Rawhide (1959–1965): Season 8, Episode 10 - Duel at Daybreak - full transcript
(drovers shouting, whistling)
(cattle lowing)
♪♪
(hollering)
(drovers shouting, whistling)
There's a T-Bar-2 outside.
Howdy, Quince.
Hi.
About time you got here.
You planning on sleeping through
the first week of your job?
No. I wouldn't miss it
for anything.
Well, almost anything.
With all these mud puddles,
a young lady
could be in distress.
Hah! Get outta there!
Hey, that's a good way to get
a hip pocket full of horns.
Shouldn't be any problem,
Miss Woodruff.
Angels do fly.
Well, I believe
I need some help.
You won't forget
about tonight, will you?
I'm looking forward to it.
So am I.
MAN:
Whoop.
You're on my bridge, cowboy.
Get off.
I didn't know it was private.
Yes, it's private.
Get off.
That half's mine, too.
- ♪ Rollin', rollin', rollin' ♪
-(whip cracks)
♪ Rawhide ♪
(whip cracks)
(whip cracks)
-(whip cracks)
- Hyah! Hyah!
- Hyah!
- (Whip cracks)
I said get off.
Now, get off. Get off!
I'm not wearing a gun.
Conger, toss him a gun.
Now, pick it up.
You might as well.
One way or another,
I'm going to kill you.
Pick it up.
(gunshot)
(crowd murmuring)
Try it again.
Pick it up.
What is this, some kind
of cat-and-mouse game?
Let me have your gun.
You just stay out of it.
CONGER:
Hold it.
He said stay out of it.
It's between the two of them.
If you think
I'm going to stand by
while a big man bullyrags a kid,
oh, you got another
thought coming, mister.
Hey, you better keep
your man back, ramrod,
unless you want us
in on it, too.
Hold him back for what?
This two-bit puppy-baiting
session he's got going here?
CONGER: It's a fair fight--
your man against ours.
QUINCE:
Fair? You call this fair?
Between the two, your man's
the only one toting a gun.
CONGER: The kid can pick up
the gun any time he wants to.
Pick it up.
What's going on here?
Ask the big man here.
Del?
I'm teaching
a wet-behind-the-ears kid
-a lesson in manners.
- That's enough.
Nope.
He still has it coming.
Only you're doing
all the shooting.
Well, he's got a gun now.
All he has to do is pick it up.
What'd he do?
Putting a high price
on a pair of pants, aren't you?
Maybe you'd like
to pay for them.
- Any time, mister.
- Del!
Was it done deliberately?
Deliberate enough.
Gun's been nicked a few times.
Probably blow up in your face.
Just let him be.
He ain't gonna get the chance
to pull that trigger.
Mr. Woodruff,
get him out of here.
Get him out of here, I said.
Del.
Vicki, get back to the house.
ROWDY: Quince, Simon,
get him back to the herd.
The rest of you men,
get to work.
MR. WOODRUFF:
That includes my people, too.
(men grumbling)
Mr. Woodruff, I'd like you
to get rid of that man.
Del? He's my top hand.
He's been with me
since I started here.
You telling me no?
I'm saying Del wouldn't
flare up without a reason.
That boy must have provoked it.
Yeah. (sighs)
Well, I'm going to pull out.
We're too far apart, I'm afraid.
Because of a quarrel between
a couple of hotheaded cowboys?
(Mr. Woodruff chuckles)
That's the way it look to you?
Mr. Yates,
you've contracted to deliver
750 head of Woodruff cattle
to market.
I've already started
my road branding.
Yeah, well, I've lost two days'
driving time coming over here.
Now, that's just time
and effort so far.
We'll leave it at that, huh?
We made a deal.
Well, get yourself another man.
Where? When?
A man's word counts
for something.
We shook hands over this.
Well, look at it this way.
The way things stand right now,
it wouldn't take much
to get lead flying
between our two outfits.
You willing to risk that?
I'll take care of my men
if you'll take care of yours.
All right.
I'll be over this afternoon
to finish signing those papers.
Vicki.
Everything's going to be
all right now, honey.
I knew you'd stop it, Father.
Whatever it was,
it was for me to settle.
You should never
have come out there.
I just wanted to see
what was happening.
Child, a sordid quarrel
between two cowboys
is nothing for you
to be concerned with.
The only sordid thing about it
is Del Lingman.
Why, he'd have killed that boy
if you and Mr. Yates
hadn't have stopped him.
Perhaps the boy deserved it.
You don't believe that.
You seem to know more
about the boy than I do.
Have you had occasion
to talk to him before?
Enough to know he would not
have started that fight.
Father, you can't keep
Del Lingman on now.
Vicki, I need Del Lingman.
I've kept you away
from the hard, practical things
that are necessary
to run a big cattle ranch.
You just don't know.
I'd be lost without Del.
All the same, I...
I still wish you'd let him go.
I can't.
He's my right hand.
All right.
We'll let Del stay here
and run the ranch, and...
and let's you and I
go back home to Savannah.
Honey, this is our home now.
Why?
Surely we have enough money now
to go back to where
you're respected,
to where people
have manners and breeding.
Isn't it time we went back
to where we belong?
This is where we belong.
Honey...
...we're quarreling
over nothing.
We're happy where we are,
aren't we?
(cattle lowing)
Hello, Wish.
Well, what's the matter
with you?
Nothing's the matter with me.
But something's gonna be
the matter with him.
Roman...
What happened to you?
ROMAN:
A small misunderstanding.
I heard there was
a lot more to it than that.
How'd it happen?
It was a question of mud...
between me and
a man named Lingman.
A little bit on his pants...
but my face got rubbed in it.
Del Lingman?
Woodruff's top hand.
Tell me about Woodruff.
Wood ruff?
I don't know anything
about him, why?
Curiosity.
I'm thinking about Lingman,
and maybe you better start
thinking about him
a little, too.
(sighs)
How'd it all get started, Jed?
This business of every man
wearing a gun
on his hip out here?
It's a hard country.
Out here, a man had
to be ready for anything.
Maybe someday it'll end.
I ought to wear a gun.
COLBY:
You?
I'm a Westerner now,
not a Southerner.
It's time I acted the part.
Lend me a gun belt, Jed.
No.
Then I'll have to get my own.
Kid... he'll cut you in half.
I'm going to have
to fight that man.
COLBY:
Don't you ever try.
There's no help for it, Jed.
♪♪
I'm looking for a man
named Del Lingman.
I'm looking for a man
named Del Lingman.
(men clamoring)
I hear you're looking
for a man named Del Lingman.
I hear you're pretty good
at browbeating kids
who don't even carry a gun.
I wonder what you'd be like
against a man wearing a gun.
What's the matter-- can't that
kid fight his own battles?
I'm ready to draw.
Jed...
- Keep out of this, Rowdy.
You keep that gun
in its holster.
This is personal.
Look, I'm giving you an order.
You draw and you
come out of this,
you better keep right on riding.
Don't come back to that herd.
You better do like he says,
mister, and quick.
MR. WOODRUFF:
Del...
you go on back to the house.
I want to talk to you, now.
What are you trying to do,
get yourself killed?
You think I can't draw
fast enough to take him?
There's something
you don't know, Rowdy.
That kid's gonna
put on a gun belt
and come looking for Lingman.
You don't stop a killing
with a killing.
All we have to do
is keep 'em apart for two days,
then we'll be out of here.
Let's get back to the herd.
♪♪
Don't tell me you think
those beeves care
whether or not
you're wearing a neckpiece.
Not beeves I'm dressing for.
Oh, yes you are.
You're doing
the night guard tonight.
No, not tonight, Wish.
Rome, I heard Rowdy
tell you myself.
Well, when a young man's
invited out to dinner,
he's got no time
to ride night guard.
One of the boys
is taking my place.
You mean you're eating
with the Woodruffs?
Aw, I couldn't disappoint
a young lady now, could I?
Oh...
Rowdy!
Jed, that young jasper says he's
going to dinner with you, too.
Says the Woodruff
girl invited him.
Oh, boy.
(knocking on door)
Yeah?
Hi, Del.
I didn't think you'd be here,
but I saw your light on.
Where would I be?
Well, there's
some kind of a party
going on at the big house.
So?
So, I thought maybe
you'd be up there.
Get your foot off that chair.
Uh, there are three horses
tied up out in front.
I saw 'em.
They belong to Yates...
Colby...
and that kid.
You got something
on your mind, say it.
Well, I figure with that kid
being at that party
with Vicki and all, uh...
Get your foot
off of that chair.
And get out.
(crashing, clattering)
(laughing)
Gentlemen, I give you the South:
most gallant losers.
Another toast, Father?
Gentlemen, uh, there's
one Southern tradition
my daughter has not yet learned,
living in the West
as we do now.
When gentlemen
are drinking socially,
women should use their eyes
and their smiles,
not their voices.
Father has never really
accepted the fact
that we no longer
move in society.
He brought me up as though
we still lived in a world
of drawing rooms and verandas.
Such a world
does exist, my dear.
And one day you'll
take your place in it.
You see?
Mr. Bedford, you haven't
said much this evening,
but from your accent, uh,
seems you're from the South.
I am, sir.
May one ask from where?
Charleston.
Savannah.
VICKI:
But you never told me that.
Well, that's
where Father's from.
Perhaps you remember
the name, Mason Woodruff?
Savannah is a large city,
Miss Woodruff.
One cannot know everyone in it.
I don't recall the name, but...
I do remember
your father's face.
Seems to me that I've seen it
in the newspapers.
Father.
The young man is mistaken.
But you can't be sure, Father.
A man in your position
may easily be in the newspapers
and not be aware of it.
Well, when was this?
Shortly after the war.
Well, you were there then.
It was a long time ago, my dear.
I would think Mr. Bedford
was too young to be much
involved in the Civil War years.
Too young to have served
in the war, sir,
not too young to remember.
You are mistaken, sir.
Father...
is something the matter?
I'm very tired, my dear.
I think we should end this.
Yeah. Yeah, I think
you're right.
Uh, we got to be in the saddle
kind of early in the morning.
Thank you for
a fine evening, ma'am.
Thank you. I-I'm...
glad you could come,
all of you.
(knocking on door)
BUTLER: Mr. Lingman is here,
Mr. Woodruff.
You may show Mr. Lingman in.
Yes, sir.
Yes, Del?
I didn't mean to break
anything up, Mr. Woodruff.
But about tomorrow...
we're working
Crooked Snake Creek
first thing in the morning;
thought maybe you had
special orders.
Uh, well, we can
find our way out.
Thank you very much,
Mr. Woodruff.
COLBY:
Good night, sir.
All right, you played it smart
on two accounts.
Whatever it is between you
and Woodruff, you let it lie.
And when Lingman came in,
you kept your mouth shut.
Now, let's get going to camp.
I got some business here first.
Look, if you wanted
to press this thing,
why didn't you do it
when you were in there?
Tradition, Mr. Yates.
You don't fight a man
when you're a guest
in someone's house.
Well, you're not gonna
wait out here for him,
so get up on your horse.
(sighs)
I can't do that, Jed.
Have you any idea
what you'll be facing?
I've held a gun
in my hand before.
Yeah, yeah,
for shooting jackrabbits--
but this man knows
what he's doing.
COLBY:
Starting from an even draw,
he'd have a bullet in you before
you even touched your gun.
He'll kill you.
You haven't got a chance.
You believe him, boy.
I am, Mr. Yates.
Then you get up on that horse,
that's an order.
That's one order
I can't take, Mr. Yates.
If it means anything
to be my own man,
I gotta go through with this.
(door opens)
I'm new out here.
I'm not sure of the right
way of doing things, but...
where I come from,
if you want to fight a man,
you set a time and a place.
You want to fight a duel,
Mr. Bedford?
Yes, sir.
For the last time, Roman,
let's get out of here.
LINGMAN:
Whoa.
What's the hurry?
Maybe I've got something to say.
ROWDY:
Stop this, Wood ruff.
MR. WOODRUFF:
I think you'll have to admit
that Del
is not the aggressor here.
Mr. Bedford has taken away
my right to interfere,
and I think he's taken away
yours, too.
This is between the two of them.
Go ahead, Del.
You have a right to speak.
Well, I was about to say,
"Why wait?"
Let's make this the place
and now the time.
No, let's do this properly,
like Southern gentlemen.
A duel is supposed
to be fought at dawn.
LINGMAN:
Tomorrow?
MR. WOODRUFF:
The day after.
That'll give
the young man a chance
to decide perhaps he's, uh...
made a mistake.
There's been no mistake.
Dawn will be satisfactory.
Del?
Sure, sure.
Whatever way you want it,
Mr. Woodruff.
Father, why?
(distant gunshot)
(distant gunshot)
(distant gunshot)
(distant gunshot,
bullet ricochets)
(closer gunshot)
(gunshot, closer still)
Well, how was that?
You shoot as good
as any man I've ever seen.
But not good enough.
It was dead center.
But the target
wasn't shooting back.
You'd have been down
three seconds before you fired.
Kid, you're ready
for lesson number two.
Let me have that gun.
What was that for?
That's lesson number two.
This gun is your life, kid.
Never give it to anyone,
not even your mother.
Thanks.
I'll remember that.
Now I'm ready
for lesson number three.
(distant gunshot,
bullet ricochets)
How's he doing?
Oh, he shoots straight enough,
but he... he's slow, Rowdy.
Lingman will empty his gun
before Roman gets a shot off.
You're gonna have
to put a stop to it.
And you mind telling me how?
I'll tell you this.
You know,
when a steer goes on the hook,
it gets mean and stubborn enough
to charge a grizzly bear,
go over a cliff
or make a meal on "Jipson" weed.
It doesn't matter.
You know it's gonna kill him.
But you just don't set there
and let him do it.
You circle him and
haze him back to the herd.
Or you rope him
and tie him down
and leave him tied
till he cools off.
Yeah, but the trouble is, uh,
we're talking about a man,
not a steer.
Well, I'll buy that.
But a rope will hold him.
Yeah.
No, I-l really don't believe you
can treat a man like a steer.
Oh, you can, uh, rope him
and tie him down, maybe, but...
you can't add up what's gonna
go on inside of him.
(two distant gunshots)
I'm not sure we'd be doing him
a favor, really.
Draw!
You're weak on the draw, kid.
We're gonna have
to work on that.
Yeah, I want to stop this
as much as the rest of you,
but, uh, there's only one man
who can do that.
Lingman.
No, the man who gives Lingman
his orders.
(three distant gunshots)
I think we better show him
the play we used in Wichita.
Yeah, he might need it.
Now.
(distant gunshots)
Now.
You got a chance, kid.
If you hadn't started
with that boy,
none of this
would've ever happened.
The cattle would've been off,
and I would never have known
this boy existed.
But he still would've known
about you.
What does that mean?
Doesn't mean anything.
But if you want that boy dead,
that's the way
you're gonna have him.
I never said that.
Well, I guess
you never did say it.
(knocking on door)
Come in.
Mr. Yates
wants to see you, Father.
All right, Del.
Uh, would you, uh, leave us now,
Vicki, please?
I'd like to know how soon
we're gonna get moving.
Not before tomorrow, Mr. Yates.
Well, I'd like
to move out right away.
Why the rush?
You know why the rush.
I don't want that boy killed.
MR. WOODRUFF: This duel was
the boy's own idea, Mr. Yates.
Nobody forced him into it.
ROWDY: You and I know different,
Mr. Woodruff.
What would you like me to do?
Send Lingman away
for a few days.
By the time he gets back,
-we'll be gone.
- As easy as that, huh?
That's right.
He'll take orders from you.
It won't ruin his reputation
to spare a boy's life.
No, Mr. Yates,
I'm not going to interfere,
and I don't think
you should either.
That's your last word, huh?
That's my last word.
(door shuts)
Well, Father?
Well, what?
I overheard outside the door.
This is an affair between men,
my dear.
I suggest you stay out of it.
Mr. Yates was right.
All you have to do
is send Del away.
Are you quite sure he'd go?
Make him.
And if he doesn't go,
dismiss him.
You're asking me to let this
ranch fall completely apart.
Let it fall apart!
Sell it! Anything!
It is not worth that boy's life!
What is he, this boy
that you're so concerned about?
A young arrogant hellion.
Del was right--
he needs a lesson.
Del will kill him.
The whole thing
was the boy's own idea.
Father, I don't understand.
This isn't like you at all.
You let it go at that.
No, that is not good enough!
I'm not a stranger;
I'm your daughter!
I need to know why.
You need to do
what you're told to do!
Now, you go
to your room and stay there!
- Father...!
- Go to your room!
(clicking)
(knocking)
Yeah?
Miss Vicki.
I want you to stop this duel.
I don't think
your father would like that.
Why?
Do you know something I don't?
Because if you do,
I wish you'd tell me.
I'm only a ranch foreman,
Miss Vicki.
Yes, but you can stop this duel.
There's only one thing make me
give up killing that kid.
What?
You.
Never.
Well, I hope you've made
your good-byes,
'cause that's the last time
you're gonna see that kid alive.
(crickets chirping)
WISHBONE: "For everything
there is a season,
"and a time to every purpose
under the heaven.
"A time to be born
and a time to die.”
What's that, poetry?
It's the good book.
Ecclesiastes.
That's what we need around here,
a little more truth.
Has the kid told any of you
there's something personal
between him and Woodruff?
He ain't told me nothing.
COLBY:
Wish?
Don't look at me.
I wouldn't know anything.
COLBY: Well, Rowdy,
maybe we better find out.
ROMAN:
Well?
Rome.
Whatever it is between you
and Woodruff, I want to know.
Look, maybe I can save you
some time.
Anything I know about Woodruff
has nothing to do with this.
My fight's with Lingman.
Whatever Woodruff does
or doesn't do,
I'd find Lingman and...
I'd fight him.
(sighs)
COLBY: Well, I guess he's got
to test himself.
ROWDY:
Yeah, it comes down to that.
He'll either grow a few inches
or he'll be dead.
(bird cooing)
(rustling in distance)
Vicki.
Father.
Where are you going?
I... I couldn't sleep.
I couldn't either.
Vicki, there's been something
coming between us.
We mustn't let that happen.
You and I, we must always...
Yes, Father, it means
what you think it means.
Where are you going? Why?
Somewhere, anywhere.
But to leave the house
in the middle of the night...
to go away without...
Oh... that boy.
No, Father, not Roman.
(horse neighs outside)
Lingman.
How long has this been going on?
Is that what
you really think of me?
He's out there, isn't he,
waiting for you?
Yes, he is.
(panting):
Why, Vicki? Why?
I couldn't see you
become a murderer.
Yes...
that's what it would have been,
Del against that boy.
Oh, my... (shudders)
That's...
that's why you're
going away with Lingman.
Why didn't you
stop that duel, Father?
4 couldn't.
Why?
For you.
For me?!
Vicki...
because of that boy,
we could lose everything--
home, freedom, everything.
I don't understand.
Vicki...
There never was an estate
back in Savannah.
At least not mine.
I was a clerk
on another man's plantation.
He sent me to school...
gave me a position.
And after the war...
carpetbaggers descended on us.
There was confusion, disorder.
Everything was toppling.
I helped to destroy
the man I worked with.
I took everything I could get,
and I came west.
That was why my picture
was in the paper.
The picture of a...
...traitor and a thief.
Vicki, I swear...
On what, Father?!
Your honor
as a Southern gentleman?
(stifled sob)
I guess I deserved that.
Why did you lie to me
all these years?
I think that's
what I hated most.
I'm not asking you
to forgive me.
I am asking you to...
try to understand.
You don't know what
it was like in those days...
the world crumbling around us.
I... I had you to think about.
Father, I never needed this.
I suppose...
I knew that, too.
The rock-bottom lie...
sobbing):
was I needed it for myself.
Is that why you
didn't stop this duel?
You must stop it now.
Do you realize...
if that story comes out,
everything I've built up
for you, we'll lose it?
Everything?
It doesn't matter.
I don't want it if it means
the death of that boy.
Then I don't, either.
Not at all.
Father.
♪♪
Father...
Vicki...
stay inside, please!
You won't need that extra horse.
Just like that, huh?
In the morning...
you draw your back pay
and get out.
All these years
doing your dirty work,
and now I'm just another hand.
Much worse than that.
You owe me something, Woodruff.
Mister Wood ruff!
Never mind all that.
I know what you are.
All right.
Then maybe you
ought to know it's all over.
We're not gonna
do anything to that boy.
That's not the way I see it.
No?
I got a share
in all this, Woodruff,
about a one-half share.
And I still intend
to be part of the family.
(gunshot)
Daddy!
(crying):
Get out of here. Get out!
He'll be all right.
I'm gonna settle with that kid.
Whatever he knows,
it's too much,
and if anybody's gonna
put you in jail, it'll be me.
And I'll be back for you.
♪♪
♪♪
Kid.
I saw your empty bedroll.
I'm all right.
I just couldn't sleep.
You still want
to go through with this?
Yes.
Nothing I can say
will make you change your mind?
No, Jed.
Nothing.
Hey, kid...
remember what I said--
you've got a chance.
Don't either one of you
make a move.
Don't do it, Colby.
Not you that I'm after.
He isn't wearing a gun.
Give him yours.
Lingman...
Give it to him.
LINGMAN:
Other hand, Colby.
Pick it up.
♪♪
He'll be all right.
Rowdy.
This one's dead.
-(drovers shouting, whistling)
-(cattle lowing)
Hah! Hah!
♪♪
ROWDY: Well, we're all ready
to move out, Mr. Woodruff.
Thanks, Mr. Yates.
ROMAN:
Well, what are you gonna do now?
Father's going back
to face Savannah,
and I'm going with him.
ROMAN: I think you'll
find it a forgiving town.
Maybe you'll go there
someday, too.
I hope so.
COLBY:
Rome, you ready?
Ready.
♪♪
(cattle lowing)
♪♪
(hollering)
(drovers shouting, whistling)
There's a T-Bar-2 outside.
Howdy, Quince.
Hi.
About time you got here.
You planning on sleeping through
the first week of your job?
No. I wouldn't miss it
for anything.
Well, almost anything.
With all these mud puddles,
a young lady
could be in distress.
Hah! Get outta there!
Hey, that's a good way to get
a hip pocket full of horns.
Shouldn't be any problem,
Miss Woodruff.
Angels do fly.
Well, I believe
I need some help.
You won't forget
about tonight, will you?
I'm looking forward to it.
So am I.
MAN:
Whoop.
You're on my bridge, cowboy.
Get off.
I didn't know it was private.
Yes, it's private.
Get off.
That half's mine, too.
- ♪ Rollin', rollin', rollin' ♪
-(whip cracks)
♪ Rawhide ♪
(whip cracks)
(whip cracks)
-(whip cracks)
- Hyah! Hyah!
- Hyah!
- (Whip cracks)
I said get off.
Now, get off. Get off!
I'm not wearing a gun.
Conger, toss him a gun.
Now, pick it up.
You might as well.
One way or another,
I'm going to kill you.
Pick it up.
(gunshot)
(crowd murmuring)
Try it again.
Pick it up.
What is this, some kind
of cat-and-mouse game?
Let me have your gun.
You just stay out of it.
CONGER:
Hold it.
He said stay out of it.
It's between the two of them.
If you think
I'm going to stand by
while a big man bullyrags a kid,
oh, you got another
thought coming, mister.
Hey, you better keep
your man back, ramrod,
unless you want us
in on it, too.
Hold him back for what?
This two-bit puppy-baiting
session he's got going here?
CONGER: It's a fair fight--
your man against ours.
QUINCE:
Fair? You call this fair?
Between the two, your man's
the only one toting a gun.
CONGER: The kid can pick up
the gun any time he wants to.
Pick it up.
What's going on here?
Ask the big man here.
Del?
I'm teaching
a wet-behind-the-ears kid
-a lesson in manners.
- That's enough.
Nope.
He still has it coming.
Only you're doing
all the shooting.
Well, he's got a gun now.
All he has to do is pick it up.
What'd he do?
Putting a high price
on a pair of pants, aren't you?
Maybe you'd like
to pay for them.
- Any time, mister.
- Del!
Was it done deliberately?
Deliberate enough.
Gun's been nicked a few times.
Probably blow up in your face.
Just let him be.
He ain't gonna get the chance
to pull that trigger.
Mr. Woodruff,
get him out of here.
Get him out of here, I said.
Del.
Vicki, get back to the house.
ROWDY: Quince, Simon,
get him back to the herd.
The rest of you men,
get to work.
MR. WOODRUFF:
That includes my people, too.
(men grumbling)
Mr. Woodruff, I'd like you
to get rid of that man.
Del? He's my top hand.
He's been with me
since I started here.
You telling me no?
I'm saying Del wouldn't
flare up without a reason.
That boy must have provoked it.
Yeah. (sighs)
Well, I'm going to pull out.
We're too far apart, I'm afraid.
Because of a quarrel between
a couple of hotheaded cowboys?
(Mr. Woodruff chuckles)
That's the way it look to you?
Mr. Yates,
you've contracted to deliver
750 head of Woodruff cattle
to market.
I've already started
my road branding.
Yeah, well, I've lost two days'
driving time coming over here.
Now, that's just time
and effort so far.
We'll leave it at that, huh?
We made a deal.
Well, get yourself another man.
Where? When?
A man's word counts
for something.
We shook hands over this.
Well, look at it this way.
The way things stand right now,
it wouldn't take much
to get lead flying
between our two outfits.
You willing to risk that?
I'll take care of my men
if you'll take care of yours.
All right.
I'll be over this afternoon
to finish signing those papers.
Vicki.
Everything's going to be
all right now, honey.
I knew you'd stop it, Father.
Whatever it was,
it was for me to settle.
You should never
have come out there.
I just wanted to see
what was happening.
Child, a sordid quarrel
between two cowboys
is nothing for you
to be concerned with.
The only sordid thing about it
is Del Lingman.
Why, he'd have killed that boy
if you and Mr. Yates
hadn't have stopped him.
Perhaps the boy deserved it.
You don't believe that.
You seem to know more
about the boy than I do.
Have you had occasion
to talk to him before?
Enough to know he would not
have started that fight.
Father, you can't keep
Del Lingman on now.
Vicki, I need Del Lingman.
I've kept you away
from the hard, practical things
that are necessary
to run a big cattle ranch.
You just don't know.
I'd be lost without Del.
All the same, I...
I still wish you'd let him go.
I can't.
He's my right hand.
All right.
We'll let Del stay here
and run the ranch, and...
and let's you and I
go back home to Savannah.
Honey, this is our home now.
Why?
Surely we have enough money now
to go back to where
you're respected,
to where people
have manners and breeding.
Isn't it time we went back
to where we belong?
This is where we belong.
Honey...
...we're quarreling
over nothing.
We're happy where we are,
aren't we?
(cattle lowing)
Hello, Wish.
Well, what's the matter
with you?
Nothing's the matter with me.
But something's gonna be
the matter with him.
Roman...
What happened to you?
ROMAN:
A small misunderstanding.
I heard there was
a lot more to it than that.
How'd it happen?
It was a question of mud...
between me and
a man named Lingman.
A little bit on his pants...
but my face got rubbed in it.
Del Lingman?
Woodruff's top hand.
Tell me about Woodruff.
Wood ruff?
I don't know anything
about him, why?
Curiosity.
I'm thinking about Lingman,
and maybe you better start
thinking about him
a little, too.
(sighs)
How'd it all get started, Jed?
This business of every man
wearing a gun
on his hip out here?
It's a hard country.
Out here, a man had
to be ready for anything.
Maybe someday it'll end.
I ought to wear a gun.
COLBY:
You?
I'm a Westerner now,
not a Southerner.
It's time I acted the part.
Lend me a gun belt, Jed.
No.
Then I'll have to get my own.
Kid... he'll cut you in half.
I'm going to have
to fight that man.
COLBY:
Don't you ever try.
There's no help for it, Jed.
♪♪
I'm looking for a man
named Del Lingman.
I'm looking for a man
named Del Lingman.
(men clamoring)
I hear you're looking
for a man named Del Lingman.
I hear you're pretty good
at browbeating kids
who don't even carry a gun.
I wonder what you'd be like
against a man wearing a gun.
What's the matter-- can't that
kid fight his own battles?
I'm ready to draw.
Jed...
- Keep out of this, Rowdy.
You keep that gun
in its holster.
This is personal.
Look, I'm giving you an order.
You draw and you
come out of this,
you better keep right on riding.
Don't come back to that herd.
You better do like he says,
mister, and quick.
MR. WOODRUFF:
Del...
you go on back to the house.
I want to talk to you, now.
What are you trying to do,
get yourself killed?
You think I can't draw
fast enough to take him?
There's something
you don't know, Rowdy.
That kid's gonna
put on a gun belt
and come looking for Lingman.
You don't stop a killing
with a killing.
All we have to do
is keep 'em apart for two days,
then we'll be out of here.
Let's get back to the herd.
♪♪
Don't tell me you think
those beeves care
whether or not
you're wearing a neckpiece.
Not beeves I'm dressing for.
Oh, yes you are.
You're doing
the night guard tonight.
No, not tonight, Wish.
Rome, I heard Rowdy
tell you myself.
Well, when a young man's
invited out to dinner,
he's got no time
to ride night guard.
One of the boys
is taking my place.
You mean you're eating
with the Woodruffs?
Aw, I couldn't disappoint
a young lady now, could I?
Oh...
Rowdy!
Jed, that young jasper says he's
going to dinner with you, too.
Says the Woodruff
girl invited him.
Oh, boy.
(knocking on door)
Yeah?
Hi, Del.
I didn't think you'd be here,
but I saw your light on.
Where would I be?
Well, there's
some kind of a party
going on at the big house.
So?
So, I thought maybe
you'd be up there.
Get your foot off that chair.
Uh, there are three horses
tied up out in front.
I saw 'em.
They belong to Yates...
Colby...
and that kid.
You got something
on your mind, say it.
Well, I figure with that kid
being at that party
with Vicki and all, uh...
Get your foot
off of that chair.
And get out.
(crashing, clattering)
(laughing)
Gentlemen, I give you the South:
most gallant losers.
Another toast, Father?
Gentlemen, uh, there's
one Southern tradition
my daughter has not yet learned,
living in the West
as we do now.
When gentlemen
are drinking socially,
women should use their eyes
and their smiles,
not their voices.
Father has never really
accepted the fact
that we no longer
move in society.
He brought me up as though
we still lived in a world
of drawing rooms and verandas.
Such a world
does exist, my dear.
And one day you'll
take your place in it.
You see?
Mr. Bedford, you haven't
said much this evening,
but from your accent, uh,
seems you're from the South.
I am, sir.
May one ask from where?
Charleston.
Savannah.
VICKI:
But you never told me that.
Well, that's
where Father's from.
Perhaps you remember
the name, Mason Woodruff?
Savannah is a large city,
Miss Woodruff.
One cannot know everyone in it.
I don't recall the name, but...
I do remember
your father's face.
Seems to me that I've seen it
in the newspapers.
Father.
The young man is mistaken.
But you can't be sure, Father.
A man in your position
may easily be in the newspapers
and not be aware of it.
Well, when was this?
Shortly after the war.
Well, you were there then.
It was a long time ago, my dear.
I would think Mr. Bedford
was too young to be much
involved in the Civil War years.
Too young to have served
in the war, sir,
not too young to remember.
You are mistaken, sir.
Father...
is something the matter?
I'm very tired, my dear.
I think we should end this.
Yeah. Yeah, I think
you're right.
Uh, we got to be in the saddle
kind of early in the morning.
Thank you for
a fine evening, ma'am.
Thank you. I-I'm...
glad you could come,
all of you.
(knocking on door)
BUTLER: Mr. Lingman is here,
Mr. Woodruff.
You may show Mr. Lingman in.
Yes, sir.
Yes, Del?
I didn't mean to break
anything up, Mr. Woodruff.
But about tomorrow...
we're working
Crooked Snake Creek
first thing in the morning;
thought maybe you had
special orders.
Uh, well, we can
find our way out.
Thank you very much,
Mr. Woodruff.
COLBY:
Good night, sir.
All right, you played it smart
on two accounts.
Whatever it is between you
and Woodruff, you let it lie.
And when Lingman came in,
you kept your mouth shut.
Now, let's get going to camp.
I got some business here first.
Look, if you wanted
to press this thing,
why didn't you do it
when you were in there?
Tradition, Mr. Yates.
You don't fight a man
when you're a guest
in someone's house.
Well, you're not gonna
wait out here for him,
so get up on your horse.
(sighs)
I can't do that, Jed.
Have you any idea
what you'll be facing?
I've held a gun
in my hand before.
Yeah, yeah,
for shooting jackrabbits--
but this man knows
what he's doing.
COLBY:
Starting from an even draw,
he'd have a bullet in you before
you even touched your gun.
He'll kill you.
You haven't got a chance.
You believe him, boy.
I am, Mr. Yates.
Then you get up on that horse,
that's an order.
That's one order
I can't take, Mr. Yates.
If it means anything
to be my own man,
I gotta go through with this.
(door opens)
I'm new out here.
I'm not sure of the right
way of doing things, but...
where I come from,
if you want to fight a man,
you set a time and a place.
You want to fight a duel,
Mr. Bedford?
Yes, sir.
For the last time, Roman,
let's get out of here.
LINGMAN:
Whoa.
What's the hurry?
Maybe I've got something to say.
ROWDY:
Stop this, Wood ruff.
MR. WOODRUFF:
I think you'll have to admit
that Del
is not the aggressor here.
Mr. Bedford has taken away
my right to interfere,
and I think he's taken away
yours, too.
This is between the two of them.
Go ahead, Del.
You have a right to speak.
Well, I was about to say,
"Why wait?"
Let's make this the place
and now the time.
No, let's do this properly,
like Southern gentlemen.
A duel is supposed
to be fought at dawn.
LINGMAN:
Tomorrow?
MR. WOODRUFF:
The day after.
That'll give
the young man a chance
to decide perhaps he's, uh...
made a mistake.
There's been no mistake.
Dawn will be satisfactory.
Del?
Sure, sure.
Whatever way you want it,
Mr. Woodruff.
Father, why?
(distant gunshot)
(distant gunshot)
(distant gunshot)
(distant gunshot,
bullet ricochets)
(closer gunshot)
(gunshot, closer still)
Well, how was that?
You shoot as good
as any man I've ever seen.
But not good enough.
It was dead center.
But the target
wasn't shooting back.
You'd have been down
three seconds before you fired.
Kid, you're ready
for lesson number two.
Let me have that gun.
What was that for?
That's lesson number two.
This gun is your life, kid.
Never give it to anyone,
not even your mother.
Thanks.
I'll remember that.
Now I'm ready
for lesson number three.
(distant gunshot,
bullet ricochets)
How's he doing?
Oh, he shoots straight enough,
but he... he's slow, Rowdy.
Lingman will empty his gun
before Roman gets a shot off.
You're gonna have
to put a stop to it.
And you mind telling me how?
I'll tell you this.
You know,
when a steer goes on the hook,
it gets mean and stubborn enough
to charge a grizzly bear,
go over a cliff
or make a meal on "Jipson" weed.
It doesn't matter.
You know it's gonna kill him.
But you just don't set there
and let him do it.
You circle him and
haze him back to the herd.
Or you rope him
and tie him down
and leave him tied
till he cools off.
Yeah, but the trouble is, uh,
we're talking about a man,
not a steer.
Well, I'll buy that.
But a rope will hold him.
Yeah.
No, I-l really don't believe you
can treat a man like a steer.
Oh, you can, uh, rope him
and tie him down, maybe, but...
you can't add up what's gonna
go on inside of him.
(two distant gunshots)
I'm not sure we'd be doing him
a favor, really.
Draw!
You're weak on the draw, kid.
We're gonna have
to work on that.
Yeah, I want to stop this
as much as the rest of you,
but, uh, there's only one man
who can do that.
Lingman.
No, the man who gives Lingman
his orders.
(three distant gunshots)
I think we better show him
the play we used in Wichita.
Yeah, he might need it.
Now.
(distant gunshots)
Now.
You got a chance, kid.
If you hadn't started
with that boy,
none of this
would've ever happened.
The cattle would've been off,
and I would never have known
this boy existed.
But he still would've known
about you.
What does that mean?
Doesn't mean anything.
But if you want that boy dead,
that's the way
you're gonna have him.
I never said that.
Well, I guess
you never did say it.
(knocking on door)
Come in.
Mr. Yates
wants to see you, Father.
All right, Del.
Uh, would you, uh, leave us now,
Vicki, please?
I'd like to know how soon
we're gonna get moving.
Not before tomorrow, Mr. Yates.
Well, I'd like
to move out right away.
Why the rush?
You know why the rush.
I don't want that boy killed.
MR. WOODRUFF: This duel was
the boy's own idea, Mr. Yates.
Nobody forced him into it.
ROWDY: You and I know different,
Mr. Woodruff.
What would you like me to do?
Send Lingman away
for a few days.
By the time he gets back,
-we'll be gone.
- As easy as that, huh?
That's right.
He'll take orders from you.
It won't ruin his reputation
to spare a boy's life.
No, Mr. Yates,
I'm not going to interfere,
and I don't think
you should either.
That's your last word, huh?
That's my last word.
(door shuts)
Well, Father?
Well, what?
I overheard outside the door.
This is an affair between men,
my dear.
I suggest you stay out of it.
Mr. Yates was right.
All you have to do
is send Del away.
Are you quite sure he'd go?
Make him.
And if he doesn't go,
dismiss him.
You're asking me to let this
ranch fall completely apart.
Let it fall apart!
Sell it! Anything!
It is not worth that boy's life!
What is he, this boy
that you're so concerned about?
A young arrogant hellion.
Del was right--
he needs a lesson.
Del will kill him.
The whole thing
was the boy's own idea.
Father, I don't understand.
This isn't like you at all.
You let it go at that.
No, that is not good enough!
I'm not a stranger;
I'm your daughter!
I need to know why.
You need to do
what you're told to do!
Now, you go
to your room and stay there!
- Father...!
- Go to your room!
(clicking)
(knocking)
Yeah?
Miss Vicki.
I want you to stop this duel.
I don't think
your father would like that.
Why?
Do you know something I don't?
Because if you do,
I wish you'd tell me.
I'm only a ranch foreman,
Miss Vicki.
Yes, but you can stop this duel.
There's only one thing make me
give up killing that kid.
What?
You.
Never.
Well, I hope you've made
your good-byes,
'cause that's the last time
you're gonna see that kid alive.
(crickets chirping)
WISHBONE: "For everything
there is a season,
"and a time to every purpose
under the heaven.
"A time to be born
and a time to die.”
What's that, poetry?
It's the good book.
Ecclesiastes.
That's what we need around here,
a little more truth.
Has the kid told any of you
there's something personal
between him and Woodruff?
He ain't told me nothing.
COLBY:
Wish?
Don't look at me.
I wouldn't know anything.
COLBY: Well, Rowdy,
maybe we better find out.
ROMAN:
Well?
Rome.
Whatever it is between you
and Woodruff, I want to know.
Look, maybe I can save you
some time.
Anything I know about Woodruff
has nothing to do with this.
My fight's with Lingman.
Whatever Woodruff does
or doesn't do,
I'd find Lingman and...
I'd fight him.
(sighs)
COLBY: Well, I guess he's got
to test himself.
ROWDY:
Yeah, it comes down to that.
He'll either grow a few inches
or he'll be dead.
(bird cooing)
(rustling in distance)
Vicki.
Father.
Where are you going?
I... I couldn't sleep.
I couldn't either.
Vicki, there's been something
coming between us.
We mustn't let that happen.
You and I, we must always...
Yes, Father, it means
what you think it means.
Where are you going? Why?
Somewhere, anywhere.
But to leave the house
in the middle of the night...
to go away without...
Oh... that boy.
No, Father, not Roman.
(horse neighs outside)
Lingman.
How long has this been going on?
Is that what
you really think of me?
He's out there, isn't he,
waiting for you?
Yes, he is.
(panting):
Why, Vicki? Why?
I couldn't see you
become a murderer.
Yes...
that's what it would have been,
Del against that boy.
Oh, my... (shudders)
That's...
that's why you're
going away with Lingman.
Why didn't you
stop that duel, Father?
4 couldn't.
Why?
For you.
For me?!
Vicki...
because of that boy,
we could lose everything--
home, freedom, everything.
I don't understand.
Vicki...
There never was an estate
back in Savannah.
At least not mine.
I was a clerk
on another man's plantation.
He sent me to school...
gave me a position.
And after the war...
carpetbaggers descended on us.
There was confusion, disorder.
Everything was toppling.
I helped to destroy
the man I worked with.
I took everything I could get,
and I came west.
That was why my picture
was in the paper.
The picture of a...
...traitor and a thief.
Vicki, I swear...
On what, Father?!
Your honor
as a Southern gentleman?
(stifled sob)
I guess I deserved that.
Why did you lie to me
all these years?
I think that's
what I hated most.
I'm not asking you
to forgive me.
I am asking you to...
try to understand.
You don't know what
it was like in those days...
the world crumbling around us.
I... I had you to think about.
Father, I never needed this.
I suppose...
I knew that, too.
The rock-bottom lie...
sobbing):
was I needed it for myself.
Is that why you
didn't stop this duel?
You must stop it now.
Do you realize...
if that story comes out,
everything I've built up
for you, we'll lose it?
Everything?
It doesn't matter.
I don't want it if it means
the death of that boy.
Then I don't, either.
Not at all.
Father.
♪♪
Father...
Vicki...
stay inside, please!
You won't need that extra horse.
Just like that, huh?
In the morning...
you draw your back pay
and get out.
All these years
doing your dirty work,
and now I'm just another hand.
Much worse than that.
You owe me something, Woodruff.
Mister Wood ruff!
Never mind all that.
I know what you are.
All right.
Then maybe you
ought to know it's all over.
We're not gonna
do anything to that boy.
That's not the way I see it.
No?
I got a share
in all this, Woodruff,
about a one-half share.
And I still intend
to be part of the family.
(gunshot)
Daddy!
(crying):
Get out of here. Get out!
He'll be all right.
I'm gonna settle with that kid.
Whatever he knows,
it's too much,
and if anybody's gonna
put you in jail, it'll be me.
And I'll be back for you.
♪♪
♪♪
Kid.
I saw your empty bedroll.
I'm all right.
I just couldn't sleep.
You still want
to go through with this?
Yes.
Nothing I can say
will make you change your mind?
No, Jed.
Nothing.
Hey, kid...
remember what I said--
you've got a chance.
Don't either one of you
make a move.
Don't do it, Colby.
Not you that I'm after.
He isn't wearing a gun.
Give him yours.
Lingman...
Give it to him.
LINGMAN:
Other hand, Colby.
Pick it up.
♪♪
He'll be all right.
Rowdy.
This one's dead.
-(drovers shouting, whistling)
-(cattle lowing)
Hah! Hah!
♪♪
ROWDY: Well, we're all ready
to move out, Mr. Woodruff.
Thanks, Mr. Yates.
ROMAN:
Well, what are you gonna do now?
Father's going back
to face Savannah,
and I'm going with him.
ROMAN: I think you'll
find it a forgiving town.
Maybe you'll go there
someday, too.
I hope so.
COLBY:
Rome, you ready?
Ready.
♪♪