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Short filmTranscript
00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:03 Morning.
00:17 Morning.
00:18 Look like you've been cutting a hard trail.
00:23 How far is it to Fort Considine?
00:25 Oh, about eight miles due east.
00:27 Thanks.
00:28 Hey, wait a minute.
00:29 You sure you want Fort Considine?
00:32 Is that wrong?
00:33 Well, the soldiers pulled out of there years ago.
00:35 Nothing there but the wind and the echoes.
00:37 Even the coyotes are lonesome up there.
00:39 Eight miles.
00:49 Thanks.
00:50 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:54 [HORSE GALLOPING]
01:22 Colonel Sykes?
01:25 Colonel Sykes?
01:26 [MUSIC PLAYING]
01:29 [HORSE GALLOPING]
01:58 [CAT MEOWING]
02:01 That's far enough, mister.
02:16 Drop it.
02:20 [MUSIC PLAYING]
02:23 [THUNDER]
02:26 [MUSIC PLAYING]
02:30 I'll use it.
02:49 I swear I will.
02:51 Guess you would.
02:54 Now kick it away.
02:57 [THUD]
02:59 What do you want here?
03:01 I was invited.
03:02 What's your name?
03:03 Josh Randall.
03:06 Who sent for you?
03:07 The message was from Colonel John J. Sykes, retired,
03:09 formerly the Army of the Confederacy.
03:11 Now that's what you want to hear?
03:13 It's not enough.
03:14 Well, it's enough for me, lady.
03:15 I ate a lot of dust to get here, and I'm not about to play games.
03:17 Let me see it.
03:18 What?
03:19 The telegraph message.
03:21 I didn't say it was a telegraph message.
03:24 Please.
03:26 Please, I-- I just got to be sure.
03:28 Just toss it over to me.
03:30 [MUSIC PLAYING]
03:50 Sorry, Mr. Randall.
03:53 I just can't trust anybody, not now.
03:56 Who are you, miss?
03:58 Jody Sykes.
03:59 I sent this message for my father.
04:01 Where's the colonel?
04:03 He's in there.
04:04 Been a long time, Colonel.
04:15 You can drop that colonel talk.
04:16 I haven't wore a uniform since the day after Appomattox.
04:19 Well, you look spiny as ever, sir.
04:20 You think so?
04:23 Take another look.
04:25 Went through four bloody years of war with hardly a scratch.
04:29 Had to retire to get this.
04:31 How did it happen, sir?
04:32 Show him, Jody.
04:33 Wanted for murder.
04:40 $1,000 reward for the capture, dead or alive,
04:43 of Colonel John J. Sykes.
04:45 What kind of foolishness is this?
04:47 You believe that, Randall?
04:48 I sure don't want to, Colonel.
04:50 The federal seal on it from the US Marshal's office.
04:52 It's a fake.
04:54 A vicious trick to kill an innocent man.
04:57 You got no law in town.
04:58 Jody wired the Marshal last night.
05:00 Well, he'll round up the posters, put an end to it.
05:02 But he's coming from Tucson, and that's
05:04 three or four days away.
05:05 My father could be dead by that time.
05:07 This country's crawling with bounty hunters, Randall.
05:10 You know what they can be like.
05:13 I'm one of them, sir.
05:14 I'm talking about the money-hungry buzzards
05:16 with the itchy fingers.
05:17 The kind who did that?
05:19 No, this came from a ranch hand after a job.
05:22 He saw that poster in town and came back
05:24 with gold dust in his eyes.
05:25 Pretty soon that poster will be pinned
05:27 to every tree in this territory.
05:29 And my father won't have a chance.
05:31 He can't even ride with that knee.
05:32 All right, Jody.
05:33 You've got to help us, Mr. Randall.
05:35 There's just no one else.
05:38 Somebody wanted you dead, Colonel.
05:39 Didn't have the guts to do it himself.
05:41 During the war, every man on the regiment
05:42 felt he had a right to hate me.
05:44 Not like this.
05:45 This is a simmering kind of hate.
05:47 Somebody wrote these up, took them to a printer,
05:48 paid good money to put a target on your back.
05:50 No self-respecting printer would take a job like that.
05:53 Can't be more than two or three printers
05:55 in this part of the country.
05:56 It's a newspaper in town.
05:57 He must do job printing.
05:58 That's Victor Flam's paper.
05:59 He's a good friend.
06:00 He's got a hand for us, hasn't he?
06:02 He's got no reason.
06:03 He wants to earn a living.
06:04 Now, wait, Randall.
06:05 Victor Flam's--
06:06 I know he's a friend.
06:07 But he's the only lead we've got.
06:10 Jody, you take care of your father, all right?
06:12 [MUSIC PLAYING]
06:16 [FOOTSTEPS]
06:20 Well, what'd you find at the fort?
06:28 This.
06:29 Well, come in, son.
06:30 My eyes are not as good as they used to be.
06:31 John Sykes?
06:36 Why, ridiculous.
06:37 He doesn't think so.
06:39 That poster almost got him killed.
06:40 Do you have any more around?
06:43 What do you mean by that?
06:44 You're the only printer in town, Mr. Flam.
06:46 Now, listen, mister.
06:47 John Sykes is a friend of mine.
06:49 I wouldn't print his name on a reward poster if the order came
06:51 from the president himself.
06:53 Whoever ordered this poster is one foot from murder.
06:55 The printer's guilty of forging a federal seal.
06:58 What you're interested in is?
06:59 John J. Sykes.
07:00 [FOOTSTEPS]
07:03 Oh, this isn't my work.
07:09 Cheap stock, cheaper ink, and--
07:12 and look at these margins.
07:13 I'm not interested in margins.
07:15 Well, I am.
07:16 That's my business.
07:18 When I lock up a type tray, it's set straighter
07:20 than a schoolteacher at a poker table.
07:22 Anyone else use that press?
07:23 Do you have any help?
07:25 Well, once in a while, tramps mostly.
07:27 They come and they go.
07:28 They work long enough to buy a bottle of smiles,
07:30 and they ride out of town spouting
07:31 bad poetry and big lies.
07:33 Where would a tramp printer go from here?
07:36 Well, closest place is about 30 miles.
07:38 Hang three flats.
07:40 [FOOTSTEPS]
07:43 Hey, what--
07:44 Don't worry.
07:45 You'll get it back.
07:46 [MUSIC PLAYING]
07:49 [HORN HONKING]
08:01 [TIRES SCREECHING]
08:04 [FOOTSTEPS]
08:06 [MUSIC PLAYING]
08:10 [FOOTSTEPS]
08:37 Afternoon, ma'am.
08:40 [MUSIC PLAYING]
08:43 Sorry.
08:48 Looking for somebody?
08:49 Are you the boss?
08:50 That's right.
08:51 My name's Randall, Josh Randall.
08:52 Can I ask yours?
08:54 Willie Joe Weems.
08:55 What's on your mind?
08:56 Words, Mr. Weems.
08:57 Words to engrave on the face of eternity.
08:59 Words to free the soul.
09:00 Words to stain the fingertips.
09:03 Printer's devil, huh?
09:04 At your service.
09:05 And very reasonable, too.
09:06 Now, just a minute.
09:07 You ain't been hired yet.
09:08 Learn my tray of the elbows of Horace Greeley.
09:10 Ain't a tramp printer alive can tell the truth.
09:13 Would you like to see a recent example of my work?
09:15 Your work, huh?
09:21 Well, true.
09:22 The margins are a little untidy, but the side of the type
09:24 tray warped in the sun.
09:26 I got all the help I need.
09:27 Nobody liked that poster.
09:29 Not even the United States Marshal.
09:32 What are you after?
09:33 Looks like I found it.
09:35 I think you better get moving.
09:36 Suppose you tell me why.
09:38 Make tracks, Randall.
09:39 I want to hear about those posters.
09:43 You printed it.
09:49 Who paid for it?
09:50 [GRUNTING]
09:51 Tell me about that poster.
10:00 Wait.
10:04 It wasn't my idea.
10:05 I swear it wasn't.
10:06 Whose was it?
10:07 I can't tell.
10:08 I'd get a bullet in the head.
10:09 They'd kill me if they--
10:10 [GUNSHOT]
10:11 You'll talk when you hear all the terror out of you.
10:16 All right.
10:17 Ben Hood.
10:18 It was Ben Hood.
10:20 Ben Hood.
10:21 He's been in jail for years.
10:23 No.
10:24 No more.
10:25 Where is he?
10:26 I don't know.
10:27 Please, Randall.
10:28 I swear I don't know.
10:29 I swear I don't.
10:30 [MUSIC PLAYING]
10:34 [DOOR SLAMMING]
10:37 [HORSE GALLOPING]
10:53 [MUSIC PLAYING]
10:57 Who is he?
11:10 Trouble.
11:11 [MUSIC PLAYING]
11:15 [HORSE GALLOPING]
11:19 [LAUGHTER]
11:44 [GUNSHOT]
11:45 [LAUGHTER]
11:47 Well, thanks for your company, gentlemen.
11:49 Anytime.
11:50 It's a plan.
11:51 Anytime.
11:52 Just don't forget about it now, do you hear?
11:53 Foremost in my thoughts.
11:54 We'll be seeing you.
11:55 We'll do it again.
11:56 All right.
11:57 Hey, and thanks for the drink.
11:58 You got back in a hurry from Hangtree, Joyce.
12:08 Friends of yours?
12:09 Well, they paid for the drinks.
12:10 It could be after psychs.
12:11 Yeah, I know.
12:12 They even called me for information about him.
12:14 Even promised me part of the reward.
12:15 There is no reward.
12:16 It's a fake.
12:17 Eh, they don't know that.
12:18 You do.
12:19 Eh, it's not enough.
12:20 The posters say that John's a murderer.
12:22 You say the posters are wrong.
12:24 But your word's not enough to convince those men.
12:26 They want proof.
12:27 Strong, hard proof.
12:28 I'll get proof.
12:29 Where?
12:30 In the back issues of your newspaper.
12:32 Do you mind?
12:33 Why, of course not.
12:35 Eh, here you are.
12:41 You can go back about a year and a half.
12:42 Now, what are we looking for?
12:50 The man behind the poster, Ben Hood.
12:53 I don't know him.
12:55 Corporal in my outfit during the war.
12:57 Got married.
12:58 One day it'll be well to be with his bride.
13:00 Hmm, impractical, but romantic.
13:03 Well, they found him four months later.
13:05 Tried him for desertion.
13:06 He got 20 years.
13:08 I thought they shot deserters.
13:09 Colonel Syke was presiding officer at the court-martial.
13:12 He recommended the prison sentence.
13:14 Well, Ben Hood should have been grateful.
13:17 Here's his gratitude.
13:18 I can't understand.
13:22 How could a man accomplish this behind bars?
13:25 Maybe he was pardoned, maybe he escaped, I don't know.
13:28 The answer might be here.
13:29 Well, make yourself at home.
13:32 You leaving?
13:38 I'm a lot older than you, and I need my rest.
13:40 There's coffee on the stove.
13:42 Good luck.
13:44 [door opens]
13:46 [music playing]
13:49 [music playing]
14:17 [laughter]
14:18 We'll be seeing you.
14:24 We'll do it again.
14:25 All right.
14:26 [music playing]
14:28 Morning.
14:37 Looks like you had a busy night.
14:39 You sell the colonel to those men?
14:41 What's bothering you?
14:42 I'd find out you told him anything about Colonel Sykes.
14:44 I'll take you apart, editor.
14:45 Now, slow down, Josh.
14:46 That's a promise.
14:47 All right.
14:48 You've registered your warning.
14:50 Now, what got you so riled up?
14:52 Death notice.
14:53 What?
14:54 It's all here.
14:59 Ben Hood died in jail 10 months ago, typhoid fever.
15:03 But I thought--
15:04 Yeah, I thought too.
15:05 I thought that printer over in Hangtree
15:06 was too scared to lie.
15:08 Well, that killed your vengeance motive.
15:11 Doesn't need much to go on now, does it?
15:14 Only my word.
15:15 That doesn't stand for much in this town.
15:16 [music playing]
15:18 Jody?
15:30 Jody?
15:31 [music playing]
15:33 Jody?
15:44 [knocking]
15:46 [door creaking]
15:47 [music playing]
15:49 [door creaking]
15:54 [music playing]
15:56 [horse neighing]
16:09 [music playing]
16:12 [music playing]
16:14 Mr. Randall, I've been looking everywhere for you.
16:26 Jody, where's your father?
16:28 I don't know.
16:29 He's just gone.
16:30 Since when?
16:31 Since last night.
16:32 I went to the ranch to get some food,
16:34 and I couldn't have been gone more than an hour.
16:36 I even left the rifle here just in case.
16:38 Did you hear any shooting?
16:39 No.
16:40 I came back, and he was just gone.
16:42 I've been looking everywhere for him.
16:43 I didn't know what else to do.
16:45 Well, the first thing we're going to do
16:46 is interview a newspaper editor.
16:48 Come on.
16:49 [horse neighing]
16:50 [music playing]
16:52 Jody, is that rifle still around?
16:57 No.
16:58 Come on.
16:59 Let's get the horses inside.
17:00 [music playing]
17:03 [horse neighing]
17:05 [music playing]
17:07 [horse neighing]
17:09 [music playing]
17:12 [horse neighing]
17:14 [music playing]
17:16 [music playing]
17:28 [horse neighing]
17:30 [music playing]
17:32 [music playing]
17:42 [music playing]
17:57 [music playing]
17:59 [gunshots]
18:11 Throw the gun away, Mr. Randall.
18:20 Go on.
18:21 Throw it.
18:22 No tricks, mister.
18:24 You got all kinds of company.
18:25 If you're looking for Colonel Sykes, he's not here.
18:31 We'll let the bounty men hunt for Sykes.
18:33 We want you, Randall.
18:35 I'm flattered.
18:36 We've been trailing you since you left Hangtree Flats.
18:38 You could mess things up for us real good.
18:41 Move over this way, away from the gun.
18:43 Do what she says.
18:46 Mrs. Hood is a strong-minded woman.
18:49 Mrs. Hood?
18:50 Ben Hood's wife.
18:52 Ben's widow might be more right.
18:54 Colonel Sykes killed my husband.
18:56 Typhoid fever killed your husband.
18:58 He died in prison.
19:00 Colonel Sykes put him in there.
19:02 That was his job.
19:04 He took my Ben away from me.
19:06 Ben would be alive right now if it wasn't for that colonel.
19:10 He put him in jail.
19:12 He deserted in time of war.
19:15 To be with me.
19:18 With me.
19:20 And that colonel, he hunted him down.
19:23 He hunted him like he was a dog.
19:26 And he made us run and run and run and run.
19:29 All right, Clara, that's enough.
19:32 Well, now it's different.
19:34 Now it's the colonel that'll be doing the running.
19:37 And those bounty hunters will make him run until he drops.
19:40 Then they'll put a bullet in his back.
19:43 Clara, we ain't got all day.
19:46 You might interfere, Mr. Randall.
19:49 That's why my brother's gonna kill you now.
19:52 I was wondering when you'd get around to that.
19:54 Turn around, mister.
19:56 What's the matter, Weems? Afraid to look a dead man in the eyes?
19:59 Just do me a favor, huh? Turn around.
20:17 Now look.
20:19 You watch him.
20:21 Who's in there, Randall?
20:26 Might be the ghost of Ben Hood.
20:29 You better come out of there right now.
20:43 You hear?
20:45 You hear me? You better come out of there.
20:49 ( growling )
21:17 Planko! Planko!
21:19 ( growling )
21:21 ( growling )
21:50 That's enough, Jodi.
21:52 Make her tell where my father is. Make her tell.
21:54 I don't know.
21:56 Maybe he's dead.
21:58 Maybe a bounty man gunned him down, and he's dead like my Ben.
22:02 That's enough, Jodi. That's enough.
22:05 Let's find your father.
22:07 Move. Let's go.
22:15 ( gunshot )
22:17 Where's Colonel Sykes?
22:36 I wish we knew. That reward would make us a cloud for a hat.
22:40 Tell him the truth, Mrs. Hood.
22:42 You better do what she says.
22:44 There is no price on Colonel Sykes' head.
22:48 The posters were fakes.
22:51 Chance to make an honest dollar, and she said it's a fake.
22:54 Where's the colonel?
22:56 At my house.
22:58 At your house?
23:00 Yeah. These two said they were going to search the fort last night.
23:03 I had to do something.
23:05 Well, what are you waiting for?
23:07 I don't know how to thank you.
23:09 ( music playing )
23:12 Hey, ain't there a bounty for bad bounty posters?
23:23 I'll tell you what.
23:25 I think the colonel will pay $1 for every one you can find.
23:28 ( laughing )
23:30 Listen, you want to take care of Mrs. Hood until the marshal gets here?
23:35 - Tell him what happened. - Yeah.
23:38 ( footsteps )
23:40 Where are you going?
23:42 Collecting those posters.
23:44 I'm going to make a living somehow.
23:46 I'll see you now. Here.
23:48 ( music playing )
23:51 ( thunder rumbling )
23:59 ( music playing )
24:02 ( music playing )
24:06 ( music playing )
24:09 ( music playing )
24:24 ( music playing )
24:27 ( music playing )
24:30 ( music playing )
24:33 ( music playing )
24:36 (dramatic music)
24:39 (upbeat music)