Original subtitles

Mr. Calhoun.

I just checked the food locker, and we're all out of sugar, flour, and

Pick them up.

Neb, set out from town.

I hope you don't mind my saying so, but you don't look much like a railroad

president today.

One of the economic facts of life, Martin.

If a man runs around looking like a railroad president all the time, he's

to pay double for everything.

Right now, we can't afford that.

Not for land or sugar and beans.

I never thought of that.

You will someday.

How's the grading coming?

Well, we're finished all the way through the canyon. All we need now is rails.

I just spent two weeks in Kansas City trying to get them.

On credit.

Now we got them.

By rights, I should still be there. But Dave's bringing the shipment back in my

place. I'll be back before night.

Keep an eye on things here.

Well, now.

You're asking a lot of money for a simple job.

Yeah.

But I'm worth it. Oh, we don't know that.

Right now, you're just a name and a reputation, Hunker.

That's my proof.

This is.

Boy, you are fast.

But tell me something.

How are you going to work up against a man, huh?

Well, uh... What do you say we go find out, Mr. Wiley?

Let me detain you. But you did.

And I want an apology.

Sorry. And that's not enough.

I want to hear it loud and clear.

Why don't you get him a doctor?

Well, now, you're pretty handy.

Oh, wait, wait, wait. Let me ask you something.

Did you use the money?

Depends on what you mean by some.

Well, now, would $1 ,000 interest you?

Why don't you come with me?

Come in.

This here's Mr. DeWitt.

Mr. DeWitt?

What do I call you?

Jones?

Jones. Or Smith. Or Brown.

I'm not buying a name. I'm buying a gun.

Do you have any scruples about using that gun?

Depends. It depends on what?

Money?

Principles?

Why don't you get to the point?

I want you to kill a man.

Who?

A man named Ben Calhoun.

Well, we got time.

Take a breather, Jones.

Maybe I can answer some of those questions you've been firing at me.

I'll start again.

Who's Ben Calhoun?

Well, he owns a small railroad called the BPS &D.

Tall, short, fat, skinny, what?

Tall, strong, Bill.

Young for a railroad president.

Can he handle a gun?

So I've heard.

And his hands, too.

Bodyguards? Well, he's always on the move.

He's managed to stay out of your sight pretty good, I'll say that.

Well, he's been in Kansas City half this month, but he's due back tonight.

And you want me to kill a man and you don't even know who he is? Oh, we know

he is.

You see, we've been in Mexico on business.

Now... We come back and he wasn't here yet.

None of us has ever seen him before and we can't seem to find any pictures of

him.

Who is we?

Why does DeWitt want the president of a railroad killed?

Tell me something.

Now, you want this job or no?

I want some answers. I want to know who's behind it all.

That's none of your business.

Now, the money you're getting paid for this job, that's your business and

as far as you go.

Now. Calhoun's Railroad is a one -man operation.

He operates from his private car.

Here, take a look.

He'll be in that private car now.

Coming from Kansas City.

It'll switch off the Union Pacific lines right here. Small station called

Buffalo Pass.

That's where you and me will get on.

Next stop is a place called Doane's Crossing.

Now you'll have at least two hours to get inside that private car.

The sound of the train should drown out the shot.

There'll be a horse waiting for you at the crossing.

You can be halfway to Mexico before they even find the body.

When do I get paid?

Just about one minute after you finish that job.

You don't appear to me to be a man who'd have to hire a gun.

Oh, I'm not.

That's just in case you get any ideas about taking that money before you kill

Ben Calhoun.

You're that fat.

Why me?

Well, now, you're a drifter.

The last person they're going to look for is somebody who had no reason to

a railroad president.

Now, the sun will be down by the time the train gets into Buffalo Pass.

Looks like we won't have a night ride in the scalp lock.

Let's get at it.

Huh?

One ticket to Scout Block.

I'm okay for the ticket.

He's in there.

Benjamin P.

Calhoun.

Thank you.

One of you couldn't handle it, ma 'am.

Well...

Pretty

heavy reading.

No work. It's my first job.

I'm going to Scalp Lock to teach school.

And I suppose it's very obvious this is my first trip west.

I'm Susan Carter.

My name is Joe.

Traveling man.

Good luck, first job.

Well,

you're quite the ladies' man, aren't you?

Well, it could become a habit, couldn't it?

Only one bad stretch of road ahead and an easy run in.

Going out first.

I said, wait.

You haven't paid me yet.

Poking's on my old time.

What? Nope.

I didn't stand too much confinement.

8 .30.

An hour out of Jones Cross.

All right.

You have the money ready.

What are you doing here?

Glad you're here. I want to talk to you about Cutter's Phil.

We haven't got time for that right now. You keep those doors locked and the gun

loaded.

Why? What's happened?

I've been hired to kill Ben Calhoun.

You mean you... Someone hired you to kill you?

A man by the name of DeWitt. I never saw or heard of him before and he doesn't

know me. He thought I was a drifter and a gunfighter.

It doesn't make sense.

It's a little dangerous for you.

You're me.

I'm... They think you're Ben Calhoun.

They don't have time to make a thorough check.

Well, why would anyone who doesn't know you want to kill you?

That's what I want to find out.

Ben?

Well, Mr. Wiley.

Well, well.

What a coincidence.

We hired you, Mr. Jones, to kill you, Mr. Calhoun.

I was just thinking the same thing.

Holy boy.

Yeah.

He just gets a little nervous.

Well, now you ought to be nervous, boy.

I was planning on killing you after you got Calhoun.

Kind of two birds with one shot.

And another one for him.

Then as I started to tell you about Cutter's fill, we're just about there.

What about it?

Rugbed's washed out.

Who want me killed? Why?

Everything figured out.

It's still figured out.

Who are the others?

Two.

You can't escape the Iron Duke.

Off to the next stop.

Dave, nothing in our partnership calls you to be a living target.

It isn't every day I get to be president of a railroad, either.

You just keep on being a living partner.

Oh, I will, Mr. Jones.

You know, somebody's bound to recognize you before we get to Scamplock.

Well, I can only hope I can recognize them first.

Hey, keep that handy and sit tight.

Ben, what do I only mean, Iron Duke?

I don't know.

Better lock this door behind me.

Where's your friend?

He's still smoking.

And he's not my friend.

Just someone I met.

Getting sleepy.

I think I'll go out and get a breath of air.

I don't want to be sleepy tonight of all nights.

Well, I wouldn't if I were you.

Why?

Well, then I wouldn't have a child.

Did you think?

Very.

Charles Dickens' The Tale of Duke City.

One of the books you intend to teach in your classroom?

Only for the bigger boys.

The far, far better thing I do than I have ever done.

The far better world I go to than I have ever known.

You knew it?

Yes.

and the time when other boys were going to school i worked as an apprentice for

newspapers they told me for a brilliant man for a wonderful

I was a drifter most of my life.

Now I'm trying to get a job at the railroad.

Strange man, isn't he?

He even sleeps with that rifle.

The agent at Buffalo Pass, he was a government man.

Nothing about being a bounty hunter.

The job of hunting wild animals and wolves.

Well, I suppose you track wild animals long enough to eventually get to the

flight. Huh?

Well, what good would it have done if I told you?

Don't you go getting self -righteous with me, Sheba.

I'm not the one who's married.

You're scared to death, aren't you?

Don't talk to me.

I didn't bargain for no jealous husband.

I wouldn't even know if I saw him.

I would.

Now, now, now, wait a minute, Sheba. I can manage. I've got some money of my

own. Look, look, I'll, um, I'll drop you off at the scalp lot.

Is that all right?

Thanks a lot, Duke.

Just move into the station, Lucas.

Keep them out of sight.

As soon as we pull out, you notify Sheriff Breslin.

May I?

Certainly

Your name Duke?

What difference does it make to you, mister?

I ask you a question.

That's his name.

Bless. Bless.

Bless.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I'm Judy Schneer, watchmaker. Going to open up a shop in Skalplag.

Your wife?

Unfortunately, no.

A pity.

My father was a watchmaker in Switzerland.

His father before him.

I come from a long line of men tinkering with time.

They're lovely.

Thank you. Thank you, Harvard.

Wait, you haven't seen nothing.

It's beautiful.

You appreciate it. Is it for sale? No.

I'm afraid this is only one of a kind.

But if you are in Scalp Rock, perhaps I might make one for you, Mr.

Jones.

Mr. Jones.

I'm afraid I'm just passing through, Scalp Rock.

Passing through.

A Patsy Falls already?

Could be just a water stop.

Mr. Calhoun?

Who is it?

One of the passengers just had an accident.

The engineer said to come and get you.

Did you hear me, Mr. Calhoun?

Put down the rifle.

Oh, yes, sir, Mr. Calhoun.

Sorry, sir.

One of the women passengers sir my wife

I'll get the

medicine kit

Sorry, Ben.

Should have kept it all locked.

Bye, Tim.

Message out of Doan's Crossing. Train's gone through.

All clear.

No trouble.

Something must have happened to Wiley.

If Calhoun gets by those others, we're next, Spencer.

Two hour run to Apache Hall, Mr. Calhoun. I can save off maybe ten

more. Make it twenty minutes. Burn yourself a bone.

Fire up

How

is

he holding on

Nearest doctor to the scalp block.

He'll make it.

But perhaps not alive.

There's nothing more we can do for him now.

And I need a drink.

I'm over 21.

And even school teachers get the urge to escape their bonds of propriety.

Women teachers like to do what women like to do.

Whether they're supposed to or not.

Your name isn't Jones, is it?

Oh, your friend came too while I was bandaging him.

He didn't know what he was saying, but he kept asking me to tell Ben Calhoun

that he was sorry.

He meant you.

Did he?

He even called you Ben in my presence, remember?

And if you're Ben Calhoun, who's he?

The man who's very badly hurt.

That may not make it to scalp.

You're Ben Calhoun, aren't you?

Aren't you?

Please tell me.

I'm frightened.

All I know is someone's trying to kill me.

But don't you be frightened.

Would you look after him?

Of course.

Well, aren't you boys going to do anything?

Shut up. What kind of a railroad is this, anyway? One of the passengers gets

killed and nobody does anything.

For heaven's sake, Sheba, will you shut up? Look what you got me into.

I got you into? Yes, with all your sweet talk about dinner at the Grotto in San

Francisco and dancing at the St. Francis Hotel. I bet you've never even been to

San Francisco.

A whiskey drummer?

I am a traveling man.

I represent one of the biggest historians in the South. A whiskey

For three years, I tried to get out of that hole I lived in, away from that

stupid small town.

And I had to run away with a whiskey drummer who probably doesn't have

pair of socks to his name. Where do you think you're going?

I am going outside to get a breath of fresh air.

Train's 20 minutes ahead of schedule.

Jones.

Of course, I know

what time it is, but I want Dr. McKee to wait at the station when we pull in the

scalpel. Now, get with it.

I want to be in scalp lava an hour.

An hour?

The boilers will bust. An hour.

We'll make it, Mr. Calhoun.

No.

One chance in a million.

Everything figured out except the man we hired.

We didn't have time, Mr. DeWitt.

Wait.

It's still not too late.

You heard Mr. Calhoun.

It feels good having a throttle under my hand again.

We'll be coming to a long grave about five miles, leading to the trestle

That's right.

When we reach the top of the grave,

lock the throttle full ahead, and then jump.

That way that train will be doing about 60 miles an hour when it reaches the

bridge.

It's going to be a terrible, terrible accident.

I'm going to make sure that Mr. Ben Calhoun is caught in it.

What about Julius?

So I'll tell him he won't need the iron gun.

No more water stops?

No.

Go straight through to Scalp Lock now.

I can stay with him.

Get some rest.

What's your point?

I'm sorry.

About what?

About what I'm going to have to do.

What's that?

I have to kill you.

What are you waiting for?

You can't kill me, Susan.

The curious thing about murder...

In order to kill someone in cold blood, you have to be dead inside.

And you're not.

Why they said there'd be others trying to kill me.

For my share of a half a million dollars.

A lot of money.

It's a fortune.

Gold and silver coins, new currency.

A fortune.

Was that the robbery at Julesburg?

Yes.

Hard for me to believe that you would take part in a robbery that killed three

men.

No, but my brother did.

They buried the money and then they left the country for Mexico.

He was killed in a border town gunfight.

He was killed in a quarrel over nothing.

Nothing.

I inherited his share.

You don't sound very happy about it.

All my life I've done was second best.

Scratching a living out of a starvation country.

Teaching school.

Teaching school in a small town.

Being properly poor while everybody watches you.

Oh, to be free of it all.

To have all the dreams.

All you had to do for it was kill a man.

Think of having to kill anyone, no.

Didn't you?

All right, yes.

Yes, yes, yes.

I was going to help arrange the murder of a railroad president by the name of

Ben Calhoun.

Man, I... I didn't know.

Where's the money now?

Buried in Sand Canyon.

Your crew's blasted the canyon.

They dug up the trees and cleared away the rocks, and DeWitt says it'll take at

least two weeks to find the money.

And we can't dig under railroad tracks, so we had to

stop the railroad.

You're a hard man to stop, Calhoun.

But I'm just about to manage it.

Now you take your gun out of your holster.

With your thumb and your forefinger.

And put it down there.

Susan.

Get Julius in here.

They're all for the badgy vault.

He was supposed to wait.

The Iron Duke.

Did he take it with him?

The iron duke.

The clock in the suitcase.

There was enough dynamite in it to... Get it!

Dynamite?

We've got to blow up the train and kill everybody!

Mr. Jones, I wanted to talk to Mr.

Calhoun. This clock, that small man, he left it behind and I figured it was

property of the railroad.

The Iron Duke?

You must have taken gun sight pass.

Almost had it all.

A half a million dollars.

Oh, it's so good.

That's it.

Are you comfortable?

Well, I'm a wounded hero and I need constant attention.

Well, I think that's right.

And from here on out, Barnabas is going to give it to you.

I warn you, he has a fantastic appetite.

Open wide.

Suddenly I've lost my appetite, Barnabas.

How's the road been?

Coming fine.

And the men are working like demons.

I would say there's nothing better than a half a million dollars to build

incentive. They don't get to keep it, do they?

Well, it's a substantial reward for whoever finds it.

For me, I've already gotten the first half of my reward.

That's pretty. Where'd you get it?

From a fellow who knew I would appreciate it.

Julius.

And he'll have plenty of time to build himself another one.

Well, if that's just the first half of your reward, what's the other half?

I want to talk about that now.

In the interest of higher education, of course.

Look at it this way, Dave.

Which would you rather have?

A free day and a pretty girl or a nice chest wound and some good hot soup?