The Streets of San Francisco (1972) s01e09 Episode Script

Hey, we got happy news today.
Happy news, hey, happy news today.
We got happy children.
We got happy stories about happy people.
Happy children, happy dogs, happy cats.
Hey, Stormy, wait a minute.
Hey, Stormy.
Hey, hold it, Stormy.
Stormy, here you are, here you are.
You can wrap fish in it, you can swat flies with it.
That's what you can do.
You can put it over your head on a rainy day.
Have another paper.
Yeah, thank you.
All right, Stormy.
Thank you very much.
You can do anything you want with it.
Here you are.
There you are.
Thank you, lady.
Happy news, we got nothing but happy news.
Happy news.
Hey, here's your paper.
Happy news.
Get in the tub with it after an empty day.
- Mr.
Rhinelander.
- Oh, hello, Marian.
- I'm sorry to be late.
- That's not like you.
Well, I'm afraid I indulged myself.
A tie in a store window caught my eye.
- Oh, very elegant.
- No, no, not this one.
It's still in the store, with the suit they're making up from the material that went so well with it.
Well, you're entitled to it.
After this, especially.
Oh, it's beautiful.
I'll be a hero at home.
- You did say 7,500? - That's right.
Here you go.
Would you like me to gift-wrap it? No, I'm gonna take it just like that.
Thank you very much, Mr.
Rhinelander.
- Thank you, Marian.
- I know she'll enjoy it.
Well, she'd better.
Hey! We got happy murders, happy riots.
We got happy luncheons, happy teas, happy and Hey, Mr.
Rhinelander.
- How are you? - Hello, Wally.
Hey, you're on page three.
You're the housing commission.
- Very impressive, very impressive.
- Well, thanks, Wally.
Saw you on the tube too.
Well, what did you think? Oh, you won that debate going away.
Going away.
- Thanks, Wally.
- Thank you, Mr.
Rhinelander.
- Well, there's my car.
- Oh, yeah.
Hey! We got happy news today, happy news.
Here you are.
Paper here.
Here you are.
Hey! We got happy news today, happy news.
Hey, happy news today.
We got happy children, happy dogs.
Happy dogs, happy children, happy, happy, happy.
There you go.
Thank you very much! Happy news.
Hey, here's your paper.
Excuse me, sir, can you tell me which way is closer? Let's get him out of here.
- Stone? - Yes, sir.
You're the one that solved that cop ambush last year, that's right? Well, there were dozens of us involved in that case, Mr.
Skolimowski.
The mayor wants you on this one, lieutenant.
And what's-his-name, your partner, here.
This is Inspector Keller.
Steve Keller.
- Keller.
- Mr.
Skolimowski.
The mayor wants you both to accept full responsibility for this thing so that nothing gets lost between desks, got it? Yes, sir.
Yes, sir.
I'll tell you, I have had it with these political assassinations.
You don't like somebody else's views, you get a gun and blow him apart.
Maybe the doomsday boys are right.
Maybe this is the end of the world.
You got it pegged as assassination already? The mayor does.
Rhinelander's been a broad target for over two years.
I can't remember the exact date.
But ever since he took over control of the low-cost housing commission.
Maybe it would help if we could get a complete report of his public appearances, statements, press conferences, a complete record.
- You got it.
Anything else? - Time.
I can't give you time.
- I figured.
- Anything else? Yes, sir, what do you think? You're the cop.
No, I mean, you're famous for politicking on the lawn, rapping with the people, the crazies, intellectuals.
Was there any group that hated Rhinelander? The crazies hated him.
But, then, they hate me too.
They hate all authority, and these days, authority is anyone who wears a tie.
Gentlemen, I have a calendar that won't quit.
Thanks for coming in.
Keep in touch.
Now, you wanna talk about a platinum-plated steamroller.
How does a guy like that? Don't overbook your mind, buddy boy.
Just pick up the message.
He's the boss, you're the cop.
Came through loud and clear.
"What's-his-name.
" You like that, don't you? - Hey, special edition.
- Yeah? Hey, Lowell, they killed Mr.
Rhinelander.
Yeah.
Who? Mr.
Rhinelander.
He was standing right here yesterday, where you are.
He handed me a buck, as usual.
No kidding.
What do you know about that? Here today, gone tomorrow.
Wally, I just had to do it.
I had to sell one on my own.
You're taking my place aren't you? You might as well jump in and see if you can swim.
Hey.
- See that? - Yeah.
Cop friends of mine.
- Bet they're on the case.
- Yeah? Yeah.
Hey, Lowell.
I'm gonna leave you in charge for a few minutes.
Oh, well, don't worry.
I can handle it.
Yeah.
Bank's open.
I wanna get over there before they give mine all away.
Three thousand dollars.
I wonder what it'll be like to have all that money in your hand at one time.
Yeah, me too.
I wonder if three big ones feel any different than a lot of little ones.
I'm not too familiar with stuff you can fold.
The stuff that clinks, that's what I know about.
Paper? It's so obvious what you're up to, Mr.
Rhinelander.
So obvious.
Demonstrate your love of humanity so that you can run for governor next time.
That simply isn't true.
I have no political ambitions.
I took this job You took the job as a stepping stone and you know it.
Now, the fact is that if the city builds this so-called low-cost housing project right next to our district, the incidence of crime will double in a year.
How do you know that? No one will be safe on the streets after dark! There are racial overtones here, and I don't like them one bit.
So that's Harold Spring.
Yes.
Look at that anger.
The other members of his association are sitting next to him.
You've got their names in that manila file.
But he's the president? Yes, president and driving force.
Hold it there.
Our property association has I get angry too.
You should get a close-up of my face when I get mad.
You said you wanted to see all the tapes of the commission hearings.
That's really something.
You mean you don't think he's capable of squeezing a trigger? Or getting anyone else to? Of course he could have.
So could anybody else in that hearing room.
- So? - Rhinelander's job was the worst job in the city.
No matter where he placed that low-cost housing, somebody was bound to get mad.
Well? It's too darn easy.
You haven't got the killer yet, have you? So, what's easy? When you can stand up and shout like he did and get it off your chest.
You know? Maybe you don't have to kill anybody.
Wally Sensibaugh, you're finally gonna do it.
Look out world, here I come.
We'll miss you.
I'll only be gone six weeks.
Six weeks without you on the corner? San Francisco won't be the same.
- Traveler's checks? - No, I want cash.
I wanna hold it in my hand a little while.
I know what you mean.
I'm only going to the travel agency.
- Hundreds okay? - Sure, sure.
Three thousand dollars even.
Three thousand dollars in 25 years.
That's how long Harriet and me been talking about this.
Ever since I took over the corner.
Harriet's been working too, all those quilts.
I'm one lucky son of a gun.
Bon voyage, Wally.
So long, fair lady, I bid thee fond adieu.
There it is.
Right there.
That's the place.
They dragged me a ways.
Yellow for mugging, blue for robbery, red for murder.
Where's Mr.
Rhinelander? Oh, yeah, red, yeah.
Wonder what they hit me with.
Felt like a sledgehammer.
Have a seat, Wally.
Hey, Wally, what are you doing here? Hey, fellas, fellas.
All my savings, $3000, I had it in an envelope.
All my trip money.
Oh, my God, my God.
I'm sorry, Wally.
They came up behind me and clobbered me.
It was a dumb thing to do, carrying all that cash, but I wanted to hold it for a little while.
I've been saving for so long.
What am I gonna tell Harriet? I know what that trip meant to you.
Come here, come here, come here.
That's me.
Lessing, take this one over, will you? Right away, Mike.
Wally, excuse me for this, but did you sell Jules Rhinelander a newspaper yesterday morning? Yeah.
Yeah, I sold him a newspaper.
Then he got on a cable car.
On his way to the club.
Secretary said he had a squash game.
He did.
I saw him.
And then l You're busy with something else, huh? Yes we are, Wally.
You know, we've got the whole city administration on our backs.
That's all right.
Okay.
Look at that, Steve.
If this keeps up, we're gonna have more pins than space.
Civilization.
Toy soldiers.
Yeah, like when I was a kid.
I could just reach down, move a man here, move a man there.
Toy soldiers.
- How much? - Three thousand.
I make the jewels at 12,000 12,500, tops.
Bank it.
- You sure that's the L.
A.
Box number? - Yeah, sure.
Hey, I went over the charts this morning.
- Yeah? - Graphed in a new estimate on what we handled in Seattle.
What's it look like? Could be up eight percent by year's end.
Keep it up, we might have to go public.
Yeah.
Done.
Well, let's hope no one knocks off that post office before Wednesday.
All told, not a bad week's gross.
Yeah, but that's not as good as Seattle.
It's convention.
You can't beat a convention.
There's still one flaw.
You never know who they are.
Yeah, there'd be no sweat if he hadn't tried to get away.
What was his name? Rhinelander.
Jules Rhinelander.
Yeah, he was a real macho.
Marlon, what do we have on parking garages? Union Square, underground.
Two attendants every level.
Well, that's not your best bet.
Here we are.
Atherton Garage, five levels.
Hold it.
You see something? Yeah.
Our two little friends are back.
Work, work, work.
Well, anyone for an early dinner? All right.
- Got it? - Got that? Yeah.
It's a nice place to watch the world go by.
Yeah.
Maybe.
Maybe somebody was here waiting.
- You think it was a pro? - Maybe.
Anyway, that's what Skolimowski thinks.
Say, wait a minute.
Let's measure the distance now between Gump's and the corner.
No, forget it.
No, no.
- Wait a minute.
Why? - They're all yellow pins.
Look, let's just recreate exactly what happened.
There could be more than one what's-his-name around here quick.
There you go, Steve.
Guess who's home? Let me see those tickets.
Oh, come on now, Wally.
Let me see those tickets.
Smells good.
It's meat loaf.
Now, Wally, please.
Sage? Well, how near you done? Oh, it's almost finished.
Now, you should get 200 for that one.
Of course, they'll turn around and get 350, 400 for it.
Wally Harriet, I'm gonna take a bath.
Wally, you just show me those tickets.
At dinner, huh? Okay? Oh, you mean and make it more important? Of course, you're absolutely right.
At dinner.
Oh, leave the door so we can talk.
Well, I've been talking all day.
Look.
Oh, yeah, yeah.
The green book.
Yeah.
That's that new Michelin Guide from Italy.
Just came this morning.
You know, I phoned the bookstore.
And we get France tomorrow.
Isn't that funny? Italy came today.
I was just thinking about Italy.
Well, here's our file.
Harriet, they made you in heaven but they made me in an awful tired place.
Steve, Mike.
Come on in.
Hi, Mrs.
Sensibaugh.
How are you? Oh, let me get this quilt out of the way.
Mike, look at this.
- Hey, that's pretty.
- Beautiful.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Wally.
Wally, you're dripping.
Well, well.
Look who's here.
Gumshoe and son.
- Wally.
- Mum's the word, fellas.
Exciting day, huh? Well, nice to see you guys dropping by.
- Doing your duty.
- Wally, listen Wally, please.
When you saw Jules Rhinelander? - Rhinelander.
Yeah.
- You saw him? - We always exchange a few words.
- Wally, please.
When you saw Jules Rhinelander, did you have a talk with him? Yeah, yeah.
Well, what did you talk about? His debate on TV.
- Debate on the TV.
- Yeah.
And that's all, you're sure? Yeah.
Wally, you see, we're building a timetable of Rhinelander's movements Oh, yeah.
Well, did you find out what time the cable car left my corner? Now, far be it for me to tell you guys your job, but you should talk to the motorman, you know.
Then you back up a minute and a half, and that should give you the exact approximate time that Rhinelander hit my corner.
- Just a suggestion.
- Thank you.
We appreciate it.
- There's a lot of meat loaf.
- These are busy guys.
Some other time, thank you very much.
Wally, I'm sorry about what happened.
- Oh, yeah, yeah, thanks.
Thanks.
- Me too, Wally.
- Thanks for the invitation.
- Goodbye.
Anytime, fellas.
Yeah.
Nice guys.
Nice guys.
Real serious.
You know, they put a case together like you make a quilt.
Piece of this, piece of that.
One day they got the killers.
Yeah, well, back to the old tub.
Wally, why did they say they were sorry for us? - Sorry? - Yeah, just now, when they left.
Oh, oh, just now.
Just now.
Well I didn't wanna tell you.
Didn't wanna tell me what? This.
Oh, Honey, you have got a lump.
It's as big as a walnut on your head.
And there's stitches.
Six.
Six stitches.
Well, what happened? Well, it was the dumbest thing I ever did in my life.
I bent down to cut a bundle, you see, and raised up my head and: You know that iron lip on the mailbox? Well, cracked right into it.
Oh, honey, does it hurt? Yeah, a little.
Yeah.
Well, that's why I couldn't tell you, you know? I didn't even have time to get to the bank, let alone get the tickets.
Oh, well, of course not.
Take a smack like that on the head Now, you just You get finished, and I'll see if the meat loaf's ready.
No, I didn't kill him.
Dr.
Gary, you're a teacher.
Therefore, you must know the value of words.
- So when you said - When I said that Jules Rhinelander was lacking in compassion And I did say that.
- I meant exactly that.
He was lacking in compassion.
All right.
Now, your group My group demanded that Rhinelander resign because there was no evidence that he had made any provision on behalf of those tenants.
You mean, since the buildings were going to be torn down? Good riddance.
In most cases, they were rat-infested tenements.
Inspector, no plans had been made for these people to move somewhere else, anywhere else.
They were just to be left to their own devices.
Just live in the gutter like rats themselves, I guess, huh? Has your group ever considered kidnapping Rhinelander as a symbolic or political gesture? Well, I have records here of every single meeting of your property owners' association and everyone the chair recognized had something to say about Rhinelander.
And some of it was pretty violent.
Sure, we were bitter about him.
We had good reason to be bitter.
How often did you meet with him privately? You mean, did I have the opportunity to hate him on my own, without any help from the association? Yes.
Yes, I met with him twice.
Once at his downtown office, once at city hall.
I'd like to hear about both those meetings.
I want to caution you, lieutenant.
You're confusing my organization with some shabby left-wing outfit.
We don't behave that way.
Did you discuss a demonstration against him? We don't demonstrate.
We hold lawfully assembled meetings.
Isn't it true that when Rhinelander's death was announced you put up your own name as his successor? Isn't it true as soon as Rhinelander's death was announced you put up your own name as his successor? Oh, yes, that's true.
I happen to think I can do a better job.
A more compassionate job.
Thank you, Dr.
Gary.
Let me put you onto something, inspector.
The man you wanna talk to is Howard Spring.
Spring and his property owners.
They're a bunch of right-wing zealots.
Thanks for the tip.
Hello, Dr.
Gary.
Mr.
Spring.
Well, it's good to see that our taxes are being used properly.
Oh, yes, well, some of them, anyway.
Dry as a bone.
Anything? No.
You? Nothing.
You know, I'm still hung up on those 18 minutes? A guy who lives by a stopwatch, according to his wife and secretary.
How does he get that far off schedule? He leaves his office at exactly ten minutes to 10.
It's exactly a ten-minute walk, and he arrives at Gump's at 18 after.
You know, maybe it doesn't mean anything.
Like all of those criminology books of yours.
What was that chapter you were telling me about, where the way a cigar got chewed up told you all about the suspect's inner conflict? Now wait a minute.
I don't write those books.
I read them, but I don't write them.
You know what I'd do if I ever had to write a book? - What? - I'd say sometimes a chewed-up cigar is just a chewed-up cigar.
I'll call the distributor tomorrow, tell him you'll be back on the truck.
Let's face it, Lowell, I don't need you anymore.
I'm not going anywhere.
I'll finish the day with you.
You know, I really feel lousy about this.
Go get him.
Here you are, mister.
Thank you.
Thanks.
Hey, Lowell.
Take over.
Seven.
Seven.
Little monkey down on the corner, he spotted me.
- How? - I don't know how, but he did.
Did you hit him? Yeah, maybe a piece, but I didn't stop him.
All right, pack it up.
And don't panic.
Inspectors 81.
We have a 217, corner of Powell and Geary.
Ambulance on scene.
10-4.
- Wally.
- You all right? Hey, you guys, they're in there, the punks that stole my money.
- They shot from up there? - No, no, no, in the hotel, there.
- I saw the room.
- Slow down.
Who? Well, I stumbled on something, you know.
I recognized a shoe.
One of those modern, fancy jobs.
The guys that stole my money.
Just a scratch, just a scratch.
I move fast, you know, hard to hit.
Let's get them, Mike.
All right.
Come on, hero, let's go.
Nothing? All right, Wally.
No suitcases, nothing.
They didn't pay their bill.
How many guys registered here? Three.
Businessmen types.
I made a mental note, salesmen for some big company.
They said they had a lot of appointments in the day and they wanted the sitting room for meetings at night.
You know, when they got together and gathered up their notes.
Check the garage.
If they had a car, find the make and the license number.
Steve, come here.
What do you got, Mike? Look down there.
Shoppers, businessmen, secretaries going out to lunch, coffee breaks.
Everybody hustling.
Nobody really looking at the next guy.
You're right.
It's a whole choreographed scene from here.
Everybody's daily pattern.
Lens paper.
Binoculars.
Three guys sitting up here watching, taking it all in.
Downtown raiders, moving in on easy marks.
Women with department store shopping bags, men with expensive wristwatches.
Newsies who talk about how much they're gonna draw out of the bank.
I got a big mouth.
Successful-looking businessman enters an expensive jewelry store.
He looks like an easy mark.
Just another yellow pin.
And he ends up a red one.
Left just a few moments ago in a yellow LTD.
The license number on the tag was 721 -ENO.
What's the garage exit they left from? Powell.
Headed for California Street.
And up the bridge.
Thank you.
Jump in, jump in.
I see your argument.
I'm not sure you're right, but I do see your argument.
They gotta be heading for the bridge.
If they head up Powell, they're going over California Street.
If it's over California, they're headed for Van Ness.
If it's Van Ness, they're going over the bridge.
But And this is a big "but.
" - They could have gone the other way on Van Ness, circled back to the peninsula.
Now these guys are no dummies, you know.
They could've lost us by now.
If you wanna push that thing a little harder, it's okay with me.
Wally.
Shut up.
Oh, yeah, yeah.
Shut up, Wally.
Shut up.
Traffic 27, Route 1025, Inspectors 81.
Our 10-20, Ria and Cervantes.
Suspect vehicle yellow and black LTD, heading west toward Highway 101 to Golden Gate Bridge.
Inspectors 81 in pursuit.
Get in there.
- Hey, man.
- You hold on, man, just hold on.
Hold it.
Drop it.
Against the wall.
Come on.
Don't try it.
Now, how bad? Could be worse.
Come.
Come on, get up.
All right, come on.
Let's go.
You did it.
You guys did it.
I knew you could.
I knew you could.
Check in.
Tell them who really did it.
Central Division, this is 81.
Stone, Keller and Sensibaugh.
Be my guest.
Here we go, here we go.
Hey.
- When are you taking off? - Tomorrow.
- Send us a postcard, will you, Wally? - First day.
No make it the second day.
We gotta handle the jet lag.
You guys heard about the jet lag? The jet lag.
Yeah, I know.
Have a good vacation, will you, Wally.
Enjoy it, Wally, enjoy.
Thanks, thanks.
And you guys take care of things, huh? Keep the rain off the rhubarb? - Right.
- Yeah.
Yeah.
Hey.
We got happy stories today.
Happy stories.
We got happy dogs, happy cats, happy children.
Hey.
We got happy finance, we got happy sports, we got happy business.
Yes.
Happy.