Original subtitles

Good night.

What do you think?

How come you're driving the Plymouth?

Started right up.

Runs like a top.

It's your beauty.

You haven't had that car out in ten years.

I wanted to show it to Martha.

Martha who?

Well, that's why I asked you to meet me here.

Martha Jordan.

I haven't seen her in 30 years called out of the blue.

I want you to meet her.

Hey,

lady.

Here. Let me help you. Thank you.

Why does her name sound familiar?

Well, it was a long time ago. You don't remember.

Her husband was my first client, Cyrus Jordan.

Worked in the diner. My dad always ate at back home in Mount Horton.

It was in the early 60s. Things were real different then.

Sarge? Yes, sir. The deputy needs to have his order, too.

What can I get you all this morning?

Whip me up some of them biscuits and gravy like the sheriff owes you. Yes,

Fried eggs and grits for me.

All righty.

Pete?

Charlie?

Sarge? Madlock?

I'll have the eggs ready for you in just a minute.

All right.

I hear you've been blueberry picking.

Yes, sir. We got two pies back there.

Ain't too sure how long they're going to last, though.

You want me to fade you a piece?

This is some gravy, sir.

Make it fast.

Coming right up, sir.

Hope you weren't planning on over -leisurely breakfast, sir.

When we get done here, we gotta get out to Willie Dollar's place and bust up

that still his once and for all.

Why?

Attorney General's office.

Been raising a cane with me since 8 this morning.

I know what it is, though.

It's the feds.

They just itching for an excuse to get people like me fired so they can bring

them integrationists down here and take over.

That's just what we need.

There's a bunch of Yankees coming in here telling us how to do things.

You better get used to it.

Changing time.

That's what they call it up in Atlanta.

Flush in the south down the toilet.

That's what I call it.

I need some coffee here, boy.

Here, here.

Chef, I stopped by the dime store this morning to get a paper.

Frosty told me that Owen Lashley's pawn shop was robbed last night.

Got any idea who it was?

Well, I got just saying, Charlie.

I got more important matters to attend to right now. Now, Owen, he'll just have

to wait.

And he shouldn't have had all that cash in there to starve me.

My name's Ian Hunter Thorpe, sir. This is old Motivelker. Forgot to watch this.

All right, I'll get you one right away. I got me some biscuits and gravy this

morning, too.

Sure is good.

Nice and clean.

Gravy's burned.

The biscuits are hard as rock.

This is garbage, boy.

Refuse.

Now, it's bad news.

You expect me to pay for it.

But did you really think I was going to eat it?

I mean, just how ignorant do you think I am?

Besides, why don't you get the sheriff some hotcakes?

I don't want no hotcakes.

I want an answer.

You think I'm ignorant, boy?

Then why'd you serve me trash?

Deputy Hayes there don't seem to mind the flavor none. I said trash, boy!

You know what I'd do with trash?

Case burned, like you said.

Maybe if you took a couple meals out of his wages, he'd be more careful next

time.

Clean it up.

And hurry.

No, thank you, Mr. Madlock. I can walk just fine.

Oh, come on, get in. You know, we're holding them new shoes before you have

Come on.

All right, thank you.

Yeah.

My wife bought me these shoes.

Oh, they're nice.

They look like they cost a lot.

Well, she didn't tell me how much you paid for them. She just made me promise

take real good care of them.

Yeah.

You know...

The sheriff was having a bad day way before he got to the dining this

It wasn't you or your cooking that made him mad.

Yeah, well, I don't pay much attention to stuff like that.

Mr. Madlock, I just let it roll right off my back.

Yeah, you do?

Mm -hmm. Sort of like ward off a duck.

You're a better man than I am, Sergeant, I'll tell you that.

Yeah, I'm all right.

This is Mr. Charlie Matlock.

And it's true what they're saying?

I don't know, son, what they say.

That chef done fooled all over you.

Yeah, well, that's all right.

Why didn't you hear them?

I don't want you talking like that. Do you hear me? I don't care, chef or no

chef. I would have shoved his face in the grave and drowned him in it.

Now, you quit that.

And if you don't get your butt back in that house, you better.

I -4 -9 -2 -4 -2.

Says so right in the Bible.

Hush up.

Well.

The boy's growing up.

Voting the Bible and everything.

Yeah, when it suits him.

I guess that's the way it is with non -stoppers.

Where'd you get that old 46 Plymouth?

Mr. Harriman gave it to me.

For painting his house and fixing up his yard last year.

She ran real good for a day or two.

They should just quit on me.

Well, how about this?

Next time you make a batch of blueberry pies, make me one.

When I come out here to get it, I'll bring platoons.

See what I can do, how about it?

That'll be fine.

I see you then.

Does the prosecution wish to cross -examine the defendant?

Mr. Matlock.

Yes, Your Honor.

Thank you.

So, you've never been in Jim Desmond's barn?

I've never set foot in his barn.

When's the last time you were on his property?

Never set foot on his property, neither.

Never? Nope.

Never.

When you gave blood last year, they told you you're blood type.

Happen to remember what it is?

A .B. something or other. A .B. negative.

Pretty rare.

But wouldn't you know, it's the same type that was found on this strand of

barbed wire. Which, as we just heard from Deputy Goodell, the sheriff removed

from the fence beside Jim's barn the morning after the theft.

Now, they believe whoever broke into the barn and stole those

saddles... Threw him over the fence.

Then crawled between the wires to make his getaway.

Scratching himself and leaving AB negative blood on these barbs in the

Well, AB negative or XYZ positive, who cares?

Finding it there don't make it mine.

Very true.

But it got me to thinking.

If it had been me getting all cut up on rusty barbed wire like that, first thing

I would have done is hightail it to a doctor.

Ever been to see Doc Wilshire?

Of course I have.

Everybody in Mount Harlan has. He's the only doctor we got.

When's the last time you saw him, Tara?

I don't remember.

July 12th, 10 a .m.

The morning after somebody broke into Jim Desmond's barn.

Doc Wilshire cleaned the cuts on your back, gave you a tetanus shot, and sent

you on your way.

Isn't that so?

No further questions.

That was good, son.

Kind of let him convict himself.

Tried to.

Yeah, that was good.

Set the trap and let him walk right into it.

Dad,

there's something about being a DA that just doesn't sit right with me.

I don't like sending people to jail.

Well, it's steady work. When I was your age, that's all there was to it.

Yeah, but I'd rather do something else.

What?

I've been thinking about this for a while.

I'm quitting the DA's office.

I'm going to practice law on my own from now on. Start defending people instead

of prosecuting them.

Oh, uh -huh.

Kind of like...

Elmo Erickson, the drunk.

Dad, just because the only criminal attorney you know is an alcoholic

mean they all are.

No, no, I know.

Calvin Reeves, he ain't no drunk.

Of course, he never got married, neither.

I'm going to the office. I'll talk to you later.

You checked all the windows and doors, and you didn't find nothing.

Open or busted?

Nope. I come in this morning, everything was clean as a whistle.

It wasn't until I opened the cash register that I realized I'd been

And nothing else in the shop was missing? No cameras, no jewelry?

Nope. Just the money.

$693.

Owen, how many times we got to tell you?

Keep your money in the bank, not at the store.

It's a pawn shop, Wes.

I gotta have money.

And here's the worst part.

My mama's gone to Florida, and I wrote her phone number on a $50 bill. Now I

can't call her.

You saying a stolen bill's got a phone number written down on it? Yes, sir. On

the front or the back?

Well, it was on the front, right next to old Ulysses S. Grant.

Now that's what I call a leave.

I'll get on it first thing in the morning.

No, you won't.

Not till the Attorney General's office quits breathing down my neck.

I'm going to personally oversee each and every criminal investigation we

undertake. I tell you.

Why don't you head on home, Sonny? I can finish up here.

Sounds good to me.

Wow, a lady just hates it when I'm late for supper.

See you in the morning.

So, this phone number in Florida.

The other one there about takes care of that.

If and when we...

Find that $50 bill, we may have ourselves a thief.

Uh -oh.

Somebody lost their wallet.

Yeah.

Sully's. I swear, that man would lose his head if it wasn't bolted on.

Hey, Sully. This here's the sheriff. Do you read me?

I hear you, Wes. What's going on?

You left your wallet here, boy.

And where the heck are you, anyway? I can hardly hear you.

Well, you know you're out there driving around without a license now.

If I see you, I'm going to have to arrest you.

Don't you work too hard?

Yeah.

Carl, come here, girl.

Won't you be good in school and learn something from me today, all right? Give

me some sugar.

Gamble, Mr. Know -it -all.

Boy, you got to work on that temple.

I'll stand back.

You're under arrest, boy.

For what?

Leave my daddy alone.

For murder and sheriff's flattery, what the hell you think?

My life.

Don't you look fine. Oh, well.

And this is your daughter, Leanne. I am so pleased to meet you, Miss Jordan. I

was just telling Leanne about you and Cyrus and that time he was accused of

murder. I wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for your granddaddy.

Sit down, honey.

Your daddy never was one for making a long story short.

So where were you? Well, I was telling her about the morning Cyrus was

Dad called and asked me to come over for lunch.

You're making me hot dogs?

They're your favorite, ain't they?

Yeah.

You've been telling me I've been eating too many of them for years.

What are you up to?

Just trying to fix you something you like.

Why?

I just want you to know that if you want to quit your job uptown, it's all right

with me.

And what else?

Well, I might have a client for you.

Hey, Pop, that's great.

Of course.

If you take him on, it'll have to be for free.

I was at home all night.

You can ask Martha. She'll tell you.

That ain't good enough, is it?

For me, it is.

But not for a jury.

Consider her a little biased.

Any idea how your knife wound up being used as a murder weapon? Will you quit

saying that?

It ain't my knife!

I use it when I'm working.

He says you were using that knife to cut up blueberry pies yesterday.

Well, traces of blueberry juice that the lab found on Sheriff's shirt and one of

the stab wounds confirmed that.

I left the knife for Molly to have cleaned the next morning, like always.

Somebody just must have broke in there and took it when everybody went home.

Somebody know about that run -in you had with the sheriff?

You know how fast word travels around this town? Could have been anybody.

They won't let me see Martha.

It wouldn't be so bad in here.

But they just won't let me see Martha.

Maybe I can get you out on bail.

You can get me out of here?

Maybe.

Well, I used to work with these guys. Maybe they'll do me a favor.

Look, I can't make bail money, so what's the difference?

Well, Ben and me can help you out.

Dad, that's a lot of money.

I stand on my own, as always.

And if I ain't got no money, I

just as soon stay in here.

If I was to buy something from you, well, that wouldn't be charity, would

I used to hate that old car.

Wouldn't never let me forget how Mr. Harriman cheated you.

The man knew that car was gonna break down.

But I don't hate it no more.

When's Mr. Matlock picking it up?

Tomorrow afternoon.

Feels so good to have your arms around me again.

That's Martha's brother from Brunswick.

Her and the young ones are going to stay there until this thing's over.

What's wrong with people anyway?

I don't know.

Need some help?

No, I think we got her if she don't jump.

All right.

You ain't going to stay here, are you? Of course I am. It's my home.

Well, I got a feeling them jackasses might come back.

You can't stay here.

Well, I don't have a choice. I don't have nowhere else to go.

Well, that ain't so.

I got extra bed at my house.

Look, no, no, I appreciate it, but I'll just stay home.

But you can't stay here. They might do something to you.

Look, I'm gonna get hung anyway, so what the hell difference does it make?

He ain't gonna get me off, and we both know it.

Actually, I think I can.

Or at least I intend to try my damnedest.

Well, thinking and trying is a long way up the road from doing.

I got you out on bail, didn't I?

Old gun -toting jackasses in the world can't change the facts, Cyrus.

Fact is, you're innocent.

That means something.

Yeah, there's something to that.

That's right.

Get your stuff together.

We'll wait.

Sorry I can't help with the dishes, but I got a lot of reading to catch up on.

You've done enough. You go ahead.

Mr. Madlock, where y 'all learn to cook like this?

Well, let's just say it wasn't from my father.

I'll see you in the morning.

Night -night. Night.

Here, let me... No, no, no, no.

You just sit there.

Yeah.

Hey. That's a fine house you got here.

Yeah.

Real fine boy, too. You must be real proud of him. Well, yeah.

No more than you are a gambler, though.

He's a fine boy, smart.

Got a head on his shoulders.

Yeah. He got a temper, too. He get that from you or Martha?

Um, me, I guess.

He didn't learn to hold it in yet, huh?

No, he ain't had too much practice at it yet.

Come on now, let me take this. No, no, sit there.

Let's talk about things.

You know, the only place we know one another is down at the diner.

The way I see it, that's like not knowing one another at all.

Well, ain't a whole lot to know, Mr. Madeline.

Charlie.

Mr. Charlie.

You like cooking for folks?

I like feeding my family.

Look, I ain't too good at this talking, so unless you want me to go in there and

get on them dishes, I'm just gonna turn in.

And again...

I can't thank you enough, Mr. Matlock.

Charlie.

No, sir.

No, it ain't.

It's Mr.

Matlock.

White folks hear me calling you Charlie around that diner around town, they...

They just don't like that.

Mr. Matlock, you're a good man.

And I don't mean you no disrespect.

But some things are the way they are.

They burned a cross on Grandpa's lawn?

When Cyrus sent us to live with my brother, it was because he didn't want

be there if things turned ugly.

And back then, when a black man was accused of murdering a white man, things

could turn real ugly.

And what happened?

My father put the fire out and called the sheriff's office.

Nobody showed up till the next morning.

Might as well not shown up at all.

I'm telling you, it was Mitchell Crane.

He's wearing that ball cap, you know, with the bill turned up where he looks

like some kind of giant duck.

It was nighttime, Charlie. You can't be sure what you saw. That fire going is

bright as day out here.

Even if it was Mitchell Crane, I wouldn't have arrested him anyway. I

what's the crime?

Trespassing. Destruction of property.

Some of your grass got burned.

It'll grow back. In fact, them ashes will probably do it some good.

You're telling me it's all right to go around burning stuff in other people's

yards?

Look, we'll do everything we can to make sure nothing else happens.

If you use some common sense when it comes to who stays at your house, you

as well as I do none of this would have happened.

Where are you going? Get back.

Alma?

Alma, I need them hotcakes, all right?

Come on.

That's a

nice

-looking cap you got there, Mitchell.

Bill get turned up that way by accident or do you want to go around looking like

a moron?

You say something to me, old man.

Bill up like that can't keep the sun out of your eyes.

You don't need to keep your head warm. You're too good at lighting fires.

Certain people need to learn certain things just ain't done around here.

It just seems to me that light... priors

in other people's yards is a pretty dumb way to make a point.

But if you ever get the urge to do it again, burn something else.

I see you and yours in church all the time.

I guess the cross don't mean nothing to you.

Just don't seem Christian to use the cross as a symbol of hate.

Maybe Reverend Weber ought to.

Talk on that sometime.

Maybe he ought to talk on how we're supposed to love our brothers and treat

like we want them to treat us.

Why don't you shut up?

Two orders of eggs over easy, side of bacon, side of sausage and grits. Don't

forget them hotcakes, all right?

I see you got the watch working.

And my boy, and I'm still shorthanded. Why don't you hire Cyrus back?

I can't have no colored murderer working here.

Cyrus ain't no murderer.

I know he ain't, but that's what everybody thinks.

People stop coming in here, I go out of business.

How long you think you're going to stay in business and people have to wait a

half hour for their grits?

Cyrus is the best man that ever worked for me. If it was just me, I'd hire him

back in a second, but... I got Alma to think about in the young 'uns.

Did it ever occur to you if you hired him back, people see how much you trust

him, they might get to thinking maybe he's not a killer.

Hey, you got them hotcakes yet?

Dang it, Alma, where are them hotcakes? Come on!

Well, I'm gonna go on over to Moley's.

Oh, she can't go over there. You won't be safe.

Oh, Mr. Matlock, you done done enough for me already.

Just what I'd do for any friend of mine.

Mr. Matlock, we ain't friends.

And never gonna be.

Truth of the matter is, all this hadn't happened, I never would have set one

foot in your place.

Never eat here.

Never even had my family here.

No.

I'm best off with my own kind.

All right.

You know, a lot of them people down there at the diner, ignoramuses.

I want to tell you something I believe.

I ain't gonna tell you that I've liked every colored man I've met.

And I sure as hell ain't liked every white man I've met.

But I like you.

You got a nice smile.

Smart.

Head on your shoulders.

Make the best blueberry pie on the face of this earth.

And I ain't ignoring the fact that your color, that's part of who you are.

But if neither the whites nor the cults can start taking it one person at a time

instead of lumping everybody together, then all the marching and protesting and

integrating in the world ain't going to amount to a hill of bees.

Well, it really ain't that hard to make a decent blueberry pie.

I could probably teach you how.

Probably not.

Hi, Dad.

How come you're not at the service station?

I stayed home so Cyrus could teach me to make blueberry pie.

You made that?

I helped.

What'd you do?

I picked the berries, washed them, tried to make the crust, but after I'd pretty

much destroyed two batches of dough trying to roll it out, Cyrus took over.

Where you been?

Talking to Owen Lashley.

Last person to see Sheriff Slattery alive.

What'd he say?

He went down to the sheriff's station around 8 o 'clock that night to

answer questions about that burglary at his pawn shop.

And the sheriff sent Sully home around 8 .30 and Owen left about a half hour

later.

What time did Wes's wife find him dead?

9 .15.

So whoever killed him must have been hiding outside the office waiting for us

be by ourselves.

Right.

Did you say you put new radios in all three sheriff's cars last week?

No. Well, apparently Sully left his wallet at the office that night and when

sheriff radioed him to tell him...

Owen says the static was so bad on Sully's end, he could hardly hear what

saying. Static?

That radio's fresh from the factory.

Well, I thought you'd want to know.

Been there near half hour. When's your daddy gonna call?

Soon as he gets to where Sully was that night.

I really appreciate your doing this, Owen.

Things like this drive my father crazy.

He's got to know whether it's the radio or the work he did installing it. It's

bad. Hello, Ben?

It's Charlie.

You there? Hello?

I'm here, Dad. Where are you?

Chesterfield Road, about two blocks from Sully's house.

How's his dad?

Nothing like it was that night.

Dad, you're coming in clear as a bell.

That don't make no sense.

Maybe Sully said he was somewhere else and Owen heard it wrong.

Before he left office, he said he was going home to supper.

Owen said Sully said he was going straight home, Dad.

So, can Owen go now?

No!

Don't let Owen leave till I call you back, can we? Don't let him leave.

I gotta go. Lord, I'm as crazy as your papa staying this long.

That's the way it sounded that night.

We can hardly hear you for the static dad. Where are you?

Not closing before

Hello, Sully. Sully.

Hello, Ben, Charlie. What brings you out here?

I need to talk to you, Sully.

Yeah? About what?

About, uh, burglary over at Owen Lashley's pawn shop.

How's the investigation going?

It's coming.

Slow, but sure.

Found that $50 bill with the phone number on it yet?

Told you about that.

Owen, as soon as we found out, you were...

Behind the sheriff's office, when Wes radioed you about losing your wallet

night, we asked Owen a whole lot of questions.

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

We just come from the bank, Sully.

Vera, you know, tell her, tall, red hair.

She remembers that big deposit you made the day after the robbery.

One of the bills had a phone number on it. She asked you if you needed to copy

it down, and you said no.

That's why you killed the sheriff, isn't it?

So you wouldn't find out you were the burglar.

Ooh, you boys is barking up the wrong tree.

We told Deputy Vance, and he told the State Patrol, come clean and they might

easy on you, Sully.

Burglary's one thing.

Just don't prove I'm a murderer, especially seeing that I'm white and

colored.

Compared to that, this don't mean nothing.

How come you're here so late?

Couldn't sleep.

Sit down, I'll cut you a piece of pie.

No thanks, Pop.

How about a couple of hands of gin?

I don't know if that's such a good idea.

You know how you get when you lose.

Just that once, that glass of tomato juice slipped off the table. I didn't do

on purpose.

So clear through my overhauls.

It was an accident, Dad.

All the face cards on top of this dick.

You shuffled, I didn't.

Are you sure this is a full deck?

You're getting testy already.

No, I'm not.

Jim? Jim!

I'm sorry, Dad.

At least the tomatoes used to watch time.

Don't move. Just sit there. I'll clean it up.

Your mother always said blueberry stains won't come out.

Oh, Lord, it's not coming out.

I understand you were recently charged with a crime, Deputy.

Objection. That is irrelevant to these proceedings.

Goes to motive, Your Honor.

Motive? Who's on trial here? The wrong man.

And if you let me continue, I'll prove it.

Go ahead.

What crime were you charged with, Deputy Hayes?

They say I stole some money from Owen Lashley's pawn shop.

Prior to the sheriff's death, who in the department...

normally investigated burglaries.

Me?

But when you and the sheriff interviewed Owen about the burglary at his place, a

crime with which you've been charged, the sheriff said he'd investigate the

case, didn't he?

Yeah.

Must have come as quite a shock.

After all, you were counting on investigating that case, weren't you?

So you could make sure it was never solved.

That ain't true.

You mean the fact that the sheriff wound up dead.

Before he could look into that burglary is just a big coincidence? That's right.

Everybody knows that that colored fella over there done it.

He got mad at Wes for insulting his cooking, and he killed him with his

His kind do stuff like that all the time.

And all you're doing is muddying the water, trying to confuse them good

over there.

Before your arrest, you had a key to just about every place of business in

Harley, didn't you? For when you pulled night patrol duty.

Yeah, that's right.

Have a key to the pawn shop?

Yeah. You also had a key to the diner, didn't you?

Yeah. You used that key to get into the diner after you left the sheriff's

office that night, didn't you? Most certainly did not. And being real

not to disturb any of the fingerprints.

or blueberry juice that was on it, you stole one of Cyrus Jordan's knives,

didn't you?

No. And then you went to your patrol car, and instead of going home, you

in your car outside the back of the sheriff's station, didn't you? No, that

ain't true.

You knew the sheriff would be calling you because you accidentally on purpose

left your wallet there. What are you talking about? So you waited and waited,

and sure enough...

He called you, giving you a chance to make him and Owen think that you were

two blocks from home.

So later on, Owen could give you an alibi. Isn't that right, Sully? No, that

ain't right.

And after that, you waited till Owen was gone, and then you snuck in the

sheriff's office through the back door, and then used the knife from the diner

to kill Sheriff Slattery so no one would ever find out.

You were a common thief, didn't you?

No.

Yes, you did, Sully.

I know because I got proof.

I got proof right here.

Deputy Vance removed this from your patrol car, the one you were driving

night.

It's the floor mat from the driver's side.

Mind telling the court what made these stains, Sully?

They're blueberry stains, aren't they, Sully?

No.

They're... It's grape juice.

I was eating in my car and it spilled.

Well, if that were the case, those stains would be on top of the floor mat,

on the bottom. No.

Police lab over in Atlanta says these are blueberry stains.

How'd they get there?

Well... After you stole Cyrus' knife from the diner that night, you had to

it out of sight while you were waiting for Owen to leave the sheriff's office.

So you put it down by your feet, underneath the floor mat.

Didn't you, Sully?

The next morning, the jury found Cyrus innocent.

And by the end of the day, he was back working at the diner.

And me and the children came back the day after. And from then on, life seemed

to get better.

Cyrus seemed more at peace with himself somehow.

And Gamble, well, white folks finding his daddy innocent like that gave

him something he'd been missing his whole life.

Hope.

Where's Gamble now?

Columbus, Ohio.

Got his own advertising company. And Cora, she's married.

Mother of three. And what about Cyrus?

That's why I called your daddy.

Cyrus passed away three weeks ago.

I'm so sorry.

He was a fine man, Martha. I'll never forget him.

I got something I want to show you. Close your eyes.

Okay, now open them.

You still got that old car? That was my father's pride and joy.

He was a good man, too.

Your daddy and granddaddy set our lives on a good course.

I just thought somebody...

Oh, thank you.

Oh, it's too late.