Sin City

Sin City is a 2005 neo-noir film about the violent denizens of Basin City.

Directed by Robert Rodriguez (Frank Miller is credited as Co-Director, and Quentin Tarantino as Special Guest Director). Based on Frank Miller's graphic novels of the same name.

Dwight

You shut the hell up, Jackie Boy. You're dead. I'm just imagining this, so shut the hell up.

Dozens of them, armed to the teeth. I'm outnumbered, outgunned... but the alley is crooked, dark, and very narrow. They can't surround me. Sometimes you can beat the odds by a careful choice of where to fight...Where to fight counts for a lot, but there's nothing like having your friends show up with lots of guns.

Most people think Marv is crazy. He just had the rotten luck of being born in the wrong century. He'd be right at home on some ancient battlefield swinging an axe into somebody's face. Or in a Roman arena, taking his sword to other gladiators like him. They would've tossed him girls like Nancy back then.

I'm Shellie's new boyfriend, and I'm out of my mind. If you so much as talk to her or even think her name, I'll cut you in ways that'll make you useless to a woman.

You made a big mistake yourself...you didn't flush.

A hardtop with a decent engine. And make sure it's got a big trunk.

It's time to prove to your friends that you're worth a damn. Sometimes that means dying, sometimes it means killing a whole lot of people.

I let him know I'm not fooling around.

She doesn't quite chop his head off. She makes a Pez dispenser out of him.

Sure, he's an asshole. Sure he's dead. Sure, I'm just imagining that he's talking. That doesn't stop the bastard from being absolutely right.

I don't have a chance in hell of outrunning this cop. Not in this heap. The only question left is whether I'm gonna kill him or not. Tough call. For all I know, he's an honest cop, regular guy. Working stiff with a mortgage, a wife and a pile of kids.

Little Miho, you're an angel, you're a saint, you're Mother Teresa, you're Elvis. You're God. And if you'd gotten here about ten minutes sooner, we'd still have Jackie-Boy's head.

The girls all know the score. No escape. No surrender. No mercy. We got to kill every last rat bastard one of them, every last one. Not for revenge. Not because they deserve it. not because it'll make the world a better place. We need a heap of bloody bodies so when the mob boss, Wallenquist, looks over his charts of profits and losses, he'll see what it cost him to mess with the girls of Old Town. The valkyrie at my side is shouting and laughing with the pure, hateful, bloodthirsty joy of the slaughter. And so am I. The fire, baby. It'll burn us both. There's no place in this world for our kind of fire. My warrior woman. My valkyrie. You'll always be mine. Always. And never.

Miho, I hope to hell ya left one of them alive enough to talk.

Just look at that trunk. We'll never fit them all in.

Hartigan

Hell of a way to end a partnership. Hell of a way to start my retirement.

[While police brutally try to blackmail him] This is just a price I promised myself I'd pay, now I'm paying it. You don't save a little girl's life and then turn around and throw her to the dogs. Not in my book you don't.. They want a confession? They won't get it.

I take his weapons away from him. Both of them.

Things go dark. I don't mind much. It's okay. She'll be safe. An old man dies. A little girl lives. Fair trade.

Skinny little Nancy Callaghan. She grew up. She filled out.

[after being shot several times] I'm doing fine, Bob. Never better...ready to kick your ass.

When it comes to reassuring a traumatized 19-year-old, I'm about as expert as a palsy victim doing brain surgery with a pipe wrench.

There's wrong and there's wrong and then there's this.

Let go of my coat, Bob.

This guy smells awful. Like bad food. Like a corpse left in a garbage dumpster in the middle of summer, he stinks so bad I want to throw up.

Just one hour to go. My last day on the job. Not my idea. Doctor's orders; heart condition. Angina, he calls it. I'm polishing my badge and getting myself used to the idea of saying goodbye to it. It and the thirty odd years of protecting and serving and...blood and terror and triumph it represents. I think about Eileen's slow smile, about the thick fat steaks she picked up from the butcher's today. I think about the one loose end I haven't tied up. A young girl who's out there, somewhere, helpless in the hands of a drooling lunatic.

[Last thoughts as he shoots himself] An old man dies, a young woman lives. Fair trade. I love you, Nancy.

Marv

You can scream now if you want.

[During his execution] Will you get a move on, I haven't got all night.

Lucille's my parole officer. She's a dyke, but God knows why. With that body of hers she could have any man she wants.

Aww, Jerks! They should've shot me in the head...and enough times to make sure. It's so stupid. Everybody knows what's coming but they go through the motions anyway, what a waste of time. Month's fall off the calandar while I breath and eat through tubes. Night after night I wait for someone to come and finish me off. After awhile I realize it's not going to be so easy as that. I'm on my feet for about ten minutes before the cops kick them out from under me. They don't ask me any questions. They just keep knocking the crap out of me and waving a confession in my face, and I keep spitting blood all over it and laughing at how many fresh copies they come up with. Then along comes this worm assistant district attorney who turns the recorder off and says if I don't sign their confession, they'll kill my mom. I break his arm in three places and I sign it. From then on, it's the circus everybody wants it to be. They nail me for the works. Not just the people I did kill but even Lucille and the girls that Roark and Kevin ate and even Goldie.

He never screams. Not even when the mutt's had its fill. Kevin's guts are lying all over the place and somehow the bastard is still alive, still staring at me. Not even when I grab the saw and finish the job, he never screams.

I've been framed for murder and the cops are in on it. But the real enemy, the son of a bitch who killed the angel lying next to me, he's out there somewhere, out of sight, the big missing piece that'll give me how and the why and a face and a name and a soul to send screaming into hell.

Guess when I shot you in the belly, I aimed a little too high. [Shoots him in the crotch]

The night is hot as hell. it's a lousy room in a lousy part of a lousy town. I'm staring at a goddess, she's telling me she wants me. I'm not going to waste one more second wondering how I've gotten so lucky. She smells like angels ought to smell. The perfect woman. The goddess. Goldie.

She says her name is Goldie.

Walk down the right back alley in Sin City and you can find anything...

It's beautiful Goldie, it's just like I said it would be, only better And when his eyes go dead, the hell I sent him to must seem like heaven after what I've done to him.

That there is one damn fine coat you're wearin'. [repeated on several occasions]

I love hitmen. No matter what you do to them, you don't feel bad.

This is blood for blood, and by the gallons! This is the old days, the bad days, the all-or-nothing days!, they're back, there's no choices left, and i'm ready for war.

When I need to find something out, I just go out and find somebody that knows more than me, and I go and I ask them. Sometimes I ask pretty hard.

Worth dying for. [gunshot] Worth killing for. [gunshot] Worth going to hell for. [final gunshot] Amen. [said while shooting the priest in a church]

Modern cars — they all look like electric shavers.

When you got a condition, it's bad to forget your medicine.

I was pretty steamed about what he had done to Lucille, so I took my time with that son of a bitch. It wasn't until I showed him all of those pieces of himself that he gave me a name.

Patrick Henry Roark. A man of the cloth. Could've become president but chose to serve God, and along the way just happened to become one of the most powerful men in the state. He's brought down mayors and govenors like they were nothin'. Even made his rotten brother a US senator. And now here he's gonna die in the name of a dead hooker. More and more I like the sound of it.

Then it hits me like a kick in the nuts: What if I'm wrong? I've got a condition. I get confused sometimes. What if I've imagined all this? What if I've finally turned into what they've always said I'd turn into: A maniac? A psycho killer?
Can't kill a man unless you know for sure you ought to.

I know it's pretty damn weird to eat people.

I got 'em good for you, didn't I, Goldie?

[Last words] Is that the best you can do, you pansies?

Hell's waking up every goddamn day and not even knowing why you're here.

The cops- they're telling me too much. showing up before anybody but me and the killer could know there's been a murder. somebody paid good money for this frame. No reason at all to play it Quiet. No reason to play it anyway but my way.

Well, i'm gonna find that son of a bitch that killed you, and i'm gonna give him the hard Goodbye.

Dames! Sometimes all they got to do is let it out- and a few buckets later, you'd never know.

I don't know about you, but I'm having a ball.

Shellie

Jackie-Boy, it's a regular African love-fest in here. I got me all five starters and half the bench of the Basin City Blues keeping me company. You feel like taking them on?

Shut up and keep your hands to yourself or I'll cut your little pecker off!

Wish you coulda dropped by earlier, Jackie-Boy. You coulda met my new boyfriend. Coulda seen what a real man looks like.

Nancy

And here I thought you'd forgotten all about me. Me and my dumb letters.
Let me stay close. Nothing can happen to me when I'm with you. Please? Let me stay close.
It's always been you, Hartigan. All these years.
I didn't scream, Hartigan. Not once. I didn't scream

Jackie Boy

I know you're angry, baby. And I forgive you for that without you even asking me to.
It's one thing for you to play hard to get... but don't go trying to cut my nuts off.
I've had me one hell of a day. I've been beat up every time I turn around. But the day I get turned down by a hooker when I got good hard earned cash to pay her with... well, there's only so much a man can take.
[after getting slashed by Miho] Out of nowhere... without any reason!
This is a career-ending wound, whore!
Nobody ever really quits. A smoker's a smoker when the chips are down. And your chips are down.
You're makin' a big mistake, man... a big mistake.
Those hookers let you down!

Gail

I tied those knots — that's my specialty!
Yeesh.
He's dead. He's just too damn dumb to know it.
We got guns. We'll fight the cops, and the mob, and anybody who tries to move in on us. We'll go to war!
You stupid little bitch!
Your precious scrawny little neck.[said before tearing a piece of skin off Becky's neck with her teeth.]
My man will find a way. He always finds a way.

Becky

It's not a woman you need, it's a good night's sleep. You couldn't handle a woman in the state you're in.
Aw, sugar, you just gone and done the dumbest thing in your whole life.
I didn't have no choice. They were gonna hurt my mom.
You could've ripped my throat out, you crazy whore!

Burt Shlubb and Douglas Klump

Klump: It is inclement upon me to comment with marked displeasure on your rash impulsiveness in selecting such an eye-catching and impractical car to heist, Mr. Shlubb.

Shlubb: Protest though you might, Mr. Klump, you must nonetheless admit the phallic magistry of said Ferrari's performance. An engine of Cyclopean power throbs beneath this steel stallion's hood.

Klump: Irrelevant to said mission is the following query, which I now put forth to you. Wherein this most streamlined and trunkless of transports, boner-inspiring though it may be, wherein are we to reposit our recently deceased cargo?

Shlubb: A worthy concern. Neatly elucidated.

Others

Wendy: Kill him for me, Marv. Kill him good.

The Salesman: Turn the right corner in Sin City and you can find anything

The Salesman: Care for a smoke? [repeated line]

Brian: I coulda put a bullet in your ear just now, laddy, if I hadn't gone off and got me revolver all wet and useless.

Brian: Better come clean with ya now, sweetheart. That was an outright lie I was giving ya about my revolver.

Junior: You recognize my voice, Hartigan? You recognize my voice, you piece-of-shit cop? I look different, but I bet you can recognize my voice.

Senator Roark: Power don't come from a badge or a gun. Power comes from lying. Lying big and gettin' the whole damn world to play along with you. Once you've got everybody agreeing with what they know in their hearts ain't true, you've got 'em by the balls.

Senator Roark: Everyone would lie for me. Everyone who counts. Otherwise, their own lies — everything that runs Sin City — it all comes tumbling down like a pack of cards.

Cardinal Roark: When he came to me he was a tormented boy. Tormented by guilt. I tried to counsel him, but the eating, it filled him with white light. Tearful, he swore to me that he felt the touch of God Almighty. He didn't just eat their bodies. He ate their souls. And I joined in.

Dialogue

The Salesman: [voiceover] She shivers in the wind like the last leaf on a dying tree. I let her hear my footsteps, she only goes stiff for a moment.

The Salesman: Care for a smoke?"

The Customer: Sure, I'll take one. Are you as bored by that crowd as I am?

The Salesman: I didn't come here for the party, I came here for you. I've watched you for days, you're everything a man could ever want. It's not just your face or your figure. It's your eyes, all the things I see in your eyes.

The Customer: What is it you see in my eyes?

The Salesman: I see a crazy calm. You're sick of running, you're ready to face what you have to face but you don't want to face it alone.

The Customer: No, I don't want to face it alone.

The Salesman: [voiceover] The wind rises electric. She's soft and warm and almost weightless. Her perfume with sweet promise that brings tears to my eyes. I tell her that everything will be alright. That I'll save her from whatever she's running from and take her far far away. I tell her I love her. [gunshot] The silencer makes a whisper of the gunshot. I hold her close until she's gone. I'll never know what she was running from... I'll cash her check in the morning.

Cardinal Roark: Will that bring you satisfaction, my son? Killing a helpless, old, fart?

Marv: Killing? No. No satisfaction. Everything up until the killing, well that'll be a gas.

Marv: I had a fight with some cops.

Lucille: Oh, that's lovely. You didn't happen to kill any of them, did you?

Marv: Not that I know of, but they know they been in a fight, that's for damn sure.

Gail: Those boys in that Chrysler are one mistake away from seeing what Miho can do, and she's been aching for some practice.

Dwight: [voiceover] She guides my glance upwards to the pixy perched on the roof's edge. Deadly little Miho.

Wendy: You sat there and took it... when you could've taken my gun away from me any time you wanted to...

Marv: Sure, but I thought I might be able to talk some sense into you. And I probably would've had to paste you one, and I don't hurt girls.

Marv: Wait a minute. Why'd she call you Wendy?

Wendy: Because that's my name, you ape. Goldie was my sister, my twin sister.

Marv: I guess she was the nice one.

Hartigan: Excuse me miss, I was wondering if you could help me. I'm looking for someone.

Shelley: Cold night like this, everyone is looking for someone, stranger.

Hartigan: It's not like that. Her name is Nancy.

Shellie: Eyes to the stage, pilgrim. She's just warming up.

Gail: Those four in the Chrysler, are they some of the barmaid's boyfriends?

Dwight: One of them thinks he is. I followed him here to make sure he didn't hurt any of the girls.

Gail: Us helpless little girls.

Marv: Hey, there is no settling down. This is blood for blood and by the gallons! It's the good old days! The bad days! The all-or-nothing days! They're back! There's no choices left and I'm ready for war.

Lucille: Prison was hell for you, Marv. It'll be life this time.

Marv: Hell is waking up every goddamn day and not even knowing why you're here. But I'm out now. It took someone who was kind to me, getting killed to do it. But I'm out and I know exactly what I got to do.

About Sin City

Robert Rodriguez: Mickey [Rourke] had this one piece of music he would play on the set to get him into the character of Marv. We couldn't use it in the movie because it was too expensive. It was a Johnny Cash song - it was actually a remake of a Nine Inch Nails song called Hurt. You play that song and if you listen to that song that's how he did Marv for all the voiceover. It would just help him to get into that place - that Marv place. We got some remarkable work from him just from playing that song. That's his time machine. His transport.
Q: Why did you think Elijah Wood would make such a convincing psycho?

Robert Rodriguez: I worked with him in The Faculty and he has these really piercing blue eyes that women love but that I always found quite creepy. I told him back then, "One day I will cast you as a psychopath," never thinking that it would actually come about. He was one of the first people to see my early tests for Sin City and said, "Oh, I would kill to be in that movie!" So when he said that...

Robert Rodriguez in "Robert Rodriguez Sin City Interview" by Stella Papamichael, BBC, (05/25/2005).

Cast

Mickey Rourke - Marv

Bruce Willis - John Hartigan

Clive Owen - Dwight McCarthy

Benicio del Toro - Det. Jack Rafferty ("Jackie-Boy")

Jessica Alba - Nancy Callahan

Nick Stahl - Yellow Bastard ("Junior")

Brittany Murphy - Shellie

Elijah Wood - Kevin

Jaime King - Goldie (and Wendy)

Carla Gugino - Lucille

Rosario Dawson - Gail

Powers Boothe - Senator Roark

Rutger Hauer - Cardinal Roark

Devon Aoki - Miho

Alexis Bledel - Becky

Michael Clarke Duncan - Manute

Josh Hartnett - the Salesman

Michael Madsen - Bob

Frank Miller - the Priest

Taglines

In a city, there is a shaky truce between those who rule the streets, and those who rule everything.
Walk down the right back alley in Sin City, and you can find anything.
There is no justice without sin.

External links

Wikipedia

Wikipedia has an article about:

Sin City (film)

Sin City quotes at the Internet Movie Database