Tales of Wells Fargo

[first lines]

Lucy Croydon:
Kind of a hard act to follow.

Jim Hardie:
Not if you're a headliner yourself.

Lucy Croydon:
You do remember me, don't you, baby?

Cindy Croydon:
I remember you left - and you never came back.

Jim Hardie:
This whole thing's so silly. It's not going to help him get Cindy back; that's up to a court. If he's got any ideas about goin' on fightin', he's goin' to wind up a punchin' bag for every kid with an iron fist. There's no future in it.

Beau McCloud:
What future did he have before, Jim? At least now he has a hope, a dream.

Jim Hardie:
There are two kinds of people who shouldn't bet; those that haven't got any money and those who have too much - and that pretty much takes care of everybody.

Carson:
Not too many winners here tonight, were there?

Jim Hardie:
No, there weren't - just those who were loyal and those who didn't know any better.

Carson:
You know, they say ignorance is bliss.

Jim Hardie:
I suppose it is... if it is ignorance.

Frisco Kid:
If they find out I let Bonzo clobber me...

Dooley:
Will you stop it.

Frisco Kid:
All right, but no more deals - no more deals and no more dives. All I want if one shot at the championship.

Dooley:
Sure, kid. Now we can afford it.

Frisco Kid:
That doesn't mean I like it. I didn't like one dirty minute of it!

Dooley:
You just keep on not liking it. But when you hate it the most, just remember the nothing that Bonzo got as a champ. You just remember how easy it was to make ten thousand dollars in a half-hour instead of that big five-hundred dollar purse.

Jim Hardie:
So how does it feel? Back in Gloribee you took a dive for this manager; now you're willing to kill for him. Maybe it's too late to help you after all.

Lucy Croydon:
But it's so senseless - to fight for absolutely nothing.

Beau McCloud:
Nothing? You call a man's honor, his self-respect nothing? You don't know too much about a man's make-up do you? But I've got to hand it to you, Mrs. Croydon. Before you came here, he was a bum, a tramp, the town clown, but you made him aware of this. You have him life, got fight in him. Now, maybe, he can show what he has. I hope so.

Cindy Croydon:
What's it going to be like in San Francisco, Mom?

Lucy Croydon:
Oh, like nothing you ever saw, Cindy.

Cindy Croydon:
Really, Mr. Hardie? Is it all they say it is?

Jim Hardie:
And more, too - plus everything you're going to bring to it.

Jamie Coburn:
You know why they call it Calico? 'Cause the folks who first came to these parts said they were going to spread the town over the land like a gal spreads her calico skirts at a picnic. That's just what they did... trouble is they never had time for the picnic.

Wolf:
I'm warning you, Beaker, when I hunt for somethin', I kill it, so that makes Jamie or anyone else who gets in my way already dead.

Beau McCloud:
I'm wondering if we're not making a mistake waiting like this - gives him an extra day to think about running away.

Jim Hardie:
A man gets his legs cut off can't run very far.

Jamie Coburn:
Theresa, do you remember the good times we used to have around this table?

Theresa Coburn:
And the bad.

Theresa Coburn:
Treat a man like dirt, Theresa, and he becomes dirt.

Jamie Coburn:
A man doesn't run away, Jamie, he stands and fights!

Theresa Coburn:
A man marries a woman for better or worse... there's nothin' in the vows that says anything about living in shame, is there?

Boone Helm:
Oh, mister, you got a crust travelin' with seventeen dollars!

Jim Hardie:
Goin' to the diggin's, not comin'.

Boone Helm:
You got nerve for a guy that carries chicken feed!

Jim Hardie:
Maybe next time I'll have more - or a gun.

Sheriff:
You know, a man can only do so much.

Parker, Wells Fargo Agent:
So much what? Drinkin'? Gamblin'? Hangin' around in saloons?

Sheriff:
They'll be no vigilantes in my town - not while I'm sheriff!

Parker, Wells Fargo Agent:
That might not be as long as you think.

Jim Hardie:
Smooth operators, all right. They know what they're doin'.

Parker, Wells Fargo Agent:
They should - they get enough practice. Three out of five stages that leave here get held up.

Sheriff:
Well, gentlemen, you look like you're goin' huntin'.

Sanders:
Yes, we are.

Biedler:
And you're the game, Plummer.

Floyd Schaeffer:
'Course I know every boy wants to have a fling at adventure but, from what I've heard, I realize that the Superstition Mountain is not the place to have it.

[first lines]

Katherine Anne Murdock:
[narrating] They wanted me to write the truth about the savage west land. Well, I will write the truth. I'll call it "A Wilderness Without Hope". What was it Dante said? "All hope abandon ye who enter here".

[looking out at the desert]

Nathan Chance:
A woman like you wouldn't stand much chance out there.

Katherine Anne Murdock:
Maybe better than here.

Nathan Chance:
I don't know about that. If some short-legged Comanche didn't lift that pretty rolled up hair of yours, the desert sun would sure cook the salt out of you.

Katherine Anne Murdock:
What a quaint way of putting it.

Katherine Anne Murdock:
A woman's point of view can be a dangerous thing.

Jim Hardie:
Well, the truth shouldn't be too dangerous, ma'am.

Nathan Chance:
You sure got a chin full of argument. What are you doing out here?

Katherine Anne Murdock:
I'm writing a book, if you must know.

Nathan Chance:
You know, I've only read one book in my entire life: Aesop's Fables. There's a story in there about a fox who wanted some grapes. He called 'em sour when he couldn't reach 'em. I reckon some folks are apt to feel that way about life when they can't quite grab hold.

Katherine Anne Murdock:
Western law enforcement is apparently quite incompetent.

Jim Hardie:
Western law is no different than any other law.

Katherine Anne Murdock:
Laws are silent in the midst of arms - Cicero.

Jim Hardie:
And laws aren't valuable only because they're laws, but because there's right in them. A man by the name of Beecher said that.

Jim Hardie:
What makes you so bitter?

Katherine Anne Murdock:
I'm cynical, Mr. Hardie. Can't you tell the difference?

Jim Hardie:
You seem to sit a horse very well for an Easterner.

Katherine Anne Murdock:
My family's been riding to the hounds for years, Mr. Hardie.

Jim Hardie:
Well, I hope we can show you our way of life out here hasn't had the chance to go to the dogs yet.

Hawk:
Things were just gettin' interestin', Chance. What were you plannin' to do, save the lady from sin and corruption?

Nathan Chance:
I've got better things to do.

Hawk:
Well, that was the whole point of our bein' here. So far I haven't heard nothin' but music and the clink of glasses or that sceamin' female.

Nathan Chance:
Ain't you heard the clink of fifty thousand dollars?

Hawk:
No. Maybe my ears aren't so good.

Nathan Chance:
Wouldn't have to be good. They aren't more than twenty feet from you.

[indicates Major Shankford]

Nathan Chance:
It's in a belt around his waist.

Hawk:
A lot of fat to be carryin' around his middle.

Nathan Chance:
Bad for the heart.

Nathan Chance:
I told you no shootin', Hawk.

Hawk:
We got what we wanted.

Nathan Chance:
You're branchin' out. I don't like it!

Hawk:
Every man for himself, mister.

Nathan Chance:
Even wolves work together!

Hawk:
But the big one, the lobo, he calls the shots.

Nathan Chance:
I was always soft about cuttin' a man down for no reason.

Hawk:
I make my own reasons!

Nathan Chance:
Seems when I went south for a while, I left somebody to cut my throat.

Hawk:
Maybe it needed cuttin', Chance. The wolves - they don't follow no sheep.

Nathan Chance:
Like you said, Hawk. What I do is my own business.

Hawk:
I also said your throat needed cuttin', Chance. They don't call me "Hawk" for nothin'.

Nathan Chance:
Don't miss - you won't get a second chance.

Katherine Anne Murdock:
I-I want to thank you for saving my life.

Nathan Chance:
Don't thank me, New England - chew my head off like before. I like you better with the same kind of crust like I've got.

[last lines]

[writing in her journal]

Katherine Anne Murdock:
As the train twisted its iron way through the limestone hills, I knew that I had learned something about myself as I learned about them. The arms of the West are open to those who believe and are unafraid. I think I'm welcome there now.

[discussing Wells Fargo's precautions to protect the jade shipment]

Captain George Turnbull:
Aw, what's the matter with those fellows down at the office? I never lost a cargo in my life!

Jim Hardie:
Eh, those Sidney Ducks have been running around.

Captain George Turnbull:
Sidney Ducks indeed. A bunch of gutless jellyfish that snatch old lady's purses.

Jim Hardie:
Oh, they've changed since you were gone, Skipper. They have an organization - and even the jellyfish have got kind of a bite to 'em.

Jim Hardie:
Here comes Christine. I'd feel real gratified if you didn't mention our talk.

Twitch:
Well then, feel gratified.

Conductor:
The trouble isn't finding wher Belle Starr lives, it's taking her after you find her.

Jim Hardie:
[narrating] I did some checking up on Belle Starr and the one thing everybody mentioned was her love for horses. She liked 'em fast - the faster the better. The price of a good horse never bothered her. Whe she found one she liked, she stole it.

Jim Hardie:
You owe me 82 dollars cash and a twenty dollar pistol.

Belle Starr:
Well, you may get some of the pistol back... the bullets.

Man #1:
May I propose a toast?

Beau McCloud:
Please do.

Man #1:
To our glorious union!

[the toaster notices Beau has not joined in the toast]

Man #1:
Perhaps the gentleman didn't hear...

[Beau throws his glass on the floor]

Beau McCloud:
I heard you, but I'm afraid I dropped my glass.

Grey Man:
You must go to Dos Mesas and get Justin Brox and the plate.

Jim Hardie:
And what if I should fail?

Grey Man:
You won't, Mr. Hardie. You were selected for two reasons - first, because you're a horseman and second, because we checked your Wells Fargo record and found that you've never failed.

Jim Hardie:
There's got to be a first time for everybody. What if this is it?

Grey Man:
I shall weep for you... at your funeral.

Beau McCloud:
The rebel cause will live forever as long as Justin Brox is alive.

Jim Hardie:
Sergeant Justin Brox.

Beau McCloud:
There was a man in France who was just a corporal - he rose to power.

Jim Hardie:
Right, he did - and he died in exile, but not until he brought his country to its knees.

Justin Brox:
Now you try to understand, Beau, we had to try to lead you on. Our cause is worth the price of everthin'!

Beau McCloud:
Even honor?

Jim Hardie:
[narrating] This is Deadwood, South Dakota, the toughest town in all of the West. Life is cheap here and the gunslingers came 13 to the dozen.

Beau McCloud:
A man would have to be pretty foolish to cross that desert.

Jim Hardie:
Foolish or part lizard.

Davey Hewitt:
That's what the warden told me to do - workin' my way up again from the bottom of the stall.

Jim Hardie:
Well, he told you right, boy. You're still young. You can build a good life for yourself.

Davey Hewitt:
Save your breath. The judge gave the same lecture.

Jim Hardie:
He also gave you two years when he could have given you twenty. It might be well if you remembered that.

Jeb Gaines:
You know, you don't dance as onery as you look.

Ovie:
Well, all right, but I'm warnin' you - you step on my feet one more time, I'm going to have you jailed for assault and battery.

Jim Hardie:
I hoped you'd retired from the road, Matt.

Matt Blackner:
You don't retire from the road, lad, you die in office... A hard meaningless life, Mr. Hardie, but it was a man's life and I'll miss it.

Striker:
He gave it back? Fifty thousand dollars?

Matt Blackner:
It was only forty-eight thousand. I had no more use for it.

Striker:
I had a use for it, you back-stabbin' old goat! I coulda bought me a town, do you hear? A whole town just for me!

Matt Blackner:
That town will remember my name; light candles for me once a year!

Matt Blackner:
Jim, I lied to you about my daughter wishing me well. She wishes me nothing for me but the kind of misery she's had.

[planning a robbery]

Doc Bell:
I've noticed that a sock full of dirt has an anesthetic value if administered properly.

Doc Bell:
The love of money is the root of all evil.

Curly:
I never knew you to have any objections to it before, Doc.

Doc Bell:
I refer to the *love* of money, not money per se.

Jim Hardie:
Harry Edwards - is that the bird that calls himself the El Paso Kid?

Deputy Sheriff Sam Leary:
We had a dodger on him a couple of days ago.

Jim Hardie:
Yeah, we had word from Granite City that he was there two or three weeks back. The El Paso Kid. Hmmph. Every outlaw or would-be outlaw since Billy the Kid poppped up has called himself the Something-or-Other Kid. The Texas Kid, the New Mexico Kid, the...

Jim Hardie:
Say, by golly, you're in luck. That other passenger on the coach was a doctor.

Deputy Sheriff Sam Leary:
No? Doggone!

Jim Hardie:
Dr. Alice MacCauley.

Deputy Sheriff Sam Leary:
Alice! A lady doctor?

Jim Hardie:
You bet! Patched my shoulder up just like patchin' a quilt.

Deputy Sheriff Sam Leary:
A lady doctor... Next thing you know, they'll be havin' female Wells Fargo agents.

Jim Hardie:
By golly, I hope you're right! Anyhow, I want to do the hirin' and firin' if they do.

Jeb Gaines:
Jim, it came - that message from Sam Rogers.

Jim Hardie:
[reading telegram] Dear Jim, you scoundrel, what's going on? Greg Stringer my trail boss, of course. Big, hard, honest and mean - mean enough to handle available saddle scum on a drive. Arriving soon as possible with a more thorough description of him... and a real thorough description of you.

Con Toole:
Jim Hardie, you son of a gun, how have you been, huh?

Jim Hardie:
Up to now, I was doin' just fine.

Con Toole:
Oh, well now, I don't want to upset a body, Jim. This here ain't personal, you know.

Jim Hardie:
When three men come at me with guns, I always take it personal.

Con Toole:
It's only because of Judge Jefferson. He's due in on the southbound stage and I've got a little business with him.

Jim Hardie:
Judge Jefferson? Is that the man who sent you away?

Con Toole:
Yep, that's right, for two years - two long years I've thought about it. Decided I'd do a little judgin' myself and you know what? I've sentenced Judge Jefferson to die.

[Duke played solitaire while Jim Hardie killed a man with his bare hands]

Jim Hardie:
Hard-hearted Duke Tolliver. Nothing bothers him.

Duke Tolliver:
That's right.

Jim Hardie:
Then why don't you play your red ten on that black jack?

[first lines]

Jim Hardie:
11:30 on the nose. Punctuality - one of the few virtues you ever had, Jeremiah.

Jeremiah Logart:
Jim, you know I always pay my debts. How many times was it you saved me life - twice?

Jim Hardie:
One time too many, I know that.

[Sheriff Tige prevents Jim from being bushwhacked]

Jim Hardie:
How'd you happen to spot him?

Sheriff Ed Tige:
I've been tryin' to keep an eye on you.

Jim Hardie:
I thought I told you...

Sheriff Ed Tige:
You can't see out of the back of your head, now, can you?

Jim Hardie:
No. No, I never have been able to.

[discussing John Wesley Hardin]

Sheriff Ed Tige:
But you know his reputation, Jim. People say he's killed 35 men.

Jim Hardie:
Yeah - not countin' Indians.

Molly:
Mr. Flagg, what is your first name?

Coleman Flagg:
Well, it ain't Stupid, little girl.

Jeb Gaine:
What are you tryin' to do - break my neck?

Beau McCloud:
Maybe if you broke your jaw, we'd get some peace and quiet around here.

Kalo:
You're making a small mistake, mister. My friends and I were on our way out of town and...

Beau McCloud:
That was *your* mistake... You should have left sooner.

Sheriff:
Somethin' botherin' you about that fellow, Jim?

Jim Hardie:
Sheriff, when you and I look at a man that's the least bit suspicious, we take a close look so we can remember him if we have to. Evidently I didn't look close enough at that fellow the first time I saw him somewhere.

[discussing the drover Kalo pistol-whipped]

Kalo:
What are you going to tell him?

Sunset:
Just that he passed out right after he kissed me.

Kalo:
Now I know why I like you, baby - you're all heart.

Jeb Gaine:
Hold it up there, hold it up, hold it up!

Jim Hardie:
Now what's the matter?

Jeb Gaine:
If I wanted my leg broke, I could have had the horse do it. What do you think I am back here, a...

Jeb Gaine, Jim Hardie, Beau McCloud:
...sack of seed?

Beau McCloud:
[discussing Sunset] You know, Tina, she's a pretty good-lookin' girl - almost as pretty as you are. Now listen, don't worry about me. I've been a round a little bit.

Tina Swenson:
So has she.

Jim Hardie:
Seems to me Molly has seen a good deal for a youngster her age.

Molly:
Youngster? Mister, I've been places you've never been!

Jim Hardie:
Well, it's possible I suppose, but then I've seen a lot of youngsters in places they shouldn't have been.

Sunset:
My friend taught me how to handle a gun and, if necessary, I won't hesitate to show you. Call in your friend from the front porch.

Ovie Swenson:
She's just bluffin', Jim.

[Sunset c*cks her pistol]

Jim Hardie:
She bluffs pretty good, Ovie.

[upon receiving an emergency telegram, Jim gives his stacks of poker chips to a beautiful saloon girl]

Jim Hardie:
They're all yours, Dixie.

Dixie:
You're kidding! For what?

Jim Hardie:
For nothing - right now. But I'll think of somethin' before I get back.

[first lines]

[a telegraph key rattles off a message]

Jim Hardie:
Da-dot-da-dot-dot. There it goes again - the same old message I've received a hundred times. Jim Hardie - Washoe Hotel or Capitol Bar - Washoe, Nevada: report Benson Colfax immediately, Hopper. Never can you, will you or is it convenient or anything like that. No, just report. Now, pronto or quicker if possible. If I was lying in my coffin, I'd be expected to get up and report. That's the way Wells Fargo trained their men.

Dixie:
When are you going to stop playing around, Jim and settle down?

Jim Hardie:
Well, whenever you say the word. What are you drinkin'?

Dixie:
The usual.

Jim Hardie:
Two beers.

Dixie:
You know, I think you're a little bit too late, mister. I just got myself engaged while you were gone.

Jim Hardie:
You're kidding! You can't do that - it's not fair to all the customers.

[first lines]

Beau McCloud:
Dirty shame turning a man off like a lamp.

Beau McCloud:
How much did they get?

Jim Hardie:
About five thousand dollars as close as I can figure. Frank never kept many books; liked to keep everything in his head. Said that it was much harder to fire him and straighten out the mess rather than just go along with him. He was right - never had a complaint in twenty years except just recently.

Sheriff:
Good old Frank - he lived a right long life.

Jim Hardie:
Somebody ended it with a knife.

Jim Hardie:
Norris disappeared along with five thousand dollars from the company safe the same night Frank Dane was killed.

Sheriff:
So you add two and two and come up with five thousand.

Caleb Timmons:
Hardie, I want this man.

Jim Hardie:
Wells Fargo wants him, too.

Caleb Timmons:
Wells Fargo wants the money - they can have it!

Jim Hardie:
We also want Norris.

Caleb Timmons:
Now look, mister, you aren't in no position to bargain.

Jim Hardie:
No, I suppose I'm not. Since neither one of us has the man, it doesn't look like either is in too good of a bargaining position.

Arly Timmons:
What are we going to prove? What are we going to have when it's over?

Caleb Timmons:
Peace of mind... maybe.

Arly Timmons:
We'll have blood on our hands the rest of our lives.

Buck Timmons:
Then we'll just have to find somethin' to wash it off with!

Colonel Navarro:
I'm a soldier, Captain. I just obey orders.

Colonel Peralta:
To the death! Bravo! We must drink a toast to that.

[Peralta and Scorpio have just killed Colonel Navarro and his men]

Scorpio:
Such a fine commanding officer - always with his men, even in death... and so devoted to his cause.

Colonel Peralta:
I will expect the same sort of fanatical devotion to our only cause - the De Lopa fortune.

Scorpio:
Guaranteed! The horses are ready, Captain.

Colonel Peralta:
Colonel, Lieutenant Scorpio - Colonel Sebastian Navarro.

Travers:
I've been thinkin' I've been ridin' this chair too long.

Jim Hardie:
You're sure not going to get saddle sores swivelin' around in that thing all day.

Travers:
No, it's what's been swivelin' around me all day that's been givin' me brain blisters.

Travers:
This is a ticklish situation, Jim. I don't want Wells-Fargo left holding a sack of international complications.

Dorcus:
You got no reason to hold me. There ain't no law against a man running his horse next to a train.

Jim Hardie:
We got a lot of reasons to hold you. Your name's Frank Dorcas. You've got a bad habit of breaking into banks and out of jails.

Lopez:
My friend, you have just begun your second life. Be careful if you have dark thoughts of Poderio when Miguel is around. The next time, there might not be no life for you to start over again.

[discussing the virtures of a patent medicine]

Cy:
Hank Stover used it.

Jeb Gaine:
But he's dead!

Cy:
Oh, but his muscles didn't kill him - his wife did.

[Poderio and Miguel are locked up in jail]

Jim Hardie:
He's probably got other men wandering around somewhere... that's why he's not worried. You keep your eyes open.

Deputy Tom:
I'll keep one eye on him, one eye on that still flank man of his and one eye on the door. That ought to do it.

Jim Hardie:
Well, I hope you can deputy a little better than you can count.

Poderio:
There are questions in your eyes, Senor Hardie.

Jim Hardie:
Just one. I was wondering why a man as successful as you and has so much to lose would gamble everything just to find this girl.

Poderio:
Success? What is success? It is the size of the hole it takes to bury a man... but self-respect - that is something worth fighting for.

Jim Hardie:
I want to know every move the Cheyenne make... unless you figure you're too old for the job.

Aaron Rose:
Old! Why, I could still go bear huntin' with a hickory stick and come back with his ears in my fist!

Jim Hardie:
That's the way I figured it.

Simon Congreve:
Haven't much time left, have I, Ira?

Dr. Ira P. Strickland:
Does Ella know, Simon?

Simon Congreve:
No. No, I've gone to great lengths to keep her it from her.

Dr. Ira P. Strickland:
Why in the name of heaven, man? Doesn't she have the right, the right of a daughter to give comfort?

Simon Congreve:
Why should I make an exception at this late date? I've cheated her out of every other right, including the right to choose her own happiness.

Simon Congreve:
You've got to make up your mind! What do you want out of life, Ella? What Hardie can give you or what you can find out there on that stage? You can't have both!

Jim Hardie:
She must have had a hundred chances in the past to take those jewels. What do you suppose made her decide to take them now?

Sheriff:
What or who?

[last lines]

Ella Congreve:
To remember me by?

[Ella gives Jim a soft kiss]

Jim Hardie:
I wouldn't remember that once you were out of town.

[Jim grabs Ella and they kiss passionately]

Ella Congreve:
Jim, there's something you don't know about me. I'm famous for coming back for encores.

Jim Hardie:
As a prima donna or as a woman?

Ella Congreve:
Both.

[first lines]

Sergeant Gaine:
You asked for me, Simon. Now what do you want?

Corporal Simon:
We been together for a long time, Sarge. Are you going to let that Colonel stand us up against a wall?

Sergeant Gaine:
You afraid to die? Since when?

Corporal Simon:
Not like this, Sarge. Not with bulleyes on our bellies.

Corporal Simon:
You never turned you back on your men, Sarge. You've got to help us.

Sergeant Gaine:
Orders is orders - you stand and you die. Them's my orders now, Simon - be a soldier and stand and die.

[pointing to his sergeant's stripes]

Sergeant Gaine:
Beggin' the Colonel's pardon, sir, but do you know what I paid for these cartwheels? Pieces of me - that's what they cost. Chunks of bone and skin from San Jacinto to Manassas, three toes somewhere along the Cree... for the cavalry, Colonel, that's how I bought them stripes. No runny-nose office corporal is goin' to take them off! Nobody - just me.

Sergeant Gaine:
These stripes went into battle with some of the best and some of the worst, but you are not fit to pick them up!

Colonel Bledsoe:
By the way, gentlemen, I'm taking a little ride, unless you have orders from the governor to place me under house arrest.

Prentiss:
My orders are to see you are at the civilian inquiry of this incident, along with those three men.

Colonel Bledsoe:
Well, you'll have to find them first.

[Bledsoe stalks out from the room]

Prentiss:
I have a feeling we'll have to find them before he does.

Jim Hardie:
I have a feeling you're right... and when we do find them, it's going to take a lot more than conversation to bring them back.

Jeb Gaine:
The last thing in the world my brother would do is desert the army.

Jim Hardie:
Maybe he figures the army deserted him.

[Bledsoe, a general during the Civil War, has been demoted to colonel in the peacetime army]

Colonel Bledsoe:
It's a hard road up when you're reaching for the stars. I intend to get them back.

[Hardie is posing as an outlaw]

Jim Hardie:
A lot of people are tryin' to put a rope around my neck. I figured it'd interfere with my breathin', so i lit out.

[discussing the murder of a Wells Fargo agent]

Jim Hardie:
You know, it's kinda too bad about old Charley. There wasn't a man in town that didn't like him.

Sheriff Eaton:
Except for one.

Jim Hardie:
The squeaky wheel gets the grease and they're doin' all the squeakin'.

[Hardie and the station master drag a strongbox into the office]

Josh Cummings:
Whew! Whatja got in there? Somebody's corpse?

Jim Hardie:
Not quite. Fifty thousand dollars in gold in there - that's why I'm ridin' shotgun. Got word somebody wanted to borrow it without leavin' a receipt.

Wells Fargo Agent:
This fellow is all right, Mr. Hardie.

Jim Hardie:
Too bad - this one's not. He's dead.

[Beau interrupts Jim and Mary Gee who were having a heart-to-heart talk]

Beau McCloud:
Secrets?

Jim Hardie:
Oh, it's just women talk. I rather doubt you'd understand it - I don't.

Lon Ellwood:
I still don't feel easy, him stayin' in town without a reason.

Clete Miller:
He never does anything without a reason... and that's reason enough to have to kill him.

[referring to his youthful prisoner]

Sheriff Lund:
He's got a face he don't need to use a razor on, but a tongue sharp enough to do the trick if he did.

Jim Hardie:
I didn't think I'd have to tell you that trackin' a man's a little like trackin' a bear - both get a little cagey when they know you're behind 'em. You gotta move slow, quiet, become part of the scenery.

Beau McCloud:
I just hope you don't become part of the scenery by being planted under it.

Mary Gee:
My name's Mary Gee. What's yours?

Jay Squire:
Jay Squire at your service.

Mary Gee:
Could you, ah, be at my service? You see I'm kind of in trouble.

Jay Squire:
Yes, Mary Gee, I believe you are.

[Mary Gee turns and sees Rake approaching her, stout rope in hand]

[to his bound and gagged captive who is struggling to free herself]

Jay Squire:
Patience, Mary Gee. Even your stallion knows enough to save his strength.

[last lines]

Jim Hardie:
What do you think means more to me right now than anything else?

Mary Gee:
That horse, I guess.

Jim Hardie:
Well, there was a time I thought it did, too. Right now, I think it's more important for you to learn you can't buy something you've already got, and that's a friend... and there's only one way to prove it to you and that's to show you.

[speaking softly, Jim approaches the stallion Mary Gee captured and releases him]

Mary Gee:
Jim!

Jim Hardie:
We're still pals, aren't we?

Mary Gee:
You bet.

Jim Hardie:
Go get a horse now and we'll go on home.

[referring to the "wanted poster" he created for Jim Hardie]

Jay Squire:
And now he's gonna know what it's like to be hunted like an animal, never knowing where, when... or who.

Sheriff Hal Humphrey:
Looks like Charlie's discovered the secret of popularity - all you have to do is strike it rich.

Jim Hardie:
I would like to talk to you.

Charlie:
Sure, sure, what's on our mind.

Jim Hardie:
Your sudden talent for finding gold. What's it all about?

Charlie:
Well, I just started pokin' around in a section of Denning's mine and there she was, big as lightning.

Jim Hardie:
Just like that, huh?

Charlie:
Yeah, I guess you could call it real luck.

Jim Hardie:
Or a miracle. Denning poked around in that mine for months and couldn't find the lost vein. You, not even a miner, walked right in, walked right up to it.

Charlie:
Aw now, Jim, I know it's kind of hard to believe...

Jim Hardie:
You're right - it *is* hard to believe.

[Jim and Jeb have just found Charlie in an alley badly beaten after he announced he's made a gold strike]

Sheriff Hal Humphrey:
All right, Charley, I guess you're going to live. The Lord sure must love a man with a big mouth.

Jim Hardie:
Do you have any idea who did it?

Charlie:
Yeah, Hank Garrett. He was at me and at me all afternoon trying to get me to tell him where I found my gold. I guess he got a little impatient.

Sheriff Hal Humphrey:
If he got any more impatient, he'd have beat you to death.

Arthur Reardon:
Is this how you live? The place is not fit for rats!

Charlie:
Ah, it does me fine. A man like me don't need much. The only time I get me in trouble is when I let somebody tell me I need more than I got.

Arthur Reardon:
What does that mean?

Charlie:
I got hauled into an alley and beat up pretty good tonight playin' that silly gold mine game of yours.

Denning:
All right, how much?

Arthur Reardon:
Ten thousand dollars.

Denning:
You know, if this is on the level, that's dirt cheap, but if this isn't on the level... Let me tell you something, Reardon. I may look soft with a little too much money, but I've been a hard rock miner all my life. I'd be a hard man to fool.

Arthur Reardon:
I'll be waiting outside the mine.

Denning:
Oh, Mr. Denning... bring the money.

Arthur Reardon:
Sure! The money on delivery and a .45 just to keep the game honest.

Arthur Reardon:
A man begins to wonder, Ruth, when he's closer to the end than he is to the beginning, if he hasn't missed something on the way.

Jim Hardie:
Hello, Breese.

Tom Ogburn:
I didn't know you'd met.

Jim Hardie:
Once or twice too often. Is he a friend of yours?

Tom Ogburn:
I wouldn't exactly say he was a friend.

Jim Hardie:
I wouldn't exactly want to.

Jim Hardie:
What can I do for you?

Webb McCloy:
We all heard what you said about Nick Breese. I'm going to ask you to make it plainer. He *is* a friend of mine.

Jim Hardie:
That's your problem.

Webb McCloy:
I have every reason to believe he'll make Antioch a good marshal.

Jim Hardie:
An interesting one, anyway.

Jim Hardie:
Sometimes it pays to have a hasty gun.

[last lines]

Jim Hardie:
Like I told Thordis, it wasn't the carrying the star that got a man - it was the walking alone.

Jim Hardie:
What were they carrying?

Agent:
A sack of mail and two passengers - important passengers.

Jim Hardie:
Who?

Agent:
Billy Thompson and his lady friend from Boston. They're fixin' to be married as soon as they get to his pa's ranch the other side of Hillview.

Jim Hardie:
Is that Big Ben Thompson's boy?

Agent:
That's who. Folks claim Big Ben owns most of this here state.

Jim Hardie:
They also claim the government tried to buy it back but couldn't meet his price.

[first lines]

Jim Hardie:
[narrating] John Ringo, alias Johnny Ringo, age 35. Background: two years at Harvard studying law, the rest of his life breaking it - a gentleman, a scholar and a killer.

[a saloon girl puts her arm around Ringo while he is playing poker]

Saloon Girl:
How are we doing, Johnny?

[Ringo rebuffs her advances]

Saloon Girl:
Well, excuse me. I guess I heard the wrong kind of talk about Johnny Ringo liking the ladies.

Johnny Ringo:
Oh, your information's all right. You just misinterpreted the word.

Saloon Girl:
Yeah? What word?

Johnny Ringo:
Ladies.

[Hardie has arranged for Dawson's parole if the outlaw can locate his old cellmate]

Bob Dawson:
Sayin' goodbye to the old jailhouse makes me kinda sad.

Jim Hardie:
If we don't find Willis, we'll make you happy again.

Martin Yates:
Around and around she goes - where she stops, nobody knows.

Roy Fulton:
I'm beginning to wonder about that.

Gurney Cassell:
You're a thinking man, Yates. Just stay by side - I wouldn't want to play against you. And now, let's break into that safe.

Martin Yates:
What do you mean break in? We have a key!

Gurney Cassell:
That bulldog has quite a bark.

Jim Hardie:
Something of a bite, too.

Jim Hardie:
There's more than one way to skin a skunk.

[the stagecoach gets stuck in the mud]

Stagecoach Driver:
We're going to have to have a push. All right, everybody out.

Stagecoach Passenger:
I'd say someone slipped a flat wheel on ya.

Beryl:
Oh, this dress came all the way from St. Joe, Mr. Hardie. This muck is going to ruin it.

Jim Hardie:
I'd say that was poetic justice, Beryl, 'cause some men had to work a week in the muck to pay for it.

Beryl:
I had to go to Laramie. You had to go to Laramie - but I hadn't planned on pushin' the stagecoach all the way. Ohhh, I won't be able to deal for a week.

Stagecoach Passenger:
Leastways not off the bottom of the deck.

Clanton:
We don't want no trouble, Hardie - right now.

Jim Hardie:
I got more than my share of trouble - right now.

[last lines]

Jim Hardie:
[narrating] The Laramie run would be open again. The miner in Cheyenne would have news from home. The cost - a few cents to him, but the real cost appears on the role of honor at Wells Fargo under the single legend - in the line of duty - you'll find Stan Blake.

[first lines]

Jim Hardie:
[narrating] The firm of Wells Fargo played an important part in the settling and development of our American West. As the frontier moved towards the Pacific Ocean, Wells Fargo moved with it, making the hundreds of towns that sprang up in that great wilderness with roads over which their stagecoaches and freight wagons traveled. Wells Fargo's business was transportation and security. Its motto was to safeguard and deliver the goods whether it was human or freight cargo or a consignment of that precious yellow metal that men call gold. The West was a lawless place in those days and a man who worked for Wells Fargo had to be long on courage to hold down his job.

Willow Creek Sheriff:
What's in the strong box?

Button Smith:
Gold I reckon - it's that heavy. Wells Fargo doesn't tell us what we're guardin'; they just say "Guard it!"

Jim Hardie:
[narrating] My name is Jim Hardie - special agent and sort of a traveling detective for Wells Fargo.

Wells Fargo Manager Jefferson:
Jim, I think Wells Fargo should make something out of this. A little advertising that'll show our company can deliver the goods. We ought to give this guard a medal at the very least.

Jim Hardie:
He might appreciate a bonus a little more.

Wells Fargo Manager Jefferson:
Yes. Wells Fargo may be a business firm, but we're doing more than our share to bring law and order to the West. It's men who have courage and loyalty, like this guard, Button Smith, who are the backbone of Wells Fargo.

Jim Hardie:
I take it your Button Smith.

Button Smith:
Who else.

Jim Hardie:
You know, it's bothered me ever since I first heard it. Where'd you get a name like that?

Button Smith:
When I was born, ma says to pa, "Ain't he sure cute as a button!"

Jim Hardie:
Your ma oughta see you now.

Button Smith:
Yeah. Be quite some shock to her, wouldn't it?

Button Smith:
Hardie!

[Hardie spins, whipping his pistol from his holster]

Button Smith:
A swifty, huh?

Jim Hardie:
I'm a ringtailed whizzaroo when I'm pressed.

Button Smith:
Jim, those jaspers had us covered. How come you took a chance and went for your gun?

Jim Hardie:
I had to. When they don't wear masks, they aren't going to leave any witnesses around who can talk later.

Jim Hardie:
You dont' drink whiskey and you don't kiss girls. I've always been a little suspicious of a man who never had any minor vices.

Button Smith:
What's this writin' on the barrel?

Jim Hardie:
Read it.

Button Smith:
"Be not afraid of any man who walks beneath the skies, though you be weak and he be strong - I will equalize."

[last lines]

Jim Hardie:
He could have been a real good man to ride with, but there was a flaw in his make-up, a weakness that was his undoing. For a man, it's like a rope - it's only as strong as it's thinnest part.

Jim Hardie:
There's one thing you don't know - it's not always the fastest gun that wins, but the straightest.

Jeb Gaine:
What are you doin'?

Ovie:
Dryin'.

Jeb Gaine:
Don't you have enough sense to know when you aren't wanted?

Ovie:
Don't you have enough sense to know when you are?

Ovie:
Oh, Jeb, there's no shame in gettin' old.

Jeb Gaine:
I don't know what you're talkin' about.

Ovie:
I guess not. I guess a woman feels it more than a man. A woman knows you don't grow old, you just get up one morning, look in the mirror and it's happened.

Wally Lambert:
[brandishing his pistol] Get down!

Jeb Gaine:
I'm ridin' out, whether it's alive or dead. It's up to you.

Wally Lambert:
I told you I'd use this if I ever had to.

Jeb Gaine:
I've lived most of my life; yours is just beginning. Balance it out - who's got the most to lose?

[Beau has just been kissed passionately by a beautiful blonde]

Beau McCloud:
Most amazing thing I ever saw, how you get into a town, take a bath, sprinkle a little violet water and the women just flock to you.

Beau McCloud:
That happens to be my wife.

Jim Hardie:
Wife? Didn't know you were married.

Beau McCloud:
Well, yeah, um... I just found out myself.

Jim Hardie:
I don't think I made a mistake.

Beau McCloud:
If you ever do, I'll be there to back you up.

[last lines]

Billy Brigode:
We sort of took the liberty of naming the baby after you.

Beau McCloud:
Beau?

Lydia:
Ah, I'm afraid Belle was as close as we could get.

McHale:
It's like looking for nothing in the middle of nowhere. I don't like it, Jim.

Jim Hardie:
Neither do I, but it's what I'm gettin' paid for.

Eddy Pierce:
Ruth can handle a gun; there's no need for me to stay here and watch after 'em.

Jim Hardie:
Well, I just think they'd feel safer is someone was here with 'em.

Eddy Pierce:
Oh, you think I'd be in your way, is that it? Well, let me tell you somethin' - I can do more with one arm then most men can do with two!

Jim Hardie:
You were in the army, Pierce. Since when is it a disgrace to stand guard?

Marshal Blake:
Well, we got ourselves a real humdinger, friend. These two in here are crazy with fear and that killer outside is crazy with hate. That temperature is down around zero, probably goin' lower - that can be a killer, too.