1 00:01:43,980 --> 00:01:45,732 [traffic light dings] 2 00:01:47,317 --> 00:01:48,777 [truck honking] 3 00:01:48,860 --> 00:01:49,861 [tires screeching] 4 00:02:15,178 --> 00:02:16,179 [knocking] 5 00:02:20,225 --> 00:02:21,935 [knocking] 6 00:02:30,735 --> 00:02:32,737 Why, hello there, Mr. Neff. 7 00:02:44,999 --> 00:02:49,170 Working pretty late, aren't you, Mr. Neff? Late enough. Let's ride. 8 00:02:52,465 --> 00:02:55,426 You look kind of all in, at that. I'm fine. 9 00:02:55,844 --> 00:02:58,930 How is the insurance business, Mr. Neff? Okay. 10 00:02:59,806 --> 00:03:01,599 They wouldn't ever sell me any. 11 00:03:01,683 --> 00:03:03,393 They said I have something loose in my heart. 12 00:03:03,476 --> 00:03:04,602 [chuckles] 13 00:03:04,686 --> 00:03:06,980 I say it's rheumatism. Yeah? 14 00:03:07,897 --> 00:03:09,107 Twelve. 15 00:04:29,103 --> 00:04:30,104 [clicking] 16 00:04:37,695 --> 00:04:38,696 [exhaling] 17 00:04:55,088 --> 00:04:56,381 [buzzing] 18 00:05:01,886 --> 00:05:02,887 [buzzing stops] 19 00:05:04,889 --> 00:05:06,557 Office memorandum. 20 00:05:07,642 --> 00:05:10,561 Walter Neff to Barton Keyes, Claims Manager. 21 00:05:11,854 --> 00:05:14,065 Los Angeles, July 16, 1938. 22 00:05:16,025 --> 00:05:17,485 Dear Keyes... 23 00:05:19,070 --> 00:05:22,073 I suppose you'll call this a confession when you hear it. 24 00:05:22,156 --> 00:05:24,492 Well, I don't like the word confession. 25 00:05:24,575 --> 00:05:26,703 I just want to set you right about something you couldn't see... 26 00:05:26,786 --> 00:05:28,496 because it was smack up against your nose. 27 00:05:29,664 --> 00:05:31,749 You think you're such a hot potato as a Claims Manager... 28 00:05:31,833 --> 00:05:34,043 such a wolf on a phony claim. 29 00:05:35,128 --> 00:05:39,048 Maybe you are, but let's take a look at that Dietrichson claim. 30 00:05:40,216 --> 00:05:42,427 Accident and double indemnity. 31 00:05:43,302 --> 00:05:46,472 You were pretty good in there for a while, Keyes. 32 00:05:46,764 --> 00:05:49,392 You said it wasn't an accident. Check. 33 00:05:49,767 --> 00:05:52,228 You said it wasn't suicide. Check. 34 00:05:53,062 --> 00:05:56,232 You said it was murder. Check. 35 00:05:58,359 --> 00:06:00,862 You thought you had it cold, didn't you? 36 00:06:00,945 --> 00:06:04,157 All wrapped up in tissue paper, with pink ribbons around it. 37 00:06:04,240 --> 00:06:05,783 It was perfect. 38 00:06:06,367 --> 00:06:09,370 Except it wasn't, because you made one mistake... 39 00:06:09,454 --> 00:06:11,330 just one little mistake. 40 00:06:12,582 --> 00:06:16,377 When it came to picking the killer, you picked the wrong guy. 41 00:06:17,295 --> 00:06:20,048 You want to know who killed Dietrichson? 42 00:06:20,673 --> 00:06:23,760 Hold tight to that cheap cigar of yours, Keyes. 43 00:06:25,178 --> 00:06:26,721 I killed Dietrichson. 44 00:06:26,804 --> 00:06:29,682 Me, Walter Neff, insurance salesman. 45 00:06:29,974 --> 00:06:32,894 35 years old, unmarried, no visible scars... 46 00:06:35,063 --> 00:06:37,148 until a while ago, that is. 47 00:06:38,649 --> 00:06:40,318 Yes, I killed him. 48 00:06:41,986 --> 00:06:44,030 I killed him for money... 49 00:06:44,113 --> 00:06:45,698 and for a woman. 50 00:06:47,492 --> 00:06:51,662 And I didn't get the money and I didn't get the woman. 51 00:06:53,873 --> 00:06:55,500 Pretty, isn't it? 52 00:06:57,001 --> 00:06:58,920 [buzzing] 53 00:07:05,802 --> 00:07:06,803 [buzzing stops] 54 00:07:09,347 --> 00:07:11,224 It all began last May. 55 00:07:12,517 --> 00:07:13,684 Around the end of May, it was. 56 00:07:15,853 --> 00:07:19,982 I'd been out to Glendale to deliver a policy on some dairy trucks. 57 00:07:20,066 --> 00:07:23,569 On the way back I remembered this auto renewal near Los Feliz Boulevard. 58 00:07:23,694 --> 00:07:25,571 So I drove over there. 59 00:07:25,863 --> 00:07:27,615 It was one of those California Spanish houses... 60 00:07:27,698 --> 00:07:30,576 everyone was nuts about 10 or 15 years ago. 61 00:07:31,160 --> 00:07:34,080 This one must've cost somebody about $30,000. 62 00:07:34,372 --> 00:07:36,624 That is, if he ever finished paying for it. 63 00:07:36,707 --> 00:07:38,334 [doorbell ringing] 64 00:07:39,544 --> 00:07:40,962 Is Mr. Dietrichson in? 65 00:07:41,045 --> 00:07:43,589 Who wants to see him? My name is Neff. Walter Neff. 66 00:07:43,673 --> 00:07:46,884 If you're selling something-- Look, it's Mr. Dietrichson I want to talk to... 67 00:07:46,968 --> 00:07:48,094 and it's not magazine subscriptions. 68 00:07:48,219 --> 00:07:50,596 Listen, Mr. Dietrichson is not in. How soon do you expect him? 69 00:07:50,680 --> 00:07:52,849 He'll be home when he gets here, if that's any help to you. 70 00:07:52,932 --> 00:07:54,642 (Phyllis) What is it, Nettie? Who is it? 71 00:07:54,725 --> 00:07:56,519 It's for Mr. Dietrichson. 72 00:07:56,602 --> 00:07:58,729 I'm Mrs. Dietrichson. What is it? 73 00:07:59,397 --> 00:08:00,815 How do you do, Mrs. Dietrichson? 74 00:08:00,898 --> 00:08:02,817 I'm Walter Neff, Pacific All Risk. 75 00:08:02,900 --> 00:08:06,070 Pacific all what? The Pacific All Risk Insurance Company. 76 00:08:06,154 --> 00:08:08,156 It's about some renewals on the automobiles. 77 00:08:08,239 --> 00:08:10,783 I've been trying to contact your husband for the past two weeks... 78 00:08:10,867 --> 00:08:13,995 but he's never in his office. Is there anything I can do? 79 00:08:14,078 --> 00:08:15,580 The insurance ran out on the 15th. 80 00:08:15,663 --> 00:08:17,790 I'd hate to think of your having a smashed fender... 81 00:08:17,874 --> 00:08:19,500 or something while you're not... 82 00:08:19,584 --> 00:08:20,835 fully covered. 83 00:08:22,044 --> 00:08:24,297 Perhaps I know what you mean, Mr. Neff. 84 00:08:24,380 --> 00:08:28,217 I've just been taking a sunbath. No pigeons around, I hope. 85 00:08:29,218 --> 00:08:32,346 About those policies, Mrs. Dietrichson, I hate to take up your time, but.... 86 00:08:32,430 --> 00:08:33,723 Oh, that's all right. 87 00:08:33,806 --> 00:08:36,309 If you'll wait till I put something on, I'll be right down. 88 00:08:36,392 --> 00:08:39,270 Nettie, show Mr. Neff into the living room. 89 00:08:41,939 --> 00:08:43,274 Where would the living room be? 90 00:08:43,357 --> 00:08:45,776 In there, but they keep the liquor locked up. 91 00:08:45,860 --> 00:08:48,863 It's all right. I always carry my own keys. 92 00:08:56,245 --> 00:08:57,872 (Walter) The living room was still stuffy... 93 00:08:57,955 --> 00:08:59,624 from last night's cigars. 94 00:09:00,499 --> 00:09:01,667 The windows were closed... 95 00:09:01,751 --> 00:09:03,753 and the sunshine coming in through the venetian blinds... 96 00:09:03,836 --> 00:09:06,088 showed up the dust in the air. 97 00:09:07,423 --> 00:09:11,052 On the piano, in a couple of fancy frames, were Mr. Dietrichson and Lola... 98 00:09:11,135 --> 00:09:13,346 his daughter by his first wife. 99 00:09:14,639 --> 00:09:16,849 They had a bowl of those little red goldfish... 100 00:09:16,933 --> 00:09:19,310 on the table behind the big davenport. 101 00:09:19,518 --> 00:09:20,728 But to tell you the truth, Keyes... 102 00:09:20,811 --> 00:09:23,856 I wasn't a whole lot interested in goldfish right then. 103 00:09:23,940 --> 00:09:27,902 Or in auto renewals, or in Mr. Dietrichson and his daughter Lola. 104 00:09:27,985 --> 00:09:31,864 I was thinking about that dame upstairs, and the way she had looked at me... 105 00:09:31,948 --> 00:09:34,617 and I wanted to see her again, close... 106 00:09:34,700 --> 00:09:37,453 without that silly staircase between us. 107 00:09:42,667 --> 00:09:45,127 I wasn't long, was I? (Walter) Not at all, Mrs. Dietrichson. 108 00:09:45,211 --> 00:09:48,714 Hope I've got my face on straight. It's perfect, for my money. 109 00:09:48,798 --> 00:09:50,216 Neff is the name, isn't it? Yeah. 110 00:09:50,299 --> 00:09:52,593 With two "F's," like in Philadelphia, if you know the story. 111 00:09:52,677 --> 00:09:55,221 What story? The Philadelphia Story. 112 00:09:55,471 --> 00:09:57,431 Suppose we sit down and you tell me about the insurance. 113 00:09:57,515 --> 00:10:00,017 My husband never tells me anything. 114 00:10:00,101 --> 00:10:03,479 Well, it's on your two cars, the LaSalle and the Plymouth. 115 00:10:04,939 --> 00:10:07,942 We've been handling this insurance for Mr. Dietrichson for three years... 116 00:10:08,025 --> 00:10:10,528 and we'd hate to see the policies lapse. 117 00:10:10,945 --> 00:10:14,740 That's a honey of an anklet you're wearing, Mrs. Dietrichson. 118 00:10:14,949 --> 00:10:17,451 As I was saying, we'd hate to see the policies lapse. 119 00:10:17,535 --> 00:10:20,329 Of course, we give them 30 days. That's all we're allowed to give. 120 00:10:20,413 --> 00:10:22,915 I guess he's been too busy down at Long Beach in the oil fields. 121 00:10:22,999 --> 00:10:25,167 Couldn't I catch him at home some evening for a few minutes? 122 00:10:25,251 --> 00:10:27,169 I suppose so. But he's never home much before 8:00. 123 00:10:27,253 --> 00:10:28,587 That's fine with me. 124 00:10:28,671 --> 00:10:30,673 You're not connected with the Automobile Club, are you? 125 00:10:30,756 --> 00:10:33,134 No, the All Risk, Mrs. Dietrichson. Why? 126 00:10:33,217 --> 00:10:36,178 Somebody from the Automobile Club has been trying to get him. 127 00:10:36,262 --> 00:10:39,098 Do they have a better rate? If your husband's a member. 128 00:10:39,181 --> 00:10:40,224 No, he isn't. 129 00:10:40,308 --> 00:10:43,477 Well, then he'd have to join the club and pay the membership fee to start with. 130 00:10:43,561 --> 00:10:46,230 I never knock the other fellow's merchandise, Mrs. Dietrichson. 131 00:10:46,314 --> 00:10:50,276 The Automobile Club's fine. I can do just as well for you, though. 132 00:10:50,359 --> 00:10:52,528 I have a very attractive policy here. 133 00:10:52,611 --> 00:10:55,281 It wouldn't take me two minutes to put it in front of your husband. 134 00:10:55,364 --> 00:10:57,908 For instance, we're writing a new kind of 50% retention feature... 135 00:10:57,992 --> 00:11:00,036 in the collision coverage. 136 00:11:00,578 --> 00:11:02,997 You're a smart insurance man, aren't you, Mr. Neff? 137 00:11:03,080 --> 00:11:05,624 Well, I've been at it 11 years. Doing pretty well? 138 00:11:05,708 --> 00:11:07,084 It's a living. 139 00:11:07,793 --> 00:11:11,339 You handle just automobile insurance, or all kinds? 140 00:11:11,422 --> 00:11:14,842 All kinds. Fire, earthquake, theft, public liability, group insurance... 141 00:11:14,925 --> 00:11:17,386 industrial stuff and so on, right down the line. 142 00:11:17,511 --> 00:11:18,763 Accident insurance? 143 00:11:18,846 --> 00:11:21,098 Accident insurance? Sure, Mrs. Dietrichson. 144 00:11:21,182 --> 00:11:22,183 [chuckles] 145 00:11:23,017 --> 00:11:26,228 Wish you'd tell me what's engraved on that anklet. 146 00:11:26,645 --> 00:11:29,190 Just my name. As, for instance? 147 00:11:30,775 --> 00:11:32,485 Phyllis. Phyllis, huh? 148 00:11:33,152 --> 00:11:35,946 I think I like that. But you're not sure? 149 00:11:36,030 --> 00:11:39,200 I'd have to drive it around the block a couple of times. 150 00:11:39,283 --> 00:11:41,994 Mr. Neff, why don't you drop by tomorrow evening around 8:30? 151 00:11:42,078 --> 00:11:43,913 He'll be in then. Who? 152 00:11:43,996 --> 00:11:47,208 My husband. You were anxious to talk to him, weren't you? 153 00:11:47,291 --> 00:11:50,211 Yeah, I was, but I'm sort of getting over the idea... 154 00:11:50,294 --> 00:11:51,629 if you know what I mean. 155 00:11:51,712 --> 00:11:55,132 There's a speed limit in this state, Mr. Neff. 45 miles an hour. 156 00:11:55,216 --> 00:11:58,469 How fast was I going, officer? I'd say around 90. 157 00:11:58,803 --> 00:12:01,180 Suppose you get down off your motorcycle and give me a ticket. 158 00:12:01,263 --> 00:12:03,474 Suppose I let you off with a warning this time. 159 00:12:03,557 --> 00:12:05,267 Suppose it doesn't take. 160 00:12:05,351 --> 00:12:07,728 Suppose I have to whack you over the knuckles. 161 00:12:07,812 --> 00:12:10,689 Suppose I bust out crying and put my head on your shoulder. 162 00:12:10,773 --> 00:12:13,901 Suppose you try putting it on my husband's shoulder. 163 00:12:13,984 --> 00:12:15,486 That tears it. 164 00:12:19,782 --> 00:12:23,119 8:30 tomorrow evening then. That's what I suggested. 165 00:12:23,202 --> 00:12:25,871 Will you be here, too? I guess so, I usually am. 166 00:12:25,996 --> 00:12:28,249 Same chair, same perfume, same anklet? 167 00:12:28,332 --> 00:12:30,376 I wonder if I know what you mean. 168 00:12:31,377 --> 00:12:33,295 I wonder if you wonder. 169 00:12:36,966 --> 00:12:39,343 (Walter) It was a hot afternoon and I can still remember... 170 00:12:39,427 --> 00:12:42,346 the smell of honeysuckle all along that street. 171 00:12:42,430 --> 00:12:46,642 How could I have known that murder can sometimes smell like honeysuckle? 172 00:12:46,725 --> 00:12:47,935 Maybe you would have known, Keyes... 173 00:12:48,018 --> 00:12:51,605 the minute she mentioned accident insurance, but I didn't. 174 00:12:51,689 --> 00:12:53,566 I felt like a million. 175 00:12:54,275 --> 00:12:57,528 I went back to the office to see if I had any mail. 176 00:12:57,778 --> 00:13:00,906 It was the day you had that truck driver from Inglewood on the carpet. 177 00:13:00,990 --> 00:13:02,283 Remember, Keyes? 178 00:13:02,366 --> 00:13:04,743 Mr. Neff, Mr. Keyes wants to see you. 179 00:13:04,827 --> 00:13:06,704 He's been yelling for you all afternoon. 180 00:13:06,787 --> 00:13:08,747 Is he sore, or just frothing at the mouth a little? 181 00:13:08,831 --> 00:13:10,875 Park this for me, will you, sweetheart? 182 00:13:15,504 --> 00:13:17,381 Hello, Walter. Hi, George. 183 00:13:19,467 --> 00:13:20,593 Come on. Come on, Garlopis. 184 00:13:20,676 --> 00:13:22,511 You're not kidding anybody with that line of bull. 185 00:13:22,595 --> 00:13:24,638 You're in a jam and you know it. Says you. 186 00:13:24,722 --> 00:13:26,974 All I want is my money. Says you. 187 00:13:27,057 --> 00:13:29,685 All you're gonna get is the cops. Hello, Walter. 188 00:13:29,810 --> 00:13:32,897 This is Sam Garlopis from Inglewood. Sure, I know Mr. Garlopis. 189 00:13:32,980 --> 00:13:35,900 Wrote a policy on his truck. How are you, Mr. Garlopis? 190 00:13:35,983 --> 00:13:40,237 I ain't so good. My truck burned down. Yeah. Now look, Garlopis. 191 00:13:41,030 --> 00:13:43,491 Every month hundreds of claims come to this desk. 192 00:13:43,574 --> 00:13:45,826 Some of them are phonies, and I know which ones. 193 00:13:45,910 --> 00:13:48,913 How do I know? Because my little man tells me. 194 00:13:50,164 --> 00:13:53,042 What little man? The little man in here. 195 00:13:53,250 --> 00:13:56,337 Every time one of these phonies comes along, it ties knots in my stomach. 196 00:13:56,420 --> 00:13:57,838 I can't eat. 197 00:13:57,922 --> 00:14:01,133 Yours is one of them, Garlopis. That's how I knew your claim was crooked. 198 00:14:01,217 --> 00:14:02,718 So what did I do? 199 00:14:02,801 --> 00:14:05,387 I sent a tow car over to your garage this afternoon... 200 00:14:05,471 --> 00:14:07,348 and they jacked up that burned-out truck of yours. 201 00:14:07,431 --> 00:14:08,933 And what did they find? 202 00:14:09,016 --> 00:14:12,311 They found what was left of a neat pile of shavings. 203 00:14:12,770 --> 00:14:13,938 What shavings? 204 00:14:14,021 --> 00:14:17,608 The ones you soaked with kerosene and dropped a match on. 205 00:14:18,859 --> 00:14:23,364 Look, Mister, I'm just a poor guy. Maybe I made a mistake. 206 00:14:23,614 --> 00:14:25,699 That's one way of putting it. 207 00:14:25,783 --> 00:14:28,035 I ain't feeling so good, Mr. Keyes. 208 00:14:28,118 --> 00:14:30,329 Here. Just a minute. Sign this and you'll feel fine. 209 00:14:30,412 --> 00:14:33,290 Sign what? It's a waiver on your claim. Right here. 210 00:14:34,500 --> 00:14:35,876 Here? Here. 211 00:14:39,463 --> 00:14:42,633 Now you're an honest man again. Goodbye, Garlopis. 212 00:14:42,716 --> 00:14:44,635 But I ain't got no more truck. 213 00:14:44,718 --> 00:14:47,096 $2,600 is lot of dough where I live. 214 00:14:47,179 --> 00:14:49,682 What's the matter, Garlopis, don't you know how to open the door? 215 00:14:49,765 --> 00:14:53,060 Just put your hand on the knob, turn it to the left. 216 00:14:53,936 --> 00:14:55,896 Now pull it toward you. 217 00:14:57,648 --> 00:15:00,651 That's the boy. Thank you, Mr. Keyes. 218 00:15:04,655 --> 00:15:06,282 What kind of an outfit is this, anyway? 219 00:15:06,365 --> 00:15:09,076 Are we an insurance company, or just a bunch of dimwitted amateurs... 220 00:15:09,159 --> 00:15:10,411 to write a policy on a mug like that? 221 00:15:10,494 --> 00:15:12,079 Now, wait a minute, Keyes. I don't rate this beef. 222 00:15:12,162 --> 00:15:13,747 I clipped a note to that Garlopis application... 223 00:15:13,831 --> 00:15:14,790 to have him thoroughly investigated... 224 00:15:14,873 --> 00:15:16,584 before we accepted the risk. I know you did, Walter. 225 00:15:16,667 --> 00:15:19,336 I'm not beefing at you. It's the company. It's the way they do things. 226 00:15:19,420 --> 00:15:20,504 The way they don't do things! 227 00:15:20,588 --> 00:15:23,299 The way they'll write anything just to get it down on the sales sheet. 228 00:15:23,382 --> 00:15:25,884 And I'm the guy that has to sit here up to my neck in phony claims... 229 00:15:25,968 --> 00:15:28,887 so they won't throw more money out the window than they take in at the door. 230 00:15:28,971 --> 00:15:30,764 Okay, turn the record over, let's hear the other side. 231 00:15:30,848 --> 00:15:34,184 Well, I get darn sick of trying to pick up after a gang of fast-talking salesmen... 232 00:15:34,268 --> 00:15:35,936 dumb enough to sell life insurance to a guy... 233 00:15:36,020 --> 00:15:37,896 who sleeps in the same bed with four rattlesnakes. 234 00:15:37,980 --> 00:15:40,566 Walter, I've had 26 years of this and let me tell you, I'm getting-- 235 00:15:40,649 --> 00:15:42,610 Yeah, and you've loved every minute of it, Keyes. 236 00:15:42,693 --> 00:15:46,488 You love it, only you worry about it too darn much, you and your little man. 237 00:15:46,572 --> 00:15:48,907 You're so darn conscientious, you're driving yourself crazy. 238 00:15:48,991 --> 00:15:51,702 You wouldn't even say today is Tuesday unless you looked at the calendar. 239 00:15:51,785 --> 00:15:54,371 Then you'd check to see if it was this year's or last year's calendar. 240 00:15:54,455 --> 00:15:55,831 Then you'd find out who printed the calendar... 241 00:15:55,914 --> 00:15:58,709 and find out if their calendar checked with the World Almanac's calendar. 242 00:15:58,792 --> 00:15:59,960 Now, that's enough from you, Walter. 243 00:16:00,044 --> 00:16:03,297 Now, get out of here before I throw my desk at you. 244 00:16:05,633 --> 00:16:06,634 [flicking match] 245 00:16:06,717 --> 00:16:08,344 I love you, too. 246 00:16:15,267 --> 00:16:17,311 (Walter) I really did, too, you old crab... 247 00:16:17,394 --> 00:16:20,689 always yelling your head off, always sore at everybody. 248 00:16:20,898 --> 00:16:24,526 But you never fooled me with your song and dance. Not for a second. 249 00:16:24,610 --> 00:16:27,071 I kind of always knew that behind the cigar ashes on your vest... 250 00:16:27,154 --> 00:16:29,573 you had a heart as big as a house. 251 00:16:30,115 --> 00:16:32,785 Back in my office there was a phone message from Mrs. Dietrichson... 252 00:16:32,868 --> 00:16:34,578 about the renewals. 253 00:16:34,953 --> 00:16:37,873 She didn't want me to come tomorrow evening. 254 00:16:38,040 --> 00:16:41,627 She wanted me to come Thursday afternoon at 3:30 instead. 255 00:16:42,086 --> 00:16:45,422 I had a lot of stuff lined up for that Thursday afternoon... 256 00:16:45,547 --> 00:16:47,466 including a trip down to Santa Monica... 257 00:16:47,549 --> 00:16:51,303 to see a couple of live prospects about some group insurance. 258 00:16:51,387 --> 00:16:54,473 But I kept thinking about Phyllis Dietrichson... 259 00:16:54,598 --> 00:16:57,768 and the way that anklet of hers cut into her leg. 260 00:17:04,525 --> 00:17:07,194 Hello, Mr. Neff. Aren't you coming in? 261 00:17:08,112 --> 00:17:09,822 I'm considering it. 262 00:17:11,782 --> 00:17:13,992 I hope you didn't mind my changing the appointment. 263 00:17:14,118 --> 00:17:17,037 Last night wasn't so convenient. That's all right. 264 00:17:17,121 --> 00:17:19,206 I was working on my stamp collection anyway. 265 00:17:19,289 --> 00:17:21,458 I was just fixing some iced tea. Would you like a glass? 266 00:17:21,542 --> 00:17:23,794 Yeah, unless you've got a bottle of beer that's not working. 267 00:17:23,877 --> 00:17:26,463 There may be some. I never know what's in the icebox. 268 00:17:26,588 --> 00:17:27,756 Nettie. 269 00:17:31,802 --> 00:17:35,305 About those renewals, Mr. Neff. I talked to my husband about it. 270 00:17:35,431 --> 00:17:38,142 Oh, you did? Yes. He'll renew with you, he told me so. 271 00:17:38,225 --> 00:17:40,769 As a matter of fact, I thought he'd be here this afternoon. 272 00:17:40,853 --> 00:17:42,020 But he's not? No. 273 00:17:42,104 --> 00:17:43,105 [chuckles] 274 00:17:43,188 --> 00:17:44,815 That's terrible. 275 00:17:45,441 --> 00:17:47,443 Nettie! 276 00:17:48,193 --> 00:17:50,821 Oh, I forgot, today's the maid's day off. 277 00:17:51,864 --> 00:17:54,742 Never mind the beer. Iced tea will be fine. 278 00:17:54,825 --> 00:17:57,161 Lemon? Sugar? Fix it your way. 279 00:17:58,829 --> 00:18:02,416 As long as it's the maid's day off, maybe there's something I can do for you. 280 00:18:02,499 --> 00:18:05,669 Like running the vacuum cleaner. Fresh. 281 00:18:06,128 --> 00:18:08,505 I used to peddle vacuum cleaners. 282 00:18:08,589 --> 00:18:10,507 Not much money, but you learn a lot about life. 283 00:18:10,591 --> 00:18:14,303 I didn't think you'd learned it from a correspondence course. 284 00:18:15,846 --> 00:18:18,056 Where'd you pick up this tea drinking? 285 00:18:18,140 --> 00:18:20,309 You're not English, are you? No. Californian. 286 00:18:20,392 --> 00:18:22,436 Born right here in Los Angeles. 287 00:18:22,519 --> 00:18:25,647 They say all native Californians come from Iowa. 288 00:18:26,732 --> 00:18:29,234 Mr. Neff, I-- Make it Walter, huh? 289 00:18:29,318 --> 00:18:31,195 Walter. That's right. 290 00:18:31,570 --> 00:18:35,949 Tell me, Walter, on this insurance, how much commission do you make? 291 00:18:36,158 --> 00:18:37,618 Twenty percent. Why? 292 00:18:37,701 --> 00:18:40,245 I thought perhaps I could throw a little more business your way. 293 00:18:40,370 --> 00:18:42,956 I can always use it. I was thinking about my husband. 294 00:18:43,040 --> 00:18:45,459 I worry a lot about him down in those oil fields. 295 00:18:45,542 --> 00:18:47,795 It's very dangerous. Not for an executive, is it? 296 00:18:47,878 --> 00:18:49,296 He doesn't just sit behind a desk. 297 00:18:49,379 --> 00:18:51,632 He's right down there with those drilling crews. 298 00:18:51,715 --> 00:18:52,966 It's got me worried sick. 299 00:18:53,050 --> 00:18:55,344 You mean, some dark night a crown block might fall on him? 300 00:18:55,427 --> 00:18:57,888 Please don't talk like that. But that's the idea. 301 00:18:57,971 --> 00:19:00,933 The other day a casing line snapped and caught the foreman. 302 00:19:01,058 --> 00:19:03,811 He's in the hospital with a broken back. That's bad. 303 00:19:03,894 --> 00:19:06,396 It's got me jittery just thinking about it. 304 00:19:06,480 --> 00:19:08,690 Suppose something like that happened to my husband. 305 00:19:08,774 --> 00:19:10,484 It could. Well... 306 00:19:11,860 --> 00:19:15,155 don't you think he ought to have accident insurance? Mmm-hmm. 307 00:19:16,198 --> 00:19:18,492 What kind of insurance could he have? 308 00:19:18,575 --> 00:19:20,828 Enough to cover doctors and hospital bills. 309 00:19:20,911 --> 00:19:22,955 Say $125 a week cash benefit. 310 00:19:23,038 --> 00:19:25,415 And he'd rate around $50,000 capital sum. 311 00:19:25,499 --> 00:19:28,752 Capital sum? What's that? In case he gets killed. 312 00:19:29,586 --> 00:19:31,964 Maybe I shouldn't have said that. 313 00:19:32,047 --> 00:19:34,383 I suppose you have to think of everything in your business. 314 00:19:34,466 --> 00:19:35,843 Well, your husband would understand. 315 00:19:35,926 --> 00:19:38,720 I'm sure I could sell him on the idea of some accident protection. 316 00:19:38,804 --> 00:19:40,347 Why don't I talk to him about it? 317 00:19:40,430 --> 00:19:42,599 You could try, but he's pretty tough-going. 318 00:19:42,683 --> 00:19:44,768 They're all tough at first. 319 00:19:45,602 --> 00:19:46,812 He has a lot on his mind. 320 00:19:46,895 --> 00:19:48,605 He doesn't seem to want to listen to anything... 321 00:19:48,689 --> 00:19:51,525 except maybe a baseball game on the radio. 322 00:19:51,859 --> 00:19:55,779 Sometimes we sit here all evening and never say a word to each other. 323 00:19:55,904 --> 00:19:59,533 (Walter) Sounds pretty dull. So, I just sit and knit. 324 00:20:00,909 --> 00:20:02,202 Is that what you married him for? 325 00:20:02,286 --> 00:20:05,455 Maybe I like the way his thumbs hold up the wool. 326 00:20:05,956 --> 00:20:08,208 Anytime his thumbs get tired.... 327 00:20:08,292 --> 00:20:10,627 Only, with me around, you wouldn't have to knit. 328 00:20:10,711 --> 00:20:12,796 Wouldn't I? You bet your life, you wouldn't. 329 00:20:15,883 --> 00:20:19,303 Wonder if a little rum would get this up on its feet. 330 00:20:21,388 --> 00:20:23,932 I want to ask you something, Walter. 331 00:20:26,143 --> 00:20:29,730 Could I get an accident policy for him without bothering him at all? 332 00:20:29,813 --> 00:20:30,856 How's that, again? 333 00:20:30,939 --> 00:20:33,901 It would make it easier for you, too. You wouldn't even have to talk to him. 334 00:20:33,984 --> 00:20:35,485 I have a little allowance of my own. 335 00:20:35,569 --> 00:20:38,780 I could pay for it and he needn't know anything about it. 336 00:20:41,199 --> 00:20:42,409 Why shouldn't he know? 337 00:20:42,492 --> 00:20:44,870 Because he doesn't want accident insurance. 338 00:20:44,953 --> 00:20:48,874 He's superstitious about it. A lot of people are. That's funny, isn't it? 339 00:20:48,957 --> 00:20:53,128 If there was a way to get it like that, all the worry would be over. 340 00:20:54,046 --> 00:20:57,132 See what I mean, Walter? Sure. I got good eyesight. 341 00:20:57,215 --> 00:20:59,927 You mean you want him to have the policy without him knowing it. 342 00:21:00,010 --> 00:21:03,013 And that means without the insurance company knowing that he doesn't know it. 343 00:21:03,138 --> 00:21:05,933 That's the setup, isn't it? Is there anything wrong with it? 344 00:21:06,016 --> 00:21:07,309 No, I think it's lovely. 345 00:21:07,392 --> 00:21:09,811 Then, if some dark, wet night, that crown block did fall on him-- 346 00:21:09,895 --> 00:21:10,938 What crown block? 347 00:21:11,021 --> 00:21:14,107 Only sometimes it can't quite make it on its own, it has to have a little help. 348 00:21:14,191 --> 00:21:15,525 I don't know what you're talking about. 349 00:21:15,609 --> 00:21:17,027 Of course, it doesn't have to be a crown block. 350 00:21:17,110 --> 00:21:20,197 It can be a car backing over him, or he could fall out of the upstairs window. 351 00:21:20,280 --> 00:21:22,366 Any little thing like that, just so it's a morgue job. 352 00:21:22,449 --> 00:21:24,701 Are you crazy? Not that crazy. 353 00:21:26,745 --> 00:21:28,497 Goodbye, Mrs. Dietrichson. What's the matter? 354 00:21:30,832 --> 00:21:33,460 Look, baby, you can't get away with it. 355 00:21:35,337 --> 00:21:36,922 You want to knock him off, don't you? 356 00:21:37,005 --> 00:21:38,465 That's a horrible thing to say. 357 00:21:38,548 --> 00:21:39,800 What'd you think I was, anyway? 358 00:21:39,883 --> 00:21:42,260 A guy that walks into a good looking dame's front parlor and says: 359 00:21:42,344 --> 00:21:44,304 "Good afternoon, I sell accident insurance on husbands. 360 00:21:44,388 --> 00:21:45,639 "You got one that's been around too long? 361 00:21:45,722 --> 00:21:47,349 "One you'd like to turn into a little hard cash? 362 00:21:47,432 --> 00:21:49,309 "Just give me a smile and I'll help you collect." 363 00:21:49,393 --> 00:21:53,063 Boy, what a dope you must think I am. I think you're rotten. 364 00:21:53,146 --> 00:21:55,315 I think you're swell, so long as I'm not your husband. 365 00:21:55,399 --> 00:21:58,318 Get out of here. You bet I'll get out of here, baby. 366 00:21:58,402 --> 00:22:00,612 I'll get out of here, but quick. 367 00:22:10,580 --> 00:22:13,000 (Walter) So I let her have it straight between the eyes. 368 00:22:13,083 --> 00:22:15,627 She didn't fool me for a minute, not this time. 369 00:22:15,877 --> 00:22:17,337 I knew I had hold of a red-hot poker... 370 00:22:17,421 --> 00:22:20,132 and the time to drop it was before it burned my hand off. 371 00:22:20,882 --> 00:22:24,761 I stopped at a drive-in for a bottle of beer, the one I had wanted all along... 372 00:22:24,845 --> 00:22:28,682 only I wanted it worse now, to get rid of the sour taste of her iced tea... 373 00:22:28,765 --> 00:22:30,684 and everything that went with it. 374 00:22:30,767 --> 00:22:33,937 I didn't want to go back to the office so I dropped by a bowling alley... 375 00:22:34,021 --> 00:22:36,523 at Third and Western and rolled a few lines... 376 00:22:36,606 --> 00:22:39,735 to get my mind thinking about something else for a while. 377 00:22:40,569 --> 00:22:44,781 I didn't feel like eating dinner when I left, and I didn't feel like a show. 378 00:22:44,865 --> 00:22:48,285 So, I drove home, put the car away and went up to my apartment. 379 00:22:50,120 --> 00:22:52,497 It had begun to rain outside and I watched it get dark... 380 00:22:52,581 --> 00:22:54,624 and didn't even turn on the light. 381 00:22:55,042 --> 00:22:56,501 That didn't help me either. 382 00:22:57,085 --> 00:22:58,378 I was all twisted up inside... 383 00:22:58,462 --> 00:23:01,298 and I was still holding on to that red-hot poker. 384 00:23:01,673 --> 00:23:05,469 And right then it came over me that I hadn't walked out on anything at all. 385 00:23:05,635 --> 00:23:07,971 That the hook was too strong... 386 00:23:08,055 --> 00:23:10,640 that this wasn't the end between her and me. 387 00:23:10,766 --> 00:23:12,350 It was only the beginning. 388 00:23:12,434 --> 00:23:13,435 [doorbell ringing] 389 00:23:13,518 --> 00:23:17,856 So at 8:00 the bell would ring and I'd know who it was without even having to think. 390 00:23:18,190 --> 00:23:20,859 As if it was the most natural thing in the world. 391 00:23:24,613 --> 00:23:27,574 Hello. You forgot your hat this afternoon. 392 00:23:28,366 --> 00:23:30,994 Did I? Don't you want me to bring it in? 393 00:23:31,703 --> 00:23:32,829 Sure. 394 00:23:34,664 --> 00:23:36,333 Put it on the chair. 395 00:23:45,050 --> 00:23:47,511 How'd you know where I live? It's in the phone book. 396 00:23:48,386 --> 00:23:50,138 It's raining. Yeah. 397 00:23:51,181 --> 00:23:53,058 Peel off your coat and sit down. 398 00:23:56,186 --> 00:23:57,229 Your husband out? 399 00:23:57,312 --> 00:23:59,272 Yes. Long Beach. They're spudding in a new well. 400 00:23:59,356 --> 00:24:01,525 He phoned he'd be late. About 9:30. 401 00:24:02,692 --> 00:24:04,903 It's about time you said you were glad to see me. 402 00:24:04,986 --> 00:24:06,404 I knew you wouldn't leave it like that. 403 00:24:06,488 --> 00:24:09,449 Like what? Like it was this afternoon. 404 00:24:09,533 --> 00:24:12,828 I must have said something that gave you a terribly wrong impression. 405 00:24:12,911 --> 00:24:15,789 You must never think anything like that about me, Walter. 406 00:24:15,872 --> 00:24:17,124 Okay. No, it's not okay. 407 00:24:17,207 --> 00:24:20,043 Not if you don't believe me. What do you want me to do? 408 00:24:21,044 --> 00:24:22,754 I want you to be nice to me. 409 00:24:23,547 --> 00:24:26,049 Like the first time you came to the house. 410 00:24:26,133 --> 00:24:28,343 It can't be like the first time. 411 00:24:28,426 --> 00:24:31,221 Something's happened. I know it has. 412 00:24:32,055 --> 00:24:33,807 It's happened to us. 413 00:24:36,351 --> 00:24:40,355 I feel as if he was watching me. Not that he cares. Not anymore. 414 00:24:41,731 --> 00:24:44,651 He keeps me on a leash so tight I can't breathe. 415 00:24:44,734 --> 00:24:47,237 He's in Long Beach, isn't he? Relax. 416 00:24:47,612 --> 00:24:49,656 Maybe I oughtn't to have come. 417 00:24:49,739 --> 00:24:52,409 Maybe you oughtn't. You want me to go? 418 00:24:52,492 --> 00:24:54,786 If you want to. Right now? 419 00:24:54,870 --> 00:24:56,163 Sure, right now. 420 00:25:10,677 --> 00:25:12,095 [Walter sighing] 421 00:25:12,429 --> 00:25:15,682 I'm crazy about you, baby. I'm crazy about you, Walter. 422 00:25:15,932 --> 00:25:18,476 That perfume on your hair. What's the name of it? 423 00:25:18,935 --> 00:25:21,521 I don't know. I bought it in Ensenada. 424 00:25:22,606 --> 00:25:24,774 You ought to have some of that pink wine to go with it. 425 00:25:24,858 --> 00:25:27,777 The kind that bubbles. All I got is bourbon. 426 00:25:28,945 --> 00:25:30,780 Bourbon is fine, Walter. 427 00:25:37,829 --> 00:25:39,706 Get a couple of glasses, will you? 428 00:25:47,339 --> 00:25:49,299 Club soda? Plain water, please. 429 00:25:50,967 --> 00:25:54,137 You know, about six months ago a guy slipped on a cake of soap in his bathtub... 430 00:25:54,221 --> 00:25:56,556 and knocked himself cold and was drowned. 431 00:25:57,015 --> 00:25:58,975 Only he had accident insurance. 432 00:25:59,059 --> 00:26:01,561 So they had an autopsy and she didn't get away with it. 433 00:26:01,645 --> 00:26:03,772 Who didn't? His wife. 434 00:26:05,857 --> 00:26:08,318 Then there was a case of a guy who was found shot. 435 00:26:08,443 --> 00:26:11,655 His wife said he was cleaning a gun and his stomach got in the way. 436 00:26:12,322 --> 00:26:15,325 All she collected was a three-to-ten stretch in Tehachapi. 437 00:26:16,159 --> 00:26:18,203 Perhaps it was worth it to her. 438 00:26:20,455 --> 00:26:23,041 See if you can carry that as far as the living room. 439 00:26:26,920 --> 00:26:30,006 It's nice here, Walter. Who takes care of it for you? 440 00:26:30,090 --> 00:26:32,634 A colored woman comes in a couple of times a week. 441 00:26:32,759 --> 00:26:35,804 Cook your own breakfast? Squeeze a grapefruit once in a while. 442 00:26:35,929 --> 00:26:38,807 Get the rest down at the corner drugstore. Sounds wonderful. 443 00:26:38,890 --> 00:26:40,642 Just strangers beside you. 444 00:26:41,059 --> 00:26:43,395 You don't know them and you don't hate them. 445 00:26:43,561 --> 00:26:45,105 You don't have to sit across the table... 446 00:26:45,188 --> 00:26:48,358 and smile at him and that daughter of his every morning of your life. 447 00:26:48,441 --> 00:26:51,695 What daughter? You mean the little girl on the piano? 448 00:26:52,070 --> 00:26:53,780 Lola. She lives with us. 449 00:26:53,863 --> 00:26:56,408 He thinks a lot more of her than he does of me. 450 00:26:56,825 --> 00:26:59,202 You ever think of a divorce? He wouldn't give me a divorce. 451 00:26:59,286 --> 00:27:00,704 I suppose because it'd cost him too much money. 452 00:27:00,787 --> 00:27:03,331 He hasn't got any money. Not since he went into the oil business. 453 00:27:03,415 --> 00:27:05,208 But he had when you married him? 454 00:27:05,709 --> 00:27:09,796 Yes, he had. And I wanted a home. Why not? 455 00:27:10,964 --> 00:27:14,259 But that's not the only reason. I was his wife's nurse. 456 00:27:14,342 --> 00:27:17,929 She was sick a long time. When she died, he was terribly broken up. 457 00:27:19,389 --> 00:27:21,474 I pitied him so. And now you hate him. 458 00:27:21,683 --> 00:27:24,436 Yes, Walter. He's so mean to me. 459 00:27:24,811 --> 00:27:27,480 Every time I buy a dress or a pair of shoes he yells his head off. 460 00:27:27,564 --> 00:27:29,274 He never lets me go anywhere. He keeps me shut up. 461 00:27:29,357 --> 00:27:31,067 He's always been mean to me. 462 00:27:31,359 --> 00:27:35,030 Even his life insurance all goes to that daughter of his. 463 00:27:35,822 --> 00:27:38,241 That Lola. Nothing for you at all? 464 00:27:38,325 --> 00:27:40,744 No. And nothing is just what I'm worth to him. 465 00:27:41,786 --> 00:27:45,206 So you lie awake in the dark and listen to him snore and get ideas. 466 00:27:45,832 --> 00:27:48,251 Walter, I don't want to kill him. I never did. 467 00:27:49,085 --> 00:27:51,671 Not even when he gets drunk and slaps my face. 468 00:27:54,549 --> 00:27:57,552 Only sometimes you wish he was dead. Perhaps I do. 469 00:27:57,635 --> 00:28:01,389 Then you wish it was an accident, and you had that policy for $50,000. 470 00:28:01,848 --> 00:28:03,975 Is that it? Perhaps that, too. 471 00:28:06,144 --> 00:28:09,272 The other night we drove home from a party. He was drunk again. 472 00:28:09,606 --> 00:28:13,151 When we drove into the garage, he just sat there with his head on the steering wheel... 473 00:28:13,234 --> 00:28:14,944 and the motor still running. 474 00:28:15,445 --> 00:28:19,032 And I thought what it would be like if I didn't switch it off... 475 00:28:19,866 --> 00:28:22,452 just closed the garage doors and left him there. 476 00:28:22,535 --> 00:28:23,703 I'll tell you what it'd be like. 477 00:28:23,787 --> 00:28:26,373 If you had that accident policy and tried to pull a monoxide job.... 478 00:28:26,456 --> 00:28:28,541 We've got a guy in our office named Keyes. 479 00:28:28,625 --> 00:28:31,628 For him a setup like that'd be just like a slice of rare roast beef. 480 00:28:31,711 --> 00:28:33,505 In three minutes he'd know it wasn't an accident. 481 00:28:33,588 --> 00:28:35,673 In 10 minutes you'd be sitting under the hot lights. 482 00:28:35,757 --> 00:28:37,884 In a half-hour you'd be signing your name to a confession. 483 00:28:37,967 --> 00:28:39,803 But, Walter, I didn't do it and I'm not going to do it. 484 00:28:39,886 --> 00:28:42,138 Not if there's an insurance company in the picture, baby. 485 00:28:42,222 --> 00:28:44,307 They know more tricks than a carload of monkeys. 486 00:28:44,391 --> 00:28:46,893 And if there's a death mixed up in it, you haven't got a prayer. 487 00:28:46,976 --> 00:28:50,021 They'll hang you just as sure as ten dimes will buy a dollar. 488 00:28:50,355 --> 00:28:52,399 And I don't want you to hang, baby. 489 00:28:55,402 --> 00:28:57,362 Stop thinking about it, will you? 490 00:29:00,907 --> 00:29:02,617 (Walter) So we just sat there. 491 00:29:02,992 --> 00:29:07,038 She started crying softly, like the rain on the window, and we didn't say anything. 492 00:29:07,330 --> 00:29:10,125 Maybe she had stopped thinking about it, but I hadn't. 493 00:29:10,375 --> 00:29:11,418 I couldn't. 494 00:29:11,501 --> 00:29:14,921 Because it all tied up with something I'd been thinking about for years. 495 00:29:15,004 --> 00:29:17,715 Since long before I ever ran into Phyllis Dietrichson. 496 00:29:18,675 --> 00:29:20,677 Because you know how it is, Keyes. 497 00:29:21,177 --> 00:29:22,345 In this business you can't sleep... 498 00:29:22,429 --> 00:29:25,265 for trying to figure out all the tricks they could pull on you. 499 00:29:25,348 --> 00:29:26,766 You're like the guy behind the roulette wheel... 500 00:29:26,850 --> 00:29:30,186 watching the customers to make sure they don't crook the house. 501 00:29:30,687 --> 00:29:33,898 And then one night, you get to thinking how you could crook the house yourself. 502 00:29:33,982 --> 00:29:35,483 And do it smart. 503 00:29:35,567 --> 00:29:37,652 Because you've got that wheel right under your hands. 504 00:29:37,735 --> 00:29:39,863 You know every notch in it by heart. 505 00:29:40,113 --> 00:29:42,657 And you figure all you need is a plant out front. 506 00:29:42,991 --> 00:29:44,784 A shill to put down the bet. 507 00:29:45,827 --> 00:29:46,953 And suddenly the doorbell rings... 508 00:29:47,036 --> 00:29:49,456 and the whole setup is right there in the room with you. 509 00:29:53,293 --> 00:29:56,379 Look, Keyes, I'm not trying to whitewash myself. 510 00:29:57,380 --> 00:30:00,842 I fought it, only I guess I didn't fight it hard enough. 511 00:30:02,427 --> 00:30:06,139 The stakes were $50,000, but they were the life of a man, too. 512 00:30:07,056 --> 00:30:09,517 A man who'd never done me any dirt, except... 513 00:30:10,226 --> 00:30:12,812 he was married to a woman he didn't care anything about. 514 00:30:14,397 --> 00:30:15,565 And I did. 515 00:30:27,785 --> 00:30:30,747 Will you phone me? Walter? 516 00:30:33,625 --> 00:30:36,419 I hate him. I loathe going back to him. 517 00:30:36,586 --> 00:30:39,422 You believe me, don't you, Walter? Sure I believe you. 518 00:30:42,258 --> 00:30:45,386 I can't stand it anymore. What if they did hang me? 519 00:30:45,470 --> 00:30:47,805 They're not going to hang you, baby. 520 00:30:47,889 --> 00:30:49,432 It's better than going on this way. 521 00:30:49,516 --> 00:30:50,683 They're not gonna hang you because... 522 00:30:50,767 --> 00:30:52,519 you're gonna do it and I'm gonna help you. 523 00:30:52,602 --> 00:30:55,313 Do you know what you're saying? Sure, I know what I'm saying. 524 00:30:55,396 --> 00:30:56,898 We're gonna do it and we're gonna do it right. 525 00:30:56,940 --> 00:31:00,068 And I'm the guy that knows how. Walter, you're hurting me. 526 00:31:00,151 --> 00:31:03,154 There's not going to be any slip-up. Nothing sloppy. Nothing weak. 527 00:31:03,238 --> 00:31:04,656 It's got to be perfect. 528 00:31:17,502 --> 00:31:20,046 Call me tomorrow. But not from your house. From a booth. 529 00:31:20,129 --> 00:31:21,965 And watch your step every single minute. 530 00:31:22,048 --> 00:31:25,176 This has got to be perfect, you understand? Straight down the line. 531 00:31:25,885 --> 00:31:28,429 Straight down the line. 532 00:31:55,707 --> 00:31:57,542 [rain pattering] 533 00:32:00,378 --> 00:32:02,130 [car engine starts] 534 00:32:04,382 --> 00:32:06,175 [car driving away] 535 00:32:10,972 --> 00:32:12,640 (Walter) That was it, Keyes. 536 00:32:12,724 --> 00:32:15,768 The machinery had started to move and nothing could stop it. 537 00:32:16,477 --> 00:32:19,939 The first thing we had to do was fix him up with that accident policy. 538 00:32:20,356 --> 00:32:24,152 I knew he wouldn't buy, but all I wanted was his signature on an application. 539 00:32:24,694 --> 00:32:27,697 So I had to get him to sign without his knowing what he was signing. 540 00:32:28,948 --> 00:32:32,785 And I wanted another witness besides Phyllis to hear me give him a sales talk. 541 00:32:33,536 --> 00:32:35,288 I was trying to think with your brains, Keyes... 542 00:32:35,371 --> 00:32:37,457 because I wanted all the answers ready... 543 00:32:37,540 --> 00:32:42,045 for all the questions you were gonna spring as soon as Dietrichson was dead. 544 00:32:42,295 --> 00:32:44,589 A couple of nights later I went to the house. 545 00:32:45,381 --> 00:32:49,427 Everything looked fine, except I didn't like the witness Phyllis had brought in. 546 00:32:49,886 --> 00:32:52,013 It was Dietrichson's daughter, Lola. 547 00:32:52,972 --> 00:32:55,558 And it made me feel a little queer in the belly... 548 00:32:55,642 --> 00:32:58,728 to have her sitting right there in the room, playing Chinese checkers... 549 00:32:59,771 --> 00:33:01,439 as if nothing were going to happen. 550 00:33:03,316 --> 00:33:04,942 (Walter) I suppose you realize, Mr. Dietrichson... 551 00:33:05,026 --> 00:33:06,319 that, not being an employee... 552 00:33:06,402 --> 00:33:08,655 you are not covered by the State Compensation Insurance Act. 553 00:33:08,738 --> 00:33:12,033 The only way you can protect yourself is by having a personal policy of your own. 554 00:33:12,116 --> 00:33:13,284 Yeah, I know all about that. 555 00:33:13,368 --> 00:33:14,827 The next thing you'll tell me I need... 556 00:33:14,911 --> 00:33:18,414 earthquake insurance and lightning insurance and hail insurance. 557 00:33:18,498 --> 00:33:20,208 If we bought all the insurance they can think up... 558 00:33:20,291 --> 00:33:22,085 we'd stay broke paying for it, wouldn't we, honey? 559 00:33:22,168 --> 00:33:26,005 What keeps us broke is you going out and buying five hats at a crack. 560 00:33:26,089 --> 00:33:27,799 Who needs a hat in California? 561 00:33:27,882 --> 00:33:29,550 Dollar for dollar, Mr. Dietrichson... 562 00:33:29,634 --> 00:33:32,053 accident insurance is the cheapest coverage you can buy. 563 00:33:32,136 --> 00:33:35,014 Well, maybe some other time, Mr. Neff. I had a tough day. 564 00:33:35,098 --> 00:33:36,182 Just as you say. 565 00:33:36,265 --> 00:33:39,060 Suppose we just settle that automobile insurance tonight. 566 00:33:39,143 --> 00:33:40,353 Sure. 567 00:33:40,603 --> 00:33:43,981 All we'll need on that is for you to sign the application for renewal. 568 00:33:44,107 --> 00:33:45,942 Phyllis, do you mind if we don't finish this game? 569 00:33:46,025 --> 00:33:48,361 It bores me stiff. Got something better to do? 570 00:33:48,444 --> 00:33:49,737 Yes, I have. 571 00:33:50,988 --> 00:33:52,782 Father, is it all right if I run along now? 572 00:33:52,907 --> 00:33:56,035 Run along where? Who with? Just Anne. We're going roller-skating. 573 00:33:56,119 --> 00:33:57,870 Anne who? Anne Matthews. 574 00:33:57,954 --> 00:33:59,872 It's not that Nino Zachetti again, is it? 575 00:33:59,956 --> 00:34:01,374 It better not be that Zachetti guy. 576 00:34:01,457 --> 00:34:02,667 If I ever catch you with that-- 577 00:34:02,750 --> 00:34:04,085 It's Anne Matthews, I told you. 578 00:34:04,168 --> 00:34:06,254 And I also told you we're going roller-skating. 579 00:34:06,337 --> 00:34:09,424 I'm meeting her at the corner of Vermont and Franklin, the northwest corner... 580 00:34:09,507 --> 00:34:11,968 in case you're interested, and I'm late already. 581 00:34:12,051 --> 00:34:14,637 I hope that's all quite clear. Good night, Father. 582 00:34:14,804 --> 00:34:17,056 Good night, Phyllis. Good night, Miss Dietrichson. 583 00:34:17,140 --> 00:34:19,100 I'm sorry. Good night, Mr.... Neff. 584 00:34:19,183 --> 00:34:20,852 Good night, Mr. Neff. 585 00:34:23,896 --> 00:34:25,857 A great little fighter for her weight. 586 00:34:27,275 --> 00:34:29,360 Now, if you'll just sign these, Mr. Dietrichson. 587 00:34:29,444 --> 00:34:31,821 Sign what? The applications for the auto renewals. 588 00:34:31,904 --> 00:34:33,865 So you'll be covered until the new policies are issued. 589 00:34:33,948 --> 00:34:35,616 When will that be? About a week. 590 00:34:35,700 --> 00:34:37,618 Just so I'm covered when I drive up north. 591 00:34:37,702 --> 00:34:39,537 San Francisco? Palo Alto. 592 00:34:39,620 --> 00:34:41,330 He was a Stanford man, Mr. Neff. 593 00:34:41,414 --> 00:34:43,833 And he still goes to his class reunion every year. 594 00:34:43,916 --> 00:34:47,462 What's wrong with that? Can't I have a little fun, even once a year? 595 00:34:47,545 --> 00:34:49,172 Great football school, Stanford. 596 00:34:49,297 --> 00:34:51,257 Did you play football, Mr. Dietrichson? Left guard. 597 00:34:51,340 --> 00:34:52,967 Almost made the varsity, too. Where do I sign? 598 00:34:53,050 --> 00:34:54,385 The bottom line. 599 00:34:59,015 --> 00:35:01,058 Both copies, please. Sign twice, huh? 600 00:35:01,142 --> 00:35:02,393 Yes. One is the agent's copy. 601 00:35:02,518 --> 00:35:06,481 I need it for my files. Files. Duplicates. Triplicates. 602 00:35:12,195 --> 00:35:13,654 Thank you, Mr. Dietrichson. 603 00:35:13,738 --> 00:35:16,574 Don't worry about the check, I can pick it up at your office some morning. 604 00:35:16,657 --> 00:35:18,868 How much you taking me for? $147.50. 605 00:35:18,951 --> 00:35:21,621 I think that's enough insurance for one evening, Mr. Neff. 606 00:35:21,704 --> 00:35:22,914 Plenty. 607 00:35:26,834 --> 00:35:29,462 Bring me some soda when you come up, Phyllis. Good night, Mr. Neff. 608 00:35:29,545 --> 00:35:30,588 Good night, Mr. Dietrichson. 609 00:35:30,671 --> 00:35:33,257 I think you left your hat in the hall, Mr. Neff. 610 00:35:48,773 --> 00:35:50,566 Good night, Mr. Neff. 611 00:35:53,236 --> 00:35:54,445 All right, Walter? Fine. 612 00:35:54,529 --> 00:35:56,405 He signed it, didn't he? Sure he signed it. You saw him. 613 00:35:56,489 --> 00:35:58,407 Now, listen. That trip to Palo Alto. When does he leave? 614 00:35:58,491 --> 00:35:59,492 End of the month. 615 00:35:59,575 --> 00:36:00,535 He drives, huh? He always drives. 616 00:36:00,618 --> 00:36:02,245 Not this time. You're gonna make him take the train. 617 00:36:02,328 --> 00:36:03,871 Why? Because it's all worked out for a train. 618 00:36:03,955 --> 00:36:06,332 Listen, baby. There's a clause in every accident policy... 619 00:36:06,415 --> 00:36:08,251 a little thing called double indemnity. 620 00:36:08,334 --> 00:36:11,212 The insurance companies put it in as a sort of come-on for the customers. 621 00:36:11,295 --> 00:36:13,464 That means they pay double on certain accidents. 622 00:36:13,548 --> 00:36:15,174 The kind that almost never happen. 623 00:36:15,258 --> 00:36:17,718 Like for instance, if a guy is killed on the train... 624 00:36:17,802 --> 00:36:20,221 they pay $100,000 instead of $50,000. 625 00:36:20,304 --> 00:36:22,723 I see. We're hitting it for the limit, baby. 626 00:36:22,807 --> 00:36:25,351 That's why it's got to be the train. 627 00:36:26,644 --> 00:36:29,480 It'll be the train, Walter. Just the way you want it. 628 00:36:29,564 --> 00:36:31,440 Straight down the line. 629 00:36:50,835 --> 00:36:52,461 (Lola) Hello, Mr. Neff. 630 00:36:53,838 --> 00:36:55,089 It's me. 631 00:36:55,798 --> 00:36:58,175 Is anything wrong? I've been waiting for you. 632 00:36:58,259 --> 00:36:59,343 For me? Why? 633 00:36:59,427 --> 00:37:02,722 I thought you could let me ride with you, if you're going my way. 634 00:37:07,852 --> 00:37:11,314 Which way would that be? Down the hill. Down Vermont. 635 00:37:11,397 --> 00:37:14,400 Sure. Vermont and Franklin. Northwest corner, wasn't it? 636 00:37:14,483 --> 00:37:15,818 Be glad to, Miss Dietrichson. 637 00:37:20,239 --> 00:37:22,199 Going roller-skating, huh? 638 00:37:22,325 --> 00:37:25,703 You like roller-skating? I can take it or leave it. 639 00:37:26,871 --> 00:37:29,790 Only tonight you're leaving it? Yes, I am. 640 00:37:31,167 --> 00:37:33,794 I'm having a very tough time at home. 641 00:37:33,878 --> 00:37:37,256 My father doesn't understand me and Phyllis hates me. 642 00:37:37,673 --> 00:37:41,218 Sounds tough, all right. That's why I have to lie sometimes. 643 00:37:41,302 --> 00:37:42,678 You mean it's not Vermont and Franklin? 644 00:37:42,762 --> 00:37:44,680 It's Vermont and Franklin all right. 645 00:37:44,764 --> 00:37:47,892 Only it's not Anne Matthews. It's Nino Zachetti. 646 00:37:49,060 --> 00:37:50,978 You won't tell on me, will you? 647 00:37:51,103 --> 00:37:53,814 I'd have to think it over. Nino's not what my father says at all. 648 00:37:53,898 --> 00:37:56,984 He's just had bad luck. He was doing premed at USC... 649 00:37:57,068 --> 00:38:00,029 and working nights as an usher in a theater downtown. 650 00:38:00,112 --> 00:38:02,782 Got behind in his credits, flunked out. 651 00:38:02,907 --> 00:38:06,869 Then he lost his job for talking back. He's so hot-headed. 652 00:38:08,079 --> 00:38:09,372 Becomes expensive, doesn't it? 653 00:38:09,455 --> 00:38:11,958 Guess my father thinks nobody's good enough for his daughter... 654 00:38:12,041 --> 00:38:14,251 except maybe the guy that owns Standard Oil. 655 00:38:14,335 --> 00:38:18,089 I wish he'd see it my way. I can't give Nino up. 656 00:38:19,507 --> 00:38:21,676 It'll all straighten out, Miss Dietrichson. 657 00:38:21,759 --> 00:38:25,930 I suppose it will sometime. This is the corner right here, Mr. Neff. 658 00:38:28,391 --> 00:38:31,143 (Lola) Nino? Over here, Nino. 659 00:38:39,819 --> 00:38:42,405 This is Mr. Neff, Nino. Hello, Nino. 660 00:38:42,613 --> 00:38:44,073 The name is Zachetti. 661 00:38:44,156 --> 00:38:46,826 Nino, please. Mr. Neff gave me a ride from the house. 662 00:38:46,909 --> 00:38:47,994 I told him all about us. 663 00:38:48,077 --> 00:38:49,412 Why does he have to get told about us? 664 00:38:49,495 --> 00:38:51,497 We don't have to worry about Mr. Neff, Nino. 665 00:38:51,580 --> 00:38:53,124 I'm not doing any worrying. 666 00:38:53,207 --> 00:38:54,500 Just don't you broadcast so much. 667 00:38:54,583 --> 00:38:56,293 Well, what's the matter with you, Nino? 668 00:38:56,377 --> 00:38:58,838 Why, he's a friend. I don't have any friends. 669 00:38:58,921 --> 00:39:01,173 If I did, I like to pick them myself. Come on. 670 00:39:01,257 --> 00:39:03,592 Look, sonny, she needed a ride, so I brought her along. 671 00:39:03,676 --> 00:39:05,845 Is that anything to get tough about? 672 00:39:05,928 --> 00:39:08,347 All right, Lola, make up your mind. Are you coming or aren't you? 673 00:39:08,431 --> 00:39:10,266 Of course I'm coming. 674 00:39:12,768 --> 00:39:16,063 Don't mind him, Mr. Neff. And thanks a lot for the ride. 675 00:39:16,147 --> 00:39:18,482 You're awfully sweet. Nino? 676 00:39:23,779 --> 00:39:25,614 (Walter) She was a nice kid. 677 00:39:25,865 --> 00:39:28,826 Maybe he was a little better than he sounded. 678 00:39:28,909 --> 00:39:32,329 But right then it gave me a nasty feeling to be thinking about them at all... 679 00:39:32,413 --> 00:39:36,083 with that briefcase right behind my head that had her father's signature in it... 680 00:39:36,167 --> 00:39:38,294 and what that signature meant. 681 00:39:38,377 --> 00:39:40,629 It meant he was a dead pigeon. 682 00:39:40,838 --> 00:39:44,717 It was only a question of time, and not very much time at that. 683 00:39:44,800 --> 00:39:47,553 You know that big market up on Los Feliz, Keyes? 684 00:39:48,304 --> 00:39:51,849 That's the place Phyllis and I had picked for a meeting place. 685 00:39:51,932 --> 00:39:54,018 I already had most of the plan in my head... 686 00:39:54,101 --> 00:39:56,395 but a lot of details had to be worked out. 687 00:39:56,479 --> 00:40:00,024 And she had to know them all by heart when the time came. 688 00:40:00,441 --> 00:40:03,069 We had to be very careful from now on. 689 00:40:03,194 --> 00:40:05,821 We couldn't let anybody see us together. 690 00:40:05,905 --> 00:40:08,783 We couldn't even talk to each other on the telephone. 691 00:40:08,866 --> 00:40:11,744 Not from her house or at my office, anyway. 692 00:40:12,495 --> 00:40:16,749 So she was to be in the market every morning about 11:00, buying stuff. 693 00:40:16,999 --> 00:40:20,419 And I could sort of run into her there any day I wanted to. 694 00:40:20,503 --> 00:40:22,838 Sort of accidentally on purpose. 695 00:40:23,672 --> 00:40:26,175 Walter, I wanted to-- Not so loud. 696 00:40:27,635 --> 00:40:29,303 I wanted to talk to you, ever since yesterday. 697 00:40:29,386 --> 00:40:31,514 Let me talk first. It's all set. 698 00:40:31,597 --> 00:40:34,100 The accident policy came through. I've got it in my pocket. 699 00:40:34,183 --> 00:40:37,103 I got his check, too. I saw him down in the oil fields. 700 00:40:37,186 --> 00:40:39,271 He thought he was paying for the auto insurance. 701 00:40:39,355 --> 00:40:42,233 The check's just made out to the company, so it could be for anything. 702 00:40:42,316 --> 00:40:45,111 But you have to send a check for the auto insurance, see? 703 00:40:45,194 --> 00:40:48,239 It'll be all right that way, because one of the cars is in your name. 704 00:40:48,322 --> 00:40:50,074 Open your bag. Quick. 705 00:40:50,991 --> 00:40:51,992 [cash register bell dinging] 706 00:40:55,246 --> 00:40:56,622 Can you get in the safe-deposit box? 707 00:40:56,705 --> 00:40:58,707 Yes. We both have keys. Fine. 708 00:40:58,791 --> 00:41:01,085 But don't put the policy in there yet. I'll tell you when. 709 00:41:01,168 --> 00:41:03,838 Remember, you never saw it, you never even touched it, you understand? 710 00:41:03,963 --> 00:41:06,549 I'm not a fool. Okay. When is he leaving on the train? 711 00:41:06,632 --> 00:41:08,092 That's just it. He isn't going. What? 712 00:41:08,175 --> 00:41:10,052 That's what I've been trying to tell you. The trip is off. 713 00:41:10,136 --> 00:41:11,720 What happened? 714 00:41:13,347 --> 00:41:16,308 Mister, could you reach me that package of baby food? 715 00:41:16,392 --> 00:41:18,060 That one up there? 716 00:41:19,979 --> 00:41:23,816 I don't know why they always put what I want on the top shelf. 717 00:41:25,609 --> 00:41:26,777 Go ahead. I'm listening. 718 00:41:26,861 --> 00:41:29,196 He had a fall-down at the well. Broke his leg. It's in a cast. 719 00:41:29,280 --> 00:41:32,032 Broke his leg? What do we do now, Walter? 720 00:41:32,116 --> 00:41:34,702 Nothing. We just wait. Wait for what? 721 00:41:34,785 --> 00:41:36,245 Until he can take the train. 722 00:41:36,328 --> 00:41:37,538 I told you it's got to be the train. 723 00:41:37,621 --> 00:41:38,956 But we can't wait. I can't go on like this. 724 00:41:39,039 --> 00:41:41,959 Look, we're not gonna grab a hammer and do it quick, just to get it over with. 725 00:41:42,084 --> 00:41:44,837 There are other ways. We're not gonna do it other ways. 726 00:41:44,920 --> 00:41:46,005 But we can't leave it like this. 727 00:41:46,088 --> 00:41:49,008 What do you suppose would happen if he found out about the accident policy? 728 00:41:49,091 --> 00:41:51,177 Plenty. But not as bad as sitting in that death house. 729 00:41:51,260 --> 00:41:54,013 Don't ever talk like that. Don't let's start losing our heads, that's all. 730 00:41:54,096 --> 00:41:56,307 It's not our heads. It's our nerve we're losing. 731 00:41:56,390 --> 00:41:57,391 [cash register bell dinging] 732 00:42:00,227 --> 00:42:01,562 Excuse me. 733 00:42:04,648 --> 00:42:06,233 We're gonna do it right. That's all I said. 734 00:42:06,317 --> 00:42:07,818 It's the waiting that's getting me. 735 00:42:07,902 --> 00:42:09,361 It's getting me just as bad, baby. 736 00:42:09,445 --> 00:42:12,448 But we've got to wait. Maybe we have, Walter, only... 737 00:42:12,531 --> 00:42:15,993 it's so tough without you. It's like a wall between us. 738 00:42:17,786 --> 00:42:21,123 I better go, baby. I'm thinking of you every minute. 739 00:42:27,129 --> 00:42:30,716 (Walter) After that, a full week went by and I didn't see her once. 740 00:42:30,799 --> 00:42:34,303 I tried to keep my mind off her and off the whole idea. 741 00:42:34,386 --> 00:42:37,223 I kept telling myself that maybe those Fates they say watch over you... 742 00:42:37,306 --> 00:42:41,060 had gotten together and broken his leg to give me a way out. 743 00:42:41,143 --> 00:42:45,147 Then it was the 15th of June. You may remember that date, Keyes. 744 00:42:46,523 --> 00:42:49,860 You came into my office around 3:00 in the afternoon. 745 00:42:50,527 --> 00:42:51,820 Hello, Keyes. 746 00:42:51,904 --> 00:42:53,113 I just came from Norton's office. 747 00:42:53,197 --> 00:42:54,698 The semiannual sales records are out. 748 00:42:54,782 --> 00:42:57,660 You're high man, Walter. That's twice in a row. Congratulations. 749 00:42:57,743 --> 00:43:00,412 Thanks. How would you like a cheap drink? 750 00:43:00,496 --> 00:43:02,957 How would you like a $50 cut in salary? 751 00:43:03,082 --> 00:43:05,334 Do I laugh now or wait till it gets funny? No, I'm serious. 752 00:43:05,417 --> 00:43:08,712 I've just been talking to Norton. Too much stuff piling up on my desk. 753 00:43:08,796 --> 00:43:10,089 Too much pressure on my nerves. 754 00:43:10,172 --> 00:43:12,216 I spend half the night walking up and down in my bed. 755 00:43:12,299 --> 00:43:14,176 I've got to have an assistant and I thought of you. 756 00:43:14,260 --> 00:43:15,636 Me? Why pick on me? 757 00:43:15,719 --> 00:43:18,264 Well, because I've got a crazy idea you might be good at the job. 758 00:43:18,347 --> 00:43:19,723 That's crazy, all right. I'm a salesman. 759 00:43:19,807 --> 00:43:23,018 Yeah. A peddler, a gladhander, a backslapper. 760 00:43:23,560 --> 00:43:24,853 You're too good to be a salesman. 761 00:43:24,895 --> 00:43:27,022 Nobody's too good to be a salesman. Phooey! 762 00:43:27,106 --> 00:43:30,609 All you guys do is just ring doorbells and dish out a smooth line of monkey talk. 763 00:43:30,693 --> 00:43:32,820 What's troubling you is that $50 cut, isn't it? 764 00:43:32,903 --> 00:43:34,446 Well, that'd trouble anybody. Now look, Walter. 765 00:43:34,530 --> 00:43:37,449 The job I'm talking about takes brains and integrity. 766 00:43:37,533 --> 00:43:39,451 It takes more guts than there is in 50 salesmen. 767 00:43:39,535 --> 00:43:40,619 It's the hottest job in the business. 768 00:43:40,703 --> 00:43:41,954 Yeah, but it's still a desk job. 769 00:43:42,037 --> 00:43:44,123 I don't want to be nailed to a desk. Desk job? 770 00:43:44,206 --> 00:43:45,791 Is that all you can see in it? 771 00:43:45,874 --> 00:43:48,836 Just a hard chair to park your pants on from 9:00 to 5:00, huh? 772 00:43:48,919 --> 00:43:51,630 Just a pile of papers to shuffle around, and five sharp pencils... 773 00:43:51,714 --> 00:43:56,093 and a scratch pad to make figures on, maybe a little doodling on the side. 774 00:43:56,176 --> 00:43:58,178 Well, that's not the way I look at it, Walter. 775 00:43:58,262 --> 00:44:02,349 To me, a claims man is a surgeon, that desk is an operating table... 776 00:44:02,433 --> 00:44:05,269 and those pencils are scalpels and bone chisels. 777 00:44:05,352 --> 00:44:09,148 And those papers are not just forms and statistics and claims for compensation. 778 00:44:09,231 --> 00:44:12,359 They're alive. They're packed with drama... 779 00:44:12,568 --> 00:44:14,737 with twisted hopes and crooked dreams. 780 00:44:14,820 --> 00:44:18,032 A claims man, Walter, is a doctor and a bloodhound and a-- 781 00:44:18,115 --> 00:44:19,575 [telephone ringing] 782 00:44:20,534 --> 00:44:22,661 Who? Okay, hold on a minute. 783 00:44:22,911 --> 00:44:26,040 A claims man is a doctor and a bloodhound and a cop and a judge and a jury... 784 00:44:26,123 --> 00:44:27,833 and a father confessor, all in one. 785 00:44:27,916 --> 00:44:29,460 And you want to tell me you're not interested? 786 00:44:29,543 --> 00:44:30,669 You don't want to work with your brains? 787 00:44:30,753 --> 00:44:32,838 All you want to work is with your finger on the doorbell... 788 00:44:32,921 --> 00:44:36,425 for a few bucks more a week. There's a dame on your phone. 789 00:44:36,508 --> 00:44:39,011 Walter Neff speaking. I had to call you, Walter. 790 00:44:39,094 --> 00:44:40,471 It's very urgent. Are you with somebody? 791 00:44:41,972 --> 00:44:45,100 Yes, I am. Can't I call you back, Margie? 792 00:44:45,809 --> 00:44:49,021 No, you can't. I've only got a minute. It can't wait. 793 00:44:49,104 --> 00:44:52,358 Listen. He's going tonight. On the train. Are you listening? 794 00:44:52,441 --> 00:44:55,069 Walter? Yeah. I'm listening, Margie. 795 00:44:55,778 --> 00:44:58,280 Only, make it snappy, will you? He's on crutches. 796 00:44:58,364 --> 00:45:01,700 The doctor says he can go if he's careful. The change will do him good. 797 00:45:01,784 --> 00:45:04,536 It's wonderful, Walter. Just the way you wanted it, on a train. 798 00:45:04,620 --> 00:45:07,164 Only with the crutches it makes it much better, doesn't it? 799 00:45:07,247 --> 00:45:09,666 Yeah. Yeah, that's 100% better. 800 00:45:11,293 --> 00:45:12,586 Hold the line a minute, will you? 801 00:45:12,628 --> 00:45:15,381 Keyes, suppose I join you in your office? That's all right. I'll wait. 802 00:45:15,464 --> 00:45:17,883 Only tell her not to take all day. 803 00:45:19,635 --> 00:45:20,803 Go ahead. 804 00:45:21,136 --> 00:45:24,181 It's the 10:15 from Glendale. I'm driving him. 805 00:45:24,264 --> 00:45:26,058 It's still the same dark street, isn't it? 806 00:45:26,141 --> 00:45:29,436 And the signal is three honks on the horn. Okay. Anything else? 807 00:45:30,187 --> 00:45:31,230 No. 808 00:45:31,480 --> 00:45:32,481 Oh, uh... 809 00:45:33,065 --> 00:45:34,650 what color did you pick? 810 00:45:34,733 --> 00:45:37,653 Blue. Navy blue. And the cast is on his left leg. 811 00:45:38,362 --> 00:45:39,571 Mmm-hmm. 812 00:45:40,114 --> 00:45:41,615 Yeah, that suits me fine. 813 00:45:41,698 --> 00:45:43,951 This is it, Walter. I'm shaking like a leaf. 814 00:45:44,034 --> 00:45:47,079 But it's straight down the line for both of us. 815 00:45:47,162 --> 00:45:49,289 I love you, Walter. Goodbye. 816 00:45:51,333 --> 00:45:53,252 Sorry, Keyes. What's the matter? 817 00:45:53,335 --> 00:45:56,046 Dames chasing you again? Or still? Or is it none of my business? 818 00:45:56,130 --> 00:45:58,006 If I told you it was a customer-- 819 00:45:58,173 --> 00:46:00,217 Margie. I bet she drinks from the bottle. 820 00:46:00,300 --> 00:46:02,094 Why don't you settle down and get married, Walter? 821 00:46:02,219 --> 00:46:06,265 Why don't you, for instance? I almost did, once. Long time ago. 822 00:46:06,348 --> 00:46:08,100 Now look, Keyes, I've got to call on a prospect. 823 00:46:08,183 --> 00:46:10,727 Even had the church picked out, the dame and I. 824 00:46:10,811 --> 00:46:13,021 She had a white satin dress with flounces on it. 825 00:46:13,105 --> 00:46:15,941 I was on my way to the jewelry store to buy the ring. 826 00:46:16,024 --> 00:46:18,610 And then suddenly that little man in here started working on me. 827 00:46:18,694 --> 00:46:20,195 So you went back and had her investigated? 828 00:46:20,279 --> 00:46:22,698 Yeah. And the stuff that came out.... 829 00:46:23,699 --> 00:46:26,034 She'd been dyeing her hair ever since she was 16. 830 00:46:26,118 --> 00:46:28,620 There was a manic depressive in her family, on her mother's side. 831 00:46:28,704 --> 00:46:30,330 She already had one husband. 832 00:46:30,414 --> 00:46:32,499 He was a professional pool player in Baltimore. 833 00:46:32,583 --> 00:46:34,626 And as for her brother-- I get the general idea. 834 00:46:34,710 --> 00:46:38,338 She was a tramp from a long line of tramps. Yeah. All right, all right. 835 00:46:38,422 --> 00:46:41,133 Now what do I say to Norton? What about this job I want you for? 836 00:46:41,216 --> 00:46:42,801 I don't think I want it, Keyes. 837 00:46:42,885 --> 00:46:45,387 Thanks just the same. Fair enough. 838 00:46:46,305 --> 00:46:48,515 Only get this, I picked you for the job... 839 00:46:48,599 --> 00:46:50,767 not because I think you're so darn smart... 840 00:46:50,851 --> 00:46:54,188 but because I thought you were a shade less dumb than the rest of the outfit. 841 00:47:01,361 --> 00:47:04,364 Guess I was wrong. You're not smarter, Walter. 842 00:47:04,573 --> 00:47:06,742 You're just a little taller. 843 00:47:17,628 --> 00:47:19,004 (Walter) Yes, Keyes. 844 00:47:19,087 --> 00:47:22,674 Those Fates I was talking about had only been stalling me off. 845 00:47:22,758 --> 00:47:26,094 Now they had thrown the switch. The gears had meshed. 846 00:47:26,220 --> 00:47:28,847 The time for thinking had all run out. 847 00:47:29,598 --> 00:47:33,310 I wanted my movements accounted for up to the last possible moment. 848 00:47:33,393 --> 00:47:37,523 So when I left the office I put my rate book on the desk as if I had forgotten it. 849 00:47:37,606 --> 00:47:39,608 That was part of my alibi. 850 00:47:41,068 --> 00:47:43,779 From here on, it was a question of following the timetable... 851 00:47:43,862 --> 00:47:45,322 move by move. 852 00:47:46,740 --> 00:47:49,826 I got home about 7:00 and drove right into the garage. 853 00:47:49,910 --> 00:47:52,829 This was another item to establish my alibi. 854 00:47:54,206 --> 00:47:56,500 Hi, Mr. Neff. Hello, Charlie. 855 00:47:56,583 --> 00:47:58,377 How about giving the heap a wash job? 856 00:47:58,460 --> 00:47:59,628 How soon you gonna want it? 857 00:47:59,711 --> 00:48:01,088 I got a couple cars ahead of you. 858 00:48:01,171 --> 00:48:02,714 Any time you get to it, Charlie. 859 00:48:02,798 --> 00:48:05,008 I'm staying in tonight. Okay. 860 00:48:05,133 --> 00:48:07,052 (Walter) Up in my apartment I called Lou Schwartz... 861 00:48:07,135 --> 00:48:09,429 one of the salesmen that shared my office. 862 00:48:09,513 --> 00:48:12,891 He lived in Westwood, so it was a toll call and there'd be a record of it. 863 00:48:12,975 --> 00:48:15,269 I told him I'd forgotten my rate book and needed some dope... 864 00:48:15,352 --> 00:48:18,313 on the public liability bond I was figuring. 865 00:48:18,438 --> 00:48:22,192 I changed into a navy blue suit like Dietrichson was going to wear. 866 00:48:22,276 --> 00:48:25,362 Lou Schwartz called me back and gave me a lot of figures. 867 00:48:25,445 --> 00:48:27,864 I stuffed a hand towel and a roll of adhesive into my pockets... 868 00:48:27,948 --> 00:48:31,910 so I could fake something that looked like a cast on a broken leg. 869 00:48:31,994 --> 00:48:34,037 Next, I stuck a card inside the telephone box... 870 00:48:34,121 --> 00:48:36,915 so that it would fall down if the bell rang. 871 00:48:36,999 --> 00:48:40,502 That way I'd know if anybody had called me while I was away. 872 00:48:40,586 --> 00:48:44,798 Then I did the same thing to the doorbell in case anybody came to see me. 873 00:48:45,299 --> 00:48:48,927 I left the apartment by the service stairs. Nobody saw me. 874 00:48:49,928 --> 00:48:53,181 I walked all the way from my apartment to the Dietrichson house. 875 00:48:53,265 --> 00:48:54,600 I didn't want to take the bus... 876 00:48:54,683 --> 00:48:58,353 because there was always the chance that someone might remember seeing me on it. 877 00:48:58,437 --> 00:49:00,439 I was being that careful. 878 00:49:00,856 --> 00:49:03,442 I could smell that honeysuckle again. 879 00:49:03,525 --> 00:49:06,695 Only it was even stronger, now that it was night. 880 00:49:11,116 --> 00:49:14,328 I slid the garage door open as quietly as I could. 881 00:49:14,661 --> 00:49:17,706 She'd backed the sedan in, just the way I told her to. 882 00:49:17,789 --> 00:49:19,291 I'd figured it was safer that way... 883 00:49:19,374 --> 00:49:22,419 in case he got into the car before she drove it out. 884 00:49:22,502 --> 00:49:24,796 I got into the back of the car. 885 00:49:24,880 --> 00:49:27,299 I lay there on the floor and waited. 886 00:49:27,382 --> 00:49:30,469 All the time I was thinking about that dark street on the way to the station... 887 00:49:30,552 --> 00:49:32,346 where I was to do it... 888 00:49:32,429 --> 00:49:35,182 and the three honks on the horn that were to be the signal. 889 00:49:35,265 --> 00:49:37,643 About 10 minutes later they came down. 890 00:49:37,726 --> 00:49:39,478 All right, honey? Yeah, I'm all right. 891 00:49:39,561 --> 00:49:41,980 I'll have the car out in a second. 892 00:49:59,831 --> 00:50:01,249 [inaudible] 893 00:50:18,767 --> 00:50:22,104 Take it easy, honey. We've got lots of time. Yeah. 894 00:50:41,456 --> 00:50:43,542 Remember what the doctor said. If you get careless... 895 00:50:43,625 --> 00:50:45,335 you might end up with a shorter leg. 896 00:50:45,419 --> 00:50:49,214 So what? I could break the other one and match them up again. 897 00:50:49,589 --> 00:50:52,050 It makes you feel pretty good to get away from me, doesn't it? 898 00:50:52,134 --> 00:50:55,846 It's only for four days. I'll be back Monday at the latest. 899 00:51:11,945 --> 00:51:15,240 This is not the right street. Why did you turn here? 900 00:51:17,659 --> 00:51:19,077 [honking] 901 00:51:19,161 --> 00:51:21,329 What are you doing that for? 902 00:51:22,330 --> 00:51:24,791 What are you honking the horn for? 903 00:51:25,125 --> 00:51:26,960 [Dietrichson choking] 904 00:51:47,397 --> 00:51:48,815 [train horn blowing] 905 00:52:19,346 --> 00:52:21,515 [bell ringing] 906 00:52:24,935 --> 00:52:26,895 You take care of the redcap and the conductor. 907 00:52:27,020 --> 00:52:29,314 Don't worry. Keep away from me as much as you can. 908 00:52:29,397 --> 00:52:31,858 Tell them I don't want to be helped. I said, don't worry, Walter. 909 00:52:31,942 --> 00:52:34,152 You start as soon as the train leaves. 910 00:52:34,236 --> 00:52:36,905 When you get to the refinery, turn off the highway onto the dirt road. 911 00:52:36,988 --> 00:52:38,532 From there it's exactly eight-tenths of a mile... 912 00:52:38,615 --> 00:52:40,033 to the dump beside the tracks. Remember. 913 00:52:40,116 --> 00:52:42,661 I remember everything. No speeding. 914 00:52:43,995 --> 00:52:46,665 You don't want any cops stopping you with him in the back. 915 00:52:46,748 --> 00:52:49,125 Walter, we've been through all that so many times. 916 00:52:49,209 --> 00:52:51,461 When you leave the highway, turn off all your lights. 917 00:52:51,586 --> 00:52:53,672 I'll be back on the observation platform. 918 00:52:53,755 --> 00:52:56,383 I'll drop off as close to the spot as I can. 919 00:52:56,466 --> 00:52:59,553 Let the train pass, then dim your lights twice. 920 00:53:02,097 --> 00:53:05,016 San Francisco train, lady? Car 9, section 11. Just my husband. 921 00:53:05,100 --> 00:53:07,602 Car 9, section 11? This way please. 922 00:53:15,652 --> 00:53:17,571 Thank you. My husband doesn't like to be helped. 923 00:53:17,654 --> 00:53:19,531 Car number 8. Up there. 924 00:53:24,828 --> 00:53:28,456 Car 9, section 11. Thank you. 925 00:53:31,042 --> 00:53:33,420 Here're the tickets. Take good care of yourself with that leg. 926 00:53:33,503 --> 00:53:34,880 Yeah. You take it easy driving home. 927 00:53:34,963 --> 00:53:38,383 I'll miss you, honey. Section 11, sir. 928 00:53:40,302 --> 00:53:42,137 (Porter) All aboard! Thank you. 929 00:53:42,262 --> 00:53:44,389 Goodbye, honey. All aboard! 930 00:53:45,640 --> 00:53:47,684 [train whistle blowing] 931 00:53:50,186 --> 00:53:51,813 Good luck, honey. 932 00:54:00,447 --> 00:54:02,032 Porter, will you make up my berth right away? 933 00:54:02,115 --> 00:54:03,158 Yes, sir. 934 00:54:03,241 --> 00:54:04,910 I'm going back to the observation car for a smoke. 935 00:54:04,993 --> 00:54:06,703 Right this way, sir. 936 00:54:32,854 --> 00:54:34,856 [train whistle blowing] 937 00:54:38,526 --> 00:54:40,028 (Jackson) Like a chair? 938 00:54:42,197 --> 00:54:45,158 No, thanks. I'd rather stand. 939 00:54:46,534 --> 00:54:49,955 You going far? Palo Alto. 940 00:54:50,830 --> 00:54:51,873 My name's Jackson. 941 00:54:51,957 --> 00:54:55,168 I'm going all the way to Medford. Medford, Oregon. 942 00:54:55,543 --> 00:54:57,545 I had a broken arm once. 943 00:54:58,046 --> 00:55:01,383 That darn cast itches something fierce, doesn't it? 944 00:55:01,466 --> 00:55:03,760 I thought I'd go crazy with mine. 945 00:55:03,843 --> 00:55:07,889 Palo Alto's a nice little town. You a Stanford man? 946 00:55:08,723 --> 00:55:12,894 I used to be. I'll bet you left something behind. 947 00:55:13,687 --> 00:55:15,063 I always do. 948 00:55:15,230 --> 00:55:18,608 My cigar case. I guess I left it in my overcoat back in the section. 949 00:55:18,692 --> 00:55:21,987 Would you care to roll yourself a cigarette, Mister-- 950 00:55:22,070 --> 00:55:23,071 Dietrichson. 951 00:55:23,571 --> 00:55:26,074 No thanks, I really prefer a cigar. 952 00:55:26,783 --> 00:55:29,995 Maybe the porter could-- Well, I could get your cigars for you. 953 00:55:30,078 --> 00:55:33,373 Be glad to, Mr. Dietrichson. If it's not too much trouble. 954 00:55:33,498 --> 00:55:37,293 Car 9, section 11. Car 9, section 11. With pleasure. 955 00:56:21,588 --> 00:56:23,131 Okay. This has gotta be fast. 956 00:56:23,214 --> 00:56:26,718 Here, take his hat. Pick up the crutches back on the tracks. 957 00:56:55,997 --> 00:56:57,832 Okay, baby. That's it. 958 00:57:13,848 --> 00:57:15,850 [engine faltering] 959 00:57:44,712 --> 00:57:46,381 [engine choking] 960 00:57:48,550 --> 00:57:50,760 [engine starting] 961 00:57:56,182 --> 00:57:57,934 All right. Let's go. 962 00:58:07,819 --> 00:58:09,654 (Walter) On the way back, we went over once more... 963 00:58:09,737 --> 00:58:11,156 what she was to do at the inquest... 964 00:58:11,239 --> 00:58:14,951 if they had one, and about the insurance, when that came up. 965 00:58:15,076 --> 00:58:18,163 I was afraid she might go to pieces a little, now that we had done it. 966 00:58:18,246 --> 00:58:22,834 But she was perfect. No nerves. Not a tear, not even a blink of the eyes. 967 00:58:23,835 --> 00:58:26,921 She dropped me a block from my apartment house. 968 00:58:27,714 --> 00:58:31,176 Walter, what's the matter? Aren't you going to kiss me? 969 00:58:36,097 --> 00:58:38,725 It's straight down the line, isn't it? 970 00:58:43,438 --> 00:58:46,941 I love you, Walter. I love you, baby. 971 00:59:00,079 --> 00:59:03,833 It was two minutes past 11:00, as I went up the service stairs again. 972 00:59:03,917 --> 00:59:07,879 Nobody saw me this time either. In the apartment I checked the bells. 973 00:59:07,962 --> 00:59:10,965 The cards hadn't moved. No calls. No visitors. 974 00:59:12,467 --> 00:59:16,471 Then I changed my clothes again. That left one last thing to do. 975 00:59:17,430 --> 00:59:21,434 I had to go down to the garage. I wanted Charlie to see me again. 976 00:59:28,107 --> 00:59:30,985 You gonna use your car, after all? I'm not quite through. 977 00:59:31,069 --> 00:59:32,904 Well, that's all right, Charlie. 978 00:59:32,987 --> 00:59:35,073 Just going up to the drugstore to get something to eat. 979 00:59:35,156 --> 00:59:38,117 Been working upstairs all night. My stomach's getting a little sore at me. 980 00:59:38,201 --> 00:59:39,827 Yes, sir, Mr. Neff. 981 00:59:41,746 --> 00:59:43,748 That was all there was to it. 982 00:59:43,831 --> 00:59:46,459 Nothing had slipped, nothing had been overlooked. 983 00:59:46,542 --> 00:59:48,920 There was nothing to give us away. 984 00:59:49,003 --> 00:59:52,632 And yet, Keyes, as I was walking down the street to the drugstore... 985 00:59:52,715 --> 00:59:56,135 suddenly it came over me that everything would go wrong. 986 00:59:56,219 --> 00:59:59,430 It sounds crazy, Keyes, but it's true, so help me. 987 00:59:59,597 --> 01:00:02,016 I couldn't hear my own footsteps. 988 01:00:05,186 --> 01:00:07,397 It was the walk of a dead man. 989 01:00:15,321 --> 01:00:17,865 That was the longest night I ever lived through, Keyes... 990 01:00:17,949 --> 01:00:21,786 and the next day was worse, when the story had broke in the papers... 991 01:00:21,869 --> 01:00:23,788 and they started talking about it at the office... 992 01:00:23,871 --> 01:00:27,083 and the day after that, when you started digging into it. 993 01:00:27,166 --> 01:00:31,087 I kept my hands in my pockets because I thought they were shaking. 994 01:00:31,170 --> 01:00:33,381 I put on dark glasses so people couldn't see my eyes. 995 01:00:33,464 --> 01:00:37,427 And then I took them off again so they wouldn't get to wondering why I wore them. 996 01:00:37,510 --> 01:00:40,221 I tried to hold myself together, but... 997 01:00:40,555 --> 01:00:43,558 I could feel my nerves pulling me to pieces. 998 01:00:46,269 --> 01:00:49,105 Oh, Walter? Hello, Keyes. 999 01:00:49,397 --> 01:00:51,524 Come along. The big boss wants to see us. 1000 01:00:51,607 --> 01:00:53,901 The Dietrichson case? Must be. 1001 01:00:54,068 --> 01:00:56,029 Anything wrong? Well, the guy is dead. 1002 01:00:56,112 --> 01:00:59,991 We had him insured and it's gonna cost us dough. That's always wrong. 1003 01:01:00,074 --> 01:01:02,327 What have they got so far? Autopsy report. 1004 01:01:02,410 --> 01:01:06,039 No heart failure, no apoplexy, no predisposing medical cause of any kind. 1005 01:01:06,122 --> 01:01:07,999 Died of a broken neck. 1006 01:01:08,124 --> 01:01:10,168 When's the inquest? Had it this morning. 1007 01:01:10,251 --> 01:01:12,295 His wife and daughter made the identification. 1008 01:01:12,378 --> 01:01:15,173 The train people and some of the passengers told how he went through... 1009 01:01:15,256 --> 01:01:16,507 to the observation car. 1010 01:01:16,591 --> 01:01:20,136 It was all over in 45 minutes. Verdict? Accidental death. 1011 01:01:21,763 --> 01:01:23,181 What do the police figure? 1012 01:01:23,264 --> 01:01:25,933 That he got tangled up in his crutches and fell off the train. 1013 01:01:26,017 --> 01:01:27,643 They're satisfied. 1014 01:01:27,727 --> 01:01:30,355 It's not their dough. Come on, Walter. 1015 01:01:31,814 --> 01:01:33,691 (Norton) All right. Thank you very much, gentlemen. 1016 01:01:33,816 --> 01:01:35,985 I believe the legal position is now clear. 1017 01:01:36,069 --> 01:01:38,363 Please stand by. I may need you later. 1018 01:01:38,446 --> 01:01:41,324 Come in, Mr. Keyes. You, too, Mr. Neff. 1019 01:01:45,661 --> 01:01:47,955 You find this an uncomfortably warm day, Mr. Keyes? 1020 01:01:48,039 --> 01:01:51,042 I'm sorry, Mr. Norton, but I didn't know this was formal. 1021 01:01:51,125 --> 01:01:52,460 Sit down, gentlemen. Thank you. 1022 01:01:52,543 --> 01:01:53,544 Any new developments? 1023 01:01:53,628 --> 01:01:56,255 I just talked to this Jackson long distance, up in Medford, Oregon. 1024 01:01:56,339 --> 01:01:57,382 Who's Jackson? 1025 01:01:57,465 --> 01:01:58,966 He's the last man who saw Dietrichson alive. 1026 01:01:59,050 --> 01:02:01,594 They were out on the observation platform together, talking. 1027 01:02:01,677 --> 01:02:03,721 Dietrichson wanted a cigar and so Jackson went back... 1028 01:02:03,805 --> 01:02:05,473 to get Dietrichson's cigar case for him. 1029 01:02:05,556 --> 01:02:07,892 When he returned to the observation platform, no Dietrichson. 1030 01:02:07,975 --> 01:02:09,852 Well, Jackson didn't think anything was wrong until... 1031 01:02:09,936 --> 01:02:11,896 a wire caught up with the train at Santa Barbara. 1032 01:02:11,979 --> 01:02:14,690 They found Dietrichson's body on the tracks near Burbank. 1033 01:02:14,774 --> 01:02:17,235 Very interesting about the cigar case. 1034 01:02:17,318 --> 01:02:19,320 Anything else? No, not much. 1035 01:02:19,404 --> 01:02:22,407 Dietrichson's secretary says she didn't know anything about the policy. 1036 01:02:22,490 --> 01:02:25,827 There's a daughter, but all she remembers is Neff talking to her father... 1037 01:02:25,910 --> 01:02:28,121 about accident insurance at their house one night. 1038 01:02:28,204 --> 01:02:29,580 I couldn't sell him at first. 1039 01:02:29,664 --> 01:02:32,583 Mr. Dietrichson opposed it. He said he'd think it over. 1040 01:02:32,667 --> 01:02:35,837 Later I saw him in the oil fields and closed him. 1041 01:02:35,920 --> 01:02:37,922 He signed the application and gave me his check. 1042 01:02:38,005 --> 01:02:40,425 A fine piece of salesmanship that was, Mr. Neff. 1043 01:02:40,508 --> 01:02:42,093 Well, there's no sense in pushing Neff around. 1044 01:02:42,176 --> 01:02:44,137 He's got the best sales record in the office. 1045 01:02:44,220 --> 01:02:47,473 Are your salesmen supposed to know a customer is going to fall off the train? 1046 01:02:47,557 --> 01:02:51,352 Fall off a train? Are we sure Dietrichson fell off the train? 1047 01:02:51,727 --> 01:02:54,021 I don't get it. You don't, Mr. Keyes? 1048 01:02:54,105 --> 01:02:55,606 Then what do you think of this case? 1049 01:02:55,690 --> 01:02:57,442 This policy might cost us a great deal of money. 1050 01:02:57,525 --> 01:02:59,610 As you know, it contains a double indemnity clause. 1051 01:02:59,694 --> 01:03:01,446 Just what is your opinion? 1052 01:03:01,529 --> 01:03:03,281 No opinion at all. Not even a hunch? 1053 01:03:03,364 --> 01:03:05,700 One of those interesting little hunches of yours? 1054 01:03:05,783 --> 01:03:07,118 Nope. Not even a hunch. 1055 01:03:07,201 --> 01:03:10,872 I'm surprised, Mr. Keyes. I've formed a very definite opinion. 1056 01:03:10,955 --> 01:03:14,625 I think I know. In fact, I know I know what happened to Dietrichson. 1057 01:03:14,709 --> 01:03:18,045 You know you know what? I know it was not an accident. 1058 01:03:21,424 --> 01:03:24,010 What do you say to that? Me? 1059 01:03:25,386 --> 01:03:27,763 Well, you've got the ball. Let's see you run with it. 1060 01:03:27,847 --> 01:03:31,392 There's a widespread feeling that just because a man has a large office-- 1061 01:03:31,476 --> 01:03:32,643 [intercom buzzing] 1062 01:03:34,479 --> 01:03:37,190 Yes? Have her come in, please. 1063 01:03:37,732 --> 01:03:39,275 There's a widespread feeling that... 1064 01:03:39,358 --> 01:03:42,653 just because a man has a large office, he must be an idiot. 1065 01:03:42,737 --> 01:03:44,655 I'm having a visitor, if you don't mind. 1066 01:03:44,739 --> 01:03:47,658 No, no. I want you to stay and watch me handle this. 1067 01:03:47,742 --> 01:03:49,410 Mrs. Dietrichson. 1068 01:03:53,581 --> 01:03:56,000 Thank you very much for coming, Mrs. Dietrichson. 1069 01:03:56,083 --> 01:03:58,836 I assure you I appreciate it. This is Mr. Keyes. 1070 01:03:58,920 --> 01:04:00,379 How do you do? How do you do? 1071 01:04:00,421 --> 01:04:02,465 And Mr. Neff. I've met Mr. Neff. How do you do? 1072 01:04:02,548 --> 01:04:05,092 Mrs. Dietrichson. Won't you sit down? 1073 01:04:07,762 --> 01:04:09,555 (Norton) May I extend our sympathy in your bereavement? 1074 01:04:09,639 --> 01:04:12,141 I hesitated before asking you to come here so soon after your loss. 1075 01:04:12,225 --> 01:04:15,853 But now that you're here I hope you won't mind if I plunge straight into business? 1076 01:04:15,937 --> 01:04:17,522 You know why we asked you to come, don't you? 1077 01:04:17,605 --> 01:04:20,191 No. All I know is that your secretary made it sound very urgent. 1078 01:04:20,274 --> 01:04:22,360 Your husband had an accident policy with this company. 1079 01:04:22,443 --> 01:04:24,153 Evidently you don't know that, Mrs. Dietrichson. 1080 01:04:24,237 --> 01:04:26,948 No. I remember some talk at the house, but he didn't seem to want it. 1081 01:04:27,031 --> 01:04:30,326 Your husband took the policy out a few days later, Mrs. Dietrichson. 1082 01:04:30,409 --> 01:04:32,870 You'll probably find the policy among his personal effects. 1083 01:04:32,954 --> 01:04:34,705 His safe-deposit box hasn't been opened yet. 1084 01:04:34,789 --> 01:04:36,791 It seems a tax examiner has to be present. 1085 01:04:36,874 --> 01:04:38,543 Please, Mrs. Dietrichson, I don't want you to think... 1086 01:04:38,626 --> 01:04:40,044 you're being subjected to any questioning... 1087 01:04:40,127 --> 01:04:41,754 but there are a few things we should like to know. 1088 01:04:41,837 --> 01:04:42,880 What sort of things? 1089 01:04:43,297 --> 01:04:45,424 We have the report of the coroner's inquest. 1090 01:04:45,508 --> 01:04:48,553 Accidental death. We are not entirely satisfied. 1091 01:04:48,636 --> 01:04:51,264 In fact, we are not satisfied at all. 1092 01:04:53,182 --> 01:04:55,810 Frankly, Mrs. Dietrichson, we suspect... 1093 01:04:57,061 --> 01:04:58,396 a suicide. 1094 01:05:01,816 --> 01:05:05,152 I'm sorry. Would you like a glass of water? Please. 1095 01:05:09,949 --> 01:05:11,284 Thank you. 1096 01:05:17,248 --> 01:05:20,793 Had your husband been depressed or moody lately, Mrs. Dietrichson? 1097 01:05:20,876 --> 01:05:23,629 Did he have financial worries, for instance? 1098 01:05:23,713 --> 01:05:27,049 He was perfectly all right and I don't know of any financial worries. 1099 01:05:27,133 --> 01:05:29,260 Let us examine this so-called accident. 1100 01:05:29,343 --> 01:05:33,472 First, your husband takes out this policy in absolute secrecy. Why? 1101 01:05:33,598 --> 01:05:36,517 Because he doesn't want his family to suspect what he intends to do. 1102 01:05:36,601 --> 01:05:39,270 Do what? Next, he goes on this trip entirely alone. 1103 01:05:39,353 --> 01:05:42,940 He has to be alone. He hobbles all the way out to the observation platform. 1104 01:05:43,024 --> 01:05:46,694 Very unlikely with his leg in a cast, unless he has a very strong reason. 1105 01:05:46,902 --> 01:05:49,947 Once there, he finds he is not alone. There is a man there. 1106 01:05:50,072 --> 01:05:53,826 What was his name, Keyes? His name was Jackson. Probably still is. 1107 01:05:54,327 --> 01:05:57,997 So he gets rid of this Jackson with some flimsy excuse about cigars. 1108 01:05:58,080 --> 01:06:01,375 And then he is alone. And then he does it. Does what? 1109 01:06:01,459 --> 01:06:05,171 He jumps. Suicide. In which case, the company is not liable. 1110 01:06:05,546 --> 01:06:08,382 You know that, of course. Now, we could go to court-- 1111 01:06:08,466 --> 01:06:12,261 I don't know anything. In fact, I don't know why I came here. 1112 01:06:12,470 --> 01:06:15,765 Just a moment, please. I said we could go to court. I didn't say we want to. 1113 01:06:15,848 --> 01:06:18,726 What I want to suggest is a compromise on both sides. 1114 01:06:18,809 --> 01:06:21,270 A settlement for a certain sum, a part of the policy value. 1115 01:06:21,354 --> 01:06:25,024 Don't bother, Mr. Norton. When I came in here, I had no idea you owed me any money. 1116 01:06:25,107 --> 01:06:27,151 You told me you did. Then you told me you didn't. 1117 01:06:27,234 --> 01:06:29,654 Now you tell me you want to pay me a part of it, whatever it is. 1118 01:06:29,737 --> 01:06:32,031 You want to bargain with me, at a time like this. 1119 01:06:32,114 --> 01:06:35,493 I don't like your insinuations about my husband, and I don't like your methods. 1120 01:06:35,576 --> 01:06:39,288 In fact, I don't like you, Mr. Norton. Goodbye, gentlemen. 1121 01:06:42,416 --> 01:06:43,459 [door slamming] 1122 01:06:44,085 --> 01:06:47,338 (Keyes) Nice going, Mr. Norton. You sure carried that ball. 1123 01:06:47,421 --> 01:06:48,798 Only you fumbled on the goal line. 1124 01:06:48,881 --> 01:06:52,051 Then you heaved an illegal forward pass and got thrown for a 40-yard loss. 1125 01:06:52,134 --> 01:06:55,054 Now you can't pick yourself up because you haven't got a leg to stand on. 1126 01:06:55,137 --> 01:06:58,182 I haven't, eh? She can go to court and we can prove it was suicide. 1127 01:06:58,265 --> 01:06:59,725 Oh, can we? 1128 01:06:59,809 --> 01:07:03,646 Mr. Norton, the first thing that struck me was that suicide angle. 1129 01:07:03,729 --> 01:07:07,441 Only I dumped it into the wastepaper basket just three seconds later. 1130 01:07:07,525 --> 01:07:11,070 You know, you ought to take a look at the statistics on suicide sometime. 1131 01:07:11,153 --> 01:07:13,614 You might learn a little something about the insurance business. 1132 01:07:13,698 --> 01:07:15,825 Mr. Keyes, I was raised in the insurance business. 1133 01:07:15,908 --> 01:07:17,660 Yeah, in the front office. 1134 01:07:17,743 --> 01:07:20,871 Come now, you've never read an actuarial table in your life, have you? 1135 01:07:20,955 --> 01:07:23,207 Why, they've got 10 volumes on suicide alone. 1136 01:07:23,290 --> 01:07:25,084 Suicide by race, by color, by occupation... 1137 01:07:25,167 --> 01:07:27,169 by sex, by seasons of the year, by time of day. 1138 01:07:27,253 --> 01:07:30,589 Suicide, how committed? By poisons, by firearms, by drowning, by leaps. 1139 01:07:30,673 --> 01:07:33,342 Suicide by poison, subdivided by types of poison... 1140 01:07:33,426 --> 01:07:36,053 such as corrosive, irritant, systemic, gaseous, narcotic... 1141 01:07:36,137 --> 01:07:37,555 alkaloid, protein, and so forth. 1142 01:07:37,638 --> 01:07:40,349 Suicide by leaps, subdivided by leaps from high places... 1143 01:07:40,433 --> 01:07:42,560 under the wheels of trains, under the wheels of trucks... 1144 01:07:42,643 --> 01:07:45,896 under the feet of horses, from steamboats. But, Mr. Norton... 1145 01:07:46,147 --> 01:07:49,650 of all the cases on record there's not one single case of suicide by leap... 1146 01:07:49,734 --> 01:07:51,068 from the rear end of a moving train. 1147 01:07:51,152 --> 01:07:52,903 And do you know how fast that train was going... 1148 01:07:52,987 --> 01:07:55,948 at the point where the body was found? 15 miles an hour. 1149 01:07:56,031 --> 01:07:58,200 Now how can anybody jump off a slow moving train like that... 1150 01:07:58,284 --> 01:08:01,120 with any kind of expectation that he would kill himself? 1151 01:08:01,203 --> 01:08:02,913 No. No soap, Mr. Norton. 1152 01:08:02,997 --> 01:08:06,083 We're sunk, and we'll have to pay through the nose, and you know it. 1153 01:08:06,167 --> 01:08:07,752 May I have this? 1154 01:08:11,088 --> 01:08:12,673 Come on, Walter. 1155 01:08:15,843 --> 01:08:18,012 Next time I'll rent a tuxedo. 1156 01:08:34,487 --> 01:08:36,906 (Walter) I could have hugged you right then and there, Keyes... 1157 01:08:36,989 --> 01:08:38,532 you and your statistics. 1158 01:08:38,616 --> 01:08:41,327 You were the only one we were really scared of... 1159 01:08:41,410 --> 01:08:44,121 and instead you were almost playing on our team. 1160 01:08:44,205 --> 01:08:47,374 That evening when I got home, my nerves had eased off. 1161 01:08:47,458 --> 01:08:49,460 I could feel the ground under my feet again. 1162 01:08:49,543 --> 01:08:52,338 And it looked like easy going from there on in. 1163 01:08:52,421 --> 01:08:54,673 That $100,000 looked as safe for Phyllis and me... 1164 01:08:54,757 --> 01:08:57,426 as if we had the check already deposited in the bank. 1165 01:08:57,510 --> 01:08:59,136 [phone ringing] 1166 01:09:03,849 --> 01:09:08,229 Hello? Oh, hello, baby. Sure, everything is fine. 1167 01:09:09,063 --> 01:09:10,648 You were wonderful in Norton's office. 1168 01:09:10,731 --> 01:09:13,943 I felt so funny, I wanted to look at you all the time. 1169 01:09:14,026 --> 01:09:16,529 How do you think I felt, baby? Where are you? 1170 01:09:16,612 --> 01:09:19,240 At the drugstore. Just a block away. 1171 01:09:19,448 --> 01:09:21,534 Can I come up? Okay. But be careful. 1172 01:09:21,617 --> 01:09:23,410 Don't let anybody see you. 1173 01:09:34,755 --> 01:09:36,423 [doorbell ringing] 1174 01:09:49,687 --> 01:09:51,146 Hello, Keyes. 1175 01:09:56,819 --> 01:09:59,446 What's on your mind? That broken leg. 1176 01:09:59,989 --> 01:10:03,075 The guy had a broken leg. What are you talking about? 1177 01:10:03,158 --> 01:10:06,704 Talking about Dietrichson. He had accident insurance, didn't he? 1178 01:10:06,954 --> 01:10:09,039 Yeah. Then he broke his leg, didn't he? 1179 01:10:09,123 --> 01:10:11,000 So what? And he didn't put in a claim. 1180 01:10:11,125 --> 01:10:14,879 Why didn't he put in a claim? Why? What are you driving at? 1181 01:10:15,045 --> 01:10:19,842 Walter, I had dinner two hours ago and it stuck half way. 1182 01:10:19,925 --> 01:10:21,594 That little man of yours is acting up again, huh? 1183 01:10:21,677 --> 01:10:24,013 There's something wrong with the Dietrichson case. 1184 01:10:24,096 --> 01:10:27,892 Why? Because he didn't file a claim? Maybe he just didn't have time. 1185 01:10:27,975 --> 01:10:30,978 Maybe he just didn't know that he was insured. 1186 01:10:33,147 --> 01:10:34,648 No. No, that couldn't be it. 1187 01:10:34,732 --> 01:10:36,901 You delivered the policy to him personally, didn't you? 1188 01:10:36,984 --> 01:10:38,027 Yeah. You got his check? 1189 01:10:38,110 --> 01:10:39,278 Sure I did. 1190 01:10:40,070 --> 01:10:42,990 Got any bicarbonate of soda? No, I haven't. 1191 01:10:43,741 --> 01:10:47,411 Walter, I've been living with this little man for 26 years. 1192 01:10:47,953 --> 01:10:50,581 And he's never failed me yet. There's got to be something wrong. 1193 01:10:50,664 --> 01:10:53,083 Well, maybe Norton was right. Maybe it was suicide. 1194 01:10:53,167 --> 01:10:54,752 No. Not suicide. 1195 01:10:55,336 --> 01:10:58,422 But not an accident, either. What else? 1196 01:10:58,964 --> 01:11:00,174 Now look, Walter. 1197 01:11:00,257 --> 01:11:03,218 A guy takes out an accident policy that's worth $100,000... 1198 01:11:03,302 --> 01:11:04,345 if he's killed on a train. 1199 01:11:04,428 --> 01:11:06,305 Then two weeks later, he is killed on a train. 1200 01:11:06,388 --> 01:11:10,392 And not in a train accident, mind you, but falling off some silly observation car. 1201 01:11:10,476 --> 01:11:13,103 Do you know what the mathematical probability of that is? 1202 01:11:13,187 --> 01:11:16,106 One out of I don't know how many billions. 1203 01:11:16,857 --> 01:11:21,528 And add to that the broken leg. No, it just can't be the way it looks. 1204 01:11:22,071 --> 01:11:26,116 Something has been worked on us. Such as what? 1205 01:11:34,124 --> 01:11:35,334 Murder? 1206 01:11:35,834 --> 01:11:37,628 Don't you have any peppermint or something? 1207 01:11:37,753 --> 01:11:40,547 Sorry. Want a little soda water? No, no, no. 1208 01:11:41,924 --> 01:11:42,925 (Walter) Who do you suspect? 1209 01:11:43,008 --> 01:11:44,927 (Keyes) Maybe I like to make things easy for myself. 1210 01:11:45,010 --> 01:11:47,012 But I always tend to suspect the beneficiary. 1211 01:11:47,096 --> 01:11:48,180 You mean the wife? Yeah. 1212 01:11:48,263 --> 01:11:50,808 That wide-eyed dame that just didn't know anything about anything. 1213 01:11:50,891 --> 01:11:52,935 You're crazy, Keyes. She wasn't even on the train. 1214 01:11:53,018 --> 01:11:54,269 I know she wasn't, Walter. 1215 01:11:54,353 --> 01:11:56,563 I don't claim to know how it was worked, or who worked it... 1216 01:11:56,647 --> 01:11:59,066 but all I know is that it was worked. 1217 01:11:59,149 --> 01:12:00,859 I've got to get to a drugstore. 1218 01:12:00,943 --> 01:12:03,904 This thing feels like a hunk of concrete inside me. 1219 01:12:03,988 --> 01:12:06,699 Good night, Walter. Good night, Keyes. 1220 01:12:07,032 --> 01:12:09,952 See you at the office in the morning. Yeah. 1221 01:12:10,995 --> 01:12:13,580 I'd like to move in on her right now, tonight. 1222 01:12:13,664 --> 01:12:17,835 If it wasn't for Norton and his striped-pants ideas about company policy... 1223 01:12:17,918 --> 01:12:20,546 I'd have the police after her so fast it'd make her head spin. 1224 01:12:20,629 --> 01:12:22,172 They'd put her through the wringer... 1225 01:12:22,256 --> 01:12:25,092 and, brother, the things they would squeeze out. 1226 01:12:25,175 --> 01:12:27,177 Only you haven't got a single thing to go on, Keyes. 1227 01:12:27,261 --> 01:12:29,555 Not too much. Just 26 years experience... 1228 01:12:29,638 --> 01:12:33,892 all the percentage there is, and this hunk of concrete in my stomach. 1229 01:12:36,061 --> 01:12:38,313 Can I have one of those things? 1230 01:12:49,158 --> 01:12:51,660 Good night, Keyes. So long, Walter. 1231 01:12:55,289 --> 01:12:56,457 [elevator door shuts] 1232 01:13:05,090 --> 01:13:08,302 How much does he know? He doesn't know anything. 1233 01:13:08,927 --> 01:13:11,055 It's those stinking hunches of his. 1234 01:13:11,138 --> 01:13:12,473 And he can't prove anything, can he? 1235 01:13:12,556 --> 01:13:16,560 Not if we're careful. Not if we don't see each other for a while. 1236 01:13:18,562 --> 01:13:21,106 How long a while? Until this dies down. 1237 01:13:21,190 --> 01:13:22,191 You don't know Keyes. 1238 01:13:22,274 --> 01:13:24,318 Once he gets his teeth into something, he never lets go. 1239 01:13:24,401 --> 01:13:26,070 He'll investigate you, have you shadowed. 1240 01:13:26,153 --> 01:13:28,947 He'll watch you every minute from now on. 1241 01:13:29,031 --> 01:13:31,533 You afraid, baby? Yes, I'm afraid. 1242 01:13:32,659 --> 01:13:36,580 But not of Keyes. I'm afraid of us. We're not the same anymore. 1243 01:13:36,663 --> 01:13:39,833 We did it so we could be together, but instead of that it's pulling us apart. 1244 01:13:39,917 --> 01:13:41,668 Isn't it, Walter? What are you talking about? 1245 01:13:41,752 --> 01:13:45,464 And you don't really care whether we see each other or not. 1246 01:13:46,924 --> 01:13:48,425 Shut up, baby. 1247 01:13:52,679 --> 01:13:55,057 (operator) Pacific All Risk. Good afternoon. 1248 01:13:57,351 --> 01:13:58,977 Hello, Mr. Neff. 1249 01:13:59,978 --> 01:14:02,022 Hello. Lola Dietrichson. 1250 01:14:02,356 --> 01:14:05,317 Don't you remember me? Yes. Yes, of course. 1251 01:14:05,442 --> 01:14:07,611 Could I talk with you just a few minutes? 1252 01:14:07,694 --> 01:14:10,155 Somewhere where we could be alone? 1253 01:14:10,364 --> 01:14:12,574 Oh, yes. Come into my office. 1254 01:14:18,914 --> 01:14:21,083 Is it something about what happened? 1255 01:14:21,166 --> 01:14:24,753 Yes, Mr. Neff. It's about my father's death. 1256 01:14:25,838 --> 01:14:27,422 I'm terribly sorry, Miss Dietrichson. 1257 01:14:31,176 --> 01:14:33,762 Lou, do you mind if I use the office alone for a few minutes? 1258 01:14:33,846 --> 01:14:35,722 No. It's all yours, Walter. 1259 01:14:42,729 --> 01:14:44,273 Look at me, Mr. Neff. 1260 01:14:44,356 --> 01:14:47,818 I'm not crazy. I'm not hysterical. I'm not even crying. 1261 01:14:48,902 --> 01:14:52,364 But I have the awful feeling that something is wrong... 1262 01:14:52,656 --> 01:14:56,451 and I had that same feeling once before, when my mother died. 1263 01:14:56,535 --> 01:14:57,536 When your mother died? 1264 01:14:57,619 --> 01:14:59,997 We were at Lake Arrowhead. That was six years ago. 1265 01:15:00,080 --> 01:15:01,081 We had a cabin there. 1266 01:15:01,165 --> 01:15:05,502 It was winter and very cold. My mother was very sick with pneumonia. 1267 01:15:05,794 --> 01:15:07,546 She had a nurse with her. 1268 01:15:07,629 --> 01:15:10,632 There were just the three of us in the cabin. 1269 01:15:10,757 --> 01:15:13,427 One night I got up and went into my mother's room. 1270 01:15:13,510 --> 01:15:15,345 She was delirious with fever. 1271 01:15:15,429 --> 01:15:19,141 All the bed covers were on the floor and the windows were wide open. 1272 01:15:19,266 --> 01:15:20,392 The nurse wasn't in the room. 1273 01:15:20,475 --> 01:15:22,686 I ran and covered my mother up as quickly as I could. 1274 01:15:22,769 --> 01:15:25,480 Just then I heard a door open behind me. 1275 01:15:26,106 --> 01:15:27,983 The nurse stood there. 1276 01:15:28,525 --> 01:15:32,154 She didn't say a word, but there was a look in her eyes... 1277 01:15:32,321 --> 01:15:33,989 I'll never forget. 1278 01:15:36,074 --> 01:15:39,161 Two days later, my mother was dead. 1279 01:15:42,456 --> 01:15:44,791 Do you know who that nurse was? 1280 01:15:45,000 --> 01:15:46,668 No. Who? Phyllis. 1281 01:15:47,127 --> 01:15:49,504 I tried to tell my father, but I was just a kid then. 1282 01:15:49,588 --> 01:15:52,716 He wouldn't listen to me. Six months later she married him... 1283 01:15:52,799 --> 01:15:57,221 and I kind of talked myself out of the idea she could have done anything like that. 1284 01:15:57,304 --> 01:16:01,725 But now it's all back again, now that something's happened to my father, too. 1285 01:16:01,808 --> 01:16:05,646 You're not making sense, Miss Dietrichson. Your father fell off a train. 1286 01:16:05,729 --> 01:16:08,732 Yes, and two days before he fell off that train, what was Phyllis doing? 1287 01:16:08,815 --> 01:16:11,318 She was in her room in front of a mirror, with a black hat on... 1288 01:16:11,401 --> 01:16:12,736 pinning a black veil to it. 1289 01:16:12,819 --> 01:16:16,198 As if she couldn't wait to see how she would look in mourning. 1290 01:16:16,323 --> 01:16:18,325 You've had a pretty bad shock, Miss Dietrichson. 1291 01:16:18,408 --> 01:16:20,035 Aren't you just imagining these things? 1292 01:16:20,160 --> 01:16:21,578 I caught her eyes in the mirror. 1293 01:16:21,662 --> 01:16:24,665 They had that look in them they had before my mother died. 1294 01:16:24,748 --> 01:16:26,250 That same look. 1295 01:16:26,959 --> 01:16:28,710 You don't like your stepmother, do you? 1296 01:16:28,794 --> 01:16:30,587 Isn't it just because she is your stepmother? 1297 01:16:30,671 --> 01:16:33,090 I loathe her because she did it. She did it for the money. 1298 01:16:33,173 --> 01:16:35,509 Only you're not going to pay her, are you, Mr. Neff? 1299 01:16:35,592 --> 01:16:38,720 She's not going to get away with it this time, because I'm going to speak up. 1300 01:16:38,804 --> 01:16:40,305 I'm going to tell everything I know. 1301 01:16:40,347 --> 01:16:44,685 You'd better be careful, saying things like-- I'm not afraid. You'll see. 1302 01:16:45,769 --> 01:16:47,187 [sobbing] 1303 01:16:53,026 --> 01:16:54,361 I'm sorry. 1304 01:16:57,698 --> 01:17:00,033 I didn't mean to act like this. 1305 01:17:01,285 --> 01:17:04,329 All this that you've been telling me, who else have you told? 1306 01:17:04,413 --> 01:17:05,622 No one. 1307 01:17:05,747 --> 01:17:08,250 How about your stepmother? Of course not. 1308 01:17:09,209 --> 01:17:10,752 I've moved out. 1309 01:17:11,878 --> 01:17:13,964 I'm not living at home anymore. 1310 01:17:14,047 --> 01:17:16,633 And you haven't told that boyfriend of yours? Zachetti? 1311 01:17:16,717 --> 01:17:19,594 I'm not seeing him anymore. We had a fight. 1312 01:17:21,221 --> 01:17:23,015 Where are you living now? 1313 01:17:23,098 --> 01:17:26,101 I got myself a little apartment in Hollywood. 1314 01:17:26,393 --> 01:17:29,354 Four walls, and you just sit and look at them? 1315 01:17:30,230 --> 01:17:31,732 Yes, Mr. Neff. 1316 01:17:34,568 --> 01:17:36,069 (Walter) So that evening I took her to dinner... 1317 01:17:36,153 --> 01:17:39,823 at a Mexican restaurant down on Olvera Street where nobody would see us. 1318 01:17:39,906 --> 01:17:41,908 I wanted to cheer her up. 1319 01:17:42,284 --> 01:17:45,704 The next day was Sunday and we went for a ride down to the beach. 1320 01:17:45,787 --> 01:17:48,498 She had loosened up a bit, she was even laughing. 1321 01:17:48,582 --> 01:17:52,169 I had to make sure that she wouldn't tell that stuff about Phyllis to anybody else. 1322 01:17:52,252 --> 01:17:55,172 It was dynamite, whether it was true or not. 1323 01:17:55,380 --> 01:17:57,174 And I had no chance to talk to Phyllis. 1324 01:17:57,257 --> 01:17:59,468 You were watching her like a hawk, Keyes. 1325 01:17:59,551 --> 01:18:03,972 I couldn't even phone her because I was afraid you had the wires tapped. 1326 01:18:04,056 --> 01:18:08,060 Monday morning there was a note on my desk that you wanted to see me, Keyes. 1327 01:18:08,143 --> 01:18:11,104 For a minute I wondered if it could be about Lola. 1328 01:18:11,188 --> 01:18:12,647 It was worse. 1329 01:18:13,231 --> 01:18:17,194 Outside your door was the last guy in the world I wanted to see. 1330 01:18:26,328 --> 01:18:28,330 Come in. Come in, Walter. 1331 01:18:29,831 --> 01:18:32,751 Hello, Keyes. I want to ask you something. 1332 01:18:33,168 --> 01:18:35,045 After all the years we've known each other... 1333 01:18:35,128 --> 01:18:37,047 do you mind if I make a rather blunt statement? 1334 01:18:37,130 --> 01:18:38,715 About what? About me. 1335 01:18:39,299 --> 01:18:41,968 Walter, I'm a very great man. Yeah? 1336 01:18:42,052 --> 01:18:44,805 This Dietrichson business, it's murder... 1337 01:18:44,888 --> 01:18:46,890 and murders don't come any neater. 1338 01:18:46,973 --> 01:18:49,810 As fancy a piece of homicide as anybody ever ran into... 1339 01:18:49,893 --> 01:18:52,145 smart, tricky, almost perfect, but... 1340 01:18:53,063 --> 01:18:55,524 I think Papa has it all figured out. 1341 01:18:55,607 --> 01:18:59,403 Figured out and wrapped up in tissue paper with pink ribbons on it. 1342 01:18:59,486 --> 01:19:02,239 Go ahead. I'm listening. You know what? 1343 01:19:02,614 --> 01:19:05,534 That guy Dietrichson was never on the train. 1344 01:19:06,701 --> 01:19:08,745 He wasn't? No, he wasn't. 1345 01:19:10,330 --> 01:19:12,582 Now look, Walter. You can't be sure of killing a man... 1346 01:19:12,666 --> 01:19:15,794 by throwing him off a train that's going 15 miles an hour. 1347 01:19:15,877 --> 01:19:18,338 The only way you can be sure is to kill him first... 1348 01:19:18,422 --> 01:19:20,340 and then throw his body on the tracks. 1349 01:19:20,424 --> 01:19:22,592 Now that would mean either killing him on the train... 1350 01:19:22,676 --> 01:19:26,430 or, and this is where it really gets fancy, you kill him somewhere else... 1351 01:19:26,513 --> 01:19:27,681 and put him on the tracks. 1352 01:19:27,764 --> 01:19:31,017 Two possibilities, and I personally buy the second. 1353 01:19:32,269 --> 01:19:33,812 You're way ahead of me, Keyes. 1354 01:19:33,895 --> 01:19:35,689 Well, look, Walter, it was like this. 1355 01:19:35,939 --> 01:19:39,609 They killed the guy, the wife and a somebody else... 1356 01:19:39,860 --> 01:19:43,280 and the somebody else took the crutches and went on the train as Dietrichson... 1357 01:19:43,363 --> 01:19:45,115 then the somebody else jumped off... 1358 01:19:45,198 --> 01:19:47,742 then they put the body on the tracks where the train had passed. 1359 01:19:47,826 --> 01:19:50,495 An impersonation, see? A cinch to work. 1360 01:19:51,288 --> 01:19:53,415 Because it was night, very few people were about... 1361 01:19:53,498 --> 01:19:55,000 they have the crutches to stare at... 1362 01:19:55,083 --> 01:19:57,544 they never really looked at the man at all. 1363 01:19:57,627 --> 01:19:59,796 Fancy all right, Keyes, but maybe it's a little too fancy. 1364 01:19:59,880 --> 01:20:03,216 Is it? I tell you, it all fits together like a watch. 1365 01:20:03,884 --> 01:20:05,802 Now let's see what we have in the way of proof. 1366 01:20:05,886 --> 01:20:08,763 The only guy who really got a good look at this supposed Dietrichson... 1367 01:20:08,847 --> 01:20:10,974 is sitting right outside my office. 1368 01:20:11,057 --> 01:20:14,478 I took the trouble to bring him down here from Oregon. 1369 01:20:16,229 --> 01:20:19,065 Come here, Mr. Jackson. Yes, sir, Mr. Keyes. 1370 01:20:19,149 --> 01:20:20,817 These are fine cigars you smoke. 1371 01:20:20,901 --> 01:20:22,611 Two for a quarter. That's what I said. 1372 01:20:22,694 --> 01:20:24,237 Well, did you study those photographs? 1373 01:20:24,321 --> 01:20:26,323 Yes, indeed. I studied them thoroughly. 1374 01:20:26,406 --> 01:20:28,241 Very thoroughly. Have you made up your mind? 1375 01:20:28,325 --> 01:20:30,327 Mister Keyes, I'm a Medford man. Medford, Oregon. 1376 01:20:30,410 --> 01:20:32,537 Up in Medford we take our time making up our mind. 1377 01:20:32,621 --> 01:20:35,665 Well, we're not in Medford now. We're in a hurry. Let's have it. 1378 01:20:35,749 --> 01:20:37,959 Are these photographs of the late Mr. Dietrichson? 1379 01:20:38,043 --> 01:20:39,044 Yes. 1380 01:20:39,586 --> 01:20:41,755 Then my answer is no. What do you mean, no? 1381 01:20:41,838 --> 01:20:44,007 I mean, this is not the man that was on the train. 1382 01:20:44,090 --> 01:20:45,300 Will you swear to that? 1383 01:20:45,383 --> 01:20:47,344 Mr. Keyes, I'm a Medford man. Medford, Oregon. 1384 01:20:47,427 --> 01:20:49,804 If I say it, I mean it. If I mean it, of course I'll swear it. 1385 01:20:49,888 --> 01:20:51,515 There you are, Walter. There's your proof. 1386 01:20:51,598 --> 01:20:53,225 This is Mr. Neff, one of our salesmen. 1387 01:20:53,308 --> 01:20:55,310 Pleased to meet you, Mr. Neff. Pleased, indeed. 1388 01:20:55,393 --> 01:20:56,728 How are you? Very fine, thank you. 1389 01:20:56,811 --> 01:20:59,189 Never was better. Sit down, Mr. Jackson. 1390 01:20:59,272 --> 01:21:02,609 Just how would you describe the man you saw on the observation platform? 1391 01:21:02,692 --> 01:21:05,445 Well, I'm pretty sure he was a younger man... 1392 01:21:05,529 --> 01:21:08,490 about 10 or 15 years younger than the man in these photographs. 1393 01:21:08,573 --> 01:21:10,575 Dietrichson was about 50, wasn't he, Walter? 1394 01:21:10,659 --> 01:21:13,036 Fifty-one, according to the policy. 1395 01:21:13,119 --> 01:21:15,997 The man I saw was nothing like 51 years old. 1396 01:21:16,248 --> 01:21:18,708 Of course, it was pretty dark out on that platform. 1397 01:21:18,792 --> 01:21:21,002 Come to think of it, he tried to keep his back towards me. 1398 01:21:21,127 --> 01:21:23,755 But I'm positive just the same. Thank you, Jackson. 1399 01:21:23,838 --> 01:21:26,258 Of course, you understand this matter is strictly confidential? 1400 01:21:26,341 --> 01:21:29,427 We may need you again down here in Los Angeles, if the case comes to court. 1401 01:21:29,511 --> 01:21:32,264 Any time you need me, I'm entirely at your disposal, gentlemen. 1402 01:21:32,347 --> 01:21:35,642 Expenses paid, of course. Oh, yes. Yes. Of course. 1403 01:21:37,227 --> 01:21:39,854 Get me Lubin, in the cashier's office. 1404 01:21:40,522 --> 01:21:42,566 Hello, Lubin. This is Keyes. 1405 01:21:42,649 --> 01:21:46,736 Listen. I'm sending a man named Jackson down to you with an expense account. 1406 01:21:46,820 --> 01:21:49,614 Well, we brought him down here from Medford, Oregon in connection with... 1407 01:21:49,698 --> 01:21:51,491 the Dietrichson claim. 1408 01:21:52,534 --> 01:21:54,661 Well, take care of his hotel bill, will you? 1409 01:21:54,744 --> 01:21:55,829 Ever been in Oregon, Mr. Neff? 1410 01:21:55,912 --> 01:21:56,913 (Keyes) Yeah. He'll be right down. 1411 01:21:56,997 --> 01:21:58,540 No. Never been up there. 1412 01:21:58,748 --> 01:22:01,293 Wait a minute. You go trout fishing? 1413 01:22:01,418 --> 01:22:05,088 Maybe I saw you up Klamath Falls way. Nope. I don't fish. 1414 01:22:05,380 --> 01:22:08,675 You don't go fishing, Mr. Neff. Neff. It's the name. 1415 01:22:09,217 --> 01:22:11,803 There's a family of Neffs in Corvallis. No relation. 1416 01:22:11,886 --> 01:22:14,222 Let me see. This man's an automobile dealer in Corvallis. 1417 01:22:14,347 --> 01:22:16,683 A very reputable man, too, I'm told. All right, Mr. Jackson. 1418 01:22:16,766 --> 01:22:18,268 Suppose you go down to the cashier's office. 1419 01:22:18,351 --> 01:22:19,811 Room 27 on the 11th floor. 1420 01:22:19,894 --> 01:22:23,189 He'll take care of your expense account and your ticket for the train tonight. 1421 01:22:23,273 --> 01:22:24,274 Tonight? 1422 01:22:24,357 --> 01:22:27,611 Tomorrow morning would suit me better. There's a very good osteopath in town... 1423 01:22:27,694 --> 01:22:30,488 I'd like to see before I leave. Osteopath? 1424 01:22:31,031 --> 01:22:34,075 Well, just don't put her on the expense account. 1425 01:22:34,993 --> 01:22:36,494 Well, goodbye, gentlemen. 1426 01:22:36,578 --> 01:22:38,872 It's been a pleasure. Goodbye. 1427 01:22:41,207 --> 01:22:45,128 There it is, Walter. It's beginning to come apart at the seams already. 1428 01:22:45,211 --> 01:22:47,922 Murder's never perfect. Always comes apart sooner or later. 1429 01:22:48,006 --> 01:22:50,467 And when two people are involved, it's usually sooner. 1430 01:22:50,550 --> 01:22:53,428 Now, we know the Dietrichson dame is in it, and a somebody else. 1431 01:22:53,511 --> 01:22:55,513 Pretty soon we'll know who that somebody else is. 1432 01:22:55,597 --> 01:22:58,475 He'll show. He's got to show. Sometime, somewhere, they've got to meet. 1433 01:22:58,558 --> 01:22:59,809 Their emotions are all kicked up. 1434 01:22:59,893 --> 01:23:03,313 Whether it's love or hate doesn't matter. They can't keep away from each other. 1435 01:23:03,396 --> 01:23:05,857 They may think it's twice as safe because there are two of them. 1436 01:23:05,940 --> 01:23:07,317 But it isn't twice as safe. 1437 01:23:07,400 --> 01:23:10,570 It's 10 times twice as dangerous. They've committed a murder... 1438 01:23:10,654 --> 01:23:12,781 and it's not like taking a trolley ride together... 1439 01:23:12,864 --> 01:23:14,616 where they can get off at different stops. 1440 01:23:14,699 --> 01:23:16,951 They're stuck with each other and they've got to ride... 1441 01:23:17,035 --> 01:23:18,495 all the way to the end of the line. 1442 01:23:18,578 --> 01:23:20,872 And it's a one-way trip, and the last stop is the cemetery. 1443 01:23:20,955 --> 01:23:22,749 She put in her claim. 1444 01:23:23,416 --> 01:23:26,002 I'm gonna throw it right back at her. 1445 01:23:31,591 --> 01:23:33,343 Let her sue us if she dares. 1446 01:23:33,426 --> 01:23:36,179 I'll be ready for her and that somebody else. 1447 01:23:36,262 --> 01:23:38,807 They'll be digging their own graves. 1448 01:23:47,273 --> 01:23:49,901 Mrs. Dietrichson? This is Jerry's Market. 1449 01:23:49,984 --> 01:23:52,987 We just got in a shipment of that English soap you were asking about. 1450 01:23:53,071 --> 01:23:56,616 Will you be coming by today? Thank you, Mrs. Dietrichson. 1451 01:24:23,685 --> 01:24:26,312 Hello, Walter. Come over here. 1452 01:24:30,024 --> 01:24:32,986 What's the matter? Everything's the matter. 1453 01:24:34,988 --> 01:24:36,322 Keyes is rejecting your claim. 1454 01:24:36,406 --> 01:24:38,992 He's sitting back with his mouth watering, waiting for you to sue. 1455 01:24:39,075 --> 01:24:40,869 He wants you to sue, but you're not going to. 1456 01:24:40,952 --> 01:24:43,830 What's he got to stop me? He's got plenty. 1457 01:24:46,708 --> 01:24:48,084 He's figured out how it was worked. 1458 01:24:48,168 --> 01:24:49,919 He knows it was somebody else on the train... 1459 01:24:50,003 --> 01:24:51,838 and he's dug up a witness he thinks can prove it. 1460 01:24:51,921 --> 01:24:54,257 Prove it how? If he rejects that claim, I have to sue. 1461 01:24:54,340 --> 01:24:57,844 Yeah? And then you're in court and a lot of other things are going to come up. 1462 01:24:57,927 --> 01:25:01,765 Like, for instance, about you and the first Mrs. Dietrichson. 1463 01:25:01,931 --> 01:25:03,767 What about me and the first Mrs. Dietrichson? 1464 01:25:03,850 --> 01:25:04,851 The way she died. 1465 01:25:04,934 --> 01:25:07,937 And about that black hat you were trying on before you needed a black hat. 1466 01:25:08,021 --> 01:25:09,731 Lola's been telling you some of her cockeyed stories. 1467 01:25:09,856 --> 01:25:12,192 She's been seeing you. I've been seeing her, if you want to know. 1468 01:25:12,275 --> 01:25:13,943 So she won't yell her head off about what she knows. 1469 01:25:14,027 --> 01:25:16,780 She's putting on an act for you, crying all over your shoulder, the lying-- 1470 01:25:16,863 --> 01:25:19,157 Keep her out of this. All I'm telling you is we're not going to sue. 1471 01:25:19,240 --> 01:25:20,450 Because you don't want the money anymore... 1472 01:25:20,533 --> 01:25:21,701 even if you could have it, because she's... 1473 01:25:21,785 --> 01:25:22,952 made you feel like a heel all of a sudden? 1474 01:25:23,036 --> 01:25:26,289 It isn't the money anymore. It's our necks. We're pulling out, do you understand? 1475 01:25:26,372 --> 01:25:29,292 Because of what Keyes can do? You're not fooling me, Walter. 1476 01:25:29,375 --> 01:25:31,628 It's because of Lola, what you did to her father. 1477 01:25:31,711 --> 01:25:34,589 You're afraid she might find out someday and you can't take it, can you? 1478 01:25:34,672 --> 01:25:36,591 I said, leave her out of this. 1479 01:25:41,554 --> 01:25:42,806 It's me I'm talking about. 1480 01:25:42,889 --> 01:25:45,058 I don't want to be left out of it. Stop saying that. 1481 01:25:45,141 --> 01:25:46,518 It's just that it hasn't worked as we wanted. 1482 01:25:46,601 --> 01:25:49,229 We can't go through with it, that's all. We have gone through with it. 1483 01:25:49,312 --> 01:25:50,396 The tough part is all behind us. 1484 01:25:50,522 --> 01:25:52,982 We just have to hold on now and not go soft inside... 1485 01:25:53,399 --> 01:25:55,777 stick close together the way we started out. 1486 01:25:55,860 --> 01:25:57,111 Watch it. 1487 01:26:14,921 --> 01:26:17,507 I loved you, Walter, and I hated him. 1488 01:26:17,590 --> 01:26:21,052 But I wasn't going to do anything about it, not until I met you. 1489 01:26:21,135 --> 01:26:24,764 You planned the whole thing. I only wanted him dead. 1490 01:26:25,348 --> 01:26:28,017 And I'm the one that fixed it so he was dead. 1491 01:26:28,101 --> 01:26:31,771 Is that what you're telling me? And nobody's pulling out. 1492 01:26:31,938 --> 01:26:34,524 We went into this together, we're coming out at the end together. 1493 01:26:34,607 --> 01:26:38,319 It's straight down the line for both of us, remember? 1494 01:26:45,034 --> 01:26:46,703 (Walter) Yes, I remembered. 1495 01:26:48,037 --> 01:26:51,332 Just like I remembered what you had told me, Keyes... 1496 01:26:51,416 --> 01:26:53,877 about that trolley car ride... 1497 01:26:53,960 --> 01:26:56,337 and how there was no getting off till the end of the line... 1498 01:26:57,964 --> 01:26:59,883 ...where the cemetery was. 1499 01:27:01,301 --> 01:27:04,596 And then I got to thinking what cemeteries are for. 1500 01:27:05,263 --> 01:27:07,473 They're to put dead people in. 1501 01:27:09,225 --> 01:27:12,896 I guess that was the first time I ever thought about Phyllis that way. 1502 01:27:12,979 --> 01:27:14,480 Dead, I mean. 1503 01:27:15,648 --> 01:27:18,276 And how it would be if she were dead. 1504 01:27:19,569 --> 01:27:22,363 I saw Lola three or four times that week. 1505 01:27:23,031 --> 01:27:26,868 One night we went up into the hills behind the Hollywood Bowl. 1506 01:27:27,076 --> 01:27:29,913 I guess it sounds crazy, Keyes, but it was only with her that... 1507 01:27:29,996 --> 01:27:32,415 I could relax and let go a little. 1508 01:28:02,570 --> 01:28:04,322 Why are you crying? 1509 01:28:06,199 --> 01:28:08,451 Not gonna tell me, huh? 1510 01:28:08,618 --> 01:28:12,538 Of course I will, Walter. I wouldn't tell anybody else but you. 1511 01:28:13,748 --> 01:28:16,668 It's about Nino. Zachetti? What about him? 1512 01:28:16,834 --> 01:28:19,671 They killed my father together. He and Phyllis. 1513 01:28:19,754 --> 01:28:22,256 He helped her do it. I know he did. 1514 01:28:23,049 --> 01:28:25,051 What makes you say that? 1515 01:28:25,426 --> 01:28:28,721 I've been following him. He's been to her house, night after night. 1516 01:28:28,805 --> 01:28:31,224 It was Phyllis and him all along. 1517 01:28:31,474 --> 01:28:35,520 Maybe he was just going with me as a blind. And the night of the murder-- 1518 01:28:35,603 --> 01:28:37,689 You promised me you weren't gonna talk like this anymore. 1519 01:28:37,772 --> 01:28:41,317 He was supposed to pick me up after a lecture at UCLA. 1520 01:28:41,401 --> 01:28:44,278 But he never showed up. He said he was sick. 1521 01:28:45,071 --> 01:28:46,155 Sick! 1522 01:28:46,239 --> 01:28:47,657 [sobbing] 1523 01:28:48,241 --> 01:28:52,662 He couldn't show up, because the train was leaving with my father on it. 1524 01:28:58,251 --> 01:29:01,587 Maybe I'm just crazy. Maybe it's all in my mind. 1525 01:29:02,588 --> 01:29:04,632 Sure, it's all in your mind. 1526 01:29:04,716 --> 01:29:08,803 I only wish it were, Walter, 'cause I still love him. 1527 01:29:15,184 --> 01:29:18,604 (Walter) Zachetti. Phyllis and Zachetti. 1528 01:29:20,273 --> 01:29:24,360 What was he doing up at her house? I couldn't figure that one out. 1529 01:29:25,987 --> 01:29:29,115 I tried to make sense out of it and got nowhere. 1530 01:29:29,615 --> 01:29:32,618 But the real braintwister came the next day. 1531 01:29:33,077 --> 01:29:37,165 You sprang it on me, Keyes, after office hours, when you caught me... 1532 01:29:37,248 --> 01:29:39,125 down in the lobby of the building. 1533 01:29:39,208 --> 01:29:41,461 Walter. Walter, just a minute. 1534 01:29:46,090 --> 01:29:49,093 Hello, Keyes. Just hang on to your hat, Walter. 1535 01:29:49,177 --> 01:29:51,137 What for? Oh, nothing much. 1536 01:29:51,387 --> 01:29:54,307 That Dietrichson case just busted wide open. 1537 01:29:54,557 --> 01:29:57,602 How do you mean? The guy showed. That's how. 1538 01:29:58,811 --> 01:30:01,022 What guy? The guy who helped her do it. 1539 01:30:01,105 --> 01:30:02,815 The somebody else? 1540 01:30:03,691 --> 01:30:06,402 No kidding? Yeah. She just filed suit against us. 1541 01:30:06,486 --> 01:30:07,737 It's okay by me. 1542 01:30:07,820 --> 01:30:10,865 When we get them in that courtroom, I'll tear them to pieces, both of them. 1543 01:30:10,990 --> 01:30:13,201 Come on. I'll buy you a martini, Walter. No thanks, Keyes. 1544 01:30:13,284 --> 01:30:14,243 With two olives. 1545 01:30:14,327 --> 01:30:16,621 No, I've got to get a shave and a shoeshine. I've got a date. 1546 01:30:16,704 --> 01:30:19,832 Margie. I still bet she drinks from the bottle. 1547 01:30:20,416 --> 01:30:22,126 They give you matches when you buy cigars, you know. 1548 01:30:22,210 --> 01:30:23,503 All you have to do is ask for them. 1549 01:30:23,586 --> 01:30:27,715 Don't like them, they always explode in my pocket. So long, Walter. 1550 01:30:32,053 --> 01:30:34,097 (Walter) I was scared stiff, Keyes. 1551 01:30:34,388 --> 01:30:37,225 Maybe you were playing cat-and-mouse with me. 1552 01:30:37,308 --> 01:30:40,478 Maybe you knew all along I was the somebody else. 1553 01:30:40,853 --> 01:30:45,066 I had to find out, and I knew where to look. In your office. 1554 01:31:17,640 --> 01:31:19,142 (Keyes on dictation machine) Memo to Mr. Norton. 1555 01:31:19,225 --> 01:31:20,893 Confidential. Dietrichson file. 1556 01:31:21,686 --> 01:31:24,438 With regard to your proposal to put Walter Neff under surveillance... 1557 01:31:24,522 --> 01:31:26,190 I disagree absolutely. 1558 01:31:26,274 --> 01:31:28,651 I have investigated his movements on the night of the crime... 1559 01:31:28,734 --> 01:31:32,572 and he's definitely placed in his apartment from 7:15 p.m. on. 1560 01:31:33,156 --> 01:31:36,576 In addition to this, I have known Neff intimately for 11 years... 1561 01:31:36,659 --> 01:31:39,954 and I personally vouch for him without reservation. 1562 01:31:40,079 --> 01:31:41,080 [buzzing] 1563 01:31:44,584 --> 01:31:45,626 [buzzing stops] 1564 01:31:45,710 --> 01:31:48,588 Furthermore, no connection whatsoever has been established... 1565 01:31:48,671 --> 01:31:51,007 between Walter Neff and Mrs. Phyllis Dietrichson... 1566 01:31:51,090 --> 01:31:54,886 whereas I am now able to report that such a connection has been established... 1567 01:31:54,969 --> 01:31:57,096 between her and another man. 1568 01:31:57,263 --> 01:32:00,141 This man has been observed to visit Mrs. Dietrichson... 1569 01:32:00,224 --> 01:32:03,603 on the nights of July 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th. 1570 01:32:04,312 --> 01:32:08,065 We have succeeded in identifying him as one Nino Zachetti... 1571 01:32:08,149 --> 01:32:10,651 former medical student, age of 28... 1572 01:32:10,735 --> 01:32:12,987 residing at Lilac Court Apartments... 1573 01:32:13,070 --> 01:32:15,948 1228 1/2 North La Brea Avenue. 1574 01:32:16,490 --> 01:32:19,952 We have checked Zachetti's movements on the night of the crime... 1575 01:32:20,036 --> 01:32:22,830 and have found that they cannot be accounted for. 1576 01:32:23,289 --> 01:32:26,500 I am preparing a more detailed report for your consideration. 1577 01:32:26,584 --> 01:32:30,254 It is my belief that we already have sufficient evidence against Zachetti... 1578 01:32:30,338 --> 01:32:33,424 and Mrs. Dietrichson to justify police action. 1579 01:32:33,674 --> 01:32:36,677 I strongly urge that this whole matter be turned over to the office... 1580 01:32:36,761 --> 01:32:38,679 of the district attorney. 1581 01:32:38,763 --> 01:32:40,848 Respectfully, Barton Keyes. 1582 01:32:40,973 --> 01:32:41,974 [buzzing] 1583 01:32:44,560 --> 01:32:45,561 [buzzing stops] 1584 01:33:17,009 --> 01:33:20,763 Phyllis? It's Walter. I've got to see you. Tonight. 1585 01:33:22,181 --> 01:33:24,225 Yes, it has to be tonight. 1586 01:33:24,850 --> 01:33:26,227 How's 11:00? 1587 01:33:27,395 --> 01:33:29,188 Don't worry about Keyes. 1588 01:33:29,272 --> 01:33:32,233 Just leave the front door unlocked and put the lights out. 1589 01:33:32,316 --> 01:33:35,236 No, nobody's watching the house. Not anymore. 1590 01:33:35,820 --> 01:33:39,824 It's just for the neighbors. I told you not to worry about Keyes. 1591 01:33:40,866 --> 01:33:43,786 I'll see you at 11:00. Yeah. 1592 01:33:45,579 --> 01:33:47,081 Goodbye, baby. 1593 01:33:51,043 --> 01:33:52,753 (Walter) I guess I don't have to tell you... 1594 01:33:52,837 --> 01:33:55,464 what I intended to do at 11:00, Keyes. 1595 01:33:55,548 --> 01:33:59,135 For the first time, I saw a way to get clear of the whole mess I was in... 1596 01:33:59,218 --> 01:34:02,054 and of Phyllis, too, all at the same time. 1597 01:34:02,388 --> 01:34:04,515 Yeah, that's what I thought. 1598 01:34:05,141 --> 01:34:08,519 What I didn't know was that she had plans of her own. 1599 01:34:50,936 --> 01:34:52,271 [car approaching] 1600 01:34:53,272 --> 01:34:54,273 [car door closing] 1601 01:35:07,995 --> 01:35:09,622 In here, Walter. 1602 01:35:13,167 --> 01:35:15,044 ♪♪[jazz music playing] 1603 01:35:24,470 --> 01:35:25,846 Hello, baby. 1604 01:35:28,099 --> 01:35:30,810 Anybody else in the house? Nobody. Why? 1605 01:35:32,311 --> 01:35:35,231 What's that music? A radio up the street. 1606 01:35:43,739 --> 01:35:46,659 Just like the first time I came here, isn't it? 1607 01:35:46,742 --> 01:35:49,578 We were talking about automobile insurance. 1608 01:35:49,954 --> 01:35:52,498 Only you were thinking about murder. 1609 01:35:53,541 --> 01:35:55,418 I was thinking about that anklet. 1610 01:35:55,501 --> 01:35:57,378 And what are you thinking about now? 1611 01:35:57,461 --> 01:35:59,755 I'm all through thinking, baby. 1612 01:35:59,964 --> 01:36:02,216 I just came to say goodbye. Goodbye? 1613 01:36:02,466 --> 01:36:06,470 Where are you going? You're the one that's going, baby. Not me. 1614 01:36:06,720 --> 01:36:09,306 I'm getting off the trolley car right at this corner. 1615 01:36:09,390 --> 01:36:11,892 Suppose you stop being fancy. Let's have it, whatever it is. 1616 01:36:11,976 --> 01:36:15,396 All right, I'll tell you. A friend of mine's got a funny theory. 1617 01:36:15,813 --> 01:36:18,774 He says when two people commit a murder, it's sort of like they're riding... 1618 01:36:18,858 --> 01:36:21,444 on a trolley car together. One can't get off without the other. 1619 01:36:21,527 --> 01:36:23,821 They're stuck with each other and they have to go on... 1620 01:36:23,904 --> 01:36:26,198 riding together clear to the end of the line. 1621 01:36:26,282 --> 01:36:28,576 And the last stop is the cemetery. 1622 01:36:28,659 --> 01:36:31,829 Maybe he's got something there. You bet he has. 1623 01:36:31,912 --> 01:36:34,623 Two people are gonna ride to the end of the line, all right. 1624 01:36:34,707 --> 01:36:39,128 Only I'm not gonna be one of them. I've got another guy to finish my ride for me. 1625 01:36:39,211 --> 01:36:42,673 Just who are you talking about? An acquaintance of yours. 1626 01:36:42,756 --> 01:36:44,091 A Mr. Zachetti. 1627 01:36:44,175 --> 01:36:45,968 Come on, baby, I just got into this thing... 1628 01:36:46,051 --> 01:36:48,637 because I happen to know a little something about insurance, didn't I? 1629 01:36:48,721 --> 01:36:49,763 I was a sucker. 1630 01:36:49,847 --> 01:36:52,600 I'd have been brushed off just as soon as you got your hands on the money. 1631 01:36:52,683 --> 01:36:55,352 Nobody wanted to brush you off. Save it. I'm telling this. 1632 01:36:55,769 --> 01:36:57,813 It's been you and that Zachetti guy all along, hasn't it? 1633 01:36:57,897 --> 01:36:59,482 That's not true. 1634 01:36:59,565 --> 01:37:02,735 Doesn't make any difference if it's true or not. 1635 01:37:03,986 --> 01:37:07,490 The point is, Keyes believes Zachetti is the one he's been looking for. 1636 01:37:07,573 --> 01:37:10,576 He'll have him in that gas chamber before he knows what's happened to him. 1637 01:37:10,701 --> 01:37:14,079 What's happening to me all this time? Don't be silly, baby. 1638 01:37:19,335 --> 01:37:23,506 What do you think is gonna happen to you? You helped him do the murder, didn't you? 1639 01:37:23,589 --> 01:37:24,840 That's what Keyes thinks. 1640 01:37:24,924 --> 01:37:27,176 And what's good enough for Keyes is good enough for me. 1641 01:37:27,259 --> 01:37:31,597 Maybe it's not good enough for me, Walter. Maybe I don't go for the idea. 1642 01:37:31,680 --> 01:37:33,557 Maybe I'd rather talk. 1643 01:37:33,682 --> 01:37:38,187 Sometimes people are where they can't talk. Under six feet of dirt, maybe. 1644 01:37:38,521 --> 01:37:42,525 And if it was you, they'd charge that up to Zachetti, too, wouldn't they? 1645 01:37:42,608 --> 01:37:46,320 Sure they would, and that's just what's gonna happen, baby. 1646 01:37:46,779 --> 01:37:49,240 'Cause he's coming here tonight, in about 15 minutes. 1647 01:37:49,323 --> 01:37:52,785 With the cops right behind him. It's all taken care of. 1648 01:37:53,911 --> 01:37:56,163 That would make everything lovely for you, wouldn't it? 1649 01:37:56,247 --> 01:38:00,125 Right. And it's got to be done before that suit of yours comes to trial... 1650 01:38:00,209 --> 01:38:01,669 and Lola gets a chance to sound off... 1651 01:38:01,919 --> 01:38:04,964 before they trip you up on the stand, and you start to go in drag me down with you. 1652 01:38:05,047 --> 01:38:07,383 Maybe I had Zachetti here so they won't get a chance to trip me up... 1653 01:38:07,466 --> 01:38:08,884 so we can get the money and be together. 1654 01:38:09,301 --> 01:38:12,388 That's cute. Say it again. He came here first to ask where Lola was. 1655 01:38:12,471 --> 01:38:14,557 I made him come back. I was working on him. 1656 01:38:14,640 --> 01:38:16,600 He's a crazy sort of guy, quick-tempered. 1657 01:38:16,684 --> 01:38:18,894 I kept hammering into him that she was with another man... 1658 01:38:18,978 --> 01:38:23,357 so he'd go into one of his jealous rages, and then I'd tell him where she was. 1659 01:38:23,440 --> 01:38:26,110 And you know what he would've done to her, don't you, Walter? 1660 01:38:26,193 --> 01:38:30,281 Yeah, and for once I believe you, because it's just rotten enough. 1661 01:38:31,156 --> 01:38:32,825 We're both rotten. 1662 01:38:32,908 --> 01:38:34,577 Only you're a little more rotten. 1663 01:38:34,660 --> 01:38:36,745 You got me to take care of your husband for you... 1664 01:38:36,829 --> 01:38:40,332 and then you got Zachetti to take care of Lola, maybe take care of me, too. 1665 01:38:40,416 --> 01:38:43,460 Then somebody else would have come along to take care of Zachetti for you. 1666 01:38:43,544 --> 01:38:46,255 That's the way you operate, isn't it, baby? Suppose it is. 1667 01:38:46,338 --> 01:38:49,633 Is what you've got cooked up for tonight any better? 1668 01:38:50,467 --> 01:38:54,179 I don't like that music anymore. Mind if I close the window? 1669 01:39:09,903 --> 01:39:11,280 [gun fires] 1670 01:39:14,450 --> 01:39:17,369 You can do better than that, can't you, baby? 1671 01:39:17,620 --> 01:39:19,371 Better try it again. 1672 01:39:22,166 --> 01:39:24,501 Maybe if I came a little closer? 1673 01:39:35,012 --> 01:39:37,514 How's this? Think you can do it now? 1674 01:39:46,523 --> 01:39:48,901 Why didn't you shoot again, baby? 1675 01:39:54,615 --> 01:39:58,577 Don't tell me it's because you've been in love with me all this time. 1676 01:39:58,661 --> 01:40:02,122 No, I never loved you, Walter, not you or anybody else. 1677 01:40:02,373 --> 01:40:05,584 I'm rotten to the heart. I used you, just as you said. 1678 01:40:05,668 --> 01:40:08,087 That's all you ever meant to me... 1679 01:40:09,254 --> 01:40:11,006 until a minute ago... 1680 01:40:12,132 --> 01:40:14,760 when I couldn't fire that second shot. 1681 01:40:16,387 --> 01:40:19,098 I never thought that could happen to me. 1682 01:40:20,099 --> 01:40:22,685 Sorry, baby. I'm not buying. I'm not asking you to buy. 1683 01:40:22,768 --> 01:40:24,478 Just hold me close. 1684 01:40:30,943 --> 01:40:32,444 Goodbye, baby. 1685 01:40:32,611 --> 01:40:34,363 [gun fires twice] 1686 01:41:27,040 --> 01:41:28,333 Zachetti. 1687 01:41:30,502 --> 01:41:31,837 Come here. 1688 01:41:37,676 --> 01:41:39,344 I said, come here. 1689 01:41:42,097 --> 01:41:45,100 My name is Neff. Yeah, and I still don't like it. 1690 01:41:45,184 --> 01:41:46,810 What do you want? 1691 01:41:46,894 --> 01:41:48,187 Look, kid. 1692 01:41:49,354 --> 01:41:52,649 I want to give you a present. This nice new nickel. 1693 01:41:52,816 --> 01:41:54,860 What's the gag? Suppose you go on back down the hill... 1694 01:41:54,943 --> 01:41:56,528 to the drugstore and make a phone call. 1695 01:41:56,612 --> 01:41:58,697 Keep your nickel and buy yourself an ice-cream cone. 1696 01:41:58,781 --> 01:42:00,532 The number is Granite-0-3-8-6. 1697 01:42:00,616 --> 01:42:03,160 Ask for Miss Dietrichson. First name is Lola. 1698 01:42:03,243 --> 01:42:04,328 She isn't worth a nickel. 1699 01:42:04,411 --> 01:42:06,914 If I ever talk to her, it's not going to be over any telephone. 1700 01:42:06,997 --> 01:42:07,998 Tough, aren't you? 1701 01:42:08,081 --> 01:42:10,125 Here, take the nickel and call her. She wants you to. 1702 01:42:10,209 --> 01:42:11,960 She doesn't want any part of me. 1703 01:42:12,211 --> 01:42:14,797 I know who told you that. It's not true. 1704 01:42:14,880 --> 01:42:17,382 Lola's in love with you. She always has been. 1705 01:42:17,466 --> 01:42:19,676 Don't ask me why. I couldn't even guess. 1706 01:42:19,760 --> 01:42:23,055 Here. Granite-0-3-8-6. Now go on and call her. 1707 01:42:23,722 --> 01:42:25,307 Go on. That way. 1708 01:42:35,567 --> 01:42:37,736 (Walter) It's almost 4:30 now, Keyes. 1709 01:42:39,071 --> 01:42:40,155 It's cold. 1710 01:42:42,241 --> 01:42:45,828 I wonder if she's still lying alone up there in that house... 1711 01:42:45,911 --> 01:42:48,038 or if they've found her by now. 1712 01:42:49,706 --> 01:42:53,001 I wonder a lot of things. They don't matter anymore. 1713 01:42:54,002 --> 01:42:55,462 [coughing] 1714 01:42:57,256 --> 01:43:00,259 Except I want you to do a favor for me, Keyes. 1715 01:43:01,134 --> 01:43:06,098 I want you to be the one to tell Lola, kind of gently, before it breaks wide open. 1716 01:43:07,766 --> 01:43:11,436 And I want you to take care of her and that guy Zachetti... 1717 01:43:16,066 --> 01:43:18,861 so he doesn't get pushed around too much. 1718 01:43:20,821 --> 01:43:22,281 Hello, Keyes. 1719 01:43:32,249 --> 01:43:34,376 Up pretty early, aren't you? 1720 01:43:35,794 --> 01:43:39,131 I always wondered what time you got down to the office. 1721 01:43:39,882 --> 01:43:43,051 Or did that little man of yours pull you out of bed? 1722 01:43:43,135 --> 01:43:44,720 The janitor did. 1723 01:43:45,554 --> 01:43:48,181 Seems you leaked a little blood on the way in here. 1724 01:43:48,265 --> 01:43:49,349 Yeah. 1725 01:43:49,808 --> 01:43:51,685 Wouldn't be surprised. 1726 01:43:53,145 --> 01:43:56,690 I wanted to straighten you out on that Dietrichson case. 1727 01:43:57,065 --> 01:43:58,483 So I gather. 1728 01:44:00,152 --> 01:44:03,488 How long have you been standing there? Long enough. 1729 01:44:03,572 --> 01:44:06,575 Kind of a crazy story with a crazy twist to it. 1730 01:44:07,492 --> 01:44:09,453 One you didn't quite figure out. 1731 01:44:09,536 --> 01:44:11,997 You can't figure them all, Walter. 1732 01:44:12,623 --> 01:44:15,334 That's right. I guess you can't at that. 1733 01:44:16,627 --> 01:44:19,212 Now I suppose I get the big speech... 1734 01:44:20,255 --> 01:44:23,175 the one with all the two-dollar words in it. 1735 01:44:24,384 --> 01:44:26,178 Let's have it, Keyes. 1736 01:44:27,554 --> 01:44:30,766 Walter, you're all washed up. 1737 01:44:33,352 --> 01:44:35,896 Thanks, Keyes. That was short anyway. 1738 01:44:37,230 --> 01:44:39,358 I'm gonna call for a doctor. 1739 01:44:41,568 --> 01:44:44,196 What for? So they can patch me up? 1740 01:44:45,280 --> 01:44:47,950 So they can nurse me along till I get back on my feet? 1741 01:44:48,033 --> 01:44:51,411 So I can walk into that gas chamber up at San Quentin on my own power? 1742 01:44:51,495 --> 01:44:53,080 Is that it, Keyes? 1743 01:44:53,163 --> 01:44:54,831 Something like that. 1744 01:44:55,791 --> 01:44:58,085 I've got a different idea. Yeah? 1745 01:44:58,168 --> 01:44:59,544 Look, Keyes. 1746 01:44:59,878 --> 01:45:02,297 Suppose you went back to bed and didn't find these cylinders... 1747 01:45:02,381 --> 01:45:04,716 till tomorrow morning, when the office opens.... 1748 01:45:04,800 --> 01:45:07,386 After that you can play it any way you like. 1749 01:45:07,469 --> 01:45:10,055 Would you do that much for me, Keyes? 1750 01:45:10,347 --> 01:45:14,226 Give me one good reason. I need four hours to get where I'm going. 1751 01:45:14,351 --> 01:45:17,562 You're not going anywhere, Walter. You bet I am. 1752 01:45:18,438 --> 01:45:21,316 I'm going across the border. You haven't got a chance, Walter. 1753 01:45:21,400 --> 01:45:22,985 Good enough to try for. 1754 01:45:23,068 --> 01:45:26,488 You'll never make the border. That's what you think. 1755 01:45:27,197 --> 01:45:28,699 Just watch me. 1756 01:45:29,116 --> 01:45:31,284 You'll never even make the elevator. 1757 01:45:31,535 --> 01:45:32,536 So long, Keyes. 1758 01:45:54,641 --> 01:45:56,351 [phone dialing] 1759 01:46:02,149 --> 01:46:03,442 (Keyes) Hello... 1760 01:46:03,525 --> 01:46:06,153 send an ambulance to the Pacific Building on Olive Street. 1761 01:46:08,363 --> 01:46:10,323 Yeah. It's a police job. 1762 01:46:30,135 --> 01:46:32,721 How you doing, Walter? Fine. 1763 01:46:34,973 --> 01:46:38,477 Only somebody moved the elevator a couple of miles away. 1764 01:46:39,061 --> 01:46:40,812 They're on the way. 1765 01:46:45,150 --> 01:46:47,736 You know why you couldn't figure this one, Keyes? 1766 01:46:47,819 --> 01:46:49,321 I'll tell you. 1767 01:46:49,863 --> 01:46:53,116 Because the guy you were looking for was too close. 1768 01:46:53,200 --> 01:46:55,827 He was right across the desk from you. 1769 01:46:56,036 --> 01:46:58,038 Closer than that, Walter. 1770 01:46:58,955 --> 01:47:00,332 [panting] 1771 01:47:02,167 --> 01:47:03,710 I love you, too.