Original subtitles

OLD RANGER: And now,Death Valley Days.

♪♪ [ trumpet ]

Hi-yah!

Yah!

Yah!

Howdy, folks.

I'’m the Old Ranger,

and I have another interesting true story for you

about the historic Death Valley country.

The story I'’m about to tell you is laid in Death Valley

shortly after the turn of the century.

It has to do with a mystery

that had a whole mining camp by the ears.

The mystery of...

This, obviously, is not Mr. Bigfoot.

This is Stubby Weeks,

five foot five in his high-heeled boots.

Company clerk at the Anniversary Mine.

[ bell clanging ] Waiting to check the crew that'’s just coming off shift.

[ chattering ]

[ chattering continues ]

Plug.

Hippo. Red.

[ chattering continues ]

Hello, Merinda.Hi, Plug, Hippo.

Hi, Meri.Hello.

Hi, Stubby.Merinda.

You in a hurry? I got something I want to show you.

What is it?

Oh. Another piece of rock.

Obsidian. This is what the aborigines used for the tips of their spears.

No!They did.

They speared fish with them.

In Death Valley?

Oh, I'’m sorry, Stubby. I didn'’t mean to make fun of you.

I thought you would be interested.

I am interested.

Haven'’t I helped you with your rock collection?

Didn'’t I find that specimen of jasper for you?

How would you like to go out again on Sunday?

Oh, well, that'’s the day of the company picnic.

I know. We could explore after lunch.

Oh, I don'’t think Dutch would like that.

Dutch?Dutch Hogan.

He'’s taking me.

Gee, I was counting on it.

We can at least watch the games together.

Dutch will be taking part in everything.

And what makes you think I'’ll be sitting on the sidelines?

Stubby, that'’s the spirit.

Bye.

I'’m lining up a tug-of-war team.

A team that can pull anything on that desert off their feet.

Outpull a 20-mule team![ cheering ]

Red, you'’re picked.[ chattering ]

Go on, Red.

You, Hippo.

We'’ll put your 300 pounds at the end of the rope.

Three hundred and ten.[ laughter ]

[ chattering continues ]

Plug Thompson. You got plenty of brawn.

Roy, you step on.

Tex. Mike. Slim.

Wade. Uh, come on, Sandy.

And Hefty.

[ chattering continues ]

Now, we'’re gonna have to be good.

We'’re up against a tough team.

You need a timekeeper?

Hippo, you be sure and eat a big supper tonight.[ laughter ]

Slim, you fill those pockets full of sand, boy.

[ chattering ]

[ laughter ]

Everybody get in back there.

Come on, Stubby.

Get aboard, Stubby.

I'’m not going.

What do you mean you'’re not going?

[ laughter ]

Come on, boys.Here we go.

Hah! Hah, boys!

[ chattering, laughing ]

[ people shouting ]

Come on! Pull!Pull!

Pull! Pull!

Pull! Pull!

[ shouting continues ]

Isn'’t it beautiful? I made it myself.

Chocolate.Three layers.

You know chocolate makes me break out.

Well, you don'’t have to eat it.

I made it for Dutch.

It'’s his favorite.

Oh, I see.

Oh, Stubby, don'’t be so small.

I can'’t help it.

I mean in your attitude.

I happen to-- to care a lot for you, Meri.

Well, then, come on over and join in the fun.

Don'’t stand here sulking.

I'’m not sulking.

They'’re getting ready for the drilling contest.

I'’m not a driller.

Well, you could come and cheer.

I'’m going to go hunt rocks.

Oh, you! You'’ve got rocks in your head!

Hello, Dobe.

Hiya, Stubby. What ya doin'’, hunting rocks?

Yeah.[ chuckles ]

We'’re hunting bones. [ chuckles ]

This here is Professor Muchmore.

Professor of, uh, ants that apologize.

Anthropology. Western University.

My friend Stubby Weeks.

Glad to meet you, sir.Hello.

This has been the greatest day of my life.

Let me show you what I found.

Looks like a huge elephant tusk.

The ancestor to the elephant, a mastodon.

A prehistoric animal that roamed this region

during the Pleistocene Age.

[ laughs ] Took the words right out of my mouth.

Where'’d you find it?Over in Shoshone.

In some volcanic ash where they were mining.

I found some teeth, too.

What do they look like?You really interested?

Oh, Stubby'’s a collector too.

Just mineral specimens. [ laughs ]

He knows Death Valley like a hog knows a hog wallow.

[ chuckling ] Ever come across any bones?

Nothing like that.

But I could take you to some of the canyons I know.

Well, I'’m planning to camp here for several weeks.

Good. Then some day when I have time off.

Come anytime. Be glad to see you.Thank you, Professor.

Sure, Stubby. Come anytime.

Dobe, match.Yes, sir.

[ chattering ]

[ no audible dialogue ]

Meri! What do you think?

I met a professor of anthropology!

You missed the games.

He showed me the tusk of a mastodon!

Dutch won all the events.

And our tug-of-war team pulled the others clean off their feet.

It was this long. Millions of years old.

What are you talking about?

A fossil! [ laughs ] A fossil?

While you were off looking at dead bones,

Dutch was giving a demonstration of live muscles.

The professor has invited me to come and see him again.

[ laughing ]

All right! Let'’s go!

Yah! Yah!

Yah! Yah!

[ whooping ]

Gosh, that mastodon tusk is really something.

It certainly is.

I-- I hope I'’m not making a nuisance of myself, coming to see you so often.

Oh, not at all. It'’s a pleasure to meet someone who'’s interested.

What kind of a bone is this?

Oh, that'’s just a mold I made.

The original crumbled when we lifted it from the ground.

No wonder. Must be a million years old.

Mm, two million, perhaps.

Gosh. Was Death Valley here then?

Death Valley was created some 11, 12 million years ago.

Created? How?

By cataclysmic forces almost beyond the grasp of the human mind.

Imagine, if you can, volcanoes all through this region

blowing their tops...

pouring down sheets of molten lava.

[ rumbling ]

Earthquakes rending and twisting the earth'’s crust.

Whole mountain ranges raised.

A vast sink dropped down between them--

Death Valley.

Then floods pouring in, forming a great inland sea[ thunderclap ]

hundreds of feet deep.

Gradually, the waters evaporated and left the salt desert.

That was about two million years ago.

You can still see the shoreline of that ancient lake

along the slopes of the Panamints.

When did man first come here?

Well, scientists disagree.

We found fossils of animals,

but no trace of prehistoric man.

[ chuckles ] Unless you count Bigfoot.

Who'’s Bigfoot?

He wasn'’t prehistoric.

He appeared-- well, his tracks, at least--

over in Owens Valley, west of here, back in the 1860s.

I have a diagram I drew from the descriptions given me.

The feet measured 18 inches long,

6 inches wide across the toes.

His stride was almost seven feet,

and that was walking, not running.

Man, he must have been a giant.

[ chuckles ] Nobody knows.

They never saw him?

The tracks appeared in several places

from time to time.

Watch was kept.

But Bigfoot, as the Indians called him,

never showed himself.

It'’s a mystery to this day.

Eighteen inches long. [ chuckles ]

Why, that'’s half again as large as Dutch Hogan'’s foot.

Who'’s Dutch Hogan?

He'’s the biggest man in camp,

and the strongest.

He won all the contests at the company picnic last Sunday.

All the girls are crazy about him.

All the girls?

The only one that matters.

And, uh, what'’s her name?

Merinda.

They call her Meri for short, and it just suits her.

She'’s the prettiest, the gayest...

We used to have a lot of fun together.

Till Dutch Hogan came along?

Yeah. Six foot two. Strong as an ox.

Brawn isn'’t everything, young man.

Brains count.

She doesn'’t think I'’m very smart.

You'’re quite fond of her, aren'’t you?

Yeah. I'’d do anything for her.

I just wish I could prove it.

One time, in a weightlifting contest in Rhyolite,

I picked up 75 pounds in one hand

and held it out at arm'’s length for 16 seconds.

[ footsteps ]Somebody'’s coming.

Meri?

Oh, Stubby.

Oh, I hoped I'’d find you home.

Hiya, shrimp.

Oh, you'’ve got company.

Oh, that'’s all right. Don'’t go.

Come on up and sit a while.

Where have you been all day?

Chasing butterflies.

I went over to see the professor again.

I sure wish you could have been there, Meri.

She was enjoying herself here.

He told me about a man over in Owens Valley

who would make you look like a peanut.

What?

A man with feet 18 inches long.

A stride as wide as this porch.

A regular giant of a fella.

Who is he?

That'’s the mystery. No one ever saw him.

[ laughs ] I didn'’t think so.

But they saw his tracks, and measured them.

The professor did?

Oh, no, this happened about 50 years ago.

[ laughs ] And the story'’s been growing ever since.

It'’s true. The professor'’s got pictures.

Photographs?

Well, no. Diagrams.

[ chuckling ]

Sounds fantastic. A giant roaming the desert.

Ah, it'’s baloney.

The only way I'’d ever believe it would be to see the footprints myself.

I tell you, it was a human foot.

Five toes. And that long.

You'’re stewed, Dutch.

[ laughter ]

It was the middle of the day.

I was coming up from the ranch.

What kind of booze they give you there?

[ laughter ]

Go sleep it off, fella.

I believe you.

See what you done, Dutch?

Scared the tar out of poor little Stubby.

[ laughter ]

Would have made your skin crawl, I'’ll bet you,

to see those giant footprints.

I'’ve got a ruler.What for?

To measure them with.

He'’s calling your bluff, Dutch.

Oh, no. I just want to prove it to myself.

Come on.I'’m not going all the way back there.

Why not?I just been.

See? He was lying.I was not.

Come on. We'’ll all go with you and see.

Yeah, come on.

They were the exact measurements of Bigfoot'’s tracks.

Well, of course, I for one have always taken the story of Bigfoot

with a grain of salt.

But you'’ve talked to men who have seen the tracks and measured them.

I'’m a scientist, Stubby.

Those tracks at the water tank are real enough.

We all saw them. I mean, they were.

The boys tromped them up pretty bad, they got so excited.

What I'’d do if I were you is to keep a night watch at the water tank.

Night?

Bigfoot would never show himself during the day.

All right.

Get your friend Dutch to go with you.

Two are better than one when it comes to dealing with the unknown.

And let me know how you make out.

All right.

Look, we saw those Bigfoot prints, didn'’t we?

Sure. But I still don'’t believe in no giant

being on the loose around here.

I read in a book once that a giant was 20 foot tall.

He could pick up a horse and carry it away with him.

Dutch! Dutch!

They was all around the old glory hole.

You know the one just as you come up from Furnace Creek wash?

What was all around?

Those big footprints.

You could see them plain, all around in the mud.

Gracious! Maybe the glory hole'’s his hideout.

Yeah, maybe it is, Red. What do you think?

It'’s a good place to hide out.How big were the footprints?

Well, I didn'’t stop to measure them.

All I wanted to do was get the heck away from there.

But they was huge. A good two feet long at least.

Yeah! See what I told you?

I guess you think there'’s not a giant around here now!

Gotta be something.

Hippo was doing assessment work down near that old glory hole

when he saw them.

Fresh footprints, at least two and a half feet long,

and a foot wide.

Oh, Mrs. Timm, how awful.

I can just see this giant.

Thirty feet tall, stalking around with a great club in his hand,

dressed in the skin of wild beasts.

I'’m really frightened, Dutch.

Don'’t worry, honey.

I'’m here to protect you.

The tracks have been seen in three places now.

Each time, closer to camp. [ hoofbeats approaching ]

Is Dutch Hogan here?

How did you guess?

You'’re the man I want to see.

I'’ve just been talking with the professor.

He says the thing for us to do

is to keep watch at the water tank tonight.Tonight?

That'’s when Bigfoot's most likely to turn up.

And if he should, what would you do?

We'’d get a good look at him.

Where do you get this "we" stuff?

You'’re the biggest man in camp.

Yeah, but not the biggest fool.

You mean you won'’t go?

You'’re darn tooting I won'’t.Then I'’ll go alone.

No, Stubby, no! It'’s too dangerous!

He could kill you with his bare hands!

Stubby! Stubby.

Why didn'’t you go with him?

Lose a good night'’s sleep for nothing?

It couldn'’t be that you'’re afraid?

[ chuckles ] Afraid of what?

Something bigger than yourself.

Oh, Meri.Oh!

[ wolf howling ]

Darn chuckwalla.

[ chattering ]

Hey, Stubby, what happened at the water tank last night?

Nothing.No sign of Bigfoot?

[ chuckles ] I told you so.

Just a waste of a night'’s sleep.

Then how do you account for all those footprints?

That'’s what's got me.

Those were live tracks.

There'’s some strange human at large in Death Valley.

[ laughter ] [ hoofbeats ]

What'’s the matter with Joe?

He'’s driving like the devil was after him.

Come on. Let'’s see.

And there he was, tore limb from limb.

I never seen anything like it.

Never saw anything like what?

The carcass of a mountain sheep I saw on the road coming up here.

Boy, whatever attacked that thing sure must have been fierce.

Bigfoot. [ chattering ]

Bigfoot sure must be a powerful guy. Sure give me a start.

[ chattering continues ]

The carcass of a sheep, huh?

Yeah. The stage driver said it was sheer pulled apart.

Probably a mountain lion killed him.

Mountain lions stay well up in the mountains.

I'’ve never known one of them to come down here.

You and Dutch Hogan heard nothing at the water tank last night?

I was there alone.

You mean he didn'’t go with you?

No.Why?

He said he was no fool.

Hmm?

Now that the creature'’s tasted blood,

there'’s no telling.

Mrs. Timm, don'’t say that.

I declare, I was most afraid to walk over here alone this afternoon.

I'’m scared too.

The only person who gives me any courage is Stubby.

Stubby? I thought it was you and Dutch.

Oh, Dutch is just a big blowhard.

Why, Stubby'’s got more courage in his little finger

than Dutch has in that whole great hulk of his.

Well. So, now it'’s you and Stubby.

Maybe.

What do you mean, "maybe"?

I'’ve got such an awful feeling

that something'’s going to happen to one of us.

[ gasps ]

Stubby! Stubby!

Stubby!

Merinda!

What'’s the matter?Bigfoot.

Where? In my yard. I went out to hang up some clothes,

and there were his footsteps by the back porch.

This settles it. That fellow'’s got to be tracked down

before somebody'’s murdered in their bed.

I'’ll get the professor to help.

Oh, Stubby, don'’t leave me. Take me with you.

Don'’t be scared.

I'’m not, when I'’m with you.

When I'’m with you, I feel perfectly safe.

Isn'’t that funny?

I don'’t know why it'’s funny.

I'’d protect you with the last ounce of strength in my body.

My last breath.I'’m sure you would.

As long as we both live. Will you let me, Meri?

Stubby, are you proposing to me?

Oh, what a time to pick.

When I'’ve got him on my mind.

Dutch?

Oh, no, I'’m all through with that big coward.

Then who?

Bigfoot!

Oh, sure. [ chuckling ]

I almost forgot about Bigfoot.

You wait here, and I'’ll go get the boss'’s rig,

and we'’ll go see the professor.

Can you imagine the shock? To see those footprints right on her own doorstep!

You screamed, I suppose, and roused all the neighbors?

No. I just made a beeline straight for Stubby.

Well.

I know, sir, that as a scientist,

you haven'’t taken too much stock in Bigfoot.

But the time has come when we'’ve got to take action.

I'’m not gonna sit by when my future wife'’s safety is threatened.

Stubby.

I didn'’t mean to tell. It just came out.

Well, I knew it the minute I saw you two together.

You'’re going to be married.

Might as well admit it.

Well, while we'’re admitting things,

I, too, have a confession to make.

[ clattering ]

I am Mr. Bigfoot.

You?

[ chuckles ] Papier-mâché.

I'’m an expert at making molds.

But why? What'’s the idea?

A practical joke.

No. I was conducting a scientific experiment

to prove that a man'’s courage is often in inverse ratio to his size.

[ chuckles ]

And it worked. Bless you.

Thank you, Professor.

[ chuckles ]

Gosh, I-- I don'’t know what to say.

You know, I-- I never knew Cupid had such big feet.

[ laughing ]

And that was the last time the giant tracks

were ever seen in Death Valley.

Did the others find out?

If you were Stubby, would you have told?

♪♪ [ trumpet ]