All language subtitles for Alfred.Hitchcock.Presents.S03E17.The.Motive.1080p.PCOK.WEBRip.AAC.2.0.H.265.-EDGE2020_track3_[eng]

Good evening.

I always sew on
my own buttons.

It's out of sentiment.

You see, an ancestor of mine
was the inventor
of the buttonhole.

It happened during a duel,

although his opponent
never knew it was a duel.

Unfortunately, this resulted
in the false notion

that the buttonhole should be
in the back of the coat.

Actually, the invention
of the buttonhole

brought a great sigh of relief
from the whole world.

You see, the button had
been invented long before.

And for over a hundred years,
the world hadn't known
what to do with it.

(HUMMING)

(SLURRING) That's what I said.

Man and boy,
we've been pals
since knee-high.

Not high to a grasshopper,
but knee-high.

Tommy!

You're a real pal.

Boy, you sure have a glow on.

I haven't glowed in years,
but I'm gonna keep on glowing.

The whole point of
life is to glow and...

Oh.

Another dead soldier.

I shall go across
the hall to my room
to get reinforcements.

Oh, forget it.

Sandra! Sandra,
come on down here with us,
you beautiful creature.

We're all going to glow.

(CHUCKLING)

Is this it?

Hmm?

Is this what
you were talking about?

Uh-huh.

Richard said
you'd explain it to us.

Tommy, Tommy, rise and shine
my boy. Go on, impress her.

Asking me to
explain my chart is like

offering
a politician a microphone.

Now,
as Richard probably told you,
murder is my hobby.

Oh, other people's murders,
of course.

Now,

all the murders that
you read about get charted

right here.

Now, when a murder breaks,

I extend this
top line one unit.

So this line then indicates
the number of murders

that have been committed since
the beginning of the year.

And the second line?

This stands for
solved murders,

and this one, unsolved.

I follow every case
right to the bitter end.

And if the police
fail to solve it,

it becomes a unit
on the third line.

Now, here are murders
where the motive was known.

And this is the important one.

It indicates
the number of murders

where
the motive was not found.

In other words,
motiveless killing.

Now, you notice
how nearly parallel
motiveless killings runs

with the unsolved murders.

And it's from this...

No, no. Now, Tommy,
you're not
giving it to her big.

You've got to do
this justice, Tommy.
This is no trifling matter.

You've got to give it
real significance.

Sandra, this little
old chart tells a secret.

This chart is going to prove

that a motiveless killing

is a 100-to-1 shot.

Isn't that right, Tommy?

Now, what did you do that for?

You know my theory is sound.
What are you
laughing at it for?

I laugh... Did I laugh?

It's ten to seven.
I've got to go.

I hate to
rush off like this.

RICHARD: Oh, that's
perfectly all right, darling.

I wouldn't have missed
your chart for the world,
Mr. Greer.

Thanks for the drink.

(CHUCKLES)

You started me
off on this hobby.

What are you
making fun of it for?

Now, now, Tommy,
I didn't start
you on this hobby.

I just wanted you
to start on any hobby.

Look,
you know as well as I do,

it's motive,
motive that counts.

Because, given a motive,
the police will

run you to
the ground any time.

All right. You've said it.

What do you mean, I said it?
It's a scientific fact,
and my chart proves it.

Now, look,

if a murder just happens
because a crackpot goes
on a killing spree,

or a stick-up artist
holding up a stranger
pulls the trigger,

if they get away unseen,
what can
the police do without clues?

Good clues.

But, given a motive,
they can put
a killer in the chair.

Motive,
that's the thing that counts.

A perfect murder
is a cinch if you...

BOTH: If you have no
reason for committing it!

(EXCLAIMING)
What are you
making fun of it for?

Because you're out
of focus, my boy.

Your whole theory
is out of focus.

You've gone overboard, Tommy,

like you always do.
You've become hipped on it.

Of course!

Of course I wanted
you to start on a hobby.

"Start on a hommy,
Tobby," I said.

"Start on a hobby,
Tommy," I said.

Get Marian out of your hair.

You leave Marian out of this.

But you went overboard,
Tommy, like always.

Like that time you airmailed
two orchids to Marian,
two, mind you, every day.

Until she had to
beg you to stop.

I said leave Marian
out of this.

But that's you, Tommy.

You went overboard
when you courted her,

you went overboard
when you married her,

and you went
overboard when she left you.

Are you going to
leave her out of this?

(CHUCKLING)

Of course, Tommy. Of course.

I'm gonna leave her out of it.
Naturally, I can leave
her out of it, Tommy.

But can you?

Even in going overboard,
Tommy.

(SCOFFING)

For instance, these pictures.

Either throw them
away or put them up

on the wall like
anybody else would do.

That goes for these dresses.

And that album of
records she gave you
that you never play.

(SIGHING)

Remember what you
told me the night
she chose you instead of me?

"I took it like a man,"
you said.

All right.

Now you've lost her.

So, you take it like a man
instead of a crybaby!

If you weren't so loaded,
I'd kick you
right in the teeth.

Well, since you're not going
to kick me right in the teeth,

what I could do to
your little old theory.

(CHUCKLES)

"A motiveless killing
is a 100-to-1 shot."

What do you mean,
what you could do
to my theory?

I could just ask
one little question,

just one little old question,
and poof.

All your months of work

down the drain.

Ah, what's the difference?

Let's go eat.

I want to hear that question.

Well?

That last line on
your chart, Tommy,

the nice black one that
represents
motiveless killings?

Well, how do you
know they're motiveless?

What do you mean,
how do I know?

The only person who knows
if a killing is
motiveless is the killer.

All you know, Tommy,
is that the police
didn't find a motive.

Not that there wasn't one.

There is no getting
around it, my boy.
There is only one thing to do.

Yes, only one thing.

(IMITATING BUZZING)

Prove your own theory, my boy.

Commit...

Commit a motiveless murder.

Then you'll know that
the killing was motiveless.

So now you see,
Tommy, what my little

old question can do to
your little old theory.

Good evening, madam.

Theory and practice, Tommy.

Two different things.

Pardon me.

(CHUCKLING)

Oh, I beg your pardon,
sir. Excuse me.

Tommy,
there's no two ways about it.

That's just what
you'll have to do.

Commit a motiveless murder,

and then maybe
your little old chart
might mean something again.

Barkeep, may I have
two dry martinis, please?

First, we'll have to find you
a victim, old boy.

(PEOPLE CHATTERING)

Ah.

If that isn't
the perfect place
to find a victim.

New York, New York...
No, no. Not New York.

Los Angeles.

Pittsburgh?

Philly... Chicago!

I never did like Chicago.

Let's take Chicago.

All right, here we go.
One, two, three.

Tommy, here's your victim.

Jerome Stanton,
1661 Ridgely Road.

Jerome Stanton,
the sacrificial lamb,
picked by the finger of fate

Oh, mister, do you mind
if I use the telephone book?

Certainly, madam.

You don't even have to worry
about fingerprints, old boy.

Just clout him on the
old cervical vertebra.

Just one clout on
the old cervical vertebra,

Tommy, and poof.
No blood. Just poof.

Here's to you, my boy.

Stanton, Jerome.
1661 Ridgely Road.

What are you
daydreaming about?

There he is, 1,000 miles away,
doing all the normal things,

never dreaming
that just one small

detail separates
him from death.

Who?

Stanton, the guy you
picked for my victim.

Stanton...

Oh, him.

Boy, was I stoned last night.

My problem is how to
get him in a position

to clout him on his
cervical vertebra.

His what?

That's where you
told me to clout him.

What are you talking about?

Only it's not
the cervical vertebra.

That's the fatal spot between
the cervical
vertebra and the skull.

You were right.
A small blow will do it.

You know, it's a funny thing.

Sober, I couldn't
have remembered the

cervical vertebra if
my life depended on it.

Are you still going
to the convention?

Yeah,
I'm leaving this afternoon.

I'll be back in
a couple of days.

Let me get some coffee.

(KNOCKING)

Come in.

Here's the map
you asked me for.
Thanks.

This your first time
in Chicago?
Yeah.

Well, thank you, sir.

(TELEPHONE RINGING)

Stanton residence.

Hello? Hello?

Is Mr. Stanton there?

No, this is the maid.
Nobody is home.

Well now, it's about time some
of you got
around to calling us.

No, I'm not watching
that particular program.

Well, does Mr. Stanton
have a favorite program?

Well, he sure does.

There's one
program he never misses,
and that's the fights.

Oh, he'll be home for them
tomorrow evening, all right.

Tomorrow?

Well, thank you.
Thank you very much.

No, that's all we're supposed
to ask. Goodbye.

This card is self-explanatory,
Mr. Stanton.

What we're
doing is of a rather

unusual nature,
as you can see by the card.

You must have
been the young man
who called this afternoon.

Well, just to make
sure you'd be home.

Sounds imposing,
very impressive. Come on in.

Oh, so I'm to become
a sampling at last, huh?

You know, I'd begun to think
these polls were a myth.

(CHUCKLES)

Well, I'm game.

Will this do?

Very nicely.

But before we begin, Mr.
Stanton,

I must be certain
that we can have
20 uninterrupted minutes.

I'm all yours.

It's now 7:35.

You'll be finished
in exactly 20 minutes.

Of course,
if that can't be arranged,
I'd rather not begin...

Oh, don't worry.
Fight night is

Mrs. Stanton's
night at the movies.

Fine.

Now, what can I do
for science?

We're doing a research
project, Mr. Stanton,

which we think is
highly significant.

We're attempting to determine
if there actually
are emotional traits

that can be
specifically designated.

Hmm.

Now, for instance,
we think of
tenderness as feminine,

yet many men are
capable of tenderness.

We think of
logic as masculine,

yet...
Well, women can be logical.

(CHUCKLING)

Now, of course, I'm not...
Oh, may I sit down?

Oh, please do.
Thank you.

I'm not going to ask you. No.

"Are you logical?"
or "Do you feel tenderness?"

That would make you the judge
of your own emotions.

Now, my questions are
going to be indirect like,

"Have you cried
since you've grown up?"

Oh, yes, I see the...

The needles, the thread,
the buttons, feminine.

The hammer and so forth,
masculine.

Exactly. But they involve
the second stage of the test.

I'm now going to note down
my personal observations, Mr.
Stanton.

Your appearance, the decor
of the room, things like that.

Oh, Mr. Stanton,
in order to save time,

while I go ahead
with the questioning,

would you be kind enough
to sew that button
on the handkerchief?

Oh, sure.

Now, Mr. Stanton,
what's your occupation?

I'm a chemical engineer.

Your age?
36.

Any children?
No.

Do you find it
difficult to give someone else
the last word in an argument?

I swear, I always give
Mrs. Stanton the last word.

We're doing very well.
You're being
extremely cooperative.

I'm enjoying it immensely.

Now, when you and
your wife are out,

how do you feel about rising
when another man
comes to the table?

The spirit rebels,
but I get up.

And now the last question,
the one I asked
in the beginning.

"Have you cried
since you were a grown man?"

I certainly have.

Now we're ready for
the objective phase.

Mr. Stanton, if you'll
take this tape measure...

Aren't you
forgetting my button?

I hadn't better,
not if I value my assignment.

I sew a pretty mean button,
don't you think?

Well, we'll let
that speak for itself.

Now, Mr. Stanton,
if you'll take
this tape measure...

All right.

And if you don't mind
getting down on all fours

and just open it up here,
near my foot.

All right.

(THUDDING)

(PULSE BEATING)

(PULSE FADING)

(KNOCKING)

Come in.

The morning paper, sir.

Is that the final edition?

Yes, sir.
Thank you.

Good morning.
Good morning.

Well, good morning, Tommy.

Greetings.
Greetings and salutations.

You going somewhere, Tommy?

Have been.

Yes, my dear boy, I have been.

You're being pretty cagey
with an old pal.

Well,
you can read all about it
in the morning paper.

Listen.

"Dateline, Chicago.

"Jerome Stanton,
chemical engineer,
1661 Ridgeley Road,

"was found murdered
in his home last night.

"The police have already
staked out a suspect on a clue
furnished by Mrs. Stanton.

"When asked if she
knew who might have
had a motive for the crime,

"she replied that
her former husband,
Tommy Greer,

"must have found
out it was for Stanton
that she left him."

Marian?

Marian and Stanton.
That's impossible.

I could always
outguess you, Tommy.

It was just like
drawing up a blueprint.

You knew.

You knew all the time.

That name wasn't
picked by chance.

You weren't even
drunk that night.

You took her away from me,
Tommy. So did he.

Did you really think
I wouldn't do
anything about it?

You meant for me to kill him.

To get rid of both of us!

(RICHARD GROANING)

All right, break it up.
Which one of you is Greer?

That's him, that's Greer.
A 100-to-1 shot, Tommy.

That's what I told you.

All right, come on,
Greer, let's go.

be too careful
about whom you murder.

He might turn out to be
someone you don't like.

Next time we should be back
with another story.

Until then, good night.