Somebody decided to change the book's black transit cop Clive Prescott into a jowly Lieut. Garber tailor - made for Walter Matthau, but Stone redresses the balance in a nifty throwaway: Garber, coming face to face late in the film with a highly competent, encouragingly
authoritative police inspector he's known
only by
voice (Julius Harris), executes a visual and verbal stumble: «Oh I didn't know you were a — I thought you were a taller man — or shorter — what the hell...»