Original subtitles

(slow orchestral music)

- Hey, Roman?

Why the bedsheets and the blankets and the pillowcases?

Are we bringin' back a load of TNT?

Why the wagon?

He's got three pick-ups, why not a pick-up?

- Well, where we're goin', no truck can get to.

(dramatic orchestral music)

(horses trotting)

(gun fires)

(small thud)

- Come on, now.

(slow orchestral music)

- Bring the wagon around to the right, Murdock!

Over there!

Come on.

Ya!

(wagon wheels creaking)

- Come on!

- Kawna.

I've brought a wagon.

We've no time to waste, you and I.

Now, come on out.

- I'll make her hustle, Mr. Ivy.

(loud slap)

- Hawks, Roman, hawks.

Coyotes and vomit.

I pay you to keep my land clear of them.

But you keep out of my personal life.

Kawna!

Come out, do you hear me?

(knocking)

(Frank grunts)

(loud grunt)

Everything is being made ready.

The doctor will be waiting at the house.

Full-time nurse.

I don't want the child to be born in this squalor.

- The knife this minute,

or me waiting for the child to start

so that I can die alone on this dirt floor.

Either way, I am buried with sin.

And whether now, by my own hand, or soon by the hand of God,

I do not care anymore.

You decide which.

Either you go and leave me alone,

or I'll do right now what I should've done before.

- Why kill the child?

It is innocent.

- How could it be innocent?

I would've asked God to strike it dead

if I were not afraid that in his pity

he might strike me first and let it live.

(Kawna moans)

(dramatic orchestral music)

- Murdock, get a rope.

We'll have to tie her.

(Kawna grunts)

I told you to get some rope.

- Mr. Ivy, I quit.

(Frank grunts)

(Roman grunts)

- Nobody would ever miss you around here, Roman.

- You saw what he did.

- What any decent man would do.

Pick him up, put him in the wagon.

Get the horses.

(slow orchestral music)

- Find Murdock, I wanna see him.

I'll be at the branding pen.

(slow orchestral music)

- It's cold!

- Stand still, it's good for you.

- All right, all right, all right.

Oh, I think I prefer the concussion.

Besides, how would it look if I was to drown

with both feet on dry ground?

- You know, what you need is a compress on that neck.

- What I need is a head on that neck with a swivel.

What kind of a creep hits you from behind?

- You know, I think we oughta collect our pay

and clear outta here.

- Yeah?

Well first, I wanna see how good Frank Ivy is

from the front, you know, like face-to-face.

- Oh that's bright.

What do you wanna do, get yourself shot?

- Oh, I don't figure him for a pistol man, anyway.

- Yeah, well don't forget that trigger-happy kook

that shags around behind him.

- I'm not forgetting him, not for one little minute.

The way I figure it, we just oughta give some lumps

to some well-deserving people and then cut out.

I don't know why we signed up here, anyway.

Who does Frank Ivy think he is?

- King o' the mountain.

- Just 'cause he's got a lot o' acres

and a bunch o' cattle,

that doesn't mean he can back people around.

Shoulda seen the way he was handling that Indian girl,

you'd think it was 1860 or somethin'.

You know, every time we got near a cliff on the way back,

she tried to roll out the wagon.

We gotta report that to somebody.

Somebody who's not impressed with Frank Ivy's cattle spread.

Somebody like the state police, or the FBI, or...

Aren't Indians a federal case or somethin'?

- Buz, you don't know who she is or anything about this.

- Well, then we oughta find out.

She must have a good reason

for wantin' to bust out that bad.

She needs help.

- She's got a doctor and a nurse.

- Ooh.

- Murdock!

Mr. Ivy wants ya.

- We don't work here anymore, didn't Ivy tell ya that?

- Mr. Ivy told me he wants ya.

Over at the branding pens.

(cows mooing)

- You're still a little shaky.

Why don't you let me deliver the message?

- No, you just keep Roman off my back.

If I got clobbered twice in one day from behind,

I think it would shake my faith in mankind.

(Tod laughs)

(slow orchestral music)

(cows moo loudly)

- Hitting you from behind, Murdock.

I'm sorry I had to do that, but I was pressed for time.

- I don't want an apology, Mr. Ivy,

just personal satisfaction.

You and me, okay?

- I'm disappointed in you, sonny.

Maybe I thought you had qualities

that you don't really have.

Maybe you're pig-headed and not a man of principle.

Maybe you jumped in out there on the mesa

only because you like the feel of your fist

against a man's jaw.

- And who are you to talk about principle?

- I choose to ignore what you said

back there about quitting.

In fact, I asked you to come here

so that I could apologize to you and offer you a raise.

- No sale, Mr. Ivy.

- I'm not trying to sell you anything.

I was simply trying to reward what I thought

was a demonstration of the kind of code I respect.

Well I was wrong about ya.

You want satisfaction?

All right, I'll take off my jacket

and we'll find out who's the better man,

and then I want you and your friend to pack up

and clear off my land.

- Suits me fine.

- Wait just a minute.

What's all this talk about a code?

What kind of code is it that covers that girl upstairs?

- Who are either of you to judge me?

Ya been here a month, what do you know about things?

It's my grandchild that's going to be born up there.

My son's kid.

And he's gonna be born in style, even if he is part Indian,

in that room, where his father was raised up.

And not on some dirt floor in a mud hut

in the middle of nowhere.

It's an Ivy that's goin' to be born up there.

- Come on, let's get packed and fold out.

(melancholic orchestral music)

(moves to ominous orchestral music)

(loud whack)

- You didn't really figure on leavin', did you?

Just packin' and leavin' without settlin' things.

Things I kill, then never know why they die,

but you, Murdock, you put me down in front of Mr. Ivy today.

Made me look bad.

I gotta change that.

You understand that, don't you?

(ominous orchestral music)

Now, the hatchet on the wall, that's yours.

This here, this is mine.

- I don't go that route.

- Look, take the hatchet!

- I think maybe if I ignore him.

- Take the hatchet!

(grunting)

- Creep!

- If we let him go before we get outta here,

he'll just come after us with that rifle.

- Why don't you finish packing,

I'll put him outta circulation.

(slow orchestral music)

- I've been talking to the doctor.

You've gotta let him help you.

- Why?

- For what you're trying to do.

Denying this child of the right to live is against nature.

You are a religious girl, Kawna.

Father Prior always says

that you were the most religious girl in the pueblo.

And what you are doing is against what you are taught.

- Don't you talk about religion to me!

(Kawna weeps)

- Save your strength.

You're crying because you know you're wrong.

- What would you know about crying?

I was ten when you buried your wife.

We came from the pueblo, all of us, in our best clothes.

I was ten, but I remember how you stood at that coffin,

and how your eyes were dry.

- You don't measure grief the way you measure rainfall.

You size it up according to a man's actions afterwards.

I didn't mope after my wife died.

I was too busy raising my son,

trying to make a man out of him.

(Kawna scoffs)

So don't talk about tears to me.

It takes a lot of sorrow and a great deal of dying inside

to make a man drag an Indian girl into his son's bedroom.

Into his dead son's bedroom.

- This was his room?

- Yes.

So you hated him.

Well, I hated the disgrace.

- But when tomorrow comes, you'll still be riding the mesa,

and I'll be dead.

- I don't care what happens to you after the child is born.

But I promise you, it will be born here in this house,

and when I have raised it,

the child will never know who its mother was.

- Hearing you, seeing you, I feel for the first time pity

for this poor thing I carry.

I didn't think I could ever stop loathing it,

but I see now that it's just as helpless

before the grandfather as I was before the father.

I'm all it has, its only barrier,

and I'll smother it before I see it in your arms.

(melancholic orchestral music)

- Doc!

Doc!

(door bangs shut)

- A going away present.

- Think we oughta count it?

- Before we go, let me ask you something, Mr. Satterfield.

How did Ivy's son die?

Why is he buried down by the swings?

- We had some trouble last year

about Tom and the Indian girl.

Mr. Ivy took him out and made him marry her,

but they never stayed together.

After that, Tom seemed to get wilder than ever.

Then one night, he got liquored up, more than usual,

and drove up the back road to Red Butte.

On the way, he hit the barrier up there, you might see it.

It looked like he never even tried to stop.

Funny thing.

You never know about a boy or how he's gonna turn out.

Tom was a real quiet kid, stayed to himself.

Most of his time down there on those swings,

just swingin' back and forth.

I don't know, Stiles,

maybe Mr. Ivy feels closest to him down there.

Anyhow, I'm sorry to see you fellas go.

Not everyone around here is like Roman.

We got some fine hands.

Friends, a man keeps.

No hard feelings.

- No hard feelings.

- Well, why should I shake his hand?

I got plenty of hard feelings.

This place stinks.

What fine hands you got here, Satterfield?

Friends a man keeps, where?

You got no fine hands, you got fists.

Guys like Roman who can outdraw a jackrabbit every time

and a boss like Ivy, the old Indian wrestler.

And guys like you that turn around at the right time.

I got no cause to shake your hand.

Come on, let's get outta here.

This place stinks.

- So long, Mr. Satterfield.

- I'll see you later, Murdock.

I don't know where, but I'll see you!

- [Buz] Shut up!

- Cut me loose!

(dramatic orchestral music)

(bell ringing)

(slow orchestral music)

- She's gone, now go and find her!

$100 to the man who brings her back.

- Watch 'em all jump.

- What kind of hypocrites are you?

There isn't a man here who can afford to throw a stone.

Frank, you wanna hear the details

about what happened to you in Albuquerque last month?

Phil, you wanna tell us a little bit about yourself?

Don't turn your head away, Sam!

Not when you got what you have on your conscience.

I want her brought back here!

And I want her brought back now!

(dramatic orchestral music)

- Let's get outta here before it really gets sick.

(truck engine runs)

- Jim, saddle the horses!

Roman!

Roman!

- Right there, Mr. Ivy!

- Look at 'em.

Like a pack of bloodhounds.

(horses galloping)

Hunters, that's what's buggin' the world today.

Too many hunters.

- But you don't object to the searchers, do you?

The guys like us, the looking-around-ers?

- No, I don't object to us.

Need any help?

- You know, you got a great little sense of timing.

You always ask just when I'm taking the last hitch.

(delicate orchestral music)

- You don't have to say a word.

(car engine starts)

- I've checked the barn and all the stalls and not a trace.

- She's not in the bunkhouse or any of the sheds, Mr. Ivy.

- She must've headed across country.

(delicate orchestral music)

- Soon as we get off Ivy's property

and onto the main highway, it's 50 miles to Santa Fe.

It's about an hour.

Will you be all right that long?

- That's my buddy, Tod.

- Think we oughta take her straight to St. Mark's Hospital.

Unless there's some place you'd prefer to go,

like your own pueblo with your own family?

- Stop here, please.

- Here?

(keys jingling)

- Please.

Now, when you let me out of the car,

I'll give you back your keys.

- If you wanna stop here a minute, okay.

All you had to do was ask.

- I did, but you kept on going, and I have no more time.

There was a time if I had said, "God bless you,"

he might've heard me and blessed you,

but I'm not sure he still hears me.

Good bye.

- Well, we can't just let her walk away.

- Well, what do we do, follow Ivy's example

and just pick her up and throw her in a wagon?

- We gotta do something.

- You all right?

- I can make it now.

- Kawna, listen, we're miles from any kind of a hospital.

We're miles from anything.

- Oh, you've done enough, now please go.

Let me do what I must.

- We didn't do you any favors.

At least Ivy had a doctor and a nurse for you.

Buz, maybe we should take her back or get Ivy's doctor here.

- No.

- You're forgetting she doesn't wanna live, Tod.

I told you how she tried to roll out the wagon this morning.

- Kawna, why?

Look, we know about Ivy's son and the rest of it.

That's no reason to wanna die.

- How do you know?

(melancholic orchestral music)

- We gotta try and help her.

I'll go hide the car some place around here.

Stay with her, I'll be back in a couple of minutes.

- I don't know, what do we do now?

She just keeps saying, "Go away! Go away!"

- Ever see a baby born?

- No!

- Well, she'll need help pretty soon.

I brought some blankets and a first aid kit.

- First aid kit?

Oh, great, you think this is a situation

you gonna handle with bandage?

- What else are we gonna do?

- Well why isn't everybody a doctor?

You have a formal education, what good is it doing you now?

- Well you're the one that's always hollerin'

about the common man and how much knowledge

you can pick up off the street.

So show me!

Show me a little knowledge to cover this situation.

- I didn't mean it that way, I just,

I feel lousy when I can't do anything.

- Look, I've done some reading about births.

There's not much a man can do for a woman

unless he's a doctor.

Just reassure her and let her know she's not alone.

That way she won't be so tense.

Nature does the rest.

(delicate orchestral music)

- Take off your jacket.

All right, Kawna, lie back.

You might as well,

'cause we're all through taking orders form you.

- Who are you?

- Just a couple o' guys who happened to be around

when you needed somebody to hold onto.

- Please, I want you to understand,

I don't want anything to hold onto.

Not people, nothing.

Not even good people like you.

Not even life.

Oh, please go now.

Please, while there's still time.

Let me be alone here.

- I told you, Kawna, we're not going to.

- But if I tell you why, if I make you see,

then will you go?

(delicate orchestral music)

In my pueblo, though many still secretly prefer

the old gods, we believe in God the Father, Jesus his son,

and the Holy Ghost.

Only Father Prior knew what I really saw

when I looked to God.

I loved God, and I promised to become a Bride of Christ,

to take my holy orders as a nun.

That is why God had put me here.

I was to leave that morning for Sacred Heart.

I went out into the field to look for the last time

with the red willow that grows on the slopes

of the Madre Sanchez.

Across the field, I could see Tom Ivy riding his horse.

That day, my life ended.

I ran away from Tom Ivy the moment I could.

I went away to wait and let God take me,

to purify me, and oh, to pray that in his infinite mercy,

he'd let me be reborn in some other life.

(melancholic orchestral music)

Please, now go.

(Kawna moans)

- Try to breathe, Kawna.

Try to relax.

(slow orchestral music)

(dramatic orchestral music)

(Kawna pants)

- Try and get a deep breath, Kawna.

(Kawna pants)

(baby crying)

- How about that, it's a boy.

- Yeah, how about that.

Better wrap it and keep it warm.

(baby crying)

- Oh.

(Kawna cries)

My people always place a turquoise, a little bead,

in the ear of newborn babes.

They lay them on a cradle board,

and they have a pillow made from a mirage,

blankets woven over yellow evening light,

and the scenes of lighting.

They lay them with their heads toward the East,

the habitation of the old gods.

Oh!

How could I have been so wicked?

How could I have wished this child dead

or prayed to God to take me off?

Oh, I want to live.

How could I have been so wicked?

This is the purity he sent me from heaven.

This (laughs).

Take him.

(baby crying)

- Kawna, is there anything we can do?

- Nothing, nothing, nothing.

- You're gonna be all right.

- Take him to Father Prior in my pueblo, Santa Talpa.

Promise me you won't let Ivy take him.

Promise?

- I promise.

- They shall not die in my displeasure,

nor without the last sacrament,

and my divine heart shall be their safe refuge

in this last promise.

(muttering)

(melancholic orchestral music)

(airplane engine)

(ominous orchestral music)

- There was a Pueblo Santa Talpa, all right.

It looks to be about 10 miles from here,

but it's right in the middle of Ivy's spread.

See that gray area there is the Indian reservation,

and this is Ivy's land all around it.

- I don't know, we might've made a mistake.

Maybe we had a better chance taking the car.

- No, they woulda spotted us in five minutes from the plane

and blasted us off the road.

(galloping horses)

(men shouting)

- Let's go.

(dramatic orchestral music)

- Mr. Ivy!

Mr. Ivy! Mr. Ivy!

(galloping horses)

- Go find them.

- I'll get 'em for you, Mr. Ivy.

I'll get 'em.

(dramatic orchestral music)

(baby crying)

- You think there may be some canned milk

or something in that shack?

- I don't think you're supposed to feed 'em for ten hours.

- Well, why don't we go and look?

We might take something along just in case.

- Sugar.

That's all they give 'em the first day, sugar water.

Check and see if it's in the tank, I'll look inside.

(baby crying)

(ominous orchestral music)

- Tod!

Roman.

- Fix that board, I had to pry it off.

- He's comin' up.

(ominous orchestral music)

He's lookin' in the mine.

He's just sittin' there, now.

He's goin' away.

(baby crying)

- Shh!

(dramatic musical sting)

(baby crying)

(dramatic orchestral music)

(baby crying)

- Count of three, you don't come out with the kid,

that's it.

One, two, three.

(gun fires)

(gun fires)

(gun fires)

(gun fires)

(gun fires)

(gun fires)

(gun fires)

- There's no more chance.

- He'll kill ya!

- Reloading.

(horse whinnies)

(grunting)

(dramatic orchestral music)

- Roman!

- You won't shoot.

- Don't count on it!

(dramatic musical sting)

- I'll get the baby.

Get his horse.

- Yeah, I'll do that.

(dramatic orchestral music)

(horses galloping)

(men shouting)

(dog barking)

(slow orchestral music)

- Kawna's child, you've got him?

- I wish that were true, but there's no child here.

- I'm coming in to see for myself, Father.

- That's as far as you come, you take my word for it.

- Just the same, I'm coming in.

- This pueblo is government property,

this church, sanctuary,

and you'll not come past me, Mr. Ivy.

- Don't make me use force, Father,

and don't think I won't if I have to.

(baby crying)

(delicate orchestral music)

(baby crying)

- Bring the baby to me.

Bring the baby to me.

(baby crying)

(delicate orchestral music)

- I only want what's mine.

Sam, Harry.

- Wait a minute!

If you've got no respect for your own church,

have some respect for the church of these people here.

That baby's in the arms of its grandfather,

secure in the shelter of this holy kiva.

- That pile of mud?

It may be holy to them, but not to me,

and I am the grandfather.

- And you have guns and can kill,

but in turn, you might be killed by these people here.

And if not by them, then by the law in due course.

- I'm not afraid of death.

- You are the most terrified man of death

that I have ever seen.

That baby, you think that's your immortality?

Generations forget generations, Frank Ivy.

We live only in the memory of God.

It's men like you that shake my faith.

But I'm not gonna let you do that to me,

so I'm gonna ask you straight out,

what did you ever do for your son, Tom?

What monument, what accomplishment,

what memory did he ever contribute to the world of man?

- That baby, and I want him.

I want to make something of him, something decent.

- Something decent.

And what makes you think

you won't make the same mistake again?

With us, that baby will go straight and true.

Can you give it faith or love,

or will it learn hate and desperation,

the kind of desperation I see in your eyes?

- He's my blood.

- He's a child of God.

(melancholic orchestral music)

- Can I see him?

(baby crying)

He'll come to me on his own.

You'll see.

(triumphant orchestral music)

(upbeat orchestral music)

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

from Columbia Pictures.

Herbert B. Leonard, Executive Producer.