A couple miles out from here...
47 miles of desert.
Nothing but sand... an ocean of it.
By night, cold.
Hostile, but easier going.
By day, a blazing hellhole.
Halfway across...
water stop... the only one.
Miss that water, you're in trouble.
If you're lucky, eight hours in the devil's own frying pan.
Railroad. We'll wait here till noon.
Time.
- Can you beat the desert before sunup? - Nope.
Well, how does it shape up?
- Tight. - You're not worried?
Who by? An old man?
A girl? A punk kid? Where's the class?
Kids and old men don't respect class.
And don't sell the girl short.
If she ever cut that brute of hers loose...
- Why would she hold back? - Probably too green to know better.
But the Mexican's not, and he's tough.
Anytime we can't beat a Mexican...
Horseshit. And that stubborn Englishman...
He'll never keep up the lick.
Tell that to him. I lose him, I look around...
he's biting my ass.
Sand dunes will finish him.
The tougher it gets, the better he likes it.
The same goes for Matthews.
What he hasn't got in horse he makes up for in brass.
Cuts every corner, takes a lot of chances...
and he's lucky.
That cowboy you fired...
- So far, he's showed nothing. - So far, maybe he ain't tried.
His bronc's a real stayer. Tough hide.
He's got the heart. Cowboy's got the know-how.
He's the sleeper... the one to beat.
We'll beat him.
News.
We're big news everywhere.
Chicago: "Adding $250 to purse...
and will headline winner in my Wild West show.
Signed: Buffalo Bill Cody."
Hey, wasn't he the fastest gun in the West?
Only in bed, kiddo.
London: "To Sir Harry Norfolk." Our Englishman.
"Up the British. Signed: Prince of Wales."
Invitations to the winner from Rome, Paris, Moscow.
All expenses paid. And get this.
From the president of the United States himself.
"To all the intrepid contestants: 'Bully for you.'
To the two Rough Riders, Clayton and Matthews...
who served with me in Cuba:
'Remember San Juan Hill. Charge, boys, charge."'
- Look him over, fast! - What happened to the old man?
He's dead. Get moving! I'm going out.
- This horse is running a temperature. - It's nothing that'll bother him.
Come on!
I'll be fine.
Come on!
Son of a bitch.
I'm gonna catch me that champion cock.
Yes, sir. I'm gonna catch him before this day is done.
Salt.
Could I ask you something?
Your wife...
where is she?
I was wondering how you met.
I worked for Rosie... off and on about a year.
I guess that don't surprise you none.
The only thing that surprises me is the people some people marry.
Because she was a whore?
A Cuban.
Paula was a Cuban Insurrecto.
Guerillas fighting the Spanish, just like we was.
That's where we met... on the battlefield.
That was our wedding bed...
till that day.
We came out of the jungle, and there it was... San Juan Hill.
Spanish guns looking right down our throat...
and the sharpshooters picking us off.
We just charged right up that hill.
That's not the way it happened at all.
It wasn't anything like it was in San Antone, where we did our training.
That's where I ran into Luke...
and a lot of other men from every other country...
that wanted to be Rough Riders.
Bakers and barbers and congressmen, cattlemen...
ballplayers, farmers...
reporters...
cowboys.
No, we didn't rough-ride up that hill...
'cause we didn't have any horses.
We didn't charge up there either.
We crawled up there on our scared bellies.
There was only one horse and one rider.
That was Colonel Teddy.
He went charging up that damn hill.
They shot his glasses off, and he put on another pair.
They nicked him in the elbow. He said, "Follow me!"
And we did...
'cause we was too damn ashamed not to.
After the Hill came the church.
There was a French.75 out front...
and every window had a rifle sticking out of it...
and there was a Gatlin gun in the bell tower.
We could've called the artillery boys in to blow it to pieces, but...
outside along the walls...
they'd tied all these people up, and they'd roped 'em together...
hog-tied 'em.
Looked like a bunch of sandbags.
Women and children...
nuns and prisoners and...
my Paula among them.
Neither me nor Luke nor anybody else knew what to do.
Inside the church, they knew what to do.
They opened up on us, and we fell back.
All of a sudden, I heard Paula scream out...
Then a Spanish bullet.
Then the rest of the women, they took up the cry...
"Attack, Cubans, attack!"
Her own band of guerillas led the way.
The people some people marry.
I wasn't worth her spit.
Bury him.
What with?
Your goddamn hands.
See he does it.
You see to it.
What he said... is it that important?
Must be. He said it twice.
It was Gans in the 42nd round!
Anyway, he's walking in from a couple miles back.
Didn't want me to carry the extra weight.
Said it wasn't sporting.
- Hey, kid. - Yes, sir.
- I'm gonna lay a chore on you. - Yes, sir.
Take the old-timer's horse there.
We got a problem with those prisoners. They're all maximum security.
Our plan still holds.
Look for this mark...
on the left front hoof.
No horse passes through without this mark.
List of riders.
To you, this race is worth $2,000, $3,000.
To me, it's worth 14,000.
Now...
say it's you and me in front coming down the stretch.
You got the picture?
You hold back. Make it look good, of course.
I win. I collect my bet, turn the prize money over to you...
nobody gets hurt except old Parker...
who's out $14,000, which is only justice.
Yeah, you're right.
I could never do that to my best friend.
Only friend.
- So we split 50-50. Deal? - No deal.
You want more than me?
What I want is...
Name it.
What I'm gonna do is win this race.
That is the greediest...
most selfish thing that...
Do you realize you're betraying a friend?
If it ain't by a friend...
it ain't betrayal.
Thank you.
Got it.
Not hungry?
Miss?
I'm sorry about all those things I said.
All this hardware...
I ain't never been in a gunfight.
Killing a man don't prove you're a man.
I ain't never been a cowboy either like I said.
I know.
I've been around a lot of cowhands...
one way or another.
A cowboy dresses from the top down.
The first thing on is his hat...
and he undresses from his boots up.
The last thing off... hat.
Another thing. To be a cow puncher...
that don't mean you actually gotta go around punching them, you know.
Yes, ma'am.
Laudanum.
Supposed to make you sexy sleepy.
Well, I've got no such problems.
I gotta get me some sleep. I can't sleep.
Guilty conscience.
Why? 'Cause I won't throw the race?
Nothing so hard on a man as virtue.
How could you know?
According to the gospel of old Luke Matthews...
virtue is its own punishment.
You might say this is our last supper.
Beyond that next mountain, it's all downhill to the finish line.
And you, Mr. Norfolk... will you be with us at the finish?
I wouldn't miss it.
To the West!
Awesome, but inspiring.
What the hell's inspiring about a flash flood or a blizzard...
or a landslide or sandstorm...
or a dust storm or...
any sudden disaster, personal or financial?
Today, the desert broiled you raw.
Tomorrow, the mountain will freeze you stiff.
That's your West... vile, treacherous.
Where every prairie dog hole is a gold mine...
every molehill is a mountain, every creek is a river...
and everybody you meet is a liar.
"When you call me that, smile, stranger."
Ah, yes, The Virginian. Owen Wister.
Another liar.
For a family who don't know a jackass from a mule...
you sure know a lot about the West.
We don't have to know about it. We own it.
Bastards! You poisoned him!
Wait. Wait. Miss Rosie...
Who paid you?
- Him? - Nobody.
Bitch! Where'd you get this?
A couple days ago for me... for when I can't sleep.
Neither could he. Ask him!
She's right!
It's just supposed to make you sleepy, that's all.
You mix it with booze...
and you get one hell of a Mickey Finn!
See ya.
You bet your ass.
- Good morning. - Good morning.
- Name? - Jones.
Stretch.
Face down.
Kate, the rifle.
What about those two? Just where the hell do they fit in?
I need them, and they're coming with us.
How?
- Name? - Matthews.
You're not taking his horse!
His and two more. That's the plan.
The plan was us, nobody else!
You and me out of here on my horse!
Will you for Christ's sakes shut up?
Dirty business.
You never think maybe to win this damn race?
They hurt you?
I have seen many bullets.
Too many.
But this one...
Truly, did you ever know a bullet...
that is good for the health?
The key, the key!
Get on the horse.
Let's go. Come on.
How do you start it, how do you make it go, and how do you stop it?
Take your hand off the clutch!
- I'd like to go with them. - This horse stays here.
That makes it a one-horse race.
That's not the kind of race I wanted to win.
Set a reasonable time for them to get back with their horses.
If they get back.
If he gets into those woods...
Hey, kid!
The horse!
Miss Jones.
The people some people marry.