Stop That Cab

After his regular night shift spent driving drunks and assorted characters around Hollywood, taxi driver Sid returns home to his shrewish wife Lucy. Despite his exhaustion, Lucy demands that Sid clean the house, pay the bills and make her breakfast. Although he submissively does what she asks, his efforts are useless when the vacuuming results in the house getting covered in dust and the finicky Lucy rejects the breakfast. After Sid finally goes to sleep, he dreams of dangerous adventures in his taxi: A stranger, who has just committed a jewelry heist, holds Sid at gunpoint in the taxi, forcing him to speed. When a policeman pulls them over, Sid blames his passenger for the problem, but the stranger has mysteriously disappeared. Meanwhile, the stranger, whose name is Onslow, telephones his cohort Harry. Onslow asks Harry to lie to gang leader Lefty and tell him that Onslow was forced to leave the jewels in the cab when the police showed up. Onslow then tells Lefty that the two of them can split the profits from the robbery. Later, Onslow meets Lefty and his henchman Butcher and lies that, despite having left the jewels in the taxi, he can identify the driver. Butcher and Onslow then find Sid and bring him back to Lefty, who demands to know where the "ice" is. Because Sid has no idea what Lefty means by "ice," he offers no clues to the location of the jewels, thus infuriating Lefty, who assumes that Sid is lying and threatens to hurt him. Moments later, Harry calls Lefty to inform him that Onslow is double-crossing him. Butcher and Lefty then forcibly remove Onslow and leave Sid tied up. When Onslow returns to the room, he slaps Sid, after which Sid suddenly awakens from the dream to find that it is Lucy who is slapping him. That evening, as Sid prepares for work, he wishes out loud that he could win the radio sweepstakes and change his life. Lucy then reminds him to call her every ten minutes to see if her parents and other relatives have arrived by train, so he can then pick them up. During his shift, Sid stops for Guiseppe, an anxious Italian man, who is trying to get a cab for his pregnant wife Josefina. When Guiseppe's children come after their father, telling him that Josefina is not ready yet, Sid resumes listening to one of his favorite radio quiz programs. Meanwhile, at the radio station at which the popular Play and Win program is being broadcast, the chosen contestant for the night, widowed mother Mary Thomas, tells the host that she needs the prize money to help pay for an eye operation for her son. To win the money, Mary is given a task that is not revealed to the audience: find motion picture producer Robert Nash and bring him to the studio within thirty minutes. Because Mary has told the radio station doorman that she needs a good taxi driver, he calls his friend Sid. When Sid arrives, she explains that she must go from nightclub to nightclub and search for Nash. Sid is committed to helping her, but before they reach Sunset Boulevard, the taxi has a flat tire. Sid remembers that he has to call Lucy, who then berates him, while Mary fixes the flat. When Mary and Sid rush to the first club, the doorman refuses to let them in as the club only admits members, but tells them that Nash lives in the Kimberly Towers hotel. Knowing that Nash will be leaving soon to attend the opening of his latest film, Sid poses as a master mechanic, finds Nash's car in the hotel garage and disconnects the gas line. He then calls Lucy, who berates him for being four minutes late. With only ten minutes before Mary's time is up, she and Sid follow Nash and his date until Nash's car runs out of gas. Sid then offers his taxi to drive Nash to his opening, but leaves Nash's date behind. In their hurry, Sid has an accident, forcing Nash and Mary to jump into another taxi, leaving Sid behind. With only moments to spare, Mary makes her deadline and wins the prize. Later, she tells Sid about the contest and gives him one hundred dollars for his help. When Sid finally remembers to call Lucy again, she yells that the relatives have already arrived. In his rush to pick them up, Sid hastily hangs up the phone and does not hear Lucy's final words. On his way to the station, he picks up Guiseppe and Josefina, who is about to give birth. They are so delayed by Guiseppe's bad directions that when they finally reach the hospital's emergency entrance, the doctor must deliver the baby in the taxi. Sid then rushes to the train station, but the relatives are not there. He arrives home later to find that Lucy's relatives parents are already there. The group immediately harangues Sid to drive them to Hollywood tourist attractions, but as they bicker, Sid returns to his "sanctuary," the taxi, and falls asleep, dreaming of Onslow holding him at gunpoint.