The Rebel (1959–1961): Season 1, Episode 11 - The Vagrants - full transcript

We're still looking for the Deputy in here.

What's your business?

I'm a friend of Jim Colburn's.

I came to town just as soon as I heard

he was gonna be hung for murder.

I've known Jim a long time,

I can't believe he could've killed anybody.

He didn't.

That's what they tried him for.

Word came through this morning,

one of the Brian boys did the killing.



Well, thanks.

Thanks for the good news, Mister.

Try to get through to Bridget Springs, Sam.

Where can I find Jim?

I'd like to see him.

So would I.

What?

He broke jail last night.

We're telegraphing up the line,

I just hope it's not too late.

Too late for what?

There's a posse chasing him,

they don't know he's innocent.

And the hangman's with him.



♪ Johnny Yuma, was a rebel ♪

♪ He roamed through the West ♪

♪ And Johnny Yuma, the Rebel ♪

♪ He wandered alone ♪

♪ Johnny Yuma ♪

They never come near Bridget Springs.

Then try Babbitt, try Clayton, just keep tryin', Sam.

We're doing all we can, Mrs. Colburn.

I'm sure as soon as the posse reaches the next town,

they'll get the message and turn back.

The worst is over, ma'am.

Oh, Johnny.

I wish you would've been here.

Jim always thought so much of you.

He would listen to you.

I tried, ma'am, but I was a long way off

when I heard about it.

They'll kill him, Johnny.

No they won't, they're bound to hear the news.

They won't pass through the town.

How are they gonna hear he's innocent

if they don't pass through a town, how?

Jim still thinks he's an outlaw.

He can't go where people are.

He's gonna need a fresh horse and some food.

Where would he go for that?

Who are his friends?

He had a lot of them, before this happened.

Well then before this happened,

who was his best friend, the closest?

Well...

I guess that would've been Roy Keller.

Excuse me, ma'am, I'm looking for Roy Keller,

is he here?

He's busy right now,

could you tell me what it's about?

Well, it's about Jim Colburn.

We don't wanna get mixed up in any trouble.

Ma'am, I just want a little information.

What about Jim?

Well, his mother said he might've come

to you for help, did he?

Well, I'm a friend of Jim's too.

He was here.

I was sitting at this desk,

studying my law books.

I'd been working all night, it was almost dawn.

Roy!

Roy!

Out here, it's me, Jim Colburn.

Let me in, Roy.

Roy, you gotta help me.

There's a posse on my heels, I need a fresh horse.

A gun.

Roy.

Alright, I'll get them.

No.

No you won't, Roy.

I'm running for my life, Molly.

You escaped from jail.

I had to.

They were gonna hang me.

You were given a fair trial,

and you were found guilty.

Of a killing I never did!

I need your help, Roy.

Now!

Roy, you're gonna throw away

everything we've been working for

to help this murderer?

But Molly, he's my friend.

And he needs help.

Well, did you help him?

We did the only thing we could.

We sent him away.

I'm studying to be a lawyer.

Molly and I, we live in these backwoods

with a baby, fighting for every penny,

and every minute of time

I could get to get out of this place.

You would've done the same.

Suppose they caught him,

and found out we gave him a horse.

I'm not blaming you, Mrs. Keller.

Maybe he did murder somebody,

how do I know?

Well, he didn't.

Somebody else confessed.

Do you know which way he was heading for?

South.

Thanks.

Any towns that way?

No.

No, there's a trapper's cabin here and there,

but he was on a black horse

with a blaze on his forehead.

You didn't tell the posse that.

Well, I could hardly be expected to

withhold information like...

Far enough, boy.

What you want, boy?

No need to hold a gun on me.

I will be the one to decide that.

That black horse out there.

I've been looking for the man who owns it,

is he here?

Not anymore.

Where did he go?

What happened to him?

Listen, Mister, I gotta find him

before a posse catches up to him.

Posse?

A ha, posse!

That's very good!

They'll hang him.

Hang him?

That's much better!

They'd be doing the right thing.

What did he do to you?

I tell you.

Your friend dragged that here about sundown.

Looked terrible, exhausted.

I just brought in a bunch of skins,

worked very hard.

Had a good day!

Hey, hi there fellow!

Hey, Mister.

I want to buy a horse.

You've just about ride her into the ground.

These I do not like to see.

And you don't look any better yourself.

Look, I don't have much money on me.

But I can send the rest to you.

I only got one horse, Lizette.

She's not for sale, sorry.

Mister, I gotta have a fresh horse.

Mine will be alright after he rests up.

I'll leave him, I'll send you whatever you'd say is fair.

Take my food, my bed, and you're welcome to them,

but my horse?

No.

We've been hunting together too long.

Lizette, she's my family.

Hey, after I finish, we have a drink,

you rest a while, and you will feel better.

You see.

Look, Mister, you gotta sell me that horse.

Uh, ah, ah!

Take this, it's gold.

It belonged to my father.

Please, I'm begging you!

You are in trouble with the law, hey Sonny?

Maybe I can help you.

But, Lizette, no.

So, if you'll excuse me if I don't care too much

if your friend get caught.

I'm sorry, Mister.

You got a right to feel the way you do.

Can you just tell me which way he headed?

The posse's chasing an innocent man,

and they don't know it.

Innocent man?

My big foot!

They are chasing a horse thief.

I know this won't cover the price

of a good horse, but it's all I have.

You are so right, my friend.

There's not enough money in the whole world

for my Lizette.

Or for the propping season I will miss.

Alright, so he stole your horse,

but he's no killer.

Unless I catch up to that posse,

they're gonna hang him for murder.

Hey boy.

Your friend is riding for the Mexican border.

Thanks, Mister.

And I promise you, you'll get your Lizette back.

Be very careful.

Maybe your friend was not a killer before,

but when a man run scared like that,

he can sure turn into one pretty quick.

Are you the Sheriff around here?

Yeah.

I'm trying to catch up with the posse

from Clay City, they pass through here?

Uh huh.

How long ago?

Oh, about an hour or two, something in there.

They head toward the border?

Mexican?

What other borders you got around here?

That's good, that's a good one, alright.

What other borders?

I gotta remember that.

Well, did they or didn't they?

What?

Head for the border?

No, no, they turned back after I showed them this.

The fella they were chasing,

what happened to him?

Oh, he's probably still running.

That posse was too tuckered out to go after him,

let him know.

I reckon he'll find about it sooner or later.

I told him I'd keep on the lookout for him.

Well, did he head for the border?

Border, which one?

Put that money back, and leave my house, pronto!

Manuel!

Jim, stop!

Jim Colburn!

Jim!

It's me, Johnny Yuma!

You don't have to run anymore, Jim!

They're not chasing ya.

Answer me, Jim!

Turn back, Johnny!

I'm warning ya.

You're working for the posse now.

Come on out Jim, you're free!

What's the price on me?

Believe me, Jim!

How much am I worth to ya?

If you're not lying, come out in the open

and throw down your gun.

Right here, boy.

You came close to getting shot just then.

Now give it to me slow, Johnny.

How come the posse turned back?

Someone confessed to the murder.

You're saying I can go home?

I can go home?

They throw me in jail, they get ready to hang me,

they run me like a fox for days.

They twist my insides so I don't even know myself.

Now they tell me it's a mistake, I can go home.

Home.

I wouldn't go back and live among them

if they'd give me the whole rotten, stinkin' town.

What about your mom?

We'll settle somewhere else.

Not right away, you won't.

Now what's that supposed to mean?

Well, you were cleared of the murder charge,

but you ran up a few debts along the way.

Like what?

Horse theft, robbery, assault and battery.

Well, let my good friends and neighbors

answer for those.

I was forced to do what I did.

That trapper back there with the busted leg

doesn't care what your reasons were, Jim.

He only cares about being laid up

during the middle of his hunting season.

And about the horse you stole from him.

And they'll blame me for burning that cabin too.

In other words, I go back, I'm in jail again.

In that case, I'm gonna cross the border.

You tell my ma...

You tell him something or other.

You'll be running from the law again.

You bet I will.

You know what the next step might be?

Killin'?

Well, don't try to stop me, Johnny.

Don't be the first...

Your Honor, I'm not here to excuse everything.

I'm not gonna try to say the folks here

haven't got good reason for putting

Jim Colburn up on charges.

They lost money, property, they got hurt.

But he came back to stand trial.

You don't have to lie for me, Johnny.

I didn't come back, you dragged me back.

Please son, don't make things worse.

The trapper got his horse back, Your Honor.

Mr. Garcia got his gun and his money.

What do you want?

We say gracias?

Yeah, I say gracias when he's in jail!

And my house that I built.

Nothing but ashes.

It was an accident, a mistake.

Like my almost getting hung was a mistake.

Hah!

You're a pretty good hunter, huh?

Good, ha!

I am very good.

Yeah.

Well, how would you feel if you were hunted instead?

Huh?

I am not an animal, I am a man.

So is he.

How would you feel if your friends turned you away.

If you were hungry, and couldn't go near a town.

Couldn't eat, just run.

Run until your horse fell under you,

and the posse's so close you could smell them.

Like an animal smells you, through the fear of it.

Ma.

Please.

Maybe you know a little how he felt, Mr. Garcia.

Maybe you crossed the border

to get a better break up here.

Mr. Yuma.

None of this would've happened if your friend

hadn't broken out of jail.

Yeah.

Maybe he made an error, Your Honor.

Just like you did when you sentenced him.

But I wonder how any one of us would feel in that cell.

He was still the same hardworking carpenter

who helped build this town.

And now somebody was building something for him.

A gallows to choke the life out of him.

And even though he was innocent,

he'd end up just as dead.

Maybe he make a mistake by busting out,

but he did it because he was afraid to die.

And it was that same fear that drove him further,

to make him do things that he shouldn't have done,

to act like a crazed, hunted animal.

You know, every breathing thing

wants to go on breathing.

And that's all he was trying to do,

to keep from getting choked.

Maybe it was a mistake.

But if he hadn't done it,

the town might've made a bigger mistake.

Thanks for trying, Johnny.

But you're in the minority in this rotten place.

Senor Judge, I'd like to say something.

You make me feel ashamed, Senor.

I know the feeling of the pain.

Not this pain, this.

To be not wanted, hungry, and scared,

I know this.

No, Senor Judge.

I don't want this boy to suffer in the jail.

Are you dropping charges, Mr. Garcia?

No, I don't think so.

Then you don't want him to go free?

Oh, si, Senor.

I drop the charges.

How about it, Mister?

Please, sir.

We'll pay you for what you lost.

It's terrible for a man to be hunted

like an animal.

Lucky he didn't hurt my Lizette.

No charges.

That's a dollar even, Mister.

Much obliged.

Been looking all over for you, Johnny.

Just made up an excuse

for being late to the cattle drive.

You couldn't of told a whole story

in just a few words.

You're still afraid I'd wanna thank ya.

Alright, no speeches, I promise.

Won't even use the ugly word.

What are you gonna do now?

Well, I know what I'm gonna be doing

for at least the next month or so.

Be helping Mr. Garcia build a new house.

You'll need your strength, buy you dinner.

Thanks.

Thanks, for everything.

Come on.

♪ Johnny Yuma, was a rebel ♪

♪ He rolled through the West ♪

♪ And Johnny Yuma, the Rebel ♪

♪ He wandered alone ♪

♪ He got fightin' mad ♪

♪ This rebel lad ♪

♪ He packed no star ♪

♪ As he wandered far ♪

♪ Where the only law was a hook and a draw ♪

♪ The Rebel, Johnny Yuma ♪

♪ He searched the land ♪

♪ This restless lad ♪

♪ He was panther quick ♪

♪ And leather tough ♪

♪ If he figured that ♪

♪ He had been pushed enough ♪

♪ The Rebel ♪

♪ Johnny Yuma ♪

This has been a

Mark Goodson-Bill Todman production.