Original subtitles

A lady in our village recently bought a

new car and then complained to the dealer

that it was using an exorbitant amount of

gasoline, which it was.

It turned out that what the silly woman

was doing every time she went for a

drive was to pull the choke full out

and hang her handbag on it for the

rest of the journey.

In most countries today, one has to pass

a driving test, and usually a pretty stiff

one.

That's fine, but wouldn't it be a good

thing if people also had to pass an

elementary test on how the internal combustion engine

works?

The cautionary tale coming up in a few

moments is a case in point.

The morning light on the Great Western Desert

can play tricks with your eyes, and many

travellers have discovered that things aren't always what

they seem.

You managed to drive all right and do

that too, huh?

You awake?

It looks like we're low on gas.

Very low.

Didn't you ever think about getting any gas?

Gas?

Hello?

Oh, I hated to wake you.

Like I say, I'm awake.

Beautiful.

I could do with a little less desert.

Oh, stop it, you old grouch.

You knew that was it?

Uh-huh.

Yes, sir.

Morning.

What can I do for you?

Have you got a men's room?

Right over there.

Good morning.

Hi.

Could you fill it up, please?

Sure will.

Oh, that is with unleaded.

I'm sorry, miss, we don't have any unleaded.

Premium, do you?

The sign on the pump there, that says

unleaded.

That's what it says, but it's dry.

That's the price on the pump?

That's right.

That's per half a gallon, of course.

You wouldn't have just a little bit unleaded,

would you?

I'm sorry.

Bone dry.

Well, fill it up.

You know something?

He's lying.

How's that?

Because all he's got is premium.

Well, I guess premium will burn just as

good as unleaded.

Yeah, it's seven cents more a gallon.

Not to mention the fact that his premium

is 15 cents higher than anybody else's.

Adding that up, that comes to...

Well, honey, I don't think six bucks is

gonna break us, you know?

You know I hate to be taken.

Nickel and dime stuff.

Speaking of nickel and dime stuff, careful, this

nickel bottle of pop just cost me 50

cents.

I'm like the port over his head.

All that'll do is calm him down, son.

It might do you some good, actually.

What's he doing now?

Prospecting for gold?

He's checking the oil.

Well, I hope we don't need any.

You know what he's gotta be getting for

a quart.

The man's got his higher costs and all.

Look, we're out here in the middle of

nowhere.

I don't care.

It serves him right.

Oil's okay, son.

Now...

Took a long drink of gas, all right.

You're lucky you got here.

Because I'll tell you, there's a whole lot

of highway between here and the next gas

station.

We appreciate it.

Sure enough.

If you got a minute, I'd like to

show you something.

Excuse me.

Sure.

Now, you see this piece of equipment right

here?

That's your fan clutch.

See how that's wobbling?

Well, it's not gonna last too long.

If your fan clutch goes, your water pump's

gonna go.

The water pump's gonna go.

That's the cooling system.

Cooling system's big bucks.

Now, you may want to have your own

mechanic take care of this.

I don't know.

But I wouldn't be driving too far too

fast if I was you.

I'd say 40, 45 miles an hour.

You stop every now and then.

Let the heat dissipate.

Fan clutch.

Uh...

What does it cost to replace something like

that?

Oh, I don't know.

If I do it, 30, 35 bucks.

How much time does something like that take?

Mmm...

20 minutes, half an hour.

You could do it yourself?

Sure, sure can.

If I got the card.

Want me to check?

Sure.

Be delighted.

What's the odds he's got the card?

Oh, you know all about fan clutches, huh?

Listen, you know, I mean, the guy's out

here.

He's in the middle of nowhere.

He's not a crook.

Then again, you gotta figure he's charging his

prices for gas and everything.

He hasn't had another customer since we've come

in here today.

Maybe he gets one car a day.

That's how he makes his living, I don't

know.

Then tell him what to do with his

fan clutch.

Then again, maybe all he is in the

world is a good mechanic trying to do

us a service.

Look, you know, suppose we take this car,

we drive 50 miles out of here, and

you know, the fan clutch kicks the water

pump through the radiator.

I don't know.

Newton, $35 plus whatever he gets extra for

that gas is gonna blow our budget to

the ceiling.

How much do we have left?

A little more than we need till payday.

A little less if we let him slip

it to us with that fan clutch.

Look, I look at it this way.

We gotta be in Silver City this evening.

We got to.

Johnny McAlee purely expects us.

Now, he's not gonna hold up the show

waiting for us to get over some broken

down fan clutch.

Newton, the man is a thief.

He's taking us.

I just know it.

Oh, you feel strong enough about that to

move out on here with a fan clutch

that's on its last legs, huh?

I suppose you're just gonna do what you

think is best.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, not

me.

Not me, Marcy.

We're a team, remember?

It's us.

It's what we think.

We got a nice job waiting for us

in Silver City.

Things work out for us, we don't have

to worry about no $35.

Yeah, but suppose we get to Silver City

and, um, Johnny McAlee gets up on the

wrong side of the bed and slips on

a banana peel or something.

Suppose there's no job waiting for us.

Well, I guess it's better than being left

out here in the desert.

That's the way I look at it.

I got it.

You're in luck.

All right, here it is.

I got the part.

Want me to put it on for you?

Sure, go right ahead.

We're not gonna risk being caught out here.

That's smart.

Well, now, you and your little woman going

over there to the...

My wife.

This is my wife.

Ah, go on over there to the cafe

and get yourself a cup of coffee.

This won't take long.

She's a pretty good cook.

If I don't mind saying so, I'll take

all my meals there myself.

What do you think?

Should I buy it for you?

You like it?

Yeah, you know, it reminds me of the

hat that you had in Tulsa.

Do you remember that hat?

Yeah.

Pretty.

It's the hat.

It's not the hat.

It's you, honey.

With the hat, without the hat.

You're a class act.

Don't you think that I don't know either?

Morning.

Can we see a menu, please?

Thank you.

Do you have another one?

They're all the same.

Well, I'll get you another one anyway.

Thank you.

She's real friendly.

I don't guess she gets much company around

here, or something tells me.

Oh, no wonder that old boy charged you

so much.

He's got to get top dollar if he's

going to pay for his meals in here.

She's got him where he's got us.

I suppose if he doesn't like the food,

he can just take a long walk.

Why don't you take a little more time?

Well, I'll tell you, I'm not that hungry.

But what I would like is a wedge

of that apple pie over there, and a

black coffee, and she'll have the same.

You see, we already ate.

We're just here while your husband's fixing her

car.

He does real good work.

Yeah, our fan clutch broke, so he's over

fixing it.

You probably know him.

You probably get a lot of people in

here who break their fan clutches, huh?

Wouldn't know about that.

He's the mechanic, I'm the cook.

The way we dippy things up.

You're just lucky you found him.

Oh, for sure, we know that.

We are really lucky.

It's our lucky day.

Got any music in here?

Thank heaven it's busted.

How'd you know that that was his wife?

Well, her wedding ring looked a lot like

his, so I figured I'd take a shot

at it.

Well?

Well, what?

Well, I guess that proves it.

Proves what?

That that fan clutcher across the street's a

crook.

Oh, it proves no such thing.

A man setting up a business in a

place like this would want to have his

woman with him.

I know I would.

Then again, it's funny that a gas station

that small has got a complete line of

fan clutches.

Like I was saying.

But then again, maybe he's got to have

a full line.

I mean, he can't skip down the street

every time he needs a park.

No, the thing is, all up and down

the line.

You can read this either way.

Either they're taking advantage of us or they're

doing us a favour.

It's practically impossible to tell which.

Okay.

But if he's such a good Samaritan, then

how come he didn't tell us that she

was his wife?

Well, I guess it's not really any of

our business now, is it?

They're sitting on a goldmine between the two

of them.

Ah, please.

Nickels and dimes.

They got us for 60 bucks, didn't they?

You know something?

They probably have a stash a foot high

in the basement.

I can't believe that.

Look, it's all credit cards now.

The whole tourist trade is credit cards.

The regular customers, they probably run a tab.

Newton, we're paying cash.

Honey, we're hardly the regular customers, you know?

I'll bet most of their business is cash.

The food and the liquor, that'd have to

be cash too.

Marcy, what does all this have to do

with you and me?

I guess I'm just grumbling.

Yeah, I guess you are.

And here's my advice, don't grumble.

Thank you.

Let these people have their little game.

It's small time.

Nickels and dimes.

Well, there it is.

Here's your old fan clutch.

I want you to take a hold of

this and try to turn it.

Here.

It's tight.

Yeah.

You're lucky you made this for her.

Both of you.

I guess we are.

What do we owe you?

Wait a minute, I got something else I

want to show you.

Here's your old fan belt.

And the water hose.

Go ahead, smell that.

You're kidding.

You went ahead and replaced that?

Well, you can see what kind of shape

it's in.

I didn't want to bother you while you

was over eating.

Well, thanks.

That's mighty considerate of you.

I figured you'd want it tended to.

I mean, you blow a fan belt or

a water hose out here in this hinterland.

It's a long walk back, I will tell

you.

And hot.

Now, I realise you didn't authorise me to

do this work, son.

And if you want me to, I'll take

the new ones off and I'll put these

old ones back on.

And there won't be no charge to you.

No, no, it's okay.

Forget it.

Look, I suppose we're lucky to have a

car that is in good working order.

I don't want any trouble out there in

the desert.

I mean, it's fixed now, right?

I mean, it's in good shape.

We have nothing more to worry about, right?

Well, now, there is one other thing.

There's a matter of this grommet mounting up

there in your right shock.

Let's take a look at here.

This is a shock absorber.

You know that.

Well, right up here on top of that

shock absorber, right up here, there's a grommet.

Now, that grommet's wearing thin.

If it breaks through, you're going to have

frame damage.

You're going to have front end damage.

It's going to wear out your tyres.

Now, I'd like to suggest to you, if

you've got the time, that you let me

fix this for you.

I'll be right back.

What do you think?

Looks like the old boy's sticking it in

pretty deep, huh?

Tell me something new.

Then again, that fan belt was shot.

Them hoses were the next best thing to

petrify.

If they were ours in the first place

and not some junkie had hanging around.

Yeah, I had that same thought.

Still, there's something not altogether perfect around that

grommet, you know?

Probably something he did himself.

Maybe.

Looks to me like the guy's either a

con man or a saint.

Except we know he's not a saint.

Not at the price he's getting for gas.

Well, what do you want to do?

You want to go on to Silver City

on the grommet?

Johnny Mack Lee expecting us and all?

You want my opinion?

Yep.

Well, okay.

Yeah.

I've had it.

What the heck?

Enough is enough.

Listen, thank you.

We're going to be pushing on.

All right, my boy.

That's the way you want it.

Have a good trip.

I'm so glad we're getting out of here.

What the friend we have in Jesus.

All our sins and griefs to bear.

I guess he grommet up and kicked over

on us.

Yes, and I've got to be the one

to say I told you so.

Oh, you did?

Yeah.

Well, I'm just glad you made it back

here.

Well, yeah, we know that.

Uh, my wife and I, we figure we've

been neglecting the car.

And, uh, we really ought to do right

by it.

So look, if the grommet needs replacing, uh,

please do it.

You're smart.

I'm smart.

Probably already worked its way back on the

shocks too.

So you might want to take a look

at them.

And, uh, may even have done a little

damage to the frame.

Like you said, so.

Well, I'll tell you what, let's solve both

of our problems.

And we'll just shoot it up on a

hoist.

I'll take a look at it.

Fine, fine.

And while you're under it, just check it

all out.

Whatever you think needs fixing, we'd appreciate it.

Now, my wife and I, we don't have

all the time in the world.

And to be perfectly honest with you, we

don't have all the money in the world

either.

But I understand.

I understand.

The way we look at it, we're just

lucky we ran into a guy like you.

A mechanic who knows as much about cars

as you do.

So, uh, whatever you can do to help

us, we'd appreciate it.

Maybe we'll just, uh, walk on over and

find a nice patch of shade.

Wait for you over there.

Yeah, yeah, that's, that's right.

That's what you ought to do.

You need a little missing over there to

sit down.

I'll take care of it for you.

Marcy.

Oh, Jesus loves me.

This I know, for the Bible tells me

so.

Come on, sit.

Can't be long.

They are weak, but he is strong.

Amazing how this road with that car was,

huh?

Really, in here I thought it rode pretty

good.

Shows you what you know about cars.

I'll tell you one thing's for sure.

It'll ride a whole lot better if we

ever get out of here today.

I guess it should.

He's building a whole new car around that

cigarette lighter.

I'll tell you one thing.

You better not touch that clock, because there's

nothing wrong with that clock outside of it

loses a couple of minutes a day.

If you tell him that, we'll never get

out of here.

All done, son.

Is this our bill here?

Yep, all itemised and even proper right there.

Now, that there number right here, it was

circled around it.

That's your total.

That's quite a total, huh?

Well, all them parts, all that labour adds

up.

Sure, it's clear.

It's black and white.

It all adds up.

Well, thank you.

Thank you very much.

I appreciate it.

My wife and I, we'll just go to

the car and we'll get our money for

you.

Thank you again.

You ain't gonna have no more problems with

that car, my boy.

Don't you worry about that.

Funny how things work out, huh?

What in the world did either one of

us want when we came in here this

morning other than a tank of gas?

Tank of gas, maybe a quart of oil?

Looking at the bill, oil's one thing we

didn't need.

I swear sometimes I think people get pushed

into things that no one's even want.

What did either of us want other than

a tank of gas?

Now, how much did Johnny Mac Lee say

would be in it for us on that

bank job?

20,000, 10,000.

Well, one thing's for sure.

You can't call a repair bill of $247

...51 nickels and dimes.

I'm gonna go next door and settle up

with that little buddy over there.

Why don't you go on over there and

settle up with that nice little cook lady?

It's gonna be long ways between liquor stores.

Get us a nice little bottle of peach

brew.