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.