Original subtitles

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Here.

Now, you take, uh, that book, for example.

That one title, the first year it came out,

sold more copies in Philadelphia alone

than the Bible did in the whole state of Pennsylvania.

Is that so? Yeah.

I wrote 37 of those, all big sellers.

Very interesting. Sea captains. Pirates. Uh...

Soldiers of fortune, that's what the public wants.

This one was published two years ago, huh?

Well, the public is also a little fickle.

But I still know what they want.

I think I'll find it up in San Francisco too.

The whalers, the clipper ships.

Of course, it's the same brave Captain Billy,

but just with a new background.

Well, I wish you luck. Thank you.

I think anything will look exciting

after this dreary, monotonous countryside.

Oh, I don't know.

Sometimes we get up a pretty exciting game of horseshoes.

Yes, Pa, you remember last month

we saw that white-breasted nuthatch in the pifion pine.

Watched it for almost a half an hour before it flew away.

Yeah, I can hardly wait to get started on my new one.

That'll put Tobias Wentwonh Finch back on top again.

Come on!

Adam.

Whoa, whoa, whoa.

Hi, sheriff. Hi.

Hey, Raymond, cut that out. Just shut up.

Hey, Pop,

who told you to hang those things up?

Nobody, but I thought it was a good idea.

The only thing, every time I put one up, somebody comes and pulls it down.

That's right, Pop, I do.

Why?

Because I don't want every farmer's kid 50 miles around to think

all he's got to do is pick up a gun and go against the Pickards.

I expect you're right, sheriff, but these men are dangerous.

Don't worry, Pop.

If these Pickards get around this neighborhood,

I'll take care of them myself.

Hey, Pops, don't you touch those Pickards.

Those are Sheriff Larrimore's Pickards.

Hey, Raymond, come on, knock it off.

But it's true, Mike.

Just as soon as he shoots the rats in the stable loft

and arrests all the chickens in the churchyard.

He's gonna go right out and catch him a whole passel of Pickards.

Why don't you boys run along?

There was a day that I wouldn't even stopped

to water my horse in a town like this.

I better go back to the jail, Pop.

Why don't you put this town on the map?

Like you did the whole state of Texas.

Give me a drink.

Someday I'm gonna learn me to drink rotgut whiskey to stiffen my spine.

Practice telling lies about how brave I used to be.

So someday I might get to be sheriff of this here town.

Raymond, why not you shut up and leave him alone?

Shut up? Who me?

Give me a beer, Cal.

What you're serving a beer for, Cal?

You know they're too young to be in here.

You gonna try putting us out, sheriff?

Why you fresh squirt

Go on, hit me. Earn your $5 a month.

Where's my beer, Cal?

Yeah. We got the Pickards.

We got the Pickards!

Sheriff, the Virginia City stage is in town.

What's it doing here? They got the Pickards.

The Pickards? Come on, Raymond.

Ain't you coming?

What for?

Excuse me. Get a doctor, will you?

Got a couple of badly wounded men in here.

Got a prisoner for you, sheriff. His name is Pickard.

I believe you dropped your keys.

You caught him, you lock him up.

That's not my job.

Why not?

You did the first part, why not go the whole-hogger?

Everybody's got the price of a gun

thinks he can go around shooting up the countryside.

You caught Pickard. So he's all yours.

You feed him and you bathe him.

And you get him nice and shiny for his trial.

My father and I have had a very a long trip.

We'd like to get back to Virginia City before dark.

If you don't mind, would you take charge of the prisoner?

Oh, sure.

You'd like that, wouldn't you?

You do the easy pan and leave the drudgery for...

All right, fine.

Leave the keys on my desk and you just run on along.

Hey, gunman.

Circuit judge rides through here two weeks from today.

You and your daddy be here to testify at this trial, you hear me?

Adam.

Adam, would you please try and talk some sense into your father?

He has no idea what he's giving up here.

I'm afraid that's pretty hopeless. Once my father's made up his mind...

Uh, Ben Cartwright. Look, Ben, please come down,

You've gotta listen to me. Look, I can make you famous.

Why, before I get through, every kid in the country

will know the names Ben and Adam Cartwright.

You will be bigger than Lewis and Clark.

Yeah, uh, bigger even than than Lincoln and Douglass.

Mr. Finch

why don't you go on to San Francisco as you'd planned

and write about those whalers and clipper ships?

No, this is better.

It's more exciting, it's different.

We sometimes have to defend our property

and our neighbors' property.

And we don't enjoy doing it.

We don't want to publicize it

and we certainly don't want to capitalize on it.

So why don't you get inside that coach

and I'll ride up there with Adam?

No. Heh.

I, uh...

I think I'm gonna stay here in Griffin or whatever you call this town.

Fine, suit yourself.

Oh, uh, Mr. Cartwright, let me ask you once more.

Don't you think that the people-- No, I don't.

Once again, thank you for your kind offer.

But no. No and no. Thank you.

Uh, wait a minute. Wait a minute.

Received advance book royalty payment.

Town tense as hour of Pickard trial approaches.

Lynch law imminent.

Uh, what's this imminent mean?

What difference does it make? Just send what I say.

Well, now, I don't send nothing, I don't know what it means.

Imminent means, uh, about to happen.

A lynching in this town?

Well, I'm not quite sure, but just send it anyway.

Well, now, look here, mister, if you ain't quite sure, uh,

I just don't send nothing, uh, but the truth.

Oh.

I-M-M-I-N-E-N-T.

That's a tie.

I beat you. What?

That's $9 you owe me.

What are you talking about? It's only eight. It was a tie.

Boy, you're some liar.

You take corn from a blind chicken.

Raymond, you think you can take an extra buck out of me,

you better just start trying. Shut up.

It's those Canwrights.

Sheriff ain't here.

Where is he? He's over at his other office.

What he means is the sheriff's over to the saloon.

That's where he spends most of his time

Now that them stories about you come out.

What stories?

What's he talking about? This.

This man Finch had them brought all the way in from Chicago, he did.

"Daring decimation and capture of the infamous Pickard gang

by the Intrepid Canwrights, father and son,

as witnessed by Tobias Wentworih Finch.

Ben and Adam Cartwright,

cloaked in the deceptive garb of ordinary businessmen,

rode the ill-fated Virginia City Stage."

That man Finch, he really doesn't understand

the meaning of the word no, does he?

Guess I'll just have to tell him again.

I'll see you at the hotel later.

"Death to the Texans." That's what they were yelling.

It's still ringing in my ears.

They're all around us.

Then, all of a sudden, I'm face-to-face with him.

El engafioso, Santa Anna himself.

There I am a 20-year-old kid

with the fate of the whole Republic of Texas in my hands.

Now it's me and him.

He's too grand to shoot and he's too important to lose.

So what do I do?

I throw myself on him and I hang on like...

Where are you going, Mr. Finch?

I was just going back to the hotel.

Oh, yeah.

Sorry, I hope I didn't scare you off making those speeches about Texas.

It's all right.

To tell you the truth I just came here to pick up a little local color

and make a few sketches.

But all I've heard for the last two hours has been you.

Yeah, I know.

I guess I sometimes do get a little carried away

recalling about old Sam Houston and Davy Crockett and the rest.

But tell you what,

if you come on back to the table and sit down,

you won't hear another peep out of me.

Okay, sheriff.

Are you writing another story about the Cartwrights?

I'm just making a few notes.

Say, I could tell you some stories

that would make the capture of Pickard

sound like a dance around the maypole.

I'll bet you could.

Would you like me to tell you about the vigilantes in California,

the time we had to get back over $30,000 worth of jewelry?

You already have. Oh, I did.

What about the time in San Francisco when I--

Maybe some other time, sheriff, huh?

I'm a little busy right now.

Okay?

Oh, sure.

I understand.

Adam Cartwright.

You are just the man I've been waiting to see.

I've come about this.

Sit down.

I'm, uh, glad you read it.

I was right.

It was your lucky day when fate brought you and me together.

I'm waiting to hear about ten good reasons

why I shouldn't press you between the pages of your nasty, little books

and drop you in a horse trough.

What's the matter, Adam?

Did I spell your name wrong?

No.

I think the story is great.

Wait till you hear what my publisher had to say about it.

He loved the article.

He gave me an advance on the book.

See here?

This is your share and your father's.

It's $25 each.

It's only the beginning.

You know, you're not talking to an amateur.

My books sell.

I've got a built-in audience.

I think you should invest your money in a good stomach doctor.

Because the next time you use my father or myself

in another one of your distorted publicity pieces,

you may end up eating the entire newspaper,

including the classified.

Adam.

Don't talk like that.

I told you, I've already taken an advance.

I like a man with a sense of humor.

But, uh, I've got time invested in you, two whole weeks.

Besides I've made promises.

No, look just a minute here.

This man bothering you, Mr. Finch?

Yeah, I guess he's bothering me, all right.

You don't go pushing people around in this town.

I warned you already.

Mr. Finch is a guest here.

He's covering the trial for the Eastern Press.

As long as I'm the sheriff, nobody's gonna push him around.

Larrimore, I'm just about sick of you, your town and your guests.

As far as I'm concerned, the only thing he's qualified to cover

is the territory between here and Philadelphia.

And the sooner he gets started, the better.

And that's what I came hereto say.

If you gentlemen will excuse me...

Put away the gun, sheriff. Oh, no.

You come riding in here like something fine,

something kind of special.

Let me tell you something,

you're not the only one ever had his name in a newspaper.

But that doesn't give you special shoving privileges.

You wanna put charges on him, Mr. Finch?

Yeah.

It's a good idea. Press charges.

What kind of a charge are you talking about?

All right, let's go.

Return of Reed Larrimore.

Return of Dangerous Reed Larrimore.

Larrimore!

Larrimore, answer me!

No, Reed, the Texas war is ancient history.

Get Cartwright out of here, Larrimore.

You leave him here I'll kill him.

I can't write about something that happened 20 years ago.

I need something new, something fresh.

Larrimore! What did you do yesterday?

What did you do the day before?

Larrimore!

You know, Reed, what you need is a kind of manager.

A manager? Yeah.

Somebody to direct you, to mold you,

to create a whole new personality for you.

What you mean is, uh, you wanna write things about me

that aren't really true, that don't happen.

That's about it, isn't it?

Well, just, uh, partly. That's all.

You see, we're gonna think of things for you to do that can be, uh, amplified.

You know, uh, just, uh, some things

that can be stretched a little bit for the excitement of the public.

Larrimore!

No, I'm afraid I couldn't do that.

Don't be silly, Reed.

That's what this book-writing business is all about.

What do you think Billy Whipple was before I picked him up?

He was just a cheap drifter crawling around the gutters of New Bedford.

Mr. Finch, I may not be the man I once was,

but I never jumped through hoops for anybody.

Not even a Sam Houston told me how to wear my hat.

Fine. What did it get you?

You, the man who captured Santa Anna.

Didn't ever put a one nickel in your pocket

and never got you a one nod of approval in this town.

Well, that's this town.

You know, bunch of dumb farmers, they don't know what they're doing.

As a matter of fact, I was thinking about moving on anyhow.

Larrimore!

I heard about some new trouble down on the border.

Those Apaches are crossing over from Mexico.

Reed.

Who you trying to convince?

Without me, Reed, you're a joke in this town.

You know it. Every town hooligan laughs at you.

I can smack some respect into them.

And I don't need you to tell me how to do that.

Sure, sure, fine.

You can smack and you can crawl

and you can tell your soggy little stories

about what a big here you were.

If the booze holds out.

Oh, you can stay in this town just as long as they've got use for you.

But in the meantime, you think.

Think about where you'll be ten years from now.

Five years maybe.

When you haven't got teeth left to pull the cork out of a bottle

or the money to buy it with.

Because if you think you've hit bottom, sheriff, look down.

Larrimore!

Larrimore!

Hey, Mr. Finch,

wait up a minute.

I'm, uh, sorry, Reed,

my publisher can't wait.

He's looking for me to find him a man. A man who's looking for a future.

You know, just, uh, that pan

about making things up that I'm really against.

Larrimore!

A man doesn't have to fall into a hole

just because he had a couple of years bad luck, does he?

That's right.

You've had terrible luck, sheriff. Terrible.

Larrimore!

In a town like this, uh, well, people just don't appreciate what you do for them.

Yeah. Sheriff, Larrimore!

That prisoner has been making an awful lot of noise.

Larrimore!

It's time that he found out this jail isn't being run

by a broken-down, has-been sheriff.

Don't you think so?

Larrimore! Yeah.

Yeah, you're right.

Larrimore!

Larrimore!

Well, it's about time, Larrimore. I don't like the company in here.

You got any other complaints?

Yeah, I don't like this food neither.

How do you expect a man to eat slop like that?

Look at the maggots in it. Well, that's good for you, Pickard.

That fresh meat will make you nice and strong for the hangman.

Look at Cartwright here, he's not complaining.

You can't catch a man outright, you figure to starve him to death.

Is that it? Uh-huh.

What I heard about you, I thought you'd eat your way through the bars

and be out of here by now.

All right, open the door. Come on, sheriff.

Stop it! What are you trying to do. You're trying to kill him.

Come on, step it, Larrimore.

Sheriff.

Look at this.

Okay.

Not bad.

Now, sheriff, when I tell you to, do that draw again.

Go.

Perfect, hold it. Just like that.

I understand you have my son in here.

Well, I have--

Just a minute. Hold it. I'm not through.

Yeah, there a couple of desperadoes in there.

What's the boy look like? What's the charge?

Well, there's assault with intention to do bodily harm

and then there's battery on a civilian

and threatening, uh, an officer of the law.

And what's the bail? Oh, sheriff, that's all for now.

Thanks a lot. Oh, that's all right.

What's the bail?

Oh, about 35, 40 cents ought to do it.

Let's make it an even dollar.

Here you go, pistolero. Your daddy's come to fetch you.

So you can go catch yourself some more bandits.

I'll stay here if you don't mind.

Adam, I've had about all the bad jokes I can use for one day.

It's no bad joke, Pa.

I think it'd be better if I stay here now. I'll explain later.

It's all the same to me.

If he changes his mind, Pop, let him out.

I'm gonna step across the street.

All right, sheriff.

Who did this?

Larrimore.

You need a doctor.

I don't need nothing from you.

Go on, get out, both of you.

I'd rather take a beating like this 12 times a day

then look at you for another 5 minutes.

Go on, get out, both of you.

Did Larrimore do that?

Yeah, he baited him.

Deliberately, let him go for his gun

so he'd have an excuse for beating him.

And, Adam, you said you wanted to stay in here, why?

Finch was in that office working on Larrimore for over an hour.

Well, he's not telling what he's got him keyed up to.

They could kill Pickard before the judge ever got to town

unless there's somebody here to tell about it.

Maybe he's got hanging coming to him,

but nobody's got a right to beat him to death.

What you do that for, Mr. Larrimore?

I told you not to serve these young equine in here.

But, Reed, you let them drink it before.

It's only beer, Mr. Larrimore.

I'll decide who drinks and who doesn't drink in this town, is that right?

Now, get out of here. Yeah, but I wasn't doing anything--

Weren't you a little hard on him, Reed?

I mean, there really was no call for you to shove him like that.

Seems to me a little shoving's what's needed around here.

I've been too easy.

That's why the whole town's gone to seed.

I might even have to close this place till after the trial.

But, Reed, you've got no right. Trouble with you, Cal...

Trouble with all of you is you need to learn a little respect for the law.

I've been thinking a couple of days in my jail

and let your old lady come and pull you out of there.

That might clue you in on who's the sheriff of this town.

But, Reed, we all know that.

Well, what's everybody so glum about?

We're not drunk, are we?

As long as we stay in line, it'll be okay.

Bring me a beer.

Mr. Finch.

Uh, Mr. Finch has left.

I don't expect him back.

Are you, uh...

Are you happy with your creation?

Who?

Oh, Larrimore?

Well, he's only doing his job.

And I might say, it's about time.

Did you see what he did to that man in the cell?

Is that his job too?

Well, don't ask me. I didn't tell him to do it.

No.

But you know why he did it.

I'm a very bad listener, Mr. Cartwright.

You better write me a letter.

You've been pumping Larrimore full of cheap illusions.

The man's starving for a little recognition.

You've been dangling that in front of him like a carrot.

Cartwright, I told you I'm a writer and a reporter.

I write about things that happen, that's all.

If Larrimore wants to beat up on his own grandmother,

it's no concern of mine.

You don't care what happens to Larrimore

just as long as you can squeeze a book or two out of him.

And if you happen to push him a little too far

he gets into little trouble,

you can always dump him by the side of the road

where the buzzards can pick at him.

I suppose you care what happens to him, huh?

You'd like to see him rot in this little town, in this hole, huh?

Let me tell you something.

For a man like Reed Larrimore, there's a lot more to life and living

than being a fat, old Sheriff in a dried-up, old town.

Action, Cartwright.

Adventure. Danger.

That's what's important in life.

In whose life?

Whose danger?

His, mine, everybody's.

And you're not even doing this for the money.

Finch, I'm beginning to think that until you see the blood running,

you're not happy.

You're crazy.

Yeah.

Look over there.

Tell Larrimore you're not gonna write about him.

I'm too busy to play games.

I've got copy to turn out.

If you think I'm leading Larrimore down the primrose path,

you tell him.

Larrimore, you realize what you're throwing away?

One more trick like the one you pulled in that jail cell,

and whatever you were,

whatever you stood for, is wiped right out.

How do you know what I was?

Well, I know that the man who had the respect of Sam Houston

doesn't have to turn himself into a performing dog to impress anybody.

Look, Texas was a hundred years ago.

I never got a nickel out of it then and nobody remembers now.

What is it you want? What?

You want people to remember what you did forever,

and be eternally grateful?

Or do you wanna stay young forever?

Heh. Well, you can't and you know that.

People forget.

The man slows down and nobody can go back.

And that's the way of life.

But you've got something here.

The people in this town hired you for their sheriff.

They put their confidence and their trust in you.

And I think that should enough honor and glory for any man.

It's not enough for me.

Cartwright. Yeah.

Your tried to pull Larrimore off of me.

So?

You know what I'd do to you

if these bars wasn't between us, don't you?

You killed my two brothers.

And you would've killed me, right?

That's right.

You could've walked out of here two hours ago.

Why didn't you?

Oh, I thought I'd save a hotel bill.

Don't do it, Pickard.

They're setting you up for a turkey shoot.

Larrimore has to kill the last of the Pickards

to prove that he's not dead himself.

Look, Cartwright, I'm hanged if I stay and I'm shot if I don't.

That's a big choice, ain't it?

Except you got no choice.

See what I mean.

Except right now it ain't worth the noise it would take.

But one sound out of you and you get it.

And not only you, but that old deputy out there.

Sheriff.

Pickard has just busted out of your jail.

Let's get up a posse and go after him.

Yeah, all right.

This is my job. Now, break it up.

Some of you men look after Pop.

Hey, Larrimore, let me out of here.

You better hurry up. You don't want him to get too far.

I don't care how far he gets.

He's gonna pay for killing Pop.

Sheriff.

Let my son out of there. We'll go along with you.

I told you, I'm handling this alone.

What about Finch?

I don't think that's any of your business.

Well, then if you don't mind, we'll come along with you.

What?

Didn't want him to steal your thunder again, did you?

Let's go.

Is there anybody there?

Pa!

Hey, Larrimore!

Is there anybody out there?

Larrimore, let me out of here.

What's been going on out there?

Larrimore and Finch, they...

Yeah. They've gone after Pickard.

What's the matter with you?

I got hit on the head.

Oh, who did it? Yes, sit down. I don't know.

We better get after Pickard.

Are you all right? Yeah, I'll be all right.

You just stay here.

No, no I'm going with you. No, just sit there and take it easy.

You got him.

Well, it doesn't look like I got him good enough.

I'm gonna try and work up behind him.

Larrimore!

You better get rid of him, sheriff.

Larrimore!

Let him come down.

Get out of here, Cartwright.

You've hit him. He can't run. Let him come down.

You stay out of this. You had your Pickard. These one's mine.

Pickard, it's Adam Cartwright.

Hit him!

Now that we both know how tough you are, I'm going up this hill.

Let's see if the hero of San Jacinto will shoot a man on the back, huh?

Reed.

Here, it's your last chance.

Nobody else knows that he whipped you.

Kill them both.

Nobody else will ever find out.

Do it, Reed.

Come on.

Do it.

Well, they done me up good, didn't they? The lame horse

and that gun loaded with blanks.

I tried to tell you, Finch was setting you up.

So they got me.

Not yet. Not unless they get us both.

I don't understand you, Cartwright.

I can live without your understanding.

All I want is your answer.

Are you coming or you gonna stay here and bleed to death alone?

Now, Reed. Shoot.

Come on. What you waiting for?

Shoot.

Come on, Reed. What you waiting for?

It's your last chance.

You wanna wind up on a garbage heap again?

I got a prisoner for you, sheriff.

Thanks, Cartwright.

He gave the key to Pickard.

Gave him a gun loaded with blanks.

You're a fool.

A fool.

You know, you've thrown the whole thing away.

You're just going back to being nothing.

So you let Pickard escape.

You killed Pop.

What difference does it make?

An old man.

An old useless man just like you.

You are nothing without me, Larrimore.

Nothing!

I'm gonna make you the laughing stock of the west.

The biggest joke in the west.