Suddenly (1954) Movie Script
Officer, can you tell me
the way to Three Rivers?
About two miles to the first
main intersection, then turn left,
it's about 60 miles.
- Thanks. What town is this?
- "Suddenly".
- Suddenly what?
- No, that's the name.
- Ha, ha, it's a funny name for a town.
- Hangover from the old days.
That's the way things used
to happen here. Suddenly.
I see.
- Road agents, gamblers, gun fighters.
- Well, I take it things have changed.
Things happen so slow now
the town council wants to change
the name to 'Gradually'.
- Ha ha, thanks officer.
- Pleasure, come back.
Suddenly
Hello there, Pidge.
- Hi Tod.
- Where's your mother?
We've been shopping. I gotta' put
this stuff in the car, wanna' come?
Yeah, sure.
- Tod?
- Uh huh.
Well no. I guess not.
She wouldn't let me.
- Who's she?
- Mom of course.
Well then you'd better
say Mom, Pidge.
It's kinda' not polite to say 'she',
especially about your mother.
Well anyway, she wouldn't.
You know, I bet I can guess
what's on your mind.
Bet you can't.
Well, now let's see.
You want an ice-cream soda?
Um, not a bad idea,
but that's not it.
You wanna' go
to the movies?
No, that's a war picture.
Mom won't let me see those.
Boy oh boy,
this is tougher than I thought.
- I got it, you want that baseball bat.
- No, but you're awful warm.
Is that it?
Sure that's it. Ain't it a beauty?
But shucks, it's no use.
Mom won't let me have it.
She doesn't like guns.
I know.
It's because of my father
being killed in the war.
Look Pidge, if you had the gun,
what would you do with it?
- Stick up a filling station?
- Stick up a filling station.
Heck no, I'd be Sheriff,
and I'd catch all those road agents
and cattle rustlers. Just like you.
But what about Mom?
I think we can persuade her, what with
you wanting to be a peace officer.
We've got lots of time. Mom's still
in the market getting groceries.
Let's go.
- Oh hell...
- I got it.
Thanks Tod. Hello.
Hi, can I give you
a lift to the house?
Thanks, but I have
the car with me.
- Goin' to church tomorrow?
- Yes.
I'll pick you up
about 10:45, huh?
You never give up,
do you?
Ellen, I know how you feel, believe me
I do, and I've tried to understand, but...
I haven't asked you
to understand.
- That's because I'm in love with you.
- Tod... you shouldn't say that to me.
- Why not? It's true.
- Don't Tod.
Ellen, you can't go on
being a widow forever.
It's been over three years
since Pete died.
Don't you understand?
No one can take Pete's place.
I'm not trying to take Pete's place.
I'm trying to make a place of my own.
You've been wonderful Tod, and I'm
grateful, but I can't help how I feel.
Ellen, you've got to stop
doing this to yourself,
because you're doing it
to Pidge too, and to me.
You're digging a big pit
and shoving all of us into it.
Leave me alone Tod,
please.
Pidge,
where did you get that gun?
- I bought it for him, Ellen.
- Tod, how could you?
We thought you wouldn't mind,
cos' I'm gonna' be a sheriff, like Tod.
- Take it off Pidge.
- Ellen.
I can't help it, I can't stand
seeing him play with a gun.
But the boy's gotta' learn sometime
that guns aren't necessarily bad.
- Depends on who uses them.
- Tod carries one, doesn't he?
- Yes.
- Well then.
- Just take it off, Pidge.
- Aw gee!
That's three dollars, please...
Thank you.
Ellen.
I know you don't want the boy
to see war pictures, but it seems...
Teaching children the art of death and
destruction, the cruelties, the tortures...
He's gotta' know that these things exist
and then he can fight against them,
when it's his turn.
You can't wrap the boy in cellophane.
I can try, as long as possible.
Look, when a house is on fire,
everybody has to help put it out,
because the next time,
it might be your house.
Oh Tod, don't.
- Church tomorrow, Ellen?
- No Tod, I can't go with you.
I can't go on asking you and
get turned down. I mean that.
Bebop. Goin' over to Tilly's for a cup
of java. You can handle things.
It's a quiet day.
It's been a quiet day in this burg
for the last 50 years.
For you?
- Good night shirt!
- What's the word?
Go get the Sheriff. Tell him to get
over here fast, it's an emergency!
Hey! Take it easy Pappy,
- Where's the Sheriff?
- Try the office... Hey, what the...?
- Where's Tod?
- Catch your breath. He's...
It's an emergency! Ed Hawkins
has gotta' see him now!
What happened?
I don't know, something came
over the wire. Ed wouldn't say.
Yeah, that's funny.
Well there's Tod now.
It's an emergency. Ed Hawkins
has gotta' see you right away!
- Hello Ed.
- Thanks, get outta' here.
Wait a second.
I wanna' know what it's about.
It's top secret,
get outta' here.
- For Pete's sake, I ran my pants off...
- Blow.
Aw shucks.
What's the word?
Listen to this.
I haven't finished typing it yet...
Sheriff Tod Shaw, Suddenly, California.
Confidential code: 'Hangover'.
Special train number 10.19 carrying
the President of the United States
will arrive Suddenly 5pm today.
President will detrain and
drive to White Springs Ranch.
Will require adequate transportation.
Appreciate cooperation your staff.
With secret service operators
arriving 1:15pm.
Carney acting chief U.S.
Secret Service.
- No mistakes, huh?
- Only in typing.
Now, can I use your phone?
Help yourself.
Give me State Police Headquarters
in Wetherby.
- What's that code word again?
- 'Hangover'.
'Hangover'...
Hello, this is Tod Shaw at Suddenly.
I wanna' speak to Captain Aaron.
There's number 20.
The 66th crossing.
Hello Captain Aaron, this is Tod Shaw.
I've got a message here;
the code word is 'Hangover'.
I'm gonna' need five of your cars,
two men and one Thompson gun
to each car, and...
Oh, you did?
Swell. Right, thanks.
They got the same message. Aaron
has the show on the road already.
Gee!
Those state cops don't fool around!
No, they don't.
Say, you didn't spill this, did you?
It says confidential.
Let's keep it that way. I'll run over to
Kaplan's garage. Back in a minute.
- Hello Sheriff, be right with you.
- That's not soon enough, lz.
- So?
- I want the black Cadillac at 4:30pm.
- The limousine?
- Park it at the station, backed in.
Somebody getting married,
like the sheriff?
Don't be funny, police business.
Don't tell anyone.
I don't get it.
You're not supposed to.
- Mr. Carney?
- That's right.
- My name's Shaw.
- Get my message?
- What message?
- 'Hangover'.
May I see
your credentials?
This is Wilson.
- Hi.
- Haggerty, Schultz and Kelly.
Glad to make your acquaintance.
I got your message.
You're a careful man,
sheriff.
Not always. This seemed
like a good time to be.
We always have to be.
May I see your credentials?
I got a limousine ordered for 4:30.
It'll be parked right here.
Good.
State police have five cars
on the road from Wetherby.
- Excellent.
- I guess that's about it.
Not quite...
You can still be
of help to us...
We'll have to check those
stores facing the station.
Mr Carney, I know every
proprietor here. Believe me.
Look, I'm sure they're OK.
It's just routine.
Alright boys...
We'll park a limousine between
the tracks when the special arrives.
Pretty rough in there.
Maybe, easier to cover.
All state police cars can go in there too.
Alright.
Oh, er...
Who lives up there on the hill?
Pop Benson. His grandson
and his daughter- in-law.
We'll check it.
Ha ha, Mr. Carney that's the one place
in this town that doesn't need checking.
Pop Benson used to be in the Secret
Service before a bad ticker retired him.
Pop Benson!
You don't mean Peter Benson?
- That's right.
- Well I'll be a monkey's uncle.
What do you mean?
Pete Benson used
to be my old boss.
No, how do you like that?
Mr Shaw, he'll be the last one
in the world to object... Pete Benson.
Probably a rectifier
or a tube.
Please call Jud, and ask him to fix it
before you wreck it?
Wreck it! Now you listen here,
I built a television transmitter in '38,
before you even knew
what television was.
Yes, but did it work?
I don't know,
I never finished the receiver.
Well, this is one,
and I wish you'd call Jud.
I don't wanna'.
Besides it costs more on Saturdays.
It's cheaper than what it'd cost,
when you're finished with it.
Stop taking it out on me,
just 'cos you and Tod had a fight!
- You haven't touched your cake.
- Don't want it.
Pidge darling,
I made it especially for you.
You made it because you
wouldn't let me wear my gun.
Drink your milk, darling.
- Sissy.
- What?
That's what the guys call me.
I don't care what they call you, I'm
your mother and I know what's best for you.
Pidge! Pidge, you shouldn't
walk out when I'm talking to you.
I thought you
were finished.
The boy's just
disappointed, that's all.
Dad, please stop interfering.
First you take him out of the
Highcliff Cub Scouts, and then...
Pidge, go to your room.
I'll have this old set perkin' in a minute
son; then we'll watch the ball game.
Dad, I've had this
for the last time.
Ellen, you're a grown-up girl. You got a
problem you haven't worked out.
That's no reason why Pidge
should have your problem.
I've only done
what I thought was right.
I read about an experiment once.
Kept germs away from a kid.
Raised him pure and scientifically.
First time he went out,
he caught cold
and died of pneumonia.
What has that to do with Pidge?
The kid hadn't been exposed,
he had no immunity.
There's cruelty, hatred and tyranny
in the world. You can't ignore it.
Pidge's gonna' learn about
the law, so's he can defend it.
Defend it? So he can become a soldier
and be murdered like his father?
My son was killed in the
performance of his duty, Ellen.
Duty, being blown to bits on
some god-forsaken battlefield,
thousand of miles from where
he was born. You call that duty?
Yes Ellen.
Well, is that what you'd like for Pidge?
Would that make you happy?
If Pete could hear you now,
he'd be ashamed of you.
How can you say
a terrible thing like that?
The old boys wrote the words: 'Life,
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.'
They sounded mighty nice, but they
wouldn't have been worth a nickel,
if somebody hadn't
made 'em stick.
Grandpa! Grandpa!
Look out the window! Golly!
What is it?
Coming down from Wetherby,
a whole lot of state troopers, see 'em?
Sure cut it fine.
You couldn't possibly be surprised
with those sirens blasting.
- So I tried to beat 'em.
- State troopers, right on time.
Oh, they're good.
- The best, alright Bart, follow me.
- Ok.
There are two routes
to the White Springs Ranch:
Over the mountains, or you
can go down to the main highway,
go into Three Rivers, the ranch
is about 20 miles further out.
We'll stick to the main highway.
Too much chance for an ambush
in those mountains. Yes Haggerty?
We could use a roof watch on those
stores Chief, and a street check.
Mr. Carney, every proprietor in this
town has been here at least five years.
I know them, I know their kids.
It's not that sheriff; it's the stranger that
might use one of those stores for cover.
I'd like them to lock up at 4:50,
stay locked up until 5:10.
- Oh, and put a man on the roof too.
- Alright Bert, give 'em the word.
No one is to remain in
those stores at locking time,
anyone seen inside after 4:50,
might be shot on sight.
- Like the man says it's important.
- Yes Sir.
Tell Wilson to keep the station clear.
Schultz will take over troopers
and block off traffic approaches
from 4:30 onwards.
Right. There's another hazard Sir.
A house up on the hill.
Yeah, I know.
I'll check that one myself.
Yes Sir.
Tod, what the Hades
is going on in this burg?
Did some Galoot make
a uranium strike?
Not exactly. Now look Slim you take
over here and we'll catch up later.
Keep all pedestrian traffic off
the main street from 4:30
between Oak and Alder,
the state boys will help 'ya,
if anybody in town squawks,
why you smooth things over.
They know you, and this is
going to seem strange to them.
I'm confused myself, never have seen
so many cops. What goes on?
This is Mr Carney, special agent of the
Treasury Department, Secret Service.
Mr Carney, Slim Adams,
one of my deputies.
How do you do?
Secret Service. I get it.
They're shipping the national
debt through here in gold bars.
Just don't worry about it,
you'll find out later.
Right come on.
Let's go and check that car you hired.
Bang, bang got 'em all.
Buffalo Bill, you'd better put that gun
away before your Mom sees it,
she'll tan you a hide.
Dad! I do wish you'd call Jud
and let him come up and fix that.
Shucks, Ellen, I knew Ohms Law
before they even passed it.
Don't want Pidge to miss the ball
game, after missing the movie and all.
Alright, boy,
get ready to plug this set in
while I hold this screw down
and see what happens.
Okay.
Dad, are you sure you
know what you're doing?
Ellen, please.
But it says on the back that there's
Ellen, please stop being a woman...
Ready boy, plug in.
Dad! Dad! Are you alright?
I guess I'm alright, it scared
the pants of me, that's all.
Golly, look at this.
I guess maybe
you'd better call Jud, huh?
Honestly.
- That was a close call, boy.
- How much is 5000 volts?
- Enough.
- It would kill you?
It would probably pick you up
and toss you across the room.
Unless you were standing in a puddle
of water, then you'd be grounded.
And if you were grounded, it'd
kill you deader than a doornail.
Would it hurt?
Like blazes. You stay away from that
set now, and from those wall plugs.
Don't monkey with electricity unless
you know what you're doing.
- Why did you, Grandpa?
- You got me there, boy.
I'll get it. Jud says he'll be up
in a little while.
- I'm sorry.
- Honestly...
- Yes?
- Mrs Benson?
- That's right.
- Is your husband at home?
My hus...
No I'm a widow.
What I should have asked was,
are you the owner of this house?
No I'm not. It belongs to my
father-in-law. What is it you want?
I'm John Baron, special agent,
Federal Bureau of Investigation.
These are my men.
Do you suppose I could have
a few words with Mr. Benson?
Just a moment,
won't you come in? Dad!
- Oh, how are you gents?
- John Baron, special agent.
- For heavens' sake. FBI?
- May we come in?
Why sure, come right in and
make yourselves at home.
- Thanks.
- Not at all.
I get quite a kick out of this, used to be
with the Treasury Department myself.
Really?
- Back in the old days.
- Collector of Internal Revenue, eh.
Tax Collector, not on your life.
Secret Service.
You don't say?
Grandpa was President
Coolidge's bodyguard.
You don't say?
Yep, back in 1928. Youngest retirement
in the service, account of my heart.
Not heart trouble you understand,
an accident on one of Cal's fishing trips.
- A hunter, got the slug right here.
- Say, that's a nasty one.
How come you're still alive?
I don't know, lodged in my heart.
They took it out. Had to take it easy,
so they retired me.
- You're lucky.
- Luckier still if it hadn't hit me.
I'm gonna' be in the
Secret Service someday.
Thought you was gonna'
be a Sheriff, like Tod.
Squirts like you are supposed
to grow up to be President.
- Name's Pidge, Mr Baron.
- Glad to meet you, Pidge.
I ain't a squirt!
Mr Baron, what did you want to
see us about, is something wrong?
Nothing wrong yet Mrs Benson, but
there might be. We're just checking.
On us?
On the house.
Do you mind if we a look around?
Help yourself,
but I wanna' know...
We're gonna' look around, with or
without your permission, Mr Benson.
It's an emergency.
Check it.
There must be
something the matter.
Anyone else live here,
besides you three?
- No.
- Anyone been by here today?
No.
Just the usual routine.
Willy Harris left the milk.
- What's this all about Mr Baron?
- Just being careful, I'll explain later.
- Two bedrooms, one bathroom, clear.
- One here, just like they said.
Kitchen, pantry, back door, stairs go
down to the garage under kitchen,
cellar door in hall, clear.
Car in the garage.
Look at this for a setup...
Sorry folks, but I'm afraid we're gonna'
have to hang around for a while.
- Why?
- What's the matter?
- Don't be alarmed, nothing's wrong.
- Of course there is.
The FBI
doesn't pay us a visit for nothing.
- I won't stay. I'll take Pidge and go.
- No Ma'am, nobody leaves until we do.
Why not?
What's happened?
Look just go about your business, like
it was any other Saturday afternoon.
Read your papers, watch TV,
anything, but nobody leaves the house.
- Something fishy about all this.
- It's official business.
What sort of official business?
Mr Benson, as a former agent of the
Secret Service, you should understand.
Either I'm getting old
and stupid, or else I'm...
At 5pm, the President
will arrive in town on a special...
- What?
- Golly!
The President,
well that's different.
You mean the President's
gonna' get off the train here?
That's right.
Gramps,
we gotta' see it.
That's the greatest thing ever
to happen to this town.
Can we go down
and see it Gramps? Can we?
Sorry kid, no! Benny, bring in
the gear. Put the car out back.
Bart, you see the back door's
locked tight and check the cellar.
I still don't understand.
Mr Benson, if anyone wanted to kill the
President, he could do a beautiful job,
right from this window of yours.
For the love of Mike, that may be true,
but you don't think that Ellie and me...
Of course not,
but we have to remain here
to protect you and the President,
from someone who might.
Oh.
- Carney?
- Yeah.
Is all this checking routine?
Looks like you expect this town to...
Sheriff, have you noticed any strangers
in town during the past week.
- No.
- Are you sure?
Yes I'm sure. I know everybody here.
The only strangers we get are tourists.
We get 'em all the time, stopping
for gas, a bite to eat. That's all.
We wanna' know from you
or your deputies, if any stranger stays!
- Then this isn't routine.
- No it isn't.
Can you tell me?
The LA police picked up a small-time
stool pigeon night before last,
shot through the lungs
and left for dead.
Smiley Bitters. Before he died,
he told them something was up.
What do you mean,
something was up?
- An assassination attempt.
- Well, can you believe that?
- In our business we can't afford not to.
- I mean the tip of a dying stool pigeon.
The Stoolie seemed very proud of being
an American, before he kicked off.
Meaning crime is crime,
but this is something else again.
Right, so we can't take
any chances. Let's go.
Can we see the President,
grandpa? Can we Mom?
No Pidge, we have to stay here.
You can watch him from here.
But I wanna' get up close.
Well, use your telescope boy.
Bring him right up to your eye.
- Aah!
- Sorry Pidge, no dice.
Back door locked. How about the phone
in the kitchen, want me to yank it?
No, we don't change the pattern.
Give Benny a hand.
Mr Baron, I don't understand,
I was in the service myself...
So you told me.
Though we made every precautionary
check, we never went to extremes...
...unless you were tipped
about an assassination attempt.
- You don't mean it?
- I mean it.
But you're FBI Secret Service
is responsible for the President.
We're using everybody this trip,
Mr Benson, have a look down there.
State troopers, your local law
enforcement agencies and us.
Do you know if old Dan
Carney is down there?
We worked together in the old days.
He's chief of the presidential staff now.
- That's confidential information.
- This is a terrible thing.
Not your worry,
Mr Benson.
Of course it's my worry; I'm an
American ain't I? It's everybody's worry.
Car. Somebody's
driving up to the house.
- Who is it?
- It's Tod.
He's the Sheriff, Mr Baron.
- There's someone with him.
- Who is it?
- I don't know, never seen him before.
- Well for the love of Mike!
What?
It's old Dan Carney, greyer than an old
shirt and redder in the face as ever!
Hi Pop, got an old friend
of yours here.
Hi Pop, got an old friend
of yours here.
- Dan, you dirty old Irishman!
- Hello Pop, how are you?
- Hey, why aren't you dead?
- Oh, Buzzards like me live forever!
Hey old Hawkeye,
you're getting bald.
What do you expect
after 25 years?
Come on in,
make yourself at home.
This is my daughter-in-law.
- This is my grandson, Pidge.
- Hi 'ya Pidge.
Pidge, this is Mr. Carney, Secret
Service. He guards the President.
- Like Mr Baron.
- Who?
Baron. Oh, you didn't know.
Your boy's got here ahead of you.
Sheriff!
Mom!
One sound from the kid,
Pop, and he's dead.
Train muffled it...
Get rid of him. Put him in the cellar.
And you'd better take the rug with you,
it's a give-away...
You get the message,
brave boy?
Mom! Mom!
Pidge, you've gotta'
be still, no noise.
- You stink!
- Pidge shut up!
- Guts.
- He's only eight.
Lots of guts.
Mom.
No trouble with you,
you're all busted up.
Alright, take care of her.
You got it now, let's be practical.
I don't want any more
shooting around here.
I want it nice and quiet and cosy.
Now get her up and bring her around
and explain to her that one phoney
and she's got a kid with his throat cut.
Doesn't make much noise that way.
The same goes for you too.
Anybody step out of line...
The boy!
That's simple enough.
Ellen, listen to me. Pay attention. Now
listen to me and don't look like that.
Everybody's alright. Get a hold of
yourself. No matter what happens,
you've got to hang on.
If you scream, or make one
false move, he'll murder the boy.
You understand,
he'll murder Pidge.
Do you hear him, Lady?
Yes, yes.
Good, then we're all in accord.
Alright, alright, inside.
We've got a long time to wait.
Relax...
Move the kitchen table
in front of the window.
- Alright, sit down. Look at your TV.
- It ain't workin'.
Well, work him over then. Fix him up.
Don't sit there waiting to blow your cork.
Keep yourselves occupied.
I gotta' think.
Tod, Tod, are you
badly hurt?
The bullet hit the bone,
broke it I guess. He's bled a lot.
We need a doctor,
look at his face.
Tell her Pop.
You're the doctor, Ellen.
We can't have no doctor.
We can't set
a broken arm.
Tough.
- Can you?
- Me?
- Straighten this fracture.
- You couldn't take it.
- You straighten it.
- Hold on brave boy...
Tie it up.
May we take him
into the bedroom?
Sure,
though the boy stays here...
And leave the door open.
Alright,
let's go to work.
Pop, we gotta'
do something.
Well I know, I know,
but what? What?
- They've got Pidge.
- None of us count. Not even Pidge.
- We haven't got a chance.
- As long as we're alive, we've got one.
- We've got to find a flaw in his plan.
- We'll think of something.
Pop, haven't you got a gun?
Gun...
Here in this drawer. My gun.
- Is it loaded?
- No.
I hid the cartridges
on account of Pidge.
You're a dirty
lousy gangster!
- Why you.
- Leave him alone, Benny.
Did you hear
what he said?
Yeah, I heard. He's been
watching too much television.
- He ain't a bad squirt.
- Just tell him to shut up.
Sure, sure.
- This thing's metal.
- Steel top, chrome legs.
I figured wood.
No difference, screw the brackets
to the legs, then to the floor,
that way the table
won't dance.
You're a bunch
of cowards!
You're getting too fresh.
So button it.
Johnny, why all the trouble?
This is a lot of work.
Do it Benny.
- But Johnny, I don't see why we...
- I said just do it, Benny...
Once you get the gun anchored,
you've got a solid base.
You'll see when
we get to it.
This gun's got a heavy recoil
and won't stand still.
We've got just three seconds
to nail the President
and I don't want the table
to shimmy when we get to it.
A tommy gun
would do just as good.
A tommy gun stinks. No accuracy,
no punch. Might as well use a revolver.
This is the gun.
- When I was in the army.
- So I wasn't in the army.
Tighter, tighter.
Pop find those cartridges yet?
Not yet.
This is quite a gun, Benny.
Quite a gun.
I did a lot of choppin' in the war
with a baby like this, a lot of choppin'.
You're wrong about me Pidge,
bein' a coward.
Last war, I got a Silver Star,
north of Casino, pocket of resistance.
I killed 27 men, all by myself.
I won a Silver Star medal.
Ah, you stole it.
- They're hurting Pidge.
- Alright, take it easy.
Johnny, take it easy, relax, for the love
of Mike. What's a Silver Star?
- I won it.
- OK Johnny, OK, you won it.
I got 'em.
- They've been in there a long time.
- Yeah, get 'em back in here.
What are you all trying to pull?
All of you inside... Come on, come on.
- Feeling better?
- Yeah.
You're lucky, he didn't mean to wing ya,
he meant to blow your brains out.
He's a bad shot.
Yeah, but I'm not, so maybe you'd
better sit down and stay there,
that way it'd be safer
for everybody.
You've got that duty look in your eye.
I've seen it up on the line.
- The line? You up on the line?
- Some other time. Down!
Bart, you fool. His car's out front.
Put it in the garage, quick...
I have to think
of everything.
- Oh great, just great.
- Might as well advertise.
That was a close one.
Hot in here...
See what time it is?
Alright, suppose you tell me
what happens in this house
on a Saturday afternoon,
between four and five.
Pattern.
Smart guy. Sure, and we don't break
that pattern. We're here for a reason
and if we break it, we might
blow the deal, you know?
Mario slings the paper
over the fence, around 4:30.
Delivery boy, does he come in?
Anyone else?
Cy Hammel went up the mountain
hunting jack rabbits.
- He'll be by on his way back.
- Will he stop?
Not unless he's got
something to brag about.
Anybody else.
Nobody.
Anybody know that you and
the other guy were coming up here?
- That's an interesting question.
- What's the interesting answer?
- You guess.
- Tell him Tod.
Sheriff, if you think I have any
qualms about killing this kid,
you couldn't be more wrong.
The thing about killing him,
or you, or her, or him,
is that I wouldn't be getting'
paid for it...
and I don't like giving
anything away for free.
Neither do I,
including information.
Your guts are showing
all over the place, brave boy.
No, not me, I'm scared.
You see the way I figure it Baron,
I'm a dead man anyway,
so's the boy, so's Ellen, so's Pop.
Just a question of now or later, and if it
gives the President a bit of an edge,
well then, we get it now.
They won't hurt us, they won't hurt.
Pidge, they said so.
Because it's convenient Ellen. You think
these crumbs would kill the President
and then take off, leaving us
behind to identify them.
You said
you wouldn't hurt Pidge.
Sure, sure, and I meant it.
Don't listen to this guy, he's just
being brave with your kid's life.
I knew guys like that in the army.
We're just doing a job that's all,
identifying us is not involved.
By 7 o'clock tonight, we'll be out of the
country and you'll never see us again.
Tell him Tod, tell him.
Never mind lady, we'll just assume
that they knew he was coming up here,
so that if somebody else checks
on him, you can tell him
that the sheriff and his friend were here,
but they had to go someplace else.
That's all.
I have to go
to the bathroom.
Go with him Bart.
- I don't need any help.
- Come on, come on.
Okay,
table's screwed down.
Alright, get the tripod up there, drill
a hole in each leg, bolt it to the table
put it centre
in front of the window...
I thought
I told you to sit down.
Just stretching my legs.
You're a very careful man.
That's right.
Planned on
everything, huh?
Sheriff, the first man they shoot to the
moon on a rocket will take pains too,
'cos that's never been
done before. Neither has this.
Doesn't that worry you?
Haven't got time to worry, I just make
my plans and carry 'em out.
That's what
John Wilkes Booth thought too.
Booth! Ha, I'm no actor
busting my leg on a stage,
so I can yell
"Down with the tyrants!"
If Booth wasn't such a ham,
he might have made it.
He got pretty far
at that, though.
The guy who killed Garfield
didn't make it either.
Him! Ha, he didn't plan anything. Just
took a lucky shot, strictly left-handed.
Just like McKinley.
And Zangara got the chair
for his try at Roosevelt.
He had to try it in a crowd,
I hate crowds.
So nobody ever made it.
Up till here...
I'm just a guy makin' a livin'
and I think you've stretched
long enough. As you were.
- Bart take over Benny's watch.
- Okay.
- Benny?
- Yeah Johnny.
Go down town and see what's
goin' on, especially the station plan.
Leave the car here.
Why me?
Because Wheeler can fly
a plane, and you can't.
Oh, but I'm
expendable, huh?
No, I just don't want anything
to happen to Wheeler.
Why can't
I take the car?
Because if they nail you, we need
the car to get to the plane.
- The place is crawlin' with cops.
- You're getting' paid, ain't ya?
- Yeah.
- You can't say it ain't enough.
I'll be back.
Johnny. Look. Nice and steady
just like you wanted it.
Open the curtain.
Trap.
Big beautiful booby-trap.
You can't do this.
You can't do it.
You're wrong lady...
Take a look...
Go on take a look.
I can do it and
I'm going to do it.
But you're an American citizen.
Sure. And at 5:01, I'm gonna' be
a very rich American citizen.
- You'll never get away with it.
- Shut up.
- I got a stomach ache.
- Take a pill.
Maybe the old man's right,
Johnny. It's a terrible thing.
Turn it off, will 'ya.
Just another man, a man.
But the president.
Yeah, yeah, I never killed
a president before.
- Who's that?
- It's Jud Kelly.
Ellen sent for him to come
and fix the television,
so the boy could
watch the ball game.
Why didn't you tell me?
We simply forgot. He's a harmless boy,
Baron. Don't hurt him.
- OK. But if you cross me.
- He won't, he won't.
Alright Pop,
you've got the ball.
Let him in, but watch it.
Ellen, we got to
keep this man talking.
Why?
Because that's his weakness.
Sooner or later he'll drop his guard.
We've gotta' find
a way to get Pop's gun.
- Hi Pop, what's new?
- Hello Jud.
I'd better fix your rig,
before you execute yourself.
Come on in.
- Tod, what happened to you?
- Ask him?
Same thing that'll happen to you,
unless you do exactly as you're told.
- You're kiddin'. Is that real?
- It's real, alright.
- What's your name?
- Jud Kelly.
- What are you doing here?
- I came to fix the television set.
Drop it.
Alright Bart, case him.
I don't have any dough, if that's
what you want. Is this a stick-up?
Yeah, that's right,
it's a stick-up.
You'll never get
away with it.
Go over and sit down, buster.
Take your luggage with you.
You too sit down.
I don't dig it. Did they rob the bank?
What's the gun for? What's goin' on?
- Where's your store?
- Main Street.
- Who runs it?
- Just me.
- All alone?
- Do you have to point that gun at me?
- Alone?
- Answer him.
Yeah.
You locked up when you left?
Nobody knows you were comin' here?
That's right. Just a service call.
That gun makes me nervous, Mr.
I'm not gonna' be a hero,
you can put the gun away.
Sure, but I'm telling you, buster, like the
others, one pass and the kid gets it.
That's right, he gets it. So you see
his life depends on you. Got it?
Yeah.
- Wilson? Carney back yet?
- No, he's been gone a long time.
Maybe we ought to load the gun now
to be sure, huh?
No, that's just
what the sheriff would like.
Forget about me,
I've had it.
Don't con me, sheriff. The minute this
gun was loaded, one of you brave boys
might decide to go for the ride,
just to fire it and if you did,
it might alert a few state cops down
there and the game would be over.
- You got any food in the house?
- Course I have.
I'm gonna' grab
a bite, Bart. Watch 'em.
Bring me a little glass of milk will you,
Johnny? My ulcer's murdering me.
Just watch 'em Bart.
Watch 'em.
- I don't dig it, will somebody tell me...
- Sit down, be quiet.
Haven't you any
feelings at all?
No I haven't lady, they were taken out
of me by experts... Feelings are a trap.
Show me a guy with feelings
and I'll show you a sucker.
It's a weakness. Makes you think
of something besides yourself.
If I had any feelings left in me at all,
they'd be for me. Just me.
Don't you ever think
of your mother? Your father?
Think of 'em? I used to
think of them a great deal.
My mother wasn't married. My old man
was a dipso. They left me in a home.
- You stink.
- Johnny!
Pidge! Come back here.
- The kid.
- Hold it.
Pidge, Pidge.
Get him.
Stick 'em up,
or I'll blast you.
- Nice going, Bart.
- It's only a cap pistol.
- I gave it to him myself.
- Don't you touch her, don't you.
I oughta' beat his brains out.
The little... What's so funny?
You should've seen
your face, a cap pistol.
Go ahead,
laugh yourself sick.
That's a pretty good model,
they make 'em real today, don't they?
Here you are, Pidge,
blow his brains out...
Couple of big, bold, bad men, getting'
scared to death by a six-bit cap pistol.
I oughta' beat that kid.
I'm not sure
that he couldn't take 'ya.
Go put some milk on your ulcer
and bring me a piece of the cake.
I need some milk;
the pain's pretty bad.
Where's Benny?
Why don't we hear from Benny?
Sit.
If this isn't a stick-up,
what is it?
Did you come up here
to fix a television set, junior?
- Yeah.
- Well then, fix the television set.
Tod, what's going on?
They're planning to assassinate
the President, Jud.
Which president?
The President of the United States.
He arrives here this afternoon.
You're kidding!
No, you're not kidding.
The president?
Kill the president? They can't,
they couldn't do a thing like that.
They're stinking traitors.
They're Benedict Arnolds.
Are you guys crazy?
You can't do a thing like that.
- Sit down, reckless.
- Don't you realise what that means?
That's assassination;
he's your President too.
Make a deal with 'ya boy.
We kill you instead of the President.
That's even steven. Okay with you?
Thought not. Anybody else wanna'
take the heat
off the President?
- How about you sheriff?
- It's a bad joke, Baron.
Anybody else wanna' volunteer?
They're commies;
they're enemy agents.
- Alright, who is behind it Baron?
- I haven't the slightest idea.
- What's in it for you?
- You're curious, aren't you sheriff?
While I last.
I like you sheriff. You've got guts.
You must have been a good soldier.
I got by.
- I won a Silver Star.
- That's pretty good.
- Killed 27 Jerries all by myself.
- You're a born killer, that's all.
Yeah.
When you get real good
at something, you're a murderer.
Yeah, over there you can knock over
a whole platoon, or a guy invents
a bomb and kills 100000 people, just
like that and maybe gets more medals.
Here you put a slug
in a double-crossing squirt
that isn't even worth burying
and you have to take the gas.
I got no feeling against the President;
I'm just earning a living.
By treason.
Ace shoots craps. Don't give me
that politics jazz, it's not my racket.
I don't even know who's paying me
and I don't want to know.
What's the difference?
Didn't it occur to you
why they want you to do it?
Yes, but that makes them suckers not
me. I'm the guy, who's gettin' it made.
Listen sheriff, a man can stand only for
so much. Before the war, I drifted
and drifted and ran, always lost
in a big crowd. I hated that crowd.
I used to dream about
the crowd once in a while.
I used to see all those faces scratchin'
and shovin' and bitin' and then the mist
would clear and somehow
all those faces would be me.
All me and all nothin'.
But the war changed everything,
eh Baron?
I'm no traitor, sheriff.
I won a Silver Star.
And learned how to kill.
Yeah, maybe I did.
Maybe that changed everything.
Maybe people began
to know who I was.
After the show, I hooked up
with an outfit for good dough.
The finger said where and how much
and Johnny Baron did the job.
You think anybody else could handle
it? Like Benny or Wheeler without me?
You're talkin' too
much, Johnny.
Nobody else can do this job,
because they've got too much feeling
and feeling's
no good.
I got nothing against
the President, sheriff.
He's just worth half a million
bucks to me, tax- free.
Makin' my own laws
about the taxes too, Pop.
- The guy is goofy.
- Shut up, Jud.
Listen to him, buster. And
don't ever say that again. Ever!
You heard him, Jud.
A half million dollars, huh?
Yeah, that's a lot of scratch, sheriff.
A man could retire on that amount.
- How do you know it will ever be paid?
- Half of it's been paid.
- And the rest?
- I'll get it.
I wouldn't be sure. It's not just
a man; it's the President.
That's what's so funny.
The laugh is on the guys
who're paying the freight.
All this loot and they don't
even know what they're doing.
Half a million clams for absolutely
nothing, because tonight at 5pm,
I kill the president and at 5:01
there's a new president.
What changes? Nothing.
What are they paying for? Nothing.
Otherwise I wouldn't have
taken the job, sheriff.
You'd have taken it.
You think so?
- Yeah.
- Why?
Alright, take it easy.
Come on, lady.
Do as you're told
and everything will be fine.
Answer straight,
clean and plain. Answer it.
Hello.
Mrs Benson,
let me speak to the chief.
Benny?
Yeah, train's on time,
the car will be waiting in front of the
station like you figured, facing you.
Fine, get back as soon as you can
and don't be followed.
Check.
There's the big boy's car now.
Lovely target.
- Hey, hold it Mister.
- Yes officer, what is it?
- What's your name?
- Fred, Fred Whitaker.
- What are you doing in town?
- Just passing through.
Where's your car?
I don't have one. I hitch-hiked in from
Three Rivers, waiting for the train out.
I figured I'd take
the train on to L.A.
- What train?
- The five o'clock.
- The five o'clock. Now that's strange.
- Why Officer?
Because we don't have any
except today and that happens to be
a special, you don't know about.
- Except that you do.
- Must be some mistake.
You made it.
Oh, now look officer, I got
identification. I can prove who I am.
I got my drivers
licence right here.
Come on.
Gunfire!
Hold it, don't shoot him...
- I told you not to kill him.
- Not to kill him? After he...
He was our only link.
Come on.
- So long, Benny.
- Do you think they got him?
I only hope he's dead.
- Haggerty.
- Yes sir.
We got him.
Dead unfortunately.
Wasn't Carney's last checkpoint
the house on the hill?
Yes, he went there with the sheriff to
check the White Springs ranch about 2.
We haven't been able
to reach them.
Take two troopers
and back track 'em.
Start with the house on the hill.
We've got to find Carney.
Right.
Now we got trouble. Everybody
except Mrs Benson, in the cellar.
- What are you gonna' do?
- Nothing, I hope. Move.
Anybody gets brave, kill 'em all.
You can only hang once.
Pidge, stay up there.
Now look. Get a grip on yourself.
I want you to look relaxed.
If you don't pull this off,
everybody is dead. Understand?
All of us dead.
So be yourself.
I don't know what you mean.
They'll come up here to check whether
Carney and the sheriff were here
and I want you to go out front.
I don't want 'em in the house.
I can't. I don't know how.
I don't know what to say.
Just go out and water the flowers.
Do anything you like, but keep busy...
Lipstick and rouge, quick.
Now listen to me carefully,
they'll come up to check whether
Carney and the sheriff were here.
Certainly they were here.
They came up to check the house,
but at three o'clock they left here.
They went out
on the White Springs ranch road.
They took Pop and the kid with 'em
and that's the last you saw of them.
You got it, you got it?
Yes, yes.
You look like a ghost.
Step on it...
Pull it off lady,
or everybody is dead, everybody.
He's getting rattled, Pop.
How do you mean?
He didn't expect Benny to get shot.
Got anything in mind?
Maybe, now listen.
Shut up you guys.
Mrs Benson?
Yes.
My name's Haggerty.
Then you must be one
of Mr. Carney's men.
That's right, has he been here?
Haven't seen him since they left.
They came up here
about three o'clock,
to check the house, they said.
I - I don't know why.
Who are they?
Why, Mr Carney and Sheriff Shaw.
Then they said they had to check
the White Springs ranch road.
Is your father-in-law
Mr. Benson here?
Well no. No he isn't.
You see he used
to be Mr. Carney's chief.
Yes, I know.
So Mr. Carney took him along.
My little boy too.
Then you're alone?
Yes.
And you haven't heard from them
since they left?
No, no I haven't. Something's wrong.
I know something's wrong.
No, no Mrs Benson, nothing's wrong.
We're, we're just checking that's all.
But if you see
or hear from them before I do,
please have them check the detail
down at the railroad station,
it's very important. Thanks.
Alright lady, inside...
Come on, come on.
Very nice, very nice job.
Congratulations.
You don't like me, do you?
- You're an animal.
- I don't like you either.
Animals kill each other to live,
that's what you're doing.
How do you like your roast beef?
Medium rare or well done?
Alright, Bart, run 'em in.
It's clear.
- I wish you were dead.
- You haven't got the guts.
- Just give me a chance.
- Here's your chance.
Go ahead, take it, but remember
the squirt in the cellar...
That's right
think of the President first.
Let's not think of ourselves.
I didn't give you a whole chance,
but you didn't even take
a half a chance.
Everything okay, Johnny?
Sure, everything's fine.
She played her part real good.
She should be on television. You,
didn't I tell you to fix the television set?
You told me to sit.
Get your stuff and fix it.
It'll keep you from getting patriotic.
If I don't do something,
I'll blow my top just sitting here.
Fix the set and shut your mouth.
I don't like what you say.
Now fix it,
we've still got time...
All yours...
Open 'em...
About 200 yards.
- Baron. Isn't that a German rifle?
- Yeah. You know it?
I know it. Where were
you during the war?
All the way from the Kasserine Pass.
I won a Silver Star. Where were you?
Normandy to the Elbe by way of the
Bulge. You get up into Germany?
No. Bet you were one of those big shot
guys with the gold bar on the shoulder.
No, no I was a corporal.
How about you?
- Corporal? I made sergeant.
- You didn't like officers?
Officers, big shots. Yes sir,
no sir, salute sir. Big shots.
- You don't like big shots?
- Not when you're bigger, sheriff.
I killed more Jerries than
any five officers put together.
I did some pretty good chopping
in the war. Pretty good.
Like I said before,
you're a born killer. That's all.
Yeah, they taught me how and I liked it.
Ha, my C.O. Used to stand there
and shake
like a leaf while I chopped.
If more guys like me had to...
Tell me one thing, Baron.
How come you missed Germany?
They sent me home,
my tour was finished.
Your tour? In the infantry?
Are you kiddin'?
You finish your tour in the infantry
when they plant you in a box.
- Tour! That was for the air corp.
- Turn it off.
- Yeah, you probably went over the hill.
- I said, turn if off.
You know, Baron, you got the yard look.
You look yard bird to me.
I'm tellin' you, sheriff. Turn it off.
Big shot with the yard birds,
eh? Come on now, tell me.
Where were you court-martialled?
What was it for? Rape?
No, not rape. Killing,
that's what you like, killing.
Maybe shooting down
unarmed PW's.
Sit down and shut up.
Ah, but by golly you got away with it.
So... I got it. Section eight.
You went out on a section eight.
Section eight.
Psycho in charge of killing, eh?
You know, I knew guys like you.
Killing was sweet.
Rather kill a man than love a girl.
- A real kick. A thrill with the guts.
- Stop it, Tod. Stop it.
Or maybe you didn't like your C.O.
Maybe you shot him in the back.
That it?
Maybe you... Aaagh!
Like I said, shut up.
- Tod darling, it's hopeless.
- No, no it's not five o'clock yet.
Gonna' keep your trap shut?
Yeah.
Hurts, huh?
It hurts.
Well I can keep kickin', as long
as you keep shootin' your face off.
I know.
Pop, you were right when you blew
the power tube. I have one here.
I'll have it perkin',
in a second.
You know,
I was thinking Jud.
If you were to clamp the main plate lead
to a good ground like that table there,
you'd get a better picture.
A lot of lines in it now.
Clamp the main plate lead to the table.
Cut the static lines.
Expert. First he wrecks the set,
then he tells the kid how to fix it.
Main plate lead...
Yeah.
That's right, Jud, all it needs
is a high potential ground.
We're a long way from
the broadcasting station.
What are you guys
yapping about?
Technical talk, mister.
I'm an old radio man.
Battleship New York,
World War One.
Gramps beat the Germans,
single-handed.
Not exactly son,
but I was there at Scapa Flow
when the German
fleet surrendered.
Alright, alright, stop the bulling
and fix that set will ya.
Yes sir.
- Oh!
- Dad, Dad what is it?
- Pain, bad.
- What hit him?
He has a bad heart.
Pidge, my pills,
top drawer of the bureau.
- I'll get 'em.
- You stay put. The kid'll get 'em.
Pidge, put down that gun and
get some water for your grandfather.
But mom, listen.
You heard me, Pidge.
OK.
You know what I think, Pop. I got a
feeling your heart attack's a phony.
Pain's bad.
I'm warning you, if you're trying to pull
something, you'd better watch it.
Baron, I've been thinking.
You've been thinking you'd like
to take a crack at this rifle.
Do you think I'd
wanna' get myself killed?
Yes. Frankly, sheriff I don't think
you'd mind getting yourself killed.
Nobody wants to die.
Do we have to talk about it?
Why don't you shut up?
- No guts.
- It gets on my nerves, that's all.
Now why would I want
to get myself killed?
Because it's five minutes
to five and a shot might bring
those state troopers stormin' all over
the joint before the President arrives.
Sheriff, I can put you away in two
seconds by twisting your arm again.
That way there's no noise. So don't
go winning any post-mortem medals.
I wouldn't enjoy winning
a post-mortem medal
any more than you're gonna'
enjoy that post-mortem money.
- What did you say?
- What did he say?
I said nobody ever made it.
You won't either.
You don't think so?
So you got a plane. You'll never
reach it ahead of the police
and if you do you'll never
make it to the border.
You ever hear of
the jet fighter?
You know how many airstrips there
are between here and the border?
You know a fella' can get an
education just listening to this guy.
Well, maybe he's
right, Johnny.
You said half the money
had already been paid.
A smart guy would hit
the road right now.
Fly outa here, skip the President,
spend the money in South America.
Alive.
He's right, Johnny. Why take the risk?
We can lam now, we can make it.
We don't have to fool with this. It's too
big, there's something wrong with it.
Chicken.
Chicken! Alright, fine.
Who wants to be rich and dead?
They'll get us.
They haven't missed yet, Johnny.
The guy's right. You've got the loot.
Let's take off and get outa here for
good. Once we're across the border...
Hate those craps.
Benny wasn't chicken, they
didn't waste any time on him.
We haven't got a chance.
Turn it off, Bart. You're embarrassing
me in front of the Sheriff.
But Johnny, even if we swing it, he's the
President. They'll never give up.
You don't figure that the guys
who're paying off, are just gonna'
let you fly away, do you? They'll be
after you, just like the Secret Service.
I thought of that too, sheriff.
It might be an internationally
embarrassing situation,
if the feds happen to
catch up with us first.
You've gotta' realise Bart that
everybody's gonna' be on your tail;
from five o'clock
until the day you die.
There's a hole in
your argument, sheriff.
What is it?
We're already wanted for murder.
So you can only take the gas once.
They'll get us, Johnny.
- They won't get us Bart. Not us.
- You're sure, Johnny?
You leave it to me.
You're sick, mate.
You're sick.
I don't like that.
Don't play God, just
because you've got a gun.
But you see sheriff
that's the way it is.
When you've got a gun
you are a sort of God.
If you had the gun, I'd be the
chump and you'd be the God.
The gun gives you the power
of life and death.
It's a funny sort of feeling to
have control of life and death.
You must have had it
during the war.
You could miss a man
if you had a mind to.
Or you could kill him
dead in his tracks.
And that made you a
kinda' God, and I liked it.
Without the gun I'm nothing, and I
never had anything before I got one.
First time I got one in my hands and
killed a man, I got some self-respect.
I was somebody.
Like this kid over here.
If that cap pistol was a real gun
and I didn't have a gun,
he'd be a kind of a God too
and if I wanted my life,
I'd worship the ground he walks on
and I'd pay him the half a million
dollars for my life.
Because life is all I have.
But the squirt doesn't have the gun,
I have and I can loose the lightening.
No noise just pictures.
Oh, butterfingers!
You're wrong about God
and the gun, sheriff.
Without the gun you would
never have spit at me.
You would never
have even noticed me.
But because of the gun you'll
remember me as long as you live.
Where is it now?
Blowing for the 66 crossing,
outside town.
Alright, nobody moves.
This is it. You, over there.
Johnny,
let me see, once.
We're gonna' do it, Bart.
This is my meat. We're gonna' do it.
Just to see.
Return Fire.
Hold your Fire.
It didn't stop.
It didn't stop.
It didn't stop!
No... Don't.
No! Please, no!
Are you sure you're going
to be alright, Mr. Benson?
Oh! Don't worry about me
Mr. Wilson, I'll be alright.
I don't need any nurse maid.
We're certainly
grateful to you.
How come the train went
right through the station?
We simply cancelled
the stopover.
We couldn't take a chance
on the President's safety
once it were proven the
assassins were in town.
The President went on to
Los Angeles.
Missed the station, huh?
I'm afraid so.
Some day those guys are gonna' start
taking you for amateurs, Mr. Wilson?
I hope not. Thanks again,
Mr. Benson.
You too, young man.
Oh, that's alright. Someday I'm
gonna' be a bodyguard, just like you.
Nonsense boy. You're gonna'
grow up to be President
and president's
have bodyguards.
And grandpops?
And grandpops.
Especially grandpops.
Ellen.
How's Jud?
He didn't make it.
And Slim?
Critical, but they
think he'll be alright.
I guess somebody had
to make them stick.
What?
Something dad said this morning,
about principles.
Get in Tod;
I'll drive you home.
No thanks; I've got
to go over to the office.
Can I pick you up
for church tomorrow?
Yeah, that'll be swell.
Say officer.
Yeah.
Could you tell me the way
to Three Rivers?
Ah, you go down to the first intersection,
you turn left, it's about 60 miles.
Thanks.
What's this town?
"Suddenly".
Suddenly, what?
No that's the name.
That's a funny name
for a town.
Oh, I don't know.
I don't know about that.
the way to Three Rivers?
About two miles to the first
main intersection, then turn left,
it's about 60 miles.
- Thanks. What town is this?
- "Suddenly".
- Suddenly what?
- No, that's the name.
- Ha, ha, it's a funny name for a town.
- Hangover from the old days.
That's the way things used
to happen here. Suddenly.
I see.
- Road agents, gamblers, gun fighters.
- Well, I take it things have changed.
Things happen so slow now
the town council wants to change
the name to 'Gradually'.
- Ha ha, thanks officer.
- Pleasure, come back.
Suddenly
Hello there, Pidge.
- Hi Tod.
- Where's your mother?
We've been shopping. I gotta' put
this stuff in the car, wanna' come?
Yeah, sure.
- Tod?
- Uh huh.
Well no. I guess not.
She wouldn't let me.
- Who's she?
- Mom of course.
Well then you'd better
say Mom, Pidge.
It's kinda' not polite to say 'she',
especially about your mother.
Well anyway, she wouldn't.
You know, I bet I can guess
what's on your mind.
Bet you can't.
Well, now let's see.
You want an ice-cream soda?
Um, not a bad idea,
but that's not it.
You wanna' go
to the movies?
No, that's a war picture.
Mom won't let me see those.
Boy oh boy,
this is tougher than I thought.
- I got it, you want that baseball bat.
- No, but you're awful warm.
Is that it?
Sure that's it. Ain't it a beauty?
But shucks, it's no use.
Mom won't let me have it.
She doesn't like guns.
I know.
It's because of my father
being killed in the war.
Look Pidge, if you had the gun,
what would you do with it?
- Stick up a filling station?
- Stick up a filling station.
Heck no, I'd be Sheriff,
and I'd catch all those road agents
and cattle rustlers. Just like you.
But what about Mom?
I think we can persuade her, what with
you wanting to be a peace officer.
We've got lots of time. Mom's still
in the market getting groceries.
Let's go.
- Oh hell...
- I got it.
Thanks Tod. Hello.
Hi, can I give you
a lift to the house?
Thanks, but I have
the car with me.
- Goin' to church tomorrow?
- Yes.
I'll pick you up
about 10:45, huh?
You never give up,
do you?
Ellen, I know how you feel, believe me
I do, and I've tried to understand, but...
I haven't asked you
to understand.
- That's because I'm in love with you.
- Tod... you shouldn't say that to me.
- Why not? It's true.
- Don't Tod.
Ellen, you can't go on
being a widow forever.
It's been over three years
since Pete died.
Don't you understand?
No one can take Pete's place.
I'm not trying to take Pete's place.
I'm trying to make a place of my own.
You've been wonderful Tod, and I'm
grateful, but I can't help how I feel.
Ellen, you've got to stop
doing this to yourself,
because you're doing it
to Pidge too, and to me.
You're digging a big pit
and shoving all of us into it.
Leave me alone Tod,
please.
Pidge,
where did you get that gun?
- I bought it for him, Ellen.
- Tod, how could you?
We thought you wouldn't mind,
cos' I'm gonna' be a sheriff, like Tod.
- Take it off Pidge.
- Ellen.
I can't help it, I can't stand
seeing him play with a gun.
But the boy's gotta' learn sometime
that guns aren't necessarily bad.
- Depends on who uses them.
- Tod carries one, doesn't he?
- Yes.
- Well then.
- Just take it off, Pidge.
- Aw gee!
That's three dollars, please...
Thank you.
Ellen.
I know you don't want the boy
to see war pictures, but it seems...
Teaching children the art of death and
destruction, the cruelties, the tortures...
He's gotta' know that these things exist
and then he can fight against them,
when it's his turn.
You can't wrap the boy in cellophane.
I can try, as long as possible.
Look, when a house is on fire,
everybody has to help put it out,
because the next time,
it might be your house.
Oh Tod, don't.
- Church tomorrow, Ellen?
- No Tod, I can't go with you.
I can't go on asking you and
get turned down. I mean that.
Bebop. Goin' over to Tilly's for a cup
of java. You can handle things.
It's a quiet day.
It's been a quiet day in this burg
for the last 50 years.
For you?
- Good night shirt!
- What's the word?
Go get the Sheriff. Tell him to get
over here fast, it's an emergency!
Hey! Take it easy Pappy,
- Where's the Sheriff?
- Try the office... Hey, what the...?
- Where's Tod?
- Catch your breath. He's...
It's an emergency! Ed Hawkins
has gotta' see him now!
What happened?
I don't know, something came
over the wire. Ed wouldn't say.
Yeah, that's funny.
Well there's Tod now.
It's an emergency. Ed Hawkins
has gotta' see you right away!
- Hello Ed.
- Thanks, get outta' here.
Wait a second.
I wanna' know what it's about.
It's top secret,
get outta' here.
- For Pete's sake, I ran my pants off...
- Blow.
Aw shucks.
What's the word?
Listen to this.
I haven't finished typing it yet...
Sheriff Tod Shaw, Suddenly, California.
Confidential code: 'Hangover'.
Special train number 10.19 carrying
the President of the United States
will arrive Suddenly 5pm today.
President will detrain and
drive to White Springs Ranch.
Will require adequate transportation.
Appreciate cooperation your staff.
With secret service operators
arriving 1:15pm.
Carney acting chief U.S.
Secret Service.
- No mistakes, huh?
- Only in typing.
Now, can I use your phone?
Help yourself.
Give me State Police Headquarters
in Wetherby.
- What's that code word again?
- 'Hangover'.
'Hangover'...
Hello, this is Tod Shaw at Suddenly.
I wanna' speak to Captain Aaron.
There's number 20.
The 66th crossing.
Hello Captain Aaron, this is Tod Shaw.
I've got a message here;
the code word is 'Hangover'.
I'm gonna' need five of your cars,
two men and one Thompson gun
to each car, and...
Oh, you did?
Swell. Right, thanks.
They got the same message. Aaron
has the show on the road already.
Gee!
Those state cops don't fool around!
No, they don't.
Say, you didn't spill this, did you?
It says confidential.
Let's keep it that way. I'll run over to
Kaplan's garage. Back in a minute.
- Hello Sheriff, be right with you.
- That's not soon enough, lz.
- So?
- I want the black Cadillac at 4:30pm.
- The limousine?
- Park it at the station, backed in.
Somebody getting married,
like the sheriff?
Don't be funny, police business.
Don't tell anyone.
I don't get it.
You're not supposed to.
- Mr. Carney?
- That's right.
- My name's Shaw.
- Get my message?
- What message?
- 'Hangover'.
May I see
your credentials?
This is Wilson.
- Hi.
- Haggerty, Schultz and Kelly.
Glad to make your acquaintance.
I got your message.
You're a careful man,
sheriff.
Not always. This seemed
like a good time to be.
We always have to be.
May I see your credentials?
I got a limousine ordered for 4:30.
It'll be parked right here.
Good.
State police have five cars
on the road from Wetherby.
- Excellent.
- I guess that's about it.
Not quite...
You can still be
of help to us...
We'll have to check those
stores facing the station.
Mr Carney, I know every
proprietor here. Believe me.
Look, I'm sure they're OK.
It's just routine.
Alright boys...
We'll park a limousine between
the tracks when the special arrives.
Pretty rough in there.
Maybe, easier to cover.
All state police cars can go in there too.
Alright.
Oh, er...
Who lives up there on the hill?
Pop Benson. His grandson
and his daughter- in-law.
We'll check it.
Ha ha, Mr. Carney that's the one place
in this town that doesn't need checking.
Pop Benson used to be in the Secret
Service before a bad ticker retired him.
Pop Benson!
You don't mean Peter Benson?
- That's right.
- Well I'll be a monkey's uncle.
What do you mean?
Pete Benson used
to be my old boss.
No, how do you like that?
Mr Shaw, he'll be the last one
in the world to object... Pete Benson.
Probably a rectifier
or a tube.
Please call Jud, and ask him to fix it
before you wreck it?
Wreck it! Now you listen here,
I built a television transmitter in '38,
before you even knew
what television was.
Yes, but did it work?
I don't know,
I never finished the receiver.
Well, this is one,
and I wish you'd call Jud.
I don't wanna'.
Besides it costs more on Saturdays.
It's cheaper than what it'd cost,
when you're finished with it.
Stop taking it out on me,
just 'cos you and Tod had a fight!
- You haven't touched your cake.
- Don't want it.
Pidge darling,
I made it especially for you.
You made it because you
wouldn't let me wear my gun.
Drink your milk, darling.
- Sissy.
- What?
That's what the guys call me.
I don't care what they call you, I'm
your mother and I know what's best for you.
Pidge! Pidge, you shouldn't
walk out when I'm talking to you.
I thought you
were finished.
The boy's just
disappointed, that's all.
Dad, please stop interfering.
First you take him out of the
Highcliff Cub Scouts, and then...
Pidge, go to your room.
I'll have this old set perkin' in a minute
son; then we'll watch the ball game.
Dad, I've had this
for the last time.
Ellen, you're a grown-up girl. You got a
problem you haven't worked out.
That's no reason why Pidge
should have your problem.
I've only done
what I thought was right.
I read about an experiment once.
Kept germs away from a kid.
Raised him pure and scientifically.
First time he went out,
he caught cold
and died of pneumonia.
What has that to do with Pidge?
The kid hadn't been exposed,
he had no immunity.
There's cruelty, hatred and tyranny
in the world. You can't ignore it.
Pidge's gonna' learn about
the law, so's he can defend it.
Defend it? So he can become a soldier
and be murdered like his father?
My son was killed in the
performance of his duty, Ellen.
Duty, being blown to bits on
some god-forsaken battlefield,
thousand of miles from where
he was born. You call that duty?
Yes Ellen.
Well, is that what you'd like for Pidge?
Would that make you happy?
If Pete could hear you now,
he'd be ashamed of you.
How can you say
a terrible thing like that?
The old boys wrote the words: 'Life,
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.'
They sounded mighty nice, but they
wouldn't have been worth a nickel,
if somebody hadn't
made 'em stick.
Grandpa! Grandpa!
Look out the window! Golly!
What is it?
Coming down from Wetherby,
a whole lot of state troopers, see 'em?
Sure cut it fine.
You couldn't possibly be surprised
with those sirens blasting.
- So I tried to beat 'em.
- State troopers, right on time.
Oh, they're good.
- The best, alright Bart, follow me.
- Ok.
There are two routes
to the White Springs Ranch:
Over the mountains, or you
can go down to the main highway,
go into Three Rivers, the ranch
is about 20 miles further out.
We'll stick to the main highway.
Too much chance for an ambush
in those mountains. Yes Haggerty?
We could use a roof watch on those
stores Chief, and a street check.
Mr. Carney, every proprietor in this
town has been here at least five years.
I know them, I know their kids.
It's not that sheriff; it's the stranger that
might use one of those stores for cover.
I'd like them to lock up at 4:50,
stay locked up until 5:10.
- Oh, and put a man on the roof too.
- Alright Bert, give 'em the word.
No one is to remain in
those stores at locking time,
anyone seen inside after 4:50,
might be shot on sight.
- Like the man says it's important.
- Yes Sir.
Tell Wilson to keep the station clear.
Schultz will take over troopers
and block off traffic approaches
from 4:30 onwards.
Right. There's another hazard Sir.
A house up on the hill.
Yeah, I know.
I'll check that one myself.
Yes Sir.
Tod, what the Hades
is going on in this burg?
Did some Galoot make
a uranium strike?
Not exactly. Now look Slim you take
over here and we'll catch up later.
Keep all pedestrian traffic off
the main street from 4:30
between Oak and Alder,
the state boys will help 'ya,
if anybody in town squawks,
why you smooth things over.
They know you, and this is
going to seem strange to them.
I'm confused myself, never have seen
so many cops. What goes on?
This is Mr Carney, special agent of the
Treasury Department, Secret Service.
Mr Carney, Slim Adams,
one of my deputies.
How do you do?
Secret Service. I get it.
They're shipping the national
debt through here in gold bars.
Just don't worry about it,
you'll find out later.
Right come on.
Let's go and check that car you hired.
Bang, bang got 'em all.
Buffalo Bill, you'd better put that gun
away before your Mom sees it,
she'll tan you a hide.
Dad! I do wish you'd call Jud
and let him come up and fix that.
Shucks, Ellen, I knew Ohms Law
before they even passed it.
Don't want Pidge to miss the ball
game, after missing the movie and all.
Alright, boy,
get ready to plug this set in
while I hold this screw down
and see what happens.
Okay.
Dad, are you sure you
know what you're doing?
Ellen, please.
But it says on the back that there's
Ellen, please stop being a woman...
Ready boy, plug in.
Dad! Dad! Are you alright?
I guess I'm alright, it scared
the pants of me, that's all.
Golly, look at this.
I guess maybe
you'd better call Jud, huh?
Honestly.
- That was a close call, boy.
- How much is 5000 volts?
- Enough.
- It would kill you?
It would probably pick you up
and toss you across the room.
Unless you were standing in a puddle
of water, then you'd be grounded.
And if you were grounded, it'd
kill you deader than a doornail.
Would it hurt?
Like blazes. You stay away from that
set now, and from those wall plugs.
Don't monkey with electricity unless
you know what you're doing.
- Why did you, Grandpa?
- You got me there, boy.
I'll get it. Jud says he'll be up
in a little while.
- I'm sorry.
- Honestly...
- Yes?
- Mrs Benson?
- That's right.
- Is your husband at home?
My hus...
No I'm a widow.
What I should have asked was,
are you the owner of this house?
No I'm not. It belongs to my
father-in-law. What is it you want?
I'm John Baron, special agent,
Federal Bureau of Investigation.
These are my men.
Do you suppose I could have
a few words with Mr. Benson?
Just a moment,
won't you come in? Dad!
- Oh, how are you gents?
- John Baron, special agent.
- For heavens' sake. FBI?
- May we come in?
Why sure, come right in and
make yourselves at home.
- Thanks.
- Not at all.
I get quite a kick out of this, used to be
with the Treasury Department myself.
Really?
- Back in the old days.
- Collector of Internal Revenue, eh.
Tax Collector, not on your life.
Secret Service.
You don't say?
Grandpa was President
Coolidge's bodyguard.
You don't say?
Yep, back in 1928. Youngest retirement
in the service, account of my heart.
Not heart trouble you understand,
an accident on one of Cal's fishing trips.
- A hunter, got the slug right here.
- Say, that's a nasty one.
How come you're still alive?
I don't know, lodged in my heart.
They took it out. Had to take it easy,
so they retired me.
- You're lucky.
- Luckier still if it hadn't hit me.
I'm gonna' be in the
Secret Service someday.
Thought you was gonna'
be a Sheriff, like Tod.
Squirts like you are supposed
to grow up to be President.
- Name's Pidge, Mr Baron.
- Glad to meet you, Pidge.
I ain't a squirt!
Mr Baron, what did you want to
see us about, is something wrong?
Nothing wrong yet Mrs Benson, but
there might be. We're just checking.
On us?
On the house.
Do you mind if we a look around?
Help yourself,
but I wanna' know...
We're gonna' look around, with or
without your permission, Mr Benson.
It's an emergency.
Check it.
There must be
something the matter.
Anyone else live here,
besides you three?
- No.
- Anyone been by here today?
No.
Just the usual routine.
Willy Harris left the milk.
- What's this all about Mr Baron?
- Just being careful, I'll explain later.
- Two bedrooms, one bathroom, clear.
- One here, just like they said.
Kitchen, pantry, back door, stairs go
down to the garage under kitchen,
cellar door in hall, clear.
Car in the garage.
Look at this for a setup...
Sorry folks, but I'm afraid we're gonna'
have to hang around for a while.
- Why?
- What's the matter?
- Don't be alarmed, nothing's wrong.
- Of course there is.
The FBI
doesn't pay us a visit for nothing.
- I won't stay. I'll take Pidge and go.
- No Ma'am, nobody leaves until we do.
Why not?
What's happened?
Look just go about your business, like
it was any other Saturday afternoon.
Read your papers, watch TV,
anything, but nobody leaves the house.
- Something fishy about all this.
- It's official business.
What sort of official business?
Mr Benson, as a former agent of the
Secret Service, you should understand.
Either I'm getting old
and stupid, or else I'm...
At 5pm, the President
will arrive in town on a special...
- What?
- Golly!
The President,
well that's different.
You mean the President's
gonna' get off the train here?
That's right.
Gramps,
we gotta' see it.
That's the greatest thing ever
to happen to this town.
Can we go down
and see it Gramps? Can we?
Sorry kid, no! Benny, bring in
the gear. Put the car out back.
Bart, you see the back door's
locked tight and check the cellar.
I still don't understand.
Mr Benson, if anyone wanted to kill the
President, he could do a beautiful job,
right from this window of yours.
For the love of Mike, that may be true,
but you don't think that Ellie and me...
Of course not,
but we have to remain here
to protect you and the President,
from someone who might.
Oh.
- Carney?
- Yeah.
Is all this checking routine?
Looks like you expect this town to...
Sheriff, have you noticed any strangers
in town during the past week.
- No.
- Are you sure?
Yes I'm sure. I know everybody here.
The only strangers we get are tourists.
We get 'em all the time, stopping
for gas, a bite to eat. That's all.
We wanna' know from you
or your deputies, if any stranger stays!
- Then this isn't routine.
- No it isn't.
Can you tell me?
The LA police picked up a small-time
stool pigeon night before last,
shot through the lungs
and left for dead.
Smiley Bitters. Before he died,
he told them something was up.
What do you mean,
something was up?
- An assassination attempt.
- Well, can you believe that?
- In our business we can't afford not to.
- I mean the tip of a dying stool pigeon.
The Stoolie seemed very proud of being
an American, before he kicked off.
Meaning crime is crime,
but this is something else again.
Right, so we can't take
any chances. Let's go.
Can we see the President,
grandpa? Can we Mom?
No Pidge, we have to stay here.
You can watch him from here.
But I wanna' get up close.
Well, use your telescope boy.
Bring him right up to your eye.
- Aah!
- Sorry Pidge, no dice.
Back door locked. How about the phone
in the kitchen, want me to yank it?
No, we don't change the pattern.
Give Benny a hand.
Mr Baron, I don't understand,
I was in the service myself...
So you told me.
Though we made every precautionary
check, we never went to extremes...
...unless you were tipped
about an assassination attempt.
- You don't mean it?
- I mean it.
But you're FBI Secret Service
is responsible for the President.
We're using everybody this trip,
Mr Benson, have a look down there.
State troopers, your local law
enforcement agencies and us.
Do you know if old Dan
Carney is down there?
We worked together in the old days.
He's chief of the presidential staff now.
- That's confidential information.
- This is a terrible thing.
Not your worry,
Mr Benson.
Of course it's my worry; I'm an
American ain't I? It's everybody's worry.
Car. Somebody's
driving up to the house.
- Who is it?
- It's Tod.
He's the Sheriff, Mr Baron.
- There's someone with him.
- Who is it?
- I don't know, never seen him before.
- Well for the love of Mike!
What?
It's old Dan Carney, greyer than an old
shirt and redder in the face as ever!
Hi Pop, got an old friend
of yours here.
Hi Pop, got an old friend
of yours here.
- Dan, you dirty old Irishman!
- Hello Pop, how are you?
- Hey, why aren't you dead?
- Oh, Buzzards like me live forever!
Hey old Hawkeye,
you're getting bald.
What do you expect
after 25 years?
Come on in,
make yourself at home.
This is my daughter-in-law.
- This is my grandson, Pidge.
- Hi 'ya Pidge.
Pidge, this is Mr. Carney, Secret
Service. He guards the President.
- Like Mr Baron.
- Who?
Baron. Oh, you didn't know.
Your boy's got here ahead of you.
Sheriff!
Mom!
One sound from the kid,
Pop, and he's dead.
Train muffled it...
Get rid of him. Put him in the cellar.
And you'd better take the rug with you,
it's a give-away...
You get the message,
brave boy?
Mom! Mom!
Pidge, you've gotta'
be still, no noise.
- You stink!
- Pidge shut up!
- Guts.
- He's only eight.
Lots of guts.
Mom.
No trouble with you,
you're all busted up.
Alright, take care of her.
You got it now, let's be practical.
I don't want any more
shooting around here.
I want it nice and quiet and cosy.
Now get her up and bring her around
and explain to her that one phoney
and she's got a kid with his throat cut.
Doesn't make much noise that way.
The same goes for you too.
Anybody step out of line...
The boy!
That's simple enough.
Ellen, listen to me. Pay attention. Now
listen to me and don't look like that.
Everybody's alright. Get a hold of
yourself. No matter what happens,
you've got to hang on.
If you scream, or make one
false move, he'll murder the boy.
You understand,
he'll murder Pidge.
Do you hear him, Lady?
Yes, yes.
Good, then we're all in accord.
Alright, alright, inside.
We've got a long time to wait.
Relax...
Move the kitchen table
in front of the window.
- Alright, sit down. Look at your TV.
- It ain't workin'.
Well, work him over then. Fix him up.
Don't sit there waiting to blow your cork.
Keep yourselves occupied.
I gotta' think.
Tod, Tod, are you
badly hurt?
The bullet hit the bone,
broke it I guess. He's bled a lot.
We need a doctor,
look at his face.
Tell her Pop.
You're the doctor, Ellen.
We can't have no doctor.
We can't set
a broken arm.
Tough.
- Can you?
- Me?
- Straighten this fracture.
- You couldn't take it.
- You straighten it.
- Hold on brave boy...
Tie it up.
May we take him
into the bedroom?
Sure,
though the boy stays here...
And leave the door open.
Alright,
let's go to work.
Pop, we gotta'
do something.
Well I know, I know,
but what? What?
- They've got Pidge.
- None of us count. Not even Pidge.
- We haven't got a chance.
- As long as we're alive, we've got one.
- We've got to find a flaw in his plan.
- We'll think of something.
Pop, haven't you got a gun?
Gun...
Here in this drawer. My gun.
- Is it loaded?
- No.
I hid the cartridges
on account of Pidge.
You're a dirty
lousy gangster!
- Why you.
- Leave him alone, Benny.
Did you hear
what he said?
Yeah, I heard. He's been
watching too much television.
- He ain't a bad squirt.
- Just tell him to shut up.
Sure, sure.
- This thing's metal.
- Steel top, chrome legs.
I figured wood.
No difference, screw the brackets
to the legs, then to the floor,
that way the table
won't dance.
You're a bunch
of cowards!
You're getting too fresh.
So button it.
Johnny, why all the trouble?
This is a lot of work.
Do it Benny.
- But Johnny, I don't see why we...
- I said just do it, Benny...
Once you get the gun anchored,
you've got a solid base.
You'll see when
we get to it.
This gun's got a heavy recoil
and won't stand still.
We've got just three seconds
to nail the President
and I don't want the table
to shimmy when we get to it.
A tommy gun
would do just as good.
A tommy gun stinks. No accuracy,
no punch. Might as well use a revolver.
This is the gun.
- When I was in the army.
- So I wasn't in the army.
Tighter, tighter.
Pop find those cartridges yet?
Not yet.
This is quite a gun, Benny.
Quite a gun.
I did a lot of choppin' in the war
with a baby like this, a lot of choppin'.
You're wrong about me Pidge,
bein' a coward.
Last war, I got a Silver Star,
north of Casino, pocket of resistance.
I killed 27 men, all by myself.
I won a Silver Star medal.
Ah, you stole it.
- They're hurting Pidge.
- Alright, take it easy.
Johnny, take it easy, relax, for the love
of Mike. What's a Silver Star?
- I won it.
- OK Johnny, OK, you won it.
I got 'em.
- They've been in there a long time.
- Yeah, get 'em back in here.
What are you all trying to pull?
All of you inside... Come on, come on.
- Feeling better?
- Yeah.
You're lucky, he didn't mean to wing ya,
he meant to blow your brains out.
He's a bad shot.
Yeah, but I'm not, so maybe you'd
better sit down and stay there,
that way it'd be safer
for everybody.
You've got that duty look in your eye.
I've seen it up on the line.
- The line? You up on the line?
- Some other time. Down!
Bart, you fool. His car's out front.
Put it in the garage, quick...
I have to think
of everything.
- Oh great, just great.
- Might as well advertise.
That was a close one.
Hot in here...
See what time it is?
Alright, suppose you tell me
what happens in this house
on a Saturday afternoon,
between four and five.
Pattern.
Smart guy. Sure, and we don't break
that pattern. We're here for a reason
and if we break it, we might
blow the deal, you know?
Mario slings the paper
over the fence, around 4:30.
Delivery boy, does he come in?
Anyone else?
Cy Hammel went up the mountain
hunting jack rabbits.
- He'll be by on his way back.
- Will he stop?
Not unless he's got
something to brag about.
Anybody else.
Nobody.
Anybody know that you and
the other guy were coming up here?
- That's an interesting question.
- What's the interesting answer?
- You guess.
- Tell him Tod.
Sheriff, if you think I have any
qualms about killing this kid,
you couldn't be more wrong.
The thing about killing him,
or you, or her, or him,
is that I wouldn't be getting'
paid for it...
and I don't like giving
anything away for free.
Neither do I,
including information.
Your guts are showing
all over the place, brave boy.
No, not me, I'm scared.
You see the way I figure it Baron,
I'm a dead man anyway,
so's the boy, so's Ellen, so's Pop.
Just a question of now or later, and if it
gives the President a bit of an edge,
well then, we get it now.
They won't hurt us, they won't hurt.
Pidge, they said so.
Because it's convenient Ellen. You think
these crumbs would kill the President
and then take off, leaving us
behind to identify them.
You said
you wouldn't hurt Pidge.
Sure, sure, and I meant it.
Don't listen to this guy, he's just
being brave with your kid's life.
I knew guys like that in the army.
We're just doing a job that's all,
identifying us is not involved.
By 7 o'clock tonight, we'll be out of the
country and you'll never see us again.
Tell him Tod, tell him.
Never mind lady, we'll just assume
that they knew he was coming up here,
so that if somebody else checks
on him, you can tell him
that the sheriff and his friend were here,
but they had to go someplace else.
That's all.
I have to go
to the bathroom.
Go with him Bart.
- I don't need any help.
- Come on, come on.
Okay,
table's screwed down.
Alright, get the tripod up there, drill
a hole in each leg, bolt it to the table
put it centre
in front of the window...
I thought
I told you to sit down.
Just stretching my legs.
You're a very careful man.
That's right.
Planned on
everything, huh?
Sheriff, the first man they shoot to the
moon on a rocket will take pains too,
'cos that's never been
done before. Neither has this.
Doesn't that worry you?
Haven't got time to worry, I just make
my plans and carry 'em out.
That's what
John Wilkes Booth thought too.
Booth! Ha, I'm no actor
busting my leg on a stage,
so I can yell
"Down with the tyrants!"
If Booth wasn't such a ham,
he might have made it.
He got pretty far
at that, though.
The guy who killed Garfield
didn't make it either.
Him! Ha, he didn't plan anything. Just
took a lucky shot, strictly left-handed.
Just like McKinley.
And Zangara got the chair
for his try at Roosevelt.
He had to try it in a crowd,
I hate crowds.
So nobody ever made it.
Up till here...
I'm just a guy makin' a livin'
and I think you've stretched
long enough. As you were.
- Bart take over Benny's watch.
- Okay.
- Benny?
- Yeah Johnny.
Go down town and see what's
goin' on, especially the station plan.
Leave the car here.
Why me?
Because Wheeler can fly
a plane, and you can't.
Oh, but I'm
expendable, huh?
No, I just don't want anything
to happen to Wheeler.
Why can't
I take the car?
Because if they nail you, we need
the car to get to the plane.
- The place is crawlin' with cops.
- You're getting' paid, ain't ya?
- Yeah.
- You can't say it ain't enough.
I'll be back.
Johnny. Look. Nice and steady
just like you wanted it.
Open the curtain.
Trap.
Big beautiful booby-trap.
You can't do this.
You can't do it.
You're wrong lady...
Take a look...
Go on take a look.
I can do it and
I'm going to do it.
But you're an American citizen.
Sure. And at 5:01, I'm gonna' be
a very rich American citizen.
- You'll never get away with it.
- Shut up.
- I got a stomach ache.
- Take a pill.
Maybe the old man's right,
Johnny. It's a terrible thing.
Turn it off, will 'ya.
Just another man, a man.
But the president.
Yeah, yeah, I never killed
a president before.
- Who's that?
- It's Jud Kelly.
Ellen sent for him to come
and fix the television,
so the boy could
watch the ball game.
Why didn't you tell me?
We simply forgot. He's a harmless boy,
Baron. Don't hurt him.
- OK. But if you cross me.
- He won't, he won't.
Alright Pop,
you've got the ball.
Let him in, but watch it.
Ellen, we got to
keep this man talking.
Why?
Because that's his weakness.
Sooner or later he'll drop his guard.
We've gotta' find
a way to get Pop's gun.
- Hi Pop, what's new?
- Hello Jud.
I'd better fix your rig,
before you execute yourself.
Come on in.
- Tod, what happened to you?
- Ask him?
Same thing that'll happen to you,
unless you do exactly as you're told.
- You're kiddin'. Is that real?
- It's real, alright.
- What's your name?
- Jud Kelly.
- What are you doing here?
- I came to fix the television set.
Drop it.
Alright Bart, case him.
I don't have any dough, if that's
what you want. Is this a stick-up?
Yeah, that's right,
it's a stick-up.
You'll never get
away with it.
Go over and sit down, buster.
Take your luggage with you.
You too sit down.
I don't dig it. Did they rob the bank?
What's the gun for? What's goin' on?
- Where's your store?
- Main Street.
- Who runs it?
- Just me.
- All alone?
- Do you have to point that gun at me?
- Alone?
- Answer him.
Yeah.
You locked up when you left?
Nobody knows you were comin' here?
That's right. Just a service call.
That gun makes me nervous, Mr.
I'm not gonna' be a hero,
you can put the gun away.
Sure, but I'm telling you, buster, like the
others, one pass and the kid gets it.
That's right, he gets it. So you see
his life depends on you. Got it?
Yeah.
- Wilson? Carney back yet?
- No, he's been gone a long time.
Maybe we ought to load the gun now
to be sure, huh?
No, that's just
what the sheriff would like.
Forget about me,
I've had it.
Don't con me, sheriff. The minute this
gun was loaded, one of you brave boys
might decide to go for the ride,
just to fire it and if you did,
it might alert a few state cops down
there and the game would be over.
- You got any food in the house?
- Course I have.
I'm gonna' grab
a bite, Bart. Watch 'em.
Bring me a little glass of milk will you,
Johnny? My ulcer's murdering me.
Just watch 'em Bart.
Watch 'em.
- I don't dig it, will somebody tell me...
- Sit down, be quiet.
Haven't you any
feelings at all?
No I haven't lady, they were taken out
of me by experts... Feelings are a trap.
Show me a guy with feelings
and I'll show you a sucker.
It's a weakness. Makes you think
of something besides yourself.
If I had any feelings left in me at all,
they'd be for me. Just me.
Don't you ever think
of your mother? Your father?
Think of 'em? I used to
think of them a great deal.
My mother wasn't married. My old man
was a dipso. They left me in a home.
- You stink.
- Johnny!
Pidge! Come back here.
- The kid.
- Hold it.
Pidge, Pidge.
Get him.
Stick 'em up,
or I'll blast you.
- Nice going, Bart.
- It's only a cap pistol.
- I gave it to him myself.
- Don't you touch her, don't you.
I oughta' beat his brains out.
The little... What's so funny?
You should've seen
your face, a cap pistol.
Go ahead,
laugh yourself sick.
That's a pretty good model,
they make 'em real today, don't they?
Here you are, Pidge,
blow his brains out...
Couple of big, bold, bad men, getting'
scared to death by a six-bit cap pistol.
I oughta' beat that kid.
I'm not sure
that he couldn't take 'ya.
Go put some milk on your ulcer
and bring me a piece of the cake.
I need some milk;
the pain's pretty bad.
Where's Benny?
Why don't we hear from Benny?
Sit.
If this isn't a stick-up,
what is it?
Did you come up here
to fix a television set, junior?
- Yeah.
- Well then, fix the television set.
Tod, what's going on?
They're planning to assassinate
the President, Jud.
Which president?
The President of the United States.
He arrives here this afternoon.
You're kidding!
No, you're not kidding.
The president?
Kill the president? They can't,
they couldn't do a thing like that.
They're stinking traitors.
They're Benedict Arnolds.
Are you guys crazy?
You can't do a thing like that.
- Sit down, reckless.
- Don't you realise what that means?
That's assassination;
he's your President too.
Make a deal with 'ya boy.
We kill you instead of the President.
That's even steven. Okay with you?
Thought not. Anybody else wanna'
take the heat
off the President?
- How about you sheriff?
- It's a bad joke, Baron.
Anybody else wanna' volunteer?
They're commies;
they're enemy agents.
- Alright, who is behind it Baron?
- I haven't the slightest idea.
- What's in it for you?
- You're curious, aren't you sheriff?
While I last.
I like you sheriff. You've got guts.
You must have been a good soldier.
I got by.
- I won a Silver Star.
- That's pretty good.
- Killed 27 Jerries all by myself.
- You're a born killer, that's all.
Yeah.
When you get real good
at something, you're a murderer.
Yeah, over there you can knock over
a whole platoon, or a guy invents
a bomb and kills 100000 people, just
like that and maybe gets more medals.
Here you put a slug
in a double-crossing squirt
that isn't even worth burying
and you have to take the gas.
I got no feeling against the President;
I'm just earning a living.
By treason.
Ace shoots craps. Don't give me
that politics jazz, it's not my racket.
I don't even know who's paying me
and I don't want to know.
What's the difference?
Didn't it occur to you
why they want you to do it?
Yes, but that makes them suckers not
me. I'm the guy, who's gettin' it made.
Listen sheriff, a man can stand only for
so much. Before the war, I drifted
and drifted and ran, always lost
in a big crowd. I hated that crowd.
I used to dream about
the crowd once in a while.
I used to see all those faces scratchin'
and shovin' and bitin' and then the mist
would clear and somehow
all those faces would be me.
All me and all nothin'.
But the war changed everything,
eh Baron?
I'm no traitor, sheriff.
I won a Silver Star.
And learned how to kill.
Yeah, maybe I did.
Maybe that changed everything.
Maybe people began
to know who I was.
After the show, I hooked up
with an outfit for good dough.
The finger said where and how much
and Johnny Baron did the job.
You think anybody else could handle
it? Like Benny or Wheeler without me?
You're talkin' too
much, Johnny.
Nobody else can do this job,
because they've got too much feeling
and feeling's
no good.
I got nothing against
the President, sheriff.
He's just worth half a million
bucks to me, tax- free.
Makin' my own laws
about the taxes too, Pop.
- The guy is goofy.
- Shut up, Jud.
Listen to him, buster. And
don't ever say that again. Ever!
You heard him, Jud.
A half million dollars, huh?
Yeah, that's a lot of scratch, sheriff.
A man could retire on that amount.
- How do you know it will ever be paid?
- Half of it's been paid.
- And the rest?
- I'll get it.
I wouldn't be sure. It's not just
a man; it's the President.
That's what's so funny.
The laugh is on the guys
who're paying the freight.
All this loot and they don't
even know what they're doing.
Half a million clams for absolutely
nothing, because tonight at 5pm,
I kill the president and at 5:01
there's a new president.
What changes? Nothing.
What are they paying for? Nothing.
Otherwise I wouldn't have
taken the job, sheriff.
You'd have taken it.
You think so?
- Yeah.
- Why?
Alright, take it easy.
Come on, lady.
Do as you're told
and everything will be fine.
Answer straight,
clean and plain. Answer it.
Hello.
Mrs Benson,
let me speak to the chief.
Benny?
Yeah, train's on time,
the car will be waiting in front of the
station like you figured, facing you.
Fine, get back as soon as you can
and don't be followed.
Check.
There's the big boy's car now.
Lovely target.
- Hey, hold it Mister.
- Yes officer, what is it?
- What's your name?
- Fred, Fred Whitaker.
- What are you doing in town?
- Just passing through.
Where's your car?
I don't have one. I hitch-hiked in from
Three Rivers, waiting for the train out.
I figured I'd take
the train on to L.A.
- What train?
- The five o'clock.
- The five o'clock. Now that's strange.
- Why Officer?
Because we don't have any
except today and that happens to be
a special, you don't know about.
- Except that you do.
- Must be some mistake.
You made it.
Oh, now look officer, I got
identification. I can prove who I am.
I got my drivers
licence right here.
Come on.
Gunfire!
Hold it, don't shoot him...
- I told you not to kill him.
- Not to kill him? After he...
He was our only link.
Come on.
- So long, Benny.
- Do you think they got him?
I only hope he's dead.
- Haggerty.
- Yes sir.
We got him.
Dead unfortunately.
Wasn't Carney's last checkpoint
the house on the hill?
Yes, he went there with the sheriff to
check the White Springs ranch about 2.
We haven't been able
to reach them.
Take two troopers
and back track 'em.
Start with the house on the hill.
We've got to find Carney.
Right.
Now we got trouble. Everybody
except Mrs Benson, in the cellar.
- What are you gonna' do?
- Nothing, I hope. Move.
Anybody gets brave, kill 'em all.
You can only hang once.
Pidge, stay up there.
Now look. Get a grip on yourself.
I want you to look relaxed.
If you don't pull this off,
everybody is dead. Understand?
All of us dead.
So be yourself.
I don't know what you mean.
They'll come up here to check whether
Carney and the sheriff were here
and I want you to go out front.
I don't want 'em in the house.
I can't. I don't know how.
I don't know what to say.
Just go out and water the flowers.
Do anything you like, but keep busy...
Lipstick and rouge, quick.
Now listen to me carefully,
they'll come up to check whether
Carney and the sheriff were here.
Certainly they were here.
They came up to check the house,
but at three o'clock they left here.
They went out
on the White Springs ranch road.
They took Pop and the kid with 'em
and that's the last you saw of them.
You got it, you got it?
Yes, yes.
You look like a ghost.
Step on it...
Pull it off lady,
or everybody is dead, everybody.
He's getting rattled, Pop.
How do you mean?
He didn't expect Benny to get shot.
Got anything in mind?
Maybe, now listen.
Shut up you guys.
Mrs Benson?
Yes.
My name's Haggerty.
Then you must be one
of Mr. Carney's men.
That's right, has he been here?
Haven't seen him since they left.
They came up here
about three o'clock,
to check the house, they said.
I - I don't know why.
Who are they?
Why, Mr Carney and Sheriff Shaw.
Then they said they had to check
the White Springs ranch road.
Is your father-in-law
Mr. Benson here?
Well no. No he isn't.
You see he used
to be Mr. Carney's chief.
Yes, I know.
So Mr. Carney took him along.
My little boy too.
Then you're alone?
Yes.
And you haven't heard from them
since they left?
No, no I haven't. Something's wrong.
I know something's wrong.
No, no Mrs Benson, nothing's wrong.
We're, we're just checking that's all.
But if you see
or hear from them before I do,
please have them check the detail
down at the railroad station,
it's very important. Thanks.
Alright lady, inside...
Come on, come on.
Very nice, very nice job.
Congratulations.
You don't like me, do you?
- You're an animal.
- I don't like you either.
Animals kill each other to live,
that's what you're doing.
How do you like your roast beef?
Medium rare or well done?
Alright, Bart, run 'em in.
It's clear.
- I wish you were dead.
- You haven't got the guts.
- Just give me a chance.
- Here's your chance.
Go ahead, take it, but remember
the squirt in the cellar...
That's right
think of the President first.
Let's not think of ourselves.
I didn't give you a whole chance,
but you didn't even take
a half a chance.
Everything okay, Johnny?
Sure, everything's fine.
She played her part real good.
She should be on television. You,
didn't I tell you to fix the television set?
You told me to sit.
Get your stuff and fix it.
It'll keep you from getting patriotic.
If I don't do something,
I'll blow my top just sitting here.
Fix the set and shut your mouth.
I don't like what you say.
Now fix it,
we've still got time...
All yours...
Open 'em...
About 200 yards.
- Baron. Isn't that a German rifle?
- Yeah. You know it?
I know it. Where were
you during the war?
All the way from the Kasserine Pass.
I won a Silver Star. Where were you?
Normandy to the Elbe by way of the
Bulge. You get up into Germany?
No. Bet you were one of those big shot
guys with the gold bar on the shoulder.
No, no I was a corporal.
How about you?
- Corporal? I made sergeant.
- You didn't like officers?
Officers, big shots. Yes sir,
no sir, salute sir. Big shots.
- You don't like big shots?
- Not when you're bigger, sheriff.
I killed more Jerries than
any five officers put together.
I did some pretty good chopping
in the war. Pretty good.
Like I said before,
you're a born killer. That's all.
Yeah, they taught me how and I liked it.
Ha, my C.O. Used to stand there
and shake
like a leaf while I chopped.
If more guys like me had to...
Tell me one thing, Baron.
How come you missed Germany?
They sent me home,
my tour was finished.
Your tour? In the infantry?
Are you kiddin'?
You finish your tour in the infantry
when they plant you in a box.
- Tour! That was for the air corp.
- Turn it off.
- Yeah, you probably went over the hill.
- I said, turn if off.
You know, Baron, you got the yard look.
You look yard bird to me.
I'm tellin' you, sheriff. Turn it off.
Big shot with the yard birds,
eh? Come on now, tell me.
Where were you court-martialled?
What was it for? Rape?
No, not rape. Killing,
that's what you like, killing.
Maybe shooting down
unarmed PW's.
Sit down and shut up.
Ah, but by golly you got away with it.
So... I got it. Section eight.
You went out on a section eight.
Section eight.
Psycho in charge of killing, eh?
You know, I knew guys like you.
Killing was sweet.
Rather kill a man than love a girl.
- A real kick. A thrill with the guts.
- Stop it, Tod. Stop it.
Or maybe you didn't like your C.O.
Maybe you shot him in the back.
That it?
Maybe you... Aaagh!
Like I said, shut up.
- Tod darling, it's hopeless.
- No, no it's not five o'clock yet.
Gonna' keep your trap shut?
Yeah.
Hurts, huh?
It hurts.
Well I can keep kickin', as long
as you keep shootin' your face off.
I know.
Pop, you were right when you blew
the power tube. I have one here.
I'll have it perkin',
in a second.
You know,
I was thinking Jud.
If you were to clamp the main plate lead
to a good ground like that table there,
you'd get a better picture.
A lot of lines in it now.
Clamp the main plate lead to the table.
Cut the static lines.
Expert. First he wrecks the set,
then he tells the kid how to fix it.
Main plate lead...
Yeah.
That's right, Jud, all it needs
is a high potential ground.
We're a long way from
the broadcasting station.
What are you guys
yapping about?
Technical talk, mister.
I'm an old radio man.
Battleship New York,
World War One.
Gramps beat the Germans,
single-handed.
Not exactly son,
but I was there at Scapa Flow
when the German
fleet surrendered.
Alright, alright, stop the bulling
and fix that set will ya.
Yes sir.
- Oh!
- Dad, Dad what is it?
- Pain, bad.
- What hit him?
He has a bad heart.
Pidge, my pills,
top drawer of the bureau.
- I'll get 'em.
- You stay put. The kid'll get 'em.
Pidge, put down that gun and
get some water for your grandfather.
But mom, listen.
You heard me, Pidge.
OK.
You know what I think, Pop. I got a
feeling your heart attack's a phony.
Pain's bad.
I'm warning you, if you're trying to pull
something, you'd better watch it.
Baron, I've been thinking.
You've been thinking you'd like
to take a crack at this rifle.
Do you think I'd
wanna' get myself killed?
Yes. Frankly, sheriff I don't think
you'd mind getting yourself killed.
Nobody wants to die.
Do we have to talk about it?
Why don't you shut up?
- No guts.
- It gets on my nerves, that's all.
Now why would I want
to get myself killed?
Because it's five minutes
to five and a shot might bring
those state troopers stormin' all over
the joint before the President arrives.
Sheriff, I can put you away in two
seconds by twisting your arm again.
That way there's no noise. So don't
go winning any post-mortem medals.
I wouldn't enjoy winning
a post-mortem medal
any more than you're gonna'
enjoy that post-mortem money.
- What did you say?
- What did he say?
I said nobody ever made it.
You won't either.
You don't think so?
So you got a plane. You'll never
reach it ahead of the police
and if you do you'll never
make it to the border.
You ever hear of
the jet fighter?
You know how many airstrips there
are between here and the border?
You know a fella' can get an
education just listening to this guy.
Well, maybe he's
right, Johnny.
You said half the money
had already been paid.
A smart guy would hit
the road right now.
Fly outa here, skip the President,
spend the money in South America.
Alive.
He's right, Johnny. Why take the risk?
We can lam now, we can make it.
We don't have to fool with this. It's too
big, there's something wrong with it.
Chicken.
Chicken! Alright, fine.
Who wants to be rich and dead?
They'll get us.
They haven't missed yet, Johnny.
The guy's right. You've got the loot.
Let's take off and get outa here for
good. Once we're across the border...
Hate those craps.
Benny wasn't chicken, they
didn't waste any time on him.
We haven't got a chance.
Turn it off, Bart. You're embarrassing
me in front of the Sheriff.
But Johnny, even if we swing it, he's the
President. They'll never give up.
You don't figure that the guys
who're paying off, are just gonna'
let you fly away, do you? They'll be
after you, just like the Secret Service.
I thought of that too, sheriff.
It might be an internationally
embarrassing situation,
if the feds happen to
catch up with us first.
You've gotta' realise Bart that
everybody's gonna' be on your tail;
from five o'clock
until the day you die.
There's a hole in
your argument, sheriff.
What is it?
We're already wanted for murder.
So you can only take the gas once.
They'll get us, Johnny.
- They won't get us Bart. Not us.
- You're sure, Johnny?
You leave it to me.
You're sick, mate.
You're sick.
I don't like that.
Don't play God, just
because you've got a gun.
But you see sheriff
that's the way it is.
When you've got a gun
you are a sort of God.
If you had the gun, I'd be the
chump and you'd be the God.
The gun gives you the power
of life and death.
It's a funny sort of feeling to
have control of life and death.
You must have had it
during the war.
You could miss a man
if you had a mind to.
Or you could kill him
dead in his tracks.
And that made you a
kinda' God, and I liked it.
Without the gun I'm nothing, and I
never had anything before I got one.
First time I got one in my hands and
killed a man, I got some self-respect.
I was somebody.
Like this kid over here.
If that cap pistol was a real gun
and I didn't have a gun,
he'd be a kind of a God too
and if I wanted my life,
I'd worship the ground he walks on
and I'd pay him the half a million
dollars for my life.
Because life is all I have.
But the squirt doesn't have the gun,
I have and I can loose the lightening.
No noise just pictures.
Oh, butterfingers!
You're wrong about God
and the gun, sheriff.
Without the gun you would
never have spit at me.
You would never
have even noticed me.
But because of the gun you'll
remember me as long as you live.
Where is it now?
Blowing for the 66 crossing,
outside town.
Alright, nobody moves.
This is it. You, over there.
Johnny,
let me see, once.
We're gonna' do it, Bart.
This is my meat. We're gonna' do it.
Just to see.
Return Fire.
Hold your Fire.
It didn't stop.
It didn't stop.
It didn't stop!
No... Don't.
No! Please, no!
Are you sure you're going
to be alright, Mr. Benson?
Oh! Don't worry about me
Mr. Wilson, I'll be alright.
I don't need any nurse maid.
We're certainly
grateful to you.
How come the train went
right through the station?
We simply cancelled
the stopover.
We couldn't take a chance
on the President's safety
once it were proven the
assassins were in town.
The President went on to
Los Angeles.
Missed the station, huh?
I'm afraid so.
Some day those guys are gonna' start
taking you for amateurs, Mr. Wilson?
I hope not. Thanks again,
Mr. Benson.
You too, young man.
Oh, that's alright. Someday I'm
gonna' be a bodyguard, just like you.
Nonsense boy. You're gonna'
grow up to be President
and president's
have bodyguards.
And grandpops?
And grandpops.
Especially grandpops.
Ellen.
How's Jud?
He didn't make it.
And Slim?
Critical, but they
think he'll be alright.
I guess somebody had
to make them stick.
What?
Something dad said this morning,
about principles.
Get in Tod;
I'll drive you home.
No thanks; I've got
to go over to the office.
Can I pick you up
for church tomorrow?
Yeah, that'll be swell.
Say officer.
Yeah.
Could you tell me the way
to Three Rivers?
Ah, you go down to the first intersection,
you turn left, it's about 60 miles.
Thanks.
What's this town?
"Suddenly".
Suddenly, what?
No that's the name.
That's a funny name
for a town.
Oh, I don't know.
I don't know about that.