True Grit (2010) Movie Script
People do not give it credence that
a young girl could leave home
and go off in the winter time
to avenge her father's blood,
but it did happen.
I was just fourteen years of age when a coward
by the name of Tom Chaney shot my father down.
And robbed him of his life and his horse
and two California gold pieces that he carried
in his trouser band.
Chaney was a hired man.
And Papa had taken him up to Fort Smith
to help lead back a string of mustang ponies he'd bought.
In town, Chaney had fallen to drink
and cards, and lost all his money.
He got it into his head he'd been cheated
and went back to the boarding house
for his Henry rifle.
When Papa tried to intervene,
Chaney shot him.
Chaney fled.
He could have walked his horse.
For not a soul in that city could
be bothered to give chase.
No doubt Chaney fancied himself scott-free.
But he was wrong.
You must pay for everything in this world,
one way or another.
There is nothing free.
Except the grace of God.
Is that the man?
That is my father.
If you would like to kiss him
it would be all right.
He's gone to heaven.
Praise the Lord.
Why is it so much?
The quality of the casket.
And of the embalming.
The lifelike appearance requires time and art.
And the chemicals come dear.
The particulars are in your bill.
If you'd like to kiss him it would be all right.
Thank you, the spirit has flown
Your wire said $50.
You did not specify he was to be shipped.
Well, $60 is every cent we have.
It leaves nothing for our board.
Yarnell, you can see to the body's transport to
the train station and accompany it home.
I'll have to sleep here tonight.
I still have to collect father's things and
see to some other business.
Your Mama didn't say nothing about you
settling no business here.
It is business Mama didn't know about. It's all right
Yarnell, I dismiss you.
I am not sure.
Tell mama not to sign anything until I return home
and see that Papa is buried in his mason's apron.
Your terms are agreeable, if I may pass the night here.
Here, among these people?
- These people?
- I'm expecting three more souls.
Sutherland, Smith, and His-Tongue-In-The-Rain.
Ladies and gentlemen beware
and train up your children in the way
that they should go!
You see what has become of me
because of drink.
I killed a man
in a trifiling quarrel over a pocketknife.
If I had received good instruction as a child
Could you point out the sheriff?
Him with the moustaches.
I would be with my wife and children today.
I do not know what is to become of them.
But I hope and pray that you will not slight
them and compel them to go into low company.
Well.
I killed the wrong man is the which-of-why I'm here.
Had I killed the man I meant to. I don't
believe I would a been convicted.
I see men out there in that crowd
is worse than me.
...Okay.
Before I hang, I would like to say.
(Chanting in Indian tongue)
Naw, we ain't arrested him.
Ain't caught up to him, he lit
out to the Territory.
I would think that he has throwed in with
Lucky Ned Pepper, whose gang robbed a
mail hack yesterday on the Poteau river.
Well, why are you not looking for him?
I have no authority in the Indian Nation.
Tom Chaney is the business of the US marshals now.
When will they arrest him?
Not soon I'm afraid, the marshals are not well staffed.
And I'll tell you, frankly, Chaney is at the
end of a long list of fugitives and malefactors.
Could I hire a marshal to pursue Tom Chaney?
You have a lot of experience with
bounty hunters, do you?
That is a silly question. I am here
to settle my father's affairs.
- All alone.
- I am the person for it.
Mama was never any good at sums.
And she could hardly spell 'cat'.
I intend to see Papa's killer hanged.
Well, nothing prevents you from offering a
reward and so informing ae marshal.
It would have to be real
money, though, to be persuasive.
Chaney's across the river in the Choctaw Nation.
I will see to the money.
Who's the best Marshal?
I have to weigh that.
William Waters is the best tracker.
He's half Comanche, and it is something
to see him cut for sign.
The meanest one is Rooster Cogburn.
He is a pitiless man, double tough and
Fear don't enter into his thinking.
Hmm, he loves to pull a cork.
The best is probably L.T. Quinn.
He brings his prisoners in alive.
Now he may let one slip out.
Now and again, but he believes that even the
worst of men is entitled to a fair shake.
Where can I find this Rooster?
The jakes is occupied.
I know it is occupied Mr Cogburn.
As I said, I have business with you.
I have prior business.
You've been at it for quite some time,
Mr Cogburn.
There is no clock on my business!
The hell with you. How did you stalk me here?
The sheriff told me to look in the saloon.
In the saloon they referred me here. We must talk.
Women ain't allowed in the saloon!
I was not there as a customer.
I am fourteen years old.
The jakes is occupied.
And will be for some time.
Good evening.
If you would like to sleep in a coffin,
it would be alright.
How much are you paying for cotton?
Nine and a half, for low middling
and ten for ordinary.
We got most of ours out early.
Sold to the Woodson Brothers in
Little Rock for eleven cents.
Then I suggest you take the balance of it
to the Woodson Brothers.
We took the balance to Woodson.
We got ten and a half.
Why did you come here to tell me this?
Oh, I thought I might shop around up here next year
but I guess we are doing alright in Little Rock.
I'm Mattie Ross.
Daughter of Frank Ross.
Aw, tragic thing.
May I say, your father impressed me.
With his manly qualities. He was a close trader
but he acted a gentleman.
Well I propose to sell those ponies back to you that my father bought.
Well that I fear, is out of the question.
I will see that they are shipped to
you at my earliest convenience.
We don't want the ponies now, we don't need them.
Well that hardly concerns me. Your
father bought the ponies, and paid for them.
And there's an end to it. I have the bill of sale.
And I want $300 for Papa's saddle horse that
was stolen from your stable.
You'll have to take that up with the
man who stole the horse.
Tom Chaney stole the horse
while it was in your care.
You are responsible.
Yeah, I admire your sand
but I believe you'll find I'm not
liable for such claims.
You were the custodian.
If you were a bank and were robbed you could not
simply tell your depositors to go hang.
I do not entertain hypotheticals.
The world as it is is vexing enough.
Secondly your valuation of the horse is high
by about two $200.
How old are you?
If anything, my price is low.
Why, Judy is a fine racing mare.
I've seen her jumping eight-rail fence with a
heavy rider. I am fourteen
Oh, it's all very interesting.
The ponies are yours, take them.
Your father's horse was stolen by a murderous criminal.
I have provided reasonable protection for the creature
as per our implicit agreement.
My watchmen had his teeth knocked out
and can take only soup.
Then I will take it to the law.
You have no case.
Lawyer J. Noble Daggett of Dardanelle, Arkansas
may think otherwise, as might a jury,
petitioned by a widow and three small children.
I will pay $200 to your fathers estate.
When I have in my hand a letter from your lawyer,
absolving me of all liability from the beginning
of the world to today.
I will take $200 for Judy,
plus $100 for the ponies.
And $25 for the grey horse
that Tom Chaney left.
He was easily worth forty.
That is $325 total.
The ponies have no part in it.
I will not buy them.
And the price for Judy is $325.
I would not pay $325 for winged Pegasus.
As for the grey horse, it does not belong to you.
The grey horse was lent to Tom Chaney
by my father.
Chaney only had the use of him.
I would pay $225.
And keep the grey horse.
And I want the ponies.
I cannot accept that.
There can be no settlement after I leave
this office. It will go to law.
All right, this is my last offer.
$250.
For that I get the release, previously discussed.
And I keep your father's saddle.
The grey horse is not yours to sell.
The saddle is not for sale. I will keep it.
Lawyer Dagget will prove ownership of the gray horse.
He will come after you with a writ of replevin.
- A what? - Writ of replev...
All right, now listen very carefully.
As I will not bargain further.
I will take the ponies back, and the
grey horse. Which is mine.
And settle...
For $300. Now you must take that or leave it.
And I do not much care which it is.
Lawyer Decker would not wish me to consider
anything under $325.
But I will settle for $320.
If I am given $20 in advance.
Now here's what I have to say
about that saddle.
Frank Ross's daughter.
Oh, poor child.
Are you gonna be staying with us, or
are you hurrying back home to your Manma?
I'll stay here, if you can have me.
I just spent last night at the undertakers.
In the company of three corpses.
I felt like Ezekiel.
In valley of the dry bones.
Then God bless you.
Now that you'll be rooming with
Grandma Turner.
We've had to double up, what with all the people
in town come to see the hanging.
This was in your poor father's room.
Now that is everything.
There are no light fingers in this house.
If you need something for to
tote the gun around?
I can give you an empty flour sack for a nickel.
Well what did you see when you arrived?
A woman, was out in the yard.
Dead with blow flies on her face.
An old man was inside with his breast
blowed open by a scatter-gun and his feet burned.
He was still alive, but just was. Said it was
them two Wharton boys had done it.
- Rode up, drunk.
- Objection.
Hearsay.
Dying declaration, your Honor.
Objection's overruled.
Proceed Mr Cogburn.
Them two Wharton boys - that'd be Otis
and C.C. - throwed down on him,
and asked him where his money was,
but he wouldn't tell them.
They lit pine knots, held 'em to his feet.
He told them the money was in the fruit jar.
Under a grey rock at the corner of the smoke house.
And then?
Well he died on us. Passed away in considerable pain.
What'd you do then?
Well, Me and Marshal Potter went out to the smokehouse
And that rock had been moved, the
jar with the money in it was gone.
- Objection, speculative.
- Sustained.
You found a flat grey rock, in the corner of the smoke house.
With a hollowed out space there.
If the prosecutor is going to give evidence,
I suggest he be sworn.
Mr Cogburn. What did you find, if anything,
in the corner of that smokehouse?
We found a flat grey rock with a hollowed
out space under it. Nothing there.
- Well then what did you?
- No jar or nothing.
Well, rode up to the Whartons' there, near where
the North Fork strikes the Canadian-
What did you find?
-branch of the Canadian.
I had my glass and we spotted them two boys
and their old daddy Aaron.
down on the creek bank with some hogs.
They'd killed a shoat.
And a fire built up under a wash pot
for scalding water.
What'dja do?
Announced we was US Marshal's, I hollered
out to Aaron.
I needed to talk to his two boys.
He raised an axe.
and commenced to cussing us and blackguarding this court.
What did he do then?
I backed away from the axe.
Tried to talked some sense into him.
While this was going on C.C. he edges over
to the wash pot there, behind the steam.
And picks up a shotgun.
Potter seen him, but it was too late.
C.C. Wharton pulled out on Potter with one barrel.
Turned to do the same for me and I shot him.
And the old man raised the axe.
And I shot him.
Otis lit out, and I shot him.
C.C. Wharton and Aaron Wharton were dead when
they hit the ground. Otis was just winged.
Did you find the jar with a $120 in it?
- Leading.
- Sustained.
What happened then?
Found a jar with $120 in it.
What became of Otis Wharton?
There he sits.
You may ask, Mr Gaudy.
Thank you Mr Farlow.
Mr Cogburn.
In your four years as a US Marshal.
How many men have you shot?
I never shot nobody I didn't have to.
Well that was not the question.
How many?
Shot or killed?
Let us restrict it to "killed", so that
we may have a manageable figure.
About twelve..
Fifteen. Stopping men in flight,
defending myself, etcetera.
Around twelve he says.
Or fifteen.
So many, you cannot keep
a precise count.
I have examined the records, and can
supply the accurate figure.
Uhh...
I believe them two Wharton boys
makes it twenty three.
And how many members of this one family,
the Wharton family, have you killed?
- Immediate, or ...
- Didn't you also shoot Dub Wharton, brother?
and Clete Wharton, half brother?
Well Clete was selling ardent spirits to
the Cherokee. He come at me with a king bolt
A king bolt?
You are armed, and he advanced upon you.
With nothing more than a king bolt?
From a wagon tongue?
I've seen men badly tore up with nothing bigger
than a king bolt. I defended myself.
Returning to the other encounter.
With Aaron Wharton, and his two remaining sons.
You sprang from cover.
With revolver in hand.
- That'd be it.
- Loaded and cocked.
Well if it ain't loaded
and cocked, it don't shoot.
And like his son, Aaron Wharton advanced
against an armed man.
Well he was armed, he had an axe raised.
I believe you testified you backed away
from Aaron Wharton.
- That's right.
- Which direction were you going?
I always go backwards,
when I'm backing up.
Very amusing.
Now, he advanced on you much
in the manner of Clete Wharton
menacing you with that little ol' King bolt,
or rolled up newspaper, or whatever that was.
Yes sir. He commenced to cussing
- and laying about with threats.
- And you were backing away.
How many steps before the shooting started?
Uh, seven, eight steps.
Good, and Wharton keeping pace.
Advancing away from his campfire.
Seven, eight, steps.
What would that be?
Fifteen, twenty feet?
I suppose.
Will you explain to this jury, Mr Cogburn.
Why Mr Wharton was found immediately by his
wash pot, one arm in the fire.
His sleeve and hand smoldering.
Did you move the body after you shot him?
Why would I do that?
You did not drag the body over to
the fir? Fling his arm in?
- No, sir.
- Two witnesses.
Who arrived on the scene will testify
to the location of the body.
You do not remember moving the body.
So it was, a cold blooded bushwhack,
while poor Mr Wharton was tending his campfire.
Objection.
If that's where the body was,
I might have moved him.
I do not remember.
Why would you move the body, Mr Cogburn?
Them hogs rooting around,
they might have moved him.
I do not remember.
Pencil-neck son of a bitch.
- Mr Cogburn.
- What do you want?
I'd like to talk to you a minute.
What is it?
They tell me you're a man with True Grit.
What do you want, girl?
Speak up, It is suppertime.
Let me do that.
Your makings are too dry.
I'm looking for the man who shot and killed my father,
Frank Ross in front of the Monarch boarding house.
The man's name is Tom Chaney.
They say he's over in Indian territory,
and I need someone to go after him.
What's your name, girl.
My name is Mattie Ross.
We're located in Yell county.
My mother is at home looking after my
sister Victoria and my brother little Frank.
You best go home to them.
They'll need help with the charges.
There is a fugitive warrant out for Chaney.
The government will pay you $2 for bringing
him in plus ten cents a mile for each of you.
On top of that, I will pay you a $50 reward.
What are you?
What you got there in your poke?
By God! A Colt's Dragoon!
You're no bigger than a corn nubbin,
what're you doing with a pistol like that?
Well I intend to kill Tom Chaney with it.
- Kill Tom Chaney?
- Well, if the law fails to do so.
Well, that piece will do the job for you.
If you can find a high stump to rest it on
and a wall to put behind you
Nobody here knew my father and I'm,
afraid nothing's going to be done about
Chaney except I do it.
My brother is a child, and my mother is
indecisive and hobbled by grief.
I don't believe you have $50.
I have a contract with Colonel Stonehill which
he will make payment on tomorrow or the next day
once a lawyer countersigns.
I don't believe in fairy tales or sermons or stories about money,
baby sister. But thank you for the cigarette.
Isn't your Mama expecting you home, dear?
My business is not yet finished.
Mrs. Flor, have any rooms opened up?
Grandma Turner... the bed is quite narrow.
The second floor in the back did open up.
But uh, that gentleman on the porch,
has just taken it.
Oh but don't worry yourself, dear.
You're not disturbing Grandma Turner.
My name is La Boeuf.
I just come from Yell county.
We have no rodeo clowns in Yell County.
A saucy line will not get you far with me.
I saw your mother yesterday morning.
She said for you to come right on home.
What was your business there?
This is a man I think you know.
You called him Tom Chaney.
I believe. All the months I've been tracking
him he has used the name Theron Chelmsford.
John Todd Andersen,
and others.
He dallied in Monroe, Louisiana, and Pine Bluff,
Arkansas
Before turning up at your fathers place.
Then why did you not catch him at,
Pine Bluff Arkansas or Monroe Louisiana?
He is a crafty one.
I thought him slow-witted myself.
That was his act.
It was a good one.
Are you some kind of law?
That's right
I'm a Texas Ranger.
That may make you a big noise in that state
in Arkansas you
should mind that your Texas trappings and title
do not make you an object of fun.
Why have you been ineffectually pursuing Chaney?
He shot and killed a state senator
named Bibs in Waco Texas.
Bibs family have put out a reward.
How came Chaney to shoot a state senator?
My understanding is there was an argument
about a dog.
You know anything about the
whereabouts of Chaney?
He's in the territory, and I hold out
little hope for you earning your bounty.
- Why is that?
- My man will beat you to it.
I've hired a deputy Marshal -
the toughest one they have.
And he's familiar with the Lucky Ned Pepper gang
that they say Chaney's tied up with.
Well, I will throw in with you
and your Marshal.
No, Marshal Cogburn and I are fine.
It'll be to our mutual advantage.
Your Marshal, I presume, knows the Territory.
I know Chaney. It's at least a two man
job taking him alive.
When Chaney is taken he's coming back to
Fort Smith to hang.
I'm not having him go to Texas to
hang for shooting some senator.
It is not important where he hangs, it is?
It is to me.
Is it to you?
It means a great deal of money to me.
It's been many months work.
I'm sorry that you are paid piecework not on wages
and that you have been eluded the winter long by a halfwit.
You give out very little sugar
with your pronouncements.
When I sat there watching, I gave some
thought to stealing a kiss.
But you are very young and sick, and
unattractive to boot, but
now I have a mind to give you
five or six good licks with my belt.
That wouldn't be as unpleasant as the other.
You wet your comb, you might tame that cowlick.
(Lawyers voice)
Mattie, I wish you would leave these matters
entirely to me or at the very least
give me the courtesy of consulting me before
entering such agreements.
I am not scolding you, but I am saying your
head strong ways,
will lead you into a tight corner one day.
I trust the enclosed document
will let you conclude your business and
return to Yell County.
Yours, J. Noble Daggett.
I was as bad yesterday as you look today.
I was forced to share a bed with Grandma Turner.
I'm not acquainted with Grandma Turner.
If she's a resident of the city, it does not
surprise me that she carries disease.
This malarial place has ruined my health.
As it has my finances.
I owe you money.
You have not traded poorly.
Oh, certainly not.
I'm paying you for a horse.
I do not possess.
And I brought back a string of useless ponies.
Which I cannot sell again.
You're forgetting the grey horse.
- Crowbait.
- You were looking at the thing in the wrong light.
I am looking at it in the light
of God's eternal truth.
Your illness is putting you down
in the dumps.
You will soon find another buyer for the ponies.
Well I have a tentative offer
for $10 per head.
From the Pfitzer Soap Works of Little Rock.
It would be a shame to destroy such spirited horseflesh.
So it would. I'm confident the deal
will fall through.
Look here, I need a pony and I will
pay $10 for one of them.
Now that's a lot price, no, no, I...
Wait a minute.
Are we trading again?
This one is beautiful.
He don't know he got a rider.
You're too light.
He think he got a horsefly on him.
He's very spirited.
I'll call him 'Little Blackie'.
That's a good name.
What does he like for a treat?
Well ma'am, he's a horse.
So he likes apples.
Thank Mr Stonehill for me.
No ma'am, I ain't supposed to utter your name.
See? Sleep.
That is fine, I will wake him.
Marshal Cogburn.
It is I, Mattie Ross, your employer.
How long 'till your ready to go?
- Go where?
- To the Indian Territory. In pursuit of Tom Chaney.
Oh, you're the bereaved girl with
stories of El Dorado.
Huh, how much money you got there?
I said $50 to retrieve Chaney.
You did not believe me?
I did not know.
You are a hard one to figure.
How long for you to make
ready to depart?
Well uh, hold on sis.
I remember your offer, but
do not remember agreeing to it.
If I'm to go up against Ned Pepper.
Then I'll need $100.
That much I can tell you. $100.
To retrieve your man - $100.
I will take that $50 in advance.
There will be expenses.
You are trying to take advantage of me.
I am giving you the children's rate.
I'm not a sharper. I am an old man sleeping on a rope bed in a room behind the Chinese grocery.
- I have nothing.
- You want to be kept in whiskey.
I don't have to buy that,
I confiscate it.
I am an officer of the court.
Ah, thank you.
$100, that's the rate.
I shall not niggle.
Can we depart this afternoon?
We?
You're not going, that ain't no part of it.
You have misjudged me if you think I'm silly enough
to give you $50 and simply watch you ride off.
I am a bonded US Marshal.
That weighs but little with me.
I will see the thing done.
Damn ducks. I can't go after Ned Pepper
and a band of hard men and look after a baby at
the same time
I am not a baby.
I will not be stopping at boarding houses where there is
warm beds and hot grub on the table
I'll be traveling fast and eating light.
What little sleeping is done will
take place on the ground.
Well I have slept out a night before.
Papa took me and Little Frank coon
hunting last summer on the Petit Jean.
We were in the woods all night.
We sat around a big fire and Yarnell told ghost stories.
We had a good time.
Coon hunting?
This ain't no coon hunt!
It is the same idea as a coon hunt.
It don't come within forty miles of being a coon hunt!
You are just trying to make your work sound harder than it is.
Here is the money.
Now I aim to get Tom Chaney,
and if you are not game, I will find
somebody who is game.
All I've heard out of you so far is talk.
I know you can drink whiskey, and snore and spit
and wallow in filth and bemoan your station.
The rest has been braggadocio.
They told me you had grit, and
that is why I came to you.
I am not paying for talk. I can get all the talk I
need and more at the Monarch Boarding House
Leave your money.
Meet me here tomorrow morning at seven
o'clock and we will begin our coon hunt.
Dearest mother,
I'm about to embark on a great adventure.
I have learned that Tom Chaney has
fled into the wild.
And I shall assist the authorities in pursuit.
You know that Papa would want me
to be firm in the right.
As he always was.
So do not fail on my account.
Tho I walk through the valley, of the shadow of death.
I shall fear no evil.
The author of all things watches over me, and
I have a fine horse.
Kiss little Frankie for me,
and pinch Violet's cheek.
My Papa's death will soon be avenged.
I'm off for the Choctaw Nation.
Where's Marshal Cogburn?
Went away.
Left this.
Here inside is a train ticket for your return home.
Use it.
By the time you read this, I will be across
the river in the Indian Nation.
Pursuit will be futile.
I will return with your man, Chaney.
Leave me to my work.
Rueben Cogburn.
Is that Marshal Cogburn?
That is the man
Who's he with?
I do not know.
Well take me across.
So, you're the runaway.
Marshal told me you'd show up.
I'm going to present you to the Sheriff.
That is a story, let go of my horse.
I have business across the river.
If you don't turn around and take me across
you may find yourself in court where you don't want to be.
I have a good lawyer.
HEY!
Go, Little Blackie.
Come on.
That is quite a horse.
I will give you $10 for him.
From the money you stole from me?
That was not stolen, I'm after your man.
I was to accompany you.
If I do not there is no agreement and
my money was stolen.
Marshal, put this child back on the ferry.
It's a long road and time's a wasting.
If I go back it's to the US Marshals office
to report the theft of my money.
And "fudel" Marshal Cogburn?
Pursuit would be futile?
It's not spelled, F-U-D-E-L.
It's time for your spanking.
Now you do as the grown-ups say!
Or I will get myself a
birch switch and stripe your leg!
Are you going to let him do this, Marshal?
No, I don't believe I will.
Put your switch away, La Boeuf.
I aim to finish what I started.
That'll be the biggest mistake you ever made.
you Texas brush-popper.
Hoorawed by a little girl.
I am not accustomed to so large a fire.
In Texas we make do with a fire
of little more than twigs.
or buffalo chips.
Heat the nights rations of beans.
And it is Ranger
policy never to make the camp
the same place as your cook fire.
Very imprudent to make your presence
known in unsettled country.
How do you know that Bagby will have intelligence?
He has a store.
That makes him an authority on movements
in the Territory?
We have entered a wild place.
Anyone coming in
wanting any kind of supply,
cannot pick and choose his portal.
That is a piece of foolishness.
All the snakes are asleep this time of year.
They've been known to wake up.
Well let me have a rope, too.
A snake would not bother you.
You are too little and boney.
You should fetch water for the morning.
Put it on the fire.
- The creek'll ice over tonight.
- I'm not going down there again.
You want anymore water,
you can go fetch it yourself.
You're lucky to be traveling in a place
with a spring so handy.
In my country you could ride for days and
see no ground water.
I have lapped filthy water from a hoofprint.
And was glad to have it.
If I ever meet one of you Texas waddies
who says he never drank
water out of a horse track
I think I'd shake his hand and
give him a Daniel Webster cigar.
You do not believe it?
Oh, I believe it, the first twenty
thousand times I heard it.
Maybe. Maybe it is true.
Maybe lapping water off the ground is
Ranger policy.
You're getting ready to show your ignorance
now, Cogburn.
I don't mind a little personal chaffing.
But I won't hear anything against the
Ranger troop from a man like you.
How long you boys been mounted
on sheep down there?
My white Appaloosa will still be galloping,
when that big American stud of yours
is winded and collapsed.
Now make another joke about it.
You want to try to put on
a show for this girl, Mattie.
With what you must think is a keen tongue.
This is like women talking.
Yes, that is the way.
Make me out foolish in this girls eyes.
At least she has you pretty well figured.
Would you two like to hear the
story of the 'Midnight caller'?
One of you is gonna have to be the caller.
I will tell you what to say.
I will do all the other parts myself.
- Good morning, Marshal.
- Good morning.
Where's Mr La Boeuf?
Down by the creek performing his necessaries.
Marshal Cogburn, I welcome
the chance for a private parley.
I gather that you and Mr La Boeuf have come to some,
some sort of agreement.
And as your employer I believe
I have the right to know the particulars.
The particulars,
is that we bring Chaney down
to the magistrate,
in San Saba Texas where they have a considerable
reward on offer. Which we split.
I did not want him brought to Texas,
to have a Texas punishment administered
for a Texas crime.
That was not our agreement.
What you want is to have him caught
and punished.
I want him to know he's being punished
for killing my father.
Well, you can let him know that.
You can tell him to his face.
You can spit on him.
Make him eat sand out of the road.
I will hold him down.
If you want,
I'll flay the flesh off the souls of his feet.
Find you Indian pepper to
rub into his wound.
Isn't that $100 value?
No, it is not.
When I have bought and paid for
something, I will have my way.
Why do you think I'm paying you,
if not to have my way.
You will learn.
You cannot have your way.
In every little particular.
You find I failed to satisfy your terms.
I'll return your money at the end
of this expedition.
Little Blackie and I are ridding back
to the US Marshal's office, this is fraud.
Oh, God damn it!
What's going on?
This is a business conversation.
Is that what you call it?
Sounds to me you're still being
hoorawed by a little girl.
- You say, hoorawed?
- That was the point.
There is no hoorawing in it.
If my agreement with the Marshal,
antedates yours, it has the force of law.
The force of law?
This man is a notorious thumper.
He rode by the light of the moon with Quantrill.
- Bloody Bill Anderson.
- Them men were patriots, Texas trash.
They murdered women and children
in Lawrence, Kansas.
That's a God damn lie!
What army was you in, Mister?
I was at Shreveport.
First with Kirby-Smith, then with...
Yeah? What side was you on?
I was in the army of Northern Virginia, Cogburn.
And I don't have to hang my head
when I say it.
If you had served with Captain Quantrill.
Captain!
Captain Quantrill.
That...indeed.
- Just let this go, La Boeuf.
- Captain of what?
Good then!
There are not sufficient dollars in the state of Texas,
to make it worth my while to
listen to your opinions.
Our agreement is nullified.
That suits me.
it's each man for himself!
Congratulations, Cogburn.
You've graduated from marauder,
to a wet nurse.
Adios!
We don't need him, do we Marshal?
Gonna miss his Sharp's carbine.
It's apt to get lively out here.
HEY!
Go on.
You stay here, sister.
I will see Bagby.
Has Chaney been here?
No.
Coke Haye was, two days ago.
Coke rides with Lucky Ned.
He bought supplies with this.
Well this is Papa's gold piece.
Tom Chaney here we come.
It is not the world's only California gold piece
They are rare here.
They are rare.
But if it is Chaney's,
it could just as easily mean that Lucky Ned
and his gang fell upon him as that he fell in with them.
Chaney could be a corpse.
That would be a bitter disappointment
Marshal, what would we do?
Um, pursue them.
Ned's unfinished business for the Marshals
anyhow, and when we have him we will also have Chaney
or we can learn the whereabouts of his body.
Bagby didn't know which way they went,
now that we know they come through here.
They couldn't have gone but one or two ways.
Heading north, towards the Winding Stair Mountains.
or pushing on further west.
I suspect north. More to rob.
I bought an eating place
Called the 'Green frog'.
Started calling myself Burroughs.
But my drinking's picked up.
My wife did not care for the company
of my river friends.
She decided to go back to her fist husband.
Clerk in a hardware store.
Wwll, she said, "Goodbye Ruben".
"Love of decency does not abide in you.
There is a divorced woman talking about decency.
I told her, "Goodbye, Nola".
"I hope that little nail-selling bastard will
make you happy this time.
She took my boy with her too.
He never cared for me anyway.
I guess I did speak awful rough to him.
I did not mean anything by it.
You would not want to see a clumsier child than Horace.
I bet he broke forty cups.
Is it Chaney?
I would not recognize the
soles of his feet.
Well, you'll have to clamber up and look.
I'm too old and too fat.
Now the Green Frog had one billiard table.
served ladies and men both,
mostly men. I tried to run it myself a while
but I couldn't keep good help.
Never did learn how to buy meat.
Is that him?
I believe not.
Well, cut him down.
Why?
I might know him.
That was when I went out to the staked plains of Texas,
shooting buffalo with Vernon Shaftoe and
a Flathead Indian called Olly.
The Mormons, they had run Shaftoe out of Great
Salt Lake City
but don't ask me what it was for.
Call it a misunderstanding and leave it go at that.
Well, the big shaggies,
about all gone now.
Damned shame.
I would give $3 right now for a pickled buffalo tongue.
Why did they hang him so high?
Oh, I do not know.
Possibly in the belief it would make
him more dead.
I do not know this man.
You hanged him?
Why did he take the hanged man?
Did he know him?
He did not.
But it is a dead body.
Must be worth something in the trade.
Now my second wife, Edna.
She had taken a notion she wanted me to be a lawyer.
Bought a heavy book called "Daniels on
Negotiable Instruments"
Set to make me reading it.
Never could get a grip on it.
I was happy enough to set it aside and leave Texas.
There ain't six trees between here and Canada,
Nothing else grows that has stickers on it.
Ask them...
- I knew it.
- Knew what?
We're being followed.
I asked that Injun to signal with a shot
if someone was on our trail.
Should we be concerned, Marshal?
Naw, Mr La Boeuf is giving us
his bird dog.
He wants to cut it in, once it flushed his prey.
Perhaps we could double back over our
tracks and confuse the trail in a clever way.
No, we will wait right here.
Offer our friend a warm hello.
Ask him where he's going.
You are not La Boeuf.
My name is Forrester.
I practice,
Dentistry in the Nation.
Also veterinary arts.
And medicine.
On those humans that will sit still for it.
You have your work cut out for you there.
Traded for him with an Indian who said he
came by him honestly.
I gave up two dental mirrors
and a bottle of expectorant.
Do either of you need
Medical attention?
No! Hey, it's fixing to get cold,
You know of anywhere to take shelter?
I have my bear skin.
You might want to head over
to the Original Greaser Bob's.
He notched a dugout into a hollow along the
Carrillon River.
If you ride the river.
You won't fail to see it.
Greaser BobOriginal
Greaser Bob
is hunting north of the picket wire
and would not begrudge its use
- Much obliged.
- Now, I have taken his teeth.
I will entertain an offer,
for the rest of him.
Take my jacket.
Creep up on the roof.
If they're unfriendly I'll give you a sign
to damp the chimney.
Who is out there?
We're looking for shelter.
No room for you here! Ride on!
Who all is in there?
I'm a federal officer.
Who's in there?
A Methodist and a son-of-a-bitch!
This is Rooster Cogburn.
Columbus Potter and five other Marshals
is out here with me.
We got a bucket of coal oil.
In one minute we will burn your
house from both ends!
There's only two of you.
Go ahead and bet your life on it.
How many of you is in there?
Just the two of us.
But my partner's hit.
And he can't walk.
Is that Emmett Quincy?
You said it was a man on the roof.
I thought it was Potter.
You was always dumb, Quincy, and remain true to form.
Hers's an awful lot of sofkee.
You boys looking for company?
That is our supper and breakfast both.
I like a big breakfast.
Sofkee always cooks up
bigger than you think.
Hmm, a good store of whiskey here as well.
What are you boys up to, outside
of cooking for banquets?
We was just having our supper.
We don't know who was outside in weather like this.
Might have been some crazy man.
Anyone can say that he is a Marshal.
My leg hurts.
I bet it does.
When is the last time you seen your old pard
Ned Pepper?
I do not know him.
Who is he?
I'm surprised you don't remember him.
Skinny fellow, nervous and quick.
His lips all messed up.
That don't bring anybody to mind.
There's a new boy.
Might be running with Ned.
He's got a powder mark on his face,
black place
He calls himself Chaney.
He's Chelmsford sometimes.
Carries a Henry rifle.
That don't bring anybody to mind.
Black mark, I would remember that.
You don't remember nothing I want to know, do you
Quincy?
What do you know, Moon?
He don't know those boys you're
looking for.
I don't know those boys.
I always try to help out the law.
hmm, By the time we get to Fort Smith
that leg will be
swelled up tight as Dick's hatband.
It'll be mortified.
Then they'll have to cut it off.
Then if you live, I'll make it two or
three years in the federal house.
- Up in Detroit, there.
- You're trying to get at me.
They'll teach you how to read
an write up there.
The rest won't be so good.
Them boys, they can be
hard on a gimp.
You're trying to get at me.
Now.
You give me some good information
on Ned.
I'll take you down to Bagby's store tomorrow,
and get that ball taken out of your leg.
Then I'll give you three days to
clear the Territory.
We don't know those boys
you're looking for.
- It ain't even his leg.
- I would say...
Don't go to flapping your mouth, Moon.
It's best you let me do the talking
- I would say I...
- We are weary trappers.
Who worked you over with the ugly stick?
The man Chaney with the marked face
killed my father.
He was a whiskey drinker like you
and it lead to killing in the end.
If you answer the Marshal's questions,
he will help you.
I have a good lawyer at home, and
he will help you too.
I'm puzzled by this.
Why is she here?
Don't go jawing with these people, Moon.
Don't you go jawing with that runt
I don't like you. I hope you go to jail.
My lawyer will not help you.
My leg is giving me fits.
A young fellow like don't want to loose his leg.
- We seen...
- Easy now!
He's trying to get at you.
- With the truth.
- We seen Ned and Hays two days ago. We's supposed-
Don't you act the fool,
If you blow, I will kill you.
I'm played out, I need a doctor.
We met Nate Hayes two days ago.
God damn it.
Oh Lord.
I'm dying.
Do something.
Help me.
I can do nothing for you, son.
You partner's killed you, and I've done for him.
Don't leave me lying here.
Don't let the wolves rip me up.
I'll see you're buried right.
You tell me about Ned, where'd you see him?
Two days ago.
Bagby's store.
They're coming here tonight to get remounts and sofkee.
They just robbed the Katy Flyer at
Wagoner's Switch.
I'm gone.
Send the news to my brother, George Garrett.
He is a Methodist circuit rider in
South Texas.
Shall I tell him you was outlawed up?
It don't matter.
He knows I'm on the scout.
I will meet him later, walking
the streets of Glory!
Well, don't be looking for Quincy.
What will we do when they get here?
Well they will ride up.
Hope we get them all in the dugout.
I will kill the last one to go in and then we will
have them in a barrel.
You will shoot them in the back?
Mmm, will give them the know
our intentions is serious.
Then I'll call down,
See if they'll be taken alive.
If they won't,
I'll shoot them if they come out.
I'm hoping that three of their party
being dead will take the starch out of them.
You display great poise.
Aw, It is just a turkey shoot.
There was one time in New Mexico,
we was being pursued by seven men.
I turned Bo around and
taken the reins in my teeth,
rode right at them boys firing
them two navy sixes I carry on my saddle.
Well...
I guess they was all married men who loved
their families as they scattered and run for home
Well that is hard to believe.
- Was it?
- One man riding at seven.
Well, it's true.
You go for a man hard enough and fast enough,
he don't have time to think about how many is
with him, he thinks about his self.
how he may get clear
of the wrath that is about to set down on him.
Why were they pursuing you?
I robbed a high interest bank.
Can't rob a thief, can you?
Never robbed a citizen.
Never took a man's watch.
It is all stealing.
That's the position they took
in New Mexico.
One man.
I did not figure them to send a scout.
Damn.
It is La Boeuf.
We have to warn him, Marshal!
Too late.
What will we do, Marshal?
We sit, what does he do.
Him in the woolly chaps is Lucky Ned.
Well, that's that.
Well that didn't pan out.
You managed to put a kink in my rope, pardner.
Ah, I'm severely injured.
Yes you got drug some.
I was also shot.
By a rifle.
That is quite possible.
The scheme did not develop as I had planned.
You've been shot in the shoulder,
but the bullet passed through.
What happened to your mouth?
I believe I bit myself.
Couple of teeth loose, and ah yeah.
Tongue bit almost through.
Do you want to see if it will knit or should I just
yank it free?
I know a teamster,
bit his tongue off being thrown
from a horse.
After a time he learned to make
himself more or less understood.
I'll just yank it free.
Look at that now.
What's that now?
Knit. It will knit.
Ah, very well.
It's impossible to bind
a tongue wound.
Too bad, we just run across a doctor.
- Marshal?
- of sorts but I do not know where he was headed.
I saw him too, that's how I came
to be here.
Neither of these men are Chaney.
I know it, I know them both.
That ugly one is Coke Hayes.
Him uglier stiff is Clement Parmalee
Parmalee and his brothers have a silver
claim in the Winding Stair Mountains.
And I bet that's where Lucky Ned's gang is riding.
Well, we'll sleep here.
Follow in the morning.
We promised to bury the poor soul inside.
Ground's too hard.
That men wanted a decent burial,
he should have got themselves killed in summer.
Sleep well, Little Blackie.
I have a notion that tomorrow we will
reach our object.
We're hot on the trail.
It seems that we will overtake Tom
Chaney in the Winding Stair Mountain.
I would not want to be in his shoes.
Chelmsford, as he called himself in Texas.
Shot the Senator's dog.
When the Senator remonstrated.
Chelmsford shot him as well.
Now you could argue that the shooting of
the dog was clearly an instance of malum prohibitum.
But the shooting of the Senator is indubitably
an instance of malum in se.
Malla-men what?
Neither of them safe.
The distinction is between an
act that is wrong in itself.
And an act that is wrong according
to our laws and mores.
It is Latin.
I'm struck,
that La Boeuf.
I've been shot, trampled and nearly
severs his tongue.
Not only does he not cease to talk.
But spills the banks of English.
I was within three hundred yards of
Chelmsford once.
The closest I have been.
With a Sharp's carbine that is within range.
But I was mounted,
and had the choice of firing off-hand.
or dismounting to shoot from rest,
which would allow Chelmsford to augment the distance.
I fired mounted -
and fired wide.
You cannot hit a man three hundred yards
if your gun was resting on Gibraltar
The Sharp's carbine is an instrument of
uncanny balance and precision.
I've no doubt that the gun is sound.
(Sings "Greer County")
#My clothes are all ragged and my language is rough.#
#My bread is corn dodgers,
both solid and tough#
#And yet I'm happy, and live at my ease#
#On sorghum molasses, and bacon, and cheese#
Greer county bantler.
I do not believe he slept.
Fort Smith is a healthy distance, La Boeuf
but I would encourage the creature you ride
to head southward.
Out here a
one-armed man looks like easy prey
And a one eyed man who can't shoot.
Why don't you turn back, Cogburn?
I'll do fine.
I know where the Parmalee's claim is. I am uninjured,
well provisioned, and we agreed to separate.
In confidence you cannot shy our agreement.
You're the one that shot me.
Mr La Boeuf has a point, Marshal.
It is an unfair leg-up in
any competition to shoot your opposite number
God damn it. I do not accept as
a given that I did shoot La Boeuf.
There was plenty of guns going off.
I heard the rifle, and I felt the ball.
You missed your shot, Cogburn, admit it.
Missed my shot!
You are more handicapped without the eye,
then I without the arm.
I can hit a gnat's eye at ninety yards.
That chinaman is running them cheap shells on me again.
I thought you were going to say,
the sun was in your eyes.
That is to say, "your eye".
Two at one time.
I will to chuck one high.
Hold fire.
- There.
- There!?
- My bullet.
- Your bullet?
If you hit what you aim at,
explain my shoulder.
Gentlemen, shooting cornbread out here the prairie
is getting us no closer to the Ned Pepper gang.
One more. This will prove it.
Please hold fire.
Find our way back!
Lucky Ned?
LuckyY Ned!
Very good, Cogburn.
Now what?
Oh, god damn it.
Cogburn does not want me eating out of his store.
That is silly. You have not eaten the whole day,
and it is my store not his.
Let him starve!
He does not track!
He does not shoot.
except at foodstuffs!
That was is your initiative?
He does not contribute!
He is a man who walks in front of bullets!
Mr La Boeuf drew single handed
upon the Lucky Ned Pepper gang.
while we fired safely from cover.
- We?
- It is unfair to indict a man,
when his jaw is swollen, and tongue mangled
and is therefore unable to rise to his defense.
I can speak for myself.
I am hardly obliged to answer the
ravings of a drunkard. It is beneath me
I shall make my own camp.
Elsewhere.
It is you who
have nothing to offer, Cogbur
A sad picture indeed.
This is no longer a man hunt.
It is a debauch.
The Texas Ranger,
presses on, alone.
Take the girl.
I bow out.
A fine thing to decide once you brought her
into the middle of the Choctaw Nation.
I bow out, I wash my hands.
Gentlemen we cannot fall out in this fashion.
Not so close to our goal, with
Tom Chaney nearly in hand.
In hand?
If he is not in a shallow grave, somewhere
between here and Fort Smith, he is gone
He is gone.
Long gone!
Thanks to Mr La Boeuf, we missed our shot!
We barked, and the birds have flown!
Gone, gone, gone.
Lucky Ned and his cohort, gone!
Your $50, gone!
Gone with whiskey.
seized in evidence!.
The trail is cold, if ever there was one!
I'm....I'm a foolish old man who's been
drawn into a wild goose chase.
by a harpy in trousers,
and a nincompoop.
Well, Mr La Boeuf.
He can wander the Choctaw Nation
for as long as he likes;
perhaps the local Injuns will take him in.
and honor his gibberings by making him Chief!
You, sister, may go where you like!
Our engagement is terminated.
I bow out.
I'm going with you.
Oh, that is not possible.
Have I held you back?
I have a Colt's Dragoon revolver
which I know how to use,
And I will be no more a burden to you,
as I was to the Marshal.
That's not my worry.
You've earned your spurs.
That is clear now.
You've been a regular
old hand on the trail.
But Cogburn's right.
even if I would not give him the
satisfaction of conceding it.
The trail is cold.
And I am,
considerably diminished.
How can you give up now. After the many months
you've dedicated to finding Chaney?
You have shown great determination.
I misjudged you.
I picked the wrong man.
I would go on with your company,
if there were a clear way to go.
But we'd be striking out blindly.
Chelmsford's gone.
we have chased him right off the map
There's nothing for him.
I'm bound for Texas.
Time for you to go home, too.
The Marshal, when he sobers.
is your way back.
I will not go back. Not without Chaney,
dead or alive.
I misjudged you as well.
I extend my hand.
Mr La Boeuf, please!
Adios.
I know you.
Your name is Mattie.
You're little Mattie, the bookkeeper.
Isn't that something?
Yes, and I know you, Tom Chaney.
What you doing out here?
Come to fetch some water.
No, what are you doing in these mountains, here?
While I've not been formerly deputized,
but I'm acting as an agent for,
Marshal Rooster Cogburn
and Judge Parker's court.
I have come to take you back to Fort Smith.
Well, I will not go.
How do you like that?
There's a posse of officers up there
who will force you to go.
That is interesting news.
And how many is up there?
Right around fifty.
They're all well armed and they mean business.
What I want you to do now is to come on across
the creek and walk in front of me up the hill.
I think I'll oblige the officers to
come after me.
Well if you refuse to go, then
I'll have to shoot you.
Oh.
Well you'd better cock your piece.
All the way back.
- Till it locks.
- I know how to do it.
You will not go with me?
Naw, it's just the other way around.
You're going with me.
I'm...AAAH!
Well I didn't think you would do it.
- What do you think now?
- One of my short ribs is broken.
You killed my father when he was trying to help you.
I have one of the gold pieces you stole
from him. Now give me the other.
- Things aren't going right for me.
- Mattie!
I'm down here.
Now I'm shot by a child.
Chaney's taken into custody!
Help me.
Mattie!
Marshal.
Take them horses you got and move!
Tom, get on up that hill! Don't you stop...
Who all is down there?
Marshal Cogburn and fifty more officers.
Tell me another lie and I'll
stove your head in.
Just the Marshal.
Rooster.
Cogburn!
You hear me?
You answer me, Rooster!
I will kill this girl!
You know I will do it.
The girl is nothing to me!
She is a runaway from Arkansas!
That is all very well.
Do you advise that I kill her?
Do what you think is best, Ned!
She's nothing to me but a lost child!
Think it over, first.
I have already thought it over!
You get mounted double fast!
If I see you riding over that bald ridge to the northwest,
I will spare the girl.
You have five minutes!
They will be a party of Marshals here
soon, Ned!
Let me have the girl and Chaney and I will mislead them for six hours!
Too thin Rooster.
Too thin.
Your five minutes is running!
No more talk!
Get on up that hill.
Well, see to Tom's wound.
Can I have some of that bacon?
You help yourself.
Have some of the coffee.
I do not drink coffee, I am fourteen.
Well we do not have buttermilk,
and we do not have bread.
We are poorly supplied.
- There she is.
- What are you doing here?
I will wring your scrawny neck.
You let that go.
What happened, huh?
I will tell you, and you will see that
I'm in the right.
Tom Chaney there shot my father to death
in Fort Smith and robbed him of
two gold pieces and stole his mare.
I was informed of Mr Cogburn had grit and
I hired him to find the murderer.
A few minutes ago I came upon Chaney
watering the horses.
He would not be taken in charge and I
shot him.
If I had killed him I would not be now in this fix.
My revolver misfired.
They will do it.
It will embarrass you every time.
Most girls like to play pretties,
but you like guns, do ya?
I do not care a thing in the world about guns.
If I did I would have one that worked.
I was shot from ambush, Ned.
The horses was blowing and
making noise. It was that officer that got me.
How can you sit there and tell such a big story?
That pit is a hundred feet deep,
and I will throw you in it.
I'll leave you screaming in rot.
-Now how do you like that?
-No you won't.
This man will not let you have your way. He's your
boss and you have to do as he tells you.
Ain't nothing going my way.
Was that Rooster waylaid us
night before last?
It was Marshal Cogburn and myself.
You and Cogburn...
Quite the posse.
Let us move, Ned.
In good time, Doctor.
What happened to Quincy and the kid?
They are both dead.
I was in the very middle of it. It was a
terrible thing to see.
Please, let us move, Ned.
The Marshal's gone.
Do you need a good lawyer?
I need a good judge.
What happened to Coke Hayes,
the old fellow shot off his horse?
Dead as well.
These declarations have come to an end.
Your friend Rooster does
not collect many prisoners.
He is not my friend.
He has abandoned me to a congress of louts.
You do not varnish your opinions.
Are we off?
Let us cut up the winnings from the Katie Flyer.
They'll be time for that at The Old Place.
I will mount the grey.
I have other plans for you.
Must I double-mount with the Doctor?
- No!
- Nope.
Too chancy with two men up if it comes to a race.
Tom, you wait here with the girl.
When we reach Ma's house I will
send Carroll
back with a fresh mount.
You will be out by dark.
We'll meet you at the old place.
I do not like that.
Let me ride with you, Ned.
Just outof here anyway.
No. We are short a horse.
Marshals will come swarming.
Hours, if they come here at all.
They will guess we are all gone.
I am not staying here by myself
with Tom Chaney.
That is the way I will have it.
He will kill me.
You have heard him say it. He has killed
my father and now you will let him kill me.
He will do no such thing.
Tom, you know the crossing at
Cypress Forks, near the log meetinghouse?
When you are mounted you will take
the girl there and leave her.
Do you understand that, Tom?
If any harm comes to that child
you'll not get paid.
Harold, let me ride up with you.
Farrel, I will pay you $50 out of my winnings!
I am not heavy!
Ha ha! Do the calf again, Harold!
Everything is against me.
You have no reason to whine.
If you act as the bandit chief instructed, and no
harm comes to me, you will get your winnings at The Old Place.
Lucky Ned has left me, knowing I am sure to be caught when I leave on foot.
I must think over my
position and how I may improve it.
Where is the second California gold piece?
What have you done with Papa's mare?
Keep still.
Are you thinking about The Old Place?
Look here, if you let me go.
I will swear to it an affidavit..
and once you are brought to justice,
it may go easier on you.
I tell you I can do better than that.
I don't need your affidavit.
All I need is your silence.
Your father was a busybody like you.
In honesty, I do not regret shooting him.
He thought Tom Chaney was small.
And you!
You will give me an affidavit.
You're all against me! Everything....
So that is Chelmsford.
Strange to be so close to him at last.
Mr La Boeuf, how is it that you are here?
I heard the shot.
and went down to the river.
Cogburn outlined a plan.
Mind your footing, there's a pit there.
His part,
I fear is rash.
He returns for Lucky Ned.
Yo, Rooster!
Will you give us the road?
One against four. It is ill advised.
He could not be dissuaded.
Well Ned, how many men is with the girl?
Just Chaney.
Our agreement is in force.
She was in excellent health,
when last I saw her.
Farrell, I want you and your brother
to stand clear.
You as well, Proctor.
I have no interest in you today.
What is your intention, Rooster?
You think one eye follows a downfall?
I mean to kill you in one minute, Ned.
Or see you hanged at Fort Smith
at Judge Parker's convenience.
Which will you have?
I call that bold talk
for a one-eyed fat man.
Fill your hand, you son of a bitch.
Shoot them Mr La Boeuf.
Too far, moving too fast.
Well, Rooster?
I'm shot to pieces.
Seems neither of us
is to see Judge Parker.
Wahooo!
Some bully shot.
That was four hundred yards at least.
Well,
the Sharp's carbine, is a...
Stand up, Tom Chaney.
M...Mr La Boeuf
Are you alive?
Mr La Boeuf!
Mr La Boeuf.
Mr La Boeuf.
Are you there?
I'm here.
Can you clamber out?
I cannot.
There are snakes.
They awake?
Yes!
I'm bit.
Does Mr La Boeuf survive?
He does - even a blow to the head could silence
him for only a few short minutes.
Where are you bit?
Look away, now.
I have her!
Up with us!
Worked Mr. LeBoeuf! Take her.
Snakebit.
We're off.
I'll send help for you as soon as I can.
Don't wander off.
We are not leaving him!
I must get you to a doctor, sis,
or you are not going to make it.
I am in your debt for that shot, pard.
Never doubt the Texas Ranger.
Come on.
. . . Ever shtalwart!
We must stop.
Little Blackie is played out.
We've miles yet.
Come on you.
NO!
No.
That's it, come on now.
No, stop.
He's getting away.
Who's getting, sis?
Chaney.
No.. NO!
NO, no, no.
Oh, no.
No, stop.
I've grown old.
(Grown up Mattie)
A quarter century is a long time.
By the time we reached Baglee's store,
my hand had turned black.
I was not awake when I lost the arm.
The Marshal had stayed with me, I was told.
'til I was out of danger.
But he departed before I came around.
Once home. I wrote him with an invitation,
to come by, the next time he found
himself near Yell county.
And collect the $50 I still owed him.
I did not hear back from Marshal Cogburn.
And he did not appear.
Then one day I received a note from
the Marshal, with a flyer enclosed.
He said he was traveling with the Wild West show.
Getting older and fatter.
But I like to come visit him when the show
came to Memphis, and swap stories
with an old trail mate.
He would understand if the journey was to long.
Brief tho his note was.
It was rife with misspellings.
Yesum?
I am Cole Younger.
This is Mr James.
It grieves me to tell you that you have missed Rooster.
He passed away three days ago.
When the show was at Jonesboro Arkansas.
Buried him there at a Confederate cemetery.
Ruben had a complaint what he referred to as,
Night hawks.
And I believe the warm weather was to much for him.
We had some lively times.
What was the nature of your acquaintance?
I knew the Marshal long ago.
We too had, lively times.
Thank you, Mr Younger.
Keep your seat, trash.
I had the body removed to our plot and
I had visited it over the years.
No doubt people talked about that.
They say, "Well, she hardly knew the man".
"Isn't she a cranky old maid".
It is true, I have not married.
I never had time to fool with it.
I heard nothing more of the Texas
officer, La Boeuf.
If he is yet alive. I would be pleased
to hear from him.
I judge he would be in his seventies now.
And near eighty in seventy.
I expect some of the starch has gone
out of that cowlick.
Time just gets away from us.
#What a fellowship, what a joy divine,#
#Leaning on the everlasting arms.#
#What a blessedness, what a peace is mine,#
#Leaning on the everlasting arms.#
#Leaning, leaning,#
#safe and secure from all alarms.#
#Leaning, leaning,#
#leaning on the everlasting arms.#
#Oh, how sweet to walk in this pilgrim way,#
#Leaning on the everlasting arms#
#Oh, how bright the path grows from day to day,#
#Leaning on the everlasting arms.#
#Leaning, leaning,#
#safe and secure from all alarms.#
#Leaning, leaning,#
#I'm leaning on the everlasting arms.#
a young girl could leave home
and go off in the winter time
to avenge her father's blood,
but it did happen.
I was just fourteen years of age when a coward
by the name of Tom Chaney shot my father down.
And robbed him of his life and his horse
and two California gold pieces that he carried
in his trouser band.
Chaney was a hired man.
And Papa had taken him up to Fort Smith
to help lead back a string of mustang ponies he'd bought.
In town, Chaney had fallen to drink
and cards, and lost all his money.
He got it into his head he'd been cheated
and went back to the boarding house
for his Henry rifle.
When Papa tried to intervene,
Chaney shot him.
Chaney fled.
He could have walked his horse.
For not a soul in that city could
be bothered to give chase.
No doubt Chaney fancied himself scott-free.
But he was wrong.
You must pay for everything in this world,
one way or another.
There is nothing free.
Except the grace of God.
Is that the man?
That is my father.
If you would like to kiss him
it would be all right.
He's gone to heaven.
Praise the Lord.
Why is it so much?
The quality of the casket.
And of the embalming.
The lifelike appearance requires time and art.
And the chemicals come dear.
The particulars are in your bill.
If you'd like to kiss him it would be all right.
Thank you, the spirit has flown
Your wire said $50.
You did not specify he was to be shipped.
Well, $60 is every cent we have.
It leaves nothing for our board.
Yarnell, you can see to the body's transport to
the train station and accompany it home.
I'll have to sleep here tonight.
I still have to collect father's things and
see to some other business.
Your Mama didn't say nothing about you
settling no business here.
It is business Mama didn't know about. It's all right
Yarnell, I dismiss you.
I am not sure.
Tell mama not to sign anything until I return home
and see that Papa is buried in his mason's apron.
Your terms are agreeable, if I may pass the night here.
Here, among these people?
- These people?
- I'm expecting three more souls.
Sutherland, Smith, and His-Tongue-In-The-Rain.
Ladies and gentlemen beware
and train up your children in the way
that they should go!
You see what has become of me
because of drink.
I killed a man
in a trifiling quarrel over a pocketknife.
If I had received good instruction as a child
Could you point out the sheriff?
Him with the moustaches.
I would be with my wife and children today.
I do not know what is to become of them.
But I hope and pray that you will not slight
them and compel them to go into low company.
Well.
I killed the wrong man is the which-of-why I'm here.
Had I killed the man I meant to. I don't
believe I would a been convicted.
I see men out there in that crowd
is worse than me.
...Okay.
Before I hang, I would like to say.
(Chanting in Indian tongue)
Naw, we ain't arrested him.
Ain't caught up to him, he lit
out to the Territory.
I would think that he has throwed in with
Lucky Ned Pepper, whose gang robbed a
mail hack yesterday on the Poteau river.
Well, why are you not looking for him?
I have no authority in the Indian Nation.
Tom Chaney is the business of the US marshals now.
When will they arrest him?
Not soon I'm afraid, the marshals are not well staffed.
And I'll tell you, frankly, Chaney is at the
end of a long list of fugitives and malefactors.
Could I hire a marshal to pursue Tom Chaney?
You have a lot of experience with
bounty hunters, do you?
That is a silly question. I am here
to settle my father's affairs.
- All alone.
- I am the person for it.
Mama was never any good at sums.
And she could hardly spell 'cat'.
I intend to see Papa's killer hanged.
Well, nothing prevents you from offering a
reward and so informing ae marshal.
It would have to be real
money, though, to be persuasive.
Chaney's across the river in the Choctaw Nation.
I will see to the money.
Who's the best Marshal?
I have to weigh that.
William Waters is the best tracker.
He's half Comanche, and it is something
to see him cut for sign.
The meanest one is Rooster Cogburn.
He is a pitiless man, double tough and
Fear don't enter into his thinking.
Hmm, he loves to pull a cork.
The best is probably L.T. Quinn.
He brings his prisoners in alive.
Now he may let one slip out.
Now and again, but he believes that even the
worst of men is entitled to a fair shake.
Where can I find this Rooster?
The jakes is occupied.
I know it is occupied Mr Cogburn.
As I said, I have business with you.
I have prior business.
You've been at it for quite some time,
Mr Cogburn.
There is no clock on my business!
The hell with you. How did you stalk me here?
The sheriff told me to look in the saloon.
In the saloon they referred me here. We must talk.
Women ain't allowed in the saloon!
I was not there as a customer.
I am fourteen years old.
The jakes is occupied.
And will be for some time.
Good evening.
If you would like to sleep in a coffin,
it would be alright.
How much are you paying for cotton?
Nine and a half, for low middling
and ten for ordinary.
We got most of ours out early.
Sold to the Woodson Brothers in
Little Rock for eleven cents.
Then I suggest you take the balance of it
to the Woodson Brothers.
We took the balance to Woodson.
We got ten and a half.
Why did you come here to tell me this?
Oh, I thought I might shop around up here next year
but I guess we are doing alright in Little Rock.
I'm Mattie Ross.
Daughter of Frank Ross.
Aw, tragic thing.
May I say, your father impressed me.
With his manly qualities. He was a close trader
but he acted a gentleman.
Well I propose to sell those ponies back to you that my father bought.
Well that I fear, is out of the question.
I will see that they are shipped to
you at my earliest convenience.
We don't want the ponies now, we don't need them.
Well that hardly concerns me. Your
father bought the ponies, and paid for them.
And there's an end to it. I have the bill of sale.
And I want $300 for Papa's saddle horse that
was stolen from your stable.
You'll have to take that up with the
man who stole the horse.
Tom Chaney stole the horse
while it was in your care.
You are responsible.
Yeah, I admire your sand
but I believe you'll find I'm not
liable for such claims.
You were the custodian.
If you were a bank and were robbed you could not
simply tell your depositors to go hang.
I do not entertain hypotheticals.
The world as it is is vexing enough.
Secondly your valuation of the horse is high
by about two $200.
How old are you?
If anything, my price is low.
Why, Judy is a fine racing mare.
I've seen her jumping eight-rail fence with a
heavy rider. I am fourteen
Oh, it's all very interesting.
The ponies are yours, take them.
Your father's horse was stolen by a murderous criminal.
I have provided reasonable protection for the creature
as per our implicit agreement.
My watchmen had his teeth knocked out
and can take only soup.
Then I will take it to the law.
You have no case.
Lawyer J. Noble Daggett of Dardanelle, Arkansas
may think otherwise, as might a jury,
petitioned by a widow and three small children.
I will pay $200 to your fathers estate.
When I have in my hand a letter from your lawyer,
absolving me of all liability from the beginning
of the world to today.
I will take $200 for Judy,
plus $100 for the ponies.
And $25 for the grey horse
that Tom Chaney left.
He was easily worth forty.
That is $325 total.
The ponies have no part in it.
I will not buy them.
And the price for Judy is $325.
I would not pay $325 for winged Pegasus.
As for the grey horse, it does not belong to you.
The grey horse was lent to Tom Chaney
by my father.
Chaney only had the use of him.
I would pay $225.
And keep the grey horse.
And I want the ponies.
I cannot accept that.
There can be no settlement after I leave
this office. It will go to law.
All right, this is my last offer.
$250.
For that I get the release, previously discussed.
And I keep your father's saddle.
The grey horse is not yours to sell.
The saddle is not for sale. I will keep it.
Lawyer Dagget will prove ownership of the gray horse.
He will come after you with a writ of replevin.
- A what? - Writ of replev...
All right, now listen very carefully.
As I will not bargain further.
I will take the ponies back, and the
grey horse. Which is mine.
And settle...
For $300. Now you must take that or leave it.
And I do not much care which it is.
Lawyer Decker would not wish me to consider
anything under $325.
But I will settle for $320.
If I am given $20 in advance.
Now here's what I have to say
about that saddle.
Frank Ross's daughter.
Oh, poor child.
Are you gonna be staying with us, or
are you hurrying back home to your Manma?
I'll stay here, if you can have me.
I just spent last night at the undertakers.
In the company of three corpses.
I felt like Ezekiel.
In valley of the dry bones.
Then God bless you.
Now that you'll be rooming with
Grandma Turner.
We've had to double up, what with all the people
in town come to see the hanging.
This was in your poor father's room.
Now that is everything.
There are no light fingers in this house.
If you need something for to
tote the gun around?
I can give you an empty flour sack for a nickel.
Well what did you see when you arrived?
A woman, was out in the yard.
Dead with blow flies on her face.
An old man was inside with his breast
blowed open by a scatter-gun and his feet burned.
He was still alive, but just was. Said it was
them two Wharton boys had done it.
- Rode up, drunk.
- Objection.
Hearsay.
Dying declaration, your Honor.
Objection's overruled.
Proceed Mr Cogburn.
Them two Wharton boys - that'd be Otis
and C.C. - throwed down on him,
and asked him where his money was,
but he wouldn't tell them.
They lit pine knots, held 'em to his feet.
He told them the money was in the fruit jar.
Under a grey rock at the corner of the smoke house.
And then?
Well he died on us. Passed away in considerable pain.
What'd you do then?
Well, Me and Marshal Potter went out to the smokehouse
And that rock had been moved, the
jar with the money in it was gone.
- Objection, speculative.
- Sustained.
You found a flat grey rock, in the corner of the smoke house.
With a hollowed out space there.
If the prosecutor is going to give evidence,
I suggest he be sworn.
Mr Cogburn. What did you find, if anything,
in the corner of that smokehouse?
We found a flat grey rock with a hollowed
out space under it. Nothing there.
- Well then what did you?
- No jar or nothing.
Well, rode up to the Whartons' there, near where
the North Fork strikes the Canadian-
What did you find?
-branch of the Canadian.
I had my glass and we spotted them two boys
and their old daddy Aaron.
down on the creek bank with some hogs.
They'd killed a shoat.
And a fire built up under a wash pot
for scalding water.
What'dja do?
Announced we was US Marshal's, I hollered
out to Aaron.
I needed to talk to his two boys.
He raised an axe.
and commenced to cussing us and blackguarding this court.
What did he do then?
I backed away from the axe.
Tried to talked some sense into him.
While this was going on C.C. he edges over
to the wash pot there, behind the steam.
And picks up a shotgun.
Potter seen him, but it was too late.
C.C. Wharton pulled out on Potter with one barrel.
Turned to do the same for me and I shot him.
And the old man raised the axe.
And I shot him.
Otis lit out, and I shot him.
C.C. Wharton and Aaron Wharton were dead when
they hit the ground. Otis was just winged.
Did you find the jar with a $120 in it?
- Leading.
- Sustained.
What happened then?
Found a jar with $120 in it.
What became of Otis Wharton?
There he sits.
You may ask, Mr Gaudy.
Thank you Mr Farlow.
Mr Cogburn.
In your four years as a US Marshal.
How many men have you shot?
I never shot nobody I didn't have to.
Well that was not the question.
How many?
Shot or killed?
Let us restrict it to "killed", so that
we may have a manageable figure.
About twelve..
Fifteen. Stopping men in flight,
defending myself, etcetera.
Around twelve he says.
Or fifteen.
So many, you cannot keep
a precise count.
I have examined the records, and can
supply the accurate figure.
Uhh...
I believe them two Wharton boys
makes it twenty three.
And how many members of this one family,
the Wharton family, have you killed?
- Immediate, or ...
- Didn't you also shoot Dub Wharton, brother?
and Clete Wharton, half brother?
Well Clete was selling ardent spirits to
the Cherokee. He come at me with a king bolt
A king bolt?
You are armed, and he advanced upon you.
With nothing more than a king bolt?
From a wagon tongue?
I've seen men badly tore up with nothing bigger
than a king bolt. I defended myself.
Returning to the other encounter.
With Aaron Wharton, and his two remaining sons.
You sprang from cover.
With revolver in hand.
- That'd be it.
- Loaded and cocked.
Well if it ain't loaded
and cocked, it don't shoot.
And like his son, Aaron Wharton advanced
against an armed man.
Well he was armed, he had an axe raised.
I believe you testified you backed away
from Aaron Wharton.
- That's right.
- Which direction were you going?
I always go backwards,
when I'm backing up.
Very amusing.
Now, he advanced on you much
in the manner of Clete Wharton
menacing you with that little ol' King bolt,
or rolled up newspaper, or whatever that was.
Yes sir. He commenced to cussing
- and laying about with threats.
- And you were backing away.
How many steps before the shooting started?
Uh, seven, eight steps.
Good, and Wharton keeping pace.
Advancing away from his campfire.
Seven, eight, steps.
What would that be?
Fifteen, twenty feet?
I suppose.
Will you explain to this jury, Mr Cogburn.
Why Mr Wharton was found immediately by his
wash pot, one arm in the fire.
His sleeve and hand smoldering.
Did you move the body after you shot him?
Why would I do that?
You did not drag the body over to
the fir? Fling his arm in?
- No, sir.
- Two witnesses.
Who arrived on the scene will testify
to the location of the body.
You do not remember moving the body.
So it was, a cold blooded bushwhack,
while poor Mr Wharton was tending his campfire.
Objection.
If that's where the body was,
I might have moved him.
I do not remember.
Why would you move the body, Mr Cogburn?
Them hogs rooting around,
they might have moved him.
I do not remember.
Pencil-neck son of a bitch.
- Mr Cogburn.
- What do you want?
I'd like to talk to you a minute.
What is it?
They tell me you're a man with True Grit.
What do you want, girl?
Speak up, It is suppertime.
Let me do that.
Your makings are too dry.
I'm looking for the man who shot and killed my father,
Frank Ross in front of the Monarch boarding house.
The man's name is Tom Chaney.
They say he's over in Indian territory,
and I need someone to go after him.
What's your name, girl.
My name is Mattie Ross.
We're located in Yell county.
My mother is at home looking after my
sister Victoria and my brother little Frank.
You best go home to them.
They'll need help with the charges.
There is a fugitive warrant out for Chaney.
The government will pay you $2 for bringing
him in plus ten cents a mile for each of you.
On top of that, I will pay you a $50 reward.
What are you?
What you got there in your poke?
By God! A Colt's Dragoon!
You're no bigger than a corn nubbin,
what're you doing with a pistol like that?
Well I intend to kill Tom Chaney with it.
- Kill Tom Chaney?
- Well, if the law fails to do so.
Well, that piece will do the job for you.
If you can find a high stump to rest it on
and a wall to put behind you
Nobody here knew my father and I'm,
afraid nothing's going to be done about
Chaney except I do it.
My brother is a child, and my mother is
indecisive and hobbled by grief.
I don't believe you have $50.
I have a contract with Colonel Stonehill which
he will make payment on tomorrow or the next day
once a lawyer countersigns.
I don't believe in fairy tales or sermons or stories about money,
baby sister. But thank you for the cigarette.
Isn't your Mama expecting you home, dear?
My business is not yet finished.
Mrs. Flor, have any rooms opened up?
Grandma Turner... the bed is quite narrow.
The second floor in the back did open up.
But uh, that gentleman on the porch,
has just taken it.
Oh but don't worry yourself, dear.
You're not disturbing Grandma Turner.
My name is La Boeuf.
I just come from Yell county.
We have no rodeo clowns in Yell County.
A saucy line will not get you far with me.
I saw your mother yesterday morning.
She said for you to come right on home.
What was your business there?
This is a man I think you know.
You called him Tom Chaney.
I believe. All the months I've been tracking
him he has used the name Theron Chelmsford.
John Todd Andersen,
and others.
He dallied in Monroe, Louisiana, and Pine Bluff,
Arkansas
Before turning up at your fathers place.
Then why did you not catch him at,
Pine Bluff Arkansas or Monroe Louisiana?
He is a crafty one.
I thought him slow-witted myself.
That was his act.
It was a good one.
Are you some kind of law?
That's right
I'm a Texas Ranger.
That may make you a big noise in that state
in Arkansas you
should mind that your Texas trappings and title
do not make you an object of fun.
Why have you been ineffectually pursuing Chaney?
He shot and killed a state senator
named Bibs in Waco Texas.
Bibs family have put out a reward.
How came Chaney to shoot a state senator?
My understanding is there was an argument
about a dog.
You know anything about the
whereabouts of Chaney?
He's in the territory, and I hold out
little hope for you earning your bounty.
- Why is that?
- My man will beat you to it.
I've hired a deputy Marshal -
the toughest one they have.
And he's familiar with the Lucky Ned Pepper gang
that they say Chaney's tied up with.
Well, I will throw in with you
and your Marshal.
No, Marshal Cogburn and I are fine.
It'll be to our mutual advantage.
Your Marshal, I presume, knows the Territory.
I know Chaney. It's at least a two man
job taking him alive.
When Chaney is taken he's coming back to
Fort Smith to hang.
I'm not having him go to Texas to
hang for shooting some senator.
It is not important where he hangs, it is?
It is to me.
Is it to you?
It means a great deal of money to me.
It's been many months work.
I'm sorry that you are paid piecework not on wages
and that you have been eluded the winter long by a halfwit.
You give out very little sugar
with your pronouncements.
When I sat there watching, I gave some
thought to stealing a kiss.
But you are very young and sick, and
unattractive to boot, but
now I have a mind to give you
five or six good licks with my belt.
That wouldn't be as unpleasant as the other.
You wet your comb, you might tame that cowlick.
(Lawyers voice)
Mattie, I wish you would leave these matters
entirely to me or at the very least
give me the courtesy of consulting me before
entering such agreements.
I am not scolding you, but I am saying your
head strong ways,
will lead you into a tight corner one day.
I trust the enclosed document
will let you conclude your business and
return to Yell County.
Yours, J. Noble Daggett.
I was as bad yesterday as you look today.
I was forced to share a bed with Grandma Turner.
I'm not acquainted with Grandma Turner.
If she's a resident of the city, it does not
surprise me that she carries disease.
This malarial place has ruined my health.
As it has my finances.
I owe you money.
You have not traded poorly.
Oh, certainly not.
I'm paying you for a horse.
I do not possess.
And I brought back a string of useless ponies.
Which I cannot sell again.
You're forgetting the grey horse.
- Crowbait.
- You were looking at the thing in the wrong light.
I am looking at it in the light
of God's eternal truth.
Your illness is putting you down
in the dumps.
You will soon find another buyer for the ponies.
Well I have a tentative offer
for $10 per head.
From the Pfitzer Soap Works of Little Rock.
It would be a shame to destroy such spirited horseflesh.
So it would. I'm confident the deal
will fall through.
Look here, I need a pony and I will
pay $10 for one of them.
Now that's a lot price, no, no, I...
Wait a minute.
Are we trading again?
This one is beautiful.
He don't know he got a rider.
You're too light.
He think he got a horsefly on him.
He's very spirited.
I'll call him 'Little Blackie'.
That's a good name.
What does he like for a treat?
Well ma'am, he's a horse.
So he likes apples.
Thank Mr Stonehill for me.
No ma'am, I ain't supposed to utter your name.
See? Sleep.
That is fine, I will wake him.
Marshal Cogburn.
It is I, Mattie Ross, your employer.
How long 'till your ready to go?
- Go where?
- To the Indian Territory. In pursuit of Tom Chaney.
Oh, you're the bereaved girl with
stories of El Dorado.
Huh, how much money you got there?
I said $50 to retrieve Chaney.
You did not believe me?
I did not know.
You are a hard one to figure.
How long for you to make
ready to depart?
Well uh, hold on sis.
I remember your offer, but
do not remember agreeing to it.
If I'm to go up against Ned Pepper.
Then I'll need $100.
That much I can tell you. $100.
To retrieve your man - $100.
I will take that $50 in advance.
There will be expenses.
You are trying to take advantage of me.
I am giving you the children's rate.
I'm not a sharper. I am an old man sleeping on a rope bed in a room behind the Chinese grocery.
- I have nothing.
- You want to be kept in whiskey.
I don't have to buy that,
I confiscate it.
I am an officer of the court.
Ah, thank you.
$100, that's the rate.
I shall not niggle.
Can we depart this afternoon?
We?
You're not going, that ain't no part of it.
You have misjudged me if you think I'm silly enough
to give you $50 and simply watch you ride off.
I am a bonded US Marshal.
That weighs but little with me.
I will see the thing done.
Damn ducks. I can't go after Ned Pepper
and a band of hard men and look after a baby at
the same time
I am not a baby.
I will not be stopping at boarding houses where there is
warm beds and hot grub on the table
I'll be traveling fast and eating light.
What little sleeping is done will
take place on the ground.
Well I have slept out a night before.
Papa took me and Little Frank coon
hunting last summer on the Petit Jean.
We were in the woods all night.
We sat around a big fire and Yarnell told ghost stories.
We had a good time.
Coon hunting?
This ain't no coon hunt!
It is the same idea as a coon hunt.
It don't come within forty miles of being a coon hunt!
You are just trying to make your work sound harder than it is.
Here is the money.
Now I aim to get Tom Chaney,
and if you are not game, I will find
somebody who is game.
All I've heard out of you so far is talk.
I know you can drink whiskey, and snore and spit
and wallow in filth and bemoan your station.
The rest has been braggadocio.
They told me you had grit, and
that is why I came to you.
I am not paying for talk. I can get all the talk I
need and more at the Monarch Boarding House
Leave your money.
Meet me here tomorrow morning at seven
o'clock and we will begin our coon hunt.
Dearest mother,
I'm about to embark on a great adventure.
I have learned that Tom Chaney has
fled into the wild.
And I shall assist the authorities in pursuit.
You know that Papa would want me
to be firm in the right.
As he always was.
So do not fail on my account.
Tho I walk through the valley, of the shadow of death.
I shall fear no evil.
The author of all things watches over me, and
I have a fine horse.
Kiss little Frankie for me,
and pinch Violet's cheek.
My Papa's death will soon be avenged.
I'm off for the Choctaw Nation.
Where's Marshal Cogburn?
Went away.
Left this.
Here inside is a train ticket for your return home.
Use it.
By the time you read this, I will be across
the river in the Indian Nation.
Pursuit will be futile.
I will return with your man, Chaney.
Leave me to my work.
Rueben Cogburn.
Is that Marshal Cogburn?
That is the man
Who's he with?
I do not know.
Well take me across.
So, you're the runaway.
Marshal told me you'd show up.
I'm going to present you to the Sheriff.
That is a story, let go of my horse.
I have business across the river.
If you don't turn around and take me across
you may find yourself in court where you don't want to be.
I have a good lawyer.
HEY!
Go, Little Blackie.
Come on.
That is quite a horse.
I will give you $10 for him.
From the money you stole from me?
That was not stolen, I'm after your man.
I was to accompany you.
If I do not there is no agreement and
my money was stolen.
Marshal, put this child back on the ferry.
It's a long road and time's a wasting.
If I go back it's to the US Marshals office
to report the theft of my money.
And "fudel" Marshal Cogburn?
Pursuit would be futile?
It's not spelled, F-U-D-E-L.
It's time for your spanking.
Now you do as the grown-ups say!
Or I will get myself a
birch switch and stripe your leg!
Are you going to let him do this, Marshal?
No, I don't believe I will.
Put your switch away, La Boeuf.
I aim to finish what I started.
That'll be the biggest mistake you ever made.
you Texas brush-popper.
Hoorawed by a little girl.
I am not accustomed to so large a fire.
In Texas we make do with a fire
of little more than twigs.
or buffalo chips.
Heat the nights rations of beans.
And it is Ranger
policy never to make the camp
the same place as your cook fire.
Very imprudent to make your presence
known in unsettled country.
How do you know that Bagby will have intelligence?
He has a store.
That makes him an authority on movements
in the Territory?
We have entered a wild place.
Anyone coming in
wanting any kind of supply,
cannot pick and choose his portal.
That is a piece of foolishness.
All the snakes are asleep this time of year.
They've been known to wake up.
Well let me have a rope, too.
A snake would not bother you.
You are too little and boney.
You should fetch water for the morning.
Put it on the fire.
- The creek'll ice over tonight.
- I'm not going down there again.
You want anymore water,
you can go fetch it yourself.
You're lucky to be traveling in a place
with a spring so handy.
In my country you could ride for days and
see no ground water.
I have lapped filthy water from a hoofprint.
And was glad to have it.
If I ever meet one of you Texas waddies
who says he never drank
water out of a horse track
I think I'd shake his hand and
give him a Daniel Webster cigar.
You do not believe it?
Oh, I believe it, the first twenty
thousand times I heard it.
Maybe. Maybe it is true.
Maybe lapping water off the ground is
Ranger policy.
You're getting ready to show your ignorance
now, Cogburn.
I don't mind a little personal chaffing.
But I won't hear anything against the
Ranger troop from a man like you.
How long you boys been mounted
on sheep down there?
My white Appaloosa will still be galloping,
when that big American stud of yours
is winded and collapsed.
Now make another joke about it.
You want to try to put on
a show for this girl, Mattie.
With what you must think is a keen tongue.
This is like women talking.
Yes, that is the way.
Make me out foolish in this girls eyes.
At least she has you pretty well figured.
Would you two like to hear the
story of the 'Midnight caller'?
One of you is gonna have to be the caller.
I will tell you what to say.
I will do all the other parts myself.
- Good morning, Marshal.
- Good morning.
Where's Mr La Boeuf?
Down by the creek performing his necessaries.
Marshal Cogburn, I welcome
the chance for a private parley.
I gather that you and Mr La Boeuf have come to some,
some sort of agreement.
And as your employer I believe
I have the right to know the particulars.
The particulars,
is that we bring Chaney down
to the magistrate,
in San Saba Texas where they have a considerable
reward on offer. Which we split.
I did not want him brought to Texas,
to have a Texas punishment administered
for a Texas crime.
That was not our agreement.
What you want is to have him caught
and punished.
I want him to know he's being punished
for killing my father.
Well, you can let him know that.
You can tell him to his face.
You can spit on him.
Make him eat sand out of the road.
I will hold him down.
If you want,
I'll flay the flesh off the souls of his feet.
Find you Indian pepper to
rub into his wound.
Isn't that $100 value?
No, it is not.
When I have bought and paid for
something, I will have my way.
Why do you think I'm paying you,
if not to have my way.
You will learn.
You cannot have your way.
In every little particular.
You find I failed to satisfy your terms.
I'll return your money at the end
of this expedition.
Little Blackie and I are ridding back
to the US Marshal's office, this is fraud.
Oh, God damn it!
What's going on?
This is a business conversation.
Is that what you call it?
Sounds to me you're still being
hoorawed by a little girl.
- You say, hoorawed?
- That was the point.
There is no hoorawing in it.
If my agreement with the Marshal,
antedates yours, it has the force of law.
The force of law?
This man is a notorious thumper.
He rode by the light of the moon with Quantrill.
- Bloody Bill Anderson.
- Them men were patriots, Texas trash.
They murdered women and children
in Lawrence, Kansas.
That's a God damn lie!
What army was you in, Mister?
I was at Shreveport.
First with Kirby-Smith, then with...
Yeah? What side was you on?
I was in the army of Northern Virginia, Cogburn.
And I don't have to hang my head
when I say it.
If you had served with Captain Quantrill.
Captain!
Captain Quantrill.
That...indeed.
- Just let this go, La Boeuf.
- Captain of what?
Good then!
There are not sufficient dollars in the state of Texas,
to make it worth my while to
listen to your opinions.
Our agreement is nullified.
That suits me.
it's each man for himself!
Congratulations, Cogburn.
You've graduated from marauder,
to a wet nurse.
Adios!
We don't need him, do we Marshal?
Gonna miss his Sharp's carbine.
It's apt to get lively out here.
HEY!
Go on.
You stay here, sister.
I will see Bagby.
Has Chaney been here?
No.
Coke Haye was, two days ago.
Coke rides with Lucky Ned.
He bought supplies with this.
Well this is Papa's gold piece.
Tom Chaney here we come.
It is not the world's only California gold piece
They are rare here.
They are rare.
But if it is Chaney's,
it could just as easily mean that Lucky Ned
and his gang fell upon him as that he fell in with them.
Chaney could be a corpse.
That would be a bitter disappointment
Marshal, what would we do?
Um, pursue them.
Ned's unfinished business for the Marshals
anyhow, and when we have him we will also have Chaney
or we can learn the whereabouts of his body.
Bagby didn't know which way they went,
now that we know they come through here.
They couldn't have gone but one or two ways.
Heading north, towards the Winding Stair Mountains.
or pushing on further west.
I suspect north. More to rob.
I bought an eating place
Called the 'Green frog'.
Started calling myself Burroughs.
But my drinking's picked up.
My wife did not care for the company
of my river friends.
She decided to go back to her fist husband.
Clerk in a hardware store.
Wwll, she said, "Goodbye Ruben".
"Love of decency does not abide in you.
There is a divorced woman talking about decency.
I told her, "Goodbye, Nola".
"I hope that little nail-selling bastard will
make you happy this time.
She took my boy with her too.
He never cared for me anyway.
I guess I did speak awful rough to him.
I did not mean anything by it.
You would not want to see a clumsier child than Horace.
I bet he broke forty cups.
Is it Chaney?
I would not recognize the
soles of his feet.
Well, you'll have to clamber up and look.
I'm too old and too fat.
Now the Green Frog had one billiard table.
served ladies and men both,
mostly men. I tried to run it myself a while
but I couldn't keep good help.
Never did learn how to buy meat.
Is that him?
I believe not.
Well, cut him down.
Why?
I might know him.
That was when I went out to the staked plains of Texas,
shooting buffalo with Vernon Shaftoe and
a Flathead Indian called Olly.
The Mormons, they had run Shaftoe out of Great
Salt Lake City
but don't ask me what it was for.
Call it a misunderstanding and leave it go at that.
Well, the big shaggies,
about all gone now.
Damned shame.
I would give $3 right now for a pickled buffalo tongue.
Why did they hang him so high?
Oh, I do not know.
Possibly in the belief it would make
him more dead.
I do not know this man.
You hanged him?
Why did he take the hanged man?
Did he know him?
He did not.
But it is a dead body.
Must be worth something in the trade.
Now my second wife, Edna.
She had taken a notion she wanted me to be a lawyer.
Bought a heavy book called "Daniels on
Negotiable Instruments"
Set to make me reading it.
Never could get a grip on it.
I was happy enough to set it aside and leave Texas.
There ain't six trees between here and Canada,
Nothing else grows that has stickers on it.
Ask them...
- I knew it.
- Knew what?
We're being followed.
I asked that Injun to signal with a shot
if someone was on our trail.
Should we be concerned, Marshal?
Naw, Mr La Boeuf is giving us
his bird dog.
He wants to cut it in, once it flushed his prey.
Perhaps we could double back over our
tracks and confuse the trail in a clever way.
No, we will wait right here.
Offer our friend a warm hello.
Ask him where he's going.
You are not La Boeuf.
My name is Forrester.
I practice,
Dentistry in the Nation.
Also veterinary arts.
And medicine.
On those humans that will sit still for it.
You have your work cut out for you there.
Traded for him with an Indian who said he
came by him honestly.
I gave up two dental mirrors
and a bottle of expectorant.
Do either of you need
Medical attention?
No! Hey, it's fixing to get cold,
You know of anywhere to take shelter?
I have my bear skin.
You might want to head over
to the Original Greaser Bob's.
He notched a dugout into a hollow along the
Carrillon River.
If you ride the river.
You won't fail to see it.
Greaser BobOriginal
Greaser Bob
is hunting north of the picket wire
and would not begrudge its use
- Much obliged.
- Now, I have taken his teeth.
I will entertain an offer,
for the rest of him.
Take my jacket.
Creep up on the roof.
If they're unfriendly I'll give you a sign
to damp the chimney.
Who is out there?
We're looking for shelter.
No room for you here! Ride on!
Who all is in there?
I'm a federal officer.
Who's in there?
A Methodist and a son-of-a-bitch!
This is Rooster Cogburn.
Columbus Potter and five other Marshals
is out here with me.
We got a bucket of coal oil.
In one minute we will burn your
house from both ends!
There's only two of you.
Go ahead and bet your life on it.
How many of you is in there?
Just the two of us.
But my partner's hit.
And he can't walk.
Is that Emmett Quincy?
You said it was a man on the roof.
I thought it was Potter.
You was always dumb, Quincy, and remain true to form.
Hers's an awful lot of sofkee.
You boys looking for company?
That is our supper and breakfast both.
I like a big breakfast.
Sofkee always cooks up
bigger than you think.
Hmm, a good store of whiskey here as well.
What are you boys up to, outside
of cooking for banquets?
We was just having our supper.
We don't know who was outside in weather like this.
Might have been some crazy man.
Anyone can say that he is a Marshal.
My leg hurts.
I bet it does.
When is the last time you seen your old pard
Ned Pepper?
I do not know him.
Who is he?
I'm surprised you don't remember him.
Skinny fellow, nervous and quick.
His lips all messed up.
That don't bring anybody to mind.
There's a new boy.
Might be running with Ned.
He's got a powder mark on his face,
black place
He calls himself Chaney.
He's Chelmsford sometimes.
Carries a Henry rifle.
That don't bring anybody to mind.
Black mark, I would remember that.
You don't remember nothing I want to know, do you
Quincy?
What do you know, Moon?
He don't know those boys you're
looking for.
I don't know those boys.
I always try to help out the law.
hmm, By the time we get to Fort Smith
that leg will be
swelled up tight as Dick's hatband.
It'll be mortified.
Then they'll have to cut it off.
Then if you live, I'll make it two or
three years in the federal house.
- Up in Detroit, there.
- You're trying to get at me.
They'll teach you how to read
an write up there.
The rest won't be so good.
Them boys, they can be
hard on a gimp.
You're trying to get at me.
Now.
You give me some good information
on Ned.
I'll take you down to Bagby's store tomorrow,
and get that ball taken out of your leg.
Then I'll give you three days to
clear the Territory.
We don't know those boys
you're looking for.
- It ain't even his leg.
- I would say...
Don't go to flapping your mouth, Moon.
It's best you let me do the talking
- I would say I...
- We are weary trappers.
Who worked you over with the ugly stick?
The man Chaney with the marked face
killed my father.
He was a whiskey drinker like you
and it lead to killing in the end.
If you answer the Marshal's questions,
he will help you.
I have a good lawyer at home, and
he will help you too.
I'm puzzled by this.
Why is she here?
Don't go jawing with these people, Moon.
Don't you go jawing with that runt
I don't like you. I hope you go to jail.
My lawyer will not help you.
My leg is giving me fits.
A young fellow like don't want to loose his leg.
- We seen...
- Easy now!
He's trying to get at you.
- With the truth.
- We seen Ned and Hays two days ago. We's supposed-
Don't you act the fool,
If you blow, I will kill you.
I'm played out, I need a doctor.
We met Nate Hayes two days ago.
God damn it.
Oh Lord.
I'm dying.
Do something.
Help me.
I can do nothing for you, son.
You partner's killed you, and I've done for him.
Don't leave me lying here.
Don't let the wolves rip me up.
I'll see you're buried right.
You tell me about Ned, where'd you see him?
Two days ago.
Bagby's store.
They're coming here tonight to get remounts and sofkee.
They just robbed the Katy Flyer at
Wagoner's Switch.
I'm gone.
Send the news to my brother, George Garrett.
He is a Methodist circuit rider in
South Texas.
Shall I tell him you was outlawed up?
It don't matter.
He knows I'm on the scout.
I will meet him later, walking
the streets of Glory!
Well, don't be looking for Quincy.
What will we do when they get here?
Well they will ride up.
Hope we get them all in the dugout.
I will kill the last one to go in and then we will
have them in a barrel.
You will shoot them in the back?
Mmm, will give them the know
our intentions is serious.
Then I'll call down,
See if they'll be taken alive.
If they won't,
I'll shoot them if they come out.
I'm hoping that three of their party
being dead will take the starch out of them.
You display great poise.
Aw, It is just a turkey shoot.
There was one time in New Mexico,
we was being pursued by seven men.
I turned Bo around and
taken the reins in my teeth,
rode right at them boys firing
them two navy sixes I carry on my saddle.
Well...
I guess they was all married men who loved
their families as they scattered and run for home
Well that is hard to believe.
- Was it?
- One man riding at seven.
Well, it's true.
You go for a man hard enough and fast enough,
he don't have time to think about how many is
with him, he thinks about his self.
how he may get clear
of the wrath that is about to set down on him.
Why were they pursuing you?
I robbed a high interest bank.
Can't rob a thief, can you?
Never robbed a citizen.
Never took a man's watch.
It is all stealing.
That's the position they took
in New Mexico.
One man.
I did not figure them to send a scout.
Damn.
It is La Boeuf.
We have to warn him, Marshal!
Too late.
What will we do, Marshal?
We sit, what does he do.
Him in the woolly chaps is Lucky Ned.
Well, that's that.
Well that didn't pan out.
You managed to put a kink in my rope, pardner.
Ah, I'm severely injured.
Yes you got drug some.
I was also shot.
By a rifle.
That is quite possible.
The scheme did not develop as I had planned.
You've been shot in the shoulder,
but the bullet passed through.
What happened to your mouth?
I believe I bit myself.
Couple of teeth loose, and ah yeah.
Tongue bit almost through.
Do you want to see if it will knit or should I just
yank it free?
I know a teamster,
bit his tongue off being thrown
from a horse.
After a time he learned to make
himself more or less understood.
I'll just yank it free.
Look at that now.
What's that now?
Knit. It will knit.
Ah, very well.
It's impossible to bind
a tongue wound.
Too bad, we just run across a doctor.
- Marshal?
- of sorts but I do not know where he was headed.
I saw him too, that's how I came
to be here.
Neither of these men are Chaney.
I know it, I know them both.
That ugly one is Coke Hayes.
Him uglier stiff is Clement Parmalee
Parmalee and his brothers have a silver
claim in the Winding Stair Mountains.
And I bet that's where Lucky Ned's gang is riding.
Well, we'll sleep here.
Follow in the morning.
We promised to bury the poor soul inside.
Ground's too hard.
That men wanted a decent burial,
he should have got themselves killed in summer.
Sleep well, Little Blackie.
I have a notion that tomorrow we will
reach our object.
We're hot on the trail.
It seems that we will overtake Tom
Chaney in the Winding Stair Mountain.
I would not want to be in his shoes.
Chelmsford, as he called himself in Texas.
Shot the Senator's dog.
When the Senator remonstrated.
Chelmsford shot him as well.
Now you could argue that the shooting of
the dog was clearly an instance of malum prohibitum.
But the shooting of the Senator is indubitably
an instance of malum in se.
Malla-men what?
Neither of them safe.
The distinction is between an
act that is wrong in itself.
And an act that is wrong according
to our laws and mores.
It is Latin.
I'm struck,
that La Boeuf.
I've been shot, trampled and nearly
severs his tongue.
Not only does he not cease to talk.
But spills the banks of English.
I was within three hundred yards of
Chelmsford once.
The closest I have been.
With a Sharp's carbine that is within range.
But I was mounted,
and had the choice of firing off-hand.
or dismounting to shoot from rest,
which would allow Chelmsford to augment the distance.
I fired mounted -
and fired wide.
You cannot hit a man three hundred yards
if your gun was resting on Gibraltar
The Sharp's carbine is an instrument of
uncanny balance and precision.
I've no doubt that the gun is sound.
(Sings "Greer County")
#My clothes are all ragged and my language is rough.#
#My bread is corn dodgers,
both solid and tough#
#And yet I'm happy, and live at my ease#
#On sorghum molasses, and bacon, and cheese#
Greer county bantler.
I do not believe he slept.
Fort Smith is a healthy distance, La Boeuf
but I would encourage the creature you ride
to head southward.
Out here a
one-armed man looks like easy prey
And a one eyed man who can't shoot.
Why don't you turn back, Cogburn?
I'll do fine.
I know where the Parmalee's claim is. I am uninjured,
well provisioned, and we agreed to separate.
In confidence you cannot shy our agreement.
You're the one that shot me.
Mr La Boeuf has a point, Marshal.
It is an unfair leg-up in
any competition to shoot your opposite number
God damn it. I do not accept as
a given that I did shoot La Boeuf.
There was plenty of guns going off.
I heard the rifle, and I felt the ball.
You missed your shot, Cogburn, admit it.
Missed my shot!
You are more handicapped without the eye,
then I without the arm.
I can hit a gnat's eye at ninety yards.
That chinaman is running them cheap shells on me again.
I thought you were going to say,
the sun was in your eyes.
That is to say, "your eye".
Two at one time.
I will to chuck one high.
Hold fire.
- There.
- There!?
- My bullet.
- Your bullet?
If you hit what you aim at,
explain my shoulder.
Gentlemen, shooting cornbread out here the prairie
is getting us no closer to the Ned Pepper gang.
One more. This will prove it.
Please hold fire.
Find our way back!
Lucky Ned?
LuckyY Ned!
Very good, Cogburn.
Now what?
Oh, god damn it.
Cogburn does not want me eating out of his store.
That is silly. You have not eaten the whole day,
and it is my store not his.
Let him starve!
He does not track!
He does not shoot.
except at foodstuffs!
That was is your initiative?
He does not contribute!
He is a man who walks in front of bullets!
Mr La Boeuf drew single handed
upon the Lucky Ned Pepper gang.
while we fired safely from cover.
- We?
- It is unfair to indict a man,
when his jaw is swollen, and tongue mangled
and is therefore unable to rise to his defense.
I can speak for myself.
I am hardly obliged to answer the
ravings of a drunkard. It is beneath me
I shall make my own camp.
Elsewhere.
It is you who
have nothing to offer, Cogbur
A sad picture indeed.
This is no longer a man hunt.
It is a debauch.
The Texas Ranger,
presses on, alone.
Take the girl.
I bow out.
A fine thing to decide once you brought her
into the middle of the Choctaw Nation.
I bow out, I wash my hands.
Gentlemen we cannot fall out in this fashion.
Not so close to our goal, with
Tom Chaney nearly in hand.
In hand?
If he is not in a shallow grave, somewhere
between here and Fort Smith, he is gone
He is gone.
Long gone!
Thanks to Mr La Boeuf, we missed our shot!
We barked, and the birds have flown!
Gone, gone, gone.
Lucky Ned and his cohort, gone!
Your $50, gone!
Gone with whiskey.
seized in evidence!.
The trail is cold, if ever there was one!
I'm....I'm a foolish old man who's been
drawn into a wild goose chase.
by a harpy in trousers,
and a nincompoop.
Well, Mr La Boeuf.
He can wander the Choctaw Nation
for as long as he likes;
perhaps the local Injuns will take him in.
and honor his gibberings by making him Chief!
You, sister, may go where you like!
Our engagement is terminated.
I bow out.
I'm going with you.
Oh, that is not possible.
Have I held you back?
I have a Colt's Dragoon revolver
which I know how to use,
And I will be no more a burden to you,
as I was to the Marshal.
That's not my worry.
You've earned your spurs.
That is clear now.
You've been a regular
old hand on the trail.
But Cogburn's right.
even if I would not give him the
satisfaction of conceding it.
The trail is cold.
And I am,
considerably diminished.
How can you give up now. After the many months
you've dedicated to finding Chaney?
You have shown great determination.
I misjudged you.
I picked the wrong man.
I would go on with your company,
if there were a clear way to go.
But we'd be striking out blindly.
Chelmsford's gone.
we have chased him right off the map
There's nothing for him.
I'm bound for Texas.
Time for you to go home, too.
The Marshal, when he sobers.
is your way back.
I will not go back. Not without Chaney,
dead or alive.
I misjudged you as well.
I extend my hand.
Mr La Boeuf, please!
Adios.
I know you.
Your name is Mattie.
You're little Mattie, the bookkeeper.
Isn't that something?
Yes, and I know you, Tom Chaney.
What you doing out here?
Come to fetch some water.
No, what are you doing in these mountains, here?
While I've not been formerly deputized,
but I'm acting as an agent for,
Marshal Rooster Cogburn
and Judge Parker's court.
I have come to take you back to Fort Smith.
Well, I will not go.
How do you like that?
There's a posse of officers up there
who will force you to go.
That is interesting news.
And how many is up there?
Right around fifty.
They're all well armed and they mean business.
What I want you to do now is to come on across
the creek and walk in front of me up the hill.
I think I'll oblige the officers to
come after me.
Well if you refuse to go, then
I'll have to shoot you.
Oh.
Well you'd better cock your piece.
All the way back.
- Till it locks.
- I know how to do it.
You will not go with me?
Naw, it's just the other way around.
You're going with me.
I'm...AAAH!
Well I didn't think you would do it.
- What do you think now?
- One of my short ribs is broken.
You killed my father when he was trying to help you.
I have one of the gold pieces you stole
from him. Now give me the other.
- Things aren't going right for me.
- Mattie!
I'm down here.
Now I'm shot by a child.
Chaney's taken into custody!
Help me.
Mattie!
Marshal.
Take them horses you got and move!
Tom, get on up that hill! Don't you stop...
Who all is down there?
Marshal Cogburn and fifty more officers.
Tell me another lie and I'll
stove your head in.
Just the Marshal.
Rooster.
Cogburn!
You hear me?
You answer me, Rooster!
I will kill this girl!
You know I will do it.
The girl is nothing to me!
She is a runaway from Arkansas!
That is all very well.
Do you advise that I kill her?
Do what you think is best, Ned!
She's nothing to me but a lost child!
Think it over, first.
I have already thought it over!
You get mounted double fast!
If I see you riding over that bald ridge to the northwest,
I will spare the girl.
You have five minutes!
They will be a party of Marshals here
soon, Ned!
Let me have the girl and Chaney and I will mislead them for six hours!
Too thin Rooster.
Too thin.
Your five minutes is running!
No more talk!
Get on up that hill.
Well, see to Tom's wound.
Can I have some of that bacon?
You help yourself.
Have some of the coffee.
I do not drink coffee, I am fourteen.
Well we do not have buttermilk,
and we do not have bread.
We are poorly supplied.
- There she is.
- What are you doing here?
I will wring your scrawny neck.
You let that go.
What happened, huh?
I will tell you, and you will see that
I'm in the right.
Tom Chaney there shot my father to death
in Fort Smith and robbed him of
two gold pieces and stole his mare.
I was informed of Mr Cogburn had grit and
I hired him to find the murderer.
A few minutes ago I came upon Chaney
watering the horses.
He would not be taken in charge and I
shot him.
If I had killed him I would not be now in this fix.
My revolver misfired.
They will do it.
It will embarrass you every time.
Most girls like to play pretties,
but you like guns, do ya?
I do not care a thing in the world about guns.
If I did I would have one that worked.
I was shot from ambush, Ned.
The horses was blowing and
making noise. It was that officer that got me.
How can you sit there and tell such a big story?
That pit is a hundred feet deep,
and I will throw you in it.
I'll leave you screaming in rot.
-Now how do you like that?
-No you won't.
This man will not let you have your way. He's your
boss and you have to do as he tells you.
Ain't nothing going my way.
Was that Rooster waylaid us
night before last?
It was Marshal Cogburn and myself.
You and Cogburn...
Quite the posse.
Let us move, Ned.
In good time, Doctor.
What happened to Quincy and the kid?
They are both dead.
I was in the very middle of it. It was a
terrible thing to see.
Please, let us move, Ned.
The Marshal's gone.
Do you need a good lawyer?
I need a good judge.
What happened to Coke Hayes,
the old fellow shot off his horse?
Dead as well.
These declarations have come to an end.
Your friend Rooster does
not collect many prisoners.
He is not my friend.
He has abandoned me to a congress of louts.
You do not varnish your opinions.
Are we off?
Let us cut up the winnings from the Katie Flyer.
They'll be time for that at The Old Place.
I will mount the grey.
I have other plans for you.
Must I double-mount with the Doctor?
- No!
- Nope.
Too chancy with two men up if it comes to a race.
Tom, you wait here with the girl.
When we reach Ma's house I will
send Carroll
back with a fresh mount.
You will be out by dark.
We'll meet you at the old place.
I do not like that.
Let me ride with you, Ned.
Just outof here anyway.
No. We are short a horse.
Marshals will come swarming.
Hours, if they come here at all.
They will guess we are all gone.
I am not staying here by myself
with Tom Chaney.
That is the way I will have it.
He will kill me.
You have heard him say it. He has killed
my father and now you will let him kill me.
He will do no such thing.
Tom, you know the crossing at
Cypress Forks, near the log meetinghouse?
When you are mounted you will take
the girl there and leave her.
Do you understand that, Tom?
If any harm comes to that child
you'll not get paid.
Harold, let me ride up with you.
Farrel, I will pay you $50 out of my winnings!
I am not heavy!
Ha ha! Do the calf again, Harold!
Everything is against me.
You have no reason to whine.
If you act as the bandit chief instructed, and no
harm comes to me, you will get your winnings at The Old Place.
Lucky Ned has left me, knowing I am sure to be caught when I leave on foot.
I must think over my
position and how I may improve it.
Where is the second California gold piece?
What have you done with Papa's mare?
Keep still.
Are you thinking about The Old Place?
Look here, if you let me go.
I will swear to it an affidavit..
and once you are brought to justice,
it may go easier on you.
I tell you I can do better than that.
I don't need your affidavit.
All I need is your silence.
Your father was a busybody like you.
In honesty, I do not regret shooting him.
He thought Tom Chaney was small.
And you!
You will give me an affidavit.
You're all against me! Everything....
So that is Chelmsford.
Strange to be so close to him at last.
Mr La Boeuf, how is it that you are here?
I heard the shot.
and went down to the river.
Cogburn outlined a plan.
Mind your footing, there's a pit there.
His part,
I fear is rash.
He returns for Lucky Ned.
Yo, Rooster!
Will you give us the road?
One against four. It is ill advised.
He could not be dissuaded.
Well Ned, how many men is with the girl?
Just Chaney.
Our agreement is in force.
She was in excellent health,
when last I saw her.
Farrell, I want you and your brother
to stand clear.
You as well, Proctor.
I have no interest in you today.
What is your intention, Rooster?
You think one eye follows a downfall?
I mean to kill you in one minute, Ned.
Or see you hanged at Fort Smith
at Judge Parker's convenience.
Which will you have?
I call that bold talk
for a one-eyed fat man.
Fill your hand, you son of a bitch.
Shoot them Mr La Boeuf.
Too far, moving too fast.
Well, Rooster?
I'm shot to pieces.
Seems neither of us
is to see Judge Parker.
Wahooo!
Some bully shot.
That was four hundred yards at least.
Well,
the Sharp's carbine, is a...
Stand up, Tom Chaney.
M...Mr La Boeuf
Are you alive?
Mr La Boeuf!
Mr La Boeuf.
Mr La Boeuf.
Are you there?
I'm here.
Can you clamber out?
I cannot.
There are snakes.
They awake?
Yes!
I'm bit.
Does Mr La Boeuf survive?
He does - even a blow to the head could silence
him for only a few short minutes.
Where are you bit?
Look away, now.
I have her!
Up with us!
Worked Mr. LeBoeuf! Take her.
Snakebit.
We're off.
I'll send help for you as soon as I can.
Don't wander off.
We are not leaving him!
I must get you to a doctor, sis,
or you are not going to make it.
I am in your debt for that shot, pard.
Never doubt the Texas Ranger.
Come on.
. . . Ever shtalwart!
We must stop.
Little Blackie is played out.
We've miles yet.
Come on you.
NO!
No.
That's it, come on now.
No, stop.
He's getting away.
Who's getting, sis?
Chaney.
No.. NO!
NO, no, no.
Oh, no.
No, stop.
I've grown old.
(Grown up Mattie)
A quarter century is a long time.
By the time we reached Baglee's store,
my hand had turned black.
I was not awake when I lost the arm.
The Marshal had stayed with me, I was told.
'til I was out of danger.
But he departed before I came around.
Once home. I wrote him with an invitation,
to come by, the next time he found
himself near Yell county.
And collect the $50 I still owed him.
I did not hear back from Marshal Cogburn.
And he did not appear.
Then one day I received a note from
the Marshal, with a flyer enclosed.
He said he was traveling with the Wild West show.
Getting older and fatter.
But I like to come visit him when the show
came to Memphis, and swap stories
with an old trail mate.
He would understand if the journey was to long.
Brief tho his note was.
It was rife with misspellings.
Yesum?
I am Cole Younger.
This is Mr James.
It grieves me to tell you that you have missed Rooster.
He passed away three days ago.
When the show was at Jonesboro Arkansas.
Buried him there at a Confederate cemetery.
Ruben had a complaint what he referred to as,
Night hawks.
And I believe the warm weather was to much for him.
We had some lively times.
What was the nature of your acquaintance?
I knew the Marshal long ago.
We too had, lively times.
Thank you, Mr Younger.
Keep your seat, trash.
I had the body removed to our plot and
I had visited it over the years.
No doubt people talked about that.
They say, "Well, she hardly knew the man".
"Isn't she a cranky old maid".
It is true, I have not married.
I never had time to fool with it.
I heard nothing more of the Texas
officer, La Boeuf.
If he is yet alive. I would be pleased
to hear from him.
I judge he would be in his seventies now.
And near eighty in seventy.
I expect some of the starch has gone
out of that cowlick.
Time just gets away from us.
#What a fellowship, what a joy divine,#
#Leaning on the everlasting arms.#
#What a blessedness, what a peace is mine,#
#Leaning on the everlasting arms.#
#Leaning, leaning,#
#safe and secure from all alarms.#
#Leaning, leaning,#
#leaning on the everlasting arms.#
#Oh, how sweet to walk in this pilgrim way,#
#Leaning on the everlasting arms#
#Oh, how bright the path grows from day to day,#
#Leaning on the everlasting arms.#
#Leaning, leaning,#
#safe and secure from all alarms.#
#Leaning, leaning,#
#I'm leaning on the everlasting arms.#