Original subtitles

When a man works for a company

as big and as vast as Wells Fargo,

he can expect to be sent almost anywhere

at any time,

even when it's just a week before Christmas.

That's what it was when I arrived

in Corpus Christi, Texas.

You could tell by the decorations in store windows,

and by the stillness in the air,

and the way people nodded

and smiled at one another,

that it was a special time of year.

Special for everybody, that is,

except outlaws and criminals.

They don't seem to take holidays.

I didn't know why I was in Corpus Christi yet.

The company hadn't told me.

I'd find out when I arrived.

Shipments of rifles and ammunition

are being smuggled regularly

from Laredo across the border into Mexico.

The revolutionists Insurrectionists.

We don't have a chance.

Ragged peons that are being

led by opportunists.

They loot, plunder,

and terrorize the countryside,

all in the name of a patriotic-sounding

hopeless cause.

And you mean these Mexican leaders

only use this cause as an excuse

to cover up their plundering and looting, huh

That's it. They're not true insurrectionists.

They're bandits.

But the peasants who do the dirty work

and the dying don't realize it.

Why doesn't somebody tell them

That isn't our job.

I was just gonna ask you about that.

What is our job

How does Wells Fargo fit into all of this

They think we're running the guns,

that our carriers have been taking them

into Laredo as legitimate freight.

That's ridiculous. Who is "they"

Lots of people.

They've asked us to conduct

our own investigation.

Well, that we'll do.

I'll let you know as soon as I find out something.

Good day, sir.

Are you the driver

That's right.

All right, that's good enough.

Get the rig rollin'.

You must be Morley, the shipper.

What's it to you, mister

I'm Jim Hardie,

investigator for Wells Fargo.

What do you want with me

According to the contract for delivery,

those boxes should contain 12 shovels each.

That's right.

Open up one of those boxes.

Just a minute, mister.

You heard me.

I'm canceling my contract as of now.

Wells Fargo is a very conscientious company,

Mr. Morley. We agreed to deliver shovels,

if they are shovels.

Stop that. Stop that right now

until we get this thing settled.

It is settled.

Did you bring the sheriff

This is him here.

I explained it to him, but the trouble is

he can't charge Morley with gunrunning unless he...

Unless what

Well, they got Morley under lock and key.

That cleans up this end of the line.

You're going on to Laredo

Undercover,

as a driver for a Wells Fargo carrier.

But we've stopped the gunrunning,

cut off their source of supply.

No, we haven't.

Morley was just a hired hand.

The men we want are in Laredo.

What about the rifles

Find 'em all in a warehouse.

All I'm taking out of that original

consignment are the boxes.

With nothing in them

There'll be something in them.

Shovels.

JIM: We arrived in Laredo the day before Christmas.

It looked quiet and peaceful,

but I guess it wasn't that quiet or that peaceful

a few miles away

across the Mexican border,

where innocent people were being murdered or robbed

to satisfy the hunger of a greedy few.

I delivered the usual crates

to the usual place in Laredo.

Even helped unload them.

Then I went across the street

to get something to warm me up

while I waited to see what happened

when they opened the crates

and didn't find the usual contents.

You're new in town

Yeah.

The Wells Fargo's drivers

got sick in Corpus Christi.

They asked me if I'd make the run.

You work for Wells Fargo

Not regularly.

Just picking up a little Christmas money.

If you got any kind of money on you,

you better watch it careful.

Why is that Ain't you heard

Laredo's wide open.

Where's the sheriff Dead.

Shot in the back.

This is Mr. Ed Flavin.

He ain't the mayor exactly,

but next thing to it.

Nice to meet you, Mr. Flavin.

We lost three sheriffs in a row.

Two got shot, one ran away.

How are you with a gun

Fair to middlin', I suppose.

You ain't gonna try to hire him

Why not

Just get himself killed.

Laredo's got to have law and order.

There's got to be a man somewhere

who can enforce it.

Well, I'd like to oblige,

but I'm afraid I got to pass.

You try to hire just about

every man who rides in here.

That's no way to hire a sheriff.

All right.

You tell me a way, then.

If conditions go on like they are,

we're gonna have the army in on us.

Martial law.

Laredo needs a lawman,

a good one.

Well, I'd like to accept, Mr. Flavin.

I'm afraid I can't.

Well, the trouble is that nobody helps.

Collins here sells drinks

to every cutthroat that walks in,

no matter who he is.

It's my saloon.

I'll run it the way I see fit.

Someday you won't.

A different one.

They send a different one every time.

If they sent the same one,

he might get smart after a while.

I wish one of them,

just one of them could speak English.

I speak English, gentlemen.

Gentlemen

Is that wrong

Did I misuse the word

No, you used it right.

I'm studying English.

I and my entire family.

Don't let Rojo know

that you're trying to educate yourself.

Señor Rojo is a great man.

If you follow his orders, he is.

He's a powerful man in our town.

So you haven't got much choice, have you

Someday he will be powerful through all Mexico.

Sure he will.

You bring the money

Do you have the merchandise

Right there.

I have been instructed to look at it first.

What's the matter Rojo always got what he paid for.

Doesn't he trust us

Would you ask me to disregard my instructions

when Señor Rojo himself gave them to me

If you gentlemen will excuse me.

Are you sure that you won't reconsider

I'm afraid you're gonna have to pin that badge

on somebody else, Mr. Flavin.

Thank you.

Shovels!

MAN: It's a mistake. Try one of the others.

No, it's no mistake.

I thought that they felt different.

They didn't weigh the same.

I'm sorry, gentlemen.

Where are you going

Back to Mexico.

What about that money

We'll take it.

We'll deliver the guns later.

No.

I have instructions not to...

Hold it.

You're wasting your time, mister.

Is that right

That's right.

How long do you think we'll be in here

Another 10 minutes, maybe

Yeah, who's gonna be around to see

that we stay locked up

I am.

Well, you can try and keep us locked up,

but don't turn your back.

And who do you think's gonna get you out

The man who's Rojo's partner

on this side of the border,

the one you call boss

Ask a lot of questions, don't you

Yeah, but he don't get any answers.

Mr. Hardie,

he keeps muttering something, a name.

How are his chances

Pretty poor, I'm afraid.

I'd better get a priest.

Fine. I'll have to get some other instruments

to probe for the bullet.

Pepito.

There, he said it again.

Does that mean anything to you

No.

Pepito.

Pepito.

A man always turns to his own

in time of trouble,

so I went to get a Spanish-speaking priest

for the dying man.

Where are you headed

Across the river.

Are you the Wells Fargo man

I work for Wells Fargo.

I brought a load of freight into Laredo.

I hear you've made a couple of arrests.

A man that drives a freight wagon

doesn't go around making arrests.

Any citizen can make an arrest.

Those fellas killed a man.

You're a Wells Fargo detective.

What gave you that idea

Well, if you're not a detective,

you're sticking your nose into things

that aren't your business.

Climb down out of that buggy.

Pepito,

To find my father.

It is Christmas Eve, Mother.

He belongs here.

He asked us to speak it in order

to practice and become perfect.

He's a very fine man.

You speak now.

Well, I try.

You speak it good.

No, say it in English.

Tonight, he works for Rojo, his duty.

No duty. Rojo is bad.

Everybody says so.

I find my father.

No, Pepito.

It is Christmas Eve.

His duty is with us.

I find him.

No, Pepito!

Forbidden in English. In English,

then I forbid you to go.

I come back.

You'll find him inside, Father.

It was kind of you to fetch me.

Little enough for a man to do on Christmas Eve.

Gracias.

Where is he

Who Armando Ochoa.

Where do I find him Go on. Get out of here.

Put that gun down.

I look for my father.

No, I will shoot.

Will no one tell me the whereabouts of my father

If his name's Ochoa, I could tell you.

Let go of him. Who's gonna make me

He came in here with a gun. I said let go of him.

He'd have killed us.

The way I hear it, there's some men in Laredo

that need killing.

You better hold onto your gun, little feller.

My father

Come. I'll take you to him.

Padre, Padre,

these are last rites.

My father, he is dying.

He cannot die, Padre.

He's too good, too dear to all of us.

He cannot die.

please, Padre.

Do not tell her how bad he is.

That he will die.

But Pepito, she should know.

Tonight of all nights

She should know that

Perhaps you are right.

At 12 years of age, Pepito,

you are in some ways already a man.

It is only the ways

my father taught me.

Pepito.

I have returned, Mother.

Padre.

It is Christmas Eve.

Only fitting that your priest should visit, no

Si. You are welcome, Father.

Please come in.

We have a friend.

Señor Hardie.

Señor.

What is it you bring, señor

Presents, Mama.

Presents for all.

Oh. Well, come in. Come in, everybody.

Please come in.

Look what Santa Claus brought!

Pepito,

your father

He's delayed.

The truth.

He's been wounded, Señora.

Dios mio!

Badly I must go to him.

There's a doctor with him.

But I am his wife, Señor.

And these are your children

on Christmas Eve.

You can go to him later.

Sit down in the middle of the floor.

That is presents.

Gracias.

I have a doll, too.

Oh, Señor Hardie.

He is magnificent.

Oh, Señor, I don't know

how I can ever thank you.

There's a little something here for you too.

Oh.

Pepito picked it up.

Gracias, Señor. Mama,

the ritual.

Papa's ritual.

Ay, si, the song.

We always sing it on Christmas Eve.

All of us.

What song is that

Silent Night.

They will sing it in Spanish

and you can sing it in English.

Papa always lead us.

Will you lead us, Señor Hardie

By golly, I'll try.

Silent night

Holy night

All is calm

All is bright

Round yon virgin

Mother and child

Holy infant

So tender and mild

Sleep in heavenly peace

Sleep in heavenly peace

The priest took his leave

and the little ones were put to bed...

Even that big boy of 12,

Pepito.

I had promised to take Mrs. Ochoa

to see her husband.

And while she got herself ready,

she told me about him.

In English, por favor.

excuse me, Señor.

My husband is a very great scholar.

You know, now he's making a history of the town.

All of the things that happen,

he writes them all down.

Everything Si, Señor.

Whatever he sees and hears,

he writes it all down.

Someday, it may be valuable.

It might be valuable right now.

What you mean

The name of the man that he deals with

across the border,

did he write that down

Seguro, Señor.

Oh, I'm sure he wrote about that.

And is the book here

Si, Señor.

Show me the name of that man.

Oh, oh, no, I cannot, Señor.

It is dangerous.

Rojo is a powerful man.

Rojo is powerful only because of the man

he deals with in Texas,

the man who trades him guns for half of the profits

of the pocketbooks of Mexico.

Without him,

Rojo is nothing, he's through.

And Mexico would be well rid of him.

I will show you the book of my husband,

and with the name of the man in Texas.

You know, Armando saw him one time

and he never forgot him.

Armando!

How is he Still alive,

I just took this out of him.

Oh, Harper and Finley were let out a few minutes ago.

By who A man who told them

somebody over at the saloon wanted to see them.

He's coming.

I warned you not to turn your back on me.

So you're a wagon driver for Wells Fargo.

Wrong. I'm an investigator.

Interesting.

If he's a lawman, then why is he being treated like this

You stay out of this, Collins.

Maybe I can tell you.

Because Ed Flavin is Rojo's partner.

But he... he tried to hire you.

Certainly he wanted to hire me.

He wanted to hire anybody that wasn't too good at the job,

like the other three.

Otherwise, like he said,

the army would move in.

Also, he wanted a man that he could murder

just as soon as he'd learned too much.

Who said I was a partner of that Mexican

Rojo did.

You're lying.

He's on his way here to kill you now.

Go on, get him out of here.

Don't you wanna know why

All right.

Why Let's have another one of your lies.

Because of these two.

When Rojo's messenger wouldn't pay them

for something he didn't get,

they shot him down in cold blood.

That true JIM: My guess is

that they found shovels

in those crates instead of rifles,

they figured the gunrunning business was about over,

so why not get their hands on some money and run

Is he right

Of course it isn't.

We can explain it.

They knew you'd be in trouble with Rojo,

but that didn't stop them.

They didn't plan on being around for it.

You two told me that he shot that Mexican...

I don't shoot unarmed men.

I do, Hardie. Not in here.

Drop your guns.

The US Government's gonna be interested in you men.

I'll never stand trial for this. Yes, you will.

Unless my guess is wrong,

these two are gonna be the star witnesses against you,

and against themselves, for that matter.

Come on.

We'll walk down to the jail.

You can think about the charges against you, Flavin.

Murder, smuggling.

Get him up.

I'll help you take them down to the jail.

Get some citizens to stand voluntary guard.

Thank you. It's the least I can do

for what you did for us in Laredo.

Move out.

Señor Hardie has brought a goose for us to cook.

But that's not all,

I have brought the most beautiful

Christmas present of all.

Oh,oh, and now you speak in Spanish

What is the best present

Your father is going to live.

He will be home tomorrow.

And Armando Ochoa did live.

He came home to raise his children

in a Mexico that was soon

to be quiet again.

Yes,

it was a merry Christmas after all,

just about the best I've known

for many years.