Bad Day at Black Rock1955

Smith:
Why would a man like you be looking for a lousy Jap farmer?...I believe a man is as big as what'll make him mad. Nobody around here seems big enough to get you mad.

Macreedy:
What makes you mad, Mr. Smith?...The Japanese make you mad, don't they?

Smith:
Well, that's different. After that sneak attack on Pearl Harbor...Bataan.

Macreedy:
Komoko made you mad.

Smith:
It's the same thing. Loyal Japanese-Americans, that's a laugh. They're all mad dogs. What about Corregidor, the death march?

Macreedy:
What did Komoko have to do with Corregidor?

Smith:
He was a Jap, wasn't he? Look, Mr. Macreedy, there's a law in this county about shootin' dogs. But when I see a mad dog, I don't wait for him to bite me. I swear, you're beginning to make me mad.

Macreedy:
All strangers do.

Smith:
No they don't. Not all of 'em. Some do when they come around snooping.

Macreedy:
Snooping for what?

Smith:
I don't know. Outsiders coming in looking for something.

Macreedy:
Looking for what?

Smith:
I don't know. Somebody's always looking for something in this part of the West. To the historians, it's the "Old West." To the book writers, it's the "Wild West." To the businessman, it's the "Undeveloped West." They say we're all poor and backward and I guess we are. We don't even have enough water. But to us, this place is our West. And I wish they'd leave us alone.

Macreedy:
Leave you alone to do what?

Smith:
I don't know what you mean.

Macreedy:
What happened to Komoko?

Smith:
He went away, I told you. Shortly after he left, some kids went out there. They got foolin' around and burned his place down. That's how it was. You know how kids are.

[Macreedy laughs]

Macreedy:
I don't believe you. There's somethin' buried up there....[He pulls the wildflowers from his pocket] That means a grave. I suppose you knew that. I saw a lot of it, you know, overseas. I figured it wasn't a human grave because it wasn't marked. Kind of a mystery, isn't it?