Richard Messner Quotes in Smokin' Aces (2006)

Richard Messner: [asking about his wounds] How bad?

Donald Carruthers: [weakly] Mortal.

Richard Messner: What?

Donald Carruthers: Mortal.

Richard Messner: No. Fuck!

[first lines]

Donald Carruthers: You've got to be careful when doing your stakeouts. I did one for... I was on one for six months. I gained, like, 20, 25 pounds. You keep eating this crap...

Richard Messner: Well, that's not my problem, though. I don't gain weight. I tried.

Donald Carruthers: That's 'cause you're 12 years old.

Donald Carruthers: Do you know what? Urine is good for your skin? My grandmother... I swear to god, my grandmother told me. She said... She didn, 'cause when I used to get a zit or something, she said...

Richard Messner: She pissed on your face?

Donald Carruthers: Get the fuck out of here. Are you fucking nuts?

Richard Messner: What?

Donald Carruthers: She's my grandmother.

Richard Messner: You just told me your grandmother said that piss is good for your skin.

Richard Messner: You said someone came up to you as an FBI agent?

Pimply Casino Employee: Yeah?

Richard Messner: And then you saw him get on the elevator wearing a security guard outfit?

Pimply Casino Employee: Yeah?

Richard Messner: And THAT doesn't seem odd to you?

Richard Messner: [while staring at the comatose Buddy Israel and Primo Sparazza] Make it make sense.

Stanley Locke: They are father and son. Israel's mother was nineteen at the time. She and Sparazza had a brief affair of which Israel was the byproduct. That same year, she brought a paternity suit against him.

Richard Messner: Our surveillance of Padiche, Serna...

Stanley Locke: All bogus and bad information that set off a series of unfortunate events. Dr. Ingstrom, the Swede, is not a hired killer. He's actually the head of cardiology at Stockholm University. He's one of the best heart surgeons in the world. The actual contract went to Lazlo Soot, the man who escaped the penthouse yesterday... in disguise. He was hired by Sparazza to neutralize Israel's entourage. Dr. Ingstrom was here to perform the surgery, and as father and son, they are blood compatible.

Richard Messner: You're talking about a transplant, aren't you? You're talking about a fucking heart transplant. You're gonna kill Israel to save Sparazza

Stanley Locke: [hands Messner a folder] No.

[reffering to Sparazza's plastic surgery]

Stanley Locke: It wasn't elective. It was undertaken to save his life. It wasn't cosmetic. It was reconstructive. Look at the date of the first procedure. Same year that Sparazza supposedly murdered Freeman Heller.

Freeman Heller: [flashback] I'd like to show you exactly what I meant when I said, "Change my face." Using the latest techniques in cosmetic surgery, I will have my ears pinned back. Removing a slight piece of bone in my chin I will alter my jaw line. A procedure known as rhinoplasty will reduce the size of my nose. If you add facial hair to the equation, gentlemen, you have a face that looks nothing like mine and more importantly, nothing like a federal agent's.

Richard Messner: [present day] Oh, Christ.

Freeman Heller: [flashback] I will maintain a slight limp. My accent will be a regional Calabrese. My birthplace, Cosenza, Italy.

Richard Messner: [present day] That's him.

Freeman Heller: [flashback] And my name...

Richard Messner: [present day] That's Heller.

Freeman Heller: [flashback] ... will be Primo Sparazza. Now, gentlemen, I understand that this is a dramatic approach.

Stanley Locke: [present day] He went deep cover in 1940. He could have ripped the Mafia apart.

Freeman Heller: [flashback] But I firmly believe...

Stanley Locke: [present day] Dismantled most of the organized crime in this country.

Freeman Heller: [flashback] ... this is the only way to truly infiltrate organized crime.

Stanley Locke: His superiors were convinced that he had gone rogue, swapped allegiances, so they gave the order to terminate his cover. All this time, we were told that it was Sparazza that killed Heller, when it was us, the FBI. And we didn't kill him. He survived. But the injuries he sustained required constant surgery, forever alterine his features. So he assumed the identity of his alter ego. The figment of Primo Sparazza became flesh and blood, and Freeman Heller was no more. Now, the brass wanted Heller's op removed from official records, so they buried it completely and they wrote Heller off. All the agents from that era, they're dead and gone, so history defaulted to fable. Until now. Heller's op predated the second World War. About 60 years of amassed intel. Do you have any idea how valuable that is?

Richard Messner: Yeah. So you made another deal, didn't you?

Stanley Locke: Israel's deal with the government was tossed out. We are now trying to rehabilitate him, so we can attempt a transplant.

Richard Messner: You realize that you're doing this to save Sparazza?

Stanley Locke: No, son. I'm doing all this to save Heller.

[Messner has learned the truth about Sparazza and is upset about losing his partner for nothing]

Richard Messner: You tell me something. Is he the Rosetta Stone? He's gonna blow the lid off the last sixty years?