It's a funny thing.
No matter how low you sink,
there's still a right and a wrong,
and you always end up choosing.
You go one way so you can try to live with yourself.
You can go the other and still be walking around,
but you're dead and you don't know it.
I was coming through Texas on my way to Mexico.
I needed some time to hide out.
I had spent most of my life on the dodge.
Drunk or sober, I got no complaints,
even if I did get my hands dirty on the way.
Jericho..
was a jerkwater town maybe 50 miles from the border.
Dirt streets, ramshackle buildings.
One thing for sure,
you couldn't find it anywhere on the map.
For the most part, I was a big city guy.
I like pavement under my feet
and bright lights after the sun goes down,
but I figured this little burg
was just the kind of place you gassed up the car,
got something to eat,
and if you got stuck, maybe spent a night.
Then I got a look at her,
and that's when all the fun started.
It's not a good idea to be looking
at Mr Doyle's girl that way.
I remember a guy once told me this is a free country.
Jocko, this guy thinks it's a free country.
Now you're free to go.
Sheriff's office is right over there
in case you want to complain about anything.
Your light's out.
I seen it, right outside the window.
You know what I'm going to do about it?
Not a god damn thing.
But I know what you ought to do.
You ought to get you a spare, put it on your car,
and just drive on out of town.
Ain't that right, Bob?
You got to forgive old Bob.
He ain't much for talk.
Oh, hold it.
Let me tell you something.
If you're really planning on sticking around,
don't be coming to me for help.
You're on your own here.
We already got a fella in the window of the undertaker.
Do yourself a favour - first thing, get a firearm.
First customer I seen all week.
Want a whiskey or a beer?
Don't have much else to offer.
Whiskey.
You under prohibition?
Oh, we don't pay much attention to it here.
You got a phone in this place?
Who you want to call?
My mamma.
Sure, we got phones, but they ain't workin',
since you need a switchboard operator to run them.
You got electricity?
Yeah. Got that.
Runs on gas generators.
Hope they stay working.
Nobody left to fixthem
if they go bust.
Tell the truth,
most of what they call decent folks
have been run off.
Really ain't much left here but a ghost town.
Some damn sheriff,
making a profit just staying in the middle,
grafting off both sides.
I think Mr Doyle bought him off first,
or maybe it was Strozzi.
Who's Strozzi?
Oh..
that's the other gang here.
Strozzi and the ltalian fellas.
Both gangs took over this town,
run off all the regular folks.
Come from the same big city,
but they don't like each other much.
Bootleggers.
You got Strozzi at the Sweetwater
and Doyle's bunch down at the Alamo.
They leave me be because I stay to myself.
They think I'm crazy.
What the hell are you doing?
I'm going to go see the fellas that wrecked my car,
have a little talk with them.
I hadn't gotten a real warm reception,
but I started thinking maybe this was my lucky day.
A crook for a sheriff
and two bootlegger outfits that hated each other.
If I played it right,
I could make some easy money and move on.
Ma'am.
I thought I made it real clear
who you can and can't be looking at around here.
That's Mr Doyle's property.
I came here to see you.
Yeah?
Yeah.
Did you get that car of yours fixed yet?
I'm running a little low of cash.
I was wondering if you could maybe help pay the damages.
I guess maybe you'll have to kill me.
It'll hurt if I do.
You tell Mr Doyle if he'd have hired smarter guys,
none of this would have happened.
It's all about booze.
Gets smuggled through here from Mexico.
We're part of a family operation in Chicago.
So what we got here is close to a civil war,
except now we got a truce.
It's my guess, this truce ain't gonna last,
especially after Hickey gets back.
That's why you're here.
Who's Hickey?
Hickey is Doyle's right hand man.
He's a sweetheart, this guy.
Looks like somebody carved him up for Sunday dinner.
Talks like this.
Forget it.
What about you? You got a name?
Smith.
What, Smith what?
You got a first name?
John.
John Smith.
That's a good one.
All right. You on the run, huh?
Where are you from, Mr Smith?
Back East.
John Smith from back East. All right.
I heard you wanted to see me.
Yeah, that's right.
What's the matter?
What? Did I interrupt something important?
She was doing her nails.
Well, this is Lucy.
Yeah, she a real nice girl.
She a real pretty girl.
She got a big mouth, but she's going to keep it shut
and act very friendly now, right?
Lucy, would you please take Mr Smith to his room?
So I guess Strozzi hired himself another bum.
Got it all figured out, do you?
Yeah. I'm a fortune-teller.
Don't worry. Working for Strozzi has its advantages.
You're going to love your room.
The skirt was from just outside of Cicero.
Strozzi told me he had her sent down here
to keep up his morale,
but that's the first time I ever heard it called that.
You try and keep it down up here, OK?
My room's right underneath.
I'll try not to make too much noise
when I'm jumping up and down on the bed.
Sunday dinner was a real event.
Strozzi might have been a small-time hood,
but he tried to run things
like he was somebody important back in Chicago.
He had an army of 20 shooters.
As far as I could see, most of them were goofballs.
It was all right out of some dime novel.
How's the food?
Good.
I brought these mammas in from Chicago.
Food here was terrible.
It's good, huh?
Yeah. I like garlic.
All right.
What is this? Nobodywaits?
You're late.
I had important business.
While you were doing your important business,
things are happening.
We now have a new employee.
Mr Smith, this is Giorgio Cormonte.
He killed Finn. That's Doyle's best guy next to Hickey.
No?
I know all about it.
And you hire him.
Yeah.
What do you think that looks like to Doyle
in keeping a truce?
You want to tip Doyle off?
Plus, who the hell is he?
Doyle's guys are scared of him.
He was in town 20 minutes, he killed one of them.
Doyle ain't gonna do a god damn thing with Hickey out of town.
The only thing that cockroach might try
is to hire this guy for himself.
Yeah, well, I don't like it.
I don't like changes at the last minute,
and I don't like new faces.
You got a problem with me, Giorgio,
you take it up with your boss.
I just work here.
So I decided to give up my free room.
I had seen the real thing,
and these guys were a long way from it.
I wasn't sure if he was getting a wooden box ready for me
or if he just wanted to say thanks for the business.
Well, look who's here.
Last time I saw you,
you was gonna have a talk with some fellas.
Next thing I hear, one of them's dead.
Conversation sort of went downhill.
Ain't that right, Bob?
He don't talk much, but his ears work good.
You got a room you can rent me?
I'm surprised you ain't with your friends at the Sweetwater.
There's a room upstairs. Tell the truth, I can use the money.
You got a name? Mine's Joe.
OK, Joe.
You let me know when this runs out,
and I'll give you some more.
Yes, sir.
You got girls for hire in this town?
Hell, yes.
You in West Texas.
Round the corner, third door on the left.
You can certainly afford them.
You remind me of this guy that used to come see me
when I worked in New Orleans.
He looked a lot like you.
You ever been to New Orleans?
He was nice.
He wasn't as quiet as you, though,
but you two almost look like brothers,
except he had tattoos.
I think that he was in the navy,
but, uh..
no.
And he used to come and see me
every Friday or Saturday night.
His name was Clarence.
I had a lot of fun in New Orleans.
Sorry I ever came to this lousy town.
There's nothing to do here.
So I took every kind of dance class imaginable
because I wanted.. to be a dancer,
and so I came here because it's off-season..
Come on, get out of here, girls!
Let's go! Go!
I didn't have nothing to do with it.
What?
I didn't have nothing..
Who set me up? Who?!
They forced me! They said they'd kill me.
I didn't have no choice.
Give me a name.
Give me a name, god damn it!
It was a guy that worked for Doyle.
It was Doyle's bunch.
Please don't tell them I told you.
Shut up!
Please. I'm sorry.
Her name was Wanda.
Crossing me was nothing personal.
She was just trying to make a living
in a world where big fish eat little fish.
Come on.
By the time the law showed up, I was long gone,
but the sheriff didn't let me down.
He investigated the whole thing,
then arrested the hooker.
I went down to the Red Bird and asked that old geezer
who runs the place where I could find you.
Where are we headed?
A juke joint outside of town.
Strozzi wants everybody there.
He's going to make another speech?
He don't keep me too well-informed.
Giorgio's always acting like he's in charge
because he's the son of somebody important -
Strozzi's boss in Chicago.
Strozzi and Giorgio are really cousins.
Strozzi don't admit it, though.
Not a family man.
Where does that leave you and him?
Celina's was a fast 20 minutes
out across the desert.
Two stories of wood in the middle of nowhere.
It was the kind of place
that looked like the special was chicken-fried steak.
Strozzi told me that Giorgio and the other guys
got a hot head about the kind of money you're getting.
Giorgio don't like you too much,
in case you haven't noticed.
Why does a guy send his girlfriend to come find me?
Strozzi figures I wouldn't be dumb enough
to do anything out of line, so he sent me.
Well, that must make you feel real proud.
Quit being a shitheel, all right?
I get enough of that from Strozzi, thank you.
You sure you're not dumb enough
to do anything out of line?
I'm just curious.
Your boyfriend got a first name?
Yeah..
but only in the bedroom.
As usual, she was trying to act tough,
but anybody could see it was paper-thin.
Even with a second-rater like Strozzi,
she was in way over her head.
Well, for Christ's sweet sake. It took you two long enough.
Kiss my ass.
It's raining outside, Giorgio.
Hard to drive in the rain.
Like he said, what took you so long?
Maybe you don't hear too good - it's raining.
You know something? You're getting to be
more of a wise-ass Polack every day,
and it ain't so cute no more.
You know what happens to wise-ass Polack dames?
They get their wise asses kicked!
When I was in this whore-house,
Doyle sent a couple guys to visit me.
I had to kill them both.
You killed two more of Doyle's guys?
Is that bullshit, or is that true?
Look, I don't give a damn about Doyle.
If he lost two men tonight, that's good news.
This Doyle, he's trying to outbid me
with my own suppliers, mick bastard.
Yeah, I try to do business with him, it's bullshit.
Now, we got a shipment coming in
from Monterrey next week.
Mr Doyle has got one coming in tomorrow.
This is where you're going to start to earn your pay.
That's five trucks.
Maybe 200 cases.
We deliver at 200 bucks a case.
That's 200 grand in our books.
Plus you knowwhat's really the frosting?
We get Doyle's trucks.
You know how hard it is to buy a truck in Mexico?
We crossed the border a couple hours before dawn.
Strozzi had come up with a plan
that he thought would make him look good
to the big boss back in Chicago.
It involved hijacking, murder, corruption of the military,
and sticking me right out front.
Who the hell are you supposed to be?
This might be a good time for you guys to give up.
Bueno, amigos. Ensenen nuestras armas.
What's this?
I told you we couldn't trust Mexicans.
I'm going to send Smith back with Santo
to keep an eye on Doyle.
You stay with the trucks till they get to Matamoros.
Matalos.
It was a massacre.
Couldn't say I was real sorry,
but it was a rough way to check out.
Now, I don't know how reliable
she's ever going to hold up as a witness.
She's some kind of a vagrant.
Might even be here for immoral purposes.
How much to get her out?
100 will send her on her way right away.
I've been thinking how Doyle's men
knew I was at that whore-house.
I figure your deputy here heard me last night at the Red Bird,
came over here and told you about it,
and you sold the information to Doyle.
How am I doing so far, Sheriff?
Well, you are one suspicious fella. Ain't he, Bob?
Maybe I was a little rough on you last night.
Maybe I short-changed you.
If I was you, I'd get out of here.
Doyle's men are going to think you tipped me off.
You got a bus comes through this town?
Yeah, at noon every day.
Make sure she gets on it.
I got some information you may want to sell to Mr Doyle.
He's going to find out soon enough,
but you might be the one to give it to him.
A shipment of booze he had coming up from Mexico
got hijacked by some banditos.
A tip like that ought to be worth at least a grand.
You better be right because if Doyle sends Hickey after me,
he's coming directly for you.
Yeah. I keep hearing about Hickey.
Sounds like a real scary guy.
Let me tell you just how scary.
It goes that when he was 10 years old,
gets a knife and cuts his father's throat from ear to ear.
Then they stick him in an orphanage.
15 years old, he burns it to the ground.
You make sure you mark me down for half that thousand.
Think maybe you and I should talk.
I don't think these people appreciate you.
You going to be my hero?
I thought you were just a guy who did things for money.
Yeah. I'm just a guy that does everything for money.
Anybody see you come up here?
No.
Appreciate me? You don't knowthe half of it.
Let me tell you,
I don't have to take it from these bastards.
Going back to Chicago
on the first thing out of here that moves.
What's so funny?
You're not going anywhere.
You're just blowing off a little steam.
Oh, yeah? You hear the way Strozzi talked to me?
That grease ball?
To hell with him.
You know, Strozzi's out of town for the day.
So is Giorgio.
So?
Did Strozzi tell you he's paying me a lot of money?
Well, there maybe a way for you
to get your hands on some of it.
You going to tell me why you would do such a nice thing?
Because I'm a nice guy..
a sweet guy.
Yeah, right.
Like I said..
I don't think they appreciate you.
See, I think you're a very smart girl.
You hear things.. inside word.
I'm the kind of guy that likes to have
all the information he can get,
so if you give me the inside word,
I'll give you an extra hundred or so a week,
just between me and you.
Strozzi and Giorgio were going to be back the next day,
but I smelled the real money
was going to come from working Doyle's side of the street.
They'd make the first move.
Mr Doyle wants you to come work for us full-time.
I'm not sure he can afford it.
Try me.
$1,000.
A week or a day?
I'm surprised you're not mad at me.
I thought you might hold it against me,
me killing three of your guys.
It's the only cure I know for being stupid.
Hey, dummy. Bring us your best stuff.
Yes, sir, Mr Doyle. Right away, sir.
I know you already got a job working for Strozzi,
but I figure you for a guy who goes to the highest bidder,
just like those Mexicans
that were supposed to guard my booze.
Strozzi was behind that, wasn't he?
Howwould you like to kill Strozzi and that punk Giorgio?
From what I hear, a guy like yourself,
you only care about the money, right?
I mean it as a compliment.
That's why we're all here.
Where's Hickey?
You heard about Hickey, huh?
I heard he talks kind of funny.
Yeah. That's the way you sound when somebody slices your face,
jams an ice-pick in your voice-box.
Hickey can get awful messy, though.
This should be an inside job.
We need somebody nice and neat, like you.
I'll think about it.
You're making a mistake!
Maybe you're just not very smart.
What the hell are you holding back for?
You think the meek are going to inherit the earth?
If they do, you won't be there to enjoy it.
I might have been a gun for hire,
but I wasn't exactly an assassin.
Maybe Doyle figured there wasn't much difference.
Tell Hickey I say hello.
If I was going to get into Doyle's wallet,
I needed something big to sell him.
Hey! Oh! You don't quit me.
Nobody quits me. What is it? Doyle?
What did he do? He offer you more money?
Keep the $500 you owe me.
The rest is mine for the work I did down in Mexico.
You let him walk away?
He doesn't go. Nobody goes.
You get back here, you yellow son of a bitch.
Put those down!
Put them..
Smith!
Something you want to say to me, Giorgio? Huh?
Fucking kill you, bastard.
It's not your fault Giorgio's a halfwit.
You really want to get killed for a halfwit?
Let it go. Put it down.
Hey. Tell Mr Doyle I turned Strozzi down.
What the hell you grinning about?
God damn, that was great.
I guess you don't work for Strozzi no more.
You ever wash these, Joe?
Working for Strozzi had about played itself out.
Until Hickey showed up, I was out of moves.
I decided to dry out a little.
Went two days without a drink. For me, that's pretty good.
You know, sitting out here in the open
just might not be a real good idea
for a fella that's got as many enemies as you got.
I thought everybody liked me.
I'm such a nice guy.
This is Mr Doyle's girl.
I'm bringing her back from church.
I guess going to church makes her feel better
about keeping company with Mr Doyle.
That right, honey?
You don't want to miss out on the big money.
This little war with Strozzi's going to be over soon.
Hickey's back.
We got problems.
Strozzi broke the truce,
hit our trucks in Mexico,
killed all our guys,
jacked the whole load.
Hey, how's my car?
I fixed that inner tube, and I fixed that headlight.
She's good as new, except for that windshield.
I ordered new glass,
but it gonna take a while.
Will this cover it?
$20? That's way too much,
but I got some information I'll trade you
for the change on it.
A fella come around here
asking me about your car,
wanted to see the registration and check your name.
What did you tell him?
I didn't tell him nothing.
He just went on ahead and looked anyway,
but guess what.
He didn't find that registration, did he?
That's right.
You can keep that change.
This fella say what his name was?
He didn't say, but I knowwho it was..
one of the ltalian boys been around town named Giorgio.
Thanks.
Jesus Christ!
Somebody answer the god damn phone!
Maybe Chicago found a way to get through.
Yeah.
Well, looks like I struck pay dirt.
Who's this? Giorgio?
Yeah. Who's this?
You remember me - the high-paid nobody.
I got a message for Strozzi.
We don't need any messages from jerks like you, all right?
Don't be stupid. Just because I don't work for you
doesn't mean I can't be a friend.
I don't want to see your boss get hurt.
Yeah. You tell him that Doyle knows
that he's the one that hijacked his shipment,
but maybe you got a bigger problem.
There's a rumour Ramirez is going back on Doyle's payroll.
Who knows? Maybe it's all just bullshit.
Are you getting this, Giorgio?
Yeah, I'm getting it. All bullshit.
Yeah. Good boy. You tell your cousin to watch his ass.
The ltalians were winning in New York and Chicago,
but theyweren't doing too good in Jericho.
A little past 9.00 that night,
I got a look at Giorgio leaving town.
You could almost see the price tag around his neck.
I just came by to tell you
that me and Strozzi made it up this morning.
I got an investment there,
so we can forget about the other day
like it never happened, right?
I mean, it was just one time for fun, right?
Business is business.
I don't want to get myself in the middle of anything here.
Strozzi's going to take care of me.
I sawthat punk Giorgio sneak out of town.
Where is he headed?
He went to EI Morado.
What's he doing down in Mexico?
What he always does - drinks, messes around,
goes to whore-houses.
I'm surprised Strozzi didn't go.
He must be getting pretty used to whores by now.
God damn you!
What?
I think you're forgetting about our deal.
Now, why did Giorgio go to Mexico?
He went to finish doing some business with Ramirez..
pay him off and the cop they got for security.
I got to go.
We're quits now, right?
We're quits.
That mouthy little cousin of Strozzi's, Giorgio,
is on his way down to Mexico right now
to see a friend of yours, a fella named Ramirez.
You know a guy named Ramirez, do you?
Going to pay him back for the hijack.
How do you like the story so far?
Good. Keep talking.
He's going to see a cop down there, too.
This cop's responsibility
was security on this side of the border,
so I guess he's going to get paid, too.
They're probably all planning their next shipment,
going to use your trucks.
You know, I don't want to be pushy..
but this kind of information's
a little too valuable to be giving away.
Giorgio's very important to Strozzi.
If something were to happen to him..
it would be very bad for Strozzi, don't you think?
Take as much as you want.
You work for me now.
I'll just take that 2,000 we agreed upon.
You work with us, you work with the winners.
Anything else is stupid.
I'll think about it.
What are you holding back for? I don't play this style!
What the hell are you holding back for?!
His name's Smith. At least, that's what he says.
This is Hickey. I told you about him.
Told me all about you.
I been hearing about you all over town, actually.
I especially liked that orphanage story.
They tell you about them kids burning up like candles?
My favourite part.
You shot some of our guys.
I guess I did,
the ones that deserved it.
Well, you got Finn. He's Doyle's best shooter.
I thought you were the best.
No. Just the best-looking.
Enough of this bullshit!
This game is finished.
Come on. We got to talk.
I guess you better go talk.
Yeah.
Don't believe everything you hear.
EI Morado was about
which meant everybody was either drunk or working on it.
Doyle took my bait and sent a car due south the next morning.
You didn't have to be real smart to guess who the passenger was.
Buenos dias, Senor. Quieres tomar algo?
No, thanks.
Pero por que no?
Looks to me you're a cop.
You're wearing a gun, right?
Yes, sir.
That's good.
Maybe you're the kind of guy..
to shoot an unarmed man in the back.
Make your play.
We're taking you out of here, Giorgio.
Just don't shoot me.
Come on.
OK. OK. OK.
She looks like her mother.
It's all right. He's asleep.
I parked a couple of miles from here and walked in.
Why do you come out here?
Doyle lets me be alone here.
It's the only place they don't watch me.
Why do you stay with him?
People don't own other people.
A year ago, my husband gambled with Mr Doyle.
After he lost me,
he went back across the border.
He was ashamed.
When Doyle took me from my daughter..
I went to sleep.
All I had left was to pray.
Mi miedo es mi maldicion.
My fear is my curse.
What's yours?
I was born without a conscience.
There's a.. fella here come to see you.
John Smith, meet Captain Tom Pickett.
He is the head ranger here in my district.
He generally just comes down when..
Shut up, Galt.
Sit down, Mr Smith.
Now, Sheriff, Mr Smith and I are going to have a drink.
We got a lot to talk about tonight.
I'm here about a murdered policeman.
He got himself killed the other side of the river
in some crummy, little Mexican town.
A few locals killed, too,
and a double-dealing comandante named Ramirez.
But the man I'm concerned about
was an American on the border patrol.
He had a family. Well-liked by his brother officers.
I guess he strayed a little bit in some departments,
but he was an officer of the lawjust the same.
You know anything about his death, son?
No, I don't think so.
That's odd.
Don't hardly seem possible.
Mr Galt here says you're real well-informed
on what happens around here.
You saying I did it?
I asked if you knew anything about it, not if you did it.
The crime has been solved, son.
Mexican police picked up two armed drifters from the Florida
just across the border,
handed them over to us.
They ain't confessed yet, but they will.
I just can't get past the idea that maybe
one of these two bootleg gangs had something to do with it.
I learned a long time ago to trust my instincts.
Now, listen real careful because here is the point, son.
Things in this town are out of control.
Two gangs is just one too many.
I'm not an idealist.
I know a lot of things that people do are awful low,
but that's between them and God.
Do you believe in God?
I believe in God, son,
but what I'm concerned with
is keeping a lid on things,
and what we got here in Jericho is just way out of hand,
and Sheriff Galt here can't do much about it, right?
Matter of fact, it might be fair to say
that he's part of the problem, right?
Now, you been going back and forth playing both sides,
according to Mr Galt here,
making yourself a lot of money out of all this.
Well, it's over, son.
I'm coming back here in 10 days.
I'm going to bring about 20 rangers with me.
I will tolerate one gang because that is the nature of things.
A certain amount of corruption is inevitable,
but if I find two gangs here when I get back,
then in a couple of hours there will be no gangs here,
so it's simple.
One gang quits and goes home.
You boys work it out. I don't give a damn which one.
Just as long as one side leaves or maybe one side loses.
That's fine, too, son.
Kill as many as you want -
just don't kill no innocent people around here.
I wouldn't like that.
It's been real nice talking to you, Captain.
Likewise, son.
Only one more thing.
When I come back..
if I was you, I'd be gone.
You tell Strozzi we got his boy Giorgio.
Tell him, he wants him back, to bring us 100 thou
out to the crossing at the 5-mile road.
Tell him to make it
Oh, yeah.
And we'll give youse two days to give us our trucks back.
All the vultures showed up for the exchange.
If I was honest, I guess I'd include myself in the roll-call,
but if there was 100 grand being handed over for Giorgio,
I wanted to take a real good look at it.
Stick around.
You get the briefcase, you let go of the rope.
Don't shoot! They got Giorgio!
We're even now! You got one choice!
Give up your whole operation!
What's wrong?
Son of a bitch!
Until I get Giorgio back, she stays with me!
I guess you know what I'm going to be doing with her, Doyle?
Bring him across!
Don't try anything stupid, Doyle.
Nice and easy, huh?
You don't want to get the girl killed, right?
Go! Get her back now!
Are you all right?
Did they touch you? Did they do anything?
Strozzi!
I'm going to settle things with you, Strozzi!
I promise, you wop bastard!
I promise! I promise!
I had a visitor
about 3.00 in the afternoon the next day.
She'd had enough of Jericho
but was too broke to buy a bus ticket out.
I slipped her 500 bucks.
Usually I wasn't such a sucker,
but somebody had smacked her around pretty good.
He's been in a real bad mood..
ever since his cousin got traded back for that girl.
Been fighting with Giorgio,
acting like a real jerk..
yelling at anything that gets near him.
I never seen him drunk before,
but he was really in the bag last night.
What did you do?
I called him a name.
So he slapped me, slugged me a couple of times.
He threw my clothes out on the street,
so I figured I'd get even.
I told him about me and you.
Well.. l guess things could be worse.
You get back to wherever it is you're going.
Maybe you should try and find yourself
a better class of guy.
No guy is going to ever want to mess with me again.
Your face will heal up.
Your looks are all right.
How is this going to heal up?
Like he said, I got a big mouth.
He had three guys hold me down..
told Giorgio to slice it off.
They were real drunk.
But everything you ever did to me,
you did on purpose, right?
Right?
Did you finish all your business inside
with the little princess?
Just make sure she gets on that bus.
You know something, amigo?
I think I just spotted the chink in your armour.
When you go down..
it's going to be over a skirt.
For most of my life, I made my own rules.
You don't do any favours. You don't ask for any.
Watch the percentages.
But you can knowthe rules and still do the wrong thing.
The onlything I knew for sure was this -
Strozzi, Doyle, and every son of a bitch that worked for them..
They were all going to be better off dead.
There's, somebody out here to see you, Mr Doyle.
I thought it over. I'll take the job.
You must smell a winner.
I get a thousand in advance.
Nobody's worth that much.
He's good.
Better than that?
Put that god damned gun away!
Put it away! Save it for Strozzi!
Suit yourself.
Buy him.
A thousand.
A thousand more when we win.
It's settled. Let's have a drink on it.
What about the girl?
What girl?
The one you keep.
If Strozzi gets ahold of her again,
he'll blackmail you right out of town.
Don't worry about it.
We got her in a safe place
and eight guys out there on watch.
Eight's not going to be enough.
Strozzi's got some newtriggermen
coming in town tonight.
Where did you hear all this?
Maybe it's just a rumour.
You want me to check it out?
I want you and Hickey here with me.
If Strozzi's got new help coming in,
chances are he's going to try to rush us here.
You go out to the country, check on her.
She means a lot to me.
McCool can tell you how to get there.
The girl upstairs?
You don't have to.
Don't come any closer!
It's over.
I'll kill her!
Put the gun down.
I swear to God, I'll kill her.
No..
Get dressed. We got to get out of here.
Going to get you to Mexico.
Come on. Move.
Here. Take this money.
Take it. I got it from Doyle.
I want you to use it.
Get across the border and don't come back.
Come on. Get going.
Go.
I always like sinners a lot better than saints.
She was real easy to look at,
but I hoped I never saw her again.
They're all dead inside.
I found them last night.
Where's the girl?!
I don't know.
Strozzi must have taken her.
All of them.
This is a slaughter.
You were right about those extra triggermen.
Must have taken 15 or 20 of Strozzi's guys
to pull this off.
This whole thing is turning on us.
When you found them out here,
why didn't you drive back to town and tell us
instead of just waiting out here?
I figured the girl ran off when the fighting started.
I stuck around, hoping maybe she'd come back.
She didn't.
This one hasn't been fired.
Must have got killed before he got a shot off.
Strozzi's jealous of me giving her a chance.
She grew up in some filthy little village.
Told me her mother was a Yaqui lndian.
Didn't know much about her father..
except he was white.
She married some lowlife wetback.
The onlything he ever gave her..
was a kid.
Jesus Christ, she only had one dress till she met me.
The way she looked..
The way her eyes looked..
I couldn't help taking her out of all that.
We got to hit Strozzi soon.
Get her back.
We have to get this thing over with.
I'm going to head back into town,
see what I can find out.
Maybe Strozzi doesn't know I work for you guys yet.
We have to get this thing over with.
Hickey was suspicious,
Doyle was nuts, and McCool was stupid,
except maybe I was the dumb one.
If I had any brains,
I would have kept on driving straight south into Mexico.
Keep it gassed up and ready to go.
Yes, sir. I'll do her,
but pretty soon, you gonna be on your own.
Come next week, I'm getting the hell out.
T'ain't no business here.
This town.. is finished.
As usual, it was hot as hell,
and the wind picked up the dust so much, you could taste it.
The whiskey helped, but I didn't want to get sloppy,
so I switched to beer.
Somehow I had the feeling the walls were moving in on me.
It's funny how it all works out.
For one little second,
you think you're going to get away free and clear.
But you end up paying the price.
No exceptions.
Everybody pays the price..
even a bum like me.
Take the guns.
What is it?
Strozzi doesn't have Doyle's half-breed.
McCool went across the border, looking for her.
Down in EI Morado,
he ran into a guy with an interesting story.
He'd seen her heading out.
She'd sold our car to some guy for a couple hundred bucks
and took a bus south.
So.. Strozzi didn't take her.
Maybe.. if you believe the guy's story.
Why would a guy lie?
Which leaves the question of how she got away.
Big question.
Not that we give a damn.
Indian girl, you know.
It's not like she was the blessed virgin, is it?
Out there in the country..
only a real fine gunner
could handle that many all by himself,
but you work for us.
Why would you do that?
Maybe you don't work for us.
Maybe you take the money, do what you want.
You're one of them. You're an independent.
Who are you running from?
Jericho's a good place to stop on your way to Mexico
running from the Feds.
For Christ's sakes, everybody's running from something.
Nah. See, working for people like me and Doyle work for
has an advantage.
The pay roll covers a lot of ground.
You're scared.
The water's getting cold.
Where is she?
He's nothing.. without a gun.
After a while, you stop hearing
your bones break, your teeth rattle.
You just concentrate on holding tight
to that little part right at the centre.
The rest doesn't matter.
They're going to take the rest any way.
Must have crawled off.
Block the streets! Wall him up!
Find him for me!
Search this whole hick town!
Look over there! Over there! There! There! Over there!
Tear up every goddamned inch of this place!
Find him!
You guys come with me.
Get those cars!
Wall up these streets!
Find him!
Now!
Clear!
Over here! Let's go!
Come on!
Find him! Find him!
He's here! He's got to be here!
Search this place! Upstairs! Behind the bar!
Now! Find him!
You. Where is he? I know he's here.
Who?
Smith! Don't hold out on me, you shitheel!
I ought to stick a knife in your throat!
Check the closets!
I'm telling you - don't you mess with me!
This is not a game! Don't play around!
You don't want to talk to me?
You won't talk to anybody any more!
You think I'm kidding?
Where is he?
Little fella.. doesn't want to talk to us.
He came here, didn't he?
Hold it! God damn it! Hold it!
You hold it, john law!
It's gone way past you!
This thing with Strozzi's over!
Strozzi! You knowwhere he is right now?
He's holed up with the rest of his gang,
waiting for some new shooters
that are coming from back East to help him out.
Where's Smith?
He's at Slim's road-house.
We checked all over. He ain't upstairs.
Come on! Load it up!
We're going to the road-house!
You better be right!
What took you so long?
I had to make it look good.
You know, my helping you out
don't make a hell of a lot of sense,
but I'm betting on the ranger.
I know that the big money days are just about done,
but don't kid yourself, boys.
It could still come down real hard.
Mr Smith, I will help hide you,
but I prefer you be unarmed
and on your way the hell out of this town.
That move you made for Doyle's little honey -
in this league..
that'll get you broke and dead,
both at the same time.
By the time we got to Slim's road-house,
Strozzi's men were trapped inside the burning building.
The ones that made a run for it got shot.
The ones that stayed inside got cooked.
None of them were going to make it home to Chicago.
Don't shoot! Don't shoot me!
I knowwhere the money is! Don't shoot me!
How about it, Strozzi? What's it going to be?
I give up. You can have it.
You can have everything. Take it all!
No!
Kill him.
Let's go.
After the fire dies down, go inside.
Pull out Smith's body, if you can find it.
He's got to be dead.
He didn't come out.
Everybody in there has got to be dead.
A little after dawn,
Joe and Galt got me to the abandoned church.
The bill for helping the lndian girl
included kicked-in ribs, a broken nose,
one eye mashed up pretty good..
but all I needed was a gun and some time to heal.
Hey, Joe.
Oh!
Give him another drink!
No!
We know he ain't dead yet.
We counted the bodies out there.
Maybe you should take your shoes off
and look at your toes.
Hickey gets back, we'll be cutting them off one by one.
I knew by the sound of the car it wasn't Joe.
It's a funny thing about people -
one time out of a hundred,
they turn out better than you expect.
Just your old amigo.
Joe got caught making his daily run.
The food, the bandages - they just gave him away.
Hickey?
No. McCool and a couple of other guys.
Hickey and Doyle are in Mexico.
Doyle's still looking for that half-breed lndian girl.
I mean, is that a persistent little bastard or what?
Where'd they take Joe?
They're all over at Strozzi's hotel.
Doyle moved them all over there after winning the war.
You really think you're going to fight anybody with that?
I can get a gun with it.
That's the only help you're going to get.
I always hated it when I owe somebody..
but sometimes you just got to play out a bad hand.
There were going to be
a lot more wooden boxes in Smiley's window,
but, what the hell, everybody ends up dead.
It's just a matter of when.
Well, thank you.
Damn!
Go back to the Red Bird.
Get my valise. Bring another bottle of whiskey.
Yes, sir. Right away, sir.
Damn.
What's that?
It's a message for Hickey.
Him and Doyle get back,
you tell him I'm out at Slim's road-house.
Slim's road-house? It's burned to the ground.
It's gone, the whole place.
You all right?
When's that ranger due back?
Day after tomorrow.
That will give you enough time to get it cleaned up.
I'm just going to haul those bodies out of the hotel,
take them out in the desert,
and let the coyotes chew on them for a while.
Then I'm headed for Houston.
Even Frank the undertaker is leaving town, for Christ's sake.
What kind of town are we going to have without an undertaker?
How about you, Joe? You're staying put, ain't you?
No, sir. Right now, I'm going with him.
Like hell you are.
I just want to see this thing finished.
I earned it.
Joe and I sat up all night
waiting for Hickey and Doyle.
When this thing got started,
all I wanted to do was make some money.
Somewhere along the way, it all got personal.
You know, for a guy with no principles,
sometimes you act kind of peculiar.
Don't go getting mushy on me, Joe.
I was just trying to say thank you.
I hear people thanking me,
I generally start running.
How's your wound doing?
Hurts like hell.
Closest doctor to here any more
is just across the river in Mexico.
I can show you the way.
Go on back there and hide.
Go find a spot. Go on.
Stay hidden.
You had me fooled.
I really thought you burned up
with the rest of them.
Nah. I knew better.
It's always going to come down to something like this.
I want you thinking about me when you're dying.
Looks to me like you're the one bleeding.
Now hold it!
We can get you a doctor, get you patched up.
You're going to run this town with us. I need you.
Give me a fair fight, he won't need a doctor.
Now, wait! We don't need the guns!
You, me, and Hickey - we won this war. We're survivors.
We won! We won!
I haven't found the girl yet.
You know, the girl.
You must knowwhere she is.
You think we can still find her?
We can go to Mexico.
She's up there in the mountains -
some little village.
She had a kid.. a little girl.
I got to get her back.
I'm telling you, we can be partners.
That's for what he done to my town!
You're going to have him kill me, too?
No. Don't worry. I'm all done.
I'm just going to watch.
I don't want to die in Texas.
Chicago, maybe.
You can meet me there if you want
and try and kill me or..
Maybe you're the kind of guy
who'd shoot an unarmed man in the back.
I've done worse than that.
I can't say it all went exactly the way I planned,
but I was right about one thing..
they were all better off dead.
God damn. I wasn't real sure
this old gun would still shoot.
It looks like you got yourself a new car.
And that was it.
It ended about the same place where it started..
out in the desert on the road to Mexico.
I was just as broke as when I arrived,
but something would turn up.
It always does.
SubText: NoRMITA.326