Wide Country

Mikla Szradna:
In my country, boys lead a harder life. They are taught to recognize experience and leadership. They know their limitations. But in America, boys have priviledges and conveniences which tends to soften them. You admit this.

Deputy Lyon:
What country are you from, Mr. Szradna?

Mikla Szradna:
I was born in Romania, but I am not speaking of nationality. I am speaking of authority, of obedience, of discipline. These things have importance.

Deputy Lyon:
Yeah, well, most kids everywhere, all ages, need to be told what to do, but, well, you'll find our kids are like these. You see, to them, a leader is not a man you obey - he's a man you follow.

[referring to the bet he lost when Devlin passed him in the rodeo standings]

Rodeo Announcer:
Next out of Chute 6, the current top all-around contender, Johnny Devlin!

Mitch Guthrie:
That's harder to swallow than the crow.

[after being stuck by a car, Mitch awakens in Margarita's house]

Margarita Diaz:
Well, listen to me then, Mr. Guthrie. There is no doctor here, but I think if you rest, you'll get better... or-or maybe die.

[Uncle Walt, a con artist, has been trapped into proposing marriage]

Uncle Walt Guthrie:
I tried to warn you what kind of man I am. But no, you led me along so nice, you drowned me in love and kindness like a tiger in vat of milk!

[last lines]

[Uncle Walt has agreed to marry Mrs. Sturgis]

Andy Guthrie:
Hey! We oughta call Momma.

Mitch Guthrie:
Oh, I already did.

Andy Guthrie:
You did? What she say?

Mitch Guthrie:
She said we oughta shoot him in the head.

[referring to his kid sister]

Slim Walker:
Well, I ain't sayin' that she was behind the door when the brains was passed out, but she sure was skimped some on her servin'.

Andy Guthrie:
Yeah, well, your brother wants to talk to you down at the hospital. It seems he had a *fall*.

Cally Walker:
He never caught no fall - I thrown him! You wanna see how I done it?

Andy Guthrie:
No, I think it's more fun to wonder.

Cally Walker:
I never meant to bust his leg, though.

Mitch Guthrie:
We know that, Cally.

Cally Walker:
I was settin' more on breakin' his neck!

[last lines]

[Andy reads from a book of poetry]

Andy Guthrie:
My candle burns at both ends / It will not last the night; / But, oh, my foes and, ah, my friends...

Mitch Guthrie:
...It gives a lovely light.

Detective Sgt. Van Anda:
I know it's popular to say there's no such thing as a bad boy, just bad parents. And maybe parents are responsible for bad boys. But there isn't much parents, good or bad, can do with a pathological criminal.

Mitch Guthrie:
You belong in a cage, you know that?

Ernie Stannard:
Why, cowboy, they don't put us juveniles behind bars. We juveniles aren't responsible for our actions. After all, there's no such thing as bad boys, only bad parents. Aren't you up on the latest jive, cowboy? I'm not bad, just maladjusted because my daddy gave me a complex when I was four years old and I was born into a world I never made. That's a kooky remark, isn't it? How can anyone make a world before they were born into it?

Mitch Guthrie:
Boys of sixteen can hurt and maim and kill. And when they do they gotta be taken off the streets and kept off the streets because if they're not you ain't got cities no more, you got jungles!

Mitch Guthrie:
What's with this Ernie, anyway? Is he nuts or somethin'?

Detective Sgt. Van Anda:
Do you mean is he insane?

Mitch Guthrie:
Well, no, that's not quite what I meant.

Detective Sgt. Van Anda:
Why not? Why, because he doesn't rant and rave or foam at the mouth? Look, Mitch, in every society there are a certain number of people born who are pathological criminals. I'd say less than one percent. Something is missing in their minds. A thing called conscience that teaches us to distinguish right from wrong.

Andy Guthrie:
What are they gonna do with that kid, Mitch? What can they do?

Mitch Guthrie:
I don't know. But I do know this: That's somethin' everybody's gonna have to face up to one of these days.

Andy Guthrie:
Catch 'em early, put 'em away, and treat them before they kill somebody, I guess. That kind of law is so hard to get passed.

Mitch Guthrie:
Andy, nothing's harder than going to an innocent victim's funeral.

[referring to John Prewitt]

Alma Prewitt:
Old men are sometimes foolish, only they don't know it... unless some bigger fool tells them.

Lila Never:
[to Andy and Mitch] Hello. Is one of you Mr. Guthrie?

Andy Guthrie:
Yes, ma'am. Several of us are.

Andy Guthrie:
You're on a what?

Lila Never:
Scavenger hunt.

Andy Guthrie:
Oh, I thought you were here trying to sell that stuffed bird.

Lila Never:
[chuckles] This is Matt Hartshorn, I'm Lila Never and we need a cowboy.

Andy Guthrie:
[indicating Mitch] Oh, I'd let you have this one, but he's been used.

Mitch Guthrie:
Scavenger hunt? That's that party game where you go out collecting things. I mean like 1910 nickels and Stanley Steamer hubcaps - things like that?

Lila Never:
That's right. You see we have almost everything on the list except this item... one cowboy.

Mitch Guthrie:
Well, there's several hundred cowboys around here, Miss Never. I'd say you can pretty much take your pick.

Lila Never:
[smiling coyly] I want the best.

Andy Guthrie:
Oh, then you want Ed Yost.

[indicates Mitch]

Andy Guthrie:
This here's last year's model.

Mitch Guthrie:
What would I have to do?

Lila Never:
All you have to do is come back to the party with us - both of you. Come on, it's at my house.

Mitch Guthrie:
Hey, why not, Andy? It sounds like fun.

Andy Guthrie:
Why not is because Ed Yost picked up about eight points on you tonight. You need a little relaxation and *repair*. I'm sorry now, but...

Mitch Guthrie:
Now what are you, my daddy? Look, it will take me a few minutes to change clothes.

Lila Never:
We don't have time for that! Besides, it makes you more authentic.

Mitch Guthrie:
What do you say, Andy?

Andy Guthrie:
Oh, well, if you don't mind bein' just an item on a list.

Mitch Guthrie:
Well, that kinda depends on whose list, don't it?

Andy Guthrie:
Oh, all right. Just a minute, Miss. I'll take off the price tag.

[Andy rips off a piece of adhesive tape hanging from Mitch's back]

Mitch Guthrie:
OW!

[Mitch tries to play a piece of music on Lila's piano]

Lila Never:
Mitch?

Mitch Guthrie:
Hey.

Lila Never:
Do you play?

Mitch Guthrie:
I play the piano like I typewrite - one finger at a time.

Lila Never:
I love you, Mitch Guthrie.

Mitch Guthrie:
I guess we both got our misfortunes, honey, because I love you, too.

[discussing Andy who has fallen in love with a beautiful carnival belly dancer]

Roy:
He ain't got himself mixed up with a carny?

Woody:
I was a curly wolf when I was young - done everything from moonshinin' to sheep stealin' - but I never got mixed up with no carny1

Andy Guthrie:
I know you try to look after me, Mitch, and a lot of times I need it. I don't know - maybe I got into this to show you up or maybe I got into to let her know what a big man I am. I'm not sure anymore... but I do know that I've got to go through with it for myself. There are a couple of things that I gotta find out... and this is the way I gotta do it. Do you understand?

[Andy attempts to stand up after being thrown violently from the bull he attempted to ride]

Jenny Callan:
Oh no no no, Mitch, no! Give him a chance. Don't baby brother him now.

[after Andy is thrown trying to ride a bull]

Mitch Guthrie:
Guess I should have shown you how to get off.

Andy Guthrie:
[grinning] I got my own style.

[discussing a newspaper article that distorted Mitch's comments]

Mitch Guthrie:
How can they say print things like this? Now that ain't the truth.

Andy Guthrie:
Yeah, well, the truth doesn't necessarily sell newspapers.

[Mitch has just been pummeled in a boxing match with a heavyweight contender]

Andy Guthrie:
How do you feel?

Mitch Guthrie:
I feel like something being pushed along by a tumblebug.

[last lines]

Andy Guthrie:
That cute little girl - you know, even if she did put the finger on me, I-I kinda feel sorry for her.

Mitch Guthrie:
Mm-hmm.

Andy Guthrie:
And that mother of hers - do you think she learned anything out of this.

Mitch Guthrie:
I don't know, Andy. Maybe, maybe not. I sometimes wonder if anybody ever really learns anything, you know.

[first lines]

[indicating a scarecrow with a beard attached]

Mitch Guthrie:
There's the Amish welcoming committee right where it was last year. Looks like one of them brothers, don't it?

Andy Guthrie:
Do the crows around here caw in Pennsylvania Dutch?

Mitch Guthrie:
If they got any sense, they'd keep quiet. Andy, these people are the best farmers in the world, do you know that? All they want to do is be left alone. They don't drink, they don't smoke, they don't ride in automobiles, they don't want no part of radio or television. Happiest people I ever saw.

Andy Guthrie:
What do they do for excitement?

Mitch Guthrie:
They don't want no excitement. They just mosey along the way they have for the last hundred years or so... slow and easy.

[a horse with an Amish rider sprints past the Guthrie's station wagon]

Andy Guthrie:
Slow and easy, huh?

[the Guthries drive alongside a galloping horse to gauge his speed]

Mitch Guthrie:
What's he doin'?

Andy Guthrie:
38.

Mitch Guthrie:
Andy, do you realize that mare is pushin' record time for a quarter-horse and that kid isn't even spurin' her?

Andy Guthrie:
Well, little lady, I don't know what your name is, but I christen thee "Slow and Easy".

[Mitch climbs onto the hood of his station wagon with lasso in hand to pursue a maurauding bull]

Mitch Guthrie:
Andy, let's see what kind of a cuttin' horse you can make out of this V-8.

David Bennett:
Pa, do you have to?

Royce Bennett:
Do I have to what, son?

David Bennett:
Do you have to go out and... and eat dirt?...

Royce Bennett:
Come here, son. It seems I've been eating a lot of dirt lately, doesn't it? What do you think I ought to do about it? Stay down in the dirt, or get up and try again?

Andy Guthrie:
Now look, I know you think I got you into this mess. But you can't just let it slide, Mitch. You've got to take a stand sometimes. You know, this kind of thing has happened to man since the beginning of time. You know, human liberties aren't just swept away, they're stolen little by little. Then one day the whole human race wakes up, finds itself in chains.

Ruth Baker:
[Discussing the corrupt town government] Do you know what these are? Invitations to come to a meeting and talk about a reform party with our own candidates. Do you know how many people showed up? Three.

Mitch Guthrie:
Well, if only three people showed up, maybe that's the kind of administration this town wants. You ever think about that?

Carlos Ramierz:
No, they don't want it! They just shrug their shoulders and say you can't fight city hall.

Andy Guthrie:
They're just like Snowball. They're roped and tied too.

Mitch Guthrie:
I know it sounds corny, but when you get right down to it, honesty is the best policy. There's no doubt about that.

Andy Guthrie:
I'll buy that.

Mitch Guthrie:
You know, we forget too many of those old-fashioned ideas. That's what's wrong with the world today.

Andy Guthrie:
Amen.

Ty Grant:
We'll give you our word. Deal?

Mitch Guthrie:
A deal, Mr. Grant, is when everyone gets some cards. I don't see you shufflin' no deck.

Andy Guthrie:
So you fled Hungary and came on to America, right?

Ilona Lukins:
I suppose some people fled Hungary... and some of like to feel we were driven out.

[Mitch has just been dragged by a horse and pelted with rocks thrown by communist agitators]

Andy Guthrie:
Hey! You all right?

Mitch Guthrie:
Well, that's a fair-to-middlin' stupid question.

Andy Guthrie:
Well, you sound like you'll live.