In Jim Jarmusch’s meditative hitman tale Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, a meticulously planned Mafia hit goes awry when an unexpected witness – a young girl – sees the murder. The assassin, a samurai-inspired Black hitman known as Ghost Dog (Forest Whitaker), now finds himself in the crosshairs of the very men who hired him. His contractor, Louie, is forced to reveal everything he knows about the enigmatic killer to mob boss Ray Vargo and his two top lieutenants, who are determined to eliminate Ghost Dog before he becomes a threat. But Louie’s own life hangs in the balance for bringing Ghost Dog into their world in the first place.

What follows is a masterful interrogation scene – pure gold.

SONNY VALERIO: We got a really big problem here Louie, seems that you are directly responsible for it. Your mystery man fucked up.

LOUIE: Morini tells me she put the girl, Mr. Vargo’s daughter, on the bus.

SONNY VALERIO: He did, but she got off the bus and went to Handsome Frank’s house.

LOUIE: You wanted Handsome Frank whacked, so he got whacked. From outside. I set it all up. No traces, no nothing. Morini said she was on the bus, but Jesus, we’re lucky he didn’t do her too, right?

RAY VARGO: If he had, you would be fucking dead.

SONNY VALERIO: This is not a good situation, Louie.

LOUIE: Where is she now? Is she allright?

SONNY VALERIO: Don’t worry about Mr. Vargo’s daughter. What we need to do is eliminate the scumbag who whacked Frank. Frank was one of us. His killer needs to be neutralized. Erased from the face of the planet.

LOUIE: For the past four years, this guy did …maybe twelve perfect contracts. Perfect. Like a ghost. He is very valuable. Totally untraceable. I’m sure he didn’t realise that anyone was gonna be there when he whacked Handsome Frank or he would have backed off. He sure as hell didn’t know she was gonna be there.

SONNY VALERIO: Louie, unless you wanna buried next to Frank, now is the time to tell us everything you know about this mysterious ghost-like untraceable fucking button man.

LOUIE: Okay. Okay, let’s see. I don’t pay him by the job. He only works if I pay him once a year, always on the first day of autumn. That’s the way he wants it. Every first day of autumn, I pay him for all contracts he has done that past year, see?

SONNY VALERIO: The first day of autumn? Okay, let’s skip that part for now. Where does he live?

LOUIE: Fuck if I know. That’s the next strange thing. I can’t just call him up, cause he, you know, he only contacts me through …a bird. [amazed looks] You see since I first started contracting stuff out to this guy, the bird comes every single day.

SONNY VALERIO: Hold it. Hold it. Hold it. Did you say he contacts you through a fucking bird? Did I just hear you say that?

RAY VARGO: What particular species of bird?

LOUIE: It’s a pigeon. Must be like a carrier pigeon.

OLD CONSIGLIERE: Passenger pigeon. Passenger pigeon’s been in state since 1914.

SONNY VALERIO: Am I fucking dreaming here of what? Allright Louie, forget about the bird okay? Let me ask you this: what does this mysterious guy look like. Could you maybe tell me that much?

LOUIE: He’s a big guy, a big black guy.

SONNY VALERIO: He’s what?

OLD CONSIGLIERE: He said the guy’s a nigger.

LOUIE: Allright see around eight years ago, I saw a guy, this guy, he was more of a kid really, in a bad situation. So I straightened things out. Then about four years ago, this guy comes to my door, this big black guy, he got a fucking pigeon on his shoulder. Fuck if I know how he found me, but he said he owed me. I only saw him once after that and we made this arrangement.

SONNY VALERIO: That’s very touching Louie. Let me just backtrack here for just a second, you say this fucking bird comes to your house every day. Did he come today?

LOUIE: Yeah Sonny, the bird was here this morning.

SONNY VALERIO: Did he have a message?

LOUIE: Yeah, the usual ‘mission accomplished’ message.

SONNY VALERIO: Did you send a message back?

LOUIE: No. No, you called me in, so I figured it was best to leave things alone.

RAY VARGO: Did you try to follow this bird? Put a bug on it? Anything like that?

LOUIE: Uhm, no. I never had a reason to do anything like that. Look, like I said, I realise the arrangement I made with this guy is pretty weird, but he has always shown me complete respect.

SONNY VALERIO: Well, a whole new century is coming Louie and Mr. Vargo wants every member of this family to make it a priority to erase this weirdo.

LOUIE: This guy is a professional. Going after him could be very dangerous.

SONNY VALERIO: Handsome Frank was one of us, so now we’re gonna peel this nigger’s cap back. Better him than you right Louie? Now what the fuck is his name?

LOUIE: Ghost Dog.

SONNY VALERIO: What?

LOUIE: Ghost Dog.

RAY VARGO: Ghost Dog?

OLD CONSIGLIERE: He said Ghost Dog.

LOUIE: Yeah, he calls himself Ghost Dog. I don’t know, a lot of these Black guys today, these gangster-type guys, they all make up names like that for themselves.

RAY VARGO: Is that true?

SONNY VALERIO: Sure. He means like the rappers, you know, all the rappers, they got names like that: Snoop Doggy Dog, Ice Cube, Q-Tip, Method Man. My favorite was always Flavor Flav from Public Enemy. You got the funky fresh fly flavor.

RAY VARGO: I don’t know anything about that, but it makes me think of Indians. They got name like, uhh, Red Cloud, Crazy Horse, Running Bear, Black Elk [Imitates Indian].

SONNY VALERIO: Yeah. That kind of shit.

OLD CONSIGLIERE: Yeah. Indians, Niggers, Same thing.

SONNY VALERIO: Johnny!

JOHNNY: Sonny? Mr. Vargo?

SONNY VALERIO: Go outside; get Sammy the Snake, Joe Rags, Big Angie. Get them in here will you?

JOHNNY: Right away.