- Joe Mannix: Lew, we've been here before. I know you won't change the system. I know I won't change the system. It's logical. Can me.
- Lew Wickersham: You're my best man!
- Joe Mannix: I know.
- Lew Wickersham: I know you know!
- [Mannix meets with his boss and friend Lew Wickersham in Wickersham's office]
- Lew Wickersham: [holds wristwatch in his hand] Three days and fifty-five minutes late.
- Joe Mannix: I, uh, broke the Ashland case.
- Lew Wickersham: Uh-huh.
- Joe Mannix: Didn't do my hand any good, either.
- Lew Wickersham: You broke the man's jaw. Did ya have to slug him?
- Joe Mannix: It seemed like a pretty good idea, at the time.
- Lew Wickersham: Now you know Intertect's policy about brawling.
- Joe Mannix: Yeah, well, it got the job done anyway, Lew.
- Lew Wickersham: True. But Mannix, I run an organization, a large one. I have to have rules, a system. It's not perfect, no system is. It is, however, designed to get the most out of people.
- Joe Mannix: [looks up sharply at Wickersham's last words] Not me.
- Lew Wickersham: [gestures for Mannix to follow him] Now come on, I have a job for you.
- Joe Mannix: [trailing behind] What's the rough angle this time that means it's mine?
- [Joe Mannix looks at a photo of a missing young woman Intertect has been hired to find]
- Lew Wickersham: The girl's name is Angela Dubrio.
- Joe Mannix: [surprised] Father, Samuel Dubrio? Used to head the rackets up twenty or thirty years ago? Now why would he call Intertect for help?
- Lew Wickersham: He didn't. He asked for my best man. If you laugh, I will fire you.
- [Joe Mannix is forcibly brought by an armed chauffeur to meet with Sam Dubrio, who is supervising renovations at his estate]
- Sam Dubrio: I'm Sam Dubrio.
- Joe Mannix: Nice meeting you. And goodbye.
- [Mannix turns to leave when the chauffeur draws the .45 and aims it at him]
- Sam Dubrio: Don't you know what that thing is?
- Joe Mannix: Sure, but a gun in the hand doesn't mean the world by the tail.
- [In the final scene, Lew Wickersham holds a meeting in a conference room with Intertect department heads]
- Lew Wickersham: Now, for the benefit of those who couldn't make it last time...
- Joe Mannix: [enters without knocking] Lew, I...
- Lew Wickersham: [takes off glasses] Oh, hello Joe, what is it?
- Joe Mannix: [realizing he's interrupting] Uh, it'll hold.
- Lew Wickersham: How'd it go?
- Joe Mannix: I found the girl.
- [Mannix leaves]
- Executive at Meeting: Who was that?
- Lew Wickersham: [smiles watching Mannix depart, then puts on glasses to resume the meeting] His name is Mannix.
- [Arriving at Palm Springs International Airport, Joe Mannix waits for his rental car when Samuel Dubrio's chauffeur approaches, holding hat in hand, first offering a ride, then resorting to brandishing a .45 automatic pistol hidden in his cap. Mannix shrugs and walks to the waiting limousine as the car rental salesperson drives up with Mannix's rental car]
- Car Rental Salesperson: Sir! Something the matter?
- Joe Mannix: Not at all. He just tried harder.