* MTV *
When you see ol' Mr. Sundown,
you never see the sun come up again.
[grunting]
[Tate] He done Gurney in the worst way.
You gonna tell me you locked him up tight
like I told you?
Aren't we something now?
Tell Jennie about our plans for Indian Territory.
The townships.
Paradise?
A poetic turn of phrase.
Your mama would tan your hide if she caught you.
She'd likely whup us both.
Silas Cobb.
Fancy hisself a horse trader.
Think I'm gonna marry you.
Don't get yourself killed.
Maybe we'll talk again.
Easy, Cobb.
But how about I trade you that dark-hearted bastard Jim Webb?
[grunting]
- No. - Look out!
Should've aimed high, Billy.
Finally got blood on your hand.
[crow cawing]
* grim music *
***
Want me to read the message to you?
It's clear enough.
[indistinct chatter]
[barking, growling]
Five men, armed,
including Webb.
Don't think you'll be talking him out today, Bass.
Maybe not.
Or maybe Webb's got more sense than hate for me.
* quiet, intense music *
***
- [gunfire] - [people screaming]
[dog barking]
[gunfire]
Come on out, Webb!
Me or somebody else, law won't ever stop.
[Webb] My wrath is the mightiest of storms, Bass Reeves.
The Lord is my shelter.
Tell your men to lay them irons down.
[woman screams]
[groans]
[grunts]
[groans]
[woman screams]
[grunts]
[Billy groaning]
Oh.
Keep your hand on it.
[dog barking]
[cattle mooing]
[panting]
[mooing]
[gunshot]
Come on out, Webb!
You can drown in your own blood
or have that day in court.
Choice is yours.
[cattle mooing]
[grunts]
* tense, suspenseful music *
***
[wheezing]
I'll fetch a doctor.
From where?
[gasping softly]
He keeps looking at me.
It's not gonna get any easier.
End the man's pain.
Take his boots.
[gunshot]
Go on.
Take your shot.
[barks]
* soaring, dramatic music *
***
Dundy Carnival.
Saturday and Sunday.
Dundy Carnival. Saturday and Sunday.
[bystander] Sugar...
you catch all those bad men by your pretty little self?
You got finer clothes than me.
Maybe I ought to get deputized.
* He ride by night *
* Drawn fast to the firelight *
* Ain't no peace to be found *
* When the sun go down *
[laughing]
Why can't we hire a hand to do all this?
So you don't get spoiled.
Mama, I'm serious.
I reckon Daddy makes enough now.
I don't mind the time with you, it's just--
How was your time with Delcia?
- Fine. - Don't lie to me.
You've been meeting that Arthur boy.
Why don't you like him?
Doesn't matter. What matters is you do what I tell you.
That's what you always say when you don't want to answer.
You better fix that lip
if you want your daddy to take you to the carnival.
Better behave when he's here, better behave when he's gone.
When will I be old enough to just be, Mama?
* slow, dramatic music *
***
For the murder of William Hicks, we find the defendant guilty.
[excited chatter]
[chatter stops]
[Parker] After a patient
and deliberate investigation of your case
by the petit jury which tried you,
they have been constrained by their conscience
and their oaths as honest men
and good citizens
to pronounce you guilty of the murder of William Hicks
in Indian Territory.
You forgot that the eye of God was fixed upon you.
When you return to the solitude of your prison,
let me entreat you
to seriously reflect on your offenses.
Bring to mind all the aggravated horrors,
the mortal struggles
and the dying prayers of your murdered victim.
And may God
have mercy on you.
Bass, I asked nice for you to save some outlaws
for the rest of us.
Good to see you, Ike.
How's that former outlaw turned peacock working out for you?
I wish every posse man was as good as you.
I had my moments.
Seven hundred and fifty-two dollars
and seventy-five cents, Mr. Reeves.
It'll be square, Florence, like always.
[Sherrill] Bass!
I got a prisoner here
named Jackson Cole.
Arrested in Atoka for horse thieving,
but before the thieving,
seems he put a mess of lead into a fine gentleman
running for State Senate down in Texas.
The family is demanding he swing down there,
and they got the sway to move mountains up here.
Should've stuck to thieving.
Likely so.
But this order comes from on-high,
you are to deliver the prisoner Jackson Cole to the Red River,
and turn him over to the Rangers.
I ain't been home for 41 days.
This comes from Judge Parker himself.
You take him.
[chuckling] Ain't you heard?
I have been relegated to pushing papers.
You might as well put me in skirts
and call me Florence.
You insult her with the suggestion.
I'd give anything to marshal again.
You want to take that up with Judge Parker?
Be my guest.
You ride out tomorrow.
Your letter is "N."
Hey there, stranger.
You're home.
Who are these heathens at my table?
Hey, Bennie. [chuckles]
Oh! [laughs, groans]
[giggling]
I picked out the dress I'm gonna wear to the carnival.
You want to see it?
Come on, Daddy.
Oh-oh-oh. All right. [grunting]
I'm coming.
[door opens]
They're all asleep.
'Cept us.
We got some catching up to do.
Yes, ma'am.
That we do.
How's it feel not to be pregnant for a change?
Who says I'm not?
[chuckling]
Just what I need...
another child paying me no mind.
[chuckles]
Know what I missed the most?
What?
This.
* gentle, dramatic music *
***
[knocking]
[Billy] Morning, Mrs. Reeves.
Why is he here?
I'll be gone a week.
What about the carnival?
Sweetheart, I'll take you twice next year,
twice the year after.
Upstairs.
* slow, tense music *
***
You knew all last night and didn't breathe a word.
What do you want from me?
You wonder why your children don't recognize you anymore?
I have a duty, swore an oath...
Like the one you swore to me when we married?
You may live out there beyond that Dead Line,
but we live right here.
You know I love you and them kids
- like nothing else. - Telling us you love us
ain't the same as showing us.
Billy's waiting.
How many pianos could you buy if I was still trying to farm?
Buy me a whole orchestra and a church choir too, Bass.
All that pretty music
couldn't mend the hearts you're breaking.
See you in a week.
I can ride in circles for a bit if it'd help.
Only thing is to get it done.
Sooner we get going,
the sooner I get back.
[clucking]
Miss Ann.
You wish you could quit laying eggs all day
and do something fun, huh?
[sighs] Me, too.
[door opens]
Still want to go to the carnival?
Why don't you ask Arthur to take you?
I thought you didn't like him.
Let's give someone else a chance to be a gentleman.
* gentle, optimistic music *
***
So, why'd you do it?
So I could sleep.
What kind of heart do you carry to take a man's life and sleep?
A peaceful one.
That supposed to be funny?
Not particularly.
So, you're just crazy?
Billy...
go scout the pass up yonder.
That boy gonna talk all the way to the river?
Safe bet.
* Oh, Captain, Captain *
* Don't you know my name? *
* Oh, Captain, Captain *
* Don't you know my name *
* Well, I used to be the porter rode *
* Well-a *
* On the southbound train *
* Well, I used to be the porter rode *
* Well-a *
* On the southbound train *
[indistinct chatter]
[playing jaunty music]
What you smiling about?
All these things in the world we never known about.
Ever think about them?
How you gonna think about things you don't know about?
[chuckles] That's the whole point.
If we not wondering about what we missing,
we'll miss it all.
Sally Reeves, you about the strangest girl I ever met.
And that's why you sweet on me.
[man] Come on over. Welcome.
- Let's go see the elephant. - [man] Gather round.
- [elephant trumpets] - Don't be shy.
Can you feel the growing darkness?
The light of Reconstruction quickly sets,
and the forces of oppression gather to put us back in chains.
I ain't never been arrested by a Negro before.
Didn't arrest you.
Just seeing you from here to there.
Fair enough.
- [thunder rolls] - Still...
they ain't giving us no badges in Texas.
What do you think, Bass?
Can we make it to Limestone Gap before the storm hits?
Not likely.
Looks like someone will be strung up soggy.
Soggy or not, I ain't ashamed of what I done.
Spoken like a dead man. [laughs]
And you speaking like a fool, Billy Crow.
You know, you've been treating me like a rented mule
since before we returned to Fort Smith.
Now, if there's something you want to say to me,
- then say it. - When you started riding for me,
you asked if you had the grit to be a deputy marshal.
* slow, somber music *
- Yeah? - You don't.
Figured you would by now.
Now, if I missed the mark in learning you more,
I'm sorry.
But every day is a lesson.
And each one of them is hard.
Come on.
Are you giving up on me?
I never give up, Billy.
[carnival music playing]
[man] Take a shot right here.
I'm gonna see an elephant in the wild someday.
You dream big. Big as any elephant.
Excuse me, you need to get to the back of the line.
Sally. Just a little girl.
A little girl with no manners.
The back of the line is for you.
You got some nerve, toad.
Now get to the back or I might
just pull that hateful tongue right out your mouth.
Show you what happens when little girls speak out of turn.
Clementine, there you are.
* tense music *
***
Mighty strange, this feeling.
- Riding to my death. - [thunder rolls]
But if anyone delivers me,
it might as well be you.
Why?
Suppose when a man see the reaper coming,
he look for the things in life
that give him a little bit of comfort.
We both Negroes,
we know the world in the same ways.
You take a life with no regret,
we ain't close to the same.
Oh, you must have killed folks.
Ain't none of them had it coming?
Ain't for me to decide.
Yeah. That's our problem.
We always having somebody else decide for us.
Only, I don't trust none of them deciders to do us right.
- You sound like Sugar. - Who?
My grandpappy.
Felt the same way, and never got the taste of freedom.
* slow, dramatic music *
***
You know, I was there, in Galveston,
when Granger read the emancipation papers.
I reckoned you served.
Yeah, back then... [chuckles]
...thought I was a part of history right when it happened.
But history, see, that's when somebody wins.
Like when David slayed Goliath.
Yeah, I figured out pretty quick that day in Galveston,
wasn't no history being made.
[thunder crashes]
Just a white man reading words.
They always just reading words.
***
[piano playing]
[carriage approaching]
Kids, come say hello to your Aunt Esme.
- [kids] Aunt Esme! - [laughs]
I apologize for calling without notice.
Then again, I was hoping to be invited over by now.
[stifled laugh]
[chuckles]
[thunder crashing]
I was at that carnival today.
Saw Sally.
- With a boy. - Arthur.
Think it's okay to let them wander on their own?
You think it's okay to ask me how I'm raising my daughter?
That's rich.
You so sheltered here in Van Buren,
you forgot about the world we live in?
Sally can take care of herself.
She got spirit, no doubt,
but Black folks have been disappearing
up and down the Territory.
You've been listening to too many campfire tales.
That's what you think.
You really haven't changed.
Not nearly as much as you.
You got anything stronger than water?
- [thunder crashing] - This cover ain't gonna hold!
* dark, suspenseful music *
***
To the light!
[Esme] Our friend Samson Flowers from Chattanooga
up and vanished in Red Fork.
He started working a deal that would allow us
to lease land from former Cherokee slaves.
Samson took the train
to Indian Territory to broker the terms.
Months go by, and we don't hear a word.
Then, one day,
a letter arrived from Buck Thorne,
the Freedman he was supposed to meet.
When Thorne arrived at Red Fork, Samson's bag and clothes
were still in the room he'd rented for the night,
but he was nowhere to be found.
The other hotel guests, they told Thorne
about hearing thundering hooves in the night.
One man claimed he saw a rider with the eyes of the beast.
We never saw or heard from Samson ever again.
Even traveled to Red Fork ourselves
to retrieve his effects.
* dark, ominous music *
Y'all smelled sulfur in his room?
[chuckles]
Wasn't a campfire tale, Jennie.
It wasn't some story I just heard.
Samson was flesh and blood.
A man I knew, like I know you.
Now, sure, it wasn't a haint or a duppy that snatched him up,
but...
seem to me...
Black folk are facing things scarier than that.
Let's get to that carnival.
[thunder crashes]
Wait, wait.
Go on.
Deputy Marshal Bass Reeves.
Much obliged if we could take shelter.
No English.
Choctaw?
Español.
Oh.
- Tell them we're lawmen. - Yeah.
[thunder crashes]
- She's a wise woman. - Pásale.
[teapot whistling]
[fire crackling]
[whistling stops]
[distant thunder rumbles]
[liquid pouring]
Gracias.
Oh, she's, uh, she's talking about death. It's...
It's close now.
[laughs softly]
She's prognosticated your future.
* tense music *
***
You remember when Sug got caught pissing
- in Mrs. Reeves' flower garden? - [both chuckle]
I thought for certain she'd chop his johnson off.
Oh, Lord, I remember her face.
"Get your vile wretchedness out of my sight this instant."
[both laugh]
Now, when are you gonna introduce Edwin
to that husband of yours?
Bass would have to stay home longer than a few hours.
Word already floating around Fort Smith
about how your husband dressed as a tramp to snatch
the Dolliver boys right out from under their own mother.
Sound like you hear more about Bass's dealings than I do.
All I hear is Edwin chattering about him.
* slow, contemplative music *
***
[indistinct overlapping voices]
[Billy] Digame.
Hey, Bass.
She says she wants to clean your thoughts.
Tell her thank you,
- but no. - [distant howling]
[indistinct overlapping voices]
***
After Granger rolled through Galveston,
my regiment started going to plantations throughout Texas,
carrying the word that we was free.
That's when we came across
the Rockrose Plantation.
James Neblett, the owner.
Sheriff was there, the posse men.
* somber, dramatic music *
Neblett said his slaves had taken up arms.
They didn't even check for weapons,
they just took his word.
We thought he was burning his cane field.
But he was burning his slaves.
And they wouldn't even let us close enough to bury the bodies.
[grunts softly]
Ten years later, I'm out the service,
I move back to Texas,
and Neblett is running for state legislature.
Promising to pass laws to set things back
to the way they was before the war.
And I already seen what that evil man done to one plantation.
Not again.
[insects chirping]
You have fun?
Best night of my life.
Hello again.
* dark, suspenseful music *
What's this?
Shouldn't talk to my sister like that.
- Says who? - Me.
Sally.
You're awfully tough when it's four of y'all
- and two of us. - Back your monkey face up.
[all grunting]
* tense music *
[insects chirping]
We're in it now. In it bad.
We're fine.
We have to tell somebody.
It's over.
Sally?
That's your mama?
* slow, dramatic music *
***
Sure you had a good time?
Seem mighty quiet.
I'm just tired.
Saw an elephant and a fire breather.
Yes, ma'am. It-it was something.
You took Sally out in public wearing those pants?
That just happened when he fell in the House of Terrors.
Mm-hmm.
[birds chirping]
[coins jingle]
* slow, somber music *
***
[shackles clicking]
Billy, saddle up.
We're riding out.
[shackles click]
***
* suspenseful music *
[scraping]
***
* Wake up in the morning *
* Well-a *
- * With a cup and a pan * - * With a cup and a pan *
* Well, I wake up in the morning *
* Well-a *
- * With a cup and pan * - * With a cup and pan *
* Well, you say anything about it, well-a *
- * Got trouble out the man * - * Got trouble out the man *
* Well, you say anything about it, well-a *
Every time you come back, you bring less and less of you.
Oh, you must have heard the stories about Black men
disappearing? Let there be no doubt that we still
need to fight.
* dramatic music *
[Esau] You have a family?
What would you do now to protect it?
This thing weighs just as much as the chain.
That bounty on you? Pays the same,
dead or alive.
* atmospheric music *
***