All language subtitles for Alfred Hitchcock s04e11 And The Desert Shall Blossom

Good evening, partners, cattle rustlers,
wranglers, desert rats, varmints,

hombres, and all you prospectors who
futilely comb the hills of television

looking for something of value.

This is no mirage, no optical illusion.

I'm as real as a piece of motion picture
film, as authentic as a shadow.

As for tonight's play, I'm afraid I have
disappointing news.

It will not be an adult western. The
plot is not yet 21 years old.

Unfortunately, we are not completely out
of line, for although television fans

demand adult stories,

their taste in commercials run to
another extreme.

Allow me to illustrate.

Sure.

Come.

Ben.

Where are you?

Hiya, Sheriff.

Oh, hello, Ben.

Must have something mighty important on
your mind to be paying us a visit from

this heat. You know darn well why I'm
here.

Yeah, I guess I will.

After all, it's kind of an official
matter.

Yes, it is.

Well, now, Sheriff, I'll tell you. You
sit right down here in this new chair

make yourself comfortable while I, uh...
Hey, it'll hold you all right. I made

it good and strong.

Made it out of juniper balls.

Here, watch your whistle. This is the
last of that stuff that was sent to us

that old miner three years ago.

Thanks.

Where's your partner?

Oh, yeah.

Tom!

Tom!

Sheriff is here.

Over to your horse.

So, you're back again, Sheriff.

I guess you know why I'm here, Tom.

Yeah, you just had another powwow with
that, what do you call it, town council?

Yeah. We never made trouble for anybody.
Can't figure why anybody would want to

make trouble for us.

The town council is only trying to act
friendly toward you boys.

Well, you go back again and tell them
the answer is still no.

You tell them, you hear?

Now, don't you go blowing off steam the
second I get here.

Why don't you talk quiet and easy, like
Ben?

I don't feel quiet and easy inside.

Inside, I'm just as riled as Tom.

Why weave homesteaded here a lifetime?

Digging gold in this region before the
oldest member of the town council was

even born.

When there wasn't no town at all. Just
the jailed 12 saloons in the dance hall.

Mighty long ago.

Back in 1892.

And now a bunch of young, snappy
-dressed, nincompoops come along and...

you don't understand.

The town council is real worried about
you, boy. And so am I.

Shucks. Ain't nothing to worry about, is
it, Tom?

You're not getting any younger, you
know.

Living out here with no visible means of
support, so to speak.

And no one to look after you.

Look after us? You talk like we was
helpless.

We've made out all right here, Sheriff,
and we aim to keep making out all right.

We feel spry every day.

We just ain't leaving.

You don't aim on forcing us out, Jeff,
do you? That decision ain't up to me.

It's up to the town council, and they
can do it. But, Jeff... They'd listen to

you. You can tell them they should let
us stay here.

Look, homesteading is reckoned by what
grows on the land or is taken out of the

mine.

Now, once upon a time, you boys mined
enough gold to keep body and soul alive,

but not lately.

Ben and me, we mined enough gold to pay
for grub for us and a mule.

No town council can call us paupers or
run us off our property. But look, Tom,

it says right in the book. Kind of
sudden, ain't it? You looking up books

knowing us for 30 years.

If I could just show the council that
you're farmers of a sort, that you grow

something on this land.

Even raise a scrawny rooster.

If I could stand up in front of that
council and say, gentlemen, these two

partners are responsible tillers of the
soil.

But what can I say you grow here?

Suffering catfish. Just look at this
place.

Even a stubborn juniper refuses to lift
its head in this soil.

Nothing decent grows without enough food
and water, and you ain't got enough for

yourself or the soil.

We got a rosebush. It's thriving.

Thriving my foot. You call this dying
weed a rosebush?

The catalog said it'd take time to grow.

Wait and see.

It's gonna have great big red blooms.

Sure. Like them tomato plants you tried
growing last year?

You're not very friendly throwing them
tomatoes in our face.

Jeff, you go back to them councilmen.

Tell them we ain't letting no town take
care of us. But you'd have a nice, clean

place to live and be with folks your own
age.

Daggone lot of old fogies lying around
just waiting to die.

Playing bridge.

Steam heat out of a radiator.

Toast in hot milk.

No place for a man to breathe.

No looking out and seeing for miles and
miles.

Nothing like that.

We'd die quick if we never saw that
again.

But I tell you, Tom, they can force you
out of here. Let them try.

Don't tempt them.

We don't need charity.

And if it's growing things in this soil
that proves our worth, tell them to come

on up in a month and we'll... Tell them
in a month we'll pick them a great big

bouquet of roses off in this bush.

A great big bouquet of roses?

Off in that bush?

That would prove that we can grow things
here, wouldn't it, Jeff?

Sure, that'd prove it.

I'll tell him. Yeah, tell him. See you
in a month. So long. So long, Jeff.

Jeff Midwell.

Fools. Fools. Every last one of them.

Tom, don't go losing your temper again.

Remember your side.

We'll fight.

Even if we have to fight the sheriff,
the town council, and all the law books

the state of Nevada.

Yeah, we'll fight. We'll fight, Tom.

But you didn't have to tell them it
would bloom in a month.

Yeah. I was fit to be tied.

Yeah.

Tom. Yeah.

Did you water the rosebush today?

Half rations.

The well's running dry.

Yeah.

What we need is a miracle.

I reckon we do.

Yeah.

What are you cooking?

What else?

Rabbit stew again? What else?

Put a little liquor in it to kill the
taste.

Good idea.

That can't be a car way out here, can
it?

Well, if it is, it sounds like there's
something wrong with its inside.

You got a drink?

Sure, we got a drink.

We never seen any folks out around here.

Here we are. Have a drink. It's nice
having a stranger come to see us now and

then.

Some palace you got here.

Boy, a real mansion.

We like it.

I got to get out of here. You guys ain't
got a jalopy? Maybe a pickup truck?

Nope. Anything on wheels get me from
here to Reno.

Our mule ain't got wheels.

Hey, is riding a mule like riding a
horse?

Depends if the mule likes to be ridden.

Our mule don't. She's only broken for
packing.

And she ain't biding no saddle, neither.

How do you coots travel?

We don't. Much.

Look, if I can get from here to the
nearest town, I can hop a bus to Reno.

how do I get to town?

Try walking.

How far is the nearest turn?

Ten miles from Reno.

How far from here?

Forty -seven miles.

Tom and I walk it in a day and a half.

With the mule, it takes two days.

And Gila has her own idea about physical
exercise.

Will you crack the comedy? I'm in a
hurry. I gotta get to Reno fast.

So you said.

All right, Pops. I'll make it worth your
while to get me from here to Reno in

good shape.

But it's simple enough, ain't it?

Some things that seem simple just ain't.

Look.

Dough. Real dough.

A hundred smackers for you.

Maybe you got something better to do.

Matter of fact, we do.

Yeah.

We got to feed Buellen. We got a gold
pan to fix.

We got to water the rosebush in the
morning.

But come morning, we'll be glad to show
you the trail and fix you up with some

grub. I guess you didn't hear me right.
I said a hundred bucks.

We heard you.

We got a mule and that's all.

We can't help you. Pops, you're wrong.

We're all going to Reno tonight.

I ain't gonna stumble around in that
desert by myself, see?

I'm from back east. I'm not used to sand
and rattlers, see?

Can't argue with a gun, Tom.

Now get some food ready.

And saddle up that mule or whatever you
do to mules, but get started and fast.

If you aim to kill us, that ain't going
to help you get to Reno.

You're a little touched in the head if
you think that gun is going to get us

where we don't want to go.

I said get moving.

We ain't going.

I'll show you, you all.

You shouldn't have done that.

Now you know I mean business.

But I don't know the trail to Reno.

He does.

I just wanted him to know I wasn't
fooling.

He's gonna need a lot of fixing up if
he's gonna show you the way to Reno.

Where you going?

To get some liniment.

Stay here.

I know, but his cheek is cut bad.

All right.

I get the liniment, but don't you give
me no rough time, Pop.

I killed a few people lately. One or two
old men will make no difference.

We know you're a killer, all right.

We've seen them before.

Used to be a lot of them way out west.

Make it snappy.

All right.

Fix him up quick.

I said make it snappy. All right.

Tom's cheek's cut bad.

Tom, do you hear me?

Yeah. Are you all right?

I reckon so.

Well, now, just hold still while I wipe
this blood off your face.

Belt. My belt.

Oh, see?

My belt.

Hurry up.

All right.

Ah, there you are. I guess that'll fix
you up so you can start this fellow on

the trail to Reno.

Yep.

Guess so.

Come on, come on, come on. In a minute.

Just give him a chance to get his
breath.

My belt.

Pour some cold water over his head.
Let's get moving. I ain't got forever.

I'm going to give you guys just one more
minute.

Then I'm going to let you have it.

City fellas just ain't got no man.

No wonder this car wouldn't run any
farther. Got a couple of bullets in the

motor. Three weeks, a police of five
counties has been looking for this car.

for three weeks, it's been sitting right
there.

What made you think it might be here?

Elimination.

We've looked every place but this old
road.

Think he's hiding out here?

Maybe.

But where?

The cabin.

Then where are the boys?

And their mule's not here.

Do you think he might have forced them
to lead him out of here and then...

killed him?

Well, I hate to admit it, but it has
crossed my mind.

They're getting pretty well on in years.

Easy pickings for a killer like that.

Let's hope we're wrong.

Sheriff?

Take a squint.

Hi,

Sheriff.

Greetings, Sheriff.

Howdy, boys.

You don't know how glad I am to see you.

Know my deputy here?

Sure. Hiya, Hicks.

Hello.

We've been worried.

Thought maybe you might have got
yourself killed out there on the desert

somewhere.

Why, yes.

That? Oh, the car?

Meant to ask you about that when we met
next.

Funny thing about that car.

He never did come back for it, that
fella.

Nice car.

Probably worth a few dollars.

Where did he go, boys?

Don't know. Just come and went.

Didn't even get his name or know who he
was.

He just said his car broke down and he
had to get to Reno.

So he went.

Him? Yeah.

Walking? A city feller? All the way from
up here to Reno? Almost 50 miles?

Well, he might have went down to the
highway and caught a ride.

Nope. Didn't.

You been hunting for him? Three weeks.

Well, what do you know?

No, he didn't go back down to the
highway.

Had every car checked through.

Who was he, Sheriff? We had a funny
feeling that he wasn't somebody to argue

with. You were right.

He was wanted for everything in the
book, including murder.

What? And to think he sat with us and
ate our grub. And he was real pleasant.

The California boys chased him all the
way to the border. And somebody put a

bullet in his car at the last roadblock.

It's a wonder he was able to drive off
of the highway and get down here to your

place.

And he told us it was his carburetor.

And we believed him.

Real tough hombre, eh?

He'll be held for two murders when they
do catch him. Oh, he'll be caught all

right. A criminal that dangerous.

Dangerous? That youngster? Yep.

He's got a finger in almost every dirty
racket on the coast.

He's a real killer, all right.

Boys, is there something you're not
telling me?

No.

Are you sure he's not around here?

Would a killer like him let two old men
like us leave the cabin?

Up to the mines with Beulah?

Why, sure he would if he thought you
were scared enough to keep your mouth

I'll soon find out if he's got you
bored, Buffalo.

Come on out. We got you covered.

We told you he wouldn't take a chance
letting us get away.

Then how does a tenderfoot like him from
New York decide to take a two -day hike

across the desert?

We gave him good directions.

Sure. They must have been real good.

Oh, yeah.

Oh, well, we'll let Reno look for him
now.

Well, I'd better ride back to town.

You coming, Sheriff?

No, not yet, Tex. I got a little
business here with the boys.

All right.

So long. So long, guys. So long.

It's talking town to the council getting
out a warrant to force you boys out of

this place.

A warrant?

Yep. Tomorrow you'll be out of here.

Now look, you cantankerous old goats.

Ain't you got sense enough to know when
you're licked?

Now they've got that place all fixed up
for you down below.

You can still be your own boss, get
decent food three times a day, and be

doctor in case you need him.

What would you do around here if
something did go wrong?

Well, when I think of that gangster
being around here, he could have filled

full of holes and both of you as
helpless as a couple of babies.

Now, now, that's what I mean.

Look at your face, Tom.

What have you been doing, using your
head for a pickaxe?

I tripped over a rock.

Yeah.

Well, whatever it was, it should have
been fixed up by a doctor days ago from

the looks of it.

Tripped over a rock, huh?

You mean you and Ben been fighting?

At your age.

Oh, there ain't no use going over the
past, Jeff. The main thing is, you kind

made us a promise. You said if we could
prove to the consulate we could grow

something. Oh, that.

Sure.

End of the month, you did say you'd have
a great big bouquet of roses to show

the council, didn't you?

Big bouquet, yeah.

Sure, that's what I thought you said.

You've always been a man of your word,
Jeff.

We got a present for you. Over here.

It's a miracle.

Should we cut the roses for you now,
Jeff?

No.

I'll get the chairman of the town
council out here tomorrow to look at

Could be I could talk them into letting
you boys stay on here now.

Well, I'll be doggone.

It's a miracle. That's what it is. A
miracle.

He's a nice fella.

Hate it to lie to Jeff.

It wasn't no lie, really.

Fella did say he had to get to Reno.

We just didn't tell the sheriff that
instead he stayed here.

Do you think they grow roses that big
back where he come from?

Could be.

requests are pouring in from garden
clubs across the country for details of

and Tom's method of desert reclamation.

Directions are as follows.

For best results, select a sunny spot
and place the body in a shallow grave

six to ten inches below your plants.

Water frequently and watch out for
garden pests and the police.

As for Tom and Ben, They soon ran out of
desperate criminals and began planting

innocent passers -by.

They are now in prison after first
donating their property to the

a national cemetery.

We have a one -minute film now, after
which I shall meet you at the pass.

And now the time has come for me to ride
off into the sunset.

I shall return next week.

Until then, so long, partners.