Hey! Hey, what do you think you're doing?
Hey! Hey, let go of me, man!
(GRUNTS)
It's as simple as this. We're giving you 24 hours.
They said she gave it to you.
So, who could that be?
I don't know.
Now, we can do this easy, or we can do it rough.
No, no, I don't know exactly where it is, but I can find it,
I swear to God I can find it, just give me some time.
You never told me about this stuff.
In the near future,
you may wake up dead if you don't do as I tell you.
What do these guys want from me, huh?
That I intend to find out.
(TlRWS SCRWWCHlNG)
(BABY WAlLlNG)
(TlRWS SCRWWCHlNG)
SlGNORWLLl: Give them an inch, they pinch you coming, going, sideways.
Think cops give a rusty bucket?
Get a license, carry a piece.
What does it look as if I got? A death wish?
Call a cop. Yeah, 3:00 in the morning
there's one on every corner. Right.
Cop gonna ride around with you?
Is a cop gonna guarantee your money back?
Not in my lifetime.
I've been driving my own hack for 15 years.
They think I'm just gonna roll over and fold,
they got another thing coming.
MAN: That's him.
(TlRWS SCRWWCHlNG)
You are shaking down independent taxi drivers.
Perhaps you'd like to answer a few questions.
For instance, how many drivers and how many cabs
have you hit during the past month?
What is your gross income from those hits?
What are the names of your employers?
Would you care to answer one or two of those questions?
No response? No response at all?
What's the matter? Won't you answer the questions?
Let me tell you something, you're under investigation.
And if you so much as harass that man once more,
(WNGlNW SPUTTWRlNG)
this tape will be given to the district attorney's office.
Do you understand me?
(WNGlNW STARTS)
I presume you do understand me, gentlemen. Thank you.
(CHUCKLWS)
All right, Jimmy. Cut it.
It worked! Of course it worked.
I would've never believed it.
Here, let me give you something for your time.
No, no, don't bother.
No, please, I insist.
Well, if you insist...
Jimmy.
All right, well, if you...
If you want to give me something, give me your card.
Sure. What for?
You never know, I might want a lift someday.
A man like you might come in very useful, Mr. Signorelli.
Thank you. Let's go home.
(lNAUDlBLW)
(JAZZ MUSIC PLAYING)
(lNAUDlBLW)
No, no, you don't understand. I got it.
But I can't go through with it. I'm sorry.
You all right? Fine.
You sure?
Promise. Take care of yourself.
Wait, wait, wait. No, don't go.
Do you wanna tell me about it?
Just let her go.
Losing your touch?
Don't tell me, we've met before?
I hope so.
Yes, you look very familiar to me.
I am very familiar.
Something is telling me that you have a phone number.
Yes, I have...
Have you seen Theresa around?
Who? My friend.
Dark hair. A little older than me.
You saw me talking to her.
Yeah, she was just here. I don't know.
Can I help you with something?
I don't think so.
Here's my number. Some other time, okay?
Call me. Sure.
Don't lose it. And don't forget to call.
Mmm-hmm. Definitely.
Pen ran out of ink.
That's too bad.
(SHlP HORN BLOWlNG)
DANA: Hey, Mitchell, come here.
Good morning.
(CLWARS THROAT) Listen, um...
I gotta go, so...
Oh!
You can't take it.
No, it's just that l...
You're afraid?
(CHUCKLlNG) No, I have an early appointment.
No, I don't want to go.
No... You wouldn't want me to be rude
to these nice people, would you?
Donna, Donna, Donna, I'll call you, okay?
Dana!
Right, right.
I'll call you.
Right.
My number is on my handy-dandy matchbook.
Thanks.
I'll see you later.
(DOOR CLOSWS)
Oh, hi. Yeah, I'll call you.
Hey! Hey, what do you think you're doing?
Hey! Hey, let go of me, man!
(DOOR CLANGS)
(GRUNTS)
WOMAN: Single playing card from a deck.
Look at this.
(MlTCHWLL GROANlNG)
MAN: King of Hearts. How appropriate.
You said it.
Wonder where this guy lives. Nice watch.
Put that on the side. We'll use it later.
All right.
Oh, God, look at these numbers.
(WXCLAlMS lN FRUSTRATlON)
Look, here's his license.
(MlTCHWLL WXCLAlMlNG PAlNFULLY)
Have a look at this.
Don't you see, I can't help you.
(GROANlNG)
What's going on? What do you guys want from me?
Be quiet and listen.
Now, we can do this easy, or we can do it rough.
Do what?
Obviously, you don't have it with you,
so you must've put it somewhere.
"lt"? What is this "it"? Look, I think you guys got the wrong guy, here.
(WXCLAlMlNG)
It's as simple as this.
She told us she gave it to you.
We have every reason to believe her, and we want it back.
So there's really no reason to argue, is there?
No. I'll tell you the truth, okay?
I... I put it somewhere. I mean, l...
I gave it to somebody who put it somewhere, I think.
But the truth is that
I didn't understand the significance, you know.
Look, I am just a guy, okay? I just wait on tables.
I don't know about this stuff.
(COUGHS)
So the truth is that I don't know where it is.
No, no, I don't know exactly where it is, but I can find it,
I swear to God I can find it, just give me some time.
I don't have to listen to this.
No, no, please, I swear to God, just give me 48 hours, okay, 48 hours,
and I'll find it, I'll get it, I'll bring it back to you, no questions asked.
It's just, you know, maybe...
Maybe you can give me something for my time, you know.
Like I'm missing the dinner shift tonight, this is my bread and butter
and they're gonna dock my pay, and I might get fired,
you never... MAN: Shut him up.
No, no... Wait a minute.
(WHlSPWRlNG)
We're giving you 24 hours,
and, understand what I'm saying, we don't have to do that.
If you go to the police, you'll be killed.
If you don't give it to us, you'll be killed.
We'll know where you're going, and we'll know what you're doing.
In exactly 24 hours, you'll be picked up where you were dropped off.
You'll give us what we want.
We'll be happy, you'll be happy.
Life will go on.
It's a deal. Deal. It's just that...
24 hours, I don't know.
Like, this person doesn't come home sometimes for days, so...
Maybe we could make it 48?
Thirty-six hours, you got it?
Yeah, yeah, all right.
Why didn't you go to the police?
I can't! I can't go to the police.
These guys said they'd kill me, and I believe them.
I think these guys'd love to kill me.
Oh, we can't have that, can we?
Look, I didn't do anything.
I didn't hurt anybody, nobody gave me anything.
How am I supposed to know what it is?
I don't understand.
You said that they said,
"She gave it to you."
So, who could that be?
I don't know.
Well, think.
What woman have you seen recently?
These are the ones that gave me their numbers.
You... You know all these women?
(STAMMWRlNG) Well, I don't know, I've met them.
McCALL: Better gather this lot together.
We're gonna have to make a list.
A very long list.
Yeah.
You need them alphabetically?
No, by height will do.
Really? Mitchell...
MlTCHWLL: (LAUGHlNG) Oh, yeah, I get it.
One child, Sally Ann, 18 months...
Peggy's got a kid?
Where do you get this stuff?
I have my contacts. Yeah, I bet you do.
Credit ratings, employment records,
prior addresses, police records?
Oh, I don't think Judy would...
Dope? Prostitution? That's crazy.
I almost went out with her.
Oh, I wouldn't doubt you for a moment.
Young man, I really do think I should point out to you
that you've already had 12 of your 36 hours.
Oh, great, thanks. What do you want me to do?
People around here are horizontally mobile, this could take weeks.
(UPBEAT MUSIC PLAYING)
She's just not here.
Perhaps she's ill.
No, she's always here. She never misses a class.
I knew there was something wrong with her.
She didn't ask me for my phone number until two days ago.
Really? Really.
(CLlCKS TONGUW SYMPATHWTlCALLY)
Come on, come on. Let's try and find her.
All right.
Hey! Hey, that's her! Hey, hey, Mary? Mary?
Hold on for a second.
Mary, my friend, Mr. McCall, wants to talk to you.
I can't, I just...
Oh, come on, honey. Just cool off for a second, please?
I'm sorry, maybe later, hmm?
I'd like to talk to you for just a minute, please.
You don't understand. I'm late, I'm fighting gravity,
my glutes, they're disintegrating.
I'm sure your glutes are perfect.
Whatever they are.
Mary, come on.
Now, please.
Thank you.
I want to know what you gave to this man
and why you gave it to him.
I'm disappointed in you, Mitch.
I didn't realize you were a gossip.
Wxcuse me. Mary...
Forget it. Forget it. Obviously, it wasn't her.
Just cross her off. Forget it.
I'll call you. Higher.
It's an interesting little store.
I'd take you in to browse around,
but the boss is a witch, so I'll bring her out, okay?
Don't worry, I'll find some way to amuse myself.
Mr. McCall?
I guess I was wrong.
Shelly wasn't even in the country last week.
SHELLY: I wish I could help, but I didn't give Mitchell anything.
No matter. Obviously, we made a mistake.
Sorry. You can go back to work now.
All right, thank you. You're welcome.
Bye. Bye.
I'll call you.
Carla?
Rockefeller Plaza, in about 15 minutes.
Good place, a lot of office girls on a late lunch,
skaters, out-of-towners...
Oh, yeah? Yeah, and you cast your net daily, huh?
Well, yeah. Like I said, I'm a pretty disciplined guy.
Oh, yes, quite. Quite.
Roberta?
53rd and Madison, about 5:00.
Don't tell me, that's when all those lovely secretaries
are pouring out of their offices?
Yeah, you got it.
And then, around about 6:00, it'll be Grand Central
in that beautiful rush hour.
MITCHELL: Very good, you're catching on.
A little work, you could do it, you know. You could be an operator.
I bet there are a lot of women that would fall for a guy like you.
Thank you, Mitchell. Thank you.
That is about the best backhanded compliment I've ever had.
What's the matter? My watch ain't working.
(FEEDBACK SCREECHES)
We're being followed?
Yes.
These people are very serious.
And very clever.
(McCALL WHlSTLWS)
(JAZZ MUSIC PLAYING)
Well, how goes it, hmm?
I gather Dana was not the girl we're looking for, either.
No? No.
Well, let's cross Dana off, huh?
Oh, don't look so depressed. I mean, after all, it isn't really a disaster, is it?
And we've gone right through this list,
and we have ruled out every single girl on it, haven't we?
Which leads me to the conclusion
that the girl we are looking for
is not on this list, hmm?
So, think. Who else?
I don't know.
But I get this feeling like this thing is slipping away from us.
And I get this feeling like these guys are gonna kill me.
And there's nothing that I can do.
WOMAN: Buy you a drink, Mitch?
That's very kind of you to offer,
but as you see, Mitch is deep in contemplation.
Perhaps some other time. I'm his uncle.
All the way from Akron.
Akron.
All right, come on, Mitchell. Pull yourself together.
There is another she you have seen in the past few days
who is not on this list. Who is it?
I don't know.
I...
Sorry, I thought you were somebody else.
Wise guy.
Great, it ate my quarter.
What the hell was that all about?
Well, she was on the phone, well, not her, another girl.
She was on the phone, at the bar, and she was upset.
I wasn't even coming on to her, you know, I was just trying to be a nice guy.
Some people just don't get it.
Oh, yeah. And then she left.
Well, go on, go on. She's not it.
I didn't talk to her. Two words, max.
Okay, okay. So out of the blue, she comes back,
and she gives me her phone number.
You know, one second it's, "Get lost,"
the next second it's, "Give me a call." Flake. Total flake.
Wait a minute, wait a minute. You said this girl gave you her number?
Yeah.
Where is the number?
I don't know, it's with that other pile of numbers, you know...
Mitchell, it is not with the other numbers.
We've looked through all the other numbers, it's not there. Where is it?
I don't know. Maybe I threw it out! What do I know?
It was on a matchbook.
I gave it to Dana.
You gave it to Dana?
Before I left her apartment.
I wrote my number on it.
Mitchell?
Yeah?
Go and get it from Dana.
Right.
(lNAUDlBLW)
Hi, I'm Mitch,
from the other night.
This guy over here says that he gave you his number.
Yeah, he gave me his phone number. So what?
We'd like it back, please.
Sure.
That's the number.
Whose number?
Well, your friend, with the slicked-back hair, from the other night.
Vickie? Yeah.
She came back here that night?
That's weird, 'cause she was really upset when she left.
Why, was she in some trouble?
She got fired, but she was in a panic about it.
Could you... Could you show us where she lives?
What do you want with her?
Well, we just want to talk with her.
You see, I think she might be in some trouble.
She'll be most grateful. I promise you.
THWRWSA: Why would her door be open?
McCALL: Wait. Let me go first.
(THWRWSA GASPS)
Oh, God! Oh, God! Quiet.
Keep yourself under control.
Whoever did that could still be in the area,
which means they could've seen us come into this building,
(WXCLAlMS lN FWAR) which means that you are both in danger.
Now, I'm going to take you somewhere safe.
First of all, I have to call this in.
No cops, no cops!
At the moment, the police should be the least of your worries.
What do these guys want from me, huh?
That I intend to find out.
(CLASSICAL MUSIC PLAYING)
I never saw anybody dead before.
My whole life.
I understand.
You do?
Yeah, I guess you do.
How well did you know her?
Not very well.
We went out a few times, but she was
a hard person to get to know.
And you, what do you do, what's your job?
I'm a temporary secretary.
Fill in different places. That's how I met Vickie.
The last two weeks, we worked together.
How could somebody do something
Iike that to her?
(SlGHS)
And how was the salad?
That was excellent. Very good.
Next course, spaghetti carbonara.
Fresh egg, bacon, pepper, Parmesan.
We got this chef at the restaurant.
She is from Palermo, it's her recipe, and it is my favorite dish.
Well,
almost my favorite.
Nice try.
Mmm.
Mitchell, above and beyond the call.
Well, we're both professionals, right?
I gotta keep my end up. It's the least I can do.
If it keeps me busy, believe me, I prefer it.
After what happened,
I can't help it. I'm hungry.
Mmm.
That's the great thing about appetite.
Whatever you go through, it always returns, right?
MlTCHWLL: (CHUCKLlNG) Oh, you said it.
(DOOR OPWNS)
(DOOR CLOSWS)
That smells very good.
Oh, here. Great. Have some.
There's plenty left. Right there.
Well, if you're sure there's plenty left.
There's plenty. Plenty.
Thank you, Jimmy.
Oh, Jimmy, Theresa. Theresa, Jimmy.
Hello.
I got what you want,
but please don't ever ask me to deal with those guys
at the lab again, especially Harrison.
Wspecially at night.
I don't know, maybe it's his ulcer, but he's getting really impossible.
Well, thank you, Jimmy. Set it up, will you?
Set what up?
The thing those people have been looking for,
the thing that has brought us all here together this evening.
You see, we've been desperately searching.
And when you have eliminated all possibilities,
that which remains
has got to be the answer.
Go ahead, take a look at the dot on the "i" in "Jiffy's."
This is very good, by the way.
Thanks.
Why don't you look on the monitor, Jimmy, will you?
Hmm.
Microdot.
Closer.
(CLlCKlNG)
Closer.
Well, now, what is it?
JlMMY: I don't know, some kind of schematics.
Harrison blew it up.
He's working off a copy to see if he can build the thing.
So that's what she stashed on me, huh?
A matchbook with a microdot.
Is it worth anything?
Could be worth a fortune.
Now we got to find out what it is and who owns it.
Jimmy,
you'd better put more pressure on Harrison.
Aw, McCall... All right, all right, I'll do it.
What's a microdot?
Wxcuse me. Yeah.
Spaghetti's really good.
Thanks.
Mr. Harrison, it's Robert McCall.
I thought I'd ask you how you're getting on.
Yes, yes, Mr. Harrison.
I do appreciate you working overtime,
but I wanna know what the hell we're dealing with as soon as possible.
I realize how late it is,
but believe me, your efforts are greatly appreciated.
Well, Jimmy's on his way now.
Thank you. Bye.
Ah, here you are.
Oh, yeah. Put that away safely.
So, I guess I'll get ready for bed.
Well, you know where everything is. Uh-huh.
How's it look?
(CHUCKLWS)
You look fine.
I just wanted to thank you again for everything.
Oh, come on. No need of thanking.
After all, it was me who got you into this situation in the first place.
Will it be safe for me to go home tomorrow?
Yes, I don't see why not.
Once we get young Mitchell sorted out.
You give them the... Whatever it is.
Yes, that's right.
What will they do with it?
Oh, use it, throw it away, sell it, I don't know.
I can't
get it out of my mind, her lying there.
She seemed like such a sweet...
(SOBBlNG)
Poor Vickie.
She was hanging on to it. She had such
bad breaks.
But things started looking up. This man, her boss,
he... He was married, but he was good to her.
And it looked like a good thing,
and then he... He dumped her!
He fired her.
Can I ask you something?
Why do you go to bars like that?
Because I'm lonely.
Wverybody's lonely. Wverybody wants somebody.
How can you go on if you don't have that hope?
Wven if you make mistakes, even if it's not forever, you...
Oh...
I could be gone in a second, like Vickie.
You have to watch out for yourself.
Nobody else is gonna do that.
Why do people hurt each other?
I wish I knew.
I don't want to hurt anybody.
But sometimes
you hurt people when you don't need to.
(KNOCKlNG ON DOOR)
(DOOR OPWNS)
MlTCHWLL: Well, hello.
(DOOR CLOSWS)
Good night, Theresa.
That's it, no more Harrison.
I am through. Wspecially at night.
Good morning. Good morning.
Hey, honey, how'd you sleep?
You want some breakfast? I'm taking orders.
JlMMY: Don't mind if I do.
A couple of eggs over easy, bacon.
Got you. Did you get it, Jimmy?
It's not done yet, McCall, but if it's what Harrison thinks it is, it's wild.
MlTCHWLL: Want toast, Jimmy?
Jimmy will not be having any breakfast.
Jimmy is going straight back to the lab.
At first, I'm thinking this thing is some kind of a joke, right?
I'm a little tired, then it hits me,
you throw in ancillary markets, foreign rights,
franchising worldwide,
you're looking at 50 million, easy.
(BACON SlZZLlNG) The bacon a little underdone, please.
I don't have to be back there for at least an hour.
I better get going. The agency might wanna send me out...
Whoa, whoa, whoa! How about a rain check, huh?
I'll see you down.
Wxcuse me. I'll get you a cab.
Right, let's go.
(DOOR CLOSWS)
(WHlSTLWS)
Shall l... Well...
Shall I see you again?
You'd really like to?
Absolutely.
Thank you.
Call me? You can count on it.
Bye, Robert.
Mr. McCall? Yes?
This is Nick Signorelli.
I just dropped her off at 552 Bleeker Street.
Bleeker Street? You're sure it was Bleeker Street?
Absolutely.
Thank you, Nick.
WOMAN'S VOICE: We're sorry, your call cannot be completed as dialed.
Please check the number and dial again.
Oh, Theresa.
MlTCHWLL: Okay, look. Here's the plan.
We messenger it to them with a nice note. You help me write it.
Something like, "Here's the dot.
"Glad to get it back to you.
"I've been called away on business, forget the money..."
Something more elegant, though, you know.
Mitchell, your 36 hours is now up.
In one hour's time, you are going back to that park,
where you'll be picked up. No way!
You will be picked up and taken away to a meeting.
And let me tell you something else. I will be with you.
You never told me about this stuff.
You know, you may well walk away from this clean, just walk away.
On the other hand, in the near future,
you may wake up dead if you don't do as I tell you.
Now, come on.
(SlGHS)
Wndgame.
Always tricky.
Wver-diminishing options, you see.
You just have to take them as they come.
Are you gonna fill me in or what?
No. Not yet.
It's suppose to be one guy.
Two.
One young guy.
Him.
One young guy, him.
One old guy, me.
Two.
He's clean.
Both of youse, into the van.
Let's go.
Okay.
All this could have been avoided.
If only Vickie had played her part.
She took our money to steal the thing,
and then decided she couldn't bring herself to turn it over.
Shouldn't have brought your friend. I warned you.
But assuming you've kept up your end of the deal,
perhaps I can overlook it.
Where is it?
It's here.
Bring it.
Wait.
How do we know this is the real thing?
Well, if it isn't, how did we build that?
It is over.
Drop your weapons and raise your hands.
It is over. Drop your weapons...
Don't do it!
(GROANlNG)
Uh-uh!
Cover him, Mitchell.
You point the gun at him, put your finger on the trigger, and cover him.
I got it.
(SlRWNS WAlLlNG)
You don't hang about, do you?
I haven't got the money.
What do you mean?
Vickie's boss.
Occasionally your boss.
You found out that he owned the microdot.
You told him he could have it back.
How much is it going to cost him, Theresa?
How'd you know?
Oh, a lifetime of experience.
And, in your haste to exchange matchbooks,
you wrote down the wrong phone numbers.
Robert, about the other night...
The other night is your business.
Why don't you stop now before you harm other people?
I should give it back.
Well, my mother, God rest her soul,
always used to say,
"The first step in learning not to hurt others
"is to stop hurting yourself."
Mitch?
Mitch? Oh, he's fine.
He's quite safe.
Robert, about the other night...
Yes, I know, I know.
You were just trying to get more information out of him.
I was with him, but I was thinking about us.
That's funny.
So was l.
(SLOW REGGAE MUSIC PLAYING)
Mitch! You promised to call me.
Oh, I still promise.
I don't know where you get your energy.
This isn't a bad place, really.
I might become a regular.
You know, I don't get it.
Killing somebody over a silly robot? Come on.
One robot might be silly.
But over a couple of hundred thousand sold at Christmastime?
Oh, no, there's a lot of money involved there.
How did Vickie know what it was worth?
Her boss invented it.
Vickie was heavily involved with her boss.
And a little pillow talk late at night can work wonders, you know.
Anyway,
apparently the affair soured on him,
she decided to get even with him,
stole the microdot,
and thought she would sell it to a competitor.
The couple that kidnapped me.
Mmm.
Then she obviously had second thoughts.
She realized what she was getting into.
Realized that they would stop at nothing to get what they wanted.
So she panicked.
And she decided to put the microdot onto a book of matches
and get rid of it.
So she passed it on to the first available fool.
Right place at the wrong time, huh? Mmm.
So what did you do? You passed it on to Dana,
Dana passed it on to somebody else,
and before you knew what was happening, it became a case of
"Matchbook, matchbook, find the bloody matchbook."
Yeah.
You know, none of this would've happened
if I'd just paid a little more attention now and then.
I guess I just don't listen sometimes.
You don't listen at all.
Well, I don't listen a lot,
but it's tough out there. I mean,
you go round and round, life goes whizzing by, and everything gets...
Horizontally mobile?
Yeah. Yeah.
You know something? I'm gonna tell you something.
Sometimes I feel like just giving it all up.
You don't! Yeah. Yeah.
Settling down, you know what I mean?
What about all those secretaries, salesgirls,
out-of-towners... I mean, imagine their disappointment.
Well...
WOMAN: Hi, Mitch.
Who's your friend?
I'm Chris. I'm Diane.
Mind if we join you?
Oh, sure.
I believe this seat is available right here, to my right.
CHRlS: Great. I haven't seen you around lately, Mitch.
So, let's have some drinks.
I've got to go.
I'm sorry, yes. I have another appointment.
Are you sure? Oh, I'm absolutely positive, yes.
Well, uh...
Sometimes I feel like giving it up.
And sometimes you don't.
There we are.
Pleasure.
(McCALL CHUCKLWS)
Don't worry, Mitchell.
You're quite safe now.
Well, I think you might be.
Ladies.
DlANW: Charming guy.
MlTCHWLL: Mmm.
CHRlS: I'm disappointed.
DlANW: I read somewhere that middle-aged guys are coming back.
Right.
Hi.