Black Saddle

Marshal Gib Scott:
Well, it's no skin off my saddle but... how'd you know?

Clay Culhane:
What's it matter now?

Marshal Gib Scott:
I guess it doesn't, but since you got your man off I'd like to know.

Clay Culhane:
The Prosecution's witness says the thief was wearing a red shirt.

Marshal Gib Scott:
Yeah. That's why I made my arrest.

Clay Culhane:
Well, the witness was color blind.

Marshal Gib Scott:
How'd you find that out?

Clay Culhane:
Well, I wasn't sure, but some of the other things just didn't add up. So I uh... just took a chance.

Marshal Gib Scott:
Are you saying that you really didn't know until you asked him? In court?

Clay Culhane:
Mmm.

Marshal Gib Scott:
Culhane, someday you are going to take a chance like that and end up with a sack full of ding bats!

Marshal Gib Scott:
I'm not anxious to get my head blown off. Four to one ain't the best odds in the world but I guess that's the way it's gonna have to be.

Eddie Wilson:
Gibb, I've let you pin a deputy badge on me more than once, sometimes when I'd rather stayed home. I've always gone along. You're a good lawman and I like what you've done to this town. This time I'm saying no. Let them have Mallet.

Marshal Gib Scott:
You think I'm gonna sit back and let them kill him? Suppose I did. How would you and the rest of the town feel about me... tomorrow... next week?

Marshal Gib Scott:
'Change of venue ordered for Thomas Brandon.'

Clay Culhane:
I uh... wired Santa Fe as soon as I saw those [sic] hands ride in.

Frank Brandon:
We figured Tom wouldn't get a fair hearing in Latigo.

Marshal Gib Scott:
You're just full of brainy notions, aren't you, Culhane? Only, I'm the one that's got the pleasure of trying to get him to Santa Fe.

Clay Culhane:
Well now you know it's the best thing to do.

Marshal Gib Scott:
What I think doesn't change this. The next time you line me up with a job like this, Culhane, at least give me time to look forward to it. Now, do you mind if I wait 'till dark?

Clay Culhane:
Carla and the others rode out of here hours ago.

Marshal Gib Scott:
I know. But before they left she told me they'd hang Tom whenever they were ready. And it's a long ride to Santa Fe.

Marshal Gib Scott:
He's had enough!

Clay Culhane:
What do you mean enough? I only hit him once. I've got a lump on my head the size of your fist!

Dick Banks:
[Uncle Amos] always said never show your draw unless you mean it. Someday you might have to throw down with him.

Clay Culhane:
Well, your uncle was right, but he sure wasn't talking about target shooting.

Eli Banks:
Clay Coulhane, Texas gunman. Maybe you fool some people calling yourself a lawyer, but not me. You're not gonna teach our boy your ways. Now get off my property!

Dick Banks:
I wouldn't have killed him, Mr. Coulhane.

Clay Culhane:
Wouldn't ya?

Dick Banks:
I could shoot the glass out of his hand 'cause it didn't mean nothin', but I couldn't kill him.

Clay Culhane:
You couldn't. I had to.

Clay Culhane:
You put your foot in your mouth. No sense in you leaving it there!

Ben Dawes:
Culhane?

Clay Culhane:
Yes.

Ben Dawes:
You a good lawyer?

Clay Culhane:
Well, let's say I'm the best there is in Latigo.

Marshal Gib Scott:
What he means is he's the only one in Latigo.

[last lines]

Maggie Dawes:
There are other lawyers in New Mexico.

Clay Culhane:
Better luck with the next one.

Nora Travers:
How long do I have to sit here before you notice 'em?

Clay Culhane:
Notice what?

Nora Travers:
My new shoes.

Clay Culhane:
Gib, Nora wears shoes.

Marshal Gib Scott:
High time... People can't talk [jump] and play checkers [jump] .

Clay Culhane:
I've said the same thing many times. [jump] You gotta concentrate on one... [jump]... or the other. [Jump] You can't do both. [Jump]

Clint Frome:
I'd like to wash off some of Virginia, Kentucky, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas before I go home.

Clint Frome:
Suppose I don't leave?

Marshal Gib Scott:
I'll give you another room - rent free!

[first lines]

[four Mexicans confront Clay with guns drawn]

Calderon:
Pardon, senor. It is a mistake.

Clay Culhane:
Is it?

Calderon:
You are frightened, senor. You think that we are bandits.

Clay Culhane:
I don't exactly take you for traveling salesmen.

Clay Culhane:
All right, put them away!

Calderon:
We have no quarrel with you, senor.

Clay Culhane:
Let's keep it that way! Go on back down the hill.

Calderon:
You are making a great mistake!

Clay Culhane:
Well, that puts us even. Now git - fast!

[Scott prevents Calderon and his men from battering down Martinez's door]

Calderon:
Permit me, senor, I have with me a writ of extradition for Juan Martinez, so called. I am empowered by your government to arrest and return him to Mexico. As you can see, it's all proper and legal.

Marshal Gib Scott:
In this country, it's not legal or proper to break a man's door down without a search warrant!

Juan Martinez:
Be assured, senor, the paper they have obtained is not merely a warrant for my extradition. Had it not been for your warning on road, it would have been my death warrant.

Marshal Gib Scott:
I ought to throw Culhane in jail for obstructing the law.

Nora Travers:
Those men aren't interested in the law.

Marshal Gib Scott:
Well, I am!

Judge Caleb Marsh:
We have no jurisdiction over this man. He belongs to Mexico and it says so right here and it's been signed and sealed by the highest court in New Mexico.

Clay Culhane:
Oh, now wait a minute!

Judge Caleb Marsh:
No sir, you wait and you better do some listening, counselor, before I find you in contempt! I figure a young country lawyer can't be expected to be up on matters of international whittle-whangin', but that don't change the law.

Judge Caleb Marsh:
I'm sorry, sir, I'm real sorry. I only wish that there is something I could do, but that paper don't change anything.

Juan Martinez:
I understand, sir. If a law is to be respected, it must apply equally to all men. I would have it so in my own country if I would have the opportunity to enforce it.

Senator Neil McQueen:
Believe me, boy, this is the first time I've been glad I lost my shootin' eye. I should have recognized that black saddle.

Senator Neil McQueen:
As I see it, you have a vested interested in this place?

Clay Culhane:
Which is?

Senator Neil McQueen:
Two granite slabs in the buryin' plot behind the big house. They got two names on 'em - they both read "Culhane"... figured that's where your brothers would want to be.

Clay Culhane:
Hello, Holt. It's been a long time.

Josh Holt:
Well, if isn't the leftover Culhane. We're not hirin'.

Clay Culhane:
Sorry, I'm not available.

Josh Holt:
Oh, yes. I heard you settled in some town further west. Claimed to be a doctor or a lawyer... I forget. Which is it, Culhane - quack or shyster?

Clay Culhane:
If you killed in self-defense, then the law's on your side.

Andy Meade:
Well, seems to me you and your brothers made quite a name for yourself without callin' in the law.

Clay Culhane:
Quite a name. When they died at Marathon, one was 24 and other was 22. How old are you, Andy?

Andy Meade:
Old enough to be on my own. Same as it's always been.

Clay Culhane:
Andy, you told me that you've been alone all of your life. Well, I'm tellin' you, you don't have to be.

Andy Meade:
You know, it looks to me like you're trying to convince yourself as much as me, Mr. Culhane.

Clay Culhane:
Well, why don't you stay and settle the arguing for both of us.

Marshal Gib Scott:
Well, Latigo used to be a quiet place; now they start the day with a powder burning contest. You holding a gunfighter's convention?

Andy Meade:
I sure appreciate you tryin' to help me, but I'm going to try and let the law settle this thing.

Wheeler Boone:
The law? Only women and men with skim milk in their veins hide behind the law.

Clay Culhane:
What about Andy Meade?

Fred Bryson:
I don't owe him anything!

Clay Culhane:
Oh, yes you do! You know what your trouble is Bryson? You figure you got something coming for nothin'.

Helen Bryson:
That's not so! Fred's always paid his own way.

Clay Culhane:
Not this time! Here's his chance to make a payment on what he expects from the law and what does he do? He lies!

Fred Bryson:
You better shut up, Culhane!

Clay Culhane:
You lie because you figure the truth might cost you something. You'll let that boy hang out there so you can keep what you got! Isn't that it?

Helen Bryson:
No! That's not true!

Clay Culhane:
Mister, you're the murderer in this town, not Andy Meade.

[last lines]

Wheeler Boone:
I killed the boy.

Clay Culhane:
Wheeler, more than one of us had a hand in it.

Clay Culhane:
I went to him as a lawyer, not a gunfighter.

Marshal Gib Scott:
Some of us have a little trouble telling the difference, Mr. Caulhane

Grant Mowery:
This town is plain dead. I mean dead! Curled up with it's feet in the air. Anybody want to help me bring it back to life again?

Grant Mowery:
You know what this bottle does for me? This part kills dryness; this opens my eyes; this pleasures me and this... this makes me pure mean.

Marshal Gib Scott:
I'll take your gun.

Grant Mowery:
You'll only get what's in it.

[Mowery has been shot by Marshal Scott]

Grant Mowery:
Hole in my belly or not, I'm still holding my whiskey.

Marshal Gib Scott:
This survivorship clause... does that mean winner take all?

Clay Culhane:
That was one clause he was very explicit about making sure it was in.

Marshal Gib Scott:
Coley Dakins and Pit Thatcher are the other heirs...

Marshal Gib Scott:
Why would Mallory name me in his will?

Clay Culhane:
That's got me, too, Scott.

Marshal Gib Scott:
You shoot a man and he pays you off. Doesn't make sense.

Clay Culhane:
Not unless Dakins and Thatcher figure three is a crowd. They might like it better with a two-way split.

Marshal Gib Scott:
I see what you mean.

Clay Culhane:
Just could by Mowery's way of payin' them to kill you.

Marshal Gib Scott:
I'm goin' through my wanted files. Could be that's where I've seen Malloy's face before.

Clay Culhane:
Well now, while you're at it, don't overlook Dakins and Thatcher. The price on their heads might take the one off yours.

Clay Culhane:
How much land goes with the place?

Herman Morgan:
One hundred twenty acres - all planted with snakes and gophers... and plenty of water - two miles straight down.

Clay Culhane:
Two fellows just rode in.

Marshal Gib Scott:
I saw them from the window. You think they're the ones?

Clay Culhane:
Well, you might ask if they've come to kill ya.

Marshal Gib Scott:
What if they say "no".

Clay Culhane:
Well, that's one way to start a conversation.

Marshal Gib Scott:
They look like they're sizin' me for a pine box. How do you size them, Culhane?

Clay Culhane:
Warm, friendly, smiling men. If you were dyin' of thirst they'd give you all the salt water you could drink.

[last lines]

Marshal Gib Scott:
I guess I owe you somethin'.

Clay Culhane:
Yeah... pay him for Dakins' haircut.

Clay Culhane:
A friend of mine has a bullet in him.

Nora Travers:
What are you going to do?

Clay Culhane:
I'm going to take it out.

Marshal Gib Scott:
Did he take a bullet out for ya? Kind of a change for ya, isn't it, Cohane?

Marshal Gib Scott:
What is?

Marshal Gib Scott:
Take a bullet out instead of putting one in.

Marshal Gib Scott:
I should let the deputy in Sequoya know what's headed his way... but I guess I'll let him make up his own mind about Northrop.

Clay Culhane:
Maybe he'll name the baby after ya.

Marshal Gib Scott:
You've never been too choosy about who you spoke for, Mister. But I figured you'd draw the line somewhere!

Clay Culhane:
Marshall, when I first came to Latigo, you told me that if the law were broken, you'd do something about it; but you'd never arrest a man just because you don't like him.

Aaron Robinson:
The boy knows the difference between right and wrong.

Clay Culhane:
There is a middle ground between them, you know.

Aaron Robinson:
That's what's wrong with the world - there's too many of you in the middle. The man's either for the devil or against him. I stand where I do for everyone to see.

Walter Griggs:
There's what your Bible trainin' and preachin' is good for! It puts him where he belongs!

Walter Griggs:
A few cents and a rabbit's foot is all I've got left of Billy. It's more than you've got, Robinson! Because when they hang your boy, you'll have the memory of a murderer.

[last lines]

Aaron Robinson:
All my life I've lived according to the right.

Clay Culhane:
I suppose it was right for somebody else to hang for what you did.

Marshal Gib Scott:
C'mon, Aaron. Aaron...

Marshal Gib Scott:
Is the Starkey woman a client of yours?

Clay Culhane:
No. I doesn't look like she needs a lawyer right now as much as she needs someone to see she isn't killed.

[Gunther is staring at a chessboard]

Clay Culhane:
You're black?

Ed Gunther:
Uh-huh.

Clay Culhane:
Where's white?

Ed Gunther:
Denver.

Karl Borgen:
Things happen to a man. Sometimes he remembers them; sometimes he forgets.

Clay Culhane:
A man gets it in the spine with a bullet, he remembers it. He also remembers who did it.

Karl Borgen:
It might be I just don't choose to speak about it. One faculty I've got left, speech - or silence.

Clay Culhane:
Taking over a whole town wasn't easy. It takes a brain. Starkey wasn't smart enough. Oh, he was tough, used to taking orders - especially from his old commanding officer.

Marshal Gib Scott:
What happened, Gunther? He get greedy... or just fed up?

Clay Culhane:
Oh, I don't suppose it mattered much, Marshal. Pawns are expendable - they come cheap.

[last lines]

Ed Gunther:
You know, there's a difference between check and mate, Mr. Culhane. The people in this town are my friends. A jury would never convict me - not on a wild story like that.

[the crowd at the inquest edge away from Gunther]

Clay Culhane:
Think not? Vox populi, Mr. Gunther - the voice of the people, essence of democracy. He's all yours, Marshal. I'm going to tell Nora.

[first lines]

Clay Culhane:
...And I submit that a cow that isn't born rich hereabouts could die of thirst. Water, if God given, your honor, is meant for everyone, not just the priviledged few who have the money to fence it off.

Virgil Britt:
If the Lord put water on my land, he meant it to be!

Judge Caleb Marsh:
Mr. Britt, since the Lord wasn't subpoenaed as a witness, we won't attempt to interpret his motives. Sit down.

[Judge Marsh has ordered Britt to move his fence]

Virgil Britt:
There's ten miles of fence on the north line! It'll take...

Judge Caleb Marsh:
Then you better start diggin' post holes!

Roy Tagger:
What I need, Mr. Culhane, is a lawyer that knows how to win. The last one I had came in a bad second. Cost me twenty years of my life.

Virgil Britt:
What's Tagger to you?

Clay Culhane:
Nothing! Except he wants half of everything you've got except your life... and he wants all of that.

[first lines]

Moss:
The trail ends right here, mister.

Clay Culhane:
I was told this trail would take me right into Latigo.

Moss:
Nope. This is private property. Nobody crosses it without our say-so.

Clay Culhane:
Well, in that case, how do I get to Latigo?

Moss:
You don't.

Clay Culhane:
Well, like I told you in my letter, Mrs. Travers, you're my first client. Getting a chance to prove myself means an awful lot. Now, you won't regret hiring me.

[hearing a sound behind him, Clay whirls gun in hand]

Marshal Gib Scott:
Fast... takes a lot of experience to get that fast. I know your trade - what's your name?

Clay Culhane:
Where I grew up, asking a man his name can be unhealthy.

Marshal Gib Scott:
One of the hazards of my job. Your name.

Clay Culhane:
Culhane... Clay Culhane.

Marshal Gib Scott:
Well, I haven't heard much about the Culhanes since that shootout over in Marathon. Some of your family was killed.

Clay Culhane:
Both my brothers.

Marshal Gib Scott:
Seems I heard you crawled off and died, too.

Clay Culhane:
Well, as you can see, that story's just a little bit exaggerated.

Marshal Gib Scott:
I've been worried that Nora might get desperate enough to bring in a gun.

Clay Culhane:
Oh, now look...

Marshal Gib Scott:
Oh, I know... You're a lawyer.

Clay Culhane:
Maybe you'd like to see my certificate, Marshal.

Marshal Gib Scott:
It wouldn't make any difference, 'cause it wouldn't change the kind of man you are, Culhane. When trouble comes, you'll reach for that .45, not your law books.

Clay Culhane:
Now that I've met the town's welcoming committee, I begin to understand why Latigo looks so much like a cemetery.

Clay Culhane:
What is this Pardee?

Marshal Gib Scott:
Rancher, cattleman...

Clay Culhane:
And liar.

Marshal Gib Scott:
There's no law against that.

Clay Culhane:
Look, I don't like Pardee or any man who would turn a whole town into a graveyard... Most of all, a don't like losing my first client.

Hannibal Pardee:
Even the law's leaving town. Didn't Gib tell you? They've ordered him up to Santa Fe. There's no point in having a marshal in a ghost town.

Nora Travers:
Well, it's not dead yet.

Hannibal Pardee:
If it isn't it will be - as dead as my son.

Nora Travers:
Killing this town won't bring your son back. What good does it do?

Hannibal Pardee:
I'll tell you what good! The town's life for my boy's life.

Nora Travers:
Pardee?

Clay Culhane:
He's dead.

Marshal Gib Scott:
He'd a been smarter to face you in a courtroom.

Nora Travers:
I have an idea he'd still have lost.

Marshal Gib Scott:
Yeah - but not so permanently.

[last lines]

Nora Travers:
It's very quiet.

Clay Culhane:
A town needs people to live.

Nora Travers:
They'll be coming back.

Clay Culhane:
Then maybe you'll need a lawyer here... That's if there's someone around to enforce the law.

Marshal Gib Scott:
With your kind of gun-wranglin', there better be.

Clay Culhane:
You're stayin'?

Marshal Gib Scott:
I'm stayin'.

Nora Travers:
Pardee?

Clay Culhane:
He's dead.

Marshal Gib Scott:
He won't need a courtroom.

Nora Travers:
I have an idea he'd still have lost.

Clay Culhane:
Yeah. But not so permanently.

Clay Culhane:
maybe you'll need a lawyer here. That is if there's someone around to enforce the law.

Marshal Gib Scott:
With your kind of gun wranglin', there better be.

Clay Culhane:
You're staying?

Marshal Gib Scott:
I'm staying.

Marshal Gib Scott:
Your name?

Clay Culhane:
Culhane. Clay Culhane.

Marshal Gib Scott:
, I haven't heard about the Culhane's since that shootout over in Marathon. When your family was killed.

Clay Culhane:
Both my brothers.

Marshal Gib Scott:
Seems I heard you crawled off and died too.

Clay Culhane:
Well, as you can see, that story's just a little bit exaggerated.

Clay Culhane:
The letter Dawson got from his father.

Marshal Gib Scott:
Why didn't you bring this to me?

Clay Culhane:
There wasn't time.

Nora Travers:
Clay started to find you, Gib.

Marshal Gib Scott:
Sure, but he got sidetracked as usual... You sure worked hard at keeping from collecting your thousand dollars, Culhane. But at least you can carry it back into the bank.

Nora Travers:
I hear you and Boyd Parsons put on quite a show today.

Clay Culhane:
Nora, you have a hotel and a freight line. You thinking of writing a newspaper?

Nora Travers:
Do you think Latigo needs one?

Marshal Gib Scott:
Culhane, I've been keeping the lid on this trouble between Mrs. Whitney and the Parsons. I don't want it to blow off while I'm down in Santa Fe.

Clay Culhane:
Now, you know I'm going to handle this through the court!

Marshal Gib Scott:
I've seen you starting out legal before; and it still ended up with someone being carried to the parlor. Don't let it happen this time.

Marshal Gib Scott:
Culhaine, you put me in mind of some of those fellows down in India. The one's who walk on hot coals. They start out doing it just so they can show off, then they get to where they ain't happy walking on nothing but hot coals.

Clay Culhane:
Well... so as long as they don't get burnt.

President Ulysses S. Grant:
By the way Marshal, were you in the war?

Marshal Gib Scott:
Yes sir. I worked at corporal in the seventh Illinois.

President Ulysses S. Grant:
How about you, Mr. Cohane?

Clay Culhane:
I was in the calvary, sir.

President Ulysses S. Grant:
Yes? Under who's command?

Clay Culhane:
Robert E. Lee.

Marshal Gib Scott:
What kind of law is it that protects a killer?

Clay Culhane:
A good one. Without it, the law could dog us the rest of our lives for something we've been cleared of. We'd never be free. We'd never be free, even if a dozen juries said not guilty.

Murdock:
No matter what you know, or think you know... I'm innocent... by law.

Marshal Gib Scott:
You better get out of Latigo. Just as quick as you can.

Murdock:
I'm gonna stay in this town just so long as I please, Marshal. And if I've a mind to, I'll walk out on the street and I'll yell how I killed the preacher and Marshal Gib Scott was too dumb to prove it. You've been top dog, throwing me in jail just cause I had a few drinks or cause I stood up for my rights. Well, that badge sure don't entitle you to no trouble now. It's my turn to be top dog, and there's nothing you can do.

Marshal Gib Scott:
[to Clay] You know, Nora's sure lucky - having a fellow like you to do all her thinking for her.

Clay Culhane:
Oh Nora, you don't know anything about running a freight line!

Nora Travers:
I didn't know anything about running a hotel either, but I notice you're living there.

Cassidy Duval:
There's two things that can turn my stomach sour. One's bad whisky. The other is working for a woman.

Nora Travers:
You're hurt.

Marshal Gib Scott:
Well, don't waste any time fussing over me now. You can do that later.

Marshal Gib Scott:
How's Santa Fe?

Clay Culhane:
Same as ever.

Marshal Gib Scott:
How's Nora?

Clay Culhane:
Walking on velvet.

Marshal Gib Scott:
Does that mean she got the mail franchise?

Clay Culhane:
She got it.

Marshal Gib Scott:
Well, that's fine!

Clay Culhane:
I've been trying to talk her out of running that freight line.

Marshal Gib Scott:
Why?

Clay Culhane:
It's no job for a woman.

Marshal Gib Scott:
Well, Nora's different.

Clay Culhane:
Not THAT different.

Marshal Gib Scott:
You don't know when you're well off, Cuhane. As long as she has the freight line to fool around with, she'll be happy. There'll be no more of this loco talk about waltzing off to San Francisco.

Clay Culhane:
I figured you might help me talk her out of it, Gib.

Marshal Gib Scott:
Oh, no sir! Not me. I'm proud of her!

Clay Culhane:
I might have known you would be.

Marshal Gib Scott:
Never met a woman who said what she really meant.

Clay Culhane:
[to Nora] If you want me to marry you, I'll marry you! Is that it?

Judge Mercer McKinney:
Go to sleep, gunfighter. You're safe here.

Judge Mercer McKinney:
Fools and shooters put their trust in guns.

Clay Culhane:
Show me something better.

Judge Mercer McKinney:
The law. Those black saddle bags - I carry my law books and my papers in them whenever I'm on the circuit. With proper training, what's in those books can make a man more feared and respected than any gun.

Clay Culhane:
If that's so true and there's so much power in them books of yours, how come you got your books hidden away in a closet?

David Trench McKinney:
I had a brother once. He was killed. He was hung by my father. Now I'm gonna kill my father.