Original subtitles

[clucking]

[thudding]

[instrumental music plays]

[mooing]

[mooing]

[upbeat music plays]

[carriage wheels rattling]

[carriage rattling]

[screeches]

The churn!

[suspenseful music plays]

[whipping]

[indistinct chanting]

[whipping continues]

[boy] You know and I know weeping means crying.

It ain't the pain and it ain't the hurt,

it's the shame of it,

That's what gets me.

[somber music plays]

Once when I fell out of the loft and busted my arm,

did I cry?

I sure hurt a lot.

But I didn't cry. Did I?

[snapping]

I ain't so unreasonable I can't see

what I done was a fool thing.

But I ain't no use to them.

And I got no use for them.

Took me in an orphan,

hoping I'd grow up useful. But I ain't.

And I never had no proper clothes for a boy.

Exceptin' these.

And they was even once the old man's.

Fact is, I'm... I'm just a thorn in their side.

And I hate 'em. I hate 'em both.

[train whistles]

[train chugging]

[instrumental music plays]

[train horn whistles]

[upbeat music plays]

[train chugging]

[train horn blaring]

[steam hissing]

[panting]

[clanking in distance]

[door clanks]

[train horn toots]

[breathing nervously]

[train horn toots]

[bell dinging]

[train chugging]

[train horn blaring]

[brakes squealing]

[train horn toots]

[birds chirping]

-[clanking] -[water gushing]

[birds chirping]

[train horn toots]

[metal clanks]

[train chugging]

[tense music plays]

[bird chirping]

[gentle music plays]

[pebbles rustle]

[instrumental music plays]

[suspenseful music plays]

[bird chirping]

[donkey braying]

[instrumental music plays]

[knocks on the door]

[knocking]

[wood creaking]

[donkey braying in distance]

[chickens clucking]

[dog barking]

[door creaks open and closes]

[rooster crowing]

[man] Howdy, boy?

[dramatic music plays]

[man] Come on in, boy.

Aw, come on! Doggone.

Come on, boy. Come on.

Come in, boy. Sit down.

[man chuckles]

You ain't one of them Treadwell young'uns, are you?

Let me see, let me see. Naw.

Naw, they all got that...

stuck out lower lip. You ain't.

[chuckles] You see, I most always sits here.

That's so I can see folks a-comin' before they sees me.

[laughs softly]

-Your book's upside down. -Yes, right, yes.

Well, that... that's 'cause I got upside-down eyes.

What's that supposed to mean? Upside-down eyes?

Well, you see, boy, you see, when the Lord made me,

he made a little mistake. [chuckles]

He... He got my eyes in upside-down, see?

Now, you see, for example...

I see you sittin' there and me sittin' here, you see,

and me lookin' at you, now, as far as you is concerned,

you might just as well be sittin' on a cloud.

[chuckles]

What's your name, boy, where you from?

My name's George Mellish.

Mellish, well, I don't know any Mell...

Well, where's all your folks?

-Dead. -Dead?

Well, that's too bad, boy, yeah, that's...

But then, you know, you know, the good Lord,

the good Lord giveth, and the good Lord taketh away.

I bet you're hungry.

[exhales] Yes, sir.

Well, you come on in the house, boy.

You come on in the house. I'll give you more vittles

than you can eat in a week. Come on, boy.

[instrumental music plays]

[door creaks open]

Hey! Ain't it gorgeous? [chuckles]

It wasn't always gorgeous like this. No.

No, sir. In 'em days, this here place, it was ugly.

It was clean. Yes, sir. [chuckles]

It looked like paint and smelled like soap.

In 'em days, it was, "Get that mud off your dirty boots

before you come into my clean kitchen."

Well... [chuckles] She died.

Yeah, yeah.

[grunts]

[sighs.

Yeah. Yeah, she died.

She was a mean woman anyhow.

I reckon it was 'cause she didn't have no children

to kind of soften her up, you know.

Go ahead and sit down, boy, sit down.

Here, sit, sit right here, yeah.

There's some pone.

That's molasses.

You know, since the funeral,

I ain't done one single solitary doggone thing

I didn't want to do.

Come on, boy. Eat some of your pone.

Pour some molasses on it.

You know, I bet you didn't understand a word

I was saying to you, did you, huh?

Of course not.

You are just a young fella.

You... You never suffered like I have from a clean woman.

Well, sir, in a manner of speaking, I have.

Great day in the morning.

You ain't married, are you?

Married? No, sir, I ain't but 12.

Weren't, my ma neither. It was folks took me in

after my own ma died.

Oh, yeah. And they was so clean

you just up and run away, huh?

They was clean all right, but I gotta tell you true.

I wasn't what you'd call a good boy.

Oh, I used to try to be good

when I'd say my prayers at night,

and then when I'd wake up the next morning,

I'd say to myself,

"Now today, George,

I'm gonna be as good as gold."

Sure, sure. And them were the very days

when you'd act a fool, huh?

Yeah, kick over the milk bucket.

Yeah, that's right. That's what I used to do.

-Still do. -And drop the eggs.

Time and time again.

-And leave things in the road. -You know something, boy?

You is a fool. Yes, it sticks out on you

just like a cut snout on a hog.

You're just a plain fool.

-Yes, sir. -And stop calling me "sir."

My full name is Dirty James Jelliman.

But lately, nobody don't call me nothing but Dirty.

I don't know why.

[chuckles]

Great Scot, the coffee's boiling over.

[cat screeches]

[dramatic music plays]

Hallelujah! Great day in the morning, boy.

That's a sign. That is a sign.

You are the first stranger to ever come in to this here house

that cat took to that way.

That's a sign, boy.

You and him is gonna be great friends.

Yes, sir. Great friends.

I hadn't thought about staying.

[James] Well, you ain't planning to eat up all my vittles

and just walk right out of here, is you?

[utensils clank]

[dog barks in distance]

Is you?

I didn't mean to talk rough to you like that.

Of course, I know you gotta get outta here sooner or later.

You, you gotta go out in the world,

make your fortune and all like this and that.

But you wouldn't get outta here

and leave a old man all alone, would you?

No sooner than you get here.

Why I'd be, I'd be proud to visit for a few days.

Duh!

Hot diggity dog, boy!

Yeah, yeah. You and me. You and me.

We gonna have a high old time. Yes, sir.

We gonna kick the bottom right out of the bucket.

Right out of the bucket.

Good. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. You and me,

we're gonna have just a little drop of liquor,

just to... just to celebrate the occasion.

Oh, no, sir. No, sir. I couldn't do that. No.

What's the matter? That's good liquor.

Well sir, you see, I-I taken the pledge.

[chuckles] You taken the pledge.

[chuckles] And I taken the liquor.

[gulping]

[quirky music plays]

[upbeat music plays]

Oh, no.

[indistinct]

[clamoring]

I got it!

[pig squealing]

[James laughs]

[joyful music plays]

[bugle plays]

[tapping]

[instrumental music plays]

-What's the matter? -Jericho's gone.

[rustling]

[bird clucking]

[George clicks tongue]

[James snoring]

Jim?

-[snoring] -Jim?

[James mumbles]

-Jim? -Yeah...

What's there to do today?

Boy, will you please stop asking me silly questions like that?

Two weeks now you've been here, and all I get is,

"When do you do this? When do you do this?

When to do this? Do that, do this, do...

Boy, whatever you're doing, and I hope it's nothing,

you keep right on doing it.

Eh. Eh.

[rooster crows]

[gulps]

[somber music plays]

[tense music plays]

[splashing]

[dramatic music plays]

[instrumental music plays]

[tense music plays]

Boy, what you doing?

-Cleaning. -Cleaning?

Yes, sir, cleaning.

Where'd you get that broom?

I found it under your bed.

Found it, did you? Well, give it here, give it here.

[clatters]

Boy, you is ruined.

You is spoiled for manhood.

If anybody had ever told me

that I would live to see the day when I would see

a red-blooded boy sweepin' up a room,

I'd have called him a liar!

Right to his face.

The Fool Killer's bound to get you sure. [chuckles]

I wouldn't be a bit surprised if he wasn't

lurking outside right now...

waiting to pounce on you.

-Who? -Who, who, who?

The Fool Killer. That's who.

[suspenseful music]

Who's the Fool Killer?

He's a great tall fella.

Mmm, eight feet tall, I reckon. Tall and skinny.

He goes around and he carries a chopper so sharp,

so sharp he could cut through a fence post

just like a cigar.

What's the chopper for?

For chopping fools of course.

Now, what's he wanna go and do that for?

'Cause that's his line of work, boy. That's all.

That's his line of work.

[chuckles]

You see, boy, you see when a fool gets too sick

in a particular spot, the Fool Killer,

he stirs up a war.

You may hear tell about how them boys in blue won the war

and they saved the Union, and they freed the slaves,

and all like this and that.

I'm saying that's a lie.

From what I understand that war sure killed off

a monstrous passel of fools.

The Lord, he made dogs for killing cats,

cats for killing rats, rats for gnawing vittles

and folks to eat the vittles.

And then he made the Fool Killer for killing fools.

[tense music plays]

[thunder rumbling]

Jim?

Did I scare you, boy? I didn't mean to.

I'm sorry. Just come in here

to see if you was all right, that's all.

[rain pouring]

[George] The Fool Killer? Is he real?

Aw, he's real, all right.

I'm gonna tell you about a fool I knowed once

and about the first time he met up with the Fool Killer.

[thunder crashing]

You see, boy, this here fool,

he was a fool right from the time he was a young'un,

and so he couldn't help hisself.

He was very much like you, boy.

His head crammed full of the doggonedest notions

you ever heard tell of.

One day, one day he even got some chicken feathers

and sewed them onto his sleeve.

And he jumped off the barn roof

'cause somebody told him he could fly.

[chuckles] No.

That was the first time

the Fool Killer come hunting him out.

Fool Killer come, walk around the bed.

Fool Killer spit on his thumb, felt the edge of his chopper.

Fool Killer just stood there, staring down at the boy.

Why?

Fool Killer figured he was a little,

a little green yet, you know,

and he figured if he waited a little while,

that he would get to be even a bigger fool.

More, more ripe for chopping.

[thunder crashing]

Did he ever see him again?

Hmm, two, three times, maybe.

Last time was when the poor fool hitched up the old mare

to the buggy and drove a widow lady

into town to the Justice of the Peace.

Gonna get married.

That night...

that's when it happened.

There he was, all tucked up

nice and cozy

in the widow's bed.

When...

Well, what do you reckon

he hear outside

under his window?

[thunder rumbling]

[tense music plays]

Fool? I'm comin' for you, fool.

-Fool, I'm here. -[James] Yes, sir.

[James] There stood the Fool Killer, right in the room,

leaning over the bed,

his chopper gleaming in his hand.

[thunder crashing]

"If I'd known this here was gonna happen,

I'd have chopped you down a long time ago.

But now, now you got yourself married

to a good, clean, church-going woman.

[chuckles]

And anything I could do to you

compared to what she's gonna do to you

would be child's play."

Then he just disappeared, that's all. Hmm.

[nervously] You reckon... You reckon the Fool Killer

will be back for you?

[chuckles] For me? Aw shucks, boy.

I'm 70, 80, 90 years. I don't know.

Only the Lord knows how old I is.

But there's one sure thing.

[groans]

If he come or if he don't,

it don't make a bit of difference to me.

Boy, you...

You look kind of poorly.

Yes, sir, you sure do look kind of poorly.

Hey. You know something?

You get a good sleep now and get a good rest.

Save your strength.

'Cause you and me we gotta,

we gotta go to town tomorrow.

[tapping]

[thunder rumbling]

♪ Rock of ages, cleft for me

♪ Let me hide myself in thee

[instrumental music plays]

Here, here, here, here.

That's the second time you done that, boy.

What's wrong with you? Your feet get in your way?

I don't know. I...

-I think I feel poorly. -Yeah.

Jim, I don't want to go into town.

-I purely don't want to go. -Oh, you hush your mouth, boy.

Don't talk silly like that.

I... I ain't gonna leave you, boy. [chuckles]

I'm gonna take care of you. I ain't never gonna leave you.

Promise me, Jim. Promise.

Sure. Sure.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, boy. Come on. Come on.

[upbeat music plays]

[carriage wheels rattling]

[horse snorting]

[woman] James.

[dramatic music plays]

James Jelliman.

[funny music plays]

Well... Well, howdy, Alma?

You know, I doggone near missed seeing you.

Don't you run from me, James Jelliman.

[George thinking] She spells trouble. I can feel it.

Things is all going woozy and jumbled in my head.

-[echoing] Jerk, jerk, jerk. -[echoing] Boy, I see, she...

[George] I hear her telling Jim

he was the death of her sister

and he's aiming to do the same with me.

[indistinct chatter]

Even threatenin' him with jail.

And I'm too sick to even stay on my feet.

[tense music plays]

[indistinct]

[James] You hear me...

[George] I'm awful scared to open my eyes.

Scared that ton of woman's gonna come down on me again.

She is.

Your medicine... [distorted] boy.

[groans]

[suspenseful music plays]

[George] Land o' Goshen, what's this?

[dramatic music plays]

My name's Blessing Angeline Fanshawe.

I got a boil where I sit down.

My mama can't make up her mind whether

it's bad blood or the meanness coming out.

This is my dolly.

She comes all the way from Paris, France.

Ain't she beautiful?

What's that for?

[Blessing] I'm gonna lend her to you.

-I don't want no-- -You think you don't.

You just think you don't.

You can tell her secrets.

How's that?

Whenever I got a secret, I tell it to her right away.

Then when mama asks me, I haven't got it no more.

That don't make no sense at all.

But it works just the same.

That way ma don't find out things.

You mean...

You mean you tell your mama lies?

I can't tell her my secrets when I haven't got 'em anymore.

Can I?

You're just a common garden liar.

Well, don't you call me no liar.

You don't deserve no help, you slimy serpent.

Wait.

My father's the constable.

And he's gonna find out where you come from.

That's where he's gonna send you back to.

You gonna run away again?

Ain't nobody gonna send me back.

How you gonna run away without no clothes?

Do you know where my clothes is at?

None of your beeswax.

Would you get them for me?

Maybe.

What would you do for me?

What would you want?

Guess.

I can't.

Sure you can't, 'cause it's a secret.

Guess I'll have to tell Secret and she'll tell you.

[suspenseful music plays]

[chuckles] Secret ain't saying a word.

She ain't? You sure she ain't?

Well, she wouldn't anyway.

Maybe you'd better tell me.

[Blessing] Then close your eyes.

I'm the only girl in the fifth grade who ain't been kissed.

[quirky music plays]

[kisses]

First woman I ever did kiss.

Funny. It didn't bother me no more than it would to spit.

[suspenseful music plays]

Come on in.

I begun to think you was never comin'.

Shh!

It's the witching hour.

Where is your broomstick?

Listen to me.

I hear my pa say he's gonna have you back

where you first come from before you can bat an eye.

So you better get goin' while the going's good.

I brought your clothes, a jacket, and a pair of shoes.

[exhales]

Aw, thank you, Blessing.

I'll probably go to jail for aiding a criminal.

But I don't care.

Will you get a licking?

Probably not while I've got this boil.

You've been real good to me, Blessing Angelina.

You can turn around now.

Put out the light.

-[blows] -[Blessing] Follow me.

[sinister music plays]

Shhh.

[suspenseful music plays]

[staircase creaks]

[tense music plays]

[coughing in distance]

Shh.

[tense music plays]

[crickets chirping]

[wind blowing]

[door closes]

That's the way.

Would you care to have me kiss you once more before I leave?

It seems like you're getting mushy on me.

What?

You just get along out of here, boy,

before I say something I'll be sorry for.

Goodbye, mushy.

[footsteps receding]

[instrumental music plays]

[Blessing] He could have turned back.

He never even turned back.

[dramatic music]

-[hooting] -[crickets chirping]

[water splashing]

[owl hooting]

[wings flapping]

[horse neighs]

[galloping]

[frogs croaking]

[flute music plays]

[suspenseful music]

The Fool Killer.

[crickets chirping]

-[gasps in shock] -[dramatic music]

-Ugh. -Who sent you, boy?

What's your name? Where do you come from?

Who do you think you are anyway?

Asking me who I am, where I'm from?

[indistinct shouting]

If you think you're gonna send me back you got somethin' comin'.

'Cause I ain't going, and I--

[sinister music]

[George groans]

[grunting]

Quiet! Quiet!

[panting]

[groans]

[deep breathing]

Hush.

Hush.

[sobbing]

[crickets chirping]

[sobbing]

[blows nose]

[sniffles]

[flute music]

[bird screeching]

You give me your cover.

I'm obliged.

I hope you wasn't cold.

[bird chirping]

Ain't you havin' any?

[bird screeching]

Do you know of a spring or creek around here

where I could get myself something to drink?

[melancholic music]

[instrumental music plays]

I could go right on and never go back to where he is again.

I could do that.

Tain't as though it looks like he'd miss my company.

Wouldn't cost him nothin' to open his mouth

and say a few words.

But then again... I don't know.

There's things you can...

can feel the feel going right through you.

Like the ground when it's warmed by the sun.

Like his hand touchin' you.

So that right away the warm comes...

comes back inside of you.

[chuckles] Like he most slipped off a barn roof and was catched.

[suspenseful music]

My name's George Mellish and I'm headin' west.

I reckon I cut up pretty foolish last night

and I ask your pardon.

I ask your pardon, too.

What for?

Last night I came at you rough.

Asked you questions that was none of my business.

Your answer was to hit me a lick.

I wouldn't ask a growed man his personal business

any more than I'd expect him to ask me.

And I got no right to ask you just 'cause you was a boy.

So, I ask your pardon.

[water gurgling]

Since you told me your name fair and square,

I'll tell you mine, good as I can.

Call me Milo.

Milo Bogardus.

-Well, good luck. -Thank you.

[gentle music plays]

Oh, Milo.

Milo ain't my true name.

It ain't?

No, sir.

T'was a name I took off a dead fellow and give to me.

I surely never heard of such a thing.

[bird cooing]

-[George] What are you doing? -[Milo] Going swimming.

-[George] Swimming? -[Milo] That's right.

[George] Well, it ain't hardly spring yet.

-[splash] -I never heard a grown person

think of such a thing.

-[splash] -[Milo] I'm growed.

And I thought of it.

[joyful music]

-Did you ever see the ocean? -Mm-hmm.

I never did. What's it like?

Oh, it's gray and black, purple, blue, green.

Calm, fearful, and quiet.

You could look at it forever and never get tired.

Which one was it you seen, the Atlantic or the Pacific?

The Gulf of Mexico.

I aim to see the Pacific.

Main reason I'm going west is prospecting for gold.

-Why? -Why?

Well, you strike it rich and get a great mansion

and a carriage and pair and a diamond ring.

And wouldn't it be great to strike it rich?

-No. -No?

Well, what would you like then?

I like to eat when I'm hungry.

Talk to folks when I want to and not when I don't.

And see the world.

[gentle music]

[bird cooing]

[instrumental music plays]

I can feel the grass growing beneath me.

I can feel the sun and the stars

spinnin' around me.

[chuckles] I've got an ant on my big toe.

I run away.

It wasn't my own folks I ran from.

It's folks took me in after my own folks died.

I was running away again when...

when I met up with you.

I reckon you had reasons.

[dramatic music]

Did you ever hear tell of the Fool Killer?

[suspenseful music]

What's that?

The Fool Killer's a great giant.

With a...

With a chopper.

[sinister music]

And if you're foolish,

he comes and chops you.

Chops you for a fool.

[music continues]

I done things.

Not sweeping a dirty floor.

I left a churn in the middle of the road

and a wagon wheel came over it.

I sure done things.

You reckon I'm something extra of a fool?

Is there a real Fool Killer?

Is there?

I don't know.

[birds chirping]

I'm cold.

Take my coat.

[suspenseful music]

[gentle music]

Like to come along with me a-ways?

Which direction you headed?

West.

I'd sure admire to.

[upbeat music plays]

[instrumental music plays]

Milo, you was going to tell me how it was.

Well, I'm a man who's got no history.

Like I was born full-growed.

Like I was never born of woman at all

but come straight from God's hand.

A finished man, unknowing as a child.

That's how it was when I come to in the hospital.

First thing I knowed, when I knowed anything at all,

was pain.

[melancholic music]

[gasps] Pain.

Like two armies inside my head trying to push the sides apart.

When it let up some, I seen I was in a great long room

with white windows.

I felt heat beating down through the roof.

There was rows of beds to the left and right

and across from me.

Men and women moving back and forth among them.

One of them had stopped by my bed to tend me and say a word,

but I couldn't make out anything what they meant.

Sights and sounds and moving.

Just pain is all the meaning they had to me.

[melancholic music]

[cart creaking]

Men and women went among the beds in that place,

trying to stop the pain.

Like a line of foolish children joins hands

to stop the tide of the ocean.

But the pain come and come.

Like the tide, they couldn't stop it.

There was pain for all.

[gentle music]

[Milo] When I begun to move around,

tending them sicker than me,

I found out something.

I found out I been give a gift,

which is to take away pain.

Sometimes I could do it with a look,

or by the touch of my hand.

Sometimes the pain would pass out of the other fellow

through me and go away.

[gentle music]

[thunder crashing]

[thunder rumbling]

It all come about in the war.

When I got this here, it knocked me so that

I couldn't remember anything that ever happened

in my life before,

or even my own name.

So when the fellow in the bed next to me died,

the folks in the hospital just taken his name

and give it to me for mine.

Was you wounded in battle?

So they told me.

I never knowed.

Couldn't you remember no fighting or nothing?

No, not a blame thing.

-Nothing at all? -Nothing at all.

I surely never heard of such a thing.

Well, how could a growed person forget all that?

[sighs] Well, I don't rightly know.

[bell dings in distance]

[George] Milo, a town!

[church bell dings in distance]

Must be Sunday, all them people.

And a preacher telling 'em man is born in sin.

Me, I don't cotton to that idea.

We're all God's creatures, everyone.

Come from his hand, the way he made us.

All these cities and fancy clothes and houses

and railroad trains, things like that,

often come between us and God

and cause us to kind of to lose track of him.

They're the ones should be helping folks find their way

back to God. Preachers, I mean...

[sighs] He's so busy telling them how sinful they are

and how they're going to hell if they don't repent.

Folks often get tangled up worse than ever.

Milo? Couldn't we go down for just a bit?

Strange cities and strange houses

is the place of my enemies, George.

-Milo? -Quiet, boy.

[dramatic music]

Milo?

They're here. My enemies.

Tain't nothing but open country for miles.

Not a soul excepting us.

[metal clanks]

Did I do something wrong, Milo?

They're near. I feel it. I always can.

Milo, if one man's your brother

how come some's your enemies?

Cain and Abel was brothers, wasn't they?

[dramatic music]

[music intensifies]

Milo?

[music continues]

[music crescendos]

[George] Milo! Wait, Milo!

[bugle plays]

[intense music plays]

[gunshots]

[bugle music]

[melancholic music]

Milo?

Milo?

[melancholic music]

[sobbing]

[suspenseful music]

Milo?

Milo?

Milo! Milo.

[tense music]

[George] Milo.

[somber music]

Milo.

I thought you were gonna die.

No, I wasn't nowheres near dead.

I seen God.

And he was like a light.

Nothing but one big cloud of light,

the brightest anyone ever seen.

[crickets chirping]

'Twas a regular glory.

'Twas a regular glory.

You know what, George?

You could be my brother.

My brother and you wouldn't know.

Because you'd be too little to remember when I went off to war.

For all we know, you could be my brother.

I wish I was.

But I never had no brother.

I wish I was, Milo.

[gentle music]

It ain't but a camp-meeting, George.

It's nothing but preaching and hymn-singing.

Fixin' to listen to what a sinner you are

and then go up and get yourself saved, is that it?

Why do you want to go?

[George] Because I never seen nothin' like it before.

You and me ain't been around any folks in a long time.

All right.

All right, we'll go.

[choir singing in distance]

♪ Have you been to Jesus for the cleansing pow'r ♪

♪ Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? ♪

♪ Glory to the Lamb sing to the Lamb ♪

♪ Oh, glory, sing glory to the Lamb ♪

♪ Have you been to Jesus for the cleansing power ♪

♪ Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? ♪

♪ Are you fully trusting in His graces' sorrow ♪

♪ Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb ♪

♪ Glory to the Lamb sing to the Lamb ♪

♪ Oh, glory, sing glory to the Lamb ♪

[chairs rattling]

Darkness gathers.

The peaceful creatures of the day give way

to savage prowlers of the night.

The lion.

The tiger.

The wolf.

The sinner!

[baby cries]

[preacher] Sinners.

Fools.

How do you sleep at night?

You wake from nightmares

and wonder if the fires of hell is waiting to swallow you?

Do you hear rustlings and rumblings in the bushes?

Do you hear whisperings?

And then don't you wonder, ain't they the hounds of hell

sneaking after you?

Do you hear the sound of footsteps sneaking nearer?

And then don't you wonder, ain't they the evil one a-coming?

A-coming.

A-coming.

-For you! -[clamoring]

Fools!

-Sinners! -[baby cries]

Sinner.

You piles up silver and gold to build mansions.

You bolts your door with bolts of iron.

Yes, you do.

Drinks liquor.

Smokes tobacco.

And you pleasures the flesh.

Now don't you do that?

Don't you pleasure the flesh?

Think of what your savior bore in the gloomy garden.

Sweating blood from every pore to procure thy pardon.

See him stretched upon the wood.

Bleeding.

[all] Bleeding.

Grieving.

[all] Grieving.

Crying.

[all] Crying.

Suffering all the wrath of God.

Groaning.

Gasping.

-Dying! -Dying.

Oh, we got sinners here.

Oh, we got fools here.

Which one of youse come to mock and scoff?

Which one of you is the profit-maker?

Which one of you is the liquor swiller?

Which one of you is the wife-beater?

I tell you this. We got 'em all here.

Ain't we got 'em here? Ain't we?

-Ain't we? Ain't we? -[baby cries]

You know what else we got?

Sins of scarlet. Sins, red like crimson.

Sins mortifying the flesh.

Harlots, seducers,

women who lie down with the devil,

women who paints their lips and paints their cheeks.

And their kisses burn, and their kisses chill,

and their kisses drag down to hell.

The day of reckoning is at hand!

Glory, glory to the Lamb!

[all] Glory, glory, glory.

-[all] Glory, glory, glory. -Glory.

Glory, glory, glory,

Glory!

[bugle plays]

[all singing]

Come forward. Come forward.

Glory to the Lamb! Glory to the Lamb! Glory to the Lamb!

Lord, save me.

[indistinct clamoring]

[all clapping and singing]

Sin, I've done all the sins that will last a lifetime.

Oh, save me.

Repent.

Repent.

Lord.

Repent. Repent.

[baby cries]

[all singing and clapping]

Repent. Repent. Repent.

Save me. [sobbing] Save me.

You'll be saved, boy.

Gonna save your soul.

Your young and sinful soul.

Don't throw me down in hell!

Let me hear you say it, young sinner.

-Say glory! -Glory!

-Say glory! -Glory!

-Say glory! -Glory!

Glory! Glory!

[cawing]

Milo?

Milo?

[birds chirping]

[clattering]

[screaming]

[boy] It's murder! He's been murdered!

-[woman] The preacher! -[man] Preacher.

[woman] He was struck down with his own axe!

Get back! Get back!

[boy] It's murder! He's been murdered!

-Oh! -They say it's the preacher.

It's the preacher. He's been murdered.

-[boy] Preacher. -[bugle plays]

[boy] Mom!

Mom!

[man] It's the preacher. Yeah, for sure.

-[man] They're... -[boy] It's the preacher, mom!

[man 2] He's been killed with an axe!

-He's in his tent now! -Milo?

Did you hear what happened to the preacher?

[boy] He's over in his tent!

[boy 2] Why don't you go look at him?

[clamoring]

[boy] Mom! Mom!

[horse neighs]

It's the preacher!

[somber music]

Milo?

Nothing here.

Wouldn't blame him if he left me.

Me doing what he didn't want me to do.

Wouldn't blame if he was pure disgusted

and went and rid himself of me for what I done.

Getting saved.

[gentle music plays]

I don't feel born again at all, getting saved.

Just don't feel no different.

Not at all.

I sure done a fool thing again.

Milo?

Milo!

Milo!

Milo!

Milo!

Milo!

Milo!

Milo!

Milo! Milo!

Milo! Milo!

Milo!

Milo! Milo!

Milo! Milo!

Milo! Milo!

[tense music plays]

I've got to tell you this.

[sighs] I know I'll go to hell saying it,

but I'd rather Milo was killed.

Yes, I would, and laying dead somewhere,

than he just lit out and left me without even saying no goodbyes.

[melancholic music]

He could've told me he couldn't stand having me around no more.

[emotionally] He could've told me.

[melancholic music continues]

-[carriage wheels rattling] -[man] Git up.

[indistinct chatter]

[carriage wheels rattling]

[indistinct chatter]

[bell dinging]

Haven't seen you in town before.

You visiting here in town?

No. Looking for work.

Do you know of any?

I might. Come along.

Come along.

Come on.

Plan to stay long?

I don't know.

Looks to me like you could use a proper meal.

I've got a supper cooking on the stove now.

Come on.

[carriage rattling]

-You traveling alone? -Yessum.

[clock dings]

-[clock ticking] -[somber music plays]

Come on in. Set.

[gentle music plays]

What's your name?

George. [sighs] George Mellish.

Where are you from, George?

-From a long ways off. -And where're you going?

Haven't set my mind exactly.

If you're thinking of resting place for awhile,

we might need a boy to help out around here.

Does that interest you, George?

Where you going?

Tell my husband,

you and he can talk, see if you take a shine to each other.

[Blessing] I hear my pa say he's gonna have you back

where you first come from before you can bat an eye.

So you better get going while the going's good.

[James] The Fool Killer say to the man,

"Now you got yourself married

to a good, clean, church going woman

can make him look like a baby in arms.

[Milo] Strange cities and strange houses

is the place of my enemies, George.

I ain't staying, Milo.

[man] Hey, boy! You leaving?

Why?

Strange cities and strange...

houses is the place of my enemies.

[man] My wife says your name is George.

[woman] George Mellish.

I'm Sam Dodd.

Where you heading? West?

Yes.

I mean to get there as soon as I can.

All right.

But, uh...

Sit a minute.

Catch your breath.

[gentle music plays]

[crickets chirping]

[door opens and closes]

[somber music plays]

[scoffs]

Just came to see if you was all right.

[George] Mr. Dodd?

Did you hear it?

Hear what?

Milo's flute.

[tense music plays]

Who's Milo?

Nobody you'd know.

Man who plays the flute, is all.

[Sam] Get some more sleep, George.

Goodnight.

Goodnight.

[joyful music plays]

Go ahead, George. What were you saying?

Well, there was this Indian massacre.

And that's how my folks was killed.

Were you there?

Right in the middle of it.

Indians whooping and hollering and all like that, was it?

And shooting off arrows and scalping

like you wouldn't believe.

Golden curls all over the ground.

And when it was over, the house, I mean the wagon,

the wagon was burned to a cinder.

And that's how I became an orphan.

[bell dings]

Oh, boy.

-[clucking] -[door opens and closes]

George.

That ain't true.

It is.

Well, I can't help it if you don't believe me.

Oh, yes, you can.

You wouldn't ask no growed man the questions

you been asking me. You got no right to--

I got the right to ask questions I wouldn't ask a man

because you ain't a man.

[melancholic music plays]

I guess what I most got to know is this.

Is it the truth your folks is dead?

Yes, sir.

Honest and true?

[sighs] Yes, sir.

[suspenseful music plays]

Mr. Dodd?

The reason I told you about the, uh, Indian massacre...

purely a lie.

My folks just died.

That's all. Just died.

When I tell folks that,

they worry about it and ask questions.

[cow mooing]

That's all that happened to them.

Just died.

[rooster cawing]

Thank you for telling me.

[somber music plays]

[upbeat music plays]

[chickens clucking]

[mumbles and chuckles]

[mumbles]

[glass lid clanks]

[water running]

George? George?

Yessum.

[Mrs. Dodd] How was the swimming?

I swum.

Were there any other boys there?

George?

Oh, my goodness.

[exhales] There were other boys there.

Well, sit down.

[chuckles] You hurt?

-Yessum. -Who won?

-He did. -Oh!

Some fellow named Lem something.

Lem Stable?

He's at least two years older than you.

Did you give him something to remember?

A bloody nose. Maybe a loose tooth.

Well, that's a start.

He'll think twice before picking on you again.

Mrs. Dodd, you think it was a fool thing I done?

Fighting a fellow bigger than me, I mean.

No.

I guess a boy always has to fight his way

when he comes to a strange town.

I guess so.

[suspenseful music plays]

[clanking]

[tense music plays]

George, you've been stealing candy.

I...

[suspenseful music plays]

You have, George.

I was gonna pay for it.

I ain't no thief.

I may be an orphan and a rag-tag bobtail,

but I ain't no thief.

I got along before, and I can get along again.

Over my knee, George.

Come on.

You ain't my pa.

Never said I was.

Lay over my knee.

I won't.

You will, George.

[intense music plays]

Listen, George.

It isn't easy to give someone a licking

when you're not naturally mean and you know it's right.

It's not you I'm feeling sorry for.

It's Mr. Dodd.

You got a licking a boy could be proud of.

I really did.

I saw Mr. Dodd when he came up here,

and I saw him when he came down,

and he didn't look like he enjoyed himself

any more than you.

[somber music plays]

I want to tell you something, George.

A long time ago,

Mr. Dodd and me had a baby.

It died, and...

And for a long time...

it seemed like the Lord didn't want to send us no more.

I... I just want you to know how things was before you come.

It's just that...

I've got a feelin'

that the Lord sent you to Mr. Dodd and me,

to keep you for ours.

[chuckles] I know it ain't sensible, but...

'Tis too sensible.

[gentle music plays]

[kisses softly]

[birds chirping]

Milo!

[dramatic music plays]

[mellow music plays]

Milo!

[somber music plays]

[sobs]

Milo, where you been all this time?

Where did you go?

North for a while.

I mean after the meeting. What happened to you?

What meeting?

Why the camp meeting. Where'd you go?

I thought maybe you was dead.

Maybe you was mad at me and didn't want me

around no more.

I wasn't mad at you.

-[joyful music plays] -[sighs in relief]

I thought you forgot me.

Naw, sure not, George. I couldn't have forgot you.

You and me was...

Well, we was most like brothers, wasn't we?

Where you been?

I been taken in by folks.

Their name's Mr. and Mrs. Dodd.

They runs a store, and I works in it.

Milo, I want you to come and meet 'em.

They're awful nice folks.

And you'll like them just fine.

I want you to come and meet 'em, Milo.

Mrs. Dodd will be proud to have you for supper. I know.

-No. -Oh, but you wouldn't have to

stay the night if you didn't want.

No.

Milo, it ain't like you think.

Tell me how it ain't.

They ain't enemies.

They've been good to me.

They never ask me no questions much

or trying to send me back nowheres.

Milo.

Please come back with me.

Please come back, Milo.

Please.

All right, George.

[Sam] Bless, O Lord, this food to our use,

and us to thy loving service,

through Christ, our Lord.

-[milk splash] -[dramatic music]

Milo?

You feeling all right, Milo?

It's an accident. No bother.

[tense music plays]

[pouring]

Bless, O Lord, this food to our use,

and us to thy loving service,

through Christ, our Lord.

-Amen. -Amen.

[George] Amen.

I reckon you see a great many interesting things,

traveling around the way you do, Mr. Bogardus.

Yes, sometimes I do.

Now, me, I always wanted to visit Chicago.

But every time it looks like I might,

something or other comes up.

You ever been there?

[Milo] No. No.

For Milo, strange cities and strange houses--

[piano music]

Mind you, I wouldn't want to live in Chicago.

Just take a look at it, and come back home.

Well, you've got things all around you here that...

them folks up there never even dreamed of.

Why? I never thought about it that way, but that's true.

But a town this size, we don't get

much excitement, that's sure.

Somebody's cow has twin calves.

It makes a nine-day wonder for us.

[Sam] About the only excitement we had in a year was

the revival out at Tucker's Grove.

It ended with the preacher getting killed with an axe.

You tell Mr. Bogardus about it, George?

At the time they thought they got the one who done it,

a man named Whiskey Pete.

Well, they was wrong. They had to let him go.

And to this day nobody knows who done it.

I know.

-[suspenseful music plays] -[chair creaks]

I know who done it. [sighs]

Who?

-The Fool Killer. -Who's that, George?

The Fool Killer's a giant.

He's eight foot tall.

The Fool Killer, he carries a chopper.

And with his chopper, the Fool Killer chops up fools.

George.

Well, like he took his chopper to the Reverend Spotts

and killed him.

I never heard you so wrought up, George.

Almost think you believe that story.

Ain't you never felt like there was some

sort of something like the Fool Killer?

Ain't you never done things you knowed was just plain

foolish and felt like you was gonna have to pay the price?

[poignant music plays]

It's something awful coming after you.

I believe it's a person's conscience

makes him feel that way.

But how can you tell? How do you know?

You never seen God, but you believe in him.

How do you know there ain't a Fool Killer just the same way?

Now, that's enough. Don't talk wild.

[dramatic music]

I thank you for the supper.

[door closes]

[dramatic music plays]

[gate creaks]

When are you going to tell 'em, George?

About your enemies?

I'd never tell 'em that.

You used to trust me, Milo.

What's the matter?

When are you gonna tell 'em that you're coming with me?

Oh, Milo,

there's things you don't know make it terrible hard.

What things?

Things they done for me.

Say it out, George. You ain't coming with me.

Milo, listen a minute.

Don't be mad at me, Milo.

-I can't stand it when you are. -Well, stay with them then.

What'd you go off and leave me for?

You... you never even gave me no warnin'.

You never even said goodbye.

You changed.

They taken you and changed you.

You got the mark of cities and houses and men on you.

[melancholic music plays]

Milo.

[music continues]

Why don't you get undressed? Get into bed.

Goodnight.

[door closes]

[door opens]

[dramatic music plays]

[glass shatters]

The Fool Killer.

[suspenseful music]

Milo.

[Milo] They changed you.

They taken you and changed you.

No!

[sinister music plays]

No!

Please, Mr. Dodd.

Milo! Milo, come back!

George.

[dramatic music plays]

Milo.

Milo! Milo, get down.

Please, don't! Don't! Don't!

Milo! [screams]

[thudding]

[melancholic music plays]

[train horn blaring]

[gentle music plays]

[water rippling]

[bird chirping]

I'll never know why Milo jumped.

Was it the hurt I done him?

Or was it for me?

Or was it just that he'd come to the end?

I'll never know.

[train whistle blows]

[chugging]

[bird chirping]

I gotta say it.

Things is getting to be too peaceful.

And when things get too peaceful

they get downright uninteresting.

And me being someone who strange things is always

happening in his life...

Being sick...

-gives you time to-- -[train whistles]

Time to remember.

And remembering I just can't help get an awful...

an awful restless feeling.

[soft music plays]

[water rippling]

And even though Mr. and Mrs. Dodd been so...

so good to me...

could be I'll start thinking of

all the things I ain't yet seen.

And I might just have to hit the road again.

[train whistles]

[wheels chugging]

[upbeat music plays]

[James] The Lord, he made dogs

for killing cats,

cats for killing rats

rats for gnawing vittles,

and folks to eat the vittles.

And then he made the Fool Killer for killing fools.

[somber music plays]

So just, just remember this, boy.

Wherever you go,

whatever you do,

never, never play the fool.

[instrumental music plays]

[train whistle blowing]

[train chugging]

[music continues]

[train horn blaring]

who programmed tonight's Two for One double feature.

We started with The Night of the Hunter

from 1955, Charles Laughton's only movie,

Robert Mitchum.

And this film from ten years later clearly influenced

by The Night of the Hunter, which is why Joe programmed it.

So, The Fool Killer.

So let's talk about the ending here to The Fool Killer,

Joe, because you had a reaction to it

that I think only a film director has.

Well, there are a lot of odd shots in this movie

and a lot of shots where the director

said to the DP, Álex Phillips Jr.,

who's a great Mexican DP, "Can we do this?

How about-- how if we do this thing?"

You know-- And at the end of this movie,

González decided that he wanted to go

underneath the railroad tracks and come back out

on the other side as the train goes away

to see the kid disappear into the background.

And the effort it must have taken to--

I can hear the crew grumbling now,

how difficult it must have been to dig this hole,

push the camera through it and lift it up.

I mean, these are heavy cameras.

This is 1963, you know.

-When they shot it, yeah. -When they shot it, yeah.

And it's kind of breathtaking.

There's a lot of shots in the movie

that just sort of, I was just bowled over by them.

And I was in film school, you know, and I was thinking,

this is a really interesting movie.

And that's when I was particularly

disappointed that nobody but me ever saw it.

This did not have much of a budget.

It barely got any release.

That's an expensive shot you're talking about, right?

Yeah, but I think when you're making a movie,

you want it to be as good as possible.

And if you have good people with you,

even though they grumble about having to dig a hole,

they know it's for the good of the movie.

And it is a terrific ending for a movie.

You brought up the cast right away in the beginning.

This is a quality cast even beyond Anthony Perkins

and this really enormously talented...

child actor, Edward Albert, who went on to have

a nice career in films and television.

JOE DANTE: Yeah, I think most of the cast is New York actors.

Henry Hull, of course, had a great career

and is a very colorful actor.

BEN MANKIEWICZ: He was Dirty Jim.

JOE: At his best in this movie.

And Salome Jens, Angel Baby herself,

who is always, I thought of, a very magical presence

as an actress, didn't do that much.

And Arnold Moss, he is this reverend

who gives this impassioned speech

which is a hellfire speech, it galvanizes the kid,

and it's fairly terrifying.

And then don't you wonder, ain't they the evil one a comin'

a comin', a comin' for you!

BEN: You saw this movie, you were older.

You were in film school at the time?

Yeah, I was in college.

But you would go, as we learned from The Night of the Hunter,

you saw The Night of the Hunter at nine years old.

You'd go to the theater, you'd see it at one o'clock

in the afternoon on a Saturday, right?

-Yeah. -Is this every week?

I mean, as close to as many,

as close to 52 weeks a year as you could make it?

I would go as often as I could.

The double bill I would have done

if I hadn't done these was the one that my parents

called the police on because I stayed to see them twice.

World Without End

and Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy.

They were so good on a Sunday

that I said, I gotta-- I can see them again.

So I stayed and saw them again.

And when I came back, came home,

my parents had called the police

because they didn't know where I was.

And so it was suggested that I do those two pictures.

And I said, well, you know,

but I'd like to do The Fool Killer.

-So I'm like, let me do that. -I'm more pleased

that you did that. But that is a great story.

So you were so into these two movies...

I just, I was transcended.

Well, World Without End is a time travel movie,

and I always liked that, and I loved Abbott and Costello,

and this was their last Universal picture.

And it was just so much fun that if I--

it's like if I had to go back and relive a day at the movies,

that's the day I would pick.

So you went and it just didn't matter really

what was showing, like you were gonna--

No, no, that's not true. I didn't see grown-up movies.

I didn't see Executive Suite,

you know, things like that.

I like Executive Suite.

I would like it now, but when I was nine,

it was like I was only time looking for quarters

on the floor so I could get candy.

So, I mean, there were certain movies

that just didn't appeal to me,

but they were very canny about the way they--

they programmed these Saturday matinees

except for The Night of the Hunter day

because I saw a lot of great pictures.

I saw Invaders from Mars, I saw This Island Earth.

I saw all these great movies that were, you know, '50s movies

when I was a kid and they were new.

Joe, thanks very much. This was great.

Thanks for programming these films,

especially The Fool Killer,

which I'm sure was a treat for so many people.

-Appreciate it. -Thanks.

Joe's work is done for the night,

but the movies, of course,

continue on TCM as they always do,

uncut and commercial free.

So stick around.