Now, you gonna do what I tell you. Sign this right here.
Do you mind my asking
how you got mixed up in a flaky scheme like this?
You disposed of them? You mean a whole drilling crew? 20 guys?
How could the D.A. go for a first-degree murder charge
when he doesn't even have the weapon?
There's a good chance I maybe able to help you. Really?
Hold it. Don't move.
(TELEPHONE RINGING)
ROCKFORD ON ANSWERING MACHINE.. This is Jim Rockford.
At the tone, leave your name and message.
I'll get back to you.
(BEEPS) SHIRLEY.. It's Shirley at the Planted Pot.
There's just no easy way to tell you this, Jim.
We did everything we could. Your friend died.
ROCKFORD: Come on, Dad. You can get your mail later.
ROCKY: Boy, I sure can. Look at this stuff.
Social security check, Medicare forms.
Ah, look at this one.
Glen Oaks Retirement World.
''Spend your prime years in security-patrolled comfort.''
(SCOFFING)
Oh, man, I can remember when I used to get real mail.
Business offerings, job opportunities,
letters from my buddies down in South America working the big rigs.
Jim, you go on. I...
I don't think I feel like going fishing today. You go ahead.
Oh, come on. What are you talking about?
Not five minutes ago you were trying to figure out the best spot to drop a line.
Well, maybe that's part of what the problem is. All this fishing, fishing, fishing.
There must be a better way for a man to spend his time
than sitting around all day with a string in the water.
Well, all right. Here.
All right, I'll see you around 5:30 at the restaurant then, okay?
Yeah.
(CAR STARTING)
Hey, what do you think you're doing?
Now, you gonna do what I tell you. Sign this right here.
What's this? I ain't gonna sign this.
Sign it, old man. Now!
(LAUGHING)
HOWARD: I don't believe it, man.
(HOWARD LAUGHING)
Hey!
Hey, why don't you do yourself a favor, old man, and just go on back in the house?
(HOWARD LAUGHING)
Hey, hey, you guys.
Hey!
Get out of there. Somebody call the police.
(CAR ENGINE STARTING)
(AIR SQUEALING)
Hey, you guys!
ROCKY: Hey!
Get the old geek out of sight.
Get the tire changed and get out of here.
ROCKFORD: Dennis called me, Dad.
You know, you could've gotten killed this morning.
What makes you think you have the right not to tell me something like that?
I'm your son, remember?
Well, I wasn't doing too bad. I can handle myself all right.
What were they after?
You know, I really don't know.
The only thing I can figure is that,
well, they were after the oil leases.
I've been filing on some Federal Government oil leases.
As an investment. An investment?
Yeah. It costs you 10 bucks a month to file and they put together a list
of all the available parcels and then they have a drawing.
If you pull your name out of it, you win.
That's not an investment, that's a lottery.
You're living on Social Security. You can't stand $10 a month.
If you want to gamble, why don't you go play bingo or something?
You know, a quarter a card.
Look, if I'm so dumb, how come I'm 1,960 bucks ahead, huh?
You've made money? Parcel 334. I won it.
My share was $2000.
What do you mean your share?
Well, I had to split with Claude Orzeck.
He's the broker fellow up there in Coulter City.
He's the one that's so good at filing for me
'cause he knows where all the good parcels are, see?
Then if you happen to win one, you split with him fifty-fifty.
Where'd you meet this Orzeck character?
Oh, I never met him. I just send him the money.
Here you go. Thanks.
Dad, do you mind my asking
how you got mixed up in a crazy, flaky scheme like this?
There ain't nothing flaky about the United States government.
And that's what this is.
This is what's called a simultaneous drawing.
And the reason for these simultaneous drawings
is to put the little guy on the same level with the big oil companies.
And this guy, Orzeck, he chooses the numbers for you? That's right.
Well, I think I'm going to take on a little salad, huh?
Dad, how does this invisible Mr. Orzeck get his information?
Well, they get it from the oil companies.
You see, the oil company will call him up and say,
''Look, we'll give you $10,000 for parcel number such-and-such''
and then he has his client's file on it.
If one of them wins, they just turn it back to the oil company. It's simple.
Doesn't that defeat the purpose?
These two goons made you sign a blank form assigning away all oil and mineral rights
so that means there is someone who can just sign their name now
and they own all the rights.
Yeah, but for what, sonny?
I ain't won no parcel for two weeks. I sold 334 for $2000
to that man up in Coulter City. A Mr. Gerald O'Malley.
Yeah, but, Dad, you signed the paper today.
That means whatever it is, they've got it.
Well, I signed it and I didn't sign it. What do you mean?
Well, I ain't the dumb old duffer some of you fellows think I am.
I've got a trick or two up my sleeve. Okay, Rocky, what'd you do?
I signed it left-handed.
Can you imagine how mad those guys are gonna be
when they find out that that signature ain't no good?
Yeah, Dad, I think you could safely say that.
Oh, watch them, they're stale.
No, these are croutons, Dad. They're not stale.
You've already gotten yourself into a lot of trouble, Rocky.
Those guys are going to come back.
Well, the answer to that's easy.
I'll go on up to Coulter City myself then.
You? Well, Claude Orzeck might know something about all of this.
Dad, I do this kind of thing professionally, why don't you just let me handle it, huh?
Look, if you're trying to say I'm too old to take care of my own business, I ain't.
Oh, come on, Rocky. I've got clients that are...
That are 15 and clients 90. I'm a professionaI investigator.
Now, what has age got to do with it?
All right then, I'll hire you myself. 200 bucks a day and expenses.
Just like anybody else. You can't afford it.
I can. I got my oil lease winnings.
Okay, I'll make a business proposition with you.
Now, I figure that whatever is going on
is worth at least $2000 or these goons wouldn't be messing with it.
So I'll take a percentage of anything we can manage to get over the $2000. All right?
Fifty-fifty? That's way too much.
That way we're partners.
Dad... No, no, no. Fifty-fifty, or no deal.
Deal.
ROCKFORD: Dad, who turned you on to this scheme?
ROCKY: Harry Sharu, down at the Gearjammer Tavern.
He's the one aIways buying drinks for the house.
Dad, isn't Harry also the one who lost 500 bucks
on that astrology chain letter?
ROCKY: Just think, sonny, one of them there beauties may be ours before long.
ROCKFORD: I hope so, Dad. I hope so.
Why don't you just go ahead and check in?
The first step is to see if I can find out
just exactly how much that lease is worth.
Well, I'll go with you. No, no.
Now, I've got a way to handle this. It's not a two-man job.
You just handle the logistics for now, okay?
I mean, they're important too, Rocky. Where are you going?
I am gonna go meet your partner.
Claude Orzeck. ROCKFORD: Lyle Sawyer, Bartlesville, Oklahoma.
And you say you're looking for oil leases? Yes, sure am, Mr. Orzeck.
I'm gonna buy me some land, punch out a well.
I've got 60 crickets pumping back in Bartlesville.
I don't like to brag, but that is a lot of good production.
Sort of keeps my mother-in-law out of my tent. You know what I mean?
I sure do, Mr. Sawyer.
Well, I've got a honey over here.
Number 297. Right here.
Two hundred and twenty acres, but it sure does look promising.
Mighty fine shale formation.
A thousand-barrel-a-day well come in last month, two miles away.
Now for a colleague I could let that thing go for, oh, $50 an acre.
Yeah, well that's a possibility, but seems a little small, doesn't it?
How about this parcel right over here. This 334?
I'm afraid that one's already been sold.
Matter of fact, I didn't get but $20 an acre for it.
And I doubt if it was worth that.
Now this 328 up here, that is a sleeper.
Yeah, I hate to interrupt you, Mr. Orzeck,
but I tell you what I'd like for you to do.
I wish you'd make a list of all the available leases
and how much you want for them.
And I'm gonna get in my car and I'm gonna drive right out there and stand on them.
That's how I buy all my leases, Mr. Orzeck.
If there's oil under there, I can feel it.
ROCKY: That ain't a bad-looking orange grove, anyway.
There's your property line. That's it, right there?
That's it. You know, Rocky,
maybe you ought to start thinking about taking your $2000
and counting your blessings.
Well, as long as we're here we might as well take a look at it anyway, huh?
There's a gate right here.
Hey, sonny, lookie here, look. Look at all them big tread marks there.
There's been something big in here like maybe a Cabover Pete or something.
You sure it's not farm equipment?
Oh, no. Not a chance, sonny. This is bigger than that.
This could even be a 1 2-gear forward rig. Something like that.
Yeah, well, all right, let's take a look.
Oh, it's posted there.
That's all right. There's nobody around.
Unhook me, Rocky.
Y'all going somewhere?
Well, I guess we can't fool you.
My dad and I, we just dearly love oranges and we were passing by.
We thought we'd pick a few for breakfast. You caught us right in the act.
I'll be glad to pay you for them. Clear out.
This land's posted and y'all are trespassing. Posted?
Oh, hey, it's posted. Oh, I didn't realize it was posted.
You know, we saw all the tracks in here,
it looked like there had been a lot of traffic. Been hauling logs.
Yeah, well then this is your land then, huh?
I farm it. Sure has been nice talking to you.
I guess you've been doing a little out-of-season hunting.
No season on varmint.
(CAR STARTING)
Number one, this is number three.
MAN ON RADIO.. This is number one. Go ahead, Willie.
Been a couple of fellows down here poking around, asking questions.
Thought you ought to know about it. Over.
That's a roger. Follow them and stay with them. Out.
Al did, too? Well, that's exactly what Gary did.
He just up and says he's off to another job,
he didn't know how long he'd be gone, he didn't even know where he was going.
Well, he claims the pay's real good, but... Help you?
Yeah. Would you give us a wake-up call, please? 6:00, Room 42.
Hello, Phyliss? Oh, the story's so ridiculous. Thank you.
I'll bet you anything, Al and him wound up together and ran off to Fresno
with a couple of teenyboppers.
I couldn't care less what it was, to tell you the truth.
We gotta go rent a car.
Let's go.
Hey. Hey, look at the well. Look at the well there.
I bet you that's why them monkeys was after this piece.
'Cause there's a well on it, Jim.
(ROCKY CHUCKLING)
It's capped. Dry hole.
Yeah, it looks like it's been here for a long time.
Hey, look at that. 7,000 psi. Thing must be stuck.
Hey, listen.
Supposing that ain't stuck?
(ROCKY LAUGHING)
Set-screw on the ground.
ROCKY: I can't find it, sonny.
I don't see it nowhere.
Rocky, let's get out of here.
Listen to that. You listen to it.
You're the one that lost them.
All right, maybe they're still around here somewhere.
They've got to have a car here somewhere.
All right, Ed, go out... Go out to the property line.
Tommy and Gene, you all fan out through the grove there.
And somebody turn that thing off before half the county knows about it.
Come on, Rocky. We've got to get to the car. Come on.
Well, we can forget about that. Rocky, let's get out of here.
I'm going to have to hotwire this thing.
Let's get it shut off. Set-screw. Get the set-screw.
I've got a pipe wrench in the trunk. Well, get it, dummy.
(ENGINE STARTING)
Duck.
Come on.
They saw too much.
HOWARD: Try aiming at the gas tank.
(GUN FIRING)
ROCKFORD: Keep down, Rocky.
ROCKY: We did it. We lost them.
I sure wish I'd known whether or not I signed away my rights to that property.
It doesn't look like you did. What about O'Malley?
I don't know. We're back to square one.
If you did sell it, why would they still be after your signature?
Oh, I don't know.
We're going to have to get rid of this truck and get a car.
ROCKY: $23 a day for a car like this
and they didn't even clean the ashtrays.
Well Dad, when you're in the oil business, people think you're a high-roller.
Ah, Rocky... Jim, I...
I think I'll stay here, if you don't mind.
No, I don't mind. See, I been thinking, well,
the more I'm walking around on the streets, the easier it's going to be
for those guys to grab me.
And if they ever get a signature out of me, that's, that's all she wrote tonight.
I was thinking maybe you ought to do all the prowling around here, you know,
and see if you can find out who really owns those leases, huh?
Fine, fine. Yeah, all right,
I'll see you later. Yeah.
(TYPEWRITER CLACKING)
Hi. With you in just a second.
What can I do for you?
My name's Jim Rockford and I'm looking for the U.S. Geological Survey officer.
That's me, Wally Link. Wait a minute. Jim Rockford.
That name sounds familiar.
(CHUCKLING) It's Joseph Rockford.
Sent out a lease to him this morning. Any relation?
Yeah, he's my dad. Yeah, was that Parcel 334?
Yeah, that's the one. I'm sorry it was late.
I've been on vacation and, uh,
things were sure stacked up when I got back.
This procedure kind of throws me.
Doesn't the Bureau of Land Management issue those leases?
The Bureau decides who gets it.
But it isn't officially issued until I put my stamp on it and sign it.
Where'd you mail it?
Your dad's post office box, right here in town.
I didn't know he had one.
Anyway, right now, my dad holds title to that lease, right?
Sure does. Unless he's assigned it to someone else, of course.
In which case the assignment becomes valid as soon as the lease is issued,
which was this morning.
You wouldn't happen to know anything
about a Gerald A. O'Malley, would you?
I think he does some oil dealing around here.
O'Malley.
No. Doesn't ring any bells.
Thanks.
Excuse me. Are you Mr. O'Malley?
Mr. Gerald A. O'Malley?
Sure am.
Well, I'm George Wheeler. I'm with the NationaI Credit Institute.
I can never find my glasses. Well, as long as you can read it, that's all that counts.
Well, yes, yes.
Now, we're running a credit check on a Mr. Claude Orzeck.
We understand that you've done some business with him. Is that right?
Sold him a ham once.
That's the extent of your dealings with him? Oh, hell, no.
He's my mother's sister's boy by her third husband. I see.
Well now, we understand that Mr. Orzeck is in the oil business.
And that you are, too.
We won't have nothing to do with oil.
Claude, he goes around and gets people to sign anti-oil petitions.
I signed some myself.
Then I am correct in assuming that you have never bought an oil lease from Mr. Orzeck?
Mister, I don't even use oil products, if I can help it.
I won't be a party to it.
A party to what? War. The destruction of the world.
That's exactly what it's gonna be about. Oil.
Them that has it against them that wants it.
Do you know that 23 critical masses of fissionable plutonium
disappeared from United States nuclear facilities last year alone?
No, I didn't know that.
Well, the United States government claims
it was all inevitable manufacturing losses, so forth and so on.
But I know it was the terrorists that got them.
Turning them into bombs.
I'd like to talk about Mr. Orzeck. I'm a little confused...
Any graduate physics student can rig one.
It may not be the most efficient bomb in the world, but it don't really matter.
Even if it's a low-yield, say, well, 10 kilotons,
all it takes is a few of them, strategically placed.
Do you think that our government is going to admit
that its own carelessness is responsible
for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of its own citizens?
(SNICKERING)
Yeah, that's not a very pleasant thought, Mr. O'Malley.
Want to see my shelter? Beg your pardon?
The bomb shelter.
Yes, I really would, I'd like to see that but I'm running a little late.
So maybe some other time. It's right over there by the edge of the trees.
Two feet of concrete, reinforced.
Air, water and food to last two months.
That's what it's going to be all about, see. Food.
Food. Yeah, it would be. Oh, Yeah.
Build your shelter now, mister.
Remember, charity ends where survival begins.
(CAR STARTING)
ROCKY: If O'Malley says he doesn't know nothing about me signing that lease over to him
then it's got to still be mine, doesn't it?
Dad, you did sign it over to him. And the paper you signed is still valid.
So it's floating around out there somewhere.
Well, who's got it then? I don't know.
Probably whoever sunk the well.
They wouldn't drill a well unless they owned the rights.
You think it could be Orzeck?
Orzeck couldn't drill his way through a cloud.
And the two guys with the guns, they're just country beef.
Somebody else is running this show.
I'll look around and see if I can find out who sunk the well.
You going to be all right here? Yeah.
Hi. All right if I sit right over there?
Sure, I'll be with you in a minute.
The old man saw us.
Where'd he go? He went out back.
Excuse me, I'm looking for a gray-haired man wearing a straw hat and suspenders.
Out back.
ROCKY: Hey, hey!
GIRL: No! It's all right. It's all right, honey.
This is my boy, Jimmy, here. We fooled them, Jim.
Phyliss sent them out the back door.
I thought you were going to wait at the motel.
I keep telling you I can take care of myself, ain't that right?
Hey, Rocky, you gonna tell him? Huh? Oh, oh, yeah.
Jim, I've been telling her all about you on account of she needs a private detective.
I told her you're about the best there is.
All right, well, let's talk about it someplace else, huh? Yeah.
I don't want that Goodyear blimp to come back and land on us.
And now, I haven't seen my boyfriend in three weeks, I mean,
he was out of a job and then he called a couple of days ago...
Your boyfriend's name is Al, and he's a roustabout, right?
How'd you know that? What did I tell you? Isn't he terrific?
I tell you, Phyliss, I think there's a good chance I may be able to help you.
Really? How?
Well, I don't know yet. But, I'll give you a call, okay?
Oh, thanks so much, Mr. Rockford.
Now, look, I'm going to give you my home number
and if you can't reach me there, you can reach me at Pete's Cafe.
All right.
Thanks so much. You're welcome.
That was a neat trick. Just like one of those mind-readers.
That wasn't a trick, Dad.
What I found out this afternoon was
as far as anyone around here is concerned,
nobody ever drilled on Parcel 334.
And they went to a lot of trouble to cover their tracks.
I think they might even have disposed of the drilling crew.
Well, you figure Phyliss' boyfriend was one of them?
Yeah, and the girI at the other motel, the one with the hairdo,
her boyfriend, too.
You disposed of them? You mean a whole drilling crew? 20 guys?
What did they do with them?
I don't know. But let's try Orzeck again.
He's all we've got left.
ROCKFORD: It's open.
(SHUSHING) Hey, there may be somebody in there.
Let's come back later. It'll be light in about an hour.
(SHUSHING)
You just wait here.
Jim, are you okay?
Orzeck.
Hey, you all right?
Well, I'm feeling fine. But I've seen Orzeck looking better, though.
He's dead.
ROCKFORD: Parcel 332, 333, 335.
No 334. I bet they got it.
Come on, let's get out of here, Jim.
The first paper that you signed turning over the lease to O'Malley,
who was the broker? Orzeck.
Orzeck and some silent partner must have been running a con
to rip off valuable oil leases.
Dad, that had to be what was going on.
POLICE DISPATCHER ON RADIO.. Two-X-ray-Zebra and any unit in the vicinity,
identify and handle a 21 1,
4654 Lake Avenue, Claude Orzeck's office,
first floor. Handle Code 3.
O'Malley told me that Orzeck was aIways trying to get him to sign
these anti-oil petitions. But the old man never wore his glasses.
Now I'm betting that what he signed were blank lease assignment forms.
With O'Malley's signature already on them, all cousin Orzeck would have to do
is fill in his own name and the valuable parcels would revert to him.
Let's look in the ''O's''.
POLICE DISPATCHER ON RADIO.. Two-X-ray-Zebra Pickup on 187 DC.
Handle a 21 1, 4654 Lake Avenue, Claude Orzeck's office,
first level. Your call is Code 3.
Well, now. There you go.
All you have to do is fill in one for Parcel 334 and it's back in your Easter basket.
Listen, those guys that killed Orzeck, they don't know about these pre-signed forms.
They're liable to get after old man O'Malley
to try and make him sign them over to them again.
That old man wouldn't stand a chance.
Maybe we ought to call the cops, huh?
I don't know. His place is about 20 minutes from here.
Maybe the goon squad is already on their way.
Sonny, somebody might have called the cops.
(SHUSHING)
(TELEPHONE RINGING)
Hello. ROCKFORD.. Mr. Gerald A. O'Malley?
Yeah. Yes. This is Roger Martel sir, Kern County Civil Defense.
Yes, sir. What can I do for you?
Government agencies have informed us
that the Che Guevara unit of the ALF
is planning to detonate a jerry-rigged nuclear device in Bakersfield
unless some Federal prisoners are released by daybreak this morning.
Now wait a minute.
What's the yield, man? What's the yield? Am I in the kill radius?
We're not sure what the yield is, but you are correct in your assumption.
You are in the kill radius.
Well, you're very calm about it.
I've written you people letter after letter about this kind of thing
and you've ignored it.
Now, now, you're, you're certain that she's going to blow?
Just in case, sir,
my advice would be to proceed immediately, and I repeat, immediately,
to your bomb shelter. We've already had some leaks on this
and as your neighbors may come seeking protection from you,
and no doubt they would be armed and desperate...
Oh, shut up. I've got a million things to do here.
That's the dirtiest trick I ever heard you pull.
Look, the man built that bomb shelter to save his life
and that's what we're using it for.
Now, come on. We'll call the police from somewhere else.
Let's go the other way.
Hold it. Don't move.
Spread eagle on the floor.
Come on.
(CAR TIRES SCREECHING)
RUSS: Hey, there he goes. Come on.
Hey, here he is over here. Hey, you!
There he goes, come on.
How can he sign if you blow him in half?
How could the D.A. go for a first-degree murder charge
when he doesn't even have the weapon?
He's figuring on an accomplice,
a third person who got away with the gun.
Well, then it'd be him that killed Orzeck, not us.
Well, the law says an accomplice is just as guilty
as the person who pulls the trigger.
Look Jim, let's just let this thing settle for a few days
and if nothing else turns up, he'll probably let you cop a plea of breaking and entering.
And spend a year in this county? No. Are you kidding?
No. The D.A. cannot go for a murder one charge
unless you've got a gun or an accomplice, right?
Right. Okay, tell him we'll deal.
He can set a reasonable baiI on the B and E.
We get out of here, nab the murderer within 24 hours,
and then he dismisses all charges against us.
He'll never even listen to that.
Well, why not? If we don't deliver the murderers
he's still got us on the B and E charge.
He's got us, period.
Would you like to hear my idea or not, Dad?
When I was nosing around town, I heard that it's common practice
for the owner of the leaseholds to auction them off for a profit.
The oil companies and the independent dealers,
they come in, bid on whatever they think the parcel is worth.
So we're going to auction off parcel 334.
Hey, now, wait just a minute.
I ain't so sure I want to auction that off. It's mine now.
Besides, there's oil on it. Exactly.
And there's only one other party who knows that besides us.
And that's Orzeck's killer, and he's going to make sure he's the winning bidder.
I don't get it.
Dad, if you bid $5,000, what do I bid?
Six thousand.
Uh-huh. And if you bid $10,000, what do I bid? Eleven...
Hey, I get it. I get it.
The guy that knows there's oiI on the property
will aIways bid more for it than the fellow that doesn't know it.
Oh, that's wonderful, Jim. That's great.
Rocky's the rightful owner.
The other man lost out. His only hope of getting it now is to pay for it.
Well, I'm willing to try to sell that to the D.A. Good.
Anything's better than sitting around here staring at the gallows.
ROCKFORD: In addition to the cash price,
the seller, Mr. Joseph Rockford,
will retain a five-percent overriding royalty.
Now, are there any questions?
Very well. Shall we start the bidding?
$50,000.
$50,000?
$75,000
Do I hear $80,000?
$85,000. $85,000.
$90,000. $90,000 to the gentleman in the back.
$95,000. $95,000.
$96,000. $96,000.
$98,000. $98,000 in the back row.
Do I hear a $100,000? MAN: $100,000.
ROCKFORD: $100,000. $101,000.
$101,000? ROCKFORD: $101,000.
$102,000.
MAN: $105,000. ROCKFORD: $105,000.
$108,000. ROCKFORD: $108,000.
$1 10,000. $1 10,000. $1 10,000.
$1 1 1,000. That's got to be the guy.
$1 1 2,000. That's got to be the guy.
Do I hear $1 15,000?
$1 15,000? $1 15,000? We have $1 1 2,000.
Let's hear $1 13,000.
$1 20,000.
$1 20,000 from the gentleman in the back.
Do I hear $1 25,000?
$1 25000? $1 25,000? We have 1 20,000.
Let's hear $1 23,000. $1 23,000. $1 21,000.
It's gonna go for $1 20,000.
Very well, $1 20,000 going once,
$1 20,000 going twice,
$1 20... One minute, please.
Police officer. Sir, please remain in your seat.
Come on, let's go. Get out of here.
(GUN FIRING)
How do you like this? His name is Thomas Snowcroft.
He's in charge of development in this area for Westco.
The Westco?
They got gas stations every two, every two blocks.
I've had a credit card with them for years.
Murder isn't their corporate policy.
Snowcroft is in development, so he has a quota to fill.
I'm sure the strong-arm methods were his own brainstorm.
Westco. The only ones that still do your windshield.
ROCKFORD: Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to thank you
for driving all the way out here.
Before we reopen the bidding, I'd like to point out that this little gauge right here
says 7,000 pounds per square inch.
So I'll have to ask you not to smoke.
Ladies and gentlemen, the bidding is now reopened.
$500,000!
(PEOPLE LAUGHING)
All right. Cheers.
Oh, Mr. Rockford. Mr. Rockford. You were right. This is Al.
You were right. He came back.
(WHOOPING)
Have a drink, Al.
Well, Mr. O'Malley? No hard feelings, huh?
No. I ought to thank you.
Except for the way the police chopped up my shelter with their jackhammer.
Well, I'll have it fixed in a few days. Make it even stronger.
I'll drink to that.
Hey, hey, sonny. Come on down here.
Let's get our picture taken. All right. Mr. O'Malley.
Where, right here? With my lawyer. Yeah.
Where? Here?
All right. Thank you.
Say, how well did we do? Has anybody figured it out?
Well, let's figure on 1,000 barrels a day, okay?
That's reasonable.
All right, at $1 2 a barrel, that's $1 2,000.
You figure maybe 10 wells,
$1 20,000.
Now the operator gets 30o/o and 35o/o goes to each of you.
Which would be $42,000 a piece.
$42,000. That's pretty good.
You know it's funny, someway I had the thought that
it might be more, the way everybody's carrying on and everything.
Dad, that's $42,000 per day.
$42,000... For each of us.
That's before expenses. Oh, naturally. And taxes.
That goes without saying.
I think I need some more champagne.
Oh, boy.
Hey, look, Dad, I want to talk to you about something.
Now when we agreed, you know,
that we were going to be partners, we were talking about a few hundred dollars.
Maybe a few thousand, if we got lucky. But it's an awful lot of money
and it just isn't right. Of course, it's right, sonny.
It couldn't be righter. If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have anything.
And even if we hadn't been so lucky, the past few days,
well, working together, you and me,
I tell you, it beats fishing. It sure does.
Hey, Wally. Wally Link. Come on over here. Have some champagne.
Champagne for Wally.
Hey, Wally, this is my father, Joseph Rockford. Hi.
And this is my attorney, Beth Davenport. How do you do?
Wally's the USGS officer that issued our lease for us.
Yeah. Parcel 334. When did you sink that well?
We didn't. Somebody else drilled it and then capped it.
But still, it came in before you sold it.
Oh, quite a while ago. We were lucky.
But you see, I didn't issue that lease till yesterday.
Does it matter? Yeah, it does.
The reason the BLM sends me those leases in the first place
is for me to verify that there's no proven geologicaI structure on that land.
I checked it out, but I didn't notice the well, the way it was hidden.
I don't get it.
Well, uh...
The only reason the government gives those leases away
instead of selling them is to encourage people
to drill where nobody knows that there's oil.
I mean, if an area's already producing, that's another matter.
I think what he's saying is the lease wasn't yours to sell.
I'm afraid that is what I'm saying.
MAN: Is there a Mr. Rockford here? I'm sorry.
MAN: Mr. Rockford?
Thanks for the champagne. Mr. Rockford?
Yeah, sure, Wally. You're welcome.
MAN: One of you folks named Mr. Rockford?
I have a bill here for $192 for champagne.
Partners. Yeah.