Gorky Park (1983)

William Hurt: Arkady Renko

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Quotes 

• Irina Asanova : KGB have better cars, you know.

  Arkady Renko : Ah, but they don't always take you where you want to go, do they?

• Arkady Renko : Too many people in our society disappear without trace.

  Professor Andreev : Oh. Why is that?

  Arkady Renko : They fall into a chasm.

  Professor Andreev : What sort of chasm?

  Arkady Renko : The one between what is said and what is done.

  Professor Andreev : [Renko is talking very loudly, and Andreev's lab technicians are listening]  You may not be long for this world, my fine imprudent fellow.

• Jack Osborne : There's a sliver of food on your upper lip.

  Arkady Renko : I'm just a plodding investigator, no style. Completely out of my depth. Oh, yes. Three bodies, three people, shot down and mutilated in Gorky Park, and me, I have food on my lip.

  Jack Osborne : Not even caviar at that. I somehow feel that the executioner, whoever he may be, would have preferred somebody, a more nimble opponent.

• Arkady Renko : Of what interest is this to KBG?

  Maj. Pribluda : KGB decides what interests KGB.

• Arkady Renko : I believe the three were making a chest. A religious chest for the black market in icons.

  William Kirwill : Yeah. And?

  Arkady Renko : Their clothing. Beside the traces of gold and gesso, there were spots of chicken and fish blood. I don't know why.

  William Kirwill : I've been in your wondeful Soviet markets. I've never seen anything fresh enough to bleed.

• Arkady Renko : I always wanted to meet an American. You are so, so different. Forgive me for staring. Only once before did I ever meet an American, in the flesh, so to speak. A young student, Kirwell I think he was called. James Kirwell.

  Jack Osborne : Oh?

  Arkady Renko : But he was dead.

  Jack Osborne : That doesn't count then, does it?

• Levin : [Levin has just sawed off the heads of two of the Gorky Park corpses for reconstruction]  Do you want the third one?

  Arkady Renko : We have no idea what the big man looked like. Besides, how many do you think I can carry?

  Levin : Just so long as you know what to say if they stop you in the street.

• Arkady Renko : [to the bartender]  A Stinger, please.

  [walks away] 

  Arkady Renko : Stinger.

  William Kirwill : That's a whore's drink.

  Arkady Renko : I am a whore.

• Arkady Renko : The bodies have no marks of identification, Comrade Prosecutor.

  General : What? No papers? Here in Moscow?

  Arkady Renko : The bodies were badly mutilated. No papers. No fingertips. No faces. They were clean-shaven, General. Quite literally.

• Irina Asanova : KGB have better cars, you know.

  Arkady Renko : Ah, but they don't always take you where you want to go, do they?

• Professor Andreev : Renko? How interesting.

  Arkady Renko : Why?

  Professor Andreev : Your father was General Renko. You don't look a bit like him. My God. Your zygomaticus has a completely different elasticity altogether. Promise me I can have your face when the breath has left your body. Hmmm?

• Arkady Renko : It is more than possible that KGB killed those three people.

  Iamskoy : I agree.

  Arkady Renko : Then it is likely they are laying a trap for me.

  Iamskoy : Why?

  Arkady Renko : Three years ago I tried to arrest Major Pribluda. I proved he was an assassin. You remember those two bodies found by the river.

  Iamskoy : God, it's cold out here. You want to freeze my blood even more?

• William Kirwill : You know what a born-again Christian is, Renko?

  Arkady Renko : No.

  William Kirwill : Born-again Christians. They don't smoke, they don't swear, they don't fuck, all they do is talk about Jesus, try to walk on the goddamn water. That was Jimmy, God love him.

• Arkady Renko : I'm trying to save a life.

  Anton : Whose?

  Arkady Renko : Mine! I'm on a case that reeks of KGB involvement.

• Pasha : [Renko and Pasha are discussing likely KGB involvement in the Gorky Park murders]  Is it that shit-head Pribluda?

  Arkady Renko : That's like asking if the girl is a virgin when you see her in bed with a man on top of her.

  Pasha : What man?

  [Renko gives him a "you're missing the point" look] 

  Pasha : Oh.

• Irina Asanova : Well, are you going to arrest me for losing my skates?

  Arkady Renko : Perhaps not.

• Arkady Renko : [pulls the reconstructed head out of the box: shows it to a frightened Irina]  Here is Valerya.

• Arkady Renko : [the night before he is to meet with Osbourne]  Comrade Pribluda, when do I get the gun, and where do I kill him?

  Maj. Pribluda : You will ask no questions. You will make no comments. You will simply do as you're told. Consider yourself lucky to be still alive. Osborne will trade. He'll return the six sables, but he'll only talk to you. And I don't like that, Renko. I'm warning you. Be very, very careful.

• Iamskoy : [enters]  I read your report, Arkady. And I can see that you are anxious for the KGB to take over the case. This is not like you, huh? Why? What's wrong?

  Arkady Renko : May I speak freely?

  Iamskoy : To me? Always.

  Arkady Renko : It is more than possible that KGB killed those three people.

  Iamskoy : I agree.

  Arkady Renko : Then, it is likely they are laying a trap for me.

  Iamskoy : Why?

  Arkady Renko : Two years ago, I tried to arrest Major Pribluda. I proved he was an assassin. Remember the two bodies by the river?

  Iamskoy : God, it's cold out here. You want to freeze my blood even more?

  Iamskoy : I proved KGB did it. I moved for the indictment. And I was arrested and beaten senseless.

  Iamskoy : And who got you out?

  Arkady Renko : I was grateful to you. I am grateful to you. But it's a poisonous farce.

  Iamskoy : Arkady, things are changing. Believe me, I have more power than used to be the case. They are more vulnerable. You're easily the best policeman in Moscow. I need your help. I need it badly.

  Arkady Renko : And you can protect me and my men?

  Iamskoy : Listen, our Soviet constitution is a noble piece of work. But only if honourable men and women respect it. Now, I'm determined to stand on legality. KGB must not, cannot, work outside the law, otherwise they're little better than the CIA.

  Arkady Renko : But how?

  Iamskoy : Support me. Don't try to unload the case. We mustn't give them a centimetre. And I promise you, Arkady... I promise you, I'll be behind you every step of the way.

  [Irina enters] 

  Iamskoy : Yes, my dear?

  Irina Asanova : [to Arkady]  You are the only one here who is going back to Moscow tonight... .

  Arkady Renko : It seems so.

  Irina Asanova : Will you take me with you?

  Iamskoy : At this hour? Is there something wrong?

  Irina Asanova : Please?

  Iamskoy : You'd better first persuade Mr Osborne to give you a fur coat, my dear. The investigator's car has no heater.

• Arkady Renko : [referring to her stolen ice skates]  You didn't know they were missing for four days?

  Irina Asanova : That's how it is. You don't miss something till you need it.

  Arkady Renko : They were found on a dead girl.

  Irina Asanova : There is justice after all.

• Arkady Renko : Think back. Any idea who took your skates?

  Irina Asanova : I suspect everyone.

  Arkady Renko : So do I.

• Anton : What are we doing in the kitchen? You should be lying down.

  Arkady Renko : This is where you keep your French brandy.

• Arkady Renko : What did Osborne want?

  Golodkin : A chest. A big church chest. That's not a nun with tits.

  [laughs] 

  Golodkin : You know, with religious panels.

• Arkady Renko : How are they killed?

  Jack Osborne : Who?

  Jack Osborne : Sables.

• Irina Asanova : The director of that film promised me a pair of new boots if I went to bed with him. Think I should?

  Arkady Renko : Well, the winter's almost over.

  Irina Asanova : Exactly, and me a Siberian, I'm used to the cold.

• Natasha : [Renko and his friend Anton are drinking brandy when Anton's wife, Natasha, brings them vodka]  Wouldn't you two rather drink good Soviet vodka?

  Arkady Renko : No, Natasha, wicked French wine will do.

• Maj. Pribluda : [Pribluda suddenly arrives on the scene of the Gorky Park killings]  Greetings, Comrades! I bring you hot water bottles!

  Arkady Renko : Ah, good, we were wondering why you came, Comrade Major Pribluda.

• Iamskoy : And a very good morning to you.

  Arkady Renko : Oh, I've been up all night.

  Iamskoy : Come, come. No man can work so many hours.

  Arkady Renko : Don't worry, I'm going home to bed. This is my breakfast.

  Iamskoy : The poet lays down his pen, the killer his axe, and even you must learn to relax.

  Arkady Renko : Well, bed. I can relax in bed.

  Iamskoy : Just the thing to open up your pores and unclog your weary mind, you know. This is my daily regime. A brisk walk, a leisurely dip. It's wonderful.

  [cut to interior of a Russian bathhouse] 

  Iamskoy : Even we humble servants of the state need to be refreshed from time to time, eh?

  [Osborne enters] 

  Iamskoy : Ah!

  Jack Osborne : Well, well, this is a surprise.

  Iamskoy : You recall Chief Investigator Renko from last weekend at my dacha?

  Jack Osborne : Oh, yes, surely. I'm not quite sure whether he arrested, or abducted the young lady who accompanied me.

  Arkady Renko : *Rescued*.

  Iamskoy : Say, from the machinations of a capitalist.

• Jack Osborne : [Osborne finished dressing sees the approaching Renko's reflection in the mirror]  Ah. Finished eating, are we?

  Arkady Renko : Yes, thank you. Um... I understand you import our wonderful Soviet sable into America, Mr Osborne.

  Jack Osborne : Well, you Soviets have the world monopoly on sable.

  Arkady Renko : I always wanted a sable hat.

  Jack Osborne : Well, a man of your status should possess one. Must we see what we can do?

  Arkady Renko : Oh, we Russians have long ago learned how to wait for things. I'm very patient. I watch and I think and I wait. It is my only virtue.

  Jack Osborne : But why wait? I'm always happy to accommodate my ah... particular Soviet friends.

  Arkady Renko : Patience has its own rewards.

  Jack Osborne : Do you want the hat or not?

  [both force a smile and chuckle] 

  Jack Osborne : Perhaps the chief investigator has some other reward in mind?

  Arkady Renko : Yes.

  [pauses to walk to the other side of Osborne] 

  Arkady Renko : Perhaps.

  Jack Osborne : You don't know?

  Arkady Renko : Not yet. First I have the hunch. Then, I begin to assemble reasons. Then I...

  [protracted pause] 

  Jack Osborne : Then, you...?

  Arkady Renko : Then I pounce.

  Jack Osborne : Oh, that's no way to catch a sable. They're far too cunning and far too fast. While you wait and you think, and you watch... your prey is gone.

  [smiles] 

  Arkady Renko : Oh, I don't think so.

  Jack Osborne : Good. Good! Meanwhile I have the hat and you don't.

  [exits] 

• Arkady Renko : Irina, help me, please.

  Irina Asanova : How do I know the attack on me wasn't staged to make me trust you?

  Arkady Renko : [incredulously]  Irina.

  Irina Asanova : How do I know that you didn't plan it to make me betray my friends?

  Arkady Renko : Like Osborne, you mean. Your friend, Osborne. Let's talk about Osborne. Tell me about Osborne.

  Irina Asanova : Is that all you can do? Talk? Talk?

  Arkady Renko : Irina, listen.

  Irina Asanova : You don't have to talk so much.

  Arkady Renko : Irina, I am your friend.

  Irina Asanova : [caresses the side of Renko's face]  No, my enemy.

  Arkady Renko : Everything I've told you... is either an extraordinarily elaborate lie... or the very simple truth.

  Irina Asanova : It's a lie.

  [Renko exhales and exits] 

• Arkady Renko : Chief Investigator Renko reporting, General.

  General : Have you shaved this morning?

• Levin : I don't like to get mixed up with KGB work.

  Arkady Renko : Don't worry. If one of these bodies really is a foreigner, it's out of our hands anyway. I've just got to find enough to make KGB take over the case. And the quicker I can do that, the safer we'll all feel.

• Arkady Renko : What are you doing? You're insane! What are you trying to do? Kill yourself?

  Irina Asanova : Questions, questions.

• Arkady Renko : Pasha, this is Irina Asanova's file!

  Pasha : Put the light out.

  Arkady Renko : "Expelled from Moscow University for antisocial behaviour and unwise associations."

• Irina Asanova : It doesn't matter how ridiculous a lie is if it's your only chance of escape.

  Arkady Renko : No. Irina, no.

  Irina Asanova : It doesn't matter how obvious the truth is if the truth is that you'll never escape.

  Arkady Renko : Irina.

• Irina Asanova : I hate you.

  Arkady Renko : Irina, lies are not freedom.

  Irina Asanova : I hate you!