In 1950's Los Angeles, a special crime squad of the LAPD investigates the murder of a young woman.

Hoover: Here's something that doesn't cost you 25 bucks an hour: You carry your own water, Ellery. You understand? You carry your OWN water.
Hoover: Why do you eat while you're working? Why do you eat all the time?
Coolidge: It's all psychological, Max. I eat so I don't think about food.
General Timms: These tiny particles of matter, which are so small that no one's ever seen them - never - they contain enough energy to blow up this house, an entire city, every person on Earth. Now that is inconceivable.
Hoover: General, I really don't think much about those things. I'd probably see too much.
General Timms: What do you see?
Hoover: People dead before their time.
General Timms: That's the history of the world, Lieutenant. Some people die before their time so that others can live. It's the cornerstone of civilization. War, religion, democracy. A hundred die so that a thousand may live.
General Timms: A hundred die so that a thousand may live.
Hoover: Jack Flynn?
Jack Flynn, Mafia Mobster: [hands him money] Here ya go buddy, buy yourself a good time.
[turning away]
Jack Flynn, Mafia Mobster: They'll let anybody in here.
Hoover: [throwing bills down] Mr. Flynn, I'm Maxwell Hoover. I'm with the Los Angeles Police Department.
Jack Flynn, Mafia Mobster: Oh, that means I get change back.
[first lines]
Perino's Maitre d': Good evening, gentlemen can I check your hats, please?
[last lines]
Katherine Hoover: You broke my heart, Max.
Coolidge: [riding in the car] You know, I've been thinking, why is it we always sit in the same place? And why is it you're always the one that drives, Max?
Hoover: I guess it's 'cause I got the keys.
General Timms: Some people die before their time so that others can live. It's a cornerstone of civilization.
[trying to thread a projector]
Coolidge: Damn it! I can't get my finger in there. It won't fit.
Esther: Try your dick.
Lieutenant Max Hoover: See, that's federal property. This isn't. This is L.A. This is my town. Out here you're a trespasser. Out here I can pick you up, burn your house, fuck your wife, and kill your dog. And the only thing that'll protect you is if I can't find you. And I already found you.
Hoover: We go where the case takes us.
Fitzgerald: Not if it takes you here you don't.
General Timms: [about Allison] She was spectacular, wasn't she?
Eddie Hall: I don't understand how anybody can live at the beach. Those waves crashing and flopping all the time - drive me crazy.
Arthur Relyea: I'm with you, Eddie. I like the sound of traffic when I'm sleeping.
Jimmy Fields: I find it very peaceful. Most people do. I guess cops are just different.
General Timms: You're much more intelligent than you appear to be, Lieutenant. Must be a big advantage in your field. In my field, everyone was always so desperate to seem cleverer than they were.
Hoover: How come you got a hot dog in your mouth while you're threading the projector? Why do you eat while you're working? Why do you eat all the time?
Coolidge: It's all psychological, Max. I eat so I don't think about food.
Hoover: Oh... So you eat so you don't think about food.
Coolidge: Yeah.
Hoover: 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.
Coolidge: Max, I'm shot.
Hoover: Oh my God. Oh, no. Oh, no.
Coolidge: My psychiatrist is not gonna like this, Max.
Lieutenant Maxwell Hoover: This isn't America, Jack. This is L.A.