Original subtitles

(upbeat music)

- All right, now, listen to me, you guys.

One of you left that grouting valve open.

This place is a mess!

Also, one of you guys forgot to turn on

that electric pump.

Now, I know it's one of you.

Now, just let me have that happen once more,

and you'll pick up your check, whoever it is.

Now, get out of here.

- What's the matter, Mr. Grady?

Is the river rising?

- Oh, you're the kid with the punch, huh?

The big one.

You always step in front of him that way?

- No, not always.

- Well, this time, butt out.

Look, you,

I once built a dam in India.

A man there told me, you stick your head in the mortar,

you can expect the pestle.

Does that do anything to you?

- What do you have in mind?

- What about you?

- Yeah, it sets up my whole day.

(grunting) (pounding)

Tod, stay out of it!

(pounding) (grunting)

- Why, you!

(pounding) (grunting)

- [Buz] We're not done.

- Hold it!

Hold on.

Hold on, you got the job.

You got about an hour to get yourself cleaned up.

I didn't mark your face up any.

You too.

You go with him and meet flight 506.

Oh.

Some bird brain in the front office okayed them

coming out here.

You two guys stick with them 24 hours a day,

maybe we can pack 'em out of here.

Other than you two, nobody goes near 'em.

Is that clear?

- No.

- If he can handle me, he can handle any man in a crew.

When they see what gets off that plane,

he's gonna have to, and you're gonna have to help him.

- When what gets off what plane?

- When you're 400 feet up, mister,

scaling a rock face and pouring concrete,

you better not watch the canyon breeze below

blow girls' skirts.

You're liable to forget.

- Wait, wait, wait, wait!

Girl's skirt, what girl's skirt?

- The models, from some magazine in New York.

I don't wanna lose any time.

I don't want the men to take their minds off the job

or their eyes off the job.

Think you can handle it?

- How many are there?

- Four.

- Oh, we can handle it.

- Plus, a chaperone,

and a thousand guys who ain't gonna like my hands-off order.

Now in my book, that makes you a might nervous minority.

(chuckles)

Now, wait a minute, there's nothin' to laugh about.

This is the week of the big pour,

I can't afford to have my schedule shook up.

Now, if you guys can't handle it,

I'll come looking for both of you.

Clear?

- No, not clear.

- [Jeff] Why not?

- No dame is worth these bruises.

- If you two guys don't want the job,

I sure can find somebody else who will.

(playful music)

- What flight did you say that was?

- 506.

(bright playful music)

(upbeat music)

- Tod,

can we trust him with five women?

- Elmo?

Well, he's the oldest Indian in Arizona.

- Well, maybe, but he can still send up smoke signals.

- There's nothing wrong with a little smoke, come on.

(bright music)

- The natives are getting restless, huh?

- Yeah, we stampede every night, sundown.

- We're supposed to meet the chaperone.

- Jo.

- Come on.

- Miss Galloway.

- Who chaperones you?

- The facts of life.

- Miss Galloway, I'm Tod Stiles, this is Buz Murdock.

We've been assigned to--

- Keep us segregated?

Good, is that ours?

- Mm-hmm.

- Is there a Sue Ellis in the party?

- This is Sue Ellis.

- Long distance telephone from New York.

(melancholic music)

- Mrs. M, the bus.

(pensive music)

(sighs)

- I didn't say anything.

- The pauses in the music aren't music,

but they make the music what it is.

I don't like your pauses, Mr. Murdock.

- Then you'd hate the music.

- I'm sure of it.

- Don't mind Jo, she's a bankrupt idealist.

And the poor?

They're bitter people.

(pensive music)

(bright music)

- Can't we even peek out?

- Nothing to see, girls, just a town on the mesa

for the construction gang and their families.

There's churches and schools, a shopping center,

a mess of trailers, about three bars,

and 1,000 unmarried jokers who'd just as soon

hijack this bus if they knew what was in it.

- 1,000?

- Here, turn in this road here,

up to where those trailers are.

(bright music)

Welcome to Page, Arizona.

- You've got to be kidding!

We're miles from town.

- Oh, come on, it's only three miles.

- Better it were 300.

- You're a howl.

- You mean that's a town?

- No, it's just a bunch of guys stuck out

in the middle of nowhere for months on end.

- Like the Foreign Legion.

- Our orders are that you stay here

except when you're actually shooting pictures.

- Whose orders?

- I thought you were the one that wanted to keep the girls

out of touch.

- Whose orders?

- Mr. Grady's.

- Which Mr. Grady?

- Jeff Grady, the project engineer.

Well, he thought you'd be happier out here.

It's close to the dam, so you can get your pictures,

and he's assigned a cook to you,

and we're supposed to drive you anywhere you wanna go,

except for a few places that could be dangerous.

(melancholic pensive music)

If it's gonna affect her like this,

maybe we should talk to Grady,

tell him we think it would be all right

if we moved 'em a little closer into town.

- Smell that air!

I'll bet it works wonders for your circulation!

- You could go ape out here!

Jo, we don't have to stay out here, do we?

- This is fine, right here.

- Oh, Jo!

- You're on a fashion assignment, Betsy, not a husband hunt.

You two want to be helpful,

you could help Mrs. M with the clothes.

Okay, now, let's see.

Sue,

Dana,

we'll take that trailer.

Betsy, you and Muriel get in that trailer with Mrs. M.

Nikko, you're in the third trailer

with Mr. Stiles and Mr. Murdock.

- She recovers fast, doesn't she?

(lively orchestral music)

- Hey, fellas!

Hey!

Hey!

(excited shouting) (lively orchestral music)

(excited whispering)

(excited shouting)

(playful lethargic music)

- Dames, where, I don't see any, huh?

(excited shouting)

- Hey, guys, guys!

Women, 500 of 'em, they're gonna be sendin' 'em out

to boost morale!

How 'bout that?

(cheering)

- Some road block.

- What's that line they always use in the war pictures

when the two guys are in the foxhole at night

and they're listening for the enemy?

- Oh, they always say, "It's too quiet, don't like it."

- It's too quiet, I don't like it.

- Well, I kept the windows covered all the way through town

so maybe nobody saw us.

- You think those airline jokers are gonna keep quiet?

They got buddies in town.

- Why don't you go get some lunch and I'll watch the guns.

- You know, I knew there was something

we forgot to ask Grady for,

artillery.

- Tell you what we forgot, we forgot to say no to Grady.

What kind of a lousy spot is this?

Here we are, sitting on top of the treasure

of the Sierra Madre, the end of the rainbow, and

that's where we belong, in Page, with the rest of the guys.

We should be leading this assault, not blocking it.

- Well, that's the way it is with responsibility, Buz.

It always puts a man on the uphill side.

Here.

All right, now, if those glasses start to steam up,

it's the hot breath of the enemy coming closer.

Just push the panic button and I'll come running.

You'll be all right.

- Thanks, buddy.

(camera clicks)

- Portrait of a troubled man.

There's an old Negro prayer that I pass on to you,

for what it's worth.

O, Lord,

don't let nothing come my way that you and me together

can't handle.

So, relax.

Anyway, we don't start shooting till tomorrow.

Three days, we'll wrap it up.

- Grady didn't tell us what it is you want.

- Fashions for the far-sighted.

No kidding, that's the gimmick.

They dream these things up in New York.

Glen Canyon's a far-sighted project, check?

Okay.

We take a model, then put her in a dress,

and I shoot her alongside

a far-sighted piece of construction,

like a diversion tunnel.

Say ipso facto, and the dress becomes far-sighted too.

And all the ladies who see it in a magazine,

they wanna be far-sighted too,

so they rush to the stores to order the dress.

- Well, what do you do about the near-sighted ladies?

- We did that layout last year in a medical center,

through microscopes.

- You must be starved.

(sultry music)

Don't you have a lens to polish,

or something waiting in the dark room?

(sultry music)

- Bon appetit.

- Thanks.

- You look like the shy type,

so I thought I'd bring it out to you.

There's nobody sittin' in the bus, we can wait in there.

- You're forgetting Elmo.

- [Betsy] Elmo?

- The driver, he's sleeping in there.

Haven't we done enough harm to the Indians already?

Would you take away his bus too?

- Oh, funny.

- It's cold out here in the desert, isn't it?

Betsy, you should see your legs.

Honey, the goose flesh is showing.

Why don't you eat that before it gets cold?

- I'll go get your coffee.

How do you like it?

- Black and hot.

- Crazy.

- Oh, for heaven's sakes, Dana, if you do that much longer,

you're gonna look like a rag doll.

- Now, Jo, it's the best facial in the world.

It does wonders for your circulation.

- Sue, I'm adding the princess cut

lined tweed to your numbers.

- Mrs. M said you promised that to me!

- You're not the tweed type, dear.

How 'bout the satin brocade, hmm?

- Nice try, Jo, thank you.

- Why don't you talk to him?

Take the call.

- Why?

To hear more lies?

- Well, lies always have a certain weight

for those that wish to believe them.

That's over with, you and Arthur.

Let him tell you the truth now.

Face it out with him before you decide anything.

- Jo, every time I hold that phone to my ear

and try to listen to him,

it's just like holding a gun to my temple,

and he's pulling the trigger.

- Men!

- Well, we start bright and early tomorrow morning.

They say the desert air can heal anything.

- Oh, Jo, what am I gonna do?

- You're going to sit there and sip your tea,

and make yourself think of other things.

(car horn honking persistently)

(men shouting excitedly)

- All right, lift me up, here we go! (grunting)

Wait a minute, fellas.

Ah, that's it!

Ah, yes, my friends, that's it, indeed,

the warm scent of a woman's perfume!

Straight up the hill!

Charge, men, charge!

(laughing and jubilant shouting)

- Push the panic button, huh?

Where is it?

- Wait a minute, let's try a negotiation first.

- Okay.

- Charge, men, charge!

- Wake up, Marvin, end of dream, end of road.

- Oh, hi, Tod, I might have figured

you and Buz would get here first,

but even you two can't cope with 500.

- 500?

- That's the word in Page.

- Five.

- Five?

Why would the company only send five?

Where's the shop steward, Gillis?

- Marvin, somebody has got things all mixed up.

Now, there are four models up here, and their boss lady,

from a magazine in New York.

They're here to take fashion pictures, not boost our morale.

- Yours looks pretty well-boosted, kid.

- Grady sent us up here, and if you look at

the bulletin board at bachelor's quarters,

you'll probably see a hands-off notice posted already.

- Grady runs the dam, not our private lives.

- You've got no private life up here, Gillis.

- Take it easy, Buz, I think the boys

are gonna see the light.

We didn't ask for this job, Marvin.

- I don't know why not, I would have.

(laughing)

- Grady told us to keep them up here as much as possible

and away from everybody.

- That's a pretty big order, son.

You think you can fill it?

- We can try.

(chuckling)

- Hold this.

- Aw, knock it off, Gillis, this isn't their idea,

it's Grady's.

- Well, I'm goin' up that road.

- You got a pencil and a piece of paper?

Now, why don't you start a list, Gillis,

and put your name at the top,

and all the other guys that want a little exercise,

I mean, before they go up that road?

- You gonna take us all?

- I'll take one, my buddy here'll take another.

You know, we split it up that way.

- (chuckles) You guys hear that?

(laughing)

- All right, I gotta admit,

if you guys wanna be lousy sports and jump us,

there's no contest, but you all came up here

to let off a little steam, okay?

So, why don't we do it this way, one at a time.

Now, if that's the way you want it,

we'll see how much steam we can let off.

- Aw, forget it, Buz, we'll go.

- Go, you just got here!

(tense music)

(sultry music)

- We don't need no list!

(pounding)

(men shouting) (tense music)

- Remind me, Betsy, to photograph you in a toga

the next time you throw Christians to the lions.

(men shouting) (tense music)

(upbeat music)

- Stop it!

What are we, prizes for the winners or something?

(melancholic pensive music)

- Any trouble here?

I just posted a notice on the bulletin board at BQ,

this area's out of bounds.

Anyone who comes up here and bothers these people

can pick up his check.

You better get back to the trailers.

Cook's got some raw meat, Gillis marked you up a little.

- That'll round out your day.

- Small world, isn't it, Jo?

(melancholic pensive music)

(bright music)

(splashing)

(knocking)

- Mrs. Ellis?

Are you decent?

(Sue sobbing)

Hey, hey.

Hey!

Ms. Galloway said you had a hard night,

let you sleep till noon.

12 o'clock.

How 'bout some coffee, yeah?

- I couldn't find a magic lamp to rub, so I rubbed this

magic bottle.

(laughs) I didn't like the genie though.

Wouldn't do my bidding.

So, I said to her,

"Genie, who are you?"

- And who was he?

- No, it wasn't a he, it was a she.

- Oh, a she genie!

- Yeah, so it looks just like me.

So, I asked her, I asked her, "Genie, are you Sue?

"Are you Sue?"

Know what she said? (laughs sadly)

"I'm ashamed of your future."

And then she went away, just like my future's gone away.

Here, you,

maybe you'll have better luck than me, you rub it.

- Well, maybe you ought to start with a cup of coffee, yeah?

(groans)

- You ever like to watch the bears in the zoo?

- No, not particularly.

- I do,

especially when they turn in for the winter.

Oh, wouldn't it be wonderful

if we could all turn in for the winter,

(laughs)

and come out only in the spring?

- Oh, yeah, that'd be the life.

- Oh!

Wouldn't you think that'd be the first thing

I would take off?

You do it, I don't even wanna touch it.

- Oh, I didn't put it on.

- You think I'm pretty?

- Look, I don't know what your problem is,

but you know, if you wanna talk about it,

take your show, it's a little grimy.

- Don't you think I'm pretty?

- Oh, yeah, yeah, fourth of July, kid,

sparklers and Roman candles.

- Nikko says I have a cottage face with hair like ivy,

and a Dutch door, like in Bucks County.

Hand me my purse, please,

over there.

Read it out loud.

Go on.

- From James Osterholm, to Mrs. Sue Ellis.

Subject: Surveillance of Mr. Harold Elli--

- Go on.

- On the evening of October 23rd,

suspect was followed from his office at Park and 46

to the Hotel Harding.

He registered for Mr. and Mrs. John Thomas.

- Go on!

- Of Lansing, Michigan.

Was assigned suite 506.

Photo (mumbles) copy of the hotel registry

attached here within was her telling the clerk his

luggage was detained at the station,

paid for the room in cash,

took the elevator to the fifth floor.

- Go on!

- Eight minutes later, at 6:14, following an outside call,

which came through the switchboard for suspect.

- Yes?

- A young woman entered the lobby,

took the elevator to the fifth floor.

The operator observed this party entering suite 506.

Remained in the lobby until 9:06

when the same young woman left.

I snapped a shot,

photograph attached.

(pensive music)

- What kind of a face, I wonder, would Nikko say she has?

- What did your husband say?

- Said he was sorry,

very sorry.

- Maybe he was.

- Buz, what happens now?

What's left?

- Why don't you start with a cup of coffee, huh?

- Buz?

Buz.

Buz.

(pensive music)

(groans)

- Sue, that's not the answer.

Look...

(groans)

Let's go out and get some air, huh?

Come on, yeah?

Come on!

(sobbing)

Come on.

(water rushing)

- No matter what you put on that girl,

she still seems undressed.

(whistling and applauding)

- Betsy, stop looking like that!

- Like what, Jo?

- Like Ondine emerging from the water.

Sell the clothes, sweetie!

(cheering and whistling)

- All right, fellas, hold it.

- To the camera, Betsy!

(water rushing)

- All right, move on back, fellas.

(crane rumbling loudly)

- Okay, Betsy, come on, next setup.

(crane whirring loudly)

(men whistling)

(crashing)

(screaming)

- Where do you want me now, Jo?

- Don't say it.

- Gee, fellas, I'm sorry, it just dumped.

(tense music)

- [Buz] Grady?

(tense music)

- Nothing happened, Mr. Grady.

(tense music)

- What kept you?

- You keep those girls of yours away from my men!

We got enough trouble out here

without having five skirts flapping in our faces!

Just where do you think you are?

Now, you listen to me, for the last time,

you keep those girls away from the working operation!

Clear?

- You've got it!

- Now, you wait a minute!

You can shoot at the downstream cofferdam,

the cement plant, the tunnel, the bridge, but that's it.

Jo, I've gotta think of the project!

- "Jo, I've gotta think of the project, Jo!"

You'd think I'd have forgotten how familiar those words are!

"Jo, I've gotta think of the project, Jo!"

Things never get solved, do they, Jeff?

They just get discussed over and over and over again!

Discussed but never solved!

- I've changed.

- You're older, but not changed.

We're all older, it's hereditary.

- I tried to find you.

I wrote, I called,

even changed your name.

I wanted to show you how I've changed.

It's not just building dams anymore that I care about,

or troubleshooting the hot ones.

I've learned to care about people now.

Not very good about making speeches, am I?

- People who care about people don't have to make speeches.

- But what else have I got now?

- What else does anyone have now?

We all live in a vacuum, Jeff, only, some of us know it.

We're surrounded by silence.

- Not so, don't talk like that.

- All right, let's do it your way.

Let's make some executive-type talk.

You came up here to tell me that we're not permitted

to make anymore photographs

where the men are working, right?

- It's okay anywhere where we're finished,

but not around construction.

Well, you've got more dynamite in these trailers,

those models of yours,

than we used to blast the upstream keyway.

That accident this afternoon,

I could have had three dead men on my conscience.

- Conscience?

I didn't think yours could hold any more!

- Don't say that.

- Who's got a better right to say it?

- I have!

Have you forgotten?

He was my son too.

- I've tried.

I've tried to forget he was any part of you.

(door slams)

(dramatic tense music)

(melancholic tense music)

(knocking)

Are Sue and Betsy here?

- No?

- Jo, what's the matter?

- [Jo] Did they ask you to take 'em into town?

- Betsy tried me first.

- She tried me second, something about a desert moon,

but I managed to turn my back on temptation too.

- You said Betsy and Sue.

Sue gone too?

- She said she was going for a walk,

but that was over two hours ago.

Now, Muriel tells me that she left with Betsy.

- There's no place to walk out here.

It's all foothills and rocks.

They'd have to have gone toward town or Glen Canyon,

one or the other.

- I'm not worried about Betsy, she can take care of herself,

but Sue...

- Why don't we take a look around town, okay?

- I think I'd better come along, if you don't mind.

- Let's get the car.

- Jo?

Sue may be foolish, but she's not a fool.

- Some time, Nikko, you tell me the difference.

(car rumbling)

(exuberant music) (men cheering and laughing)

- Time.

Time.

- Betsy!

- Join the party!

(men shouting excitedly)

- Where's Sue?

Betsy, where is Sue?

- [Man] Oh, that's wonderful!

(men grumbling)

- The ladies, they wanna talk.

One minute, please?

- Muriel saw her leave with you.

- Well, the Boy Scouts wouldn't come out to play,

so I found me a couple of live ones.

And here I am, doing my bid for the Bureau of Reclamation,

and I've never had so much fun in all my life!

(men cheering)

- Where is Sue?

- Honestly, Jo, you sound like our mother or something!

The best antidote for one man is another one,

a new one.

- Where is she?

- Well, how would I know?

She went off with Lou, now, leave me alone!

- Lou Gillis, huh?

Went off where?

- You know the town, I don't.

- We'll find them.

I'll go call Grady.

(lively jazz music) (men cheering and laughing)

Hello, Mr. Grady?

Buz Murdock.

Now, listen, one of the models is missing.

Sue Ellis.

Well, she's with Lou Gillis,

and I'm a little concerned because, well,

she's got kind of a personal problem

and Gillis isn't the answer.

What do you mean what am I telling you for?

Well, Ms. Galloway's a little concerned,

and I thought that might just mean something to you.

(lively jazz music) (men laughing)

(tense pensive music)

Where is she, Gillis?

- Huh? - Where's Sue?

- Who does she think she is?

Puttin' on a cryin' act.

"Don't touch me, I want to go home!

"Take me home!"

Take her home.

- Where is she?

♪ Show me the way we go home

♪ Show me the way we go home

Gillis, where is she, huh?

Come on, where is she, huh?

♪ Drink about an hour ago

- He dropped her off and made her walk.

- You betcha!

Teach her! (chuckles)

- When you sober up here, or tomorrow,

the day after, whenever, I'm gonna be around,

and you're gonna have a real headache.

(tense pensive music)

- Forget it, Jo.

- I have to look anyway, Tod.

(tense pensive music)

(sighs)

She's young.

Nobody ever hurt her before.

Was a dreadful thought, wasn't it?

You see, I,

I can remember when I needed some sanctuary,

even that.

Can you understand?

Well, I lost my child,

Jeff's child, he reminded me of that yesterday.

Jeff was my husband.

You should have seen our son!

Eyes that looked right at you the minute he was born!

Red hair,

freckles across his nose like a Halloween mask.

And Jeff, big Jeff, was,

oh, busy, getting to be famous,

leaving concrete calling cards, dams he built,

countries I can't remember.

All that time, little Jeff was building too,

dream about his father,

that he'd finally come home one day to stay.

Christmases and birthdays would finally matter.

I called Jeff so many times,

wrote him so many times,

begged him so many times.

"He's in good hands, honey," he kept telling me,

"your hand."

There was this graduating party in elementary school.

I called Jeff, he was in Bolivia.

"Let the Bolivians manage by themselves for a week or so,"

I said.

"Jeff, he's counting on you, and so am I, to be here,

"at least once when it matters to him."

The day Jeff was to fly home,

there was some trouble at the dam.

He stayed to attend to it,

and Jeffy

was dead.

(melancholic music)

When his father didn't come to graduation,

Jeff, he was very quiet.

But when the other children

said something to him about it,

he started to run across the playground.

We all ran after him,

but he started to run across the foot bridge,

across the lake

and he fell!

(tense melancholic music)

When his father got home,

for the funeral,

I showed him Jeffy's scrapbook.

You know how scrapbooks are,

they're always a mess and you have to paste (mumbles).

All of Jeffy's clippings were pasted in,

every scrap,

every picture,

all of his father,

his letters from all over the world.

I left Jeff.

I hadn't seen him again till we came to Glen Canyon.

And I thank heaven I wasn't near a bridge like this

in those days.

(tense melancholic music)

(tense pensive music)

- Hey!

Hey, have you seen anybody wandering around here, a girl?

- [Construction Worker] No.

- Well, where does that road lead to?

- Straight up in about three more minutes.

You just take the lady and get back down the road.

- Look, there's a girl lost out here somewhere.

We think she might have gone up this road.

- You think?

Don't you know? - No, we don't know!

We're gonna go up and find out.

- Oh, no, you're not!

- We'll have to take those chances, here.

Hold that, wait over there.

(car horn honking)

- You fellas are hard to keep up with.

- We figure she's somewhere among those monument rocks,

Mr. Grady.

- Get back to central control and try to stop the blasting.

- She's going any minute now, Mr. Grady.

It'll take me at least five minutes to reach central.

- Make it two!

These two men and I are going out there.

Take my truck, it's faster.

Let's get in the car, fellas.

You stay here behind that sign.

(tense music)

(loud blasting)

(windshield cracking)

(pensive music)

(coughing)

- I want my husband. (sobbing)

(pensive music)

(men cheering) (upbeat music)

(pensive music)

- Jo.

Before you go, we wanted to tell you something.

- It's just something that Sue said,

when we were taking her out of the spill basin.

- She said,

when it seemed like the world was coming to an end,

just like that, she decided to stop running

and face whatever might happen.

If you can only understand why,

really understand people,

well, that you can forgive and you never have to run again.

- For some of us, Tod,

it's too late.

(melancholic pensive music)

(propellors rumbling)

(airplane roaring)

(lively jazz music)

- [Announcer] This has been a Screen Gems film presentation

from Columbia Pictures,

Herbert B. Leonard, executive producer.