Original subtitles

Detective Stavros, Manhattan South.

Robbery in progress.

Burbridge Furs.

Where is that?

3457.

Can I have your name, please?

The dressing rooms are clear.

Any windows out?

No good. No bars.

Anything happens, we go out the way we came in.

We know that's open.

10-30.

Possible robbery in progress.

20th and 8th.

Rabbit.

Rabbit.

Rabbit.

Just some courage.

You know me.

I'm gonna check the alley again.

You keep on loading, okay?

Hey, Ben, we do a hundred jobs.

I ain't never gonna be cool.

Oh.

You get the front, I'll take the back. - Okay.

All right, you freeze. Right there.

Police.

Police, come on!

Crocker. Saperstein!

It's a quarter of a million dollar death bed back there.

It's only worth about $50,000 to a fence.

That's so much for his business sense.

C-4 was used to split the box... just like the other five jobs in this area.

You know that M.O. is getting monotonous.

So what else is new?

Will somebody talk to me?

Stavros took a call. Anonymous.

I took out the one in the other room... and Crocker chased his partner.

Crocker, would you like to join us over here?

What?

Now, Jamie Webb, 28 years old, lives on 43rd Street.

All right, see what you're gonna find out about him, okay?

Anything that relates to him, including people.

Okay. - Go ahead.

Okay, this guy that you chased, can you ID him?

No.

No? Why no?

He was ahead of me.

All right, how far ahead?

I don't know.

Hey, a few seconds.

Maybe. I don't know.

Crocker, no maybes.

You gotta know.

Every step you took by the time you left the precinct.

And we start now.

I was chasing this guy... and he was running towards the street.

I heard these footsteps.

It's a hell of a place and hour for friends to meet.

Well, so far we have the very normal reactions...

of a police officer in the line of duty... doing just what he's supposed to be doing.

Nothing to get excited about.

Did you hear about the girl?

She made it to the hospital.

F-I-A-U is gonna want to question you and Saperstein tonight.

Don't talk to them until Kojak and I finish with you.

Well, I want to go to the hospital.

Now, the bullet was lodged in the lower lumbar 3.

And according to Dr. Meyer... there's no more danger of hemorrhaging.

Well, what is there danger of, Doctor?

Well, the bullet apparently caused enough nerve damage...

to produce paralysis of the lower limbs.

Why don't you remove it?

Oh, he can't.

Not yet, anyway.

Well, is that a life sentence or can she appeal it?

More tests are being set up.

They don't look very encouraging at this point.

Hey, Bobby.

He shot an armed criminal...

in the act of committing a felony.

He shot at you.

You shot at him, and that's the way it was.

You can't hold yourself responsible.

I shot an innocent girl.

Maybe I killed her. At least I crippled her.

Now, when you carry that in your gut, can you tell me how to feel?

Come back, ladies.

Take it a ballet lesson.

Lieutenant, did the field internal affairs unit...

say anything to you after talking to us?

You tell them the reports?

Yeah, seven copies.

We just turned them in.

Okay, go home and get some sleep.

Good boy, Lieutenant.

I told you to come right into the office as soon as you got in.

Yeah, well, I didn't have anything important to say.

Oh, let's see now.

There have been three homicides, two suicides, some berserk guys chopping

down cherry trees in Central Park, somebody's walking on the grass,

somebody forgot to curb their dog right outside

the precinct, and you got nothing important to say.

Yeah, well, he kept to himself.

He lived alone. - Who?

The deceased, sir.

If he was part of a gang that pulled those other jobs, the pad doesn't show it.

How about the yellow sheet?

Yeah, one bank job, Illinois, minimum three to ten.

How long is he out?

Two years.

And what do you do now?

Water your plants?

No, I'm gonna call the prison.

I'm gonna find out if he had any buddies while he was in

the can who liked to bust vaults open full of furrows.

When?

Now.

Crocker, would you leave us alone, please?

You think he was paralyzed instead of the girl?

Well, we'll try this one.

That lock on the back door to the fur shop, it was bolted from the inside.

Now, unless Webb knew where it was, he could never find it in the dark.

Plus, the forensic report says the phone in the fur shop was wiped clean.

So, what do we got here?

What do we have here?

Somebody phones in a tip.

One experienced pro gets trapped by a locked door he thought was open.

The other one slips away through a door that was open, and the phone is wiped.

What we have here is a case of somebody set up his buddy.

We'll go to the hospital and talk to that girl.

Please, Miss Ames is in no condition to see any visitors.

I'll just be a minute.

I'm Detective Crocker.

I'm sorry.

You're sorry.

Detective Crocker, I told you, the patient is in no condition to see anyone.

Crocker, what the hell are you doing?

It's all right.

He says that he's sorry.

Ten mil diazepam.

Crocker, get the hell out of here.

Lieutenant, why don't we leave?

You see how she is.

It's all right.

I'll talk to him.

Hello.

I'm Lieutenant Kojak.

I want you to help us find the man who's responsible for this.

He just left.

No.

That's Detective Crocker.

He was chasing a criminal.

Yes, he fired the gun.

Is that all he did?

And why is everybody so upset?

I'm the only one that got hurt.

Thieves rob a store, get away.

Only one got away.

The other one decided to shoot it out and he's dead.

Miss Ames, you were very close to the thief who ran away.

I mean, did you see him? Did you get a look at his face?

No.

Isn't there anything about him that might help us?

I was walking.

A man ran out of nowhere.

And now I'm lying here like this.

Isn't that enough to know?

Okay.

Oh, you live on 23rd Street.

Now that's a long walk to the first door.

You want to laugh?

I do it for my health.

Walking is good for you.

Walking is helpful.

I'm a model.

I do it for my legs.

Four miles briskly for my legs.

Lieutenant?

Aren't they pretty?

I can't feel anything!

Aren't they pretty?

Lieutenant, for the last time.

Oh, hello, Detective Crocker.

I tried to call you.

We finished Miss Ames' tests.

Sit down.

Tell me standing.

Okay.

She's out of danger.

What about the bullet?

It's our considered opinion that any attempt

to remove it at this time would be disastrous.

She looks okay.

She is okay.

I mean, her life is out of danger.

The paralysis.

It's like a finger pressing on a nerve.

I mean, if you didn't know what I did to her, I

think she was lazy just laying there being waited on.

As a matter of fact, she doesn't even have to be hospitalized.

You sent her out that door.

You know what that says, Doctor?

The end is the way she'll be forever.

I'm sorry.

You can always seek other opinions.

She knew I was going to talk to you.

Do you want me to tell her?

You're late.

What?

You're off duty, right?

I can always tell when you're coming in by the clock.

Confession time again?

I'm sorry.

I didn't mean to upset you.

You don't upset me.

I'm practicing to become a saint.

Bring me an ashtray.

It's broke.

Sure it is. You touched it.

Where's my doctor?

A hundred tests and I can't even find him.

I just talked to him.

Listen, I know this neurosurgeon, Dr. Athas.

We had a patrolman who got shot in the back and she can work wonders.

Come on now.

You just keep telling yourself that there's a chance and we'll find one.

Please.

Just get out of my life.

I will.

When you can kick me out and with your own feet.

Crocker.

Where's Crocker?

He's not here.

Well, I'm glad you told me he wasn't here.

Because if you hadn't told me he wasn't here, I wouldn't have asked for him.

The world's at peace.

You know, I get more information from my stoolies.

What's that about?

When two detectives start covering for a third, it's not to keep them warm, right?

I checked around several of those model agencies

and there's Polly Ames, a couple of them know her.

Why are we checking into the girl?

Saperstein, something deeply disturbing in your

basic humanitarian instincts taking place here?

No, but I'm just a little confused.

Well, why don't you tell us and maybe we can enlighten you.

All right, this Polly Ames lives in an $800 a month apartment.

But I can't find out where she is working or

has worked more than a day or two here in there.

Okay.

Keep checking.

Okay.

You told Crocker to stay close to her.

I also told him he had a very promising career.

Now, of all the things I told him, I wonder what he's remembering right now.

Are you warm enough?

I only feel half.

The rest doesn't feel the cold at all.

Well, it's good for you.

No, that's walking.

Walking is good for you, not being wheeled.

You know what this reminds me of when I was a kid?

My father would bring us down here at Thanksgiving

and Christmas just to see the leaves changing colors.

What the hell are we doing here anyway?

Listen, you hurt me.

I can't ever forget that.

I'm going to be in this chair for the rest of my life.

And you're not.

If I could take that bullet from your back and put it in my back, I would.

But I can't.

It was a one in a million freak accident.

But you're right.

You're sitting in the chair and I'm pushing it.

I don't know what to do.

Holly, I can't forget you.

I can't walk away.

I guess you're a cripple now too.

What these are?

Yellow sheets.

A backlog to choke a horse.

And where is detective Robert Crocker?

I've been in her apartment.

Really?

I thought you moved in.

She needs encouragement.

She needs somebody to do more than dust the furniture and check up hulks.

Speaking of dust and furniture, she lives in an $800 a month apartment.

Where did she get the bread?

What's the story?

What's he trying to say?

I don't know what I'm trying to say.

You want to know why?

There's a hot shot detective who's failing to function.

Lieutenant, going through the motions of being a cop, I can't investigate a girl I

almost killed, not with this other stuff on my mind.

If that other stuff on your mind was some old degenerate wino

instead of a beautiful mysterious chick, you know what to do.

I'm doing the best I can from going through my head.

You push me and I'll quit.

If you don't shape up, I'll request it.

Crocker!

He should have a leave of absence.

I need him, Frank.

What for?

He hasn't been here since he shot that girl.

And when he is here, he's not all here.

Tell me about it.

You know, I met that girl.

She doesn't want to hit her.

It happened.

The Crocker as well as the girl.

Lieutenant, a funny thing happened to me trying

to locate a suspect on that Anderson case.

I show a bunch of pictures to the bartender and one

of them is a steady customer, the late Jamie Webb.

Bernadette, this is Captain McNeil.

Lieutenant Kojak, this is Ms. Bernadette Fopler.

Bernadette won first prize in a bartending contest in Atlantic City in 73.

72.

They were suckers for fruit juice that year.

I called my drink Indian Summer.

This fella gave me the idea.

Don't you get it?

He helped her think up this drink.

Bill, Buzzy, Buffy.

Well, he was a very close friend of the deceased, Jamie Webb.

He said he came from Cleveland.

Cleveland.

Indians.

Get it? Indian Summer.

Could you describe him?

Describe?

In the booze business, it's the color of the money, not the face.

Okay, you call Cleveland, get the best description you can from our charming

young lady here, and then see if you can tie it in with James Webb.

And thank you very much for your cooperation.

Thank you.

Yes.

Gee, Bernadette, I'm sorry.

I could have sworn it was 73.

It's all right.

Leo, get him back to Bobby.

I got that you don't like the girl.

Frank, that's not nice.

Frank?

Well, you implied she was being kept by a John.

Where are the tea bags?

I don't know where the tea bags are.

No, you inferred she was being kept by a John.

Come on. You know Bobby Crocker.

He still goes to these church functions in order to find dates.

This chick has got him wiped out, whoever she is and whatever she is.

Leo, you're on the spot too, and so am I.

Everybody's watching how we handle this.

And I'm talking about the shooting.

I want Crocker off the hook on this shooting, of course.

But I also want the answers.

Detective Crocker, six-year veteran, et cetera, et cetera.

And this Miss Ames, a very successful fashion model

when she came here from Cleveland three years ago.

Excuse me, sir.

Lieutenant, this is that list of fur fences you wanted from Bunko.

Michaels.

Son of a gun.

Let me take him.

And you check out the rest.

See you later.

Rizzo, I want some tea bags over here.

Just don't lie to me, Michaels.

Lieutenant, you're leaning.

Is that why you're shivering?

How would you like me to take the temperature of these furs?

I cooperated when I was a fence.

I'm clean now.

Well, why don't you cooperate the way you used to?

Why don't you concentrate?

Five out of six heists.

Go like clockwork.

A couple of hundred thousand in furs at 30%.

At the going rate is 20.

So who put it together?

Talk to me.

I mean, tell me something.

Just don't stand there and tell me how you retired from our life of crime.

A cop hits an innocent girl.

Was that my fault?

Take it easy, will you, Lieutenant?

Take it easy.

Okay, I heard about those jobs.

A couple about it, Thomas.

Now, the way I got it figured so far, the halls were within a couple of days.

Each furrier got his consignment.

Somebody in the inside has to know that.

Well, that wasn't me.

You ever do business with a James Webb?

Never heard of him until I read about him in the papers.

Oh, you read the newspapers?

That puts you into 15% of the literati you can read.

Ben something.

Ah.

No Ben anybody on my client list.

Excuse me.

Michael's Furriers.

It's Ben.

Is there anything else, Lieutenant?

No.

Are you crazy calling me here?

The cops are combing the town for you.

I know, I'm hot.

That's why I asked you for money.

I need money to get away. I haven't got it.

You need money, huh?

You need money? Go to a bank, hit a store.

Michael's, I can't take the chance.

I'll be spotted.

You blow a job, your partner gets wasted.

That ties you to a felony murder and you call me and say you need money?

We did good for you the other times.

Yeah?

Well, the other times...

The other times I didn't have the cops coming around.

So go mug a cop, you need money.

Hey.

So one of your guys really shot a girl?

I gave you a lead. What'd you find out?

Nothing.

Guy your cop's wasted and the first shot was a drinker.

Talked a lot about broad sports.

What about the other guy?

This is a very quiet fellow.

Nobody knows him.

Somebody has to know him. He's got to eat.

He's got to wash his undies.

I guess.

Take it easy.

I know one of your boys.

Take it easy.

Sammy.

I let you walk the streets because you helped.

Now you stop and then I don't need you anymore.

Yeah?

What's the good of walking the streets if I'm dead?

So you have a choice. It's him or me?

It's Ben.

Guy's name is Ben.

And the word is he don't care if he kills.

So let me out of this.

All right.

Look.

You used to be a thurrier.

I want you to give me a lead.

We still friends?

Yeah, Ben.

I'm sorry.

Three weeks and no robbery in the whole district.

I don't care about your insurance.

There's always somebody new coming along.

It's inevitable.

Like death in cavities.

It's sad.

An innocent young girl like that getting shot.

You know, she was a model.

Does she have a model for you?

That girl.

I'm sorry.

Models look like models.

One body, all of them.

All bones.

I don't look at their faces, just how my coats hang.

You know, as a matter of fact, that picture in the paper

did remind me of a young girl who once worked for me.

I think her name was Phyllis something.

Worked a day, maybe two.

Right in time for my new furs to be shown.

Oh, really?

What agency?

She came in on her own.

Is that the way it usually happens?

Sometimes.

They drop around the new ones.

It saves them paying commission.

And now I remember her.

Ambitious, a real pusher.

She was going to own Central Park, the Trade Center, and half of Manhattan in a year.

Maybe she had a guy.

Maybe she did.

Shouldn't you be at work?

If they could see me now.

Celebration!

You being out of the hospital?

You'll get in trouble.

They can get me if they want me.

They know where I am.

Hey, Bobby, this is Rizzo.

The doctor at this court left the number 555-3200.

Okay, thank you.

You know, when people meet, they meet for all the wrong reasons.

I just want you to know that I'm happy I met you.

Hello?

Hello, this is Detective Crocker.

I just got a message.

I think Miss Ames prognosis is encouraging.

Call me... Okay, fine.

Thank you.

Who were you calling?

I want to make a toast.

To a brave and beautiful girl.

And to a doctor who is going to help her dance again.

You know that Dr. Athas, the one I was telling you about?

The neurosurgeon?

Well, she saw your x-rays and she wants to see me tomorrow.

Bobby... I'm scared.

Scared of what?

City is going to pay for it.

I sent in for the papers you consumed for a million.

Madness.

After all that's happened,

I still don't understand how I feel... feel about you.

The way it began and the way it is now, there's a cloud over it.

Why don't we try and blow that away?

Okay?

Life is wild.

You busting in on that robbery?

My being there?

It's destiny, I suppose.

Well, in this case, destiny was shoved a little bit by an anonymous mail caller who

phoned in a tip and that's what brought me there.

Somebody phoned in a tip?

Hey, who are you?

Where did you come from and where are you going?

My name is Polly Ames.

I am from Cleveland and I am a model.

And are you investigating me like you're Lieutenant Kojak?

Is that why you're here?

You know why I'm here.

Come on, I'm a cop.

That's how we mess.

Maybe you can teach me to be something more.

I gotta go.

Well, don't worry about me.

I'll be out dancing.

Bobby.

She got a key too?

That cop always got there first.

What's he doing hanging around here all the time?

Don't con me.

You could walk.

You'd forget his name.

I can't walk, Ben.

And Jamie's dead.

Jamie was bad news.

He did what we told him to do.

Jamie didn't know what he was getting into.

Listen, Polly.

All that money from the other jobs.

I had to lay out for a new pad where Jamie never came by

and what with this and that, I'm kind of low on bread.

The money is in that vault.

I can't get it.

Like you said, the cop keeps coming around.

He's gonna be back soon, so you'd better leave.

I don't want to hear that. Give me the money.

It's part of mine.

I can't touch my car and run out of how to eat.

I'll get picked up.

Polly, listen to me.

It's a felony murder rap.

Jamie's dead. We were part of the killing.

I gotta get out of here.

The cops were tipped off about that job.

Did you know that?

I cased that job.

And you set it up.

Now it had to be one of us.

Jamie?

We never told Jamie any details.

Did we, Ben?

He was trouble.

He was a lush.

He got in the way between you and me.

You know how I felt about that.

Get me the pad.

He was also a one-third partner.

Now there's only two of us.

This will authorize you to enter into my safety deposit account.

The keys are in my purse.

All you have to do is have my signature notarized.

That's a detail I'm sure you can manage.

Suppose I take all the money and run?

Well, the cop says that I can sue the city.

He says that I can collect a fortune.

Yeah?

That's great.

So, we're coming out of this pretty good.

Yeah.

It should have been you and me.

From the start.

Good luck with the cop.

Polly Ames was from Cleveland.

A mysterious stranger was from Cleveland.

Jamie Webb was from Cleveland.

The fur heists were completed 24 hours after each of Polly Ames' modeling jobs.

Now, four of those heists were on modeling jobs

that the agency sent this Polly Ames in on.

The other two she just walked in on, including Burbridge.

Oh, Lieutenant, I covered the banks and I found out that

this Polly Ames has a safety deposit box down on 20th Street.

Now they're going to let us know if she comes in.

And that's all they can do for us.

You mean that's it?

It's all right. I'm a friend.

All right.

The girl at the bank said that Polly Ames has

visited her safety deposit box four times.

Each date was about three days after a fur robbery on her list.

Still enough?

Guy in the middle.

You're a buddy, Sammy.

I thought you told me you didn't fence furs anymore.

I don't.

I thought you told me that you didn't take

one fur from a guy by the name of Jamie Webb.

I didn't.

So I guess you're wondering why we all got together.

Who's that guy for?

Assistant D.A. Angus Moore.

She's here to help you cop a plea.

A plea?

What plea?

Receiving stolen goods acquired in the commission of a felony murder,

conspiracy, grand larceny.

Hey, I know what this heed is.

Your little boy Crocker shot an innocent bystander.

You're ripping up the town trying to get him off the hook.

Hey, do you know what it is to have a division of cops get after you?

Now, Kojak and I always got along.

Didn't we, Frank?

What... What's the arrangement?

You helped us nail down the gang who stole the furs.

We'll assume you had no knowledge that they were armed during the robberies.

You'd take a fall for handling stolen goods?

That's a plea.

That's a deal.

Huh?

All right, make it fill any murder instead.

Uh-oh.

Now, this guy, uh... this guy Jamie Webb delivered right after all those big heists.

Oh, did he get paid on the spot?

Within three days.

Do you have the dates he was in?

Can we make a better deal?

We'll talk to the warden.

Kojak.

That's all he did?

All right, keep it surprised.

Okay.

The guy walks into a bank with a notarized entry slip for Polly Ames' vault account.

The clerk says, uh, wait a minute.

When I get some slips, he changed his mind and walked out.

I said to myself, why is she being so generous all of a sudden?

Then I said to myself, maybe she feels guilty about the money.

Then I said to myself, not this kid, not this alley cat, not this street fighter.

Then it came to me.

I go to the bank, I walk in a vault, and the clerk calls the cops.

Surprised, the cops blow me away.

And poor Polly gets a deal from the D.A.

because you suffered enough.

No, Ben.

You're safe. I won't die.

I just didn't want him to know what I was.

But I know you, doll.

We come from the same place.

Don't you want the money?

I want it and I'm going to get it.

We both are hand in hand.

We go to that bank and we go take a long trip, maybe Argentina.

No, Ben. Take the money, please.

All of it.

Hey, you go with me or we wait here and he dies and you go with me anyway.

One way or the other, I've got to close the door on this.

Hey, I just left Dr. Athas and she said you can go to the hospital right now.

She wants to do some...

No, Polly, that means his home.

For you?

Or for me?

Hey, now listen to me.

This looks good.

Tell me.

Just tell me.

If you hadn't made me

I told you, let's get you well first and then we'll find out.

Go through that again.

Another doctor.

More hope.

Another kick in the face.

Polly, this doctor is the best.

She says there's hope.

I had hope once.

Only I didn't need it to come from a doctor.

Or a lousy cop.

If you want to do something really great, just stay out of my life.

Cracker!

Why do I have to look at pictures?

I did that before.

Do you know how much business I'm losing?

I've got a loyal clientele.

So Polly Ames, the model for the first salons that have been hit this year,

including Burbridge.

What does that prove?

She was from Cleveland.

What?

Jamie Webb was from Cleveland.

So?

So Jamie Webb had two friends from Cleveland.

And the three of them, they met at a bar.

You ask me how I know that?

Well, we ID'd Webb at the bar.

We also verified that Webb delivered to a fence each time in the day after the job.

And the fence paid off three days later.

And Polly Ames, she visited her safety deposit vault on the same day.

Bobby, she was their lookout.

You call that evidence?

You're a cop? What do you call it?

That's him.

That's the guy.

Jamie's friend.

Bobby!

Bobby!

Bernadette just made an idea on this guy right here.

Ben Wiley, Cleveland.

Cracker!

He just took off.

Let's go get a drink somewhere, huh?

Go get that money.

I'll find a good doctor in Argentina.

Who would I find?

That's Polly, I know.

Let's go.

That's everything, Captain.

Including the fact that Dr. Riddle said that she could help her.

Have her sign it.

Yes, sir.

I know what I said.

You okay?

Yes.

Take care.

Bobby!

I'm sorry that I didn't meet you before... before all of this.

You don't look right past me to the good -looking guys.

No.

You won't be there forever.

Okay?

Okay.

He still believes in you.

And you?

I just didn't want him to find out.

I guess I knew that he would sooner or later.

I just wanted it to last.

Well, the next time you see him... tell him.