Original subtitles

(upbeat orchestral music)

- Cigar?

- No thank you.

- Richie, does your father know you're here?

- We're going to the ballgame together.

- Well there's no sense in being the boss's son

if you have to wait in the outer office.

- [Willard] We'll base our operation in Casablanca,

warehouse our supplies and rolling stock in Marrakech.

- Please roll up your sleeve, Mr. McIntyre.

- [Willard] Oh Joe, there's a man named

Emory in Marseilles.

He's super on that Lafferty construction job.

I want him off of it

and on his way to Casablanca within seven days.

I don't care whose leg you have to break to get it.

- [Man] How long will you be gone, Will?

- [Willard] Five months, give or take a couple of weeks.

- [Man] Okay, I'll take a look.

- [Man] Arrangements have all been made, Mr. McIntyre.

A week from today, plane leaves at 5:00pm.

- Okay fellas, I've got about a half a dozen

panning salesmen in the waiting room.

Hello Richie, what can I do for you?

- We're going to the ballgame, remember?

- [Willard] Oh you know what, I forgot.

- Will, could you come here a minute?

We got a problem, won't keep.

- Okay Joe, I'll be with you in just a minute.

- We're going to lunch too, remember?

- Oh that's right.

Miss Clevinger, I want you to give my son two tickets

to the ballgame this afternoon.

Have Marty drive him there, and tell him to stay with him.

I'll use cabs the rest of the day.

He'll be right down.

Richie, take a friend.

Use my phone and call up one of the boys.

You got enough money?

- [Joe] Will?

- Oh look Richie, I've got to run.

You're all set, now have a good time.

- Are you leaving next week?

- I'll talk to you about that later.

Now I want you to get in there today

and really root for those Indians, okay?

- Will! - All right Joe, all right!

(solemn music)

(upbeat orchestral music)

(horn blowing)

(upbeat orchestral music)

- Where's Murdock?

- Oh, he's close by, sir.

- So's that bus.

(upbeat orchestral music)

- We have a snack bar on the boat.

We get our food from the same

supply kitchen this place does.

So let me ask you something.

Why can't you wait till we cast off,

and get the skipper off my back?

"Where's Murdock?"

That's all he and I ever say

to each other is, "Where's Murdock?"

Come on, you can finish your ice cream on the way.

- Custard.

You know I'm getting tired

of going up the same river 10 times a day.

The same trip.

Why don't we ever go across the lake,

over the horizon just once?

You know we've been going up that river for two months now.

- [Skipper] Stiles! Murdock!

- See, he needs us, he loves us!

Come on, look it's outdoor work,

we're saving our money and we're meeting interesting people.

Shall I name you a few?

Evelyn, Margaret, Betty, Jamie, Evelyn.

- You mentioned her. - We know two Evelyns.

- Well that part of it is okay.

But we're not growing doing the same thing every day,

and that spiel of yours on the microphone,

if I hear it once more I think I'll flip.

You know, I hear that in my sleep.

I can say it backwards, I can say it sideways.

- So say it backwards, let me hear you say it backwards.

- Erie Lake of shore south the beyond,

long miles 30 about is shoreline the.

- That's very good.

(upbeat orchestral music)

Okay, all aboard.

(children laughing)

(solemn music)

- All right, watch your step.

- Richie, Richie McIntyre, back in line.

Come on.

(upbeat orchestral music)

- Welcome aboard the Carol Diane II.

I must ask all passengers please to keep your hands

and arms inside the boat.

Do not place them on the outside rail.

(children laughing)

- All right, now be careful you don't break

any of those things,

because if you do I'll knock you over the head.

Hey, cowboy, come on.

Sit down, come on.

- [Woman] Richie.

Richie, do what the man says.

- He's a character.

If you need any help, I'll be right over there.

Just ask for Buz.

- Thank you.

- Miss Aubrey, can I sit over there?

- Sure honey, if you want to.

Oh, wait.

You didn't get one of these.

- Aubrey.

That's a very pretty last name.

What goes with it?

- Evelyn.

- Evelyn.

- Okay, Stiles.

- Hi, folks.

The tour's about to start.

We'll show you some of the sites in this great

port city of Cleveland, Ohio and many of

the industrial activities along the river.

(ship horn blaring)

- You better cast off, mister.

Unless you plan to take the dock with us.

- You can sit right over here with Linda,

and Linda, you put your jacket on now

if you get cold.

Hey, Johnny.

You're gonna sit right here and you're gonna be good, huh?

(upbeat orchestral music)

- [Tod] Cleveland has a population of approximately

one million people.

Shoreline is about 30 miles long on the south shore

of Lake Erie.

On the right is Cleveland's break wall.

The building of this break wall was begun in 1870

and completed in 1896.

On the left is Cleveland's Municipal Stadium,

home of the Cleveland Indians and the Cleveland Browns.

We are now ready to enter the Cuyahoga River,

which is about 72 miles in length.

It begins at Mt. Villa, Ohio.

Cuyahoga is an Indian name which means crooked.

Up this river we'll pass under 21 bridges.

- I see it doesn't impress you, either, huh?

I mean the tour.

All the other kids here are taking notes

on that break water.

How wide it is at the bottom and how much cement

they poured into it.

All that jazz.

- I was just thinking.

Long ago, there must've been pirates in this river.

What do you think?

- Well, I keep my eyes open.

You wouldn't want to walk the plank, would you?

(laughing)

(ship horn blaring)

- [Tod] Next is a vertical lift bridge

which belongs to the Big Four railroad.

If you'll notice, there's a scale on the side

of the bridge which raises the bridge

to a height of a 100 feet to clear the masts

of the large ships.

Forward are two bridges side by side.

One is a railroad bridge and the other is

a street traffic bridge.

(splashing)

- [Richie] Help! Help!

- Man overboard!

Port side!

(dramatic music)

(ship horn blaring)

(soft orchestral music)

- [Man] Somebody grab his arm.

- Richie, is there a blanket?

Oh, thanks.

- All right, children, step back.

Give him some room.

- Oh, poor kid.

Oh, thanks.

You all right, honey?

- Cold.

- What happened, Richie?

- Somebody pushed me.

- What?

- Probably one of those pirates.

- Wait a minute.

What did you say?

- Somebody pushed me.

I was pushed.

- Did anybody see what happened?

(people talking amongst themselves)

Come on, sailor.

Let's go topside.

I'll take him up to the captain.

- First thing I said when you came aboard

was keep your hands and arms inside the boat, would you?

You better get those wet clothes off of him.

- Captain, he says he was pushed.

- Pushed, huh?

- I didn't see who did it.

- What's your name, boy?

- Richie McIntyre.

- You're not Willard McIntyre's boy?

- [Richie] Yeah, you gonna call him?

- You bet I am.

What's the number?

- I forgot.

- Forgot?

WJ4131, the Carol Diane II,

calling WMI Lorraine.

- [Man] On channel 39.

- [Skipper] Thank you.

- [Man] Send your traffic, Carol Diane.

- Get me Cleveland information, please.

- Call on three, Mr. McIntyre.

- I told you to hold all calls.

- Better take this one.

- Yeah, what is it?

He what?

Is he hurt?

Where is he now?

All right, I'll have somebody on the pier to meet him.

Give me Dr. Byron.

Well, Tom, call my driver.

Tell him to get down to the Ninth Street pier

and pick up my kid and give him a change of clothes.

- Yes, sir.

(buzzing)

- Yeah?

Hello, Bruce.

My kid just took a header into the lake.

Yeah. (chuckles)

Listen, would you go over to the East Ninth Street pier

and look him over for me?

Right away.

Okay, thanks.

- Trouble?

- Nothing serious.

Well what now?

- This special delivery letter just arrived, Mr. McIntyre.

It's marked personal.

(soft dramatic music)

- Operator, get me the police.

(dramatic music)

- [Skipper] Well, we'll have an excited little group

waiting for us on the dock.

- What's all the fuss about?

Kid's okay.

- [Skipper] Hmm, your kid gets fished

out of the lake, no fuss.

Same with mine.

But when McIntyre's kid gets fished out,

it makes very large waves.

Give him the chocolate.

- Here, drink this.

It's good after a cold dip.

- Thanks.

Sorry you got all wet.

- Oh, that's okay.

My T-shirt was little large.

Maybe it'll shrink down to size now.

- I wish I could be a sailor like you two.

- Ah, you got lots of time for that, Richie,

when you grow up.

How old are you?

- 11 and a half, going on 12.

You know, in the old days,

a boy could go to sea when he was 12.

I'd like to sign on a freighter or something.

Yeah, a Japanese freighter.

- You'd have to learn to speak Japanese.

That's a pretty tough language.

- I learn very fast.

Hey, maybe you and I and Buz and the captain

can sign on the same ship together.

Yeah, and we can go around the world.

Tahiti, Bora Bora, Finschhafen.

You know where Finschhafen is?

- New Guinea?

- Right, and they have cannibals there.

Real ones with bones through their noses

and they play on big drums called garamuts.

We could take a canoe up the Sepik River.

You know the names of the different rivers in New Guinea?

- See, it's a, right on the tip of my tongue.

- There's the January River,

the February River, and the May River.

You know why they call them those names?

- Nope.

- They discovered the January River in January,

the February River in February,

and the May River in May.

It took 'em two months to go 80 miles

because of the cannibals.

They got ate up.

Gee, it sure would be fun to go to New Guinea.

- I don't know, Richie.

It sounds like it's a little hard on tourists.

(ship horn blaring)

We're comin' in.

I got work to do.

- Yeah.

- Oh, Richie, hi.

I bet your cold, huh?

- Yeah.

- Want my coat?

- Thanks.

They gave me a cup of hot chocolate.

- Yeah, let's go up front,

watch us come in, huh?

- [Richie] Okay.

(ship horn blaring)

- Everybody back in your seats, please.

We'll try to delay as short a time as possible.

- Aren't you being a little spectacular, Bill?

- No, it's not that simple, Skipper.

I'm afraid that you, your crew,

anybody that was standing near that kid

before he went in, I gotta take downtown.

- Some of 'em are gonna be kind of annoyed.

- We'll have to risk that.

(dramatic music)

Are you trying to tell me that you were

all around that boy and yet none of you

saw it happen?

Nobody?

All right, that's it for now.

But I gotta make one thing clear.

Somebody pushed that boy overboard.

- Isn't it possible, Lieutenant,

that Richie might've slipped and just thought--

- No.

We know he was pushed.

Now, I'd appreciate it if you'd all sign

a written statement before you go.

There's a stenographer in the next room.

That's all.

Oh, Miss Aubrey, would you mind staying here

just for a few minutes, please?

- Oh, um, you ah, go on with Mr. Ferguson.

I'll be right there.

- Now you, too.

Wait here.

Just be a few minutes, Mr. McIntyre.

How does Richie get along with the other children at school?

- Fairly well.

- What do you mean by fairly well?

- Well, he's kind of an odd kid.

He's a little moody and withdrawn.

It's a little hard for the other children to understand him.

- Do they dislike him?

- No, no.

They, they just don't have that much to do with him.

- Do you think it's possible that one of those kids

might just--

- Mr. Garrison, I know those children.

They couldn't possibly do a thing like that.

- Now thanks a lot, Miss Aubrey.

Oh, ah, please remember to sign a statement

before you leave.

- Mr. McIntyre.

- Yeah.

- You ever see these two fellows before?

- No.

- Bill, I've kind of taken a fancy to these young fellas.

I wouldn't like to see them pushed around.

- I wouldn't want to see 'em pushed around either, Cap.

- Sit down.

Sit down.

Now let's see.

You hit the water just after the boy, didn't ya?

Now that would put you pretty close to him

before he went into the drink.

- Now what's that supposed to mean?

- And you were mighty quick with that life ring.

All the way from the pilot house, you said?

- That's right.

All the way from the pilot house.

- Now, saving a kid named McIntyre from drowning,

bring in a pretty good reward.

Just thinking out loud.

Where'd you say you boys were from?

- We've been driving around the country.

- [Bill] Where's home?

- Where we park the car.

Look, Lieutenant, we're not vagrants.

We've got money in the bank and we worked hard

to put it there.

We haven't busted any law,

so you got no reason to hold us.

- Simmer down, Mr. Murdock.

Nobody's accusing you of anything.

We're just checking you out.

- Well, we gave you plenty of identification.

- Well, maybe it doesn't pay to be a hero.

- Mr. McIntyre.

- Yeah.

- They're in the clear.

You want me to show it to them?

- Yeah, go ahead.

That's a photostat of a letter I received in the mail.

- You know, people who write suicide notes

often kill themselves.

People who write notes like this often kill

somebody else along the way.

That's why we had to call you all down here,

just in case you had anything to do with it.

- With this?

- Come on, let's go.

- Ah, gentlemen, you did me a favor.

A big one.

I like to take care of favors.

Little something for your trouble.

This oughta make things square.

- I'll tell you how you can square things, Mr. McIntyre.

Just repeat after me.

Thank you very much.

- Gentlemen?

Thank you very much.

- You're welcome.

- You gotta nail this one down right away, Lieutenant.

- You trying to tell me how to run my job, Mr. McIntyre?

- I have to leave Cleveland tomorrow.

It's not by choice.

I have to go.

And I want this thing cleared up before I take off.

Got the picture?

- [Bill] Oh, I got the picture, Mr. McIntyre.

- Good.

How about guards?

I want him watched 24 hours a day.

- They've been detailed.

If more of this thing drags out

and we can't crack it before you leave,

did it ever occur to you that you just might

take the boy with you?

- Are you out of your mind?

Keep a kid in a construction camp

in the middle of the North African desert for five months?

I'll be at the office if you need me.

(soft orchestral music)

- [Richie] Do you have the time, please?

- Well, it's a quarter of 11:00, son.

- Thank you.

(solemn music)

- [Driver] What's up?

- [Guard] What's your business?

- [Driver] Delivering groceries.

- [Guard] All right.

- Okay, sign here.

Go ahead.

- What are you expecting?

An invasion?

(airplane rumbling)

(suspenseful music)

- Mac, Lamson said you weren't leaving today.

What happened?

- Al, could somebody go in my place?

- This is Moroccan royalty you're dealing with,

Mr. McIntyre.

Protocol's important to them.

If you don't get there and sign this contract personally,

the deal blows sky high.

- And two and a half year of preparatory work with it.

- Well, couldn't we call the meeting off

for a couple of weeks?

- Mr. McIntyre, 10 men are coming from all over

the country to meet with you.

Three of them are local chiefs.

They've been traveling for days to get to this meeting.

To them a postponement would be an unforgivable insult.

You miss that five o'clock plane today, Will,

you blow the deal.

- Mr. McIntyre, Mr. Garrison is here.

- Send him in.

See you fellas in a few minutes.

- Thank you.

Was that it?

- Yeah.

- This is your second warning.

Calling the police was your first mistake.

We can get the kid anytime we want.

You'll be hearing from us.

Mr. McIntyre, you're involved in a standard shakedown.

They all follow a pattern.

First you get a letter.

Then you get another one putting on a little more heat.

This is a classic example.

- Can I buy you some outside help?

- I got three kids of my own, Mr. McIntyre,

and if I were in your position,

I wouldn't call in anybody from the outside.

- What happens now?

- Maybe you'll get a couple of phone calls.

But then they'll hit you for the money.

Just gotta sweat it out.

- Mr. McIntyre, Richie's disappeared.

(dramatic music)

- Steady, steady as you go.

- Well, you seem to have recaptured

some of your enthusiasm for this job.

- Step easy, easy now.

- I meant to tell you there's a boat leaving

for the far side of the lake just about now.

Why don't you catch it?

- What, do you think I'm some kind of nut?

Afternoon.

- Look, aren't you the fella that said

why do we always have to go up and down the river?

Why can't we just once go across the lake?

If I have to go up this river again I think I'll flip.

- Is that what I said?

- That's what you said.

- Good afternoon.

Well, we've got a nice outside job

and with the people.

- And we're saving our money.

- Saving our money, mmm.

(car horn blowing)

- They're still with ya, huh?

- Well, why not?

Where are they supposed to be?

- Just checking.

- Look, Bill, lay off, will ya?

- Tell you the truth, Skipper,

we're even checking you.

- That bad, huh?

The McIntyre kid, somebody's taken him.

We're combing the town.

- I sure hope he's all right.

(light playful music)

(screaming)

(water splashing)

(children laughing)

- You buyin' or lookin'?

- Um, how much for a bag of popcorn?

- What's the matter, kid?

Can't you read?

For you, a special price.

Three tickets.

- Say, could you please tell me the right time?

- One, if that thing's right, which it ain't.

What's the matter?

Your old man too cheap to buy you a watch?

- I left it home.

Ever hire anybody to help you give the tickets?

- Nah.

Come on, kid.

(light playful music)

- Big action in this park once.

He had the ferris wheel began to spin

faster and faster and faster until it was

going so fast nobody could stop it.

- Beat it, kid.

Blow.

- Don't you want to talk?

- How can I sleep with you yappin' away?

(solemn music)

- Hey, what's the big idea?

- I'll give you this if you make a phone call for me.

- What kind of a phone call?

- Just a call to my father's office.

I want to find out if he's still there.

- Why don't you make the phone call yourself?

- He doesn't want me to bother him in the office.

- Well, give me the dollar.

- After the call.

Now here's the number.

Here's the dime.

(rotary phone clicking)

- Ah, yeah, I want to speak to a Mr. Willard McIntyre.

- Who's calling, please?

- Wanna know who's calling.

- Say a friend.

- Friend.

- Hold him as long as you can.

- [Miss Clevinger] Could you tell me the nature of the call?

- They want to know the nature you're calling.

- Ask her if my father left for Morocco yet.

- I just want to know whether he left town yet.

- He's hung up.

You get anything?

- Yeah, yeah, he left town.

- Are you sure?

Are you sure he left?

- He's gone.

- Okay.

(solemn music)

- Stiles, Murdock.

- Goodbye, girls.

- All this lake can get her up in the winter.

We got winter storms beat anything you ever

saw on the ocean.

- [Richie] Hi.

- Richie.

- I thought maybe you could give me a job.

- You know you've got everybody out but the calvary

looking for you?

- I really need something to do now that

my father's gone.

- He's gone? Where?

- To Morocco.

He won't be back until winter.

- Where have you been?

- Euclid Park.

I thought about things.

- Shall I go call the police?

- No, I'll do it.

- Please don't do that.

- Well, now you just give me one good reason why not.

- It's too late.

They can't help now.

- [Buz] Yeah, but you can help us and them.

See, kid, you're hot.

H-O-T.

- I only wanted him to stay.

I needed him.

I knew he didn't need me,

but I thought maybe if I scared him enough

he wouldn't go away.

And so I sent the letters.

- You wrote those letters?

- And I wasn't really pushed off your boat, mister.

I just said that.

And then I ran away.

- Richie, you know what you've done is very, very wrong.

- I know.

Do I have to go to jail?

- Look.

Richie, look.

You know, you're just a little boy.

And you caused a lot of trouble for a lot of people.

I think it's about time you went home, don't you?

That's why we want to call the police,

just to take you home.

- I can help you run your tours.

And I'll swab your decks.

Please don't send me back.

There's nothing there anymore.

- How about it, Skipper?

Couldn't you use the extra help?

- Yeah, you're always talking about how you can't

get manpower and everything.

- There's a mop down in the engine room.

You get swabbing.

- You mean I'm hired?

- Look alive, mate.

- Well, that tears it.

You know what we've done, don't you?

I think they call it compounding felony,

aiding and abetting, or whatever they call it.

We can get the book thrown at us.

- Now listen, if you don't think I'm gonna

call the police--

- We'll call the police.

He came on board looking for friends.

Let's at least let him have few good minutes

before Garrison gets here with a paddle.

- It'll take 'em awhile to get here.

This is WJ4131, the Carol Diane II.

Just imagine that kid sending those letters.

- [Butler] McIntyre residence.

Ah, is Lieutenant Garrison there, please?

- [Butler] May I ask who's calling, please?

- This is Captain Turnbull on the tour boat at pier nine.

- [Butler] Mr. Garrison hasn't arrived as yet,

but Mr. McIntyre might know where he can be reached.

- Mr. McIntyre?

- [Butler] Would you like to speak to him?

- I thought he said his father had left?

- Ah, hold on a minute, please.

Apparently he's not.

- Tell him you'll call him back.

- Call him back?

What do you mean?

- Look, that boy is so fouled up at home,

so hungry for his father to notice him,

much less love him,

that he took a dive in the lake.

Then he set the whole town of Cleveland

on its ear by disappearing.

Finally he showed up here like a waif

looking for a job swabbing the decks.

All because he thought his father

had gone to Morocco.

So what are we gonna do?

Call Mr. McIntyre and say come on down here

and pick him up.

Take him home and lock him in the closet.

You think that's gonna cure the problem?

Look, just keep him here till we get back.

- Where are you going?

- McIntyre's house.

- I'll call back.

Okay, but you fellas make this fast.

I don't want to be caught hiding that boy.

(dramatic music)

(soft orchestral music)

- That's what I like, the simple life.

(laughing)

(soft orchestral music)

(knocking)

Mr. McIntyre, please.

- [Butler] Is he expecting you?

- Tell him Tod Stiles and Buz Murdock,

the men from the tour boat.

He'll remember.

- Come in, gentlemen.

Wait in there, please.

(soft orchestral music)

- All right, fellas, what is it?

- We've got two things to tell you, Mr. McIntyre.

First, your boy is safe.

- Thank god.

(solemn music)

Thank god.

Two things.

What's the second?

How much it costs for me to get him back?

- You've got a wooden head, you know that?

- Your son sent those letters.

- He what?

- That's right.

Richie sent them.

- Richie, why?

- He had a reason.

A pretty good one if you want an outside opinion.

- Where is he?

- On the boat below deck swingin' a mop,

tryin' to forget that you took off today

for North Africa.

- You don't know me, Mr. McIntyre,

but my friend can vouch for this.

I was raised in a place a lot like this.

Once a week we had visitor's day.

That's what I remember most.

Visitor's day.

They did the best they could over there.

They had all the essentials, and none of the frills.

Now you look around here.

I mean, really look.

Because you've got all the frills,

and none of the essentials,

complete with visitor's day.

You.

Me?

I'd rather be raised in my orphanage any day

rather than here at this one.

- What Richie did he did for you.

How do you suppose a kid says love me?

(soft orchestral music)

- Well?

- Where is the cabin boy?

- Up forward.

What did he say?

- Come over and sit down, Richie.

I want to talk to you.

You know, Richie, you got yourself in

a whole lotta trouble and most of it's your own fault.

Now I think you should do something to make it right.

I think you should start by telling the truth

to the police and to your father.

- He's coming back?

- He never left.

- He never left?

- No, Richie, he didn't leave.

He couldn't leave.

Richie, let's go back to the house

and talk this out alone,

just the two of us.

- These are my friends, Dad.

They're helping me.

You fly away tomorrow or next week.

They'll still be here.

You won't.

So I've decided to stay with them.

It isn't that I don't love you more than I love them,

but they're here.

I know I'm not a good businessman like you are.

I didn't even ask the captain what he was paying me.

- Look, Richie, I'm,

I'm supposed to be a good businessman, isn't that so?

- The best in the world.

- Well, when one good businessman meets another he,

maybe who is a little better, a little smarter,

he tries to make a deal with them.

Wouldn't you say it works that way?

- I guess so.

- Well, Richie, I want to make a deal with you.

I want to make out a new contract,

and I'll have my lawyers draw it up.

And we're gonna sign that contract, Richie,

and we're gonna live by it.

Both of us.

Like, we'll have dinner together three nights a week,

just the two of us.

And then one day a week, Saturday or Sunday,

you can take your choice,

we'll look at the world together.

We'll go sailing, play ball, go out driving.

And take in things, you know.

And then every night come rain or shine,

I'm gonna tuck you in and kiss you goodnight.

Think we can lock up a deal like that?

- What about Morocco?

- We can forget about Morocco.

It's a big world, Richie, right in Cleveland.

The biggest world.

That's big enough for me.

It's the biggest I've ever had.

Shake?

(soft orchestral music)

(triumphant orchestral music)

(upbeat orchestral music)

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

from Columbia Pictures.

Herbert B. Leonard, executive producer.