Original subtitles

("Route 66" by Nelson Riddle)

- After you finish the lube job, pump the tires up, okay?

- Okay.

- When you figure?

- [Mechanic] Oh a couple hours, that's all.

- [Tod] About 2:00 or 2:30?

- [Mechanic] Three at the latest.

- [Tod] Where's a good place to have lunch?

- Down the street a couple blocks

and to your right, Martha's.

- Thanks.

Well, we have three hours to kill.

The question is, do we kill it, or does it kill us?

(crowd murmuring)

(suspenseful music)

(loud machinery thumping)

- Howdy.

- How much to run this?

(paper rustling)

Half a page, tomorrow's paper, Mr. Palmer.

- Who are you?

- Miriam's friend.

- Miriam Moore?

Miriam's dead, dead and buried.

- Yes, or no?

- Half a page, huh?

Well, there's one thing sure,

if you're gonna stay around here for this,

event that you want advertised,

you sure can't stay around here with that mask on.

- Why not?

- Why not, (chuckling) because you scare people,

that's why not.

- Come look outside, Mr. Palmer.

Make them take off their masks and I'll take off mine.

How much, please?

- The business man's lunch,

do you get all of this for $1.19?

- Here she comes.

I almost dropped my tray the first time she went by.

- Or, do you just get the soup and a salad and the entree?

- [Buz] You mean she's not a real red-blooded Kilkennean,

is that what you're saying?

- I never heard anyone called Kilkennians before.

You get the soup and a salad and a fruit cocktail

and the entree and two vegetables,

and whole truth and nothing but the truth, for $1.19.

Anyway, she's not from here.

- Hey, when is Halloween, isn't it later on in the year,

when the pumpkins pop?

- [Waitress] Like about six months from now.

- Why do you suppose a girl would

walk around wearing a kooky mask like that?

(crowd muttering angrily)

- Ah no, can't you leave one tornado for the weather bureau?

Keep the soup warm.

- Carry your bag?

- What do you think this is, Halloween?

- Circus just left town, boys.

Cut out, okay?

- [Masked Girl] I don't need your help.

- Oh come on, uh, Rosy,

what do you think we're paying you for?

Keep circulating and show off the mask.

Walk it up big and scare the people.

It's a publicity stunt for a new picture coming into town

called The Teenage Ghoul from Fujiyama.

Hope you see it fellas, it's a great little show.

(grunting)

(suspenseful music)

(crowd chattering)

- Now what name's she registered under?

Didn't you tell her a name like that

isn't about to fool anybody?

You did, huh?

And she said, "Is there any local ordinance

"against girls being named Jane Doe,

"or against wearing masks?"

She asked that?

Okay, okay, did she say what she's doing in Kilkenny?

Well she sure as shootin' ain't gonna tell you

how long she's gonna stay.

As long as it takes, huh?

Paid through tomorrow night?

Check or, new bills.

Well if she goes out, you call me.

All right now, quiet.

Tommy, three witnesses said you struck the first blow.

Miss Thomas was standing not 10 feet away and she said

she distinctly heard this young fellow,

real courteous, she said he was.

No need to start a ruckus,

he was just telling you about some new movie.

- That's right, The Teenage Ghoul from ...

- Fujiyama. - Fujiyama!

It's the only Japanese picture made entirely in the USA.

- And you just hauled off and belted him.

And you had to toss one at Tommy.

Now if anybody's gonna get locked up, it's you and Tommy.

Unless everybody wants to shake hands

and forget the whole thing.

(door opening)

- Now, Jim, don't say I'm disturbing the peace

or inciting to riot if I run this ad.

I've already given my her word, and I've taken the money.

So this ad runs tomorrow.

I don't care what you say.

- The trouble with you is, Jase,

you just can't figure out any more crusades,

not since we put that storm drain in on Franklin Avenue.

Now I just, well, want to look at it, that's all.

See what she's up to.

(telephone ringing)

Get that, Les.

- Sheriff's office, Burns.

Yeah?

Well, yeah, thanks; I'll tell him.

Just left the Inn, walking west on Maple, Pete says.

- Jed, - Yes, sir?

- Get over to Maple Street, she's walking west.

- All right, Miss Crohnmiller,

we're on our way to pick her up now.

- I didn't say arrest her, just watch her.

All right boys, well,

- Nothin' personal, feller, I just run outta guys to hit.

See around here, I done hit all the guys.

- They give cats scratching posts;

you oughta get yourself one.

- You gonna shake Tommy's hand?

- I don't even know him.

- Well, you hit him.

- Well, that's because I haven't run outta guys to hit,

you know, I mean, around here,

I already haven't hit all the guys, like old Tom-Tom.

How long you figure, Tom-Tom, it would take,

I mean, to hit all the guys?

- Now, now, stop it!

(telephone ringing)

- Sheriff's office, Burns speaking.

Yeah, I'll tell him.

Martha says to tell you they

stop serving the business man's lunch at one,

that's 10 minutes.

- Why don't you shake hands with this Neanderthal,

and we'll get outta here?

- Car's not ready till three.

- Okay, don't shake his hand.

But one peep outta any of ya, in you go, the whole crowd.

Let me see that ad, Jase, let me see it.

Okay, get out.

A commemorative ceremony for Miriam Moore, why?

- She didn't say.

- You're all invited to a commemorative ceremony

for Miriam Moore this morning at ten o'clock,

4220 West Maple Street.

- That makes it tomorrow morning.

In front of Lydia Manning's house.

- What kind of torture is that for poor Lydia?

Go on, I said get out of here.

Go on.

(pensive music)

(dramatic music)

(flames crackling)

Any time today, John, that's convenient,

drop by and sign the papers.

- What papers?

- The complaint.

- There will be no complaint.

Tell her to go away.

If she does, we'll forget it, we'll forget it ever happened.

- Well now, I don't know, Lydia, it's not all that simple.

- I want her to leave.

That's all that I want.

(suspenseful music)

- [Les] Okay folks, come on, let's go.

Go on home.

There ain't nothin' more to see here.

Come on.

- Who is Miriam Moore?

- I don't like you, Jack.

- Why did you ask about Miriam?

- Why do people collect butterflies?

- But you don't even live here.

- That's right, I'm just a visiting lube job.

What do yo know about her?

- She's been dead 10 years.

Let the dead rest in peace.

- I can still smell it.

- Mm-Hmm.

- No, I mean the hate.

That girl, she hates so hard it came right through the mask.

You know what I mean?

- No, I'm not sure that I do.

- I guess you gotta be around it the way I used to be.

It's like malaria.

Get one sniff of it and it comes right back.

You know, you can forget anything, except hate.

- What about the little item that makes the world go around?

- Love?

Love's a skinny kid that can catch cold and die,

from just standing outside a locked door,

begging to come in.

But hate now, that's a tiger in the hole.

Hot or cold, busts in, jumps out a piece, never grows back.

- Okay fellas, move it out.

(pensive music)

- First that mask comes off, if I have to rip it off myself.

Then we're gonna take some mug shots of you.

Then we're gonna run ourselves some prints.

Send a set to Dallas and another to Washington,

find out who you are.

It's my guess you escaped from some mental institution.

That where you heard about Lydia's daughter?

- You can't hold her, Jim.

Not unless you charge her and book her.

Not without a complaint.

- Jase, so help me, I always said,

you run with underdogs, someday you'll get bit.

- [Masked Girl] I'm grateful to you, Jase,

but please stay out of it.

I don't need your help, and I don't want it.

- Oh, you know Jase Palmer, huh?

- [Masked Girl] I know you too, Jim, and you, Les, and Jed.

I know you all.

- Who are you?

(soft music)

- You can take your pictures and your fingerprints.

Send them to Dallas, send them to Mars.

But don't hold your breath while you wait for an answer.

- What do you say we go into Waco and have an early dinner,

you know, one of those thick Texas steaks?

Hey, where's the key?

- It's in the dash.

- Aren't you interested in seeing who's behind the mask?

- I'm interested in going into Waco for dinner, so.

(car motor starting)

I have an idea.

Why don't you hop in and we'll catch up to her,

and get out and go up to her and say,

we can't stay for the rally tomorrow,

how about giving you a little preview now?

- This isn't just for kicks you know.

Miriam Moore, remember what that girl

with the baby in her arms said,

"Let the dead rest in peace?"

Okay, so amen.

That's the one I want to know about.

Not the dead one, that one, the live one.

- Yeah, why?

- Well, remember what I said about hate?

I mean, the way it pulls at me?

To me it's a sphere.

Whenever I spot somebody carrying one,

I gotta go over and take it away from them,

or I gotta find out why I can't.

- That's a sure way to get yourself stabbed.

- Don't ask me why, but it helps, it helps me.

If I can dig what's bugging somebody,

if I can grab that sphere, it makes things better for me.

Maybe then I'll stop busting up china shops

or belting guys like that slop Tommy.

I mean, why am I always

swinging first and thinking later, you know?

- You know, I betcha Martha

serves a pretty good dinner at that.

Got a great idea, why don't we stay over in Kilkenny?

Just till tomorrow night, say?

- Two days, $7.00 a day, $14.00; there's your money.

Here's your bag, we're all filled up.

- Alfred, Lydia called you, didn't she?

I told you before, I don't need you.

- I understand about the mask.

It was just something to start them talking, right?

Kind of a grand-stand play to grab the spotlight.

- I thought I recognized her.

She sprinkled the salt on when they plowed Carthage under,

and she taught Madame Defarge knitting.

Come on, forget her.

(children shouting at play)

- Hello,

- Brushes I got, magazines I don't read.

- How long have you lived here?

- You from the welfare?

- There was a girl, Miriam, you know the name, Miriam Moore?

- My kid's sleeping in there.

I gotta get these seeds in before he wakes up.

If I'm lucky, maybe they'll grow before he can dig 'em up.

Place needs flowers.

I don't know why I'm kidding myself.

Ground like this, nothing grows.

- Buttercups, marigolds, cosmos, even roses.

There was a rose bush, over there.

When Miriam lived here.

- We've been here six years, the Murphys before us,

and nothing grows.

- Over there.

(baby crying)

- Oh what's the use, he's hungry.

(pensive music)

(bell ringing)

- Are you looking for someone?

- It's all new.

- I've met most of the parents, but I--

Are you Mary Wilson's sister?

- When Miriam sat here, there was a crack right here,

and the initials H. L. in the corner.

Who was H. L.?

Miriam never knew.

- [Teacher] The building is what state?

- [Student] Tall, T-A-L-L.

- The rock is what, Donald?

- Hard, H-A-R-D.

- The cup is what, Miriam?

(children laughing)

Shall I repeat the question?

The cup is, what?

- What kind of cup?

(children laughing)

- Just a plain cup, a coffee cup.

What shape is it?

If I'm not disturbing your daydreams.

- What part of the cup do you mean?

(children laughing)

- The mouth of the cup, is it round,

is it square, what is it?

- Well, it's a lot of straight lines.

Little tiny lines that we can't see.

All caught in a circle.

All moving, never stopping.

- The cup is what, class?

- [All] Round, R-O-U-N-D.

- You will stay after school, Miriam.

You will write "The cup is round."

100 times on the blackboard.

(children laughing)

(slow sad music)

- You stood her in this corner

and let the lashes whip across her back.

She told me the lashes would never heal.

Why, because she was too bright?

- She was a willful child.

Everyone knew she was--

- She was what?

- Why, you're the one with the mask.

I've heard about you.

- She was what?

- Well, I don't know who you are, or what you want,

but I will tell you this much,

her own mother had her committed.

That should make it clear enough, even to you.

- Nobody understood her.

Not her mother, not the town, nobody.

But you should have.

You were her teacher.

- I did the best I could.

- Did you?

- What could I do?

- Stop the children from laughing at her!

Gone against the crowd, not with them.

Gone to the Board of Education and said, look,

you've got a budget for retarded children,

special classes for the halt and the lame,

but what do you have for a child

who's just bored with two-plus-two?

- What right have you to take me to task?

- The authorities came to you as a competent witness.

To ask you, is she crazy, is she insane.

What did you say?

What did you say?

(dramatic music)

- [Miriam] I am a witch; I must be burned.

- [Janie] You're not a witch, you're my friend, Miriam.

- I command you, tie me hard.

Daddy, can you see me?

I can't see you.

- You said this was only a game!

- Ow!

(suspenseful music) (flames crackling)

- Help, someone help us!

- Mama, mama please!

(weeping) Mama, mama please!

I'll be good, I promise.

I'll never do anything bad again.

Please don't send me away.

- Be careful now, her arm's awful badly burned.

- Please, please don't send me away.

- Sh, you'll wake the neighbors.

If you're real good, they're all too busy.

- Please don't send me away.

Mama! Mama!

(suspenseful music)

- Why are you doing this to me?

- Why can't you even say my name?

- Miriam.

- Thank you, mother.

(crickets chirping)

- You know, you could starve on a diet like yours.

- I'm not hungry.

(frogs croaking)

- Do you know anything about frogs?

- No.

- Well, one summer,

late one night, Central Park,

I'm with this girl, and these guys,

maybe eight or nine of them,

came out from behind the bushes

with knives and chains, and started towards us.

We heard these whistles, like all the cops in Manhattan,

and this gang cuts out.

We turn around, look for the cops, to thank them.

There's no cops.

It was, of course, the frogs.

Well, how do you say, "Thanks, frog?"

So I, well, I studied about them.

Figured it was the least I could do.

And you know, I found out

that we've had frogs for 200 million years,

even before there were birds, all kinds.

Spring peepers and eastern spadefoots and leopards.

Oh yeah, the kind that

whistled that night in Central Park, red spotter.

This batch out here, Texas toads.

You can tell by their trill if you listen.

Also by the high pitch, you hear?

- Why would you care enough to follow me?

- The male frogs,

well, they do all the talking.

Female frog, she doesn't have a voice.

Except for one cry.

Help.

Yeah, we've been keeping an eye on you.

All day.

The park, right over there,

we took your suitcase in the bus terminal and

well, we're gonna see to it

that you get a decent meal and someplace to sleep.

Okay?

- I don't know.

- You know, there's only one thing

a person can do all by himself without any help.

That's die.

Is that what you want?

(soft music)

- Not till tomorrow.

- Sheriff, they gave up trying to find a place in town.

Settled down outside the city limits.

Built a campfire, ain't that against some county ordinance?

No Sheriff, I ain't hounding them, just asking.

But if she were to come in town tomorrow like she said,

wouldn't that be disturbing the pe--

(radio clicking)

Sheriff, you hear me?

Sheriff, Sheriff, do you hear me?

- Well you don't have to worry about being robbed,

the Sheriff never let you out of his sight, here.

Pick a color.

- Green.

- You sleep in the car.

- What was it? - Blue.

- How can you win a game that way?

- He trusts me.

- You better sock in, you've got a big day tomorrow.

- Coffee?

- You oughta be able to give her some pointers for tomorrow.

After all, you're the boy that put the V in vendetta.

- She could teach me.

I never could stay mad all day long.

She's carrying a whole town on her back.

Who knows for how long.

- The way I figure it, anybody that fascinated by hate

oughta have an equal capacity for love.

- Yeah, why?

- Cause and effect, that's why.

Now, you take love, that's the other side of hate.

So the reason we look for love

is to protect ourselves from hate.

- Well if that's true, then the reason we look for hate

is to protect yourself from love, right?

- Could be.

- I bet you she never loved anybody.

Of course she hasn't.

She's so hooked on getting back at people

that she has lost herself somewhere.

She's fallen out of the armor,

like the hermit crab that got lost.

But the armor, that keeps marching,

and the sword, that keeps swinging.

That's the trouble with fighting a war, you see,

you get so wrapped up fighting,

that you forget how to make peace.

- Well, maybe we oughta leave her alone.

We don't really know her story.

- If somebody had said these things to me, maybe ...

Who cares about her story?

Tomorrow she's gonna tear up the town.

Well, maybe they deserve it, maybe they don't.

And that's okay too, just so she's not kidding herself.

Just so she doesn't blame them for whatever it was

that made her come back here, wearing that mask.

She's got no alibis, that's all, no reasons why,

things to blame, environment, heredity,

all that trauma jazz, and

lousy education and lousier luck and parents that don't dig.

All excuses.

Excuses.

Maybe nobody ever told her that,

when the doctor slaps you and you scream,

you're on the scene.

We're free.

From that moment on, the choice is ours.

(slow sad music)

- Goodnight, Buz.

(softly sobbing)

(fast, suspenseful music)

- Hello, Jim.

- Ten o'clock.

If you ask me, Jase, you'll be

the most disappointed one in town if she don't show up.

- She'll be here.

- Miriam?

(baby cooing softly)

- Mr. Manning, we've never met.

- Hello.

- Dr. Brewster.

- Miriam? - That's right.

- We didn't know as much then as we do today.

I thought it was for your own good.

- You certified me insane for my own good?

Mr. Stevenson.

- I advised her I was against it.

- Is that why it was you that sent me the clipping?

- It was your mother's wish.

As your attorney I--

- They're all outside, the whole town.

Got 'em all sittin' at our door.

So, what are you waiting for?

Look at 'em.

- Is that all you can say?

Nothing about me, how I've been, what I am?

Mr. Manning, did she ever tell you about

the day I was discharged from the hospital?

How I stood outside the gate waiting to come home with her?

Remember, Mr. Stevenson, you were there too,

with another couple.

All the papers had been signed.

They wanted a child.

You didn't.

- I didn't want to impose another man's child on you, John.

- You know, this Christmas, when all the anger had left me,

I sent a telegram, just to say that I was all right.

And that's when the clipping came.

From the obituary in Mr. Palmer's paper.

Saying that I died in the asylum when I was 15.

- I'm so glad you've come here, I'm so glad.

Now, you go out there and tell them about your mother.

About how she married a dreamer.

A poor little nothing.

Music teacher, couldn't even feed her.

How she wanted better things, how she burned for 'em.

How she fought for 'em, how she got 'em.

- I can still see that clipping.

John Manning and his bride

flew back from their honeymoon in Honolulu

to order me a big tombstone,

to be placed next to my daddy's,

even though I was supposed to have been

buried in the asylum grounds.

Honor thy mother and thy father;

why isn't there another commandment,

honor thy son and thy daughter?

- I'm tired of feeling guilty.

So let's get it over with, Miriam.

Let's go out there, you and me.

We'll just shout it all to 'em, spread it all over,

let them look at me, let them laugh at me.

- I don't want to hurt you.

I did, I came back here to hurt you.

But I don't any more.

I met two boys who said some things

that made me see an image of myself that I don't want to be.

Not any more.

- Tell 'em. Miriam, tell 'em all about it.

- Not any more, Mama!

- Tell 'em! - No!

- If you won't tell them, I will.

Listen to me, everybody.

I declared her dead, my own baby.

Tell 'em, Miriam.

Tell them, tell them, tell them, Miriam.

Tell them.

Miriam!

Miriam!

(screaming) Miriam!

Miriam! Miriam!

Miriam! Miriam!

(musical fanfare)

("Route 66" by Nelson Riddle)

- [Announcer] This has been a Screen Gems film presentation

from Columbia Pictures.

Herbert B. Leonard, executive producer.

(musical fanfare)