Original subtitles

Let's go, Whitley.

When you get back to New York, Whitley, send me a postcard. Sure, I'll send you

a postcard, Lieutenant. In a box.

It'll be ticking.

Yes, sir. I'm at the Vegas airport now with Lieutenant Hawkins and Vic Whitley.

Any sign of Whitley's brother?

Not yet. Vic was all alone heading north in a van with three tons of marijuana

when a couple of guys in the sheriff's jeep posse picked him up last week. His

brother's here. They're sure of it.

Jeep posse? Is that what I heard?

20 Jeeps. It's a lot of volunteers. It's the old west with four -wheel drive.

Listen, Lieutenant, I'll see you tonight, all right? Okay.

That's your five bucks.

For what?

Whitley doesn't give us a single clue where his brother's hiding.

Theo, we're extraditing him for nothing. I'm sorry.

How long do you figure we've got?

Well, if they use the same flight plan they did last week, we've got until 8

tomorrow night.

35 hours is going to be forever.

For half a million feet, I'll find a way to stay awake.

Yeah? Hey, there she goes now.

We're going to find this truck stolen pretty damn soon. What's the next

The W -8, flight 10 to New York. It's on its way in from L .A. now.

Okay.

Yes, your gun will be with the captain.

And you'll have to remove his cuffs during takeoff and landing.

Let's go, Wesley.

Have a nice flight.

Okay, this is the real thing. No mistake.

Hey, thank you very much.

Have a nice trip back to New York, Bob. Yes, sir. Thank you.

Go now. Remember the plan.

What? Oh,

yeah,

we'll call back in ten minutes.

He's been kidnapped.

Kidding.

Yeah.

10 -15 flight to Vegas and I'll be on it. Right.

Yeah, Theo, here's your fare.

Your $10 is over.

36 red.

Oh.

Oh, I'm the lieutenant. I got 205 from the guys in the squad room.

Hey, lieutenant, if they've thrown Whitley, why don't they take Crocker?

Yeah, and that showgirl and the agent, too. Why take them? Hey, all I know is

that Crocker, he's going to do something to help the police locate him, right?

Now, he's going to be talking to me, not them, because I know him like a book

and laid off.

I got 20 minutes to get to Kennedy, who's coming with me.

Now just go straight through the door outside and there'll be no trouble.

All right, come on.

Come on, get in there.

I better get this out to the desert fast. Right.

All right, come on, get in there.

Come on.

Listen, I've got a lot of business.

I don't care. Just get in. Come on.

money why are you doing this get inside

Hi, you looking for me? I'm Lieutenant Huck.

Hi, Lieutenant. I'm Lieutenant Kojak from New York.

Yes, sir.

Sorry as hell about what happened to your man and that prisoner.

Yeah, you almost got yourself killed. Don't apologize.

But those other two people they snatched, what's the story there?

We know, Lieutenant, it's your man and the prisoner I ain't so sure about.

They were grabbing those two women the last time I saw them.

Chief!

Chief!

Yeah, Quinn?

Looks like a pretty wide set of tracks here.

Maybe a jeep was waiting for them here.

By the way, Quinn, this is Lieutenant Kojak, NYPD, Crocker's boss. How do you

do? This is my sergeant, Andy Quinn. How are you? This is one of our volunteers,

Russ Barton.

They look pretty new.

They headed that way.

I took a long look off the road that way myself.

I followed those tracks heading east towards those hills.

No doubt about it.

Okay, well, I'll tell you what let's do, Quinn. Let's make sure one of the

detectives gets some photos of these tracks here.

Lieutenant?

Yeah.

I found this matchbook in the van.

Yeah,

it's one of my moves.

But my man Crockett, he knows that.

Look, if he was the one who left these matches in the van, you think he was

trying to tell us something?

What?

I don't know, five matches bent over?

Five men?

About five miles.

That's just about where we are now.

Look, Lieutenant, can I get somebody to run me back to the city?

Sure, we'll have Sergeant Quinn drive you back.

friends, you know.

When my brother finds out I'm missing, he'll go over this town with sandpaper

till he finds me.

You guys be a lot of trouble, you hear me?

from a lot of money?

Both my parents are dead. All I've got is a sister who's the other half of our

act.

What act?

We're the only topless twin magicians in the world.

Twins?

Yes.

Magicians?

Uh, Vicki Adams.

Addison, the sister they kidnapped.

Carol, this is where they were going to work.

You want me to wait? No, that's all right, Sergeant.

Now, I've... I told you, Lieutenant. There is no reason in the world anyone

would want to kidnap my sister Sally.

Could you hand me one of those devs over there, please? Oh, sure.

Take the one running the temperature over here. Give me that.

Now, do me a favor, will you, Vicki? Call me Theo.

Why are you doing all this?

Well, I, uh... I hesitate, Theo.

To repeat the oldest saying in my business, but the show must go on.

Oh, I thought it was, uh, I got this girlfriend who needs a job.

Mm -hmm.

That's a cute little trick.

Uh, you do slight of hand, right?

That's one trick you better keep out of Bloomingdale's.

Now, look, obviously you got great powers of observation.

Did you, uh, notice what they were wearing?

Jewelry, um, shoes, things like that?

I have a way of making my mind go blank recalling those things.

Takes a few minutes.

A few drinks of a night.

You know, my sister, she'll be all right. You know, her, uh, her life can't

crazy like this.

Being grabbed from the Las Vegas airport doesn't make any sense.

You know, if I don't go on that stage tonight, I'll die with worry and fear.

Hey, look, you get changed, all right?

And I'll cancel the show and I'll wait for you outside.

One stick of gum for three cigarettes?

You've got it.

You know, for a high -class agent, you just made a lousy deal.

Yeah?

Wait till you see what a light's gonna cost you.

Oh, come on. Hey, wait a minute, wait a minute. Let me see this light.

It's gold.

A Dunhill.

My first gigolo gave it to me.

Hey, where are you going with that?

Hey, whatever these guys are planning to do, they're willing to risk a

kidnapping charge. And a murder isn't a far jump from that. What we've got to do

is to have some sort of plan to fight back.

Analyst.

Keys.

Shells from a revolver.

Little liner.

Sally, I need inspiration at a stage show, huh?

Sorry. I'm sorry.

You're really being terrific.

Nothing says you have to be in New York to use a zip gun.

Bob, if you don't have a gun, would a bomb be a good

idea? A bomb?

A bomb.

Well, the tall guy who grabbed Sally had on work shoes for sure.

His hands were large, strong.

And he had a lot of dirt underneath his nail. He wore a gold ring on his right

hand. It was real old, beat up.

He could be a factory worker, except there are no factories. Could be an auto

mechanic, airplane mechanic.

You know, they knew that airplane routine pretty good.

Yeah, right.

You didn't see your sister talking to any strangers on the plane, did you?

Maybe there's some laws for her before you came out here. Any laws you didn't

know about?

Break of channel 13.

This is Roger Lodge, trying to raise old Indian Joe, the Pawnee Prince.

Do you copy, good buddy?

10 -4, Roger. Allow me to clear. Let's keep it short.

That equipment that came in from New York today, it's starting to give us

real trouble.

Maybe you can take it out of service for a while if it starts acting real bad.

Oh, there's something else I can remember.

The short guy, under his white coat he was wearing, a white shirt, a suit.

He had, uh, cuffs and cufflinks.

A kidnapper who wears cuffs at 9 o 'clock in the morning?

Yeah, like I think he needed a shave. Like maybe he was just got off work and

didn't have time to change.

All right, who wears cuffs now?

And gets off work at 9 o 'clock in the morning.

A dealer.

Hey, good thinking.

What do you know about this agent they grabbed, this May Rainey?

Uh, she's famous. She manages half the big names in Vegas.

She advises them on their love life. She advises them on their career, their

investments, even their love life.

Oh,

that kind of person makes a lot of enemies.

Well, because, Vicki, if your sister was kidnapped for no reason, and Crocker

and his prisoner were taken, and were taken along like the Lieutenant things,

that's all part of the smokescreen.

And there's no way of knowing whether this May Rainey was a real target or

Look, I'd like you to call the sergeant of the sheriff's office.

Get a list of all the names of the people who came to work at 12 o 'clock.

about five minutes to kill before the show was over.

What show?

The Liberace show.

The way I understand it, he was one of the first clients he was coming to see.

Ha, ha, ha. What do we got there?

Roulette.

And I got about as much chance of reimbursing my men here as I do with

paid off by the department.

Round and round she goes.

The way Lamont goes up, nobody knows, right? Hi, Theo.

How are you?

Last time I saw you, I was coming straight to New York.

Go ahead, Lamont.

Good luck.

Twenty -five red.

You happy now?

Yeah. Why not?

Well, keep it quiet and I will.

Bath and water.

Good evening, I'm Mr. Liberace. I'm Lieutenant Kojak, New York Police

Department. I'd like to ask you a couple of questions about your business

manager, May Rainey. Do you have a moment?

Oh, I got hours to talk about May Rainey, but let me get out of this thing

first, okay? I know how a turkey feels when he's wrapped in aluminum foil.

This New York cop is not being steered off into the desert like the rest.

He's got Wayne figured out to be a dealer and me a mechanic at the airport.

Next thing you know, he's going to have your name and address over there.

He's crowding us hard.

All we need to buy is another 15 hours.

Slow him down. We didn't go this far to back off now.

That's right, Lieutenant.

May Rainey's turned into an absolute disaster.

Well, Mr. Liberace, she was your business manager. You picked her.

She was coming here to Las Vegas to see you.

That's right. I asked her to come here because she's been giving me inexcusable

professional advice.

Oh? What was that?

She's invested clients' money in a franchise.

That's a total ripoff.

Oh. Any connection with her disappearance today?

Well, I'm not the only one involved. There's another friend of mine.

Mr. Liberace, can I call you Lee? Please do.

Look, this friend of yours is connected.

I mean, I promise total anonymity, but I would appreciate it if you gave me his

name.

Like I say, he's a friend, you know. His name is Doc Severinsen.

I mean, he fell for the scheme as bad as I did.

You know, after all, frozen yogurt on a stick.

It melts in ten seconds and falls off the stick. Yuck.

Well, I can't see Doc Severinsen wasted May Rainey because of frozen yogurt, I

think. You know what I mean? I was hoping for something a little more

threatening. Anybody who dresses as conspicuously as we do don't dare step

of line.

Do you have any idea what one of these costumes weighs?

No. This one weighs over 30 pounds. Yeah, kid.

Yeah, it's made out of one of Kate Smith's old beaded bags.

And I don't have them cleaned. I have them polished.

Oh. Yeah.

Well, anyway, thank you very much. You're welcome.

Hey, look, I'm a little bit embarrassed, but one of my men would never forgive

me if I didn't come back with your autographs. Would you mind?

Yeah, what's his name?

Well, make it out to his mother, Florence.

Florence. Oh, I got a picture of this costume here. To Florence, eh? Okay.

To Florence.

With love.

How's that?

Hey, lady, that's wonderful.

be flying up from mexico about six tomorrow night any idea what the

will be we suspect clear weather all the way from sonora to the canadian border

through tomorrow night okay thanks well looks good for tomorrow

so karen tower says it's clear weather all the way from sonora to the canadian

border it's gonna work it's gonna work that it is

I'll do that. I have to go to work.

Thanks.

Do you mind if I ask?

What? What kind of crook you are?

Crook?

You mean you never heard of the Whitley brothers?

The Marx brothers, yes. The Whitley brothers, never.

So I'm dumb.

But tell me.

They smuggle marijuana, hundreds of tons a year, and they shoot people like

getting their way, like a particular cop in New York who stumbled onto one of

their trucks a month ago.

Ask him if that cop can identify me.

That officer is dead.

Hey, what are you doing?

Crumb.

Well, as it turns out, there's an agency that coordinates all the casinos. Now,

they'll call us in the morning.

And report any employees on the midnight shift who didn't show up for work

tonight.

So what did you learn?

Oh,

Liberace wears a 35 -pound cape.

You can't put a yogurt popsicle on a stick because it will fall off and like

that.

You got a flat?

Sorry, uh, have any of you... I'm just about to ask the dumbest question.

Have any of you girls seen a man lately?

In a big hurry.

Excuse me.

Theo,

a car just drove by me in a great big hurry. It was a Jeep.

With two red lights on the top, black and white markings.

Sounds like one of those Jeeps from the posse.

I thought they were the good guys.

So did I.

Theo, it's been almost 24 hours. Nobody's heard a word on this

I don't understand it at all.

Things I don't understand scare me.

Well, I'll tell you this much, Frank.

I think it's amateurs.

And I think they're stolen for time.

You know, someone shot a tire on Vicky's car about midnight.

In the parking lot after I spoke to Liberace. What was that supposed to

accomplish? I don't know. Scare us off.

Waste our time reporting it to the police? Anything to buy some time.

Distract our attention.

Who are you?

You must have turned up some lead that's gotten them worried.

What have you got?

Well, Vicki noticed a few things when they grabbed her sister at the airport.

We think one of the kidnappers is a mechanic.

Another's possibly a dealer or a pit boss.

Works an early morning shift.

We'll be getting a list later this afternoon from the Casino Protection

Go over it. Looking for a likely...

What about the matchbook that Crocker left for you in the van?

Are we missing a clue there?

Well, you tell me, Frank. He bent down five matches like I do when I light them

one -handed?

Now, why bother to tell me there were five kidnappers? That doesn't help.

Well, maybe it's distance.

Didn't you say they abandoned the van five miles from the airport?

So? I don't need matches to tell me that.

No, I think it's time. Minutes.

Five minutes, maybe.

Like maybe they took them out of the van someplace that was only five minutes

from the airport.

to throw the police off. Why not? It's possible.

Well, in about 30 minutes, this whole Jeep posse squad out here is going to

scour that desert looking for clues.

I think he's out trying to borrow us a Jeep so we can join him. Well, Theo, if

it's a wild goose chase, why bother?

It's just possible, Frank, that the person who shot out my tires is a member

that posse.

They're not regular cops, you know. They're just citizens who donate their

and vehicles.

And nobody says a couple of them can't be rotten apples.

I'm going to go out there, check if any of them are mechanics or dealers. Who

could in some way?

Well, we're all here pulling for you. You know that yeah Frank I know

No,

no, no. I'm sure of it. It was one of those Jeeps that shot at my car.

You must have been mistaken, Miss Addison.

These are all good citizens who donate their time and their vehicles for law

order. You know, once upon a time, I remember reading about this fireman.

He used to set matches to places. You know why?

He wanted a riding back of that hook and ladder at 60 miles an hour.

You think somebody in the posse did this kidnapping just so they could ride

around out here for 15 hours in 130 degree heat?

You got yourself a jeep.

I hope you join us. Get in on the fun.

Hey, Quinn.

Yeah.

Can I look at your list of deputies?

Banker, car salesman, doctor.

A salesman, real estate, airplane mechanic.

No spot.

Yeah, and look who drives with him in a Jeep 14.

That's Joe Wayne. He's a dealer at the Hacienda Hotel.

What's the kid doing there?

His name isn't checked off.

I guess he didn't show up.

It's Phil Reed. He's the owner of the Sunset Pawn and Loan Company.

Lieutenant?

Yeah.

How far is that Sunset Pawn and Loan Company from the airport?

About five minutes or so.

Do me a favor.

You send somebody down there to check it out?

Make sure none of our hostages are being held there?

Phil Reed's place?

Are you serious?

Let's hear it.

I mean, this is Las Vegas, right?

I'm entitled to one hunch, okay? Just one time?

Okay.

I'll send Quinn.

All right, fellas, let's move out.

Well,

that New York detective paired himself up with you and Joe. Keep him inside,

will you? We wouldn't want him getting lost out here.

I've been banging on that door for 20 minutes. What's wrong? What's wrong?

Everything. That crook over there makes passes at me, and Miss Stickyfingers

here takes my personal belongings.

I didn't take anything.

Oh, come on. Give him back the lighter.

There goes our escort.

I thought you said you were Master Willman.

Did I say that?

No, no.

I said you were as safe as being in your mama's arms, only I got you lost.

This is Russ Bott to the Sheriff's Search Party.

We're following some tracks east, about 60 miles off the highway.

Repeat, we're heading east, following a new set of jeep tracks.

Anybody want to head toward Glory Mountain?

We'd appreciate the assistance.

Okay, Russ, we copy you.

All available units, let's give Russ Barton a hand over by Glory Mountain.

East of here?

I don't believe it.

Why? Hey, you know, I know radios from operating them in New York with all

tall buildings.

That mountain is directly east of us.

And he's coming in too clear to be on the other side of it. He's heading west.

And he's heading everybody in the wrong direction.

Like this whole damn kidnapping.

Affirmative. Go ahead.

We just got a call from the border patrol.

Radar spotted that plane they've been trying to track. Heading our way.

Refuses to answer radio contact.

They want to know if you could blanket the suspected landing area again.

Negative.

We've got all available units here on this mission.

Give them my regrets.

Affirmative.

That's too bad. We almost had that runway pinned down last week.

When you're lost, climb a tall tree, my daddy used to always say.

Oh, yeah.

Sure enough, there they are heading east.

It'll take us a half hour to catch up if we're lucky.

Come on.

We hit the ground.

We helped Whitley unload as fast as possible.

With any luck, we're off again and on our way to Salt Lake City in 20 minutes.

What'd you bring her for? You're lucky I'm here at all. The cops came to my

place. Don't worry, they didn't get a chance to follow. I saw a truck go down

the runway about 15 minutes ago. Plane should be here any minute.

Alright, let's go.

Okay, we're taking over.

You know, Bart and his friends must have spotted this landing since the last

time they faced for it and kept the information from the police.

You know, they decided to rip off this load of cargo.

Marijuana, probably.

Okay, that's it. Outside.

Outside.

This is Kojak. Do you read me?

Affirmative. Go ahead.

Look, about 20 miles west of the paved road, there's a landing strip.

I want you to listen for a plane and hurry. We need help.

You got it. We'll be right there.

You know, I would have killed anybody if they got in our way.

There's tons in here.

It smells like dynamite.

How's the fuel?

There's a million places they can land up north.

Hey, look, just let's pray that your sister and Croc are all right, okay?

Other than that, I'm leaving this town a loser. Big loser.

Take her down, Ruth. Take her down!

You're still flying, baby.

Let's talk to the sheriff in Vegas.

Apparently, when they grabbed Whitley at the airport, they had no idea it was

his brother's operation they were trying to hijack. It was pure coincidence.

Well, thanks to that caper, we came out way ahead. Listen, we just delivered

both Whitley brothers to the DA.

Nice work.

I'll snap this thing.

Here. I got something priceless for your mother.

From Liberati with love to Florence.

That's from him, really? Real thing, baby. All 65 ,000 people. So, uh... See

this?

This is Sally.

If she's anything like her sister, she must have been something.

Well, Lieutenant, she taught me a few things.

You're kidding. Like what?

Won't you watch back?

Oh. What'd she teach you?