Chinatown Quotes

Evelyn Mulwray: She's my daughter.
[Gittes slaps Evelyn]
Jake Gittes: I said I want the truth!
Evelyn Mulwray: She's my sister...
[slap]
Evelyn Mulwray: She's my daughter...
[slap]
Evelyn Mulwray: My sister, my daughter.
[More slaps]
Jake

Gittes: I said I want the truth!
Evelyn Mulwray: She's my sister AND my daughter!

Evelyn Mulwray: Tell me, Mr. Gittes: Does this often happen to you?
Jake Gittes: What's that?
Evelyn Mulwray: Well, I'm judging only on the basis of one afternoon and an evening, but, uh, if this is how you go about your work, I'd say you'd be lucky to, uh, get through a whole day.
Jake Gittes: Actually, this

hasn't happened to me for a long time.
Evelyn Mulwray: When was the last time?
Jake Gittes: Why?
Evelyn Mulwray: It's an innocent question.
Jake Gittes: In Chinatown.
Evelyn Mulwray: What were you doing there?
Jake Gittes: Working for the District

Attorney.
Evelyn Mulwray: Doing what?
Jake Gittes: As little as possible.
Evelyn Mulwray: The District Attorney gives his men advice like that?
Jake Gittes: They do in Chinatown.

Jake Gittes: How much are you worth?
Noah Cross: I have no idea. How much do you want?
Jake Gittes: I just wanna know what you're worth. More than 10 million?
Noah Cross: Oh my, yes!
Jake Gittes: Why are you doing it? How much better can you eat? What could you buy that you can't

already afford?
Noah Cross: The future, Mr. Gittes! The future. Now, where's the girl? I want the only daughter I've got left. As you found out, Evelyn was lost to me a long time ago.
Jake Gittes: Who do you blame for that? Her?
Noah Cross: I don't blame myself. You see, Mr. Gittes, most people never have to face the fact that

at the right time and the right place, they're capable of ANYTHING.

Jake Gittes: So there's this guy Walsh, do you understand? He's tired of screwin' his wife... So his friend says to him, "Hey, why don't you do it like the Chinese do?" So he says, "How do the Chinese do it?" And the guy says, "Well, the Chinese, first they screw a little bit, then they stop, then they go and read a little Confucius, come back, screw a little bit more, then they

stop again, go and they screw a little bit... then they go back and they screw a little bit more and then they go out and they contemplate the moon or something like that. Makes it more exciting." So now, the guy goes home and he starts screwin' his own wife, see. So he screws her for a little bit and then he stops, and he goes out of the room and reads Life Magazine. Then he goes back in, he

starts screwin' again. He says, "Excuse me for a minute, honey." He goes out and he smokes a cigarette. Now his wife is gettin' sore as hell. He comes back in the room, he starts screwin' again. He gets up to start to leave again to go look at the moon. She looks at him and says, "Hey, what's the matter with ya? You're screwin' just like a Chinaman!"
[laughs hysterically]

Lt. Escobar: You must really think I'm stupid, don't you, Gittes.
Jake Gittes: I don't think about it that much, but gimme a day or two and I'll get back to yuh. Now I'd like to go home.
Lt. Escobar: I want the other pictures, Gittes.
Jake Gittes: What pictures?
Lt. Escobar: THIS broad

hired you, not Evelyn Mulwray.
Jake Gittes: Yeah?
Lt. Escobar: Yeah. Somebody wanted to shake Mulwray down; she hired you. That's how come you found out he was murdered.
Jake Gittes: I heard it was an accident.
Lt. Escobar: C'mon, Gittes. The hell d'you think you're dealing with? A bunch of assholes?

Mulwray had salt water in his lungs. You were following him day and night; you SAW who killed him. You even took pictures of it. It was Evelyn Mulwray, and she's been payin' you off like a slot machine ever since.
Jake Gittes: You accusin' me of extortion?
Lt. Escobar: Absolutely!
Jake Gittes: I don't think I need a day or

two; you're dumber than you think I think y'are.

Yelburton: After you've worked with a man a certain length of time, you come to know his habits, his values - you come to know him - and either he's the kind who chases after women or he isn't.
Jake Gittes: Mulwray isn't?
Yelburton: He never even kids about it.
Jake Gittes: Well, maybe he takes it very

seriously.