Original subtitles

Hyah! Hyah!

JIM: You don't get many vacations in my business,

and I was making the most of this one.

It was up in Minnesota,

800 miles to the nearest Wells Fargo office, in San Jose.

My idea was to get as far away from my work as possible.

The trouble was, some friends of mine from Missouri

had the same idea, with trimmings.

They not only wanted to get as far away from their work as possible,

but as fast.

JIM: I had no way of knowing that the bank

in Northfield, Minnesota, was being robbed.

But in my business, you know there is trouble when you hear gunfire,

especially a lot of gunfire.

Ain't no posse in sight, Jess.

What do you say: we split up, or we stick together?

MAN: Split up. We'll meet back at the falls, like we planned.

Six o'clock, sunset.

Let's go.

Let's go. Hyah!

JIM: Well, they hadn't seen me,

but I had seen them.

They were five old friends from Missouri,

and any one of the five would've killed me

quicker than a cottonmouth water moccasin.

I used the old horse pretty hard,

but it was important.

Positive identification of his members

within five minutes of the robbery could put the James Younger gang

out of business before nightfall.

There was one man in Minnesota who could make that identification.

Me.

I gotta send a message right away. Hold on there, mister.

Just who do you think you are, busting in here like this?

Special Investigator for Wells Fargo,

and I gotta get a message on that wire of yours.

Not a chance, mister. We're holding that key open.

We just had ourselves a bank robbery.

Gang headed south. So I noticed.

Oh? Did you notice anything else, mister?

Maybe I did.

Yeah? Like what, maybe?

Like who did it, maybe.

All right, Mr. Special Investigator, like who, maybe?

Like Jim, Bob and Cole Younger, maybe,

and maybe Frank and Jesse James.

Mister, if you're trying to be funny...

Well, you put it on the wire and see how funny it sounds.

And after you put it there, sign it Jim Hardie.

Jim Hardie!

JIM: Having identified Jesse, Cole and the others,

I'd gone as far as I was goin'

after the James Younger gang.

Wells Fargo hadn't lost anything in the holdup.

Me? Well, I was still on my vacation.

I was going back to the farmhouse

where I was staying with the Lars Hegelund family.

Past that, I didn't have a plan in the world.

But I hadn't consulted with my five outlaw friends

from Missouri...

nor with one little Swedish farm girl from Minnesota,

a little girl who had more pure nerve

than any outlaw or gunman I ever went up against in my life.

You're sure now, Mr. Hardie?

We'll be all right.

You just get on over and help him bring that new baby into the world.

Me and Inger will be fine.

In fact, maybe she can show me where that big fish

is hiding out down by the bridge.

That's real kind of you, Mr. Hardie.

We don't like to leave you like this.

Just quit worrying and get on over there and help with the baby.

He's gonna be old enough to vote before you ever get there.

Well, goodbye. Thank you, Mr. Hardie.

You be a good girl, Inger.

I will.

Goodbye, Mama. Goodbye, Papa.

Thank goodness they're gone.

Now, maybe we can get some work done around here.

Work? I didn't contract to farm this 40 acres.

You want me to show you where that big one is, or don't ya?

Well, yeah, yeah, but do we have to work first?

Uh-huh. You come along with me

and help me hay the horses and get in the afternoon eggs.

Hay the horses... well, why didn't you say so?

I'd rather hay a horse than kiss a pretty gal.

You have to work first, and then you can go fishing.

All right, let's go. Come on. Hurry up.

Gosh! I almost stepped on this one.

Hey, you! Get outta there.

Shoo!

Shoo! Shoo!

Is that old rooster giving you trouble, honey?

He doesn't belong in here.

Get off! Go on. Shoo! Shoo!

You come back here!

Mr. Hardie.

Check the barn, Pitts.

Who are they, Mr. Hardie?

They're bad men, honey.

Run up in that loft and be very, very quiet.

Hurry!

You're coming with me.

Hurry!

Hurry!

I'm all right.

I'll tend to Bob and the horses.

You go on up to the house and see what you can find for bandages.

Lie quiet, boy.

I got to tend to the horses.

Move!

JIM: It isn't easy to have to hide

when three notorious outlaws are within your grasp.

But I had to think of the little girl.

Even at the risk of letting them go free,

her safety had to come first.

My only chance was to wait.

It's all right. It's all right.

All right. Whoever's up there, come on down.

Come on mighty careful.

You comin' down or am I comin' up?

Just a minute, mister. I'm coming.

It's only a little girl.

Come on down, honey.

JIM: I didn't figure that when she coughed,

she'd be worrying about my safety,

that she'd give herself up to try and protect me.

Well, she ain't too little to talk.

You'd shoot a kid?

I'd shoot my own kid, was it him or me.

I could kill you for that.

Why don't you try, Pitts?

Awful sorry, honey, I...

Looks like she's busted her neck.

Just as good.

You're a cold-blooded man, Pitts.

That's right, I am, when my neck's at stake.

Come on, let's get outta here.

We can't leave the kid like this.

Well, I can and I'm going to.

You can stay and get yourself strung up if you want to.

But me, I'm making it to Frank and Jess while there's yet time.

All right. But my brother Bob is going with you.

But, Cole...

You shut up, boy, you're going.

I'll meet you both at the rendezvous come sundown.

This youngster's my problem.

You ain't stickin' your neck in no rope for me.

All right, Cole.

We'll wait for ya. Yeah.

Yeah. At least five minutes.

Take good care of that boy, you hear?

Now move.

All right, up there. Come on down.

Friendly.

Hello, Jim.

I'll talk to you later, Cole.

How come you didn't tell Pitts I was up there?

You know I don't hold with murder.

You're in an awful funny business to have ideas like that.

This kid may be hurt bad.

We gotta get her to a doctor.

I can't take a chance like that, Jim.

I'm not gonna lecture you, Cole. You're a grown man.

You made your decision a long time ago.

And I know what kind of a man you really are.

Now you can prove it to this kid.

Mister.

You won't hurt me, will ya?

My head hurts.

I... I wish I could do something to help you.

Now, Cole...

I don't know, Jim, I...

I just purely don't know. I...

You'd better do something, and fast.

If I was to let you go into town, Jim,

and fetch back the doctor,

would you give me your word you won't bring back a posse?

You know I can't do that.

No, I... I reckon not.

It'd be about the same as lying, wouldn't it?

I know you don't lie.

I got my own life to show for that.

But it's not your life we're talking about.

Mister, it hurts.

Not yet.

All right.

You ever try to sew up a .45-caliber bullet hole in a man's head, Doc?

Why, of course not.

Then don't make a sound. You won't have to try.

Now, back up.

Jim?

Put her up. Take her over there.

Why, it's the little Hegelund girl.

That's right.

How did this happen?

She got scared and fell off the barn ladder.

We're short on time, Doc.

How long will it take?

I don't know. I'll have to make an examination.

Get out of my way, please.

You wait in there.

We're waitin' here.

How long?

How long?

A half an hour, at least. Maybe longer.

That'll make it almost sunset.

Get out of my way.

Wait back there.

You still got time to take the wagon and join the others.

What, and leave you here to form a posse and come after me?

I'll not endanger that child's life by interfering in this.

You're not wanted by Wells Fargo.

I am wanted by that sheriff.

Well...

She's all right. No concussion. No injury.

She's unconscious.

She's sleeping. I gave her a sedative to get her over the shock.

Will she be all right when she wakes up?

Little headache, maybe. That's all.

Good. Now wrap her up. We're leaving.

You taking her with you? Yeah.

Back to her home? I'm in a hurry.

Doc, you know who I am?

Yes.

I don't wanna thank you by putting a bullet in your head.

Now, you stay in here and don't show your face outside.

Pick her up.

All right, Jim.

Where to?

Drive one mile south on the Madelia road,

and turn off left at the Hanska Falls signpost.

You got that?

Hanska Falls.

COLE: Keep your big mouth shut, Jim.

Now get moving.

Hyah! Hyah!

JIM: We set out like Cole said.

Our only hope, a mighty slim one,

was that Doc Lundquist

had heard those Hanska Falls directions

when I had repeated them to Cole,

and would figure out what they meant.

It wasn't much of a hand to back

against the likes of Cole Younger and the James boys.

I've bluffed bigger pots

with a busted flush against four aces,

but my real bet was still on Cole

and what he would do about the little girl

when the chips were down.

I was gonna find out.

COLE: To your right, Jim,

between those rocks into the box canyon.

Take it easy.

Climb on down, Hardie.

How's your leg, Jim? It'll mend.

Bob? All right, Cole.

There's only three horses.

Where's Frank and Jesse?

They've cut out on their own.

Said to tell you they wasn't needing

no more wounded Youngers to hold 'em back.

They left your brother Jim here behind.

How come you didn't turn tail with 'em?

They didn't give me no chance. They was gone when I got here.

They knowed when to light out, all right.

Question is, what are we gonna do?

There ain't nothing we can do exceptin' ride out after them.

Save but one thing.

I got the little girl in that wagon there.

You ain't!

Now look, Cole, we're gettin' outta here, now.

And this time the kid ain't goin' with us.

There ain't no sense in you and I fightin' again, Charlie.

What do you think I brought these two along for?

The little girl's our hostage. She's our what?

A hostage. That's when you hold someone

so the other side can't touch you.

Sorta like a pass through the enemy lines.

Yeah. Yeah, you're right.

No, you got a point there.

We gotta take the kid.

I'm takin' her.

You want your brother alive, drop your guns.

All right. Drop 'em.

How about it, Cole?

Better do as he says.

All right, you! Bring up a couple of horses.

Go on. Get!

Now, get that kid outta the wagon.

Go on. Get.

If anything happens to that girl...

Hurry up. Bring her down.

Put her on that horse.

Come on! Hurry it up!

All right. Move!

Drop it.

Get the girl.

We got other things to worry about now.

We gotta keep her in here, Jim.

We don't want her to get hurt.

MAN: Jim Hardie, are you all right?

This is Sheriff Glisburn of Madelia.

Yes, I'm all right.

We got this kid in here, Sheriff.

How many men have you got? 15.

SHERIFF: Who are the men with you?

Don't answer that.

Will they surrender peacefully?

Not peacefully or any other way!

You heard him, Sheriff!

Will they permit you to bring the little girl out

under a flag of truce?

No, they will not.

All right, Hardie. Do your best.

Don't move!

Come here, kid.

Pitts!

Don't move!

Sheriff! I'm coming through with the kid!

One false move and she dies!

Come here, kid.

I said come here!

Gosh, Mr. Younger!

Hardie, get this kid outta here.

Hey, leave that rifle.

Under Minnesota law of the day,

there could be no supreme penalty.

Jim, Bob and Cole were given life sentences

in the state penitentiary at Stillwater.

History will say they were outlaws,

thieves and murderers.

Well, they were.

But Cole Younger had at least one good day...

all because of a little girl.