"There's a speed limit in this state, Mr. Neff . . ."

Restrictions on what could be said in a Hollywood movie inspired dialogue dense with verbal irony--they know what they're talking about, we know what they're talking about -- but nobody's going to come out and say it. This creates a partnership between the characters that's subversive by its nature--and we collude in it.
(Billy Wilder wrote the script with the mystery writer Raymond Chandler--adapted from the extraordinary novel by James M. Cain.)