Original subtitles

[ explosion ]

Oh. You see that?

I told you he could do it.

Brother Ben knows what he's doing

when it comes to powder.

You sure that hole in the crossing

will stop a stagecoach?

They'll be coming in slow, one wheel's bound to slide.

It'll stop them.

Way Ben's got that fixed,

they're gonna be sitting on that strongbox

like, like ducks in a lake.

I thought we agreed not to use any of that.

If you did your job right, we won't.

Well, Laird, you don't have to worry about that.

That don't make no difference. Ben here ain't no quitter.

Never mind what I am!

Too late to back out now.

Ho!

Mama, you were right.

That is Pa's horse.

Maybe I'm a better tracker than you thought, hmm?

I'll say. That's old Danny all right.

But nobody's here.

Well, Ben will be back for his mount,

you can be sure of that.

Maybe he found work.

The man in Laramie said

he'd been asking for a job around town.

Well, we just pray that he did.

Before we do any praying,

we'd better feed and water this team.

It's a wonder they made it this far.

I'll see if there's water in that old well.

Wait, Kathy, I think I better do that.

That well may be dry.

You start to unhitch.

All right.

We'll probably be here a spell.

You can rest yourselves now.

Feed and water are coming.

Easy now.

Mama!

Mama!

Mama!

Mama!

I'm going for help, Mama!

Giddyup!

That as fast as those nags go, Slim?

They can serve you dust for dinner.

Come on, Jimmy! Come on, Rusty!

Ha!

Come on!

Come on, boy!

All right, giddyup! Let's go!

Right around, Slim!

Come on, Rusty, go, boy!

Ha! Get him!

Those lamp chimneys in the back,

they'll all be smashed.

Ooh, boy, ooh.

Aw, they beat us.

Couldn't be helped, Mike.

We got breakables back there.

Well, I'm sorry to spoil your fun.

But when heaven does call,

I want to get there all in one piece.

If there'd been people in that coach,

they wouldn't have been able to sit down for a week.

Ah, just a payroll shipment.

And those wheels are gonna be shooting sparks all the way.

Wish I could have been riding with them.

Whoa!

Stop please, I need help!

Ho!

Ho! Stop, mister, please!

Ooh-ooh.

What's the matter?

We've got to hurry, mister.

The well caved in.

My mother, she went down with it.

We've got to hurry, please!

Well, wait, slow down.

We'll help you but where did all this happen?

At a burnt farm, up that way.

Sounds like Burnt Ranch.

What were you and your mother doing out there?

Waiting for Pa.

We've got to hurry, mister.

Please, I'll show you the way.

Well, I think it'd be hard for us

to keep up with this sprinter,

so you ride in the wagon, I'll tie him on the side, okay?

Now don't you worry, dear.

Slim will get us there just as soon as he can.

That's Mr. Sherman and this is Mike Williams

and I am Mrs. Cooper.

Hello.

Now you sit over here, dear.

Make room.

What's your name?

Kathy, ma'am.

Kathy Frances.Oh.

Slim, I think we've got to forget

about those lamp chimneys in the back.

All right. Hang on!

Come on, boy! Giddyup! Come on!

Hoo!

Hoo!

Ho-ho-ho, stop!

Oh!

Get up in there!

Hold it!

No call for that.

Get up there and get the money.

[ gunshot ]

Now throw it down!

Come on, clear out!

If you want to stay, it'll be with a slug in you.

[ gunshots ]

Mrs. Frances?

Mrs. Frances!

Daisy.

Stay back here.

Don't get much closer,

the dirt's falling in all around the edges.

What do you think her chances are?

I don't know.

That well is not deep, probably dry

but the way it was dug in this loose dirt

makes it kind of tricky.

That's why they shored up the sides with those boards.

I don't want to give anybody any false hopes.

What am I gonna tell her?

There must be something we can do.

Not much alone.

One wrong move and this whole thing

would cave in right on top of her.

We're gonna have to stay back from the edges

and build something over the top.

Will you go for help?

Of course.Good.

Now you head into town, get the sheriff

and any other man you can get to come out here.

We're gonna need heavy timber, rope, and some tools--

Aren't you going to do anything, Mr. Sherman?

Listen, Kathy, you wouldn't want us

to do anything wrong, would you?

All right, now if we move too fast,

we might make things worse than they are.

Mrs. Cooper's gonna go into town, get us some help.

Hold it right there.

Nobody is going anywhere.

Drop that gun belt.

Your left hand!

Pa!

What's your kid doing here, Ben?

I-- I don't know.

You better find out and quick.

We got no time to waste on anybody.

Kick that gun belt over here.

Jack, bring those horses in!

Get those other horses ready to travel.

Ben, what's that kid doing here?

Have I got a crystal ball or something?

Give me a chance to ask her.

Easy does it, Kathy.

Easy does it.

Oh, Pa, I'm so glad you came back.

Honey, please, please don't cry.

Please don't, everything is all right.

But what are you doing here?

We followed you to Laramie.

The man at the livery said

you'd been there looking for work.

Oh, Pa, you got to--

Honey, now hold on.

Why did you come here?

Ma was able to trail you.

She remembered that one of old Danny's horseshoes

had a nick in it.

She saw his tracks on the road but then she--

Honey, why did you leave home?

The sheriff said we didn't pay our bills.

The sheriff?

So we couldn't live there anymore.

Oh, I'm too late.

All this for nothing.

No, you're not, Pa.

Mama needs you bad, she's hurt.

She's hurt?

What do you mean Mama's hurt?

Where is she?

She's been trying to tell you.

Your wife went to get some water.

Top of the well caved in, took her with it.

Wouldn't get too close.

The rest could cave in real easy.

Now what kind of a mess have you got us into?

Jack, get over here!

I knew I was wrong letting you in on this.

Your big brother's dragging his heels again.

I say we should cut loose from him right now.

Take it easy on him, Laird.

He hasn't done bad by us up to now.

Now, Ben, we got to keep riding.

You don't understand!

She's fallen in that well, it's Norma!

Well, that's a tough break for her,

but she's your problem not mine.

We've wasted enough time around here as it is.

Now look, I don't care what kind of a hurry you're in.

There's a woman hurt down there

and we're gonna need every man we can get to bring her out.

You talk too much, cowboy.

Maybe a bullet in the leg will shut you up.

Ben!Laird!

[ grunting ]

[ gunshot ]

Sorry, mister, but I can't take a chance.

Now back off, come on.

If you think you're helping your wife out this way,

you better think again.

All right, Jack, come on, get over there.

We'll get Norma out, I'm just making sure of it.

Well, you thickheaded clod,

you're just making sure the law will catch us,

that's all you're doing!

Ben, when are you gonna start thinking?

Figure it out, she's probably not even alive by now.

That's enough of that.

If you had any sense,

you'd let Mrs. Cooper go into town

and get us some help.

Don't you listen to him.

Look, there'll be a posse after us

as soon as somebody finds that coach we knocked over.

They might be on their way in here right now.

You shut up and let me think!

What stage are you talking about?

The Laramie run?

Ben, Ben, will you listen to me just for once?

Now you've been tied to that woman

and that kid for just too long.

Now we planned this, we planned it perfectly.

We got extra horses, we got guns

and we got a good head start.

We've got the money now,

so come on, Ben, let's get going!

I want to know what stage you're talking about.

Go on, tell him, then he'll be sure to help you.

There was a stage out on Laramie, mister.

Ben helped us take care of the guard and the driver.

That's a lie, you shot him.

I didn't want any part of that!

Well, either way he's gonna be sure

that you get nailed for it, sooner or later.

You better not throw in with him, Ben.

I'm not throwing in with anybody!

You can't get her out alone.

NORMA: Kathy?

Hey, listen.

Kathy!

Help me!

Now do you want to stand here and argue some more?

Or you want to save her life?

Oh, Pa, I don't care what you've done.

You've got to get her out.

You've just got to.

Kathy, I swear I'll do everything I can.

Well, you better start getting busy.

Dark is setting in, won't make the job any easier.

Just how much help can I expect from you?

All the help you need to get her out.

Afterwards it's something else.

That doesn't seem too important right now.

Well, what's first?

I think we ought to try to talk to her,

see how she is

and see what we're gonna have to face down there.

Well, you better do it.

I don't think either one of us will live very long

if I took my eye off of him.

And if every time I turn around

I find myself looking down that gun barrel,

I'm not gonna get much done!

Mr. Sherman's gonna help us, Pa.

He wont' hurt us.

Honest he won't.

I think it'd be better off all the way around

if Mrs. Cooper would take Kathy and Mike inside.

Kathy, come here.

Mrs. Frances?

Can you hear me, Mrs. Frances?

Yes.

Can you move at all?

Only a little.

My legs are caught.

There's...

something over me, some...

some boards.

We're going to get you out.

It might take a little time,

we don't want the rest to cave in on you.

Please hurry.

We will.

We'll do all we can.

Is Kathy all right?

Yes, she's fine.

She brought us out here.

Tell her...

Mrs. Frances?

Mrs. Frances!

She must have passed out again.

What do we do?

We're gonna have to build some sort of a platform

back from the edges and over that shaft.

There might be some heavy timber left in that barn.

Sherman, you give the order

and I'll see they carry them out.

You're a hard man to figure.

Just what do you want most, your wife or that money?

I want both, Sherman.

If it hadn't been for she and Kathy,

I wouldn't have gone after this.

I figured I owed them something.

They were always having to do without things.

All the things that a woman or child should have,

I wasn't able to give them.

So you're willing to take something that isn't yours?

Yeah.

You think it's still worth it?

Yeah.

Kathy, you know what they say about a watched pot?

Yes, ma'am, but this one's been boiling.

I've been watching it all the time.

I've been too scared to look outside.

Now they're doing a fine job.

You just leave it to Slim and your pa.

He's not my pa, he's my step pa.

He's being going around with those bad men.

Kathy, sometimes people do wrong things

just to stay alive or to protect those they love.

Doesn't make it right but at least you can understand

why they do it.

But Ma told him to stay away from Uncle Jack, I heard her.

She said he wasn't to come back

if he rode off with him again.

Shove it this way.

Look, you better try to take him soon,

it's the only chance we got.

Well, I can't do it while he's watching me.

He won't shoot his own brother, now get to it.

Ben, you got to start listening to reason.

The more you talk, the more time we waste.

Ben, we're wasting time now, now let's get--

Now you hold it right there!

Kathy, help me!

[ grunting ]

Ben.

All right, it's enough of that.

Get up!

Go on, get up, get over there.

I ought to kill you for this.

You'd probably kill for less.

Norma!Drop him!

Pull that trigger again,

you're liable to lose the last chance

you've got to get that payroll.

That money is going to be just as hard

to get out of there as that woman.

So you better hang on to all the help you can get.

Come on, Slim told us to look for that old pulley.

Why aren't they getting Mama out?

All they do is fight and talk, then fight some more.

I don't know.

Grownups are hard to figure sometimes.

Kathy.

Kathy!

What's the matter?

I thought I heard Mama.

I didn't hear anything.

You'd better not go over there.

Let me go, she needs me!

You'll just make it worse, now come on!

Let me go!

I'm sorry, but you're acting plain silly.

You're right, Mike,

I was, but I don't know what I'd do

if anything happened to her.

I do.

Huh?

What do you mean?

You'd go on living and somehow you'd get by too.

What do you know about it?

Enough.

My ma and pa was killed by Indians,

and I saw it happen.

But I'm making it all right, now.

Golly, I didn't know.

Daisy said they'd want me to do my best

and I bet you your mom would too.

She would.

That's just what she'd say.

Then let's quit all this talking and get back to work.

Them kids are all right out there,

they're still trying to find one of the pulleys.

Another one of Sherman's big ideas.

Now look, they probably had a pulley up there

in the hay loft, and if they can find it,

we could sure use it.

Well, you better hope they find it quick

because you're going down in that well, Sherman,

one way or another and sending the money up to us.

Just why does it have to be Slim?

I'll tell you why, lady, because I said so.

I beg your pardon.

I shouldn't have expected an intelligent answer from you.

Tell you what, grandma,

you can go down in his place, how's that?

Any place would be preferable to staying here with you.

Save your breath, Daisy.

He doesn't understand anything

except what comes out of that gun barrel.

You want some of it?

Just keep talking.

That gun is not going to do you any more good now.

The fact is you're not any better off than I am.

What are you getting at?

I'll lay it out plain and simple.

As long as I'm the one that's going down that hole,

I'm the one to say who's coming out first.

And that's going to be the woman.

Is that right now?

Well, then maybe I'll have to pick somebody else.

Laird. Laird, listen to me, what difference does it make?

All we want to do is get our horses

and get out of here before the law gets here

and it's a sure thing that Ben ain't gonna leave

before he helps his wife.

Why don't you quit trying to feed a dead horse?

What he's done cancels him out for good.

We need Ben. We got to have him.

Forget it! That's the way it's gonna be.

As soon as she finishes patching them up,

bring him out.

If you slip up once more,

you and me ain't gonna have much to talk about.

Let's go, Sherman.

Slim, will you see about Mike and Kathy?

I'll send them in, Daisy.

Ben,

Ben, you got to go with us.

You don't want to hang around here with Norma and that kid,

they're only going to be a weight around your neck.

You've been trying to break Norma and me up

ever since we got married, haven't you?

Oh, no, Ben, that ain't right.

I always did that for your own good.

Ben, don't you remember how it used to be,

you and me riding together?

Well, that's when things were right.

Oh, were they?

Seems to me I was looking after you so much,

I never had much time for myself.

Well, I've changed, Ben,

I've changed a lot.

You've got Laird, you don't need me.

I need you, Ben, he's a hard man.

I don't trust him and you know as well as I do,

I can't handle him.

Is that why you got me into this?

So I could stand up to him for you?

Now that ain't fair, Ben.

You needed money, you knew that.

I was just trying to help.

There, that's all that I can do for you, Mr. Frances.

I'd go easy on that arm if I were you.

The bullet tore those muscles pretty badly.

Yes, ma'am, thank you.

Mr. Frances.

Yes, ma'am?

There are a lot of other things

that can hold you back even worse than an injured arm.

Pretty hard to win your own battles.

Yes, ma'am.

I'm afraid you're right.

Thank you.

Ben.

Well, hello, kitten.

You sure got a dirty face.

Well, Ben, I--

[ door closes ]

That's the best piece of rope we got?

It's all that I can find anywhere near long enough.

I reckon it will get Sherman down there

and bring the money out and that's all I want out of it.

What about the woman? Norma?

I thought you didn't care for her.

Well, I don't but we just can't leave her down there.

Can't we?

You get our horses ready and scatter the rest,

I'll handle things here.

We're losing daylight, hurry it up.

Ben.

How did you end up riding with them?

Well, that's a long story, Sherman,

and everything seemed to go wrong.

No rain, no water in our ranch,

stock took sick, loans came due,

no food, no money, I spent everything

I'd saved trying to keep that fool brother of mine

out of trouble.

What kind of trouble was he in?

Oh, gambling, debts, women, too much liquor.

I bailed him out of jail more than once.

Outfit him, tried to get him straight,

and all of a sudden I had too much trouble of my own.

At least I thought I did.

So he just talked you into the easy way out, huh?

Yeah, I should've known that it wouldn't work.

I'd give anything

if I could trade places with her down there.

All right, hold it, hold it.

That's it.

All right, come on.

All right.

Be ready to pull up the money.

Keep your eye on that Mrs. Cooper and the kids.

All right.

What about it, Sherman?

How is she?

Can you move your legs?

Ugh.

You're all right. Take it easy.

Sherman, you all right?

Yeah, Ben, I'm all right.

She's dazed but conscious.

I got the winch off of her.

Is she hurt bad?

Don't bother with her, Sherman.

Send up the money first.

You wouldn't want anything to happen

to Mrs. Cooper now, would you?

The money, Sherman, and be quick about it.

You've got 1 minute and that's all.

Laird, that Cooper woman, she's gone,

took those kids with her.

Told you watch her. Go find them.

I did watch her.

They must've gone out into the woods somewhere,

no telling where they are now.

Keep your voice down, you want him to hear you?

SLIM: Too late.

I heard all I needed to.

I'm sorry to disappoint you, the woman's coming up first.

All right, Sherman, we'll bring the woman out,

but you tie that money on with her.

If you don't, she'll never make it out of there.

I don't understand.

Isn't Ben up there?

He's up there all right, with two other fellas.

His brother?

That's right.

Ben's in trouble, isn't he?

Let's just worry about your trouble, Mrs. Frances.

We've got to get you out of here.

It's all right, it's working.

They're getting your mother out.

What about Slim?

We can help him most by staying right here.

[ horse neighing ]

You're safe now, Norma.

Laird, don't you think we ought to start riding?

Yeah, just as soon as I make sure

there's nobody left to tag along.

Laird.

Laird, you can't do that.

He's already trapped down there, you can't shoot him.

Then you're trouble, Ben.

You never could do what you had to.

Jack!

Jack, you got to stop him!

He won't stop me, he's not man enough.

Jack!

Makes you proud, huh, Ben?

If you want to stay, I can arrange it.

No, but--

Mount up.

Slim wouldn't ride off, it must be the others.

You're right, Mike.

Slim may need us.

And Mama too.

Yes, now remember, you stay behind me.

Don't come out on the clearing until I call you, understand?

Yes.

Sherman, Sherman, they've gone.

Ben.

Can you give me a rope?

I can try.

Tie it off!

All right, Sherman!

Oh, Slim, you're safe.

Thank heaven, I was so scared.

You weren't the only one scared, Daisy.

I had some worries myself.

Laird do that?

Yeah.

His wife needs looking after, too, Daisy.

I'll go get Mike and Kathy first.

I won't forget what you did, Ben.

[ door opens ]

I found it in the brush where Ben pitched it.

Wouldn't be any point in me going after them without it.

Do you have to?

Nothing for me to do here,

we can't move them with only one horse.

The posse will help you when they show up.

It's getting light outside, the trail will be fresh.

They couldn't have gone far in the dark.

If you do find those men, don't take any chances.

They've run out of chances, Daisy, far as I'm concerned.

[ groans ]

Well, he hasn't missed anyone now, has he?

Never mind, that'll keep.

My brother.

Is Ben all right?

Yeah.

Why did Laird do this?

I wanted to get my share of the money before,

before we went through that swamp.

He gave it to me, right in the back.

The Washakie Swamp?

Yeah.

He figures you couldn't track him

very well through there.

Do you know that swamp?

Well, I ought to.

I pulled more stock out of there than I can count.

[ groans ]

I'll send someone back for you as soon as I can.

Don't bother about me.

You just get Laird.

[ groans ]

All right, hold it, Laird.

Right there!

Now drop that iron real easy.

You're going back to face a judge and a jury,

and I wouldn't mind at all saving them

the time and the trouble.

Sherman, you've got more lives than a polecat.

Look, you and me, we-- we could do all right!

How about half of this loot for a start?

Half of nothing but trouble.

And maybe a slug from Jack's gun you got stuck in your belt.

That's right.

Drop that one, too, twice as easy.

All right, Sherman.

We'll do it your way.

[ gunshots ]

[ quicksand gurgling ]

Sherman, help me!

I don't know how I'll ever be able to thank you

for putting us up until I was able to travel.

I do.

You can write to us and let us know

how you and Kathy are getting on in the east.

And Ben will be out before you know it.

Again thanks to you.

It was your speaking for him that got him a light sentence.

I think there's a lot of worth in Ben.

We all do.

Kathy, you take good care of your mother.

Yes, ma'am.

And you come back and see us, you hear?

Yes, sir.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Goodbye, Kathy.

Well, up we go!

Let her roll.

Hey, Daisy,

you think soap's gonna take that off?

I don't know, Slim.

I've heard of kisses that just stayed on forever.

[ chuckles ]