The Super Mario Bros. Movie - Detour 1945
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00:00 [music]
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00:01:17 [music]
00:01:24 Well, here we are. I turn down here at the next block.
00:01:27 Thanks mister. I'll get off there.
00:01:30 [music]
00:01:36 Want anything else?
00:01:38 No.
00:01:39 Hey you.
00:01:40 [music]
00:01:43 Me?
00:01:44 Yeah, you.
00:01:45 Where you heading?
00:01:46 [music]
00:01:47 East.
00:01:48 You're dead.
00:01:49 [music]
00:01:50 I thought if you was heading north I might be able to help you out.
00:01:52 [music]
00:01:53 I'm pushing the Salt Lake and I don't like to ride it alone at night.
00:01:56 I'm one of those guys that's got to talk or I fall asleep.
00:01:59 Oh, sure you might.
00:02:00 Pardon me, he's got Lou to keep company, but I ain't got nobody at all.
00:02:04 Where you coming from?
00:02:06 West.
00:02:07 Yeah, sure I know, but where, L.A.?
00:02:10 Maybe.
00:02:11 I got a cousin out in L.A.
00:02:12 You don't say.
00:02:13 Yeah, he's been out.
00:02:15 You're not much of a talker, are you?
00:02:17 My mother taught me never to speak to strangers.
00:02:19 Oh, a wise guy.
00:02:20 So what?
00:02:21 Okay, okay, don't get sore.
00:02:23 He's trying to be sociable, that's all.
00:02:26 Hey, Glamorous.
00:02:28 Get changed for a dime, will you?
00:02:30 [footsteps]
00:02:40 Let's have something quieter this time, Joe.
00:02:42 My head's splitting.
00:02:43 Is that what's wrong with it?
00:02:47 Done with your coffee?
00:02:49 No, and don't rush me, will you?
00:02:51 [music]
00:02:58 Hey, turn that off, will you?
00:02:59 Turn that thing off.
00:03:00 What's eating you now?
00:03:01 Yeah, what's eating you?
00:03:02 That music, it stinks.
00:03:03 Oh, you don't like it, huh?
00:03:04 No, turn it off.
00:03:05 Now, wait a minute, pal.
00:03:06 That was my nickname, see?
00:03:08 This is a free country, and I play whatever I want to.
00:03:12 Okay.
00:03:13 Sure, and if you don't like it, you don't have to listen to it.
00:03:16 And you can leave here any time you want to.
00:03:18 Okay, okay, I'm sorry I asked.
00:03:20 First good piece played tonight, and you don't like it.
00:03:22 Some people just ain't got any good taste.
00:03:24 [music]
00:03:36 That tune.
00:03:37 That tune!
00:03:39 Why was there always that rotten tune following me around,
00:03:42 beating in my head, never letting up?
00:03:44 [music]
00:03:49 Did you ever want to forget anything?
00:03:51 Did you ever want to cut away a piece of your memory or blot it out?
00:03:54 You can't, you know, no matter how hard you try.
00:03:58 You can change the scenery, but sooner or later you'll get a whiff of perfume
00:04:02 or somebody will say a certain phrase or maybe hum something.
00:04:05 Then you're licked again.
00:04:09 I can't believe that you're in love with me.
00:04:11 I used to love that song once.
00:04:13 So did the customers back in the old break of dawn club in New York.
00:04:17 I can't remember a night when I didn't get at least three requests for it.
00:04:21 Sue, she was always selling it too.
00:04:24 Those were the days.
00:04:26 [music]
00:04:51 Your eyes are blue, your kiss is too.
00:04:54 I never knew what they could do.
00:04:57 I can't believe that you're in love with me.
00:05:03 You're telling everyone you know that I'm on your mind each place you go.
00:05:09 They can't believe that you're in love with me.
00:05:15 I have always placed you far above me.
00:05:21 I just can't imagine that you love me.
00:05:27 And after all is said and done, to think that I'm the lucky one.
00:05:33 I can't believe that you're in love with me.
00:05:40 [applause]
00:05:43 It wasn't much of a club really.
00:05:46 You know the kind.
00:05:48 A joint where you could have a sandwich and a few drinks and run interference for your girl on the dance floor.
00:05:54 I planted the piano in there every night from eight until the place closed up.
00:05:58 Which usually meant four in the morning.
00:06:01 A good job as jobs went in those days.
00:06:06 Then too, there was Sue who made working there a little like working in heaven.
00:06:14 But how we felt about each other, well there was nothing very unusual in that.
00:06:19 I was an ordinary healthy guy and she was an ordinary healthy girl.
00:06:22 And when you add those two together you get an ordinary healthy romance.
00:06:25 Which is the old story.
00:06:27 Sure, but somehow the most wonderful thing in the world.
00:06:32 [music]
00:06:40 All in all, I was a pretty lucky guy.
00:06:42 [music]
00:06:55 Mr. Paderewski I presume.
00:06:57 It's beautiful.
00:06:58 You going to make Carnegie Hall yet Al?
00:07:00 Yeah, as a janitor.
00:07:03 I'll make my debut in the basement.
00:07:05 I don't blame you for being bitter darling, but you mustn't give up hope.
00:07:09 Why someday.
00:07:10 Yeah, someday.
00:07:11 If I don't get arthritis first.
00:07:13 In the meantime, let's blow this trap.
00:07:15 [music]
00:07:34 Like to get something to eat hon?
00:07:35 Oh, I don't think so Al.
00:07:37 I lose my appetite working in this flea bag.
00:07:40 Let's go home.
00:07:41 Okay.
00:07:43 I can't stand much more of that dump.
00:07:45 Did you see that drunk tonight trying to paw me?
00:07:48 No, what drunk?
00:07:49 Does it matter what drunk?
00:07:52 Say, what's the matter with you tonight darling?
00:07:55 That's the third time you started to tell me something and then stopped.
00:07:58 We shouldn't have any secrets from each other Sue.
00:08:01 Next week we're going to make with a ring and a license.
00:08:02 You and me will be a team.
00:08:03 Yes, that's right.
00:08:05 In the Bush League.
00:08:06 I don't get you.
00:08:07 We've been struck out.
00:08:10 That's a funny way to talk darling.
00:08:12 Don't you want to marry me?
00:08:13 Al, look, I love you.
00:08:14 You know I do and I want to marry you.
00:08:17 But?
00:08:18 But not now.
00:08:19 Only after we've made good.
00:08:22 Sunday I'm going away.
00:08:24 I know you'll think it's silly.
00:08:26 That's why I hesitated to tell you.
00:08:29 But I'm going to California.
00:08:31 I want to try my luck in Hollywood.
00:08:33 That's the most stupid thing I ever heard of.
00:08:36 Don't you know millions of people go out there every year and wind up polishing cuspidors?
00:08:39 I thought you had better sense.
00:08:41 You sound as if you don't think I have any talent.
00:08:43 That has nothing to do with it.
00:08:44 I'll make out all right.
00:08:45 Maybe.
00:08:46 But what about me?
00:08:47 Doesn't it mean anything to you that you're busting up all our plans?
00:08:49 We may not see each other for years.
00:08:51 It won't be that long.
00:08:53 I thought you loved me.
00:08:54 I do.
00:08:55 You know I do.
00:08:59 Well, here we are.
00:09:04 Al.
00:09:06 Al, why can't you see my side of it?
00:09:08 I'm young.
00:09:10 We both are.
00:09:12 And we've got all the time in the world to settle down.
00:09:16 Really, darling.
00:09:17 What I'm doing is the only sane thing to do.
00:09:21 I hate the thought of being so far away from you.
00:09:25 But we'll be together again someday.
00:09:28 Maybe you'll decide to come out too later on.
00:09:31 Not so long.
00:09:33 Al.
00:09:34 Aren't you going to kiss me goodnight?
00:09:37 Sure, why not?
00:09:41 Goodnight.
00:09:42 [music]
00:09:49 [music]
00:09:54 [music]
00:09:59 [music]
00:10:04 [music]
00:10:09 [music]
00:10:14 [music]
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00:10:59 [music]
00:11:04 [music]
00:11:09 [music]
00:11:14 [music]
00:11:19 [music]
00:11:24 [applause]
00:11:26 Say, Robert, you hit the jackpot this time.
00:11:29 Ten bucks.
00:11:31 Thanks.
00:11:32 [music]
00:11:38 So when this drunk handed me a tent spot after a request,
00:11:41 I couldn't get very excited.
00:11:42 What was it, I asked myself?
00:11:44 A piece of paper crawling with germs.
00:11:46 Couldn't buy anything I wanted.
00:11:48 It couldn't...
00:11:53 Then I thought of something.
00:11:55 [music]
00:12:00 [music]
00:12:05 [music]
00:12:10 [music]
00:12:15 [music]
00:12:18 Long distance.
00:12:19 I'd like to put a call through to Los Angeles.
00:12:21 Miss Harvey.
00:12:23 Sue Harvey.
00:12:24 H-A-R-V-E-Y.
00:12:26 The number is Crestview 65723.
00:12:29 [music]
00:12:57 Hello, Sue?
00:12:58 This is Al.
00:12:59 Oh, baby, it's great to hear from you, too.
00:13:02 What's that?
00:13:03 You do?
00:13:04 Oh, me too, darling.
00:13:05 I thought I'd go batty without you.
00:13:07 I just had to...
00:13:08 Huh?
00:13:10 You're working as a hash slinger?
00:13:12 Gee, honey, that's tough.
00:13:14 Those guys out in Hollywood don't know the real thing
00:13:15 when it's right in front of them.
00:13:17 You just stick it out, Sue, baby.
00:13:19 Keep going around to those casting offices.
00:13:21 I'm sure you'll click.
00:13:22 Look, I'll tell you what.
00:13:23 You stay put out there.
00:13:24 I'll come to you.
00:13:25 No, don't try to stop me.
00:13:27 Just expect me.
00:13:28 Train?
00:13:29 Who knows?
00:13:30 Train, plane, bus, magic carpet.
00:13:32 I'll be there if I have to crawl,
00:13:33 if I have to travel by pogo stick.
00:13:35 And then let's get married right away, huh?
00:13:41 That's the stuff.
00:13:42 That's what I've been wanting to hear you say.
00:13:45 Well, goodbye for now.
00:13:49 I'll be seeing you soon.
00:13:52 Yeah.
00:13:54 Bye.
00:13:55 [door opens]
00:14:00 The only way I could cross country was to thumb rides.
00:14:03 Or even after hocking everything,
00:14:04 I only had enough money to eat.
00:14:07 Money.
00:14:08 You know what that is.
00:14:10 It's the stuff you never have enough of.
00:14:12 Little green things with George Washington's picture
00:14:14 that men slave for, commit crimes for, die for.
00:14:18 It's the stuff that has caused more trouble in the world
00:14:20 than anything else we ever invented,
00:14:22 simply because there's too little of it.
00:14:25 At least I had too little of it.
00:14:27 So it was me for the thumb.
00:14:45 Ever done any hitchhiking?
00:14:48 It's not much fun, believe me.
00:14:50 Oh, yeah, I know all about how it's an education,
00:14:53 how you get to meet a lot of people and all that.
00:14:56 But me?
00:14:57 From now on, I'll take my education in college,
00:15:00 or in PS62, or I'll send $1.98 in stamps
00:15:03 for 10 easy lessons.
00:15:13 Thumbing rides may save you a bus fare,
00:15:16 but it's dangerous.
00:15:18 You never know what's in store for you
00:15:20 when you hear the squeal of brakes.
00:15:23 If only I had known what I was getting into
00:15:25 that day in Arizona.
00:15:29 You gotta throw that in the back seat.
00:15:33 Okay, let's go.
00:15:34 Make sure that door is closed.
00:15:37 You know, Emily Post taught her to write a book of rules
00:15:39 for guys thumbing rides.
00:15:41 Because as it is now, you never know
00:15:43 what's right and what's wrong.
00:15:45 We rode along for a little while,
00:15:47 neither one of us saying anything.
00:15:49 I was glad of that.
00:15:51 I never know what to say to strange people.
00:15:54 I never know what to say to a stranger.
00:15:57 I never know what to say to a stranger.
00:16:00 I never know what to say to a stranger.
00:16:03 I never know what to say to a stranger.
00:16:06 I never know what to say to a stranger.
00:16:08 I never know what to say to a stranger.
00:16:10 I never know what to say to a stranger.
00:16:12 I never know what to say to a stranger.
00:16:14 I never know what to say to a stranger.
00:16:16 I never know what to say to a stranger.
00:16:18 I never know what to say to a stranger.
00:16:20 I never know what to say to a stranger.
00:16:22 I never know what to say to a stranger.
00:16:24 I never know what to say to a stranger.
00:16:26 I never know what to say to a stranger.
00:16:28 I never know what to say to a stranger.
00:16:30 I never know what to say to a stranger.
00:16:32 I never know what to say to a stranger.
00:16:34 I never know what to say to a stranger.
00:16:36 I never know what to say to a stranger.
00:16:38 I never know what to say to a stranger.
00:16:40 I never know what to say to a stranger.
00:16:42 I never know what to say to a stranger.
00:16:44 I never know what to say to a stranger.
00:16:46 I never know what to say to a stranger.
00:16:48 I never know what to say to a stranger.
00:16:50 I never know what to say to a stranger.
00:16:52 I never know what to say to a stranger.
00:16:54 I never know what to say to a stranger.
00:16:56 I never know what to say to a stranger.
00:16:58 I never know what to say to a stranger.
00:17:00 You're in luck this time.
00:17:02 I'm going all the way.
00:17:04 Right through to Los Angeles.
00:17:06 Can you drive a car?
00:17:08 Sure. Whenever you're tired, let me know.
00:17:10 I'll holler.
00:17:12 I guess at least an hour passed before I noticed those deep scratches on his right hand.
00:17:18 They were wicked.
00:17:20 Three puffy red lines about a quarter of an inch apart.
00:17:23 He must have seen me looking at them because he said...
00:17:26 Beauties, aren't they?
00:17:28 They're going to be scars someday.
00:17:30 What an animal.
00:17:34 Whatever it was, it must have been pretty big and vicious to have done that.
00:17:37 Right on both counts, New York.
00:17:39 I was tussling with the most dangerous animal in the world.
00:17:42 A woman.
00:17:44 She must have been Tarzan's mate.
00:17:46 Looks like you lost the bout.
00:17:48 It certainly wasn't a draw.
00:17:50 You know, there ought to be a law against dames with claws.
00:17:53 Yeah.
00:17:54 I tossed her out of the car in her ear.
00:17:56 Was I wrong?
00:17:58 Give a lift to a tomato, you expect her to be nice, don't you?
00:18:01 Yeah.
00:18:02 After all, what kind of dames some rides?
00:18:05 Sunday school teachers?
00:18:06 Yeah.
00:18:07 A little witch.
00:18:10 She must have thought she was riding with some fall guy.
00:18:13 To me, it was been booking horses around race tracks since I was 20.
00:18:17 I've known a million dames like her.
00:18:20 Two million?
00:18:21 Yeah.
00:18:23 Stopped the car, opened the door.
00:18:26 Take it on the Arthur Duffy sister, I told her.
00:18:29 That's the stuff.
00:18:30 As I was done, huh?
00:18:32 But if you want to see a real scar, brother, get a load of this.
00:18:36 Wow.
00:18:38 I got that one dueling.
00:18:41 Dueling?
00:18:42 Yeah, we were just kidding, of course.
00:18:44 My dad owned a couple of Franco Prussian sabers.
00:18:46 Kept them on the wall for decorations.
00:18:49 Well, one day, another kid and I took them down.
00:18:52 The old man wasn't around, had a duel.
00:18:55 He got me in the arm here.
00:18:58 Pretty mean cut.
00:19:00 Infection set in later.
00:19:01 Yeah, I can see that.
00:19:03 Now, give me that box again, will you?
00:19:05 Yeah.
00:19:17 Pain made me lose my head, I guess.
00:19:20 I began slashing.
00:19:22 Before I knew it, I'd put the other kids on.
00:19:25 That was tough.
00:19:26 Well, it was just an accident, of course.
00:19:28 Do you know how kids are?
00:19:30 I got scared, decided I was going to run away from home.
00:19:33 Old man almost caught me when I was packing my duds.
00:19:37 The bloody rag I had wrapped around my wrist hadn't caught his attention.
00:19:41 He'd have seen the bundle for sure.
00:19:43 But I beat it when he was phoning for a doctor.
00:19:46 That was 15, 16 years ago.
00:19:49 I haven't been home since.
00:19:51 Pull in there for a bite or something, huh?
00:19:57 A bite or something.
00:19:59 Brother, was I hungry.
00:20:01 I hadn't had anything in my stomach for hours.
00:20:04 Yet even with that gnawing in the pit of my belly,
00:20:06 I didn't want to be in too big a rush to put on the feed bag.
00:20:09 First, I had to make sure this guy knew the score.
00:20:12 If I got him down on me, he'd buy a ticket to Hollywood.
00:20:16 I'll wait out here for you, mister.
00:20:18 If it's the money, don't worry about paying for it.
00:20:20 This time it's on me.
00:20:21 Well, that's why I'm here.
00:20:22 Haskell, think nothing of it.
00:20:23 You make your first million, maybe you can do the same for me.
00:20:25 Come on, New York.
00:20:26 I got to make the West Coast by Wednesday.
00:20:28 There's a horse running at Santa Anita named Pirate Bicycle.
00:20:31 He means the deal to me if I'm on him.
00:20:33 You'll make it all right.
00:20:35 He did most of the talking during the half hour we were in the place.
00:20:38 I ate.
00:20:40 He rambled on about his old man,
00:20:42 whom he hadn't heard from since he ran away as a kid.
00:20:44 Now he happened to become a bookie.
00:20:46 And then all about how he got rooked in Miami.
00:20:49 One race, 38 grand.
00:20:51 They cleaned out my book.
00:20:52 How do you like that?
00:20:53 That was tough luck.
00:20:55 Yeah, and I'm supposed to be the smart guy.
00:20:56 Well, you just wait.
00:20:57 I'm going back to Florida next season with all kinds of jack.
00:21:00 And you watch those stinkers run for cover.
00:21:02 Want anything else?
00:21:04 No, thanks.
00:21:05 I've had plenty.
00:21:06 [music playing]
00:21:09 That check there, sister?
00:21:13 Oh, just a miniature change, sir.
00:21:19 Keep it, sister.
00:21:20 Oh, thank you, sir.
00:21:21 Call again.
00:21:22 I'll be waiting outside for you when you finish work.
00:21:25 Sharp check, huh?
00:21:34 I drove all that night while Haskell slept like a log.
00:21:37 After a while, I began to get sleepy myself.
00:21:41 I was happy, though.
00:21:43 Soon I'd be with Sue again.
00:21:45 The long trip was practically over,
00:21:47 and I'd be no more hoofing it down the concrete.
00:21:50 I began to think of the future, which
00:21:53 couldn't have been brighter if I'd
00:21:54 embroidered it with neon lights.
00:21:56 It was nice to think of Sue shooting to the top.
00:22:01 It's amazing what a full belly can do to your imagination.
00:22:04 [music playing]
00:22:07 (SINGING) Your eyes, oh, your kisses, too.
00:22:12 I never knew what they could do.
00:22:16 I can't believe that you're in love with me.
00:22:21 You're telling everyone you know.
00:22:29 I'm on your mind each place you go.
00:22:33 I can't believe that you're in love with me.
00:22:41 Mr. Haskell?
00:22:58 Mr. Haskell?
00:22:59 Mr. Haskell, wake up.
00:23:03 It's raining.
00:23:04 Don't you think we ought to stop and put up the top?
00:23:06 Mr. Haskell, I'm going to put up the top.
00:23:18 [music playing]
00:23:21 Up until then, I had done things my way.
00:23:33 But from then on, something else stepped in and shunted
00:23:35 me off to a different destination than one
00:23:37 I had picked for myself.
00:23:39 But when I pulled open that door--
00:23:46 Mr. Haskell, what's the matter?
00:23:48 Are you hurt?
00:23:50 Are you hurt, Mr. Haskell?
00:23:52 Start yourself.
00:23:54 I'll listen to it.
00:23:55 But I know what you're going to hand me even
00:23:57 before you open your mouths.
00:23:58 You're going to tell me you don't believe my story of how
00:24:01 Haskell died and give me that "don't make me laugh"
00:24:03 expression on your smug faces.
00:24:05 I saw it once.
00:24:09 He was dead.
00:24:10 And I was in for it.
00:24:11 Who would believe he fell out of the car?
00:24:13 Why, if Haskell came too, which of course he couldn't,
00:24:15 even he would swear I conked him over the head for his dough.
00:24:18 Yes, I was in for it.
00:24:20 Instinct told me to run.
00:24:22 But then I realized it was hopeless.
00:24:23 There were lots of people back down the road
00:24:25 who could identify me-- that gas station guy and the waitress.
00:24:27 I would be in a worse spot then trying
00:24:29 to explain why I beat it.
00:24:30 The next possibility was to sit tight and tell
00:24:32 the truth when the cops came.
00:24:34 But that would be crazy.
00:24:35 They'd laugh at the truth.
00:24:36 And I'd have my head in the noose.
00:24:38 So what else was there to do but hide the body
00:24:42 and get away in the car?
00:24:43 I couldn't leave the car there with him in the gully.
00:24:45 That would be like erecting a tombstone.
00:24:47 [music playing]
00:25:15 My idea was to cover him with brush, not to rob him.
00:25:18 But then I remembered that even if I only drove the car
00:25:20 for 100 miles or so, I would need money for gas.
00:25:23 Besides, it was stupid of me to leave
00:25:26 all that money on a dead man.
00:25:28 Not only that, I'd have to take his driver's license
00:25:30 in case I was stopped for something.
00:25:33 I didn't like to think about it.
00:25:34 But by that time, I'd done just what the police would say I did,
00:25:38 even if I didn't.
00:25:40 My clothes.
00:25:41 The owner of such an expensive car would never be wearing them.
00:25:44 Some cop might pull me in on suspicion.
00:25:47 [music playing]
00:26:12 Hey, you, this your car?
00:26:14 Don't you know better than to leave
00:26:15 a car with the wheels halfway in the middle of the road?
00:26:17 That's the way accidents happen.
00:26:19 I'm-- I'm sorry, officer.
00:26:21 I was just putting up my top.
00:26:22 I-- I didn't think.
00:26:23 Well, the next time, think.
00:26:25 I'll let you go now, but watch your step in the future.
00:26:27 I know that's a lonely stretch, but cars come by here
00:26:29 once in a while, and we have plenty of crack-ups.
00:26:32 Thanks, officer.
00:26:33 [music playing]
00:26:36 I left nothing in the car to give me away as Roberts.
00:26:59 If they found a dead man in the gully now, it would be me.
00:27:02 [music playing]
00:27:05 As I drove off, it was still raining,
00:27:13 and the drops streaked down the windshield like tears.
00:27:16 [music playing]
00:27:19 I kept imagining I was being followed, that I could
00:27:21 hear sirens back in the distance.
00:27:23 Just how long it took me to cover the 60-odd miles
00:27:26 to the California state line, I don't know.
00:27:29 I lost all track of time.
00:27:31 But the rain had stopped, and the sun was up when I pulled up
00:27:34 to the inspection station.
00:27:35 Hello.
00:27:42 Carrying any fruits or vegetables?
00:27:44 No.
00:27:45 Any livestock or poultry?
00:27:46 No.
00:27:48 I'd like to see your registration
00:27:49 and driver's license, please.
00:27:51 Anything in the baggage compartment?
00:27:57 Just baggage.
00:27:59 Charles Haskell, Jr. Age 30, brown eyes, dark hair.
00:28:03 Identifying marks, none.
00:28:05 Are you Charles Haskell, Jr.?
00:28:07 Yes.
00:28:08 Well, remember, if you're employed
00:28:09 and you stay over 30 days, you take out California plates.
00:28:11 All right, officer, but I'll only be in the state a short while.
00:28:15 Right.
00:28:16 You can go now.
00:28:17 [music playing]
00:28:20 I couldn't drive any farther without some sweet cops
00:28:27 or no cops.
00:28:28 I knew I had to hit the hay and hit it hard.
00:28:32 I was dead tired.
00:28:33 [music playing]
00:28:36 [music playing]
00:29:05 No.
00:29:06 No, you can't, Mr. Haskell.
00:29:09 No.
00:29:10 [music playing]
00:29:13 Mr. Haskell, you can't die.
00:29:21 Don't think-- don't think I did it.
00:29:26 No, Mr. Haskell.
00:29:28 No.
00:29:29 No.
00:29:30 [music playing]
00:29:34 [knocking]
00:29:37 Who's there?
00:29:45 It's the maid.
00:29:46 Can I come in and clean?
00:29:48 Later.
00:29:50 In a half hour.
00:29:51 All right, sir.
00:29:52 [music playing]
00:29:56 [knocking]
00:29:59 There was no time to lose.
00:30:19 Every minute I had to be Charles Haskell was dangerous.
00:30:21 And I'd have to be Charles Haskell until I got to some city
00:30:24 where I could leave the car and be swallowed up.
00:30:26 [music playing]
00:30:29 That meant driving the car as far as San Bernardino,
00:30:34 maybe even to Los Angeles.
00:30:36 In a little town, I might be noticed.
00:30:38 But in a city, I should be safe enough.
00:30:41 Then, after I ditched the car, I could go on to sue.
00:30:45 But those five minutes at the state line
00:30:47 made me realize it might be a good idea to find out
00:30:49 a little bit about Mr. Haskell.
00:30:52 And if anybody asked me questions,
00:30:54 I could give the right answers.
00:30:56 The first thing I found out was that I had $768.
00:31:00 This was a lot of jack.
00:31:02 But believe me, it was the kind of money I'd rather not have.
00:31:06 [music playing]
00:31:09 And then I found out from a letter Haskell
00:31:15 was carting around in his bag that he wasn't the open-handed,
00:31:18 easygoing big shot who went around buying dinners
00:31:21 for the street-crankers.
00:31:23 Before I got done reading it, I saw him more as a chiseler.
00:31:27 It was written to his old man in California, the one
00:31:30 he hadn't seen in so many years.
00:31:32 In it, Haskell posed as a salesman,
00:31:35 of hymnals, of all things.
00:31:38 It was easy to see where Haskell expected
00:31:40 to raise a new stake for his book in Miami
00:31:43 by rooking his old man.
00:31:46 That was about all I found out from his effects.
00:31:49 And it was enough.
00:31:51 I told myself, maybe old man Haskell
00:31:53 was lucky his son kicked off.
00:31:56 He would never know it.
00:31:58 But it saved him from taking a flyer
00:32:00 in sacred literature preferred.
00:32:02 [music playing]
00:32:05 [birds chirping]
00:32:08 Near the airport at Desert Center, I pulled up for water.
00:32:30 There was a woman.
00:32:32 [music playing]
00:32:35 Hey, you.
00:32:36 Come on if you want a ride.
00:32:38 [music playing]
00:32:41 [birds chirping]
00:32:45 [music playing]
00:32:49 [door slams]
00:32:51 [music playing]
00:32:54 [birds chirping]
00:32:57 [music playing]
00:33:00 How far you going?
00:33:26 That took me by surprise.
00:33:28 And I turned my head to look her over.
00:33:30 She was facing straight ahead, so I couldn't see her eyes.
00:33:33 But she was young, not more than 24.
00:33:37 Man, she looked as if she'd just been thrown off the crummiest
00:33:40 freight train in the world.
00:33:42 Yet in spite of this, I got the impression of beauty.
00:33:46 Not the beauty of a movie actress, mind you,
00:33:48 or the beauty you dream about when you're with your wife,
00:33:51 but a natural beauty.
00:33:53 A beauty that's not just about the looks
00:33:55 of a woman, a beauty that's almost
00:33:57 homely because it's so real.
00:34:01 Then suddenly, she turned to face me.
00:34:03 How far did you say you were going?
00:34:05 Los Angeles.
00:34:06 LA?
00:34:08 LA's good enough for me, mister.
00:34:10 That's what I was afraid of.
00:34:11 What'd you say?
00:34:12 Oh, nothing.
00:34:13 Just thinking out loud.
00:34:15 People get in trouble for doing that.
00:34:17 What's your name?
00:34:19 You can call me Vera if you like.
00:34:21 You live in Los Angeles?
00:34:22 No.
00:34:24 Where are you coming from?
00:34:25 Oh, back there.
00:34:26 Needles?
00:34:27 No.
00:34:29 Oh, sure, Phoenix.
00:34:30 You look just like a Phoenix girl.
00:34:32 Are the girls in Phoenix that bad?
00:34:35 The girl must have been pretty tired
00:34:37 because she fell asleep not 20 minutes
00:34:38 after she stepped into the car.
00:34:40 She lay sprawled out with her head resting
00:34:42 against the far door like Haskell.
00:34:45 I didn't like that part of it much,
00:34:47 but I didn't wake her up.
00:34:50 It wasn't that this girl still worried me.
00:34:52 I'd gotten over that funny feeling I had
00:34:54 when she looked at me, which I put down
00:34:56 as just my jangled nerves.
00:34:58 With her eyes closed and the tenseness gone out of me,
00:35:01 she seemed harmless enough.
00:35:03 And instead of disliking her, I began to feel sorry for her.
00:35:07 The poor kid probably had had a rough time of it.
00:35:11 Who was she anyway?
00:35:13 And why was she going to Los Angeles?
00:35:15 And where'd she come from in the first place?
00:35:18 The only thing I knew about her was her name.
00:35:20 Not that it made any difference.
00:35:22 A few hours more and we'd be in Hollywood.
00:35:24 I'd forget where I parked the car and look up Sue.
00:35:27 This nightmare of being a dead man would be over.
00:35:30 Who this dame was, well, it was no business of mine.
00:35:33 Where did you leave his body?
00:35:35 Where did you leave the owner of this car?
00:35:38 You're not fooling anyone.
00:35:40 This buggy belongs to a guy named Haskell.
00:35:42 That's not you, mister.
00:35:43 You're out of your mind.
00:35:44 That's my name, Charles Haskell.
00:35:45 I can prove it.
00:35:46 It's my driver's license.
00:35:47 Save yourself the trouble, mister.
00:35:48 Having Haskell's wallet only makes it worse.
00:35:50 It just so happens I rode with Charlie Haskell
00:35:53 all the way from Louisiana.
00:35:54 He picked me up outside of Shreveport.
00:35:56 You rode--
00:35:57 You heard me.
00:35:58 Then it all came back to me.
00:36:00 All the talk about dueling and scars and scratches.
00:36:03 There was no doubt about it.
00:36:05 Vera must be the woman Haskell had mentioned.
00:36:08 She must have passed me while I slept.
00:36:10 Well?
00:36:12 Well, I'm waiting.
00:36:13 My goose was cooked.
00:36:15 She had me.
00:36:17 That Haskell guy wasn't dead yet.
00:36:19 He wasn't stretched out stiff and cold in any Arizona gully.
00:36:22 He was sitting right there in the car,
00:36:24 laughing like mad while he haunted me.
00:36:27 Well?
00:36:28 There was nothing I could say.
00:36:31 It was her move.
00:36:32 Vera, whatever her name was,
00:36:34 it was just my luck picking her up on the road.
00:36:37 It couldn't have been Helen or Mary or Evelyn or Ruth.
00:36:41 It had to be the very last person I should ever have met.
00:36:45 That's life.
00:36:47 Whichever way you turn, fate sticks out a foot to trip you.
00:36:51 I told her everything, but she didn't believe my story.
00:36:58 I should have saved my breath.
00:37:00 That's the greatest cock and bull story I ever heard.
00:37:03 So he fell out of his car.
00:37:04 Say, who do you think you're talking to, a hick?
00:37:06 Listen, mister, I've been around,
00:37:08 and I know a wrong guy when I see one.
00:37:10 What'd you do, kiss him with a wrench?
00:37:12 Now, wait a minute.
00:37:13 What I told you was true.
00:37:14 You see, that's why I had to do it.
00:37:16 You think I killed him.
00:37:17 Well, the cops would have thought so, too.
00:37:19 Yeah, well, maybe they still think so.
00:37:21 What makes you so sure I'll shut up about this?
00:37:24 Vera, I'm innocent.
00:37:25 Give me a break, will you?
00:37:28 It won't do me any good having you pinched.
00:37:30 The cops are no friends of mine.
00:37:32 Now, if there was a reward, but there isn't.
00:37:35 Thanks.
00:37:36 Don't thank me yet.
00:37:37 I'm not through with you by a long shot.
00:37:40 Let's see that roll.
00:37:42 [music playing]
00:37:46 Is that all Haskell had?
00:37:48 Isn't it enough?
00:37:49 No, I thought he had more.
00:37:50 Not that I know of.
00:37:51 You can search me if you think I'm holding out on you.
00:37:53 Well, maybe I will at that.
00:37:54 He told me he was going to bet $3,000 on a horse named
00:37:57 Paradisical on Wednesday at Santa Anita.
00:37:59 He was stringing you along.
00:38:00 He meant $300.
00:38:01 Maybe.
00:38:02 Sure, $3, $300.
00:38:03 He was a piece of cheese, a big blowhard.
00:38:05 Listen, mister, don't try and tell me
00:38:07 anything about Charlie Haskell.
00:38:08 Remember, I knew him better than you did.
00:38:10 OK, then you knew he was a four-flusher.
00:38:12 That explains the three grand bet.
00:38:13 I'm not so sure he didn't have that three grand.
00:38:16 Why should I believe you?
00:38:17 You got all the earmarks of a cheap crook.
00:38:19 Now, wait a minute.
00:38:20 Shut up.
00:38:21 You're a cheap crook, and you killed him.
00:38:22 For two cents, I'd change my mind and turn you in.
00:38:25 I don't like you.
00:38:26 All right, all right.
00:38:27 Don't get sore.
00:38:28 I'm not getting sore.
00:38:29 But just remember who's boss around here.
00:38:30 If you shut up and don't give me any arguments,
00:38:32 you'll have nothing to worry about.
00:38:34 But if you act wise, we'll miss to you
00:38:36 pop in the jail so fast it'll give you the bends.
00:38:38 I'm not arguing.
00:38:39 Well, see that you don't.
00:38:40 You know, as crooked as you look,
00:38:42 I'd hate to see a fella as young as you
00:38:43 wind up sniffing that perfume that Arizona
00:38:45 hands out free to murderers.
00:38:47 I'm not a murderer.
00:38:48 Of course you're not.
00:38:49 Haskell knocked his own head off.
00:38:50 He fell.
00:38:51 That's how it happened, just like I told you.
00:38:52 Sure, and then he made you a present of his belongings.
00:38:54 I explained why I had to do that.
00:38:55 Oh, skip it.
00:38:56 Doesn't make a difference one way or another.
00:38:57 I'm not a mourner.
00:38:58 I liked Haskell even less than I like you.
00:39:01 Yeah, I saw what you did to him.
00:39:03 What do you mean?
00:39:04 Well, scratches on his wrist.
00:39:05 Sure, I scratched him.
00:39:07 Well, so you did.
00:39:09 So your idea was to drive the car a little way,
00:39:12 maybe into San Bernardino, and then leave it.
00:39:14 You weren't going to sell it?
00:39:16 Sell it?
00:39:17 You think I'm crazy?
00:39:18 Somebody else's car?
00:39:19 Say, all I want to do is leave it somewhere
00:39:21 and forget I ever saw it.
00:39:22 Not only don't you have any scruples,
00:39:23 you don't have any brains.
00:39:25 I don't get you.
00:39:26 Maybe it's a good thing you met me.
00:39:28 You'd have got yourself caught, sure.
00:39:29 Why, you dope.
00:39:30 Don't you know a deserted automobile
00:39:32 always rates an investigation?
00:39:34 Huh?
00:39:35 Look, the cops find a car.
00:39:37 Then they get curious.
00:39:38 They wonder where the owner is.
00:39:40 So all right, they don't trace Haskell.
00:39:42 They trace you.
00:39:43 I never thought of that.
00:39:45 The only safe way to get rid of the car
00:39:47 is to sell it to a dealer.
00:39:48 Get it registered under a new name.
00:39:50 Say, stop at the next store.
00:39:51 I want to get a bottle and do some shopping
00:39:53 before we hit LA.
00:39:54 OK.
00:39:55 Since we find a place, I'll drop you off
00:39:57 and pick you up later.
00:39:58 Nothing doing.
00:39:59 You're coming in, too.
00:40:00 From now on, you and I are like the Siamese twins.
00:40:03 Yeah, but your way.
00:40:04 I don't get the point.
00:40:05 The point is, I don't want you to get lost.
00:40:07 I'm not going to beat it if that's what you're afraid of.
00:40:09 I'll say you're not.
00:40:10 Well, I'm going to see that you sell this car
00:40:12 so you don't get caught.
00:40:13 Thanks.
00:40:14 Of course, your interest wouldn't be financial, would it?
00:40:17 You wouldn't want a small percentage of the profits.
00:40:20 Well, now that you insist, how can I refuse?
00:40:23 100% will do.
00:40:24 Fine.
00:40:25 I'm relieved.
00:40:26 I thought for a moment you were going to take it all.
00:40:29 I don't want to be a hog.
00:40:32 A few hours later, we were in Hollywood.
00:40:34 I was recognizing places Sue had written about.
00:40:37 It struck me that far from being at the end of the trip,
00:40:40 there was a greater distance between Sue and me
00:40:42 than when I started out.
00:40:44 Vera wasn't kidding with that Siamese twins crack.
00:40:48 She rented a little apartment as Mrs. Charles Haskell.
00:40:52 When I objected to this, she explained
00:40:54 that it was on account of the car.
00:40:56 A dealer might think something was funny
00:40:58 if he called and found we were using different names.
00:41:01 Home, sweet home.
00:41:03 Yeah.
00:41:04 Not bad either.
00:41:06 In case there's any doubt in your mind, I'll take the bedroom.
00:41:17 Yeah.
00:41:19 Sure is stuffy in here.
00:41:22 Keep the window shut.
00:41:23 Okay.
00:41:25 The old crow downstairs said there's a fallen bed
00:41:29 behind this door.
00:41:31 You know how to work it?
00:41:38 I invented it.
00:41:43 I'm not a genius.
00:41:45 I'm a genius.
00:41:47 I'm a genius.
00:41:49 I invented it.
00:41:51 Some joint.
00:41:55 One can't have everything.
00:41:57 I'm first in the bathtub.
00:42:04 I don't know why, but I figured you would be.
00:42:07 Boy, oh boy.
00:42:18 It sure feels good to be clean again.
00:42:21 I must be 10 pounds lighter.
00:42:23 You must be.
00:42:25 Well, hitching rides isn't exactly the way
00:42:28 you keep your schoolgirl complexion.
00:42:30 I wish that guy with the sacks would give up.
00:42:37 Gets on my nerves.
00:42:39 Forget it.
00:42:42 Have a drink.
00:42:47 Aren't you afraid I might take you up on it?
00:42:50 If I didn't want to give you a drink,
00:42:52 I wouldn't have offered it.
00:42:54 Why be a sore head, Roberts?
00:42:56 You got yourself into this thing.
00:42:59 You should be grateful I'm not turning you in.
00:43:01 Why, if I wasn't regular, you'd be in the pen this minute
00:43:04 being photographed, fingerprinted,
00:43:05 and being pushed around by the cops.
00:43:08 So cheer up.
00:43:09 Get rid of that long puss.
00:43:11 Or is your conscience bothering you?
00:43:16 No.
00:43:18 It isn't.
00:43:19 Swell.
00:43:20 That's the spirit.
00:43:22 He's dead, and no moment around will bring him back.
00:43:25 Anyway, I never could understand this worrying
00:43:30 about something that's over and done with.
00:43:32 Now look, Vera, for the last time, I didn't kill him.
00:43:34 Haskell was a sick man.
00:43:35 Maybe he was dead before he fell out of the car.
00:43:37 I don't know.
00:43:38 Sure, sure.
00:43:39 He died of old age.
00:43:41 All right.
00:43:42 So if it'll make you sociable, you didn't kill him.
00:43:47 Thanks.
00:44:10 We're out of liquor, Roberts.
00:44:12 Yeah.
00:44:13 Too bad.
00:44:15 I felt like getting tight tonight.
00:44:17 Well, I think you succeeded.
00:44:19 Am I tight?
00:44:21 As a prima donna's corset.
00:44:23 That's good.
00:44:24 I wanted to get tight.
00:44:26 Why?
00:44:27 What have you got to get tight about?
00:44:29 Oh, I don't know.
00:44:30 A few things.
00:44:31 You should have my worries.
00:44:36 If I had your trouble, I'd have you fired.
00:44:39 If I had your troubles, I'd stay sober.
00:44:41 And I've got the key to that door.
00:44:43 Yeah.
00:44:48 Maybe you're right.
00:44:49 I'm always right.
00:44:52 You know, I don't like your attitude, Roberts.
00:44:55 Well, there's a lot of things I don't like.
00:44:58 Sure.
00:44:59 But life's like a ball game.
00:45:04 You've got to take a swing at whatever comes along
00:45:06 before you wake up and find it's a ninth inning.
00:45:09 You read that somewhere?
00:45:10 That's the truth, Roberts.
00:45:12 All you do is bellyache.
00:45:14 Taking it easy and trying to make the best of things.
00:45:18 Maybe that's what's wrong with the whole world.
00:45:21 Get the professor.
00:45:22 People knock themselves out trying to buck fate.
00:45:25 Now, take you, for instance.
00:45:26 You're lucky to be alive.
00:45:28 Why, suppose Haskell had opened your door?
00:45:30 You'd be playing a harp now.
00:45:32 Think of that.
00:45:35 You think of it.
00:45:36 I'm tired of thinking.
00:45:38 There's plenty of people dying this minute.
00:45:41 I would give anything to trade places with you.
00:45:45 I know what I'm talking about.
00:45:48 I'm not so sure.
00:45:50 At least they know they're done for.
00:45:52 They don't have to sweat blood wondering if they are.
00:45:56 Your philosophy stinks, pal.
00:45:59 We all know we're going to kick off someday.
00:46:02 It's only a question of when.
00:46:05 But what got us on this subject anyway?
00:46:08 We'll be discussing politics next.
00:46:11 Yeah.
00:46:13 Where'd you hide the butts?
00:46:16 On the table, sucker.
00:46:25 We bored each other with conversation for a couple of hours longer.
00:46:29 Every five minutes, one of us was wishing we had another bottle or a radio or something to read.
00:46:35 Then finally, we ran out of chat.
00:46:38 I know it's only 11 o'clock, but I want to get up early and make the rounds of the used car lots.
00:46:42 No hurry about that.
00:46:43 We've got all the time in the world.
00:46:45 Maybe you have, but if you think I want to stay cooped up in this place any longer than I have to, you're batty.
00:46:49 It's not a bad place.
00:46:50 Paid plenty for diggings like this in New York.
00:46:52 I wouldn't like it if it was the Ritz.
00:46:58 You brought me liquor.
00:47:00 You got a mean cough.
00:47:01 Ought to do something about it.
00:47:02 I'll be all right.
00:47:04 That's what Camille said.
00:47:06 Who?
00:47:07 Nobody you know.
00:47:12 Wasn't that the day in the diet of consumption?
00:47:14 Yeah.
00:47:16 Wouldn't it be a break for you if I did kick off?
00:47:19 You'd be free with all Haskell's dough and car.
00:47:22 I don't want to see anybody die.
00:47:25 Not even me?
00:47:26 Especially not you.
00:47:28 One person died in me.
00:47:29 If you did, well, that's all I need.
00:47:34 You don't like me, do you, Roberts?
00:47:37 Like you?
00:47:40 I love you.
00:47:42 My favorite sport is being kept prisoner.
00:47:45 After we sell the car, you can go to Blazers for all I care.
00:47:48 Not until then.
00:47:56 I'm going to bed.
00:48:06 Good night, Roberts.
00:48:07 Don't try and sneak away during the night.
00:48:09 All the doors are locked.
00:48:10 Anyway, if I find you gone in the morning, I'll notify the police.
00:48:14 They'll pick you up.
00:48:15 Don't worry, I know when I'm in a spot.
00:48:18 Well, good night.
00:48:19 I hope that portable rack isn't too uncomfortable for you.
00:48:22 Stop losing your sleep over it, will you, Pearl?
00:48:51 Chris, you...
00:48:58 Six, five, seven, two, three...
00:49:15 Hello?
00:49:16 Hello?
00:49:17 Hello?
00:49:18 Hello?
00:49:21 Hello?
00:49:29 No.
00:49:31 Not yet, darling.
00:49:34 Tomorrow.
00:49:36 Maybe.
00:49:41 If this were fiction, I would fall in love with her, marry her, and make a respectable woman of her.
00:49:46 Or else she'd make some supreme class A sacrifice for me and die.
00:49:51 Sue and I would ball a little over a grave and make some crack about there's good in all of us.
00:49:57 But Vera, unfortunately, was just as rotten in the morning as she'd been the night before.
00:50:04 All right, all right, I'm coming.
00:50:06 Look, Vera, it's almost noon.
00:50:09 So what?
00:50:10 The dealers will be there all day?
00:50:12 They'll be there all year, too, but it doesn't wait that long.
00:50:14 Shut up. You make us like a husband.
00:50:19 Well, do I rate a whistle?
00:50:21 You sure do, but let's go.
00:50:23 Let's go, let's go.
00:50:24 I spend 85 bucks and two hours preparing bait, and all you can say is let's go.
00:50:30 Come on.
00:50:36 We've had a few used car lots last night down this way.
00:50:39 What do you think we can get for this heap?
00:50:40 I don't know.
00:50:41 Plenty. You've let me handle everything.
00:50:44 Think we can get $2,000?
00:50:46 I don't know, but don't worry.
00:50:47 I'll squeeze as much out of this guy as I can.
00:50:50 I'll let it go cheap without a fight.
00:50:51 He might think we've stolen the car.
00:50:53 And listen, don't make any slips and call me Roberts.
00:50:56 That'll cook us.
00:50:57 I don't need you to tell me that.
00:50:59 You better just sit by and keep your mouth closed.
00:51:01 Remember, we're both in this soup if anything happens.
00:51:04 Forget it and drive.
00:51:05 You're my wife, Vera Haskell.
00:51:08 After the deal's closed, let's go back to that place on Hollywood Boulevard where I saw the fur jacket.
00:51:13 I want to buy it.
00:51:14 After the deal's closed, I'm saying goodbye to you.
00:51:17 That's right. I forgot.
00:51:19 I guess I'm getting kind of used to you.
00:51:22 Well, that's a habit you can start breaking.
00:51:24 Let's try this place in the middle of the block.
00:51:33 Good afternoon. What can I do for you?
00:51:35 We're interested in selling a car.
00:51:36 If the price is right.
00:51:40 Well, if it's in good mechanical condition, it should blue book for about $1,600.
00:51:45 Tony, take a look at this motor.
00:51:47 $1,600? Are you kidding?
00:52:01 Well, maybe $1,850.
00:52:02 Before I let it go for $1,850, I'll wreck it and collect the insurance first.
00:52:10 Lady, this motor's seen a lot of driving.
00:52:19 While the mechanic inspected the car, we haggled.
00:52:23 At last, when we were all worn out, we hit a compromise.
00:52:26 His price.
00:52:31 Okay, it's a deal.
00:52:32 All right, come on. We'll sign the papers.
00:52:34 I have the ownership papers right here with me.
00:52:36 Look, Vera, in the meantime, will you clean the dash compartment?
00:52:38 There may be some stuff in it.
00:52:40 All right, darling.
00:52:44 $1,850. That dirty crook.
00:52:55 New York, huh?
00:52:56 Yeah.
00:52:57 But you bought the car in Miami.
00:52:58 Yeah.
00:53:00 Well, let's see about the insurance.
00:53:01 We can either have it transferred or canceled.
00:53:04 What kind of insurance do you have, Mr. Haskell?
00:53:07 Well, aren't all the papers there?
00:53:13 I don't see any.
00:53:14 Surely you know what type of insurance you carry in the car.
00:53:17 The name of the company?
00:53:19 Yeah, but...
00:53:21 Well, if you'll just tell me the name of the company, I'd be very glad to take care of all the details.
00:53:24 Well...
00:53:25 Did you sign the papers yet?
00:53:27 Not yet.
00:53:28 I won't. We're not selling the car.
00:53:30 Well, wait a minute, Mrs. Haskell.
00:53:31 Come on, darling.
00:53:32 What's the matter? Did you change your mind?
00:53:34 Yes, I'm sorry. I guess I have.
00:53:35 But, Vera...
00:53:36 Let's go.
00:53:43 You got me out of a tight spot, Vera.
00:53:45 But I still don't understand all this.
00:53:46 You will in a minute.
00:53:47 I almost threw away a gold mine.
00:53:49 $1,850 isn't to be sneezed at.
00:53:51 The car doesn't book for as much as I thought.
00:53:53 We're not selling the car.
00:53:55 You want to keep it.
00:53:56 Now, wait a minute, Vera.
00:53:57 You said yourself I wouldn't be safe until the car was in someone else's name.
00:54:00 I'd like to be free of this mess when I go.
00:54:02 That's just it, Roberts.
00:54:03 You're not going.
00:54:05 There's a driver in the next corner.
00:54:07 Pull in there and we'll get a bite to eat.
00:54:08 And I'll explain.
00:54:10 What is this? Another one of your brilliant ideas?
00:54:18 Hello. May I take your order?
00:54:19 Make mine a ham sandwich and coffee.
00:54:21 And for you, sir?
00:54:22 Oh, I don't care. The same.
00:54:26 Thank you.
00:54:32 Get this, Vera.
00:54:33 I've been pretty patient so far.
00:54:35 I've done everything you asked me to do, but no more.
00:54:37 Shut up.
00:54:38 You've taken Haskell's money.
00:54:39 And you can have the dough we get from selling the car.
00:54:41 But you're not going to keep me a prisoner.
00:54:43 It's a good thing I bought the paper.
00:54:44 Take a look at that.
00:54:45 Vera, I'm in no mood.
00:54:46 No.
00:54:58 Yes.
00:54:59 No, I won't do it.
00:55:00 Yes, you will.
00:55:01 You think I'm crazy? It's impossible, I tell you.
00:55:03 Excuse me.
00:55:10 Blow the horn when you're through.
00:55:15 How could I possibly get away with an act like that?
00:55:17 He'll be wise to me in a minute.
00:55:18 Don't be yellow.
00:55:19 You look enough like him.
00:55:20 The same coloring and the same build.
00:55:22 See how his clothes fit you?
00:55:24 No kidding, you almost had me fooled for a while.
00:55:26 Oh, grow up, Vera.
00:55:27 Don't you think a father knows his own son?
00:55:29 And there must be other relatives.
00:55:30 The father won't have to know you.
00:55:31 We'll wait till he gives up the ghost.
00:55:33 He's an old geezer and he won't pull through.
00:55:35 And as far as other relatives are concerned,
00:55:37 they haven't seen you in 15 or 20 years.
00:55:40 Eat.
00:55:41 I'm not hungry.
00:55:43 And I won't do it.
00:55:44 It's not as tough as it sounds.
00:55:46 Remember, you've got all kinds of identification.
00:55:48 His car, letters, license.
00:55:49 I could never get away with it.
00:55:50 It's the stupidest thing I've ever heard.
00:55:52 The old boy has scads of dough.
00:55:54 Look in the paper there.
00:55:55 Personal fortune assessed at over 15 million.
00:55:57 He'll leave plenty, I tell you.
00:55:59 Maybe he cut off his son.
00:56:00 How do we know?
00:56:01 It's out, Vera.
00:56:02 I won't have anything to do with it.
00:56:04 I think you will.
00:56:07 Look, Vera, I'll do anything within reason.
00:56:09 But not that.
00:56:10 So forget it.
00:56:11 You'll make yourself another stooge.
00:56:12 You sack!
00:56:14 You'll be fixed for the rest of your life as Charlie Haskell.
00:56:16 You can take your inheritance and go away.
00:56:18 No more worrying about the rent, no sweat and scheming,
00:56:20 wondering where your next meal's coming from.
00:56:22 Think about that, Roberts!
00:56:23 Vera, please, you're talking too loud.
00:56:26 Unless I'm splitting 50/50 with you.
00:56:28 Sure, why not?
00:56:29 We're both alike.
00:56:30 Both born in the same gutter.
00:56:31 Now take it easy, Vera.
00:56:32 There's people around here.
00:56:33 You don't know who you're talking to.
00:56:35 Well, wait till we read that old man Haskell's dead.
00:56:37 Then you show up.
00:56:39 I thought you read in New York that he was sick.
00:56:41 No.
00:56:43 Suppose he doesn't die.
00:56:44 He will.
00:56:45 I know he will.
00:56:46 Something tells me.
00:56:49 But as much as I insisted I would have no part of her scheme,
00:56:52 Vera was taking it for granted I would.
00:56:56 Neither of us had our mind on the cards as we played that night.
00:56:59 I knew we were just trying to kill time between newspaper editions.
00:57:03 This was a death watch for Vera.
00:57:06 Maybe it was for me, too.
00:57:08 Don't you realize if I'm caught,
00:57:09 they'll want to know where I got the car and stuff,
00:57:11 and they'll have me on a murder charge.
00:57:13 If you're smart, you won't get caught.
00:57:15 I knock with seven.
00:57:16 And if I'm caught, don't you realize you'll be out, too?
00:57:19 18 points, that gives me 30.
00:57:23 How will I be out?
00:57:24 You'll be out $1,850 we would have gotten on the car.
00:57:27 Really, Vera, you'd be an awful chump if you threw away all that dough in a dizzy long shot.
00:57:31 Let me sell the bus tomorrow.
00:57:32 With the money it'll bring and what you've already got,
00:57:34 a clever kid like you can run it up in no time.
00:57:36 Then we'd both be in the clear.
00:57:37 Maybe, maybe.
00:57:40 But if I got caught, I'd get good and sore, too, you know.
00:57:44 You mean you'd squeal?
00:57:45 Oh, no, not squeal exactly.
00:57:46 Never mind what you meant.
00:57:49 Even if you did tell the cops I was in on it with you,
00:57:52 what could they do to me?
00:57:54 They might give me the same medicine they gave you, a rope.
00:58:01 But I'm on my way out.
00:58:05 All they'll be doing will be rushing it.
00:58:07 All right.
00:58:08 But think of the $1,850 you'd lose.
00:58:10 You'd kick yourself along the block if they let get away from you.
00:58:12 I'll take the chance.
00:58:14 Want another drink?
00:58:15 You're being a goon.
00:58:16 That's the way people wind up behind the eight ball.
00:58:18 Once they get a few dollars, they become greedy and want more.
00:58:21 My, my.
00:58:22 Caesar.
00:58:23 Who?
00:58:24 You know, that Roman general?
00:58:25 He got his for being greedy.
00:58:26 He wasn't satisfied, so the final wind-up was he took the count.
00:58:29 A couple of days ago, you didn't have a dime.
00:58:32 While you were so broke, you couldn't pay cash for a postage stamp.
00:58:35 Now you've got almost $700 with $1,850 in the offing.
00:58:38 Take my advice.
00:58:39 Don't try for more.
00:58:40 I'm tired of this game.
00:58:41 Let's have some blackjack.
00:58:42 Play solitaire.
00:58:43 Okay, I will if that's the way you feel about it.
00:58:45 That's the way I feel about it.
00:58:46 Getting so on throwing things won't help much, Roberts.
00:58:48 I'm really doing you a favor.
00:58:50 I help you out of a jam by keeping my mouth shut.
00:58:52 I show you how to make some soft money.
00:58:53 And what thanks do I get?
00:58:55 Thanks?
00:58:56 Sure.
00:58:57 I would rather call the cops and tell them you killed a man and stole his money.
00:58:59 I didn't kill anybody.
00:59:00 Yes, you did.
00:59:01 All right, then.
00:59:02 Suppose I call the cops.
00:59:07 Pure innocent, what do you got to be scared of?
00:59:09 Okay.
00:59:10 Call them, you mud.
00:59:11 Go ahead and call them.
00:59:12 See if I care.
00:59:13 At least they'll give me a square deal.
00:59:15 You want me to call them?
00:59:16 You heard me.
00:59:17 But I'm warning you.
00:59:18 If I'm pinched, I'll swear you were in on it.
00:59:20 I'll say that you helped me.
00:59:21 If I fry, I'll get even with you.
00:59:23 You wouldn't dare.
00:59:24 You didn't.
00:59:25 Yeah?
00:59:26 Then try it and see.
00:59:28 Call them.
00:59:29 Yeah.
00:59:30 Okay, I will.
00:59:31 Information?
00:59:45 I want the number of the Hollywood police station.
00:59:49 Okay, I got it.
00:59:52 Thanks.
00:59:53 Wait a minute, Vera.
00:59:57 You wouldn't do that.
00:59:58 Wouldn't do that?
00:59:59 If I would...
01:00:00 Take it easy now.
01:00:01 Let's talk this over.
01:00:02 This was early in the evening.
01:00:03 And the conversation, while hectic, was at least pitched low.
01:00:07 But as the minutes passed, and more obstacles to her plan popped into my head,
01:00:12 the air got blue.
01:00:14 Each word coming from our lips cracked like a whip.
01:00:17 I reminded her that as Charles Haskell, I didn't even know my mother's name,
01:00:21 where I'd gone to school, the name of my best friend,
01:00:25 whether I had an Aunt Emma or not, my religion.
01:00:28 And if I had ever owned a dog.
01:00:30 I didn't even know what my middle initial stood for.
01:00:33 I also pointed out that the real Haskell had a scar on his forearm.
01:00:37 His people never saw that scar.
01:00:39 He told me he ran away right after putting out the kid's eye.
01:00:41 Yeah, but his father knew he was cut.
01:00:43 There'd have to be some kind of a mark.
01:00:44 So what?
01:00:45 The old man's dead or will be, I hope, by tomorrow morning's papers.
01:00:50 Anyway, you could cut yourself a little, couldn't you?
01:00:54 Boy, for that kind of dough, I'd let you cut my leg off.
01:00:58 You're drunk and you're crazy mad, Vera.
01:01:00 Turn me in if you want to, but I won't get mixed up in this.
01:01:02 Besides, how do we know Haskell was such a phony?
01:01:04 Maybe he wasn't the man's son at all, maybe he just dreamed it up.
01:01:06 Well, dream it or not, you won't be dreaming when the law taps you on the shoulder.
01:01:12 There's a cute little gas chamber waiting for you, Roberts.
01:01:15 And I hear extradition to Arizona's a cinch.
01:01:19 Where's that phone?
01:01:21 Vera!
01:01:22 Leave me alone!
01:01:23 I want a phone call, please!
01:01:25 I hate you, you stinker.
01:01:29 You leave me alone!
01:01:30 I'll let you alone when you promise to leave the phone where it is.
01:01:32 You're drunk, you don't know what you're doing.
01:01:34 You're hurting me.
01:01:35 Will you promise?
01:01:36 All right.
01:01:38 You hurt me.
01:01:44 I'm sorry, but...
01:01:46 And it's hot in here. Open up a window.
01:01:48 It's not hot.
01:01:49 Don't tell me. Now, do you do it or do I do it?
01:01:53 You're no gentleman, see?
01:01:55 Yeah.
01:01:56 All right, I'll open up the window.
01:01:58 Vera!
01:02:02 Vera, open the door. Please open the door.
01:02:09 Vera, open the door. Don't use the phone. Listen to me.
01:02:12 I don't like you, Roberts.
01:02:14 You're no gentleman, see?
01:02:16 You hurt my hand.
01:02:18 And I'm gonna get even with you.
01:02:20 If you don't open the door, I'm gonna kick it down, Vera.
01:02:23 Vera, don't call the cops. Listen to me. I'll do anything you say.
01:02:27 Vera, let me in.
01:02:29 I'll break the phone.
01:02:32 [music]
01:02:34 [music]
01:02:37 [music]
01:02:39 [music]
01:02:51 [music]
01:02:53 The world is full of skeptics.
01:03:12 I know.
01:03:14 I'm one myself.
01:03:16 In the Haskell business, how many of you would believe he fell out of the car?
01:03:19 And now, after killing Vera without really meaning to do it,
01:03:22 how many of you would believe it wasn't premeditated?
01:03:25 In a jury room, every last man of you would go down shouting that she had me over a barrel and my only out was force.
01:03:32 The room was still.
01:03:36 So quiet that for a while I wondered if I had suddenly gone deaf.
01:03:40 It was pure fear, of course.
01:03:42 And I was hysterical.
01:03:44 But without making a sound.
01:03:46 Vera was dead.
01:03:48 And I was her murderer.
01:03:50 Murderer.
01:03:52 What an awful word that is.
01:03:54 But I'd become one.
01:03:55 I'd better not get caught.
01:03:57 What evidence there was around the place had to be destroyed.
01:04:00 And from the looks of things, there was plenty.
01:04:02 Looking around the room at things we'd bought was like looking into the faces of a hundred people who'd seen us together and who remembered me.
01:04:08 This was the kind of testimony I couldn't rub out.
01:04:11 No.
01:04:13 I could burn clothes and hide bottles for the next five years.
01:04:17 There'd always be witnesses.
01:04:19 The landlady for one.
01:04:20 She could identify me.
01:04:21 The car dealer, the waitress in the drive-in, the girl in the dress shop, and that guy in the liquor store.
01:04:25 They could all identify me.
01:04:27 I was cooked.
01:04:29 Done for.
01:04:30 I had to get out of there.
01:04:32 While once I'd remained beside a dead body, planning carefully how to avoid being accused of killing him,
01:04:38 this time I couldn't.
01:04:40 This time I was guilty.
01:04:42 I knew it.
01:04:44 Felt it.
01:04:46 I was like a guy suffering from shock.
01:04:48 Things were whirling around in my head.
01:04:50 I couldn't make myself think right.
01:04:52 All I could think of was the guy with the saxophone and what he was playing.
01:04:57 It wasn't a love song anymore.
01:04:59 It was a dirge.
01:05:03 [Music]
01:05:06 [Music]
01:05:08 [Music]
01:05:11 [Music]
01:05:13 [Music]
01:05:26 [Music]
01:05:28 But my problems weren't solved.
01:05:52 I had to stay away from New York for all time.
01:05:56 Because Al Roberts was listed as dead and had to stay dead.
01:05:59 And I could never go back to Hollywood.
01:06:02 Someone might recognize me as Haskell.
01:06:05 Then too, there was Sue.
01:06:09 I could never go to her with a thing like this hanging over my head.
01:06:13 All I could do was pray she'd be happy.
01:06:18 [Music]
01:06:20 I was in Bakersfield before I read that Vera's body was discovered.
01:06:33 That the police were looking for Haskell in connection with his wife's murder.
01:06:37 Isn't that a laugh?
01:06:40 Haskell got me into this mess and Haskell was getting me out of it.
01:06:44 The police were searching for a dead man.
01:06:47 [Music]
01:06:49 I keep trying to forget what happened.
01:06:53 And wonder what my life might have been if that car of Haskell's hadn't stopped.
01:06:58 But one thing I don't have to wonder about.
01:07:03 I know.
01:07:05 Someday a car will stop to pick me up that I never thumbed.
01:07:10 Yes.
01:07:16 Fate or some mysterious force can put the finger on you or me.
01:07:22 For no good reason at all.
01:07:25 [Music]
01:07:28 [Music]