The Las Vegas Strangler
Parts I and II

episode transcript by Sarah Spearey

Las Vegas: Night

(The place is alive with life, the casinos are busy and everywhere people are having a good time.)

Craps guy: Coming out. Ten. The number is ten.

(Two girls are a walking back stage in there dancing outfits.)

Woman: Uh, Grable, Grable, Grable. George Brent.

Iris: Barabra Stanwyck

Woman : Uh, uh, uh. I good. I already used Barbara Stanwyck, remember?

Iris: When did you use Barbara Stanwyck. I don’t remember you using Barbara Stanwyck.

Woman : Yes, I did. I said Helen Twelvetrees, you said Tom Brown and I said Barbara Stanwyck. Get it?

Iris: All right, all right, all right, an S to me.

Woman : Not an S, dummy, a B: George Brent.

Iris: Dummy?

Woman : B

Iris: D, D, Dummy. All right.

Woman 2: B, B,

Iris: Give me a B.

Woman : Brent.

Iris: Barry Fitzgerald.

Woman 2: Hurray.

Iris: Hurray.

Woman 2: Hurray.

Iris: Listen Darling, how about a ride home? Just my feet, not my body.

Woman : I wish I could, really, but I can’t. My sister’s got my car. I’m walking myself. (They walk away and later walk through the parking lot in their non-work clothes.)

Iris: Another day, another dime. All right.

Woman : Okay, I’ll see you tomorrow night.

Iris: All right, then.

Woman : Take care. (They walk off in different directions.)

Iris: Barbara Stanwyck.

(A shot of a pair of feet dressed in white shoes. The woman walks through the parking lot, followed by the feet. She hears the footsteps and stops.)

Woman: Who’s there? Is anybody there? (The man takes a pair of tights out of his pocket) I said is somebody there? (She continues walking, as does the man. The woman streams when she sees the mystery man, but only an arm is seen dragging her off screen)

The Police Station: Day.

(Starsky and Hutch enter the squad room)

Hutch: That’s a fantastic idea.

Starsky: Aw, come on.

Hutch: I’m into poetry. (Starsky sees a man at the coffee machine)

Starsky: Behold the desert prince.

Hutch: Hey, that’s good.

Starsky: No, dummy. (Points to the man. They walk to their desk, Starsky holding a book over his face.)

Cameron: Starsky, Hutchinson.

Hutch: Yeah, lieutenant, what are you doing down here from Vegas, huh?

Cameron: Believe it or not I came down here to see you two.

Starsky: How thrilling. (Dobey enters)

Dobey: Okay, Cameron. We might as well get this thing started. Starsky, Hutch, in my office. (Hutch is up first)

Hutch: Let’s go.

Starsky: I smell a rat. (Starsky enters last and expertly kicks the door closed with his feet.)

Dobey: How many times have I told you about that?

Starsky: Sorry, Cap. I’m working on it.

Hutch: What’s this all about, cap? (They sit down)

Dobey: Lieutenant Cameron here will answer all your questions.

Cameron: Well, I suppose you’re all wondering why I asked you to gather her. (Starsky and Hutch look at each other) Okay, I’ll come straight to the point. It seems we have a maniac roaming our streets in Las Vegas. One who believes that strangling showgirls is a worthwhile hobby. Here, take a look. (Hands Starsky a file. He hands one to Hutch) He’s already killed four. All four girls worked in different shows. All four were found in different locations.

Starsky: Doesn’t leave them very pretty.

Cameron: Killing’s only part of it. You should see what he does to them after they’re dead.

Hutch: Why are you telling us all this?

Starsky: I see two thirsty souls trudging through the desert toward a neon city.

Cameron: Well, in the past, you’ve always been helpful to our department when our cases brought us here. So I thought it was only right that we give you a chance to see our fair city. I filed a request with your chief yesterday afternoon.

Dobey: And it’s been approved. All we need is for you to agree.

Starsky: Wait a second. Just wait—wait a minute, cap. Putting aside personalities and the fact that Hutch and I and the lieutenant here don’t exactly sing in harmony, something doesn’t make sense. I mean, the Las Vegas Police Department is supposed to be one of the best in the country.

Cameron: Yes, but we’re a small department, in a small town where almost everybody knows everybody else. Now, right now, we’ve got a psycho on our hands. And that could be anybody in the city. Fellas, I believe this is a time to put our personalities aside. Look, I need two good men who can go undercover. Two good men that I can be sure won’t be recognized as cops. Well, what do you say? Are you in?

Duke’s Used Clothing: Day

(Starsky is standing in front of a mirror trying on clothes that belong in a 40’s gangster flick)

Starsky: Hug, are sure these are the kind of clothes they wear in Vegas?

Huggy: Am I sure? Starsky, you two guys are gonna look like the flash with the cash,

Duke: That’s right, that’s right.

Hutch: You sure this tie isn’t a little too bright?

Huggy: Bright? Bright? Everything in Las Vegas is bright. Bright is their national colours Hutch.

Duke: That’s right, that’s right.

Starsky: I don’t know, Hug. These shoes are kind of dubious.

Huggy: Oh, man, Starsky, you talking about the George Raft look.

Duke: That’s right, that’s right.

Huggy: In fact if I didn’t know better I’d guess you two guys were a couple of high rollers who just stepped off the plane from Las Vegas this minute.

Duke: That’s right, that’s right. (Hutch pats off the visible dust on his jacket.)

Hutch: Yeah, well, that I can believe. Dressed like this, they probably would’ve run us right out of town.

Starsky: I don’t know, Hutch. Cameron said he wanted us to look like a couple of tinhorn turkey’s on a gambling spree.

Hutch: Yeah, well, all I’m saying… (looks at his hat in the mirror) Oh, man. All I’m saying, Starsky, is do we have to dress quite this loud?

Starsky: Well, ask Duke here. He’s spent a lot of time in Vegas.

Duke: That’s right, that’s right.

Hutch: Is that right?

Duke: That’s right, that’s right.

Starsky: Besides, I’m kind of getting to like it.

Huggy: Mm-hm. (Starsky pays Duke)

Hutch: You look ridiculous.

Starsky: What do you know?

(Duke and Huggy move over to the cash desk)

Huggy: Hey, Duke, just between friends, when was the last time you was in Las Vegas?

Duke: About 1946.

Huggy: That’s right, that’s right.

Duke: That’s right.

A Road: Day.

(Hutch is driving a red convertible on the road to Las Vegas, with Starsky beside him reading a guide book to Las Vegas.)

Starsky: It says here this whole town is open 24 hours a day. You know what that means? That means that nothing ever close. Supermarkets, barbershops, hardware stores.

Hutch: Well, you know, Starsk, they’re probably all waiting for the air-conditioning repairman to show up.

Starsky: Is that a joke?

Hutch: Give me a sip of that, will you? (Reaches for Starsky’s drink)

Starsky: You don’t take sips. Besides, it’s all I got left. Stick to your coconut. You know, the more I read about Las Vegas, the more it seems like my kind of town. (Singing) My kind of town, Las Vegas is. Now, listen to this. It says here that dice were the first things invented…

Hutch: Starsk, would you mind not reading any more passages from that book?

Starsky: I’m just trying to broaden your horizons.

Hutch: Well, you’ve been broadening my horizons for the last 300 miles and I’m getting sick of it.

Starsky: Yeah, well, this is interesting. Listen to this. It says here that dice were the oldest thing invented by man for the purpose of gambling. They were invented by a man by the name of Palamedes. (pronounces it wrong)

Hutch: That’s Palamedes.

Starsky: Oh. (The engine makes a horrible clanging noise)

Hutch: What’s going on?

Starsky: Did you know that of every 100 cars crossing the desert 23.6 of them have engine trouble?

Hutch: Did you get that out of a book to?

Starsky: No, that one I made up. Welcome to Las Vegas, high roller.

A gas station: Day

(The bonnet is flipped up and Hutch is speaking to a mechanic.)

Hutch: You can have it for me later today, huh? Cabbie, we’ll be there in a minute. (Starsky is playing on a slot machine)

Starsky: Come on, baby, come on.

Hutch: Let’s go, Starsk,

Starsky: Just give me a minute, okay?

Hutch: Cab’s waiting.

Starsky: Just give me one minute. I got a feeling. This baby is about to pay off.

Hutch: You really got a feeling?

Starsky: Yep.

Hutch: That’s the suckers cry from here to Timbuktu. It’s a machine, Starsk. Wheels and gears. How can you have a feeling from a machine?

Starsky: Well, what do you know?

Hutch: Oh, come on, we’re due down at Caesar’s Palace. Cameron’s probably for his desert legionnaires waiting for us.

Starsky: Let them wait. (Continues gambling)

Hutch: Starsky. What would your mother say if she say you now, huh? Her little sonny boy, caught in the throes of a gambler’s mania. Starsky, it’s pitiful. You, a grown man. Come on, Starsk, come on. (Puts Starsky’s hat on his head.)

Starsky: Just give it a minute, will you?

Hutch: Come on. (Takes his quarter)

Starsky: What are you?

Hutch: Come on, let’s go.

Starsky: Spoilsport.

(He walks away with Hutch, who turns around, puts the coin in the slot and pulls the handle. As he walks away the machine hits the jackpot. Starsky is not amused and watches annoyed while Hutch collects the coins in his hat.)

Caesar’s Palace: Day

(The cab pulls up outside the hotel. Starsky jumps out excitedly.)

Starsky: Will you look at this place? (People stare at them)Huh, Hutch? I mean will you look at this place?

Hutch: Yeah, I might as well. I got a feeling everyone else in this place is gonna be look at us. (He pays the driver)

Starsky: Don’t be so sensitive. No one’s gonna pay any attention to us.

(As they head on in everyone laughs and stares, but Starsky just tilts his hat, smiling. Inside a man wonders around drunkenly. Starsky enters and is impressed)

Starsky: I mean, will you just look at this place?

Man: Coming out again. Shoot the dice. (All around people are gambling and talking loudly.)

Starsky: Look at it. Hutch. (They walk forwards)

Hutch: Yeah, I’m looking, I’m looking. It’s freezing.

Starsky: Yeah, well, nothing, nothing’s bothering me. I mean, did you ever feel like you’d just died and gone to heaven?

Hutch: This place have that kind of effect on you? (They stop)

Starsky: Yeah. I got it Hutch. I got that fever. That Vegas fever. Look. (He tries to walk off, but Hutch takes his arm)

Hutch: Hey, hey, come on. Come here.

Starsky: What’re you doing?

Hutch: I think you better give me the money.

Starsky: Huh?

Hutch: The $200. I think you better give me the money.

Starsky: I just told you. I got a feeling. I mean, I’m gonna go out there. I’m gonna make a mint.

Hutch: Starsky, you remember why we’re here?

Starsky: Yeah.

Hutch: We’re on an assignment.

Starsky: I know that.

Hutch: Lieutenant Cameron has probably already got us spotted. Now, we’re supposed to take that $200, lose it, get in a fight and get thrown into jail.

Starsky: Yeah, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have some fun. Look, Cameron never said why we were gonna get thrown in jail.

Hutch: Don’t argue with me. In your-in your feverish state, I-I think you better give me the money. I mean, I can be cool and calm and get this thing done easily and quickly. Give me the money. (Gestures) Come on.

Starsky: Okay. (Hands over the money and pouts)

Hutch: You ready?

Starsky: No. You can take care of yourself.

Hutch: All right.

Starsky: Good luck. (Hutch walks off.)

Man: No more bets, all bets are down.

(Starsky takes a bill out from under his collar. He casually makes his way over to a roulette table)

Starsky: Chips please. (Pause) Chips.

Croupier: Chips for George Raft.

Starsky: Come on, come on, come on. (Gets his chips) Seventeen black.

Croupier: All bets down.

Starsky: Come on, roll that ball, roll that ball. Okay. (The ball rolls) Seventeen, seventeen. Come home clean, 17. (Hutch comes up behind him)

Hutch: You just can’t control yourself, can you?

Starsky: Well, we had to lose it and I had this feeling.

Hutch: Yeah, I know this feeling, right? You know the mathematical probability of winning on the bet you just placed is 35 to 1.

Starsky: I know that.

Hutch: Come on over here, let me…

Starsky: What are you talking about? (Hutch tries dragging him a way) Wait a second. Will you just wait one second?

Hutch: Come on.

Starsky: Wait a second. (Drags him away)

Croupier: Seventeen black and we have the winner. (Starsky jumps with joy)

Starsky: Whoa, whoa, we got a winner! We got a winner! We got a winner. Right here, put it right here. Right here, right here, right here. Oh, boy.

Hutch: You won, now we got more to lose.

Starsky: What are you talking…?

Hutch: Now, why don’t you let me handle it? (He picks up the chips and turns away) Come on.

(The drunken man is back again, humming to himself. While Hutch stops at the craps table)

Man: Place your bets, ladies and gentlemen.

Starsky: Hey, Hutch, what are you doing? That’s the whole thing, huh? Can’t we just bleed it out a little at a time? Come on, now. We don’t wanna bet all of…(Tries pull it off the number)

Hutch: Starsky. (Tries stopping him)

Starsky: Hey, what are you doing?

Hutch: Starsky, for your sake…

Starsky: You’re out of your tree.

Hutch: For your sake it’s better this way.

Starsky: For my sake?

Hutch: Yes.

Cowboy guy: Your dice, blondie.

Man: New shooter coming up.

Hutch: All right, watch me lose.

Starsky: You’re gonna bet this whole thing?

Hutch: All of it. (Rolls the dice.)

Gambler: Seven, yeah.

Stickman: Winner seven.

Starsky: Oh, you’re much better.

Hutch: Wait a minute, it takes a little time, you know. I need a few minutes to warm up. It’s not easy to lose it all at once.

Starsky: All right, look, you take all the time you want. Meanwhile, I’m gonna take half the chips and I’m gonna go place some roulette. (Grabs the chips.)

Hutch: Hey, those are his chips. (Points to the cowboy.)

Starsky: Look, why don’t you let me have a little fun, huh? You know, you’re mean. You’re really mean.

Gambler: You can do it.

Starsky: You.

(Hutch taps a rose held by the lady next to him and rolls the dice.)

Gambler: Hey!

Stickman: Eleven.

Gambler: Here we go. Here we go. (They get more chips)

Starsky: Hutch? Hutch? Hey, this is Starsky talking. (Hutch taps the rose again.) Zebra Three. (Rolls again)

Stickman: Winner, eleven. Pay the line. Place your bets. (Hutch continues to roll and continues to win money.)

Hutch: Quinine, the bitter dose.

Cowboy: You can do it, Blondie. You can do it!

Hutch: That’s all right. Keep it coming. Keep it coming. Keep it coming. Keep it coming. (To Starsky) Don’t touch my drink. Don’t you know anything about luck?

Cowboy: Yeah, what’s the matter with you? (Starsky grabs Hutch’s wrist,)

Starsky: Hey, hey. What happened to all that talk about pitiful people in the throes of gambler’s mania?

Hutch: Starsky, that was different. Don’t touch my shooting arm.

Starsky: What?

Hutch: My shooting arm. What do you do, wanna turn me cold? Okay, come on nine, come on. Come on nine, come on. (Taps the rose)

Stickman: Nine. (Cheers)

Starsky: Well, let me ask you something. It’s gonna be kind of difficult to accuse management of cheating, get into a fight and get thrown in jail if we end up breaking the bank.

Hutch: Well, what to you want me to do about it? Throw all this away?

Starsky: Well, it’s not…

Cowboy: Listen, curly top. You trying to break his winning streak.

Starsky: Look, why don’t you go suck on a watermelon or something?

Stickman: Sir, are you gonna continue your roll?

Hutch: Starsky, I’m sorry. I’m on a hot streak. I can’t stop now. One time. Shoot it all.

Stickman: Sir, do you realize how much money you have on the line? You have over $9000 there.

Starsky: He realizes it.

Hutch: I realize.

Starsky: He realizes it.

Hutch: I wanna shoot it all.

Starsky: He’s gonna shoot it all.

Hutch: I’m gonna shoot it all.

Starsky: Yeah, for sport.

Stickman: Place your bets, please. Some lucky shooter coming out. (Hutch taps the rose and shoots)

Gambler: Seven.

Stickman: Seven. (Cheers, Hutch kisses the girl besides him and shakes the cowboys’ hand)

Cowboy: Beautiful, beautiful. (Starsky pours the drink over the cowboy’s head.)

Hutch: Hey…

Starsky: Excuse men, I just thought I was watering the backside of a horse.

Hutch: Starsky. Starsky, what did you do that for?

Starsky: Well, I figured if we couldn’t get thrown into jail for being losers. (Cowboy takes a swing, Starsky ducks and Hutch gets the fist. Starsky jumps on the guys back. He throws Starsky on to the table. Hutch comes up behind him, but is hit and goes crashing to the floor along with a security guard. Starsky jumps up and headbutts and cop and lays a fist in his gut.)

Guard: Pretty good for a little fella. (Throws Starsky on to a another table)

Starsky: I suppose it’s a little late to get a bet down.

The County Jail: Day.

(Starsky and Hutch are led to a holding cell.)

Starsky: Aw, come on, officer. Give a guy a break. What about our rights? Don’t we get to make a couple of phone calls, huh?

Officer: You can make all the calls you want as soon as you get out of here. (They lock the cell door, Hutch is holding a hankie to his nose)

Starsky: You’re a regular warm person, officer.

Officer: You may not like me, son, but Jesus loves you.

Hutch: Oh, brother.

Starsky: That’s a hell of a thing to say to somebody after you’ve locked them up.

Hutch: How are we gonna spend $18,000 in here, huh? (Starsky points to a paper covering a man)

Starsky: Cocoa-butter cream, $1.49 for five ounces.

Hutch: Well, that’s a start. (They walk over to a bench were a bum is already sleeping sat up)

Starsky: Think he’d mind. (They sit either side of him and stop him from falling over, while he coughs) You gotta take short breaths. That’s the secret. (He offers Hutch a cigarette)

Hutch: Yeah, no, thank you. (He takes a close look at the man on the bench beside them, looking at him from the side) Hey.

Starsky: What?

Hutch: Hey, Starsk, I think I know that guy.

Starsky: Him? (Gestures to the man with his thumb)

Hutch: Yeah, I think I went to High School with him. (Looks again) Hey, Jack? Jack Mitchell. (Guys sits up)

Jack: Bob-Ken, Hu…? Hutch.

Hutch: Jack Mitchell. (Goes over to him)

Jack: Hey, Hutch, what?

Hutch: Jack Mitchell, how are you doing? (Shake hands)

Jack: What are you doing? Two minds on a single track.

Hutch: Yeah, I…

Jack: What’s that?

Hutch: I, uh, took a pretty stiff right cross.

Starsky: Hell of a time for a class reunion.

Hutch: What are you doing here?

Jack: Parking tickets or something.

Hutch: Parking tickets? Same old Jack.

Jack: Tear them up, stuff them in the glove compartment. These people aren’t got no sense of humour. (A shot of the mirror on the wall)

Hutch: Tell me about it. Listen, I want you to meet somebody. David Starsky. Jack Mitchell. (The scenes watched from the other side of the mirror.)

Starsky: Hey, who’re you doing?

Hutch: When Jack and I were in High School, we used to be called what?

Jack: Prince and the Pauper.

Hutch: Prince an the Pauper.

Starsky: I didn’t know you were poor.

Hutch: Oh, I wasn’t, but he was filthy rich.

Jack: Yes, disgustingly so. Uh, seriously…

Hutch: What?

Jack: What are you guys doing here?

Hutch: Oh, Starsky and I are down here, uh…

Starsky: Hitting the tables.

Jack: Just gambling and bumming around.

Hutch: Bumming around.

Jack: Oh, for a minute I thought somebody was puting on guys and dolls. (Cameron and some guy are in a room on the other side of the mirror)

Cameron: He almost slipped.

Dr. Cleveland: Well, Mitchell seems to be responding.

Cameron: Keep your fingers crossed.

Jack: I don’t know. With those suits on, I thought somebody was doing Guys and Dolls. If they could only see us back home.

Hutch: Take a look at you.

Jack: Take a look at you. No, really. This guy was class valedictorian. And we was voted the boy…

Both: Most likely to succeed.

Hutch: And you were gonna be a doctor.

Jack: Yeah.

Hutch: Did you ever make it?

Jack: How long you been in town?

Hutch: Well…

Starsky: Well, we just came in this afternoon.

Jack: You’re not settled? Terrific. You can move in with me.

Hutch: Hey, Jack that’s really nice…

Jack: I mean it.

Hutch: We can’t do that…

Jack: I really know this town. I can show you guys a good time. Besides, I’m all alone. (Starsky notices the mirror) I mean, how can you have fun if you’re trying to have fun alone? Look, I mean-I mean it.

Starsky: When do you want us to move in Jack? (Walks over to the mirror)

Jack: Well, as soon as we get…today. As soon as we get out of here.

Hutch: Starsky, you know we got things to do.

Starsky: Well, you get argue with fate Hutch. I mean, even in Las Vegas, what are the odds on a coincidence happening of two old High School buddies meeting in the city tank (Gestures subtly to the mirror he’s now got his back to)

Jack: He’s right. You can’t argue with fate. (Hutch looks at the mirror)

Cameron: He’s gonna blow it. Get him out of there.

Jack: As soon as we get out of here, you can move into my place.

Officer: Hutchinson! Starsky! Front and centre.

Hutch: Yeah. Hey, listen, Jack, it’s really good to see you. Talk to you soon, huh?

Jack: Right.

Starsky: Take it easy.

Jack: See ya. (They leave and enter the other room to watch Jack)

Starsky: Let me get this straight. What you’re saying is that Hutch’s old pal in there, the old High School buddy, the guy that just invited us to stay at his place, you suspect him of being the strangler?

Cameron: It’s more than suspicion. I’d bet my life on it.

Hutch: This whole thing was a set up, wasn’t it? All that talk about us being good cops. You just wanted us to help you bust Jack Mitchell. You know, I oughta tear your head off.

Cameron: When this is all over, is you still feel that way, you can have your chance.

Hutch: Cameron, you’re all wrong. It’s over right now. (He walks for the door)

Cameron: Hutchinson! (He grabs him) Hutchinson. That friend of yours in there, that guy you’re being so loyal to it’s our strong feeling that he’d killed at least four women already.

Hutch: Well, if you’re so sure of that, why don’t you hold him for something stronger than parking tickets?

Cameron: Now, don’t be cute. You know as well as I do that parking tickets was just a convenience to make sure he’d be here by the time you two guys arrived.

Starsky: Well, what have you got, Cameron?

Cameron: Got a lot of things. Not much one by one. But put them together with a cop’s guy feeling…

Hutch: A cops guy feeling, huh?

Cameron: Don’t tell me you never had one? Never played a hunch. Was never sure that somebody was guilty long before you could prove it.

Dr. Cleveland: Mitchell knew all the girls who died, intimately.

Hutch: That’s still not enough to make him as a killer.

Cameron: Okay. Footprints matching his size were found at the scene of two of the killings. Then, of course, there’s his strange behaviour.

Hutch: Strange behaviour, huh? What’s that supposed to mean?

Cameron: You asked him if he became a doctor. He did.

Hutch: Yeah, so what?

Cameron: He’s been a resident for two and a half years. And he just walked away from it all. Then six and a half months ago he came here to Las Vegas. And he’s been a one-man, non-stop party ever since. That’s kinda strange.

Dr. Cleveland: Look, you might ask yourself how we knew he’d insist on you two moving in with him. Now, besides being brought in twice for questioning on these murders, your friend has been arrested seven times since he’s been in Las Vegas. Everything from standing stark naked on top of the Caesar’s Palace sign to almost beating a parking-lot attendant to death for giving him the wrong change. During these periods of arrest we’ve gotten a pretty thorough psychiatric profile of him.

Hutch: Yeah, excuse me lieutenant, who’s he?

Cameron: This Dr. Cleveland, our in-house psychiatrist.

Hutch: How do you do?

Dr. Cleveland: Look, what we found is that your friend suffers from extreme anxiety. One of his symptoms seems to be an almost hysterical fear of being alone. The other is a, uh, penchant for mindless violence.

Starsky: Penchant?

Cameron: Look, Hutchinson. Now, I know I can’t order you on this assignment. And I’ll admit that I tricked you guys into coming here, but I am telling you that that guy in there is a psychotic killer. And only you and your partner, only you two, can stop him, right now. Do you understand that? (Walks back to the one way mirror)

Hutch: Starsk?

Starsky: Hm?

Hutch: He was my best friend.

Starsky: Then I guess we better stick with him. Because whether we prove him guilty or innocent, it’s the best favour we can do for him. (Hutch turns back to Cameron)

Hutch: Yeah, all right.

(In the cell Jack lies down on the bench and we see he’s wearing white shoes just like the killer)