Original subtitles

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I have had it up to here with you.

I'm not blaming you. At least I know

that a lot of this is my fault.

You bet it's your fault.

Just... If you weren't such a wuss.

It's embarrassing to me.

I'm embarrassed.

I'll see you at home.

Sherry...

♪ God and sinners reconciled ♪

♪ Joyful all ye nations rise ♪

♪ Join the triumph of the skies ♪

♪ With angelic hosts proclaim ♪

♪ Christ is born in Bethlehem... ♪

Ho! Ho! Ho!

Merry Christmas.

Thank you. Thank you from the orphanage.

Ho! Ho! Ho!

Excuse me, mister, do you have any quarter or anything

that you can... spare for anything?

Christmas Eve and... Yeah, I-I really need that.

Thanks a whole lot.

Thanks a whole lot.

Carl. Carl, listen. Eldon...

I just need another five. That's all I need. Oh, Eldon, please.

All I need. Eldon, please.

No, listen... It's a very bad time.

It's a very bad day.

All right, you're gonna be the tough guy.

You gonna be tough. All right.

Thank you.

Merry Christmas.

Hi, Mr. Lister.

Did you find your wife, okay?

She called just after you left to say she'd be late.

Yeah, I found her. Thanks.

I don't know.

Santa's all out of stealth bombers this year.

My elf will give you something nice to play with.

Steve?

How was your trip?

I'm glad you're back.

Explain this, Carl.

Well, I hired a Santa, a couple elves,

an extra sales person.

Well, they're bringing in business, Steve.

Merry Christmas. No, no.

They are costing us more than they are bringing in.

You show me the profits.

They just started.

It takes a little while for word of mouth.

Word of mouth?!

Johnny, don't. Come back. Wait. Hold it!

Ah, is that brat yours?

Word of mouth?

You know, if you'd pay more attention to business...

Your sister's husband was just in here.

Yeah. I saw him on the way in.

Tried to hit me up for some money.

Tried? You mean, you actually said no?

Well, I made up my mind.

Eldon will never learn to stand on his own two feet

unless I stop supporting him, huh?

You happy?

No. No, I'm not happy.

Your deadbeat brother called me,

begging for a job.

I told him to forget it,

so he's coming over here tonight

to ask you for one.

And you are going to tell him no way, aren't you, Carl?

I guess.

Excuse me, Mr. Lister?

Sister Marie is here.

She wants to talk to you about some toys?

Right. Carl, come here, come here.

Let me talk to you in board games.

Get over here.

What?

This year, we are sending our damaged toys straight back

to the manufacturer, who pays for breakage.

No more orphanages.

But, Steve,

we're talking about kids!

I mean, orphans who have nothing!

When are you gonna learn the difference

between a business and a charity?

What is that god-awful noise?

It's Christmas music.

I bought some tapes for the new P.A. system I had put in.

You put in a P.A. system?!

Yes.

Bah!

Get out!

No more pictures.

This isn't a camera store.

Chubs, you're fired.

What are you doing?!

Take a hike, and take your harem with you.

You can't do this.

Half this store is mine.

And the other half is mine, and my half says profits.

And I'm not gonna stand around

while you give away jingle bells!

You got that?!

Good night.

Merry Christmas.

Good night. Happy holidays.

Thanks. You, too.

Good night.

Want me to stay and help?

Oh.

My, uh, brother's coming by.

Wants a little job anyway.

He'll help me.

Want me to call your wife and tell her you'll be late?

Thanks, but, uh...

she isn't exactly waiting to hear from me.

Good night, Mr. Lister.

Good night, Donna.

Stewart?

Carl?

Carl, you here?

Carl.

Wow.

Look at all that stuff.

Mom!

Okay.

Whoa. Hey.

Ooh. Here. Here. Ooh...

For us? No. Don't you wish.

It's for Manny O.

Got to get them to the post office.

You mean you already bought 'em and wrapped 'em?

Yeah. What? Christmas shopping's great.

Walking into crowded stores as people are pushing at you

and shoving and grabbing at stuff,

and they're telling their kids to shut up.

You like that?

No. No. It's-It's...

It's like when I go to the dentist.

I hate it when I'm there, but I love it when I'm done.

And folks... the kid is done.

Ah. So am I.

Well, good on the both of you.

Thank you.

Hi. Hey, look at you. Hey.

Whoa.

Hey. Well, 'tis the season to be jolly.

I just wanted to give you this.

Oh. And

since the gang's all here, Michelle,

here's yours. Thank you. Thank you.

Conrad, here's yours.

Christmas cards?

No, I mailed those.

Ah. All right, it's a party.

Yeah, Christmas day every year.

You cooking?

Absolutely.

Invitations so early?

Christmas is only a couple of weeks away. Bye.

Hey, are you going to the courthouse?

Yeah. Oh, I'll go with you.

Yeah. Bye, Ben.

Bye. Merry Christmas.

Merry Christmas. See you guys later.

Going to a party. Yeah.

Have a little fun.

Oh, man. Tired?

Yeah, but it's a good tired.

You know...

every Christmas,

it's the same thing.

I wait till the last minute, nothing gets done.

I don't have any fun.

I don't do anything people are supposed to do at Christmas.

Well, by dog, not this year.

I'm gonna shop,

I'm gonna decorate, I'm gonna go to church.

Hell, I might even make some gingerbread cookies.

You can cook?

Can a goose fly?

Hey, hey, hey.

Les that-that he might go to Ray Templin's about now.

Let's-let's go over there,

let's go over there and wish him a merry Christmas

and have a little cheer.

All right.

♪ To kids from one to 92 ♪

♪ And though it's been said many times, many ways ♪

♪ Merry Christmas ♪

♪ Merry Christmas ♪

♪ Merry Christmas ♪

♪ To you. ♪

I was just entertaining the folks a little,

spreading a little Christmas cheer.

You seem a little down, Conrad.

Where's Ben?

Ben's why I'm down.

What happened?

We were gonna come over here.

We were gonna have a little cheer.

Then we were going to go and do some shopping.

Now, he's over at the jail, and he's talking to that guy.

Who's he at the jail talking to?

That guy who owns the toy store.

Steven Abbot?

So what did he do?

He's accused of killing his partner.

Well, he did it, all right.

No question about it.

He did it.

You know, his dog dug up my azalea.

Yeah?

He said it was his wife's dog,

and he wasn't responsible.

But then his wife died,

and then his dog died.

Yeah. No, he killed the man, all right.

No question about it, he killed him.

It's in his genes.

Dug up Ben's

azaleas, too.

And his mountain laurel.

Ben was madder than hell.

You had a very loud argument

with your partner the day before the murder.

It was not an argument; it was a discussion.

Business.

Mr. Abbott went berserk.

He started screaming at poor Mr. Lister.

He even fired Santa in front of a nun and some orphans.

What kind of a monster does that?

He was stabbed with a letter opener.

Your letter opener.

That letter opener sat in plain sight

on my desk in the back room day in and day out.

Anybody could have used it to stab Carl.

Anybody!

We found Abbott's fingerprints all over the letter opener.

Just his.

Nobody else's.

I am a respectable businessman who once in a while

happened to have a minor disagreement with his partner.

But his family... all bums.

Yesterday, his brother-in-law, Elden Williams,

comes into the store begging Carl for money.

For the first time, Carl turns him down.

He storms out breathing fire.

His brother-in-law owed him money?

His brother-in-law owed him money, yeah.

And then there's his wife, grade A bimbo.

Carl finally wises up to what everyone else knew

and confronts her yesterday at lunch.

She doesn't love him. He picks up the check.

His wife was seeing another man?

Yeah. Yeah.

And then there's his brother, Stewart.

Another loser.

Calls me yesterday begging for a job.

I turn him down, he says he's gonna come to the store

after hours and con Carl into giving him one.

Are you saying that Carl's brother killed him?

I'm only saying I didn't!

I saw him; I saw everything.

Okay.

Now, I want to repeat just what you told me.

Now, you saw a man come up behind the man

who was decorating the tree

and stabbed him.

Then the man who was stabbed fell down

and the other man bent down over him?

Yeah.

Then I started yelling for my mom.

Well, that's very good, Matthew.

Now, I want you to do one more thing.

Can you show me the man who did the stabbing?

That's him.

Well, I'll try to get you arraigned

by this afternoon and maybe out on bail by tonight.

Well, hurry up, I got a store to run.

There is more to Christmas

than running a store and doing business.

The only reason for any holiday is to sell.

That's why the government created most of them.

Now, I-I'm gonna represent you on this.

I don't know why.

I guess it's because I know you're too smart

to have committed a murder this sloppy.

I don't mean that you wouldn't commit a murder.

I think you would, but not this one.

I'll tell you something else.

You're the worst neighbor I've ever had.

And the absolute hatefulest man I've ever known and the meanest.

Firing Santa Claus in front of children!

You may not ever know that this is the season

for giving and being jolly,

but by damn, once in your life, you're gonna do it.

I don't know about the jolly part,

but you're gonna give and I'm talking about give.

Plus my fee.

And an extra 25%

because your dog dug up my azaleas.

What do you think of that?!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Ho! Ho! Ho!

Merry Christmas!

I need money, sir.

Merry Christmas!

I need-I need money.

Get away from my store!

This street's as much ours as it is yours.

Yeah? Yeah!

Yeah, that's right, they are. Yeah!

Excuse me, sir...

Thank you. Thank you very much, sir.

Hey, there, sir.

Merry Christmas.

Geez, there's hardly anybody in here.

It's like a morgue, isn't it?

Yeah. You want something?

You know, I should buy something.

I should buy that train.

I never had a train before.

You're too old.

Mr. Abbott, I'm Conrad McMasters.

I work for Ben Matlock.

Two of you, huh?

I thought this was gonna cost me.

Oh, yeah, there's a lot in our crowd.

And while it's expensive,

it'll be worth it in the long run, don't you think?

Why'd you come back here that night?

I wanted to pick up the damaged toys

before Carl had a chance to fix them up and give them away.

Did you come in the front door or the back?

The back.

So, the front door was locked?

So was the back; I had to use my key.

So, how did the killer get in?

Maybe he knocked and Carl let him in.

How should I know?

Who has keys?

Just me and Carl.

So, Carl's wife could've had a duplicate made.

Yeah.

Carl's sister, Elden William's wife,

she worked here a while back.

So did Stewart.

Carl's brother.

Yeah, the flake.

Carl used to let them open up.

Both of them could've had keys.

Morning, Mr. Abbott.

How dare you

show your face in here

after what you told the police about me?

All I did was answer their questions.

You're fired. Get out, get out!

Get out!

Mr. Abbott, how could you do that?

It's Christmastime.

She's about as loyal as a snake.

I, for one, say good riddance.

Steve, uh...

I'm so sorry.

Spare me.

I'm Conrad McMasters.

I work for Ben Matlock.

Oh, good, good. And you are?

I'm Carl's brother, Stewart.

Oh, you work here?

Yes. No!

Steve, you need me.

You don't have Carl,

you just fired Donna.

He's not thinking too clearly.

My brother's death came as a terrible shock.

He and Carl were very close.

I'm staying whether you pay me or not.

It's the least I can do for my brother.

Now, where do you want the box?

All right, open it up.

Start stacking those shelves.

$5.50 an hour, you work only through New Year's.

Those kids are panhandling out front again.

What? What?

Hey, get away from this store!

Go on, get out!

Um...

I know how upset you must be

losing your brother and all.

Yeah. Yeah.

I hear you were gonna drop by the store

the night of the murder, talk to Carl about a job?

Yeah, I was, but I never got here.

How come?

Well, I... I started over here and then I thought,

uh, why beg for a job?

I mean, it's the holidays,

party season, so I figured, you know,

I'd just wait for the weekend, hit Carl up for a loan.

But Carl's gone, the cupboard's bare

and $5.50 an hour looks pretty good.

Where did you go that night?

Uh, movies.

With a girlfriend?

I'm between girlfriends.

Am I a suspect?

Well, it depends.

Now that Carl's dead, who gets his half of the store, his wife?

No. Sherry, no.

She hates this place and Carl knew it.

So, he left it to Kathy, our sister,

and um... me.

You're a suspect.

Those damn kids are always blocking my doorway,

pestering my customers, cops never do a thing...

You leaving?

Yeah, I got to talk to Stewart.

Did you buy anything?

No.

Oh. Okay, wait, wait, wait.

How much is the train?

Just the engine is $300.

Here's a ten spot.

Hold it for me, all right?

Did you...

find out anything?

Yeah.

You think you know who did it?

Oh, yeah.

All of them.

Say, do you have any spare change?

You got a quarter?

A quarter, anything?

Hey, do you have some money?

Hey, thanks.

Oh, man.

Can I have a quarter, sir?

Oh, I've got something worth a lot more than that.

Do you, uh, oh, do you kids

hang around in front of the toy store at night sometimes?

You a cop?

No. I'm a lawyer.

What I want to know is,

did you see anybody go in or come out of the toy store

around say, 7:30 last Tuesday night?

That's when that guy got offed. That's right.

Well, how much is it worth to you?

It's worth...

that.

A crummy business card?

No!

That's an I.O.U.

You tell me what you saw last Tuesday night,

next time you get...

get in trouble with the law,

I'll help you out.

Forget it. We're losing light.

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

Chill out.

Well, all I have to do

is tell you what I saw that night,

and I got me a big-time lawyer? Yeah.

Well, we were out here all day and all night,

right up till they carried the body out,

and we didn't see nothing or nobody.

Still gonna be my lawyer?

Deal's a deal.

How about this?

You keep your eye on the toy store,

you see anything unusual,

you call me. Huh?

Okay? Okay.

Ah, I love it when Ray plays those Christmas songs.

Oh, I do, too.

But I gotta eat and go Christmas shopping.

Stores close in an hour.

I finished my Christmas shopping in October.

In October?

Yeah.

My mother was like that.

She always finished her Christmas shopping in October.

Hmm.

All us Calhouns

were like that.

Always finished their Christmas shopping in October.

In fact, in some places,

we are still known as the October Calhouns.

October Calhouns.

So, uh, how many presents you still have to buy?

Oh...

all of them.

All...

You haven't bought any?

No, well, I've got this case, and I haven't had the time.

Well, I've got time.

Let me do your shopping.

Oh, no, no, no.

What are friends for?

I'm here, I love to shop,

I've got great taste,

and I've already been an October Calhoun.

So now I'll be a December Calhoun.

How about you all, you want another?

No, no, I'm fine.

22,000? That's what I said.

Now, wait a minute, wait a minute.

Wait, that's too much.

Look...

15 grand

at 20% a week for eight days...

$22,000 today,

$23,000 tomorrow,

$24,000 the next day.

You get the picture?

Yeah.

Good.

Oh.

Oh, hi.

Hi.

Huh.

Hey.

Hey, Mr. Williams.

Your wife told me I might find you here.

Ben Matlock.

Too bad about your brother-in-law.

I know how close you were.

Yeah.

Yeah, he was always loaning you money

and paying off your gambling debts.

Abbot tell you that?

He told me that Carl cut you off.

That make you mad?

Abbot killed Carl.

Uh, now that Carl is gone,

who inherits his, uh... his half of the store,

his wife?

She'll get part of it, yeah.

What about you?

Oh.

You-you're wife told me

that you weren't at home around 7:30 last Tuesday night.

I was at a friend's watching the Longo-Robertson fight.

Till when?

Till it was over.

I've got to see somebody.

Another bookie?

How did you do? Pretty good.

Wait, wait, wait, wait. Count it.

26...

27, 83.

What'll it be, burgers or pizza?

Both.

Couple orders of fries?

Yeah.

And some pop, right?

Yeah, soda pop.

Oh, w-w-w-wait a minute.

That's the door to the toy store.

Yeah.

Shh. Come on.

Shh.

Come on, come on!

Gone, man.

♪ Away in a manger ♪

♪ No crib for his bed ♪

♪ The little Lord Jesus ♪

♪ Asleep on the hay ♪

♪ He... ♪

So, you think all of them did it, huh?

Well, they all could have,

and one of them did.

Now, was there a Robertson-Longo fight on TV that night?

Well, that's easy enough to find out.

You know, this, uh, Eldon Williams

is a compulsive gambler,

and I bet he was just madder than hell

when Carl cut him off

and wouldn't pay his gambling debts anymore.

You're putting all the red ones

in one place, Conrad.

Well, you can help.

I'm helping.

Hand him that moose.

It's a reindeer.

Thank you.

Stewart Lister is a real piece of work, too.

He's been hired and fired so many times,

it's amazing the IRS hasn't run out of forms.

Oh, that's right.

Carl was taking care of him, too.

See, now, if Carl

was supporting both of those guys,

why would either one of them try to kill him?

Well, they both stood to inherit part of the toy store.

Okay.

Well, what about his wife?

Grief-stricken.

She hasn't seen anybody

or been out of the house for days,

but according to her maid, all that's over.

Why? What happened?

Her roots started to show.

Oh, it's so much better.

Mucho, mucho, mucho better.

Suzanne, you're a genius. I love it.

Sherry Lister?

Yeah. Michelle Thomas.

I work with Ben Matlock, Steven Abbot's attorney.

I'm in mourning.

Steven Abbot is the reason why.

You can just keep on going, Suzanne.

I can appreciate your feelings.

Your husband was a good man.

Generous.

I hear he left his share of the toy store

to his brother and sister.

He left everything else to me.

I'm not going to be rich, but I'll be comfortable.

He spend a lot of time at the toy store?

Every minute he could.

You must have been pretty bored.

I have my own interests.

Steven Abbot says you were having an affair.

Steven Abbot is a liar.

He says your husband found out about it,

confronted you, and eight hours later,

he was dead.

That jerk said that I killed him?

Maybe Carl was so mad about your affair

that he threatened to cut you out of his will completely.

And maybe you killed him before he could do that.

That's it, blondie.

Where were you that night?

I was out with friends.

What are their names?

Dennis Johnson.

Hey, someone tried to break

into the toy store last night! Yeah, we chased him,

but he got away.

Did you get a look at him?

It was too dark.

Why didn't you call me?

So, maybe we didn't have a quarter.

Keep up the good work.

All right, you take this.

Okay.

Get out of here. The store is not yours to sell.

It belongs to your wife.

What's going on?

Oh.

Eldon here is trying to sell his wife's share

of the store for half of what it's worth.

You can't do that.

I, uh... I just wanted to give you first crack.

I figured I owed it to Carl to make you a good deal.

Well, you-you can't do that.

He's only asking $2,000 over what he owes the loan sharks.

Okay. Okay.

Wind up with a total stranger.

Bound to be an improvement over you.

He... he can't do that.

Hey, wait a minute...

Um...

Uh, guess what?

That, uh... that fight

you said you were watching that night...

It only went two rounds.

It was over at 7:10.

Say, Steve, uh, seeing...

seeing as business is kind of slow,

you mind if I... mind if I take off?

You're off even when you're on.

Have a nice afternoon.

So, business is slow.

Try stinks.

Going to be my worst Christmas in history.

Well, there's more to Christmas than just business.

Like what?

Oh, like love, worship and giving.

But, uh, to get back to your, uh, original complaint,

your business... I believe you said... stinks

because of your lousy attitude.

Who do you think you're talking to? You.

See, if there's two toy stores in town

and, uh, one of them's run by a nice guy

and the other one's run by a jerk,

well, people are naturally going to go see the nice guy.

See?

Now, you're going to trial

before a jury of people... just...

just people... And whether you like it or not,

most of those people believe that Christmas

is a time of giving, not just business.

So, unless you want to alienate these people

and go to prison for the rest of your life,

you're going to have to hide

your true feelings of Christmas

and make those people think that you really believe

it is more blessed to give than to receive.

Now, did you get that,

or do you want me to run over it one more time?

He snuck up behind him

and stabbed the guy who was decorating the tree.

Then, the guy fell down.

You know, with the thing in his back.

Then, the first guy bent down over him,

like he was going to stab him again, maybe.

When I started to yell,

the guy looked up and saw me,

then he stopped.

So, you got a real clear look at his face.

Yeah.

This man that you saw... Is he in the courtroom now?

Yeah, he's right there.

This is the man that stabbed Mr. Lister?

You sure?

I'm real sure.

Let the record show the witness

has identified the defendant, Steven Abbot.

One word, and you'll never hear

the sound of a cash register again.

Uh, thank you, Matthew.

No further questions,

Your Honor.

Does the defense wish to cross-examine?

We do, Your Honor.

How you doing, Matthew?

Okay.

Whew-ee, a lot of people here today.

Is it kind of scary knowing

they're listening to everything you say?

Kind of.

I'm going to ask you a couple questions,

and you just answer them the best you can, okay?

Okay.

Now, you said that man

over there, Mr. Abbot,

came up behind the man who was decorating the tree,

Mr. Lister, and stabbed him.

Uh-huh.

Who was taller...

The man who decorated the tree of the man who stabbed him?

I-I-I don't know.

Well, Mr. Abbot had to have been standing

right behind Mr. Lister if he stabbed him,

so just think back real hard.

Who was taller... Mr. Abbot or Mr. Lister?

Mr. Lister?

Hmm.

Maybe this question will be easier.

Who was heavier?

You know, fatter.

The man who was stabbed, Mr. Lister,

or the man who stabbed him, Mr. Abbot?

Um... Mr. Lister?

Hmm.

Well, as it happens,

Matthew...

Mr. Lister was...

only about five foot, seven inches tall.

Mr. Abbot's...

almost six feet tall,

so he's the taller man.

He also weighs over 200 pounds,

so Mr. Abbot's the heavier man, too.

Look, here's a picture of them. See?

See, that's Mr. Abbot, and that's Mr. Lister.

Guess I made a mistake, huh?

Yeah.

And I think I know why.

It's because you never saw Mr. Abbot

and Mr. Lister standing up.

All you saw was Mr. Lister lying on the floor,

and Mr. Abbot bending over him, isn't that right?

Nobody's gonna be disappointed in you,

nobody's gonna be angry with you...

as long as you tell the truth.

What did you see

when you looked in the window that night, Matthew?

I saw a man lying on the floor.

And I saw that man over there leaning over him.

So, you never saw

that man over there, Mr. Abbot, stab anyone?

No.

Nothing further.

♪ ♪

You ain't gettin' away from us this time,

sucker.

Caught him breaking in!

No, I wasn't...

I wasn't breaking in!

I wasn't breaking in!

Boys, boys, boys. No, I was...

I was trying to get my wallet.

Your wallet?

Yes, my wallet.

I-I didn't realize I'd left it here

until about an hour ago.

Did you leave it here a couple of nights ago?

Hey!

All right.

All right, I was gonna use my key to get in the cash register

and then I'd make it look like a break-in.

Well, if you wanted to steal, why didn't

you steal in the daytime while you were working?

He was afraid I might catch him.

Ah.

Let's see.

You have a key, you need money.

Maybe you killed Carl. No.

I-I was in jail that night. Jail?

Yeah, on-on my way to see Carl, I got pulled over for speeding.

I had eight tickets for parking and speeding.

So a bondsman had to bail me in the morning.

Now you owe him.

Yes. Give me your key to the store.

Now get out of here. How about if...

Get out.

Boys, uh, you might as well go home, too.

Uh, I appreciate your help.

I looked like we had a live one there.

Yeah.

Well, keep working and next time we'll get one,

I'll string 'em up like that. Yeah.

Okay, thanks again for your help, boys.

Oh, hey, wait-wait a minute.

You know, I-I left...

I left home in such a hurry, I-I left everything,

I didn't bring anything with me, but I...

Oh, yeah, I... I did find this.

It's a... it's a...

five spot.

Go ahead.

Okay.

Okay. All right, thanks.

Yeah. Good night.

Bye. Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey.

Here they are.

Took a while to find them all. Oh.

Right. Great. Okay, thanks, Sarge. Yeah, I owe you one.

Well? Stewart Lister was in prison the night of the murder.

Hmm. Sherry Lister was with her friend.

Yeah, with Dennis what's-his-face?

Johnson, at the Emerald Lounge.

The bartender and two waitresses saw them.

Okay, so it's gotta be Eldon Williams

or this bird we're defending.

Yeah.

Well...

let's hope Santa Claus will give us a little present.

What's going on?

Well, I think I can prove you didn't kill Carl.

Well, finally.

First sign this.

What?

That's an amendment to our contract.

Sign it.

Uh,

Mr. Williams,

are you in debt?

Aren't we all?

$30,000 in under a week, cash plus interest.

I don't owe anybody $30,000.

Tony Costa says you do.

You know Tony.

Yeah.

You borrow money from Tony to pay your bookie, don't you?

Yes.

You're a compulsive gambler, aren't you?

No, I wouldn't say that.

Your wife would, and she'd just love

to come up here and tell us all about it.

Shall we call her?

My wife and I

are having some problems.

I know.

She filed for divorce.

Objection.

Relevancy.

Lloyd!

How can you object to that?

I say the man's a compulsive gambler,

he says he's not, his wife wants to testify,

he says they're having problems,

she says she wants to file for divorce.

How can that not be relevant?

Mr. Matlock,

your blood pressure.

Objection is sustained.

Thank you, Your Honor.

Um, Mr. Williams,

Carl Lister was your wife's brother.

Is that right?

Yes.

And in his will, he stipulated

that upon his death

she would receive half of his half of L And A Toys,

right? Yes.

Now, you owe Tony Costa money.

And you were trying

to sell your wife's share of the store.

That's against the law.

You can't sell a person's inherited possession

with-without their permission.

They'll put you in prison for that.

But I guess you were desperate.

I suppose, yeah.

You knew that if she divorced you

before she got her inheritance, you'd never see a dime of it.

Now, wait a minute... And-and when you got wind

of the divorce,

you didn't waste any time.

You took her keys,

put on some kind of gloves,

slipped in the toy store,

took-took Steven Abbot's letter opener,

slipped up behind your brother-in-law

and stabbed him to death.

That is not true! Objection!

Assumes facts not in evidence.

It's argumentative.

I have proof, Your Honor.

Overruled.

Proof, Mr. Matlock?

Yes, sir.

Yes, sir, right here.

These pictures, which I'd like entered into evidence

as defense exhibits "C" and "D."

Now, this first picture,

as you can see,

is a picture of Santa Claus.

See? See? Can you see it? Can you see it?

Picture of Santa Claus.

Taken about four hours

before the murder.

Now, the second one is a blowup of the same.

What I wanted you to see

was what was in that display case

behind Santa Claus.

It's one of those tiny calculators

that's also a date book.

It, you know, it-it keeps dates, phone numbers,

appointments, stuff like that.

But, anyway, the day after the murder...

it was gone.

It hadn't been sold or anything.

It was just gone.

Now, uh, Mr. Williams,

uh, you have a calculator like that, don't you?

No.

Uh-uh.

Didn't I see it

when I ran into you at the bar?

You're mistaken.

I asked your wife this morning,

and she says that you have a calculator just like this one.

Said you take it with you everywhere.

Said you just got it.

Said you never said where you got it.

But I bet I know where you got it.

You got it out of that display case

when you killed your brother-in-law, didn't you?

That is not true.

Empty your pockets.

No! Objection!

Your Honor,

I-I believe that this witness

possess that piece of evidence

which is critical

to my client's defense.

Empty your pockets, Mr. Williams.

Just...

just the inside left pocket there.

Well...

It's just a coincidence.

No.

No.

And a comparison of the serial numbers

will prove it.

Bet on it.

We're gonna bring a man out here

that I know you all want to meet.

Now, who is that man?

Santa Claus!

Now, now, let me explain.

The main Santa...

the main Santa is real busy tonight.

I'm talking real busy.

So he couldn't come.

Well, what he did was, what he did was

he picked out a friend of his

from our very own town to be him.

Who? Who is it? Who is it?

Who is it? Who is it?

You want to know who?

Santa Claus!

Now, now, let me explain

about our Santa Claus.

You see, he's new.

He's new and he's inexperienced.

Now, he-he may... he may act like

he doesn't like what he's doing,

but don't let that bother you.

Don't let that bother you.

When he gives you a present, give him a kiss.

Yeah. Okay?

Maybe someday he'll like it, too, what say?

All right.

Here he is,

the man of the hour...

a little elf himself...

Santa Claus!

♪ Dashing through the snow ♪

♪ In a one-horse open sleigh ♪

♪ O're the fields we go ♪

♪ Laughing all the way, ha, ha, ha ♪

♪ Bells on bobtail ring ♪

♪ Making spirits bright ♪

♪ What fun it is to ride and sing ♪

♪ A sleighing song tonight ♪

♪ Oh, jingle bells, jingle bells ♪

♪ Jingle all the way ♪

♪ Oh, what fun... ♪

How you like it so far?