Starring: Gabriel Byrne, Kevin Spacey, Chazz Palminteri, Stephen Baldwin, Benicio Del Toro, Kevin Pollak, Pete Postlethwaite, Giancarlo Esposito, Suzy Amis, Dan Hedaya, Paul Bartel, Carl Bressler, Phillipe Simon, Jack Shearer, Peter Greene
OUR RATING: ★★★★☆
Story:
Mystery thriller directed by Bryan Singer, in which the story follows the interrogation of a small-time con man, Roger “Verbal” Kint (Kevin Spacey), who is one of only two survivors of a massacre and fire on a ship docked at the Port of Los Angeles. Through flashback and narration, Kint tells interrogator, Dave Kujan (Chazz Palminteri), a convoluted story of events that led him and his criminal companions to the boat, and of a mysterious crime lord, known as Keyser Söze, who controlled them.
Our Favorite Quotes:
‘A man can convince anyone he's somebody else, but never himself.’ – Verbal (The Usual Suspects) Click To Tweet ‘One cannot be betrayed if one has no people.’ – Kobayashi (The Usual Suspects) Click To Tweet ‘The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist. And like that, he's gone.’ – Verbal (The Usual Suspects) Click To Tweet
Best Quotes (Total Quotes: 45)
[first lines]
Keyser Soze: How you doing Keaton?
Keaton: I can’t feel my legs, Keyser.
Keyser Soze: Ready?
Keaton: What time is it?
Keyser Soze: Twelve thirty.
[Keyser points his gun at Keaton and shoot him]
[to Kujan]
Verbal: What the cops never figured out, and what I know now, was that these men would never break, never lie down, never bend over for anybody, anybody.
[Verbal followed by the rest of the five men arrested for the hijacking of a truck are ushered in to the line-up room]
Verbal: [voice over] It didn’t make sense that I’d be there. I mean, these guys were hard-core hijackers, but there I was. At that point I wasn’t scared, I knew I hadn’t done anything they could do me for. Besides, it was fun. I got to make like I was notorious.
[five suspects in the line-up are asked to repeat a phrase]
Interrogation Cop: Number 1, step forward.
Hockney: Hand me the keys, you fucking cocksucker.
Interrogation Cop: Number 2, step forward.
McManus: Give me the fucking keys, you fucking cocksucking motherfucker, aaarrrghh!
Interrogation Cop: Knock it off. Get back. Number 3, step forward.
Fenster: [laughing] Hand me the keys, you cocksucker.
Interrogation Cop: In English, please?
Fenster: Excuse me?
Interrogation Cop: In English.
Fenster: Hand me the fucking keys, you cocksucker, what the fuck?
[being interrogated for hijacking a truck]
Fenster: Say who?
Interrogation Cop: McManus. He told us another story altogether.
Fenster: Oh, was that the one about the hooker with the dysentery?
[being interrogated for hijacking a truck]
Interrogation Cop: I can put you in Queens on the night of the hijacking.
Hockney: Really? I live in Queens. Did you put that together yourself, Einstein? What, do you got a team of monkeys working around the clock on this?
Interrogation Cop: You know what happens if you do another turn in the joint?
Hockney: Fuck your father in the shower and then have a snack? Are you going to charge me dickhead?
[Keaton’s turn in interrogation chair for the hijacking]
Keaton: I’m a businessman now.
Interrogation Cop: Yeah? What’s that, the restaurant business? No. From now on, you’re in the getting-fucked-by-us business.
[after being interrogated all five men are in a holding cell together]
Fenster: They treat me like a criminal, I’ll end up a criminal.
Hockney: You are a criminal!
Fenster: Why you got to go and do that? I’m trying to make a point.
[whilst being held together in the holding cell]
McManus: I heard you were dead, Keaton.
Keaton: Oh yeah? Well, you heard right.
Keaton: This whole thing was a shakedown.
McManus: What makes you say that?
Keaton: How many times you been in a lineup? It’s always you and four dummies. P.D. are paying homeless guys ten bucks a head half the time. And there’s no way they’d line five felons in the same row. No way. And what’s a, what’s a voice lineup? Public defender could get you out off that one.
[referring to being strip-searched during his interrogation]
Fenster: I had a finger up my asshole tonight.
Hockney: Is it Friday already?
[to Verbal whose been sat quietly in the holding cell]
Hockney: What about it, pretzel man? What’s your story?
Keaton: His name’s Verbal. Verbal Kint.
McManus: Verbal?
Keaton: Yeah.
Verbal: Roger really. People say I talk too much.
Hockney: Yeah, I was just going to tell you to shut up.
[talking into the phone about Arkosh Kovash who’s in the hospital with burns to his body]
Jack Baer, FBI: Listen, send me someone who can speak Hungarian. Yeah, he’s awake. He’s talking like a Thai hooker.
[Kovash is speaking rapidly in Hungarian]
Jack Baer, FBI: What?
Arkosh Kovash: Keyesr Soze. Keyesr Soze…!
[in Rabin’s office]
Verbal: Can I get some coffee?
Dave Kujan: In a while. Let’s talk about the lineup.
Verbal: I’m really thirsty. I used to dehydrate as a kid. One time it got so bad my piss came out like snot. I’m not kidding, it was all thick and gooey…
Jeff Rabin: I’ll get you a fucking coffee.
Dave Kujan: Verbal, you know we’re trying to help you.
Verbal: Sure, and I appreciate that. And I want to help you, Agent Kujan. I like cops. I would’ve liked to have been a fed myself, but my C.P always…
Dave Kujan: Verbal, you’re not telling us everything. I know you know something.
Verbal: I told the D.A. everything I know.
Dave Kujan: Verbal, I know you like Keaton. I know you think he’s a good man.
Verbal: I know he was good.
Dave Kujan: He was a corrupt cop.
Verbal: Sure, fifteen years ago, but he was a good thief. Anyway, the cops wouldn’t let him go legit.
Dave Kujan: Dean Keaton was a piece of shit.
Verbal: Are you trying to get a rise out of me, Agent Kujan?
Dave Kujan: I just want to hear your story.
Verbal: It’s all there. May I have a cigarette?
[to Verbal]
Dave Kujan: First day on the job, you know what I learned? How to spot a murderer. Let’s say you arrest three guys for the same killing. You put them all in jail overnight. The next morning, whoever’s sleeping is your man. You see, if you’re guilty, you know you’re caught, you get some rest, you let your guard down. You follow me?
Verbal: No.
Dave Kujan: Let me get right to the point. I’m smarter than you and I’m going to find out what I want to know and I’m going to get it from you whether you like it or not.
Verbal: I’m not a rat.
[Verbal takes a sip of the coffee handed to him]
Verbal: Back when I was picking beans in Guatemala, we used to make fresh coffee, right off the trees I mean. That was good. This is shit but, hey, I’m in a police station.
[after being punched in the stomach by Keaton]
Verbal: I’ll probably shit blood tonight.
Verbal: [voice over] And that’s where we came in. McManus came to us with the job, Fenster got the vans, Hockney supplied the hardware, I came through with how to do it so no one got killed, but Keaton, Keaton put on the finishing touch. A little “fuck you” from the five of us to the N.Y.P.D.
[to Verbal]
Dave Kujan: Of course, I can’t prove this. But I can’t prove the best part either, Dean Keaton was dead. Did you know that? He died in a fire two years ago during the investigation into the murder of a witness who was going to testify against him. Two people saw Dean Keaton walk into a warehouse he owned just before it blew up. They said he went in to check a leaking gas main. It blew up and took all of Dean Keaton with it. Within three months of the explosion, the two witnesses, they were dead. One killed himself in his car, the other fell down an open elevator shaft.
[talking about Keaton to Verbal]
Dave Kujan: He was dead just long enough for the murder rap to blow over. And then he had lunch.
Verbal: The D.A. gave me immunity.
Dave Kujan: Not from me. You get no immunity from me, you piece of shit. Every criminal I have put in prison, every cop that owes me a favor, every creep and scumbag that walks the streets for a living will know the name of Verbal Kint. Now you talk to me, or that precious immunity they seem so fit to grant you won’t be worth the paper the contract put out on your life is printed on.
Verbal: There was a lawyer. Kobayashi.
[McManus throws bag of heroin at Redfoot who catches it]
McManus: What am I supposed to do with that?
Redfoot the Fence: I don’t know, feed it to the gimp. Ease his pain, I don’t know what that is.
[Redfoot throws bag at Verbal]
Keaton: What do you mean you don’t know?
[McManus tries to speak, Keaton lays a hand on McManus]
Keaton: Shut up.
Redfoot the Fence: I don’t know. I got thrown this job by some lawyer.
Keaton: Yeah? Who?
Redfoot the Fence: I don’t know. Some limey. He’s a middleman for somebody, okay? He doesn’t say, I don’t ask.
McManus: You’re fucking full of shit.
Redfoot the Fence: Fuck you.
McManus: Fuck you.
Keaton: Listen to me. We want to meet him, okay?
Redfoot the Fence: That’s funny. He called me last night, he says he wants to meet you guys.
Keaton: Okay, we’ll meet him.
Redfoot the Fence: I’ll call you.
Keaton: Good. Do that. No problem. Let’s go.
[Keaton turns around, ready to leave but McManus grabs him]
McManus: I don’t like it, Dean. I don’t like it. Wait a minute. One more thing, tough guy. Any more surprises, and I’m going to kill you.
Redfoot the Fence: You’re such a tough guy, McManus. But do me a favor, all right Get the fuck off my dick.
[Redfoot flicks his cigarette butt at McManus and it lands on McManus’s eye]
McManus: [in pain] Fuck!
[McManus lunges at him in rage but he’s restrained by Keaton]
Redfoot the Fence: Put a leash on that puppy. You know, it’s an awful shame about Saul getting whacked. Cops are going to be looking for the guys who did it. Sooner or later they’re going to come around asking me. You have a sweet night, ladies.
[answering Keaton]
Kobayashi: Mr. Redfoot knew nothing. Mr. Soze rarely works with the same people for very long, and they never know who they’re working for. One cannot be betrayed if one has no people.
Fenster: So why are you telling us?
Kobayashi: Because you have stolen from Mr. Soze, Mr. Fenster. All of you. That you did not know you stole from him is the only reason you are still alive. He feels you owe him. You will repay your debt.
Hockney: All right, fuck the debt. And fuck you! How do we know you work for Soze?
Kobayashi: I don’t think that is very relevant, Mr. Hockney. All five of you are responsible for the murder of Saul Berg and his bodyguards. Mr. Redfoot can testify to your involvement, and we can see to it that he will.
Fenster: The way I hear it, Soze is some kind of butcher. A peerless, psycho, fucked-up butcher.
Keaton: There is no Keyser Soze!
[to Kujan]
Verbal: Who is Keyser Soze? He is supposed to be Turkish. Some say his father was German. Nobody ever believed he was real. Nobody ever knew him or saw anybody that ever worked directly for him, but to hear Kobayashi tell it, anybody could have worked for Soze. You never knew. That was his power. The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist. And like that, poof, he’s gone.
[telling Kujan the story of Keyser Soze]
Verbal: He lets the last Hungarian go. He waits until his wife and kids are in the ground and then he goes after the rest of the mob. He kills their kids, he kills their wives, he kills their parents and their parents’ friends. He burns down the houses they live in and the stores they work in, he kills people that owe them money. And like that he was gone. Underground. Nobody has ever seen him since. He becomes a myth, a spook story that criminals tell their kids at night. “Rat on your pop, and Keyser Soze will get you.” And no one ever really believes.
Dave Kujan: Do you believe in him, Verbal?
Verbal: Keaton always said, “I don’t believe in God, but I’m afraid of him.” Well I believe
in God, and the only thing that scares me is Keyser Soze.
Verbal: I came clean. I told it like it happened on the boat. So what if I left out how I got there? It’s so full of holes, the D.A. would’ve told me to blow amnesty out my ass. So you got what you wanted out of me. So big fucking deal.
Dave Kujan: So that’s why you never told the D.A.
Verbal: Well you tell me, Agent Kujan. If I told you the Loch Ness monster hired me to hit the harbor, what would you say?
Verbal: I’ve got immunity now. What can you possibly offer me?
Dave Kujan: If there is a Keyser Soze he’s going to come looking for you.
Verbal: Where’s your head, Agent Kujan? Where do you think the pressure’s coming from?
Keyser Soze, or whatever you want to call him, he knows where I am right now. He’s got the front burner under your ass to let me go so he can scoop me up ten minutes later. Immunity was just a deal with you assholes. I got a whole new problem when I post bail.
Dave Kujan: So why play into his hands? We can protect you.
Verbal: Oh, gee, thanks, Dave. Bang-up job so far. Extortion, coercion. You’ll pardon me if
I ask you to kiss my pucker. The same fuckers that rounded us up and sank us into this mess are now bailing me out? Fuck you. You think you can catch Keyser Soze? You think a guy like that comes this close to getting caught and sticks his head out? If he comes up for
anything, it will be to get rid of me. After that, my guess is you’ll never hear from him again.
[after finding Fenster’s body]
McManus: It’s payback.
Keaton: It’s not payback! It’s precaution. You want payback? You want to run? I don’t care! I’m not doing this for Fenster, I’m not doing it for you. I’m doing this for me. I’m going to finish this thing. This Kobayashi bastard is not going to stand on me!
[after Keaton, McManus, Hockney and Verbal attempt to kill Kobayashi]
Kobayashi: Now get some rest. The boat will be ready for you on Friday. If I see you or any of your friends before then, Miss. Finneran will find herself the victim of a most gruesome violation before she dies. As indeed will your father, Mr. Hockney, and your Uncle Randall in Arizona, Mr. Kint. I might only castrate Mr. McManus’s nephew, David. Do I make myself clear?
[to Hockney, McManus and Keaton]
Verbal: I just can’t believe we’re going to walk into certain death.
[talking into the walkie-talkie]
Hockney: You kids ready?
McManus: I would be if I didn’t have to stop and answer to you.
[on the boat roof]
McManus: [to himself] Old McDonald had a farm, ee-aye, ee-aye, oh. And on this farm he shot some guys. Ba-da-bip, ba-da-bing, bang-boom.
[McManus walks across the deck towards Keaton]
Keaton: McManus. What the fuck is going on?
McManus: The strangest thing.
[he slumps down, Keaton rushes towards him]
Dave Kujan: Try to tell me you saw someone kill Keaton.
Verbal: I don’t know what you’re talking about. I did. I did see Keaton.
Dave Kujan: You’re lying to me. You’ve known, you’ve known this whole fucking time!
Verbal: I don’t know what you’re saying.
Dave Kujan: You know…
Verbal: I did see Keaton get shot, I swear to you.
Dave Kujan: Then why didn’t you help him? You had a gun. Why didn’t you help him? He was your friend.
Verbal: Because I was afraid, okay? Afraid.
Dave Kujan: Afraid of what? Afraid of…
Verbal: I knew it was Keyser Soze.
Dave Kujan: But Keaton…
Verbal: It was Keyser Soze, Agent Kujan. I mean the Devil himself. How do you shoot the Devil in the back? What if you miss?
Dave Kujan: Keaton was Keyser Soze.
Verbal: No.
Dave Kujan: The kind of man who could wrangle the wills of men like Hockney and McManus. The kind of man who could engineer a police lineup through all his years of contacts in N.Y.P.D. The kind of man who could have killed Edie Finneran. She was found yesterday at a hotel in Pennsylvania, shot twice in the head. What do you think about Keaton now Verbal?
Verbal: I knew him. He would never…
Dave Kujan: He programmed you. He programmed you to tell us just what he wanted you to. He knew we were close. You said it yourself. Where was the political pressure coming from? Why were you being protected? It was Keaton. Immunity was your reward.
Verbal: But why me? Why not Fenster, McManus or Hockney? Why me? I’m stupid. I’m a cripple. Why me?
Dave Kujan: Because you’re a cripple, Verbal. Because you’re stupid. Because you’re weaker than them.
[referring to Keaton]
Verbal: You think he’s…
Dave Kujan: Keyser Soze. I don’t know, Verbal. Keyser Soze’s a shield, or like you said, a spook story.
Verbal: A man can convince anyone he’s somebody else, but never himself.
Verbal: To be in power, you don’t need guns, or money, or even numbers. You just needed the will to do what the other guy wouldn’t.
Dave Kujan: If someone wants to get you, they’re going to get you out there. Turn state’s evidence. You might never see trial.
Verbal: Maybe so. But I’m not a rat, Agent Kujan.
[he gets up and walks out of the office door then stops and turns to Kujan]
Verbal: Fucking cops.
[in Kujan’s flashback]
Jeff Rabin: This guy is protected from up on high by the Prince of Darkness.
[last lines; Kujan’s looking for Verbal on the street outside the Police station, he has flashbacks of Verbal telling him about Keyser Soze]
Verbal: After that my guess is that you’ll never hear from him again. The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist. And like that, he’s gone.
Total Quotes: 45