I'm scared for her. I'm scared for myself.
You know what you sound like? A conspiracy buff.
She's in trouble. And so am I. And you got me into it.
I told you Uncle Sam was too good and too smart
and too decent to do anything like this.
I want a report on Rockford. I want him wired. I want him covered.
First thing we gotta do is Mary Jo and you and I are gonna make out a will.
A what? Will. As in last will and testament.
This is Jim Rockford.
At the tone, leave your name and message.
I'll get back to you.
MAN: Jimmy? Hello. You owe me five bucks.
Matarazzo's average in the '68 Series was .310, not .315.
Oh, and Fran and I are getting divorced.
ANGEL: Everybody takes a souvenir fork now and then.
That is not a souvenir fork.
The total value of that restaurant property is $207.
Your Honor, I've repeatedly stated that I had no idea
those things were in the back of my car
when we left the racetrack.
Mr. Martin put them there without my knowledge.
He's admitted that. I don't see why I...
Mr. Rockford, I'm going to sentence you to a term of not less
than 30 days in the county jail for transporting stolen property.
And you, Mr. Martin,
you are going to serve not less than 90 days in the county jail
for felony grand theft.
I'm going to suspend those sentences.
But only because our jails are too crowded to waste space on people who steal spoons.
And I am suspending sentence on the condition that both of you seek psychiatric help
in resolving these...
These problems that you seem to have that keep leading you to criminal acts.
You'll be told who to contact by a county social worker in the next few days.
That's all.
I'm sorry, Jimmy.
I tried to explain you were clean.
You heard me. Listen, it's all part of the public record.
So she yelled and screamed.
It must have gone on for two hours straight.
Then she took all my clothes and heaved them five flights down.
My socks and underwear were spread all over Ocean Front Avenue.
But the question that was asked, Leon,
was did you stand up for yourself this time?
Yes, this time I did.
As I was going down to pick them up, I said,
"Thanks a lot, Mom."
What a tiger.
Ever see anything like him?
Well, I don't know. At least he said something.
His mother probably knew how he felt.
Yeah but you wouldn't take her guff, would you.
The way I size you up after a week in here is...
Is you're a guy who comes on straight ahead.
You've got your act together.
He's right, Jim.
I want to tell you honestly how I feel.
I like having you in this group.
Yeah, but you, who knows where you're coming from.
You've been sitting here for a week like a lump of lard.
You talking to me, buddy?
I guess you think you're above it all?
You snicker at other people.
Who do you think you are?
Hey, Doc, if I want to take guff off a bunch of bananas,
I'll go down to the produce department at Safeway.
You don't have to take it.
Confront them. Honestly, directly.
I don't, uh... I don't...
I don't feel well.
I got word that a very dear friend of mine passed away today.
I just don't want to talk about it.
It's true.
I see. Suit yourself.
Turkeys.
Well, we haven't heard much from you tonight, Mary Jo. How's everything going?
Fine.
No, it's not fine.
I think it's starting to happen again.
You mean thinking somebody is out to get you?
Except this time it seems different. It's not like before.
You know, when I thought everybody I met was out to undo me?
It's like I feel someone is always watching me.
Someone I don't even know.
I should tell you what happened to me
when I was coming home from school one night last week.
I heard someone following me.
First in a car and then on foot.
But it was dark and I couldn't see anyone.
So I ran.
And you just let them.
You just let them jump all over me without a peep, didn't you?
Well, I just kept remembering how you got me into this whole thing
and sat back and enjoyed it.
Thanks a lot, Jimmy. Letting a bunch of bozos insult me.
People don't even know how to tie their own shoelaces.
I'll bet they talk to their socks.
Angel, now, they're not crazy.
I mean, they're just average people with problems they're trying to solve.
That's all. MARY JO: Jim?
Yeah.
Um, I was wondering if I could talk with you for a moment, alone.
You said you're a private detective.
Are you available right now?
To do what?
What happened last week, that wasn't the first time.
When I was living on campus, two weeks ago, I saw two men watching me from a car.
I also think someone tried to jimmy the door to my room.
Why would someone be watching you?
I don't know.
I know what you're thinking.
Okay, so I've had some emotional problems. Persecution things.
But I've worked on them and I've licked them.
And I want to know what's going on with me.
It's not that I don't want the job, Mary Jo,
but I'm a little overcommitted right now.
I mean, I've got a couple of insurance cases and...
Yeah, sure. I understand.
I'd be glad to recommend someone else...
No, that's okay, Jim. I'll work it out. See you Thursday night.
Yeah. Thursday.
You're overcommitted to what? Being broke?
Stop it.
No, Pepper. No. Come back. Come back, Pepper.
Here, Pepper, boy!
You know, I don't care what they say,
I still don't believe it was just a burglary attempt.
He didn't take anything.
Maybe you scared him off before he had time.
How much time does it take to pocket a $1,200 camera?
Or this stuff?
Okay, but let's don't automatically assume
it was a personal attack against Mary Jo Flynn.
I mean, a junkie out looking for buy money is far more likely.
This yours?
Who knows?
You collect this stuff like lint.
I do keep a whole bunch of pens and pencils in that drawer.
But it could have fallen out of your guest's pocket
while he was dancing with your dog.
What help would that be anyway?
The car leasing company must give those pens out to thousands of people.
Let's, uh... Let's both stick to what we seem to do best, okay?
Hey, you don't give me advice on detective work,
and I won't give you advice on moping.
You're saying you'll take the job?
Why not?
It's a piece of cake now.
You did get a partial license plate number
and you said the van was brown or dark red.
Or black or gray.
Or green.
Mary Jo, I, uh...
I don't want to pry,
but you know the problems you were talking about in group?
Well, the group calls it paranoia
but it really wasn't that.
Last year, at the art school in Santa Barbara,
I had a love affair with a man.
It didn't work out too well.
I felt the world was against me.
But I came out of it.
Then I got this teaching assistantship in photography down here
and I'm working on my problems still, in group.
That's it.
Okay.
That's it.
Hi. Jim Slade, radio station KLLB.
Vic Cassell. What can I do for you?
Last night a van, license number 1 E-49901,
registered to this store,
was seen driving super-courteously in Westwood.
I'm here to present our Nice Guys Finish First Award
to the motorist of that van.
Oh, wow, Vic, that's you.
She guessed it.
That's right. We have for you, Vic,
an album of Love is Habit-Forming by Sweeta Lee
the double album of Marguerita Wasn't No Woman by the Tex-Mex Singers,
and if you can answer our question on the history of pop,
for today, you can win yourself $1,000.
I'm ready. What's your question?
Okay, the question for today is...
Oh, wait. Wait a minute. You said Westwood?
Yeah.
Oh, I was not in Westwood last night.
You sure?
Our car said they spotted your van near Glendon Avenue.
No, listen, I could use an extra $1,000.
My kid just yanked out every brace in her mouth.
But, no, I drove my van to my home on Truesdale.
You must have the wrong license.
Damn it.
Oh, Vic, you're such a poop. What'd you tell him that for?
He never would have known.
That's a nice thing to say in front of the gentleman.
And I have to trust her with my cash register.
Well, it is nice to meet an honest man.
Thank you. I just don't understand why our men made a mistake
in the license plate...
See, I was an underprivileged kid.
Down in Texas, me and my family, we were dirt poor.
I remember one Christmas, we were riding along Highway 61, state highway,
we found this pig been hit by a car.
We took it home, Mama cooked it up.
We couldn't afford no food.
But that Christmas, I had a football made from the skin of that pig.
Daddy made it himself.
Just never did stay inflated.
Okay, so you were poor.
But so was your sister and she did all right according to you.
She's a woman. She had it easy.
Hold it a second. Angel, how poor were you?
Didn't you tell me your father owned some grain silos back there?
What are you, Jimmy? The family historian? I'll tell the story, okay?
I was poor.
Poor.
Like in poor.
I resent being lied to.
Hey, that's the last time I talk in here.
Good.
Mary Jo, you look like you have something you might want to talk about.
Well, somebody broke into my house the other night
and I asked Jim if he'd look into it.
He told me, and the police told me, that it was just a burglar.
I insisted it was more than that.
Jim, what's the story?
Well, uh...
I traced a license plate back to a boutique in Beverly Hills.
I talked to the people, they seemed pretty straight-arrow.
I just don't see the tie-in between a boutique and a terror campaign.
I don't know this boutique owner.
There's no reason in the world why he'd be in my bedroom.
Somebody was.
A burglar.
I think we'd better talk this whole thing out, Mary Jo.
You say it's different, but to me it sounds like the same kind of thing
that landed you in that psychiatric hospital.
Wait a second.
Mary Jo, were you hospitalized?
You didn't tell him, Mary Jo?
Okay.
I was in an institution, alright?
Las Brisas Hospital in Santa Barbara.
Paranoid schizophrenia.
I was there for months.
And the way it sounds, I should have signed up for another semester, right?
Why didn't you tell me?
Because of that.
That look.
You'd never have taken the job.
Well, you don't know that.
When I take a job there are certain risks.
Legal hassles, physical threats.
It's bad enough without having my own client pull the rug out from under me.
So this is just another way of saying you just don't work for flippos?
You put it that way.
I probably wouldn't have.
Jim, leave her alone.
This is stupid.
He looks stupid. We look stupid.
All right, let's pretend like there's nothing wrong.
Would you mind backing up so I could get out of the alley?
Oh, if that's all you want, all you have to do is ask.
We were reading a map. We're lost.
Well, I'm not.
I know exactly where I'm going unless you tell me why you're tailing me.
All right. Put the stick down, Mr. Rockford. Let's talk.
That's right, the DMV told us who you are.
Now we did a little scouting around.
We find out you're a private investigator.
All we want to know is what you're working on.
Yeah? Well, that's confidential.
And unless you tell me why you want to know, you can take a hike.
All right, Sid.
Oh, you want to know what case I'm working on?
Well, it's a divorce case.
Yeah, there's a guy named Milbank out in Calabasas.
He went up and married a nineteen-year-old French gymnast
at the Olympics up in Montreal.
You know, he's trying to figure out why he can't keep her at home.
Well, I mean, the man's 62 years old...
Mary Jo? Just slow down, will you?
Look, I'd rather not talk right now.
I feel bad enough about what happened the other night.
Not as bad as I feel. I want to apologize.
You heard it.
Unfortunately, it's one of those good newslbad news situations.
The good news is you're as sane as anybody.
The bad news is I think maybe somebody might want to cancel your scholarship.
Who?
I don't know, a thin guy,
mid-30s, well-cut suit.
Mean anything?
No. Not really.
Well, this guy... I mean, what happened?
Why would you... Why would you say that somebody's following me?
Oh, we had a little mix-up, and they pulled a .357 Magnum on me.
But the point of it is, I saw a visitor's parking sticker on their car
from Las Brisas Hospital.
Can you think of anything stemming from your little stay in that place
that might account for all the harassment you've been getting?
No. I can't imagine.
It was just an expensive private mental hospital.
Hey, hey.
May Jo, you know, I'll bet that you're the only person you know
who thinks your mental illness is so shameful.
But you almost got hurt today.
If I have to make a choice between being insane and seeing people get hurt...
Hey, it's going to work out.
The only thing now is to get you someplace
where you can disappear till we find out what's going on.
Never mind, it's silly. Mary Jo.
There was a patient in isolation
and there were always attendants stationed around his room.
They told us he was very violent.
But he wasn't like a raving psychotic.
One night, after lights out, he managed to talk to me.
He was frightened, and I mean really frightened.
Of what? Don't laugh when I tell you.
He said he was an American intelligence agent
and that he'd been deeply involved in the overthrow of the Chilean government.
But he'd gotten turned off, so he started secretly writing a book
about what really happened in Chile.
But the agency caught him.
And put him under wraps in Las Brisas.
Well, he claimed that they took all his notes and his papers
and that they were intending to kill him quietly.
You know, I just figured it was a delusion.
BECKER: Did this agent have a name?
ROCKFORD: Joseph. Joseph Bloomberg.
MARY JO: You think it's far-fetched, don't you, Sergeant?
Far-fetched? Why, no. Why come to me anyway?
This department has nothing to do with the National Intelligence Agency.
Their field is intelligence in foreign countries.
They are forbidden by law to act in domestic affairs.
So we have no contact with them.
But what do you do when you pick up a political terrorist, huh?
Call the Forestry Service?
No contact. None.
I'm sorry, Miss Flynn.
But you say this guy Bloomberg wanted you to get word to the outside
about his problem?
Right, to Congressman Alan Brody
of the House Subcommittee on Intelligence.
But you didn't do anything.
Well, I forgot. I didn't really...
Didn't what? Take him seriously? But I'm supposed to?
Come on, Dennis,
I think somebody's pinpointed her as the same woman that was at Las Brisas.
I'll tell you something else.
That guy in that alley had a hogleg that big. And he used it.
I'm scared for her. I'm scared for myself.
You don't even know what you're talking about.
You know what you sound like? A conspiracy buff.
Okay, fine. Fine. You don't want in? Fine. Just give me a name.
Someone I can call tomorrow morning at the Agency, huh?
All I want is some kind of confirmation that there is an Agent Joseph Bloomberg.
Then we'll be sitting right back here having that same conversation, huh?
Now, come on, how about an entre?
It's your own head on the block.
Bill Simonds, suite 99A on Wilshire Boulevard.
He heads up the Agency's Los Angeles branch office.
Since when is Los Angeles a foreign country, huh?
Well, this is Suite 99A, but there's no Bloomberg here.
Fella told me Bloomberg works out of this office. Suite 99A.
What fella?
Well, down at the LAX. The VIP lounge.
Our dispatcher from the messenger service got a call to pick up a parcel
so I went over there and he gave me this package
to give to Agent Joseph Bloomberg,
told me to deliver it here.
What's in it? Did he say?
But he specifically said Agent Joseph Bloomberg, huh?
What kind of agent did he say Bloomberg was?
He didn't.
Oh, look at that noonday traffic.
I bet you had a tough time getting into the Department's garage, huh?
No. No, not really.
Now, this man who gave you the package, did he give you his name,
or did he have any special physical characteristics?
Oh, excuse me before I...
Before I forget...
Yeah, uh, Martin? Bill here.
I just wanted to remind you to have my car washed and waxed.
That's a roger.
Tell you what I'll do, if you don't mind waiting just a minute,
I'll make a call and see if maybe you've got the wrong floor.
All right. Okay.
Pickup truck?
Check the glove compartment.
Well, it turns out there was an Agent Joseph Bloomberg in the building.
But he was only with the Department of Weights and Measures.
Yeah, they closed down the entire operation here
so you couldn't very well deliver that to him.
But I've got a buddy who's with W&M in San Diego.
If you want to leave the parcel with me,
I'll be glad to see that it's delivered to Bloomberg.
Hey, would you do that? Certainly.
Of course, you'll have to sign for it.
Sure.
You know, the problem nowadays
is nobody wants to help the other guy.
Yeah, well, hey, thank you.
Thank you a lot. And you have a nice day, now, huh?
Sure thing.
Senior staff. My office. Now.
Old copies of Newsbreak Magazine?
Send them down to the lab for a microfilm scan.
Did we ever have Bloomberg, Joseph, working out of or through this office?
Not to my knowledge. Hal?
HAL: Mmm-mmm. Scenarios anybody?
Most likely, wrong address.
Hal? Agreed.
Anyone here ever work with a Bloomberg elsewhere in the company?
Possibly even another station?
Then it's probably just a common error.
You say "probably." Alternative scenarios?
Scenario Number One:
Bloomberg works in this office, identity altered.
Why, Bill? Why indeed?
Logical extension of Scenario One.
Bloomberg works in or near this office
on a project that's top drawer.
Too top drawer for us to handle,
according to brass in Washington.
Going behind our backs?
Well, I gotta admit it wouldn't be the first time.
Or Scenario Two. There is no top drawer project.
Bloomberg, or just code-name Bloomberg,
is sent from headquarters to interface with us
to compile an efficiency report
and then to put on a big dog and pony show for the brass.
A definite possible. Just the way G-section likes to work.
Or what about the Bloomberg Parcel Move, or just BPM?
Huh? All staged?
Just a gambit to throw us off guard,
test our turnaround time to unexpected input.
Any possibles for Bloomberg?
Somebody on the junior staff, possibly.
I never did like that new log officer, Hechtman.
Well, one thing's clear, the senior staff is clean.
Bloomberg is no one in this room.
Hal, as far as the junior staff's concerned,
I'm going to throw that ball into your court.
I want a bill of health on everyone and I want it yesterday.
For right now, we're going to look into that messenger service.
I want a report on Rockford. I want him wired. I want him covered.
Do you think he was a mickey?
Possibly.
So they took your package, sonny.
Well, that don't necessarily mean nothin', does it?
Maybe there was another Bloomberg in the building.
Simonds just wanted the package.
He didn't call around the building.
The phone button didn't light up on his secretary's extension.
Jimmy, pass the mustard greens.
And there's something else odd about it, though.
I checked that boutique.
Mr. Cassell, the owner, has gone on a sudden buying trip.
Nobody knows where.
What do you think, Angel?
Yeah, boy, these are the best biscuits I ever ate.
We're talking about the problem.
Oh.
You know, if only we had some kind of tangible proof,
then maybe we could get some action
from the government.
You said Bloomberg was guarded.
By who? How heavily?
Las Brisas looks like a country convalescent home, and there are guards.
But I don't want to see you try something like breaking in there.
I don't see where we have much choice.
But I will need a diversion
so I can get back to Bloomberg's room and try to talk to him.
Ah! Now we're getting to the nitty-gritty.
Now it's beginning to make sense.
"Come on over to Rocky's for dinner, Angel," serve my favorite food.
First time I've been invited over here for so much as a glass of water.
I could use a hand in the kitchen with the coffee and dessert.
Forget about the dessert.
You don't buy Angel Martin with a couple of drumsticks and some red-eye gravy.
Angel, now she's in trouble.
And so am I and you got me into it.
I may have had a minor role in getting you into that therapy group
but I didn't tell you to get all messed up
with the National International Intelligence Agency.
And I'm not going to.
All you have to do is stand around and keep the attendant busy.
It's a snap.
We'll need your car and when it's over, you just drive off.
I spent half my adult life getting that Caddy with them Naugahyde seats.
Not a chance in hell.
And who loaned you the 200 bucks to buy that car? Do you remember?
I'll tell you who did.
The same guy who's going to take the pink slip
if you don't come through for him.
Hey buddy. Where's Santa Barbara?
You're twelve miles out.
Las Brisas Hospital.
You're not supposed to be on these grounds past 9:00 p.m.
I'm lost.
I was supposed to be at the Santa Barbara Arms
for the keyboard sales convention.
I left the showroom four hours ago in Los Angeles.
This thing, now it's going to stop on me.
Hey, hey. Come on, this is a hospital.
Look, I got a customized stick shift.
You give me a little push, I can get started down here.
How about it? Well, come on. Give me a hand.
Yeah, yeah.
Well, hurry up. Right over there by that incline.
We'll get it. She wants to go. I know it.
She's been running right along. Had emotional problems.
ANGEL: Harder... I can't...
Harder. Oh, we got it going now, don't stop.
Come on... We really got it now... Come on.
Push! Push!
I'm pushing.
Mr. Bloomberg?
Mr. Bloomberg, are you in there?
I'm Bloomberg. Who are you? What do you want?
My name's Jim Rockford. I'm here as a favor to a friend of yours.
Mary Jo Flynn.
This some kind of ploy? I don't know a Mary Jo Flynn.
Yeah, she used to be a patient here.
She was a blond girl with blue eyes.
You talked to her.
You told her why you were in here.
Do you remember doing that, Mr. Bloomberg?
Oh, that girl. I'd given up on her.
I thought she'd dismissed me as a mental case.
Look, you've got to get me out of here.
They've started giving me drugs, heavy doses of MAOs.
Monoamine oxydaze inhibitors.
Clinically they're used as a depressant, you know, but they have permanent side effects.
And I'm not depressed at all.
In fact, I'm more determined than ever to beat this thing.
Well, just who are "they," Mr. Bloomberg?
Do you remember what you told Mary Jo?
Testing, huh?
You want to make sure there's something upstairs besides white noise?
I can't blame you. I'd be skeptical too.
Wait a minute. Wait a minute. I'll call the auto club.
Just a few more feet. You push a few more feet. I pushed it all this way.
It's going right down the hill.
You want it pushed, you push it.
We only got... I don't want to hear it.
Well, look, uh, I don't have much time.
Mary Jo said something about Chile and the coup.
You see my cover...
I was a professor of Latin American studies on sabbatical from Dartmouth.
I was into that blood up to my elbows.
Salvador Allende, he didn't commit suicide.
He was shot.
By a team of experts, trained by American trainers, financed by American dollars.
In fact, the only surprise was that he wasn't carted out of his palace
by an American hearse.
Could you give me a name, someone we could contact who was down there with you
who might have material evidence and be willing to give it to us...
Jimmy. Jimmy, we're busto.
The guard went to call the tow truck.
I tried to give him the money but he was just too teed off...
It's Joey B. That's Joey B.
Look, just give me a name, Mr. Bloomberg, a name. Quick.
I know him from the Clam House. They said he was dead.
Don't refer to me by code names.
Don't refer to me by code names!
Jimmy. Jimmy, come on. Hey, will you shut up?
You can see you're upsetting him. Jimmy, he's all mobbed up.
He's married into the Lorenz family. He's an enforcer.
I will not stand idly by while someone blows my cover.
Joey B was unclean. Unclean in mind and body.
Stop, you. There are no schizophrenics. Allende was murdered.
Even his psychiatrist tried to kill him with a poison dart.
There are no schizophrenics.
Come on, let's go.
No, Jimmy. Not my Caddy... Jimmy! Caddy.
They'll repo... Get in there.
Where's that fire road? This ain't the fire road.
I can see that, Angel.
What the deuce?
We'll need a read-out on this hospital.
Rockford's headed south, probably on County 27.
Jimmy, remember I used to hang out with Murf Bucco at the Caputo Clam House?
Every Friday night would be bouillabaisse night.
Now every Friday night, there'd be Joey B with some hoods and hookers,
getting spots on his shirt.
You've heard us talking about Joseph Bloomberg,
now, why didn't you say something?
That didn't mean nothing to me.
I always heard the name Joey B. Or Joey the B.
About a year ago he disappeared.
Word on the street was that he'd died.
He gone to Israel to plant some trees and the helicopter crashed.
Murf Bucco?
Murf once told me that he was best man
at the wedding of Barbara Lorenz.
That's Papa Frank Lorenz's daughter.
The guy that married Barbara Lorenz, that's Joey B.
Well, I mean, listen... I mean, Joey B's connected. He's an insider.
He must be privy to all kinds of top level syndicate business.
A guy like that blows his lid, he becomes a threat.
No telling what he's going to say to who and when.
They wouldn't hide him in a hospital. They'd just kill him.
You know how they are.
Not his own relatives. His wife, his father-in-law...
Maybe they wanted to protect him from the other families.
So that's why they wanted to do something about me,
so I wouldn't leak his location, even by accident.
Well, the guy's obviously crazy.
He don't know nothing about Chile except it's something to eat.
I told you Uncle Sam was too good and too smart
and too decent to do anything like this.
Look what you done to me, Jimmy.
My car's in the laughing academy.
My name's on the registration, big as life. I've got to get out of town.
Well, where are you going to go? You know they'll find you.
Look, maybe we can get out of this if we deal.
Deal with Papa Frank Lorenz?
Where you been living, in Norway?
We're holding the best cards we could hold. Joey B's life.
Now Lorenz lives in Holmby Hills, it's up on Charing Cross.
The big white house... Now just you wait a minute.
You sound like you're gonna see that crumb.
No, no, no. You let the man do what he wants to do.
Listen Jimmy, do you think you can slip it in before they kill you
that you stole Angel Martin's car,
that Angel Martin don't know nothing from nothing,
that Angel Martin is a great guy?
Something else I just remembered.
I heard Papa Frank moved up to Carmel.
Which means the kid, Tommy, is living in the house in Holmby.
Fine. He can deliver a message to Papa.
First thing we got to do is Mary Jo and you and I are going to make out a will.
A what?
"Will" as in Last Will and Testament.
"I, Mary Jo Flynn, being of sound mind, do this day set forth,
"that in the event of my death by any means other than illness,
"the executor of this document herein set forth..."
There's one for you too here, and there's one for Angel Martin.
I'm sorry, but this doesn't worry me.
Well, that's because you haven't bothered to think it through.
No, you haven't bothered to think it through.
You died the minute you walked into this house.
Now, I don't like that.
This whole thing has been unfortunate. But you have to take the pipe.
And before you do, you're gonna let me know where Martin and the girl are.
See, I swore to my sister, Barbara, that I'd let no harm come to her Joey.
How was your buying trip?
Ray, make me a sandwich.
Is it true we've seen the last of denim?
How is everything at radio station KLLB?
Mr. Rockford, the biggest favor you could do yourself right now
is tell me how I can put my hands on your friends.
Do you know what we mean when we say buckwheats?
Yeah. A slow beating. Broken bones.
Well, why go through that before you die?
That's just a lot of legalese.
What it says simply is that if Mary Jo, Angel or myself
so much as get our hair mussed,
our executor will cable all the major families
and tell them Joey B never did die and he's got a mouth that just won't quit.
Big deal.
So we just move Joey out of Las Brisas
and into some other hamster cage.
Vic's been working on it all week.
Well, I hope you find one as far away as the South Pole,
because anything closer wouldn't be far enough.
Especially when they find out Joey B is still among the living.
We'll take that risk.
We're the better risk. Three civilians who know the story.
And we don't care particularly about spilling it unless we die.
And then it's just a matter of time till a limo pulls up into your drive
and somebody feeds you buckwheats till you tell them where Joey is.
Oh, of course, it may not be you.
Could be your wife or your kids...
You know where you are, mister?
Do you know who you're talking to
that you make threats and give ultimatums?
I don't care about your slop.
I'll take my chances.
Now, you're gonna tell me where Martin and the girl is.
You just don't get it, do you?
The mechanism is all ready to go.
If I don't walk out of here in one hour, the telegrams start to fly.
Tommy, maybe it's the best way.
Why me?
I haven't had a peaceful night's sleep since this thing started.
It's the will of God, Tommy.
All for one squirrelly brother-in-law.
Yeah, that squirrelly brother-in-law was quite a guy when he had all...
So what? Who cares what he was?
I have businesses to run, I can't do that and look out for him too.
My sister's living on barbiturates.
My father's sulking up in Carmel,
he's plotting against me because I won't put Joey out of his misery.
Let me understand something. It's your father who wants Joey in the ground?
Why us?
I mean, why is this family visited with mental illness?
What? We don't do to mass every Sunday?
We don't donate thousands to the City of Hope?
Do you remember what my pop said
when Barbara came home and said she wanted to marry Joey?
Oh, yes.
I remember that day.
Know what he said? "Marry one of your own.
"Don't marry this Bloomberg."
He knew better than us, Vic. He knew far, far better than us.
But I swore to my sister...
Tommy, listen. It's time.
Mr. Lorenz?
You're going to have to make a decision.
All right.
Then we have an understanding? We have a deal?
Go, Mr. Rockford.
Yeah?
Tommy? There's two guys out front staking the place.
Hey.
What's the problem?
Stay there.
Sidney, you go with Vic. Rockford, get into the music room.
I think you owe us an explanation.
What the devil is the meaning of this? Who's in charge here?
Let me inform you that we are agents of the federal government.
By what right do you pull us off the street at the point of a gun?
Huh? Answer me.
National Intelligence Agency?
What is this, some kind of sick joke?
Don't look at me. I have nothing to do with them.
Well, how'd they find their way here? A trail of bread crumbs?
They have all kinds of electric surveillance devices.
You know, you guys are really fouling things up.
National Intelligence Agency. You expect me to believe that?
You'd better believe it, sir. That identification is valid.
So is my brother-in-law Joey's.
We keep telling him, "Joey, that's your social security card."
He says, "No, no, no. That's my ID."
He also has a secret hat he wears every now and then.
He says it sends him radio transmissions from Russia.
Signals.
You got one of those too?
I don't know what you're talking about,
but you're on dangerous ground.
Mr. Lorenz, unfortunately, they are who they say they are.
Oh? Well then you do know them.
Well, no.
Whatever it is that you're up to, Rockford, let me tell you one thing,
we've got a complete dossier on you right now.
We also know about that circus you pulled over at the Las Brisas Hospital.
You've got a lot of questions to answer.
They know about Las Brisas too?
Not from anything I said.
You said there were three civilians who knew, right?
I mean, you said that the information stops with you, right?
Only now there's five. Count them, five.
Why did you guys come here?
If he wasn't one of your agents, what threat did I pose?
Now you see what I mean, Vic?
You see how this thing starts to mushroom? You understand?
I don't want to be saddled anymore. Tommy...
So we pop them all.
Today. Now. End of problem.
Tommy, wait just a minute. If these guys are really Feds...
What do you, want to look ahead to this for the rest of your life?
You want some guy to tell another guy and then another guy tells his Aunt Martha
and on and on and on?
Do you have any idea of what you're contemplating doing?
We are the National Intelligence Agency.
Really? Well, before I blow his brains out, there are some things we have to know.
And I'm going to supervise this myself.
Right? Right.
Then I wash my hands.
My sister can take care of her own.
Let's go.
Happy?
Move it over there.
You'll never make it, believe me.
'Cause dead bodies have a way of turning up and causing problems.
Sidney.
Don't do this. Please.
All right, face down on the floor. Everybody. Come on.
I want to know where Miss Flynn and Angel Martin are, Rockford.
I wouldn't worry so much about that as I would...
Eight more minutes, the hour's going to be up.
The word's going to be spread all over town.
No, it's not, because in less than eight minutes,
you're going to make a phone call to your friends.
You're going to tell them everything is fine and you'll be coming home soon.
And if you don't, you'll get to see firsthand
how fast a fire can consume a human being.
And I don't think you're the kind of guy that can sit that out.
I'm not telling you anything.
Sidney.
I could be persuaded to make a phone call.
All right, get up.
Where are they?
In the Peter Pan Motel down on Olympic,
registered under assumed names.
Vic, take him to a phone.
You call your friends, tell them everything is fine, you'll be coming soon.
Vic, you send a car out there.
Right. This way.
Back in!
The police picked up the fellow outside.
Rockford, you've got a lot of explaining to do.
I'm not too worried.
I'm licensed to work in this country.
You guys are supposed to be tending the Berlin Wall.
The Agency made a lot of threatening noises about this and that,
but they didn't have anything to back it up.
I've always said this group needed an infusion of excitement.
But this has been something else.
I'm going to be sorry when your time in this group is up, James.
Mary Jo, how do you feel about it?
I'm really glad it's over, naturally.
And of course, I'm really happy that my fears were reality-based for a change.
But it's much more than that.
It was a bad experience.
Really bad.
But I held together. I made it.
Is this Mary Jo Flynn talking?
I don't think I've ever heard you sounding so positive.
It's terrific.
MARY JO: But there is one other thing.
I'll never be able to tell Jim how much I appreciate what he did.
You don't have to.
Mary Jo, you're talking around it.
Tell the man how you feel about him.
I like you.
I hope we'll always be close.
Same here, Mary Jo.
Evelyn, you were involved in this,
but we've heard nothing from you.
I got nothing to say I didn't say when I first came here.
Come on.
This is a stress situation,
even though you weren't as deeply involved as Jim or Mary Jo.
What are you feeling?
I wasn't as deeply involved? I was into it up to my eyeballs.
Okay. Then tell us your emotions.
Learn to be intimate with people.
I'm just glad that the Agency didn't find out
about my gun-running days because of all this.
I could have been in big trouble. I can't say any more.
Don't give in to your fears of other people
and stop concocting these phony stories
that evade the real issues of your life.
I don't have to make up phony stories. Didn't you hear what I said?
I said I was glad the Agency closed the books on us,
otherwise they might have found out about the time I was running guns
down to the rebels in Guatemala.
Me and another guy... Dead now, that's right.
We used to buy these Italian carbines
from this contact man in Mexico
and we'd sneak it across the border in the ambulance and sell it
to the guerillas in Guatemala. We'd get twice what we paid for them.
That's right.
The guns were rickety old things.
They'd blow up in your face if you shot them or you just sneezed...