Original subtitles

You're the most beautiful woman I've ever seen in my life.

Because I'm the richest.

Yes, sir.

That's it.

Aspen.

Aspen.

A seductive playground for the beautiful people, where a lust for pleasure leads to

a crime of passion.

A man did that.

Some women could have.

Tom Keating, Gloria Osborne.

Mrs. Osborne?

I really do experience something almost majestic when a man takes a stupid chance

with his life.

You're taking it right now.

It's you I love.

Just remember that I saved your life.

And someday, we'll meet.

I'll ask you for a favor.

I'm gonna marry Max.

I just happen to think I'll be better for her in the long run than you would.

I happen to disagree.

This has been my finest hour.

Looks like it's up to you.

If you're man enough.

You are not a nice man.

Well, if I was, you wouldn't be here.

That's her blood, not yours, all over your clothes on the bed.

I'm here to give my husband what he's been asking for.

You don't remember what happened.

Get in!

When I remember, you wouldn't believe.

What'd you do for me?

I'd do anything.

Did I do anything for you?

I think I owe you something.

You saved my life.

How about a beer?

No chance.

I'm buying.

You were ahead.

You were letting me win.

Like you always do.

Because you're such a lousy loser.

Because it's the only way you let me pay for the beer.

This is different.

You actually saved my life.

You're entitled to something.

A reward.

Hell, I'm for that, but not a beer.

Make it a million bucks and I'll quit law school.

Make it two beers and we'll both stay in.

Why do you think I hang around?

You're a bore.

It's because you're rich, Max.

Because you can do me some good.

You tell your dad to give me the million or forget it.

I tell you what.

Just remember that I saved your life.

Be eternally grateful like Andra Cleese.

Andra Cleese wasn't grateful.

Well, the damn line then.

Then someday we'll meet in some arena.

And I'll ask you for a favor in return.

Tom, I don't believe you really would.

I would, Max.

Really?

Then that's fair.

Max the Judge.

Standby in the studio, quiet, please.

Good evening.

Tonight on National Spotlight, my distinguished guest and I will be

discussing the recent history of a very strange and fascinating town and the story

of an equally strange and fascinating murder which took place there.

The town is Aspen, Colorado.

A former boom and bust silver cap which exploded during the 60s to become the

ultimate pleasure dome in the snow.

A reality to the beautiful and the super rich and a hedonistic fantasy to everyone

else.

The almost seismic changes Aspen went through on its mad rush from mining town

to Rocky Mountain High took their predictable toll.

And one wonders if the murder which made Aspen a household word was, in fact,

the inevitable result of those traumatic changes.

In this year of 1977, several disenchanted members of the press had begun referring

to Aspen as a Sodom and Gomorrah in the snow.

A rival Colorado ski resort, Steamboat Springs, built a publicity campaign around

the slogan, there is no Aspen.

But Aspen welcomes controversy, and we welcome one of its most

controversial men.

Tom Keating, today one of the three most famous trial attorneys in our United

States.

He's considered the least conventional and the most unbeatable.

Which brings us to the question, if there is no Aspen, can there really be

a Tom Keating?

Do you mean the one he just described?

I've never heard of him.

You began your legal career right there in your own backyard with what is still

remembered as the most bloody and brutal crime in Rocky Mountain history.

It began when Lee Bishop came to Aspen in 1964.

For Lee Bishop, it actually began before that, and in another place.

I dedicate this bull to the most beautiful lady from the United States, the Senorita

Osborne.

What'll you do with the dead bull, sis?

Stop it.

I really do experience something.

Some excitement, almost orgiastic, when a man takes a needless, completely

stupid chance with his life.

Name one needless, stupid chance you want taken.

Immediately.

Darling, you've already taken it.

You're taking it right now by bringing me here.

You call that needless?

Stupid?

It wasn't even chance.

I planned it like a crime.

Not because you're the most beautiful woman I've ever seen in my life,

but...

Because I'm the richest.

Whatever anyone could want to be or have, it doesn't mean you already are her own,

or your father does.

No, about what he doesn't own.

He didn't want.

So how do I convince you?

That it's you I love, more than money itself.

You don't.

In fact, this'll be our last time together.

My father got a place in Colorado.

He's planning a land development up there.

We're leaving Mexico tonight.

What is this place?

I don't know, some tuna-ville town called Aspen.

But don't follow us, Lee.

Come on, Gloria.

You know that's exactly what you want me to do.

That would be very foolish.

Yeah, maybe.

But that fool in me is the only part I really understand.

I like.

There's no back door out of here, I suppose.

That's one of my father's cars.

Well, what can they do?

You're of age.

Not to my father, I'm not.

Get some clothes on.

You're Gloria's brother?

Yes, but I'm not personally involved.

My father wants my sister to come out and get in the car, and all that means to me

is less room on the seat.

John, get away from there.

Go back to the car.

I'm coming right out.

Wait a minute, Gloria.

I'll be the one to take you back.

You don't believe that's the way we'll do it.

Sorry, love.

This is just the way things are.

My father runs the world.

Lee Bishop?

Yeah?

You give tennis lessons?

Yeah, at the hotel, not here.

We know that.

We just wouldn't want the wrong Lee Bishop.

Go away.

Go away.

You know what those picket doors do to the bull?

Just bleed them down till the matador comes?

Well, that's us, kid.

The picket doors.

You see Miss Osborne again, and you're gonna meet the matador.

Yes, sir, that's it.

That's the Owen Keating place.

I can't believe that old man actually said no to the price we offered.

Have him at my house tonight.

Sir, I doubt if he'll come.

But his son is very forward-looking.

Maybe I can get him there through his son, Tom Keating.

But why in all God's country does he have to have my father spread?

Mr. Osborne will explain that personally to your father tonight.

All I want of you is to have him there at Osborne's house no later than seven.

Is that all?

Osborne wants your father there.

In this office, that is key.

Or perhaps I'm deluding myself that our interests are mutual.

They are if you think they are.

I haven't been too sure.

Really?

Say on, say on.

Well, sir, I did expect by this time to be doing something more than preparing your

cases for trial.

I've never thought of that work, which you do well enough as trivial.

Should I?

No, but I would like one chance to handle one trial by myself.

One particular case, one of mine, perhaps?

Any case.

What I'd really like, of course, is a good bloody murder.

You are hard to please.

Well, all right.

You deliver your father to Osborne, and I'll deliver you a criminal case of

your very own.

Hopefully a bloody murder.

Hey!

Thanks a lot.

You bet.

Am I getting anywhere close to something called the Old Trappers Mountain Lodge?

Practically there.

You just getting in?

Yeah.

And don't tell me how I missed the tennis season.

I've been hearing that one all the way from Grand Junction.

Bum it from there?

Yeah.

You have an accident?

Your face.

Yeah.

Yeah, you can call it that, an accident.

Where's your car at Grand Junction?

My car?

You said you had an accident.

Now, look, mister, the only thing that happened at Grand Junction was that I

missed the last plane for Osborne.

This happened in Mexico, if it matters, all right?

Not to me, but your face.

You have reservations?

About what?

At the Old Trappers.

Why?

This is the skiing season.

Look, I don't care if it's the mating season.

I don't ski, I don't have reservations, but I know where I'm going, okay?

Okay, and you've had a real bad night, so have I.

So don't start up with me, kid.

You'll land right out there in your butt.

You're your Old Trappers.

Mush on.

Hey, man, I'm sorry.

It's this damn cold that chews me up, you know.

I've been sleeping out on the tropical beach in my shorts.

Yeah, okay, kid.

I've been in better moods myself.

My gosh, you're frozen.

I'll warm up fast.

You look like hell.

I've been through it.

To get to me?

And there you are.

I wasn't sure you would be.

How could I resist?

You know very well what would happen in Acapulco.

Could happen again, only worse.

My father never repeats himself, darling.

This time he might have you killed.

What love can do, that dares love attempt.

Therefore that kinsmen are no stop to me.

Shakespeare.

You do live dangerously.

It's quicker that way.

Tell me what you told me on the phone.

What was that?

What you'd do for me.

Anything.

Lord.

The cremation of Sam McGee.

Robert W.

Service.

The cremation of Sam McGee.

Since I left my home in the North to roam, it's the first time I've been warm.

Say what you said on the phone.

That I'd do anything for you?

Say it.

Lie.

Steal.

Kill.

Exciting.

By the way, sweetheart, don't go into shock, but I'm going to have to leave you

for about an hour.

Yes.

Judge Kendrick.

Mr. Otherman.

Mr. Drummond.

And you are Owen Keating.

I'm Carl Osborne.

Thanks for coming.

Thanks for asking.

Gives me a chance to catch up with a few old friends.

As for the newer folks, there's no hurry.

But one in particular only here five years, especially asked to meet you.

Mr. View.

Mr. Keating.

I've got to tend you.

This is one big moment for a kid who used to play cowboy in the alleys of Detroit.

There, the view.

The lights drifting down.

The airport.

Is that why your father built on this location?

He builds houses everywhere.

Boardwalk, park place.

He even took a plantation way down south in Dixie in the hope that slavery would

rise again.

And did it?

Your max.

Short for Maxwell?

Maxfield.

Now I have it.

I was briefed.

Max Kendrick, son of Judge Kendrick of the Colorado Kendricks.

What do you do that's, dangerous?

Absolutely nothing.

I was afraid of that.

You know, my favorite chapter in the Simcox book, Sudden Law.

Yeah, that.

I have to admit, I kind of like that myself.

You know, one about my father?

Yes, sir.

If I could have been me and he could have been him like we were in that book,

it would have been great to have been us.

You got quite a sense of humor.

Excuse me, Mr. Keatingham, you had a chance to look at these maps yet?

Why...

No.

Step over here.

I'll show you.

That's why out of all this kitschy house, all I really care about is the view from

here to there.

Where there's always the chance that one of those planes coming in will crash into

the mountain.

You'd enjoy that.

I'd hate it.

But if it had to happen, I'd hate to miss it.

The experience.

Of seeing people die.

From here, you couldn't see much.

It appears to be my place.

Sure enough.

You know, my father used to say we'd have us one hell of a spread if we could ever

get it flattened out.

Yeah, there we are again.

This time purple?

Tom Keating, Gloria Osborne.

Miss Osborne?

Another lawyer.

Not a cowboy?

Being one doesn't necessarily rule out the other.

Yes, well, I have to run.

I have an appointment.

Hell of a looker.

She's psychotic, should be certified.

Did you bring your father?

Yep.

How?

I told him your father was coming.

He respects the judge.

Dangerous.

No, that's ridiculous.

Max, you're just the guy to settle an argument.

We can't seem to agree on which run is the most dangerous.

Aztec or the face of Baal.

You told me you've been skiing Ajax since you were four.

So we agreed that we will accept your opinion.

Well, it's really a little difficult to choose.

I suppose for myself, I like the face of Baal.

I guess I like to shush moguls.

What's this?

A town?

There we are again.

Dead center.

That's Wolf Run.

Not my place.

It's Wolf Run around there.

There will be, Owen.

You're looking at it.

A planned recreational community, you don't say?

You understand, Owen.

The presence of each of us here now doesn't necessarily constitute support.

Mr. Keating, the gold areas here have already been acquired.

Come on, Abe.

I've quit my job on the paper, so this isn't for publication.

That's just it.

I find it very inhibiting to talk off the record.

But you do believe in the rehabilitation of criminals.

For what?

Have we fully utilized the resources of the non-criminal?

Until we do that, what do we need with recycled crooks?

Did you ever think they might turn out to be recycled human beings?

Kip?

Hello, Tom.

Abe?

Hey, what is this I hear about you?

The county attorney going soft on crime?

That's very good, Tom.

Who told you that?

The county sheriff, right in there?

Yeah.

Yeah, right.

Excuse me, will you?

Sure, tear him up, tiger.

Look, I've got to talk to you now.

What do you say we get out of here?

It's important.

All right, my place.

I'll meet you there.

15 minutes.

It's my absolute limit.

Two major ski runs will be cut.

One there, and one there.

I guess I should cut me a couple of extra doors.

Maybe I can sell them some hot coffee as they come skiing through my living room.

Excuse me, Father?

Do you have something to say, John?

Yes, sir.

I'd just like to say to all present that my father came here to one executive

seminar.

He took one look around, and he knew he had to have this place.

So here we are, our first winner in Aspen, and already my father knows how to make it

better.

Bring in more money, more business, more people, more garbage, more gas fumes

in the air, more crud on the land, more sewage in the river.

John, shut your mouth.

Sorry, Father.

I thought this was open discussion time.

Yes, not family squabble time or defy your father time.

Shut your mouth and get out of here, you're drunk.

Sorry, all.

Apologies.

My time is not right for me to go on with this.

Sir, your son's expressed a point of view that is shared by a large percentage of

our population.

Young man, we're prepared for our position.

Let me assure you, all of you, that our planners are not morons or

monsters.

They are the best.

They have considered and solved the problems of Wolf Run's impact on the

community, the environment, and the ecology.

The schedule ahead of us gives us time enough to prove one point to each of you.

Wolf Run will bring nothing but good to this valley.

Thank you.

I'd feel a whole lot better about this, Mr. Keating, if you did.

Well, sir, anything is possible.

I've done a little checking on Mr. Osbert there, and what he says is possible.

Of course, it'll be the first time I ever saw a bobcat go to eating grass.

It is now 20 minutes past my birthday.

And thanks entirely to you.

I now believe that 30 may, after all, be my greatest year.

Because?

This has been my finest hour.

I hope you mean that.

Because that's exactly what I wanted, what I hoped for.

For us to be better, to be closer than we've ever been.

Marry me.

What?

I love you.

Marry me.

Tom, I can't.

Can't?

That's what I meant.

Why I wanted it so right, so special.

What are you talking about?

I'm gonna marry Max.

Tom, wait!

Tom!

I wanted us to remember each other better than this.

Not to lose what we had.

Well, sure, why give it up at all?

We just gotta get it straight with Max up front.

A pre-nuptial agreement.

I'm available any night of the week but Thursday.

That's my bowling night.

So you actually saw Lee Bishop on his first night in Aspen?

There's been too much made of that.

I don't believe in predestination.

How long was it till you saw him again?

Not till after the murder.

Twelve weeks and five days after he arrived in town.

No footprints or tire tracks.

Had to be before four a.m.

Which is when the snow began.

If that's a body, I've never seen one before.

But if it is...

It is.

How does it get to be just that?

So much frozen meat and blood.

Must have knocked her out first and after that even.

It's a female.

Then must have stomped on her, then pounded on her with...

That.

The rock.

The red one.

A man did that?

Some women quit him.

I say a man.

I could even maybe say which man.

Bodine was on the desk after midnight.

Got a call from some squeaky-sounding woman who said a girl had just been killed

and told him who did it.

What?

I know, but, Abe, you've got to understand after she said that she laughed.

Laughed?

Real high, loony-like.

The what?

Well, Bodine, he took her for a snowbird or snockered.

Anyway, some kind of freak.

We get lots of smart alec calls that time of night.

What time?

Around about three.

She was still laughing when she hung up the phone in his ear.

Well, Bodine, he wrote it up and stuck it on my desk.

When I came in this morning, I read it and stuck it in my drawer.

You've got the killer's name in your desk drawer?

Abe, you've got to understand, I didn't believe there was a killer.

What, do you believe it now?

Yes, but I...

Wait, wait, wait.

What's the killer's name?

I don't know.

All I've got is a name, maybe not even a real one and an address.

You've got his name and address.

I don't know what I've got.

That's what I'm saying.

Check it out.

I don't trust this information.

Well, I trusted more than your judgment or Bodine's, and I want it now.

And I've just told you, Mr. Singer, I am about to check it out.

Damn it, I'm entitled.

When I know what I've got, Mr. Singer, that's when you're entitled.

After I check it out, when I make an arrest, if I make an arrest, Mr. Singer,

that is when you're entitled.

When I know what I'm doing.

That'll be the day.

Well, live and learn.

I would have figured your boss was too bridal-wise to throw his saddle on a dead

horse.

Meaning what?

Well, it says here the celebrated Joseph Merrill Drummond has accepted the court's

appointment as defense attorney for Lee Bishop.

What?

Lee Bishop.

And has agreed with county attorney Abe Singer to set an early date for the trial,

which will be presided over by Judge Miles Kendrick in the absence of Judge Clifford

Darrow.

Let me see that.

First picture they put out of the killer.

Dinehart's a good sheriff.

Kept him hid out until the folks got used to having a maniac in town.

So that's the maniac we've all been reading about.

He bummed a rat for me three months ago.

His first night in town.

The maniac?

I'll cut it out, Pa, the suspect.

You were a sheriff yourself.

You know better than to judge a man before he's at a trial.

Tom, don't you ever turn that big ugly voice of yours loose on me.

You won't have a human for a friend, you beller, that way.

That's up to you.

But I'm blamed if I let you scare the songbirds off of my property.

I'd sure hate to do that, Pa.

I just got my tail twisted and had to holler.

Quisted by who?

The celebrated Joseph Merrill Drummond hadn't said word one to me about this case

being assigned to our office.

And it's my case, not his.

He promised it to me.

Well, how?

He didn't say word one.

Long before the murder, I had it out with him.

All I've done since I joined that firm is prepare his cases for trial.

That's what you went down there for.

Yeah, at first.

He's the best in the state.

Used to be.

Should have quit a long time ago.

I thought he would after that last...

Just whisper it right here, will you?

I thought he would after that last stroke.

But he came back, burned out, like a dry pastured horse and just about is no good.

He forgets what he's doing and he doesn't even know it.

I've been carrying him on my back for years.

Why does he have to have this case?

He's had his.

Well, maybe he wanted to starch out with one you could win.

Pa, you earned every nickel that put me through law school by breaking your fool

back.

And I wouldn't have dared come back one nickel's worth less than the best.

All I need is a chance to prove it.

Drummond promised it to me.

And there it is, my chance, my case.

Kendrick's office.

He and Mr. Drummond have been delayed.

Okay, I'll be in the bar.

Will you let me know?

Sure.

Hello, kid.

Hello, Tom.

Max didn't tell me you'd be here.

Well, I'm not.

I mean, with anyone.

Are you meeting him?

And his father and your Mr. Drummond.

Will you have a drink?

I'll just sit down.

I'll get you not in love with Max.

Don't start.

I didn't mean to.

Haven't you noticed I've been staying away?

I've noticed.

You meant to do that.

I guess I didn't.

But there you are.

I knew you were there before I saw you.

You smell like flowers in the sunshine.

There are cosmetic counters everywhere.

You smell like everything I love.

Like the essence of yourself.

You haven't set a date yet.

You and Max.

No announcement.

There won't be.

You know Max.

He doesn't like display.

We'll just go away and come back married.

I'm not buying that.

I was an idiot to lose my temper.

All I did was get out of his way.

What for?

He's a gentleman, not me.

He can lose gracefully.

I can't.

You love me.

Tom.

Look, I don't have 24 million dollars and I never will.

Tom.

It isn't the money.

Don't you see?

I'm 27 years old and you're 30.

And you've consistently refused to discuss marriage.

Because, in your own words, you wanted to make it first in your career.

You thought I never would?

I thought you'd never ask.

Excuse me.

Judge Kendrick and Mr. Drummond have arrived.

Thank you.

Kid, I'm so sorry and I'm afraid Max will be later yet.

At least Mr. Keating's here.

He's not even supposed to be.

Good to see you again, Tom.

You've been keeping our girl entertained?

Well, not enough.

Actually, I have some information for Mr. Drummond.

At such a time, really, I do dislike mixing lobster and the law.

Lobster always wins.

I only need a minute before I talk with Lee Bishop.

Now, you have spoiled my lunch.

Please go in and sit down.

It seems I have to wash my hands.

Well, Mr. Keating, this is a first.

No junior associate has ever put his own business in front of my first martini.

As to this Lee Bishop atrocity, I presume you're here to stick a flag in

it and claim it for Keating.

Do you really think if I had meant to give it to you, I'd have had to be asked?

My understanding was...

A lack of understanding.

I understood.

I said I'd give you a criminal case of your own.

I did not specify the case.

Mr. Manfred, I remember my exact words, though.

You choose to believe that my memory is failing.

I said, hopefully, a bloody murder.

A capricious remark hardly meant as prophecy or guarantee.

Mr. Drummond, you already have two extremely tough trials pending.

The one in Denver and the one in New Mexico.

I am touched by your concern, but I can still carry my own load.

But why should you?

The unusual character of this crime calls for nothing less than my best,

which I have promised my good friend, Judge Kendrick.

Win or lose, this is the case for which I will be remembered.

Here, in this town of my adoption.

Mr. Drummond, what can you possibly add to your reputation?

Your career is already your monument.

It doesn't need this case.

I do.

There's no money in it, no fee for the firm, but it can have a value.

I can come out of an additional source of revenue, an asset to the office.

And I promise you, sir, I will.

Well, that's a familiar theme.

Not from any law book I've ever known, but from a Ruby Keeler musical.

You go in, just another kid from the chorus, and you come out a star.

Sorry, dear boy.

As long as I'm directing the trial work of Payne, Tolliver and Drummond, there will

be only one star.

You'll be with me, by my side, you'll assist me in court, and you'll take

an occasional bow.

And now I suggest you get over to that jail and get your act together with that

murdering maniac.

While I get on to the difficult work of ordering the perfect lunch.

What's the matter?

I've just been through with Drummond.

He's gonna handle Lee Bishop's case himself.

I'm in the rumble seat again.

And that old pomposity can't cut it.

I haven't even talked to our client yet, but I can tell you one thing.

If Lee Bishop's life depends on Drummond's defense, he might as well take the gas

pipe right now.

Tom, I didn't hear that.

My father will be judging that case.

We can't discuss it even as friends.

Or it might seem like you're using me to get your ideas through to him.

Yeah, you're right.

You always are.

They're, they're waiting for you inside.

Kit, too.

Yes, I know she's told you about our plans.

You're the only one who has been told or deserves an explanation.

I don't have to have it explained.

Tom, I'm not apologizing.

You see, I happen to love Kit, too.

I just happen to think I'll be better for her in the long run than you would.

I happen to disagree.

And, Max, the jury's still out.

You're my best friend.

My only friend.

You remember eight years ago on the other side of that mountain?

Yeah.

You saved my life.

You said that someday you'd ask a favor in return.

You're asking it now?

No.

Thanks.

Just wanted you to know I haven't forgotten it.

Well, counselor, this fellow we got in here is a real bad boy.

You sure you want to be left alone with him?

Gotta be, Sheriff.

And in private, too, Sam?

If you want me, just holler.

I'll be on the other side of this door.

All right.

You don't remember me.

Am I supposed to?

I gave you lift your first night in town.

The old Trapper's Mountain Lodge?

Yeah.

You're the guy who didn't like my attitude.

Offered to kick my butt out in the snow.

Well, I think we've both been having a bad night.

Yeah, mine got better.

That night, anyway.

Did it?

Had something lined up at the old Trapper's.

Why?

Well, you weren't registered there that night.

I've already checked.

Why?

What I was doing there has nothing to do with why I'm here.

So tell me about it.

Fine.

I looked the place over.

I saw that there wasn't anybody there that I wanted to rape or beat to death,

so I lost interest.

I still don't like your attitude.

Yeah, and I don't feel much like talking.

Read the transcript.

I've already had one lawyer.

Jane Salazar.

Yeah.

He wrote me off fast when he found I wouldn't cop a plea.

That's why we've been assigned by the court to defend you.

Who's we?

The law firm of Payne, Tolliver, and Drummond.

My name is Tom Keating.

Not Payne or Tolliver or Drummond?

Tom Keating.

Mr. Drummond, Mr. Joseph Merrill Drummond.

He's forgotten more about the law than Jane Salazar will ever know as your

attorney.

I'll be assisting him in preparing your case for trial.

Well, let's get something to your head.

Or wherever you keep your brains.

It's fairly obvious that one of us can live without the other, but if I were you,

I wouldn't push too hard to find out which one.

And don't expect me to hammer at you to get at the truth, because the easiest way

for me is just accept anything you want to tell me.

Now, you can tell the same stupid lies you've been telling everyone else.

Yes, I've read the transcript.

Or you can make up some new ones.

Abe Singer will love it.

He won't even have to prove a case for the prosecution.

All he'll have to do is shoot down your lies, and he won't even have to hit them

all.

A score of 6 out of 10 will land you in the gas chamber.

Then while you're sitting there, holding your last breath as long as you

can, maybe you'll think about this.

You're not being deprived of your life because you're a murderer and maniac,

but because you're a lousy and a stupid liar.

You won't be the first smart mouth to be executed for that reason.

Hey!

I think somebody ought to tell you...

Sir?

You've got a really rotten way of winning a client's confidence.

Who are you meeting at the old Trapper's Mountain Lodge?

I told you, she has nothing to do with this.

That's why I'm asking you, so you can answer.

So you can tell me one thing you haven't already fouled up by telling it ten

different ways.

Now, come on.

Make one simple, believable, declarative statement.

Look, you've got to keep her out of this.

Kid, if she had nothing to do with it, she doesn't have to be kept out.

She is out.

I followed her here from Acapulco.

Not for the money.

I was in love with her.

What was her name?

Gloria Osborne.

That is not a simple, believable statement.

But true.

So I lied again, didn't I, when I said she wasn't involved?

If she stayed in Mexico, I'd still be there.

That's where you met her?

Yeah.

I gave her tennis lessons at first.

Her father broke it up and brought her here.

And you met her again here that first night?

Yeah.

Then what?

Come on, counselor, what do you think?

I told you I was in love with her.

And not because her father has two billion dollars, either.

I mean, not just because.

Okay.

So the second thing I did that night, I proposed.

Again.

You frighten me when you talk like that.

Why?

You make me afraid that way down deep you're decent.

Don't you understand?

You excite me because you're no good.

Because you live dangerously.

Because you take wild, stupid chances.

What could be more dangerous or wildly stupid than getting married to you?

True.

While my father lives.

What a bonfire he'd make out of you.

Being so highly flammable.

Well, fight fire with fire.

The next evening I began to look for an old army buddy of mine.

I knew he was here working for a man named Alex Bud who owned several bars.

It was just a question of finding the right bar.

I'm Scorpio.

I'm married.

Hey, that's perfect.

A Scorpio and a married person are completely compatible.

Her name is Bud, that's my real name.

Why would I doubt it?

I mean, it isn't Bud for sure.

It's my given name on my birth certificate with two D's.

B-U-D-D.

It's a family name on my mother's side.

You remember Lainey Bud, presidential agent?

That was your mother?

No, but it's Bella's side.

Lainey Bud was fictional, you know, like, really Bud.

There is no nickname for Bud.

Hey, buddy!

So there is a nickname for Bud.

Hey, Lee!

Hey!

How are you?

Quick to get in one's deep face.

Don't ask.

Hey, this is my old army buddy, Macapulco.

What army was that?

The American man that we did serve on foreign soil.

Brownsville, Texas.

There you go.

I'm Lee Bishop.

Jacqueline Kamarowski.

Jackie and I, we're just getting acquainted.

Actually not.

Hey, you do know that it's almost closing.

And you're beautiful.

So are you.

But oddly enough, I prefer short, ape-like middle-aged men.

I prefer short, ape-like middle-aged men.

Turkey!

You still prowling bars?

I thought by now you'd have an old lady in your room.

Well, I got one.

I'm ashamed to say.

Ashamed?

That's no attitude.

Why be ashamed?

Well, for one thing, she's 15.

Be ashamed.

And what I'm ashamed of is every other stiff in town sleeping with her,

too.

It's not that big a town.

I hate her.

I keep wanting her, and I hate her for that.

I keep going back.

I keep having to have her, and I hate me for that.

So I treat her right, and she hates me back.

Well, you may have something meaningful there.

I hate hate for a relationship.

You want to meet her?

No, sir.

No, thanks.

Not me.

Come on.

I'm on my way over now, and we can talk in the car.

Hey.

Are you going to go now to pick her up?

What if you connected with a Polish caviar?

Well, I don't pick stuff after any time's the right time.

You'll see.

I'm fed away.

I'm Scorpio.

No, you're Gemini.

No, no.

I switch.

Scorpio gets all the action, you know.

Sex sign.

Come on.

What is this child's name?

Angel.

I knew you'd turn up here.

Acapulco's out.

Aspen's in.

Did you get my postcards?

I think you must have.

Like you wrote on the back, where the in people are.

So you were looking for me.

Right.

You're a key figure in my strategy.

Strategy?

Being you hustling.

What?

Some caviar from Acapulco?

Crude, bud.

You got to work on that.

You haven't lost it.

Who is she?

Well, if I told you her name, you'd know it, and you'd think I was after her money.

That bad?

Yeah.

I'm in love with her.

I am.

I'd be in love with her if she was destitute and needed dental work and a

hair transplant.

Hold the phone.

Secret code.

Yeah?

Now what?

Upstairs window on the right.

The light goes on and off.

She'll be coming out.

If it happens twice, red alert.

Blast off.

Who worked that out?

The 15-year-old?

Me.

Funny.

Very funny.

All right.

Her mother's a very devout candle burner.

Her father's a bank dick who sleeps with his gun on.

That is, when he isn't sleeping around.

If he's in, no chance.

If he's not,

he's not.

She'd be coming out.

Yeah, she also wouldn't look at you be coming on.

So, buddy, as a buddy, you gotta pass.

I wouldn't touch her with your hands.

She hasn't seen you yet, pal.

No, no, sight unseen.

I give you my word.

I pass.

But what's the difference if nobody else does?

Because you're a buddy and a buddy doesn't.

See, these are things I'm trying to teach her.

Values, meanings, priorities, you know, things like that.

Buddy, your brains are all in your heart.

All right.

Now that I've trusted you, you gotta trust me.

Now, come on, lay it on me.

Name of the day.

Hit me.

Gloria Osborn.

Not so hard.

So you see why I gotta play this thing very, very low profile?

This incredible creature is not entirely sold on me as yet.

However, I am this close.

But if her father gets wind of it...

I won't even get a kiss goodbye.

But you're this close now?

Yeah, she's here, at present, where I am getting to her to work my subtle magic,

you know?

All I need is time and money to buy it with.

And that's where you come in.

Hey, pal.

As long as I gotta watch, you get the time.

But money?

How much?

Well, just enough to live on while I'm here.

Enough to take off and get married with.

Enough not to worry about it, at least for a while.

Come on, buddy, you always know who's got the action.

And I can see, just like I knew I would, that you got it made.

So you just point me to it, buddy.

That's all I need.

Please fasten your seatbelts.

And

I'm grounded.

I'm flunking everything.

And my old man's doing a bed check every two hours.

How long since the last?

One o'clock.

I guess it's 40 minutes we don't need anymore.

But you're so romantic.

Besides, there's three of us.

There's not.

He's not with us.

I mean, he is, but he won't be.

We're dropping him off.

That's my old army buddy there.

That's funny, he doesn't look old.

So you're Angel.

Is that your real name?

Angela, really.

What's yours?

It's Lee, baby.

Hello, Lee, baby.

Lee Bishop, Angela Morelli.

So look, if it's too dicey to go, it's too dicey to stay.

So you better move it out, Angel, or at least you can get it off his lap.

You're such a big something.

You're gonna find out what a big something is, big something my old man catches me

with you.

Maybe it's not worth it anymore,

What's the matter?

Are you tired of home cooking?

Angel, don't be childish.

You want some money?

Bud, I would love some.

$40?

Bud.

You ought to drift by some day after school.

There's some real neat exhibits in the science lab.

You'll be glad you came.

I'll make sure you are.

Bye, Bud.

Bye, Lee Bishop.

So you're thinking why put out $40 before everyone's getting free?

No, buddy, you told me you're teaching her values.

You better believe it, pal.

And you'd be surprised how far that $40 is gonna stretch.

And I'm not blaming you, but don't push it, okay?

Hey, buddy, you can't seriously be thinking that I'm thinking about Angela.

Didn't you hear me before?

I'm a man in love.

I'm a man who's worked his way up to the glory of Osborne.

I am monomaniacal on this subject, driven, obsessed.

Don't want, Angel.

You got it.

And you know what I do want?

And I know you're thinking back, buddy, to that little misunderstanding in

the army where we both could have landed in the stockade but only one of us did.

Hey, buddy.

I don't forget.

You covered my rear.

I'm only thinking how to get top dollar for your talents, and I know, I know.

You gotta talk to the man I'm working for.

Okay, but tomorrow will be too soon.

What, tonight?

It's almost 3 a.m.

Well, with some people in this town, it's always 3 a.m.

Gina.

Hi, Dorothy.

Hi, bud.

How you been?

How's it going, Angie?

Good to see you.

What'd I say around?

Smoking it all, boy.

You bet.

As much as I can get.

How you doing, darlin'?

Hey, baby.

Okay.

Hey, Lee.

Hey...

Stay here.

Be out in a minute.

Hey, boss.

Hey, bud.

I think I found a guy.

You know the guy to take my place?

Here?

You got him here?

Yeah.

You busy?

Hey.

Guess not.

Hey.

Joe, take a walk.

Now.

Come on.

Now.

Now.

This lady's not leaving.

Will you...?

Come on.

Come on.

Get up.

Hey, bud.

I'll talk to you first.

Yes.

Here.

Put this down somewhere.

Am I a dead body?

How could I be?

Nobody dies in Aspen.

Hey.

Hey.

He'll talk to you now.

I'll handle this.

Not this lady now.

Hey.

Now, shut the door.

Lock it.

Turn the lights on.

Yeah.

There we are.

Open for business.

24 hours a day.

We never sleep.

That there's Harry Rodino.

Harry's half Indian.

Doesn't say much, but he listens good.

You can call me Alex.

You never met him before that night.

Less than 12 weeks before you were booked for murder.

Yet he sent away to Detroit to buy you a high-priced lawyer.

You must have made a big impression.

Yeah.

That's what I thought.

Open and above board.

That's me.

I pay top wages and I don't even have to.

You know, I could use slave labor, kids willing to work here, just to be here

on the scene with all that stuff walking around free.

Yeah.

The only stuff I work for is money.

Yeah.

Well, that's here too, buddy.

Those people in the other rooms, you could live on what they drop and won't

stoop to pick up.

I have to do better than live.

Ever been shot in the gut?

No.

I have, in Detroit.

Spouted blood like a full barrel with a hole in it.

And I guarantee, you can't do better than live.

Are you telling me something?

Yeah, yeah.

Life can be beautiful if you know when and how.

Not to push it.

But says you do.

Says you kept him out of a tight corner in the Army.

Does he?

I don't remember.

Good.

Good.

I've got this plan to move Bud up, so his job would be open.

Now, let's talk about me.

Without any false modesty?

Nobody ever got the best of me.

Hold the thought.

I got out of Detroit before the wrong people moved in and I lucked into here.

Five years ago, the streets weren't even paved.

Now you can't even get a parking spot.

This town means business.

And I mean business.

I own this building, the restaurant downstairs, the bookstore in the basement,

the sporting goods shop on the corner.

I own another class restaurant, a disco, and two smoky barbecue fast foods

to go.

I own a travel agency, a real estate agency, 14 rental homes.

Colony Colorado condominiums and so much other stuff, buddy.

Nobody knows what all I own.

Well, you're impressing the hell out of me.

Why?

I'm the one that wants a job.

Because it may be important up front for you to know.

You know, plenty of people in this valley, they owe their jobs to me, all special

favors.

So, if you do go to work for me, you get extra benefits.

Clout.

Plenty of cover if you get your butt in a bind.

Why should I?

What's the job?

You'd be driving a truck.

What's the cargo?

Live lobsters.

The real cargo.

Live lobsters.

I've got this Mexican in Mexico.

He flies them up from Mazatlan to Denver for my restaurants.

He stands all the inspections.

All you do is just pick him up in Denver.

Nothing strenuous.

No sweat.

Just leave the truck to be loaded, spend the night in town, bring him here in

the morning.

What's the pay?

The same as Bud's been getting.

100 bucks a round trip, one easy trip every week.

In Aspen, that'd buy me ham and eggs without the ham.

I've been back and forth across that border a few times myself.

I know the traffic.

That sweet stuff in the sugar bowl out there, that's worth close to two Gs on the

street.

But you put it out there like avocado dip.

That means you get it before the markup.

Hey, look, I don't use the stuff or deal in it.

I give it away for party favors.

That puts me in where the deals are.

Where the deals are is where the money is.

Yeah, if I didn't need money for a very worthy cause, I wouldn't even think about

it.

Hey, don't think about it.

Think about lobsters.

That's all you'd be delivering.

And you can cook me.

I wouldn't even deliver lobsters for 400 a month.

Hey, hold on.

I guess Bud didn't tell you the funny thing that's been happening to him since

he started that run?

Funny?

Well, yeah, seems that sometime all about the middle of every month he's been

getting this envelope in the mail, stuffed with money, mixed bills,

10s, 20s, 50s.

Can't even guess where it comes from.

A thousand greens in cash every four weeks for absolutely nothing.

A wild, wild, wild story.

And typically, Bud, things like that never happen to me.

Well, there's no way of knowing, but if it really did happen to Bud,

why couldn't it?

I mean, as for me, I'd believe him.

But who else would?

I mean, for example, can you imagine Bud or anyone else trying to tell that story

to some odd-nosed cop?

You didn't mention any of this in any of your statements.

You think I should have?

Hell no.

That's all the jury needs to think you were smuggling dope.

That's why I kept it out.

And Alex out.

You know, at first, I thought that I'd figured right, you know, when he hired

that lawyer from Detroit, Gene Salazar.

I thought I'd made the team.

I thought Alex was coming through for me.

Maybe for Bud's sake.

So I kept Bud out of it, too.

What did you think when Salazar quit?

Well, I knew.

I was mouse-trapped.

You know, Salazar came and went a couple times, but he did nothing.

And he was never present while you were being questioned?

No.

And he got lost for good as soon as I gave the sheriff the statement he wanted,

as soon as he knew that I hadn't talked about Alex.

And now you can't.

We've got to keep Alex and all mention of the dope out of it unless somebody else

drags it in.

Alex won't.

What about Bud?

No, he's not that stupid.

Anyway, I never saw any dope.

I didn't want to.

All I saw was lobsters.

About the extra thousand a month.

Yeah, about that.

Well, the first thing I did, I got a private pad so I could be alone with

Gloria.

And then I got a stack of magazines.

I sent in every coupon, entered every contest, you know, got on every sucker

mailing list.

So the envelopes wouldn't seem too obvious if they came.

Did they?

Yeah.

Like clockwork.

And you kept on seeing Gloria?

Yeah, of course.

She was my only reason for being here.

And one night it all came together.

You know, I knew I wouldn't need Alex or his job or his fishy lobster truck very

much longer.

Stop.

Listen.

You hear it?

The ocean.

The ocean?

Yeah.

Shh.

The surf.

A soft rushing sound.

Like holding a seashell to your ear.

That's not the surf.

It's your own bloodstream.

It's your own heart beating.

I suppose.

But no other man's ever made me hear that.

My own heart beating.

Once I heard mine stop.

Below the surf.

Under the sea.

I was skin diving.

I caught my air hose in some coral and cut it right in half.

I tried to hold my breath.

Get back to the top.

I was in too deep.

You always are.

And that's when I heard it.

Just before I blacked out.

It stopped.

Dead.

Then you were dead?

When they pulled me out they couldn't hear it.

No heart, no pulse.

They worked.

They gave me oxygen.

Well I came back, obviously.

But after almost three minutes away.

Do you remember how it was?

It was to be floating in black water.

It's not the water.

I was in because when I came out of it on the deck it was still coming up out of

black water.

So I decided if life is that easy to lose to hell with it I'd never play it safe

again.

That's you.

No one else would have taken that meaning from that experience.

Any other man would have prayed, given thanks.

Got religion.

Made promises he couldn't keep.

Alright.

We'll do it.

We'll get married.

What?

Yeah.

To hell with it.

You got it right.

How else is one to live?

Are you serious?

I'll come to you.

Not tomorrow, but the next night.

No later than nine.

You wait for me here.

We'll go back to Mexico and get married.

It is what you want.

Yes, of course.

It's just I can't believe it.

Believe it.

Remember me from Acapulco?

Yeah, of course.

You're Gloria's brother.

What's happened?

Is she alright?

Isn't she always?

Can I come in?

Sure.

It's John, right?

Right.

You're not really...

But you are.

You are really waiting to run off with my sister to get married.

Where is she?

Look, if your father thinks he can stop us...

She's with my father.

She wants to be with him.

They're in Berlin.

Berlin?

She just called me from there.

Hey, man, I am sorry.

She told me to look in on you and let you off the hook.

A hook?

Her words would have been here sooner, but I just got the message.

Wait a minute now.

Her father found her and he took her off to Berlin, but that doesn't mean...

Sorry, no, he didn't find out.

You can't hang this one on him.

Nobody knew but Gloria, and she knew a week ago she'd be going to Berlin.

No, no, a week ago...

A week ago, she knew my father was going to Germany on business.

She begged to go along.

He didn't want her, but she told him she was bored.

She told him she was...

She was bored.

She has terminal boredom.

They left yesterday.

Hey, man, you lucked out.

I'm her brother.

I'm stuck with her.

You're not.

Give thanks.

What is the point?

I mean, the night before...

She said out of the blue, 9 o'clock.

She said she was wanted again.

You don't see it, the humor of it?

My sister does.

She thinks it's a gas.

That's why she didn't call me sooner.

So much more humorous, don't you dig, to keep you hanging?

All right, what did I do?

I think you got to her.

Anyone who comes too close becomes a threat and has to be stepped on.

That's one of the conventions, the normalities of having too much money.

Piece of cake?

Not for me.

Champagne?

I'm cutting down.

Gin, bourbon, black coke, you name it, I've got it.

Hey, man, it's your freakout, but I'll stay if you need me.

Need you?

Who needs you?

Look, she's not worth an O.D.

I promise you, I'll monitor.

No, that's how I'll monitor.

You see, the plan is...

Well, very simply, the plan is, I plan to tear my hair off, and then I

plan to put it right through the roof.

But I don't O.D.

That's for lesser evil.

And now, John, John, John, you look very neat, very clean-cut, very cute,

so before I think of some reason to change all that, why don't you just get your

ox-borne butt out of here?

And that's fair.

Is that fair?

That is super fair.

You're here.

You did come after all.

Who the hell are you?

I'm not Gloria.

Whoever she is.

How much does it matter?

What are you doing?

Who let you in?

The door wasn't locked.

I was looking for Bud.

He said he'd be here.

He lied.

Try the morn.

What are you on?

What am I not?

I could smell it from the road.

But the guy let me out.

What guy?

What's the matter?

I know better than to get out in front.

Anyway, I didn't know where he was.

Some turkey.

Skunk drunk.

As bad off as you.

Wait a minute.

You're not supposed to be...

I told you I was looking for Bud.

On the floor?

Under the bed?

You knocked me down.

You hurt me, honey.

That's what is known as top.

You could kiss me.

Make it well.

You've got it all wrong.

Hasn't Bud taught you anything yet about...

About...

About values and friendship?

That's stupid.

Don't you know you don't do that?

To a friend?

That's stupid.

Bud told you that.

I don't belong to him.

Listen.

I can stay all night.

My parents are stuck in Denver.

They can't get the car fixed till morning.

You shouldn't be on the floor.

You know...

Someone should trip.

I think somebody's already tripped.

How come you never came around?

How come you never came around after school?

I...

You know...

Go and find something.

Go find something.

Look at you.

Look at you.

So that's what you like.

So do I.

Come on.

You think I care?

You like it rough?

We're the same, Lee.

We're the same.

We're the same.

You're gonna get us killed with that piece of junk.

How come you don't have a car?

What are you saving your money for anyway?

To get married.

I accept.

No.

Get off of me.

What are you doing?

You ever run down?

Go on.

That's all there is.

Well, you know, you...

I was sick, and now you've killed me.

Now, buzz off.

Let me die, will you?

Go on.

Get out of here.

Give me...

Give me 40 weeks.

Let me doze off here.

I'll just go to sleep for a minute.

No, you don't.

I still need you to get home.

Come on.

Up, up, and away.

You're so masterful.

I have discharged my obligation.

It doesn't matter.

I don't care if you never get home.

You're a nasty, mean, rotten little kid.

You know that?

Now, wait.

You can't just leave me here.

You're Bud's friend.

Yeah, we both are.

We proved that, didn't we?

Hey, geez, honey.

It's not very far now, but there isn't anyone home all night.

I'm scared to be there all alone all night.

Don't go home.

Lee, don't leave me here.

Get lost, Angel.

Lee, you can't leave me here.

I'll have to hit your ride.

Let go of me.

Go on.

Get out of here.

You want to be responsible for what could happen to me?

Lee, come back.

Don't leave me here.

Come pass it up.

Not even me.

You just had to have it.

Right, buddy?

No, I don't even know her.

She hasn't even been here.

No?

No, what's this?

It's her scarf, you think?

Her green and tangerine.

Same way as the scarf I bought with all my money.

I didn't do it.

See, I didn't mean to.

See, I was in a week and sick and stoned and ill-conditioned.

She's strong, man.

She is powerful.

What are you telling me?

She burst in here, held you down and raped you?

Is that the story?

Never mind the story.

You don't want to hear the story.

All you want to do is hurt.

I think he cracked a tooth without hearing one word out of my mouth.

I wasn't going to fight.

So what did you hit me for?

Punishment.

Punishment?

Okay.

Come on, old buddy.

You got to help me out to the car.

So now we're buddies, you better believe it.

No little round hill can ever come between friends, you and me.

We stand together, fall apart, all right?

Right.

So help me.

We got to show her what it means to be us and friends and what it means.

Show her?

Yeah.

She's out in the car.

All right.

Put your feet in.

Pull them in.

Pull them in.

Well?

Who's on first?

Why do we have to go somewhere to give her a message?

What message?

You'll find out what message.

Am I going to be disciplined by the big death-defying buddies?

How?

Am I going to like it?

You might.

You're kinky enough.

Baby, let me out of here.

I don't want any part of this.

Yeah?

Well, you should have thought of that before you had yourself a part of it.

In the line!

Everybody out!

Out!

Old buddy isn't with it.

Come on.

You.

Come on.

Come on.

Come on here.

You, stand over there.

Right there.

Here?

Here?

Is this all right, Ben?

How's this?

Just keep it up.

You just keep it up, that's all!

Collie, I want you to have honor having first slap at her.

Come on.

One at a time or both at once?

Don't you think you bother me?

Come on.

Too bad, honey.

Looks like it's up to you.

You're man enough.

Come on!

What are you waiting for?

What are you waiting for?

Come on!