(drovers shouting, whistling)
(cattle lowing)
♪♪
(hollering)
(drovers shouting, whistling)
There's a T-Bar-2 outside.
Howdy, Quince.
Hi. About time you got here.
You planning on sleeping through the first week of your job?
No. I wouldn't miss it for anything.
Well, almost anything.
With all these mud puddles,
a young lady could be in distress.
Hah! Get outta there!
Hey, that's a good way to get a hip pocket full of horns.
Shouldn't be any problem, Miss Woodruff.
Angels do fly.
Well, I believe I need some help.
You won't forget about tonight, will you?
I'm looking forward to it.
So am I.
MAN: Whoop.
You're on my bridge, cowboy. Get off.
I didn't know it was private.
Yes, it's private.
Get off.
That half's mine, too.
- ♪ Rollin', rollin', rollin' ♪ -(whip cracks)
♪ Rawhide ♪
(whip cracks)
-(whip cracks) - Hyah! Hyah!
- Hyah! - (Whip cracks)
I said get off.
Now, get off. Get off!
I'm not wearing a gun.
Conger, toss him a gun.
Now, pick it up.
You might as well. One way or another,
I'm going to kill you. Pick it up.
(gunshot)
(crowd murmuring)
Try it again.
Pick it up.
What is this, some kind of cat-and-mouse game?
Let me have your gun.
You just stay out of it.
CONGER: Hold it.
He said stay out of it.
It's between the two of them.
If you think I'm going to stand by
while a big man bullyrags a kid,
oh, you got another thought coming, mister.
Hey, you better keep your man back, ramrod,
unless you want us in on it, too.
Hold him back for what?
This two-bit puppy-baiting session he's got going here?
CONGER: It's a fair fight-- your man against ours.
QUINCE: Fair? You call this fair?
Between the two, your man's the only one toting a gun.
CONGER: The kid can pick up the gun any time he wants to.
Pick it up.
What's going on here?
Ask the big man here.
Del?
I'm teaching a wet-behind-the-ears kid
-a lesson in manners. - That's enough.
Nope.
He still has it coming.
Only you're doing all the shooting.
Well, he's got a gun now.
All he has to do is pick it up.
What'd he do?
Putting a high price on a pair of pants, aren't you?
Maybe you'd like to pay for them.
- Any time, mister. - Del!
Was it done deliberately?
Deliberate enough.
Gun's been nicked a few times.
Probably blow up in your face.
Just let him be.
He ain't gonna get the chance to pull that trigger.
Mr. Woodruff, get him out of here.
Get him out of here, I said.
Del.
Vicki, get back to the house.
ROWDY: Quince, Simon, get him back to the herd.
The rest of you men, get to work.
MR. WOODRUFF: That includes my people, too.
(men grumbling)
Mr. Woodruff, I'd like you to get rid of that man.
Del? He's my top hand.
He's been with me since I started here.
You telling me no?
I'm saying Del wouldn't flare up without a reason.
That boy must have provoked it.
Yeah. (sighs)
Well, I'm going to pull out.
We're too far apart, I'm afraid.
Because of a quarrel between a couple of hotheaded cowboys?
(Mr. Woodruff chuckles)
That's the way it look to you?
Mr. Yates, you've contracted to deliver
750 head of Woodruff cattle to market.
I've already started my road branding.
Yeah, well, I've lost two days' driving time coming over here.
Now, that's just time and effort so far.
We'll leave it at that, huh?
We made a deal.
Well, get yourself another man.
Where? When?
A man's word counts for something.
We shook hands over this.
Well, look at it this way.
The way things stand right now, it wouldn't take much
to get lead flying between our two outfits.
You willing to risk that?
I'll take care of my men if you'll take care of yours.
All right.
I'll be over this afternoon to finish signing those papers.
Vicki.
Everything's going to be all right now, honey.
I knew you'd stop it, Father.
Whatever it was, it was for me to settle.
You should never have come out there.
I just wanted to see what was happening.
Child, a sordid quarrel between two cowboys
is nothing for you to be concerned with.
The only sordid thing about it is Del Lingman.
Why, he'd have killed that boy
if you and Mr. Yates hadn't have stopped him.
Perhaps the boy deserved it.
You don't believe that.
You seem to know more about the boy than I do.
Have you had occasion to talk to him before?
Enough to know he would not have started that fight.
Father, you can't keep Del Lingman on now.
Vicki, I need Del Lingman.
I've kept you away from the hard, practical things
that are necessary to run a big cattle ranch.
You just don't know.
I'd be lost without Del.
All the same, I... I still wish you'd let him go.
I can't.
He's my right hand.
All right.
We'll let Del stay here and run the ranch, and...
and let's you and I go back home to Savannah.
Honey, this is our home now.
Why?
Surely we have enough money now
to go back to where you're respected,
to where people have manners and breeding.
Isn't it time we went back to where we belong?
This is where we belong.
Honey...
...we're quarreling over nothing.
We're happy where we are, aren't we?
(cattle lowing)
Hello, Wish.
Well, what's the matter with you?
Nothing's the matter with me.
But something's gonna be the matter with him.
Roman...
What happened to you?
ROMAN: A small misunderstanding.
I heard there was a lot more to it than that.
How'd it happen?
It was a question of mud...
between me and a man named Lingman.
A little bit on his pants...
but my face got rubbed in it.
Del Lingman?
Woodruff's top hand.
Tell me about Woodruff.
Wood ruff?
I don't know anything about him, why?
Curiosity.
I'm thinking about Lingman,
and maybe you better start
thinking about him a little, too.
(sighs)
How'd it all get started, Jed?
This business of every man
wearing a gun on his hip out here?
It's a hard country.
Out here, a man had to be ready for anything.
Maybe someday it'll end.
I ought to wear a gun.
COLBY: You?
I'm a Westerner now,
not a Southerner.
It's time I acted the part.
Lend me a gun belt, Jed.
No.
Then I'll have to get my own.
Kid... he'll cut you in half.
I'm going to have to fight that man.
COLBY: Don't you ever try.
There's no help for it, Jed.
♪♪
I'm looking for a man named Del Lingman.
(men clamoring)
I hear you're looking for a man named Del Lingman.
I hear you're pretty good at browbeating kids
who don't even carry a gun.
I wonder what you'd be like against a man wearing a gun.
What's the matter-- can't that kid fight his own battles?
I'm ready to draw.
Jed... - Keep out of this, Rowdy.
You keep that gun in its holster.
This is personal.
Look, I'm giving you an order.
You draw and you come out of this,
you better keep right on riding. Don't come back to that herd.
You better do like he says, mister, and quick.
MR. WOODRUFF: Del...
you go on back to the house.
I want to talk to you, now.
What are you trying to do, get yourself killed?
You think I can't draw fast enough to take him?
There's something you don't know, Rowdy.
That kid's gonna put on a gun belt
and come looking for Lingman.
You don't stop a killing with a killing.
All we have to do is keep 'em apart for two days,
then we'll be out of here.
Let's get back to the herd.
♪♪
Don't tell me you think those beeves care
whether or not you're wearing a neckpiece.
Not beeves I'm dressing for.
Oh, yes you are.
You're doing the night guard tonight.
No, not tonight, Wish.
Rome, I heard Rowdy tell you myself.
Well, when a young man's invited out to dinner,
he's got no time to ride night guard.
One of the boys is taking my place.
You mean you're eating with the Woodruffs?
Aw, I couldn't disappoint a young lady now, could I?
Oh...
Rowdy!
Jed, that young jasper says he's going to dinner with you, too.
Says the Woodruff girl invited him.
Oh, boy.
(knocking on door)
Yeah?
Hi, Del.
I didn't think you'd be here, but I saw your light on.
Where would I be?
Well, there's some kind of a party
going on at the big house.
So?
So, I thought maybe you'd be up there.
Get your foot off that chair.
Uh, there are three horses tied up out in front.
I saw 'em.
They belong to Yates...
Colby...
and that kid.
You got something on your mind, say it.
Well, I figure with that kid
being at that party with Vicki and all, uh...
Get your foot off of that chair.
And get out.
(crashing, clattering)
(laughing)
Gentlemen, I give you the South: most gallant losers.
Another toast, Father?
Gentlemen, uh, there's one Southern tradition
my daughter has not yet learned,
living in the West as we do now.
When gentlemen are drinking socially,
women should use their eyes and their smiles,
not their voices.
Father has never really accepted the fact
that we no longer move in society.
He brought me up as though we still lived in a world
of drawing rooms and verandas.
Such a world does exist, my dear.
And one day you'll take your place in it.
You see?
Mr. Bedford, you haven't said much this evening,
but from your accent, uh,
seems you're from the South.
I am, sir.
May one ask from where?
Charleston.
Savannah.
VICKI: But you never told me that.
Well, that's where Father's from.
Perhaps you remember the name, Mason Woodruff?
Savannah is a large city, Miss Woodruff.
One cannot know everyone in it.
I don't recall the name, but...
I do remember your father's face.
Seems to me that I've seen it in the newspapers.
Father.
The young man is mistaken.
But you can't be sure, Father.
A man in your position
may easily be in the newspapers
and not be aware of it.
Well, when was this?
Shortly after the war.
Well, you were there then.
It was a long time ago, my dear.
I would think Mr. Bedford
was too young to be much involved in the Civil War years.
Too young to have served in the war, sir,
not too young to remember.
You are mistaken, sir.
Father...
is something the matter?
I'm very tired, my dear. I think we should end this.
Yeah. Yeah, I think you're right.
Uh, we got to be in the saddle kind of early in the morning.
Thank you for a fine evening, ma'am.
Thank you. I-I'm...
glad you could come, all of you.
(knocking on door)
BUTLER: Mr. Lingman is here, Mr. Woodruff.
You may show Mr. Lingman in.
Yes, sir.
Yes, Del?
I didn't mean to break anything up, Mr. Woodruff.
But about tomorrow...
we're working Crooked Snake Creek
first thing in the morning;
thought maybe you had special orders.
Uh, well, we can find our way out.
Thank you very much, Mr. Woodruff.
COLBY: Good night, sir.
All right, you played it smart on two accounts.
Whatever it is between you and Woodruff, you let it lie.
And when Lingman came in, you kept your mouth shut.
Now, let's get going to camp.
I got some business here first.
Look, if you wanted to press this thing,
why didn't you do it when you were in there?
Tradition, Mr. Yates.
You don't fight a man
when you're a guest in someone's house.
Well, you're not gonna wait out here for him,
so get up on your horse.
(sighs) I can't do that, Jed.
Have you any idea what you'll be facing?
I've held a gun in my hand before.
Yeah, yeah, for shooting jackrabbits--
but this man knows what he's doing.
COLBY: Starting from an even draw,
he'd have a bullet in you before you even touched your gun.
He'll kill you. You haven't got a chance.
You believe him, boy.
I am, Mr. Yates.
Then you get up on that horse, that's an order.
That's one order I can't take, Mr. Yates.
If it means anything to be my own man,
I gotta go through with this.
(door opens)
I'm new out here.
I'm not sure of the right way of doing things, but...
where I come from, if you want to fight a man,
you set a time and a place.
You want to fight a duel, Mr. Bedford?
Yes, sir.
For the last time, Roman, let's get out of here.
LINGMAN: Whoa.
What's the hurry? Maybe I've got something to say.
ROWDY: Stop this, Wood ruff.
MR. WOODRUFF: I think you'll have to admit
that Del is not the aggressor here.
Mr. Bedford has taken away my right to interfere,
and I think he's taken away yours, too.
This is between the two of them.
Go ahead, Del. You have a right to speak.
Well, I was about to say, "Why wait?"
Let's make this the place and now the time.
No, let's do this properly, like Southern gentlemen.
A duel is supposed to be fought at dawn.
LINGMAN: Tomorrow?
MR. WOODRUFF: The day after.
That'll give the young man a chance
to decide perhaps he's, uh...
made a mistake.
There's been no mistake.
Dawn will be satisfactory.
Del?
Sure, sure.
Whatever way you want it, Mr. Woodruff.
Father, why?
(distant gunshot)
(distant gunshot, bullet ricochets)
(closer gunshot)
(gunshot, closer still)
Well, how was that?
You shoot as good as any man I've ever seen.
But not good enough.
It was dead center.
But the target wasn't shooting back.
You'd have been down three seconds before you fired.
Kid, you're ready for lesson number two.
Let me have that gun.
What was that for?
That's lesson number two.
This gun is your life, kid.
Never give it to anyone, not even your mother.
Thanks.
I'll remember that.
Now I'm ready for lesson number three.
(distant gunshot, bullet ricochets)
How's he doing?
Oh, he shoots straight enough, but he... he's slow, Rowdy.
Lingman will empty his gun before Roman gets a shot off.
You're gonna have to put a stop to it.
And you mind telling me how?
I'll tell you this.
You know, when a steer goes on the hook,
it gets mean and stubborn enough to charge a grizzly bear,
go over a cliff or make a meal on "Jipson" weed.
It doesn't matter. You know it's gonna kill him.
But you just don't set there and let him do it.
You circle him and haze him back to the herd.
Or you rope him and tie him down
and leave him tied till he cools off.
Yeah, but the trouble is, uh,
we're talking about a man, not a steer.
Well, I'll buy that.
But a rope will hold him.
Yeah.
No, I-l really don't believe you can treat a man like a steer.
Oh, you can, uh, rope him and tie him down, maybe, but...
you can't add up what's gonna go on inside of him.
(two distant gunshots)
I'm not sure we'd be doing him a favor, really.
Draw!
You're weak on the draw, kid.
We're gonna have to work on that.
Yeah, I want to stop this as much as the rest of you,
but, uh, there's only one man who can do that.
Lingman.
No, the man who gives Lingman his orders.
(three distant gunshots)
I think we better show him the play we used in Wichita.
Yeah, he might need it.
Now.
(distant gunshots)
Now.
You got a chance, kid.
If you hadn't started with that boy,
none of this would've ever happened.
The cattle would've been off,
and I would never have known this boy existed.
But he still would've known about you.
What does that mean?
Doesn't mean anything.
But if you want that boy dead,
that's the way you're gonna have him.
I never said that.
Well, I guess you never did say it.
(knocking on door)
Come in.
Mr. Yates wants to see you, Father.
All right, Del.
Uh, would you, uh, leave us now, Vicki, please?
I'd like to know how soon we're gonna get moving.
Not before tomorrow, Mr. Yates.
Well, I'd like to move out right away.
Why the rush?
You know why the rush.
I don't want that boy killed.
MR. WOODRUFF: This duel was the boy's own idea, Mr. Yates.
Nobody forced him into it.
ROWDY: You and I know different, Mr. Woodruff.
What would you like me to do?
Send Lingman away for a few days.
By the time he gets back,
-we'll be gone. - As easy as that, huh?
That's right. He'll take orders from you.
It won't ruin his reputation to spare a boy's life.
No, Mr. Yates,
I'm not going to interfere,
and I don't think you should either.
That's your last word, huh?
That's my last word.
(door shuts)
Well, Father?
Well, what?
I overheard outside the door.
This is an affair between men, my dear.
I suggest you stay out of it.
Mr. Yates was right.
All you have to do is send Del away.
Are you quite sure he'd go?
Make him.
And if he doesn't go, dismiss him.
You're asking me to let this ranch fall completely apart.
Let it fall apart!
Sell it! Anything!
It is not worth that boy's life!
What is he, this boy that you're so concerned about?
A young arrogant hellion.
Del was right-- he needs a lesson.
Del will kill him.
The whole thing was the boy's own idea.
Father, I don't understand.
This isn't like you at all.
You let it go at that.
No, that is not good enough!
I'm not a stranger; I'm your daughter!
I need to know why.
You need to do what you're told to do!
Now, you go to your room and stay there!
- Father...! - Go to your room!
(clicking)
(knocking)
Yeah?
Miss Vicki.
I want you to stop this duel.
I don't think your father would like that.
Why?
Do you know something I don't?
Because if you do, I wish you'd tell me.
I'm only a ranch foreman, Miss Vicki.
Yes, but you can stop this duel.
There's only one thing make me give up killing that kid.
What?
You.
Never.
Well, I hope you've made your good-byes,
'cause that's the last time you're gonna see that kid alive.
(crickets chirping)
WISHBONE: "For everything there is a season,
"and a time to every purpose under the heaven.
"A time to be born
and a time to die.”
What's that, poetry?
It's the good book.
Ecclesiastes.
That's what we need around here, a little more truth.
Has the kid told any of you there's something personal
between him and Woodruff?
He ain't told me nothing.
COLBY: Wish?
Don't look at me.
I wouldn't know anything.
COLBY: Well, Rowdy, maybe we better find out.
ROMAN: Well?
Rome.
Whatever it is between you and Woodruff, I want to know.
Look, maybe I can save you some time.
Anything I know about Woodruff has nothing to do with this.
My fight's with Lingman.
Whatever Woodruff does or doesn't do,
I'd find Lingman and...
I'd fight him.
(sighs)
COLBY: Well, I guess he's got to test himself.
ROWDY: Yeah, it comes down to that.
He'll either grow a few inches or he'll be dead.
(bird cooing)
(rustling in distance)
Vicki.
Father.
Where are you going?
I... I couldn't sleep.
I couldn't either.
Vicki, there's been something coming between us.
We mustn't let that happen.
You and I, we must always...
Yes, Father, it means what you think it means.
Where are you going? Why?
Somewhere, anywhere.
But to leave the house in the middle of the night...
to go away without...
Oh... that boy.
No, Father, not Roman.
(horse neighs outside)
Lingman.
How long has this been going on?
Is that what you really think of me?
He's out there, isn't he, waiting for you?
Yes, he is.
(panting): Why, Vicki? Why?
I couldn't see you become a murderer.
Yes...
that's what it would have been, Del against that boy.
Oh, my... (shudders)
That's...
that's why you're going away with Lingman.
Why didn't you stop that duel, Father?
4 couldn't. Why?
For you.
For me?!
Vicki...
because of that boy, we could lose everything--
home, freedom, everything.
I don't understand.
Vicki...
There never was an estate back in Savannah.
At least not mine.
I was a clerk on another man's plantation.
He sent me to school...
gave me a position.
And after the war...
carpetbaggers descended on us.
There was confusion, disorder.
Everything was toppling.
I helped to destroy the man I worked with.
I took everything I could get, and I came west.
That was why my picture was in the paper.
The picture of a...
...traitor and a thief.
Vicki, I swear...
On what, Father?!
Your honor as a Southern gentleman?
(stifled sob) I guess I deserved that.
Why did you lie to me all these years?
I think that's what I hated most.
I'm not asking you to forgive me.
I am asking you to... try to understand.
You don't know what it was like in those days...
the world crumbling around us.
I... I had you to think about.
Father, I never needed this.
I suppose...
I knew that, too.
The rock-bottom lie...
sobbing): was I needed it for myself.
Is that why you didn't stop this duel?
You must stop it now.
Do you realize...
if that story comes out,
everything I've built up for you, we'll lose it?
Everything?
It doesn't matter.
I don't want it if it means the death of that boy.
Then I don't, either.
Not at all.
Father.
♪♪
Father...
Vicki...
stay inside, please!
You won't need that extra horse.
Just like that, huh?
In the morning...
you draw your back pay and get out.
All these years doing your dirty work,
and now I'm just another hand.
Much worse than that.
You owe me something, Woodruff.
Mister Wood ruff!
Never mind all that.
I know what you are.
All right.
Then maybe you ought to know it's all over.
We're not gonna do anything to that boy.
That's not the way I see it.
No?
I got a share in all this, Woodruff,
about a one-half share.
And I still intend to be part of the family.
(gunshot)
Daddy!
(crying): Get out of here. Get out!
He'll be all right.
I'm gonna settle with that kid.
Whatever he knows, it's too much,
and if anybody's gonna put you in jail, it'll be me.
And I'll be back for you.
♪♪
Kid.
I saw your empty bedroll.
I'm all right.
I just couldn't sleep.
You still want to go through with this?
Yes.
Nothing I can say will make you change your mind?
No, Jed.
Nothing.
Hey, kid...
remember what I said-- you've got a chance.
Don't either one of you make a move.
Don't do it, Colby.
Not you that I'm after.
He isn't wearing a gun.
Give him yours.
Lingman...
Give it to him.
LINGMAN: Other hand, Colby.
Pick it up.
♪♪
He'll be all right.
Rowdy.
This one's dead.
-(drovers shouting, whistling) -(cattle lowing)
Hah! Hah!
♪♪
ROWDY: Well, we're all ready to move out, Mr. Woodruff.
Thanks, Mr. Yates.
ROMAN: Well, what are you gonna do now?
Father's going back to face Savannah,
and I'm going with him.
ROMAN: I think you'll find it a forgiving town.
Maybe you'll go there someday, too.
I hope so.
COLBY: Rome, you ready?
Ready.
♪♪