When Brick Forcefury is questioning Garcon (the bartender) it is evident from his expression that he derives sadistic from her discomfort, just as Mike Hammer (played by Ralph Meeker) derives sadistic pleasure from use of excessive force.
When Brick Forcefury smokes the unidentified drug, he is transported to a psychedlic realm that resembles the hallucination Eddie Jessup (played by William Hurt) experiences in sensory deprivation.
When Brick Forcefury is told not to use the term "mulatto" to describe New Partner (who is half alien and half human) he instead refers to her as a "cantaloupe". The same term used by Clifford Worley (played by Dennis Hopper) when he is disparaging the Italian ancestry of Vincenzo Coccotti (played by Christopher Walken).
Brick asks New Partner whether she's a "canaloupe or can'taloupe", just as Agent Sands (played by Johnny Depp) asks an informant whether he's a "Mexican or a Mexican't"