Gunsmoke (1955–1975): Season 13, Episode 6 - A Hat - full transcript

Gunsmoke, starring
James Arness as Matt Dillon.

Ben, throw up a
bunch of 'em, boy.

Hey, Pappy!

Hey, Ben, boy,
throw them dollars up!

Hey!

Oi!

Oi!

More meat.

Ain't got a lawman in this town?

Caleb Marr's been sheriff
of Spokes for 30 years.

- Why don't he collar that drunk?
- He ain't no drunk.



That's Red Conniston. Biggest
cattleman in the territory, Red Conniston.

When Red Conniston comes to
Spokes, the sheriff goes fishing.

I'll be back for this.

Get after them, girls.

Hey, you owe me a hat.

Hey! You owe me a hat!

Throw some more up there, boy.

Well, you...

Pap?

Mister, you're in
real big trouble.

Who was he?

That's Mr. Conniston's boy.

You're gonna need a fast
horse and the luck of an angel.

You tell this old man the
name's Sorils, Clint Sorils.



I'm going to Dodge.

Preparation is our
signpost. Firm belief.

As candidate for Assembly, I
urge you, prepare now for the future.

Here you are, Festus. Why
don't you look that over?

You know, I can
absolutely assure you

of the certainty of approaching
greatness for this town.

Here we are, folks. Read this
when you get a chance, will you?

You know, as a
lawyer... There you are.

As a lawyer, I've studied
the growth of these events.

I've studied the growth of these
events in the east and south, and I say...

Select nursemaids.
Build your fences higher.

I'll tell you something, Hank,

I have saw them tinhorns
come and go by the herds,

and Ruth right
here's got more sense

than the whole batch
of 'em put together.

Why, they're so shiny new, you gotta
squint your eyeballs to even see 'em,

and if they wasn't to be
able to use their hands,

they couldn't say one thing,
they couldn't even utter one...

Two dollars.

Two dollars?

And that's nothing extra
for the speech making.

You old skinflint.
That... That's...

Yeah, that's 50 cent a
foot, and Ruth's got big feet.

Hank, you wanna
know what you are?

- You're a common...
- Common...

ordinary, everyday
thieving bandit.

Two dollars.

Hank, I worked eight
full days a-digging a well

for that stingy old
tightwad Albert Kindle

and all I got was two dollars,

and now you're fixing to
take it for two hours' work.

Maybe you're in
the wrong business.

- Dodge?
- This here's Dodge.

Ease him off. Ease him off.

Go get Doc and Matthew, quick.

Hurry up.

Gonna have to hurry up.

Back shot, Doc.

All right, let's roll him
over here now. Easy. Easy.

- Easy, there.
- Right along in there.

Why, that's Clint Sorils.

Clint Sorils? Well, what
do you know about that?

- You Matt Dillon?
- Yeah.

- Always wanted to meet you.
- Always wanted to meet you too, Sorils.

Never figured it'd be like this.

Folks after me. Thought
I could handle 'em.

- Not so sure now.
- Who's after you?

They were right. You're
big as a mountain.

Who is it that's
after you, Sorils?

Connistons.

Red Conniston?

Shut up down there!

Shut up down there!
Did you hear what I said?

Louieville! Louieville, come
up here! Mr. Conniston's awake!

Louieville, get up here!

Get in here. Aw!

Let me through.
Come on, let me by.

Louieville, they're putting bigger
snakes in them bottles this year.

Wasn't the liquor, Mr. Conniston.
You was pistol-whipped.

Must have been a good man.

- Where's my hat?
- He took it, Mr. Conniston.

He shot Ben and he took it.

Dead?

- You let him go?
- He was Clint Sorils.

He said he was going
to Dodge, Mr. Conniston.

You boys get out of here,
get rid of those women

and get your backsides in those
saddles and get ready to ride.

- Get 'em out of here, Louieville.
- Come on, let's go.

- Let's go. Come on, let's go.
- Shut up, harlots.

You heard the man.

- Get the rest of the boys.
- Jed too?

Yeah, including Jed.

You know what they say
about twins, Mr. Conniston.

He'd wanna know.

Let me know when
Jed gets here, will you?

I'm going over to that bathhouse and
try to soak some of this booze out of me.

So, Sorils, he killed
my boy, Ben, huh?

- Yes, sir.
- Suffering wrong.

Suffering wrong.

Reggie, this is awful nice,
but that water's awful wet.

Go on and get that brush
and that lye soap, now.

Where's he at?

Mr. Conniston, like you said, I
only told him that Ben was dead.

Jed?

Is Ben dead?

Uh-huh.

A hat.

This fella Sorils wanted my hat.

Guess he was
drunk, nose to toes.

As wild as a grizzly
in a sheep shed.

I ain't saying I wasn't
in that condition either.

But for a hat?

What was Ben doing?

- Jed.
- What about Ben?

Well, you're brothers.

You know he'd been gambling,
throwing his money around. You know Ben.

You give him a stack of soda
crackers and he'll deal you out four aces,

but the way I told it is...

Ben saw this fella Sorils
making off with my hat.

Ain't that the way
you told it, Louieville?

That's the way I told it.

- Who killed him?
- Clint Sorils.

Said he was going to Dodge.

I'll go.

I thought you'd join us, boy.

- The rest of the fellas are ready.
- I'm going alone.

- Wait a minute. I can't hear on that.
- I ain't asking you to.

Now, wait a minute, boy.

Ben was my twin, a part of me.

A part of me's been
stolen. A wrong.

Now that's the way I told it.

Well, that's just the Kiowa
Comanche in you that's a-talking.

You always did lean more
to your ma than you did to me.

We ain't got no time for them
Indian values and such truck.

There's an animal
over in Dodge City.

The only way you hunt down an
animal is you gotta have a heap of dogs.

- I'm going alone.
- You gotta think on your pa.

You want me to chance
losing another son?

I am thinking on you, Pa.

You ain't got nothing to lose.

Indian. Indian boy.

Oh, hello, Kitty.

I was just on my way
to the dressmaker's

and I thought I'd stop
by and let you know

that Sorils is all bedded
down in the Long Branch.

Oh, good. Well, thanks.

I can't say that lace
and frills do much for him.

Well, I'm sorry. It's probably
been a lot of trouble for you.

Oh, it's no trouble.

Besides, Long Branch is as
good a place as any to hide him.

Well, I'd say in some
ways better than most.

I'll see you later.

Oh, Miss Kitty, how are you?

Fine, thank you.

- Can I have a moment, Marshal?
- Yeah, come on in.

- Are you preparing for something?
- Just doing a little housework here.

- Like a cup of coffee?
- Oh, thank you.

Sounds like you're drumming
up a lot of interest out there.

Oh, yeah, people just need their civic
pride aroused. Come election time...

Here. Put some of
this bear oil on there.

Bear oil? Where
would you get bear oil?

Well, what I mean is, there are not
any bears around here now, are there?

No, Mr. Brewer, the
hunters bring it in.

Mr. Brewer, what's on your mind?

Clint Sorils. Are we to
understand he stays in town?

- That's right.
- Why?

- Why not?
- Clint Sorils is a gunfighter.

Well, that's probably what
he'll be remembered for.

A lot of people probably forget
that it was him and men like him

that opened up this
country, hunting, trapping.

Yeah, but Sorils took
a gun and killed a man.

In self-defense, yes.

That may be, but with
him here, wounded,

why, every reputation-seeking
hoodlum in the territory

will be descending on Dodge.

That's possible.

Why... why jeopardize
the health of a town

for a... for... for a crude
mountain of filth like that?

Get him out of town, man.
Think. That's your answer.

Mr. Brewer, you know, Clint Sorils
has a legal right to be in this town.

Seems to me as an attorney
you ought to know that.

A group of townspeople appointed
me to ask you to remove Clint Sorils.

What'll my answer be?

Very simple. Very
simple, Mr. Brewer.

Just tell them he stays.

Because in the first
place, he can't be moved.

We don't even know
whether he's gonna live.

In the second place, outside
he may be a mountain of filth.

Inside he's a man.

Kitty, he's a man.

You know, anybody else
would have been dead.

Well, I have to run out to Mrs.
Timmons, but I'll be back as soon as I can.

I want you to keep him as comfortable
as you can and quiet, of course.

All right. How is Mrs. Timmons?

Well, she's doing pretty good.

This just may be my day
to keep all my patients alive.

- Kind of a good feeling, huh?
- Yes.

Kind of makes up for
some of those other days.

Five days.

I recall five days

and no one talked.

No need.

Mountains pushing God higher.

Elk... moose low to the willow.

Mountain sheep
climbing and looking back

as if they had prayer
books on their feet.

Asheme Ome.

Don't lie, don't quit.

Shh.

Amy.

Amy.

I knew you... you couldn't die.

Not with a heart as
big as a day moon.

Not you, Amy.

Oh, Amy.

It's all right,
Clint. It's all right.

Remember our first spring?

And that meadow we had us?

Firs all around,
and that meadow.

And the snow was just gone now.

And us lying there.

And all the time cliff
swallows weaving a sky for us.

Now, a girl don't need no
more than that, does she, Amy?

Then there was the time
I shot the supper grouse.

The hen had chicks.

I didn't know.

Chicks.

I always liked young 'uns.

Always liked 'em.

We never had no young 'uns, Amy.

Why?

A woman always ought
to have young 'uns.

Yes, Clint.

A woman should have young ones.

Amy.

Oh, Amy.

You're the best squaw...

a man ever owned.

Yep.

Burke, would you go upstairs
and sit with Mr. Sorils, please?

Sure thing, Miss Kitty.

Kitty? Something wrong?

No, Matt. I'm just
tired, that's all.

Beer.

Conniston?

That's right.

You alone?

Just me.

Why don't you turn around
and go back to Spokes?

- Clint Sorils killed my brother.
- I know.

- I also know Clint Sorils.
- I don't.

- Did you see the shooting?
- Red told me.

What did he tell you?

Where is he?

Your brother was killed in self-defense.
Did your father tell you that?

I got written statements
from the witnesses up there.

Marshal, you can
have it one of two ways.

Either I get him,

or Red Conniston and his drunken
cowboys ride through this town.

You won't have nothing
left but nails. You want that?

Son, I know he was
your twin brother.

I'm killing him.

Upstairs.

The end of the hall.

Who is he, Matthew?

Jed Conniston.

Golly Bill, he's wearing a pistol.
He's liable to kill that Sorils fella.

Festus, why don't you
have yourself another beer?

- Sorils?
- No.

Now, wait a minute.
Marshal Dillon's downstairs.

- He'll be...
- You get out.

I thought I killed you.

My brother.

And now you've come to kill me?

- Get up.
- Can't. At least not yet.

Back shot, by your
brother if you like it.

Well, go ahead, shoot.

If you're warm enough to live,
you're cold enough to shoot a man.

It's the man who owns the
gun. Ain't the other way around.

Either way, I ain't cautioned.

For a hat you could likely boil and
feed the hounds with the leavings.

That hat was mine...

and I got a face full of
rotgut and that was me.

And I got shot, and that was me.

I was raised Blackfoot
to believe, and I believe,

the world began when I was born.

Asheme Ome.

Blackfoot.

Don't lie and don't quit.

All Blackfoot.

- Sorils seen a doctor?
- Of course he has.

Twixt Doc Adams and Miss Kitty there,
he's had the best doctoring there is.

Sorils, is... is he
gonna walk again?

Doc says no. He says yes.

He'll walk.

You were right.

Red lied to me.

There was no
way I could tell you.

- Breed?
- Squaw man.

If there's a difference.

He's the last of a kind.

That man says
he'll walk, he'll walk.

I believe that.

What'll I tell your
pa, Jed? Huh?

What are you doing
here, Louieville?

I figured I'd come in and help
out with the funeral arrangements.

Marshal, that thing
there is Louieville.

- What'll I tell Mr. Conniston?
- You tell him he lied to me.

- You both lied.
- Well, that happens.

- But it don't answer my question.
- Sorils stays.

Now, you gonna stand
up against your pa?

Now, he's got them boys outside
of town drunk on trade whiskey.

All right, you ride back and
tell him to stay out of town.

Mister, I've been watching
you down at the end of the bar.

And I figured that was the
light of thought in your eyes.

But I see now it was
just the... the sunlight

shining through the
back of your head.

Jed, are you coming with me?

No.

If you don't stand with your pa,
I reckon you stand against him.

It's a sad day a man
loses both his sons.

Marshal, that man,
he'll be back with others.

- Probably.
- And your position remains?

Sorils stays where he
is, if that's what you mean.

Look, Marshal, in order to
ensure the safety of the town, I...

Well, I can get some men.
We can get him out of Dodge.

Somewhere where he'd be safe.

Brewer, the safety of the people
in this town is my responsibility.

Why don't you let me handle it?

You boys come on up
here a minute. Come on.

You know, when you're half-soleing
your belly with another man's beef,

why does it always
taste better, huh?

That reminds me
about my old daddy.

He sent me out one
time to get a yearling

for a Fourth of July doing
was going on that year.

Well, sir, my old daddy was quite a
man. He was a mountain of a man.

Oh, yes, sir, six foot
seven and a half inches tall.

Hmm. Folks said that
moss grew off his north side.

He made all his
money in buffalo robes.

Him and his Sharps rifle used to meet
those freighters coming down the trail.

Well, anyways, I went out
and shot me a jelly-hided heifer

and I brung her on in.

It was one of ours.

When that old daddy of mine
saw the brand on that heifer,

he hit me on the side of the
head with a half a single tree.

Made a lump on there big enough
to sweat out a rat going around.

For a day and a half I didn't
know whether I was looking

at the sun or the moon.

My old daddy.

He had the hair of the
bear in him, that old man.

Rider coming in, Mr. Conniston.

Yeah. That'll be
Jed and Louieville.

Go skin 'em off some
of that hump meat there

and cup 'em with a dipper full of that
stuff that makes a mouse sass a wolf.

A mouse sass a...

I make it out to
be only one rider.

Wait a minute.

It couldn't be.

Where's Jed?

Back in Dodge.

What's he doing
there? Did he kill Sorils?

Come on, boy. What's wrong?

He didn't kill him.

He said to tell you
that the man stays.

He's standing right
beside the marshal.

- My Jed?
- He said you lied to him.

Course I did, for an inch or two,
but what's that gotta do with it?

You're forgetting he's
part Indian, Mr. Conniston.

Louieville, what... what's
Jed planning on doing there?

I don't know.

One thing for sure, we won't have
no trouble talking to that marshal.

Everybody's leaving town
till this thing blows over.

We got enough ammunition to fill every
chuckhole from here to the Cimarron.

My own son.

My own son.

Was he, Mr. Conniston?

I mean, you raised
Ben. He was you.

Jed was raised injun.

If it was me, I'd... say
I didn't have no son.

If it was me, sir.

Louieville.

You're gonna outlive
a monk for sure.

Evening, folks.

Now, it ain't that we don't
wanna stand with you, Marshal.

It's the family. You understand.

Well, look, I don't want you
folks staying around here.

No need to panic or anything, but
the sooner you get out, the better it is.

We're going, Marshal, just as soon
as we put some bedding in the wagons.

All right, fine.

- How's it coming, folks?
- Oh, fine, Marshal.

- We're all boarded up.
- Good.

- Well, better get it locked up, Ben.
- Good night, Marshal.

Night.

Can I help you, Marshal?

- You had any wires lately?
- No.

Try your lines, Clem.

- East lines is out.
- Try the west.

Dead.

What's it mean, Marshal?
What's it all about?

A hat.

Burke, go over to the Dodge
House, keep a lookout there.

All right, Marshal.

Festus, you go down
to the end of First Street.

Let me know the first
thing you see of 'em.

Matthew, you
hadn't ought to be...

You better get going. They
could be coming in any time.

Boys, let's fold up the
game and clear the street.

- Sam, you got a shotgun?
- Sure, right here.

Yeah. Where's Doc? Where is he?

I'm right here.

I gave him a strong
sedative, Matt.

He's gonna be
sleeping for a while.

He'll be dead to the world.

How is he, Doc?

Well, I wouldn't have said
this yesterday, but, by golly,

I think he'll pull through.

I brought you a rifle. Here.

Thought you'd gone home.

- You going out there alone?
- Looks that way.

- You know what he's like?
- I've heard.

Well, I've seen.

He can bring the devil out
to the ends of a man's hand

as quick as a boy
can milk a barn cow.

- You'll be killed.
- That's possible.

And he's my father.

Jed, it's all right. Why
don't you go on home?

- Hold on there.
- Oh, no, no trouble, Marshal.

No, we talked it all over.
We got the transportation.

Got a place to take him
to. Town's saved, Marshal.

- He's upstairs, men.
- Just a minute.

You're staying
right where you are.

Now, Sorils is staying up
there. You men get out of here.

I don't understand you, Marshal.
You'd stand out there for the glory?

Matthew?

Matthew, they're
here. They're coming in.

All right, get that wagon off
the street. Go on. Go on, Brewer.

You heard what Matthew said.
Get that wagon off the street.

Now, go on. No, get 'em
on out of here. Hurry it up.

Festus, why don't you
take the Dodge House?

Boys, we're expecting some
trouble. Everybody get off the street.

Sorils?

Now, get up.

I'll help you. Now, get up.

You gotta tell them you're
coming down. Gotta do it now.

I'm Red Conniston.

Looking for a fella
named Clint Sorils.

You look kind of naked there, Marshal,
with that scatter gun in your hand.

About as naked as you
was on your first birthday.

Say happy birthday
to the marshal, boys.

Happy birthday, Marshal!

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday!

He ain't backing
down, Louieville.

Well, you ain't neither.

Mm-mm.

All right, the
birthday party's over.

Now, get on your horses
and get back out of here.

Lee, boy, give me them hides.

Yes, sir.

Marshal, these are
rawhides. Green hides.

We gonna sew your friend Sorils
up in 'em, lay him out on the prairie

and let the sun love him
and squeeze him to death.

That's me. I was
raised Blackfoot.

To believe.

Asheme Ome.

Don't lie, don't quit.

It's a sad day a man
loses both his sons.

We ain't got time for
Indian values and such truck.

Conniston, you'll have to
go through me to get him.

Thing like that'll
be like a range bull

tromping his way
through a cockleburr bush.

Asheme Ome.

Don't lie and don't quit.

Sorils, you gotta
go down to them.

Jed, better get away
from that marshal.

Better get away from that marshal
or I'm gonna have to kill you, boy.

Son, you hear me?

I'll kill you sure
as you're born.

No, wait!

All right, now, the rest
of you ride out of here.

He just couldn't believe
Sorils was worth fighting for.

What was he trying to do, Doc?

Well, I think he was trying to tell us
that even if we were right about Sorils,

there was no use to fight.

What do you mean?

You know I told you I
gave Sorils a sedative?

Yeah.

Brewer must have
thought he was dead.

I got a spread just
outside of Spokes, Marshal.

- Expect you to come by.
- Jed, we'll be there.

Obliged.

Hyah.

You know, I never figured
he'd ever walk again.

- That's what you said, Doc.
- No, I didn't say that.

- Well, you did too.
- I didn't say anything of the kind.

What I said was that a
nerve trauma is a mystery

and it could dissipate or it
could structure into paralysis.

- That's what I said.
- It weren't nothing like that at all.

- None of that structuring stuff.
- Well, then, what were it?

Well, it... Old Ruth, he
had the very same thing.

Ruth come down in his
back legs in the winter...

Or was it the spring? No, it
was the winter. It was the winter.

I remember old Dooley's hound
dog, Boomer, was a-rooming with me...

Was what?

- Was rooming with me.
- Dooley was?

No, his dog, Boomer,
was rooming with me,

and old Boomer, he
was just constitutional

against cold bathing, see?

Well, anyhow, I started
putting willow bark in his feed...

- You put willow bark in his feed?
- Yeah.

- Dooley's?
- No. No, in Ruth's feed.

And, you know, Doc,
it wasn't no time at all,

just no time till he just come out
of that slicker than a bug's boots.

- Bug's boots?
- Yeah, bug's boots.

You know something,
you old scutter,

you ain't the onliest one that knows
nothing about doctoring, you know.

There's a whole heap of folks

that knows a whole heap
about doctoring, you know.

Like there's my Aunt Bea, that's
my Uncle Grober's fourth wife,

why, she took
care of us Haggens.

I'll never forget, us young
'uns, we used to get the croup.

I can just see her now,
just a-sashaying in there,

you know, with that
old coal-oil lamp there,

and she'd have them old shoemake
leaves all ground up and a-burning.

She'd take that
newspaper like that

and make a kind
of a funnel out of it

and you'd stick
your head over...

Oh, she was... she was a...

Doc?

Stay tuned for scenes
from next week's Gunsmoke.