end, that's what happened, isn't it? At some point, while all this was going on, Walter Collins was brutally murdered, along with as many as nineteen other boys at the Northcott Ranch in Wineville. Is that correct, Captain?
Capt. J.J. Jones: Yes, it is.
S.S. Hahn: [pause] No further

questions.

Christine Collins: He's not my son!
Capt. J.J. Jones: Why are you doing this, Mrs. Collins? Why are you doing this? You seem perfectly capable of taking care of the boy. Your job pays you enough to attend to his personal needs, so I don't understand why you're running away from your responsibilities as a mother.
Christine Collins: I

am not running away from anything! Least of all my responsibilities! I am even taking care of that boy right now, because I am all he has! What worries me is that you have stopped looking for my son!
Capt. J.J. Jones: Why should we be looking for someone we've already found?
Christine Collins: Because you have not found him.

Carol Dexter: Everybody knows women are fragile. I mean, they're all emotions, no logic, there's nothing going on upstairs. Every once in a while, they say something that's a little inconvenient, they just go fucking nuts. Pardon my French. If we're insane, nobody has to listen to us. I mean, who are you going to believe, some crazy woman trying to destroy the integrity of the

force, or a police officer?

Christine Collins: He's not my son.
Capt. J.J. Jones: Mrs. Collins...
Christine Collins: No, I don't know why he's saying that he is, but he's not Walter and there's been a mistake.
Capt. J.J. Jones: I thought we agreed to give him time to adjust.
Christine Collins: He's three inches

shorter; I measured him on the chart.
Capt. J.J. Jones: Well, maybe your measurements are off. Look, I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation for all of this.
Christine Collins: He's circumcised and Walter isn't.
Capt. J.J. Jones: Mrs. Collins, your son was missing for five months, for at least part of that time in the

company of an unidentified drifter. Who knows what such a disturbed individual might have done. He could have had him circumcised. He could have...
Christine Collins: ...made him shorter?

Christine Collins: Why would they do this?
Rev. Gustav Briegleb: To avoid admitting they made a mistake when they brought back the wrong boy. Of course, anyone reading the newspaper with half a brain would see through it instantly. Sadly, that would exclude about half the readership of the Times. Mrs. Collins, I have made it my mission in life to bring to

light all the things the LAPD wish none of us ever knew about. A department ruled by violence, abuse, murder, corruption and intimidation. When Chief Davis took over the force two years ago, he said...
Chief James E. Davis: We will hold court against gunmen in the streets of Los Angeles. I want them brought in dead, not alive, and I will reprimand any officer who shows the

least mercy to a criminal.
Rev. Gustav Briegleb: He picked fifty of the most violent cops on the force, gave them machine guns and permission to shoot anyone who got in their way. He called them the Gun Squad. No lawyers, no trials, no questions, no suspensions, no investigations, just piles of bodies. Bodies in the morgues, bodies in the hospitals, bodies by the side of

the road, and not because the LAPD wanted to wipe out crime. No. The LAPD wanted to wipe out the competition. Mayor Cryer and half the force are on the take: gambling, prostitution, bootlegging, you name it. Because once you give people the freedom to do whatever they want, as the Lord found in the Garden of Eden, they will do exactly that. This police department does not tolerate dissent or

contradiction or even embarrassment. And you are in a position to embarrass them and they do not like it. They will do anything in their power to discredit you. I've seen it happen too many times to start going blind now. That's why I wanted to meet you, to let you know what you're getting yourself into and to help you fight it, if you choose to.
Christine Collins:

Reverend, I appreciate everything that you're doing and everything that you said, but I'm not on a mission. I just want my son home.

Judge: Does the defendant wish to make a statement before judgement is passed?
Gordon Northcott: I want to make it real clear that I never once got a fair shake from you, Your Honor, or from this court. The only one in here worth a good goddamn is her.
[points to Christine Collins]
Gordon Northcott: 'Cause she's the only one

who never badmouthed me to the press. She's the only one who understands what it is to be framed by the police for something you didn't do.
Judge: All right, that's enough.
Gordon Northcott: And then to just be thrown in the hole to just rot and to fester and to be forgotten and fade away, isn't that right?
[runs over to Christine]

Judge: Counsel!
Gordon Northcott: I never killed your boy, Mrs. Collins.
Judge: Counsel, that's enough!
Gordon Northcott: I would never do that! I would never hurt Walter!
Judge: Counsel, get control of your client or I'll have him bound and gagged!
Gordon

Northcott: He's an angel!
[to his lawyer]
Gordon Northcott: Get off of me!

Dr. John Montgomery: He had two cavities that needed filling. He put up a fight, but I took care of it.
Christine Collins: And?
Dr. John Montgomery: Your son's upper front teeth were separated by a small tissue, a diastema. It made them sit about an eighth of an inch apart. The boy in that room has no such gap.

Christine Collins: Can that change with age? Because that's what they're going to say.
Dr. John Montgomery: In some cases, yes, it's possible. But the tissue between Walter's teeth prevents that from happening. You see, they can never come together without an operation to sever the tissue, and I can tell you right now that he has never had such an

operation.
Christine Collins: Would you be willing to put that officially in writing?
Dr. John Montgomery: Pardon my language, but hell yes.