T.J. Hooker (1982–1986): Season 3, Episode 6 - Walk a Straight Line - full transcript
When a cop is killed, his partner who is an alcoholic tries to get the man but his addiction impedes him. Hooker tries to get him to get help but he won't admit to his problem.
(theme music)
- [Junior] What does
your gut tell you, Hooker?
Are the jumpsuit
bandits going to show?
- Dietrich would
be the one to ask.
It's his caper.
OP 1, are you holding up okay?
- Roger 30, but I
want you to know
the pigeons were
here before us, a lot.
- That's life in the
outdoors, Stacy.
- Why do I always get
this kind of stakeout?
Dietrich and Fernandez
get dancing girls,
and I get a rooftop.
(energetic synth music)
♪ - I don't want to
hear you lying to me
♪ Baby, don't you know
I just want to be free?
♪ You went and fooled around
♪ Now it's all
coming down on you
♪ Better go now
'cause I'm losing my cool
♪ And get it through
your head I'm no one's tool
♪ You better walk away
♪ Better run, 'cause
you're under the gun
♪ Keep it to yourself
♪ Keep away from me
♪ Keep it to yourself
♪ Baby, can't you see?
♪ I don't want to hear it
♪ I just won't take it no more
- Dietrich, Fernandez,
what's the whethers in there?
- It actually is
down to a crawl.
- Never can tell when
they still get lucky.
- That's easy for you to say.
- Hang in there, Dietrich.
♪ Keep it to yourself
♪ Keep away from me
- It's two guys,
one in the jumpsuit.
- [Stacy] But the MO has
them both in jumpsuits.
- Yeah, I know.
No deal.
♪ - Keep it to yourself
♪ Baby can't you see?
♪ I don't want to hear it
♪ I just won't take it no more
(door opens)
- We got two minutes.
- You better take it
easy on that stuff, Sam.
Might fall out of the nest.
- Let's go.
Everybody on the floor!
- Get down now! (screaming)
You, get down, get down!
(glass breaks)
(gunshots)
- Help, it's a trap!
- Come on man,
let's get out of here!
- It's going down,
shots have been fired.
(engine starting)
(tires peeling out)
- Nobody move! (gunshot)
(screaming)
- [Tony] (mumbling)
- Tony, hold on.
(sirens) (tires peeling out)
(exciting, fast-paced music)
- Four-Adam-30, in
pursuit of 211 suspects
driving red and
white four-door sedan,
westbound in alley behind
Ocean View Boulevard.
(tires squealing)
(tires squealing)
- All right cops, you want it?
Come get it. (gunshot)
(gunshots)
- Arnie, look out!
(tires squealing) (horn honking)
Arnie, you okay?
Arnie, come on, Arnie, Arnie.
- Forget it, man, get over here!
- You in the car, get down.
(explosions)
(tires peeling out)
(flames crackling)
(police radio)
- Sounded like cannons.
Had to be .45's for sure.
- Hey, are you okay?
- I've been better.
- Are you guys okay?
- Yeah, we're fine.
The jumpsuits got away.
- What about the driver?
- DOA at the hospital.
- What's the word on Fernandez?
- He wasn't looking too good
when we put him
in the ambulance.
Can I talk to you a minute?
I know you and
Dietrich go back a ways,
but for whatever it's worth,
he's got booze on his breath.
- How bad?
- Hard to say,
but I thought you ought to know.
- I imagine he's pretty
broken up about Fernandez.
Maybe he had a belt while
waiting for the ambulance.
- All right, thanks a lot.
- I don't have to
tell you how I feel.
- Oh, he's got to
make it, he's just got to.
- Did we salvage anything
positive out of this mess?
- Well, we know a little
bit more about the MO.
They're in the place a
while before they hit it.
They go into the john; they
put on the jumpsuits and masks,
and then they come out.
- Then you saw them
before they did it?
- Well, not really.
I wasn't paying any
attention until they came out.
- The bartender?
- He wasn't concentrating
on anyone at the bar.
He was watching the door.
That's where he expected
the action to come from,
like we all did.
I ended up with something.
Found this in the john.
- Green stripe, menthol
and something else, PCP.
- Yeah, it's a sherm.
- What makes you think this
connects up with the jumpsuits?
- Bartender tidied up a few
minutes before the shooting.
Wasn't there then.
- It's a start.
(slow, melancholy music)
(elevator ding)
- How's Jill?
- She's dealing with it,
like we're all supposed
to do if our men get shot.
- It's nice of you to
come down with her.
- Sam tracked me
down at The Meadows.
We joined last year.
- [Loudspeaker]
Doctor White, telephone.
- I got to hand it to you, Nora,
country gloves, fur coats,
you sure know how to
stretch a cop's salary.
- It's called credit
and fancy footwork
when the bills come in.
- Doesn't that add
extra pressure to Sam?
- He's got big shoulders.
- Are they big enough?
He was drinking
on the job today.
- I don't want to hear about it.
- Don't shut me out.
Sam and I have been through
too many wars together.
- Well then, leave
it alone, Hooker.
- Sure, I'll go away, but
Sam's problems won't.
- Doctor says in a
couple of months,
you'll be as good as new.
Then we'll be back
at it, you and me.
- I shouldn't be here, Sam.
- Come on, Tony.
- You all but got
me wasted, partner.
You and your damn booze.
- I'm sorry, it won't
happen again, I swear.
(door opens)
- Hi guys.
Saw Jill outside, she's
taking it pretty well.
- That's my lady.
- How did it happen, Tony?
It just doesn't figure.
You and Sam are too good.
- They spotted us before
we could draw down.
- It just doesn't seem possible.
- Yeah, I know, but let me
tell you, that's what happened.
- [Company] One,
two, three, four.
One, two, three, four,
one, two, three, four.
One, two, three, four.
- Who's Dietrich leaning on?
- The hype who gave him the tip
about the robbery
at Mac's 413 Club.
- I thought the hype
only knew the driver.
- Yeah, and the driver's dead.
- [Hooker] Dietrich's
still on him?
- If you ask me, it's
getting pretty hairy.
- Is that the way you
talk to a police officer?
- Hey, hey, hey,
hey, hey, hey, hey.
- You talk to me, man.
- Hey, hey, hey,
let's take a walk.
- What are you doing?
That's my snitch.
- You got everything he had
to give you three days ago.
- I want the guy
who shot my partner.
That's my only lead!
- You're not thinking
straight, Sam.
- I'm thinking about Tony.
- What about the sherm?
- So we know the guy who
shot him uses PCP, so what?
- Sam, hold on a second, I
want to talk with you, hold on.
You got trouble.
I want to help you.
- Look, it's nothing I
can't straighten out myself.
Do me a favor, will you?
Back off, let me do my job.
- All right everybody,
we've got a job to do.
We're going to track the sherm.
Find the dealer who sold it.
- What's Dietrich's problem?
Is it the job, or is it
something personal?
- I think it's a lot of both.
Mostly, it's his wife.
- Does she play around?
- Well, not with other guys.
With Sam's money;
she likes to live big.
- Then she shouldn't
have married a cop.
Yeah, I know it's not easy,
him being your friend and all,
but we've both been
around long enough
to know that booze and
police work don't mix.
It's just a feeling.
I don't want to believe it.
But I'm telling you, Hooker,
Dietrich is just an
accident waiting to happen.
- You may be right, Jim.
Either way, it's a problem.
I just need time to handle it.
- I hear you.
Just don't take too long, huh?
Somebody else might get shot,
and this time,
somebody might die.
(dramatic musical tones)
- Hooker, you know, we can't
roust every dealer in the city
looking for a guy
who sells sherms.
- Right, so we find someone
who's already
done the searching.
- The user!
(exciting, jazzy music)
- So what's this guy's name?
- Milo Pie.
- You're kidding.
- No, but I think
his mother was.
Hold it, Milo, stay right there.
Take the back!
(fast-paced music)
(crash)
Nice to see you again, Milo.
- I'm clean, Hooker, clean.
- Just got a cold, like always.
- We want some information.
- Tell your friend,
Hooker, I ain't no snitch.
- All right, I changed
my mind, pat him down.
- What do you want to know?
- We're looking
for a sherm dealer.
Sells the kind with the
green stripe around the tip.
- That'd be Pinwheel.
- All right, Milo, you
bought yourself a freebie,
but I'll be around.
- What's a pinwheel?
- It's a little plastic thing
on the end of a stick.
It spins in the wind.
(drumming)
- Rush again, huh cowboy?
- Four grams, Pinwheel, my man.
And ten sherms.
- Hey, what's
happening out there?
- Bar business is good.
- It's all easy pickens
for you, cowboy.
- Could have been easier.
I lost my wheel
man on this last one.
But it was worth it.
I got enough here to
hold me for a few days.
- And then what?
- Another bar, another dollar.
- (laughing) Sounds
like the way you and me
used to caper back
in Albuquerque.
- Ain't that the
truth, Pinwheel?
Too bad you lost your nerve.
- Hey man, you want
to hear my rendition
of Ghost Riders in the Sky?
(drumming)
- I've heard it.
(police radio)
- Take look at
that car up ahead.
What do you think?
- Drunk as a skunk.
(tires squealing) (siren)
- Freeze!
- Freeze?
- Stacy, it's Dietrich!
(door slams)
- Damn, I dropped my gun.
Hey, it happens, you know?
- Call Hooker.
- [Sam] I dropped my gun.
- Four-Adam-16 to dispatch.
- So Milo Pie gives you
your sherm dealer, Pinwheel,
but we're beating the
concrete all around town
trying to find this
Pinwheel dude.
- Pinwheel doesn't stay
in one spot very long.
- You can say that again.
He's like a shadow.
- We keep looking for him,
Junior, until we find him.
We find him, he'll be our
tie to the jumpsuit bandits.
- [Police Radio] Attention,
Four-Adam-30, Four-Adam-16
requests you meet them
at Gower and West Fourth.
- Four-Adam-30, that's a roger.
- You're not listening to me.
It's simple, just
put me in a taxi,
and I'll get out of your way.
- Tell it to your
friend, Hooker.
- Hey, old partner.
Your people here are
making a federal case
over a couple of drinks.
Okay, okay, I know I
shouldn't be driving.
Just get me home!
That's all I'm asking!
- Lock up his car.
- You know, it might do
more good if you ran him in.
- It's a judgment call.
I'm taking him home,
come on, come on.
- I'm sorry to hang
you up like this,
but you know I would do
the same for you, okay?
- That doesn't make it right.
- Hey, hey, Fernandez
got dropped,
so I had a couple too many.
- Now listen, Sam.
My gut tells me the booze
got in your way in that shootout.
For your sake, I
hope internal affairs
doesn't get the same notion.
- Yeah, and who'd
give 'em that idea, you?
- Take it easy.
You step over the line
one more time, and I will.
You can count on it.
Now get in the car.
(dark, tenuous musical tones)
- How does a good cop like
Sam Dietrich get to be like that?
- Something snaps.
I've been there.
One day, one thing
too many happens.
A dead child, a rape,
a murder that could
have been prevented
if there'd been enough
hours in the day.
Or a wife walks out.
And you think drinking
will drown the pain.
It doesn't.
- So what's the answer?
Getting so insulated
you're no longer human?
- The opposite.
You fight every day
to get more human,
to get closer to the people,
to understand and
deal with the pain
without running from it.
- Maybe Dietrich's doing more
than just running from the pain.
Maybe the pain's only an excuse.
- Are you asking me if I
think Sam's an alcoholic?
- (sighs) Well, if he is, he's
got more than a problem.
He's got a disease.
(light, romantic music)
- Hi.
Thanks for coming out.
- I was glad you were
able to get a hold of me.
- Thank you.
I didn't open up to you at the
hospital about Sam's drinking
because, oh because
it's just so depressing
to talk about it.
- Must be depressing
to live with.
- He used to have a couple
with the boys, or with me.
Now he drinks alone.
For a while, I blamed it on
the job, his heavy caseload.
Then I began to have doubts.
Even had visions
of another woman.
God, I wish it were.
At least I could
understand that.
- Have you ever thought
that you might be
part of the problem?
You knew the
department salary structure
when you married him.
- He never once complained.
- That's not what cops do.
- No, I guess they don't.
Hooker, tell me something.
Why won't you let us in?
Why are all of you
so damn macho?
You push us out,
create a distance.
The only way you relate
is in terms of law and logic,
not with honest emotions.
- At first, you tell yourself
you're protecting your woman
from everything you have
to deal with, day in, day out.
The grim realities.
But what I learned, too late,
was that I wasn't really
protecting my woman or my kids.
By shutting them out,
I didn't have to
relive it all over again.
- I don't know.
I think I understand a
little better, but I'm not sure.
- Well, I hope you
do understand,
and I hope you can help.
Because Sam's in over his head,
and something has to be done.
(police radio)
- How'd she take it?
- She's going to do
everything she can to help.
But the bottom line
is it's going to be
up to Dietrich to
pull himself together.
- Hmm, where to now?
- Find Pinwheel.
We've looked everywhere
else but one place
at the end of the old jetty.
- What makes you think
you'd find him there?
- Used to be one of
his haunts, years ago.
He liked it because it
was a safe place to deal.
Nobody could sneak up on him.
Maybe he's up to his old tricks.
(energetic, bass-heavy music)
- Let's go.
Okay, everybody on
the floor! (screaming)
- Over there, over there!
- Come on, hurry up.
- Give me your cash!
Hurry it up!
What'd you do?
Did you hit the alarm?
- [Police Radio]
Attention four-Adam-30,
and units in the vicinity, a
211 silent at The Arena Bar,
442 West Fountain,
four-Adam-30, handle code three.
- Four-Adam-30, roger. (siren)
- I ought to kill you.
- Come on, man, let's
get out of here, come on!
- Stay down! (gunshot)
(screaming)
(tires squealing)
(siren) (tires squealing)
- The getaway vehicle was
a late-model blue
sedan, four-door.
We've got a partial
on the license, 387.
(police radio)
- Look what I found.
Looks like the same MO.
- Green stripe around the tip.
Talk to the witnesses.
See if any of them made
a pair of cowboy boots
underneath the jumpsuits.
Let's go, Junior.
I want to find a missing person.
- Pinwheel?
- Pinwheel.
(exciting, jazzy music)
(slow tentative
music) (drumming)
- [Junior] So that's a pinwheel.
- That's right, you can
trust a spinning one.
Hey Pinwheel.
Ever thought about
taking lessons?
- What, cramp my style?
- Word has it, you're
pushing sherms these days.
- Sherms are hot; a whole
lot of dudes are hustling 'em.
- Not with green
rings around 'em.
Nice new drum, huh?
- Oh, come on, Hooker.
Last time you plumbed my
drum, it washed up in Tahiti.
- I bet the natives
are still high.
- We're looking for one
of your sherm heads.
Six-foot-two, male
Caucasian, a hard case.
- Big dude, huh?
In that category I got a
merchant marine swabbie,
a cowboy, and an ex-linebacker.
- Any of 'em been around lately?
- The swabbie
checked in yesterday,
and the cowboy
connected this morning.
- Next time one of them
shows up, drop a dime on me.
- That's dangerous, Hooker!
I got to go on livin'.
- You'll come up with an angle,
or you'll be coming up
with another new drum.
(dark musical tones)
- When Detective
Fernandez narrowed it down,
they recalled seeing
a pair of cowboy boots
under the jumpsuit
of the tall suspect.
Glad you could make it.
So the magic word
for the day is cowboy.
If you see somebody
who looks like he should be
rounding up strays in
the south 40, bring him in.
But if cowboy is our man,
he's packing a .45 auto,
and he's already
smoked three victims,
including Detective Fernandez.
So don't let him
make you the fourth.
All right, let's roll.
Which way did Dietrich go?
- Looked like he was
headed for the locker room.
- I'll catch you
outside, Junior.
- You look like
yesterday's leftovers.
I guess I don't have
to ask why, do I?
- Hey, don't start, Hooker.
I'm sick of being preached at.
- When are you going
to be sick of being sick?
- Here comes the sermon.
- No, no, no.
Just call it a bit of
personal history.
I was doing my job pretty
much the way I'm doing it now.
And then suddenly,
one day, Fran says,
"It's all over; I can't
take it anymore."
Couldn't understand
why at the time.
Maybe I didn't try hard enough.
Anyway, there I
was, wife, kids, gone.
I needed a friend, and
I found one, 80 proof.
- It's still a friend.
Makes you feel good,
and it doesn't talk back.
- No, Sam, it tears at your gut
and dumps you out in the cold
and rips you away from
anything you have left.
Friends like that I didn't need!
Back then, I had
to handle it alone.
I got lucky.
I caught it in time.
Walked away before I drowned.
- Look, I will too, as soon as
the pressure eases, you know?
And I won't need it anymore.
Listen, I need it.
- Sam, Sam, has it
ever occurred to you
that the pressure
may be an excuse?
Maybe you're an alcoholic.
- What, are you crazy?
- Sam, you should get help.
- Stay away from me.
- Get help from you own kind,
cops who've been through it.
They want to help you!
We need all the good
cops we can get, Sam.
But you have to go to them.
You have to want to go!
- I just told you, it's
a temporary problem.
Besides, it's something
that I do off-duty,
not on the job, yeah.
- Off-duty, off-duty,
what the hell's in here?
- What are you doing?
What are you doing?
- All right, that's it,
I'm pulling the plug.
- You'd do that to me?
You would do that to me?
- I have no choice.
(dark musical tones)
- How do we know
these jumpsuit bandits
are still around, Hooker?
Maybe they moved on.
- Don't think so.
Guys like that never know
to quit when they're ahead.
- I was hoping you
wouldn't say that.
Unfortunately, all
we have to go on
is the fact that one of them
wears cowboy duds
and packs a .45.
- And he's big,
don't forget that.
That narrows it down.
- If you say so.
But so far, aside from Pinwheel,
our snitches haven't come
up with much on the street.
- Let's swing over to
the marina, take a tour.
If this cowboy is
hooked on sherms
and buying them from Pinwheel,
he'll stay in
Pinwheel's back yard,
won't stray far from his source.
(exciting music)
- Up ahead, see the big guy?
Does that look like
a cowboy to you?
- Western clothes
and cowboy boots.
- Looks like it's possible.
- Let's check him out.
- Hey pal, I'd
like to talk to you.
(energetic, dramatic music)
(tires squealing)
(splash)
- I can't swim!
Help, I can't swim!
- Let me help you.
- Lester Sayles.
- I don't know
nothing about nothing.
- Right, you just ran because
we were chasing you, right?
- You got it.
- No, you got it, Lester.
You got my attention.
What happened to the
bag you were carrying?
- Oh yeah, my bag, I
lost it, on account of you.
I should sue the city.
- Seems Albuquerque PD put
up with a lot of your nonsense.
- Hey read, it says
I've been rehabilitated.
- He looks like a possible.
What do you think, Hooker?
- I'd say he's a possible.
Free room and board
for you tonight, Lester.
Compliments of the city.
- Hey, you can't hold me.
- Register our guest, Romano.
Hold over for ID confirmation.
- My pleasure.
- Tomorrow, we'll
bring him Pinwheel,
hope for a positive ID.
- [Junior] Step in, all the way.
Take off your hats, face front.
- Which one is cowboy?
- [Junior] Number one,
step forward, turn around.
- They're all cowboys, Hooker.
- Don't play games with me.
Which one is your sherm buyer?
- [Junior] Number three,
step forward, and turn around.
- I don't see him here.
He ain't one of them.
- You sure?
- Next man.
- Sure I'm sure.
I wish I could help
you, Hooker, honest.
- [Junior] Five,
and the last one.
- Kick 'em loose.
- That'll be all.
Move out.
(dark musical tones)
- Sam.
- Stay out of my way, Hooker.
- Sam, hold on a second.
- What?
- I want to talk to
you, that's what.
How'd it go with the Captain?
- How do you think?
I'm off the case as of now.
Come tomorrow morning, I
sit down with internal affairs.
You know how it
tracks from there.
They take my badge
and my gun and flush 'em
together with my pension.
Thanks, Buddy, you're a prince.
- And you're a fool.
If you get your act together,
it doesn't have to be that way.
(tenuous, high-pitched
musical tones)
- That's sweet, Hooker,
but if I wanted
religion, I'd go to church.
(exciting music)
(grunting)
- Hooker.
- Call an ambulance.
What happened?
Who did this to you?
- Cowboy.
- You mean Lester Sayles.
- I lied, you had him.
- Where can I find him?
- Tomorrow, hit, hit...
- Where, Pinwheel, where?
- Ambulance is on the way.
- Won't do any good.
- [Company] One, two three,
four, one, two, three, four.
One, two, three, four.
- The bars they hit
are all over the city.
He sure moves around.
- Yeah, but look at this.
Each one of them's
near a sport facility.
Baseball stadium, sports
center, boxing arena.
And each one of them
features dancing girls.
- There is a pattern!
- Now look at the
times of the robberies.
They all went down when some
sporting event was in progress.
- Fans mob the bars
before the games,
and the places empty out at
game time for the most part.
- And the register is loaded.
- Too bad it took so long
to figure out cowboy's MO.
- Yeah.
Pinwheel said that cowboy's
going to hit again today.
- [Stacy] There's a
basketball game this afternoon.
- At the sports center
near Mac's club.
You think he'd hit
the same place twice?
- He might.
He might think that's the
last place we'll be watching.
Let's give it a try.
Let's set up, get
there before he does.
I'll clear the stakeout with
the Lieutenant, that's it.
Where are you going?
What do you think you're doing?
- This is my case.
- You're off the case,
Captain's orders.
- Forget about orders.
It's the guy who
shot my partner.
I'm going to after him.
- Let me tell you something.
I did tell the Captain
about your drinking problem.
That's where I left it.
I didn't tell him
what I really believe,
that your partner caught a
bullet because of your drinking.
- What are you talking about?
You weren't there.
- I didn't have to be.
Let me tell you something else.
This is my stakeout, and
I'm not going to let you
foul it up, so get out of here.
(dark, sad musical tones)
- I've got a bird's eye view
of the bar from here, Corrigan.
The place seems to be
pretty well emptied out.
- Yeah, well, it's
getting pretty full in here.
(dark, tense music)
♪ - I was looking
for every woman
♪ To satisfy me
♪ But never got past
the point of breaking ice
♪ It was lonely
♪ It was the same
thing again and again
- I think I've got one.
♪ - I think everything
in love is pretend
- He's headed to the men's room.
♪ - Dark corners
everywhere inside my heart
♪ 'Til you showed
up (tense music)
- Hey, I think this
is him moving in.
- You're a dead man.
- It's Dietrich, he blew it.
- [Corrigan] What the
hell is Dietrich doing here?
- He's got cowboy.
- Romano!
♪ - With you, at
once I felt inside
(exciting, fast-paced music)
(tires squealing)
(tires squealing)
(tires squealing)
(tires squealing)
(tires squealing)
(tires squealing) (crash)
(glass breaking)
- (breathing heavily) Thanks.
Bought me an extra pass.
- You know what you
almost bought me?
A ticket to the graveyard.
You're dangerous, man.
You're lethal, to yourself
and everybody around you.
- Sorry, I really am.
- Sorry doesn't cut it anymore!
- What does?
- I think you know.
(slow musical tones)
- That last little
escapade pretty well did it.
Internal affairs will probably
throw the book at me.
Looks like I'll be holding
down a desk job for a while.
- Not too bad.
- I hurt a lot of
people along the way.
Laura, my partner, you.
- That's yesterday's news.
From now on, you
deal with today.
- Okay boys and
girls, it's showtime.
I'd like to call this meeting
of the Peace Officer's
Fellowship to order,
and let's get the ball rolling
by inviting our newest
member to identify himself.
- Hooker, thanks.
- Stick close to him, Laura.
He's going to need
you now more than ever.
- My name is Sam.
I'm a cop, and I'm an alcoholic.
(dramatic musical tones)
(theme music)
- [Junior] What does
your gut tell you, Hooker?
Are the jumpsuit
bandits going to show?
- Dietrich would
be the one to ask.
It's his caper.
OP 1, are you holding up okay?
- Roger 30, but I
want you to know
the pigeons were
here before us, a lot.
- That's life in the
outdoors, Stacy.
- Why do I always get
this kind of stakeout?
Dietrich and Fernandez
get dancing girls,
and I get a rooftop.
(energetic synth music)
♪ - I don't want to
hear you lying to me
♪ Baby, don't you know
I just want to be free?
♪ You went and fooled around
♪ Now it's all
coming down on you
♪ Better go now
'cause I'm losing my cool
♪ And get it through
your head I'm no one's tool
♪ You better walk away
♪ Better run, 'cause
you're under the gun
♪ Keep it to yourself
♪ Keep away from me
♪ Keep it to yourself
♪ Baby, can't you see?
♪ I don't want to hear it
♪ I just won't take it no more
- Dietrich, Fernandez,
what's the whethers in there?
- It actually is
down to a crawl.
- Never can tell when
they still get lucky.
- That's easy for you to say.
- Hang in there, Dietrich.
♪ Keep it to yourself
♪ Keep away from me
- It's two guys,
one in the jumpsuit.
- [Stacy] But the MO has
them both in jumpsuits.
- Yeah, I know.
No deal.
♪ - Keep it to yourself
♪ Baby can't you see?
♪ I don't want to hear it
♪ I just won't take it no more
(door opens)
- We got two minutes.
- You better take it
easy on that stuff, Sam.
Might fall out of the nest.
- Let's go.
Everybody on the floor!
- Get down now! (screaming)
You, get down, get down!
(glass breaks)
(gunshots)
- Help, it's a trap!
- Come on man,
let's get out of here!
- It's going down,
shots have been fired.
(engine starting)
(tires peeling out)
- Nobody move! (gunshot)
(screaming)
- [Tony] (mumbling)
- Tony, hold on.
(sirens) (tires peeling out)
(exciting, fast-paced music)
- Four-Adam-30, in
pursuit of 211 suspects
driving red and
white four-door sedan,
westbound in alley behind
Ocean View Boulevard.
(tires squealing)
(tires squealing)
- All right cops, you want it?
Come get it. (gunshot)
(gunshots)
- Arnie, look out!
(tires squealing) (horn honking)
Arnie, you okay?
Arnie, come on, Arnie, Arnie.
- Forget it, man, get over here!
- You in the car, get down.
(explosions)
(tires peeling out)
(flames crackling)
(police radio)
- Sounded like cannons.
Had to be .45's for sure.
- Hey, are you okay?
- I've been better.
- Are you guys okay?
- Yeah, we're fine.
The jumpsuits got away.
- What about the driver?
- DOA at the hospital.
- What's the word on Fernandez?
- He wasn't looking too good
when we put him
in the ambulance.
Can I talk to you a minute?
I know you and
Dietrich go back a ways,
but for whatever it's worth,
he's got booze on his breath.
- How bad?
- Hard to say,
but I thought you ought to know.
- I imagine he's pretty
broken up about Fernandez.
Maybe he had a belt while
waiting for the ambulance.
- All right, thanks a lot.
- I don't have to
tell you how I feel.
- Oh, he's got to
make it, he's just got to.
- Did we salvage anything
positive out of this mess?
- Well, we know a little
bit more about the MO.
They're in the place a
while before they hit it.
They go into the john; they
put on the jumpsuits and masks,
and then they come out.
- Then you saw them
before they did it?
- Well, not really.
I wasn't paying any
attention until they came out.
- The bartender?
- He wasn't concentrating
on anyone at the bar.
He was watching the door.
That's where he expected
the action to come from,
like we all did.
I ended up with something.
Found this in the john.
- Green stripe, menthol
and something else, PCP.
- Yeah, it's a sherm.
- What makes you think this
connects up with the jumpsuits?
- Bartender tidied up a few
minutes before the shooting.
Wasn't there then.
- It's a start.
(slow, melancholy music)
(elevator ding)
- How's Jill?
- She's dealing with it,
like we're all supposed
to do if our men get shot.
- It's nice of you to
come down with her.
- Sam tracked me
down at The Meadows.
We joined last year.
- [Loudspeaker]
Doctor White, telephone.
- I got to hand it to you, Nora,
country gloves, fur coats,
you sure know how to
stretch a cop's salary.
- It's called credit
and fancy footwork
when the bills come in.
- Doesn't that add
extra pressure to Sam?
- He's got big shoulders.
- Are they big enough?
He was drinking
on the job today.
- I don't want to hear about it.
- Don't shut me out.
Sam and I have been through
too many wars together.
- Well then, leave
it alone, Hooker.
- Sure, I'll go away, but
Sam's problems won't.
- Doctor says in a
couple of months,
you'll be as good as new.
Then we'll be back
at it, you and me.
- I shouldn't be here, Sam.
- Come on, Tony.
- You all but got
me wasted, partner.
You and your damn booze.
- I'm sorry, it won't
happen again, I swear.
(door opens)
- Hi guys.
Saw Jill outside, she's
taking it pretty well.
- That's my lady.
- How did it happen, Tony?
It just doesn't figure.
You and Sam are too good.
- They spotted us before
we could draw down.
- It just doesn't seem possible.
- Yeah, I know, but let me
tell you, that's what happened.
- [Company] One,
two, three, four.
One, two, three, four,
one, two, three, four.
One, two, three, four.
- Who's Dietrich leaning on?
- The hype who gave him the tip
about the robbery
at Mac's 413 Club.
- I thought the hype
only knew the driver.
- Yeah, and the driver's dead.
- [Hooker] Dietrich's
still on him?
- If you ask me, it's
getting pretty hairy.
- Is that the way you
talk to a police officer?
- Hey, hey, hey,
hey, hey, hey, hey.
- You talk to me, man.
- Hey, hey, hey,
let's take a walk.
- What are you doing?
That's my snitch.
- You got everything he had
to give you three days ago.
- I want the guy
who shot my partner.
That's my only lead!
- You're not thinking
straight, Sam.
- I'm thinking about Tony.
- What about the sherm?
- So we know the guy who
shot him uses PCP, so what?
- Sam, hold on a second, I
want to talk with you, hold on.
You got trouble.
I want to help you.
- Look, it's nothing I
can't straighten out myself.
Do me a favor, will you?
Back off, let me do my job.
- All right everybody,
we've got a job to do.
We're going to track the sherm.
Find the dealer who sold it.
- What's Dietrich's problem?
Is it the job, or is it
something personal?
- I think it's a lot of both.
Mostly, it's his wife.
- Does she play around?
- Well, not with other guys.
With Sam's money;
she likes to live big.
- Then she shouldn't
have married a cop.
Yeah, I know it's not easy,
him being your friend and all,
but we've both been
around long enough
to know that booze and
police work don't mix.
It's just a feeling.
I don't want to believe it.
But I'm telling you, Hooker,
Dietrich is just an
accident waiting to happen.
- You may be right, Jim.
Either way, it's a problem.
I just need time to handle it.
- I hear you.
Just don't take too long, huh?
Somebody else might get shot,
and this time,
somebody might die.
(dramatic musical tones)
- Hooker, you know, we can't
roust every dealer in the city
looking for a guy
who sells sherms.
- Right, so we find someone
who's already
done the searching.
- The user!
(exciting, jazzy music)
- So what's this guy's name?
- Milo Pie.
- You're kidding.
- No, but I think
his mother was.
Hold it, Milo, stay right there.
Take the back!
(fast-paced music)
(crash)
Nice to see you again, Milo.
- I'm clean, Hooker, clean.
- Just got a cold, like always.
- We want some information.
- Tell your friend,
Hooker, I ain't no snitch.
- All right, I changed
my mind, pat him down.
- What do you want to know?
- We're looking
for a sherm dealer.
Sells the kind with the
green stripe around the tip.
- That'd be Pinwheel.
- All right, Milo, you
bought yourself a freebie,
but I'll be around.
- What's a pinwheel?
- It's a little plastic thing
on the end of a stick.
It spins in the wind.
(drumming)
- Rush again, huh cowboy?
- Four grams, Pinwheel, my man.
And ten sherms.
- Hey, what's
happening out there?
- Bar business is good.
- It's all easy pickens
for you, cowboy.
- Could have been easier.
I lost my wheel
man on this last one.
But it was worth it.
I got enough here to
hold me for a few days.
- And then what?
- Another bar, another dollar.
- (laughing) Sounds
like the way you and me
used to caper back
in Albuquerque.
- Ain't that the
truth, Pinwheel?
Too bad you lost your nerve.
- Hey man, you want
to hear my rendition
of Ghost Riders in the Sky?
(drumming)
- I've heard it.
(police radio)
- Take look at
that car up ahead.
What do you think?
- Drunk as a skunk.
(tires squealing) (siren)
- Freeze!
- Freeze?
- Stacy, it's Dietrich!
(door slams)
- Damn, I dropped my gun.
Hey, it happens, you know?
- Call Hooker.
- [Sam] I dropped my gun.
- Four-Adam-16 to dispatch.
- So Milo Pie gives you
your sherm dealer, Pinwheel,
but we're beating the
concrete all around town
trying to find this
Pinwheel dude.
- Pinwheel doesn't stay
in one spot very long.
- You can say that again.
He's like a shadow.
- We keep looking for him,
Junior, until we find him.
We find him, he'll be our
tie to the jumpsuit bandits.
- [Police Radio] Attention,
Four-Adam-30, Four-Adam-16
requests you meet them
at Gower and West Fourth.
- Four-Adam-30, that's a roger.
- You're not listening to me.
It's simple, just
put me in a taxi,
and I'll get out of your way.
- Tell it to your
friend, Hooker.
- Hey, old partner.
Your people here are
making a federal case
over a couple of drinks.
Okay, okay, I know I
shouldn't be driving.
Just get me home!
That's all I'm asking!
- Lock up his car.
- You know, it might do
more good if you ran him in.
- It's a judgment call.
I'm taking him home,
come on, come on.
- I'm sorry to hang
you up like this,
but you know I would do
the same for you, okay?
- That doesn't make it right.
- Hey, hey, Fernandez
got dropped,
so I had a couple too many.
- Now listen, Sam.
My gut tells me the booze
got in your way in that shootout.
For your sake, I
hope internal affairs
doesn't get the same notion.
- Yeah, and who'd
give 'em that idea, you?
- Take it easy.
You step over the line
one more time, and I will.
You can count on it.
Now get in the car.
(dark, tenuous musical tones)
- How does a good cop like
Sam Dietrich get to be like that?
- Something snaps.
I've been there.
One day, one thing
too many happens.
A dead child, a rape,
a murder that could
have been prevented
if there'd been enough
hours in the day.
Or a wife walks out.
And you think drinking
will drown the pain.
It doesn't.
- So what's the answer?
Getting so insulated
you're no longer human?
- The opposite.
You fight every day
to get more human,
to get closer to the people,
to understand and
deal with the pain
without running from it.
- Maybe Dietrich's doing more
than just running from the pain.
Maybe the pain's only an excuse.
- Are you asking me if I
think Sam's an alcoholic?
- (sighs) Well, if he is, he's
got more than a problem.
He's got a disease.
(light, romantic music)
- Hi.
Thanks for coming out.
- I was glad you were
able to get a hold of me.
- Thank you.
I didn't open up to you at the
hospital about Sam's drinking
because, oh because
it's just so depressing
to talk about it.
- Must be depressing
to live with.
- He used to have a couple
with the boys, or with me.
Now he drinks alone.
For a while, I blamed it on
the job, his heavy caseload.
Then I began to have doubts.
Even had visions
of another woman.
God, I wish it were.
At least I could
understand that.
- Have you ever thought
that you might be
part of the problem?
You knew the
department salary structure
when you married him.
- He never once complained.
- That's not what cops do.
- No, I guess they don't.
Hooker, tell me something.
Why won't you let us in?
Why are all of you
so damn macho?
You push us out,
create a distance.
The only way you relate
is in terms of law and logic,
not with honest emotions.
- At first, you tell yourself
you're protecting your woman
from everything you have
to deal with, day in, day out.
The grim realities.
But what I learned, too late,
was that I wasn't really
protecting my woman or my kids.
By shutting them out,
I didn't have to
relive it all over again.
- I don't know.
I think I understand a
little better, but I'm not sure.
- Well, I hope you
do understand,
and I hope you can help.
Because Sam's in over his head,
and something has to be done.
(police radio)
- How'd she take it?
- She's going to do
everything she can to help.
But the bottom line
is it's going to be
up to Dietrich to
pull himself together.
- Hmm, where to now?
- Find Pinwheel.
We've looked everywhere
else but one place
at the end of the old jetty.
- What makes you think
you'd find him there?
- Used to be one of
his haunts, years ago.
He liked it because it
was a safe place to deal.
Nobody could sneak up on him.
Maybe he's up to his old tricks.
(energetic, bass-heavy music)
- Let's go.
Okay, everybody on
the floor! (screaming)
- Over there, over there!
- Come on, hurry up.
- Give me your cash!
Hurry it up!
What'd you do?
Did you hit the alarm?
- [Police Radio]
Attention four-Adam-30,
and units in the vicinity, a
211 silent at The Arena Bar,
442 West Fountain,
four-Adam-30, handle code three.
- Four-Adam-30, roger. (siren)
- I ought to kill you.
- Come on, man, let's
get out of here, come on!
- Stay down! (gunshot)
(screaming)
(tires squealing)
(siren) (tires squealing)
- The getaway vehicle was
a late-model blue
sedan, four-door.
We've got a partial
on the license, 387.
(police radio)
- Look what I found.
Looks like the same MO.
- Green stripe around the tip.
Talk to the witnesses.
See if any of them made
a pair of cowboy boots
underneath the jumpsuits.
Let's go, Junior.
I want to find a missing person.
- Pinwheel?
- Pinwheel.
(exciting, jazzy music)
(slow tentative
music) (drumming)
- [Junior] So that's a pinwheel.
- That's right, you can
trust a spinning one.
Hey Pinwheel.
Ever thought about
taking lessons?
- What, cramp my style?
- Word has it, you're
pushing sherms these days.
- Sherms are hot; a whole
lot of dudes are hustling 'em.
- Not with green
rings around 'em.
Nice new drum, huh?
- Oh, come on, Hooker.
Last time you plumbed my
drum, it washed up in Tahiti.
- I bet the natives
are still high.
- We're looking for one
of your sherm heads.
Six-foot-two, male
Caucasian, a hard case.
- Big dude, huh?
In that category I got a
merchant marine swabbie,
a cowboy, and an ex-linebacker.
- Any of 'em been around lately?
- The swabbie
checked in yesterday,
and the cowboy
connected this morning.
- Next time one of them
shows up, drop a dime on me.
- That's dangerous, Hooker!
I got to go on livin'.
- You'll come up with an angle,
or you'll be coming up
with another new drum.
(dark musical tones)
- When Detective
Fernandez narrowed it down,
they recalled seeing
a pair of cowboy boots
under the jumpsuit
of the tall suspect.
Glad you could make it.
So the magic word
for the day is cowboy.
If you see somebody
who looks like he should be
rounding up strays in
the south 40, bring him in.
But if cowboy is our man,
he's packing a .45 auto,
and he's already
smoked three victims,
including Detective Fernandez.
So don't let him
make you the fourth.
All right, let's roll.
Which way did Dietrich go?
- Looked like he was
headed for the locker room.
- I'll catch you
outside, Junior.
- You look like
yesterday's leftovers.
I guess I don't have
to ask why, do I?
- Hey, don't start, Hooker.
I'm sick of being preached at.
- When are you going
to be sick of being sick?
- Here comes the sermon.
- No, no, no.
Just call it a bit of
personal history.
I was doing my job pretty
much the way I'm doing it now.
And then suddenly,
one day, Fran says,
"It's all over; I can't
take it anymore."
Couldn't understand
why at the time.
Maybe I didn't try hard enough.
Anyway, there I
was, wife, kids, gone.
I needed a friend, and
I found one, 80 proof.
- It's still a friend.
Makes you feel good,
and it doesn't talk back.
- No, Sam, it tears at your gut
and dumps you out in the cold
and rips you away from
anything you have left.
Friends like that I didn't need!
Back then, I had
to handle it alone.
I got lucky.
I caught it in time.
Walked away before I drowned.
- Look, I will too, as soon as
the pressure eases, you know?
And I won't need it anymore.
Listen, I need it.
- Sam, Sam, has it
ever occurred to you
that the pressure
may be an excuse?
Maybe you're an alcoholic.
- What, are you crazy?
- Sam, you should get help.
- Stay away from me.
- Get help from you own kind,
cops who've been through it.
They want to help you!
We need all the good
cops we can get, Sam.
But you have to go to them.
You have to want to go!
- I just told you, it's
a temporary problem.
Besides, it's something
that I do off-duty,
not on the job, yeah.
- Off-duty, off-duty,
what the hell's in here?
- What are you doing?
What are you doing?
- All right, that's it,
I'm pulling the plug.
- You'd do that to me?
You would do that to me?
- I have no choice.
(dark musical tones)
- How do we know
these jumpsuit bandits
are still around, Hooker?
Maybe they moved on.
- Don't think so.
Guys like that never know
to quit when they're ahead.
- I was hoping you
wouldn't say that.
Unfortunately, all
we have to go on
is the fact that one of them
wears cowboy duds
and packs a .45.
- And he's big,
don't forget that.
That narrows it down.
- If you say so.
But so far, aside from Pinwheel,
our snitches haven't come
up with much on the street.
- Let's swing over to
the marina, take a tour.
If this cowboy is
hooked on sherms
and buying them from Pinwheel,
he'll stay in
Pinwheel's back yard,
won't stray far from his source.
(exciting music)
- Up ahead, see the big guy?
Does that look like
a cowboy to you?
- Western clothes
and cowboy boots.
- Looks like it's possible.
- Let's check him out.
- Hey pal, I'd
like to talk to you.
(energetic, dramatic music)
(tires squealing)
(splash)
- I can't swim!
Help, I can't swim!
- Let me help you.
- Lester Sayles.
- I don't know
nothing about nothing.
- Right, you just ran because
we were chasing you, right?
- You got it.
- No, you got it, Lester.
You got my attention.
What happened to the
bag you were carrying?
- Oh yeah, my bag, I
lost it, on account of you.
I should sue the city.
- Seems Albuquerque PD put
up with a lot of your nonsense.
- Hey read, it says
I've been rehabilitated.
- He looks like a possible.
What do you think, Hooker?
- I'd say he's a possible.
Free room and board
for you tonight, Lester.
Compliments of the city.
- Hey, you can't hold me.
- Register our guest, Romano.
Hold over for ID confirmation.
- My pleasure.
- Tomorrow, we'll
bring him Pinwheel,
hope for a positive ID.
- [Junior] Step in, all the way.
Take off your hats, face front.
- Which one is cowboy?
- [Junior] Number one,
step forward, turn around.
- They're all cowboys, Hooker.
- Don't play games with me.
Which one is your sherm buyer?
- [Junior] Number three,
step forward, and turn around.
- I don't see him here.
He ain't one of them.
- You sure?
- Next man.
- Sure I'm sure.
I wish I could help
you, Hooker, honest.
- [Junior] Five,
and the last one.
- Kick 'em loose.
- That'll be all.
Move out.
(dark musical tones)
- Sam.
- Stay out of my way, Hooker.
- Sam, hold on a second.
- What?
- I want to talk to
you, that's what.
How'd it go with the Captain?
- How do you think?
I'm off the case as of now.
Come tomorrow morning, I
sit down with internal affairs.
You know how it
tracks from there.
They take my badge
and my gun and flush 'em
together with my pension.
Thanks, Buddy, you're a prince.
- And you're a fool.
If you get your act together,
it doesn't have to be that way.
(tenuous, high-pitched
musical tones)
- That's sweet, Hooker,
but if I wanted
religion, I'd go to church.
(exciting music)
(grunting)
- Hooker.
- Call an ambulance.
What happened?
Who did this to you?
- Cowboy.
- You mean Lester Sayles.
- I lied, you had him.
- Where can I find him?
- Tomorrow, hit, hit...
- Where, Pinwheel, where?
- Ambulance is on the way.
- Won't do any good.
- [Company] One, two three,
four, one, two, three, four.
One, two, three, four.
- The bars they hit
are all over the city.
He sure moves around.
- Yeah, but look at this.
Each one of them's
near a sport facility.
Baseball stadium, sports
center, boxing arena.
And each one of them
features dancing girls.
- There is a pattern!
- Now look at the
times of the robberies.
They all went down when some
sporting event was in progress.
- Fans mob the bars
before the games,
and the places empty out at
game time for the most part.
- And the register is loaded.
- Too bad it took so long
to figure out cowboy's MO.
- Yeah.
Pinwheel said that cowboy's
going to hit again today.
- [Stacy] There's a
basketball game this afternoon.
- At the sports center
near Mac's club.
You think he'd hit
the same place twice?
- He might.
He might think that's the
last place we'll be watching.
Let's give it a try.
Let's set up, get
there before he does.
I'll clear the stakeout with
the Lieutenant, that's it.
Where are you going?
What do you think you're doing?
- This is my case.
- You're off the case,
Captain's orders.
- Forget about orders.
It's the guy who
shot my partner.
I'm going to after him.
- Let me tell you something.
I did tell the Captain
about your drinking problem.
That's where I left it.
I didn't tell him
what I really believe,
that your partner caught a
bullet because of your drinking.
- What are you talking about?
You weren't there.
- I didn't have to be.
Let me tell you something else.
This is my stakeout, and
I'm not going to let you
foul it up, so get out of here.
(dark, sad musical tones)
- I've got a bird's eye view
of the bar from here, Corrigan.
The place seems to be
pretty well emptied out.
- Yeah, well, it's
getting pretty full in here.
(dark, tense music)
♪ - I was looking
for every woman
♪ To satisfy me
♪ But never got past
the point of breaking ice
♪ It was lonely
♪ It was the same
thing again and again
- I think I've got one.
♪ - I think everything
in love is pretend
- He's headed to the men's room.
♪ - Dark corners
everywhere inside my heart
♪ 'Til you showed
up (tense music)
- Hey, I think this
is him moving in.
- You're a dead man.
- It's Dietrich, he blew it.
- [Corrigan] What the
hell is Dietrich doing here?
- He's got cowboy.
- Romano!
♪ - With you, at
once I felt inside
(exciting, fast-paced music)
(tires squealing)
(tires squealing)
(tires squealing)
(tires squealing)
(tires squealing)
(tires squealing) (crash)
(glass breaking)
- (breathing heavily) Thanks.
Bought me an extra pass.
- You know what you
almost bought me?
A ticket to the graveyard.
You're dangerous, man.
You're lethal, to yourself
and everybody around you.
- Sorry, I really am.
- Sorry doesn't cut it anymore!
- What does?
- I think you know.
(slow musical tones)
- That last little
escapade pretty well did it.
Internal affairs will probably
throw the book at me.
Looks like I'll be holding
down a desk job for a while.
- Not too bad.
- I hurt a lot of
people along the way.
Laura, my partner, you.
- That's yesterday's news.
From now on, you
deal with today.
- Okay boys and
girls, it's showtime.
I'd like to call this meeting
of the Peace Officer's
Fellowship to order,
and let's get the ball rolling
by inviting our newest
member to identify himself.
- Hooker, thanks.
- Stick close to him, Laura.
He's going to need
you now more than ever.
- My name is Sam.
I'm a cop, and I'm an alcoholic.
(dramatic musical tones)
(theme music)