Original subtitles

[WIND HOWLING]

FAVOR: Hello there.

Anybody here?

[WISHBONE SIGHS]

Old man, when I get back on my feet, I'm gonna settle up with you.

- That meat was good. - It was rotten.

It was not.

It was you and that partner of yours brought in a dirty camp disease.

Shut up. You're out of the weather, ain't you? Save your strength.

Must've been some kind of poison.

I still think it was blood cholera.

Next stop's gonna be Gold Ridge.

I'm afraid somebody's gonna have to go on.

[FAVOR GASPS]

WOMAN: All right, you lover.

No, me? I'm somebody else.

WOMAN: Oh, I thought you were...

I'll tell you what, uh, how about let's starting out all even?

WOMAN: Sure, I'm sorry. - That's all right.

Why, what are you doing here anyways?

I was on my way to Fort Macleod

and my horse spooked at a dust whirl, and broke his leg, and I had to...

Too bad.

- Uh, what's your name? - Lottie Denton.

If you got a spare horse, I'll be on my way.

I'm sorry, I haven't got one to spare.

How come you're so fast with a gun anyway?

Well, I heard this town was a hangout for hard cases.

Who are you anyway? They sick or something?

FAVOR: We're drovers.

We got a herd about 30 miles south of here, in a box canyon.

That's where they picked up the sickness.

What about you? You ain't sick.

Oh, I was away at the time. I'm the trail boss of the outfit.

My name is Favor, Gil Favor.

This, whatever it is, uh,

don't know whether they picked it up from the food, or the water, or what.

But we buried one man already, we don't wanna lose any more.

Say, maybe you could help me tending them.

- Well, I-- - Oh, look, just through the night

then, uh, in the morning

maybe I could let you have that horse you need.

I'm sorry, I'd like to help out here, but I don't know.

- One woman alone with six cowboys. - Oh, no, nothing like that.

Look, they're half sick to death.

You know, I'm just worried about getting them well.

Honest.

Quince, you look about the most alive,

you think you can make it to Gold Ridge?

Well, I guess if the horse can make it, I can.

FAVOR: Oh, wait a minute, wait a minute.

We don't really know if whatever it is is catching or not.

Could be cholera, typhoid, almost anything.

But, uh, it isn't fair to ask you to stay like this.

Maybe you'd better go with Quince to Gold Ridge, huh?

No, no, not Gold-- Uh--

I've got no business in Gold Ridge.

I mean, I've had every kind of mining camp misery there is.

Well, I just gave up long time ago being afraid of catching anything.

You need me to help you out here.

Well, that's fine, that's fine. Thank you.

FAVOR: Quince, be careful, it's rough country.

Yeah, you just hang tight. I'll get that doctor.

If what they got's catching, there's no sense in helping it catch.

If you give me a hand, we can separate them,

make them more comfortable.

FAVOR: Right. - I can rest here.

Come on, mister, you let me help you. Then you can rest all you want.

MUSHY: Thank you.

- There you are, sir. - Sir?

Everybody calls me Mushy.

Well, I'd rather call you "mister."

You-- You must be an angel.

[LOTTIE CHUCKLES]

I'm afraid not. I'm all human.

FAVOR: Come on, Brown.

I see you picked the best room in the house for yourself again.

You're real funny, fella.

Uh-- Uh, wait, lady, that's too heavy for you.

You playing games with me?

Where I come from, a woman don't work like that for a man,

unless she's wife to him.

Well, we got a little ways to go yet.

If I'd ever found a woman that could pull alongside me steady,

I'd had us a pretty little homestead in Montana by now.

Working together, just like a good team of horses.

Yes, ma’am. Good horses.

Little Palomino and a big iron-shod breed.

Oh, no, ma'am, I mean, fair and square.

Even. Uh, give and take.

Well, you keep looking for her, friend,

and maybe you'll find her sooner than you think.

Any sign?

Not yet, Monte. We've been way over to the other ridge.

- You see her? - Nope. She's not on the Mocho Trail.

That takes nerve.

She must be down that mountain some place.

Figure she's reached help?

There ain't nothing down there except Gray Rock.

Ain't nobody there except them in Boothill.

Don't tempt the devil.

That woman would stir up a dead man,

just for the sake of killing him again.

Come on.

Gotta cool that fever down some.

You remind me of somebody I knew once, you know?

Your name is Lottie, huh?

That's right. You're Rowdy.

Yeah, by name only, not nature.

You feeling any better?

I feel like I swallowed a whole skunk farm,

- until you came along. - Heh. That's what I like.

A man who can joke no matter how he's feeling.

Not like your boss.

Oh, how do you mean?

Well, he seems kind of heartless, doesn't he?

He's got a lot on his mind.

The herd and now everybody sick and all.

And all, top man.

You all right?

Yeah.

Just wishing I was a bit younger.

We don't get younger, we just get smarter.

Are you getting tired of carrying Mr. Favor's load for him?

Well,

I do get tired of nursemaiding his bunch of ingrates day after day.

Just because I look like a splinter in the wind,

don't mean I'd ever let a friend down.

Of course you wouldn't.

You are an exceptional, generous, understanding gentleman.

Just like every other man who wears pants and spurs.

Oh, don't you worry, Mr. Favor, he's weak but he's all right.

He bearing a grudge against you?

FAVOR: No. Not that I know of, anyways. Why?

Oh, never mind. A man can say anything.

- Especially when he's delirious. - Ah.

I guess we'll just have to hope

that with resting awhile, they can pull through.

Oh, sure. Plenty of peace and quiet, that's the best medicine there is.

And you?

Strange you're being here like this though.

Lucky, I mean, though.

I'd have had a hard time handling them all by myself.

Well, any woman married to a mining engineer

gets to learn first aid and nursing mighty quickly.

Is your husband, uh, still working in Gold Ridge?

No more.

I ain't got anybody to lean on and I'm not asking for any help.

You understand that.

It's only fair to tell you, Mr. Favor,

that, well, I'm on the run

and if I stay here, I'm likely to get caught.

You care to tell me what you're running from?

No, that's all I'm gonna say.

No use in everybody's getting involved in my troubles.

Hey, you're involved in ours.

Slow down there, Mr. Favor, it's a long night.

Like I said, don't worry about me.

I'll, uh-- I'll get some saddle blankets.

BROWN: Hey, is anybody here?

Is there something you needed?

Yeah, I was feeling a little chill but I ain't anymore.

I'm Marty Brown.

Well, hi there, Marty Brown.

I'll see if I can find something to cover you up with.

Funny you being here alone.

I didn't hardly have any choice, my horse went lame.

Bad country to travel single, especially for a she like you.

Come over here where I can talk to you.

Something ain't right.

Something just don't seem...

I don't belong to this group of fork-legged cow nannies.

I made every big town in the country.

My head's been going round and round about some blondie woman

I heard about in the mines.

Some blondie woman drove everybody crazy.

Well, there's always plenty of blonds around to gossip about.

I'm not talking about the color of her hair.

They said she's like a herd of palominos

in a ripe wheat field, like you.

Said she's all woman, heh, and then some.

Come here, Palomino.

Don't.

Sure.

Just so we know where we stand.

No chance.

You look even better when you're acting mad.

Mr. Favor isn't gonna like you pawing me.

Sure he's got his own kind of plans.

But you need somebody that's got your class.

No thanks.

Me and you, Lottie, I'll make you the queen of San Francisco.

Why? Why me?

[CHUCKLES]

You just can't resist a real man, can you?

Heh. Man, ha, ha. Look at you.

You're broad in the shoulders and narrow in the head.

And you're so weak, you can't even stand up.

You're children, every one of you, and it makes me sick.

You all think you're so blue perfect,

and it don't count that I just give and give and give, and you take.

Marty Brown, don't say I didn't give you fair warning.

All right, Palomino. Come over here, let's get friendly like.

Miss Lottie.

Marty Brown, you're just gonna get hurt.

I said come here.

You wanna play with Lottie?

Come on. Come on over here. Let's dance around the room a little bit.

Come on, big man. Come on.

You wanna dance with me? Come on, come on, honey, come on.

Come on over here.

- That's enough. - You keep out of it.

Be careful, please.

Don't worry, Miss Lottie, I'll take care of him.

You're gonna get hurt, boy.

[PANTING AND GROANING]

You gonna leave her alone now?

- Ah, go on, go on, go on. - That's enough, mister.

I think he's learned his lesson now.

[PANTING]

- He won't bother you anymore. - Thanks.

Help me, Palomino, I'm burning up, I gotta have water.

- Let me have some. - Just a minute.

For you.

There's some water, drink it up.

That's right, boys, drink it all.

Drink it all down.

That's it, that's it.

Drink it all.

[WHINNYING]

Hey, stranger, what's the trouble?

I lost my horse. I've gotta go on.

Slow down a minute. Go where?

Gold Ridge. Doctor.

I've got some real sick men back there.

You look kind of broke down yourself.

I just need a horse.

You take him in, get to Croaker. We'll go on.

Anyone back down there helping the sick ones?

Boss, a woman.

MONTE: A real fair kind of woman?

She was already at the hotel when we got there.

MONTE: Then you know where we'll be.

My head.

Take it easy, mister.

You shouldn't be messing with me.

Listen, mister, you're just as good as anybody else.

It's just that Mr. Favor shames you so.

He tries-- He tries to be fair, fair to everybody.

Maybe-- Maybe his idea of fair is different from mine.

Did he say something wrong to you?

Oh, just never mind, it'll all come out in the wash.

Sometimes...

Sometimes he's kind of high and mighty. Sometimes.

You sure you don't have a fever too?

No. Don't even think it. All this is more than enough as it is.

Got a lot of things to look after. Cows, horses, men.

And now I've got a woman in the menagerie, huh?

[SIGHS]

I have to be moving on in the morning.

Maybe you don't have to. Maybe if you told me all about it.

This is the only way out. If I stay here, they...

They?

Always "they."

If I knew who "they" was, I might be able to help.

You got trouble already.

Might not be any trouble, might even be a pleasure,

considering all you've done for us.

Can you teach me how to use this?

It isn't how to use it, girl, it's when you use it that counts.

The time is closer than you think.

Lottie, you can't be a loner all the time.

You gotta break down and trust somebody sometime.

Trust? Mr. Favor,

trust is a word for little girls.

Whoa, there, Rowdy, you hadn't ought to be out of bed.

Lottie, I woke up and I was worried about you.

Well, all we want is everybody well and back on their feet.

When I was a kid, I had scarlet fever and it felt a lot like this.

My ma, she used to-- She'd make...

Used to mix up some hot drink out of willow, while using honey.

I bet everybody respected your mother.

Reminded me a lot of you, Lottie.

I never knew my mother

but your boss reminds me of my father.

Hard and cold and always has to be right.

Yeah, he is, a lot of the time.

Well, maybe so, I don't know him as well as you do.

But I do know that men will put up with a lot

when they're worked half to death most of the time

and don't have time to think.

You got something there.

Here, let me help you.

[WISHBONE GROANING]

No you don't. No, you just lay right back down there.

But I ought to be helping.

Well, you can help most by figuring out what you got.

I just know it wasn't my cooking did it.

Well, of course not.

You were all fine, until Mr. Favor hired on that Brown and his friend.

Yeah, they probably brought it with them.

Before we ever got onto it, one of them up and died.

Never did know his name.

You'd think that a trail boss would think twice

before he hired on people like that.

Oh, well, when you're shorthanded, you gotta take what you can get.

I suppose so.

Just don't mind me, Wishbone, I'm just another gabby female.

Oh, lady.

I been listening to prairie wind so long,

I even forgot how nice a lady's voice can sound.

I never did like that wind.

Always sounded like somebody's heart breaking for loneliness.

[SIGHS]

You hear it more when you hit my age.

Begin to count the wasted days

dribbling through springtime, summer, fall and winter.

Until they're all winter.

And every day is dry and cold and gray.

A man shouldn't waste them all.

No.

[WIND HOWLING]

What's going on here? I thought you were supposed to be kept warm.

I'm all right, nice and cool.

I thought Lottie was watching over you.

[CHUCKLES]

I guess you're cooled off enough now.

She said that I could be getting up--

Well, I'm telling you you're laying down and you're keeping warm.

Just a second, mister, I ain't your dog.

All right, all right, I'm sorry.

Seems like we're all getting awful touchy.

[DOOR OPENS]

FAVOR: Hey, you must be tired.

There's lots to do and tomorrow is another day.

Where do you go from here, Lottie?

Oh, I don't know, anywhere, away from here.

Could be a long hard ways.

I thought you was supposed to be married.

- Widowed. - I'm sorry.

I'm not. It's just been one dirty mining camp after another.

I thought a woman was supposed to want her own home.

Security and things like that.

I thought so too. Not anymore.

It hurts too much. From now on, I play it my way.

And if you found somebody who didn't hurt?

It'd be the first time.

Sound pretty bitter, girl.

It ain't that difficult to see you standing around in a starched apron.

I bet just about anything that what you seem to be

and what you really are, are two entirely different things.

Gil Favor, you may be a cattle-driving genius,

but you just don't know nothing about women.

I'd still like to know why you left Gold Ridge though.

Well, I guess you got a right to know.

My husband, Hale, was a mining engineer,

and it was kind of like being in the Army.

He was always busy, always away far somewhere

and always doing something I couldn't share in.

Well, I'm not much of a one for buzzing around sewing bees.

No, I guess you wouldn't be.

Well, one afternoon, my husband came home

and he found his partner there.

There wasn't nothing scandalous about it.

Monte never even looked at me that way, ever.

But Hale had a terrible temper.

And there was a fight,

and somebody dropped a gun and I picked it up...

...and it went off.

[SOBBING] And my husband fell and Monte disappeared.

Well, I was just about out of my mind

and then I heard all these men running, this pack of men running

and I got panicky.

So I just jumped on a horse and I rode out of there.

Out of that town, this way.

So the law is after you?

There isn't any law in Gold Ridge.

These are my husband's friends, and they're not after justice, Mr. Favor,

they're after blood.

Can't blame you from running from that.

Nobody would ever believe my side of the story.

I knew you'd come back.

Here, have some coffee, it's all we've got.

Here.

Look, Marty Brown, you start getting funny with me,

Gil Favor is gonna be bringing your coffee.

You and me will go to the Bright Lights Dance,

soon as I get to feeling better.

Look, I already saw the Bright Lights Dance

and I didn't like it.

That lady up in the mining camp.

Seems I remember she was married.

So, what's wrong with marriage?

Some other things too.

Some other things I heard, that...

...she wasn't so settled down.

Don't worry, Palomino, I ain't perfect either.

I got plans for us.

[SCOFFS]

Funny, everybody's got different plans. You and me.

Uh, coffee tastes salty.

- Have some water. - No.

[BREATHING HEAVILY]

Help me, Palomino, the fever is coming back again.

- Have some more water. - No, no.

You've been sweating too much, got yourself all disturbed.

Help me. Help me, somebody!

I'm freezing. I'm freezing.

I feel a little better.

Gotta watch out with these things.

They're kind of dangerous when they're loaded.

I was just thinking how much good it can do when it's loaded.

Huh. A gun ain't much of a do-gooder, Lottie.

I'll bet you're the best gun fighter in the bunch.

Maybe, but I ain't got the ambition to find out.

Wouldn't you use one to protect somebody you cared for?

- Sure, sure. What's the matter? - Nothing.

Nothing yet.

[MOANING]

Help me. Help me.

Take it easy, Brown.

Not Boothill, I don't want none of that Boothill.

That's better, huh?

I thought, uh, Lottie was supposed to be taking care of you.

She was taking care of me, all right.

She's gonna take care of everybody.

You better watch her, mister. She's...

[MOANING]

[BREATHING HEAVILY]

- Get away from me, you she-devil! - I'm just trying to help.

I've been around. Your game is about up.

Why, what's the matter, lover?

I thought it was you and me, big man Brown and little Lottie,

gonna see the Lights Dance, gonna be queen of San Francisco.

Gonna be, I just don't know what all.

You're quicksand, you're a painted spider.

I'm gonna squash you if it's the last thing I do.

Why, Marty Brown,

didn't anybody every tell you you shouldn't ever threaten a lady?

No! What are you doing? What are you doing?

No! Now get out of here. Get out of here, I don't want you here.

Get out, get out of here.

No, get out. No, get out. No! No!

[CREAKING]

- It'll be morning soon. - Yeah, yeah.

Good thing we got plenty of blankets.

FAVOR: Mm-hm.

What's the matter, Gil, is something bothering you?

Yeah, I gotta admit something, yes.

What is it?

Well, it's just the men,

you sure got them falling all over themselves for you.

Got them all buffaloed to a fare-thee-well, except maybe Brown.

What are you trying to say?

It's not that I don't appreciate all the help you done, I do.

It's just that...

Well, I mean, now...

Look, I'm not saying that you're trying to take them over but...

It isn't that, Gil, it's just that they sense that I need them.

Well, I wouldn't stand a chance against a mob.

Yeah, I know that. And I wanna help all I can.

But them being as sick as they are,

well, I just want you to understand that I can't have them

getting in a battle that they got no part of.

- Like blazes. - You simmer down.

Miss Lottie, I got a gun and it's ready.

There may be 20, 30 men coming.

And you won't be able to handle that kind of ruckus.

WISHBONE: Quit trying to hog all the glory.

You see what I mean?

I can still line up a sight just as good as you.

Maybe a little bit better.

I'm with you, Wish. I'll help out.

Brown and Mushy would help too, if they was able.

Well, you just simmer down. Don't get yourself into a sweat.

You're supposed to be lying down anyways.

Now you look here, this young lady could've got away

but she didn't. She stayed and tended to us.

Now you don't think we're gonna turn her over

to the first bunch of coyotes that come through.

FAVOR: Did I say turn her over to the coyotes?

Look, all I'm saying is, we ought to use a little bit of reasoning

and talk to these people first,

instead of just jumping right into a battle.

Don't wanna do any talking, we got plenty of guns.

Now, now, hold it boys. This is my problem.

There's no argument about this, Lottie. We're sticking together, right now.

She's down there somewhere.

She'd be down in that hotel, I think. Her and them drovers.

Best thing, we split. We'll go in one at a time, slow and easy.

Try every building and we'll make our way toward the hotel.

Remember, don't take nothing for granted.

Brown, where's Miss Lottie? Brown?

Brown?

Mr. Favor. Mr. Favor!

- What is it? - It's Brown, you better look at him.

Seemed all right a while ago.

I come in to talk to him once.

I thought he was out of his head maybe.

Did he say anything?

He said something like-- He said he knew her!

[SIGHS]

Here they come.

FAVOR: Hold your fire. Come on, get back from that window.

Yeah, just like she said.

They probably got more backing them up.

I said get back, I'm gonna talk to them.

Talk? They're not about to waste time talking.

But they're not taking our Lottie neither.

Lottie, hold it!

FAVOR: Cut it out! Hold it! Lottie!

- How is it? - That's nothing.

But you were sure right about that woman.

She only likes dead men.

FAVOR: Rowdy, would you cut that out?

- What do you think? - I won't leave without her.

She killed my partner.

And I didn't come down here to watch her laugh at us either.

Pour it on.

[MEN SHOUTING INDISTINCTLY]

Cut it out! Cut it out!

- Got a bite to it. - Good.

Too bad it didn't blow your head off.

- There you are, mister. - Miss Lottie, about what Brown said.

Brown is sick.

But Brown, what he said?

- I'm sick too. - Yeah, you sure are, Mushy.

Rowdy, will you hold it? You're crazy with the sickness.

At least give me a chance to settle it reasonable.

You talk too much, fella.

Look, lady, you were the one what started this mess.

You're gonna clean it up. Now, what's going on out there?

LOTTIE: You can ask your questions later!

FAVOR: The truth, now! - She killed Brown.

No.

She told me she was gonna do it. I didn't believe her.

I thought it was the fever.

You were sick. He's got a bad fever.

If Mushy says you killed Brown, I'm willing to believe him

unless you come up with a better explanation. Well?

Now!

All right, Mr. Favor, all right.

Brown was just like all the rest.

And the time is long gone

since I have to knuckle under the scum like that.

When I was 15, there was a sweet- talking gambler came through town.

And when I went his way,

he put his boots to me until I put a knife to him.

Him-- No, you're--

You're gonna hear the rest of this.

And then there was a nice, sweet, old farmer.

[SOBBING] [GUNFIRE CONTINUES]

He took me in.

And I scrubbed his floors and I washed his pigs.

And I listened to him while he raved about how good he was

and how bad I was and tried to prove it to me.

And I got away and I got to the big city. And I tried to get an honest job!

But you know how that came out.

And then Hale Denton found me and we went to traveling.

And it was one mining camp after another, all like Gold Ridge.

And nobody, nobody, nobody! Except maybe Monte,

ever thought that little sweet Lottie Denton

was anything in the world except a--

And I killed Hale, and I killed Brown.

And I'm just sorry, Mr. Favor, I didn't get to you and them.

Because you're all the same!

[PANTING]

Monte, marvelous Monte.

I'm sorry, Lottie.

[CRYING]

I hate you.

I hate every one of you.

I hate...

I didn't know who she was.

No, I guess maybe nobody did.

Head them up! Move them out!