Original subtitles

Well, there she is, Flint.

Yep.

Eight hundred long miles of nothing but prairie.

Sure isn't Philadelphia, PA.

Takes your breath away.

It's just as I remember it.

Just as it was when I was young.

Nothing ever changes out here, Grandma Bates.

Oh, yes, Charlie.

Something changes.

People.

People change.

I remember what Washington Irving said, and I felt as though I'd closed one volume of

the world and its contents and opened another.

It's unbelievable.

Nothing I've ever read has even begun to prepare me for this.

I want to go home.

Oh, honey, you're scared?

Don't be.

You've seen the world.

Don't be.

We've started on a wonderful new adventure.

I don't like it.

You will.

You will.

Be patient now.

Oh, Tom, how big it is.

Not even a tree.

Scared, honey?

Not with you.

Wagons, pull!

Oh, good evening, Mr. McCullough.

Sure is hot tonight, isn't it?

Yeah, pretty warm.

Good evening, Mrs. Miller.

Mrs. Miller.

Sally.

Oh, my.

I was a million miles away.

You know, your name is Mrs. Miller now and has been for the last 48 hours.

I still can't believe it.

A married woman.

Me.

Happiness is very becoming to you.

Good night.

Three queens.

Take the pot.

That's $57,000 you owe me.

How did you get three queens, Grandma?

You dealt them to me.

$57,000.

And we just started across the prairie.

You're going to owe me about a quarter of a million before we get to California.

No, I won't.

If my luck don't change, I'll get me a marked deck.

Well, if that don't beat all.

Now what, have you got a full house?

Are you opening?

No, I'm folding.

You better watch out for Charlie, Grandma.

Watch out for Charlie, he says.

Grandma's got me cleaned out like an old riverboat gambler.

Well, Hawks is looking for you.

He is?

Yeah.

My goodness.

Well, are you enjoying our first night on the prairie?

Oh, I'm enjoying my memories.

I was a bride when we came through here before.

Why are you making this trip?

I just had to hanker in to see it all again.

You're getting off to a better start than we did.

We crossed the river into the sun.

And the light hit back and blinded our stock.

Oh, we must have lost a hundred head of cattle that day.

How are things up the line?

Quiet.

Women usually don't say much their first night.

At least not out here.

They're getting their first look of what's in store for them.

I wish Mrs. Kirby would keep on playing.

I like music.

We had a piano, too.

But we had to leave it in the middle of the prairie.

It sure was a blessing while we had it.

You know, Mrs. Kirby was asked to leave that piano behind.

She wouldn't hear a word of it.

Mrs. Kirby would go without her food before she'd go without her music.

You know, this is the fourth time I've made this trip.

But to hear the women, I don't know a thing about it.

Mrs. Reynolds was asked to leave three barrels of china behind.

She left the barrels, put the china in with her flour.

Sally Miller is carrying a mirror that she doesn't need.

It must weigh 40 pounds.

What are you smuggling?

Moroccan chair, corncob pipe.

I'm traveling light these days.

What time are we pulling out?

Daybreak.

You know, I don't think I'll ever understand women.

Don't try.

You're a man.

Women are beyond you.

Oh.

You know, you're pretty sassy.

Oh, it's one of the last luxuries I've got left.

Schubert's Serenade.

My, ain't it comforting?

Out here on the very edge of the world.

It survived many a wagon train and many a wilderness scout.

Sheltered gentlewomen.

Most walk across this country with their china and a piano.

They just don't understand what they're up against.

Now, that's where you're wrong.

Why do you suppose women need their Sunday china and a piano?

But you know that we always lose too many.

That's what troubles me.

Who do we lose this trip?

And how?

Screaming.

Coughing.

Thunder.

Keep rolling.

Let him go.

Screaming.

Screaming.

Oh, no.

Oh.

Oh, no.

You mean you're not even going to try to find her?

Mrs. Reynolds, how many times do I have to tell you?

If there was anything I could do, it would have been done.

This time yesterday, Millicent was right here with us.

She was helping me with some sewing.

And now just a few short hours.

I know how you ladies feel, and I'm sorry.

You're a mean, cruel man, Mr. McCullough.

I'll never feel the same about you again.

What would you suggest I do?

Take a party out and hunt for her.

That'd delay the train, risk the lives of everybody on it.

I'm sorry I can't do that.

I hope you'll be able to sleep tonight.

I won't.

Are you sure there's nothing?

Yes, Mrs. Miller, I'm sure.

I'm hoping you'll be able to understand.

I am trying to.

Rock of Ages, cleft for me,

let me hide myself in thee.

Let the water and the blood

from thy wounded side which flowed

be of sin the double cure.

Save from wrath and make me pure.

Could my tears forever flow?

Could my zeal no longer know?

These for sin could not atone.

Thou must save and thou alone.

In thy hand no price I bring.

Simply to thy cross I cling.

You said we didn't know who the strong ones were.

I'm not sure we know yet.

We know.

She's helped them all through the night.

Look at them.

Look at their faces.

I can hear it in their voices.

But tomorrow the prairies will still be there.

Yeah, you can count on that.

And tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow

and already prairie madness threatens us, Mr. McCullough.

All of us.

What is it?

Tarantula there, a tarantula.

What is it?

I got it.

I got it.

It's dead, Clara.

Look, Clara, it's dead.

All right, Clara.

It isn't all right.

It was right there in my cooking pan.

Look.

I picked it up.

Did you hear what I said?

I picked it up.

But were you bitten?

No.

No.

Come on, dear.

No, I'm not going.

I'm not going.

Not one more mile, not another mile.

We can't hold up the train.

Let the train go.

Let it go.

We're going back.

Going back?

Back home.

Back to a decent house on a decent street.

Back where you can go to bed at night and go to sleep.

Oh, dear God, how long has it been since I've slept at night?

I've got to go back.

Back where there's a front door and a back door

and a key to lock them with.

Back where there's grass and gardens and sanity.

Peace.

Clara, now listen to me.

Mr. McCullough said that if we could...

Mr. McCullough said.

Mr. McCullough let a woman be dragged off

and didn't even lift his hand to save her.

I'd sooner listen to the devil than to listen to him.

He's leading us all to our deaths.

You're homesick, Clara.

Oh, I am.

I am.

I'm sick for the sight of home.

Well, we're all homesick, but we've got to get over it.

Now listen, we'll be all right once we've passed the prairies.

Passed the prairies.

The prairies go on forever.

Look at them.

Where do they end?

Just show me where do they end?

They'll soon be behind us.

Jack.

Jack, you take me home.

You take me home or I'll put a bullet through my head right here.

Put that gun down, Mrs. Reynolds.

Not until my husband tells me he'll take me home.

Tell her.

Tell her.

I'll take you back, Clara.

You swear it?

Yes.

Yes, I swear.

Let's go with her, Tom.

Now you listen to me, all of you.

Fear is a contagious disease and you beware of it.

You'll sicken and die of it as quick as you will on milksick or spotted fever.

The prairie winds blow over the broken ribs of wagons

and over the whited bones of men that panicked and ran from their own shadows.

Nothing changed in 20 years.

Has nothing been learned?

Here it is, the same fear prowling stomach.

The twitching nerves, the same raw terror.

I've seen it before.

I know and I know it leads to the grave.

In a few more days, there'll be meadows and grass and fresh mountain streams.

Don't let yourself be defeated by insects or barren land or relentless weather.

The Lord gave you strength.

Use it.

In two weeks, you'll be out of this country.

In two more weeks, we'll all be dead.

It's suicide to go off on your own.

Our strength is with each other.

If we split up in small parties, any band of renegade braves can pick us off.

Grandma's right.

Is she?

All our strength didn't keep them from attacking yesterday,

but we were able to fight them off, weren't we?

And who's to say they won't be back?

Who's to say there isn't a big party waiting up ahead right now?

Even Mr. McCullough doesn't know where they are.

He admitted it.

I want to go home.

Please, Tom.

Let's go with Clara.

It's too late to go back.

We've got to stay with the group, Sally.

Oh, I wish I was home.

I wish I'd never met you.

I'm going to die out here.

I know it.

We'll take you back with us.

Please, Tom.

You can go if you want to, Sally.

I'm not going with you.

I can't leave you.

It'll be all right, honey.

Don't worry.

Clara, please, please, change your mind.

No.

No, no, no, no, no.

No one can force me to go on.

Give yourself time, Clara.

You're disturbed.

You don't have to decide now.

You're not thinking clearly.

I have never thought more clearly in all my life.

I know what's behind us.

I'll take my chance on that.

I'll not go one step further into this nightmare.

Reynolds' wagon's ready to pull out.

Well, I've drawn him a map.

I guess he ought to be able to follow it.

I don't think we ought to let him go.

What we think doesn't seem to matter to them.

I've warned them.

That's all I can do.

But it's not just the Reynolds that trouble me.

There seems to be a lot of people thinking of turning back.

It's only the women.

Only the women?

The women make up the strength of this train.

Clara!

Clara, wait a minute.

Oh.

Clara, I'll miss you.

I wish you were going with us.

Look, I want you to take this to remember me by.

I can't take your brooch, Charity.

I want you to have it.

Thank you.

I'll keep it as long as I live.

I'll keep you.

And you.

Don't forget to write.

I won't.

Don't you?

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry.

Reynolds.

Here's a map.

It'll help you find your way back.

Thanks.

I'm sorry things worked out this way.

So am I.

Good luck to you.

Thank you.

Oh!

Run!

Now nobody I want to go on.

I don't even feel like going on myself.

Well, you will, Charlie.

Let's hook him up, huh?

Come on.

Come on, let's everybody sing.

Come on, let's pick him up.

Let's get back to work, everybody, and keep singing.

Angels watching ever round thee

All through the night

In thy slumbers close around thee

All through the night

They should of all fear disarm thee

No foreboding should alarm thee

They will let no peril harm thee

All through the night

All through the night

Miss Kirby.

I think it's only fair for me to tell you how much I've been enjoying your music.

Frankly, I'm glad that you brought that piano along after all.

Oh!

Well, thank you, Mr. McCullough.

I don't know what I'd do without it.

Maybe there's something to say about the stubbornness of women.

Maybe at times their sense of values is greater than men's.

What do you think about prairie?

I think about it as little as possible.

You hail from Gloucester, don't you?

I've heard many people say that the prairie reminds them of the sea.

This dry, parched land?

No.

Oh, no.

The sea of Gloucester is cool and clean,

and every morning it's as crisp as a freshly scrubbed pillowcase.

You miss it very much, don't you?

Miss it?

How can I miss it?

It's been with me every step of the way.

All day I push the sea away from me,

and put every bit of my strength.

But at night, when I close my eyes,

my dreams wash over me,

and I ride the seas of Gloucester like my father did.

And every morning I lie in that wagon and I keep my eyes closed,

hoping that when I open them it will be to a Gloucester morning.

But it never is.

It never is.

I guess she's homesick.

All the women are.

You know, I've never seen a woman accept this country.

You take them away from the security that they've known,

and you bring them out here where there's no wall or ceiling,

or even a fence between them and out there.

And they close their eyes and they endure, but they never accept.

Maybe.

The Gloucester women are strong.

They've been raised and seasoned by the sea.

They may be strong, but they're not indestructible.

The prairie wages some kind of a war of nerves against women.

You see it first in their eyes.

Then they begin to talk of home,

and then they get edgy, then they laugh too much,

and then they cry too much.

Why do you bring the women if that's the case?

Who am I to say what a woman can stand?

And the majority of them make it.

But never all of them.

How long will you be gone?

I don't know.

I've been on a buffalo hunt before.

Do you think you'll be home before dark?

Why don't you just tell Mr. Hawks to make sure that I am?

Tom, I'm scared.

Scared of what?

I don't know.

Everything.

You've got to stop being scared.

A grown woman, not a baby.

Why don't you start acting like one?

Why can't I go with you?

For one thing, son, it will be several hours.

I can't take you back if you get hot and tired.

I won't get tired.

I want to go on the hunt.

No, no, no. He's too young.

Wait a minute. He's ten years old.

The building's where he's going.

And he's only nine.

His mama doesn't care.

Well, your mama does.

You don't know what could happen.

You don't know what's out there.

Matt, please, please don't tell.

I think I can take care of my own son.

Oh, Matt, I'm sorry. Of course you can.

I don't want him growing up with a woman's fears.

No, of course not.

Is it all right, Mama?

Well, your father says it is.

Whoopee!

Hold up there.

You want to go hunting?

Here.

Now, don't you worry.

There'll be a whole group of us going

and horses coming, too.

Yes, Matt.

Right here.

Bye, Dad.

Charlie, come back here!

Doggone it! Caught again.

Where do you think you're going?

Who, me?

Your name's Charlie, isn't it?

Well, I always thought so.

Have you got any information, LeCondre?

I asked you where you were going.

Oh, nobody.

Dressed like that, you're not going anyplace?

I know I'm not going anyplace.

I'm not going anywhere.

I'm not going anywhere.

You're not going anyplace?

I know I'm not going anyplace,

and everybody on the train with an earshot

knows I'm not going anyplace.

Every man goes buffalo hunting.

Oh, but not me.

No, no, I can't go.

Charlie, everybody isn't going.

McCullough isn't going.

Anybody that has any work to do around here isn't going.

I'm getting sick and tired of being stuck here

with the women and children every year.

What's wrong with women and children?

I thought maybe just one lousy year

I could go out hunting with the men.

You know, you complain more than any other man on the payroll.

I've got more to complain about

than any other man on the payroll.

Doggone it, sometimes I just hate even being me.

Mr. McCullough!

Mr. McCullough!

Sally Miller's wagon!

Sally Miller's wagon!

The ritual of death is filled with pain.

Our farewells are said with respect,

and love, and anguish,

and we head on again

into the open prairie.

These are the hunting grounds of the Osage,

the Creek, the Delaware, the Pawnee, the Comanche,

all nomads this time of year.

Here and there along our route,

Indians suddenly appear and stare silently at us,

and though I tell the travelers that this is only curiosity,

I still feel uneasiness spring up

the entire length of the train.

They'll never forget the war party,

but they'll do their best to pretend that all is well,

and those of us who have traveled and traveled before

will do our best to keep everyone occupied

as much as possible.

Robin Hood had an enemy,

the mean, villainous, dastardly Sheriff of Nottingham.

The sheriff said,

I'll capture Robin Hood.

I'll hang him by his heels from London Bridge.

That no good swine.

Do you know what the plan was?

No.

Well, the plan was to steal Maid Marian.

Why don't he pick on somebody's own sex?

So one day when Maid Marian was all alone,

the Sheriff of Nottingham's men surrounded her palace.

There were 47 men.

Maid Marian was all alone.

Charlie Flint wants you.

And Robin Hood was far away.

Charlie Flint wants you right now.

Bill, there are 47 wicked deputies,

and Robin Hood is in another county.

If you don't get a move on,

you're going to have to look for another county yourself.

I want to know what happens to Maid Marian.

She lives happily ever after.

With the Sheriff of Nottingham?

I don't know.

Grandma can tell you about that.

What does Flint want is so important

that I can't wait a few more minutes.

He wants his dinner, that's what.

Dinner? Is it that late?

Why didn't somebody tell me?

Don't get so close, Patience.

Bread needs room to breathe.

Bread doesn't breathe.

Well, of course it does.

However, do you think it grows?

It doesn't grow.

Well, I'd just like to know whoever told you that.

Papa told me.

Oh, well, your papa's a man.

Men don't know about bread.

They eat it.

Well, they don't know what they're eating.

Bread is a woman's business.

Oh, sweetheart, not so close.

Bread must be clean.

Can I have some, Grandma Bates?

Patience, you have bread in your own wagon.

Oh, well, she wants some to play with now.

Can't afford to waste the flour.

No way of knowing how long we're gonna have to go

on what we have.

There's something reassuring about good dough

under a woman's hands.

Don't touch that.

Your hands are not clean.

It isn't ready to eat yet.

It'll give you worms.

She means no harm.

It's just a friendly social business.

Oh, don't touch her.

Don't you touch her.

No, no, no, you mustn't.

No, you mustn't.

She means no harm.

She was wearing my brooch.

Brooch I gave Clown.

Oh, you must be mistaken.

There now, there, there.

It can't be helped.

It can't be changed.

It just must be born.

How much can be born, Grandma Bates?

All that comes.

God gives us life and with it comes trial and sorrow

and it must be born.

Oh!

Ah!

Ah!

No, no, no!

Charity, stop it!

Stop!

Stop it, Charity.

Oh, God.

Charity, it's all right.

All right, honey.

Come on, let's go.

Sure a mess, ain't it?

Yeah, we better get a shovel, Charlie.

Yeah.

All right, it's all over, folks.

We'll get back to work.

Oh!

Oh!

Oh!

Giddyap!

Giddyap!

Oh.

Oh!

Oh, skin is as hot as fire, Charlie.

Oh, skin is as hot as can be.

She was all right when I put her to bed.

I'll go, Grandma.

Now you give her her medicine again in about an hour.

What's wrong with her, Grandma?

Oh, it's a fever. It comes out here sometimes.

I've seen it before.

Is it cholera?

Oh, no.

Now don't you worry.

I've seen many babies pull through just fine on the medicine that she's on.

Matt, can I see you a minute?

What can I do for you?

Take a look at that sky. Really in for something.

Give me a hand rounding up the men, will you?

Yeah.

Kennedy!

Forrest!

You bet your life we're in for something.

Head your wagons into the wind!

Don't let the wind hit them broadside!

Move that wagon!

Loosen the canvas.

I didn't lock it, Lieutenant.

Your lady didn't lock it, ma'am.

Just the canvas rope, boy.

Fuck me, all right.

Let's go.

,

Loosen the canvas so the wind can blow through.

Here she comes.

Here she comes.

How is she, Mama?

We must pray, patient.

She didn't cry during the storm.

Garth cried, and I cried.

But she didn't.

I don't know why any of us are still alive after that terrible wind.

So hot now?

Yes, darling.

Remember when the fog used to come at night?

It was so cool.

Remember the stories you used to tell?

The surf is lace from the gowns of all the women who drowned at sea.

Old lace, yellowed with tears and brined with memories.

There's a ball tonight on the smooth, shadowed floor of the ocean,

and all the best people will be there,

dancing a minuet, fathoms below.

A sea child dies on land.

What did you say?

A sea child dies on land.

Who told you that?

I don't know.

Someone lost her.

A sea child dies on land?

Did you give her the medicine?

Yes, but it won't do any good.

She's much cooler.

Matt, we've got to go.

Matt, we've got to go back.

Back? We'll be across the prairies in another week.

Another week.

We've got to go back, Matt.

We can't live in this impossible country.

This is just land, like any other land.

Land like any other land.

Grass that grows higher than a man's head.

Animals as big as houses.

Heat, dust, dirt, bugs, Indians.

This is a devil's land.

Charity.

I've got to go back to Gloucester.

I've got to take my children back.

Oh, if I were there this minute,

I could feel the sea crashing about me.

Just for one moment.

Look ahead, Charity.

Don't think of the past. Think of the future.

This weary, endless land.

This eternal monotony of land and sky.

I'm crushed.

It'll soon be over.

Peace was mine such a short while ago.

Peace and contentment.

And my faith in the wisdom of the Lord.

I'm lost. Oh, Matt.

Where's my harbor?

How many dawns must I be born to die again?

No harbor!

We can't go back.

We must go on.

Come, Patience.

Where are we going?

Very patient.

Come on, Patience. Hurry.

Hold baby.

Step back.

Come on.

What are you doing, Mama?

We're going back to Gloucester.

I'm going to make your father take us back.

Mother!

Come on, Patience.

Hans! Get the shovels going!

Go! Go!

Pull that tarp, Hans!

There's no one in there!

Charity! Patience!

Charity and Patience, have you seen them?

Charity!

Charity!

Hark, you check the rest of the wagons.

Make sure we don't have any trouble with Sparks.

Looks like the piano's all right.

Flint, my wife and children, they're not in camp.

Have you looked?

Of course I have.

Well, let's look again.

Men, give us a hand, will you?

Oh, at last.

At last, home.

Oh, at last.

Put me down!

Put me down!

Put me down!

Put me down!

Pull down my blanket, Grandma.

She doesn't seem to be hurt, but I can't bring her to.

It's an illness of the spirit as well as the flesh.

It comes when the human endurance has reached the breaking point.

Don't you understand? It's the overwhelming emptiness.

The overpowering loneliness.

No matter who's with you, no matter how many are beside you,

there's no one out there.

We'll give you a hand repairing it the first thing in the morning.

Yeah.

Where are you going to get the canvas?

Oh, we'll have enough, I think.

You're prepared for everything, aren't you?

Try to be.

Even to a wife burning down her own wagon?

Yeah.

Did you...

Did you ever see a woman do a fool thing like this?

Once I saw a good, God-fearing woman kill her own child.

Oh, she didn't know what she was doing.

It all got to be too much.

Too much grass, too much sand, too much sky.

Dust, bugs, Indians.

Too many miles.

Too many fears.

Are you, uh...

Are you trying to say that my wife is insane?

Oh, no, indeed.

Oh, well, maybe she did lose her reason for a moment or two there

when she couldn't get you to agree to turn back.

But she's as sane as anyone on this train.

It'd be madness to turn back now.

I've lived a long time.

Everything I see, I've seen before.

If your wife means anything to you,

you get that wagon in shape to travel again,

and you tell her that you'll do whatever she wants.

You let her decide whether you go on or whether you go back.

She'll say go back.

You've lived by the sea.

You've seen birds with broken wings.

They go out alone on the rocks to die.

When you break the human spirit, that's pretty much the same thing.

2,000 miles? We can't go back.

Is going on worth destroying her?

Well, if it comes to that.

It seems to have come to that.

Charity.

Charity.

I'll take you back to Gloucester if that's what you want.

I'll do whatever you say.

It's up to you.

Charity.

Please look at me. Please.

Please look at me. Please.

Answer me.

Mrs. Kirby.

Your husband's all packed and ready to move.

He's ready to take you back to Gloucester if that's what you really want.

Now you listen to me, girl.

You got to get a grip on yourself.

Don't flounder and sink out here.

You've got better stuff in you than that.

You've met change and challenge before.

Why do you think this is called the Sea of Grass?

Because it's just as violent and ill-tempered as the ocean.

Some people glory in it like they do in the sea.

And other people hate it like they hate every wave that breaks on the rocks at Gloucester.

Some are ground because they've lost their bearings.

Now you've got to set your course for either Gloucester or San Francisco, whichever you have a mind to.

But you set it.

You've got to get back on course.

This is a time of trial.

But as the Bible says, this too shall pass.

Don't think that you're alone in this.

Every woman that rides these miles for the first time has to go through it.

I went through it myself.

And here I am to prove that I made it once.

And by golly, I'm going to make it again.

Now that's better.

Now that's more like it.

You get up and show this blasted, confounded, ornery stretch of land what a Gloucester woman is made of.

If I were you, I'd set my sail for San Francisco.

It is the sweetest harbor any woman could ask for.

My baby.

She's all right.

Oh, thank God.

You go and see for yourself.

And I saw a new heaven and a new earth.

For the first heaven and the first earth were passed away.

And there was no more sea.

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