Original subtitles

Now did you see me get that up there!

Ruxton, come back here!

Rux!

I'm gonna telegraph Marshal Dillon

- to lock you up! - Ruxton!

Ruxton, Ruxton, come back here!

I'm gonna have you and your brothers thrown in jail!

Ruxton!

Hey, old man, what are you two doing?

They're praying.

What kind of praying you call that?

Why they got them little boxes on their heads for?

Hey, what are you, some kind of medicine man?

Hey you, witch doctor, I'm talking to you.

No, no, please, you don't understand.

They're not allowed to stop until they finish.

Moshe!

Yahoo!

What are you gonna do with that rope, Ruxton?

What are you gonna do with him, now that you got him?

Stop, what are you doing?

Semel, Semel!

No, Rux, Rux, leave him alone, he's just a kid!

Semel!

Stop, come back, Semel!

Stop!

Stop!

What are you doing?

Stop!

Where are they?

Papa?

Ha!

Papa, what happened?

Go back.

Help your mother to the wagon.

Papa, tell me what happened?

Where's Semel?

Semel.

Moses smote the rock.

I wasn't allowed to see the Promised Land.

Papa, I'm never going to see the farm.

Please, dear Lord, please.

It is very bad, is it not?

It's quite serious.

Fractured skull always is serious.

We don't know how serious.

How in the world did this happen, anyway?

Three men rode into our camp,

they dragged him away with a rope.

Well, who were they?

We are strangers here, we do not know anyone.

Both my mother and father saw them.

They can recognize them again.

Now is not the time, Gearshon.

Please, Doctor.

Mr. Gorofsky, let me assure you

I've done everything I can for your boy,

and I will do everything I can for him, I promise you that.

He is in someone else's hands now.

Mrs. Gorofsky, I have some hot water,

I'd like to make you a cup of hot coffee.

No, thank you, Doctor.

You, sir?

No.

Go.

I will be here.

Tea if I can, please.

Certainly, I have tea.

Oh, we'll be right here.

We own a farm.

Farm?

Doctor, Moshe Gorofsky owns a farm.

This, this piece of paper.

It says so.

In America it is possible.

Well, I declare, this is remarkable.

This is a fine farm.

You know it?

That's right.

She awaits us, our farm, like the Sabbath bride,

scented and anointed.

That is why it is so important for Semel to get well.

Papa!

Papa!

Doctor!

Blessed be He, the true judge.

Hey, Rux, you better get out here.

Mornin', Marshal.

Sheriff Reed's telegram says you wrecked a place

down there to the tune of $48.

And I want the money.

Who?

You tryin' to tell me

you didn't wreck Willie's saloon in Hays?

No, ah, yeah, yeah it was us, Marshal.

Yeah, we done like you said, Marshal,

we doin' all our drinkin' out of Dodge.

You know that Willie's as much to blame

for what happened as we are.

His place was empty, he was cryin' all night long

about how bad business was.

And that's a fact, Marshal.

I'll tell ya another fact,

I'm tired of runnin' around tryin' to patch it up

after you and your brothers wreck someplace

with your drinking.

Now you owe $48, where is it?

You tell Willie to go to hell, I ain't payin' no $48.

Now give me the money.

That's all I got now.

All right, you owe $36.

I'll give you a week to get it into my office.

One week.

But you did get a good look at the men, Mr. Gorofsky?

Moshe.

I, I... Excuse my husband, Marshal.

In the old country, the law only spoke

to people like us when our homes were taken.

Tell me, Marshal, what will happen

to these men when you catch them?

They'll be put on trial.

And if they get found guilty, they'll get hung too.

I see.

And if I identify these men,

the events you describe could take place, is that right?

Well, if you're trying to make a point, Mr. Gorofsky,

I'd appreciate if you'd just say it straight out.

I will.

Sometimes it is better to make a point with another point.

This is the Talmud, Marshal.

All the rules governing the lives of our people are in here.

It has survived for thousands of years.

And much of it has been used by nations

throughout the ages as the basis of law in every land.

Well, no offense,

but what's that got to do with the situation here?

The Talmud teaches us that

if a man sees his friend enter a house,

and in his hand his friend holds a knife,

then when this same friend comes out, the knife bloodied,

and in the house five dead people,

the man who saw his friend come and go

is not a witness to murder.

Well, why ain't he?

In order to accuse a human being of murder,

you must see the knife strike.

Ah, that's the silliest blame thing I ever heared of.

Beggin' your pardon.

No, it is a good law.

Suppose your friend went inside the house with a knife

and it was taken from him.

And the murders were committed by someone

who then killed himself, your friend is stunned

by what he has seen, takes up the knife, goes outside.

What would you believe?

Mr. Gorofsky, that's not what we're dealing with here.

All we're asking you to do is identify three men

that you saw drag your son off.

Now, you did see that.

The courts will make the accusations, not you.

But will they and not me, Marshal.

Consider the evidence that I must give to this court.

My son was pulled away with a rope around his neck.

A few minutes later he's found,

the rope still around his neck, his head crushed,

then he dies of his wounds.

I must then go point at three people and say,

"Yes, these are the ones who took my son away."

Who in truth accuses these men, Marshal?

Me, or your court.

And on what evidence do I do this?

How do you call it, circumstantial evidence.

No.

This I'm not allowed to do.

Mr. Gorofsky, three men are running around loose

that murdered your boy.

And you're standing here playing with words.

Words?

Some we live by and some we must die for.

Mr. Gorofsky, if these men murder somebody else's son,

I wonder how much these words of yours will mean to his family.

I ain't never saw nothin' likes it.

Why he won't even stand up and point a finger

at them that went and killed his own flesh and blood.

If you ask me, this here feller's a-hidin' something

deep inside of his own self.

What's that?

Well, he don't want no more dealins with them that done it.

It's pure old plain and simple, the man's scared.

I'm not so sure, Festus.

Where you going?

Outside, I'd like to walk a little.

It's time for mincha.

I don't feel like talking to God right now.

You were wrong, Papa.

Laibel, do you agree with him?

Am I wrong in your mind as well?

I don't know.

The law of the Talmud is the law of our people.

There are no exceptions.

No one above that law.

It has kept our people alive for thousands of years.

And it applies to us as if the boy

who was killed was another man's child or our own.

And we will obey that law.

One week to the day, Marshal, there's your money.

Let's go.

Ruxton, I'm not gonna tell you again.

Yeah, no more drinkin' in nobody's town.

Papa, I'm gonna buy a gun.

What for?

Everyone around here owns one, for hunting.

Since when is shooting the Kosher way

of slaughtering animals?

There are other animals to be killed, lions and snakes.

It might not be such a bad idea, Papa, for protection.

No, we don't need a gun.

You're right, Papa, not now.

We needed it the morning they killed Semel.

Gearshon, don't push him anymore.

I didn't start out to.

But everything always brings us back to the same place.

Then leave him alone,

don't talk to him anymore, do you hear me?

You always walk the middle of the fence,

don't you, Laibel?

When are you gonna say something

because you really believe it,

not because it's the good thing or the right thing

but because you really feel like it?

Who were they, Papa?

You know those men, Papa.

Papa, tell me!

They're the ones aren't they?

Those three are the ones

that killed my brother, aren't they?

Aren't they?

Stop, Gearsh!

Stop, Gearsh!

Pa!

Stop it, leave him alone!

Rux, Rux, leave it be.

Leave the kid alone, Rux.

Hold on, hold it!

What's going on, Ruxton?

Darn if know, I'm walkin' down the street,

all of a sudden he jumps on me.

These three men murdered my brother!

Three of them, my father said, here they are!

Wait a minute, what are you talkin' about, boy?

Are these the men that killed your son?

Tell them, Papa.

For God's sake, tell the marshal.

I don't know who killed my son.

Well, are these the men that dragged him away?

Were they?

Well, they're crazy, Marshal.

I tell ya, it ain't safe for a man

to walk down the street no more

without somebody jumpin' on his back.

Look, Marshal, I don't know what they're talkin' about.

I swear it.

Yeah, we ain't never seen those people before, Marshal.

What about you, Calvin?

Did you ever see that old man before?

No, Marshal, no, I haven't.

Look, they're crazy, Marshal, I'm tellin' ya.

Get out of here.

Go ahead, break it up, boys.

You know, he had us right there, I mean,

we're standing right under the noose

and he ups and walks away without a word to Dillon.

Why?

Because he's scared of us, that's why.

What do we do, Rux?

Nothin'.

Then tomorrow he changes his mind and we all hang.

Rux, I'm tellin' ya, I'm not that sure.

Look, I ain't lookin' to kill anybody

any more than you are.

I feel bad about that and that's a fact you can believe.

Boy, I tell you I'd feel a whole lot worse standin' up

on that gallows listening to the bones in my neck crack.

Well, that's what maybe it could come down to.

Us or them.

Call your brother to the table.

He said he wasn't hungry.

Gearshon.

Papa wants you at the table.

I told him I wasn't hungry.

Come anyway.

Mama, do you remember,

I must have been six or seven,

when Laibel was in a fight

with three boys from the town, three Russian boys?

They were beating Laibel bad with sticks and fists.

And nobody did anything to stop them.

Papa tried.

But they held him.

The four of them held him and made him watch

what they were doing to Laibel.

Mama, I watched that too and I never understood it.

I don't mean why they did it.

Back then we learned fast why.

I never understood why we let them.

Well, they were so much stronger than us.

There were so many more of them than us.

But they killed us anyway.

What more could they have done to us

if we had fought them.

My brother fought them.

And he was killed.

But he died with dignity.

He was not taken away like a cow and buried quickly

as if he had never lived.

They knew he lived, he made them know.

What happened to Semel was not because

of what we are, our religion.

Gearshon, this is a different country.

Then let's act differently.

Let's let them know that these things cannot happen here

for any reason because we will not let it.

I named you well, little Gearshela.

You're so much like my brother.

Come, supper's getting cold.

Tomorrow we start clearing the land for the plow.

It shouldn't take long.

We'll work with the horses and chains

to clear the big tree stumps.

All of us, together.

Tomorrow we take a dream and make it a reality.

The dream was for the five of us.

There's one missing.

Don't start, Gearsh.

No.

Finish, Gearshon, let it all come out.

There is no room for feelings that cannot be said.

Moshe, not now.

When, in a month, in a year?

When all the feelings will be so distorted

with time that they will make no difference?

All that will be left then will be bitterness.

No, Zisha, no.

Now is the best time.

Papa, I want you to come with me to Marshal Dillon.

I want you to tell him who killed Semel.

I cannot, son, you know that.

All right, leave it.

Papa...

it's hard for me to dream anymore.

I can't believe in them anymore.

You hold your dreams in one pocket

and righteousness in the other.

For me, one cancels the other out.

We live in the world of men, Papa.

Not in Paradise with God, where goodness conquers all.

I never saw it win once.

It always wins, Gearshon, the truth...

What about Semel?

Where is his truth?

Where is the truth and goodness in letting killers run free,

perhaps to kill again?

Your truth turns the whole world upside down.

I don't want your truth.

Then you don't want me.

Stop it!

Both of you!

He didn't say that.

He doesn't meant that, Papa.

It's the same thing.

I am thy truth.

You can't take one and leave the other behind.

Gearsh!

Moshe, call him back, please!

What are you doing?

You're not really going, not like this.

I'll leave the horse in town,

you can pick him up tomorrow.

What are you doing?

We're family, you can't just decide one day

that you're not part of it anymore?

So that's what you're all about, Laibel, the family?

That's all there is.

Well, he's wrong!

Doesn't that make a difference?

No, nothing makes any difference.

And it's the only thing we ever had, each other.

We were together, nobody could ever take that away from us,

not even in the old country.

Now don't do what they couldn't.

I'm not letting you go.

Gearsh!

Gearsh, don't go, please.

Take care of them, Laibel.

Where will you go?

Tell Papa that I...

He'll be back, a day, two...

He'll be back.

What kind of a father does he think I am?

Does he think I loved Semel less than he did?

What kind of a man does he think I am?

A frightened man, Moshe,

he thinks you're a frightened man.

He wants to hold his head up.

For Gearshon, it's time to stop being afraid.

And you?

Is that how you see me, afraid?

Yes, a dreamer, a coward.

When they would come to us in the old country,

to rob us, to overtax us, you paid without a word.

You gave what they asked, "For peace," you said.

"Give them, they'll go," you said.

And you dream, how you'd dream

about when we'd come to this New World.

Here we could walk with dignity.

Where, Moshe, where's the peace?

Still we're paying for it.

Only here it's not with money.

With our son's life you're paying for peace.

In the grave, my husband,

that's where you'll find your peace.

We've gone so long and so far,

being afraid comes easily now.

All my life, I've been afraid

of everything, anything.

Just afraid.

Being afraid is not a sin.

Sometimes it makes good sense.

The important thing is to know what to be afraid of.

Come, tell me, what is it that we fear the most?

Offending the men who killed our son or offending ourselves,

our traditions, our Lord.

And how much less painful it would be

to go up the Marshal and tell him what Gearshon wants

than to watch him turn from our home.

There are only two things I fear in this world, my Zisha,

offending God

and losing your love.

For over 30 years I've loved you, Moshe,

but never more than now.

- You got it? - Yeah.

Okay.

- You got him? - Yeah, come on.

Where is the other one?

Howdy.

The third one, where is he?

Homer?

Well, no tellin' where that one might be.

You know you look kinda green sittin' up there,

holdin' a shotgun in your hand.

You sure you know how to handle it?

I want you to come with me to Marshal Dillon.

I want you to tell him you killed my brother.

Well, it's kind of a bad day to ask.

See, we got a lot of work to do around the place...

If you don't come, I'll kill you.

Pull off the shot, Homer.

Scatter gun's only got two shells, boy.

I didn't think you knew how to handle it.

Papa!

The next time he comes at me with a gun,

you'll bury him.

With a gun you went.

Moshe, please.

Like a Cossack you went.

You bought a gun?

You keep that boy away from me and my place.

You understand that?

Now, I'm warning you, old man.

What, what are you warning me, Mr. Ruxton?

You just keep him away from me!

How should I do that?

By locking him in his room?

Chaining him to a wall?

Well, I don't care how you do it,

just so long as you do!

He does what he wants!

Like you now, he has his own gun.

He has found his own truth.

Go home, Mr. Ruxton,

I don't want you in my house.

Look, I'm tellin' ya,

I don't want anymore trouble from you people!

You've got trouble for the rest of your life.

All of you, try and understand, just...

Now wait a minute, Calvin, I'll do my own talking.

Now you listen to me.

I can finish it all right now, right here.

You'll do what you have to do.

- Papa. - No!

Just leave him on the ground.

Now, you're right about that, old man.

I'll do what I have to, whatever it takes.

And you can believe me, it won't take that much.

I mean, four shells and it's all over.

You want that?

No!

All right, all right,

then you pack up and you move out, all of ya!

Get out of Kansas.

You run if you want to live.

Did you hear me?

I said, I want you out of here.

I mean, today, now, this minute!

I won't go.

What's the matter with you?

I mean, don't you know that I could kill all of you?

Don't you understand that?

I understand you very well.

All right.

Give you time, you need time to pack out and pull out.

I'll give you til tomorrow morning.

We're not going.

You're not giving me no choice.

I mean, can't you see that?

I've got no choice.

You're wrong, you do have a choice, Mr. Ruxton.

If you choose to take it.

Go to Marshal Dillon, tell him what happened to my son.

That's no choice, that's suicide.

He's right, Rux...

Oh, now wait a minute, wait a minute.

Now you listen here.

I don't want this.

I ain't lookin' to kill nobody.

Please...

say something!

If we ride out and we don't bother you no more.

You won't go tell Dillon?

I would never do that.

I can't.

Well, what about him.

Like you, he will do what he has to.

I never meant for you boy to die,

it was an accident.

It's the truth, Rux let that rope loose

and your son was all right.

He got up, he started to run with that rope around his neck.

He got 20, 30 yards and the rope got hung on a rock.

He was hurt but we couldn't do anything about it.

We got scared, we started to run.

Scared, plenty scared.

That's the truth, so help me.

I mean, after the way we run him out of your camp

and how he died,

there ain't nobody in the world gonna believe our story.

The marshal is a fair man, an understanding man.

We walk in and own up to it, Rux,

he's gotta believe we didn't mean to kill that kid.

Why else would we turn ourselves in?

Do you believe us?

Yes, I do.

Well, right now they're charged

with assault, Mr. Gorofsky.

From here on out, it'll be up to the courts

to decide what happens to them.

I will testify as to what they have told me.

And that they could have killed us if they had wanted to.

I would like to ask you a question, Marshal.

What's that?

If I had given you the testimony that day you wanted it,

would you have believed them?

Would the court?

I don't know, Mr. Gorofsky, but it's a good question.