Original subtitles

Go to it.

(All) Come on!

(Soldier) Break his arm!

(Soldier) Come on.

(Soldier) Show your muscle.

(Soldier) Show your muscle! You got him now!

(Buffalo) Hondo!

You make sure this here old galut

ain't gettin' the seat of his pants away from that chair.

(Soldier) Come on!

Well, he's sittin' a firm seat

but there's a little daylight between your britches and the chair.

Well, I'm just gettin' locked in. That's all.

Mail call!

Hey, Bottles, you wouldn't wanna give up now, would you?

Only cost you half a dollar.

Oh, you stubborn old coot. You never do know when you're licked.

–Donaldson. –Yo.

–Ogden. –Over here

–Payne. –Here.

Look, this is sort of a stand off. Let's call it a stand off.

I got a very important letter waitin' for me.

You quit and you lose the dollar.

Hondo, you're the referee here.

Tell this fella we can pick this up later

after I get my letter.

Well, that's up to Bottles there.

If he wants to let you off the hook, he can.

He quits, he loses the dollar.

–Donaldson. –That's me.

–Payne. –That's for me.

–Christie. –Me.

You, uh, sure hate to lose, don't you?

Nope.

I just wanna make sure I get my money's worth.

Hey, Hondo, would you come along with me and

help me read my letter.

I thought you said you could read.

Well, I read printin'

not writin'.

I'm expectin' to get me a letter from that there high-steppin' filly I met in Nogal.

The one that promised to love you always

after you spent a month's wages on her in one night?

Yeah, that's the one.

She said she was gonna write me

as soon as she was able to come over here and visit me.

Last one's for you.

[Laughs] What'd I tell you?

She really loves me!

She said she was gonna write me

as soon as her sick ol' grandma got back up on her feet.

(Soldier) Hondo? Hondo.

Captain Richards want you and Buffalo in his office right now.

Well, better see what the man wants.

Well, Hondo, do you reckon that little ol' gal really has a sick grandmother?

Most likely she's got one for every night of the week.

The last reports put 'em in this area right here.

Did, uh, Evans say how many of them there is?

Counted five.

All they took was horses. No one was injured.

Not a shot was fired.

Came in at night, opened the corral gates

and drove off all the stock.

Well, it musta just been a bunch of young bucks out to prove themselves.

Could be. Could be something else.

That "something else," that's what you want us to find out, huh?

That's right.

If it's important, I want Colonel Crook to know about it as soon as possible.

Now draw your supplies and rations from the quartermaster

and leave out in the morning.

Captain, I'm leavin' out right now but not to catch Apache horse thieves.

Buffalo can take care of that.

Oh, now wait a minute. I ain't goin' out there alone.

I didn't live to get all these wrinkles by bein' stupid.

Well, wake up Bottles McCoy.

I don't think you understand, Mr. Lane.

I consider this assignment important and I want you on it.

I don't think you understand, Captain.

This is important to me.

–Well, what's that? –It's a letter.

Well, I can see that, Mr. Lane.

What is it? Bad news? Illness in the family?

Just what is it?

Well, it's not so much of what's in it as who it's from.

Who is it from?

It's from a dead man.

Sam, you stay here with Buffalo.

This is something that came before you.

Even before Destarte.

Has he been drinking, Mr. Baker?

No, dry as a school marm's picnic.

Well, I could stop him, you know?

I could throw him in the guardhouse on some charge.

No, I wouldn't do that if I was you.

You don't wanna get your guardhouse all tore up.

You know him. When he gets that look in his eye

it's best to just give him a wide open gate.

You think you could change his mind?

Can you milk a grizzly bear?

You figurin' on bein' gone a long time?

I don't know.

Is there somethin' I can be doin' for you?

No.

Somethin' I gotta look into myself.

Told Sam to stay here with you.

Adios, Hondo.

[Sam whimpers]

"New Canaan."

"Life or death."

"Now."

Signed with the letter Q.

♪ ♪

[Thunder]

(Del) How many?

I'll take, uh, three cards.

–What'll it be? –Whiskey.

Well, I think I'll have to play these and bet you two bits.

(Gar) I'll call that.

Where do you come from?

West.

Where you headed?

East. Another whiskey.

Oh, all red.

You two, drift.

–Got somethin' to talk about. –Aw...

And leave off those cards, will you?

(Leek) He's more important.

Not to me, he ain't. I'm out a dollar and a half.

Come on, deal.

You can be out a thousand dollars if you want to work at it.

Set him now?

I don't.

It was before your time, little brother.

That's Hondo Lane.

There's a dodger out for a thousand dollars on him.

A thousand dollars?

Well, I guess I'll just have to take you up...

Del...

You don't kill him the first shot

me and Gar will be happy to bury you in the morning.

Now you feel lucky, go ahead.

Rain stopped.

When do we take him?

We got time.

We'll just trail along behind him

wait till he gets careless.

He gets careless and we get a thousand dollars richer.

[Coyote howls]

[Brush rustles]

[Gunshot]

Come out with your hands high! Next one blows your guts out.

Almost shot off my toe.

Would've ruined a pair of good boots.

Little late to come callin', isn't it?

Depends.

Who are you, anyway?

Sam Bragg, United States Marshal assigned to this here territory.

Yeah, you prove that?

–Well, I can if... –Do it slow and easy, mister.

You like a cup of coffee, Marshal?

I was on my way to Concho when I spotted your fire.

A man doesn't travel alone much in these here parts.

I figured I'd wait for you to go to sleep

then come in and find out about you.

Only thing I learned is that you sleep real light.

Well, I'm a scout for the Army stationed at Fort Lowell.

That's about it.

A few days travel time from here.

Yeah, I'm on a special assignment.

Been a while since I been through this part of the country.

I'm lookin' for a place called New Canaan.

That where you're headin'?

Yeah, in that direction.

Yeah, it was a nice little town.

What do you mean "was"?

Fever hit about three years ago.

Killed half the folk.

The other half took off and left.

You mean it's a ghost town, huh?

New Canaan...

born 1853

died 1868.

(Bragg) May it rest in peace.

[Wind howling]

[Music box plays Rock of Ages]

♪ ♪

[Door closes]

What's the matter, Hondo?

Think you seen a ghost?

Colonel Quantrill.

No, I wasn't killed in that attack.

I was back-shot. Bleedin' like a stuck pig.

I laid in a water-filled ditch for a day and night before I could move.

The report said that you were killed. Even claim they found your body.

And they found a body, all right. Face all stove in, wearin' my jacket.

It was about my height and weight.

Looked like a horse had kicked him in the face or something. I don't know.

I don't know who he was, but I owe him my life. I know that.

Colonel, I want you to know that...

after that attack we knew you were missin'.

We tried to find you but...

the Union Army moved in and we had to get out or get run over.

I know, I know.

Well, I was hurt so bad I couldn't yell out.

Just had to lay there and listen to you ride off.

Now...

Well, it's kinda hard to believe your bein' alive, standin' here like this.

Well, that day the only thing I could believe was that

if I could keep breathin' in and breathin' out

I'd know I was alive, and that's what I concentrated on

(Quantrill) just breathin' in and breathin' out.

That's just about the hardest thing I ever had to do.

Does anyone else know a...? [Door closes]

Doc Zeber, I might have figured that.

Good to see you, Hondo.

Ah, it's been a good many years.

Yeah, too many, Doc. It's good to see you.

You're still with the Colonel, huh?

Where else would I be?

I went to Leonard when I got shot. He took the lead outta me.

Took his arm with it.

Well, he didn't have much choice about that.

A man can live with one wing. He can't live with gangrene.

Well, it's been four years. What've you been doin' all this time?

Well, we've been holed up down in a little Texas border town

waitin' for people to forget the name of Quantrill.

That will never happen, William.

I wish it would.

Forget the name of Quantrill, give us a little more room to move around in.

What are your plans, Colonel?

Just got one.

That's all we need.

That's right, until the rest of the troops arrive.

What troops?

You'll see, Hondo, when we call the roll

as we did in the old days.

The days of Quantrill's Raiders.

[Laughs]

I say let's go in and get him.

He looks to be alone. Should be easy.

That's the way I want it:

easy.

All right, let's do it.

(Leek) Down!

Now what?

You still want to take him, little brother?

Nope. Not against those odds.

Then we wait. Let 'em thin out some.

Wander who they are.

I don't know. I didn't get to see their faces.

Ah, prob'ly just a bunch of saddle tramps.

Not worth the price of bullets to gun 'em down.

(Doc Zeber) Lieutenant Jesse James.

Here, sir, and it's my pleasure, sir.

Captain Frank James.

I'm here, Doc.

Sergeants Jim and Cole Younger.

Likewise, sir.

Sergeants Charlie and Bob Ford.

We're here. Eight stinkin' days in the saddle, but we're here.

And Captain Hondo Lane.

All but one present and accounted for, Colonel.

Very good, good.

Well, it's been four years since you rode with Quantrill's Raiders

and I see that you've all made a name for yourself.

That's good, good.

–We ain't been idle for sure. –I can see that.

Hey, Frank, that poster there doesn't really do you much justice, huh?

Just knowing your alive, sir, that's the best thing that's happened to us.

Thank you, Jesse.

It's hard for me to believe I'm lookin' at you, sir.

Ah, Frank.

Ain't seen you in all that time. The years have been good to you, huh, Cap?

Why not? The easy life he leads would keep anyone from gettin' old and bent over.

Dingus.

I'll tell you what. If you wanna ride back with me, I'll see that you get the same kind of a job.

Dingus.

Ain't heard you called that in quite a spell, little brother.

Well, leave it.

The only thing that outfit you work for would do is hang me...

neck-high.

I hear they took the price off your neck, Lane. Is that right?

Yeah.

Well, you mind tellin' us how you did it?

You know it might be could work for us, too.

Well, I agreed to work for the Army.

The Union army?

The Yankee, blue-bellied army?

That's right, Bob.

I'm afraid I'm gonna have to stay like I am.

That's too high a price to pay.

I think you done right, Hondo.

Well, thanks, Cole.

(Johnny Reno) Hondo Lane!

That time I beat you.

Could be, but you shot a hole in the roof.

[Laughter]

Hondo, old buddy, you're a pleasure for tired, dust-rimmed eyes to look on.

Johnny Reno, you know you never were on time.

Always a day late and a dollar short.

[Laughs]

Well, I hear you're doin' real good, Hondo.

Leaning forward all the way.

It's playin' out for me, I guess.

Well, then what are you doin' here with all of us?

Maybe you can answer that, sir.

Yeah, I will. Yeah, but first we gotta break open a bottle.

All of us bein' together after all these years, that calls for a celebration.

(Jesse) Hey, Doc, remember that time you took a hunk of lead out of Hondo here

and you opened up your last bottle of brandy to ease the misery?

(Doc Zeber) I took about three pounds of lead all told out of all you.

But I remember that time.

And Hondo...

good buddy that he was

wanted us to share it with him.

Yeah, except I made one mistake. I let you fellas drink first.

(Jim Younger) Yeah, that was mighty fine brandy.

It went down real easy.

Well, I don't know. I never got to taste any of it.

(Reno) I recollect you bit clean through a bridle strap while the Doc was probin' for that bullet.

(Hondo) I'd a bit clean through your ear if I coulda got a hold of you.

[All laughing]

[Bottle shatters]

Judas!

I don't know which one of you it is, but there's a Judas among you.

He sits there with you

and he laughs with you.

But I say he's a Judas!

No, William, not now.

Now is not the time.

Yeah.

Yeah, after I've rested a little bit I'll tell you all the rest of the plan.

What was that all about?

I don't know. A Judas, isn't that someone who turns on his friends?

No, not turns on 'em. Betrays 'em, Johnny.

That's what he said one of us was.

But which one?

You think that's why he called us all together?

No, it's gotta be somethin' else.

I wonder if we'll have to use our guns.

With him didn't we always?

Just got careless.

I'd like to know who them others are.

I didn't get to see 'em too good.

We can find out later. Right now I'm not about to let a thousand dollars get away.

[Gunshot]

Whoa.

That all of 'em?

Colonel, I owe you my life again.

What you doin' ridin' out here all alone?

I said why in the note I left you.

Friends don't walk away and leave notes.

Now you tell me.

Figured I'd better leave. Don't know what your plans are.

Don't want any part of 'em. I don't care to know about 'em.

You rode all those miles to come here and be with me.

Why?

Well, I thought I might...

do some good. I thought maybe you needed some help.

I meant that much to you?

Yes, sir, you did.

But with Jesse, Cole, and the others...

I don't think you need me for one thing.

Well, you can't go around with an arm like that.

You ride on back with me and I'll have Leonard fix it up for you.

–I'll go get your horse. –Colonel...

you think I'm the one that...

shot you in the back?

I'll get your horse.

Bullet plowed a furrow, is all.

Leave a nice, clean scar.

Kinda like old times, isn't it?

Too much like old times.

Those fellas most likely were bounty hunters

and they didn't know the price was off your hide.

Most likely.

It's close to $50,000 bounty on the rest of us, and a...

piddly 1,000 on you.

Which they couldn't a got anyway.

[Laughs]

All right!

Why don't you see if you can give the others a hand in the livery stable?

You never did go back to your medical practice, did you, Doc?

No.

Well, that's too bad.

You know you're a fine doctor.

I'm where I'm needed.

And all this time with the Colonel?

Yep.

–Well, you haven't changed any, Doc. –[Laughs]

But he has.

I've changed.

It just doesn't show as much.

Is there any set reason he is the way he is?

Reason?

Is four years of slaughter a reason?

Isn't sending men out to be mangled and killed a reason?

Isn't total defeat a reason?

Isn't betrayal a reason?

Are you sure he was betrayed?

I know.

Doc, why do you stay with him?

I read once where it said if a man had one friend, just one in his lifetime

he was rich beyond measure.

And I'm rich enough.

Yeah.

(Reno) Hey, old buddy.

Brought you some vittles.

Fill out those hollow spots.

I'll take a look at that arm in a day or two.

Meantime, go easy with it.

Thanks, Doc.

I got that recipe from an old Army mess cook.

When did they shoot him?

Right after the first servin'. [Laughs]

How's your arm?

Well, I know I got one.

I read that note you left the Colonel.

You still ridin' out?

You're doin' the right thing.

Why don't you do the same?

Too settled in my ways. It's too late to change now.

Well, there was a time when it wasn't too late.

Yeah, I can't remember when it was.

Whatever happened to that livery stable business

you and your brother Ned were plannin'?

That plan died when he did.

Well, he was...

he was the only family you ever had, wasn't he, Johnny?

Yeah

The only family.

Well, that time's long gone.

Can't bring back yesterdays, only plan for tomorrows.

Yeah, and your...

plans for tomorrow include riding with Colonel Quantrill, huh?

All the way, old buddy.

Right down the line.

[Doors open]

Oh, put 'em up on the bar there.

Leonard fix your arm all right?

–Yes, sir. –That's good.

Well, gentlemen, I think it's about time that we revealed the plan.

–Sir, there's somethin' I wanna... –Sit down, soldier!

Just hear the plan out, please.

Then decide.

Yeah, what the Colonel did for you tonight, I figure you owe him that much.

Now...

a few days' time we're gonna be $200,000 richer.

How, sir?

This is a map here. As you can see, that's Fort Tender.

It's the payroll distribution point in the western territory.

(Quantrill) Every month a payroll wagon rolls into here.

This month it happens to carry a rather special load.

$200,000 in gold

and we are going to see that it rolls in empty.

I still say how, sir?

Right here is where the pay wagon rolls. This is Fort Tender.

And two miles from there is where we hit it. Right there.

How many troops they got riding guard?

Twenty.

That's not all they got. There's a Gatling gun inside of that wagon.

I'm well aware of that.

Maybe you're aware that they've got orders to shoot anybody

that come within a hundred yards of that pay wagon.

With all that against us we'll never pull it off.

Frank's right.

Nobody's gonna get shot at. I promise you that.

Here.

(Quantrill) Here. We wear these.

[Laughs] Yankee uniforms.

That's right. The hats and sidearms are in the other case there.

Ride in like Yankee troopers...

wait for a chance to take over, huh?

That's right.

That is it. Right here is Stone Creek.

The winter snows have melted and have flooded that creek.

The drivers are gonna have their hands full gettin' the wagon across there.

Nobody'll be payin' too much attention.

Take over that Gatling gun and slaughter twenty men?

I will ask them to surrender

and if they do no one will be killed. I can promise you that.

And if they don't surrender?

That will be their decision.

It's still risky.

A mite too risky.

Yeah, a lot of things could go wrong.

Yes, sir, and just wearin' those Yankee uniforms

ain't no guarantee that we're gonna get close to that wagon.

Gentlemen, I have a guarantee.

What's that, sir?

I'll tell you about it after you all decide what you want to do.

–All right, Colonel, I've listened to your... –What's the matter, Lane?

Don't the idea of killin' some of them Yankee blue-bellies sit easy on you?

Ford, you're edgin' a little close.

All right, you two!

Save your private fights for later. Right now this is what's important.

How do we split it, sir?

Fifty percent to Doctor Zeber and myself.

The other fifty you split up among yourselves any way you see fit.

That sounds fair enough.

Talk it over among yourselves. I'll give you an hour.

Let me know what you decide.

–Colonel, sir. –Hmm?

Well, I know what my answer will be, but...

what troubles me some is that Judas you were talkin' about.

Well, I just don't feel right knowin' I could get a scatter gun in my back the way you did.

Hmm.

You won't.

You see his eyes?

You see the way he was acting?

I tell you, he's over the edge.

Maybe so, but if he can get us close enough to the pay wagon

I think we can pull this off.

Yeah, he set this up the way he set up plans during the War

and they always worked.

I'm not sayin' it won't work.

I'm just sayin' I don't wanna ride with a mad man. That's all.

Or a Judas.

Yeah. Lane, uh...

where were you goin' when you rode outta here?

Say it clearer than that, Ford.

Yeah, I'll make it real clear.

Who's the only one of us that works for the Yankees now?

Who's the only one of us that wants to get out of this deal?

Who's the only one that can collect $50,000 bounty for turnin' the rest of us in?

Now is that clear enough?

He's got one good arm and you throw the first punch.

You always gotta have the edge, don't you?

Don't worry about that edge, Jesse.

(Charlie Ford) Get him, Bob!

I wouldn't, Cousin Charles.

You all right?

Yeah.

You do real good for a little ol' country boy.

[Laughs]

(Quantrill) Lane!

Come up here. I wanna talk to you.

It don't change nothin'.

I still say he's the one.

He's a Judas!

Tell me something, Hondo.

Do you believe in revenge?

I guess it depends on how far I have to take it.

Well, you know Cole and Jesse and...

well, all the rest, myself, we...

fought for the Confederacy because we were Southerners.

Our love and our duty belonged to the South.

But you fought for a different reason, and if I remember

a Yankee officer killed your wife, wasn't that it?

Yeah, that's it.

Did you ever find him?

Yes, I did.

What did you do to him, Lane?

What revenge did you take on him?

I let him go.

[Knock at door]

Yes?

Oh, Leonard.

Just looked in to see how you're getting on.

Oh, fine.

That little, uh, fuss you had, Hondo...

bother your arm any?

No, it didn't bust open, Doc. Thanks.

Good.

You need anything, William, let me know.

Thanks.

You know...

I used to be like you. I mean I could forgive my enemies.

Now... [Laughs]

When I was a school teacher...

I always taught that man was the highest and noblest creature on this earth.

And the War proved me to be a fool.

Well, the War proved a lot of other things, too.

Good, important things.

Maybe.

Tell me, Hondo, are you, uh...

afraid of death?

Well, I think on it sometimes, about how it might happen.

But no, I'm not afraid of it.

Life's good to you now, isn't it? It's important to you.

Yeah, it is important.

That's what I want for me again. I want for life to be...

important for me again.

You think revenge and

$100,000 will do it for you?

Yes.

Yes, I do.

And I'm gonna have 'em. Both of 'em.

Well, Colonel, there's somethin' I gotta say.

Wait, before you say anything, I want you to remember something.

I want you to think back to, uh...

Lawrence. The night in Lawrence.

You'd been captured. They were gonna hang you the next morning.

And I led a raid. I led a raid and set you free.

I want you to think about that for just a minute.

Colonel...

do you think that I'm the one that...

betrayed you?

Why don't we join the others?

Three days that payroll wagon is gonna roll in here.

In the meantime we can, uh, sort out all the details.

I count eight uniforms.

With Doc Zeber there's ten of us.

Yeah, well, Leonard's not riding with us.

He'll meet us afterwards.

Ol' Doc, he ain't much good with guns, are ya, Doc?

I never had to be.

Yeah, that still makes one uniform short.

Judas is not riding with us either.

As I call your name I want you to step up here and take a uniform.

Cole Younger.

Jim Younger.

Johnny Reno.

Frank James.

Uh, Charlie Ford.

Bob Ford.

Jesse James.

And this one...

is mine.

I told you. I told you all.

–He's a Judas. –You're a liar, Ford.

Hondo, the, uh...

the scout that rides a pay wagon into Fort Tender. You know him, don't you?

Yeah, Andy Whitley. He's a good friend of mine.

That, gentlemen, is our guarantee.

What are you talking about?

Hondo, you ride with us dressed just like you are.

If he wore a uniform, that scout would know that there was something wrong.

That is why you are so important to us.

That's why we need you so badly, Hondo.

Now it fits. All of it.

And I buy it.

Then who stays behind, sir?

Private Reno...

drop that uniform.

You said earlier tonight that you didn't wanna ride with a Judas

because you were afraid you'd be backshot with a

scatter gun just like I was.

I never told anybody what I was shot with.

myself...

Doc Zeber, who took the pellets outta me...

and the man who put 'em in me.

You backshot me and left me to die in a ditch, Johnny.

Why?

Johnny.

[Gun cocks]

My brother Ned

we talked about him, remember?

Yeah.

Fifteen years old.

Always tryin' to act older.

Always tryin' to prove himself a man.

You murdered him, Quantrill.

Johnny, I've killed.

Never murdered.

I thought different.

What makes you think the Colonel murdered him?

We were on a forced march. Three days and three nights.

Rained all the time.

Was always cold, always wet clean through.

Yeah.

That time we had a retreat from Liberty.

That's right.

Ned was sick.

Lung sick.

He had to stand night watch.

Wouldn't let me do it for him.

Said he'd hold up his end, the same as the rest of us.

I went to your tent

and I asked...

No, I begged you to order him from his post.

I told you how sick he was.

You said no.

Said he was a soldier.

Said he had to...

perform his duties. He was fifteen years old, Quantrill!

The next morning I found him

still at his post

only face down in the mud.

I turned him over

and held him close to me.

All he said was...

"Goodbye, Johnny."

And he died.

I, uh...

I don't remember...

where...

So many who died for so many reasons...

So many decisions to make...

I don't remember, Johnny.

I remembered

and I waited.

And I got my chance in that attack.

Johnny, why'd you come back?

Well, I got that letter.

I had to know, had to find out

if you were still alive.

In a way, I'm glad.

No, you're not.

You came here to backshoot me again.

I don't believe that.

I don't care what you believe. I don't care what anybody believes.

I know.

I don't wanna kill you, Colonel.

(Reno) I do, I know I'm a dead man.

All I wanna do is ride out. That's all.

Just ride out.

Let him ride outta here.

No.

Too much pain

too much agony these past years

don't wipe those memories away quite that easily.

We all have memories. What's happened is past...

forgotten with. Let him get outta here.

This won't be over...

until you are dead.

[Gunshot]

[Gunfire]

Why does the answer always have to come from a gun?

[Groans]

I'm sorry, William.

Hondo...

you were right about...

revenge.

Why didn't you mark them?

Folks think he died a hero in the War.

Let it stay that way.

You imagine anyone betrayin' a man like that, Jesse?

I still say we shouldn't have buried 'em so close together.

You headin' back to Fort Lowell?

Yeah.

We got plans in Missouri. You're welcome to join us.

It'll be very interesting.

Yeah, while it lasts.

Frank, Jesse...

you're good friends, but I got good friends in Fort Lowell, too.

So long, Dingus.

(Hondo) So long, Frank.

(Hondo) What about you, Doc?

I thought about it some.

I'm going back to Lawrence, Kansas.

Lawrence?

The town we burned down in the War.

I figure folks there might have need of a doctor.

Even an old, used-up one like me.

(Doc Zeber) Tell me something...

would you have ridden with him again?

Well, no need to give an answer.

Let it stay buried here with him.

Goodbye, son.

So long, Doc.

–Howdy. –Howdy.

–On your way back to Fort Lowell? –Yeah.

Found what you're lookin' for here in New Canaan?

No.

Like you said before, there's nothin' around here but...

ghosts.

See ya, Marshal.

♪ ♪