The Rifleman

[repeated line]

Mark McCain:
Pa!

[last lines]

Lucas McCain:
So long, old timer!

Mark McCain:
Bye, Mr. Jonas! He'll sure have a lot of believers now.

Lucas McCain:
All he needed was one.

Lucas McCain:
Nobody says the life is easy. The land gives up hard and takes back hard... One thing we'll always have is the land.

Lucas McCain:
Jeff, the way you are right now you'd go looking in a dark closet for a black cat you knew wasn't there.

Lucas McCain:
Save your breath for cooling your soup!

Lucas McCain:
Everything must be done according to the law.

Lucas McCain:
I still want to be your friend.

Marshal Micah Torrance:
Friend? Who wants friends? I don't need any friends.

[picks up a bottle of whiskey]

Marshal Micah Torrance:
This-this is the best friend I got - rides the nightmares right off the range.

Marshal Micah Torrance:
Sixteen years. For sixteen years, I've been living in fear... I guess you might say in fear of my own weakness.

[the gunslingers resolve leaves them when they are confronted by Lucas, Micah and Johnny]

Lucas McCain:
He's thinkin', Johnny.

Johnny Drako:
He's done with thinkin', Lucas. Now he's measuring the odds.

[last lines]

Mark McCain:
Pa, if we ever went to Europe, do you think we'd look as funny to them as he does to us?

Lucas McCain:
What do you think, Mark?

Mark McCain:
I guess we would.

Lucas McCain:
Maybe even funnier.

Lucas McCain:
Sometimes when people don't understand something, they think it's to be feared or hated. That's wrong, but it takes a long time to learn differently.

[last lines]

Mark McCain:
Hey, Pa...

Lucas McCain:
Hmm?

Mark McCain:
What did you say the name was of that perfume was that she was using?

Lucas McCain:
Well, I think it's called "Lily of the Valley," Mark. Why?

Mark McCain:
Golly, that's nice. We could sure use some of that around the barn.

Lucas McCain:
Name callin's a handy thing for some Mark. They smack a label on somebody or something and that's it as far as they're concerned. It's kind of a special way of hating because they don't take the trouble to understand.

Mark McCain:
Well you have to put a label on some things, like say a pickle jar!

Lucas McCain:
That's right! But you be mighty sure there are pickles in that jar first! You see most times snap judgment can be cruel son.

Lucas McCain:
Yes, Micah, it would be a real welcome to know what the man looks like that wants to kill me.

Hattie Denton:
Beans and flour... meat and potatoes... Is that all you and that boy of youn is gonna eat?

Lucas McCain:
It's good solid food.

Hattie Denton:
Where's the greens?

Lucas McCain:
Greens?

Hattie Denton:
String beans, collards, turnip and beet greens. Now don't you be telling me that your ma didn't feed them to ya when you was a sprout.

Lucas McCain:
She sure did. And I sure hated 'em!

Hattie Denton:
Of course you hated them! But you ate them. Else you wouldn't have growed up the big lump that you are!

Lucas McCain:
Put 'em in the sack, Hattie. I'll take 'em. Now add up what I owe ya.

Mark McCain:
If you haven't got those coals hot enough by the time I get back from school Pa, I'll show you how to do it.

Lucas McCain:
Well, you just show yourself the multiplication tables, huh?

Mark McCain:
Well, okay. But if you wouldn't pack the coals so tight you'd get a better draft.

Lucas McCain:
[Giving him an annoyed look] You just better get yourself to school boy!

Judge Zephaniah Burton:
For I'm not here to pass judgment on a calf, nor on a man. Since it has been revealed to me that you too have a son. [Lucas turns and stares hard at him] That is right. For I am the judge and this is my judgment. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a son for a son. It is simple, poetic justice.

Lucas McCain:
Yeah. Simple, poetic justice.

Judge Zephaniah Burton:
My son could have been guilty of no evil. All my life, I've been a judge of evil. I raised him in a stern and righteous mold, punishing him harshly. But he strayed from the path of righteousness. My son did no evil, those who have persecuted him did. So you must suffer as I have suffered. Waiting endless hour upon hour for my son to hang. For this is the judgment I pronounce upon you. You shall wait for the death of your son. You shall count the minutes and hours as the sun passes across the heavens knowing the moment approaches when I the judge - I the jury will act as executioner as hangman for your son.

Lucas McCain:
You stinkin' bad devil, I'll kill you with my bare hands! I'll see you in fire and brimstone for the evil scum you are!

Lucas McCain:
I don't know rather to kill you or thank you. Why did you save him?

Judge Zephaniah Burton:
I saved him for the merciful Lord God Jehovah, who has permitted me some atonement for the evil I have wronged. For He is the true judge of all things and I am but His... [dies]

[to Mark who remarked that an outlaw's life seems like a lot of fun]

Will Fulton:
It's seemed like a lot of things to me in the last couple of years, but it never seemed like fun. What's fun about being chased all the time, never staying in one place long enough to know anybody, never knowing where your next meal is coming from, never having anybody trust you or being able to trust anyone else? Like right now, we're playing checkers and all the time I have to keep my eye on that door. It's not fun... It's not fun at all.

Hank Fulton:
Will wouldn't have no broken leg and we wouldn't be asking for no favors, except he saved your boy's life!

Lucas McCain:
You know what's wrong with you? You want to quit that bunch but your afraid to admit it to yourself. You know why? Because you've had a taste of real life and you like it. You met a girl you may be in love with, and you probably even have a notion about settling down.

[last lines]

Mark McCain:
I sure was wrong not believin' Colly's story.

Lucas McCain:
That may be, son, but you weren't as wrong as some of the older people in town who should have known better.

Mark McCain:
Well, maybe in some ways they could use a little growin' up, too.

Marshal Micah Torrance:
In one way or another, Mark, we could all stand a little growin' up.

Mark McCain:
Well, that don't include you and Pa.

Lucas McCain:
Yes, son - us too.

Oat Jackford:
You got yourself a ranch, McCain. Whether you keep it or not is something else. You step out of line or you make one mistake and you'll be finished. I'll be watchin' and waitin' - waitin' for a reason to come after you with a gun and when I do, I won't be alone. Remember that, Mr. McCain.

[Jackman's men have burned the McCains' ranchhouse to the ground and stolen Lucas' prized rifle]

Mark McCain:
Pa, it's just not fair! We ride half way across the country looking for the right place and when we finally get it - well, look what happens! Looks to me like the Lord's dead set against us havin' our own place!

[comparing their troubles to those of Job in the Old Testament]

Lucas McCain:
Mark, Job was as miserable as a man could be... but he knew he'd been good and righteous... and he'd not lost faith with the Lord... The Lord was so proud of Job that he restored all the old man's children, and his house and his camels and sheep and gave him over twice as many cattle as before and Job lived over one hundred and forty years as happy as a birddog.

Lucas McCain:
Well tell him to shoot! If you've got guts enough! You better do it Jackford or I'll be waitin' out in the brush every time you step out the door! I'll kill your stock and I'll burn your barn! I'm gonna pay you back Mr. Jackford! Now what's it gonna be?

Lucas McCain:
Your BOYS burnt down my house!

Lucas McCain:
You can't by it for money, marbles or chalk Mr. Jackford! You're gonna keep your stock, your men, and your dogs off my property until I tell you different.

Oat Jackford:
And if I don't?

Lucas McCain:
I'll bury 'em there!

Lucas McCain:
Old man if you wasn't so slow you'd be wearin' a brokin' wrist.

[first lines]

Billy Lehi:
Hey. Hey Monty, come here.

Sam Montgomery:
Some pilgrim thinks he's found a home.

Billy Lehi:
Well now, don't you think it was time that we showed him the error of his ways?

[last lines]

Lucas McCain:
They're going to help us rebuild, son.

Mark McCain:
Good. Like some coffee?

Lucas McCain:
Say, I think maybe I would.

Mark McCain:
I got a fresh pot going for when you got back.

Lucas McCain:
Well, hop aboard.

Mark McCain:
Pa, Lou is our friend. How come we're not doin' anything about it? I mean doin' not talkin'.

Lucas McCain:
Well, because I was told it was none of my business.

Lucas McCain, Mark McCain:
Everyone knows he's just bleedin' her dry - buying things and payin' for 'em with her money.

Lucas McCain:
That all you kids do - listen to some old women's gossip?

Mark McCain:
Well, if it was me and I was a doin' friend instead of a talkin' friend, I'd saddle up and do somethin' about it!

[Lucas grabs his hat and heads for the door]

Lucas McCain:
Thanks for some good fatherly advice.

Col. Charles Black:
I'm going to watch a chess game between you two gentleman. The winner gets fired, the loser gets dead!

[last lines]

[reading a new sign over Waller's gunshop]

Henry Waller:
Nice sound: "Waller & Son"

Jeffrey Waller:
It makes me feel proud, Pa.

Henry Waller:
No more proud than me, son.

Mark McCain:
"Waller & Son." Gee, Pa, that makes them partners.

Lucas McCain:
That's right.

Mark McCain:
And that gives me an idea! Why don't we put a sign like that over our barn?

Lucas McCain:
Do you think we need a sign... partner?

Stanley:
You know, I've seen men walk in this desert sun till they thought every sand hill was a cool pool of water. It's funny, Mr. McCain. It not only looks like water, it tastes like water. I seen a man once... he started poking that dirt down his throat and he didn't even know it was dirt! They start strangling him! It's gonna happen to you, Mr. McCain. And I'm gonna be around to lend a helping hand. Old Stanley's gonna be right here helping poke that nice water dirt down your throat!

Mark McCain:
Did you like Miss Claremont?

Lucas McCain:
I liked her better than her husband.

Mark McCain:
I don't mean that. I mean, did you like her!

Lucas McCain:
I said I liked her. Look, Mark. A man, especially out here, comes to expect very little that's pretty. And when he does stumble across it, he can stop to admire it for what it is - beauty. It's like, well it's like, looking at a sunset or a pretty picture painting. You can admire them and appreciate them without wanting to own them.

[first lines]

Lorrie:
C'mon, slow poke. I'll race you!

Lorrie:
Ha! So you beat me. Do you have to be so smug?

Mark McCain:
I didn't say anything.

Lorrie:
Well, you were thinking it.

Mark McCain:
Hello, Mr. Stanic. When did he fence off the trail?

Joe Stanic:
I don't know when he fenced it off, but I know it won't stay that way!

[Mark strums Old Tony's guitar]

Old Tony:
Anybody can pick and pluck but guitar is no good unless you sing to it. The trouble is there are no more good songs - songs have all gone to ruin like the rest of the world. There used to be good ones, pretty ones, like "Greensleeves."

Marshal Torrance:
What's eatin' you, Joe? You look like you ran into a herd of wild Commanches.

Joe Stanic:
It's that Tony. I told you five hundred times he ought to be put away!

Lucas McCain:
You lock horns again? Is that it, Joe?

Joe Stanic:
Ever since we came over on the boat together I have endured his insults.

Marshal Torrance:
Now now, calm down. Everybody knows you and Tony are feudin' again but nobody knows about what. I doubt if you do.

Lorrie:
Do you ever wonder what your wife will be like... I mean, when you get married?

Mark McCain:
I suppose so.

Lorrie:
Well, what would she be like?

Mark McCain:
Real pretty and a good cook.

Lorrie:
Oh, Mark, can't you ever be serious? You think that's all there is to marriage?

Mark McCain:
No, not really. There's a lot more.

Lorrie:
Like what?

Mark McCain:
Well, Pa and I was talkin' about it once - talkin' about my mother. I'll never forget what he said - he said they were more than just in love... they were friends.

Lorrie:
I don't think I understand.

Mark McCain:
Well, he meant that she was someone he could talk to - 'bout his troubles... 'bout anything.

Lorrie:
Like us, Mark.

Mark McCain:
Sure, like us. We can talk...

[Mark stops, embarassed]

Mark McCain:
You better look for those arrowhead if you plan on gettin' any.

[last lines]

Old Tony:
I guess I been alone too long. I forgot how to get along with people.

Lucas McCain:
You made a good start towards remembering today, Tony.

Old Tony:
Kids gettin' in trouble... trackin' mud all over the house. Didn't even remember to bring the flints they promised me.

Lorrie:
I lost all the good ones in the swamp, but we'll come back again - won't we, Mark?

Old Tony:
Ha! So you'll be going to come back to see me, huh? I didn't even ask ya! Next thing ya know, they'll be wantin' me to take them to the fancy hotel and buy them supper.

Lucas McCain:
When that time comes, Tony, the supper's going to be on me - and I hope it will be soon.

[to Mark]

Old Tony:
Hey, what are you sittin' there for? You said the guitar needed tuning. Well, go ahead - tune it up!

Mark McCain:
[finding Lorrie and Mark, Lucas rescues them both from the bog.] ...Pa, I'm right glad you showed up.

Lucas McCain:
Me too, son. Me too.

Lucas McCain:
Mark, money is nothing but paper and green ink. The thing that gives it value is how its earned. Now an outlaw's money is never earned. Not the kind we want.

Lucas McCain:
...a time a town or even a country is really lost is when the people who live in it get careless and stop paying attention to how it's being run...

Lucas McCain:
It's over and done with now Mark. Why so glum?

Mark McCain:
If they'd have hung you pa, it would have been all my fault.

Lucas McCain:
Now wait a minute son. Don't you ever think that way. If they'd have hung me it would have been Charlie Crown's fault. Nobody else's.

Mark McCain:
Charlie Crown. Stealing his own pa's horses and then selling them to poor Mr. Schneider. Just to get money. Guess I didn't make such a good trade after all. Guess I better leave the business to you.

Lucas McCain:
No siree! We're partners. Every lesson you learn makes you a better partner. Only one thing...

Mark McCain:
What's that?

Lucas McCain:
Just remember the lessons... Both laugh.

[speaking of Lucas McCain]

Willard Prescott:
He doesn't know the meaning of the word "beg."

Marshal Micah Torrance:
I'm about the most useless lawman in the whole territory right now. I can't even pour my own coffee.

Lucas McCain:
Well, Micah, if a town's got a jail that's empty and its street's are quiet at night, the law is well done.

Mark McCain:
Did you miss me?

Lucas McCain:
Did I miss you? Well, let me put it this way. I love you more than anything else in the world.

[last lines]

Mark McCain:
Pa, do you think he loved his son, even at the end?

Lucas McCain:
I think a father never stops loving his son, Mark.

Johnny Cotton:
That's a fine lookin' rifle your pa's got there! I don't think I've ever seen a lever action quite like that one.

Mark McCain:
My Pa made it himself.

Johnny Cotton:
What's it used for?

Mark McCain:
That's alright what it's for! My Pa's the best shot in the world!

Lucas McCain:
Mark, I told you not to brag so much on that.

Johnny Cotton:
I was just admiring that rifle of yours. I don't believe I've ever seen a finer one!

Lucas McCain:
I like it.

Johnny Cotton:
So much so, you don't carry a handgun?

Lucas McCain:
Each man to his own.

Johnny Cotton:
What do you got against pistols, McCain?

Lucas McCain:
Nothing. They may come in handy for some men. I'm a rancher. I use my gun for hunting animals, not men!

[last lines]

Mark McCain:
Why you know, I - I think that some day this street right here is gonna have buildings that stick up right to the sky. And we'll have machines that take the place of horses... like the train took the place of the covered wagon.

Lucas McCain:
Machines to take the place of horses?

Mark McCain:
Well?

[Lucas nods in disapproval]

Mark McCain:
I guess not.

Lucas McCain:
And Mark, you keep out of trouble.

Mark McCain:
I'll try, but sometimes I just can't help it.

Lucas McCain:
I know, but let me give you some advice. Yesterday, you butted into an argument between Jeff and Skinny. Now, if you want to keep out of that kind of trouble, you just mind your own business.

Keely Thompson:
You could have killed me, McCain. Why didn't you?

Lucas McCain:
You could have killed the boy. Why didn't you?

[last lines]

Lucas McCain:
You see, Mark, sometimes it's easier to give advice than to take it.

Mark McCain:
That's what I was tellin' Skinny when he tried to stop me from takin' a poke at Jeff.

Lucas McCain:
Well, that's just what I said; Skinny should have minded his own business. Let's go home.

Barney:
Now, these civic leaders have decided our town can get along without any female dealers.

Liz:
Ha!

Barney:
Oh, we don't mind gamblers, so long as they're wearin' long pants.

Liz:
We didn't cause no trouble.

Barney:
Maybe you didn't rightly cause it, ma'am, but it seemed to occur 'round your vacinity regardless.

[last lines]

Lucas McCain:
If Johnny sends you all the championship belts he promised, you'll have quite a collection, Mark.

Mark McCain:
Where's he going to send them from - jail?

Lucas McCain:
You knew all along?

Mark McCain:
He told me.

Lucas McCain:
Oh.

Mark McCain:
It wasn't because he was drinkin', either. Deep down, he wanted to tell me.

Lucas McCain:
And you stuck by him anyway?

Mark McCain:
Didn't you?

Lucas McCain:
Seems I been sightin' you short, son. I thought I had to keep my boy from gettin' hurt - all the time he was a man. I'll try to remember that.

Johnny Gibbs:
Well, that looks like a frolicsome little beast!

Mark McCain:
His name's Duster. He's mine. That is, he will be, soon as he's broke.

Johnny Gibbs:
I wouldn't bet on the rider, boy. He's gonna get his whiskers bucked off any minute! [Mark realizes who he is, but only stares] Well, what's the matter? Swallow something you can't get down?

Mark McCain:
The way ma talked, I'd rather be like him than anyone else in the world.

Lucas McCain:
He said he'd rather be like you than anyone else in the world!

Lucas McCain:
Mark.

Johnny Gibbs:
Oh, well you know kids."

Lucas McCain:
[punched Johnny] Yeah! I know kids, Johnny!

Johnny Gibbs:
You owe it to Margaret to stick by me. She would have. You know she would have, Luke!

Lucas McCain:
I've already talked to Micah. And now I'm gonna talk to you about yourself. And these people you never learned to live with. You know, the way you think, the way you do things, it hasn't won you the respect you've been fightin' for. If folks knew the kind of hand you were playing today, they'd start looking down on you even more. Or worse, they might even take to laughin' at ya. Turnin' away when you talk to 'em. So, if I was sittin' where you are, Jeff, I'd try to look at things differently. It's not too late. You might even learn to like it.

Lucas McCain:
Mr. Weltz, one wrong move and Hattie and Micah will be dead for a long, long time.

Marshal Micah Torrance:
You know, soon they'll be stuffin' men like you to put in museums.

Jake Pardee:
Why don't you shut up?

Marshal Micah Torrance:
Underneath, they'll put up a sign "Western Bad Man - Species Extinct". So you better have your fun now. You won't have much longer.

Donnel O'Mahoney:
But what your really want to see, Mark, is the lights. There ain't never no night in the Bowery - there's always somethin' doin', there's always some excitement. You notice that gink, that gink Greeley, he said, "Go West." He stayed in New York!

[last lines]

Mark McCain:
Why don't you stay?

Lucas McCain:
Unh-unh-unh. Don't try to force him. He wants to go back to the Bowery.

Donnel O'Mahoney:
Ah, Mr. McCain, will you please tell Mr. Jackford, that gink, tell him that I'll be happy to work for 'im. If you want to know the truth about it - the Bowery stinks.

[first lines]

[Lucas rides down an ominously deserted street]

Lucas McCain:
What's going on, Micah?

Marshal Micah Torrance:
Dan Maury's in there.

Lucas McCain:
I thought you sent him to Yuma prison five years ago.

Marshal Micah Torrance:
I did, but they let him out. Cripplin' my arm five years ago wasn't bad enough - now he's here to kill me.

[first lines]

Ben Haskell:
[to Lucas] Hold it. Drop the rifle.

[last lines]

Mark McCain:
He sure is something - just the kind of officer I want to be.

Lucas McCain:
Who, son?

Mark McCain:
The lieutenant. [as Mark points to Lt Rolfe, who smiles and waves back]

Lucas McCain:
You can kill me straight up if you want, I'm not beggin' for my life.

Harold Tenner:
Let me take one more look at freedom - or what men call freedom.

Jonah Winters:
Ain't never carved a Kentucky colonel before.

Lester Chard:
Just like Virginia ham.

[last lines]

[Lucas and Mark are examining presents given to them by U.S. Marshal Sam Buckhart, an American Indian]

Mark McCain:
You know, with a peace pipe, they never smoked more than a few puffs.

Mark McCain:
Oh. Yessir, that marshal was sure nice to give this to me. What's that book about he gave you?

Lusas McCain:
Well, that tells about that Harvard College he went to. Would you like to go there some day?

Mark McCain:
If it's good enough for him, it's good enough for me.

U.S. Marshal Sam Buckhart:
Has not an Indian eyes, hands, organs, senses, affections, fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer as a white man? If you prick him, does he not bleed? If you tickle him, does he not laugh? And if you wrong him, will he not avenge?

Mark McCain:
An Indian marshal? What's this world coming to?

Lusas McCain:
Well, whatever that one apache did, looks like the other plans to settle it real Indian Fashion.

Mark McCain:
You mean like scalpin'? Gosh, can I watch?

Lusas McCain:
Well, Mark, our government is trying to teach these people to be civilized. Maybe it should include you.

Philip Simmons:
So many things were left unsaid...

Lucas McCain:
They usually are.

Sheriff Fred Tomlinson:
You boys are leaving town.

Lloyd Carpenter:
Now don't be hasty, Marshall. I plan on staying.

Sheriff Fred Tomlinson:
That's your privilege, but these boys are leaving.

Lloyd Carpenter:
No, you don't understand, Uncle Fred. These are my boys .

[last lines]

Marshal Micah Torrance:
Looks like you'll be stayin' in town for a spell.

Mark McCain:
No! I'm taking him home with me!

Marshal Micah Torrance:
[Lucas smiles with pride at how protective his son is] Alright. I'll ride out every few days just to check on things.

Marshal Micah Torrance:
Alright, Marshal! Come on, pa.

Marshal Micah Torrance:
Your father's riding in on more than he can handle.

Mark McCain:
He's the best shot in the world.

Marshal Micah Torrance:
That ain't always enough. He's a fool going in blind like that. He's too sure of himself.

Mark McCain:
So, who are you to talk? You aren't a marshal anymore! Who are you to tell my pa what to do?

Marshal Micah Torrance:
That's a good question, son.

Marshal Micah Torrance:
You're making a mistake.

Lucas McCain:
No, this is my town and Fred was my friend. I didn't ask for it, but it came. I'll handle it.

Marshal Micah Torrance:
You're way too quick with that rifle, Lucas Boy. Forget their guns. Start thinking about men. You're riding in on nothing but the word of a stranger with an easy way and a hole in his hat.

Lucas McCain:
I'll keep my eye on him.

Marshal Micah Torrance:
You better. You don't know who he is or where he came from.

Lucas McCain:
Well, maybe you want to come along.

Marshal Micah Torrance:
Somebody should.

Lucas McCain:
Stay here with Mark.

[first lines]

Lloyd Carpenter:
Just hold up, boys. I had it easy in my mind we was headed for Baesore.

Andrew Sheltin:
Well, you see Lloyd, we ain't never been to Northfork.

Flory Sheltin:
Fact of the matter is we heard talk that Micah Torrance was headed there. We've been aimin' to do him in as you well know.

Lloyd Carpenter:
And I thought we was going to make us a pot of money in the cattle business.

Sheriff Fred Tomlinson:
Who is he?

Lucas McCain:
I don't know, Fred. Just another old bum with with a spoonful, I guess.

Sheriff Fred Tomlinson:
No. No, that's not just another old bum, Lucas. That's Micah Torrance. Not much left, but when I knew him, he was the finest peace officer on the border.

Flory Sheltin:
We want fed and water enough to shave. Do you provide?

Nancy Moore:
Sign here, please.

Flory Sheltin:
Well, we ain't spellin' men.

Lloyd Carpenter:
Just make your mark, boys. [Andrew makes a mark] That's Andrew. [Flory makes two marks] And that's Flory. He figures he's twice the man his brother is.

Nancy Moore:
Andrew and Flory.

Lloyd Carpenter:
Sheltin, from Tennessee.

Flory Sheltin:
We may not be much on spellin', but we can sure do our own talkin'.

Marshal Micah Torrance:
I was a good peace officer once. Fast... Too fast. Quit thinkin'. Started letting my gun hand do my work for me. Don't ever let that happen to you, friend. Cost me this. [holds injured arm] My nerve.

Lucas McCain:
You're lucky, Mr. Torrance. Not many men with your reputation live long enough to take off their badges.

Marshal Micah Torrance:
Don't call me lucky, son.

Andrew Sheltin:
Hey Flory, did you see that? I got me that rifleman. Hey Lloyd, you saw it, didn't ya? I got him. It was me, wasn't it?

Andrew Sheltin:
Yeah, you got him.

Andrew Sheltin:
Hey Flory, Lloyd and I got that rifleman.

Lloyd Carpenter:
And he got Flory.

Andrew Sheltin:
[finds his brother dead] Why Flory, you ugly old devil. You went and got yourself killt.

Lucas McCain:
You don't really want to punish me.

Capt. Josiah Perry:
Oh yes I do, there's no one else.

Lucas McCain:
He has discipline all mixed up with retribution.

Capt. Josiah Perry:
Your boy disobeyed you.

Lucas McCain:
Yes he did, Captain. He did it out of love.

[last lines]

Lucas McCain:
You know something, son? I think we ought to get you a haircut tomorrow morning.

Mark McCain:
Oh, Pa.

Lucas McCain:
But right now - good night.

Mark McCain:
G'nite...

Capt. Josiah Perry:
He should have taken his punishment. It would've been better for him if he had.

Micah Torrance:
You rode with Tom King?

Lucas McCain:
Once, as a deputy.

Tom King:
But he didn't seem to take to it. I tried to teach him. Old Luke just didn't understand that "dead or alive" meant dead to the law. Saves time and money.

Tom King:
If you're trying to tell me I've turned killer, you've said it before - and louder.

Lucas McCain:
I'm trying to tell you you're a grave-robbin' child killer. You'd cut your own mother's throat!

Tom King:
Don't forget I'm ugly and I smell bad.

[toasting]

Asa Manning:
To the scum of the earth.

Tom King:
To the money they pay me.

Mark McCain:
What I saw and heard doesn't seem to be the same thing that you saw and heard. I'll be gettin' up in front of everybody and talkin' against you, Pa.

Lucas McCain:
You're entitled to your opinion the same as I am, son. Our disagreein' has nothing' to do with telling tellin' the truth the way you saw it. Justice depends on that, son.

Abel Goss:
I guess I can't tell you how much I appreciate what you did for me.

Lucas McCain:
Don't thank me, thank the boy.

Abel Goss:
Well, I always knew how he felt about me.

Lucas McCain:
So did I. That's why, when he came up with this foolish notion about the picture, I went along with him. I also figured if Mark wouldn't give up after the way they laughed at him in court, I owed it to him to stick out my neck in court, too.

Jake Striker:
Farmin's work - I guess you know that. Makin' a farm pay and prosper - that's even harder work.

Brice Hornsby:
Yessir, I reckon it is and it's what I want to see. I want to see somethin' made of this place - and I want to see how it's done.

Jake Striker:
Imagine going all the way to Denver just to learn how to talk with your fingers.

Mark McCain:
Well, from what I hear, it's easy than learnin' to read or write.

Jake Striker:
Yeah, Mark, at my age it better be!

Clyde Bailey:
He ain't wearing an apron. He's hiding behind one.

Lucas McCain:
Hate? Isn't that a strong word to use just because you don't agree with someone?

Stevan Griswald:
[to the trapped Mark] Archimedes said, 'Give me a lever and I can move the world.' We'll get you out, Mark.

Mark McCain:
How can a man be so good with animals and so mean to people?

Lucas McCain:
That's a sign you're growing up.

Mark McCain:
What do you mean, Pa?

Lucas McCain:
The older you get, the more questions there are without answers.

Lucas McCain:
Well, it's new and mighty fine country.

[Mark turns around and stares behind him]

Lucas McCain:
There's no lookin' back. We've come too far.

Mark McCain:
I wasn't really lookin' back, I was just remembering back.

Lucas McCain:
What do you say we start from here?

Vernon Tippert:
Mr. McCain, will you do me a favor? If that boy of yours, Mark, ever gets any funny ideas, you tell him I said he's the lucky one.

[last lines]

Judge Hanavan:
Mr. McCain, I take it you're leaving town.

Mark McCain:
That's right, Judge.

Judge Hanavan:
North Fork is beginning to grow up, Lucas. We're going to need people like you to help it. I hope you'll stay.

Lucas McCain:
Well, what do you say, son? You still want that ranch?

Mark McCain:
Yahoo!

Lucas McCain:
Why you wet nosed, two bit little punk, you couldn't whip me in ten years. So don't go spouting off about going into that saloon! Now, you shut up and listen! I want you to stay here. If I don't come back, that boy of mine is your responsibility. You get on our horses and get out of here. Do you understand? I'm not askin' you Vernon... I'm tellin' ya'.

Mark McCain:
You hit him pretty hard, pa.

Lucas McCain:
Well, he was pretty big, son.

[first lines]

Wes Tippert:
Keep your mouth shut. I'll do the talkin'.

Mark McCain:
My pa, he doesn't use pistols. He uses a rifle, but he's pretty fast too.

Vernon Tippert:
No man with a rifle is faster than a man with a six gun.

Mark McCain:
My pa is. When we was living in the nations, they used to call him the Rifleman. He's the greatest shot in the world.

Jim Lewis:
McCain, just how good are you?

Lucas McCain:
I'm good enough.

Jim Lewis:
I hope you're not too good.

Lucas McCain:
That might be a bit costly for you, wouldn't it?

Sheriff Fred Tomlinson:
Lewis has been around here now almost four years. During that time, a lot of things have happened. A lot of people have been buried. He don't lose, Mr. McCain. Not ever.

Lucas McCain:
Why don't you take off that badge?

Sheriff Fred Tomlinson:
I'll tell you why, Mr. McCain. Because as long as I wear it, I can do a little good. Not much, but a little, and that's better than not at all.

General William Sheridan:
Hang the General Staff! I'm carrying out the last and greatest order of our late Commander-in-Chief - "Bind up the nation's wounds."

[last lines]

Mark McCain:
Bye, Mr. Blandon! Be sure to come back when you're arm's all well.

Frank Blandon:
I sure will.

Lucas McCain:
Mark, I want you to tell me somethin' honest. Did you mean what you just said to Blandon?

Mark McCain:
Pa, he got me thinkin'... well, you was in the war, too. It could have been you got his arm all shot up.

Lucas McCain:
Sorry son, but sooner or later you had to find out.

Mark McCain:
Why did I? I didn't want to. Pa, his shoulder wasn't healed!

Lucas McCain:
Not only poor Blanden's shoulder, but I mean all the ugly, useless suffering in the world. In time you'll learn to accept it and bring it into balance with the good things.

Mark McCain:
I'll never be able to, Pa!

Lucas McCain:
You will son because you have to. It's the price you pay on staying alive and in your right senses, it's manhood. And I can promise that when you come to the far end of it, you'll raise your old hands to bless this wonderful life you've been given, taken all together with the roast beef, and the moon rises, and a boy and his father riding out in the morning, after you're grown up to be a father yourself.

Gridley Maule:
[throws down a gun in front of Mark] Pick it up!

Mark McCain:
What for?

Gridley Maule:
I can get even with one McCain just as good as another. Pick it up.

Mark McCain:
[stalling for time] Where's my pa?

Gridley Maule:
[snotty] Drinkin' coffee to settle his nerves... Pick it up or I'll kill you.

Lucas McCain:
Gridley Maule junior? You pulled a gun on my son. I don't like that, boy.

Gridley Maule:
Well now... you must be Lucas McCain. I come to even up the score for my pa. So let's get outside and get it over with.

Lucas McCain:
You got a big advantage in bein' young, son. Don't press it.

Gridley Maule:
I ain't pressin' it Mister McCain and don't you consider it neither. You comin' out?

Lucas McCain:
You're just a little itchy aren't you?

Gridley Maule:
Don't stall me. I come a long way for this.

Gridley Maule:
I can shoot now, I can even shoot in the dark. And I mean to pay you back for what you did.

Lucas McCain:
Did you know your pa was in the act of robbing a bank?

Gridley Maule:
Yeah, I knew he was robbin' a bank.

Lucas McCain:
He was running with the money. I just happened by between him and his horse. He took a shot at me. And he would have shot again - there was nothing I could do.

Gridley Maule:
It makes no difference. When he was alive he was good to me. Maybe you don't understand McCain but he was my pa!

Lucas McCain:
I understand... If I don't swear out the charges, will you promise to go back home and forget about this revenge?

Gridley Maule:
[thinks a second] No.

Lucas McCain:
All right Micah, I'll swear out the complaint now.

Marshal Micah Torrance:
You heard the man, boy. Come on, get up.

Gridley Maule:
You keep me in jail, McCain! You go on and send me to Washington! But I'll come back and I'll kill you.

Lou Mallory:
Do you like it here in jail Grid?

Gridley Maule:
Oh sure, it's just dandy!

[Although McCain beat the two Snipe brothers in a fight only hours before, the two men rescue Lucas from a would-be murderer]

Joshua Snipe:
Appears like you needed a friend, neighbor.

Lucas McCain:
You can say that again! That's Roy Thursday's bunch.

Joshua Snipe:
No hard feelings?

Lucas McCain:
No hard feelings. Thank you very much!

[first lines]

Joey Merrick:
Hey Mister, are you sick? Can I help ya?

[last lines]

Mrs. Avery:
The truth had to come out sometime. He is our son.

Walt Avery:
No power on earth can change that.

Ham Ferris:
Lookin' for a man named Morely. Walks with a limp. I hear he has a woman with him.

[shows the sheriff a wanted poster]

Ham Ferris:
Have you seen him, Sheriff?

Sheriff McVey:
Just keep movin', Ferris.

Ham Ferris:
Now why do you say that?

Sheriff McVey:
I see too many carcasses you brought back. They all add up to fellows with holes in their backs.

Ham Ferris:
You got a better way to bring a man in?

Elizabeth Landis:
What is it they say? A soiled dove always looks gray?

Miguel:
We will take everything from you - including your money.

Adele Adams:
Those are my suffrage pamphlets.

Lucas McCain:
Suffrage? You mean women voting?

Adele Adams:
Yes. I'm starting a class in town tonight for the women on government.

Lucas McCain:
Government, huh?

Adele Adams:
Why not? It's a very serious matter, Mr. McCain.

Lucas McCain:
Well, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings, Miss Adams, but a woman voting is like raising a cow with a stallion.

[first lines]

Lucas McCain:
Good morning, Ms. Adams.

Adele Adams:
Good morning, Mr. McCain. I brought Mark some books. How is he?

Lucas McCain:
Well, we seems to be better. The doctor says he'll be back in school next week.

Adele Adams:
Well, me we've missed. I remember when I had the measels. It took a lot of spoiling to get me well.

Hattie Denton:
Mankind is a benevolent tyrant. Well, he's got to learn. Women are not cattle, not anymore.

Lucas McCain:
Well, that's too bad. I was thinking of getting me a few head.

Hattie Denton:
He's going after that stage, just like I'd do if I was a man. Which I'm not, thank goodness.

Old Man Healey:
[firmly grasping a whip] Your ma used to lie to me. I cured her.

Mark McCain:
Pa, I've been reading up on these pamplets and, well, wouldn't you have wanted ma to vote?

Jed Healey:
Pa, I don't want another chicken. It might die too.

Old Man Healey:
And that's a chance you'll have to take Jed when you're dealing with things that are weak.

Jed Healey:
[after shooting his own father] Garth... I had to do it, Garth. Didn't I?

Lucas McCain:
The Healeys... Busted apart by their own meanness. It was bound to happen.

Mark McCain:
[reading from Suffrage Pamplet] And so, gentlewomen of the gentler sex, we ask you to evaluate the meaning of the word freedom. We ask you to stand together, now, holding hands against the common tyrant that enslaves us... man?

Lucas McCain:
Mark, do you suppose we could go back to Moby Dick?

[last lines]

Mark McCain:
Maybe we ought to go back to Moby Dick, Pa.

[Lucas rebuffs Micah's offer to serve as an undercover detective]

Marshal Micah Torrance:
Lucas, you never liked being called "sodbuster" did you?

Lucas McCain:
I still don't.

Marshal Micah Torrance:
You better get used to it, 'cause that's what you're gonna be.

Lucas McCain:
What do you mean, Micah?

Marshal Micah Torrance:
A cattleman without cattle is just a plain sodbuster. If I was you, I'd give this job a little thought.

Marshal Micah Torrance:
Dirt farming's a lot like cattle raising - a man's gotta have faith, like Miss Milly said. I don't think you've got enough, Mark - not if you've lost faith in your own father.

Milly Scott:
Micah!

Marshal Micah Torrance:
Keep quiet, Milly.

[to Mark]

Marshal Micah Torrance:
Mark, you're just a boy and I've seen grown men buckle up doin' what you're tryin' to do - men like Lucas, who've lost everything they have except this house and piece of land, going off and doing whatever they can to save it and comin' back and tryin' again. Now, Mark, that's faith.

Mark McCain:
I tried to think he'd come back, but how much faith is a person supposed to have?

Lucas McCain:
Ashford, did you ever hear of the Homestead Act? Six hundred forty acres - yours for usin' it and workin' it. It could be the beginning of a ranch you could call your own.

Jeremy Ashford:
I'm not an American citizen.

Lucas McCain:
It's a great land - everybody's welcome.

[Mark holds up a mace]

Mark McCain:
This to kill their cattle?

Lucas McCain:
No, son. Long ago in England, soldiers used that to break through their enemies' armor.

Mark McCain:
Armor?

Lucas McCain:
Mm-hmm

[raps on a suit of armor]

Lucas McCain:
Soldiers used it for protection.

Mark McCain:
Could never stop a Winchester.

[last lines]

Lucas McCain:
Mark - I'll try.