Original subtitles

Acme protected. Go right in, Mr. Clark.

Air freight.

Better hurry. We're close at five.

That time again.

Yeah, it never fails.

I wanted to get home early.

Now it'll be bumper to bumper, late dinner, and Helen's sore about it.

did you get the perfume?

Oh, I've been busy all day, Mr. Collins. I'll get it now.

I got a new one for your beauty queen.

Whirlwind should be eating out of your hand.

Hello, Lester Parks.

Orange is 3 -7 -2.

Apple's 8.

The night's setting to be delayed not more than 15 minutes.

Yeah. See you in the morning.

Well, Wendy, she was a gentle breeze when I married her. Aren't they all?

I didn't get to the morphine, Mr. Combs. I'll unpack it first thing in the

morning.

That fellow with the catch and the slip next to me is moving her down to Balboa.

Why don't you see if you can get it and then I can help you work on your bridge.

You, down.

Over against the shelves.

Now turn around.

Thank you.

Maddox! Well, I see you're all in one piece.

Except for a loose two.

A fist?

No, an uncracked crab at Fisherman's Wharf.

I don't know why I worry about you. Because I pay you almost every week.

Section B3.

Always hire a pro.

Anytime.

Mr. Maple, President.

One moment, please.

Yes?

Mr. Tellis is on the phone, sir.

Thank you, Mrs. Johnson.

Yes, Sam?

Corpse is at the airport.

How sad.

We'll hold the funeral the day after tomorrow. I'll phone Atlanta.

You know, Peggy, I really like catching jewel thieves up in San Francisco.

What? Well, all the women are charming, beautiful, and well -dressed.

That's because a man notices up there when a gal gets a new suit.

Hey, that is a new suit, isn't it? Nice.

Nice. Too little and too late.

Before Jimmy Bloom fixes his next antenna, he ought to get some parking

KT -42114.

Dominion Insurance.

Yeah, Mannix here.

When?

Right away.

Robbery. Forty -five cartons of Miss Emma stolen from the SoCal

Company.

Morphine? Hmm.

Try the other side.

Well, the alarm system's turned off during the day.

At 5 o 'clock, the narcotics clerk turns the switch, which activates the system.

Then he locks up and brings the key to my office.

But that didn't happen today.

Today, three hoods in a white panel truck stole 45 cartons of morphine.

Today was service day.

On a service day, I come out here, and the first thing I do is to phone in and

say the system won't be turned on until 5 .15.

It just takes me ten minutes to check it.

Is that perfume?

Whirlwind. It's one of our new ones.

Floyd Brown threw a bottle at one of the robbers and it broke on the cartons.

I found these on the floor.

My glasses.

How do you fit into this thing?

Our firm's been hired to recover the morphine.

A private detective agency.

You're a private detective?

Secretary to one. Joe Mannix.

Oh.

We're everywhere these days, aren't we?

We're working on it.

How do you feel?

Fine. I lost a little blood, but I can go home tomorrow.

I mean, how does it feel to be a hero?

A hero?

Who says I'm a hero?

You threw the perfume, didn't you?

I promise never to do it again.

Would you hand me that, please?

The doctor says I should drink a lot of juices and look at pretty things.

May I use your phone?

KL5 -6175, please.

What do you have against heroes?

They're always in trouble.

They're so foolhardy. They... Hello, Toby?

No, I'll be a little while yet.

No, so bounce into bed and I'll see you later.

My son, age six.

He always tries to calm the sitter into an extra hour.

Well, where's your husband?

I'm a widow.

Oh.

The war?

He was a policeman.

A hero.

Yes.

I see.

That's a pretty suit.

Thank you.

It's new.

Well, not as new as it was. You have some paint on your elbow.

Oh, look at that.

Well, it'll come off.

If you don't like men who take chances, why do you work for a guy like Mannix?

Because I'm a kind of a nut.

Happy healing.

Hey, thanks for bringing the glasses. And my regards to Toby, 86.

Would you hold still for a few questions?

Life's an open book.

These service days, do they happen regularly?

About once a month. I just pick a day and call Acme.

When you pick these days, anybody else know about it?

Manager at Acme.

Parks.

What about him?

He never knows.

How about this fellow, Floyd Brown, the one that got shot?

No.

When did the Acme man know that he was going to come here yesterday?

It was late in the day. He was just ready to go home.

What time did you call Acme?

Shortly after lunch.

About four hours before the robbery.

You sure you didn't call anybody else?

Are you suggesting I tipped them off?

Somebody did.

Yes.

Mannix.

Joe, I know how I got the blue paint.

Blue paint?

On my jacket.

It came from the panel truck parked next to your car at the airport.

Peggy, why don't you just send him the cleaning bill, huh? I'm busy.

And I'm serious.

I think the morphine's in that truck.

I got a whole theory about it.

And my theory is, Peggy, that secretaries should concentrate on the

and the typewriter. Now, goodbye.

What are you so late for?

Concentrating on the typewriter and the telephone.

Did the insurance company call?

Your calls are where they usually are, on the desk.

All right, Peggy.

The morphine is in a blue truck at the Burbank airport.

You want to tell me about it? Well, it's not impossible, you know. There was a

paint on my sleeve.

Now, just go slow with me, Peggy, because I'm hungry and tired.

This afternoon, I got a phone call from Floyd.

Floyd. Out of gratitude, because I took him his glasses, he insisted upon taking

me to dinner. So I called the babysitter, and she said, cool it,

TV fixed.

So I called the TV repairman, and he's got the flu.

Anyway, that reminded me of the TV repair truck next to the car out of the

airport yesterday.

Well, now, so far, I've lost you.

Well, if you don't want to hear it, just say so. No, no, Peggy, it's just that,

well, I'm all hung up on whether you're eating in or out.

But he doesn't know it yet.

Anyway, don't you see?

The truck was blue. The same shade of paint that was on my jacket.

And it had to have been wet paint, otherwise it wouldn't have rubbed off.

the police can't find a white truck.

And what does that prove?

Why would anyone park a freshly painted truck at the airport?

It doesn't make sense.

And besides, there's no such firm as Jimmy Bloom TV Repair. So I figured it

have been the morphine truck.

Peggy.

The robbery took place at 5 o 'clock.

We got to my car at the airport a few minutes after 6.

Paint a car and drive it from SoCal to the airport in one hour? It's

Yeah, I guess it is.

On the other hand, they could have loaded it on a bigger truck and painted

the way.

Yes, of course they could have.

Who's going to leave a million dollars worth of morphine sitting in a public

parking lot?

Can you think of any better place to park it?

Well... Yes?

Oh, Floyd.

Come on in.

Mr. Mannix, this is Mr. Brown.

How do you do?

Mr. Mannix, how are you? How's the investigation going?

Oh, fine, fine.

Now that everybody's working on it, including our mutual friend here.

You didn't believe a word I said. Come on, Peggy. You got a little paint on

sleeve. How do you know it came from the truck?

Maybe it didn't.

Maybe your car door touched the truck and my elbow touched your car door.

In that case, I'd have paint on my car door.

If it is the morphine truck, you may have dinner at the airport.

Operator, this is KG62114.

I'd like the police department.

Baseball, football, track. What team didn't you make?

Ping pong.

I sleep at the wheel.

You'll get a ticket for that.

Bed's a ticket.

Here, let me help you.

Another O .J. Simpson.

I see you more like a Senator, Brooke.

Well, in either case, I'll vote for him.

I think he'd phone.

Who?

Mannix about the truck.

Who do you have a date with, Mannix or me?

You.

Hello?

Oh, we were just talking about you. Did you find the truck?

Yeah, yeah, but they moved it out right from under my nose. Now, look, I've got

the license number. Could you call that pal of yours at the DMV and find out the

name of the owner?

But he's on the day shift.

I've got some other numbers down at the office.

They're under DMV in the filing cabinet.

Oh, I've got the keys. All right, as fast as I can.

He found the truck, but he lost it again.

And I've got to run down to the office and... Oh, Toby.

I forgot about Toby.

Floyd, do you mind... Babysitting?

No, I don't mind. As a matter of fact, I used to be very good at it. Go ahead.

Thank you.

And, Floyd, I'm sorry.

Don't drive too fast.

I wish that friend of yours in DMV would hurry up.

Take it easy, Jill.

He's doing the best he can.

Yeah, well, if we don't round this stuff up right away, he'll have it cut,

repackaged, and the pushers will have it out all over the country.

Well, the fellas that did the robbery, will they help push it, too? Oh, I doubt

it.

A deal this big has got to be on several levels. The hoods who stole it, the

people who planted it, whoever financed it, and the dealer who was going to buy

it.

Hello? Oh, hi, Charlie.

Thanks, Charlie. And go back to your sauna bath.

It's a truck rental in the valley.

Okay.

It's curious the styles of drug addiction.

Now, for the Asiatic Indian, it's cannabis.

Hashish for the Egyptian, and of course, opium for the Chinese.

Now, even in our own country, northern cities, heroin.

Cocaine replaced in the west.

For our most greater south, we prefer morphine.

Yes, that's why I thought of an old Georgia boy like you, doctor.

My chauffeur had an accident last night.

Mr. Maple.

Yes? How do you do, sir?

I'm from the Dominion Insurance Company.

One of our policyholders bumped into your car last night on Bowman Street and

broke your taillight.

He feels responsible.

Tell him to forget it. Oh, no, no, no.

He'd like to make it good.

Now, if you'd just sign this form, we'd be only too glad to repair it.

All right.

Mrs. Johnson, will you show the gentleman out?

Thank you, Mr. Maple.

That perfume, that's just wonderful. I've been trying to place it. It's a new

one, sir. It's called Whirlwind.

Well, it's 45 cartons, doctor.

You add an equal amount of milk sugar, you'll double your money.

400 ,000.

Half a million.

Let's split the difference.

I'll give you 10 ,000 a carton.

Sell it.

After we've tested the rest.

We're going to have a funeral tonight.

The Bureau of Narcotics returned your call.

Yeah, I was just there. What did you find out about Maple?

Well, he belongs to two golf clubs, gives a lot of money to charity.

Solid citizen.

What'd you find out?

I think he's a solid crook, but I can't prove it. I can sure smell it.

How? Mr. Maple's housekeeper was wearing a new SoCal perfume whirlwind.

I had pizza. I went on the pony run. And you didn't fall off?

Almost, but Floyd caught me. Now I'm going to pick a piece.

And you're invited if you want to come along.

Another time. Thanks, Floyd. Oh, that, uh...

A trucking company. Did you find out the owner from the Hall of Records?

A man named Sam Tellis.

Here's his address.

Bowen Hills.

When did you come out here?

My father left Arkansas and went to Detroit to work in a factory.

And when he didn't come back, my mother and I took off for L .A.

What did you do when you got out here?

Well, Mama got a job.

No, I mean, what did you do?

Oh, well, I went on to high school and then to UCLA.

I also shined shoes and waited tables and tended bar and swept out a butcher

shop. Oh, I did a lot of things. I was lucky.

I wasn't an O .J. Simpson or a Senator Brooke, but I managed to work.

You know, I

never talk like this unless I'm full of pickles.

We don't know each other.

You know enough.

Hi. Come on in.

Floyd? Maddox?

Well, I'm sorry to bust in this way, Peggy.

Did you see Tellis?

Yes and no.

What does that mean?

Well, I'll give you the notes for the insurance report, and then you'll know.

Now?

Well, it is important.

Yes, well, I was just leaving.

Call you in the morning, huh?

Serious? I know it's fast, but I like him. I like him a lot.

So does Toby.

Ready?

Memo, Dominion Insurance Company, subject, SoCal, robbery.

Investigation to date confirms suspicion that this was an inside job.

While Combs stated that only he, Parks, and the Acme manager...

knew in advance that the alarm system would be serviced on the day of the

robbery, it is now clear that there was a fourth party who also had the

knowledge in time to notify the robbers of said service.

It was Combe's practice to send this fourth party after perfume to give to

Park's wife, Helen, every time.

Every time, Peggy.

But Floyd went for the perfume.

That's right.

Well, you're saying he's the inside man.

He knew every service day at least four hours in advance.

Combs didn't realize he'd set a pattern, but Floyd finally caught on.

But he got shot.

A flesh wound's a small price to pay for what he'd get out of this.

Is that all you...

You've got to go on that he went for some perfume.

I wish it was, Peggy.

So what else?

I went to the airport to check on the morphine. The truck had been moved.

I then went to tell us his place. The morphine was moved again.

What's that got to do with Floyd?

Well, he was in my office both times when I started out.

You know that.

And you think he warned someone that you were coming?

What else?

I was with them every minute.

Every minute?

How long does it take to make a phone call?

That's just supposition. It's just circumstantial. What about the other

employees? What about Combs and Parks?

They just don't figure.

Of course not.

They're white, aren't they?

How could Floyd possibly have anything to do with a dope ring?

I don't know that yet, Peggy.

But you'd send in this report and ruin his entire reputation for life?

Oh, wait, you write it yourself, because I don't believe it. I don't believe one

word of it.

I'm sorry, Peggy.

I'm really sorry, but I think it's true.

And I'm going to have to try and prove it.

What's the matter, Molly?

What are you doing here?

I'm looking for Miss Emma. And you?

Well, I do for Mr. Brown. I darn his socks and sew on his buttons. I'm a

of his mother's.

All right.

I'm his mother.

You're no insurance man.

I'm a private investigator, Mrs. Johnson.

What are you investigating?

What has Floyd done?

I think he was the inside man at the SoCal robbery.

No.

I think he got a bright idea. I think he asked you to introduce him to your

boss, and your boss bankrolled it.

It wasn't like that at all.

I just got Floyd a job there when he was in college.

He tended bar for Mr. Maple's parties.

It may have started out that way, Mrs. Johnson, but it got out of hand.

Mr. Maple deals in narcotics, and I think your son is with him.

Now, why don't you tell me before the police come?

I didn't know it then.

Only later.

I read about the robbery and I put two and two together.

And then I couldn't get Floyd on the phone.

He's worked so hard.

Please, find him.

Stop him.

Where is he, Miss Johnson?

I don't know.

Where's Mr. Maple?

I don't know.

You do want me to help your son, don't you?

The Maples is at a rosary.

The Conrad mortuary in Inglewood.

Yeah, Peggy.

It's about Floyd. I'm with his mother.

Oh? Now, if he called, stall him. If he comes back, don't let him in.

I'm old enough to take care of myself. Thank you.

Hey, I went home, but I couldn't sleep.

Neither could I.

Did you finish the report?

No.

We had an argument.

About what?

I don't want to talk about it. Would you like some coffee?

No, no, come on, tell me. I want to know.

I said... I said I don't want to talk about it. But you're all shaky. Now,

on, get it off your chest.

All right.

Maddox thinks you're the inside man in the SoCal robbery.

Well, how could he possibly think that?

Well, he has a theory about you getting the perfume and now hanging around me to

spy on him.

Spy on him?

You were there when he went out to look for the morphine.

And he thinks you phoned and warned somebody.

You mean when he came back from Mr. Maplesauce? Yes, and the first time when

went to the airport.

Floyd, his theory is all wrong, isn't it?

What's your theory?

I want to believe you.

Whatever you say.

Then I say let's get married. Right away. Tonight.

Tonight? We can go to Vegas or Yuma.

Oh, but, Floyd, we can.

I mean, there's Toby and my friends and your friends and your mother.

Well, my mother moved back to Arkansas.

Oh, no, Floyd, it's too fast.

Peggy.

Don't keep me waiting.

I need a moment to think.

I'll make some coffee.

Floyd.

A moment before, you said when Mannix came back from Mr. Maple's house.

So?

How did you know that Mannix had been at Maple's house?

Oh. Well, uh, I heard you talking.

But you couldn't have.

We discussed that at the office and you weren't there. You were with Toby.

Well, then we must have talked about it at Pickle Pete's.

We talked about everything else but.

Floyd, Maddox is with your mother now.

You are the inside man, aren't you?

Peggy.

In fact, this whole big whirlwind romance has been one big fat put on.

That's not true. You were using me to spy on him. Why don't you admit it?

Sweetheart. Stop that.

Stop lying.

All right, all right, all right.

I did it.

Okay?

Why, Floyd?

Why?

You had a good job. You had it made.

Made.

Promises, promotions.

Color, no object.

A solid future.

I had it made.

So what did I do, huh? I worked my fingers to the bone. I worked my head

For what? Oh, their promotions, all right, sure.

But not for me.

Three whiteys passed me by like I was tied to a rock.

Maybe they were smarter than you.

No. SoCal only took me on as a token. A company Uncle Tom with a desk up front

where the visitors could see me.

What kind of a career is that? Four years out of college and I'm still an

boy. Well, I figured out an errand for myself.

And I ran it.

You'll never get away with it.

Why not?

Mannix can't prove anything against me.

Unless you back him up.

I have to back him up.

But, baby, it's us against them.

Is that a question of black or white? It's a question of right or wrong.

Look, I'm getting $100 ,000.

We can leave the country. We can start a whole new future.

On what?

Pushing dope?

Do you know what you're doing?

Kids use dope. Kids not much older than Toby.

What kind of a man are you?

I'm a black man, baby.

It's no good, Floyd.

It's no excuse.

But it's just this one time, Peggy.

No, Floyd.

It could have been a good light.

You got to understand, nobody's going to stop me from getting that money.

Nobody.

Mommy.

Mommy.

Where's Mommy?

Oh, uh...

She was tired, Toby. She went to bed.

Now you go to sleep, too, okay?

I wouldn't hurt him you know that.

All done.

Finally.

You'll get caught one day, Maple.

You're too greedy.

Just give me the money.

We'll have to hurry if this is going to be on that Atlanta plane.

Floyd Brown wants to see you.

Who's Floyd Brown?

The inside man. Show him in.

Oh, uh, take a look outside in case he's been followed.

What are you doing here?

I came to collect my money.

You'll get your money.

I want it now.

Whose idea was this anyway?

Why do you want it, boy?

I just want it, that's all.

A hundred thousand of that is mine.

What was the arrangement?

An account in a Swiss bank when things cool off. That's sensible.

I'm getting out of the country now.

You're going back to SoCal and be a big hero.

Why do you think we shot you so carefully?

Look, I want my money.

Why, the boy's in a panic.

I gotta catch a plane.

Well, you sound as though the police was after you.

Oh, Mannix.

That's right. And we've only got a few hours, all of us.

So I'm taking my money. And I'm taking it now.

He ain't going nowhere.

uh

Hey, I'll take care of that.

It's got your pension in it.

Floyd Brown's dead.