Red River

Thomas Dunson:
Who are you?

Cherry Valance:
Some call me one thing, some another.

Thomas Dunson:
What do they call you most?

Cherry Valance:
By my name. Cherry Valance.

Nadine Groot:
Never liked seeing strangers. Maybe it's because no stranger ever good newsed me.

Cherry:
There are only two things more beautiful than a gun: a Swiss watch or a woman from anywhere. Ever had a good... Swiss watch?

Sims Reeves:
Plantin' and readin', plantin' and readin'. Fill a man full o' lead, stick him in the ground an' then read words on him. Why, when you've killed a man, why try to read the Lord in as a partner on the job?

Sims Reeves:
Well, I don't like to see things goin' good or bad. I like 'em in between.

Thomas Dunson:
Take 'em to Missouri, Matt!

Thomas Dunson:
Cherry was right. You're soft, you should have let 'em kill me, 'cause I'm gonna kill you. I'll catch up with ya. I don't know when, but I'll catch up. Every time you turn around, expect to see me, 'cause one time you'll turn around and I'll be there. I'm gonna kill ya, Matt.

Thomas Dunson:
We brought nothing into this world and it's certain we can carry nothing out.

Tess Millay:
Whoever would have thought that you two could have killed each other.

Mr. Melville:
I'll buy the drinks when it's over.

Cherry Valance:
You're fast with that gun, Matt. Awful fast. But your heart's soft. Too soft. Might get you hurt some day.

Matt Garth:
Could be. I wouldn't count on it.

Nadine Groot:
He didn't know about money, Matt. He never had none. He didn't know what to do.

Matt Garth:
You mean he just doesn't know who to fight.

Nadine Groot:
Yeah.

Matt Garth:
Well that's all right.

Mr. Melville:
There's three times in a man's life when he has a right to yell at the moon: when he marries, when his children come, and... and when he finishes a job he had to be crazy to start.

Matt, as a boy:
How did you know when he was gonna draw?

Thomas Dunson:
By watching his eyes. Remember that.

Matt, as a boy:
I will.

Thomas Dunson:
Get a shovel and my Bible. I'll read over him.

Fernandez:
Others have thought as you, señor. Others have tried.

Thomas Dunson:
And you've always been good enough to stop them?

Fernandez:
Amigo, it is my work.

Thomas Dunson:
Pretty unhealthy job.

Thomas Dunson:
Give me ten years, and I'll have that brand on the gates of the greatest ranch in Texas. The big house will be down by the river, and the corrals and the barns behind it. It'll be a good place to live in. Ten years and I'll have the Red River D on more cattle than you've looked at anywhere. I'll have that brand on enough beef to feed the whole country. Good beef for hungry people. Beef to make 'em strong, make 'em grow. But it takes work, and it takes sweat, and it takes time, lots of time. It takes years.

Groot Nadine:
Now wait a minute, Quo. You really ain't gonna take a man's only set of teeth, are you?

Quo:
Uh huh.

Groot Nadine:
Yeah, but I gotta use 'em for eating!

Quo:
Come grub, you get 'em.

Groot Nadine:
What are you gonna do with 'em.

Quo:
My name now Two Jaw Quo.

Groot Nadine:
Two Jaw Quo. That's what I get for playing with an injun.

Groot Nadine:
Bet I ate ten pounds in the last sixteen days. Before this shenanigan is over, I'll probably eat enough land to incorporate me in the Union. The state of Groot.

Teeler Yancy:
I shouldn't have run away. I should have stayed and put a bullet in you. I signed a pledge, sure, but you ain't the man I signed it with.

Thomas Dunson:
You finished?

Teeler Yancy:
Yeah, now you can get your Bible and read over us after you shoot us.

Matthew Garth:
Buster, where's Cherry?

Buster McGee:
Cherry? Well he figured there was no need two of us coming. One was . . .

Matthew Garth:
Is she pretty?

Buster McGee:
Oh, Matt, do you remember that little filly I used to own?

Matthew Garth:
That's what I thought.

Thomas Dunson:
When we get back to the ranch, I want you to change the brand. It'll be like this: The Red River D, and we'll add an M to it. You don't mind that, do you?

Matt Garth:
No.

Thomas Dunson:
You earned it.

Fen:
I know you have work to do, Tom, but I want to be part of it. I love you. I want to be with you. Please take me with you. I'm strong. I can stand anything you can.

Tom:
It's too much for a woman.

Fen:
Too much for a woman? Put your arms around me, Tom. Hold me. Feel me in your arms. Do I feel weak, Tom? I don't, do I? Oh, you'll need me. You'll need a woman. You need what a woman can give you to do what you have to do. Oh listen to me, Tom. Listen with your head and your heart too. The sun only shines half the time, Tom. The other half is night.

Tom:
I've made up my mind.

Fen:
Oh change your mind, Tom. Just once in your life change your mind.

Tom:
I'll send for ya. Will ya come?

Fen:
Of course I'll come. But you're wrong.

...

Fen:
Go, please. If you're going to go, please go now. I want to be with you so much. My knees feel like...like they have knives in them. Bye.

Dunson:
Don't ever trust anybody until you know 'em.

Matt:
I won't - after this. Thanks for telling me.

Dunson:
Yeah, well, it looks like we'll have to take you along. [he returns Matt's gun] Well, are you gonna use it?

Matt:
No, no. But don't ever try to take it away from me again.

Dunson:
[to Groot] He'll do.

Dunson:
This is it. This is where we start growin' good beef...Everything a man could want. Good water and grass and plenty of it.

Matt:
Who does it belong to?

Dunson:
To me! Some day, that'll all be covered with good beef. And I'll put a mark, a brand on 'em, to show they're mine too.

Matt:
What kind of a mark?

Dunson:
I've been thinkin' about that. There'll be two lines, like this, like the banks of a river. It'll be the Red River brand.

Matt:
I see a 'D' for Dunson, but my name's Matthew...I don't see any 'M' on that brand.

Dunson:
I'll put an 'M' on it when you earn it.

Matt:
That's fair enough. I'll earn it.

Dunson:
Tell Don Diego, tell him that all the land north of that river's mine. Tell him to stay off of it.

Fernandez:
Oh, but the land is his.

Dunson:
Where did he get it?

Fernandez:
Oh many years ago by grant and patent, inscribed by the King of all of Spain.

Dunson:
You mean he took it away from whomever was here before. Indians maybe.

Fernandez:
Maybe so.

Dunson:
Well, I'm takin' it away from him.

Fernandez:
Others have thought as you, señor. Others have tried.

Dunson:
And you've always been good enough to stop 'em?

Fernandez:
Amigo, it is my work.

Dunson:
Pretty unhealthy job.

Matt:
How'd you know when he was gonna draw?

Dunson:
By watchin' his eyes. Remember that.

Matt:
I will.

Dunson:
And there as they stand, there isn't a head worth a plug three cent piece...It all happened while you were away, Matt. More cattle than a man could gather elsewhere in two lifetimes. And I'm broke. Unless we can move 'em, I'm broke...I'm not gonna take it haunch-backed like the rest around here. There's no market for cattle in Texas...Then I'll take 'em where there is a market, if it means drivin' them a thousand miles.

Matt:
Missouri?

Dunson:
Yeah.

Matt:
That's what I figured.

Dunson:
And have you two been doin' a lot of figurin'? While you were at it, did you figure out the best way to get 'em there?

Matt:
Which trail to take? Yeah.

Matt:
He's afraid.

Groot:
Afraid? Why you're crazy, you're looney.

Matt:
Am I?

Groot:
Sure, sure, I'm scared too. But I've been here, watchin' and seein'...seein' a man fightin', fightin' with his soul and gut to hang onto this place. Fourteen years of it. And it cost him dear too. It cost him a woman. The only woman he ever wanted...You knew about that. It cost him the killin' of them seven graves, men who tried to take the place away from him. But that weren't hard. Not that.

Matt:
No, he knows that kind of fighting. What else?

Groot:
And then come the war when you was away. He learned a lot of things for hisself. He learned that a ranch ain't only beef but it's money. But the war took all the money out of the South. He didn't know about money, Matt. He never had none. He didn't know what to do.

Matt:
You mean he just doesn't know who to fight.

Groot:
Yeah.

Matt:
That's all right.

Groot:
He's just been waitin' for you to head the herd north and drive. A full drive that's never been done before. Nine, ten thousand head of cattle clear to Missouri.

Matt:
We could make it.

Groot:
We...well Matt, I'm glad you come home, cause, well, I'm glad you come home.

Dunson:
I said 'Brand him.'

Matt:
He's wearing a Meeker iron.

Dunson:
I can't see it.

Matt:
[To Teeler] Brand him.

Teeler:
All right, but the next one up's another Diego.

Matt:
Brand him. Put the iron on all of 'em, Teeler. Anything you see, slap it with a 'Red River D' and burn it deep.

Dunson:
Why not?

Matt:
You're gonna wind up branding every rump in the state of Texas except mine.

Dunson:
Hand me that iron, Teeler. You don't think I'd do it, do ya?

Matt:
I don't.

Dunson:
Matt, I'm goin' to Missouri with every steer, cow, and bull that I can lay my hands on.

Matt:
I think Meeker might be real pleased to see our brand on his stock.

Dunson:
That I'll argue with Meeker.

Cherry:
That's a good looking gun you were about to use back there. Can I see it? [Matt hands his gun over] And you'd like to see mine. [Cherry hands it to Matt] Nice! Awful nice! You know, there are only two things more beautiful than a good gun: a Swiss watch or a woman from anywhere. You ever had a good Swiss watch?

Matt:
Go ahead! Try it!

[Cherry fires a shot and knocks a can into the air. Matt also hits the can in the air with a shot of his own]

Cherry:
Hey! That's very good!

[Matt shoots at another can, knocking it into the air. Cherry hits it in the air with a shot of his own.]

Matt:
Hey! Hey! That's good too! Go on! Keep it going!

Dunson:
There they are, Matt. Fourteen years of hard work. And they say we can't make the drive.

Matt:
They could be wrong.

Dunson:
They'd better be.

Cherry:
Why drive 'em to Missouri? Why not turn west at the Red and head 'em for Kansas?...There's a railroad in Kansas, too...I saw the one in Topeka, and there's one in Abilene...

Buster McGee:
Abilene, that's further west!

Matt:
Did you see it in Abilene?

Cherry:
I didn't get there. I met a girl in Kansas City. She fancied she could sing. She had...

Matt:
You know, if we could head west at the Red...

Groot:
We'd save ourselves a heap of...

Dunson:
We're goin' to Missouri. I've seen buyers and cash in Sedalia. [To Cherry] What have you seen in Abilene?

Cherry:
Not a thing. Just the girl told me...

Dunson:
We're goin' to Missouri. [Dunson walks off]

Cherry:
[To Matt about Dunson] I suppose if I tangled with him, I'd have to take you on too.

Matt:
You'll find him a handful by himself.

Groot:
[about his false teeth, that he lost playing cards] If you was half-human, you'd give 'em back to me. You can see I could use 'em. Besides, it would help keep the dust out of my mouth.

Quo:
Keep mouth shut. Dust not get in.

Groot:
Bet I ate ten pounds in the last sixteen days. Before this shenanigan is over, I'll probably eat enough land to incorporate in the Union. The state of Groot.

Matt:
[after shooting Bunk in the shoulder] You'd have shot him right between the eyes.

Dunson:
Just as sure as you're standin' there. Well, you shot him. You can take care of him.

Teeler:
A man can't eat this kind of food. After we lost another grub wagon, we should have turned back.

Dunson:
Well, we didn't turn back and we're not goin' to. And even if we had, I couldn't replace what we lost. I'm broke. Got nothin' to buy it with. So you're on short rations and bad coffee. And you're gonna be until we finish the drive. And you're gonna finish it...Like it or not, that's it.

Matt:
You didn't have to do that back there.

Dunson:
You joined in.

Matt:
Yeah, and I thought you were wrong.

Dunson:
Well then why didn't ya...

Matt:
Don't try and tell me what to think. I'll take your orders about work, but not about what to think.

Dunson:
You think I'm to blame for that?

Matt:
Just as sure as you're sittin' there.

Dunson:
And so?

Matt:
So I'll take your orders.

Matt:
Well, here's your Red.

Dunson:
It's quite a river.

Matt:
Sure had a lot smaller herd the last time we crossed.

Dunson:
One bull and a cow. Well, this looks like as good a place as any.

Matt:
This will take us the rest of the day and part of the night. Why not cross fresh in the morning?

Dunson:
We'll put 'em across now!

Matt:
We've got a pretty tired bunch behind us.

Dunson:
Tired men don't run away.

Matt:
We can't keep 'em this wore out all the rest of the drive.

Dunson:
No, but we can keep 'em this wore out until Cherry gets back. Then nobody'll want to run away.

Groot:
That's awful good, Tom. Boys did all right.

Dunson:
Yeah.

Groot:
Why don't you tell 'em so, Tom?

Dunson:
That's their job.

Groot:
They're awful tired.

Dunson:
I'll bet we won't have to count noses in the morning.

Buster:
He's gettin' worse every day. Sometimes, I think he's goin' plum out of his head.

Groot:
You know, Matt, things ain't right. It's him. He's gotta get some sleep and if he don't, somethin's gonna happen.

Dunson:
Get down off them horses. I don't favor lookin' up to the likes of you...That's better. You should be crawlin'. Cherry, I sent you out after three of 'em. You brought back two.

Cherry:
Bill Kelsey figured he'd rather fight. Made a good one of it for a while.

Dunson:
Laredo, Teeler, you signed on for the drive and you signed on to finish it.

Laredo:
That's right, we did.

Dunson:
You stole beans and flour, and cartridges. Besides bein' deserters, you're common thieves.

Laredo:
The law might see it different...

Dunson:
I'm the law. You're a thief! You too, Teeler. Anything more?

Teeler:
I know what you're gonna do to us, but first I wanna tell ya somethin'.

Dunson:
Go ahead.

Teeler:
You're crazy. You've been drinkin' and you ain't been sleepin'. If you ain't crazy, you're a skin close to it.

Dunson:
You through?

Teeler:
No. You wanna get this herd to market. Well, so do all of us. There's a good way to Abilene, but you won't listen to that. No. You want to drive to Missouri when you got the high, low, and jack against ya. I ain't through yet. This herd don't belong to you. It belongs to every poor hopin' and prayin' cattleman in the whole wide state. I shouldn't have run away. I should've stayed and put a bullet in ya. I signed a pledge, sure, but you ain't the man I signed it with.

Dunson:
You finished?

Teeler:
Yeah. Now you can get your Bible and read over us after you shoot us.

Dunson:
I'm gonna hang ya.

Matt:
No. No, you're not.

Dunson:
What?

Matt:
You're not going to hang them.

Dunson:
Who'll stop me?

Matt:
I will.

Teeler:
Give me that gun. Somebody give me - I'll kill him. Let me go! He was gonna kill me! He wasn't gonna give me a chance - [Matt slaps him]

Matt:
Turn him loose. Cherry, give me that gun. Here's what you've been trying for. All right, use it! Go on, you got what you wanted. What are you waiting for? If you don't want to live, all you have to do is - You're a lucky man, Teeler. This is how close it came.

Teeler:
Matt, we're gettin' as crazy as he is. [Teeler returns the gun to Matt]

Matt:
Keep it. You want to finish the drive?

Teeler:
Where are we goin'?

Matt:
Abilene.

Teeler:
Who's headin' it?

Matt:
I am.

Buster:
What about Dunson?

Matt:
He stays here. We're takin' the herd.

Teeler:
That's good enough for me.

Matt:
Groot? How about you?

Groot:
You was wrong, Mr. Dunson. I've been with ya a lot of years. And up till now, right or wrong, I've always done like ya said. Got to be kind of a habit with me, I guess, 'cuz that's why I'm stayin' with ya.

Dunson:
Go on with 'em.

Groot:
Thanks. Thanks for makin' it easy on me. All right, men, I'll be comin' with you.

Matt:
Throw 'em on the trail, start driving. Buster, you wait here till I get back. [He rides off to help round up the herd]

Cherry:
If you come lookin' for me, Mr. Dunson, I'll be in Abilene.

Tess:
Why does he [Dunson] think that way?

Matt:
Because he got to a place where, see, he'd taken empty land used for nothin', made it the biggest ranch in the state of Texas. Fought to keep it...one bull and one cow, that's all he started with...After he'd done all that, gotten what he'd been after for so long, it wasn't worth anything...So he started this drive. Everybody said, 'you can't make it. You'll never get there.' He was the only one believed we could. He had to believe it. So he started thinking one way, his way. He told men what to do and made 'em do it. Otherwise, we wouldn't have got as far as we did. He started 'em for Missouri and all he knew was he had to get there. I took his herd away from him.

Tess:
You love him, don't you? He must love you. That wouldn't be hard. [She kisses Matt on the lips] Did you like that?

Matt:
I've always been kind of slow in making up my mind.

Tess:
Maybe I can help. [They kiss again]

Matt:
I don't need any more help but will you do that again? [They kiss again]

Matt:
We can't take her with us, can we?

Groot:
Well we could, uh...

Matt:
What?

Groot:
No, no, I don't suppose we could.

Tom Dunson:
I signed nothing. If I had, I'd stay. You'll remember I joined your train after you left St. Louis.

Tom Dunson:
I'm startin' my own herd. I've watched the land south of here since we left the Salt Fork. It's good land, good grass for beef, so I'm goin' South where it is.

Tom Dunson:
Wherever they go, they'll be on my land. My land. We're here and we're gonna stay here. Give me ten years and I'll have that brand on the gates of the greatest ranch in Texas.

Tom Dunson:
[to Meeker] All right, we rounded up some of your stock and some of Diego's and some of everybody else's around here...I haven't got the time or the inclination to cut 'em out. So I'll drive 'em to Missouri and give you two dollars a head when I get back.

Tom Dunson:
Well, we start tomorrow. We're goin' to Missouri with ten thousand head. Most of you men have come back to Texas from the war. You came back to nothing. You find your homes gone, your cattle scattered, and your land stolen by carpetbaggers. Well there's no money and no work because there's no market for beef in the South. But there is in Missouri. So we're goin' to Missouri...Cumberland didn't make it. No one else has. That's the reason I'm here. I want you all to know what you're up against. You probably already know, but I want to make sure you do. We got a thousand miles to go. Ten miles a day'll be good. Fifteen will be luck. It'll be dry country, dry wells when we get to 'em. There'll be wind, rain. There's gonna be Indian Territory - how bad I don't know. When we get to Missouri, there'll be border gangs. It's gonna be a fight all the way. But we'll get there. Nobody has to come along. We'll still have a job for ya when we get back. Now remember this! Every man who signs on for this drive agrees to finish it. There'll be no quittin' along the way, not by me and not by you! There's no hard feelings if you don't want to go. But just let me know now.

Tom Dunson:
[to Bunk] You started all this...we're three or four hundred head short and you killed Dan Latimer...stealin' sugar like a kid. Well, they whip kids to teach 'em better.

Tom Dunson:
All right. Anybody else? Say it now, 'cause I don't want ever to hear it again. I don't like quitters, especially when they're not good enough to finish what they start. Now go on! Speak up! Say it and you can join your friends here...

Tom Dunson:
[to Matt] Go on, draw. I said 'DRAW'! [Long pause] Then I'll make ya. You're soft! Won't anything make a man out of ya?! [He seizes Matt's gun from his holster and throws it away] You once told me never to take your gun away from ya! [He hits Matt in the face several times] You yellow-bellied, chicken-livered...

Nadine Groot:
If I was you, Colonel, I'd ponder on lettin' him be. He's a mighty set man when his mind's made up. Even you can't change him. Now he'll be headin' South. Mind he don't stomp on you on the way out.

Nadine Groot:
Colonel, me and Dunson...well, it's me and Dunson.

Nadine Groot:
Why do Indians always want to be burnin' up good wagons?

Nadine Groot:
[about Matt and Cherry] They was having some fun - peculiar kind of fun, sizing each other up for the future. Them two's gonna tangle for certain and when they do, it ain't gonna be pretty because they got a thousand miles to do it in.

Nadine Groot:
[to Bunk] I could take the end of your nose off just as easy. A man in your age stealin' sugar!

Nadine Groot:
[to Bunk] Your sweet tooth is almost as bad as having a whiskey tongue or liking a woman.

Nadine Groot:
It's all right. For fourteen years, I've been scared, but it's gonna be all right.

Matt Garth:
It was all burnin', only Indians around, just all burnin' and smokin', smellin'. They were burnin' everything. I can see it. It's plain. I can see it. It was burnin' the wagons. People was screamin'.

Matt Garth:
I've been wondering too. The way he looked when we left him. It all happened so fast. I hadn't...I hadn't started out...I couldn't let him hang Teeler and Laredo...I don't know. He was wrong. I hope I'm right. I hope there's a railroad in Abilene.

Matt Garth:
Which would you rather have? What's behind, or what might be ahead?

Matt Garth:
How can a man sleep with Indians out ahead and him behind us?

Cherry Valance:
[to Matt] But your heart's soft. Too soft. It may get you hurt some day.

Tess Millay:
[to Matt] What are you so mad about? I asked you why you're angry. Is it because - because some of your men might get hurt, killed maybe?

Tess Millay:
[to Matt] I asked you before why you were so mad. Is it, is it because your cattle, the cattle Cherry told me about, might run off? Or maybe, maybe you don't like the idea of helping, helping a bunch of women.

Tess Millay:
I'm scared too. That's why I'm talking because it's the best thing to do when you feel that way. Just talk and keep on talking...I talk to myself even if I have to sit in front of a mirror and talk...You can talk to me. I'm right here. It would help. Oh please, you can tell me to mind my own business if you'd like. And if it would help any, you can hit me, like I did you right across the mouth. But it would be good for you to talk, and I'd like to talk to you...Please, I'd really like to talk to ya.

Early Tales Of Texas (Journal):
In the year 1851, Thomas Dunson accompanied by a friend, Nadine Groot, left St. Louis and joined a wagon train headed for California. Three weeks on the trail found them near the northern border of Texas. The land to the South looked good to...

Early Tales Of Texas (Journal):
And that was the meeting of a boy with a cow and a man with a bull and the beginning of a great herd. In search for land they traveled South through Texas, across arable and promising land, but weighed it and they found it wanting. So on they went on through the Panhandle ever southward seeking...past the Pecos...nearing the Rio Grande...

Early Tales Of Texas (Journal):
To Dunson it was just a job, a big job. Ever north they drove ten thousand cattle crawling through hot, dry country and by the end of the first two weeks they had covered over one hundred and sixty miles. Every mile had taken its toll --- quietly.

Early Tales Of Texas (Journal):
The days became longer, sleep was at a premium, hard work became harder and Dunson became a tyrant. After three weeks, they reached San Sabo. Here at last was water and a place to rest tired muscles and sore aching bones.

Early Tales Of Texas (Journal):
Thirty days on the trail and they reached the Brazos. The way now became harder. Hills and rocks impeded their progress. Each weary mile became endless. The men became morose and worried. The cattle restless and jumpy.

Early Tales Of Texas (Journal):
Sixty days, tired cattle and tired men. Trouble was not far off. The men sat in small groups, sullen and morose. The food became worse and Dunson was constantly on the alert for the first sign of mutiny. He felt as a man alone...

Early Tales Of Texas (Journal):
Secretly the rest of the men hoped Teeler, Laredo and Kelsey would succeed but not Dunson. He ordered the herd to move on and move they did with Dunson driving them at every step. The Red River was not far ahead and he meant to reach it by nightfall.

Early Tales Of Texas (Journal):
So Matthew Garth had the responsibility of a great herd - - and onward they went with the spectre of Dunson behind. He had promised revenge and Matt knew nothing in the world would stop him from fulfilling that promise. The time was coming...

Early Tales Of Texas (Journal):
And that night they moved. The river was rising, they must get across while there was still time. In the meantime, Dunson had found men and ammunition and taken up the chase. He was determined to overtake Matt...

Early Tales Of Texas (Journal):
One hundred days and in Matthew Garth's heart a growing fear that there was no railroad...

Early Tales Of Texas (Journal):
And history was written that day in Abilene, August 14, 1865, a day that marked completion of the first drive on the Chisholm Trail. Excitement and wild hilarity greeted the trail weary men and cattle as they poured into...

Title card:
Among the annals of the great state of Texas may be found the story of the first drive on the famous Chisholm Trail. A story of one of the great cattle herds of the world, of a man and a boy - - Thomas Dunson and Matthew Garth, the story of the Red River D.