[wind whistling]
[dog barking in distance]
[boy laughing]
[boy] Come on, Jack.
- Just pull the damn trigger. - [oinking]
[squealing]
I can't.
[cocking gun]
- [Pig Squeals] - [gunshot]
[J The Bootleggers featuring Mark Lanegan: "Fire and Brimstone"]
[man] My brother Forrest once said,
"Nothing can kill us. We can't never die. "
The reason being that in the great war,
my eldest brother, Howard, saw his entire battalion
drown in the sea.
Every last one of them
He was the only survivor.
And Forrest, well, that same year,
Spanish Lady ﬂu hit Franklin,
damn near wiped out the entire state.
It got Ma and Pa and Forrest
but against all the odds,
he somehow managed to fight it off.
So you could see why Forrest felt that way.
[man speaking indistinctly]
[Jack] Me and my brothers are moonshiners.
Bootleggers.
In 1920, they passed the Prohibition Act
making the sale of alcohol illegal.
Well, at least it was supposed to be.
[Howard] You want a case, Sheriff?
- Morning, Forrest. - [Howard] Pure corn whiskey.
That there's the white lightning, Sheriff.
It'll come at you like a knife,
pointy end first, sharp and hot all the way down.
Aw, damn it. Give me two.
All right, then.
- You all right there? - [Sheriff] Thanks, boys.
Always happy to oblige an officer of the law.
[Jack] They called Franklin the wettest county in the world
on account of almost everybody was making the stuff.
Now, you can make moonshine whiskey from just about anything.
Whoa! Whoa, whoa! Hey, Selma.
[Jack] Turnips, pumpkins, blackberries, cornmeal, tree bark.
- Anything. - All right, then.
[indistinct]
He's so fucking sick, man, can't get himself out the bed to tend the stills.
- [Jack] You want me to take it up to him? - No, I can do it.
- [song continues] - [Jack] And at night, in them hills,
you could see them fires from the stills burning
like lights on a damn Christmas tree.
Over the mountains, in the cities,
there was the biggest crime wave this country'd ever seen.
- [train whistle] - And all that illegal liquor
was ﬂowing down from the hills to the cities by the truckload.
Gangsters were just scooping money off the streets like candy.
They had men like Al Capone, Tommy Maloy,
that mad dog Floyd Banner.
They just moved in and took over.
Meanwhile, we were hauling stuff around in our old, beat-up jalopies.
[muffled music, chatter]
[Forrest] All right now, Jack, I want you to stay here.
- [Jack] What? - [Forrest] Stay in the truck.
[Jack] Ain't like someone's gonna steal this piece of shit, Forrest.
Just do what you're told, Jack.
- [long sigh] - All right, Forrest, go on.
[knocking]
- [loud music] - [people chattering, shouting]
- [glass shatters] - [shouting continues]
Amen! Amen!
Here we go. All right, then.
Get some of this.
Welcome, welcome. How're you boys doing?
Sorry to hear about Little Bean, Ida Belle.
You know Little Bean loved his gals and his giggle water.
[Howard] She sure is giving him one hell of a send-off.
[man] Give me your money, boy.
Yeah, you do as I say
- or I'm gonna cut you. - Hold on, now, I ain't got nothing.
I'm just a driver.
You boys staying?
No, we gotta be getting off, Ida Belle.
Come on, Forrest, one damn drink.
No, we better be getting back now.
You ever seen a Harlem sunset?
Well, I'm fixing to cut one right into you...
I ain't got nothing.
...If you don't hand over that goddamn money.
[Howard] Motherfucker.
Here, I'll take care of this.
Hey you, come on now, you don't want to do this.
Why don't you put that knife away, take you and your friends on home?
I'd listen to him if I was you.
[man] You the boss?
You just sold a load to those dinges in there, didn't you?
You hand over that cash or I'm gonna cut some daylight into you.
Listen here, mister.
We got no way of understanding this world.
We got about as much sense of it as a bird flying in the sky.
There is a lot that bird don't know.
But it don't change the fact that
the world is happening to him all the same.
What I'm trying to say is...
...is that the course of your life, it is changing.
- You don't even see it. - What are you talking about?
[grunts, spits]
[man] Let's go!
[Howard] Yep. That's what he's talking about.
- [man gurgling] - Yeah, all right now.
[Howard] You all right there, Jack?
Just caught me off guard is all.
You still good to drive?
- Fuck you, Howard. - [Howard] Oh, whatever you say,
- little doggie. - [Forrest laughing]
- [bluegrass playing] - [people chattering, laughing]
All right, Jack, come on, we gotta go set up over here.
[Howard] Thank you.
Finest apple?
[man] All right, then.
Are you gonna talk to Forrest about taking some of me and Cricket's liquor?
- We're working on somethin' big. - What do you mean talk to him?
About letting us in, Howard.
Not with that damn popskull shit you been cooking up.
- We're still perfecting it. - Perfecting it, my ass,
Jack, that shit ain't fit to slop hogs.
Forrest don't want you involved, is all.
[Jack] Why is that?
'Cause he don't think you got the grit.
Gimme another jar, Jack. Huh?
[Jack] You might wanna slow down some, Howard. We're trying to sell this stuff.
- Who is that? - [Howard] She's one of them crazies
from that church at Burnt Chimney.
Her daddy over there, he's gonna be the preacher.
You wanna get yourself a crowbar, Jack, if you wanna get inside of her.
[laughing] She don't look that crazy.
Her daddy don't look too happy, neither.
[clears throat]
[Forrest] All right, now.
Jack, go on and take this around the back.
Store whatever's left in the shed.
You too, Howard. [whistles]
- [Howard] Come on, Jack. - [Jack] Yeah.
Are you Forrest Bondurant?
Um...
I'm Maggie Beaufort.
They say in town you're looking for someone to help out 'round the place.
- [clears throat] - Is that position still vacant?
Forgive me for asking, but, um...
...what does a lady like you...
...want here?
The city can grind a girl down.
Gets to a point where you start looking for somewhere quiet.
[Howard laughing]
Damn.
[Maggie] Well, Mr. Bondurant...
...do I get the job?
[mumbles]
[tires screeching]
[tires screech]
[quietly] Quick. Quick.
[chatter]
[car tires screech in distance]
- [vehicle approaching] - [car horn honking]
[cocks gun]
[groans]
Hey!
Cricket!
Hey!
- Hey! - [shouts]
You ain't never gonna believe what I just seen.
Floyd Banner shoot the tires out of a goddamn ATU car
right smack in the middle of town with a goddamn Tommy gun.
- Floyd Banner? - Floyd Banner.
Oh, hey, look here. In the middle of all that, I was thinking about you.
Got you one of these shell cases, Cricket.
- Oh, thanks, Jack! - Yeah.
Figured we could put holes in it, you know.
Put a chain through it, hang it around our necks for luck or something.
[exhales] Floyd Banner. He looked like he had direction, vision.
You got smoke coming out the cabin.
[Jack] Jesus Christ, Cricket.
[grunts, coughs]
- This gonna work? - Naturally,
I'm still messing with the recipe, of course.
And with this set-up through the pipes,
no one'll even know it's down here.
[pipes groaning]
The man tucks away his bottle, out he goes.
Well... Partner, I don't know if that's the stupidest thing I ever seen
or you're some kind of damn genius.
- Ooh. - Mm-hm.
[Forrest] Did Jimmy pay us?
- [Howard] Yup. - [Forrest] He did?
[Howard] Thank you.
[groans]
[man] Hi, Forrest.
This here's the new Special Deputy.
He's been brought in from the city to help us out.
You know, make sure things go smooth.
What things might they be?
[chuckles]
Sorry, something amuse you?
My name is Charlie Rakes, I'm from Chicago.
That damn brother of yours, is he somewhere about?
Who's in the car?
That there's the new Commonwealth's Attorney, Mason Wardell.
He wants to work it out so everybody gets to do some business.
[Sheriff] Henry, go see what Mr. Wardell wants.
Pete, who the hell is this son of a bitch?
Me? I'm the one who's going to make your life real difficult from now on
if you don't toe the line, country boy.
Don't you ever touch me again.
- [laughing] - All right, all right.
Forrest, it already settled.
The whole county's gonna get on board eventually.
Star': at $20 a week, $30 a load
and that gets you free passage throughout the whole county.
- No one'll bother you. - Don't nobody bother me now.
Mr. Wardell, he'd like a jar of your finest apple brandy.
That be all right?
[low groan]
Can I help you, son?
Yeah.
You send your clown with the bow tie around here again,
and I guarantee you'll personally pull a cleaver out of his fucking skull.
You understand me?
[Pete] You're gonna regret this, Forrest.
[Rakes] He's already regretting it, he's just too ignorant to know it yet.
Go on, go inside now.
[chuckling]
You thinking of drawing on me?
[train whistle in distance]
Say your piece, Jimmy. I got a business to run.
[Jimmy] All right, Forrest. Now we got a chance
to make a good stack of money here while the getting is good.
But for things to run smooth,
you got to grease the tracks.
Yeah, I hear what you're saying, Jimmy, and...
...we go back a long way, so I'm not gonna make a big deal out of this,
but, uh...
...I'm a Bondurant.
And we don't lay down for nobody.
We'll continue to operate free and clear here, as always.
Me, I'll never pay no money to no Mason Wardell
or the next damn bloodsucker come after him.
I never have, I never will.
I'm sorry you feel that way, Forrest.
Jimmy, do you have something that you really wanna say to me?
You can't do it the old way no more.
I remember there was a time you had some balls, Jimmy.
[chuckles]
[indistinct chatter]
Well, I guess we'll see what happens. [clears throat]
Gentlemen.
[Pete] Look, Deputy, we've got something of a problem here.
It's Special Deputy, and I don't see a problem at all.
I hear these mountain boys have got, uh...
...injun blood in them.
Cherokee. This would explain why they're a little...
...animalistic in their nature.
I don't rightly understand what you mean.
But there's a feeling around these parts that Forrest Bondurant
is different than other folks.
- Different? - Indestructible.
[chuckles] Do you mean "immortal"?
[high-pitched chuckle]
Shit. You fucking hicks are a sideshow unto yourselves.
Sheriff, you have any idea
what a Thompson submachine gun does to "immortal"?
Well, this ain't Chicago. You can't just shoot him.
Do that, people around here will string us up from a tree.
Do I look stupid to you?
I've been brought in to do a job.
And I know just who to start with.
You know something?
I don't much like you.
Yeah, well, not many do.
- [Howard] Gimme some of that. - [man] Yeah, it's good.
I could run them blockades.
[chuckling]
- You? A blockader? Shit. - [Jack] What do you mean "shit"?
Danny, I can drive a damn sight better than you can.
Just not in the shitcan we got.
Oh, yeah? Well, Forrest, he don't wanna hear about it.
Yeah, well... the hell with Forrest.
I'm sick of being his house dog.
You gonna tell him that? Or you want me to do that, too?
[coughing]
[Howard] You all right there, Jack?
Shut up, Howard.
Forrest ain't got no aspirations.
He still sleeps on a mattress on the floor like a fucking Chinaman.
You might wanna watch your mouth there, little brother.
- [laughing] - Fuck off, Howard.
- Oh, come on. - Stop. Stop.
It's... [laughing]
Where are you going with that stuff?
Church.
[Howard] Hell, you better take it easy on that jar then!
[laughing]
[people singing in distance, indistinct]
[indistinct singing continues]
J' He gave a peace
J' Of the world J'
Let us pray.
If any man loved the world,
the love of the Father is not in him.
For all that is in the world,
the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes
and the pride of life
is not of the Father, but is of the world.
[woman coughing]
Amen.
Thirty-nine, top.
[people vocalizing]
[people singing, indistinct]
[coughing, gagging]
[coughing]
Too much rust in the tank, maybe.
[vehicle approaching]
- Or lead. - [car door closes]
Mind if I come in?
Don't expect no biscuits coming out around here.
- Who's that? - Aunt Winnie.
Why don't you tell Aunt Winnie this is not a social visit.
Well, I ain't sure that'll do no good, sir.
She ain't right in the head.
Three things you gotta tell us, son.
Where's the still, where's the liquor and where's the money?
[sighs]
[Jack] He don't have it.
Now who might you be?
That there is Jack Bondurant.
Well, I'll be damned.
I was told I'd find you here.
And look...
...here you are.
Go find the still, leave us alone.
So, the runt of the litter.
- You boys don't get it, do you? - [screen door shuts]
Look at me, son.
Oh, you're a peach.
What's going on?
Come closer.
Step forward.
Stop right there.
[grunts]
- [impact sounds] - [Jack grunting]
- Get up. - [clanging]
[groaning]
I thought they said you Bondurant boys were
a bunch of hard-boiled sons of bitches.
- [grunting] - [hissing, clanging]
Oh, this is terrible.
This just won't do.
[grunts, screams]
My brothers are gonna get you.
They're gonna kill you.
Is that so?
- [groaning] - It's not gonna help right now, is it?
Why don't you tell those brothers of yours
we're coming for them next.
You tell 'em.
No more!
No more, please. Please.
[whimpering]
Don't touch me!
Next time I come down real hard.
All right.
So you want to get into this racket.
But I see you sitting there,
looking like somebody's punching bag.
Sol ask you...
...what do you intend to do now?
- What do I intend to do? - Yeah.
You.
You expect somebody else to handle it?
- No. - Howard, maybe?
- That ain't what I meant. - What did you mean?
I don't need no help.
[Forrest] I'm sorry?
- I don't need no help. - Oh, you don't?
Here it is.
As long as you are my brother,
you will never let this happen again, do you understand?
- I get it. - I don't think you do.
What if I can't?
I mean, I ain't... I'm not built like you and Howard.
I ain't never been like you.
It's all right.
Jack...
...it is not the violence that sets a man apart.
All right? It is the distance that he is prepared to go.
Jack, look at me.
We're survivors.
We control the fear.
And without the fear,
we are all as good as dead.
Do you understand?
- Do you? - Rakes told me to tell you
they're coming for you next.
Hm.
Yeah, well, they'll be back, you can be sure of that.
Um...
A present from your preacher friend.
You gonna open it?
[chuckling]
Fuck you, Howard.
[Howard] Ah, damn.
[door closes]
[car approaching]
[car doors closing]
Forrest Bondurant.
It seems you've been involved in certain illegal activities.
Illegal activities?
[man] Look here, Forrest, if you play ball with us,
we can make this here summons disappear.
Are you trying to shake me down, Henry?
I'm just the messenger here, Forrest.
[door closes]
Have you met Howard?
[footsteps approaching]
Oh, what? You gonna shoot me, huh?
- [Forrest] Howard! Howard! - [grunting]
[Howard] Huh? Huh?
[men grunting]
Huh? You gonna hurt my brother?!
Huh? You trying to intimidate us, Sheriff? Huh?
The Bondurants?
All right now. That's enough now.
You gonna sell out like them other cocksuckers?
- [grunting, gagging] - Huh?
[Forrest] That's enough now.
Howard, that's enough.
- All right. - [man panting]
You old piece of shit.
[Forrest] Now, y'all oughta know better than to come around here
when Howard's been on the stump whiskey for a few days.
I think you might wanna get out of here.
You give my regards
- to Special Deputy Rakes. - [Howard] Oh, yeah.
It ain't nothing personal, Henry.
[Maggie] He got that special look in his eye.
No I don't.
- Yes, he does. - Yes, you do.
[Jack laughs, speaks indistinctly]
[all laughing]
I saw you at the Bondurant place.
You're not from around here.
Chicago, right?
You were a dancer up there.
The Apex Club, wasn't it?
Did a little number with feathers, I believe.
Something troubling you?
Get out of my way.
Oh, you don't need to worry about me.
I ain't the kind to drink from a greasy cup.
[Forrest] Where's Jack?
I've seen him swanning around in Daddy's old suit.
- Listen, Howard. - Yeah?
I need you here with me tonight...
I got some business with a couple out-of-towners
I never dealt with before.
- Yeah? Where they from? - Chicago.
Yeah, well, me and Danny, we just gotta stop by the stills first.
You just be here by 11:00 now. You got that?
[Howard] I got it. When have I ever let you down?
[J' The Bootleggers featuring Emmylou Harris: "Fire in the Blood"]
How'd you like to come for a ride with me sometime?
You must be jingle-brained if you think I'm gonna
get in a car with the likes of you.
Anyway, you oughta be worried if my father catches you here.
Talking to me.
He's just in the feed store, there.
Why'd I need to be worried?
You know, coming to the church meeting like that.
And bustin' out of there like a crazy person.
Are you affected in the head?
Hold on, now, look here. Look.
Crazy person wear a suit as fancy as this?
Still don't explain why you acted like a lunatic.
I didn't want my feet washed, is all.
- I know who you are. - Yeah? Who's that?
One of them Bondurant boys, and that's enough.
There ain't many that have a good word to say about you.
- Yeah? - Except some rubbish about a legend.
Yeah.
About you guys being invincible or some such nonsense.
- Say that word again. What'd you say? - Invincible.
Well, shoot, I don't know what that means.
Sounds good, though.
My daddy thinks you boys are the worst thing ever to hit Franklin.
Well, what would your daddy know?
You sure got a funny way of courting, Jack Bondurant.
That is what you're doing, right? Courting?
Yeah.
All right, then.
You tell your daddy I said hi.
- Oh sh... - Thank you.
[coyote howls]
- [Howard mumbling] - [Ida Belle chuckling]
[indistinct slurring chatter]
- Oh! '
[all laughing]
- Oh, shit! - [Howard, Ida Belle laughing]
Hey, Red.
Where them feathers at?
He's a crip. Don't worry about it.
[Cricket] Hey, Forrest.
All right, go tell Maggie to shut her down.
- [clattering] - [Maggie grunting]
All right now, that's enough. Come on, now, get out of here.
[man panting]
I paid for another jar and she won't give it-.
- And then the bitch done me. - No, you didn't.
We gonna buy near 100 gallons of your liquor.
Now you ain't gonna throw in some extra?
You ain't buying a goddamn thing. Now go on, get out of here.
He pulled a gun on her, then she pulled the knife around and cut him.
Did you pull a gun on this woman?
[Maggie] Forrest!
[grunting]
I may be a cripple boy, you sack of shit
but I'll blow your goddamn brains out if you move!
- [gasps] - [gurgling]
All right now. Sorry.
Yeah.
Goddamn you, Howard.
Well, you best be getting home.
- OK. - [grunts]
Are you sure you're all right?
A bit too much whoopee for one night, I guess.
Yeah.
Bye, Forrest.
[engine starts]
Hm. Well that don't make no sense.
Well, I don't see nothin'...
- Now you got trouble. - [muffled grunts]
[panting, shuttering]
Fuckin' hillbilly.
[laughter]
- [grunting] - [men laughing]
[wind howling]
[J The Bootleggers featuring Emmylou Harris and Liela Moss:
"So You'll Aim Towards the Sky"]
[brakes squeak]
Damn.
Forrest?
There's something you need to know.
[man chuckling slowly]
[man 2] Mm, now we're gonna have some fun.
[Maggie gasps]
[man laughs]
[distant thunder rumbles]
[slow, labored breathing]
You can come in.
But don't let him talk.
Hey, Forrest.
Them doctors are saying you walked in here.
All the ways from Blackwater Station.
[chuckles] Through the damn snow.
Did you get 'em, Forrest?
'Cause I want to be there when you do.
I'll hold them down myself.
Walking all the way here from
- Blackwater Station... - Jack, why don't you shut up a minute?
Um...
You should've been there, Howard.
Look what they did to you.
I'm leaving, Forrest.
Huh.
Well, it ain't really the quiet life you're looking for?
Those people, Forrest...
People like them, they're why I left Chicago.
I got out and ran.
Come here, Maggie.
Now this has nothing to do with you, you hear?
Nothing at all.
Did you check out of that place yet?
I want you to come stay at the station for a while.
With those guys still around, you're best off close to us.
We don't want to see you getting hurt.
"We?"
You can, uh...
You can use the spare room.
[sniffs]
I know a fella across the county line, take your whole run
for five dollars on the gallon.
- Baloney. - No, Howard, it's a fact.
- Cricket got a message to him. - Five dollars?
- Yep. - Beat it, Jack.
I'm not in the mind for your horseshit.
I'll do the driving, Howard, you ain't gotta worry about nothing.
[Howard] You?
- And Cricket. - And Cricket,
that twisted little gimp. You're gonna deal with Floyd Banner?
You're a goddamn house dog, Jack. You sweep the floors.
You got no goddamn vision, Howard.
Go on, scram, get outta here.
Hey what's eatin' you anyway, huh?
The fact that you let your own brother, old Forrest, down?
Shut your mouth!
[sniffing]
What you doin', Jack?
[stammering] Checkin' on you.
- I'm all right. - All right, then.
Yeah, I'm all right.
- Yeah, I was just worried. - I'll be home tomorrow.
Go on, now.
I'll see you tomorrow, then.
- Hey. - What the hell are you doin', Jack?
Come here and help me with this.
Shit, Jack, are you off your nuts?
- I'm done waiting for table scraps. - Forrest is gonna throttle you.
Don't you worry about that, grab a box.
You just call Gummy Walsh.
You tell him we're bringing a big load.
Two hundred gallons at least.
- "We? - Yeah.
You mean you and me?
Well, hell, I need backup, Cricket. You my partner or what?
Shit.
[Jack] Grab that tarp.
Shit.
Jesus, Cricket, you look like you're about to shit yourself a kitten.
Whoa, you wouldn't really shoot that thing.
If anybody gonna give me cause to, I might.
- Oh, bullshit, I don't believe you. - Absolutely.
Pow, right between the eyes.
[engine sputtering]
What is that?
[Jack] The transmission?
It don't sound like it.
Did you put gas in it?
- Did you put gas in the truck? - Shit!
You forgot to put gas in it. Well, what the fuck are we gonna do now?
Uh...
- Huh? - Uh...
I'm sorry, Jack! I had other things on my mind.
Like robbing your brothers, for instance.
Other things on your mind? All you had to do was put gas in the truck!
All you had to do was put gas in it!
I got me an idea. I got an idea.
Now we're just two bootleggers waiting for the ATU!
This road is crawling with cops, Cricket!
You know that we're just sitting ducks?
- You gotta be kidding me! - What, you got a better idea?
You're gonna put moonshine in the gas tank?
[Cricket] Come on!
- [engine starts] - Oh, shit!
Yeah! Yeah!
[both shouting]
[J' The Bootleggers featuring Nick Cave: "Burnin' Hell"]
[indistinct chatter]
[glass breaks]
[song continues, indistinct]
[men shouting indistinctly]
[man] You must be Cricket Pate, huh?
[Cricket] Jack, meet Gummy Walsh.
So what you got?
Well, sir, we got 100 gallons of quality White Lightning,
and 100 finest Crazy Apple.
- Eel juice from Franklin County? - Yes, sir.
[Jack] All right.
It's all right.
What you got there, a little pea-shooter?
OK, now walk.
- Walk. - We had a deal.
You're one stupid sack of shit, ain't you, boy?
Can't we work something out?
That how you hillbillies do business? With a pop-gun?
I said fucking walk!
[Gummy] That's far enough.
[grunting]
All right, you're next.
[Cricket whimpering]
[man] You dug them boys a hole like I told you?
Meet Floyd Banner.
Ain't no honor in the business anymore.
- Shoot 'em. - Wait, wait.
[Gummy] Best stand back, fellas, unless you wanna get your suits all splattered.