**
THE VIRGINIAN: This is Fairfax County in the State of Virginia.
I was born here.
It's peaceful, beautiful,
and a long, long way from Wyoming--
beautiful, too, in its special way--
vast, proud and lonely.
It's my country now-- Wyoming--
but not exactly a peaceful one.
It had happened before, in New Mexico,
where over 100 men were killed in 1878;
in Montana, where scores more died only a few years later;
and now it was happening in Wyoming--
range war.
The stakes were always the same--cattle and land.
And the opponents were the same--
big ranchers versus farmers seeking open range
to settle on under the Homestead Act.
The cattle man who came first
and carved his vast rangeland out of the wilderness
saw himself facing destruction
as the homesteaders settled on his range,
fencing him off from the grass and the water.
The homesteader had many names in the West--
squatter, nester,
and sometimes, with truth, rustler.
The cattlemen struck back, fast and hard.
**
What are you doin' here, Nicky?
Mom?
Mom!
Mom, what happened? What's the matter?
Oh--
They--
Oh, Homer.
Ma, where's Pa?
Ma, what happened?
Homer!
Hey!
Hey, hold up there!
Homer?
What do you think you're doing? That's our cow.
I know it is, son.
It's got our brand on her. Can't you read it?
What have you done with my pa
Where's my pa?
Have you done anything to him?
What's goin' on?
Tell me!
Why don't you go look after your mother, son?
Your pa would want that.
**
Ma? Ma, that was Judge Garth's foreman.
What are they doin' to Pa?
I'm no thief.
That's the last time I'm gonna say it.
You're murderers.
Every last one of you-- murderers.
MAJOR: You say that cow of yours over there is the mother?
She was a good mile from the calf we caught you with.
I told you before--
she was spooked by a prairie wolf.
Didn't spook my cow fifty yard away--
her bag bursting with milk,
looking around for a calf bawling her head off!
You've said enough, Major. Let's get on with it.
Both cows are here. Now let's make the test.
All right, Tatum.
The calf will decide who he belongs to.
**
Help me! Help me, Steve! Grab him!
Oh, my leg!
Pa!
Oh...Homer.
Pa. Pa, I thought they'd--
It's all right, son. It's all right.
You had your fun... now get off my land!
Here, let me help you.
I don't need your help!
Oh!
Pa! What's the matter, Pa?
It's my leg.
Go on. Can you make it?
I'll be all right.
Easy. Easy, son.
Go to the driver.
His leg's broke!
Oh, thank God.
Thank God.
Ohh! Let me.
Keep your hands off him!
Take the gun, son.
He's cold. You got a blanket?
He could do with a drink of whiskey, too.
I'll fetch it.
THE VIRGINIAN: The rope burned him a little.
That's it. Looks like a bad break here
just above the ankle.
The doctor ought to set it before it swells up.
Mrs. Tatum...
I don't know what to say.
I've tried from the day this started
to find charity in my heart for all of you.
I'm afraid it's more the Lord's given me strength to do.
You've hounded us, called us thieves,
and you've next to kill my husband
almost before my eyes.
There's no forgiveness left in me.
THE VIRGINIAN: I'll send the doctor over.
Hello, Judge.
How is he?
His leg's bad. Get Doc Spence.
I'll give you 100 to one he's got his mark on 40 of my mavericks.
If we hadn't got cute, we'd had him hanged.
Too bad, Major.
Now we got nothin' to celebrate.
He'll try it again.
**
MAN: * ...by your outfit
* That you are a cowboy
* These words he did say
* As I boldly stepped by
* Come sit down beside
* And here my sad story
* I was shot in the breast
* And I know I must die
How many?
Oh.
Three, I guess.
MAN: I'll take three, too.
Mickey, do you have to play that song?
MAN: Don't let him talk you out of it, Mickey.
It's the only song for this kind of an occasion.
Evening, gentlemen.
You all had a big day.
Must be tired.
Quiet around here.
You're a couple days overdue, aren't you?
You know, come to think of it, I am.
That's funny. A man can kind of lose track of time
up there in the high country.
Who was she this time, Trampas?
What would you mean by that?
Did you get down to check the calf crop
while you were up there?
Skimpy.
Seems all the cows have lost interest in romance.
Heh. And nester cows all got triplets.
Biggest calf crop in nester history. Heh.
You know what I think?
I think it's what they put in the water.
Lydia E. Pinkham-- that's what.
Well, ask Jubal Tatum.
You don't want to let that little go-around today get to you.
It's been comin' for a long time now.
Why, it was just like Montana.
What do you know about what happened in Montana?
Ran into a stock detective up in the high country.
The Swede?
Swede. Bunked with him first night out up in the line shack.
Was he running with the cattlemen or the nesters up there in Montana?
Nesters don't have money enough to afford stock detectives.
But he said a man would think
it was the Indian wars all over again.
Burned out cabins, barns,
hound dog lyin' in a corral with a bullet through one eye,
mules stiff-legged, burned to a frazzle...
buzzards all over, rabid.
The stink of death.
The Swede say he thought it was gonna get close to that here?
He didn't say one word about here.
What was he doin' up on the saddle anyway?
Russet huntin', I expect. What else?
Did you find any cut fence or damped out fires while you were up there?
Some. How's Jubal?
MAN: Busted leg.
Why'd you let him off?
He was branding his own calf.
Now, there's a coincidence for you.
Why, do you think he throws a long rope?
If he don't, he's loco.
If I was Jubal Tatum, and a maverick turned up on my range,
I wouldn't leave it up to Swede Torgerson to tell me who it belonged to.
I'd have that maverick marked and thrown before he knew what hit him.
I wouldn't talk that way around the Judge if I were you.
Wouldn't surprise him none.
He threw the long rope in his time.
Trampas, why don't you go put your head in that basin
and leave it underwater for a while?
Oh, I ain't faultin' the Judge, boss man.
But you know as well as I do
the great-grandmammy of most of these cows here, boss,
is somebody's maverick poppin' brush down in Texas.
Until some smart boy like Henry Garth came along, swingin' his loop.
Well, you just keep talkin' like that, Trampas.
You're gonna find yourself elected president of the grange.
I just might take it, too.
That's it. If somebody staked me to a filing fee,
show me a stretch of good grade,
hand me a long rope with a wide loop in it,
I'd be in business tomorrow.
MAN: And that rope just might turn into a gun tomorrow.
That's all right, too.
Well, they can't both be right, Trampas.
There ain't no right or wrong...
as long as the money keeps comin' in.
Deal me out, boys.
He'll get over it.
How are you coming with the sampler?
Not very well.
Did you do your homework?
Tomorrow's Saturday.
Betsy-- I don't understand.
I know Mrs. Tatum and Homer.
I've ridden into school with Homer.
He's a nice boy.
And your friends almost hanged his father.
Would you excuse me, Daddy?
Where you goin'? I'm tired.
**
Good night.
Mrs. Tatum, good morning.
How's your husband?
I'd like to talk to you.
Nothing for you to say.
You might let me try.
Why don't you just go off and leave us alone?
Pretty big ax for a boy your size.
Bigger than I could heft at your age, I'll tell you that.
A lot of man in you already. How old are you, Homer?
Comin' on 13.
Showed some sand yesterday,
cuttin' loose with a Winchester on 20 armed men.
That took some doin'.
I should've took time to aim.
Maybe it's just as well you didn't.
Next time. Next time I will, mister.
You remember that.
You don't want to feel that way about it.
I thought we might talk it over, man to man.
I wish I was a man.
JUDGE: Come in.
Mornin', Judge. Good mornin'.
I was looking over the bill for the fencing.
Trampas get back? Last night.
Did he find any cut fence?
Two or three places.
Did he run a tally on the calves?
Just rough. He said the crop looks skimpy.
Estimate way off, huh?
Hard winter. Not that hard.
Put out a tally on it next week.
Yes, sir.
"Sir"? Aren't we a little formal?
Come inside. Have a cup of coffee with me.
Morning. Morning.
Morning? Is that all I get?
No smile from the woman I'm gonna marry?
Sit down, help yourself. Thank you.
It's no better than the bunkhouse coffee,
but it's in a prettier pot.
So, how's the grass upstairs?
I'll be belly-deep in another month.
Good.
You're not eating.
I'm not hungry.
All right. Go ahead.
Hard to explain what happened yesterday
to a 15-year-old girl.
Ah. I expect you'll want us to ride up some creek today
and lay out those temporary corrals for the roundup.
You come across any cut fence, I'd like to hear about it.
Any branding fires, tracks of shod horses.
And find out what happened to 7% of my spring calves.
I figure I'll leave that to Swede Torgerson.
That's what you pay me to do.
What are you tellin' me?
Did some thinking about what happened yesterday.
Decided I don't want any more of it, that's all.
Maybe we won't have a choice. You think about that?
Yeah, I thought about it.
Yesterday that man was innocent.
It was fortunate for us all.
But there are others that are guilty.
When you're attacked, you hold your ground or you quit.
I don't quit.
I'll see to those corrals, Judge.
**
Doc Spence?
How's Jubal Tatum's leg?
Might as well have hanged him.
Two weeks out of commission, and he's already through.
Why do you say he's through?
Maybe you've got a way
to keep a half-section going on a pair of crutches.
I couldn't tell him how. Can't he hire a man?
He didn't have enough money to hire me.
He'll be walking by harvest time...
if there's anything to harvest.
Now, if you don't mind,
I'd like to get back to my practice.
**
Come in.
You come here to address the meeting?
No, just you.
Anything you got to say to me,
you can say to my friends here.
Come to apologize, is that it?
That's part of it.
Judge Garth sends his apologies. That's fine.
We've been holding our breath waiting to hear.
Skelly-- Let me finish.
You tell this to Judge Garth...
and Cass and Torgerson and the rest of them.
You pushed us as far as we're going to be pushed.
We're not moving another inch.
You made a big mistake when you tried to hang Jubal.
We're fightin' together now,
and we won't quit till we run you out of Wyoming.
I didn't come here to speak for Judge Garth...
just for myself.
Anything you need while you're laid up,
just call on me.
That's all.
We'll take care of him when the time comes.
Don't you worry about that.
Don't go making a hero out of me, Skelly.
I just had a run of bad luck, that's all.
I meant what I said to that man.
We are fighting together now, thanks to you.
There wasn't no Christianity till there was a crucifixion.
What does that mean?
You'll see. We'll leave you now,
let you get some rest.
Let's go.
**
What are they tryin' to make out of me?
**
Well, looks like the workin' committee's out in force today.
What'd you expect?
A little less impertinence from you, for one thing.
Morning. Good morning.
How's your leg?
I'll manage.
How are you doing with the chores out there?
I got my wife and boy. That's all I need.
That offer of mine still holds, you know.
* Mine eyes have seen the glory *
* Of the coming of the Lord *
* He is trampling out the vintage *
* Where the grapes of wrath are stored *
ALL: * He hath loosed the fateful lightning *
* Of His terrible swift sword *
* His truth is marching on *
* Glory, glory, hallelujah
* His truth is marching on
* I have seen him in the watch fires *
* Of a hundred circling camps *
* They have builded Him an altar *
* In the evening dews and damps *
* I can read His righteous sentence *
* By the dim and flaring lamps *
* His day is marching on *
* Glory, glory, hallelujah
* His truth is marching on
**
Jubal!
I'm all right.
Here, let me help.
I can get up by myself!
Listen, you can't be running out here every five minutes.
Pa, did you hurt yourself?
I'm fine.
You go on back to your cultivating.
Those weeds are growing faster than you are.
All right, give me that.
You can't do it! There's no use in you trying!
Let me decide that.
Give me a chance to learn.
I'll have these holes dug before dark.
Melissa!
Oh, a woman's such a useless kind of thing!
I wouldn't have dared say that, but...
since you mentioned it, why...
Now, look, I got to get this be--
This is still my land. I know it.
Go on back to work, son.
Wait a minute, Homer. Go tend to that calf.
She's gonna bust if somebody doesn't milk her directly.
What do you think you're doing?
You go on up that porch
and sit yourself down in a rocking chair and keep your mouth shut.
I'll let you know when I want your advice.
Go on, Homer, scoot!
**
Now, you go on inside, where your work is, where you belong.
Whoa!
I'm gonna hedge the team now, Homer.
Put the ditch in, let the water on the field.
It's awful dry.
Pa says supper's on the table.
I--I quit now, we're all through.
Nobody's quittin'.
Sometimes it's better to quit than try and hang on.
Except I know all there is to know about quittin'.
Jubal.
Don't try and hide it. I've quit a lot of times.
Once broke with a feed store in Getty, Illinois.
Got chewed up by a locust plague in Utah.
Tried chicken ranching in California--
failed at that, too.
A man's luck can't stay bad forever.
Yeah, that's what I figured when I came here.
Swore I'd make it.
It's a good piece of farmland here.
Plenty of water, open range to run my beef.
Now this.
Well, you aren't licked yet.
I can't afford to be licked.
I'm the patron saint of Cottonwood Creek.
Glory, hallelujah.
I bet this is the first time an accused cow thief
has ever been elected head of a crusade.
That cow thief talk is just an excuse to run us out,
and you know it.
Your own man said as much.
Who's that?
That Mr. Torgerson.
Swede? When was he here?
Oh, about two weeks ago.
Checked every brand on our herd,
every earmark.
Couldn't find a thing.
Where'd he go when he left?
I don't know. He had a packhorse.
Up in the high country, I guess.
**
War counsel.
Major Cass and some of the other ranchers.
There's blood on the moon, boss man.
Hmm?
Come in, come in.
Sit down. I want to talk to you.
Brandy? Thank you.
Help yourself.
Something is worrying you.
Yes. You, Judge.
I never seen you this way before--
going along with a man like Cass,
keeping your own counsel, not stepping up
and twisting his neck with what's right and what's wrong.
I don't understand it.
Well, there's a train...
comin' around the bend right now.
Not a little branch line,
but a fire-eating son of a gun
with a belly full of coal
and a full head of steam,
and it's going to smash those thieves
for good and all, right now.
That's why we had this meeting.
I saw 'em ridin' away.
Every rancher in the valley...
talking army talk,
campaign talk.
Supply wagons, logistics,
battle plans...
extermination.
Talk that'll make the Montana war
look like Aunt Dinah's quilting party.
Tally sheets, numbers.
South Pasture, Sunk Creek, Hannigan Flat.
I wonder if you know what these numbers mean to me.
I came here with almost nothing.
$100, a Winchester,
and wind-broke horse, that's all.
I fought Arapahos and Cheyennes.
Blizzards, Texas fever.
I cleared land, trapped varmints.
I built my first house on this spot
with two hands and a dull ax.
Nearly starved to death for two winters running.
Nothing to eat but...
snowshoe rabbit, chicken mash.
Got snakebit. Lived through that, too.
I fought it out, and I won.
Now I've got these numbers.
15,000 head on open range.
Last year, thieves took 7%.
This year, maybe 10.
28 homesteads by the river
in the last six months.
With preemptions and tree claims, that's...maybe 26.
And before you know it, we're cut off from the water.
Jubal Tatum multiplied by 1,000
is an army... marching down on me,
and I have no choice but to fight back!
That's what I wanted to tell you.
Drink your brandy.
There's got to be another way.
Name one.
Cass' way is murder, slaughter.
That's not you, Judge, the way you believe.
It's the law of the range,
to the letter.
Want me to show you the section, the paragraph?
Codicil "A" to "J".
Then the law legalizes murder.
Nowhere in those books
will you find the term "legalized murder".
But you will find the term
"legalized and instantaneous execution
to be administered to horse and cattle thieves."
I'm checkin' a cut fence,
when I got a feeling somebody's behind me.
I turn around, and there was the Swede.
I don't know how he got there.
A stock detective will do a trick like that sometimes
just to be funny.
Said nothing about what he was up to, huh?
Never does. You know the Swede.
What was he carryin' on his packhorse?
I don't know. Grub mostly.
How much?
Look, boss man, how the--
Two days Two weeks
Maybe two weeks.
Like a base up there now. Wonder why.
How do I know why?
Well, you bunked with him in the line shack.
You had a lot of time to sit around talkin', didn't you?
Not a lot. He was tired.
He went to sleep right after supper.
Horse throwed his shoe on him.
It was lame. He made the rest of the stretch afoot.
I don't know why you're frettin' yourself about Swede.
He ain't gonna change anything.
Gone too far for that.
You see a cyclone comin', the sensible thing is--
Sup up and go into town.
That's the sensible thing to do.
**
It's been a while since you ate, ain't it?
Where's your mommy?
What do you want?
Thought Swede Torgerson was bunkin' here.
I got some business with him.
Man get himself shot that way.
Since it's my own line shack,
I didn't figure I couldn't go in.
You from Shallow Ranch? Foreman.
Oh. The Virginian.
Must've rode all night.
I did.
Figured nobody's mind if I used his shack
while I run my traps along the creek.
You want some breakfast?
No time. What about the Swede?
He was here about two weeks ago
when I first come by. Took out the next morning.
Did he say where he was going?
Yeah. Horse was lamed up. Had to have him shot.
You'd better have some breakfast.
You rode all night. You need it.
He say he was gonna have his horse shot?
Yeah. He took off down the east side towards Powder River.
That's when I moved in.
Is there a horseshoer down at Benteen, do you know?
I believe so.
If Torgerson comes by,
you tell him to get down to Shiloh home ranch and spur all the way.
You got that?
Trouble?
Plenty.
**
Long ride on an empty belly.
Thanks.
**
What do you want?
Horse throwed a shoe. Can you put one on for me?
How quick do you want it?
Right away.
All right.
The off forefoot.
Whoa.
Ain't walked far since he throwed it.
Hoof ain't worn.
Well, he was favorin' it.
Won't have to trim it.
I'll have the new one on in ten minutes.
Fine.
From Texas, huh? And the drift?
Split it with my partner.
Lookin' around for a place to lie.
He might've been through here.
They call him the Swede.
Talk with an accent? That's right.
Thick-set, about 40, ride a clayback gelding?
That's him. He been through here?
About two weeks ago.
But his horse was lamed up, too.
That so?
Took off up Alder Creek somewhere.
That so?
Be a dollar.
Much obliged.
**
Swede!
Swede Torgerson!
Why?
The only opposition we've got is right here in this county.
Outside of that, they're with us to a man.
Cheyenne Tribune, day before yesterday.
"Wipe them out.
"All honest citizens are in the hopes
the cattlemen will exterminate the rustlers."
They'll join ranks all the way from here to Washington, D.C.
the minute we move.
They respect you.
You go along, there won't be a voice raised against us.
In a military campaign,
you wait an hour past your time, you might get licked.
Where you been?
Powder River.
What's the Swede say?
Been dead around two weeks.
I got what's left of him outside.
Shot? That's right.
You better tell that army outside to go home, Major Cass.
Bushwhackin' the homesteaders ain't gonna fix anything.
This is no bushwhacking operation.
The trouble's on the other side of the hill.
Rustler gang workin' wholesale out of Benteen.
30 or 40 heads still in the corral when I got there.
Are you trying to say that we don't know--
You asked me what happened to 7% of your cattle,
and I'm tellin' you.
You read the Swede's report.
He changed his mind about that.
You mean Tatum says he did!
How long are you gonna let this strutting Napoleon
trade on your name?!
When all he's after is glory!
Why don't you admit it, Major Cass?
You ran out of wars since the Wounded Knee fight.
No more Indians to slaughter, no more cavalry charges,
no more wars, so you gotta make one!
You shut your insolent mouth.
I'm sorry to see a good man broke, Judge.
That's what's gonna happen to you now-- you're gonna break
because you won't bend.
Arapahos had to bend when you came here or get broke.
And now with the nesters comin', you'll have to bend, too.
You can't fight it with guns or with lynchings
or hangings or barn-burnings or anything else.
It's comin', and you're gonna have to bend with it,
whether it's right, wrong, black, white,
or somethin' in between.
I'm sorry, Judge.
**
How much more time do you want to think?
Where you goin' with the arsenal?
You, uh--you ain't gonna do nothin' silly, now, are you?
A man's got a wild streak inside him,
it'll come out sooner or later.
Oh, wait a minute. We can--
Where I'm goin' is none of your business.
You ain't gonna hole up with Jubal Tatum.
You do that, you're gonna get yourself killed.
Maybe not.
You're gonna die with a cow thief?
Who says he's a cow thief?
Well, the Swede said.
The Swede cleared him, and Cass is a lunatic.
But whether Jubal's innocent or guilty
has got nothin' to do with it.
Cass' methods are still wrong.
It isn't only Jubal.
It's a whole-- a whole prairie fire,
and you're downwind. Can't you see that?
You'd better get on outside with the others.
You'll be called to colors any minute now.
Will you wait a minute?
Don't look at me.
I'm not gonna get my hide nailed to Jubal Tatum's barn.
No, sir.
**
Come here.
Can I talk to you? Sure.
So, he saw some cattle up at Benteen.
Our cattle-- I'm sure of that.
But you know as well as I do
how the cattle got up to Benteen.
The nesters took them there.
You got Swede Torgerson's report. He said it was the nesters,
and the rest of the stock detectives said the same thing.
The only thing this information on Benteen tells us
is where the nesters are taking some of our cattle.
It doesn't change the fact that they stole them in the first place.
Are you with us, Judge?
You know how much everyone wants you.
But we can't wait any longer.
Major, I agree with everything you're trying to do.
This cattle thieving has to be stopped,
or it'll destroy every rancher in the valley.
But I don't like the way you're going about it.
But we have no other choice!
You're talking army talk,
campaign talk, logistics, battle plans.
You want to stop the cattle thieving
or exterminate these people? Which is it?
I don't want to exterminate anyone.
That's just the reason why I've organized the men like an army,
why I've planned this thing like a campaign.
I want those nesters to be faced with such odds
that they won't even think of fighting back.
Believe me, Judge,
I saw enough bloodshed in my army career
to last me forever.
There's only one thing I want to do--
that's to stop the rustling.
And to do that,
we have to clear this valley of those nesters.
We'll handle them one at a time.
We'll give them every opportunity to leave the valley
on the condition that they don't return.
With odds of 100 to one against them,
I'm betting that's just what they'll do.
No. Some of them won't leave.
They're human beings. They put blood and sweat
into these miserable little homesteads.
They'll fight.
This can turn into a bloodier war than Montana.
I hope not.
I hope you're wrong.
But if that's what happens,
then it's nothing we decided.
If we give them a chance to leave
and they choose to stay and fight,
they also choose to face the consequences.
It won't be on our conscience.
I'm afraid it would be on mine.
Judge, either we drive them out now or they drive us out.
What else can we do?
I don't know.
Maybe the answer is...
to bend.
That's no answer for me.
All right, we won't count on you.
It's too late to change the plan of action.
The men are meeting here,
and neither you or I can do anything to change that now.
**
Jubal, it's me!
What do you want?
Where's Melissa and the boy?
They're in town with friends. What do you want?
I figured you could use a handyman.
I don't need a handyman.
Well, you got one anyway.
Who else you got inside there?
Nobody.
You're fixin' to fight it out alone?
I told Skelly I wouldn't have it any other way.
I got my reasons.
And that goes for you, too.
I don't need your help.
You go on down with Skelly. He's next on that list.
You're a hard man to figure, Jubal.
I see you've been workin'.
They'll fire the house first.
No way you can stop that.
You'd better write yours, too.
I don't have much to leave.
You're dead set on staying?
That's a way of putting it.
**
Well, I expect I'd better get this set while there's still time.
I'm...proud to call you my friend.
You'd better get ready.
Hey, mount up!
Now, men...
before we go, I want you to clearly understand why.
This valley, this town is in the hands of thieves,
outlaws, killers.
There's only one way out, and we're gonna take it!
Got half a bottle of whiskey left.
Better save it. We might need it later.
Maybe that's why I'm pestering you to leave.
Maybe I want it all to myself. You ever think of that?
Anybody ever tell you you are loco?
Several have, yeah.
You won't make a nickel's worth of difference, you know.
Two's no better than one if they fire the house.
You don't owe me a thing.
Everything you did has been long since paid for.
That don't have too much to do with it, Jubal.
What do you mean?
If I gotta spell it out for you, you'll never know.
Spell it out.
There's a wrong, you fight it.
If you don't, you become part of it.
That ain't so hard to understand, is it?
You better check and see if they're comin'.
Ah, we don't have to worry about that.
The dog will let us know when they get here.
Well, here's to nothin'.
And there's a bomb underneath us.
A bomb.
The fuse is burning down close,
and it's getting closer.
If we let it blow, there's gonna be nobody left here.
You can't stomp it out.
You can't sit idly by
in the hopes it'll be a nice, quiet little explosion
where nobody gets hurt.
You can't make peace with a bomb.
You've got to grab it,
you've got to rip it out and destroy it!
Now, either you rip out every last one
of these miserable maverickin' cow thieves
from one end of the valley to the other,
or you die!
**
Always liked whiskey better than I should.
Had to hold back considerable.
Now there's no reason to hold back,
and I only got a half a bottle in the house. Heh.
That's the way my luck goes.
Why do you suppose things go so right for some people,
wrong for others?
You reckon it's in the stars?
I don't know.
Tough on a woman. What's that?
Oh, bettin' on a loser.
15 years of it.
Illinois, Utah, California...
now here.
Heh. Sweat, hard work,
hunger sometimes,
and movin' on with high hopes,
more sweat, and less money in the bank.
It's hard enough on a single man, but...
when you got a woman and boy lookin' up to you for everything...
it ain't easy to fail.
A lot of people think it is, but...it ain't.
You sure you don't want some?
No, that's all right. Go ahead.
You know, when I first came here,
I swore to God Almighty I'd die before I failed again.
One night out in the pasture
I got down on my knees and I swore it.
Things went pretty good for a while, too.
Had a good calf crop that first year.
And the second winter, the blizzard hit us, and...
come spring, I found my whole herd under ten feet of snow.
Nothin' left. Hmm.
Losin' again.
Well, this is the last of it.
You, me, and...
the army of vengeance.
It's no good chewin' on it, Jubal.
You don't want to fight alongside a loser, too, do you?
I don't want to fight alongside a quitter.
I ain't a quitter.
I'm gonna fight here, and I'm gonna die.
There's nothin' else for me to do.
I'm elected martyr.
I didn't ask for it, but I got it.
I'd have been better off if you'd let them hang me.
I don't follow you.
Get out of here while there's still time.
Sorry, Jubal. I'm here to stay.
You should've let them hang me, mister,
because that would've been right.
You want a first
All right, I'll give you one.
This'll get you out of here.
Blotching irons, running irons,
hot wires for changing marks,
hair knives.
I told you I swore I wouldn't lose again.
I was at Alder Creek with 50 head of Judge Garth's best steers
when Torgerson caught me dead to rights.
That's just my luck.
I make off with 200 head of cattle,
and I get caught branding my own calf.
If it hadn't have been for that calf, I--
Look, I don't want my wife or boy to know.
Or the rest of them along the creek.
They'll brand a maverick now and then,
but ain't none of them rustlers.
All I can do now is die.
It'd be the only clean thing I did in 43 years of livin'.
Now, you want to help me? Leave me here alone.
Let me finish that bottle of whiskey by myself.
Go on out the back door. There's still time.
Look, Major Cass was right.
You can't stay here and get yourself killed--
Well, I can't turn my back on you, either.
If I walk out on you now, it'll be open season
on 28 families between here and the head of the creek.
If I tell the truth, Cass will tar every one of you with the same brush.
They don't have much chance now.
If this comes out, they won't have any.
You want to send me to hell with two men on my conscience?
No. Four.
**
Climb right back up and keep ridin'.
That ain't very hospitable.
I mean it! This isn't your dough, and it's all mine.
Not only not hospitable. It's downright mean.
Hardly worth gettin' shot up for.
Go on. Hyah!
You walked away from us, boss man. The power's gone.
You're just a miserable human like the rest of us.
I gave you both an order.
It's not that we're gonna disobey that order.
It's just that we're not gonna obey it.
If I get myself killed today, I'll never forgive you.
Think, now. It's important.
I want to know exactly what he said.
He's gonna stand by Mr. Tatum right through to the end.
He said that to Steve?
Yes, Daddy, that's exactly what he said.
**
TRAMPAS: Well, looks like the odds are about even.
When I give the order, put the torch to that wagon.
Tatum!
I'm ordering you to leave this valley!
You have 30 seconds to get started!
I'll guarantee your safety!
Don't think you can fight us!
There are too many of us,
and we'll start by burning you out!
You go out there with your hands up, they may let you live.
Jubal.
You're gonna stay here while they fire the house?
Jubal, shut up.
I don't know what they're doing.
Trampas, Steve, listen to me. I--
Jubal, I said shut up, and I meant it!
**
All right, spread out along this line!
Bring the wagon down here!
All right, men! Dismount!
Turn that team to the rear.
You see the Judge?
No.
Stay behind.
I'll give you ten seconds to come out...
or we'll burn you out!
One, two, three...
four, five...
six, seven...
eight, nine...
ten!
All right, fire the wagon!
Get ready to push her down on my command.
Hold it.
You're no longer in command here, Major.
The campaign is over, gentlemen.
Put up your guns, return to your ranches.
Now, you listen to me, all of you!
I'm in command here! Now, you listen to me!
I said, put up your guns!
You're gonna start this war, you'll have to kill me first.
You'll take orders from me!
You understand that?
My mistake was in letting it go this far
without talking up sooner.
I'm admitting it now to all of you.
CASS: All of you listen to me!
We've got a job to do, and there's only one way to do it!
It's them or us!
Them or us!
Are you gonna stand there and take it?
You gonna give every sodbuster in this valley
the license to steal?!
No matter what that man inside has done,
what we're doing is wrong!
Now, I know you. I know all of you.
I've prospered with you,
shared your failures with you.
I've got the right...
to keep you from doing something you'll regret!
This isn't the way!
CASS: No, there's no other way!
And you're a fool if you listen to him!
All you men who are on my side,
line up over here!
You stop it! That's an order!
Does not one of you knows what's good for you-- what you're doing?
All I ask is what's good for you!
McKeever! Brent! Harrigan!
You cutthroats! What's the matter?
You afraid to come in and get me!
**
No. Ohh...easy.
I didn't--
I didn't fail this time, did I?
No, you didn't, Jubal.
You won.
You won big.
Where's his family?
In town with some friends of his.
The McClintocks.
I'll take care of 'em.
**