Original subtitles

There's the man.

Carburetors acting up.

Just a little bit.

What's those reps with you, Joe?

That last township like to drop my teeth.

What do you expect from my third race? If you ask me next to last, it isn't

bad. I didn't ask you to win. Just bring the car back.

Thanks, love.

Coffee break. Coffee break?

Yeah, Cormac's wife takes good care of him.

Hold set and take those S -turns in third.

Which is third?

I'm on track.

Toby, I know you're feeling better, but Dr. Sperry said for you to stay in bed.

You don't have to like it. Just stay there.

But, Mrs.

I've got to go now.

Run to bed.

After your dinner.

Good morning.

I'm Mrs. Kovac. Oh, yes. Mr. Mannix is expecting you.

Come in.

Mrs. Kovac's here.

How do you do, Mrs. Kovac?

Please, sit down.

Would you like some coffee?

Oh, no, thank you. Nothing.

Did you know my husband well, Mr.

Mannix?

No, we never met.

But you sent flowers.

I was in the race.

Well, that's what I came to talk to you about.

The accident?

It wasn't an accident.

Mrs. Kovac, uh...

When you take up racing, you learn to accept certain dangers.

My husband was murdered, Mr. Mannix.

How?

I don't know.

Perhaps his car had been tampered with.

Miss Kovach, I know you've been through a very bad emotional experience.

I didn't have time to think about it until last night, after the funeral.

But I know I'm right.

It wasn't an accident.

Why would anyone want to kill him?

We do a lot of government work at Kittredge Airspace.

Top secret, most of it.

My husband was vice president.

And, uh, your father is Roger Kittredge.

Ed was worried about something at the plant.

And the day before the race, he mentioned to me that he might have to

assistant go, Mark Harper.

Did he say why?

Something to do with security.

And you think Harper might have killed your husband?

Mark was my husband's right hand for more than a year.

He wasn't at the funeral, and he didn't send flowers.

Well, there could have been a reason.

Did you talk to him? That would have been difficult. He's disappeared.

Disappeared? He hasn't been back to the plant.

Nobody's seen him.

And I think he's run away.

Did Harper have access to the car that day?

I don't know.

But that's another thing.

The Rio Seca is the only race he's been to in all this time.

Mr. Mannix, will you try to find him?

First, Miss Kovac, I'll have to find out if there's been a murder.

I'll call you if I turn up anything.

Thank you.

Good day, Mrs. Kovac. Goodbye.

Peggy, do you know where Albie is?

Haven't seen him all day.

Maybe he finally got some work of his own.

Look, try and... Crack him down. Tell him I need a background on Ed Kovac,

Get on it right away.

Yeah, Mac, Joe Mannix.

Hey there, Joe, how are you?

Look, Mac, I want you to check out that Ed Kovach wreck.

Find me something besides an accident.

I don't know, like sabotage, maybe.

Pick up the pieces and treat it like an Air Force crash investigation.

Come on, now, you've handled hundreds of those, Mac.

I know it's not your business anymore.

Gosh, Joe, it's not only that.

I've got a fella here that's paying me a big water dough for a GT he's racing on

Saturday. Look, it'll take you a day, maybe two at the most.

Mac, I'd consider it a special favor.

Okay.

Thanks, Mac. Oh, and I'll need that information yesterday.

I love you too, Mac.

Now, look, call me and I'll hop a plane.

Right.

No, Mr. Maddox, I don't think it was anything but an accident.

Naturally, my daughter's upset when you're young and your whole life is

shattered. I guess you've got to blame someone.

Tell me about Mark Harper. Pleasant man.

Not an engineer.

Special assistant, Ed Kovach. Mostly in charge of keeping the lines of

communication open to all three plants.

Your daughter thinks her husband was worried about Harper on a security

Now that he's missing... Missing?

Mark? Well, isn't he?

I talked to him in Seattle just an hour ago. He was getting on a plane.

For where?

Mr. Maddox.

Mark Harper's on a well -earned vacation, and I promised him he wouldn't

bothered. Your daughter didn't know about this vacation.

Why should she? It was strictly company business.

Sorry, I thought you were alone.

It's all right. Come on in.

Mr. Maddox, this is Hal Murdock. He handles some of our legal work. Maddox,

are the R &D contracts on the No Man's Project. We finally worked out the

language. Sorry to interrupt.

Not at all. Mr. Maddox probably has some questions for you.

You look very familiar to me, Mr. Murdoch. Have we met before?

No, I don't think so.

I was in that Rio Seca race with Ed Kovac. I thought maybe I'd seen you

there. No, I didn't go. I was in bed with the flu.

Had you and Kovac been friends for very long?

I'd only known him since he came over to Kittredge Aerospace.

But you're an old friend of Mrs.

Kovac's.

What business are you in, Mr. Mannix?

Everybody's, I guess. I'm, uh... Private investigator.

All right, Mr. Investigator.

I think if Ed Kovach hadn't come along, Ella might have married me.

Straight enough?

Mrs. Kovach thinks her husband was murdered.

What do you think, Murdoch?

I think that it's enough that he's dead, Mr. Mannix.

I'll see you later, Roger.

I'm afraid you've been put to a lot of trouble for nothing, Mr.

Maddox. If you'll just submit your bill, I'll be glad to take care of it.

I'll be glad to submit my bill, Mr. Gidridge.

When I'm finished.

to salvage, I had to outbid a couple of fellas.

What have you got so far, Mac?

Well, I started on the assumption that it was either driver's error or control

failure.

But I can't find any evidence of it.

I have to start somewhere, so my first guess was that the skid sideways snapped

that steering gear.

But that steering gear ain't snapped.

Looks pretty fractured to me.

Yeah, but look at the way it's fractured, Joe.

The impact at the point of crash would have caused the snap quite differently

than what we've got.

An obvious difference.

And I've done a microscopic.

And?

All controls are functioning. No controls jammed.

No mechanical reason whatever to account for this crash.

Well, what does that leave us?

Look, Mac, could something have been wrong with him, Kovac?

Well, as near as I can reconstruct it. The skid carried him at a 45 -degree

angle into that clump of trees.

Then he recovered and shot straight back out onto the road.

Now, it could be that the violence of that stop ruptured blood vessels in his

eyes, blinding him.

Now, the speed he was traveling the most he could have pulled was 5 Gs. But what

if the man had any heart trouble?

The condition of the body, we're lucky to prove that he had a heart at all.

Look, Mac, could that impact have jammed that accelerator?

Sure, sure, Joe, but accelerator jam or no, if he'd been conscious, he'd have

tried to make that turn. He didn't.

A car started its skid right after the second turn.

Went in behind these trees here, came straight out and right over the side.

what caused it? It was a dry field.

There was no oil on the racetrack.

I've been over that area, Joe, with a fine -tooth comb.

There's been a lot of traffic over them, but the skid marks are still clear.

And here's where the skid stopped.

You know, it's a miracle with all those trees there that it didn't hit one of

them and burn up right there.

By golly, you said it.

Joe, you want me to photograph the whole area? I mean, give her the full

treatment? Yeah.

Try everything you can think of.

Okay.

You just keep talking when I tell you. Don't look around. Now, the car picked

speed right about here.

Mark's got a lot lighter when it gained traction, and he went straight out.

That's very interesting.

What are we playing?

There's somebody out there. You stay here and just keep yelling things at me.

Hey, look, Mac, I'm going to take another look at those tires.

Okay.

I've got some good pictures of the acceleration track here, and I've got

casts of these last marks that were deep in before they thinned out.

And then I plotted the whole slide area.

And like you say, it really is down near a miracle he didn't hit this clump

of...

You all right? Yeah.

Any idea who it was?

I'm not sure.

But I got a pretty good idea.

Mind if I sit down?

I'm having lunch.

I'll have whatever Miss West is drinking.

You can have it someplace else.

I don't pick up strangers at lunch, even when they know my name.

Miss West, if my intentions weren't honorable, I'd have approached you at

dinner.

You're Ed Kovach's secretary.

Yes, I was.

You know my name.

Oh, I'm sorry. Joe Mannix. I'm investigating a claim.

Insurance.

I've already talked to Mrs.

Kovach and her father.

So what do you want from me? I understand you were very fond of your

If you don't meet many men like Mr. K, you certainly don't get to work for

What do you think of Mrs. K?

She's very nice.

Were you at the Priyoseka race?

Not for the race.

I had to go up later and bring a flame bag.

She was too upset to fly it.

Mrs. K, I mean.

Did Mr.

K teach you to fly?

Mr. Mannix, I've had my pilot's license since I was 18.

What about Kovac's assistant?

Mark Harper? It's fun.

Did you happen to see him there at the race?

No, but I'm sure he was there.

I wonder why he went. I understand he hated racing.

He had no choice. Mr. K called him at home, 5 o 'clock in the morning, told

to get up there right away.

I drove him to the airport.

With Mr. K, you accepted the unusual as commonplace.

What about Harper's friends, his social life?

Mark is a loner.

I don't think he has any real close friends.

Except you?

We worked together. We had dinner together a few times. You know, when

late. Mark is a nice guy, but he's not my idea of a date.

What is your idea of a date?

I'm enjoying lunch.

Then I'll buy dessert.

Is he dead in there?

He's not in here at all.

You see, I've got all these units to take care of since my husband had this

attack.

He says it's an attack even if the doctors don't.

He says, what does the doctors know?

It happened to me. All I know is he's in bed and I have all these units.

Tell me, Harper always keep his room this way?

Yes. I must say he's a neat man.

How long has he been gone?

Don't know.

His woman friend was asking for him yesterday.

What woman?

I don't know what she calls herself.

I see her tiptoeing out all hours of the night until I told him, look, this is a

family place.

Well, thank you, Mrs. Page.

You're not going to drag the police through here, are you? No, not yet. It's

just a mess in this place, but it's the time we take.

I had a fellow here last year who took sleeping pills, and that's the one I

you about.

License number? Look, Mannix, research the background on a dead man. That'll do

for you. For that, I can justify leaving my own work. I've got my own office,

you know. What kind of a life is this anyway? Every minute, it's Albie do

Albie do that.

You want me around all the time? Fine.

Then make me a partner.

A junior partner.

Just a junior partner.

I told you, Albie, I'm all through with big organizations.

Two guys?

That's not we the people.

Look, I got my own career to worry about. I got a sign on my office door

same as you. Albie, Albie.

The license.

Why me, the license? Peggy used to work in DMV. Because for the time being, I

don't want my name on the request.

Refreshments?

Refreshments. Thanks, Peggy.

Hey, you did a great job on this, Albie.

Said Kovac led a short but very impressive life.

Short enough to tout you off auto racing?

Well, there are other dangers in our business, Peggy.

Such as Albie talking you to death.

Traffic. Sergeant Carson, please.

I didn't volunteer. I was drafted.

Hi, Mike. I'll be loose.

Give me a registration on UKS 957.

I didn't have any trouble with the rest of it, but those electronic companies

Kovac worked for, they got security tighter than the CIA.

Yeah, four different companies before he landed the job as project engineer at

Kittredge. Hmm.

All in five years.

That's a pretty fast rise in anybody's business.

Well, look at his college record.

Summa cum laude.

Degrees in electrical engineering, business administration.

I must say, he knew what he was after.

A guy like that didn't need to marry the boss's daughter to make vice president.

Right, but there were a few fringe benefits, such as airplanes, very

racing cars.

Would you give me a little mustard on that, honey?

Right.

Yeah, Mike.

Uh -huh.

Uh -huh.

Good deal.

Thanks, Mike.

Say, Albie, I'm going to need a background on that Mark Harper.

And a picture.

That apartment of his looks like it had just been rented. There's not a thing

out of place, not a single personal touch.

I've seen motels that look more lived in. Now he's an interior decorator.

Yeah, well, nobody lives in a place for a year without leaving some shred of

evidence about himself.

Unless...

Now, what about the license?

What? The registration. You wrote it on the pad, didn't you?

Oh.

Yeah,

the car is registered to Maureen McGill.

Florentine Arms, huh?

That's a pretty snappy residence.

Occupation?

Model? Everyone should have a hobby.

McGill?

I'm Joe Maddox. I'm not a cop.

But we do have an interest in common.

Mark Harper.

You're a friend of Mark's? Well, I'd like to know more about him.

Like what?

Like when did you see him last?

Why should I tell you?

May save you a lot of trouble.

A week or so ago.

He had a little run -in. You know how those things are.

I went over to his apartment today to patch things up.

Mark seems to be out of town.

It's fun talking to you. I'll carry that for you.

Can you

tell me exactly when you last saw him? I'd sure like to get in touch with him.

I have a terrible memory.

Really. Like a thief.

Thank you, Mr. Maddox.

I see you're an aficionado.

Devout. Mark, too?

Ask him.

I'd like to, but I'll need a little help.

Has he ever talked to you about his work?

Never. I'm not even sure of what he does.

You didn't know he was going away?

No. But then why should I? We're not engaged or anything like that.

Are you engaged to anyone or anything like that?

Oh, I'm not so much engaged as busy.

But do ask me again sometime, Mr. Mannix.

Say, excuse me.

Have you worked here very long?

Since he opened.

That's two and a half, let me see, three years.

Well, you probably know Maureen McGill.

That depends who's asking.

Can't take bribes.

Now that's a real woman, Miss McGill.

A man 20 years younger could get himself an estate over that, but maybe even 10

years younger.

Yeah, I imagine there's quite a few that do get an estate.

Yep, quite a few.

Tell me, uh, is there anyone she's particularly interested in? I don't

there's anything really interesting, except this bullfighting. Off to Tijuana

near every weekend, watching them kill beef.

What's that?

Oh, well, that's my car. It does that every now and then. I gotta get it

Thanks.

PG -621 -14, you got a call for me?

Mr. Maddox's office.

Oh, Mr. Murdoch's tried to call you several times.

He called three times in the past hour. He wants you to get over to his office

as soon as possible.

Check is made out and signed. Just give me the figure. I'll fill it in. You can

fill it in when I'm through with a case.

Mannix.

Mrs. Kovac was upset when she hired you. She made some wild charges. She now

realizes how foolish they were. She hired me. Why didn't she fire me?

She has decided that the sooner she forgets the accident and tries to lead a

normal life, the better it will be for all of us. I'm sure it'll be better for

you. What exactly do you mean by that?

As a lawyer, you ought to know the penalty for using your car as a lethal

weapon. No, Mannix, I wasn't trying to aim the car at you.

Just suddenly you were there.

The question is, Murdoch, why were you there?

As a friend of the family, I was concerned about Ellen.

Concerned enough to take a few pot shots at me in the garage a half hour ago.

Look, I've been at this desk all afternoon.

That can be checked. Check it.

This is official notification, Mannix. Your client has dismissed you. That's

privilege. She has withdrawn her charges.

I may come up with a charge of my own.

Peggy, I want a manila envelope.

Albie, I need that rundown on Harper.

I'm still working on it. I did get his picture.

Yeah.

Look, I'm so glad you're pleased.

Look, why do I keep paying rent on my office? How much time do I spend there?

Why can't you put my name on your door? Albie. In little letters.

Albie, for the last time, I'm a one -man organization.

Now, get moving on that Harper rundown, will you? And when you finish with him,

go to work on a guy named Hal Murdock. Get everything you can, dig in every

direction you know. I'd love to get something on that guy, even if it's only

reckless driving.

Peggy, call that insurance agent. Tell him I got a few bullet holes in the car,

huh? Again?

A normal, everyday job can be just as exciting as auto racing.

And it can make you just as dead.

Have you ever seen him before?

Mr. Harper?

Sure, a lot.

When was the last time?

Last time was Sunday.

No, Monday night.

She got back late Sunday. She had a dinger of a sunburn.

She just laid around all day, couldn't hardly move.

Tell me, did Harper go down to the bullfights with her?

Three or four times, but not last weekend.

The last time I seen him was right after she had the sunburn.

Monday night?

That's right.

Last time I seen him.

What about him?

Oh, I seen him lots, too. Last time was Monday night.

The same night Harper was here? Yep.

Only this fella had left before Harper come.

Thanks.

Now that's the jackpot answer.

No, Father. He's been calling all day, but I haven't talked to him.

Why can't you tell me what's going on?

Well, why do I have to be kept in the dark?

Well, after all, it was my husband that was killed.

Yes, Father.

Yeah.

Whatever you say.

Mrs. Kovac.

I'm sorry to break in this way, but you didn't answer my calls.

Well, what are you doing here? My father said you were off the case.

Well, that possibility was discussed, but the question is, do you want me off

the case?

Well, what difference does it make?

It won't bring my husband back. No, it won't.

But I thought you might still be interested in finding out who killed

There's nothing more to say.

There's a lot more to say, Mrs. Kovac, and you'd better listen.

Now, you hired me to find out what happened.

Someplace along the line, I developed a personal stake in this case.

You said your husband didn't trust Harper.

Harper had been seeing a girl called Maureen McGill. Does that name mean

anything to you? No. You sure?

Why should it?

Because your husband had been seeing her, too.

I hired you to find a murderer, not to dig up a whole lot of dirt.

Goes with the job, Mrs. Kovac.

Well, I don't believe it.

My husband loved me, and I loved him.

Now, you found your way in here, Mr. Mannix.

Will you please find your way out?

Mark Harper, that's a very interesting character you came up with. He's only a

year and a half old.

An alias?

Completely documented. An expert job.

But all leads into a year and a half ago.

Just before he went to work for Kittredge Aerospace.

The day before.

Maybe Mrs. Kovac wasn't far off about Harper.

The key has got to be that girl Maureen McGill. The model?

Yeah, both Harper and Kovac were tied in with her.

Well, if Harper was working with her, why would he get Kovac mixed up with

To get information.

After all, she's a beautiful girl.

Maybe Miss McGill was taking more across the border than her enthusiasm for

bullfighting.

Then why kill the goose that's slaying the golden egg?

Maybe Kovac found out he was being used and Harper had to kill him.

If you're not going to pull that trigger immediately, do you mind if I have a

cigarette?

Well, well, well.

Frank Allen. I think she still won't take no for an answer, huh?

I've got to tell my partner how touchy you are.

Is that your boy throwing lead at me in the garage?

I wish I wouldn't have met.

Looks like we'll have to beef up our physical fitness program.

I'd like to try again sometime.

Let's see what you can turn up inside.

Yeah, but do you mind if I turn this thing off?

Well, now, just how is the Air Force involved in this case?

Well, I'm not Air Force now. I'm still official, but it's a different agency.

Oh, it's beginning to sound like top security.

Do you mind if we don't discuss it?

Ed Kovac was murdered, wasn't he? That's our department, okay?

By Mark Harper.

You're fishing?

The way I've got it figured is the girl was working for Harper and taking

information across the border.

Did she know what was involved?

Mannix, as a favor to me, to your Uncle Sam and the free world, will you just

leave?

Sure.

But I do have my license to worry about, so I'll have to tell the police

everything I know.

Mannix, we want Harper's name kept out of this.

What's so special about Harper?

He's one of our agents.

Well, now the case is taking on a new dimension.

But if Harper was working for you, why would he kill Kovac?

Unless he was a double agent.

Mannix, don't make me use muscle.

Just keep out of it.

You know, you people are stifling private enterprise.

He's trying to find out what's going on.

You'll find out.

Just keep watching the news.

Can you get down here right away? I've got a theory on what happened at the

race. Yeah, bring everything you've got. I'll get Marty Ryan at International

News to run all the Rio Seca footage.

Joe, it's luck I've told you. Mac, I know you've got a business, so have I.

People are beginning to shoot guns at me and say nasty things, so stop arguing

and get on that plane.

Okay, but say the magic word at least.

What magic word?

All right, Mac.

Now, this was the edited version, so naturally it carried the newscaster's

voice.

Okay,

okay, here come the S -turns.

I

like

that camera work, huh? Did you see me get him going right over the bank?

I'm very proud of that shot.

Okay, now this was shot right after the race. The wreck had almost burned itself

out.

Okay, now you asked for the outtakes. Here they are. Okay, go ahead, Lloyd.

Well, well, it's fairly obvious why that one wasn't in.

I got a little nervous on this one.

Oh, yeah. Now, this one you've seen before. This is the tail end of the shot

where the car skidded right behind the trees.

Now, wait a minute. Back up. I want to see that tree area again.

Oh, yeah. Now, I cut this out of the edited version because it was dull,

footage.

Now, we used the start of this shot where the car skidded behind the trees.

we picked it up again as the car rejoined the race.

Hold it.

Yeah, hold it there, Lloyd.

Listen, can you get him to measure that tree area footage you cut out? A precise

measurement. I'd like to get an idea of the time.

Yeah. Lloyd, did you hear that?

Give it to me in frames.

Look, suppose somebody standing in that tree area had shot out Kovacs' left

front tire.

You mean deliberately arranged for the car to skid at that precise spot?

Possible.

Well, in theory, but the precision, the timing, well, the odds are just too

fantastic.

Anyway, that's not the way he got killed.

And then the killer shot a second bullet into Kovac's body.

Okay, fine. Now, you got him over in that clump of trees dead.

How did he get out and rejoin the race and run over that cliff?

Well, you saw the film. He didn't try to make the turn.

Why?

Unless he was already dead.

Suicide. For all the money in the world, a great wife, more hobbies than he can

keep track of, that's a motive for suicide.

Yeah, Lloyd.

Okay, thanks.

286 frames, 24 frames a second, say 12 seconds.

12 seconds. It's a long time for a racing car to be running around behind

trees.

Look,

ask him to run that film again, huh?

Lloyd, run ahead.

The car must have come to a stop.

But then what? Let's take a look.

Ryan, can I talk to him directly?

Yeah, sure.

Listen, can you run a few frames at a time?

Mac, look at that right -hand side of the screen.

Now watch.

All right, a few more frames.

Hold it.

All right, a few more frames.

Now, can you run it backwards a few frames at a time?

Hold it.

You see what I see?

Yeah.

Could be dust.

Could be a killer.

Could you ask him to get the focus as sharp as he possibly can?

Right. Lloyd, sharpen that focus as much as you can.

Great. Now it's a sharper blur.

Yeah, well, that blur is wearing a racing helmet, and he's moved from here

the way across there.

So? It's walking around.

Hello, I'd like to speak to Mrs. Kovac.

Do you have any idea where I can reach her?

She left town.

Where was she going?

Do you know who called her?

Look, it's urgent. I have to reach her as soon as possible.

Yes, I understand your position, but can you tell me where the plane is kept?

Thanks.

Albie, call Frank Abbott. Try the Air Force intelligence.

Emergency. They'll get to him.

Tell him to meet me at the Kittredge Air Base.

Tell him he better get there as fast as possible.

I still think it could be suicide.

Lloyd, run that film again, from the start.

Hey, get out of here. This is restricted.

Look,

I'm a private investigator.

There's an emergency. Has Delta Mike taken off?

Not yet. It's still on the taxi strip. Where's it cleared to? Mexico.

Look, Mrs. Kovac's flying that plane. She's in danger. No matter what, don't

give the clearance.

Look.

No matter what happens, don't clear that plane.

This is Champ Delta Mike Tower.

Ready for takeoff. This is Tower to Champ Delta Mike. You are not cleared

takeoff.

All right, hold it, Victor. Don't you know no one's allowed up there? What

him?

Tower to Champ Delta Mike, you are not cleared.

Kovac. I got a gun on her!

Get away from those cars or I'll kill her!

Let her go. You let him drive out of here. No, we're leaving here together.

Anybody moves, I shoot.

And don't hurt her.

You let her go. Somebody do something.

You're quite a shot. He always was.

George, get on the radio, will you? I want our team out here before the police

arrive. We turned up a party membership on Kovac.

Yeah, that was Harper's body in the crash.

He was already dead.

Kovac killed him.

Kovac drove that skid himself.

He jumped out when he got behind the trees where he'd hidden Harper's body.

Put Harper's body in the car, jammed the accelerator to the floor, and the car

drove itself into the crash. Perfect.

Except he happened to run through a few frames of film.

Kovac's wife didn't know about this, did she?

No.

Kovac told her he could explain everything. She loved him enough to

Look, Abbott, I'll be around if you need me.

So long.

How about that shoulder?

It's just a skin.

You gonna be able to race Saturday?

Of course.

And this time, Mac, I'm gonna finish right up there.

10th, maybe?

Eh, with a little luck.

Eh.

Did you get him?

Yeah, we got him, Albie. We got him.