Bonanza (1959–1973): Season 5, Episode 3 - Rain from Heaven - full transcript

The territory is suffering from a drought. Tulsa Weems, a rainmaker from the Tennessee hill country, comes to help. Tulsa brings his impoverished family and sick daughter with him. Ben refuses to pay for something he doesn't believe will work, but offers to help Tulsa and his family. Tulsa refuses, saying "hill people don't take charity." Ben finds that Tulsa's daughter has typhoid fever, and the doctor is away. The Cartwrights must find a way to help a family that doesn't want "charity." Tulsa in turn resolves to bring rain to end the drought, and finds in his faith a way forward in his time of trial.

The following program
is brought to you

in living color on NBC.

Whoa.

You better hurry if you're
gonna make that stage.

And, Adam, don't
quibble over the price.

We need those water wagons bad.

I'll do the best I can. Have them
back here in a couple of days.

Have a good trip.

My Grandpappy had
the power, friends.

He give it to my pa
and my pa give it to me.

It's a potent power, I tell you.



It's the power to knock Satan's
knuckles loose from that sky,

and bring the velvet touch of
water to this here parched land.

Gentle drops to make
your fields green again.

Blessed moisture
to fill those wells

and rinse this evil dust
and heat from the air.

Now, folks, I'm
going to rest a mite.

As soon as your
neighbors up the street

get finished making arrangements
for me, I'm going to go to work.

I'd take a last good look at
that blazing chariot up there.

Tomorrow night, you're gonna
all be stomping in the mud

and shouting thanks
to Tulsa Weems.

Oh, Ben, you're just
the man we want.

I am? For what?

You'll know soon enough, and
be just as glad as the rest of us.



Come on.

And there's another five.
Don't need much more.

Here he is, boys.

Now we can swing it.

Ben's got as big a stake in
this as the rest of us. He'll kick in.

Well, sounds like
money talk to me, Abe.

Like, maybe you fellows want
me to buy something, huh?

Water, Ben, water.

Since the drought, our town's
become church-mouse poor, Ben.

But we all dug deep.

Providence led this
man to our town, Ben.

And he ain't trying
to gouge us either.

Just $30 from you and we'll
have the 200 he's asking.

And he's ready to go to work
right now and end this drought.

Now hold on there.

You boys thinking of hiring
that rainmaker out there?

The one I saw in his
wagon a minute ago?

You should have been
here to hear him talk.

That man's got
the power, I tell you.

Offhand, I'd say that this long
dry spell we've been having

has addled your thinking.

But you remember that spellbinder
that was out here last winter?

That medicine man, the one with
the big voice and fancy bottles?

You fellas thought
he had the power too,

and you bought every
bottle he'd sell you.

Fred, did it cure
your arthritis?

What about you, Abe?
Did he fix up your gout?

You fellows want to waste
money you can't afford,

that's your business,
but count me out.

Here, that horse needs water,

and these horse
troughs are all dried up.

Go on down to the livery stable.
They'll give you a bucket for a nickel.

Tell them we'll pay them
just as soon as that committee

gets here with my money.

- We got her made, Jube.
- Sure, Pa. You can do anything.

No. Don't fret, child.

Your old pa has finally
got himself a job of work.

We're gonna have money, so I
can get you some nourishing broth.

A real bed with cool
sheets down at the hotel.

Maybe even a little doll
to help you get better.

We're gonna set old
Satan back on his heels,

that's what we're gonna do.

- Howdy, Ben.
- Roy.

You know that thermometer
says 98 degrees?

Yeah, it's hot.

Roy, I got four more bags in
there. Give me a hand, will you?

Ben, you wouldn't wanna kill
off the town sheriff, would you?

Now, I've got to conserve
whatever strength I've got

to keep law and order in town.

Oh, Roy, that's just about the
weakest excuse I've ever heard.

Well, it's coming
from a weak man.

Ben, if it don't rain soon, I feel
like I'm gonna shrivel up to nothing.

That's funny.

That isn't the way I
heard it over at the saloon.

The way they told it to me,

you were tucking
away so much beer

that, uh, you could keep
a brewery in business.

Tell you what, you help me
tote these, and I'll buy you a beer.

Are you trying to bribe the law?

But I'm a weak mean, I said it,
so shall we make it two beers?

Huh? Unh...

Two beers.

You be careful you don't melt
away, Roy, working so hard.

Looky yonder. Here
comes that rainmaker.

Looks mad enough
to bite a spike in half.

Fellow down the street
pointed you out to me.

Said that you was
Ben Cartwright.

Uh, you owning up to that?

Yeah, I'm Ben Cartwright.

Well, I just wanted to gaze
a spell on the kind of a man

that would snatch the
food from a sick little girl

and cheat a man out
of an honest day's job.

Hold on there. What are you
talking about? What little girl?

My little girl, my
little Mary Beth.

Racked with fever, she is
down there, needing care.

Her poor mother trying to tend to
her in a stifling furnace of a wagon.

Well, I'm sorry about that.

You're sorry, them is
empty words, mister.

You're just mean.
Plain, miserable mean.

You got spite and
venom in your heart.

Now you look here.

Name is Weems.

I'm from Tennessee,
mister, the Big Smokies.

And when I think poorly on a man, I
tell him right straight out to his face.

Not like you, telling those
men I'm some kind of a quack

and a cheat and a faker.

- Look here, we've had just...
- Wait a minute, Roy. Just a minute.

I said those words. Yeah.

But I didn't mean them
in any personal sense.

I was just trying to
explain the way I...

Oh, you explained
fine, just fine, mister.

They was all set to hire me,

until you come stuck
with your mealy-mouthed,

penny-pinching gabble.

Now, look, Weems, or
whatever your name is,

I don't believe in rainmakers.

I don't believe there's
a man in the world

can dredge water out of a
sky that doesn't wanna give it.

If I thought there was, I'd
bet my last dollar on him.

You're wrong, mister,
you're dead wrong.

Now, I can make
them heavens open up.

I can make the thunder
and the lightning,

I can flood this land
with life-giving rain.

I got the power, mister,
you better believe that.

Well, I'm sorry, Mr. Weems,
I just don't believe it.

I'm also sorry that
you have a sick child

and you can't take
care of your family.

We'll have some rain
in a couple of days,

and if we do, then there'll be
plenty of work for everybody.

Honest work.

Maybe this will help
tide you over till then.

I'm Hill people, mister.

Hill people don't take the
insult of charity from no man.

Mister, we don't allow
no gunplay in this town.

Uh... I wasn't really
going to shoot.

Old devil got a
hold of me for sure.

I wasn't gonna shoot.

You're gonna come down to
that jail and cool off. Now come on.

Roy.

What's the point?

The man has a
family to take care of.

His family's going to be a
sight better off with him in jail.

He ain't got a dime, you
heard him say so yourself.

And in this case, the
town will pay for good food

and a place for them to sleep
until I decide to let him out of jail.

They're mountain folks
too, ma and the kids.

They don't take
charity either. Hear?

Now we'll see
about that. Come on.

Oh, Ben.

I'm in luck.

I was afraid maybe
you snuck out of town

before you bought my beer, heh.

Oh, no, I was gonna
drop by your office.

- You were?
- Yeah.

You forgot something.

Oh, yeah.

It wasn't loaded.

I didn't think it was.

You know, Roy, I always thought
you were kind of softhearted old coot.

What have I done now?

You didn't lock up Weems.

Well, I sure did. He's
locked up right now,

and that's where he's gonna stay
until he gets some sense into his head.

What about his family?

I sent Clem out to see that
they was put up at the hotel.

And the town is gonna
have to foot the bill.

Roy, you, uh, might have Doc
Crane look in on the little girl.

Weems said she was kind of sick.

Ben, I already sent for the Doc,
now if you got any more sage advice

for this poor old, stupid
sheriff, I'm listening.

Well, Roy, as a
matter of fact, I have.

Oh, you have?

Get yourself a
beer and cool off.

That's just what I intended
to do. Two of them, in fact.

Cal, a couple of beers for
our good friend the sheriff here.

And put them on my account.

Oh, and, Cal, two beers.

Two.

- Hello, Clem.
- Hello, Ben.

Roy tell you I was buying,
you better put another beer

on my account for Clem here.

- Roy?
- Yeah?

Something happened out
there, and you ain't gonna like it.

Now it's too hot for
riddles. What is it?

I tried to do what you told me.

But they just up and left.

That Weems kid, Jube?
Nice as pie I talked to him.

All of a sudden, the
little varmint kicked at me,

- he spit at...
- Shh.

He spit at me. He called
me a whole bunch of names.

They jumped in the
wagon and they was gone.

Don't come running to me.

Get on your horse, go after them.
There's a sick child in that wagon.

But I did.

I couldn't have been more than
five minutes behind them. You know...

That wagon ought
to have been a cinch

to follow out
there in that dust.

It was as if the earth
swallowed them up.

There wasn't nary a trace.

Have a beer.

Thanks, Roy.

Just hold it a minute, old man.
Old Hoss is gonna help you.

Here you go.

Enjoy it while you can. There
may not be none tomorrow night.

If that tub were any bigger, I
might climb in there with him.

Hi, Pa.

You couldn't sleep either, huh?

No.

The way that thing's
croaking, there's no use trying.

How long's it gonna last, Pa?

How long?

Well...

you aren't asking, Hoss.

You're just hoping,
like the rest of us.

Yeah, I am.

Like when I was a young
and I used to ask about

that red wagon for Christmas.
I wasn't asking. I was hoping.

I checked that south
waterhole today, Pa.

Dry as a powder house.

I, uh, met Mr. Olmsted
this afternoon.

He thanked me for those
three barrels of water

you toted over to his
place this morning.

I figured as long as it ain't gonna
rain, we might as well all to go together.

There ain't no use
in doing one at a time.

Besides, Olmsteds have
got them five little young'uns.

Well, when Adam gets back
with those water wagons,

we'll be able to get
some water out of the lake

and make it easier
for everybody.

Might as well get up to bed. It's
no warmer there than it is here.

And if you don't cut out that croaking,
I might just pull the plug on you.

Listen, Pa.

I have to stuff my ears with cotton
not to hear that green friend of yours.

No, no, not the frog. Listen.

You hear that? That's
what I'm hearing. Hear it?

Sounds as if it's
coming from the barn.

You're Jube Weems.

Sheriff sent you to the hotel.
What are you doing here?

Sheriff sent us no place.

Hill folk don't take handouts.

This is my barn.
Isn't that a handout?

Ain't no such thing.

You owes us something, mister.

I figure you owes us a place
to stay until pa can get us.

- Now wait a minute, little...
- Hoss.

I'm not gonna argue as
to what I owe you, son.

But the barn is no place for
your sister and your mother.

We got plenty of room in the
house with soft beds and good food.

No, that would be charity.

Son, your sister needs a doctor.

I won't have no flatland
doctor pawing over Mary Beth

with his dirty fingers.

Now you get.

You stick your nose in here
again and I'll blow it off, you hear?

Pa, that poor little girl in
there needs some decent care

and a decent bed.

Not in that stifling barn
on a pile of lumpy hay.

That kid in there, he's crazy,
he don't know what he's doing.

I can jump him easy, and
get that little gal out of there

- and give her the kind of care...
- Leave them be.

I'm going to town
to get Doc Crane.

- Pa, that...
- Now, don't argue.

And stay away from that barn.

Hoss.

Little gal in there,
I saw it back East.

It's typhoid fever.

Who is it?

It's Ben Cartwright.
I've gotta see Dr. Crane.

I'm sorry to have disturbed you
at this time of night, Mrs. Crane.

My husband isn't here, Ben.

He left this morning
for Perrysville.

There was a mine accident.

Oh, no.

Well, I'm sorry,
but he was needed.

It's not one of your boys?

Oh, no, no. It's a little girl.

I think she's got typhoid fever.

Typhoid?

Well, I'm sorry to have
disturbed you. Thank you.

Good night.

Okay, Joe, let her go.

Little sweetheart,

you quit all this
tossing and turning.

You let old Hoss do the
worrying for both of us, will you?

Ma'am, there's no purpose
served in you sitting out here.

I'll fix you a cup of coffee.

How about you, boy?
Something to eat maybe?

Say, uh, bacon,
eggs, toast and coffee.

I ain't hungry. Hear?

And even if I was
starving, I'm Hill people.

And we don't take handouts.

Of course, that all depends
on how you look at it.

I think there's a big difference
between a handout and a helping hand.

One may be charity, but
the other one's friendship.

Friend?

That big hulk you call a
brother sneaks into the barn

and steals my sister.

Come on now, boy.

You make it sound like the
worst bunch of low-living varmints

that ever crawled.

You gotta admit, your sister's a
lot better off upstairs in that bed

than she was sleeping out
in a barn on a stack of hay.

Ma was taking care of her fine.

Was your ma getting her
fever down, like Hoss is?

I hate the thought of
that big ox up there.

Him and his big clumsy hands
prodding and poling over poor...

Big maybe, but not clumsy.

Sure, I've seen him bend a
horseshoe with those hands.

But I've also seen him
pick up a hummingbird

just as gentle as a feather.

I got half a mind to go up there
and take my sister away from him.

Why don't you just
rest easy for a while?

If anybody can pull
your sister through,

it's that big ox who's
up there right now.

Little lamb, everything's
gonna be fine, do you hear?

You're already a heap
better than you were.

And you'd get to where
you can really hear me,

I might even sing you
a ditty or something.

Morning, Ben.

Say, you're an early bird.

Going to be another hot one.

Listen, Roy, I gotta
talk to your prisoner.

I want you to hear
what I have to say.

Well, all right, Ben. Come on.

Weems.

Weems.

Cartwright here
wants to talk to you.

I said it yesterday, mister.
You got a glib tongue.

In other words, it can
cut up a man's life.

What words you're
gonna slice me with today?

I came here to tell you
something about your little girl.

You got something to
tell me, you spit it out.

Well, last night, I...

I found out that Mary Beth is...

Well, she's sicker
than even you think.

There's no use
beating about the bush.

She has typhoid fever.

Typhoid fever?

- Ben, this is really bad news.
- Yeah.

Typhoid? What's that?
What's this typhoid?

Mary Beth's gonna
be all right, ain't she?

Typhoid is a very serious
disease even in a strong man,

to say nothing of a
little girl like yours.

You gotta let me out of
here. Mary Beth needs me.

Easy now, see, she's
at The Ponderosa.

I'm afraid you won't be
able to see her, though.

You're talking nonsense.

If she's there, I'm
going to see her.

Well, you don't understand.
See, my son had...

Roy, you have no choice.

All right, Weems,
get your belongings.

Ben, let me get this straight.

You're telling me that your boy
Hoss locked hisself up in his room

with that little girl and
he ain't about to come out

until she makes a
turn for the better?

Yeah, he sort of beat me to it.

But somebody had to do
something to help Mary Beth and...

Well, Hoss just up and did it.

Well, does he know
that she's got the typhoid?

That's why he's
got the door locked.

Won't let anyone in.

Well, ain't he scared?

Well, sure, he's scared.

- So am I.
- You mean Hoss, this boy of yours

might catch typhoid
fever from my little girl?

He might.

Doctors don't rightly
know how it spreads.

And he's still bent on sticking
with her, trying to save her?

Yeah.

It's the devil's work,
that's what it is.

He took away the water

and he's brought the
hot blast of vengeance

to this blighted land.

That's what that fever is,

the fever that's twisting
and torturing her.

It's the curse of Satan.

Yeah.

Cartwright,

I'm gonna teach
that devil a lesson.

I'm going to choke off
the hot flaming breath,

and I'm going to do it
with clean, pure water.

Mr. Weems, that ain't going to
help your little daughter none.

When I bring rain, cool rain, it's
going to put Lucifer on the run.

It'll kill the fiery touch, kill
the fever flaming inside her.

What'd be the nearest hill with
a fair-to-middling bulge in it?

Well, I'd say that
Connel's Hill, wouldn't you?

About three miles south of here.

Yeah, that will be about right.

- I'll get my wagon.
- Um...

Roy, why don't you take
Tulsa right on to Connel's Hill,

and I'll fetch his
wagon for him?

Yeah, that's better. I
can get working faster.

Yeah.

Listen.

Keep him away from
my house, will you?

There's nothing he
can do there, anyway,

and it just might
mean more trouble.

Who knows? He might
be able to bring rain.

- He thinks he can.
- Well, yeah, he might.

This way, at least, he'll be out of
the way and he'll be doing something.

And it might make him
feel as if he's helping.

All right, Ben.

Listen here.

Little one, you're going
to be all right, you hear?

You just listen to old Hoss.

I'm no great cook, but I
can make sandwiches. Here.

Now look, boy, if you don't eat,
you're going to collapse from hunger.

Then you're not going to be able to
keep an eye on us low-life Cartwrights.

Look, it's not charity.

You're going to
work. I have to eat.

I'm sure you don't think us

Cartwrights are going to
give anything away, do you?

Maybe you're pulling
something, and maybe you ain't.

But you made a deal,
and I'm calling you.

You set that there grub
on the ground and back off.

Mm-hm.

They're good.

Like to give you a hand?

Oh, I got to do it.

Mary Beth, how is she?

Yeah, well, she's doing
as well as can be expected.

Where's Jube? He didn't
come to watch his pa?

Jube wouldn't budge.

He's just sitting by my house
hanging onto that squirrel gun.

Says he'll shoot Hoss if Mary
Beth, well, if anything happens.

Then Jube done an evil thing.

And you should have
jumped him, took away his gun.

Tulsa, boy's trying
real hard to be a man.

If I was to jump him, take
that gun away from him,

it'd make him feel
like he was still a child.

He won't do no harm.

I was wrong about you, mister.

You got a heart.

- You got a feeling for things.
- Well.

I'm going to prove you
was wrong about me.

Jube.

Easy, son.

You sneaking varmint. I
ought to blow your head off.

For what? I was just
bringing you some lemonade.

Mary Beth.

Dear God.

Hey, Joe, Joe, send
me up another bucket.

Mary Beth's feeling real bad.

Right.

You better
understand this, mister.

My little sister
dies, so does he.

Sweetie, everything's going to
be all right. You wait and see.

It's going to be just fine.

Listen to old Hoss
now, you hear?

You know what that is?

That's thunder.

You know what thunder
means? It means it's going to rain.

Maybe the rain will cool
her temperature down.

Take some of the fever out of
that poor, little body of yours.

There it is.

I'm going to knock you
out of that sky, Satan.

I'm going to boot you out and
send you back down below,

where you belong.

Did I just hear thunder?

That ain't thunder.
That's cannon fire.

Cannon what?

He's doing it, ma.

Pa's up there in the hills and
kicking the devil out of the sky,

whomping up a rainstorm.

Look, look there. Pa's
really shaking up that sky.

I'll admit it makes a lot of
noise and it looks right pretty.

But you don't think
all that commotion's

- really going to bring rain, do you?
- Lot you know about it, mister.

Them rockets is
made a secret way.

Oh.

Hey, Joe.

Yeah.

Send me up some dry sheets.

I swear, I never
saw anything like it.

He really thinks
he can make it rain.

Well, Ben, after
watching him work and all,

ain't it ever occurred to you that
just maybe you could be wrong?

Oh, Roy.

Nothing's going to convince
me that a lot of colored powder

and rockets and explosions
are going to bring rain.

Well, now, there could
be something to it.

Certainly you heard that it
always seems to be raining

during a big battle.

Well, I had an uncle who was in a
lot of big ones during the war of 1812,

and he recollected
how he was just

always a-fighting in
the mud and downpours

every time the big
cannons let loose.

More powder.

Not a cloud in the sky.

No, but, Ben, give him a chance.

Oh, Roy, he's
running out of supplies.

He's ready to collapse.

Let me be.

Got to make it rain.

Got to fire the cannon.

That'll do it.

Fire the cannon.

I need more rockets
to blast Satan.

To burn.

I didn't have the power
when I needed it most,

Mr. Cartwright.

For Mary Beth.

You tried.

All a man can do is try.

And I failed.

There ain't a speck of a cloud.

Old Lucifer's laughing
and grinning at me, for sure.

I done and fought
him, and I lost.

Easy now, Weems. Easy.

Don't put yourself
though the wringer.

Come down to the
wagon and rest a spell.

Oh, I got to get
back to my family.

Didn't have no
word on Mary Beth?

No. No word.

Well, that's something.

We're going to need
to send somebody if...

Of course they would.

Ben, I better be
heading back to town.

Mr. Weems, I sure hope
your little daughter gets better

and not going
back to jail, well...

Well, come on, Weems.
Ponderosa's just over the next hill.

You can pick up your cannon
and things in the morning.

I'll leave them here.

Satan owns them.

Won them fair and square.

She's quit whimpering, Jube.

I don't hear nothing, ma.

Nothing at all.

Well, Hoss has just got
her resting easy, that's all.

He's got her quieted down.

The furnace of Satan
has cursed this land.

His fever flame's got a
hold of my Mary Beth.

I tried to beat him off.

I was too puny.

Now, look, Tulsa, we're
in the middle of a drought.

But it's going to rain again.

It's nature's way, Tulsa,
it's not the hand of the Devil.

It's the Devil's
work, I tell you.

You must need this Devil
of yours real bad, Tulsa.

Real bad. What is he?

Someone you blame for
your troubles and failures?

Is he your easy way out for you?

There you go, using
words against me.

Words are a potent power, my friend,
if you know how to use them proper.

Well, if the Devil can't
hear the roar of cannon,

he sure can't hear
your jabbering.

I aim my voice in
a different direction.

An ear which can hear
the softest whisper,

if it's spoken sincerely.

I don't ask nobody
to fight my battles.

I do my own fighting,
toe to toe, tooth and nail.

You got pride. Yes, sir.

Real fierce, mountain pride.

Why, even to help Mary
Beth, you wouldn't ask for help.

I got to go back to
what I said yesterday.

You are just plain
mean and spiteful.

You want to see me on my
knees like some whipped puppy

groveling and begging?

That'd make you laugh, wouldn't
it, to see a mountain man praying?

Yeah.

Yeah, I guess, it
would make me laugh

loud and long.

Why, I can't imagine anything
funnier than to see a real fierce,

proud mountain man

praying to the Lord to
help save his sick child.

Lord, have I been too proud?

Have I forgotten
you can help me?

That you can
save my little girl?

Come on, ma.

We... We best
go up to that room.

To Mary Beth.

Hi.

Are you an angel?

Guess maybe you're not an angel.

Angels ain't got whiskers.

I'd like to sleep now.

She wants to sleep.

She's okay, ma.

Them were good breakfast
vittles, Mr. Cartwright.

Well, thank you.

But like I said, hill folk
don't hunker to charity,

so I'll get to paying for them.

Oh, come on now, son.
You're a guest in this house.

Uh... Now, just a minute. Hold
on, pa. He and I made a deal.

All right, now the barn
needs a good cleaning.

You'll find the tools
right inside the door.

I'll clean her slicker
than a whistle.

Joe, I could have sworn
that today was your day

to clean that barn.

Hoss, you know what?
I believe you're right.

Yeah, well, since you talked
yourself out of that little chore,

you can help me with mine.

No, no.

No, no, that'd be charity, Hoss.

Us flatland folk
don't go for charity.

Well, how's Mary Beth
feeling this morning?

Sleeping right now.

But she ate her porridge fine.

She even asked for more.

Well, hey, everybody, it's
raining outside. Raining.

You don't believe in
rainmakers, Mr. Cartwright.

It's a mite late, but you'll have
to admit, I finally came through.

Oh, I believe in a
rainmaker, Tulsa.

The rainmaker you
talked to last night.

The one you prayed
to help Mary Beth.

This has been a
color presentation

of the NBC Television Network.