Dial 1119 Page #4

- Right.

Ulrich, here's what we're gonna do.

Gonna tie ropes around your feet

and lower you down.

When you reach that turn,

you crawl along and up to the grill.

Extra, extra. Read all about it.

A mad killer trapped.

Extra, extra.

Read all about it.

Mad killer trapped.

Extra, read all about it. Mad killer.

Those newspapers of yours.

They lied about me.

They wouldn't listen to me.

They didn't want the true story.

But this time, it will be different.

There's still time to put it on the record.

This time, you'll have to listen.

Everybody will have to listen.

I don't like it, Hank. If it goes sour,

it's liable to trigger Wyckoff into anything.

- He might blast those people.

- He's promised to blast them already.

A risk we'll have to take. So will they.

I know what you're up against.

I'm only asking you not to let urgency

motivate the wrong action.

What do you suggest?

Sit down and wait for him to come out?

I risked men's lives

getting Wyckoff alive once before.

I provided the district attorney

with plenty of evidence for a conviction.

Then you people stepped in.

You won. Wyckoff wasn't executed.

- He was put away for three years...

- He was put away for life.

For the safety of society

and for treatment.

We no longer execute the sick.

We're not in the Middle Ages.

I'm not arguing morality.

If Gunther Wyckoff had gone to the chair,

the life of one man, maybe two...

Maybe all the people in that bar

would've been spared.

Hank, listen to me for just a moment.

Wyckoff has always been unbalanced.

Most of us are, in one way or another.

But the pressures of tension

and circumstances made this boy a killer.

This is not news to me.

My examinations,

his subsequent hospital history...

...all give away the nature of his fixation.

Fighting his inability

to function normally...

...he's trying to overcome insecurity

by proving to a hostile world...

...that he's a hero.

Remember how we found his room

full of war books and all kinds of weapons?

Yeah.

But all those fancy words

don't help my problem one jugful.

I think they do.

Those war books gave me a clue

to Wyckoff's mind.

They gave me something to work on.

I'm not gonna let you go in there, John.

Hank, I can solve the problem.

If I talk to him, I'll break him down

as I've done before.

I'll shock him back to reality.

Yeah, it's a risk.

But that's my responsibility.

All right, Whitey, start him down.

Sorry, John, it's too late.

Blood, sweat, tears.

That's what the man said.

What good did it do?

We were gonna have a better world.

That's what they said during the first one.

That's what they told us this time.

But what happened to that world?

Look at the people's faces in the streets.

What do you see?

Sadness.

Sadness everywhere.

Gonna give us a break, they said.

And what kind of a break

did they give me?

I'm a good man with a gun.

Who gave it to me?

Who told me to use it?

Ever since I was a kid I believed people

should sit down and reason things out.

But they didn't want to.

They attacked us and when attacked,

you've got to hit back, kill or be killed.

I was no officer.

Get that straight right now.

Four times

they wanted to make me an officer.

Just did my job.

You think I wanted the medal?

You hear what I'm telling you?

Yeah, yeah, sure I do.

I used to think about guys like you.

Pretty soft, wasn't it?

Twenty-five yards offshore

when the shell exploded.

Four men left

when the boat hit the beach.

A lieutenant dead, not even a sergeant.

One thing I remember,

I had to get across that beach.

Sand dunes up ahead.

Not much cover but enough.

And they'd never get me!

And I saw the them.

Back off the beach.

All along the high ground.

Groups of men bringing up more guns.

I was all alone.

The ditch made a turn.

I rounded the bend.

Air support they promised us.

Strafe the beach ahead of the first wave.

Knock out the fixed emplacements.

And where are the planes?

I keep running toward them,

firing all the time.

Third man pulls the gunner's body

off the gun, whirls it towards me.

They'll never get me!

I'm Gunther Wyckoff!

I'll kill every one of them!

You did this to me.

- I knew it was wrong. I shouldn't have...

- Stop it.

I was going away with him.

That's a sin.

It's God's way of stopping us.

- Of punishing me.

Helen, cut it out.

I was lonely.

I was unhappy.

I really thought he loved me.

- He promised.

- No, I didn't.

I didn't promise a thing

and I can go back and prove it.

And you better leave God out of it too.

God's got other fish to fry besides you.

They got Ulrich out alive but he'd be lucky

if he makes it to the hospital.

Come down here right away.

We're gonna rush him.

If we can save some of those people

it's better than losing them all.

You know how that thing works?

Turn it on.

Get back over there.

How long have you been here?

- Minutes.

Then you heard the gunshot.

I didn't hear nothing.

I heard it.

You're the man I'm looking for.

Would you mind telling me your name?

Fred Backett. I'm a bookkeeper.

Mr. Backett, the police

seem to be in a bit of a dilemma.

Yeah?

- This gunman is holding five or six people.

That limits police action.

- Now, Mr...

- Are there men in there?

In the bar? Oh yes, three or four.

The police aren't quite sure.

- Why don't they rush him.

- Attack the gunman?

Well, yes. See, this man is armed

and they're not.

Well, they're four against one.

Why don't they do something?

Well, I couldn't say.

Pretty hard to tell what to do, isn't it?

Set the building on fire.

That would get them out.

Well, now, that's an idea

but we'd lose the building.

Folks, these men

who have just voiced their opinions...

...are spectators,

just as you sitting before your set...

...in your home are spectators to this

exciting spot news television broadcast...

...brought to you through the facilities

of WKYL.

We are on Spring and Second Street

where we are televising the police siege...

...of Gunther Wyckoff, the mad gunman.

And now, for the benefit of folks

who tuned in late, I should like to say...

...this is the most dramatic spectacle

I've had the fortune to witness.

And now as our cameras

cover this scene tonight...

Just a moment.

This might be interesting.

- Keep your eyes...

- Change to camera one.

That's Captain Keiver of Homicide.

At the moment,

he's talking to Police Lieutenant Tallman.

I don't seem to be able to identify the...

Who'd you say that was?

That's Dr. Faron, folks.

Yes, Dr. Faron, the police psychiatrist.

From the look on the captain's face,

I guess he could use the doctor himself.

They're gonna send Faron in.

You got your deal, now you can let us go.

We'll wait for the doctor.

I don't think any of us envy in his job.

Now that looks interesting.

Dr. Faron and the captain seem to be

in a bit of an argument.

I wish it were possible for you

to hear their conversation...

...but, of course, that's forbidden.

Well, it looks like Dr. Faron has lost

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes