Original subtitles

Hiya, Mitch!

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

Mitch! Mitch!

Mitch!

Pete.

♪ ♪

Joe Mannix.

Drive right in, sir.

Thank you.

Quiet, please.

All right. Here we go. This'll be a take.

Roll the camera.

Quiet. Speed.

Action!

Cut print!

That's fine. That's it.

Roll the camera, please.

Speed.

Background!

Action, Mitch!

Okay, Lou, kill it.

Hiya, Joe. Long time.

Hello, Rudy.

Yeah, not since the last time we promised to have lunch.

What was that, about a year ago?

I remember the days we both hit this town together.

We used to skip lunch

and not because either of us was on a diet.

Yeah. Well, look let's get out of here

and talk about it over a salad, huh?

You think I called you here for lunch?

Well, all these years we've been threatening,

"Hey, let's have lunch soon for sure."

Yeah. You bet, Joe.

Soon for sure.

But first, I need your professional help.

You got trouble?

You see this morning's papers?

You mean that motorcycle accident?

Mitch Cantrell's stunt double?

Why I sent for you, Joe.

It was no accident.

The cops figure a blowout.

No blowout, though.

Then what?

Somebody stretched a wire right across the road.

Well, did you tell the police?

I didn't want that kind of publicity, Joe.

We've got enough problems with this picture as it is.

Rudy, someone tried to kill him.

Not him. Mitch Cantrell.

You see, we're about the same size and coloring, Mitch and me.

And you put a helmet and a face shield on us,

it's hard to tell us apart.

That still doesn't nail it down.

Pete was with Mitch last night when someone phoned.

The caller told Mitch he wouldn't miss the next time.

Well, what'd Cantrell do?

He just, um, hung up.

He's a funny guy, that Mitch. I've been with him for years

and I don't really know him.

He just hung up and he kind of laughed.

All right, Pete. Thanks.

Yeah.

Well, Rudy, any ideas?

Who might want to kill Mitch Cantrell?

Anybody. Including me.

Once he knows you need him, you're finished.

There's no satisfying him.

And he doesn't come out and put you away like a man.

He gnaws at you like acid.

Come here, Joe.

That's his house.

Those characters hanging around out there aren't extras,

but they're on my payroll.

His staff.

The whole studio has become his playground.

One thing, Joe.

Don't let that famous Cantrell smile fool you.

Hi, baby.

Cool it!

Hey, come on. I said, cool it!

You know what they say, Bud.

Protect yourself at all times, hmm?

Mitch, Mr. Mannix has been waiting to see you.

How you doing, Mannix?

Hey, I'm sorry about the gloves.

Sorry for keeping you waiting, too.

Pete?

This is Pete Johnson, my buddy.

And that's Bud Nicholson.

He has a tendency to drop his left hand and break.

Of course, you know my secretary, Mona.

Everything clears through Mona.

Even scripts.

What can I do for you, Mannix?

Mona, get the shoulder, will you? It's bugging me again.

Well, they called from "Western Street," Mitch.

Same spot.

But they're waiting. Go.

I said the same spot.

Mannix,

you really think someone is trying to do me in?

Your double seems to think so.

Pete? No, he's been worried about me for years.

We bummed out to the coast together.

Pete loves me.

Somebody hates you.

Aw, what's one crank with all the friends I've got?

I saw some of them outside.

Yeah, how much do they cost you?

Nobody needs you, Mannix.

Nobody has to worry about me.

I live on this lot.

High walls, guarded gates.

No unauthorized people get on this lot.

What about those who are authorized?

You trying to scare me?

Well, I-I don't scare.

Everybody does sometime.

Not me.

I do not scare.

If you say so.

Mona, tell "Western Street" I'm on my way down.

Hey, wait. Wait, Mannix.

I'll give you a lift.

Um, the red one, Mannix.

'Bout the game, Mitch?

Be back shortly.

I have to play movie star.

Goin' out West, men.

Hey, Cash.

Call that guy in Cheyenne and tell him I accept the rodeo.

Take care of the store.

♪ ♪

It's a shootout, man.

How you doing, Mannix?

I think your engine's running a little rough.

Oh, have a little mercy, won't you, Mitch?

The whole morning's almost lost.

What's everybody sitting around for?

Let's go, Fred.

Hey, man, I'll see you around.

Oh, I'm not leaving, "man."

You may not be worth it, Cantrell,

but I'm going to try and save your neck.

You ready, Pete?

Okay, I want you to walk along the railing there

and remember, when you make the jump,

be sure and keep your face turned away from the camera

because we're going to pan the jump with you.

Now, stay low and out of sight when you hit the wagon

and, uh, Mitch will take it from there.

Okay?

Okay, Mitch, now, I want you to hop down from the wagon

just a beat after Pete lands in there.

Now, the gunman is behind the wagon over there

and he spots you and he fires his first shot and misses.

So, you head for the alley.

Now, a second shot.

He misses again, but it's a little too close for comfort.

Now, a third shot.

You're hit!

In the shoulder.

So, you roll over into the alley

and out of camera range.

Okay?

Put the junior over there.

I got all the names of Mitch Cantrell's gang.

The staff.

Whatever you call them.

Check them out.

Do you really think one of them wants to kill Mitch Cantrell?

I'm going to keep an open mind.

Oh, I had all your clothes sent up to the dressing room suite.

Yeah, thanks, Peg.

You know something?

I was born and raised in LA and it's the first time

I've ever stepped foot on a movie lot.

Better stick around.

You may get discovered.

We set here?

Yes, sir.

Okay, let's make it!

All right, settle down please.

Quiet!

All right, here we go, this will be a take!

Roll them.

Speed!

Action!

Hold it!

You mind?

Cut!

Hey, we're behind schedule now.

What do you think you're doing?

Checking out this rifle.

Well, what's there to check? It's just a gun

from the prop department loaded with blanks.

I told you, blanks.

This is make-believe!

Okay?

Okay.

I loaded it myself.

Three blanks.

Two blanks, one live ammo.

There's the box I got the cartridges from.

There's nothing live in there.

Never was.

I've been on this lot in the prop department for 20 years.

Never handled anything live.

Only blanks.

Okay, you loaded the gun, then what?

I handed it straight to that actor

who shoots Mitch Cantrell in the picture.

No stops in between?

No, sir.

Wait...

I put it down near the lunch truck.

Just to get a cup of coffee.

But it was only for three or four minutes.

Hi. Hi.

A star is born.

Well, you see I happened to be sitting in this drugstore.

Do you happen to have a drink?

So happens.

Scotch?

No, nothing, thanks.

I gave up drinking.

I just wanted to remind myself

that I'm a girl with tremendous will power.

Mitch knows you're watching him.

He doesn't like it.

That figures.

Excuse me. Oh, relax.

They're just going over to wardrobe.

It's Friday night, Mardi Gras.

They'll be back.

That Mitch is an independent cat.

He looks after himself.

Resents you.

Do anything to get you off his back.

He's already had a go at it.

Well, you didn't yell "chicken".

If I did and it got out, it'd be bad for business.

What do you hear from the Prop Department?

I drew a blank.

That's very funny.

It wasn't intended to be.

Well, somebody switched that blank with a live cartridge.

Question.

Who is he?

Or she?

There's something you should know.

There's something you've been aching to tell me

ever since you breezed in here.

You know, Carol Rudley, that girl who was

on the motorcycle with Pete Joplin yesterday?

She thought Mitch was picking her up.

That's a game they play when Mitch has had it with a girl,

she gets passed on to his double.

Of course, it comes as a complete surprise to her.

There's been a long line of those hand-me-downs.

Any one of those girls would have good reason to kill him.

How do you like that Mitch?

How do you?

Well, he's just a boss to me.

Strictly business.

I don't fall for that famous Cantrell smile.

The girl with tremendous will power.

You bet.

Even this morning when you were massaging him?

The way you warmed to the job,

wasn't what I'd call strictly business.

You were seeing things.

Yeah.

A lot of will power going down the drain.

Hello?

Mona, wait.

Go ahead, Peggy.

I pick a bad time to call?

Let's say you won't get a medal.

I checked out Mitch Cantrell first.

Since he hit town five years ago,

he's been busy as a bee... With girls.

So, what else is new?

What happened before he hit town.

A girl killed herself over him.

She was married.

You get a line on the husband?

He's there on the lot.

Who is he?

Pete Joplin.

That's it!

The show is over!

How you doing, Mannix?

Well, there's nobody up there now.

There never was.

You'd like to believe that was an accident, too, wouldn't you?

They say that a bathtub in your own home can be dangerous.

Hey, Mannix, I'm sorry if that dueling bit shook you up.

You'll have to do a lot better.

I'll try.

That's a pretty cute act you two have.

I'll take credit for that.

Pete, you know that was my idea.

You're right, Mitch.

I mean the other act.

What other act?

The buddy bit.

Considering it was your wife who killed herself over him.

Well, if it hadn't been Mitch,

it would have been some other guy.

That's the way she was.

You heard the man, Mannix.

Well, you're a real winner.

And I'd like to know what you are...

I'd like to know what makes you tick.

What have you got in here? Sawdust?

Your friend's wife takes her life because of you

and you come up with some smart remark.

Life means nothing to you, huh?

Oh, you bet life means something to me, Mannix.

My life.

Because that's all I've got.

You make it dependent on someone else and it's a bummer.

Man, it's throwing it away, quitting.

You're already dead.

What happens after that?

Even suicide, that's only technical.

You better believe life means something to me.

Come on, let's get out of here, Pete.

Hey, man do me a favor. Huh?

I'll join you later.

Gonna go back and talk to him. Okay.

Do you really think Pete's trying to kill me?

I mean, man, look, it's been five years since all of that.

He's had plenty of opportunities since.

Mannix, he's, um, he's my best friend.

Besides, it was my bike he was on when he was almost killed.

You didn't come back here to discuss Pete.

All right, Mannix.

What about Mona?

What about her?

She was up at your place, talking about me.

Was she telling the truth?

Man, that's her thing.

She likes to put me down.

Why do you let her hang on?

I don't let her hang on. She just hangs in.

And you just allow it, because of some sentimental reason.

Do you call being shot at some sentimental reason?

Oh, yeah, Mannix, uh-huh, Mona.

It was a year ago, she went out

and she bought herself a derringer

and she loaded it and she pointed at me

and she pulled the trigger, but she missed by a mile.

I did a number and made sure

there weren't any charges pressed.

She didn't tell you that, did she?

♪ ♪

Somebody's idea of a hotfoot, huh?

Oh, that's a bad joke. I'm sorry.

I'm glad you're all right.

Where's Cantrell?

You don't think Mitch

had anything to do with this, do you?

You're the one who said he'd do anything to get me off his back.

Well, I meant, anything to scare you, or...

Or to embarrass you into quitting,

but nothing like what happened this morning.

Mitch wouldn't do something like that.

Please believe me.

Now, what's this mother hen bit?

Last night you had him on the pan,

this morning you're the defender of the faith.

You're a great quick-change artist.

Well, life is very complicated.

People play all different parts.

You play more than your share.

You don't think I tried to kill you.

No, I'd say explosives are way out of your line,

considering how lousy you are with derringers.

Oh.

Mitch told you about that little incident.

I can understand why you didn't.

Well, I never intended to kill him.

I was just trying to frighten him.

But, well, you know, he doesn't scare.

What was it between you two?

What's the best thing between a man and a woman?

Everything all wrapped up into one long weekend.

The trouble is on Monday morning,

he doesn't remember your name.

But I wasn't like the rest of that army

that trooped through here,

with their mini-skirts and peanut-brains.

I wasn't about to be passed off to any double.

But, uh, you did stick around.

Oh, sure.

You've got to be practical, too.

I've got a great job.

And you get used to the sweet life.

Where else could I make the kind of money he pays me?

What could I do?

You think he really cares what I think about scripts,

or anything really clears through me?

I'm just window dressing, like the rest of the staff,

but I have a big habit to support... extravagance.

You don't believe that, huh?

You're a pushy one, you know that?

Yeah.

I packed my bags.

I headed for the gate.

I can't even count how many times,

but I always turn back.

Because, somehow, you figure it'll happen again.

It's an outside chance,

but there's still magic in this world.

I believe that.

Do you?

Oh, look, you don't know what it's like

once you've been number one with Mitch.

And there've been all kinds of comebacks.

So you wait.

What else is there to do?

You keep walking, Mona,

right through the gate.

You don't understand...

There's always that chance.

Where is he?

Out.

You know where?

Home.

The set on the back lot.

They call it the Chicago Street.

He calls it, home.

Thanks.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

How ya doing, Mannix?

Man, you really hang in there.

It's a job.

When someone's trying to blow you sky high?

Only because I'm standing between you and them.

Hey, Mannix, what do you think?

Huh?

I think you're trying to change the subject.

You know, I used to know a street

just like this, except it was real.

No, no phony fronts,

real things happening inside these windows, inside the walls.

Come back here to remember how it used to be.

It's all different now, huh?

Everything's changed.

No, not me.

Mannix, if I had it to do all over again,

go back there, I wouldn't change a thing.

I know you think I'm a louse.

Everybody does.

But I'm not changing.

I know what's best for me.

You give in, you compromise, you're through, Mannix.

That's where it's at.

Not me.

I'm right out here in the open.

No deep dark secrets.

Except maybe from yourself.

Like what?

Like something you're so afraid of you won't even admit it.

Such as?

Fear.

Aw, come on.

Your life's being threatened,

and you won't take one step to protect it.

Because, Mannix, no one's going to kill me.

You remind me of the guy

that keeps walking around the edge of a volcano

and pretends it isn't there.

Don't tell me about fear.

I know all about it.

It just isn't my bag.

Once you have it like I did as a kid, it never comes back.

I, uh, I hid in an alley once just like that.

A gang was after me.

I waited until dark.

Mannix, I was scared to death.

I figured if they came in that alley,

if they found me, I'd be finished.

But they didn't find me.

I hid behind a barrel.

And they walked right past me.

And, Mannix, I've never been scared

of anything in my life again.

Not losing a job, a friend, the biggest deal in the movies.

It's like one of those kids' diseases.

It never comes back again.

You grow up.

During the war, I saw scared kids grow up.

They became heroes.

But I'm not in a war.

Aren't you?

I tried to phone, but you were out.

So I hurried over.

This just came in from the San Francisco police.

Bud Nicholson.

One conviction.

A first offense so he got off light.

Safecracking.

Explosives.

And there's more.

Army service record...

A specialist in demolition.

Slide over.

Cantrell you stay here until I get back.

Hey.

Hey.

Where's Bud Nicholson?

He's around.

What's the idea?

Where is he? Now.

How do I know?

He took off in his dune buggy.

Morning, Mr. Mannix.

Anybody drive off?

No, sir. Like you said...

Anybody tries to leave the studio, you get called first thing.

Right.

There he is.

He's dead.

That wraps it up.

That's what we're supposed to think.

He's got a bullet hole in him.

He was dead before someone aimed that dune buggy at us.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

Come on. This way. No.

You've got to get out of here.

I'm not leaving.

Don't be a fool.

I know this place.

I'm okay.

I know what's right for me.

Hiding like a scared kid isn't.

I'll wait him out. He's going to go away.

Look, Mitch, he's using a high-powered rifle there.

He's only toying with you now.

When he's ready, he's going to zero in.

I'm not leaving.

Sorry, Mitch, but you are.

♪ ♪

I know you're in there, Mitch.

And now you know who's gonna do it to you.

Good old Pete.

I had Bud help me along.

He strung the wire across the road.

He dropped the lamp from the catwalk.

The idea was to make you squirm first.

But you didn't squirm.

Well, are you squirming now, old pal, huh?

I got you all to myself.

You hear me, smiling boy?

You think I really forgot about Adele?

The one thing I ever had,

the one thing I ever got all by myself?

The one thing you didn't pass on to me?

But you didn't have enough, did you?

No, you had to add her to your collection.

You had to have everybody, everything.

Well, that's what I waited for,

that's what I've been planning for years.

When you were king of the mountain,

when you had everything to lose,

that's when I was gonna snatch it all away from you.

Well, that's now, isn't it, Mitch?

Huh?

Oh, I waited five years.

I can wait another second or two.

With a smile like that, who can be all bad?

Yeah, well, listen, Rudy, I'll be seeing you, huh?

I owe you, Joe.

Oh, you'll get my bill.

Hey, Joe, you know what we're going to have to do

someday soon? Yeah. Have lunch.

Old friends like us, all these years, you bet.

Sure, Rudy. Lunch.

Hi.

Hi.

Traveling?

Mm-hmm.

I'm on my way.

Give you a lift?

No. I, um... I figure I should walk out of here all on my own.

Good luck, Mona.

I'll need it.

Well, you got something else going for you.

What's that?

You're a girl with tremendous will power.

How ya doing, Mannix?

Not bad.

I guess you expect me to thank you.

It's just another job.

She's tried it before. She'll never make it.

You're losing friends, Mitch.

I'll buy a bushel more, Mannix.

Sure.

You, uh, still think I'm a louse, huh, Mannix?

You're not starting to worry about what people think of you?

No, I told you how it is with me. I don't change.

I know what's right for me.

Especially in alleys.

Hey, Mannix. I'm an actor!

I was just playing a part, that's all.

Yeah. A part.

See you in the movies.