Original subtitles

Acme Protective.

Go right in, Mr. Parks.

Right.

Air freight.

Better hurry. We close at 5:00.

That time again.

Yeah. Never fails.

I wanted to get home early.

Now it'll be bumper to bumper,

a late dinner, and Helen sore about it.

Floyd, did you get the perfume?

Oh, I've been busy all day, Mr. Coombs.

I'll get it now.

I got a new one for your beauty queen... Whirlwind.

She'll be eating out of your hand.

Hello. Lester Parks.

Oranges... three, seven, two.

Apples... eight.

The night setting will be delayed

not more than 15 minutes.

Yeah. See you in the morning.

Whirlwind, eh?

She was a gentle breeze when I married her.

Aren't they all?

I didn't get to the morphine, Mr. Coombs.

I'll unpack it first thing in the morning.

That fellow with the ketch in the slip next to me

is moving her down to Balboa.

Why don't you see if you can get it?

Then I can help you work on your... Reach!

You, down.

Over against the shelves.

You now, turn around.

♪ ♪

Southeastern Air, please... Mannix!

Now arriving into Gate 14.

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

Except for a loose tooth. 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 B-3.

Always hire a pro.

Anytime.

Flight 19 for Phoenix departing on schedule at Gate 4.

Flight 19 for Phoenix, Arizona,

departing on schedule at Gate 4.

Mr. Maple's residence.

One moment, please.

Yes?

Mr. Tellis is on the phone, sir.

Thank you, Mrs. Johnson.

Yeah, Sam?

The 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 lessons.

KT 4-2114.

Dominion Insurance.

Yeah, Mannix here.

When?

Right away.

Robbery.

45 cartons of Miss Emma

stolen from the So-Cal Pharmaceutical Company.

Morphine?

Mm.

Try the other side.

The alarm system's turned off during the day.

At 5:00,

the narcotics clerk turns a 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?

Oh, fine, 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?

Oh.

I promise never to do it again.

Would you hand me that, please?

The doctor says I should, uh, drink a lot of juices,

and look at pretty things.

May I use your phone?

KL 5-6175, 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 con 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.

Uh, that's a pretty suit.

Oh, 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, uh, thanks for bringing the glasses,

and, uh, my regards to Toby, age six.

Would you hold still for a few questions?

My 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?

The 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, uh, 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 me 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 telephone and the typewriter.

Now good-bye.

What are you doing here so late?

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 some paint on my sleeve.

Uh, just go slow with me, Peggy,

'cause 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," unless I got my 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 at 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.

In, 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.

And 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 must have been the morphine truck.

Peggy, the robbery took place at 5:00.

We got to my car at the airport

a few minutes after 6:00.

Paint a car and drive it from So. Cal

to the airport in one hour?

It's impossible.

Yeah, I guess it is.

On the other hand,

they could have loaded it on a bigger truck

and painted it on the way.

Yes, of course they could've!

No, no. 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, uh...

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 your 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 KG 6-2114.

I'd like the police department.

Baseball, football, track...

What team didn't you make?

Uh, Ping Pong.

Asleep at the wheel.

He'll get a ticket for that.

Hmm, bed's the ticket.

Here, let me help you.

Another O.J. Simpson.

I see him more like a Senator Brooke.

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

You'd 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 file cab... 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.

Hey... don't drive too fast.

I wish that friend of yours

in DMV would hurry up.

Take it easy, Joe.

He's doing the best he can.

Yeah, well, if we don't round this stuff up right away,

they'll have it cut, repackaged

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

Well, the fellas who did the robbery,

will they help push it, too?

No, I doubt it.

A deal this big has got to be on several levels.

The hoods who stole it,

the people who planned it,

whoever financed it and the dealer

who's going to buy it.

Hello? Oh, hi, Charlie.

Thanks, Charlie.

Go back to your sauna bath.

It's a truck rental in the Valley.

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 replacing it in the West.

For our, uh, most gracious South,

we prefer morphine.

Yeah, that's why I thought

of an old Georgia boy like you, Doctor.

Yes?

I'll be right out.

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 Borman 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.

Say, that perfume, that's just wonderful.

I've been trying to place it.

It's a new one, sir.

It's called Whirlwind.

But 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.

Sold.

After we've tested the rest.

We'll have the 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 did 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

that new So-Cal perfume, Whirlwind.

I had pizza.

I went on the pony ride.

And you didn't fall off?

Almost, but Floyd caught me.

Now I'm going to Pickle Pete's.

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

Another time.

Thanks, Floyd.

Oh, that, uh... uh, trucking company.

Did you find out the owner

from the Hall of Records?

A man named Sam Tellis.

Here's his address.

Baldwin 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?

Uh, 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, uh, shined shoes and waited tables

and tended bar, and swept out a butcher shop.

Boy, 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.

No. Peggy...

Floyd.

You don't know me, and I don't know you.

We don't know each other.

We know enough.

Hi.

Come on in.

Floyd.

Mannix.

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

Did you see Tellis?

Yes and no.

What does that mean?

Well, I'll, uh, give you the notes

for the insurance report, and then you'll know.

Now?!

Well, it is important.

Yes, well, I was just leaving.

I'll all 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: So-Cal robbery.

Investigation to date confirms

suspicion that this was an inside job.

While Coombs 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 Coomb" practice

to send this fourth party

after perfume to give

to Parks' 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.

Coombs 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've... 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 Tellis's place.

Uh, 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 him every minute.

Every minute?

How long does it take to make a phone call?

It's just supposition.

It's just circumstantial.

What about the other employees?

What about Coombs and Parks?

They just don't figure.

Of course not.

They're white, aren't they?

Oh, 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, well, 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 gonna have to try and prove it.

What's the matter, Mommy?

What are you doing here?

I'm looking for Miss Emma... and you?

Well, I... I-I do for Mr. Brown.

I darn his socks and sew on his buttons.

I'm a friend 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 So-Cal robbery.

No.

I think he got a bright idea.

I think he asked you to introduce him

to your boss, and your boss bankrolled him.

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 then, uh,

I put two and two together.

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

Oh, he's worked so hard.

Please... find him.

Stop him.

Where is he, Mrs. Johnson?

I don't know.

Where's Mr. Maple?

I don't know.

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

Mr. Maple's at a Rosary.

The Conrad Mortuary in Inglewood.

Yeah, Peggy?

Um, it's about Floyd.

I'm with his mother.

Oh?

Now, if he calls, 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 don't want to talk about it.

But you're all shaky.

Now come on, get it off your chest.

All right.

Mannix thinks you're the inside man in the So-Cal robbery.

Well, uh, 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. Maple's house?

Yes, and the first time when he 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't.

I mean, there's Toby and my friends,

and your friends and your mother.

My mother moved back to Arkansas.

Oh.

No, Floyd, it's, it's too fast.

Peggy...

don't keep me waiting.

I... I... 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 to 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, Mannix 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...

Oh, 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 off!

For what?

Oh, there are 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.

So-Cal 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 errand 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.

It's not a question of black or white.

It's a question of right or wrong.

Look, I'm getting a $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.

No.

It could have been a good life.

You gotta understand.

Nobody's gonna 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 flight.

Floyd Brown wants to see you.

Who's Floyd Brown?

Inside man.

Show him in.

Oh, uh,

take a look outside in case he's being 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 So-Cal 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 got to catch a plane!

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

Or 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.

Hey, Al, take care of that.

It's got your pension in it.

Floyd Brown's dead.