Original subtitles

Starring James Arness as Matt Dillon.

How's she doing today, Bud?

Ah, worse than ever.

This is the poorest excuse for a milk cow I ever seen.

'Tain't worth getting a pail dirty for.

Just about enough for coffee.

Well, it ain't the cow's fault, Bud.

What she needs is some good green grass.

Yeah, if it'd only rain.

I could sure use a bucketful of water now.

I'll see what we can spare.

Yee-ha! Yah!

What's the matter... You trying to kill somebody?

If I was, you'd be dead.

What's this, a joke or something?

What are you people doing out here?

We own this place. We're farming it!

You don't belong on this prairie.

Why ain't you living in town?

What business is yours where we're living?

Nesters, ranchers, whatever you call yourselves...

It's people like you that are ruining this land.

Who are you, mister?

Name's Abe Blocker.

That mean anything to you?

No, it doesn't, but you got no right

to come around here shooting and threatening.

How long you been here?

About a month.

What's that got to do with it?

I should've smelled you out before.

I must be getting old.

We ain't done you no harm; we never even seen you before.

You live within 20 miles of me, don't you?!

That's harm enough!

What are you talking about?

I'm talking about you leaving this place.

Get out of here, go on back east where you belong,

but get out of here!

Quit spoiling this land.

This country don't belong to you.

It belongs to the Indians and the buffalo and men like me.

I got a right to be here 'cause I've earned it.

He's crazy, Bud.

I was here fighting, scratching, and living

before you two were born.

I've rode this country, I've walked all over it, I know it...

Even to the mountains back west.

I know it like you know your mother's face,

and now you people come out here

putting miserable sores all over it

with your shacks and your wagons and your ranches and farms.

I reckon you just got to be burnt out

'cause you ain't nothin' but poison here.

Got no right to talk like that.

Right?

I got 60 years of right.

Now, I'm warning you, young fella,

and I'm going to come back here to see how smart you are...

and don't be giving her no gun when the time comes.

I ain't never killed no woman...

but I ain't gonna let one kill me either.

Hyah!

Come back here!

You ain't gonna get away with this.

There's something wrong with that man.

There's plenty wrong.

He can't run us off this place.

We own it fair and legal.

No, that ain't what I mean, Bud.

There's something wrong in his head.

He ain't natural.

Oh, Bud, I'm scared.

Now, now.

He's only bluffing.

But, by golly, I am gonna take to carrying a rifle.

Oh, Bud.

That's it, Marshal.

Now, you'll do better next time.

You're gonna show him.

You know, Dan, sometimes I get the feeling

maybe you're on his side.

No, no, the proprietor never takes sides.

That's bad business.

Yeah, you might get hit over the head with a cue

once in a while, too.

You threatening me, Mr. Jonas?

Me threat...? Don't be silly.

But if you don't want to get hit over the head...

Do you hear that, Marshal? You hear what he's saying?

Ah, you can't pay any attention to him, Dan.

He's just a bad loser.

Bad loser? Who's losing?

- You just watch this. - Marshal Dillon.

Oh, confound it, what's the matter with you?

Well, hello, Bud.

I've been threatened by some crazy man.

Are you calling me crazy?

Now hold on, Mr. Jonas, you got things mixed up here.

What'd you do... hire that man to come in here like that?

Bud Groves, Mr. Jonas.

How do, Mr. Jonas?

I'm sorry if I done something wrong.

Now, what could you do wrong, son?

Except you probably cost me the game.

What could I do for you, Bud?

Like I said, Marshal, I been threatened by some crazy man.

He said if we didn't leave our place, he's gonna shoot us.

Crazy man... well, who is he?

His name is Abe Blocker, and he said he'd shoot us

if we didn't leave our place.

Abe Blocker?!

That's a friend of yours, ain't it, Marshal?

Well, he always has been.

That doesn't sound like Abe.

Well, ask Mary; she's right outside in the wagon.

You sure you understood him right?

Oh, he meant it, Marshal; I know he did.

All right, let's go talk to her.

Well, not 'fore you finish the game, you don't.

Well, sorry, Mr. Jonas.

That's all right; I'll, I'll play Mr. Jonas.

Good. You're getting off easy.

Good. It'll be even more of a pleasure beating you.

Uh, Matt's shot?

No, it wasn't Matt's shot and it ain't your shot.

It's my shot.

Yee-ha! Yah!

Hey, Matt!

Now, you sure got a strange way of greeting a man, Abe.

I didn't hit you, did I?

No. I'm grateful to you.

I always like to get the drop on a man.

You don't have to get the drop on me, Abe.

Didn't know it was you at first.

I wanted to be sure.

Well, you gonna ask me up to your place?

I'm dying of thirst.

Tell you what I'll do... make you some herb tea, Indian style.

That'll quench your thirst

and thin your blood at the same time, huh?

Yes, sir, Matt,

you're gonna say this is about the best stuff

you ever drunk in your whole life.

Eh, your word's good enough for me.

Most anything's good for you city people,

living the way you do...

All mashed up together, walking around on everybody's feet,

pushing and shoving.

I declare, Matt, I'd rather live in an ant hill.

You know, you're right about this, Abe.

Now, that's really good stuff.

You couldn't get anything like that in Dodge City.

You can't get nothing in Dodge City

but some poison and doctors' pills.

Uh... hey, Matt...

you're gonna stay here and set

and have supper with me, ain't you?

Sounds mighty good.

We got meat in the camp.

I shot on a young antelope at daybreak.

There it is.

Fine.

Wild meat.

It ain't like them tame cattle

they're overrunning and ruining this country with.

Oh, I don't know, now, Abe.

I've had some pretty good beef in my time, too.

You know that's like chawing on sawdust.

Sets in your stomach like a ball of lead.

Wild meat... that's different.

You can eat all you want of it.

You know something, Matt?

I've been starved for days and days and then found meat

and I've set and eat it all night long.

You do it with them tame cattle, you'll swell up and die.

Abe, you sure are a loner.

Abe, I'd like to ask you a question.

Yeah?

Did you ride over to Bud Grove's place

and tell him he'd have to move on or you'll shoot him?

You mean them people that live 20 miles east of here?

Matt...

out here, in the early '30s,

I helped Bill Bent build his fort.

Then I took myself up into the high Rocky Mountains,

hunting and trapping

and trying to save my hair from the Blackfeet.

Every year, I used to take my pack of beaver

up to them big rendezvous

with the traders and the fur companies

up on the Platte River down at Brown's Hole.

Bought myself a few supplies and gambled and I drunk up the rest,

and then I'd take myself up the mountains again,

or maybe for a season on the Siskadee River.

Matt... it was all here then,

yes, sir, all here and it was all up in the mountains, too.

Millions of buffalo, deer, and antelope.

There was, there was wolves to keep 'em smart

and ducks and geese, just about every kind

of good-eating bird that a man would know.

A man had an appetite in those days.

He didn't have no trouble keeping his belly full.

Of course they was Indians, but they only took what they needed.

They didn't kill everything in sight;

they didn't ruin the land.

Yes, sir, Matt, it was all here.

It was all there.

And you know something?

I was right smack-dab there with it, too.

Yeah, Abe, those must have been great days.

I'd like to have seen that myself.

But, you know, Abe...

things change.

They got to.

No, they don't got to change, Matt.

Not if there's enough men to stand up against 'em.

Well, that's just the trouble, Abe.

There aren't enough men.

Seems like there's more men trying to change things

these days than there is trying to stop 'em.

Just kind of a law.

No, ain't no law.

Ain't no law for old Abe Blocker.

This is my country, it belongs to me,

and it don't belong to no sniveling dirt farmer

or no hog raiser or no cattleman or rancher.

Well, where were they

when a man could go for a whole winter out here

without seeing another white skin?

Those times are gone, Abe.

They ain't gone, Matt.

No, sir, they...

Gosh, I reckon we'd better start setting to eat.

I, I'm gonna put this meat on the fire.

Lookit.

Then I'm gonna show you

where I got a jug of mountain lightning.

I made it myself.

It's the best whiskey you ever drunk.

Now, you...

you think you're man enough, Mr. Dillon?

I'll sure try, Abe.

Yes, sir, we're gonna eat tonight.

We're gonna eat just like a couple of mountain men

that just got off the trail.

Yee-ah! Let's make the coyotes happy tonight, Matt.

Mm-hm. Want some more?

Thank you.

Every man helps himself.

Abe, that is good meat.

Mm, it's wild meat.

I tell you, it'll never hurt you.

You know, I've sit down and ate seven, eight pounds

of buffalo meat, one setting?

Sleep a few hours,

get up and eat seven, eight pounds more,

all over again.

Ah, you know something?

I ain't never seen a sick hunter,

less'n it was from lead or liquor.

Yeah, they must have been great times, Abe.

But, you know, you got to give it a chance.

Life can be pretty good in these times, too, you know.

The whiskey of mine ain't too strong for you, is it, Matt?

Abe, I've known you a long time.

I've never seen you like this before, though.

I mean, running around the countryside,

threatening to shoot people and all.

Matt...

let me ask you something.

Did you ever squat down on a little knoll somewhere

and watch a valley of bluestem grass

under a gentle breeze?

Yes, sir, looks like wind on water.

Just a-ripplin' and a-movin'

for as long as you want to set there and watch it.

Sure, Abe, but what's that got to do

with what I'm talking about?

Well, you take that same pretty valley.

You put some cussed, ugly shacks on it,

plow it up all around,

and graze some stinking sheep on it, and what have you got?

You got yourself a few acres of hell, that's what you got.

That's what's gonna happen to this whole country if...

if somebody don't stop 'em.

They can't stop 'em, Abe. That's the point.

This is new country now... New people, new laws, new ways.

New people?

What would they know?

What would they know about what it was like?

Why, when I was a young fellow,

out here years ago, in the summertime,

I used to ride up into the high mountains...

up out of the cactus and greasewood country,

up past the cedars and piñons,

up to them tall stands of yellow pine.

Tall? Tall enough to reach up

and shake hands with the Creator.

And there was always little patches of snow

laying around on the ground.

Summertime.

In the winter, I...

I used to come down on the prairie.

I had me a cave, Matt.

And I had me a woman.

Is that so?

Well, you never mentioned that you had a wife before, Abe.

Mm-hmm.

Had me a son, too.

A son?

Matt, when I first come out in this country,

I never asked no man the way.

And when I took myself a woman, I took her quick-like.

I didn't do no studying on it.

And I kept her.

I kept her the best way that I knowed how.

She was a fine woman.

Fair and flowering.

Her name was...

her name was Sana.

Sana.

Well, that sounds like a Blackfoot name.

Mm-hmm.

Her folks was good to me.

I-I never done them no harm, they never done me no harm.

But... one day, we left... Me and Sana... and...

we found us this here cave.

It was up where the north fork runs

into the main water of the Cimarron,

high on the side of a hill,

all growed over with the yellow poplar and beech.

There was a spring there.

A spring flowing sweet and fresh.

Must have been a good home, Abe.

For three years, it was the finest home I ever knowed.

No, there wasn't nothing that Sana couldn't do,

from making moccasins to... to telling ghost stories.

And there was always meat on the fire.

Sana.

Yeah.

Matt, she was small-footed,

and clean-limbed, trim in figure,

and... and a face...

she had a face like the quintessence

of feminine loveliness, and...

you know, every night, I...

I see that face.

I reckon I'm gonna keep on seeing it...

till the last day that I live.

Sana.

She was always happy and laughing.

She sang like a lark from daylight to dark.

Must have been a real woman.

Finest woman God ever put a breath of life into.

Then...

then she got with child, and...

when it come time for the birthing, I...

I wanted to get a woman from the tribe,

but Sana... Sana said no.

She said, no, it was our child,

and we was gonna see it born alone.

Well, it got born, all right.

It was a boy,

our son.

It was born at daybreak,

and by night, it...

died.

Sana, the mother,

sh-she died about an, an hour later.

And I tell you, Matt, all at once,

that cave got to be the most lonesomest place

in the whole wide world.

Then the wind come up and...

it brought some dark clouds and rain with it.

And I just stood there staring

right into the black face of an empty nothingness.

And all of a sudden, my blood got cold.

And it ain't never got warm since.

I reckon it never will.

Mm-hmm.

I buried 'em...

right outside.

Ain't been back since.

But I'm going.

Day I smell death, I'm going...

The day I smell death on old Abe Blocker,

I'm gonna get back there if I... if I have to claw my way.

And... I'm just gonna lay down beside 'em.

And there we'll be,

the three of us...

lost and alone...

forever.

Hi, Marshal.

Hi.

It's a pleasure to see you.

Won't you have a cup of coffee?

Well, no, thanks.

I got to be heading back on into town.

Well, what you doing out this way?

Well, I spent the night over at Abe Blocker's place.

Abe Blocker's place?

Well, I hope you pounded some sense into his head.

I tried. I tried real hard.

Don't sound like you made much headway.

Well, it's a funny thing.

Abe's a fine man. He always has been.

But it seems like something's happened to him.

Like he's cracked a little or something.

I couldn't get through to him at all.

The man is a danger, Marshal.

He sure is.

I'm afraid you're right.

Why don't you jail him?

Well, I can't do that till he's broken some law.

You mean you have to wait for him to kill somebody

to jail him, is that it?

Yeah, have to wait till he tries, anyway.

Sorry I can't do more for you, but that's about the way it is.

I've warned him, and I've warned him hard.

But it didn't do no good.

Well, I got an idea. Why don't you, uh...

Why don't you just pack up your stuff

and come on back to Dodge for a while?

Yes. Please, Bud.

No, no.

No man's running me off my place.

I'm here, and I'm staying here.

I don't want no argument about it.

Well, all right, but keep your eyes open,

and keep a rifle handy, too.

Good luck.

Bye, Marshal.

Kitty.

Why, no, don't tell me you can remember my name.

Well, I had to go out to Abe Blocker's,

and I stayed there all night.

Is something wrong with Abe?

Well, he's got me worried, Kitty.

Seems like he's taken it on himself

to stop the growth of civilization.

Hm.

Well, in some ways, I got to side with him.

Well, sure, but not when it comes to killing people.

Well, he hasn't killed anybody, has he?

No, not yet, but he's threatened to.

And the frame of mind he's in, anything can happen.

Well, that man's lived alone too long.

Yeah, I think you're right.

He never comes into town.

I don't think I've seen Abe Blocker

more than three times in my whole life.

Howdy, ma'am.

Joe.

There's trouble, Marshal; bad trouble.

What is it, Joe?

I was riding into town from up Rock Canyon way,

and I come past those new people's place... the Groves.

The Groves... what about 'em?

There was a massacre. They're both dead.

Oh, no!

The Indians.

I didn't stay to bury 'em.

What makes you think it was Indians?

Well, the burned wagon and both of 'em scalped.

I better get Quint Asper.

He'll know if it was Indians.

Thanks, Joe.

Give me a beer.

Sam, let's have a beer here.

That's bad. Terribly bad.

Scalped. Both of 'em.

Look at here...

Look at the gunshot wound on the woman...

There's powder burns all around it.

Yeah, he must have shot her to keep her from being captured.

Well, do you suppose it could have been Indians?

Let's have a look around first.

There's a lot of hoofprints around here,

but none of 'em look like Indian ponies.

Well, Indians'll ride any kind of animal these days, Matt.

Yeah, and they're using rifles mostly now, too.

Quint.

What'd you find?

Take a look.

That's a moccasin print.

There's another one, almost too light to see.

Yeah.

I figure this is where he got off his horse.

He had all his weight on the foot.

That cowboy found the bodies,

just about wiped out all these tracks, walking around.

Yeah.

That's a mighty big-footed Indian, Matt.

I know.

Your friend Abe Blocker...

His foot about that size?

Yeah, just about.

I'm sorry, Matt.

You want me to go with you?

No.

No, thanks, Quint.

I didn't figure you would.

Look, why don't you get going?

I'll take care of things here.

Good.

Abe? Abe!

Yee-ah!

Yah!

Abe! Abe Blocker!

It's Matt Dillon!

Well, he can't be gone.

Where would he go?

I know I saw him; these are his tracks here.

♪♪

♪♪

Yee-ah!

Yah!

That man's a ghost.

Yee-ah!

Yah!

You may have beat me for now, Abe...

but I'll be back.

Hmm.

Morning.

Oh.

Hello, Quint.

Did you have a good sleep?

Yeah.

Yeah, fine, I guess.

How about you?

Well, it's past noon.

I didn't ride in here at 4:00 this morning.

Well, I guess you heard what happened then, huh?

Yeah, the boy at the stable told me.

How you feeling?

Well, I'm feeling all right.

I feel like I've been out chasing a ghost.

Gonna start out after him again pretty quick.

I got a feeling you better.

What do you mean?

What time did you lose his trail?

Oh, about noon yesterday, I guess. Why?

He's been busy since then.

You don't mean he's killed somebody else...

You know Jim Kelly?

You mean the one who lives out west of here, by the butte?

He did live out near the butte. He's dead now.

Hired hand rode into town this morning.

Description of the killer fits Abe Blocker exactly.

Well, how come Abe didn't kill the hired man?

He was hiding behind a tree.

He ain't the most man I ever met.

Folks in town don't know you're back yet, Matt,

but they're pretty worked up about Blocker.

Yeah, I suppose they are.

Why don't we get some breakfast?

All right.

I'll meet you over there as soon as I wash up.

Steak and eggs all right?

Sounds good.

Marshal!

Well, hello, Jake.

What are you doing in town?

I'd like to ask you that question.

Now, what does that mean?

This Abe Blocker's an old friend of yours, ain't he?

Yeah.

Well, word travels fast, Marshal.

First, it was that new nester couple,

last night, it was Jim Kelly, this morning, it was Pete Bryce.

We come by his place not two hours ago.

Pete Bryce?!

That's right.

Shot in the head, and his cabin burned down.

Well, what makes you think it wasn't Indians?

Oh, now, Marshal, I know it wasn't Indians,

and you know it wasn't Indians.

The man's gone crazy, Marshal.

We gotta hunt him down, just like we would a rabid wolf.

Now, Jake, I've been out after Abe for three days,

and I'm just about to head out again.

You leave it up to me.

You better hurry it up.

There's been too much of this going on already.

I'll get him, but you sit tight.

Maybe I will... for a little while.

Come on, let's go.

Like I said, Matt,

people are getting pretty worked up about Abe Blocker.

Yeah.

Well, I gotta head out after him again right away.

I could sure use some help, Quint.

I'll go along with you.

Good. Get my horse shoed.

I'll be down in a little bit.

All right.

Well... can a working man still buy a beer in here?

I keep thinking I'm running a liquor palace,

but for you, I'll make an exception.

Sam, will you bring the marshal a beer?

Yes, ma'am.

What's the latest on Abe Blocker?

Well, as soon as Quint Asper gets through

reshoeing my horse, Kitty,

I'm gonna start out after him again.

It's a bad business.

Yeah, it really is.

Everyone to the bar. Drinks on me.

Set 'em up, barkeep.

Well, I never heard of Emmett Bowers buying drinks before.

Wonder what he's celebrating.

Drink up, men. One's all you get.

We're riding in 25 minutes.

It's about time, too.

They're forming a posse.

Excuse me, Kitty.

Emmett. Sam.

Well, if it ain't the marshal.

Hello, Marshal.

Who are you going after?

You know who we're going after, and you ain't gonna stop us.

Folks hereabout can take just so much.

They got a right to protect themselves

if the law won't do it.

Emmett, I've been out after Abe for three days,

and I'm just about to head out again.

Well, maybe he's too slick for you, Marshal.

Meaning no offense, but you got to admit,

a bunch of men got a better chance

of getting him then just one.

Sam's right.

There ain't no arguing it.

Marshal Dillon?

- Yeah. - Marshall, I've been looking for you.

My name's Till Gant.

Say, don't you have a homestead out near Joe Clark's place?

That's right, and Joe Clark's the one

I come to tell the marshal about.

What about him?

He's been murdered and his place burned to ground.

Another one.

Abe Blocker.

Now what do you say, Marshal?

Just hold on a minute. Let's get the straight of this.

What happened?

Well, I was near Clark's place when I seen the smoke coming up,

so I rode over there, and I seen this man riding off.

Did you get a look at him, Gant?

Well, he was a big fella,

dressed in buckskins, it looked like.

Had a white beard.

Abe Blocker.

What'd I tell you?

And Joe was dead when you got there?

Yes, he was shot through the heart from real close.

We've heard enough, men.

Get your horses.

We'll meet on the edge of town.

Well, I can't blame those men, Kitty.

Abe's got to be stopped any way possible.

Are you going with 'em?

Yeah, I sure am. I'll see you later.

Emmett, Sam.

Thought maybe you could use a couple extra hands.

All we can get.

Now what?

You ain't stopping this posse, Marshal.

I'm not trying to stop it, Emmett.

There's something I think you men ought to know.

We know all we need to know, Marshal.

Now, listen to me, all of you:

I know how you feel about Abe Blocker,

and I feel the same way.

He's got to be stopped.

But there's something you have to know

and that is that he's no ordinary man.

I've been out there tracking him for three days and I know.

He's more of a ghost than he is a man.

I had the feeling he could've killed me out there easy,

anytime he wanted to.

Quint, here, and I are going out tracking him, and I think

it'd be a whole lot better if the rest of you stayed here.

Can't you see why?

All you men milling around out there

are just gonna be so many targets for Abe.

He could make mincemeat out of this posse, if he wants to.

This is his game, and he's better at it

than any of us ever thought of being.

No, Marshal, we're going.

He can't kill all of us, Marshal.

Be like shooting at him with a shotgun.

We'll start tracking him from Joe Clark's place.

Let's ride.

You did the best you could, Matt.

Those men don't know what they're getting into.

Hank, you and Pete,

you stay here and get him underground.

The rest of you fan out and look for tracks.

What are your plans, Emmett?

Ever hunt prairie wolf, Marshal?

We'll hunt Abe the same way.

We'll pick up his trail,

I'll spread the men on both sides of it.

Then when we catch up with him, we'll surround him,

make a big circle.

Easiest thing in the world.

Figure we'll have his hide by sundown.

Don't suppose any point

in trying to talk you men out of it.

Ain't no use at all.

Emmett knows what he's doing.

You had your chance at him, Marshal, now it's ours.

Here's his trail! I found it!

♪♪

Them tracks are getting mighty fresh, Emmett.

It's almost like he's trying to let us catch up with him

a-purpose, ain't it?

Yeah, maybe he wants to give himself up.

That he should. Look!

That's him!

He's in them rocks!

Ride out and form a circle!

Ride out and form a circle!

They're gonna surround him, Matt.

Yeah, they're hoping to.

Yee-ha!

Dead?

Both of 'em.

You haven't been much help, Marshal.

You nor Quint either.

This is your party so far, Emmett.

What do you mean "my party so far"?

You haven't caught him, have you?

No, doggone it,

but I told 'em to keep looking around.

You know, you keep this up, you're liable

to get all these men killed.

Catch up to their horses, will you?

Let's take a look around on our own, Quint.

Marshal! Marshal!

I seen him, Marshal.

I got hit, but I got a good shot at him... my last one.

Come mighty close.

I hollered over to the camp, but...

I guess nobody heard me.

Where was he?

Up in the hills, but he rode off.

How about your leg?

Could be worse.

Be right back.

Matt.

That fella Gant's a better shot than he thought he was.

Oh, that's a lot of blood.

He's hurt bad.

Well, we won't have any trouble tracking him now.

Yeah, Quint, if he's hurt that bad,

there's no need to track him.

What do you mean?

Oh, a place he told me about once...

where he's going the day he smells death on himself.

Well, I'll go back and take care of Gant.

All right.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

Abe.

Abe, it's Matt Dillon.

You can't come in here, Dillon!

Nobody can!

I'm here to help you.

I got myself gut-shot.

Never thought I'd take a bullet from them crazy fools.

Abe, let me do what I can for you and then get some help.

I don't need any help, Dillon.

From nobody!

Abe, you can't stand there and bleed to death.

Matt...

you better start making tracks back to Dodge City.

Abe, don't you know what you've done?

Don't you know I got to take you in?

You're just like the rest of 'em, ain't you?

Them new people.

They wouldn't know what it was like.

They don't belong here.

You don't belong here!

On the prairie or in the mountains.

You don't belong nowhere.

Nowhere! None of you!

Abe, I'm your friend.

But I'm a lawman, too.

And you killed a lot of people.

Hounding me, ruining my land.

Sure, I killed 'em.

I'll kill some more of 'em, too.

I'm gonna get 'em all before I'm through.

Wipe 'em out, destroy 'em.

You're just like the rest of 'em.

No difference.

I'm gonna get me one more...

♪♪

Go away, Matt.

You don't belong here.

None of you do.

This is my land.

It's my country.

Go away, Matt.