Original subtitles

♪ ♪

Mr. Bradshaw?

Oh, forgive me for bringing you out to the yard

this time of night.

You, uh, said you had a problem.

No, Mannix.

You have the problem.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

There he is!

♪ ♪

Hey, take it easy.

I'm not gonna hurt you.

What was all the shooting for?

For me.

What are you doing here?

I'm the night watchman.

You got a gun?

Security patrol comes around.

I'm just supposed to call if I see anything out of the way.

Where's your telephone?

In the mill foreman's office across the yard.

You been hurt!

I... want you to call the police for me.

I don't know what your trouble is,

but leave me out of it.

Wait.

Wait a minute!

Don't shoot!

Hold it!

That's not Mannix.

Someone must have called the cops.

Let's get out of here.

Dr. Rourke, go to 561 West.

Dr. Jackson, outside call.

Thank you, nurse.

Dr. Jackson, outside call.

Hi!

Are you all right?

Never better.

What happened?

My client, Bradshaw, wanted me dead.

Check on him, Peggy.

I already did.

Company never heard of a Bradshaw.

Well, the other guy he called Parker.

Probably both phony names.

Why, Joe?

He walked me into a trap.

Why?

That's something else.

I've had dissatisfied customers before,

but, uh, I've never had one

that wanted to kill me before I took the case.

Peggy...

I, uh...

I don't know whether I turned on that tape recorder

when Bradshaw called me.

If it's on tape...

You didn't turn the tape on.

Great!

You've had enough for one day.

You're exhausted.

I'll see you in the morning, huh?

♪ ♪

All right, now you better talk.

And it better be good.

The whole story.

I... I was... I was hired to get you.

Who paid you?

I don't know.

A guy called me.

I met him in the warehouse district.

What'd he look like?

He's on one side of the wall, I was on the other.

You took a contract like that, sight unseen, on faith?

He threw $2,500 over the wall.

Another 2,500 when I finished.

Where were you to meet him when you finished?

Oh, he told me.

The obituary appears,

he'd send me the rest of it.

Look, Mannix, for 5,000 bucks,

I don't ask no questions.

What's all the commotion?

Why, Mr. Mannix,

you shouldn't be out of bed.

You have no idea why, Joe?

Either time?

In my business, Art, you figure

a certain percentage of the people are not gonna like you.

But twice in a row... Now that's ridiculous.

The guy you caught said he had a contract for 5,000.

The other two had the same deal.

Means there's an awful lot of money being spread around.

Yeah, and there's only one man that I can think of

who hated me enough for that.

Who?

Frank Bauer.

Bauer? He's dead.

Yeah.

So where does that leave us?

You know,

when Bauer hit that Vegas club for $220,000,

he hid that money somewhere.

He must have figured if he got caught,

the money'd be waiting for him when he got out.

But then when that cashier he shot died, it was murder.

When I found him, he got life.

Frank Bauer was the meanest man I ever saw.

He swore in court he'd get Joe

and the judge and the prosecutor.

Last week, he broke out of the Nevada state pen.

And he was killed.

So at least you don't have him to worry about.

But that $220,000 is still missing.

Now maybe somebody thinks I know where it is

and is trying to keep me from it.

Watch out for that somebody, Joe.

"B" for Bauer.

Bauer had a brother.

There's no mention of a brother here.

Yeah, and he wasn't at the trial, either.

They didn't get on too well.

Then why would his brother suddenly set out

to revenge Frank's death and spend a fortune doing it?

I don't know.

But I'm such a lovable guy,

I figure someone has got to have a reason to want to kill me.

How about a refill, Joe?

Yeah, thanks.

Listen to this, Peggy.

"Elko, Nevada.

"Neil Evers, 63,

"retired judge of the Nevada Circuit Court,

"died in a fire that destroyed his home

"outside of Elko Monday morning.

"The fire was believed to have been started

"by a short circuit in an electrical heater.

Services will be private."

Don't tell me.

He was the judge on the Bauer case.

Yes, he was.

Well, it said a short circuit, Joe.

An accident.

I mean, maybe it's just a coincidence?

Yeah.

And it was just a coincidence

that three guys have tried to kill me

within the past 24 hours.

Now look, Peggy, I want you to try

and get a rundown on Frank Bauer's brother.

Find out... Oh!

Stay down!

Peggy, cancel all my appointments

and call the prison administrator

at the Nevada State Penitentiary, Larry Hammond,

and book me on a flight.

But that's what they want you to do.

They're trying to draw you into a trap.

Well, make the reservations under any name you want.

Up there, you're going to be a sitting duck, Joe!

What kind of a duck was I a few minutes ago?

Call Larry Hammond.

Yes, Joe, I knew Judge Evers.

He was a good man.

Yeah. Well, at the trial, Frank Bauer kept screaming

he was going to get rid of all of us...

Me, Evers, the prosecutor.

Now, Bauer wasn't one of our more stable types.

What does all this have to do with you?

Who's your client?

Me.

There have been three different attempts on my life

within the past 24 hours.

And apparently, by three different people.

Now Judge Evers is dead.

Well, you're not trying to tie that to the threats Bauer made?

Well, it's a possibility, isn't it?

Joe, Bauer was dead

the week before Judge Evers died.

Are you sure Bauer is dead?

I can understand

how three different attempts on your life

would make you edgy.

Maybe somebody didn't nail down the coffin.

There's an inquest.

You want to see the file on Frank Bauer?

He made a pretty clever break, at that.

Came within a hair of getting away with it.

But then, these guys have nothing to do

but sit and figure a way out.

Frank Bauer had a brother.

He make any visits?

No.

Two visits by his attorney.

That's it.

Bauer wasn't the friendly type, in or out.

What are you working on, a brother's revenge?

Maybe.

Well, that sounds better than what it looked like at first.

I thought you had a vengeful ghost in mind.

There's the results of the inquest...

The usual workup.

He got out in a meat truck.

I'd just finished breakfast when I first got the word.

One of the guards spotted something suspicious

under the truck.

He hit the siren.

They were after it in a matter of minutes.

We did a head count, found out who was missing,

and put out an APB for Bauer.

They caught the meat truck

less than three miles from the prison.

But Bauer got away.

They found blood where he'd braced himself...

Hanging by his hands and feet to the undercarriage.

The only stop the truck made was a boulevard stop

at the highway junction.

They found where the getaway car had turned.

They caught up with it in the mountains

18 miles south of here.

Bauer gave them quite a run.

Again, he almost got away,

but we train our boys pretty well.

There was some talk

that since it was syndicate money he stole,

the syndicate engineered the break.

Provided him with a sabotaged car.

Sounds like an interesting lead.

Seemed like it to me, too,

but the investigation turned up negative.

Trace the car?

Probably stolen.

Now you're sure it was Frank Bauer?

No doubt about that?

The prison dentist

got back a piece of bridgework

that he put in himself

less than six months ago.

There's no doubt, Joe.

He's dead.

And I don't believe in ghosts.

Well, now, if the syndicate didn't furnish Frank Bauer

with the car, where did he get it?

Stole it. Oh, come on. How?

A car just happened to be at a deserted crossroad

where Frank Bauer happened to fall out

from underneath a meat truck he used in a breakout?

Life is full of coincidences, Joe.

Just like three guys trying to kill you.

And managing to kill Judge Evers.

You're assuming that he was killed.

That's not what it says in the paper.

They're investigating for arson.

Of course they are.

In a case of fire, they always investigate for arson.

That's routine.

Oh, look, Joe,

I've known you for a long time, right?

I've never seen you get rattled under pressure.

I've gotten used to the idea of living.

Who was the lawyer who visited him?

Robert Turner.

That's the same lawyer he had at the trial.

Right.

When did he last visit him?

March 19.

See, July, August, June.

That'd be seven months ago.

Well, it's not very likely he would have set it up then.

Well, thanks again, Larry.

There are probably not many people

who ever said that to you.

What's the matter?

I'm not sure.

What is it?

This car was washed when I rented it.

I've been driving over dusty roads

for about an hour.

I didn't ask anybody to check my oil and water.

It looks like somebody did.

Just another coincidence, Larry?

Or are you beginning to believe in ghosts?

I'm Joe Mannix.

I called Mr. Corey.

Yes, sir.

He's expecting you.

Ah, Mannix.

Welcome to Reno.

It's been a long time.

Sure has.

Oh, how's the arm?

Ah, it's better. Oh, good.

Oh, come on in, sit down.

Thanks.

Well...

Now, what's this about my being in danger?

Well, now, I told you what happened to me,

what happened to Judge Evers.

And you remember

what Frank Bauer swore he was going to do.

Mannix, if I didn't know your reputation,

I'd give you a quick, polite brush-off.

Larry Hammond phoned me from the prison.

I was at the inquest.

There's no doubt Bauer is dead.

All right, what about Frank Bauer's brother?

Revenge, maybe?

Ellsworth Bauer?

Well, he was under surveillance for over a year.

Oh, and so was, uh, Frank Bauer's girl...

Dorothy Harker.

We thought they might know where the money was,

might try to pass some of it,

but no evidence turned up

to link them with the crime.

No. Bauer worked alone.

I imagine he took the money right to the grave with him.

Whatever happened to Dorothy Harker?

Oh, Dorothy.

I see her often.

Sure. Well, I live at the Monarch Hotel.

She's got a little boutique on the same street.

Late.

Got to get to court.

Oh, uh, could I take a look at your Bauer file?

Oh, sure. Sure, sure.

Betty, will you bring

the folder in on the Frank Bauer trial, would you?

Thanks. Tom?

Huh?

Watch your step, huh?

I will.

Oh, uh, Mannix, uh...

he wants to check that file.

Now, help him in any way you can, huh?

Glad to.

Any way I can.

Oh, uh, thank you.

Would you do me one more favor?

Would you call the DMV and, uh,

check on a car registered to Ellsworth Bauer?

Of course.

Mr. Mannix's office.

Oh, Peggy, it's me.

I'm so glad you're alive enough to call.

I want you to run a check on Ellsworth Bauer.

Yeah, Frank Bauer's brother.

Used to work as a relief dealer

in a place called the, uh, Lucky Dollar in Las Vegas.

You're still hunting ghosts?

Yeah, and they're hunting back.

♪ ♪

Good afternoon. May I help you?

I hope so.

Something personal for a gift...

A negligee, bed jacket?

I've got some lovely Italian lace handkerchiefs.

Well, this isn't much more than a handkerchief,

but, uh, it's quite a nice gift.

How much? $85.

Oh.

Would you, uh...

Would you say this is about your size?

I'm afraid not.

We always display the smaller sizes.

Trick of the trade. Oh.

It looks more appealing.

I'm rather a big girl.

Well, I would say that's a pretty fair description.

Haven't I met you some place?

Have you ever been to Los Angeles?

No.

But I remember you, Mr. Mannix.

Oh, yeah.

Dorothy Harper.

Harker.

Dorothy Harker.

You were a friend of Frank Bauer's.

The trial was a long time ago.

I hated you then,

but it was a long time ago.

Well, I must say, that's a very professional attitude.

Did you keep in touch with, uh, Bauer when he was in jail?

Never. Visitors depressed him.

Uh, what must have really depressed him was knowing

that he was in for life

and all that money was out there waiting.

And still waiting.

You're after that?

Well, now, I've never met anyone

who couldn't use a few extra hundred thousand.

Look, Mr. Mannix,

I've had private detectives hounding me,

asking me questions,

getting me fired from jobs.

Finally, they gave up.

Don't you think I'd have gotten the money

if I knew where it was the minute Frank was killed?

Now, wait a minute,

sometimes people know things without realizing it.

I'm a private detective.

It's my job to put two and two together...

And see if it adds up to a couple of hundred thousand.

You think you can find the money?

I'm gonna try.

And you expect me to help you?

Well, uh, maybe we can help each other.

How about dinner?

Tonight?

Well, how about that?

Hi. Hi.

Well... Come in.

I must say that looks more interesting

than it did in your boutique.

Of course, that could be the model.

There's some scotch there.

Ice, soda, water.

I'll only be a second.

How do you take yours?

Over ice.

♪ ♪

There you are. Thank you.

To the end of the rainbow.

As long as it's lined with gold.

Look, now, I'm not too familiar with this town.

What's good for dinner?

Emile's.

It's a few miles out, but the food is worth traveling for.

Great.

You're a lot different.

I mean, from what I expected.

Hmm?

I mean, I only thought of you as a cop.

Hmm.

Well, uh,

why don't you think of me as a partner?

You said partner, not buddy.

Hmm.

Dinner?

If you insist.

What is all that noise?

Where are you?

Oh, I'm having dinner with my partner.

Well, I do now.

Any luck on Ellsworth?

No.

He hasn't worked Vegas since Bauer's arrest.

Which isn't surprising.

Three months ago he was up in San Francisco

working as a numbers runner.

I guess that would qualify as a syndicate connection...

Certainly not a very plush job.

I checked Central Files.

There's no make on him anywhere.

So apparently, he's kept himself out of trouble.

I'm still looking, but he's pulled the hole in after him.

Maybe we've got ourselves another ghost.

Yeah, they're all around us, Peggy.

Now, look, you find Ellsworth Bauer.

I need him.

Problem? Uh, no, no.

Some widow wants me to check out her second husband

before she marries him.

Well, a girl can't be too careful. No.

You gonna set her mind at rest?

Well, I think this is a much more interesting proposition.

So do I. Mmm.

Joe, I love the music,

and the dinner and the wine.

But how do we go about finding the money?

We talk.

Talk? Yeah.

Oh, and enjoy ourselves.

You see,

everybody at some point makes a slip, and, uh,

if you can remember anything that Frank Bauer said,

no matter how unimportant it seemed at the time,

we may be able to figure out where he hid the money.

Now, uh, did he ever talk to you

about his plans for the robbery?

Frank had each word appraised by two different people

before he'd say it. Yeah.

Well, the prison records list him

as a borderline psychotic.

Talking wasn't his strong point. Mmm.

We're gonna have to find another approach.

Hmm.

Have you always been a private cop?

No.

No, I've done a lot of things.

Are you sure that this is the way

we can find the money Frank hid?

Absolutely.

You know, they say getting there is half the fun.

They are right.

What about Ellsworth Bauer?

Do you think, uh...

Do you think maybe Frank told his brother about the money?

Oh, Frank wouldn't give Ellsworth the time of day

if he'd just stolen Ellie's watch.

Well, that tells us

what kind of a guy Frank was.

What kind of a guy is Ellsworth?

Oh, not enough ambition

to make an honest living,

and not enough brains to be a crook.

What kind of honest work did he try?

He was a relief dealer in a couple of cheap clubs.

All the money he'd get he'd spend

on a crummy cabin at Tahoe...

Not even on the water.

He wants to retire there.

You know, uh, the way I heard it,

you used to be Ellsworth's girl.

That was before Frank.

One family girl, huh?

Not any longer.

You know,

maybe we ought to try and find Ellsworth anyway.

He might know something we can put together.

You have any idea where he-he is?

Do you think maybe he's up at that Lake Tahoe place?

He's on the coast.

Oh? Where? I don't know exactly.

I saw him a couple of days ago

and he was just about to take off.

He was being very vague,

but Ellie always plays it like that...

Like he'd got something so big he can't discuss it.

Where'd you see him? Here.

He was staying at the Monarch.

When'd he leave?

A couple of days ago...

Monday, maybe Tuesday.

But he said he'd call when he got settled.

Did he, uh, seem to have money?

Same as always.

Talked big and looked broke.

Hmm.

But then you just can't tell about people.

Take you, for instance,

you have a square, honest reputation.

What made you change?

Fear.

People just keep trying to knock me off.

You know, I'd like to get enough money

to get out of this business once and for all.

Shall I fix us some breakfast?

Oh, uh, no.

No, I'm... I'm gonna have to be going.

Well, I don't have to open the shop until 9:00.

And, uh, it's been a long time since dinner.

Don't go.

Be a buddy. Ooh, uh... maybe, uh...

Maybe we better stay partners

until we have enough money to be real buddies, huh?

Ah, thank you.

Hello?

Who?

Oh, Mannix.

Hmm.

You're still in town?

You always keep these hours?

Ellsworth Bauer was staying at this hotel?

When?

A couple of days ago.

Dorothy Harker saw him.

Check it out, will you?

See if you can get a lead on him.

I'm on my way over to you now.

♪ ♪

Stay clear, please. Clear.

What happened?

Tom Corey... He fell off the balcony.

Corey?

As loaded as he was, it's no wonder.

I talked to him a few minutes ago.

He was perfectly sober.

It smells like he swallowed the whole still.

Who are you? Joe Mannix.

Mannix? He was calling for someone named Mannix.

Hold it, fellas.

Tom?

There was approximately eight ounces of alcohol

in the stomach.

That's a lot of whiskey.

Now, look, 15 minutes before Corey died, he was sober.

It's not easy to tell with a heavy drinker.

Yeah. Well, he wasn't drunk, Doc.

Did you come to ask my medical opinion, Mr. Mannix,

or to tell me?

Tom was my friend, too.

I warned him a dozen times to cut down.

He had no hobbies, no sports.

Booze was his sole method of unwinding.

Yeah, maybe.

But I can't believe that, in 15 minutes,

he got drunk enough to fall off that balcony.

But he could have been forced

to down that whiskey, and then pushed.

Yes, I'd say Tom Corey's death was a little too much

of a coincidence.

Now, you told me that Frank Bauer never had any visitors

while he was in jail, including his brother.

Now, did he ever write to his brother?

He did write his brother.

There were three letters.

The last one was sent the tenth of this month.

The tenth.

That's four days before the prison break.

Any record of the content?

No, but obviously,

there was nothing suspicious enough

for the censors to pick up.

Now suppose the syndicate used Frank's brother

to set up the break and then sabotaged the car?

There never was any evidence

that Ellsworth worked for the syndicate.

Yeah.

Well, then,

maybe Ellsworth decided to go into business for himself.

Maybe he wanted his brother dead so he could collect the money.

They may not have got on,

but Bauer was Ellsworth's own brother, Joe.

Yeah.

Like Cain and Abel.

Joe, where were you?

I've been trying everywhere to get you.

Yeah, well, so has everybody else.

I got a call from Ellsworth this morning.

I'm going to meet him.

He's got the money?

I think he knows where it is.

At least, I think he's got an idea.

And he's going to share it with you? Well...

as you pointed out, it was Ellsworth before Frank.

Well, now, that's the kind of loyalty

they write poems about.

Why do you need me?

I know Ellsworth.

If he did get his hands on the money,

he wouldn't know what to do with it.

Hmm.

You would.

Where is he?

At Tahoe.

Ah.

We're still partners, aren't we?

Until we, uh... become buddies.

You've been watching the mirror the last hour.

What are you looking for?

Ghosts.

Um... wait.

Ellie may be a little edgy with strangers.

Joe?

Well, Frank,

you look remarkably well for a dead man.

Get his gun.

Well, I'm to be the last of the three.

I told you I'd get you.

I promised all of you.

You were lucky with the others, Frank,

but those three bums you sent to kill me...

They were really taking your money under false pretenses.

You don't seem to miss that bridgework

you left in Ellsworth's mouth.

But then, I suppose you've had that replaced since.

Oh. This clown is funny.

Was your brother funny when he found out

he had supplied the car he was going to die in?

Careful, big mouth.

What are you going to do, Frank, kill me twice?

Just for a point of interest, how did it feel?

It's the first time I've ever talked to a man

who killed his own brother.

It felt like anybody else.

He came 'cause he wanted the dough.

He was hungry, just like any other bum.

Just where is the dough?

Aw, now, that-that's beautiful.

Brother Ellsworth must have warmed himself

in front of that fireplace dozens of times,

never realizing that there was a fortune just beyond his reach.

I laughed about it a couple of times.

Ah. You know why you're a success, Frank?

You really know what you want.

You know what's important.

The world is full of talented failures

who never knew what was important.

And most people get a whiff of money,

and it destroys their judgment.

They want that money so bad that they beg to trust you.

They know better, but,

oh, the sight of all that money just overwhelms them.

Oh, but not you, Frank.

You know better than to trust anybody.

You don't need anybody.

You know when to use people

and when to get rid of them.

You've got better

sense than to let them live once they've served your purpose.

Uh, where will I get it?

Ah, you're much too clever to shoot me and let me die here.

In the car, right?

The car I rented... It has an accident,

and I end up in the lake.

I hear Lake Tahoe has almost bottomless places.

Yeah, I get it the same way your brother did.

Only, instead of fire, it's a flood.

It's just too bad no one will really know how clever you were.

'Cause there'll be no one left alive, right?

Where you going, Frank?

Europe? Mexico?

Oh, the whole world is open to you now.

And I will go to the bottom of Lake Tahoe

with my lovely partner,

who brought me to you...

who has therefore outlived her usefulness.

Kill him.

Don't do it, Dorothy.

Shoot him.

You shoot me, and he'll have you on the hook forever.

It won't work, Mannix.

She wants

the money more than she wants you alive.

Shoot him.

Dorothy... you kill me...

there'll never be a way out for you.

Shoot him.

I'm, uh, sorry about having unloaded my gun.

I just thought it'd be

a lot less messy all the way around.

Three murders, he thought he'd changed everything.

But he couldn't change himself.

What about me?

Well, uh, you did help in your own fashion.

I guess I could tell the police

that you knew the gun was unloaded.

Then we're still partners?

Oh, I didn't say that.

You don't have to tell them about the money.

It's all there.

Portable.

I'm afraid I'm going to have to tell them.

What a shame.

We could have been great buddies.

Well... maybe we can be pen pals.