1909: The Edwardian Golden Age.
Genteel civilization had come to England, the continent
and the eastern United States.
New York rivaled London and Paris
as one of the great metropolises of the world.
Albert Einstein had expounded his theory of relativity
back in 1905, and science
had brought us the wonders of the modern world.
Culture and refinement had arrived
on the east coast of America.
Caruso was singing Pagliacci at the Met.
Arturo Toscanini was conducting.
The Barrymores were performing
and a Ziegfeld girl was the rage.
1909 in the western part of the 46 United States
was not so refined.
The surviving Indian warriors
were now being rounded up by the U.S. Army.
In Washington, William Howard Taft...
300 pounds of pure Republican... was President
and life was comfortable.
In other parts of the country, men were fighting each other
and the elements.
In the New York department stores
a lady could buy maxis and boots and live in style.
Out west, they didn't think about style,
just living.
Eastern empire builders had secured their fortunes...
the Morgans, Vanderbilts, Carnegies.
There were empires in the west, too,
such as the great McCandles Ranch.
But these huge ranches were held together
only by having enough men and guns.
Notre Dame teams were playing football
with end Knute Rockne catching a forward pass.
In the Arizona Territory
another team, the Arizona Rangers
were busy just trying to keep the peace.
Anna Pavlova, prima ballerina of the Russian ballet,
was dancing Swan Lake.
The dance hall girl in the Klondike gold rush saloon
was somewhat different.
By 1909, still photographs had come to life.
Motion pictures had been born with The Great Train Robbery.
While that make-believe drama was on the movie screens
nine men crossed the Rio Bravo into Texas.
The turbulent years between the Civil War
and the turn of the century
brought out the best in some people
but in others, it brought out the worst.
Example: O'Brien, a half-breed Apache
born of a Chiricahua mother and Irish father.
A professional gunfighter... one of the last of his kind.
Pop Dawson... rode with the James boys
in Kansas and Missouri.
Said to have murdered more than a dozen men...
one for as little as seven dollars.
Trooper... name unknown.
A back-shooter. Considered a coward.
Reputed to have been
a cavalry soldier sometime in the past
but not to the personal knowledge of his confederates.
William Fain, younger of the Fain brothers.
Favors a shotgun... a Greener...
for its bloody killing effect at short range.
James William Duffy.
At age 14, killed his first man
who was an admirer of his prostitute mother.
Dead shot with a rifle.
William Devries... young Billy.
Not quite 21.
This raid was thought
to have been his first outlaw act.
Walt Devries, his older brother by 20 years.
He looks more like an Iowa farmer
than a professional killer.
John Goodfellow... may be the worst of them.
An indiscriminate killer.
Women, children, no consequence at all.
Prefers to work close.
Favors a razor-edged machete.
John Fain... sometimes peace officer and bounty hunter.
Served with distinction during the Spanish-American War.
Professional soldier thereafter.
Now between wars.
Currently banks, trains, killings
and responsible for organizing the infamous McCandles Raid.
Morning, Pancho.
Good morning.
Child, you need some air.
Time to get up, Mr. Jeff.
Delilah, I'm naked.
I seen you naked the day you was born
and many times thereafter.
Riders coming.
Is you getting up?
Yes, ma'am.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!
Grab his head, grab his head!
Come on, now, hold him, hold him, hold him.
Hold him, hold him, hold him.
Chico!
That boy.
Chico!
Hey, hey, come on!
Now, I know you'd like to see Mr. Stubby
ride that bronc again
but go fetch me them eggs like I asked you to.
Go ahead, now.
Hurry up.
Huh...
Strangers coming.
Mr. Jeff will be a little late.
You make sure you have a half a dozen or so
fresh eggs for him, Moses Brown.
I've already done that, woman.
For Miss Martha.
I'll take care of that, boy.
Yes, ma'am.
Why, this is ridiculous.
Breakfast, Miss Martha, nice and hot.
Thank you, Delilah.
But it's hot.
Just a minute, Delilah.
Bert, this is nineteen hundred and nine.
There... There just can't be rustlers.
Can be, Miss McCandles.
I'm 42 years old, and I fought in the Lincoln County War.
It's just not that long ago that...
Why, it's just 15 years ago, himself, Mr. McCandles hung...
Your breakfast is getting cold, Miss Martha.
Some lovely flowers in the garden, Delilah.
I wonder would you ask Maria to cut them for me?
Yes'm.
You were saying, Bert?
I'm just saying, Miss McCandles
we're close enough to that Mexican border to...
Spit.
Yes, ma'am, that close.
And we're losing a lot of cattle.
Let me think about it.
All right, ma'am.
Oh, Bert?
There are some men riding in.
We could use some short help,
if you like the look of them.
Yes, ma'am.
Hyah!
Whoa, whoa.
- Whoa... - Try him again.
A ranch sure is
a deserted-looking place during a roundup.
Can I help you men?
We heard you was hiring.
Was. But you're late.
Too late?
Afraid so.
Now, this place surely does bespeak
of a great deal of money, don't it?
Anything else I can do for you?
Trouble with money, though,
is that there's always somebody wants to take it away from you.
I said is there anything else I can do for you, mister?
Still, that's the only problem with it,
and ain't that the awful bloody truth?
Billy, you stay close to me, you hear? Real close.
No!
Run, Little Jake. Run.
Mrs. McCandles,
you want that kid alive?
Don't you be a damn fool.
Hey, sonny.
- Hey, Trooper. - Yeah!
Hyah!
Hey, O'Brien!
The boy!
Why, you mangy little...
Breed!
He's no good to us dead.
I can wait.
Fain,
I don't like the name "Breed."
I'll try and remember that.
Give me that!
Come here, you little...
All right.
Put me down!
Come on, put me down!
Hyah!
- Hyah! - Hyah!
Get the doctor, then find my sons.
And himself, your husband?
I have no husband.
Come on!
Hyah!
Take him to my bed.
Please, be careful with him.
Old Mexico!
There ain't nothing they can do to us here.
The Mexicans can.
Jeffrey McCandles, can you hear me?
This fool doctor says you're going to die
but I say you are not.
I taught you better manners
than to make a liar out of your mother, Jeffrey McCandles.
He's just sleeping, Martha.
I know that.
Delilah, there's a big red strongbox in the attic
I want it.
Yes'm.
We're seeking permission from the Mexican government
at the highest possible levels, Mrs. McCandles.
When we receive that permission,
we are prepared
to enter Mexico with howsoever many troops
as are acceptable to the Mexican government
and to deliver the ransom
wherever and to whomever directed.
I am told that there is $1 million in that box.
Buck,
what about you?
Speaking for the Rangers or for myself?
For yourself.
I got ten of my best men with me.
I'd like to go after the boy myself.
If you say so, Martha, I'll take that box in.
I am grateful to you both
but I don't think this is a job for the Rangers, Buck
nor for the Army, sir.
It is, I think, going to be a very
harsh and unpleasant kind of business
and will, I think, require an extremely harsh
and unpleasant kind of man to see to it.
No, sir.
No, sir, I ain't.
Haven't butted into anybody's business
since I was 18 year old
at which time it almost got me killed.
Ain't going to start that again.
What's the matter?
Oh, what'd he have to go and do that for?
You got any last words, Scotsman?
Aye, give me my bonnet.
My head's cold.
All right, now, let's get on with the hanging.
Howdy.
Got you kind of surrounded, haven't they?
This your business, mister?
What is he, a murderer or a horse thief?
He's a sheep farmer.
Phew, that's where that horrible odor comes from.
That's right.
How 'bout the boy?
You gonna hang him, too,
or just beat him up some more?
Mister, you shouldn't butt into something
that's none of your business, you really shouldn't.
I think you're right, friend.
A man shouldn't butt into anything
that ain't his own affair.
Sheep farmer...
you want to sell them sheep?
Uh, yes, sir.
Well, let's see, I'll give you $100 now
and $300 when I get them to market.
Well, that's highway robbery.
Well, maybe you think
you're going to get a better offer for them today.
I'll take it.
With one proviso.
What's that?
I go with the sheep.
Good.
You're working for me.
You go ahead.
You go right ahead.
If there's anything I enjoy more than hanging a sheepherder
it's hanging somebody who sticks his nose into my business.
Go on, you try to cut that rope.
No, you've got me scared.
You do it.
Dog!
Get him off! Get him off!
Dog!
Just who in the hell do you think you are?
Jacob McCandles.
Oh, I, uh...
I thought you were dead, Mr. McCandles.
Not hardly.
You going to cut him down?
Now his hands.
200 miles south, Bar MC.
Foreman's name's Gonzales.
Tell him I sent you.
Take the boy with you.
Thank you, sir.
Come along, son.
If you follow him, I'll hunt you down and kill you.
Every mother's son of you.
Come on, dog.
Señor McCandles!
Hola, Chihuahua.
Para usted, señor.
Here you are, Mr. McCandles.
Thanks, Joe.
Hank!
She's in there, Mr. McCandles, waiting.
What happened to your spurs?
Oh, they don't work
on these newfangled velocipedes.
Oh.
Well, see that they get my gear out of that car.
Yes, sir.
Martha.
It's been a long time.
It's good to see you again.
You've changed, Jacob.
Not you.
You're as young and lovely as ever.
I called you, Jacob
because your grandson has been kidnapped.
You didn't know you had a grandson?
You have, by your son Jeffrey,
and Jeffrey has been badly wounded by the kidnappers.
Will he live?
This is the ransom note.
The blood on it is Jeffrey's.
Will he live?
Yes.
I would not contemplate otherwise.
Do we ha...
Do you have a million dollars?
Yes. And many times that.
Hank!
Yes, ma'am?
Will you bring in the strongbox, please?
Set it down here on the table.
That's all.
Yes, ma'am.
Is this the way you want it?
Yes.
They're very dangerous men.
They've already killed ten people.
Many of them you knew.
Juan and his family...
Teena and the little boy?
Moses Brown.
Old Mose...
lousy cook.
Jacob, as I said, they're very dangerous and violent people.
And I don't think we've got any other choice
than to give them what they've asked for.
I agree.
But you know that, pay or not,
you run the risk of never seeing the boy again.
I understand.
Well, "follow the map until met."
That's easy.
I'll need food for a week, water for ten days,
three packhorses and a good mule.
Waiting for you outside.
Martha, you didn't happen to think of my Greeners...
the double barrels?
Oh...
Ah!
Oh... you brought Betsy.
Pays to be careful.
Well, now let's see if I've forgotten any...
Oh, I'll need a piece of clothing
that the boy's worn recently.
His?
Yes.
Well...
Hank, who picked the mule?
I did.
Pack it.
Yes, sir.
Don't forget the rest of the gear.
No, sir.
Hello, Buck.
Hello, you old horse thief.
I thought you was dead for sure by now.
That'll be the day.
Thinking of taking a trip?
Well, a million dollars is a lot of money, Jacob.
I thought we might go with you.
In those?
They're faster than a horse.
They'll go farther and last longer.
It's 1909, Jacob!
Meaning that my way's old-fashioned.
Meaning I'm offering my help, if you'll have me.
Well, thanks, Buck, but I'll go it alone.
Well, suit yourself, Jacob.
What about me?
James?
Good morning, Daddy.
It's been some time since I've seen you.
Ten years, I think.
Nine years and four months.
But you're welcome to come along, son.
I am moved by your faith in someone
you haven't seen since he was 16 years old, Daddy.
"Daddy"?
Daddy.
Well, son, since you haven't learned to respect your elders
it's time you learned to respect your betters.
If you weren't my father...
Go ahead, I give you leave.
If you're going with me,
I hope you can use that hogleg better than you can fight.
Does that suit you... Daddy?
You can call me father,
you can call me Jacob, you can call me Jake,
you can call me a dirty son of a bitch,
but if you ever call me "Daddy" again
I'll finish this fight.
Tiquina?
Señor?
Tell Sam Sharpnose I want to see him.
Tell him the same place as the last time
and all he needs is his saddle.
Get yourself a good horse.
Oh, Tiquina?
¿Si?
Bring the horse back.
Seguro, Señor.
Where's your brother?
He ought to be here with you.
He'll be here.
Look out for that mule!
I tried to tell you about them horses, Jacob.
Now you take these here automobiles...
Jacob, this is your son Michael.
Father.
Good to see you again.
He's a mite skittish, isn't he, Father?
The little fellow's still alive, Mother.
Are you sure?
I saw him.
The kidnappers were in the Chilicote flatlands,
20 miles from Coyame Pass, five hours ago.
Using the automobiles,
I believe the Rangers can get to the pass
long before the kidnappers, and set a trap for them.
You want to chance it, Mother?
Buck?
No matter what happens,
I think they'll kill the boy sooner or later.
I've got the best riflemen in Texas with me...
that means in the world.
With luck, at say, 200 yards,
I think maybe we can kill every one of those animals
before they hear the shots that did it.
I think it's worth a gamble.
It's very daring.
Yes... yes, I'll chance it.
What do you think, Jacob?
Suit yourself, Martha.
I was asking your opinion, Jacob.
No, you made up your mind.
You made your decision alone.
You live it alone.
I was wrong.
You haven't changed, have you, Jacob McCandles?
Not one bit.
Do it!
You still want me to take this box in?
Yes.
If they fail, it falls to you.
You coming along?
No. I'll go with them.
Dog...
let's go!
I hear him.
Sam.
Morning, Jacob.
I brought the saddle.
There's your horse.
Going hunting, Sam.
- Hunting for what? - Men.
I don't hunt Apaches.
I don't hunt my own people. You remember that, Jacob.
They kidnapped my grandson, Sam.
I don't know what color they are and I don't care.
I have no gun.
Close or far?
Close. My eyes... no good.
Me, too.
Keep going!
Any sign of the kidnappers, son?
Couldn't see anything moving for miles.
Good, then we must be ahead of them.
There's a narrow pass at the end of the valley.
I think it's a good place for us to trap them.
I'm for it.
Buck, not knowing where the kidnappers are
we can't chance that pass.
They're young fools.
And I'm an old one.
We're going get that boy.
We'll hide these machines up at the end of the canyon.
This is a good place for the ambush.
Jump!
Stop these damn things!
Get out!
Take cover!
Good place for an ambush, all right.
And we're it.
What happened to that crazy bicycle?
I think he crashed into that canyon.
Let's get him out of here.
Come on!
They've had enough, John.
They ain't going to be able to follow us anymore.
Let's sting them a little more
and they'll come through with the money.
That crazy kid.
Yeah.
The horses!
Everybody get to them horses!
Move it!
Grab that kid!
Stop! Put me down!
Damn it, Pop, the next time
I tell you to tie that kid up
don't be worried about hurting him.
Hyah! Hyah!
Get out of here, you...
Buck...
The boy?
We don't know.
My son Michael?
We don't know, uh...
There was an explosion southeast of here.
Well, do you have any water?
No.
Well, I'll give you half of ours.
And as soon as I can
I'll telegraph that you're walking in.
Going south, it's going to be some time
before you get to a telegraph station.
I'm going to have to take one of your mounts, send for help.
Some of my men are hurt bad.
No, I'll need them.
Anything else?
No.
No, you've been more than generous, Mr. McCandles.
I think so, Buck.
15 years ago, I'd have killed you
for risking my grandson's life.
If I find him dead, I'll still kill ya.
You going along?
Well, the last time I asked you that question, you said, "No"
and you said it in a loud and clear voice.
Now I'm asking you a question: You coming along?
You damn rights I am, Father.
Throw a blanket on him.
I can ride without a blanket.
I'm not worried about your butt, it's his back.
Come on.
Something down there. Is that it?
That's it.
Well, here, you take the mule down the long way.
I don't want to lose him even by accident.
You go with him.
I'm going down there.
You'll go where you're told.
Do this, do that.
I'll do as I damn well please.
You do what your father tells you
every time he tells you
you might come through this thing alive.
Maybe even save the boy's life.
Otherwise, you're going to get yourself killed.
Don't matter to me,
but you'll probably get him killed, too.
That does.
Oh, Father, am I glad to see you.