This Gun for Hire

It's after 2:
00.

Can I come in now?

Hey, you in or aren't ya?

Get out!

Get out!

Keep your dirty hands off me.

Ah! You!

You and your cat!

Go on, beat it.

Look at my dress.

You oughta buy me a new

one. Beat it, I said!

Cheapskate!

Hello, mister.

Albert Baker?

Yes?

Come in, friend.

Come in.

Don't worry. My secretary.

You've, uh,

brought the money?

We're having coffee.

Try a cookie.

They're very good.

It's lucky

they sent you today.

By tonight, this would've

been on its way to Washington.

That would've been just too

bad for your boss, wouldn't it?

Especially the little,

uh, prescription?

I'm even willing to forgive your boss

that nasty little word "blackmail. "

So then, here you are and...

the money, please.

They said

he'd be alone.

Hi, mister.

Mister?

I dropped my ball.

Thanks.

It was very nicely handled,

my boy.

I compliment you.

Taught Mr. Baker

a lesson in morality, didn't you?

Ugly people, blackmailers.

Only one way to pay them off.

Won't you have a sundae? I'll

have my cut, Johnson. I'm broke.

Here's your end.

No, I'm not through with that.

Oh, lovely.

Dainty but sculptured.

I'll bet you read palms.

I'm an expert. How'd

you guess? I guessed.

Oh.

My client is most grateful.

He must have plenty

of lettuce. Who is he?

Oh, he's very shy.

I couldn't discuss him.

Say, Johnson, what is your line,

anyway? You're not a finger man.

I'm shy too.

Why, Mr. Gates!

My name is not Gates.

You mean, you're not Will

Gates of Los Angeles? I'm not.

I'm sorry.

So annoying.

Second time today.

Peppermint?

They're all 10s.

You didn't expect

a thousand ones, did you?

Don't you trust me?

Who trusts anybody?

Direct from the bank,

as I promised.

Oh, I see your point,

of course.

If the bills were bad, you couldn't very

well complain to the police, could you?

I'm my own police.

What do you mean?

What would you do?

First I'd find out who you're

stoogin' for... the shy boy.

Then I'd give him

what I gave Baker.

Don't! I...

I can't stand violence.

Then I'd whittle off

a little of that blubber.

Such a warped

sense of humor.

Oh, I forgot.

A little gift from me.

Orchestra seats

to the best show in town.

I oughta know.

It cost me plenty.

That's my one vice...

backing leg shows.

No, thanks. Go ahead, take your girl.

You... must have a girl

or a friend.

Why?

Live alone,

work alone, eh?

Raven,

how do you feel

when you're doing...

this?

I feel fine.

Well...

be good.

Lieutenant Crane?

Yeah?

I'm Willard Gates, Nitro Chemical

Corporation of Los Angeles.

My firm wants to know what the

police up here are doing, if anything,

about the man who robbed our

paymaster. They're working on it.

He's been reported here in San

Francisco. Don't they know that?

Yes, of course they know it.

That's why I'm on the case.

I'm from the Los Angeles force, up

here on my vacation until this happened.

Well, I hope you can get some results.

It's been a week since the robbery.

The stolen bills

are all new and all 10s.

Why hasn't

an arrest been made?

I'll tell you why.

The man may not

even be here.

All we can do is wait for him to pass one of

those hot bills. If he does that, we've got him.

I hope so. You know

we're offering a reward?

Yeah.

5,000 for a 20,000 bundle.

It's kind of unusual.

Is it?

Well, it's just because...

the president of our company

is so upset over it.

Well, it's his dough.

Remember we want him,

dead or alive...

preferably the former

after what he did to our paymaster.

And quickly, too,

or we'll go higher up.

Go milk a duck!

Five thousand dollars.

Mmm.

I could buy myself a farm, get a

couple chickens and lay my own eggs.

That's a neat trick

if you can do it.

Thanks.

All right,

Miss Graham.

This is the gal.

Have you ever seen

the love lights

In a lady's eyes

And then suddenly

watch it vanish away

If there's trouble

in your love life

Well, my friend

get wise

For as we magicians

would say

Now you see it

Now you don't

It goes hocus-pocus

Alagazam

That's love

Try to kiss her

First she won't

And then presto, chango

fiddle-dee-dee

You're hand in glove

One moment

she's making you see

Canaries in the air

Next moment

instead of her heart

The ace of spades is there

Now you see it

Now you don't

Because hocus-pocus

Lo and behold

You get blinded by that moon

of bright gold above

That's love

Now you see it

Now you don't

Because hocus-pocus

Lo and behold

You get blinded by that moon

of bright gold above

That's love

Thank you, McGillicuddy.

How ya been?

She's terrific.

Caught her act in St. Louis.

Yes, very clever

and very attractive.

She's audience-proof.

Gets 'em bug-eyed.

Her fishing number's even better. Fit right

into your Neptune Club. What do you say?

By all means.

Oh, Miss Graham!

You're hired. Rehearse in Los Angeles

tomorrow morning. He'll do the talkin'.

I'm Willard Gates.

I own the Neptune Club.

There isn't a producer on the coast who

doesn't know that I'm the perfect sucker.

Your act is very charming.

Thank you.

I wonder if we two might have dinner

together tomorrow night in Los Angeles.

McGillicuddy?

My manager

says no.

I don't like

your manager.

Well, I don't always

take his advice.

And people ask me

why I back shows.

Thank you, Mr. Fletcher,

very much for digging her up.

For 10%, I'd dig up

my wife's mother.

Well, uh,

tomorrow night then.

How was I? Okay. He's hooked.

Come on, change your duds.

We're late.

Why don't you tell me

what this is all about?

Talk takes time.

Hurry up.

I'll be right back.

If this is a snatch, don't

take me over the state line.

Miss Graham,

Senator Burnett.

Senator?

So you're the mystery.

No mystery about me. Just a hick

lawyer the voters got stuck with.

- Miss Graham get the job?

- Yeah, and I think Gates is hooked.

I shouldn't wonder.

I am too.

Now, Senator,

I have a boyfriend.

And she don't mean me.

Well, good-bye.

Do senators usually have

conferences in automobiles?

Hotels have walls and walls

sometimes have Dictaphones.

Oh.

Know about my committee?

Read the papers?

Mm, movie columns,

gossip columns, football.

How about your history books?

Remember Benedict Arnold?

Sure. The first

all-American heel.

There's a handful of those heels

in this country today.

And they're powerful enough

to sabotage our defense.

We're trying to expose

them. It's okay by me.

My committee thinks

Gates is one of them.

Him?

The nightclub angel?

In the daytime, he's an

executive at Nitro Chemical.

In between times,

he's been seeing men...

that are suspected

of being foreign agents.

Yet our investigators

can't turn up anything definite.

- And that's where I come in?

- Will you give it a try?

Well, it isn't exactly like

deciding to go to a beauty parlor.

Ooh. Worried about

the boyfriend?

I don't know what he'll think when

he sees me with four other fellas.

I don't either. But if you go through

with this, you can't tell anybody,

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