Original subtitles

Well, the spring's a little weak,

You better order a new one.

[horse grunts]

Looks like we got some visitors, pa.

I ain't never seen a rifle fire like that before.

She sure spits out lead, don't she?

Why don't we water up here?

Saw those two in town last night,

One of them is a trouble maker.

Micah threw 'em out of north fork.

Our animals would like a drink.

Well, there's the water, help yourself.

Go, gorwin.

Mighty fast shootin' gun you got there, mister.

I got some beaver pelts on ol' jake over there

I might be willin' to trade you for it.

Sorry, stranger, this rifle is not for sale.

Here, son, you better let me give you a hand.

Hey, gorwin, you bring them beaver pelts out of my bag.

I just made myself a trade.

All right, you were thrown out of north fork

Last night for your bad manners,

Now get up an' get on your horse an' get out of here. Go on!

Hey! Get out o' here!

Well, maybe we oughta just go on, ambrose.

No, I'm set on gettin' that gun.

He turned down a fair trade, cuz we was mountain boys.

Maybe he just didn't wanna give his own gun up.

Oh now, 10 beaver pelts?

He could buy himself a new gun for that.

It's like them...Town people...

Thinkin' us mountain boys are so much dirt.

I reckon it's dark enough now.

How does it look now, pa?

Well, that's a good job of braidin', son.

Almost ready to saw on the buckle.

Yup. Think maybe we can use a silver dollar for a buckle,

Like those texas trailhands wear?

Well, I don't know if we have to use something

Worth a dollar, mark.

Tell you what, you finish up the braiding

And I'll get that old saddle we bought from sam dekoven,

It's got a silver cinch,

Might even look prettier than a silver dollar.

All right.

[gunshot]

He's dead, son.

The rifle went off accidentally, when the other fellow jumped me.

What are we gonna do now, pa?

Well, first I'll tell micah,

So he can arrange for a proper burial,

And tomorrow I'd better return his horse to his folks.

Up in the high country?

Uh-huh. It's the least I can do.

Should I come along with you, pa?

Well, they're strange people, son,

But they live close to the good book,

I'm sure it'll be all right.

Come on, help me hitch the wagon. We'll take him into town.

Ambrose, tally fetched us news we're hopin' is wrong.

I'll cut my right arm off if I could make it wrong, jeremiah,

But gorwin was gunned down with no more ceremony paid to him

Than a sick hound dog, ready for his grave.

May the lord rest his soul.

Did you see this town fellow who did it?

I was just telling mrs. Morgan here.

Havin' no gun, I had to go scamperin' off,

Fearin' the same thing might happen to me.

Poor gorwin, just like an old hound dog, didn't have a chance.

I like never made it myself, old jake broke his leg

Down on the wayside. Took me almost a whole day gettin' here.

We'll hold proper services, mrs. Morgan,

Given proper and respectful attention to your only son

Leavin' us, an' we...

[horse neighs]

That's him! That...That's the fellow what killed gorwin.

This horse I brought belongs to--

We knowed who it belongs to, mister.

What we don't know is... Why you killed my boy?

I didn't kill him, ma'am, an' I didn't know he was your boy.

I sure offer you--

Are you sayin' you didn't kill gorwin morgan, mister?

We got somebody here says you did.

Well, from what I've seen of this man,

I wouldn't take any stock in what he says.

You sayin' gorwin morgan didn't die by your hand?

That's right, it was an accident.

Ah!

Man's got a right to defend himself.

You'll have a turn tellin' your story.

Turn?

Talk at your trial, mister.

I didn't come up here for a trial.

I don't know what this man's told you,

But I can guarantee you, it's far from the truth.

Truth is what we're after.

We'll go inside, hold a fair trial.

Jeremiah: Move, clare.

Clare, you come on now, come on.

I sure swear to tellin' the truth.

I just hope this townsman here, sees fit

To show the same respect to this book.

Just tell it simple, ambrose, don't fancy up the details.

Well, no sooner than gorwin an' me set foot in the town,

They throwed us into jail.

Yes sir, right into jail!

No sooner we showed our faces, and we heard somebody yellin',

"mountain boys", an' they started roughin' us

An' shovin' us around, then asked us to get out.

But we didn't get, now pride kinda'.

Well, into jail we went.

Well, you know how them townspeople looked at us

Last year when we went into town,

Lookin' to buy them store-bought shoes.

Now, we ever been treated right an' proper goin' into any town?

No, sir!

I reckon we know how they feel about us mountain folk.

Is that what you call the truth?

Make him tell you how drunk he got,

How he smashed the feed store window,

How he insulted half the women in north fork.

Now, just a minute, we know ambrose here ain't no lilywhite,

But you'll get a chance to talk later.

An' I don't see this has anything to do

With this here trial, ambrose.

Now, suppose you get around to tellin' us about gorwin?

Well, we left town, headin' back for the hills,

A place where man can hold his head up,

A place where lyin' and cheatin' ain't nothing but a word

For book learnin'.

An' passin' this here fellow's place,

We thought we'd water the horses,

And maybe that's where our trouble really started,

When he said that hill folk

Weren't no account welcome on his land.

That's a lie.

Pa!

Now, the next man that uses any violence at this here

Trial's gonna make an accountin' to me!

I'm all right, son.

You sit down over there, boy.

An' you, mister, I don't know how they conduct trials in town,

But up here we aim to get all the facts.

Now, you be quiet until your turn comes.

Go on, ambrose.

Well, then we started to leave.

Then I saw this gun the fellow had.

I ask him, "be a fair trade, 10 beaver pelts for a rifle?"

He said "sure". So he takes his gun down, an' turns around

Real slow like, with a smile on his face like he's...

Thinkin' of a joke or somethin'.

An' that's when he shot gorwin.

That's a lie!

Him smilin' like he'd never seen nothing so funny in his life!

Gorwin fallen to the ground an' squirmin',

His life blood pourin' out in the dirt.

Liar. Liar! Liar!

Easy, son, easy.

Your turn's come, mister.

An' keep in mind you're in the presence of the good book.

The truth here is fairly simple.

Ambrose here an' gorwin came to my ranch

An' tried to buy my rifle, I wouldn't sell it.

So they came back later that night and tried to steal it.

My boy would never steal!

I beg you pardon, ma'am.

Ambrose, here tried to steal it.

I meant to say your son was with him.

Are you sayin' you shot gorwin when they were tryin'

To make off with your rifle?

Nobody shot gorwin!

Ambrose jumped me, tried to take the rifle away,

And the gun went off in the scuffle.

Gorwin happened to be...Standin' by when the bullet hit.

It was an accident, pure and simple.

Come here, boy.

Now, so far, it's your pa's word

Against the word of one of our own.

I don't know your pa, if a lie would stick in his throat,

But I know it ain't natural for a man raised among us to lie.

So what I'm gonna do, boy,

Is take your word for what happened.

Maybe we'll be releasin' a man who's guilty,

But better one man go free on our misjudgment,

Than one payin' for something he didn't do.

Like pa said, he-- he started out at the house

When this man jumped him, tryin' to get the rifle.

It...Just went off by itself.

You saw all that, boy?

Oh, sure I--

Well, boy?

I didn't exactly see it, I was in the house.

I heard the rifle go off, an' when I went outside,

Pa was goin' to gorwin's body.

You heard that gun go off an' you ran outside right away?

Oh, yes, sir.

Where was the rifle, boy?

Oh, pa was carrying it, he--

In the face of hearin' all sides of this story,

Anyone thinking this man is not guilty of killing gorwin morgan

Can speak his peace.

So be it, the verdict is guilty.

Now, wait a minute!

If had one more witness to back up ambrose's words

Against you, I'd hang you, mister, but since I haven't,

I'm gonna sentence you to labor five years

In the service of mrs. Morgan, replacin' that service you took

From her when you killed her son.

Put the chains on him.

The ch-- wait a minute!

You'll stay here with your pa,

You'll earn your keep by doing chores.

I get my hands on you, ambrose,

I'll shove your lyin' tongue down your throat.

You ain't gonna be doin' nothin', mister.

Seeing as I'm marryin' into this family, I'm volunteerin' to see

That you do your share of the work for the next five years.

An' I'm thinkin' at the end of that time

You're gonna be just as tame as a two-day-old kitten. [chuckles]

Eat, boy, young 'uns need growin' strength.

I'm not hungry.

Appears to me, boy, you got no cause to be a-moonin'.

If your pa was a mountain boy in a trial down there in town,

He'd be a-hanging pretty quick,

Onest he was a-judged guilty of killing.

My pa didn't kill nobody!

That'll be enough, boy.

Nothing unnatural a boy believin' in his own pa.

Fix mccain a dish of vittles.

Clare, here, put a little in that first.

Now, you hear me out, boy.

Just yesterday, I had a fine son, an' today I'm a-grievin'.

I'm a-trying to keep the hate from my heart.

Now, there's no hate in me for you an' your pa,

But I've got services coming to me for my loss.

It's not right, my-- my pa bein' chained an' worked.

Well, maybe it don't seem right to you,

'cause you don't see us as real people

Up here a-havin' laws,

An' the right to keep the peace,

But it's just as right as your townfolk a-sendin' a man off

To their prison for five years.

Now, I'm trying to say that... I'll treat as my own,

Long as you deserve the treatment.

But don't press me, boy, don't stir up the grievin'.

You don't look like the kind o' man

To shoot gorwin with no cause.

I didn't shoot gorwin, ambrose was lyin'.

Now, just what would you wanna do with some silly old saw file?

It'd take some doing,

But it just might cut through these chains.

Just might at that.

Well, I'm...Sure obliged to you, miss.

You ain't got it yet.

I ain't good enough for you?

A... A town man is?

Ambrose!

Stop it.

I catched him an' she together.

Get in the house.

Now, you just give me 10 minutes

Alone with him, mrs. Morgan.

We'll settle for all time, just, uh,

What his proper place is around here.

Yeah, well, when a whuppin' needs handin' out,

I'll do the sayin'. Now, go on to bed.

[mutters]

Mister, I don't intend to be worryin' about you

Day an' night.

Now you'll eat, sleep, do the chores ambrose sets out for ya,

An' you'll put in every day of your lawful time to me.

Now, boy, say good night to your pa an' come along.

Mark, I want you to try an' get out of here, if you can.

I'm not leaving without you, pa.

You can see micah, bring help back, son.

I can't leave without you!

They-- they'd do something--

Mark, I want you to do as I tell you!

Mrs. Morgan: Come along, boy, it's bed time.

Go along now, mark, I'll talk to you tomorrow, be careful.

Now, come on, boy, put them buckets on the floor,

So you can come back an' pick up some of this wood,

An' fetch it up to the wood bed.

Nobody told you to rest, mccain.

You ever do any ploughin', mccain?

In front of a plough?

Come on, boy!

Mark, do everything you're told.

We're leavin' here at midnight.

I have a file, one chain link's cut halfway through.

Well, what're you doing, boy?

You sure are clumsy, boy.

Touch that boy again, I'll tear your throat out!

Oh-ho-ho. That sure makes you riled, don't it, mister?

Well, it's just a sample unless you say you killed gorwin.

Guess we'll have to start by teaching this young 'un manners.

Let that boy go!

Ah, you just watch, mister,

You just watch an' see what's... Gotta get coming to you, huh?

Let that boy go!

Mccain, stop it!

Stop it! Stop! Up, mister.

[gunshot]

As god fearin' people,

We temper justice with mercy, mister,

But maybe you'll be forcin' us to carry out a hangin'.

You talk like a man, but you're nothing but a hypocrite!

You're all one big sham.

Everybody's got a right to set up a community,

Make laws for their own protection,

But this is the first place I've ever been that--

The first kind of people I ever met who base their justice

On where a man's from.

Because he's one o' your own,

You accept blasphemy from him, well, so be it!

But don't you call it law or justice.

Yeah, let...Let's see how much talkin' he can do with a...

With a rope stretchin' his neck.

Wait! You hear?

You talk big words, mister, but words don't mean much

When the man who's speakin' them is lookin' out for his own skin.

Would you say, mister,

That a liar and a coward are generally one and the same?

I'd say if a man is one, he is usually the other.

Light two torches, fetch some tools and take his chains off.

All right, mister, we're gonna see an' look for the coward

Between you and ambrose, an' the liar!

Take this, mister.

If he runs, shoot him down.

Make a circle.

All right, mister, now let's see who's the hypocrite.

See, I kinda been raised on this torch fightin, mister.

Got a few burns here and there, but you see me alive an jumping.

You think a liar an' a coward are one an' the same, ambrose?

Well, I think he is, so you just be a brave man

An' keep sayin' you were tellin' the truth.

Do-- no, don't. No, no, I was-- I was lyin'!

I-- I was lying! Don't! Don't!

Get up, ambrose!

Now, jeremiah--

Put the chains on 'im.

Well, you can't put no chains on me, I'm one o' you!

You ain't no longer one o' us, you lied to your own.

But, jeremiah, it was an accident, now, mrs. Morgan--

The punishment that was to be meted out to the stranger

Is going to be meted out to you.

Mrs. Morgan, with beef bringin' little or nothin' at the market,

I'd appreciate it if you'd, uh, take a heifer off our hands.

Thank you, mr. Mccain,

Fresh milk somethin' comes in mighty handy.

We're beholden for your forgiveness.

Thanks, clare.

Come on, son.

It's best we get about our chores.