The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp (1955–1961): Season 2, Episode 17 - Shootin' Woman - full transcript

Well, I guess Mrs. McGill's aiming to gun Bat Masterson.

Can't be a fool. Why, she wouldn't have a chance

in a gunfight with a man.

I wouldn't bet against it.

Ms. McGill's a shootin' woman.

♪ Wyatt Earp, Wyatt Earp ♪

♪ Brave, courageous, and bold ♪

♪ Long live his fame and long live his glory ♪

♪ And long may his story be told. ♪

The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp,

starring Hugh O'Brian.



Women of the frontier when Wyatt Earp was Marshall

of Dodge City in 1876

had long been accustomed to scenes of violence and gunplay.

But aside from tough show-offs like Calamity Jane,

Belle Starr and Pearl Heart,

women rarely carried a gun or used one,

and then only in some act of desperation.

The circumstances which turned Mrs. Jane McGill.

Into a shooting woman were unusual.

And she became one of the most serious problems

Marshall Earp ever tried to handle.

Gate's locked. Cut the wire.

I'll get it from the bags.

Get away from that fence.



Now take it easy, ma.

We've got cattle on the drive that need water.

You've locked the gate.

I promised feed and water for Mr. Hap Dorsett.

He'll be driving his own cattle in soon.

I gave him my word.

First come, first serve.

You ain't cutting my fence.

Now back off now.

- Why, you old bat.
- No, no.

Shooting a woman?

Tobe'll have Wyatt Earp throw her in jail.

All right, let's go.

Hush up, Boots. Come here, come.

Trouble's over for right now.

Mama, you shot at them.

- Over their heads.
- Oh, how could you?

I promised Marshall Earp that the next time we had any trouble,

we'd send for him.

What if they tell Mr. Earp?

I could have driven into town.

By then they'd have busted down the fence.

And speaking of promises, I gave Hap Dorsett my word.

Oh, him.

You like the boy, don't you?

I said it 50 times, I'm not marrying to live on a ranch.

I've seen all the cows and cowhands I can take.

You think you'd rather have Bat Masterson?

No, we're just friends.

Bat has lots of girls, town girls.

And a roving eye.

You seem to forget that I'm quite grown up.

In fact tomorrow I'll be 21.

21? Well, that's right Effie.

You'll be of legal and voting age if they let a woman vote.

Well, it all kind of comes to a head, your birthday and Hap riding in.

Now, mama, I haven't promised Hap anything.

So happens that Bat's going to take me.

Well, I better hitch up that rig and get into town

before the stores close and the bank.

Bank? Our credit's run out at the stores,

and we haven't a dime in the bank.

Tomorrow's the day, honey, you'll be 21.

And I made a promise of it.

Mr. Masterson, come out here, I want to talk to you.

Yeah, what's up?

Uh, Mrs. McGill again.

Took a couple of shots at some of Tobe Larson's cowhands.

I talked him out of filing a complaint.

Well, thanks.

I want you to ride out there and give her a good talking to, though.

Part of her farm's on the City Limits now and,

she's got to quit shooting at people every time she has an argument.

Couldn't you go out there this time, Wyatt?

- She doesn't think to much of...
+ Now look.

I didn't pick Effie McGill for your girl.

You just read this to her mother.

- Yes sir, but I don't...
- Aanyway, you got no reason to

be wasting Effie's time.

Or do you intend to marry her?

Marry her?

Well, I haven't more than kissed her a couple times.

Oh, well that's enough to give a nice country girl ideas.

Gosh.

Well, Mrs. McGill's caused me a heap of trouble.

But I kind of like her.

She's over 50 and I'm just 30,

but we're both old timers in the west.

Huh?

Well, I guess that seems kind of odd to you,

but you're not an old timer unless you're hauled to California by wagon train.

Didn't Effie tell you that she and her folks...

Wyatt, they want you down at the bank, right away.

- Holdup?
- No, something about Mrs. McGill.

Oh, well deputy Masterson can...

Well, they asked for you, Wyatt.

- The cashier said...
- All right.

All right.

You know, maybe you should get married.

This is unusual, madam.

It's been ten years since we've been asked to cash gold nuggets.

You're not a depositor here.

And you don't seem willing to explain how you came by these.

Well, I didn't steal them.

No one's accused you of that, Mrs. McGill.

It's just that banks have to be careful.

At $20 an ounce, you have almost $300 here, and...

Oh, Marshall Earp.

Thank you for coming so promptly.

- We have a matter...
- Howdy, Mrs. McGill.

Howdy, Marshall. He thinks I stole them.

Gold nuggets, Mr. Earp.

Well, Mrs. McGill and her family were 49ers.

Didn't you tell Mr. Perkins that?

I don't like to talk about it.

You'll be perfectly safe in cashing them, Mr. Perkins.

Well, if she only explained...

One moment and I'll have the cash for you, Mrs. McGill.

I'll be outside. I'd like to talk to you.

One hundred, two hundred and three hundred.

Thank you, kindly.

All that bother over a few piddling nuggets.

Well, it's going to start a lot of talk.

Ain't none of these town folks ever seen gold before?

Well, gold coins, but not any dust or nuggets.

Oh, and by the way,

Tobe Larson said that you

took a couple shots at some of his boys.

One shot, I aimed high.

I told him I promised to save water and feed for Hap Dorsett but

they started to tear down my fence.

Mrs. McGill, I think that if you...

Didn't you tell me you hauled to California when you were 16?

Yes, ma'am, on a wagon train.

Yeah, well, us wagon trainers always took our own part.

Well, we had to then.

You know, I can remember when my dad named me as the hunter of the whole party.

I just about wore myself to a frazzle,

stalking after all those buffalo and antelope.

One day I put on a big rebellion.

Yes sir, I told my old man they'll just have to eat wild Turkey,

prairie chicken and quail.

Most people got so sick of eating it,

they started calling me cluck cluck.

And that shamed me back into hunting buffalo again.

Yeah, and if you'd have found one of those bull whackers trying to steal meat,

wouldn't you have taken a shot at them?

Well, in those times, yes. Yeah.

Yeah, but you see the law today says

people can't go around shooting other people

just for trespassing unless you know for sure they

aim to commit a felony.

You see, Mrs. McGill,

times just aren't the same anymore.

And I'm sure that Mr. Larson would have been willing to pay

for the food and the water, and for the busted fence.

Look, if anything like this happens again,

you just have Effie come in to see me, huh?

All right, depending there's time.

But there ain't always been time, Mr. Earp.

Long before you came to Dodge,

I had to stand off hoodlums with a gun.

Yes'm, I know that. Yeah.

Well, Effie'll be hitting her 21st birthday tomorrow,

and I aim to see Hap Dorsett drive in with his first herd of steers.

Well, like I told Effie,

it's all coming to a head and my work is almost finished.

Is a mother's job ever finished?

Handling the gold will be.

The gold? You got more of it?

Oh, yeah. Well, now you...

You better bring it in here and put it in that bank.

It's safe, Mr. Earp.

But I do thank you kindly.

♪ Oh, ♪

♪ scandal travels without a wire ♪

♪ swift and hot as a prairie fire ♪

♪ gossiping gossiping gossiping all over town ♪

♪ the busy body's tongue is mightier than the sword ♪

♪ swift and eager to spread the word ♪

♪ gossiping gossiping gossiping all over town ♪

Maybe it's just a lot of talk, Cy.

Yeah, and maybe it ain't.

You better wait for the boss.

Why cut the whole outfit in on it?

Just the old woman and her kid to handle.

Ain't we men enough to do that?

Yeah, that's a good idea.

Oh, they're beautiful. Just scrumptious, Mama.

Did you, uh, buy them on credit?

Nope.

But what with then?

Never mind, they're paid for.

Now you try your dresses on,

I got to fix that fence.

Marshall Earp was here.

What'd he want?

He thinks you've got some gold hidden on the place.

And if that's true, he thinks you should put it in the bank.

I'm waiting for Hap Dorsett.

Hap? What's he got to do with your money?

More than Wyatt Earp or Bat Masterson has.

Now, Mama, you wouldn't be so foolish to actually try to

bribe Hap into marrying me.

I told you, I'm not going to marry a cattleman.

He's had nothing all these years but 50 scraggy acres,

and his tumbled down old house.

Smelly cowhands and balling steers.

And drunken hoodlums you have to threaten with a gun.

It's been hard for you, I know that.

And worse for you.

Why did you hide the gold?

Why didn't you sell this place and move us into town?

The gold has blood on it.

Oh, you mean that Papa and John...

Wasn't their fault.

I was the one who wanted to travel west.

And then when we made our pile and started back...

I got a fence that needs mending.

Tell me the rest of it.

I want to understand.

When the posse had saved you and me, and

when I was well enough,

I went back to that ambush.

I couldn't even find the graves.

The buffalo had stomped the earth flat,

killed the grass and the prairie flowers.

What do you buy with blood?

Pretties like them things?

A house in Dodge City on a two-by-four lot?

Your Papa and John, they didn't like the mines.

They wanted to homestead land in California.

Gold, that was my doing.

What have you been guarding all these years?

The dirt, the water in the well,

the pond, the trees, the sky?

I'm a fool of an old woman.

And a girl who won't learn from her Mama's foolishness.

Howdy, Mrs. McGill.

Hap Dorsett.

I'm a little late getting here.

Well, it's about time.

Where're your cattle?

Oh, down the trail apiece.

And how's it been going, Ma?

And how's Effie?

We're all right, but the,

the drought got you, didn't it?

Yeah, it was pretty bad.

I'm only bringing in about 100 head.

Oh, well, that's better than I expected.

Now, Ma. Oh, some small outfits ain't driving at all this season.

You can rest them here and put some weight back on them.

I've been holding it for you, Hap.

Well, I knew you'd keep your part of the bargain.

But me, I can't even pay until I sell the steers.

Hap, don't worry about the pay, but

try to keep the bad news from Effie, huh?

No use, Ma. She can count cattle.

Oh, you can brag you shipped from Wichita, or that you sold most of them to a...

a trail buyer in Arcatcha.

No, ma'am.

I never did have any luck lying to women.

She'd find me out as quick as you did.

Take a look yonder.

Your mother's got Wyatt awful worried this time.

He didn't order me to come out here,

he asked me as a personal favor.

Wyatt doesn't ask personal favors just for nothing, Effie.

You tell Mr. Earp that it is true what we were talking about.

But I can't do a thing with Mama.

You ain't going to get anyplace with Effie eating humble pie.

I tried that.

Failures, young girls nowadays don't tolerate them.

Well, I'm all kinds of a fool and

that drought starved me out so...

what chance would I have asking her to marry me?

Think that horse of yours wants some water?

He sure does.

Water, patches, water.

Sure is thirsty.

I better do a patch up job for you there.

Nope, haul me up that milk can.

We're going to change my bank.

- That ain't real gold?
- Yes, sir.

Well, thunderation, Ma, you shouldn't keep it there.

Is that all that interests you?

You should put it in a Wells Fargo Bank or some place.

Hap, I want to lend you some of that right now.

Oh, no.

Now look, you can buy some more cattle,

build a ranch house.

It would all belong to you and Effie.

I don't want none of it.

Thanks, Ma. Thanks just the same.

Hap, I know it looks like I'm trying to buy you for Effie,

but that ain't the main point.

Well, it sure must be another point.

You know I'd marry Effie tomorrow, and I wouldn't charge you a nickel.

Look it, Hap, listen...

Wait a minute.

Well, ain't you gonna say howdy to an old friend?

My goodness it is you, Hap Dorsett.

- Yes'm.
- The sun was in my eyes and I couldn't make you out.

Why you look plum tuckered, Hap.

Aren't we going to invite him to supper, Ma?

- He's invited.
- Well, thanks, but I can't stay.

Why not?

Well, my cattle, I left them resting up the trail.

But you have cowhands to look after them.

One cowhand.

We'll be driving in about midnight

if you'll just give me a key to the gate, Ma.

I've got an extra one here.

Thanks.

Maybe you'll invite me to breakfast.

Why, of course.

You sure get prettier every time I see you.

And Ma, you change banks again.

Well, bye.

One cowhand.

Must have made a big success.

He tried.

Poor Hap.

Don't say that about him,

he's been fighting the drought and his range dried up

and there was nothing he could do about it

except keep his courage.

All right, Mother, all right.

I promised Bat I'd meet him in town.

- Can I use the rig?
- No.

Very well, I can walk.

Oh, forget what I said. You can use the rig.

It's already hitched up.

Thanks, Ma.

Well, the girl's out of the way.

What are we going to do about the old lady?

We'll scare her into talking.

And that dog, he might raise a rumpus.

Nah, no he won't. Come on, let's get at it.

Hey, come here.

Boots.

You reckon she's still in the house?

I don't know.

Seems kind of strange.

Woman sees her own dog shot.

Don't come running out or nothing.

Probably scared to death.

Maybe she ain't here.

Let's look around.

The other one's in the parlor, dead.

They killed my dog.

Here, let me do that.

You gonna arrest me?

Yep.

Those men were Hogan and Lacey.

They run with the Billings gang.

I've got to keep you in protective custody.

For how long?

Hap will be driving his cattle in at midnight.

Well, Billings and his crowd will be here before that, maybe.

They're bound to have heard what happened.

I've caused you enough trouble.

You sure have. Well, why worry with protecting me?

If the rest of the outlaws come, let them ransack the place

and take what they can find.

That isn't the law, Mrs. McGill.

You've been wrong, but the law still has to protect you.

It's in the milk can in the well.

That's your Mama's business, not mine.

What?

I'm not thinking about here and her money.

Or me either.

She wouldn't turn in that gold when Wyatt told her to,

then she up and shoots two of Bud Billings' hoodlums.

When the rest of them come, we may have a big gunfight on our hands.

And all because your dear Mama never heard of banks to keep money in.

Well, I thought you'd be willing to make allowances.

Not when folks get Wyatt into a lot of needless trouble.

Wyatt, always Wyatt.

So he comes first?

Well, that's my job.

Well, the important thing is that,

well, even though you started for the gold first,

you always had the land in your head.

Yep.

You know I guess us wagon trainers are all alike.

I've always wanted to have a cattle spread of my own.

Wyatt.

Big cloud of dust on the road out of town.

Looks like Billings is on his way.

All right.

Mrs. McGill, you and Effie go in the house.

Stay strictly out of this.

Get those horses in the corral.

There they are.

Those are my men, Hogan and Lacey.

That's right.

Tell me back in town some crazy woman bushwhacked them.

You heard wrong, Mr. Billings.

They shot her dog and then broke into her house.

That don't sound likely, Earp.

Well, that's what happened.

You climb down off that horse,

and I'll show you where Lacey died in the parlor.

I'll show you where the dog's buried, too, if you like.

Why would they do it? Broken down old place like this.

Well, Mr. Billings, they thought there was a lot of gold buried here.

Didn't they send you word?

No.

Well, I guess they decided to take it on their own.

Well, I told you the truth.

And I've said all I'm going to say.

I've heard you called a lot of names, Earp.

Liar ain't one of them.

Thinking Hogan and Lacey got what they deserved.

We'll let the court decide that later.

- See ya.
- Yeah.

I see now.

That's the way the new law works.

At least when Mr. Earp's around.

- Wyatt?
- Yeah?

Effie says that gold is in a milk can down the well.

You haul all that stuff up.

I'll go ask Mrs. McGill if I can't take it on over to the bank.

Yes, sir.

Here.

Mrs. McGill?

I'd like your permission to put that gold in the bank.

Mr. Masterson says he knows where it is.

All right.

Might as well take these along.

Yeah, that's a good idea too.

Excuse me for a minute.

Miss Effie, Mr. Masterson is one of my best friends,

but I can't, I can't say that he's good material for a husband yet.

No, he isn't.

I talked kind of mean to your mother.

Asking you not to add anything to it.

It's a tough job getting blood off gold,

and what she did all these years, she did for you.

I know that, now.

You know as an old wagon trainer myself,

I'd just like to say that Mrs. McGill could

captain a wagon train for me any time, any place.

Well, I guess it's north Texas, Mr. Earp.

Saddle up, take those with you.

You know Effie and Hap are going to need you.

Effie, did she say?

You sure?

North Texas, that's what she said.

But they're never going to make it without you.

- Oh, go on now.
- No, I mean it.

North Texas is big country.

A lot more your size than this little farm.

When the northern wind starts screaming and

your grandchildren come down with the croup,

you be there, Mrs. McGill.

I thank you. I thank you kindly.

Old timer.

♪ Well, he cleaned up the country ♪

♪ The old Wild West country ♪

♪ He made law and order prevail ♪

♪ And none can deny it ♪

♪ The legend of Wyatt ♪

♪ Forever will live on the trail ♪

♪ Oh, Wyatt Earp, Wyatt Earp ♪

♪ Brave, courageous and bold ♪

♪ Long live his fame and long live his glory ♪

♪ And long may his story be told ♪

♪ Long may his story ♪

♪ Be told ♪