Centennial (1978) s01e11 Episode Script

NARRATOR: The American West of the early 20th century had seen many men come and go.
The first, like the Arapaho Chief, Lame Beaver, were true custodians of the land.
Taking only what they needed and giving thanks for a world they knew they could never own.
The white men who came later, like the French trapper, Pasquinel, and the Scotsman, Alexander McKeag, also understood the delicate balance that must be kept between the dictates of nature and the needs of man.
The lesson was learned, too, by some who came west for one reason and found another for staying.
Like Levi Zendt and Maxwell Mercy.
There were others whose efforts helped evolve a system of land use which was one of the most advantageous in the world.
The vast plains were reserved for cattle.
And the ranchers, like John Skimmerhorn and Jim Lloyd, superintended the range carefully, knowing that their fortunes depended entirely on the health and vigor of the grasslands.
The rancher's partner was the irrigation farmer, like Hans Brumbaugh, who took the lands along the rivers and led water to them, creating gardens out of deserts and multiplying fiftyfold the value of the land in a single summer.
It was a fruitful partnership, for each could use what the other could not.
Life was simple and placid.
And, had it been allowed to develop unimpeded, it would have converted this part of America into a lasting preserve of beauty.
But change was already on its way.
Predators began to stream westward.
A breed concerned with only the riches they could take from the land.
The kind of men content with nothing less then reaping obscene profits from barren land, without any concern for its health and its future.
Near the end of the 19th century, a Minnesota businessman named Soren Sorenson disappeared from the face of the earth.
And a family named Wendell founded its future power and prestige on 5,500 stolen dollars and a murder.
By the year 1911, the railroads were heralding the promised land, encouraging hordes of Americans to go west and file a claim and take their share of riches from the land.
To take more when they could, and more and more.
And those who came had no way of knowing how greatly they would upset the balance between man and nature.
And how close they would come to destroying a major portion of the nation and themselves.
This way, ladies and gentlemen.
Right over here.
Over here, everyone.
I'm Mervin Wendell.
Slap your brand on a hunk of land.
Well, ladies and gentlemen, what can I say but welcome to Centennial, where no hard-working, God-fearing, family-loving man ever failed to prosper.
Now, then.
Are we all accounted for? The Swensons? Ah, yes.
And the Volkemas, yes.
Zorinskys? The Facerhults, the Grebes? The land commissioner is waiting for us at the line camp.
He has the plats of the town we're going to build there.
But more importantly, he has the surveyor's maps from which you will choose your own free land.
Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to say that your presence here stamps you as men and women of vision.
Men and women who want the bounty of life and are bold enough to go after it.
I know such people like to travel in style, so how do you like those? Do they suit you well enough? Before long, you'll all have one or possibly two of your own.
Don't worry about your bags.
They'll go straight to the hotel.
Just follow me.
BRUMBAUGH: Wait a minute.
Wait, wait, wait a minute.
There's something you ought to know.
That free land that you'll be looking at is in the dry lands.
And you can't make a living in the dry lands.
People tried in the '80s and they failed.
They lost everything.
Some even their lives.
Thank you very much for such a neighborly concern, Mr.
Brumbaugh.
You'll find everyone here in Centennial looks out for the welfare of his fellow citizens.
But we mustn't any of us forget the progress that has been made since the 1880s.
We mustn't forget the methods of the man who has proved what can be done on dryland farms.
I'm referring, of course, to Dr.
Thomas Dole Creevey.
He has proved that if you follow his principles any land with topsoil and as little as 12 inches of rain per year can be turned into a veritable Garden of Eden.
Made in fact to produce up to 30 bushels of wheat per acre.
Sod crop.
Any sod in the world will produce a crop the first year the sod's broken.
But you have to think ahead to the dry years.
Ladies and gentlemen, perhaps you should meet these two concerned neighbors of yours.
This is Mr.
Hans Brumbaugh.
Mr.
Brumbaugh came to Centennial years ago with only his two bare hands.
He took up his free land.
Just as you can today.
And he planted potatoes and he planted sugar beets.
Mr.
Brumbaugh is now a millionaire.
I had a river.
This other gentleman is Mr.
Jim Lloyd.
He arrived in this land of prosperity without a penny in his pocket either.
Then he took up the free land for grazing for his cattle, and now, he's a millionaire, too.
'Course, he married the boss's daughter, and that didn't hurt either, huh? Why don't you tell these people here how you got rich? Mr.
Lloyd, I'm never ashamed to share what Centennial has done for me and my family.
Are you not ashamed of the fact that you've been buying up land from people like these for 25 cents an acre after they find out it isn't quite so easy to farm it as you said it was? The people who quit sold me their land.
That's business.
But the ones who didn't quit have proved everything Dr.
Creevey and I stand for is true.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is big business.
The truth is no one can farm this land without water.
The truth, Mr.
Brumbaugh, I'm afraid, is becoming more and more obvious.
You and Mr.
Lloyd have the land you need, and now you wish to keep these good people from getting theirs.
My friends, let's go home.
Gentlemen.
Are you convinced we're wrong? Dead wrong.
You're tearing up the sod.
You can't farm this land that way.
Well, Dr.
Creevey does it.
He has every kind of support from the railroad.
The more people they bring to settle out here, the more money they stand to make.
But I've seen the crops he's grown myself.
On the dry lands in Nebraska.
Yeah.
And when the dry years come, even Creevey'll be wiped out.
It can't be done.
Mr.
Grebe.
MERVIN: Here we are, ladies and gentlemen.
Beautiful, isn't it? Just step right out.
Ladies, just step out.
What do you think? Dear Lord, it's so desolate.
Oh, not when there are barns and windmills and trees and splendid houses dotting the horizon.
Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to introduce to you Mr.
Walter Bellamy.
He's our land commissioner.
And if you'll just follow him inside, he has the maps and plats for you to review.
Alice? Big, isn't it? It's empty.
That's what we're here for.
To fill it up.
Mr.
Grebe.
Yes, sir? I know the land around here pretty well.
Mind a suggestion? I'd be obliged.
Check out the parcels up near Rattlesnake Cliffs.
Rattlesnakes? It's only an Indian name, Mrs.
Grebe.
No rattlesnakes around here now, or Indians either.
Mostly Baptists.
It's been a while, Clara.
Forgive me.
The harvest, you know.
Good.
It was a real good harvest.
As good a harvest as we've had.
Guess what? They've asked me to go to England to talk about irrigation.
Isn't that something? Sometimes I wonder why someone like you is taken, and I stay.
Well, all I can think of is that God still thinks I have work to do.
So I'm always out, looking to see what it is and doing the best I can.
(SOBBING) But I'm an old man, Clara.
And I miss you so.
Auf Wiedersehen, Clara.
Señor Brumbaugh? Hi.
I'm Serafina Marquez.
Tranquilino's wife.
Tranquilino's wife? Well, where is he? He couldn't come.
The war.
The war? He's in the revolution? Tranquilino? He wanted me to tell you, you are in his heart always.
I thought he was dead.
I did, too.
For over six years.
What happened? When he left you, some men in Denver said he stole from them.
Stole It was a lie, but he was sent to prison.
In prison? Here in Colorado? For six years? Yes.
Well, why didn't he get word to me? I could've helped him.
I could've gotten him out.
He was ashamed.
Ashamed? And he was afraid that you wouldn't believe him.
Tranquilino's the most honest man I've ever met.
Ever! He sent you here to me? He said that we would be safe with you.
Well, by gosh, by gosh.
This can't be Victoriano? Truinfador.
Victoriano is with his father.
And This is Soledad.
Well, well, well, come on, come on, my car's down here, huh.
When did you get here? How did you know I was here? Well, well.
Come on, come on, come on.
Well, I'm glad to see you (CHATTERING) All right, come on out.
Careful.
(SIGHING) Hey, we found a beautiful place.
How about you? Oh, just what we wanted.
Nine hundred and sixty acres.
Nine? But we're only entitled to 320 apiece.
Don't worry.
I have the chalk.
Chalk? What's the only requirement to be a homesteader? To be over 21, right? Right.
Well, Lida? Peter? Within six months you must give me proof that you have taken up actual residence on your land.
If you do so, it will be yours three years from this date, in fee simple.
Understood? I'm filing for the half-section just north of my papa's.
I'm filing for the half-section just south of my papa's.
I'm sorry, Mr.
Volkema, if you didn't understand.
But a claim can't be filed by anyone who isn't over age 21.
I understand, Mr.
Bellamy.
Are you young people over age 21? Yes, sir.
Do you solemnly swear in the presence of almighty God that you are over age 21? I do.
I am.
I'm sorry, Mr.
Volkema.
I'm afraid I'm going to require some sort of proof.
I am their mother.
And I know when they were born.
And I swear to you on the good name of my dear sweet mother that as my two children stand before you, they are both over age 21.
Well, wish your father happy birthday, Philip.
Happy birthday, Father.
Thank you, my boy.
And a happy birthday it is.
Do you know, every one of those Iowa farmers signed up? Six out of six.
Now, you add the potential of that to the Karpitz farm I acquired last month, brings our holdings to 55,000 acres.
I have the honor to announce that we are now the biggest private landowners in the district.
Here, here.
How about that, my boy? You must be very proud, Father.
I'm proud for us all.
You know, considering our humble beginnings, we are entitled to think of ourselves as the embodiment of all this great nation has to offer the pluckiest of its citizens.
(LAUGHING) Did you make a wish, Mervin? You know what I wished? What? I wished you two sly foxes would tell me where you hid the body.
Come on, it's my birthday! Although I'm sure it's a deep matter.
It was in the river, wasn't it? Mervin.
I know, I know, I know.
You think I'll get drunk at the Railway Arms and blab.
Well, let me tell you a little secret about human nature.
I could take any man in this town, look him straight in the face and say, "We got our start by helping a Christian gentleman "to his reward.
" And if I said it with the Wendell charm, he'd slap me on the back and tell me how dull things would be around here without me.
How about it, Philip? Is he in the river? Old Axel Dumire sure thought so.
Liked to have sprouted gills wading around out there.
I don't know what comes over that boy.
To speak candidly, it worries me.
Oh, well, he'll come around.
When he understands what a beautiful future you've provided for him.
Well, he'd better hurry up.
He's going to have a big responsibility.
Two of those Iowa couples are a cinch to throw it in.
I ought to be able to buy up their land for two bits on the acre.
You certainly picked the right town for us, my sweet.
(MUSIC PLAYING) Mr.
Wendell.
Well, good evening, all.
I heard you got a title to your land today.
I wanted to congratulate you, Earl.
It's wonderful.
Well, we're having a little celebration.
Join us, please.
Well, thank you.
May I? And I've a little something for you to celebrate, too.
MAGNES: Oh, yes, wheat's gone up? No, snow is coming down.
Hey, give me that dollar.
I told you we'd have snow on the ground by Thanksgiving.
That is one bet I am glad to lose.
MAGNES: This much water this early.
By golly, it's going to be our best year.
Well, I agree one hundred percent.
May I borrow your wine to make a little toast? To Earl and Alice Grebe and their loyal friends, the inheritors of the future.
And to Mr.
Mervin Wendell, who made it all possible.
Well, I'm glad I ran into you, Earl.
Saves me a trip out to your place.
How's that? Well, no, this is a special night for you.
Perhaps you'd rather not talk business.
No, go ahead, please.
If you insist.
As you know, young Arlington stopped homesteading.
The land is now mine.
It's a really choice half-section just adjacent to yours.
Never touched by a plow.
You propose to sell it? I don't know.
In the hands of the right man, it could produce 30 bushels.
How much? Five dollars an acre, and I will carry the paper myself.
Five dollars? That's outlandish.
No, it's too much.
It's impossible.
Now, Earl, you are caught in what I call the trap of knowledge.
You know the Arlingtons commuted their land 14 months ago, by paying Mr.
Bellamy here $1.
25 on the acre.
You know that I bought it for $1.
75 on the acre, showing him a nice profit.
Now, you think that I should restrict my profits by perhaps selling it to you for, let's say, $3.
25 an acre.
But what none of you have taken into account is the war.
No matter what they say, we'll soon be in it.
And that fact alone makes Wheatland worth a fortune.
No, it's too much.
Anyway, Alice wants to replace our soddy with a real house and I agree with her.
Well, I quite understand.
No man likes to see the light of his life working so hard without some comforts.
You think it over.
Oh, by the way, I must warn you the gentleman I'm dining with, Mr.
Schrager from Nebraska, well, he's interested.
And he is a cash-on- the-barrelhead sort of fella.
Well, good evening, all.
And once again, Earl, Alice, my warmest congratulations.
Earl, if this really is a chance to better yourself No, we're still gonna build you that house.
You want to talk it over with him, don't you? Go on.
Excuse me, folks.
Talking about it never did any harm.
Unless you're talking to a snake.
Alice.
It's what he wants.
(COWS MOOING) Get two out of there, Jim.
We don't need them.
Let's get these two back here.
We don't want them.
Howdy, boss.
JIM: Morning, Beeley.
Say, I'd like to talk to you for a minute.
Hey, Warren, take over for me, will you? How's the new bull? Well, he's all right.
He's no Confidence, but he's all right.
We got the best beef cattle in the west out of Confidence.
Of course, he looked a lot less finished when the steers were lined up, but weight for weight, he butchered out 40 pounds more of edible beef.
Well, that's where the money is, isn't it? Beeley.
When you first came asking me if you could marry my girl Nancy, I had to think pretty hard on it for a spell.
Yes, sir, I remember that.
She tells me she's happy.
Yeah, but you're not too happy about the fact of her name being Garrett, are you? Well, the thing I like about you is you were raised with sheep, but you had the intelligence to switch to cattle.
Well, I like cattle.
I know you do.
I've been watching you.
You can ride and you can rope and you know a good calf from a weakling.
Well, sheep herding, well, heck, you know, that's for Mexicans or maybe Indians.
It was good enough for my father, Jim.
Well, now, sure it was.
There wasn't a finer man in Centennial than Messmore Garrett.
I was proud to call him my friend.
I'm proud to have his son in my family.
I just meant, well, you know, think on it.
You ever notice that there are a thousand cowboy songs, but there ain't one sheep song? It's the smell, I reckon.
Jim, you can take those Herefords and you know what you can do with them.
Oh, now, Beeley! Beeley, now hold on! Now, God dang it! I didn't mean nothing, I just Listen! What I wanna say is, well, I ain't getting any younger.
Neither is anybody else.
Well, you got a lot of good years left in you.
And I want to offer you a new job.
Assistant Manager to the Venneford.
Will you take it? Yeah.
It's got a big future, dang it! Now, don't go turning it down just 'cause you're mad! I said yes.
Oh.
On one condition.
Yeah, what's that? I don't wanna hear anymore about sheep.
Not one word.
It's a deal.
Anyway, when it come right down to it, Charlotte and I, we eat mutton.
Just to show we got no animosity.
Oh, you do? Once a year.
(BAND PLAYING MUSIC) My friends, in the past few weeks, I have traveled the width and breadth of this great state.
I have sat up half the night chatting with mothers and fathers of doughboys.
My wife and I have entertained the relatives of General Pershing in our own home.
(ALL CHEERING) Charming people, by the way, as genteel as old Black Jack is tough.
And they all said to a man I don't know how he stands on that platform.
Why is that, señor? Hot air rises.
MERVIN: and above all, thank the farmers.
Our boys are the best fed soldiers in the world.
And speaking of that, I see among us a man who has added yet another section to his holdings and will soon be raising even more life-giving wheat for our boys over there.
Let's hear it for Earl Grebe! And ladies and gentlemen, it is in that spirit that I invite you to step up here today and buy a stamp, buy a bond, contribute one dollar, two dollars, three dollars (COUGHING) You ought to be at home in bed with that cough, Mervin.
Mrs.
Emig, if you courageous mothers can give your sons, the light of your lives, I think I can weather a little discomfort to back them up.
So step right up, ladies and gentlemen, and pitch in.
These lovely girls, and they are lovely, aren't they, will take your pledges.
Step up, ladies and gentlemen.
ALICE: Hello, Mr.
Brumbaugh.
Howdy? How are you feeling? I hear you had a bout with the flu.
Oh, cleared right up.
Thanks to this fine lady here.
I don't believe you ever met Tranquilino Marquez's son.
This is Serafina.
How do you do? Hello.
And Truinfador.
Hello.
Hello.
And little Soledad.
Soledad.
This is the fine lady I told you about who pestered the town's fathers into building the new school.
I've been trying to get her to send the kids, but she won't do it.
Why not? School is for Anglos.
Oh, Mrs.
Marquez, everybody should go who has the chance.
That's right.
Look at the Takemoto kids, they were the head of the class.
They have different customs.
Anyway, Truinfador is needed on the farm.
At least till his brother and my husband come back.
And Soledad? She's a girl.
I see.
As if girls are born to be ignorant.
You better take her by the hand, Miss Grebe.
She's too stubborn for an old man like me.
I'm going to the bank.
Me, too? Come on, come on, if you can stay up, come on.
Oh, Miss Grebe, I hear you had a fine harvest.
Yes.
Well, that's good.
I hope your luck holds.
You still don't approve? Approve? I approve of you and your husband.
Well, come on, young man.
Come on.
You know, I'm reading a book now might interest you fellas.
It's about soil erosion.
What's that? Well, when a stream is rolling downhill and gathers speed.
You know, it eats away the soil, forms a gully.
Heck, I knew how to stop that when I was a kid.
You put rocks right in the stream and it slows the water.
Yeah, but it doesn't stop it.
It still escapes.
Now, you see, if you fellas would stop plowing in unbroken lines, if you break up your rows, and leave a few strips of unplowed land, there'd be a lot less erosion.
And if a high wind comes, you'd have a lot better chance of keeping your topsoil.
All due respect, Walter, you ever farmed? I don't see what that's got to do with it.
Facts are facts.
Who won the plowing contest this year? You did, but Who took second place? Earl.
But look, Magnes, suppose a three-day wind comes down the fields, lined up with those furrows? There'd be nothing to break it for 500 miles.
Walter, why don't you supervise the selling (SIGHS) and we'll supervise the farming? We haven't been doing anything that hasn't been done by a million farmers before us.
And with 19 inches of rainfall, I don't even know what we need that extra catchment for.
I saw Hans Brumbaugh a minute ago.
Why don't we ask him? Now you can't say he's never farmed.
He's got irrigation.
That's a whole different principle.
I'm willing.
Where is he? I saw him talking to your wife.
BRUMBAUGH: Every time I see you, Hardesty, and you're in the same position.
Don't rub it in, Hans.
(ENGINE SPUTTERING) Should've got a Model K like me.
Mine purrs like a kitten.
All right, come on, come on, come on.
(GRUNTING) TRUINFADOR: Patrón! Patrón! Hans! Hans! Patrón? Hans? Truinfador, get Dr.
Miller! Quick! Hans? Hans? Well, it was gracious of you to receive me, Mr.
Wendell, your having been so ill.
Oh, nonsense, Mr.
Stanford.
Show me an actor who wouldn't jump at a chance to write his own obituary.
Oh, please, sir, none of that.
No, no, no, let's not nice-nelly about.
I'm dying.
I know that.
But I've had a grand life and if I can leave something behind for the young people, I'll be very glad.
So Where do we start? Well, since you brought it up, what about those early days in the theater? I believe you toured a great deal.
And in fact, isn't that how you met your wife? Oh, yes.
I was performing in the Dakotas.
And I was told I positively had to see a certain local singer.
"Warbled like a skylark," they said.
So I went over on my night off and I found this vision of loveliness, this Venus, rising from the foam.
And did you become engaged at once? Oh, no.
She really made it very hard on me.
She laid down all sorts of conditions, didn't you, my sweet? Yes, I'm afraid that's so.
What were some of those conditions, if I may pry a bit? Well, what were they, Maude? Let's see.
She would not be made to be intimate with fools, even if they were my relations.
STANFORD: Mr.
Wendell.
Perhaps we should get a doctor.
No.
I'm all We must We must be very cool and well-bred she said, as cool as if we were married for a long time and as well-bred as if we weren't married at all.
Excuse me.
(LIQUID TRICKLING) Philip, what's wrong? Oh, you didn't recognize it? It always got you an encore.
Congreve.
The Way of the World.
Even on his death bed, he's incapable of telling the truth.
Oh, he'll be doing the balcony scene next.
But what harm does it do? If it gives people pleasure? You know, Mother, there are people in this world who believe in the truth just on principle.
Even if other people hate it.
Don't you have any inkling of that? Truth.
Truth is sometimes rather shabby, Philip.
It can make life seem rather gray.
Your father's genius has always been that he could charm that grayness away.
Make people's dreams seem possible.
Dreams.
(SNICKERS) God, that's good.
Say, he's always been pestering us to tell him where we hid Sorenson's body.
Maybe today's the day.
Can you see the look on that reporter's face? Extra, extra, read all about it! Wendell's greatest performance was Philip! murder.
No.
Oh, oh.
Oh, Philip.
Oh, my dear, dear, Philip.
Won't you ever forgive us? You're wanted on stage, Mother.
MERVIN: "But, soft! "What light through yonder window breaks? "It is the east, "and Juliet is the sun!" JIM: Mr.
Wendell's vision in popularizing the radical ideas of Dr.
Creevey bore fruit during the war, when the Centennial region became famous as the breadbasket of the world.
Mr.
Wendell was 74.
JIM: Yeah.
Bet I know what you're thinking.
How was it you put it? "The ideals of an imbecile popularized by a crook.
" Ah, well, maybe we were wrong, Hans, you know.
Those people up at line camp seem to be doing all right.
What? (MUMBLING) (BLOWING) Wind? The winds.
You're saying they'll come again.
Well, if they do, Grebe and those others are finished, not much doubt about that.
Yeah? (SOFTLY) Mountains.
Mountains? Mountains, yeah.
What? Snow.
Snowing? Yeah, it's snowing on the western slope.
Where it's absolutely useless.
Tunnel.
Tunnel? Yeah.
Yeah, they're making a tunnel for the trains.
Water.
Water? Water.
Water.
Water.
You're saying that we should capture that water from the other slope and bring it over to our side by tunneling through the mountain? (CHUCKLING) Boy, you're really something.
(LAUGHS) You took on the Cossacks, drought, land thieves, the Pettis boys, and now you want to take on the Rocky Mountains.
And you're wondering how you can do that sitting here in this chair.
I'll tell you how.
You just keep thinking and I'll keep talking.
And when I get all those ideas, I'm going to go to Dan Jenkins at the Clarion.
He'll know how to get the kind of experts we need.
You know, if you're right about this, those dryland farmers are gonna have some kind of chance after all.
The whole cycle of the good years and the bad years, being victimized by it, that's going to be gone forever.
Señor.
Señor Brumbaugh! Señor Brumbaugh, I'm back! Señor Brumbaugh.
Patrón, I'm back! Patrón? MAN ON RADIO: My friends, I wanna talk for a few minutes with the people of the United States about banking.
First of all, let me state the simple fact that when you deposit money in a bank, the bank does not put the money into a safe deposit vault.
It invests your money in many different forms of credit.
In bonds and commercial papers, mortgages, and in many other kinds of loans.
In other words, the bank puts your money to work.
Hello, there.
Good morning.
Whatcha doing? Waiting for my brother.
Well, I tell you one place he ain't.
At the bank.
You're a cute little monkey, ain't you? What's your name? Soledad.
Soledad.
Tell you what, Soledad.
A friend of mine's got a place right near here, and he ain't never nowhere near it in the daytime.
Know what I mean? I know what you mean.
Hey, now.
Now, don't play hard to get.
Get your hands off her.
Butt out, greaser.
SOLEDAD: Truinfador, no! SHERIFF: Hey, hey! What's going on here? So, it's you again, huh, Truinfador? He insulted my sister.
Sure he did.
Your sister, your mother.
That's the way it always starts.
And then, pretty soon, somebody gets stuck with one of these.
I think I'll just let you cool your heels for a while.
Think it over.
Hold on there, just a minute, Sheriff.
Mr.
Garrett.
Mr.
Lloyd.
Howdy.
This fella here's one of our hands.
He's caused us a lot of trouble before.
Oh, yeah.
But no more.
Burns, you're fired.
Mr.
Lloyd And if I were you, I'd get out of town because I'm gonna make sure you don't work anywhere else hereabouts.
Now, what I think you ought to do there, Sheriff, is let that young fella go.
I'll assume the responsibility for him.
Well, seeing as how it's you, Mr.
Garrett, I'll do it.
But if you ever so much as look sideways at me again, I'm gonna put you in jail.
You understand? Thanks, Mr.
Lloyd.
Truinfador, I wonder if you know my son-in-law here.
Beeley Garrett.
How do you do? Hello.
My sister, Soledad.
Howdy.
Hello.
Now, how's Tranquilino getting along anyway? I offered him a good job this year, but he said he wanted to stay with farming.
He loves the land no matter how badly it treats him.
He's getting too old for that stoop work.
I know that, but he doesn't.
He got signed on someplace else, then, huh? For a man named Grabhorn.
Grabhorn? You know him? You tell your father to get his money as early as he can.
What about you, huh? I just got a job open up.
Thanks.
But I've opened up a place of my own.
Oh, really? What? Well, I opened up a cantina across from the tracks.
It's a small place, little music, soft drinks, but I like it.
Oh, good luck.
Good luck, good luck.
Come on here.
(MUTTERING) If your father changes his mind, will you have him come see me or talk to Beeley here? Beeley's running the spread now.
All right? Now, good day, Soledad.
Nice to meet you.
Damn, those people are really up against it, aren't they? That Sheriff didn't even look at Burns.
Just assumed it was the Mexican's fault.
Hard times, strangers always get it worse.
Yeah, I remember when Dad brought those sheep in.
He may as well have swum across the Rio Grande, the way you cattlemen treated him.
Times were a lot better then.
Victoria, smooth your hair, honey.
Ethan, stand up straight.
Timmy! (GIGGLING) PHOTOGRAPHER: Okay.
All right, now, hold still now.
(CAMERA CLICKING) There.
(LAUGHING) Okay, well, Timmy, you'll be able to show this picture to your children someday.
I still wish it was Billy the Kid.
All right.
One more now just to be sure.
Okay.
Hold it.
(CAMERA CLICKING) There.
(KNOCKING) TRANQUILINO: Did you hear me? I think half the town heard you.
Hot air goes out through these cracks as loud as the cold air coming back in.
But we'll have them filled before long, no? Mama.
You know your father.
I know what Mr.
Garrett says is true.
He should get his money now.
I'll get my money when I finish my work.
A burro's work.
And that's the only reason they let us stay here.
We make them rich, and then the little money they pay us, they steal back from us by raising prices at the stores.
Our money is welcome, but we're not.
Truinfador, you make it sound so bad.
It is bad.
There's no war.
There's a war against us.
"Hilario Gutierrez, "a Mexican farmer on a farm near Eagle Pass, "made approaches to a white woman and was duly lynched.
" If he hit the woman and threatened her Mama, he didn't hit her.
He smiled at her.
Maybe he said, "Ay ay ay, muchacha!" Not even as much as the Anglo said to Soledad.
And for that he was lynched! In Colorado, he should know not to say nothing like that to an Anglo woman.
The word I'm talking about is "duly.
" Duly? What does it mean? It means, in the natural order of things.
Because he was a Mexican, he was naturally lynched.
Naturally lynched.
I don't know this Gutierrez.
I don't know what he did to this woman.
Papa And neither do you.
You read what you want to read.
I don't know why.
I think because you never had to see what I have seen.
You don't see what's going on around you.
I have seen women like your sister and mother turned into savages.
Killing with guns and knives to keep from being killed.
I have seen them buried in holes in the ground.
Two hundred, three hundred, who went to war.
I have seen your own brother blown up into so many pieces I didn't know how to begin to bury him.
They don't blow up the trains in Colorado.
(MUMBLING) Here, there is no need for war.
We do not work like a slave seven days a week in the darkness in the mines.
In the darkness, only to make Don Porfirio more rich and General Terrazas more powerful.
In Colorado, we can see the sunrise, the sun go down.
We do not step in the gutter when the strong man comes around.
I don't care, not even for the Sheriff.
And we get paid.
In Colorado, you can have a place like this.
A place for all of us in the winter when the work is done in the fields.
Good food, música, a place to be together and be warm when the snow is outside in the street.
A place, Truinfador, to make winter the best time of the year.
The best time.
I don't see how you can see the good in everything.
I'm always looking.
You will see, mijito, you will see.
It is good here.
And it will be even better.
This place, your place, this will make it better.
You will see.
I'm afraid it's absolutely correct.
But it can't be.
When I bought that half-section from your father, the mortgage was on the land itself, not the whole farm.
But it is on the whole farm.
It's right here in black and white.
He made a mistake.
He drew it up wrong.
I can assure you my father never made mistakes when it came to land or money.
It was a matter of principle with him.
Well, times being bad, you look back on the transaction in a way that supports your interests.
I know what was said.
And it wasn't about any $1000 mortgage on my farm! I'm sure rain's coming back to these parts, Mr.
Grebe.
And I'm just as sure you'll see 30 bushel wheat again.
In the meantime, all you have to do is continue to pay the interest.
Just $50 a year.
No need to reduce the principal now.
Fifty dollars extra isn't easy to come by these days, Mr.
Wendell.
You'll manage, I'm sure.
Is he so harsh? He's foreclosed on three farms already.
I'm sure he's got us marked for the fourth.
How could I have been taken in like that? How could I have done this to my family? You thought he was honest.
I was the only one.
I'll get ya some lemonade, Dad.
No! There'll be no more lemonade.
There'll be no frills of any kind.
Earl? I'm sorry, honey.
I'm just awfully on edge.
We've weathered storms before.
We'll just put our heads together and see how we can economize.
I'll start.
We'll buy no more clothes for a while.
We can do with what we have for Easter.
And we'll eat simpler foods, like your father and I did when we first came out here.
The fella driving the school bus was taken poorly.
I think I could have the job if I spoke for it.
I got that money Gran gave me.
That was to be towards your college.
I'd rather have a home to come back to.
TIMMY: I can make some money.
You? How? Well, it's almost roundup time up at Venneford.
What're you gonna do at the roundup? Brand cows? I don't know.
Maybe the men like their coffee run out to them when it's cold.
Those bulldoggers will have you for breakfast.
Don't tease Timmy, Ethan.
He's just trying to help.
I'll have to sell the two bays.
No! We have to bear down, honey.
Every way we can.
Who's that old fella swinging that widow-maker there? That strong one.
Name is Marquez.
TRANQUILINO: Thank you.
I wish you hadn't asked for the beet fork.
You worked too hard already this year.
No, I told you.
It's more pay.
There will be money for Truinfador to add another room to the cantina.
He can wait till next year.
I don't forget what Brumbaugh used to say.
"Strike while the iron is hot.
" Marquez? Ain't he the one that's the rabble-rouser? The rabble-rouser is his son.
You know, they get to congregating like that.
I mean, well, look what's happening with those miners down in Ludlow.
The first thing you know, you got labor unions and then you got all those other damn things.
You know, it's a funny thing.
I was saying that to the Sheriff just the day before yesterday.
And? Well, he said we got something called the Immigration Service down in Denver.
I even got the phone number.
The Immigration men grabbed them right out of the field and threw them in the jail like they were criminals! And it wasn't an accident that it happened on payday.
All they care about is that we give them our body and soul for seven months then they can skip paying us, pocket the money we broke our backs for, and throw us across the border.
What can we do? Take some guerrillas and go up into the mountains? The Rockies aren't the Sierra Madre.
And you're not Pancho Villa.
It won't be done by one man.
It would be done by all of us.
Working together, presenting our grievances, standing up for our rights.
Refusing to work until we get the conditions we want.
My father worked for a man named Brumbaugh.
They tried running him out a hundred times.
He kept coming back.
Until he won.
He was an Anglo.
He had the power.
We have something better.
We have hate, for what they did to us and to our families.
If you approach these men like wild beasts, they'll be wild beasts.
This isn't the church, Father.
That isn't God's fault.
(DOOR OPENING) Marquez.
Told you to get your junk out of here.
Now, it's official.
It's a court order.
This place is closed.
Everybody out.
You, too, Father.
On your way.
This doesn't even name the man who filed the complaint.
The only name I'm interested in is the judge who signed it.
This is my place! (MIMICKING) This is my place! Who do you think you are? Come on out.
Out! JIM: And I say you're wrong.
You're breeding them too small.
You're so taken up with the head, you're forgetting the body.
But, Mr.
Lloyd, ever since Mrs.
Lloyd brought me here, your Herefords have won best of show all over the nation.
Why, no other ranch can match your record.
JIM: I don't want a beauty queen! I want an animal that can survive the range.
That's brawny and tough and big.
And can forage for itself in our bad winters.
And how come you call them "Herrifuds," anyway? They're Herefords, damn it.
The point is, Jim Lloyd, that this little darling wouldn't have earned a penny for us if Mr.
Booth-Clibborn hadn't established its credentials in the show ring.
Every time he wins another ribbon, his fee goes up.
And every time he sires a calf, the calf's weight goes down, and their calves are smaller still.
But surely that's just the idea.
A smaller, more polished animal that will conform with modern needs.
That's my wife's idea.
That's not mine.
Sending out a generation of dwarfs.
It's not what Venneford's all about.
Mrs.
Lloyd? What? There's a priest here to see you, madam.
A Mexican gentleman.
Oh, very well.
Now don't back down.
The last time Charlotte had a good idea about a cow was in '86 and she sent over King Bristol.
She hasn't had a good idea about a cow since.
Father.
Yes, Father? Mrs.
Lloyd, my name is Vigilio.
I come to you about injustice.
The world's full of it.
Be specific.
A young man has been jailed for opening a soft-drink bar.
The real reason is that he is one who speaks for our people.
The judge won't see me.
The newspaper just laughs at us.
Then one of the men said, "Mrs.
Lloyd cares.
"She once bought some clothes for my little boy.
" I'm sorry, I don't remember the occasion.
I'm new here.
Perhaps you are very busy with the cows.
You better come inside, Father.
You're just in time for tea.
SHERIFF: Well, Your Honor, the point is that this fella Marquez here is squatting on property that doesn't belong to him.
He's breeding agitation down there.
He's stirring up all the Mexicans against the farmers who gave them the only job they're fit to handle in the first place.
(CLEARS THROAT) Young man, you are a visitor in this country and you must obey our laws.
Now, you had no license to operate a house of amusement, you have no license to play music, and certainly no right to be on that property.
And you have defied a court order.
Now, is there anything that you wish to say to this court? There are a few things I should like to say, Your Honor.
And I believe the court should hear some things that Father Vigilio here has to say, too.
Your Honor, I can understand a lady like Mrs.
Lloyd here thinking that the Mexicans are being picked on, but that's only because that man she's with is going around preaching nothing but revolution.
Father Vigilio, I understand that you have been making some inflammatory remarks around town.
And it's my duty to remind you that even though you are a member of the clergy, you, too, are merely a guest in this country.
And that Sheriff Bogardus here has the power to send you back to Mexico at his discretion.
He most certainly has not.
Mrs.
Lloyd, you are contradicting this court.
Father Vigilio is a citizen of New Mexico.
He's an American.
He is? Yeah, his ancestors have lived here for the past 400 years.
Now, I chanced to look up the records of the ancestors of Sheriff Bogardus and they came here in 1901.
So, perhaps if anybody's going to be thrown out of this country, it should be Sheriff Bogardus.
Mrs.
Lloyd, would you approach the bench, please? Just what the hell is it that you intend to do here this morning, Charlotte? Find out if it's justice that's blind, or just the bigots of Centennial.
Centennial is not on trial here.
This Mexican is.
This Mexican? Well, this Mexican is just one of many Mexicans in Colorado.
Is the state prepared to throw them all into jail? Well, how would the beet farmers harvest their crops without them? How would they get them planted and thinned and tended without the Mexicans? Now, wait a minute.
The issue here is that house that he's taken over.
You've seen that building, Harry? It's not a house.
No.
Even after he'd shored up the sides, he patched up the roof, that's not a house.
No.
It's a shelter of sorts.
It's nothing more.
It's a shelter for rabble-rousers.
Now, look, we get a lot of people congregating in there, and before you know it, we have labor unions and more trouble than we need.
Now, now, that's the real rub, isn't it? It isn't that he's occupying some sort of broken-down shack.
It's that he has workers in there talking about the immorality of their employers.
JUDGE: Charlotte Now, how long is our legal system going to allow farmers to use labor for personal gain and then dismiss that labor without any acceptance of responsibility? Now, that is what this case is really about, now, isn't it? Father Vigilio JUDGE: Charlotte, I will not have this court turned into a circus! This court has got to do something this morning, Harry.
Something that no church and no newspaper and no politician and no crusading band of women has had the courage to correct yet.
And I'm just as guilty as anyone in this state, but this morning, Harry, this morning, you and I are going to come to grips with our appalling prejudice.
The two people there with my husband are Truinfador's father and mother.
They are Tranquilino and Serafina Marquez.
Now, I want you to meet them because they are the people who keep our farms from turning back into so much prairie grass.
They are the people who toil from March through November at rip-gut wages and then they have to fend for themselves through the cold months with inadequate food, inadequate heat, polluted water and festering social conditions.
Now they are the people that Colorado needs, but Colorado doesn't want.
Nobody asked them to leave their own country and come up here.
Yes, they did.
As a matter of fact, I asked Tranquilino's Uncle Nacho myself.
Jim Of course, I didn't know at the time that it was gonna end up like this.
With them getting arrested and run off back to Mexico, so Grabhorn could get out of paying them for what they earned.
And I didn't know that most of the Anglo children that used to be raised to believe that Indians weren't human would be raised today to believe that Mexicans were even less.
Now my own grandson, Paul, was reading a book the other day that says by the time Billy the Kid was 21 years old, he killed a man for every year of his life, not counting Mexicans and Indians.
Isn't that one hell of a thing? Jim.
What? JUDGE: Sit down.
Charlotte, you go back where you belong, too.
I said go back where you belong.
I heard you, Harry.
Now, this court does not dispute the fact that everybody from the United States Government on down has behaved with duplicity towards the Mexicans.
But that does not relieve me of my responsibility to administer the law.
Truinfador Marquez, as stated before, you have no license to operate a house of amusement, no right to be on that property in question at all.
And furthermore Excuse me, Harry, but who does own that shack? Charlotte I don't suppose it would still belong to This court is recessed until after lunch.
JUDGE: Charlotte.
Mrs.
Lloyd.
I want to talk to you right now.
Now you know damned well that Philip Wendell owns all of the buildings on that side of town.
Philip Wendell, yes.
Well, he's thinking of running for Congress, isn't he? Well, he has done a lot of good things for this community.
Then I shall expect him to sell me that shack this afternoon for $100.
And I propose renting it back to Truinfador Marquez for one dollar a year.
Charlotte, you're a pain in the I'm sure that you and the Sheriff can convince him to sell because, otherwise, I shall have to take this story to every newspaper in the country.
That's blackmail.
Well, isn't it just? (WIND HOWLING) (COWS MOOING) (BABY CRYING) Get in the house.
Hey.
Howdy, Pa.
Boy, it's a wild one, huh? It sure is.
I'm scared.
I'm not.
I'll bet.
How'd it go with the bus today? Pulled off into Emig's field.
I could hardly see the road.
The sound of the wind, that moaning, it's like the end of the world.
Well, it'll be over soon, and the world'll still keep spinning.
Hey, let's have some supper, huh? Honey? MAGNES: That last storm liked to suck my field dry.
If we don't get a good gully washer soon, we are going to be in real trouble.
Real trouble, huh? With the drought and 33 cent wheat, the banks refusing to circulate their money, I'd say a little dust is the least of our problems.
I don't agree, Earl.
It's not just the topsoil.
When silt is blown at that velocity, it develops a cutting edge.
It can actually sickle your seedlings just as sure as if you put iron to them.
Montana's had three of those storms in a row.
But what can we do about it? I had these printed up at the college.
Now, there isn't anything in here that I haven't been talking myself blue in the face about for years.
But maybe now, you fellas'll listen.
Tie the soil down, plant shelter belts, burn your harrows, use the one-way disk and the duck foot instead.
Plow up some lister ridges crosswise to the direction of the wind.
But in order for it to work, you've all got to do it.
Because nobody benefits if the adjacent land is blowing.
Well, I am going to look into it.
I just hope there's time.
There's gotta be.
We scraped up every last penny to pay off Wendell.
And I sure as hell don't intend to see our place go for taxes.
No.
No.
What is it, Mr.
Garrett? Well, I'll tell you this.
It's not for little girls.
What it is, is a brand new event at the Denver stock show this year.
They're gonna take twenty of you guys, and they're gonna put you out in the big arena.
You're gonna have thousands and thousands of people watching you.
Oh, boy.
Then they're gonna blow a bugle and release ten calves.
You're gonna go out there and you're gonna chase those calves around.
And try to wrestle one to the ground.
Now the first boy that fixes his halter around a calf's head and leads it away without any help is gonna win that calf.
You mean, he can take it home? You bet he can.
He'll take it home, feed it, and then come next winter at the auction, it'll be sold.
And all the money, and you're talking about maybe several hundred dollars, is gonna be his to keep.
Paul, are you going to try for it? No, son, he can't.
His grandma's one of the judges this year.
The rest of you boys think about it now and I'll see you at suppertime.
How about you, Cisco? What do I want with a dumb old calf? What I want's a guitar.
Yeah, but after you win the calf in the auction, you can buy yourself a guitar.
I'd rather steal a guitar.
Well, I'm gonna try for it.
That money'd really help my folks.
You ever bulldogged cows? No.
It ain't that easy.
Why don't you come up to our ranch on Saturday? I'll bet my Grandma Charlotte would let you practice on one of ours.
And I'll be your coach.
You would? Yeah.
PAUL: Get up.
That's it! You okay? Put your hand in his face if he backs you in a corner like that.
Come on.
Come on, get him.
Yeah, come on.
All right, put your feet down, put your feet down, come on.
You know, Jim, it'd do you good to see the sort of enthusiasm that the Crown V bulls stir up.
You know what does me good? What? To see a line of those white faces walking over the brow of a hill at dusk coming in for a drink.
I don't think I've ever seen anything prettier in my life.
How flattering.
You know what I mean.
Come on, give me a kiss.
Jim, you've got to come.
Just this once.
Elmo Pierce is going to be there and he's the most respected stock judge in the entire country.
Charlotte, I've told you a hundred times I hate that whole stock show routine.
All those damn rosettes and blue ribbons are what got ranchers headed in the wrong direction to begin with.
Not afraid, are you, that he might agree with me and not with you? You go out there and be Queen of the West, and we'll stay home.
I said, are you scared? Am I scared? If I can get Elmo Pierce to come out to Venneford, will you listen to what he's got to say? If he talks sense, sure.
PAUL: Hang on, Timmy, hang on! (COW MOOING) That boy's all right.
You still want to be a bulldogger, son? I just got to win that contest, Mr.
Lloyd.
We need the money bad.
Come on.
Jim, can't we help somehow? Well, we could pay the taxes for them, I guess.
I don't think they'd accept that.
Well, we'll call it a loan.
I don't know.
These are proud people, Jim.
And as stubborn as you are.
(MOOING) (WIND HOWLING) (BRAKES SQUEAKING) ALICE: It was the dirt.
He wasn't even hurt that bad.
It was just the dirt.
The wind and the dirt.
Alice.
Alice, I want you to come stay with us for a while.
Do you hear me? I want you to come to our house and stay for a while.
No.
I can't leave Earl right now, not with all this on him.
It's not just Ethan.
He thinks we're going to be sheriffed.
Oh, good Lord.
How much taxes do you owe? Last year and this.
Earl sold everything to pay off Wendell.
Magnes'll loan him some.
He'd never ask.
Besides, you You have your own place to look after.
(SIGHING) How can a country support a law that takes away a man's home when it's the country that's gone wrong, not us? I don't know.
I don't know what we'll do now.
There's no place to go back to, and there's no money to go on.
There's just the wind.
The wind and the dirt (COWS MOOING) PAUL: Hey, Grandpa.
Well, that's a pretty big animal you got there.
You bring that down all by yourself? Yes, sir.
I did what Paul told me.
Well, I'll tell you something, Timmy, and I don't say this often.
But I think you've got the makings of a cowboy.
(EXCLAIMING) Gosh, Mr.
Lloyd, you do? Oh, you think you'd take to that, huh? (CHUCKLING) You bet.
Well, likely Paul here, he's gonna be running the spread one day.
And he's gonna need some help.
You two got a good friendship.
And no matter how you cut it, ranching still comes down to people you can trust.
(HORN HONKING) Hey, who's that with Grandma? JIM: That is a man named Pierce.
He gets his way, steers'll be so small you won't have to wrestle them, you can just fold them up and put them in your pocket.
See you later.
Hey, you tired? Nope.
Just hungry.
Me, too.
Let's go.
Can't you see you're ruining the breed? Emperor IX is the top Hereford in history.
Emperor IX is a runt.
You mark my words, the day will come when every cattleman that knows will breed every last damned strain of that sorry looking, stubby-legged freak right out of his herds.
You tell him that he's talking nonsense, Mr.
Pierce.
With all due respect, Mr.
Lloyd, I have to disagree.
Now, I know you built your reputation on the range-ready steer, but it is the general judgment of stockmen that the Emperor here just might save the breed.
Bring it into conformity.
Conformity.
That's just it.
There's too damn much conformity.
I can't stand having nature changed for some damned fad.
I can't stand around and just watch while a breed I have loved since Jim, what is it? We should just leave the animals alone.
Like the land, we should just leave them alone.
(GROANS) (GASPING) She's here, Dad! Good morning, Victoria.
Mrs.
Grebe.
Good morning, Mrs.
Lloyd.
Good morning, Earl.
Sorry about your husband.
He was a good friend to all of us.
Thank you.
Well, now, Timmy, in the olden days in my country, when a knight rode out to do battle, he wore the colors of his lady.
So now you can wear my colors.
Thanks, Mrs.
Lloyd.
Oh, and I've got a little picnic hamper here for the other youngsters.
Oh, Mrs.
Lloyd, we can't accept that.
Nonsense.
Now, the family of a champion bulldogger have to keep up their strength and its moral support.
Come on, now, we'll get started.
Don't you worry about him.
We'll be back before the end of the week.
Thank you, Paul.
Come on, Timmy.
Good luck, Son.
Be sure to use good judgment, whatever they throw at you.
I will.
Bye, Mom.
Goodbye, Timmy.
(CRYING) Dear, God.
Not today.
Please, not today.
(BABY CRYING) Go in the house.
Help your mother! Yes, Pa.
Ma, where are you? Ma, you okay? (VICTORIA SCREAMING) Alice? Alice? MAGNES: The knife was still in her hand.
We figured what happened was she killed the girls.
Then Earl must've come in from the field and seen what happened and he put a shotgun to her and himself.
You're certain you want to take Timmy? Yes.
We've known him since he was born.
He'll have a home with us for as long as he wants.
I'll see that it's not a financial burden to you.
Well, I guess I'm ready.
You miss Grandpa, don't you? Yes, I miss him very much.
Bet Timmy misses his folks, too.
I bet he does.
What made them go crazy like that, Grandma? Well, hard to say.
Some kids at school say it was 'cause they didn't have any money.
That could be.
Lots of people don't have money.
I think it was something else.
What's that? The storms.
Timmy said his ma was really scared of them.
The wind and the dust They scared me, too.
You don't want to be afraid of them, Paul.
You must respect them.
You must respect everything about this land.
That's when people get in trouble out here, and they make trouble for others when they have no respect for it, for its power and its majesty.
See, those winds that came, they rolled the land up, mile after mile, and they carried it away like a thief because man let them.
He didn't respect the delicate balance of nature.
But the land will come back, and the farmers have learned how to protect it now.
How to take care of it, so that it can take care of them.
That's probably the most important thing any of us can ever learn.
How to take care of the land.
I don't think I understand all that.
Well, it's really very simple.
You see, this land is the most precious thing we have.
This earth.
This planet.
We need it to survive.
But it doesn't need us.
It's got along for millions of years without us.
In fact, you know the dinosaurs that used to roam this same land, they lived longer than human beings have yet.
Really? They sure did.
And if man's not very careful, he may be as extinct as the dinosaur someday.
Now the Indians, they knew how to take care of the land, how to maintain the balance.
And the first white men who came here.
But the men who came since, they haven't really cared about anything much except themselves, what they could take out of the land, how it could make them rich.
And there's a kind of a war that's been going on for some time now.
It's a war you'll be part of.
A war? Yes.
You mean, like the one between Grandpa Messmore and Grandpa Jim? About the cows and sheep? No.
No, it's a much bigger one.
It's a much more important one.
It's a war between the men who want to take care of the land, and the men who just want to take what they can out of it.
The takers and the caretakers, I call it.
I guess Grandpa Jim was a caretaker.
Both your grandfathers were, and your father is, too.
And our friend, Hans Brumbaugh, and the men who started Centennial, Levi Zendt, Alexander McKeag, and you will be too, Paul.
You are going to be a very important man in this state someday.
Well, you'll run the Venneford and that's a very large part of Colorado.
I still don't think I understand.
You will.
When God first met with man in Eden, he said, "Replenish the Earth and subdue it.
" But to do that we have to understand To understand that the Earth has a life of its own.
A force of its own.
So if there are times when the winds come, as they did, or the great blizzards, or the long years without water, then we have to learn to live with them.
Or else we die? Oh, all of us die sometime, Paul.
Only the land lives forever.
And that's what you have to understand.
CHARLOTTE: Only the land lives forever.