Killing Them Softly (2012)

Richard Jenkins: Driver

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Quotes 

• [last lines] 

  Barack Obama (on TV) : [on TV delivering his election victory speech]  ... to reclaim the American dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth that out of many, we are one.

  Driver : You hear that line? Line's for you.

  Jackie Cogan : Don't make me laugh. We're one people. It's a myth created by Thomas Jefferson.

  Driver : Oh, now you're gonna have a go at Jefferson, huh?

  Jackie Cogan : My friend, Jefferson's an American saint because he wrote the words, "All men are created equal." Words he clearly didn't believe, since he allowed his own children to live in slavery. He was a rich wine snob who was sick of paying taxes to the Brits. So yeah, he wrote some lovely words and aroused the rabble, and they went out and died for those words, while he sat back and drank his wine and fucked his slave girl. This guy wants to tell me we're living in a community. Don't make me laugh. I'm living in America, and in America, you're on your own. America's not a country. It's just a business. Now fucking pay me.

• Jackie Cogan : You ever kill anyone?

  Driver : No.

  Jackie Cogan : It can get touchy-feely.

  Driver : Touchy-feely?

  Jackie Cogan : Emotional, not fun, a lot of fuss. They cry. They plead. They beg. They piss themselves. They call for their mothers. It gets embarrassing.

  Jackie Cogan : I like to kill them softly, from a distance. Not close enough for feelings. Don't like feelings. Don't want to think about them.

• Driver : They told me when they heard that if Dillon wasn't available that I was supposed to talk to the fella he sent. Is that you?

  Jackie Cogan : I don't see nobody else who might be here to meet you. Do you?

• Jackie Cogan : Now, aside from The Squirrel, we got the kids. Two kids. One of them's the motor-mouth; drove to Florida with Kenny, Kenny Gill. Our Kenny, the guy he knows works for Dillon. Starts bragging about how he's a big-time operator that just knocked over this guy's game for 100K.

  Driver : [chuckles]  You serious?

  Jackie Cogan : I don't know what it is with these guys; they can't keep their mouths shut about nothin'. And Kenny - Kenny's just as dumb. The way I found out was, this guy's investing his money in a couple ounces of smack. Once Kenny comes in with him, Kenny comes to me and wants to know what I think about that.

  Jackie Cogan : I guess these guys, they just want to go to jail. Probably feel at home there.

• Jackie Cogan : What's he gonna do, fold under questioning? If he does, they'll kill him. If he doesn't, they'll figure he's lying like last time and they'll kill him. Either way, Markie's dead. So why put the poor bastard through a beating? It's a waste of time - not to mention a really unpleasant experience for Markie. Just put him out of his misery, poor bastard.

  Jackie Cogan : What's the problem?

  Driver : It's murder and they are squeamish.

  Jackie Cogan : Oh, for fuck's sake.

• Driver : He's got a broken jaw. Got broken ribs, he got a broken nose, three or four broken teeth. There's some question about his spleen, he said. He was in the hospital when I talked to him. He's out now, I understand. Must be his spleen's okay then. You know, he's not happy, though.

  Jackie Cogan : I'm sorry to hear that. We aim to please.