Log 62: Grand Theft Horse? (Episode 16, Season 1)

Episode 16

Poor Malloy, things aren't going his way today. The car is making noises, some lady wants him to get on a horse, and there is a sniveling, heartbroken teenager to deal with. Maybe if he can catch the guy making phony calls this shift will turn around.

At the start of the shift the officers are in the assembly room for roll call where Lt. Moore and Sgt. MacDonald are telling them about a recent rash of false calls.

The false calls have all been "hot shot" calls that draw all of the officers in that direction and they have coincided with armed robberies at the opposite end of the division. The fake calls are obviously distractions away from the real crimes which are being perpetrated by a suspect that is armed and considered extremely dangerous.

Later, in the car, Malloy asks Reed to look at the map of the division the Lieutenant gave them. He's hoping there is a pattern to the robberies, something to give them a start on busting this guy.

How long has Reed been on probation? He's getting a little sassy with his senior officer.

"OK, so I'm looking at it. What am I supposed to be seeing?"

Suddenly, a high-pitched squealing noise begins emanating from the car. Instead of listening to Reed talk all night, Malloy will have to put with this.

At least when Reed gets to talky, he can tell him to shut up. Pete has less control over the car. 

They pull over and open the hood to see if they can determine the source of the noise.

"It stopped," observes Reed.
"No kidding," answers Malloy.

Everything under the hood looks fine, so they get back in the car, just in time to receive a radio call.  They are called to 1602 North Las Feliz Avenue for grand theft horse. That's right, grand theft horse. Reed thinks this has to be a phony call while Malloy believes it is real.

"That's gotta be for real, it's too goofy."

On the way to the address, the car starts making the noise again.

Which causes Malloy to make this face. 

"Don't say it."-Malloy
"Don't say the noise has started again?"-Reed
"Yeah."-Malloy
"I won't."-Reed

They arrive at the riding academy and speak to the horse's owner. About 10 minutes ago someone stole Herman, that's the horse. Joanna Slater, the owner, believes it was a hippie she saw hanging around the hitch rail.

"I must say, you got here in a hurry" 

"Hippie. You know, long hair, beads, dirty, the whole bit."

She suspects that the horse thief took Herman on the bridle trail. Unfortunately, the entire length of the trail is not wide enough for a car. But that doesn't mean that Reed and Malloy can just drive away and forget about Herman, he is worth $600 after all. Joanna has an idea of how they can catch the thief.

"Well partner, what do we do now?" 

"I'll let you have a couple of horses!"

"Us on horses?"- Reed

"Sure. I'll let you have Thelma and Cupcake, they're real goers."

"We wouldn't want anything to happen to your animals."

"They're insured against accidental injury." 

"What's the matter, you chicken?"

"Well, we're police officers, not cowboys."

In the end, Malloy decides it is best to get some mounted park rangers to ride on the bridle trail.

1-Adam-12 requesting park rangers so I can stop making up excuses as to why I am not getting on a horse.

I'm guessing that this is supposed to be taking place in Griffith Park, which is located near Los Feliz Boulevard. Griffith Park is the "Central Park of Los Angeles", but it is larger than its East coast counterpart. Horseback riding is one of the attractions of the park.
The rangers and Malloy devise a plan for catching the horse thief. 1-Adam-12 will prowl Ridge Drive and if the rangers see the horse they will chase him towards the car.

Is it just me or does that one ranger look like Obama?

During the chase the patrol car is still making the noise, but it drives just fine.

"Goes when you push the slanty pedal down."

Reed spots the horse coming down the path. The officers screech their car to a halt and jump out to stop the horse.

Is this really the best way to stop a horse?

Herman gets away. 

But Malloy and Reed get their man.

Ladies and Gentlemen, allow me to introduce the most polite horse thief in the history of crime; Leroy Samuel Rutherford of Big Springs Texas as played by a 21-year-old Tim Matheson. It would be his pleasure to go to the car with Reed.

"I'm powerful sorry I put you fellows out."

Leroy left Texas for California about 3 months ago to find himself. But, all he has found in L.A. are "righteous souls" who say they are looking for the same thing and then give Leroy "something to swallow or smoke or stick in my arm". Today he took something that made him "real sad" and while he was sitting there looking at the horses he decided he wasn't going to find himself in L.A., because he's back in Texas.

"And the next thing I knew I was in that saddle, just headin' for home."

He's almost happy to be going to calaboose, which is Creole slang for prison, because he can "eat regular again" and get off the pills. Which, he believes, "mess a fella up some".
After dropping Leroy off at the station, Malloy also wants to drop off the car and get another one. But, Reed has checked are no other cars are available.

"Looking around for another car before this one drives me into a rubber room."

Well, maybe it won't be so bad. 

Listen to that, the noise has stopped!

And now it has started again.

Despite the annoying noise, Malloy and Reed must go to their next call a 415 woman at 15563 South Century.
And what is the unknown trouble at 15563 South Century? According to the hotel manager, it's a "psycho broad" who is sitting behind a man's car in order to stop him from leaving. 

There's that Mustang again.

Reed tries to talk to the "psycho broad" but gets nothing out of her.

Malloy talks to the owner of the car, Charles Carter, who met the woman behind his car on a business trip in Virginia.

Ol' Chucky here took Sue Sue, that's the "psycho broad", out on 4 or 5 dates while he was in Virginia. Somehow, she got the idea that Charles was in love with her and flew out to live with him. He picked her up at the airport and paid for her stay in the hotel, but when he told her he was leaving she threw a fit.

It's obvious that Malloy does not like this guy.

Even though Carter has clearly led poor Sue Sue on by telling her he was in love with her, but no more "than any guy would under the circumstances", he has not done anything legally wrong and Malloy has no choice but to let him leave.

"No, Mr. Carter, as far as we can tell, you haven't done anything wrong; legally."

"OK, Sue Sue, time to get on your feet and be a big girl, now."

I am Sue Sue's biggest fan. Her outfit, hair, nails, everything is simply divine and she gets man-handled by both Reed and Malloy and she gets to spend time with both of them in a hotel room! You go, girl!

They take Sue Sue to her hotel room and she is not happy. She doesn't want to stay there and she doesn't want to go home to face her mother. Malloy doesn't have the patience for this heartbroken girl.

"Sit down!"

"Look, Susan, it's not the end of the world. You're not the first girl to fall for a 24-karat phony. That's life in the big city and lessons aren't free." 

While Malloy is on the phone calling Sue Sue's mother, Reed recognizes that Malloy may be going about this all wrong.

Hmmm...Maybe she doesn't need somebody telling her that life is hard and she should get used to it. Maybe she needs somebody to tell her that everything is going to be OK.

"Try not to take it so hard. So you made a mistake, a tough one, but if you don't learn to accept it you're gonna get in deeper and deeper until you're in real trouble. Besides, like my partner says, it's not the end of the world."

But, to Sue Sue, it is the end of the world. She has to do a trans-continental "walk of shame". Reed, being a man, has no idea what that will feel like.

"If it was me, I'd say that you're a pretty girl that got loused up by a heel and it's nothing to make a big deal about."

Reed nails it. Sue Sue has had her heart broken in the worst way and having an impatient grump telling her to get over it isn't going to help. But, a man with perfect bone structure telling her that she isn't going to be a romantic pariah, that will make her feel better.
Later in the evening, Malloy makes a prediction about Charles Carter.

"Someday he's gonna play games with the wrong little girl and get a knife in his ribs."

I think he may be right on the money with that one.
Soon after making this statement, the radio breaks in with a call, "prowler, see the man, 427 East Catalina".
Malloy keeps driving in the opposite direction, though. The call feels wrong to him and there are a lot of liquor stores in the direction they're headed.
Turns out that Malloy's hunch about the call was right, it was a phony. The next radio dispatch reports that 1-Adam-11 was unable to locate the PR for the prowler call. Malloy then predicts that a 211 will happen. He's right again, they receive a call of a 211 in progress at 6340 West Spring.

As soon as they roll up to the address, they are fired upon.

Reed and Malloy chase after the suspects, who then speed off in a red Ford Falcon.

Which loses a hubcap during the chase.

The suspects then start firing at 1-Adam-12! Malloy instructs Reed to discourage them from doing more of the same. Reed fires at the suspects from the moving patrol car.

He manages to hit their car quite a few times.

The suspects then fail to make a turn.

This is the result.

Pete and Jim manage to pull the two suspects from the car.

Later, back at the scene of the robbery, Mac tells Pete and Jim that one of the men they pulled from the car matches the armed robbery suspect to a tee. He asks Malloy how he knew that the prowler call was a phony. Malloy responds that it felt wrong because most prowler calls are "see the woman" and this one was "see the man".
Mac also reminds them that it is against policy to fire at a moving vehicle.

"It's also against policy to get yourself killed."

"We'll go into that in detail later. You can count on it."

At the close of the episode, Reed and Malloy are in the car and Reed is worried that they will be reprimanded for going against policy.

"I don't know, in a spot like that sometimes you've got to take your chances with the book. It goes with the territory."

Reed's worry soon turns to relief as he notices that the car has stopped making the noise!

The End

OK, I love everything about this episode, right down to Joanna Slater's purple high-waisted pants. I love every facial expression from Milner illustrating Malloy's annoyance with the car and it's mystery noise. I love every stammering excuse he feeds Ms. Slater as to why he can not get on a horse. Every reason he gives her may be legitimate, but I suspect that Malloy just doesn't want to get on a horse because he is afraid of looking foolish. I love the polite horse thief, Leroy Samuel Rutherford. I even love his sad tale of life on the streets of L.A.

I have a special fondness for jilted lover, Susan "Sue Sue" Baker. Most of what I like about her is based on appearances, but I do find Reed's interaction with her sweet and endearing. 

I also love Malloy's quick thinking in the final scenes. His police experience solves the case that has vexed the entire division. However, his victory does not come easily and may even give the captain grounds to punish him. 

Since I like so much about this episode, I have no choice but to give it a rating of:

I'm super excited to see you next time because the next episode is truly one of my favorites! I can't wait! KMA-367