Original subtitles

NARRATOR: "Gunsmoke."

With Milburn Stone as Doc, Ken Curtis as Festus, Buck Taylor

as Newly, and starring James Arness as Matt Dillon.

[music playing]

[horse whinnying]

[laughter and chatter]

Judge Flood, you got to help me.

-Be still, Peter. -But sir, there's--

I said be still.

Now how may I help you, Peter?

Judge, I was out in Dodge City and a fella over there

got hisself shot.

I didn't have nothing to do with it,

but that marshal over there, he thinks I done it.

And he's been chasing me for three days and two nights now.

When I first set eyes on you, Peter,

you didn't have any more future than a hungry hound.

But I thought I saw promise in you.

You rewarded me by running off.

I suppose the punishment I earned

for my misdirected generosity is the trouble

you brought back with you.

Get out of my town, Peter.

Well, you let me take Osuna and a couple of men,

we'll go out there and get that marshal.

And we'll put him down in hard labor for you.

He's big.

He'll work real good for you.

I won't never run off like that no more, I swear.

Hard labor is a punishment for wrongdoers

convicted under the law.

Hard labor is not a convenience for murderers

passing through my town.

Now I said get out!

All right, Murphy.

Drop the gun belt. You're under arrest.

He wants to see me hang.

As I see it, Peter, there's only one way out.

That's over him.

Osuna.

[suspenseful music playing]

Good sheriff in this town?

Certainly, Marshal.

We even have an undertaker.

Everything will be taken care of after your trial.

What?

JUDGE FLOOD: You stand accused of the murder of one

Peter Murphy, a citizen of this town.

And you will be tried by a jury of your peers.

[gavel pounding]

[gun cocking]

This is not a legal court.

You have no jurisdiction here.

Oh, you are wrong, Mr. Dillon.

The town of Silverton has a charter

from the federal government which establishes this court.

And my name is registered as justice in Washington, DC.

In the capital of this country, my name

is registered as the man who administers

the law in Silverton.

And I am a man who has a high regard for the law

as an instrument to maintain order and tranquility

among the people.

And as a result of my influence, this

is an orderly and progressive community

which does not tolerate the likes of murderers.

Court's in session.

[gavel pounding]

The jury, having heard the evidence,

has concluded its deliberations.

The foreman will now report the verdict.

He's guilty.

Guilty as charged, Your Honor.

[laughter]

Do you find something amusing in these proceedings,

Mrs. Ames?

No.

No.

No.

I mean-- uh-- no, Your Honor.

Matthew Dillon, you've been found guilty as charged

for first degree murder.

You have anything to say before this court

pronounces sentence on you?

Would it make any difference?

Nope.

You are a murderer, and I will now pass judgment upon you.

I believe we've forgotten something, Mr. Osuna.

Mr. Osuna, it goes against my grain

to pass sentence for such a crime

on a man wearing the badge of a US marshal.

Please remove it.

Leave the badge alone!

JUDGE FLOOD: Dillon!

[suspenseful music playing]

Matthew Dillon, for the heinous crime of murder,

I hereby sentence you to life imprisonment at hard labor.

This court is adjourned.

[gavel pounding]

WIDGE: Old Judge Flood put many in the mine.

[hammering]

Old Judge Flood make them dig that ore.

[hammering]

Old Judge Flood ain't treating them kind.

[hammering]

Old Judge Flood just treating them poor.

[hammering]

Old Judge Flood make them dig that ore.

[hammering]

Old Judge Flood just treating them--

[hammering]

Well, now.

You're awake now, are you, sir?

And that's fine.

You can admire the work I'm doing on you.

I'm a very fine man at chaining.

I learned the trade from the best in the business.

In the warm Georgia sunshine.

Before the emancipation, I thank you, sir.

Did you admire my poem to his honor, sir?

Your new friend here, Mr. Latch is his name.

Now he don't like it.

No, sir, he don't like it not one bit.

But Mr. Latch don't say nothing.

Because he knows this poet might tickle him with these.

Who are you?

Widge Spot is the name, sir.

I am your--

[hammering]

--blacksmith.

And your--

[hammering]

--cook, sir.

And your--

[hammering]

--custodian of the general premises.

Where are we?

This is Judge Flood's silver mine, sir.

The mine.

Also known to those more familiar with its pleasures

as the other side of damnation.

And this chain means you have breathed your last free air.

You see, sir, I have often been called upon

to clamp iron on a man's leg.

But I have yet to be asked to take one off.

At least not off a live body.

Mike!

Tell Osuna his man is hopped and wide awake.

Now listen to me, Widge.

You've got to know by this time I'm a United States marshal.

This Flood's running an outlaw court.

You go along with him, you're just as guilty as the rest.

Listen, you.

I first tasted iron when I was 16.

I run halfway across Georgia with the hounds at my heels.

When they caught me, your law said

they could put me in chains.

When the law put Flood in the judge's seat,

and they put the judge's hammer in his hand, then I'd say he's

about fair a man as any court ever had me.

Maybe sometime you and me can sit

down and talk about justice.

Rules here are simple.

Bath and shave occasionally.

That's not a rule, Mr. Spot.

It's a privilege.

A reward for hard work.

Which you'll soon find out.

We're going to be seeing a lot of each other, Dillon.

I'm going to work some of that temperament out of you.

JUDGE FLOOD: Shut up, Osuna.

You came to grief before I pronounced

sentence on you, Mr. Dillon.

But it was for a life term of hard labor.

A term to be served here in this silver mine.

Your mine?

JUDGE FLOOD: Yes, my mine.

But then every tree and rock for a day's ride in any direction

from Silverton belongs to me.

The issue is punishment for murder, not ownership.

MATT DILLON: Let me tell you something, Flood.

There will be a lot of men looking for me.

A United States marshal doesn't just disappear, you know.

Yes.

Maybe they will come after you.

And maybe another court might find some-- some technical flaw

in my proceedings.

But after all, they could hardly dub the word of a whole town,

backed up by the word of a man whose name is

registered in Washington, DC, as an administrator of justice,

hm?

I think you better put those concerns

out of your mind, Mr. Dillon.

Send him down.

Start him an hour earlier than the others in the morning.

I'd like Mr. Dillon to get off on the right foot.

Oh, by the way, Mr. Dillon.

This is Latch.

He's been here the longest.

Others have fallen, but Latch endures.

He's our Barabbas, ignorant, faithless at times, ugly.

But he endures.

You'd do well to learn from him.

[sigh]

All right, Dillon.

On your feet.

Come on!

All right.

[music playing]

[coughing]

[suspenseful music playing]

OSUNA: Come on.

All right, you two, come on, get up.

Let's get at it.

What about food?

You've got an hour's work in front of you

before breakfast, Latch.

That's your first present from your new partner here.

All right, Dillon.

Let's see you set an example of honest toil.

Move out.

[coughing]

OSUNA: By the way, you know, old Latch there has

tried to escape three times.

Heh.

He's always talking some fool into running off with him.

But them chains holds him down.

Never was hard to catch.

So the judge started throwing him the hole.

First time he sat there four days.

Second time we caught him it was a week.

Well, third time, Judge figured he'd cure old Latch for good.

Left him down there two weeks.

[laughter]

Well, I figured it would be full of corpse.

But old Latch there?

Naw.

He came out just fine.

Course, he don't talk much anymore.

And he gets fits when he starts feeling closed in.

About that time we got to crack his skull, calm him down.

But he does jobs good as he ever did.

They brought you down before dinner.

That's right.

My name's Dan Fifer.

Fifer.

Matt Dillon.

Can you tell me what it's like outside?

What do you mean?

Is summer over?

What month is it?

Yeah, summer's over.

It's-- uh-- middle of September.

I thought so.

I thought the air coming from the shaft was getting cooler.

That guard's thing is a joke.

Maybe they'll tell you it's June,

and the next day they'll tell you it's May or July.

You lose track of time because nothing ever changes down here.

And life stays the same.

Lose track until somebody new comes down.

Then you find out.

How long has it been for you?

[grunting]

September, is it?

That makes it-- uh-- two years and three months.

Never thought I'd make it in the beginning.

I guess I had it pretty easy before.

How'd they get you?

I was a drummer, see.

[inaudible] and mail order.

So I figured I'd open up some new territory up this way.

Well, Flood stepped out of this saloon,

takes a look at my horse, and says I stole it.

I owned that mare three years.

Dillon!

You, Fifer.

Less talk and more work.

Get up, Latch.

I want to talk to you later.

Find out what it's like out there now.

What's been happening.

Beans, soup, and sourdough, my sirs.

Food to fill your bellies and send

strength through your bodies like the silver ore

in the rock.

My bean soup will take care of you.

Mr. Latch, must I caution you?

One piece per man.

Ah, my new sir.

And how is life treating you since last night?

Widge, don't forget what I told you.

Keep going along with Flood, one of these times

you'll have to answer for it.

And you remember what I said.

This is how your law works sometimes.

Delicious bean soup and sourdough.

step right up.

Delicious bean soup.

Bean soup and sourdough.

Yes, sir.

Food for your bellies.

Somebody ought to warn you, Dillon.

Latch there will steal your food if he gets a chance.

Man's got to eat down here.

If he don't, he won't make it.

Thanks for the warning.

This here's my partner, Elton Prine.

We've been in properties.

Hired him now for-- oh-- year and a half.

Elton.

Mr. Dillon.

Anybody ever break out of here?

Seven who tried, not counting Latch.

All dead.

Latch might as well be dead because he ain't much more now.

How'd they try it?

Just go crazy.

Tear into a guard.

Take off running.

Of course, two men with a chain between them

can't hardly run at all.

Most of them were shot down before they got outside.

Got to be some way.

Ain't no way.

Only hope is that the law, the real law,

find out what Flood's up to and gets us loose.

[coughing]

Fifer!

Latch, I need that food.

Give it back to him, Latch.

You stay out of it, Dillon.

He knows how to use that chain.

I said, give it back to him.

[fighting sounds]

MIKE: All right!

Break it up!

I said break it up!

Stand off.

Dillon's got an education coming.

[grunting and choking sounds]

All right, Mr. Dillon.

Break it up!

Dillon!

I said break it up!

All right, Mike, take him out.

MIKE: On your feet, Latch.

Come on, Dillon.

Out.

All right, boys, that's all the fun for today.

The first thing to learn at hard labor, Mr. Dillon,

is to mind your own business.

If Mr. Latch tries to grab Mr. Fifer's dinner,

that is between Mr. Latch and Mr. Fifer.

You will only come to grief sticking

your nose into such matters.

Now the second and most important thing to learn

is that I do not tolerate fighting among prisoners.

It's wasteful of energy.

And sometimes renders men incapable of work.

And those who do cause strife always regret it.

OSUNA: You want me to throw him in the hole, Judge?

No.

No, Mr. Osuna.

I think we'll turn their punishment to a profit.

I believe it's time we expanded the south shaft.

When you're through blasting, these two will set the timbers.

You're going to like this, Dillon.

Blast loosens everything up.

You never know when half the mountain's going

to come down on top of you.

You and your partner [inaudible].

You took a chance, Mr. Dillon.

And to endure, you can't afford to take chances.

As a man who's down, he never has any luck.

Old Latch there is getting edgy, Dillon.

He knows about September.

Yeah, you're going to have your hands full

if he gets one of his fits while you two are down there working.

[laughter]

Hang on to your britches.

[explosions]

All right.

That's just a taste of it, Dillon.

Down there the rock will still be settling.

Oh, yeah.

You'll be able to hear it groaning

and creaking all around you.

Heh, heh.

All right, Bill. Go over.

You take the rest of that stuff up top.

I can handle these two.

Dillon, grab some of that timber.

Latch!

Grab that shovel and get on down there.

Come on!

Grab that shovel there.

All right, go on.

You know what to do.

[suspenseful music playing]

All right, let's go, Latch.

I ain't going with you.

Can't make me.

Now look, Latch.

We got a chance to get out of here.

Put you down in the hole.

Dark.

So dark.

Bad things.

They're not going to get us if we get them first.

Oh, uh.

Latch, we've got no choice.

Osuna's not going to forget about this.

They're going to be after us.

We got to get out of here now.

Pick up the chain.

Let's go.

Come on!

Come on, pick it up.

All right, let's go.

[suspenseful music playing]

MIKE: Hey, Osuna, you down here?

Osuna?

Flood wants you up on top.

All right, drop the gun.

[grunting]

Mike, I got him, Mikey.

I didn't have no part of what happened to Osuna back there.

You got to tell the judge that I got him for you, Mike.

Sure, Latch.

I'll tell Flood what a good job you did for him.

All right, let's go.

JUDGE FLOOD: This is the second time

in a day I've had to come down here because of the two of you.

Now I don't intend to come down again for the same reason.

And you others, I want you to listen.

Dillon didn't have to bring this on.

He could have accepted his punishment

and resigned himself to work.

But he chose to bring on more punishment,

and he will have it!

Mr. Osuna, put them in the hole.

Seven days.

Oh, Lord, Judge, please.

Judge, I'm the one that got him.

Judge, I did it for you.

Mr. Latch, this chain makes a marriage.

The two are bonded into one.

The fate of one becomes the fate of the other.

You ought to understand that by now.

Our Barabbas.

But I don't hear the crowd shouting, give us Barabbas.

No, the crowd is strangely silent.

How will you endure now, Mr. Latch?

Be interesting to see.

No, Judge.

Take them out.

Move, let's go!

Come on, come on!

Well, you're looking at home until the judge remembers

to haul you out, Dillon.

I ain't going to be the one to remind him.

No!

Ugh!

All right.

Roll him in.

That's an 8-foot drop, Dillon.

You want to jump in or do you want to lower Latch,

drag you in after him?

Makes no difference to me.

Kick him in.

You're a dead man, Dillon.

You were a dead man the day you woke up with iron on your leg.

Lock it.

[ominous music playing]

Well, one of them's alive.

Both of them ain't moving.

He's probably dead.

Bring the ladder, Bill.

Now.

Whoo!

OSUNA: All right, come on up.

See what they look like.

If they look as bad as they smell,

it's really going to be something.

Come on, Dillon.

All right, come on, bring them out.

Whew.

Come on, move!

[music playing]

Somehow they endured.

Well, was it a-- a spiritual experience, Mr. Dillon?

I understand that time in the hole

sometimes brings on visions. -I'm alive, Flood.

So you are.

Are you able to work?

Mr. Osuna, get them to clean up some,

put them back to work in the morning.

Half days for a while.

Old Latch don't look like he got much left in him, Judge.

We'll get what's there, Mr. Osuna.

We'll get what's there.

Sip slowly or your stomach will rebel.

It's not used to such fine treatment.

And no one expected you two to be alive.

Judge is delighted, of course.

Set an example for the other prisoners.

And he will yet get more.

[coughing]

More work out of you.

I tell you something, Widge.

I'm going to get out of this place.

And when I do, I'm coming back.

I believe you may just do that.

You going to help me?

I broke my chains and made it to Illinois in '57.

Before the war.

After the war I went back to Georgia.

There's nothing left.

Everybody is scattered.

I got no place but this one.

You got no place but this one, you got no place at all.

I believe you may be trouble for me, sir.

Ah, my sirs, a cool drink to quench your thirst.

A cool drink in the heat of your labors.

Come, my sirs.

A cool drink.

That's it.

A cool drink in the heat of all this.

A cool drink in the heat of all this.

Come, my sirs.

A cool drink.

Dillon, you can't do the work of two men for long.

If they find out Latch isn't holding up his end of the work,

they're going to put a bullet in him.

It's too late for Latch.

Besides, you don't owe him nothing, that's for sure.

What was he like before, anyway?

Hard to believe now, but he-- he was a good one.

Full of spit.

He could pull up a joke every now and then, even down here.

That was before they started throwing him in the hole.

What he is now don't show nothing of what he was before.

I never thought a man could be wrecked like that.

What about Flood?

Know anything about him?

Oh.

Heh.

There's all kinds of stories about that man.

One you hear the most is he was born in Missouri

with a shriveled leg.

Some say his folks threw him out.

Didn't have no use for him, so ever since then he's been

trying to prove them wrong.

Ain't got no woman.

Just sits in the back of that saloon, writing out of them

law books.

Counting his money, I guess.

Heh.

Some say he wants to be governor.

MIKE: I heard talking.

No talking.

Look at this.

What is it?

Tree root.

Tree root?

Yeah.

[suspenseful music playing]

Dig out.

Might be a mountain.

That root means the shaft is heading toward the surface.

It can't be far.

All we got to do is bring part of the shaft down behind us.

Then we can work along it.

We start digging.

Biggest problem's going to be the air.

If we've got enough to last.

What if Flood decides to dig us out?

Well, that's a gamble we got to take.

But I think he's going to write us off.

Now, this is a job I can't do by myself, Fifer.

And Latch here isn't going to be any good at all.

Now are you with me?

First I thought being down here would kill me.

I survived.

And I guess I'm proud of that.

Just staying alive isn't going to do you any good.

Flood's not going to let you out of here alive.

The only way you're going to get out of here is feet first.

I have to talk to Elton.

Sure ain't going anywhere he don't.

How you going to bring that shaft down?

Dynamite.

Where you going to get that?

I got an idea.

Yes, sir, a treat today.

Chicken stew with real meat in it.

But in truth, it could be called something else.

Perhaps even crow stew.

Or small buzzard stew.

I do have my doubts about that chicken,

but my schedule did not permit me to examine

it before I put it in the pot.

But [inaudible] will take care of you.

Yes, sir, chicken stew.

Widge, I need a stick of dynamite and a cap and a fuse.

What?

Get it for me as soon as you can.

Have a full bowl.

The judge likes his gentleman to keep up his strength.

Chicken stew.

Chicken stew with real meat in it.

Chicken stew.

I'm with you, Dillon.

Sounds like a good way for a man to get killed.

That can happen.

Tell him.

My pa and me, we got a -- a spread, a-- little

spread south of Denver.

I come up here to-- to buy some stock.

That's when Flood grabbed me.

You know, I was thinking about him last night.

My pa, I mean.

I tried to make out what his-- what his face looked like.

I-- I couldn't bring it in real clear.

Really scares me.

See, just-- just point the way, see, because I just as soon

be dead as to be like that.

I'm-- I'm right behind you, Mr. Dillon.

What about Latch?

I guess if he had a choice he wouldn't be with us.

Well, if he's half the man you said

he was before he went in that hole,

I guess he'd like to be with us.

We better get some sleep.

What about the dynamite?

We'll see.

[ominous music playing]

All right, let's get to work.

[suspenseful music playing]

We're going today.

[suspenseful music playing]

Let's go!

All right, start digging.

We're short of time.

OSUNA: Nobody knows what happened, Judge.

Mike said he thought he heard an explosion, but--

JUDGE FLOOD: Explosion?

Some fool leave dynamite down here?

Oh, no. [clearing throat] Not a chance.

No.

What I figured what-- what he heard

was just the sound of some rock coming down

or a pocket of gas or something.

Four men, you say?

Yeah. [clearing throat]

Dillon too?

Yeah.

Heh.

Well, maybe it's best this way.

Nobody will ever find him where he's at now.

Hm?

Heh heh.

Should we-- uh-- dig out the bodies?

No, don't waste your time.

Well-- uh-- might still be alive.

They won't be for long.

Air won't last.

All right.

Whew.

Ah.

[coughing]

[suspenseful music playing]

Dillon.

I don't like the way Latch looks.

I hope he can hold on.

It's getting a lot harder to breathe in here.

I know.

Take Elton.

[coughing]

Torch.

All right, let's keep at it.

[coughing]

Ahh!

[screaming]

[panicked breathing]

[music playing]

Hey!

MATT DILLON: All right, hold it!

Hold on now.

Can't go through yet.

Hold it!

Hold on there.

Got to wait till dark.

[whimpering]

We've got to try and take Flood.

There's no other way.

Dillon, I just want to head for home as fast as I can.

It's not going to work, Fifer.

These chains will slow us down too much.

Not only that, but there's men still inside the mountain.

They own guns, Dillon.

I mean, we're certainly not going to sweet

talk them into giving up.

I think I know where we can get a gun.

We've got to find Widge.

Let's go.

[music playing]

You men stay there.

[suspenseful music playing]

I am touched you thought to visit, my sirs.

Widge.

Wasn't hard to figure what you were up to.

But I never thought you'd make it.

You are a hard man for the judge to kill.

Widge, I've got to have a gun.

I thought if my moles could burrow

their way out of the mountain, they would need a gun.

Thanks.

Now look, we're going around the front.

Can you get in the back? -I can get in the back.

Now Latch.

You've got to hold this chain real quiet.

Understand?

[suspenseful music playing]

Latch, stay close to me.

[crash]

Don't move, Flood.

Dillon, how--

Good evening, Your Honor, sir.

Widge.

I believe with the judge under control,

the others won't be much. [gunshots]

Ah!

Ah!

This justice of yours is painful business.

MATT DILLON: All right, up there.

FIFER: Does look better on them.

Come on, let's go.

Those will fit you properly, my sirs.

Widge, pretty good job for a man with one arm.

As I said, I'm a good man for chain work.

I'm going to need a man to help me get these men back to Dodge.

Be a deputy's wages in it.

Since it seems I'm between employments,

I'll take your job, providing you do the cooking.

We both do the cooking.

Done.

Well, you're heading east.

We're heading south.

So-- uh-- we'll say so long.

So long, Fifer.

Elton, how's your memory now?

Little sunshine and a fresh breeze

has seemingly worked a miracle.

Really, thank you.

I'll be sending a circuit judge and a law man

up here as soon as possible.

Well, so long, Elton.

Marshal.

Fifer.

So long.

Oh, Mike, thanks for the horses.

Ready to go, Latch?

Yeah.

You know, we've got a good doctor back in Dodge.

He'll get you on your feet.

[music playing]

NARRATOR: Stay tuned for exciting scenes

from our next "Gunsmoke."

[theme music]