horseshit.
i said horseshit. horseshit.
love the smell of it. a lot of people do but of course they won't admit it. look at the shape.
always the same.
what? oh, damn near yes. unless the animal's sick or something. and the steam rising off it like that in the morning. that's life, mr. gittes. life.
perhaps this preoccupation with horseshit may seem a little perverse, but i ask you to remember this. one way or another, it's what i've dealt in all my life. let's have breakfast.
you know, you've got a nasty reputation, mr. gittes. i like that.
if you were a bank president that would be one thing, but in your business it's admirable. and it's good advertising.
it's why you attract a client like my daughter.
but i'm surprised you're still working for her, unless she's suddenly come up with another husband.
how did she get that idea?
uh-huh. oh i hope you don't mind. i believe they should be served with the head.
tell me. what do the police say?
who's the investigating officer?
do you know him?
where from?
would you call him a capable man?
honest?
of course, but you've got no reason to think he's bungled the case?
that's too bad.
it disturbs me, mr. gittes. it makes me think you're taking my daughter for a ride. financially speaking, of course. how much are you charging her?
are you sleeping with her? come, come, mr. gittes. you don't have to think about that to remember, do you?
mr. gittes! you're dealing with a disturbed woman who's lost her husband. i don't want her taken advantage of. sit down.
you may think you know what you're dealing with, but believe me, you don't.
why is that funny?
was he right?
exactly what do you know about me, mr. gittes?
'course i'm respectable. i'm old. politicians, ugly buildings and whores all get respectable if they last long enough. i'll double whatever your fees are and i'll pay you ten thousand dollars if you can find hollis' girlfriend.
yes, his girlfriend.
yes. she's disappeared, hasn't she?
doesn't that strike you as odd?
wouldn't it be useful to talk to her?
if mulwray was murdered, she was probably one of the last people to see him.
no.
sheriff's gold posse.  bunch of damn fools who pay $5,000 apiece to the sheriff's reelection. i let 'em practice up out here.
at my age, you tend to lose track.
my daughter.
just find the girl, mr. gittes. i think she is frightened and i happen to know hollis was fond of her. i'd like to help her if i can.
hollis mulwray made this city and he made me a fortune.  we were a lot closer than evelyn realized.
well.  she's an extremely jealous person. i didn't want her to find out about the girl.
i've still got a few teeth in my head, mr. gittes, and a few friends in town.
just find the girl.
avocado groves?
there you are.
well, you don't look any the worse for wear, mr. gittes, i must say.  where's the girl?.
is she all right?
where is she?
with her mother?
what is it?
yes.  i think i can manage.
what does this mean?
hollie was always fond of tide-pools. you know what he used to say about them?
that's where life begins.  marshes, sloughs, tide-pools.  he was fascinated by them.  you know when we first came out here he figured that if you dumped water onto desert sand it would percolate down into the bedrock and stay there, instead of evaporating the way it does in most reservoirs. you'd lose only twenty percent instead of seventy or eighty. he made this city.
no, mr. gittes. that's what i am doing with the valley. the bond issue passes tuesday. there'll be ten million to build an aqueduct and reservoir. i'm doing it.
that's all taken care of. you see, mr. gittes. either you bring the water to l.a. or you bring l.a. to the water.
just incorporate the valley into the city so the water goes to l.a. after all. it's very simple.
i have no idea. how much do you want?
oh, my, yes.
the future, mr. gittes. the future. now where's the girl?.  i want the only daughter i have left.  as you found out, evelyn was lost to me a long time ago.
i don't blame myself. you see, mr. gittes, most people never have to face the fact that at the right time and right place, they're capable of anything. take those glasses from him, will you, claude?
it's not worth it, mr. gittes. it's really not worth it.
take us to the girl. either evelyn allows me to see her, or i'm not averse to seeing evelyn in jail. if i have to buy the jail. hollis and evelyn kept her from me for fifteen years. it's been too long, i'm too old.
stop the car. stop the car!
katherine! katherine! wait!
where?
you're going to have to kill me, evelyn. either that or tell me where she is.
how many years have i got?.  she's mine too.