Original subtitles

Who's the buyer?

Professor at the university, Riley McDane. Did your daughter ever mention

her professors, a man named, uh, McDane? A beast.

A devil.

You're responsible!

David, what's wrong?

Your ideas killed her. He's taken on some consultants, sir.

Tough words. I can deliver, but I'll need a bigger commission.

Mark, call the airport for me. I want to borrow one of those devices they use to

detect concealed weapons. I want to detach it to the cemetery gate.

Pollution is merely a symptom of a disease that we might call pretense.

This pretense is a derivative of mankind's mindless wanderings over the

this once beautiful planet.

And then we see what we've created. We cringe.

We've surrendered our liberties as eagerly as we've abandoned our

responsibilities.

And then we place all that hope in government without instructing it as to

will or our needs.

Well, that's what I said.

And then when this government is presented with these problems, it reacts

mad beast. It snarls and it snaps and it substitutes threat and evasion for

statesmanship. So we turn our eyes heavenward and we look for a sign. What

discover is that void, that void that's as vast as the emptiness of our lives.

How is it that we're adrift, that we're lost, that we're standing in...

fear and trembling like pitiful children as we witness the crumbling of the

institutions around us on all sides. We see them floundering in impotence. We

see them muttering and stuttering and stumbling onward toward that uncertain

future that inevitably becomes paralyzed by its own inertia.

So, what are we to do with this humankind, this mankind?

What are we to make of this species, this species whose ultimate victim

to be itself?

I'll see you Wednesday.

You're under arrest. Section 288, corrupting the youth.

Are you ready to get down here?

How are you, Riley? Welcome home. Thank you. Dr. McDane?

Excuse me.

Yes, Laura.

Do you believe the drug experience has any validity?

Well, I believe that all experience has validity.

You've been reading Kathleen, have you? But is it an answer?

I mean, when faith and even reason fail.

Well, what is the answer?

Well, I'm not sure there is a...

I think the idea is to find the right questions that lead you to them.

I do believe that the narcotics tend to isolate you, though.

Ah, the youth of America.

Want some lunch?

Sure, sure. You gonna buy?

No, you buy.

Oh, no, no, no, you buy.

No, you buy.

No, you buy. This is your school. You buy.

It's not that I don't love you. I do.

You must believe that.

I'm doing something I have to do.

You've done all you can.

My only regret is that I'll never see you again.

Please believe me. It's better this way.

Better this way.

Thank you for everything.

Hello, Dr. McCain.

Janet.

You seem to have quite a following.

Well, shouldn't they like me? I'm the only philosopher they brought.

Well, I get the feeling that there's more to it than the simple appreciation

your ideas. Oh, you do, huh?

Might be.

Nice to see you tonight, huh?

A madly in love with you.

Happily married man.

It's good.

You did it!

You're responsible!

David, what's wrong?

Your ideas killed her. What?

Your so -called philosophy split her wrists, professor!

You can't talk your way out of this again!

You've got Jews to pay, wait and see!

Yes, Ed.

Yes, of course.

No, no, no problems at all.

We seem to have the world really under control, for the moment at least.

Talk to you soon.

Gesundheit. Whatever that means.

Want some aspartate?

No, I think I'll survive without it. Are you sure you're not coming down with a

Hong Kong flu? You know, half the town's down with it. Hong Kong flu, Asian flu,

why does everybody need to have an exotic disease these days?

Irritability is one of the symptoms.

In that case, it's obvious my health is perfect.

Your health wouldn't be any other way.

What's that up to?

Spending the evening with his friend, McDame.

What is that name, Flashlight?

Well, they're old friends, roomed together at college.

No, that is not why.

Maybe you're familiar with his book, Death, Reality, and the American Dream.

Yeah, that's heavy going. Didn't get past the third chapter.

What's it about?

Old life, choice, responsibility, honesty, the whole ball of wax.

Have you read it, Chief?

No, there's a copy around someplace.

All I know about the man is that one of his students has died and Ed wants us

involved.

How are you, Sam?

Different. You wouldn't recognize me. It's not like the old days.

What do you want?

I've got something for you.

If you're interested.

I'm interested, Sam.

How much is it?

Same as it used to be.

What are the terms?

F .O .P.

Who's the buyer?

Professor at the university.

It came to me with blinding insight. I pursued my design, wooed one and

then wed the rector's only daughter, and I've been eating well ever since.

He led me to believe that he wished to acquire the rudiments of civilization,

and I've spent the last three years dragging him, kicking and screaming in

direction ever since.

And you have done well, considering the heroic proportions of your work.

I'll get it.

Hello?

One moment, please.

Darling? You.

Thank you.

Hello?

Yes, darling.

Good. All the essays are due day after... That's right, day after

Again.

All right. At the end of the week?

You have me.

One of Dane's merry maidens, I assume?

Your assumption is correct.

Hmm.

You know, Ed, I married a cult figure.

I should have realized that that would happen.

After all, he does have a certain churlish appeal.

You don't understand.

I'm simply attempting to motivate their minds to self -discovery.

To learn about themselves and the world.

You know, darling, I think that sometimes you overdo that a little bit.

What does that mean?

Just that some of your students invest you with extraordinary powers. And at

times, that can be rather dangerous.

I'm sorry.

It's a... It's a bloody girl.

Depressing. Excuse me.

I hadn't realized that that coletti girl's death had upset him so much.

You know, sometimes I invest him with extraordinary powers, too.

He'll probably amble on down to the local pub, brood about it over a glass

beer until it falls into perspective.

Why don't you go down and try and cheer him up a little, Ed?

Eh?

Here.

Let me get you some wrap.

Back in a minute.

Thank you.

I think we can dismiss the notion that what occurred was an accident.

Mr. McDane, can you add anything to Ed's description of the car?

No, nothing substantial. It's too dark.

And you saw nothing that might be of help, nothing else?

No, the impression that I was about to witness my own death was so

You think of anybody who would want to run you down?

Well, I don't have any enemies, if that's what you mean.

A few critics.

Riley, that's not exactly true.

Some people have been quite savage in their opposition to Riley's ideas.

Like that young man this afternoon.

Oh, he's a Rosakis boy. He's just... He's not very bright.

We can't eliminate him as a possible suspect.

We've made arrangements for you to spend the next few days at a hotel under a

different name until we straighten this out. I'll be with you. Do you think

that's a bit ridiculous?

I mean, I should reshuffle my life because of what was all probability was

childish prank.

As far as we're concerned, it's attempted murder.

Well, I didn't wish to go into hiding simply because my ideas provoke

controversy. How can you be so pig -headed?

Your ethics are one thing, but you do have other responsibilities.

To me, for example.

Well, you're right, but my objection, however, is nonetheless valid.

I happen to agree with that. And I'm sorry I have to ask you to compromise

principles.

Ed, we'll talk in the morning.

Good night. Good night, Miss McDame. Thank you.

Good night.

She's racist.

And be sure to take these.

Spidermans. I suppose that's what happens.

Tomorrow, Fran, I want you to find out what you can about the Coletti girl.

Maybe a connection between her death and what happened tonight.

Mark, we've got a busy time ahead.

Sure you feel up to working?

Absolutely.

What's that?

Instant chicken soup. Great for colds.

I think I prefer the symptoms to the cure.

If you insist on playing Clara Barton, throw in a little Julia Child, won't

Must be someplace we can get some real soup.

My name is Robert Ironside. I spoke to Mrs. Coletti this morning. We're

expecting. I'm Mrs. Coletti.

Please.

What

do

you want here?

Guido, these are the policemen I told you about.

Oh, please.

Be comfortable.

Thank you. We are sorry to intrude.

We want you to know you have our deepest sympathy.

We're trying to discover all we can about what happened to your daughter and

why.

We need your help.

These things we do not understand.

But we try to make a good life for her to see that she's happy.

I don't know.

Perhaps we did wrong.

I doubt that very much.

This, uh... This she left for us. Maybe it will help you.

Thank you.

We'll return it as soon as possible.

Did your daughter ever mention one of her professors, a man named, uh, McDane?

A beast.

A devil.

Guido, we do not know this man.

But to Laura, he was important.

Her feelings for him, they were very strong.

My husband believed that he was to blame.

But you will hear on the tape, she asked that this man speak at her grave.

Because she'd taken her own life, no priest will say the words.

This is the last thing she asked us to do for her.

Please excuse me.

If there is anything we can do, Mr. Colletti, please let us know. You

can you bring my girl back?

I apologize.

I have a great hurt inside me.

And it makes me want to hurt others.

I begin to hate myself for what life is.

Do you understand?

Yes, I understand.

Please say goodbye to your wife for us.

If you've got any more like that scheduled, I resign.

When we get back, tell the coroner's office I want a complete autopsy on

Colletti. Okay.

Then you can resign.

Hello?

Hello?

Suppose you tell me what you're doing here. Suppose I don't feel like it.

Well, then I have to arrange for your transportation to the local police

station. Officer Belding.

San Francisco Police.

A girl died in this room, and you don't belong here.

I, uh, suppose you have a search warrant?

As a matter of fact, I do.

However, I wasn't expecting to find a burglar.

Laura gave me a key.

Her roommate can tell you.

Well, she can't tell me that right now.

Or while you're hiding.

I, uh, gave her a good luck charm a couple of months ago.

I wanted it back, okay?

You're David Rezac. What if I am?

Well, you are next on my list.

What were you doing last night between the hours of eight and ten? Oh, wow.

The third degree already.

I've just about had it with you. Your friend is dead.

Yesterday, you made some threatening remarks to Professor McDane. And last

night, someone tried to run him over.

Now, you better answer my questions or call your lawyer.

Because you'll be in jail in ten minutes.

What kind of car were they driving?

The campus security department, please.

I drive a 68 Volt. I was with some friends last night. They'll tell you.

Cancel the call, will you?

I don't need them.

Get out of here, David.

Officer Belding and I were just getting into things.

You can take it someplace else.

Miss Barrett. I know why you're here.

David has convinced the police that Professor McDane is responsible for

suicide. Well, David's always hated him. He hates him because he's jealous.

You're bananas.

You!

You're trying to railroad an innocent man, and I won't let you.

Riley McDane is the most brilliant thinker of the 20th century.

Miss Barrett, I'm not interested in railroading anyone.

I'll credit your rudeness to the emotional shock of Laura's death.

Believe me, you will answer my questions when I ask them.

I'll be in touch with you.

101 .2.

I wonder if college professors get fan mail. You should be in bed.

You didn't answer my question.

The sale isn't going to be as easy as we thought.

I spent all morning trying to get Hunter to fire him, but his old routine has

been changed.

He doesn't even live where he used to.

He's taken on some consultants.

Tough words. I can deliver, but I'll need a bigger commission.

Have I ever let you down?

Okay.

Soon as I set up the conference, I'll let you know you sent the additional $5

,000. Deal?

Okay, we'll be talking.

You're terrific.

You're always there when I come home.

Come sit down and have some coffee.

I'm bushed, I can tell you that.

You work too hard and you press too much.

So? If I don't work, how do we live like this?

What's the matter?

Sometimes I get these pains.

Should I call the doctor?

No, no, no, no. I just pulled a muscle on the job, that's all.

You've got a foreman, men working for you. You own the business.

Let them do the heavy work. What the hell do they know? What do they care?

You've got to keep on them all the time.

I can do as much work as any two men in a day I can't. That's the day you put me

six feet under. You understand?

I think I'll see if Sonny's up yet.

Reggie, it's a new day.

No arguments, okay?

Who wants to argue?

Sonny. Hey, hey, what's the matter?

No good morning, no nothing?

Good morning.

How many times are you going to keep reading this piece of junk?

It's not junk.

All right, all right. It's not junk, it's not junk.

You tell me.

I mean...

What do you really know about life from there?

Not much.

But enough to know that I have to live my own.

Well, sure, that's the way we all start out when we're young.

But there's more to all of it than just being yourself.

I mean, other people count, too. Of course they do.

But the way to make other people really count is for me to confront what I am

first. I have to find out who I am, past and present.

And face it honestly, really honestly. Then everything else falls into place.

Now listen, listen, sonny baby.

That sounds like a lot of intellectual crap.

Don't go fooling yourself.

There are things we know in our bones.

Bigger things.

Things a person knows that you don't have to think about.

Like... Come on, you know what I mean. You sent me to college.

If you don't want me to think, you should have sent me to a convent or

secretarial school or something. All right, think, think.

Go ahead and think.

While you're at it, think about how that precious McDane of yours has got you

all twisted up. He happens to have untwisted me.

He's not afraid of ideas or truth.

He makes the world come alive.

Alive, huh?

Your friend Laura Coletti's alive, huh?

Riley had nothing to do with that.

Riley.

Riley, is it?

Sonny, listen, if that degenerate has laid a hand on you... You mean something

else than just a hand, don't you, Daddy?

Let me tell you this.

You're three years too late to worry about that.

As for Riley, I'd make it with him on the steps of City Hall at high noon if

asked me, but he won't.

He's not that kind.

He's not your kind.

I just want you to know I'm going to make the sale tomorrow, Thursday.

Well, it was just a question of finding out when I could see him for a few

minutes, you understand?

Do you remember our deal?

Okay, fine.

You know where to send it.

Can you let me down for the phone, mister?

Get a job.

Here it is, Chief.

The department keeps a correspondence file for all of its professors.

In the short time that he's been at the university, McDane has drawn more mail

than anyone else.

Not all of it.

Favorable, I'm sure.

Can any of the letters be interpreted as real threats?

I'll have to let you know after I read them.

I spent most of the day checking on his students.

Progress? Nothing solid.

He has a total of 57 students in all of his classes.

All but three of them have alibis for Monday night. All right, follow up on

that. No, no.

Let Mark do that.

See if any names in there match your list of students.

Chief Ransom's office.

Yeah.

Mm -hmm.

Okay.

Thank you.

Coroner's office.

Laura Coletti had a dangerously high white blood count and a large liver,

apparently on the verge of mononucleosis.

As up to the lack of energy, depression, suicidal impulses would not exactly be

inconsistent for someone in that condition.

A victim of her own body chemistry.

I'm beginning to see how McDane's philosophy might be threatening.

Threatening? Only to people hiding from themselves.

Chief, listen to this.

Gentlemen, I am deeply concerned with the effects of Professor Riley McDane's

teachings. Since he has been one of his students, my daughter and my husband

have become enemies.

A teacher shouldn't be allowed to break up a family.

Please tell him the terrible thing he is doing.

It's signed by Mrs. Reggie Barrett.

Sonia Barrett and Laura Coletti were roommates.

How's the name spelled?

B -A -R -R -O -T.

Barrett, Barrett, Barrett, Barrett. It mean something?

Maybe.

You know, the funeral's a well -publicized event.

Perfect opportunity for our unknown suspect.

But a murderer has to have a weapon.

Mark, call the airport for me.

Are we going somewhere?

I want to borrow one of those devices they use to detect concealed weapons. I

want it attached to the cemetery gates.

Roger.

The sooner the better.

Tenfold.

But in the, uh...

Context of our discussion. How do you... How do you feel, Claudia?

Powerful.

You, Linda, how do you feel?

Really strange.

And helpless.

What's your conclusion?

Well, the money gave her power.

And I wanted to obey her just because she had it.

Well, thank you. Sit down. Thank you.

This little piece of paper holds a very definitive symbolic significance.

The things that we believe are and will become.

If mankind is to advance beyond its

present state, it would be largely dependent on whether he becomes the

his symbols or remains their slave.

Judging from your...

I must conclude that you all have the mentality of slaves.

Well, actually, it was a little slight of hand. That's a fake $1 bill. It's not

the real $100.

You're a fraud.

Well, perhaps so, Mr. Azagis, but not in terms of my pyrotechnic demonstration,

would you think?

The fact of the point was, Mr. Azagis, that things that we believe are soon do

become. You can rationalize your way out of that.

You can rationalize your way out of anything.

But that's because you're empty. You've got nothing to give.

Well, that's rather a severe judgment on your part, wouldn't you say? Yeah, but

it's true.

You're like a machine.

You've got no soul.

You don't even believe in caring.

As far as what I believe in, it's irrelevant.

But... What you believe in, Mr. Zarkas, which makes me think of something that's

chaotic and prejudicial and contradictory, which is a result of your

is pertinent. That is pertinent, Mr. Zarkas.

Now, if we choose together to explore this chaos and throw away all those

concepts that should and do crumble under close scrutiny... Well, then we

very well find ourselves in a world that is very fine and clear.

A world in which, if you will, we might lay the foundation for a house of

intellect. A foundation that is made of honesty and openness.

And then, confrontation.

We'll see you Monday. Thank you.

Mrs. Barrett?

Yes? My name is Robert Ironside.

I'm with the San Francisco police.

May I talk with you for a moment?

There's nothing wrong. I'm just looking into some complaints registered against

Professor McDane.

You wrote a letter to the head of his department.

Yes.

Come in. My husband and I were just talking.

See?

Reggie, these men have come about Professor McDane.

We don't even know the man.

Your wife wrote a letter to the college expressing certain complaints about him.

What letter?

Just a letter, that's all.

When you were so upset about Sonia and everything.

You shouldn't have done that.

The family is my business.

Nobody else is mine.

I take care of my own. I'm sure you do.

I have just a few questions.

I'm not the answer, man.

You come to the wrong place making waves I don't need. You know where the front

door is.

Somebody tried to kill the professor. That's why I'm here. Your privacy is

going to have to take a back seat for a while.

My wife wrote the letter.

You talk to her.

I've got to go to work.

I'll be at the job.

Forgive him.

He's upset.

Professor McDane, is he the problem? I don't know.

But ever since Sonia started taking classes with that man, everything here

been different.

Have you talked to the professor?

No, I couldn't do that.

But you did write a letter.

Maybe I wrote to the wrong person. I don't know.

I had to do something for my husband.

Everything we ever worked for suddenly... I had to do something.

That's him, no question.

Who's he?

Sam.

A construction company in L .A. about 20 years ago. Mob front.

But the real business was nobody ever found out.

Raleigh disappeared when the FBI closed in.

Went straight and changed his name?

And his lifestyle.

Do you think he tried to kill McDane?

Well, Mark, that wasn't the way it worked in the old days.

The big boys never did their own dirty work. A hit man?

Good one.

Nobody ever found out who he was.

It was always the same set of circumstances. A public place, a

theater. Funeral.

Whatever.

He'd make his hit and there would be some sudden and unexplained disaster.

Fire, an explosion, something.

He was ruthless and efficient.

It was difficult to know who his victim was and who was simply a random

casualty.

You have a book on buried treasure?

You keep dragging your tail like that, I'll let you off the leap here.

Hey, the contract talk. The local 475 broke off, huh? Looks like we're up the

creek in two, three days.

They aren't even meeting again until Saturday.

What's the date?

It's Thursday.

Thursday.

Keep your eye on him.

Didn't she say where she was going?

What time is the funeral?

Oh, dear God, no.

No.

We've all come together in this place, each for his own reasons.

We all join in a ritual that is as old as civilization itself.

That of the banding together in face of the unknown.

Some of us have...

Come here to mourn.

I'm not one of those.

Perhaps I will later.

For now, I stand in awe.

I stand humbled in the face of power whose magnitude is so overwhelmed.

Human understanding.

I speak of life and death.

Come on, we've got to leave here. We've got to get out of here.

If you say one more word before this is over, I'm going to scream.

I swear it.

Not know what either is.

It is a curse to know our end.

To know the time is merely a... Confrontation of the... Final mystery.

It is only through... Death that life... Hold it right there. That's me. I'll

kill him off. We found it.

Now drop it.

Now!

Now down on your stomach.

Hands behind your back.

Now you don't move. Don't move.

We are richer not poorer than experience.

We should nourish that richness that Laura gave us the opportunity to grab.

And we should celebrate that gift that is as close...

And as precious as the memory of her.

Buried treasure?

If it found a concealed bomb and a buried rifle, I figured it ought to find

quarter that I lost somewhere last week. Don't bounce from the bed.

You neither.

Oh, Chief Pryor, please.

I feel fine. Whatever it is, I do not need it.

We had two indictments.

Barrett and his hitman. Don't bounce in the bed.

You neither.

Barrett hasn't been connected with the mob for years.

He had a new identity, respectability. Why kill McDane?

Sonia's thesis may answer that question.

McDane's insistence on confrontation and honesty led her into real self

-examination. And a hard look at her past.

Her family.

Most importantly, her father.

Things were going so well for him. Perhaps that's what made it all the more

difficult for him to give up old patterns.

Old ways of thinking.

You, uh, think we should?

Depends.

Sometimes yes, sometimes no.

That sounds a little inconsistent.

Consistency, to paraphrase Emerson, is the Hobgoblin of small minds.

Maybe you'd like to paraphrase Hobgoblin.

No?

How about small minds?