Original subtitles

MAN: Hyah! Hyah!

Hyah!

Tales of Wells Fargo.

JIM: Perhaps the happiest,

most carefree outlaw

whoever robbed the Wells Fargo strong box

was Sam Bass.

To him, life was a huge joke.

He lived it fast and hard

with a ready gun and a ready life.

After a series of stage coach stick-ups

around Deadwood

that got him only small change,

Sam hit the jackpot

at Big Springs, Nebraska,

when he robbed the Union Pacific train

and took $60,000

in gold coin,

that was being shipped east

by Wells Fargo.

After that, Sam headed

for his old stomping grounds

down in Texas.

He began a succession of train hold-ups here

that were not only unprofitable

but got the Texas Rangers

after him in a big way.

The result was the greatest manhunt

in history.

With Sam outwitting the Rangers

for more than a year.

Wells Fargo joined the manhunt,

and I was sent to Texas.

My name is Jim Hardie,

special investigator for the company.

At Denton, I had a talk

with Captain McNelly

and the Texas Rangers.

But what about Sam Bass?

Well, it's like I say,

every time we get close to him

he heads right straight for that brush,

and it's like a madhouse in there.

You just go round and round in circles.

You just can't tell where you're at.

Ain't that right, boys? MAN: Yeah, that's right.

But that Sam Bass and his boys,

they know every rabbit trail in there.

Do you know what they do?

They laugh at you from in there.

It's a fact. They'll laugh right out loud at you.

And you know what that can do to a man.

Make him pretty mad.

And that ain't the worst though.

Every time he gives us the slip,

he writes to all the newspapers

and tells them some about it.

Just taunting us.

Sounds like a downright menace.

Expect we better go after him.

Well, we've been after him but...

we come to the conclusion

that the only way Sam Bass

is ever going to get hisself caught is

for somebody in the inside to cooperate

with us on the outside, you know,

like, one of his men wants immunity

or to collect a reward or something.

I've been thinking the same thing, Captain.

And I got an idea.

Yeah?

From here on out...

Put your hands up and don't make a sound.

You're done for, mister.

Rangers, Texas Rangers.

Stop him. Stop him.

He tried to rob me.

Looks like we lost him.

Well, he's got to come out sometime.

He's got to do that all right.

Well, let's get back.

What you doing in here?

Looking for a hole.

What would you be doing

with people shooting at you?

Those are Rangers.

Were they?

Who told you to head this way?

Nobody had to tell me. It was the closest place

and I headed for it myself.

All right. You rode in here.

Now, you can ride right out again.

No, thank you.

Those people were shooting a little

too close.

I aim just staying right here.

Well, I'm gonna count to three.

And if you ain't out... Hold on, Murphy.

Why don't we let Mr. Bass decide

what to do with him.

Sam Bass?

Don't act surprised.

Everybody in Texas knows

he's holed up in here.

Well, I was holed up down in Mexico

and I didn't know it.

A lot of people trying to put a rope

around my neck.

Figured it'd interfere with my breathing,

so I lit out.

You talk fancy.

Yeah, like Mr. Bass.

You know, I think him and Mr. Bass

are gonna get along real fine.

Start moving.

Take your horse.

Tie the horse.

We picked up a package.

He talks real fancy.

You're Mr. Bass, I presume.

After all the tall tales I've heard about you

I figure you had to be eight feet high.

And I see no reason to change my mind.

I see what you mean.

Go ahead.

And make it good.

Well, I wouldn't believe him if you read

from a stock of Bibles.

Who are you?

My name is Harmon, Jim Harmon.

I'm supposed they have heard of you?

No, I've been away.

Says he's been down in Mexico.

Mexico is not a bad place.

Why did you come back?

I ran out of money.

I tried to get some in Round Rock

when the Rangers rode in.

Do you believe that, Sam?

I'm just a farm boy

from Indiana.

I believe everybody.

Until I find out otherwise.

Well, I don't believe anybody.

Especially him.

Now, you listen to me.

If you're looking for trouble, you just found it.

And you can have it any way you want it.

Just name it.

Well, how about...

Hey, we could use

a little fun around here.

Mr. Bass, let's not fight against one another.

On one another? He's not one of us.

Hey, Murphy,

why don't you take him on?

I'd like to make a condition.

I thought so.

You'd like to use an axe?

No.

I've been riding for two days

and two nights.

I'm a little behind in my sleep.

After I take him,

would it be all right if I took a nap?

You take him,

and you can have as long a nap

as you want.

That's all I wanted to know.

SAM: But if you don't...

That's enough.

You can now take your nap now.

You can get up, Murphy.

Hey, you want us to get you some supper?

Yeah.

Yeah, I could use a little grub.

SAM: Anything special you'd like?

Yeah, maybe, I'd like some...

To me it isn't so funny.

Everything is funny, Jim.

Just depends on the way you look at it.

Nighty night.

Jackson,

does this belong to you?

Yeah, that's mine.

You shouldn't leave it laying around loose

like that.

I might have rolled over on it in my sleep

I reckon the boys are getting a might careless.

And killed myself.

Catfish? Thank you.

Now, Seaborn Barnes,

I want you to meet Jim Harmon.

Claims he's a bankrupt outlaw.

MURPHY: Only, I don't believe it.

Murphy is just nervous by nature.

Maybe Murphy is just yellow by nature.

Murphy.

Ain't you had enough yet?

In this hold-up business

it's the big ones you hit once in a while

that keeps you going.

Like the Union Pacific job

at Nebraska.

I understand you took Wells Fargo

for $60,000, is that right?

It wasn't our job.

It was us, all right.

A man who does good work,

he's entitled to the credit.

Still got some of my gold coin left.

MURPHY: You talk too much, Sam.

SAM: I like to talk.

MURPHY: Well, maybe, you're satisfied

with him, I ain't.

He could be a Wells Fargo man.

SAM: Jim, are you a Wells Fargo man?

Do I look like one?

SAM: See? He says he ain't.

MURPHY: You trust everybody, Sam.

SAM: But why not, it's a short life.

Live and let live.

We can get along all right.

BARNES: We've had it pretty good lately.

The truth is, I don't think things

could be any better.

If you'd ask me I'd say I've got

the world by the tail

with a downhill pull.

JIM: That's just the way I wanna trek.

Could you use another man?

No, four's enough.

Four grown men is plenty.

Then don't start that again.

I've tried to tell you

a hundred times, Jackson,

you're too young to be on the wrong side

of the law.

You've got your whole life

in front of you, boy.

You can live it good.

Find yourself a pretty wife,

be respectable,

work at a job.

Or you can live in a cave

in hiding, hunted.

Well, it's good enough for all of us.

We're older.

We can even be happy this way.

These things we can laugh at

and things we can remember

from the dim past.

But you don't have any past to remember.

All I say to you, son, is...

live as an honest law-abiding man

for a couple of years, then make your choice

what you wanna be...

A bank robber or a bank president.

Sound like pretty good advice, Jackson.

You're pretty anxious to take my place, ain't you?

Maybe. Maybe I am.

Let me put it this way, boy.

If you turned out to be a farmer,

a rancher,

or even a sheriff,

it'd make me feel like I've done

something good to make up

for some of the bad.

It would make me proud, boy.

Mr. Bass, you're the greatest man

I've ever known.

You stick around with us till the 25th.

That's three days from now.

What happens on the 25th?

There's a shipment of gold do in Round Rock

on the 25th.

We'll ride in tomorrow.

Do some shopping and, kind of,

look things over.

You come along with us.

Suits me.

SAM: We will pick up a couple of sacks

of oats.

JIM: That's the place I was trying to hold up

when the Rangers came in.

I better not go in.

SAM: All right. You wait here, Jim.

SAM: Been looking all over town for you.

Usually, when I tell a man

to wait somewhere, he stays put.

What's that?

Just a money draft.

SAM: Thought you didn't have any money.

I've got seven dollars and twenty-five cents.

I was, sort of, saving it

for grub steak,

but I figured she needed it worse.

Who is that?

My mother.

Let me see that.

Lives pretty close to here, doesn't she?

That's what I was doing in this part of Texas.

Just going by to see her.

All right, Jim. Go ahead and send it.

Man ought to be good to his mother.

If mine hadn't died

when I was just a pup,

I might be an honest man today.

We'll wait outside.

Send that to the ranger station

in Denton, Texas.

MAN: Hold it.

Don't move.

I know who you were when you bought

that feet off me, Mr. Bass.

You hung around here just long enough

for me to get my gun.

JIM: Now, I knew why they call Seaborn Barnes

Sam's right bower.

Whenever Sam and the gang went out

of a place by one door,

Seaborn left by another.

The merchant didn't have a chance.

MURPHY: I still say, there ain't no need for him.

BARNES: Come on, look at the situations like that one.

JIM: How am I supposed to know that?

I only did what was natural.

SAM: Are you satisfied now?

Well, we appreciate it anyway.

Thank you.

Now do I get my gun back?

Murphy, give him his gun.

Start packing up, boy.

You're taking him on?

His solo days are over.

He's a full-fledged member

of the gang now.

Anybody here by the name of Mrs. Pete Harmon?

Well, it's come.

Yeah, all it is is a Wells Fargo bank draft.

That's all. Thanks, Gage.

Who is Mrs. Pete Harmon?

Just a sweet little lady

by the name of Captain McNelly.

A sweet little old lady?

Gage, don't I hear your telegraph key a'clickin'?

Oh, you do? Thanks.

He got it figured out? Yeah.

7/25, 7...

January, February, March, April, May, June,

July... that's this month.

It's tomorrow... Tomorrow is the 25th.

25th... Hey...

that's the day that gold shipment

is due at the bank in Round Rock.

MURPHY: Now, send us a picture postcard, you hear?

JACKSON: How do I ever get it mailed to you out here?

BARNES: And name one of your kids after me,

huh, Jackson.

JACKSON: Maybe, the second one.

SAM: We've had good times, boy.

JACKSON: Ain't likely I'll never forget.

But you must.

That's the whole trick of it.

Pretend you never were an outlaw.

Learn to hate and despise fellas like us.

No, I never could.

You will in time.

This is no life, the one we're living.

It's just a joke and a bluff.

Hiding out from humanity

costs a man an awful price.

You miss the way of things with people.

Birthdays,

Christmastime,

and all kinds of little things

you can only share

with decent,

law-abiding, and God-fearing folk.

Don't miss these things he's missing now, Jackson.

No.

Live them for me, boy.

Live them for me well.

I will, Mr. Bass.

Goodbye, boy.

Goodbye, sir.

Kept calling me sir,

right up to the end.

JIM: I'll cover you, Sam.

No, Barnes will cover us

like he always does.

You lead the way, Harmon.

Hold it!

The boy.

JIM: It was a bad day, all right.

Fifteen seconds of eternity.

Murphy,

Barnes shot.

Sam wounded.

I saw Sam lift his pistol

to fire...

but he didn't.

He'd never killed anybody.

And he must have asked himself,

why start now?

He's heading for the Cambridge.

I'll go after him. We'll go with you.

No.

I'll go alone.

I owe him that much.

Jim.

Glad you made it.

Could get a might lonely out here

with nobody to talk to.

I guess it could.

Seaborn Barnes?

Your right bower, he's wounded.

The Rangers have got him.

Murphy?

He's dead.

Grieves me about the boy.

Jackson?

Tipped them off.

Maybe he figured he had to start life

with some reward money.

The only thing is, Jim...

I was good to him.

I never thought he'd turn me in.

The boy didn't turn you in, Sam.

He's long gone.

He's gonna be all right.

He had to be the one that told them.

No one else could have.

What about me?

You?

I work for Wells Fargo.

You said you were an outlaw.

I know.

I believed you.

You believed everybody.

My biggest failing.

I'm sorry it had to end this way.

Somebody was bound to get me.

It happened to be you.

Makes me feel, kind of good

that it wasn't...

a coyote like Murphy.

I wish it could have been Murphy.

The world's...

bobbing all around now.

Jim...

I've lost my downhill pull.

I guess you have,

Mr. Bass.

JIM: He was dead.

This was the end of Sam Bass.

The end of the man and the beginning

of a legend about him.

A legend of the happy outlaw

that will live as long

as there is anybody anywhere

who remembers the old west.

In Sam Bass,

I found an old adage that has lived down

through the years.

And in the very best of men

there's a little bad,

and in the very worst of men

a little good.