Memphis Beat

[ indistinct conversations, ]

[ Sam & Dave's "I thank you" plays ]

I want everybody to get up off your seat!

And get your arms together and your hands together!

And give me some of that old soul clappin'!

Whoo!

rock it, big man!

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Cool it, baby.

Oh, come on, man. You know that didn't hurt you.

Y-you can hit me back. I-I can take a punch.

In the face. Hit me in the face!

All right. Come on.

O-only if you hit me first, baby.

Sutton!

Yo!

You little runt!

Yo. You don't push him, baby.

You shouldn't have done that.

Ready, Nancy?

Man: Whoo!

Whoo!

Lately, Dwight...

I been thinkin'...

What's it all about?

Life.

Life.

You must know.

Okay, boys, where to now?

Whitehead: Home.

You got him, greenback?

Yeah.

What a night.

What a life!

No, I'm just making a pit stop. You gonna wait up for me?

Oh, it's like that now, huh?

Wow. Crazy.

You're crazy. You know I waited my whole life for you.

You know that. No, actually, I'm feelin' good.

You know, like my whole life is about to change.

Hey, yo, hit your lights, man.

All right, listen, let me do this,

And I'll... and I'll be there, all right?

Love you more.

Hey, yo, hit your lights, man.

We got a gunshot victim.

And guess who it is, Dwight.

Wendall "honey boy" Taylor.

Whitehead: The boxer?

Yeah. Is he gonna live?

That's what they say.

Got his head bashed in pretty bad.

The EMT says he's probably

Gonna have some kind of brain damage.

What the hell happened?

His wallet was missing.

Whitehead: A robbery.

His walleta beatdown that bad...

Could be a hate crime or a road-rage thing.

Whatever it was, it went down

Right over there about hour ago.

So I rounded up some thugs and that prostitute

And that homeless dude over there.

Of course they claim they didn't see anything,

But I say you throw 'em in the box,

Let 'em sweat in their own guilt

Till they're clawin' at the walls.

Just take their statements and release them, Sutton.

Man, we were out this way an hour ago.

Too bad y'all didn't stop for gas.

Maybe this wouldn't have happened.

You know honey boy, right?

From the boxing club for kids?

Yeah, he's given us a couple Saturdays.

Sweet guy.

Dwight: You didn't see nothin', Phil?

Are you sure?

From where I'm standing, it looks like

You had an awfully good view.

Well, yeah, if I was standing right here,

But I was over there making coffee.

And I heard a gunshot and I called 911.

And I didn't see anything, I swear.

Whitehead: Is there a surveillance tape, Phil?

Or did you forget to press "record"

Because you were so busy playing rush-hour barista?

No, sir. We got one. You want me to get that for you?

That'd be kind of you.

Naw.

A local hero pulls up in a pristine Porsche,

Gets in a huge fight, and nobody sees nothing?

Man, why can't we... I know.

"why can't we help each other, Memphis?"

I know what you mean.

Have the doctors been able to tell you anything?

Billie: He's stable

But there's no telling when he'll come out of the coma.

The sooner, the better, they tell me.

When was the last time you saw him?

We talked before it happened.

Uh, he said he was making a pit stop.

Everything was great, he was coming over,

But then...

Is there anyone honey boy's been having problems with

That you know of?

No, that's just it. Everybody loves honey. Everybody.

He has to wake up.

He's gonna be such a great dad.

I'm three months along.

Well, Billie, we're gonna do whatever we can

To make sense of this thing.

Honey boy was a top cruiserweight.

Last week, he retired...

28 years old, on the verge of a title shot.

But he said he didn't want to end up

Another punch-drunk fighter.

Sounds wise beyond his years.

Exactly.

So, he retires to avoid brain damage

And then gets brain damage days later

As a victim of a random crime?

God can't be that twisted.

I don't know what God's capable of,

But I do know life can be that cruel.

Don't get your blinders on, Hendricks.

You know the crime rate in that neighborhood.

I do, and I won't.

You got a surveillance tape?

Yeah, but it's real grainy. It's being worked on.

Think the doer's car was a Taurus or a Camry.

But more importantly, my source in Ron funk's camp

Says he's about to file for bankruptcy.

Who's Ron funk?

He's a boxing promoter that made his name

Off honey boy's fights the last five years.

He stands to lose the most over a honey boy retirement.

And he's got a record.

Did three years after he beat one of his employees to death

During a fight over money.

That is not good leadership.

Go talk to him.

Gentlemen, step out a minute.

Give me a chance to talk to the detectives in private.

So, you want to tell us where you were last night, Mr. Funk?

Call me Ron. A-and it's funny you ask.

I was, uh, breaking bread with my fellow associates there.

You want me to call them back in?

Ah, don't worry about that. We'll get to them.

We might even wait until we can get a straight answer out of them,

Like when they're off your payroll.

Which shouldn't be long.

Honey boy's retirement's killed your business.

You don't got other boxers

Bringing in the purses like he did.

It gives you plenty of motive to strike out at the guy.

Hey, now, honey boy wasn't the only egg in my basket, boys.

I'm doing better than ever.

I got every top manager and trainer in the fight game

Up in here on speed dial...

At the drop of a hat, any which one will still take my call.