Original subtitles

Okay, let's go.

Get two, Judge.

Get two.

You okay, Ben?

Said you'd give me a shot at third day.

Well, yeah, but that was before Judge Edwards said he'd play.

He's played semi -pro, Ben.

Promised you'd give me a shot.

Judge, trade places with Ben for a minute, okay?

Okay.

Come on, Ben.

Come on, Ben.

Come on, Ben.

Stay low. Keep your eye on the ball, okay? What's in my eye? Give me another

one, Bob.

It was his ball.

hurt you. All right.

Nice going, Bob.

Let's go.

Nice wheels, Bob. Yeah.

You all right?

Oh, boy, I moved that fast at the buffet a couple weeks ago.

You sure you're all right?

Oh, yeah, I'm okay. I'm all right.

Second time I've booked that kid this year. I think you'd find a game you'd be

better at.

Hey, mark my words, you'll be back on the street tomorrow.

You sure you're all right, Bob?

It's just a cut, Ben. I'm fine.

Listen, I need to talk to you about this third base position.

Me too.

You're right.

If Wayne Edwards played semi -pro, he should play third base. I'm glad you

that way, Ben.

I'll play right field.

You know, right fielder needs a really good arm.

I've got a good arm.

Well, you don't, Ben. You throw like a girl.

You've got the best mind on the team, Ben. You'd make a great third base

I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings.

You didn't hurt my feelings.

Just a game.

No.

Back to business.

See, that's what I mean.

What?

Back to business. You've got the best mind on the team.

You know Malcolm, ain't you?

I've heard of him. He's the millionaire philanthropist.

I guess he wants me to do a little legal work for him.

Hope he doesn't find out I throw like a girl.

Do you like DiCenzo, Mr. Matlock?

You have expensive tastes.

Well, Mr. Engle, I'm glad to finally meet you. I wish we could have met

Well, the press called me reclusive, but I think of myself as private.

Oh, yeah.

I was just reading in the paper this morning about that $2 million endowment

gave the pediatric hospital. That's a lot of money. Well...

It's easy to give to others when you have money.

Well, yeah.

Your favorite charity is the Legal Defense Fund, am I right?

How in the world did you know that?

I've taken the liberty of writing a check for $25 ,000 to that fund in your

name.

Get out of town.

I hope I can do something in return.

Well, for starters, you can agree to be my guest here for dinner this evening.

Well. I've had my chef prepare your favorite dish, which is venison stew,

cloves of garlic, Vidalia onions.

I hope you'll stay.

I love Vidalia onions.

Oh.

I could eat this stew every night and die a happy man.

I'd be as big as a house, but I'd die happy.

It's a pleasure to see a man passionate about something.

Well. Well, I don't want you to do any legal work for me.

Say again?

I was going to, but then my assistant showed me the transcript from the

case.

Fletcher Galloway? Yeah.

Boy, did you ever stink up that case.

I don't get it.

Well, you can't exactly blame that one on age, can you? I mean, that happened,

what, 20 years ago?

What went wrong, anyway? You just didn't do your homework or something?

I'm serious. I don't find this very funny.

I was wondering how you actually sleep at night knowing that your client, James

Johnson, is sitting on death's row because of your ineptness.

James Johnson committed a murder.

He lied to me and he lied to the jury. Oh, wow.

I was wondering how you rationalized bailing out on him.

I don't know what's going on here or what this is about.

Thanks for dinner.

Open the door.

I haven't excused you yet.

You know, Ben, there are a lot of people out there like James Johnson who think

that yours is a great criminal mind. But do you know what I think?

I think you're a fraud.

I think you couldn't get a guy off even if the real killer described to you in

advance how he planned to do it.

I've listened to all of this I can handle. Now, unlock that door.

A murder is going to take place, Ben.

And I'm going to give it all to you. I'm going to tell you where. I'm going to

tell you when.

I'm even going to tell you who's going to do it.

Me.

You're telling me you're going to kill somebody?

That's right.

You can go now.

3 .15 tomorrow, Willow Springs Park.

Someone very close to you, Ben.

Catch me if you can.

Malcolm Engle is going to kill someone today?

In six hours.

Malcolm Engle?

The man who gave $20 million to charity last year, was voted humanitarian of the

year for the state of Georgia for the third consecutive year, created the Be A

Brother Foundation, invited you to his house to tell you that he had decided to

kill somebody?

That's right. Why?

I don't know.

You must have misinterpreted.

All I know is he said somebody's going to die today.

Well, even if I believe Malcolm Engle was some lunatic, he's going to do what

you said.

My hands are tied.

He hasn't committed a crime.

Is that the best?

Yes, Mr. Englishman. I'm going to call Mitchell Getz in New York, and I do not

want to be disturbed. So hold all my calls.

Will do.

Mitchell, it's Malcolm.

It's a little before three here in Georgia. I'm sorry I missed you.

I spoke with our friend in Chicago about the mechanics of this deal.

I want you to hear the details before you talk to him tomorrow. It's a bit

complicated.

I hope you have a lot of tape on this answering machine.

Anyway, here goes.

Ziegler Industries had their initial public offering two years ago in June.

The stock came on at the market at $22 a share.

Over the course of the first year, the stock's fluctuation was negligible in

that the products they were developing were in stage one of testing.

Hey, um, think we could start batting practice now?

What? Well, Jim McCoy's got to leave early, and I don't know, should we start

batting practice?

Yeah, okay. Jenny, you want to hit?

Sure.

I'm testing.

His guess is that in the short term, there is a strong likelihood that we

wouldn't see a return on investment.

Wait, hang on a second. I just remembered something.

Elizabeth?

Yes, sir.

I'm slipping the Frazier deal under the door.

You execute my revisions before you go home.

What brings you to this neck of the woods?

You're, uh... I'm Malcolm Engle.

Why are you looking at me like that?

Well, what are you doing here?

Oh.

It's, uh, it's Matlock, isn't it?

I bet he's been telling you some strange things about me, hasn't he?

I said, what are you doing here?

Wait, wait, wait, wait. Let me guess.

Did he tell you that, uh, that I was going to kill somebody today?

Yeah, as a matter of fact, he said it'd be about...

Come

on,

Jerry. Come on, hit. Whoa, good hit. Where's Bob?

Where's Bob?

I don't know.

Not like him to be late

If

you got any questions about any of this and you want to reach me before you call

Chicago I should be home most of tonight Elizabeth knows my schedule better than

I do. So give her a buzz and she'll track me down I'll talk to you soon

Bye

messages while I was on the phone?

to call, but I heard about your good friend, Detective Brooks.

Must be very painful for you.

Why did you do it?

I heard he died at, what, about 3 .15 today at Willow Spring Park.

Just a game.

No, I don't play games, Ben.

I hear the police picked up some punk.

Boy.

Kids, I just don't know what's happened to them.

You murdered my friend.

Ben, you sound so angry.

What do you think?

Maybe if you'd have been smarter, you could have protected him, Ben.

Are you all right?

I must have called you six times.

I didn't know it was you.

I don't know of a person in the world that I butted heads with more than Bob

Brooks or anybody I respected more.

Malcolm Engle?

Yeah.

Malcolm Engle.

Charlie?

Who are you?

I'm a liar.

I don't want them.

Stupid public defender in a cheap suit.

Put that cigarette out.

You ever even tried a murder case, huh?

Put the cigarette out.

Well, what are you gonna do?

You gonna throw me in jail?

Now, let me tell you.

For a jerk who'd have to improve his skills to be called a thief, you have no

idea what kind of lucky day you're having.

Now, shut your mouth and put that cigarette out.

Mr. Engle was in the office all day yesterday.

He didn't go for a walk or go down the hallway for about a half hour or so

around 3 o 'clock?

3 o 'clock. Well, it's easy enough to check. Mr. Engle has me keep a log of

his daily activities.

Oh, here it is.

No, he was on the phone to New York with Mitchell Getz.

See, right here.

He got on the phone at 2 .55 and he stopped talking at 3 .27.

Are you... May I take this? Oh, sure.

Are you sure these times are right?

Uh, yes.

Well, as a matter of fact, I remember that during the phone call to Mr. Goetz,

Mr. Engel slid some papers under the door for me to revise.

So you never actually saw him while he was on the phone in New York? Hello?

Mr. Engel?

This is Mr. Lewis from Mr. Matlock's office.

How do you do?

Hi.

I hope that Elizabeth has been helpful.

Yeah, she's been fine.

I got a couple minutes. Do you want to come into my office and talk?

All right.

Okay.

Can I have Elizabeth get you some refreshments?

No.

Sit down, please.

No, thanks. I'm fine.

I was just writing a check to start a new hospice here in Atlanta.

How could you do it? You didn't even know Bob Brooks.

There are so many thick people.

When you frame some other guy you didn't even know, he could end up getting the

electric chair.

Not to mention the homeless.

I wish more people would care for them.

Your secretary said that you were in here yesterday on the phone with

Goetz from 255 to 327.

Who? Mitchell Goetz.

2 .55 to 3 .27 yesterday.

I want his phone number.

Malcolm Engle never spoke to Mitchell Goetz that day.

Well, who was he talking to on the phone for that half hour?

Goetz's telephone answering machine.

You sure?

As it turns out, Mitchell Goetz was away on business when Malcolm Engle called

and left a very complicated message.

So what happened was Goetz's secretary listened to it and decided to jet air it

to Goetz.

How did you get it?

I told Goetz he should jet air it to me or I was going to jet air him a

subpoena.

Now, I've talked to cows and horses that made more sense than what's on this

tape right here, but there's something very interesting on it. And I've queued

it up to a point where Engel's on the phone for about 15 minutes, and this is

where he supposedly got up and slid a file under the door for his secretary.

Hang on a second. I just remembered something.

Elizabeth, I'm slipping the Frazier deal under the door. Could you execute my

revisions before you go home?

And then I'll listen.

Sorry, Mitchell.

Anyway.

We never heard him get up and walk over to the door.

There was no chair creaking. There were no footsteps. Now, it sounded like he

was yelling right into the phone. Why didn't he move it around?

He's puzzling.

We could hear the papers as he slipped them under the door.

We didn't.

You know what I think?

I think he played the tape of his voice into the phone, snuck out the back door,

and killed Bob.

No? That vial could have been sitting there for 20 minutes.

Unless the secretary got up out of her desk and walked over here, there's no

she would have seen it.

He slid this vial under the door and then slipped out the back. That's

what he did.

How did you get in here?

Well, the door was open and... No, it wasn't. I locked it when I left.

Mr. Engle told me why Mr. Lewis was asking me all those questions the other

What is wrong with you?

Do you know who this man is who you're accusing of murder?

I apologize.

Mr. Matlock, do you know where Mr. Engle was all morning?

This man who you're calling a killer was feeding terminal patients at a local

hospital.

He funded.

What's going on here?

They broke into the office, Mr. Engle.

I'll call security.

No, that won't be necessary, Elizabeth.

Please leave.

I know how you did it.

You know how I did what?

You never spoke to Mitchell Goetz directly. You talked to his answer

You pre -taped that call and phoned him when you knew he'd be out of his office.

Mr. Matlock, what have I done to you to warrant this kind of personal attack?

You played that tape over that phone, walked out that door, went to the park,

killed Bob and came back here a half hour later. My God.

I can prove to you right this second that Mr. Engle was here when he made

phone call.

We have motion detectors in this office.

Elizabeth, it's all right.

Look, even if Mr. Engle had just swiveled in his chair, well, the red

would have flashed. I know this system.

Your security people will have tapes of that day.

Give me the tapes. Now, that is enough. You have tried my patience enough. Give

me the tapes.

This panel in our security room records any movement in the office, even when

the alarm is off.

All right, that's it.

Any time the motion detector picks up movement in this office, the number one

flashes on the panel, and security knows someone's here.

Can you fast forward to about 3 .05?

Oh, sure.

Seen enough?

I don't know how you did that, but you weren't here.

Did I ask you two ladies to excuse us for a minute?

You keep trying, Ben.

What is it you old -timers say?

Even a blind hawk finds an acorn once in a while.

Hello, Mom.

Let's call Ben, huh?

Let's call Ben.

Ben?

Malcolm Angle.

I thought we should talk.

About what?

I hear you never talk about your wife. Why is that?

Do you love her a lot?

Is her memory painful to you?

Maybe you think that there's something you should have said or done before she

died, huh?

How'd you get your security system to activate while you were out murdering

Oh, Ben.

That's so obvious. Where is that cagey southern lawyer who was supposed to trip

me up, huh?

Why'd you pick Bob anyway? You didn't even know him.

Why anyone, Ben? Life isn't fair. You know that as well as I do.

Seems like life's been more than fair to you.

Oh, is that so?

What do you know about me?

What do you know about the price I paid to get where I am, huh? I know you're

evil. I know you hate me.

I'm disappointed. This isn't as much fun as I thought it was gonna be.

Do you always eat this much?

Yeah.

Do you ever gain weight?

Why would I do that?

Do you find any connection between Malcolm Engle and me?

Not in any of your cases.

At least not yet.

It could have been either one of you.

Hi, honey.

Well, I should be back in about an hour. Oh, take your time. Okay, I think

everything's all set.

Oh, great. Okay. I brought a book. Oh, good.

Peace it.

Bye.

You can't go in there.

He's in a meeting.

I'm sorry. I'm new. I'm just filling in for the regular girl.

Oh, would you look at that?

Oh, that poor little plant. Looks like it's going into shock. Oh, wait. Let me

get out of your way.

Oh, I can't believe you did that.

Elizabeth's going to go nuts. Oh, dear. Let me just take care of this.

It should be done in a couple of minutes.

Oh, careful there. I'm sorry.

Hey.

What, uh, what are you doing?

Long system.

Oh.

How, uh, how much is this costing you? About $3 ,500.

You're spending $3 ,500?

Yeah, but... I think it's, you know, to say usually you're so... Cheap?

This is important.

What'd you find out?

Well... I got a good look at Mr. Engel's appointment book.

He seems like a creature of habit.

For the first three months of the year, he played squash every Saturday at 3 o

'clock. And then he went to Costa Rica, and when he came back, he stopped

playing squash.

And he stopped getting his hair cut every other Monday at 11 o 'clock.

Or maybe he just got a new barber.

But they still write down his appointment.

Oh, right. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

And so far, I can't track any of his movements in Costa Rica.

It's like... He was never there.

We're done.

Would you like a little demonstration?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Even though the system is turned off, if someone's moving around in the room,

the light still blinks.

Uh -huh. Let me show you.

Jimmy, you stay in there.

Okay. Jimmy, move around.

See? Zone one.

Don't move.

Somebody's got to be moving around to make the lights blink.

That's right.

Hello? What?

Wait, what?

I can't hear you.

I don't know how to turn the damn thing off.

What do I need a code for? I'm Ben Matlock. I live here. I didn't break in

But wait a minute. Wait a minute.

Yeah, hot dog.

That's right here. Hot dog.

Sensors are fine.

I'll check the connection. This was no defect, sir.

Someone or something set off this alarm.

Are you sure you didn't walk through the living room? I told you I was asleep.

Bobby, I think I found it.

I think I got the culprit right here.

This little guy was crawling across her beam.

The security system was your alibi.

You brought the cat to the office the day of the murder.

It was the movement of the cat that set off the motion detector.

Well, that is very good, Ben.

I had forensics go through your office. They found the cat hairs.

Well, you didn't have to go to all that trouble, Ben. I could have told you Mo

was with me. I take him to work with me all the time.

So let's see where we're at.

You know that the cat was in the office, but you can't prove that I wasn't there

with him.

Can you?

No.

Well, what's your point, then?

I mean, you can always tell the owner of the building that I take my cat to work

with me, but that's not going to get me in much trouble. I own the building.

You know, it never ceases to amaze me how people never live up to their

reputations.

So here you are, one of the best criminal lawyers that money can buy.

I don't get it.

Why are you doing this?

Did I do something to you?

Did I do something to hurt you?

There's got to be a reason.

Malcolm Ingle controlled every element of this

murder.

He knew the guy would be out of his office.

He could leave as long a message as he wanted.

He knew his cat keeps moving around, activates the motion detector.

He knew his secretary wouldn't see the file he slipped under the door till she

stood up.

No, I don't care.

Fine.

Have you ever known Bob Brooks to be late for anything?

No.

He was off nerve.

Right.

So how do you suppose Malcolm Engle knew Bob wasn't going to get to practice

early like usual?

I drove Bob to the park that day. Something was wrong with his car. It

start.

Has anybody used it since?

The way things work around here?

I doubt it's been fixed.

Give it a shot.

Mr. Madlock?

Defense calls Malcolm Ingle to the stand.

Remember the night I came to your house and you invited me to dinner?

Quite clearly.

It was on that occasion that you challenged me to solve a murder that you

planned to commit the next day.

Now, that's an outrageous thing to say. I never said any such thing. You didn't

tell me that you were going to commit a murder at 3 .15 the next day? No, I did

not. And I don't find this amusing.

You murdered my friend.

Sir, Your Honor, I have dedicated most of my adult life to helping those less

fortunate than I. I resent this man slandering me in public.

The witness has a point, Mr. Medlock.

Let me reword the question.

Are you saying that you did not murder Bob Brooks?

Yes, of course. That's exactly what I'm saying. I didn't know the man.

You're a creature of habit.

You could say that, I guess.

Let me guess. A figure of speech, Your Honor. He said guess, I said guess. I'm

on my way. Go on.

I bet, a small supposition.

I bet...

You eat the same breakfast every day, buy your clothes at the same men's

I bet you even have a standing haircut appointment.

Your Honor, first he accuses the witness of murder, now he wants to know how

often he gets his hair cut.

Where are we going with this?

Your Honor, this man committed murder.

I need a certain latitude to prove it. Mr. Matlock.

If I don't prove it, I'll step aside for the rest of my life.

Go ahead.

Now, I said I bet you have a standing haircut appointment. How about it?

I get my haircut every two weeks.

Where?

The Don Ross Salon.

To be accurate, that used to be true.

Till six months ago.

You haven't been in the Don Ross Salon in almost half a year, have you?

I have the appointment book from the salon right here.

The truth is,

you don't get your hair cut anymore, do you?

That's a hairpiece you're wearing, isn't it?

You don't have any hair because of your chemotherapy treatments.

Am I correct?

Mr. Engel?

You have cancer and you're terminally ill, aren't you?

Mr. Engel, I must ask you to answer that question.

The doctors tell me I have three to six months to live.

That seems so unfair.

A man like you, who's devoted his life to charity and doing good,

it must be infuriating that others should live.

Life isn't fair.

I suppose at a time like this, one wishes to make peace where one can and

the book on a life.

I suppose so, yeah. And I suppose it's a time when one wishes to settle old

scores.

I'm not sure I know what you're referring to.

From the time I had dinner at your house, this was personal.

between you and me.

My associates searched every case I ever tried looking for a connection between

us. They didn't find anything.

They went back to college, law school.

Nothing showed up.

I began to think there was no connection between us.

But behind that placid, quiet facade...

There was so much hate and anger towards me.

We looked again.

Have you ever been married, Mr. Engel?

No.

Do you have any children?

No.

Did you ever have children?

That's not a difficult question, please.

Did you ever have children?

Yes, I had a son.

His name was Jason Lang.

You never married his mother.

Your son.

What happened to him?

They were both killed in a fast food restaurant that some lunatic decided to

shoot up.

The man whom you describe as a lunatic was an out -of -work war veteran with

severe emotional problems.

Until yesterday, I did not know it was your boy that he killed.

I defended that man and pled him guilty by reason of insanity, and he was

institutionalized. You never forgave me for that, did you?

That's why you killed someone so close to me. You wanted me to feel helpless.

You wanted me to experience what you had experienced.

I had nothing to do with the death of Bob Brooks.

You made it appear that you were in your office at the time he

died. I was in my office.

Wasn't it your cat that activated the motion detector?

The cat was in my office, so was I.

Now, you were on the phone talking to an answer machine of a business associate.

Yes, I was.

You remember saying to me, catch me if you can?

You controlled every aspect of Bob Brooks' murder.

That's why you had the cat in the office.

That's why you used a tape of your voice to talk to that answer machine.

You plotted every detail.

of Bob Brooks' murder.

You were even aware of one of his trademarks.

Bob Brooks was always on time, often early, for everything in his

life.

But in order for you to commit this murder at the time and the place you

predicted to me, he had to come late for softball practice that day.

Are you aware that Bob Brooks did not drive his car to the park the day he

No, I'm not.

Another officer, Greg Charles, gave him a lift because his car wouldn't start.

This distributor cap was removed from Bob Brooks' car yesterday afternoon.

One of the cables had been disconnected.

Impossible to start it.

I must say, forgive my profanity, you did a hell of a job.

But the best laid plans often go awry. You did everything right.

I probably put on a mechanic's uniform so you wouldn't stick out.

You knew you couldn't use gloves in a police parking lot.

Conspicuous. So you used a cloth.

to remove the distributor cap and the cable.

And then when you were done, you very carefully used that rag to wipe off

any prints you might have left on the hood and on the parts.

You did a fine job.

But you missed one.

One print.

The index finger.

Best laid plans.

You wanted Bob Brooks to come late.

He had to come late for you to commit this murder at the place and the

time that you predicted.

And then you coldly and brutally murdered him.

A man you didn't even know.

all for revenge against me.

What are you going to do, Ben?

Get me the death sentence?