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Arthur Gwynn Geiger
Joe Brody is a black grifter who tries and fails to steal Arthur Gwynn Geiger’s racket, an illegal pornography outlet. He does so with the help of Geiger’s store assistant, “the blonde,” Agnes Lovelle. Things do not go to plan, however, when Geiger’s other assistant and implied lover, Carol Lundgren, thinks Brody killed Geiger to steal his business from him. Lundgren kills Brody in revenge. Joe is innocent of the murder, but was present at the scene of the crime. Brody tells Philip Marlowe that he tailed Geiger to his house, and heard the gunshots from within. Brody then followed the real murderer, Owen Taylor, and overpowered him, stealing photographic negatives of a naked Carmen Sternwood in the process. Agnes helps Brody blackmail Carmen over the pictures, but Marlowe overpowers Brody and takes the pictures from him. Carmen tries to frame Brody for Geiger’s murder because of a past feud. Brody’s tale of frustrated ambition demonstrates how regular grifters struggle to carve out their own racket in the chaos of L.A.’s criminal underworld.
Joe Brody Quotes in The Big Sleep
The The Big Sleep quotes below are all either spoken by Joe Brody or refer to Joe Brody. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 14
Quotes
“What?” the blonde yelped. “You sit there and try to tell us Mr. Geiger ran that kind of business right down on the main drag? You’re nuts!” I leered at her politely. “Sure I do. Everybody knows the racket exists. Hollywood's made to order for it. If a thing like that has to exist, then right out on the street is where all practical coppers want it to exist. For the same reason they favor red light districts. They know where to flush the game when they want to.”
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Chapter 21
Quotes
Eddie Mars would have been very unlikely to involve himself in a double murder just because another man had gone to town with the blonde he was not even living with … If there had been a lot of money involved, that would be different. But fifteen grand wouldn't be a lot of money to Eddie Mars. He was no two-bit chiseler like Brody.
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Carol Lundgren, the boy killer with the limited vocabulary, was out of circulation for a long, long time, even if they didn’t strap him in a chair over a bucket of acid. They wouldn’t, because he would take a plea and save the county money. They all do when they don't have the price of a big lawyer.
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Joe Brody Quotes in The Big Sleep
The The Big Sleep quotes below are all either spoken by Joe Brody or refer to Joe Brody. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 14
Quotes
“What?” the blonde yelped. “You sit there and try to tell us Mr. Geiger ran that kind of business right down on the main drag? You’re nuts!” I leered at her politely. “Sure I do. Everybody knows the racket exists. Hollywood's made to order for it. If a thing like that has to exist, then right out on the street is where all practical coppers want it to exist. For the same reason they favor red light districts. They know where to flush the game when they want to.”
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Chapter 21
Quotes
Eddie Mars would have been very unlikely to involve himself in a double murder just because another man had gone to town with the blonde he was not even living with … If there had been a lot of money involved, that would be different. But fifteen grand wouldn't be a lot of money to Eddie Mars. He was no two-bit chiseler like Brody.
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Explanation and Analysis:
Carol Lundgren, the boy killer with the limited vocabulary, was out of circulation for a long, long time, even if they didn’t strap him in a chair over a bucket of acid. They wouldn’t, because he would take a plea and save the county money. They all do when they don't have the price of a big lawyer.
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