The Way West

[first lines]

[Mercy flirts silently with Brownie]

Lije Evans:
Best not be lookin', Brownie.

Brownie Evans:
I ain't lookin'... as hard as I can.

Lije Evans:
Them pretty peach trees are sure a long way from Georgia.

Mr. McBee:
Yep, but I expect to plant 'em where the ground is forty feet deep, black as charcoal and soft as a woman.

Lije Evans:
Now, whereabouts would that be? Heaven?

Mrs. McBee:
Oregon, Mister! Ain't ya heard?

Sen. William J. Tadlock:
We're mere men, but a man's nature is enormous. It contains both the great and the small. Even the meanest of us can be as large as this whole continent.

Rebecca 'Becky' Evans:
Lije, Lije, stay home this time!

Lije Evans:
I wish I could, but I can't.

Rebecca 'Becky' Evans:
Why?

Lije Evans:
I don't know why. It's just that I got to go where I've not been. And where I can say, "This far I've come, I can't go no further. Do you understand that?

Mrs. McBee:
Mercy, you're to stop flashin' in the fire every time a three-legged boy goes by. Now you hear me?

Mr. McBee:
If we don't get that girl hitched before we get to Oregon, she's gonna run off and marry the nearest buffalo.

Sen. William J. Tadlock:
You know, it's no easy matter to share a vision - particularly for a man and a woman.

[the wagon train is surrounded by Indians]

Dick Summers:
He doesn't like what you're giving him.

Sen. William J. Tadlock:
What does he want?

Dick Summers:
Whiskey.

Sen. William J. Tadlock:
Whiskey?

Lije Evans:
Get 'em liquored up and maybe we could sneak off.

Dick Summers:
You got a choice: you could give it to 'em or they'll take it. I agree that the first one might be a little dangerous, but the second one could prove fatal.

Lije Evans:
I guess we'll have to fight, Dick.

Dick Summers:
Well, all right, but some of us are gonna have to settle for a piece of ground a little short of Oregon.

Lije Evans:
You know, for a smart man you ain't got a lick of sense! Not a speck!

Preacher Weatherby:
[to Brownie after marrying him to Mercy] I said 'amen.' You can kiss her even if you have before.

Brownie Evans:
[Admiring Summers' necklace] Hey, I noticed that mighty handsome possession. Did you get it off a ded Indian?

Dick Summers:
Yeah, my wife.

Brownie Evans:
I'm sorry. It's just about the nicest possession I ever seen.

Dick Summers:
Well, it's about the only possession I got. That and my bad name. Well, eh, with Mr. Tadlock's very kind permission, we're gonna see if we can get ourselves killed. You want to ?

Dick Summers:
Oh, I never tried to stop anybody from doin' anything. That's about the only principle I got.