Original subtitles

Look at them.

Kids selling themselves.

What kind of magnet pulls them here to the boulevard?

Dreams that never got a dose of reality.

Homes that don't care. Parents and kids that like to don't listen.

All of it keeps a steady stream flowing into the boulevard.

Is that the new face I should be talking to, Irene?

Right. Then I'll meet you back at the shelter?

Hit her hard, Star. The longer she stays out on that boulevard, the harder it's

going to be for us to pull her off of it. Okay? All right.

Hi,

how you doing?

Look,

I've heard all about Irene's shelter.

I don't need saving.

Stop.

My exact words less than a month ago.

You were into this?

Yeah.

I pay you to keep pressure on the cops to leave the boulevard alone.

Lately, I don't think I'm getting my money's worth.

If Councilman Gere's little speech tomorrow doesn't please me,

Phil here is going to come looking for you.

Oh, it will, Mr. Pearl.

Councilman acts on everything I feed him.

That thing was crazy.

No, it's not really that great. I mean...

He saw me.

Those two little tramps saw me take the money.

And one of them knows me. Shut up.

I made them both, Eddie.

One's Star Taylor.

She used to be one of our ladies till Irene Gordon turned around.

The other kid's a new face I've been checking out.

Star, that's the one that can finger me. You set me up with her yourself, Pearl.

Pick up your money and split burn them. What about those girls? That Star chick

is probably telling a friend about me right now.

You just saw both of them.

For the last time.

I can't go back home.

Besides, within a minute ago you were trying to get me to go to Irene's

Look, Eddie Pearl runs all the boulevard action.

From prostitution to drugs.

And we just saw one of the reasons he gets away with it.

That guy that he was paying off, he's an aide to a city councilman.

We've got to get away from Pearl, or we'll just turn up like numbers in a

morgue.

And Irene's shelter isn't nearly far enough away.

Now call.

Please.

Hello, operator.

I'd like to make a collect call to Fresno, California.

There they are.

So lucky for me was my brother Gordy who answered the phone.

My parents would have started yelling at me like they always do.

Is your brother coming?

But he can't make it to my place until tomorrow.

Then we'll just keep hiding until then.

Where about you, Star?

What?

Are you going to go home?

No.

I can't ever.

Get in, ladies. We can talk about the phone call you've been making.

Don't do it, Charlie!

I

say

the best way to keep parasites from clamping on in the first place is to

our kids to a good value system straight on. Like my Chrissy, for instance.

She's a ranger girl, you know.

It's a terrific organization.

Just selling these Ranger Girl cookies. Yeah?

To support them. Want to buy some?

I think I've just been a hat hooker.

In the first place, I don't like cookies. Okay, okay.

I tried.

Tried?

Ever trying?

This is for Chrissy.

Not to mention a worthwhile cause.

What a father. You just give me some of those cookies. I'll sell them.

Sure.

Hooker, what the colonel did for chicken, Romano will do for cookies.

Let's find out what's going down.

Lose those cops, will ya? I can hardly hold on to her.

Broadcast a direction and description.

Request an ambulance.

For item 30.

Say it again.

What?

Hold it. Just a minute.

Louder.

Say that louder.

Speak up.

Were you able to make out what she was saying? Not clearly. Something about a

money envelope.

What about her I .D.? Found this motel key.

High school student I .D. and a driver's license.

Driver's license looked like it's the standard phony she'd use in case of a

Says she's 21.

Student I .D. looks for real. It was in her shoe. Says her name's Kelly Hobbs

from Fresno. Dr. McCullen, surgery, please.

Dr. McCullen.

Kelly Hobbs.

From Fresno, California.

Today's her birthday.

Did DMV come up with a return on the suspect license yet? Not in file.

Says to call after 0800.

0800.

A teenager's manhandled by an animal and the bureaucrats make his way to 0800.

Dr. White, telephone.

Dr. White.

Kids do have a way of getting to you, don't they?

It's the worst part of the job, Junior.

Full of art amusements.

Now that's one of Eddie Pearl's jokes.

Start to make sense.

He put Pearl together with that young prostitute Kelly.

Saying something about a money envelope. That other young girl that we saw

running from Pearl's car like she was scared out of her mind.

And it sounds like both of them saw one of Pearl's deals go down.

Sure. A drug deal? A payoff?

Well, that fits Eddie Pearl's profile to a T.

I'd give a month's pay to make a case on Pearl.

And I'd put my paycheck right down next to it, Hooker.

And another one to see if that rumor about Pearl having a very incriminating

ledger book is really true.

Why don't we start with why that girl was in the car in the first place?

Go from there.

I dumped the car in the county territory three hours ago.

That reporter told us. Good.

That means we should have it back before the day's end.

A card game alibi you put together for it.

It ain't gonna hold water if either one of those tramps talk.

Well, we can worry about that if and when the beginner has sprung from the

hospital.

Just make damn sure the cops don't find Star.

She's dead meat on the boulevard, you understand?

You got it, Eddie.

4 out of 30, 4 out of 30. Vehicle reported stolen at 8 .10 a .m. this

Recovered by LASO in county territory an hour ago.

Before item 30, Roger. Did I tell you Pearl would set up an alibi?

So do we visit him to hear the rest of the alibi firsthand?

I want all the ammo I can get to break down his alibi before we visit him. So

first, we'll toss Kelly Hobbs' motel room for any possible connect up to

would have guessed it would look like this.

Kids aren't into red flock and satin.

No matter what her problems are, her way of surviving, she's still a teenager.

My daughter's dresser looks something like this one.

Rent receipt.

Checked in a week ago.

What's going on?

Where's Kelly?

Why do you ask?

I'm her brother, Gordy.

I come to pick her up. Where is she?

When was the last time you talked to her?

She called me last night.

Asked me to come down and pick her up.

Take her back home to Fresno.

Did you say why?

Only that some girl named Star from some kind of shelter told her that she saw

something that made it dangerous for her to stay down here.

Mom, what is it? Where's my sister?

Gordy.

Kelly was injured in an accident last night. She's in intensive care.

Oh, man.

We'll take you to the hospital as soon as we're finished here.

This, uh, this star, did Kelly say anything about her last name?

Just star, that's all. She, uh, sounded real scared. What about the shelter?

Did you say which one? Yeah, but I don't remember which one it was. Mother

Harry, Teen Drop, Irene.

Irene's after that, Irene's.

You said that this was an accident.

Now, if this is an accident, how come the police are involved?

Because it was a man -made accident.

And I want to nail that man.

Bye.

Oh, that's her, all right.

Starla's trying to help her get off the street. I haven't seen either one of

them since.

Not much question why, is there?

You mean none of your girls saw anyone enter or leave this house?

They're all at school or straight jobs during the day.

But so what? You said Pearl and Decker moved like we had an alibi anyway.

I remember when I was on the street and you'd bust me regular at clockwork,

Hooker. And you were all over Pearl and Decker then, too.

Too bad the courts never got them put away.

I'm not going to walk on this one. I promise you.

Irene, we need an address on Star's parents.

I can't do that.

Hooker, the girls would see it as a violation of their trust.

Irene, Kelly's condition is worse. She can't talk.

That makes Star my only source for nailing Pearl. This tells me that Pearl

that, too.

She's in danger, Irene.

Come on.

It's in my office.

Darcy's been in and out of trouble over three years.

After what happened last night, Mrs. Taylor, it's important that we find her.

We have reason to believe she's in danger.

I haven't seen or heard from my daughter since she came back home over a month

ago.

She came back.

She said she was through with that life, but it wasn't true.

Some terrible man kept calling all times of the day and night.

He even threatened me.

He told me to send Star back.

Back to the boulevard.

Star, Miss Taylor?

Dorothy she was then.

She came back calling herself Star after the second time she ran away.

When we find her... Look, Sergeant, I've been through it all.

The juvenile people, the courts, the school.

I had three other children to protect.

My Dorothy's gone.

And I don't want this other person, this star in my life anymore.

No matter what she's done, she can never make it back unless she has someone

here waiting to help her.

What's the next best place she might go other than the boulevard?

First time Dorothy ran away, I searched everywhere.

You might try St. Mark's.

She was alone in the confessional when I found her.

I thought you were someone else.

Could that someone else be Star Taylor, Sergeant?

Yes, it is, Father.

I'm sorry to disturb you. Don't be, Sergeant.

It's often that your work and mine involves the same customers.

Do you know Star Taylor, Father?

She hasn't been here in a while, but I know what kind of trouble she's in.

I hear a lot from the other girls.

Then you know how important it is that we find her. Without any compromise of

the cloth, Sergeant, I can say that I've heard that Pearl's man, Decker, picked

her up early this afternoon.

But Star, being streetwise, got away from him. Do you know where we might

her now, without any compromise of the cloth?

I hear she's trying to raise bus fare to leave town.

But it's been difficult.

They say Star is resisting going back to what she was before.

i hope we find her before she does go back father or worse before eddie pearl

finds her

Hi, officer.

Charles, we're looking for this young lady here.

Have you seen her?

Not me.

Eddie Pearl.

I see you've got your stolen car back.

Yes, yes, yes.

Efficient law enforcement in the sheriff's territory, Hunker.

Let me guess.

You two are just off the bus, and this gentleman here...

has offered you a ride to the boulevard and free play at some terrific arcade.

Right so far?

Nothing illegal about that.

Let me show you something.

See those two over there?

You accept free anything from a squid like that.

And that's where you're headed.

And pictures. Lots of pictures.

After you're good and high. Pictures you'd rather die than have seen by

you know. Then the fun is over.

That guy put you out on the street to work for the habit.

Or whatever else he has you obligated to.

Pretty soon you're 18 going on 80.

Take these hotline numbers.

They'll put you in touch with any kind of help you need.

No strings attached.

So, girls, what'll it be?

Yeah.

Officer? Not April.

That girl in the picture?

We were hanging around inside trying to decide whether to go back home or not

before they came along.

I saw her at the ticket window trying to buy a ticket.

Trying? She didn't have enough money.

She left here about an hour ago.

Thanks.

They're going home.

You'll lose.

Look, have you ever been to Grunion Run?

Millions of those little fish, you know, they're just flopping all over the sand

waiting to be scooped up.

Some of them get away, huh?

Some don't.

Then one day along comes the red tide.

And there are no little fish at all.

I'm going to break down whatever alibi you come up with.

In the meantime, if you or your muscle here so much as touches star, Taylor,

you'll run into the blue tide.

to peace.

I was at the hospital.

Irene came in to look on at Kelly.

She told me everything about him.

I was going to take my sister home, but he killed her.

I was sitting there at the hospital talking to her.

Praying. Praying she could hear me.

Then that alarm and that machine went off.

There was nothing they could do.

Nothing.

The judge tells me you took personal responsibility with Gordy for his O .R.

release. Gordy's an innocent kid who got caught in the Boulevard Quagmire. Don't

you worry about it. He promised me he'd go back to Fresno and stay there until

after the trial. There is one. You got Gordy's release paper?

Yes.

That punk kid, he's out of jail now.

I don't think he's going home so quick.

I think he's going to keep coming at me until we put him away.

Well, good.

Showtime, Eddie.

Still haven't called my folks to tell them about Kelly.

That's another reason to go home.

That's the kind of news they should hear in person.

I just hate leaving Eddie Pearl here alive.

Hey, Gordy, give him to that feeling.

And the boulevard poison that took Kelly will make a victim out of you, too, if

you don't end up back in jail first.

Now, you get in there, get our stuff together, and go home.

I'll take care of Eddie Pearl. That's a promise.

I will go home, then.

That's a promise.

Hooker! Star called me from a pay telephone 20 minutes ago.

One of Eddie's pimps found her hiding in a movie over on Selma. What happened?

Well, she got away.

But she's scared. She's really scared.

Where is she now?

That's just it. I don't know.

She was frantic, saying she'd run out of places to hide. And then I guess she

saw one of Eddie's people, and she ran out of the booth, leaving the phone

hanging. Oh, what are we going to do, Hooker?

Star hasn't run out of places to hide.

There's one left.

You.

She's here, isn't she, Father?

She came over an hour ago.

Sergeant, Star is a very frightened child.

Father, I've never met Star, but I know her.

I've seen the places she's been and the kind of human being she's trying to

become. And believe me, there's nothing I want more than to protect her. But

she's got to help me do that.

It's Star's decision, Sergeant.

Star, I'm not here to chase you.

Or to make you tell me what you know.

That's going to have to come freely.

Because you're going to have to repeat that in court.

Kelly died, Star.

And with her gone, you're the only chance any of us have left to put Pearl

Decker away.

But I've got to know what you know.

Then I can put him in jail and see that you're protected.

What do you say, Star?

I'm afraid.

Of course you are.

You've been out there on the streets.

In court.

It'll be ugly.

My friends and my relatives, they'll all know what I've been.

They'll know you made some mistakes.

But they'll also see how much courage you have.

In the end, that's all that they'll remember.

Star, remember all those girls we're trying to help.

Their real chance will come when men like Pearl are gone.

I know, Star.

I'd like very much to meet Dorothy.

So my guess is that we walked in on some kind of payoff.

The guy got so scared he even dropped the money.

This guy, did you recognize him?

He works for a councilman.

The one who's always talking about what a terrific place the boulevard is.

That'd be Councilman Gere's aide.

Pearl gives him freebie dates with the girls sometimes.

He always uses a phony name, but we know him.

Art Burnham.

Star, have you ever heard anything about a book or a ledger that Pearl

is rumored to have?

I've seen him and Decker talking with his pimps and runners.

He'd make little notes, but I never saw an actual book.

Did he ever mention one to you?

No, but everybody talks like there is one.

A lot of the girls would even try and guess where Pearl kept it hidden. What

about you? Do you have any idea about one?

Well, with all the businesses that he owns, it could be anywhere.

Booker, look.

That's Gordy Hobbs' Jeep.

He should have been gone from there by now.

He should be halfway to Fresno by now.

I've been looking everywhere for you.

I was out collecting the Westside receipts. Why? What's the problem?

He found the kid before the drugs killed him. And Star Taylor was with him.

Well, that doesn't mean she said anything.

You want to take that chance?

And I also don't know if Gordy Hobbs talked about me before they took him to

hospital.

Pearl here.

Mr. Pearl.

This is Rhoda.

I got something you should be real grateful for.

What is it, Rhoda?

Oh, now, I think this would be worth money to you, Mr. Pearl.

Now, don't play games with me, Rhoda, or you'll lose the street corner and your

skin. Now, I'll let you know what's worth what.

Look, I'm just trying to be good to you, Mr. Pearl. The cops, they found Star,

and they on their way uptown now getting warrants for you and Decker.

And I hear they're pushing for no bail murder warrants.

That it, Rhoda?

Well, I'll be waiting for my reward, sugar.

There you go.

The sting is in. The question is, does it make Pearl jump toward his book?

Our special surveillance group thinks it will.

How does Pearl Enterprises keep up the cash flow?

Well, I've still got my records, Phil.

We'll collect the east side receipts, pick up the ledger, and run it all by

distance from Mexico, huh?

There they go.

Perlin Decker just left the Palace Arcade.

The suspect, Pearl, just completed an evasive route from his fast food stand

his record shop.

Four item 30, roger.

This will be our best shot.

They've been to all of Pearl's places but this one. I'll drop you in the

and I'll hit the shot through the front door.

And if he doesn't have the book?

Then we'll take him on warrants only.

Come on, I've got him.

Throw your gun down and come out with your hands up.

You never looked better, Pearl. And neither did your book.

Hump.

And the DA is confident that Pearl Decker, the councilman's aide

Burnham, and a long list of names from Pearl's ledger are going to jail for a

long, long time.

I'm happy you're getting both.

Star.

And your picture back, Mrs. Taylor.

Thank you, Sergeant.

We're going to try to get to know each other.

We're going to try real hard, huh, Mom? Mm -hmm.

I'm glad to know Star and Dorothy.

Don't be a stranger.

Just try not to come around too often with that uniform, okay?

Still haven't lost your touch.

I got it, Daddy. I got the award for selling the most cookies.

That's terrific, honey.

I'm really happy for you, Christy. You must have had a lot of competition,

though. Oh, sure.

But I sold a whole bunch.

That alone is what Daddy sold to you.

Detective Warner and Sergeant Alexander won the award for me.

Detective Warner?

Alexander?

Wait a minute. Where are you going to hang your plaque, Chrissy?

With the others.

Others? What others?

When my daddy helps me, I always win.

Hooker!