Original subtitles

Thank you.

I'd rather grab it. Keep it up.

Hold. Hold.

Hey, this bit is too long.

Shorten it, Simon.

Read my lips, Junior.

Stick it.

I'm warning you, Simon.

Whose picture's on all those posters out there? Yours or mine?

All right, just look at the tape then, huh? See for yourself.

That's not too much to ask, is it?

I've been doing that bit for years. Now Tom Hurt says it's too long.

What do you think?

Sorry, I missed it.

The hell you did. You never missed it.

Don't think I don't know what you're doing.

That's my cue.

No, go ahead.

Watch me. Study me.

Memorize my routines.

You'll never headline.

Know why?

You can't mimic talent.

You can't buy it. You can't steal it.

And you don't have it.

And you're stupid to boot.

A little Simon Finn?

She's busy.

Who are you, her booking agent?

Let go of her.

See you later.

That's tasty.

Someday you're going to drown in your own slime, you know that?

What's the matter with you?

Your timing was way off.

I know.

Sorry. Sorry doesn't cut it. You sound terrible.

I gotta catch my breath.

You're getting too old for this, Homer.

You're blind as a bat. Half the time you miss your mark.

Writing is on the wall.

It's time to find myself a younger partner.

You couldn't. You wouldn't.

You can't. We gotta... Contract.

You just broke it.

I broke it. You can't do it. Null and void.

You can't do this to me.

Wake up, old man. I just did.

You lousy little rat. Hey, shut up.

Both of you.

You do this on your own time.

We're opening next week. You keep rehearsing until I tell you to stop.

Hey, Junior, you're half the man your father was, and he was a bum.

Your history.

What the hell does it matter with you?

ladies and gentlemen, may we present to you the lovely, the death -defying

Yolanda.

Yolanda, who has vowed never to work with Annette, who is about to risk her

just for your entertainment, ladies and gentlemen.

and it's not funny anymore.

Get out of there. It's over.

Oh, my God.

I thought Bob Brooks was kidding.

But you're a genuine, bona fide clown.

I have been for 40 years, ever since I was a kid.

You're not one of those people who expects a clown to be funny all the

you?

Oh, no, no, no.

It's just a job, you know.

Nothing more, nothing less.

We put our pants on one leg at a time, just like everybody else.

We eat, we sleep, and we sometimes get ourselves into very deep trouble.

Did Graydon Sinclair tell you what happened?

He called me from Florida.

He thinks you're innocent.

How long has he been your lawyer? I don't know, 10 or 15 years.

Well, tell me about your partner.

Well, actually...

Partner's not the right word. You see, Simon was the one people came to see.

I was just there to give him someone to play off of.

Did that bother you?

Oh, no.

Simon was a genius.

He had everything.

Talent, timing.

He wrote a lot of bits.

He was also the most miserable, hateful, self -centered, greedy human being I've

ever known.

For 23 years, he treated me like absolute dirt.

But I didn't kill him.

You want to know something else?

I miss him like hell.

rehearses videotape?

That's Al Tomberg's idea.

He's the owner.

Says it's good for us performers to get what he calls visual feedback.

Oh, well.

Do you still rehearse after all these years? Always at the start of a tour.

Now, here, watch this.

Ten years we do the same routine, all of a sudden the ad -lib's sneezing. Just

like him to throw me a curve.

What a pain in the neck.

Hey, there.

Watch a movie? Oh, come on in.

Homer, this is Conrad McMasters. We work together.

How you doing? I'm an investigator.

Homer's a clown.

Oh, so what are you doing? Watching a table show?

Rehearsing. Now, here's the part where I pretend to strangle him.

Now, I've done it exactly the same way as I've always done it, and so did he.

Yeah. So, you pretend to strangle him, he pretends to be dead, and you...

put him in the clown mobile, and then you push the car in the clown mobile

garage, and that's the end of the act. The spotlight goes out on us and comes

on Yolanda. While everybody's looking at her, Simon gets out of the garage and

joins me offstage.

Only yesterday, he never got up.

How long was it before you realized he wasn't behind you? A couple of minutes,

guess. What was the cause of death?

Broken neck.

He was alive when I let go of him, I swear.

Okay.

Spotlight goes off, you walk away, killer runs into the clown garage from

somewhere nearby, breaks your partner's neck and he runs off and hides.

You got no problem with that?

Whole thing takes place in less than 40 seconds.

You got a problem with that?

From the time I left the ring to the time we found the body, it felt like at

least five minutes.

36 seconds.

Hey, now, there's a bright side to this.

I get to join the circus.

You got a snack around your neck.

What's it to you?

Oh, nothing. It's just... Have you seen Al Tomberg?

No, I was looking... I have told him ten times Goldie and Ralph need a new cage.

So where is it?

Goldie... My cobras.

Their cage door hinges sprung. I can't lock it. Anyone could come along and

off with them.

Who'd want to steal a snake?

For your information, snakes have a bad rap.

They're clean.

You don't have to walk them.

Go ahead.

Pet Eddie.

Oh, no, no, no.

You pet Eddie.

Poor Eddie.

You want a new cage, don't you, darling?

Maybe, maybe, maybe Miss Strongberg will get him one. Oh, he's too cheap.

Rumor is we're about to shut down.

Because of what happened to Simon?

That's the word.

Even dead, the guy's a troublemaker.

If you see Al, tell him Sheila's looking for him.

Hey, Sheila?

Where is Simon's trailer?

Over there.

Are you Dodo the Clown?

Yeah, who are you?

I'm Ben Matlock, Homer Fleming's lawyer.

You dropped this back there.

Oh, thanks.

It's not your notebook, is it? It was Simon's. I saw you coming out of your

stripe.

It's not really a notebook. It's more of a ledger.

You were paying him $1 ,000 a month.

That's what it says.

Homer made a list of everybody he did not see when all the people were

lining up for the big finale, just before he found Simon's body, and you

that list, Dodo the Clown.

I'm impressed.

A thousand dollars a month.

A lot of money.

Do they know something on you?

Gambling?

Did you, uh... Sure.

Yeah, I just put my hands around his neck and gave it a little twist, and I

walked away.

You're a woman.

You're a woman.

Strong, though.

All right, kids, come on. We have to go now.

Jim Roper?

Yeah. Ben Matlock. I'm Homer Fleming's lawyer.

Nice.

A few fans, huh?

Yeah, more than a few, I hope.

You're Homer's lawyer, huh? Yeah.

How is he? How's he doing?

Oh, he's doing all right.

Poor guy. Nobody wonders why he did it, only why he didn't do it any sooner.

Simon didn't have many friends.

As far as I know, he didn't have any.

But then I brought him to Santini a couple of months.

Uh... I hear that you didn't like the way he was going after Yolanda.

I didn't like him, period.

Did you kill him?

You're out of your mind, aren't you?

Well, where were you when everything happened?

Preparing for my act.

The reason I ask, Homer doesn't remember seeing you lined up for the big finale.

Homer knows I'm not in the parade.

I go on just before it.

Look, I, uh, I gotta get going.

If you have any more questions, though, you call me.

Excuse me there, sir.

Watch yourself. I'll be back.

Don't want to get anything on that spiffy suit.

Hi, Mr. Tomberg.

Oh, Mr.

Tomberg.

Ben Matlock, Homer Fleming's lawyer. You got a minute?

Sure, come on in. Oh, thanks.

Oh,

does this run?

Oh, would you look at that.

Have a seat.

Thanks.

So what can I do for you, Mr. Matlock?

Well, you seem to be in a good humor today.

Why wouldn't I be?

Well, I don't know.

Somebody killed your star performer, and there's a lot of bad publicity, and I

heard a rumor that you're going to have to close.

Well, I have insurance policies on all my performers, Mr. Matlock.

Of course, we still may go belly up.

Well, you don't seem worried.

That's life.

Yeah? Well, I guess so.

Your father left you this circus.

Yes.

This was Dad's favorite toy.

Not yours?

Do you want the truth?

I hate it.

I hate the crowds.

I hate the noise.

I hate the smell.

I hate the sawdust. I hate the cotton candy. Those little toys that bob up and

down in a little... Simon the Simple?

A miserable creep.

Homer did the world a favor.

Homer's innocent.

Do you happen to remember where you were, say, from the time Simon finished

act till they found his body in the clown movie?

Yes. I was in my usual seat at rehearsals.

Section 4, row D, seat 1.

Ask anybody.

Okay.

Thanks. Anytime.

Oh, oh, oh, oh, yeah. That girl, she has a snake around.

Sheila? Yeah.

She told me that to tell you she's looking for you, she's afraid somebody's

going to steal her cobras.

Yeah.

Not me.

I can't believe you, Al. You are so cheap.

I need things. I need cages.

I need... I'm a professional.

Are we still on for tonight?

No, we're not.

Okay.

All right.

do before i got in the cage of that tiger pray i wouldn't get in the cage

that tiger would you no i would not get in the cage with tiger what do you think

i'm crazy you want to know if i got anything yeah you know that lady walks

around here wearing a snake she's yeah i saw her arguing with tom burke she

wants a new cage for cobras what

She's afraid somebody's gonna steal in Cobras. Oh, yeah, sure.

And listen, I saw Mr. Tomberg sneak into his bookkeeping trailer.

Oh, sneak in?

Yeah. Did you know that Dodo the Clown is a woman?

You're kidding.

Is she pretty?

I couldn't tell.

Strong, though.

I felt her arm.

You did not.

You want to keep an eye on him?

All right.

Shot a roper, too.

The guy with the cannon?

Something about him.

Take anything.

Anything you want, okay? It's yours.

Oh, no.

No, no. You're making a mistake.

You want money?

You want tickets?

Just take them, okay? They're yours.

Just don't kill me. I'm not going to kill you. You don't understand.

Freeze, or you are a dead man. Holy cow.

Oh, man.

I never thought I'd get the chance to use this thing. Look, this is not what

think it is. Do you have to do that? Oh, man. One more word and you will not

live to see Georgia State Prison. Okay, okay, okay. Look, look, look, look,

look. I'm just here for the time cards. I'm an employee.

Uh -huh, and I'm Peter Pan.

You just asked. Al, I've got to talk to you. Hey, hey, call security.

I caught a burglar. I'm not a burglar. I work here. Get on the horn, will you

please? This thing might go off.

He's telling the truth, Al.

What? Yeah, he said, I'm telling the truth, Al. He works here.

I've seen him around.

What idiot told you I keep time cards in here? Right. I know. I know. I made a

mistake. And I'm sorry. I'm sorry. It'll never happen again.

Thank you.

Damn.

They were yelling at each other at the top of their lungs.

Homer was blowing a gasket.

Did you witness their act 15 minutes later when the defendant was pretending

strangle Simon and Simpson?

Yes.

How many times would you say you've seen them perform that routine?

Hundreds? Oh, no. More like thousands.

Did you notice anything different about the way they performed that day?

Oh, yes.

What was that?

Well, there was a much stronger tone of violence. It was more physical.

Much more realistic.

Like Homer Fleming was, in fact, strangling him.

Objection. Leading. Call for speculation.

Withdraw the question.

What happened at the end of the routine?

Homer picked up Simon, threw him in the back of the clown mobile, gave it a

shove, walked off, and the spotlight went off.

Then what happened?

Well, Simon didn't get out of the clown garage. As it turns out, he was dead.

No more questions.

Your witness, Mr. Matlock.

Now, Mr. Tromberg, Ron,

LaMare, Gary, Etchells, Connie Peters. Would you tell us

who those three people are?

Boy, those names sound familiar, but I... Those are three accountants that

hired and fired by you in the last 18 months.

Objection. Whether it's three accountants or a hundred, I can't see

relevance to this court.

Your Honor, we're going to be talking about a motive and opportunity here, if

the court will bear with me.

Overruled for now, without prejudice.

Now, tell us about those accountants.

I fired them because they didn't know what they were doing.

Or maybe they caught on to what you were doing.

And they found out that you were skimming.

You're out of your mind. Didn't your father leave everything to charity

the circus?

Yes. And you got the circus and you hate the circus.

Let's just say that I am not the fan that my father was.

Why don't you sell it?

I would if I could. But you can't.

Because your father left a provision in the will prohibiting you from selling

it.

Dad hung this circus around my neck and made sure that it would stay there, yes.

So if it went bankrupt, you'd finally be rid of it.

Yes, my creditors would see to that. That's why you've been altering your

and skimming so that each year the circus would show a loss.

That's ridiculous. The Santini Circus is a profitable business. Wise, Mr.

Tomberg, wise.

Now, you say that you saw my client kill his partner.

during their routine in your regular seat in the stand, section four, row D,

seat one. That's right. Wrong.

At the very moment Simon was being killed, Sheila Carver, your snake

was in section four, row D, seat one, looking for you.

You were not there.

Shall I call her to the stand?

Where were you, Mr. Tomberg?

I was altering the books.

The office manager was on her lunch break, and I figured that no one would

me from the rehearsal.

You were right about everything, but I did not kill Simon.

You were in your office?

Yes.

Alone?

No. I mean, I called my broker, Jim Price, in New York.

You can check with him or the phone company and they'll tell you which

called from. They'll verify that I was there. They'll prove it.

let it affect my judgment.

I hate that man, and I let it get into my stupid mind.

Any further questions, Mr. Matlock?

What, sir?

Anything more?

Uh, no, no further questions.

Bird brain idiot.

Should I get another lawyer?

No.

All right.

You give me 20 minutes to get showered up?

Yeah. Good.

I'll see you there.

Here. Yeah.

How about this fellow here? You just barely can make out his face.

Oh, wait a minute. My eyesight's so poor.

Oh, that's Peter Mathias, the lighting director.

He's always on the floor doing dress rehearsals. He's in the old tape, too.

You don't wear glasses in your act. If your eyesight's that poor, how do you do

it? I've done it so long, I could do it in the dark.

You know, Ben...

There's nobody standing outside that ring that wasn't also standing there

months ago.

If the killer was waiting in the shadows, let's face it, cameras didn't

up. Boy, I'm so tired.

If I could see, I couldn't see straight anymore.

Well, go home, get some sleep. Maybe tomorrow you'll see better.

Good night. Yeah.

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.

Did you know that Dodo the Clown was paying Simon $1 ,000 a month?

A kid was in a car accident and Simon lent her the money for the hospital

Oh, that's nice.

A 23 % interest.

See you in the morning. Ben, thanks.

Yeah.

It's Ben.

Call me as soon as you can. I think I have a pretty good idea who killed

Where are you anyway?

Go. Go.

You bet.

Jumbo.

Yeah.

Yeah.

All right.

What are you doing in there?

Ben, do you... Look, without making... Without

making any sudden moves, do you think maybe you could... You

know, open the door?

I got clabbered over the head. Next thing I know, I woke up.

Thing's looking at me for lunch.

Who'd do a thing like that? Well, I was in Roper's trailer looking around.

I thought he was in the shower.

Maybe he wasn't.

No kidding. Jim Roper? Uh -huh.

You all right? Oh, I'm fine, I'm fine. Come on, let's go.

to the circus, you're kind of a jack -of -all -trades, Mr. Oak.

Yes, sir, that's right.

Have you ever been a clown?

When that's what I had to be to get paid?

Well,

you recognize this?

Yes, I do.

It's a wig.

Yeah, it's a wig.

But whose wig? Take a close look.

It's been identified as the wig that Simon was wearing the night

he was killed.

You kind of grew up in the circus, didn't you? You performed with your

and your sister, the Daring Davises.

That's right. I changed my name when I struck out on my own when I was 17.

Yeah, but you kept up with your parents.

Of course. Your Honor, would it be all right with you if I take my coat off?

certainly may.

It's hot in here today. Everybody get as comfortable as possible.

Now, two years ago, the Daring Davises joined the

Santini Circus, didn't they?

Yes. Yeah.

Well, what happened to them?

They were fired.

But they were supposed to be good.

That's right.

The best.

Why were they fired?

Objection, Your Honor.

There's no relevance to this.

Your Honor, the court has been very forgiving with me, and I beg your

for a few more questions. They are relevant.

Last chance, Mr. Matlock. If it doesn't tie together, I'll be granting the

district attorney's motion to strike.

Yes, sir.

Now, Simon LeSimple was chasing after your sister's skirt, but your sister

didn't want to have anything to do with it.

So to get back at her, Simon forced Al Tomberg to fire the whole family, didn't

he? Yeah.

What circus are they with now?

None. Nobody would hire them after that.

Simon spread rumors about your father. Said he was undependable.

Didn't show up for performances. A lot of other lies, isn't that true? My

was convinced of it, yes. What happened to your father?

He died in a car accident about six months ago.

He ran headlong into a tree.

The police ruled it a possible suicide, didn't they?

They said he was very distraught for several months, all because of Simon

LeSimple.

When did you join the Santini?

About three months ago.

But you were a big attraction.

At the Colossal Circus in California, why change that for the Santini?

I just felt it was time for a change. Oh.

Time for a change or time for revenge?

Objection. Argumentative.

Mr. Matlock, do you have any evidence that would persuade the court to

this line of questioning any further? Indeed I do, Your Honor.

Overruled. Thank you.

Now, what about to show this witness?

Two videotapes.

One is of, thank you, the clown act that was taken

the night Simon was killed.

The other is a tape of the same act nine months ago.

The one on the left is the most recent and last rehearsal.

The one on the right is the old one.

Now, as you can see, they're practically identical,

except for, watch, right there.

Do you see Simon's hands?

In the old tape, he threw the torn -up traffic ticket in Homer's face with his

right hand, and then the one that was made at the last rehearsal, he used his

left.

Are you right -handed or left -handed? In this business, it pays to be

ambidextrous. But you sign your autographs with your left hand, don't

Sometimes, yes. Sometimes. Sometimes.

What... What if the man wearing that clown outfit

wasn't Simon the Simple at all?

What if, in fact, it was the killer, a man who had been a clown before, was

-handed, had a damn good reason to want Simon dead?

What if that man was you?

That's ridiculous.

I was right there when they found him dead, and I sure as hell wasn't wearing

any clown costume.

What if you overheard that argument between Simon and Homer?

saw it as a wonderful opportunity.

What if you followed Simon to his trailer where he was making up for his

routine?

What if you waited till he finished, killed him, then took his place in the

routine, and when Homer pushed that car offstage into the Clownmobile garage

with you in it, you got out, gathered up Simon's body where you'd stashed it,

and put it in the Clownmobile. You're wrong.

Strong. And while the light was on Yolanda at the top of the tent, you

off your clown outfit.

Underneath was your cannon suit. You put on the helmet that covered your face

and got in the cannon.

That's a complete lie. You don't have one shred of proof.

But I do.

I do.

What's that?

See, at least... Homer and I talked about this at great length.

Homer can't see very well, you know.

And he could never understand why his partner of 23 years

suddenly ad -libbed a sneezing fit into the routine. Didn't make

any sense. And why would someone trying to impersonate Simon...

give himself away by changing the routine.

But what?

What if the killer didn't sneeze on purpose?

What if the killer sneezed because he was allergic to something he was

What if the killer was allergic to this wig?

Oh, it must have been very difficult for that man.

Trying to impersonate a famous clown and do it so perfectly that even his

partner didn't notice.

And all the time the man's eyes are getting itchier,

itchier, itchier, itchier.

Beginning to water.

Oh, if only he could just rub them one time.

Oh, the itching must have driven that man crazy.

Mr. Roper, your eyes are getting red.

There's nothing wrong with my eyes.

And your nose is all stopped up. This is clean.

Oh, fine. Thank you. Thank you. All right.

Let's take one more look at that tank.

One more little look.

Doesn't it sound like...

to you?

Your Honor, I strenuously object to this line of questioning. Your Honor. You're

getting nowhere.

Your Honor, just a few more questions, please.

Your Honor.

I'm afraid I must sustain.

Mr. Matlock, you've been indulged long enough.

No further questions.

Gotcha.