Original subtitles

That's good, Charlie.

Hold it right there, Rick.

Susan!

Who's the cool-looking chick?

My mother.

Hi, Bev.

That wasn't funny.

Where'd you pick them up?

I didn't pick them up.

They picked me up.

Well, get them out of here, will you?

I have enough to worry about with the carnival opening.

If you can't be of any help,

stay out of the way.

Bev! Look out!

♪ ♪

It won't be much longer, Toby, honest.

Oh, here are the papers.

Ah, thank you.

Peggy, uh, I'm sorry I had to drag you out

on a Saturday morning.

You know I don't mind.

It's just that, uh, Mr. Longface

is a bit hard to take.

We were going to go to a movie.

Toby... Yes, sir?

I know how you feel.

I mean, Saturdays are supposed to be a day

for having fun, right? Right.

I tell you what I'm going to do.

I'm going to make this day up to you.

Okay?

Bev! Bev Miller!

Hi, Joe.

It's been years.

Yeah.

Oh, uh, this is my secretary,

Peggy Fair. Hello.

Her son, Toby.

This is Beverly Miller.

Hello, Toby.

Hi.

You're looking great.

Come on in.

What have you been up to? Oh, well...

Now, tell me, what brings

you to California?

Well, I finally got what I always wanted.

Oh, no.

You know better than that.

I only wear rings here, where they don't pinch.

I've got my own carnival at last.

King Beach.

You're kidding. Now, that's great.

You can count me as your first customer.

Sit down.

Tell me, how's Susan?

Oh, too old to spank.

But my hand sure itches to try.

She's home from school.

She's a rebel.

Well, now, that sounds like Bev Miller's kid.

When does the carny open?

Tomorrow.

I hope.

You hope?

Joe, I think somebody's trying to kill me.

Yesterday, a truck slipped its brake.

I was yanked out of the way just in time.

Well, that sounds like it could've been an accident, Bev.

Like the fire in my trailer last week.

I would have been asleep when it broke out.

Lucky I was called to a late meeting of the carny crew.

We found a delayed fuse.

Hmm...

Did you, uh, go to the police with this?

People won't bring their kids where there's trouble.

Any other tries?

One, about four months ago.

I was still with the road show.

We were repairing the roller coaster.

The crane was lifting half a ton of rails to the top.

Cable snapped.

And, uh, you were below?

I don't like to push the panic button, Joe,

but three accidents in a few months?

Hmm.

Anyway, will you come out to King Beach?

Take a look around?

Well, now, Bev, you know

I've always been a carny man at heart.

Thank you, Joe.

Oh, uh, Bev, are your rides operating yet?

Sure, we're having dry runs all day.

Uh, well, uh, have you got

anyone lined up to try them out?

No, I sure wish I did.

Yeah... Toby!

Yeah?!

Well, how about it?

Y-You really mean it, Mr. Mannix?

Well, of course I mean it.

Now, a promise is a promise, isn't it?

No, I was right here

when the truck crashed the fence.

Bev Miller says she saw you at the bottom of the hill.

She's wrong.

That was earlier.

Look at these horses.

They haven't been worked in a year.

48 of them I gotta clean up.

Not counting the spares.

Uh, what about the, uh, fire in the trailer?

Accident?

Sure, why not?

Bev seems to think maybe it was a little too convenient.

Huh, women get funny ideas.

Take the merry-go-round.

Kid falls off a red horse,

mother gets superstitious about red.

You think that she's in no trouble?

Not if the crowds show up tomorrow.

Try your luck, Mister?

Everybody wins.

Three bull's-eyes gives you

that beautiful Kewpie doll to take home to your sweetie.

Oh, it's probably too easy for you, huh, Mannix?

Go ahead, it's on the house.

You're Rio.

Best all-around carny man on the circuit.

Bev tells me you were with her on the road show.

When the cable snapped on that crane.

Yeah, top of the roller coaster. Saw the whole thing happen.

The rails almost got her.

How'd it happen?

Accident.

You sure?

Sure.

Accident, what else?

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

She's only a child, my love.

♪ ♪

I see a trailer in an empty parking lot.

It's a very dark night.

Suddenly, there are flames.

I see somebody running.

Can't tell whether it's a woman or a man.

Or maybe just a shadow.

How am I doing?

Pretty good, Mr. Mannix.

You're Donna.

That's right.

You reported the fire in Bev's trailer.

That's right.

Weren't you supposed to be at a carny meeting that night,

along with all the others?

I was on my way.

I had to do something first.

It, uh, held me up.

Any idea how the fire started?

No.

It just, um... happened.

Maybe the genie could tell us.

The crystal ball only tells the future.

And the fortune teller?

The fortune teller only knows what she sees, and she...

Knows nothing.

You see, you're a fortune teller, too.

Nothing to it.

Oh, I'd, uh, keep that crystal ball on tap.

I might need it.

Hi. Hi.

There is no end to your talents.

Every carny worker has to have

electrical know-how in case of emergency.

How's it coming? Well, it isn't.

Nobody seems to have any answers.

Or they're just not talking.

Hey, Bev?

What do you know about the people working for you?

My foreman and I handpicked them.

We've worked with most of them for years.

There's nobody better in the whole carny circuit.

And they're slaving round the clock for me.

When you applied to the city for this, uh, franchise,

was there anyone else after it?

Who'd risk it except me?

The place had been closed for over a year.

They were going to tear it down, make it a parking lot.

Panel board backstage belongs in a museum.

Wouldn't light up a Christmas tree.

Antiques need special handling.

The whole place is a junk heap.

I'll go take a look at it.

My foreman, Rick Griffith, Joe Mannix.

Howdy.

Oh, by the way, the wiring's okay.

You can finish putting the bulbs in.

Bev's told me a lot about you.

Oh, well, we're old friends.

If you got any questions, ask away.

Hey now, that's a refreshing change.

Well, I figure anything I know Bev's already told you.

So shoot.

Were you around the other day

when that truck slipped its brake?

Would you say it was meant for Bev?

That truck was ancient,

like everything else around here.

How about the fire in the trailer and the crane,

they just happen?

Listen, accidents are part of carny.

Bev's been around them all her life.

Rick, you're the foreman.

You and Bev have the top crew in the carnival business.

Handpicked, hardworking, loyal...

Yet everyone I talked to

knows nothing, saw nothing.

They act as if they were hiding something.

Joe, this is the carny.

You're fuzz.

It's bad luck.

Bad for business.

So are accidents.

Bev's sunk every penny she's got into this carnival.

It's a risk.

Bigger than she thought.

I've known Bev a long time.

I've never seen her like this, running scared.

I can't imagine Bev being scared of anything.

Nothing falls harder than a tower of strength.

♪ ♪

You are interested in magic, Mr. Mannix?

I've developed a great respect for it.

You're Armando.

I am.

I'm especially interested in sleight of hand.

For instance,

where there appears to be nothing...

there really is something.

You, too, are a magician.

You hide your tricks in words.

Allow me to show you the mignon cabinet.

Your eyes will tell you it is quite empty.

But you are suspicious, huh?

You're expecting to see... what?

Voilà!

Forgive me.

But as you and I both know,

accidents can happen.

Still, one must go on.

Such is life.

Speaking of hiding tricks in words, not bad.

I got the message.

Of course, I'm not buying it,

but, uh, thanks for the show anyway.

You were in no danger.

I never miss.

I'll try not to worry.

Nobody's perfect.

Your knife thrower, have you ever known him to miss?

Never. Not even in rehearsal.

That figures.

What can you tell me about Armando?

Nothing to tell.

He's tops in his job.

Yeah, he's good, all right.

Maybe too good a magician to be in a carnival side show.

Yeah, I was lucky to get him.

He's probably just marking time.

He'll quit if something better comes along,

which it will, if we make it.

Where is he from?

All the specialty acts are from Colonel Lee's Circus,

San Antonio, Texas.

The Colonel's getting old.

The outfit's going broke.

And the, uh, fortune teller?

Donna came built-in with Armando.

Oh, Rick, what's wrong now?

Big trouble, Bev.

Like what?

Well, uh, word's going around

if you don't call him off,

they're all going to quit.

I don't care if they all quit.

I call the shots around here.

I'm the boss,

and this carnival's going to open on schedule

if I have to run it single-handed.

You know, I'll bet she could do it.

Yeah, she's quite a woman.

Yeah, I thought so for a long time.

All she ever thinks about is Susan.

Hey.

What are you trying to prove?

I like you.

Okay?

What's bugging you, Susan?

Well, I don't know.

All of a sudden I'm mad at everybody.

I just want to stand up and yell.

Crazy, huh?

Yahoo!

Yahoo!

Yahoo!

How'd you get to bum around the beach?

I just took off.

What did your parents think?

I'll find out when I get home.

My folks are okay.

They know I got to do my thing sometimes.

Then I'll make the scene, you know,

go to college and the whole bit.

They sound great.

They are.

My mother's a groovy person, too.

She really is.

It's just that...

Yahoo! Yahoo!

♪ ♪

Oh, Sue.

Would you check out these bills of lading?

Sue?

I asked you to check the bills.

You didn't ask me. You told me.

I don't have time for this right now.

I know.

You're too busy wearing yourself out,

giving me an education.

All the things that you never had.

Is that what I want?

Have you ever asked me?

No.

It's what you want for me.

You bet it is.

You've already shown me

you're not ready to be turned loose.

Throwing yourself around like a...

Like what, Bev?

Like an easy pickup for any beach bum

that happens to come along.

One of those beach bums happened to save your life.

Jimmy. I like him... a lot.

I'm sorry, Susan.

Why are we always fighting?

Why can't we... He knew that I was lonely.

We talked about things.

He listened to me.

That's more than you ever do.

You don't care what I think or feel.

You don't even know me.

Susan, when you're old enough...

Old enough?

That's a blast.

You were only 17,

but nobody could tell you what to do.

You wouldn't be tied down,

not even by a wedding ring.

You went ahead and had me, anyway.

Like you, Bev, right or wrong,

I've got to live my own life.

I've got to be me.

This'll make you laugh.

It's really funny.

You know all those fancy schools you sent me to?

I hated them.

All I ever really wanted... was to be home.

Here's the key to Bev's trailer.

You can make your phone calls from there, huh?

Right.

Oh, uh, try downtown first.

Find out if anybody besides Bev was after this franchise.

Today is Saturday, and anyone with any sense

is at home, taking it easy.

Then check out the carnival employees.

Uh, Bev put the payroll sheet on her desk.

Oh, you can start with that theater group.

Check them out through Colonel Lee's Circus,

San Antonio, Texas.

Mr. Mannix. Yeah.

There's trouble over at the theater.

Miss Miller wants you over there.

Got it?

Got it.

Come on, Toby, gather up your loot.

Bev.

Bev.

She's not here, Mannix.

Hey, fuzz...

you've been looking for accidents.

Thought we'd show you one happenin'.

What happened?

Just a slight difference of opinion.

He's a jinx.

We want him out of here, or we walk.

Okay, pick up your gear. You're fired.

Get going, before I turn you over to the police.

Bev sure didn't need this.

Yeah, well don't tell her about it.

They're not the game I'm hunting.

Armando.

Armando.

No.

"No" is such an unpleasant little word.

I've got something to tell you.

Later. About Mannix.

Charlie and Rio tried to beat him up.

Fools.

More problems for everyone.

Armando, please stay out of this.

I'm already in it, my love.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

Okay.

♪ ♪

Thank you very much.

Well, how'd you do?

There was someone else after the franchise.

Miguel Vasco.

Yeah, who's he?

No information on him.

Well, if he applied for the franchise,

they must have checked him out.

No need to.

His application was too late.

Bev already had the franchise

and the City Board wrote Vasco to that effect.

Yeah, well, what's his address?

Post Office Box 288, San Antonio, Texas.

Colonel Lee's Circus.

Peggy, uh, call Colonel Lee right away.

In the meantime, I'll check with Bev

and see if she knows anything about our Mr. Vasco.

Okay.

Hey, Jimmy!

Cash!

Hi, doll. Hi.

Hey, what's the scene?

Oh, I'm making like the operator.

Hey, that's for me, I'm an operator.

Cool it, man.

Break contact.

Hey, I don't want to, uh, break up the party,

but how would you guys like to try the cars?

See if they'll work for the paying customers.

Hey, great, man. Come on.

Outta sight.

Thanks.

Okay.

Bev.

Yeah, Joe?

Uh, Bev, what do you know about a Miguel Vasco?

Never heard of him. Why?

Well, it seems you beat him out of this franchise.

Hey, we got no juice.

Hey, we gonna take a ride or not, man?

Come on.

Hey, start the countdown.

Okay, five...

Four...

Three...

Two...

One... Blast off!

He's dead.

Bev, get the police.

Well, it's no accident this time.

Look at that extra cabling.

Yeah, it runs from the master control to the Skooter box.

Well, any ideas?

Anybody in the carny could have rigged this.

Round up that Texas group for me, will ya?

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

Take it easy, Joe.

You went for quite a ride.

Art.

How do you feel, Joe?

Scrambled.

People actually pay to ride on that thing?

I'll get you some coffee.

What happened to Armando?

He got away.

So did the girl, Donna.

We've got an APB out for them.

How'd you do with Texas?

Our friend Armando has quite a background.

Although he wasn't known as Armando in Texas,

the description fits.

He's wanted for questioning in a knifing murder.

Where?

Juarez, Mexico, two years ago.

And one of his aliases just happens to be Miguel Vasco.

The man who was after the franchise.

He must have sneaked across the border illegally

and then changed his name again.

We're questioning all the others about him.

I've got the whole carnival covered, just in case.

A suggestion, Joe.

Stick to the merry-go-round.

Hey, hey, take it easy. Come on.

Where are all those high hopes?

Hit bottom, I guess.

Bev... Oh, Joe.

I don't know what to do.

I don't know what to tell everybody about the opening.

You'd better tell them to get moving,

if you're going to make the opening on schedule.

The police should have the carnival checked out by morning.

You've got to take that chance, Bev.

Or you'll lose everything.

You are a real carny man at heart, you know that?

Nice, neat package.

What is?

The whole thing.

All the facts lined up like tenpins.

I don't get it.

It's as if the whole thing had been... staged.

Okay, and cover the midway area, too.

Where is everybody?

We finished our questioning, Miss Miller.

They've been released.

I sent them home.

There's no sense pushing for the opening now.

Why not?

Lieutenant, I lose my shirt if we don't make it.

Those people are my responsibility. I hired them.

Do you think we can open tomorrow?

I don't know why not.

You should be cleared by morning.

Bev, how can we?

I'll tell you how.

We dig everybody out of bed and put them to work.

Now, we'll start with... Me, I hope.

Oh, Susan, get out the stage drapes.

Get the rods from the basement.

I'm not telling.

I'm asking.

Okay.

All right, Rick. I'll check the trailers.

You get the hotel on the way back.

Check the coffee shop.

Peggy, if a man is in this country illegally

and wanted for murder,

does he apply for a franchise?

I mean, why would he risk a deal that had to involve

an investigation into his background?

After two years of hiding, maybe he thought he was safe.

No. Not Armando.

He's too good a magician.

He'd never try a trick he knew wouldn't work...

or kill someone just to get a franchise.

Wait a minute.

Armando never meant to kill Bev.

I'm not with you.

Well, he knew Bev was too smart

to take a chance with electricity,

that she would be wearing rubber shoes to insulate herself.

Oh, I get it.

If she'd pull the switch,

the controls would blow, but she wouldn't be killed.

Yeah. The whole thing was planned

to look like an accident.

To scare Bev out.

Then King Beach would be available again.

Get me Colonel Lee back on the phone.

I didn't exactly talk to Colonel Lee before.

Now, what does that mean?

Well, I tried to call him several times.

And there wasn't any answer.

So I got my information from the San Antonio police.

This time, I want to speak to the Colonel in person.

Yes, sir.

♪ ♪

Can't say I'd recommend anyone in that group, Mr. Mannix.

Oh, it's not like the good old days

when I got started

under the big top. We had real performers then.

The human pretzel.

The fat lady. Coochie dancers.

Do not be afraid, Susan. I am not going to hurt you.

I just want time to get away.

How the folks loved that medicine man.

Do you know... Do you know

that they'd line up pantin' to pay him a silver dollar

for a bottle of that snake oil of his?!

Colonel, what do you know about a magician

who used to work for you, name of Miguel Vasco?

Why, nothing, sir. Come to think of it,

I don't think we ever had a magician around here.

You must have the wrong circus, Mr. Mannix.

You're sure?

Well, as sure as my name is Colonel Lee, sir.

Yeah, well, uh... Thanks, Colonel.

♪ ♪

Susan?

Susan?

If Armando didn't come from Colonel Lee's Circus...

then who hired him?

There's only one other person in this circus

with the authority to hire or fire anyone.

I wasn't trying to kill Bev.

I only wanted to break her, to make her need me.

You got to believe me, Susan.

I love her.

Was a time way back,

I thought there was a chance.

She's never loved anyone.

Except you.

I have to do this, Susan.

Then Bev'll have nothing left.

Only me.

I was a man once.

A real man, until she took over.

Everything was on her terms.

And I couldn't take any more.

That's when I met Armando.

His record made him an easy mark.

He had to do what I said, or I'd blow the whistle on him.

I was going to be boss of the whole operation.

How 'bout that?

Me, the boss.

Bev wouldn't have liked that.

See, now, everything fits perfectly.

I had to kill Armando, in self-defense

after he killed you.

Oh, Bev'll really break then.

You've been her whole life.

She'll have to come to me.

On my terms.

Rick, no!

Please. Please!

Well, there's your man, Art.

You'd better check on Armando.

♪ ♪