How about some water?
There it is. There's the can.
Help yourself.
The sign's right. Your last chance. You better fill up.
Okay, fill her up.
Boze.
Hey, Boze!
Boze!
- Man wants gas. Get going. - Okay, boss.
Everybody's entitled to their own way of thinking.
- You fellas want more coffee? - Yeah.
I don't know why, Nick, but you're always squawking.
I got a right to. What do I do?
I climb poles to put up wires so that some broker in New York...
can call some guy in Los Angeles and tell him he's been wiped out.
We're not pioneering. We're repairing.
My friend, when you talk about pioneering, you're talking about something...
- I can tell you a few things about. - Shut up, Gramp.
- I don't want to shut up. - Don't argue with the guests.
Listen, I can tell these boys some things they'd like to hear, wouldn't you, boys?
- Sure. - Go ahead. Change the subject.
Listen, I come down into this desert 56 years ago.
Come from Virginia City. You had to be tough to cross this country in them days.
Why, I helped string the first wire that run west out of Albuquerque.
Yes, sir.
Say, are you the fella that took a shot at Billy the Kid?
I never took no shot at Billy the Kid. No.
I had too darned much sense.
He took a couple of shots at me, though.
I'm practically the only man he ever missed.
Well, he was... He was only fooling, so it couldn't hardly count.
Okay, pop!
Say, I wanted to tell you.
Do you know the first message that was sent over that wire?
It said... It said, "God save the republic."
You'd better send that message again, pop. The republic's in bad need of saving.
That'll be 55 cents apiece.
Fine excuse for a republic we got. Fine excuse for law and order.
You read about that gangster massacre in Oklahoma City?
Now, there's an example. Our government's nothing but a gangster's joke.
There's one remark I'll pass to you, brother:
Be careful how you talk about the United States of America.
- Come on, Nick. - Wait a minute.
- Let me get a load of this tinhorn patriot. - You got your eats.
There's your change. Now kindly get out.
Thought you said not to argue with the guests.
- You better tend to your own business... - My own business.
What business? Miserable little service station on the edge of nowhere.
Well, maybe that's all you're good for.
What chance have I ever had to prove what I can do?
You had a war, didn't you? The biggest war yet.
I bet you think I failed because I didn't come home with any medals.
You didn't have to drive behind the lines.
I enlisted where my mechanical knowledge would do the most good.
- Paula's scared. - Scared of what?
Duke Mantee and his gang are headed this way.
Nobody will get Mantee. He'll fool them.
You can't fool all the people all the time.
- Watch things, Gabby. I gotta get dressed. - What for?
The Black Horse Vigilante meeting.
Dad, aren't you ever gonna get tired of playing soldier?
Well, that bandit gang better not head this way.
What'll you do, blow the bugle and turn the whole potbellied troop loose on them?
I only hope someday my own daughter will learn to respect the things I stand for.
There's the mail!
There's the mail.
Hello, Dick. How's everything?
Oh, not so good. They tell me Mantee and his gang are around here someplace.
Yeah? What's he...?
Paula was right. The postman just told me...
that Duke Mantee and his gang are gallivanting around here someplace.
Cut it out.
- What's the matter? Don't you like me? - No, not very much.
Well, I'll forgive you since I haven't had much chance to go into my act.
But when I do, you're gonna change your attitude plenty fast.
- What's that you're reading? - Oh, you wouldn't like it.
Oh, poetry.
Say, that's pretty hot.
Well?
I've suspected all along all you needed was a little encouragement.
- That's great poetry. - Sure, it's great.
But I can think of something a whole lot better.
- I'm not so terrible-looking, am I? - You think a lot of yourself, don't you?
- It's easy to tell when a girl wants love. - Is it?
Sure.
- How can you tell that, Boze? - Well...
one way is when she calls you by your whole name for the first time.
And another way is the way I feel. It takes two to make a radio program.
The one that's sending and the one that's receiving.
When I'm with a girl that's cute and appealing with big, blue eyes...
and I feel electric waves running through me...
I can be pretty sure she's the one doing the sending, whether she knows it or not.
Have you a radio program coming in right now?
It's like the hottest torch song that was ever sung. Can't you hear it, honey?
You can call me a sap if you want to, but I'm falling in love with you.
I'm getting to want you more than is good for me.
- Boze, have you ever been in love before? - No.
- Have you ever said you were? - Sure, plenty of times.
- Did they believe you? - Certainly, and I'll tell you why.
Because they're all dumb. That's where you're different, Gabby.
- I couldn't fool you. - I'm smart, am I?
Too smart for most men, you'd catch onto them. But that's what I want.
The better you know me, the more you'll like me.
You'd better look out if you want to keep your job.
Dad doesn't like having the hired help make passes at me.
You're gonna love me, Gabby. Love me a lot.
Look out. Here's someone coming.
Good evening.
Could I...
order something to eat?
Why, certainly. Miss Maple will be glad to take care of you.
Thank you.
Wait a minute. Is your dad going to town?
Why, yes.
Okay.
Will you sit down, sir?
Thank you.
- Do you live around here? - No. No, a tourist afoot.
My last host of the road dropped me about 10 miles back.
Still, it's wonderful what progress you can make just by doing this:
Thanks.
"Today's special."
Tell me, just what is a "Bar-B-Q"?
Well, here it's a hamburger sandwich with some vegetables on the side.
It's always today's special.
- It's pretty good. - It is?
Unless we have a sandstorm.
Well, I'll have it. First of all, I'd like some cream of corn soup, some beer...
- and I'll order the dessert later. - Okay.
Thank... Oh, another question. Where am I?
Well, this place is called Black Mesa.
Black Mesa.
How intriguing.
Where are you planning to go?
My plans have been uncertain.
Oh, just hoboing along.
Call it "gypsy-ing."
I had a vague idea I'd like to see the Pacific Ocean...
or perhaps drown in it. But that depends.
Where did you come from?
Quite a long way, Miss Maple.
- That is the name, isn't it? - Yes, that's it.
- Are you English? - No.
You might call me an American once removed.
- But if you wouldn't mind... - The soup will be in in a minute.
The washroom is through that door if you want it.
Thank you.
- Oh, good evening. - Good evening.
- Anyone take your order? - Yes, a charming young lady.
That's my daughter.
- Gee willikers, ain't that great? Look. - Ain't what great?
Duke Mantee and his gang are around here someplace.
- There's his picture. - Well, if he heads this way...
we Black Horse Vigilantes will handle that gent.
- You would? - Of course. That's what we're for.
If you'd take my advice, I wouldn't start any shooting in that getup.
- Why not? - I never see'd a better target.
Yeah? Well, you needn't be afraid about me.
Afraid? I ain't afraid. But I would be if I was you.
- I took 5 bucks, Gabby. - Why'd you need all that for?
Just in case of emergency. Say, between the two of you...
you'd think I wasn't fit to be trusted with money, ideas or anything.
Well, let me tell you, the both of you, that I've...
Oh, well.
- Gramp? - Yes?
Gramp, what are you doing back there?
Can't you let your old grandpappy have a little snifter now?
No. You can have one before you go to bed.
Well, I'm sleepy now.
Gramp.
- Your soup is ready, my friend. - Oh, thanks.
- It looks good too. - Thank you.
Look out, look out. That's The Denver Post. Here you are.
- Thanks. - Yeah.
Oh, say, look. Look, look. There's a picture of Duke Mantee.
"Six killed."
- Did he do all that? - Oh, yes. Yes, indeed.
- He doesn't look very vicious, does he? - I tell you here.
You can't tell a killer except by his chin. There's a funny thing about that.
A killer always holds his chin in. You ever notice that?
- I don't think I've ever seen a killer. - Oh, I have. Plenty of them.
- You ever hear tell of Billy the Kid? - Yes. My soup's getting cold.
I knowed him down in the Pecos Country. He took a couple of shots at me once.
Well, congratulations. I mean, on still being with us.
Hey!
But I don't think you understand. You see, it was kind of dark...
and the Kid had had a few, and I think he was just trying to scare the pants off of me.
- Did he do it? - No. No, no.
I see'd he was just a-funning, and so I said to him, I said:
"Kid, you're drunk." And he said to me:
"Well, what makes you think that?" And I said, "Because you missed me."
Well, you ought to heard him laugh.
- Say, you're kind of hungry, ain't you? - Well, you can go just so long without food.
What line of work you in?
None at the moment. I had been a writer.
- A writer? - Yes.
- Well, that's a funny thing. - Yes, it is.
- I knew the greatest writer ever. - Really?
Sam Clemens. Ever hear of him?
Well, now, let me see. Sam...
- Did you ever hear of Mark Twain? - Yes.
- Well, that's the same feller. - Oh, that's right.
I knowed him well when I was a boy back in Virginia City.
Yeah, he used to write funny things for the paper there, the Enterprise.
Yes, sir. He was the darnedest feller I ever see'd...
and I've see'd plenty. Yes, he used to write, he said, on the principle...
that people that read his writings didn't want the truth...
so that's what he's gonna give them.
- Are you a famous writer? - No, no. I'm... No.
Oh, you're just modest about it? What's your name?
Alan Squier.
- Your supper's ready, Gramp. - And I'm ready for it too.
Watching this feller eat has made me hungry. Well, I'm glad to know you, Mr. Squier.
- Glad to have met you, sir. - Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.
- Like the soup? - Oh, it was glorious.
Did I hear you say that you were a writer?
Yes. In a way.
I've never known any writers.
- Please don't go. - Do you want something else?
No, I just wanted to talk to you.
Won't you please sit down?
All right.
- I suppose you want to go into the movies. - Not on your life.
I want to go to Bourges.
- Where? - Bourges, in France.
You might never guess it, but that's where I came from.
- Really? You're not French, are you? - Partly. I was born in Bourges.
I left there before I was hardly able to walk...
so all I know about it is from postcards my mother sends me.
They got a cathedral there.
- Your mother still lives there? - Yes.
Dad brought us here after the war. Mother stuck it out for years...
then packed and went back to Bourges. We've never seen her since.
Some people think it was cruel of her to leave me, but what could she do?
She had no money, and she couldn't live here.
You can't blame her for that. Do you think it was cruel of her?
- No, not if you don't, Miss Maple. - Look.
Look, here's a picture of Mother just before she married Dad.
She's lovely, isn't she?
- You know, I can see the resemblance. - Can you really?
It's hard to imagine her being married to Dad.
Still, I suppose, he looked all right in his American uniform.
Mother always gives me a book on my birthday. She sent me this one.
It's the poems of François Villon.
- Ever read them? - Yes, I have.
It's swell poetry.
Mother's written on the flyleaf.
- That means, "To my dear little Gabrielle." - Oh, it does?
Gabrielle, that's a beautiful name.
Wouldn't you know it'd get changed into "Gabby"...
by these sunbaked, ignorant desert rats.
I see you share your mother's opinion of the desert.
But you can find solace in the poems of François Villon.
Yes, it takes the stink of the gasoline and the hamburger out of my system.
Gabrielle, would you like to read me one of those poems?
- Right now? - Yes. While I'm finishing today's special.
Okay, I'll read you the one I like the best.
Such good I wish you
Yea, and heartily I'm fired with hope of true love's meed to get
Knowing love writes it in his book
For why, this is the end for which we twain are met
Go on, Gabrielle.
Seeing reason wills not that I cast love by
Nor here with reason shall I chide and fret
Nor cease to serve but serve more constantly
This is the end for which we twain are met
You know...
You know, that guy writes wonderful stuff.
How did you pronounce his name?
François Villon.
The French seem to understand everything.
That's why you want to go to France?
- For understanding? - I will go there. When Gramp dies...
we're gonna sell this place, and I'll take my money and go to Bourges...
and find something, well, something beautiful to look at...
and wine and dancing in the streets and...
Well, if I were you, Gabrielle, I'd stay here and avoid disappointment.
I've been to France.
- What were you doing, writing books? - No, planning to write books.
You see, I married a lady of wealth.
She was very liberal to me.
Don't think ill of me because of that. I actually did write a book.
What kind of a book? Fiction?
In a sense, yes. It was a novel. I was 22 at the time. It was very, very stark.
It sold slightly over 600 copies.
It cost the publisher a great deal of money, and incidentally, it cost him his wife.
You see, she divorced him and married me.
She saw in me a major artist. Profound but inarticulate.
She thought I needed background, so she gave it to me with southern exposure...
and a fine view of the Mediterranean.
Well, for eight years I reclined there, on the Riviera, on my background...
and I waited for the major artist to emerge and say something of enduring importance.
But he preferred to remain inarticulate.
- And you've left your wife now? - Yes.
That's swell.
I left her at her suggestion.
See, she'd taken up with a Brazilian painter, also a major artist.
There was nothing left to do but travel. I decided to set forth and discover America.
And I've come this far on my journey...
thanks to the power of the thumb.
What are you looking for?
I don't know.
I suppose I was looking for something to believe in, worth living for and dying for.
What have you found?
Nothing half so interesting as an old man who was missed by Billy the Kid...
and a fair young lady who reads Villon.
Well, I do other things that'd surprise you.
- Yes, I'm sure you do. - I paint pictures.
- No. Any good? - Nope.
- Let me see them. - They're kind of crazy.
Well, so much the better. Please let me see them.
Perhaps you're a genius and I'm to introduce you to posterity.
- You're not kidding me? - No, Gabrielle.
I've never kidded anybody, outside of myself.
Well, all right. If you'll promise not to tell anybody about them.
I give you my word of honor.
- You got to climb a ladder to see. - Come on.
Give me some water and gas. Fill it up.
Right.
That's Paula, our Mexican cook. It isn't much of a likeness.
I'm sure it wasn't intended to be photographic.
That's the one that I like the best.
I wanted to show how the clouds look when they roll down the mountains.
Gabrielle, tell me, what on earth made you paint in that strange manner?
Oh, it's just how I see and feel.
Oh, yes.
Are they any good?
I tell you, Gabrielle, I can say I'm tremendously impressed.
I could improve if I could get to France. They have marvelous art schools there.
Do you realize there are thousands of artists in France saying:
"If only I could get to Arizona"?
I know. A lot of people go crazy about this desert when they see it.
They seem to think it's full of mystery and haunted and all that.
- Well, so it is. - Well, maybe it is...
but there's something in me that wants something different.
I know there's something in you.
Wish I could figure out what it is.
Maybe it's the French in my blood.
You know, sometimes I feel as if I was sparkling all over...
and I wanna go out and do something absolutely crazy and marvelous.
Then the American part of me speaks up and spoils everything.
And I go back to work and figure out my dull accounts.
So much coffee, so many rolls...
so many hamburgers, sugar.
Do you keep the accounts correctly?
If I didn't, we'd go broke.
Well, that's the French part of you.
That sparkle, that must be 100-percent American.
- Would you like to marry a Frenchman? - I don't wanna marry.
- No? - I wanna be always free.
I see. How about that stalwart youth down there in the football jersey?
What makes you think I'd take notice of him?
- I don't know. When I came in just now, I... - Sure, I know. He was kissing me.
- That's nothing. - There's always room for development.
- He's after me, all right. - He is?
- Think he'll succeed? - I haven't decided yet.
- What's your advice? - Oh, no. Don't ask me, Gabrielle.
Let your French blood guide you. It's infallible in those matters.
- You ought to know something. - I don't know anything.
The trouble with me is I belong to a vanishing race. I am one of the intellectuals.
That means you got brains.
Yeah, brains without purpose.
Noise without sound, shape without substance.
Have you ever read "The Hollow Men"?
Don't. Very discouraging because it's true.
It refers to intellectuals who thought they'd conquered nature, dammed it...
and irrigated the wastelands.
Built streamlined monstrosities to penetrate its resistance.
They wrapped it up in cellophane, sold it in drugstores.
They were so certain they had it subdued, and now...
Do you realize what it is that's causing world chaos?
You don't? Well, I'm probably the only living man who can tell you.
It's nature hitting back.
She's fighting with new instruments called neuroses.
She's deliberately afflicting mankind with the jitters.
Nature's proving she can't be beaten, not by the likes of us.
She's taking the world away from the intellectuals and giving it back to the apes.
Well, forgive me, Gabrielle.
It's such a luxury to have somebody to talk to.
Don't you pay any attention to me.
I was born in 1901, the year Victoria died.
I was just too late for the Great War and too soon for the new order.
You may be a new species, for all I know.
You can be one of nature's children...
therefore able to understand her and enjoy her, depending upon how you feel.
Only you can decide whether or not to yield to the ardors of number 42 out there.
You know, you talk like a darn fool.
I know it. I know it.
It's no wonder your wife kicked you out.
But it's no wonder she fell for you first.
- That sounds alarmingly like a compliment. - It is a compliment.
Thanks.
- What did you say your name was? - Alan Squier.
But I've been calling you Gabrielle, so you'd better call me Alan.
All right, Alan.
Petrified Forest is dead trees in the desert that turned to stone.
Here's a good specimen.
So that was once a tree.
Petrified Forest?
A suitable haven for me.
Perhaps that's what I'm destined to become, an interesting fossil for future study.
I'd like to see France with you.
Oh, no, Gabrielle, I never could retrace my footsteps.
- Haven't you got enough money? - Well...
even that is an understatement.
I haven't either, but I can do this as well as you can.
I'm afraid we'd reach a point on the Atlantic coast...
where even that gesture would be unavailing.
There's something appealing about you.
Appealing? That's been my downfall.
Do you know how much money Gramps has in the bank at Santa Fe?
$22,000 in liberty bonds, and it's all willed to me.
- I guess we could go pretty far on that. - Oh, too far.
And then when we got to France, why, you could show me everything.
That's a startling proposal. I didn't expect to receive anything like that in this desert.
Oh, we'd have to wait, maybe years, but I could get Boze fired...
- and give you the gas-station job. - You'd like me for a companion?
I know I would. And I don't make many mistakes.
You're no ape-man, Alan, but you're lovable.
Lovable? The next grade below appealing.
Wouldn't you like someone to be in love with you?
Yes, Gabrielle, I would like someone in love with me.
Do you think I'm attractive?
There are better words than that for what you are.
Then why not stay here? You have nothing better to do.
That's the trouble. You'd get tired of a man who had nothing to do but worship you.
That's a dull kind of love, Gabrielle.
It's the kind of love that makes people old too soon.
But I thank you for the suggestion.
It's opened up a new channel in my imagination...
which it'll be interesting to explore during my lonely wanderings.
You're going now?
- Yes, I'm going. - Well, I guess I can't stop you.
No, Gabrielle...
you can't stop me.
But you could do me one great favor before I go.
Would you mind very much if I kissed you goodbye?
- No, I wouldn't mind. - You'd understand it would be...
Yes, I understand.
Just a kiss, that's all.
Yes. That's absolutely all.
So that's what you've been doing. Necking, eh?
- Who do you think you are? - Lay off him, Boze.
She's cute, so you thought you could get fresh.
Oh, no. He was just kissing me goodbye.
Yes, I admit the impulse is a little hard to explain.
Don't bother to explain. Just pay your check and get out.
Yes.
Well, how much do I owe, Miss Maple?
- Thirty cents. - What do you mean, 30 cents?
- Is that all he ate? - Shut up, Boze.
Thirty cents? For all that?
That's very reasonable.
Very reasonable.
But that brings us to another embarrassment.
I haven't got 30 cents. Frankly, I haven't anything.
- What have you got in this pack? - Nothing. Shirts, socks, underwear...
toothbrush, passport, insurance policy...
and a copy of Modern Man in Search of a Soul by...
You ought to read that. You'd love it.
You were gonna pay with a kiss?
Take your hands off him. Go on, Alan.
- All right, I'm leaving. - I'll give him a head start.
Sorry, ma'am.
- Where's the restroom, please? - Through that door at the right.
- Gas and oil, please. - Get on the job, Boze.
Boze.
- Gas and oil. - Have you any good cigars?
Yes, sir. Right over here, sir.
What have you?
Well, I have some stogies and some Arizona Pips.
Let me see the Pips.
- How far is it to the Phoenix Palace Hotel? - Well, it's a good 200 miles from here.
- Goodbye, Miss Maple. - Wait a minute, Alan.
- Excuse me, sir. - What?
Have you room for another person in your car?
- Who is it? - A friend of mine, Mr. Squier.
He's on his way to the coast and hasn't got a car right now.
He's an author.
- Joseph? - Yes, sir.
Do you think we can give this man a lift as far as the Phoenix Palace Hotel?
- I guess he's all right, Mr. Chisholm. - Very well. Glad to have you along.
Thank you, Mr. Chisholm.
And thank you, Miss Maple.
I shall remember your kindness.
- I forgot to give you your change. - What cha...?
But I wanted you to keep that.
But tipping is un-American. We don't allow it.
Here. Here, take it.
I can't pretend that I...
When you get to the coast, send a postcard with a view of the Pacific Ocean.
I like pictures of the sea.
Oh, my dear, come here.
- This is Mr... - Mr. Squier.
Mr. Squier, darling. I've offered to give him a lift as far as the Phoenix Palace Hotel.
Now, he's quite all right. Joseph just went over him.
- How do you do, Mrs. Chisholm? - How do you do?
Well, are we ready to start?
Yes, very well. Come along, Mr. Squier.
Well, I suppose I shall never see you again.
No.
That's the way it is in a gas station. They come and they go.
But somehow or another I'll manage to repay this dollar.
Goodness knows when.
Perhaps we'll run into each other someday in Bourges.
Yes.
- Well, goodbye, Gabrielle. - Goodbye, Alan.
Oh, Joseph, will you turn on the radio?
Flash, latest bulletin on Mantee Massacre in Oklahoma City.
Following is the description of Mantee's car heading for the border.
Watch for this car: Oklahoma license number 3T-808.
Front right fender heavily dented. Bullet holes in rear window of car.
The car is supplied with extra gasoline.
Three of the gangsters are believed to be accompanying Mantee, the leader.
Mantee's description follows:
- Straight, black hair... - Kill that radio, Ruby.
- Can't you fix it, Slim? - No, the cylinder head's cracked.
What are you talking about?
Wait a minute.
Get behind that rock, Jackie. You two, behind that car. Keep out of sight.
Come on, step out, brother.
Hop out of that car and nobody gets hurt.
Shut up, lady.
Come on, hop out. Get over there.
Come on, hurry it up. Hurry it up.
- Friends of yours? - For years I've wondered...
what you'd do in this situation, and what did you do? Nothing.
Correct, my dear idiot wife. I did nothing because that man is Duke Mantee.
- No, really? - Yes.
- Joseph, let us see if their car will function. - Yes, Mr. Chisholm.
Sweetheart.
Want a piece of gum?
From the way you act, you'd think you were crazy about that guy.
I'm not crazy about him, but every once in a while you meet somebody...
- that's a natural object of charity. - Yeah, but he's gone. I'm here.
Listen, honey, let's take a little walk around the mesa. Sun's going down.
How about it, sweetheart?
- Do you know what he said, Boze? - What?
That we'd been fighting nature, and we thought we'd licked it.
But that's where we're wrong.
We've got to admit that nature can't be beaten.
Yeah, I heard all that. But isn't that what I've been telling you all along?
I guess so, Boze.
Well, how about the walk, sweetheart?
I'll think about it.
I'll get rid of them fast.
Now, just behave yourself, you two, and nobody will get hurt.
This is Duke Mantee, the world-famous killer.
And he's hungry.
Alan!
- What are you doing here? - There's bandits here.
- Yeah, so we heard. - Yes, they made us stop and get out.
Then they drove off in Mr. Chisholm's car.
- Their car was locked... - Alan, look out.
Come here.
Well, so we meet again.
Sit down, pal.
Down there.
Yeah, I'd be delighted.
Wait a minute.
Sit down, you!
Would you mind sitting down over there, pop?
Sure.
Up there, Fat.
Football player, eh?
Yeah, and you better not let me get close enough to take a sock at you.
I used to be quite a fan. What's your school?
Molby Tech.
Never heard of it.
Ruby, get down by the door and keep your eyes open.
- You got Slim watching on the outside. - Get down to the door.
Hey, Squier, that's Duke Mantee. Remember?
- I showed you his picture, remember? - Yes, I remember.
Join us in a glass of beer?
Thanks. Do you mind if I have some of that whiskey instead?
Give him a drink, sister.
Jackie, turn on that radio in back of you.
What'd I tell you?
Look at that chin. He's a killer, all right.
- We're lucky we got ringside seats. - He's a gangster and a rat.
He ain't no gangster. He's a real old-time desperado.
Gangsters is foreigners, and he's an American.
Wait till the sheriff finds out he's here. We'll see some real killing.
Won't we, Duke?
The cops ain't likely to catch up with us. Not tonight.
So we can all be quiet and peaceable and have a few beers together...
and listen to the music.
And not make any wrong moves.
I may as well tell you that Ruby there with the gun...
he's pretty nervous and jumpy. And he's got the itch between his fingers.
So let's everybody stay where they are.
Let there be killing.
All this evening, I've had a feeling of destiny closing in.
Do you believe in astrology?
I couldn't say, pal.
Well, I don't normally.
But tonight, as I was walking along that road...
I began to feel the enchantment of this desert.
I looked up at the sky, and the stars seemed to be mocking me, reproving me.
They were pointing the way to that gleaming sign and saying:
"There's the end of your tether.
You thought you could escape and skip off to the Phoenix Palace...
but we know better."
That's what the stars told me.
For perhaps they know that carnage is imminent.
And that I'm due to be among the fallen.
Fascinating thought.
Let's skip it.
Here's happy days.
Yes, sir. Certainly does feel great to have a real killer around here again.
Yes, it's pleasant to be back again amongst the living.
Hooray.
Oh, come on, Joseph. Hurry, please.
I'm doing the best I can, Mrs. Chisholm.
Well, why don't you start it?
- Well, if you think you can do better... - Well, I couldn't do worse.
Hey, good luck, Duke.
Good thing you showed up, or I wouldn't have got this.
Well, what happened to Andy Anderson then?
Oh, I'll tell you. He sneaked into the Civil War.
- Did he? - Yes.
He told me it was a regular paradise for killing.
He'd stick a Johnny Reb with his bayonet and toss him over his shoulder...
Say, pop. I wish you wouldn't talk so much about blood while we're eating.
What, you got it on your conscience?
- On my what? - Yeah, I thought so.
A yap like you hasn't got any more conscience than a coyote.
Listen to the halfback. How much did you get for playing on the team?
I worked my way through college.
Oh, how nice.
Wait a minute, smart guy. I have something to show you.
Keep your hand off your hip.
I was gonna show him a clipping that said I should've been all-American.
Scared you, didn't I? I knew it, you're all yellow.
I'd be a little tactful if I were you. They're your guests.
They're yellow dogs. That's why they turned crooked.
No, no, no. Cowardice isn't the cause of crime, is it?
It has to do with the glands.
They can't face the problems of life.
They got to fight their way through with guns instead of with principles.
Step over to the other side of the room, halfback.
You gonna kill him?
- You see? That's just what I said. - This bullet will go right through you.
And you wouldn't want me to hurt the cute, little dame.
You're taking this much too seriously, you know.
- I'm not afraid to die. - Come on, move!
Step up that radio, will you, sister.
- Sit down, Jackie Cooper. - Come on, listen.
- You heard what he said to me. - Sit down.
You too.
Latest bulletins on the greatest manhunt in history.
Mantee's headed for the border. The greatest patrol in history formed...
- ... from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific. - Take a bow.
They escaped in two cars, one containing Mantee and three men.
The other car containing three men and one woman.
The Mantee car was seen an hour ago headed west.
The second car has been lost track of.
- How did they do it with Doris along...? - Shut up.
New Mexico and Arizona. You know how the officers of the law are in this region:
Shoot first, ask questions afterwards.
Watch for this car: Oklahoma license number 3T-808.
Stand by for further details.
Now, some football scores.
- Turn it down, sister. - Molby Tech...
Ruby...
go out to the car and tell Slim to come get his supper.
Tell him to bring in that sack of smoke and the road map.
You stay there and keep awake.
Gabrielle, there wasn't much whiskey. Could we have more?
Who told you you could call her by her first name?
Now, Boze, you and I have got to be friends, so long as they let us.
Why don't you take a sock at him, halfback.
Hi, everybody.
It's about time you got around to asking me in.
Here's your map, boss.
When we gonna feed my stomach?
Cook him some hamburger, Fat. Go with her, Slim.
Okay, boss. When we gonna lam out of here?
Just as soon as Duke connects with his heavy date.
I don't like that dame stuff. I likes to get out of range.
- How about passing that? - Certainly.
- No. You've had all you're gonna get. - Sorry, Gramp.
Oh, it's all right.
- What are you doing, Gramp? - I'm gonna smoke my pipe.
Go ahead, pop.
Thanks, Duke.
How are you gonna pay for all that liquor?
I can pay, Boze, and I will. I have a dollar.
- Oh, you have? So you were holding out? - No, no, no. I acquired it since then.
- Where? - Perhaps the rich people gave it to him.
Now, lay off, Boze.
If you must know, I'll tell you the extent of my pride.
- Gabrielle gave me the dollar. - You did?
It's none of your business.
Oh, you were feeling kind of generous tonight, weren't you?
Would you like to know what she was gonna give me when those rats came?
Well, speaking of rats! Of all the low, slimy, stinking...
No, Gabrielle, no. You mustn't blame Boze.
You must remember, he's a man of muscle. He suffers from the pangs of frustration.
- I said you were a low... - I'm sorry. I didn't mean it.
They got me mad with all these guns staring me in the face.
That's all it is. You know, I'm in sympathy with you, Boze, I really am.
Ever read All Quiet on the Western Front?
- No. - Haven't you?
Well, all of us here tonight are under very much the same kind of tension.
- You better have a drink, old man. - I love you, Gabby.
- Please tell me you forgive me. - Excuse me. Would you rather I left?
- Stay where you are. - But I'm intruding.
- Sit down. - It's all right, Alan.
- We've got nothing to hide. - No. Worse luck.
You know, I'm sorry for you, Boze, I really am.
There's one thing I'll say: You're a good lovemaker when you get going.
I wasn't turning on any act. I told you I was full of love.
- And I was telling the truth. - So you're full of love, are you, halfback?
Keep it up, kid. I'm rooting for you. Touchdown!
- Keep your hands on the table. - I'm gonna comb my hair!
You don't know what it is to be really crazy about somebody.
For all you know, maybe I do.
Get me a cigar, will you, sister.
Say, Duke. You fellers gonna stay here all night?
Can't say, pop. Maybe we'll decide to get buried here.
You better come with me, Duke.
I'm planning to be buried in the Petrified Forest.
I've formed a theory about that that would interest you.
It's the graveyard of the civilization that's shot from under us.
The world of outmoded ideas.
They're all so many dead stumps in the desert.
That's where I belong. And so do you, Duke.
For you're the last great apostle of rugged individualism.
Maybe you're right, pal.
Oh, I'm eternally right.
But what good does it do me?
I couldn't say.
Hey, who were you ever crazy about?
Well, if you've got to know, it's him.
What?
I was telling Boze that I'm crazy about you.
- Who, me? - That panhandler?
- Did you ever see him before? - No, but it really doesn't matter.
I love him. I guess I'll never really love anybody else.
Can I possibly be drunk?
After you left, I felt as if something had been taken out of me.
As if I was sort of coming out of a dream.
Then I caught on and realized I was only a desert rat...
and that's all I'd ever be.
Do you know what I asked him? I asked him if I could go away with him.
But you wouldn't have, even if we'd had the money.
Would you, Alan?
- Would you? - No, no, Gabrielle. No.
You see? He doesn't give a hoot in the hot place about me.
I saw that plainly enough.
It only made me love him all the more.
That's why I was willing to go out with you in the moonlight...
when Duke Mantee came in.
I'm sorry, sister. I don't like to interfere with anybody's fun.
It's all right. It was probably just for the best.
Yes. When I look at you, I guess it was.
You know, I'm sorry now that I came back.
I'll take a drink of that stuff.
Are you sorry you heard the truth?
I've told you, I'm the kind of person to whom the truth is always distasteful.
Your wife must have treated you terribly.
- Why do you say that? - She talked all the heart out of you.
I could put it back.
No, no. Don't delude yourself.
You better not drink any more of that rye whiskey.
It isn't the rye. It's the same disease that's afflicting Boze.
- Frustration! - Sit down, pal.
What do you care whether I sit or stand?
What can I do to assail your superiority?
I got to think about my health, pal.
If I had a gun, I wouldn't know what to do with it.
I want to talk to him.
- Me? - You can talk sitting down.
I heard you doing it.
Well, what's on your mind?
Those liberty bonds of yours buried in Santa Fe...
What do you know about them?
- What will you do with them? - Leave them there.
That's right. Meanwhile, your granddaughter stifles and suffocates in this desert.
A few of your thousands will give her a chance.
Yes, and maybe give you a chance to steal them.
- I heard what you been saying. - That's just a low way...
to justify your stinginess.
I know you were a pioneer once, but what are you now?
Just a mean old miser, hanging on to your money as though it meant something.
Why don't you die and do the world some good?
You must be drunk.
Yeah.
Drunk or just about the lowest-grade rat I ever run across.
What do you mean talking to an old man like that?
Well, you're right, Duke. I was guilty of bad taste. I apologize, Mr. Maple.
You'd better crawl, or I might have to put the lug on you.
Talking to an old man like that.
She'll get it when she needs it, when she has a family of her own to support.
And probably a good-for-nothing, unemployed husband.
- There's three people coming up the road. - Okay, keep quiet when they get here.
Reach for it! I've got you! I've been waiting.
I've been watching every move that you made.
- Get that gun, Jackie. - Are you hurt?
- He got me in the hand. - Frisk them.
- Get in there, or I'll shoot you. - Let us out of here!
We have nothing to do with this. That sandstorm...
Shut up.
- I won't have that man pawing me. - Get back to the car, Ruby.
That sand's beginning to blow too hard.
Get back to the car.
Bandage him up, sister. He'll be all right.
Go with him. And you better get a line and tie him up and leave him there.
- So you tried to be brave, did you? - I had my chance, and I muffed it.
- Come on, Boze. - Tough luck, halfback. Nice try.
Trouble is, you're just too fast for your interference.
Come on. Get in here.
Sit down over there. Come on, step on it!
You, down there. Come on, sit down!
If any more people come in here, we'll have to be sending out for recruits.
Hi, colored brother.
Good evening.
Say, boss, we better lam out of here. With that sand blowing, we won't be able to see.
We go when I say so. Finish your supper, Slim.
Okay, boss.
See you later, deacon.
Say, Duke. Did you mean to hit him in the hand, or was that just a bad shot?
It was a bad shot, pop, but I had to get it off fast.
I let him make a mug out of me, but don't anybody try it again.
Just keep in mind that I and the boys is candidates for hanging.
Any one of you makes a wrong move, I'm gonna kill the whole lot of you.
Now, keep your seats.
I knew it was a mistake to take that hitchhiker in the car.
- What does he have to do with it? - He didn't help very much.
No, I haven't helped matters at all, up to now.
Duke, would you mind passing me that rucksack that's beside you?
- What do you want with it? - I want to get out my life insurance policy.
If you reach in there, you'll find it among a bundle of papers.
What do you want with your insurance papers? Expecting to die?
You guessed it, Mr. Maple.
Thanks. Now, can I take out my fountain pen? It's just in here.
Say, what about my car?
That's a nice bus you got there.
Let's hope it won't be all full of bullet holes and blood.
Oh, there's one little dressing case with some...
With some things I need. May I have that, please?
I took a look in that case.
I got a friend that likes rubies.
- You mean you're going to steal them? - Yes, ma'am.
You're a filthy thief.
Yes, ma'am.
Say, look here. How much will you take to let us out of here?
- How much have you got? - Well, I can let you have, say, $200 cash.
Bring it here.
Just put down the whole wallet. Down there.
You got any more?
- I have a little loose change. - Keep it.
- Well, may we go, then, please? - No.
- Look here, I understood... - Sit down where you were.
- You're a mean, contemptible thief. - Quiet, Edith.
There's nothing we can do but hope that someday the government...
will take measures to protect the life and property of its citizens.
Here's your wallet, pal.
- Duke, I have a great favor to ask you. - Yeah?
Yes. I don't think you'll refuse, because you have imagination.
You're not afraid of doing rather outlandish things.
What are you getting at?
This insurance policy, it's my only asset.
It's for $5000.
Now, I've written on the back of the policy that I want the money paid to Miss Maple.
Yes, Miss Maple. That young lady in there.
If Mr. And Mrs. Chisholm witness my signature, it'll be all right.
You see, what I'm getting at, Duke, is this:
After they've signed, I wish...
I'd be much obliged if you'd just...
kill me.
It couldn't make any difference to you.
Even if they catch you, they can only hang you once.
You know better than anybody they have more than they need against you.
And you needn't be bothered by any humane considerations.
It will be difficult to find a more suitable candidate for extermination.
I shall be mourned by nobody.
In fact, my passing will evoke sighs of relief in certain quarters.
Besides, you'd only be carrying out the sentence of the natural law.
Survival of the fittest.
By golly, he is drunk.
Sure, and having a fine time showing off.
Of course I'm showing off. I'm trying to outdo Boze in gallantry.
There's nothing unnatural in that.
He was willing to risk his life to become an all-American star. I'm ready to do likewise.
Can't you see that I mean this?
I'm afraid I'm not interested in your whimsicalities.
I don't blame you, but you must remember, this is a weird country we're in.
These mesas are enchanted.
And you must be prepared for the improbable.
- All I'm asking you to do is... - I believe you really do mean it.
Good, Mrs. Chisholm. You're a kindred spirit.
I bet that you, too, have been thrilled by A Tale of Two Cities.
You're in love with her, aren't you?
Yes, I suppose I am.
And not unreasonably.
She has heroic stuff in her.
She may be one of the immortal women of France.
Another Joan of Arc, George Sand, Madame Curie or Du Barry.
I want to show her that I believe in her, and how else can I do it?
Living, I'm worth nothing to her.
Dead, I can buy her the tallest cathedrals...
golden vineyards and dancing in the streets.
One well-directed bullet will accomplish all that.
And it'll earn a measure of reflected glory for him that fired it and him that stopped it.
This document will be my ticket to immortality.
It'll inspire people to say of me, "There was an artist who died before his time."
Will you do it, Duke?
I'll be glad to.
- All right. Can I have this signed? - Sure.
- Say, is he by any chance insane? - Don't ask me. He's no friend of mine.
- Of course he's insane, but what of it? - Thank you.
Just sign where I've written "witnessed this day."
- Mr. Maple, I'm entrusting this to you. - All right.
After the Duke has obliged, take it to some good lawyer for collection.
Here, this is my passport for identification purposes.
Thanks. Thank you.
- All right? - Sure.
Thank you.
Let me know when you want to be killed.
Pick your own time, Duke.
Say...
just before you leave.
I'd prefer to have her think it was in cold blood.
Would you please all remember that?
But for the time being, you better sit down.
You might get to feeling reckless.
Let's have another drink. Would you mind passing glasses to the Chisholms?
- Sure. - And bring me one too.
Come on, boss. Let's lam out of here.
- We got to give the others more time. - But you oughtn't trust a dame.
They probably got lost in the sandstorm.
They know this country like a book. Doris knows I picked this place.
Well, I wish she'd show.
Hey, don't forget me.
Don't give it to him, Slim. The girl says he oughtn't to have it.
- Hey, where's that cook? - She's all right. I locked her up.
Have a drink, colored brother.
- Is it all right, Mr. Chisholm? - Listen to him, "Is it all right?"
Ain't you heard about the big liberation?
- Take your drink, weasel. - It's all right, Joseph.
- Thank you, sir. - "Mr. Chisholm."
- Think it's all right? - Yeah, I guess it's all right.
But let me tell you one thing, Mr. Squier.
The woman don't live or ever did live that's worth $5000.
Let me tell you something. You're a forgetful old fool.
Any woman's worth everything that any man has to give.
Anguish, ecstasy, faith, jealousy, love, hatred...
life or death.
You see, that's the whole excuse for our existence.
It's what makes the whole thing possible and tolerable.
When you get to my age, you'll learn better sense.
Did you hear that?
Yes, I heard.
That lovely girl, your granddaughter, do you know what she is?
- No, you haven't the remotest idea. - Well, what is she?
She's the future. She's the renewal of vitality and courage and aspiration.
All the strength that's gone out of you.
I don't know what she is, but I know she's essential to me...
and the whole godforsaken country and the whole miserable world.
And please, Mrs. Chisholm, don't look at me quizzically.
I know how I sound.
I was wondering if you really believe all that.
I mean, about women.
Of course I do.
There's a man who agrees with me.
Don't you, Duke?
I don't know, pal. I wasn't listening.
All right, then let me speak for you.
He could be across the border by now, and safe.
But he prefers to remain here.
- Do you know why? - Why?
Because he has a rendezvous here with a girl.
- Isn't that true, Duke? - Yes, pal, that's it.
I guess we're all a lot of saps, but I wouldn't be surprised...
if he was the champion.
Did you think I was kidding when I said I'd be glad to knock you off?
I hope neither of us was kidding.
Did you think I was?
I just wanted to make sure.
You're all right, pal. You got good ideas.
I'll try to fix it so it don't hurt.
Well, you're all right too, Duke.
Like to meet you again...
someday.
Maybe it'll be soon.
You know, this frightful place has suddenly become quite cozy.
Do you realize that we're going to be witnesses to a murder?
He's actually going to shoot him.
Hello. How's Boze?
Oh, he'll be all right.
Listen, Gramp, I was just thinking.
This place will be advertised everywhere.
People will flock to see where Duke stopped.
Good. I like company.
No, I think we ought to sell out right away tomorrow.
Trimble will raise his offer, sure.
You're still aiming to take that trip to France.
Oh, skip that. Do it for Dad's sake.
- Maybe I could get a job in Hollywood. - And will you be satisfied?
I'm not thinking about myself.
- I don't care what happens to me. - You must.
You want to be a great artist?
Then you better get used to being a colossal egotist...
selfish to the core.
Are you going to give me more advice?
You and your talk about nature.
You told me not to listen to you.
- So I did, but I... - That's all the advice I'll take from you.
Do you mind if I speak up? Perhaps I could tell you some things...
- What do you know about me? - Nothing. Edith...
You haven't the slightest conception of what's inside me, and you never will.
I don't know about you, my dear...
but I do know what it means to repress yourself, starve yourself...
through what you conceive to be your duty to others.
Because I've been all through that. When I was your age, I went to Salzburg.
I had a letter to Max Reinhardt. I could have played the nun in The Miracle.
But my family...
they started yapping about my obligations to them.
They whisked me back to Dayton.
And before I knew it, I was married...
to this pillar of the mortgage, loan and trust.
And what did he do? He took my soul and had it stenciled on a card and filed.
And that's where I've been ever since, in an odd metal cabinet.
That's why I think I've got a little right to advise you.
Oh, dear heaven.
Oh, you needn't look so martyred.
I've never complained. I've given you everything.
At the price of my self-respect, my individuality and everything else.
At the cost of nothing. Your insane extravagance...
Be quiet.
Now maybe you'll realize what I mean. Profit by my experience.
Maybe you have got something wonderful to give the world...
so go to France and...
And find yourself.
It's a peculiar thing about this place...
there seems to be something here that stimulates the autobiographical impulse.
Tell us, Duke, what kind of a life have you had?
What do you think?
I spent most of my time since I grew up in jail.
And it looks like I'll spend the rest of my life dead.
Boss, for the last time, let's lam out of here.
Duke, when you go, if you have room, will you take me with you?
- Edith, for the love of... - Thanks very much, lady.
Maybe when I get settled down in Mexico, I'll send you a postcard with my address.
Duke, how's the time getting along?
It's just about up, pal.
Gabrielle, I've got to talk to you.
- Wait till all the others have gone. - No, I can't wait.
You see, when they go...
I go.
Please come sit down, Gabrielle.
You see...
I've got to tell you now that I love you.
- Alan... - I tell you solemnly...
you're the first person I ever loved in my life.
He does love you. He told us so.
Please, I'm quite capable of saying it, you know.
Alan, they're all staring at us.
I know, but you've got to believe and remember...
because, you see, this is my one chance of survival.
I told you about that major artist that's been hidden.
Well, I'm transferring him to you.
You'll find a line in that poem of Villon's that fits that. Something about:
Thus in your field My seed of harvestry will thrive
Well, I've provided barren soil for that seed...
but you'll give it fertility and growth and fruition.
Alan, you...
You're kind of crazy.
And I guess so am I.
That's why I think we'd be terribly happy together.
No. Don't say that, Gabrielle.
Alan, I believe it with all my heart.
Well, perhaps you're right.
Perhaps we will be happy together...
in a funny kind of way.
If you're going away, I'm going with you.
I'm not going away, Gabrielle.
I told you I was looking for something to believe in, worth living for and dying for.
Well, I... I believe I found it...
here in the valley of the sh...
Alan, what have you found?
I don't know.
I really don't quite know yet.
Well, Duke, what are we waiting for?
Watch it, boys.
Get over by that door, Jackie. Keep them covered, Slim.
Stick them up! Turn around and keep moving.
Open that door, Jackie.
Come on, boys, walk in that door and keep them up. Keep moving!
Get those guns, Jackie.
- Get back to the car. - Is this a stickup?
- What a guesser. - I'm the commander...
- So what? - Well, you wouldn't shoot us in cold blood.
- Sure, we would. - Sit down, boys.
- Where? - On the floor, Black Horse troops.
- Why'd you come here? - We trailed you.
- And we've caught up with you. - Shut up.
What made you bring the regiment?
- What made you think I'd be here? - They caught your pals.
Three men and a blond.
Where was it?
Don't you try to get them out now.
Tell me or I'll tear holes a yard wide in them uniforms!
- Buckhorn. - Where's that?
- About 20 miles away. - Anybody else coming?
I don't know. I swear I don't.
But there's posses all around here.
You've got the strength of the nation after you.
That woman in that car did some talking.
Doris, she snitched. They always do.
Shut up.
- What were you saying? - I'm telling you for your own good.
They know where you were heading. They'll get you.
She has snitched. Come on.
- Don't listen. - Come on, or we're all dead.
- The law's closing in. - What's the matter? Do something.
Shut up! Shut up!
- Give me time to think. - No, don't you waste time thinking.
Don't listen to what they're telling you.
You've got to keep going and going.
Yeah, and go fast, storm or no storm.
You've been double-crossed. Next, you'll be on a marble slab.
- Where'd they take her? - Maybe to Albuquerque.
- If we go there, they'll take us! - You want revenge, don't you?
You'll go out of your way to get that blond who snitched.
Don't do it, Duke. Even if she did betray you, don't commit a worse crime.
Don't betray yourself. Run for the border and take your illusions with you.
- He's right, Duke. - Shut up.
You know they're going to get you anyway. You're obsolete, like me.
You've got to die. Then die for freedom. That's worth it.
Don't give up your life for anything so cheap as revenge.
I hear a car coming down the road, Duke.
I'm going. You've had a pleasant evening. I don't want to spoil it with killing.
Stay put until we're out of sight. We'll be watching.
- Pick up that sack, Slim. - Wait a minute.
You're not forgetting me.
- That's Ruby shooting. - That fathead. Tell him to hold his fire.
We don't want them drilling our car.
Wait a minute! Tell him to open up if they drift around that side.
You have no right to endanger innocent people.
Get behind that counter. Cover this mob.
Okay, boss. What they doing now?
If they can't see us any better than I can see them, we're okay.
- Hey, where's that sack? - The sack's right there beside you.
Boy, I knew this place wasn't safe.
You folks lie down, close together in the middle.
Watch them, Slim.
- Okay. - Where's that light switch?
- Right over there, behind that door. - Turn them off, Jackie.
Heading for the rear. Get out that back door.
Hold your fire unless they rush it. Then we'll lam.
- How many are there? - Six or seven.
- Watch yourself, kid. - Okay, Duke.
You know, this is an impressive spectacle, Gabrielle.
The United States of America versus Duke Mantee.
They're gonna wreck that neon sign.
They're probably all drunk.
It's almost restored in me the will to live and love and conquer.
Listen, Edith, if I'm killed...
- What did you say? - I said, if I'm killed...
and you're not, get in touch with Jack Laverie. He has full instructions.
Oh. All right.
I feel as if I was sitting on the top of a mountain...
in the middle of Penguin Island, watching...
- Watching the odd, little creatures. - Boss, why ain't Jackie shooting?
The kid knows what he's doing.
What's the first thing you see when you get to France?
- Customs offices. - No, I mean, what's the first real sight?
Well, the fields and forests of Normandy.
Then...
- What, Alan? - Then Paris.
Listen, I better go tell Jackie to open fire.
- Stay where you are! - But you asking an awful lot.
Paris. That must be the most marvelous place in the world for love, isn't it, Alan?
- All places are marvelous, Gabrielle. - Even here?
Especially here, my darling.
As long as I live, I'll be grateful to the Duke.
Alan.
Alan, will you please kiss me?
Okay, Slim, we're pulling out. Tell Ruby to get that car started and get Jackie.
Oh, Lord.
Now it's going to be all over.
Not for us. Never.
Go get our car started.
Jackie's got killed.
- How'd he do that? - I don't know.
We got to leave him.
You, you, you and you are coming with us. We gotta have shields.
- Me too? - No, not you, pop. Get moving!
- Move fast. - In the name of heaven, don't let...
Turn on that light, Slim. Let them see who's coming out.
Get moving out that door! You won't get hurt if you move fast!
Keep your hands up and move out the front door!
- Come on! - Slim, get them out of there!
- You folks stay where you are for a while. - Alan, keep down.
- Duke, you're forgetting something. - Nix, pal. Get down.
- Get away from there. - You think I'll let you slaughter them?
- Cut out the act, pal. - I won't let you do it, Duke.
Okay, pal.
I'll be seeing you soon.
Alan!
He did mean it.
Which way did they go?
You can head them off through that back door.
Be careful, those are innocent people on the running boards!
- You said you wanted to live! - I know I did.
- And I'll live with you, I will. - I know I did. I was blind then.
Now I can see.
Gramp! Dad! Somebody, come here, quick.
You know, they were right, Gabrielle. The stars, I mean.
I had to come all this way to find a reason.
The Duke...
understood what it was I wanted.
I hope you...
What, Alan?
What did you say?
Alan!
Are you all right, old man?
- I guess he's dead. - Sure, he's dead.
Mantee couldn't have missed twice.
Funny thing, Gabby. His life insurance for $5000 is made out to you.
It looks real too.
Said he wanted you to spend it on a trip to France to see your mother.
Funny thing about that feller.
I never could make him out.
- We'll bury him out in the Petrified Forest. - What?
- That's what he said he wanted. - Sure.
- That's what he said. - Well...
Maybe his next of kin will have something to say about it.
I've got to phone the sheriff at Flagstaff.
Sheriff's office, Flagstaff.
Yeah. Jason Maple.
Mantee was here.
What? They got him?
Great work. They got Mantee.
They never get away with that stuff long, you know.
- Yeah. - Took you a long while to get him, though.
Thus in your field My seed of harvestry will thrive
For the fruit is like me that I set
God bids me tend it with good husbandry
This is the end for which We twain are meant