"[looking at the dead bodies of Moose and Velma] Moose never would have hurt her. It didn't matter to him that she hadn't written in 6 years. It didn't matter that she turned him in for a reward. The big lug loved her... and if he was still alive... it wouldn't matter to him that she'd pumped 3 bullets into him... What a world."

"Robert Mitchum - Philip Marlowe"

"[voiceover, to himself] You've been beaten up, slapped, shot full of hop until you were as crazy as two waltzing mice; now let's see you do something really tough, like getting up."

"[voiceover] It was one of those transient motels, something between a fleabag and a dive."

"[voiceover] I sparred with the night clerk for a couple of minutes, but it was like trying to open a sardine can after you broke off the metal lip. There was something about Abraham Lincoln's picture that loosened him up."

"[on being shaken by the lapels] Now wait a minute. I've been slapped, scratched, punched, knocked unconscious, drugged, and shot at, looking for your Velma, so quit trying to make a milkshake out of my insides, will you?"

"Jack O'Halloran - Moose Malloy"

"[voiceover] She gave me a smile I could feel in my hip pocket."

"[voiceover, opening lines] This past spring was the first that I felt tired and realized I was growing old. Maybe it was the rotten weather we'd had in L.A. Maybe the rotten cases I'd had. Mostly chasing a few missing husbands and then chasing their wives once I found them, in order to get paid. Or maybe it was just the plain fact that I am tired and growing old."

"Sylvester Stallone - Jonnie"

"Richard Bright - The Thief"

"Jack Dodson - Harold Clinton"

"Slim Pickens - a Cowboy"

"[voiceover] The house itself wasn't much. It was smaller than Buckingham Palace and probably had fewer windows than the Chrysler building."

"Dub Taylor - Laughlin"

"Bo Hopkins - Frank Jackson"

"Tom Selleck - surgery patient Sean Murphy"

"Joanna Kerns - Diane"

"Betty McGuire - a nurse"

"Ed Harris - Pathology resident"

"Hari Rhodes - Dr. Morelind"

"Richard Doyle - Jim"

"Lance LeGault - Vince"

"Philip Baker Hall - a doctor"

"Elizabeth Ashley - Nurse Emerson"

"Rip Torn - Dr. George"

"Richard Widmark - Dr. George Harris"

"Michael Douglas - Dr. Mark Bellows"

"Nurse: Doctors make the worst patients. They know too much."

"Geneviève Bujold - Dr. Susan Wheeler"

"Lois Chiles - Nancy Greenly"

"We are dealing in an area of uncertainty. An area where there are no rules, contradictory laws and no clear social consensus as to what should be done. And the cost of care for the chronic patient has become prohibitive. This is particularly the case with the long-term comatose patient. The Jefferson Institute is a government- sponsored experimental facility designed to provide quality life support to the comatose patient. I wish to emphasize no moral or ethical position is being taken here. We do not participate in the debate over whether these patients are alive or dead or whether their care should be continued or terminated. Society will decide if there will be more of these facilities or not. In the meantime, we merely provide care as inexpensively as possible."