Episode aired Sep 20, 1960
Stars: Frank Overton • Bethel Leslie • Tommy Nolan
An 11-year-old boy neglected by his father gets so caught up in his fantasy world that he takes a real rifle to hunt down his made-up enemy, the evil Black Bart.
Stars: Frank Overton • Bethel Leslie • Tommy Nolan
An 11-year-old boy neglected by his father gets so caught up in his fantasy world that he takes a real rifle to hunt down his made-up enemy, the evil Black Bart.
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00 I told you to point that gun away from me. Now do it.
00:04 Boy, your age shouldn't be allowed to have a gun anyhow.
00:08 I'm warning you for the last time. I just assumed bringing you in dead is alive.
00:12 I'm gonna bring you in to your parents, young man, and you may wish you were dead before I get through telling them about this.
00:16 Now give me that gun!
00:20 Next time I won't miss, Black Bart. Now stay where you are.
00:24 Are you out of your mind? What kind of a game do you think you're playing anyway?
00:28 You just sit down for a spell while I figure out what I'm gonna do with you.
00:32 Now you wait a minute. I said sit down!
00:36 I gotta think real hard about what I'm gonna do with you, Black Bart.
00:56 That roar is not gonna stop me, Black Billy!
01:00 Sometimes children become so lost in a world of imagination,
01:08 they're unable to find their way back.
01:12 And then there is only danger before them.
01:16 As sure as my name is Boris Karloff.
01:20 We're concerned now with a boy whose imagination brings him to a crisis involving not only himself,
01:24 but also his family. A crisis that begins,
01:28 but does not end as child's play.
01:32 That's the name of our story. Our principal players are Mr. Frank Overton,
01:36 Miss Bethel Leslie,
01:40 and Master Tommy Nolan. Let me assure you, my friends,
01:44 this is a thriller.
01:48 [music]
01:52 (suspenseful music)
01:55 (upbeat music)
01:57 (upbeat music)
02:00 (upbeat music)
02:03 (upbeat music)
02:07 (upbeat music)
02:09 (upbeat music)
02:29 (upbeat music)
02:32 - Hank!
02:37 Hank!
02:40 Hank, lunch is ready!
02:43 Hank!
02:54 Where are you?
02:59 (birds chirping)
03:01 Hank, why didn't you answer me?
03:06 What are you doing?
03:13 Answer me, Hank!
03:16 - I can't.
03:18 - Lunch is on the table.
03:20 I want you to come in the house.
03:23 - I have to escape first.
03:26 - I want you to come now.
03:28 - I have to get away first.
03:30 - Get away from who?
03:31 What are you talking about?
03:32 - Black Bart.
03:33 - Who?
03:36 - Black Bart, he's after me.
03:38 - Will you get inside and eat your lunch, please?
03:41 - Black Bart, the Notorious Highwayman, is after me
03:43 and I have to escape.
03:45 - Well, I think you lost him, Hank.
03:51 He's nowhere in sight.
03:52 Now, will you come in and get it?
03:54 Your grub's getting cold.
03:55 - I am his mortal enemy and he's after me on his horse.
03:59 - What are you gonna do about it?
04:01 - If I can get across the gorge, I can escape.
04:03 It's a thousand feet down to the jagged rocks below.
04:07 - Will you stop it?
04:09 Hank, please stop it.
04:13 Hank!
04:14 (somber music)
04:19 (water dripping)
04:22 - What's going on out here?
04:28 (Hank screaming)
04:30 - Hank!
04:31 Hank.
04:33 Hank!
04:36 - What's the trouble?
04:38 - He fell.
04:39 - Off the log?
04:40 - Into the gorge.
04:41 - Into the what?
04:43 - Are you all right?
04:46 You're not hurt, are you?
04:48 - I fell a thousand feet into the gorge,
04:49 but I live to tell about it.
04:51 - Oh, no.
04:52 - I live to have my revenge on Black Bart.
04:54 - Get up off the ground.
04:55 Come on, chum.
04:57 Get in there and eat.
04:59 - If it's the last thing I do on this earth,
05:00 I will have my revenge on the bandit.
05:02 I swear it by the blood of--
05:03 - When you're told to do something, chum, you do it.
05:05 You don't play games.
05:07 Now, get inside and wash up.
05:09 - Your time is coming, Black Bart!
05:17 (laughing)
05:19 - What's the joke?
05:21 - Me?
05:22 I'm the joke.
05:23 - Well, you wanna let me in on it?
05:26 - I don't know.
05:27 Sometimes that boy's imagination gets the better of me.
05:31 - You sit a bit, partner.
05:32 I'll tell you how I've hit the engine wars.
05:35 - Pretty silly, isn't it?
05:37 - Seems to me I got two youngins on my hands this summer
05:39 instead of just one.
05:41 - For a minute there, it wasn't the least bit funny.
05:43 Not funny at all.
05:46 - He can be vivid at times.
05:48 - I really could believe there was a gorge under this log,
05:51 and if he did fall into it, he would get killed.
05:54 I'm sure he thought so.
05:56 - That's even sillier.
05:58 - No, it isn't.
05:59 Remember when you used to do things like that?
06:02 - I had better things to do with my time when I was 10.
06:06 - 11.
06:06 - So he is.
06:09 - I did those things when I was 11.
06:12 They were real to me.
06:14 I used to walk along a log like this
06:16 and pretend it was the high wire on the circus or something
06:19 with no net under it.
06:21 - Very daring of you, I'd say.
06:23 - I fell off the log.
06:26 I had this minute of real terror
06:29 until I touched the ground and I realized
06:33 it had only been a foot away all the time.
06:36 Funny.
06:38 - Exciting.
06:44 - When Hank fell there,
06:46 I suddenly had this feeling he'd be hurt.
06:51 Not in any way equal to the actual height,
06:54 but in some way equal to the height of his imagination.
06:58 You know what I mean?
07:05 - Sure I do.
07:07 - You grew up too fast.
07:11 That's all that's wrong with you.
07:13 - I think it's about time Hank started
07:14 doing a bit of the same, don't you?
07:16 - What do you want him to do, grow a beard?
07:18 - You can hardly talk to him
07:19 unless you play like you're the sheriff or something.
07:21 - What else has he got to do?
07:23 - He can go fishing, hiking, something.
07:26 Isn't that supposed to be what we brought him up here for?
07:28 - He's no fun by himself.
07:30 - What do you mean by himself?
07:32 He's got good old Black Bart
07:33 and the Bar B Boys to go with him.
07:36 - I think he'd rather have you along.
07:40 - Yeah.
07:41 Black Bart and the gang are only substitutes.
07:46 - Yeah, I guess maybe I ought to take him
07:47 hunting one of these days.
07:50 - Do it today, will you?
07:51 This afternoon?
07:53 I don't want to sweat out another chase
07:56 over the Grand Canyon.
07:58 - I can't do it today, maybe tomorrow.
08:02 That is if he promises to leave the gang back at the ranch.
08:05 You know, it's really not too much fun
08:07 with all those cowboys along.
08:10 - You're not such a great lot of fun yourself, you know.
08:14 Let's eat, Chum.
08:18 - You know how to catch an alligator?
08:25 - An alligator?
08:26 - An alligator.
08:27 You know what all you need to catch one is?
08:30 - I'll bite.
08:30 What all do you need to catch one is?
08:32 - Well, you need a dull book and a telescope
08:37 and a pair of tweezers and a matchbox.
08:39 - Okay.
08:40 - And you go out into this swamp
08:41 where all the alligators are
08:42 and you find an old shack and you go in and sit down
08:44 and start reading the book.
08:46 - Reading.
08:47 - You start reading the book
08:50 and pretty soon, 'cause it's such a dull book,
08:51 you fall asleep.
08:52 And then the alligator comes along
08:54 and 'cause he's so curious, he starts reading the book too.
08:56 - Reading.
08:57 - Yeah.
08:58 And 'cause it's such a dull book,
09:00 pretty soon the alligator falls asleep too.
09:02 - Who wrote this book?
09:04 - Oh, no.
09:05 No, 'cause you both fell asleep from reading the same book.
09:09 - Reading.
09:10 - Reading.
09:11 - Don't overdo it, chum.
09:14 - 'Cause you both fell asleep from reading the same book
09:16 and you fell asleep before the alligator.
09:19 Chances are that you'll wake up before he does.
09:21 So then you take your telescope
09:23 and you turn around the wrong way
09:25 and you look down at these sleep alligators
09:26 where you got 'em real, real small, see?
09:29 And then you take your tweezers and you pick 'em up
09:32 and you put 'em in the matchbox.
09:33 That's how to catch an alligator.
09:35 (laughing)
09:37 (sighing)
09:39 - How'd you like to go hunting this afternoon, Hank?
09:54 - Gail.
09:55 - Your father wants to take you hunting with him.
09:58 How about it?
10:00 - Hmm?
10:01 Yeah, I guess so.
10:04 Sure.
10:07 - I'd like to take you hunting, Hank.
10:09 - Oh, that'd be great.
10:10 The other day I saw these tracks out back there,
10:12 great big ones.
10:13 Must have been a mountain lion at least,
10:14 maybe a bear even.
10:15 - Hank, I said I'd like to take you hunting.
10:19 But I can't this afternoon.
10:21 Your mother's a little bit confused.
10:24 - I guess she is.
10:29 - Why can't you this afternoon?
10:34 - I have a lot of work to do
10:36 before I can start fooling around.
10:39 - You like to work?
10:40 - You don't work because you'd like to, particularly.
10:43 It's a job.
10:44 It's something you have to do.
10:46 - But you'd like to take me hunting, wouldn't you?
10:48 You said you would.
10:50 - You can't always do just what you like to do, Hank.
10:53 - I don't think you ever do anything you'd like to do.
10:56 You only do things you have to do.
10:57 - You ought to be grateful that I do do the things
10:59 I have to do.
11:00 You wouldn't be up here in the first place.
11:01 - What?
11:02 (somber music)
11:05 - I didn't mean it like that, Hank.
11:11 I'm sorry.
11:13 What I meant was that if I didn't work,
11:14 we wouldn't be able to afford this cabin for the summer.
11:18 Look, soon as I finish the article I'm working on right now,
11:21 we'll go hunting.
11:23 The minute I finish, that's a promise.
11:25 Okay?
11:26 - They weren't really such big tracks I saw anyway.
11:31 I don't know, I just made that up.
11:34 What they were was they were really just squirrel tracks.
11:39 Squirrels aren't much fun anyway.
11:42 - You better finish your lunch, Hank.
11:43 - Well, I gotta get started pretty soon
11:45 if I'm gonna catch up with him.
11:46 - With who?
11:47 - Black Bart.
11:48 He's got a pretty big head start on me.
11:49 I have to track him down this afternoon.
11:53 - All right, you may be excused.
11:55 - I'm gonna have my revenge on him
11:56 for chasing me into the gorge this morning.
11:58 - Be careful, don't let him get the drop on you.
12:00 - I won't.
12:01 - Gail, you know I have to get these articles written
12:06 while they're still fresh in my mind.
12:08 Why must you put me on the spot like that in front of him?
12:13 - He was on the spot too.
12:15 Didn't you notice that?
12:18 (somber music)
12:21,
12:22 the next morning, he was gone.
12:24 - When did he go?
12:26 - I don't know, but he was gone.
12:28 - What's going on?
12:30 - I don't know, but he's gone.
12:32 - What's going on?
12:33 - He's gone.
12:34 - Where?
12:35 - To the gorge.
12:36 - The gorge?
12:37 - Yeah.
12:38 - What gorge?
12:39 - The gorge.
12:39 - The gorge?
12:40 - Yeah.
12:41 - Where?
12:42 - The gorge.
12:43 - The gorge?
12:44 - Yeah.
12:44 - Why?
12:45 - Well, he's gone.
12:47 - Oh, I see.
12:48 - He's gone.
12:49 - What?
12:50 - We came up here for just two reasons.
12:52 One, so you could get away from the city for a while.
12:54 Two, so I could have the peace and quiet I need
12:56 to finish this series with a magazine.
12:59 - There's supposed to be a third reason.
13:01 - We did not come up here to operate a summer camp for Hank.
13:05 I realize he's bored when all the children are gone with him.
13:08 - We're talking about Hank now.
13:11 - Would you mind telling me just what we are talking about?
13:16 - Wasn't another reason for our coming up here
13:18 supposed to be so that you and I could spend
13:19 some time alone together?
13:22 Alone, just the family, without the magazine?
13:25 - Well, aren't we?
13:26 - Exclusive, from all outward appearances,
13:30 Mr. and Mrs. Hattering are alone together at last.
13:33 - You don't have to be nasty about it.
13:35 - I'm not being nasty.
13:37 I mean, I don't want to be nasty.
13:40 I'm just bored.
13:41 I'm bored, Hank's bored.
13:44 Everybody's bored but the intrepid journalist.
13:47 - Oh no, you don't want to be nasty at all.
13:50 - I don't.
13:51 I really don't.
13:53 - I shrink from the thought of what it would be like
13:55 if you really wanted to be nasty.
13:58 - All right, I apologize.
14:00 Let's please not argue about it.
14:03 - That's a step in the right direction.
14:08 - Let's argue about Hank for a change.
14:11 - I told you before we came up here
14:12 he'd be bored stiff after the first few days.
14:15 You were the one who insisted he come along.
14:18 - What's it gonna be, Blackbird?
14:26 Dead or alive?
14:27 - It would have been very simple just to send him back
14:42 to that summer camp he was at last year.
14:44 Just ship him off like a crate of oranges or something.
14:47 - Well, that's not fair and you know it.
14:50 He liked the place.
14:51 He had a much better time out there
14:52 than he's having here this year
14:53 with the old folks at home.
14:55 Be reasonable.
14:56 - All right, I'll be reasonable.
14:58 We can't send him back.
15:00 - You mean won't.
15:02 - I said can't.
15:03 Can not.
15:05 That's what I mean.
15:06 - Why can't we?
15:07 - Because Mr. Kenyon told me he didn't want him back there.
15:09 - Mr. Kenyon.
15:10 - You heard me, Mr. Kenyon, the man who runs the place.
15:12 He won't allow Hank to go back to camp.
15:14 They don't want him there.
15:16 Do not want him.
15:18 He can't go back.
15:20 - Well, this sure seems to be the first time
15:22 I've heard about it.
15:23 - That doesn't make it any less real.
15:26 - For what reason may I make so bold to inquire
15:29 that you decide not to tell me about it?
15:31 - I was afraid you'd be angry.
15:34 - I am angry.
15:35 - You were gone all last summer.
15:39 Hank was already home
15:40 when you got back from your assignment.
15:42 - So?
15:44 - So I didn't want you to get angry with him
15:46 first thing coming home.
15:47 He was looking forward to seeing you.
15:49 I didn't want you to get mad and ball him out first thing.
15:51 That's all.
15:52 I just decided to forget about it.
15:54 - Oh, great.
15:55 My son gets expelled from a summer camp
15:57 and you decide just to forget about it.
15:59 - That's what I decided.
16:00 - Would you like to tell me why they won't let him go back?
16:04 I mean, would it be presumptuous of me to ask for a reason?
16:08 Or are you afraid I'd be offended?
16:10 - Oh, it was silly.
16:11 It was just a little silly kid stunt he pulled.
16:16 (gunshot)
16:16 (man screams)
16:17 (gunshot)
16:18 - Well, what was it?
16:19 - The other boy who told Mr. Kenyon about it,
16:23 he was a little confused.
16:24 Poor kid was scared half to death.
16:29 - Scared of what?
16:30 Hank?
16:31 - Yes, Hank.
16:33 - You're making it up.
16:34 - They were playing this game.
16:40 They were pretending they were William Tell or somebody,
16:42 you know, with the apple on the head and all that.
16:44 - Well, go on.
16:45 - Well, Hank got this gun.
16:48 One of Mr. Kenyon's rifles,
16:51 he left it out somewhere by mistake.
16:53 Well, Hank found it.
16:56 And he made the other boy put the apple on his head.
17:01 Poor kid was scared half to death.
17:05 I mean, it was a real gun.
17:09 Real loaded rifle.
17:10 - And?
17:13 - He really did it.
17:15 He shot the apple off the other boy's head.
17:18 - Hank did that?
17:22 - Blew it to pieces right off his head with a real gun.
17:24 Well, you can hardly blame Mr. Kenyon
17:32 for not wanting him back after that.
17:33 I mean, he's got the responsibility
17:37 of all those other boys and...
17:39 Something like that with a real gun.
17:42 But...
17:49 He could have killed that boy.
17:55 (dramatic music)
17:58 - You have any other little secrets
18:22 you'd like to confide in me?
18:23 - No.
18:24 - I mean, you can.
18:25 I'm a friend of the family.
18:26 - Oh, please.
18:27 - What happens to them is a matter
18:28 of some small concern to me.
18:29 One might say I'm almost a father to the boy.
18:34 - Almost.
18:35 Not quite.
18:38 - What I'd like to know is what you expected to accomplish
18:41 by not telling me what happened to Hank.
18:43 - I already told you.
18:45 - You were afraid I'd be angry?
18:46 - Yes.
18:47 - Angry at Hank?
18:48 - Yes.
18:49 - Or were you just afraid I'd be angry at you?
18:51 - I don't know what you mean.
18:55 (Hank snoring)
18:57 - Some way you seem to have got the idea
18:58 that every time Hank gets into trouble,
19:00 I'm going to blame you.
19:01 - Don't you?
19:03 - Gail, it isn't a matter of whose fault it was.
19:07 Fixing the blame is not important.
19:09 - I wish you believed that.
19:12 - Evidently, you don't.
19:13 - I'd like to.
19:14 - You certainly have a peculiar way
19:16 of demonstrating that desire.
19:18 - What do you mean?
19:20 - I mean that you seem to be trying to make me feel
19:23 that it was my fault that Hank almost shot someone last year
19:26 because I can't take him hunting this afternoon.
19:29 - Perhaps I was.
19:30 - The connection between the two is tenuous at best,
19:33 don't you think?
19:33 - Is it?
19:35 - Well, that's not important.
19:37 What is important is that Hank must be made to understand
19:39 that he can't get away with a thing like that.
19:41 A little discipline is required.
19:43 (gun firing)
19:53 - Did you punish him?
19:54 - No, I didn't punish him.
19:56 - Why not?
19:57 - Because you were coming home
20:00 and I didn't want to spoil things.
20:02 - So the two of you just pretended nothing had happened?
20:05 I'm sure Hank must have learned
20:06 a very valuable lesson from that.
20:07 - Bart, he knew it was wrong.
20:11 He was sorry, but he was scared.
20:14 - Scared of what?
20:16 - Scared of you.
20:17 He was afraid of what you might do if you found out.
20:21 - Naturally, you agreed with him.
20:23 I mean, I'm confident that you assured him
20:25 he had every reason to be afraid of his own father.
20:28 - He begged me not to tell you.
20:30 - So the two of you had this secret treaty
20:32 for your mutual protection against the wrath of the dragon,
20:35 the ogre, the monster,
20:37 or whatever other flattering picture of me it is
20:39 you conjure up in my absence?
20:40 - You'd been gone for months.
20:44 We hadn't been together in a long time.
20:48 I just wanted everything to be happy and pleasant
20:51 for the three of us.
20:53 - Well, the two of you banding together against me
20:55 for whatever reason strikes me as a very peculiar way
20:58 of promoting family unity.
21:00 - I'm sorry.
21:01 - Well, anyway, when Hank gets back,
21:06 you send him in to see me.
21:07 I'll have a little talk with him.
21:09 - Oh, Bart, do you have to go into it now?
21:11 It's been so long.
21:13 - Probably too long for anything I say to him
21:15 to make any impression on him,
21:17 after your little game of togetherness.
21:19 - Couldn't we just let it be?
21:20 - Yes, we could.
21:22 But I don't think we should.
21:24 You send him in to see me when he gets back.
21:27 - Do you want some coffee?
21:28 - I've gotta get back to work.
21:29 - It's almost ready.
21:31 - I should be able to get some work done this afternoon.
21:34 That is, if you have no more bombs to drop on me.
21:36 - Bring it to your room when it's ready.
21:40 - I don't ever want you to keep anything like that
21:42 from me again, do you understand?
21:44 - All right.
21:45 - Do you understand?
21:46 - Yes.
21:50 (somber music)
21:52 (somber music)
21:55 (somber music)
21:57 (somber music)
22:00 (somber music)
22:03 (gunshots)
22:13 (gunshots)
22:15 (gunshots)
22:24 - That river's not gonna stop me, black bud!
22:28 (somber music)
22:30 - Three and two.
22:46 First ball fouled away.
22:49 Got remains three balls and two strikes.
22:51 (somber music)
22:55 (somber music)
22:58 - Turn off that radio.
23:16 (somber music)
23:18 (somber music)
23:21 (somber music)
23:48 - Hey, kid!
23:50 Don't turn across that waterfall!
23:52 (somber music)
23:55 Wait a minute, kid!
24:02 The current's too strong for you there!
24:16 (somber music)
24:18 (gunshots)
24:31 (gunshots)
24:33 (gunshots)
24:36 (gunshots)
24:38 - Well, what do you want?
25:06 - Bart.
25:07 - What is it?
25:11 - I'd like to talk to you.
25:14 - I'm very busy.
25:15 - It won't take long.
25:17 - Look, if it's about Hank,
25:18 let's wait till I've had a chance to talk to him about it.
25:20 - It's not about Hank.
25:21 Not directly, anyway.
25:22 - Well, what is it about?
25:27 - Would you like a separation?
25:32 - All right, black bud!
25:34 Come on with your hands up!
25:36 You haven't got a chance!
25:37 (gunshot)
25:42 - Would you?
25:43 - I don't know.
25:46 - But you think I would, is that it?
25:50 (gunshot)
25:52 - We're very rarely together anyway, Barty.
25:54 When we're in the same house,
25:55 the way you avoid me,
25:57 we might as well be separating.
25:59 - I haven't been avoiding you, I've been working.
26:03 - There's one way of avoiding me.
26:04 (gunshot)
26:07 - What do you want me to be, a streetcar conductor?
26:09 Come home at five o'clock and put my feet up on the table?
26:12 - That's another way of avoiding me.
26:14 - If you want a separation, Gail.
26:19 - It's not what I want.
26:20 What does anybody want?
26:24 I don't know what I want anymore.
26:26 (gunshot)
26:28 - I got your car, black bud!
26:30 (gun cocks)
26:33 (gunshot)
26:35 - I'll give you one minute to make up your mind, black bud,
26:39 'cause I'm coming in there after ya!
26:41 - Well, what's all the shooting about?
26:43 You sure are making a lot of noise around here, son.
26:49 - Stand right where you are, black bud.
26:51 - What's that?
26:52 - I don't think you can sneak around
26:53 the back of me that easy.
26:55 Put up your hands!
26:56 - Look, son, never point a gun at people,
26:59 not even in fun.
27:00 - Stay where you are!
27:01 - Point that gun away from me!
27:05 - One more step, black bud, and you're a dead man.
27:12 (dramatic music)
27:15 (dramatic music)
27:27 (dramatic music)
27:29 - I told you to point that gun away from me, now do it!
27:34 Boy, your age shouldn't be allowed to have a gun anyhow.
27:39 - I'm warning you for the last time,
27:40 I just as soon bring you in dead as alive.
27:42 - I'm gonna bring you in to your parents, young man,
27:44 and you may wish you were dead
27:45 before I get through telling them about this.
27:47 Now give me that gun!
27:48 (gunshot)
27:51 - Next time I won't miss, black bard,
27:53 now stay where you are.
27:54 - Do I really treat you so badly?
27:56 - Don't you honestly know how you treat me?
27:59 - I was under the impression that we live fairly well.
28:02 - Of course we live well.
28:04 Please don't try to bring everything down
28:07 to the level of logistics.
28:09 Somehow you always manage to put me in the position
28:12 of seeming ungrateful to you.
28:14 I'm not, I'm glad you're successful,
28:17 I'm glad you make enough money to pay for the things we have,
28:19 but that's not what I mean.
28:21 - What do you mean?
28:24 - Oh bard, come off it, will ya?
28:26 I want you to listen to me.
28:27 - I am listening.
28:30 - Oh thanks, what do I get, three minutes?
28:32 Sorry your time's up?
28:34 - All right, I won't listen if you're gonna be nasty about it.
28:38 - I'm sorry, I don't wanna be nasty.
28:41 - Are you out of your mind?
28:43 What kind of a game do you think you're playing anyway?
28:46 - You just sit down for a spell
28:47 while I figure out what I'm gonna do with you.
28:49 - Now you wait a minute.
28:51 I said sit down!
28:52 (gentle music)
28:54 Sometimes I don't think you even like me anymore,
29:08 let alone love me.
29:09 - I love you.
29:12 - I know you did once.
29:13 - I still do.
29:18 - Oh I'm sure you're fond of me in some general kind of way.
29:22 Like you get attached to things
29:24 that have been around a long time.
29:26 If I left you'd be vaguely aware
29:29 that something was missing,
29:30 but you wouldn't really know what it was.
29:32 - Do you want to leave?
29:35 - I want what you want, bard.
29:38 I guess I just want the chance
29:42 to make your life a happy one,
29:43 if that means anything to you.
29:45 - It does.
29:48 Very much.
29:48 - Then tell me what you want me to be.
29:55 I don't know.
29:56 You don't seem to have much use for me the way I am.
30:00 What do you expect from a wife?
30:03 You want a housekeeper?
30:07 A kind of governess for your son?
30:09 A woman of convenience?
30:13 Is that all you want from me?
30:17 I'll be that for you.
30:18 I'll be all those things for you,
30:21 but you have to let me know they're important to you.
30:23 You have to tell me they're important, bard.
30:27 You have to tell me they're necessary.
30:28 I want to participate.
30:33 I have to be needed.
30:34 - You are.
30:38 You're needed.
30:39 - I gotta think real hard
30:43 about what I'm gonna do with you, Black Bart.
30:45 (dramatic music)
30:48 - I know you hate great displays of emotion,
30:58 but every once in a while, Bart, something.
31:01 A look, a word, a pat on the head occasionally.
31:05 It doesn't take much to make me happy, it really doesn't.
31:14 (dramatic music)
31:16 I don't know how long it's been since you touched me,
31:20 but even that's all right.
31:24 I can get along without that
31:26 if I only knew that you wanted me in other ways.
31:31 - I want you.
31:32 I want you in many ways,
31:35 but my energy seems to get burned up
31:38 on so many other things.
31:40 Maybe that's wrong, I can't help it.
31:43 What I do seems to take practically
31:45 every bit of energy I have.
31:47 You know, someone once said that eight hours of mental work
31:53 is the equivalent of 72 hours of hard physical labor.
31:56 I can believe that.
31:58 I'm exhausted when I finish working.
32:01 I don't have much left in me to bring to your problems.
32:06 They irritate me, I grow intolerant of them.
32:09 I know that's wrong,
32:10 but there's not much I can do about it.
32:12 That's my chemistry.
32:13 I can't just suddenly become a bum
32:17 because I wanna conserve my energy.
32:19 I have a great need for things to run smoothly at home.
32:22 I expect them to run smoothly.
32:23 Maybe that's too much to take for granted, I'm sorry,
32:27 but when I'm working,
32:28 I don't wanna even feel that I have to talk to anyone.
32:30 It's very important to me.
32:32 It doesn't mean that I don't love my family,
32:34 it just means that I'm tired.
32:36 I can't keep on being confronted by a constant array
32:40 of trivial domestic considerations.
32:42 I expect you to take care of those, Gail.
32:45 I need you to protect me from them.
32:48 Has it ever occurred to you
32:51 that if you spent a little more time at home,
32:53 you wouldn't be confronted by a constant array
32:55 of trivial domestic considerations?
32:58 You hate my work, don't you?
33:04 You really must hate my work.
33:09 How could I hate it?
33:10 I don't know anything about it.
33:11 You never talk to me about it.
33:13 That's not true.
33:14 Oh, sure, you let me read an article every once in a while.
33:18 If I say I like it, you beam at me
33:20 and make me feel terribly bright and clever.
33:22 If I say I don't like it, you never ask me why.
33:26 You just scowl and mutter something
33:29 about my not being very well-informed.
33:31 I guess I do hate your work.
33:34 I'm jealous of it.
33:39 At least you have some interest outside the house.
33:42 I wish I had.
33:43 Maybe things would be happier
33:45 if there was something I could do,
33:46 but I'm not very bright or talented or clever.
33:50 I don't seem to be able to do anything very well.
33:53 The only thing left we have in common is Hank,
34:00 and we can't even talk about him anymore
34:02 without fighting with each other.
34:04 Just how long do you intend to keep on
34:06 with this little game of yours?
34:07 I'll figure out what I'm gonna do with you.
34:09 What about Hank?
34:13 What about him?
34:15 Where would he live if we were separated?
34:18 I suppose he'd live with me.
34:21 I wouldn't want to fight about it,
34:24 but I don't think he's very used to living with you.
34:26 Do you want a separation?
34:29 I don't want to fight about it.
34:31 Do you want a separation?
34:33 Please don't make me the one who has to want it.
34:37 If we separate, let's try to do it by mutual agreement.
34:41 It'll be the first thing we've done together in a long time.
34:46 But I'm the one who has to make the decision, is that it?
34:49 So you can feel that I'm throwing you out.
34:51 I have no intention of throwing you out.
34:54 I'd leave peacefully.
34:56 Look, you can't solve all the problems of a lifetime
35:00 in one conversation.
35:02 Do we have to decide now?
35:04 Here, today, this minute?
35:06 What do you want me to do?
35:07 Just go on like this?
35:09 Because there isn't any easy, happy solution?
35:12 We have to decide sometime.
35:14 I know.
35:15 Can you end 12 years of marriage with no more thought than that?
35:19 I've been thinking about it
35:23 for three years.
35:29 You've been thinking about leaving me for three years?
35:32 Yes.
35:34 That kind of hurts.
35:38 You can hurt me very much, you try.
35:43 Can I?
35:45 I'd be glad if I could even do that.
35:49 I didn't know I could reach you at all anymore.
35:52 I can't make you happy.
35:54 It's comforting to know I can at least hurt you.
35:57 That's something, anyway.
35:59 We could just go on hurting each other for the rest of our lives.
36:04 I don't want to hurt you.
36:07 I don't want to be hurt.
36:09 I want time to think about it.
36:11 I need time to think about it.
36:14 I don't want a separation, Bart.
36:20 I really don't want one.
36:24 I just want to participate in your life.
36:27 I want to share things with you.
36:29 I want to see things you see.
36:32 Hear things you hear.
36:35 I'd even like to make love to you occasionally.
36:41 I'd even like to make love to you occasionally.
36:44 I'd even like to make love to you occasionally.
36:47 [Music]
37:12 [Crashing]
37:19 [Crashing]
37:29 [Crashing]
37:32 I thought maybe I would take Hank hunting.
37:51 I'll call him.
37:53 [Music]
37:55 Hank!
37:58 Hank, where are you?
38:00 Hank!
38:03 He doesn't seem to be around.
38:11 Have you seen the other rifle?
38:12 Isn't it in the rack?
38:14 No.
38:16 It was there. I remember seeing it just before lunch.
38:18 You don't suppose Hank took it?
38:20 Well, no. He's been told he can't take it out by himself.
38:23 There are shells missing.
38:27 You know, I did hear some shooting out there a while ago.
38:29 I didn't think anything about it.
38:30 Where was he going?
38:32 You remembered lunch. What was he going to do?
38:34 He was going after that bandit character of his.
38:38 Black Bart.
38:43 Bart, that's you.
38:44 I caught the name.
38:46 Listen, this is more than child's play.
38:48 He's taking out his resentment towards you on this Black Bart person.
38:51 In his mind, it's you.
38:53 It's like he's out there hanging you in effigy.
38:56 That's ridiculous.
38:58 You know how his imagination works.
39:01 Come on, we've got to find him.
39:06 [SIREN]
39:09 [SIREN]
39:37 [SIREN]
39:39 What is it, Bart? What did you find?
39:58 What are they, rifle shells?
40:01 22 caliber.
40:02 That the kind we use?
40:03 Yeah.
40:05 They haven't been here very long.
40:07 That last shot we heard sounded like it came from across the river.
40:11 Bart, I'm scared.
40:15 For some reason, that shot scares me.
40:18 Maybe we better ask that man over there. He might have seen him.
40:21 Bart, what are you going to do when you find him?
40:26 I don't know. I'm not sure.
40:28 Well, try not to be too angry with him.
40:31 Please, Bart, don't be too rough on him.
40:34 I won't.
40:35 I might even ask him if he wants me to help get rid of Black Bart for him.
40:39 Hey, there.
40:50 What is it?
40:51 Have you seen a boy around here?
40:53 Yeah.
40:54 A little boy, 11 years old?
40:55 He had a gun.
40:56 Yeah, that's the one. That your boy?
40:59 Yes.
41:00 Well, you ought to watch him, mister.
41:01 He's been shooting around here.
41:03 I've heard somebody with that gun.
41:04 That's why we're looking for him.
41:06 Fool kid. He went right over that waterfall.
41:08 He could have been drowned.
41:10 Which way did he go after he got to the other side?
41:12 Upstream.
41:13 How long ago was that?
41:15 Oh, about an hour ago.
41:17 Come on.
41:19 Thank you.
41:21 Thank you.
41:22 There's only one chance for you to save yourself, Black Bart.
41:43 Do you mind telling me what you're talking about?
41:46 I'm gonna give you one last chance to clear yourself.
41:50 Clear myself of what?
41:52 All your foul deeds, Black Bart.
41:55 This is ridiculous.
41:59 You want to take that chance?
42:01 Why not?
42:02 I can play games as well as anybody else, I suppose.
42:04 What is it?
42:05 Put this on your head.
42:10 Put this on my head?
42:13 Yeah, put the apple on your head.
42:15 Well, if you don't mind, I'd just as soon eat it.
42:18 I'm getting hungry.
42:20 You want your chance or not, Black Bart?
42:23 All right, so I put it on my head.
42:26 What's it supposed to mean?
42:27 It's gonna prove whether you're innocent or not.
42:29 Of all my foul deeds?
42:31 Yeah, it's like William Tell.
42:33 William Tell?
42:34 He made him shoot the apple off his son's head.
42:36 You mean to say you want to shoot this apple off my head with that gun?
42:42 I haven't got a bow and arrow.
42:43 Well, thank God for that.
42:45 Put it on your head.
42:47 Are you serious?
42:48 I'm a very good shot.
42:49 I don't care how good a shot you are.
42:51 Put the apple on your head.
42:53 Look, what are you trying to prove?
42:56 I'm gonna prove whether you have faith or not.
42:58 What?
42:59 If you have faith, it'll prove you're innocent, and I'll let you go free without hurting you.
43:03 Haven't you got this William Tell business mixed up a little bit?
43:07 If you've got to have faith, am I being able to shoot the apple off?
43:09 Well, yes, but it was William Tell being put to the test, not his son with the apple on his head.
43:14 It was the father who had to prove himself. That was his punishment.
43:17 That's right.
43:18 Well, haven't you got this a little backwards?
43:21 Black Bart's got to prove himself, just like William Tell.
43:24 Well, you should give me the gun, and let me shoot the apple off your head.
43:28 Isn't that right?
43:32 Isn't that the way it should be done?
43:36 I don't know.
43:38 Come on, boy.
43:42 You want to do this thing right.
43:45 Now, you let me have the gun.
43:49 I'll give you the apple, and we'll just trade places.
43:52 Sit down.
43:54 Look, I'm just trying to explain that it's the father who shoots the apple off the son's head.
44:07 It's time the tables were turned, Black Bart.
44:09 Now, wait a minute.
44:11 Put the apple up.
44:12 If you flinch or try to duck away or won't do it, that'll prove you don't have faith,
44:15 and are therefore guilty of all your foul deeds.
44:18 Then you'll get hurt yourself instead of the apple.
44:21 That does it.
44:23 Hank!
44:30 That shot came from up there.
44:32 Well, wait for me.
44:35 [Music]
44:43 Now, put the apple on your head.
44:45 [Music]
45:15 Hey!
45:16 What are you doing?
45:22 Listen, mister.
45:23 Whoever you are, please don't upset this kid.
45:26 Just please don't make him nervous.
45:28 Will you tell me what's going on here?
45:30 I'm supposed to be somebody called Black Bart.
45:33 He's got Black Bart all mixed up with this William Tell business some way.
45:37 I'm going to shoot the apple off his head.
45:39 Do something.
45:40 Anything.
45:43 Only please do it gently.
45:45 Just don't get this kid rattled.
45:47 Just please don't get this kid rattled.
45:50 Hank.
45:53 Put down that gun.
45:56 Hank! Oh, Han...
45:59 I'm going to shoot the apple off of Black Bart's head to see if he has any faith.
46:06 Can't you talk him out of it?
46:07 If he's got faith, then he's innocent of his crimes, and I'll let him go free.
46:10 Hank.
46:12 He hasn't got faith.
46:13 Hank, he's got faith.
46:18 If he hasn't got faith, he'll get hurt for his crimes.
46:22 Hank.
46:23 Bart, stop him. Do something to stop him.
46:26 Easy.
46:28 Please just do it easy.
46:30 He's got faith. You've got to believe me.
46:34 It's too late for him to say so anymore.
46:37 He's got to prove it now.
46:40 For God's sake, stop him.
46:42 Hank, I think you've made a mistake.
46:45 Be careful, Bart.
46:48 He isn't Black Bart.
46:52 Who is Black Bart, anyway?
46:54 I am.
46:56 I'm Black Bart.
47:09 Isn't that right, Hank?
47:11 [Ding]
47:12 [Ding]
47:13 [Gunshot]
47:36 [Gunshot]
47:37 Hank, why did you do it? You could have killed him.
47:45 I didn't want to hurt him.
47:50 But you could have.
47:55 I know, but I wouldn't like to hurt him.
47:57 I just wanted to scare him a little, that's all I wanted to do.
48:01 Scare him?
48:03 I had to scare him a little, didn't I?
48:06 He's scared.
48:08 He was plenty scared.
48:20 [Coughing]
48:22 [Coughing]
48:24 [Coughing]
48:28 [Music]
48:31 [Music]
48:34 [Music]
48:36 [Music]
49:01 [Music]
49:03 [Music]
49:19 [Music]
49:21 [Music]
49:27 [Music]
49:34 [Music]
49:40 [Music]
49:48 [Music]
49:50 [Music]
49:52 (upbeat music)
49:55 [BLANK_AUDIO]