All language subtitles for Dragnet S02E25 The Big Departure.DVDRip.NonHI.cc.en

This is the city, Los
Angeles, California.

The city earns its
living mostly in retailing,

heavy industry, aerospace,

motion pictures, and television.

Just about everything
it needs to live on

has to be brought in
from someplace else.

Our water is piped down

from the Owens
Valley in the Sierras.

Turn it off, and two
and a half million people

start getting thirsty
inside of three days.

Our electric power is
produced at Hoover Dam.

Stop that, and the city
goes dark in a split second.

It's just about impossible

to be totally
self-sufficient these days.

There are ways of
feeling like you are.

Some of them are legal.
Some of them aren't.

When they're not,
then it becomes my job.

I carry a badge.

It was Wednesday, January 3rd.

It was clear in Los Angeles.

We were working the night
watch out of Juvenile Division.

The boss is Captain Jack Morris.

My partner's Bill Gannon.
My name's Friday.

We were responding
to a 459 call.

A grocery store had
just been burglarized

by a gang of juveniles.

The story you are
about to see is true.

The names have been
changed to protect the innocent.

Owner's name is Nat
Vollmer. He's in the washroom.

He said he wanted to throw
some cold water on his face.

- Pretty shook up.
- What's the story?

We've only been here
a few minutes ourselves.

Apparently, Vollmer
had closed up the store.

He came back a little less than
an hour ago and found them here.

A bunch of juveniles,
he's sure of that.

They jumped him in here,
pushed him around pretty good.

Is he hurt?

Roughed him up,
that's about all.

We haven't been able
to get much out of him.

Mr. Vollmer, these men
are from Juvenile Division.

They want to talk to you.

Yeah, well, they could
be from the moon,

as far as I could
tell. I can't see them.

Wait a minute.

I found them.

My partner and I'll
check around outside.

Would you put in a call to SID?

We already did, Sergeant.

This is Sergeant Friday.
My name's Gannon.

Better than nothin'.

I'm blind as a bat without them.

Ah, yes.

I was pretty lucky
tonight at that, I guess.

Got my last customer out
of here around 5 after 9:00.

Then you came
back. Is that right?

- Yes, that's correct.
- What time was that?

Oh, it must've
been close to 10:30.

What it was, I generally
take three steaks

over to Lou, my brother.

Been doing that every so often

since I got this place
a couple of years ago.

Let him have the
meat wholesale, see.

- Three choice porterhouse.
- Yes, sir.

What I'm getting at is I
forgot Lou's steaks tonight,

and I came back to get 'em.

I'd just got them out
of the meat locker,

wrapped them up, when I
felt something was wrong.

- Go on.
- I hadn't noticed before,

but that rear door
was slightly ajar.

Walked over to check it. I
could see a couple of kids

standing right
outside in the alley,

a fella and a girl.

I hollered at them,
and they ducked.

Right then, these
other kids jumped me.

Must've been hiding behind
the cases by the door there.

Pushed me around,
broke my glasses.

What I think is they
heard me come in,

and some of them got out,

and the rest of them
couldn't make it,

and they're the ones that
jumped me, young hoodlums.

How many of them were
there? Would you know?

Well, they knocked
my glasses off.

I really couldn't see.

Some more came in...
8, 10 altogether, I'd guess.

A bunch of nuts.

They had what sounded
to me like a meeting.

What kind of meeting?

Well, a meeting, you know.

Talk, take a vote.
Yeah, they took a vote.

I couldn't follow it all.

Sounded like some of
them were for pulling out.

Some of them wanted to stay

and get the rest of
the stuff on the list,

and that's what
they finally did.

- They said they had a list?
- Yeah.

Later on, I could hear
them checking the stuff off,

as they took it out.

Peas, string beans, cake mixes,

candles, soda pop, and so on.

Just before they left,
one of them said to me,

"Don't get uptight, pops."

Said they didn't
mean me any harm.

One of them must've been
wearing some kind of bells.

I could hear them. Crazy!

Can you describe any of them?

Well, they knocked
my glasses off so quick,

I just couldn't see after that.

What about the
two you saw first?

Can you describe them?

Well, they looked about 16, 17.

The boy was average
height, kind of short, long hair.

The girl was dark,
dressed kind of odd,

one of those shawls or something

with a hole in the middle
they put their head through.

Did you hear any
names mentioned?

Charley, Clego.

I heard that one
a couple of times.

Verna, Vernon,
something like that.

Did you notice if they
were driving a car?

They needed a truck
for the amount of stuff

they took out of here.

I heard two engines
start when they left.

Looks like they might've
had a cable of some kind,

wrapped it around
the bumper of the car

and pulled that window
and grill right out.

Anything else, Mr. Vollmer?

Anything one of them
might've said maybe?

Well, two of them, men, boys,

got in a sort of argument
standing right behind me.

One of them said they'd used
force and violence against me,

and that was wrong.

Uh, morally
inexcusable, he called it.

Then the other one
said, no, that they were,

uh, a sovereign
political body...

I'm pretty sure those
were the words he used...

And that they
had a perfect right

to do anything in
their own self-defense.

- Now, what do you make of that?
- Hard to say.

And then the one said maybe
they ought to go through my pockets.

I've got about $14 on me.

But the others
told him to forget it,

and they were just gonna
stick to the stuff on the list.

- Anything else?
- Oh, one other thing.

What's that, sir?

I noticed they
could've used a bath.

Can you give us a list

of the things that were
stolen, Mr. Vollmer?

Well, that'd be pretty hard
without a good pair of glasses.

I have a spare set at home.

I'll make it up for you
first thing in the morning,

- if that'd be all right?
- Fine.

I looked around the block.
I talked to several people.

Nobody noticed anything.
Picked this package up.

- Yeah?
- Near the head of the alley.

Looks like somebody
just tossed it out.

Has your store name
on it, Mr. Vollmer,

- on the paper tape.
- What's in it?

Three choice porterhouse.

They just threw them away.

Thursday, January 4th, 4:15 p.m.

We met with the team from
Burglary-Auto Theft Division.

They told us, in
the past ten days,

there had been two
burglaries using a similar MO

in widely-separated
parts of the city:

a hardware store,
and a drugstore.

And, like Vollmer's Market,

there were no
usable fingerprints.

We obtained the DR numbers

and copies of the
lists of the articles

that had been stolen
from the last two burglaries.

5:20 p.m. Nat
Vollmer had sent over

the results of his inventory.

Any narcotics on that drugstore
list we got from Burglary?

A roll of bandages, 1-inch,
roll of bandages, 2-inch,

butterfly closures,
adhesive tape, antiseptics.

Looks like mostly
medicine cabinet stuff.

Triangular bandages,
elastic bandages,

suntan lotion...
a case of that...

Aspirin, eight
transistor radios,

four cartons
transistor batteries,

12 flashlights, two cell,

four cartons D batteries,
four snakebite kits.

Oh, here's one, codeine,
50 30-milligram tablets.

Don't see any hard
stuff outside of that.

Yeah.

A couple of antibiotics
and penicillin.

Hardware store list:
four axes, two shovels,

two saws, six
hammers, two rakes,

two hoes, gardening stuff,

300 feet of
quarter-inch manila rope,

some galvanized
chain, one butcher knife,

paring knives, spatulas,

cooking utensils, pots, pans,

one kettle, one coffee
pot, four frying pans,

plastic plates, cups,

knives, folks, spoons.

Sounds like they're
planning a camping trip.

Or an expedition.
Vollmer's list here.

They took 200
pounds of potatoes,

50 pounds of onions,

string beans, eight cases,

peas, eight cases,
chili, four cases,

spaghetti and
meatballs, four cases,

canned corn beef, canned stew,

50 pounds of flour, sugar, salt,

pepper, a case of shortening,

rice, macaroni, tea, coffee,

cocoa, canned
milk, powdered milk,

an assortment of
prepared cake mixes,

and a case of canned icing.

Right here: three cake pans,

wire cooling racks,
one egg beater.

- What do you figure?
- I wish I knew.

Two cases of cookies,

six cases of assorted candy,

five, 10, 13, 17... 22 cartons

of various kinds of soft drinks.

- Just the staples, Joe.
- Pretty good list.

They got just about everything.

No, not quite, and they've
had two shots at it, too:

the drugstore and the market.

- What's that?
- Soap.

During the next 12 days,

there were two additional
burglaries using the same MO.

The first was an
electrical supply house

in West Los Angeles,

from which a gasoline-powered
portable generator

and several extension
cords had been stolen.

The second was a discount
record store in North Hollywood,

from which two phonographs

and 84 record albums were taken.

Both times, the method of
entry was through a back window.

In each case, the
thieves apparently took

only those articles
they came for,

and they ignored
anything else of value.

There was no additional
evidence or eyewitnesses.

Thursday, January
18th, 10:45 p.m.

The paperwork on
the series of burglaries

was beginning to pile up.

How're you getting
along there, Joe?

All right.

I suppose you're using the
same words we always do:

proceed, suspect vehicle,

scene of occurrence, notify,

inform, like that.

- What else?
- Makes a dull report, Joe.

Well, we're not supposed
to be writing literature.

- Sign of atrophy, too.
- What?

I said atrophy, Joe. I
meant it in the sense of

a wasting away of
the mental process.

- Thanks.
- Your mind's no better
than the symbols you use.

Keep using the same
ones over and over again,

and your mind's
bound to waste away.

Lack of use,
basic law of nature.

It's not too late
for you, though.

Dozens of ways to say
the same things in here,

but with little
shifts in meaning,

greater precision, new words.

I'm expanding my mind, Joe.

- Is that so?
- Pejorative.

Now, there's a good
one I encountered.

Normally, I would
say came across.

See what I mean?

- Yeah.
- That's a Thesaurus, Joe.

I know. I've seen them.

Just waiting for a
case to come along

where I can drop
pejorative into the report.

- Try obfuscate.
- Say, I like that one!

Confuse, muddle, not very clear.

Funny.

- Sergeant Friday?
- That's right.

- Wilson, Central Division.
- Yeah, Wilson?

The lieutenant said you
were working this case.

We picked up
three kids in a truck

in the back of a sporting
goods store on Broadway.

They're bringing them
up now. Sure a lot of stuff.

- Yeah?
- 14 sleeping bags,

14 air mattresses,
ground cloths, parkas,

cook stoves, four rifles,

about 200 rounds of ammunition.

We found this on the
back bumper of their car.

The suspects
identified themselves

as Dennis J. Meldon,
Charles L. Vail,

and Paul Seever.

They were advised of
their constitutional rights.

Their parents were notified.

Charles Vail and Paul
Seever were from Fresno.

Both their fathers said
they would fly to Los Angeles

the following morning.

We first interrogated the boys
separately without success.

11:40 p.m.

We began questioning
all three of them together.

These were found on
the floor of the truck.

Those are mine. Asparagus seeds.

I bought 'em and paid for 'em.

I suppose you're gonna
make a federal case out of it.

I talked to Vollmer.

He wants to come
down in the morning.

I said it'd be all
right. Who's that?

He owns a grocery
store that was burglarized.

He saw two of the kids.

And you're gonna let
him take a look at us?

- That's right.
- It'd be a waste of time.

Well, we've got lots of it.

Tell us about the
sporting goods store.

Oh, that ought to be
obvious, even to you,

especially after the other
fuzz told you all about it.

- You tell us.
- Who were the other kids?

The arresting officer said
there were at least six others.

You were driving the truck.
You blocked the alley with it.

The rest of them got away
in a blue '64 Pontiac sedan.

Oh, now we both know.

You stole 14 sleeping
bags and 14 air mattresses.

What were you
gonna do with them?

Now, look, I'll save
you some trouble.

We're not gonna tell you
anything you don't already know,

and we're not gonna tell you
anything about anybody else.

Is that right?

You'd turn blue before
you get anything out of us.

Paul, Charles, I
talked to your parents.

- Yeah?
- Yeah, so?

They say you haven't
been home for two months.

Where have you been staying?

I've been staying with him.

- Where's that?
- Around.

- Where's your pad?
- The world...

The universal refuge of
human kindness and love.

- That's some address.
- The best.

A little tough
getting mail, isn't it?

Your parents are
worried about you.

- So?
- You're not concerned?

I can give you the
whole bit, word-for-word.

I wrote to 'em.

Used one of those
mail forwarding services

you see in the ads.

I don't see why
they're so worried.

What do they call
you? Charlie, Chuck?

The old man calls me
Chuck. I like Charlie.

It was kind of amusing,
watching you guys.

That right?

You try to act friendly,
get in with us, con us.

It's pretty clumsy, though.

Think so? Who's Clego?

Was Vernon with you tonight?

I don't know. He didn't say.

All right, come
on down and land.

You people are
in big trouble here.

We've got you made
on this hardware store,

and you know what that can mean.

We thought about
this possibility.

We expect the power structure's

gonna try to
retaliate against us.

It'll delay things, of course.

But not much, and
it's not gonna stop it.

It's gonna happen
with or without us.

- What's gonna happen?
- I don't think I'll tell you.

Where'd you get the truck?

- I borrowed it.
- You mean you stole it.

No, borrowed is the word.

The registered owner
is James B. Perkins.

Have you borrowed
it from him before?

- Yeah.
- How often?

As often as we needed it.

Perk's one of the good folks.

Perk's all right.

The usual distortion of
social values, no perception.

Perception of what?

If you have to ask, pops,
you ain't got any either.

What were you going to
do with the rifles you stole?

Well, shoot 'em, man.

- At what?
- Not at people.

I know how your minds
work. You're conditioned.

We've rejected the
concept of violence.

Except sometimes, like
pushing an old man around.

We were just gonna
shoot animals, goats, pigs,

that sort of thing.

Do you know how
to handle a rifle?

- That's right.
- You have guns at home?

- No, I learned.
- Where did you learn?

I learned, man. I
learned, that's all.

- All right, huh?
- That's all.

No more dialog. We
don't have to talk to you.

We've got rights, even here.

- Especially here.
- You'd better believe it.

- How about other people?
- Huh?

Do they have rights?

Well, like, who do you mean?

Like the people you stole from.

Well, ours are more important.

How do you figure?

Well, because we're
right, and they're wrong.

They're rotten! The
whole society is, all of ya.

Rights? Don't make me sick.

Ah, yeah, there's a lot
of talk about 'em, sure,

but what's going on?
What are people doing?

That's what counts.
Corruption, hypocrisy.

You say one thing out of
the corner of your mouth

and then turn right around

and do whatever
you can get away with,

as long as it pays,
huh? Look around!

You wouldn't see it, would you.

Nah, you're part of it. You
helped make it that way.

Poverty, oppression,
moral bankruptcy,

aggression,
suppression, the ghettos.

And what happens when people
try and demand their rights, huh?

You hit them over the head!

And now you take what's
going on in Vietnam.

If that doesn't turn
your stomach...

Well, we have renounced
your whole, lousy,

materialistic society.
You're wrong!

Now, how does that grab
you, Mr. High and Mighty Fuzz?

Not much.

- Who's gonna run the boat?
- What boat?

Well, there aren't any
pigs or goats around here,

except on some of
the offshore islands.

In the next few days,
this bunch you run with

is gonna have to steal
a boat, aren't they?

You think you've
got it all worked out,

don't you, Sherlock?
Well, you don't.

What's involved here
is a concept so pure,

so sophisticated
in its simplicity,

that you'd never understand it.

You just don't communicate, man!

Yeah, well, I
understand one thing.

You'd better start communicating
with us and right now,

because when you
come up for a hearing,

no judge is gonna take the time

to listen to all your wise talk.

Now, it's your choice. You
want to do it the hard way?

That's fine. Let's
quit for the night.

I'm getting bored.

You wouldn't be so
bored if you'd understand.

Understand what?

That you're a bunch of
young would-be toughs

that'd still be on
a stealing spree

if you hadn't been caught?
What's there to understand?

- Tell him.
- You know we took an oath.

I, for one, don't
want to be considered

a common garden variety thief.

What we're doing
is above all that.

I say we tell him and
straighten him out.

Yeah, might be better.

Why don't you tell
'em why, Charlie?

Oh, we come down
here, Paul and me.

I mean, I couldn't take
it at school anymore.

School.

Now, there's a real
conveyor belt of conformity.

And my family, no values.

You talk about poverty
of the spirit? Man!

And so we come here
looking for something.

We found Denny
and these other kids.

They're just like
us, the same ideas,

and I mean, they're
beautiful people,

and we can talk to 'em.

We cut right through
all the false values.

So we drew up a
compact, an agreement,

and it says it all
there in the beginning.

"We do hereby freely
bind ourselves in love,

"each one to the other,

"and dedicate ourselves
to the attainment

"of freedom of expression
without qualification,

"for the human spirit,

and to the total renunciation
of material values."

- Beginning to make sense?
- Not so far.

Man, we've organized
a new society,

a new order of
things, a perfect order,

and the key to it is
getting rid of materialism.

Nobody owns anything.
Everybody owns everything.

Who else is in this with
you? End of the line.

Where do you plan
to set up this Utopia?

- We've got a place.
- Where?

I can't tell you that.

You've got it all worked out.

That's right, a perfect
form of government.

Nobody's ever made it work.

- We will.
- No, you won't.

Why not?

You haven't got perfect people.

You recognize this?

We're aware you confiscated it.

After you tried to steal it.

If you want to be technical.

Along with three others.
Do something for me.

What's that?

Show me where the
safety is. No, never mind.

I'll hold it. You
just point it out.

Show me where it is.

You?

Well, I'd have to look it over.

How about you?

You're gonna start running
around this new Utopia of yours

with four high-powered rifles,

and you don't know
where the safety is.

Well, it wouldn't be
hard to figure out.

You're really gonna have a ball

setting up this new
country of yours, aren't you?

Lying around, listening to
the radio and the phonograph,

eating whenever
you feel like it.

All of you are city kids.

Great chance of
somebody getting hurt,

liable to break a leg,
take off a foot with an ax,

- get shot.
- Man, you're outta sight.

Somebody's gonna get
sick... Bad cooking, dirty pans.

That many kids, it'll
happen sooner or later.

Yeah, we thought of that.

Oh, yeah, you have
penicillin, don't you?

Well, that's what it's for.

You ever hear of
penicillin shock?

Happens in maybe
one case out of ten,

something like that.

Can kill you in a
matter of minutes.

Look, don't give me
that "might happen"

or "liable to" jazz, huh?

People have gone
off and made it before,

plenty of them,

going all the way
back to the Pilgrims.

They had a few things
going for them that you don't.

They knew how to
hunt, how to use an ax,

how to build a house,
start a fire without matches

and bank it at night
so it wouldn't go out.

You know how to
do all that, of course,

and you're gonna grow this.

Uh, yeah, I really
dig fresh asparagus.

When do you think you'll eat it?

Well, this summer.

Asparagus takes two years.

The Pilgrims could raise
their own food, which you can't.

And even so, half of
them died the first year.

But you prepared for
that, too, didn't you?

I don't know what you mean.

You've got shovels.
All right, so big deal.

We're not the
frontiersmen of all time,

but Denny and Paul,
these are very bright people,

intelligent and mature.
And high principled.

That's right.

What was that one
about materialism?

- We reject material values.
- Oh, yeah.

What are you gonna do
when the batteries run down?

We've got a generator.

And when there's no more gas?

Okay, so we don't
listen to the radios.

- That's not vital.
- But food is...

And you're gonna run out
of it sooner than you think.

Then you figure you'll
start eating wild goat.

Well, it's not prime rib,

but maybe you'll
acquire a taste for it.

You'd better, three times a day.

What do you do when
you run out of ammunition?

We'll figure it out.

Or haven't you
thought that far ahead?

I hope you have,
because if you haven't,

you'll starve to death.

Unless you can explain
to me how you'll make it

without $4,000 of
somebody else's property,

then I'd call that
pretty material.

Where does that
leave your principles?

Well, come on. We're listening.

The only principle you've
rejected is paying for it,

and that makes you
just what you're afraid

you'll be called: common
garden variety thieves.

You just don't understand.
Maybe we do, son.

Don't think you have a corner

on all the virtue
vision in the country,

or that everybody
else is fat and selfish,

and you're the first
generation to come along

that's felt dissatisfied.
They all have, you know?

About different things,
and most of them didn't have

the same opportunity
and freedoms that you do.

Let's talk poverty.

Most places in the
world, that's not a problem.

It's a way of life. And rights?

They're liable to
give you a blank stare,

because they may not know
what you're talking about.

The fact is, more people
are living better right here

than anywhere else
ever before in history.

So, don't expect us to
roll over and play dead

when you say
you're dissatisfied.

It's not perfect, but it's a great
deal better than when we grew up.

A hundred men
standing in the street

hoping for one job,

selling apples on
the street corner.

That's one of the things
we were dissatisfied about,

and you don't see
that much anymore.

You're taller, stronger,
healthier, better educated,

and you'll live longer
than the last generation,

and we don't think
that's altogether bad.

You've probably never
seen a quarantine sign

in your neighbor's
door: diphtheria,

scarlet fever, whooping cough.

Probably none of your
classmates are crippled with polio.

You don't see many
mastoid scars anymore.

We've done quite a bit of
fighting all around the world.

Whether you think
it was moral or not,

a lot of people are free today
to make their own mistakes

because of it, and that
may just include you.

I don't know.

Maybe part of it's the
fact that you're in a hurry.

You've grown up on
instant orange juice.

Flip a dial, instant
entertainment.

Dial seven digits,
instant communication.

Turn a key, push a pedal,
instant transportation.

Flash a card, instant money.

Shove in a problem,
push a few buttons,

instant answers.

But some problems you
can't get quick answers to,

no matter how much you want 'em.

We took a little boy into Central
Receiving Hospital yesterday.

He was 4 years old.

He weighs eight
and a half pounds.

His parents just haven't
bothered to feed him.

Now, give me a fast
answer to that one,

one that'll stop that from
ever happening again.

And if you can't
settle that one,

what about the 55,000 Americans

who will die on the
highways this year?

That's nearly six or
seven times the number

that'll get killed in Vietnam.

Why aren't you up
in arms about that?

Or is dying in a car
somehow moral?

Tell me how to
wipe out prejudice.

I'll settle for just
the prejudices

you have inside yourselves.

Show me how to get rid
of the unlimited capacity

for human beings to
make themselves believe

that they're somehow
right and justified

in stealing from somebody
or hurting somebody,

and you'll just about put this
place here out of business.

Don't think that
we're telling you

to lose your ideals or
your sense of outrage.

They're the only way
things ever get done,

and there's a lot
that still needs doing,

and we hope you'll tackle it.

You don't have to
do anything dramatic

like trying to come up
with a better country.

You can find enough to
keep you busy right here.

While you're at it,
don't break things up

in the name of progress,

or crack a placard stick
over somebody's head

to help him see the light.

Be careful of his rights,

because your property,
and your person,

and your rights aren't
any better than his,

and next time, you
may be the one to get it.

We remember a man
who killed 6 million people

and called it social
improvement.

So hang in.

Don't try to build
a new country.

Make the old one work.

It has for over 400 years,
and by the world's standards,

that's hardly more
than yesterday.

Now, we want the
names of the rest

who were in this with you,

and we want to know
where you've stashed

all the things you've stolen.

Okay, but it was
a beautiful notion.

That's about all I can say.

Yeah, son, that's
about all you can say.

The court sustained
the allegations

that the subjects had
committed burglary,

and with the other
members of the gang,

had conspired to
commit burglary.

The subjects had no
history of delinquency

and were referred to
the Probation Department

for rehabilitative programs.