Original subtitles

Wait, I got to find something.

What are you looking for, baby? My keys.

Here, let me help you up. No, no, no, no, I got them. Olé.

Oh.

Oops, I dropped them.

Here, I can get them.

No, no, no, no, I'll get them.

♪ ♪

But it's important that I see the inspector.

I have a right to make inquiries.

Oh, Inspector.

Any lead on the girl?

If there was, you'd know before I did.

But if she doesn't turn up by Friday,

they forfeit my bail bond.

I've got a bigger stake in this than you have, $10,000.

That's right.

All I've got is my reputation.

You'd better leave that on, Mannix.

You're going out the same way you came in.

I'm Inspector Frank Kyler.

This is captain of detectives, Tom Randolph.

Mannix.

Lieutenant Barry Frohm, Central Division.

Now, what's all this cloak and dagger bit, Inspector?

Maybe you heard about a man named Myles Stroud

getting shot to death

a few nights ago over on South Tenth.

Mm.

He was an undercover man working for me.

There was a woman with him when it happened.

Mavis Miller.

She was booked into Central.

But she refused to make a statement,

and by 11:00 the next morning, she was out

on $10,000 bail. She left town immediately.

Now, we come to the part that didn't get into print.

It seems we've run into a problem...

Oh, the same kind of problem every police department faces

one time or other... Crooked cops.

Frank, he doesn't have to hear this.

I'm making the decisions, Tom.

Then make one that makes sense.

Why take a chance on an outsider?

I'd rather risk putting a kinky cop on this

than let some two-for-a-nickel private dick foul things up.

Where do you think you're going?

I don't suppose you know how it is

with us two-for-a-nickel private dicks, Inspector.

We don't like to get caught in the middle of a cop fight.

Mannix, I asked Intertect to send me their best man.

They sent you.

That's fine with me.

Now get back here and sit down.

Any more objections, make them through channels.

Right now we're getting this man briefed and out of here.

Here.

Stroud was working on a tip

that an unknown number of unidentified cops

are tied in with a citywide vice ring.

Mavis Miller was handling the payoffs for the police.

Stroud got close to her,

they caught on, tried to kill them both.

She got away, he didn't.

Except that she's got nowhere to go.

All she can do is run.

And that's what she did.

That's where you come in. To do what?

I've got good reason to suspect

she's holed up in a rooming house

about 300 miles from here.

You're to bring her back.

What if she won't come back?

Since when did guys

in your line start worrying about being legal?

Since some of the guys in your line

stopped worrying about it.

You apologize.

Apologize to this man or I'll have you up on charges.

I'm, uh... I'm sorry that happened.

Yeah.

There's a rented car parked on Highway Six,

past Conway Park.

The ambulance'll drop you off there.

The woman is at... Hold it.

Anyone else in the department know where she's staying?

No one.

Then maybe we'd better keep it that way.

Captain, Lieutenant.

Two guys I've known for years, trust completely.

And I stand still while I let you push them around

like a couple of pickpockets.

What are you, a cop hater? No.

We're looking at the ballgame through different knot holes.

Now, where do I pick up this Mavis Miller?

Oh!

Good evening, Miss Miller.

What?

What did you call me?

Look, you've made a mistake.

Now let me go!

Behave yourself.

Just who are you?

Name is Joe Mannix.

Well, whoever it is you want, Mr. Mannix,

it's not me, because my name is Jean Coleman.

Nice meeting you, Miss Coleman.

Now, get your things packed,

we've got a long trip ahead of us.

You must be crazy.

You come charging in here...

Nobody I've ever laid eyes on before in my life...

And you've got the nerve to expect me to go...

Look, I am not walking out of here with you or anybody else!

You're leaving right now! Tonight.

'Cause if they find you here and take you back,

they'll step on you like a bug.

And don't tell me you don't know what I'm talking about.

Who are you?

Who sent you? A cop.

No, not the kind you're thinking of.

This one happens to want you alive.

Not that he's particularly fond of you,

but he feels with your testimony,

it'll help him clean up his department.

Your friend, uh, what's his name?

Kyler.

He's, uh, an inspector from Central.

Yeah, well, what's in all this for me?

He didn't say.

But with what you know, and a good attorney,

I would, uh, shoot for a suspended sentence if I were you.

Oh, sure.

Huh!

I wouldn't live long enough to talk.

They'd put me in some cell,

and I'd be hanging from the ceiling before morning.

Or they'd stick me in some hotel room,

and I'd fall out of the window.

Oh, no.

Oh, no thanks, Mr. Mannix,

because I am dynamite for too many people!

They're people you picked, Miss Miller.

Look, I am not leaving.

Now you get out of here,

before I start screaming my head off!

You do that.

Then the local law comes galloping up here

and takes us both in.

They find out you're a fugitive,

then the desk sergeant makes a routine call to the city,

and before you know it, there are a couple

of big-time detectives down here to take you back!

Well, you try and get away by jumping out of the car,

and that breaks your pretty little neck.

Oh, wait.

Let me go.

Please?

Look, they wouldn't have to know that you found me.

You could tell them I was gone when you got here.

Please?

Oh, please.

Now, don't you ever try that again.

'Cause that's how people get store-bought teeth.

Let's get out of here.

Uh, get out of the car and don't slam the door.

Why? What's the matter?

Just get out and don't slam the door.

They'll try again.

You know that, don't you?

It's possible.

But you won't let them hurt me.

Oh, no, you'll take care of me...

Big, strong private detective like you.

Would it help if I, uh, reached over

and kind of gave your knee a little squeeze?

Uh, just to reassure you.

Oh, Smoky the Bear wouldn't like that.

Oh, shut up.

Okay.

Oh, boy, I guess I'm just plain scared.

If you hadn't found that dynamite...

That's right.

Look, if they knew where I was,

how come they didn't make their move before you did?

That's one answer they didn't know...

Until I led them to you.

Pretty careless of you, wasn't it?

Thanks. Carelessness had nothing to do with it.

Somewhere along the line, there had to be a leak.

Great.

Now here we are on the end of a creaking limb.

You take awful chances, Mannix.

For what?

A roof over my head, an icebox full of food,

a jug of wine, a collection of stereo tapes.

Oh, that you can get selling neckties.

You know something?

I don't think you're a private detective at all.

I've met a few in my day.

Usually greasy little guys

running around peeking through keyholes.

We come in all sizes and shapes, Miss Miller,

like bagwomen.

You're in no shape to throw stones, Mannix.

You...

What's wrong?

Get down.

You like it down there?

My mother used to always say to me,

"Mavis, be a nurse.

"There's no finer calling

than soothing the pains of the afflicted."

I knew a girl named Mavis once.

I was nine years old.

Pushed her out of a tree... broke her arm.

You haven't changed much.

Mannix, there's the car,

I think we can make it.

Stay down. Come on!

Mavis!

Now stick that in your glass case with the others,

marked "killed in the line of duty."

It's all right, Sergeant.

Just a little accident.

Yeah, I notified her parents myself.

It wasn't easy.

You mean not easy like finding four sticks of dynamite

under the hood of your car?

Or not easy like getting a rifle bullet

through your back?

Taking risks is something a cop goes through

every day of his life.

Jean Coleman knew what she was getting into

when I put her out there in that rooming house.

Which is more than what I knew.

Why didn't you level with me, Kyler?

A good decoy doesn't know he's a decoy.

One false move on your part,

one hint that it was all an act, and we're all nowhere.

And even if you had known,

what would you have done that you didn't do?

We'll never know the answer to that, will we?

Yeah, that's right.

Mavis Miller really did call me.

Wanted to turn herself in.

I agreed to meet her at 11:00 last night.

But that presented a bit of a problem.

I knew I was being watched.

So to draw them off,

I called the police in Salito

and had them put Jean Coleman into that room.

Then I got word around that you were hired

to bring in Mavis Miller.

To make sure word got out...

I brought Captain Randolph and Lieutenant Frohm

in on your briefing.

The two men you trusted completely,

if I'm quoting you right.

The two men I trust the least.

Yes, I know, it's not easy to say.

That's the way it is.

Mavis Miller give you the name of both of them?

She never even showed.

Oh, you really blew it, didn't you, Inspector?

All that fancy footwork,

and you still end up without a witness.

And all that cost you was a sore jaw and a girl's life.

You can always take that out of petty cash.

Watch your mouth, mister.

Officer Coleman knew what she was getting into,

I told you that.

What did she know?

That you had fixed it so I'd lead the killers

right to her doorstep?

Or did you forget to explain the finer points to the lady?

What do you want?

What do you want from me?

You want to hear me say I'm sorry she's dead?

Well, yes, I am sorry.

I'm sorry in a way that you'd never understand.

But let me tell you this... If I thought for one minute

it would help clear the lice out of my department,

I'd do the same thing all over again.

Do you understand?

Now get out of here!

Pleasant dreams, Inspector.

For anybody who thinks like you do, that should be easy.

Uh-huh.

Yes, certainly I understand.

All right.

Yes, he just walked in.

Yeah, I-I'll tell him.

Uh, good-bye.

Kyler?

I don't believe it.

Sorry, Lou, he had it coming.

Well, that's what he said; that's what I can't believe.

He say anything else?

Yeah, he said case closed.

For who?

You. You're a marked man now.

You're not anonymous anymore.

Neither are the killers.

I happened to see one of them.

You don't think they're going to let me live with my memories?

It's not that bad, Joe.

It's that bad, Lou.

Even Kyler isn't sure

which of his men is on the level.

'Course, uh, till he cleans up his department,

I can remember not to turn my back on a uniform.

All right, Mannix.

What do you want me to tell you?

To go and do what you were going to do anyway?

Drop it.

Now, just keep it a simple who and why.

Mr. Kelbo sent me here.

Who's Kelbo?

Everybody knows Monty Kelbo, Mr. Mannix.

Oh, I'm sure you've seen his ad,

you know, uh... "Take the E-Z way out."

The bail bond tycoon?

That's right.

Well, he'd like to see you, sir, tonight.

About what?

Well, now, Mr. Kelbo wouldn't be telling me that,

uh, Mr. Mannix.

He sends me out to get things for him,

you know... coffee, sandwiches...

private detectives.

Ah, Mr. Mannix, how kind of you to come.

Considering the grueling ordeal they put you through

this morning, you must be utterly exhausted.

Well, nothing that sitting down a while wouldn't cure.

Orville, clean the chair for Mr. Mannix.

I'm not that exhausted.

A drink, maybe?

No thanks.

Uh, tell me, how did you find out

about this grueling ordeal of mine?

Come, come. The newspapers have the story.

And the newspapers never mentioned my name.

Oh, come, come, Mr. Mannix.

You don't suppose I've been in the bail bond business

for 22 years without acquiring a lot of friends.

Yeah, fine. Well, uh...

What did you want to talk to me about?

No wasted words, eh?

Right to the heart of the matter.

I like that.

This office posted bail for Mavis Miller...

$10,000.

$10,000.

A mere pittance, did I hear you say?

I quite agree, but, you know, my concern is

in something of far more value to me than money.

Somewhere out there,

a young woman cowers in fear.

Now, as humane men, we cannot allow this to happen.

You must find her, Mr. Mannix,

and deliver her safely to Inspector Kyler.

You know, I-I hate to hurt your feelings, Kelbo,

but I don't believe a word of it.

I like you, Mannix... I really do.

Thank you.

Do you want to know the real reason?

That would be nice.

In 22 years in the bail bond business,

I have not permitted a single client

to successfully jump bail.

I repeat, not one.

Well, I'm sure you've got some good men on call.

You must have with a record like that.

Why don't you have them find the girl?

Oh, no, my friend.

No. I, I need a man with incentive.

Now, like it or not, you have a personal stake in this matter.

A woman in your care is murdered.

I work for wages, not revenge, Kelbo.

Sam Spade went out when the Great Society came in.

Mr. Mannix... can you, in good conscience, calmly sit there

and say to me that you're refusing this assignment,

knowing that one woman is already dead

and another soon may be?

Um... I'll have that drink if the offer still stands.

Orville.

Tell me, what is it you think I can do

that you or the police can't do better?

There is one area, Mr. Mannix,

in which you alone are competent to deal.

Orville... would you mind?

What's that all about?

Oh, Orville is a good man, Mr. Mannix,

but, uh, I'm a percentage player.

Besides, he's been behaving a bit strangely of late.

All right, now that we're alone, what's the big secret?

Lola Collins.

Lives in the same apartment house that was

the last known address of Mavis Miller.

And they were close friends.

Why don't you talk to her?

I did.

She was most uninformative.

However, according to my information,

you were once instrumental in extricating her

from a most unpleasant situation.

Yeah, something like that.

Naturally, she was grateful.

I wouldn't know.

I didn't send her a bill.

If you don't mind a suggestion, my dear fellow,

I think it's high time you did.

Who is it?

About that used spaceship

you've got advertised, lady...

Just in case you think I've got nothing better to do, Mr...!

Joe Mannix!

Now, you wouldn't have a small cup

of cooking whiskey around

for an old friend, would you?

Get in here.

Oh... Joe.

Oh. If you only knew

how often I've thought about you...

and wondered about you.

It's been three years. Mm-hmm.

You haven't changed a bit, do you know that?

Well... maybe slowed down a step or two, uh...

another inch around the belt.

Yeah, well, it's the same here, I expect.

Come on in.

Scotch on the rocks, right?

Right, that hasn't changed.

I can't get over your just dropping in like this.

No perfumed note, no "guess who" phone call,

just a knock at the door, and there you are.

What are you up to these days?

That hasn't changed either.

Oh, still chasing unfaithful husbands, huh?

Well, the Lord knows, there's plenty of them around.

This is just a social call, isn't it?

Well, uh... up till now, yeah.

Mavis Miller.

She's got to be found, Lola,

for her own sake, before something happens to her.

Mavis Miller is working the wrong side of the law.

What she knows could get her killed.

Are you working with the police?

Well, that's how it started, but not anymore.

Who are you working with?

Now you know a private detective's client

must remain anonymous.

Mine is anonymously known as Monty Kelbo.

That figures.

He's been under my feet ever since the last time I saw Mavis.

For an old friend, Lola... Where is she?

I don't know.

I haven't been out of my apartment for three days,

and I've let no one in.

What about Kelbo?

Oh, yeah, yeah. Well, I talked to him,

but, oh, I wouldn't give him the right time,

even if I knew.

Hey, Joe, I'm sorry.

So am I.

I was kind of hoping that, uh...

you would help.

Oh, by the way, you'll need something simple,

a basic black... but no décolleté.

What's that supposed to mean?

That mourners are expected to wear black.

Never did know why.

Well, uh, thanks for the drink, anyway, Lola.

We'll have to do it again sometime.

Joe... Mavis phoned me earlier today.

Where was she?

Well, I don't know; she didn't say.

In a phone booth, I guess.

What did she say?

She said that she needed money,

that she'd call back at 4:30

and tell me where to send it.

And when she calls, if she calls,

you let me know where I can reach her

the minute you hang up, you understand?

Listen, Joe, I can't make any promises.

You know, all I can do is ask her...

Don't ask her; tell her.

Try and get it through her thick skull,

I'm the only hope she's got of staying alive.

Now it's either me or an undertaker.

She wouldn't be safe in a bank vault.

Who's there?

Open up. It's me.

What's happened?

A friend of mine was here, looking for you.

A private cop.

His name is... Have you lost your mind!?

I wouldn't trust one of them guys...

far as you could throw Nevada.

What did you tell him?

Will you just let me finish?

What did you tell him?! I didn't tell him anything!

Now if you will just let me finish!

The next thing you know, they'll be crawling out of the woodwork.

What am I gonna do?

Will you just listen to me?

Three years ago, a politician in this town

came that close to framing me into prison.

A man named Joe Mannix, a man who...

who didn't know me from the Bobbsey Twins,

came out of nowhere and saved my neck.

Nobody hired him to do it.

He didn't ask for dime one.

He wouldn't even tell me why he did it.

Now you try and tell me

you can't trust a man like that?

He had an angle, don't worry.

He say who sent him here?

Yep.

Monty Kelbo.

He's really something else, that boy.

You should've heard the lecture I got on how nobody's

ever jumped bail on him and made it stick.

Well, I got a lot more to worry about

than him and his precious money.

Like for instance, staying alive.

Now, Mavis...

Mavis, you know I'm on your side.

Aw, please...

Please, will you just talk to Joe Mannix?

No! Not a chance!

Maybe he's your friend,

but to me, he's just another brand of fuzz.

You were hired to do a job.

As far as we're concerned, that job was over last night.

You knew that... you couldn't help but know it.

Now I find you've been snooping around

Mavis Miller's last known address.

You questioned some of her neighbors,

you interviewed her friend, Lola.

I want to know why!

I want to know what he found out

and I want to know about it now, right now!

I say we ought to run him in, Inspector.

Interfering with a police investigation.

Sorry, but it's against policy

for me to disclose information on an active case...

at least at my level in the company.

For once, Joe, I think we can suspend policy,

I'd like to hear a report on this one myself.

Fine.

Mavis Miller skipped bail on Monty Kelbo.

Understandably, he wants her found...

Now, right now...

Before your next brilliant gambit gets her killed, too.

End of report.

End of your interference.

There's too much at stake

to let you get in the way of police action.

Try and stop me.

Hold it, Mannix.

Relax.

All right, Inspector.

Intertect cooperates with the police, you know that.

We're not glory grabbers.

We don't push in on your territory.

Fine. Then keep this clown out of our hair.

The ground rules don't apply here, Captain.

I won't try to pull Mannix off,

and I'll give him any help he needs.

Intertect isn't too big to lose its license.

Don't threaten me.

The police have a stake in finding this woman?

What about Mannix's stake? All he's got riding is his life.

Let him lay low.

We'll find the woman.

Alive? You stay out of this.

Any time you want to bring us up before the Commission,

we're ready.

Your fancy footwork created this situation...

One woman dead, one missing,

and one of my men in danger of being killed.

That kind of police work does not inspire confidence.

I am not telling Mannix to trust you to save his life.

Look, I've been in this business for 25 years.

I don't need you to tell me when I've done a bad job.

I played the odds and made a mistake.

It isn't the first and it won't be the last.

You want to keep your boy alive?

If he keeps nosing around, he'll wind up dead.

I appreciate your concern, Inspector.

Don't let it keep you awake.

Now, if you'll excuse me, gentlemen,

I've got a phone call to make.

Keep in touch.

Okay, put it through.

Hello.

Long-distance calling.

I have a collect call for anyone at this number

from a Miss Mavis Miller.

Will you accept charges, please?

You told me you expected a call from Mavis at 4:30.

Now, you weren't or you wouldn't have hung up.

You were lying to me, Lola.

All right, I lied to you!

All I've heard for the past few days

is the same stupid question.

From, from police at the phone,

from police at the door, from Monty Kelbo, and even you.

"Where is Mavis Miller?"

Well, I don't know where she is.

I don't know.

Respiration? Abnormal.

Pulse?

Very rapid.

Body temperature?

Much too hot.

All right, now, honey, nice and easy.

When was the last time you saw her?

When she made bail, she came here, packed a bag, and left.

Well, could she have come back after anything

while you were out?

I haven't been out for days.

Look, uh, how about a drink?

Okay.

Hey, Joe... you might as well know.

I did my best to talk Mavis into contacting you,

but she wouldn't listen.

When did she phone?

She didn't have to phone.

A friend of mine left town for a couple of months.

He gave me the key to his apartment.

She's right here in Apartment 7C.

058X calling Mobile 324.

Over.

Captain Randolph.

Cover me.

Then find him fast.

Tell him it's Mannix.

Drop it.

Police, open up.

Lola, no!

Of the names you've given us,

Miss Miller, only three are police officers.

Are you saying that only those three

are involved in the entire operation?

If there were any more, Inspector,

you can bet the egg money I'd tell you.

They were out to knock me off.

Anything you'd like to say at this time?

You're not required to answer any questions

without the presence of an attorney,

et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

But you know all that, don't you, Captain?

Will you go for a deal, Inspector?

What's he got to sell?

The head man.

The only person that could have planted

that bug in Lola's apartment,

the only man she let in.

How about it, Randolph?

What'll it buy me?

Nothing... not a month off your sentence, not a week, not a day.

I know who it is.

But you can't prove it, Kyler,

at least not to the satisfaction of a jury.

All right.

I'll go as far as I'm able to go.

But it won't be much.

Okay.

Send him in.

Inspector, I must confess I'm utterly mystified

by this cavalier treatment you've decided.

My dear, dear girl.

Ha, I can't express to you

how delighted I am to find you here,

safe... Sit down.

But I wish to know... Sit down.

I want to know... Your boy Orville is dead.

Dead?

Utterly appalling.

I must confess I'm not really surprised.

I told Mr. Mannix that I suspected

he was mixed up in some activities

that I knew nothing about.

But surely you're not going to hold me responsible

for some foolish misdeed that Orville...?

Why don't you shut up, Monty?

They've got us.

You, me, Sergeant Burns, the lieutenant,

the boys down at the club, every mother's son of us.

The whole thing is absurd.

I demand to know what it is I'm being charged with.

Whatever it is, it has no foundation.

What's going on in there?

A little game of "he did it, not me."

From where I stood,

it looks like Kelbo is going to be the loser.

What about me?

I mean, I did hide Mavis out.

Only technically.

The way I see it, uh, you had her in protective custody.

Anyway, by the time the thought occurs to Kyler,

we'll have had a chance at a couple of dry martinis.