Original subtitles

Wait a minute.

- Are you the law? - No. No.

Then why should you tell me all about this?

Well, I guess I've got a delicate conscience, Mr. Mills.

The men that are coming to get that money are the kind...

who would kill you without thinking twice about it.

Well, it's nice of you to warn me and to tell me about the money.

Oh, well, I'll be taking the money back with me, Mr. Mills.

Well, how's that? Didn't you say it was here on my property?

Yes. But where?

From the entertainment capital of the world...

produced for television by Warner Bros.

The game of poker has only one serious drawback.

You can lose. Denver hadn't been very lucky for me.

I'd been second best every night for a week...

to where paying my hotel bill was a tight squeeze.

There you are, sir, $57.40.

Thirty cents.

Oh, yes.

Allow me.

Thank you, sir.

Oh, by the way, I'm supposed to meet my brother here sometime today.

Bart Maverick. I'll be here in the lobby.

Oh.

- Ma'am. - Thank you.

Cute little baggage.

Timid as a fawn.

If you'll excuse me.

Pardon me, madam. Haven't we met some place before? Dodge City?

I don't believe so. I've never been there.

Of course not.

San Francisco.

I have never been there either.

Salt Lake? Flagstaff?

Flagstaff! Now, there's a spot for you. Yes,

sir. Nothing better west of the Mississippi.

You know, I was glad to hear you mention that.

I was down there two weeks ago visiting the Pattersons.

You know the Pattersons, of course.

Anybody who's ever been to Flagstaff knows the Pattersons.

Old man Patterson and Pete Decker tangled out in front of the county court house.

That was the fight of the century.

Ahem. If you'll excuse me, I see a friend.

Yeah. Well, nice talking to you.

- Thank you. - Pleasure.

Would you mind telling me some more about Flagstaff?

Ma'am, frankly, I've never been there.

Is something wrong?

That man out there has been following me for over an hour.

The hat box?

You're holding on to it pretty tight, you know.

May I ask who you are?

Bret Maverick.

Are you busy right now, Mr. Maverick?

No, ma'am. I'm retired for the moment.

I'll give you a hundred dollars if you'll help me keep that man...

from getting his hands on this hat box. There are papers in here.

Proof that my uncle is the owner of a silver mine near the Wyoming border.

I must get them to a lawyer here in Denver today.

He was being watched.

He couldn't go more than an inch away from the mine.

We thought I could.

We were wrong.

- Who's the lawyer? - His name is Adam Morton.

He'll be in his office on State Street in an hour.

Will you help me, Mr. Maverick?

I'll pay you $200.

That's tempting.

- Shall we go out together? - Well, no. You stay here.

After I've said goodbye to you, take your hat box and put it on the floor.

To your left.

Uh... You'll save the money for the lawyer's office.

For luck.

For both of us.

Well, good day, ma'am.

Election bet.

Hello, school boy.

You peeked.

Get in there.

Put the money over there.

Money? You've got the wrong hat box, mister. There's no money in there.

Put the money down.

When you get back to Maxwell, tell him Monty wasn't fooled for a minute.

Tell him neither he nor Johnny could ever fool me.

Who's Maxwell?

I don't know how much of the $120,000 he promised you, friend...

but you ain't going to get a penny of it.

You're not gonna get it either. There's nothing but papers in there.

Shut up. I'll show you your business papers.

Open it!

Grab that top box down.

I was right about my luck changing.

It was getting worse.

Before I'd run into that girl with the hat box, I'd only been broke.

Now, I was broke, beat up, and...

And mixed up some way with $120,000.

Tidy sum.

Chances were, of course, that a lawyer named Adam Morton didn't even exist...

any more than did dear old uncle.

But the hat, if that's what it was, could be a place to begin.

My luck was changing.

The hat had been bought here in Denver. There couldn't possibly be two like that.

Did you make this?

Oh, Princess Anne.

Oh, heh, heh, I name all of them.

- Oh, then this is yours. - Oh, yes.

- Do you like it? - It's exquisite.

Well, thank you.

Oh, and another question.

Who did you make it for?

Hm?

The hat. I found it. I'd like to return it. Who bought it?

- Abigail Taylor. - Where does she live?

Oh, at the end of Jonathan Street.

The north end?

Oh, no, the south end.

Thank you very much.

- Goodbye. - Bye.

Don't stare. It makes her uncomfortable.

I can explain everything. I just was...

- You had the wrong hat box. - Yes. No.

Please go away.

No. Don't.

- Your uncle? - Come here.

- Inside. - After you.

- After you? - Inside!

Take your gun belt off.

Which one are you, Maxwell or Johnny?

- You know about Johnny? - Be quiet.

- Have you seen Johnny? MAXWELL: I said, be quiet. I'll do all the talking.

Over there.

Monty wasn't supposed to catch up with you so soon.

Abby thought you'd lead him a long way off.

Why?

Oh, by the way, Monty told me to give you a message.

He said neither you nor Johnny could ever fool him.

I wonder what he meant by that.

A hundred and twenty thousand dollars.

- But how'd you...? - That's a lot of money.

It'd buy you a new suit.

That's what Abby was about to do when she spotted Monty trailing her.

We won't have to buy one now.

Oh, no. No. It's not your style at all.

It will do.

- What do I get, stripes? - If you're lucky.

No, Ed. You told me there wouldn't be any killing.

You promised me.

Yeah. And you ought to keep your promises.

Now start undressing.

Would you excuse me?

Now, hurry up.

It's not a bad fit at that.

I don't know. I'd look around for a better one if I were you.

You're just lucky Abby's so sensitive about people killing other people.

I'd just as soon get shot as die of pneumonia.

Well, if you get cold, you just put that coat on.

Oh, no! Not aga...

This wallop hurt me more than the one Monty had given me.

I'd been hit in practically the same place, for one thing.

For another, there was my pride.

I'd been plucked bare as a chicken ready for the pot.

But there was a brighter side.

This bump was bigger.

It had to mean I was getting closer to the $120,000.

But first things first. Right now, I had a few more urgent problems.

Plus a possible solution to the very first one. How to come un-hog-tied.

Now it was a question of something to cover me until I could get back to the hotel...

and get brother Bart to lend me some clothes...

and enough money to stay in this $120,000 scramble.

A little too snug.

Howdy.

When you have to walk down a public street in prison stripes...

the trick is to look unconcerned.

Just imagine you're wearing the latest proved style.

Anyway, that's what I kept telling myself while I headed for the hotel.

Excuse me.

Yes, sir, can I help...?

I'm sorry. We don't give rooms...

Mr. Maverick?

Uh-huh. Did my brother show up?

He's here?

Dear Bret, I waited as long as I could...

then left on the 3:00 stage for Salt Lake with a kindly millionaire...

whom I met quite by chance on my way up here.

He claims there's a shortage of poker players out his way.

I'll look for you here a month from today.

Best, Bart.

The 3:00 stage. What time is it now?

Half-past three.

Oh, no!

Those clothes, Mr. Maverick, are you going to a masquerade?

Oh, no. No. The gallows.

A man in convict stripes without a penny to his name has his problems.

Like finding a job.

The next five hours were the hardest.

But it doesn't take much of a job to get a professional man...

started back in the work he knows best.

Seventy cents.

I call your 70 cents, stranger.

And, uh, I'll raise you 35 cents more.

I'll just call that 35. What do you got?

- Jacks up. - Well, I got three treys.

The road back wasn't even bumpy. I just kept winning.

But I only enjoyed it until I had enough money to start out...

after Abigail Taylor and friends again. And the $120,000.

Orphans every one of them.

Excuse me, sir. I wonder if I could look through some of your back issues?

Of course, son. Of course. Right over yonder. You can just help yourself.

Thank you.

A line on Maxwell seemed like the best place to start.

A man who breaks out of prison usually gets his name in the paper.

Maxwell was no exception.

"A prisoner serving a two-year term for armed robbery...

escaped from the state penitentiary last night by overcoming a guard...

and scaling a wall to freedom.

The escaped man is Edgar Maxwell, 35, formerly of Boston...

who was arrested October 4th last for the armed robbery of a general store...

in Lonesome, a small town to the south."

It didn't fit together. Very few general stores in towns called Lonesome...

have $120,000 lying around. Even on a busy day.

Find what you're after, son?

Well, yes and no.

Do you keep a list of all the big robberies that happen?

Stage hold-ups, banks, that sort of thing?

Right up here. What are you after?

Hundred and twenty thousand dollars. Mean anything?

Sure. Federal Bank and Land Company right here in town.

Held up last October.

- October what? - Uh...

The first. Three armed men.

Got away with $120,000 in cash. Fifties and hundreds.

One of them was wounded by the bank guard.

- But they got away? - Clean as a whistle.

Why do you ask? Reward?

- Well, it still stands. Doesn't it? - Five percent of the take.

- Need a partner, son? - No, thanks.

- Know too much to split, eh? - No. Know too little.

See you.

The next question was the hard one. Where had Abby and Maxwell gone?

I started looking in the only place I could think of.

Back near Abby's house where I hoped to find someone who had seen them...

drive off in a horse and buggy.

I'll say I saw them. Took the Hedgeville Road south.

- Well, where does that lead to? - Hedgeville. Where else?

That young woman is going to come to no good.

I'm new in these parts, ma'am. Is Hedgeville an important town?

Oh, of course not. Right at Branchland.

Why, just full of shiftless people too lazy to get out from under.

They're all the same way, Hedgeville, Lonesome...

- Lonesome? - Same as the rest of them.

You'd think those folks would know better than I.

- Yes, ma'am. - I was talking to my cousin.

- My cousin on my aunt's side. - Well, thank you very much.

This was too big a coincidence to pass up.

Lonesome was the place where Maxwell had been arrested.

And Lonesome was on the road he had taken.

It had to mean something.

Hello, stranger. First drink's always on the house.

- Thanks. I'll remember that. Flora. - You do that, handsome.

Howdy.

Say, maybe you can help me. I'm looking for a couple of friends...

I'm supposed to meet here in town. A man and woman in a carriage.

I'll give you 50 cents if you check the stables...

- see if they put the carriage up yet. - Pretty hot day.

- Seventy-five cents? - Dollar.

- All right. A dollar it is. - In advance.

How do I know you'll come back?

How do I know you'll be here if I do?

All right. Start checking.

Don't have to.

The rig's in the stable behind the hotel where the folks are staying.

- That the only hotel in town? - It's the only stable too.

- You'll be mayor yet. - That's Pa's job.

It wasn't hard to find which rooms Abby and Maxwell were in.

The whole place only had 10.

They were out at the moment eating, so I made it an informal call...

hoping to find something interesting around. Like $120,000.

No, Ed. MAXWELL: That's a lot of money.

You promised me.

You keep coming back to the same thing, Abby.

Why shouldn't I? Johnny's the only reason I'm here.

Why don't you just sit down and take it easy?

- Everything's going to work out just fine. - Is it?

- Don't start all over again. - You got what you wanted.

You're out of Denver and you're close to your money.

- My side of the bargain's been kept. - And so has mine.

- Johnny will be here. - When?

- How do I know? - You're lying.

He's dead. He was wounded running from the bank and died.

- That's the truth. Isn't it? - Stop it, stupid.

Now, use your head.

If Johnny had died, his body would have been found.

And we'd all know about it.

If he was alive, he'd let me know somehow.

He's too smart for that.

He knows the law would grab him if he came within a mile of here.

Now, the law just doesn't forget about $120,000, Abby.

That's a lot of money. You can do a lot of things with it.

- I'm not interested. - Well, Johnny was.

No. He never wanted to go along with you and Monty in the first place.

All right. Now, why don't you get out of here?

Johnny will show up sooner or later.

How can you be so sure?

Look, Abby, I'm the only one in the world who knows where that money's buried...

because I buried it.

Now, Johnny and Monty know it's in Lonesome.

But they don't know where.

Now, Johnny must have read about me breaking out of jail just like Monty did.

He'll be here, all right. Both of them will.

Leland Mills' place. It still just that old coot out there?

I didn't see anyone else.

Good. Now all I have to do is to wait till it's night...

go out to the Mills place and pick up the money.

Would you believe it, Abby, it's been 11 months since I saw where I buried it?

But I can still see every stone, every clod of dirt within a hundred yards.

Tonight's going to be a big night, Abby.

If I see Johnny again.

Abby.

You only knew one side of Johnny.

As a young, good-looking kid with a big, flashy smile.

There was another side to him.

He talked big because it made him feel big.

He wasn't like he seemed to other people.

And that knife he always carried?

Is that any worse than a gun?

And he never used it unless it was to defend himself.

According to what he told you.

You're wasting your time.

I know Johnny.

As his girl.

As his wife.

We were married the night before the robbery.

I'll be in my room.

I don't allow poachers on my land.

I said, I don't allow no poachers on my land.

I can understand that. Mr. Mills?

Yeah. What do you want?

I'd like to talk to you for a moment.

Can you point that over just a bit?

What do you want to talk about?

About $120,000 I think is buried right here on your property.

Come again?

Well, a year ago, three men robbed a bank in Denver.

Somehow or other, the money was hidden here on your place.

And it's still here?

According to what I heard a man tell someone.

And he ought to know. He put it here.

Wait a minute.

Are you the law?

No. No.

Then why should you tell me all about this?

Oh, I guess I've got a delicate conscience, Mr. Mills.

The men that are coming to get that money are the kind...

who would kill you without thinking twice about it.

Well, it's nice of you to warn me and to tell me about the money.

Oh, well, I'll be taking the money back with me, Mr. Mills.

Well, how's that?

Didn't you say it was here on my property?

Yes. But where?

How many acres do you have here, Mr. Mills?

Twenty-five.

That's an awful lot of digging if you don't know where to dig. Isn't it?

Well, it's still my property.

Tell you what I'll do. I'll share it with you.

Sixty thousand dollars apiece.

Now, where's that money hidden, hm?

Well, I'll be back here tonight. We'll get it then.

We'll get it now.

- Now, look, I don't know where it is. - What?

- But I will by tonight. - How?

A man named Maxwell, the man who buried the money...

is coming out here to get it.

He'll never set foot on my property. I'll shoot him on sight.

You're not thinking too fast today, Mr. Mills.

Now, how are we gonna find the money if you kill the one man who knows where it is?

Oh.

We all plunge ahead at times.

Well, your plan is for us to hide out...

and watch him until he starts digging for the money? Is that it?

- Yeah. That's part of it. - Well, what else?

Well, it's too much to go into right now.

But three men robbed the bank, not just Maxwell.

Well, them other two, are they here in Lonesome?

I don't know, but I wouldn't open my doors to anyone.

Well, what do they look like, them other two?

Well, one is tall and heavyset. His name's Monty.

The other I've never seen. His name is Johnny.

He's young and handsome.

I'll be watching for them.

Eh, you just let me do that. You stay out of sight.

While you do what?

Well, go back to town.

If Johnny and Monty are there, I'd like to know about it.

Oh, yeah.

Oh, by the way, what kind of law do you have here in town?

- Sheriff? - Yeah. Stan Ranker.

But he's away now.

Yeah.

Oh, one more thing.

You wouldn't start looking for that money without me, would you, Mr. Mills?

Not with 25 acres, I wouldn't. No, sir.

Goodbye, Mr. Mills.

Goodbye, Mr., um...

Maverick.

Mr. Maverick.

Careful. That's not the bottle it came in.

Gonna be around a while?

I don't know.

Supposed to meet a couple of friends of mine.

Man and a woman coming in from Denver in a rig.

They hit town yet?

I haven't seen them.

No strangers around?

No man and a woman.

Just a man?

What'd he look like?

Like the man you bushwhacked outside the hotel in Denver.

Easy, handsome. No shooting allowed on the premises.

New glassware is hard to come by in Lonesome.

You better tell that to him.

Hey! Cut it out!

I'm sorry, Flora. Just had to even an old score.

Would you get the gentleman a glass of water?

Coming up.

Okay. Wake up, sunshine.

Now, you gonna be cooperative?

No more.

All right. I want some answers and I want them honest and real plain.

What happened after the three of you left the bank in Denver?

Come on. You gonna tell me or do I have to get mad?

The road south.

- Here to Lonesome? - Yeah.

Where'd you split up?

Outside of town. There was a posse after us.

- Who had the money? Maxwell? - Yeah.

All right. Go on.

Well, Maxwell and Johnny went one way and I went the other.

We agreed to meet on the other side of town.

What happened?

I don't know for sure.

Johnny and Maxwell split up, I guess.

And Maxwell was arrested here.

Yeah. He was broke.

Figured he couldn't use the big bills from the Denver bank, so he tried to rob...

the local store in town.

Okay, handsome. That's enough.

It's against the law to smack people around in my saloon.

- You're fooling. - Try me.

I'll blow your pretty head off if you even look like you're gonna make a wrong move.

And that star makes it nice and legal.

You the deputy sheriff?

Better than that, handsome. I'm also the sheriff's gal.

And the best shot in town, including the sheriff.

Now, leave him alone. He was minding his own business.

- Oh, now, Flora. - You, get out of here.

You'll hear from me again.

And you, stay here so we'll have no more disturbing the peace.

Now, Flora, you don't know what this man did.

Sorry, Flora, but I gotta keep tabs on that man.

Is he dead?

Nice going, handsome.

I didn't do this.

No. He committed suicide.

You saw it. Didn't you?

Okay, handsome. Get going.

Jail?

At least.

Being held for a murder I hadn't committed was one thing, but being held...

while $120,000 was about to be dug up was something else entirely.

No man wants to hang poor.

Not much, handsome, but I never was any great shakes in the kitchen.

Look, Flora, I've got some rights.

I wanna see a lawyer.

What am I supposed to do? Make one?

We ain't got any lawyers in Lonesome.

When the sheriff comes back, he'll take you to Denver.

- They got them by the dozen there. - When's that?

A day or two.

Time counts to me, Flora.

What do you think it was to the guy you killed? Hot cakes?

For the hundredth time, I didn't kill him.

It was someone hiding between the buildings.

Sure. The mysterious stranger, huh?

Why don't you just relax, handsome?

Get some rest.

Read the poetry on the walls. Pretty good.

Don Gray, the town drunk, writes them whenever he's visiting here...

which is about as regular as clockwork.

Take that one.

I'd never be in this terrible clink If I could stay away from demon drink

But since I can't do that for long I've time to write this little song

Nice, huh?

Oh, beautiful.

Oh, there's my favorite.

Flora's pretty, Flora's sweet But Flora's whiskey knocks me off my feet

Time is fleeting, the end's in sight I'd love to get out of here before tonight

Not bad.

You might top him in a couple of days.

Flora, I've got to get out of here.

Look, I'll give you a thousand dollars if

you'll just let me out of here for two hours.

You are a lot like Don Gray at that.

He once promised me the Oklahoma Territory if I'd let him out overnight.

Be back in a while, handsome. Take it easy.

Thought you might want to read a little to pass the time.

Thanks.

Oh, now, don't be a poor loser, handsome.

Oh, why should I be?

I haven't really lost anything.

As a matter of fact, I've gained, you might say.

How's that?

Well, I know I didn't kill that fella.

Sooner or later the real killer is gonna be caught.

Uh-huh.

So in the meantime...

here I am in a nice, cozy, rent-free house with, if I may...

a charming companion.

Heh, handsome, you're a kick in the pants.

"So in the meantime, here I am in this nice, cozy, rent-free house...

with, if I may, a charming companion."

Ha, ha! I'm a tough old buzzard and you know it.

But what you don't know is I'm just as smart as I am tough.

What was the plan, handsome? Woo your freedom out of me?

Don't be a poor winner, Flora.

You know, it might have worked at that.

Twenty years ago.

Oop, my keys.

Saloon. Need them to lock up.

Bye, handsome. Sleep well.

Four walls do not a prison make

So if you would your freedom take Tug at the hinges on your cell door

Pulling up sharply from the floor

On your way out, replace the door

So another can leave as did this one before

Couldn't be.

Couldn't be.

Ah.

Bless the poet laureate of Lonesome.

It was after 8 by the time I got back to Leland Mills' place.

There was no way of telling whether or not Maxwell had shown up yet.

Are you...? I didn't think you was ever coming.

Ran into a little trouble. Anybody here yet?

No. What was the trouble? That Maxwell, he's gonna be here, ain't he?

A far as I know.

- But Monty won't. He was murdered. - Oh.

You stay here.

I'm going with you.

You're forgetting about Johnny. He could still show up, you know.

And, remember, he's a killer.

I'll remember, you don't need to worry about that.

It's a little late in the day for plowing, isn't it?

Just keep digging.

Dig!

No!

And don't you move either. Drop your gun.

Well, aren't you the foxy one.

Drop it!

So this is where it's been all that time.

A hundred and twenty thousand dollars.

I've been searching everywheres for it.

Every hour of every day for the last 11 months.

Let me tell you something. One night, 11 months ago, I heard a noise.

It was out in my barn. I went out there. And there was a man.

He was wounded, and, after a while, another man come.

And you told that wounded man, Johnny you called him, that you were just...

finished burying the money, but you wouldn't tell him where.

I was sure I could find that money after you left, but I couldn't.

I spaded up every square inch of my property.

I searched everywheres. Everywheres except under that water tower.

Where I buried that Johnny.

You killed Johnny?

No. No. He killed him and then he ran away.

I only buried him so that nobody'd find the body and start looking for the money.

Now I know where it is.

Right next to the place where I buried that Johnny.

Where the ground was soft.

We both picked the same place. Didn't we?

Get away from that money.

You don't think I came out here all alone, do you?

There's a friend of mine standing out there with a gun.

Now, you better drop yours.

Oh, no.

Drop it!

Shoot, Abby!

That's an old trick.

Abby! Shoot!

It's my money.

It's my money. We're gonna dig it up.

Hello, handsome.

Pretty wild bluff of his.

I didn't find a gun on her.

If I'd had one, I wouldn't have used it.

He told me Johnny was alive.

He's dead.

I suppose we go back to jail now, huh?

Uh, no.

A witness, a married man who wasn't supposed to be where he was...

turned up a little after you broke out, handsome.

Seems he got a look at the fella who threw the knife.

And the description he gave didn't fit you.

But it did fit Maxwell.

Uh-huh.

Come on.

I'll send the boys out for the other one.

You stay in the wagon with Flora.

It's all here, Flora. A hundred and twenty thousand dollars.

Let's see. Five percent of that would be 6000...

Two and a half percent, handsome.

Oh, but, Flora, I found it.

I saved your life. Didn't I?

Two and a half percent apiece.

Nothing doing. I came a long way for this. It's all mine.

Not this week. Two and a half percent now or nothing later.

Who do you think a judge is gonna believe?

Some man who breaks out of jails or a respectable deputy sheriff?

How'd you break out of this jail, handsome?

Mm-mm.

I can just take this along to Denver with me.

I'm going back with Abby.

Not a chance. We'll just pop this money into the safe till the sheriff gets back.

Don't worry. You'll get your reward.

Carry your bag, lady?

Behave, handsome.

Well, bye.

Oh, by the way, Flora, can Old Man Mills read?