Inspector Henri Barthelemy Quotes in French Connection II (1975)

Jimmy 'Popeye' Doyle: [drunk] You know, I had a tryout with the Yankees. You know what the Yankees are?

Inspector Henri Barthelemy: Yes. As in "Yankee go home."

Jimmy 'Popeye' Doyle: Yeah. NO! No, uh... Uh... no, the Yankee baseball... baseball team. Yeah, I had a tryout with them and... they sent me down to the... the minors. And the poblem... poblem... problem was that... there was a fuckin' kid there, and he was... the fastest bastard, he was fuckin' FAST. And he... he played shortstop at the time, and he... he could hit the ball a fuckin' ton. A fuckin' TON! You know what "fuck" means?

Inspector Henri Barthelemy: Yeah.

Jimmy 'Popeye' Doyle: Yeah. Well, I was in spring training... and I saw this kid... and I just immediately took the test for cops. That kid was Mickey Mantle. You know who Mickey Mantle was? You fuckhead?

Inspector Henri Barthelemy: No, I can't say that I know.

Jimmy 'Popeye' Doyle: You don't know who Mickey Mantle was? Huh? How about Willie Mays? Say hey! Willie Mays! The mighty Willie Mays! See?

Inspector Henri Barthelemy: No.

Jimmy 'Popeye' Doyle: Max Lanier - a frog. Jean Kiley. You remember Jean Kiley?

Inspector Henri Barthelemy: Gene Kelly?

Jimmy 'Popeye' Doyle: Gene... Not Gene Kelly! Jean Kiley! The fuckin' skier!

Inspector Henri Barthelemy: Oh - you mean Jean-Claude Killy.

Jimmy 'Popeye' Doyle: That's what I said! Yes. Fuck, yeah. Good athlete. Well, and... Whitey Ford. Goddamn. You know who Whitey Ford was? Oh... shit. He was a dandy little southpaw. That's what we called him. He was a dandy little southpaw.

Inspector Henri Barthelemy: Southpaw?

Jimmy 'Popeye' Doyle: Yeah. He was a lefty.

Inspector Henri Barthelemy: You mean a Communist?

Jimmy 'Popeye' Doyle: No, he was a Republican. But he was somethin', I tell you. He was somethin'...

Jimmy 'Popeye' Doyle: Listen, asshole, tell me the truth. I was set up, wasn't I?

[pause]

Jimmy 'Popeye' Doyle: Whose idea was it?

Inspector Henri Barthelemy: What difference does it make?

Jimmy 'Popeye' Doyle: They sent me over here to work with you. You put me on the street, so Charnier could blow me away. That's beautiful. Beautiful.

Inspector Henri Barthelemy: Why didn't you figure this out earlier?

Jimmy 'Popeye' Doyle: Why didn't I think of it earlier? Cuz I'm a bigger asshole than you are.