Original subtitles

♪

-Starring James Arness as Matt Dillon.

-So we can see,

it was the Greeks who invested the modern world

with perhaps its most full-bloomed design --

to see man elevated to his highest station and --

[ Shouting in distance ]

And this, mind you, in spite of their propensity

to debase some men under the yolk of slavery.

[ Shouting continues ]

-And then...

-[ Laughs ]

[ Laughing ] Oh, gee, Corley.

[ Laughs ]

You're answering a whole thread of questions.

The greatest far-killing buffalo hunter

come off the state plains.

-Mm, the only one's that's any better was my daddy.

Don't you forget my daddy, Sadler.

No!

There was a shovel-slinging, fly-killing fool.

-And all we need do is follow them,

and they will lead us away from the animal

savagery that seems -- -Hey!

[ Bang ]

-We could use a small loadin' for him.

-Oh, don't you know it. -[ Laughs ]

-Don't you know it.

-Look at, right there. See that little buggy there.

-[ Grunts ]

[ Laughs ]

-[ Shouting indistinctly ]

[ Both cheer, laugh ]

-Hi, fly!

We're going to pave our way to pass the devil's bridge work

and high.

Ain't no way to say it, though.

-No.

-Mnh-mnh.

-[ Laughs ]

Feller has to know.

-You saying no?

-Get out of here.

-Well, now, you should put up a little dust and sit a spell.

-You -- you heard me.

-Oh I -- I know a no. That's a no.

I know a no. [ Laughs ]

-Hey. Hey, now, boy.

Now, you be careful there 'cause she's loaded.

-I mean it!

-Boy.

Boy, that old gal you got hold of, she belonged to my daddy.

And he always kept her loaded deep for buffalo,

and I ain't changed things.

-I said get out of here,

and I mean it.

-On top of that,

she's got a recall half the distance of the bullet.

[ Gunshot ]

On top of that, since my daddy passed,

she belongs to me.

♪ Oh, daddy dear

♪ Did you hear the news that's going round? ♪

♪ Shamrock is forbid by law

♪ To grow on Irish ground

♪

-[ Snoring loudly ] -[ Humming ]

[ Humming continues ]

-You are clever.

Clever little bay hiding on that doorway, aren't you?

Yes, sir. Hmm?

But we going to get --

[ Chuckling ] Well, well, howdy, Sheriff.

-Marshal.

-Won't -- won't you just come on in here

and pull up a little something and plop?

-[ Snoring continues ]

Oh, that's -- that's McInnerny.

He's gonna live to be 600, he will.

We got all that money.

We've been a-funnin', you know,

and it's a powerful lot of doin' to stop...

-Corley, did you throw a young boy out this window awhile ago?

-Huh?

-I said, did you throw a young boy...

-Well, I had to spin him a mite, you know,

just to get old Clara back.

-Clara? -Sure, yes, sir.

You know, this young'un, he just come whiny-jiney

and tromping in here with no howdy's or nothing,

and he just leveled old Clara at me something like this here.

And, you know,

I do believe old Clara could put a hole even in you, Sheriff?

-Marshal.

-Now, he didn't have no politeness,

just stomping and chomping with "get out of here.

get out of here!"... -All right.

All right. I've heard enough.

I want you to hear me.

I want you boys to sober up and quiet down around here,

and quit making so much noise around the hotel.

And the next time something like this happens,

bold as winter or not, I'm gonna throw all you in jail.

Do you understand? -Understand, Sheriff.

-Marshal.

-[ Snores loudly ]

-All I wanted to do was to stop them

from breaking up your lecture, Dad.

I didn't figure it would come out exactly like this.

-It's a good thing you landed on your head.

-[ Chuckles ]

Oh. -Oh, stop it, both of you.

He might've been killed.

Doctor, you are sure that it's nothing more serious?

-He's gonna be all right, Mrs. Driscoll.

He's gonna have a sore ankle for a few days.

That's sure.

I'd like to keep him here, though, for, oh, an hour or so.

Just can't be too sure about these head injuries.

-Thank you.

-You get a good rest, son.

-Be with you in a minute.

-Buffalo hunters, well.

They are dirt humans.

Can you imagine throwing a young boy out a window

like a -- like a peeling or something, out the window?

-Now, don't take on, Louise. You heard the doctor.

He's all right.

-All of that talk about the elegance

and the civilization of Athens.

How many thousands of years ago was that?

And where are we now?

Here.

Timothy, what are you gonna do about it?

[ Door opens ]

-Marshal, I would like to know...

-Ma'am. Mr. Driscoll.

I Was just over seeing those buffalo hunters.

-They're savages. -That's right, ma'am.

They lead a hard life, and they're loud and bothersome.

But, you know, your boy did point a gun at 'em.

-A gun? -That's right.

And the muzzle of a Sharps rifle looks like a canyon,

you know.

-A gun. Oh, Timothy.

-We'd better go now, Louise.

I'll be back later, Doc.

Marshal, good night.

-Can't help but agree with her, Matt.

They lead a hard life.

Well, life's a hard life.

And when a brilliant, educated man

like that with wonderful ideas to offer can get sidetracked

by a bunch of scrofulous, maggot-ridden buffalo hunters.

-Whoa!

-Here we go.

-Powerful day's rest. -Yes, sir.

A powerful day's rest.

Put him up here, Sadler!

-Well, for him what we gonna need is some of that fizzy,

that, uh, french sodie water.

-The french sodie water? -Yes, sir.

Now, uh -- uh -- uh, the kind with all the bubbles.

-Oh, champagne?

-With all the bubbles -- You've got it.

Now, we want you to bring out some of them oysters,

like what's out there on that signboard out there.

-We're gonna eat those little dudes until we find one of them

what comes within them them whatchamies, you know?

-Whatchamies? -Yeah, the whatchamies, uh,

the kind you get when you're luck is running good?

-Pearls. -Pearls!

That's it. You got it!

-Now, you just go on out there and take 'em out of the ice

and herd 'em on in 'til you hear "whoa."

-"Whoa"? -Yes, sir, "whoa."

[ Laughs ] He heard us talking.

He heard us talking.

-[ Snoring ]

He's gonna learn a bear lesson on hibernating.

-Obliged.

[ Both laugh ]

[ Banging ]

-[ Grunting ]

Mmm.

-[ Snoring ]

[ Knife banging ]

-I swear if banks have locks on 'em...

[ Grunts ]

I found one.

I found --

I found -- I found one!

Hey! Hey, Sadler!

Sadler, I found one!

McInnerny! McInnerny!

McInnerny, I got -- [ Laughs ]

Mmm!

[ Laughs ] I found --

Oh, now, the whatchamie, whatchamie, whatchamie,

what -- what did the man say?

I got... Sadler! Sadler, what...

-A pearl.

-A pearl! [ Laughs ]

-You the man who threw a young boy out a window?

-Huh?

-You the man who threw a young boy out a window?

-Oh. [laughs] Oh, I nearly forgot.

I -- Yeah.

-Can I see you outside?

-Well, you sure enough can see me right here.

-Please, outside.

-Uh...yeah.

[ Grunts ]

Say, have you got any whiskey?

If you give me a little squeeze on it, I'll show you my pearl.

[ Laughs ]

[ Mumbling ]

Ohh!

What did you do that for?

Why, you... Oh!

[ Groans, grunts ]

[ Growls ]

[ Shouts ]

[ Dramatic tones play ]

You.

[ Shouts ]

-Now, Corley, I didn't wanna have to do this to you,

but you didn't leave me any choice.

Lying around drunk in the street.

Looks like you've been in a fight.

Your two friends here don't look much better of than you are.

-Guilty.

-Guilty. [ Chuckles ]

-Well, just, uh, dry out here and sleep it off.

-Oh, we can't let that man snore.

It sounds worse than somebody pounding on a tin plate.

-[ Chuckles ] Yeah, way worse than that.

You got a drink of whiskey? -Whiskey?

Now, there ain't no whiskey in a jail house, now, Sadler.

-Well, you got some horse liniment or or an apple,

anything to put in that mouth?

-Well, stuff his shirttail in it.

-[ Snoring loudly ]

[ Snoring stops ]

-You ever think of being a doctor?

-A doctor?!

-Seems there was more to it...

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

That old boy shaved off his beard.

I s--

I seen Carl Martin Craig in this town.

-Oh, Carl Martin Craig's dead, Corley.

-I seen the brand on his chest.

-Everybody said he was dead, Corley.

-I do recall it now. I do recall it.

I Was just sitting there mining for pearls,

and this old boy come tromping in there, asking me outside,

something to do with slinging a young'un out the window.

-Timothy Driscoll?

-I know nothing about some names.

We were tussling, and then his shirt tore off,

and I seen that brand on his chest

just as plain as judgement.

-You mean Timothy Driscoll came into this town

and picked a fight with you?

-I mean to say Carl Martin Craig,

"the Devil of Donnerville," is in your town.

You have heard of the Donnerville prison,

now, ain't you, Sheriff?

Well, us northern boys, we do remember.

Oh, indeed we do. Indeed we do.

Sadler, we starved, huh?

-Starved clear to the bone, Marshal.

-What you could eat, you had to fight the worms to get at,

and the whippings and the saltwater after.

And them guards.

[ Laughs ] Oh, them old boys, huh?

I'd sooner lie down with a passel of animals.

Call them humans?

And him, he was the man in charge.

I'll never forget him.

-Corley.

You see the brand?

-On my daddy's head.

-That prison, Marshal, it was took by Sherman's boys.

And us, we was in there.

We busted free.

Then we found him.

We found him like a hound dog finds a bear.

Oh, but he --

he was a proud one. Yeah, he was proud.

Us boys, we -- we had our memories.

We branded him.

-With a cross above the heart.

-Near hung him if Sherman hadn't come along.

-And he's here in your town.

On my daddy's head, he's here.

-I've known Louise Driscoll for almost five years now, Matt.

-Well, what if it is, or was, Craig or whatever his name is?

It was an awful long time ago.

-Well, it wasn't so long ago that a lot of people

still don't remember it, Doc.

But, you know, we could have the wrong man here.

It could be a lot of things.

-Well, talk is starting out yonder.

What we ought to have did is kept them three locked up,

Matthew, that Corley and Sadler and that sleeping beauty, too.

-Well, I know, but they sobered up, Festus.

I can't keep them locked up forever without a good cause.

-Well, I'll tell you something.

They're a-festering up this town, Matthew.

I'll guarantee you that.

-Festus, it's like Matt says.

We're not even sure it's the same man.

-Well, there's only one way to settle this for sure.

I'm gonna ride out and see Driscoll myself.

-Hey, Pa?

Marshal Dillon's here.

Marshal.

-Hello, Tom.

Well, by golly.

Like I always heard, you can't keep a good man down.

-Well, it ain't all -- all dedication, Marshal.

Chores got to be done before Ma's gonna make some food,

and this body's just naturally

and powerfully attracted to food.

-Well, Marshal. What a pleasant surprise.

-Mr. Driscoll. -What can I do for you?

-Well, I, uh, I'd like to talk to you for a minute, if I could.

-Oh, certainly, certainly.

-Tom, would you mind if I talk to your father alone?

-Sure, Marshal.

-Uh, Tom, uh, tell your ma

to bring out some of that good lemonade, hmm?

-Right.

-What is it.

-Mr. Driscoll, you had a fight last night

with a man named Corley?

-Well, uh, oh, I admit it.

It's, uh, it's hard, uh,

for a father to see his son, uh...

Oh, I'll pay whatever damages there are.

-Mr. Driscoll, I got to ask you a question.

Are you Carl Martin Craig?

-Carl Martin Craig?

Timothy?

-The buffalo hunter.

-All of us was there. Yes, sir!

I tell you her and now,

a blind man could find that place,

the stink it took on.

Right, Sadler? -That's right.

-He killed of 500 Yankee boys.

A -- a man could die and go to Hades...

A man could die and go to Hades and think

he walked in on a Sunday afternoon ice cream social.

And the man in charge is right here in your town.

-He's in jail.

The marshal's just waiting word from the Federal authorities.

-To do what? -Stand trial

for what he done at Donnerville.

That's what I'd say.

-Stand trial, huh.

Well, them old boys ain't gonna fool around with no trail.

No, sir!

The only trial for a man like that is a new rope.

Now, sir, a sickness has a first point,

and the first point is named Carl Martin Craig,

the Devil of Donnerville,

and he is sipping soup right here in your jailhouse.

-Here, here!

Here, I want you to bust up this here gathering.

Now, go on. Get back on back to business.

Go on, all of you. Out.

Roy, you and Sam,

you know no good ever comes out of this kind of talk.

Now, go on back to your business.

Corley, you and Sadler, you know what the marshal

said about you a-festering up this here town.

-Ain't nothing going to happen to Craig

unless we do it ourselves.

-And you hush that kind of talk, and hush right now.

Now, I want the two of you --

the three of you to go on and scoot out of here.

Go on, scoot!

-You better do something!

-I swear, Matthew, I don't know how you can keep so calm

with all this here going on.

-Not much you can do about it, Festus.

-Well, still and all, I just don't like it.

With all that talk going on out yonder,

it's bound to stir up trouble.

And them two or three muttonheads in town,

what's that feller doing sleeping all the time, anyhow?

I'll tell you, they're a rougher than a wagonload of old cobs.

And you just can't tell what's liable to pop into their heads.

Like my Grandma Tucker used to say...

She used to talk kinda high and squeaky to you

like two tree limbs are rubbing together.

And I recollect her saying on her very deathbed...

She said, "Things don't never die.

They just get worse."

-Isn't that supposed to be for Driscoll?

-Oh.

Well, that just goes to show you right there, Matthew.

If things can get me all muddledy headed and fussed up,

what do you think it's gonna

do to all them ordinary folks out yonder in the street?

What about them?

[ Knock on door ]

-Hello, Louise. -Well, hello, Kitty.

-May I come in?

-Yes, yes, of course.

-I brought you some port.

I've always said there's two times in a woman's life

when she needs a good port wine.

And both of those times

are when her world seems to be falling apart.

-Oh, Kitty.

You're very thoughtful.

-Not at all.

-You know, it, uh, it just doesn't fit.

I was sitting here thinking.

Since -- since Tom was a child I --

I've never seen Timothy raise his hand to him.

It wasn't just the caution of a stepfather.

It was purely, simply his way.

How do you explain that to a -- to a boy?

How do you explain that to yourself?

I find myself married to man...

When I think of his hands on me, the very hands...

-Louise, they were loving hands, weren't they?

-Oh, yes, Kitty.

-Then what more could you expect?

-Kitty, what is there to life when the very man that...

-Louise, I can tell you a little bit about life,

but I can't tell you anything about war.

I don't think any woman can explain to another woman

about war.

It's an insanity that women just don't understand.

It's -- [ Sighs ]

Well, it's like falling down a hill.

You can't stop, and you can't change direction,

and you're bound to get hurt.

You know, a -- a man's strength doesn't make him a man.

It's his heart.

And that man that loves you has all the heart

that you could care to hold.

That's all I'd care to know.

-700 men died in that prison.

And Driscoll, or Craig, was a commandant.

He was responsible, clear as the hands on your wrists.

-Oh, for heaven's sake, Bert.

-How can you defend him? -It's your move.

-I'm not defending him.

I'm defending his right to live his life

in the way to make amends for his past, that's all.

-Make amends? -Yes.

-Jump that! -Jump?

What? -Go on, jump me.

-Oh, go ahead.

-[ Chuckles ]

Ain't too often I can catch you like that.

-Yeah, the day you catch me,

it'll be the day the sun comes up backwards.

-Well, all I'm saying is -- -Oh, shut up.

-He was a murderer, a killer of plain soldier boys.

-Shut up! -All I'm trying to tell you --

-I'm not talking to you.

-He was an enemy to this country, Doc.

Clear as the hands on your wrists.

-"Clear as the hands on your wrists" --

Is that all you can think of to say?

Let me tell you something.

The law is the law.

And, in times of war, there is no law.

And that's why it's war.

And I'll tell you something else, Bert.

It's my own personal and private opinion,

that if they put your brains in a mustard seed

they'd rattle like a peanut in a boxcar.

Now, shut up! -Now, wait a minute, Doc.

I was in the 10th Pennsylvania Volunteers, and I know...

-Oh, good! Oh, that's marvelous.

That clears everything up.

Now you're qualified.

You can go ahead and write your book.

-Well, uh, at least I was there.

[ Chuckles ] Where were you?

-Bert, doesn't make any difference where I was.

Doesn't make any difference where anybody was.

The point I am trying to make with you,

with some difficulty, is first,

and of lesser importance, is that in times of civil war,

the code of humanity disappears completely.

And secondly, and of greater importance,

a man's past is his past.

It's what he contributes to the present that's importance.

Now, as far as Craig,

or Driscoll, or whatever you want to call him is concerned,

it's my opinion that you could not carry his brains

in your two hands.

And it's brains, my friends,

that is gonna save this,

the best of all possible worlds, up to now

and not the 10th Pennsylvania Volunteers.

-[ Sighs ]

Top of that,

old Sheriff Dillon just up and took my Clara from me.

Took up all our guns.

-Can't blame him.

-Some kind of talk about whiskey and powder

not mixing up.

-Can't blame him.

-Wish he'd throw us back in that jailhouse.

How I do wish it.

Just get ahold of that old devil Craig.

Just get my hands on him and tear him limb from limb.

-Yeah.

Old Dillon done figured that out too.

Thinking man.

Thinking man.

-Whose side you on?

-Ah, Corley.

We ain't aching, is we?

Huh?

We got whiskey.

We got money.

Now, I ask you, Corley,

is the living life made up of anything more than death?

-Hm.

-[ Sighs ]

I can row so heavy thinking on it.

-This whole just tippy-toeing around us like we was a bomb,

like we some kind of filth.

Hey, old town!

Your filth is in the jailhouse!

Why don't you do something about him?

-Come to think on it,

that whole war was on account of me.

Wasn't it?

Yeah.

And me not bothered strong.

-Well, there's more than one way to the mountain.

-Well, howdy, Tom.

What can I do for you?

-I'd like to see...

-Your pa?

-Him.

-"Him"?

-Well, sure can't be no harm did with that.

Sure you can see him.

Just come right in here.

You got yourself a visitor here, Mr. Driscoll.

-Son.

-I'm not your son.

-I understand.

-I don't understand.

I don't understand anything at all.

I had a father.

And I love him.

And I was proud of him.

And so was everybody else.

And he did all the things that they're sayin'.

-Well, I don't exactly know what they're sayin', Tom.

-That --

that you're a...

That you murdered men...

just for the pleasing.

Just for the pleasing!

I had a father, and I love him.

And now I don't understand anything at all.

-Your ma, how's she feelin', Tom?

-She wanted me to come here.

She says all things have reasons.

-She's right.

All things,

all events...

all horrors have reasons, Tom.

But that doesn't make those reasons justifiable

under the face of God.

-Were you a murderer?

-I was commandant of a camp...

that had more prisoners than it could manage...

where men died for lack of food.

Brave men died from the filth in which they lived.

And I've been dying ever since.

-No. We're you a murderer?

-Yes, but not the way they think.

I've never taken a life with hand or a gun.

But I've done worse.

I sat on these hands when I should've acted.

Oh, I appeased my conscience by writing letters.

-Letters?

-To my superiors, begging for medical supplies, food,

some lumber to build shelters against the cold.

And these letters were ignored month after month.

I told myself I'd done everything a soldier could do.

That was a lie.

I complained in whispers when I should've thundered

from the housetops of every village and hamlet

within 100 miles of Donnerville.

I should have roused the country against that abomination,

made the world see what we were doing in the name of our goals.

But to rouse the populace against the military

in time of war is treason.

I would have been court-martialed as a traitor.

Now, for a military man,

that's below all conceived purgatories

except the one I had built for myself ever since.

There hasn't been a night

in the 10 years since that horror

that I haven't awakened in a cold sweat

with the stench of death in my nostrils

and ghosts of dying men gibbering in the darkness.

Those people out there...

I may be far worse than they believe.

But I would gladly give myself to them right now,

and have it over and finished with,

if it were not for you and your mother.

You are more important to me than my shame,

more precious than my life.

I deceived you about my past because...

I couldn't bear to lose you.

-Yes, sir.

Yes, sir.

Thank you, Mr. Haggen.

-You're welcome.

Tom?

You ought to bundle up good going home.

It's getting kind of chilly out there.

-Yes, sir.

-All right, now you fellers get on about your business.

Go on! Get!

You heard what I said. Go on. Get!

-Mr. Haggen?

-What can I do for you?

-If I write out a will,

would you ask Marshal Dillon to come in here

and witness it, please?

-A will?

I reckon I could.

-Thank you kindly.

-That boy of yours, Tom,

appears like a right, good boy, clean down to his core.

-All right, Newly.

You got a pretty good clout there, but you'll be all right.

-Thank you, Doc.

-You know, if I didn't know better,

I'd say you've got a harder head than Festus, no offense,

of course.

-[ Chuckles ] How much do I owe you, Doc?

-It's on the house.

-How is he, Doc? -All right.

-I'm all right, Marshal. -Oh, good.

-Did you have some guns stolen?

-Not guns, Marshal -- One Dragoon Colt.

I was fixing the hammer on it.

Had it right there in front of me, and now it's gone.

-Well, you got any idea who took it?

-Well, I didn't see him, if that's what you mean.

But I do know one thing.

-What's that?

-I know buffalo when I smell it.

-[ Snoring loudly ]

-McInnerny?

McInnerny, wake up.

-One of these days I'm gonna get so far

away from this plain country,

they couldn't find me on three good mules.

It's the coldest place I --

[ Door rattling ]

Come in!

[ Rattling continues ]

Come on in! It ain't locked.

[ Rattling continues ]

[ Wood clatters ] Well, of all the knockheads.

All you got to do is just turn the knob...

What in the tarnation?

-Time back, my daddy and me had a farm.

Had to shoot me a leg-caught coyote

what killed a mess of our chickens.

-It's just a matter of time.

If you set a trap for a coyote, he's bound to be caught.

-I'm here to finish what we started that day we branded you.

-There's a difference between killing a coyote

and a human being.

-Ain't nobody gonna fault me for killing you.

-I hope not.

I wouldn't want to be responsible for still

another human being's death.

-Well, you can rest easy on that account 'cause

there ain't no jury gonna convict a man

what killed Carl Martin Craig.

No, sir!

[ Grunts ]

[ Shouts ]

[ Breathing heavily ]

-Corley! I knew it!

I knew it!

I had it figured so.

Corley, don't do it.

-If this town won't do nothing 'bout him, I will.

-Corley, don't do it. -What?

Why, you was there, same as me, Sadler.

You was in Donnerville. -Yeah, I know was there.

The war is over, Corley.

Now, let's go on to other things.

-What are you talking about, other things?

-Corley, there ain't nothing else for you and me but --

but a bucket of money and a bottle of whiskey

and buffalo hunting out there on the state plains.

-Yeah, when I'm rid of him.

-No, Corley, please. Listen to me.

-I said, "When I'm done with him"!

-Corley, no! Please, listen to me!

Now, look, please, please, leave it alone.

Don't get it started again, please!

Now, it's been over 10 years, Corley.

[ Weakly ] Corley!

[ Groans ]

Oh, Corley, I'm hit!

-Sadler!

-[ Whimpers ] Corley.

-Sadler, you damn fool. What did you do that for?

-[ Breathing shallowly ]

[ Crying ] I'm bleeding, Corely.

-Don't you die on me.

You black-headed fool, don't you die on me.

Why did you come tromping into this town showing yourself?

Why?

[ Pistol cocks ]

It's all your fault.

You Yankee killer!

-Corley!

-No, he --

Aah!

[ Grunts ]

Sadler?

Sadler?

I'm going to see my daddy.

-[ Sobs ]

-"This General Amnesty bill,

signed by President Ulysses S. Grant,

renders all subjects in question

beyond any office of jurisprudence

and pardons them for all committed

during the tragic time between 1861 and 1865.

But more important to this office,

let it be cherished that we endeavor to erase

the bitterness memory offers to a country torn

and forever seal ourselves as a nation undivided

with the strength of each other.

Signed, Alphonso Taft, United States Attorney General."

-Thank you, Marshal.

-Well, you're a free man, Mr. Driscoll.

-We both know the truth of that, don't we?

-Good luck.

-We can't stay here, Louise.

You know that.

-I know that.

-Everywhere we go, this is the way it'll be.

-Everywhere we go.

-♪ Oh, Paddy dear, did you hear ♪

♪ the news that's goin' 'round? ♪

♪ The shamrock is forbid by law ♪

♪ To grow on Irish ground

♪

-Stay tuned for scenes from next week's "Gunsmoke."

♪