Original subtitles

Well, I guess we better get...

You didn't like the picnic.

I mean business, Mr. Maverick.

Can you hit what's left?

Let's talk business.

There's only one thing really wrong with Virginia City:

The biggest poker game in town is a private affair.

- The Comstock Club is exclusive. - Good evening.

If you're not a member or recommended by one...

you haven't got a chance of getting in.

Of course, exceptions are made in the case of an important personality.

I'm sorry, Mr. Maverick, but I never heard of you.

Oh.

- Good night, Tom. - Good night, Mr. Horne.

- You sure there's no chance. - Not unless you're a member.

Thank you.

Horne?

I didn't know you were a gunman, Mr. Jennings.

I know the truth now. Why the committee voted against giving me the money.

It's no secret.

Congress isn't in the habit of donating millions to crackpots.

Your money, your influence, stopped me again, but for the last time...

Thank you, sir.

I appreciate the effort, but really the trouble wasn't necessary.

Doesn't he know how to pull a trigger?

He hasn't the courage to pull the trigger.

Here...

go ahead, shoot.

See what I mean?

You're a fanatic, all right, Jennings, but you're not a very good fanatic.

I'm grateful for your interference, sir.

Dead you would have won, Horne.

You'd have been a martyr for all those who think the same twisted way you do.

But alive?

But alive you're gonna be beaten.

- By Alex Jennings? - By Jerome Horne.

Oh, you're desperate now, Horne.

You're taking bigger and bolder steps to stop me.

One step is gonna be too big, too bold.

Then you're gonna fall...

and fall hard.

Jennings' folly.

What's that?

You must be a stranger here.

Alex Jennings wants to build a five-mile long railroad tunnel...

into the Comstock Lode to cart the ore out and ventilate the mines.

He should ventilate his brains first.

- Jennings is the kind, Mr... - Maverick.

Jerome Horne.

Jennings is the kind who shows up...

after all the backbreaking work and hard labor...

of building railroads and digging mines is done...

and then he wants to tell you how things should be from here on.

Better working conditions, less danger.

If we'd listen to his kind, there wouldn't be any working conditions to worry about.

We wouldn't have dug any mines in the first place.

You going this way, Mr. Maverick?

I'm afraid so.

I couldn't get in the club.

Members and friends of members only.

You're a friend of a member now.

I was hoping it'd work out that way.

- It's all right, Tom. He's with me. - All right, Mr. Horne.

Thank you.

Around this table, Mr. Maverick...

we have some of the finest gentlemen in Virginia City.

Mr. Willard Newton, rancher...

Mr. Alfred Clay, gold mining...

Mr. Stewart Kennedy, silver...

Mr. John Bordeen, my partner in railroading.

Gentlemen, Mr. Bret Maverick.

Poker player.

Good luck, Mr. Maverick.

And good night again, gentlemen.

Chips are $50 a piece, Mr. Maverick, minimum buy $2000.

Don't mind Bordeen, Mr. Maverick. He gets a little touchy when he's losing.

Your two hundred, Mr. Maverick, and a thousand bet.

Out.

Call.

Fold.

Three nines, Mr. Maverick.

Small straight, Mr. Bordeen.

I owe you $5000, Mr. Maverick. I'd like a chance to get even.

Game isn't over, is it?

It is for me. I've got some work to do in my office.

I have a proposition I'd like to make to you.

A $5000 bet.

- On one hand? - One cut.

I say for $5000...

I can cut the ace of spades with one try.

- Do I get to shuffle? - As much as you want.

Well, do we have a bet?

Double or nothing?

Double or nothing.

Those are pretty attractive odds, Mr. Bordeen.

One chance to cut the ace of spades, correct, Mr. Maverick?

Correct, Mr. Bordeen.

I believe I have cut the ace of spades, Mr. Maverick.

I now owe you nothing.

I'm afraid you're mistaken, Mr. Bordeen.

You now owe me $10,000.

Looks like he beats you...

- at your own game, John. - Shut up.

You can have your money in my office in one hour.

You've seen that trick before, Mr. Maverick.

No, just that kind of trickster.

This is my profession, gentlemen.

Hard to understand...

losing $10,000 to Bordeen...

is no more than losing $10 is to most people.

He's that rich.

Some men can't stand to lose ten cents, Mr. Kennedy...

no matter how rich they are.

Come in.

- Yes, sir. - I have an appointment to see Mr. Bordeen.

- Oh, uh, Mr. Maverick. - That's right.

Go right in, uh, Mr. Maverick. Mr. Bordeen is expecting you.

Uh, more ink.

Close the door.

- Your manners are bad, Maverick. - How can you tell?

You had your back to me.

I have a feeling, we're not fond of each other, Mr. Bordeen.

I suggest we get this over with as fast as possible.

Fine. I'm not gonna pay you. Goodbye, Mr. Maverick.

That's a little too fast.

You owe me $10,000. I want it.

Anybody who can palm an ace of spades like you did, Maverick, is a cardsharp.

And I don't pay off to cardsharps. Now get out.

A long time ago, Mr. Bordeen, I decided that a gambling debt...

wasn't ever important enough to kill a man over.

I decided that welchers are people to feel sorry for...

that the pressure that made them crawl so low...

must have been worse than anything I could do to them.

So I let it go at that, marked it off to profit and loss.

But you don't get off that easy.

No, sir.

Every time your name comes up, Mr. Bordeen...

every place I go, I'm gonna tell this little story...

about how the millionaire railroad-builder...

didn't actually lose $10,000 to the stranger after all.

Why not?

Because he didn't pay the stranger what he owed him.

You wouldn't dare.

Like to bet another 10,000 on that?

He's dead. You better get the sheriff.

I'll get him myself.

The sheriff had gone home for the night...

and the name John Bordeen was too big for the deputy.

So the sheriff's home was the next stop.

That helps a little. I wake up kind of slowly.

- I wouldn't get too upset, Mr., uh... - Maverick.

Yeah. If things went like you said, it shouldn't go bad for you.

I believe it's customary to knock before entering, gentlemen.

Oh, excuse me, sheriff, I didn't recognize you. Good evening.

Don't you recognize me?

This is the man who shot Mr. Bordeen.

Right in there about two hours ago.

Come on, sheriff, see for yourself.

This is what I'm talking about.

What's the joke?

It happened just like I told you, sheriff.

No, wait, he shot at me.

The bullets ought to be in that door.

It should be about right in here.

I can't arrest you for murder...

but I can arrest you on quite a few other charges.

The clerk out there, he spilled ink when I came in.

Don't tell me no ink.

Either you've had too much to drink or not enough.

Now, clear out of here.

You try to collect a debt...

the man welches, pulls a gun, you shoot him first...

the sheriff investigates, and finds absolutely nothing.

What do you do? You forget it? You can't.

You are out $10,000. All right, where do you begin?

The clerk without ink on his hands, where else?

Getting a line on the clerk took less than an hour.

He didn't look, think or act like most people in Virginia City.

His name was Venner and he lived in a lodging house on Taylor Street.

I wonder if you could help me, ma'am. I'm trying to find a Mr. Venner.

He's dead.

What?

Struck down by a wagon.

Thank you, ma'am.

To begin with, Mr. Maverick, I've already heard your fantastic story...

about killing my partner.

It happened, Mr. Horne, exactly as I told the sheriff it did.

It couldn't have.

My partner is standing right out there now.

Hello, Mr. Maverick.

I don't believe we've met.

This is the man you played poker with last night.

The man who owes me $10,000?

I'm, uh, sorry I was so rude last night, Mr. Maverick.

Well, I'm sorry I killed you.

I prefer you don't persist in telling that story, Maverick.

- Good day, Mr. Horne. - Good day, Mr. Maverick.

- Mister, uh... - Bordeen.

Of course.

What to do about Maverick?

Depends on what he does.

Follow him.

What about him?

He'll behave.

Won't you?

- I don't like this. - You will.

Be patient.

Nobody likes being a millionaire at first.

Half my problem was solved now.

I had my $10,000.

Solving the other half suddenly didn't seem too important.

Suppose I did prove I'd killed Bordeen...

I'd still have to prove that I'd done it in self-defense.

Uh-uh! No percentage.

A trip to San Francisco suddenly seemed like a better idea.

An hour later, I had my ticket...

and nothing to do till the stage left the next morning.

Mr. Maverick?

Hello.

Hello.

I'm Jane Vaughn.

Heh, I'm not very flattered either.

- I've got the worst memory in the world. - Heh.

That's all right. I'm not being very fair. We only met once, just for a few minutes.

Club in New Orleans.

- Of course, the Jambalaya Club. - Yes, that's right.

- It certainly took me long enough. - Heh.

Well, nice seeing you again, Mr. Maverick.

Well, no, wait.

- I'll walk along with you, if I may. - Well, I'm just going back to my hotel.

I won't be keeping you, will I?

No, no.

I don't have anything to do till tomorrow morning's stage leaves for San Francisco.

Still trying to place me?

No, I'm trying to place who you were with when we met.

Oh, he was a very handsome gentleman.

Husband?

Uh-uh. Brother.

- Miss Vaughn. - Mr. Maverick.

It's a lovely day today. I have nothing to do. I'd like you to join me.

Doing nothing?

How about a ride in the country, a picnic lunch, champagne?

- Mr. Maverick? - Yes, Miss Vaughn.

I accept.

- Jane? - Mm-hm?

Why did you talk to me on the street today?

Well, I always talk to my old friends.

How could we be old friends if we've never met before?

But we have met.

At the Jambalaya Club?

- Yes, that's right. - No, it isn't.

I made that up.

Why?

Because I knew you were lying about knowing me.

How?

Your face.

It's too pretty to forget.

If I'd ever met you before, I'd have remembered you.

And why didn't you say something about it at the time?

What's your real name?

Ellen.

Ellen what?

Ellen Bordeen.

John Bordeen's daughter?

Niece. Ralph Bordeen is my father.

So John Bordeen has a brother.

Yes.

Have you seen him, Mr. Maverick? Do you know where my father is?

I think so.

But why did you wanna get together with me?

Well, I heard the story that you claimed to have shot John Bordeen.

So?

- So it was someplace to start. - Start what?

Mr. Maverick, my father and I live on a small ranch...

just outside of Carson City.

Well, I was away for a few days, and when I got back, my father was gone.

No note, no message, nothing.

Suitcase was gone and some of his clothes.

Mr. Maverick, my father is a timid man.

In five years, he hasn't been five miles away from that ranch.

He never does anything without talking to me first.

I'm all he has.

Why did you come to Virginia City?

Well, I wanted to see if my uncle knew anything about it.

- John Bordeen? - Yes.

But I couldn't find him.

And then I heard that you had claimed to have killed John Bordeen.

Did you, Mr. Maverick?

In self-defense.

I'm sorry.

Don't be on my account.

I hated my Uncle John.

Treated my father like dirt, worse.

About 20 years ago, he cheated him out of a gold claim.

That gold claim was the start of John Bordeen.

I don't think my father ever got over it.

So I thought there might be some connection.

Do you think there is?

I don't know.

- But I do know where your father is. - Where?

Out at Horne's ranch, posing as your late Uncle John.

Why? Why would he do a thing like that?

Are you sure of what you're talking about?

Did you see my father? Did you talk with him?

Today.

John Bordeen died owing me $10,000.

I wanted my money.

Your father paid me off...

and tried to make me believe that he was the man I'd killed.

But why should he pretend to be a man he hated?

For some reason, Jerome Horne doesn't want it known that his partner is dead.

What reason?

Mr. Maverick...

if my father is posing as John Bordeen, he's doing it against his will.

- Possibly. - Probably.

But what can I do about it?

Go to the sheriff, I guess.

No.

Sheriff was put into office by Jerome Horne.

Will you help me?

No, ma'am.

Not very noble, are you?

No, ma'am.

- Because you have your $10,000? - Yes, ma'am.

Well, I guess we better get...

You didn't like the picnic.

Mr. Maverick, I'm going to take your $10,000...

and I'm going to keep it until you find out for me...

why Jerome Horne is using my father.

I can work from there myself.

Do you really think you can force me to help you?

I'm going to try.

I mean business, Mr. Maverick.

Can you hit what's left?

Let's talk business.

There's nothing to talk about.

You just give me the money.

When you find out what I wanna know, you'll get it back. It's that simple.

No, not so simple.

What if I won't give you the money?

Then I'll kill you.

And do what about getting the information you want?

I'll still have your $10,000.

So I'll use it to hire someone to do the work for me.

- You sound determined. - I am.

I love my father, and in a way, you're responsible for everything that's happened.

So I feel very righteous about forcing you to help me.

Now, put the money on the seat.

Yes, ma'am.

Move over there.

Yes, ma'am.

I'll leave your gun on the road.

Goodbye, Mr. Maverick.

All right, you didn't hide the money in your room.

The clerk didn't put it in the safe. That leaves you, personally.

Come near me and I'm gonna scream.

If I don't get my money, I'll scream louder.

Now, don't you dare. Don't you dare come near me. All right.

All right, I'll give you back your money.

It's in the bureau.

I looked in the bureau. I turned every drawer inside out.

It's not in a drawer. It's under one. It's glued to the bottom one.

It's all there.

I gave up.

After you slugged me?

I didn't like slugging you.

You poor girl. Now, what's the real reason?

Well, I guess I misjudged you.

You work on your own terms.

If I take your money away from you, well, you go after the money...

instead of what I want you to go after to get the money.

It was my mistake and I'm sorry.

Oh, and I'm so sorry I did that.

That's all?

I think we're in business.

You mean you'll help me? You'll go out to the ranch after my father?

When I find out more about why Horne is using your father.

You know, you're funny, Bret.

What you won't do for $10,000, you will do for nothing.

You're rather impulsive.

For a start, for some proof that I was telling the truth...

about the gunfight with Bordeen...

I headed back discreetly...

to the Horne-Bordeen Holding Company office.

The door where Bordeen's bullets had gone was something to go on.

They hadn't had time to repair the door before I'd returned with the sheriff.

But they had had time to switch the door with another one.

So far so good.

The hinges had been worked on recently.

The problem was simple now, find the original door.

It was in one of the rooms in the building.

How many rooms were there?

Then again, maybe, it was right in this room.

There it was, buried in what was now the closet door.

You're gonna burn your fingers. Hold it.

Turn around.

Drop your gun belt.

Kick it over here.

Do you know, for a while there...

I really thought you were gonna go to San Francisco.

So did I, for a while.

You should have.

You all right, Mr. Maverick?

I'm fine, thanks to you... Mr. Jennings, was it?

Alex Jennings.

I am not used to these.

You did fine, Mr. Jennings.

But what were you doing here in the first place?

You following him?

No, I was following you, then I saw him.

His name is Norman Brock.

He works for Horne and Bordeen.

Kills for them, I should say.

Well, what were you doing following me?

I wanna talk to you, Mr. Maverick...

about you having shot John Bordeen.

- Is that true? - Yeah.

Can we go somewhere and talk? My place?

It's very important to me, Mr. Maverick.

It might be important to me too, Mr. Jennings.

Now, this is the Comstock Lode.

The heat comes from these boiling, underground springs.

The gases rise over here.

Now, my tunnel will be a means of drawing off water and gases alike...

reducing the temperature to close to normal surface temperature...

and eliminating the gases almost entirely.

Fresh, cool air, Mr. Maverick.

Safety.

How long is the tunnel now?

Twenty-one thousand three hundred and seven feet.

A little over four miles.

A hundred and eighty-seven feet over as of tonight.

Mr. Maverick, there is no little when you dig a tunnel.

Every inch counts after 16 years.

Sixteen years?

It should've taken only four, but for Horne and Bordeen...

they have fought me right from the start...

stopped me wherever they could.

At the banks, in the courts, even in the congress of the United States.

They have made me a figure of public ridicule.

Jennings' Folly is the name my tunnel goes by...

and the names for me are worse.

But why?

How does the tunnel hurt them?

Their railroad.

They make their money carting the ore out of the mines, into the refineries.

And the tunnel will make it a short haul?

One-tenth of the distance, Mr. Maverick.

That is the reason I started this tunnel.

It was a railroad first, a means of ventilation second.

Now, it's the other way around?

It has been for the past seven years.

Mr. Maverick...

these are medical histories of over 400 men, miners...

who died working in the Comstock Lode.

Each death can be directly attributed either to the gas in the mine, or the heat.

Doesn't the public know about this?

The public only knows what Horne and Bordeen want them to know.

Mr. Maverick, did you shoot John Bordeen as you've said?

Mm-hm.

But I heard that when you went back to the office his body wasn't there anymore.

That's right.

They don't want Bordeen's death known.

- Why? - There's only one reason I can think of.

Horne and Bordeen are in great financial trouble.

I know they've spent a fortune fighting me.

That must be it.

What does have to do with Horne covering up Bordeen's death?

The courts, Mr. Maverick.

Bordeen's death will throw their partnership into probate for the heirs.

The company's records would have to be made public.

The creditors might panic, demand their money, foreclose.

This could mean the end of them.

You could be right.

Bordeen's brother is posing as Bordeen right now.

What?

Why, then I am right.

Do you know what that means to me, Mr. Maverick?

It means that at last I've got Horne on the run.

You will help me, won't you, when it comes time to expose Horne?

Well, let's say I won't stand in your way.

Mixing in other people's business isn't my profession, Mr. Jennings.

Sometimes we can't stay out of other people's business, can we, Mr. Maverick?

We can try.

Good night, Mr. Jennings.

Good night, Mr. Maverick.

Howdy. MAN: Howdy.

Fence posts.

Fence posts? I got no instructions for fence posts.

- Where are you from? - Colride Lumber.

Never heard of them.

- Where are your shipping orders? - In back with the fence posts.

- Let's have a look at it. - All right, I'll show it to you.

Well, open it up.

Get inside, mister.

Father! Oh!

Are you all right? I was afraid something terrible happened.

No, no. I'm fine, just fine, my dear.

- Mr. Bordeen? - Mr. Maverick.

Mr. Maverick got us here in a wagon.

- We can get out the same way. Come on. - Hold on. Why do we wanna get out?

You're being held a prisoner here, aren't you?

I was.

You're not now?

Doesn't Horne wanna pass you off as your brother anymore?

Oh, yes, by all means.

But I no longer object.

- But why not? - Why should I?

What's wrong with being John Bordeen, millionaire partner of Jerome Horne?

I rather like the idea.

Your father is a timid man?

From Havana, Cuba.

Father, you want to be John Bordeen, right?

Why not, Ellen? John Bordeen has money...

jewelry, elegant surroundings.

I was just writing you about it when you came in, Ellen...

to ask you to join me here and share in this life with me.

What did Ralph Bordeen ever have?

Poverty.

Doing without for a lifetime hasn't been pleasant, especially when I did without...

because my own brother cheated me out of what should've been mine.

I have never known one moment of gracious living, Ellen...

nor your mother...

nor you.

You see what I'm getting at, don't you?

She's way ahead of you.

Well, why not?

Why shouldn't he have a little luxury, and a little comfort, and a few riches?

Well, there's always the gout.

Tsk. Don't mind Mr. Maverick, Father.

He's just upset about somebody named Jennings...

who wants to build a tunnel, or something.

I'll get over it.

You know, Father, I think you're right.

I think we have a very lovely life ahead of us.

You'll forgive me if it takes a while to

get adjusted to being a rich man's daughter.

Niece.

The price tag is on the bottom.

Tsk. Don't be a spoilsport, Bret.

I wouldn't think of it. Goodbye, Ellen, Mr. Bordeen.

Where are you going?

The wagon. I rented it by the hour.

Oh, stop it.

Now, why shouldn't Father get everything he can out of this?

It was Uncle John that cheated him out of the claim in the first place.

I didn't say a word.

I know what you're thinking:

"Poor Mr. Jennings!"

Well, I never stood in his way, neither did Father.

Let him build all the tunnels he wants to. Why blame us?

- I'm not blaming anybody. - Well, then, where are you going?

No place.

I hoped we weren't gonna meet again.

Imagine how I feel.

- Take him out. - No, leave him alone.

I've been listening to you from outside, Ellen.

You're obviously interested in the finer things in life.

They're not free, you know.

Well, the price better not be too high, Mr. Horne.

If you kill him, you'll get no cooperation from me.

Mr. Maverick tried to help me, us.

Can't end this way, we're not murderers.

No harm must come to my daughter, gentlemen.

- Suggestion? - Go ahead.

Why all this talk about what to do with Maverick?

Let him go. He can't hurt you.

- He can ruin everything... - Be quiet.

Go ahead.

No one believed me when I said I killed John Bordeen.

Why should they start believing me now...

when I say that John Bordeen's brother is taking his place?

They might stop laughing and start getting nasty.

After all, Mr. Horne, you, John Bordeen's partner...

swear that this is John Bordeen.

And you, his niece, tell the same story.

Who's gonna believe me? Alex Jennings?

So why should I make the effort? That's my point.

- Where will you go from here? - San Francisco.

The sooner the better.

Well, you're not the most grateful of men. I just saved your life.

You also got rid of a bad conscience.

Goodbye, Ellen. Happy money.

Don't let him disturb you, Ellen.

He doesn't.

My pappy had it right.

Stick your nose in other people's business, and you'll get it bent.

My business is gambling.

Jennings' is building tunnels, and that's that.

All set, folks, you can get aboard now.

What was that?

- It was a gas explosion. - How do you know?

Well, I was in one of these once, mister. Come on, they'll need every one of us.

How about you? We need all the help we can get.

Let's go, friend. It's brawn we need.

- No, I'm going to San Francisco. - Yeah, later.

- No, wait, you don't understand. - Come on, everybody helps.

Stretcher.

Mr. Maverick.

It's a pretty hot little mine you got here, Mr. Jennings.

Looks like I was right, Mr. Maverick.

About it sometimes being hard to stay out of other people's business.

No, nonsense.

I was just doing this for the exercise.

Hello, Bret. How do you feel?

Surprised.

- What are you doing here? - Worrying about you.

Why? Something go wrong with your inheritance?

Everything.

Spare me the details. I'm not interested.

Yes, you are.

I'm on your side, Bret. Jennings' side.

Well, don't make it any worse for me. I don't like what I'm doing...

and I don't like to give up what I'm giving up.

But when I heard you'd volunteered to risk your life...

by going into the mine, well, everything changed for me.

Volunteered?

Don't try to deny it.

I was out shopping when I heard all about it...

looking at silk dresses.

Suddenly, I felt so ashamed.

Now that I have seen all this, Bret, I could never go back.

A hundred men were killed here, just blown to bits in one horrible second.

I can't stand in Jennings' way.

Are you sure?

All this won't look so grim by morning.

It'll look grim to me a hundred mornings from now.

What about your farm in Carson City?

How will that look in the light of day?

Beautiful.

I was just checking.

I'm really grateful to you, Bret.

You know, if you hadn't volunteered to go down into the mine...

I might never have taken a second look at things.

- What is it, Bret? Are you all right? - I'm fine, fine.

- Wait a minute. I'll go get a doctor. - No, no. It's nothing.

Are you sure?

Positive.

Somebody need a doctor over there?

No, no, everything is all right.

- Here, here, let me help you. - Oh, thanks.

Oh, heh.

Say...

how about your father? Does he know you've changed sides?

Mm-mm.

We're gonna have to go rescue him again.

- Pshoo. - Bret, are you sure you're all right?

Oh, I'm weak as a kitten.

I think you'll make it to my carriage, kitten.

Hold it.

You left your carriage in a very convenient place, Miss Bordeen.

There's a barn over there.

What happens there?

Mr. Horne's gone through a lot of expense...

over this John Bordeen business, Mr. Maverick.

It can't all come to nothing...

just because the little lady there suffered a change of heart.

Move.

That's far enough.

When I say Horne, you faint.

Turn around.

You know, you're making one mistake, Brock.

What's Ralph Bordeen going to say?

How cooperative is he going to be when he finds out you shot his daughter?

He'll never find out.

You're both gonna die accidentally.

With bullets?

From a carriage accident.

You were running away together.

Your carriage lost a wheel, went over the cliff.

Clever.

Whose idea was that?

Yours or Horne's?

You can get up now.

Ellen?

- Hey, Ellen. - Mm.

I guess I should have said, "Pretend to faint."

- Is everything...? - Everything is fine.

- You're not gonna faint again, are you? - Heh.

No.

No, not if you keep talking to me, I won't.

About what?

Oh, I don't know.

Tell me about a picnic you're gonna take me on.

Okay, a picnic it is.

As soon as we take care of Mr. Horne.

The first thing we're gonna have is...?

- Champagne. - Sunshine.

And there'll be no gunplay whatsoever.

It'll just be the two of us and the ants.

Five days later, a lot of changes have been made in Virginia City.

Ralph Bordeen had been rescued again.

Jerome Horne was on trial for murder...

and Alex Jennings had gone to Washington...

at the invitation of the U.S. Congress.

And Ellen and I...

were finally able to keep our appointment with the ants.

Bless you.

Thanks.