Rear Window (1954)
Wendell Corey: Tom Doyle
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Quotes
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L.B. Jefferies : [into the phone] He killed a dog last night because the dog was scratching around in the garden. You know why? Because he had something buried in that garden that the dog scented.
Tom Doyle : [voice] Like an old hambone?
L.B. Jefferies : I don't know what pet names Thorwald had for his wife.
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Tom Doyle : How do you do?
Lisa Fremont : We think Thorwald's guilty.
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Tom Doyle : You didn't see the killing or the body. How do you know there was a murder?
L.B. Jefferies : Because everything this fellow's done has been suspicious: trips at night in the rain, knifes, saws, trunks with rope, and now this wife that isn't there anymore.
Tom Doyle : I admit it does have a mysterious sound. But it could be any number of things for the wife disappearing. Murder is the least part.
L.B. Jefferies : Now, Doyle, don't tell me that he's just an unemployed magician amusing the neighborhood with his sleight of hand. Don't tell me that.
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L.B. Jefferies : You know by tomorrow morning, there may not be any evidence left in that apartment. You know that?
Tom Doyle : A detective's worst nightmare.
L.B. Jefferies : Well, then want do you need as probable cause for a search warrant? Bloody footprints leading up to his front door?
Tom Doyle : One thing I don't need is heckling. You called me and asked for help. Now you're behaving like a taxpayer.
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Lisa Fremont : You can't ignore the wife dissapearing, and the trunk, and the jewelery.
Tom Doyle : I checked the railroad station. Yesterday at 6:20 am, he bought a ticket. Ten minutes later, he put his wife on a train. Destination: Meritsville. I asure you, the witnesses are that deep.
Lisa Fremont : That might have been a woman, but it couldn't have been Mrs. Thorwald. That jewelery...
Tom Doyle : Look, Miss Fremont, that feminine intuition stuff sells magazines, but in real life it's still a fairy tale. I don't know how many times I chased down leads based on women's intuition.
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L.B. Jefferies : Who said they left then?
Tom Doyle : Who left where?
L.B. Jefferies : The Thorwalds at six o'clock in the morning yesterday.
Tom Doyle : The building superintendant and two tennants in the building lobby. Flat out statements with no hesitation. The Thorwalds were on their way to the railroad station.
L.B. Jefferies : Now Tom, how could anyone possible guess that? Did they have signs on their luggage saying 'Grand Central or Bust'?
Tom Doyle : The superintenant met Thorwald when he came back. When he asked where he'd been, Mr. Thorwald told him that he took his wife to Grand Central Railroad Station and put her on a train for the country. See?
L.B. Jefferies : I see. This superintenant must be a pretty bright guy. Have you checked his bank statements recently? See if he was paid off?
Tom Doyle : [bewildered] Huh?
L.B. Jefferies : Well, what good is his information? It's a second-hand version of an unsupported story by the murderer himself: Thorwald. Now, did anyone actually see the woman that Thorwald was with get on the train?
Tom Doyle : Jeff, I hate to bring this up but this whole thing started because you said she was murdered. Now, did you or anyone else see Mrs. Thorwald being murdered?
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L.B. Jefferies : All right, Doyle. I take it that you didn't find the trunk. And all of this is just some speech you made up at a policeman's ball!
Tom Doyle : I found the trunk, a half an hour after I left here this morning. It was at Grand Central Station.
Lisa Fremont : I suppose it's necessary for a man to tie up a trunk with heavy rope?
Tom Doyle : If the lock is broken, yes.
L.B. Jefferies : And what did you find inside the trunk? Surely no tomato paste to me?
Tom Doyle : Mrs. Thorwald's clothes. Clean, well-packed, not stylish, but presentable.
Lisa Fremont : Didn't you take them to the crime lab to have them examined?
Tom Doyle : I re-packed them and sent them on their merry and legal way.
L.B. Jefferies : Why would a woman who is going away for a short trip does she take everything that she owns?
Tom Doyle : [glares at Lisa] Let's let the female psychologist answer that.
Lisa Fremont : It's looks to me like she is never coming back.
Tom Doyle : Now, that is known as a private family quarrel.
L.B. Jefferies : All right, but if she was never coming back, why didn't he tell his landlord that? I'll tell you why Thorwald never told his landlord that his wife was never coming back. It's because he was hiding something in the apartment... or he still is.
Tom Doyle : [stares at Lisa's overnight bag nearby] Do you tell your landlord everything?
L.B. Jefferies : [embarassed] Uh... I told you to be careful, Tom.
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L.B. Jefferies : Are you interested in solving this case or in making me look foolish?
Tom Doyle : Well, if possible, both.
L.B. Jefferies : Well then, do a good job of it. Go over there and search Thorwald's apartment. The whole place must be knee-deep in evidence.
Tom Doyle : I can't do that.
L.B. Jefferies : No, I mean not right now. Just wait for a while until he goes out later for drink or a paper or something. What he doesn't know won't hurt him.
Tom Doyle : I can't do that even if he isn't there.
L.B. Jefferies : Why not? Does he have a courtesy card from the local police department?
Tom Doyle : Now don't get me angry. This is America. Not even a detective can just walk into an apartment and search it. Why, personally, if I was caught in there, they'd have my badge within 10 minutes.
L.B. Jefferies : Then make sure you don't get caught, that's all. If you find something, you have a murder. They'd probably not care very much about a few broken house rules. If you don't find anything, the fellow's clear.
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Tom Doyle : Oh, Jeff, if you need any more help, consult the yellow pages in your telephone directory.
Lisa Fremont : Oh, I love funny exit lines.
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L.B. Jefferies : What about the knife and saw I saw him wrapping up in newspaper?
Tom Doyle : Do you own a saw?
L.B. Jefferies : Well... yeah. At home in my garage, I keep...
Tom Doyle : How many people did you cut up with it?
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Tom Doyle : Lars Thorwald... is no more a murderer than I am.
L.B. Jefferies : [stunned] You mean that you can explain everything strange that has been going on over there, and is still going on?
Tom Doyle : No, and neither can you. That's a secret private world you're looking into out there. People do a lot of things in private they couldn't possibly explain in public.
Lisa Fremont : Like killing their wives?
Tom Doyle : Get that idea out of your head. It will only lead you in the wrong direction.
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Tom Doyle : Jeff, you've got a lot to learn about homicide. Why, morons have committed murders so shrewdly that it's taken a hundred trained police minds to catch them.
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Tom Doyle : What do you say we all sit down and have a nice friendly drink too, hmm? Forget all about this. We can tell lies about the good old days during the war.
L.B. Jefferies : So that's it? You're through with the case?
Tom Doyle : There is no case to be solved. There never was.
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Tom Doyle : Oh, so anything you need, Jeff?
L.B. Jefferies : You might send me a good detective.
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Tom Doyle : [describing Thorwald's history] He took the apartment for a six-month lease. Used up a little more than five-and-a-half months of it. According the tenants, he's quiet. Drinks, but not to drunkeness. Pays his bills promptly with money earned as a costume jewelry salesman, wholesale. Kept to himself. None of his neighbors got close to him or his wife.
L.B. Jefferies : I think they missed their chance with her.
Tom Doyle : She never left the apartment... .
L.B. Jefferies : They why did...
Tom Doyle : [cutting Jeff off] Till yesterday morning.
L.B. Jefferies : Yesterday morning? What time?
Tom Doyle : Six a.m.
L.B. Jefferies : 6:00 AM? That must have been around the time I was asleep.
Tom Doyle : Too bad. The Thorwalds were seen leaving their apartment around that time. Feel a little foolish?
L.B. Jefferies : No, not yet.
