Take me home to the land of the big old.
Near that stream, let me dream,
Need the sky.
This old heart keeps on beating,
Repeating on echoes
Of the brave and the bold
Riding high.
Mmm-hmm.
During the 1870s, the wildest spot in the United States
was the desolate region west of the Pecos River.
Virtually beyond the reach of the authorities,
the railroads, then pushing their way west,
attracted the most vicious characters in the country.
It was said that all civilization and law
stopped at the east bank of the Pecos.
It took one man, a lone storekeeper
who was sick of the lawlessness, to change all this.
His name was Judge Roy Bean.
Bar.
Hello, Conley.
You could have shot my hand up.
You know better than that.
I only hit what I aim at.
What do you want?
I was riding into Langtree.
I thought you might like to go along with me.
For what?
I want you to meet a friend of mine.
I can't go to town.
I got work to do.
You know better than to say no
when I ask you to do something.
Now get on your horse.
Get up here.
Excuse me, mister.
I'm looking for Judge Bean.
You're looking at him.
What can I do for you?
My name's Dover.
You got a great little town in the makings here, Judge.
Great future.
Glad you like it.
Yes, sir, I think so.
With the railroad coming through here,
this community's going to grow,
and I've decided I want to grow with it.
Well, we're always glad to have good neighbors.
I'd like to set up a tent and publish a newspaper.
What do you say to that, Judge?
Well, it sounds interesting,
but I'm not so sure there's enough people around here
to support a newspaper.
You let me worry about that.
I have all the faith in the world in this little town.
It's hardly big enough to call a town yet.
Well, it will be,
and I expect to be part of its growth.
I'd like to set up a tent somewhere along the street.
I'll talk to you later about leasing or buying the land.
What do you say?
Well, I wouldn't want to stand in the way of progress.
If you want to take the gamble, that's up to you.
Thank you, Judge.
I was sure you'd feel that way about it.
Let's go, Hickey.
Get up there!
Get up!
All right, Hickey, start unloading.
Right now?
Sure.
We've got to get the tent set up
before the old boy has a chance to change his mind.
He won't change his mind,
and I don't see why we have to do it this way.
We have to do it this way to stay out of trouble.
I don't know how many times I have to tell you.
Now, let's get started.
All right, all right.
More coffee, Jeff?
Please.
Liddy!
Jeff!
I've got news for you.
What, Uncle Roy?
We're going to have a newspaper in town.
A newspaper?
Where?
Right now.
They're putting up a tent down the street.
I've got to see this.
Well, welcome, folks.
You're just in time to see the new newspaper office go up.
You're not going to put the tent up right here, are you?
Why not?
It's too far out in the street.
What street?
It stays right where it is.
Sorry, mister.
The tent's got to go back.
I'll help you.
Hold on, Jeff.
Hold on.
Hey, what's the idea?
First day in town, you're disturbing the peace.
Sorry, Judge.
Hickey's a little hot-headed.
It won't happen again.
Yeah, well, I hope not.
We like to get along friendly in this town.
Come along, Jeff.
I didn't know you were an artist, Judge.
I mean a sign painter.
You didn't know I was a sign painter?
I done everything from shearing sheep to pulling teeth.
Connelly.
Hi, Jeff.
Judge.
Howdy.
What are you doing in town?
I thought you wanted to fix the South Bend.
I did, but a friend of mine showed up.
Meet Joe Ball from Carson Bend.
Judge Bean, Jeff Taggart.
Howdy.
How are you?
All right, Connelly, let's go.
All right.
I'll see you before I leave town.
All right.
Something funny there.
Connelly isn't being himself.
You know, I got the same feeling.
Who is that friend of his?
I never saw him before in my life.
What is this?
What does it look like?
Get on up your horse.
Well, there he is.
Meet Mr. Dover.
Welcome to our new office, Mr. Connelly.
As you can see, progress has come to Langtree.
The boss said you wanted to see me.
I do, I do.
Yes, there's a great future here, a wonderful chance to make a lot of money.
And we're going to let you in on the ground floor.
Me?
Yes, Mr. Connelly, we're going to give you a first chance to invest in this fine new business.
But I couldn't invest in anything.
I ain't got that kind of money.
Take a look at this, Mr. Connelly.
Our first edition.
As you can see, your name is rather prominent.
My name?
It's all about you having killed a man named Connelly in the Carson Bend Hotel six months ago.
You ain't got any proof of this.
You shared the room with Connelly, didn't you, and ran out on the killing?
You forget, Connelly, I was there.
This is blackmail, rank blackmail.
Yes, and it also happens to be news, Mr. Connelly.
Of course, if you decide to buy into the business, you could have a great deal to say about what we publish.
Buy into it?
You can get an equal partnership for exactly $2,000.
Yeah, but I already told you, I ain't got that kind of money.
I'm sure you can get it if you try, but you better hurry.
Unless you want everybody around here to read that you're a fugitive killer.
Hello, Weezer old boy.
Hi, Steve, glad to see you back.
Hello, Judge.
Well, if it ain't the Texas Rangers.
Hello, Jeff.
Just talking to your brother outside.
My brother?
Yeah, looking more like you every day.
He means Wazer.
That's all right, though.
For a while, I was afraid I was beginning to look like you.
Betty, you're getting prettier every time I see you.
Why, thank you, sir.
Is that food I smell?
It sure is.
Come on in and have some.
I'll take you up on that, but I'll put my horse away first.
Be right back.
Judge, do you mind if I talk to you for a minute?
Yeah, go ahead.
Well, I was wondering if you'd let me have some money.
Sure, I'll let you have some money.
How much you need?
Two thousand dollars.
Two thousand dollars?
You know I don't keep that kind of money around, Conley.
Five hundred's the best I can do.
You're welcome to it if you can use it.
Yeah, sure, that's all right, Judge.
Here you are.
Sorry, I haven't got more.
That's okay, Judge.
You know, a business deal.
A little business deal.
What the hell, didn't take you long to get back.
Here's five hundred dollars.
I'll take it.
That's all I can get.
How soon can you get the rest?
That's all there is.
I can't get any more.
Don't talk like that, Conley.
You own a ranch, don't you?
Yeah, and if you think you're going to get your hands on it, why...
I'll be a reasonable man.
You can sign over your ranch to me.
Why, you dirty...
Now, look.
Look, Conley, you'd better be sensible.
You don't want everybody around here to know that you're a killer, do you?
No, I guess not.
I anticipated something like this, so I brought along a proper legal form.
You can just sign it.
We'll fill in the details later.
Remember, Conley, you can hang for what you did back in Carson Bend.
Now, what did I tell you?
No trouble.
Everything legal.
Let's take a ride out and look at Conley's spray.
Why not?
Let's go.
Hey, Jim.
Yeah, Judge.
I want you to do something.
What's up?
Come with me.
Hi, Steve.
What?
I'm going to get you something to eat.
Good.
Hi, Steve.
You hungry?
I'm so hungry I could eat a whole cow.
I'll have something ready for you in a minute.
Okay.
Nobody here.
Yeah, we'll look around anyway.
We need a search warrant for this.
I'll sign it tomorrow.
Hey.
Hey, what's wrong with Conley?
Carson Bend killer saw it.
Tom Kiley shot and robbed.
Conley couldn't do that.
He couldn't kill anybody.
Just take it easy, son.
Let's go back to the store.
There's a few questions I want him to answer.
How is it, Steve?
Letty, you're the best cook in West Texas.
Oh, I'll bet you say that to all the girls on your beat.
I hope I run into nothing but pretty girls when I travel around.
Hey, Steve.
Yeah, Judge.
Do you know anything about the killing of Carson Bend about six months ago?
The killing?
Yeah.
Flip Kiley, the gambler.
Who killed him?
Well, we haven't been able to figure that out yet, Judge,
but some pal he was running around with shot him three times in the back.
That doesn't sound like Conley.
Conley?
We can't let our feelings decide this for us, Jeff.
Hey, wait a minute.
What's Conley got to do with it?
I'm not sure.
I think maybe you better bring him in, Jeff.
Conley wouldn't do it.
I'd be willing to swear to it.
Yeah, but you better bring him in anyway.
Hi, Jeff.
Jim, what's this all about?
This thing about you killing a man in Carson Bend.
Who told you that?
We found out.
What about it?
How'd it happen?
I don't rightly know.
Me and Kiley, we did it in town for a couple of days,
and we hold up in a hotel, same room.
There was some kind of commotion.
I guess we had a fight.
Anyway, the next time I saw him, he was dead.
And you ran?
Yeah.
Yeah, I got scared.
Jim, I think we better have a talk with the judge.
Okay.
And Kile was robbed.
Will he watch the ring?
You'll spoil your dinner.
Sorry, honey.
Conley's waiting for you, Jeff.
Finish your dinner, Steve. We'll take care of it.
It was with Kiley the night he was killed.
Says he doesn't remember a thing.
What about this man Dover, Jim?
You ever seen him before?
No, never.
How about Barr?
Yeah, I've known him about for years.
He was in Carson Bend the night that I...
the night that Kiley was killed.
They've been using this to try to get money away from you?
Yeah.
I got my ranch, too.
I think we better have a talk with this Dover.
I'm afraid that wouldn't help Conley much.
Jim, I'm gonna have to put you in jail.
Jail?
You're gonna have to stand trial for this.
Why put me in jail? I ain't going no place.
Well, Jim, I can't feel it. You could have killed that man.
But you ran away, and that made it look awful bad for you.
And if you run away this time, you're gonna be running away the rest of your life.
Well, don't put me in jail. I thought you were my friend.
I am.
I'm gonna try to help you, but you gotta do it this way.
Come on, Jim.
You ain't my friends.
None of you are my friends.
Dover, you're under arrest.
Under arrest? What for?
We're gonna have a talk with the judge.
That's what you think, mister. You're not arresting anybody.
Hold it, Barr.
I don't mind talking to the judge. Let's go, deputy.
Here's Dover, judge.
What's the reason for this, judge?
You've been blackmailing Jim Conley.
Now, those are hard words, judge.
My dealings with Conley have been on a strict business basis.
He wanted to buy a piece of the newspaper, and you'll have a hard time trying to prove otherwise.
Let me throw them all in jail, judge.
Couldn't make a stick, Jeff.
Well, if you'll excuse me, I have things to do.
We gonna let him get away with this?
I think that fella's got a pretty slick operation working for him.
What are we gonna do?
We'll wait for a break.
Well, everything worked out just as I said it would.
Yes, it sure did. Now, how soon do we get out of here?
Right away. As soon as I fill in the description and get this paper recorded.
Okay, let's pick up and get going.
Oh, no, wait a minute. Everything stays here just as it is.
What do you mean?
Just as I said, everything stays here.
What are you talking about?
Look, we made a business deal. The tent, the press, everything stays just as it is.
Now, wait a minute. Dover, we can use this outfit again.
All we have to do is get something on somebody, and we can work the same game.
Look, Barr, I said everything stays here.
The tent, sure, but we can get away with the press before they know it.
But it isn't safe that way.
You and your safety. Come on, Hickey, give me a hand with this.
You ready to go?
In a minute. I'm still not sure this is the right move.
Forget it, will you? Come on.
Are you going someplace?
Yeah, we're going someplace. What about it?
You're all under arrest.
You tried that before.
This time we're going to make it stick.
On what charge?
You're still talking about blackmail.
I'm talking about robbery.
Who's trying to get away with that printing press outside?
Well, that belongs to me.
Half of that belongs to Jim Conley, and you know it.
Oh, now, wait a minute, Judge.
These two are trying to steal it.
I was just trying to stop them.
Oh, you old...
Wait a second.
All right, we're getting out of here. You first.
Gunshot.
Now, don't you try anything, because I can pick your eyes out with this.
Come on.
Oh.
Oh.
Oh.
Gunshot.
Gunshot.
Oh.
Oh.
Oh.
Gunshot.
You made a mistake when you used this Derringer, Barr.
We figured it belonged to Kylie.
Just to refresh your memory,
Kylie is a gambler you shot and killed and robbed and coerced and banned.
You can't talk to me. I bought that Derringer.
I suppose you bought this watch, too.
Now, that's got Kylie's initials on it, and I'm holding you for murder.
Steve, lock him up if you're ready to take him away.
Be a pleasure, Judge.
Come on, Barr.
What are you holding me for, Judge?
I didn't have anything to do with that killing.
I'm trying to swindle a man.
You know you can't prove that. A deal's a deal.
I'm going to hold Conley to it.
What are you going to hold him with?
With that document he signed.
Let's see it.
Well, uh...
I just...
Can't find it, can you?
No.
You want to know why, Dover?
Yes.
Because it burned up in that fire.
What?
You ain't got nothing to hold him with.
You can't take that away from me. I'm keeping it.
You can't take it away from me legally anyway.
That so?
Frisk him, Jack. It's empty your pockets.
It's a waste of time. I never carry a gun.
What's this?
No gun.
Nothing but a penknife.
Well, now.
I saw a man killed with a penknife once.
This court finds you...
$500 for carrying a concealed weapon.
This is an outrage. An absolute outrage.
$20 more for contempt of court.
Jim, you're a free man. You got your property back.
And I got my $500.
You can't get away with this.
I'll have the law on you.
I am the law.
Now you take that wagon of yours and get out of town
before I lock you up for vagrancy.
Why, you...
And I'll throw away the key.
Now get!
That's my Uncle Roy.
Yeah, this court's dead and dirty.
I can hear every steer
The sound of the thundering herd
It's so real I can feel
The warmth of a friendly word
So I know I must go to the land of the fagots
There to stay, there to stay
Till I die