Original subtitles

DRIVER: Hyah! Hyah!

JIM: In the spring of 1882,

the Kansas City Special was held up

at a place called Knob Point in Missouri.

Trying to save the money in the express car,

my good friend Pat McNeil,

one of Wells Fargo's finest messengers,

went to his death.

I was going to have to find Jesse James and the money.

Jesse James,

the greatest outlaw of all time,

the most desperate man in the country.

There were rumors that Jesse was near

the end of his string.

It was said he had been scraping

the bottom of the barrel,

using men who wouldn't hesitate to kill him

for the 10,000, Missouri's Governor Crittenden

had put on his head.

Still, a cornered animal is the most dangerous.

When I stepped off that train in Independence,

I knew that to ride alone into the hills

looking for Jesse James

was a real chore for any man...

including a man named Jim Hardie.

How are you, Mr. Jones?

What's the matter? Don't nobody talk around here?

That there is a camera, ain't it?

You bet.

Kind of heavy to lug around.

Yes, it is.

That's why I'd like to

rent a horse and buggy off of you if you got one,

but it's got to be gentle.

Yeah, reckon we can fix you up.

How long you be needing him?

Don't rightly know.

Just going north, about 20 miles.

North?

That's Clay County.

You been up that way?

No. I'm a stranger around here.

Maybe you can help me.

I'm looking for the James farm.

I understand that he comes from up around here

and he often comes back here.

You fixin' to get killed or somethin'?

No.

No, I hadn't planned on it.

I'm renting no horse to you.

If you want him, you'll buy him.

You go nosing around that Jesse James country,

I'll never see my horse again

and you, either.

You're trying to scare me,

aren't you?

Some fools just don't scare.

All right, I'll buy him.

But he's got to be gentle.

JIM: I had clear directions for locating

the farm where Jesse James was born.

Pinkerton men had been watching the place

off and on for years.

But going into that timber country alone

was a risky business.

Halt right there.

Howdy.

By golly, it's good to find somebody

that'll to talk me in this part of the country.

I'm talking to you.

Now turn that junk pile around

and head back where you came from.

No. No, I'm not gonna do it.

I came all the way from New York to see a man,

and, by golly, I'm gonna see him.

You keep going on this direction,

you won't see anybody ever again.

Now turn around and git.

All right.

I sure wanted to see Jesse James.

Hyah!

Aah!

Hyah!

Go ahead! You go right ahead!

Let Jesse get his hands on you!

You outsmarted yourself this time.

Say, mister.

Could you tell me where...

Don't go bothering the help.

Well, I'm sorry, ma'am.

My name's Henshaw. Jim Henshaw.

Pleased to meet you.

We ain't met.

What do you want?

I'm Zerelda Samuel.

Samuel.

I beg your pardon, I...

must have gotten a wrong place.

I was looking for the James Farm.

My first husband's name was James.

Then you must be Frank and Jesse's mother.

I'd sure give a lot to meet Jesse, ma'am.

Keep talking.

It's a little awkward talking from a buggy.

Would it be all right if I take my camera

and got out?

I can hear you all right.

What do you want with my Jesse, take his picture?

Maybe.

But the main reason was to write a book about him.

A book?

There's been books,

cheap, lying things.

You mean like this one?

Yeah, like that one.

Not a word or truth in any of 'em.

All the things that they say that ain't so.

But that was my idea, ma'am, was to tell the truth,

to tell his side of it in his own words.

Kind of set the record straight you might say.

I'd call it,

"I Talked with Jesse James."

Nobody would believe you.

When I get through with it, they would.

You actually think you could write a book

like that and sell it?

I know I could write it.

And selling it would be no problem.

The people in this country would go for it in a big way.

There's a lot of money involved in it.

And don't forget you'd be cut in

for half of it.

MAN: I would, would I?

Sounds like you figure you know me.

Let's say you're what I imagine

Jesse James would look like.

Get down.

Now let's talk turkey and talk straight.

Who sent you, Allan Pinkerton?

Do I look like a detective?

How would I know?

They come in here with all kinds of yarns.

This one of yours sure takes the cake.

Hey, boys. Come on out here.

What was that name again?

Henshaw?

Maybe, you'd like to meet the gang,

put the boys in your book.

This is Dick Liddil,

Bob and Charlie Ford,

and Tom Rankins.

Yes. We met a little while ago down the road.

That's right.

Tried to get clever with me.

Anybody watching the road? RANKINS: Yeah.

JESSE: Any of you ever see this man before today?

If you're a writer, I'm a...

Just a minute.

Think what a single magazine article did

for Wild Bill Hickok.

It took him and made a hero out of him.

And then think what it could do

for the greatest outlaw that ever lived.

Go on.

I was down in Mexico last year,

planning a job on Billy The Kid.

But Pat Garrett killed him before I could get underway.

And I heard you were back here in Missouri.

You knew Bill Bonney?

And Rudabaugh, O'Folliard, Bowdre, all of them.

Did you ever take a picture of Billy The Kid?

No, I didn't get a chance.

I wish I could have, though.

I understand there was only one ever made.

He's left-handed, I understand.

No, he wasn't.

He was right-handed.

Picture was printed backwards.

Maybe, you did know him after all.

All right, boys.

I, uh... About that picture,

I, uh... always kind of hankered to have

a picture of me sitting on top

of General Stonewall.

On who? My horse.

I'll fetch him from the barn.

And I'll keep the plate.

I'll get it developed myself.

I don't want my face plastered

all over the country on reward dodgers.

Young man, I'm starting to hope

you're honest about writing a book.

And when you do,

tell them the truth about Jesse James for once,

and tell them about during the war,

how the Yanks rode in to rob and burn,

and how they shot my boy down

when he rode in after the fighting to surrender,

and tell them about all the things

they laid to him he never done.

That's the whole idea, Mrs. Samuel.

The scum he's got around him now.

Them rotten Fords...

they'd shoot him down in a minute.

They want that reward.

I can see it in their faces.

They just want to get him

without his guns or with his back turned.

You ridin' somewhere?

Nope.

Me and the General are having our picture took.

What are we gonna do about that Henshaw?

We're not gonna do anything about him.

I haven't made up my mind what I'm gonna do yet.

He's a Pinkerton man, Jess.

It's plain as anything.

I'm not so sure of that.

I think maybe he's what he says he is.

He's just working on you.

All that stuff about him writing a book.

Don't tell me you're falling for it.

We've been talking this over.

We decided you got no right to put

our necks in danger. Now get rid of him.

You giving me orders?

No, Jess. He didn't mean it that way.

I'm not taking anything off this crowd.

I'm sick of looking at your faces.

And as soon as we get the news we've been waiting for,

I want you all to clear out.

I don't care if I never see any of you again.

You understand me?

Jesse, watch your back.

Which one was it, Henshaw?

Maybe, I didn't really see anything after all.

I was just fixing to clean it.

I wouldn't draw on you, Jesse.

General and me are ready whenever you are, Henshaw.

What are you trying to do anyway?

I said I made a mistake.

One more mistake like that

might be your last.

I'm talkin' to you.

I heard you.

I want you to remember who you heard.

What was the name again?

Bob Ford.

I'll remember it.

JIM: After that affair in the barn,

I knew I was really in trouble.

Jesse James was not yet sure of me,

and the others were ready to cut me down

without giving me a chance.

But now, oddly enough, things had come

to sort of a standstill.

I had a feeling the whole bunch of them were waiting.

Waiting for something to happen.

I could only hope it wasn't supposed

to happen to me.

Jesse James was prowling that yard

like a caged animal.

You act like you're expecting someone.

Henshaw, I've been thinking about that book.

If you're on the level about writing it,

I guess it's only fair I tell you something.

I'm getting out.

Out of the business? Mm-hmm.

I tried it once before but I couldn't make it.

It was after Northfield,

after the old gang got shot up

and they took the Youngers.

I went to Tennessee, and I tried farming.

See, there ain't nothing

but a plain old Missouri dirt farmer in me, Henshaw.

I didn't set out to be no outlaw.

I was just a kid when I started riding with Quantrill.

Then during the war, I got a lung shot to ribbons.

I don't suppose you knew that, did you?

No, I didn't.

Well, anyway, farming's kind of rough

on a man with one lung.

I stuck it out for a year,

couldn't make a go of it, though.

I didn't have enough money.

Well, this time, I got the cash.

I know the place I want.

It's over in Nebraska.

Good bottomland for cattle and grain, timber.

I see.

I got a wife and a couple of children, too.

Bet you didn't know that, either.

They're waiting for me now in St. Joe.

Soon as I got rid of this crowd,

I'm gonna join them, and then that'll be

the end of Jesse James.

May kind of ruin the ending for your book, huh?

No, it wouldn't.

It wouldn't ruin anything.

Well, then maybe you could

help to make 'em let up on me.

Maybe you could make 'em see

that I'd have quit long ago

if I'd have had the chance.

It's too bad Knob Point had to be your last job.

Wells Fargo man got killed.

People aren't apt to forget that very soon.

Neither is Wells Fargo.

We won't talk about Knob Point.

Suit yourself.

Don't try to walk away from here, Henshaw.

You wouldn't get far.

Well, you found something, snooper?

No.

I just came out to check my horse

and equipment

and I heard voices. Step in.

Found him outside.

By golly, this is a dandy place.

You could hole up here for a long time

and not get caught,

if you didn't talk too loud.

Now that you stumbled onto this,

suppose you'll put this in your book.

That would be up to Jesse.

Maybe. Maybe not.

I ain't so sure you're gonna live to write it.

Is it really a book you're planning, Henshaw,

or a report to the Chicago office?

You can't get it through your head

I'm not a Pinkerton man, can you?

Even if you ain't

don't make any difference.

What I ain't forgetting, Henshaw,

is you telling Jesse I pulled a gun on him

when I had three witnesses that say I didn't.

I told you I made a mistake.

I'll make you wish you never set foot

in these hills.

No shooting!

Where was that shot? In the barn.

You stay here.

All right, Henshaw, you asked for this.

Break it up!

What are you trying to do to him?

This Pinkerton man was snooping, Jess.

We're teaching him a lesson.

Let him go.

How do you tell it?

Will it make any difference?

There's three of them and one of me.

JESSE: Get on up to the house.

I didn't mean to see anything

I wasn't supposed to.

Honest.

What's the idea all of four of you

piling on one man?

Straighten up this mess.

Wait a minute. What was that?

It's all right. I know him.

Keep out of sight.

Jess, what was it?

Nothing, Ma. It's all right.

Well, that was Markinson.

He brought the word you've been waiting

for the last few days.

LIDDIL: You mean Ed Baggett? JESSE: Uh-huh.

BOB: Well, where is he? Why he didn't show up?

JESSE: He couldn't. He's dead.

One of the train guards must have put

a bullet in him during the getaway.

CHARLIE: Dead? Are you sure, Jess?

JESSE: They found his body.

Baggett wasn't much use to us anyway.

Well, he's dead now.

No need you waiting for him any longer.

No need you hanging round here, either.

Good. That's one last to share with.

Let's get it done so we can scatter.

That suits me fine.

Dick, get the money.

You know where it is.

Drop that gun.

Pinkerton man.

No, ma'am.

I come from Wells Fargo.

I'm after this and the man that killed Pat McNeil.

Jesse!

Sorry, Mrs. Samuel.

You all right, Ma? Stop him, Jesse.

He's a Wells Fargo man. He got the money.

Wells Fargo, I never thought of that.

He'll get away. Not on foot, he won't.

Over behind the hay!

Keep him away from the barn.

He'll be trying to grab a horse.

Now, Ma, you get on in the house

and stay clear of this, you hear me?

There he goes! I saw him!

He's headed for the brush!

Have you seen anything?

I don't know.

Over that way. He can't get far.

Henshaw.

Drop it.

Throw that bag over here.

I guess you decided not to split with anyone at all.

So you're a Wells Fargo man, huh?

A friend maybe of the one I got at Knob Point?

You?

I thought it was the leader who shot Pat McNeil.

I led that raid.

Didn't you know, Jesse's quit?

We pulled that job without him.

You look like I just took a load off your mind.

You did.

Now I know who it was I came here looking for.

Well, you found him.

Maybe, I ought to turn my back

and make it a little more natural for you.

Mmm.

That makes it even.

I guess it does.

Sorry if I hurt your Ma, Jess.

You didn't hurt anything but her pride.

Why'd you have to turn out to be a Wells Fargo man?

I was beginning to like you.

Why'd you have to turn out to be an outlaw?

ZERELDA: Jess, are you all right?

Yeah, Ma, I'm all right!

I didn't think anybody could still fool me.

You even got around Ma.

We really figured you meant to write that book.

There's not much need talking about that now.

No.

You better clear out of here.

The boys will be back in minute.

You're gonna let me go?

That's the man you came to get.

Far as I'm concerned, we're quits.

Not quite.

There's still the money.

If go out of here, I've got to take it with me, or try.

It's still my job.

You mean you'd draw against me?

If I have to.

Go on. Get out of here.

Boys got into this by themselves,

let them get out by themselves.

None of that money belongs to me.

If I were you, I wouldn't turn my back

on Bob and Charlie Ford.

You ready?

Let her go.

JIM: I was never to see Jesse James again.

Two weeks later in the little house in St. Joe,

Bob and Charlie Ford did catch him

with his back turned and his holster laid aside.

The story of Jesse James reached its ending,

bloody, but never to be forgotten.