White Lightning (1973) - full transcript

♪ I wished I was an apple
hanging on a tree ♪

♪ That old Cindy'd come along
and take a bite of me ♪

♪ Now get along home, home, home ♪

♪ Get along home, Cindy ♪

♪ Get along home, home, baby ♪

♪ I'll be leaving soon ♪

When I was a younger
man in Meldwood,

when there was no gas,
and we used to huff air,

you'd bend over and
breathe real hard,

over maybe 20 times.

And then one of your buddies
come up from behind



and squeeze your chest real hard.

Then you'd pass out
and dream and go off.

When you come round again,

it felt like you'd
been away a year.

And you'd say, "How
long was I out?"

Everyone would laugh,

because it had only
been a few seconds.

You see, I was about six year old

when I first started huffing.

I'd get me some of
that lighter fluid,

and I'd get me some
of that good gasoline

and huff it right up.

By the time I was a younger man,

I was pure animal.



Seemed all's what I wanted
to do was to get high.

I'd wake up, my arms
all bloodied and black

with ink I'd scratched in there.

Daggers and crosses,
that sort of thing.

There'd be whole weeks
pass, can by can.

Jesus.

D. Ray. Get yourself in here.

He's on the gas again.

What? That's it.

I told you little son of a bitch.

Daddy really loved me,

and I know now that he was
only trying to help me,

keep me from
deteriorating my brain.

♪ This time, baby ♪

♪ You're gonna stay,
stay, stay with me ♪

D. Ray White is my daddy.

And never there was a
better mountain dancer

that ever lived.

He was able to jump 52 steps

more than any other dancer ever.

He was the greatest mountain
dancer of all time.

He's a worldwide.

All over West Virginia, Kentucky,

and all these parts,

they still talk about
the fast stepping feet

of my daddy, D. Ray White.

Now, git.

I got him, D. Ray.

Come on, Jessie.

Well, more than one time,

the sheriff took me
right down to Meldwood.

That's the West Virginia
Industrial School for Boys.

That's a reform school.

Left, left, right, left.

Left, left, left, right, left.

Left.

They'd shave you
and spray you down

to make sure you didn't have
none of the blue ball crabs.

Man, that shit burned.

They sprayed your nuts too.

Whoo.

They'd give you your clothes
and make you line up.

Name?

Jesco White.

Back again, Jesco White.

Just like the army.

Left, left, right, left.

Stop.

Turn.

Left, left, left, right, left.

Smack.

Turn.

Sometime, iffen you messed up

and they thought Meldwood
weren't strong enough

in its punishments,

they'd send you to
Everet Work Camp.

You really didn't
want to go there.

I guess they 'posed
to make you better

than what you are down there.

Move it.

But I don't suppose it took.

'Stead, I reckon it
just made it worser,

because soon as I'd get out,

I'd just do something
to get right back in.

My daddy tried to
fight it, though.

He didn't want nothing
from me but the dancing.

He understand from a young
age that I was weak,

and he tried to keep me
from the evil in the world.

♪ Get along home, home Cindy ♪

♪ Get along home, Cindy ♪

♪ Get along home, home, baby ♪

♪ I'll be leaving soon ♪

Whoo.

But I was already gone.

And then things would happen

that made me slide even farther.

♪ I wished I was an apple
hanging on the tree ♪

Dorsey.

Dorsey, come on.

Go get papa's hacksaw.

You know, the one
in the motor shed

that looks like a bow.

- Rocket.
- Pardon?

Lighter fluid. Rocket.

- Mr Warner?
- You want to come over here?

Son of a bitch.

All I wanted was
some lighter fluid.

We know it's you, Jessie.

You've been breaking in
every store in town,

stealing the lighter fluid.

You want your daddy to
come and collect you, boy?

Now, wait a damn minute.

You little son of a bitch.

So I'd end up back in that place.

In a place like that,
things tend to happen

that'll make you
even worser still.

Keep on sliding right
down, you know?

Well, one of the other boys

decided he just plain
didn't like me very well.

So he and a few of the others
worked me over pretty good

right there in the washing room.

Give me a cigarette.

I don't have any.

Boy, you better give
me a cigarette.

I told you I don't have any.

Sure wish I did.

I knew a kid from Boone County

named Cedell Davis,

and he took me and showed me
how things ran, you know?

Cedell then telled me that
I best get him back quick

and showed me how to make a
kind of knife like a weapon

out of tape, shaving
razors, and a toothbrush.

Well, I left a
cigarette packet out

on the bunk there
in the dorm room.

You see, them kids what beat me

figured that they had
call to any of my things.

So they'd come over and took them.

Well, I'll tell you now
that I don't really recall

what happened second for second.

But at the end of
it, all them boys

had been beaten
worser than I took.

Their ears had been slit,

their nostrils opened
up and flapping,

and their mouths cut wide
like they was smiling,

just like you'd cut a pig.

♪ I will dance, I will sing ♪

Some of them things
that I done in my life

come out of the gas and the like.

Some of them things
that would later happen

come from Meldwood and the camp.

And, hoar, there's
madness that come

from what happened to
Cilla and D. Ray too.

In the beginning,

God created the Earth
and the light,

and all things good was born.

After the devil fell
from Heaven's grace,

all men walked the Earth,

and wars of suffering broke
everywhere on the Earth.

God cried and was angered.

So's the floods came,

and he drowned all the
evil that had taken root,

except in the devils

in the soil and the
rocks and the air.

There can be no hiding
from it till we are washed

in the pure fire of the Rapture.

He tried to give it to me,
the gifted, the dancit,

to push the other from my blood.

Take off them shoes.

Huh?

I said, take off them shoes.

Why?

Take them off, you
little son of a bitch.

You're gonna learn one goddamn
thing in your misery life.

You're gonna learn to dance.

Watch me.

Come on.

That's it, that's it, that's it.

That's right. That's good.

Once you get the flat foot,
I'll teach you another step.

Come on, look at me. Look at me.

Every day we'd go out there
on the dirt out the front,

and we'd hit it, you know?

Get all them steps down.

We'd dance in barefoot

on account of it toughens
up your feet and ankles.

Well, we must have gone
out there most days

for about two or
maybe five months.

I got myself pretty
good at dancing,

and D. Ray, well, he wanted
me to get going on it.

♪ Get along home, home, home ♪

♪ Get along home, Cindy ♪

♪ Get along home, home, baby ♪

♪ I'll be leaving soon ♪

Daddy liked to see everyone
having a good time

and keeping out of trouble.

That is why everyone
all over Boone County

and all the parts round
here, they loved D. Ray.

They used to all come out.

The cripples, the homeless,
the coloured folks.

Everyone was welcome at ours.

That was the way D. Ray liked it.

They'd tell jokes
and dance and sing,

and everyone would carry on
and have a real good time.

♪ I wished I was an apple
hanging on a tree ♪

♪ That old Cindy'd come along
and take a bite of me ♪

♪ Now get along home, home, baby ♪

♪ Get along home, now, Cindy ♪

Edgar Hudd played for Daddy.

They as close as kin
since they were kids.

He's a powerful preacher too.

I mean, he'd cite the
Bible, chapter and verse.

Everything was perfect then.

We was all together and happy.

But I was weak.

♪ Bright lights and Broadway,
sunshine down in Dixie ♪

I didn't care much
for nothing at all.

♪ Oh, them hills,
beautiful hills ♪

♪ They'll be moonshining in
them old Kentucky hills ♪

♪ Yeah, bright lights
and Broadway ♪

♪ Sunshine down the Dixie line ♪

♪ They'll be moonshining in
them old Kentucky hills ♪

Whoo.

Them's some pretty nice
tattoos you all got there.

This one the grim reaper, and
this one the rebel reaper.

What's that?

It looks like snot in a bag.

That is pure crank.

It put ice right in your veins.

Give me your arm.

Now, I'll pop you a little one.

♪ Well, I thought I'd
tell you what happened ♪

♪ I went out last night ♪

♪ And I got hitched up ♪

♪ When I woke up this morning,
you should have seen ♪

♪ What I had in the bed with me ♪

♪ She jumped up out of bed ♪

♪ Pulled her hair
down in the eye ♪

♪ Looked at me like a damn
can of that commodity meat ♪

♪ She said, she said ♪

♪ Whoo, ah ah ♪

♪ Whoo, ah ah ♪

♪ Whoo whooee ♪

♪ So this time we
went way over here ♪

♪ I don't know ♪

♪ She jumped out of the car ♪

♪ She pulled her
hair down her eye ♪

That snot'll make you feel

just like an angel from Heaven.

You all be running for three days,

not being able to sit
still or close your eyes.

And you never want to come down.

You want me dead.

You're not gonna die.

Get away from me.

They's got water for
you to breathe in.

He thinks he's a fish
or something like that.

I told you.

I'm a seagull.

They's going to throw me down
in the real prison that time,

except when they got
me to the jail-house,

the doctors realised I was
not in my right mind.

So they sent me to
Bennett State Hospital.

That's the insane asylum.

♪ So this time we
went way over there ♪

♪ Things was really
getting going ♪

♪ They was boiling up ♪

♪ Sounded like this ♪

I must have spent more
time in them places

than I was out.

But when I was out,

I'd try and follow
what my Daddy had said

and hoping the dancing
would keep me right.

Things were like
that for some year.

I'd try and stay good,
but I was weak.

And sooner or later,
I'd do something evil

and get sent right back in.

What you do that for?

I was watching my own program.

How can you say that
to me like that?

Hey, motherfucker.

I told you I was
watching my own program.

Hey.

I told you I was
watching my own program.

When I'd go off it
and get in a fight

or something like that,

they'd hold me down
and shoot me up

with something to keep
me good and quiet.

I'd be right for a time then

before them drugs would wear
off and I'd feel it again,

the devil moving in my blood.

Jesus, how am I
'posed to eat in here

with these retards and their shit?

God damn it.

Nurse.

Hey, look at this.

Oh.

You stupid, motherfucking...

♪ Well, you got to do,
babe, what you can do ♪

♪ I got to do, babe
what you ought to do ♪

Stop it now.

♪ I know you can ♪

♪ What are we gonna do? ♪

♪ There's a thing
called the slop ♪

♪ Oh, that's what
they call the slop ♪

When the sun shines and
Jesus holds court,

then all is light.

But when the dark comes,
then things change.

And the other angels come,

black with no teeth,
flying, moving fast.

They howl, and they
take your thoughts,

and all that evil stays clogged,

and your guts turn with it.

Your heart labours with it

till the sin flows
through your blood.

I was still incarcerated the
night they killed my daddy.

They didn't tell me about
D. Ray for quite a time

on account of all them drugs

they had moving through
my brain round then.

They waited till I was
back in my right mind.

And that took a while,

so even when they
eventually told me,

I don't suppose I understood

just what it was they were saying.

It is about six months that
I had to sit and stew,

thinking about what
they did to my daddy.

I loved my Daddy and
will till the day I die.

It is D. Ray White that
gave me this life,

and near the only good in
it has been his doing.

And they took that from me.

Eye for an eye was my thinking,

just like it says in the Bible.

Now, I just want to make
sure that you realise

what you're getting
yourself into, Mrs White.

If you sign this,

you're responsible for him
and his continued care:

making sure he takes
his medication

and goes to his
psychiatric appointments.

Can you explain it plain,

on account of we don't
have the education?

Okay.

Here. Take your hand.

Now take it like this

and put it on Jess's head.

Like this.

Now, his brain there,
it's like, well...

It's like ashes.

Cigarette ashes?

- Yeah, that's right.
- Cigarette ashes.

I don't think anything
as sad or as powerful

as my Daddy dying
ever happened to me.

His death is a deep
hurt in my heart

and in my brain too.

It's a great pain when someone
you love dies like that.

Almost strong enough to
change your whole life.

Jesco, look here.

You can work on your dancing now.

Take your daddy's shoes.

So I took them old shoes,

and I made to set my life straight

to get away from all the
bad things what happened.

Wait, wait.

Well, on that one right there.

Over where?

Yeah, when you do that bounce

and then shuffle...

- Like this?
- Yeah.

I called up old Bob Huston.

Bob played the guitar many
times with Edgar Hood,

the old banjo player

what played all them
years with Daddy.

Now, on that one right there,

you just need to bounce
and then shuffle.

Yes.

So he knew all the songs
or guitar strumming

that I could do them steps to.

We started playing anywhere's
that would have us.

♪ Oh, he taught me to love him ♪

♪ And called me his flower ♪

♪ That's blooming to cheer him
through life's dreary hour ♪

♪ Oh, I long to see him
every passing dark hour ♪

♪ He's gone and neglected
this pale wildwood flower ♪

Thank you.

Wow, I love you.

We're going to rock out.

Come on, Bobby.

Then John Jackson got us some
shows over in Charlotte,

and we took the show on the road.

Well, we started
there in Charlotte

and then all over.

We must have played five
or six times a week

in Ajax, Manharm, Delsot,
Gary, Jessop town,

and hoar Bandytown.

♪ If you want to get to heaven ♪

I'd get up there in Daddy's
shoes feeling good, you know?

But I always had this problem,

and no matter where I was
or how good I was feeling,

I was only one second away from
thinking them bad thoughts

and starting it all over.

It is in me like a cancer,
ruining my blood.

I tried the good life, all right.

But my guts is bad,
turning over sour.

See, I used to think
real bad things.

The time I was down
there in Meldwood,

I was on detail, you know?

When you got to do
work around the place

and that sort of thing.

So I was out there
mowing and working hard

and waving to them guards and all,

when I get to thinking.

What makes a lawn mower run?

It's out of gas.

Now, I don't know iffen I
was dreaming or awake.

But, man, I'll tell you,

I had some thoughts
come to me then

that weren't no good.

There was thoughts of
killing and hurting

every one of them guards.

I had all kinds of
them punishments.

Just about any kind of
pain you can imagine.

A kind of avenging angel,

I'd give them their
retribution for their sins.

Thank you.

This next song we're
going to play for you...

Cheers, Bob.

This next song is
a song that my...

Move your feet, you worm.

My late daddy D. Ray taught me.

Fuck your daddy.

This song's called
The Wildwood Flower.

You all don't want to
be so rude. I know.

You all been drinking alcohol.

I understand.

But you're disturbing my show

and disrespecting my daddy.

And that's some bad manners.

Oh.

Fuck you.

You all kiss your
mother with that mouth?

Wait, Bob.

- Hey.
- Hey.

You going toward Pryner?

We ain't got no ride, man.

Well, let's put her
out in the road.

We'll get us a ride
just like a fish

and then hijack the car.

All right.

♪ Here she comes,
what a pretty gal ♪

♪ Brown shoes on and
a sequin gown ♪

See, I was prepared to
steal the car that night

and rob them people
of all their money.

That is how I was
thinking at the time

till I saw her, a
vision of beauty,

like an angel from Heaven.

Why are you laughing?

You're shining.

They's sparkles.

My God.

Why are you laughing at me?

Can you see without your glasses?

Why?

Can you?

No.

My God, you look just
like a movie star.

You do. You look just
like a movie star.

I think I am in love.

What's your name, baby?

Enid. Enid Carter.

I think I'll have to
call you Priscilla.

It's my favourite name.

Where are we going?

I was going to a
wedding in Pryner,

but we could go to mine.

It's in Twilight.

Twilight. Ooh.

My husband, Vernon, he's
away with the children.

We could go party at my house.

♪ The deed's been done, and
I can't keep waiting ♪

Man, that was the
best piece of pussy

I had my whole life that night.

The cleanest too.

- I can see your ass.
- I can see your ass.

I can see your ass.

I never before or since
saw a bird that smart

who could talk just like a person.

- Vernon's coming.
- Vernon's coming.

Oh.

What the fuck?

Hey.

Who the hell are you?

We're friends of Cilla's.

Who the fuck is Cilla?

Enid.

What the fuck is going on here?

They's my cousins.

What?

They's my cousins.

And who's he?

Their friend.

And who the fuck is Cilla?

Well, she's Cilla.

Cilla?

♪ As I sit here tonight
the jukebox playing ♪

♪ The tune about the wild ♪

She left him that night
and came away with me.

I don't know why, and I'm
sure she don't either.

Sometimes she can be kind
of simple like that,

just doing things
without thinking,

like a chicken that
can't help eating.

You know, if you don't
take that food away,

a chicken will eat
itself to death.

That's a fact.

♪ A trusting wife ♪

♪ It wasn't God who made
honky-tonk angels ♪

Me and Cill got a place

out near Rod Culshack's holler,

and Cill came out on the road.

She loved being out on the road.

Them times we'd go as far
as Marshall or Cookstown.

Cilla would cook my food
and wash my clothes,

just like a regular family.

Those was the best
times I can remember,

my good life.

♪ Has caused many a
good girl to go wrong ♪

- Baby?
- Hey.

What you got there?

Eggs.

Jesus, Cill, you gonna
cook them eggs?

Sloppy, slimy eggs again?

Well, I got bacon

and those little
peppers you like too.

I really do love them peppers.

Whew.

Darned if these ain't the
hottest little fuckers.

Stings my mouth.

Maybe it's too hot, huh?

Should I have made it à la mode?

It tastes good.

Come here, baby.

Whoo.

Ah.

You skinny little bastard.

Oh, damn it.

And I'll tell you, son,
that Cilla could drink.

But she could do one thing
better than all that.

Drunk or sober, she
was some hot stuff.

Been training at it
since a kid, she said.

I guess there were some that said

that she weren't much to look at.

And there were days
I'd agreed with it.

But man, I loved her,
honestly, seriously.

God damn it.

You better come out and
clean this mess, woman.

I's know it's you that made it.

Stay away from me
now, Jesco White.

You're the devil himself.

Don't fuck with my fucking head.

It's not to be fucked with.

I tell you, she is
always trying me,

picking at my brain, what
little is left of it.

She'd drive me into a
red, red, effin'rage.

Jess.

What's going on here?

Nothing.

Jess, give it to me.

- You know me, Reilly.
- I ain't done nothing wrong.

Come on now, Jess.

You know, she's picking
at my brain and all.

She's fucking with
my fucking head.

- You stay away from me now.
- Do you hear?

She keeps fucking with my...

She's effing with my effing head.

Come on.

All right.

Just calm down.

All right, come on
now. Let's go outside.

I wasn't gonna do nothing.

I know.

Just scare her a little.

It's true sometimes we'd
fight just like all couples.

But then we'd get out
there on the road

and have good times,

and everything would
be just like heaven.

Jesco White, folks, Jesco White.

The fast-stepping
feet of Jesco White.

Yeah, now, ladies and gentlemen,

we have a special treat
for you here tonight.

She don't know it yet,

but we're gonna try
and get her up here.

I heard her sing one time
in church a few years back.

And my God, if she ain't
the second Loretta.

Let's see if we can't get
Miss Cilla White up here,

ladies and gentlemen,
Miss Cilla White.

Come on up here, honey.

Come on up.

Come on, Cilla.

Well, she's a little bit shy.

You have to help her on up here.

Come on, Miss Cilla White.

♪ As I sit here tonight
the jukebox playing ♪

♪ The tune about the
wild side of life ♪

♪ As I listen to the words
that you are singing ♪

♪ I think back on when I
was a trusting wife ♪

♪ It's not God who made
honky-tonk angels ♪

♪ Like you said in the
words of your song ♪

♪ Too many times
married men think ♪

Well, I don't think
that even Elvis hisself

loved his Priscilla more
than I did mine that night.

My heart is fair
bursting out of my chest

as she sang and I stood
there listening.

It was like we was real
stars from out of the sky,

sparkling now instead
on this here Earth.

♪ Ever been broken ♪

♪ Just because there
was a man to blame ♪

All: ♪ Because God ♪

♪ Didn't make honky-tonk angels ♪

That was the good life, all right,

playing them shows
with Cill and Bob.

Excepting there was always
some kind of evil lurking.

You got no way of knowing that.

I don't know why,

but it just seems to
follow me around.

What's the matter, Bob?

Jess,

I don't like playing
for no niggers.

Oh, well, they's no
problem, Bob, honest.

I knows a whole load
of them in Meldwood.

They's human beings, just
like all God's creatures.

Now, pay no mind, Bobby.

We'll have us a right
good one here.

I can feel it.

All right.

I had no problem with them blacks.

I'd been with them in Meldwood,
and I had no quarrel.

Not like Bob.

No quarrel at all.

Go, Jess.

Go on, Jess.

Jess, Jess.

If you all want to live,

then you all run back to that room

and be waiting for me,

or else I'll see your head
blown into them bottles

on this other side of this bar.

Jess.

You son of a bitch, motherfucker.

Come on now, let's
get out of here.

You playing for my woman?

You playing for my woman?

No, they wasn't trying
to steal Cill...

You see how they's
coming up to Cilla?

They wasn't trying to
steal Cilla from you.

They was just playing.

Come on, give me my gun.

Let's go on out of here.

I noted if Bob,

who didn't even take to niggers,

was trying to get me out of there

instead of shooting holes

in everything as I had a mind to,

that I should pay heed,

or else things would
get worser still.

I was pulling on that bottle
pretty good, you know,

when I went into the motel.

Room 11. One plus one.

I remember that to this day,

which is funny, because
I was a man gone mad.

Now I'm going to hell.

No.

♪ It's a shame that
all the blame ♪

♪ Is on us women ♪

♪ It's not true that only
you men feel the same ♪

Well, the blood caught the water

and started flowing real good,

because I'd cut
pretty deep, you see.

And all that blood and hot water

was pouring over her

and down onto the
white of the bath.

It is then that I figured
out I loved her,

because she wasn't dead,
and there I was dying,

and I didn't mind at all.

♪ It wasn't God who made
honky-tonk angels ♪

♪ Like you said in the
words of your song ♪

Cilla started yelling
and carrying on,

so it was Bob who busted on in
and then stopped up my arm.

I can't say what
would have happened

if Bob weren't there.

I think that Cilla
would have hollered

till I was dead and buried.

I said sometimes she ain't right.

That was my good time
cut short again.

My life's been a party and
a joke and a tragedy.

- Jesus got good hands.
- Smooth and pink.

The devil, now, his hands
is rough and black.

You can feel his
touch like sandpaper

rubbed down your back
and scar your guts.

Jesus's hands came,

and the devil's hands fire
the blood coursing and hot

so's you have to move to cool off.

You got to do something.

Idle hands are devil works,

and that's true that idle hands

is the devil's hands.

Revenge is a strange thing, man.

All's you want is to do it.

It's all you can think upon
every day for the whole week,

every month, every year.

It is when them thoughts came back

that I'd carve or burn a picture.

I liked all them stories
and songs from the Bible.

It brang a peace all
over your whole life.

I'm going out.

Now, where you going now?

I'm going to church.

Where do you think I'm going?

I didn't let on,

but I know where she was going.

Dorsey told me he'd seen her

outside Vernon's old
place of a time.

I guess she missed them kids.

Things is sad when you all
get home from being away.

All of a sudden, it gets quiet,

and you get to thinking

about all them things
what happened.

Like I said, that is what you
do when you got the time.

You ponder upon the past.

Then your home become more
like a prison than anything.

Like your past coming
up into your future,

messing with your good life.

What's your name?

Sam.

Sam, you can call me Jessie.

How long you been in for?

Two years.

Two years? Never seen you.

Why are you here?

Now, this can't be
good for the soul,

and me with not
much to begin with.

Well, Sam told a brother
used to beat on him fairly.

Tally was in them dogs and
chickens and the like.

Now, I guess it happened

that Tally got tired of
them dogs and chickens

and started working on
Sam there in the hayloft

up behind them fields.

He'd get Sam up there
in that hayloft

and real give a working.

You know, naked like
barnyard beauties,

except faggot.

Sam's pa went up the
mountain to the new pasture,

and Sam, well, I guess he
didn't waste a minute.

Tally hung there a few days,

calling out till his voice went.

Please, Daddy, help.

Then his belly got real big

from the gas that was in his guts,

account of him being
crucified of a sort.

Well, the stink is so bad

that you all could
get a whiff of it

all the way down the road.

Now, Sam wanted Tally to feel
that same pain in the gut,

so he took his ma's
old knitting needles

from before she passed.

That's how they came on him,

sticking needles in his
brother's fat belly.

Bob wouldn't play for me no more,

and Cill didn't want
to go out on the road.

Cill didn't like for me
to party or drink at all,

not even a beer neither.

She said it weren't
no good for my head.

Made me promise to
her and God above.

Some say vengeance is
best left to the Lord,

and I tried to keep them
evil thoughts from my mind.

And it got worser still
when I found out

them's what done it had
already got out of jail.

Look what we got here.

Judge said something
wrong with the trial.

They moved right
back to the county.

I even heard they was drinking
down and Bob and Bea's.

I must have thought of
more ways to kill a man

than there are possible.

Dear Lord, for what we
are about to receive,

let us be truly thankful.

Amen.

Amen.

There's a time when if left
in your own head for too long

that you all have the
privilege to go insane.

Little bit out of your own
parts now, ain't you?

Suppose you should be getting
back to your holler.

Maybe we should give
him a little help.

Help?

You need some help, mister?

Whoo-hee.

Yee-haw.

♪ Hey, hey, Suzy, won't
you be my gal? ♪

♪ Hey, hey, Suzy, won't
you be my gal? ♪

How about you all
show us some dancing?

Come on now, show us
some of that stepping.

I'm talking to you, boy.

Fetch me the wire.

Shit, Long.

Come on, Davie.

Get the baling wire.

He gonna give us some dancing yet.

Tie it on the back.

Get in the truck.

Get in the goddamn truck.

Leave me alone.

Can't you see I'm trying
to finish this carving?

You're lost to the devil
hisself, Jesco White.

I'll fucking blind you

and then take out
your fucking tongue

if you don't shut
your maggoty mouth.

I fucking told her.
Fucking son of a bitch.

Fuck her.

You're leaving me?

You're destroying yourself.

What I got to live for?

I ain't never coming back.

You...

Well, you ain't leaving me alive.

Fuck it.

Once the devil is in your blood,

smaller than you can see,

and there can be no retribution.

He gets in your skin
and heart and bones,

and he grows.

He moves you then,

and there ain't
nothing Jesus can do.

All you can hope for is to die

or to take away your limbs

so as not to do the devil's work.

Cut out your tongue and
chop off your feet,

for they are no longer
your'n but his'n.

Tow truck drivers, they
get paid by the load.

They is always cranking
it to haul more

so's they can get paid more.

Most of them are good
for a shot or two

iffen they get a full
head of steam on them.

And goddamn, if I
didn't want a trip.

♪ Hello, baby ♪

♪ We got a date ♪

♪ I got a date to
cut your head off ♪

A trip straight to heaven.

It was just like being baptised

in a cool river made
of silver and gold.

I felt like I could
bless the world.

One more beer, Elvis.

One more.

Marilyn, get in the bed.

You're drinking too much.

You're taking too
many drugs, bitch.

Get in the bed.

Huh.

He'll dance, all right.

Jesus, Long, you're
strangling him.

Whoo.

Maybe you should give her up, huh?

Yee-haw.

I could kill you all

and then fuck you

and slit your throats.

But then you're not
the judge to judge.

God is.

You ain't right, you
crazy hillbilly fuck.

I love you, Daddy.

You all was a good pa.

I'm sorry for them
things, what I done,

all them wrong things

and for the huffing what
put me in Meldwood.

I'm sorry for the
tragedy what's my life.

I'll make it right.

I'll make it right.

There shall be
vengeance upon them.

It was like in them
videos, them nature one,

"The Wild Beasts of
the Animal Kingdom."

One minute, he's running
like a squirrel.

Then I paw'd him with that hammer.

Now he is down.

Just like a bobcat,
I attacked him.

You all didn't think I forgot
about things, did you?

You know why I'm here,
you dirt-covered worm.

Jessie, no, please.

Oh, "Jessie, no, please."

No, Jessie.

That was Davie paid up.

Cill.

Son of a bitch.

Oh, Cill, fuck.

Cill.

Call the state
trooper. Call Reilly.

Long's got to Cilla.

We got to go now.

♪ We got a date ♪

♪ I got a date to
cut your head off ♪

♪ Baby, don't you be afraid ♪

Hey.

Cilla, oh, fuck.

Jess. What the fuck is going on?

Cilla's gone.

Jessie, you got to put
down that gun, Jessie.

- She's gone, kidnapped.
- Long will kill her.

What happened to Cilla?

Did you hurt her?
Did you hurt her?

I told you.

I just came down the holler

and found my trailer shot
to hell and Cilla gone.

Just take it easy, Jess.

Jesus Christ.

We can't wait here, or
she'll be dead for sure.

Long's come and wants the 'venge,

'count of what I did to Davie.

Davie? It's okay.

It's all right now,
Jess. It's all right.

- Just...
- I'm already in hell.

♪ About half past 8.00 ♪

♪ Now, baby, don't you be late ♪

Tight enough for you?

Back in Meldwood,
we could make these

out of toothbrush and tape.

Now, D. Ray used this
one for shaving.

No, no, no, Jesco.

I know what you did to Cilla.

I didn't do nothing to Cilla.

I don't know how you did it.

Help.

But I know it's you.

No.

Sting a little?

Ain't no one here
to help you, Long.

Davie ain't here to save you now.

See, you's in hell already, Long.

And the Lord ain't surely
looking to save you

with all you done and all.

But hell, the way I figure

is that the Lord has a
way of punishing people

while they's here on Earth.

No.

No, no.

Bye-bye, Long.

♪ Bite your head off
about a half past 8.00 ♪

♪ Now, baby, don't you be late ♪

♪ Bite your head off
about half past 8.00 ♪

Already in hell.

You got to come with me now.

Long paid for what he done,
just like Davie paid.

I got the revenge.

The mind has a way of
getting away on you.

I don't know what
happened rightly.

That's what happens when
you're cranking it.

Hardly know the visions
from the reality.

But I did know I had to get
to the woods and get gone,

or I was gonna have a fate
worser than Tally Briscoe.

Revenge makes you sick,

like all's you can
think about or imagine

is killing or torturing and
getting that vengeance.

But once it's done, you
got to think and live

with what was done to make your
'venge in the first place.

And then that 'venge ain't
there to make you feel good

or anything no more.

It is my daddy, D. Ray White,
that gave me this life,

and near the only good in
it has been his doing.

I tried to think what he'd have
done in my place right then.

Well, he'd have give himself up
and told the police everything

and do what's good and blessed.

And I should have done that too,

but I'm a weak man.

He'd be heartbroken, that's sure.

I still think on him,
though, and I miss him,

because I love my daddy and
will till the day I die.

Them bugs was always on me and
driving me to distraction.

I was there in them
woods about two days

before I figured I had
to get somewhere else.

I got to thinking
that old Edgar Hudd

had a cabin that was way out,

and nobody went out
there except Daddy,

and that is only for hunting.

I lit out then and there

for old Hudd's cabin
over by Septon's Rise.

Hood will be 90 if he's a day.

I was not sure at all if I
would find him there alive.

None had seen him around
for about a year.

Jessie boy.

Been a time.

I hear that you dance
just like Ray now

over at Twilight and Bandytown.

But look at you, boy.

Now, you real ragged.

You get a jar of that
water down you right now.

Took me near on three
day to get here.

I can't do that trek no more.

But no need, neither.

But don't try fooling me, boy,

because I know you got trouble.

When you come in, I could smell
a reek like dead squirrel.

I know about your
evil, Jesco White.

Well, Edgar, I won't lie to you.

I'm hiding out on
account of the fact

that I sorted out Davie and Long

for what they done to Daddy.

And them police is after me now,

so's I come up here to hide out.

I don't want no trouble
for you all, though.

And if you can see your way clear

to set me up with some food
and just let me rest a piece,

then I'll be gone.

Liar's what you are, boy.

You're weak.

You was never enough man to
'venge your Daddy's death.

Old Davie and Long
happy as can be,

living a life on the other
side of that mountain.

Lord will take care of them
in his own sweet time.

Excepting now you, in
your anger and vengeance,

has taken the life of
one not determined.

And that there is blood
on your brow, boy.

And, oh, it sickens my
heart and that of Ray's

to see you lie before God.

Boy, you done some bad
things in your life,

and no amount of crying's
going to change it.

You was always coming here, Jess.

I always said you'd
turn out wrong.

And here you are, a killer.

And at some point comes the
retribution of the just.

Now, Jesus was made to
walk on broken ground.

His body gutted

and his breath stole
from this Earth

the unholy deeds.

Them that was left got to live
by the laws set down by God.

Iffen you'd been man enough
to get Davie and Long,

you'd have sure speeded them
on their journey to hell

where they'll burn for eternity.

But this killing Reilly is
a killing against Jesus,

the Lord who died for us.

And His will got to be done

against the man what
done this wrong.

Please, Lord, save me.

I accept Jesus into my body.

Jesus, save me.

I accept Jesus into my body.

I accept Jesus into my body.

Now, I don't know how
long that fight lasted

'tween the good
Lord and the devil.

But when I came out of it,
I was nearly done myself.

I understand now that
it weren't Edgar at all

that I was talking to then.

I see it as God a-talking to me,

telling me sense.

I could still hear
old Edgar's voice

days after I put him down
there in the ground,

the voice of God telling
me things direct.

And I knew what I had to do
to clean them sins away.

The Bible is what tells us

everything that we need
in life and death.

Its pages are the messages
to the people from God.

Hell on Earth so's eternity
can be spent in the heavens.

Turmoil and torment.

40 years of suffering to rid
yourself of the devil's taint.

Jesus is the Son of God.

He could make miracles and feed
the people with fish and bread,

multiplying the numbers with
the skin of his holy body.

♪ Who saved a wretch ♪

I understand my
punishment now, though,

how to cleanse away them bad,

what course through my
veins, God tell me.

♪ I once was lost ♪

Flesh is impure, must
be bled or boiled.

Got to clean the impure blood.

♪ Was blind ♪

I started with my fingers.

They was easy.

After cutting them, I'd
take a poker from the fire

and burn that wound closed.

Sometimes I'd pass with the pain

and dream of robins and the good.

♪ My heart to thee ♪

And so my flesh comes to bread

and my body comes to wine.

When I take it into me,

my new good soul
clears it of its bad

and takes it to remake
myself in a better image.

The bad what's left is
shit out and buried,

and the whole area then is
prayed over and set to flame.

I knew then I was right.

I was on the course of Jesus.

When I got done with my toes,

then go my ears and
this liar's tongue.

With each cut I'm close
to eternal bliss.

♪ Like me ♪

♪ I once was lost ♪

Already I feel that
my soul is lifting,

trying to get heaven
before it's time.

It's fair busting to get up there.

First, though, I must satisfy God,

and I'm trying the best
as I can to do so.

Honestly, seriously.

♪ Amazing grace ♪

♪ How sweet the sound ♪

♪ That saved a wretch ♪

♪ Like me ♪

♪ I once was lost ♪

♪ But now I'm found ♪

♪ Was blind ♪

♪ But now I see ♪

This time equals your death.

Listen to the birds sing.

♪ Restless sinner, rest in sin ♪

♪ He's got no face
to hold him in ♪

♪ He feels his day's
as dark as night ♪

♪ He's been waiting
with the blind ♪

♪ Just to find a place
to hide his ghost ♪

♪ No open lies, no consequence ♪

♪ The door's been closed
since he's walked in ♪

♪ The fight's been
raging so many days ♪

♪ He'll greet you with
a cross and a sickle ♪

♪ As he helps you in ♪

♪ You fall in ways
to an open fire ♪

♪ You've got no taste
for his desire ♪

♪ He brings you in
to warm your bones ♪

♪ He's the reason why you came ♪

♪ And the reason why
you ought to go ♪

♪ Mm, fool's gonna
fall and raise ♪

♪ Another fallen child ♪

♪ Mm, fool's gonna
fall and raise ♪

♪ Another fallen child ♪

♪ Mm, fool's gonna
fall and raise ♪

♪ Another fallen child ♪

♪ It can't be known
what lies in wait ♪

♪ For those of us in
crippled states ♪

♪ A broken mind is no escape ♪

♪ When there's no one
left to reason with ♪

♪ There's no one left
to call your name ♪

♪ Mm, fool's gonna
fall and raise ♪

♪ Another fallen child ♪

♪ Mm, fool's gonna
fall and raise ♪

♪ Another fallen child ♪

♪ Mm, fool's gonna
fall and raise ♪

♪ Another fallen child ♪

♪ Mm, fool's gonna
fall and raise ♪

♪ Another fallen child ♪

♪ Mm, fool's gonna
fall and raise ♪

♪ Another fallen child ♪

♪ Mm, fool's gonna
fall and raise ♪

♪ Huh, come on ♪

♪ Come on ♪

♪ Whoo ♪

♪ Huh, come on ♪

♪ Now come on ♪

♪ Huh, now ♪

♪ Huh, come on ♪

♪ Get down ♪

♪ Huh, come on ♪

♪ Get down, huh ♪