Original subtitles

Starring James Arness as Matt Dillon.

♪♪

♪♪

Well, howdy.

Something I can do for you?

Is anybody else in the house except you?

Huh, no... my grandson is over there...

Hey, what are you gonna do?

Please, please, boy.

Don't bark, don't bark.

Shh.

Shh. Shh.

You stay here, Timmy.

Easy, easy, boy.

Come on, shh, easy, boy.

That's it. Easy.

Easy, easy...

Don't let on, but there's someone in the barn.

What makes you think that?

I heard a horse in there.

It ain't one of ours, either.

I can tell by the way he's acting, too.

All right.

Stay here, Timmy.

All right, come out of there.

Get your hands in the air.

I was standing there studying

whether to just haul off and shoot you

or talk first.

I'm kind of a slow thinker.

You didn't give me time to make up my mind.

Timmy, come here.

You're the law, ain't you?

You're probably figuring on trying to take me in

for killing that feller in there,

and I ain't fixin' to let you,

'cause I didn't have a thing in the world to do with it.

Timmy, you know this man? Did you ever see him before?

No, sir, I haven't.

That ain't the man that did the shooting.

When did you get here?

Oh, about a hour ago.

I couldn't raise nobody,

and I took a look in there and seen what had happened.

That old feller in there, uh...

he kin of yor'n, was he?

My grandpa.

Ah, well, that's sure too bad, sonny, I...

It's awful.

Marshal...

that man took the wagon.

Are you sure?

Well, it's gone.

Bit and the team, too.

Probably trying to get a good head start

without anybody following him.

What are we gonna do, Marshal?

Tim...

Doc will be here pretty soon.

We'll bury your grandpa

and then Doc will take you over to your cousin's.

In the meantime,

maybe there's some chores you can do around here.

Why don't you go milk your cow?

Boy get a pretty good look at that feller, did he?

Good enough to identify him

from the bulletin I got in the office.

Man was wanted in El Paso; said he was heading for Dodge.

I guess he bypassed us.

He's heading for Wyoming.

What makes you so sure?

Well, that's the only thing that makes sense

for a feller on the run that-a way.

Once a man reaches them badlands,

the best possum hound in Missouri

couldn't smell him out.

Sounds like you know that country pretty good.

Like my own ma's cooking.

Well, Marshal,

looks like you got yourself a real bull to rassle.

You want me to ride along with you?

Like I say, I know that country.

I could use a good man.

That'll do her, then.

I'll help you run him down if it takes us a year to do it.

And I'll even shake on that.

All right.

Once a Haggen shakes on something,

it's just like swearing on the book.

Haggen?!

Festus Haggen.

There's quite a passel of us around.

Well, now, it just so happens

that the man on that wanted poster

was named Haggen, Black Jack Haggen.

He wouldn't be any kin of yours, would he?

That's your feller, all right, Marshal...

It's my uncle Jack.

I been a-trailin' him for pert near two months now.

What are you tailing him for?

'Cause I aim to catch him

and put a bullet through his head.

Might be a bigger joke on the kinfolk, though,

if I was to help bring Uncle Jack in to get him hung.

They'd just never get over it

if I was to do a thing like that.

Well, let's go get him, Marshal.

All right, Festus.

First we got a man to bury.

♪♪

♪♪

Festus!

Up here!

Stout as this water is,

we don't need no coffee in it.

Ah, it'll give it a little color anyway.

You know, tomorrow morning,

we're gonna have to backtrack that three miles

and take that other fork.

Marshal, there just ain't no reason

for all this peering and plodding and backtracking,

like I might have said before.

You did, several times.

Well, gol-dang it, then I'll say it again.

What we'd ought to be doing is heading due north.

When the wagon tracks keep heading

further and further east, huh?

I told you,

they's 50 miles of badlands right ahead of us.

Now, a horse can make it easy, but a wagon can't,

and the minute he gets around them,

he's gonna head right straight back west.

Maybe, but it's still just a guess.

Look, Marshal,

I know where he's a-headin',

and I know right where he's gonna cross the Platte,

and I know the country between here and there,

because I rode it just two year ago

with-with my brother Jeff.

We was looking for Uncle Jack then,

to give him a message from Pa.

Festus, it's still the safer bet to follow the wagon tracks.

All right,

we keep on like we been a-doin',

and he'll get to Wyoming, take hisself a homestead

and have a crop growed 'fore we catch up with him.

Got any other brothers besides Jeff?

Ain't got him no more.

How come?

Well, old Jeff,

he rode out on his own one morning

to earn hisself a little spending money.

And I don't know, to this day,

what that stagecoach guard had his shotgun loaded with,

but it sure did give old Jeff a bad illness.

Just didn't even hardly linger none,

you might say.

You the only honest Haggen?

Who said I was honest, Marshal?

Well, you did.

Leastwise, you said you always keep your word

when you shake on it.

That's a different thing.

Coffee's done.

You want some?

- Here. - Thanks.

♪♪

Folks sure do get up early around these parts.

Well, some folks have to work for a living, you know.

That ain't part of the Haggen nature... working.

Well, what is part of the Haggen nature?

Oh, scrapping, clawing,

and scratching mostly.

You know, when I was born,

I had real big ears.

Me and Fergus both did.

Fergus? Who's that?

My twin brother.

He died... two months ago.

Two months ago?

Wouldn't that be about the same time

you started tracking down your uncle?

Yeah.

Yeah, that's right.

Well, anyway, when I was born,

I had them big ears.

Not that they ain't big now,

but they was bigger then.

Pa put me down on the ground

and he said, "Let's see if he's gonna kick like a mule

or run like a rabbit."

What did you do?

I bit him, that's what I done.

Bit him right on the ankle.

Pa, he just like to died laughing.

He said, "Well, that young'un's a Haggen all right...

there ain't no doubt about that."

You were, uh, born with a full set of teeth, huh?

No, sir, Marshal.

If I was to tell you that, I'd be lying.

Took me pert near a half hour

to grow a set of teeth.

You, uh... you Haggens are

a pretty close-knit family, aren't you?

Just like bees at swarming time.

And yet here you are, out on the prairie,

helping me track down your own uncle.

I got reason.

Plenty of reason.

Could be.

If you are out here to help.

Just what do you mean by that?

Well, you tell me you Haggens stick together,

and I believe you.

Maybe you're sticking together

by one of you staying behind

to help the other one get away.

That the way you got it figured, Marshal?

Just a guess.

Turn around.

That wasn't real smart of you,

calling me that way,

with your back turned

and your gun over there on that log.

Well, maybe it wasn't too smart, but I guessed right.

You guessed wrong.

I told you when I shook on something,

I'd stand by it.

Didn't I?

Could've changed your mind.

I could.

But I'm fixin' to tell you when I do.

If I do.

All right, Festus, that's fair enough.

Here...

better put that back in your gun.

So that's it.

You took my firing pin out.

I knowed you had yourself a ace,

'cause you just don't size up

to do a fool thing like that.

Reckon I better wrap myself around

a plate or two of them beans,

if we're gonna spend all day

crawling around on our hands and knees.

We're not.

What are we gonna do?

We're heading north.

♪♪

Could be, all right.

Could be another one just like him.

Hills around here are full of fellers on the run.

Only one way to find out.

You could scout around here a little bit, Marshal,

and probably collect yourself a whole belt full of scalps.

Now, Festus...

if this is your Uncle Black Jack,

it's my job from here on in.

Why don't you stay here with the horses?

Ride myself saddle-sore

and then miss out on all the fun?

Well, you must be joking, Marshal.

Now, Festus, listen to me:

I want to bring in a prisoner,

not a corpse, you know.

I'm not so sure that that's what you got in mind.

Well, it sure is what I got in mind,

the same thing as you have.

I've saw myself plenty of shootings,

but I ain't ever seen a hanging

in my whole life.

All right. Let's go.

♪♪

That's Dietzer's wagon, all right.

Jack ought to be there.

Like I told you, it takes a Haggen to catch a Haggen.

Well, you just let me do the catching, now, Festus.

He's your setting duck, Marshal,

but I'm gonna circle around in back,

just in case he flies off the water.

Festus...

just remember, I want to take him alive if I can.

Hold it!

Get your hands up.

Who are you?

You're under arrest.

Jack!

Uncle Jack.

Festus!

You better drop your gun now,

or I'm fixin' to shoot a hole

right straight through your head.

You gone crazy?

The man said "under arrest."

You helping the law?

I'm helping myself.

Easy now, Festus.

You always been my favorite nephew, and...

Fergus come home.

You didn't aim for him to, but he did.

And he could still talk, just a little bit.

Now drop the gun.

All right.

Move out a little bit

and give me some elbow room.

Get over against that wagon wheel.

Ah...

Why don't we just string him up right now, Marshal?

It'd sure save us a lot of trouble.

'Cause he's going back to Dodge to stand trial.

Well, he'll talk a jury out of it, sure as sin.

Get your other hand behind you.

You don't know him, Marshal.

When he gets going,

he's smoother'n the nose on a newborn calf.

Hey, if we don't get that bleedin' stopped,

you ain't gonna be taking nobody no place.

I know it.

Well, go get some hot water, girl!

Don't just stand there like a ninny!

Better see if she's got another gun in there.

She done had some hot water, the nitwit.

No guns, though.

Don't look like they been here long,

from the looks of things.

I'm gonna have to cut that sleeve, Marshal,

to get at it.

All right. Hold it.

Stay away from him.

You're pretty young to be traipsing around

with a killer, aren't you?

It ain't none of your business.

And he ain't a killer.

Just went to that farmhouse to get us some food

and a couple of horses.

When he got there,

he already found that fellow laying there dead.

It so happens there was a witness to that killing, miss.

You're lying.

That's just the way he said it'd be

if we didn't get away.

The law's always been down on him,

making things up about him.

See what I told you, Marshal?

He's really smooth.

I ain't got time for turncoats,

traitors,

and them that don't stick by their own flesh and blood.

He ever happen to tell you

he's wanted for three other murders?

That bullet's lodged right in there agin the bone, Marshal.

It's... it's gonna take a sawbone to get it out.

You got a real bad wing on you.

By about tomorrow morning,

you ain't gonna be doing much flying.

I guess you'll have to do it for me.

I wonder what your pa would say now,

if he knew he'd raised a boy

that turned agin his own flesh and blood.

You been mouthing off for ten minutes.

Now shut up and eat.

"Real Haggens," he used to say,

"like three peas in a pod:

Festus, Uncle Jack and Fergus."

You shut up about Fergus.

Can't you get it through your thick head?

He told me what you done to him.

He was lying.

I'm fixin' to kill you, right where you're standing.

Festus...

You open your mouth one more time...

One word, that's all.

I loved that boy like a June morning.

And you went and got him killed.

Led him into a trap, and got him shot...

Shot bad, with his leg broke.

And then, when your horse went lame,

the posse was right on your tail.

Remember what you said to him then, Uncle Jack?

'Tweren't like that.

You told him a lame horse

and a no-good kid with a gimp leg go together.

So you made him swap horses with you.

Left him to get caught and hung,

or to die on the trail while you got away.

No, you're wrong.

But he fooled you, Uncle Jack.

He swore he'd live to walk through his own front door,

and he pert near made her.

He crawled halfway across the front yard when I found him.

Then he told me everything, right before he died.

I thought Fergus got away, I swear.

You say his name one more time,

and I'm gonna empty this gun right into your big belly.

Go on, say it one more time!

Festus, leave him for the law.

Who'd-a thought, when I used to watch you growing up,

that we'd ever be together like this?

Can't be sure of anything in this world.

I never would've thought a boy with as much get up and go

as you had, kowtowing to the law;

doing chores for a one-arm marshal.

I ain't did no chores for him, that I know of.

I remember when you was six years old

and I bought you that pair of boots, up from Jalisco.

Genuine French leather, they was.

First pair of boots you ever owned.

Why, you was so proud of them,

you wouldn't even take 'em off to go to bed at night.

Ah, boots is just boots, and that is a long time ago.

"Gonna grow up to be just like old Uncle Jack."

That's what you used to tell everybody.

I never was real smart when I was a kid.

Now... here you are, taking old Uncle Jack in

to get him hung.

Yeah, that's sure what I'm doing, all right.

For sure.

Now... that marshal, uh...

he ain't in very good shape to take care of himself.

You can get his gun away from him easy.

You just forget about the marshal.

I done give him my word.

A man's word don't mean nothing

unless'n it's given to his own kind!

Get up in there, Blue!

You're a Haggen boy,

and Haggens is always taking care of their own!

Yeah, and some Haggens talk too much.

You wouldn't have to do him no harm.

Just thump him a little, and ride off, you and me.

What about the gal?

Leave her.

They's plenty of girls down there in the panhandle.

Why, we could live good down there.

I could show you ways of living down there

that you ain't never heard of.

Why don't you just show me the back of your head?

Them jaws of yours are flapping to wore me plumb out.

Well, think about it.

For a Haggen boy, you're on the wrong side.

You mean I'm on the wrong end...

of this wagon.

What's your name?

April.

April?!

April Clomley.

Then why don't you just move over a month or two, April,

and let me sit down?

Tired old bones of mine need a little rest.

I hope your bones rot.

Well, I don't think

they's quite as bad off as all that, but...

Hey, hold it!

Pull up that team!

You move this wagon just six inches, and I'll drag you

the rest of the way to Dodge on the end of a rope.

I hate to say this, Marshal, but I've helped bury men

that looked better than you do right now.

I don't doubt it.

I thought it might not stiffen up on me so bad

if I stayed in the saddle,

but it hasn't worked out that way.

Like I told you, that bullet's right in there agin the bone.

It's bound to give you a lot of misery

'fore you're through.

It already is.

I think I'll ride the wagon for a while.

All right.

You be quiet.

♪♪

Jack, no!

What's all the ruckus about?!

I thought you were supposed to be on guard.

Well, I... The water bucket was empty,

and I went to...

I checked on him, though, Marshal,

and I'd have swore he was sound asleep.

Her, too.

Otherwise, I wouldn't have went at all.

All right, the handshake still goes?

Well, of course it does.

You been letting all this talk of his get to you?

Oh, no!

I-I wouldn't believe him on a stack of Bibles.

Why, if I'd have had any notion at all that he...

All right, forget it. No harm done.

Throw some water on him,

and then get him handcuffed to that wagon wheel.

That's where he's gonna stay for the rest of the trip.

He'll have to eat the best way he can.

How long you known Haggen?

Couple of weeks.

Where'd you meet him?

Oh, he come through.

Just come riding through.

Through where?

West Texas, where my pa has a farm.

If you can call it a farm.

You just rode off with him when he left, huh?

This is gonna hurt a little bit.

There.

Yes, I went with him.

So would anybody, if they'd had the kind of life I'd had.

You know, he's wanted

for at least three murders and probably more.

You're saying so don't make it so.

And your refusing to face the facts

doesn't change the facts either.

Maybe you just don't want to know about him.

No, I don't.

You wasn't born in a wagon, was you?

And growed up in a dirt hut with a sod floor?

Worked till you almost dropped, and then was slapped silly

by your pa every time you opened your mouth?

Are you trying to tell me that that's the right kind of life?

There's other right kinds of life besides that, you know.

Maybe so, but I made myself a promise a long time ago:

that if anybody ever looked at me halfway decent,

then I'd be his slave.

And he did.

He treated me just like I was as good as anybody else.

You didn't need a man like him to tell you that.

You may be right.

He probably was a wild one.

He might have even done

some of them things you said he done.

But I still hope he gets loose from you.

And if he does, I'm going with him.

'Cause I made myself a bargain, Marshal.

No use talking to her, Marshal.

Ain't got the sense she was borned with.

Who are you to put in?

Traitor to his own flesh and blood.

You better do yourself some tall thinking, young lady,

while you still got a chance.

What she gonna use to think with?

Ain't got a brain in her head.

Kind of pretty, though, isn't she?

Yeah... if you like that kind.

Fool kid.

Well, at least the horses'll get

a decent feed for a change.

That old man run a real good spread, didn't he?

Yeah.

Yeah, he worked real hard on it.

Him and his grandson both.

What about the boy's folks?

What happened to them?

Died off of small pox a couple years ago.

Well, this time tomorrow,

we'd ought to be in Dodge, things go right.

I sure hope so.

You aiming to leave me chained to this wheel all night?

That's right.

How do you expect a body to eat?

I tell you what.

Let him have one hand free to eat with.

Keep the other hand cuffed to that...

that wheel.

Keep an eye on him real close 'cause he knows this

is his last chance to escape.

He ain't got no chance, Marshal.

I don't figure you're gonna want me for an enemy,

once I get clear of this thing.

You ain't getting clear.

Now, they ain't nobody gonna hang

your old Uncle Jack, you know that.

We're betting they do.

Me and Fergus.

April...

after supper, I want you to put on that pretty dress

I bought you in Cimarron.

Go to work on Festus.

What do you mean?

Don't ask what I mean

like some nilly schoolgirl.

Do whatever you got to do to get him working

on our side.

Oh, I can't, Jack.

You can and you will.

Once they get me to Dodge, they got enough

on me to hang me three times over.

No.

Please, April?

Well, what are you doing out here?

What do you want?

Just to talk.

What about?

Anything.

What do you got that thing on for?

I just felt like it, that's all.

You like it?

Nah.

Ten to one, he stole it off of some dance hall gal.

No, he didn't... he bought it for me in Cimarron.

Well, then he stole the money to buy it with.

Festus, what have you got it in so for him?

Because he killed my brother.

Or just the same as killed him.

Well, I made myself a bargain,

and I can't stand the thought of him getting hung either.

I don't see how you could,

seeing as he's your own flesh and blood.

Well, do you think I like the idea?

It ain't my fault 'cause they want him for murder.

They ain't nothin' I can do about it, neither.

Then help him get away.

Aah!

I don't mean give him a gun.

Just... just give him a horse.

He don't mean no harm to you and the marshal.

All he wants to do is get away.

Of course all he wants to do is get away.

Then give him a horse.

Please?

Are you sure you don't mean two horses?

So you can ride off together to the promised land?

Just the two of you, hand in hand?

Why, Festus, you're jealous.

Because of you?

You better stay in out of that hot sun.

I wasn't going with him.

Honest, I'd much rather stay here with you.

Well, who asked you to?

Now, if that's what you come out here for, forget it.

Ten to one, he sent you out here anyhow.

If you want to talk, go on out there

in the corral and talk to them horses.

They got about the same amount of brains you got.

You had all night... what's the trouble?

They watched me all night, like hawks.

Yeah, but he's gonna miss them keys soon.

You seem awful anxious to get rid of me.

It's your last chance, Jack.

I know that.

Well, go on and take the horses.

They're saddled behind the barn.

Take both of them, so you can't be followed.

Why don't you go on about your business

before they suspect something?

All right, figure it out yourself then.

Well, ain't you gonna say good morning to your old Uncle Jack?

Morning.

You're, uh, you're gonna be sorry

that you didn't get in on the winning side.

Getting hung ain't winning.

Well, lookie here, will you?

Old Uncle Jack's did it again.

The man ain't born yet that can take me.

Jack, take them horses and get out of here.

Shut up.

So, you was gonna watch 'em hang me, was you?

Well, you ain't fit to be a Haggen.

Just like that milksop brother of yours.

Your pa would be the first one to say so.

You ain't gonna watch them hang me

because you ain't gonna live that long.

Marshal!

Put up your hands.

Go on! Put 'em up!

Now, come down off of there.

Don't try to do nothing, Marshal.

You can try one thing.

You can unbuckle that gun belt and drop it.

Real easy.

Now, move aside, Festus.

Kin come last.

♪♪

♪♪

Anybody let an arm like this go for three days

ought to have his head examined.

Well, you're right, Doc.

Man like that ought to have a keeper.

I'm not joking about it.

You could have lost this arm, you know.

But it's gonna be all right, that's what you're saying?

Yeah, that's what I'm saying.

I think it will be all right.

But you know whoever cleaned out that wound

did an awful good job.

Who was it?

That young lady over there.

Put the team in the livery stable.

Thanks, Festus.

Doctor, them fellers you sent come and got the...

come and got him.

Yeah, well, they'll take care of him.

Marshal, uh...

what are you aiming to do about her?

Well, I don't know.

Are you fixin' to throw her in jail?

Well, I don't like to do that.

I don't want her to leave town, though.

Well, I'll be glad to look out after her,

and try to find her a place to stay,

and then I could bring her

over to your office tomorrow,

right after the funeral.

The funeral?

Yes, sir.

Uncle Jack was a Haggen.

I see.

All right, Festus.

Why don't you take her on down the street

to Ma Smalley's boardinghouse.

Maybe she can put her up for the night.

Yes, sir.

She's just a green kid, Marshal.

She didn't know no better.

She's real good at heart.

Festus, what about you?

What are you gonna do?

Well, I just don't rightly know.

I ain't a Haggen no more, I reckon,

after what I did.

I'm just gonna have to...

do a little thinking.

♪♪

Well, he's really at the crossroads, ain't he?

Yeah.

Wonder which way he's gonna turn.

I don't know, Doc.

She hasn't told him yet.

♪♪