Original subtitles

Among the things we still don't know is why famed defense attorney Benjamin

Matlock, who entered the prison five days ago, still has yet to leave.

Is he a negotiator, a hostage, or is he defending the guard on trial for murder?

Oh, yes, sir, he is.

Yes.

He was found hanging in a cell. I can't tell you anything else.

Looked like suicide.

Ben says it looked like a suicide.

Only one suicide.

Only he says it wasn't a suicide.

You sure about that?

Positive.

He's positive, Governor.

I understand.

I know that, but... Wait a minute. Please

hold on.

He's afraid if he doesn't respond to this second killing with some show of

force, that the press will crucify him when they find out about it.

He can't do that.

The warden doesn't think that's a good idea, and frankly, neither do I. Tell

him, give me the phone.

Give me the phone.

Burke, Ben Matlock.

Now listen.

I know it doesn't sound like we're making much progress, but we are.

I can't do it in 48 hours, and they won't let me out of here.

I've got to have more time.

I understand.

I understand.

And here's something for you to understand.

I'm in this, and I've got to finish.

or there's going to be a lot more dead people, and I might be one of them, and

I'm too damn young to die. You got that?

I don't know what to tell you to do with the press. I know. Lie.

$48.

Anything I can do?

I don't know. Yes.

Transfer Rudy Chambers to Greenwood Prison.

Rudy Chambers is dead.

Maybe not.

given the daily work assignment.

Only when it's complete will you be able to use the recreational facilities.

Track and tennis courts over here.

Basketball court.

Swimming pool and putting greens on the other side of the weight room.

Beats the hell out of the state pen, doesn't it, Chambers?

No guard towers?

No walls?

Just a little fence.

I don't have to tell you what'll happen if you try to escape.

Please, look.

Don't ruin the moment.

How'd you do it anyway, Jammers?

Do what?

This is where they send creative bookkeepers and inside traders, corrupt

politicians. The white -collar crooks.

What's a safecracker like you doing in a place like this?

Any luck?

About five years.

What are you looking for?

Anything you'll tell me who killed Lenny.

He killed himself.

No.

Lenny was a survivor. He knew he had something that I wanted.

And he knew I'd make a deal to get it. I just didn't get to him in time. He'd

never have killed himself till he heard what I had to offer.

But then who killed him?

Whoever killed Rudy.

First place to look is under the bed.

And I'll bet anything it's Rudy Chambers' blood.

What's Lenny doing with it?

Well, either Lenny killed him.

The wimp?

Or he took the knife after somebody else killed him.

Lenny knew this knife would implicate somebody, so he kept it, figuring the

killer wouldn't kill him.

In other words, Tiny, if we can find out who owns this knife, we'll know who the

killer is.

You want me?

No.

Appreciate it, man.

If

I

hadn't had much time, then I wouldn't be doing all this.

Oh, just the boys I was looking for.

When are you going to get off like that?

Well, just as soon as I figure out which one of you killed Rudy Chambers and

Lenny Marcus.

By holy, now one of us killed Lenny, too?

I know one of you killed Rudy.

If he hadn't blown the whistle on you, why, you'd all be on the beach in South

America or somewhere.

Hell, maybe you were all in on him. Drew Strauss or something.

Lenny was a friend of ours, Ben.

Why would we want to kill him?

Because one of you bribed Lenny to look the other way while Rudy was being

killed.

And that was okay then. But then this kangaroo court thing came up.

And you were afraid that somebody else might bribe Lenny. Me.

And so one of you, the one...

With the most to lose, the one who killed Rudy killed Lenny.

Lenny hung himself.

You know as well as I do, Lenny wasn't the type.

If you're waiting for one of us to confess here, don't hold your breath.

The reason I came to see you is I've got something to tell you.

What was that?

We found a murder weapon in Lenny's cell.

You found the knife?

We found a knife.

We found a knife.

Now, the warden is willing to make a deal with anybody

who knows anything about Rudy Chambers' murder. And I figure

two of you might be interested.

Let me know.

I'm easy to find.

I wasn't supposed to tell him about the knife.

No, Tommy, you weren't supposed to tell him about the knife.

You didn't tell me that.

I didn't think I had to.

Chambers?

You're blocking my rays. I'm lesser.

Nice to meet you.

Could you move about six inches to the right?

I have a message from Harper.

I'm listening.

Get acquainted meeting tonight at 10, 312 Valley Vista.

Enjoy.

I've never seen him before.

According to time, nearly everybody in this place makes himself some kind of a

weapon. I thought maybe you might recognize the way this tape's wrapped

the handle as being somebody's trademark.

I don't know.

Things are looking up, you know.

We finally have something that can implicate the real killer. A good, solid

piece of evidence.

You don't get it, do you?

You keep talking like this thing is for real and it's not. It's a joke.

The same thing is going to happen whether you find the real killer or not.

They're going to kill me.

I'm Jim Beck. This is Mike Saunders.

How you doing?

I'm here.

So, where's Harper?

He probably won't see him till after the job.

When's the job?

Tomorrow night.

Had us worried. Figured that prison ride screwed everything up.

Yeah, well, the ride broke out just as I was being transferred to Greenwood.

Harper gave us your list. We got everything you wanted in there.

You mind if I look at it?

Be my guest.

Yeah.

Yeah, that looks good.

Looks like it's all here.

Nice work.

So, guess I'll see you boys tomorrow night.

And where you going?

Out. No, no, you're an escaped con, remember? You're not going anywhere till

after the job.

So where's your new homeboy, the lawyer?

Talking about the rescue man.

He told me to take a walk.

Probably figures an uneducated guy like you would get lost with all the legal

talk.

Maybe he just doesn't trust you.

Listen, Tiny, I got this friend who'd like to know more about that shiv you

found in Lenny's cell.

Well, send it for me.

Plenty.

What'd it look like?

It's a meth hall knife, man.

It's filed down. Black tape for a grip.

Where's it now?

It's locked in solitary.

You think if I gave you the word ahead of time, you could leave that cell

unlocked for an hour or two?

That's the security fee from the bank lobby.

We planted a transmitter in one of the poles they use to rope off the teller

area. Signals from this makes it vibrate just enough to set off the motion

detector. We've been triggering it a couple of times a night for almost a

And here we go again.

Motion on the main floor.

Nothing's moving down there.

I don't care what maintenance says. There's a short in the system somewhere,

damn it. It was your turn to check.

Give him a couple of minutes to get back upstairs to his buddy.

A million bucks for a security system that doesn't work.

And now, he's sheltered.

You're feeding on the tape? Two hours of empty lobby.

Recorded it last night.

Ready when you are.

Let's hit it.

I say we pull the plug.

It's all yours.

There we go.

See what you got for me.

You're supposed to be fast. What's taking so long?

Hey, I learned this from Charlie Hawk. He's the best safe cracker in the

country, but if you think you can get somebody faster, you're welcome to go

again.

Oh, man, we got nine minutes left on that video.

I think that's it.

How much you figure? One? Two million?

Who's counting?

Who wants a beer? Make it two.

Rudy. See, now, ordinarily I'd pass, but right now I'm feeling congenial, guys.

Good day at the office.

There's two million at least.

I was starting to get worried.

Chambers here was a little out of practice.

That's not Chambers.

Who are you?

Travis Jenkins.

Yes, and I've been in the pen for five years, and Rudy's one of my best

What, he never said anything to you about me? What happened to Rudy Chang?

busted his arm breaking out. I told you. He couldn't crack a paper bag, let

alone a vault, which is why he told me about the plan and had me fill in for

him. Bull.

It's true. Half of my take's gonna be waiting for him when he gets out.

He told me because he... Look, half of something is better than all of nothing.

Am I right?

How come you didn't tell us all this right from the start? Because I figured

wouldn't let me pull the job. You were right. See?

Well, I pulled through, didn't I?

I'm going to check.

See if Travis Jenkins really was a prisoner in the pen for five years.

Without mentioning specifics, authorities here at the Atlanta State

that they are making progress in their negotiations with the inmates who are

in control of the facility.

They refuse to comment on the trial going on inside.

Mr. Stone.

Would you please tell the court what it was you saw on the night of the 21st?

Well, Mr.

Mazerovsky, you know, I hurt my knee while I was working in the laundry.

A press door fellow whacked me right across the kneecap. Hurt so bad I didn't

know what to do.

What did you say?

of this room, that means pipe down or get out.

All right, so you hurt your kneecap and you went to the infirmary to get it

fixed up, right?

Yep, yeah, that's right.

What did you see?

Well, first, I saw John Jackson standing above one of the beds.

Then I saw... Rudy Chambers laying on one of the beds.

The minute I saw the brother, I knew he was dead. He had been wasted because

there was blood all over the place.

Did you see anyone else?

Just Jackson.

No further questions.

see the defendant, John Jackson, stab Rudy Chambers.

Yeah, I saw him.

You do

that again, I'll have you bound and

gagged, Mr. Jackson.

Now, let me ask you again.

Did you actually see the defendant, John Jackson, stabbed Rudy

Chambers. He was standing right over him.

Did you see him holding a knife?

Well, let me... I didn't actually see the knife, you understand.

Oh, so you didn't actually see the murder and you didn't actually see the

You didn't see much of anything, did you, Mr. Trump?

Nothing further.

Hey, wait.

Hey, you...

I saw John Jackson standing over Rudy Chambers' dead, bleeding body. That's

I saw, man. Shut up and get out.

I'm trying to explain it. Time for dinner. This court's adjourned till nine

so tomorrow morning.

Say, Tiny.

Have that cell open by 10 o 'clock tonight, okay?

Okay.

Whose side are you on, tiny?

Woody Chambers was a friend of mine.

I didn't kill him.

But he was the reason your escape failed.

He snitched on you, as I understand it. Around here, that's capital crime.

I didn't kill him.

What are you in for, Mr. Spring?

Murder one, two counts.

Oh, an experienced killer.

But I didn't kill Rudy Chambers.

This night,

is the murder weapon.

Tiny and I found it in Lenny's cell.

My guess is that he took it out of Rudy Chambers' body as insurance. If he had

the knife, he'd be safe from the killer.

Whose knife is it, Mr. Spring?

It's mine, but I'm... You killed Rudy Chambers and then you killed Lenny

because you were afraid he was going to squeal on you, didn't you? No!

Then why was your knife in Lenny's cell?

Somebody stole it from me and used it on Rudy Chambers to frame me for the

murder. Oh, come on.

If I was the killer, I would have torn Lenny's cell apart looking for that

knife.

You found it because whoever did kill Rudy wanted you to.

Because it wasn't his knife, it was mine.

All right.

Where were you at the time of the murder?

I was right here.

Watching the Braves game.

Anybody watching it with you?

Of course.

Lots of guys.

Who? I don't know. I don't remember.

Nobody was watching that game that night. Not even you, Mr. Spring, because

wasn't on.

Here's the TV station's daily broadcast live.

Read me what it says about the Braves game.

Okay, so the game wasn't on. I must have been watching it some other night.

Again.

Where were you at the time of the murder?

I don't remember.

Hell, I bet half the guys in this room can't remember what they were doing that

night either.

The knife that killed Rudy Chambers doesn't belong to any of

them. It belongs to you.

All right.

I'll tell you.

But just remember, Matlock, if anything happens to me, it's on your head. Now

you remember where you are.

I was talking to Frank Latham.

Who's Frank Latham?

He's one of the guards.

You're a snitch.

They're negotiating with us.

We can get our demand.

You just don't blow it. We can't continue with this trial if you don't

man over to the authorities outside alive.

Shut up!

Shut up!

To hell with Spring!

Let the warden have him.

Once a snitch, always a snitch.

He'll get what he's got coming to him.

Tiny, take Mr. Spring to the gate.

If anybody asks, tell them you're dumping the trash.

Hey, why don't you turn it up?

Where do you think you're going?

I'm thirsty.

You in the car, come out with your hands above your head.

Everybody up against the bed.

Put your hands behind your head.

Move it.

Feet apart.

Yet another National Guard unit has just arrived on the scene. While prison

officials are still not giving out any information, it's clear from the kind of

firepower being amassed outside these gates that some sort of assault on the

prison is imminent.

Bert, you can't do that.

I know what you're saying.

But you're the governor. Tell them you changed your mind.

Bert, I told you.

They won't let me go.

Of course I'm making progress.

I need 48 hours.

All right.

All right, I'll talk to you then.

Hey, Bert.

I didn't vote for you.

He gave you two more days?

He wants me out of here in six hours.

When this is over, let's impeach him.

Bet. Yeah. Well, I hope you got some good news, good news.

I got great news.

Now. Mr. Costello.

Uh, what are you in for?

Robbing a couple jewelry stores.

That's what they say I did.

I'm innocent, of course.

Yeah, yeah.

Now, uh, these, uh, these, uh, robberies, alleged robberies that, uh,

pulled, did you work alone?

They had partners.

Never caught them, though. Oh, they couldn't get you to rat on them, huh?

A man of principle.

Well, what was your job in these alleged robberies?

Plastics. As in explosives.

Uh -huh.

Do you suppose your alleged friends could pull off one of these

robberies without you?

Be pretty tough.

Always got to blow a hole in something.

Door, wall, things.

Plastics work best.

On vaults, too?

Vaults are a different story.

Pretty tough to blow a hole in a vault without attracting a lot of attention.

Or so I've heard.

So if you were going to, say, rob a place and had to deal with a

vault, then you'd have to employ the aid of a... Safecracker, wouldn't you?

That's right.

And Rudy Chambers was a safecracker, wasn't he?

Now, let's say that your friends on the outside... Yeah, here.

Let's say that their names are Ed Harper, Jim Beck, and Mike Sanders.

Is that all right?

Let's say that they decide they want Rob back.

And so somehow they got word to you.

And the plan was that you would escape from prison here just in time to help

them out with the heist.

Only somewhere along the line, they realized they had to deal with a vault.

So they got you to recruit Rudy Chambers.

Right?

I don't know what you're talking about.

The way I see it, the plan was for you to escape. So you

and Rudy got together with Art Spring and Val Delaney and planned this

Of course, Art and Val didn't know anything about the robbery. They just

to get away from this place.

Does that sound familiar?

Not at all.

Now, let's say your friends got greedy.

They got greedy.

They realized they didn't need you.

But because of the vault, they needed Rudy.

So they came up with an ingenious plan to cut you out.

The escape was going along fine. Going along fine. Moving right along. And all

of a sudden, Rudy faked an injury.

And the reason he did that was to buy a transfer to Greenwood Prison Camp. Easy

to get out of.

by informing on you and your friends.

You're making this up as you go along.

You know I'm not.

You know I'm not.

And now comes Lenny Marcus.

When you found out that he snitched on Rudy, you decided, you

knew, you knew that you'd been double -crossed and you decided you'd get even.

And you killed the man.

that your friends needed to get into that vault. You killed Rudy Chambers.

Objection. Mr. Matlock is engaging in rampant speculation.

There's not a shred of proof.

Your Honor, if you'll bear with me, I do have proof.

Go ahead.

Thank you.

Now, this is today's paper.

You see here?

Those men did get into that vault.

See?

You see this? They got into the vault today.

You hear?

They got into the vault by using somebody they thought was Rudy

Chambers. Are you surprised?

And guess whose van they used for the getaway?

Yours.

The police recovered it when they arrested everybody. See, it says right

Police seized a vehicle containing equipment used in the bank robbery.

It was registered to Billy Costello, currently an inmate at Atlanta State

Prison. See, they even spelled your name right.

I didn't kill Chambers.

I was nowhere near him. I was taking a shower.

What?

When?

7 .30 Wednesdays.

After dinner, cell block A always takes showers.

Where?

In the cell block. Where else?

So, on Wednesday, the day of the murder at 7 .30,

you were taking a shower.

Cell block A.

That's right.

How'd your feet feel after you got up?

How'd my feet feel?

Yeah.

When I think I'm on to something, I don't miss a trick.

Let's see here. Willie, Willie... Yeah, Willie Lamberthal.

Willie Lamberthal, he's the one that cleans the showers.

Willie is ready to testify that he had forgotten that Wednesday.

And he put a big sign on the shower door that said, do not enter.

And then about 10, 15, 20 minutes after 7, he poured a bunch of this stuff on

the floor.

You know what it is?

Disinfectant. That's right.

Very powerful, heavy duty.

Mostly hydrochloric acid. See there, right there, it says danger. Contact

the eyes or skin can cause serious injury.

Willie tells me...

That he leaves this stuff on from 15, 25 minutes.

So get it real clean, see. Then he washes it off.

So, Mr. Costello, if you took a shower that Wednesday at 7 .30, you wouldn't be

walking.

Willie's lying.

John Jackson paid him to lie.

I don't think so.

I don't think so.

I don't think so. But I think you...

paid Lenny to look the other way while you hit John Jackson in the back of the

head and drug him in the infirmary and then killed Rudy Chambers. It's a lie.

It might have worked. It hadn't been for this trial.

But I got a hold of Lenny.

And you knew I wanted Lenny to talk.

And you knew that Lenny might break.

So you killed Lenny.

Then you tried to frame Art Spring by planting his shiv in Lenny's cell.

Not one word of that is true.

You promised Lenny that you would take care of his cellmate, and you did.

You promised Lenny a lot of money.

You promised him you'd be waiting for him when he got out. Did not.

All right?

All right, explain this.

Explain this, Mr. Sullivan.

These are our bank statements. One is yours.

One is Lenny's.

On the day of the murder, your wife withdrew $47

,000 exactly from your savings account.

And that same day, $47 ,000 appeared.

And Lenny's savings account. How do you explain that?

You paid

Lenny Marcus $47 ,000 to help

set up and then cover up your murder of Rudy Chambers.

That's all.

C .J., you arrive at a verdict?

We wouldn't be here if we hadn't, Newman.

Well, let's hear it.

We didn't have a choice.

We had to find John Jackson not guilty.

Now, we promised if we was declared

not guilty...

We'd release them. So we lie!

Yeah, we lie! That's what it's all the time. If you kill this man, they'll

this place like World War III. Half of you will be killed, and the rest of you

will stay in here the rest of your lives. Is that what you want? You gave

word. I'll save your breath. Shut up! Look, look, for once we got the upper

hand. Now, I hate that guy's guts just as much as anybody, but if we don't let

him go, they won't meet our demands.

So what's up, man?

All right, we're going to listen to this bull this time.

But you better have it right, though. Better have it right.

Yeah.

Come on.

Let's go, man.

I

don't

believe it.

Why? You forgotten what it's like to be a human being?

Oh, Steve?

All right.

Yeah, I know.

But you know what?

I feel pretty good being on the D .A.'s side for once.

I tell you what.

When you get out, let's try for a rematch.

That's a deal.

He's tiny, tiny.

Thanks for helping me out. I'm glad, man.

Now, we make a hell of a team. When you get out, look me up.

Here's my car.

I don't know.

I might have a job for you.

What are you in here for, anyway?

Aggravated assault.

Armed robbery.

Ram, theft, auto.

See, I used to work for a guy who made a ton of money.

And I asked him for a raise.

And he wouldn't give it to me.

So I beat him up.

I took his gun. I robbed him.

I know it's wrong, but it made me so mad.

The one thing I hate is a cheapskate.

It was just a thought.