Original subtitles

LIEUTENANT: Fire!

(CANNON FIRING)

(GASPS)

Fire!

(PEOPLE SCREAMING)

Full ahead!

(ALL WHOOPING)

We have no guns! Stop!

We have no guns!

(CHANTING)

(GUNS FIRING)

(SOBBING)

(CHILDREN CRYING)

What are you doing with them?

Captured prisoners, sir.

Nits grow into lice.

Kill them.

They're slipping away to the right.

Colonel's compliments, sir.

And why isn't the right flank engaged yet?

Because the right flank refuses to slaughter unarmed civilians.

Are you all right?

You look a little pale.

I'm trying not to be sick, sir.

We should all be sick this day.

We should all be sick forever.

But somehow it's been an easy thing to forget.

Except for the Indian.

Paul.

Morgan.

Mr. Vernor. Hello.

Checking out the cattlemen's heritage, are you?

Oh, more than that. We've been in a real time machine.

All the way back to the first dinosaur.

Well, you remember, when you get up to where things

are really happening around here, let me know.

Paul, can I have a couple of minutes of your time

to talk some 20th century business?

All right, Morgan.

Lew, why don't you go down to the corral

and pick us out a couple of horses? All right.

You remember, now.

Paul, you and I have never really gotten along too well,

but I need your help. I need it badly.

With what?

Well, it looks like I've got this election into the bag.

And if I win, I'm going to need some first-rate brains to help me.

Now, don't interrupt me.

Brains aren't my long suit.

But sensing what's happening is.

Knowing what people are looking for.

And how does that involve me?

Directly.

You see, the great problem for Colorado

in the next decade is going to be to save the state.

I mean that. To save the forests,

the trout, elk,

and especially things like the rivers

and the air we breathe.

Sit down, Morgan.

You know, for the first time in your life,

you're beginning to make sense.

I learned from men like you, Paul.

And I know how you feel about politics.

I want you to accept an appointment as my deputy,

effective the day I take office.

Now, it's a real public service position.

And it's an appointment. No politics involved.

Morgan, I certainly appreciate it.

A job like that, my conscience wouldn't let me turn it down.

But I won't take the job just to provide a facade for you.

You talk about ecology. That's a popular word today.

That's the in thing to say if you want to get elected.

But it's not just a word to me. It's my whole life and my family.

I might not be an easy man to live with.

I know that.

But I believe in your strength, Paul.

As much as I do in my own.

I think we could put up with each other a couple, three years,

just to get the job off on the right foot, huh?

Might be a workable arrangement.

And you accept?

You got the buggy before the horse, Morgan.

No.

No. I want you to say yes now,

so I can make an announcement this afternoon.

I don't think you wanna make that announcement today.

Why not?

You know about Floyd Calendar's trial.

What, for hunting eagles?

From a plane.

Well, Paul, every hunter in the state's going to side with Floyd.

Not this one.

I'm hoping that doesn't mean you're going to testify against him.

I sure as hell am.

Paul, uh, that could be a sticky case.

Couldn't you...

Couldn't you duck it?

You know, Morgan, before you can even get me appointed,

you're asking me to draw back.

Well, it's just that... It's just that we don't see eye to eye on things.

We never have.

Floyd Calendar's case is the very heart of what we were just talking about.

Well, maybe I could

postpone the... You postpone, and I won't accept.

You just said you'd accept.

I said, Morgan, that the protection of this state

is always gonna irritate people you want to placate, need to placate.

It'd be a dogfight between us every inch of the way.

It doesn't have to be.

We both know where we stand.

Your job'll be protecting all the good natural things

and mine will be to make sure that industry gets a fair shake,

so there'll be jobs and tax rolls.

You conserve the water.

I want every drop I can get for new cities and factories.

It'll be hard, sure,

but it won't be half so hard if you don't go getting mixed up

in that Calendar case.

Do you know who one of my favorite Americans of all time is?

Warren Gamaliel Harding.

Because he came along at a time when this country

still had a comfortable margin of error.

And he proved just how bad an elected official could be.

He's the benchmark for every politician since.

On the day they take office, they ought to think of President Harding

and say to themselves,

"I'll never allow myself to be that bad."

So you see, Harding keeps the ballgame honest,

and I judge him to be one of the most useful Americans that ever lived.

And if I ever get into politics, even by an appointment,

I'm not gonna turn out to be the Colorado Harding.

I wanna tell you, Morgan,

I can't work with a man

who's beginning to make noises like he might be just that himself.

Well, that's just one more thing we don't agree on, Paul.

And I'm sorry.

For you,

for me,

but especially for Colorado.

PAUL: He's a technician. He can perform.

He can keep things from getting tangled,

but in a crisis he won't have any base to operate from.

VERNOR: Because he doesn't believe in anything?

I don't want to be misunderstood, Lew.

He's a reliable businessman.

He did well in college but he never...

But he never took any classes that made him think.

Worked his way in with the right people,

professors, coaches, fraternity leaders,

but nobody ever knew what he stood for.

He never crossed anybody, he just kept climbing.

Yeah, well, I don't remember you being at Boulder when we were there.

I live on a college campus.

The faces change every semester,

but most of the students don't.

Let me ask you something. Sure, go ahead.

You believe this position to be an important one? Very.

But you refuse to do what the governor asked.

You'll just let Wendell walk right in and take it.

Well, public office is not something I want to chase after.

Let me put it another way.

If Lost Eagle had it to do over again,

think he'd fight?

He did what?

He filed for the primary.

He's running against you.

That phony son of a...

All right. When's Calendar's trial?

Next Wednesday.

Good. We're gonna take Mr. Garrett out of the race

before he even gets into it.

Make sure the press covers his testimony

and get a hold of Calendar's attorney.

I'm going to coach him myself on a few questions

I want Mr. Garrett to answer publicly.

Mr. Garrett. Hey, Mr. Garrett, look over here.

Smile.

DISTRICT ATTORNEY: The defendant, Floyd Calendar,

has been an acquaintance of yours for how many years, then?

GARVEY: Oh, I'd say maybe eight, ten years.

And what kind of work was he doing then?

He was a guide.

What kind of guide?

Well, he put hunting parties together.

To hunt what?

Prairie dogs.

Prairie dogs.

Are they edible?

GARVEY: No, you don't eat them.

You just shoot prairie dogs for the fun of it.

(ALL LAUGHING)

I see.

Mr. Garvey, are you a pilot?

That's right.

And you fly a helicopter out of Fort Collins?

Yes, sir.

When, in your opinion, Mr. Garvey,

did Mr. Calendar first direct his attention to eagles?

Oh, well, we was flying one day, about five years ago, I guess,

and we see this old baldy come out of this dead tree.

And we both watched him flying for a while,

and then Floyd, he turned to me and he said, "Hell, Hank,"

he said, "With the right attention,

"a man could get on that old eagle's tail

"and blast him right out of the sky."

So for a week we made dry runs, you know, seeing if we could spot an eagle

and get close to him.

And we found out that it was downright easy.

Those eagles don't fly near as fast as they show 'em in them cartoons.

(ALL LAUGHING)

When did the idea...

I mean, whose idea was it to do this commercially?

Oh, I think that kind of came natural.

Floyd and I, we knew about hunters,

especially Floyd, him being a guide and all.

And we knew how tough it was for a hunter to bag an eagle.

I mean, a lot of good shots, they'd try for years

without even coming close to one, much less hitting one.

And that used to bug 'em, you know.

Maybe on their walls they'd have a big-horned rhino from Africa,

or a tiger from India,

but they didn't have our national bird.

Well, when did the commercial aspect begin?

Sir? Your first customer.

When was that?

Well, uh...

We were making dry runs this one day,

and I got real close to a big bird

and old Floyd, he really got excited.

And he said, "Hell, a man don't even have to aim.

"If he can just point a gun he can get an eagle this way."

And there was this dude from Boston

and he had all kinds of trophies in his trophy room except an eagle.

I mean he even had a Kodiak bear.

And so he wanted an eagle so bad he could taste it.

And so this one time before we were taking off,

why, he said to Floyd, he said, "Now, I don't think you can get an eagle this way,

"but if you can get me onto one, I'll give you $500."

Then he turned to me and he said,

"Of course, there'd be something in it for you, too."

So boy, we flat-out natural were gonna get that man an eagle.

So, did you?

Well, we cruised around for a while, you know,

west of Fort Collins, didn't scare up anything.

And then we just sort of, kind of drifted down

over the Rocky National Park,

and we spotted a big, beautiful bird.

Of course, this dude, he wanted to shoot him right away, you know.

But I said, no, let's not do that, not over the park, you know.

'Cause we're liable to get into trouble

when we go down there to pick him up.

So he didn't shoot? Oh, no, sir. Not then.

So I swung the plane south of that old boy

and we worked him up north, out of the park.

When he was over open land, then I moved in real close.

Now, the eagle and the chopper, they,

they fly at about the same speed,

so it was just like the bird was standing still.

Or like you were on a platform in the sky

standing right beside him.

Yes, sir.

And that's where we made our big mistake on that first try.

I got too close.

Hell, you could have killed that eagle with a broom.

So what happened then?

Well, the dude fires.

Well, he practically disintegrates his eagle.

Took us the best part of an hour to pick up the bits and pieces.

So we take it in to the taxidermist

and he takes one look at that pile and he says,

"Well, boys," he says, "How do you want this job made up?

"Duck or an eagle?

"I can play it either way."

Mr. Holmes, as a state naturalist,

you and your associates had been watching

Mr. Calendar for some time, then?

Uh, yes, sir, we have.

The national publicity on that eagle deal,

sort of scared him off that line,

we haven't seen the helicopter since then.

Have you had further contact with him?

Yes, sir. We had further contact

when he turned his attention to bears.

To bears?

Yes, sir. You see, there's about as good a market for bears

as there are for eagles.

Well, he devised him this sure-fire plan

to help an eastern hunter bag himself a bear.

And how was that?

Well, he'd just trap them.

Trap them? Yes, sir.

He'd trap them, put them in cages

and then he'd take the cages and put them deep in the woods.

He'd take some sportsman out to a cabin nearby.

And, well, he'd sneak out about 5:00 in the morning

and he'd go turn the bear loose.

5:15, they'd be on the trail

and, well, by 5:30, you got yourself a dead bear.

And this was for profit?

Boy, I'll say it was. He charged $100 for the hunt

and $200 if the sportsman bagged a bear.

He wasn't taking any chances. There wasn't any doubt about that,

'cause he had starved those poor animals,

and he knew the first thing they'd do is stop to eat

when he set them loose.

Mr. Garrett, would you tell us, please,

how long you've known the defendant?

All my life.

I knew his father, I knew his grandfather,

and his great-grandfather and mine came north

from Texas on the first cattle drive.

Tell us, please, about your most recent contact with...

It all had to do with the turkeys.

Turkeys?

About 10 years ago I lured a family of wild turkeys

on the north edge of my ranch,

and we fed them and protected them,

and pretty soon we had a big colony.

The wild turkey is a very sensitive bird.

Almost extinct in these parts,

and that's a crime in itself, because that's our real national bird.

You kept a close watch on these birds, then?

So did Floyd Calendar.

Well, how do you know that?

Well, after they increased in number, they began to decline.

Objection, Your Honor.

Sustained.

Let me rephrase the question to the witness, Your Honor.

Mr. Garrett,

did you have evidence

to show that Mr. Calendar

had taken an active interest in the number of turkeys you had on your ranch?

DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Objection.

Your Honor, I want it noted that Mr. Garrett stated

that these were in fact wild birds that he lured onto his land

and not birds that he had purchased or bred or raised.

So noted.

Continue, Mr. Garrett.

After we noticed the number of birds declining,

and we couldn't find a reason for it...

I mean, there was no disease, no attacks by coyotes,

we began to worry, until I got this letter

from a friend of mine in Boston.

He enclosed a copy of a form letter

he received from Colorado.

Is this the letter?

That's the letter.

Exhibit F for the prosecution, Your Honor.

Will the clerk please read the contents of the letter to the court?

It's addressed to Mr. Daniel Mahoney, 1212 Riverdale Drive,

Boston, Massachusetts.

"Dear, Mr. Mahoney,

"Your name has been referred to me by a mutual friend

"as a man who enjoys the challenge and excitement of big game hunting.

"Here in Colorado, we offer two trophies in one trip

"that are a magnificent addition to any sportsman's collection.

"I can guarantee you what no other guide in America can guarantee.

"Come to the Rockies, and I'll show you

"how to bag both of our national birds,

"a baldheaded eagle and a wild turkey."

It's signed, "Floyd Calendar, Centennial, Colorado."

Mr. Garrett,

where did Mr. Calendar get the turkeys that he guaranteed in that letter?

From my protected sanctuary. Objection.

Your Honor, if Mr. Garrett may be allowed to answer, I believe you'll be satisfied.

Go ahead, Mr. Garrett.

When I got the letter from Dan Mahoney,

I staked one of my men out on the preserve,

and sure enough, after a while, here comes Floyd with a hunter

from Wisconsin shooting my turkeys.

Objection.

The turkeys I tried to protect on my own land.

Mr. Garrett, there's been a lot of ugly rumors

circulating about the incident in question.

Would you mind telling the court just what you did

when you confronted Mr. Calendar about the turkeys?

Yes, I was angry.

I was real angry.

And I caught up with him at the Flor De Mexico...

Flor de Mexico, what is that?

A restaurant.

A Mexican restaurant?

A cantina?

That's right.

Is that in Centennial and is it owned by a

Senor Marquez?

Manolo Marquez.

His father owned it before him.

Thank you.

You're on quite good terms with the owner, aren't you?

And his sister. Objection, Your Honor. Irrelevant.

Mr. Prescott, I'm afraid I don't see the relevancy, either.

The relevancy is, Your Honor,

that an incident occurred

involving my client and Mr. Garrett.

Mr. Garrett chose to pick a spot where he knew

he was under protection of his closest friends.

The Mexican cantina owned by Senorita Marquez and her brother.

Marquez.

You may answer the question, Mr. Garrett.

The question was...

I know the question.

Miss Marquez and her brother are close friends of mine.

And you do pay regular visits there?

That's right.

Was it on one of your regular visits

to this Mexican cantina owned by your close friends

that you accosted Mr. Calendar?

Your Honor, I have to object.

It's all right. I'll answer the question.

It was in the cantina.

And I did accost him.

Did you lay hands on him physically? You bet I did.

What'd you say to him at that time?

I think I said something like...

We're not interested in "something like," Mr. Garrett.

We wanna know exactly what you said.

I said, "Calendar, if you ever step foot

"on my turkey range again, I'll kill you."

You threatened his life? You bet I did.

I told him if I was there when he came, I'd do it there.

I said if I missed him when he was sneaking around,

I'd hunt him down and drop him where he stood.

And we have witnesses who will testify, Mr. Garrett,

that you also said if he ever set foot

in the Mexican cantina owned by your close friends,

you'd kill him where he sat.

That's what I said.

And I think he knew I meant it.

Since then we haven't lost any turkeys.

(ALL LAUGHING)

Here's a shot of the two of them coming up the steps together.

They're gonna print it on page one.

Perfect. Perfect.

He writes off half the hunters in the state

and a whole horde of Anglo bigots at the same time.

You know something, Paul was right.

He's not cut out for politics.

(DOG BARKING)

Morning.

See the paper? No.

Guilty?

Yeah. Guilty of operating a zoo without a license.

What?

He kept the bears in cages for periods of over 30 days.

I can't believe that.

For killing 413 bald eagles,

200 bears and 81 of my turkeys,

they fined him $50.

How can they do that? You had proof. The state had proof.

That's the trouble. All we had was proof.

Calendar had tradition.

A man isn't guilty of anything around here unless he's an Indian,

or a Chicano.

They actually acquitted him of every major count.

And they put Flor and me on the front page.

Just in case somebody missed the point

that Calendar's lawyer was trying to be so subtle about.

(BIRDS CHIRPING)

I can't tell you why, but whenever I have something to think out,

I think it out best on the reservation.

Oh, Paul, it's your Arapaho blood.

Maybe that's the most important part of me.

You have Indian heritage, too?

If you trace it back, it's only five thirty-seconds Arapaho,

but I visit the family out here two or three times a year.

I visit them ever since I was a little kid.

I appreciate you letting me come along.

You can't write your story without it.

I'm not an Indian apologist,

but I guess if I were 20 years younger,

I'd be one of those gun-toting activists.

Damn Shoshone.

What's the trouble now, Aunt Augusta?

Government says we can have a recreation hall.

Well, that's good, isn't it?

Shoshone say it has to be on their land.

I see, you want it on your land.

We may have to go to war.

You see, the Shoshone and the Arapaho

have been enemies as far back as anyone can remember.

And some people don't want to forget.

She's not serious about war?

Ask the agent. He knows.

He sleeps in town. That's true.

Paul, what does she mean?

She means, the Indian Affairs agent sleeps in town

because he doesn't want to spend his nights out here.

But I thought...

Everybody thinks the Indian lives in peace

on the land that they love.

For some, that's true. I can't get her to live anywhere else.

It's also true that they haven't lived in peace since President Arthur,

and all the white man's wisdom moved the last of the Arapaho

from Colorado up here on this reservation in Wyoming,

that already belonged to the Shoshone.

Arthur? That'd be 1880.

1883. There is enough land here for two tribes,

but not when they're mortal enemies.

They're still fighting? Because they made General Custer head

of Indian Affairs.

Custer didn't govern Indians, he fought them.

In 1876, General Custer left his office

to go to the Little Big Horn.

And he said,

"Don't do anything until I get back."

Yeah, and they haven't done a damn thing since.

Now you take care of yourself.

Paul,

did you hear what happened to Sam Loper's son?

He died.

No.

Drowned

in a ditch.

A ditch two feet deep.

He's not the first, Paul,

and he won't be the last.

I see too many drunk.

Too many dying

or killing someone they don't even know

because they're driving on the wrong side of the road

and they don't know that either.

Or like my boy,

they just stumble in a ditch and drown.

I'm sorry, Sam.

I am, too, Paul.

And what good is that?

To be sorry.

To wake up sorry.

To go to bed sorry.

To live each day sorry.

To die sorry.

The boy left a wife and three children.

She's a heavy drinker. Hasn't been sober in days.

Where are the children?

They're with Sam's daughter.

That's one thing that hasn't changed.

The Indian has a strong sense of family. They look after their own.

But, damn it, there's no reason for life to be wasted like that.

Paul, what can we do?

Go to the mission and raise hell,

and watch it happen all over again.

What is it, Paul? What causes the pattern?

It's what Aunt Augusta said.

The men who sleep in town.

PAUL: The awful problem is that no girls in America,

and I mean none, are better brought up than these Indian girls.

They get traditional teaching at home,

they study here at the mission.

They're clean, devout, filled with the excitement of life,

and then they marry.

Now, who do they marry?

They marry the tall, good-looking young men on the reservation.

And what happens to these young men

who play basketball so well when they're 19?

Some find a place for themselves.

Well, more than ever before, actually.

It's over 30% on this reservation go to college now.

But too many of them drift.

Lose interest because they feel no one's interested in them.

They feel they have no future, no hope.

So they start to drink.

After the first baby, the husband starts beating his wife.

Actually, the only contact she can have with him,

is to join him drinking.

Look at it.

What in the hell can a man say?

Think about the way they were once.

Proud and strong.

They ruled this land.

It was theirs in a way it's never been ours.

The Indian never intended to mold himself into white man's ways.

Why should he?

His ways made sense for centuries.

So our great plans of fitting him into white society

were doomed from the start.

He formed an indigestible mass in the belly of progress.

And he had to be regurgitated.

Like Jonah.

He came out about as well as he came in.

It was inevitable that his land would be taken away from him.

The white man was in motion.

The Indian wasn't.

The whole thrust of our national life

puts us in conflict with his simple needs.

(WHOOPING)

And even though we asked him to gather his nations together

to come and meet with us in peace,

to come with understanding hearts and minds,

even though they believed we wanted peace as much as they did,

and came to celebrate the great treaty

that would last for as long as the eagle flies

and the waters flow,

the land treaties we offered with the best of intentions couldn't last.

At the very moment of signing, the wisest of men

knew the papers weren't worth a damn.

Before the ink was dry, the Indian was dispossessed.

No.

(PEOPLE SCREAMING)

Full ahead!

We have no guns! Stop!

(CHANTING)

(CHILDREN CRYING)

What are you doing with them?

Captured prisoners, sir.

Nits grow into lice!

Kill them.

(HORN HONKING)

I'm sorry.

Lew,

I may not know what I think about Watergate or Wendell,

but I know what I think about the American Indian.

And I suppose it's a smaller, less important problem

than equality for the black people,

but a lot of the world has had to deal with slavery and its consequences,

and the American Indian is this nation's unique moral headache.

You're a history teacher, Lew.

Can you think of anything in the world

that parallels our treatment of the American Indian?

The English killed off the Tasmanians,

the Australians kept the aborigine debased,

Brazil was the same.

Only in America did we show total confusion.

One day we treated the Indians like sovereign nations.

The next day we treated them like uneducated,

uncivilized savages that had to be exterminated.

Our policy today is still confused,

but I'm not.

What about the land?

I'll give it to them.

Divide it up equally.

The ones that still want to live in the communes,

let them, encourage it like they did with the Pueblos in New Mexico.

And the others?

Well, the others are gonna have to jump in with both feet. Sink or swim.

Like my family had to. And like yours had to.

A lot could be lost.

The best will survive.

In legend.

In remembered ways of doing things.

In how they treated the land.

Just look at the land.

The best part of America. No houses,

only the road we came in on. No fences, no boundaries,

just the wall we've built around those people.

You know, you can preserve natural resources,

you can't preserve human beings.

Thank God they're not whooping cranes to be kept alive

until the last one's dead.

And they are not freaks of nature to be kept away from the rest of us.

They're human beings.

Human beings.

(WIND WHISTLING)

You know, for a man who doesn't want to be a politician,

that was quite a speech.

I'm just trying to be myself.

My own man.

Baby, I don't think anyone's ever had any doubt about that.

I have.

What in the hell am I doing living alone in that castle

when I should be living with you?

I'm a respectable widower of eight years.

My kids are grown and gone.

You ever been to a Mexican wedding, Lew?

No.

The lady I love's Mexican.

Paul, no. Not now. Not before... Flor.

Flor,

whatever Wendell thinks of Chicanos,

or whatever he thinks Colorado thinks of Chicanos,

doesn't mean buffalo chips to me.

I know who you are and I know who I am.

And I know where you belong.

(BAND PLAYING MARIACHI MUSIC)

(PEOPLE CLAPPING)

(ALL CHEERING)

(SINGING IN SPANISH)

Mr. Garrett?

What is it? What's happening? It's a serenade, ma'am.

I know, but what for?

For the lady I'm gonna marry.

Is that an announcement, Paul?

That's a Mexican custom, Morgan.

I make the serenade,

the lady makes the announcement.

If she's willing.

Si. Como no?

(ALL CLAPPING)

I want a picture of the bride, I want a picture of the groom,

I want a picture of the interior of the restaurant,

I want a picture of all of them together, pronto.

I've always admired the romantic side of Paul's nature.

But politically, he could be sealing his own grave.

That could be true, I guess.

But then he wouldn't be the only one around here

sealing graves lately, would he?

PAUL: Now you boys know how I feel about skiing.

The mountains are a good place for recreation.

A good place to get away from pressures.

A resort like this that doesn't scar the landscape is a good thing.

It brings the rewards of nature to more people.

You wanna build some runs along the highway, okay.

But start commercializing the back valleys, I'll fight you.

That's if I'm elected.

PAUL: The Mile High City just might not be high enough anymore.

The University of Boulder has copies of the letters

that Elly Zendt wrote when she came west

with Levi in 1845.

I remember reading where she said

that when they were 105 miles away,

she could see the Rockies so clearly

that they could pick out the valleys.

Now look at them.

That just might be the saddest sight in America.

We're 10 miles away and you can't see anything.

Just that lens of filth.

Could be that one day when you wanna see

the unspoiled grandeur of Colorado,

you'll have to go to Wyoming.

FINCH: This is an analog.

It shows you the whole Platte system as it is today.

But it can also show you what could happen five years from now

if we continue to increase the demand for water.

Now, for our purposes we'll consider the precipitation remains constant.

You see, that first red light represents increased demand

by communities of new people.

Have a look at the oscilloscope now.

That shadow line was the even flow of the river.

And you can see it drops dramatically.

Proving what we predicted.

Now, if you'll look downstream,

real shortages down there,

but we still have a river.

What happens if you increase the demand for industry, too?

It means that agriculture is gonna be hurting like hell.

And if we crank in five years of drought like we've just been through...

The Platte stops flowing.

Maybe forever.

Has Wendell seen this?

Oh, yes.

And given us lip service.

But you know as well as I do, Paul.

He wants to bring new industry into the state.

Do we have options? A few.

But they have to be explained to people in hard-nosed terms.

Like, if we keep stealing water away from our farms,

onions are gonna have to cost $10 apiece.

PAUL ON RADIO: I thought the job was making sure we had good air to breathe.

Now it includes making sure there's water to drink.

After we meet with the soil experts,

we'll probably find out the main thing

is making sure we have earth to till.

This nation is running out of everything.

(KNOCKING ON DOOR)

We gotta get back to a sense of res...

Oh, Sid, come in.

I bring thee good tidings of great joy.

They like the material so far? They love it.

Well, we can thank Paul Garrett for giving us the feeling

of what the westerner is doing today.

If you really want to say thanks to Paul, I have some other news, too.

The lab?

How does the year 1889 grab you?

They can be that specific? Mmm-hmm. So can we.

That was the exact year that Soren Sorenson

disappeared from the face of this earth.

Or got himself buried by the Wendells.

Then it's all true.

And a very timely press release, I thought.

Well, I don't know.

W-What do you mean you don't know?

Paul Garrett's the kind of fellow that likes to make decisions

that affect his life,

and I'd say this is a choice that belongs to him.

Paul?

Company.

Hello, Paul.

Morgan.

Well, I'll leave you two alone. Excuse me.

Mr. Wendell, would you like some coffee?

No, thank you. Paul?

No, thanks, Flor.

What can I do for you, Morgan?

Well, I heard what Calendar's attorney did to you

at the trial,

and a couple of the boys that work for me

told me something that I just don't believe.

What's that?

I chewed their tails out pretty good when they told me,

I can promise you that. What for?

Well, you know how young people are in politics sometimes.

It was just a couple of kids, they went to Calendar's attorney

and told him that you were going with Flor.

They knew that he'd jump at the chance, of course,

to discredit you with the people that were following Calendar.

The damn little fools,

they thought they were going to be of help to me, too.

Playing all the bigots in the state.

It's gonna cancel out votes for you.

They even hired those photographers

and helped push the shots of you and Flor

to a couple of the papers.

Paul, I want you to know something,

I'm really embarrassed about this.

I called the papers, I told them what happened,

I told them what I thought of them for printing the pictures.

And I sent those two little rattlesnakes packing.

Well, I appreciate it, Morgan.

But it wasn't necessary.

Meaning that you figured it was something out...

Meaning it wasn't necessary.

The pictures of our wedding announcement appeared in the paper

a little after that.

They didn't need any pushing. So you're not sore, then?

I'd only be sore if you put them up to it.

Well, I just wanted to make sure that you knew what happened.

You see, I got wind that you were planning a little reprisal.

Reprisal?

Through that fellow Vernor.

You lost me.

You know, for a fellow

who doesn't have any place for politics in his life,

I get the feeling that you're learning pretty fast.

All right, point-blank then, Paul.

Telling the history to the world of that old beaver cave

is gonna be a source of great embarrassment to my whole family.

Not to me personally,

but to Emma and the kids.

Maybe even their kids.

I know how much that rumor used to hurt me when I was growing up.

But for them to read proof that it really happened,

and for their friends to read it in a national magazine...

Well, I'm asking you to not let that happen to them.

Let's have a drink.

No.

I'd like you to give me your word that you won't let Vernor

print anything about it.

I see. I know it's not going to come out

till after the election,

but I don't think that ancient history like that

has any more place in influencing people's minds

about issues than that kind of racial prejudice

that my boys were trying to dump off on you and Flor.

Will you give me your word, Paul?

You should know, Morgan, I wouldn't do anything to hurt you or your family.

I do.

But I can only trust a man I know.

And I don't know Vernor.

And I'll tell you something else, and I mean it.

I would rather withdraw from this race right now

than worry for a minute about him printing something

that could destroy the reputation that my family built developing this area.

Withdraw?

Yes, sir.

I don't want that, Morgan.

Your word, then?

You have it.

Withdraw?

Yeah, he said, he'd pull out if I approved something

that Lew might want to use in your article.

That's wild.

What's wild?

That he is so scared. Scared of what?

A skeleton. A skeleton?

It might not go down as as big a find as diplodocus,

but it does look like it's changing the course of history in Colorado.

Throw in the towel, huh? No, no, no.

But you just said... He offered to.

And you're not gonna let him?

No, to tell you the truth, I didn't know what in the hell he was talking about.

I still don't. I'm not sure what you two are talking about.

It's a bigger find than diplodocus, skeletons...

Oh, are you trying to tell me that you found some bones

and Morgan believes...

You didn't find the body of the man

that his grandparents supposedly murdered?

He did, and I saw him.

I didn't know why he was so terrified.

Sid told me the story.

Lew found part of it.

I took it to New York, and I had it analyzed.

It's human, it's close to a century old.

And the unsolved murder was 1889.

You walk around with that tape recorder on all the time.

You must have known about this. Why didn't you tell me?

I have to work from facts.

Sid just verified it, and we were going to tell you tomorrow.

I'll be damned.

What?

All this time Morgan's been trying to manipulate me

by telling me that the past has no relationship to the present,

but what the hell are we if we're not the product of the past?

And what kind of future are we going to have

if we don't realize we're creating it right now?

That's what this campaign is all about, isn't it?

You know, there've been a couple of times in the last week or two

when I felt like kicking your can back to Georgia

because you got me involved in this race.

Now, I'm damned glad to be in it.

I don't even know if I'm the best man

but I know the state of Colorado can not survive

many more people like the Wendells.

MAN ON TV: Today we are going to hear the views of two candidates

for a unique and innovative office,

an office which is going to seek ways

of dealing with an age-old problem.

Now, that problem is survival.

The office is known as the Commissioner of Resources and Priorities.

The candidates are two men from the same part of the state,

Mr. Morgan Wendell and Mr. Paul Garrett.

Mr. Wendell, your involvement in politics to date

has been that of support for various interest groups

attempting to lure industry to Colorado.

Do you feel you can satisfactorily

walk the tightrope between the industrialists and the conservationists?

Well, Mr. Kinsman, I was hoping someone would open up with that one.

I am dedicated to growth for Colorado.

But as a member of a family that pioneered land development in this state,

I am very aware of the risks involved without careful controls

and proper planning.

I've been working for some time with the leaders of industry

to create a responsible program

that makes careful and constructive use

of the vast open space

and the untapped natural resources

that we have here at our disposal.

Mr. Garrett, you were a last-second entry into this contest.

Would you tell us why it took you so long to announce your candidacy?

I guess I felt that people deserved a choice.

Well, it wouldn't seem your views are that different.

You're both conservative businessmen from the same community,

and I understand you grew up together,

went through school together, and even graduated in the same class

at the University of Colorado.

I think you'll find that Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee

went to school together, too.

The differences between you are that great, then?

I'd say they were basic.

Could you define them more specifically?

Well, Morgan has always been more interested in the future.

And I have had more contact with the past, I guess.

Well, we are headed toward the future, Mr. Garrett.

And we're living in what used to be the future right now.

I think we ought to compare that with the past

before we go on racing straight ahead like we are.

Mr. Wendell, it seems there's an issue

right in the community both of you gentlemen were born and raised in,

the town of Centennial,

that gets to the core of the kind of developmental issues you'll be facing.

Central Beet?

Yes. Could you give us your comments, please?

Well, Central Beet has dominated life in Colorado

since I was a little boy.

As late as 1936 it dictated to banks

and school boards and sheriff's offices.

For thousands of farmers and small-town business,

Central Beet has been Colorado.

But the whole point of this new office is that times are changing.

The sugar beet industry isn't doing that well anymore,

so it isn't that important to us anymore.

But the plant in Centennial is still pumping out

the kind of industrial waste that pollutes our air,

and I think that has to be stopped.

Mr. Garrett?

The beet industry isn't doing well

because so many people use the land for other purposes.

The farmer can't afford to reserve it for beets.

So he sells to land developers,

and they build little towns for the people back east.

And that drives up the price and leaves the farmer no alternative.

But he won't be the loser, that's the whole point.

He'll make money from the land

and Central Beet will make a profit, too,

from the same kind of development you just mentioned.

Ninety-seven little Colonial houses all in a row, huh?

Well, they've been building those a lot longer than ranch houses, Paul.

What about the feedlots, Morgan?

They depend on the sugar beet pulp and the molasses.

If you close Central Beet, people like Harvey Brumbaugh

are gonna have to go somewhere else to afford the cost of shipping.

It's better than a whole community

having to continue absorbing all that air pollution from the plant.

How about the cattle industry?

They depend on the feedlots.

Ah, there's the rub, isn't it?

The cattle industry.

Morgan, I'm not the only cattleman in the state of Colorado.

No, that's true.

Only its most eloquent spokesman.

Thank you for that.

The simple fact is, and it's gonna be a tough one

for men like yourself, Paul, to handle.

A whole pattern of life is vanishing.

The time is at hand

when the cattle industry may be forced to quit Colorado.

Quit? For land development?

No. For people who want to live where we do.

And why shouldn't they? Why shouldn't they be allowed to come out here

the way my ancestors did, and yours, too.

Why shouldn't they have the same kind of freedom that we had?

Yes, and wealth, too.

That the Wendells and the Garretts have known?

Colorado needs cattle, Morgan.

Well, we won't ever be without cattle.

Just cattle ranches.

Look, the feedlot concept proved that.

You herd them into lots, stuff them with feed,

send them off to market.

Not much romance to it, but it gets the job done.

And that's your idea of the future, huh?

Gonna raise cows like they raise those new-style chickens?

They never touch the earth.

In sanitized pens from birth to death.

We're gonna have cowboys with college degrees and little white aprons.

We're gonna ship the manure out in little desiccated pellets.

Well, I know it sounds a little like Buck Rogers, Paul.

But I believe the time is coming

when we won't be able to afford cows in Colorado.

Our land is too valuable a commodity to the people.

We've got to look elsewhere for cheaper land.

For now, Wyoming and Montana.

It could be a state like Indiana. It's close to a feed supply.

On the other hand, I was reading some reports the other day

about how you can feed cottonseed cakes to Herefords.

Maybe the entire operation will be moved to Alabama or Georgia.

That's not as far-fetched as it sounds.

But I sure as hell don't wanna see it happen.

And I'm gonna fight to see that it doesn't happen.

You can't win, Paul.

No, you can't win, Morgan. We can't let you win.

Everything has its limits, even land development.

What's it gonna profit this state if we overpopulate it

to such an extent that we strip it of all its natural resources?

The earth isn't something that you keep taking from,

without giving something back.

The earth is something you protect every day of the year.

A river is something you defend every inch of its course.

The man that tried to save that river are all gone now, and look at it.

God, it's a public sewer.

Why? Because men like you and I

haven't done a damn thing in the last 20 years

except sit around getting fatter and richer, watching land development.

That's our disgrace, Morgan.

The Wendells and the Garretts.

We have to change all that.

Got to look to the past and get back to some basics,

if we're gonna have any future that's worth having.

ALL: Yeah.

NEWSCASTER: Strong words from a strong man,

spoken on a public service program last week.

But today is the day that the strength of each of the candidates

is being tested.

Janice Welch now has some early results. Jan?

Yes, Paul. I have the early tally here from the Denver area

and as you can see, Morgan Wendell is running ahead of Paul Garrett

at a little better than two-to-one.

The Fort Collins area is beginning to report too,

and Wendell is opening with a strong lead in those precincts.

It's still far too early for...

Where's Paul? He said he'd be here.

...Mr. Wendell's progressive platform concerning land development.

Give me another ditch, Randy.

I think you've had enough, Paul.

Bar bourbon and Platte water,

what in the hell can be wrong with that, huh?

Come on, give me another one. Pour it. Come on.

I've dug a deep enough ditch for myself, didn't I?

Deep enough for the whole damned state.

Did you know Sam Loper's kid drowned in a ditch?

Just a two-foot ditch.

Walking along, fell down and drowned.

This is your last one, okay?

In a damn two-foot ditch.

(TRAIN HORN BLOWING)

(HORN BLOWING)

Over there.

(BELL CLANGING)

I think that's him. Yeah, I believe it is.

(DOG BARKING)

Paul?

Yeah.

You all right?

(CHUCKLES)

What are you doing?

(SLURRING) Just

spending some time alone.

It is the American condition, haven't you heard?

Nathan Hale. The Alamo

and the Pony Express.

Our heroes. Our symbols.

Paul... Pasquinel. McKeag.

Mercy. Zendt.

Seccombe and Brumbaugh,

Lloyd and Garrett.

All loners.

Calendar!

What the hell, Cisco, you know what I'm talking about.

I hear you.

And we created

Morgan Wendell.

We created all the ambitious

resolute

men in this world.

(TRAIN WHISTLE IN DISTANCE)

Listen to that.

My God, that's lonely.

That's lonely.

But that's us. That's America.

The loneliest people on the face of the earth.

Even the Eskimo banded together, right, Professor?

But not us!

We have to have the log cabin

and sod hut and the line shack.

And a castle

in the middle of nowhere.

Any man or any woman

who couldn't make it on his own was a person to be pitied.

So we had to be ingenious,

inventive.

Had to give up

the old patterns of doing things

to accept the new way.

So, I guess it's time

for the Morgan Wendells to take over

finally out here, too.

But what a painful

price we had to pay

to wind up like...

Like that.

What a painful

(SHUDDERING)

price

in loneliness.

(TRAIN WHISTLE BLOWS)

So, it's still Morgan Wendell running ahead of Paul Garrett

with about 22% of the vote tabulated at this point.

The gap has narrowed considerably. But Wendell...

Paul.

(SPEAKING SPANISH)

Hot and black, Manolo.

Cisco,

I said some sharp things about your uncle.

You know that was just between him and me.

Well, he's a mean one, I'm sure whatever you said was true.

The outlying areas are beginning to report now.

But it's too early to call it, with just 7% of that vote in.

Hey, I'm gonna turn that thing off.

(ALL GROANING)

Showtime, ladies and gentlemen.

(ALL CHEERING)

We tried, amigos.

The vote's still coming in, Paul.

The vote would be in good shape if I hadn't opened my big mouth.

Any time speaking the truth is out of style,

we're all in a lot of trouble.

Hey, why isn't the box on?

MANOLO: We don't want it on right now. I do.

Nate. I came in to drink with a winner.

And I gotta know when I can start buying for everybody in the place.

We're hearing from the people, Paul.

The ones who believe in you.

The ones who heard you. The ones who know what we've got.

And they want you to help save what we've got before it's too late.

(ALL CHEERING)

This was a county Wendell had counted on carrying, however.

And, at the moment, it doesn't look like he's going to.

Wendell appears to be in trouble in Dawson County, too.

Trailing there on a three-to-one basis.

Laramie County is voting on a 50-50 basis so far,

showing no clear-cut favorite at all.

Let's have another look at the debate.

It seems to have given Garrett this unsuspected groundswell of support.

What about the feedlots, Morgan?

They depend on the sugar beet pulp and the molasses.

You close Central Beet,

people like Harvey Brumbaugh are gonna have to go somewhere else

to afford the cost of shipping.

That's better than a whole community

having to continue absorbing all that air pollution from the plant.

PAUL: How about the cattle industry?

What happened?

How can people vote against progress?

MORGAN: Don't they understand that I can make the land

serve them at a higher capacity

and a greater profit?

What's the matter with them?

I don't understand.

I do not understand.

A whole pattern of life is vanishing.

Well, there's nothing quite like a good argument, is there?

Unless, of course, it has the answer to peace.

I don't know how this is gonna end up,

but I know how it's been for some friends of mine

who had to choose how they wanted to live

and wound up making a choice different from mine.

However the election turns out,

I think this song has a lot to say about

how more than just a few of us feel.

I guess he'd rather

be in Colorado

He'd rather spend his time out where

The sky looks like a pearl

After the rain

PAUL ON TV: Live in sanitized pens from birth to death.

We're gonna have cowboys with college degrees and little white aprons.

We'll ship the manure out in little desiccated pellets.

MORGAN: Well, I know it sounds a little like Buck Rogers, Paul.

But I believe the time is coming

when we won't be able to afford cows in Colorado.

Our land is too valuable a commodity to the people.

We've got to look elsewhere for cheaper land.

For now, Wyoming and Montana.

It could be a state like Indiana...

He'd rather play his banjo

in the morning

When the moon is scarcely gone

In the dawn, the subway's coming

PAUL: I sure as hell don't wanna see it happen.

I'm gonna fight to see that it doesn't happen.

MORGAN: You can't win, Paul.

No, you can't win, Morgan. We can't let you win.

Boulder Canyon

I guess he'd rather be

In Colorado

I guess he'd rather be

in Colorado

I guess he'd rather work

out where the only thing you earn

Is what you spend

In the end, up in his office

In the end, a quiet cough

Is all he has to show

He lives in New York City

PAUL: The earth isn't something you take from

without ever thinking about giving back.

The earth is something you protect every day of the year.

A river is something you defend every inch of its course.

We have to look to the past

and get back to some basic principles

if there's gonna be any future worth having.

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