ROWDY: Well, that must be Fletcher there.
You wait here.
You really believe that thing brings you luck?
The... ooh, oh!
That-that's my lucky piece.
Well, now, wait a minute.
I handle it the first day of every new drive.
Well, it sure don't hurt none at all.
- Okay. - Look.
Fletcher.
Yeah?
Ah, Rowdy Yates.
I'm here to pick up your herd.
Well, what held you up, Yates?
Ah, bad weather.
Seems I hit one gully washer after another.
Well, you're a week late.
My deal was for you to get 'em to Bent Fork
six weeks from today, for $6,000.
6,000?
To take 1,500 head to Bent Fork?
Ah, that's good money, any way you look at it.
The money's for getting the whole herd there in good shape.
$30 off for each one you lose.
I could lose quite a few, and that'd still be good pay
for six weeks work, more or less.
Not more or less. Exactly.
If my herd is not at the railroad shipping pens
in Bent Fork by noon, six weeks from today,
the buyer cuts my price $6,000.
Now, it takes quite a man to chance that.
Course, if you don't think that you can do it...
No...
I'm willing to take a chance on it.
I'm willing to risk my blanket
and a lifetime debt, but, uh,
gotta check with my boys,
see if they're willing to take that kind of risk.
Well, now they're coming over.
Suppose there's any hitch?
I didn't see 'em shake hands after the barter.
ROWDY: Uh, this here's Mr. Fletcher.
Now, he's offered me a very good deal
if we can take his herd as far as Bent Fork.
It's a good deal, providing we get 'em there
six weeks from noontime.
Now, I can offer you men double wages and a new suit
of city duds, if we make it there on time.
If we don't...
well, I can offer you a lot of fresh air and hard riding.
We should think it over, but don't take too long.
You got five minutes, men, for you to decide.
Meanwhile, I'm installing my own segundo, Lash Whitcomb.
Look, I have my own second man.
He's part of the deal.
Besides, he's made the drive many times before.
He knows every foot of the road.
(kisses)
Hey-ay!
(horse neighs)
(horse neighing)
(drovers shouting)
Excellent horsemanship, sir.
Well, I never saw better than that
-in the Blackstone Raiders. - Yeah.
So, you're the trail hands that were supposed
to show here a week ago, hmm?
Where's your boss?
I am.
That's all prime Texas beef
you wintered there, Mr. Fletcher.
You gonna turn it over to a kid?
FLETCHER: I made a deal, Lash.
Besides, he's got the men.
Or have you?
Are you in?
- Yeah! - We're in.
Fine, well, you boys get busy and round 'em up.
Now, you'll have no trouble; no trouble at all.
My lucky piece!
Pee Jay!
Will you get out of here before you get clobbered?!
Wait, wait, wait! My lucky!
Wait... oh...
Oh, trouble.
That's it, Wish.
Way that lucky piece fell,
we gonna have nothing but trouble.
Get out of here! Get going! Go on! Go on! Go!
-♪ Rollin', rollin', rollin' ♪ - (whip cracks)
♪ Rollin', rollin', rollin' ♪
♪ Though the streams are swollen ♪
♪ Keep them dogies rollin' ♪
♪ Rawhide ♪
-(whip cracks) -♪ Through rain and wind and weather ♪
♪ Hell-bent for leather ♪
♪ Wishin' my gal was by my side ♪
♪ All the things I'm missin' ♪
♪ Good vittles, love and kissin' ♪
♪ Are waiting at the end of my ride ♪
(whip cracks)
♪ Move "em on, head 'em up, head 'em up, move 'em on ♪
♪ Move 'em on, head 'em up, Rawhide! ♪
♪ Cut 'em out, ride 'em in, ride 'em in, cut 'em out ♪
♪ Cut 'em out, ride 'em in ♪
-♪ Rawhide... ♪ -♪ Rollin', rollin', rollin' ♪
- Hyah! -♪ Rollin', rollin', rollin' ♪
(whip cracks)
- Hyah! -♪ Rollin', rollin', rollin' ♪
- Hyah!
♪ Rawhide! ♪
-(whip cracks) - Hyah! Hyah!
- Hyah! - (whip cracks)
(cattle mooing)
♪ I am lonesome since I crossed the hill ♪
♪ O'er the moor and valley ♪
♪ Such heavy thoughts ♪
♪ My heart do fill... ♪
What you doing on drag?
(coughs)
Not my choice, sir. Mr. Whitcomb's orders.
Really?
Well, don't let 'em hang out there.
Just keep 'em moving, huh?
Okay, sir.
Now, why don't you just be smart and stay with your friends?
Course, if he was smart, he wouldn't be a steer.
Keep 'em movin', Simon.
Sure, Mr. Yates.
We got us a nervous bunch of bees, here Rowdy.
Yeah, I know that.
We'll just have to wear it out of 'em, Jim.
Keep 'em movin'.
How come you switched Ian from swing to drag?
If I'd known he was a special favorite of yours, ...
I don't have any favorites, mister.
I just asked you why.
All right, I'll tell you.
Because he's a greener.
He hasn't got the savvy to ride swing.
Not on this drive.
Well, you got a point.
All right, switch him, turn and turn with Pee Jay.
Drag's too dirty a job for any one man.
All right.
There's a good place to make noon camp
about four miles up ahead.
I'll tell cookie if...
that is, if that's all right with you.
Well, I want to make more than four miles before noon.
I'll scout on ahead.
You keep the drive moving, hmm?
You're the trail boss, Mr. Yates.
That's right.
♪♪
Man 'em to the left!
Hold 'em up!
This right fork here heads due east.
Looks shorter to me.
When I made the drive to Bent Fork, we went this way.
Yeah, but did you have to make it in six weeks or less?
What's that got to do with it?
Well, plenty.
Bent Fork is due east.
And this right-hand trail leads due east.
Seems to me it's a lot shorter.
Left hand trail goes northeast.
Looks like a roundabout to me.
All I know, Mr. Yates, is this way works.
Now, why take a chance?
'Cause we might save four or five days going this way.
You got anything against this route?
Not a thing.
I never took it.
All I know is Mr. Fletcher had
you sign me on for what I know,
not what I guess.
Well, Fletcher ain't running this drive.
I am.
I'll go scout this right-hand trail.
You hold them up here, hmm?
You're the trail boss, Mr. Yates.
(Rowdy sighs)
Bunch 'em up and hold 'em!
- Trail boss's orders! - Bunch 'em up!
Bunch 'em up and hold 'em!
Bunch 'em up, hold them here, hyah!
♪♪
You want me to mark the day off there for you, Wish?
No, it's my calendar,
and that job was entrusted to me.
There.
Too many cooks spoil the broth.
You're right; sometimes one's too many.
(indistinct chatter)
Here, this will take the worry wrinkles out of you.
And I saved you a nice big plate of stew.
I'm not hungry, Wish.
Oh, that right fork, it... ends in a box canyon.
There's no way through.
Yeah, that scouting trip of yours
cost us about two days, Mr. Yates.
Well, we're gonna make up for it, starting right now.
We're gonna take the left fork and move out at midnight.
So sleep quick.
Well, that's just the start of it,
losing time like this.
Hey, you ride a hard luck drive, you chew gravel.
(cattle mooing)
Hyah! Hey!
(whistling)
(drovers shouting, whistling)
(thunder crashing)
(drover shouting, cattle mooing)
(yelling)
Come on over, come on!
Hyah! Hyah, hyah!
Let's move out!
Move out!
Hyah!
Move it out now, come on!
Hyah! Hyah!
Whoa, hey!
Hah! Hah! Hah!
Hah! Hah!
(yelling)
Hah!
Hyah!
Let them go!
Let 'em go!
Hyah!
Let them go there! Forget 'em!
- Let them go! - Let 'em go!
Hyah! Hyah! Get up!
Hyah-hah! Hah!
Rowdy.
Arapaho would be my guess.
Yeah, Arapaho.
A long way from the reservation.
Look like they're starving, to me.
Wohaw.
Want wohaw.
(speaks Arapaho)
What are you doing? You could have killed them.
Ah, no, just putting the fear
of a little lead poison in 'em, that's all.
I know their kind. They steal you blind.
If they were hungry, I'd have given them a steer.
Yeah, sure, and tomorrow they'd be back again for another.
Now, look if you just...
Not when I'm trail boss, mister.
Yeah.
Well, you can count on one thing--
they'll be back again, Mr. Yates.
There she is-- Big Rise River.
She's running high this year.
Yeah, well, the name sure fits it.
Yeah, we just drive 'em straight across, due east.
Those cattle bogged down in the mud.
Surely gotten "em spooky.
Hyah! Whoa!
Sure. That's because that Limey kid
didn't bull 'em hard enough.
I warned you.
I still think you should have fired him.
That could have happened to any one of us.
Well, it makes no mind.
It would've kept the rest of 'em on their toes.
That's the way they're gonna have to be
after all that time we lost.
We slowed down with that mud.
I don't work that way.
We'll move 'em back, make camp here tonight.
Maybe the river will drop in the morning.
Bed down for...?
Look, I don't get you, Mr. Yates.
Once before, you complained
because this route was too roundabout.
You had to find a faster way.
And now, now you want to lose time.
Every steer that I lose cost $30.
And you can lose a lot of steers in that river.
Oh, sure, sure.
With them Indians still trailing us...?
If we don't make the deadline to Bent Fork,
we're all going to lose.
You, them-- yes, and me, too.
No double wages. No wages.
Yeah?
Well, that's a chance we're gonna have to take.
You've got your orders, segundo.
Segundo!
IAN: ♪ ...Alexander ♪
♪ And some of Hercules ♪
♪ Of Hector and Lysand... ♪
♪ And such great names as these... ♪
♪ But of all the world's great heroes ♪
♪ There's none that can compare... ♪
You all right?
Oh, sure, I'm fine.
Can't you sleep, Mr. Yates?
IAN: [ ...of the British Grenadiers.
Mr. Yates!
Yeah?
Yeah, what?
Well, it's none of my business, you know,
but Simon's been working spooky cattle all day.
Now, he's too tuckered to be out here all-night guard.
Well, who put him on guar...?
Never mind.
Lash, hold it up!
Huh?
Why'd you put Simon on night guard all night?
He yammered to you?
No, he didn't yammer to me.
I just want to know why you're riding the man.
I ain't riding him, Mr. Yates.
He's one of the best drovers
you've got to guard a spooky herd.
And in case you don't remember, Mr. Yates,
this is Indian country.
Simon used to be a buffalo soldier,
and I'd rather have him on guard watching for Indians
all wore out than any of your other drovers
as fresh as an unridden bronc.
Does that satisfy you, Mr. Yates?
No, it's not my idea to work a drover to death.
Then who's doubling guard?
We are, Whitcomb-- you and me.
(horse whinnies)
Today I want you on the wagon with me.
These ribs are in no shape for you to go swimming a horse.
Is the river down?
Nope. Same as it was yesterday,
before we lost five steer to them Indians.
That was up. You being hurt and all,
I thought maybe you'd like to hang around here
another day or two.
No, no, we, uh...
we'd better get "em across. You say we can make it, huh?
Yeah, yeah, we can make it all right, but...
how you gonna boss it?
I ain't.
You're gonna take over.
Now look...
Mr. Whitcomb here, he's gonna take over.
You'll follow his orders until I'm fit again, hmm?
Now, gents, you all heard what Mr. Yates said.
I want to tell you one thing:
There's not gonna be any empty pockets on me.
We got four days to make up,
and we're going to make 'em up starting right now.
I'm gonna sweat time and distance
out of each and every one of you.
I'm gonna push you hard enough to raise a blood blister
on a, on a rawhide boot!
All right, let's go!
(drovers shouting)
Move it along!
Rowdy, I still say you ought to be riding inside the wagon.
I may not be able to run this herd,
but I ain't gonna be carried along, that's for sure.
Don't let that lead steer string out!
Shoulder him in!
Get the rest of 'em up on the bank!
They can't swim forever!
Shouldn't have been riding, Rowdy.
- Did you mark your calendar? - Yeah.
Whitcomb's picking up a little time.
And he didn't lose one steer in that rising river.
(Rowdy groans)
Yeah, he's doing all right.
(drovers whistling, shouting)
There's a big arroyo up over that next little rise.
Bull 'em away from it.
Well, I don't aim to bull 'em into it.
Well, just keep 'em moving.
You jokers had an easy enough time of it at Rising River.
Pushing day and night is easy?
What do you want to do, sleep forever?
You shove 'em along, Quince, and don't you slack off on me.
I'll be holding my end up, Mr. Whitcomb.
Hah! Hah!
(shouting indistinctly)
Hey, you!
The name's Blake.
Simon Blake.
You getting paid double wages, maybe,
to let them cows roam all over the countryside?
Huh?
Don't you know every foot they move that way
mean three less foot they move this way?
And Bent Fork is this way, or didn't you know?
BLAKE: Hyah, hyah.
Y'all got the cattle?
Yah! Hyah, cattle, hyah!
Hey-oh, cattle.
Hyah, cattle.
- Hyah , hyah! - Hyah! -
Hyah, hyah, hyah!
That way right, uh, Whitcomb?
That's right, Blake, due east.
You heard what the man said.
Hyah!
Moving along pretty good, huh?
Is it necessary to go this fast?
Well, the beeves haven't lost any meat.
I'm thinking more about the men.
Huh? Can't they take it?
They can take it.
Now, let's take a look at these ribs.
When do these bandages come off for good?
As soon as you're ready to ride to Bent Fork on a blanket.
Anyway, what are you worried about?
Whitcomb's already caught up two of the days we lost.
I don't care how good that graze is.
Tomorrow we don't stop.
Even if we find good bed ground, right?
We've two weeks to make it.
Gonna drive them right straight on through dark tomorrow.
Bed down the next stop.
All right, Mr. Whitcomb, I'll pass it on to the men.
Well, that is if, uh,
it's all right with you, Mr. Yates.
Yeah, we can use the time.
Quince.
(drovers whooping)
(weakly): Hyah... Yeah...
Hyah...
(whistles weakly)
(groans) ...ooh!
Mr. Yates?
Huh?
We're a couple of days ahead of ourselves, aren't we?
Yeah, that's right.
That Lash Whitcomb, he's doing a good job, isn't he?
Well, he's keeping the herd moving.
That's all that matters.
Is it?
Look, you'll get your money, and so will I
You matter, Mr. Yates, don't you?
Getting some place on the back
of another man's horse.
That matters to a man like you.
Blake, when I need your advice, I'll ask for it, huh?
Mr. Yates, you're looking
at a man who was at Cold Harbor.
Grant sent us into a frontal attack that cost the lives
of 5,000 men in the first half hour.
That was a worse mistake than you ever made.
And he made some others, too.
But it didn't keep him from winning the war.
You think that over, Mr. Yates.
You know, he might have something there.
You know, this Grant was a bearded fella.
And us bearded fellas make the best kind of leaders.
Oh, boy.
(drovers shouting, whistling)
We follow the river right there.
Cut across a little corner of Dawkins County
into Rolle County,
and we're ten miles from Bent Fork
and three days to make it.
Not too bad, huh, Mr. Yates?
Not too bad at all.
All right, let's move 'em across!
(drovers shouting, whooping)
Hold 'em up.
Hold them up!
(drovers shouting, cattle mooing)
What can I do for you, Sheriff?
Keeley's the name; John Keeley.
Where you intend driving this herd, Mister...?
Yates.
Uh, just through the county, over to Bent Fork.
Texas cattle, huh?
Yeah.
Well, we got a quarantine on Texas cattle.
You can't move them out of this county to Bent Fork for 60 days.
You've got no reason to quarantine us.
Sure have, Mr. Yates.
People in Dawkins County, Texas cattle means
ticks and Texas fever, unless proved otherwise.
60 days will show it up or not.
Right, Doc?
Doc's the county vet.
Look, now, I don't blame you for being cautious,
but, uh, cold weather kills ticks.
And this whole herd's been wintered
up in Colorado-Wyoming country.
Now, uh, I have a document to attest to this,
all signed by the owner,
and notarized by a justice of the peace.
Now, if you don't mind, we'll just move our herd
right out of your way.
Nope.
All Texas herds have been wintered.
Costs beans to pay off a JP and get a swear paper.
And no, mister, this herd stays in quarantine.
Lash!
Ah, we're gonna turn the herd around,
and take 'em back across the river.
We'll find ourselves a crossing
that doesn't go through the sheriff's county.
Hold it.
Just wasting time and breath.
Look behind you.
What's the idea, Keeley?
I can't let you spread grief, sickness and desolation
in another county with this herd of yours.
And just to make sure, I'm gonna put you under $5,000 bond.
I don't have 5,000.
I don't have 500.
I wouldn't pay you five cents, and I do have that much.
Well, in that case,
you'll just have to move your herd
a little nearer town, where we can keep an eye on it...
for the next 60 days.
You got no cause to worry, Mr. Yates.
All you gotta do is trot into town tomorrow,
pay off the sheriff, and we're on our way.
Pay him $5,000?
No, no, he don't expect that much.
You dicker with him, make a deal.
Yeah, well, I'll tell you something.
I don't like the price.
I told you, it won't cost $5,000.
I'm not talking about the cost.
I'm talking about the price.
I don't like payoffs, especially when it's my money.
Mr. Yates, you got a job to do.
I know what my job is, mister.
All right, then do it.
You knew all about Keeley, didn't you?
That's why Fletcher insisted on you being segundo,
so you could take care of the payoffs.
Mr. Yates.
Sometimes you got to face things the way they are,
not the way you want them to be.
Now, Mr. Fletcher's got a big investment in this herd.
And you never know when somebody might get ideas.
Somebody who doesn't like payoffs.
All right, I'll go into town tomorrow
and make the deal.
You'll do nothing.
I'll only be doing your work.
Just like I've been doing it.
You know what's wrong with you, Yates?
You haven't got enough backbone for this job.
There's just two reasons
I don't take you apart, Whitcomb--
one's your age, and the second one,
first time I feel sorry for you.
Don't let that stop you.
I'm going to town.
- Mr. Yates? - Yeah?
Can I come with you?
What for?
Well, I'd just like to see
whether that Declaration of Independence
you people fussed over has really done you any good.
All right.
Thank you, sir.
Mr. Yates...
I'd like to go, too.
Uh, my reason isn't that fancy.
I got a bad tooth; real bad.
And I'd rather a regular dentist yank it than Wishbone.
It being my tooth.
Well, I can't blame you for that.
Come along.
Well, no one can say Mr. Keeley is an absent landlord.
Lives on the premises.
Looks like he owns this town and everything in it.
Including them.
Now, there's your fang carpenter.
You know...
the pain's gone.
Same thing always happens to me.
Mr. Yates?
I think I'll wait here.
Just to see if that tooth starts aching again.
Yes, sir...
it is my opinion, Mr. Yates, that our good sheriff...
(coughs, clears throat)
Excuse me... (clears throat)
Bad cough. It-It's chronic.
(coughs) Excuse me... (clears throat)
Uh, he knew all of the details
of your cattle transaction in Bent Fork.
The, uh, time limit;
the penalty if you're not there tomorrow.
After all, Bent Fork is only three miles away, and...
(coughs, laughs) And pe...
(coughing, clearing throat): ...people do... do talk.
You know? (coughs)
Excuse me.
(bottles clank and clatter)
So, it's my suggestion that, uh...
you dicker with him.
Dicker?
Just like all the rest.
Isn't there something legal
we can do to make him let us go?
Court restraining order, eh?
(laughs)
Well, the...
the circuit judge,
Phineas Larkin, is sitting next door.
Well, can we go see him?
Our... good sheriff has him
in his big hip pocket.
(coughs)
Make a dicker, Mr. Yates.
Well, you're sure not much help, Mr. Heath.
Oh.
(coughing)
Excuse me.
(Heath clears throat)
Well, Mr. Heath...
yeah, you ought to lay off this cough medicine.
It's given you a terrible cough.
(coughs)
Here's something for that tooth.
Cough medicine?!
Yeah, but it's 85% alcohol.
Should kill the pain.
Probably kill the rest of your tusks, too.
Mr. Yates.
I see you've been keeping bad company.
How much do you want, Sheriff?
I still have that nickel.
Mr. Yates, I don't like folks who challenge
the lawful authority by going to shyster lawyers,
and I don't like you threatening the peace of our little town
by bringing in armed bodyguards.
So, this is my deal.
I'm willing to impound $5,000-worth of your cattle.
If the rest of your herd disappears,
then the $5,000 is forfeited
to Dawkins County, and that's that.
You mean forfeited to you, don't you?
Yates, I am Dawkins County.
Yeah. Well, I might just take my herd around Dawkins County.
Ooh. That'd be breaking a legal order.
I guess I got enough deputized men
at each end of town to see that nobody breaks any court orders.
And enough guns, Yates.
Mr. Yates, I'm giving you a chance to get out from under.
Now, you can't dicker with Keeley, and pulling a fool stunt
like waltzing into a lawyer's office right under his nose...
Now, look, now if you let me handle it--
the herd, the men, and the cattle--
he will do business with me.
How long you been a segundo, Lash?
Too long.
20 years too long.
And this is your chance, huh?
Well, you're wrong.
I haven't been shot out of the saddle yet.
Now, look, I'm asking you men to back me up.
Quit on me now, you're not gonna get a cent.
And if you stick with me, you might lose, too--
more than just money.
'Cause I'm taking that herd right down the main street
and across the county line no matter what happens.
Don't try it, Yates.
Because, if you make it,
Keeley'll never be able to hold up another herd.
He can't afford to let you go through, no matter what!
You know, you might just be right.
But if you back my roll,
I'll split my profits with each and every man.
That is, uh, that has backbone.
(wry laugh) Not me.
I'll just pick up my saddle and my blanket and...
Drop it!
Move out.
Get your hands up.
Move out quietly.
(Ian whistling "The British Grenadiers")
(drovers shouting)
♪♪
There are your herd guards, Sheriff.
We had to get them out of the way.
Keeping us from moving out.
What do you think you're doing, Yates?
(herd approaches)
Taking this herd across the county line to Bent Fork,
right through the main street.
-(cattle bellowing) -(drover whooping, whistling)
Yates, you're loco!
Turn that herd around, or we open fire!
Now you listen to me, Keeley--
this herd's been itching for a stampede
ever since we started this drive.
Now, you fire one shot--
one lousy shot--
this herd'll tear your town apart,
and everything you own in it, mister.
(herd bellowing)
Stop that herd, Yates!
Segundo...
Stop that herd!
Keep 'em coming!
♪♪
Mount up!
You two, come with me-- get high!
Jorge!
(herd bellowing)
(Ian whistling "The British Grenadiers")
(whistling continues)
(drovers join in whistling)
We're coming through, Keeley.
One shot, and we'll tear this town apart.
You're bluffing.
Keeley!
Believe me, take my word for it, he means what he says.
(drovers whistling "The British Grenadiers” continues)
Let 'em through!
That Rowdy Yates has begun to act like he's grown whiskers.
(joins in whistling "The British Grenadiers")
{(men guffawing)
Hi. Sorry.
Where'd you get that outfit?
Oh, well, you mean this?
Well, he says that's what those English lords wear
when they go outdoors, and I'm as good as they are any day.
{(men guffawing)
I told you my lucky piece would see us through.
Now, like I said, this is one cattle drive
there wouldn't be no trouble on.
Would you look at that hat?
{men laughing, yelling)
- Yeah, we like that! - Wait a minute!
Get him! Hey! Take him...!
- Hang him out! -(men whooping, clamoring)
Mr. Yates.
Ah, Lash.
I guess there's no use pretending
that it's all been sweetness and light.
But when the chips were down, you came through all right.
Yep.
I'm a good segundo, huh?
(chuckles) Segundo.
I never would have risked that much, though, Mr. Yates.
...I never could have done what you did.
Yeah, well...
I wouldn't want to do it again myself.
No, but if it happened, you'd do it.
That's the difference.
MEN: [ There's none that can compare
♪ With a tow, row, row, row, row, row, row ♪
♪ All the British grenadiers ♪
♪ But of all the world's great heroes ♪
♪ There's none that compare ♪
♪ With a tow, row, row, row, row, row, row ♪
♪ For the British Grenadiers! ♪