Original subtitles

Desertion?

Desertion, he calls it!

Desertion from what?

Which army? Which war?

You can't hang a man for a dream, can ya?

You can't hang a man for waking up, can ya?

Can you, Captain?

Something maybe you oughta know.

Something maybe you done forgot.

The war's over, Captain. Lee done surrendered.

Place called Appomattox, it was, near five years ago.

Remember, Captain? The war's over.

Lee surrendered!

I didn't.

Hang him.

Captain!

Hyah!

Major Adams! Oh, Major Adams!

Ho!

M'liss. Come on, girl, what's the matter?

Come on, get up! Get up!

Come on, M'liss, you can't break down now.

Frisco's a long way off. Now, come on.

She hears me, Lu-sam, she hears me just fine,

but she won't mind.

It's no use, Miss Juliet.

She's done in. She's not going anyplace.

She's going to Frisco with the rest of us.

Us, maybe. Not her.

She hasn't the strength for it, Miss Juliet.

She wasn't bred for this kind of life.

Am I?

You've got no load to pull.

Think not?

All right, boys. Get this mare unhitched.

Bill, fetch me a fresh horse, will you?

Hitch him up in place of this mare.

BILL: If you say so, Major.

Just give me a fresh horse, Bill.

You're very kind, Major, but we can't accept.

We're Crestons,

and we don't take charity...

especially not from Yankees.

Well, it's not a charity. It's not even a favor.

I've got 100 wagons here, miss.

One wagon stops, they all stop.

She's all right.

She's just had too much sun, that's all.

You don't understand 'bout M'liss.

She's a full-blooded walking horse.

She's mine.

I was there the night she was foaled,

and when the Yankees came

we put her in the spring-house

and she didn't make a sound.

She can do anything she wants to.

Anything.

'Course, you wouldn't understand about our kind of horses.

Well, I know a little about horses,

enough to know when a horse is gonna die

when it's been worked to death.

All right. Get on with it, Bill.

Come on, git up, there.

Come on, git!

You can't, Miss Juliet, child.

We've barely got enough to...

Get to San Francisco.

All right, folks. Go on back to your wagons.

We'll be rolling in a few minutes.

Major.

How much?

How much?

Just forget about it, miss.

You Yankees will never make beggars of us.

Name your price.

I've got to buy, so you might as well make a profit...

a nice, fat, Yankee profit.

How much do you want for that mare?

You serious?

I'm serious.

I don't know.

Time was when she was worth a lot of money.

$50 be too much?

$50 just fine.

How much is your horse worth?

$50. That makes us even.

Yankee'll out-trade you every time.

I suppose I should say thank you,

but then that's part of your job, isn't it?

That's right, miss.

Major, you made a bad bargain. That...

Bill, you talk too much.

Well, all I was...

Yeah, I guess I do.

Major Adams!

Yes, ma'am?

Will you please forgive my niece?

She had manners once, before...

We had so many things, all of us, before.

I understand, ma'am.

It's much harder for the young.

Oh, is it?

We have memories, you see.

Sometimes I wonder if I'll live long enough

to recollect each one of those wonderful days,

but the young? Nothing but regrets,

might-have-beens.

We are grateful, Major, believe me, both of us.

Don't you worry about it.

It's just part of my job. Ma'am, good day.

What a nice man!

He's a Yankee.

There are nice Yankees, you know?

I remember one that came...

in Andrew Jackson's time,

second term, I think it was.

He was a Harvard University man, same as my brother.

Then there was the other one.

He was a higher type.

He was interested in paintings and furniture.

Interested enough

to cut them out of their frames with a bayonet

so it wouldn't burn with the rest of them.

Oh, child, you can't carry Roman Hill

all the way to San Francisco with you.

Can't I?

Major Adams?

Yeah? Sir, it's me.

Oh, oh. My name's Evans.

Fifth cavalry, Fort Boyle.

Howdy, Lieutenant.

Anything particular I can do for you?

We're hunting some Confederate raiders.

According to last reports, they're somewhere around here.

Confederate, huh?

A little out of date, ain't they?

You might think so.

Some wars end all of a piece; some don't.

Find them all over the West,

scattered remnants of a lost cause.

Never did quite see fit to surrender.

Name Maury mean anything to you?

Maury?

Oh, Maury's Marauders, is that it?

Yeah, that's him.

Oh, I'm sorry, Lieutenant. Can't help you very much.

Been pretty quiet the last week or so.

Haven't seen a thing movin', except some lizards.

Well, maybe you can help us.

Maybe we can help each other.

Oh, how's that?

Maury's men ought to be pretty hard up by now.

Wagon train like yours could be pretty tempting.

Yeah, maybe so.

Wouldn't be too easy.

Well, that depends.

Depends on what?

How desperate he is.

How clever. Hmm.

Maybe you figure to use us for a decoy?

Complete with military escort.

Well, I guess that makes sense.

All right, tell your boys

to make themselves at home.

Thank you, sir.

All right.

Steady, bubber. She'll keep.

I hope your people don't mind

some unexpected guests.

Guess I said the wrong thing.

No, not said, Lieutenant. Wore.

Huh?

That uniform.

That's the wrong color for her.

Oh. Huh.

That kind of puts me in mind of home.

Did you have enough chow?

Yeah, it's fine, thanks.

Where you from, Lieutenant?

I didn't say,

but it's Kentucky, like Lincoln.

A house divided against itself,

the dark and bloody land.

Lieutenant? Yeah?

What happens when you catch up with this Maury fellow?

You mean if we catch him.

That brings up an interesting point, Mr. McCullough.

You see, there's some say that he's an outlaw.

Now, that's hanging.

Then there's others say he's a traitor.

That's shooting.

Maybe they'll just let him take his pick.

Maybe he already has.

Could be.

Well, I'd better see about setting up my picket lines.

Well, I don't know, Flint. I just don't know.

He seems all right.

Yeah, but did you notice that uniform?

New issue.

Did you take a look at those old boots?

You know the Army, Major.

Supply gets all fouled up on the frontier.

Yeah, I know...

but I just can't seem to forget that quartermaster train.

What'd you say?

Didn't you hear about it?

Happened right after Fredericksburg.

What?

Rebs captured a whole company without firing a single shot.

Neat trick.

Yeah. Heh.

Young Reb lieutenant got his hands

on some War Department orders,

commandeered the whole outfit,

and took them right through the front lines.

He was after guns and ammunition.

All he got for his trouble

was a wagon-load of new-issue blues.

Was the lieutenant's name Maury?

That's right.

Charles Elliot Maury.

How'd you guess?

Instinct, Major. Pure instinct.

What does your instinct tell you now?

I'm thinking the same thing you are.

Mm-hmm.

How much longer are we gonna be, Captain?

An hour, maybe two.

They ought to be asleep by then.

Sleeping or dead, what's the difference?

Why wait all night?

Let's take what we want and git.

That's what I say.

I say we wait.

"Nymph, in thy orisons

be all my sins remembered."

Hamlet to Ophelia.

Why'd you say that?

I don't know.

Just seemed appropriate.

Did it?

You heard it before?

Yes.

A man?

A boy.

You loved him?

We were to be married.

And you?

I loved him.

He's dead, isn't he?

Dead.

The war?

The war.

I'm sorry.

Why should you be? You didn't know him.

Anyway, it doesn't matter.

Isn't even important, you...

That's what you wanted, wasn't it?

I should've known, looked at you and known.

Which is it you hate... Yankees or just men?

Hate? Despise.

Despise, then.

D... why should it matter to you?

You don't even know my name.

I'm just another available stranger.

You have no reason to condemn me

for being a man, your being a woman.

Why not?

My father was a man.

He went to Bull Run and never came back.

My mother was a woman.

She waited at Roman Hill.

The Yankees, they were men.

They dragged her out 'cause she didn't matter,

and what's left of Roman Hill is still in ashes,

and what's left of the woman

is still there waiting for the man.

Yankee, Yankee, Yankee, Yankee!

They camped at Roman Hill,

and the Major,

he was fond of paintings...

but the younger officers,

they liked simpler pleasures.

I know.

Do you?

Armies of men, all kinds.

All armies.

I hoped some of those Yankee girls...

uh...

I wrote a letter...

to the boy I was to marry.

I told him I didn't love him,

and that I never loved him.

After that, he volunteered.

He volunteered with Maury's Marauders.

And they sent me the medal...

Heh.

Pinned to the letter.

Don't. Not anymore.

I hope they never find Maury.

Do you know that?

I hope they never find him!

Captain Maury!

Captain Maury!

Some of the men got caught looting.

They know who we are.

Get the horses and get back to camp.

Yes, sir.

Miss!

Well?

I'm sorry, Major, but they got away.

Country just sort of swallowed them up.

Come daybreak with a little light,

we might pick up a trail.

Well, forget it.

Hadn't've been for your instinct,

we might've lost a lot more than just a couple of horses.

All right, folks, excitement's all over.

Better grab some sleep while you can.

Captain Maury.

Captain Maury?

Captain Maury!

Captain Maury.

Captain Maury!

Captain Maury!

Miss. Miss.

You shouldn't be here.

I've gotta get a horse.

Oh, you're hurt. You're hurt bad.

I can't get you one now. It isn't safe.

Safe?

No place's safe anymore.

Lu-sam.

Lu-sam.

Lu-sam. Lu-sam!

You've gotta help me.

Help me with him.

I hope you know what you're doing.

I know what I'm doing.

For the first time since Roman Hill,

I know exactly what I'm doing.

It's out of the question, child.

We can't take a man in our wagon.

What would people say?

It's none of their concern, and I plan to keep it that way.

'Tisn't as if he were some sort of kin.

He's a total stranger.

Is he?

We don't know anything about him,

not anything at all.

I know he's hurt...

and his name is Maury.

Captain Charles Maury.

The water's not boiling, but it's surely hot.

It'll have to do, Lu-sam.

Listen.

That boy of yours.

I'm sorry.

Captain Maury.

Hmm?

We reach Fort Boyle the day after tomorrow.

I assume you've made your plans for...

shall we say, your departure?

That's a remarkable assumption, ma'am.

It's logical and valid.

And my niece,

does she figure in those plans?

She might.

It's her intention to accompany you.

You know that, of course.

I'm aware of it.

Captain Maury, do you love her?

Of course you do.

It was inevitable.

If you do love her and love her very much,

you'll go, tonight.

You'll go quickly and you'll go alone.

Will I?

Juliet's seen a great deal of sorrow,

a great deal of heartbreak.

How she's managed to survive I don't know.

Perhaps only the young know the secret of survival.

I doubt if she could stand disillusionment again.

Well, perhaps you underestimate her.

Or you.

You're not the first, you know that.

Yes.

First was the prince in the fairy story.

Then, the knight on the white charger.

Then the war.

The cause, the Confederacy.

And now me.

Hmm.

You... or the illusion of you.

He's gone.

You did it. You sent him away.

Supposin' he doesn't want you?

He will.

What'll you do in a camp of desperate men,

one woman alone?

What'll I do anywhere?

Don't worry, Auntie.

I'll manage.

The Crestons always manage.

Which do you love,

the knight on the white charger,

or Captain Maury?

Don't you see, Auntie? I don't have any choice.

I love them both!

Why did you follow me?

Don't you know?

I don't want you, Juliet. I don't need you. That's why I left.

Is it? It's impossible.

Can't you understand that? No.

Everything's against it. There's 100 reasons.

I know them.

You have to go back.

Will I?

There isn't one sensible reason,

no reason on earth.

Isn't there?

Name it.

Go on, name it.

Don't you know?

♪ Beautiful dreamer ♪

♪ Wake unto me ♪

♪ Starlight and dewdrops ♪

♪ Are waiting for thee ♪

♪ Sounds of the rude world ♪

♪ Heard in the day ♪

♪ Lulled by the moonlight ♪

♪ Have all passed away ♪

♪ Beautiful dreamer ♪

♪ Queen of my song ♪

♪ List while I woo thee ♪

♪ In soft melody ♪

♪ Gone are the cares ♪

♪ Of life's busy throne ♪

♪ Beautiful dreamer ♪

♪ Awake unto me ♪

♪ Beautiful dreamer ♪

♪ Awake unto me ♪

Captain don't like for you to be away from camp, ma'am,

not without escort.

Stream's only 100 yards away, Matt.

I can make it just fine by myself,

don't you think, without an escort?

Girl like you shouldn't be doing no work.

If I had a girl like you,

she wouldn't lift her little pinky.

She wouldn't?

No. She'd just sit up on a veranda

and look real pretty.

I know your kind of girl.

I used to see your kind of girl.

Oh.

Yeah. Back home.

See 'em often,

ridin' by in them carriages

and sittin' up on them high verandas,

wearing crinolines and laces.

I said to myself,

"One of these days...

"One of these days

I'm gonna have me a girl like that."

Sooner or later...

I'm gonna have me a lady.

Get outta here, or I'll kill you.

What can you expect? They're just men.

Armies are men. I remember,

the flower of the Old South.

The Old South is dead, killed in action.

Is it?

This is our kind of war, Juliet...

No bands, no banners.

Gentlemen need not apply.

Gentlemen give up and go home.

Gentlemen give up and die.

It's a new kind of war, kill or be killed.

Survival of the savages.

Does that shock you?

Of course it does.

How could you understand?

You were raised wrong.

We're all raised wrong.

Soft. Soft and sweet.

Moonlight on magnolias.

That's what beat them.

Miss Creston, may I carry your glove into battle?

I vow I'll wear it next to my heart.

Well, the Yanks carried Springfield rifles.

They wore new shoes.

He's not quick, our Johnny Reb,

but he'll learn.

You can shoot him, freeze him,

starve him... he'll learn.

Next time we'll beat them.

No gestures, no gallantry, just victory.

If there isn't any next time?

Well, there will be.

That's why we're going to Canada.

We'll join up with General Early,

we'll bide our time, we'll wait...

I told you all before.

Yes, you told me, but when?

Soon. Soon as I'm ready.

When's that?

Soon, I told you.

What's the matter, Juliet?

Don't you believe in me?

In our cause?

Do you...

or do you just want to believe?

♪ Furl that banner, for 'tis weary ♪

♪ Round its staff 'tis drooping dreary ♪

♪ Furl it, fold it ♪

♪ It is best ♪

♪ For there's not a soul to save it ♪

Stop it.

That's a defeat song, and it doesn't belong here.

No, I guess it doesn't.

I don't know what brought it to mind.

I guess it was the heat.

Boy, it sure is a scorcher. Whew.

Better than Alabama, though... it's drier.

Now, ma'am, don't you go worrying about the captain.

He's gonna be back.

He's gonna bring them all back.

He said he'd be back by sunrise.

It's a funny thing.

Times when I'd be fit to be tied,

missing out on a raid like this.

You know, back there during the war.

I cared then.

I really did.

But now...

You know, sometimes I feel like

I'm never gonna see Alabama again.

Canada either.

I'm gonna spend my life right out here

in the middle of n...

nowhere.

Drinkin' and raidin' and shootin'...

until they shoot me.

Or hang me.

Miss Juliet?

Ain't gonna end like that, is it?

Miss Juliet?

It isn't, is it, Miss Juliet?

You could go back.

No, ma'am, I couldn't do that.

'Fraid?

Yeah, I guess I am a little,

but it's not that.

It's the captain, ma'am.

I couldn't leave him,

not after all we've been through together.

Get a little down-spirited sometime.

It's natural, you know?

Captain Maury said he was gonna get

us to Canada, and he's gonna get us there

if he has to march us through hell to do it.

You see? I told you.

I told you they'd be back.

There weren't anything to worry about.

Never is with the captain.

It's horrible,

like animals fighting over a kill.

Just blowing off steam. We had a hard day.

I suppose it was hard robbing the poor settlers

of the things they needed more than you do.

Spoils of war, my dear. Spoils of war.

There isn't any war, and those men aren't soldiers.

Maybe they once were, but they're not anymore.

They're outlaws. They're savages!

They're savages!

Savage!

There it goes! There it goes!

I'm going to take a horse.

It's all right, isn't it, Charles?

What's the matter,

you afraid I'd turn you into the Yankees?

Maybe I will.

Nothing's sure anymore, is it, Charles?

That's it, go ahead. Hold me. Hang me.

That's what they do to deserters,

isn't it, Captain Maury?

Why, Juliet, why?

Why? Roman Hills why. Once is enough.

Charles, come with me.

It's impossible. You know that.

We'll go anywhere you like...

Canada, California,

just so we can be together.

An officer's first loyalty is to his men.

Loyalty? You're gonna take 'em to Canada, aren't you?

I told you that.

Have you told them? No more raiding or shooting?

How many do you think will go with you?

How many, Charles?

That's enough. It doesn't matter.

Doesn't it?

I can't desert them.

Captain Charles Elliot Maury.

It rang like a silver coin,

so bright in name.

Maury's Marauders, Quantrill Raiders...

Who will know the difference or care?

Except me.

And I'll forget.

Captain, the girl... Let her go.

But she's got one of our horses.

Doesn't matter.

Motley looking group. Everybody here?

Bring the captain's horse in, Rainey.

All right, pay attention.

Troops in order, Captain.

If we're gonna hit Devil's Fork before daylight,

we'd better move out.

We aren't. The raid's off.

What? You can't do that, Captain.

Oh?

We reconnoitered that stage station for weeks.

It's a near-perfect layout.

Sergeant, you'll break camp in the morning.

We're moving out.

Where to? Canada.

They're not gonna like that, Captain.

Canada's far, and we're doing fine right here.

You heard the order.

Can't rightly say that I did, Captain.

Can't rightly say that any man

in this camp would hear that order.

I'm in command here.

Maybe.

Maybe!

Captain says that the raid's off.

Captain says we're moving camp tomorrow morning,

going to Canada.

What's in Canada, Captain?

A cause, a reason for living!

Don't need no reason, Captain!

Just plain do it!

What do you do with a cause, Captain?

Can't drink it. Can't spend it.

Eastbound stage lays over at Devil's Forks tonight,

loaded, gold!

I say we take it as planned.

I'll have any man shot that disobeys a direct order.

Hmm.

Rainey.

You in with us?

He's in.

Well, you gonna kill us all, Captain?

That makes it unanimous.

Looks like you've been outvoted, Captain,

or should I say, booted out.

All right, men. Move!

Hurry it up. Let's go!

Better come along, Captain.

Might miss the fun.

No hard feelings.

Sir!

Captain, from where I was waiting with the horses,

I saw everybody either killed or captured.

Is the war over, sir?

War's over, Tom.

The Yankees won.

No. We lost.

We lost?

Who won, sir?

Nobody.

You know, I think it's a mortal sin

ever to teach girl children to read.

No books, no Prince Charming,

no knight on a white charger,

and we foolish women'd stop spending

the rest of our lives

trying to match up our dreams.

Ho!

Major Adams?

That's me.

Sir, as commanding officer of Troop C,

Third Virginia Cavalry, Confederate States of America,

known as Maury's Marauders,

I request terms of surrender.

Oh, you do, huh?

Well, I'd like to help you, Captain,

except that I'm not sure I'm authorized.

Well, you're the senior Union officer present.

That's right, and I'm retired.

I have been for almost five years.

Permit me to add, sir, that the surrender

will not depend upon the terms.

If you choose, you may take us as prisoners

and escort us under guard to the nearest regular Army post.

Well, that's possible.

Maury's Marauders, huh?

Tell me something, Captain,

as a matter of highly curiosity.

After all these years, why now?

Well, I ran out of hate I guess, sir.

Things that I started out to fight,

they didn't wear a blue uniform anymore.

Make sense?

I think so, yes.

I should've known a long time back,

I suppose, but...

Well, there's a saying I heard once.

"It's a rare mirror that'll show a man his true face,

and a rare woman who'll speak his true name."

Well, sir.

Hmm. You know, Captain...

my outfit was on guard duty at the MacLean House.

Appomattox.

I remember General Grant.

He paroled the Northern Virginian Army

on their own honor.

The officers kept their sidearms;

the cavalry kept their horses for the spring plowing.

I always thought that was fair enough.

Thank you, sir.

You'd better keep that, Captain.

Someday you may want to show it to your sons.

My sons?

Mm-hmm.

Wagons ho!