Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (TV Series)

Manhunt (2001)

Richard Belzer: Detective John Munch

Photos 

Quotes 

• John Munch : [to Fin]  Eight months of the cold shoulder, now I can't shut you up. So why'd you leave Narcotics?

  Fin Tutuola : My partner took a bullet that was meant for me. Sort of took all the fun out of it. Why'd you leave Homicide?

  John Munch : I came back from Baltimore after my last marriage broke up. The only opening in my bracket was SVU. Seen enough dead bodies, figured the change would do me good. Little did I know, it's the living victims that rip your guts out.

• John Munch : [to Sarah at the end of the episode]  I just wanted to tell you, you can turn your lights out tonight.

• Fin Tutuola : [at a fish market to question a suspect]  How desperate does somebody gotta be to take a gig in a place like this?

  John Munch : Worked here when I was a kid. Made good money, too.

  Fin Tutuola : What'd you do with all your money? You can't tell me women wanted to get with you after a day in a flower shop like this.

  John Munch : Two words: Aqua Velva.

  Fin Tutuola : Come again?

  John Munch : Fishmonger's best friend. After a hot shower, slather some of that on. Smell like Vic Damone.

  Fin Tutuola : More like a mackerel and some cheap aftershave.

• Odafin Tutuola : [arriving in Walden Falls]  Where's Opie?

  John Munch : Probably gone fishing.

  Odafin Tutuola : Speaking of which, you look a little green around the gills.

  John Munch : Well, maybe it's because riding with you is like taking a four-hour spin on the Tilt-O-Whirl.

  Odafin Tutuola : I told you to take the Dramamine.

  John Munch : I hate pills.

  Odafin Tutuola : So you'd rather puke.

  John Munch : I'm not going to puke, but you could use a road course on driving in hazardous conditions.

  Odafin Tutuola : I kept it on the road.

  John Munch : Barely.

• John Munch : How could we be so stupid?

  Odafin Tutuola : We weren't the only ones. Even Aunt Mary thinks he's a hero.

  John Munch : Yeah, well, Aunt Mary's a few tea bags shy of a full pot.

• John Munch : It's my catch, Captain. I got it covered.

  Donald Cragen : You're still the primary, but that doesn't mean you don't need backup. Now, the only agenda here is catching this guy before he kills again. Got it?

  John Munch : Got it.

  Donald Cragen : Good. Now, where's your partner?

  John Munch : He's with a couple of witnesses and a sketch artist.

  Donald Cragen : Well, while you're waiting, why don't you fill Alex in.

  John Munch : Mind if I get my morning tea first?

  Alexandra Cabot : Not at all.

• Sarah Kimmel : Is he really here?

  John Munch : We have a suspect, but we need a positive ID.

  Sarah Kimmel : I can't.

  John Munch : He won't be able to see you.

  Sarah Kimmel : But I see him, every time I close my eyes. I leave my lights on at night or I'll see him staring at me from the shadows.

  John Munch : He can't hurt you anymore.

  Sarah Kimmel : I'm 28. I'm living on disability because I can't leave my house without falling apart. Don't tell me that he can't hurt me.

  John Munch : I wouldn't ask you to do this unless I had to, but we think he's hurting somebody else.

• Odafin Tutuola : I still don't see why the city couldn't spring for two rooms.

  John Munch : 'Cause they're cheap. D.A. wants to redecorate her office with antiques and Berber rugs, and we got to beg for table scraps.

  Odafin Tutuola : In Narcotics, we always got our own rooms; sometimes entire apartments.

  John Munch : How's that?

  Odafin Tutuola : Undercover. Got to create entirely new identities. You know, apartments, bank accounts, the whole works. One time I was under for seven weeks. Had a nice little duplex in the Village. After we bust the dope ring, I gotta move back to my little cracker box one-bedroom in Brooklyn. First week home, I kept bumping into my own furniture.

  John Munch : This place must make you feel right at home.

  Odafin Tutuola : Not exactly. I got a nice entertainment system, surround sound, and widescreen TV.

• Fin Tutuola : The Bowery Stalker.

  John Munch : One and the same.

  Fin Tutuola : I haven't heard about this guy in a long time.

  John Munch : Not long enough.

• Fin Tutuola : How long you think the Stalker will keep her alive?

  John Munch : Until he's finished with her.

• John Munch : [during a lineup]  Which one, Sarah? Which one?

  Sarah Kimmel : [while shaking]  He's not there.

  [hugs Munch as she cries] 

  John Munch : It's okay. It's all right. It's all right.

• Darryl Kern : I've been one step ahead of you since you stormed the warehouse. Every time I grabbed another target, I thought about you. And when they were screaming for mercy, I had a little laugh at your expense like I'm having a little laugh right now, because you think you've won.

  John Munch : I'm gonna have my own little laugh when I watch them stick the needle in your arm.

• John Munch : About a year ago, Sarah Kimmel stumbled into a bar on Avenue D half naked, beaten, claiming that a man with a beard imprisoned her as his sex slave in an abandoned warehouse on Broome. We raided it, found a makeshift cell in the basement stocked with sex toys and various instruments of torture, and four mutilated bodies.

  Alexandra Cabot : Any trace evidence?

  John Munch : A few partials and DNA, but nothing our system could match it to. We staked the building out for a month. No luck. The guy just disappeared.

  Alexandra Cabot : Until now.

  John Munch : Must have found a new safe house.

  Alexandra Cabot : And potentially more victims.

• John Munch : That's a hell of a tattoo you got there, Frankie.

  Frank Taggart : It's an original.

  Odafin Tutuola : Your design?

  Frank Taggart : Elmo's Tats on 8th. What the hell do you care?

  John Munch : Where were you last night between 11:00 and midnight?

  Frank Taggart : Rusty's Bar in the Alphabet.

  Odafin Tutuola : Can you prove it?

  Frank Taggart : The barstool near the door has a permanent imprint of my ass. Feel free to check it out.

• John Munch : I was sure we had him. What the hell are we missing?

  Odafin Tutuola : I was just thinking: Taggart said his tattoo was an original.

  John Munch : Right. Elmo's Tats on 8th.

  Odafin Tutuola : I wonder how many Elmo originals are walking around Manhattan.

• John Munch : Kern's E-Z pass statements show periodic travel along the same route dating back to last June. From Manhattan, he goes across the Triborough Bridge onto the Thruway, across the Tappen Zee, north to Utica where he exits onto Route 12 north.

  Odafin Tutuola : Credit cards show him gassing up his '92 Pathfinder along Routes 12 and 11 all the way up to Walden Falls, a pit stop of a town twenty miles northeast of Watertown.

  John Munch : Two days later, he takes the same route back to the city.

  Odafin Tutuola : Seven women went missing within a day of each of these trips.

  Elliot Stabler : You got a lot of unspoiled wilderness up there.

  Donald Cragen : Well, there's only one way to find him. Munch, Fin, pack your bags. You're going on a road trip.

• ATF Agent Gus Stone : This is a federal matter.

  Walden Falls Police Chief Walker : And this is my office. Play by my rules or get out.

  ATF Agent Gus Stone : You're in over your head. This man has enough firepower to start World War III.

  John Munch : And somebody's blowing enough hot air to re-float the Hindenburg.

  ATF Agent Gus Stone : Who the hell are you?

  John Munch : Detective John Munch, NYPD. Who the hell are you?

  ATF Agent Gus Stone : Gus Stone, Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms.

  John Munch : Well, Mr. Stone, why don't you take your cowboys and step aside and let the police do their work?

  ATF Agent Gus Stone : I have a federal warrant for Darryl Kern's arrest.

  John Munch : And I have somene who can help find him before he kills another innocent woman. Who trumps who?

• Frank Taggart : Am I being charged with something here or are we just shooting the breeze?

  Odafin Tutuola : We got witnesses that place you and your original tattoo outside a diner on Canal Street grabbing a girl and pistol-whipping her friend.

  Frank Taggart : I was nowhere near the place.

  John Munch : Just like you were nowhere near your girlfriend's place the night you beat the crap out of her?

  Frank Taggart : That was a misunderstanding.

  John Munch : You put your fist right through her teeth.

  Frank Taggart : And I did my time, and I ain't been near the bitch since.

• John Munch : Bartender at Rusty's said Taggart ducked out around 11:00 the night of the abduction.

  Odafin Tutuola : Gets him to the diner with time to spare.

  Donald Cragen : Well, what about the 4x4?

  John Munch : Nothing registered to him.

  Odafin Tutuola : Doesn't mean he didn't steal one.

  Donald Cragen : Well, get all the witnesses down here for a lineup, including Sarah Kimmel.

  John Munch : It's been almost a year.

  Donald Cragen : He held her in that warehouse for two days. I doubt she's gonna forget his face.

• Alexandra Cabot : [as Canadian authorities transfer custody of Darryl Kern to U.S. authorities]  Detectives, take custody of the prisoner.

  Fin Tutuola : Darryl Kern, you're under arrest for the murders of Ernest Dillman, Arnold and Amanda Cokely, and Annie Tassler.

  John Munch : [Coming face to face with the prisoner, Detective Munch smiles]  Welcome home, Darryl.

  [the prisoner is then led away] 

  John Munch : [Speaking now to A.D.A. Cabot]  Thanks.

  [A.D.A. Cabot smiles and nods her head "Yes"] 

• John Munch : [Talking about the murder suspect who has been arrested in Canada for shoplifting]  He says they won't extradite on capital offenses.

  Alexandra Cabot : The Canadian Supreme Court tightened their restrictions last year.

  John Munch : So, he can flip us off from Canadian prison.

  Alexandra Cabot : Well, he can make the argument. That doesn't mean he'll win.

  John Munch : He saves his neck, he wins.

  Alexandra Cabot : Look, I did not come all the way up here to go home empty-handed. John, you did your job. Now, let me do mine.

• Donald Cragen : You're late.

  John Munch : I was up all night interviewing witnesses.

  Donald Cragen : D.A. wants an update on the Bowery Stalker.

  John Munch : Can't wait for the report?

  Alexandra Cabot : She's made this case a top priority. Any warrants, lab work, anything you need.

  John Munch : Why all the sudden attention?

  Alexandra Cabot : She knows how elusive he's been. She thought you could use some help.

  John Munch : Because I didn't nail him last time?

  Donald Cragen : Oh, come on, John. Nobody's blaming you. We're all on the same team here.

  John Munch : Then why did you start the team meeting without me?

  Elliot Stabler : We were just leaving.

  Donald Cragen : No, no, no. Stay. I want you and Olivia to help with the canvass.