Original subtitles

Starring James Arness as Matt Dillon.

Something wrong, Mister?

Yeah, there sure is.

Well, maybe you'd better tell me what's bothering you, fella.

Well, maybe you'd better tell me what you're doing on my horse.

Your horse?

That's a Bar-S brand, ain't it?

That reads Bar-S to me.

Well, it's my horse.

Well, if that's your horse, how come I'm riding it?

Well, it looks to me like you might have stole him.

Are you drunk?

Ain't had a drink all day.

You're a stranger here, aren't you?

Yep, I am.

Well, I'm Emmitt Bowers, Mister.

If you live long enough to ask around,

folks will tell you I don't take much

to being called a horse thief.

He's my horse, and I can prove it.

You can't prove nothin', you young fool.

I think maybe you ought to take your saddle off him.

I'm through talking to you.

You're wearing a gun.

If that's your horse, you can claim it with that.

Dillon: Bowers!

What's going on here?

I'm about to kill this man, Marshal.

You'll have to kill me, by golly.

Just hold on here. What's the trouble anyway?

This young idiot's been calling me a horse thief.

I won't take that from nobody!

A horse thief? What's got into you, Mister?

I own over 200 head of horses, you fool.

I'd more than likely give one away than steal one.

Emmitt Bowers happens to be

one of the biggest ranchers in Kansas, fella.

I don't care what he is.

That Bar-S is my brand, and I can prove it.

It is, huh?

What difference does that make?

I buy horses with all kinds of brands on 'em!

Where'd you buy this one?

Fella came by the ranch yesterday

with a whole bunch of 'em. I bought six all told.

Maybe them others is mine too.

This fella said he bought them horses

from a man named Pringle up in Wyoming.

What's your name, Mister?

Deesha. Charlie Deesha.

Marshal Dillon: Where you from?

I had a place down on the Canadian River, Marshal.

But I... I went broke.

The only thing I had left was my horses, and they all got stole.

Can you prove these horses are yours?

I got a certificate of registration.

It's in my saddlebag up at the stable.

All right, you go get it.

We'll ride out and take a look at these horses.

I'll get it right now.

I think that man's a liar, Marshal.

Well, he may be.

But if he isn't, you sure got stuck.

Well, I'd hate to be the man who stuck me.

I'm gonna find him, and I'm gonna kill him sure.

That's them, Marshal.

I told the boys not to turn 'em out until I had a chance to ride 'em.

I like to get on every horse I buy at least once.

Them are my horses, all right, every one of 'em.

They all branded?

Ask Bowers. He's seen 'em.

Bowers: It's true. There's a Bar-S on all of 'em.

By golly, I never thought I'd see them horses again.

You're just lucky, I guess.

Sure, he's lucky. What about me?

Well, I'm afraid there's not much you can do

what with them being registered to Deesha here.

Uh, how much did you pay for them, Bowers?

$30 apiece.

How come you didn't buy all of them?

According to him, there must have been 10 more head.

I picked out the best six.

Uh-huh. You say this man was riding alone.

What'd he look like?

Did he give his name or anything?

Uh, Vic Lowry... Skinny, hawk-faced fella.

- Does that mean anything to you? - No, nothing.

Well, he's probably clean out of the country by now anyway.

You going after him, Marshal?

It's a mighty big country, Bowers. Where would I start?

I want that man.

I'm, uh, sure sorry about it, Bowers.

But you can't blame me for it.

Oh, I ain't blamin' you.

It's the idea of a horse thief going unhung that don't sit with me.

He's probably 100 miles from here by now.

You'd never find him. I know that.

But look, I got some 20 cowboys riding for me.

They cover a lot of territory.

I can get word to every one of 'em.

We're not going to have any lynching here, Bowers.

Oh, no. Of course not.

But the fella might run, he might have to get shot.

That'd be too bad.

Now, Bowers, listen to me.

You can't stop me, Marshal.

You know there ain't a man in the country

won't back up hanging a horse thief.

That's not hanging. That's lynching.

You try that, and you're going to jail.

You'd look fine, wouldn't ya?

Locking up an honest rancher

and letting a horse thief run loose.

Come on, I'll help you with your horses.

Thanks, Marshal.

Well, Mr. Dillon, I can't find that Slim Trent nowheres.

He's gone off and left his stable plumb deserted.

Where's Deesha?

Well, he's out back.

Oh, might as well get back to the office, I guess.

Yeah.

Speak of the devil!

Hello, Slim.

Hello there, Marshal, Chester. Get!

Get!

Where you been, Slim?

On the country.

What are you men doing here?

We just brought in some horses with Charlie Deesha.

Oh, him. Well, I'm stabling one horse for him.

Where'd he get the others?

Well, he had 'em stolen down on the Canadian River.

They were sold to Emmitt Bowers yesterday.

Is that so?

Bowers rode one of 'em in this morning

and this Deesha fella spotted it.

Say, I bet Emmitt Bowers ain't fit to live with.

He's not exactly happy about it.

Well, I was out his way.

If I'd had known, I would have stopped by just to burr him a little.

Where's that boy I left here?

Chester: What boy?

Well, I've been gone since yesterday morning.

I might've known I can't trust that fool kid.

Went out past Bowers' place to see a friend of mine.

That's where I got these two horses.

Fella come by selling a bunch of 'em.

I picked these two out.

You did?

Pretty good horses for $30.

Yeah. It's that brand I'm looking at.

What about the brand?

- Bar-S. - So?

Well, Slim, I'm afraid

you're not going to be any more fit to live with than Emmitt Bowers.

Well, what are you talking about?

That Bar-S, that's Deesha's brand.

What?

Yep. I'm afraid those horses were stolen

from him the same as the ones Emmitt Bowers bought.

Well, I don't believe it.

I'm afraid it's true, Slim.

Somebody's been traveling through this part of the country

selling the horses they stole from Deesha.

Well, I ain't gonna stand still for it, Marshal.

I want that horse thief, and I want him hung.

I'm gonna be doing everything I can.

Well, then get going.

Now, Slim, you know I can't start riding out all over the countryside

on the off-chance I'll find this man.

Then I'll do it. I'll get a bunch of the men together,

and we'll make a little party of it.

You're beginning to sound just like Emmitt Bowers.

I told him, and I'm telling you,

I'm not gonna stand for any lynching party.

Now, you get that through your head. Is that clear?

It's clear, Marshal.

It's clear I've been took by a horse thief,

and he ain't gonna get away with it, neither.

You know, I'm not sure it's proper

for a lady to be riding around out on the prairie

with the marshal like this.

The only thing that's not proper about it

is that I don't get you out here often enough.

Oh!

You know, I don't think it would take too much work after all

to make you a lady's man.

Not more than a couple feet of rope to start with.

Well, you don't have to worry. I'm not gonna try it.

You know, Matt, there's something I've been wanting to ask you.

What's that?

Well, I've heard some talk that you're gettin' kind of lazy.

Lazy? You must have been talking to Doc again.

What have you done about catching the man

that's been selling the horses that he stole

from Charlie Deesha?

Oh, nothing. I just kind of figured I'd let that take care of itself.

Oh?

All I need is a little luck.

I guess you know what you're doing.

Look at that.

Kitty: Whoa.

That's Chester.

It sure is.

If that horse hits a prairie dog hole,

Chester will never stop rollin'.

I've been looking all over for you, Mr. Dillon.

What's the trouble?

Well, they're having a meetin' at the Dodge House

is what the trouble is.

Who's having a meetin'?

Slim Trent, Deesha,

Emmitt Bowers, Jake Wirth.

They're gonna do something about that horse thief.

What's Jake Wirth got to do with it?

Well, he got robbed too.

He bought six of them horses, and then he come to town yesterday,

and he found out about the whole business.

And they're getting together.

And it looks like trouble to me.

We'd better get back there and find out about it.

The way I look at it, we get together on this thing.

We got about 30 hands among us.

We arm 'em all, we got plenty of men to run this fella down.

Well, now what are you doing here, Marshal?

Well, Jake, I understand you got stuck for about six of those Bar-S horses, huh?

I'll get my money back, Marshal.

How you plan on doing that?

We'll handle this.

Yeah.

Between you and Emmitt here, you got about 30 riders.

You plan to spread 'em out over the countryside

and run this man down. Is that it?

You're right smart, Marshal. That's just how we intend to do it.

Yeah. Then you're gonna string him up to the nearest tree, huh?

Well, he deserves it, don't he?

That's lynch law, Jake. I'm here to stop that.

Well, I'm here to stop horse stealing, and I'll do it any way I can!

I want you men to listen to me a minute.

Yeah, listen to you talk us out of doing our duty.

No! If you men won't come with me, I'll do it myself.

I don't need a bunch of cowards to help me hang a thief!

All right, Jake, we don't need that kind of talk.

We're all coming.

All right, Marshal.

We're gonna catch us a thief.

And don't you try to stop us.

Jake, I've known you a good many years.

You too, Emmitt.

You men have always lived inside the law.

But if you go out and do something like this,

and you're gonna stand to lose everything you ever worked for,

maybe a whole lot more.

Now, are you willing to go out and take that kind of chance?

I came here as a friend to ask you a favor.

I want you to give me one week to find this man on my own.

What for? What you gonna do?

You'll have to leave that up to me.

You're not making much sense, Marshal.

One week. That's all I'm asking. How 'bout it?

Well... it's all right by me,

as long as I get my money back.

All right, Marshal. We'll give you one week,

but no more.

How 'bout you, Deesha?

Well, these men know better than I do, Marshal.

All I want is the rest of my horses.

Well, I can't guarantee anything. This is a long chance.

Sure, I understand.

Jake, how 'bout you?

Well, you won't get nowhere, but...

go ahead.

Thanks.

Mr. Dillon?

Hmm?

What are you gonna do?

Now, Chester...

here's $20.

$20? What for?

I'll tell you, I want you to get to be very good friends with Deesha.

Take him out, get him drunk, anything you have to do.

But keep him out of the way.

Why?

Well, 'cause there are only two horses left to sell, right?

Yeah, yeah. That's the way it figures.

If they're sold, I want to be the first one to hear about it.

So I want you to stay with him.

Well, I guess I don't understand what you got in mind.

Just stay with him. And particularly, keep him away from the stable.

Away from the stable. Why?

Because Slim Trent would probably be the first one to hear about it

if those horses were sold, wouldn't he?

All right, and I want to hear about it right after he does.

Oh. Oh.

Well, you want me to get started with Deesha right away?

Might as well.

If you run out of money, let me know.

Oh. Heh.

I think I'm gonna like this job, Mr. Dillon.

Get... Get out of there!

Well... here, Deesha, got you a fresh one.

Oh, thank you. Thank you, Chester.

Ain't you... Ain't you having any whiskey?

No, no, no, no.

This beer's good enough for me.

Chester, you've been buying me liquor for two days.

Well, it gives me pleasure to see a fella enjoying himself.

Yeah, but you shouldn't be spending all your money on me.

Well, I won a little money gamblin'.

I figured we might as well be enjoying it as give it back

to the payroll dealer.

You're a good friend, Chester.

Yeah, well, it's nothin'.

Well, it's a whole lot, Chester.

A whole lot.

Say, I'd better be getting back to that stable.

I ain't looked after my horses in two whole days.

Well, Deesha, let's...

Let's have us just one more last drink.

Old Slim Trent can take care of them horses for ya.

Don't you worry none about that.

Hello, Doc. Help yourself.

Deesha. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank Chester. He's buying.

Chester's buying?

Well, don't be so surprised.

I brought drinks before.

Before the flood, you mean.

Where you gettin' your money?

Well, if it's any business of yours, I won it.

Oh. Hank, let me have a glass here.

I'm not gonna miss a chance like this.

You won it?

I ain't seen you miss a chance for a free drink in 20 years.

You ain't known me 20 years.

Well, that's true. I'm just lucky, I guess.

Well, let me tell you... Hey, wait a minute.

Before... Before you fellas hang a claw into one another,

what do you say we get something to eat, huh?

I mean, all this liquor's about to blind me.

Yeah, we can go over to Delmonico's.

You can come along too if you want to.

No, no. I'll stay here and guard your bottle for ya.

Oh, yeah.

Don't worry about it.

I'll get us another come nightfall.

Chester, you sure make it easy for a man to go to the dogs.

So long, Doc.

So long, Deesha.

Deesha!

Howdy.

What do you want, young fella?

I've got three horses I'd like to stable here for a few days, Mister.

I can take 'em. Put 'em in those rear stalls there.

- I'll throw some hay down for 'em later. - Well, thank you.

I've got mine tied up out front.

Hey, hey, wait a minute, wait a minute.

What's the matter?

Where'd you get these horses, Mister?

I just bought 'em, why?

What, something wrong, Mister?

Both branded Bar-S, huh?

You act like I stole 'em.

Oh, no. You didn't steal 'em.

Well, then what's wrong?

Oh, nothin'. Nothin' at all.

You wait right here. I'll be back directly.

Yeah, but...

I hope he's still there, Slim.

I told him to wait.

That news is gonna break his heart, Marshal.

Yeah. I don't know if a plain cowboy

can afford a couple of extra horses these days.

Me, either, as far as that goes.

Well, this is what I've been waitin' for.

That's him, Marshal.

Marshal? What'd I do wrong?

What's your name, fella?

Ed Harper. If it's something about them horses, you're wrong.

I bought them animals fair and honest.

I know that you did, but they're stolen horses just the same.

- No. - Yeah, I'm afraid so.

Who sold 'em to you?

I don't know. I mean, I don't know his name.

He's a thin, hawk-faced fella.

That's him. That's the man.

I run into him out on the prairie, about 30 miles west of here.

I sure didn't know there was anything wrong.

How much did you pay for them?

$20 apiece.

That's all I had, and he seemed in a hurry to get rid of 'em.

I might have knowed.

How'd you like to get your money back?

Sure, Marshal. Of course I would.

All right. Now I just sent for the man that those horses were stolen from.

He'll be along here directly.

Now when he gets here, I want you to tell him

that you paid $90 apiece for 'em.

$90 apiece?

Tell you had a year's wages on ya.

Tell him you got drunk... Anything you want to.

I don't understand. If I paid $20 for 'em, you...

You gonna help me out or not?

Yeah, if that's how I'm gonna get my money back,

I'll do it.

What'd you want us for, Mr. Dillon?

We were sleeping off our dinner out in the back of that Long Branch.

Needed it too.

Deesha, this is Ed Harper here.

- Harper. - Howdy.

Harper's the man who bought the last of your stolen horses here.

Oh, he did? Say, that's fine.

Of course, I'm sorry for you, Harper.

What'd you pay for 'em?

$90.

$90?

Kind of looks like you got taken.

I paid $90 apiece.

A piece? You must be crazy!

Yeah, I guess I was.

See, I got paid off my job, and I'd been out drinking and...

Oh. That's too bad, Harper. I'm sorry about it.

So am I.

Well, Deesha, now that you got your horses back,

what do you figure on doing?

I've heard up in the Dakota territory,

horses bring near twice what they do here.

Yeah. That's right. I've heard that myself.

Yeah. So I guess I'll pack up and take 'em up there.

I'll go get my belongings.

I'll be back for them horses, Slim.

Thanks for the good time, Chester.

Oh... - Bye. - So long.

Some fine way you've got of getting my money back, Marshal.

Yeah, what's going on here?

You just sit tight, both of you.

I'll let you know how this turns out.

Is he always like that?

Ever since I've known him.

I'll be doggone.

Man: What's the matter, Deesha?

What are we stopping here for? Why don't we go on in?

Let's give 'em a minute, see what they do.

Man: Deesha, wait a minute! Wait, no!

You're hurt bad, Deesha.

I don't care.

Just so I killed him.

You killed him, all right.

Good.

That was your partner, huh?

The one that did the selling?

He tried to cheat me.

He tried to tell me that cowboy Harper

only give him $20 apiece for...

for them last two horses.

He was right. I told that cowboy to say that he paid $90 for 'em.

You... You what?

What were you going to do?

You and your partner split up the money

and then go sell the horses again?

We sold them twice already.

Ain't gonna sell 'em no more.

Ain't gonna do nothing.

You can't even put us in jail, Marshal.

Smart as you are.

I'm gonna die now.

I can feel it coming.

He sure was right about that, Mr. Dillon.

You can't very well put dead men in jail.