Barn Burning (1980) - full transcript

- Don't care if I never
set eyes on this place.

I've been trying to count
how many times we moved.

- I think it's seven.

- I got nine.

It's at least nine.

- How many times is it, Mama?

- I don't know.

This time we got the law in.

We ain't never had
the law in it before.

(birds chirping and cawing)

- Stay in the wagon.



- He's hurt?

- Stay in the wagon.

(men clamor onto wagon)

(man yells at horses)

(somber western music)

- Go mule!

Go mule!

Get on there mule.

Go mule!

- Does that hurt?

- Naw it don't hurt.

- I'll wipe it before it dries.

- I wash tonight.

Leave me be.



- [Voiceover] Maybe
he's satisfied now.

Maybe now he's gonna change.

Maybe it's the last time.

(fire crackles)

- All right, back to it boys.

This here's a trial,
not a quilting bee.

So let's proceed.

- [Voiceover] All of 'em.

Every last one of them,

our enemy.

- [Judge] Now what
proof have you got?

- I know he done it.

- [Judge] But that's not proof.

- Snoke's hog got into my corn.

He didn't have the
fence to hold it.

I told him so and I warned him.

The next time, I put
the hog up and kept it.

That evening a nigger come in.

And he say Snope say to tell
you that wood and hay can burn.

And I said what?

That's what he said to
tell you, the nigger said.

Wood and hay can burn.

That night, my barn burned.

I got the stock out
but I lost my barn.

- Where is the nigger,
have you got him here?

- Tell you he was a strange
nigger, I don't know what

become of him.

- But that's not proof.

Don't you see that's not proof.

- Well get the boy! He knows.

- [Judge] Come up here boy.

(men whisper amongst themselves)

- [Man In Crowd] He deserves it.

- [Man In Crowd 2] I know what
I would do if it were my boy.

- What's your name boy?

- [Sarty] Colonel
Sartoris Snopes.

- [Judge] Talk louder.

- Colonel Sartoris Snopes.

- Colonel Sartoris?

I reckon anybody named
for Colonel Sartoris,
in this country

can't help but tell
the truth, can they?

(light suspenseful music)

- Now boy, do you know
where your Pa was,

the night Mr.
Harris's barn burned?

Do you want me to
question this boy?

- No damnation,
get him outta here.

- I can't find the
gas can Snopes,

but let me give you some advice.

Leave this country and
don't come back to it.

- I aim to.

I don't figure

to stay in a country
among people who cheat me.

Ain't no Goddamn good anyway.

- That'll do!

Take you wagon and get out
of this country before dark.

Case dismissed.

(men chattering)

- Barn burner!

(boys yelling and
cheering fight on)

- [Voiceover] This
is the last time.

I know it.

We'll go away and start over.

He'll stop now.

I can feel it.

(moderately paced western music)

(chopping wood)

(stick breaks)

- Not much squirrel around here.

- Where do you
think we're going?

(stick breaks)

- I dunno, ask him.

- Likely he raised to make
another crop somewhere.

Maybe even before, before he..,

- That's not wood.

- It's gonna be a cold one.

- Don't you know by now
he don't waste no fire.

- There you are.

You go get some more.

(stick breaks)

(birds chirping)

- I'm going on now.

- Where are you sleeping?

- There's a place in the wagon.

- [Pa] Sarty, come here.

- You was fixin' to
tell 'em, wasn't you?

You would've told 'em.

(punches)

- Hm?

Now wouldn't you?

- Yes.

- You're getting to be a
man, you've got to learn.

Stick to your own blood.

Or you're not gonna have
no blood stick to you.

You reckon Harris,

that judge,

any men in there today

would they all stick to you?

Don't you know all they want
is a chance to get at me?

Because they knew
I had them beat.

- Yes, sir.

- Man got to learn to take
his own justice in this life.

Ain't nobody willing
to give it to him.

That means knowing what to do,
means knowing when to do it.

No matter what a man has
to do to set things right.

Let's get on back, we can
probably be there tomorrow.

- Ho now!

Hold it, hold that
for me, will ya?

(horse shoes)

(humming)

- * I have not
problems of tomorrow

* I started to make it on my own

* I know I'm breathing worry

* My heart is so broken you see

* Oh Jesus the savior almighty

- Whoa!

- This is a big one.

It's bigger than the other one.

- Likely it ain't
fit for a house.

- Nevertheless,

fit it will.

And you'll hog and like it.

Get off them box and
help your mother.

When they get unloading,

take them on round the
back and feed them.

Come with me.

- Me?

- Abner?

- I reckon I'll have a
word with the man that aims

to begin owning me
tomorrow body and soul

for the next eight months.

- It's as big as a courthouse.

I ain't never in my life
seen anything like it.

I bet it's like Colonel
Sartoris's house.

- [Voiceover] They're
safe from him.

He can't hurt them.

He's no more to them
than a buzzing wasp

that'll sting a
little, but that's all.

Maybe he's gonna feel it too.

(knocking)

- Wipe your feet before
you come in here.

- Get out of my way.

Hello?

Hello, Miss Lula?

Miss Lula?

Miss Lula?

Miss Lula?

Hello?

Hello Spain?

Miss Lula?

- What are you yelling about?

- Miss Lula!

- What is it?

I know who you are.

I recognize you.

But my husband is not
at home right now.

So if you'll just
wait at your house.

Look at my rug!

Look at it!

Would you please go away?

Will you please go?

Major de Spain is not at home.

I swear the rug is ruined.

We brought this rug all
the way from France.

It's ruined.

Why did you let that
man in my house?

I am having 20 people
coming to my house tonight

and you have let this man
come in and ruin my rug!

(scrapes boot)

- Nice and pretty
and white, ain't it?

That's sweat that built that.

Nigger sweat.

Maybe it ain't white
enough yet to suit him.

He probably,

he probably don't
have enough niggers.

He wants to mix in some
nice white sweat with it.

(moderately paced music)

- Snopes?

You here soiled my rug.

I want you to clean it properly
and return it to my house.

Why the hell ain't you
in the field anyway?

- Oh I figure I start tomorrow.

I don't ever move and
start to work the same day.

- Damn you, Snopes.

- Lena and Donna Mae, come here.

- What you want?

- See this here rug?

- 'Course I see it, what
you think, I'm blind?

- It come from Paris.

- Want you all to take
it round the back.

Get a wash pot
and boil some lye.

Clean that dirt off.

- I ain't never
cleaned a rug before.

- Y'all pick that rug up.

- If I thought enough of
a rug to have to get it

all the way from France,
I wouldn't keep it

where folks coming in
would have to tramp on it.

- Abner, let me do it.

- Get in the house
and get supper.

- [Voiceover] Blood's blood.

You can't change it.

I didn't choose it.

He's right.

Matter what, we've got to stick.

'Else we're nothing and
we got nothing and no one.

(scrubbing)

- There, finished!

- Scrub it some more.

- My God, ain't it clean enough?

(water splashes)

- I could use some
stove wood, Sarty.

(scrubbing)

(ax chops)

(rock drops)

- [Ma] Abner!

Please.

(scrubbing)

- That was real good.

First time we have
rabbit in a long time.

- [Donna Mae] When was the
last time we had rabbit?

- [Lena] Well I suppose we
used to get a lot of rabbits.

- [Donna Mae] Well
when was that?

- [Lena] I remember, it's
when we still had that saddle.

- [Donna Mae] I don't
remember no saddle.

- You don't remember nothing.

- Do too.

I remember when
Mama's clock worked.

- That was mom's hope chest.

It ain't everyone
who has a hope chest.

- [Donna Mae] You ain't
never gonna have a husband.

(laughs)

(door creaks)

(fire crackles)

- Sarty.

Sarty.

Catch the mule.

Put the bridle reigns on him.

(strumming guitar music)

(drops rug)

(dog barks)

- [Miss Lula] What is it?

- [Sarty] Come on, Pap.

Hurry up.

Get!

- Whoa.

(metal clanging)

- Damn you Snopes.

You must know that you
have ruined my rug.

And that rug cost me $100.

You haven't had $100 in
your whole cursed life.

And you never will have $100.

So I tell you what I'm gonna do.

I'm gonna make you pay me
an extra 20 bushels of corn

out of your crop this year.

I'm going down to my
commissary and I'm gonna have

a contract drawn
up to that affect.

And you come down and sign it.

That's not gonna keep
Mrs. de Spain happy,

and it's not even
gonna keep her quiet.

But damn it, it might
teach you to wipe your feet

before you come in
the house again.

- You've done the
best you could.

If he wanted it done
different why didn't he wait

and tell you how?

He won't get no 20 bushels.

He won't get one.

We'll gather it and hide
it, I can watch it myself.

- Did you put the cutter
back in the straight stock

like I told you to?

- No sir.

- Better go do it.

- Yes sir.

- Guess I should step
off some more ground,

cover them bushels.

- We won't pay.

- How we gonna keep it from him?

- Ain't gonna pay him.

I'm gonna take de
Spain to court.

- Get up!

- Ya!

- Ya!

- Get up!

- Get on there

- Ya! Get up there!

(chickens clucking)

- We ain't gonna have to
pay them no 20 bushels.

A rich man like that
Major de Spain don't need

no 20 bushels of nothing.

He lives in a fine, big house.

I've seen it.

I fix he just gonna
forget them 20 bushels.

We're gonna work hard and
show him how we can farm.

And then he's just gonna
forget about ever asking

for them 20 bushels.

- Mind the mule.

- [Voiceover] I could leave 'em.

I coul run on and on

and never see his face again.

But I can't.

- Where you going?

- Fixing the mule up to plow.

- Hitch him up to the
wagon, we're going to town.

- How come?

We got work.

- Do like I told you to do.

(whistling)

- Get up, get up.

(whistles) get it, get it.

(whistles)

whoa!

(men talking amongst themselves)

- Would you take
your hat off please?

- [Man In Room] This man's trash

and like he always
has been trash.

- He ain't done it.

He ain't burnt nothing.

- Get back in that wagon.

- Burnt?

Do I understand this
rug was burnt too?

- Any man here say it was?

- Now, Mr. Snopes, you're
bringing Mr. de Spain into court

because you think that 20
bushels of corn is too high

for the damage to the rug.

- Man brought the rug to me
and said he wanted the tracks

washed out of it.

I washed the tracks out
and gave it back to him.

- Hell if I'm a man.

- I'll ask the questions...

- You took my, he took my
rug and ruined it. He...

- I'll ask the questions.

Now, de Spain says that you
didn't carry the rug back

to him in the same condition
it was in before you

made the tracks on it.

Did you carry it back to
him in the same condition?

Well did you?

I'm gonna have to find
against you, Mr. Snopes.

I'm gonna have to find
that you are responsible

for the injury to
Major de Spain's rug.

And hold you liable for it.

But I do feel that
20 bushels of corn

is a little high for a
man of your circumstances.

Major de Spain says
the rug cost $100.

So I figure that if he can
stand a $95 loss on something

he paid cash for,

you can stand a $5
loss on something you
haven't earned yet.

October corn will be
worth about 50 cents.

I'm gonna find

and I'm going to hold you
in damages to Major de Spain

in the amount of 10 bushels
of corn, over and above

your contract with him

to be paid out of your crop

at gathering time.

(dark music)

- Take that wagon round
down to the Smiths's place,

pull a wheel off of it.

- He won't get no
10 bushels, Pap.

He won't even get one.

We'll hide every bit of
tat corn that's ours.

Don't you worry.

- You reckon?

We'll wait until October anyhow.

(grinding)

(horse neighs)

(hammering)

- This your first
time around here?

- Yeah I've been up in the
northern part of state before.

- Farms are small
up there I hear.

- Uh huh

- Done well for yourself
in the trial, Mr. Snopes.

Don't you think he'd done
well for himself, Blacksmith?

- I think he done real well.

To get ahead at all
with a man like de Spain

means you've done real good.

- I notice you limp.

- He was wounded in the war.

- Oh, we have a hero with us.

- He served under
Colonel Sartoris.

The cavalry.

I was named after
Colonel Sartoris.

- The cavalry was it?

- Yeah I horse
traded after the war.

- You see that horse
de Spain was riding?

Wonder what it costs.

- I don't know what it
costs but he might tell you

what it's worth.

Can't fool me about
a horse or a mule.

- Here you are, Mr. Snopes.

- Much obliged.

- The other tires
will need tightening

so you need to carry your
wagon down to the pond

and let it set for a while.

- All right.

(metal clanging)

- Wait here, Sarty.

- [Man Inside] So he was
wounded under Colonel Sartoris.

- [Blacksmith] That's
what the boy says.

[Man Inside] I know
him from long ago.

He served in the
cavalry all right.

Then he deserted and spent
of the war stealing horses

from both sides and sold them
to anybody who'd pay for 'em.

That's how he got
that bullet wound.

Running off with stolen horses.

He's on his knees.

- Come on with me.

(light curious music)

(paper crinkles)

- Keep it.

(clatter)

- [Ma] Abner.

Please.

No not this time.

(falls against wall)

(suspenseful music)

- Get that can of oil.

- What are you gonna do?

- Told you to get
that cold oil can.

- No sir.

Please, don't!

- Boy you better
do like I told you.

- Ain't you gonna
even send a nigger?

At least your sent
a nigger last time!

- I don't need no
nigger this time.

- Well let me go.

Let me at least go warn him.

Give him a chance
to mend his ways.

(door crashes open)

- Hold him.

Not you, hold him.

Catch ahold of him.

I wanna see you do it.

Oh you gonna have to hold
him better than that.

If he gets lose, don't you
know what he's gonna do?

He's gonna go up yonder.

Guess I better tie him up.

- I'll hold him.

- See that you do.

- Let me go.

I don't want to have to hit you.

- Let him go.

Before God, I'll go up
there myself if he don't.

- Don't you see, I can't.

Sarty, Sarty!

Help me, Lizzie!

Sarty!

(rhythmic music)

(dog barking)

- [Sarty] De Spain, de Spain!

De Spain.

- [de Spain] What is it?

- [Sarty] The barn!

- The barn?
- [Sarty] The barn!

- Catch that boy, James.

Quick catch him.

(energetic music)

- Pap!

Pap!

(fire roars)

Father!

Father!

(fire crackles)

(panting)

- [Man In The
Distance] Yah, yah!