1
00:01:56,158 --> 00:01:57,492
[Traffic light dings]

2
00:01:59,161 --> 00:02:00,662
[Truck horn honking]

3
00:02:00,746 --> 00:02:02,164
[Tires squealing]

4
00:02:32,361 --> 00:02:33,987
[Knocking continues]

5
00:02:42,663 --> 00:02:44,790
Why, hello there, Mr. Neff.

6
00:02:57,052 --> 00:02:59,137
Working pretty late, aren't you, Mr. Neff?

7
00:02:59,221 --> 00:03:01,431
Late enough. Let's ride.

8
00:03:04,518 --> 00:03:07,854
You look kind of all in, at that.
—I'm fine.

9
00:03:07,938 --> 00:03:11,149
- How is the insurance business, Mr. Neff?
- —okay.

10
00:03:11,942 --> 00:03:13,652
They wouldn't ever sell me any.

11
00:03:13,735 --> 00:03:16,571
They said I have something loose
in my heart. [Chuckles]

12
00:03:16,655 --> 00:03:19,157
-I say it's rheumatism. —yeah?

13
00:03:20,200 --> 00:03:21,284
Twelve.

14
00:05:07,265 --> 00:05:09,893
[Dictation machine whirring]

15
00:05:14,064 --> 00:05:15,148
[Whirring stops]

16
00:05:16,983 --> 00:05:18,318
Office memorandum.

17
00:05:19,653 --> 00:05:22,197
Walter neff
to barton keyes, claims manager.

18
00:05:23,782 --> 00:05:26,451
Los Angeles, July 16, 1938.

19
00:05:28,036 --> 00:05:29,371
Dear keyes...

20
00:05:30,997 --> 00:05:33,542
I suppose you'll call this a confession
when you hear it.

21
00:05:34,167 --> 00:05:36,503
Well, I don't like the word "confession."

22
00:05:36,586 --> 00:05:38,856
I just want to set you right
about something you couldn't see

23
00:05:38,880 --> 00:05:40,841
because it was smack up against your nose.

24
00:05:41,716 --> 00:05:43,885
You think you're such a hot potato
as a claims manager,

25
00:05:43,969 --> 00:05:46,179
such a wolf on a phony claim.

26
00:05:47,055 --> 00:05:51,184
Maybe you are, but let's take a look
at that dietrichson claim.

27
00:05:52,394 --> 00:05:54,187
Accident and double indemnity.

28
00:05:55,605 --> 00:05:57,607
You were pretty good in there
for a while, keyes.

29
00:05:58,733 --> 00:06:00,986
You said it wasn't an accident. Check.

30
00:06:01,778 --> 00:06:04,155
You said it wasn't suicide. Check.

31
00:06:05,115 --> 00:06:06,658
You said it was murder.

32
00:06:07,826 --> 00:06:09,077
Check.

33
00:06:10,287 --> 00:06:12,789
You thought you had it cold, didn't you?

34
00:06:12,873 --> 00:06:15,500
All wrapped up in tissue paper
with pink ribbons around it.

35
00:06:16,293 --> 00:06:18,295
It was perfect.

36
00:06:18,378 --> 00:06:21,214
Except it wasn't,
because you made one mistake.

37
00:06:21,298 --> 00:06:23,341
Just one little mistake.

38
00:06:24,551 --> 00:06:27,304
When it came to picking the killer,
you picked the wrong guy.

39
00:06:29,472 --> 00:06:31,308
You want to know who killed dietrichson?

40
00:06:32,809 --> 00:06:35,645
Hold tight to that
cheap cigar of yours, keyes.

41
00:06:37,230 --> 00:06:38,773
I killed dietrichson.

42
00:06:38,857 --> 00:06:41,985
Me, Walter neff, insurance salesman.

43
00:06:42,068 --> 00:06:45,071
Thirty-five years old, unmarried,
no visible scars.

44
00:06:47,115 --> 00:06:48,867
Until a while ago, that is.

45
00:06:50,785 --> 00:06:52,203
Yes, I killed him.

46
00:06:53,997 --> 00:06:55,957
I killed him for money,

47
00:06:56,041 --> 00:06:57,584
and for a woman.

48
00:06:59,419 --> 00:07:01,421
I didn't get the money and...

49
00:07:02,756 --> 00:07:04,382
I didn't get the woman.

50
00:07:06,051 --> 00:07:07,427
Pretty, isn't it?

51
00:07:09,095 --> 00:07:11,097
[Whirring]

52
00:07:18,355 --> 00:07:19,648
[Whirring stops]

53
00:07:21,399 --> 00:07:23,318
It all began last may.

54
00:07:24,736 --> 00:07:26,237
Around the end of may, it was.

55
00:07:27,864 --> 00:07:31,826
I'd been out to glendale to deliver
a policy on some daily trucks.

56
00:07:31,910 --> 00:07:35,580
On the way back, iremembered this
auto Rene wa/ near los feliz bou/e vard.

57
00:07:35,664 --> 00:07:37,082
80 / dro ve 0 ver there.

58
00:07:37,707 --> 00:07:39,668
It was one of those
California Spanish houses

59
00:07:39,751 --> 00:07:42,170
everyone was nuts about
70 or 75 years ago.

60
00:07:42,963 --> 00:07:46,132
This one must've cost somebody
about 30, 000 bucks.

61
00:07:46,216 --> 00:07:48,343
That is, if he e ver
finished paying for it.

62
00:07:48,426 --> 00:07:50,428
[Doorbell rings]

63
00:07:51,346 --> 00:07:53,056
Is Mr. Dietrichson in?

64
00:07:53,139 --> 00:07:55,767
- Who wants to see him?
- —my name is neff. Walter neff.

65
00:07:55,850 --> 00:07:58,650
If you're selling something —
-it's Mr. Dietrichson I want to talk to.

66
00:07:58,687 --> 00:08:00,271
And it's not magazine subscriptions.

67
00:08:00,355 --> 00:08:02,732
- —Mr. Dietrichson is not in.
- How soon do you expect him?

68
00:08:02,816 --> 00:08:04,877
He'll be home when he gets here,
if that's any help to you.

69
00:08:04,901 --> 00:08:06,461
[Person] What is it, nettie? Who is it?

70
00:08:06,528 --> 00:08:08,613
It's for Mr. Dietrichson.

71
00:08:08,697 --> 00:08:10,657
I'm Mrs. Dietrichson. What is it?

72
00:08:11,533 --> 00:08:14,411
How do you do, Mrs. Dietrichson?
I'm Walter neff, pacific all risk.

73
00:08:14,494 --> 00:08:17,998
Pacific all what?
—the pacific all risk insurance company.

74
00:08:18,081 --> 00:08:20,250
It's about some renewals
on the automobiles.

75
00:08:20,333 --> 00:08:22,436
I've been trying to contact your husband
for the past two weeks

76
00:08:22,460 --> 00:08:24,004
but he's never in his office.

77
00:08:24,087 --> 00:08:26,089
Is there anything I can do?

78
00:08:26,172 --> 00:08:27,674
The insurance ran out on the 15th.

79
00:08:27,757 --> 00:08:29,860
I'd hate to think of your having
a smashed Fender or something

80
00:08:29,884 --> 00:08:32,595
while you're not, uh...
[Chuckles] Fully covered.

81
00:08:34,014 --> 00:08:36,182
Perhaps I know what you mean, Mr. Neff.

82
00:08:36,266 --> 00:08:37,976
I've just been taking a sunbath.

83
00:08:38,518 --> 00:08:40,645
No pigeons around, I hope.

84
00:08:40,729 --> 00:08:42,772
Uh, now, about those policies,
Mrs. Dietrichson,

85
00:08:42,856 --> 00:08:45,525
-I hate to take up your time, but —
—oh, that's all right.

86
00:08:45,608 --> 00:08:48,236
If you'll wait till I put something on,
I'll be right down.

87
00:08:48,319 --> 00:08:51,448
Nettie, show Mr. Neff
into the living room.

88
00:08:53,950 --> 00:08:55,368
Where would the living room be?

89
00:08:55,452 --> 00:08:57,954
In there.
But they keep the liquor locked up.

90
00:08:58,038 --> 00:09:00,457
It's all right.
I always carry my own keys.

91
00:09:08,256 --> 00:09:11,676
[Walter] The living room was still stufiy
from last n/ghtis orgars.

92
00:09:12,594 --> 00:09:13,762
The windows were closed

93
00:09:13,845 --> 00:09:15,823
and the sunshine coming in
through the venetian blinds

94
00:09:15,847 --> 00:09:17,557
showed up the dust in the air.

95
00:09:19,476 --> 00:09:23,104
On the piano, in a couple of fancy frames,
were ll/lr. Dietrichson and Lola,

96
00:09:23,188 --> 00:09:24,814
his daughter by his first wife.

97
00:09:26,691 --> 00:09:28,610
They had a bowl
of those little red goldfish

98
00:09:28,693 --> 00:09:30,695
on the table behind the b/g da venport.

99
00:09:31,654 --> 00:09:33,014
But to tell you the truth, ke yes,

100
00:09:33,073 --> 00:09:35,950
I wasn't a whole lot interested
in goldfish right then.

101
00:09:36,034 --> 00:09:39,079
Or in auto renewals, or in Mr. Dietrichson
and his daughter Lola.

102
00:09:39,996 --> 00:09:43,625
I was thinking about that dame upstairs
and the way she had looked at me,

103
00:09:43,708 --> 00:09:49,047
and/ wanted to see her again, close,
without that silly staircase between us.

104
00:09:54,761 --> 00:09:57,222
I wasn't long, was I?
—not at all, Mrs. Dietrichson.

105
00:09:57,305 --> 00:10:00,725
- Hope I've got my face on straight.
- It's perfect, for my money.

106
00:10:00,809 --> 00:10:02,268
Neff is the name, isn't it?
—yeah.

107
00:10:02,352 --> 00:10:04,729
With two "fs," like in Philadelphia,
if you know the story.

108
00:10:04,813 --> 00:10:07,148
- Wh at story?
- The Philadelphia story.

109
00:10:07,232 --> 00:10:09,484
Suppose we sit down
and you tell me about the insurance.

110
00:10:09,567 --> 00:10:11,945
My husband never tells me anything.

111
00:10:12,028 --> 00:10:14,948
Well, it's on your two cars,
the lasalle and the Plymouth.

112
00:10:16,658 --> 00:10:19,419
We've been handling this insurance
for Mr. Dietrichson for three years

113
00:10:19,494 --> 00:10:21,496
and we'd hate to see the policies lapse.

114
00:10:23,123 --> 00:10:25,583
That's a honey of an anklet
you're wearing, Mrs. Dietrichson.

115
00:10:26,960 --> 00:10:29,838
As I was saying, uh, we'd hate
to see the policies lapse.

116
00:10:29,921 --> 00:10:32,233
Of course, we give them 30 days.
That's all we're allowed to give.

117
00:10:32,257 --> 00:10:34,926
I guess he's been too busy
down at long beach in the oil fields.

118
00:10:35,009 --> 00:10:37,071
Couldn't I catch him at home
some evening for a few minutes?

119
00:10:37,095 --> 00:10:39,097
I suppose so. But he's never home
much before 8:00.

120
00:10:39,180 --> 00:10:40,473
That's fine with me.

121
00:10:40,557 --> 00:10:42,535
You're not connected
with the automobile club, are you?

122
00:10:42,559 --> 00:10:45,103
No, the all risk, Mrs. Dietrichson. Why?

123
00:10:45,186 --> 00:10:48,022
Somebody from the automobile club
has been trying to get him.

124
00:10:48,106 --> 00:10:50,942
- Do they have a better rate?
- If your husband's a member.

125
00:10:51,025 --> 00:10:52,193
No, he isn't.

126
00:10:52,277 --> 00:10:55,405
Well, then he'd have to join the club
and pay the membership fee to start with.

127
00:10:55,488 --> 00:10:58,241
I never knock the other fellow's
merchandise, Mrs. Dietrichson.

128
00:10:58,324 --> 00:11:02,162
The automobile club's fine.
I can do just as well for you, though.

129
00:11:02,245 --> 00:11:04,581
I have a very attractive policy here.

130
00:11:04,664 --> 00:11:07,226
It wouldn't take me two minutes
to put it in front of your husband.

131
00:11:07,250 --> 00:11:09,752
For instance, we're writing a new
kind of 50% retention feature

132
00:11:09,836 --> 00:11:11,254
in the collision coverage.

133
00:11:12,505 --> 00:11:14,507
You're a smart insurance man,
aren't you, Mr. Neff?

134
00:11:14,591 --> 00:11:16,467
Well, I've been at it 11 years.

135
00:11:16,551 --> 00:11:18,511
Doing pretty well?
—well, it's a living.

136
00:11:19,971 --> 00:11:23,308
You handle just automobile insurance,
or all kinds?

137
00:11:23,391 --> 00:11:26,853
All kinds. Fire, earthquake, theft,
public liability, group insurance,

138
00:11:26,936 --> 00:11:29,230
industrial stuff and so on,
right down the line.

139
00:11:29,314 --> 00:11:30,523
Accident insurance?

140
00:11:30,607 --> 00:11:32,817
Accident insurance?
Sure, Mrs. Dietrichson.

141
00:11:34,903 --> 00:11:37,155
Wish you'd tell me
what's engraved on that anklet.

142
00:11:38,698 --> 00:11:41,367
- Just my name.
- As, for instance?

143
00:11:42,702 --> 00:11:45,163
- —Phyllis.
- Phyms, huh?

144
00:11:45,246 --> 00:11:47,540
- I think I like that.
- But you're not sure?

145
00:11:47,624 --> 00:11:50,418
I'd have to drive it around the block
a couple of times.

146
00:11:51,127 --> 00:11:53,880
Mr. Neff, why don't you drop by
tomorrow evening around 8:30?

147
00:11:53,963 --> 00:11:55,840
He'll be in then. —who?

148
00:11:55,924 --> 00:11:59,052
My husband. You were anxious
to talk to him, weren't you?

149
00:11:59,135 --> 00:12:00,929
Yeah, I was, but, uh...

150
00:12:01,012 --> 00:12:03,199
I'm sort of getting over the idea,
if you know what I mean.

151
00:12:03,223 --> 00:12:07,101
There's a speed limit in this state,
Mr. Neff. Forty—five miles an hour.

152
00:12:07,185 --> 00:12:10,188
- How fast was I going, officer?
- I'd say around 90.

153
00:12:10,271 --> 00:12:12,899
Suppose you get down off your motorcycle
and give me a ticket.

154
00:12:12,982 --> 00:12:15,360
Suppose I let you off
with a warning this time.

155
00:12:15,443 --> 00:12:17,153
Suppose it doesn't take.

156
00:12:17,237 --> 00:12:19,572
Suppose I have to whack you
over the knuckles.

157
00:12:19,656 --> 00:12:22,325
Suppose I bust out crying
and put my head on your shoulder.

158
00:12:22,408 --> 00:12:24,702
Suppose you try putting it
on my husband's shoulder.

159
00:12:25,995 --> 00:12:27,205
That tears it.

160
00:12:31,709 --> 00:12:35,129
- 8:30 tomorrow evening then.
- That's what I suggested.

161
00:12:35,213 --> 00:12:37,799
- Will you be here, too?
- I guess so. I usually am.

162
00:12:37,882 --> 00:12:40,260
Same chair, same perfume, same anklet?

163
00:12:40,343 --> 00:12:42,345
I wonder if I know what you mean.

164
00:12:43,346 --> 00:12:44,973
I wonder if you wonder.

165
00:12:48,893 --> 00:12:51,104
[Walter] It was a hot afternoon
and / can st/I/ remember

166
00:12:51,187 --> 00:12:53,273
the smell of honeysuckle
all along that street.

167
00:12:54,440 --> 00:12:57,860
How could / ha ve known that murder
can somet/mes smell like honeysuckle?

168
00:12:58,778 --> 00:13:00,238
Maybe you would have known, ke yes,

169
00:13:00,321 --> 00:13:03,574
the minute she mentioned
accident insurance, but / didn't.

170
00:13:03,658 --> 00:13:05,118
I felt like a million.

171
00:13:06,244 --> 00:13:08,871
I went back to the ofifce
to see if / had any mail

172
00:13:09,622 --> 00:13:12,875
it was the day you had that truck driver
fiom lng/e wood on the carpet.

173
00:13:12,959 --> 00:13:14,377
Remember, ke yes?

174
00:13:14,460 --> 00:13:18,589
Mr. Neff, Mr. Keyes wants to see you.
He's been yelling for you all afternoon.

175
00:13:18,673 --> 00:13:20,675
Is he sore, or just frothing
at the mouth a little?

176
00:13:20,758 --> 00:13:22,427
Park this for me, will you, sweetheart?

177
00:13:27,473 --> 00:13:28,975
- —Hello, Walter.
- Hi, George.

178
00:13:31,561 --> 00:13:32,687
Come on. Come on, gorlopis.

179
00:13:32,770 --> 00:13:34,498
You're not kidding anybody
with that line of bull.

180
00:13:34,522 --> 00:13:36,607
- You're in a jam and you know it.
- Says you.

181
00:13:36,691 --> 00:13:38,860
- —All I want is my money.
- Says you.

182
00:13:38,943 --> 00:13:40,361
All you're gonna get is the cops.

183
00:13:40,445 --> 00:13:41,654
Hello, Walter.

184
00:13:41,738 --> 00:13:44,782
This is Sam gorlopis from inglewood.
—sure, I know Mr. Gorlopis.

185
00:13:44,866 --> 00:13:46,784
Wrote a policy on his truck.

186
00:13:46,868 --> 00:13:50,121
- How are you, Mr. Gorlopis?
- I ain't so good. My truck burned down.

187
00:13:50,204 --> 00:13:52,874
Yeah. Now look, gorlopis.

188
00:13:52,957 --> 00:13:55,376
Every month hundreds of claims
come to this desk.

189
00:13:55,460 --> 00:13:57,795
Some of them are phonies,
and I know which ones.

190
00:13:57,879 --> 00:14:00,631
How do I know?
Because my little man tells me.

191
00:14:01,966 --> 00:14:05,345
What little man?
—the little man in here.

192
00:14:05,428 --> 00:14:08,389
Every time one of these phonies
comes along, it ties knots in my stomach.

193
00:14:08,473 --> 00:14:09,724
I can't eat.

194
00:14:09,807 --> 00:14:12,977
Yours is one of them, gorlopis.
That's how I knew your claim was crooked.

195
00:14:13,061 --> 00:14:14,604
So what did I do?

196
00:14:14,687 --> 00:14:17,273
I sent a tow car over
to your garage this afternoon

197
00:14:17,357 --> 00:14:19,359
and theyjacked up
that burned-out truck of yours.

198
00:14:19,442 --> 00:14:20,860
And what did they find?

199
00:14:20,943 --> 00:14:22,987
They found what was left
of a neat pile of shavings.

200
00:14:24,781 --> 00:14:25,865
What shavings?

201
00:14:25,948 --> 00:14:29,369
The ones you soaked with kerosene
and dropped a match on.

202
00:14:30,661 --> 00:14:35,249
Look, mister, i-I'm just a poor guy.
Maybe I made a mistake.

203
00:14:35,333 --> 00:14:36,959
That's one way of putting it.

204
00:14:37,710 --> 00:14:40,004
I ain't feeling so good, Mr. Keyes.

205
00:14:40,088 --> 00:14:42,215
Here. Just a minute.
Sign this and you'll feel fine.

206
00:14:42,298 --> 00:14:45,510
Sign what?
—It's a waiver on your claim. Right here.

207
00:14:46,511 --> 00:14:47,804
Here? —here.

208
00:14:51,391 --> 00:14:53,893
Now you're an honest man again.
Goodbye, gorlopis.

209
00:14:54,727 --> 00:14:56,604
But I ain't got no more truck.

210
00:14:56,687 --> 00:14:59,357
Twenty-six hundred bucks
is a lot of dough where I live.

211
00:14:59,440 --> 00:15:01,502
What's the matter, gorlopis?
Don't you know how to open the door?

212
00:15:01,526 --> 00:15:04,654
Just put your hand on the knob,
turn it to the left.

213
00:15:05,863 --> 00:15:07,407
Now pull it toward you.

214
00:15:09,450 --> 00:15:12,870
- That's the boy.
- —thank you, Mr. Keyes.

215
00:15:16,541 --> 00:15:18,376
What kind of an outfit is this, anyway?

216
00:15:18,459 --> 00:15:21,129
Are we an insurance company,
or just a bunch of dim-witted amateurs

217
00:15:21,212 --> 00:15:22,523
to write a policy on a mug like that?

218
00:15:22,547 --> 00:15:24,274
Wait a minute, keyes.
I don't rate this beef.

219
00:15:24,298 --> 00:15:25,818
I clipped a note to that
gorlopis application

220
00:15:25,842 --> 00:15:28,028
to have him thoroughly investigated
before we accepted the risk.

221
00:15:28,052 --> 00:15:29,738
I know you did, Walter.
I'm not beefing at you.

222
00:15:29,762 --> 00:15:32,449
It's the company. The way they do things.
The way they don't do things!

223
00:15:32,473 --> 00:15:35,035
The way they'll write anything
just to get it down on the sales sheet.

224
00:15:35,059 --> 00:15:38,229
And I'm the guy that has to sit here
up to my neck in phony claims

225
00:15:38,312 --> 00:15:40,791
so they won't throw more money out
the window than they take in at the door.

226
00:15:40,815 --> 00:15:42,751
Okay, turn the record over,
let's hear the other side.

227
00:15:42,775 --> 00:15:45,504
I get darn sick of trying to pick up
after a gang of fast-talking salesmen

228
00:15:45,528 --> 00:15:47,280
dumb enough to sell
life insurance to a guy

229
00:15:47,363 --> 00:15:49,657
who sleeps in the same bed
with four rattlesnakes.

230
00:15:49,740 --> 00:15:52,219
Walter, I've had 26 years of this
and let me tell you, I'm getting...

231
00:15:52,243 --> 00:15:54,454
Yeah, and you've loved
every minute of it, keyes.

232
00:15:54,537 --> 00:15:58,499
You love it, only you worry about it
too darn much, you and your little man.

233
00:15:58,583 --> 00:16:01,085
You're so darn conscientious,
you're driving yourself crazy.

234
00:16:01,169 --> 00:16:03,772
You wouldn't even say today is Tuesday
unless you looked at the calendar.

235
00:16:03,796 --> 00:16:06,316
Then you'd check to see if it was
this year's or last year's calendar.

236
00:16:06,340 --> 00:16:08,092
Then you'd find out
who printed the calendar

237
00:16:08,176 --> 00:16:10,612
and find out if their calendar checked
with the world almanac's calendar.

238
00:16:10,636 --> 00:16:12,096
Now, that's enough from you, Walter.

239
00:16:12,180 --> 00:16:14,390
Now, get out of here
before I throw my desk at you.

240
00:16:18,769 --> 00:16:20,104
I love you, too.

241
00:16:27,236 --> 00:16:29,405
[Walter] Lrea/ly did, too, you old crab,

242
00:16:29,489 --> 00:16:32,200
always yelling your head of
always sore at everybody

243
00:16:32,950 --> 00:16:36,370
but you ne ver fooled me with your
song and dance. Not for a second

244
00:16:36,454 --> 00:16:38,998
I kind of always knew that behind
the crgar ashes on your vest,

245
00:16:39,081 --> 00:16:41,083
you had a heart as brg as a house.

246
00:16:42,210 --> 00:16:44,890
Back r'n my ofifice, there was a phone
message fiom Mrs. Dietrichson

247
00:16:44,962 --> 00:16:46,797
about the renewals.

248
00:16:46,881 --> 00:16:49,091
She didn't want me
to come tomorrow evening.

249
00:16:49,926 --> 00:16:53,012
She wanted me to come
Thursday afternoon at 3:30 instead

250
00:16:54,096 --> 00:16:57,225
I had a lot of stuff lr'ned up
for that Thursday afternoon,

251
00:16:57,308 --> 00:16:59,393
including a trrp down to Santa Monica

252
00:16:59,477 --> 00:17:02,688
to see a couple of live prospects
about some group insurance.

253
00:17:03,439 --> 00:17:05,650
But / kept thinking
about Phyllis dietrichson

254
00:17:06,567 --> 00:17:09,237
and the way that anklet of hers
cut r'nto her leg.

255
00:17:16,369 --> 00:17:19,872
Hello, Mr. Neff. Aren't you coming in?

256
00:17:19,956 --> 00:17:21,290
I'm considering it.

257
00:17:23,709 --> 00:17:25,920
I hope you didn't mind
my changing the appointment.

258
00:17:26,003 --> 00:17:28,881
- Last night wasn't so convenient.
- —that's all right.

259
00:17:28,965 --> 00:17:31,092
I was working
on my stamp collection anyway.

260
00:17:31,175 --> 00:17:33,386
I was just fixing some iced tea.
Would you like a glass?

261
00:17:33,469 --> 00:17:35,697
Yeah, unless you've got a bottle of beer
that's not working.

262
00:17:35,721 --> 00:17:38,432
There may be some.
I never know what's in the icebox.

263
00:17:38,516 --> 00:17:39,642
Nettie!

264
00:17:43,729 --> 00:17:47,233
Oh, about those renewals, Mr. Neff.
I talked to my husband about it.

265
00:17:47,316 --> 00:17:50,027
- —Oh, you did?
- Yes. He'll renew with you. He told me so.

266
00:17:50,111 --> 00:17:52,613
As a matter of fact,
I thought he'd be here this afternoon.

267
00:17:52,697 --> 00:17:54,073
-But he's not? —no.

268
00:17:54,156 --> 00:17:55,908
[Chuckles] That's terrible.

269
00:17:57,368 --> 00:17:59,412
Nettie! Nettie!

270
00:18:00,204 --> 00:18:02,623
Oh, I forgot. Today's the maid's day off.

271
00:18:03,791 --> 00:18:06,669
Never mind the beer.
Iced tea will be fine.

272
00:18:06,752 --> 00:18:08,713
Lemon? Sugar? —fix it your way.

273
00:18:10,840 --> 00:18:14,218
As long as it's the maid's day off,
maybe there's something I can do for you.

274
00:18:14,302 --> 00:18:17,972
- Like running the vacuum cleaner.
- —fresh.

275
00:18:18,055 --> 00:18:20,349
I used to peddle vacuum cleaners.

276
00:18:20,433 --> 00:18:22,393
Not much money,
but you learn a lot about life.

277
00:18:22,476 --> 00:18:25,104
I didn't think you'd learned it
from a correspondence course.

278
00:18:27,898 --> 00:18:29,942
Where'd you pick up this tea drinking?

279
00:18:30,026 --> 00:18:32,236
- You're not English, are you?
- —no. Californian.

280
00:18:32,320 --> 00:18:34,322
Born right here in Los Angeles.

281
00:18:34,405 --> 00:18:36,324
They say all native californians
come from Iowa.

282
00:18:36,407 --> 00:18:37,742
[Phyllis chuckles]

283
00:18:37,825 --> 00:18:39,660
Uh, Mr. Neff, I...

284
00:18:39,744 --> 00:18:41,203
Make it Walter, huh?

285
00:18:41,287 --> 00:18:42,705
Walter. —that's right.

286
00:18:43,623 --> 00:18:47,960
Tell me, Walter, on this insurance,
how much commission do you make?

287
00:18:48,044 --> 00:18:49,587
Twenty percent. Why?

288
00:18:49,670 --> 00:18:52,149
I thought perhaps I could throw
a little more business your way.

289
00:18:52,173 --> 00:18:54,759
- I can always use it.
- I was thinking about my husband.

290
00:18:54,842 --> 00:18:57,386
I worry a lot about him
down in those oil fields.

291
00:18:57,470 --> 00:18:59,764
- It's very dangerous.
- Not for an executive, is it?

292
00:18:59,847 --> 00:19:01,390
Oh, he doesn't just sit behind a desk.

293
00:19:01,474 --> 00:19:03,517
He's right down there
with those drilling crews.

294
00:19:03,601 --> 00:19:04,852
It's got me worried sick.

295
00:19:04,935 --> 00:19:07,271
You mean, some dark night
a crown block might fall on him?

296
00:19:07,355 --> 00:19:09,732
- Please don't talk like that.
- But that's the idea.

297
00:19:09,815 --> 00:19:12,818
The other day, a casing line snapped
and caught the foreman.

298
00:19:12,902 --> 00:19:15,738
- He's in the hospital with a broken back.
- That's bad.

299
00:19:15,821 --> 00:19:18,324
It's got me jittery
just thinking about it.

300
00:19:18,407 --> 00:19:20,534
Suppose something like that
happened to my husband.

301
00:19:20,618 --> 00:19:22,620
- It could.
- Well...

302
00:19:23,746 --> 00:19:26,082
Don't you think he ought
to have accident insurance?

303
00:19:26,165 --> 00:19:27,375
Mm—hmm.

304
00:19:28,125 --> 00:19:30,169
What kind of insurance could he have?

305
00:19:30,252 --> 00:19:32,505
Oh, enough to cover
doctors and hospital bills.

306
00:19:32,588 --> 00:19:34,715
Say $125 a week cash benefit.

307
00:19:34,799 --> 00:19:37,343
And he'd rate around $50,000 capital sum.

308
00:19:37,426 --> 00:19:40,054
- Capital sum? What's that?
- In case he gets killed.

309
00:19:41,222 --> 00:19:42,640
Maybe I shouldn't have said that.

310
00:19:42,723 --> 00:19:46,227
[Sighs] I suppose you have to think
of everything in your business.

311
00:19:46,310 --> 00:19:47,770
Well, your husband would understand.

312
00:19:47,853 --> 00:19:50,453
I'm sure I could sell him on the idea
of some accident protection.

313
00:19:50,523 --> 00:19:51,899
Why don't I talk to him about it?

314
00:19:51,982 --> 00:19:53,943
You could try,
but he's pretty tough-going.

315
00:19:54,026 --> 00:19:56,320
Well, they're all tough at first.

316
00:19:57,697 --> 00:19:58,864
He has a lot on his mind.

317
00:19:58,948 --> 00:20:00,708
He doesn't seem to want
to listen to anything

318
00:20:00,783 --> 00:20:02,993
except maybe a baseball game on the radio.

319
00:20:03,744 --> 00:20:07,790
Sometimes we sit here all evening
and never say a word to each other.

320
00:20:07,873 --> 00:20:11,836
- Sounds pretty dull.
- So, I just sit and knit.

321
00:20:12,670 --> 00:20:14,004
Is that what you married him for?

322
00:20:14,088 --> 00:20:16,424
Maybe I like the way
his thumbs hold up the wool.

323
00:20:17,800 --> 00:20:19,510
Anytime his thumbs get tired...

324
00:20:20,428 --> 00:20:22,114
Only with me around,
you wouldn't have to knit.

325
00:20:22,138 --> 00:20:24,807
- —Wouldn't I?
- You bet your life, you wouldn't.

326
00:20:27,393 --> 00:20:29,687
Wonder if a little rum
would get this up on its feet.

327
00:20:33,357 --> 00:20:35,609
I want to ask you something, Walter.

328
00:20:38,154 --> 00:20:41,574
Could I get an accident policy for him
without bothering him at all?

329
00:20:41,657 --> 00:20:42,867
How's that again?

330
00:20:42,950 --> 00:20:45,345
It would make it easier for you, too.
You wouldn't even have to talk to him.

331
00:20:45,369 --> 00:20:47,455
I have a little allowance of my own.

332
00:20:47,538 --> 00:20:50,249
I could pay for it
and he needn't know anything about it.

333
00:20:53,210 --> 00:20:54,295
Why shouldn't he know?

334
00:20:54,378 --> 00:20:56,380
Because he doesn't want
accident insurance.

335
00:20:56,464 --> 00:20:58,674
- He — he's superstitious about it.
- Ah.

336
00:20:58,758 --> 00:21:00,760
A lot of people are.
That's funny, isn't it?

337
00:21:00,843 --> 00:21:04,680
If there was a way to get it like that,
all the worry would be over.

338
00:21:05,931 --> 00:21:09,059
- See what I mean, Walter?
- Sure. I got good eyesight.

339
00:21:09,143 --> 00:21:11,937
You mean you want him to have
the policy without him knowing it.

340
00:21:12,021 --> 00:21:14,940
That means without the insurance company
knowing that he doesn't know it.

341
00:21:15,024 --> 00:21:17,818
- That's the setup, isn't it?
- —Is there anything wrong with it?

342
00:21:17,902 --> 00:21:19,361
No, I think it's lovely.

343
00:21:19,445 --> 00:21:21,757
Then, if some dark, wet night,
that crown block did fall on him...

344
00:21:21,781 --> 00:21:22,865
What crown block?

345
00:21:22,948 --> 00:21:25,552
Only sometimes it can't quite make it
on its own. It has to have a little help.

346
00:21:25,576 --> 00:21:27,137
[Chuckles] I don't know
what you're talking about.

347
00:21:27,161 --> 00:21:29,001
Of course, it doesn't have
to be a crown block.

348
00:21:29,079 --> 00:21:32,017
It can be a car backing over him, or he
could fall out of the upstairs window.

349
00:21:32,041 --> 00:21:34,102
Any little thing like that,
just so it's a morgue job.

350
00:21:34,126 --> 00:21:36,879
- Are you crazy?
- Not that crazy.

351
00:21:38,589 --> 00:21:40,674
- Goodbye, Mrs. Dietrichson.
- What's the matter?

352
00:21:42,551 --> 00:21:44,553
Look, baby, you can't get away with it.

353
00:21:47,181 --> 00:21:50,351
- You want to knock him off, don't you?
- That's a horrible thing to say.

354
00:21:50,434 --> 00:21:51,936
What'd you think I was, anyway?

355
00:21:52,019 --> 00:21:54,289
A guy that walks into a good-looking
dame's front parlor and says,

356
00:21:54,313 --> 00:21:56,249
"good afternoon.
I sell accident insurance on husbands.

357
00:21:56,273 --> 00:21:57,834
You got one that's been around too long?

358
00:21:57,858 --> 00:21:59,294
One you'd like to turn
into a little hard cash?

359
00:21:59,318 --> 00:22:01,046
Just give me a smile
and I'll help you collect."

360
00:22:01,070 --> 00:22:02,714
[Scoffs] Boy, what a dope
you must think I am.

361
00:22:02,738 --> 00:22:04,698
I think you're rotten.

362
00:22:04,782 --> 00:22:07,201
I think you're swell,
so long as I'm not your husband.

363
00:22:07,284 --> 00:22:10,079
- Get out of here.
- You bet I'll get out of here, baby.

364
00:22:10,162 --> 00:22:11,789
I'll get out of here, but quick.

365
00:22:22,508 --> 00:22:24,885
[Walter] So I/et her have it
strarght between the eyes.

366
00:22:24,969 --> 00:22:27,513
She didn't fool me for a minute,
not this time.

367
00:22:27,596 --> 00:22:29,515
I knew / had hold of a red-hot poker

368
00:22:29,598 --> 00:22:32,518
and the time to drop it
was before it burned my hand off

369
00:22:32,601 --> 00:22:34,645
I stopped at a drive-in
for a bottle of beer,

370
00:22:34,728 --> 00:22:36,647
the one lhad wanted all along.

371
00:22:36,730 --> 00:22:40,568
On/y/ wanted it worse now, to get rid
of the sour taste of her iced tea

372
00:22:40,651 --> 00:22:42,278
and everything that went with it.

373
00:22:43,153 --> 00:22:45,990
I didn't want to go back to the ofifce
so / dropped by a bowling alley

374
00:22:46,073 --> 00:22:48,450
at third and western
and rolled a few lines

375
00:22:48,534 --> 00:22:52,037
to get my mind thinking
about something else for a while.

376
00:22:52,121 --> 00:22:53,956
I didn't feel like eating dinner
when / left,

377
00:22:54,039 --> 00:22:55,791
and / didn't feel lrke a show

378
00:22:56,750 --> 00:23:00,462
so / drove home, put the car away
and went up to my apartment.

379
00:23:02,047 --> 00:23:04,592
It had begun to rain outside
and / watched it get dark

380
00:23:04,675 --> 00:23:06,844
and didn't even turn on the fight.

381
00:23:06,927 --> 00:23:08,888
That didn't help me either.

382
00:23:08,971 --> 00:23:10,598
I was all twisted up inside

383
00:23:10,681 --> 00:23:12,683
and/ was still holding on
to that red-hot poker.

384
00:23:13,601 --> 00:23:15,269
And rrght then, it came over me

385
00:23:15,352 --> 00:23:17,563
that / hadn't walked out
on anything at all,

386
00:23:17,646 --> 00:23:19,815
that the hook was too strong,

387
00:23:19,899 --> 00:23:22,568
that this wasn't the end
between her and me.

388
00:23:22,651 --> 00:23:24,403
It was only the beginning.

389
00:23:24,486 --> 00:23:25,613
[Doorbell ringing]

390
00:23:25,696 --> 00:23:27,031
So at 8:00, the bell would n'ng

391
00:23:27,114 --> 00:23:29,325
and ID know who it was
without e ven ha vr'ng to think,

392
00:23:30,200 --> 00:23:33,037
as if it was the most
natural thing in the world

393
00:23:36,582 --> 00:23:39,752
hello. You forgot your hat this afternoon.

394
00:23:40,461 --> 00:23:42,880
- Did I?
- Don't you want me to bring it in?

395
00:23:43,797 --> 00:23:45,007
Sure.

396
00:23:46,550 --> 00:23:47,760
Put it on the chair.

397
00:23:56,852 --> 00:23:59,688
- —How'd you know where I live?
- It's in the phone book.

398
00:24:00,397 --> 00:24:02,316
It's raining. —yeah.

399
00:24:03,192 --> 00:24:04,818
Peel off your coat and sit down.

400
00:24:08,113 --> 00:24:09,198
Your husband out?

401
00:24:09,281 --> 00:24:11,241
Yes. Long beach.
They're spudding in a new well.

402
00:24:11,325 --> 00:24:14,161
He phoned he'd be late. About 9:30.

403
00:24:14,244 --> 00:24:16,288
It's about time you said
you were glad to see me.

404
00:24:16,372 --> 00:24:18,332
I knew you wouldn't leave it like that.

405
00:24:18,415 --> 00:24:21,043
- —Like what?
- Like it was this afternoon.

406
00:24:21,126 --> 00:24:24,421
I must have said something
that gave you a terribly wrong impression.

407
00:24:24,505 --> 00:24:27,174
You must never think anything
like that about me, Walter.

408
00:24:27,883 --> 00:24:29,134
- —Okay.
- No, it's not okay.

409
00:24:29,218 --> 00:24:30,803
Not if you don't believe me.

410
00:24:30,886 --> 00:24:32,429
What do you want me to do?

411
00:24:33,138 --> 00:24:34,682
I want you to be nice to me.

412
00:24:35,516 --> 00:24:38,060
Like the first time you came to the house.

413
00:24:38,143 --> 00:24:39,561
It can't be like the first time.

414
00:24:40,521 --> 00:24:42,189
Something's happened.

415
00:24:42,272 --> 00:24:44,066
I know it has.

416
00:24:44,149 --> 00:24:45,359
It's happened to us.

417
00:24:48,195 --> 00:24:52,616
I feel as if he was watching me.
Not that he cares. Not anymore.

418
00:24:53,367 --> 00:24:56,245
He keeps me on a leash so tight
I can't breathe.

419
00:24:56,328 --> 00:24:59,498
He's in long beach, isn't he? Relax.

420
00:24:59,581 --> 00:25:01,625
Maybe I oughtn't to have come.

421
00:25:01,709 --> 00:25:03,002
Maybe you oughtn't.

422
00:25:03,085 --> 00:25:05,629
- You want me to go?
- If you want to.

423
00:25:05,713 --> 00:25:08,007
- —Right now?
- Sure, right now.

424
00:25:22,855 --> 00:25:24,314
[Walter sighs]

425
00:25:24,398 --> 00:25:27,818
- I'm crazy about you, baby.
- I'm crazy about you, Walter.

426
00:25:27,901 --> 00:25:30,195
That perfume on your hair.
What's the name of it?

427
00:25:30,988 --> 00:25:33,407
I don't know. I bought it in Ensenada.

428
00:25:34,575 --> 00:25:38,454
You oughta have some of that pink wine
to go with it. The kind that bubbles.

429
00:25:38,537 --> 00:25:40,164
All I got is bourbon.

430
00:25:41,123 --> 00:25:42,958
Bourbon is fine, Walter.

431
00:25:49,965 --> 00:25:51,842
Get a couple of glasses, will you?

432
00:25:59,391 --> 00:26:01,477
- Want soda?
- Plain water, please.

433
00:26:02,978 --> 00:26:06,065
About six months ago, a guy slipped
on a cake of soap in his bathtub

434
00:26:06,148 --> 00:26:08,150
and knocked himself cold and was drowned.

435
00:26:08,942 --> 00:26:10,277
Only he had accident insurance.

436
00:26:10,360 --> 00:26:13,489
So they had an autopsy
and she didn't get away with it.

437
00:26:13,572 --> 00:26:15,783
-Who didn't? —his wife.

438
00:26:17,826 --> 00:26:20,120
Then there was a case of a guy
who was found shot.

439
00:26:20,204 --> 00:26:22,844
His wife said he was cleaning a gun
and his stomach got in the way.

440
00:26:24,333 --> 00:26:27,002
All she collected was
a three-to-ten stretch in tehachapi.

441
00:26:28,087 --> 00:26:30,380
Perhaps it was worth it to her.

442
00:26:32,633 --> 00:26:34,843
See if you can carry that
as far as the living room.

443
00:26:38,764 --> 00:26:41,892
It's nice here, Walter.
Who takes care of it for you?

444
00:26:41,975 --> 00:26:44,353
A colored woman comes in
a couple of times a week.

445
00:26:44,436 --> 00:26:47,439
- Cook your own breakfast?
- Squeeze a grapefruit once in a while.

446
00:26:47,523 --> 00:26:49,274
Get the rest down at the corner drugstore.

447
00:26:49,358 --> 00:26:52,277
Sounds wonderful.
Just strangers beside you.

448
00:26:53,112 --> 00:26:54,947
You don't know them
and you don't hate them.

449
00:26:55,739 --> 00:26:57,366
You don't have to sit across the table

450
00:26:57,449 --> 00:27:00,244
and smile at him and that daughter of his
every morning of your life.

451
00:27:00,327 --> 00:27:03,413
What daughter?
Oh, you mean the little girl on the piano?

452
00:27:03,497 --> 00:27:05,833
Mmm. Lola. She lives with us.

453
00:27:05,916 --> 00:27:08,502
He thinks a lot more of her
than he does of me.

454
00:27:08,585 --> 00:27:11,105
- —You ever think of a divorce?
- He wouldn't give me a divorce.

455
00:27:11,171 --> 00:27:12,857
I suppose because
it'd cost him too much money.

456
00:27:12,881 --> 00:27:15,441
He hasn't got any money.
Not since he went into the oil business.

457
00:27:15,509 --> 00:27:17,553
But he had when you married him?

458
00:27:17,636 --> 00:27:19,179
Yes, he had.

459
00:27:19,263 --> 00:27:21,974
And I wanted a home. Why not?

460
00:27:23,058 --> 00:27:25,144
But that's not the only reason.

461
00:27:25,227 --> 00:27:27,938
I was his wife's nurse.
She was sick a long time.

462
00:27:28,021 --> 00:27:30,023
When she died, he was terribly broken up.

463
00:27:31,191 --> 00:27:33,569
I pitied him so.
—and now you hate him.

464
00:27:33,652 --> 00:27:34,820
Yes, Walter.

465
00:27:34,903 --> 00:27:36,780
He's so mean to me.

466
00:27:36,864 --> 00:27:39,504
Every time I buy a dress
or a pair of shoes, he yells his head off.

467
00:27:39,533 --> 00:27:41,493
He never lets me go anywhere.
He keeps me shut up.

468
00:27:41,535 --> 00:27:43,453
He's always been mean to me.

469
00:27:43,537 --> 00:27:47,708
Even his life insurance
all goes to that daughter of his.

470
00:27:47,791 --> 00:27:50,127
That Lola.
—nothing for you at all?

471
00:27:50,210 --> 00:27:52,838
No. And nothing is just
what I'm worth to him.

472
00:27:53,630 --> 00:27:57,134
So you lie awake in the dark
and listen to him snore and get ideas.

473
00:27:57,759 --> 00:27:59,887
Walter, I don't want to kill him.
I never did.

474
00:28:01,013 --> 00:28:03,473
Not even when he gets drunk
and slaps my face.

475
00:28:06,560 --> 00:28:09,605
- Only sometimes you wish he was dead.
- Perhaps I do.

476
00:28:09,688 --> 00:28:13,609
And you wish it was an accident
and you had that policy for $50,000.

477
00:28:13,692 --> 00:28:15,861
- Is that it?
- Perhaps that, too.

478
00:28:18,113 --> 00:28:21,408
The other night, we drove home
from a party. He was drunk again.

479
00:28:21,491 --> 00:28:23,869
When we drove into the garage,
he just sat there

480
00:28:23,952 --> 00:28:26,580
with his head on the steering wheel
and the motor still running.

481
00:28:27,456 --> 00:28:30,751
And I thought what it would be like
if I didn't switch it off,

482
00:28:31,710 --> 00:28:34,046
just closed the garage doors
and left him there.

483
00:28:34,129 --> 00:28:35,547
I'll tell you what it'd be like.

484
00:28:35,631 --> 00:28:38,383
If you had that accident policy
and tried to pull a monoxide job...

485
00:28:38,467 --> 00:28:40,510
We've got a guy in our office named keyes.

486
00:28:40,594 --> 00:28:43,314
For him, a setup like that'd be
just like a slice of rare roast beef.

487
00:28:43,388 --> 00:28:45,116
In three minutes,
he'd know it wasn't an accident.

488
00:28:45,140 --> 00:28:47,351
In ten minutes, you'd be sitting
under the hot lights.

489
00:28:47,434 --> 00:28:49,770
In a half hour, you'd be signing
your name to a confession.

490
00:28:49,853 --> 00:28:51,998
But, Walter, I didn't do it
and I'm not going to do it.

491
00:28:52,022 --> 00:28:54,024
Not if there's an insurance company
in the picture.

492
00:28:54,107 --> 00:28:56,109
They know more tricks
than a carload of monkeys.

493
00:28:56,193 --> 00:28:58,713
And if there's a death mixed up in it,
you haven't got a prayer.

494
00:28:58,779 --> 00:29:01,490
They'll hang you just as sure
as ten dimes will buy a dollar.

495
00:29:02,491 --> 00:29:04,117
And I don't want you to hang, baby.

496
00:29:07,496 --> 00:29:09,122
Stop thinking about it, will you?

497
00:29:12,709 --> 00:29:14,628
[Walter] So we just sat there.

498
00:29:14,711 --> 00:29:18,924
She started crying softly, lrke the rain
on the window, and we didn't say anything.

499
00:29:19,007 --> 00:29:22,302
Maybe she had stopped
thinking about it, but / hadn't.

500
00:29:22,386 --> 00:29:23,553
I couldn't.

501
00:29:23,637 --> 00:29:26,807
Because it was all tied up with something
I'd been thinking about for years.

502
00:29:26,890 --> 00:29:29,810
Since long before I ever
ran into Phyllis dietrichson.

503
00:29:30,727 --> 00:29:32,854
Because you know how it is, keyes.

504
00:29:32,938 --> 00:29:34,439
In this business, you can't sleep

505
00:29:34,523 --> 00:29:37,025
for trying to figure out
all the tricks they could pull on you.

506
00:29:37,109 --> 00:29:38,944
You're like the guy
behind the roulette wheel

507
00:29:39,027 --> 00:29:41,571
watching the customers to make sure
they don't crook the house.

508
00:29:42,447 --> 00:29:45,784
And then one night, you get to thinking
how you could crook the house yourself,

509
00:29:45,867 --> 00:29:47,286
and do it smart,

510
00:29:47,369 --> 00:29:49,538
because you've got that wheel
right under your hands.

511
00:29:49,621 --> 00:29:51,248
You know every notch in it by heart.

512
00:29:52,082 --> 00:29:54,876
And you figure all you need
is a plant out front.

513
00:29:54,960 --> 00:29:56,628
A shill to put down the bet.

514
00:29:57,587 --> 00:29:58,922
And suddenly, the doorbell rings,

515
00:29:59,006 --> 00:30:01,508
and the whole setup
is right there in the room with you.

516
00:30:02,384 --> 00:30:04,094
[Exhales]

517
00:30:05,304 --> 00:30:08,515
Look, keyes, I'm not trying
to whitewash myself.

518
00:30:09,349 --> 00:30:12,978
I fought it, only I guess
I didn't fight it hard enough.

519
00:30:14,438 --> 00:30:18,317
The stakes were $50,000,
but they were the life of a man, too.

520
00:30:19,067 --> 00:30:21,069
A man who'd never done me
any dirt, except...

521
00:30:22,112 --> 00:30:24,740
He was married to a woman
he didn't care anything about.

522
00:30:26,325 --> 00:30:27,743
And I did.

523
00:30:39,755 --> 00:30:41,131
Will you phone me?

524
00:30:42,132 --> 00:30:43,258
Walter.

525
00:30:45,635 --> 00:30:48,513
I hate him. I loathe going back to him.

526
00:30:48,597 --> 00:30:51,600
- You believe me, don't you, Walter?
- Sure, I believe you.

527
00:30:54,102 --> 00:30:57,022
I can't stand it anymore.
What if they did hang me?

528
00:30:57,105 --> 00:30:59,483
They're not going to hang you, baby.

529
00:30:59,566 --> 00:31:01,485
It's better than going on this way.

530
00:31:01,568 --> 00:31:04,464
They're not gonna hang you because
you're gonna do it and I'm gonna help you.

531
00:31:04,488 --> 00:31:07,050
- Do you know what you're saying?
- —sure, I know what I'm saying.

532
00:31:07,074 --> 00:31:08,843
We're gonna do it
and we're gonna do it right.

533
00:31:08,867 --> 00:31:11,745
- —And I'm the guy that knows how.
- Walter, you're hurting me.

534
00:31:11,828 --> 00:31:15,123
There's not going to be any slipup.
Nothing sloppy. Nothing weak.

535
00:31:15,207 --> 00:31:16,625
It's got to be perfect.

536
00:31:29,471 --> 00:31:31,890
Call me tomorrow.
But not from your house. From a booth.

537
00:31:31,973 --> 00:31:33,850
And watch your step every single minute.

538
00:31:33,934 --> 00:31:36,770
This has got to be perfect.
You understand? Straight down the line.

539
00:31:37,813 --> 00:31:40,232
Straight down the line.

540
00:32:12,389 --> 00:32:14,307
[Vehicle engine starts]

541
00:32:16,560 --> 00:32:18,979
[Vehicle departs]

542
00:32:22,941 --> 00:32:24,776
[Walter] That was it, keyes.

543
00:32:24,860 --> 00:32:27,696
The machinery had started to move
and nothing could stop it.

544
00:32:28,363 --> 00:32:31,366
The first thing we had to do
was fix him up with that accident policy.

545
00:32:32,367 --> 00:32:35,787
I knew he wouldn't buy, but all I wanted
was his signature on an application.

546
00:32:36,621 --> 00:32:39,833
So I had to get him to sign
without his knowing what he was signing.

547
00:32:40,834 --> 00:32:44,212
I wanted another witness besides Phyllis
to hear me give him a sales talk.

548
00:32:45,380 --> 00:32:47,180
I was trying to think
with your brains, keyes,

549
00:32:47,257 --> 00:32:49,718
because I wanted all the answers
ready for all the...

550
00:32:49,801 --> 00:32:52,846
All the questions you were gonna spring
as soon as dietrichson was dead.

551
00:32:54,222 --> 00:32:56,308
A couple of nights later,
I went to the house.

552
00:32:57,309 --> 00:33:00,645
Everything looked fine, except I didn't
like the witness Phyllis had brought in.

553
00:33:01,897 --> 00:33:03,648
It was dietrichson's daughter, Lola.

554
00:33:04,983 --> 00:33:07,652
And it made me feel
a little queer in the belly

555
00:33:07,736 --> 00:33:10,906
to have her sitting right there
in the room, playing Chinese checkers...

556
00:33:11,865 --> 00:33:13,617
As if nothing were going to happen.

557
00:33:15,160 --> 00:33:18,121
I suppose you realize, Mr. Dietrichson,
that, not being an employee,

558
00:33:18,205 --> 00:33:20,916
you are not covered by the
state compensation insurance act.

559
00:33:20,999 --> 00:33:24,020
The only way you can protect yourself is
by having a personal policy of your own.

560
00:33:24,044 --> 00:33:25,295
Yeah, I know all about that.

561
00:33:25,378 --> 00:33:27,672
The next thing you'll tell me
I need earthquake insurance

562
00:33:27,756 --> 00:33:29,883
and lightning insurance
and hail insurance.

563
00:33:29,966 --> 00:33:32,052
If we bought all the insurance
they can think up,

564
00:33:32,135 --> 00:33:33,863
we'd stay broke paying for it,
wouldn't we, honey?

565
00:33:33,887 --> 00:33:37,974
What keeps us broke is you going out
and buying five hats at a crack.

566
00:33:38,058 --> 00:33:39,809
Who needs a hat in California?

567
00:33:39,893 --> 00:33:41,520
Dollar for dollar, Mr. Dietrichson,

568
00:33:41,603 --> 00:33:43,813
accident insurance
is the cheapest coverage you can buy.

569
00:33:43,897 --> 00:33:46,858
Well, maybe some other time, Mr. Neff.
I had a tough day.

570
00:33:46,942 --> 00:33:48,151
[Walter] Just as you say.

571
00:33:48,235 --> 00:33:50,695
Suppose we just settle
that automobile insurance tonight.

572
00:33:50,779 --> 00:33:51,905
Sure.

573
00:33:52,614 --> 00:33:55,492
All we'll need on that is for you
to sign the application for renewal.

574
00:33:55,575 --> 00:33:57,786
Phyllis, do you mind
if we don't finish this game?

575
00:33:57,869 --> 00:34:00,330
- It bores me stiff.
- Got something better to do?

576
00:34:00,413 --> 00:34:01,623
Yes, I have.

577
00:34:03,041 --> 00:34:04,751
Father, is it all right
if I run along now?

578
00:34:04,834 --> 00:34:07,963
Run along where? Who with?
—just Anne. We're going roller—skating.

579
00:34:08,046 --> 00:34:09,714
- —Anne who?
- Anne Matthews.

580
00:34:09,798 --> 00:34:11,466
It's not that nino zachette again, is it?

581
00:34:11,550 --> 00:34:14,386
It better not be that zachette guy.
If I ever catch you with that...

582
00:34:14,469 --> 00:34:16,221
It's Anne Matthews, I told you.

583
00:34:16,304 --> 00:34:18,265
And I also told you
we're going roller—skating.

584
00:34:18,348 --> 00:34:20,326
I'm meeting her at the corner
of Vermont and Franklin.

585
00:34:20,350 --> 00:34:23,645
The northwest corner, in case
you're interested, and I'm late already.

586
00:34:23,728 --> 00:34:26,523
I hope that's all quite clear.
Good night, father.

587
00:34:26,606 --> 00:34:28,733
- Good night, Phyllis.
- Good night, miss dietrichson.

588
00:34:28,817 --> 00:34:31,069
- I'm sorry. Good night, Mr...
- —nefi.

589
00:34:31,152 --> 00:34:32,571
Good night, Mr. Neff.

590
00:34:35,824 --> 00:34:38,034
A great little fighter for her weight.

591
00:34:39,286 --> 00:34:41,246
Now, if you'll just sign these,
Mr. Dietrichson.

592
00:34:41,329 --> 00:34:43,707
- —Sign what?
- The applications for the auto renewals.

593
00:34:43,790 --> 00:34:45,685
So you'll be covered
until the new policies are issued.

594
00:34:45,709 --> 00:34:47,502
- When will that be?
- About a week.

595
00:34:47,586 --> 00:34:49,504
Just so I'm covered when I drive up north.

596
00:34:49,588 --> 00:34:51,214
-San Francisco? —palo alto.

597
00:34:51,298 --> 00:34:53,258
He was a Stanford man, Mr. Neff.

598
00:34:53,341 --> 00:34:55,719
And he still goes
to his class reunion every year.

599
00:34:55,802 --> 00:34:59,264
What's wrong with that? Can't I have
a little fun, even once a year?

600
00:34:59,347 --> 00:35:02,267
Great football school, Stanford.
Did you play football, Mr. Dietrichson?

601
00:35:02,350 --> 00:35:04,352
Left guard. Almost made the varsity, too.

602
00:35:04,436 --> 00:35:06,062
- —Where do I sign?
- The bottom line.

603
00:35:10,900 --> 00:35:13,278
- Uh, both copies, please.
- —sign twice, huh?

604
00:35:13,361 --> 00:35:15,447
Yes. One is the agent's copy.
I need it for my files.

605
00:35:15,530 --> 00:35:18,450
Files. Duplicates. Triplicates.

606
00:35:24,039 --> 00:35:25,498
Thank you, Mr. Dietrichson.

607
00:35:25,582 --> 00:35:28,227
Don't worry about the check. I can
pick it up at your office some morning.

608
00:35:28,251 --> 00:35:30,754
- —How much you taking me for?
- $147.50.

609
00:35:30,837 --> 00:35:33,423
I think that's enough insurance
for one evening, Mr. Neff.

610
00:35:33,506 --> 00:35:34,674
Plenty.

611
00:35:34,758 --> 00:35:36,217
[Soda dispenser sputters]

612
00:35:38,928 --> 00:35:41,056
Bring me some soda
when you come up, Phyllis.

613
00:35:41,139 --> 00:35:42,825
- Good night, Mr. Neff.
- Good night, Mr. Dietrichson.

614
00:35:42,849 --> 00:35:45,352
I think you left your hat
in the hall, Mr. Neff.

615
00:36:00,408 --> 00:36:02,035
Good night, Mr. Neff.

616
00:36:04,954 --> 00:36:06,373
All right, Walter? —fine.

617
00:36:06,456 --> 00:36:08,643
- He signed it, didn't he?
- Sure, he signed it. You saw him.

618
00:36:08,667 --> 00:36:10,347
That trip to palo alto.
When does he leave?

619
00:36:10,418 --> 00:36:11,878
End of the month.
—he drives, huh?

620
00:36:11,961 --> 00:36:13,981
- He always drives.
- —not this time. Make him take the train.

621
00:36:14,005 --> 00:36:15,608
- Why?
- Because it's all worked out for a train.

622
00:36:15,632 --> 00:36:18,301
Listen, baby. There's a clause
in every accident policy.

623
00:36:18,385 --> 00:36:20,178
A little thing called double indemnity.

624
00:36:20,261 --> 00:36:23,074
The insurance companies put it in
as a sort of come-on for the customers.

625
00:36:23,098 --> 00:36:25,308
That means they pay double
on certain accidents.

626
00:36:25,392 --> 00:36:27,268
The kind that almost never happen.

627
00:36:27,352 --> 00:36:29,688
Like for instance,
if a guy is killed on a train,

628
00:36:29,771 --> 00:36:32,273
they pay $100,000 instead of $50,000.

629
00:36:32,357 --> 00:36:34,609
- I see.
- —we're hitting it for the limit, baby.

630
00:36:34,693 --> 00:36:36,695
That's why it's got to be the train.

631
00:36:38,530 --> 00:36:41,366
It'll be the train, Walter.
Just the way you want it.

632
00:36:41,449 --> 00:36:43,159
Straight down the line.

633
00:37:02,804 --> 00:37:04,055
[Lola] Hello, Mr. Neff.

634
00:37:05,932 --> 00:37:07,142
It's me.

635
00:37:07,809 --> 00:37:10,019
Is anything wrong?
—I've been waiting for you.

636
00:37:10,103 --> 00:37:11,229
For me? Why?

637
00:37:11,312 --> 00:37:14,482
I thought you could let me ride with you,
if you're going my way.

638
00:37:14,566 --> 00:37:15,775
[Walter] Oh.

639
00:37:19,863 --> 00:37:23,491
- Which way would that be?
- —oh, down the hill. Down Vermont.

640
00:37:23,575 --> 00:37:25,952
Oh, sure. Vermont and Franklin.
Northwest corner, wasn't it?

641
00:37:26,035 --> 00:37:27,287
Be glad to, miss dietrichson.

642
00:37:32,167 --> 00:37:34,085
Going roller—skating, huh?

643
00:37:34,169 --> 00:37:37,005
- —You like roller—skating?
- I can take it or leave it.

644
00:37:38,798 --> 00:37:40,842
Only tonight you're leaving it.

645
00:37:40,925 --> 00:37:42,093
Yes, I am.

646
00:37:43,178 --> 00:37:45,555
I'm having a very tough time at home.

647
00:37:45,638 --> 00:37:48,641
My father doesn't understand me
and Phyllis hates me.

648
00:37:49,601 --> 00:37:52,896
- Sounds tough, all right.
- That's why I have to lie sometimes.

649
00:37:52,979 --> 00:37:56,441
- You mean it's not Vermont and Franklin?
- —It's Vermont and Franklin, all right.

650
00:37:56,524 --> 00:37:58,777
Only it's not Anne Matthews.

651
00:37:58,860 --> 00:38:00,361
It's nino zachette.

652
00:38:01,029 --> 00:38:02,906
You won't tell on me, will you?

653
00:38:02,989 --> 00:38:05,784
- —I'd have to think it over.
- Nino's not what my father says at all.

654
00:38:05,867 --> 00:38:07,368
He's just had bad luck.

655
00:38:07,452 --> 00:38:09,120
He was doing premed at usc

656
00:38:09,204 --> 00:38:11,790
and working nights as an Usher
in a theater downtown.

657
00:38:11,873 --> 00:38:14,751
Got behind in his credits, fiunked out.

658
00:38:14,834 --> 00:38:17,712
Then he lost his job for talking back.

659
00:38:17,796 --> 00:38:19,297
He's so hotheaded.

660
00:38:20,131 --> 00:38:21,331
Becomes expensive, doesn't it?

661
00:38:21,382 --> 00:38:23,843
Guess my father thinks nobody's
good enough for his daughter,

662
00:38:23,927 --> 00:38:26,095
except maybe the guy
that owns standard oil.

663
00:38:26,179 --> 00:38:27,806
I wish he'd see it my way.

664
00:38:28,848 --> 00:38:30,558
I can't give nino up.

665
00:38:31,434 --> 00:38:33,353
It'll all straighten out,
miss dietrichson.

666
00:38:33,436 --> 00:38:35,396
I suppose it will sometime.

667
00:38:35,480 --> 00:38:38,191
This is the corner right here, Mr. Neff.

668
00:38:40,276 --> 00:38:41,861
[Lola] Nino.

669
00:38:41,945 --> 00:38:43,321
Over here, nino.

670
00:38:51,663 --> 00:38:53,790
This is Mr. Neff, nino.
—hello, nino.

671
00:38:54,499 --> 00:38:56,000
The name is zachette.

672
00:38:56,084 --> 00:38:58,711
Nino, please.
Mr. Neff gave me a ride from the house.

673
00:38:58,795 --> 00:39:01,506
- I told him all about us.
- Why does he have to get told about us?

674
00:39:01,589 --> 00:39:03,383
We don't have to worry
about Mr. Neff, nino.

675
00:39:03,466 --> 00:39:06,344
I'm not doing any worrying.
Just don't you broadcast so much.

676
00:39:06,427 --> 00:39:08,012
What's the matter with you, nino?

677
00:39:08,096 --> 00:39:10,598
- —Why, he's a friend.
- I don't have any friends.

678
00:39:10,682 --> 00:39:12,976
It! Did, I like to pick them myself.
Come on.

679
00:39:13,059 --> 00:39:15,353
Look, Sonny, she needed a ride,
so I brought her along.

680
00:39:15,436 --> 00:39:17,063
Is that anything to get tough about?

681
00:39:17,856 --> 00:39:20,042
All right, Lola, make up your mind.
Are you coming or aren't you?

682
00:39:20,066 --> 00:39:21,693
Of course I'm coming.

683
00:39:24,654 --> 00:39:27,824
Don't mind him, Mr. Neff.
And thanks a lot for the ride.

684
00:39:27,907 --> 00:39:29,450
You're awfully sweet.

685
00:39:29,534 --> 00:39:30,785
Nino!

686
00:39:35,665 --> 00:39:37,625
[Walter] She was a nice kid

687
00:39:37,709 --> 00:39:39,711
maybe he was a little better
than he sounded

688
00:39:40,712 --> 00:39:44,090
but rrght then, it gave me a nasty feeling
to be thinking about them at all

689
00:39:44,173 --> 00:39:47,760
with that briefcase rrght behind my head
that had her fathers srgnature m it

690
00:39:47,844 --> 00:39:49,470
and what that srgnature meant.

691
00:39:50,263 --> 00:39:52,473
It meant he was a dead prgeon.

692
00:39:52,557 --> 00:39:55,602
It was only a question of time,
and not very much time at that.

693
00:39:56,644 --> 00:39:58,980
You know that brg market
up on los feliz, keyes?

694
00:40:00,148 --> 00:40:02,775
That's the place Phyllis and/
had picked for a meeting place.

695
00:40:03,693 --> 00:40:08,114
I already had most of the plan in my head,
but a lot of detarls had to be worked out.

696
00:40:08,197 --> 00:40:11,034
And she had to know them all by heart
when the time came.

697
00:40:12,327 --> 00:40:14,704
We had to be very careful fiom now on.

698
00:40:14,787 --> 00:40:16,998
We couldn't let anybody see us together.

699
00:40:17,707 --> 00:40:20,501
We couldn't even talk to each other
on the telephone.

700
00:40:20,585 --> 00:40:23,087
Not fiom her house
or at my ofifice, anyway

701
00:40:24,255 --> 00:40:27,926
so she was to be r'n the market
every morning about 77:00, buying stuff

702
00:40:28,801 --> 00:40:32,305
and / could sort of run r'nto her there
any day / wanted to.

703
00:40:32,388 --> 00:40:34,724
Sort of accidentally on purpose.

704
00:40:35,600 --> 00:40:37,226
-Walter, I wanted to —
-not so loud.

705
00:40:39,354 --> 00:40:41,189
I wanted to talk to you,
ever since yesterday.

706
00:40:41,272 --> 00:40:43,441
Let me talk first. It's all set.

707
00:40:43,524 --> 00:40:45,860
The accident policy came through.
I've got it in my pocket.

708
00:40:45,944 --> 00:40:48,905
I got his check, too.
I saw him down in the oil fields.

709
00:40:48,988 --> 00:40:51,032
He thought he was paying
for the auto insurance.

710
00:40:51,115 --> 00:40:53,952
The check's just made out to the company,
so it could be for anything.

711
00:40:54,035 --> 00:40:56,788
But you have to send a check
for the auto insurance, see?

712
00:40:56,871 --> 00:40:59,916
It'll be all right that way,
because one of the cars is in your name.

713
00:40:59,999 --> 00:41:01,417
Open your bag. Quick.

714
00:41:02,710 --> 00:41:04,796
[Cash register rings]

715
00:41:07,006 --> 00:41:08,466
Can you get in the safe-deposit box?

716
00:41:08,549 --> 00:41:10,385
-Yes. We both have keys. —fine.

717
00:41:10,468 --> 00:41:12,696
But don't put the policy in there yet.
I'll tell you when.

718
00:41:12,720 --> 00:41:15,640
Remember, you never saw it, you never
even touched it. Do you understand?

719
00:41:15,723 --> 00:41:18,476
- I'm not a fool.
- —okay. When is he leaving on the train?

720
00:41:18,559 --> 00:41:20,395
- —That's just it. He isn't going.
- What?

721
00:41:20,478 --> 00:41:22,081
That's what I've been trying to tell you.
The trip is off.

722
00:41:22,105 --> 00:41:23,231
What happened?

723
00:41:25,274 --> 00:41:28,069
Mister, could you reach me
that package of baby food?

724
00:41:28,152 --> 00:41:29,570
That one up there?

725
00:41:31,781 --> 00:41:34,951
I don't know why they always put
what I want on the top shelf.

726
00:41:37,370 --> 00:41:38,538
Go ahead. I'm listening.

727
00:41:38,621 --> 00:41:41,082
He had a fall down at the well.
Broke his leg. It's in a cast.

728
00:41:41,165 --> 00:41:43,960
- —Broke his leg?
- What do we do now, Walter?

729
00:41:44,043 --> 00:41:46,462
Nothing. We just wait.
—wait for what?

730
00:41:46,546 --> 00:41:49,173
Until he can take the train.
I told you, it's got to be the train.

731
00:41:49,257 --> 00:41:51,134
But we can't wait.
I can't go on like this.

732
00:41:51,217 --> 00:41:53,529
We're not gonna grab a hammer
and do it quick, just to get it over with.

733
00:41:53,553 --> 00:41:56,389
- There are other ways.
- We're not gonna do it other ways.

734
00:41:56,472 --> 00:41:57,890
But we can't leave it like this.

735
00:41:57,974 --> 00:42:00,411
What do you suppose would happen
if he found out about the accident policy?

736
00:42:00,435 --> 00:42:02,812
Plenty. But not as bad
as sitting in that death house.

737
00:42:02,895 --> 00:42:04,188
Don't ever talk like that.

738
00:42:04,272 --> 00:42:05,958
Don't let's start losing our heads,
that's all.

739
00:42:05,982 --> 00:42:08,151
It's not our heads.
It's our nerve we're losing.

740
00:42:08,234 --> 00:42:09,569
[Cash register rings]

741
00:42:12,113 --> 00:42:13,322
Excuse me.

742
00:42:16,242 --> 00:42:18,036
We're gonna do it right.
That's all I said.

743
00:42:18,119 --> 00:42:19,912
It's the waiting that's getting me.

744
00:42:19,996 --> 00:42:22,498
It's getting me just as bad, baby.
But we've got to wait.

745
00:42:22,582 --> 00:42:26,252
Maybe we have, Walter,
only it's so tough without you.

746
00:42:26,335 --> 00:42:28,171
It's like a wall between us.

747
00:42:29,672 --> 00:42:32,341
Ibefiergo, baby.
I'm thinking of you every minute.

748
00:42:38,973 --> 00:42:41,809
[Walter] After that, a full week went by
and / didn't see her once.

749
00:42:42,602 --> 00:42:45,605
I tried to keep my mind off her
and off the whole idea.

750
00:42:46,397 --> 00:42:49,077
I kept telling myself that maybe
those fates they say watch over you

751
00:42:49,150 --> 00:42:51,986
had gotten together and broken his leg
to give me a way out.

752
00:42:53,071 --> 00:42:55,615
Then it was the 75th of June.

753
00:42:55,698 --> 00:42:57,700
You may remember that date, ke yes.

754
00:42:58,451 --> 00:43:01,287
You came r'nto my ofifce
around 3:00 r'n the afternoon.

755
00:43:02,497 --> 00:43:03,623
Hello, keyes.

756
00:43:03,706 --> 00:43:06,626
I just came from Norton's office.
The semiannual sales records are out.

757
00:43:06,709 --> 00:43:09,504
You're high man, Walter.
That's twice in a row. Congratulations.

758
00:43:09,587 --> 00:43:12,173
Thanks. How would you like a cheap drink?

759
00:43:12,256 --> 00:43:14,300
How would you like a $50 cut in salary?

760
00:43:15,051 --> 00:43:16,528
Do I laugh now or wait till it gets funny?

761
00:43:16,552 --> 00:43:18,638
No, I'm serious.
I've just been talking to Norton.

762
00:43:18,721 --> 00:43:22,058
Too much stuff piling up on my desk.
Too much pressure on my nerves.

763
00:43:22,141 --> 00:43:24,268
I spend half the night
walking up and down in my bed.

764
00:43:24,352 --> 00:43:25,954
I've got to have an assistant
and I thought of you.

765
00:43:25,978 --> 00:43:27,563
Me? Why pick on me?

766
00:43:27,647 --> 00:43:29,833
Because I've got a crazy idea
you might be good at the job.

767
00:43:29,857 --> 00:43:31,484
That's crazy, all right. I'm a salesman.

768
00:43:31,567 --> 00:43:35,071
Yeah. Peddler. Glad-hander. Backslapper.

769
00:43:35,154 --> 00:43:36,739
You're too good to be a salesman.

770
00:43:36,823 --> 00:43:39,117
- Nobody's too good to be a salesman.
- Oh, phooey!

771
00:43:39,200 --> 00:43:42,411
All you guys do is just ring doorbells
and dish out a smooth line of monkey talk.

772
00:43:42,495 --> 00:43:44,497
What's troubling you
is that 50-buck cut, isn't it?

773
00:43:44,580 --> 00:43:46,558
- Well, that'd trouble anybody.
- —now look, Walter.

774
00:43:46,582 --> 00:43:49,210
The job I'm talking about
takes brains and integrity.

775
00:43:49,293 --> 00:43:51,337
It takes more guts
than there is in 50 salesmen.

776
00:43:51,420 --> 00:43:53,899
- It's the hottest job in the business.
- But it's still a desk job.

777
00:43:53,923 --> 00:43:55,883
- I don't want to be nailed to a desk.
- Desk job?

778
00:43:55,967 --> 00:43:57,635
Is that all you can see in it?

779
00:43:57,718 --> 00:44:00,680
Just a hard chair to park your pants on
from 9:00 to 5:00, huh?

780
00:44:00,763 --> 00:44:02,682
Just a pile of papers to shuffle around,

781
00:44:02,765 --> 00:44:05,810
and five sharp pencils
and a scratch pad to make figures on,

782
00:44:05,893 --> 00:44:07,728
maybe a little doodling on the side.

783
00:44:07,812 --> 00:44:10,022
Well, that's not the way
I look at it, Walter.

784
00:44:10,106 --> 00:44:14,235
To me, a claims man is a surgeon,
that desk is an operating table,

785
00:44:14,318 --> 00:44:17,029
and those pencils are scalpels
and bone chisels.

786
00:44:17,113 --> 00:44:19,115
And those papers are not just forms

787
00:44:19,198 --> 00:44:20,992
and statistics and claims
for compensation.

788
00:44:21,075 --> 00:44:22,660
They're alive.

789
00:44:22,743 --> 00:44:26,497
They're packed with drama,
with twisted hopes and crooked dreams.

790
00:44:26,581 --> 00:44:30,126
A claims man, Walter,
is a doctor and a bloodhound and a...

791
00:44:30,209 --> 00:44:31,210
[Phone rings]

792
00:44:32,461 --> 00:44:34,881
Who? Okay, hold on a minute.

793
00:44:34,964 --> 00:44:38,050
A claims man is a doctor and a bloodhound
and a cop and a judge and a jury

794
00:44:38,134 --> 00:44:39,844
and a father confessor, all in one.

795
00:44:39,927 --> 00:44:41,363
And you want to tell me
you're not interested,

796
00:44:41,387 --> 00:44:42,781
you don't want to work with your brains.

797
00:44:42,805 --> 00:44:44,408
All you want to work
is with your finger on the doorbell

798
00:44:44,432 --> 00:44:45,683
for a few bucks more a week.

799
00:44:45,766 --> 00:44:47,143
There's a dame on your phone.

800
00:44:48,186 --> 00:44:49,270
Walter neff speaking.

801
00:44:49,896 --> 00:44:52,536
I had to call you, Walter.
It's very urgent. Are you with somebody?

802
00:44:53,858 --> 00:44:57,486
Yes, I am. Can't I call you back, Margie?

803
00:44:57,570 --> 00:44:59,989
No, you can't. I've only got a minute.
It can't wait.

804
00:45:00,823 --> 00:45:04,869
Listen. He's going tonight. On the train.
Are you listening? Walter?

805
00:45:04,952 --> 00:45:06,370
Yeah, I'm listening, Margie.

806
00:45:07,663 --> 00:45:09,248
Only make it snappy, will you?

807
00:45:09,332 --> 00:45:10,833
He's on crutches.

808
00:45:10,917 --> 00:45:13,478
The doctor says he can go if he's careful.
The change will do him good.

809
00:45:13,502 --> 00:45:16,088
It's wonderful, Walter.
Just the way you wanted it — on a train.

810
00:45:16,172 --> 00:45:18,549
Only with the crutches,
it makes it much better, doesn't it?

811
00:45:18,633 --> 00:45:21,844
Yeah. Yeah, that's 100% better.

812
00:45:23,095 --> 00:45:24,472
Hold the line a minute, will you?

813
00:45:24,555 --> 00:45:26,224
Keyes, suppose I join you in your office?

814
00:45:26,307 --> 00:45:28,935
That's all right. I'll wait.
Only tell her not to take all day.

815
00:45:31,812 --> 00:45:32,813
Go ahead.

816
00:45:32,897 --> 00:45:35,858
It's the 10:15 from glendale.
I'm driving him.

817
00:45:35,942 --> 00:45:37,818
It's still the same dark street, isn't it?

818
00:45:37,902 --> 00:45:41,489
And the signal is three honks on the horn.
Okay. Anything else?

819
00:45:43,324 --> 00:45:46,619
Oh, uh... what color did you pick?

820
00:45:46,702 --> 00:45:49,705
Blue. Navy blue.
And the cast is on his left leg.

821
00:45:49,789 --> 00:45:53,084
Mm-hmm. Well, that suits me fine.

822
00:45:53,167 --> 00:45:55,920
This is it, Walter.
I'm shaking like a leaf.

823
00:45:56,003 --> 00:45:58,005
But it's straight down the line
for both of us.

824
00:45:58,965 --> 00:46:01,259
I love you, Walter. Goodbye.

825
00:46:03,469 --> 00:46:05,096
- Sorry, keyes.
- What's the matter?

826
00:46:05,179 --> 00:46:07,890
Dames chasing you again? Or still?
Or is it none of my business?

827
00:46:07,974 --> 00:46:10,059
-If I told you it was a customer —
—margie.

828
00:46:10,142 --> 00:46:11,852
I bet she drinks from the bottle.

829
00:46:11,936 --> 00:46:13,938
Why don't you settle down
and get married, Walter?

830
00:46:14,021 --> 00:46:18,150
- Why don't you, for instance?
- I almost did, once. Long time ago.

831
00:46:18,234 --> 00:46:20,152
Now look, keyes,
I've got to call on a prospect.

832
00:46:20,236 --> 00:46:22,488
Even had the church picked out,
the dame and I.

833
00:46:22,571 --> 00:46:24,740
She had a white satin dress
with flounces on it.

834
00:46:24,824 --> 00:46:27,535
I was on my way to the jewelry store
to buy the ring.

835
00:46:27,618 --> 00:46:30,329
And then suddenly that little man in here
started working on me.

836
00:46:30,413 --> 00:46:32,123
So you went back and had her investigated?

837
00:46:32,206 --> 00:46:34,834
Yeah. And the stuff that came out...

838
00:46:35,584 --> 00:46:37,753
She'd been dyeing her hair
ever since she was 16.

839
00:46:37,837 --> 00:46:40,423
There was a manic depressive
in her family, on her mother's side.

840
00:46:40,506 --> 00:46:42,174
She already had one husband.

841
00:46:42,258 --> 00:46:44,302
He was a professional pool player
in Baltimore.

842
00:46:44,385 --> 00:46:46,387
-And as for her brother —
-i get the general idea.

843
00:46:46,470 --> 00:46:48,472
She was a tramp
from a long line of tramps.

844
00:46:48,556 --> 00:46:50,016
Yeah. All right, all right.

845
00:46:50,099 --> 00:46:52,935
Now, what do I say to Norton?
What about this job I want you for?

846
00:46:53,019 --> 00:46:55,980
I don't think I want it, keyes.
Thanks just the same.

847
00:46:56,063 --> 00:46:57,565
Well, fair enough.

848
00:46:58,232 --> 00:47:02,611
Only get this — I picked you for the job
not because I think you're so darn smart,

849
00:47:02,695 --> 00:47:06,324
but because I thought you were a shade
less dumb than the rest of the outfit.

850
00:47:13,205 --> 00:47:16,334
Guess I was wrong.
You're not smarter, Walter.

851
00:47:16,417 --> 00:47:17,835
You're just a little taller.

852
00:47:29,430 --> 00:47:30,765
[Walter] Yes, ke yes.

853
00:47:30,848 --> 00:47:34,477
Those fates / was talking about
had only been stalling me off

854
00:47:34,560 --> 00:47:38,189
now they had thrown the switch.
The gears had meshed

855
00:47:38,272 --> 00:47:40,274
the trme for thinking had all run out.

856
00:47:41,525 --> 00:47:44,528
I wanted my mo vements accounted for
up to the last possible moment.

857
00:47:45,196 --> 00:47:47,448
So when I/eft the ofifice,
I put my rate book on the desk

858
00:47:47,531 --> 00:47:49,325
as if / had forgotten it.

859
00:47:49,408 --> 00:47:51,118
That was part of m y a/rbi.

860
00:47:53,037 --> 00:47:55,539
From here on, it was a question
of fol/o wing the timetable,

861
00:47:55,623 --> 00:47:57,041
move by move.

862
00:47:58,584 --> 00:48:01,629
I got home about 7:00
and drove rrght into the garage.

863
00:48:01,712 --> 00:48:04,340
This was another item
to establish my alibi

864
00:48:06,050 --> 00:48:07,927
hiya, Mr. Neff. —hello, Charlie.

865
00:48:08,969 --> 00:48:10,471
How about giving the heap a wash job?

866
00:48:10,554 --> 00:48:13,015
How soon you gonna want it?
I got a couple cars ahead of you.

867
00:48:13,099 --> 00:48:14,558
Anytime you get to it, Charlie.

868
00:48:14,642 --> 00:48:16,936
I'm staying in tonight. —okay.

869
00:48:17,019 --> 00:48:19,105
[Walter] Up in my apartment,
I called Lou Schwartz,

870
00:48:19,188 --> 00:48:21,273
one of the salesmen that shared my ofifice.

871
00:48:21,357 --> 00:48:24,860
He lived in Westwood, so it was
a toll call and there 'd be a record of it.

872
00:48:24,944 --> 00:48:27,446
I told him I'd forgotten my rate book
and needed some dope

873
00:48:27,530 --> 00:48:29,532
on the public liability bond
I was figuring.

874
00:48:30,282 --> 00:48:33,828
I changed into a Navy blue suit
lrke dietrichson was going to wear.

875
00:48:33,911 --> 00:48:36,580
Lou Schwartz called me back
and ga ve me a lot of figures.

876
00:48:37,248 --> 00:48:40,042
I stuffed a hand towel
and a roll of adhesive r'nto my pocket

877
00:48:40,126 --> 00:48:42,878
so / could fake something
that looked like a cast on a broken leg.

878
00:48:43,921 --> 00:48:45,881
Next, lstuck a card
inside the telephone box,

879
00:48:45,965 --> 00:48:48,634
so that it would fall down
if the bell rang.

880
00:48:48,717 --> 00:48:51,554
That way I'd know if anybody
had called me while / was away

881
00:48:52,430 --> 00:48:55,850
then I did the same thing to the doorbell
r'n case anybody came to see me.

882
00:48:57,268 --> 00:48:59,437
I/eft the apartment
by the service stairs.

883
00:48:59,520 --> 00:49:00,855
Nobody saw me.

884
00:49:01,897 --> 00:49:05,067
I walked all the way fiom my apartment
to the dietrichson house.

885
00:49:05,151 --> 00:49:07,736
I didn't want to take the bus
because there was always the chance

886
00:49:07,820 --> 00:49:10,322
that someone mrght remember
seeing me on it.

887
00:49:10,406 --> 00:49:11,949
I was being that careful.

888
00:49:12,700 --> 00:49:14,535
I could smell that honeysuckle again.

889
00:49:15,411 --> 00:49:17,830
Only it was even stronger,
now that it was nrght.

890
00:49:22,918 --> 00:49:25,546
Is/id the garage door open
as quietly as / could

891
00:49:26,505 --> 00:49:29,383
she 'd backed the sedan in,
just the way / told her to.

892
00:49:29,467 --> 00:49:31,051
I'd figured it was safer that way,

893
00:49:31,135 --> 00:49:33,345
r'n case he got r'nto the car
before she drove it out.

894
00:49:34,263 --> 00:49:35,931
I got r'nto the back of the car.

895
00:49:36,765 --> 00:49:38,601
Ma y there on the floor and waited

896
00:49:39,435 --> 00:49:42,438
all the trme / was thinking about
that dark street on the way to the station

897
00:49:42,521 --> 00:49:44,231
where I was to do it,

898
00:49:44,315 --> 00:49:46,942
and the three honks on the horn
that were to be the srgnal.

899
00:49:47,026 --> 00:49:49,403
About ten mr'nutes later, they came down.

900
00:49:49,487 --> 00:49:51,280
All right, honey?
—yeah, I'm all right.

901
00:49:51,363 --> 00:49:53,365
I'll have the car out in a second.

902
00:50:11,884 --> 00:50:13,385
[Mouthing words]

903
00:50:21,894 --> 00:50:24,271
[Engine starts]

904
00:50:30,736 --> 00:50:32,530
Take it easy, honey.
We've got lots of time.

905
00:50:32,613 --> 00:50:33,822
Yeah.

906
00:50:53,259 --> 00:50:54,593
Remember what the doctor said.

907
00:50:54,677 --> 00:50:56,971
If you get careless,
you might end up with a shorter leg.

908
00:50:57,054 --> 00:51:00,975
So what? I could break the other one
and match 'em up again. [Laughs]

909
00:51:01,058 --> 00:51:03,602
It makes you feel pretty good
to get away from me, doesn't it?

910
00:51:03,686 --> 00:51:06,689
It's only for four days.
I'll be back Monday at the latest.

911
00:51:23,747 --> 00:51:26,959
This is not the right street.
Why did you turn here?

912
00:51:29,336 --> 00:51:30,337
[Horn honks]

913
00:51:31,005 --> 00:51:32,840
- What are you doing that for?
- —[Horn honks]

914
00:51:33,757 --> 00:51:36,343
- —[Horn honks]
- What are you honking the horn for?

915
00:51:36,427 --> 00:51:39,054
[Dietrichson choking]

916
00:51:59,283 --> 00:52:01,827
[Train horn blowing]

917
00:52:36,862 --> 00:52:38,739
You take care of the redcap
and the conductor.

918
00:52:38,822 --> 00:52:41,158
- —Don't worry.
- Keep 'em away from me as much as you can.

919
00:52:41,241 --> 00:52:43,637
- Tell 'em I don't want to be helped.
- I said, don't worry, Walter.

920
00:52:43,661 --> 00:52:45,829
You start as soon as the train leaves.

921
00:52:45,913 --> 00:52:48,749
When you get to the refinery,
turn off the highway onto the dirt road.

922
00:52:48,832 --> 00:52:51,519
From there, it's exactly eight-tenths
of a mile to the dump beside the tracks.

923
00:52:51,543 --> 00:52:53,545
Remember.
—I remember everything.

924
00:52:53,629 --> 00:52:54,838
No speeding.

925
00:52:55,839 --> 00:52:58,509
You don't want any cops stopping you
with him in the back.

926
00:52:58,592 --> 00:53:01,095
Walter, we've been through all that
so many times.

927
00:53:01,178 --> 00:53:03,347
When you leave the highway,
turn off all your lights.

928
00:53:03,430 --> 00:53:05,599
I'll be back on the observation platform.

929
00:53:05,683 --> 00:53:07,685
I'll drop off as close to the spot
as I can.

930
00:53:08,394 --> 00:53:11,647
Let the train pass,
then dim your lights twice.

931
00:53:13,899 --> 00:53:16,819
- San Francisco train, lady?
- Car 9, section 11. Just my husband.

932
00:53:16,902 --> 00:53:19,530
Car 9, section 11? This way please.

933
00:53:27,413 --> 00:53:29,415
Thank you.
My husband doesn't like to be helped.

934
00:53:29,498 --> 00:53:31,125
Car number 8. Up there.

935
00:53:36,672 --> 00:53:40,509
Car 9, section 11. Thank you.

936
00:53:42,803 --> 00:53:45,264
Here's the tickets.
Take good care of yourself with that leg.

937
00:53:45,347 --> 00:53:47,975
- Yeah. You take it easy driving home.
- I'll miss you, honey.

938
00:53:49,059 --> 00:53:50,561
Section 11, sir.

939
00:53:52,062 --> 00:53:53,981
- [Porter] All aboard!
- —thank you.

940
00:53:54,064 --> 00:53:56,734
- Goodbye, honey.
- All aboard!

941
00:53:57,526 --> 00:53:59,403
[Train whistle blows]

942
00:54:02,030 --> 00:54:03,449
Good luck, honey.

943
00:54:12,291 --> 00:54:14,626
- —Will you make up my berth right away?
- Yes, sir.

944
00:54:14,710 --> 00:54:16,670
I'm going back to the observation car
for a smoke.

945
00:54:16,754 --> 00:54:18,255
Right this way, sir.

946
00:54:44,573 --> 00:54:48,118
[Train whistle blowing]

947
00:54:50,329 --> 00:54:51,747
[Passenger] Like a chair?

948
00:54:54,082 --> 00:54:57,294
No, thanks. I'd rather stand.

949
00:54:58,337 --> 00:55:01,632
You, uh, going far? —palo alto.

950
00:55:02,883 --> 00:55:04,134
My name's Jackson.

951
00:55:04,218 --> 00:55:06,345
I'm going all the way to medford.
Medford, Oregon.

952
00:55:06,428 --> 00:55:09,765
- Uh-huh.
- I had a broken arm once.

953
00:55:09,848 --> 00:55:13,227
That darn cast itches something fierce,
doesn't it? [Chuckles]

954
00:55:13,310 --> 00:55:14,853
I thought I'd go crazy with mine.

955
00:55:15,646 --> 00:55:20,400
Uh, palo alto's a nice little town.
You a Stanford man?

956
00:55:20,484 --> 00:55:22,194
I, uh... I used to be.

957
00:55:22,277 --> 00:55:24,863
Uh-oh. I bet you left something behind.

958
00:55:24,947 --> 00:55:26,740
[Chuckles] I always do.

959
00:55:26,824 --> 00:55:29,868
My cigar case. I guess I left it
in my overcoat back in the section.

960
00:55:30,536 --> 00:55:33,664
Oh, would you care to roll yourself
a cigarette, mister...

961
00:55:33,747 --> 00:55:35,290
Dietrichson.

962
00:55:35,374 --> 00:55:37,960
No, thanks. I really prefer a cigar.

963
00:55:38,627 --> 00:55:41,880
-Maybe the Porter could —
-well, I could get your cigars for you.

964
00:55:41,964 --> 00:55:45,300
- Be glad to, Mr. Dietrichson.
- If it's not too much trouble.

965
00:55:45,384 --> 00:55:49,388
- Car 9, section 11.
- Car 9, section 11. With pleasure.

966
00:55:55,269 --> 00:55:57,896
[Train whistle blowing]

967
00:56:33,432 --> 00:56:34,933
Okay. This has gotta be fast.

968
00:56:35,017 --> 00:56:38,020
Here, take his hat.
Pick up the crutches back on the tracks.

969
00:57:07,925 --> 00:57:09,551
Okay, baby. That's it.

970
00:57:25,734 --> 00:57:28,946
[Engine cranking]

971
00:57:38,080 --> 00:57:40,499
[Cranking continues]

972
00:57:56,556 --> 00:57:58,558
[Engine choking]

973
00:58:00,852 --> 00:58:02,854
[Engine starts]

974
00:58:08,026 --> 00:58:09,444
All right. Let's go.

975
00:58:19,538 --> 00:58:21,458
[Walter] On the way back,
we went 0 ver once more

976
00:58:21,540 --> 00:58:24,292
what she was to do at the inquest
if they had one,

977
00:58:24,376 --> 00:58:26,837
and about the insurance
when that came up.

978
00:58:26,920 --> 00:58:29,965
I was afiaid she mrght go to pieces
a little, now that we had done it.

979
00:58:30,048 --> 00:58:31,591
But she was perfect.

980
00:58:31,675 --> 00:58:35,512
No nerves. Not a tear.
Not even a blink of the eyes.

981
00:58:35,595 --> 00:58:38,098
She dropped me a block
fiom my apartment house.

982
00:58:39,558 --> 00:58:43,395
Walter, what's the matter?
Aren't you going to kiss me?

983
00:58:48,025 --> 00:58:50,027
It's straight down the line, isn't it?

984
00:58:55,198 --> 00:58:58,910
- I love you, Walter.
- I love you, baby.

985
00:59:12,257 --> 00:59:15,719
It was two minutes past 77.00
as / went up the service stairs again.

986
00:59:15,802 --> 00:59:17,429
Nobody saw me this trme either.

987
00:59:18,180 --> 00:59:19,890
In the apartment, / checked the bells.

988
00:59:19,973 --> 00:59:23,393
The cards hadn't mo ved
no calls. No visitors.

989
00:59:24,352 --> 00:59:25,979
Then / changed my clothes again.

990
00:59:26,688 --> 00:59:28,690
That left one last thing to do.

991
00:59:29,357 --> 00:59:33,612
I had to go down to the garage.
I wanted Charlie to see me again.

992
00:59:40,077 --> 00:59:42,913
You gonna use your car after all?
I'm not quite through.

993
00:59:42,996 --> 00:59:44,998
Oh. Well, that's all right, Charlie.

994
00:59:45,082 --> 00:59:47,018
Just going up to the drugstore
to get something to eat.

995
00:59:47,042 --> 00:59:50,045
Been working upstairs all night.
My stomach's getting a little sore at me.

996
00:59:50,128 --> 00:59:51,546
Yes, sir, Mr. Neff.

997
00:59:53,632 --> 00:59:55,592
That was all there was to it.

998
00:59:55,675 --> 00:59:58,428
Nothing had s/rpped,
nothing had been overlooked

999
00:59:58,512 --> 01:00:00,138
there was nothing to give us away.

1000
01:00:00,931 --> 01:00:03,642
And yet, ke yes, as I was walking
down the street to the drugstore,

1001
01:00:04,601 --> 01:00:08,021
suddenly it came 0 ver me
that everything would go wrong.

1002
01:00:08,105 --> 01:00:10,565
It sounds crazy, ke yes,
but its true, so help me.

1003
01:00:11,441 --> 01:00:13,610
I couldn't hear my own footsteps.

1004
01:00:17,030 --> 01:00:18,865
It was the walk of a dead man.

1005
01:00:27,207 --> 01:00:29,709
That was the longest night
I ever lived through, keyes,

1006
01:00:29,793 --> 01:00:32,629
and the next day was worse
when the story broke in the papers

1007
01:00:33,630 --> 01:00:35,674
and they started talking about it
at the office.

1008
01:00:35,757 --> 01:00:38,176
And the day after that,
when you started digging into it.

1009
01:00:39,052 --> 01:00:42,264
I kept my hands in my pockets
because I thought they were shaking.

1010
01:00:43,056 --> 01:00:45,308
I put on dark glasses
so people couldn't see my eyes.

1011
01:00:45,392 --> 01:00:48,603
Then I took them off again so they
wouldn't get to wondering why I wore them.

1012
01:00:49,437 --> 01:00:51,273
I tried to hold myself together, but...

1013
01:00:52,399 --> 01:00:54,818
I could feel my nerves
pulling me to pieces.

1014
01:00:58,196 --> 01:01:01,199
- —Oh, Walter?
- Hello, keyes.

1015
01:01:01,283 --> 01:01:03,410
Come along. The big boss wants to see us.

1016
01:01:03,493 --> 01:01:05,912
- The dietrichson case?
- Must be.

1017
01:01:05,996 --> 01:01:07,956
- —Anything wrong?
- Well, the guy is dead.

1018
01:01:08,039 --> 01:01:10,876
We had him insured and it's gonna
cost us dough. That's always wrong.

1019
01:01:11,918 --> 01:01:14,296
- What have they got so far?
- Autopsy report.

1020
01:01:14,379 --> 01:01:18,008
No heart failure, no apoplexy,
no predisposing medical cause of any kind.

1021
01:01:18,091 --> 01:01:19,926
Died of a broken neck.

1022
01:01:20,010 --> 01:01:22,095
- When's the inquest?
- —had it this morning.

1023
01:01:22,179 --> 01:01:24,264
His wife and daughter
made the identification.

1024
01:01:24,347 --> 01:01:26,099
The train people
and some of the passengers

1025
01:01:26,183 --> 01:01:28,393
told how he went through
to the observation car.

1026
01:01:28,476 --> 01:01:32,105
It was all over in 45 minutes.
Verdict? Accidental death.

1027
01:01:33,732 --> 01:01:35,066
What do the police figure?

1028
01:01:35,150 --> 01:01:37,903
That he got tangled up in his crutches
and fell off the train.

1029
01:01:37,986 --> 01:01:39,529
They're satisfied.

1030
01:01:39,613 --> 01:01:40,906
It's not their dough.

1031
01:01:41,615 --> 01:01:42,991
Come on, Walter.

1032
01:01:43,825 --> 01:01:45,720
[Norton] All right.
Thank you very much, gentlemen.

1033
01:01:45,744 --> 01:01:47,913
I believe the legal position is now clear.

1034
01:01:47,996 --> 01:01:50,332
Please stand by. I may need you later.

1035
01:01:50,415 --> 01:01:53,501
Come in, Mr. Keyes. You, too, Mr. Neff.

1036
01:01:57,631 --> 01:01:59,925
You find this an uncomfortably
warm day, Mr. Keyes?

1037
01:02:00,008 --> 01:02:02,677
Oh, I'm sorry, Mr. Norton,
but I didn't know this was formal.

1038
01:02:02,761 --> 01:02:04,429
- Sit down, gentlemen.
- —thank you.

1039
01:02:04,512 --> 01:02:05,722
Any new developments?

1040
01:02:05,805 --> 01:02:08,409
I just talked to this Jackson
long distance, up in medford, Oregon.

1041
01:02:08,433 --> 01:02:11,019
- Who's Jackson?
- —the last man who saw dietrichson alive.

1042
01:02:11,102 --> 01:02:13,563
They were out on the observation
platform together, talking.

1043
01:02:13,647 --> 01:02:15,774
Dietrichson wanted a cigar
and so Jackson went back

1044
01:02:15,857 --> 01:02:17,457
to get dietrichson's cigar case for him.

1045
01:02:17,525 --> 01:02:19,795
When he returned to the observation
platform, no dietrichson.

1046
01:02:19,819 --> 01:02:21,579
Well, Jackson didn't think
anything was wrong

1047
01:02:21,655 --> 01:02:23,633
until a wire caught up with the train
at Santa Barbara.

1048
01:02:23,657 --> 01:02:26,576
They found dietrichson's body
on the tracks near Burbank.

1049
01:02:26,660 --> 01:02:29,162
Very interesting about the cigar case.

1050
01:02:29,246 --> 01:02:31,331
- Anything else?
- No, not much.

1051
01:02:31,414 --> 01:02:34,292
Dietrichson's secretary says
she didn't know anything about the policy.

1052
01:02:34,376 --> 01:02:37,629
There's a daughter, but all she remembers
is neff talking to her father

1053
01:02:37,712 --> 01:02:39,798
about accident insurance
at their house one night.

1054
01:02:39,881 --> 01:02:41,466
I couldn't sell him at first.

1055
01:02:41,549 --> 01:02:44,344
Mr. Dietrichson opposed it.
He said he'd think it over.

1056
01:02:44,427 --> 01:02:47,597
Later, I saw him in the oil fields
and closed him.

1057
01:02:47,681 --> 01:02:49,367
He signed the application
and gave me his check.

1058
01:02:49,391 --> 01:02:52,435
A fine piece of salesmanship that was,
Mr. Neff.

1059
01:02:52,519 --> 01:02:54,319
Well, there's no sense
in pushing neff around.

1060
01:02:54,396 --> 01:02:55,998
He's got the best sales record
in the office.

1061
01:02:56,022 --> 01:02:59,401
Are your salesmen supposed to know
a customer is gonna fall off the train?

1062
01:02:59,484 --> 01:03:03,488
Fall off a train? Are we sure
dietrichson fell off the train?

1063
01:03:03,571 --> 01:03:05,782
- I don't get it.
- You don't, Mr. Keyes?

1064
01:03:05,865 --> 01:03:07,367
Then what do you think of this case?

1065
01:03:07,450 --> 01:03:09,411
This policy might cost us
a great deal of money.

1066
01:03:09,494 --> 01:03:11,579
As you know, it contains
a double indemnity clause.

1067
01:03:11,663 --> 01:03:13,373
Just what is your opinion?

1068
01:03:13,456 --> 01:03:15,292
- —No opinion at all.
- Not even a hunch?

1069
01:03:15,375 --> 01:03:17,627
One of those interesting
little hunches of yours?

1070
01:03:17,711 --> 01:03:19,087
No. Not even a hunch.

1071
01:03:19,170 --> 01:03:22,674
I'm surprised, Mr. Keyes.
I've formed a very definite opinion.

1072
01:03:22,757 --> 01:03:26,136
I think I know— in fact, I know
I know what happened to dietrichson.

1073
01:03:26,219 --> 01:03:30,098
- —You know you know what?
- I know it was not an accident.

1074
01:03:33,393 --> 01:03:36,187
-What do you say to that? —me?

1075
01:03:37,314 --> 01:03:39,691
Well, you've got the ball.
Let's see you run with it.

1076
01:03:39,774 --> 01:03:43,236
There's a widespread feeling that just
because a man has a large office...

1077
01:03:43,320 --> 01:03:44,362
[Intercom buzzes]

1078
01:03:46,448 --> 01:03:49,367
Yes? Have her come in, please.

1079
01:03:50,118 --> 01:03:53,038
There's a widespread feeling that
just because a man has a large office,

1080
01:03:53,121 --> 01:03:54,581
he must be an idiot.

1081
01:03:54,664 --> 01:03:56,541
I'm having a visitor, if you don't mind.

1082
01:03:56,624 --> 01:03:58,752
No, no. I want you to stay
and watch me handle this.

1083
01:03:59,502 --> 01:04:00,795
Mrs. Dietrichson.

1084
01:04:05,592 --> 01:04:07,969
Thank you very much for coming,
Mrs. Dietrichson.

1085
01:04:08,053 --> 01:04:10,889
I assure you I appreciate it.
This is Mr. Keyes.

1086
01:04:10,972 --> 01:04:12,252
- How do you do?
- How do you do?

1087
01:04:12,307 --> 01:04:14,351
- —And Mr. Neff.
- I've met Mr. Neff. How do you do?

1088
01:04:14,434 --> 01:04:16,394
- —Mrs. Dietrichson.
- Won't you sit down?

1089
01:04:19,564 --> 01:04:21,941
[Norton] May I extend our sympathy
in your bereavement?

1090
01:04:22,025 --> 01:04:24,545
I hesitated before asking you
to come here so soon after your loss.

1091
01:04:24,569 --> 01:04:26,047
But now that you're here,
I hope you won't mind

1092
01:04:26,071 --> 01:04:27,947
if I plunge straight into business?

1093
01:04:28,031 --> 01:04:29,791
You know why we asked you to come,
don't you?

1094
01:04:29,866 --> 01:04:32,219
No. All I know is that your secretary
made it sound very urgent.

1095
01:04:32,243 --> 01:04:34,454
Your husband had an accident policy
with this company.

1096
01:04:34,537 --> 01:04:36,307
Evidently you don't know that,
Mrs. Dietrichson.

1097
01:04:36,331 --> 01:04:39,051
No. I remember some talk at the house,
but he didn't seem to want it.

1098
01:04:39,125 --> 01:04:41,805
Your husband took the policy out
a few days later, Mrs. Dietrichson.

1099
01:04:42,337 --> 01:04:44,923
You'll probably find the policy
among his personal effects.

1100
01:04:45,006 --> 01:04:46,758
His safe-deposit box
hasn't been opened yet.

1101
01:04:46,841 --> 01:04:49,052
It seems a tax examiner has to be present.

1102
01:04:49,135 --> 01:04:51,947
Please, I don't want you to think
you're being subjected to any questioning,

1103
01:04:51,971 --> 01:04:53,973
but there are a few things
we should like to know.

1104
01:04:54,057 --> 01:04:55,266
[Phyllis] What sort of things?

1105
01:04:55,350 --> 01:04:57,435
We have the report
of the coroner's inquest.

1106
01:04:57,519 --> 01:05:00,605
Accidental death.
We are not entirely satisfied.

1107
01:05:00,688 --> 01:05:03,066
In fact, we are not satisfied at all.

1108
01:05:05,151 --> 01:05:07,362
Frankly, Mrs. Dietrichson, we suspect...

1109
01:05:09,030 --> 01:05:10,365
A suicide.

1110
01:05:13,493 --> 01:05:15,328
I'm sorry.
Would you like a glass of water?

1111
01:05:15,412 --> 01:05:16,413
Please.

1112
01:05:22,127 --> 01:05:23,253
Thank you.

1113
01:05:29,342 --> 01:05:32,762
Had your husband been depressed
or moody lately, Mrs. Dietrichson?

1114
01:05:32,846 --> 01:05:34,931
Did he have financial worries,
for instance?

1115
01:05:35,640 --> 01:05:38,852
He was perfectly all right
and I don't know of any financial worries.

1116
01:05:38,935 --> 01:05:41,187
Let us examine this so-called accident.

1117
01:05:41,271 --> 01:05:45,275
First, your husband takes out this policy
in absolute secrecy. Why?

1118
01:05:45,358 --> 01:05:48,038
Because he doesn't want his family
to suspect what he intends to do.

1119
01:05:48,069 --> 01:05:49,070
Do what?

1120
01:05:49,154 --> 01:05:52,240
Next, he goes on this trip entirely alone.
He has to be alone.

1121
01:05:52,323 --> 01:05:54,909
He hobbles all the way
out to the observation platform.

1122
01:05:54,993 --> 01:05:58,746
Very unlikely with his leg in a cast,
unless he has a very strong reason.

1123
01:05:58,830 --> 01:06:01,958
Once there, he finds he's not alone.
There's a man there.

1124
01:06:02,041 --> 01:06:05,587
- Uh, what was his name, keyes?
- His name was Jackson. Probably still is.

1125
01:06:06,296 --> 01:06:10,091
So he gets rid of this Jackson
with some fiimsy excuse about cigars.

1126
01:06:10,175 --> 01:06:12,260
And then he's alone, and then he does it.

1127
01:06:12,343 --> 01:06:13,428
Does what?

1128
01:06:13,511 --> 01:06:16,514
He jumps. Suicide. In which case,
the company is not liable.

1129
01:06:17,474 --> 01:06:20,393
You know that, of course.
Now, we could go to court...

1130
01:06:20,477 --> 01:06:23,980
I don't know anything.
In fact, I don't know why I came here.

1131
01:06:24,063 --> 01:06:27,400
Just a moment, please. I said we could
go to court. I didn't say we want to.

1132
01:06:27,484 --> 01:06:30,737
What I want to suggest
is a compromise on both sides.

1133
01:06:30,820 --> 01:06:33,198
A settlement for a certain sum,
a part of the policy value.

1134
01:06:33,281 --> 01:06:34,616
Don't bother, Mr. Norton.

1135
01:06:34,699 --> 01:06:37,035
When I came in here,
I had no idea you owed me any money.

1136
01:06:37,118 --> 01:06:39,038
You told me you did.
Then you told me you didn't.

1137
01:06:39,120 --> 01:06:41,640
Now you tell me you want to
pay me a part of it, whatever it is.

1138
01:06:41,706 --> 01:06:44,042
You want to bargain with me
at a time like this.

1139
01:06:44,125 --> 01:06:47,462
I don't like your insinuations about
my husband, and I don't like your methods.

1140
01:06:47,545 --> 01:06:51,549
In fact, I don't like you, Mr. Norton.
Goodbye, gentlemen.

1141
01:06:54,469 --> 01:06:55,762
[Door slams]

1142
01:06:55,845 --> 01:06:58,348
[Keyes] Nice going, Mr. Norton.
You sure carried that ball.

1143
01:06:59,390 --> 01:07:01,017
Only you fumbled on the goal line.

1144
01:07:01,100 --> 01:07:04,395
Then you heaved an illegal fonnard pass
and got thrown for a 40-yard loss.

1145
01:07:04,479 --> 01:07:06,916
Now you can't pick yourself up
because you haven't got a leg to stand on.

1146
01:07:06,940 --> 01:07:10,068
Oh, I haven't, eh? She can go to court
and we can prove it was suicide.

1147
01:07:10,151 --> 01:07:11,694
Oh, can we?

1148
01:07:11,778 --> 01:07:15,573
Mr. Norton, the first thing
that struck me was that suicide angle.

1149
01:07:15,657 --> 01:07:19,494
Only I dumped it into the wastepaper
basket just three seconds later.

1150
01:07:19,577 --> 01:07:23,456
You know, you ought to take a look
at the statistics on suicide sometime.

1151
01:07:23,540 --> 01:07:25,518
You might learn a little something
about the insurance business.

1152
01:07:25,542 --> 01:07:27,502
Mr. Keyes, I was raised
in the insurance business.

1153
01:07:27,585 --> 01:07:29,504
Yeah, in the front office.

1154
01:07:29,587 --> 01:07:32,799
Come now. You've never read
an actuarial table in your life, have you?

1155
01:07:32,882 --> 01:07:35,176
Why, they've got ten volumes
on suicide alone.

1156
01:07:35,260 --> 01:07:37,136
Suicide by race, by color, by occupation,

1157
01:07:37,220 --> 01:07:39,222
by sex, by seasons of the year,
by time of day.

1158
01:07:39,305 --> 01:07:42,559
Suicide, how committed? By poisons,
by firearms, by drowning, by leaps.

1159
01:07:42,642 --> 01:07:45,311
Suicide by poison,
subdivided by types of poison,

1160
01:07:45,395 --> 01:07:47,981
such as corrosive, irritant,
systemic, gaseous, narcotic,

1161
01:07:48,064 --> 01:07:49,649
alkaloid, protein, and so forth.

1162
01:07:49,732 --> 01:07:52,318
Suicide by leaps,
subdivided by leaps from high places,

1163
01:07:52,402 --> 01:07:54,505
under the wheels of trains,
under the wheels of trucks,

1164
01:07:54,529 --> 01:07:56,781
under the feet of horses, from steamboats.

1165
01:07:56,864 --> 01:07:59,367
But, Mr. Norton,
of all the cases on record,

1166
01:07:59,450 --> 01:08:01,160
there's not one single case of suicide

1167
01:08:01,244 --> 01:08:03,329
by leap from the rear end
of a moving train.

1168
01:08:03,413 --> 01:08:05,015
And do you know how fast
that train was going

1169
01:08:05,039 --> 01:08:06,559
at the point where the body was found?

1170
01:08:06,624 --> 01:08:08,001
Fifteen miles an hour.

1171
01:08:08,084 --> 01:08:10,378
How can anybodyjump off
a slow—moving train like that

1172
01:08:10,461 --> 01:08:12,964
with any kind of expectation
that he would kill himself?

1173
01:08:13,047 --> 01:08:14,966
No. No soap, Mr. Norton.

1174
01:08:15,049 --> 01:08:18,052
We're sunk, and we'll have to pay
through the nose, and you know it.

1175
01:08:18,136 --> 01:08:19,387
May I have this?

1176
01:08:23,141 --> 01:08:24,392
Come on, Walter.

1177
01:08:27,770 --> 01:08:29,397
Next time, I'll rent a tuxedo.

1178
01:08:46,122 --> 01:08:48,583
[Walter] / could have hugged you
rrght then and there, ke yes,

1179
01:08:48,666 --> 01:08:50,168
you and your statistics.

1180
01:08:50,251 --> 01:08:52,670
You were the only one
we were really scared of,

1181
01:08:53,338 --> 01:08:56,257
and instead you were
almost playing on our team.

1182
01:08:56,341 --> 01:08:59,260
That e vening when / got home,
my nerves had eased off

1183
01:08:59,344 --> 01:09:01,387
I could feel the ground
under my feet again.

1184
01:09:01,471 --> 01:09:04,098
And it looked like easy going
fiom there on in.

1185
01:09:04,182 --> 01:09:06,768
That hundred-thousand bucks
looked as safe for Phyllis and me

1186
01:09:06,851 --> 01:09:09,354
as if we had the check
already deposited in the bank.

1187
01:09:09,437 --> 01:09:11,439
[Phone ringing]

1188
01:09:15,735 --> 01:09:18,071
Hello? Oh, hello, baby.

1189
01:09:19,197 --> 01:09:22,241
Sure, everything's fine.
You were wonderful in Norton's office.

1190
01:09:22,325 --> 01:09:25,036
I felt so funny.
I wanted to look at you all the time.

1191
01:09:26,037 --> 01:09:28,206
How do you think I felt, baby?
Where are you?

1192
01:09:28,289 --> 01:09:30,875
At the drugstore. Just a block away.

1193
01:09:30,958 --> 01:09:32,293
Can I come up?

1194
01:09:32,377 --> 01:09:35,004
Okay. But be careful.
Don't let anybody see you.

1195
01:09:46,808 --> 01:09:49,018
[Doorbell ringing]

1196
01:10:01,656 --> 01:10:02,865
Hello, keyes.

1197
01:10:08,788 --> 01:10:11,791
- What's on your mind?
- —that broken leg.

1198
01:10:11,874 --> 01:10:15,086
- The guy had a broken leg.
- What are you talking about?

1199
01:10:15,169 --> 01:10:18,798
Talking about dietrichson.
He had accident insurance, didn't he?

1200
01:10:18,881 --> 01:10:20,925
Yeah.
—then he broke his leg, didn't he?

1201
01:10:21,008 --> 01:10:22,969
- So what?
- —and he didn't put in a claim.

1202
01:10:23,052 --> 01:10:26,889
- —Why didn't he put in a claim? Why?
- What are you driving at?

1203
01:10:26,973 --> 01:10:31,811
Walter, I had dinner two hours ago
and it stuck halfway.

1204
01:10:31,894 --> 01:10:33,813
Little man of yours
is acting up again, huh?

1205
01:10:33,896 --> 01:10:35,982
There's something wrong
with the dietrichson case.

1206
01:10:36,065 --> 01:10:39,861
Why? Because he didn't file a claim?
Maybe he just didn't have time.

1207
01:10:39,944 --> 01:10:41,946
Maybe he just didn't know
that he was insured.

1208
01:10:45,116 --> 01:10:46,451
No. No, that couldn't be it.

1209
01:10:46,534 --> 01:10:48,911
Uh, you delivered the policy
to him personally, didn't you?

1210
01:10:48,995 --> 01:10:50,097
- —Yeah.
- You got his check?

1211
01:10:50,121 --> 01:10:51,205
Sure, I did.

1212
01:10:52,039 --> 01:10:54,792
- Got any bicarbonate of soda?
- —no, I haven't.

1213
01:10:55,710 --> 01:10:59,589
Walter, I've been living
with this little man for 26 years.

1214
01:10:59,672 --> 01:11:02,467
He's never failed me yet.
There's got to be something wrong.

1215
01:11:02,550 --> 01:11:05,094
Well, maybe Norton was right.
Maybe it was suicide.

1216
01:11:05,178 --> 01:11:06,596
No. Not suicide.

1217
01:11:07,388 --> 01:11:10,433
- But not an accident, either.
- What else?

1218
01:11:11,142 --> 01:11:12,435
Now look, Walter.

1219
01:11:12,518 --> 01:11:15,188
A guy takes out an accident policy
that's worth $100,000

1220
01:11:15,271 --> 01:11:16,355
if he's killed on a train.

1221
01:11:16,439 --> 01:11:18,239
Then two weeks later,
he is killed on a train.

1222
01:11:18,316 --> 01:11:19,942
And not in a train accident, mind you,

1223
01:11:20,026 --> 01:11:21,986
but falling off
some silly observation car.

1224
01:11:22,069 --> 01:11:24,989
Do you know what
the mathematical probability of that is?

1225
01:11:25,072 --> 01:11:28,701
One out of,
oh, I don't know how many billions.

1226
01:11:28,785 --> 01:11:30,995
And add to that, the broken leg.

1227
01:11:31,078 --> 01:11:33,956
No, it just — it just can't be
the way it looks.

1228
01:11:34,040 --> 01:11:36,125
Something has been worked on us.

1229
01:11:37,001 --> 01:11:38,127
Such as what?

1230
01:11:46,052 --> 01:11:47,220
Murder?

1231
01:11:47,804 --> 01:11:49,639
Don't you have any peppermint
or something?

1232
01:11:49,722 --> 01:11:52,308
- Oh, sorry. Want a little soda water?
- —no, no, no.

1233
01:11:53,810 --> 01:11:54,977
[Walter] Who do you suspect?

1234
01:11:55,061 --> 01:11:56,997
[Keyes] Well, maybe I like to
make things easy for myself.

1235
01:11:57,021 --> 01:11:59,398
But I always tend to suspect
the beneficiary.

1236
01:11:59,482 --> 01:12:00,817
-You mean the wife? —yeah.

1237
01:12:00,900 --> 01:12:03,212
That wide-eyed dame that just
didn't know anything about anything.

1238
01:12:03,236 --> 01:12:05,005
You're crazy, keyes.
She wasn't even on the train.

1239
01:12:05,029 --> 01:12:06,447
I know she wasn't, Walter.

1240
01:12:06,531 --> 01:12:08,550
I don't claim to know
how it was worked, or who worked it,

1241
01:12:08,574 --> 01:12:10,827
but all I know is that it was worked.

1242
01:12:10,910 --> 01:12:12,620
I've got to get to a drugstore.

1243
01:12:12,703 --> 01:12:14,956
This thing feels like
a hunk of concrete inside me.

1244
01:12:15,873 --> 01:12:17,750
- Good night, Walter.
- Good night, keyes.

1245
01:12:18,709 --> 01:12:21,045
- See you at the office in the morning.
- —yeah.

1246
01:12:22,964 --> 01:12:25,550
I'd like to move in on her
right now, tonight,

1247
01:12:25,633 --> 01:12:29,428
if it wasn't for Norton and his
striped-pants ideas about company policy.

1248
01:12:29,512 --> 01:12:32,390
I'd have the police after her so fast
it'd make her head spin.

1249
01:12:32,473 --> 01:12:34,141
They'd put her through the wringer,

1250
01:12:34,225 --> 01:12:36,811
and, brother, the things
they would squeeze out.

1251
01:12:36,894 --> 01:12:38,938
Only you haven't got a single thing
to go on, keyes.

1252
01:12:39,021 --> 01:12:40,147
Oh, not too much.

1253
01:12:40,231 --> 01:12:42,483
Just 26 years experience,
all the percentage there is,

1254
01:12:42,567 --> 01:12:45,236
and this hunk of concrete in my stomach.

1255
01:12:48,030 --> 01:12:49,699
Can I have one of those things?

1256
01:13:01,168 --> 01:13:03,796
- Good night, keyes.
- So long, Walter.

1257
01:13:07,216 --> 01:13:08,634
[Elevator door shuts]

1258
01:13:17,059 --> 01:13:19,812
- How much does he know?
- He doesn't know anything.

1259
01:13:20,855 --> 01:13:22,899
It's those stinking hunches of his.

1260
01:13:22,982 --> 01:13:25,401
And he can't prove anything, can he?
—not if we're careful.

1261
01:13:25,484 --> 01:13:27,486
Not if we don't see each other
for a while.

1262
01:13:30,489 --> 01:13:32,617
- —How long a while?
- Until this dies down.

1263
01:13:33,409 --> 01:13:34,577
You don't know keyes.

1264
01:13:34,660 --> 01:13:36,680
Once he gets his teeth into something,
he never lets go.

1265
01:13:36,704 --> 01:13:39,999
He'll investigate you, have you shadowed.
He'll watch you every minute from now on.

1266
01:13:40,875 --> 01:13:43,711
- You afraid, baby?
- —yes, I'm afraid.

1267
01:13:44,462 --> 01:13:49,133
But not of keyes. I'm afraid of us.
We're not the same anymore.

1268
01:13:49,216 --> 01:13:51,987
We did it so we could be together,
but instead of that it's pulling us apart.

1269
01:13:52,011 --> 01:13:53,447
- —Isn't it, Walter?
- What are you talking about?

1270
01:13:53,471 --> 01:13:56,098
And you don't really care
whether we see each other or not.

1271
01:13:58,809 --> 01:14:00,019
Shut up, baby.

1272
01:14:04,565 --> 01:14:07,109
[Receptionist] Pacific all risk.
Good afternoon.

1273
01:14:09,570 --> 01:14:11,155
Hello, Mr. Neff.

1274
01:14:11,989 --> 01:14:14,158
Hello. —lola dietrichson.

1275
01:14:14,241 --> 01:14:17,286
- Don't you remember me?
- Yes. Yes, of course.

1276
01:14:17,370 --> 01:14:19,580
Could I talk with you just a few minutes?

1277
01:14:19,664 --> 01:14:22,208
Somewhere where we could be alone?

1278
01:14:22,291 --> 01:14:24,710
Why, yes. Come into my office.

1279
01:14:30,716 --> 01:14:33,052
Is it something about what happened?

1280
01:14:33,135 --> 01:14:35,137
Yes, Mr. Neff.

1281
01:14:35,221 --> 01:14:37,098
It's about my father's death.

1282
01:14:37,765 --> 01:14:39,433
I'm terribly sorry, miss dietrichson.

1283
01:14:43,145 --> 01:14:45,705
Oh, Lou, do you mind if I use
the office alone for a few minutes?

1284
01:14:45,773 --> 01:14:47,316
No. It's all yours, Walter.

1285
01:14:54,615 --> 01:14:56,200
Look at me, Mr. Neff.

1286
01:14:56,283 --> 01:14:59,996
I'm not crazy. I'm not hysterical.
I'm not even crying.

1287
01:15:00,788 --> 01:15:02,915
But I have the awful feeling
that something's wrong,

1288
01:15:04,542 --> 01:15:08,254
and I had that same feeling once before,
when my mother died.

1289
01:15:08,337 --> 01:15:09,422
When your mother died?

1290
01:15:09,505 --> 01:15:12,216
We were at lake arrowhead.
That was six years ago.

1291
01:15:12,299 --> 01:15:14,969
We had a cabin there.
It was winter and very cold.

1292
01:15:15,052 --> 01:15:17,513
My mother was very sick with pneumonia.

1293
01:15:17,596 --> 01:15:19,515
She had a nurse with her.

1294
01:15:19,598 --> 01:15:21,600
There were just the three of us
in the cabin.

1295
01:15:22,643 --> 01:15:24,895
One night, I got up
and went into my mother's room.

1296
01:15:24,979 --> 01:15:27,148
She was delirious with fever.

1297
01:15:27,231 --> 01:15:30,401
All the bed covers were on the floor
and the windows were wide open.

1298
01:15:31,152 --> 01:15:32,361
The nurse wasn't in the room.

1299
01:15:32,445 --> 01:15:34,655
I ran and covered my mother up
as quickly as I could.

1300
01:15:34,739 --> 01:15:36,741
Just then I heard the door open behind me.

1301
01:15:37,992 --> 01:15:39,243
The nurse stood there.

1302
01:15:40,453 --> 01:15:44,331
She didn't say a word,
but there was a look in her eyes

1303
01:15:44,415 --> 01:15:46,125
I'll never forget.

1304
01:15:47,960 --> 01:15:51,338
Two days later, my mother was dead.

1305
01:15:54,216 --> 01:15:55,843
Do you know who that nurse was?

1306
01:15:56,969 --> 01:15:58,929
- —No. Who?
- Phyllis.

1307
01:15:59,013 --> 01:16:01,474
I tried to tell my father,
but I was just a kid then.

1308
01:16:01,557 --> 01:16:04,643
He wouldn't listen to me.
Six months later, she married him.

1309
01:16:04,727 --> 01:16:08,064
I kind of talked myself out of the idea
she could have done anything like that.

1310
01:16:09,190 --> 01:16:13,027
But now it's all back again, now that
something's happened to my father, too.

1311
01:16:13,778 --> 01:16:17,323
You're not making sense, miss dietrichson.
Your father fell off a train.

1312
01:16:17,406 --> 01:16:20,659
Yes, and two days before he fell off
that train, what was Phyllis doing?

1313
01:16:20,743 --> 01:16:23,204
She was in her room in front of a mirror,
with a black hat on,

1314
01:16:23,287 --> 01:16:24,622
pinning a black veil to it,

1315
01:16:24,705 --> 01:16:27,333
as if she couldn't wait to see
how she would look in mourning.

1316
01:16:28,209 --> 01:16:30,336
You've had a pretty bad shock,
miss dietrichson.

1317
01:16:30,419 --> 01:16:31,979
Aren't you just imagining these things?

1318
01:16:32,046 --> 01:16:33,506
I caught her eyes in the mirror.

1319
01:16:33,589 --> 01:16:36,550
They had that look in them
they had before my mother died.

1320
01:16:36,634 --> 01:16:38,260
That same look.

1321
01:16:39,011 --> 01:16:40,888
You don't like your stepmother, do you?

1322
01:16:40,971 --> 01:16:42,765
Isn't it just because
she is your stepmother?

1323
01:16:42,848 --> 01:16:45,309
I loathe her because she did it.
She did it for the money.

1324
01:16:45,392 --> 01:16:47,436
Only you're not going to pay her,
are you, Mr. Neff?

1325
01:16:47,520 --> 01:16:50,564
She's not going to get away with it
this time, because I'm going to speak up.

1326
01:16:50,648 --> 01:16:53,376
- —I'm going to tell everything I know.
- You'd better be careful, saying things...

1327
01:16:53,400 --> 01:16:54,985
I'm not afraid.

1328
01:16:55,069 --> 01:16:56,862
Y-You'll see.

1329
01:16:57,655 --> 01:16:59,240
[Sobbing]

1330
01:17:04,912 --> 01:17:06,122
I'm sorry.

1331
01:17:09,250 --> 01:17:11,502
I-I didn't mean to act like this.

1332
01:17:13,212 --> 01:17:16,340
All this that you've been telling me,
who else have you told?

1333
01:17:16,423 --> 01:17:17,591
No one.

1334
01:17:17,675 --> 01:17:20,010
- How about your stepmother?
- Of course not.

1335
01:17:20,636 --> 01:17:22,388
I'm — I've moved out.

1336
01:17:23,889 --> 01:17:25,891
I'm not living at home anymore.

1337
01:17:25,975 --> 01:17:28,435
And you haven't told
that boyfriend of yours? Zachette?

1338
01:17:28,519 --> 01:17:31,730
I'm not seeing him anymore.
We had a fight.

1339
01:17:33,315 --> 01:17:34,942
Where are you living now?

1340
01:17:35,025 --> 01:17:37,027
I got myself a little apartment
in Hollywood.

1341
01:17:38,279 --> 01:17:40,573
Four walls, and you just
sit and look at them, huh?

1342
01:17:42,199 --> 01:17:43,492
Yes, Mr. Neff.

1343
01:17:46,370 --> 01:17:48,130
[Walter] So that evening
I took her to dinner

1344
01:17:48,205 --> 01:17:49,965
at a Mexican restaurant
down on olvera street

1345
01:17:50,040 --> 01:17:51,709
where nobody would see us.

1346
01:17:51,792 --> 01:17:53,252
I wanted to cheer her up.

1347
01:17:54,211 --> 01:17:57,506
The next day was Sunday
and we went for a ride down to the beach.

1348
01:17:57,590 --> 01:18:00,551
She had loosened up a bit.
She was even laughing.

1349
01:18:00,634 --> 01:18:04,013
I had to make sure that she wouldn't tell
that stuff about Phyllis to anybody else.

1350
01:18:04,096 --> 01:18:06,724
It was dynamite,
whether it was true or not.

1351
01:18:07,474 --> 01:18:11,187
And / had no chance to talk to Phyllis.
You were watching her like a hawk, k e yes.

1352
01:18:11,270 --> 01:18:14,440
I couldn't e ven phone her because
I was afiaid you had the wires tapped

1353
01:18:15,858 --> 01:18:17,610
Monday morning,
there was a note on my desk

1354
01:18:17,693 --> 01:18:19,987
that you wanted to see me, ke yes.

1355
01:18:20,070 --> 01:18:22,281
For a mr'nute, / wondered
if it could be about Lola.

1356
01:18:23,115 --> 01:18:24,366
It was worse.

1357
01:18:25,159 --> 01:18:28,829
Outside your door was the last guy
m the world/ wanted to see.

1358
01:18:38,339 --> 01:18:40,007
Oh, uh, come in. Come in, Walter.

1359
01:18:41,759 --> 01:18:42,968
Hello, keyes.

1360
01:18:43,719 --> 01:18:45,346
I want to ask you something.

1361
01:18:45,429 --> 01:18:47,109
After all the years
we've known each other,

1362
01:18:47,181 --> 01:18:49,021
do you mind if I make
a rather blunt statement?

1363
01:18:49,099 --> 01:18:50,434
- About what?
- About me.

1364
01:18:51,268 --> 01:18:53,979
Walter, I'm a very great man.
—yeah?

1365
01:18:54,063 --> 01:18:56,273
This dietrichson business, it's murder,

1366
01:18:56,357 --> 01:18:58,776
and murders don't come any neater.

1367
01:18:58,859 --> 01:19:01,403
As fancy a piece of homicide
as anybody ever ran into.

1368
01:19:01,487 --> 01:19:04,323
Smart, tricky, almost perfect, but...

1369
01:19:05,032 --> 01:19:07,493
I think papa has it all figured out.

1370
01:19:07,576 --> 01:19:11,163
Figured out and wrapped up in tissue paper
with pink ribbons on it.

1371
01:19:11,247 --> 01:19:13,832
- Go ahead. I'm listening.
- —you know what?

1372
01:19:14,541 --> 01:19:16,961
That guy dietrichson
was never on the train.

1373
01:19:18,587 --> 01:19:20,881
- He wasn't?
- No, he wasn't.

1374
01:19:22,258 --> 01:19:24,635
Now look, Walter,
you can't be sure of killing a man

1375
01:19:24,718 --> 01:19:27,346
by throwing him off a train
that's going 15 miles an hour.

1376
01:19:27,429 --> 01:19:30,224
The only way you can be sure
is to kill him first

1377
01:19:30,307 --> 01:19:32,309
and then throw his body on the tracks.

1378
01:19:32,393 --> 01:19:34,561
Now that would mean
either killing him on the train

1379
01:19:34,645 --> 01:19:37,314
or, and this is where
it really gets fancy,

1380
01:19:37,398 --> 01:19:39,608
you kill him somewhere else
and put him on the tracks.

1381
01:19:39,692 --> 01:19:43,195
Two possibilities,
and I personally buy the second.

1382
01:19:44,321 --> 01:19:45,990
You're way ahead of me, keyes.

1383
01:19:46,073 --> 01:19:47,866
Well, look, Walter, it was like this.

1384
01:19:47,950 --> 01:19:51,954
They killed the guy,
the wife and a somebody else.

1385
01:19:52,037 --> 01:19:54,766
Then the somebody else took the crutches
and went on the train as dietrichson.

1386
01:19:54,790 --> 01:19:56,917
Then the somebody else jumped off.

1387
01:19:57,001 --> 01:19:59,670
Then they put the body on the tracks
where the train had passed.

1388
01:19:59,753 --> 01:20:03,090
An impersonation, see? Cinch to work.

1389
01:20:03,173 --> 01:20:05,426
Because it was night,
very few people were about,

1390
01:20:05,509 --> 01:20:07,052
they have the crutches to stare at,

1391
01:20:07,136 --> 01:20:09,346
they never really looked at the man
at all.

1392
01:20:09,430 --> 01:20:11,765
Fancy, all right, keyes,
but maybe it's a little too fancy.

1393
01:20:11,849 --> 01:20:15,311
Is it? I tell you,
it all fits together like a watch.

1394
01:20:16,145 --> 01:20:18,147
Now let's see what we have
in the way of proof.

1395
01:20:18,230 --> 01:20:21,025
The only guy who really got a good look
at this supposed dietrichson

1396
01:20:21,108 --> 01:20:22,943
is sitting right outside my office.

1397
01:20:23,027 --> 01:20:25,237
I took the trouble to bring him
down here from Oregon.

1398
01:20:28,198 --> 01:20:30,951
- Come in, Mr. Jackson.
- —yes, sir, Mr. Keyes.

1399
01:20:31,035 --> 01:20:32,745
These are fine cigars you smoke.

1400
01:20:32,828 --> 01:20:34,468
- Two for a quarter.
- That's what I said.

1401
01:20:34,538 --> 01:20:36,081
Well, did you study those photographs?

1402
01:20:36,165 --> 01:20:38,334
Yes, indeed. I studied them thoroughly.

1403
01:20:38,417 --> 01:20:40,270
- Very thoroughly.
- Have you made up your mind?

1404
01:20:40,294 --> 01:20:42,212
Mr. Keyes, I'm a medford man.
Medford, Oregon.

1405
01:20:42,296 --> 01:20:44,506
Up in medford we take our time
making up our mind.

1406
01:20:44,590 --> 01:20:47,843
Well, we're not in medford now.
We're in a hurry. Let's have it.

1407
01:20:47,926 --> 01:20:49,970
Are these photographs
of the late Mr. Dietrichson?

1408
01:20:50,054 --> 01:20:51,388
Yes.

1409
01:20:51,472 --> 01:20:53,724
- —Then my answer is no.
- What do you mean, no?

1410
01:20:53,807 --> 01:20:55,976
I mean, this is not the man
that was on the train.

1411
01:20:56,060 --> 01:20:57,186
Will you swear to that?

1412
01:20:57,269 --> 01:20:59,229
Mr. Keyes, I'm a medford man.
Medford, Oregon.

1413
01:20:59,313 --> 01:21:01,774
If I say it, I mean it.
If! Mean it, of course I'll swear it.

1414
01:21:01,857 --> 01:21:03,817
There you are, Walter. There's your proof.

1415
01:21:03,901 --> 01:21:05,421
This is Mr. Neff, one of our salesmen.

1416
01:21:05,486 --> 01:21:07,326
Pleased to meet you, Mr. Neff.
Pleased, indeed.

1417
01:21:07,404 --> 01:21:08,924
- How are you?
- —very fine, thank you.

1418
01:21:08,989 --> 01:21:10,949
- Never been better.
- —sit down, Mr. Jackson.

1419
01:21:11,033 --> 01:21:14,328
Just how would you describe the man
you saw on the observation platform?

1420
01:21:14,411 --> 01:21:17,373
Well, I'm pretty sure
he was a younger man,

1421
01:21:17,456 --> 01:21:20,334
about 10 or 15 years younger
than the man in these photographs.

1422
01:21:20,417 --> 01:21:22,544
Dietrichson was about 50,
wasn't he, Walter?

1423
01:21:22,628 --> 01:21:24,046
Fifty-one, according to the policy.

1424
01:21:24,922 --> 01:21:27,841
The man I saw
was nothing like 51 years old.

1425
01:21:27,925 --> 01:21:30,594
Of course, it was pretty dark
out on that platform.

1426
01:21:30,677 --> 01:21:32,971
Come to think of it,
he tried to keep his back towards me.

1427
01:21:33,055 --> 01:21:35,808
- But I'm positive just the same.
- Thank you, Jackson.

1428
01:21:35,891 --> 01:21:38,286
Of course, you understand
this matter is strictly confidential.

1429
01:21:38,310 --> 01:21:40,150
We may need you again
down here in Los Angeles,

1430
01:21:40,229 --> 01:21:41,438
if the case comes to court.

1431
01:21:41,522 --> 01:21:44,066
Anytime you need me,
I'm entirely at your disposal, gentlemen.

1432
01:21:44,149 --> 01:21:46,652
- Expenses paid, of course.
- Oh, yes, yes, of course.

1433
01:21:49,154 --> 01:21:51,323
Get me lubin in the cashier's office.

1434
01:21:52,491 --> 01:21:54,410
Hello, lubin. This is keyes.

1435
01:21:54,493 --> 01:21:57,788
Listen, I'm sending a man named Jackson
down to you with an expense account.

1436
01:21:58,747 --> 01:22:00,874
Well, we brought him down here
from medford, Oregon

1437
01:22:00,958 --> 01:22:03,335
in connection with the dietrichson claim.

1438
01:22:03,419 --> 01:22:06,755
Mm-hmm. Well, take care
of his hotel bill, will you?

1439
01:22:06,839 --> 01:22:10,217
- —Ever been in Oregon, Mr. Neff?
- No. Never been up there.

1440
01:22:10,300 --> 01:22:13,303
Hmm. Oh, wait a minute.
You go trout fishing?

1441
01:22:13,387 --> 01:22:16,890
- Maybe I saw you up klamath falls way.
- Nope.Ldontfish.

1442
01:22:16,974 --> 01:22:21,019
Mmm, never been fishing, Mr. Neff—
Neff. Neff. It's the name.

1443
01:22:21,103 --> 01:22:24,064
There's a family of neffs in corvallis.
—no relation.

1444
01:22:24,148 --> 01:22:26,251
Let me see. This man's
an automobile dealer in corvallis.

1445
01:22:26,275 --> 01:22:28,795
- A very reputable man, too, I'm told.
- —all right, Mr. Jackson.

1446
01:22:28,819 --> 01:22:30,255
Suppose you go down
to the cashier's office.

1447
01:22:30,279 --> 01:22:31,738
Room 27 on the 11th floor.

1448
01:22:31,822 --> 01:22:34,717
He'll take care of your expense account
and your ticket for the train tonight.

1449
01:22:34,741 --> 01:22:35,868
Tonight?

1450
01:22:35,951 --> 01:22:37,619
Tomorrow morning would suit me better.

1451
01:22:37,703 --> 01:22:40,914
There's a very good osteopath in town
I'd like to see before I leave.

1452
01:22:41,832 --> 01:22:43,000
Osteopath?

1453
01:22:43,083 --> 01:22:45,210
Well, just don't put her
on the expense account.

1454
01:22:46,920 --> 01:22:48,547
Well, goodbye, gentlemen.

1455
01:22:48,630 --> 01:22:50,466
- It's been a pleasure.
- Goodbye.

1456
01:22:52,759 --> 01:22:56,722
Well, there it is, Walter. It's beginning
to come apart at the seams already.

1457
01:22:56,805 --> 01:22:59,725
Murder's never perfect.
Always comes apart sooner or later.

1458
01:22:59,808 --> 01:23:02,144
And when two people are involved,
it's usually sooner.

1459
01:23:02,227 --> 01:23:05,355
Now, we know the dietrichson dame
is in it, and a somebody else.

1460
01:23:05,439 --> 01:23:07,483
Pretty soon, we'll know
who that somebody else is.

1461
01:23:07,566 --> 01:23:10,128
He'll show. He's got to show.
Sometime, somewhere, they've got to meet.

1462
01:23:10,152 --> 01:23:11,487
Their emotions are all kicked up.

1463
01:23:11,570 --> 01:23:15,157
Whether it's love or hate doesn't matter.
They can't keep away from each other.

1464
01:23:15,240 --> 01:23:17,469
They may think it's twice as safe
because there are two of them.

1465
01:23:17,493 --> 01:23:19,328
[Chuckles] But it isn't twice as safe.

1466
01:23:19,411 --> 01:23:21,371
It's ten times twice as dangerous.

1467
01:23:21,455 --> 01:23:23,207
They've committed a murder,

1468
01:23:23,290 --> 01:23:24,976
and it's not like taking
a trolley ride together

1469
01:23:25,000 --> 01:23:26,603
where they can get off at different stops.

1470
01:23:26,627 --> 01:23:28,438
They're stuck with each other
and they've got to ride

1471
01:23:28,462 --> 01:23:29,880
all the way to the end of the line.

1472
01:23:29,963 --> 01:23:32,123
It's a one-way trip,
and the last stop is the cemetery.

1473
01:23:32,966 --> 01:23:34,426
She put in her claim.

1474
01:23:35,302 --> 01:23:37,513
I'm gonna throw it right back at her.

1475
01:23:43,310 --> 01:23:45,270
Let her sue us if she dares.

1476
01:23:45,354 --> 01:23:48,065
I'll be ready for her
and that somebody else.

1477
01:23:48,148 --> 01:23:50,359
They'll be digging their own graves.

1478
01:23:59,076 --> 01:24:02,037
Mrs. Dietrichson? This is Jerry's market.

1479
01:24:02,120 --> 01:24:04,915
We just got in a shipment of that
English soap you were asking about.

1480
01:24:04,998 --> 01:24:07,084
Will you be coming by today?

1481
01:24:07,167 --> 01:24:08,794
Thank you, Mrs. Dietrichson.

1482
01:24:35,654 --> 01:24:38,490
- —Hello, Walter.
- Come over here.

1483
01:24:41,910 --> 01:24:43,912
- What's the matter?
- Everything's the matter.

1484
01:24:46,957 --> 01:24:48,709
Keyes is rejecting your claim.

1485
01:24:48,792 --> 01:24:51,271
He's sitting back with his mouth watering,
waiting for you to sue.

1486
01:24:51,295 --> 01:24:52,981
He wants you to sue,
but you're not going to.

1487
01:24:53,005 --> 01:24:55,007
- What's he got to stop me?
- He's got plenty.

1488
01:24:58,885 --> 01:25:00,512
He's figured out how it was worked.

1489
01:25:00,596 --> 01:25:02,156
He knows it was somebody else on the train

1490
01:25:02,180 --> 01:25:04,033
and he's dug up a witness
he thinks can prove it.

1491
01:25:04,057 --> 01:25:06,226
Prove it how?
If he rejects that claim, I have to sue.

1492
01:25:06,310 --> 01:25:09,605
And then you'll end up in court and
a lot of other things are gonna come up.

1493
01:25:09,688 --> 01:25:12,316
Like, for instance, about you
and the first Mrs. Dietrichson.

1494
01:25:13,859 --> 01:25:15,694
What about me
and the first Mrs. Dietrichson?

1495
01:25:15,777 --> 01:25:17,029
The way she died.

1496
01:25:17,112 --> 01:25:19,873
About that black hat you were trying on
before you needed a black hat.

1497
01:25:19,948 --> 01:25:21,968
Lola's been telling you
some of her cockeyed stories.

1498
01:25:21,992 --> 01:25:23,035
She's been seeing you.

1499
01:25:23,118 --> 01:25:24,470
I've been seeing her, if you want to know,

1500
01:25:24,494 --> 01:25:26,139
so she won't yell her head off
about what she knows.

1501
01:25:26,163 --> 01:25:28,600
She's putting on an act for you,
crying all over your shoulder, the lying...

1502
01:25:28,624 --> 01:25:31,185
Keep her out of this. All I'm telling you
is we're not going to sue.

1503
01:25:31,209 --> 01:25:33,313
Because you don't want the money anymore
even if you could have it,

1504
01:25:33,337 --> 01:25:35,231
because she's made you feel
like a heel all of a sudden?

1505
01:25:35,255 --> 01:25:36,774
It isn't the money anymore.
It's our necks.

1506
01:25:36,798 --> 01:25:38,467
We're pulling out. Do you understand?

1507
01:25:38,550 --> 01:25:41,219
Because of what keyes can do?
You're not fooling me, Walter.

1508
01:25:41,303 --> 01:25:43,597
It's because of Lola,
what you did to her father.

1509
01:25:43,680 --> 01:25:46,409
You're afraid she might find out someday
and you can't take it, can you?

1510
01:25:46,433 --> 01:25:47,976
I said leave her out of this.

1511
01:25:53,607 --> 01:25:56,151
It's me I'm talking about.
I don't want to be left out of it.

1512
01:25:56,234 --> 01:25:58,588
Stop saying that. It's just that
it hasn't worked as we wanted.

1513
01:25:58,612 --> 01:26:00,840
- We can't go through with it, that's all.
- We have gone through with it.

1514
01:26:00,864 --> 01:26:02,449
The tough part is all behind us.

1515
01:26:02,532 --> 01:26:05,160
We just have to hold on now
and not go soft inside.

1516
01:26:05,243 --> 01:26:07,663
Stick close together,
the way we started out.

1517
01:26:07,746 --> 01:26:08,955
Watch it.

1518
01:26:26,723 --> 01:26:29,184
I loved you, Walter, and I hated him.

1519
01:26:29,267 --> 01:26:32,270
But I wasn't going to do anything
about it, not until I met you.

1520
01:26:33,105 --> 01:26:36,733
You planned the whole thing.
I only wanted him dead.

1521
01:26:36,817 --> 01:26:39,403
And I'm the one that fixed it
so he was dead.

1522
01:26:39,486 --> 01:26:40,779
Is that what you're telling me?

1523
01:26:41,697 --> 01:26:43,615
And nobody's pulling out.

1524
01:26:43,699 --> 01:26:46,493
We went into this together,
and we're coming out at the end together.

1525
01:26:46,576 --> 01:26:50,497
It's straight down the line
for both of us. Remember?

1526
01:26:56,962 --> 01:26:58,505
[Walter] Yes, lremembered

1527
01:26:59,965 --> 01:27:02,384
just lrke / remembered
what you had told me, ke yes,

1528
01:27:03,343 --> 01:27:05,053
about that trolley car ride

1529
01:27:06,304 --> 01:27:08,724
and how there was no getting off
fill the end of the line...

1530
01:27:09,933 --> 01:27:11,435
Where the cemetery was.

1531
01:27:13,228 --> 01:27:15,647
And then I got to thinking
what cemeteries are for.

1532
01:27:17,315 --> 01:27:18,734
They're to put dead people in.

1533
01:27:21,069 --> 01:27:23,947
I guess that was the first time
I ever thought about Phyllis that way.

1534
01:27:24,865 --> 01:27:26,074
Dead, I mean.

1535
01:27:27,534 --> 01:27:29,619
And how it would be if she were dead.

1536
01:27:31,413 --> 01:27:33,623
I saw Lola three or four trmes that week.

1537
01:27:34,958 --> 01:27:37,878
One nrght, we went up r'nto the hrl/s
behind the Hollywood bowl

1538
01:27:39,087 --> 01:27:40,964
I guess it sounds crazy, ke yes,

1539
01:27:41,047 --> 01:27:44,259
but it was only with her
that / could relax and let go a little.

1540
01:28:10,952 --> 01:28:12,370
[Lola sobbing]

1541
01:28:14,539 --> 01:28:15,957
Why are you crying?

1542
01:28:18,043 --> 01:28:19,461
Not gonna tell me, huh?

1543
01:28:20,629 --> 01:28:24,716
Of course I will, Walter.
I wouldn't tell anybody else but you.

1544
01:28:25,717 --> 01:28:28,637
- It's about nino.
- Zachette? What about him?

1545
01:28:28,720 --> 01:28:31,431
They killed my father together.
He and Phyllis.

1546
01:28:31,515 --> 01:28:33,725
He helped her do it. I know he did.

1547
01:28:34,851 --> 01:28:36,061
What makes you say that?

1548
01:28:37,354 --> 01:28:40,607
I've been following him.
He's been to her house, night after night.

1549
01:28:40,690 --> 01:28:42,692
It was Phyllis and him all along.

1550
01:28:43,443 --> 01:28:45,946
Maybe he was just going with me
as a blind.

1551
01:28:46,029 --> 01:28:47,572
And the night of the murder...

1552
01:28:47,656 --> 01:28:49,950
You promised me you weren't
gonna talk like this anymore.

1553
01:28:50,033 --> 01:28:52,536
He was supposed to pick me up
after a lecture at ucla.

1554
01:28:53,245 --> 01:28:56,456
But he never showed up.
He said he was sick.

1555
01:28:57,082 --> 01:28:58,124
Sick!

1556
01:28:58,208 --> 01:29:00,168
[Sobbing]

1557
01:29:00,252 --> 01:29:04,923
He couldn't show up, because the train
was leaving with my father on it.

1558
01:29:10,136 --> 01:29:13,765
Maybe I'm just crazy.
Maybe it's all in my mind.

1559
01:29:14,766 --> 01:29:16,393
Sure, it's all in your mind.

1560
01:29:16,476 --> 01:29:21,231
I only wish it were, Walter,
'cause I still love him.

1561
01:29:27,112 --> 01:29:30,991
[Walte r] Zachette. Phyllis and zachette.

1562
01:29:32,242 --> 01:29:34,244
What was he doing up at her house?

1563
01:29:35,203 --> 01:29:36,830
I couldn't figure that one out.

1564
01:29:37,956 --> 01:29:40,375
I tried to make sense out of it
and got no where.

1565
01:29:41,543 --> 01:29:43,962
But the real brain twister
came the next day.

1566
01:29:45,005 --> 01:29:46,882
You sprang it on me, ke yes,

1567
01:29:47,841 --> 01:29:51,052
after ofifce hours, when you caught me
down r'n the lobby of the burlding.

1568
01:29:51,136 --> 01:29:53,305
Walter. Walter, just a minute.

1569
01:29:58,059 --> 01:30:00,937
- Hello, keyes.
- Just hang on to your hat, Walter.

1570
01:30:01,021 --> 01:30:03,273
What for? —oh, nothing much.

1571
01:30:03,356 --> 01:30:05,734
That dietrichson case
just busted wide open.

1572
01:30:06,526 --> 01:30:09,738
- How do you mean?
- Well, the guy showed. That's how.

1573
01:30:10,780 --> 01:30:12,949
- —What guy?
- The guy who helped her do it.

1574
01:30:13,033 --> 01:30:14,993
- The, uh, somebody else?
- —mm—hmm.

1575
01:30:15,660 --> 01:30:18,288
- —No kidding.
- Yeah. She just filed suit against us.

1576
01:30:18,371 --> 01:30:19,915
It's okay by me.

1577
01:30:19,998 --> 01:30:23,043
When we get 'em in that courtroom,
I'll tear 'em to pieces, both of 'em.

1578
01:30:23,126 --> 01:30:24,726
Come on. I'll buy you a Martini, Walter.

1579
01:30:24,794 --> 01:30:26,354
- No, thanks, keyes.
- —with two olives.

1580
01:30:26,421 --> 01:30:28,524
No, I've got to get a shave
and a shoeshine. I've got a date.

1581
01:30:28,548 --> 01:30:31,468
Margie.
I still bet she drinks from the bottle.

1582
01:30:32,761 --> 01:30:35,573
They give you matches when you buy cigars.
All you have to do is ask for them.

1583
01:30:35,597 --> 01:30:38,600
Don't like 'em. They always explode
in my pocket. So long, Walter.

1584
01:30:44,064 --> 01:30:45,690
[Walter] / was scared stiff keyes.

1585
01:30:46,441 --> 01:30:48,485
Maybe you were playing
cat-and-mouse with me.

1586
01:30:49,235 --> 01:30:52,030
Maybe you knew all along
I was the somebody else.

1587
01:30:52,864 --> 01:30:57,285
I had to find out, and / knew
where to look — in your ofifice.

1588
01:31:28,066 --> 01:31:29,526
[Whirring]

1589
01:31:29,609 --> 01:31:31,587
[Keyes on dictation machine]
Memo to Mr. Norton. Confidential.

1590
01:31:31,611 --> 01:31:33,405
Dietrichson file.

1591
01:31:33,488 --> 01:31:36,282
With regard to your proposal
to put Walter neff under surverl/ance,

1592
01:31:36,366 --> 01:31:38,284
I disagree absolutely.

1593
01:31:38,368 --> 01:31:40,912
I ha ve r'n vest/gated his mo vements
on the nrght of the cnme

1594
01:31:40,996 --> 01:31:44,332
and he is definitely placed
in his apartment fiom 7:75 p. M. On.

1595
01:31:45,083 --> 01:31:48,545
In addition to this, lha ve known neff
int/mate/y for 77 years

1596
01:31:48,628 --> 01:31:51,089
and / personally vouch for him
without reservation.

1597
01:31:51,172 --> 01:31:53,591
[Whirring]

1598
01:31:56,511 --> 01:31:57,595
[Whirring stops]

1599
01:31:57,679 --> 01:32:00,807
Furthermore, no connection
whatsoever has been established

1600
01:32:00,890 --> 01:32:02,976
between Walter neff
and Mrs. Phyllis dietrichson,

1601
01:32:03,059 --> 01:32:07,063
whereas / am now able to report that such
a connection has been established

1602
01:32:07,147 --> 01:32:09,107
between her and another man.

1603
01:32:09,190 --> 01:32:12,110
This man has been observed
to visit Mrs. Dietrichson

1604
01:32:12,193 --> 01:32:16,114
on the nrghts of July 9th,
70th, 77th, 72th and 73th.

1605
01:32:16,197 --> 01:32:19,993
We ha ve succeeded in identifying him
as one nino zachette,

1606
01:32:20,076 --> 01:32:22,495
former medical student, age of 28,

1607
01:32:22,579 --> 01:32:24,831
residing at lilac court apartments,

1608
01:32:24,914 --> 01:32:27,667
7228 7/2 north la brea a venue.

1609
01:32:28,376 --> 01:32:31,796
We ha ve checked zachette is mo vements
on the nrght of the cnme

1610
01:32:31,880 --> 01:32:35,008
and ha ve found
that they cannot be accounted for.

1611
01:32:35,091 --> 01:32:38,386
I am preparing a more detarled report
for your consideration.

1612
01:32:38,470 --> 01:32:41,473
It is my belief that we already ha ve
sufficient e vidence

1613
01:32:41,556 --> 01:32:43,600
against zachette and Mrs. Dietrichson

1614
01:32:43,683 --> 01:32:45,560
to justify police action.

1615
01:32:45,643 --> 01:32:48,229
Istrong/y urge that this whole matter
be turned over

1616
01:32:48,313 --> 01:32:50,440
to the ofifce of the district attorney.

1617
01:32:50,523 --> 01:32:52,901
Respectfully, barton ke yes.

1618
01:32:52,984 --> 01:32:54,778
[Buzzing]

1619
01:32:56,738 --> 01:32:57,947
[Buzzing stops]

1620
01:33:28,978 --> 01:33:32,982
Phyllis? It's Walter.
I've got to see you. Tonight.

1621
01:33:34,109 --> 01:33:35,735
Yes, it has to be tonight.

1622
01:33:36,861 --> 01:33:38,404
How's 11:00?

1623
01:33:39,405 --> 01:33:41,116
Don't worry about keyes.

1624
01:33:41,199 --> 01:33:43,493
Just leave the front door unlocked
and put the lights out.

1625
01:33:44,202 --> 01:33:47,664
No, nobody's watching the house.
Not anymore.

1626
01:33:47,747 --> 01:33:49,165
It's just for the neighbors.

1627
01:33:50,291 --> 01:33:52,794
I told you not to worry about keyes.

1628
01:33:52,877 --> 01:33:55,880
I'll see you at 11:00. Yeah.

1629
01:33:57,549 --> 01:33:58,758
Goodbye, baby.

1630
01:34:02,971 --> 01:34:06,474
I guess I don't have to tell you
what / intended to do at 77:00, ke yes.

1631
01:34:07,559 --> 01:34:10,937
For the first time, lsaw a way
to get clear of the whole mess / was in,

1632
01:34:11,020 --> 01:34:13,439
and of Phyllis, too, all at the same time.

1633
01:34:14,399 --> 01:34:16,067
Yeah, that's what / thought.

1634
01:34:17,110 --> 01:34:19,863
What / didn't know was that
she had plans of her own.

1635
01:35:01,279 --> 01:35:04,824
[Vehicle approaches, stops]

1636
01:35:04,908 --> 01:35:06,618
[Vehicle door opens, closes]

1637
01:35:19,964 --> 01:35:21,257
In here, Walter.

1638
01:35:25,553 --> 01:35:28,556
[Jazz orchestra playing ballad on radio]

1639
01:35:36,397 --> 01:35:37,523
Hello, baby.

1640
01:35:40,068 --> 01:35:42,904
- Anybody else in the house?
- Nobody. Why?

1641
01:35:44,405 --> 01:35:47,408
- What's that music?
- A radio up the street.

1642
01:35:55,625 --> 01:35:57,627
Just like the first time
I came here, isn't it?

1643
01:35:58,670 --> 01:36:00,797
We were talking about
automobile insurance.

1644
01:36:01,881 --> 01:36:03,591
Only you were thinking about murder.

1645
01:36:05,468 --> 01:36:07,470
I was thinking about that anklet.

1646
01:36:07,553 --> 01:36:10,974
- And what are you thinking about now?
- —I'm all through thinking, baby.

1647
01:36:11,933 --> 01:36:14,227
- I just came to say goodbye.
- Goodbye?

1648
01:36:14,310 --> 01:36:15,937
Where are you going?

1649
01:36:16,020 --> 01:36:17,939
You're the one that's going, baby. Not me.

1650
01:36:18,731 --> 01:36:21,109
I'm getting off the trolley car
right at this corner.

1651
01:36:21,192 --> 01:36:23,611
Suppose you stop being fancy.
Let's have it, whatever it is.

1652
01:36:23,695 --> 01:36:25,113
All right, I'll tell you.

1653
01:36:25,989 --> 01:36:27,991
A friend of mine's got a funny theory.

1654
01:36:28,074 --> 01:36:29,701
He says when two people commit a murder,

1655
01:36:29,784 --> 01:36:31,971
it's sort of like they're riding
on a trolley car together.

1656
01:36:31,995 --> 01:36:34,635
One can't get off without the other.
They're stuck with each other.

1657
01:36:35,039 --> 01:36:38,126
And they have to go on riding together
clear to the end of the line.

1658
01:36:38,209 --> 01:36:39,836
And the last stop is the cemetery.

1659
01:36:40,628 --> 01:36:42,672
- Maybe he's got something there.
- You bet he has.

1660
01:36:43,798 --> 01:36:46,301
Two people are gonna ride
to the end of the line, all right.

1661
01:36:46,384 --> 01:36:48,219
Only I'm not gonna be one of them.

1662
01:36:48,303 --> 01:36:50,221
I've got another guy
to finish my ride for me.

1663
01:36:51,097 --> 01:36:54,017
- Just who are you talking about?
- An acquaintance of yours.

1664
01:36:54,726 --> 01:36:56,561
A Mr. Zachette.

1665
01:36:56,644 --> 01:36:58,313
Come on, baby, I just got into this thing

1666
01:36:58,396 --> 01:37:00,874
because I happen to know a little
something about insurance, didn't I?

1667
01:37:00,898 --> 01:37:02,150
I was a sucker.

1668
01:37:02,233 --> 01:37:04,378
I'd have been brushed offjust as soon
as you got your hands on the money.

1669
01:37:04,402 --> 01:37:07,405
- Nobody wanted to brush you off.
- —save it. I'm telling this.

1670
01:37:07,488 --> 01:37:09,782
It's been you and that zachette guy
all along, hasn't it?

1671
01:37:09,866 --> 01:37:11,534
That's not true.

1672
01:37:11,617 --> 01:37:13,661
Doesn't make any difference
if it's true or not.

1673
01:37:15,955 --> 01:37:19,334
The point is, keyes believes zachette
is the one he's been looking for.

1674
01:37:19,417 --> 01:37:22,587
He'll have him in the gas chamber
before he knows what's happened to him.

1675
01:37:22,670 --> 01:37:26,299
- What's happening to me all this time?
- Don't be silly, baby.

1676
01:37:31,179 --> 01:37:33,222
What do you think's gonna happen to you?

1677
01:37:33,306 --> 01:37:35,308
You helped him do the murder, didn't you?

1678
01:37:35,391 --> 01:37:36,768
That's what keyes thinks.

1679
01:37:36,851 --> 01:37:39,020
And what's good enough for keyes
is good enough for me.

1680
01:37:39,103 --> 01:37:42,315
Maybe it's not good enough for me, Walter.
Maybe I don't go for the idea.

1681
01:37:43,608 --> 01:37:45,568
Maybe I'd rather talk.

1682
01:37:45,651 --> 01:37:47,737
Sometimes people
are where they can't talk.

1683
01:37:47,820 --> 01:37:49,447
Under six feet of dirt, maybe.

1684
01:37:50,490 --> 01:37:53,493
And if it was you, they'd charge
that up to zachette, too, wouldn't they?

1685
01:37:54,494 --> 01:37:58,581
Sure, they would.
And that's just what's gonna happen, baby.

1686
01:37:58,664 --> 01:38:01,167
Because he's coming here tonight,
in about 15 minutes,

1687
01:38:01,250 --> 01:38:03,294
with the cops right behind him.

1688
01:38:03,378 --> 01:38:04,962
It's all taken care of.

1689
01:38:05,963 --> 01:38:08,132
That would make everything lovely for you,
wouldn't it?

1690
01:38:08,216 --> 01:38:12,011
Right. And it's gotta be done
before that suit of yours comes to trial

1691
01:38:12,095 --> 01:38:13,971
and Lola gets a chance to sound off,

1692
01:38:14,055 --> 01:38:17,058
before they trip you up on the stand
and you start to drag me down with you.

1693
01:38:17,141 --> 01:38:19,370
Maybe I had zachette here
so they won't get a chance to trip me up,

1694
01:38:19,394 --> 01:38:20,871
so we can get the money and be together.

1695
01:38:20,895 --> 01:38:24,190
- That's cute. Say it again.
- He came here first to ask where Lola was.

1696
01:38:24,273 --> 01:38:26,401
I made him come back.
I was working on him.

1697
01:38:26,484 --> 01:38:28,694
He's a crazy sort of guy. Quick-tempered.

1698
01:38:28,778 --> 01:38:31,072
I kept hammering into him
that she was with another man

1699
01:38:31,155 --> 01:38:34,450
so he'd go into one of his jealous rages,
and then I'd tell him where she was.

1700
01:38:35,326 --> 01:38:37,787
And you know what he would've
done to her, don't you, Walter?

1701
01:38:37,870 --> 01:38:41,499
Yeah, and for once I believe you,
because it's just rotten enough.

1702
01:38:43,209 --> 01:38:44,585
We're both rotten.

1703
01:38:44,669 --> 01:38:46,629
Only you're a little more rotten.

1704
01:38:46,712 --> 01:38:48,798
You got me to take care
of your husband for you.

1705
01:38:48,881 --> 01:38:52,385
And then you get zachette to take care
of Lola, maybe take care of me, too.

1706
01:38:52,468 --> 01:38:55,239
Then somebody else would have come along
to take care of zachette for you.

1707
01:38:55,263 --> 01:38:56,943
That's the way you operate,
isn't it, baby?

1708
01:38:57,014 --> 01:39:00,143
Suppose it is. Is what you've got
cooked up for tonight any better?

1709
01:39:00,226 --> 01:39:02,437
[Orchestra continues playing on radio]

1710
01:39:02,520 --> 01:39:06,357
I don't like that music anymore.
Mind if I close the window?

1711
01:39:10,736 --> 01:39:12,738
- [Shutter closes]
- [Orchestra fades]

1712
01:39:21,831 --> 01:39:23,249
[Gunshofl

1713
01:39:26,627 --> 01:39:28,629
you can do better than that,
can't you, baby?

1714
01:39:29,672 --> 01:39:30,882
Better try it again.

1715
01:39:34,177 --> 01:39:36,429
Maybe if I came a little closer.

1716
01:39:46,856 --> 01:39:49,901
How's this? Think you can do it now?

1717
01:39:58,367 --> 01:40:00,369
Why didn't you shoot again, baby?

1718
01:40:06,334 --> 01:40:09,054
Don't tell me it's because
you've been in love with me all this time.

1719
01:40:10,588 --> 01:40:13,466
No, I never loved you, Walter,
not you or anybody else.

1720
01:40:14,300 --> 01:40:17,428
I'm rotten to the heart.
I used you, just as you said.

1721
01:40:17,512 --> 01:40:19,222
That's all you ever meant to me.

1722
01:40:21,224 --> 01:40:22,683
Until a minute ago...

1723
01:40:24,018 --> 01:40:26,145
When I couldn't fire that second shot.

1724
01:40:28,314 --> 01:40:30,483
I never thought that could happen to me.

1725
01:40:32,026 --> 01:40:33,444
Sorry, baby. I'm not buying.

1726
01:40:33,528 --> 01:40:36,906
I'm not asking you to buy.
Just hold me close.

1727
01:40:42,870 --> 01:40:43,955
Goodbye, baby.

1728
01:40:44,580 --> 01:40:46,207
[Gun fires twice]

1729
01:41:18,698 --> 01:41:21,325
[Footsteps approaching]

1730
01:41:38,634 --> 01:41:39,635
Zachefie!

1731
01:41:42,388 --> 01:41:43,598
Come here.

1732
01:41:49,645 --> 01:41:50,855
I said come here.

1733
01:41:54,025 --> 01:41:56,944
- —My name is neff.
- Yeah, and I still don't like it.

1734
01:41:57,028 --> 01:41:58,654
What do you want?

1735
01:41:58,738 --> 01:41:59,947
Look, kid, I...

1736
01:42:01,324 --> 01:42:03,284
Want to give you a present.

1737
01:42:03,367 --> 01:42:05,745
- —This nice new nickel.
- What's the gag?

1738
01:42:05,828 --> 01:42:08,265
Suppose you go on back down the hill
to the drugstore and make a phone call.

1739
01:42:08,289 --> 01:42:10,625
Keep your nickel
and buy yourself an ice cream cone.

1740
01:42:10,708 --> 01:42:12,501
The number is granite 0-3-8-6.

1741
01:42:12,585 --> 01:42:15,004
Ask for miss dietrichson.
First name is Lola.

1742
01:42:15,087 --> 01:42:16,464
She isn't worth a nickel.

1743
01:42:16,547 --> 01:42:19,008
If! Ever talk to her,
it's not going to be over any telephone.

1744
01:42:19,091 --> 01:42:20,092
Tough, aren't you?

1745
01:42:20,176 --> 01:42:22,053
Take the nickel and call her.
She wants you to.

1746
01:42:22,136 --> 01:42:24,138
She doesn't want any part of me.

1747
01:42:24,221 --> 01:42:26,641
I know who told you that. It's not true.

1748
01:42:26,724 --> 01:42:28,643
Lola's in love with you.
She always has been.

1749
01:42:29,393 --> 01:42:31,604
Don't ask me why. I couldn't even guess.

1750
01:42:31,687 --> 01:42:34,899
Here. Granite 0-3-8-6.
Now go on and call her.

1751
01:42:35,608 --> 01:42:37,026
Go on! That way!

1752
01:42:47,536 --> 01:42:49,705
It's almost 4:30 now, keyes.

1753
01:42:51,123 --> 01:42:52,333
It's cold.

1754
01:42:54,085 --> 01:42:56,587
I wonder if she's still lying
alone up there in that house,

1755
01:42:57,755 --> 01:42:59,757
or whether they've found her by now.

1756
01:43:01,592 --> 01:43:05,221
I wonder a lot of things.
They don't matter anymore.

1757
01:43:05,930 --> 01:43:07,640
[Coughing]

1758
01:43:09,225 --> 01:43:11,727
Except I want you to do
a favor for me, keyes.

1759
01:43:12,853 --> 01:43:16,065
I want you to be the one to tell Lola,
kind of gently,

1760
01:43:16,148 --> 01:43:17,775
before it breaks wide open.

1761
01:43:19,694 --> 01:43:22,697
And I want you to take care of her
and that guy zachette...

1762
01:43:27,993 --> 01:43:30,538
So he doesn't get pushed around too much.

1763
01:43:32,623 --> 01:43:33,666
Hello, keyes.

1764
01:43:41,173 --> 01:43:42,800
[Dictation machine stops whirring]

1765
01:43:44,301 --> 01:43:45,845
Up pretty early, aren't you?

1766
01:43:47,722 --> 01:43:49,932
I always wondered what time
you got down to the office.

1767
01:43:51,851 --> 01:43:54,770
Or did that little man of yours
pull you out of bed?

1768
01:43:54,854 --> 01:43:56,313
The janitor did.

1769
01:43:57,523 --> 01:44:00,067
Seems you leaked a little blood
on the way in here.

1770
01:44:00,151 --> 01:44:02,987
Yeah. Wouldn't be surprised.

1771
01:44:05,197 --> 01:44:08,784
I wanted to straighten you out
on that dietrichson case.

1772
01:44:08,868 --> 01:44:10,161
So I gather.

1773
01:44:12,037 --> 01:44:14,457
- How long you been standing there?
- —long enough.

1774
01:44:15,416 --> 01:44:18,836
Kind of a crazy story
with a crazy twist to it.

1775
01:44:18,919 --> 01:44:20,713
One you didn't quite figure out.

1776
01:44:21,422 --> 01:44:23,257
You can't figure them all, Walter.

1777
01:44:24,675 --> 01:44:26,677
That's right. I guess you can't at that.

1778
01:44:28,512 --> 01:44:30,931
Well, now I suppose I get the big speech...

1779
01:44:32,057 --> 01:44:34,351
The one with all
the two-dollar words in it.

1780
01:44:36,479 --> 01:44:37,730
Let's have it, keyes.

1781
01:44:39,440 --> 01:44:43,194
Walter, you're all washed up.

1782
01:44:45,279 --> 01:44:47,615
Thanks, keyes. That was short anyway.

1783
01:44:49,158 --> 01:44:50,785
I'm gonna call for a doctor.

1784
01:44:53,454 --> 01:44:56,373
What for? So they can patch me up?

1785
01:44:57,166 --> 01:44:59,668
So they can nurse me along
till I get back on my feet?

1786
01:44:59,752 --> 01:45:03,297
So I can walk into that gas chamber
up at San Quentin on my own power?

1787
01:45:03,380 --> 01:45:04,965
Is that it, keyes?

1788
01:45:05,049 --> 01:45:06,425
Something like that.

1789
01:45:06,509 --> 01:45:09,094
I... I got a different idea.

1790
01:45:09,178 --> 01:45:11,639
- —Yeah?
- Look, keyes.

1791
01:45:11,722 --> 01:45:14,141
Suppose you went back to bed
and didn't find these cylinders

1792
01:45:14,225 --> 01:45:16,519
till tomorrow morning,
when the office opens.

1793
01:45:16,602 --> 01:45:19,230
After that you can play it
any way you like.

1794
01:45:19,313 --> 01:45:21,315
Would you do that much for me, keyes?

1795
01:45:22,399 --> 01:45:26,195
- Give me one good reason.
- I need four hours to get where I'm going.

1796
01:45:26,278 --> 01:45:29,323
- You're not going anywhere, Walter.
- You bet I am.

1797
01:45:30,324 --> 01:45:33,202
- I'm going across the border.
- You haven't got a chance, Walter.

1798
01:45:33,285 --> 01:45:34,870
Good enough to try for.

1799
01:45:34,954 --> 01:45:38,082
- You'll never make the border.
- That's what you think.

1800
01:45:39,083 --> 01:45:40,292
Just watch me.

1801
01:45:41,043 --> 01:45:42,795
You'll never even make the elevator.

1802
01:45:43,504 --> 01:45:44,922
So long, keyes.

1803
01:46:06,527 --> 01:46:09,363
[Phone dialing]

1804
01:46:14,076 --> 01:46:15,578
[Keyes] Hello.

1805
01:46:15,661 --> 01:46:18,622
Uh, send an ambulance
to the pacific building on olive street.

1806
01:46:20,291 --> 01:46:22,501
Yeah. It's a police job.

1807
01:46:23,836 --> 01:46:25,045
[Handset settles in cradle]

1808
01:46:42,021 --> 01:46:44,857
-How you doing, Walter? —fine.

1809
01:46:46,734 --> 01:46:49,612
Somebody moved the elevator
a couple of miles away.

1810
01:46:50,946 --> 01:46:53,365
- —They're on the way.
- [Breathing heavily]

1811
01:46:57,036 --> 01:46:59,622
You know why you couldn't
figure this one, keyes?

1812
01:46:59,705 --> 01:47:00,831
|'|| tell you.

1813
01:47:01,749 --> 01:47:04,084
Because the guy you were looking for
was too close.

1814
01:47:05,127 --> 01:47:07,129
He was right across the desk from you.

1815
01:47:07,963 --> 01:47:10,090
Closer than that, Walter.

1816
01:47:12,676 --> 01:47:13,969
[Chuckles]

1817
01:47:14,053 --> 01:47:15,596
I love you, too.