Original subtitles

Hyah!

♪ Rollin', rollin', rollin' ♪

♪ Keep movin', movin', movin' ♪

♪ Though they're disapprovin' ♪

♪ Keep them dogies movin' ♪

♪ Rawhide ♪

♪ Don't try to understand 'em ♪

♪ Just rope 'em, throw, and brand 'em ♪

♪ Soon we'll be livin' high and wide ♪

♪ My heart's calculatin' ♪

♪ My true love will be waitin' ♪

♪ Be waitin' at the end of my ride ♪

♪ Move 'em on, head 'em up, head 'em up, move 'em on ♪

♪ Move 'em on, head 'em up, rawhide ♪

♪ Cut 'em out, ride 'em in, ride 'em in, let 'em out ♪

♪ Cut 'em out, ride 'em in ♪

♪ Rawhide ♪

♪ Rollin', rollin', rollin' ♪

Hyah!

Hyah!

♪ Rawhide ♪

Hyah!

Every once in a while you have to get away from the herd,

so you can listen to the sound of it.

You can tell a lot from the way the cattle bawl,

but the same can't be said

for the drovers you hire along the way.

It's hard to judge a man by his voice.

That's why we keep gaining some, losing others.

It's my job to judge, and sometimes I miss.

My name's Gil Favor, trail boss.

Talby!

I don't want any murders on my drive.

That man's a gunman, Mr. Favor...

a killer.

Well, now, whether you believe it or not,

I wasn't going to kill him.

I only wanted to make him talk.

Long as it's just talk.

If anything happens to that boy, though, I'll know who did it.

I told you...

he's a killer.

You got proof, Talby?

I can get it if you give me a chance.

I'll give you a chance to get back to camp.

And for your sake, that boy better stay healthy.

You've made a bad decision, Mr. Favor,

and on a cattle drive,

a trail boss can't afford to make bad decisions.

Get back to camp.

Talby's been trying to warn you about Johnny Camber.

Hmm?

I believe him.

That kid does look like the pictures

of Billy Carter on the wanted posters,

and Billy Carter is as bad as they come.

All I ask of a man is he does his job.

As long as Johnny Camber does that, he stays.

All right, boss. But you'll be taking the herd

through the toughest country we've tried yet

with the worst crew we've ever had.

You've hired a gunman, a camp...

I know what I hired, what I'm up against.

You better stick to scouting, Pete.

I'll drive herd.

Boy, I been waiting a week for this wish.

You got a mighty peculiar way of taking a bath, friend.

Well, I was getting ripe.

You know, as Mr. Favor always says,

do a thing right and proper the first time.

You cooking stew again?

Now, you know darn well I'm cooking down tallow

for lye soap.

Oh. Well, I should have known.

Smells better than the grub you been handing out.

Well, what are you standing there for?

Get on back to work.

Me and Jed was just talking about it.

Looks mean and there's a lot of it.

Now, it's a wrong time of year.

Two or three weeks earlier, even later,

we'd have no trouble, but...

Jed, when you were trail-bossing,

you lost a herd trying to take it through this way, didn't you?

- Everybody knows that. - Why did you lose it?

No use putting old Jed through that.

Why Jed?

Well, like you, I tried it at the wrong time of year.

And like you, again, the other day,

I had to take on a lot of extra hands I wasn't sure of.

How far is it across, Pete?

Jed says about 40 miles, count it most of a week's drive.

Can we take the herd through?

Well, this is my first time through here.

- I can't be sure. - What about water?

Jed tells me there used to be water out about 12 miles,

but not much of it.

What about going around?

We'd have to cut north through Touralong Pass, means doubling back.

Adds up to two or three weeks more time, but...

Jed, didn't you say something

about having trouble in Touralong Pass, too?

That's right, Mr. Favor. Had to turn back.

'Course, that was a long time ago.

You take a chance on dried-up creeks and streams,

and the rocky ground is hard on the cattle's hooves.

- Any better than this? - That's hard to say.

Two, three weeks...

we might run into the same thing.

All right, Pete, we'll take them through this way.

That settles that.

Mr. Favor knows what he's doing.

He sure doesn't want any company

when he goes to making up his mind.

You're gonna find out, Pete,

that the man who has to make the decisions

is about the loneliest man there is.

What are you doing in my bedroll?

Rowdy, just trying to give you a hand.

Sticking cockleburs in a man's bedroll

don't strike me as being funny.

I was just fishing them out.

Who put them there?

Now, I can't tell you. You wouldn't want me to.

It'd just make trouble with one of your friends.

Now you listen to me, Myers.

Maybe you were doing me a favor and maybe you weren't.

Either way, if I catch you messing around with my gear again,

I'm gonna stretch your ears. Now get away from me.

That's the thanks a man gets for being friendly.

If you're missing anything,

you ain't the first one in this camp.

A man has to be sure before he starts talk like that.

It ain't so hard being sure of something.

But proving it is something else.

Talking ain't gonna help either way.

That makes you right.

I just wanted to make sure

you hadn't taken up swallowing the whole steer, horns and all.

Cockleburs.

If you hadn't come busting up,

I'd have had a chance to do something more than just talk.

Look, you know how Mr. Favor feels about trouble with his crew.

There ain't gonna be none, not without a cause.

I figure you give a jasper like Myers enough rope,

and he'll throw a loop around anything that ain't tied down.

All right, all right. I'm shut.

Say, boss, um, how far does a man go

with something he isn't sure about?

You got something on your mind, let's have it.

Well, this Carl Myers, he isn't liked around camp.

Well, now, I didn't hire him on just to be liked.

Well...

I caught him going through my bedroll.

He said he was picking out some cockleburs

some yahoo put there.

Had them in his hand too.

Isn't much when it's said.

- You missing anything? - No.

A man deserves the benefit of the doubt.

Yeah.

Check out your supplies?

You never know the time I didn't.

Heading into dry country from here on in.

Still time to send a man into Three Corners, anything we need.

- We do it tonight. - No need, Mr. Favor.

Check again to make sure.

Check again?

You'd think I was a green-eared tenderfoot or something.

Mr. Favor, can I have a word with you private?

There's nothing you can't say in front of the rest of the men.

Just as you say, Mr. Favor.

It's about crossing the dry plains.

It's the wrong time.

You know it, I know it.

But I want you to know that I think you can make it.

That's all I got to say.

Don't you listen to him, Mr. Favor.

Jed Blaine has been around these parts for a long time.

Everybody knows that he lost his herd

trying to stake claims at the wrong time of the year.

He's never been able to live it down.

He'd like you to try this drive,

then he can always say

he ain't the only trail boss who lost a herd and a crew.

You believe that, Mr. Favor?

Any reason not to believe it, Jed?

I'm gonna take this herd straight across.

Won't be easy, but it can be done.

We're gonna keep those cows on the move.

You'll eat and sleep in the saddle.

Maybe you'll cuss the day you signed on,

but we're going across.

Any man who thinks different can draw his time right now.

Only a fool would cut straight across in this time of weather.

- Not only that... - Draw your time, get your gear, get out!

Anybody else want to go with him?

I don't like to rabbit out on you, Mr. Favor,

but it wasn't just cows that died out there with Jed.

It was men too.

I reckon I'll draw my time and string along with Bates.

How about you, Jed?

Well, I signed on, Mr. Favor, and I'll stay on.

Want to be an eyewitness if I lose the herd?

I'll stay on.

Rowdy, get the cash box. Pay those three off.

See that they're out of camp tonight.

Mr. Favor's sure set in his ways...

even when he's wrong.

Who says he's wrong?

I say he's wrong taking us through this way.

And he's wrong thinking old Jed would give him bum advice

because he wants to see this herd lost.

Look, Mr. Favor knows more about taking a herd through

than you'll ever know, Pete.

Even if that's right, Rowdy, it ain't for you to say it.

I'll say what I want to you or anyone else around here.

It's time you started wearing it, Billy.

My name's Johnny.

Johnny Camber.

It's been a long while,

but I had to make sure you were Billy Carter

before I killed you.

I told you, my name's Johnny Camber.

Now I'll tell you something else.

Keep away from me.

All right, Billy... for now.

I just wanted you to know... I knew.

Been looking for you, boss.

- Any trouble? - No, it's just that...

I don't understand about us driving across here,

even though the old man did say you'd have a chance.

Bet Bates was right about the old man.

I think he was egging me on

just because misery needs company.

Yeah, but you're risking the herd

just to save a few days.

Look, Rowdy, the price of beef

jumps up and down according to supply.

Now, you've got to reach the market

at a time when the price is high enough

to make the drive worthwhile.

Yeah, well... Well, why don't you say that to Pete and the others?

Why do you just...

I can't stop to give a lecture every time I wanna do something.

They ought to figure it out themselves.

So should you.

You'd better turn in.

We've got a long day's work ahead of us tomorrow.

Yeah. 'Night.

Wishbone, move your wagon up ahead near the point.

We're not stopping for chow.

Fix what you can, we'll ride in, grab it on the run.

Won't wait long, Billy.

Ho.

All right, get back and dig out one of them hams

and a couple of loaves of bread.

I'm drier than one of those Indian mummies.

One dipper to a man till we get to some water.

Mr. Favor's orders.

Why, you old goat.

You just love giving orders, don't you?

Oh, lay off, Rowdy.

Now, what do you got to shoot your mouth off about?

Fine job of trail guiding you've been doing.

Mr. Favor's choosing, not mine.

Not the way I see it.

You left him in a hole by not choosing back there at Three Corners,

before we started the dry plains.

Coming from a kid still wet behind the ears,

- I'm going to let that pass. - Don't do me any favors, Pete.

I can take care of myself with you or any other man on this crew.

Pete.

Mr. Favor wants you.

You wanted me?

How far ahead do you make the water?

About eight miles.

I think it's too far, the shape this herd is in.

I asked how far, not what you thought.

Keep 'em moving another two, three miles, then circle 'em in.

Should reach that water tomorrow.

Yes, sir.

Where's the sugar, Wishbone?

Ain't got none.

Thought you, uh, checked out your supplies.

Well, I did.

I counted a sack of beans instead of sugar.

Doing without sweets ain't gonna kill none of this hard-rock outfit.

If you did your job right, we wouldn't have to do without anything.

Well, that was my fault, Mr. Favor.

I thought it was sugar.

I don't care whose fault it was!

Still no sugar, and no excuse for not having any.

Boy, I tell you, this outfit's falling apart,

and I ain't gonna take much more of it.

Whoever told you pikers you knew how to play poker?

Maybe it's the way you play.

Maybe you're just a poor loser.

It's better than being a poor winner.

Or a crooked one.

Now, listen, Clark, get off my back and stay off.

I'm getting tired of you and your cracks.

Myers! Clark!

One more shindig like this and you're both through.

Myers, you're late for your trick at night herd.

No dirty cheat's gonna draw a pig-sticker on me and get away with...

I said that's enough!

Oughta... have some music.

Might make things seem a little better.

Shut up that caterwauling!

Just trying to help.

You all know that Myers is a thief and a cheat.

Mr. Favor had no right taking up for him.

You got no call to say that, Clark.

Mr. Favor didn't take up for anyone.

Well, it seemed that way to me.

And you're a poor one to talk.

He tried to steal from you too.

You don't know that any more than I do.

Half the men in this crew are missing stuff from their gear

and we all know who's taking it.

There's nothing lower than a trail-camp thief.

There's one thing.

A woman-killer like Billy Carter.

Maybe some of you heard of Billy Carter.

Fast gun with ten notches.

I keep wondering if he cut another one

for the girl he killed, my daughter, Jenny.

She was just 18 when she ran off with young Billy Carter.

I wasn't home when he rode up for a job.

I hired on with a herd on the Goodnight-Loving Trail.

When I got back, she was gone with him,

and I went after him.

When I caught up with him, Jenny... was dead.

Killed by a bullet meant for Billy Carter.

She was going to have his baby when she died.

I've been looking for Billy Carter ever since.

How's the cattle?

Little restless.

Say, boss.

Yeah?

What are you gonna do about the trouble

between Talby and Johnny Camber?

Do? What do you expect me to do?

I can't wipe the nose of every man in this outfit.

I think Johnny Camber's who he says he is.

You do?

Yes, I do.

Oh...

Well, I'm sorry I bothered you.

Nothing but loose dirt out here. Make digging a grave real easy.

Water hole just past that swale-back ridge.

No graze, though,

and we'll have to water them in bunches,

there's only room for about 50 head at a time.

Right.

Say, Pete, about yesterday, well, I...

I didn't mean to be so sharp with you, I, uh...

You don't owe me no apology, Mr. Favor, you're the boss.

Ride back to Quince and Scarlet.

Tell them to slow up the main body of the herd.

I'll send the point in to water first.

Rowdy! Break off the first 50 head.

Pete says there's water beyond that rise.

Take them in, let them drink, move them out for the next bunch to get in.

Right.

Johnny!

Slow 'em down.

Break 'em in bunches of 50.

Hey, get 'em out of here!

Get back!

Bad water!

Get 'em out of here!

Mr. Favor!

Mr. Favor!

- What's wrong now? - Poisoned water.

I just saw it in time. It's all full of bones

of birds and animals that drunk it and died.

You sure?

Well, take a look for yourself!

Scarlet, turn the others back.

They haven't smelled the water yet.

Get 'em back beyond the rise. We'll join up later.

Straight poison.

You knew about this, didn't you, Jed?

It wasn't poison when I got my herd here, Mr. Favor.

It wasn't?

It was bone dry.

I should've turned back and didn't.

All right, let's get back to the herd.

You'd have gotten a big laugh out of this

if I'd have taken a drink of that, wouldn't you, Pete?

Rowdy, lay off me.

I'm not going to tell you again.

All right, break it up.

- Why, you young... - Let him up, Jed.

He's been askin' this for a long time.

Stay out of it, Mr. Favor.

What's the matter with you? With both of you?

Boss, I didn't mean to...

That's the trouble with this outfit,

nobody means to, it just happens.

Where do you figure on stopping?

I don't. Keep them moving.

Yeah, but only, without water...

There's none out here for them.

Moon's up. Must be after midnight.

Mr. Favor, Pete sent me back.

There's water up ahead.

There ain't much of it, and it ain't fit for humans,

but it'll keep the cattle from choking on their tongues.

How far?

About a mile and a half, no more.

All right, we'll try to make it.

Get back to Wishbone. Have him move the wagon up ahead.

I want coffee and sandwiches waiting when we bring the herd in.

Wake up, you no good...

The men will be in in a few minutes.

Wishbone.

Now what?

Look at this bread.

What's the matter with it?

It's hard as a board.

Can't you even bake bread?

What with driving day after day, every day,

and now night after night, when do I have a chance?

I warned you, if you can't handle the job right...

Then say I can't.

Get yourself a new cook, Mr. Favor.

I'm done!

Gee, Mr. Favor, you think he means it?

Mushy, you're the new cook.

The men will want those sandwiches in five minutes.

What's the matter with you, Wishbone?

Get away from me.

Go on, leave me alone.

I asked you. What's the matter with you?

What's the matter with me?

What's the matter with everybody around here?

What's the matter with Mr. Favor?

What's the matter with you?

Well, I mean quitting like this.

You know Mushy hasn't got the brains to eat the food, let alone cook it.

Oh, so now my cooking's getting good, is it?

Well, you can just durn well thrive on the memory of it,

because it's the last of it you'll ever get.

Why, you old coot!

Don't you call me an old coot, you whelp!

I don't give a hang about your lousy cooking.

I don't give a hang about what you give a hang about.

Now, you get out of here before I...

Before you what?

Before I blast that whelp face of yours

right out from under your hat.

You see what I mean now?

What's what you mean?

You... you're pointing that gun at me.

You want to fire it, don't you?

You're mighty well told, I want to fire it.

Now you get away from me before I blast your...

Yeah, I guess I see what you mean.

Do you, Wish?

Well, I'm not so sure I do.

All I know is, a couple days back,

you wouldn't have poked a gun in my face

no matter how sore you got at me.

Something just seems to have happened.

Everybody's at everybody else's throat like a pack of bobcats.

Everybody thinks everybody else is wrong, too.

I sure wish I knew why.

Well, there's certain times, I guess,

when everything's got to go wrong. All wrong.

I don't know, maybe it's the heat.

Aw, we've... we've been through heat before.

Well, maybe it's Mr. Favor

goin' across the dry plains when he shoulda gone around.

Now who says he shoulda gone around?

I say.

Well, who are you to say?

You're not helping him move any,

quittin' him when he needs you the most.

You think you're being his little helper,

pickin' a fight with Myers over some cockleburs?

And driving at Pete just because you think he was wrong

for not warning Mr. Favor sooner?

- Pete was wrong. - Who says he was wrong?

- I say he's wrong. - Who are you to say?

Well, I'll show you, you lice-bitten old coot.

Why, you get out of here before I blast

that sniveling whelp face of yours right off of this wagon.

I...

Where's my watch, you lowdown thieving coyote?

I don't know what you're talking about.

Clark's dead.

Rowdy, tell Mr. Favor I'll be back.

If I don't...

Quince, you and Kyle take care of him.

And Joe, go get Mr. Favor, will you?

Whose gear is this?

Johnny Camber's.

Well, clean it up.

Mushy, help him get this gear cleaned up.

Hope Jed catches up with that dirty murdering thief.

You setting yourself up as judge and jury?

I caught up with him.

He might have been real quick with a knife,

but he wasn't very fast with a gun.

Clark had him figured right, Mr. Favor.

Most anything belonging to anybody in this camp

worth more than a quarter, right here.

Isn't this your razor, Mr. Favor?

Hey, Mushy, your coffee's boiling over.

Thanks, Mr. Rowdy.

I ain't got the hang of everything yet.

Is Wishbone still holding his grouch?

Oh, he's lying in there, looking up at nothing.

He didn't even cuss me out this morning.

I been thinking, wishing things was back the way they was.

Well, you ain't the only one.

I got a hunch they're gonna get worse.

Next to this, that poison spring would taste good.

It might at that, Mr. Rowdy.

I've waited a long time, Billy,

but I had to be sure.

All right, Talby.

Get your gun, Billy.

Talby, I told you his name is Johnny Camber.

You can settle what's between you

when you leave the crew.

No, Mr. Favor, I'm sorry,

but it's got to be settled now.

I've waited too long to let you or anybody else cheat me.

I'm not going to have any more trouble in this camp.

You won't stop me, Mr. Favor.

You can't.

Billy Carter stole my daughter, my only child,

and afterwards he killed her

just as if he pointed the gun hisself.

Why, I'll kill him with my bare hands if I have to.

- Easy, Talby. - Give him his gun.

There's no use in letting it hang fire.

We can end it right now.

What chance would he have against you,

Billy Carter, with ten notches on your gun?

Stay out of it, Pete.

Is what Talby said true, Johnny?

I'm Billy Carter.

Now give him his gun.

No.

He won't need one now.

If this is the way you want it, Mr. Favor,

I guess it has to be all right with me.

He wanted you to kill him. His gun ain't loaded.

Why?

Going on this way,

thinking about her every hour of every day...

seeing her face every time I close my eyes.

He found her picture, but...

he didn't find this.

Marriage license.

You... and Jenny.

Why didn't you tell me?

Why should I let you think

your daughter's name was Mrs. Billy Carter?

It's all over.

The day we got married

I let her throw away every shell I had for my gun.

And I swore I'd never buy any more.

I never have.

But the way she died...

We'd just found out she was going to have a baby.

She was so happy

because I'd just told her we were going back to tell you.

But a drunken gunslinger recognized me

and drew on me.

Jenny jumped between us.

She died there in the street,

look... looking up at me.

All right, so I was wrong about Myers, and Johnny, too.

I got no ownership papers saying I always got to be right.

It's over and done with.

I want the herd headed up and moving out in 15 minutes.

Mr. Favor.

Some of us haven't had a chance to eat yet,

no rest and not a decent meal for days.

You think you can keep pushing men like that,

you're wrong a third time.

I said I wanted that herd moving in 15 minutes.

Then you can move them yourself.

Midway Valley's not over four hours' drive from here.

There's enough grass there to rest the herd.

You don't need a scout.

You don't need anybody.

Anybody else feels the same way as Pete,

they can ride out with him.

You're all a bunch of yellow quitters.

How about you, Jed?

Well, I signed on to help get these cows through.

Now, I had a herd quit me once, but I never quit a herd.

I'm staying, Mr. Favor.

Talby,

is Johnny able to ride?

You say, Talby.

He can ride enough to help.

We're staying.

Rowdy, get the cash box, pay them off.

Then let's get these beeves on the move.

Mushy, you've got your wish,

as of right now you're a working cowhand.

All right, let's get our gear and get out of here.

Well, I never thought Pete'd quit.

Scarlet or Quince either.

What is it?

Dry. Dry as a bone.

Well, Midway Valley is just over that rise.

Keep 'em moving!

Midway Valley.

What sun and dust can do in a few days.

One thing a trail boss needs is good judgment.

I was wrong about Myers, Johnny, Jed.

Now it looks like I've been wrong

thinking I could get this outfit across the dry plains.

The way I see it,

a man takes on a job, he ought to see it through,

no matter how much he don't like it or how much it costs him.

Should we try turning the herd, boss?

Nothing behind them.

It's too late to turn back.

As you might guess, there's no water.

As far as I know, there's no chance of finding any water

between here and the end of the dry plains.

Am I right, Jed?

That's right, Mr. Favor.

That means at least three, four more days with the cattle.

If we had enough hands, we could force the cattle across, but...

with only us,

I don't... I don't need to tell you.

Can't be done.

All you have to do is look at them.

Oh... this is going to be kind of hard to say.

I know what you're thinking, Mr. Favor.

Don't say it.

I guess I know, too.

He's the boss, let him say it.

No, that's just the point.

I don't have the right to be boss any longer.

I'm afraid I've proved that.

All the other hands realized it and left.

For staying with me... thanks.

Now, I don't see

how anybody could be quite as wrong as I was,

still give an order and expect to have it carried out,

but that's just what I'm going to do.

I'm giving you one last order

and I still expect to have it carried out.

I want you all to move out on your own,

get through as best you can.

Without you?

Lack of water can kill you

just as quick as it can kill the steers.

What do you plan on doing?

Staying out here with these lousy cows?

I don't know much about droving, Mr. Favor,

but if you're trying to get rid of us...

That's what he's trying to do, son.

Oh, now, it's time somebody begun to talk sense around here.

That's enough, Wishbone.

No, it's not, Mr. Favor.

I told you to move on, all of you!

That's an order!

You trying to get rid of us

'cause you don't want us to sit out here

and watch the cattle drop?

What do I have to do to get rid of you?

Don't you understand there's no water here?

Not only for the herd, there's none for you either.

Now, you can get through

if you're not tied down with the cattle.

So start moving out now.

Look, I have to watch my herd,

but there's nothing says I got to watch you.

Now, get out of my sight, all of you!

I ain't got any place to go, Mr. Favor.

Me neither.

We can do without water for a couple days.

I ain't a bit thirsty, Mr. Favor.

There, you see, Mr. Favor?

You see?

You stup...

Well, what are you all standing around for?

Let's see if we can get these lousy cows back on their feet.

Mr. Favor, out there.

We got lost.

You got lost?

Yeah, I...

It's rough out there.

Pete, Scarlet and me,

we couldn't find our way.

We didn't know which way to go.

We sort of miscalculated, Mr. Favor.

- It was a small mistake. - Natural thing, making mistakes.

We figured if you'd sort of let us stroll along with you

we wouldn't make no more mistakes.

- What did you find up ahead? - We found some water

and the grass is a lot better on the other side of the valley.

You'd be wanting to take them straight through?

Yeah, Pete, straight through.

Well, Rowdy, you gonna stand around up here all day

or you gonna earn your pay?

Never thought I'd be glad to see you, you old brush popper.

Hyah!

What else would you expect a crew like yours to do, Mr. Favor?

You had the right hunch all the time.

Looks like you're gonna make it.

We'll make it, Jed.

♪ Rollin', rollin', rollin', rollin', rollin', rollin' ♪

♪ Keep rollin', rollin', rollin' ♪

♪ Though the streams are swollen ♪

♪ Keep them dogies rollin' ♪

♪ Rawhide ♪

♪ Through rain and wind and weather ♪

♪ Hell-bent for leather ♪

♪ Wishin' my gal was by my side ♪

♪ All the things I'm missin' ♪

♪ Good vittles, love and kissin' ♪

♪ Are waiting at the end of my ride ♪

♪ Move 'em on, head 'em up, head 'em up, move 'em on ♪

♪ Move 'em on, head 'em up, rawhide ♪

♪ Cut 'em out, ride 'em in, ride 'em in, let 'em out ♪

♪ Cut 'em out, ride 'em in ♪

♪ Rawhide ♪

♪ Rollin', rollin', rollin' ♪

Hyah!

Hyah!

♪ Rollin', rollin', rollin', rollin', rollin', rollin' ♪

♪ Rollin', rollin', rollin' ♪