Original subtitles

Now we are men again.

And what were we on the reservation lands?

Dogs. To be put in a place and kept there till we starve.

To poker we ride to find food, not war.

The white people have food.

They are fat.

And our people are hungry.

We will hunt, not steal.

They tried to shoot me.

I killed that one. The other will return with an army of long knives.

Let them come.

To kill us all?

No.

There is another way.

And the rails should arrive any time the end of this week, which puts us

handsomely in debt as usual.

There's no risk.

Business is booming.

No risk?

What if something happens?

Right now, any delay at all would be dangerous.

Well, staying awake's a whole lot more dangerous than sleeping, too, but it's a

lot more fun.

Well, I'm glad you're enjoying it, but I'm nervous, and I could be right.

In that case, you can always say you told me so.

Tell you what I'll do.

I'll make you a sporting proposition.

Uh -oh.

Cut your high card.

If you win, I'll cancel the order on the rails.

Ben, I couldn't gamble on a decision like that. Why not?

I would.

All right, you gamble and I'll worry.

That's the story of this partnership.

Why don't you go to bed and get some rest?

And don't worry about anything.

Next week, the BPS &D will be forging into new prosperity.

Good night.

Scalhoon, did you hear?

Hear what? Any trouble?

Mordecai Peters rode into Scalplock and he was ambushed. Dan Force was with him

and got killed.

Mordecai says there's a whole war party. He's bringing his wife and kids into

town. It's true, Ben.

White Mountain Apaches have left the reservation.

That means war.

There is no water.

There is no food.

We come only to hunt.

Dan Forrest was killed.

It was an accident.

I've known Cachero for a long time. He doesn't want war.

He sent me a message. He only wants to talk.

Are you going?

Yes. And hope we can work something out.

If Cachero's people can get food, there won't be any trouble.

I'll get my horse. No.

I want you to go to Buffalo Pass, Dave. Meet the troops. Tell them that I'm

talking with Cachero.

I'll bring him in at the supply dump east of Briggs Junction.

We can talk with the army there.

Will the long knives...

Come in peace?

They'd better.

I'll be with Cacero.

I'll take the work train to Buffalo Pass.

Good luck, Dave. Thank you. For what?

For not saying I told you so.

All right, you miserable rejects. Two to one says a little lady can clear and

charge the gun and commence firing quicker than any of you. You're on,

There's no female can beat my time on that piece.

That raccoon could beat your time.

And I'll be right behind you in the next payroll line, recruit.

The sergeant sure has a lot of confidence in you, Miss Anderson.

Big gamble. He knew I cut my teeth on a Gatling gun.

Major, what military genius picked this bunch for a campaign?

You're looking at it, Mr. Tarrant.

I've seen Comanches on firewater better behaved.

The captain agrees with you.

You should read their service records.

Those records will be wiped clean if they prove themselves.

Yours too, Captain Anderson.

We're hoping you won't have to prove anything, Major.

Ben Calhoun's gone up to talk to Cacero.

With any luck, he'll talk the Apaches right back on the reservation.

That's got to be a normal campaign. We spend half our time fighting the enemy,

the other half fighting civilian interference.

With a bunch of roughnecks and a Gatling gun, how do you figure to stop an

Apache uprising?

By cutting off its head before it gets started.

Grab Kachera and his sub -chiefs and ship them down to Florida.

Hold them there as hostages until the Indians go back on the reservation.

Just like that, huh?

Just like that.

The general!

Come down!

Calhoun, you just smashed the equivalent of a regiment.

Major, you just started an Indian war.

My men didn't start any trouble, Calhoun.

The trouble started when the Apache left the reservation.

I saw what the drought did to their reservation.

They had no choice. They either had to leave or starve.

Starvation comes under the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

You take it up with them. All Indian Affairs has given them is promises.

The Apaches can't eat promises, Major.

The Army isn't responsible for the mistakes of every government department.

Maybe not.

But you don't have to compound them either.

Mister, the other side always has some justice in its cause.

That's no answer.

Well, Calhoun, I wasn't sent here to talk.

At Gettysburg, I didn't ask the Rebs to stay off Little Round Top. I drove them

off. With a handful of men, McGatling got them.

Well, if my attempt fails, I'll send a brigade if necessary.

All to make the Apache starve.

To make them obey the law.

And if you don't like the law, you write your congressman. Captain, if I was

trying to build this railroad by the book, we never would get it finished.

And if we didn't run the army according to the book, this country wouldn't be

safe for your railroad.

By the time you've finished out here in this part of the country, it won't have

any need for a railroad.

Calhoun, what are you bleeding for?

The territory or your investment?

Both.

When one gets hurt, the other one bleeds.

He likes you, Miss Anderson.

Oh, I'm very popular with raccoons.

Look, if you like pets, I can get you a good deal.

I know a fella in Scalplock wants to get rid of a skunk. Real cheap.

Oh.

Well, don't worry. His smell's been taken out.

Oh, thanks anyway, Barnum. It's good to learn young.

Pets in the Army just don't mix.

It's too hard leaving them behind when you have to pack up for the next post.

Can't you take them with you?

It's too much trouble.

The quartermaster takes a dim view of transporting dependents' pets.

Restored my faith in people.

Nice to see somebody that's not looking for trouble.

Civilians don't have a corner on personal problems, Mr. Calhoun.

No. But they don't solve them with a Gatling gun, either.

What should Apaches expect when they break treaties?

Not 300 rounds a minute from a Gatling gun just because they want a chance to

explain their problem. I understand their problem and yours. So do the Major

my father.

There's just nothing they can do about it. I wouldn't say starting an Indian

is exactly doing nothing.

That was an accident.

But if they could grab Cochero, wouldn't that solve all the problems?

Without a doubt, Cochero would see it that way.

can't do this to me.

Correct, Sir Barnabas. They already have.

I mean, steal Ulysses. They want him for a mascot.

We'll take care of it.

Thanks, Mr. Calhoun. I can do my own fight.

Just look at that two black eyes, man.

Now I ask you, ain't he just a proper mascot for Rogers Rogues?

Sergeant, it'd be my honor to buy you boys a drink.

Well, your honor, it'd be our pleasure, Mr. Calhoun.

Give him a drink.

Here's to the cavalry.

Here's to the cream of the cavalry, us.

Misfits, rebels, no accounts.

All of us.

Officers included.

Hey! We don't salute, but we sure can shoot.

And do with the drop of a hand.

And now, Mr. Calhoun, how about honoring our new mascot here?

I'm afraid he can't drink to that, Sergeant.

He's already spoken for.

Well, thanks for the drinks anyway, Mr. Calhoun.

In spite of the mess that that gun has caused, there's still a chance that

Cotero can be talked out of war.

We'll talk to him.

Same way Calhoun talked our men out of a raccoon.

The Apaches aren't spoiling for a fight, Captain. Your men are.

Mister, how'd you tell me about Indians?

Comanche, Cherokee, Sioux, I fought them all.

And it wasn't talk that got them onto reservations in the first place.

I'm willing to bet that it will this time, Major.

People of Scalp Lock have offered to buy the food that Cotero needs.

We'll haul it on the railroad.

No. No.

Armies march on their stomachs, and with no food, they don't march.

Now, we proved that to the Rebs when we burned out the Shenandoah Valley. That

was a war.

What do you think we're in now?

I've got a handful of men. I can't afford to strengthen a potential enemy.

With full bellies, they'll go back to the reservation.

Can you prove that?

Do you have the right to speak for the Apaches?

Calhoun, they've got time and numbers on their side.

Unless I can keep them hungry and disorganized, we can't handle them

full campaign.

The Apache's not looking for a war. They asked for it when they broke the law.

Give the plan a chance.

Well, you can suit yourselves.

You've got 48 hours to talk your heads off.

By that time, I'll have a new Gatling gun to replace the one you smashed.

Good afternoon, gentlemen.

Just a minute, Calhoun. I want to talk to you, and I'm not as diplomatic as

Major Rogers.

Well, if he's a diplomat, Captain, then you must really be a wildcat.

That's usual.

When you civilians aren't laughing at us, you're crying for us to run in and

save you, or you're bellyaching for us to get out because we've served our

purpose. You stop interfering, Calhoun.

I know how to handle Cachero. You would if he was what you thought he was, but

he isn't. We disagree.

But a man doesn't want to listen to the truth, Captain.

He's usually got a pretty good reason.

Now, what's yours?

Why do you want to fight so badly?

Because fighting's my profession.

Railroading's yours. Don't you get in my way.

Mr. Calhoun, those two have spent their lives trying to protect people like you.

And I'm trying the best I can to repay them.

That's theory, Mr. Calhoun. Or hope. Or maybe just talk.

And you're trying to put the burden of what could be a big mistake on them.

Maybe you're right.

I'll take on Conchero myself.

Onee Siwa.

I came to talk to Cacero.

I had nothing to do with the firing on your men.

I know. I saw.

It was the long knives.

Apache has no fear of the long knife.

We've won many battles with the long knives.

But you've lost many wars.

They try to kill us anyway.

I just had that conversation with an army captain.

Our women and children are sick with hunger.

We come to hunt, not to fight.

Cochero talks like a woman.

Our braves gather.

Soon we will be strong enough to take what we need.

No doubt.

But can you hold it?

Cochero, old friend, stop this avalanche now.

Before it crushes us all.

What do you ask?

Drought's in.

So will this one.

In the meantime, I'll supply you the food.

You bring your chief to scalp lock for a parley.

Lies. More lies.

Are they lies?

Or are you hoping they're lies?

Take the food, Cacero.

Let your braves be men in the eyes of their women.

Go and pee.

We will come.

We call this little emergency requisition, boy.

That's all right, Sergeant. No need for you to be butting in.

Now, is that a fact?

You know, I was just thinking. You're about to get the stuffing kit clean out

you. From him?

No.

From me.

Like I said, boy, he'd sure make a proper mascot for Rogers Rogues. You

across another one like him, we'll be glad to buy him from you.

Thank you, Sergeant.

You're welcome.

Major, the 48 hours aren't up yet.

Tarrant, I won't tell you how to run a railroad. Don't you tell me how to run a

campaign. I'm telling you Ben's still out there. Are you trying to kill him?

I wish you civilians would stop bothering me.

I'm not sending a captain and four men out to fight a war. It's a scouting

party. Major, telegraph next to me, please.

My new Gatling gun.

I expect you to bring it in on the next train.

I'll make some room for it on the train of food for Kacher and his people.

You cut a dashing figure, sir.

I'm very proud of you. Proud of the oldest captain in the cavalry?

I'd be proud of you if you were a corporal or a brevet colonel. You tell

truth, honey. You're just tired of making excuses for me as I am.

You picked a funny time to start doubting me.

I guess now that I've finally got a second chance, we can finally be honest

each other.

I've made being proud of me awfully difficult for you.

I know that.

The coward's daughter.

I've always known you weren't a coward.

I know.

You used to scream that in your sleep. But it's true.

Sure it is.

But just the two of us knowing it isn't good enough.

Dad, make liars of all of them.

The whole army.

I intend to, baby.

I surely do.

All I want to know is how many and where they are.

Major?

Good evening, Mr. Calhoun.

My name is Ben.

Did Cochero call you Ben?

Banner speaking.

He's coming in for a parlay.

I'm glad you were right, Mr. Calhoun.

Perhaps I had you figured wrong.

I had you pegged for a fire -eater.

Could be part of a habit.

Anyway, I'm glad no one's getting killed.

You've made me very happy, Mr. Calhoun.

Don't tell me that one of Roger's robes is a coward.

Oh!

Excuse me.

What upset her? I don't know.

Ben, day after tomorrow, we got two boxcars of rations and a Gatling gun.

Which one are we going to need?

Probably both.

Cachero's going to settle for the food.

But we'll need the Gatling gun to hold off a creditor's first spell.

In that case, I think petty cash could stand a couple of drinks.

Think big, Dave.

We'll blow the whole corporate budget on a bottle of champagne.

Patches, Captain.

All right, let's go.

I'll give the order, Sergeant.

There's nothing wrong with my ears, Captain.

The Major said for you to listen to me.

I listened to you. I didn't like what you said. It's on Connor Manning. Well,

the book gives you that privilege, sir.

Now, what's your strategy?

Fight. Fight?

You? Meaning?

Your reputation's no secret, sir. This is an order, Sergeant, not a secret.

We're going to prepare to attack.

Yes, sir. How many?

Well, they got us better than two to one, sir.

Nothing wrong with those odds. I can find fault with them.

Sir? They're armed.

The Apaches are always armed.

All right, you take two men.

You cover the left flank.

I'll take one and be on the right. Captain, the Major only said to count

All right, you did.

They got us better than two to one.

Now, you fire on my command.

Yes, sir.

What's he trying to prove?

Well, in 20 years, I've seen two kinds of glory boys.

First kind loves fighting and just plain don't care.

The other kind's more scared of being scared than they are of getting killed.

He's too old to be the first kind.

Come in.

Where you been, Dave?

I've been out mixing good deeds with good business.

Boy, a man once said that's a combination of things that'll give you a

night's sleep.

The merchants have rounded up every spare can of beans and sack of flour and

scalp lock. They're gonna give it to Cotero as a gesture of good faith till

rations arrive.

Yeah, that's wonderful.

And with the town cleaning itself out the way it is, we have a small fortune

freight orders.

How small?

Enough to meet next month's payroll.

The wise man once said, never knock profit.

What wise man? Me.

Wouldn't be enough left over to buy a few more miles of right -of -way, would

there? Oh, if it's not prime land.

You know, Ben, the way things turn out, you sure must have lived right at one

time in your life. Wish I knew when it was and what I did so I could do it

again.

Mission accomplished, Major.

Where'd you find the Apache weapons, Captain?

Engaged and destroyed a raiding party.

They had us better than two to one.

Which way were they headed? Right towards Scalp Lock, Major.

I'll take the rest of your port inside.

You too, Stoddard.

Who attacked whom?

They had us outnumbered, Major.

They're coming right for us. It's a matter of fight or run.

Who attacked whom?

You know what you've done. My job. We destroyed a band of hostile Apaches.

You've got up enough nerve to attack a peace party.

We only have your word for their intentions, Calhoun.

You wanted your war, Captain. Now you've got it. It's going to be a dandy.

Well, we'll let you and the historians worry about how it got started, Mr.

Calhoun. Right now, my problem's to finish it.

You approve of what he did?

He's one of my officers.

Anything more you have to say, you say it to me. This is my command.

You had very little hope for any peace talks before.

Now there's none.

of soldiering is not ambushing peace parties.

And I'm going to hold to that at your court -martial.

Now mount up the detachment.

What about the Gatling gun, sir?

We haven't got time.

We've got one chance in a thousand at getting Cachero before he rounds up his

Braves. But if we don't get him, we've got no chance at all.

Since you like odds against you, Captain, you ought to be delighted about

Calhoun, I want to talk to you.

That's not the point, Anderson. The point is I don't want to talk to you.

right, so I made a mistake.

You never make one? None that I had to bury.

Look, I'm a soldier, Calhoun. How do you know they weren't just trying to trick

you? You just can't admit you're wrong, can you?

Well, nobody's proved for sure I was wrong.

It's just possible I taught those Indians a lesson.

Scared them back to the reservation.

Well, you're not a soldier, Anderson.

You're nothing more than a man trying to prove something to himself.

And that uniform to you is just a license to kill.

Well, you can't make a mistake this time captain if you see an Apache he's

hostile

I was to Polka, Ben. We got the Gatling gun.

The horse and dynamite. Right.

Ben, may I talk to you?

You'll have to make it fast.

I want to explain about my father.

He explained himself.

He had a wolf gnawing at his insides.

Turned him loose on the whole territory.

Ben, it's important that you understand him.

No, it's important to you.

You have to understand it. But this mistake didn't happen yesterday. It

ten years ago at the Battle of Owens Mill.

He was five minutes late, and they've called him a coward ever since.

Did you ever stop and think that perhaps they're right and you're wrong?

Do you think I haven't been living with that thought?

That I'm not afraid I've been wasting my life trying to help him prove something

that doesn't matter anyway?

I'll say one thing if he is a coward. It's not hereditary.

Over here

Here's

the trail

Never seen so many tracks, Major.

Which way they headed? Take a choice. I figure they're all around us.

Well, never figured they'd be wiped out along with their service records.

That's the funny thing, Major.

I'm 50 years old, and yet I'm only going to be remembered for about eight

minutes of my life.

Five minutes at Owen's Mill and three minutes this morning.

You're smart enough to know you're not going to be remembered at all.

Smart? Me?

Ten years I've been planning this three minutes, but I had everything worked out

perfectly Except the enemy not being an enemy

I've seen a lot of heroes none of them ever set out to be one

The right time they thought of the right thing to do they lost their heads and

did it by accident None of them ever planned to be one So I found out I

if you did

Well, we owe Scalp Lock a good fight. Let's get to it.

Sounds like Rogers found the gun.

Thank you.

Go! Do not shoot!

Is that a handkerchief?

Yeah. Hand me that gun.

Is he surrendering?

No, I figure he's going to talk some more.

This time I've got no argument.

Calhoun, again you show that the white man's word is like dirt beneath our

I didn't lie to you, General.

The food I promised is in scalp locker. Last time Cochero go for it, his chiefs

die. This time I'll bring it to you. When we kill the Longknives, Cochero

ride in and take it. Many of your braves will die because of that gun.

Even if you should win the battle, you'll lose the war.

My people were shot like buffalo.

That was the wrongdoing of one man.

For the ten he killed, we will kill many more.

Stop it now, Cochero, before it's too late. All your people are wiped out.

Don't you be a fool old friend just because another man was give that man to

Apache and we will go in peace I can't do that He'll be punished, but the long

knives have their honor to they'd never give him up

Well, Calhoun, I finally got respect for that silver tongue of yours. I hope you

proved I'm wrong again.

I'll repeat what he said to me.

They'll ride off in peace if you'll give them Captain Anderson.

Not a chance.

That's what I told him.

On the other hand, Major, they'll probably get me anyway.

Anderson, I detest what you did.

But they'll take you over our dead bodies.

That's what I mean.

Captain Anderson.

Lower charge for the captain.

Did he prove anything, Ben?

Well, they're not calling him a coward anymore.

Is that worth his life?

Every man's got to have a reason for living.

And I suppose every man's got a price for dying.

So now I have to learn to live as a hero's daughter.

One mistake costs you ten years of your life.

This one could cost you the rest of it.

Why don't you just learn to live your own life?

It's the only way you're ever going to find any real happiness.