Mulholland Falls

Good evening, gentlemen. Can I check your hats, please?

Gentlemen?

Gentlemen.

Got caught like a bear trap.

You want to play or do you want to pay? I got a great girl.

Jack Flynn?

Here you go, buddy. Buy yourself a good time.

- They'll let anybody in here. - Mr. Flynn, I'm Maxwell Hoover.

I'm with the Los Angeles Police Department.

That means I get change back.

Are you still here? What is it gonna cost me?

I came here to deliver a message.

Your presence is required back in Chicago.

It's cold in Chicago, which is why I came out here.

Is Mr. Flynn being charged with a crime?

What are you, his lawyer?

No, but I'm represented by a good one.

What's my friend being charged with?

He did things in Chicago.

I beat all that, pal. I beat those indictments.

Jimmy, hit him in the nuts!

Let's go. Get him outta here.

You guys are making a big mistake.

Where are we going?

The airport.

You're going to the airport, Jack.

You gotta get back to Chicago as soon as possible.

This ain't the way to the airport.

This is it.

Yeah. This is it.

This is what?

This is Mulholland Falls, Jack.

Mulholland Falls?

It's kind of like Niagara Falls.

Come on! There ain't no falls in L.A.

You guys can't do this. This is America.

This isn't America, Jack.

This is L.A.

I thought we weren't gonna do this anymore.

- Do what? - This.

Come on, let's go.

Jack?

Maybe he's dead.

He's not dead, he's looking right at us.

Jack, are you dead?

He's alive.

Now, Jack, we don't have organized crime in L.A.,

and frankly, we don't want organized crime.

So here's what I want you to do.

I want you to look around

and remember this

because this will always be your way back to Chicago.

Mulholland Falls.

Lee.

Now, that's a thought.

- Hey, Max. - Kate.

- Lili. - Hi.

We were just discussing husbands.

I'm trying to find a new one for Lili.

- Do you know any? - Jeez, Lili.

Only guys I know are cops and bad guys.

Thanks, Pete.

And I don't know if I can recommend either one.

How about Eddie Hall?

- Eddie Hall? - Yeah.

Eddie Hall. No.

He's been married five times.

- You see what I mean? - Yeah.

I'm sorry I was late, Kate, but we had a little accident up in the hills.

No, no, no, Kate.

You know I got two flat feet.

Come on.

Excuse us, Lili.

- I love you. - I love you, too.

- You the foreman? - Yeah.

Where are we out here? What is this?

We're in a new housing subdivision.

You ever think about who those people are that are gonna live way out here?

No.

Me, neither.

All right, guys, I'll take it from here.

- No pictures till I tell ya. - Whatever you say.

Hey, Doc.

Max, I should've stayed in bed.

Are you in charge of this operation?

Yeah, this part I am.

You got any heavy equipment around here

that could press a woman into the ground like that?

A big roller maybe.

Seems like that would've chewed her up more.

- Is this the way you found her? - Yeah. We didn't touch it.

Yeah, she was just like this.

Why don't you step over there, an officer will take your full statement.

Jesus, Milt.

There's nothing to hold on to.

Okay,

roll her over and see what she looks like.

Jesus.

- You okay, Max? - Yeah.

Step aside, boys. Let me get a couple.

Jeez, what a mess.

- Check under her fingernails. - Okay.

How'd she die?

It's like she jumped off a cliff.

There's no cliff out there.

Somebody moved her?

She wasn't moved.

She died just where you found her.

Doc, did you see this?

What is it?

Looks like glass.

"A Farewell to Arms."

"By Ernest Hemingway."

You know the way this guy writes,

he never talked to a woman in his life.

When did you ever read Hemingway?

He thinks they all want to be called "my darling."

And what they really want is?

What they really want is a man

that'll listen to their stomachs.

Max, don't drool on me.

- Come on. - What's the matter?

I'm sorry.

What's wrong?

Tell me.

We found a dead girl in the Valley.

She was broken into 30 pieces.

Couldn't even pick her up.

Who is she?

Nobody.

Just a girl.

Just a girl.

I'm sorry, Kate.

Can you believe that? The D.A. won't indict Kroyle.

What's wrong with this country?

A guy chops up his parents with an axe and doesn't get the gas chamber?

How can you plea bargain something like that?

His fingerprints are all over the murder weapon.

That places him at the scene of the crime.

They won't indict. It doesn't make any difference.

I knew that D.A. when he was a bagman for Jack Draga.

No kiddin'. How'd he become a D.A. then, for Christ' sake?

D.A.'s an elected office.

Any scumbag can get in if they got enough votes.

Ellery, how come you got a hot dog in your mouth while you're threading a projector?

Why do you eat while you're working? Why do you eat all the time?

It's all psychological, Max. I eat so I don't think about food.

So you eat so you don't think about food?

Yeah.

Ellery, I don't want to butt into your business,

but this psychiatrist, the guy you're going to,

I think he's in worse shape than you are.

She, Max. It's a woman.

Dammit, I can't get my finger in there! It won't fit!

Try your dick.

Esther, please.

Here, try this.

So you're going to her about food?

Yeah.

I thought you were going to her about the other thing.

- My temper? - Yeah.

It's all related, Max.

The eating and the anger, they come from the same place.

The food calms me down.

Esther, don't you have something better to do?

No. Not better than this.

All right.

- Ready? - Yeah. Turn it on.

What is this, somebody's summer vacation?

That's the girl we found in the Valley, Max.

Max, I gotta talk to you about this D.A.

He's a prick. Max?

Coolidge, do me a favor.

You go get yourself something to eat.

Go back to your desk.

Max, if something is wrong...

I mean, maybe it's best to talk it out, you know, and get it out in the open,

if it's anything like that.

No, nothing like that.

But any problem could be solved, Max.

All you have to do is break it down into parts, you see?

It's just simple, it's right into parts, my psychiatrist told me,

and you deal with each part individually.

One part, and then you go to the next part.

You just gotta break it down, but the first...

Ellery.

Do me that favor.

Just do it.

Hoover!

You alone?

Yeah.

- I need protection. - From what?

You look at the film I sent you?

You know who the guy in it is?

I don't even know who you are.

I'm Jimmy Fields.

Look, that guy in the movie, he killed her!

Killed who?

Spare me the crap, I don't have time for it!

A mutual friend is dead, they killed her,