Apache (1954) Movie Script
Think he means it this time?
We'll see.
Hold your fire!
- After him before he starts the war again.
- Noche, Hondo.
Mr Weddle, maybe you can
get your name in the papers.
- Massai.
- Get back where you belong.
You saw the peace pipe
in Geronimo's hands.
He does not speak for me.
I remember others who surrendered.
Shipped off like cattlle to a faraway place
called Florida, never to return.
- But at least you would be alive, Massai.
- You call that life?
If an Apache cannot live where
his forefathers did, he is already dead.
- Now get back where you belong!
- (gunshots)
Stay down.
Firing stops, they are close by.
Put that away.
You want us to kill you,
don't you, Massai?
Out here in front of
all your bloodthirsty brethren,
so they can sing your praises
and start another war in your honour.
That'd be a sweet death,
wouldn't it, Massai?
A warrior's death.
But you're not a warrior any more.
You're just a whipped injun,
and nobody sings about handcuffs.
Take him along, Hondo.
"...you will carry out the following orders:
inasmuch as Geronimo
has led his warriors
off the reservation for the third time,
causing much bloodshed,
it is directed by General Niles
that Geronimo and said warriors
be transported to Fort Marion, Florida,
on this day, April 4th 1886".
Why don't you let us die with them?
Nobody's going to die.
Florida's not the moon.
For an Apache it is the same as dying.
Cheer up, Santos.
With Geronimo gone, you'll be chief.
Chief!
To old men and boys.
They are thirsty. But they will not
take water from a soldier.
All right, Nalinle, go ahead.
Don't worry, Santos.
Maybe she has got her cap set for Massai,
but any young buck'd pay a big price
to marry somethin' like that.
Enough to keep you in firewater
the rest of your life.
- It's a great day, Sieber.
- Yeah, i'm gonna kinda miss em.
A man knew he had a job to do
when them bucks were around.
What'd you give him?
He's got a knife!
I knew Geronimo and Chochise
when they were that buck's age.
There's another one of the same breed.
A real bronco Apache.
Leave it alone.
Take it easy.
We're just stoppin for water.
We'll tell you when we get to Florida.
- These men want pictures for the paper.
- Yes, sir.
- What are the blinds down for?
- Safety measure.
They have no idea what sort of world
there is outside the windows.
Even Apaches are scared of the unknown.
You shoulda seen em when
they heard the racket in St Louis.
I'd be scared, 2,000 miles from home.
- Which one's Geronimo?
- Here, right over here.
The last fighting chief of the West,
but we cut him down to size.
- What's he in irons for?
- The last one to surrender.
- OK, let's shoot the pair.
- Oh, wait. Wait. Wait a minute.
Bettler cover up these irons for the picture,
or we'll have some old ladies screaming.
Hold it.
Take it easy, boys. Take it easy.
You'd better open one of those windows.
- Everybody off.
- That's all, boys.
- We have time for one more quick one.
- I'm sorry.
- Just Geronimo and you.
- Me and Gero...
Oh, well.
Up. Up.
- Can i say you captured him, Mr Weedle?
- Weddle's the name.
Yes. Yes, you can say i done my duty.
- All aboard!
- All right, boys, let's go.
If you leave that way, it'll be quicker.
All right, come on. Speed it up
before this thing starts movin'.
Fire! Fire!
Get your evenin paper!
Get your Courier!
Get your evenin paper!
Get your news here!
Get your evenin Courier!
Get your evenin paper!
Get your news right here!
Pardon.
Get your news!
Get your evenin paper...
Hey, what's the idea? Put that back.
There must be a big fire.
Ah, good evening.
Good evening.
Good evening.
See and hear the wonder of the age, folks.
We also have organs, wind
and string instruments. This way.
Follow the leader. This way.
Follow the leader, folks.
- What's he doin' here?
- He's scared o' that littlle muttl.
Sic him, Rover. Tear him up!
Hey, look at those moccasins.
- Are you an indian?
- Sure he's an lndian.
- Where you from, Sittlin' Bull?
- That's Rain-in-the-Face!
- He wants to go back to the reservation.
- What's the fuss about? What'd he do?
That littlle dog too much for you?
- Hey, he's got handcuffs on.
- Sic him, Rover. Tear him up!
Come on!
Police! Police! Police!
Would you kill a brother?
- What tribe are you?
- Cherokee.
Is this the land of the Cherokee nation?
Yes, it is called Oklahoma Territory.
- What tribe are you?
- Apache.
Apache. The Apache country is far away.
But we can talk in the house.
I have seen the house.
lt is a white man's house.
It is my house.
It's all right. He will soon see
that we are friends. Get some food.
I understand. You killed
the white man and took his house.
Cherokees and white men live
side by side. There is no difference.
You see? We even keep the same bird.
If the Cherokee is like the white man,
he is Massai's enemy.
- I am the enemy of no man.
- Then the Cherokee is a woman!
I am no woman. My people have
fought the white men many times,
but were always driven West -
first from a place called Carolina,
then to the land of the Tennessee
and then at last to Oklahoma.
But here our chiefs grew wise.
They did not fight and they did not run.
- Neither does the turtle.
- Are you afraid of the turtle?
Then put your knife away.
Eat.
You needn't be afraid of the food.
Your feet are cold and bleeding.
- Heat some water.
- You will have to fill the bucket.
You have a woman and...
yet you carry the water?
Some of the white man's ways are hard.
Nobody, not even an Apache,
could open that window quietly.
- I must get back to my people.
- There could be a life for you here.
On the reservation there's nothing,
even if you can get there.
I will get there.
Then take this.
I have food.
So i see.
But this is seed corn of Tahlequah.
If you are wise, you will plant it, not eat it.
- Apaches are warriors, not farmers.
- You've seen the world of the white man.
Their numbers are like leaves of the trees.
Has it taught you nothing?
The warrior's day is over. Once
we Cherokees were like the Apaches.
We feasted when the hunting was good.
We starved when it was bad.
But the white man
ate the whole year round
because he raised his own food.
We found we could live with
the white man only if we lived like him.
You can do the same
with the corn of Tahlequah,
and your people, too.
At least leave by the door,
not the window.
Ain't ya hungry enough?
We're gonna finish this road now,
not next year.
I'm sick and tired o joltin my eyeteeth
loose every time l go to town.
From now on, l'm gonna ride soft
and easy right over your achin backs.
(Weddle) Now lay into it or you don't eat!
Not one single, solitary bean.
I am told that soon i will be
made corporal. It is an honour.
I know you have worked
very hard, Hondo.
You keep your buttlons very shiny.
To be made corporal
also means greater wealth.
A girl of marriageable age
should think about this.
It will soon be dark.
If you are late back to the fort,
you might not be promoted.
For your father.
Goodbye, Nalinle.
Goodbye.
- Did you have kind words for him?
- I obeyed your wishes, Father.
Good. There are only
a few young men left.
Even a hawk is an eagle among crows.
Did he...?
Yes.
- Massai!
- (Santos) What are you saying?
Massai was carried off
on the train with Geronimo.
She is right, Santos.
I am back with my people.
This cannot be.
No man could do this thing.
Only Massai.
- If this is true, the soldiers follow you.
- No, nor will they find me till i am ready.
Bring cups. We will do
honour to this miracle.
I saw Nalinle with Hondo,
who wears the soldiers coat.
I saw Hondo walking in the village
and no one spit when he passed by.
I have come back just in time.
There is no pride left in our people.
Pride is a warrior's word.
I have seen much, Santos. And i tell you
pride is not only a warrior's word.
We can look the white man in the eye
and meet him on his own ground.
- In peace?
- A warrior's peace, between equals.
You've heard of the Cherokees. They walk
in peace and hold their heads high,
and work for themselves,
not the white man.
- You have seen this?
- With my own eyes.
Here is the secret of
their pride and their wealth.
Here is the seed of a new life for our tribe.
The corn of Tahlequah.
I ask you, Santos, call the young men
together that l may speak to them.
There are no young men here.
Even the young are old now.
But will they not say that
growing corn is woman's work?
I am a warrior. What i do
can never be woman's work.
And what Cherokees do,
Apaches can do bettler.
The young men will follow me.
A rabbit like Hondo,
we will change all that.
Squaws are for men.
Such thoughts come
too fast for an old man.
You are weary, and the young men
are out working on the road.
Sleep now. Sleep, Massai.
I am weary.
And it's been long
since i drank aguardiente...
and long since i closed both eyes.
You can close both eyes here.
Tell me, does Mr Weddle pay
for the work on the road?
- Except when he is angry.
- And he is always angry.
It is hard to be a man of peace.
It would be so pleasant to kill Mr Weddle.
Our people have been dead.
Massai will make them live again.
A young girl thinks with her heart
and not with her head.
I say his words are smoke
to cloud an old man's eyes.
Smoke to make a sack of corn
seem the price of a squaw.
That is not Santos talking,
it is the aguardiente.
Where are you going?
There is wisdom in the stars.
And i need much wisdom.
All right, take him out.
I thought you were my people.
Santos has the heart of a snake.
And someday i will kill you like a snake,
and your daughter too.
I thought you said you delivered every
single young buck to Florida, Mr Weddle?
Maybe that Massai out in the calaboose
is somebody else with the same name.
Everybody knows you never
make mistakes, Sieber.
I'm only a common mortal.
It was a mistake, was it?
A clerical one, i suppose?
Look.
It is corn, corn from far away.
What do you mean, bustin in here?
Massai brought it back
from the land of the Cherokees.
He said they are a great people.
They raise corn
and live in peace with the white man.
He said Apaches can do the same.
- Massai said this?
- Yes.
Good thing Santos didn't fall for it.
My father is blind, blind with aguardiente.
You made him that way.
- Get outtla here!
- Shut up, Weddle.
Santos has forgottlen how to hope,
like all our people.
Massai can teach us to hope again.
And you want us to let him go.
Is that right?
- Yes.
- Well...
- I'll let you know.
- You do not believe me.
I'll think about it.
Do you think it could possibly be true?
No Apache ever became a farmer yet.
Oh, them's my sentiments exactly.
But if just one Apache tries it...
what have we got to lose?
Our scalps, likely.
These young bucks are growin up fast.
Give em a leader like Massai
an watch out.
Massai isn't a chief.
He just sneaked across half of the USA.
They're bound to follow a man like that.
He's the last buck on earth
to make a successful farmer.
Right now he hates everybody,
and when an Apache hates,
he hates high, wide and handsome.
Well, all right.
Back to Florida.
That's your job, Weddle.
I've got a couple of your murderers
eatin' their heads off in my guardhouse.
- Take them along, too.
- The supply train comes next week.
Well, take 'em up to Holbrook.
Put 'em on the mainline.
Do you think you can find Holbrook?
And we don't want
any "clerical errors" this time.
Lace it a littlle?
When.
I was beginning to think
you forgot the word.
Why'd that lousy indian
have to turn up to plague me?
He's sure been a thorn in your side.
And trust Sieber to make the most of it.
All i get's insults.
No expense money outtla this.
I wish he'd try to escape just once more.
You bettler just settlle for that drink.
No buck wearin leg irons
is gonna even try to escape.
Hey.
Hey, what about Jackrabbit Hill?
This team can't haul
four prisoners up that grade.
- Meanin what?
- Meanin they'll have to get out and walk.
- And they can't do that with leg irons on.
- Glory be! They sure can't.
Any fool lndian'd know
that's his chance to run.
Try to run for it.
To make it look right,
we'll have to finish 'em all off.
Mr Weddle, you'll get
your name in the papers yet.
Whoa!
Everybody out!
Now, you lazy bucks,
you're gonna get some exercise.
Come on, move along. Everybody out.
You heard. Move along. Come on.
Sure'll be nice to get to town.
I wonder if... i wonder if Sadie's
still runnin' that place down by the wash.
Sure. Holbrook wouldn't be
Holbrook without Sadie.
Where will we go?
The soldiers will be after us now.
Go where you will. Massai does not walk
the warpath with thieves and murderers.
- Massai saved us. We are his friends.
- I have no friends.
Geronimo and all the true Apaches
are gone. I fight alone.
Go. Go!
You will live, Mr Weddle.
Long enough to tell them who they fight.
- Maybe it's just some hunter.
- A drunken injun playin Fourth of July.
- Take a look, Joe.
- You take a look.
No, Joe, don't shoot or we're goners.
Telegraph lines
have been cut for two days.
I get crazy reports from every
fool rancher who ever saw an indian.
How many bucks are missing?
Santos says none of them are.
Got the scouts out checkin.
Who can be doing this?
Renegades from the mountains?
I got a verified report right here.
"Cattlle stampeded at Willow Springs".
"Railroad bridge destroyed
Somebody knows
how to hit us where it hurts.
Sergeant of the guard!
Sergeant of the guard!
- Get the surgeon.
- Shut up.
Do you think i want
the whole fort to see me this way?
Get the surgeon!
Weddle! What happened?
Massai.
Surgeon!
Fire! Fire!
- Move out to the right. You, to the left.
- Every man on this post, get a bucket!
Sergeant, get the powder
outtla that building!
More water!
Weddle is dead. lt's Massai!
No.
Massai is back. l'm a dead man.
Don't worry, Santos. You will live
a littlle longer, as Mr Weddle lived.
You will have time to think
of your daughter, and she of you.
Not so much as a busted twig.
She knows i'll follow. She'll leave a sign.
Unless he's killed her.
Anyway, no use trackin blind.
We'll move at sunup.
Step where l step.
lf you leave one track for
the soldiers to see, you die before l die.
Not too much.
I cannot stop for a sick woman.
You go now to kill my father?
You cannot reach the water.
Without you to sell,
Santos cannot reach the aguardiente.
It is worse than death.
That's all of it.
Come. We go.
Still only one horse.
It's mighty tired.
Build a fire.
I am weak.
We have not eaten in two days.
I do not have Massai's strength.
Build a fire!
Is it in your mind to kill me now?
I did not betray you, Massai.
The day Geronimo surrendered,
you wanted to die.
I wanted to die with you.
It would have been a great honour.
You came back from far away.
Weary from a journey that
no warrior had ever made before,
but not too weary to think of your people.
And i knew there had
never been a chief like Massai.
You looked at me and i was proud.
And when the soldiers took you,
I pleaded for you.
My father wronged you.
Many men have wronged you,
but now you make yourself
worse than they are.
Now there is nothing in you but hate.
You fight only for yourself.
You kill only for yourself.
You're like a dying wolf,
biting at its own wounds.
Shoot...
if it will make you braver
and stronger to kill a woman.
She's still alive. There's her tracks.
Keep me covered.
Rode off that way.
- The horse carried double?
- Can't tell. The ground's too hard.
Can't follow "em without makin" noise.
Best to wait here.
Massai might not come back.
The brush beds in there
ain't been slept on.
He wouldn't leave without tyin' her.
Sure he can't trust her?
I'm sure.
You sound like a bridegroom talkin.
All the same, we'll have a look around.
All right, scattler out.
Get rid of them horses.
Sieber and the soldiers.
Stay.
Get the horse!
Come.
It was a very small rabbit.
I killed the rabbit. It's for me to decide
whether it was large or small.
Why do you look at me?
I could feel. lt was like
when you aimed the gun at my back.
You talk like a child.
There is no gun in my hands now.
There is a gun in Massai's mind.
Why did you warn me about the soldiers?
- Why did you warn me?!
- Massai must know.
Where are you going?
Will you be gone long?
Massai does not have to answer.
I know what is in his mind.
This time he will not come back at all.
- What are you doing?
- I am going with you.
No!
Do you want to die? You cannot
keep up with me and i will not feed you.
Go back to the reservation. Go anywhere!
i will not have you with me.
Massai.
Massai.
Why did you follow me?
I'm only a woman.
Made for bearing children,
cooking, sewing.
If i lost you, i was nothing.
- But you could have found another man.
- There is no other Massai.
You know why i had to leave you?
I could not bring myself to kill you...
and there was no place
in Massai's life for love.
Love is for men who can walk
without looking behind.
For men who can live
summer and winter in the same place.
Every white man, every lndian,
is my enemy.
I cannot kill them all,
and someday they will kill me.
Then we will live until someday.
Nalinle's.
So she up and married him
behind your back.
Too bad, Hondo.
Might at least have
invited you to the weddin.
She'll be a widow soon.
Don't bet on it. He wouldn't stay within
I'll give a cigar to anybody
who finds a track.
What is this?
It's nothing. A young girl's foolishness.
It's like the Cherokee corn.
I kept it. A littlle of it.
To me it was a part of Massai.
A young girl believes
what she wants to believe.
Maybe it's just as well.
You're very silent.
There are times when words
come hard to a woman.
Not often.
Will you still smile if l tell you
there will be another Massai?
A littlle one.
I would smile even if it were a girl.
Stay down.
Only a hunter, shooting a deer.
Pack everything you can carry.
Is it the hunter you fear?
Not this hunter, but there will be others.
We must think now of the littlle Massai.
The mountains to the west,
we could go there.
They are high, with much snow.
I know what you're thinking. You want
to send me back to the reservation.
It is the only wise thing.
You have seen them on the reservation.
Do you want your son to grow up
to be another Santos?
We will go - the mountains to the west.
Massai did well.
Now there'll be something
besides water in the stew.
One rabbit in a week.
I saw a deer, but it was
too far for the bow.
Next time i take the rifle.
- But if the shot is heard...
- It's bettler than starving.
Once you could fire a gun without fear,
because you were always on the move.
Now l keep you tied to one place.
I am only thinking of the littlle Massai.
This Massai is finished.
I can live a year, maybe two or three,
but in the end i must die.
But if you stopped fighting?
I cannot stop fighting.
I am the last real Apache left
in all the world,
except for the littlle one to be.
He must not be born here.
When i am gone, you and he
will be left alone to starve.
I know now what i must do.
When the snow melts,
I will take you back to your people.
I will never believe that.
Even when the soldiers took you,
I could still dream of a life with Massai.
A life like the Cherokees.
I will not stop now.
Dreams are for fools!
Come spring, i will gather the young men
and give my son
something to remember me for!
Hello, Santos.
I see you're still stickin'
close to Uncle Sam.
Quit worryin'. Massai ain't after you.
He's just got you staked out on
an ant hill, that's all - a dry ant hill.
Long time between drinks, huh?
You don't have to tell anybody.
His Majesty, chief of all the Apaches!
We've combed that whole country.
They're not there any more.
Well, maybe the war's over.
It's been prettly quiet around here, too.
Hasn't even begun. The reservation bucks
are already makin' a legend out of him.
They haven't made a move,
and they won't.
Well, that's only because
he hasn't called 'em out, but he will.
But if he can't be found...
Look, Sieber, headquarters
officially declared this a war.
Now they'd like to officially call it off.
Forget your pride and let 'em.
Well, it takes two to call off a war.
He's got to be in those mountains
somewhere, and now's the time.
Snow's meltin' and even Massai can't
navigate mud without leavin' tracks.
You sound prettly confident.
I've been confident, ever since
he got himself that squaw.
Shall i pack the rest now?
The ground is not yet firm enough.
We leave tomorrow or the next day.
Massai, look!
All the way from Cherokee land.
- It's a sign, Massai.
- Of what? That corn will grow?
But why did it grow here?
And why did we find it now?
I say it speaks words we were meant to
hear again: the words of the Cherokees.
We cannot live on three stalks of corn.
Maybe the hunting will be bettler now.
Maybe they've forgottlen you.
Sieber will never forget me.
Besides, we cannot stay
too long in one place.
Is any place safer than here,
where the corn talks to us?
I hear no words from the corn,
but many from you.
They come too fast for me.
I must hunt with the bow again.
I may not be back tonight.
- You will come back?
- You know l would not leave my rifle.
What's the mattler?
I thought the corn might tell me
where to find a deer.
What is this?
I'm going to plant some corn.
In that littlle scratch in the ground?
The Cherokee corn
grew without even a scratch.
The Cherokee corn
could do anything, even talk.
See? lt is not so easy.
Only a woman would call it hard.
This is stupid. There's no corn to plant.
I stole it this morning.
The store in Gurney Springs.
That's clear down the mountain.
You were a fool!
Worse, you must have left tracks.
Look. For you.
Aren't they beautiful?
Aren't you planting it too deep?
How can it ever come up?
Have i not seen the white man's
cornfield? Don't tell me how to plant corn.
Have you ever seen anyone
put the seed in the ground?
A squaw should work,
not ask foolish questions!
Shoo!
- I'm all right.
- I've been a fool to let you work.
You rest. I'll finish the planting -
not so deep.
I can help. I want to.
What can i do? i can't beat you.
Howdy, Mr Sieber. See you're still at it.
I'll be needin' a side o bacon,
a sack o' beans,
some flour and saleratus.
- You takin' inventory or ain't ya?
- Yes, sir.
Didn't expect you back
this way so soon, Mr Sieber.
You must have heard
about our big lndian raid.
Can't say as i did.
We'll have some coffee, too.
Yes, sir. indian uprising right here. You
want some Gordon's coffee or Coulter's?
Coulter's will be all right. Throw in
a plug o tobacco while you're at it.
Yes, sir.
Them savages didn't get no scalps.
No, siree.
But they sure enough lifted a pair o pants.
Yes, sir, right from that shelf.
I reckon you know that folks are saying
you're a littlle teched in the head.
Are you one of those folks?
Uh...
I can make you a good price
on some spinach.
What would i want with spinach?
What else did these savages take?
Oh, it wasn't no lndian.
Why, he just took a sack full o seed corn.
Now, you show me a lazy buck
that's interested in seed corn.
Maybe i'll take that spinach after all.
- Son, you wanna make a dollar?
- Yes, sir.
I want you to take
this message to the fort.
See that Colonel Beck gets it personally.
Is it all right if i go, Mr Conroy?
Yeah, i reckon so.
Teched in the head, huh?
Maybe.
Massai?
I'm sorry, the fire is out.
I didn't feel well enough.
- Is it time for the littlle... ?
- Yes, i think so.
- Did you get a deer?
- No. No, i didn't see any.
I'm glad Massai's back.
Your hand is cold,
but you've been running.
- Is anything wrong?
- No.
It's just that i've... i've never been
so close to having a son before.
It is very close.
And it will be a son, i know.
They've found us, haven't they?
I can feel the blood.
They are not here yet, but soon.
They are bound to see the cornfield.
Someday has come.
Why did you come back, Massai?
- This is where i belong.
- Is it?
Is this where you want to die?
Only a warrior chooses his place to die.
l am no longer a warrior.
Once before you said that,
when from the Cherokees
you brought the corn of Tahlequah.
And then you tried again, here, for me.
But the blood l feel here,
it is still warrior's blood.
- It wants to fight.
- Don't speak of these things now.
- There is time for you to go.
- I will not leave you.
Why? They will not harm me
or the littlle Massai.
It is too late for me to get away.
Then die the warrior's death
you've always wanted.
Don't let Sieber cheat you out of it again.
You will sing of it to the littlle Massai?
Would you have me
sing to him of the plough?
Get around the cornfield.
I'm goin in an' flush him out.
Surround the cornfield!
Hold your fire!
He planted that corn and made it grow,
something no Apache ever did before.
I wish the bucks
on the reservation could see this.
Looks like he called the war off.
Then what are you lookin so glum about?
Gettlin' old, i guess.
This was the only war we had,
and we ain't likely to find another.
We'll see.
Hold your fire!
- After him before he starts the war again.
- Noche, Hondo.
Mr Weddle, maybe you can
get your name in the papers.
- Massai.
- Get back where you belong.
You saw the peace pipe
in Geronimo's hands.
He does not speak for me.
I remember others who surrendered.
Shipped off like cattlle to a faraway place
called Florida, never to return.
- But at least you would be alive, Massai.
- You call that life?
If an Apache cannot live where
his forefathers did, he is already dead.
- Now get back where you belong!
- (gunshots)
Stay down.
Firing stops, they are close by.
Put that away.
You want us to kill you,
don't you, Massai?
Out here in front of
all your bloodthirsty brethren,
so they can sing your praises
and start another war in your honour.
That'd be a sweet death,
wouldn't it, Massai?
A warrior's death.
But you're not a warrior any more.
You're just a whipped injun,
and nobody sings about handcuffs.
Take him along, Hondo.
"...you will carry out the following orders:
inasmuch as Geronimo
has led his warriors
off the reservation for the third time,
causing much bloodshed,
it is directed by General Niles
that Geronimo and said warriors
be transported to Fort Marion, Florida,
on this day, April 4th 1886".
Why don't you let us die with them?
Nobody's going to die.
Florida's not the moon.
For an Apache it is the same as dying.
Cheer up, Santos.
With Geronimo gone, you'll be chief.
Chief!
To old men and boys.
They are thirsty. But they will not
take water from a soldier.
All right, Nalinle, go ahead.
Don't worry, Santos.
Maybe she has got her cap set for Massai,
but any young buck'd pay a big price
to marry somethin' like that.
Enough to keep you in firewater
the rest of your life.
- It's a great day, Sieber.
- Yeah, i'm gonna kinda miss em.
A man knew he had a job to do
when them bucks were around.
What'd you give him?
He's got a knife!
I knew Geronimo and Chochise
when they were that buck's age.
There's another one of the same breed.
A real bronco Apache.
Leave it alone.
Take it easy.
We're just stoppin for water.
We'll tell you when we get to Florida.
- These men want pictures for the paper.
- Yes, sir.
- What are the blinds down for?
- Safety measure.
They have no idea what sort of world
there is outside the windows.
Even Apaches are scared of the unknown.
You shoulda seen em when
they heard the racket in St Louis.
I'd be scared, 2,000 miles from home.
- Which one's Geronimo?
- Here, right over here.
The last fighting chief of the West,
but we cut him down to size.
- What's he in irons for?
- The last one to surrender.
- OK, let's shoot the pair.
- Oh, wait. Wait. Wait a minute.
Bettler cover up these irons for the picture,
or we'll have some old ladies screaming.
Hold it.
Take it easy, boys. Take it easy.
You'd better open one of those windows.
- Everybody off.
- That's all, boys.
- We have time for one more quick one.
- I'm sorry.
- Just Geronimo and you.
- Me and Gero...
Oh, well.
Up. Up.
- Can i say you captured him, Mr Weedle?
- Weddle's the name.
Yes. Yes, you can say i done my duty.
- All aboard!
- All right, boys, let's go.
If you leave that way, it'll be quicker.
All right, come on. Speed it up
before this thing starts movin'.
Fire! Fire!
Get your evenin paper!
Get your Courier!
Get your evenin paper!
Get your news here!
Get your evenin Courier!
Get your evenin paper!
Get your news right here!
Pardon.
Get your news!
Get your evenin paper...
Hey, what's the idea? Put that back.
There must be a big fire.
Ah, good evening.
Good evening.
Good evening.
See and hear the wonder of the age, folks.
We also have organs, wind
and string instruments. This way.
Follow the leader. This way.
Follow the leader, folks.
- What's he doin' here?
- He's scared o' that littlle muttl.
Sic him, Rover. Tear him up!
Hey, look at those moccasins.
- Are you an indian?
- Sure he's an lndian.
- Where you from, Sittlin' Bull?
- That's Rain-in-the-Face!
- He wants to go back to the reservation.
- What's the fuss about? What'd he do?
That littlle dog too much for you?
- Hey, he's got handcuffs on.
- Sic him, Rover. Tear him up!
Come on!
Police! Police! Police!
Would you kill a brother?
- What tribe are you?
- Cherokee.
Is this the land of the Cherokee nation?
Yes, it is called Oklahoma Territory.
- What tribe are you?
- Apache.
Apache. The Apache country is far away.
But we can talk in the house.
I have seen the house.
lt is a white man's house.
It is my house.
It's all right. He will soon see
that we are friends. Get some food.
I understand. You killed
the white man and took his house.
Cherokees and white men live
side by side. There is no difference.
You see? We even keep the same bird.
If the Cherokee is like the white man,
he is Massai's enemy.
- I am the enemy of no man.
- Then the Cherokee is a woman!
I am no woman. My people have
fought the white men many times,
but were always driven West -
first from a place called Carolina,
then to the land of the Tennessee
and then at last to Oklahoma.
But here our chiefs grew wise.
They did not fight and they did not run.
- Neither does the turtle.
- Are you afraid of the turtle?
Then put your knife away.
Eat.
You needn't be afraid of the food.
Your feet are cold and bleeding.
- Heat some water.
- You will have to fill the bucket.
You have a woman and...
yet you carry the water?
Some of the white man's ways are hard.
Nobody, not even an Apache,
could open that window quietly.
- I must get back to my people.
- There could be a life for you here.
On the reservation there's nothing,
even if you can get there.
I will get there.
Then take this.
I have food.
So i see.
But this is seed corn of Tahlequah.
If you are wise, you will plant it, not eat it.
- Apaches are warriors, not farmers.
- You've seen the world of the white man.
Their numbers are like leaves of the trees.
Has it taught you nothing?
The warrior's day is over. Once
we Cherokees were like the Apaches.
We feasted when the hunting was good.
We starved when it was bad.
But the white man
ate the whole year round
because he raised his own food.
We found we could live with
the white man only if we lived like him.
You can do the same
with the corn of Tahlequah,
and your people, too.
At least leave by the door,
not the window.
Ain't ya hungry enough?
We're gonna finish this road now,
not next year.
I'm sick and tired o joltin my eyeteeth
loose every time l go to town.
From now on, l'm gonna ride soft
and easy right over your achin backs.
(Weddle) Now lay into it or you don't eat!
Not one single, solitary bean.
I am told that soon i will be
made corporal. It is an honour.
I know you have worked
very hard, Hondo.
You keep your buttlons very shiny.
To be made corporal
also means greater wealth.
A girl of marriageable age
should think about this.
It will soon be dark.
If you are late back to the fort,
you might not be promoted.
For your father.
Goodbye, Nalinle.
Goodbye.
- Did you have kind words for him?
- I obeyed your wishes, Father.
Good. There are only
a few young men left.
Even a hawk is an eagle among crows.
Did he...?
Yes.
- Massai!
- (Santos) What are you saying?
Massai was carried off
on the train with Geronimo.
She is right, Santos.
I am back with my people.
This cannot be.
No man could do this thing.
Only Massai.
- If this is true, the soldiers follow you.
- No, nor will they find me till i am ready.
Bring cups. We will do
honour to this miracle.
I saw Nalinle with Hondo,
who wears the soldiers coat.
I saw Hondo walking in the village
and no one spit when he passed by.
I have come back just in time.
There is no pride left in our people.
Pride is a warrior's word.
I have seen much, Santos. And i tell you
pride is not only a warrior's word.
We can look the white man in the eye
and meet him on his own ground.
- In peace?
- A warrior's peace, between equals.
You've heard of the Cherokees. They walk
in peace and hold their heads high,
and work for themselves,
not the white man.
- You have seen this?
- With my own eyes.
Here is the secret of
their pride and their wealth.
Here is the seed of a new life for our tribe.
The corn of Tahlequah.
I ask you, Santos, call the young men
together that l may speak to them.
There are no young men here.
Even the young are old now.
But will they not say that
growing corn is woman's work?
I am a warrior. What i do
can never be woman's work.
And what Cherokees do,
Apaches can do bettler.
The young men will follow me.
A rabbit like Hondo,
we will change all that.
Squaws are for men.
Such thoughts come
too fast for an old man.
You are weary, and the young men
are out working on the road.
Sleep now. Sleep, Massai.
I am weary.
And it's been long
since i drank aguardiente...
and long since i closed both eyes.
You can close both eyes here.
Tell me, does Mr Weddle pay
for the work on the road?
- Except when he is angry.
- And he is always angry.
It is hard to be a man of peace.
It would be so pleasant to kill Mr Weddle.
Our people have been dead.
Massai will make them live again.
A young girl thinks with her heart
and not with her head.
I say his words are smoke
to cloud an old man's eyes.
Smoke to make a sack of corn
seem the price of a squaw.
That is not Santos talking,
it is the aguardiente.
Where are you going?
There is wisdom in the stars.
And i need much wisdom.
All right, take him out.
I thought you were my people.
Santos has the heart of a snake.
And someday i will kill you like a snake,
and your daughter too.
I thought you said you delivered every
single young buck to Florida, Mr Weddle?
Maybe that Massai out in the calaboose
is somebody else with the same name.
Everybody knows you never
make mistakes, Sieber.
I'm only a common mortal.
It was a mistake, was it?
A clerical one, i suppose?
Look.
It is corn, corn from far away.
What do you mean, bustin in here?
Massai brought it back
from the land of the Cherokees.
He said they are a great people.
They raise corn
and live in peace with the white man.
He said Apaches can do the same.
- Massai said this?
- Yes.
Good thing Santos didn't fall for it.
My father is blind, blind with aguardiente.
You made him that way.
- Get outtla here!
- Shut up, Weddle.
Santos has forgottlen how to hope,
like all our people.
Massai can teach us to hope again.
And you want us to let him go.
Is that right?
- Yes.
- Well...
- I'll let you know.
- You do not believe me.
I'll think about it.
Do you think it could possibly be true?
No Apache ever became a farmer yet.
Oh, them's my sentiments exactly.
But if just one Apache tries it...
what have we got to lose?
Our scalps, likely.
These young bucks are growin up fast.
Give em a leader like Massai
an watch out.
Massai isn't a chief.
He just sneaked across half of the USA.
They're bound to follow a man like that.
He's the last buck on earth
to make a successful farmer.
Right now he hates everybody,
and when an Apache hates,
he hates high, wide and handsome.
Well, all right.
Back to Florida.
That's your job, Weddle.
I've got a couple of your murderers
eatin' their heads off in my guardhouse.
- Take them along, too.
- The supply train comes next week.
Well, take 'em up to Holbrook.
Put 'em on the mainline.
Do you think you can find Holbrook?
And we don't want
any "clerical errors" this time.
Lace it a littlle?
When.
I was beginning to think
you forgot the word.
Why'd that lousy indian
have to turn up to plague me?
He's sure been a thorn in your side.
And trust Sieber to make the most of it.
All i get's insults.
No expense money outtla this.
I wish he'd try to escape just once more.
You bettler just settlle for that drink.
No buck wearin leg irons
is gonna even try to escape.
Hey.
Hey, what about Jackrabbit Hill?
This team can't haul
four prisoners up that grade.
- Meanin what?
- Meanin they'll have to get out and walk.
- And they can't do that with leg irons on.
- Glory be! They sure can't.
Any fool lndian'd know
that's his chance to run.
Try to run for it.
To make it look right,
we'll have to finish 'em all off.
Mr Weddle, you'll get
your name in the papers yet.
Whoa!
Everybody out!
Now, you lazy bucks,
you're gonna get some exercise.
Come on, move along. Everybody out.
You heard. Move along. Come on.
Sure'll be nice to get to town.
I wonder if... i wonder if Sadie's
still runnin' that place down by the wash.
Sure. Holbrook wouldn't be
Holbrook without Sadie.
Where will we go?
The soldiers will be after us now.
Go where you will. Massai does not walk
the warpath with thieves and murderers.
- Massai saved us. We are his friends.
- I have no friends.
Geronimo and all the true Apaches
are gone. I fight alone.
Go. Go!
You will live, Mr Weddle.
Long enough to tell them who they fight.
- Maybe it's just some hunter.
- A drunken injun playin Fourth of July.
- Take a look, Joe.
- You take a look.
No, Joe, don't shoot or we're goners.
Telegraph lines
have been cut for two days.
I get crazy reports from every
fool rancher who ever saw an indian.
How many bucks are missing?
Santos says none of them are.
Got the scouts out checkin.
Who can be doing this?
Renegades from the mountains?
I got a verified report right here.
"Cattlle stampeded at Willow Springs".
"Railroad bridge destroyed
Somebody knows
how to hit us where it hurts.
Sergeant of the guard!
Sergeant of the guard!
- Get the surgeon.
- Shut up.
Do you think i want
the whole fort to see me this way?
Get the surgeon!
Weddle! What happened?
Massai.
Surgeon!
Fire! Fire!
- Move out to the right. You, to the left.
- Every man on this post, get a bucket!
Sergeant, get the powder
outtla that building!
More water!
Weddle is dead. lt's Massai!
No.
Massai is back. l'm a dead man.
Don't worry, Santos. You will live
a littlle longer, as Mr Weddle lived.
You will have time to think
of your daughter, and she of you.
Not so much as a busted twig.
She knows i'll follow. She'll leave a sign.
Unless he's killed her.
Anyway, no use trackin blind.
We'll move at sunup.
Step where l step.
lf you leave one track for
the soldiers to see, you die before l die.
Not too much.
I cannot stop for a sick woman.
You go now to kill my father?
You cannot reach the water.
Without you to sell,
Santos cannot reach the aguardiente.
It is worse than death.
That's all of it.
Come. We go.
Still only one horse.
It's mighty tired.
Build a fire.
I am weak.
We have not eaten in two days.
I do not have Massai's strength.
Build a fire!
Is it in your mind to kill me now?
I did not betray you, Massai.
The day Geronimo surrendered,
you wanted to die.
I wanted to die with you.
It would have been a great honour.
You came back from far away.
Weary from a journey that
no warrior had ever made before,
but not too weary to think of your people.
And i knew there had
never been a chief like Massai.
You looked at me and i was proud.
And when the soldiers took you,
I pleaded for you.
My father wronged you.
Many men have wronged you,
but now you make yourself
worse than they are.
Now there is nothing in you but hate.
You fight only for yourself.
You kill only for yourself.
You're like a dying wolf,
biting at its own wounds.
Shoot...
if it will make you braver
and stronger to kill a woman.
She's still alive. There's her tracks.
Keep me covered.
Rode off that way.
- The horse carried double?
- Can't tell. The ground's too hard.
Can't follow "em without makin" noise.
Best to wait here.
Massai might not come back.
The brush beds in there
ain't been slept on.
He wouldn't leave without tyin' her.
Sure he can't trust her?
I'm sure.
You sound like a bridegroom talkin.
All the same, we'll have a look around.
All right, scattler out.
Get rid of them horses.
Sieber and the soldiers.
Stay.
Get the horse!
Come.
It was a very small rabbit.
I killed the rabbit. It's for me to decide
whether it was large or small.
Why do you look at me?
I could feel. lt was like
when you aimed the gun at my back.
You talk like a child.
There is no gun in my hands now.
There is a gun in Massai's mind.
Why did you warn me about the soldiers?
- Why did you warn me?!
- Massai must know.
Where are you going?
Will you be gone long?
Massai does not have to answer.
I know what is in his mind.
This time he will not come back at all.
- What are you doing?
- I am going with you.
No!
Do you want to die? You cannot
keep up with me and i will not feed you.
Go back to the reservation. Go anywhere!
i will not have you with me.
Massai.
Massai.
Why did you follow me?
I'm only a woman.
Made for bearing children,
cooking, sewing.
If i lost you, i was nothing.
- But you could have found another man.
- There is no other Massai.
You know why i had to leave you?
I could not bring myself to kill you...
and there was no place
in Massai's life for love.
Love is for men who can walk
without looking behind.
For men who can live
summer and winter in the same place.
Every white man, every lndian,
is my enemy.
I cannot kill them all,
and someday they will kill me.
Then we will live until someday.
Nalinle's.
So she up and married him
behind your back.
Too bad, Hondo.
Might at least have
invited you to the weddin.
She'll be a widow soon.
Don't bet on it. He wouldn't stay within
I'll give a cigar to anybody
who finds a track.
What is this?
It's nothing. A young girl's foolishness.
It's like the Cherokee corn.
I kept it. A littlle of it.
To me it was a part of Massai.
A young girl believes
what she wants to believe.
Maybe it's just as well.
You're very silent.
There are times when words
come hard to a woman.
Not often.
Will you still smile if l tell you
there will be another Massai?
A littlle one.
I would smile even if it were a girl.
Stay down.
Only a hunter, shooting a deer.
Pack everything you can carry.
Is it the hunter you fear?
Not this hunter, but there will be others.
We must think now of the littlle Massai.
The mountains to the west,
we could go there.
They are high, with much snow.
I know what you're thinking. You want
to send me back to the reservation.
It is the only wise thing.
You have seen them on the reservation.
Do you want your son to grow up
to be another Santos?
We will go - the mountains to the west.
Massai did well.
Now there'll be something
besides water in the stew.
One rabbit in a week.
I saw a deer, but it was
too far for the bow.
Next time i take the rifle.
- But if the shot is heard...
- It's bettler than starving.
Once you could fire a gun without fear,
because you were always on the move.
Now l keep you tied to one place.
I am only thinking of the littlle Massai.
This Massai is finished.
I can live a year, maybe two or three,
but in the end i must die.
But if you stopped fighting?
I cannot stop fighting.
I am the last real Apache left
in all the world,
except for the littlle one to be.
He must not be born here.
When i am gone, you and he
will be left alone to starve.
I know now what i must do.
When the snow melts,
I will take you back to your people.
I will never believe that.
Even when the soldiers took you,
I could still dream of a life with Massai.
A life like the Cherokees.
I will not stop now.
Dreams are for fools!
Come spring, i will gather the young men
and give my son
something to remember me for!
Hello, Santos.
I see you're still stickin'
close to Uncle Sam.
Quit worryin'. Massai ain't after you.
He's just got you staked out on
an ant hill, that's all - a dry ant hill.
Long time between drinks, huh?
You don't have to tell anybody.
His Majesty, chief of all the Apaches!
We've combed that whole country.
They're not there any more.
Well, maybe the war's over.
It's been prettly quiet around here, too.
Hasn't even begun. The reservation bucks
are already makin' a legend out of him.
They haven't made a move,
and they won't.
Well, that's only because
he hasn't called 'em out, but he will.
But if he can't be found...
Look, Sieber, headquarters
officially declared this a war.
Now they'd like to officially call it off.
Forget your pride and let 'em.
Well, it takes two to call off a war.
He's got to be in those mountains
somewhere, and now's the time.
Snow's meltin' and even Massai can't
navigate mud without leavin' tracks.
You sound prettly confident.
I've been confident, ever since
he got himself that squaw.
Shall i pack the rest now?
The ground is not yet firm enough.
We leave tomorrow or the next day.
Massai, look!
All the way from Cherokee land.
- It's a sign, Massai.
- Of what? That corn will grow?
But why did it grow here?
And why did we find it now?
I say it speaks words we were meant to
hear again: the words of the Cherokees.
We cannot live on three stalks of corn.
Maybe the hunting will be bettler now.
Maybe they've forgottlen you.
Sieber will never forget me.
Besides, we cannot stay
too long in one place.
Is any place safer than here,
where the corn talks to us?
I hear no words from the corn,
but many from you.
They come too fast for me.
I must hunt with the bow again.
I may not be back tonight.
- You will come back?
- You know l would not leave my rifle.
What's the mattler?
I thought the corn might tell me
where to find a deer.
What is this?
I'm going to plant some corn.
In that littlle scratch in the ground?
The Cherokee corn
grew without even a scratch.
The Cherokee corn
could do anything, even talk.
See? lt is not so easy.
Only a woman would call it hard.
This is stupid. There's no corn to plant.
I stole it this morning.
The store in Gurney Springs.
That's clear down the mountain.
You were a fool!
Worse, you must have left tracks.
Look. For you.
Aren't they beautiful?
Aren't you planting it too deep?
How can it ever come up?
Have i not seen the white man's
cornfield? Don't tell me how to plant corn.
Have you ever seen anyone
put the seed in the ground?
A squaw should work,
not ask foolish questions!
Shoo!
- I'm all right.
- I've been a fool to let you work.
You rest. I'll finish the planting -
not so deep.
I can help. I want to.
What can i do? i can't beat you.
Howdy, Mr Sieber. See you're still at it.
I'll be needin' a side o bacon,
a sack o' beans,
some flour and saleratus.
- You takin' inventory or ain't ya?
- Yes, sir.
Didn't expect you back
this way so soon, Mr Sieber.
You must have heard
about our big lndian raid.
Can't say as i did.
We'll have some coffee, too.
Yes, sir. indian uprising right here. You
want some Gordon's coffee or Coulter's?
Coulter's will be all right. Throw in
a plug o tobacco while you're at it.
Yes, sir.
Them savages didn't get no scalps.
No, siree.
But they sure enough lifted a pair o pants.
Yes, sir, right from that shelf.
I reckon you know that folks are saying
you're a littlle teched in the head.
Are you one of those folks?
Uh...
I can make you a good price
on some spinach.
What would i want with spinach?
What else did these savages take?
Oh, it wasn't no lndian.
Why, he just took a sack full o seed corn.
Now, you show me a lazy buck
that's interested in seed corn.
Maybe i'll take that spinach after all.
- Son, you wanna make a dollar?
- Yes, sir.
I want you to take
this message to the fort.
See that Colonel Beck gets it personally.
Is it all right if i go, Mr Conroy?
Yeah, i reckon so.
Teched in the head, huh?
Maybe.
Massai?
I'm sorry, the fire is out.
I didn't feel well enough.
- Is it time for the littlle... ?
- Yes, i think so.
- Did you get a deer?
- No. No, i didn't see any.
I'm glad Massai's back.
Your hand is cold,
but you've been running.
- Is anything wrong?
- No.
It's just that i've... i've never been
so close to having a son before.
It is very close.
And it will be a son, i know.
They've found us, haven't they?
I can feel the blood.
They are not here yet, but soon.
They are bound to see the cornfield.
Someday has come.
Why did you come back, Massai?
- This is where i belong.
- Is it?
Is this where you want to die?
Only a warrior chooses his place to die.
l am no longer a warrior.
Once before you said that,
when from the Cherokees
you brought the corn of Tahlequah.
And then you tried again, here, for me.
But the blood l feel here,
it is still warrior's blood.
- It wants to fight.
- Don't speak of these things now.
- There is time for you to go.
- I will not leave you.
Why? They will not harm me
or the littlle Massai.
It is too late for me to get away.
Then die the warrior's death
you've always wanted.
Don't let Sieber cheat you out of it again.
You will sing of it to the littlle Massai?
Would you have me
sing to him of the plough?
Get around the cornfield.
I'm goin in an' flush him out.
Surround the cornfield!
Hold your fire!
He planted that corn and made it grow,
something no Apache ever did before.
I wish the bucks
on the reservation could see this.
Looks like he called the war off.
Then what are you lookin so glum about?
Gettlin' old, i guess.
This was the only war we had,
and we ain't likely to find another.