Original subtitles

BAT, V/O: There's a reason they called it the Wild West.

[GUNSHOT]

When I was a gunslinger, I let my guns do the talking.

BAT: I'm Masterson.

Your new manager.

EMMA: Make them feel safe.

Otherwise, you're just another bully with a gun.

BAT, V/O: This is the story of how I traded in those guns for a pen.

GENE LEWIS: Paper can use an authentic voice,

not to mention, retired gunslinger.

BAT, V/O: I was just a young man when I first headed west.

In the years that followed, I became a cowboy, a gunslinger,

and even served as sheriff of Dodge City,

one of the most lawless towns in the country.

My name is Bat Masterson.

Now I'm a reporter. And I've come west again

to chronicle the world that I know best.

These are the incredible true tales of the Wild West.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

[DOOR OPENS] EMMA: Oh!

Excuse me! GENE: A thousand apologies.

I was just about to knock. EMMA: My fault.

Can I help you, sir?

- William Eugene Lewis.

New York Morning Telegraph?

EMMA: We already subscribe to the Denver Post.

We're not interested. GENE: Oh no, I'm not-

I have an engagement with Bat Masterson

for an article about

gunfighters.

- My husband is tied up at the moment.

♪ ♪

WEBB: Ma'am. - Emma.

Before you start... - What did you tell me this morning?

Today was going to be quiet...

that you'd be back early for dinner?

- I can explain myself.

EMMA: Oh, I'm sure you can.

But not to me.

Not yet.

Darling,

this is Mr. Lewis.

♪ ♪

He's come all this way to interview you.

GENE: This doesn't seem like the most opportune time.

EMMA: Nonsense!

The people of New York want to hear

from the gunslinger Masterson.

Well, here he is.

Nowhere to go.

Explain yourself to him.

I'll be back with your bail.

GENE: Well, may I ask how you

landed in your current situation?

- No.

- Oh,

uh...

Seems this will be a brief interview.

- Ask me anything else you like.

I can give ya straight answers.

- Your name, your past,

seems inexorably tied to Dodge City.

What brought you out to Colorado?

BAT: Why at first, money.

The Palace Theater needed new management, somebody

to kick the club into shape.

GENE: So, the allure of show business?

- Oh, I got allured, all right.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

Excuse me. Excuse me, everyone. Let me have your attention please. Come on down.

I'll make this short.

I'm Masterson, your new manager.

I run a tight ship.

Everyone has to earn their keep.

Each one of you will audition for your spots,

dealers and dancers alike.

[CROWD CHATTERING]

[BANGING GUN ON TABLE]

Tryouts begin tomorrow.

Meantime, let's get ready to open.

Well, move!

♪ ♪

EMMA: Have to say,

as far as introductions go,

I've seen better.

- I'm sorry. Who are you?

EMMA: Emma Walter, Queen of Clubs.

These are good people.

They've played all over the country,

been through a lot just to get here.

It's your first day, and you want to

send them packing?

- Well, I'm here to make changes.

Anyone who can't hack it,

there's the door. EMMA: I see.

And anyone who would dare question your judgment?

- Who are you?

EMMA: Emma Walter.

Hard of hearing? - What do you do here?

EMMA: I juggle Indian clubs.

I juggle them onstage.

Very popular act.

- I've never seen a woman do that.

EMMA: You've never seen me do it.

I, on the other hand, have seen plenty of managers.

The good ones know how to handle theatricals.

BAT: What, coddle them? EMMA: Make them feel safe

and valued.

Otherwise, you're just another bully with a gun.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

GENE: Love at first sight?

BAT: You mean love at first fight.

- Did you really make the whole troupe audition to keep their jobs?

- A good manager knows how to handle his people.

When to spare the rod.

GENE: You're no stranger to dance halls and poker tables.

- I know how to enjoy myself.

GENE: That would include several gunfights, yes?

And in matters of gunplay...

how did the Palace compare?

- Well, back then, Denver wasn't as civilized.

And plenty of tough customers at the card tables.

♪ [PLAYING PIANO] ♪

BAT, V/O: Men like Soapy Smith

and Peg Leg Charlie.

Soapy had come a long way from conning saps

into buying bars of prize soap.

He built himself an empire in Colorado,

had a hand in every club,

except the Palace.

EMCEE: Gentlemen, gentlemen! Here to enthrall you with audacious acts of acrobatics,

give a hand to the Queen of Clubs,

Emma Walter!

[APPLAUSE]

♪ [PIANO MUSIC] ♪

♪ [PIANO MUSIC] ♪

SOAPY SMITH: Bum hands.

That's all you're good for, Jeff.

Dealin' bum hands. PEG LEG CHARLIE: Soapy's right!

Anyone says otherwise is a dang fool-liar.

JEFF: I just cut the cards, Mr. Smith. SOAPY SMITH: Not anymore.

I want a new dealer. JEFF: I just started my shift.

You're gonna have to wait a minute, okay?

Pull that card Jeff,

[CHAIRS SLIDING BACK]

pull the next one in Hell.

♪ [PIANO MUSIC] ♪

[CHEERING, APPLAUSE]

[ROLLS CYLINDER]

♪ ♪

SOAPY SMITH: I'll give you one more chance, Jeff.

Deal me the cards I need.

Wrong!

Lookin' for an ace.

Deal again.

You are tryin' to vex me!

I will give you one last shot.

[COCKS GUN]

Deal!

♪ [OMINOUS MUSIC] ♪

♪ [OMINOUS MUSIC] ♪

- What seems to be the trouble here?

♪ [OMINOUS MUSIC] ♪

- I'll tell you what the trouble is. Your dealers don't know their stuff.

BAT: You don't run these tables, Smith.

I'll have to ask you to leave.

♪ [OMINOUS MUSIC] ♪

- Been a long time since I got tossed from a joint.

You know why that is?

♪ [OMINOUS MUSIC] ♪

Cuz I bought 'em all.

♪ [OMINOUS MUSIC] ♪

- Nah.

Look at us, Smith.

We're businessmen now.

Let's make a deal.

SOAPY SMITH: I'm listening.

BAT: You agree to play fair

and play quiet,

you can play on credit.

Long as you like.

You're smarter than you look, Masterson.

Smile, Jeff, I was just kiddin' ya.

BAT: It's over, folks.

Go back to enjoying yourselves.

♪ [PIANO MUSIC] ♪

- Nicely played, gunslinger.

- My friends call me Bat.

♪ [PIANO MUSIC] ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

- Lamps were still lit.

Thought I'd make sure we weren't being burgled.

- If I was a thief, what exactly did you plan to do?

- I'm pretty handy with those Indian clubs.

BAT: Oh, yeah.

Well, I'm, uh, helpless at arithmetic.

- I should give you some peace and quiet, then.

- Well, I could use a distraction.

EMMA: And keep your wrists loose. BAT: Uh huh.

- Eyes on the highest point...

and that's all there is to it. [BAT LAUGHS]

- Queen of Clubs. Whose idea was that one?

EMMA: It's a long story.

Here.

- Oh, no, I don't, no, don't think so.

EMMA: I thought gunslingers were quick with their hands.

BAT: Alright.

♪ [COMICAL MUSIC] ♪

- We'll find you another act.

The rest of the company has really taken a liking to you.

BAT: Really?

- Now that they know you won't put more bullet holes in the walls.

- What about you, Miss Walter? Have you formed an opinion?

- It's early yet, but I'm starting to-

Oh no, not now.

BAT: What's wrong? EMMA: An old complaint.

It'll pass in a second.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

No one's ever done that before.

♪ ♪

GENE: Talking your way out of duels.

Making sheep eyes at an entertainer.

If I may? You're not the man I expected to meet.

- I think I'll take that as a compliment.

- I'm sure you had your chances to marry.

What was it about Miss Walter that did the trick?

- If I could answer that simply, I'd be lying.

You meet someone

and you realize you were waiting for 'em your whole life.

EMMA: Let's try it again, Herb.

I want to tighten up the finale.

♪ [PIANO MUSIC] ♪

HERB: Emma?

Are you all right?

EMMA: Play me on. I'm fine.

♪ [PIANO MUSIC] ♪

[EMMA GRUNTS AND FALLS TO THE FLOOR]

BAT: What's happening?? HERB: She gets fits,

but I've never seen one this bad.

BAT: Someone get a doctor!! Get a doctor!

THEATER BYSTANDER: I'll get the doc!

BAT: Emma, Look at me. Look at me. Emma.

BAT: Thanks doc.

Appreciate you.

[DOOR CLOSES]

Doc says you need rest.

- Ever notice that's what they prescribe for everything?

- How long has it been happening?

- A few years.

Little things at first,

the odd headache,

hand tremors.

Never onstage, though.

Never like that.

- Well, you won't have to perform

until you're ready.

It's taken care of.

EMMA: That's very kind, but

he said

I have to give up my act.

Take my final bow.

- Emma. EMMA: Fifteen years of juggling for your supper and,

I don't know anything else.

I don't know

what a normal life looks like.

Do you?

- Came close a couple times.

- Wife and home?

Little Mastersons running around?

- I told myself, you're not the marrying sort. Just

leave it alone,

And then there was you...

Emma Walter.

You've got me rethinking some things.

♪ ♪

- You shouldn't get a woman's hopes up.

That's dangerous

even for a gunfighter.

♪ ♪

- Wherever you go,

wherever you call home,

that's where I'll be.

♪ ♪

Is it an attack? EMMA: No, no. It's just jitters.

♪ ♪

Better kiss me quick, Bat Masterson.

♪ ♪

A few months later we...

tied the knot.

Quit the Palace and bought a house.

- Does Mrs. Masterson ever miss the stage life?

- She pretends she doesn't.

GENE: And you?

Lawman,

buffalo hunter,

club manager,

fully domesticated. BAT: Hmm.

Some days, I think that

buffalo hunter had it easier.

- And yet your gunfighting days can't be over,

or you wouldn't be sitting in that jail cell.

There's no avoiding the question.

Why are we here, Mr. Masterson?

- The sheriff asked for my help.

Needed deputies to keep the peace on election day.

GENE: I take it things didn't stay peaceful for long.

BAT: Rumors started flying.

A band of partisans stormed a polling place,

kicked out the ballot counters.

I went to put a stop to it.

♪ ♪

[BALLOTS CRINKLING]

[DOORS SLAM OPEN]

[RUNNING FOOTSTEPS]

[DOORS CLOSE]

Just what do you think you're doing here?

PEG LEG CHARLIE: What's it look like?

Countin' votes.

- You here on Soapy's orders, Peg Leg?

PEG LEG CHARLIE: I'm just a, watcha-call it?

Impartial observer. BAT: Uh huh.

I heard the real counters were invited to leave at gunpoint.

PEG LEG CHARLIE: I'll invite you

to go spit.

♪ ♪

- This stops now.

♪ ♪

[GUN COCKS]

PEG LEG CHARLIE: Walk away, Masterson.

This ain't your line of work no more.

That's it.

Walk away.

[GUNFIRE]

- Drop it!

Here.

Keep pressure on it.

You'll be all right, son.

Get the sheriff.

Tell him to bring the doc.

GENE: At the risk of exposing my ignorance,

wouldn't a claim of self-defense be justified?

BAT: Defense from what?

An unarmed kid?

They admire us,

Wyatt,

Wild Bill, me.

Why is that?

GENE: They admire the symbol,

not so much who you are

but what you are.

BAT: Oh yeah? What's that?

GENE: Pioneers.

Men of action, blazing a trail westward,

forging their own destinies.

BAT: Ah that's a pretty picture, Mr. Lewis,

but it's not true.

I didn't see him.

That's the truth.

Useless old man with a gun in his hand,

want to put that in your paper?

♪ ♪

GENE: I don't know you, Mr. Masterson.

But from this short time that we've spent together,

you're a better man than you think.

That,

and you sure can fashion one heck of a story.

WEBB: Bail's been posted.

You're a free man, Bat.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

BAT: Emma...

EMMA: No charges.

You may not be in trouble with the law,

but your wife's another matter.

- Sweetheart,

that's the last time I fire a gun.

You have my word.

- Mr. Lewis,

I hope you gave my husband a proper grilling.

GENE: He gave me a great deal more.

Now that we can meet properly...

Gene Lewis. - Bat.

GENE: You ever find yourself in New York,

look up the Telegraph.

The paper can use an authentic Western voice,

not to mention retired gunslinger.

♪ ♪

EMMA: Was that a real offer?

♪ ♪

BAT, V/O: Bat Masterson moved to New York City

and wrote a column for the Morning Telegraph for 18 years.

Emma and Bat remained together until Bat's death in 1921.

♪ ♪

- Thought I might find you here.

- One last look at the place.

- Bat, we're gonna miss our train.

- Maybe we're being too hasty.

EMMA: We already discussed this.

- No, you shut me down.

What if the journey's too arduous? What if,

what if you have an attack?

- Wherever you go,

wherever you call home,

that's where I'll be.

Just try stopping me, Masterson.

♪ ♪

[TRAIN WHISTLE BLOWING]