He was my father, Magnum.
I am the private investigator so let me investigate.
Miles Archer was court-martialed for absence.
He wasn't a coward or a thief.
It was 40 years ago. What does it matter now?
The past lives in the past.
You want to handle this? Then do it by yourself!
Why are you pursuing an obviously futile exercise with such determination?
- What did I tell you? - Come on, T.C., we didn't get a scratch.
Stay where you are! Don't move!
Okay, hold your fire, boys. I'm gonna come without a fight.
...supposed to get any sleep?
- Hi, ladies. - Good morning.
Hello, Agatha.
Higgins, do you have any idea what time it is?
Yes, and I'm dreadfully sorry.
- You are? - Yes, I should have started earlier.
After all, you woke me at 5:30, roaring in here like Mario Andretti.
Higgins, I was on a case. Really!
I mean, I was staking out this all-night Mongolian barbecue on King.
Actually, you might find this interesting...
Please, Magnum.
Where, how and with whom you spent the night is irrelevant.
I cannot ready this float for the maritime festival
tiptoeing around your schedule.
Higgins, don't you think you ought to finish the float
before you start taking photos?
Or is it finished?
Hardly. I'm doing a photo-essay delineating each stage of its development.
Oh, well, who's developing this?
We are the Anglo-Polynesian Savants of the Sea, Mr. Magnum.
It's a charity dedicated to the preservation of our oceans.
For one whose appreciation of the sea is limited to sushi bars and surf skiing,
I can hardly expect you to understand.
I understand, Higgins.
This is clear as a bell. There's only one thing I don't understand.
What is it?
It is perfectly obvious.
It is?
Thanks.
How did you get through the gate?
It was open, Mr. Magnum. Hi, I'm Bridget Archer, your new client.
I beg your pardon. I am not Mr. Magnum. He is Mr. Magnum.
People always mix us up.
Thomas Magnum, Miss Archer, what can I do for you?
A lot, I hope. Lieutenant Poole said maybe you could help me.
Lieutenant Poole? Where'd you meet her?
She was one of the people who interrogated me.
Interrogated you?
Right after the arrest.
- The Navy arrested you? - Have you had breakfast?
Are you kidding? I haven't eaten anything decent since Cleveland.
Except a moldy bear claw.
I think I can do better than that.
Don't bet on it.
And why not?
Philadelphia will destroy the Cavaliers.
Not this time.
You're kidding. They'll walk all over them.
I got a C-note it's gonna be Philly by ten points.
You got a C-note? Let me see it.
Come on, T.C., that's a figure of speech. You know what I'm saying.
I know. What you're saying is you ain't got it.
- Hi, guys. - Hi, Thomas.
What's the morning line?
Want to bet on the Cavalier-Philly game?
You can forget the morning line. No one knows this yet,
but Wedman pulled a hamstring, Robinson's got the flu.
I hate to admit it, but the Sixers are going to cream them.
So, take Philly by 20 points.
Well, what do you expect? Cookie recipes?
What about the Pistons and the Bucks?
I think I'm in love.
Ten minutes to ten.
I wondered how long it was gonna take you to fall in love today.
Boy...
It sure beats the view from my motel.
All I can see are the backs of those hotels in Waikiki.
- Miss Archer... - Bridget.
Bridget.
It's a little bit like looking at a football game from behind the bleachers.
- Bridget. - What?
Why did the Navy arrest you?
They didn't. They just sort of intercepted the boat.
- What boat? - I rented a boat.
How the hell else could I get to the Arizona? Walk?
You could always take the tour.
Look, I asked the Navy to help, see?
I talked to everybody from the local recruiter in Cleveland
to some general in Honolulu.
Admiral. In the Navy, they're admirals. More coffee?
Yeah. There's some uniform named Wheeler who's very hoity-toity.
Boy, all he could say was no.
He'd been in the Navy for six years.
Admiral Wheeler?
- My father. - Oh!
Seaman Second Class, Miles Archer.
Served on the Arizona when Pearl Harbor was attacked.
I'm sorry.
No, no. He survived.
He passed away here, last month, in Honolulu.
That's why I'm here. To bury him.
And since the Navy won't help, well, I decided...
to bury him myself.
Dad?
Dad.
Are you finished with these?
Yeah, I'm not gonna eat anything else.
Okay. Thanks.
So you just rented a boat
and motored out to dump his ashes over the Arizona, right?
Yeah.
And I'm gonna do it, too. With your help.
Being a private investigator's pretty flexible.
But there are a few cardinal rules we always try and follow.
First, talk money right up front.
Second, if it doesn't feel right, don't do it, regardless of the money.
Now, with Bridget, I'd blown both rules.
We hadn't settled on a fee, and she was pretty weird.
But she had guts and a decent story, which makes up for a lot,
and brings me to a personal rule --
never count on anything, especially rules.
We've got rules and regulations. They exist for very good reasons.
Of course. But you gotta admit she's got a legitimate request.
Which has been processed and denied.
Sure, by some paper-clipper following a book of regulations.
It's signed by Admiral Philip Wheeler. Good enough?
- Wheeler? - Sorry, Magnum.
This material's classified.
Lieutenant...
Lieutenant, let me ask you something.
Why did you send Bridget to me?
I mean, it's so... unofficial.
She was upset.
I thought, if she had someone to talk to...
See!
You do have a heart. I knew it!
Well, of cour...
That's irrelevant! Absolutely irrelevant! What I did was just...
Very thoughtful. Very considerate.
It was what anyone else would have done.
Not necessarily, lieutenant.
I think what you did was...
I don't know. Nice.
She took advantage of you. That's the problem, isn't it?
People are just not used to dealing with nice people like you.
It's not that. She's actually very nice.
Maybe so, but, Maggie, I think that Bridget was out of line.
I mean, she has got to understand about rules and regulations,
the way things work.
Thanks for the time.
With any luck, I'll have her on the first plane back to Cleveland.
Magnum.
Look, I'd really hate for her to go home with this unresolved.
Oh, Maggie, I don't want you to compromise.
Miles Archer was court-martialed
in January 1942 for misappropriation of government property.
What?
The reason he was able to stand trial was he was AWOL
from the Arizona on the morning of December 7th.
She's lying. She's gotta be.
No, she's not.
She's just a good officer doing her job.
Making other people's lives miserable. What does she know about my father?
He's just some name on a form, he's a damn file number.
Bridget...
how much do you know about your father?
I saw my dad maybe... four times out of my whole life.
There wasn't a thing he didn't know about being a sailor
but he was rusty on the father bit.
Well, it's a tough job.
Yeah. My mother, she never gave him much of a chance.
I tell you one thing he wasn't, though. He wasn't a coward or a thief.
My old man was a straight-shooter.
I'm gonna prove it.
I'm gonna get him buried on the Arizona, just like he asked.
Bridget, that's not exactly gonna be easy.
I can afford to stay in this dump a couple more days.
I'm gonna find people that knew him. I'm going to find out the truth.
You don't have to sweat it. You're off the hook.
I'm not worried about that.
You want to settle up? Right? okay.
Okay, that's fine, you know. Here. I hate owing anybody.
I'll bill you.
Okay. Thanks.
Bridget...
You could bury him here.
In a cemetery, on the island.
No! No! He was counting on me.
Not many people in this world are counting on Bridget Archer.
I'm sticking with this!
There's another cardinal rule a good private investigator follows.
Don't try telling a client something she doesn't want to hear.
It never works.
Sometimes you've just gotta let people go.
If they want to tilt at windmills, let 'em tilt.
I know what you're thinking, but she had no money, no friends,
and nothing but the name of her father's landlady.
I figured I'd just tag along and try and keep her out of trouble.
If I could keep up, that is.
Mrs. Timura?
Tamura.
Hi. I'm Bridget Archer.
Miles's daughter.
Oh.
Yes.
You have the same eyes, same tilt to the head,
same color hair.
Oh, you've known my father a long time.
He's been bald for years.
He was a boarder here for many years.
Then he must have talked about his days in the Navy, huh?
Your father was a very private man.
Um, Mrs. Tamura, I've been trying to bury my father on the Arizona,
and the Navy keeps telling me he was a coward and a criminal,
and I need to talk to somebody who knew him then.
The past lives in the past.
Maybe, but I have questions to ask about the past.
Miss Archer, your father was a decent man, always.
- You can be proud of him. - I am, that's why I'm trying to do this.
Mrs. Tamura, if I could just talk to you for a couple more seconds...
Hey, wait a minute! I gotta talk to her! What...?
- Climb in. I'll be right back. - Where are you going?
To ask Mrs. Tamura something, without you.
- He was my father, Magnum. - Look.
I am the private investigator so let me investigate. In private!
- But... - Bridget, you are always talking!
It doesn't give anyone else a chance. Trust me.
Where have I heard that one before?
- Yes? - Mrs. Tamura.
I'm Thomas Magnum, a private investigator.
May I come in for a minute?
I've said all I can.
Mrs. Tamura, you said the past lives in the past.
But for those without history, there is only the present. Isn't that true?
Yes, that is correct.
Well, Bridget and her father didn't have much time together.
So in order to honor him and his memory,
she's got to do it now, in the present.
Come in, please.
Sit down.
I knew Miles Archer since before the war.
As friends at first, then... as much more.
We were lovers for many years.
You knew him during the court martial.
Yes, but he was innocent.
Others implicated him to protect themselves.
Miles's only crime was not speaking the truth,
- or allowing me to do so. - What truth?
He discovered that two of his Navy shipmates
were selling in the black market.
He threatened to report them, but before he could do so,
an incident was created to make it appear that Miles was involved.
They set him up?
Yes.
The night it happened, December 6th,
I was sick with a terrible fever.
Miles came to me and would not leave.
He was with you the entire night?
He arrived at Pearl Harbor the next morning
in time to see his ship go down.
He never got over that.
Mrs. Tamura, why didn't you testify at the court martial?
I am Japanese.
The officer who defended Miles felt it would be useless for me to appear.
Miles worried that I would be harmed if anyone knew of our relationship.
Miles...
lived with this sadness for so long.
Is it necessary that his daughter now share it as well?
It sure is.
Miles's story was like a hundred others I'd seen.
The closer you looked, the more you saw, and the more you wanted to know.
I asked Rick to do a little research on the black market in '41,
the kind of stuff you wouldn't find in history books or Navy records.
As for me, after a day with Bridget,
I just wanted a cold beer and some peace and quiet.
Magnum, there's nothing like the whine of a high-performance engine
to disrupt an absolutely delightful afternoon tea.
How thoughtful of you.
Gee, Higgins, I'm sorry. I just didn't realize.
You didn't think, as usual.
I suppose I should be grateful you didn't bring that...
whatever-she-does back here.
She is a cocktail waitress and she's at her motel freshening up.
Of course.
Oh, how is the tea going?
Are you dipping scones and baking hot-cross buns?
The tea, save for your interruption, is smashing, absolutely smashing.
That's exactly what this car is, smashing.
What a beauty! Expensive mistress, huh?
Worth every penny, I'll bet.
She sure is. You know, in fact I think...
Yes, the Ferrari is one of Robin Masters' favorites, Admiral Wheeler.
Jonathan! Oh, Jonathan, come quickly!
Your buns are smoking!
Excuse me.
Hell, in a week and a half I'll be jumping out of this uniform
and I'm damn tempted to go and try one of these things on.
Don't you tell my wife that.
I'm Thomas Magnum, sir.
- Heard a lot about you. - Probably too much.
Hope it's all favorable.
Well, you know, as a matter of fact,
I have a friend, her name's Bridget Archer,
and she just flew out from Cleveland.
You may know her. She checked with you about her father. Miles.
He was a seaman on the Arizona.
What business did you say you were in?
I didn't. I'm a private investigator.
I assume you know that Miles Archer was court-martialed for unauthorized absence?
I think it's possible he didn't have an adequate defense, sir.
He had perfectly competent counsel.
This woman...
Archer was AWOL on the eve of Pearl Harbor.
His shipmates were not. They've been dead for 40 years.
Now, in my book, that gives him no right to be buried with them.
Good day.
Wheeler was tough, Rick. I mean, really tough.
- The Navy's all business. - They don't make mistakes.
Thanks, Deborah.
Yeah, I know. Wheeler reminded me.
But there's just more to it than this, Rick.
There's gotta be.
I can just feel it.
- Hi. - Hi.
- How'd you do in the game? - Hey, I scored big. Thank you!
Don't mention it. I was playing liar's dice with Wilkerson,
that's how I found out about those guys.
Thanks. You're about the smartest lady I ever met.
Thanks yourself.
So, what did you find out?
You want to talk about this now?
Yeah, if it's about my dad, we'll talk about it now.
Okay. There's this guy in town, his name is Vic Stout.
About 40 years ago, his uncle Duke ran all the black market here in Honolulu.
At the time, Vic was just a runner.
When Duke died, he took over everything.
Did you ever hear of Intra Pacific Imports?
IPI is a legitimate front, but Stout's in everything.
The word on the street is he's making megabucks heisting luxury cars
and selling them to the mainland.
I'd like to talk to him.
- You don't wanna talk to this guy. - I wanna talk to this guy.
You don't mess around with a guy like Vic Stout,
especially not about something like this.
Okay, back in '41, a couple of honest coppers got iced.
The story is that Vic Stout made his bones on both of those hits.
Listen, both of you.
There's no statute of limitations on murder.
So just forget about this, please.
Rick, Stout has got to be a businessman.
Maybe we can scratch each other's backs.
With what?
This is a horrible idea.
In fact, it's worse than horrible, it's a terrible idea.
- You could have stayed with Bridget. - You kidding?
She was so mad you didn't let her come, she would have torn me to pieces,
which is probably what will happen anyway.
Relax. Nothing will go wrong.
Besides, we've been sitting here for eight hours! I got a club to run.
Hey, we got a nibble.
- We got company. - What?
Oh, no.
I spent half a day's budget cruising this town looking for you guys.
- How'd you find us? - Psychic.
- We're taking off. - Wait for me!
Rick, he's getting away!
Do you want me to drive on the sidewalk?
It'd be tight, but you could try.
Hell, why not?
Going fishing for Stout with a Ferrari as bait was a long shot,
a very expensive long shot.
But somehow I just knew it was gonna click. And it did.
A nibble, we hooked him,
and now all we had to do was let him run for a while.
Simple, clean, neat.
But that's what being a professional is all about, right?
Hey! Come on, we're gonna lose him!
So, what's a $60,000 car between friends? They get lost all the time.
It wasn't lost, T.C., it was stolen.
Uh-huh!
Got a call from Bridget just before we left.
- She called you? - Looking for you.
Said you was real mean.
Yeah, I kept saying no.
She don't seem like the type to take no for an answer.
You're right. She's not.
There's nothing back there.
There's also 6,000 feet of nothing beneath us.
Look, I saw an Intra Pacific Imports truck, and it was coming or going somewhere.
Where?
Maybe right there.
Let's go down and take a look.
The view's fine from here.
Come on, T.C., nothing can go wrong. Take it down.
"Come on, T.C., nothing can go wrong."
I wish I had a dollar for every time you said that.
It would cover your gas bill!
Nobody's home. Let's go.
Don't bother. I know what you're going to say.
Hey!
There are about 19 or 20 guys all over 250 pounds, let's go in.
What did I tell you?
Come on, we didn't even get a scratch.
The more I got involved in this case,
the more I wondered why I was doing it.
But I guess it probably had a lot to do with the way I felt about the Navy,
and my own dad,
with things like fair play and honor thrown in to confuse things.
Not that Bridget wasn't doing a terrific job of that already.
But at least I'd finally lost her. I hoped.
Yes?
- I'd like to see Mr. Stout. - Is he expecting you?
- Yes. - No.
- I'll take care of him. - Hi. Thomas Magnum.
Listen, I'd really like to chat with you, but I think I should see Mr. Stout
because I've got some real personal snapshots for him.
Nice guy. Should have been a maître d'.
You obviously have me at a disadvantage, Mr...?
Magnum.
Just who and what are you?
I'm a private investigator.
And a photographer?
These don't prove a thing.
Maybe not, but I kind of think the police will be fascinated.
See, this pretty little red one here? That's mine.
Actually, it's not mine, but it's more mine than yours.
And... this truck?
That's yours.
I see your point. You'll have it back this afternoon.
- Now, if that's all... - It's not.
There was a black market scam in Honolulu in 1941.
Hundreds of them, probably.
Well, this one involved a sailor named Miles Archer,
who was set up for a bust when he found out about one of your deals.
Doesn't ring any bells. Sorry.
Okay. I guess I'll have to make some phone calls.
Uh, Magnum...
I'm starting to hear some jingling.
Archer was a kid that was stuck between a rock and a hard place.
It was purely business.
And it was 40 years ago. What does it matter now?
Who set him up?
Couple of sailors that went down on the Arizona.
What were their names?
What are you doing here?
Tell him to let her go.
Let her go.
God!
What was I supposed to do?
Wait out there and miss my chance to talk to Mr. Big?
He was my father and the Navy's gonna know that he wasn't a crook.
And, yes, I followed you.
You know what, for a P.I., you're pretty easy.
And not very discreet.
Look, she will not cause you any trouble.
Oh, I'm sure. But this little chat is over.
- Show them out. - Just a minute!
Until I get those negatives, the Ferrari will do nicely as collateral.
- I am not leaving here... - Say goodbye!
- Goodbye? - Thank you.
I don't want either of them opening up the past, do you understand?
I'll take care of it.
- What did he say? - He said nothing.
- Nothing? - Nothing!
Come on, what did he say?
Just wait, just wait a minute! Wait a minute!
Wait! I asked you to let me handle this, didn't I?
I even said please, didn't I?
You want to handle this? Then do it, by yourself!
I guess I really put my foot in it again, huh?
You sure as hell did!
If you hadn't come barging in, I might have got somewhere with this guy.
But you don't listen! You won't...
I'm sorry.
I'm sorry, I shouldn't have yelled at you.
Oh, no, I'm sorry, I deserved it.
I'm just always getting myself into trouble.
Sometimes I think I'm cursed.
No, you're not.
You want to bet?
Doesn't that belong to you?
Bridget might have had a point about the curse.
We were getting nowhere fast, and running out of leads even faster.
40 years could hide a lot of truth. And a lot of lies.
So those court-martial transcripts began to loom up as important.
So I left Bridget where I knew she couldn't escape, with Rick,
and headed for an understanding heart and a helping hand.
No, the answer is simply no.
Come on, lieutenant.
It's just a bunch of boring legal stuff.
No one's even looked at it in 40 years. Except you.
I'm simply doing my job.
So, did you find anything interesting?
Magnum, I told you, those transcripts are confidential.
Oh, come on, Maggie.
I remember a dozen times that Mac bent the rules a little.
That's because Lieutenant MacReynolds was different.
Very different.
Yeah. Right.
I could appeal to his heart.
Yeah. And his stomach.
Oh, come on! That food stuff, that was just an excuse.
Listen, underneath that stomach was a heart as big as... that stomach.
He cared, lieutenant.
I know he cared, but rules are rules and regulations are regulations.
I know that. You're right.
That's exactly what I told Bridget, that even though you're right,
you can't take advantage of people because they've got a heart.
That is not fair.
Of course, Mac didn't care about fair when it came to doing the right thing.
The transcripts are on my desk.
You have 30 minutes, not one second longer.
You tell anyone about this...
30 minutes was about a half-hour longer than I needed.
The court martial had been open-and-shut.
Miles didn't say 20 words in his defense.
He evidently listened to the young lieutenant assigned to defend him,
a bright young officer who, in 1942, was on the way up...
and now... had made it all the way to the top.
Your request is absolutely preposterous, Magnum.
Admiral Wheeler is a hero, a living legend.
Some legend! He railroaded my father.
That is a highly personal evaluation that,
given that the incident occurred before you were born, is totally baseless.
How do you know what the truth is?
We don't, damn it!
That's why we want to meet him.
I will not use my personal influence to arrange a meeting,
especially with the parade about to start.
Higgins, you seem to be a real horse's...
Bridget, shut up.
Higgins, look, all we want is five minutes.
That's not much to ask after 40 years.
Magnum, you were a naval officer yourself.
Why pursue an obviously futile exercise with such determination?
Probably because I was an officer.
I haven't forgotten what the word duty means.
Remember one thing. Nothing noble can ever come from tarnishing a hero.
Well... what do you think?
Think he'll talk to Wheeler?
He'll do it.
Five minutes, that's it.
That should be long enough, sir.
For an incident that happened more than 40 years ago.
A court martial is a lot more than an incident.
Since it destroyed Miles Archer's life, you owe his daughter some answers.
Now, wait... Just a mother-lovin' second.
He doesn't owe me anything. He owes my dad.
Aiko Tamura.
Why didn't you call her to testify? She would have come, I know it.
You've forgotten that 1942 was not a good year for the Japanese in Hawaii.
But wasn't it worth a try? Wasn't anything worth a try?
It would not have done any good.
We were so angered at the attack, so bent on avenging our dead,
that no court martial would have listened to the testimony
of a Japanese sweetheart.
Maybe not then, but they would now!
Archer wasn't exactly a hero, he was AWOL. He admitted it.
Because his girl was sick!
It wasn't his fault the Japanese attacked that morning.
Whatever the reason,
he was not at his duty station when his ship went down!
But he paid for that, sir, for the rest of his life.
And there were extenuating circumstances.
Most important of all is he's not guilty of the other charges.
Aiko can testify to that.
The man is dead.
All he wants is to be buried with his ship.
Is that too much to ask for after 40 years of punishment,
most of which... he didn't even do?
You could reopen the case, Admiral. Aiko could testify.
So could you.
Do you know what you're asking?
It's not just dusting off books,
looking at a court martial everyone's forgotten about.
Not everyone, admiral.
Nothing is the same now.
No one would understand how people felt, why they did things, how they did them.
I have a reputation and name to think about.
I have 45 good years in the Navy.
All of that is a hell of a lot more than my dad ever had.
Admiral, you're being honored today as a man of courage and integrity.
I guess you're the only one who knows for sure.
Bridget...
This was so stupid.
- No, it wasn't. - The hell it wasn't!
A barmaid from Cleveland squaring off against the Navy...
Oh, God... that's a good one.
Drive me back to my motel, Magnum.
I want to pick up Dad and go back home.
- Look, why don't we talk... - Come on.
You go for Stout, I'll kick the big guy in the...
Right, and get us both killed? Let's just see what he has to say.
I liked you, Magnum. I liked your moxie.
Kind of liked hers, too.
But I thought we had an understanding.
How come he keeps saying "liked"?
Will you shut up? For once?
That's good advice, but a little late.
You both talk too much and to the wrong people!
Yeah, well, I was never much on keeping my mouth shut.
Well, help!
You behave or she'll get mad at you too. Give me that!
- I told you not to do that! - You're gonna complain now?
- It worked, didn't it? - Well, what if it didn't?
Please! Don't we need a cop or an MP?
In the Navy we call them SPs, Miss Archer.
And I think we can help you find one.
As well as I think we can help you solve your other problems.
There really are some stories with happy endings.
Of course, Higgins got the Ferrari back. And Bridget Archer, something else.
Something she could take back with her to Cleveland.
Pride in her father, and herself.
Ready...
Aim...
Fire!
Aim... fire!
Present... arms!