Marlowe

MARLOWE:

How do I get in to see the manager?

Thank you.

Hello?

Who the hell are you?

Orrin Quest's mother.

Wants her little boy back.

Cop?

PHILIP MARLOWE:

Private Investigator

Hmm. I'm unhappy.

Get out more. Dance in the

streets. Take a cop to lunch.

I got friends. -You

got a master key?

Hello. Let me speak to the doctor.

Klausen.

Doctor?

The key. -I run a legit

hotel here. -Come on, the key!

All these private rooms. -You

ought to be ashamed of yourself.

Excuse me, the manager said

that Orrin Quest was here.

The manager said that

Orrin Quest was in here!

Talkie that way, ain't he?

He's still registered.

So what am I doing' here?

You ask the question.

Close the lid.

I got a permit for the gun.

Let me see it.

Let me see it!

Quest left ten days ago.

I was across the hall, in 215.

This is a better room. So

I switched. You satisfied?

I'll sleep like a lamb.

You're Hicks, right?

The register:
Grant. W. Hicks. 215.

Did Quest leave any

forwarding address?

These kids, you know.

They freak out, disappear.

You narco squad?

Thanks.

For not spitting on it!

Going up?

The little one, darling.

Don't want another big roller.

Oh my God! -Anything for me, Chuck?

She's back. The one from Kansas.

Hi. -Well?

Hold it.

Well?

What happened? I've been

waiting hours and hours.

All shadow no substance.

Not even a trace?

No satisfaction, no charge.

Dr. Lagardie's Office.

I'd like to speak to

the doctor, please.

Can I tell him

who's calling?

Tell him it's about Mr. Klausen.

Will you hold?

-Yes, I'll hold.

No wonder you haven't

found my brother.

You've been working on other cases.

That's me, just buried

alive in success.

The luxurious appointments,

executive secretary

the electronic devices?

Drink?

I don't like you, Mr. Marlowe.

The minute I walked into

this grubby little office...

I knew I should

never have hired you.

Well, there's your

retainer. All $ 55.

Now some people would keep it.

But I just get a little shaky

running around with that

much loose money in my pocket.

You didn't even really

try to find Orrin!

Doctor Lagardie. -Doc?

Just this morning a Mr. Havin

Klausen tried to talk to you...

... He got cut off?

Havin Klausen? I'm afraid I

don't know a Havin Klausen.

Then you have nothing

to fear, Doc.

Unless it was your ice pick.

Who is this? -Hicks. Grant Hicks.

A former tenant of Mr.

Klausen's rooming house.

I was just checking out

when he tried to call you.

That was before someone

mistook him for an ice block.

You might want to know

before someone wanted

... why Klausen

tried call you.

But Doc?

Don't get me wrong,

this is no shakedown.

I'm just a cat looking

for a connection.

You know.

Please feel free to consult me.

Anytime.

Goodbye. -Goodbye.

Do you mind?

Filthy habit.

My father used to smoke a pipe.

Momma never let him

smoke in the house.

The last two years, after he had the

stroke, he used to sit on the porch...

... with an empty pipe in his mouth.

Probably didn't like that, either.

We owed a lot of money.

We couldn't afford useless

things like tobacco.

Well, stick your $50 back

and forget we ever met.

Hey, the town's full of detectives.

Fine.

I used up my vacation

time looking for him.

And most of my money, too.

And I have to go back home Saturday!

I'm sure something happened!

I can feel it, Mr. Marlowe!

I found a boarding house.

He slept there ten days ago.

Now, you go home, Miss Quest.

Sooner or later he will shuck

his sandals, cut his hair. .

Ten years you won't know him

from anyone else in Kansas.

Marlowe. -Grant

Hicks, Marlowe.

You in the market

for a quick $100?

How quick? -Fifteen

minutes quick enough?

Is that panel to panel pay?

Marlowe, I'm in the Alvarado hotel.

Just five minutes

from your place.

A couple of minutes of your

time and you're home free.

Maybe -I'm in Room

22. But hurry, huh?

It's two minutes with you

where your story breaks down.

Look, I'll give you

something to hold and $100.

Tomorrow, next day, give it back.

Strictly legit. Nothing hot.

Look. Got to hang up.

I'm counting on you, Marlowe.

Get over here right now.

$50 is all I've got.

I guess not enough to

keep you interested, right?

It's not the money that

bothers me. It's ice picks.

If you won't take my

money, what will you take?

A simple goodbye.

Does it bother you if a girl

makes the first overture?

I've got a low threshold of

boredom. It usually helps.

Does it mean that you want me too?

It means, that I keep

thinking of your old man...

sitting out on a porch...

with an empty pipe.

Goodbye, Miss Quest.

But if you don't help

me find Orrin, who will?

The department of missing

persons or the FBI...

Mr. Marlowe!

Excuse me, room 22?

Who's registered, please?

Around here the concession

for transom peeking

Has been given to Oliver J. Hady.

That little concession ought

to bring a fortune at auction.

Past the stairs on your left.

Hady?

So? -I want to get a line

on one of your customers.

What name? -Could be Naster

for all I know. Room 22.

So? -He wants to see me.

Don't let me keep you.

Would you mind holding your

finger there on this thing?

Ollie, a man in my business

has enemies. You know that.

Anybody calls me to come

over, wants something done

... and neglects

to give me his name.

You think I'm wrong

to think of that?

It could be a way to get

me into a room and... zap!

Party checks out and your left

with me on the floor in 22.

Wouldn't want a case of rigor

in your hotel, would you Ollie?

Give me the box.

Will you hold this a minute?

Checked in 5:
47. One local

phone call. No Room Service.

Dr. G. W. Hamilton, El Centro.

What did he look like?

That's right, I stay out there

with a Brownie when they register.

Don't move.

A 45 I wouldn't argue, but a 32

I can get in a couple of words.

I've said them all.

Please. Don't forget you're a lady.

I like the perfume.

What is it?

BENSON's Camera Shop

Whoever did this is a performer.

Cut the spinal cord first try.

They developed the

technique in Brooklyn.

You don't say.

Sonny Steelgrave's

Boys were specialists.

You're aren't trying to

connect Steelgrave with this?

Pretty fragile, isn't it? -Yes

Anyway, he definitely wasn't

the last of the big spenders.

Fourteen dollars and

change, Seven master keys...

Maybe he thought he'd

clean out the hotel.

Eddie, do any of these

keys fit this dump?

You can unlock our doors

with your little finger.

Well, he knew

somebody was after him.

Spotted them getting close.

Calls Marlowe and offers him

$100 to safe keep something.

Is that your story, Marlowe?

That's it.

Only he hasn't got $100 on him.

Maybe he was figuring on

getting you to gamble along.

Eddie, could the desk give

us a rundown on any visitors?

You don't have to pass

the desk to go in or out.

No wonder he stayed in here.

That, and all the atmosphere.

I guess that just about does

it for the first run-through.

Oh not quite.

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