Alfred Hitchcock Presents s04e15 Episode Script

Good evening.
My sobriety is under question, but not in a way you think.
This is a joviality test.
I do this before each program to test my spirits.
I seem to have passed with flying colors.
Once again, I wish to welcome you to Alfred Hitchcock Presents for another half hour of group therapy.
I'm told there is nothing like a good murder to work off one's antagonisms.
And if you have no antagonisms, our commercials will create some for you.
Allow me to illustrate.
Hit it.
Hit it again! Hit it again! Help him! Pull on it! Hit it! Hit it again! Get me a piece of shoring! Hurry! Hurry! Help me! Come back here! Help me! Come back here! Help me! Why did you run? We do not wish to die, señor.
But you don't care if I do? Is that how the engineer I replaced got killed? We are sorry, Señor Phillips.
We've tunneled 82 feet in the six days I've been here.
We just lost 20 of it.
Start shoveling.
Come with me, Pedro.
What is this? A convention? Señor Rodriguez comes.
Perhaps he brings you a helper, señor.
Take the jeep and meet him.
I'll be at the infirmary.
Sí, señor.
You need that? Unless you prefer infection.
Gauze dressing.
I will come and see you this evening.
Thanks, Doc.
Take Señor Johnson's things to the cabin.
Sí, Señor Rodriguez.
You must not be discouraged no matter what he says about the job.
You make it sound as though I had a choice.
I remind you of your word.
Oh, Joe.
Hey, I am sorry.
I just heard.
I will change the dressing tomorrow, señor.
You'll be all right now, Joe.
Get yourself another boy, Rodriguez.
When I came down here six days ago, you told me you had the equipment and the personnel to run this operation.
These guys couldn't even farm a truck garden.
Joe, I brought you an assistant.
A good man.
A good man doesn't waste his time on a job that can't be done! Go down and look at that cave-in.
Look at it! Talk to him.
My name's Bret Johnson.
Yeah? You know what murder is? Yeah.
You bought it when you walked in here.
Look, that mountain's a killer.
Half the gang's down with malaria and dysentery.
It's 100 miles to the nearest village and no way to get there.
Rodriguez says you're almost through.
He's almost through.
He's got six weeks to complete that tunnel or he loses the contract.
How far to breakout? Seven hundred feet.
The top week before I came on was 90.
About two weeks short, huh? Maybe more.
Well, maybe if we start No "we," Johnson.
You.
Hello and goodbye.
Joe! Joe! Look, please, por favor.
Talk to Johnson.
I'm gonna pack, Rodriguez.
You're flying me back to Cuernavaca.
Joe! Joe! Talk to him.
Stop him.
Make him stay.
I need him to finish the job.
That wasn't part of the deal.
If I told who you are Listen, Rodriguez All right.
You need my help when you leave here.
We made a bargain.
All right.
But you make him stay.
How? It's your airplane, isn't it? Took over the job? Yeah.
Staying? I don't have much choice.
Neither do you.
Why didn't you call me? I was in the tunnel.
Besides, it's none of my business.
So why don't you take the jeep when it comes back? Take it where? It was ferried in on a plane like everything else.
The only road goes to the airstrip.
He won't leave me here next week.
He won't have to.
He won't be here.
The plane will.
It brings in supplies.
It brought them today.
Enough for six weeks.
You think that's funny, huh? Well, maybe the tunnel will change your mind when we start working tomorrow.
Oh? I thought you were throwing in the towel.
What do you want me to do? Sit here and rot for six weeks? I'm an engineer! I'm gonna find out how good you are, Johnson.
I'm gonna work you until you drop.
Isn't it a strange place for a gal to be? You'd think she'd cause trouble.
They respect her.
Mmm.
Back home, they'd be fighting over her.
Down here, they'd be fighting without her.
How's your hand? Oh, it's a scratch.
Let me see it.
It's nothing.
It's swelling.
It'll pass.
Better have Maria take a look at it.
It could be bad by morning.
Yeah.
We made 22 feet today.
Got a lot of work out of your crew.
That's what I'm here for.
Where'd you work last, Bret? States.
Yeah, but where? What job? Why? What difference does it make? Thought we might have some friends in common.
I know guys on most projects.
This is the one that counts.
You think we got a chance, Joe? With you here, we have.
Thin, but a chance.
You know, your job, not many people do.
Yeah, but you're boss of the job.
Yeah.
Good night.
Maria, excuse me, Señor Johnson has a bad hand.
Would you take care of it, please? You are very quiet, señor.
Oh, just tired, I guess.
The men are tired, too, but they relax.
I've got the job on my mind.
I have the feeling you do not work here because you wish to, but because you must.
It is not the job you think of.
It is something else.
You're a mind reader, Maria.
A woman's mind is often mistaken, but not her feelings.
You are unhappy.
You must never regret what you cannot help or cannot change.
God forgives.
Sometimes men don't.
This is the 11:00 edition of the Lone Star News from San Antonio, Texas.
Topping tonight's roundup is a bulletin from Camp Mabry, Austin.
Texas Rangers have asked Mexican authorities to join in the hunt for an American engineer being sought for the month-old slaying of Dallas building contractor, Arthur Bronson, after a violent argument over safety precautions.
Failure to trap the killer has led to the belief that he may have crossed the border to seek work in Mexico under an assumed name.
Mexican authorities have been requested to check all construction projects Were you looking for my references, Joe? Here they are.
I thought something was wrong.
I felt it the minute you came here.
Now you're sure.
You mind putting that away? So you can get yours? I don't own a gun.
Let's see.
Get over there, Joe.
Satisfied? Maybe.
Look, let me set you straight on how I feel about the Bronson killing.
Every engineer in the business knew what he was.
A hard guy who cared more for a buck than he did for the lives of his men.
He deserved what he got.
And it'll suit me fine if they never catch the killer.
You did a lot of people a favor.
I wonder if a jury could be made to feel the way you do.
They would if they knew.
Would you gamble on convincing them? I guess we understand each other, huh, Joe? All I understand is this.
There's no way out of here for either of us for five weeks.
Until then, I've got a tunnel to be dug.
And I don't want to dig it worrying about a gun at my back.
All right.
It will stay right here until I need it.
Awake or asleep.
And I'm a light sleeper, Joe.
Hold it! Hold it! Joe! Hold it.
This may be the break we've been waiting for.
Looks like solid rock.
Is that good, señor? It is if it goes deep enough.
We can blast anything over five feet.
Hey, you wanna pull a core? Yeah, but I want to shore up tight right to the heading.
While you're shoring, I'll hook these and run the wire to the box.
I'll be ready to blast as soon as you're clear.
Or sooner? You're nervous, Bret.
Yeah, but I'm not stupid.
Until that plane comes, we're digging a tunnel.
I'm keeping my promise, you keep yours.
I didn't make any.
I'll run the wire.
You can be nervous.
I'm bossing this job.
Well, finish it then.
Maybe your last.
Or yours.
We'll see.
Pedro.
Help me with the core.
Knock it off.
Knock it off.
Grab some timbers for shoring.
Has one of the men got a gun? I don't know, señor.
It has nothing to do with the job.
I need it for myself.
Miguel.
But he treasures it like his mother.
Pay whatever you have to.
Keep the rest for yourself.
I go right away.
No, no, no! Tonight, at the party.
No.
Where are you going? To bed.
Oh, my ears! From the dynamite today.
I could not hear the music.
I don't wonder.
The job is going well? We moved 40 feet of rock today.
Do you think you will finish? We've got a chance if we don't have any more cave-ins.
There is trouble, yes? Between you and Joe? Whatever gave you that idea? I noticed tonight.
And the men talk.
About what? Why does Joe buy Miguel's gun? What are you talking about? Pedro told me.
And you carry one, too.
Why, Bret? It's a personal reason, Maria.
It doesn't concern you.
When one of you may die, is it right for that to happen? Depends on the circumstances.
Does it? Good night, Maria.
Get up! What's the matter? Get up! Where is it? Where's what? Get those bags up.
Get the bags up! Now, get over there.
It's outside.
You wanna tear the outside apart, too? I'm gonna watch you, Joe.
Every minute.
You can't do anything, Bret, until the plane comes.
And when it does, you better move fast.
This one.
Pull a core.
Wedge it tight.
Better wire for a blast.
Help me! All right.
Take it easy, boy.
Take it easy.
Come on, come on! Shore it! Get him out.
How long do you think I can hold this? Help me! Help me.
Lift it, lift it! Pick him up.
Pick him up.
Come on.
Hurry up! Take it easy.
Hey! Take him to the infirmary.
Well, we're back to dirt again.
Ah, if that rock hadn't given out Only four days left.
We're licked, Joe.
Get a crew in here to dig.
All right.
And I'll grab a couple of shovels for us.
What's the use of figuring? We've only got one more day.
Get the dynamite.
With unshored dirt? Maybe it isn't all dirt.
If there's even 30 feet of rock between here and the outcrop "If"? It might hold.
I'm gonna finish this job.
If I go down, the mountain goes with me.
Pull a core! Here's luck, Bret.
Luck.
Check it, Manuel.
We made it! Boy, that really went for broke! A day ahead of time.
Yeah.
We leave tomorrow, Bret.
Yeah, I know.
Now, how do you like it? How do you like it? You're gonna have to kill me.
You know that, don't you? Why shouldn't I? I told you how I felt about the Bronson killing.
And the juries? I could've killed you anytime, and it wouldn't have been like the way you killed Bronson.
So, you're a cop? I guess I knew it all the time.
What I don't get is why you waited so long to take me.
I made a deal with Rodriguez.
If he flew me in here, I'd let you finish the job.
I killed Bronson in self-defense, Bret.
He pulled a knife on me.
I want you to believe that.
I do, Joe.
Maybe we can get a jury to believe it, too.
I'm sure it's obvious to everyone that my spirits are sagging.
I seem to have gone into eclipse.
Perhaps we'll both have a better view after the following.
You should've seen the balloon drop during that commercial.
I hope it isn't too symbolic.
Next week, I shall return with soaring spirits and an uplifting story.
Until then, good night.