Original subtitles

What is your name?

What is your name?

Christine.

That's nice.

I like that name.

Ernie!

Ernie!

What?

Elevator's stuck in the basement.

All right, just a minute. No, just a minute. I gotta get this aspirin

Gracie's having a migraine.

all in a pot.

Yeah, yeah.

Christine?

Are you okay?

Did he... I think I'm too gay.

I'll call the cops. Let's go.

Oh, thanks, John.

Did you get a good look at him?

Not really.

It all happened so fast.

Sounds stupid.

Hey.

The way you flicked that elevator switch, as far as I'm concerned, you're

genius.

There is one thing.

The knife.

That he used had a... Pearl handle.

Pearl or bone.

Good, that helps.

John here will take you to the hospital.

You know, just to be safe, okay?

This is Marvin Brady.

The guy with the knife ran past him in the lobby.

Didn't notice anything.

Sorry. Well, you must have noticed something.

Size, race, facial hair.

I think he was male.

Can I go now?

I gotta get this aspirin to my wife. She's got a headache.

You're gonna have a headache if you obstruct a police investigation.

You don't remember, you don't remember.

Sid, escort Mr. Brady here down to the station. Maybe he'll concentrate a

better down there.

Wait.

I'm remembering.

This is too much.

It can't get worse. Hey, listen.

I'm just as upset as you are. I mean, the guy worked me over pretty good, you

know. Then why don't you do something about it? I will.

I will.

Oh, you've been saying that for months. And I mean it.

But you've got to understand, if I put in security, rent will go up.

We shouldn't have to pay extra just to feel safe.

Exactly. I had a lease here. That's what I'm going to pay.

Here's the commissioner. He can answer some of your questions. You're supposed

to protect us.

We have patrols coming by here every two hours, round the clock. Where were you

when that woman was attacked?

I'm sorry, we don't have the manpower to patrol the building.

Oh, we are on our own.

Speak for yourself, I'm buying a gun. Hold it, hold it, hold it!

The best security is to be good neighbors. Watch out for each other. If

something suspicious, call.

We can be here in minutes. What about things we don't see, like slime balls in

the elevator?

Last but not least, we have something called the Residential Security Program.

One of our officers goes through the building, makes recommendations. We can

have someone here tomorrow morning.

Okay?

All right, folks. Thanks for your patience.

Excuse me.

You sure you're okay?

Mostly embarrassed.

The guy took me completely by surprise.

Pretty sad for an ex -cop, huh?

This was a good neighborhood once.

There's plenty of things you can do. It doesn't have to cost you a fortune.

There's nothing like having a warm body and patrol around the clock. You just

don't have the manpower.

I'm thinking private security.

You hate the idea?

Not necessarily.

It's just private cops don't have the same training and background we do.

There's plenty of bad cops.

And we have a system to control them. I mean, with private security, who knows?

Unbelievable!

My TV is gone.

While these two geniuses were discussing security, someone ripped off half of

the apartments in the building.

Oh, isn't that just like my father?

We don't even hear from him for months. And then out of the clear blue sky, he

gives us one hour's notice.

I've got news for him. He's not going to get away with this. I won't put up with

it. Oh, Tony, check the turkey. He likes it very, very juicy.

You know what he thinks?

He thinks everything will be all okay if he just hands out enough big expensive

presents to David and Sarah.

That doesn't sound so terrible.

This reminds me so much about when I was a kid.

He used to be like this stranger that dropped over once a month with a big

teddy bear for everybody.

King of the road.

Salesman of the decade.

I'd like to know something. Why did this man even have a family in the first

place?

The sauce is great. The meat is perfect.

So why don't we slow down a little, huh?

You're right.

Oh, I am just so sick of having that man manipulate me.

Tony, wait a minute. Don't use that platter. Use the good one.

Fine. As long as we're not being manipulated.

I'm a nutcase, aren't I?

Put tactfully as possible, yes.

Why do I get like this about him?

Families are crazy.

The only thing worse than having a family is not having a family.

It won't change.

My mom always used to say, I will never live to see it.

She was right.

Sweetheart!

Hey, I'm sorry about the short notice. You didn't go to any trouble now, did

you? No, no, not at all. Good, good. Is there anything I can help you with? Oh,

yes.

That's it?

I'm sorry, pal, but this time I decided to give myself a great big present.

I'm going to get to know my family better.

I know what you're thinking, about time.

And you're right.

Can I stay for a few days?

Sure, stay as long as you want to. After 40 years, I've earned some rest.

And I can't think of any place I'd rather rest than right here with you.

David, why don't you help Ben upstairs with his stuff?

Hey, Dave. How's school, huh?

Hi.

I thought it was the local kids who ripped off those apartments.

I was standing right in the lobby when they did it.

It's not your fault.

People got excited. They forgot to lock their doors and windows.

What about the attack on the girl?

Actually, the guy on the stairs gave us a pretty decent description.

We're working up a composite now.

Good news.

I'll pass it on when I do the security check.

You're doing it personally?

Aye, old man.

By the time I get finished with that place, we'll make Fort Knox look like a

playpen.

What is it, Stan?

Um, and Ernie Andrews just called. He said he won't be needing that security

check after all, so don't bother coming in.

Yep, a little to the left.

Hey, Tony.

You didn't get my message?

Oh, Greg Nichols. Tony Scali, the police commissioner.

You're Lone Eagle Inc.?

I wanted someone that could start right away, and Greg was here an hour after I

called. Been on the job since last night.

Well, why'd you cancel the security check?

Because I'm handling security now.

Well, we can work together.

People work together if they need help.

I don't.

Besides, cops are wrapped up in red tape. You can't always do what needs to

done. Like what?

I still should do the check.

Not if I'm handling security.

Maybe another time, huh?

Where did you find this guy? He's highly recommended.

He's cleaned up some tough neighborhoods.

How?

I'm going to give him a chance, Tony.

We've made some progress on that attack.

I thought you should know.

Terrific. I'll tell Christine.

What about the burglaries? We think it's a couple of local kids.

That we know.

But who?

Ernie, you've been through it.

We have to find the merchandise first, then backtrace it. Yeah.

I say something funny?

Thank you so much, Mr. Nichols. No problem. It is great.

What a relief to walk down the street without being scared.

As long as you don't get tired of being an escort service.

It's a pleasure.

What a thoughtful young man.

You have some fans.

I'm just hoping to be careful.

Same goes for you. It'll be dark soon.

I'll be safe.

I'll be at the police station looking at some sketches.

You doing okay?

I think so.

Thanks. That guy hasn't come around again, has he?

I'm not sure I'd recognize him.

And I don't see how the cops can help.

Not that they do much anyway.

You weren't actually raped.

I thank God.

But in their eyes, that makes it a lower priority.

So you think I'm wasting my time?

I think maybe it might not be a bad idea for you to take a course in self

-defense. Hey, I give lessons every day in the rec room. I'm not much of a

fighter. A woman can't be too careful these days, especially a woman like you.

Look, hey, I didn't mean that as a come on.

It's pretty simple. There's two kinds of people in the world.

Good guys and bad guys.

The guy that attacked you was a bad guy.

I'm a good guy.

This is based on Mr. Brady's description.

Could be him.

I can't be sure.

All right. We have something to go on.

Thanks.

You don't think he'll come back, do you? Probably not. He knows he's been seen.

But be careful.

I will.

How much safer with Greg around?

You don't have proof of what he did to those boys.

Do you?

A court would have given them a slap on the wrist.

At least this way we got some justice.

Look, I'm human. Part of me wanted to cheer when those kids drove up, too. But

what happens outside the law isn't justice.

It's the rule of the strongest.

The law didn't protect me from people like this.

Maybe Greg will.

Oh, Sid.

Run this against mug shots, especially guys with records of sex crimes. Okay.

Oh, uh, and...

I wanted a thing. Ernie gave me Greg Nichols' resume. It's on my desk. Check

guy out.

Oh, you don't think he's real?

Yeah. Real trouble.

We can't find her anywhere.

I mean, we're going nuts. Turn the place upside down. No, Rachel.

So I hop in the car and I hit every house and park in town.

I'm about to call the cops. And then I hear this sort of gentle rattling.

I turn around.

And there's Rachel.

She hid in the back seat and fell asleep.

What a character.

Why was she hiding in the first place?

I don't remember.

I do.

Circus.

Every year you used to promise me you'd take me to the circus.

Every year you backed out.

Honey, I had to work. I didn't have a choice.

Hey, that reminds me.

I did bring you guys some presents after all.

For? For my little printer.

I found it when I was cleaning out some boxes.

I bought it for your mother on her honeymoon.

It's not expensive. I couldn't afford much in those days.

I'd like to keep it in the family, though.

And for you, Tiger.

Who's the greatest ballplayer of all time?

Favorite?

My father caught that ball in Yankee Stadium in 1934.

Oh, man.

I got to show Derek.

Sometimes the best presents don't cost a penny.

And sometimes they do.

Close your eyes.

Come on, come on.

Okay, open.

Will you come?

No,

just come down on my insta, all right? Try it slowly.

That's it? That's it? Good. Now, come on, try it again harder.

Christine, what am I going to do with you, huh? I can't stand the idea of

hurting anyone. Ever since I was a kid, I'm a coward.

Nah, nah, you're just too decent to defend yourself.

Maybe, uh... Maybe that's why God made guys like me.

Commissioner.

Got a minute?

No, no. It's okay.

This won't take long.

Your resume said you were in the service from 80 to 86.

That's right.

Special forces.

Well, the Army says you were discharged in 84.

Dishonorably. That was the cover story.

I switched over to intelligence work.

Doing what? That's classified.

What branch?

Classified. Well, if the discharge was false, why isn't it off the record by

now? Because a lot of my missions are still classified.

And you don't mind living with a phony dishonorable discharge because you're so

patriotic? That's right.

I make sacrifices for my country, and I'm proud of it. Just like you're proud

what you did to those kids?

You pull another stunt like that and I'll throw you in jail. For what?

Doing your job better than you?

My job is to enforce the law.

And that means obeying it. Your job is to catch criminals.

You didn't do it.

He did.

They're not criminals until they're convicted and caught. Everybody knows

kids are guilty.

Did you actually see them?

Anyone? All I know is that before Greg got here, we were scared.

Now we're not.

Well, maybe you should be.

You Mike Konachek?

Who's that?

I'd like to ask you a couple of questions.

About what?

About what you were doing last Saturday afternoon.

I was watching basketball.

Who was playing?

Look, I don't have to talk to you. I can leave anytime I want.

Unless you're under arrest.

Bye.

You're under arrest. What am I charged with?

Assault and battery and attempted rape, for starters.

Look, we can talk here.

Look, sit down.

I got nothing to hide.

I guess I'll take that trip to the station after all.

I think it's number four.

You think?

He looks like the sketch.

But does he look like the man who attacked you?

I think so.

Well, could you say under oath, yes, that was the man in the elevator?

Not for sure.

Okay, bring him out.

What happens now?

What if that's really him?

We'll get him.

How? We'll get him.

John, could you escort Miss Davis home?

It's too bad we didn't find a knife on him.

Did we search his apartment yet?

It's not there either. He must have dumped it.

Sid, you're a genius.

Naturally.

Good work, John.

Bag it.

The tip we got on Konachek said he hangs out at this bar all the time, so we

must have known this was a dead -end alley.

But he came out here anyhow.

And this is the knife.

Find Konachek, pick him up again.

If we can get Christine to ID the knife, we may have a case after all.

Hope I'm not too much trouble.

I've never stayed here this long before.

We love having you.

Those circus tickets, you can stay here forever after that. Look, that's why we

need to talk.

I really don't want to miss the circus. I know how much it means to Rachel.

But I just got this job offer in Jersey.

And I may have to take it.

Like tomorrow morning.

Job offer? Yeah, well, you know, things haven't been going too well for me

lately, Tony.

Hey, I know how to sell, huh?

I've been doing it all my life. But the guys I used to sell to, they've all

retired. The worst.

And these yuppies who are managing things nowadays, well, you know what I

Anyway, I really don't want to leave tomorrow, but fortunately, there's an

alternative.

I'm this close to making a sale, huh? A big one.

But I've got to protect the right image.

Or a fancy suit, rent a big car.

Hmm? Wine him and dine him a little, you know what I'm saying?

You want a loan.

Not a loan.

An investment. An investment in Ben Metzger.

Please, Tony, it's my last chance.

Oh, so much for Ben Metzger family, man.

That was quite an act you put on. Hey, I resent that. I came here to see Rachel

and the kids. Suddenly, after all these years, you got sentimental, and it just

happens to be on the same week you need money? I love my family. Just because I

don't show it the same way you do, that's what makes horse races.

You think it was easy all those years away from home? The road is a hard and

lonely place, let me tell you.

Besides, once I'm back on my feet, I'll be able to spend more time with Rachel

and the kids. That's the whole point.

How much?

A grand.

Two, if you can manage.

One is fine.

I guarantee you'll get it back in 24 hours.

Can't miss a deal, Tony.

I don't care about the money. You better be here in time to take Rachel to the

circus. And you better never, ever breathe a word of this to her, ever.

Of course not.

Thanks, Tony.

Don't think I enjoyed it.

It's just the way things are, I have no choice.

Scali.

Call a

check.

Shot in the heart.

He claims it was self -defense.

Any witnesses?

Just a cashier. She heard the shot. Didn't see anything.

What were you doing here?

I happened to see him gassing up. Thought I'd give him some advice.

About what?

About staying away from my building.

There's a funny thing about criminals in this town. They, uh, just run around

loose.

Anyhow, he got mad. Came at me with a knife.

Pearl handle.

Must be the same one he used to attack Miss Davis.

I kind of doubt it.

That one's locked up in the evidence room down at the precinct.

Maybe he got another one.

Maybe you got another one and put it there after you shot him. It's a wild

theory, Scali.

Awful difficult to prove, too.

You have that much contempt for the law?

You shoot a man in cold blood and you don't even bother to run?

Guilty men run.

Innocent men walk.

I'm walking.

Thank you for coming.

Please, sit down.

The man in the lineup, the one you thought might have attacked you? Greg

me.

God, it must have been terrible.

He came at him with a knife.

It's a good thing Greg had his gun.

Just happened to.

Yeah, he'd been at the firing range. I mean, he usually doesn't carry it.

Do either of these look familiar to you?

Yeah, they both look like the one I was attacked with, but...

Have you seen either one in Greg Nichols' possession?

No.

What are you getting at?

We think this is the one that was used in the attack on you. We found it last

night. But Nichols didn't know that. We think he killed the man, then planted

this one on the corpse to make it look like self -defense.

You're accusing Greg of murder?

I don't believe it.

And even if... Even if?

That animal was going to rape me.

And for all I know, slit my throat. I am not going to cry for him.

And I'm not going to accept you're accusing Greg... Because he makes you

safe. That's right.

Starting with the way he beat up those kids?

Yes.

Well, as it turns out, one of them wasn't even in the state when the

was ripped off.

He just happened to be in the way when Greg decided to defend some justice.

I could have been killed, and you're sitting here treating me like I'm the

criminal?

That man had it coming one way or another. If he was actually the one who

attacked you. Oh, and now you're saying he's not? Well, you couldn't be sure.

How could Greg be?

You'd think he's the guy.

But we'll never know because there was no trial.

Just one shot in the middle of the night. Now, doesn't that bother you at

That's not fair.

You're right. It's not fair that you were attacked.

Or that you have to feel afraid.

Or that the burden of being civilized always falls on decent people. But it

does.

We think Greg Nichols is a murderer.

Will you help us catch him?

Am I free to go?

Well, good luck for living up to your civic duty.

I'm not giving up.

Meantime, I'm going to put Stan in the building undercover. We'll get Ernie to

help us.

Hey,

Greg. Wants to meet my nephew, Stan.

Hi.

Ernie's told me a lot about you. He's going to be moving at 204.

Welcome to the building.

You know, he's looking for a job, and I was thinking maybe you could, you know,

use a hand with security or something.

No, no, I don't think so.

Your bag's in the hall. Why don't you take him upstairs and come back down,

okay? Sure. Great, thanks.

Greg, I know you don't need a lot of help or anything, but Stan's my sister's

youngest boy, and he's sort of a... Whip.

Yeah, right.

And I thought, you know, if he could spend some time with you, you know... I

could toughen him up a bit. Right, right. Show him the ropes. You know,

be a little more of a... Man. Yeah, right, right.

I mean, what do you say? It would mean a lot to him. And to me.

Uh... There's always work to do, but... I think I can find something.

Great, great. And don't forget... Yeah, toughen him up. Right, all right.

See you guys later, huh?

I've been thinking I might be able to use some help after all. That is, if you

want to learn about security.

Definitely. Okay.

Well, you know anything about weapons, surveillance, anything like that?

Well, I've been taking a little karate lately.

Never let

your guard down.

That's lesson number one.

You got it?

Yeah.

Thanks.

Hey, Chris.

This is Stan, Ernie's nephew. He's going to be helping me out a little.

Stop by later. I'm going to have a drink.

It's your move, sir.

It's your move.

I thought you might like some hot chocolate.

Thanks, honey.

Your kids are mean checker players.

Oh, by the way, I'll be away most of the morning tomorrow.

I've got a few things to take care of. I won't be gone long.

You're coming back?

Of course I am.

Hey, we got a date with some lions and tigers, right?

Right.

All right, it's your move. Are you going to eat the checkers or what?

You gotta look at the big picture, Stan.

You know how long human beings have been around?

Uh... 200 ,000 years.

Huh? For almost all of that 200 ,000 years, man has been a jungle animal.

You know what happens in the jungle, don't you? Only the strong survive.

You got it.

Now, uh...

Every so often. Like a rose in the desert, a civilization blooms.

Egypt, China, Rome, the Aztecs, the United States of America.

Beautiful creation.

All of them.

But always, in the end, the jungle returns.

And you think that's what's happening right now? Watch the news and read the

papers. The jungle is upon us, pal.

whether we want to admit it or not.

You know, Ernie says that there was a time when everybody played by the rules,

you know, even the bad guys.

But now, there are no rules.

That's why you got to take care of yourself.

I guess I got a lot to learn in that department. Hey, at least you're making

start.

By the way, you write it down?

What happened earlier when I caught you with that sucker punch, you should write

it... down write it down yeah keep a log of every encounter

win or lose like a scientist records his experiments that way you got something

to study from oh so you keep a log of all your encounters you bet helps

train the mind the state of your mind is just as important as the

state of your body

Then we went out for a beer. I think he likes the idea of having a protege. Did

he open up?

Um, a little.

But I think it's gonna take some time.

He did mention something about keeping a logbook of all of his encounters.

You mean, like a diary?

Yeah, yeah, I guess.

He's going out with Christine a little while. You know, I could check out his

apartment. All right, but be careful. And call me in an hour.

Hey, cowboy.

Anyway, so I've kept pretty busy since I left the service.

These days, people want to know everything they can about keeping safe.

Well, you're a very good teacher.

What? I just realized that guy that you're teaching... Ernie's nephew.

Yeah, I've seen him before.

At the police station.

He was in uniform.

So he's a cop?

Yes, I'm sure of it.

He saw me leave the apartment.

I'll be back as soon as I can.

Just wait, please.

Shame on you.

Not only did you invade my privacy, but you also forgot

lesson number one.

Never let your guard down.

But then, I forgot too, didn't I? Listen, Greg.

Sit down.

Shut up.

Don't make this any worse than it already is.

I'm a police officer.

I'm acting under a warrant. You're committing a crime right now by holding

gunpoint. The problem is, Stan, I don't know you're a cop.

Call the precinct, verify it. There's no time.

See, I came in, found you here, going through my stuff.

You pulled the gun.

I had to defend myself.

I don't even have a gun.

You will.

He was in the apartment when I opened the door. I asked him to leave. He

a piece.

I mean, look, I had one nearby. It would have been me on the floor instead of

him. He was a police officer.

What? It was one of my men undercover.

He didn't identify himself.

He drew his weapon.

That happens to you a lot, doesn't it? In my line of work, yeah. I guess it

does. You shot him.

Then you put the gun in his hand after he was dead.

You're crazy.

Yeah? Yeah.

Why don't we ask someone who knows?

Is that about the way it happened, Stan?

That pretty much sums it up.

What is this?

I put blanks in your gun. You should have checked before you fired it. But I

guess that's lesson number two.

I don't care what he says. He drew on me.

You're under arrest for the attempted murder of a police officer and for the

murder of Michael Konachek.

Stan, read him his rights.

Take him down to the station.

They're out of the way, people.

This was a setup.

You were in on it?

You knew all along he was a cop.

Scali wanted you to tell me.

You set yourself up when you decided to murder him.

Who's going to protect you now?

Who's going to protect all of you? They'll do fine. Get them out of here.

You did the right thing, believe me.

I hope so.

You don't suppose he forgot, do you?

This is ridiculous.

A woman my age getting all upset because Daddy didn't take her to the circus.

It's not even important.

It is important.

He better show.

Or what? What are you going to do, arrest him?

Maybe.

It's him.

Oh, hi, everybody.

Hi. Where are the kids?

David went to band practice and the baby's asleep.

Oh, well, put her in her room. She'll get a big surprise when she wakes up.

She's going to love it. Thank you, Daddy.

I got your money, Tony. I closed the deal.

You didn't think I could do it, did you?

Congratulations. I'm back, Tony. I'm alive again.

When David gets back, would you tell him his surprise is leaning against the

garage? Mountain bike.

I know he wants one.

You know, he's going to be back in a couple of minutes. Why don't you tell

yourself? No time.

That's right.

We don't want to be late.

Sweetheart.

I'm afraid I won't be able to go after all.

I've got to wrap up a few loose ends on this deal I just finished.

I hate to leave, but I don't have a choice.

I know you're disappointed.

But when I get things going again, I'll be back.

I'll stay for a week.

I'll take everybody to the circus.

I mean, what's the point if you don't spend time with the family, right?

Thanks for everything.

Give the kid my love. Don't forget, okay?

I am the biggest fool on the face of the earth.

I mean, what's the matter with me?

He won't change.

I've known that for 20 years.

Why does it hurt so much?

Suddenly I feel like I'm seven years old again.

I kind of feel like I'm seven years old, too.

And what do a couple of seven -year -olds do when their parents run around

they have two tickets to go to the circus?

I'll call Mrs. Murphy.

She'll take care of Sarah. She can be here in 15 minutes.

Yeah.

Just stop by to see how everyone's doing.

Not bad.

Christine's still a little upset, but she'll come through.

I'm stepping up patrols in the area to once every 90 minutes.

You might want to let everyone know.

Yeah, I will. Thanks. Appreciate it.

Oh, Ted, this is Police Commissioner Scali.

Tony, this is Ted Farrell, our new security guy.

I hope you don't feel I'm cutting in on your territory.

Not if you're willing to work with us.

I look forward to it.

Gentlemen, if you'll please excuse me.

He's very top -notch firm, Tony.

Intense credentials are impeccable. I double -checked him.

You know, Nichols was a disaster, but what can I do?

I mean, the way things are now, people are going to do what they have to do.