The Leopard Man (1943) Movie Script
May sound like music to her. I can
do better with my teeth and a cold shower.
Oh, she's a local.
When the dudes come out to New Mexico,
they want to wallow in Latin glamour.
- This is a bad town for blonds.
- Yes, so I've noticed.
Jerry's noticed.
He'll come up with something.
- You think he's sort of nice, don't you?
- Why not?
He's a good press agent.
- And a good friend.
- You're lucky.
Wish he'd front-page for me.
I don't mean this personally,
Miss Walker, but it's ironic.
I mean, about you being a big star...
...and me being just a cigarette girl.
- I know, I know.
You've got the talent, I got the breaks.
I hear it in every nightclub.
- Get him out of here!
- Kiki.
- Nothing to be afraid of.
- Makes no difference. Get him out.
- Don't you wanna guess what I cooked up?
- That's easy. Me.
I thought, "Is Kiki just gonna walk
out there tonight...
...walk out cold,
in front of a bunch of gawks...
...that think a Spanish twirler
is the greatest thing in life?
No, sir. Not my client.
She's gonna make an entrance this town
will remember for the rest of their lives."
On his back, I suppose.
No, I thought that would be corny.
I want you to lead him in on the leash.
- You're too good to me.
- You know what's between us.
Why, we're a thing. But this is serious.
Big competition.
Clo-Clo?
I thought you might like to strut
the kitten in right in the middle of her act.
Come on down. See what a picture
you'd make with this for a pet.
If you've got cold feet,
I'll take over for you.
That red dress of yours
fits me just perfect.
I'll bet someday you try on my coffin.
And I hope it fits you just perfect.
You look awful good
in that three-alarm number.
Red dress?
No.
The black one.
Then I'll be just like him.
Don't just stand there, Kiki.
You're on-stage.
They're all looking at you.
No leopard, chief.
No cats, no kittens, nothing.
We have to tackle the houses.
Hey, mister. Remember what you said.
Ten bucks for the loan of my cat,
225 if anything happened to it.
Nothing has happened to it.
It's up that alley and can't get out.
- They'll find it.
- You don't get the idea, mister.
These cops, banging those pans,
flashing those lights...
...they're gonna scare that poor cat
of mine. Cats are funny, mister.
They don't want to hurt you.
But if you scare them, they go crazy.
These cops, they don't know
what they're doing.
Maybe Mr. Manning
would like to help me.
- I don't need a leopard, I have talent.
- There's enough cat in...
Good night, Mr. Publicity Man.
Why are you hurrying, Clo-Clo?
- Oh, it's you, faker.
- Take a card, Clo-Clo.
See what the night holds for you.
Your cards are a joke.
- I wouldn't give you one centavo.
- One card, Clo-Clo...
...for nothing.
Faker.
Hello, Shorty.
- Hello, chiquita.
- Hello, Clo-Clo.
But, Mamacita, why can't Pedro
go this time? I'm so tired.
I'm too young.
If your father comes home
and there are no tortillas, he'll shout.
Tomorrow it will be over town
that Juan Delgado's family...
...is too poor to buy cornmeal.
- I know what she's afraid of.
This.
- And what, por todos los santos, is this?
- The leopard, Mamacita.
They say a lady at the El Pueblo
had it on a string, and it ran away.
- It hasn't been found yet.
- A leopard.
They're big. And they jump on you.
Did you ever meet one of those things yet
when you went to the store for me?
Then you won't meet one this time either.
Now get out. Do as I told you.
Now, you will not come in again.
Not till you bring the cornmeal with you.
Seora. Seora Calderon.
- It is Teresa, seora. Teresa Delgado.
- The store is closed.
I want a sack of cornmeal
for my father's supper.
- Tomorrow.
- It will only take a second.
Please, or I must go clear across
the arroyo to the big grocery.
It means taking off the lock again,
putting on the light, measuring the meal.
It's too much trouble.
Once I close, I close.
Seora.
Thank you.
Oh, the toy birds.
You've seen them before. I couldn't chase
you away when you were a little girl.
I'd forgotten them.
Every day you see them,
and you'd forgotten them?
Oh, now I remember my little Teresita.
Now I remember the little girl
who was afraid of the dark.
- Shouldn't send you.
- I'm not afraid.
What could happen to me?
I'll pay you tomorrow.
Next time you come.
The poor don't cheat one another.
We're all poor together.
Mamacita, let me in!
Let me in! Let me in!
If you love me, let me in!
"Mamacita, let me in, now that I've
spent half the night getting the cornmeal."
He's coming! He's coming closer!
I can see it!
Just what she needs. Someone to nip
at her heels and hurry her up.
Wait, Teresa. I come. I will let you in!
Only a moment, querida!
Your mother is here.
Your mother will let you in.
This evidence having been presented
before me on this, the 10th day of April...
...I hereby declare that
Teresa Guadalupe Maria Delgado...
...was brought to her death by violence
resulting from the release of a wild animal.
A leopard purportedly
on theatrical exhibition in this city.
Death by accident.
Sister, I want the family to have this.
It might help with the funeral expenses.
It's all right, my friends.
It is the will of God.
Supposing I slip them a few bucks,
help with the funeral expenses.
Don't be soft.
An unfortunate accident.
Nobody blames you, Mr. Manning.
You mustn't feel bad.
Would you sign here, please?
You can go now, Manning. There's no way
they can hold you legally responsible.
Thanks, sheriff.
Oh, that...
That leopard's got to be found.
I'm forming a posse.
I can use some help.
I haven't done posse work
since my matinee-kid days...
...when I rode with Tom Mix
at the old Bijou Theatre.
- Go on foot.
- I'm sorry, sheriff...
...but I'm literally and figuratively
a tenderfoot.
I suppose he was trying
to make me feel bad.
I suppose you don't feel bad.
- Who was that man?
- Oh, I don't know. A witness.
Seemed to know something about animals.
You know, expert testimony.
Did he have to look at the body?
We all had to look at the body.
It was awful, Kiki.
Excuse us, please.
- That card again?
- I made a mistake.
It was a misdeal. I'll try once more.
It's a black card and a bad card.
But not the card of the cat.
Not the card of four-footed things.
I saw Teresa.
Maybe I was the last one
to see her, except...
...perhaps her mamacita
and her little brother.
- I was going past the house...
- They were hunting the leopard again.
Out in the country this time,
but they didn't get him.
They're such fools.
Why don't they let Charlie How-Come
hunt it? He's an Indian.
Men are all fools.
They like to make a big show...
...hunt and shout.
That bad card again?
What did they say before
the bad card came up?
"You'll meet a rich man
and he will give you money."
You and your cards.
Meet a rich man.
I look for them with money.
And what rich man hasn't money?
For what was I born
if it wasn't for money?
- You're not telling me anything.
- Watch and see.
A day or a week, certainly in a month,
you'll have money from a man.
And then you...
And then what?
I'll have to deal the cards again.
I made a mistake.
You and your mistakes.
Get out. I have to get dressed
for the supper show.
And I don't want you around here
putting the evil eye on me.
- You decent?
- Yes. Come in.
Well, does everybody love us?
You've been gone long enough
to soft-soap 20 city editors.
Yeah.
Did you get the leopard?
Maybe it's the altitude, you chasing around
with a bunch of boots-and-saddle boys.
Whole town's in a state, Kiki.
Locked doors, people huddled together
like scared sheep...
...nobody on the streets.
Our first real break, and we throw
wild animals at the audience.
Yeah.
Oh, let's forget it.
I'm buying a drink for a fellow
that was on the posse with me.
Nice guy. Come along.
He'll get a kick out of meeting you.
Who is he?
You remember him from this morning.
Galbraith.
Just about got time to make it
before the supper show.
Jack rabbits, mesquite and sagebrush.
Sagebrush, mesquite and jack rabbits.
Thrills and excitement all the way.
Not a sign of the leopard?
Jerry tells me you're an expert with
animals. Couldn't you tell where it went?
To know where it went, you'd have
to be a leopard and think like a leopard.
You can hardly describe me
as an expert in hunting lost leopards.
I used to teach zoology in
a little freshwater college back East.
- I gave that up.
- What do you do now?
There's a little museum here in town.
They hired me to run it.
We have some interesting exhibits
in Indian arts and crafts.
It's fun. I like living
here in New Mexico.
- But why did you give up teaching?
- Various reasons.
But I don't see why you should be
interested in my rather dusty career...
...teacher, curator...
...when you lead such a gay
and exciting life yourself.
- Show business?
- Yes. It's always fascinated me.
You know, once, when I was a youngster,
I went to see Mrs. Leslie Carter in Zaza.
After the play, I stood in the alley
just to watch her come out.
So you can see, meeting you
is a real thrill for me.
Well, I'm hardly Mrs. Leslie Carter,
whoever she was.
In fact, I'm not even much
of a success around here.
Particularly after the backfire on Jerry's
publicity stunt with the leopard.
- Yes, that was unfortunate.
- That was a calamity.
Look.
Well, I'm on next.
You won't hear anything like that.
I'm not a favorite
since I let that leopard loose.
If you're as talented as you're beautiful,
you have nothing to worry about.
Thank you.
Well, I'd best be off.
Oh, say...
...there's something I want to ask you.
It's about the leopard.
Are you worrying about
its killing someone else?
Not me. I'm not worried about anything.
Then why did you come on the posse
this morning? You've got strange notions.
Why do you feel you must
seem hard and disinterested?
This morning I heard you tell Robles
you didn't wanna come, yet you came.
That wasn't easy
for a tenderfoot like you.
Listen, Galbraith. Where I was brought up,
you had to be tough.
It was a tough neighborhood.
I learned it didn't pay to let anybody
know how you feel or really think.
All right, all right.
So I feel rotten nervous.
I wanna go out. Be every place at once.
Be sure that that cat...
...doesn't hurt anyone else.
- It's a wild animal.
Do you think a wild animal
prefers walls, streets and people...
...when it can get into open country?
- Sure, sure. That's right, isn't it?
Don't feel so concerned, Jerry.
I've learned one thing about life.
We're a good deal like that ball
dancing on the fountain.
We know as little about the forces
that move us...
...and move the world around us,
as that empty ball does...
...about the water that pushes it into
the air, lets it fall, and catches it again.
You shouldn't feel too bad
about Teresa Delgado.
Roses are like children.
Some have short legs...
...some have long ones. Thank you.
You can't sell it. It's a day old.
But my stomach is not a day old.
If I don't sell flowers...
...I don't eat. And I love to eat.
- I'll tell everyone you gave it to me.
- That'll be good for your business.
- Yes, but bad for my wife.
Thank you.
My mistress, Seorita Consuelo Contreras,
does not have to beg for flowers.
- She won't miss one.
- Thank your seorita for me.
It will spoil the birthday song, Rosita,
if we wake her too soon.
Good morning on your birthday,
Seorita Consuelo.
It is a good morning, nia.
See how the sun is shining for you.
What a lovely way to wake up.
It's so beautiful, Cousin Felipe.
Thank you for buying it.
How carefully you must have
picked it out.
Had you forgotten
it was your birthday?
- I believe you had.
- No.
I'm so happy, so happy.
Rosita.
Hurry now, my sweet.
Or we'll be late for Mass.
Quick, give it to me.
He'll be waiting.
You must say that you want to take
some roses to your father's grave.
At 4. He'll be there at 4.
The time will never pass.
Aren't you afraid you'll have
a headache, working so long?
If we don't work on these, they'll
never get done. And you'll be a poor bride.
It is late, isn't it? Too late, I'm afraid,
for you to go the cemetery today.
Oh, no. I must go to the cemetery.
It's my birthday.
I did not come into this world
a middle-aged widow, Consuelita.
Everything you think,
everything you do...
...I thought and did before you.
And my mother before me.
You are so young.
I don't want you to look back on anything
lacking in dignity a few years from now.
Naturally, young men
will be attracted to you.
They should come here
to your house.
They should be introduced to you
by their parents.
Or by your cousin Felipe.
Or by some older relative.
Very well. Get Rosita and go.
Oh, Mama. I'll hurry. I'll be right back.
- I will see you back at the house, seorita.
- You're late this evening, seorita.
I have brought flowers for my father's
grave. It will only take a moment.
Time is strange. A moment can be
as short as a breath or as long as eternity.
Don't linger.
The gates are locked at 6.
You must forgive me, Father,
for deceiving Mother.
She will meet Raoul soon and everything
will be as you would wish. I promise.
Raoul.
Raoul.
Let me out.
Let me out!
Wait.
Wait!
- Hello. Who's there?
- Here. I'm in here behind the wall.
Please get me out.
I've been locked in.
You wait there and I'll get someone
to lend me a ladder.
No, don't leave me! Don't go away.
You're all right now.
It's just a matter of a few minutes.
- You'll come back?
- Stay just where you are.
I'll be back before you know it.
Why?
Why?
Her boyfriend.
Take him out of here and give him
something to keep him quiet.
The leopard again.
- Any witnesses?
- Only secondary witnesses.
The man that was coming to help her out.
The man he borrowed the ladder from.
They found the body.
And the gatekeeper.
I warned her. I told her
the gates would be closed.
It's all right, my friend.
It wasn't your fault, we know.
Anything else? Clues?
It's the leopard, all right.
A broken claw, some black hairs.
There are claw marks on the tree.
He must have made those getting out.
Notice the way they've been
dug in from above.
And these leaves on the ground.
They don't fall this time of the year.
Must have shaken down on her
when it jumped.
Doc.
- Something you said to me the other day.
- Yes?
You said that the leopard
would head for open country.
- That it wouldn't stay in the city.
- Sure. What's that got to do with this?
Why did it come here
and why didn't it stay here?
It's got trees and bushes here.
Outside, just cement and asphalt.
Jerry, I talked to you about the habits
of an ordinary wild leopard.
This leopard's another matter.
A caged animal traveling around with
Charlie How-Come for years and years.
- That's why it kills human beings.
- Why?
It doesn't know how to hunt
its natural prey.
Yes, but it doesn't...
- Doesn't eat what it kills.
- Caged animals are unpredictable.
They're like frustrated human beings.
I can't answer your question.
That's why it just mauls
and tears them.
There's something wrong
with this whole setup.
Yes, there is something wrong.
People who want publicity
and don't mind how they get it.
What risks they make other people run.
What agony and sorrow...
...they bring to other people.
- I know all that, chief.
I don't like it any better than you.
But there's something else.
- Now, look, Jerry...
- Just a minute. Let him go on.
I can understand how the cat could kill
the first girl. Charlie How-Come told me.
All that noise and those lights.
Scared crazy, it would do anything.
But there was nothing
to frighten it here.
Nothing but a little girl
in a cemetery.
What are you getting at?
Nothing much. Only that it might
not be a cat this time.
Here, I can sell you
the secret of the cat's strength.
The cat's vitality for only $ 1.
One dollar.
One dollar.
I can't make a buck
without my leopard, Mr. Manning.
You'll have to find my cat or pay up.
Well, don't get excited, Charlie.
Have a little patience.
I'll fix everything for you.
You don't want that cat.
It's killed two people.
No, sir.
You mean that girl in the cemetery?
My cat didn't kill that girl. I told you before,
cats don't go looking for trouble.
If that cat's alive, he's probably
out in the country...
...hiding under a bush,
starving to death.
- Oh, you really think so, Charlie?
- Sure.
That cat ain't mean.
For six years, I feed him
out of my own hand.
Why don't he kill me?
At night, in the truck,
I let him out of the cage.
When I'm falling asleep,
I hear him walking back and forth.
I go to sleep.
He don't hurt me.
They all say your cat
killed that second girl.
They don't say it to me.
I'd like one of them
to say it to you, Charlie.
I'd like to have you hear
his side of it, his reasons.
- You wanna hear them?
- Sure.
- Get in the truck.
- Where is this man?
Up at the museum.
- Hello.
- Hello.
- You know Charlie How-Come.
- We were old friends.
- Come to look around?
- More or less.
Take you about.
Got some nice things.
Charlie and I were talking.
That's why I wanted see you.
- About Charlie's leopard?
- Yes.
Here's something
should interest you, Charlie.
A stone leopard head made by
your ancestors some 600 years ago.
They used it in ceremonies.
The jaguar, in fact
all the cat family...
...were considered the personification
of force and violence...
...in their religious rights.
- Don't look like a leopard to me.
He doesn't think his leopard
killed the girl in the cemetery.
- Charlie likes his leopard.
- I like my leopard.
He was quick to admit
that it killed the first girl.
Charlie, why do you think your cat
didn't kill the Contreras girl?
Not scared enough.
You know, nothing to scare it.
- If a leopard didn't do it, what did?
- It might be a man.
Yes, it might be.
But why would a man do it?
For what?
It wasn't robbery. It wasn't a crime
of jealousy or passion.
- She had no enemies.
- Yeah, well, there's all sorts of men.
I've met some pretty funny ones
in bars and nightclubs.
Oh, I understand what you mean.
Demented men, pathological cases.
What sort of man would kill like a leopard
and leave traces of a leopard?
- Crazy guy.
- But he'd have to know about leopards...
...have access to leopard claws
and hair.
Well, this is our latest find.
We'd given up digging
in a certain barrow.
I went back and tried it again.
Just had a hunch.
A hunch.
That's all I've got in this leopard thing.
Just a hunch.
It was a man.
- But what sort of a man?
- I don't know.
You, Charlie,
you know about leopards.
You might have an old claw and perhaps
a bit of hair from the cage, eh?
- Sure.
- No, I'm serious about this.
Oh, I'm only exploring your theory.
Let's take a step further.
- You drink, don't you, Charlie?
- Yeah, I drink.
- And when you drink, you get drunk?
- Sure.
Then what do you do?
I sleep it off.
But between the time
you leave the cantina...
...and fall into bed in that truck
of yours, what happens, Charlie?
I don't know.
That's just it. That's what I'm driving at.
You could do anything in that time.
- But Charlie wasn't drunk last night.
- Yes.
- I was drunk last night, Mr. Manning.
- See? There's a suspect for you, Jerry.
Come on, Charlie.
We'll find another and better suspect.
- Don't you wanna see the rest?
- Some other time.
I'm sick.
Here, Charlie. Have a cigarette.
He was only kidding.
No, he wasn't kidding.
I'm sick.
Claw women?
Hurt little girls?
No.
I don't know.
- I want to see Robles.
- What do you want to see him for?
I want him to lock me up.
You didn't do it.
You know you didn't do it.
I don't know.
I want him to lock me up.
This is crazy, Charlie.
You know you didn't do it.
You better lock me up.
I've been trying to tell him.
But he won't listen to me.
Wait a minute.
Let me get one thing clear.
Did Galbraith make
a direct accusation?
No.
- No, he was kidding him.
- You better lock me up.
If I do things like that,
I want to be put away.
- I don't want to hurt nobody. Nobody.
- That's okay, Charlie.
If it'll make you feel any better, I'll put
you away for a few days. Come on, son.
Two men for one beat?
Afraid of the big cat, eh?
Sure. I've got a family.
- Hello.
- Well, hello there.
- It's been a half-hour since we ordered.
- Let's have a drink while we wait.
Don't bother. I don't want one.
- Do you, Dwight?
- No. No, thank you.
- Want to dance, Helene?
- I suppose so.
Dwight.
- Well, hello.
- We seem to be playing tag.
- Or maybe hide-and-seek, huh?
- Is someone with you?
- Can I get you a drink?
- Sure, why not?
Just a minute.
You've ordered this like a sensible girl,
but you don't have to drink it.
Do you want it?
Or do you want another beer?
Two beers. Big ones.
It's taken this impossible trip to show me
what an old fool Father has become.
When you marry champagne,
you can't trade it in for beer.
- You're stuck with it.
- I don't understand that fancy talk.
You mean I'm a gold digger?
Sure, I'm a gold digger. Why not?
Why not, if you like it?
If that's what you want.
Maybe you think I should
just forget all about money.
Forget about Mama and the kids
and the unpaid bills and the rent...
...and marry some poor dope
like Carlos Dominguez and get fat.
- Who's Carlos Don-What's-His-Name?
- Nobody.
- Boy who works in a grocery.
- Good-looking?
- Yeah.
- Nice fellow?
- Is he in love with you?
- I don't know.
Why do you ask so many questions?
What difference does it make
how Carlos and I feel?
Feelings don't buy houses
and pay for rent and help bring up kids...
...and get clothes for them...
- Drink your beer. Don't get so excited.
Well...
- Madam will be waiting at the entrance.
- Madam will be waiting.
Madam ought to go on waiting.
To have such a father
and treat him like...
Like a poor cousin.
- For Mama and the kids.
- What about me?
Oh, you'll get your money
from your husband.
- Husband?
- Carlos What's-His-Name.
The boy at the grocery.
Well, did he give you a lot of money?
- Who?
- The elderly man I told you about.
He was old enough,
but you slipped up on the money.
Try it again, why don't you?
Put your wish in them.
- Money?
- Maybe a honeymoon.
- Cut.
- What are you doing that for?
Again.
Something black.
- Something on its way to you.
- Go on.
Let me see it.
Don't look at that.
Let me see it.
- Death card.
- Maybe not.
Cards mean different things
at different times.
Walk a little way with me, huh?
Well...
...see you tomorrow.
- Tomorrow.
Hey, chiquita.
Want a lift?
- What way are you going?
- Your way.
- What's the matter?
- Your car.
What color is it?
- Black.
- Get out of here.
- Get away from me with that!
- What do you mean, "that"?
Pepita.
Pepita.
Tomorrow I'm going to buy you the most
beautiful dress in the whole world.
You don't believe me, do you?
Wait until you see what I have.
Then you'll believe me.
Is that you, Gabriella?
What are you doing?
Have you lost something?
Yes. Money.
I must have lost it in the street.
Are you going out again?
Why don't you stay at home and rest.
Gabriella.
Carlos.
- You sent for the state hunters?
- I wired for them this morning.
- State hunters?
- Professional hunters.
- They rid the state of cougars.
- You still think it was the leopard.
Anything in Clo-Clo's death
to suggest it wasn't the leopard?
- Yes. The lipstick.
- Why?
Well, ask Kiki. Ask any woman.
Girls don't put on lipstick at night...
...on a dark, lonely street unless they're
with a man, or gonna meet a man.
Just the same,
I'm gonna use the state hunters.
Come on, Charlie.
Give you a lift back to town.
Now I know I didn't hurt anybody
when I was drunk.
Of course not, Charlie.
I never thought you did.
You know a lot, taken a lot of fancy
college courses and that kind of stuff.
If it were a man, what kind of a man
would kill like that?
All those fancy courses
were about the dead, not the living.
All right, the dead then.
In history, there must have been
men like that.
- Men with kinks in their brains.
- There've been men who killed for pleasure.
Strange pleasure.
There was Bluebeard in France,
Jack the Ripper in London.
It's not uncommon.
And if there were a man like that, with
a kink in his brain, running around loose...
...what would he be like?
He'd be a hard man to find, Jerry.
Particularly if he were a clever man.
He'd go about his ordinary business
calmly.
Except when the fit to kill
was on him.
You've thought about all this before.
You know it isn't the leopard,
don't you?
There you are.
Here's luck to you both in Chicago.
Must be great to be getting out of here,
going to a real city.
It's a pretty good feeling.
This place closing for the weekend...
...will give us a couple days to rest.
- I can use them.
What is this processionist business?
Do they close the caf every year for it?
It's the big ceremony around here.
We have it every year.
All the cafs and saloons close.
- Why don't you stay over for it?
- All I want to do is get to Chicago.
Are you lucky, you two.
The big buses go by my house.
At night, I can hear the sound
of their tires on the road.
Like someone humming.
I think of Chicago and New York...
...being somebody,
being a real entertainer.
Don't worry, kid. You'll get there.
These for Seorita Kiki.
They've called your cab.
Here we go.
- That was nice of Mr. Galbraith.
- He's a nice guy.
- We ought to keep in touch with him.
- Pretty.
You know, it's funny. Flowers
only mean one thing to me now.
- I know. Funerals.
- Yes.
Jerry.
These flowers weren't really
meant for me.
You mean you want
to take them by the cemetery?
Yes. Do you mind?
And she waited here for him?
Robles says it happened
something like that.
Belmonte waited here for her
and then he left.
She missed him by just a few minutes.
What do you suppose
she thought about in here alone?
Such a sad little place.
What do you want to stay here for?
Lt'll make you feel badly.
- Maybe I want to feel badly.
- That doesn't make sense.
Maybe I'm tired of pretending
that nothing bothers me.
That all I care about is myself.
- Myself and my 2-by-4 career.
- What else do you care about, Kicks?
You. Us.
I'm glad you care about us, Kicks.
Sometimes those things get lost.
We've been so busy
trying to be tough guys.
Confession.
I'm a complete softie.
I've been conscience-stricken and
worried sick since that leopard got loose.
If that's what it takes to make a softie,
there's two of us.
Kiki...
...it wasn't the leopard.
- Well, you're positive of that, aren't you?
- I'm absolutely sure.
We're not going to catch a train. We're
gonna stay here and catch a murderer.
You don't mind staying?
You know the answer to that. I want
this town to be safe and happy again.
I'm not much of a detective.
I don't know how to start.
All I know is I wanna do
something about all this.
Oh, and, Kiki, I'm out of cash.
You'll have to loan me a little dough.
Didn't you take your cut
out of the check?
Yeah, sure. But, well, I got clipped
in a crap game.
That's funny. I never knew you
to lose that much before.
- In fact, I'm out of cash myself.
- Oh, but you can't be.
I bought some silver jewelry
and stuff from Eloise, and...
Eloise hasn't got enough of anything
to make a dent in your paycheck.
All right. I'm not ashamed of it.
I split it two ways and...
Half to the Delgado family
and half to Clo-Clo's family.
How did you know?
Why, you did the same thing yourself.
- Must get lonely here.
- No.
I have many friends.
But they don't bother me with talk.
I guess that'll hold you.
Two hundred twenty-five dollar
you owe me.
- You found the leopard?
- What's left of him.
- Where did you find him?
- North, in an arroyo.
Shot through the head.
Maybe a week ago. No good.
Skin, everything gone.
What arroyo, Charlie?
How do you get to it?
Well, you go...
And here is Three Tree Mesa.
And here I go out of the big arroyo
into the canyon.
That's the place. I remember.
My feet were so sore I couldn't make it...
...but Galbraith went on up by himself.
- Just a moment.
Miss Walker, will you please sit
alongside of me?
- You see, I can't stand, so you must sit.
- Thank you very much, but...
- Don't you understand?
- You think Galbraith found the leopard...
...the day he went on the posse.
- I'm sure of it.
Isn't that beautiful?
There's no one in the whole state
like this fellow.
- He's a genius in his own line.
- Galbraith knows something.
- He's as good as said so.
- Now, look...
...l'm not interested in what somebody
thinks that somebody else thinks.
You bring me some facts,
and I'll act upon them.
- The leopard in the bag is a fact.
- It is.
I'm taking it to headquarters
for examination.
But you won't go
to Galbraith with me?
Offend a good citizen and involve
the department in a slander suit? Oh, no.
I'm in office to protect the taxpayers'
money, not to throw it away.
Here you are, son. Thank you.
Come on, Charlie.
Now we'll have to do it ourselves.
We will.
A lovely face and a tender smile.
That's what you see
in the photograph, isn't it?
A smear of blood and torn rags
in a huddle on the ground.
- That's what I see.
- I know. I was there.
You're not here at night when she calls out.
I hear her screaming, "Raoul, get me out!"
Take it easy, boy.
I want to talk to you.
Maybe there's something I can do.
- Have a drink.
- No.
That's no good for you.
You've got to kick, fight with something
to get it out of your system.
In Consuelo's case,
there was nothing to fight.
Nothing except fate
and a dumb brute animal.
But I've got something to tell you
that will change all that.
It wasn't an animal. It was a man.
A man.
- Who?
- I don't know.
And I need your help to find out.
- Oh, Mr. Galbraith. I'm so glad you're here.
- Oh, good evening.
You know what this procession's
all about.
I've lived here all my life, but I don't
know what the procession means.
It's to remind people of the great tragedy
that took place here.
So they won't ever forget
that a peaceful village of Indians...
...was wiped out by the Conquistadores
back in the 17th century.
A band of monks buried the dead, prayed
for them, and did penance for their deaths.
- That's what this is supposed to be.
- Oh, that's very interesting.
Now that you've had your history lesson,
I'll get on to the museum.
Well, thank you.
Help.
Help.
Get me out.
I've disturbed you. I'm sorry.
Miss Walker, I didn't expect anyone.
I came up on the spur of the moment.
I wanted to see the processions.
I remembered your kind invitations.
Of course. Only I'm afraid
you'll be cheated.
There isn't much of a view
of the procession from here.
- I thought they came right past here.
- They do.
But there are no lights out there.
They'll just be shadows.
It's not so terribly dark out.
If we turn off the lights,
we can see them.
- No use turning them off till they get here.
- But they're coming. Listen.
Hear them?
Turn off the lights.
Wait.
No, really, I can see them.
They're coming now.
Turn off the lights.
Raoul, don't. Put that gun away.
Kiki.
It's all right. I'm not hurt.
- It was you, Galbraith.
- No.
- It was you.
- No, I tell you. No.
You killed the leopard. We know that.
You killed Consuelo.
- You killed Clo-Clo. Then tonight...
- I didn't do anything.
She screamed.
Something frightened her.
Consuelo screamed too.
So did Clo-Clo. Why did you do it?
- Tell me why.
- Why do you accuse me?
You don't know what you're doing.
You don't understand.
Nobody understands.
You don't know what it means
to be tormented this way.
- Tormented? Why?
- I couldn't rest. I couldn't sleep.
All I could see was
Teresa Delgado's body.
Broken, mangled.
I saw it day and night.
It was waiting everywhere I turned.
- And then you found the leopard.
- I didn't want to kill.
But I had to.
I heard the little girl in the cemetery
talking to the man in the auto.
When he went away...
...I thought I was going to help her
get over the wall.
I can't remember.
I looked down.
In the darkness, I saw her white face.
The eyes full of fear.
Fear. That was it.
The little frail body...
...the soft skin.
And then...
...she screamed.
Consuelo.
It's a serious charge, Belmonte.
You'll have to stand trial for murder.
We stood here once before.
I know.
Teresa.
I hated you that day.
You and your flip talk.
- That little girl lying dead.
- I know.
How do you think I felt
when you told me not to be soft?
Oh, Jerry, I want you to be soft.
You are soft inside, where it counts.
I wanted it that day too...
...but I didn't dare tell you.
- Kiki...
...Galbraith said something to me,
something that you ought to know.
We were talking, and he said that
people were like that ball...
...in the fountain at the hotel.
That they get pushed around by things
bigger than themselves.
That's the way it was with us.
Only we were too small
to see it that way.
do better with my teeth and a cold shower.
Oh, she's a local.
When the dudes come out to New Mexico,
they want to wallow in Latin glamour.
- This is a bad town for blonds.
- Yes, so I've noticed.
Jerry's noticed.
He'll come up with something.
- You think he's sort of nice, don't you?
- Why not?
He's a good press agent.
- And a good friend.
- You're lucky.
Wish he'd front-page for me.
I don't mean this personally,
Miss Walker, but it's ironic.
I mean, about you being a big star...
...and me being just a cigarette girl.
- I know, I know.
You've got the talent, I got the breaks.
I hear it in every nightclub.
- Get him out of here!
- Kiki.
- Nothing to be afraid of.
- Makes no difference. Get him out.
- Don't you wanna guess what I cooked up?
- That's easy. Me.
I thought, "Is Kiki just gonna walk
out there tonight...
...walk out cold,
in front of a bunch of gawks...
...that think a Spanish twirler
is the greatest thing in life?
No, sir. Not my client.
She's gonna make an entrance this town
will remember for the rest of their lives."
On his back, I suppose.
No, I thought that would be corny.
I want you to lead him in on the leash.
- You're too good to me.
- You know what's between us.
Why, we're a thing. But this is serious.
Big competition.
Clo-Clo?
I thought you might like to strut
the kitten in right in the middle of her act.
Come on down. See what a picture
you'd make with this for a pet.
If you've got cold feet,
I'll take over for you.
That red dress of yours
fits me just perfect.
I'll bet someday you try on my coffin.
And I hope it fits you just perfect.
You look awful good
in that three-alarm number.
Red dress?
No.
The black one.
Then I'll be just like him.
Don't just stand there, Kiki.
You're on-stage.
They're all looking at you.
No leopard, chief.
No cats, no kittens, nothing.
We have to tackle the houses.
Hey, mister. Remember what you said.
Ten bucks for the loan of my cat,
225 if anything happened to it.
Nothing has happened to it.
It's up that alley and can't get out.
- They'll find it.
- You don't get the idea, mister.
These cops, banging those pans,
flashing those lights...
...they're gonna scare that poor cat
of mine. Cats are funny, mister.
They don't want to hurt you.
But if you scare them, they go crazy.
These cops, they don't know
what they're doing.
Maybe Mr. Manning
would like to help me.
- I don't need a leopard, I have talent.
- There's enough cat in...
Good night, Mr. Publicity Man.
Why are you hurrying, Clo-Clo?
- Oh, it's you, faker.
- Take a card, Clo-Clo.
See what the night holds for you.
Your cards are a joke.
- I wouldn't give you one centavo.
- One card, Clo-Clo...
...for nothing.
Faker.
Hello, Shorty.
- Hello, chiquita.
- Hello, Clo-Clo.
But, Mamacita, why can't Pedro
go this time? I'm so tired.
I'm too young.
If your father comes home
and there are no tortillas, he'll shout.
Tomorrow it will be over town
that Juan Delgado's family...
...is too poor to buy cornmeal.
- I know what she's afraid of.
This.
- And what, por todos los santos, is this?
- The leopard, Mamacita.
They say a lady at the El Pueblo
had it on a string, and it ran away.
- It hasn't been found yet.
- A leopard.
They're big. And they jump on you.
Did you ever meet one of those things yet
when you went to the store for me?
Then you won't meet one this time either.
Now get out. Do as I told you.
Now, you will not come in again.
Not till you bring the cornmeal with you.
Seora. Seora Calderon.
- It is Teresa, seora. Teresa Delgado.
- The store is closed.
I want a sack of cornmeal
for my father's supper.
- Tomorrow.
- It will only take a second.
Please, or I must go clear across
the arroyo to the big grocery.
It means taking off the lock again,
putting on the light, measuring the meal.
It's too much trouble.
Once I close, I close.
Seora.
Thank you.
Oh, the toy birds.
You've seen them before. I couldn't chase
you away when you were a little girl.
I'd forgotten them.
Every day you see them,
and you'd forgotten them?
Oh, now I remember my little Teresita.
Now I remember the little girl
who was afraid of the dark.
- Shouldn't send you.
- I'm not afraid.
What could happen to me?
I'll pay you tomorrow.
Next time you come.
The poor don't cheat one another.
We're all poor together.
Mamacita, let me in!
Let me in! Let me in!
If you love me, let me in!
"Mamacita, let me in, now that I've
spent half the night getting the cornmeal."
He's coming! He's coming closer!
I can see it!
Just what she needs. Someone to nip
at her heels and hurry her up.
Wait, Teresa. I come. I will let you in!
Only a moment, querida!
Your mother is here.
Your mother will let you in.
This evidence having been presented
before me on this, the 10th day of April...
...I hereby declare that
Teresa Guadalupe Maria Delgado...
...was brought to her death by violence
resulting from the release of a wild animal.
A leopard purportedly
on theatrical exhibition in this city.
Death by accident.
Sister, I want the family to have this.
It might help with the funeral expenses.
It's all right, my friends.
It is the will of God.
Supposing I slip them a few bucks,
help with the funeral expenses.
Don't be soft.
An unfortunate accident.
Nobody blames you, Mr. Manning.
You mustn't feel bad.
Would you sign here, please?
You can go now, Manning. There's no way
they can hold you legally responsible.
Thanks, sheriff.
Oh, that...
That leopard's got to be found.
I'm forming a posse.
I can use some help.
I haven't done posse work
since my matinee-kid days...
...when I rode with Tom Mix
at the old Bijou Theatre.
- Go on foot.
- I'm sorry, sheriff...
...but I'm literally and figuratively
a tenderfoot.
I suppose he was trying
to make me feel bad.
I suppose you don't feel bad.
- Who was that man?
- Oh, I don't know. A witness.
Seemed to know something about animals.
You know, expert testimony.
Did he have to look at the body?
We all had to look at the body.
It was awful, Kiki.
Excuse us, please.
- That card again?
- I made a mistake.
It was a misdeal. I'll try once more.
It's a black card and a bad card.
But not the card of the cat.
Not the card of four-footed things.
I saw Teresa.
Maybe I was the last one
to see her, except...
...perhaps her mamacita
and her little brother.
- I was going past the house...
- They were hunting the leopard again.
Out in the country this time,
but they didn't get him.
They're such fools.
Why don't they let Charlie How-Come
hunt it? He's an Indian.
Men are all fools.
They like to make a big show...
...hunt and shout.
That bad card again?
What did they say before
the bad card came up?
"You'll meet a rich man
and he will give you money."
You and your cards.
Meet a rich man.
I look for them with money.
And what rich man hasn't money?
For what was I born
if it wasn't for money?
- You're not telling me anything.
- Watch and see.
A day or a week, certainly in a month,
you'll have money from a man.
And then you...
And then what?
I'll have to deal the cards again.
I made a mistake.
You and your mistakes.
Get out. I have to get dressed
for the supper show.
And I don't want you around here
putting the evil eye on me.
- You decent?
- Yes. Come in.
Well, does everybody love us?
You've been gone long enough
to soft-soap 20 city editors.
Yeah.
Did you get the leopard?
Maybe it's the altitude, you chasing around
with a bunch of boots-and-saddle boys.
Whole town's in a state, Kiki.
Locked doors, people huddled together
like scared sheep...
...nobody on the streets.
Our first real break, and we throw
wild animals at the audience.
Yeah.
Oh, let's forget it.
I'm buying a drink for a fellow
that was on the posse with me.
Nice guy. Come along.
He'll get a kick out of meeting you.
Who is he?
You remember him from this morning.
Galbraith.
Just about got time to make it
before the supper show.
Jack rabbits, mesquite and sagebrush.
Sagebrush, mesquite and jack rabbits.
Thrills and excitement all the way.
Not a sign of the leopard?
Jerry tells me you're an expert with
animals. Couldn't you tell where it went?
To know where it went, you'd have
to be a leopard and think like a leopard.
You can hardly describe me
as an expert in hunting lost leopards.
I used to teach zoology in
a little freshwater college back East.
- I gave that up.
- What do you do now?
There's a little museum here in town.
They hired me to run it.
We have some interesting exhibits
in Indian arts and crafts.
It's fun. I like living
here in New Mexico.
- But why did you give up teaching?
- Various reasons.
But I don't see why you should be
interested in my rather dusty career...
...teacher, curator...
...when you lead such a gay
and exciting life yourself.
- Show business?
- Yes. It's always fascinated me.
You know, once, when I was a youngster,
I went to see Mrs. Leslie Carter in Zaza.
After the play, I stood in the alley
just to watch her come out.
So you can see, meeting you
is a real thrill for me.
Well, I'm hardly Mrs. Leslie Carter,
whoever she was.
In fact, I'm not even much
of a success around here.
Particularly after the backfire on Jerry's
publicity stunt with the leopard.
- Yes, that was unfortunate.
- That was a calamity.
Look.
Well, I'm on next.
You won't hear anything like that.
I'm not a favorite
since I let that leopard loose.
If you're as talented as you're beautiful,
you have nothing to worry about.
Thank you.
Well, I'd best be off.
Oh, say...
...there's something I want to ask you.
It's about the leopard.
Are you worrying about
its killing someone else?
Not me. I'm not worried about anything.
Then why did you come on the posse
this morning? You've got strange notions.
Why do you feel you must
seem hard and disinterested?
This morning I heard you tell Robles
you didn't wanna come, yet you came.
That wasn't easy
for a tenderfoot like you.
Listen, Galbraith. Where I was brought up,
you had to be tough.
It was a tough neighborhood.
I learned it didn't pay to let anybody
know how you feel or really think.
All right, all right.
So I feel rotten nervous.
I wanna go out. Be every place at once.
Be sure that that cat...
...doesn't hurt anyone else.
- It's a wild animal.
Do you think a wild animal
prefers walls, streets and people...
...when it can get into open country?
- Sure, sure. That's right, isn't it?
Don't feel so concerned, Jerry.
I've learned one thing about life.
We're a good deal like that ball
dancing on the fountain.
We know as little about the forces
that move us...
...and move the world around us,
as that empty ball does...
...about the water that pushes it into
the air, lets it fall, and catches it again.
You shouldn't feel too bad
about Teresa Delgado.
Roses are like children.
Some have short legs...
...some have long ones. Thank you.
You can't sell it. It's a day old.
But my stomach is not a day old.
If I don't sell flowers...
...I don't eat. And I love to eat.
- I'll tell everyone you gave it to me.
- That'll be good for your business.
- Yes, but bad for my wife.
Thank you.
My mistress, Seorita Consuelo Contreras,
does not have to beg for flowers.
- She won't miss one.
- Thank your seorita for me.
It will spoil the birthday song, Rosita,
if we wake her too soon.
Good morning on your birthday,
Seorita Consuelo.
It is a good morning, nia.
See how the sun is shining for you.
What a lovely way to wake up.
It's so beautiful, Cousin Felipe.
Thank you for buying it.
How carefully you must have
picked it out.
Had you forgotten
it was your birthday?
- I believe you had.
- No.
I'm so happy, so happy.
Rosita.
Hurry now, my sweet.
Or we'll be late for Mass.
Quick, give it to me.
He'll be waiting.
You must say that you want to take
some roses to your father's grave.
At 4. He'll be there at 4.
The time will never pass.
Aren't you afraid you'll have
a headache, working so long?
If we don't work on these, they'll
never get done. And you'll be a poor bride.
It is late, isn't it? Too late, I'm afraid,
for you to go the cemetery today.
Oh, no. I must go to the cemetery.
It's my birthday.
I did not come into this world
a middle-aged widow, Consuelita.
Everything you think,
everything you do...
...I thought and did before you.
And my mother before me.
You are so young.
I don't want you to look back on anything
lacking in dignity a few years from now.
Naturally, young men
will be attracted to you.
They should come here
to your house.
They should be introduced to you
by their parents.
Or by your cousin Felipe.
Or by some older relative.
Very well. Get Rosita and go.
Oh, Mama. I'll hurry. I'll be right back.
- I will see you back at the house, seorita.
- You're late this evening, seorita.
I have brought flowers for my father's
grave. It will only take a moment.
Time is strange. A moment can be
as short as a breath or as long as eternity.
Don't linger.
The gates are locked at 6.
You must forgive me, Father,
for deceiving Mother.
She will meet Raoul soon and everything
will be as you would wish. I promise.
Raoul.
Raoul.
Let me out.
Let me out!
Wait.
Wait!
- Hello. Who's there?
- Here. I'm in here behind the wall.
Please get me out.
I've been locked in.
You wait there and I'll get someone
to lend me a ladder.
No, don't leave me! Don't go away.
You're all right now.
It's just a matter of a few minutes.
- You'll come back?
- Stay just where you are.
I'll be back before you know it.
Why?
Why?
Her boyfriend.
Take him out of here and give him
something to keep him quiet.
The leopard again.
- Any witnesses?
- Only secondary witnesses.
The man that was coming to help her out.
The man he borrowed the ladder from.
They found the body.
And the gatekeeper.
I warned her. I told her
the gates would be closed.
It's all right, my friend.
It wasn't your fault, we know.
Anything else? Clues?
It's the leopard, all right.
A broken claw, some black hairs.
There are claw marks on the tree.
He must have made those getting out.
Notice the way they've been
dug in from above.
And these leaves on the ground.
They don't fall this time of the year.
Must have shaken down on her
when it jumped.
Doc.
- Something you said to me the other day.
- Yes?
You said that the leopard
would head for open country.
- That it wouldn't stay in the city.
- Sure. What's that got to do with this?
Why did it come here
and why didn't it stay here?
It's got trees and bushes here.
Outside, just cement and asphalt.
Jerry, I talked to you about the habits
of an ordinary wild leopard.
This leopard's another matter.
A caged animal traveling around with
Charlie How-Come for years and years.
- That's why it kills human beings.
- Why?
It doesn't know how to hunt
its natural prey.
Yes, but it doesn't...
- Doesn't eat what it kills.
- Caged animals are unpredictable.
They're like frustrated human beings.
I can't answer your question.
That's why it just mauls
and tears them.
There's something wrong
with this whole setup.
Yes, there is something wrong.
People who want publicity
and don't mind how they get it.
What risks they make other people run.
What agony and sorrow...
...they bring to other people.
- I know all that, chief.
I don't like it any better than you.
But there's something else.
- Now, look, Jerry...
- Just a minute. Let him go on.
I can understand how the cat could kill
the first girl. Charlie How-Come told me.
All that noise and those lights.
Scared crazy, it would do anything.
But there was nothing
to frighten it here.
Nothing but a little girl
in a cemetery.
What are you getting at?
Nothing much. Only that it might
not be a cat this time.
Here, I can sell you
the secret of the cat's strength.
The cat's vitality for only $ 1.
One dollar.
One dollar.
I can't make a buck
without my leopard, Mr. Manning.
You'll have to find my cat or pay up.
Well, don't get excited, Charlie.
Have a little patience.
I'll fix everything for you.
You don't want that cat.
It's killed two people.
No, sir.
You mean that girl in the cemetery?
My cat didn't kill that girl. I told you before,
cats don't go looking for trouble.
If that cat's alive, he's probably
out in the country...
...hiding under a bush,
starving to death.
- Oh, you really think so, Charlie?
- Sure.
That cat ain't mean.
For six years, I feed him
out of my own hand.
Why don't he kill me?
At night, in the truck,
I let him out of the cage.
When I'm falling asleep,
I hear him walking back and forth.
I go to sleep.
He don't hurt me.
They all say your cat
killed that second girl.
They don't say it to me.
I'd like one of them
to say it to you, Charlie.
I'd like to have you hear
his side of it, his reasons.
- You wanna hear them?
- Sure.
- Get in the truck.
- Where is this man?
Up at the museum.
- Hello.
- Hello.
- You know Charlie How-Come.
- We were old friends.
- Come to look around?
- More or less.
Take you about.
Got some nice things.
Charlie and I were talking.
That's why I wanted see you.
- About Charlie's leopard?
- Yes.
Here's something
should interest you, Charlie.
A stone leopard head made by
your ancestors some 600 years ago.
They used it in ceremonies.
The jaguar, in fact
all the cat family...
...were considered the personification
of force and violence...
...in their religious rights.
- Don't look like a leopard to me.
He doesn't think his leopard
killed the girl in the cemetery.
- Charlie likes his leopard.
- I like my leopard.
He was quick to admit
that it killed the first girl.
Charlie, why do you think your cat
didn't kill the Contreras girl?
Not scared enough.
You know, nothing to scare it.
- If a leopard didn't do it, what did?
- It might be a man.
Yes, it might be.
But why would a man do it?
For what?
It wasn't robbery. It wasn't a crime
of jealousy or passion.
- She had no enemies.
- Yeah, well, there's all sorts of men.
I've met some pretty funny ones
in bars and nightclubs.
Oh, I understand what you mean.
Demented men, pathological cases.
What sort of man would kill like a leopard
and leave traces of a leopard?
- Crazy guy.
- But he'd have to know about leopards...
...have access to leopard claws
and hair.
Well, this is our latest find.
We'd given up digging
in a certain barrow.
I went back and tried it again.
Just had a hunch.
A hunch.
That's all I've got in this leopard thing.
Just a hunch.
It was a man.
- But what sort of a man?
- I don't know.
You, Charlie,
you know about leopards.
You might have an old claw and perhaps
a bit of hair from the cage, eh?
- Sure.
- No, I'm serious about this.
Oh, I'm only exploring your theory.
Let's take a step further.
- You drink, don't you, Charlie?
- Yeah, I drink.
- And when you drink, you get drunk?
- Sure.
Then what do you do?
I sleep it off.
But between the time
you leave the cantina...
...and fall into bed in that truck
of yours, what happens, Charlie?
I don't know.
That's just it. That's what I'm driving at.
You could do anything in that time.
- But Charlie wasn't drunk last night.
- Yes.
- I was drunk last night, Mr. Manning.
- See? There's a suspect for you, Jerry.
Come on, Charlie.
We'll find another and better suspect.
- Don't you wanna see the rest?
- Some other time.
I'm sick.
Here, Charlie. Have a cigarette.
He was only kidding.
No, he wasn't kidding.
I'm sick.
Claw women?
Hurt little girls?
No.
I don't know.
- I want to see Robles.
- What do you want to see him for?
I want him to lock me up.
You didn't do it.
You know you didn't do it.
I don't know.
I want him to lock me up.
This is crazy, Charlie.
You know you didn't do it.
You better lock me up.
I've been trying to tell him.
But he won't listen to me.
Wait a minute.
Let me get one thing clear.
Did Galbraith make
a direct accusation?
No.
- No, he was kidding him.
- You better lock me up.
If I do things like that,
I want to be put away.
- I don't want to hurt nobody. Nobody.
- That's okay, Charlie.
If it'll make you feel any better, I'll put
you away for a few days. Come on, son.
Two men for one beat?
Afraid of the big cat, eh?
Sure. I've got a family.
- Hello.
- Well, hello there.
- It's been a half-hour since we ordered.
- Let's have a drink while we wait.
Don't bother. I don't want one.
- Do you, Dwight?
- No. No, thank you.
- Want to dance, Helene?
- I suppose so.
Dwight.
- Well, hello.
- We seem to be playing tag.
- Or maybe hide-and-seek, huh?
- Is someone with you?
- Can I get you a drink?
- Sure, why not?
Just a minute.
You've ordered this like a sensible girl,
but you don't have to drink it.
Do you want it?
Or do you want another beer?
Two beers. Big ones.
It's taken this impossible trip to show me
what an old fool Father has become.
When you marry champagne,
you can't trade it in for beer.
- You're stuck with it.
- I don't understand that fancy talk.
You mean I'm a gold digger?
Sure, I'm a gold digger. Why not?
Why not, if you like it?
If that's what you want.
Maybe you think I should
just forget all about money.
Forget about Mama and the kids
and the unpaid bills and the rent...
...and marry some poor dope
like Carlos Dominguez and get fat.
- Who's Carlos Don-What's-His-Name?
- Nobody.
- Boy who works in a grocery.
- Good-looking?
- Yeah.
- Nice fellow?
- Is he in love with you?
- I don't know.
Why do you ask so many questions?
What difference does it make
how Carlos and I feel?
Feelings don't buy houses
and pay for rent and help bring up kids...
...and get clothes for them...
- Drink your beer. Don't get so excited.
Well...
- Madam will be waiting at the entrance.
- Madam will be waiting.
Madam ought to go on waiting.
To have such a father
and treat him like...
Like a poor cousin.
- For Mama and the kids.
- What about me?
Oh, you'll get your money
from your husband.
- Husband?
- Carlos What's-His-Name.
The boy at the grocery.
Well, did he give you a lot of money?
- Who?
- The elderly man I told you about.
He was old enough,
but you slipped up on the money.
Try it again, why don't you?
Put your wish in them.
- Money?
- Maybe a honeymoon.
- Cut.
- What are you doing that for?
Again.
Something black.
- Something on its way to you.
- Go on.
Let me see it.
Don't look at that.
Let me see it.
- Death card.
- Maybe not.
Cards mean different things
at different times.
Walk a little way with me, huh?
Well...
...see you tomorrow.
- Tomorrow.
Hey, chiquita.
Want a lift?
- What way are you going?
- Your way.
- What's the matter?
- Your car.
What color is it?
- Black.
- Get out of here.
- Get away from me with that!
- What do you mean, "that"?
Pepita.
Pepita.
Tomorrow I'm going to buy you the most
beautiful dress in the whole world.
You don't believe me, do you?
Wait until you see what I have.
Then you'll believe me.
Is that you, Gabriella?
What are you doing?
Have you lost something?
Yes. Money.
I must have lost it in the street.
Are you going out again?
Why don't you stay at home and rest.
Gabriella.
Carlos.
- You sent for the state hunters?
- I wired for them this morning.
- State hunters?
- Professional hunters.
- They rid the state of cougars.
- You still think it was the leopard.
Anything in Clo-Clo's death
to suggest it wasn't the leopard?
- Yes. The lipstick.
- Why?
Well, ask Kiki. Ask any woman.
Girls don't put on lipstick at night...
...on a dark, lonely street unless they're
with a man, or gonna meet a man.
Just the same,
I'm gonna use the state hunters.
Come on, Charlie.
Give you a lift back to town.
Now I know I didn't hurt anybody
when I was drunk.
Of course not, Charlie.
I never thought you did.
You know a lot, taken a lot of fancy
college courses and that kind of stuff.
If it were a man, what kind of a man
would kill like that?
All those fancy courses
were about the dead, not the living.
All right, the dead then.
In history, there must have been
men like that.
- Men with kinks in their brains.
- There've been men who killed for pleasure.
Strange pleasure.
There was Bluebeard in France,
Jack the Ripper in London.
It's not uncommon.
And if there were a man like that, with
a kink in his brain, running around loose...
...what would he be like?
He'd be a hard man to find, Jerry.
Particularly if he were a clever man.
He'd go about his ordinary business
calmly.
Except when the fit to kill
was on him.
You've thought about all this before.
You know it isn't the leopard,
don't you?
There you are.
Here's luck to you both in Chicago.
Must be great to be getting out of here,
going to a real city.
It's a pretty good feeling.
This place closing for the weekend...
...will give us a couple days to rest.
- I can use them.
What is this processionist business?
Do they close the caf every year for it?
It's the big ceremony around here.
We have it every year.
All the cafs and saloons close.
- Why don't you stay over for it?
- All I want to do is get to Chicago.
Are you lucky, you two.
The big buses go by my house.
At night, I can hear the sound
of their tires on the road.
Like someone humming.
I think of Chicago and New York...
...being somebody,
being a real entertainer.
Don't worry, kid. You'll get there.
These for Seorita Kiki.
They've called your cab.
Here we go.
- That was nice of Mr. Galbraith.
- He's a nice guy.
- We ought to keep in touch with him.
- Pretty.
You know, it's funny. Flowers
only mean one thing to me now.
- I know. Funerals.
- Yes.
Jerry.
These flowers weren't really
meant for me.
You mean you want
to take them by the cemetery?
Yes. Do you mind?
And she waited here for him?
Robles says it happened
something like that.
Belmonte waited here for her
and then he left.
She missed him by just a few minutes.
What do you suppose
she thought about in here alone?
Such a sad little place.
What do you want to stay here for?
Lt'll make you feel badly.
- Maybe I want to feel badly.
- That doesn't make sense.
Maybe I'm tired of pretending
that nothing bothers me.
That all I care about is myself.
- Myself and my 2-by-4 career.
- What else do you care about, Kicks?
You. Us.
I'm glad you care about us, Kicks.
Sometimes those things get lost.
We've been so busy
trying to be tough guys.
Confession.
I'm a complete softie.
I've been conscience-stricken and
worried sick since that leopard got loose.
If that's what it takes to make a softie,
there's two of us.
Kiki...
...it wasn't the leopard.
- Well, you're positive of that, aren't you?
- I'm absolutely sure.
We're not going to catch a train. We're
gonna stay here and catch a murderer.
You don't mind staying?
You know the answer to that. I want
this town to be safe and happy again.
I'm not much of a detective.
I don't know how to start.
All I know is I wanna do
something about all this.
Oh, and, Kiki, I'm out of cash.
You'll have to loan me a little dough.
Didn't you take your cut
out of the check?
Yeah, sure. But, well, I got clipped
in a crap game.
That's funny. I never knew you
to lose that much before.
- In fact, I'm out of cash myself.
- Oh, but you can't be.
I bought some silver jewelry
and stuff from Eloise, and...
Eloise hasn't got enough of anything
to make a dent in your paycheck.
All right. I'm not ashamed of it.
I split it two ways and...
Half to the Delgado family
and half to Clo-Clo's family.
How did you know?
Why, you did the same thing yourself.
- Must get lonely here.
- No.
I have many friends.
But they don't bother me with talk.
I guess that'll hold you.
Two hundred twenty-five dollar
you owe me.
- You found the leopard?
- What's left of him.
- Where did you find him?
- North, in an arroyo.
Shot through the head.
Maybe a week ago. No good.
Skin, everything gone.
What arroyo, Charlie?
How do you get to it?
Well, you go...
And here is Three Tree Mesa.
And here I go out of the big arroyo
into the canyon.
That's the place. I remember.
My feet were so sore I couldn't make it...
...but Galbraith went on up by himself.
- Just a moment.
Miss Walker, will you please sit
alongside of me?
- You see, I can't stand, so you must sit.
- Thank you very much, but...
- Don't you understand?
- You think Galbraith found the leopard...
...the day he went on the posse.
- I'm sure of it.
Isn't that beautiful?
There's no one in the whole state
like this fellow.
- He's a genius in his own line.
- Galbraith knows something.
- He's as good as said so.
- Now, look...
...l'm not interested in what somebody
thinks that somebody else thinks.
You bring me some facts,
and I'll act upon them.
- The leopard in the bag is a fact.
- It is.
I'm taking it to headquarters
for examination.
But you won't go
to Galbraith with me?
Offend a good citizen and involve
the department in a slander suit? Oh, no.
I'm in office to protect the taxpayers'
money, not to throw it away.
Here you are, son. Thank you.
Come on, Charlie.
Now we'll have to do it ourselves.
We will.
A lovely face and a tender smile.
That's what you see
in the photograph, isn't it?
A smear of blood and torn rags
in a huddle on the ground.
- That's what I see.
- I know. I was there.
You're not here at night when she calls out.
I hear her screaming, "Raoul, get me out!"
Take it easy, boy.
I want to talk to you.
Maybe there's something I can do.
- Have a drink.
- No.
That's no good for you.
You've got to kick, fight with something
to get it out of your system.
In Consuelo's case,
there was nothing to fight.
Nothing except fate
and a dumb brute animal.
But I've got something to tell you
that will change all that.
It wasn't an animal. It was a man.
A man.
- Who?
- I don't know.
And I need your help to find out.
- Oh, Mr. Galbraith. I'm so glad you're here.
- Oh, good evening.
You know what this procession's
all about.
I've lived here all my life, but I don't
know what the procession means.
It's to remind people of the great tragedy
that took place here.
So they won't ever forget
that a peaceful village of Indians...
...was wiped out by the Conquistadores
back in the 17th century.
A band of monks buried the dead, prayed
for them, and did penance for their deaths.
- That's what this is supposed to be.
- Oh, that's very interesting.
Now that you've had your history lesson,
I'll get on to the museum.
Well, thank you.
Help.
Help.
Get me out.
I've disturbed you. I'm sorry.
Miss Walker, I didn't expect anyone.
I came up on the spur of the moment.
I wanted to see the processions.
I remembered your kind invitations.
Of course. Only I'm afraid
you'll be cheated.
There isn't much of a view
of the procession from here.
- I thought they came right past here.
- They do.
But there are no lights out there.
They'll just be shadows.
It's not so terribly dark out.
If we turn off the lights,
we can see them.
- No use turning them off till they get here.
- But they're coming. Listen.
Hear them?
Turn off the lights.
Wait.
No, really, I can see them.
They're coming now.
Turn off the lights.
Raoul, don't. Put that gun away.
Kiki.
It's all right. I'm not hurt.
- It was you, Galbraith.
- No.
- It was you.
- No, I tell you. No.
You killed the leopard. We know that.
You killed Consuelo.
- You killed Clo-Clo. Then tonight...
- I didn't do anything.
She screamed.
Something frightened her.
Consuelo screamed too.
So did Clo-Clo. Why did you do it?
- Tell me why.
- Why do you accuse me?
You don't know what you're doing.
You don't understand.
Nobody understands.
You don't know what it means
to be tormented this way.
- Tormented? Why?
- I couldn't rest. I couldn't sleep.
All I could see was
Teresa Delgado's body.
Broken, mangled.
I saw it day and night.
It was waiting everywhere I turned.
- And then you found the leopard.
- I didn't want to kill.
But I had to.
I heard the little girl in the cemetery
talking to the man in the auto.
When he went away...
...I thought I was going to help her
get over the wall.
I can't remember.
I looked down.
In the darkness, I saw her white face.
The eyes full of fear.
Fear. That was it.
The little frail body...
...the soft skin.
And then...
...she screamed.
Consuelo.
It's a serious charge, Belmonte.
You'll have to stand trial for murder.
We stood here once before.
I know.
Teresa.
I hated you that day.
You and your flip talk.
- That little girl lying dead.
- I know.
How do you think I felt
when you told me not to be soft?
Oh, Jerry, I want you to be soft.
You are soft inside, where it counts.
I wanted it that day too...
...but I didn't dare tell you.
- Kiki...
...Galbraith said something to me,
something that you ought to know.
We were talking, and he said that
people were like that ball...
...in the fountain at the hotel.
That they get pushed around by things
bigger than themselves.
That's the way it was with us.
Only we were too small
to see it that way.