The Crooked Way

This is the Letterman General Hosiptal

at San Francisco, California.

For those outside these gates the

war is over, a thing of the past.

For those behind these gates there's a

grim, hard, bitter fight still going on.

Take one case, the case

of Eddie Rice, age 33.

Enlisted from Los Angeles, 1943.

Holder of the Silver Star, but today...

A name and date number, a medical file.

For five years a chart on a hospital bed.

A victim of amnesia.

A mind with a blocked out past.

Where were you born, Eddie?

Who are your parents?

Any brothers? Sisters?

Where did you go to school?

What's your trade? Profession?

Are you rich?

Poor?

Got a girl?

Married?

I don't know.

I don't know!

I can't remember.

I just can't remember, doctor.

You had me open. What did you quit for?

-We did the best we could, Eddie.

It'll just have to stay there.

Is that final?

-Unless you want your name on a headstone.

That shrapnel's too deep in your brain.

Scar tissue has grown all around it.

Believe me, we tried.

-Yeah, I guess you did.

Where do I go from here?

-Eddie, there are two kinds of amnesia:

psychological and organic.

The psychological form is temporary, but

it can be cured through psychotherapy.

Yours is organic, it's permanent.

That piece of steel in your brain

has blocked out your memory.

Which doesn't leave me much

of a future, does it?

Of course it does, physically

you're normal and healthy.

You've received the maximum

medical benefits

You've completed training courses that make

you fit to hold down a job and face life.

With no address, no next

of kin, nothing.

Enlisted from Los Angeles...

Intelligence ran that down

for us, remember?

Oh sure, there were a lot of

people named Rice there...

but not this Eddie Rice.

But, Army Intelligence didn't mow

Los Angeles lawns as a kid, Eddie.

They didn't trade at the corner market.

They didn't work with people in a factory,

in an office, as you might have done.

Now...

If you went down there...and ran

into somebody who knew you,

just one person...

Yes...

If I ran into just one person

who knew me.

One guy...

Who would come up to me and say:

"Eddie."

"Eddie Rice."

"How have you been?"

"Where have you been?"

That's it, Eddie.

And then, they'd tell me about

someone else I used to know.

And, I'd meet somebody else.

And another...

And another...

Sure, it scares you to go out into

a world you don't remember...

but you're here now.

It'll be a new life.

A new start.

Find yourself a place to live.

Get yourself a job.

Get going.

Get going, Eddie!

Eddie!

You know, it's a small world, Eddie.

We came down here to pick

up a little of one thing,

and we ran into a little of another!

-A lot of us thought you were dead.

Yes, and...those that didn't hoped you

were. What are you doing in town?

I'm just in from San Francisco.

I didn't ask you that.

-He asked you what you were doing in town.

I cam here to look up some...people.

Funny, I...I had a feeling that was it.

Anderson one of them?

-Anderson?

Maybe.

I think you're lying, Eddie. I don't think you

were gonna look up Anderson at all.

Barrett, do you think he was gonna

look up Anderson? -No, Joe.

Not Anderson.

-I'll tell you what...

I got a car and nothing

to do for a while...

Let's go see Anderson together.

Any objections?

No objections.

Stick around, Kelly may still show.

Let's go.

'Honorable discharge of Edward Rice.'

What's the gimmick?

If you'd put away your blackjacks

long enough

maybe I could get it through

your heads that...

I don't know what you're talking about.

You got yourself a sense

of humor, Eddie.

You think you come back here with

a dumb look and a Silver Star...

That changes a no good heel?

-But, I'm trying to tell you that...

You don't have to tell us

anything about yourself.

We got it all down in black and white.

Read it, Riccardi.

We didn't dream it up.

Possession of a weapon

with intent to kill.

Suspicion of murder.

Riccardi...

Eddie Riccardi.

That's not me, it can't be.

It only looks like me!

I better get out of here!

I've got to get out!

Five years ago we hustled you out of town,

for good. Now what are you here for?

You've got to play ball.

You need time. You need more

time to find out about yourself.

Riccardi's just playing dumb, Captain.

Put him in the lockup.

I'm finding about these...

discharge papers.

If they're phonies, we'll pin a

real one on him.

Just a minute, Lieutenant.

I guess, maybe I didn't want the army

to know about Eddie...Riccardi.

The only friends I have

know me as Eddie Rice.

I'd like to keep it that way.

That's probably the first honest

thing you've ever said.

Pick up your things.

Be Eddie Rice in some other

town, but not here.

Now, we can't hold you, but...you step

out of line once and we step on you.

Notice anything different

about him, Williams?

Nothing! If Riccardi stays in town

there's gonna be trouble.

I don't know. He had a strange

look about him.

Send to Washington for a complete

report on Edward Rice.

That Silver Star, you really

do something to get one.

Yeah, buy it in a pawn

shop for two bits.

Nina, my sweet!

My beautiful, lovely...

All right, Nick! Let's keep

it all business.

Who is it this time?

-Petey. Suspicion of robbery.

Get him out before they start

shifting him around. -Petey?

Him?

He wouldn't steal his own shadow.

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