Buck and the Preacher (1972) Movie Script
1
Your land runs a thousand rods
to the left of that big tree.
Then it follows the creek.
You keep this paper good now.
You want to stay with us a spell?
Sure be obliged.
Thank you.
Good luck.
Now you listen to me, you hear.
You people from Louisiana, ain't you?
Well, there's plenty of good work
for you back there,
choppin' cotton, cuttin' cane.
Good jobs with people that know you.
You was born there. You was raised there.
You don't belong out here.
You couldn't last a winter.
You ain't got no place to live.
No farm tools, no seed.
So you're gonna turn around and go home.
Hey, you.
Come here.
Where's Buck?
I'm lookin' for your wagon master,
name of Buck.
No Buck here.
D-Don't know nobody named Buck.
He's the one that brought you here,
ain't he?
So where'd he go?
Where'd you hire him,
and where's he eta yin'?
Man who brought us here
named somethin' else.
Ain't no Buck
Where is Buck?
He's leery, Floyd.
Now, you hear me.
You're gonna go outside,
you're gonna wave to your man.
If you holler or anything, I'll kill
everything around here that moves.
Everything.
Get them horses. Floyd!
Head out!
Ahh!
Well, howdy do!
- I need a horse.
- I can see that.
I'll pay you $20.
That's a handsome price.
But I ain't in the horse-trading business,
brother.
I got to travel fast.
Well, I sure do wish I could be
of service to you, but...
-I don't want to have to take him.
-Who says you have to?
Hold it.
You got any objection
if I get into my drawers?
Or do you need them, too?
Just gettin' my boots, brother.
Just gettin' my boots.
-You're eatin' my rabbit.
-What you doin' out here?
Gettin' into my drawers.
-You sure enough gonna take my horse.
-Drop your drawers.
-Now you just wait a damn minute.
-Drop 'em!
Damn.
You forgot your coffee!
There's two mountains
pointing up to the sky.
Beyond that there's a valley,
green, with cool water.
I can see it. It's there.
Called Colorado.
But don't turn back.
That valley is going to be our home.
We're going on.
All right.
Night riders hit Pappy Whitlock
and his people here, two weeks ago.
Three days later,
they burnt out a wagon train
supposed to meet me at Sulfur Flat.
That here.
Then they got the Deaf Smith County people
at the water hole this side of Clay Town.
They're headin' this way.
You got to move out tonight.
Morning, sir.
Could you get me a bottle
of drinkin' whiskey out here?
You could go inside.
Man, good liquor is best enjoyed
under the open firmament.
Anyways, my heart yearneth
for the dusky company
of my own emancipated people.
Where are the colored folks
around here, son? Where do you live?
With my mammy and the rest
at Mr. Logan's place. Ten miles out.
Do all the colored live there?
No, sir. I mean, we just passing through.
We made a crop for Mr. Logan.
Toby! Boy!
The whiskey, son.
Forty cents a bottle. Cash money.
Oh.
Ahh. Oh.
Where'd you get that horse?
Well, that animal was delivered to me
in the wilderness.
Where's the man who rode that horse?
I don't know.
What do you mean, you don't know?
Well, a man cometh and a man goeth,
and in this trackless wilderness,
who shall know but the Lord?
Don't play with me.
Nobody back there, Uncle Beau.
Where's Buck?
-Is that his name? Buck?
-Where is he?
Mister, I'm looking for that miserable,
no-good, low-down sinner myself.
And when I find him,
I'll smite him hip and thigh.
-How come you got his horse?
-On account of he stole mine.
-A-And left me out there to perish.
-He's lyin'.
A-As God is my judge,
I-I swear on this Bible.
What you doin' out here?
Just wanderin' as the Lord wills,
spreadin' the word of the gospel.
I'm doin' like you gentlemen.
I'm just a-fightin' sin.
You hear me. We want this Buck.
We want him bad.
You see him, you tell us where he is,
there's $500 for you.
You remember that?
Five hundred dollars.
That's easy to remember.
Uh...
I don't suppose, with that kind of money,
you particular whether he dead or alive.
Either.
And if in my search for this sinner
I finds him,
tell me, where do I finds you gentlemens?
Copper Springs. Ask for Deshay.
Deshay. Uh, Mr. Deshay.
So you a wanderin' preacher,
ministerin' to your people out here, hmm?
Yes, sir.
Though there's few and far between,
the need for salvation is everywhere.
Best thing you can tell 'em
turn around and go back home.
Uh, turn around and go back home!
Young man!
-Pleasant afternoon.
-Yes, sir.
You walk home every day?
-No, sir. I sleeps under the bar.
-Oh?
But they all finished with the crop
for Mr. Logan,
and they going to have
roast pig and chicken.
That a fact? Who's your preacher?
We ain't got none.
Then who gives thanks to the Lord?
Just ol' Uncle Cudjo.
He's more conjurer than preacher.
That a fact?
May I prevail upon you
to share my beast of burden?
The horse, son.
Who's that with Toby?
Blessings in his name!
I am the Reverend Willis Oaks Rutherford
of the High and Low Order
of the Holiness Persuasion Church.
Well, where are you from, Reverend?
Sunflower County, Mississippi, mostly.
And whereabouts you headin"?
The vastness of God's green earth.
There is no corner
that does not challenge my ministry.
I'm here today
and I could be there tomorrow.
Uh, where you from, brother?
-We all from St. Anne Parish, Louisiana.
-Oh.
My name is Kingston.
Pleased to meet you, Brother Kingston.
Well, well, well.
-Sister.
-Reverend.
You've come a long way. Along way.
And we going further yet.
I do admire to meet
a good Christian congregation.
Yes, and and if you will permit me,
after a bit of supper,
I would like to offer a prayer
for your for your safe guidance here
beneath the wonders of God's creation.
Oh!
How'd you find me?
I asked your horse.
It's all right. Ain't nothin'.
What's on your mind?
My horse, amongst other things.
All right, you get your horse.
What are you doin' 'round here?
Just spreadin' the sweet word
of the gospel.
You a preacher?
The Reverend Willis Oaks Rutherford
of the High and Low Order
of the Holiness Persuasion Church.
Well, you can take supper here, Reverend.
That'll square for the rabbit.
You can rest a while and then you move on.
Buck!
...50, 60, 70, 80, 90,
400, 410, 420.
Four mules, a litter of pigs.
Right on the barrel head, fair and square.
Yes, sir. That's right.
Now, if you folks want to stay around
and plant another crop,
we'll make the same deal.
No. Expect we'd better be moving on.
But much obliged to you anyway, sir.
All right.
Wait a minute. Come on.
Hyah!
-Hyah!
-Come on, come on!
Hey! Hey! Whoa!
Which way you ridin', Preacher?
Well, I ain't exactly settled my mind yet.
-Well, you got about three possibilities.
-Oh?
North, south or east.
-What happened to west?
-We goin' west.
Well, there's a lot of room
out there in the west.
I mean, you couldn't exactly say
it was elbow-to-elbow out that way.
You got your horse. Don't press your luck.
Tell me somethin', Buck.
What you got against me?
Nothin', 'cept it's a fool farmer
let the weasel travel in the chicken coop.
I know an east-man when I see one.
These people ain't for picking.
I told you I ain't no east-man.
I'm a preacher.
On the other hand, you could say
it's a mite stuffy out there to the west.
Amen, brother.
Fivefold, amen.
Hyah! Hyah!
Hyah! Whoa!
-You double your watch tonight now, hear?
-Yeah. I'll do that.
I'll be back tomorrow
by sundown at the latest.
-You can find the water holes on the map?
-Yeah, they're plain.
Indians!
Buck! Indians!
-What the hell are you doin'?
-Get down off your horse.
-Have you looked behind you recent?
-Get down!
Don't tell me you done took to prayin'.
Preacher, you do as I say.
You hunker down and keep your mouth shut.
Sweet Jesus.
Lord have mercy, looky there.
If you don't be quiet,
you're gonna be dead.
-Sinsie.
-Buck.
-Do you have good health?
-Yes.
-Things go well?
-Some things, some days.
What do you want, Sergeant?
I got a wagon train comin' through.
Forty head of people,
not including children.
- What kind of people?
- Black.
I want them to get through safe
to the pass north of the salt wells
on the west bank of the Pecos.
You have five days to pass.
That's pressing. They got sorry horses
and worn-out mules.
Five days.
All right.
Ten dollars each one.
I was thinking on six dollars.
Eight.
They gotta live through the winter,
and they got children.
You tell him children ain't worth eight.
Eight. Children nothing.
They're going to need food.
I can get by if I kill three buffalo.
One buffalo.
My husband say two buffalo, if you must.
Thank you, Sinsie.
Brother, you're a man of many parts.
How do you know how to dicker
with them Indians like that?
What were you trackin' me for?
Me? The fact is, I got lost.
And I praise God I found your tracks
or I might have perished out here
like a heathen.
Toby? Toby?
Oh, God!
Come on, now. Right there. That's good.
Here. It's all right now.
There, there. There.
Get me some water.
And the money's gone. All $1,400.
How are we gonna live through the winter?
Where're we gonna get food and seed?
Ain't no use. We done been turned around.
Benny, Susannah,
Tom the cooper, Joseph.
Rachel's Toby.
All dead.
But the valley is there.
Green and wild.
It's there.
We gonna go on.
You ain't got no supplies, no food.
You can't make it through the winter.
Then we dies in the snow.
No, you ain't gonna die in the snow.
-The old man say we goin' on, huh?
-Yeah.
Well, then, by God, we're goin'.
But now you know we ain't got the money
to pay you what we owe you.
Don't matter. You paid for safe passage
through the Indian land.
-You'll cross north of the salt wells.
-Uh-huh.
You only got five days to pass.
I'll find you somewhere
north of the Pecos.
Ain't nothin' left here for you, east-man.
You can come or go. It don't matter.
You ever hear of Copper Springs?
-Ten riders, boss named Deshay.
-How you know him?
They catched me with your horse
in a little stop called Frenchman's Ford.
They asked a lot of mean questions.
Now I know why.
Copper Springs?
I heard them say they holes up there.
And I remember every one of them faces.
Deshay, hold up a minute.
-Well, Ollie, how are things?
-I want to talk to you.
Delighted. Floyd, get me a bourbon.
You ran into a couple
of wagon trains out yonder.
Well, we just had a little talk is all.
Now you listen to me, Deshay.
Nobody's gonna be gunned down,
nor whupped, nor burnt out in this town
as long as I have a say-so about it,
and that goes for the colored
as well as anyone else.
Well, now, Ollie,
I just rode in to pick up my mail
and spend a little time
at Esther's is all.
Never mind. I'm tellin' you.
Those folks are free to come and go
as they like. That's the law.
Sheriff, you got any official complaints
against me and my boys?
I mean, we are bona fide labor recruiters
employed by the Delta Planters'
Association in Louisiana.
There's a whole way of life back there
that's goin' down the drain.
We don't aim to see it frittered away.
I don't care who you're workin' for.
And this ain't Louisiana.
Now, you walk soft in my town.
That's them.
Deshay is the one with the hat on.
There's only eight of them in there.
Yeah. The other two are in the saloon.
You stud yin' on takin' eight of 'em
in one gulp?
Five. Three of 'em busy upstairs.
Yeah, but they ain't tied down forever.
I just gotta catch 'em off guard.
Let me talk to 'em.
You catch 'em off guard.
Blessings on this house!
I am the Reverend Willis Oaks Rutherford
of the High and Low Order
of the Holiness Persuasion Church.
Get the hell outta here.
You You do recollect that we have
encountered each other previous?
-It's that old preacher.
-Yes, brother.
Look, I run a selective house.
-This ain't one of your New Orleans cribs.
-Shut up.
What you want?
Well, sir, uh, you do recall
that there was a certain mean oi' sinner
you was interested in by the name at Buck.
You know where he is?
They have eyes that see not,
until they are opened!
Don't trifle with me.
Oh, I ain't triflin', sir.
But I I do seem to remember
that there was a sum mentioned.
Five hundred dollars, to be exact.
Where is he?
Yea, though he flees as a shadow,
yet will I lead thee to him!
But for $500.
Now look, I ain't gonna bargain with you.
You tell us where he's at.
Then maybe we talk about money.
Will you get him out of my house?
I've got my reputation to think of.
"Thou sufferest that woman Jezebel,
who calleth herself a prophetess,
to teach and to seduce my servants
into fornication."
Revelation, chapter two.
- What the hell is he doing here?
- He's a-preachin'.
That's right, brother. I'm preachin'.
And my text is fornication.
"He that committeth fornication
sinneth against his own body."
Corinthians 1.
That's you, Esther.
That's you, Esther.
Fornication. That's the way to ruination.
Fornication. Fornication.
That's the way they's taught the nation.
Feel that home preachin', eh?
Just you stop that fornicating!
Whoa-ha!
Rich man marries him a mate.
Poor man, he just fornicate. Yes, sir.
Yes, sir. Whoo-hoo!
They's clappin'. They's waitin'.
Ain't got no time for fornicatin'.
I'm Buck.
I put my faith in the good book.
Ain't no more than a hundred dollars here.
I got about 30.
Where's the money?
Where is it?
-The money!
-Come on, Buck!
Come on, I'm talking to you. Where is it?
Come on, Buck, we got to move!
Come on, Preacher.
Stick with me, Jesus.
Will you hurry up?
What the hell they gonna do,
track us through four miles of sheep dip?
They don't have to.
They know where I've got to go.
They've been there before.
A hundred and fifty-seven dollars.
They drunk up and screwed away
more than a thousand dollars.
That's a lot of drinkin'.
And they didn't even have my 500.
What 500?
What they was gonna pay me to deliver you.
Well, I'm here, ain't I?
And they's dead, ain't they?
Hyah!
Yeah.
Oh, Buck! Jesus!
You all right?
I ran to Anne Pennebaker's
and she took me in.
-They didn't hurt you none?
-Cuffed me on the head some, that's all.
That's all.
They hit the St. Anne Parish people.
They killed some and they burnt 'em out.
-Well, you'd better rest yourself.
-I ain't got no time.
I didn't know if you was alive or dead.
I couldn't come back.
They could have been waitin'.
I know, I know.
Horses are in the thicket.
That's Ruth. Ruth, this is Preacher.
Your servant, ma'am.
Y'all sit down.
I'll get you something to eat.
Where can we get some horses around here?
Liza Pennebaker has horses.
Don't worry. We can trust 'em.
She's my friend.
How many horses?
At least one, for you.
You got to come. They've been here once,
they can come again.
-They still after you?
-Not all of 'em. Some dead.
Eight, to be exact.
We going north, like we said? To Canada?
No, we we can't. Not yet.
Well, why not?
Where we going?
You done what you could in this country
and it all end on fire and the grave.
I ain't gonna live in this land no more,
you hear me?
The war ain't changed nothin' or nobody.
It's I-I-It's like a poison
that soaked into the ground.
They ain't gon' give us nothin'.
Not no 40 acres and no mule.
And not freedom, neither.
It It's like a poison
soaked into the ground.
You know, the time is goin'.
I don't want to spend the rest of my life
washing other people's clothes.
I want to live somewhere with you, Buck,
like natural people.
I I want to have your children
and I want to raise 'em someplace
where there ain't even
a shadow of slavery.
And I think about the sewing, you know,
making pretty things for my family
while my hand is still steady.
I want to go someplace with you, Buck.
I I want to have your children,
but I won't have 'em here.
I am going somewhere.
They won't have us in Canada,
I'll go to the edge of the ocean
and I'll walks on away from here.
St. Anne Parish folk...
they're headin' out there
and they ain't got no food, no seed...
and they starve when the winter come.
Buck, honey, you just one man.
But I gave my word.
Eat your food.
I'll go see about the horses.
What you stud yin', honey?
You troubled about all that killing.
No.
I killed men before.
I just don't know
which way to turn no more.
I think they beat me.
Couldn't the drivers do it in slavery
days, nor the rebels in the war.
But now I think... they beat me.
You're just tired.
You know, when it's dark, it looks like
the heart just gets to hurting sometimes.
You're gon' keep on fightin'
best way you can.
Looks like there just ain't no other way.
I love you, Buck.
Where'd you get them cannons?
Gunsmith in Fort Leavenworth.
Where'd you get that funny Bible?
Well, that's my inheritance.
Before the war, when I was a boy,
my mama and me were sold
to this here traveling preacher.
And I'd fetch for him
and take up collection.
And when he got drunk,
I'd haul him off to bed.
He used to travel in these little towns,
preachin' sin and hellfire.
And when he got them gals
full of the Holy Spirit,
when they're ready to repent,
he'd jig 'em.
Between whiles he'd... take my mama to bed
and I'd sleep out with the horse.
By and by, about 16,
he sent me to town for a jug of whiskey.
When I come back, my mama was gone.
He sold her for a couple hundred dollars.
He got drunk that night
and he said, uh, "Boy, put me to bed."
So I lead that man into the tanning yard
by the lime pit.
And I put him to bed right there.
I hold him under with a cedar fence rail.
There was no next of kin,
so I got the cart, the horse...
preacher clothes and this funny Bible.
Where you gonna find that money?
I don't know.
If it was me, I'd I'd look for money
where money is kept.
Like in a bank. Or an express office.
We gon' just ride in some town,
walk in their bank and just take it, huh?
That's right, brother.
And I know just the place.
Where they ain't got no sheriff, no deputy
and hardly any menfolk at all
'cause they all out 'round the countryside
chasing two poor field hands.
You're crazy.
Yeah.
What you want, boy?
You make a sound
and you're a dead man.
We ain't got all day.
What's in the box?
-What's in the box?
-US government shipment.
Shipment of what?
What?
Gold.
Gold!
Sweet God almighty, that's gold.
Where's the paper money?
There isn't any.
I sent the cash deposit over to the bank.
Will you get off that?
That's a whole mess of gold.
You can't carry it on a horse.
Where's the key? There's got to be a key.
It's in Texas.
They always send the key separate.
He's telling the truth.
But there's got to be paper money.
Now, I'm gon' ask you for the last time.
Where's that paper money?
I told you. At the bank.
I sent it over there.
-What you think?
-What the hell.
Otherwise we done wasted
the whole morning.
Psst!
Psst!
Posse's riding by. Sheriff's with them.
Well, that's it. Let's get out of here.
Preacher.
I'm going to that bank.
That bank is across the street
from the sheriff's office.
There's an awful lot of money down there.
Otherwise we done wasted
the whole morning.
You're the one that's crazy.
Wait! Wait!
Morning, Miss Esther.
How you feeling today?
Some better, thanks.
A thing like that's not easy to forget.
But life goes on.
My money good enough for your bank today?
- Money is money, ma'am.
- Hard-earned, too.
The wages of sin.
Just 30's I get 3% on 'em.
Someone stuck me with some
Ohio bank notes. Are they any good?
That depends on the solvency
of that particular bank.
Holdup! Holdup!
Holdup!
Hyah!
-They're gonna get away.
-Yeah.
You shoot that rifle, boy, and we're dead.
You gonna quit?
Remember that wagon train
you fellas shot up?
-Yeah.
-They never did come back.
I'm wonderin' if they're plannin'
on joinin' up with 'em.
He say he will not fight them for you.
I understand.
Tell him I just need help
to get through to my people.
They need supplies.
And I can pay.
Dried meat, as much as he can sell 'em.
Horses, powder and shot.
Five horses.
No powder.
No guns.
Ask him again.
Tell him Tell him we are all brothers.
He will not give you guns, Sergeant.
They come too hard.
-Food?
-Dried meat.
Flour. Corn.
Do not ask for more.
He stopped that posse because he gave
his word to let you people through safe.
-He will do no more.
-Ask him again.
Tell him they're just looking
for a land for themselves,
and they're gonna have to
fight their way clear to find it,
'cause they can't live back there, no way.
Before the yellow hair,
my father, my grandfather
hunted buffalo and raced pony
and took women on the land where Fox River
crosses the grassland at Place of Skull,
now Copper Spring, Fort Sheridan.
Now we are here with our backs
against snow mountain.
And yellow hair send wagons,
soldier and speaking wire.
Tomorrow we will be like ghosts,
like the spirits that come in dreams
with no earth to walk on.
But we will fight.
We will fight ten tens of years
and our children's children
will still fight.
We need our guns, bullets and powder
for our own fight.
Tell him his enemies are our enemies.
He say, you Black people fought
with that enemy against our people.
I ain't in the army no more.
He knows, Buck.
No guns. No bullets.
Eighteen hundred dollars.
That's your share.
For what we have just received,
we give thanks in Jesus' name, amen!
I'm goin' back east to Illinois,
and I'm gonna buy me a tent,
and I'm gonna have the biggest
damn revival meeting
since King Solomon preached
to his wives and concubines.
Amen.
And you, brother,
you got a good woman there.
You ought a take that money
and buy yourself a livin'
and do like she want, maybe
go to Canada.
All right, brother, one question.
How do I get out of here?
To Illinois?
One or two ways.
You can go on back the way we come
and on across Kansas.
There's a posse out there
with a trigger itch.
-Yes, there is.
-Uh-huh.
What's the other way?
You can keep on west across the Pecos,
the way I'm goin',
up into the mountains
and north along the Idaho territory,
then back by the Canadian border.
-How long that take?
-All winter.
All winter. What's my chances
of sneaking past the posse?
Not much.
You know, when I first catched you
eatin' my rabbit,
I should have gotten me a rock
and bust you upside your head
and left you for dead.
Buck! Buck!
Scout come in. That posse did not go back.
They went north, tracking the wagon train.
How close are they to the train?
One day ride from the big river.
Ask him how long it would take us
to catch 'em ridin' straight through.
Maybe two days.
He say he will give you guides
to take you through the high pass.
Remember, they will not fight for you.
I know.
Well, it looks like the back door's open.
Figurin' I can skate on through
and take my chances.
Look, brother, you walked
more than half the journey
with them St. Anne Parish folk.
That's all a normal man can do.
What do you want to die for 'em for?
What happened?
Somebody close the back door?
If they're gonna join with 'em,
they ought a do it before sundown.
Let's finish off that wagon train.
They ain't broke any laws I know about.
They gotta turn around.
What's the matter, boy?
What you got against them folks?
You on their side?
You soft in the head for them murderers?
They killed Uncle Beau, didn't they?
They robbed the bank.
They didn't. Buck and that preacher did.
And that's all we're after.
You don't understand.
I gotta turn them field hands around.
If we leave them fields go fallow now,
we done lost it all.
We gotta keep it goin' like it was.
We gotta keep things
the way they rightfully belong.
Now, you got 16 white men
down there. Sixteen.
You just give me half of 'em,
and I'll finish that job.
As far as I'm concerned,
that wagon train can go anywhere it likes.
And you make one move
against those people,
I'll take you back to Copper Springs
with your feet tied
under the belly of your horse.
-Where's Ollie?
-Went up to cover the pass.
-He says you're in charge, Marcus.
-Yeah?
He'll signal if that Buck comes through.
-What does he want us to do?
-Take the wagon train.
Well, if that's what he said.
Let's go!
-You gonna have to take it to 'em.
-Well, what you gon' do?
-We can draw 'em away south.
-But
You go with the wagon train.
I'll come to you later.
Yah-hah!
Come on. Get up on top.
Go around in front of 'em and cut 'em off!
I ran out!
Your land runs a thousand rods
to the left of that big tree.
Then it follows the creek.
You keep this paper good now.
You want to stay with us a spell?
Sure be obliged.
Thank you.
Good luck.
Now you listen to me, you hear.
You people from Louisiana, ain't you?
Well, there's plenty of good work
for you back there,
choppin' cotton, cuttin' cane.
Good jobs with people that know you.
You was born there. You was raised there.
You don't belong out here.
You couldn't last a winter.
You ain't got no place to live.
No farm tools, no seed.
So you're gonna turn around and go home.
Hey, you.
Come here.
Where's Buck?
I'm lookin' for your wagon master,
name of Buck.
No Buck here.
D-Don't know nobody named Buck.
He's the one that brought you here,
ain't he?
So where'd he go?
Where'd you hire him,
and where's he eta yin'?
Man who brought us here
named somethin' else.
Ain't no Buck
Where is Buck?
He's leery, Floyd.
Now, you hear me.
You're gonna go outside,
you're gonna wave to your man.
If you holler or anything, I'll kill
everything around here that moves.
Everything.
Get them horses. Floyd!
Head out!
Ahh!
Well, howdy do!
- I need a horse.
- I can see that.
I'll pay you $20.
That's a handsome price.
But I ain't in the horse-trading business,
brother.
I got to travel fast.
Well, I sure do wish I could be
of service to you, but...
-I don't want to have to take him.
-Who says you have to?
Hold it.
You got any objection
if I get into my drawers?
Or do you need them, too?
Just gettin' my boots, brother.
Just gettin' my boots.
-You're eatin' my rabbit.
-What you doin' out here?
Gettin' into my drawers.
-You sure enough gonna take my horse.
-Drop your drawers.
-Now you just wait a damn minute.
-Drop 'em!
Damn.
You forgot your coffee!
There's two mountains
pointing up to the sky.
Beyond that there's a valley,
green, with cool water.
I can see it. It's there.
Called Colorado.
But don't turn back.
That valley is going to be our home.
We're going on.
All right.
Night riders hit Pappy Whitlock
and his people here, two weeks ago.
Three days later,
they burnt out a wagon train
supposed to meet me at Sulfur Flat.
That here.
Then they got the Deaf Smith County people
at the water hole this side of Clay Town.
They're headin' this way.
You got to move out tonight.
Morning, sir.
Could you get me a bottle
of drinkin' whiskey out here?
You could go inside.
Man, good liquor is best enjoyed
under the open firmament.
Anyways, my heart yearneth
for the dusky company
of my own emancipated people.
Where are the colored folks
around here, son? Where do you live?
With my mammy and the rest
at Mr. Logan's place. Ten miles out.
Do all the colored live there?
No, sir. I mean, we just passing through.
We made a crop for Mr. Logan.
Toby! Boy!
The whiskey, son.
Forty cents a bottle. Cash money.
Oh.
Ahh. Oh.
Where'd you get that horse?
Well, that animal was delivered to me
in the wilderness.
Where's the man who rode that horse?
I don't know.
What do you mean, you don't know?
Well, a man cometh and a man goeth,
and in this trackless wilderness,
who shall know but the Lord?
Don't play with me.
Nobody back there, Uncle Beau.
Where's Buck?
-Is that his name? Buck?
-Where is he?
Mister, I'm looking for that miserable,
no-good, low-down sinner myself.
And when I find him,
I'll smite him hip and thigh.
-How come you got his horse?
-On account of he stole mine.
-A-And left me out there to perish.
-He's lyin'.
A-As God is my judge,
I-I swear on this Bible.
What you doin' out here?
Just wanderin' as the Lord wills,
spreadin' the word of the gospel.
I'm doin' like you gentlemen.
I'm just a-fightin' sin.
You hear me. We want this Buck.
We want him bad.
You see him, you tell us where he is,
there's $500 for you.
You remember that?
Five hundred dollars.
That's easy to remember.
Uh...
I don't suppose, with that kind of money,
you particular whether he dead or alive.
Either.
And if in my search for this sinner
I finds him,
tell me, where do I finds you gentlemens?
Copper Springs. Ask for Deshay.
Deshay. Uh, Mr. Deshay.
So you a wanderin' preacher,
ministerin' to your people out here, hmm?
Yes, sir.
Though there's few and far between,
the need for salvation is everywhere.
Best thing you can tell 'em
turn around and go back home.
Uh, turn around and go back home!
Young man!
-Pleasant afternoon.
-Yes, sir.
You walk home every day?
-No, sir. I sleeps under the bar.
-Oh?
But they all finished with the crop
for Mr. Logan,
and they going to have
roast pig and chicken.
That a fact? Who's your preacher?
We ain't got none.
Then who gives thanks to the Lord?
Just ol' Uncle Cudjo.
He's more conjurer than preacher.
That a fact?
May I prevail upon you
to share my beast of burden?
The horse, son.
Who's that with Toby?
Blessings in his name!
I am the Reverend Willis Oaks Rutherford
of the High and Low Order
of the Holiness Persuasion Church.
Well, where are you from, Reverend?
Sunflower County, Mississippi, mostly.
And whereabouts you headin"?
The vastness of God's green earth.
There is no corner
that does not challenge my ministry.
I'm here today
and I could be there tomorrow.
Uh, where you from, brother?
-We all from St. Anne Parish, Louisiana.
-Oh.
My name is Kingston.
Pleased to meet you, Brother Kingston.
Well, well, well.
-Sister.
-Reverend.
You've come a long way. Along way.
And we going further yet.
I do admire to meet
a good Christian congregation.
Yes, and and if you will permit me,
after a bit of supper,
I would like to offer a prayer
for your for your safe guidance here
beneath the wonders of God's creation.
Oh!
How'd you find me?
I asked your horse.
It's all right. Ain't nothin'.
What's on your mind?
My horse, amongst other things.
All right, you get your horse.
What are you doin' 'round here?
Just spreadin' the sweet word
of the gospel.
You a preacher?
The Reverend Willis Oaks Rutherford
of the High and Low Order
of the Holiness Persuasion Church.
Well, you can take supper here, Reverend.
That'll square for the rabbit.
You can rest a while and then you move on.
Buck!
...50, 60, 70, 80, 90,
400, 410, 420.
Four mules, a litter of pigs.
Right on the barrel head, fair and square.
Yes, sir. That's right.
Now, if you folks want to stay around
and plant another crop,
we'll make the same deal.
No. Expect we'd better be moving on.
But much obliged to you anyway, sir.
All right.
Wait a minute. Come on.
Hyah!
-Hyah!
-Come on, come on!
Hey! Hey! Whoa!
Which way you ridin', Preacher?
Well, I ain't exactly settled my mind yet.
-Well, you got about three possibilities.
-Oh?
North, south or east.
-What happened to west?
-We goin' west.
Well, there's a lot of room
out there in the west.
I mean, you couldn't exactly say
it was elbow-to-elbow out that way.
You got your horse. Don't press your luck.
Tell me somethin', Buck.
What you got against me?
Nothin', 'cept it's a fool farmer
let the weasel travel in the chicken coop.
I know an east-man when I see one.
These people ain't for picking.
I told you I ain't no east-man.
I'm a preacher.
On the other hand, you could say
it's a mite stuffy out there to the west.
Amen, brother.
Fivefold, amen.
Hyah! Hyah!
Hyah! Whoa!
-You double your watch tonight now, hear?
-Yeah. I'll do that.
I'll be back tomorrow
by sundown at the latest.
-You can find the water holes on the map?
-Yeah, they're plain.
Indians!
Buck! Indians!
-What the hell are you doin'?
-Get down off your horse.
-Have you looked behind you recent?
-Get down!
Don't tell me you done took to prayin'.
Preacher, you do as I say.
You hunker down and keep your mouth shut.
Sweet Jesus.
Lord have mercy, looky there.
If you don't be quiet,
you're gonna be dead.
-Sinsie.
-Buck.
-Do you have good health?
-Yes.
-Things go well?
-Some things, some days.
What do you want, Sergeant?
I got a wagon train comin' through.
Forty head of people,
not including children.
- What kind of people?
- Black.
I want them to get through safe
to the pass north of the salt wells
on the west bank of the Pecos.
You have five days to pass.
That's pressing. They got sorry horses
and worn-out mules.
Five days.
All right.
Ten dollars each one.
I was thinking on six dollars.
Eight.
They gotta live through the winter,
and they got children.
You tell him children ain't worth eight.
Eight. Children nothing.
They're going to need food.
I can get by if I kill three buffalo.
One buffalo.
My husband say two buffalo, if you must.
Thank you, Sinsie.
Brother, you're a man of many parts.
How do you know how to dicker
with them Indians like that?
What were you trackin' me for?
Me? The fact is, I got lost.
And I praise God I found your tracks
or I might have perished out here
like a heathen.
Toby? Toby?
Oh, God!
Come on, now. Right there. That's good.
Here. It's all right now.
There, there. There.
Get me some water.
And the money's gone. All $1,400.
How are we gonna live through the winter?
Where're we gonna get food and seed?
Ain't no use. We done been turned around.
Benny, Susannah,
Tom the cooper, Joseph.
Rachel's Toby.
All dead.
But the valley is there.
Green and wild.
It's there.
We gonna go on.
You ain't got no supplies, no food.
You can't make it through the winter.
Then we dies in the snow.
No, you ain't gonna die in the snow.
-The old man say we goin' on, huh?
-Yeah.
Well, then, by God, we're goin'.
But now you know we ain't got the money
to pay you what we owe you.
Don't matter. You paid for safe passage
through the Indian land.
-You'll cross north of the salt wells.
-Uh-huh.
You only got five days to pass.
I'll find you somewhere
north of the Pecos.
Ain't nothin' left here for you, east-man.
You can come or go. It don't matter.
You ever hear of Copper Springs?
-Ten riders, boss named Deshay.
-How you know him?
They catched me with your horse
in a little stop called Frenchman's Ford.
They asked a lot of mean questions.
Now I know why.
Copper Springs?
I heard them say they holes up there.
And I remember every one of them faces.
Deshay, hold up a minute.
-Well, Ollie, how are things?
-I want to talk to you.
Delighted. Floyd, get me a bourbon.
You ran into a couple
of wagon trains out yonder.
Well, we just had a little talk is all.
Now you listen to me, Deshay.
Nobody's gonna be gunned down,
nor whupped, nor burnt out in this town
as long as I have a say-so about it,
and that goes for the colored
as well as anyone else.
Well, now, Ollie,
I just rode in to pick up my mail
and spend a little time
at Esther's is all.
Never mind. I'm tellin' you.
Those folks are free to come and go
as they like. That's the law.
Sheriff, you got any official complaints
against me and my boys?
I mean, we are bona fide labor recruiters
employed by the Delta Planters'
Association in Louisiana.
There's a whole way of life back there
that's goin' down the drain.
We don't aim to see it frittered away.
I don't care who you're workin' for.
And this ain't Louisiana.
Now, you walk soft in my town.
That's them.
Deshay is the one with the hat on.
There's only eight of them in there.
Yeah. The other two are in the saloon.
You stud yin' on takin' eight of 'em
in one gulp?
Five. Three of 'em busy upstairs.
Yeah, but they ain't tied down forever.
I just gotta catch 'em off guard.
Let me talk to 'em.
You catch 'em off guard.
Blessings on this house!
I am the Reverend Willis Oaks Rutherford
of the High and Low Order
of the Holiness Persuasion Church.
Get the hell outta here.
You You do recollect that we have
encountered each other previous?
-It's that old preacher.
-Yes, brother.
Look, I run a selective house.
-This ain't one of your New Orleans cribs.
-Shut up.
What you want?
Well, sir, uh, you do recall
that there was a certain mean oi' sinner
you was interested in by the name at Buck.
You know where he is?
They have eyes that see not,
until they are opened!
Don't trifle with me.
Oh, I ain't triflin', sir.
But I I do seem to remember
that there was a sum mentioned.
Five hundred dollars, to be exact.
Where is he?
Yea, though he flees as a shadow,
yet will I lead thee to him!
But for $500.
Now look, I ain't gonna bargain with you.
You tell us where he's at.
Then maybe we talk about money.
Will you get him out of my house?
I've got my reputation to think of.
"Thou sufferest that woman Jezebel,
who calleth herself a prophetess,
to teach and to seduce my servants
into fornication."
Revelation, chapter two.
- What the hell is he doing here?
- He's a-preachin'.
That's right, brother. I'm preachin'.
And my text is fornication.
"He that committeth fornication
sinneth against his own body."
Corinthians 1.
That's you, Esther.
That's you, Esther.
Fornication. That's the way to ruination.
Fornication. Fornication.
That's the way they's taught the nation.
Feel that home preachin', eh?
Just you stop that fornicating!
Whoa-ha!
Rich man marries him a mate.
Poor man, he just fornicate. Yes, sir.
Yes, sir. Whoo-hoo!
They's clappin'. They's waitin'.
Ain't got no time for fornicatin'.
I'm Buck.
I put my faith in the good book.
Ain't no more than a hundred dollars here.
I got about 30.
Where's the money?
Where is it?
-The money!
-Come on, Buck!
Come on, I'm talking to you. Where is it?
Come on, Buck, we got to move!
Come on, Preacher.
Stick with me, Jesus.
Will you hurry up?
What the hell they gonna do,
track us through four miles of sheep dip?
They don't have to.
They know where I've got to go.
They've been there before.
A hundred and fifty-seven dollars.
They drunk up and screwed away
more than a thousand dollars.
That's a lot of drinkin'.
And they didn't even have my 500.
What 500?
What they was gonna pay me to deliver you.
Well, I'm here, ain't I?
And they's dead, ain't they?
Hyah!
Yeah.
Oh, Buck! Jesus!
You all right?
I ran to Anne Pennebaker's
and she took me in.
-They didn't hurt you none?
-Cuffed me on the head some, that's all.
That's all.
They hit the St. Anne Parish people.
They killed some and they burnt 'em out.
-Well, you'd better rest yourself.
-I ain't got no time.
I didn't know if you was alive or dead.
I couldn't come back.
They could have been waitin'.
I know, I know.
Horses are in the thicket.
That's Ruth. Ruth, this is Preacher.
Your servant, ma'am.
Y'all sit down.
I'll get you something to eat.
Where can we get some horses around here?
Liza Pennebaker has horses.
Don't worry. We can trust 'em.
She's my friend.
How many horses?
At least one, for you.
You got to come. They've been here once,
they can come again.
-They still after you?
-Not all of 'em. Some dead.
Eight, to be exact.
We going north, like we said? To Canada?
No, we we can't. Not yet.
Well, why not?
Where we going?
You done what you could in this country
and it all end on fire and the grave.
I ain't gonna live in this land no more,
you hear me?
The war ain't changed nothin' or nobody.
It's I-I-It's like a poison
that soaked into the ground.
They ain't gon' give us nothin'.
Not no 40 acres and no mule.
And not freedom, neither.
It It's like a poison
soaked into the ground.
You know, the time is goin'.
I don't want to spend the rest of my life
washing other people's clothes.
I want to live somewhere with you, Buck,
like natural people.
I I want to have your children
and I want to raise 'em someplace
where there ain't even
a shadow of slavery.
And I think about the sewing, you know,
making pretty things for my family
while my hand is still steady.
I want to go someplace with you, Buck.
I I want to have your children,
but I won't have 'em here.
I am going somewhere.
They won't have us in Canada,
I'll go to the edge of the ocean
and I'll walks on away from here.
St. Anne Parish folk...
they're headin' out there
and they ain't got no food, no seed...
and they starve when the winter come.
Buck, honey, you just one man.
But I gave my word.
Eat your food.
I'll go see about the horses.
What you stud yin', honey?
You troubled about all that killing.
No.
I killed men before.
I just don't know
which way to turn no more.
I think they beat me.
Couldn't the drivers do it in slavery
days, nor the rebels in the war.
But now I think... they beat me.
You're just tired.
You know, when it's dark, it looks like
the heart just gets to hurting sometimes.
You're gon' keep on fightin'
best way you can.
Looks like there just ain't no other way.
I love you, Buck.
Where'd you get them cannons?
Gunsmith in Fort Leavenworth.
Where'd you get that funny Bible?
Well, that's my inheritance.
Before the war, when I was a boy,
my mama and me were sold
to this here traveling preacher.
And I'd fetch for him
and take up collection.
And when he got drunk,
I'd haul him off to bed.
He used to travel in these little towns,
preachin' sin and hellfire.
And when he got them gals
full of the Holy Spirit,
when they're ready to repent,
he'd jig 'em.
Between whiles he'd... take my mama to bed
and I'd sleep out with the horse.
By and by, about 16,
he sent me to town for a jug of whiskey.
When I come back, my mama was gone.
He sold her for a couple hundred dollars.
He got drunk that night
and he said, uh, "Boy, put me to bed."
So I lead that man into the tanning yard
by the lime pit.
And I put him to bed right there.
I hold him under with a cedar fence rail.
There was no next of kin,
so I got the cart, the horse...
preacher clothes and this funny Bible.
Where you gonna find that money?
I don't know.
If it was me, I'd I'd look for money
where money is kept.
Like in a bank. Or an express office.
We gon' just ride in some town,
walk in their bank and just take it, huh?
That's right, brother.
And I know just the place.
Where they ain't got no sheriff, no deputy
and hardly any menfolk at all
'cause they all out 'round the countryside
chasing two poor field hands.
You're crazy.
Yeah.
What you want, boy?
You make a sound
and you're a dead man.
We ain't got all day.
What's in the box?
-What's in the box?
-US government shipment.
Shipment of what?
What?
Gold.
Gold!
Sweet God almighty, that's gold.
Where's the paper money?
There isn't any.
I sent the cash deposit over to the bank.
Will you get off that?
That's a whole mess of gold.
You can't carry it on a horse.
Where's the key? There's got to be a key.
It's in Texas.
They always send the key separate.
He's telling the truth.
But there's got to be paper money.
Now, I'm gon' ask you for the last time.
Where's that paper money?
I told you. At the bank.
I sent it over there.
-What you think?
-What the hell.
Otherwise we done wasted
the whole morning.
Psst!
Psst!
Posse's riding by. Sheriff's with them.
Well, that's it. Let's get out of here.
Preacher.
I'm going to that bank.
That bank is across the street
from the sheriff's office.
There's an awful lot of money down there.
Otherwise we done wasted
the whole morning.
You're the one that's crazy.
Wait! Wait!
Morning, Miss Esther.
How you feeling today?
Some better, thanks.
A thing like that's not easy to forget.
But life goes on.
My money good enough for your bank today?
- Money is money, ma'am.
- Hard-earned, too.
The wages of sin.
Just 30's I get 3% on 'em.
Someone stuck me with some
Ohio bank notes. Are they any good?
That depends on the solvency
of that particular bank.
Holdup! Holdup!
Holdup!
Hyah!
-They're gonna get away.
-Yeah.
You shoot that rifle, boy, and we're dead.
You gonna quit?
Remember that wagon train
you fellas shot up?
-Yeah.
-They never did come back.
I'm wonderin' if they're plannin'
on joinin' up with 'em.
He say he will not fight them for you.
I understand.
Tell him I just need help
to get through to my people.
They need supplies.
And I can pay.
Dried meat, as much as he can sell 'em.
Horses, powder and shot.
Five horses.
No powder.
No guns.
Ask him again.
Tell him Tell him we are all brothers.
He will not give you guns, Sergeant.
They come too hard.
-Food?
-Dried meat.
Flour. Corn.
Do not ask for more.
He stopped that posse because he gave
his word to let you people through safe.
-He will do no more.
-Ask him again.
Tell him they're just looking
for a land for themselves,
and they're gonna have to
fight their way clear to find it,
'cause they can't live back there, no way.
Before the yellow hair,
my father, my grandfather
hunted buffalo and raced pony
and took women on the land where Fox River
crosses the grassland at Place of Skull,
now Copper Spring, Fort Sheridan.
Now we are here with our backs
against snow mountain.
And yellow hair send wagons,
soldier and speaking wire.
Tomorrow we will be like ghosts,
like the spirits that come in dreams
with no earth to walk on.
But we will fight.
We will fight ten tens of years
and our children's children
will still fight.
We need our guns, bullets and powder
for our own fight.
Tell him his enemies are our enemies.
He say, you Black people fought
with that enemy against our people.
I ain't in the army no more.
He knows, Buck.
No guns. No bullets.
Eighteen hundred dollars.
That's your share.
For what we have just received,
we give thanks in Jesus' name, amen!
I'm goin' back east to Illinois,
and I'm gonna buy me a tent,
and I'm gonna have the biggest
damn revival meeting
since King Solomon preached
to his wives and concubines.
Amen.
And you, brother,
you got a good woman there.
You ought a take that money
and buy yourself a livin'
and do like she want, maybe
go to Canada.
All right, brother, one question.
How do I get out of here?
To Illinois?
One or two ways.
You can go on back the way we come
and on across Kansas.
There's a posse out there
with a trigger itch.
-Yes, there is.
-Uh-huh.
What's the other way?
You can keep on west across the Pecos,
the way I'm goin',
up into the mountains
and north along the Idaho territory,
then back by the Canadian border.
-How long that take?
-All winter.
All winter. What's my chances
of sneaking past the posse?
Not much.
You know, when I first catched you
eatin' my rabbit,
I should have gotten me a rock
and bust you upside your head
and left you for dead.
Buck! Buck!
Scout come in. That posse did not go back.
They went north, tracking the wagon train.
How close are they to the train?
One day ride from the big river.
Ask him how long it would take us
to catch 'em ridin' straight through.
Maybe two days.
He say he will give you guides
to take you through the high pass.
Remember, they will not fight for you.
I know.
Well, it looks like the back door's open.
Figurin' I can skate on through
and take my chances.
Look, brother, you walked
more than half the journey
with them St. Anne Parish folk.
That's all a normal man can do.
What do you want to die for 'em for?
What happened?
Somebody close the back door?
If they're gonna join with 'em,
they ought a do it before sundown.
Let's finish off that wagon train.
They ain't broke any laws I know about.
They gotta turn around.
What's the matter, boy?
What you got against them folks?
You on their side?
You soft in the head for them murderers?
They killed Uncle Beau, didn't they?
They robbed the bank.
They didn't. Buck and that preacher did.
And that's all we're after.
You don't understand.
I gotta turn them field hands around.
If we leave them fields go fallow now,
we done lost it all.
We gotta keep it goin' like it was.
We gotta keep things
the way they rightfully belong.
Now, you got 16 white men
down there. Sixteen.
You just give me half of 'em,
and I'll finish that job.
As far as I'm concerned,
that wagon train can go anywhere it likes.
And you make one move
against those people,
I'll take you back to Copper Springs
with your feet tied
under the belly of your horse.
-Where's Ollie?
-Went up to cover the pass.
-He says you're in charge, Marcus.
-Yeah?
He'll signal if that Buck comes through.
-What does he want us to do?
-Take the wagon train.
Well, if that's what he said.
Let's go!
-You gonna have to take it to 'em.
-Well, what you gon' do?
-We can draw 'em away south.
-But
You go with the wagon train.
I'll come to you later.
Yah-hah!
Come on. Get up on top.
Go around in front of 'em and cut 'em off!
I ran out!