Was it good, baby?
Was it good?
Baby, was it really good?
All a truck gets us, is from here to there.
We want a score.
One guy with a fat wallet, in a fast car, with a back seat.
I sit beside him.
You get in the back, I feed him a few jokes.
I say, "Hey, Perry, pass me a match."
That's your signal.
Fast. Hard. Snap. I grab the wheel.
You're so good at it, you sit in the back seat.
You do it.
Look friendly, now.
You're a lucky bastard.
Don't forget, when I say, "Pass me a match."
- Hop in boys. Where are you going? - Come on. Get in.
Not with you.
Thanks just the same.
Did you see them guys?
Jesus! They could've robbed us.
What of?
I'm really not supposed to pick up anybody in the company car, but...
- What the hell, you only live once. - That's what they say.
Comfortable back there?
I can take you as far as lowa.
Where have you boys been?
Mexico. No future there.
That depends, my boy.
I honeymooned in Mexico.
You might say that's where I planted the seed of our first child.
I plowed and planted a few señoritas there myself.
You know what they call a prostitute who went to college?
What?
A whore-to-culture.
I got a riddle for you.
- Ready? - Shoot.
Why is a trip to the bathroom exactly like a trip to the cemetery?
Let me see. A trip to the bathroom...
...like a trip to the cemetery...
Give up?
When you gotta go, you gotta go.
Perry, pass me a match.
Sorry, I never turn down a soldier.
This might get the boy home for Christmas.
Lucky break.
Practically a goddamn miracle.
You didn't happen to see a portable radio, Mr. Hickock, about so big?
A Zenith?
Now what makes him do it?
Hit out against people?
Outstanding athlete in basketball, baseball, football, always made the first team.
He always played to win, played hard, but clean.
When he left without a word I knew he was in trouble again.
Now, Mr. Nye, I thought if I... About breaking parole.
Will he have to go back to prison?
You do much hunting, Mr. Hickock?
That's his gun. Dick's.
When he come outta prison...
...you know, folks was saying how he'd turned mean.
Now how'd they know? How'd anybody know...
...what's inside another person?
I haven't got long to go, Mr. Nye. I'm with cancer.
Dick knowed that.
Well, before he left, he said to me:
"Pa, I'm not ever gonna do anything to hurt you."
And he meant it, too.
If you'd seen him, you know, playing with his children.
Any boy that loves and respects his folks, well, you know...
...there's good inside that boy.
I hope you find him, Mr. Nye, for his own sake. Before it's too late.
You know what we are?
We're the living proof that crime pays.
Gifts in a manger.
No more money troubles.
Merry Christmas.
Kansas City, here we come.
You're crazy.
I gotta get us some money.
How far do you think we could get in a hot car? With hot checks?
That's right. I'll go by myself.
- Like hell you will. - I'll meet you later.
We stick together.
First we go to Vegas. We pick up our clothes.
All the stuff I shipped from Mexico. And then...
...we drive to the nearest port and ship out on the first tanker leaving this country.
And this time we stay out.
I won't go.
You'll go.
What if I don't?
Well, then, "honey, baby"...
...I guess I'll just have to kill you.
Yeah. But right now...
...we pass a lot of fast, hot checks.
One more check. We can be in and out of here in an hour.
A cinch.
Stop worrying, will you?
Al, our friends are here.
How do you know?
They stole a car in Iowa and bought two tires with a bad check.
Where?
Right here. The salesman got worried and wrote down the license.
The Hickock farm, is it covered?
If they go there, we're covered.
I'll be at the Hickock farm.
Yes?
Yes.
Did they slip through?
If it wasn't to see his folks, why would they come back to Kansas?
Maybe they're trying to be caught.
I guess they'll just have to try harder.
You're not stopping for them?
Look at that old man, he looks awful.
Suppose he dies on us? That means cops, questions.
Think, will you?
I think you're a bastard.
We sure appreciate this, mister.
Get in.
Where you headed?
California. Gramps has got a sister in Needles. He's going to stay with her.
Did you hear that, Johnny?
Hear me, Johnny?
You got any money?
- Hey, kid. - No, sir.
Not even $1 for gas?
Only these.
- They're worth $0.03 a bottle. - So?
If you was to drive real slow, we could pick us up some real change.
That's what Johnny and me have been eating off of. Refund money.
Get in.
We finally found it.
The sunken treasure of Captain Cortés.
$0.03 a bottle.
Pay dirt!
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.
Mister, $12.60. Fifty-fifty okay?
Kid, you're a positive genius.
- Happy New Year! - Likewise.
Keep digging, old-timer.
Never seen so much blonde chicken.
And all that sweet divorce money.
Hey, Chief...
...you a lucky crap shooter?
Deuces, treys, and twelves.
Mr. Snake Eyes himself.
If we put this fiver on the line...
...and if we let it ride.
If we make only 10 passes...
...we'd have over $5,000.
How about it, honey? I feel real lucky tonight.
You've got visitors.
Hello.
Hey, buddy. Put in a call for that big old yellow bird.
Good afternoon.
- Smith. - Hickock.
Comedian.
Are they still virgins?
- What'd you charge them with? - Driving a hot car.
Officer.
- You know why we're here, Mr. Hickock? - Sir...
...you can call me Dick.
All right, Dick.
We understand you've signed the extradition papers.
Well, what the hell.
There's no denying we broke parole and hung a mile and half of paper.
Oh, yeah, the car...
...it's stolen.
That's it. All of it.
- Okay if I smoke? - Sure.
In a way, I'm glad it's over.
I'll take what I've got coming. Serve my time and never...
...but never again.
Your parole has a special provision never to return to Kansas.
I cried my eyes out.
Must've been something important to bring you back.
I had to see my sister in Fort Scott.
- To get money she was holding for me. - Did you get it?
- She moved away. - Where?
I don't know.
How far is it from Kansas City to Fort Scott?
I don't know.
How long did it take you to drive there, one hour? Two?
Three? Four?
I can't remember.
Do you remember what day it was?
Saturday.
Yeah, I remember now.
We got to Fort Scott about 4:00 p.m.
- We went right to the post office. - Why?
Why?
To find out where Perry's sister lived.
The guy at the post office said she moved.
Left no address and left no money, either.
- Must've been quite a blow. - It was a haymaker.
What did you do then?
Drove back to K.C., went prowling.
Any luck?
Not much. We ended up with a couple of hustlers.
Named?
I never asked.
You spent the night with these women and you didn't ask their names?
They were just prostitutes.
Where'd you take them?
I don't remember junk like that. You'll have to ask Dick.
What did these girls look like?
Describe them.
Blonde? Dark? Big? Little?
Any scars?
Moles? Marks?
Would you like the sordid details?
Anything.
Is that how you get your kicks?
She had to be a contortionist.
I guess you know why we're really here?
You know we wouldn't have come this far just to arrest two-bit check chiselers.
Would we, Dick?
- I wasn't listening. - Are you listening now?
Did you ever hear of the Clutter murder case?
Can't nobody pin any murder on me. No, sir.
- The question was: Did you hear about it? - Read something about it, maybe.
You made three mistakes.
Number one: You left a witness.
A living witness, who'll testify in court.
There ain't any living witness. Can't be.
Nobody can pin any murder on me.
Saturday, November 14, you drove to Fort Scott.
You went to the post office to get the address of Perry's sister.
That's right.
Perry Smith has no sister in Fort Scott. Never has had.
On Saturday afternoon the post office in Fort Scott is always closed.
That is your second mistake.
Perry seems confused about that night.
I think it's about time we straightened him out.
Yes, sir. About time.
Look at me, boy.
On Saturday night, November 14, you were in Holcomb, Kansas.
You were killing the Clutter family.
Never.
- I never... - Never what?
I never knew anybody by that name...
...Clutter. - We've got a living witness.
Well, Perry?
Do you have any aspirin?
They took my aspirin away.
Feeling bad?
My legs do.
By the way, you know what tomorrow is?
Nancy Clutter's birthday.
She would have been 17.
You guys have gotta be stalling.
If you had any real proof... Real proof, as in eyewitness.
Fingerprints.
As God is my witness, may I burn in hell forever...
...if I ever killed anybody.
Careful, boy.
Got an aspirin?
How's it going?
Three hours and all we've got so far is:
"No. I don't remember. Ask Dick."
We've caught that hard-nosed little punk in 50 lies and he still admits nothing.
I think our boy's about primed and ready.
I hope you're right.
Why do all you people get tattooed?
"All you people"?
- What people? - Convicts. You're all tattooed.
That tiger head. What does it do? Make you feel tough?
That cop's badge, what does it do? Make you feel honest?
Everybody's got a tattoo.
Only you people call them clubs.
Elks, Masons, Boy Scouts. Salute. High sign. Low sign.
Secret this and secret that. "No trespassing. Keep off the grass."
Nice, respectable, tattoo clubs.
Poker clubs, golf clubs, tennis clubs.
Clubs for gambling and clubs for drinking.
Even a real club like Daddy-O's got in that little brown bag.
What you gonna do, pappy? Club it out of me?
Something like that.
I said you made three mistakes.
First, you left a living witness.
Second, your alibi won't hold water.
And third?
Coming up.
Footprints.
Made in the spot where Mr. Clutter was murdered.
These are the shoes that made them.
Yours.
This footprint...
...was made in Mr. Clutter's blood.
Perry's shoe.
Same cat's paw. Same size. Same blood.
All right, Dick. This time the truth.
I don't want to be charged with murder one...
...because I never pulled the trigger.
I don't even know what the goddamn hell was happening.
It was Perry. He did it.
I couldn't stop him.
He killed them all.
Are you the officer that made the arrest?
If you'd grabbed them five minutes earlier...
...before they'd picked up that box...
Just luck, I guess.
Or something.
Hickock swears that he tried to stop you.
- He was scared that you'd shoot him, too. - He said you did it. All of it.
Sure. Now you'd like me to say he did it.
He's no killer, and he knows it.
That's why he picked you. He needed a trigger.
You had nothing to lose. You'd already killed a man, in Vegas.
Beat him to death with a bicycle chain.
Tough boy. Real brass boy.
I knew if we got caught...
...if he dropped his guts, he'd tell about that guy in Vegas.
I never killed anybody.
Not before that night.
'Cause that night...
...I think...
No, I want to remember it the way it was.
We got there around midnight.
This is it.
Let's pull outta here.
Now, before it's too late.
If you're gonna do it, you'll have to do it alone.
You don't think I got the guts to do it alone.
Okay. I'll show you who's wearing the pants.
How'd you kill that guy in Vegas, anyhow? Love him to death?
Korean War hero.
Christ!
Why"d I go along with it?
When it first began...
Who knows when anything really begins?
When Dick first told me the plan it didn"t even seem real.
Then, the closer we got, the more real it became.
Like the crazy stunt had a life of its own and nothing could stop it.
Like I was reading a story...
... and I had to know what was gonna happen.
How it would end.
Wait.
If we find the safe, do you know how to open it?
I know somebody that knows.
Honey? Is that you, honey?
Who is it?
- Come with us. Now! - What?
Come with us.
In the office.
Now, sir.
Where do you keep that safe?
What safe? I don't have any safe.
Don't lie to me, you son of a bitch.
I know you got a safe. Right here. In this office.
I'm sorry, but there isn't any safe.
There never was a safe.
Any other phones?
One. In the kitchen.
Unlock this cabinet.
It's not locked.
Where is it?
Come on, move it.
All right, now. The money, dig it up.
Thirty-one lousy dollars.
A rich man like you.
You gotta have more money than this.
Not in cash. I can write you a check.
A check?
- What kind of... - Don't do that!
- There's somebody awake upstairs. - My family.
The only people upstairs...
...are my wife, my son and daughter.
Your wife, she got any money?
- Please, she's not well. - Sure. Sure, pops.
- Upstairs. - My glasses. I can't see without them.
Upstairs, upstairs.
Why do you boys want to do this?
I never harmed you.
- I never saw you before. - Shut up. We'll tell you when to talk.
It's all right, sweetheart, don't be afraid.
These men, they just want some money.
They believe we have money hidden in a safe.
- I told them we didn't, but they don't... - Didn't I tell you to shut up?
He's telling you God's truth. There isn't any safe.
I know goddamn well you got a safe. And you better tell him to find it fast!
Floyd Wells lied to you. There isn't any safe.
Tie them up.
Okay, lady. In the bathroom.
Please, don't hurt anybody.
They don't mean to hurt anyone. Isn't that right?
All they want is some money. And then they'll go away.
Please, don't hurt the children.
Good grief! What is this? Some kind of joke?
Make one move, holler once...
...and we'll cut their throats.
All right. You two, downstairs.
Dick! In here.
You. Over there.
What's this? A casket?
Hope chest.
It's a wedding present for my sister.
Not her. She's too young.
They're never too young, kid.
Pops!
You better pray I find that safe.
Kenyon?
Dad?
You're cold?
Yes.
If all you want is money, then why?
If you do that to my wife she'll panic.
My mother, please be careful. Please.
That other man, I'm afraid he'll hurt someone.
Please, he can have money, anything...
...but, please, don't let him hurt my little girl.
Don't...
You ever had a man?
Please, don't.
What's eating at you?
You find the safe?
Later.
- First I'm gonna bust that little girl. - No.
What do you care? You can bust her, too.
No.
Okay, honey.
Get the kid's radio.
And then go downstairs.
I despise people who can't control themselves.
You go to school?
The university...
...next year. To study music and art.
I play the guitar.
Draw some, too.
Only got as far as the third grade.
You like horses?
Yes.
My mother...
...was a champion rider. In the rodeo.
And my father...
My father...
What's the matter?
Us. We're the matter. We're ridiculous.
You tapping the walls for a safe that isn't there.
Tapping like some nutty woodpecker.
And me.
Crawling around the floor...
...with my legs on fire.
And all to steal a kid's silver dollar.
Ridiculous!
This is stupid!
What are you sore about? We got no beef.
It's us against them.
This is between us.
It's got nothing to do with them.
Look at me, boy! Take a good look!
I'm the last living thing you're ever gonna see.
Don't. Please, don't.
It doesn't make sense.
I mean what happened.
Or why.
It had nothing to do with the Clutters.
They never hurt me, they just happened to be there.
I thought Mr. Clutter was a very nice gentleman.
I thought so right up until the time I cut his throat.
Mercy for them.
The killers.
How fortunate that their admirable attorneys...
...were not present at the Clutter home that fateful evening.
How fortunate for them that they were not there...
...to plead mercy for the doomed family...
...because otherwise...
...we would have found their corpses, too.
If you allow them life imprisonment...
...they will be eligible for parole in seven years.
That is the law.
Gentlemen...
...four of your neighbors...
...were slaughtered like hogs in a pen...
...by them.
They did not strike in the heat of passion...
...but for money.
They did not kill in vengeance.
They planned it for money.
And how cheaply...
...those lives were bought.
$40.
$10 a life.
They drove 400 miles to come here...
...they brought their weapons with them.
This shotgun, this dagger.
This is the rope that they hogtied their victims with.
This is the blood they spilled.
Herb Clutter's.
They who had no pity, now ask for yours.
They who had no mercy, now ask for yours.
They who had no tears, now ask for yours.
If you have tears to shed, weep not for them...
...weep for their victims.
From the way the Holy Bible was quoted here today...
...you might think the word of God was written only to protect the killers.
But they didn't read you this:
Exodus 20...
...verse 13:
"Thou shalt not kill."
Or this...
...Genesis 9, verse 12:
"Who so shedeth man's blood...
"...by man shall his blood be shed."
It took four hours to pick the jury.
It took the state three days to present its case.
It took the defense one hour and a half.
It took the jury...
... 40 minutes to bring in the verdict.
They had to be crazy.
No. Maybe stupid, but perfectly sane.
How can a perfectly sane man...
... commit an absolutely crazy act?
Calling all stations, Officer Linhard...
... Officer Brackin.
Please come to the desk sergeant"s office.
Calling all stations, Officer C. Wright.
Please call the desk sergeant.
- What happens now? - They wait to die.
I wonder how many others are waiting in other prisons?
About 200.
Perry and Dick began their waiting in the "S and l" building...
... Security and Isolation.
The second floor is death row.
Through the window they can see the baseball field.
Beyond the outfield, over the wall...
... is an old warehouse with a tin roof.
This warehouse got a name?
In this prison, it's called "The Corner."
On hanging day, the men say, "He's gone to 'The Corner'."
Perry and Dick have a date at "The Corner."
One minute after midnight. May, Friday 13.
According to an expert in forensic medicine...
... neither one of them would have done it alone.
But together, they made a third personality.
That"s the one that did it.
Hey, Andy!
Does it tell anywhere in them books what happens when you make the drop?
Well, your neck breaks...
...and you crap your pants.
The trouble with you, Andy, you got no respect for human life...
...not even your own.
Doomsday, Friday 13, came and went...
... but no one went to "The Corner."
Perry and Dick appealed. Routine.
They were granted a stay of execution. Routine.
The legal machinery in capital cases usually runs a year or more. Routine.
Death row has its own routine.
Shower. One man at a time, once a week.
Shave, twice a week.
The guard locks the safety razor.
Safety first.
No radios, no movies, no TV.
No cards, no games, no exercise.
No mirrors, no bottles, no glasses.
No knives, no forks.
No suicide allowed.
They could eat, sleep...
... write, read, think, dream.
They could pray, if so inclined.
But mostly, they just waited.
The guy in the next cell, Andy. He's been waiting two years.
Newspapers call him "The nicest boy in Kansas."
One night he killed his sister.
Then he shot his mother six times and his father seventeen times.
Andy's a nut, but I like him.
Hey, Andy. Say hello to Mr. Jensen.
He's writing the story of my life.
Why?
I told you he was a nut.
Ronnie, Jim, meet Mr. Jensen.
They knocked off seven. Strangers.
Ronnie said they was better off dead.
What about Perry? Don't you get along?
Nobody can get along with him.
There's five guys waiting here for the big swing.
Little Perry's the only one yapping against capital punishment.
Don't tell me you're for it?
Hell, hanging's only getting revenge.
What's wrong with revenge?
I've been revenging myself all my life.
Sure. I'm for hanging.
Just so long as I'm not the one being hanged.
See you.
Thanks for the magazines.
Jim, you think that looks like Willie Jay?
The way you see him, yes.
That day at the bus station, when I phoned you.
If Willie Jay and I had connected, none of this would of happened.
- Maybe, if you hadn't come back to Kansas. - Maybe!
If they'd had a head-doctor here during my first stretch...
...he would've known I had a bomb ticking inside of me.
He would've known I wasn't ready for parole.
- You knew. - Yeah.
Why didn't you tell me?
Then I wouldn't have gotten my parole, would I, Reverend?
A few minutes after midnight, in November...
... one of them went to "The Corner."
The others watched him cross the ball field on his way to the gallows.
It was Andy.
"The nicest boy in Kansas."
They heard the trapdoor go.
The kept watching and waiting for 19 minutes...
... till Andy"s heart stopped beating.
For Andy, the waiting was over.
Perry and Dick waited five years.
Three times their case went to the United States Supreme Court.
My God! That harness!
Richard, this is a warrant from the Supreme Court of the State of Kansas.
"Whereas, it was by this court ordered...
"...that execution of the sentence of death by hanging of Richard Eugene Hickock...
"...imposed by the District Court of Finney County, Kansas...
"...be carried out on Wednesday, April 14, 1965.
"Commanding the warden of the Kansas State Penitentiary...
"...to carry the sentence into execution."
Where's Smith?
"Yea, let none that wait for thee be ashamed.
"Let them be ashamed which transgress without cause.
"Show me thy ways, O Lord, teach me thy paths.
"Lead me in thy truth, and teach me, for thou art the God..."
I gotta go to the toilet.
We can't remove the harness. There might not be time.
Please.
Try to control yourself.
But that's it.
When you hit the end of the rope your muscles lose control.
I'm afraid I'll mess myself.
It's nothing to be ashamed of. They all do it.
For God's sake, man!
"This is to command you, the warden of the Kansas State Penitentiary...
"...that on Wednesday, April 14, 1965...
"...between the hours of 12:01 a.m. And 2:00 a. M..."
Is he the...
How much does he get paid to hang them?
$300 a man.
Has he got a name?
"We, the people."
"...for the State of Kansas."
Anything you want to say?
Just that I hold no hard feelings.
You're sending me to a better world than this ever was.
Nice to see you.
Jim, Thoreau...
...on man and nature.
It's yours if you want it.
Dick gone?
Is his heart still beating?
- What time is it? - Take it easy, kid.
Would you like me to write your father?
I could send him one of your paintings.
Or maybe your Bronze Star.
Send him my treasure maps.
Maybe now he'll get lucky.
The Lone Wolf.
You know, there was a time once when we almost had it made.
Just the two of us.
He was in a fever about some new project up in Alaska.
A hunting lodge for tourists.
It was gonna make us a fortune better than a gold mine.
But most of all, it was gonna be something we never had before:
A real home.
We got it built, too.
Just him and me, side by side.
The day the roof was finished, he danced all over it.
I never was so happy in all my life.
It was a beautiful home.
But no tourists ever came.
Nobody.
We just lived there...
...all alone in that big, empty failure...
...till he couldn't stand the sight of me.
I think it happened...
I was eating a biscuit.
He started yelling what a greedy, selfish bastard I was.
Yelling and yelling till I grabbed his throat.
I couldn't stop myself.
He tore loose and got a gun.
He said, "Look at me, boy!
"Take a good look 'cause I'm the last living thing you're gonna see."
And he pulled the trigger.
But the gun wasn't loaded.
He began to cry.
Bawled like a kid.
I went for a long walk.
When I got back, the place was dark.
The door was locked.
All my stuff was piled outside in the snow...
...where he threw it.
I walked away and never looked back.
I guess the only thing I'm gonna miss in this world...
...is that poor old man...
...and his hopeless dreams.
I'm glad you don't hate your father anymore.
But I do.
I hate him.
And I love him.
- Coming? - What for?
What does it add up to, anyway?
Well, four innocent and two guilty people murdered.
Three families broken.
Newspapers have sold more papers.
Politicians will make more speeches.
Police and parole boards will get more blame.
More laws will be passed.
Everybody will pass the buck.
And then, next month, next year...
...the same thing will happen again.
Well, maybe this will help to stop it.
Never has.
This is a warrant from the Supreme Court of the State of Kansas.
"It was by the court ordered that execution of the sentence of death by hanging...
"...of Perry Edward Smith...
"...imposed by the District Court of Finney County, Kansas...
"...be carried out on Wednesday, April 14, 1965."
Anything you want to say?
I think maybe...
...l'd like to apologize.
But who to?
"The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want...
"...he maketh me to lie down in green pastures.
"He leadeth me beside the still waters...
"...he restoreth my soul.
"He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death...
"...I will fear no evil...
"...for thou art with me...
"...thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.
"Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies...
"...thou anointest my head with oil..."
Is God in this place, too?
"...my cup runneth over.
"Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life...
"...and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever."