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While
passing through the seedy border town of Los Robles, newlyweds Mike and
Susan Vargas witness a car bomb explosion in which Rudy Linnekar, a local
construction magnate, and his female companion are killed. Suspecting
that the bomb was planted on the Mexican side of the border and may be the
work of the Grandi narcotics ring, Vargas, the Mexican head of the
Pan-American Narcotics Commission, offers his assistance to the Los Robles
officials investigating the case. The lead detective, the obese and
lumbering Capt. Hank Quinlan, rudely rebuffs Vargas' offer and makes subtly
racist remarks. However, Quinlan's partner, the loyal Sgt. Pete
Menzies, and Adair, a district attorney, apologize for Quinlan's behavior
and invite Vargas to observe their investigation because of his status as a
highly placed Mexican government official.
In the meantime, a group of young Mexican men
working for "Uncle" Joe Grandi, a small-time crime boss with a bad toupee,
bring Susan, an American, to Grandi's headquarters in a sleazy hotel.
Grandi warns Susan of dire consequences if her husband continues his
prosecution of Grandi's brother, an imprisoned drug dealer awaiting trial in
Mexico but, Susan, unimpressed, insults Grandi by calling him a "lop-sided
Little Caesar."
While investigating the case on the Mexican side
of the border, Quinlan visits the tawdry brothel run by Tana, a former
lover, and the place fills him with nostalgic yearnings. Tana, who at
first does not recognize him, looks upon Quinlan with pity and suggests that
he "lay off the candy bars" which he has substituted for liquor since going
on the wagon several years before. Upon learning of Susan's encounter
with Grandi, Vargas decides that she will be safer stashed in a motel on the
American side of town while he continues working on the Linnekar case.
However, unknown to Vargas, the motel is owned by Grandi, managed by a
disturbed night clerk, and in the middle of the desert.
Quinlan soon tracks down a suspect, a Mexican
shoe clerk who was having an affair with Linnekar's daughter, Marcia, and
later married her in a secret ceremony. Sanchez claims he is innocent
and appeals to Vargas for help, infuriating Quinlan, who demands that they
stop speaking in Spanish. After a prolonged search, Quinlan declares
that Menzies has found damning evidence of Sanchez's guilt concealed in a
shoe box. Vargas, who had earlier seen that the box was empty, accuses
Quinlan of planting dynamite in the box to frame Sanchez, but Quinlan claims
that Vargas is only trying to protect his own kind and has a "natural
prejudice" for Mexicans. Grandi approaches Quinlan to suggest that
they work together to ruin Vargas and, after Quinlan has downed several
drinks at Grandi's prodding, they plot to destroy Vargas professionally and
personally by framing Susan.
Grandi's gang of young hoodlums, led by a
sadistic woman clad in black leather, take over the motel and accost the
terrified Susan, who is shot up with drugs and then transported to a room in
Grandi's hotel. When Vargas meets with Police Chief Gould and District
Attorney Adair to discuss his suspicions about Quinlan, the faithful Menzies
doggedly tracks down his partner to inform him of the meeting and is
devastated when he finds Quinlan drunk in a bar. Quinlan storms in on
the meeting and, furious that Gould is not defending him, makes a show of
throwing down his badge. Uncomfortable with the fact that Vargas is an
outsider making accusations against a star detective, Gould and Adair
placate Quinlan by telling Vargas to stay out of police business. Al
Schwartz, a young assistant D.A., stands by Vargas and secretly gains him
access to Quinlan's case files, which strongly suggest that Quinlan,
tortured by the fact that he was unable to find enough evidence to convict
the "half-breed" who strangled his wife, has been framing suspects for
years. Unable to accept that his partner and best friend is crooked,
Menzies attempts to defend Quinlan, blaming Vargas for Quinlan's binge after
years of sobriety.
Unable
to reach Susan by phone, Vargas finally makes it to the motel to find the
night clerk sitting in the dark and seemingly speechless with fear. To
Vargas' horror, all that remains in Susan's room are the stench of marijuana
smoke and the debris of a wild party.
Meanwhile, Quinlan arrives at Grandi's hotel and
enters the room where Susan lies naked and unconscious, the smell of
marijuana clinging to the clothing strewn about the floor. After
forcing Grandi at gunpoint to telephone Menzies to report that he has found
Vargas' wife surrounded by evidence of a drug party, Quinlan, who wants to
ensure that he will not be a victim of blackmail, strangles Grandi with one
of Susan's stockings.
Soon after, Vargas, who has launched a desperate
search for his wife, learns that Susan has been jailed on suspicion of drug
use, prostitution and the murder of Grandi. Knowing that Quinlan is
behind the frame-up and feeling helpless to stop him, Vargas explodes with
rage, but Menzies takes him aside and reveals that he found Quinlan's cane
at the murder scene. Although he is devastated by the fall of his
idol, Menzies agrees to help Vargas amass more incontrovertible evidence of
Quinlan's criminal activities and consents to being wired in the hopes that
Quinlan will confess to his trusted partner.
Quinlan, still on a binge, has holed up at
Tana's place where, in a drunken haze, he asks her to read his fortune. Tana,
however, sadly declares that his future is "all used up" and advises him to
go home. As he reels out the door, Quinlan is confronted by Menzies,
who begins asking questions about the Grandi murder while, nearby, Vargas
records the conversation. As they walk toward a bridge spanning a
murky canal, Menzies accuses Quinlan of betraying his loyalty by setting him
up as the stooge who always found the planted evidence. The argument
is interrupted when Quinlan hears the sound of their voices on Vargas' tape
and finally realizes that Menzies is wired. When Menzies tries to stop
Quinlan from harming Vargas, who is clinging to the side of the bridge,
Quinlan shoots him and then, in shock at what he has done, stumbles down to
the canal to wash the blood from his hands.
Vargas confronts Quinlan with the evidence he
now has on tape, and Quinlan prepares to kill him so that he can pin the
Menzies murder on him. However, Menzies, on the brink of death,
manages to crawl to the edge of the bridge and shoot Quinlan. Schwartz
arrives with Susan, who has been released from jail, and Vargas departs to
take her home to Mexico City, knowing that he is leaving behind enough
evidence to prove that Quinlan framed Susan, Sanchez and many others.
Ironically, however, Sanchez has ended up confessing to the murder of Rudy
Linnekar. Tana arrives at the edge of the canal and gazing with Schwartz at
Quinlan's large frame floating in the black water, she sadly remarks that
Quinlan was "some kind of man." |
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