Incident on a Dark Street (1973 TV Movie)

James Olson: Joe Dubbs

Quotes 

• Joe Dubbs : Now you're the bad guy, the defendant's the good guy, he always is, he looks like a good guy: played ball once, clean cut, looks you right in the eye, his wife and kid are there, they look nice, great, kid's cute, wife's as pretty as your sister, she looks you right in the eye too. Everybody looks you in the eye and feels sorry for him, the judge, clerk, jury, press, every one of them, you're a bum, he's a hero, the whole thing's a mistake. But there you are, you've got the indictment right in your hand; Blue Eyes is accused of violating the law, your job is to enforce the law. That's what you swore you'd do when you accepted this appointment as Assistant United States Attorney, for $14,600 per annum. So you get up in the morning, you put you pants on, you come down here and you spend your whole day, a lot of days, and a lot of nights, also a lot of weekends. You married?

  Paul Hamilton Jr : No.

  Joe Dubbs : Good. Trying to put Blue Eyes in jail, you're a terrible man, awful, do you know how terrible and awful you are? You're the one who decided to prosecute, you, you made the decision, you went in front of the Grand Jury, you asked for the indictment. You're responsible for the cleanest cut, biggest blue-eyed all-American American anybody ever saw, standing there at the Bar of Justice looking everybody in the eye. You did it pal, you, so before you open your mouth, before you say one word, before you threaten that man's life, his work, his dreams, his hopes, before you try to put him behind bars, take away his freedom, separate him from those he loves, deprive him of his liberty, lock him up, you check the facts of the case, backwards, forwards, up, down, sideways, inside out, every way you can figure out. And before you stand up and say you represent the United States government, you make sure every damn word that comes out of your mouth is fact.

  [points to U.S. flag] 

  Joe Dubbs : THAT is your client.

• Joe Dubbs : Don't call me 'sir.'

• Abe Hirsch : I know you've worked and waited a long time to get Leopold, that's common knowledge.

  Joe Dubbs : I'm not so sure a man like Leopold or what he represents is common knowledge, Abe, I'm not sure at all. Oh you think you know, the man in the street thinks he knows, but what is Leopold? A racketeer, a part of organized crime? Those are only labels, he's more than that and what he does is more dangerous, more subtle, more deadly. He's got money, it's easy for him to corrupt a public official like Deaver Wallace, but that's only one danger. Now look at it this way, Abe, if there were a way to take a predatory criminal like a burglar out of society, nobody'd miss him very much. But if the confederation of men who make up organized crime were suddenly obliterated and the racketeers, they'd be suddenly missed, seriously missed, badly missed, sadly missed. You know why? The public, the public keeps them in business and men like Leopold provide forbidden goods and services that the public demands: gambling, prostitution, loan sharking, those are the things that Leopold represents, and if we can get one of those monsters out of business, we're in business. And if you quote me, I'll kill you,

  [to Gallagher] 

  Joe Dubbs : and he'll help me. Right?

  Peter Gallagher : Right.