Original subtitles

I see the two cattle barons are back from the big city.

We got 18 dollars a head, micah.

Well, that's a pretty good price for beef these days.

You get all 20 head safe to the market, lucas?

Uh-huh. No trouble at all.

Thanks for cuttin' your trip short.

When are you leavin' for the marshals' convention. Tonight?

Now that you're back, right after church.

Well, we're headin' that way now, sit with us?

My pleasure.

I hope you don't mind the town council votin' on a new preacher

While you were gone.

He an' his son arrived sooner than expected.

That's fine with me, I'll always go along with the major-

You, uh, know preacher jamison?

Micah, did this man tell you anything about himself?

He did. We took into consideration

He was outside the law for a spell, but, uh,

He served his time in prison an' paid his debt to society.

Did he tell you how he rode the oklahoma border?

Burnin' out settlers, stealin' their lands, dishin' out misery

For so many dollars he could spend in a saloon?

What I did in a wild youth was inexcusable,

An' all I can do is ask forgiveness for those I hurt.

Whatever may have been done to you, I ask your forgiveness.

Forgiveness. Did you tell them everything, jamison?

How you were hunted like an animal

After you grew too old an' slow?

After you lost your nerve with a gun?

Now you finally had no place to turn to,

No more rocks to crawl under.

Is that the only way you can get a peaceful night's sleep?

Hidin' behind that collar?!

Micah: Lucas!

Jamison, I swore I'd kill you if I ever-

Lucas!

That was a fine sermon, mr. Jamison.

Thank you, marshal, I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Some of the townsfolk will be working on the rectory

This afternoon.

We're tryin' to hurry you outta that hotel room an' into a...

Fit house for you an' your son.

Thank you, again. An' good day.

Good day.

Mark, I'm sorry you had to witness

What happened at the church.

I understand, pa.

You had a good reason

For talkin to mr. Jamison like that.

Must have been nearly 25 years ago,

Jamison rode the oklahoma border country

Before there was any law.

He'd do anything to force a farmer out.

Anything short of killing. He was too smart for that.

I remember you tellin' me once h-

How you watched your own pa's farm burn.

The house, an' barns, an' fields.

A lifetime o' my pa's work.

When he died, my pa was an unhappy man.

The army finally came in an' put an end to jamison's raids.

Pa, I'm not takin' mr. Jamison's part, but- wh-

But maybe he's really sorry for all that he's done.

Mark, it's more than what he's done! It's the hypocrisy-

Micah, how could you an' the town council

Be taken in by jamison?

It's still a question of whether we were taken in, I'd say.

Well, there's no question in my mind,

Jamison is nothing but a coward hidin' behind the cloth.

I was just tellin' him, when you cooled down,

You'd be the first to say a man has a right to another chance.

Oh, now wait a minute, micah.

If he'd come into north fork to open up a general store,

To buy a piece o' land an' farm it,

You wouldn't hear one word from me.

Every man out of prison has a right to a fresh start,

But to use the church-

Do you think your feelings about the preacher

Will have an effect on your work as a deputy while I'm gone?

Why would it?

Because he's a citizen, like everybody else,

An' he deserves your protection.

Now look, micah, I despise the ground jamison walks on.

From now on, mark an' I will go to the marinette church.

But I'll treat jamison just like anybody else,

As long as I'm wearin' your badge, all right?

That's good enough for me.

An' I hope by the time I get back,

Your opinion of him will change a little.

Bye, mark.

Mark: Have a good trip, micah.

Stay away from that redeye at the convention.

Three drinks at convention is my limit now.

Well, what d'you know?

There he is, brother charley, jus' like we've been told.

Runnin' himself another church again.

You reckon he's wearin' a gun yet?

I've told you, I no longer carry a gun.

Now, I wonder why that'd be.

I hear a man has a... Powerful likin' for a gun.

All of a sudden figurin' he's better off not wearin' one!

Well, maybe he figures that wearin' that turnabout collar

Makes him a whole lot safer.

Is that right, mr. Jamison?

Why do you follow me?

Uh, well, we got business here. Peaceful business.

I guess you might sort o' call us, uh, goodwill ambassadors.

You see, we come into town an' sort o' tell folks

All about their new preacher.

Oh, that church is gonna be so empty

When we get through givin' our sermon.

Can't you leave my son an' me live in peace?

Why, sure, preacher.

Now, all you gotta do is strap on a gun one time...

An' you'll see the last of us.

But he ain't gonna be able to see much

With a foot o' dirt over his eyes.

Now, we'll be back later, preacher,

Soon as we have some refreshments.

You won't go away, now, will you?

Well, it's a nice day.

Mark, when you finish your lunch,

Bring me back a sandwich, please?

All right.

I see we've got visitors.

Who are they, pa?

Uh, the breen brothers, a couple o' vultures.

Tryin' to build up a reputation as gun hands

But being mighty sure their man is either old or sick,

Or has a bounty on 'im, so they can shoot 'im in the back.

You run along.

Brother willie, we got a visitor.

What do you boys want in north fork?

Well, marshal, we're just in town for the day.

Right now, we had intentions of goin' in here

An' gettin' ourselves a drink.

Can't say that's any way for the town lawman to greet a guy.

Well, I'm... Givin' you two fair warning.

Don't try an' notch your guns while you are in north fork.

Marshal, me an' my brother charley,

We're just peaceful men, goin' our peaceful way.

Your way better be peaceful.

Right up until the time you ride out.

Don't you two ever take a bath?

Seems like the kind o' marshal that gets mad over nothin'.

Way he's talkin', maybe he's taken the preacher's side.

Brother charley, the marshal always stays

On the side of the law.

Now, the law ain't gonna worry us none

If we get that preacher riled up enough to come gunnin' for us.

I'm kinda gettin' tired of waitin'

For the preacher to get riled up.

Well, maybe we've been goin' at him wrong.

Maybe we oughta do something today to make the fur fly, huh?

I hope you don't mind me comin' in like this, mr. Mccain.

What do you want, boy?

Why, I don't right know, I guess.

Maybe I do, but I just don't know just how to say it.

You were gonna talk to me about what happened this mornin'.

I wanna say I'm sorry.

The differences between your pa an' me

Shouldn't have been said in front of other people.

Well, that makes me feel better, mr. Mccain.

I mean, better a little.

Mr. Mccain, I sure like this town,

Havin' a real house to live in.

Since my ma died, we haven't been living in real houses.

Did your pa send you over here to talk to me?

Oh, no, sir.

I'm supposed to be on an errand to the livery stable.

Well, maybe you better get on with that errand, boy.

Yes, sir.

Mr. Mccain?

When I grow up an' do something bad, I mean,

If I do something bad, will it always count against me?

No, of course not.

But it counts against my pa? He's different?

Now, look here, boy, I said I was sorry

About what happened this morning.

I am, it- it won't happen again.

I won't say another word in this town about your father,

Good or bad.

But makin' believe he's not even in town, well,

That's even worse than yellin' things at him.

Don't you think you'd better get on with that errand?

Somethin' the matter?

I don't know why your pa has to be so mean.

Well, you got my pa all wrong. It's not meanness.

I don't know what else you'd call it then.

My pa wouldn't hurt anyone-

Maybe it's just because there are some things he can't forget.

Well, lots of things were done to my pa, mark.

He forgets.

Well, maybe they're different things.

Some things you forget easier,

Other things are kinda hard to forget.

Me an' my brother didn't catch the sermon

This mornin', preacher. What was it about?

I spoke on transgressions,

How an evil deed hurts the doer more than the victim.

Transgressions, huh?

I guess you oughta know, first hand about something like that.

I sure am sorry I missed your sermon, preacher.

You got a real good speaking voice.

Let's see, the last time I heard it-

Must have been the time you an' your boy

Run that shopkeeper out of town.

I based my sermon on the transgressions

Of my former life.

It served the dual purpose

Of tellin' the congregation all about me.

That took real nerve.

Yes, sir, I really gotta hand it to you, preacher.

I guess you told them about the time you burned down

A land office an' then showed up claiming people's land,

With a lot o' phoney deeds.

I omitted nothing.

It must have been a long sermon.

I wonder if he told you about how his boys stopped

The stage out at tucson, an' left two ladies for dead!

An' then him an' his boys rode away.

I wonder if he did that.

I know nothing about any stage hold-up.

Oh, you just must have forgot, preacher.

Driver said it was you personally dragged

Those women out of the stage.

That's a lie!

Well, I guess he told you folks about the old man

His boys hung from a barn rafter!

I wonder if he told you that the old man was still alive

When they set fire to the barn.

W- wait! Wait! These are all lies!

I've never taken a human life.

If these things were true,

Do you think the law would permit me to be free?

Wait, please.

They told lies. Those men told lies.

I'm sure they did. Come on!

Oh, preacher, we thought you'd told them everythin'.

You saw the truth couldn't destroy me, so you lied!

What town are you gonna go to next, preacher?

You know, willie, it seems to me that a man

O' real godly ways would save us the trouble

O' always looking high an' low for 'im.

How about it, preacher?

A showdown here?

Or are we gonna have to chase you to another town?

There are no other towns!

I hope he goes an' puts on his gun.

Then we got a right to protect ourselves, ain't we?

He'll be wearin' a gun all right this time.

His spineless back is right up against the wall.

Hey, I seen the marshals, kid, go over to the office.

That's good. That's good.

With the preacher comin' at us,

An' the marshal takin' his side, that puts us in the right.

Yeah, you get ready to... Handle the marshal, huh?

Awful things, pa!

They just kept on talkin', an' talkin, an' you could tell

They were all lies, the way they said 'em.

But- but everyone seem to believe it.

Jamison, I'm sorry about the breens,

I'll run 'em outta town.

No, let them be.

They speak from ignorance, their words can't hurt me.

Lies never can.

But your words- your silence that's destroying me.

Mark, aaron, you better wait outside. Go on, boys.

Jamison, there's one thing standin' between you an' me.

You're a fraud. You're a coward hidin' behind that cloth!

That's not so!

You proved it in tucson the day that old man came after you

With a gun, when you threw away your own gun,

An' begged for your life.

That's not the whole story!

Can you deny it's true?!

It's true that I didn't have-

You know it's true!

It's true I didn't have the strength to hold a gun

Because a strange thing happened!

I saw an old man coming at me,

An old man who couldn't even handle a gun!

An old man who was a moment away from death!

And I saw myself.

I saw myself, and from that day forward,

I found myself becoming a part of every person that I met!

Feeling their hurt, and their joy, if I said an unkind word,

I felt the hurt of it, as though the word was spoken to me.

Right now I can feel the torture that's going through your mind.

Well, don't judge me, please, let god do that!

Jamison, can you look me in the eyes,

An' tell me it wasn't fear that made you turn into a preacher?

I can't do that, because I don't know myself.

You don't know whether you're hiding

Behind that collar or not?

I don't!

I- I- it's possible that I might be motivated by cowardice.

I pray each night that such is not the case!

Why did you come to this town?

Why do you put me into conflict with myself?

Believe in me. Give me strength, come to my church!

Believe in you.

You don't know how much I wanna believe in you, but jamison,

You don't even believe in yourself.

Believe in me. For the love of god, believe in me!

I've got to have somebody's faith to hold onto.

I'm wondering in darkness.

Help me, I've got to have some time to prove myself.

Please, give me a little time.

Jamison, if you stay in north fork,

The people will come back to you.

They'll realize those men lied.

But as for myself, I can never listen to a man

I doubt preachin' a sermon.

Especially a man that doubts himself. I understand.

I... Guess this is the end of the line for me.

Well, perhaps it wouldn't matter so much if...

Only I knew the truth about myself.

Pa?

Aaron, I've been doin' a lot of thinkin' about your father.

A coward would never wonder if he's a coward.

Takes a brave man to say he isn't sure,

Brave and an honest man.

My pa sure is honest, mr. Mccain.

Everything he says,

You just know it's comin' from way inside of him.

Son, I'm goin' over to talk to your father now.

He's a lot bigger man than he thinks he is.

There's only one of them there, pa.

Boys, stay back.

See you kinda lost your collar there, preacher!

I've taken it off, I'll no longer wear it.

Well, er, I reckon that's enough for us, just, uh,

To see if you had the nerve enough to wear a gun.

That's all you wanted?

You've got no intention of calling me?

No, no. I, er, reckon just seeing the collar off o' you

Is enough for us.

Pa!

Haven't you forgotten somethin', mr. Jamison?

You're kind of undressed, aren't you?

I broke my vow, never to wear a gun.

That collar belongs on a man of stronger faith than mine.

A little while ago, you asked me not to judge you,

That it should be left to god.

Now you're tryin' to judge yourself.

I won't ask you to shake my hand, lucas.

Now. But sometime in the future, I hope you'll do me the honor.

A few minutes back, I was on my way over here

To ask you to do the same thing.

Pa, everybody is going back to work at the rectory,

And the ladies got some cake there.

Won t be any left if we don't get over.

Well, let's get over there.

It looks like we're finally home.

Well, come on, let's get some cake.

Okay, come on.

Well?