Original subtitles

Steven!

Help me!

Help me!

The wagon skidded off the road!

He made me jump or he would've got clear himself.

Easy now, Millie.

Well, he's-- he's still alive.

[ gunshots ]

It's the boss's boy.

Ride for the doctor, quick.

Closest one's in Laramie, that's a half a day's ride.

Get him!

Help me get this off.

Where's Vic?

Boss won't be home till midnight.

How did it happen?

The wagon turned over.

Get some water, we'll clean him up.

He needs a doctor.

I've sent for one.

Now stop making me say everything twice

and get some water.

You better go on home, Millie.

We'll take care of him right.

No, I want to stay here.

If I've to start wrangling too,

they'll pay me darn well for it.

Oh, now, Mose, it wasn't Slim's fault

the cattle broke through the fence.

Well, where is Jess?

Seems like there ought to be one of them here.

He went into Laramie for some supplies.

He'll be back in the morning.

Now if you could stop complaining for a minute,

I might tell you there's a cake in the kitchen.

Now I'll have to make more than a half hour...

What kind of cake, chocolate?

It'll be ready when you are.

You're sure bandaging Buttons' paw

better than I was, mister.

Maybe I've had more practice, son.

You a doctor?

I was long time ago.

I'm sorry for the delay.

We have to tend our patient here anyway.

Look how well he bandaged Buttons' paw, Aunt Daisy.

It's wonderful.

Would you accept a piece of cake as a fee?

It was fresh baked this morning.

I think that'd be a fair exchange.

Me too?

Doctor's assistants usually get a fee.

I'll only be a minute.

I'll miss her cooking,

but someday I'm gonna go to California too.

You ever been there before?

No, this is my first trip.

Jess, he's my friend.

He's been there.

He says it's a place

where a man can get a fresh start.

I hope your friend is right.

Here, I think, I think that should do it.

Now walk him a little

and we'll see if the bandage is too tight.

Thanks, mister.

Come on, Buttons.

[ horses approaching ]

That's a good way to windbreak a horse,

pushing him real hard.

Oh, it's them two from the Prescott Ranch.

I might have known.

Mose.

You trying to see

which one can kill his horse first?

We're heading for Laramie, we need fresh mounts.

I don't wonder

from how you've been treating your own.

Can't be help.

We're riding for the doctor.

What's wrong?

Steve's hurt bad. A wagon rolled on him.

You don't have to go all the way to Laramie.

There's a doctor inside with Aunt Daisy.

You sure, son?

Well, he said he was.

Mrs. Cooper, the boy says there's a doctor here.

A doctor?

Well, please, ma'am, we're in a mighty big hurry.

You the doc?

Why, yes, but it's been sometime

since I attended anybody.

Well, you better come with us,

we got a man hurt real bad.

Well, you don't understand.

We do understand,

the boss' son could be bleeding to death,

while we stand here talking about it.

Now can you help him?

Maybe I could, but if you'll just listen I'll--

We'll listen,

after you fix him up.

MOSE: Hold on, Manton.

Don't you try to stop us, Mose.

We're sorry, Mrs. Cooper,

but it's Vic Prescott's boy.

Ah, you'll be well paid for your time, let's go.

No trouble, Mose.

You come along and help with the horses.

Do I've a choice?

Not this time.

We'll bring him back soon as he's finished, Mrs. Cooper.

All right, doc, let's go.

High-handed shenanigans,

just 'cause they ride for Prescott.

But if Stevie's badly hurt--

But they didn't ask the doc, they just took him.

I'm gonna get Slim.

Mike?

Mike, be careful!

We were lucky, we found a doc at Slim Sherman's place.

He wasn't much willing to help though.

I never heard of a medical man holding back

when somebody is in trouble.

Are you their employer?

I'll do until Mr. Prescott gets back.

I've been foreman of this ranch for 20 years.

Now let's go--

Now just a minute.

For what?

If it's money you're worried about,

you'll get more than enough.

Money has nothing to do with it.

Then the rest don't matter, does it?

All that counts is you tending to Steve

and no more talk about it.

Just how bad is he, doc?

I think I could save him,

but I'll have to amputate his arm.

No.

Are you sure you know what you're talking about?

You wanted my professional help

badly enough to bring me here,

now all I can do is tell you the truth as I see it.

We should've kept on riding,

should've gone for Doc Philips in Laramie.

That's good that you didn't.

The boy would've been dead when you get back.

Hobey, what are we going to do?

His only chance to live is for me to operate

and stop the bleeding.

Well, can you hold off until his father gets here?

This boy means everything in the world to him.

It's for him to decide.

Can he get back here in a half hour?

Not from out of town he can't, it's 25 miles.

Well, then you're going to have to decide.

Me, huh?

Somebody will have to, and now.

Hobey,

if it's his only chance...

All right, go ahead

but see to it that he lives.

Just the high-handed way you went about it, that's all.

It was the only thing we could do, Slim.

There was no time to argue with him.

The important thing was saving Steve's life.

At the cost of his arm?

I hope Vic thinks the same way.

How long they been up there?

Almost an hour.

It's gonna be rough on Steve.

I'd hate to be in Hobey's boots.

He's got to tell the boss.

Will he be all right now?

He's young and strong, a month, 5 weeks,

he should be up and around the same as ever.

But he won't be the same.

If I were to tell you that his handicap's

going to be more mental than physical,

you wouldn't believe that, would you?

No.

Then I won't try to convince you.

Let's both just be grateful that he's going to live.

Will he be all right, doc?

Is he gonna make it?

All he needs now is rest, and plenty of it.

Doctor, I'm Slim Sherman.

I run the relay station

where you stopped this morning.

Well, I'm glad to meet you, Mr. Sherman.

I'm afraid I've missed my stagecoach, haven't I?

Well, there'll be another one along tomorrow.

I just want you know that I'm sorry

about the way all of this happened.

No problem.

I'm glad to have been able to help.

We're mighty indebted to you, doctor.

And it goes way beyond just saying thanks.

I want you to know

we'll be happy to pay you any amount you need.

No need for that.

I would like to ride back to the relay station

with Mr. Sherman here though.

I expect they've got all my baggage there.

Sure.

Get his horse, Colie.

Well, doctor, you're welcome

to spend the night at our place if you'd like.

That way, you'll save a trip into town

and catch the morning stage after breakfast.

Well, thanks, I'd appreciate that

if it's not too much trouble to you.

If anyone's been put to trouble has been you.

And listen, if we hurry you can sample

some of Daisy's good cooking.

How far is it to the ranch?

Just over the hill.

We'll be there by supper.

Oh.

Mr. Sherman,

did you ever hear of John Wilkes Booth?

Yeah, he was the assassin that shot President Lincoln.

What about him?

Well, it was a man who helped Booth to escape.

He set his leg and patched him up

on a little farm in Maryland.

But I don't suppose you remember all that.

Well, only that the traitors were convicted and executed.

Well, not all those who were convicted were traitors

and not all of them were executed.

I don't understand, why are you telling me this?

Because I think you have a right to know.

I'm Samuel Mudd,

the doctor who was convicted to helping Booth to escape.

What was that doctor's name or did you think to ask, huh?

No, I didn't. I thought you did.

Vic sure ain't gonna like this.

[ horses approaching ]

Now there's his palomino now.

I can tell by the sound.

Yeah, he sure gonna blow sky high

when you tell him.

Don't you think I know that?

Hobey.

The place sure is quiet.

I thought Steve was gonna talk to me

then stay for supper.

Yeah, well, he was, Vic, but...

see, there's been an accident.

What?

The wagon overturned on Steve.

What are you talking about, Hobey?

Where is he?

He's up in his room.

But he's gonna be all right.

Vic, we took care of it. We got--

Vic, listen to me a minute.

I know what you're thinking.

But it was the only way to save his life.

Almost better dead, crippled up like this.

Oh, you don't mean that--

How can you say such a thing?

Why did it have to be him?

Why?

He'll learn to live with it.

I know it doesn't help any to say it, but he will.

Doc Philips should have tried to save his arm.

He's patched up broken bones before.

It wasn't Doc Philips.

What?

The boys found another doctor at Sherman's place.

He was traveling through on the stage.

They what?

Well, Vicky--

Who was the doctor?

I don't exactly know.

You don't exactly know?

You mean, you let a stranger,

some butcher do this to Steve?

Vic, he wasn't that kind of a man, Vic.

He, he--

You don't know what kind he was.

You should've gotten Philips.

There wasn't time.

He said that Steve would've died

before Doctor Philips could've gotten here.

He's said, of course he said.

Where is he now?

He's staying the night at Sherman's place.

Where are you going?

Where do you think?

Well, I'm going with you.

You stay here, right here until I get back.

20 years or not, Hobey,

you're going to answer for this.

The stage doesn't leave until 9:00.

If you get up early,

we could go fishing down at the lake.

Well, thanks, Mike, I'd like that.

Come along, Mike, you run off to bed.

If you oversleep, I'll wake you, huh?

Fair enough.

Mike...

Ah, gee...

Can Buttons come sleep with me?

Oh, not tonight, tiger.

He's had enough excitement for one day,

and so have you.

Goodnight, Mike.

Goodnight.

Doctor.

I hope you're not sending him off to bed

early on my account.

He's a fine boy.

Yeah.

But in 10 minutes, he'd be fast asleep

in his own chair.

Doctor Mudd, you made a point

of telling us quite a bit about yourself before supper.

Is that because you're expecting trouble?

I guess I've grown used to it.

I just didn't want accept your hospitality

without first letting you know what you might be in for.

Oh, but the Lincoln trial was years ago.

Surely people must realize

you wouldn't be a free man today

if you haven't been able to clear yourself.

I'm afraid some people only believe

what they want to believe.

Sit down, doctor.

Ever since John Wilkes Booth shot President Lincoln

and then came to me for help,

it's been hard to separate his life from mine.

I thought you said you didn't know Booth.

I didn't until he came to my house

and asked me to put a splint on his injured leg.

I had no way of knowing he was Lincoln's assassin.

To me, he was just like your young friend Prescott.

Somebody who was hurt and who needed doctoring.

And for that you were sent to prison at Dry Tortugas.

Well, it could have been worse,

at least I wasn't executed

like Mary Surratt and the others.

Actually if Mary Surratt's son

hadn't told all he knew about it,

I would have gone to the gallows

the same as they did.

Well, the...

newspapers printed anything about your release?

Probably not out here.

And President Johnson who signed my pardon

isn't likely to put out any statement about it.

Why not?

It hasn't anything to do with me.

But there's talk that Johnson may be impeached.

So I guess he has troubles enough of his own

without having to defend me.

Oh.

I still can't get over it,

your spending 6 years in prison

when you hadn't committed any real crime at all.

I've learned to live with that part of it.

The worst of it is,

there are some people who'd like to see me

back in Dry Tortugas or maybe even dead.

Nice country out here...

lot of it.

Good place to start over again.

That's what I'm looking for, a place to start over,

haven't found it yet.

That's why I'm heading west.

So this could be it.

I don't know.

Makes the past seem a long time ago.

You know, I'm wondering if I'd feel the same way you do

if it happened to me.

I think you would.

It doesn't make much sense to hate something

it's over and done with.

You hold no anger for the men who convicted you?

Well, I'm not all that of a man.

I'm afraid I do.

You know, Mr. Lincoln was kind of a special man.

I remember I've read all of his speeches

I could get my hands on.

He had the gift of making people feel

he was talking straight to 'em, made 'em feel like

they counted for something.

And of course to lose in the--

Have him killed the way that he was,

it's just natural that people would feel like

they lost part of their family.

Well, I was born and raised in the south, Mr. Sherman,

so it's hard for me to believe in everything he did, but--

I can't deny he was a great man.

To punish those who killed him was obviously right.

Some of us were carried along in the storm, that's all.

That storm ought to be over now.

But it isn't, for just the reasons you've said.

As long as anyone can remember my name,

they'll always be those who were quick to judge

and quicker to hate.

Well, we better turn in.

If I know Mike, he'll be waking you up

with at crack of dawn to go fishing.

No problem there.

I haven't had a fish pole in my hands for years.

I'm looking forward to it.

[ horse approaching ]

Sherman...

Howdy, Mr. Prescott.

Is this the one?

What are you talking about?

Is he the one who crippled Steve?

I operated on your son, if that's what you mean.

You butchered him.

And-- Wait a minute.

Stay out of this or you'll get the same as him.

Nobody rides on my ranch

and threatens me or any of my friends.

Sherman, this ten-horn quack ruined my boy's life

and he's gonna pay for it!

I'll fix you, so you will never--

Hold it, hold it, Prescott, right now!

Samuel Mudd,

you call him a friend?

Do you know who he is?

Yes, I do.

He's welcome here?

Yeah.

Sherman, when folks hear about--

you're harboring this traitor,

you'll be run out of the territory.

Three months ago, President Johnson signed

an order for my release.

I've got it inside if you want to see it.

Any man slippery enough to break out of prison

could get himself a paper.

You'll have to do better than that,

especially since you owe your life to me.

Now what are you talking about?

Take a look, doctor,

a real good look.

Prescott is the name, Major Prescott.

It was my detachment that arrested you.

I stopped some of your neighbors

from stringing you up to the nearest tree.

Remember?

Yes, I remember.

And I saved you to do this to my boy.

If there were any justice, you'd have been dead long ago.

That's enough, Prescott.

He's coming back with me.

What for?

I want to hear from Doc Philips

that he did the right thing.

Well, then you go ask Doc Philips!

Hobey is getting him now.

Are you that sure you did right?

Would you face a real doctor with what you did?

Of course I will.

You don't have to.

You did what you knew was right.

You don't have to prove it.

No need to involve you any further.

If Doctor Philips knows his profession,

he can clear this up once and for all.

I'll get my things.

He's not going with you.

Keep out of this, Sherman.

You didn't send for Doc Philips.

You just want to get him away from here.

That's right.

Now I've got two reasons to settle things with him.

Well, you're not gonna get the chance

'cause I'm gonna--

Easy.

Give me that gun, Sherman.

Easy now.

Saddle him a horse.

Get over there with him.

You're getting in over your head.

Shut up.

Get that horse saddled.

You don't have to threaten him, major, I'm going.

You bet you are.

You won't live long enough to reach his place.

I said shut up.

Get going.

Mr. Prescott,

there's a 12-gauge shotgun aimed right at your back,

don't make me use it.

SLIM: You want to argue with her?

I wouldn't try that.

Now give me that gun, both of them.

This ain't the end of it, Sherman.

I don't know whether I could have fired it or not.

Neither did he,

but I'm glad for all of our sakes,

he didn't chance it.

Now inside.

No.

Let him go.

Let him go?

He had every intention of killing you.

I still have.

It's over now. Let him go.

Why, he'd be back within 2 hours with half his wranglers.

Now inside!

Sherman, you got my word on it.

You'll regret this, the longest day you live.

And I'll catch up with you, wherever you go.

You're in no position to threaten anybody, Prescott.

You keep it up and you'll be wearing a gag.

You can't hold me forever.

I don't intend to.

I'll turn you over to the sheriff

in Laramie tomorrow morning.

Save your talk for him.

[ door opens ]

Hi, Button.

[ dog barking ]

Shh.

You wake anybody up

and you'll have to sleep outside.

[ clattering ]

[ gunshots ]

It's too dark out there.

I missed him clean.

I want you to know how sorry I am for causing all this.

It's not your doing.

Well, the result's the same, bringing things down on you

and everyone else around here.

Forget it.

We'll have a chance to settle with Vic Prescott.

They'll be back.

And he won't be alone.

And I can't let that happen.

There's nothing you can do about it.

Steve.

Hobey, where is Pa?

He'll be here soon.

You just rest easy.

Hobey, my arm.

Oh, you're gonna be all right.

Why did you let him do that to me?

Because I didn't want you dead.

Listen to me, boy.

There ain't nothing you did before

that you can't learn again.

This doesn't stop you from living.

Yeah, tell me.

You get no sympathy from me.

I don't want any.

Good, because that's for the weak.

Truth is with the strong.

Get out.

I helped raise you strong,

so you get the truth.

The truth is, I'm a cripple.

The truth is, you got a lousy break.

The truth is you lost an arm.

And the truth is,

if you're the man I think you are,

it'll make you a better man.

You sit there

all whole tell me some more, huh.

I'll tell you that I'd have given my life

to spare you this.

But that isn't the way life is, it deals the cards

and you play the hand you get.

Now you can lie there and snivel

and you'll get no help.

You'll do it alone

or you can make up your mind to start over again

and you get all the help you can use.

Hobey, I'm scared.

What's wrong with that?

I can't.

Now listen, Steve,

before I joined your father's detachment in '63,

I served with a man that didn't know that word,

his name is Oliver Howard.

General O.O. Howard

was one of the toughest men in the union army.

He rode like a Comanche and he led his soldiers

like a born fighting man and he had one arm!

And he was worth any 10 men under him.

He was different.

You bet he was different because he chose to be

just like you can.

Can I hope?

You can and if you fall I'll be right there to kick you

until you get up again.

Oh, after doing this to you,

I don't see how that man would dare to come back.

You don't know Prescott, Daisy.

He'll be back.

As soon as I finish this, I'll leave.

That way there'll be no reason for any trouble

even if he does show up.

And how far do you think you'd get?

Wandering around the country in the middle of the night.

I don't think it matters.

This is something just between myself and Prescott.

Not anymore, it isn't.

Slim's right.

Way that man is acting,

he's a menace to the entire area.

That's a hard thing to understand.

How can a man be sane one minute

then go completely haywire the next?

Hate's a hard emotion to live with.

What's happening to Prescott

now probably has been building up for a long time,

he just needed someone like me to set it off.

Here are the bandages you wanted, Aunt Daisy.

Thank you, Mike.

Now you go back to bed.

Do I have to?

I can't sleep just thinking about what about.

Yes, you can.

Just don't think about it.

Put your mind on something else.

How can I when Slim's getting hurt

is all my fault?

All your fault?

How do you figure that, tiger?

Well, you know the storeroom where you tied Mr. Prescott up?

Yeah, what about it?

Well, I got up for a drink

and I saw a lamp burning in there.

And when I smelled something funny,

like a rope burning

but I thought it was the fireplace.

I guess I should have yelled for you.

It was lucky you didn't yell, Mike.

There's no telling what Prescott might have done.

You hightail into bed, huh.

Okay.

A man can stick to his beliefs, fight against any odds

until it starts involving the young and the innocent.

Then you'll wonder if it's worth it,

and you start backing off.

But, Dr. Mudd, don't all doctors take an oath,

something about helping human beings

when they need it, no matter who they are?

Yes.

Yes, we do.

And living up to oath

has meant nothing but trouble for me.

You did what you knew was right, as a doctor.

Perhaps,

but some people don't think I did right as a citizen.

There's an oath of allegiance to our country too.

And what do you do

when one duty contradicts another?

No matter which way you go

somebody will say you are wrong.

But at the Prescott Ranch, you had no choice.

That boy would have died if you hadn't done something

right then.

Probably.

But there's something I didn't do, Mrs. Cooper.

I didn't tell them who I was.

From what I hear, they didn't give you a chance.

It's a good excuse I suppose.

But if I'd really wanted to, I think I could have told them.

Maybe I was afraid.

But that would have caused a delay

which might have killed Steve Prescott.

You knew that.

You weren't only protecting yourself.

Well, it's done now.

An oath or no oath I think I'm through being a doctor.

Well, you can't do that.

You got no right to stop helping the people

who need you.

I've no right to involve people like you

and Mrs. Cooper and young Mike in the trouble

my helping others always seems to cause.

Oh, if it were just me, I wouldn't mind.

I've been through enough

so that no matter what they hand me now,

I think I could face up to it.

But I'm through dragging others down.

There might be others that believe in you, doctor,

that figure they liked a share in that trouble.

Well, that's something I appreciate,

but I certainly can't encourage.

I'm going to turn in.

Goodnight.

Goodnight.

Vic, what happened to you?

It's no concern of yours.

Oh, come off it, I'm Hobey, remember?

I remember everything.

You know who that doctor was?

I told you I didn't.

It's Samuel Mudd, the man who helped kill Lincoln.

Well, I don't believe it.

Nobody is asking to.

Well, how could it be him?

Mudd was sent to prison for life, wasn't he?

He wouldn't be the first man to break his way out.

The boss told us the whole story.

And Sherman is helping him.

How do you know?

He kept me tied up half the night.

But, Vic, you got to be wrong about Sherman.

You calling me a liar?

I'm saying that Sherman wouldn't help

an escaped convict,

not one the likes of Dr. Mudd, if it is him.

You've seem to forget our residuum.

And he admitted who he was.

Oh, so now you're going back after him, is that it?

Listen, Vic, you can't do it!

Don't tell me what I can do.

Why...

Slim, I don't want to leave.

Bill Base would put you and Mike up at his place

for the rest of the night.

Well, of course he would.

But if I was gonna run away every time trouble shows up,

I'd have been gone long ago and for good.

Well, look at it another way.

If things do get hard around here,

I'll be needing some help.

By your going,

you can get bait started on rounding up some men.

Well, I still say I'd--

Now, Daisy, that's it.

I want you and Mike to go.

In fact you can take the doctor with you.

If there is any gunplay around here,

I don't want him getting mixed up with it.

Do you really think the doctor would go

if he felt there's gonna be trouble?

I'm not gonna give him the choice.

Dr. Mudd.

Dr. Mudd!

Slim!

He left this for you.

Well, if he wants to get killed,

I can't think of a better way.

What are you going to do?

Going after him.

He didn't take a horse, I would have heard him.

And traveling at night,

he'll probably stick to the trails.

If there's trouble?

I hope I can stop him.

Goodbye, Daisy.

Well, it looks like he's running out on you,

Mr. Prescott.

Only he's running in the wrong direction, boss.

Anyway, you can leave Slim Sherman out of this now.

What are you gonna do with him?

That old tree back there, we'll see that he gets

what Mary Surratt and the other traitors got,

then I'll settle with Sherman.

You've picked the wrong part of the country to hide in.

I wasn't hiding and I've no reason to.

If you'd only listen--

I'm through listening to you.

I don't know how you escaped from that prison,

but you'll wish you hadn't.

I was pardoned by President Johnson.

I already told you that.

You were sentenced to life.

I heard it with my own ears.

Colie, tie his hands.

Gag him, Colie.

Get him on to that horse.

You're not in on this?

Of course not.

Vic wouldn't be either if he's in his right mind.

What are you doing here?

Same as you.

Vic knocked me out.

Charged here to see if--

and the boys sent me after him.

The rope.

Get out of the way.

Tie it off.

What are you waiting for?

I said tie it off.

Everybody hold it.

Don't do it, Vic.

[ gunshot ]

All right, get rid of those guns.

You too.

Now take him down.

How is he?

Ah, it will take more than one bullet to do him in.

We better get him to Doc Philips.

You picked a fine time to worry about him.

He wouldn't have pulled this

if you hadn't come along with him.

How are you?

Your place is nearest, Slim,

see if I can do something for him there.

Steve.

Millie.

You look fine, Pa.

So do you, boy.

Prescott.

Sherman, I--

I hope you'll be able to forget

what happened between us.

I didn't come all this way not to.

Eighteen months I spent thinking about

what I was gonna say when I got out,

but now that is happening, I--

You don't have say anything, Pa.

I could have spent the rest of my life

inside those walls

if Dr. Mudd hadn't refused to testify against me.

I just wish he were here so I could tell him

how much getting another chance means to me.

You wrote him, he knows.

Well, Millie, do you think you can stand it,

having me for a dad-in-law?

We can talk about it on the way home.

Here, I'll take your bag.

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