Starsky and Hutch (1975) s01e10 Episode Script

What do you mean, you don't have me listed? My name is Hutchinson, H-U-T What? It didn't bother you when I signed the bottom of the check.
Now, all I want to do is to get my car fixed.
You understand? So let's take it again from the top.
My membership number is 694-272-4 dash A.
Yes, I'll hold.
I've been holding for 20 minutes.
I'm getting good at it.
Sure.
Yeah.
No, I understand.
I understand completely.
No, no.
No bother at all.
- What was the name of your friend? - Sneaky Pete.
- What's the matter? - Do you think he can fix my car? - Your car club's not coming? - How can they? Computer says I don't exist.
Cancel my membership.
- What were you doing in there? - I just wanna get my car fixed! I've been on the phone for 20 minutes trying to prove to the guy I exist.
Did you ever think about it? Here we go, another day, another dollar.
"10-4.
Five-Six.
Tac 2, Zebra Three.
" They're trying to make us into digits and I'm tired of it.
I enjoy being Zebra Three.
I couldn't sleep at night if they took that away from us.
They feed us numbers all day long.
They try to make us into one of them.
You see, Zebra Three, 10-4, - And a partridge in a pear tree.
- That's not funny.
I know, but it's not the end of the world either.
Look at it this way: They could've made us "Weimaraner Four.
" - Zebra Three.
- You see? Isn't that beautiful? - Let me take it.
- I got it.
- I'll take it.
- Okay.
Hello there, fellow person.
Nice human being, are you calling us? Zebra Three, come in, please.
Forty zebras.
What are you talking, Who is this? This is Detectives Hutchinson and Starsky.
No numbers today.
What do you wish, warm person? Please talk now.
There's a 187, that's a dead body in Lincoln Gardens, near the museum.
Ten-fo We're rolling.
- Hey, Marty.
- Fellas.
The corpse is over there.
Those people were on a picnic and they were right next to it.
They threw their blanket down, turned around and there she was.
- Did you call in the crime lab? - No, sir.
- Coroner's wagon? - Not yet.
I'll get it.
You all right? Whoever did this was really some kind of psycho.
After he killed her, he wrapped her up in antenna wire.
Zebra Three, Zebra Three.
We got confirmation on that dead body.
You want to send a coroner's wagon and a crime lab team? Roger, Zebra Three.
Thank you.
- Starsk.
- What? Come here.
What? What's the matter? Hey, you okay? It's Helen.
Starsky, it's Helen.
She's been dead for two days.
She was killed in one location and dropped where we found her.
Whoever did this, Starsky, was sick.
She had multiple puncture wounds.
She was wrapped in television antenna wire.
Oh, Starsky.
It's all right.
When Helen was first assigned, she rode with us for about a week.
After that she and Starsky were pretty close for a while.
I'm supposed to see her old lieutenant later but according to this she quit the force about three months ago.
Was that before or after you two broke up? After, by a couple of months.
Says here she was a fine police officer until the end.
Absenteeism, insubordination and drunk once.
What happened to her? How'd she end up a go-go dancer in a joint like the Mellow Yellow? I don't know, cap.
Her roommate worked there.
We thought we'd check that out.
I don't think you will.
- What do you mean? - I'm taking you off the case.
- Look, cap - You look! - I want the psycho nailed and put away! - So do we.
That's why I'm not taking any chances on you getting yourself suspended.
I'm a cop, not a vigilante.
And because this was Helen it'll be the most professional homicide investigation ever conducted by this department.
I'm gonna walk that guy into a court and a judge is gonna imprison him or institutionalise him for the rest of his life, so help me God.
Okay, but no false moves.
- We're closed.
Beat it.
- You just reopened.
Not without a warrant.
Used to be a doorman.
Cindy? Cindy? I already talked to the other cops.
I got nothing to say to you guys.
We think maybe you do.
You were her roommate.
- So what? Look, I already told you.
- You already talked to the other cops.
We wanna hear it again.
You see, there might be something that wouldn't mean anything to anybody else.
- Did you guys know Helen? - Yeah a long time ago.
You're Dave.
Dave Starsky, aren't you? She told you about me? She never said you were a cop.
She only said that maybe once she made a mistake.
Cindy, we need your help.
How well did you know her? What can I tell you? She was my best friend like a kid sister that I never had.
I used to get into jams and she'd be there to bail me out.
I never had anybody like that in my whole life.
How was she feeling lately? Was she happy? - Was she down? What? - I don't know.
With Helen, it was hard to tell.
She'd keep things to herself rather than bother other people.
- Was she seeing anybody? - She went out with the owner here.
- What was his name? - Ruby.
Ruby Solenko.
- Anybody ever bother her? - Half the customers hassled her.
The other half are just weirdoes, if you know what I mean.
Helen and me.
- He loved her, didn't he? - Yeah.
Listen, anything I can do to help you get the people who did this You can give us a call at this number if you need us.
You okay? Yeah.
The picture threw me.
You're holding yourself responsible because the two of you busted up? - Yeah, something like that.
- Starsky, that's ridiculous.
Helen wouldn't let it happen that way.
I don't know how to break this to you but you're just not the kind of man a woman's gonna kill herself over.
I don't care what your mother says, you're not Rudolph Valentino.
My mother never said I was Rudolph Valentino.
Said I was more the Paul Muni type.
Okay, look, we've got a psycho on our hands.
- Yeah.
- Okay.
Where do we start? What do you say to a trip to San Leone? You got it.
You know something, Starsk? It's too bad Polly went crackers.
He was a good snitch.
Hey, if he can point us where we wanna go, he's still a good snitch.
What can I do for you? I'm busy! Polly, we're looking for a psycho.
A man who killed a girl and then wrapped her in television antenna wire.
There's a couple of guys here that'd fit that jacket.
They're not going anywhere.
Can't bust out.
No, no.
On the street.
Walking on the street, Polly.
On the street Oh, yeah.
Commander Jim.
Yeah, he's into waveform energy.
But look, he's cured.
He got out a couple of months ago.
Polly, you know his name? James March Wrightwood.
Put down my calculator! Put down his calculator.
Polly, you were talking about waveforms.
Video signals, radio waves, sonic booms, that kind of stuff.
Well, the ether, it's full of magnetic energy which go into waves, communicate intelligence.
Well, Colonel Jim, he was sensitive to these waves to the magnetic vibrations.
Thanks, Polly.
What are you drawing? I'm not drawing.
I'm making dials.
And when I'm finished with the dials I'm gonna tape them on the wall and we'll all get out of here.
You see, you can't get out of this joint.
So I'm blasting the whole building off the planet Earth.
- Where you gonna go? - Well, where else? Tanel.
Where I came from.
James Wrightwood.
That's him on the torch over there.
Wanna turn it off? Turn off your torch! - What can I do for you? - You wanna put that down? Yeah, sure.
- Now, what can I do for you fellas? - We're friends of Polly.
Oh, yeah? You been looking for me? Listen, I been taking my tranquillisers just like the doctor told me I haven't touched any alcohol no more magic mushrooms, no dope.
I been keeping myself out of trouble.
You ever go to bars or go-go joints? Zebra Three, switch to Tac 2 for Captain Dobey.
What have you got under your pant legs? Aluminium foil.
- Come again? - Aluminium foil.
It's my shield.
For the acid bath? Cosmic rays.
Dobey just talked to Berkowitz.
Helen never quit.
She was undercover.
Her cover was broken and that's why they think she was killed.
All right.
Here it is.
Helen was running a dangerous cover.
That explains for her go-go dancing at that Mellow Yellow.
She was cracking a burglary ring.
- Burglary? - Yeah, burglary.
They're real sweethearts.
They only deal in six-figure jewel robberies.
Their m.
o.
Was to ring the doorbell, bust into the house and get the folks to hand over their goodies by brutalizing them.
One lady got her finger broke.
They were trying to get the ring.
These things have names? The only positive thing is that the Mellow Yellow seems to be their headquarters.
Two days before she was killed, Helen spotted a tail.
She feared she'd blown her cover.
Her lieutenant was trying to bring her in from the cold.
She wouldn't come.
Well, the rest of it we all know.
We all know the rest.
Hutch, I'm with Starsk.
If they had done that to my girl I think I'd take that Mellow Yellow joint apart piece by piece.
- A lot of good that's gonna do.
- It may not but it'd make me feel a lot better.
Helen worked to break that ring for two months, and she was a good cop.
We go in there now, they're gonna get scared.
Maybe you scared them away already.
If they were gonna run they wouldn't make her death look like the work of a psychopath.
Huggy, you got some salt there? I'll lay you odds that they're still in there and operating.
Then we gotta do what Burglary couldn't: Find them.
These guys don't sound too cool, going straight at them.
Maybe you ought to go around them by talking to some of their colleagues.
Hey, Fifth Avenue.
No, he won't talk to you.
He's retired.
No, no, no.
He's got a brother, doesn't he? The creep who gets his kicks out of peeping at women.
- Sounds like floor, window, wall - Wally.
Has a nickel-and-dime car lot at Madison.
- Hey, these are my hands.
- Good morning, fellas.
You know this car is a classic now? Don't make them like this no more.
- No sirree, Bob.
- No sirree, Bob.
- That's real nice.
I love it.
- It's quiet dignity, but it appeals to him.
Well, baby blue, this car could be for you.
This little beauty has reverb radio, a power antenna.
It has sentinel light, it's got automatic door locks.
It's got cruise control and six-way, count them, six-way power seats.
I'll tell you something.
This car is you.
I got the keys right here.
What do you say we go for a little run? - I don't know.
- I'll tell you one thing up front.
I'm warning you.
I'm gonna sell you this here chariot.
Let's go.
Come on, you too.
Let's go.
You're a pushover.
Thank you.
No problem.
The service department will take care of that.
- You got a relative named Fifth Avenue? - Fifth Avenue? - No, never heard of him.
- Never heard of him.
- "D" is for "drive," right? - Yes sirree, Bob.
Take it, blue eyes.
Hey, where you going? Straighten out.
No, no, no! You sure you don't know Fifth Avenue? That's too bad.
"R" is for "reverse"? Honest, I never heard of Fifth Avenue! Stop! Stop! Look out! Fifth Avenue.
- We wanna talk with him.
- I told you, I Hold it.
Hold it.
Hold it, hold it.
All right.
- All right.
I'll call him.
- Yes sirree, Bob.
What time you got? Ten o'clock.
Why? Because I'm a famous dude or because you like breaking up cars? We'll pay for the car.
That's okay, the car's taken care of.
Well, I heard what they did to your girl.
Do you know who they are? Their names are Solenko, Ritlin and Touhy a punk named Touhy.
Now, he's the sickie.
- Solenko owns the Mellow Yellow? - Yeah, that's right.
You guys wouldn't happen to have a cigarette on you, would you? Now, look, don't get the wrong idea.
The reason I'm helping you find these guys is Well, they're not thieves, they're hoodlums.
A professional thief like me, he gets out, he works for a living.
You know, it's hard work.
Takes a lot of skill.
I never carried a piece in my whole life.
- Is that right? - No, I didn't have to.
Well, the guys you're after are degenerates.
They're bums.
Give an honest thief like me a bad name.
- So you want a lead? - Yeah.
Let me work on it.
Pushover.
- Hello.
How are you, Mr.
Solenko? - Not bad.
I got heartburn again.
Listen, Touhy, you get the wide kind of tape this time? All right.
Any trouble with the people, Harvey will take care of them.
Now, Boyle's got the flower truck set, Sam's gonna fence the ice and we go in the front door as usual.
There'll probably be servants which means we gotta sweep the place careful so none get left behind to set off an alarm.
- You got the pieces? - Right here.
And two more.
All right, uniforms are in the truck.
And I'm not kidding, take it easy on the people this time! Is Detective Hutchinson there? Well, it's very important that I talk to either Detective Starsky or Hutchinson.
Would you ask them to call me, please? My name's Cindy.
No, they'll know.
She was phoning the police.
That's very unfortunate, Cindy.
Touhy see that she can never make that same mistake again.
Cindy.
Who did it? What did you want to tell us on the telephone? - How long is she gonna be like that? - I don't know.
Maybe a day, a month.
She didn't get a full dose, or she'd be dead.
What'd they do to her? Some sort of narco-hallucinogenic highball.
Well, at least she's still alive.
I woke up in the middle of the night last night thinking about Helen.
The way we used to argue.
- Remember the fights we used to have? - Yeah.
We'd make up in good ways, though.
Yeah, we'd take a walk in the park.
Pack a picnic, sit under a tree in the grass.
Watch the kids.
You know We used to talk about having kids getting married.
- That surprise you? - For the Paul Muni type? No.
Zebra Three, from Control.
Zebra Three, from Control.
Zebra Three, from Control.
Zebra Three Hutchinson here.
Zebra Three, call the man named Fifth Avenue.
He said it was urgent.
Number is 555 - Patch me in, will you? - Roger, Zebra Three.
Fifth Avenue, this is Hutchinson.
You have an address? That's gold.
Thanks a lot.
Bye.
It's Fifth Avenue.
He heard from Solenko's fence.
They're gonna hit in Bell Plain tomorrow but he doesn't have an address.
- That's terrific.
The question is, how do we find it? Insurance companies.
Check out the homes in the area that insure for that much jewellery.
We narrow it down, we can stake them out.
House One, all clear.
House Two, this is Zebra Three.
Over.
Zebra, this is House Two.
Nothing yet.
Over.
House Three, this is Zebra Three.
Zebra, this is House Three.
Nada, Pancho Villa.
Your Spanish stinks.
Over.
- Zebra, this is House Two.
- What do you got, Angie? A flower truck just pulled up.
Hold tight, Angie.
We're on our way.
Let's go.
Police! Freeze! Hold it! We're walking! Oh, man, we were set up.
We're going! She's going too! You, move! We're backing out.
Now! Try something, she's first! - And you're a close second.
- Hold it! - Pull that trigger, you're a dead man.
- All right.
Hey, don't shoot! It's all right.
It's all right! Come out of there! Okay you're under arrest for illegal trespass carrying concealed weapons and half a dozen other things.
And the murder of policewoman Helen Davidson.
You got the right - Helen? I never touched her.
- Don't jive me.
You blew her cover and had Touhy do her.
You mean she was a cop? That's Helen's car.
Yeah, they towed it in off the street this morning.
Come on, partner.
Time to let go.
What do you mean, you're not quite sure? Just that.
Something's missing.
It doesn't all fit.
The look on Ruby Solenko's face when he found out Helen was a cop.
Well, if Solenko didn't kill her, we're right back where we started.
Captain Dobey's office.
What? Hold on a second, will you, Bill? It looks like Solenko's off the hook.
We just got another cocktail waitress.
Skimpy costume, sequins, very dead same m.
o.
As Helen's.
Wrapped up in TV antenna wire.
- Johnson's handling it.
- Maybe that's a copycat killing.
Wait a minute.
Wait a minute.
Hello, Bill? Hutch.
Is the victim's car still there? Listen, turn the car radio on punch all the buttons and tell me what happens.
Just do it.
All right.
All the buttons on the dead girl's car radio were set at 97.
4.
So were all the buttons on Helen's car down in the garage.
The media didn't know or carry all that information.
- So it has to be the same guy, right? - Yeah.
Can't be Ruby Solenko.
So therefore, Helen's murder wasn't about her being undercover.
What we're looking for is a psycho killing cocktail waitresses.
Coincidentally, Helen played the part and was killed for it.
But what does the radio station have to do with that? - Commander Jim of the airwaves.
- Radio! Oh, man.
- What? - Put out an APB on James March Wrightwood.
Did two years at the San Leone Medical Institute for the Criminally Insane with priors going back 10 years.
Thanks.
Bob, look, give me the call letters for a radio station at 97.
4 FM.
That's right.
Wrightwood's that psycho we talked to.
He's into radio waves.
Commander Jim is out and about the town.
- See you tomorrow, Annie.
- Come to my place for a quick drink.
I wish I could, but my mom's watching the baby.
Promised I'd be home early.
- Okay, good night.
- See you tomorrow.
Karen! And then the microwave dishes revolve and revolve and they seek me out and turn and find me and then they zap me until my head is going to explode and they still squeeze.
And my eyes My eyes bleed green.
And that's when everything turns white-hot and pink and they've got me.
That's when they make me do evil things.
That's when they make me take off my shields.
Where do you think these waves are coming from? Alpha Centauri.
And what do you do after? I hate myself for the bad things I've done.
- That's all of it.
- That's nothing.
Doctor why does he tie up his victims with TV antenna wire after he kills them? Probably to deflect rays from Alpha Centauri away from him into them.
To take away the pain in his head? What's he gonna do now? Well, first we have to analyse the carrier signals.
See, now, the 1940s music probably nostalgia for an age of moral certainty.
- The trombones - No, no.
Let's worry about the music later.
What we want to know is what these waves are telling him to do with a girl.
- Well, if I knew that - When were your tapes made? Three months ago.
Three months ago and you let him back on the streets? James March Wrightwood left this institution a very healthy, sane individual.
- He couldn't have killed those girls.
- How can you be so sure? Because we gave him the Wisconsin Multifacet Index Test in which he scored 76%.
He is therefore free of any significant psychotic disturbance.
Hey, hey, wait a second.
Wait just one lovely moment.
You let him out because he passed a test? How did you get this job? I wouldn't let you fix a sewing machine.
That's really rather abusive.
- These test scores - Test scores?! Man, we're talking about lives! Lives, man! Dead, mutilated girls! Their lives! His life! He's a victim too.
He's got electricity running around in his head.
He's all screwed up! You talk about test scores? You let him out because he passed a test?! We rely very heavily on data just like that.
That man received psychiatric therapy chemotherapy - Hogwash! electroshock - Electroshock? You gave him electricity? After what he told you he thought about being zapped? Well - There is such a thing as a relapse.
- A relapse? He's been out of here now for what, four weeks? That's no relapse.
That's somebody who's sick.
Who's never been un-sick! I don't want to go any farther without legal representation.
I should not have shown you the tapes.
Well, I want to tell you something, doctor.
If I'm not mistaken, this test data that you talk about is supposed to be used as an aid by a competent professional in making his judgments.
Not mechanically! Not by test scores! You're a robot.
You ought to be busted out of here! Where do you get your waves from? - Waves.
- What? Wrightwood gets his waves from Alpha Centauri.
- So what? - But where is he when he gets them? Radio transmitter.
KLOW.
That's where he goes.
Beautiful.
It is now 6 a.
m.
On Sunday morning as we end our broadcast night No! No! Let me go.
Please, let me go! - KLOW, for the glow that's mellow.
- Oh, please! Jim! Jim! Put down your gun, Jim! Jim, we'll go see Polly.
I had them build a whole new room for you, Jim.
Polly designed it.
He said you'd like it.
You okay? I'm coming out now.
I'm unarmed.
Look.
Let me tell you about the room, Jim.
It's a very special room.
It's your very own place.
We've lined it with lead so the waves from space, from Alpha Centauri can't get to you there.
You'll be okay, Jim.
Listen, you're gonna be peaceful there.
You're gonna be okay, Jim.
You're gonna be calm.
You'll have a smiling face.
Not like now.
You'll be happy.
Put down the gun, Jim.
Please.
Please! Jim, don't go up there! Jim! Come on down! Get away from me! I'm coming, damn it all! I'm coming! Don't go out there, Jim! Get away from me! - Let me help you, Jim.
- Please, get away! Jim, there are other ways people can help you.
Jim, give me your hand.
Come on.
Come on! - Hey, Starsk, you see that sunset? - No, that's okay.
You really ought to take a look at it.
- Why? They happen every night.
- It's beautiful.
Every colour of the spectrum constantly changing.
Blue and gold and red and purple.
You been keeping Reader's Digest in the john again? "Ways to More Colourful Speech"? No, I'm serious.
It's always changing.
It only exists for a little while and then goes away.
I guess it's like most things beautiful.
It's part of their nature, like Helen.
She existed and then she went away.
Did you ever think of taking up the violin? What are the candles for? You expecting someone? Yeah, that's why we're eating early.
- What time am I leaving? - Look at this.
- That's my favourite.
How'd you know? - I called your mother.
- You called my mother? - She calls it the Paul Muni special.
Eat your vegetables.