Original subtitles

Only be a minute.

Hey, Willie, why, if it's your birthday, you got to give her a present.

My birthday, her birthday.

What's the difference?

The difference is we late.

We got a connection to make, and you know Morales been getting on us lately.

Morales.

Jake, why don't you stop popping those pills and relax?

One of these days I'll have my own game and you can let Morales shine your shoes, huh?

See you in a minute.

All right, all right.

Hey, Jam, why don't you get me a job with the big boys?

Getting sick and tired of spending my life picking up trash.

Kill that, huh?

You know how Rita is.

She wakes up, get a headache from that thing, and I'm going to give you one.

Rita.

He's pulling down it, he killed her.

Police, police, police!

Help, police!

There's been a kill in there.

Okay, mister, take it nice and easy.

Just get up slow and easy.

She needs a doctor.

She's dead, mister.

No!

Police!

Stop!

Stop!

I got the alarm out fast.

We made their license plate.

Sorry.

How many suspects have you lost this way?

It was my first.

Don't worry about it. It still beats my lousy record.

It's perfume. It smells expensive.

Well, Rita was expensive.

Lieutenant, to my wife from Willie, even though it's my birthday.

Now, wait a minute.

He buys her a present on his birthday.

He kicks in his own daughter to give it to her.

How much time do you have with her to do all this?

Soon as there's a couple of minutes.

Look at this place.

I mean, you need at least an hour.

Well, did anybody see anything or hear anything?

Let me introduce myself.

My name is Lieutenant Kojak.

I'm a lieutenant here in your local police, Manhattan South Homicide Division.

And look, we'd appreciate any help you can give us, okay?

Come on, what do you say? It's your responsibility.

All right, I guess that's it.

Nobody could have heard nothing.

Why not?

He runs his old radio so top blast till he decides to go to sleep.

All we heard was Willie scream.

Well, how could you hear Willie scream if the radio was going top blast?

Well, he turned it off by then.

Well, Willie told me to.

Then he went down the hall and come back a couple of minutes later.

I told the other cop.

Suspects holed up in a church on 7th Street.

Stay back, we got hostages.

We'll kill them if you come any closer.

Do you hear me?

Release those hostages at once.

An officer was wounded, but he's all right.

Now come on out before someone gets killed.

Blackford.

If you don't shut up, I'm going to blow his Uncle Tom head off.

This is Lieutenant Connors of the New York City Police Department.

Now come on out.

Will you please talk to us?

We want to talk to you.

This woman has a heart condition.

Father...

Just come to me.

I think a few words should be said for my wife.

No, not the book.

You know, Father.

I mean, like, who she was.

Of course.

You'll have to help me.

Tell me some things.

Well, she was pretty.

And she sure could dance.

I wouldn't desecrate the altar.

Please don't antagonize him, please.

Lord bless this woman who was just passed from among us.

Rita Daniels.

Her name was Rita Daniels.

And she was one of your children.

And she had nice hair.

She had nice hair.

She was something pretty in my life.

This is Lieutenant Connors again.

Come on out now and let's talk.

That way nobody gets hurt.

Willie, I shot a cop.

They ain't gonna just take me in. They gonna get me in some alley.

They gonna make me pay, Willie. Let's get out of here.

You get out.

I guess we ought to make demands.

What you think?

Like you always said...

I'm the man.

Don't hurt anyone inside.

Just talk to us.

Deliver us a car.

Safe passes to the airport.

A plane and a pallet.

Money.

And money.

Lots of it.

A hundred grand.

Maybe two.

How about a fifth of scotch?

Yeah, yeah, some of that.

Or else you got a lot of debt to count.

You hear that, you pigs?

Father, oh, my God.

Uh, please.

I can't stay here.

My husband gets very upset when dinner's late.

I haven't done the shopping yet.

Please.

Let the women leave.

You don't need us all.

We need all the bodies we can get.

Hey, what was that?

Hey, we're gonna make it.

You know, you just keep thinking that.

Okay.

I was in worse spots than now.

They trained me good.

You were in the service.

The good boys died and they came back.

Shut up!

Stop!

Be cool.

We is in control.

Okay, man.

Okay, well, what do we do?

What do we do now, man?

We give them a time.

A couple of hours.

Maybe just one.

Hey, we is in command.

And they're gonna find that out.

You mean a deadline? Right on.

Move it back.

Please move.

Behind the barrier.

All right, let's move it back.

Come on, now.

You're gonna have to clean this area now.

Hey, Connors. - Hey, hello, Kojak.

I always told you homicide was a better deal.

You know who's in there, Lieutenant?

Louis Daniel's old man.

And who is Louis Daniel's old man?

The next pug.

He works his muscle for the local gangs.

His stepmother.

A high-priced call girl.

We just left her body.

She was beaten to death.

So that's what this is all about, huh?

All we got on the call was two hypes with guns speeding through the streets.

Get the kid over here. Maybe we can talk this guy out.

Kid's at Rikers Island.

We picked her up on a burglary.

Well, good luck.

Willie.

This is Kojak.

I'm coming in.

And I'm coming in clean, okay?

You stay loose.

I don't want anybody to get hurt.

Especially me.

Lieutenant and Willie go back a long time.

So that's great.

So he puts it on a personal level.

So maybe that works.

So maybe the other guy just keeps it business.

And we got another cop casualty.

Hey, Willie, why don't you give it up before it gets worse?

Kojak, man, you sure is cool.

Kojak, I didn't kill Rita.

Hey, Willie, I saw that room.

There's no way you had time.

But here we are. What are we doing here?

Why don't we leave?

I ain't going, little joint.

This is a mistake.

I ain't going. No way, Willie.

Now, I'm up here for you, but no slammer.

I'll die here first.

Doing a fool for wounding a cop

is a lot better than people leaving here in rubber bags.

Kojak,

they playin' chicken with the wrong dudes.

Now, they deal of the blood on them.

You tell them that.

They got two hours.

Willie, this isn't my scene.

Now, there's a hard cop out there by the name of Connors.

He's calling all the shots.

I'm just investigating clues into our homicide.

You're holding hostages for something you say you didn't do.

And somebody besides Rita's gonna be dead before this day's over.

So help me.

You gotta have some idea who did it.

Just who didn't?

Me.

It's too late to say all that now, Kojak.

And you know it.

Well, how about a John?

Willie, Willie.

Put it down.

Hey.

I'm a lot of things, but I'm no snow job.

Come on, will you?

You know what she was.

Right now, a killer may be in a bar someplace,

sippin' beer, watchin' television,

laughin' at all of us.

It ain't easy talkin' about somebody you loved who was that way.

I mean, she didn't mean no harm.

I just kinda closed my eyes to it all.

And if I came home a little early, or a little later, I didn't see nothing.

Like a switch went off in my head.

Kojak, this is Carter.

Morales.

What?

Is everything okay?

Morales.

Yeah, but I thought that was over.

Kojak, you knew Rita.

When was something over with her?

And when wasn't it?

You're not out in ten minutes.

Hey, look, Willie.

I'm gonna find out who did it.

There'll be no shooting around here for two hours.

That's guaranteed.

And Willie, I'm sorry about Rita.

There'll be no shooting for two hours.

Look, can we get Willie's son out of Rikers Island?

One con is gonna talk another con into joining him behind bars?

Connors, you're right. It's your ballgame.

What would you like us to do, including getting the hell out of here?

Okay, bring the kid.

Get down to Rikers.

I'll be in touch with you later.

Hey, Kojak.

Look, I know you're tryin' to help,

but no moves without me.

Connors, you take care of everything here.

We'll take care of it on the streets, okay?

We got a woman on the way to the morgue.

We don't know yet who arranged the trip.

If you guys had the guts, you'd rush the church.

Oh, good.

Now, when you're ready, will you let us know?

Because we'll let you lead the charge.

Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners now, and at the hour of our death...

Oh, my god, I am so sorry.

This is Lieutenant Connors.

Come to the window and talk to us.

Don't do anything drastic.

Don't make things worse than they are.

Please help us to help you.

Is there anyone hurt in there?

Does anyone need medical attention?

Please keep us informed, keep in contact.

Hey, get all the things we asked for!

How much time they got left?

We're working on it, Willie.

Couple hours.

There's a hand.

You got less than a couple of hours!

And that's the end of it!

Do you want coffee, some food?

Just tell us what you want.

We're working on it.

Just don't hurt anybody.

Willie!

Willie, I'm out. I ain't got no more.

Hey, take it easy.

We'll be gone soon.

I come down hard without no speed, man.

I need something!

I blow, Willie! I come apart!

We have just learned that one of the men, Willie Daniels,

is an enforcer for a local gang leader, Morales.

The other man is his shadow, a speed freak named Jake Reilly, who has been in and out of

Narcotics Rehabilitation Center since he came back from Vietnam.

The two men and their hostages have been locked inside the old church...

Hey!

I just saw you on the tube!

Hey, hey, hey. You like the show, Victor?

You know what would be terrific?

You guys go in there and wipe out them two punks.

Guns, grenades, a big war!

How about a small war?

Four hours.

Nuts, he's a cop.

He don't scare me.

He is a cop.

Hey, you want to see my badge?

Morales.

Go on, go on. I'll make the bail.

Let's go.

Your hands.

What?

Oh, thank you.

Turn them up, Morales.

You have no time to play what?

You think I worked her over?

Ten days more. What were you doing?

Come on. She was a business investment.

Until you came on too strong and she cut you from ear to throat?

That's forgotten.

Forgotten? How is that?

I see the scar. You shaved the scar.

Even after she did that to your face,

you kept trying to sing love songs under a balcony.

Maybe she got fed up again.

Maybe this time she wasn't going to use a knife.

She was going to come to us.

She knew enough to put you away and you knew it.

Okay, I killed her.

You want to know how?

I told Willie she was going to ditch him for a rich John.

I knew he'd come home some morning and he'd beat her to death.

Just like he did.

Let's have the list.

What list?

What list, huh?

The John list.

The one you picked Rita's spots from.

That list!

Kojak, some of my best customers.

If it gets out there with a working girl, they'll kill me.

Morales!

Yeah.

Lieutenant, he says he can't do it without a written

order of appearance or a release from a judge.

Put him on.

Benny!

I'm going to say it once.

You turn that kid over to Crocker right now,

or I'll call some friends and lay on your head that little book you got on Trotters.

That's right.

On the job, in the jail, and don't tell me no.

You want the kid, I want to see an order of appearance or a release from a judge.

Or do I call some of my friends?

I hope you've been paying into your pension fund.

Here.

All right.

First we call the fire department.

And they can close this place up in one day,

and then we get into the heavy stuff, right?

We get into the pantering, we get into the prostitution, the coke pushing.

Now what business are you going to try next?

Hey, Morales!

I'm running out of time with you!

Here. Take it!

Some pretty juicy names in there.

You bite into the wrong one, you're liable to choke to death!

I hope.

You might as well have brought the United States Census.

Here.

I heard her call him that.

T.J.

Bum had the nerve to pick her up at the pad.

Drove a flashy Lincoln.

Said he was going to get her rich next time he come to town.

As far as I know, the only thing she got him

was a couple of passes to watch him dribble.

T.J.

T.J. Smith, the basketball player?

Crocker. - Yes, sir.

Get on the horn.

Get us a basketball player.

Okay.

You got it, Lieutenant.

Hey!

Look what I found checking out the cellar door.

Somebody having a wedding. Must be ten cases down there.

Ain't speed, but maybe you'll get us there, huh?

Hey, how about you, mama?

Come on, come on, come on.

They'll help you pump.

No, thank you.

I said take it.

You're like my father.

A drunken, ugly animal.

Men?

Proof makes don't dig men.

When they, uh, when they want to teach you about life.

No! Please, stop.

Willie, Willie Daniels, this is Kojak.

I've got your son here.

I'm bringing him in to have a talk.

Leave him be, Jake.

There's my boy out there.

All right, Willie, we're coming in.

Look, folks, we're trying to do a job here.

Please help us.

Just keep moving.

Please, folks, if you want to watch, get on the other side of the street.

Lieutenant Kojak's entering the church.

It's good of you to care, boy.

The only thing I care about is kissing you all.

What you think I come in here for, Kojak?

Him?

Who is he?

If you ever do but be in jail, my mama died.

And then bring home that hooker into our house.

Tell him, you old bum, tell him how long after she died.

I was lonely, boy.

I wanted someone around.

I was around.

And you tell how you was such a great fighter.

I could have been.

You was great in my eyes.

Even when I had to fight all the kids who said

you was nothing but a bum who took a fall.

I had to.

They said, take the fall or you're dead.

And we needed the money.

Louis...

son... I'm your father.

And I have always loved you and took care of you.

Well, ain't that a gas?

My father.

Was you my father when I was hungry and you out buying

new suits for your flunky Jake here?

Hey, Louis.

Was you my father when I said maybe could we go to a ball game?

And you said sure, and then you forgot.

You know how many times you forgot?

You know I'm still waiting someplace in this town

freezing my can on the corner cause you forgot.

Louis, Louis.

What do you want?

Kojak.

What do you want?

Go to a game?

Okay.

We'll go.

Just as soon as I get out of this.

Through it, Kojak.

The best I know.

Get a uniformed cop and escort the kid back to Rikers.

Okay.

Come on. We're gonna go see a ball player.

Kojak!

You've got one hour left.

Don't bring me no more visitors.

Just the car and the money.

Or everybody dies.

All right.

Keep in touch with the church.

Come on.

All right.

Go, go.

Pick him up, pick him up, pick him up.

That ball. - Yeah.

Take five.

What's going down, officer?

You on a Red Lincoln?

Did I overpark again?

And you're on with a chick with the name of Rita Daniels.

Car's right, chick's wrong.

The chick is, uh, dead.

Well, whoever it was, that's too bad.

Can I get back to my practice now?

Oh, give me the ball.

He wants to play.

You're playing with Rita Daniels, Thursday night.

Rita who?

Promise her the moon. You gave her the mall.

Hey, now, do I hit you like the kind of dude that'd have to pay some working girl?

Wait a minute.

You didn't know her, but you know she was a hooker.

Okay, so what do you want me to do?

Take an ad in Sports Illustrated?

I hear on the radio she is dead.

So, I'm the last man on this team.

I was pulled in twice for possession.

Comes out I was tied up with some murdered prostitute

who's even gonna let me warm their bitch.

10.30 this morning. Where were you?

On my way here, by subway.

You're on a Red Lincoln?

You pay $200 for a chick?

And you take a subway?

I heard them against the backboard.

Oh, you got a medical report?

I'll have the doctor send you one.

And you are?

Paul Lawford.

I own the club.

Okay, Mr. Lawford.

Keep him available, okay?

And good luck with the team.

I get to the church of James.

Ask him to turn on his TV and they'll get a warrant to search T.J. Smith's bed.

Okay, what am I looking for?

A way out of this mess, all right?

Yeah.

You go outside and wait in the terrain on T.J. Smith

And get Rizzo to keep you company. - Okay.

Wait a minute.

First let's apply a little liniment to the soil.

T.J., telephone.

As far as we've been able to learn,

they have no idea how many or what kind of

weapons the men in the church are carrying.

Hello.

Hey, T.J.

Who is this?

This is Delano, the news.

Now, what's the bottom line on you being tied up with that business at the church?

Hey, what is this? What business?

All right, so you're involved or you're not?

Now, I heard Lawford blew his stack when he found out and that he screamed,

get him off the team.

Now, you want to comment on that?

Hello?

There's been a shooting here at the church.

We don't know if anyone was hurt, but it appears the shots may have come...

What are you doing?

I said no shooting.

I said do not fire.

What kind of guys do you have out there?

Don't they listen? Are you pulling something?

Okay.

He thinks he hit somebody.

What did you see?

He thinks?

Why was he shooting at?

Willie, what the hell?

Willie, you got a call.

It was an accident.

Go, Jackson.

Okay, Willie.

You didn't do it.

And I'm going to prove you didn't do it.

So why the killing?

And who the first to shoot?

I'm sure it was a mistake.

I ain't never been hit before, Willie.

Me too as an arm.

He never hit me once.

So what the hell we do now?

Watch the back.

Yeah.

The front.

No.

The front's better.

I know he's shot.

He just walked right in.

Maybe we ought to kill somebody.

We shoot one of the prisoners.

They never attack our position.

Where is that car?

They're out of control.

There's no dealing with them now.

Well, then we just keep trying.

Willie!

What kind of car they giving us?

I didn't say a kind, Jake.

I made the cop start it up.

Look in the tank.

And see this gas.

They don't let him get me.

Hey, Jake.

I'm way ahead of them.

I'm the man, remember?

Money, money.

We can't buy no property.

We ain't no place for no bad money.

Anymore?

You got any more?

Time is running out.

Now you get that car here and get it fast.

Keep your signals open and don't shoot until you hear green light.

You got it?

You're making a mistake, okay?

I don't want to hear about experience.

I don't want to hear about percentages.

I don't want to hear about the kill factor.

You're blowing it!

I just heard it on the radio, so I had to come back.

You tried a wild shot when I told you my officers were on to something?

But the officer who fired made a judgment decision like we all do at times,

like those two men did when they ran in there.

How does it look?

She had a job book with more names than a telephone

book and any one of them had a reason for doing it.

But I got one name I want to ask them for.

And, Kojak, look, coming, going like this, I've seen it happen before.

You think you're establishing something and then it blows up in your face.

Get some action going out here.

Start up a car, make some noise.

Give them some pathetic hope or something.

Stall!

Willie,

this is Captain McNeil.

We're trying to work things out.

Hey, hey, Jake.

Where do you want to go?

I don't know, Willie.

Where do you want to go?

Hey, I'm easy.

Brazil.

I like the smell of coffee.

Brazil!

We want to go to Brazil!

Brazil.

You want to go in?

Yeah, I want to go in.

I got them covered on this side.

Look what you've far as done, Kojak.

That's what happens when you back them into a corner.

He needs a doctor.

You come to preach a sermon?

Father, he's taking your job.

Willie, what's the time?

Is it up?

Where's our car, Kojak?

You know the name T.J. Smith?

Ball player.

I lost him on him.

So I think we did it too.

Hey, don't say that, Kojak.

Willie, look at where we are.

What do you want me to say?

That he wasn't a customer?

That this isn't our list?

This T.J. Smith is involved.

Heavily involved.

I'll be back.

Is that the car?

No, that's the truck.

They haven't got the car yet.

Kojak, if they stalling us, we start shooting.

Hey, look at that crowd.

Never had a crowd like that when I was fighting the clubs.

You made us a fighter, Willie, because you didn't have that killer instinct.

Don't start now, because this gate doesn't pay off.

Hey, Kojak, I ain't taking no more falls.

You get the meaning?

Willie, time's running out.

Your friend's dying, Willie.

We was born dead.

Me and Jake.

You know that.

I'll be back soon with your wife's killer.

I hope somebody's alive to hear about it.

Maybe they're fooling to get us out there, Willie.

I'm sorry, ma'am.

I guess your husband is gone without dinner tonight.

And for a long time to come.

I made that call like you said, lieutenant.

Then he came out of his office and Rizzo and I tailed

him to an office building over on the East Side.

Any idea who he visited?

We think he got off on the 14th floor.

We couldn't get that close, lieutenant.

This guy Lawford, who owns the team that TJ plays

for, he keeps his New York officers on that floor.

And then he came back here.

Well, even for you, that's fast.

I got the warrant and went right over to TJ Smith's apartment.

No, you mean you called the judge, you got his okay for the warrant.

Then you went over to TJ's pass, and you tossed it, and

now you're going over to the judge to pick up the warrant.

So I confused a few details.

Oh, the lease, River East Apartments Incorporated, Rita Daniels.

Thirty-six thousand dollars a year, and on and on.

Not bad for a low-scoring guard and a prostitute he couldn't afford.

Party time.

Now, hold it, hold it.

Come here.

Give this man time to set.

How dare you barge into my office and demand to see me?

You're right.

I should have gone to my pad first, only the first thing

that came into my mind was to run to my friend and employer.

Is this about that visit from the police?

It is about staying out of jail for the rest of my life.

There is nothing to connect you with that woman.

There were no witnesses, or the police would have arrested you.

There is that lease.

Destroy it.

The police got to my apartment before me.

They picked up a warrant like that.

They must have something on me.

And now they have the lease on us, boss.

You idiot.

You stupid, ignorant moron!

You listen to me!

You made me your pimp and I let it happen.

I found her for you,

I set her up in that pad for you, I beat her up for you so she

stopped carrying on with every little bump she saw,

so I could hang onto a spot on the team.

Like I was going to play forever, like it would never end, like it's ending now.

I didn't tell you to kill her.

I wasn't killing her.

You were all I saw after I started swinging.

Greetings.

I'll get you out of this.

Well, hello, Mr. Lawford.

Hello, T.J.

You were talking to him, now talk to me.

You sent me over there to work her over?

It got out of hand.

You belong to me.

That went out with plantations.

Let's go.

You know, it's still red light.

Repeat, red light.

By Connors, I have his wife's killer.

They see those marksmen up there, they'll come apart.

Would you hold off until I could tell them?

You think they'll believe you?

Well, I don't know.

But they'll panic if they think we're coming down on them.

Hold off.

Keep those marksmen out of sight.

Repeat, red light, red light.

Don't shoot until you hit a green light.

If you see any movement, report back.

In the name of the Father and the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

May the Lord forgive you by this holy anointing.

Whatever sins you have committed.

Amen.

In the name of the Father and the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

I'm sorry, Willie, he's dead.

You think I care that you got Rita's killer?

I'm still a loser, Kojak.

Look at what I've done here.

Since they shoot them all, so the cops know we mean business.

Maybe I should have done that.

He'd be alive at least.

Come on, Willie, it's over.

Tell J, Kojak.

If he walks out, I walk out.

Willie, don't hurt these people.

There was this trainer once at the sunny side.

You see, I could come up real fast if I let him do the right thing for me, you know?

So I let him get me the right fight.

Then he give me a 50 to take a fall.

He say, Willie, you do the right thing or else they gonna kill me.

So I save his life.

And then I find out that he's got a bundle on the other guy from the start.

Kojak, I ain't taking no more falls.

You get the meaning?

Hey, you got a bundle on me, Kojak?

No, no.

I told you the truth, all of it.

My boy told me all the truth I need to hear.

The car you asked for is here.

It's waiting for you.

Moving out.

We got the plane for Brazil.

It's waiting at the airport.

We got you everything you asked for.

Now, if you release those people, you can be on your way.

You should die.

Your kid's watching.

If you don't see our TV now, there's always the 11 o'clock news.

They'll see this old man blow away a breeze with an old woman, a little kid who

came in here to pray, and a bald-headed cop.

You know something?

That kid's got an awful lot of copy for a loser.

They said, let's move out.

Now, we go out slow and easy.

No shooting.

Maybe somebody gets to live.

Maybe not.

It don't matter.

Do what he says.

He just wants a car.

It's over there.

Hold your fire.

Hold your fire, man.

Nobody make a move.

You don't want anybody getting hurt.

Make my boy see, Kojak.

Make him see how...

how being like me only gets you to lying on hard ground no matter what.

See you, Kojak.

Relax!

Relax!

I tried to kill a priest.

Kojak.

You didn't even try to shoot.

Set him free.

And... make my boy believe I did bad.

Okay.

Hope I didn't spoil your husband's dinner.

Lord, and let the petulant shine upon him.

Two men held a small piece of this enormous city in their hands for a few

hours today and ended up killing only themselves.

The tragedy is that evidence was just uncovered proving

that Willie Daniels was innocent of his wife's murder.

Why Daniels ran from the scene?

Why...

I put him away like he was nothing.

He was nothing.

The priest was unarmed.

Kojak, he's dead. Let him be.

I'm sorry. He was a loser and he knew it.

What could he do?

I don't know.

Try, maybe.

So long, kid.

Kojak.

He was my father.

He was only 43.

Look what we came of.

I'd rather see what becomes of his son.

Okay?

So long, Roy.