Original subtitles

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.

This is a voting booth.

It comes complete with voting instructions.

You will observe that it is a one-passenger model.

When you enter, you go alone.

There’s not even room for your conscience.

The inventor was afraid that would prove too large a handicap

to speedy elections.

These booths come in only one size,

thus automatically disenfranchising

certain of our population who do not conform

to conventional physical standards.

This has no direct bearing on tonight’s story,

but is merely offered as a public service.

Actually, there is much that has no direct bearing

on tonight’s story.

The following for example.

[clears throat]

-Quiet today. -Lunchtime.

You should have been here earlier.

Cash drawer first, then the safe.

Call her over.

May I help you, ma’am?

I have a question or two about this tax bill.

No screams, lady.

Keep quiet and live. Now, get behind the counter.

Come on, lady.

All right, all right.

The safe.

[clerk] The safe.

You should be ashamed.

I’m not.

All of it.

Come on.

Now, give. Give.

All right, be bright.

Take five minutes before you sound the alarm.

I got a cover man in the hallway.

Keep the lady quiet.

Sound the alarm!

I will...

in five minutes.

Well, you’re letting him get away!

If you want him so bad, go get him yourself.

-You are not very-- -No, lady, I am not.

That must have fallen out of his pocket.

Why, it looks like a hotel key.

Might as well have left his name and address.

[police sirens]

Yeah, somebody have spit on the sidewalk downtown.

[laughs] Or pulled a hold-up.

Yeah, you never know. Well, here you are, mister.

-How much? -Ninety cents on the meter.

Keep it.

Ten bucks?

I got plenty back at that hold-up.

Hey, invite me to all your hold-ups, will you?

I don’t go to all of them myself.

[laughs]

[knocking]

[knocking]

Who are you? What do you want?

-Florrie, it’s me, Ernie. -You are not Ernie.

Honey, it’s me! It’s me.

Ernie!

No, it doesn’t say what hotel, just a room tag: 402.

Must be one of those fleabags down along skid row.

I’ll photostats, run off some copies

and let the boys in the prowl cars check it out.

All right.

Take this down to the photo lab.

If they find anything, I’ll be at the D.A.’s office.

-[woman] I want to go home. -[officer] In a minute.

You said that an hour ago.

How much long will that take?

I’ve got to get supper ready.

All right, but I’ll need you for an identification.

Well, just let me see him again.

All right, go ahead.

I never bought men’s clothes before.

I-- I didn’t have much time for shopping after your phone call.

I must have sounded so silly. I thought you were calling from the prison.

No, they let me out fast after that Hagen guy confessed he...

robbed the filling station I was supposed to have six years ago.

All that time...

You could have written, I’d have come to visit you.

I had my reasons.

I didn’t want you linked with me.

You got a cigarette?

In my purse.

You want a drink or anything?

I feel perfect right now.

This stuff is got to be burnt. It’s--

I’ll be careful.

Don’t you want to know why?

No, no, I don’t think so.

[Ernie] Why not?

Well...

what I don’t know won’t hurt you, will it?

I wouldn’t worry about anything you knew.

Well, right now, I just want to talk about us.

Like, say... a honeymoon?

In Pensacola, Florida?

Ernie!

There’s a place there you’d like, it’s...

called Palma del Rio,

where you get white beaches, palm trees, all the fixings.

I worked there one summer when I was a kid knocking around.

You know what? I could get a job as a waitress

while you’re trying to find something to do.

You’ll be sitting at tables, not waiting on them.

Oh...

When will we leave?

You leave right away, tonight.

Without you?

I am going to join you in a week.

A week? But I thought you said--

So you’ll be nice and tanned when I get there.

Oh, Ernie, I don’t want to leave you.

It’s going to be all over before you know about it.

Will you just trust me?

Come on, get up.

Pensacola’s a long way off from a cop named Cooper

and a D.A. who doesn’t care about anything but getting convictions.

You’re gonna forget all about that.

Well, Cooper couldn’t forget it about me having a record.

Because of something you did when you were a kid?

He didn’t see it that way when that filling station was held-up six years ago.

[Florrie] Ernie,

if we are going to forget about this, we’ve got to start right now.

You are right, babe.

Now, listen. Don’t try to get even.

-It’s never any good. -I’m even right now.

Don’t let that get out of your sight.

No, no, I won’t, Ernie.

I’ve got one last appointment.

[Florrie] Ernie?

Palma del Rio, one week.

-I don’t like it, Cooper. -We’ll get him.

You better. State Tax office...

It’s is the same as any other place.

To you, not to me! That’s tax-payer money

and this is election year!

-[phone ringing] -Must be for me.

[clears throat] Hello?

Yeah, speaking.

[D.A. sighs]

Are you sure?

Stake out the place but hands off.

I want to take him myself.

Right.

Well, what do you know? Our pigeon is Ernie Walters.

-Walters? -Uh-huh.

That was the name on the register.

You better be right this time, Cooper.

Oh, I should have known it from the general description.

He said he wanted to get even with us,

but he made a stupid mistake-- he dropped that key.

[loud bang]

All right. Come on, Ernie, up!

Against the wall. Come on, move!

Get moving!

Come on, lean, boy, up on your toes.

-Surprised to see me? -What ex-con

would be surprised to see Detective Cooper?

Don’t be bitter. We all make mistakes.

I thought that you just made arrests.

Turn around.

A guy ought to like his job.

Yeah.

Where did I slip up?

The key.

What key?

Fly high, Ernie. Fly real high.

[Ernie] I mean it, Cooper, what key?

-You dropped it. -Did I?

-[Cooper] In the wrong place. -And where’s that?

The State Tax office, on top of a 20-30 year rap.

I should be able to do that easy.

I had six years experience.

Then why you did let it go at that?

This was a very special key.

It was to the door of this room.

So is that one over there.

Don’t get smart with me.

-A duplicate from the desk. -Why don’t you ask the clerk.

-How about it? -That’s the only one out.

[Cooper] Don’t give me that!

We got the spares locked up in the safe,

but you gotta sign a book and pay a buck to get one. He didn’t.

-You see, all the bums lose them, and I-- -Oh, get out of here!

-I don’t need-- -Anything else, Cooper?

You left a whole string of witnesses, a wide trail.

-It was easy finding you. -I wasn’t trying to hide.

What time was this... office held-up?

-Noon. -Well, I don’t have an alibi.

I was here, in my room, alone.

Ain’t that a shame?

-No gray striped-coat. -[Ernie] Never wear them.

You looking for something?

You going to wake up the neighbors in there, Cooper.

[sighs] Are you going to put all that stuff back?

Where did you ditch the gun, Ernie?

The gun?

Oh, yeah, that, I thought it would be nice if I mailed it

to my old cell mate.

Where’s the money, Ernie?

Money?

Did somebody hold-up another filling station?

That’s all water under the bridge.

I know you told the warden you were going to get even.

That was a lousy idea.

Now, be smart, get off easy.

Are you offering me a deal?

I am giving you a chance to help yourself.

I’ll tell you what, Cooper.

Take that head and soak it,

and take a big, deep breath while you’re underwater.

OK, Ernie,

you’ve laid it on the line.

Now I know exactly what I got to do.

Could you bring my coat?

How could he leave the key at the scene and still have it?

Well, he could have had another one made someplace.

From what? The desk clerk said he never had the duplicate.

Well, maybe he made it himself.

He worked in the machine shop at the pen.

He must have learned something in six years.

There’s something wrong, Cooper.

There’s nothing wrong with the witnesses,

and I’ve got a third one for you that will nail him good.

The cab driver who picked him up at the scene.

[phone buzzes]

Yes?

We’ll be right down.

They’re ready for the lineup.

[Cooper] OK, send them in.

Well?

That one, number four.

Gentlemen, how about it?

Well, it looks like him.

Number four, up on the mark.

Ernie Walters, age 35.

Arrested in the state of Connecticut in 1951, grand theft auto.

Convicted, put on probation.

1952, concealment of dangerous weapons.

Violation of probation, served two years state penitentiary.

Aren’t you forgetting one, Cooper? This state, armed robbery,

convicted, served six years.

You are forgetting that one, Cooper? Somebody goofed.

Talk when you are spoken to, Walters.

How about his voice?

He didn’t say much to us.

[Cooper] He talked in the cab.

Well, it sounds like him.

[D.A.] Yes or no?

Look, I was sitting on top of a motor in traffic.

Well, you all say him. You picked him out just now.

He paid you 10 dollars for a 90-cent ride,

and he said you picked him up on a hold-up.

Look, I get all kinds of nuts. It could have been a gag.

You are not blind, are you? Take a look.

What do you think I am doing?

It looks like him. The same build and everything.

[Cooper] Then it’s him!

I don’t know, it looks like him but...

The fella had heavy eyebrows, and his face seemed fatter somehow.

Well, he could have faked it. A makeup job, maybe.

Look, he had you under a gun. It’s natural to be nervous.

Just take it easy, now. He can’t hurt you.

He can’t even see or hear you.

I... kind of feel it’s him.

Hey, Cooper, what’s the matter? Are you having trouble?

Shut up, Walters!

See? Wise guy, just like he was with the gun. Remember now?

It looks like him, except...

"Looks like" isn’t enough.

He looks like him. That’s all I can say.

I don’t think that’s the guy at all.

Like he says, it’s... just a resemblance.

Now, look. He bears the same general resemblance

as the other four up there, but you picked him!

Now, why?

[sighs] Mrs. Simmons, I think it’s up to you to lead the way for these men.

You are an attractive woman. You use makeup.

You know what a difference even a little bit makes.

Now, you were the one who recognized him right away.

He is the one, isn’t he?

Yes, he’s the one.

How about you two? Going along with the lady

or are you still chicken?

Who do you think you are talking to that chicken stuff?

-He didn’t mean... -[driver] I know what he meant,

and I know what I mean.

Far as I’m concerned, I never saw this guy before now.

Look, I got a living to make.

All right, go on, make it.

[sighs] Well, we don’t need him.

Maybe he didn’t haul the robber but you two saw him.

I want to see his teeth.

A couple of them were broken.

We know he changed his appearance!

I want to see his teeth!

Show us your fangs, Walters.

Eh?

[Cooper] Smile!

Smile? Or laugh?

Huh, Cooper?

-He looks different now. -But you can identify him?

Well, I am not sure.

I can say what I think...

but I can’t be sure.

All right, you can go.

You’ll be subpoenaed for the trial.

We’ll make it hold-up.

Between them and the hotel key...

Bring him to my office.

-Well, Ernie... -Well what?

Are you ready to make a statement?

I made a statement six years ago.

You want me to repeat it?

Don’t try to get smart!

I wasn’t in that gas station, I didn’t hold it up,

I was in my room, alone.

Don’t blame us for a natural mistake.

You fit the description. You had a record and no alibi.

So you made me the patsy?

And six years later another guy confesses to the job. Well...

I am not the patsy this time.

[Cooper] We know you pulled this one.

Another general description?

Ernie, I know how you feel.

That’s why I’ll give you a deal.

A deal?

What kind of deal?

Confess and make restitution.

Plead extenuating circumstances and I’ll go to the mat for you.

Well, now, that...

is a very good deal.

I appreciate it.

But I haven’t done anything.

Do you want to throw away 20 years?

Now, listen. We’ve got you cold turkey!

We’ve got three witnesses who can identify you positively

and two of them right at the scene.

How could they?

[Cooper] We know you changed your appearance!

[sarcastic laugh]

You got a witness that can say he saw me do that?

All right, we got three people who will describe a man in court

and then they’ll point to me, somebody that doesn’t fit that description.

Somebody who left your key in the hotel room!

It must have belonged to an old occupant.

I had my key, Cooper saw it.

You made that one yourself!

Ernie...

you dropped it at the Tax office deliberately, didn’t you?

When did you make the copy? Before or after the hold-up?

You stole $12,000. Now, where is it?

Twelve thousand?

See, I was making 80 bucks a week when you sent me up.

Now, that’s about four thousand a year.

At six years,

that’s about 24,000.

You know, if I had held-up that Tax office,

the state would still owe me half.

-Cooper! -That’s nice, Cooper.

Remember the law.

[ironic laugh] You know, I’m--

I think I am kind of looking forward to seeing the law in operation again.

It’ll be fun,

watching the jury when you bring those three witnesses into court

and not one of them certain I’m the man.

And then, they’ll hear my lawyer explain about

the four witnesses you had who were so positive I was the man

that held-up that gas station six years ago.

Are you going to bring me to trial

with a case like that?

Get out of this town. Get out and stay out.

I can afford to.

As has been said before on television,

a district attorney’s lot is not a happy one.

But on Ernie’s next effort,

the law caught up with Ernie and he paid the penalty

for a sloppy makeup job.

And now we must listen to a speech from a gentleman

who consistently ignores the rule against electioneering

within 50 hours of the polls,

after which I shall return for a rebuttal.

I don’t see the lever, much less the voting machine.

Actually, these weren’t made originally for voting booths.

They were army surplus, having been...

Ah, there it is.

[water splashing]

As I was saying, these were formerly portable showers.

Next week I shall return to campaign once more

for a clean government. Until then, goodnight.