02x18 - The Manacled

[bunniefuu]

Good evening,
ladies and gentlemen

and television fans all over

the living room floor.

Tonight's drama is called
"The Manacled,"

and features
a pair of these attractive
and useful charm bracelets.

These, of course,
are stage handcuffs

especially made so that
one can easily get out.

Of course, as you may know,

these little trinkets
are not only used
to cuff hands,

they work very well on legs.
Regardez.

While I'm getting out of this,
perhaps we better begin
our play.

Ladies and gentlemen,
"The Manacled. "

Announcing the departure
of northbound train

for Bakersfield, Tulare,
Fresno, Merced,

Martinez, Richmond,

Berkeley and Oakland.

Now boarding
on track number three.

Coffee now?

No rush, my dear.
No rush at all.
Take your time.

Now, miss. And black.

And there, my friend,
you will put your finger

on the core of
the world's trouble today.

No time for cream
in one's coffee.

What a pity it's dark out,
huh?

I've never been through
the San Joaquin valley
before.

I'd enjoy the sights.

Oh.

I'll get it.

How many?
Two, please.

Check.

Be a sport, Sarge,
and make it a big tip.

What did I do? Isn't that
what you'd like to ask?

And did I really do it?

You'd be disappointed.

I merely stole from the rich
to help the poor.

The authorities did have
one irrefutable argument.

The only poor man
I was helping,

they insisted, was myself.

Okay, Fontaine.
Time to see the sights.

Okay, Fontaine.
Back in harness.

Why, Sergeant,
I'm beginning to think
you don't trust me.

My coat, if you please,
Sergeant.

Thank you.

Oh, young man,
I wonder if you'd
help me with my bag.

Delighted, mother.

May I trouble you
for the key, Sergeant?

Oh, thank you very much.

Was very nice of you.

Thank you.
Thank you very much.

Pow, pow, pow!

Billy, stop that.

Young man, you've made
a dreadful mistake.

You just sh*t a most
faithful servant of the law

and allowed a desperate
criminal to escape.

Tell him, Sergeant.

Skip it, Fontaine.
Oh, no, he should know.

Billy, look out.

Okay, buster, that did it.

Let's go.

This is it, Fontaine.

Sergeant,

if you need anything,
just ring for the porter.

We'll be okay.

Maybe, I'd better show you
where the button is.

It's here.

If there's anything I can do,
just let me know.

I mean, if you need some
help with your prisoner...

Why don't you deputize him,
Sergeant?

Everything's
under control.

Well, then,
I guess you won't need me.

At least, for the time being.

No, much obliged.

A good citizen, our friend,
the conductor.

Something left over
from the old West, I'd say.

Something from a lynch mob
that never went home.

Yeah?

Oh, I forgot to show you
how the door lock works.

You see,
you can lock it from inside,

and then, say, for instance,

you had to leave your prisoner
alone for a while,

you can also lock it
from outside.

This window's sealed and
the glass is shatter proof.

Anyway,
we hit between stations.

Like if he was to break
through that window,

they'd be picking up
pieces of him along
the right-of-way

for five miles.

I've been running characters
north for a long time.

I never let them
out of my sight.

Not till the warden
signs them in.

Anyway, this one's smart.

He knows he's going nowhere
but San Quentin.

He for the gas chamber?

Can't you tell?
Okay, Fontaine.

I run amuck every six hours.

There's this insatiable
craving for human blood.

Knock it off.
Did you bring the serum,
Sergeant?

The sh*ts have been a godsend.

I go almost hours
between victims now.

All right.

Close the door
and keep it closed.

Look, Fontaine.

I told you this afternoon
when I took delivery on you.

You act hard with me
and I'll give you a trip
you won't soon forget.

Checking it again, huh?

Incidentally, Sergeant,
what do you call this thing?

Oregon boot.

There are only three in L.A.

And you have one of them.

Are they always so heavy?

Forty pounds.
That's the standard weight.

Snap your leg
if you move fast.

See, the bolts
are on the inside.

This key is the only thing
that'll reach in
and turn them.

It's got special threading
on the ends.

Matches the threads
of the bolts.

You interest me, Sergeant.

Your efficiency,
your dedication,

your single-mindedness.

You must have
loving cups at home.

Or plaques, possibly.

Do you have plaques, Sergeant?

You know, for faithful,

unswerving loyalty above
and beyond the call?

You go in for sports cars?

Read about them. That's all.
Just read about them.

Ever drive one?

Yeah.

Yeah, a friend of mine.
Somewhere, this guy.
Loaded.

Got himself a racing car.
Let me drive it once.

They're sweet, aren't they?
Yeah.

I once owned a sports car.

Sure.

Like that , bucks
you're supposed
to have salted away.

Oh, I was trying
for my second $ , .

Had a brilliant idea going.

Doesn't pay to be greedy,
does it?

Ask the prison psychologist,
Fontaine.

He's got the answers
for guys like you.

Ten years you got coming,
I figure you and he'll be
seeing a lot of each other.

You know what he'd say?

He'd have to agree that
we all have larceny
in our blood.

But most people are afraid
of being caught.

These are the plodders.

The hard workers, the marks,
the squares.

Then there are the trotters.

A handful who have
the vision to cash in

on the larceny that
beats through all our veins.

Save it, Fontaine.

Now and then,
a plodder gets smart.

He crosses over,
joins the trotters.

And if he does it
so nobody knows,

if he can't possibly
be caught,

then he's got it made.

You, Sergeant,

you can be such a man.

Look into your coat pocket.
The inside pocket.

Don't try anything with me,
Fontaine.

I'd just as soon
deliver you feet first.

I merely suggested
you look into your pocket.

You'll find an envelope there.

Open it.

Can't figure it, can you?

How'd that get inside
your jacket?

Wasn't there
in the dining room.

It had to be when we got
on the train.

It had to be...

The old lady, huh?

The one with the suitcase.

Ah, you see.

Already you're beginning
to think like a trotter.

Look, Fontaine,

I've k*lled three men
since I've been
in the sheriff's office.

I didn't sleep for a week
after each one

and then I never forgot
how they looked
when I sh*t them.

But it was in line of duty
and they'll stay buried
for a long time.

Well, don't worry,
the little old lady
isn't going to break in here.

She's completely harmless.

Perhaps the best
pickpocket in Los Angeles,

but otherwise
quite harmless.

When you lifted
the bag for her,

she planted the envelope.

That's right. A key.

The key to the bag
you lifted for her.

Inside the bag,
there's $ , .
It's yours.

Yes, Sergeant,
I really do have $ , .

I'm splitting it
down the middle with you.

Of course, one good turn
of a key deserves another.

Like the key
you have in your pocket.

The key that unlocks
this boot.

It's not easy, I know.

Take your time with it.
You have all night.

You had it figured, huh?

Well, not exactly.

I didn't know
who the lucky man would be.

I thought whoever it was
would be wearing
a ready-made suit

off of a basement rack,
his heels would be run down.

Be the kind of man
who was living
on the installment plan.

Doesn't really own anything,
just pieces of things.

A piece of a cheap car,
a piece of an ice box,
a piece of a bedroom set.

And all the stuff
he has pieces of
is already falling to pieces.

But he'll keep paying on it
and paying on it,

month after month because
that's the kind of man he is.

Just a piece of a man.

But you, Sergeant,

you're not the man
I just described.

Anyone can see
you have imagination, ideas.

And so have you, Fontaine.

But you don't get to me.

You think
this is the first time

bums like you
have tried to buy me?

Your point of view
is distorted.

I'm not trying to buy you.

I'm offering you
the kind of life you could
never make on your own.

I'm taking you out of sl*very,
like Abraham Lincoln.

You know what Lincoln said?
Yeah.

"Fourscore
and seven years... "

"And now they have him,
as it were,"

Lincoln said,
"bolted in with a lock
of a hundred keys,

"which can
never be unlocked without
the concurrence of every key. "

Lincoln was speaking
of the slaves, you see,

but in a way, I feel,
he was speaking to me

and to you, Sergeant,
and that we should listen

and take advantage.

Like I say,

take your time with it.

Bakersfield.

Aren't you at all curious?

It kills cats.

You know this way
when they discover

you in the car and me escaped,

there's no possible reason
for suspecting you.

The key, for instance.

You simply attach it
to your key ring.

Nobody will check.

Everyone carries
a pocketful of keys.

Your pickpocket friend,
the old woman.

Leaving, I believe.

Yeah.

Without the bag,
is that not correct?

You're wondering about
the bag she left behind
and the $ , .

Your $ , , Sergeant.

But, just so you begin
to see the picture,

it stays right where
she left it.

When the cleaners come through
the car at the station yard,
they will find it.

It doesn't look like much
and it's locked.

They'll turn it in
to Lost and Found.

Either pick it up
in a few days

or if you're jumpy,

pick it up when you're ready.

You expect me to believe
she walked off

and left , bucks
sitting on the shelf?

Notice, you are now
thinking positively.

You did not say,

"Oh, Fontaine,
I know there's no $ ,
back there in a suitcase. "

No, you said, "How can
she walk off and leave it?"

Don't tell me
what I'm thinking.

I know there's no money
back there.

Anyway, if there was,
my only interest would be
to turn it in to my office.

Oh, you do that, Sergeant.

You go right ahead
and do that.

Now, you're wondering
how can you trust me
of all people?

A con man. A swindler.
Where's the gimmick?

Oh, Sergeant,
your mind is traveling

faster than those sports cars
you dream about.

All right, I'm up to here
with you now.

Shut up.

Board!

Why don't you go and look?

Remember what
the conductor said?

Eighty miles an hour
between stations.

With Stephen Fontaine spread
all over the landscape

if he tries a swan dive
through this window.

And the door,
don't forget about that.

All aboard!

It locks from the outside.

And my...

What did you call it?

Oregon boot?

All right, Fontaine,
I'm going to call your bluff.

You and your , bucks.

Not mine, Sergeant.

Yours.

Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang,

bang, bang, bang!

Billy, stop that.
You've got to be quiet now.

Well,

I'll get a reward
when I turn it in.

Sure you will.

Maybe a big bucks.

Let's see now.

Two, maybe three children.
Am I right?

Four.

Four?

That bucks will go
a long way, won't it?

What'll you do with it?

A big weekend
with the wife and kids
in the family car?

Or just pay up some bills?

I don't discuss my family
with strangers.

Then don't.
Just sit back and listen.

Because your life is spread

all over your face
like a billboard.

You've never been east
of the Rockies, I'll bet,
or south of the border.

You've never caught
a Broadway show.

Never had breakfast in bed
in a hotel suite.

Never seen
a bullfight in Spain.

Look, Fontaine.
Maybe I haven't been around.

But I've got something
you'll never have.

And you don't
even understand what.

Oh, yes, I do, Sergeant.
I do understand.

You've got self-respect,
haven't you?

And a wife who knows
the very sound
of your footsteps.

And four kids
who probably scream with joy

every time
the old man pulls up
in the family jalopy.

I see the whole picture.

Yeah, you see it sure.

But you don't see it
the way it really is.

You see it out
of the corner of your mouth.

To you, it's a big yack.

Maybe I want it, too.
Just what you've got.

Maybe all I want
is another chance

to go out and get just
what you're talking about.

It'll still be around
in another years.

Sergeant,
I can't go to prison!

Look, Fontaine,
inside another hour
we stop at Richmond.

We take a taxi there,

courtesy
of the sheriff's office.

Then we take a ferry
across to Quentin.

We land at the end
of a jetty, Fontaine.

It's a short jetty,
they tell me.

It doesn't seem short to me.
It seems like a long walk.

But the guys
I've walked down that jetty
and into the prison gates

tell me it's a short jetty.

Maybe you won't think so.

But we'll see.

Sounds like the jetty I know
on the island of Majorca.

You know about Majorca,
Sergeant?

There's no prettier
or healthier place
in the world

for you and your wife
to take a vacation.

Rockwell, listen to me,
I can get it for you.

I can make it come true.

Every insult,
every slap in the face,
every cheap compromise,

I can make it up for you.

All it takes from you
is a little courage.

Courage?

All right.

What if I can guarantee
that nobody will ever suspect
you let me escape?

What if I fix it
so that there can be
no possible suspicion?

Your name is clear,
your job is clear,
you're $ , ahead.

Because I can.

How?

I propose to sh**t you
with your own g*n.

When we pull in
at the station,

as the train whistles,
I'll fire.

Sound of the whistle
will cover the sh*t.

Just how do you intend
getting my g*n?

Oh, come, come, Sergeant.

You're about to handcuff me,
suddenly I grab for the g*n.

And then, what?

Look, Sergeant,
I have great respect for you.

I trust you. I think
you're learning to trust me.

When I have your g*n,
I sh**t you.

As I said,
just a flesh wound.

Your arm may be a little stiff
for a while but with $ ,

you can exercise
the stiffness out in no time.

I leave you
on the floor here.

Nobody will ever believe
you were in on a plan
to get yourself sh*t.

Ordinary people
don't think that way.

Okay, suppose
you've got the g*n.

What if you decide
to keep all the money?

You mean, suppose I...

No, Sergeant.

I'm a con man,
not a k*ller.

Ten years is one thing,
the gas chamber is another.

Look, you'll get
a lot of sympathy,
they'll slap a bandage on you.

Then you go pick up the bag
at Lost and Found.

You ever tried to pick up
anything at Lost and Found?

You'll be identifying
a specific bag.

One which you can describe,

for which
you alone have the key.

Believe me, Rockwell,

nothing can happen to you.

Richmond!

Richmond!

Sergeant, we're coming in.

It's all right, Sergeant.

It won't hurt.

This won't hurt either.

Rockwell, there's no
trick to what I told you.
The money's yours.

Rockwell,
I'll give you everything.
I'll give you all the money.

The b*llet.

At least, I can get home now.

I hope to have my hand free
next time you see me.

If I do, we should be able
to present another story.

Why not tune in and see?

Good night.