Mystic River (2003) - Quotes

A Heartfelt Confession of Regret

Jimmy Markum: I killed Dave. I killed him and I threw him into Mystic. But I killed the wrong man. That's what I've done. And I can't undo it.

Annabeth: Shh, Jimmy. Shh. I wanna feel your heart. Last night, when I put the girls to bed, I told them how big your heart was. I told them how much you loved Katie.

Jimmy Markum: Annabeth.

Annabeth: Because you created her. And, sometimes your love for her was so big, it was like your heart felt like it was gonna explode.

Jimmy Markum: Please stop.

Annabeth: I told them their daddy loved them that much, too. That he had four hearts and they were all filled up and aching with a love that meant we would never have to worry. And that their daddy would do whatever he had to for those he loved. And that is never wrong. That can never be wrong, no matter what he had to do. And those girls fell asleep in peace.

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Reflections on Childhood and Reality

Sean Devine: Sometimes I think... I think all three of us got in that car. And all of this is just a dream, you know?

Jimmy Markum: A dream, sure.

Sean Devine: In reality, we're still eleven year-old boys locked in a cellar imagining what our lives woulda been like if we'd escaped.

Jimmy Markum: Maybe you're right. Who the fuck knows?

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A Conversation About Dave Boyle

Sean Devine: So, Jimmy...when was the last time you saw Dave?

Jimmy Markum: The last time I saw Dave.

Sean Devine: Yeah. Dave Boyle.

Jimmy Markum: Dave Boyle.

Sean Devine: Yeah, Jimmy. Dave Boyle.

Jimmy Markum: That was 25 years ago, going up this street in the back of that car.

Sean Devine: Jimmy, what did you do?

Jimmy Markum: Thanks for finding my daughter's killers, Sean. If only you'd been a little faster.

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A Moment of Tension Between Friends

Dave Boyle: Hey, you think I could get that Sprite, Sean?

Sean Devine: Sure.

Dave Boyle: Oh, I get it. You're the good cop. How about a meatball sub while you're at it?

Sean Devine: I ain't your bitch, Dave. Looks like you'll have to wait.

Dave Boyle: Yeah, but you're someone's bitch, aren't you, Sean?

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The Uniqueness of True Love

Brendan Harris: I loved her so much. I'm never gonna feel that again. It doesn't happen twice.

Sean Devine: Doesn't happen once most times.

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Struggling with Grief and Memory

Jimmy Markum: I just can't let anything get fucked up in these next few days. Because it's all anybody will remember about her. One thing you could say about Katie, even when she was little...that girl was neat. When I got out of the joint...you know, after Marita died...I remember, I was more afraid of my little daughter...than I ever was of being in prison. I loved her...most...because when we were sitting in that kitchen that night...it was like we were the last two people on Earth. You know, forgotten. Unwanted. And it's really starting to piss me off, Dave, because I can't cry for her. My own little daughter, and I can't even cry for her.

Dave Boyle: Jimmy...you're crying now.

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Coping with Grief and Responsibilities

Theo: So how are you handling all this so far?

Jimmy Markum: It hasn't really sunk in, Theo.

Theo: Yeah? It's gonna hurt like hell when it does. When my Janey died, I was no good for six months...but my kids were all grown up. I had that luxury. You, you got domestic responsibilities.

Jimmy Markum: Domestic responsibilities?

Theo: Yeah, you gotta take care of my daughter and those girls. That's your first priority.

Jimmy Markum: Oh, you figured that might have slipped my mind?

Theo: It just needed to be said, that's all. You'll come through because you're a man. Like I said to Annabeth, your wedding day. I said, You got yourself a real old-school man there.

Jimmy Markum: Like they put her in a bag.

Theo: What?

Jimmy Markum: That's what Katie looked like when I saw her in the morgue. Like they put her in a bag and then they beat the bag with pipes.

Theo: Well...

Jimmy Markum: Janey died in her sleep, all due respect. She went to sleep, she never woke up. Peaceful.

Theo: You don't need to talk about Janey.

Jimmy Markum: My daughter was murdered. They put a gun to her. As we stand here, she's on an autopsy slab...getting cut open by scalpels and chest spreaders...and you're talking to me about domestic fucking responsibility? Good to see you, Theo.

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Prison's Mark: Tension in the Shoulders

Whitey Powers: Your pal Markum, the moment I laid eyes on him, I could tell he'd done time. They never lose that tension, it settles in their shoulders.

Sean Devine: He lost his daughter. That's what's in his shoulders.

Whitey Powers: No, that's in his stomach. The tension in his shoulders, that's prison.

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The Impact of Choices on Life Paths

Jimmy Markum: Did you ever think about how one little choice could change a whole life? I heard Hitler's mother wanted to abort him. At the last minute, she changed her mind. See what I mean?

Sean Devine: What do you mean, Jimmy?

Jimmy Markum: What if you or I had gotten into that car instead of Dave Boyle?

Sean Devine: What car? You're losing me here.

Jimmy Markum: If I'd gotten into that car that day, my life would have been a different thing. My first wife, Marita, Katie's mother...she was a beautiful woman. Regal. As a lot of Latin women are, and she knew it. You had to have balls to go near her, and I did. Eighteen years old, the two of us. She was carrying Katie. Now, here's the thing, Sean. If I'd gotten into that car, I'd be a basket case. I never would have had the juice to go near her. And Katie never would have been born. And she never would have been murdered. You know?

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Exploring Attraction and Relationships in Conversation

Whitey Powers: So the wife left you six months ago?

Sean Devine: So?

Whitey Powers: So Jenny Coughlin there with the body, voice and the cuffs... This girl, she makes gay guys rethink their orientation.

Sean Devine: So, what's your point?

Whitey Powers: The girl just wants to bed you, not wed you. You don't even blink? She wants to worship at the temple of Devine.

The Lasting Impact of Trauma

Dave Boyle: It's like vampires. Once it's in you...it stays.

Identity and Loss in Mystic River

Dave Boyle: Dave's dead. I don't know who came out of that cellar, but it sure as shit wasn't Dave.

Reflection on Humanity and Forgetting

Dave Boyle: Maybe one day you wake up and you forget what it's like...to be human. Maybe then it's okay.

The Pain of Causing Loneliness

Dave Boyle: It makes you feel...alone, you know, hurting somebody.

The Futility of Grief and Justice

Sean Devine: I'm tired of caring about some dead girl, and...there's just gonna be another one after her. Sending killers to jail is sending them where...they've been heading all their lives. The dead are still dead.