Original subtitles

♪

Please don't splash, mister.

You're scaring 'em away for good.

The beaver's gettin' scarce enough in these parts,

you folks traipsing all over the country.

Ain't no point in scaring them few that's left.

I'm sorry, mister, I didn't see ya.

Say, you must be one of them mountain men trappers

the Indians call Long Knife.

I trap beaver, and I use a long knife.

Kinda lonesome work, ain't it?

It's threatening to get too darn sociable.

Well, we ain't seen nobody in days.

Time was, not too long ago,

when a man could travel for weeks

and not run into even an Injun.

You with them wagons? Yeah.

You aimin' to settle hereabouts,

or just passin' through? We're just passin' through.

Good. That is, if the weather stays all right.

The Major thinks it's gonna rain and Hawk says it's gonna be a big wind...

Snow. Snow?

What I told 'em all the time,

it's gonna snow. Thanks, mister!

Thanks, Mr. Long Knife!

Major! Major!

♪

Well, this is gonna be the wettest wind you ever saw.

Major! Major!

You're wrong, both of you, just like I said you was.

I ran into a mountain feller back there,

and he said it was readyin' to snow.

He lives up here, he oughta know.

In that case, Charlie, you better sew yourself up

in those red flannels for the rest of the winter.

Now, go on and get these wagons ready to roll, will ya?

I want to get out of here.

Major. Mrs. Parker.

Back in New England, we'd look at that sky

and get out our furs and show shoes.

What do we do here? Well, nothing much,

just kinda pray that those clouds are bluffin', that's all.

Would you tell your husband we're getting ready to roll?

Oh, and ask him if he'll bring back that monkey wrench

if he's through with it, please.

Jonas!

We're getting ready to roll,

and the Major wants his wrench back.

Half of it, Kate.

But, uh...

five thousand dollars...

I'll go out of your life forever.

No. It's my money, and I'm taking it with me to California.

I'm buying a horse ranch there.

If there's anything left over, you may have it.

I want it now, Kate.

The only way you could get it now

would be if I died, or if I...

You echo my thoughts, Kate.

Come on, honey, the Major won't like us holding up the parade.

It's freezing out there, isn't it?

It's colder than a polar bear's toes.

Haven't you got anything you can wear?

A girl doesn't need warm clothes in a saloon.

Evvie, that's over with, remember?

We're not talking about it anymore.

Well, I think some of the women know about me.

Anyway, they're snickering behind my back.

You let 'em snicker.

It'll be different when we get to San Francisco.

A new life.

Here.

Put this around your neck.

You and your ruffled shirt!

You look so out of place.

City slicker with a hick job.

Comes from having to leave town in a hurry.

Oh, my other coat.

Well, with the scarf, you'll be warm enough.

But Chris, I'll look so silly!

I don't have to be out there with you when you're driving.

When I drive, when I walk, sit or stand, sleep or awake,

every moment that I'm alive you have to be with me.

And afterwards too, God willing.

Come on, Finleys, let's go.

Right with you, Major.

Yeah, you look fine.

Sort of a female tin-horn on a frosty day.

About to deal somebody a cold deck.

That's ancient history, too. So shut up, Mrs. Finley.

Come on, let's go!

Say, what do you two lovey-doveys do

when you're not... doing what you're doing?

Gettin' ready to.

Gee, looks like snow, doesn't it, Major?

That'll be fun. I love it when it snows.

You know, Mr. Finley,

that young bride of yours is not very bright, is she?

No, sir, she's stupid. That's why I married her...

Alongside of her, I look real bright.

She loves it when it snows.

Just tell her about Donner's Pass, will ya?

Percy Donner?

See, once up on a time, honey, there was this feller named Donner...

Percy Donner, isn't that right, Major?

Go ahead, be funny.

Well, anyway, he's playing craps one night for big stakes...

And he makes a pass. Yeah, right at a big blond standing at the table.

So she rares back and lets him have it, right between the...

Snake eyes. Now, where else could she hit him in a crap game?

So then Little Phoebe... That was her name...

Yeah, Phoebe. Come on, let's get rollin', will ya?

We got a long, cold pull till we get to Gilead. What's Gilead?

That's a little way station up ahead where McCullough's

waiting for us at the post office. Why at the post office?

Well, that's usually where you get the mail.

What is this with you and post offices, don't you like 'em?

I see you two always playing that silly game.

Yeah, she gets lots of letters from me.

Chris... I saw that Wanted poster.

I saw it in a post office back at a way station

where I stopped to get some supplies.

You take a good picture. You should see the one of me on a white bear rug.

Why haven't you turned me in, Major?

Because I'm not a law man.

A thousand dollars is a nice, round sum.

And I'm not a bounty hunter, either.

I've thought of it, I'll admit that.

As a good citizen, I should probably turn you in.

But in a shooting, there's usually two sides to it,

and one of 'em can't talk.

Would you like to hear the side that can talk?

I don't think so, because if you were wrong

and I still did nothing about it,

I'd be an accessory after the fact.

And I'm not sticking my chin out that far for anybody.

Now let's get rollin',

and take it easy on that off wheel, will ya?

Thanks, Major. Don't thank me for anything.

I haven't said I wouldn't turn you in,

I said I'd think about it.

Will he, Chris?

I don't know.

He likes us... we make him laugh.

He's sentimental behind that gruff front.

He's seen how much we care for each other.

But you're worried.

Major Adams is an honest man.

He may decide it's his duty to.

Well, then, tell him how it happened.

I tried. You heard me. He wouldn't listen.

Chris, he must listen. Our whole future depends on it.

If they take you away, well, I don't think I could take it.

Neither could my neck.

Okay, honey, I'll try again.

You wouldn't really kill me for the money, would you, Jonas?

Do you hate me that much?

I don't feel any strong emotion toward you, Kate.

You're a nuisance.

You're a cold, hard woman...

colder than those black clouds hanging above us.

You married me because you weren't getting any younger, that's all.

And you married me for my money.

Which you didn't give me.

Which I'll get.

Mr. Hawks.

My husband won't be using that. Thanks.

Thank you.

An empty gesture, Kate.

California's still a long way off...

a long ways off.

Want to bet? Nope, not on the weather.

Let's get out of here. If we're gonna get snowed in, I want to get snowed in in town.

I got to talk to you, Major.

Well, go ahead, son.

I'd like to talk to you alone, if you don't mind.

Take it, Major. I'll go inside.

I got a little sewing to do anyway. Yeah.

Heeyah, git, Barney.

I hope you got good, strong hands, Major,

'cause I'm putting my life into 'em.

Well, that's up to you, boy.

You see, I'm a... I was a professional gambler.

That's not very hard to figure out.

Did you deal a fair game?

I was a sharpie.

I could make those cards say, "Yes, sir" to me whenever I touched 'em.

But the night it happened I had a reason to.

I needed a big stake, and I was in love.

Well, you got a mighty pretty little gal.

Yeah, that she is.

She was working in this saloon where I was dealing back in Abilene.

She was sick of her life, and she made me sick of mine. I needed a nest egg.

I needed it so bad I really made those paste boards do tricks.

Mr. and Mrs. Finley... California, farm, kids...

that's what we were after.

That sound half-baked to you, Major?

No, it sounds pretty good to me, boy.

We were saving like mad.

We had that sock almost full.

We used to sit there and count it every night and laugh and laugh.

Pure happiness... the good life was just around the corner.

The fella was a drover.

Just came off a cattle drive from around San Antone.

Been doin' the rounds,

and he was booze-blind and loud when he hit our joint.

Evvie steered him to my table.

This sad story boring you, Major?

No, go ahead if you want to.

Well... I took him.

He was so drunk I got a little careless and he spotted it...

Called me a thief.

For the first time in my life, I was.

So all I did was get indignant.

He took a poke at me, and I ducked it.

Then Evvie got into it, trying to calm him down.

He slapped her, called her a name.

I hit him and he drew on me.

I drew just a little faster.

Well, that sounds like a fair fight to me.

It would have been, except he didn't have a gun.

What he drew out of his belt was a drover's whip...

Dark, thick-handled...

It looked to me like a gun.

Anyway, I killed an unarmed man

in a brawl over a dance hall girl.

If they pick me up, I hang.

Yeah, I see what you mean.

Maybe I shouldn't have told you all this,

but you've been good to us and I figured I owed it to you.

You do whatever your conscience tells you to, Major.

Either way, I'll try not to kick.

Anyway, not till they start pulling on that rope.

Come on.

Whoa!

It's my wagon! The wheel's off!

Ho! Evvie!

♪

Baby, are you all right?

Oh, Chris, my back... my back...

Somebody help me! I got to get her out of here!

Easy, boy, easy. We'll get her out of here.

Evvie, listen,

can you move your legs?

No...

no, and I can't move my arms, either.

Stay right here with her till we get a litter. Don't move her, now.

Doesn't look very good to me.

I'm afraid her back might be broken.

Good heavens!

If it is her spine,

she could be paralyzed for life.

I think that there's a doctor ahead in Gilead, but I'm not sure.

Can we put her in your wagon?

Of course, but can she be moved over all those miles?

Well, maybe I better send Bill on ahead.

Bill! BILL: Yo!

Mount up and ride on to Gilead.

Bring the doctor back with you.

And tell Charlie Wooster to bring us a litter here. Right.

Folks, we're gonna have to lay over here

for a day or so till Hawks gets back with the doctor.

Mrs. Finley there is too badly hurt to be moved.

SETH: All right, all right, all right.

Yeah, I know,

I don't like the looks of those clouds overhead either.

I don't think they're gonna do anything, but I can't be sure.

If it starts to storm, we'll just move on out, that's all.

Looks like you're gonna have to move us right away, Major.

Well, if this storm proves to be a bad one, folks,

this pass'll plug up tight.

I can't take a chance on the whole wagon train gettin' snowed in.

Mrs. Parker... Yes?

I'm afraid we're gonna have to leave you and the Finleys alone.

We'll be back tomorrow with a doctor. Is that all right?

Well, as long as you're coming back. We'll be back.

Major, I...

I understand that there are wolves

prowling around isolated people during a snowstorm.

You see, our gun's broken... The firing pin.

Well, you know, Mrs. Parker,

about the only thing that would bother you around here

is an old, hungry coyote or a sleepy bear.

But if it'll make you feel any better

to have a gun with you that works,

why, here... I'll give you mine.

There.

Thanks, Major.

Come on, Charlie,

get that litter back here.

Let's get Mrs. Finley in the Parker wagon.

Try to eat a little, Mrs. Finley.

I don't want any.

It may be a full day before the Major gets back.

You must keep up your strength.

What are you trying to do?

You'd better tend to your wife.

Kate, come on over here.

You made a bad mistake earlier, Kate.

You should have settled for half.

Give me the key to this padlock.

What good would the money do you here?

Oh, I'm not staying here.

Soon as I have what's in this strongbox, I'm leaving.

You can't move that wagon...

It would kill that girl!

The key, Kate.

Or would you rather I took it from you?

I haven't hit you yet.

Yes, you did, Jonas.

The morning after our wedding.

Because I was flustered and excited with happiness,

I let your breakfast get cold.

Except for the coffee.

I spilled a little of that on you,

so you slapped me.

And you wept. Yes, I'd forgotten.

And then I kissed your tears away.

Well, don't cry now, Kate.

I'm in no mood to repeat the caress.

I'm not likely to... I haven't cried since.

The key, Kate.

No wonder it's so heavy.

Look at that gold.

I'm keeping my promise to you, Kate.

I'm taking the money and going out of your life.

That'll remove the threat that my presence poses.

Does that make you happy, dear? Where are you going?

It's bad tactics to tell your plans to the enemy.

Get me that saddle out of the wagon.

So you're taking one of the horses.

You're not going into Gilead, though.

The Major would see you and start asking questions.

That's good thinking, Kate.

But then, that always was my complaint about you all through the years...

A lot of brain and not much woman.

Cold nights, a man can't warm his feet on an intellect.

I want this saddle. You'll have to move your wife.

You know she can't be moved, Mr. Parker.

Maybe you didn't hear me, Finley...

I said I want that saddle.

You don't seem to understand, Mr. Parker, my wife...

This is my wagon, and, as a matter of fact, you're trespassing.

I didn't invite your wife in here, Major Adams did.

Now, you can complain of my action to him tomorrow.

I'll help you move her. She stays where she is.

It hurts her even to breathe.

It might hurt her more, even, to be a widow.

Get his gun. He's mad.

Drop it, Finley.

Drop it!

Or I'll tip her over.

And don't try to shoot.

Then I'll have to drop her, and that won't help her, either.

Chris...

please do what he says.

Now kick it over here.

All right, Kate, come over here and bandage this up.

Sit down!

Mad, huh?

That's the exact word, Kate.

Only not your definition.

"Furiously angry" would be more to the point.

I won't need the saddle now, I'm taking the wagon. Get your wife out of here.

Get the glove.

Back.

All right, hurry up.

I want to get going while there's still daylight.

You think you can handle one end of it, Mrs. Parker?

I'm sure I can.

I'll be right back, Mrs. Parker. All right.

I'll need the tarp and some sulfur matches in case the fire goes out.

Someday I'll kill you for this.

Like you did that drover?

Kate, come here.

Jonas, I never asked you for anything before.

I am now.

I'm begging you... please don't leave us like this!

The storm's getting worse... we'll freeze to death before the Major gets back!

You'll be safe for a while, Kate.

I'm taking you with me.

With you?

Until this stops bleeding, you'll have to drive me.

If I... If I refuse?

How can you?

I've taken all choice away from you.

I want to say good-bye to the Finleys.

Chris.

He's forcing me to go with him, to drive him.

That's murderous.

I don't know whether I'll be able to get back.

Look, build that fire high, don't let it go out.

Whatever you do, don't allow yourselves to get sleepy.

That's how you feel just before you freeze to death, isn't it?

Come on, Kate, let's go.

Good-bye.

I made a bad mistake wounding you, Parker.

That you did. I should have shot to kill.

Chris!

All right, let's go.

Well, if the night turns very cold, they can always bundle.

After all, they are terribly fond of each other.

Did you ever love me, Kate?

Isn't that why a woman usually marries a man?

But that doesn't apply in your case,

because you never were a woman.

Why are we talking about this now?!

Call it your epitaph, Kate,

sort of a funeral sermon I'm delivering a little bit before your death.

You are going to kill me?

I'm going home a grieving widower

whose wife perished in a great storm in the Rockies.

And, with a little patience, I may be even able to shed a silent tear.

Not a bad plan, is it, Kate, for a stupid man?

Kate! Kate!

♪

Is that better, hon?

I'm all right.

It's you that I'm worried about, Chris.

All you have on is that thin little coat and no undershirt.

Take one of my blankets. No, baby, I'll get close to you.

Does it hurt bad?

No... I don't feel much of anything.

The Major will be here in the morning with the doctor.

He'll fix you up in a hurry.

You heard what the Major told Mrs. Parker.

He said it might be a broken back.

How does he know? He's not a doctor. But suppose it is.

Even if it should be, it wouldn't matter to me.

Chris, we thought when we got to California

that we'd work together side-by-side.

We will, baby, we will.

I can't move my legs or even lift my arms!

Suppose it stays that way.

Then you'll sit in a chair in the sun

and watch your big, no-good husband make himself useful.

You'll sit there and be beautiful,

which is all a girl needs to do.

Only it won't be that way.

You'll be as well as you ever were.

Beautiful?

Chris, you'll have to do everything for me.

You'll have to comb my hair

and wash my face and dress me...

If I have to, I will.

Like I was still a baby.

Which you are... My own precious baby.

What do you think love is, Evvie?

Something that you feel only when everything is convenient and easy?

For better or worse... We both said that, remember?

I remember.

And I remember how you used to love to dance with me, too...

and take long walks, holding hands...

and laughing because I couldn't match my step with your long ones.

I remember those things too, Chris.

We'll dance again and we'll walk again, you'll see.

And if we can't?

Then you'll remember another thing much more important...

That I love you, and nothing can change that.

Come morning I'll make it.

No!

No, Jonas, please! Please don't kill me!

You can have the money.

I know I've been a bad wife, please, I...

What are you doing?!

Your face was gettin' frostbit!

How'd I get here?

You was laying out there turning yourself into an icicle.

I didn't know if that's what you was aiming to do,

so I thought I'd bring you in here to find out.

How come you're in these parts?

Where am I?

A bit the other side of nowhere.

I was running away from... someone who wanted to kill me.

Your husband.

You said so.

That broth'll be warm in a minute.

You better take your clothes off, missus.

What?! To dry 'em.

Unless you admire getting pneumonia.

That belonged to White Fawn.

I trapped the skins for her.

She was a Hopi.

That's a kind of Indian.

I know it.

Won't she mind my wearing it?

She won't mind... she's dead.

I left my rifle outside.

I'll be back when you've changed.

She was a good wife.

Come in.

You better set yourself down, missus.

Parker. Kate Parker.

Mine's Boone Calder.

You with them wagons I seen this morning?

I was, but they had to leave us to reach a town before the storm got worse.

You see, we had an accident, a very bad one.

A young woman was hurt. Her back.

Those poor Finleys.

Mr. Calder, I must get back to them tonight.

Not tonight, missus. You look out that window.

If anything should happen to their fire...

Well, nothing you can do about it tonight.

Just have to wait till morning.

You better sit down and eat some soup.

I ain't much of a cook, but it's hot.

What did she die of?

Can you talk about it?

Giving birth to my son.

The baby too?

Yes, the both of 'em.

How sad. You must be terribly lonely.

Not for people.

For her and the kid, yes.

I didn't buy her for a handful of beads

or a load of skins or anything like that.

Her father was a Hopi chief.

She was a princess.

We met, we cared for each other...

I married her just like you married this fella you said wants to kill you.

Different words, but the same idea.

No. No, not quite the same idea.

Yours was a successful marriage.

It worked out.

You got kids, missus?

No.

Why not?

I didn't want any.

What good's a woman that don't want young'uns?

Is that all you think we're good for... bearing children?

You know something better a woman can do, missus?

I think I do.

And I wish you'd stop calling me "missus."

Add Parker to it, or call me Kate. Anything.

"Missus" sounds almost contemptuous.

Why'd he want to kill you?

It was on account of money, wasn't it?

When you come to, you said he could take it,

so you must have been squabbling about it.

We had been.

Your money, I reckon.

And you wouldn't let him have it.

It was mine.

It was part of the inheritance from my father.

It was mine.

When my wife left her people to follow me,

she brought me a dowry... sorta.

She brought me six head of cattle,

a raft of blankets she'd wove herself,

and a Winchester rifle that her daddy traded for.

And she gave it all to me.

She never figured any of it was just hers.

Well, the circumstances were quite different.

She was a woman.

She never figured anything was just hers or mine...

It was ours.

"With all my worldly goods I do endow thee."

You must remember them words, missus.

Why'd you marry this man?

I was... almost thirty when I married him.

I turned down too many others,

and... then there weren't any left... except him.

I don't think I really loved him when I married him.

But... I was grateful to him.

But not grateful enough to give him your money.

Please. Mr. Calder, don't despise me too much.

Jonas was always wild, erratic...

He would have only thrown that money away on some impractical scheme.

I'm a hard-headed New Englander.

Yet when you was out of your head this morning,

you said for him to take it. Why?

Well, I was afraid of what he'd do to me.

You also said you'd been a bad wife.

It was a bad marriage.

I know...

I know I haven't been a good wife.

He needed care...

not coldness or discipline.

I haven't cried in years.

He...

he said today that I never was a woman.

And I wasn't... not ever.

Not as a wife should be, not as your wife was.

I've been hard and calculating...

unwomanly.

I did nothing!

Now, take it easy, missus.

I reckon I've been a mite hard on ya.

You've been through a lot today.

You better get to bed.

Thank you.

I'll be right here by the fire.

You know, I...

I've been thinkin'.

And...

and I think that...

how much of a woman a woman is...

depends on how much of a man she marries.

I think that's true, Kate.

Good night, Boone.

Evvie.

Evvie, dear.

Hmm... We mustn't sleep.

We sleep, we freeze.

Oh, Chris, it feels so good, sleeping.

Evvie, for the love of God!

Oh, please, Chris, let me sleep.

No, Evvie.

Chris, it's so much better...

than being in pain and helpless...

and never walking and never dancing.

No!

Let me sleep.

Chris, let's just both sleep.

Oh, baby...

don't go far.

Wait for me.

♪

I've been down at the lake...

looking at the day, and it's a fine day.

It's warming up. Now we can go back to the Finleys.

They were near that spot where you saw the wagon train yesterday.

Boone.

Oh...

It belonged to her.

It belongs on a pretty girl, Kate.

Ho.

Doc, it's just about a mile from here

where I left 'em, I think.

I hope they've been able to make it through this storm,

that poor girl's back.

You think you'll be able to tell us how bad she's hurt?

I think I can make a pretty good stab at it.

Well, let's go.

Jonas? He left not too long ago,

judging by his tracks.

How come he left all the money?

It was mostly gold. He took that.

You better have these.

We might still be able to catch up with him.

No. No, he doesn't want me to catch up with him.

I don't want to, either.

What about your money?

Six head of cattle... blankets...

a Winchester rifle.

She brought you all those, but so much more...

her love.

Poor Jonas. All he ever got from me was a box of gold coins.

Can we get back to the place where you saw the wagon train yesterday?

We left 'em right here with the Parker wagon.

I just hope they haven't been fool enough

to try to make it through this storm.

They didn't go to Gilead. We'd have seen sign of 'em on the way out here.

I don't know why they would ever want to move that gi...

Bill.

Get the corner here, Major.

Take the other side.

I can't believe it.

Those Parkers went off and left those kids to freeze to death.

This is extraordinary. I've only known this

to happen once before in all my experience!

Known what to happen? Why, the snow kept 'em warm!

What?! See if there's any whiskey in my bag.

Right here, doc.

The snow on this blanket covering 'em was like an insulator.

It's the principle of hibernation animals use.

Allows them to keep their body heat. They're still alive.

Thanks to a happy combination of lucky circumstance and a happy accident,

and, you might add, the intervention of a divine providence,

they're alive.

Major!

Evvie!

Evvie!

Hmm...

Baby.

I don't wonder you live in these parts, Boone.

It's just beautiful.

Threatening to get too cluttered with people.

You don't like people, do you?

They don't like me.

Don't like you?

They call me a squaw man, Kate, and they look down on me.

But you were married to a princess!

If anything, you're royalty.

And you're kind, understanding...

You're a great man, Boone.

Footprints. Your husband's.

He must have crossed the lake.

There was a thaw this morning.

They all all right? Yeah, Charlie ran across 'em.

Where'd you pick 'em up, Charlie? About half a mile,

hung up in the brush.

Get 'em hitched up. How 'about it, doc?

Well, she'll have to be handled very carefully.

But there's no injury to the spinal cord.

I've given the husband full instructions.

Good. How much do those kids owe you?

Ah, they haven't got any money.

Well, I got a little.

Thanks a lot for coming, doc.

Can I come in?

Of course, Major.

Well, Evvie.

You're gonna be all right.

And as for you, young fella,

I had a talk with the sheriff about you.

No reward. You mean he wouldn't give it to you?

No, I mean he wouldn't give it to you.

To me?

It seems like that fella that you shot

had a price on his head of $1,000 too.

So the sheriff says as far as he's concerned, it's a Mexican stand-off.

You mean there was a price on that drover's head?

I guess you could call him a drover, yes,

except that he and his gang

were driving a bunch of cattle that didn't belong to 'em,

and they were trying to sell 'em too quick.

The sheriff wanted to hold you over for the circuit judge,

but Charlie Wooster talked him out of it.

He said that this wagon train absolutely had to move

and could not move without you.

You know, that little fellow talks an awful lot sometimes,

but he makes sense once in a while.

He had that sheriff practically apologizing

for even thinking about wanting to hold you.

We'll have to thank him, Major. Oh, no, you don't,

I have trouble enough wit him as it is.

Well, Chris, take care of that little gal, will ya?

I will, Major.

Boone... please come with us.

Not now, Kate.

Will we ever meet again?

Let's think about each other for a while...

Separately, by ourselves...

And get to miss each other and need each other...

We're kind of proud, you and I, so let's be sure.

Will you write to me?

I ain't never learned to write.

Oh, that's not important.

Boone, there's the most beautiful bay in San Francisco

that looks right across the Pacific,

clear to the edge of the world.

I'll be waiting there every chance I get...

Well, not looking out across the sea...

but towards here...

towards you.

And maybe someday you'll... You'll see me.

If I'm not too late.

It'll never be too late.

Let's get ready to go, folks. Hawks'll drive ya.

Let's go, Bill. Right.

Heeyah!

♪