The Scarf (1951) - full transcript
A man believe to have murdered a woman, escapes from the insane asylum to find if he was the one to actually kill her using the scarf she was wearing.
Subtitles: Lu?s Filipe Bernardes
Sleep is better than medicine,
they say.
And you slept more than once
around the clock.
That's enough to cure an elephant.
Can't make out where you are,
can you?
What do you care?
You're alive, and you're not
supposed to be.
My watchdogs, 845 of them to be exact,
told me to go out after you.
If it wasn't for those cagy
little beasts...
...some coyote would have had
you for breakfast.
Easy now, son!
Easy, I said.
Freeze your hands.
There you are.
Well, that's the beauty of a bullet.
Talks everybody's language.
Before a bullet, all men are equal,
like in the Constitution.
A bullet has authority.
There's no two ways about it.
I believe in authority, don't you?
Not given to talking, are you, son?
I get you, son, I get you.
Same here.
I came here fifteen years ago
to be by myself.
Haven't got a mirror in the place.
Even my reflection's too much company.
Let me tell you something.
You're either a fool, or you're bats.
Does the word "bats" mean anything
to you, outside of baseball?
You know, I could have gotten nosy
while you were slumbering.
But I didn't.
I believe that a man's body
is strictly...
...private territory and I'm
no trespasser.
Ah-ah-ah, keep them mitts
up at the ceiling.
As if you want to be congenial.
If not, you've got yourself a partner
and we'll make the fur fly.
I don't mind wrecking the place
for a good cause.
Time to get acquainted, son.
Take off the coat.
Turn around.
How's the dungeon these days?
Fine.
Why don't you try it, they still have
some vacancies.
Alright, son, perfectly alright.
Your feet must as raw as
horse meat.
Sit down.
How long have you been
in the dungeon?
Forever and ever.
How long?
Two years.
Ezra's the name.
Ezra Thompson.
Cactus, if you wanna be chummy.
Yours?
John Howard Barrington.
What's the difference?
No difference, just want to know
what to call you, that's all.
You know what to call me. You called
me a fool, you said I was bats.
That's right.
You are a fool.
And I'll tell you why.
The last one tried to
beat the dungeon...
...wound up in my turkey coop.
About twelve years ago.
An old geezer, real old.
Grandpa, I said to him,
As one old gooseberry to another,
you haven't got a chance.
Why, it's ten miles from here
to the dungeon.
And how long did it take you
to make it?
Ten hours, said Grandpa.
And he could hardly talk.
Ten hours, I said.
Ten hours of fighting the
desert on foot...
Why, you nearly about
killed yourself.
Boundless and bare.
The lone and level sands stretch
far away.
You think you've made it
because you're here.
That's what Grandpa thought.
You know what I told him?
Grandpa, I said,
I'm gonna turn you right in.
Why, said Grandpa.
Why don't you let me go?
Let you go, I said.
Where to?
The next town, where everybody's
waiting for you, not only the law?
You're a marked man.
Pick yourself up and eat.
Turkey Mulligatawny
My own special.
Ezra's desert delight, they call it.
Not a burp in a potfull.
Ezra's desert delight.
Next to the Grand Canyon, it's the
greatest thing west of the Mississippi.
Yeah... darn better than the old
smelling salts, eh, son?
Let me ask you something.
Do you really believe violence
is the way out?
I'm sorry.
Sorry.
That's all I ever hear.
I hate the word.
Should be stricken from the English
language by Act of Congress.
Just say sorry and all guilt
is dismissed.
Sorry. It's like a sponge.
What ever it is, it wipes it off,
just like that.
I lost my head.
Twice in one day you lost
your head.
Twice?
Well, you must have been out of
your mind to go over the wall.
We all are where I come from.
Are you, really?
I can't answer that. The more I deny it,
the more you'd believe it.
Hm, suppose so.
Frankly, I don't know.
That's why I ran away,
to find out.
To make sure.
How?
I don't know.
Yet.
More?
Hm, please.
What are you gonna do?
- Do what?
- About me.
You want my two cents worth?
Go back, save trouble for both of us.
Go back?
To that pesthole of creatures
with bodies and...
...no minds?
Oh, I see.
You're different.
You're persecuted, is that what
you're trying to tell me?
Yes.
And no.
That's a good answer.
Sometimes I feel I'm persecuted,
and sometimes, I don't.
- Insanity.
- Insanity?
What would you say insanity is?
I should know, shouldn't I?
If you did, you wouldn't be
where you are.
I may not know all the answers
but some.
Insanity is the lack of knowledge
between right and wrong, they say.
Not in the abstract, mind you.
But in the particular act.
Particular act.
What act?
Whatever it is you've done
against society.
The crime.
What was your particular act?
I don't know!
I can't remember!
I feel no guilt whatsoever.
That's why they say I'm
out of my mind.
Does that make sense?
Doesn't it?
I don't know.
I'm awfully confused.
If I have no sense of guilt,
and I haven't,
then maybe I didn't do what they
accuse me of.
Maybe...
...I'm innocent.
Who gave you that notion?
No one.
They said I was insane. They had evidence
to prove it and I believed them.
Well, I don't anymore.
From now on I have to prove
it to myself.
I have to find out...
...whether I committed that
crime or not.
- Suppose you did.
- If I did...
- I'd give myself up.
- And you expect me to believe that?
It wasn't until the other day that
my mind began kicking up.
Now I feel that somewhere there's...
...something I don't know which
I should know.
What's that?
Funny how it started.
I was down on my knees
scrubbing the floor.
It was in the section where
they keep the violent cases.
The homicidal ones.
Everything was as usual.
Some of them were lying on their cots
in their everlasting stupor.
Some were pacing up and down
their cages.
Up and down, up and down.
Walking around the world over the years
within a space of no more than five feet.
One of the inmates was coming
down the corridor toward me.
Whoopie, they called him.
A friendly little fellow,
harmless as a kitten.
Next thing I heard was
Gargantua's voice.
"Whoopie," Gargantua, coaxed,
"Come over here, boy, I got
a story for you."
They whispered together and I went
back to my scrubbing.
Suddenly there was a terrifying scream.
I wanted to get at them,
to separate them.
I wanted to but I couldn't.
I couldn't move.
O was paralyzed.
I wanted to yell but there was
no voice left in me.
I couldn't get to her,
I couldn't help her.
Her?
Did I say her?
Why, him, I meant him.
Yes, that's what I thought.
Sounds familiar, doesn't it?
Yeah, I heard it on the way
up here, I believe.
The watchdogs, remember?
My turkeys.
Anybody comes within two miles
of here I know about it at once.
You're expecting anybody?
Why, no. But folks around here don't
wait for no written invitation.
- Warden!
- How's the old rattlesnake?
Oh, don't flatter me, Warden.
The light in your window said
come in, so we came in.
- Hello, Ezra.
- Hiya, Pete.
Hello, Doc, hi!
How about a little round
of hearts, huh?
Might have better luck this time.
Shallow men believe in luck. Strong men
believe in cause and effect.
A half'll get you a buck.
Who said that?
Emerson.
Forget the game. That's all you'll
get out of me tonight.
- I'll get you one of these days.
- I could go for some liquid.
Alright. Something for the throat?
Um, something for the brain.
Something for the brain.
Can't do me no harm.
I got no brain.
Tell me another little synopse.
I feel like I've been through
a Mixmaster.
- Some rough day we had.
- I imagine so.
Why?
- Why what?
- I said we had a rough day.
That's right, why say it twice?
And you said "I imagine so".
That's right.
Just figured you fellas had
some trouble, that's all.
How did you know?
- Hear something on the radio.
- You have no radio.
That's right.
You call that funny.
Why, no, no.
An old bushwacker like me trying
to be funny,
now that would be silly,
wouldn't it?
- Who told you?
- My turkeys.
Mind letting me in on the
turkey secret?
Oh now, fellas, there's no need
of getting excited.
Whatever it is you know more
about it than I do.
All I know is two hours ago
my turkeys started acting up.
- That's all.
- Somebody come by here?
I went outside, but didn't
see anybody.
It was dark. I heard no car.
So whoever it was must have been
navigating on their own power.
That's him alright.
- Who's him?
- One of our inmates...
...who decided to go for a little air.
Oh, just like that, huh?
You know better. It takes a lot
of help and a lot of cunning.
He had both.
Crazy like a fox.
Most of them know when they go
for a walk they're doomed.
He's so far gone, he didn't
even realize that.
He'll be dead before morning.
He will, eh?
If not, and he manages to reach town,
they're ready for him.
We've just come from there.
There'll be a reward of $200
on his head.
- That dangerous, huh?
- A killer.
They gave him the death penalty.
And then the sentence was commuted
to life imprisonment in the asylum.
Suppose he manages to stay
on his feet...
...and you don't catch him.
I even hate to think about it.
Look at you, all of you!
Big shots!
Why, you're scared spitless.
We're on the spot, he isn't.
He's one of those I-don't-remember
cases.
And what has he got to lose?
As long as the governor has
no ulcers,
loss of memory is a passport
to immunity from the hot seat.
You think he's faking?
No, I don't.
If he were, he'd be normal.
He'd be just an ordinary liar.
His brain would act as a brake
on his emotion.
But he's not. And that's the danger.
A medical professor of Harvard
once said...
Attention, please, the sage
of the sagebrush talking.
I firmly believe, the professor said,
that if the whole materia medica...
were sunk to the bottom of the sea...
- it would be all the better.
- I know that one.
It would be all the better for mankind
and all the worse for the fish.
Very funny. Proves what?
Proves we stink.
You, I, all of us!
That's what it proves!
Humph. There's a killer on the prowl
and we're the ones who stink.
He doesn't, we do.
If he's insane, he's sick.
- And if he's sick, he needs help.
- But he doesn't want help.
Oh, maybe he does.
Don't be funny.
Is that why he broke out,
to look for another doctor?
No. To look for another victim.
- Who was the first one?
- Rosemarie, his girlfriend.
Coed at Southern California, where he got
his law degree just before the killing.
The boy was adopted. His foster father
is Cyrus Barrington.
Does that mean anything to you?
Not exactly.
Sounds like...
...chairman of the board, or something.
Like oil... or big steel.
What interests me is what's underneath
that glossy surface.
What about the real parents?
It might be a case of hereditary
insanity.
We have no way of knowing.
We can't dig into his past.
He has no past. He has no family
that could give us a clue.
That isn't the point, Doc.
There hasn't been one successful escape
in the annals of the institution.
And I'm going to see to it
that it stays that way.
- Good night.
- Night, Warden.
Good night, Ezra. Thanks for
that brain stuff.
Come on in, son.
You got the green light.
You know, you're a strange duck.
What's strange about me?
- I'm an open book.
- Yeah, in sanskrit.
Why didn't you turn me in?
Why didn't you?
You got something there, son.
Why didn't I?
Why the deuce didn't I?
I'll tell you.
I know what it is being fenced in.
I got sick of jealousies and conventions.
A million elbows in my ribs.
The smugness of the human mind...
which pretends progress and
civilization...
...and has nothing to show but
depressions and destruction.
I'd rather argue with turkeys
and books.
Talk to a growing plant.
And have the howling wilderness
sing me a lullaby.
Nothing ever happens around here.
But when it does...
...it must mean something.
Call it fate.
Call it a challenge.
I'm not superstitious.
But I just guess I have to meet it.
Caught.
That's what it amounts to.
And you're out two hundred bucks.
That's right, son.
Besides being full of fancy fumes...
...I'm no businessman, I reckon.
I'll get the money though.
Don't you worry.
How?
I'll put you to work.
Fifty bucks a week.
Four weeks, two hundred bucks.
Maybe I am a businessman.
Of all noises, I think music is
the least disagreeable.
Don't you?
You heard what the man said.
I'm a killer, a menace.
And I'm an accessory after the fact.
You may have the life of an
innocent girl on your conscience.
If I did it the first time,
I might do it again, if it's in me.
The man could be right.
You give yourself the benefit
of the doubt, don't you?
That's all I do.
Mr. Cyrus Barrington, Warden.
- Gentlemen.
- I'm Warden Anderson.
Dr. Gordon, head of our medical staff.
Dr. David Dunbar, friend of the family.
- Won't you be seated, gentlemen?
- Thank you.
Dr. Dunbar calls himself my
severest critic.
I call him a nuisance.
I have a confession to make, Doctor.
- I'm allergic to irrelevant laughter.
- An Englishman. No sense of humor.
What do you expect?
I didn't mean to offend you.
Oh, I beg your pardon, Doctor, actually,
I'm as meek as a turtle dove.
I understand, we all have our
little idiosyncracies.
The California Sunshine has converted
Dr. Dunbar into a native.
Not only the Sunshine, all the
Chamber of Commerce.
Actually, John and I met during
the blitz in London...
he asked me over here on a visit and I've
been the man who came to dinner ever since.
And you're a physician, Doctor?
I don't know how you expect me
to answer that. I'm a psychologist.
Oh... You're practicing here now?
I'm afraid so, yes.
I don't know whether you gentlemen
suspect the nature of this meeting.
I suppose it has something to do with
the unfortunate event involving your son...
My adopted son.
I understand there's a reward of $200
offered for the boy's capture.
That's correct.
Do you believe that is a sufficient
incentive for those looking for him?
Even if there wasn't any reward
at all, Mr. Barrington,
our men would keep on looking for him.
They're employees of the state.
Yes, but if some private citizen should,
uh, let us say, get involved.
If a private citizen should become
his accomplice,
I'm afraid money won't talk.
I'm fully aware of my responsibility.
Your responsibility?
What Mr. Barrington wants
to say, I think,
is that he feels it his duty to society
to prevent a repetition of this tragedy.
And how does Mr. Barrington propose
to do his duty to society?
I'm prepared to raise the
reward to $5.000.
You'll notice that the check
is certified.
Hm.
I don't think it'll serve its purpose,
Mr. Barrington.
If you two gentlemen would cooperate,
there is a way to ease the tension
on Mr. Barrington.
- Is there?
- Mr. Barrington feels...
that until John is recaptured,
he is entitled to...
...protection.
Yes, uh, in view of the psychological
complications involved,
I believe the suggestion is not
an unreasonable one.
Thank you, gentlemen.
- Goodbye, Warden.
- Good day.
- Glad to have met you, Doctor.
- Doctor.
Poor grief-stricken father.
He's full of fear, that's what he is.
So are we.
What did he do when John
was indicted?
He disinherited him.
That was one of his responsibilities
to society, I imagine.
What else could he have done?
Left a fortune to a lunatic?
Cyrus Barrington.
Story of a success.
That story was written
with ice, Warden.
Cactus, the old gopher, was right.
We stink, but good.
- Barrington has a point, though.
- Has he?
- It might pay off to watch his place.
- It might.
I hope it doesn't.
Fine thing for me to be saying.
What's the matter?
My annual reminder that age
is not only something...
...you fill out in an application blank.
Sciatica, the doctor calls it.
Colorful name for such a dread pain.
Wonderful language Latin is,
isn't it?
- Anything I can do?
- Sure can.
Keep up the good work.
You remember when I told you
watch me, watch me from dawn till dusk...
...and you'll get the hang of it?
Well, it didn't take you long, did it?
- Three weeks.
- Let me look at your paws.
Ha, callouses!
The dog tag of hard labor.
It agrees with you, doesn't it, son?
You know, I think I'll put an add
in the paper.
Feeling low, feeling run down?
No pep, no joie de vivre?
Then spend a few weeks at
Thompson's Turkey Ranch.
Guaranteed to restore your appetite,
your muscles, your vim and vigour...
...and all your natural hankerings.
And every day, Thanksgiving Day.
Confounded beasts, they keep
you worried, don't they?
I get sick, so what, I get well.
One of them falls sick and ten to one
he's a dead one.
We're practically out of feed
for these chickens.
I know. I gotta go to town.
Well, you can't, not with your
bones all locked up.
- I got to.
- I'll go for you.
Oh, you're crazy!
I'm sorry, I forgot about that.
Oh now, cut it out, son!
You know I didn't mean it that way!
- You don't trust me, huh?
- I do, but the police don't.
Now look, you're not gonna
risk everything...
...for a bunch of jangle-brained
birds, are you?
They mean your life.
Yes, and if you make one false
move, it means yours.
Not necessarily.
Don't get any ideas.
Don't try to be a hero.
I'm not a hero, but if only a hundred
of them die, it means a loss of $600.
You're just a stubborn fool.
Stubborn old fool, son, old fool,
I must insist.
An old fool is better than
a young one.
That's for sure.
Even a fool sometimes gives
good counsel.
An ancient Greek discovered that.
If you flip your wings, you'll be
heading for trouble.
You don't even think of it.
Say...
It's been two years now since they
took you out of circulation, that right?
Yes.
Haven't seen a girl since,
have you?
No.
Why?
Why? Woman is man's confusion.
You should know.
Hop in.
Whew!
Why don't you get it over with?
- Get over what?
- The conversation.
The yackety-yack.
- I don't know what you mean.
- Simple, mister, simple.
I've hitchhiked before.
I know what goes with it.
Everytime my neighbor's a guy
behind the wheel...
...there's a lot of dialogue thrown
my way.
It turns my stomach.
But that's the charge for the hospitality.
Go ahead, mister, turn my stomach.
What to you want to know?
I don't want to know anything.
You're not the curious type?
Definitely not.
- That's a new one. You kidding?
- No.
You must be.
Why did you stop in the first place?
I wonder.
I know.
I look like a heck of a nice
girl to you, don't I?
Frankly, no.
You just haven't around to it yet,
believe me.
Well, mister, I'll give you a break.
You might as well know it now.
I'm no lily, not at all.
My morals have no zipper.
Let it go at that.
And don't try to save my
beautiful soul, it kills me.
- Why should I?
- You shouldn't.
But you would.
You'd wind up telling me that underneath
this hard-boiled surface of mine...
...there must be something soft
as a powder puff.
- There isn't, mister.
- Interesting.
Getting to know you, I'm getting
to know myself.
Service is on the house.
That's as far as it goes.
"Cash and Carry" Connie, they
call me.
I worked in a drive-in and I had
that embroidered across my jacket.
My father used to say money
makes the man.
As far as I'm concerned money
makes the woman too.
He only said it.
I mean it.
It's just being realistic.
Get it?
That isn't hard to get.
Look, a man of the world.
I'm glad we understand each other.
There's nothing else to be
discussed, is there?
Do you mind if I take a nap now?
I've known all sorts of people.
- But you're sorta all by yourself.
- Don't say that!
- What's eating you?
- It's not true, I'm not different.
- Alright, you're not.
- You hardly know me...
...and yet you say I'm different, why?
We've been here now for
an hour or so.
We nothing but look at the sun,
listen to the wind...
It's kinda boring, don't you think?
I'd rather look at myself in the mirror
and make faces.
I'm satisfied.
To me it's an image spelling freedom.
- Where are you headed for?
- Los Angeles.
Employed, yes.
Profession, singing waitress.
You got a voice?
If I had a voice I wouldn't be singing
while serving knockout drops.
- What's needed for a job like that?
- Nothing.
Except a boss who likes you.
Who's he?
A fellow named Level Louie.
A beer joint on South Main,
big time.
Gifts for important customers.
- Gifts?
- hm-hmm.
Brass knuckles for the ladies,
guns for the gentlemen.
- No!
- Yes.
I'll show you how Level Louie is.
The guns are loaded.
And his checks are good.
What are you doing here then?
Ah, vacation.
I do a good job on a dude ranch
about 20 miles from here.
La Casa Gustavo, they call it.
Don't ask me who the boss is.
He's a guy by the name of Gustavo.
- Singing waitress?
- No.
Waitresses there don't sing,
they cry.
They act as doctors, and barbers...
All you ever discuss with the guests
is their stomachs, the weather.
No dough, no fun. Just the smell
of milk and fertilizer.
- How long did you hold on?
- Six weeks, that's all you can take.
After that you start yelling again,
"Main Street, here I come!".
It's getting chilly.
I have to protect my source of income.
Where did you get this scarf?
You ask the funniest questions.
- Where did you get this scarf?
- What difference does it make?
I want to know who gave you
this scarf.
And you're not the curious type,
oh, no, definitely not, not you.
- Tell me!
- Alright.
You're too wacky for me, mister.
The Dollar Chain stores gave
it to me for 89c.
And what's all the breeze about
a cheap piece of silk?
- I'm sure I've seen this scarf before.
- Sure you're sure.
You think for 89c you get an exclusive?
It was around a girl's neck,
just like yours.
Don't...
You're tickling me.
It's getting late.
Sure you won't come in?
- No, thanks.
- Alright.
Maybe I'll run into you again
sometime.
- Didn't you forget something?
- Did I?
You promised to lend me ten dollars
for my bus fare.
- I'll be right back.
- Suppose you're not.
It won't take any long.
Never thought Ezra would go in
for anything like that.
What do you mean?
- You're his hired hand, you say?
- That's right.
Hard to take from old Ezra.
- Guess he's getting old.
- He's been old ever since I've knowed him.
Never needed nobody.
- He isn't feeling so well these days.
- Well, who is?
That's right.
Mind if I get personal?
No.
You sorta look like I've seen
you before.
This face of mine comes in carloads.
It ain't the face, it's what's
in the face.
Yours tells a tale, friend, er...
Been around these parts for long?
For a while.
Worked on a ranch before.
Where?
Casa Gustavo.
Gus? What do you know?
Bet he didn't tell you he used
to be a wrestler.
He used to do his stuff right here
at the Legion Hall.
Boy, he had arms like a pipeline.
Good boy, Gus.
That should do it.
Well, I hate to see Cactus
going softy.
- You tell him will ya?
- Sure will.
A deal's a deal, I always say.
No two ways about it.
Three drinks, that's a dollar fifty.
Plus fifty cents for you, Jack.
That makes two dollars even, right?
Yeah, that's right.
- Much obliged, y'all.
- That's alright.
Now, for each drink, we chip in
an equal amount for the lady.
That's the deal.
That makes 75c for each
of us, Sid.
There, here's my share, lady.
There you are.
And here's Sid's.
Lady.
Hey, you!
Excuse me, boys.
Excuse me nothing.
- It's a friend of mine.
- Who's a friend of yours?
This one?
That ain't no friend of yours.
We buy the drinks, don't we?
Where I come from who buys
the drinks is your friend.
That makes us your friends,
don't it?
Let me out of here.
- Bertha here says...
- My name ain't Bertha!
To me you're Bertha.
Bertha says beat it.
This guy's looking for a headache,
I can see that.
What do you say, Sid?
Bash him in the stomach first...
- then stoke his teeth in...
- Better start with the crackers. Better.
If you give it to him in the
bread basket,
no good, he's out. Where's the fun?
Makes sense, Sid.
Wanna play?
If not, hoof it out.
He wants to play.
You do wanna play!
This is gonna be good, eh, sister?
- Call the police.
- Police? What for?
Those two baboons will murder him.
Oh, don't worry about that.
That's just a friendly little get-together.
Are you out of your mind,
you stupid pigeon?
Alright, alright, but it's no good,
I tell you.
Get me the sheriff, please.
Bad for the reputation of the house
to mess with the law.
Keep everything in the family
and you're better off.
Hello, this is Jack, Sheriff,
the waiter.
Jack, over at the Silver Saddle!
Y-Yeah, uh-huh.
Hope I didn't disturb you, Sheriff.
Hey, get your hand away
from there!
There's a tomato here that insisted
on me calling you.
Why? Well, I'll tell you, sir.
It's a difference of opinion.
Yeah, I...
What's that?
Noise here?
What noise?
Oh, that!
That's three customers wailin' the Torah
out of each other.
Thanks.
Howdy, Sheriff.
Boys.
- Sheriff.
- Hi.
- What's the trouble?
- Trouble? No trouble.
- Just letting off steam, eh, Tom?
- That's right, Sheriff, you said it.
- Saturday nights, you know?
- No harm done.
No harm? They beat the bajeebers
out of the guy.
- We did?
- Did we?
What guy?
- He's gone, I guess.
- Who is "he"?
It's the guy she says they beat
the bajeebers out of.
We don't know him, do we?
- Uh-uh.
- Friend of Bertha's here.
- Well?
- I don't know.
- You said he was a friend of yours.
- He isn't any friend of mine.
- You said he was.
- I only knew him a few hours.
- What's his name?
- I don't know.
- What else don't you know about him?
- Nothing.
- Nothing?
- Nice fellow he was.
You in the habit of picking up strangers
just as long as they're nice?
I didn't pick him up, he picked me up.
- Do you know your name?
- Yes!
Great, let's have it.
- Connie Carter.
- Didn't you call her Bertha?
What do you wanna know, what he calls me
or what my birth certificate calls me?
- Your business here?
- None!
I wouldn't do any business here if you
gave me the key to this hick town.
- Easy, girl!
- I'm just passing through.
- Where to?
- L.A.!
And it's just where you're going,
right now.
There's a bus leaving here
in fifteen minutes.
- If I see you again, I'll pull you in.
- Why?
- You can't charge me with anything?
- Can't I?
Vagrancy, for instance?
How does that sound to you?
I'm no vagrant, I'm a waitress!
Never mind, you heard me.
Run along, miss.
We've been here now for
an hour or so.
We nothing but look at the sun,
listen to the wind...
It's kind of boring, don't you think?
I'm satisfied.
To me it's an image spelling
freedom.
Oh, Miss!
You forgot your purse.
Thanks.
Good morning.
It's me, don't get excited.
Don't tell me what to do,
you treacherous reptile.
It's a nice day, why spoil it?
Why, I haven't seen you since
yesterday noon.
- Where have you been?
- In town.
- Where did you sleep?
- Right here.
- Why didn't you come in?
- I didn't want to disturb you, you're sick.
Oh, I ought to beat your brains out,
except you haven't any.
I wish you were right.
If I didn't have a brain,
I wouldn't have a sick one.
- What happened?
- The turkeys are alright now.
- Are you?
- Sure.
- Tell me!
- There's nothing much to tell.
- How much?
- Hardly anything.
Hardly anything, eh?
- Get in a fight?
- Hm.
Barroom brawl, you know.
It starts for no reason.
No reason being a girl, of course.
Hm.
I hate to pull you the old
I-told-you-so stuff,
but I told you so, didn't I?
So what, I'm alright, I tell you.
Nobody recognized me.
Alright, so you're alright.
I borrowed $10 from the feed
money I took.
For the girl, of course.
Nothing like that, I'm not
interested in her.
Oh, certainly not.
She had a scarf I'm interested in.
Is that so?
I knew that scarf.
Must be quite a wench. Did she restore
your memory too?
No, she didn't, but...
...the scarf did somehow.
- Are you serious?
- Dead serious.
Rosemarie was strangled with
a scarf like that.
And?
That's all.
That's all?
You remembered.
For the first time you remembered.
- That's what matters.
- No, it doesn't.
It only shows I've lost all sense
of proportion.
I've lost all sense period.
I thought I had something.
What did I have?
A bubble that burst.
- Scared?
- I can't help it.
So far, at least, I've had doubts.
Doubts may wreck you, but they let you
believe what you want to believe.
Facts don't.
Suppose I am the one.
Suppose I am.
Suppose you aren't.
It's worth taking a chance, isn't it?
That's what I thought.
Right now I don't know.
- I'm afraid.
- Afraid?
Why? Chances don't ruin men.
You've got to take one to win one.
That's the way I look at it.
- Do you really?
- You wouldn't be here if I didn't.
You know that. Why make me
say it again, stupid?
And for heaven's sake,
don't say you're sorry.
I won't.
Did the scarf belong to Rosemarie?
Yes.
Gift of yours?
No, David gave it to her.
David?
A pal of mine, my best friend.
Heard from him lately?
No, I haven't.
I haven't heard from him at all.
There's a guy giving you the eye.
What do you want me to do?
Go over, shake his eye and say,
"How do you do"?
I don't like the look of his looks.
Probably a connaisseur looking
for atmosphere.
I'm the atmosphere, you know that.
It makes me nervous.
See what he wants.
What's your guess, Louis?
Silk underwear?
I'd say he wants booze.
Where is he?
Who is he?
- I don't know.
- Who is he?
- A cousin of mine.
- Sure.
- I call him an ex, you call him a cousin.
- Ex my foot.
- Something tells me...
- Shut up!
Something always tells you something.
Whatever it is, it's a lot of goulash.
Connie.
- Get out!
- What's the matter?
You're asking me?
Get out.
I have some business in town, I need
a room for the night. I thought...
I don't care what you thought,
get out.
- I have some money, if you help me...
- Don't con me, I don't want your dough.
Get out.
Well, give me a beer, it took me
three bottles to get here,
- I might as well have another one.
- Forget it.
- Now wait a minute.
- Get off my ear.
This ain't no bunk for guys
who take a powder.
- I don't know what you're talking about.
- You don't.
Let me ask you a question.
It sounds silly, but it isn't.
Do you know who you are?
Just answer yes or no.
Do you or don't you?
- Are you out of your mind?
- Look who's asking.
Certainly I know who I am.
Well listen, Mister, listen carefully.
So do I, get it? So do I.
You want it straight without
the dressing?
I know everything.
I know all about you.
Now, for the last time, get out.
I don't want any part of this mess,
not even the money.
I don't want any blood on my hands,
I don't want any trouble with the police,
I don't want to lose my job.
Is there enough left in your
upper strata to get that?
Scotch, quick.
I just had a nightmare.
All cousins are nightmares.
I hate cousins.
The gentleman says he's
a friend of yours.
He wants to see you for just
a few seconds.
Sorry, he refuses to give his name.
It's strictly confidential, he says.
Thank you, sir.
You may go in now.
Don't be alarmed.
Sit down.
Why have you come here?
I expected that question,
it deserves an answer.
- You read about my escape, I suppose.
- I did.
The papers didn't say anything about...
...my motive, did they?
- Motive?
- Yes.
Yes. I didn't escape to beat
the law.
I don't see any future in being
a fugitive from justice.
All I want to know is whether I did...
...what they claim I did.
And you're the one that can
give me the answer.
I?
What makes you think that?
What have I got to do with it?
Nothing, except that something's
happened since then...
..that made me remember.
You mean your memory's
functioning again?
Not entirely.
But I do remember that you were
with me when it happened.
That's correct... I was.
Do you recall anything else?
No.
Beyond that, my mind is still a blank.
I'm leaving now, Doctor.
All right... Oh, Miss Dean.
Call up this number, will you?
Tell them I'll be late.
All I want to know from you is this.
Why didn't you appear at the trial?
Why did you stay away from me when
they were smashing my life to bits?
Why didn't you come up and say,
wait a minute, gentlemen,
I know better, I was there!
That's just it.
I couldn't come to your rescue
'because' I knew better.
I don't get it.
I didn't want to incriminate you.
- You think I'm guilty.
- John...
I know you are.
Can you prove it to me?
If you want me to, I...
You can?
Hello, Mr. Barrington?
This is Dr. Dunbar's office.
The doctor wants you to know
your son is here.
He came in just a few minutes ago.
Yes, sir, that's all.
Let's have some night, shall we?
Night is the mother of thoughts,
didn't somebody say?
John, do you think it possible that you
did it and forgot the details?
It's just that I don't remember
it at all.
You're telling me that you did it.
How can I say when I have
no sense of guilt?
But you think that you did it.
- It could have been me, yes.
- Then why not say that you did it, hm?
I don't know.
I leave it to you.
Do you remember a scarf?
Yes, I do.
- The one you had given her.
- What made you remember it?
I saw it on another girl a few
weeks ago.
The same scarf?
One just like it.
What do you remember about
the scarf?
- Rosemarie had a scarf like that.
- When?
That evening.
What else do you remember
about it?
I can see her now.
The scarf was so tight it was cutting
into her neck.
Yes?
I don't want to think about it.
When you were at the hospital
you were insane, weren't you?
- I must have been.
- In that case, do you agree...
...that you must have been insane before
you were committed to the hospital?
I must have been.
Do you think you were so much out of your
mind that you might have done it?
- It's possible.
- Would you say that I'm insane?
- No.
- I was the only one with you, wasn't I?
- Yes.
- Then if you were the only one who was insane,
you were the one who did it.
Alright.
If you tell me so.
David... did you actually
see me do it?
Yes.
I'd gone for a walk.
When I came back to the hilltop,
...you were right in the midst of it.
- Why didn't you stop me?
- I couldn't.
I'll tell you why I couldn't.
The shock. As if I had plunged
into icy water.
My senses were numb,
I felt the blood rushing from
my brain, I couldn't move.
I wanted to, but I couldn't, I was...
...petrified.
Can you understand that?
Yes.
The same thing happened to me
at the hospital when that...
...poor fellow was strangled.
Exactly the same thing.
I did it.
Stay where you are.
Don't worry, I know now.
I would have given myself up.
That's what I had in mind all along.
Sure you had, we believe you.
We just came to give you
transportation.
There's a nice car waiting outside,
the latest model.
Dynaflow, radio, heater,
even a telephone.
How's that?
Hold it!
Feel better now?
# Summer rains #
# May come and go #
# When to look for them #
# No one knows #
# Unexpected as love #
- Tell me.
What's she got that I haven't got?
Shhh!
- I want to know.
- Later.
# As uncertain as life #
# The summer rains #
# In the tropical heat #
# All life seems in vain #
# Waiting for fate... #
Do you got any trouble?
# The summer rains #
Read it.
What do you want me to read,
Storm Warnings?
Storm warnings are up from
Point Conception to Newport Beach.
- Small craft warnings are up until 9 p.m.
- Cut it.
You asked me to read you something.
What happened to the guy?
- What guy?
- The headline!
- They got him.
- I know that, how?
His own father gave him away.
Can you top that?
They found him in a doctor's office.
Friend of his, too.
I always say, nice guys have
nice friends.
# Time stands still #
# Days pass by #
# On and on #
# On and on #
- Tell me.
- Shhh.
Shhh, nothing.
The last time I asked you
you said later.
Well, it's later now, isn't it?
It must be, it was earlier then.
All I wanna know is what she's got
I haven't got.
# Summer rains #
# Always too few #
# Will wash away #
# Your blues #
Two beers.
Thanks.
I'll tell you what she's got
I haven't got.
Nothing, absolutely nothing.
- You satisfied?
- Plenty.
Scotch, quick.
- Another nightmare?
- Worse than that.
This one you can't talk away.
You know, you're a one-woman show.
Even if you couldn't sing.
What now?
- Nothing.
- That's bad. Nothing means plenty.
Need any help, besides the scotch?
Thanks, Louie.
- There's a guy here...
- I know.
- Giving me the eye.
- That's right.
Take a look if you don't
believe me.
Who is he?
Silly question.
- I know the answer, you don't know.
- That's right, I don't.
- A cousin?
- No.
- Never say this moose in my life.
- Then he wants an appointment. Find out.
Whatever he is, he's a customer...
I hope
- Your name Connie?
- That's what my mother tells me.
- What'll it be?
- Ezra's mine. Ezra Thompson.
Glad to meet you. What'll it be?
- I'd like to talk to you, ma'am.
- Alright, talk.
This is just between you and me.
On the q.t, uh?
Under the belt.
Well, listen, mister, don't go any further.
Everything's public here,
including the phone.
Bring me a beer.
This guy gives me the creeps,
he wants to talk.
Imagine, he could be my grandfather.
- What else?
- A beer.
Beat it, I'll handle him.
Hiya, Pop, how are you this evening?
The handle is Louie, and I understand
you want to chew the fat.
I'm your man, what'll you chew?
You're as fresh as paint, ain't you?
The other way around, Pop.
They call me Level Louie.
Level, you get it?
Everything on the up and up,
straight as a deck, see?
- All clammed up, that's me.
- Well, then save your steam.
I want to talk to that girl.
Well now, she's pretty busy, Pop.
You know how it is.
But I tell you what we'll do.
You tell me, and I'll tell her.
I'd call you a nitwit, only I'm afraid
you might say it ain't polite.
You ain't gonna give us any
trouble, are you, Pop?
Maybe I will.
I came 250 miles to see that filly.
And that's how it's gonna be.
If not...
I'm gonna turn this moonshine
parlor into a mashed potato.
Now don't think I'm chucking
my weight around.
No, no, no.
Where I come from they ripen
with age.
They get more powerful as they go on.
Like old wine.
Say no more, Pop, I know what
you mean.
You're after my own heart. You don't mince
words, you play it fast and loose.
So then what are you chirping about?
Go and get her.
Time's wasting, see, and I don't
like waste.
Connie!
It all depends, I always say.
It all depends on how you handle things.
This way, that way, or the other way.
You see what I mean, Pop?
It all depends.
Yeah.
Sit down, sugar.
Pop's alright.
In fact, he's okay.
I mean it.
- Know him?
- Let me see that.
- I know that guy.
- Sure you do.
- Your cousin.
- I told you he ain't. No more than he is.
He was here last night, sitting
right where you're parked.
- What did he say?
- He couldn't say much.
- I threw him out.
- Well, he thought you were his friend.
That's why he came.
But he was wrong.
Don't you understand,
I knew who he was.
- You did!
- I was afraid.
Well, if you feel that way,
why didn't you go and collect
the money?
- Why didn't you?
- I couldn't.
See, when I first met him,
he came in out of the night like
a wounded deer.
He was alone in the desert,
alone in the world.
I felt for him, I felt for him badly.
So did I.
Yeah, but you threw him right
back to the wolves.
I didn't want to get mixed up!
Well, I got mixed up, he worked
for me!
- You mean you were hiding him?
- Well, if you wanna be harsh about it.
Why, you could get five years
in the can.
I know, I skipped the rules.
But I just took a chance.
Pop, let me shake your hand.
That's something.
I call that a deed.
Is that the right word?
What happens to you if he
doubles up and squeals?
Now here's a yarn for you.
An innocent man believed
in an innocent man.
The innocent man couldn't prove his
innocence, that made him a criminal.
And because of that, the other
innocent man became a criminal.
He believed. That's all he did wrong.
Oh, no, there's many ways,
but only one a man can go.
How do you know which is which?
I had no more reason to help him
than you had.
In fact, I resented it.
But what good did it do?
Something told me no.
And something else said... yes.
Let's call it faith.
I got some.
I go to church.
Faith is the evidence of things
not seen, says the Bible.
Now that's what I mean when I say
that boy is not guilty.
He couldn't be, not if you know
him the way I do.
But it says here he confessed,
for the first time.
Oh, let him confess all over
the place.
Let him shout it from the rooftops.
He's not guilty, he just ain't
and that's all there is to it!
Bring us another drink.
What are you gonna have?
Scotch for her, same here.
I need a good belt.
This is rough.
Don't worry, Pop, it's on the house.
I feel green around the gills.
It's awful.
- This isn't the end yet, Miss.
- It isn't?
Not if you help me.
- What can I do?
- Plenty.
But you got to have
the stuff to do it.
I get goose pimples when you
talk like that.
This'll take care of goose pimples.
There's a man going by the boards who
has as clean a vest as you or I.
Mine ain't, Pop, I'm sorry to say.
Well, his is, anyhow.
They're gonna put that boy
down for the count.
Now, you don't want that
to happen, do you?
I don't get you, Pop.
I'm with you, I know.
I know from experience. I want nothing
to do with them cops.
Cops and cousins.
Ah, phooey!
Oh, Doc, over here.
We've been waiting for you.
I want you to meet my friend,
Dr. Gordon.
This is John's doctor at the Institution.
What are you trying to do,
tell me I'm crazy?
Somebody is, I have a notion,
but it ain't you.
I'm trying to help the boy,
and the doctor's going to help me.
Now, I've got an idea.
Maybe it'll work, maybe it won't.
- We need you, Miss.
- Ain't that cozy.
- Where do I come in, who helps me?
- I will.
You do like Pop says, sugar.
- If you say so, Louie.
- I say so. Pop's my pal.
Listen, Miss, it's just a little trick.
You'll manage, don't worry.
All you have to do is laugh.
- Laugh? Did you say laugh?
- That's right.
- Laugh about that?
- It doesn't matter.
About nothing at all if you want to.
It's part of a performance,
an act, so to speak.
- Understand?
- Did you hear that?
I told you this guy thinks I got
a leak in the attic.
Who wants to laugh about nothing?
- Shut up!
- Why? This ain't no laughing matter.
Shut up!
Go on, Doc.
I was called down here from Alcanta
to examine John again, after his recapture.
I understand, Doctor.
I'll be perfectly frank with you,
Dr. Dunbar.
His confession struck me
like a bombshell.
For no reason that I could detect...
he found his memory sufficiently
restored...
...to admit the crime.
John is my friend, I want to do
anything I can.
I don't think you can do a thing.
He stands convicted and now he's confessed.
He's talked himself right back
into the gas chamber.
What in your opinion brought
about the confession?
Would you say there was a link
between the confession...
...and the conversation you had
with him?
I'll make it easier for you, Doctor.
John came here with one purpose.
It had recurred to his mind that
I was a witness to the tragedy.
- Were you?
- Yes, I was, and I told him so.
He then asked me why I didn't
prevent him from...
Well, from doing what he did.
- A logical question, wouldn't you say?
- Perfectly.
I explained to him that the horrible sight
I was suddenly confronted with...
...threw me into a mental coma.
And he accepted that?
He did.
I understand you studied at
London University.
- Yes, I did.
- I'm a Stanford man.
Really, how interesting.
From what I gather there must be
a vital difference...
...in the interpretation of medical ideas
between our two countries.
I'm afraid I miss the point.
I was taught that a shock reaction,
such as the one you just described,
...simply doesn't exist.
- What do you mean?
- I mean...
You're lying, Doctor.
With your permission, I'll set aside
that remark for the moment.
If you reject the validity
of my analysis,
how do you explain John's behavior at
the hospital, right under your very eyes,
when he witnessed a murderous
attack on a fellow patient...
...and was unable to lift a finger?
You know the answer and so do I.
Unconsciously it came to him that
what he faced...
...was a repetition of a crime
he'd witnessed once before.
That frightening realization
crippled his reflexes.
- That is not what he told me.
- He couldn't tell you...
...because he's still not aware of it,
but I can. I can tell you something else.
You're the killer, and he's the witness
to prove it.
It's an interesting theory.
I'm told they call Stanford
The Farm.
I didn't know it was a detective farm.
Let's investigate your contention
for a moment, shall we?
If he was the witness,
why didn't he stop me?
His mental health had been
severely impaired.
He didn't even know he was
seeing anything.
He'd been struck on the head
with a sharp instrument.
- Is that what happened?
- The scars on the scalp were still there.
- They tell the story.
- What story?
Those scars are the evidence
of an injury which he received...
...while attempting to subdue
the girl.
He fell and his head struck a rock.
That's the story. The official story.
- It's on the record.
- It's on the record for lack of truth.
The police didn't know any better.
- You do.
- I don't.
- But you think you do.
- I don't think, I know.
I know you're lying, Doctor.
- Is that all?
- Not quite.
I also know your war record.
I know you were confined in
a psychopathic ward...
in Banstead, England, in 1942,
for six months.
And again in 1943, for three months.
As a soldier, is that necessarily
something to be ashamed of?
As a soldier, no. As a doctor, it might
have proven an obstacle.
It wasn't the California sunshine
that made you settle down here.
It was the need to camouflage
a past.
You're not a doctor, Doctor,
you're a mindreader.
- Where's your turban?
- You're not a doctor, Doctor.
You're a patient.
Good evening, Doctor.
I hope you're satisfied with
yourself, Doctor.
Extremely so.
Who are you?
- I'm Connie.
- Well, what do you want?
Who told you to come here?
Don't stare at me that way.
But how did you get in?
You're funny.
You make me laugh.
I do, do I?
Men shouldn't get dramatic.
Makes them look silly.
Silly?
You're no different from the others,
but you are honest about it.
Rosemarie, and John, and they rest,
they giggled.
Behind my back.
And giggling is worse than laughing.
- You know that, don't you?
- Cut it out!
- What's this all about?
- I'll tell you what it's all about!
You're all part of the scheme,
aren't you?
Rosemarie, the man who just left,
you and John.
My friend, John.
Why are you wearing that scarf?
Tell me, why?
Why not?
- It's mine.
- Oh, but it's more than that.
This isn't just a scarf...
any scarf.
Rosemarie was wearing a scarf
like this.
You're like her,
did you know that?
She was beautiful, so are you.
She laughed at me...
and so did you.
I remember exactly how I did it.
Exactly.
The scarf hung loose, just like that.
My hands made a knot...
like this...
Why don't you move?
Then my hands tightened the knot...
Like this.
Tighter... tighter...
And your eyes are begging me
for mercy, mercy, mercy!
All right, get it over with, laugh!
The doctor is allergic to
irrelevant laughter.
That's all I was to him, a source
of amusement.
But I got even with you.
For two years I laughed at you.
Say it.
Say I ruined your life.
Two years aren't a man's life.
Two years in the dungeon?
I was only haunted by four walls.
You were trapped in the dungeon
of your own conscience.
Don't worry about me.
I had a good time.
I was enjoying it so much
I couldn't leave.
I had to stay and see the end.
It was curiosity that killed
the cat, wasn't it?
Am I keeping you, gentlemen?
# In the tropical heat #
# All life seems in vain #
# Waiting for fate to bring #
# The summer rains #
Hey... For you.
Who's the angel?
The guy over there.
Seeya, Connie.
# Time stands still #
# Days pass by #
# On and on, on and on #
# There's no end #
- Time's up.
- Where are you going?
- Back.
- Home.
Home.
Boundless and bare.
- The lone and level sands...
- Stretch far away.
# Summer rain #
# Will wash away #
# Your blues #
Sleep is better than medicine,
they say.
And you slept more than once
around the clock.
That's enough to cure an elephant.
Can't make out where you are,
can you?
What do you care?
You're alive, and you're not
supposed to be.
My watchdogs, 845 of them to be exact,
told me to go out after you.
If it wasn't for those cagy
little beasts...
...some coyote would have had
you for breakfast.
Easy now, son!
Easy, I said.
Freeze your hands.
There you are.
Well, that's the beauty of a bullet.
Talks everybody's language.
Before a bullet, all men are equal,
like in the Constitution.
A bullet has authority.
There's no two ways about it.
I believe in authority, don't you?
Not given to talking, are you, son?
I get you, son, I get you.
Same here.
I came here fifteen years ago
to be by myself.
Haven't got a mirror in the place.
Even my reflection's too much company.
Let me tell you something.
You're either a fool, or you're bats.
Does the word "bats" mean anything
to you, outside of baseball?
You know, I could have gotten nosy
while you were slumbering.
But I didn't.
I believe that a man's body
is strictly...
...private territory and I'm
no trespasser.
Ah-ah-ah, keep them mitts
up at the ceiling.
As if you want to be congenial.
If not, you've got yourself a partner
and we'll make the fur fly.
I don't mind wrecking the place
for a good cause.
Time to get acquainted, son.
Take off the coat.
Turn around.
How's the dungeon these days?
Fine.
Why don't you try it, they still have
some vacancies.
Alright, son, perfectly alright.
Your feet must as raw as
horse meat.
Sit down.
How long have you been
in the dungeon?
Forever and ever.
How long?
Two years.
Ezra's the name.
Ezra Thompson.
Cactus, if you wanna be chummy.
Yours?
John Howard Barrington.
What's the difference?
No difference, just want to know
what to call you, that's all.
You know what to call me. You called
me a fool, you said I was bats.
That's right.
You are a fool.
And I'll tell you why.
The last one tried to
beat the dungeon...
...wound up in my turkey coop.
About twelve years ago.
An old geezer, real old.
Grandpa, I said to him,
As one old gooseberry to another,
you haven't got a chance.
Why, it's ten miles from here
to the dungeon.
And how long did it take you
to make it?
Ten hours, said Grandpa.
And he could hardly talk.
Ten hours, I said.
Ten hours of fighting the
desert on foot...
Why, you nearly about
killed yourself.
Boundless and bare.
The lone and level sands stretch
far away.
You think you've made it
because you're here.
That's what Grandpa thought.
You know what I told him?
Grandpa, I said,
I'm gonna turn you right in.
Why, said Grandpa.
Why don't you let me go?
Let you go, I said.
Where to?
The next town, where everybody's
waiting for you, not only the law?
You're a marked man.
Pick yourself up and eat.
Turkey Mulligatawny
My own special.
Ezra's desert delight, they call it.
Not a burp in a potfull.
Ezra's desert delight.
Next to the Grand Canyon, it's the
greatest thing west of the Mississippi.
Yeah... darn better than the old
smelling salts, eh, son?
Let me ask you something.
Do you really believe violence
is the way out?
I'm sorry.
Sorry.
That's all I ever hear.
I hate the word.
Should be stricken from the English
language by Act of Congress.
Just say sorry and all guilt
is dismissed.
Sorry. It's like a sponge.
What ever it is, it wipes it off,
just like that.
I lost my head.
Twice in one day you lost
your head.
Twice?
Well, you must have been out of
your mind to go over the wall.
We all are where I come from.
Are you, really?
I can't answer that. The more I deny it,
the more you'd believe it.
Hm, suppose so.
Frankly, I don't know.
That's why I ran away,
to find out.
To make sure.
How?
I don't know.
Yet.
More?
Hm, please.
What are you gonna do?
- Do what?
- About me.
You want my two cents worth?
Go back, save trouble for both of us.
Go back?
To that pesthole of creatures
with bodies and...
...no minds?
Oh, I see.
You're different.
You're persecuted, is that what
you're trying to tell me?
Yes.
And no.
That's a good answer.
Sometimes I feel I'm persecuted,
and sometimes, I don't.
- Insanity.
- Insanity?
What would you say insanity is?
I should know, shouldn't I?
If you did, you wouldn't be
where you are.
I may not know all the answers
but some.
Insanity is the lack of knowledge
between right and wrong, they say.
Not in the abstract, mind you.
But in the particular act.
Particular act.
What act?
Whatever it is you've done
against society.
The crime.
What was your particular act?
I don't know!
I can't remember!
I feel no guilt whatsoever.
That's why they say I'm
out of my mind.
Does that make sense?
Doesn't it?
I don't know.
I'm awfully confused.
If I have no sense of guilt,
and I haven't,
then maybe I didn't do what they
accuse me of.
Maybe...
...I'm innocent.
Who gave you that notion?
No one.
They said I was insane. They had evidence
to prove it and I believed them.
Well, I don't anymore.
From now on I have to prove
it to myself.
I have to find out...
...whether I committed that
crime or not.
- Suppose you did.
- If I did...
- I'd give myself up.
- And you expect me to believe that?
It wasn't until the other day that
my mind began kicking up.
Now I feel that somewhere there's...
...something I don't know which
I should know.
What's that?
Funny how it started.
I was down on my knees
scrubbing the floor.
It was in the section where
they keep the violent cases.
The homicidal ones.
Everything was as usual.
Some of them were lying on their cots
in their everlasting stupor.
Some were pacing up and down
their cages.
Up and down, up and down.
Walking around the world over the years
within a space of no more than five feet.
One of the inmates was coming
down the corridor toward me.
Whoopie, they called him.
A friendly little fellow,
harmless as a kitten.
Next thing I heard was
Gargantua's voice.
"Whoopie," Gargantua, coaxed,
"Come over here, boy, I got
a story for you."
They whispered together and I went
back to my scrubbing.
Suddenly there was a terrifying scream.
I wanted to get at them,
to separate them.
I wanted to but I couldn't.
I couldn't move.
O was paralyzed.
I wanted to yell but there was
no voice left in me.
I couldn't get to her,
I couldn't help her.
Her?
Did I say her?
Why, him, I meant him.
Yes, that's what I thought.
Sounds familiar, doesn't it?
Yeah, I heard it on the way
up here, I believe.
The watchdogs, remember?
My turkeys.
Anybody comes within two miles
of here I know about it at once.
You're expecting anybody?
Why, no. But folks around here don't
wait for no written invitation.
- Warden!
- How's the old rattlesnake?
Oh, don't flatter me, Warden.
The light in your window said
come in, so we came in.
- Hello, Ezra.
- Hiya, Pete.
Hello, Doc, hi!
How about a little round
of hearts, huh?
Might have better luck this time.
Shallow men believe in luck. Strong men
believe in cause and effect.
A half'll get you a buck.
Who said that?
Emerson.
Forget the game. That's all you'll
get out of me tonight.
- I'll get you one of these days.
- I could go for some liquid.
Alright. Something for the throat?
Um, something for the brain.
Something for the brain.
Can't do me no harm.
I got no brain.
Tell me another little synopse.
I feel like I've been through
a Mixmaster.
- Some rough day we had.
- I imagine so.
Why?
- Why what?
- I said we had a rough day.
That's right, why say it twice?
And you said "I imagine so".
That's right.
Just figured you fellas had
some trouble, that's all.
How did you know?
- Hear something on the radio.
- You have no radio.
That's right.
You call that funny.
Why, no, no.
An old bushwacker like me trying
to be funny,
now that would be silly,
wouldn't it?
- Who told you?
- My turkeys.
Mind letting me in on the
turkey secret?
Oh now, fellas, there's no need
of getting excited.
Whatever it is you know more
about it than I do.
All I know is two hours ago
my turkeys started acting up.
- That's all.
- Somebody come by here?
I went outside, but didn't
see anybody.
It was dark. I heard no car.
So whoever it was must have been
navigating on their own power.
That's him alright.
- Who's him?
- One of our inmates...
...who decided to go for a little air.
Oh, just like that, huh?
You know better. It takes a lot
of help and a lot of cunning.
He had both.
Crazy like a fox.
Most of them know when they go
for a walk they're doomed.
He's so far gone, he didn't
even realize that.
He'll be dead before morning.
He will, eh?
If not, and he manages to reach town,
they're ready for him.
We've just come from there.
There'll be a reward of $200
on his head.
- That dangerous, huh?
- A killer.
They gave him the death penalty.
And then the sentence was commuted
to life imprisonment in the asylum.
Suppose he manages to stay
on his feet...
...and you don't catch him.
I even hate to think about it.
Look at you, all of you!
Big shots!
Why, you're scared spitless.
We're on the spot, he isn't.
He's one of those I-don't-remember
cases.
And what has he got to lose?
As long as the governor has
no ulcers,
loss of memory is a passport
to immunity from the hot seat.
You think he's faking?
No, I don't.
If he were, he'd be normal.
He'd be just an ordinary liar.
His brain would act as a brake
on his emotion.
But he's not. And that's the danger.
A medical professor of Harvard
once said...
Attention, please, the sage
of the sagebrush talking.
I firmly believe, the professor said,
that if the whole materia medica...
were sunk to the bottom of the sea...
- it would be all the better.
- I know that one.
It would be all the better for mankind
and all the worse for the fish.
Very funny. Proves what?
Proves we stink.
You, I, all of us!
That's what it proves!
Humph. There's a killer on the prowl
and we're the ones who stink.
He doesn't, we do.
If he's insane, he's sick.
- And if he's sick, he needs help.
- But he doesn't want help.
Oh, maybe he does.
Don't be funny.
Is that why he broke out,
to look for another doctor?
No. To look for another victim.
- Who was the first one?
- Rosemarie, his girlfriend.
Coed at Southern California, where he got
his law degree just before the killing.
The boy was adopted. His foster father
is Cyrus Barrington.
Does that mean anything to you?
Not exactly.
Sounds like...
...chairman of the board, or something.
Like oil... or big steel.
What interests me is what's underneath
that glossy surface.
What about the real parents?
It might be a case of hereditary
insanity.
We have no way of knowing.
We can't dig into his past.
He has no past. He has no family
that could give us a clue.
That isn't the point, Doc.
There hasn't been one successful escape
in the annals of the institution.
And I'm going to see to it
that it stays that way.
- Good night.
- Night, Warden.
Good night, Ezra. Thanks for
that brain stuff.
Come on in, son.
You got the green light.
You know, you're a strange duck.
What's strange about me?
- I'm an open book.
- Yeah, in sanskrit.
Why didn't you turn me in?
Why didn't you?
You got something there, son.
Why didn't I?
Why the deuce didn't I?
I'll tell you.
I know what it is being fenced in.
I got sick of jealousies and conventions.
A million elbows in my ribs.
The smugness of the human mind...
which pretends progress and
civilization...
...and has nothing to show but
depressions and destruction.
I'd rather argue with turkeys
and books.
Talk to a growing plant.
And have the howling wilderness
sing me a lullaby.
Nothing ever happens around here.
But when it does...
...it must mean something.
Call it fate.
Call it a challenge.
I'm not superstitious.
But I just guess I have to meet it.
Caught.
That's what it amounts to.
And you're out two hundred bucks.
That's right, son.
Besides being full of fancy fumes...
...I'm no businessman, I reckon.
I'll get the money though.
Don't you worry.
How?
I'll put you to work.
Fifty bucks a week.
Four weeks, two hundred bucks.
Maybe I am a businessman.
Of all noises, I think music is
the least disagreeable.
Don't you?
You heard what the man said.
I'm a killer, a menace.
And I'm an accessory after the fact.
You may have the life of an
innocent girl on your conscience.
If I did it the first time,
I might do it again, if it's in me.
The man could be right.
You give yourself the benefit
of the doubt, don't you?
That's all I do.
Mr. Cyrus Barrington, Warden.
- Gentlemen.
- I'm Warden Anderson.
Dr. Gordon, head of our medical staff.
Dr. David Dunbar, friend of the family.
- Won't you be seated, gentlemen?
- Thank you.
Dr. Dunbar calls himself my
severest critic.
I call him a nuisance.
I have a confession to make, Doctor.
- I'm allergic to irrelevant laughter.
- An Englishman. No sense of humor.
What do you expect?
I didn't mean to offend you.
Oh, I beg your pardon, Doctor, actually,
I'm as meek as a turtle dove.
I understand, we all have our
little idiosyncracies.
The California Sunshine has converted
Dr. Dunbar into a native.
Not only the Sunshine, all the
Chamber of Commerce.
Actually, John and I met during
the blitz in London...
he asked me over here on a visit and I've
been the man who came to dinner ever since.
And you're a physician, Doctor?
I don't know how you expect me
to answer that. I'm a psychologist.
Oh... You're practicing here now?
I'm afraid so, yes.
I don't know whether you gentlemen
suspect the nature of this meeting.
I suppose it has something to do with
the unfortunate event involving your son...
My adopted son.
I understand there's a reward of $200
offered for the boy's capture.
That's correct.
Do you believe that is a sufficient
incentive for those looking for him?
Even if there wasn't any reward
at all, Mr. Barrington,
our men would keep on looking for him.
They're employees of the state.
Yes, but if some private citizen should,
uh, let us say, get involved.
If a private citizen should become
his accomplice,
I'm afraid money won't talk.
I'm fully aware of my responsibility.
Your responsibility?
What Mr. Barrington wants
to say, I think,
is that he feels it his duty to society
to prevent a repetition of this tragedy.
And how does Mr. Barrington propose
to do his duty to society?
I'm prepared to raise the
reward to $5.000.
You'll notice that the check
is certified.
Hm.
I don't think it'll serve its purpose,
Mr. Barrington.
If you two gentlemen would cooperate,
there is a way to ease the tension
on Mr. Barrington.
- Is there?
- Mr. Barrington feels...
that until John is recaptured,
he is entitled to...
...protection.
Yes, uh, in view of the psychological
complications involved,
I believe the suggestion is not
an unreasonable one.
Thank you, gentlemen.
- Goodbye, Warden.
- Good day.
- Glad to have met you, Doctor.
- Doctor.
Poor grief-stricken father.
He's full of fear, that's what he is.
So are we.
What did he do when John
was indicted?
He disinherited him.
That was one of his responsibilities
to society, I imagine.
What else could he have done?
Left a fortune to a lunatic?
Cyrus Barrington.
Story of a success.
That story was written
with ice, Warden.
Cactus, the old gopher, was right.
We stink, but good.
- Barrington has a point, though.
- Has he?
- It might pay off to watch his place.
- It might.
I hope it doesn't.
Fine thing for me to be saying.
What's the matter?
My annual reminder that age
is not only something...
...you fill out in an application blank.
Sciatica, the doctor calls it.
Colorful name for such a dread pain.
Wonderful language Latin is,
isn't it?
- Anything I can do?
- Sure can.
Keep up the good work.
You remember when I told you
watch me, watch me from dawn till dusk...
...and you'll get the hang of it?
Well, it didn't take you long, did it?
- Three weeks.
- Let me look at your paws.
Ha, callouses!
The dog tag of hard labor.
It agrees with you, doesn't it, son?
You know, I think I'll put an add
in the paper.
Feeling low, feeling run down?
No pep, no joie de vivre?
Then spend a few weeks at
Thompson's Turkey Ranch.
Guaranteed to restore your appetite,
your muscles, your vim and vigour...
...and all your natural hankerings.
And every day, Thanksgiving Day.
Confounded beasts, they keep
you worried, don't they?
I get sick, so what, I get well.
One of them falls sick and ten to one
he's a dead one.
We're practically out of feed
for these chickens.
I know. I gotta go to town.
Well, you can't, not with your
bones all locked up.
- I got to.
- I'll go for you.
Oh, you're crazy!
I'm sorry, I forgot about that.
Oh now, cut it out, son!
You know I didn't mean it that way!
- You don't trust me, huh?
- I do, but the police don't.
Now look, you're not gonna
risk everything...
...for a bunch of jangle-brained
birds, are you?
They mean your life.
Yes, and if you make one false
move, it means yours.
Not necessarily.
Don't get any ideas.
Don't try to be a hero.
I'm not a hero, but if only a hundred
of them die, it means a loss of $600.
You're just a stubborn fool.
Stubborn old fool, son, old fool,
I must insist.
An old fool is better than
a young one.
That's for sure.
Even a fool sometimes gives
good counsel.
An ancient Greek discovered that.
If you flip your wings, you'll be
heading for trouble.
You don't even think of it.
Say...
It's been two years now since they
took you out of circulation, that right?
Yes.
Haven't seen a girl since,
have you?
No.
Why?
Why? Woman is man's confusion.
You should know.
Hop in.
Whew!
Why don't you get it over with?
- Get over what?
- The conversation.
The yackety-yack.
- I don't know what you mean.
- Simple, mister, simple.
I've hitchhiked before.
I know what goes with it.
Everytime my neighbor's a guy
behind the wheel...
...there's a lot of dialogue thrown
my way.
It turns my stomach.
But that's the charge for the hospitality.
Go ahead, mister, turn my stomach.
What to you want to know?
I don't want to know anything.
You're not the curious type?
Definitely not.
- That's a new one. You kidding?
- No.
You must be.
Why did you stop in the first place?
I wonder.
I know.
I look like a heck of a nice
girl to you, don't I?
Frankly, no.
You just haven't around to it yet,
believe me.
Well, mister, I'll give you a break.
You might as well know it now.
I'm no lily, not at all.
My morals have no zipper.
Let it go at that.
And don't try to save my
beautiful soul, it kills me.
- Why should I?
- You shouldn't.
But you would.
You'd wind up telling me that underneath
this hard-boiled surface of mine...
...there must be something soft
as a powder puff.
- There isn't, mister.
- Interesting.
Getting to know you, I'm getting
to know myself.
Service is on the house.
That's as far as it goes.
"Cash and Carry" Connie, they
call me.
I worked in a drive-in and I had
that embroidered across my jacket.
My father used to say money
makes the man.
As far as I'm concerned money
makes the woman too.
He only said it.
I mean it.
It's just being realistic.
Get it?
That isn't hard to get.
Look, a man of the world.
I'm glad we understand each other.
There's nothing else to be
discussed, is there?
Do you mind if I take a nap now?
I've known all sorts of people.
- But you're sorta all by yourself.
- Don't say that!
- What's eating you?
- It's not true, I'm not different.
- Alright, you're not.
- You hardly know me...
...and yet you say I'm different, why?
We've been here now for
an hour or so.
We nothing but look at the sun,
listen to the wind...
It's kinda boring, don't you think?
I'd rather look at myself in the mirror
and make faces.
I'm satisfied.
To me it's an image spelling freedom.
- Where are you headed for?
- Los Angeles.
Employed, yes.
Profession, singing waitress.
You got a voice?
If I had a voice I wouldn't be singing
while serving knockout drops.
- What's needed for a job like that?
- Nothing.
Except a boss who likes you.
Who's he?
A fellow named Level Louie.
A beer joint on South Main,
big time.
Gifts for important customers.
- Gifts?
- hm-hmm.
Brass knuckles for the ladies,
guns for the gentlemen.
- No!
- Yes.
I'll show you how Level Louie is.
The guns are loaded.
And his checks are good.
What are you doing here then?
Ah, vacation.
I do a good job on a dude ranch
about 20 miles from here.
La Casa Gustavo, they call it.
Don't ask me who the boss is.
He's a guy by the name of Gustavo.
- Singing waitress?
- No.
Waitresses there don't sing,
they cry.
They act as doctors, and barbers...
All you ever discuss with the guests
is their stomachs, the weather.
No dough, no fun. Just the smell
of milk and fertilizer.
- How long did you hold on?
- Six weeks, that's all you can take.
After that you start yelling again,
"Main Street, here I come!".
It's getting chilly.
I have to protect my source of income.
Where did you get this scarf?
You ask the funniest questions.
- Where did you get this scarf?
- What difference does it make?
I want to know who gave you
this scarf.
And you're not the curious type,
oh, no, definitely not, not you.
- Tell me!
- Alright.
You're too wacky for me, mister.
The Dollar Chain stores gave
it to me for 89c.
And what's all the breeze about
a cheap piece of silk?
- I'm sure I've seen this scarf before.
- Sure you're sure.
You think for 89c you get an exclusive?
It was around a girl's neck,
just like yours.
Don't...
You're tickling me.
It's getting late.
Sure you won't come in?
- No, thanks.
- Alright.
Maybe I'll run into you again
sometime.
- Didn't you forget something?
- Did I?
You promised to lend me ten dollars
for my bus fare.
- I'll be right back.
- Suppose you're not.
It won't take any long.
Never thought Ezra would go in
for anything like that.
What do you mean?
- You're his hired hand, you say?
- That's right.
Hard to take from old Ezra.
- Guess he's getting old.
- He's been old ever since I've knowed him.
Never needed nobody.
- He isn't feeling so well these days.
- Well, who is?
That's right.
Mind if I get personal?
No.
You sorta look like I've seen
you before.
This face of mine comes in carloads.
It ain't the face, it's what's
in the face.
Yours tells a tale, friend, er...
Been around these parts for long?
For a while.
Worked on a ranch before.
Where?
Casa Gustavo.
Gus? What do you know?
Bet he didn't tell you he used
to be a wrestler.
He used to do his stuff right here
at the Legion Hall.
Boy, he had arms like a pipeline.
Good boy, Gus.
That should do it.
Well, I hate to see Cactus
going softy.
- You tell him will ya?
- Sure will.
A deal's a deal, I always say.
No two ways about it.
Three drinks, that's a dollar fifty.
Plus fifty cents for you, Jack.
That makes two dollars even, right?
Yeah, that's right.
- Much obliged, y'all.
- That's alright.
Now, for each drink, we chip in
an equal amount for the lady.
That's the deal.
That makes 75c for each
of us, Sid.
There, here's my share, lady.
There you are.
And here's Sid's.
Lady.
Hey, you!
Excuse me, boys.
Excuse me nothing.
- It's a friend of mine.
- Who's a friend of yours?
This one?
That ain't no friend of yours.
We buy the drinks, don't we?
Where I come from who buys
the drinks is your friend.
That makes us your friends,
don't it?
Let me out of here.
- Bertha here says...
- My name ain't Bertha!
To me you're Bertha.
Bertha says beat it.
This guy's looking for a headache,
I can see that.
What do you say, Sid?
Bash him in the stomach first...
- then stoke his teeth in...
- Better start with the crackers. Better.
If you give it to him in the
bread basket,
no good, he's out. Where's the fun?
Makes sense, Sid.
Wanna play?
If not, hoof it out.
He wants to play.
You do wanna play!
This is gonna be good, eh, sister?
- Call the police.
- Police? What for?
Those two baboons will murder him.
Oh, don't worry about that.
That's just a friendly little get-together.
Are you out of your mind,
you stupid pigeon?
Alright, alright, but it's no good,
I tell you.
Get me the sheriff, please.
Bad for the reputation of the house
to mess with the law.
Keep everything in the family
and you're better off.
Hello, this is Jack, Sheriff,
the waiter.
Jack, over at the Silver Saddle!
Y-Yeah, uh-huh.
Hope I didn't disturb you, Sheriff.
Hey, get your hand away
from there!
There's a tomato here that insisted
on me calling you.
Why? Well, I'll tell you, sir.
It's a difference of opinion.
Yeah, I...
What's that?
Noise here?
What noise?
Oh, that!
That's three customers wailin' the Torah
out of each other.
Thanks.
Howdy, Sheriff.
Boys.
- Sheriff.
- Hi.
- What's the trouble?
- Trouble? No trouble.
- Just letting off steam, eh, Tom?
- That's right, Sheriff, you said it.
- Saturday nights, you know?
- No harm done.
No harm? They beat the bajeebers
out of the guy.
- We did?
- Did we?
What guy?
- He's gone, I guess.
- Who is "he"?
It's the guy she says they beat
the bajeebers out of.
We don't know him, do we?
- Uh-uh.
- Friend of Bertha's here.
- Well?
- I don't know.
- You said he was a friend of yours.
- He isn't any friend of mine.
- You said he was.
- I only knew him a few hours.
- What's his name?
- I don't know.
- What else don't you know about him?
- Nothing.
- Nothing?
- Nice fellow he was.
You in the habit of picking up strangers
just as long as they're nice?
I didn't pick him up, he picked me up.
- Do you know your name?
- Yes!
Great, let's have it.
- Connie Carter.
- Didn't you call her Bertha?
What do you wanna know, what he calls me
or what my birth certificate calls me?
- Your business here?
- None!
I wouldn't do any business here if you
gave me the key to this hick town.
- Easy, girl!
- I'm just passing through.
- Where to?
- L.A.!
And it's just where you're going,
right now.
There's a bus leaving here
in fifteen minutes.
- If I see you again, I'll pull you in.
- Why?
- You can't charge me with anything?
- Can't I?
Vagrancy, for instance?
How does that sound to you?
I'm no vagrant, I'm a waitress!
Never mind, you heard me.
Run along, miss.
We've been here now for
an hour or so.
We nothing but look at the sun,
listen to the wind...
It's kind of boring, don't you think?
I'm satisfied.
To me it's an image spelling
freedom.
Oh, Miss!
You forgot your purse.
Thanks.
Good morning.
It's me, don't get excited.
Don't tell me what to do,
you treacherous reptile.
It's a nice day, why spoil it?
Why, I haven't seen you since
yesterday noon.
- Where have you been?
- In town.
- Where did you sleep?
- Right here.
- Why didn't you come in?
- I didn't want to disturb you, you're sick.
Oh, I ought to beat your brains out,
except you haven't any.
I wish you were right.
If I didn't have a brain,
I wouldn't have a sick one.
- What happened?
- The turkeys are alright now.
- Are you?
- Sure.
- Tell me!
- There's nothing much to tell.
- How much?
- Hardly anything.
Hardly anything, eh?
- Get in a fight?
- Hm.
Barroom brawl, you know.
It starts for no reason.
No reason being a girl, of course.
Hm.
I hate to pull you the old
I-told-you-so stuff,
but I told you so, didn't I?
So what, I'm alright, I tell you.
Nobody recognized me.
Alright, so you're alright.
I borrowed $10 from the feed
money I took.
For the girl, of course.
Nothing like that, I'm not
interested in her.
Oh, certainly not.
She had a scarf I'm interested in.
Is that so?
I knew that scarf.
Must be quite a wench. Did she restore
your memory too?
No, she didn't, but...
...the scarf did somehow.
- Are you serious?
- Dead serious.
Rosemarie was strangled with
a scarf like that.
And?
That's all.
That's all?
You remembered.
For the first time you remembered.
- That's what matters.
- No, it doesn't.
It only shows I've lost all sense
of proportion.
I've lost all sense period.
I thought I had something.
What did I have?
A bubble that burst.
- Scared?
- I can't help it.
So far, at least, I've had doubts.
Doubts may wreck you, but they let you
believe what you want to believe.
Facts don't.
Suppose I am the one.
Suppose I am.
Suppose you aren't.
It's worth taking a chance, isn't it?
That's what I thought.
Right now I don't know.
- I'm afraid.
- Afraid?
Why? Chances don't ruin men.
You've got to take one to win one.
That's the way I look at it.
- Do you really?
- You wouldn't be here if I didn't.
You know that. Why make me
say it again, stupid?
And for heaven's sake,
don't say you're sorry.
I won't.
Did the scarf belong to Rosemarie?
Yes.
Gift of yours?
No, David gave it to her.
David?
A pal of mine, my best friend.
Heard from him lately?
No, I haven't.
I haven't heard from him at all.
There's a guy giving you the eye.
What do you want me to do?
Go over, shake his eye and say,
"How do you do"?
I don't like the look of his looks.
Probably a connaisseur looking
for atmosphere.
I'm the atmosphere, you know that.
It makes me nervous.
See what he wants.
What's your guess, Louis?
Silk underwear?
I'd say he wants booze.
Where is he?
Who is he?
- I don't know.
- Who is he?
- A cousin of mine.
- Sure.
- I call him an ex, you call him a cousin.
- Ex my foot.
- Something tells me...
- Shut up!
Something always tells you something.
Whatever it is, it's a lot of goulash.
Connie.
- Get out!
- What's the matter?
You're asking me?
Get out.
I have some business in town, I need
a room for the night. I thought...
I don't care what you thought,
get out.
- I have some money, if you help me...
- Don't con me, I don't want your dough.
Get out.
Well, give me a beer, it took me
three bottles to get here,
- I might as well have another one.
- Forget it.
- Now wait a minute.
- Get off my ear.
This ain't no bunk for guys
who take a powder.
- I don't know what you're talking about.
- You don't.
Let me ask you a question.
It sounds silly, but it isn't.
Do you know who you are?
Just answer yes or no.
Do you or don't you?
- Are you out of your mind?
- Look who's asking.
Certainly I know who I am.
Well listen, Mister, listen carefully.
So do I, get it? So do I.
You want it straight without
the dressing?
I know everything.
I know all about you.
Now, for the last time, get out.
I don't want any part of this mess,
not even the money.
I don't want any blood on my hands,
I don't want any trouble with the police,
I don't want to lose my job.
Is there enough left in your
upper strata to get that?
Scotch, quick.
I just had a nightmare.
All cousins are nightmares.
I hate cousins.
The gentleman says he's
a friend of yours.
He wants to see you for just
a few seconds.
Sorry, he refuses to give his name.
It's strictly confidential, he says.
Thank you, sir.
You may go in now.
Don't be alarmed.
Sit down.
Why have you come here?
I expected that question,
it deserves an answer.
- You read about my escape, I suppose.
- I did.
The papers didn't say anything about...
...my motive, did they?
- Motive?
- Yes.
Yes. I didn't escape to beat
the law.
I don't see any future in being
a fugitive from justice.
All I want to know is whether I did...
...what they claim I did.
And you're the one that can
give me the answer.
I?
What makes you think that?
What have I got to do with it?
Nothing, except that something's
happened since then...
..that made me remember.
You mean your memory's
functioning again?
Not entirely.
But I do remember that you were
with me when it happened.
That's correct... I was.
Do you recall anything else?
No.
Beyond that, my mind is still a blank.
I'm leaving now, Doctor.
All right... Oh, Miss Dean.
Call up this number, will you?
Tell them I'll be late.
All I want to know from you is this.
Why didn't you appear at the trial?
Why did you stay away from me when
they were smashing my life to bits?
Why didn't you come up and say,
wait a minute, gentlemen,
I know better, I was there!
That's just it.
I couldn't come to your rescue
'because' I knew better.
I don't get it.
I didn't want to incriminate you.
- You think I'm guilty.
- John...
I know you are.
Can you prove it to me?
If you want me to, I...
You can?
Hello, Mr. Barrington?
This is Dr. Dunbar's office.
The doctor wants you to know
your son is here.
He came in just a few minutes ago.
Yes, sir, that's all.
Let's have some night, shall we?
Night is the mother of thoughts,
didn't somebody say?
John, do you think it possible that you
did it and forgot the details?
It's just that I don't remember
it at all.
You're telling me that you did it.
How can I say when I have
no sense of guilt?
But you think that you did it.
- It could have been me, yes.
- Then why not say that you did it, hm?
I don't know.
I leave it to you.
Do you remember a scarf?
Yes, I do.
- The one you had given her.
- What made you remember it?
I saw it on another girl a few
weeks ago.
The same scarf?
One just like it.
What do you remember about
the scarf?
- Rosemarie had a scarf like that.
- When?
That evening.
What else do you remember
about it?
I can see her now.
The scarf was so tight it was cutting
into her neck.
Yes?
I don't want to think about it.
When you were at the hospital
you were insane, weren't you?
- I must have been.
- In that case, do you agree...
...that you must have been insane before
you were committed to the hospital?
I must have been.
Do you think you were so much out of your
mind that you might have done it?
- It's possible.
- Would you say that I'm insane?
- No.
- I was the only one with you, wasn't I?
- Yes.
- Then if you were the only one who was insane,
you were the one who did it.
Alright.
If you tell me so.
David... did you actually
see me do it?
Yes.
I'd gone for a walk.
When I came back to the hilltop,
...you were right in the midst of it.
- Why didn't you stop me?
- I couldn't.
I'll tell you why I couldn't.
The shock. As if I had plunged
into icy water.
My senses were numb,
I felt the blood rushing from
my brain, I couldn't move.
I wanted to, but I couldn't, I was...
...petrified.
Can you understand that?
Yes.
The same thing happened to me
at the hospital when that...
...poor fellow was strangled.
Exactly the same thing.
I did it.
Stay where you are.
Don't worry, I know now.
I would have given myself up.
That's what I had in mind all along.
Sure you had, we believe you.
We just came to give you
transportation.
There's a nice car waiting outside,
the latest model.
Dynaflow, radio, heater,
even a telephone.
How's that?
Hold it!
Feel better now?
# Summer rains #
# May come and go #
# When to look for them #
# No one knows #
# Unexpected as love #
- Tell me.
What's she got that I haven't got?
Shhh!
- I want to know.
- Later.
# As uncertain as life #
# The summer rains #
# In the tropical heat #
# All life seems in vain #
# Waiting for fate... #
Do you got any trouble?
# The summer rains #
Read it.
What do you want me to read,
Storm Warnings?
Storm warnings are up from
Point Conception to Newport Beach.
- Small craft warnings are up until 9 p.m.
- Cut it.
You asked me to read you something.
What happened to the guy?
- What guy?
- The headline!
- They got him.
- I know that, how?
His own father gave him away.
Can you top that?
They found him in a doctor's office.
Friend of his, too.
I always say, nice guys have
nice friends.
# Time stands still #
# Days pass by #
# On and on #
# On and on #
- Tell me.
- Shhh.
Shhh, nothing.
The last time I asked you
you said later.
Well, it's later now, isn't it?
It must be, it was earlier then.
All I wanna know is what she's got
I haven't got.
# Summer rains #
# Always too few #
# Will wash away #
# Your blues #
Two beers.
Thanks.
I'll tell you what she's got
I haven't got.
Nothing, absolutely nothing.
- You satisfied?
- Plenty.
Scotch, quick.
- Another nightmare?
- Worse than that.
This one you can't talk away.
You know, you're a one-woman show.
Even if you couldn't sing.
What now?
- Nothing.
- That's bad. Nothing means plenty.
Need any help, besides the scotch?
Thanks, Louie.
- There's a guy here...
- I know.
- Giving me the eye.
- That's right.
Take a look if you don't
believe me.
Who is he?
Silly question.
- I know the answer, you don't know.
- That's right, I don't.
- A cousin?
- No.
- Never say this moose in my life.
- Then he wants an appointment. Find out.
Whatever he is, he's a customer...
I hope
- Your name Connie?
- That's what my mother tells me.
- What'll it be?
- Ezra's mine. Ezra Thompson.
Glad to meet you. What'll it be?
- I'd like to talk to you, ma'am.
- Alright, talk.
This is just between you and me.
On the q.t, uh?
Under the belt.
Well, listen, mister, don't go any further.
Everything's public here,
including the phone.
Bring me a beer.
This guy gives me the creeps,
he wants to talk.
Imagine, he could be my grandfather.
- What else?
- A beer.
Beat it, I'll handle him.
Hiya, Pop, how are you this evening?
The handle is Louie, and I understand
you want to chew the fat.
I'm your man, what'll you chew?
You're as fresh as paint, ain't you?
The other way around, Pop.
They call me Level Louie.
Level, you get it?
Everything on the up and up,
straight as a deck, see?
- All clammed up, that's me.
- Well, then save your steam.
I want to talk to that girl.
Well now, she's pretty busy, Pop.
You know how it is.
But I tell you what we'll do.
You tell me, and I'll tell her.
I'd call you a nitwit, only I'm afraid
you might say it ain't polite.
You ain't gonna give us any
trouble, are you, Pop?
Maybe I will.
I came 250 miles to see that filly.
And that's how it's gonna be.
If not...
I'm gonna turn this moonshine
parlor into a mashed potato.
Now don't think I'm chucking
my weight around.
No, no, no.
Where I come from they ripen
with age.
They get more powerful as they go on.
Like old wine.
Say no more, Pop, I know what
you mean.
You're after my own heart. You don't mince
words, you play it fast and loose.
So then what are you chirping about?
Go and get her.
Time's wasting, see, and I don't
like waste.
Connie!
It all depends, I always say.
It all depends on how you handle things.
This way, that way, or the other way.
You see what I mean, Pop?
It all depends.
Yeah.
Sit down, sugar.
Pop's alright.
In fact, he's okay.
I mean it.
- Know him?
- Let me see that.
- I know that guy.
- Sure you do.
- Your cousin.
- I told you he ain't. No more than he is.
He was here last night, sitting
right where you're parked.
- What did he say?
- He couldn't say much.
- I threw him out.
- Well, he thought you were his friend.
That's why he came.
But he was wrong.
Don't you understand,
I knew who he was.
- You did!
- I was afraid.
Well, if you feel that way,
why didn't you go and collect
the money?
- Why didn't you?
- I couldn't.
See, when I first met him,
he came in out of the night like
a wounded deer.
He was alone in the desert,
alone in the world.
I felt for him, I felt for him badly.
So did I.
Yeah, but you threw him right
back to the wolves.
I didn't want to get mixed up!
Well, I got mixed up, he worked
for me!
- You mean you were hiding him?
- Well, if you wanna be harsh about it.
Why, you could get five years
in the can.
I know, I skipped the rules.
But I just took a chance.
Pop, let me shake your hand.
That's something.
I call that a deed.
Is that the right word?
What happens to you if he
doubles up and squeals?
Now here's a yarn for you.
An innocent man believed
in an innocent man.
The innocent man couldn't prove his
innocence, that made him a criminal.
And because of that, the other
innocent man became a criminal.
He believed. That's all he did wrong.
Oh, no, there's many ways,
but only one a man can go.
How do you know which is which?
I had no more reason to help him
than you had.
In fact, I resented it.
But what good did it do?
Something told me no.
And something else said... yes.
Let's call it faith.
I got some.
I go to church.
Faith is the evidence of things
not seen, says the Bible.
Now that's what I mean when I say
that boy is not guilty.
He couldn't be, not if you know
him the way I do.
But it says here he confessed,
for the first time.
Oh, let him confess all over
the place.
Let him shout it from the rooftops.
He's not guilty, he just ain't
and that's all there is to it!
Bring us another drink.
What are you gonna have?
Scotch for her, same here.
I need a good belt.
This is rough.
Don't worry, Pop, it's on the house.
I feel green around the gills.
It's awful.
- This isn't the end yet, Miss.
- It isn't?
Not if you help me.
- What can I do?
- Plenty.
But you got to have
the stuff to do it.
I get goose pimples when you
talk like that.
This'll take care of goose pimples.
There's a man going by the boards who
has as clean a vest as you or I.
Mine ain't, Pop, I'm sorry to say.
Well, his is, anyhow.
They're gonna put that boy
down for the count.
Now, you don't want that
to happen, do you?
I don't get you, Pop.
I'm with you, I know.
I know from experience. I want nothing
to do with them cops.
Cops and cousins.
Ah, phooey!
Oh, Doc, over here.
We've been waiting for you.
I want you to meet my friend,
Dr. Gordon.
This is John's doctor at the Institution.
What are you trying to do,
tell me I'm crazy?
Somebody is, I have a notion,
but it ain't you.
I'm trying to help the boy,
and the doctor's going to help me.
Now, I've got an idea.
Maybe it'll work, maybe it won't.
- We need you, Miss.
- Ain't that cozy.
- Where do I come in, who helps me?
- I will.
You do like Pop says, sugar.
- If you say so, Louie.
- I say so. Pop's my pal.
Listen, Miss, it's just a little trick.
You'll manage, don't worry.
All you have to do is laugh.
- Laugh? Did you say laugh?
- That's right.
- Laugh about that?
- It doesn't matter.
About nothing at all if you want to.
It's part of a performance,
an act, so to speak.
- Understand?
- Did you hear that?
I told you this guy thinks I got
a leak in the attic.
Who wants to laugh about nothing?
- Shut up!
- Why? This ain't no laughing matter.
Shut up!
Go on, Doc.
I was called down here from Alcanta
to examine John again, after his recapture.
I understand, Doctor.
I'll be perfectly frank with you,
Dr. Dunbar.
His confession struck me
like a bombshell.
For no reason that I could detect...
he found his memory sufficiently
restored...
...to admit the crime.
John is my friend, I want to do
anything I can.
I don't think you can do a thing.
He stands convicted and now he's confessed.
He's talked himself right back
into the gas chamber.
What in your opinion brought
about the confession?
Would you say there was a link
between the confession...
...and the conversation you had
with him?
I'll make it easier for you, Doctor.
John came here with one purpose.
It had recurred to his mind that
I was a witness to the tragedy.
- Were you?
- Yes, I was, and I told him so.
He then asked me why I didn't
prevent him from...
Well, from doing what he did.
- A logical question, wouldn't you say?
- Perfectly.
I explained to him that the horrible sight
I was suddenly confronted with...
...threw me into a mental coma.
And he accepted that?
He did.
I understand you studied at
London University.
- Yes, I did.
- I'm a Stanford man.
Really, how interesting.
From what I gather there must be
a vital difference...
...in the interpretation of medical ideas
between our two countries.
I'm afraid I miss the point.
I was taught that a shock reaction,
such as the one you just described,
...simply doesn't exist.
- What do you mean?
- I mean...
You're lying, Doctor.
With your permission, I'll set aside
that remark for the moment.
If you reject the validity
of my analysis,
how do you explain John's behavior at
the hospital, right under your very eyes,
when he witnessed a murderous
attack on a fellow patient...
...and was unable to lift a finger?
You know the answer and so do I.
Unconsciously it came to him that
what he faced...
...was a repetition of a crime
he'd witnessed once before.
That frightening realization
crippled his reflexes.
- That is not what he told me.
- He couldn't tell you...
...because he's still not aware of it,
but I can. I can tell you something else.
You're the killer, and he's the witness
to prove it.
It's an interesting theory.
I'm told they call Stanford
The Farm.
I didn't know it was a detective farm.
Let's investigate your contention
for a moment, shall we?
If he was the witness,
why didn't he stop me?
His mental health had been
severely impaired.
He didn't even know he was
seeing anything.
He'd been struck on the head
with a sharp instrument.
- Is that what happened?
- The scars on the scalp were still there.
- They tell the story.
- What story?
Those scars are the evidence
of an injury which he received...
...while attempting to subdue
the girl.
He fell and his head struck a rock.
That's the story. The official story.
- It's on the record.
- It's on the record for lack of truth.
The police didn't know any better.
- You do.
- I don't.
- But you think you do.
- I don't think, I know.
I know you're lying, Doctor.
- Is that all?
- Not quite.
I also know your war record.
I know you were confined in
a psychopathic ward...
in Banstead, England, in 1942,
for six months.
And again in 1943, for three months.
As a soldier, is that necessarily
something to be ashamed of?
As a soldier, no. As a doctor, it might
have proven an obstacle.
It wasn't the California sunshine
that made you settle down here.
It was the need to camouflage
a past.
You're not a doctor, Doctor,
you're a mindreader.
- Where's your turban?
- You're not a doctor, Doctor.
You're a patient.
Good evening, Doctor.
I hope you're satisfied with
yourself, Doctor.
Extremely so.
Who are you?
- I'm Connie.
- Well, what do you want?
Who told you to come here?
Don't stare at me that way.
But how did you get in?
You're funny.
You make me laugh.
I do, do I?
Men shouldn't get dramatic.
Makes them look silly.
Silly?
You're no different from the others,
but you are honest about it.
Rosemarie, and John, and they rest,
they giggled.
Behind my back.
And giggling is worse than laughing.
- You know that, don't you?
- Cut it out!
- What's this all about?
- I'll tell you what it's all about!
You're all part of the scheme,
aren't you?
Rosemarie, the man who just left,
you and John.
My friend, John.
Why are you wearing that scarf?
Tell me, why?
Why not?
- It's mine.
- Oh, but it's more than that.
This isn't just a scarf...
any scarf.
Rosemarie was wearing a scarf
like this.
You're like her,
did you know that?
She was beautiful, so are you.
She laughed at me...
and so did you.
I remember exactly how I did it.
Exactly.
The scarf hung loose, just like that.
My hands made a knot...
like this...
Why don't you move?
Then my hands tightened the knot...
Like this.
Tighter... tighter...
And your eyes are begging me
for mercy, mercy, mercy!
All right, get it over with, laugh!
The doctor is allergic to
irrelevant laughter.
That's all I was to him, a source
of amusement.
But I got even with you.
For two years I laughed at you.
Say it.
Say I ruined your life.
Two years aren't a man's life.
Two years in the dungeon?
I was only haunted by four walls.
You were trapped in the dungeon
of your own conscience.
Don't worry about me.
I had a good time.
I was enjoying it so much
I couldn't leave.
I had to stay and see the end.
It was curiosity that killed
the cat, wasn't it?
Am I keeping you, gentlemen?
# In the tropical heat #
# All life seems in vain #
# Waiting for fate to bring #
# The summer rains #
Hey... For you.
Who's the angel?
The guy over there.
Seeya, Connie.
# Time stands still #
# Days pass by #
# On and on, on and on #
# There's no end #
- Time's up.
- Where are you going?
- Back.
- Home.
Home.
Boundless and bare.
- The lone and level sands...
- Stretch far away.
# Summer rain #
# Will wash away #
# Your blues #