Original subtitles

The following is based on a true story some names have been changed

Ow!

That hurts! I'm telling Mom!

All right, let's keep it down from the dull lower back there.

We're just having fun, Edward.

It's all acting like a barrel full of monkeys.

The monkey business got to stop or we're staying right here.

You can't...

No more monkey business.

I'm the monkey in charge here, okay?

Sit.

Stay.

You too.

You too.

How much we pay for this one 350?

I put 180 in so far.

What do you figure?

I say we add 1 ,000 per month.

All right, that's what, a $500 profit?

If we sell it.

Split three ways, that's nothing.

Your folks home?

I don't know. My grandma is, though.

Why? I don't know.

What you gonna do tonight?

I don't know. Nothing, I guess.

Your mom and dad want you home for dinner.

How much do you think we made this month?

Not enough.

This isn't working too good. These things just aren't moving.

I need some money. I need some money bad.

What are you talking about? Your parents got more money than God.

Yeah, well, my folks have had so much for so long that they don't think much

money. They live like dirt farmers.

Yeah.

78 acres of dirt. The richest suburb of San Francisco.

This place is worth more than Rhode Island.

I could hit up my grandma, though.

I'd have to lie.

I could do that.

Maybe if I got some money, I could get my parents off my back.

I'm supposed to be a podiatrist like dear old Dad, you know?

You gotta live for now, man.

Risk, daring, it all comes to the fast and the strong. That is who makes it in

this world, the bold and the daring.

Like you and your old cars, huh?

You're very bold and daring.

You should do that for her.

Okay?

Okay.

So the car thing ain't working out.

There's got to be a way to score some big money.

Talk about it later.

I got to go.

Yeah, go home to Mommy and Daddy.

You know, Odessa, sometimes I feel I've got all a man could ever need.

Take a look.

Not much, but it's ours.

Come here, my darling Hannah.

We have a beautiful daughter, a beautiful grandson.

Yes.

And a beautiful wife.

I told the girls down at work that if you ever won the lottery, you'd probably

just buy a new battery for that old tractor.

Maybe. and a new transmission for the old school bus.

Look, Lee's coming by for Hannah in an hour, and they're going to stay for

dinner now. Hannah, you tell Grandpa to be sure and get washed up and ready.

Hannah, you tell her that I'll be done in 20 minutes.

I think it's about time you started putting your

nose to the grindstone, Fred.

Frankly, you're becoming an embarrassment, and I won't have it.

You've been given everything.

Now do something with it instead of squandering it all. You were given

everything, too.

What do you do?

What's that supposed to mean? You inherited everything from Grandma, so

you acting like you earned everything on your own? Don't ease that tone with me,

young man. I've worked.

I run this quarry, and I run this family.

Freddy Neff.

You need to prove you're worthy of our family name.

It's an old name.

A proud name.

We've been a part of the history of this state since the gold rush, and I won't

have my only son treat his heritage like the dole. You just seem to have one

harebrained, worthless scheme after another.

You leaving again, Dad?

Rodeo up at Calgary.

Can I go?

Oh, you got school.

And you got to be man of the house while I'm gone.

Well, maybe I don't want to be the man of the house.

Time's going to come when you got to measure up to being a man whether you're

ready or not.

Life doesn't always wait on you.

Here, why don't you load up that other horse for me while I say goodbye to your

mom.

You gotta show that horse who's bald. He spooked some, Dad.

Spooked?

You're being a little hard on him, aren't you?

Yeah, well, maybe you're being a little too soft on him.

You still think we could renovate this place?

Yeah, we could.

enough for the down payment.

Oh, I think my grandma would cough up the dough.

Think about how much work it is.

I got a better idea.

What?

Use grandma's money.

Make some big money.

Yeah, right.

How?

A movie.

We come up with a story, produce it.

What do we know about making movies?

Nothing. Who does?

I got a friend at film school, says it's a breeze.

You know what they make? People like stories about crime and violence.

I saw this Clint Eastwood movie last week.

They hijacked this bunch of kids. It was great.

Kids?

That's really smart.

People would pay ransom right away for kids.

Yeah, but they blew it in the movie, Fred.

Yeah? Yeah, but if you did it right, really planned it?

See, that's where they always screw up.

They're stupid. They don't plan it.

You remember that busload of kids that crashed?

How upset everyone was?

For a bus full of kids, you could get a million dollars.

Easy. What the heck? Two million.

Three million, huh?

Five million.

Five million dollars from the state of California.

Let's plan it.

See if it can work.

That's crazy.

Yeah, we are.

But what else you got to do?

It's just a game.

See if we can come up with something.

Come up with what?

A movie on a crime?

A crime.

A perfect crime.

Just like clockwork.

I got your peanut butter fix for you.

Kisses.

You two start it up, the both of you. Fight, fight, fight.

Just cool it.

All right, Jim, come on. You've had enough time. What do you got for me?

I've looked through hundreds of pages, county section maps.

I finally found the perfect place.

Chowchilla. It's remote.

It's got plenty of escape routes.

Far from the law and just the right size.

Taking this a little bit serious for a game, aren't you?

This is excellent work, Jim.

Attention to detail.

I like it.

How far is this place?

It's only three hours from here.

Let's go for a ride.

Come on, let's go home. Come on, relax.

It's a big deal.

Man, can you believe this place is only three hours from Portola Valley?

Too many kids, though.

Too many kids.

Too many people around here and way too much traffic.

Summer school starts in two weeks.

There'll be a lot less kids then.

Can we get out of here?

You guys are getting a little too serious.

We'd have to have him get pretty far from the school.

He turns on road 16.

Map this on your chart there. When he goes down road 12, he's as far from

as possible.

Look at that guy.

Dumb as a post, I bet.

This is the place.

The place for what?

What do you think we've been cruising this dump for?

We've got this thing all damn near planned out.

Don't we?

Damn near.

Are you in?

Is it to go?

All righty now.

Up next, we got Tim Pearson out of chute number four.

He's riding Bambino.

And Tim's representing the Pearson Farms today. So good luck to you, Timmy.

Okay, son. Make me proud.

Let's go.

Don't look. They're hanging you next time there, Jimmy.

You're never going to win a buckle that way.

I think you did just fine.

You get a buckle from me anytime.

Okay.

We'll wait to register these things until just before.

Why? In case anybody gets a license plate, the information will get lost in

bureaucracy. All right, we've got to refit these interiors, and we've got to

install the CVs, and you guys have got to get a name out of the phone book that

we can register these things to.

We're going to do all this in a month?

We've got to finish before summer school's out.

You got any better ideas?

Hey, uh, is it safe to do the work here at your folks?

Let me worry about that.

Also, I got an old x -ray machine.

An x -ray machine?

Yeah, and some parachutes and some mannequins, too.

Hey, Jim.

Why don't we lie for dinner?

Hey,

I didn't know you could talk.

Thank you.

Here's how I figure it.

The kids.

After we transfer them into the vans, we drive them around until we get to the

place where we're going to hide them.

And we do have to hide them.

Where's Rick?

Mom made him stay at home, clean his room.

We're going to do this, Jim.

Is he in?

Don't do anything I tell him.

Yeah?

I'm telling you.

Be better.

Will.

So where could you hide them? I mean, where could you hold a bunch of kids

the ransom's delivered?

How could you be sure that they're gonna stay put unless you're there yourself?

I am way ahead of you.

from the side.

What's the matter, darling? You've been blue.

It's nothing.

It's been nothing for three weeks now. Come on, honey.

I hurt Tim's feelings.

I thought you liked him.

I do. He asked me at the movies.

That's nice.

I couldn't give him any answer.

Bonnie and Wendy were there and they laughed at him.

You can still say yes if you want.

He's been avoiding me this whole time.

And summer school's almost over anyway.

You know, sometimes you feel like you'd never get another chance at anything.

But you always do.

I promise.

Thanks, Mom.

What's that?

Get out of here! Get out!

Come on! Hold on!

Hold on!

Hold on! Hold on!

Dirt's gonna collapse the trailer!

What's the problem?

Dirt's gonna collapse the trailer.

Relax. You go down there. I'm not going in there.

Get my toolbox.

Go get some 2x4s out of that lumber pile, alright?

Strong son of a gun for an old guy.

I'll have to be on him all the time.

You know, I'll be glad when

summer school is out so that I can...

Put a little more time in on this place.

You've been working it too hard on both ends. Maybe you should think about

cutting back on the driving.

I hate to admit it, but those kids are beginning to get on my nerves.

They're getting sassier and louder every year.

Well, you're getting older every year.

Older, Emily?

Older?

Come on.

Let's wrestle, eh? Come on.

I have a good mind to take you both to the pound.

I don't want to hear another peep out of either one of you.

Okay, shut the door.

Perfect.

Get those extra jerry cans.

Three hours away. Man, I can taste the adrenaline.

This is it.

We can't miss.

Come on, let's do it. We have planned it to perfection.

It is foolproof.

Yes. We're really going to do this, aren't we? Yes. Yes!

Okay.

We picked up those kids at the pool at four o 'clock. Let's move.

We can't back out now.

They're counting on you.

You got your gun?

Don't tell me here we come.

Come on, let's go.

One more day. I mean, we did that.

Don't bunch up. One at a time, one at a time. Come on.

All right, here we go.

Come on.

Get up.

There you are.

Right on schedule.

We're going to do this, aren't we?

Yeah, we are.

My head is pounding like crazy.

Might do it.

door now what is this some kind of a joke getting back this is my bus what's

this all about get in back you want anybody hurt so you want trouble no they

it back

Stay put. You listen to instructions, all right? All right. Listen to me.

Everybody listen to me. We're going to move into these vans, and we're going to

go back row by row. Does everybody understand?

Now, get up.

Get up. Everybody move to the back. Hey, I'm talking to you here. Some of these

kids got this.

You're going first.

Get them in there. Get them in there.

I need to know. You sit back and you do nothing. You understand me? Nothing

until I tell you to do it. Let's go!

Move!

435. It's all right.

It's some kind of a joke, I'm sure.

No, no, no

At least I can depend on you, Ridley.

Get your man back here.

Can you hear me?

Speak to me. Talk to me.

You've got to stop.

Get your man back here.

haven't heard anything.

Well, it's probably a breakdown.

Yes, you see, the drivers are instructed not to leave the bus and... Well, that

doesn't sound like it, Ray.

Well, I'll check into it and I'll get back to you, Mrs. Alonzo.

Yes, sir.

Thank you.

Yes, sir.

Superintendent Tatum?

No, no, we think it may be a breakdown.

We're checking into it. Yes, sir.

Superintendent Tatum?

Hello? Is Edward home yet?

No, he's not. He was supposed to be here to bale hay, but...

Couldn't find the bus on his route.

What do you mean?

What do you mean?

Cad's bus.

Couldn't find it.

We covered the route twice.

I've got my other two men looking everywhere.

Expanding out from the original route.

Right now, it's nowhere to be seen.

Nowhere? What do you mean nowhere?

It's a big yellow bus.

Where is it?

Where's my babies? Where's our kids?

We're almost there. It's going to be okay.

Almost where?

Back home?

We'll sing a song.

If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands.

If you're sad and you know it, clap your hands.

If you're sad and you know it, clap your hands.

If you're sad and you know it, clap your hands.

I'll share my relationship with you.

found the bus.

The kids, the kids are gone.

Just go ahead and do what you've done before.

Go ahead. Go ahead and do it.

I want it quiet in there.

Footprints, not a trace.

Bus.

Got a faint tire track here.

Shoot it.

Yeah.

Tire prints, a lot of weight.

Looks like another set of wheels got stuck a little over here.

You think the kids might not have been transferred into another bus?

I think we're talking vans.

Small delivery types, maybe.

Okay, let's do it.

Take your clothes off.

Take the pants off.

Come on, come on, hurry up.

Hey, just what do you fellas want?

Listen, those kids are suffocating in there. They're dying of thirst.

They're sitting in their own waste.

Get down the hall.

All he's got is a shirt.

We've got to get a piece from each kid, remember?

Give me your glasses.

What's your name?

Ricardo. Ricardo Longstreet.

How old?

Eight. Are you going to kill me? Maybe. Give me your glasses.

I need them to see.

Give me your glasses.

Take them.

What are you doing?

All right.

Go on.

It's got a flashlight in there, okay?

What's your name?

Peter Rogers.

How old?

Nine.

All right.

Give him your shirt.

Give it to him.

Tim Pearson.

This is tough guy.

Give me your belt, tough guy.

Give me your belt.

I'm not going to give you my belt.

No, my mother gave it to me.

Oh, look, we got the champ here.

Down the hole, champ.

Sheriff Holmes, he's here.

What took you so long? I don't know, but he'll be here any second now.

Oh, there.

There she is.

Where's that damn husband of yours?

What?

Jack, don't. Where is he?

He was always a little strange as far as I was concerned.

What are you saying, Jack?

My Edward would never do anything to harm a child.

He's driven you to school and your children.

Well, you don't have a kid missing.

You don't know how we feel.

Oh, yes, I do.

I've got my husband missing.

And he's as good and decent as any man alive.

And you all better just pray to God how lucky you are that those children are

with Edward.

There he is.

Please, I have a statement.

I've just been informed that the President of the United States has

50 FBI agents to Chowchilla.

What about you? What are you doing? I know this is no ease to some of you.

But we and the federal government are about to commence with the biggest

in California history.

What have you found out?

They've been gone for eight hours.

Why?

Why have they taken our children?

Why? We're working with everything we have.

Why isn't anything happening?

He'll be fine.

Sally,

how many more are in you?

We got almost 400 pounds on here.

It's enough.

Do as I tell you.

Fred, it's enough.

Edward, look here.

Edward, look here.

What is it?

Air.

Some sort of fan system for fresh air.

Sounds weak.

It is weak.

Is that a cop?

Oh, my God. Jim, there's a cop right behind us. Just stay cool.

Can't stop, can we?

Couldn't just let him go, could we?

Just stay cool.

Wait. Wait.

We'll wait until the morning.

I'll call on the rack.

I still think five million's the best.

We've got to share this.

We don't know how long we're going to... All right. Don't step on that.

Okay, line up.

Line up like you're waiting for the bus. All of you, line up.

200 press types out there.

This one woman from New York City just took a cab from L .A. to get here.

200 -mile cab ride.

She wants a report.

Yeah, to report what?

Kids have been gone 18 hours and no message.

Why don't they call?

Phone in Chautilla that's not busy.

How are we supposed to phone in a ransom if all the phones are busy, man?

Try again.

We've been trying to get through for three hours.

Your hair's getting awfully thin in here, Edward.

I mean, that fan's starting to get slower.

Yeah.

I've been watching you for quite a while now.

What are we going to do with the quiz?

What are we going to do with the quiz, Edward?

Hold on now. None of that. You understand?

None of that.

You understand?

Good.

You've been here for about almost 14 hours.

We've got to get out.

How are we going to do that, Edward?

I can help.

A little bit. Let me help.

We're going to take the mattresses and pile them up.

Okay, Squid.

You're going to help.

Help pile up the mattresses over here. Come on.

Let's go.

Hey,

Peter. Come on, get up.

We're going to move these mattresses.

There we go. There we go.

Let's move it over here.

Can you tell us about your kids?

Cats and dogs.

I miss them so much I could die.

How could anyone do such a thing?

They're just children.

If...

If whoever out there is watching, please, my

babies, please don't hurt my babies.

We need something, a crowbar or something.

That could do it.

That's what we need.

Fine, I'll get it. No, no, no.

It'll work.

The roof.

Edward, we need it. We need it. Don't touch it.

Bring down the whole roof.

Kids, kids, get back. Get back against the trailer. Way back.

Get back in the trailer. Back in the trailer.

Come on.

Come on.

Get back in the street.

Get back.

Back. Back.

That's it.

Get it on.

Get it on.

Let's move the thing.

We'll be back.

We've got to get back there, Jim.

What if something happens to those kids?

Nothing's going to happen. Jim, you were in there.

And that roof could collapse at any second.

Don't go chicken on us.

Fred finds out, he'll be mad.

You know, I never really dreamed we'd do this.

Did you hear those kids screaming, Jim?

Did you?

They're kids.

They'll get over it.

They're probably... Jim, have you been watching the news?

The whole federal government's involved. There's reporters from all over the

world in Chowchilla.

Settle down, damn it.

It is perfect.

It is perfect.

It has been pulled off perfectly.

What the hell it is?

Perfect. Okay.

All right, we'll take them some food later on.

Not now. Not until it's after dark.

It's too dangerous until then.

There's something on top of this.

Feels like a bat. A big one.

It's coming.

It's coming.

That TV.

I can't hear any more of that terrible news.

Those poor children.

Isn't that awful?

It's tragic.

It's terrible. It's just terrible.

Who could do such a thing?

This is what society is coming to.

You're not eating much, Rick.

I'm just not hungry, Mom.

You look tired, too, dear. You get enough rest?

Probably too much rest.

I want you boys to start doing more around here to help your mother.

Is that understood?

Yes.

Come on, Rick. We've got to drive over to Fred's.

Fred, that young man.

He's inherited everything from his family except their brains, if you ask

Are you sure you're feeling all right, darling?

I'll be all right. I'm just feeling a little queasy.

Do me an excuse.

Be careful, be careful.

It still has some acid in it.

All right.

All right.

Here.

Dampen it with water.

You dampen it with water.

And then wipe your faces with it.

But the water's going fast.

It's okay. You just do what I told you.

Go ahead now.

Come on.

We're done for, kid.

I'll tell you when we're done.

Oh, no.

No, you're not. We're not done for, Edward. Listen to me. We're not done

Now, don't give up. We're going to do it, Edward, all right?

You get up, Edward, right now. You get up.

You get up.

You get up.

You get up.

You get up, Edward. Don't you do this.

And what if they can trace my handwriting?

They won't.

We have to write a note.

We can't get through on the phones. All the phones are busy. We can't get

through. Is that how you spell ransom? R -A -N -S -O -M?

Yeah. It's got an E at the end.

No, there isn't.

Sign the note Beelzebub.

The name of the devil. That will really throw them off.

How do you spell Beelzebub?

Uh, B -E -A -L -S -A... Bub.

Okay?

All right, to whom it may concern, your bus has been kidnapped. We demand $5

million in ransom to be put in two suitcases.

Use your bills, use a CHP plane, drop off the... We'll be outside. That's

Okay.

You guys will go up on top of the mountain.

No, wait. Jim, you'll go up on top of the mountain.

You hang out by those blinkers. You have to hijack a private plane.

And we'll throw out the dummies with the parachutes.

And then you'll jump out later over that airstrip at the mountain base.

The plane will be on autopilot.

They'll be tracking it on radar, but no one will be aboard.

The note, Fred.

What, the note? The note. It's perfect. It's fine. It's great. Don't worry about

the note.

If we're going to give it to the governor, I mean, what, are we going to

walk up and hand it to him?

How are we gonna deliver the note We'll get it

there we'll get it there

I need your help.

I need

you

right here. I need you to be shining, all right?

Be careful, all right?

You can do something with this.

I could get some light.

Meow. But be careful.

Come on.

Are we going back there now, or what?

Relax, Rick.

Relax?

There's 26 kids in there.

He leaves enough food for five.

We can't go back there now.

We gotta send in the note.

Send the note to who?

What, do we walk up and hand it to some cop?

It's real smart.

It's a real work of genius.

Perfect crime.

I'm just saying, we gotta go back there now.

We will.

Later.

You think I want them to die?

They're worth nothing dead.

You go through and look around, but be careful.

Make sure that there's nobody around, okay?

Did you see anyone?

No, I didn't see anyone.

You sure?

Yeah, I'm sure.

We're getting out.

We're getting out.

We're getting out of here.

We're getting out of here, kid.

Hurry up. Come on. We're going home.

We're going home. Come on. Come on. Let's go.

The monkey's coming up next.

They gave their name on the way going down.

Let them give their name on the way going up. Say your name, Peter.

Peter. Peter Roderick. That's right.

Come on, Wendy.

Say your name.

Where are we, Edward?

Sure doesn't look much like Tequila.

It sure doesn't.

Now, I don't know where we are, but I want you all to stick together.

Now, stick together.

Come on.

All of me.

I see a car. Come over here.

Come on. Come on.

Get low. Get low.

Coming with me?

Yeah.

I can't believe it.

All right, I'm going to go north to Canada.

You guys go south.

I'm not going.

Yes, stay.

That's good.

You stay here. You get rid of everything. You get rid of all the

I don't believe them.

They got nothing, though.

They don't have a clue. They got nothing.

We have contingency plans.

What contingency plans?

I'm sorry.

I don't want them to think that they failed with us.

I'm sorry, Rick.

Somebody tell me that this is just a dream.

We'll be right back.

That one Frederick Woods IV.

That's the name of the quarry owner. That's right.

It's his son.

A very wealthy son from Portola Valley. We're running a check on him now.

Not too many kids in Portola Valley have rap sheets on them. Yeah, this one did.

Fred Woods Pryor, tampering with vehicles.

He had accomplices.

Two other kids, James and Richard Schoenfeld. Really?

Pull the mug shots and release them to the press.

I want everyone in the country looking for these bastards.

And you?

Don't do.

What should I do, Mom?

Jim, get on out of here.

Yeah?

You lost that buckle your mama made for you, huh?

Yes, sir.

Sort of. I mean, sort of. The guys and... It's yours, son.

Edward told me what you did down there, and... And you're more a man than I'll

ever be.

This is yours, champ.

How'd it get started?

Money.

Game. A joke.

That's how the whole thing got started.

That's where the idea came from.

Just a crazy idea.

I never thought we'd really do anything.

Then Fred comes up.

Let's do some preliminary stuff.

That wouldn't hurt.

Buy a trailer and stuff.

Now he says he won't be taking a lot.

Ed?

What is it?

I ain't no hero.

They keep calling me a hero.

If you're not a hero, then nobody is.

You're as good as they come.

I thought I'd failed.

I thought we were all going to die.

Odessa.

I was afraid.

Oh, we're all afraid.

But you didn't die, Edward.

We're all safe.

And it doesn't make us know what's important.

Every precious moment we have together with the ones we love.