Cimarron (1931) Movie Script
- There they are. Plenty of room for them.
- Cut that out, Kid, and get out.
Hey, isn't that young Mr. Cravat, there?
By golly, it is.
Over here. What do you say?
I know what will fetch him.
Watch his ears perk up
when he hears the old Travelers.
Let's give it to him.
High rickety! Well, you old...
Hello, buddy. Old Buck.
Well, hate to be making it into a firefight.
If it ain't the old honker, himself.
Got yourself hitched?
Yeah, I've got a wife and son,
four years old now.
Aye, this is like a Fourth of July
celebration on Judgment Day.
- Beats all Creation.
- Say, where are you heading for, Yancey?
- I'm cutting dirt for the Little Bear Creek.
- That's the spot, believe me.
Yes, indeed.
You're Yancey Cravat, aren't you?
- And you?
- Lee, Dixie Lee.
- Indeed.
- Going for a town site?
No, I'm going for a quarter-section ranch
out at the Little Bear Creek.
That's funny,
I'm heading for Little Bear, too.
Well, I know just the piece of land I want.
It's deep in the gully
and a lot of scrub over.
Ready, aim...
- You near flummoxed. Are you hurt?
- No, I'm all right.
But his legs are broken.
I heard them crack.
Please shoot him.
And in no time, no time, mind you...
they'd snapped up every piece of land
that was worth having...
and by nightfall...
By nightfall there wasn't an acre.
Think of it, Louis, not an acre
left out of that two million.
The only spot I wanted
was the ground we stood on, and...
Well, the girl got that quarter section.
Yancey Cravat...
you let that hussy in black tights
have your claim...
after having been gone a whole month,
away from your wife and child.
- Now, Mama...
- Don't you "Mama" me.
Isaiah, go on with your fanning.
Yes, Mrs. Venable.
- Well?
- The land was hers by right of claim.
I don't believe a word of it.
Why did you let her keep your land?
Itd been a man, I could have shot him.
You can't shoot a woman.
- Why not?
- Oh, Felice.
I don't suppose you'd recognize the lady
without her black tights.
"Let there be no strife
between thee and me."
That's from the Old Testament, Dabney.
You may not recognize that.
It's all tommyrot.
Perhaps now, Yancey,
you'll stop this ranting up and down...
and be content to settle down
here in Wichita...
run that newspaper of yours, and conduct
your law practice, such as it is...
with no more talk of Oklahoma.
Don't you realize
that this is a new empire?
Why, folks, there's never been
anything like it since Creation.
Creation? That took six days,
this was done in one.
History made in an hour. Why, it's like
a miracle out of the Old Testament.
- Don't be blasphemous, Yancey.
- Like a miracle out of the Old Testament.
Cities of ten thousands,
springing up overnight.
Well, I'm going back.
I'm going back and help build a new state
out of the last frontier of the nation...
and it'll be a state someday,
mark my words.
Yancey, you're not leaving me again?
Leaving you, my beauty?
Not by a long shot, sugar.
This time you and Cim
are coming with me.
Louis Venable, can you sit there
and see your daughter dragged off...
to be scalped among savages?
- But I want to go, Mama.
- You don't know what you want.
We start Monday week,
fresh and fair, with two freighters.
One with a printing outfit
and the other with the household goods.
- Why, we can make it in nine days.
- I forbid it.
You're going to stay here with your father
and mother in decent civilization.
- I've heard enough.
- I'm going with him, Mother.
That's it, honey.
Why, we've had enough of this Wichita.
We're going out to a brand new two-fisted,
rip snorting country...
full of Indians, rattlesnakes, gun-toters,
and desperados.
- Isaiah, I declare.
- Miserable brat, you Boon boy.
Master Yancey.
Take me with you to Oklahomy.
Please take me, Master Yancey.
You ain't going to no Oklahomy.
You're going to take a bath.
- Mammy, I want to...
- Get out. Get out.
Well, I'll go see
about those freighters, huh?
Come on here, Cim. Atta boy.
My son, you're going to see more Indians
then you ever thought of.
I never heard of such a thing.
What do you mean, Sabra?
You're not going.
Why a Venable should ever
marry such a man, a buffalo hunter.
- Quite right.
- Annie.
A quart of whiskey a day,
living in that dreadful Cimarron country.
- What is Cimarron?
- Savage, Cousin Hewitt.
It means wild, unruly.
Yancey's idea of a name for the boy, Cim.
You don't like anything Yancey does.
You never have.
And that newspaper of his,
Wichita Wigwam.
Editorials about Indian's rights.
You might think Yancey
was an Indian himself.
Who knows?
Some half-breeds are no darker.
- Don't you dare say that.
- I heard he killed a man.
I won't listen to you any longer.
I don't care about Yancey's past.
I married him because I loved him,
and I'm going with him.
- Sabra.
- I never heard of such a thing.
Yancey, where's that iron skillet?
I can't find it anywhere.
- Right here, sugar, with the stove.
- Why didn't you tell me?
Cim, honey, get up off the ground.
It's too damp.
You know, I think we ought to
get out that old rag rug...
and put it down here for supper.
Right you are, honey.
I think Aunt Cassandra must have put
the andirons in here, sugar.
- High rickety!
- Isaiah!
Please let me stay,
Master Yancey, Miss Sabra.
I'll help, I'll work, I'll do everything.
I'll help you in Oklahomy.
Please let me stay.
Well, you're here,
I reckon you can stay, Isaiah.
I hope you go to heaven when you die.
Let me do that cooking, Miss Sabra.
I'll fix them.
Yeah, you start right in
by getting some wood.
- Now, scoot.
- I'm scooting.
There's loyalty, Sabra,
that money can't buy.
We're going into new things, pet.
A new empire...
and I want to help build it for you.
And we'll have just
the prettiest little house we can find, too.
- With flowers and things.
- With flowers and trees...
and morning glories growing all over.
It'll be our first real home, alone...
and I want you to be happy
all the way, sugar.
Our first real home...
alone.
Hold that iron. Don't move.
I ain't aiming to check you through.
All I want is your ready money. Come on.
This is the first time I ever fronted
your iron, Kid.
- Well, if it ain't Yancey. Howdy.
- Howdy.
- I'm sorry I disturbed you folks.
- This is my wife.
- Howdy, ma'am.
- My son's inside, asleep.
I'm heading for Osage,
aiming to make it my home.
Osage, huh?
- Gonna start your newspaper there?
- Yeah.
Good.
- Got to be loping.
- Need you hurry away like this, Kid?
I got overdrawn at the bank at Red Fork
and they're looking for me.
Luck to you.
- Stay away from Osage, will you, Kid?
- Sure thing.
Unless you send me an invite. Cut dirt!
It's a poser, honey. All this in six weeks
right up from the raw prairie.
Next time you come here, Chief,
you go through the roof.
He shot him.
Esteban Miro, a half-breed and a bad one.
I didn't think he had the brash.
Must have some friends around town.
Don't you worry, honey.
Look, sugar,
they've named the streets already.
Pawhuska Avenue,
that's an Indian name, son.
Paw-hu means hair and ska means white.
White hair.
Pawhuska was an old Osage chief.
- I'm an Indian, old White Hair.
- Cim.
- Howdy.
- Howdy.
Lots of watermelons there, Isaiah.
- Yes, sir. I sure glad I came to Oklahomy.
- Just a minute.
- I'll appeal to the highest court.
- You're a sooner.
- Don't you call me...
- Gentlemen.
Step right inside.
We'll determine the status of this case.
I don't let anybody call me a sooner.
- By the way, have you each $10 with you?
- Yes, we have.
Step right inside, men,
and tell us all about it.
All right. I want to know who...
Plenty of law practice.
Three or four claimers
for some of these lots.
Look, honey. Look, folks working late.
Plenty of good water...
Here you are. That's right.
Now, lady, what can I do for you?
There's Louis Hefner's emporium.
I saw old Louis stake that claim.
Furniture in an undertaking parlor?
They have plenty of combination stores
out here until the town gets larger.
If you've a mind,
you can fly out of there, Elmer.
Hold it there, partner.
Hold her, don't let her buck you down.
Get away from that weeping thing.
- Why don't you do something?
- I'm doing all I can, honey.
Old Elmer's been uncorking
the red eye, I see.
Yancey, do get out of here
so we can find a place to sleep.
I'm nearly dead and so is Cim.
I'm sorry, honey. I...
Say, where's the Bixby Hotel?
Left turn.
You just passed it on the other corner.
Honey, we passed right by it. Get along.
See you later, folks.
Giddyup. Come on here, boy.
I won't bring up my boy in a town like this.
I'm going back home.
Well, don't you think you better wait
until morning, honey?
You know, a good night's sleep...
and things are gonna look
entirely different.
I'll be back soon.
Louis Hefner, one of the town's
leading merchants now, I gather.
- Hello, Yance. I'm glad to see you here.
- I'm glad to be here.
I trust the furniture end of the business
is doing better than the other.
Yeah. Only been three killings so far...
but we'll have to start a full jail
pretty soon, I guess.
- You're gambling?
- No.
Just watching where the money goes.
Yancey! Yancey Cravat!
- Old Grat!
- Yes. Come this way.
Yancey Cravat.
Why, you old letch monger.
You are still wearing that white hat.
And you're still making
lightning calculations.
- You know the boys.
- Most of them.
Esteban Miro.
So, you're Cravat, huh?
Yeah, and you?
Yountis, Lon Yountis.
- Howdy.
- Howdy.
Gents, what are you going to have?
This is on the house.
Brandy.
I'll have brandy.
- Are you going to start the newspaper?
- Yeah, Grat.
Yeah.
I understand the former editor here,
a man named Paigler, died.
Was shot in the back, huh?
What are you aiming at?
Here you are, gents.
Have another one.
All right.
Mr. Cravat, I'd like to talk to you a minute,
if you have time.
You see, I'm a printer and a darn good one.
And you see, I heard you were gonna
open up a newspaper office called...
The Oklahoma Wigwam, see.
And I'd like to have...
Well, I'd like to go to work.
- Howdy.
- Howdy.
- Howdy, Yance.
- Howdy, Bull.
- Morning.
- Morning.
Morning.
"...saffron-robed, arose from the ocean...
- "to bring light to gods and men."
- Ocean?
Yarns and laces, celluloid collars...
knotting yarn, drawstrings,
shoestrings, suspenders.
- Have you any fancy braids?
- Yes, ma'am, I have some fancy braids.
That's Sol Levy, a walking notion counter.
...suspenders, darning yarn,
celluloid collars...
Howdy, Sol.
Howdy, Mr. Cravat. Howdy, ma'am.
Yes, ma'am, here's some drawstrings...
...fancy braid and I'll give you
a real good bargain.
I never saw anything like it in my life.
I'm afraid they think my dress
is a little too elaborate.
Why, Milton would have no words
for such beauty.
Howdy, Cim.
He called you Cim.
- The boys are up to something.
- Who are they?
I can't say for sure, but I think
they're the ones that did Paigler dirt.
Paigler? Who's that?
Isn't that the editor?
The one who was found shot dead?
- You mean they did it?
- I don't say they did it, exactly.
They know more than is comfortable.
Still wearing that white hat, huh?
Who's that?
That's Lon Yountis.
Nothing to be alarmed about.
Don't be frightened, honey.
Stand right where you are.
The dirty scum.
Inside. Get out of here.
Half-circle cut.
You'll find that's the Cravat brand.
- Can't you take a joke, Yancey?
- Joke, nothing.
- lf your missus wasn't with you.
- Don't you "missus" me...
you dirty scum.
You're a lot of good for nothing louses,
that's what you are.
Shooting at people in the street.
You leave my husband alone.
- I declare, I've a notion to...
- Honey. Sabra.
Why, it'll be all over the Southwest...
that Yancey Cravat was hiding
behind a woman's petticoat.
But you didn't. They can't say so.
You shot him very nicely
in the ear, darling.
Well, you shouldn't interfere when men
are having a little friendly shooting.
Friendly?
A bullet within an inch of your head?
He knew where it was going.
Well, come on, sugar.
I think we better find that house
we're gonna live in, don't you?
Come on.
Down a little. A little more.
Now a little more. Hold!
Just nail it.
I'll bushwhack her.
- Well, honey, we're here.
- Yes, we're here.
We're getting started, too.
You know, when I think of those five years
in Wichita...
- I thought you liked it in Wichita.
- A prison cell, my pet.
Five years in one place,
that's the longest stretch I've ever done.
Five years.
Back and forth like a trail horse.
House, office, Venables, vegetables.
A little while, I'd have turned into either
a Venable or a vegetable, one or the other.
Well.
We better get this office
and print shop settled...
if you're ever gonna get out an issue
of that newspaper.
I guess Rickey can attend to it.
He's a printer and a darn good one.
I gotta see
about these real-estate transfers...
and write up some editorials and news...
and we got a clue
to the Paigler killer last night.
- I wanna follow it up.
- I wish you wouldn't.
If I can find out who killed Paigler...
I'm gonna print it in the first edition
of the Oklahoma Wigwam.
Well, did you see the...
Well, we got the shingle hung out all right,
Mrs. Cravat.
- Look fine, Miss Sabra.
- Come on, now, colored boy.
We'd better pitch in and unsnarl things.
Never mind, Rickey.
I'll straighten this room.
- You go on into the print shop with Isaiah.
- Yes, ma'am.
Well, we'll unmantle the printing press...
and dust off the adjectives.
Thank you.
Look, Mama,
see what an Indian just gave me.
Cim, how many times have I told you
not to talk to those dirty, filthy Indians?
Here, take this into the kitchen.
Be careful, now.
Don't drop it, and come back
and help Mother.
All right, Mama.
Safety pins, collar buttons...
needles, thread, thimbles,
crochet cotton...
celluloid collars, safety pins,
crochet cotton, needles.
Here comes that little shrimp again.
Let's see how he feels today.
Hey, Sol! Come here!
I wanna buy a little fancy lace!
Come on over here. Come on.
...cotton, needles, thread...
Come on, Sol,
I wanna buy my gal a bustle.
- How much for a bustle cover?
- Bring me a pair of tights.
Safety pins, cotton gloves, needles.
Please, don't start, please.
Please don't, mister. Please don't.
Please, mister. Please, don't.
- Bring him here.
- Please. Please. Please don't.
- Well, howdy, Mr. Levy.
- Please don't do it, mister.
- Please, mister, don't...
- That's all right. That's all right.
- Let's you and me have a drink.
- No, thank you. No.
Please don't do it, mister.
I don't want any. Thanks.
- What? You don't want it?
- No.
Be a real pal and have a drink. Come on.
No.
- What do you think about...
- Where you going, there?
Where you going, there?
Come here, you little runt, and have a...
Come up here.
Please, mister.
Take a drink.
Please don't, mister. Please.
When I tell them to take a drink,
they drink, don't they?
Well, they better.
You're a rough, eh, Yountis?
Just whip your weight on wildcats, huh?
Who asked you?
Come on, Sol. You're all right, huh? Sure.
That's their idea of a joke.
You go ahead about your business.
- They won't be bothering you none, now.
- Thanks, Mr. Cravat.
Thank you.
Threatening to make Osage
the terror of the Southwest...
as in the old days of the Cimarron, huh?
- Now, you as the editor...
- Yeah, me as editor...
I'm interviewing citizens of note
regarding their sentiments.
- What's yours?
- Stick to your lawn.
Come on, Yountis. You know
what I'm aiming at. Who killed Paigler?
I'm advising you to keep your mouth shut.
Or the next time,
it won't be your sombrero.
Thanks for the sentiment. Mine is...
Cherokee death cry. Means, you or him.
The second button on his coat
is about the spot for his wishbone...
maybe a couple of inches higher.
Get your real-estate papers filed all right?
Yancey, dear.
You're not going to bother anymore
about that Paigler man, are you?
Don't you be worrying your pretty head
about that.
Oh, please. What does it matter?
He's dead.
Maybe he did shoot himself.
Besides, you've got Cim and me
to think of.
Paigler was shot in the back
trying to do what I want to do:
Make a model empire
out of this new Oklahoma country.
No, sir, I'll show them first crack.
The Oklahoma Wigwam
prints all the news, all the time...
knowing no law except the law of God...
and the government
of these United States.
Say, that's a pretty good slogan.
Top of the page,
just ahead of the editorial column.
Yancey, let them alone.
I don't want you to be killed.
- I don't.
- Honey...
I'm gonna clean up the Paigler killing,
or I won't be alive myself.
You don't wanna lose me just yet, do you?
No, dearest.
There he is.
- Howdy.
- Howdy, ma'am.
Yancey, our womenfolk
think it's about time...
that some contact be established
between the town and Providence.
There ain't a minister here,
and we've come to ask you...
to conduct divine service next Sunday.
Divine service?
- Why, sure. I'll be pleased to.
- Then that's settled.
- Fine.
- We'll have to arrange a place.
Well, let's see, there's Grat Gotch's.
- The gambling tent?
- It's the only place in town big enough.
That's right.
Yeah, I know Grat well. I'll speak to him.
Come along.
Back soon, honey.
Good morning, Mr. Cravat.
Do you feel nervous
about your sermon, dear?
I'd rather plead to a Texas jury
than preach to this gang of...
What's everybody laughing at?
How can you laugh?
- Isaiah.
- Can't you understand?
I didn't go to fret nobody.
You all dress up fine
for a church's meeting...
so I pleased to dress myself up
Sunday style.
That's right, Isaiah.
We take it as a personal compliment.
- Why, you look finer than any of us.
- I just fixed my twily like you all.
Say, Isaiah, would you like to have
a real suit of Sunday clothes?
A Sunday suit for me to wear? For true?
I don't want you to go
to that church meeting.
Oh, now, now. You don't understand.
Now, listen close.
I want you to do
something important for me.
Now, the house is all alone, see.
I want you to go down there
and keep watch...
till we come home
from that church meeting.
Patrol duty. That's what.
Patrol duty? Yes, sir, Master Yancey.
Now you take this and if anyone tries
to break in, shoot.
- I'll kill them dead.
- Fine.
And then you get a new suit and boots,
besides. Now, scoot.
Yes, sir. I'm scooting.
Do you think... Yancey, let's not go.
Tell them you're sick or I'm sick.
Tell them anything...
We're late, honey.
Hi, Yance. Hiya, preacher man.
Now, Preacher, where's your Bible?
Right here, boys.
Now no loafing in the entrance.
Either come in or stay out.
Did you see that man, Yountis?
He looked at you so...
That's fine, honey.
I always like to have the members
of my flock right under my eye.
Quite a shindig, ain't it?
Some of these folks look as queer
in church as a mule does in the front...
parlor.
How do, Mrs. Cravat?
I'm Mrs. Tracy Wyatt.
How do you do?
It was so nice of your husband
to conduct this service this morning.
About time the intellectual life
of this community was stirred up a bit.
Yes.
I was a schoolteacher back East,
that is in Cairo, Illinois.
- Indeed?
- Yes, indeed.
I can trace my ancestry right back
to William Whipple...
one of the signers
of the Declaration of Independence.
Lands, yes.
Some pumpkins.
I'll say. Hey, Annie.
Come along, girls.
- Dixie Lee, just arrived in town.
- Dixie Lee?
Why, I thought you'd heard of her.
Why, she's a...
Right here, sister. Take my pew.
Get up, webfoot, and give the gals a seat.
Rest the velvet, lady.
Look out for them splinters.
Sit down. Take off your hat.
- Ain't she a huckleberry?
- Lollapalooza, field up, pert and chipper.
Those girls. Red Fork.
Excuse me, please.
Is it all right if I'm here?
You can stay here just as long as I do.
Thanks.
Fellow citizens...
I have been called upon
to conduct this opening meeting...
of the Osage first Methodist...
Episcopalian, Lutheran, Presbyterian,
Congregational, Baptist, Catholic...
Unitarian, Hebrew church.
During the course of my career
as lawyer and editor...
I've been required to speak
on various occasions on many subjects.
I've spoken in defense of my country
and in criticism of it.
I've been called upon
to defend and convict...
horse thieves, harlots, and murderers.
And while I know my bible
from cover to cover...
and many of its passages
are graven on my heart...
this, fellow citizens, is the very first time...
that I have ever been required to speak
the word of God in His temple.
For any shelter,
however humble or however sordid...
no offense, Grat...
becomes, when His word is spoken in it...
His temple.
Therefore, let us open
this auspicious occasion by singing...
What do you know, boys, anyway, huh?
How about...
Who Are You At Home, for a starter?
Thanks, Rickey.
It's a good song, though a bit secular.
But you all know it. That's the main thing.
Here, wait a minute. Wait a minute.
While we are singing,
we'll take up a collection.
What for?
Because, Pete, you infidel...
part of a church service
is in taking up a collection...
and your donations, fellow citizens,
ladies and gentlemen...
and you, too, Pete...
will be for the new church organ.
Great guns, Yancey.
We ain't even got a church.
Now, that's all right, Pete.
Once we buy an organ, it stands to reason
we'd have to build a church to put it in...
and, members of the congregation...
anybody contributing less than two bits...
will be thrown out of this tent by me.
Indians not included.
All right, Jesse,
will you please favor us with a pitch?
Will the ladies please join in
with their sweet soprano voices?
Now, once again, please.
Fellow citizens...
the sum of the collection for the organ
for the first Osage church...
whose denomination shall be nameless,
is a gratifying total...
of $133 and 55 cents.
Wait a minute, Grat,
did you say 55 cents? 55?
That's right, Yancey.
Some miserable, tightfisted,
skinflint of a...
Well, maybe it is an Osage by mistake.
How about a Cherokee, Yancey?
Not a Cherokee, Sid.
I recognized your voice by the squeak.
If you knew anything at all, you
and Yountis and the rest of your outfit...
you'd realize that a Cherokee
is too smart...
to put anything in the contribution box of
a race that's robbed him of his birthright.
Friends, we've come to the sermon.
Anyone wishing to leave,
kindly do so now.
Please make way
for all departing worshippers.
My text is from Proverbs.
"A lion is in the way.
There's a lion in the streets."
Friends, there's a lion
in the streets of Osage.
I have a confession to make.
I have gone about seeking information
of this lion.
I might say this jackal or dirty skunk...
if it wouldn't be sacrilegious.
But this jackal in a lion's skin...
who by threatening sudden death...
has held this little town
abjectly terrorized.
I intended to announce from this pulpit...
this platform...
that I would publish this knowledge...
in the first issue
of the Oklahoma Wigwam...
coming off the press next Thursday,
thereby starting my paper off with a bang.
Friends, and fellow citizens...
I repent of my greed...
and my desire for self-advancement
at the expense of this community.
I no longer intend to withhold the name
of that yellow, skunking murderer...
who shot down Jack Paigler
when his back was turned.
I will tell you all now the name of that...
Was Lon Yountis.
Stay where you are.
Louis Hefner...
as coroner, do your official duty
and remove the body.
Okay, Yance.
It's self-defense and justifiable homicide.
This town needs a boot hill,
and I'll start it with this burial.
Come on, boys.
Fellow citizens...
under the circumstances...
we will forego this sermon...
and conclude this service
with a brief word of prayer.
Bless this community, O Lord.
Amen.
I swan...
that's the most surprising church meeting
I ever attended.
But I must say,
your husband did the proper thing.
The cleaning out of that gang
is one of the first moves...
to make this town fit to live in.
Thanks to you, Yancey.
- Horrible, he might've...
- But he didn't, honey.
Everything's all right.
- Did you have to kill him like that?
- No, I could've let him kill me.
Congratulations, Mr. Cravat.
Haven't seen you since the run.
Well, how do you do Miss...
Lee?
No wonder.
- I heard you were in town.
- You've known.
Yes, I'm here.
Thought you'd settle down
on that quarter section that I didn't get.
Well, I tried to be a farmer,
but I had to give up the land.
The neighbors' wives formed a vigilance
committee, and I left by request.
A vigilance committee would.
You haven't said a word
all the way home, pet.
What's stirring you?
That woman, smirking and smiling.
And you stood there actually
talking to her, holding her hand...
after she'd stolen your land in the run, too.
She wanted that land because she was
trying to give up her way of living...
- was desperate.
- Well, what's she doing here, then?
Driven out by the neighbors...
she heard the railroad was coming
through and came down here.
You talk as though
you know a lot about her.
A little. Comes from a good family,
victim of circumstances.
Well, in a way, she's a good girl.
A good girl?
I know a lot of people
scattered over Oklahoma...
that shouldn't cast a stone at her.
Don't you quote your Bibles
and Magdalenes at me, Yancey Cravat!
- Hello, Bill.
- Well, well, well.
First anniversary numbers.
Say, you've been meaning to pull some
blood for a year. Why don't you subscribe?
Well, it cost $1.
Cravat could use that dollar
to buy the new baby a rattle.
And a pair of rubber boots
till the streets get paved.
You sure need rubber boots here,
or go barefoot.
I got to get a pair of new boots...
Darling, she's awake.
Hello, baby Donna. Hello, sweetheart.
Look, this is Daddy.
This is Mama,
much more important to you just now.
Yancey, darling, I'm so happy.
I'm highfaluting myself, sugar,
smiling as a basket of chips.
I'm gonna do so many things.
Build a porch for Donna.
Start a woman's club, a real one.
Make this town better for Donna to live in.
No saloons. No women like Dixie Lee.
And I'm gonna have a hired girl
as soon as the newspaper...
Yeah, all those things, sugar,
but you mustn't try too much.
The garden looks fine, Miss Sabra,
and them morning glories sure is climbing.
Thank you, Isaiah.
Hi, there.
Look, she know me.
Who you rolling your eyes at
and making faces?
Just wait until you get
a little more bigger.
I've got a lot of things
I is gonna teach you.
May I come in? I brought you some of
the nicest chicken broth, made it myself.
Old family recipe.
You must take some between meals
to keep your strength up.
Thank you, Mrs. Wyatt.
- How is the little darling?
- Simply blooming.
I do want to congratulate you
on the first anniversary of the newspaper.
"In youth and beauty, wisdom is so rare."
Shakespeare.
That reminds me,
your idea of the new club.
- We must take up literature, too.
- Yes, and maybe early American history.
Why, honey,
don't you know you're making it?
Yes.
Wallpaper! Why, it's the first in town.
- Where'd you get it?
- In Mr. Hefner's store.
- I had him send East for it.
- Has he got any left?
I think so. I think he got several patterns.
It's a new department.
Do tell. Well, I must be going. Goodbye.
Goodbye, Donna.
- Goodbye.
- Goodbye.
I reckon Louis Hefner's
gonna have a run on wallpaper soon.
I want to get a nice little
dainty rosebud pattern...
for Donna's new bedroom.
Should we get a new house, too?
Sugar, you are getting ambitious.
I can't tell you half the things I'm thinking.
Yancey, I feel so light...
- so queer. I think I'm going to...
- Sugar. Honey.
Sabra.
Outlaws. The chief has been saying
they're shooting up the bank.
Kid! That's Cravat.
Dang it! I didn't figure on him.
Take care of Sabra...
and keep everybody away
from those windows.
Yeah.
- What's going on?
- Keep back. It's all right. Just keep back.
Yancey's out there,
and I can't do anything.
Where's Cim?
Cim!
I'll find him, Miss Sabra.
Oh, no. No, Isaiah!
Hold tight! Hold tight!
You pegged me.
I never figured we'd end up
on the opposite sides of the fence, Kid.
My fault, Yance. Didn't have an invite.
Can I do anything?
You can blow me to a pine box,
if you want to.
Sure, old Kid.
And I'll owe you for it.
Sorry.
- Pegged you in the arm, eh?
- Strangle the whole bunch!
Say, you're a foreigner!
All right, we'll pick them up
and put them in the front window.
Yancey, that's the highest price
shooting ever done in this community...
with all the rewards out for The Kid.
Bankers Association pays
$10,000 cash, alone.
Wells Fargo, $5,000.
And the railroads
of Santa Fe and County, $5,000 each.
- And you'll get it all, Yancey.
- More than $30,000.
And the government's price
on The Kid's head.
- You'll hear from Washington.
- Old Ben Harrison'll be tickled pink...
for getting rid of the last real bandit
of the country.
I wouldn't be surprised if they
appoint you governor of the territory.
I'll send that bandit to you, Yance.
Mama! Mama!
Cim.
Here comes the boss.
- He's hurt.
- A little, I think.
Master Yancey.
Master Yancey.
Don't you worry about it, sugar.
Doctor Valien'll be right over.
Darling. I'm so grateful it isn't worse.
The whole town's so proud
of what you've done...
getting rid of those bandits and outlaws.
Just think, all that money.
Cim's education,
Donna can go East to school.
We'll have a new printing press.
I'll send back the rewards, every dollar.
You'll send them back?
I knew The Kid
when he was riding the open range...
making honest money.
I've rode with him.
I've slept in the prairie beside him.
We were friends.
The fool.
Why, one of his bullets
might've hit you, or Cim, or Donna.
That's why I killed The Kid...
not for money.
What's the matter with Isaiah, Mama?
Well, old Grover's finally woke up
to what we need out here.
It's the greatest thing
that ever happened to the territory.
Why, folks'll flock in
from all over the country.
Hey, it'll be a bigger rush
than we had here in '89.
Bigger? I should say so.
Why they'll add
six million acres to our two.
Great chance for a man
to make a fortune out there.
Another four weeks, eh? September 16?
That's what the telegram says, boys.
A new run! The biggest thing yet!
Three times more land than in '89.
- What a chance.
- What a chance for a man!
Say, how about you, Yancey?
- You wouldn't miss this, would you?
- I can't boys. I got too much work to do.
- Come on, Yancey.
- Yeah, come on, Yancey.
I'll be getting you a horse, Yancey.
Hey, Yancey!
Pull in the books with the big figures.
We'll be looking for you.
I'm gonna sell out everything I got...
and head for that Cherokee land.
Well, I would, too,
but I don't think the foot will hold.
Headline for the Cherokee article, Jess...
- and lock her up.
- Well, my crackers!
This extra will be sold out
before 10 minutes.
You know, every...
I think that was the nicest
club meeting we've ever had.
Your speech was so interesting,
Mrs. Cravat.
Thank you.
Don't forget the next meeting
is at my house.
- Election for president.
- I won't forget.
- Goodbye.
- Goodbye.
See you Saturday
at the croquet tournament.
Yes, indeed.
- Cim, dear, look out for Donna.
- All right, Mama.
She would be the first in town
to have balloon sleeves.
I never...
- Why don't you fix that?
- We are fixing it.
What, with cracks to fall through?
You know, I understand balloon sleeves
were all the style...
at the Chicago World's Fair.
Do tell.
That's terrible.
Don't cry, darling.
- Why, it's Betsy Levitt.
- Did you ever?
See, now, here's a piece of candy for you.
- I don't want...
- Don't you want it? Oh, yes.
- Take your hands off that child.
- Come here, Betsy.
Tell, dear.
You try any of your kidnapping tricks,
you'll suffer for it.
- Why l...
- You vicious hussy.
You're not fit to touch a child.
Come, Mrs. Sessy.
I suppose I should've let her lie there
in the mud and cry.
...and how they applauded when I said:
"Oklahoma has made its history overnight.
"Like a miracle out of the Old Testament."
You're right, dear. I do like it here.
I'm so glad we came away from Wichita.
And you should've seen them
open their eyes at this.
- What do you think of it?
- Cruelty to animals.
Yancey. It's the very latest thing
from Chicago.
Some old squaw sees some of that,
and she'll want to buy a pair...
and put a papoose in each sleeve.
Cousin Della writes
they'll be even fuller by autumn.
By autumn?
- What's in the telegram?
- News, sugar.
President Cleveland has set a date
for the opening of the Cherokee strip.
The Cherokee land?
The government's bought it
from the Indians for the huge sum...
of $1.40 an acre.
- Pushing them further back.
- Well, it's a good thing.
They made no use of it, anyhow.
Dirty, filthy, good for nothing, low...
Honey.
Honey, come here.
Let's go, Sabra. Let's go for an allotment
of that Cherokee land.
This is the biggest thing
in the history of Oklahoma.
- Leave here?
- Sell out the paper, at a profit...
- and go for a town site this time.
- Give up all we've worked and slaved for?
We gave up Wichita,
and advice, and Southern fried chicken.
Let's get out of all this.
Was Mother right when she said
you'd go for the adventure of it.
Five years.
The longest time you've ever stayed
in one place.
You've been here only four.
Well, don't you realize, sugar?
This is a new empire.
Why, we'll see it grow
before our very eyes into a new state.
We can't tear up our lives and start over
again. You've done your share.
- I know...
- Let the others go.
Honey, this is a chance of a lifetime.
No.
Let's not talk any more about it.
Yancey, you don't mean... Oh, darling.
Sugar, if we all took root and squatted,
there'd never be any new country.
We got a horse for you, Yancey.
You're not going now, today?
- I've got to.
- You can't go like this.
Sugar, come on and go with me.
- But Cim, Donna...
- The children, too. All of us, now.
- We'll get out the old crate, huh?
- We can't.
All right, Sabra.
I'll send back for you, sugar.
I'll send back for you.
There he is.
Step right up to the middle
of this horse there, Yancey.
That makes it up faster, Yance.
I'll send back for you, sugar.
Is Daddy going on the run, Mama?
I'll bet you that'll make them
remember the Maine.
The way those Rough Riders
rode over San Juan Hill...
showed those Spaniards something.
I'll bet you Cuba'll never be able
to govern herself.
Now, I'm predicting
in five years she'll sign.
Did you hear anything about Yancey
being in Cuba?
Yancey? You're always hearing something
about him being somewhere.
Now, I heard that...
Fella told me he was over at
Cherokee strip living with a squaw.
Someone said he's over at the Kickapoo
land opening, sold out for big money.
I heard he was in Amarillo. Drunk a
quart of whiskey in a day and died.
Suppose it's true
about Yancey and Dixie Lee...
that he sent her the money
to build that brick house?
Folks that use up air for that kind of talk
have one-chambered minds...
and mighty small caliber.
- Old boy's kind of touchy today.
- Yeah.
Hey, that Dixie Lee case
comes up this afternoon, don't it?
- Yeah.
- Old Charlie Flash is on the jury.
Sure hope he's sober.
These are all right and corrected, Rickey.
- But I want a reprint on this one.
- Yes, ma'am.
- But how about the boilerplates?
- No, we won't have room.
The Dixie Lee story
will carry over to the second page.
- So, they let her out on bail yesterday?
- Well, they wouldn't if I had my way.
Don't you think that you're being
a little too severe on Dixie Lee...
- putting her in jail?
- No...
and I'll show her something
before I'm through.
- Well, that's for you.
- Now, I don't mean to be abrupt.
That's all right.
My ad looks good,
even if I did write it myself.
I brought the check.
Now, you're paying this today
just to help me.
No. See, I get my money's worth.
Everybody reads the paper
since you made it a daily.
- It's doing fine, huh?
- Yes.
If people would only pay the bills in cash,
instead of in trade.
Yeah, I know.
Look what I get in trade at the store.
A man comes in, buys a pair of pants,
some stockings...
a piece of calico and gives me a bear cub.
What should I do with a bear cub? Eat it?
Oh, well, someday...
you and I will look back on this
and we will laugh.
How do you mean, laugh?
Not very loud.
I mean, when I'm rich and you're famous...
and the Oklahoma Wigwam
is a great newspaper.
Yancey Cravat, proprietor and editor.
You never change it, do you?
No.
They will always talk about Yancey.
He's gonna be part of the history
of the great Southwest.
It's men like him that build the world.
The rest of them, like me,
well, we just come along and live in it.
Well, I must be getting back to the store...
before a customer brings in a coyote
and bites the clerk.
- Did you fix the salad like I told you, Ruby?
- Yes, ma'am.
Good. Cim? Donna?
- Yes, Mama.
- Come, dears.
Hi, Ruby!
Cim, dear, what comes first?
We thank thee for thy blessings, O God...
and pray that thou wilt watch over us all
while we are separated.
Spare our dear one...
and bring us all together again...
in safety and happiness.
Amen.
My babies.
- What's going on here?
- What is going on here?
Hey, it's Yancey!
Isn't that Daddy?
No, no. Stay here.
Sabra, honey.
Oh, honey.
You've been fighting?
Howdy, boss.
Howdy, Rickey. Well, well.
Cim and Donna. Well, children.
- Hello, Daddy.
- Son and daughter.
Your daughter is a Venable, Mrs. Cravat.
And the son, here...
well...
he hasn't decided yet, huh?
- Have you got a pony?
- No, but I'd like one.
- Then I'll buy you a pinto this afternoon.
- Thanks, Daddy.
Wife and mother.
Oh, sugar. Sugar, how I missed you.
- Yancey, the children.
- Honey.
Darling, you can't come home like this
after years...
- "Penelope."
- Who?
"Strange lady, standing thus aloof...
"thy husband hath come home to thee."
- You and your miserable Milton.
- Who's this?
Don't you remember Ruby Big Elk?
Why, of course. Why, hello, Ruby.
How's your father?
He is very well, sir.
My, oh, my! How you've grown.
- What's she doing here?
- Well, I couldn't quite run the paper...
and take care of the children,
and do the housework, too...
so I hired a cheap servant.
Run along to school now, children.
You're going to be late.
Hurry, now.
- Don't forget my pony.
- I won't forget it.
- How do you do?
- How are you, Mrs. Wyatt?
Well, I... If it isn't Mr. Cravat.
Well...
- I heard you were back.
- Gracious lady.
The years touch thee but lightly.
- Your husband's looking better than ever.
- Yes, I think so, too.
Mr. Cravat, could I see you a minute?
Will you ladies forgive me?
Quite a surprise.
But of course, you're going to court?
I most certainly am.
I'll be with you in just one moment.
- This is to be a great day for Osage.
- Yes, indeed.
Not more than two.
Well, maybe three fingers.
Dixie Lee sentenced to...
When did all this happen?
It didn't yet,
but it will at 2:00 this afternoon.
- What will?
- The trial.
Trial?
Sabra.
Yes, Yancey?
- Why, what is it?
- What's all this about Dixie Lee?
I'm on my way to court now.
The charge is public nuisance.
- Prosecuting?
- Pat Leary.
- Who's defending her?
- Nobody in town would touch the case.
The Judge will probably appoint someone
as a formality.
- Where are you going?
- To court.
What for?
You can't take the case of that woman.
Why not?
You'd come back
and take that creature's part...
against every respectable woman
in Osage?
- Against me?
- I can't help it.
Anyone, no matter who,
has a legal right to fight for existence.
If you disgrace me,
make a laughingstock of me...
What's she to you?
- Proceed.
- And that, Your Honor...
the integrity of our fair city...
is threatened...
sullied by this shameless evil...
flaunting in our faces.
This woman,
a viper lurking in our midst...
a sinister menace to public decency.
Gentlemen...
if I were in the jury box...
if I were judge on the bench...
yea, even though I sat...
in the governor's chair...
I could say no less...
and duty compels
that the presence among us...
of this disgraceful criminal,
this scavenger...
this unspeakable human...
strikes at the very foundation
of the Southwest.
A disgrace...
to the fair name of our womanhood.
Your Honor, the prosecution rests.
Your Honor...
gentlemen of the jury...
I am the first to bow to achievement.
May I then, before I begin my poor plea...
respectfully call your attention
to that which I believe...
has never been duplicated before
in the history of Oklahoma.
Turn your eye to that figure
that has so deservedly held your attention.
This gifted person, Mr. Patrick Leary...
is the only man in the glorious
and brilliant Southwest...
nay, in this magnificent nation...
of whom it may actually be said
that he is able to strut sitting down.
- I object!
- Quiet.
- I object!
- Objection overruled.
- I note the exception.
- Proceed.
Gentlemen of the jury...
you have heard the prosecution's
cruel attack on this defenseless woman.
Bred in the gentle surroundings
of a pure home...
such as you would choose
for your own daughters...
this innocent girl,
bereft by death of her loved ones...
was left alone in the world.
In that hour of dark terror came a wolf
in sheep's clothing, gentlemen.
A wretch, posing as a friend...
false promises, lies, deceit so palpable...
that it would have fooled no one
but a young girl...
such as you, yourself, Mrs. Wyatt,
in your maidenly days.
Surely, you must remember.
Yes.
- Helpless, crushed by the...
- I object!
- Objection's overruled.
- I note an exception!
I note that my worthy opponent
is exceptionally able at noting exceptions.
Quiet. Proceed.
Gentlemen...
my only object in being here
is to try and get at the truth.
For that purpose, Your Honor,
I call as witness the defendant...
Miss Dixie Lee.
Miss Lee, you will take the stand.
Do you solemnly swear to tell the truth,
the whole truth...
and nothing but the truth,
so help you God?
I do.
You are under oath to tell only the truth.
You'll therefore answer my questions
to the best of your ability...
and in your own words.
At the death of your father
and your dear mother...
- just how old were you?
- I was 15.
Left in comfortable circumstances?
My father had been ill
as long as I could remember...
and my mother's health had broken
nursing him.
They left me without anything.
Now, it isn't my purpose to humiliate you,
Miss Lee, in front of these people...
but I must ask you to tell them
just what followed.
Tell the jury.
Well, I got work in the public library.
I met a man who said he loved me.
We were married secretly.
And then I found out that he already had
a wife and that our marriage was a fake.
- Did you continue on with this man?
- I never saw him again...
and after my baby died...
I left the city.
Did you make an effort
to secure employment...
so you could earn your own living?
Work of any kind?
Yes, I did.
Tell the court just what happened.
Well, I managed to get a position
as schoolteacher and then...
someone found out about me, and l...
And they blamed you instead of the man,
and you were forced to get out.
I object! That's leading the witness!
Objection sustained.
Strike out the question.
Did you try to secure other employment
in that town?
They wouldn't listen to me.
- I had to leave.
- What did you do?
Well, I got work in another town
as a nurse girl.
But the same thing again and again,
wherever I went, always the same.
In other words, refused
even the poorest kind of work...
to try and keep body and soul together.
- I object! Irrelevant and immaterial!
- You left out incompetent.
- Sir!
- Gentlemen, gentlemen!
That is all, Your Honor. Your witness.
No questions. Prosecution rests.
- Proceed.
- Thank you, Miss Lee.
Gentlemen of the jury,
you have heard only part of the truth.
My worthy opponent objects.
He is afraid of your knowing
all the pitiful facts of her life.
Gentlemen, an immortal soul
has been tortured on the rack...
and I ask you as men
with blood in your veins...
who have helpless women
in your own homes...
to think of one of your innocent,
dear ones...
wronged and oppressed,
like this poor defenseless woman.
Where could she turn in her cruel anguish?
Why, the very promises of God
are denied her.
Who was it that said:
"Come unto me, all ye that are weary
and heavy laden...
"and I will give you rest"?
She is indeed heavy laden...
with the persecution of her own sex...
why, gentlemen, a thief or murderer
may sin alone and is alone to blame.
But this woman is not alone.
Social order is her accomplice.
If she is guilty,
then all in this room are guilty.
I charge you,
judge not that ye be not judged.
Oh, set her free to go her way.
Let a wisdom higher,
far higher than ours...
pass judgment on her.
Your Honor, I rest my case.
Gentlemen, you have heard the evidence.
You may retire.
Gentlemen of the jury,
have you reached a verdict?
We have, Your Honor.
We find the defendant, Dixie Lee,
not guilty.
Not guilty?
You won by lies, with a trick,
and you know it.
Possibly a trick,
but I wouldn't say lies, sugar.
Don't you think the result
justifies the means?
Justifies?
You stay away five years,
come back and do a thing like this.
They've talked about you,
said everything about you...
and I wouldn't believe them.
But now, what do you expect me
to think of you and that woman?
You humiliated me.
All I've worked for to help things
in the town I've got to live in...
raise my children in, you've torn down.
I've tried to drive that woman
out of Osage.
Honey, if I know anything
about Dixie Lee...
she'll leave town after today...
but driving her out won't help matters.
Dixie Lees have been stoned
in the market place for 2,000 years.
You've got to drive the devil out first.
Can't you see, honey,
your conscience will be clear?
You haven't sent to prison a woman
instead of a real criminal...
social order, which you can't change, yet.
My only interest in Dixie Lee was to see
that she got one less kick.
You mean, what she said
about herself was true?
Every word, sugar.
At times I saw a look in her eyes...
I'll never forget.
It's a wonder to me
that she hasn't killed herself.
Maybe, if things had been different,
she might be like I am...
married, safe.
I'm thankful I've got you,
that we've got each other...
and our home.
Oh, sugar, I love you.
Hell and high water, all the way...
there's never been anybody but you,
and you know it.
Hold me close.
Oh, my boy.
That Bear Creek pool is a whopper.
Say, those Osage Indians
are sure striking it rich.
Gobs of money.
You mark my words...
this State is gonna be sprouting
a million barrels of oil a month, someday.
Sure, and $1 million
won't look much, either.
Correct it and print it.
Stand still, Donna...
or I'll never have this dress finished
for you to take back to school.
Sabra, darling, if you think I'm going
back to New York Finishing School...
wearing a homemade fizzle like this,
you're seriously mistaken.
What will you wear?
I'm not going back to school.
Do you suppose I'm going to let those girls
give me the laugh...
because we haven't struck oil?
- They think we're all millionaires out here.
- Donna, you're the most...
Why, even the Indians have more money
than we've got.
You ought to be punished, big as you are.
And the men in this family, editorials...
and maybe governor
at $100 a week, maybe.
And Cim, the rising young engineer.
I suppose he's out gassing
with Ruby again.
Well, now, I've spoken to him...
and I'll give him
another good talking to tonight.
Go on, sit down, over there.
I'll stitch this up.
Mother, I'm going out
to the Osage reservation.
I've studied enough geology,
and they need new engineers out there.
You're not fooling me for one moment,
young man. It's Ruby.
Well...
Why, I should think you'd be ashamed
of yourself...
mooning around with an Indian hired girl.
Ruby isn't an Indian hired girl.
She's the daughter of an Osage chief.
Osage, fiddlesticks.
She's just as important
in the Osage nation as...
well, as Alice Roosevelt is in Washington.
I've heard just about enough from you,
Cimarron Cravat.
And you might just as well know it,
that as soon as I'm on my own...
I'm gonna marry Ruby.
- Your father will put a stop to this.
- Dad knows.
It's all right with him.
Ruby's waiting, Mother.
Goodbye.
Well, that's a nice social problem,
an Indian in the family.
Well, I'm going to pick out the richest
white man in town and marry him.
Sure struck it rich, Louis.
Yes, boys. Money's coming in so fast
I don't know what to do with it.
- Isn't she a beauty?
- It's a crackerjack!
Hey, Cal, how do you like it?
It's a humdinger.
Latest thing out, folding glass front.
Show them, Irving.
- Thirty, I bet.
- Does 30 an hour.
- You don't say.
- How's the business, Cal?
Fine. They're building another addition
to the Bixby house.
- Say, that's great.
- It just couldn't be better.
Hey, boys, don't scratch that.
It's a new car, you know.
I must say, Mr. Levy,
your stock is quite up-to-date.
You'll have my orders in at once
for my new house?
I'll attend to it myself.
I hear you have a lovely new home.
Small place, 15 rooms. Goodbye.
Mr. Hefner! Gentlemen. How do you do?
- A lift?
- Thank you, I don't mind if I do.
Go ahead, and don't break anything.
Be seated. There.
- Three cylinders?
- No, two.
I've ordered a four-cylinder.
I'm gonna get one of those new
acetylene headlights...
so I can see around the corners.
- Now, Irving, careful. Not too fast.
- He might blare the horn.
Goodbye, boys. Goodbye.
Yes, sir. I've seen your complaint.
We'd like to inform you
that the Oklahoma Wigwam...
still prints all the news, all the time.
Knowing no law but the law of God...
and the Government
of these United States.
Yours very truly.
Well, Rickey, you don't stutter as much
as you used to, do you?
You noticed it, Mr. Leary?
I'm getting better all the...
What'd you mention it for?
Cravat is expecting me.
Yes, I'll tell him.
Mr. Cravat, Mr. Pat Leary is here.
All right, Mr. Leary.
Thank you, thank you.
Yance...
we've been rather opponents in the past...
but there's no reason
why we can't be friends.
No.
After all, you haven't gotten very far,
I mean, in a moneyed way...
with all your talk and editorials.
No, but I have a clear conscience.
I could throw another vote your way
to elect you governor.
Yes, you could.
Now, with you in the chair,
we've got the chance of a lifetime.
We can fix things
so we'd all make plenty of money.
Now, you see, the Indians...
they aren't competent
to take care of their own...
oil leases, and claims, and income.
That's understood.
Now, we'll have an agent
appointed for them...
- one that'll do just...
- Now, let me understand.
We'll have an agent appointed...
who will steal the money
from the Indians?
Well, just a matter of bookkeeping,
you know.
Mr. Leary, I've known
all about your scheme for weeks...
and I think it's the dirtiest,
filthiest piece of politics...
that ever came into
the State of Oklahoma...
and I'll smash you
and everybody connected with it...
- before I'm through with you.
- You ain't coming in, then?
Then I'll smash your chances
for governor...
and I can do it, too.
Yancey, you know about Cim and Ruby.
We can't live our children's lives
for them, honey.
Listen to this, the lead for tomorrow.
"The demagogues plan to rob them again.
"Stealing the vast ocean of oil gushing up
through the miserable, barren land...
"known as the Osage Indian reservation...
"again victimizing those duped and
wretched Americans, the Osage Indians.
"Their treaties broken, their land stolen...
"and now there's about to burst forth
the gaudiest...
"star-spangled piece of crookedness...
"ever played under the wing
of a double-dealing government."
- We can't print that.
- And why not?
This isn't the Cimarron country.
It's the State of Oklahoma.
You can't slur the government.
It's treason.
It's history.
I don't blame the government
for crooked politicians' tricks.
I'll show them.
I'll stop them if it's the last thing I ever do.
- But...
- Furthermore...
the time has come
to give the red man full citizenship...
so he can live as free
as the white man lives.
Citizenship for Indians.
Give them the vote.
The people here would mob you.
A prophet is never without honor,
save in his own country.
You could be one of the greatest figures
in this nation.
You are if you don't throw it away.
If you print that article,
you'll never be governor.
Never.
I've forgiven you many things
in the past 10 years, Yancey Cravat...
but I'll never forgive you that.
Oh, yes, you will, sugar.
Never is a long time.
Not while I'm alive, maybe...
but someday you'll be able to turn back
to the old files...
and read this article
and be glad it was printed.
No, I have some position
to maintain in this community.
- I have some voice in this paper.
- I know that.
Well, then I say you won't print it,
not in these columns.
When you take my name off
and put yours in its place...
you'll be editor of this paper.
Until you do that, sugar, I am.
Will you send Rickey in, please?
The proof's all right, Rickey.
Just think, our 40th anniversary.
Forty years.
Well, that's the longest time
I ever stayed in one place.
The longest time in one place.
Haven't you ever heard from the boss?
No. He doesn't write letters, Rickey.
The only news I've ever had
was from that captain...
who thought he saw him
at Chteau-Thierry...
with his hair dyed black.
He's alive somewhere, I know it.
Now, you just keep on
believing that, ma'am.
Have you decided on the editorial
for the anniversary number?
Yes, we'll reprint the one
on Indian citizenship...
from the 1907 file.
I have that one marked.
I'll never forget the flood of clippings...
that came in from all over the country...
and they called him
the nation's leading editor.
Yes, and since then,
Congress has granted all he asked for.
Yes, that's it.
I'm setting it up in 12 point.
- And use the same signature card.
- Yes, ma'am.
The card, s'il vous plat.
The card, monsieur.
I?
I printed them.
Quite an affair, ain't it, Sol?
Yes, nice.
The card, madame.
The card, s'il vous plat.
I'm on the committee.
Sorry, Mr. Levy,
about your not being on the committee.
You see...
we invited representatives
of our principal families.
One of my ancestors was a signer
of the Declaration of Independence.
That's all right.
A relative of mine, a fellow named Moses,
wrote the Ten Commandments.
Ladies and gentlemen...
as Chairman of the Oklahoma Progressive
State Committee, I greet you.
We are here to congratulate
our new member of Congress...
and to welcome our noted visitors...
the senators and congressmen
from Washington...
who will accompany us on a tour
of inspection to the Bowlegs oil field...
and also to announce the arrival
and the unveiling of a statue...
to commemorate the Oklahoma Pioneer.
And now it is my privilege to ask you...
to drink to the health
of our guest of honor.
My poor words could add nothing...
to the sterling achievements
of our fellow townswoman...
who has risen to eminence in Oklahoma...
and finally in the councils of the nation.
I therefore call upon the one
you are waiting to hear...
our new congresswoman, Sabra Cravat.
My friends...
today I stand before you
in a new responsibility.
Time has passed for many of us...
since we first met
in the early days of Osage.
Time that mellows our hearts
and tells us all the truth.
To many others among you...
including our distinguished guests
from Washington...
I appear more or less as a stranger.
I want you to know me and mine,
as we are...
to meet my family,
as if you were in my home.
First, my youngest, my daughter, Donna...
Mrs. Louis Hefner.
Hello, everyone.
Next, my firstborn...
my boy, Cimarron.
And now, one who has become
a member of our family by marriage...
my son's wife, a chief's daughter...
a full-blooded Osage Indian...
Ruby Big Elk, Mrs. Cimarron Cravat.
I greet you in words taught me as a child.
May you long travel the path of life...
in days that are calm and peaceful.
And my grandchildren...
Felice and Yancey II.
I'm sorry, this afternoon,
that I cannot present to you...
my husband...
but he's out of the city.
I know he would be glad
to be here to greet you.
As for myself...
I can only thank you
for the office you have conferred upon me.
The women of Oklahoma...
have helped build a prairie wilderness
into the state of today.
The holding of public office
by a woman is a natural step.
I pledge you that I will do my best.
That pt de foie gras was good,
wasn't it?
Now, what do you think
of women in politics?
I give up.
You know, I'm curious to see the subject
of this pioneer statue.
So am I.
I hear that the Governor's sending
his staff down for the unveiling.
Really? We must see it.
Congratulations, I enjoyed
every moment of it.
Thank you.
- This was worth the trip from Washington.
- So nice to see you.
The Osage nations, through me,
extends congratulations.
You're very kind.
Thank you.
Wonderful, Sabra.
I never heard anything like it.
- Your dress is so becoming.
- You like it?
I like your hat, too.
Well, I must be going. My feet hurt me.
The state bankers will be very pleased
to see you in Congress, Mrs. Cravat.
Thank you.
We're proud of a woman who has done
what you have done...
alone.
I feel as you have always felt.
Yancey is just out of town
for a little while.
Thanks, old friend.
Mother, you were sweet about Dad.
If you are ready, Sabra,
we will start at once.
Oh, yes. Yes, I'll be right with you.
We leave for Bowlegs
immediately, gentlemen.
It's a new empire.
Quite a pretty place isn't it, Mrs. Cravat?
All this up from raw prairie. Overnight.
Hello? Field office?
Send an ambulance. Quick! Osage, three.
Yeah, yeah, that's right.
What happened?
We've never had a closer call.
Gusher came in ahead of time.
They were lowering a torpedo
of nitroglycerin.
Before they could explode it, up came the
mud and oil, and the torpedo with it.
Narrow escape?
We'd all have been blown to bits,
everyone around here, too...
if it hadn't been for a man
who grabbed the torpedo...
cushioned it against his body
and prevented the explosion.
What nerve!
- He saved our lives. That's all.
- Was he badly hurt?
Jammed against a rake.
Chest crushed, pretty bad.
- Who was he?
- I don't know.
Just an old drifter who'd been hanging
around here since the new field opened.
Some of the fellas call him old Yance.
Yance.
Get back. Give him some room.
Get back. Come on.
Let me through! Let me through!
Sabra. Sabra.
Are you all right?
Wife and mother. Stainless woman.
Hide me. Hide me in your love.
Sleep, my boy.
- Cut that out, Kid, and get out.
Hey, isn't that young Mr. Cravat, there?
By golly, it is.
Over here. What do you say?
I know what will fetch him.
Watch his ears perk up
when he hears the old Travelers.
Let's give it to him.
High rickety! Well, you old...
Hello, buddy. Old Buck.
Well, hate to be making it into a firefight.
If it ain't the old honker, himself.
Got yourself hitched?
Yeah, I've got a wife and son,
four years old now.
Aye, this is like a Fourth of July
celebration on Judgment Day.
- Beats all Creation.
- Say, where are you heading for, Yancey?
- I'm cutting dirt for the Little Bear Creek.
- That's the spot, believe me.
Yes, indeed.
You're Yancey Cravat, aren't you?
- And you?
- Lee, Dixie Lee.
- Indeed.
- Going for a town site?
No, I'm going for a quarter-section ranch
out at the Little Bear Creek.
That's funny,
I'm heading for Little Bear, too.
Well, I know just the piece of land I want.
It's deep in the gully
and a lot of scrub over.
Ready, aim...
- You near flummoxed. Are you hurt?
- No, I'm all right.
But his legs are broken.
I heard them crack.
Please shoot him.
And in no time, no time, mind you...
they'd snapped up every piece of land
that was worth having...
and by nightfall...
By nightfall there wasn't an acre.
Think of it, Louis, not an acre
left out of that two million.
The only spot I wanted
was the ground we stood on, and...
Well, the girl got that quarter section.
Yancey Cravat...
you let that hussy in black tights
have your claim...
after having been gone a whole month,
away from your wife and child.
- Now, Mama...
- Don't you "Mama" me.
Isaiah, go on with your fanning.
Yes, Mrs. Venable.
- Well?
- The land was hers by right of claim.
I don't believe a word of it.
Why did you let her keep your land?
Itd been a man, I could have shot him.
You can't shoot a woman.
- Why not?
- Oh, Felice.
I don't suppose you'd recognize the lady
without her black tights.
"Let there be no strife
between thee and me."
That's from the Old Testament, Dabney.
You may not recognize that.
It's all tommyrot.
Perhaps now, Yancey,
you'll stop this ranting up and down...
and be content to settle down
here in Wichita...
run that newspaper of yours, and conduct
your law practice, such as it is...
with no more talk of Oklahoma.
Don't you realize
that this is a new empire?
Why, folks, there's never been
anything like it since Creation.
Creation? That took six days,
this was done in one.
History made in an hour. Why, it's like
a miracle out of the Old Testament.
- Don't be blasphemous, Yancey.
- Like a miracle out of the Old Testament.
Cities of ten thousands,
springing up overnight.
Well, I'm going back.
I'm going back and help build a new state
out of the last frontier of the nation...
and it'll be a state someday,
mark my words.
Yancey, you're not leaving me again?
Leaving you, my beauty?
Not by a long shot, sugar.
This time you and Cim
are coming with me.
Louis Venable, can you sit there
and see your daughter dragged off...
to be scalped among savages?
- But I want to go, Mama.
- You don't know what you want.
We start Monday week,
fresh and fair, with two freighters.
One with a printing outfit
and the other with the household goods.
- Why, we can make it in nine days.
- I forbid it.
You're going to stay here with your father
and mother in decent civilization.
- I've heard enough.
- I'm going with him, Mother.
That's it, honey.
Why, we've had enough of this Wichita.
We're going out to a brand new two-fisted,
rip snorting country...
full of Indians, rattlesnakes, gun-toters,
and desperados.
- Isaiah, I declare.
- Miserable brat, you Boon boy.
Master Yancey.
Take me with you to Oklahomy.
Please take me, Master Yancey.
You ain't going to no Oklahomy.
You're going to take a bath.
- Mammy, I want to...
- Get out. Get out.
Well, I'll go see
about those freighters, huh?
Come on here, Cim. Atta boy.
My son, you're going to see more Indians
then you ever thought of.
I never heard of such a thing.
What do you mean, Sabra?
You're not going.
Why a Venable should ever
marry such a man, a buffalo hunter.
- Quite right.
- Annie.
A quart of whiskey a day,
living in that dreadful Cimarron country.
- What is Cimarron?
- Savage, Cousin Hewitt.
It means wild, unruly.
Yancey's idea of a name for the boy, Cim.
You don't like anything Yancey does.
You never have.
And that newspaper of his,
Wichita Wigwam.
Editorials about Indian's rights.
You might think Yancey
was an Indian himself.
Who knows?
Some half-breeds are no darker.
- Don't you dare say that.
- I heard he killed a man.
I won't listen to you any longer.
I don't care about Yancey's past.
I married him because I loved him,
and I'm going with him.
- Sabra.
- I never heard of such a thing.
Yancey, where's that iron skillet?
I can't find it anywhere.
- Right here, sugar, with the stove.
- Why didn't you tell me?
Cim, honey, get up off the ground.
It's too damp.
You know, I think we ought to
get out that old rag rug...
and put it down here for supper.
Right you are, honey.
I think Aunt Cassandra must have put
the andirons in here, sugar.
- High rickety!
- Isaiah!
Please let me stay,
Master Yancey, Miss Sabra.
I'll help, I'll work, I'll do everything.
I'll help you in Oklahomy.
Please let me stay.
Well, you're here,
I reckon you can stay, Isaiah.
I hope you go to heaven when you die.
Let me do that cooking, Miss Sabra.
I'll fix them.
Yeah, you start right in
by getting some wood.
- Now, scoot.
- I'm scooting.
There's loyalty, Sabra,
that money can't buy.
We're going into new things, pet.
A new empire...
and I want to help build it for you.
And we'll have just
the prettiest little house we can find, too.
- With flowers and things.
- With flowers and trees...
and morning glories growing all over.
It'll be our first real home, alone...
and I want you to be happy
all the way, sugar.
Our first real home...
alone.
Hold that iron. Don't move.
I ain't aiming to check you through.
All I want is your ready money. Come on.
This is the first time I ever fronted
your iron, Kid.
- Well, if it ain't Yancey. Howdy.
- Howdy.
- I'm sorry I disturbed you folks.
- This is my wife.
- Howdy, ma'am.
- My son's inside, asleep.
I'm heading for Osage,
aiming to make it my home.
Osage, huh?
- Gonna start your newspaper there?
- Yeah.
Good.
- Got to be loping.
- Need you hurry away like this, Kid?
I got overdrawn at the bank at Red Fork
and they're looking for me.
Luck to you.
- Stay away from Osage, will you, Kid?
- Sure thing.
Unless you send me an invite. Cut dirt!
It's a poser, honey. All this in six weeks
right up from the raw prairie.
Next time you come here, Chief,
you go through the roof.
He shot him.
Esteban Miro, a half-breed and a bad one.
I didn't think he had the brash.
Must have some friends around town.
Don't you worry, honey.
Look, sugar,
they've named the streets already.
Pawhuska Avenue,
that's an Indian name, son.
Paw-hu means hair and ska means white.
White hair.
Pawhuska was an old Osage chief.
- I'm an Indian, old White Hair.
- Cim.
- Howdy.
- Howdy.
Lots of watermelons there, Isaiah.
- Yes, sir. I sure glad I came to Oklahomy.
- Just a minute.
- I'll appeal to the highest court.
- You're a sooner.
- Don't you call me...
- Gentlemen.
Step right inside.
We'll determine the status of this case.
I don't let anybody call me a sooner.
- By the way, have you each $10 with you?
- Yes, we have.
Step right inside, men,
and tell us all about it.
All right. I want to know who...
Plenty of law practice.
Three or four claimers
for some of these lots.
Look, honey. Look, folks working late.
Plenty of good water...
Here you are. That's right.
Now, lady, what can I do for you?
There's Louis Hefner's emporium.
I saw old Louis stake that claim.
Furniture in an undertaking parlor?
They have plenty of combination stores
out here until the town gets larger.
If you've a mind,
you can fly out of there, Elmer.
Hold it there, partner.
Hold her, don't let her buck you down.
Get away from that weeping thing.
- Why don't you do something?
- I'm doing all I can, honey.
Old Elmer's been uncorking
the red eye, I see.
Yancey, do get out of here
so we can find a place to sleep.
I'm nearly dead and so is Cim.
I'm sorry, honey. I...
Say, where's the Bixby Hotel?
Left turn.
You just passed it on the other corner.
Honey, we passed right by it. Get along.
See you later, folks.
Giddyup. Come on here, boy.
I won't bring up my boy in a town like this.
I'm going back home.
Well, don't you think you better wait
until morning, honey?
You know, a good night's sleep...
and things are gonna look
entirely different.
I'll be back soon.
Louis Hefner, one of the town's
leading merchants now, I gather.
- Hello, Yance. I'm glad to see you here.
- I'm glad to be here.
I trust the furniture end of the business
is doing better than the other.
Yeah. Only been three killings so far...
but we'll have to start a full jail
pretty soon, I guess.
- You're gambling?
- No.
Just watching where the money goes.
Yancey! Yancey Cravat!
- Old Grat!
- Yes. Come this way.
Yancey Cravat.
Why, you old letch monger.
You are still wearing that white hat.
And you're still making
lightning calculations.
- You know the boys.
- Most of them.
Esteban Miro.
So, you're Cravat, huh?
Yeah, and you?
Yountis, Lon Yountis.
- Howdy.
- Howdy.
Gents, what are you going to have?
This is on the house.
Brandy.
I'll have brandy.
- Are you going to start the newspaper?
- Yeah, Grat.
Yeah.
I understand the former editor here,
a man named Paigler, died.
Was shot in the back, huh?
What are you aiming at?
Here you are, gents.
Have another one.
All right.
Mr. Cravat, I'd like to talk to you a minute,
if you have time.
You see, I'm a printer and a darn good one.
And you see, I heard you were gonna
open up a newspaper office called...
The Oklahoma Wigwam, see.
And I'd like to have...
Well, I'd like to go to work.
- Howdy.
- Howdy.
- Howdy, Yance.
- Howdy, Bull.
- Morning.
- Morning.
Morning.
"...saffron-robed, arose from the ocean...
- "to bring light to gods and men."
- Ocean?
Yarns and laces, celluloid collars...
knotting yarn, drawstrings,
shoestrings, suspenders.
- Have you any fancy braids?
- Yes, ma'am, I have some fancy braids.
That's Sol Levy, a walking notion counter.
...suspenders, darning yarn,
celluloid collars...
Howdy, Sol.
Howdy, Mr. Cravat. Howdy, ma'am.
Yes, ma'am, here's some drawstrings...
...fancy braid and I'll give you
a real good bargain.
I never saw anything like it in my life.
I'm afraid they think my dress
is a little too elaborate.
Why, Milton would have no words
for such beauty.
Howdy, Cim.
He called you Cim.
- The boys are up to something.
- Who are they?
I can't say for sure, but I think
they're the ones that did Paigler dirt.
Paigler? Who's that?
Isn't that the editor?
The one who was found shot dead?
- You mean they did it?
- I don't say they did it, exactly.
They know more than is comfortable.
Still wearing that white hat, huh?
Who's that?
That's Lon Yountis.
Nothing to be alarmed about.
Don't be frightened, honey.
Stand right where you are.
The dirty scum.
Inside. Get out of here.
Half-circle cut.
You'll find that's the Cravat brand.
- Can't you take a joke, Yancey?
- Joke, nothing.
- lf your missus wasn't with you.
- Don't you "missus" me...
you dirty scum.
You're a lot of good for nothing louses,
that's what you are.
Shooting at people in the street.
You leave my husband alone.
- I declare, I've a notion to...
- Honey. Sabra.
Why, it'll be all over the Southwest...
that Yancey Cravat was hiding
behind a woman's petticoat.
But you didn't. They can't say so.
You shot him very nicely
in the ear, darling.
Well, you shouldn't interfere when men
are having a little friendly shooting.
Friendly?
A bullet within an inch of your head?
He knew where it was going.
Well, come on, sugar.
I think we better find that house
we're gonna live in, don't you?
Come on.
Down a little. A little more.
Now a little more. Hold!
Just nail it.
I'll bushwhack her.
- Well, honey, we're here.
- Yes, we're here.
We're getting started, too.
You know, when I think of those five years
in Wichita...
- I thought you liked it in Wichita.
- A prison cell, my pet.
Five years in one place,
that's the longest stretch I've ever done.
Five years.
Back and forth like a trail horse.
House, office, Venables, vegetables.
A little while, I'd have turned into either
a Venable or a vegetable, one or the other.
Well.
We better get this office
and print shop settled...
if you're ever gonna get out an issue
of that newspaper.
I guess Rickey can attend to it.
He's a printer and a darn good one.
I gotta see
about these real-estate transfers...
and write up some editorials and news...
and we got a clue
to the Paigler killer last night.
- I wanna follow it up.
- I wish you wouldn't.
If I can find out who killed Paigler...
I'm gonna print it in the first edition
of the Oklahoma Wigwam.
Well, did you see the...
Well, we got the shingle hung out all right,
Mrs. Cravat.
- Look fine, Miss Sabra.
- Come on, now, colored boy.
We'd better pitch in and unsnarl things.
Never mind, Rickey.
I'll straighten this room.
- You go on into the print shop with Isaiah.
- Yes, ma'am.
Well, we'll unmantle the printing press...
and dust off the adjectives.
Thank you.
Look, Mama,
see what an Indian just gave me.
Cim, how many times have I told you
not to talk to those dirty, filthy Indians?
Here, take this into the kitchen.
Be careful, now.
Don't drop it, and come back
and help Mother.
All right, Mama.
Safety pins, collar buttons...
needles, thread, thimbles,
crochet cotton...
celluloid collars, safety pins,
crochet cotton, needles.
Here comes that little shrimp again.
Let's see how he feels today.
Hey, Sol! Come here!
I wanna buy a little fancy lace!
Come on over here. Come on.
...cotton, needles, thread...
Come on, Sol,
I wanna buy my gal a bustle.
- How much for a bustle cover?
- Bring me a pair of tights.
Safety pins, cotton gloves, needles.
Please, don't start, please.
Please don't, mister. Please don't.
Please, mister. Please, don't.
- Bring him here.
- Please. Please. Please don't.
- Well, howdy, Mr. Levy.
- Please don't do it, mister.
- Please, mister, don't...
- That's all right. That's all right.
- Let's you and me have a drink.
- No, thank you. No.
Please don't do it, mister.
I don't want any. Thanks.
- What? You don't want it?
- No.
Be a real pal and have a drink. Come on.
No.
- What do you think about...
- Where you going, there?
Where you going, there?
Come here, you little runt, and have a...
Come up here.
Please, mister.
Take a drink.
Please don't, mister. Please.
When I tell them to take a drink,
they drink, don't they?
Well, they better.
You're a rough, eh, Yountis?
Just whip your weight on wildcats, huh?
Who asked you?
Come on, Sol. You're all right, huh? Sure.
That's their idea of a joke.
You go ahead about your business.
- They won't be bothering you none, now.
- Thanks, Mr. Cravat.
Thank you.
Threatening to make Osage
the terror of the Southwest...
as in the old days of the Cimarron, huh?
- Now, you as the editor...
- Yeah, me as editor...
I'm interviewing citizens of note
regarding their sentiments.
- What's yours?
- Stick to your lawn.
Come on, Yountis. You know
what I'm aiming at. Who killed Paigler?
I'm advising you to keep your mouth shut.
Or the next time,
it won't be your sombrero.
Thanks for the sentiment. Mine is...
Cherokee death cry. Means, you or him.
The second button on his coat
is about the spot for his wishbone...
maybe a couple of inches higher.
Get your real-estate papers filed all right?
Yancey, dear.
You're not going to bother anymore
about that Paigler man, are you?
Don't you be worrying your pretty head
about that.
Oh, please. What does it matter?
He's dead.
Maybe he did shoot himself.
Besides, you've got Cim and me
to think of.
Paigler was shot in the back
trying to do what I want to do:
Make a model empire
out of this new Oklahoma country.
No, sir, I'll show them first crack.
The Oklahoma Wigwam
prints all the news, all the time...
knowing no law except the law of God...
and the government
of these United States.
Say, that's a pretty good slogan.
Top of the page,
just ahead of the editorial column.
Yancey, let them alone.
I don't want you to be killed.
- I don't.
- Honey...
I'm gonna clean up the Paigler killing,
or I won't be alive myself.
You don't wanna lose me just yet, do you?
No, dearest.
There he is.
- Howdy.
- Howdy, ma'am.
Yancey, our womenfolk
think it's about time...
that some contact be established
between the town and Providence.
There ain't a minister here,
and we've come to ask you...
to conduct divine service next Sunday.
Divine service?
- Why, sure. I'll be pleased to.
- Then that's settled.
- Fine.
- We'll have to arrange a place.
Well, let's see, there's Grat Gotch's.
- The gambling tent?
- It's the only place in town big enough.
That's right.
Yeah, I know Grat well. I'll speak to him.
Come along.
Back soon, honey.
Good morning, Mr. Cravat.
Do you feel nervous
about your sermon, dear?
I'd rather plead to a Texas jury
than preach to this gang of...
What's everybody laughing at?
How can you laugh?
- Isaiah.
- Can't you understand?
I didn't go to fret nobody.
You all dress up fine
for a church's meeting...
so I pleased to dress myself up
Sunday style.
That's right, Isaiah.
We take it as a personal compliment.
- Why, you look finer than any of us.
- I just fixed my twily like you all.
Say, Isaiah, would you like to have
a real suit of Sunday clothes?
A Sunday suit for me to wear? For true?
I don't want you to go
to that church meeting.
Oh, now, now. You don't understand.
Now, listen close.
I want you to do
something important for me.
Now, the house is all alone, see.
I want you to go down there
and keep watch...
till we come home
from that church meeting.
Patrol duty. That's what.
Patrol duty? Yes, sir, Master Yancey.
Now you take this and if anyone tries
to break in, shoot.
- I'll kill them dead.
- Fine.
And then you get a new suit and boots,
besides. Now, scoot.
Yes, sir. I'm scooting.
Do you think... Yancey, let's not go.
Tell them you're sick or I'm sick.
Tell them anything...
We're late, honey.
Hi, Yance. Hiya, preacher man.
Now, Preacher, where's your Bible?
Right here, boys.
Now no loafing in the entrance.
Either come in or stay out.
Did you see that man, Yountis?
He looked at you so...
That's fine, honey.
I always like to have the members
of my flock right under my eye.
Quite a shindig, ain't it?
Some of these folks look as queer
in church as a mule does in the front...
parlor.
How do, Mrs. Cravat?
I'm Mrs. Tracy Wyatt.
How do you do?
It was so nice of your husband
to conduct this service this morning.
About time the intellectual life
of this community was stirred up a bit.
Yes.
I was a schoolteacher back East,
that is in Cairo, Illinois.
- Indeed?
- Yes, indeed.
I can trace my ancestry right back
to William Whipple...
one of the signers
of the Declaration of Independence.
Lands, yes.
Some pumpkins.
I'll say. Hey, Annie.
Come along, girls.
- Dixie Lee, just arrived in town.
- Dixie Lee?
Why, I thought you'd heard of her.
Why, she's a...
Right here, sister. Take my pew.
Get up, webfoot, and give the gals a seat.
Rest the velvet, lady.
Look out for them splinters.
Sit down. Take off your hat.
- Ain't she a huckleberry?
- Lollapalooza, field up, pert and chipper.
Those girls. Red Fork.
Excuse me, please.
Is it all right if I'm here?
You can stay here just as long as I do.
Thanks.
Fellow citizens...
I have been called upon
to conduct this opening meeting...
of the Osage first Methodist...
Episcopalian, Lutheran, Presbyterian,
Congregational, Baptist, Catholic...
Unitarian, Hebrew church.
During the course of my career
as lawyer and editor...
I've been required to speak
on various occasions on many subjects.
I've spoken in defense of my country
and in criticism of it.
I've been called upon
to defend and convict...
horse thieves, harlots, and murderers.
And while I know my bible
from cover to cover...
and many of its passages
are graven on my heart...
this, fellow citizens, is the very first time...
that I have ever been required to speak
the word of God in His temple.
For any shelter,
however humble or however sordid...
no offense, Grat...
becomes, when His word is spoken in it...
His temple.
Therefore, let us open
this auspicious occasion by singing...
What do you know, boys, anyway, huh?
How about...
Who Are You At Home, for a starter?
Thanks, Rickey.
It's a good song, though a bit secular.
But you all know it. That's the main thing.
Here, wait a minute. Wait a minute.
While we are singing,
we'll take up a collection.
What for?
Because, Pete, you infidel...
part of a church service
is in taking up a collection...
and your donations, fellow citizens,
ladies and gentlemen...
and you, too, Pete...
will be for the new church organ.
Great guns, Yancey.
We ain't even got a church.
Now, that's all right, Pete.
Once we buy an organ, it stands to reason
we'd have to build a church to put it in...
and, members of the congregation...
anybody contributing less than two bits...
will be thrown out of this tent by me.
Indians not included.
All right, Jesse,
will you please favor us with a pitch?
Will the ladies please join in
with their sweet soprano voices?
Now, once again, please.
Fellow citizens...
the sum of the collection for the organ
for the first Osage church...
whose denomination shall be nameless,
is a gratifying total...
of $133 and 55 cents.
Wait a minute, Grat,
did you say 55 cents? 55?
That's right, Yancey.
Some miserable, tightfisted,
skinflint of a...
Well, maybe it is an Osage by mistake.
How about a Cherokee, Yancey?
Not a Cherokee, Sid.
I recognized your voice by the squeak.
If you knew anything at all, you
and Yountis and the rest of your outfit...
you'd realize that a Cherokee
is too smart...
to put anything in the contribution box of
a race that's robbed him of his birthright.
Friends, we've come to the sermon.
Anyone wishing to leave,
kindly do so now.
Please make way
for all departing worshippers.
My text is from Proverbs.
"A lion is in the way.
There's a lion in the streets."
Friends, there's a lion
in the streets of Osage.
I have a confession to make.
I have gone about seeking information
of this lion.
I might say this jackal or dirty skunk...
if it wouldn't be sacrilegious.
But this jackal in a lion's skin...
who by threatening sudden death...
has held this little town
abjectly terrorized.
I intended to announce from this pulpit...
this platform...
that I would publish this knowledge...
in the first issue
of the Oklahoma Wigwam...
coming off the press next Thursday,
thereby starting my paper off with a bang.
Friends, and fellow citizens...
I repent of my greed...
and my desire for self-advancement
at the expense of this community.
I no longer intend to withhold the name
of that yellow, skunking murderer...
who shot down Jack Paigler
when his back was turned.
I will tell you all now the name of that...
Was Lon Yountis.
Stay where you are.
Louis Hefner...
as coroner, do your official duty
and remove the body.
Okay, Yance.
It's self-defense and justifiable homicide.
This town needs a boot hill,
and I'll start it with this burial.
Come on, boys.
Fellow citizens...
under the circumstances...
we will forego this sermon...
and conclude this service
with a brief word of prayer.
Bless this community, O Lord.
Amen.
I swan...
that's the most surprising church meeting
I ever attended.
But I must say,
your husband did the proper thing.
The cleaning out of that gang
is one of the first moves...
to make this town fit to live in.
Thanks to you, Yancey.
- Horrible, he might've...
- But he didn't, honey.
Everything's all right.
- Did you have to kill him like that?
- No, I could've let him kill me.
Congratulations, Mr. Cravat.
Haven't seen you since the run.
Well, how do you do Miss...
Lee?
No wonder.
- I heard you were in town.
- You've known.
Yes, I'm here.
Thought you'd settle down
on that quarter section that I didn't get.
Well, I tried to be a farmer,
but I had to give up the land.
The neighbors' wives formed a vigilance
committee, and I left by request.
A vigilance committee would.
You haven't said a word
all the way home, pet.
What's stirring you?
That woman, smirking and smiling.
And you stood there actually
talking to her, holding her hand...
after she'd stolen your land in the run, too.
She wanted that land because she was
trying to give up her way of living...
- was desperate.
- Well, what's she doing here, then?
Driven out by the neighbors...
she heard the railroad was coming
through and came down here.
You talk as though
you know a lot about her.
A little. Comes from a good family,
victim of circumstances.
Well, in a way, she's a good girl.
A good girl?
I know a lot of people
scattered over Oklahoma...
that shouldn't cast a stone at her.
Don't you quote your Bibles
and Magdalenes at me, Yancey Cravat!
- Hello, Bill.
- Well, well, well.
First anniversary numbers.
Say, you've been meaning to pull some
blood for a year. Why don't you subscribe?
Well, it cost $1.
Cravat could use that dollar
to buy the new baby a rattle.
And a pair of rubber boots
till the streets get paved.
You sure need rubber boots here,
or go barefoot.
I got to get a pair of new boots...
Darling, she's awake.
Hello, baby Donna. Hello, sweetheart.
Look, this is Daddy.
This is Mama,
much more important to you just now.
Yancey, darling, I'm so happy.
I'm highfaluting myself, sugar,
smiling as a basket of chips.
I'm gonna do so many things.
Build a porch for Donna.
Start a woman's club, a real one.
Make this town better for Donna to live in.
No saloons. No women like Dixie Lee.
And I'm gonna have a hired girl
as soon as the newspaper...
Yeah, all those things, sugar,
but you mustn't try too much.
The garden looks fine, Miss Sabra,
and them morning glories sure is climbing.
Thank you, Isaiah.
Hi, there.
Look, she know me.
Who you rolling your eyes at
and making faces?
Just wait until you get
a little more bigger.
I've got a lot of things
I is gonna teach you.
May I come in? I brought you some of
the nicest chicken broth, made it myself.
Old family recipe.
You must take some between meals
to keep your strength up.
Thank you, Mrs. Wyatt.
- How is the little darling?
- Simply blooming.
I do want to congratulate you
on the first anniversary of the newspaper.
"In youth and beauty, wisdom is so rare."
Shakespeare.
That reminds me,
your idea of the new club.
- We must take up literature, too.
- Yes, and maybe early American history.
Why, honey,
don't you know you're making it?
Yes.
Wallpaper! Why, it's the first in town.
- Where'd you get it?
- In Mr. Hefner's store.
- I had him send East for it.
- Has he got any left?
I think so. I think he got several patterns.
It's a new department.
Do tell. Well, I must be going. Goodbye.
Goodbye, Donna.
- Goodbye.
- Goodbye.
I reckon Louis Hefner's
gonna have a run on wallpaper soon.
I want to get a nice little
dainty rosebud pattern...
for Donna's new bedroom.
Should we get a new house, too?
Sugar, you are getting ambitious.
I can't tell you half the things I'm thinking.
Yancey, I feel so light...
- so queer. I think I'm going to...
- Sugar. Honey.
Sabra.
Outlaws. The chief has been saying
they're shooting up the bank.
Kid! That's Cravat.
Dang it! I didn't figure on him.
Take care of Sabra...
and keep everybody away
from those windows.
Yeah.
- What's going on?
- Keep back. It's all right. Just keep back.
Yancey's out there,
and I can't do anything.
Where's Cim?
Cim!
I'll find him, Miss Sabra.
Oh, no. No, Isaiah!
Hold tight! Hold tight!
You pegged me.
I never figured we'd end up
on the opposite sides of the fence, Kid.
My fault, Yance. Didn't have an invite.
Can I do anything?
You can blow me to a pine box,
if you want to.
Sure, old Kid.
And I'll owe you for it.
Sorry.
- Pegged you in the arm, eh?
- Strangle the whole bunch!
Say, you're a foreigner!
All right, we'll pick them up
and put them in the front window.
Yancey, that's the highest price
shooting ever done in this community...
with all the rewards out for The Kid.
Bankers Association pays
$10,000 cash, alone.
Wells Fargo, $5,000.
And the railroads
of Santa Fe and County, $5,000 each.
- And you'll get it all, Yancey.
- More than $30,000.
And the government's price
on The Kid's head.
- You'll hear from Washington.
- Old Ben Harrison'll be tickled pink...
for getting rid of the last real bandit
of the country.
I wouldn't be surprised if they
appoint you governor of the territory.
I'll send that bandit to you, Yance.
Mama! Mama!
Cim.
Here comes the boss.
- He's hurt.
- A little, I think.
Master Yancey.
Master Yancey.
Don't you worry about it, sugar.
Doctor Valien'll be right over.
Darling. I'm so grateful it isn't worse.
The whole town's so proud
of what you've done...
getting rid of those bandits and outlaws.
Just think, all that money.
Cim's education,
Donna can go East to school.
We'll have a new printing press.
I'll send back the rewards, every dollar.
You'll send them back?
I knew The Kid
when he was riding the open range...
making honest money.
I've rode with him.
I've slept in the prairie beside him.
We were friends.
The fool.
Why, one of his bullets
might've hit you, or Cim, or Donna.
That's why I killed The Kid...
not for money.
What's the matter with Isaiah, Mama?
Well, old Grover's finally woke up
to what we need out here.
It's the greatest thing
that ever happened to the territory.
Why, folks'll flock in
from all over the country.
Hey, it'll be a bigger rush
than we had here in '89.
Bigger? I should say so.
Why they'll add
six million acres to our two.
Great chance for a man
to make a fortune out there.
Another four weeks, eh? September 16?
That's what the telegram says, boys.
A new run! The biggest thing yet!
Three times more land than in '89.
- What a chance.
- What a chance for a man!
Say, how about you, Yancey?
- You wouldn't miss this, would you?
- I can't boys. I got too much work to do.
- Come on, Yancey.
- Yeah, come on, Yancey.
I'll be getting you a horse, Yancey.
Hey, Yancey!
Pull in the books with the big figures.
We'll be looking for you.
I'm gonna sell out everything I got...
and head for that Cherokee land.
Well, I would, too,
but I don't think the foot will hold.
Headline for the Cherokee article, Jess...
- and lock her up.
- Well, my crackers!
This extra will be sold out
before 10 minutes.
You know, every...
I think that was the nicest
club meeting we've ever had.
Your speech was so interesting,
Mrs. Cravat.
Thank you.
Don't forget the next meeting
is at my house.
- Election for president.
- I won't forget.
- Goodbye.
- Goodbye.
See you Saturday
at the croquet tournament.
Yes, indeed.
- Cim, dear, look out for Donna.
- All right, Mama.
She would be the first in town
to have balloon sleeves.
I never...
- Why don't you fix that?
- We are fixing it.
What, with cracks to fall through?
You know, I understand balloon sleeves
were all the style...
at the Chicago World's Fair.
Do tell.
That's terrible.
Don't cry, darling.
- Why, it's Betsy Levitt.
- Did you ever?
See, now, here's a piece of candy for you.
- I don't want...
- Don't you want it? Oh, yes.
- Take your hands off that child.
- Come here, Betsy.
Tell, dear.
You try any of your kidnapping tricks,
you'll suffer for it.
- Why l...
- You vicious hussy.
You're not fit to touch a child.
Come, Mrs. Sessy.
I suppose I should've let her lie there
in the mud and cry.
...and how they applauded when I said:
"Oklahoma has made its history overnight.
"Like a miracle out of the Old Testament."
You're right, dear. I do like it here.
I'm so glad we came away from Wichita.
And you should've seen them
open their eyes at this.
- What do you think of it?
- Cruelty to animals.
Yancey. It's the very latest thing
from Chicago.
Some old squaw sees some of that,
and she'll want to buy a pair...
and put a papoose in each sleeve.
Cousin Della writes
they'll be even fuller by autumn.
By autumn?
- What's in the telegram?
- News, sugar.
President Cleveland has set a date
for the opening of the Cherokee strip.
The Cherokee land?
The government's bought it
from the Indians for the huge sum...
of $1.40 an acre.
- Pushing them further back.
- Well, it's a good thing.
They made no use of it, anyhow.
Dirty, filthy, good for nothing, low...
Honey.
Honey, come here.
Let's go, Sabra. Let's go for an allotment
of that Cherokee land.
This is the biggest thing
in the history of Oklahoma.
- Leave here?
- Sell out the paper, at a profit...
- and go for a town site this time.
- Give up all we've worked and slaved for?
We gave up Wichita,
and advice, and Southern fried chicken.
Let's get out of all this.
Was Mother right when she said
you'd go for the adventure of it.
Five years.
The longest time you've ever stayed
in one place.
You've been here only four.
Well, don't you realize, sugar?
This is a new empire.
Why, we'll see it grow
before our very eyes into a new state.
We can't tear up our lives and start over
again. You've done your share.
- I know...
- Let the others go.
Honey, this is a chance of a lifetime.
No.
Let's not talk any more about it.
Yancey, you don't mean... Oh, darling.
Sugar, if we all took root and squatted,
there'd never be any new country.
We got a horse for you, Yancey.
You're not going now, today?
- I've got to.
- You can't go like this.
Sugar, come on and go with me.
- But Cim, Donna...
- The children, too. All of us, now.
- We'll get out the old crate, huh?
- We can't.
All right, Sabra.
I'll send back for you, sugar.
I'll send back for you.
There he is.
Step right up to the middle
of this horse there, Yancey.
That makes it up faster, Yance.
I'll send back for you, sugar.
Is Daddy going on the run, Mama?
I'll bet you that'll make them
remember the Maine.
The way those Rough Riders
rode over San Juan Hill...
showed those Spaniards something.
I'll bet you Cuba'll never be able
to govern herself.
Now, I'm predicting
in five years she'll sign.
Did you hear anything about Yancey
being in Cuba?
Yancey? You're always hearing something
about him being somewhere.
Now, I heard that...
Fella told me he was over at
Cherokee strip living with a squaw.
Someone said he's over at the Kickapoo
land opening, sold out for big money.
I heard he was in Amarillo. Drunk a
quart of whiskey in a day and died.
Suppose it's true
about Yancey and Dixie Lee...
that he sent her the money
to build that brick house?
Folks that use up air for that kind of talk
have one-chambered minds...
and mighty small caliber.
- Old boy's kind of touchy today.
- Yeah.
Hey, that Dixie Lee case
comes up this afternoon, don't it?
- Yeah.
- Old Charlie Flash is on the jury.
Sure hope he's sober.
These are all right and corrected, Rickey.
- But I want a reprint on this one.
- Yes, ma'am.
- But how about the boilerplates?
- No, we won't have room.
The Dixie Lee story
will carry over to the second page.
- So, they let her out on bail yesterday?
- Well, they wouldn't if I had my way.
Don't you think that you're being
a little too severe on Dixie Lee...
- putting her in jail?
- No...
and I'll show her something
before I'm through.
- Well, that's for you.
- Now, I don't mean to be abrupt.
That's all right.
My ad looks good,
even if I did write it myself.
I brought the check.
Now, you're paying this today
just to help me.
No. See, I get my money's worth.
Everybody reads the paper
since you made it a daily.
- It's doing fine, huh?
- Yes.
If people would only pay the bills in cash,
instead of in trade.
Yeah, I know.
Look what I get in trade at the store.
A man comes in, buys a pair of pants,
some stockings...
a piece of calico and gives me a bear cub.
What should I do with a bear cub? Eat it?
Oh, well, someday...
you and I will look back on this
and we will laugh.
How do you mean, laugh?
Not very loud.
I mean, when I'm rich and you're famous...
and the Oklahoma Wigwam
is a great newspaper.
Yancey Cravat, proprietor and editor.
You never change it, do you?
No.
They will always talk about Yancey.
He's gonna be part of the history
of the great Southwest.
It's men like him that build the world.
The rest of them, like me,
well, we just come along and live in it.
Well, I must be getting back to the store...
before a customer brings in a coyote
and bites the clerk.
- Did you fix the salad like I told you, Ruby?
- Yes, ma'am.
Good. Cim? Donna?
- Yes, Mama.
- Come, dears.
Hi, Ruby!
Cim, dear, what comes first?
We thank thee for thy blessings, O God...
and pray that thou wilt watch over us all
while we are separated.
Spare our dear one...
and bring us all together again...
in safety and happiness.
Amen.
My babies.
- What's going on here?
- What is going on here?
Hey, it's Yancey!
Isn't that Daddy?
No, no. Stay here.
Sabra, honey.
Oh, honey.
You've been fighting?
Howdy, boss.
Howdy, Rickey. Well, well.
Cim and Donna. Well, children.
- Hello, Daddy.
- Son and daughter.
Your daughter is a Venable, Mrs. Cravat.
And the son, here...
well...
he hasn't decided yet, huh?
- Have you got a pony?
- No, but I'd like one.
- Then I'll buy you a pinto this afternoon.
- Thanks, Daddy.
Wife and mother.
Oh, sugar. Sugar, how I missed you.
- Yancey, the children.
- Honey.
Darling, you can't come home like this
after years...
- "Penelope."
- Who?
"Strange lady, standing thus aloof...
"thy husband hath come home to thee."
- You and your miserable Milton.
- Who's this?
Don't you remember Ruby Big Elk?
Why, of course. Why, hello, Ruby.
How's your father?
He is very well, sir.
My, oh, my! How you've grown.
- What's she doing here?
- Well, I couldn't quite run the paper...
and take care of the children,
and do the housework, too...
so I hired a cheap servant.
Run along to school now, children.
You're going to be late.
Hurry, now.
- Don't forget my pony.
- I won't forget it.
- How do you do?
- How are you, Mrs. Wyatt?
Well, I... If it isn't Mr. Cravat.
Well...
- I heard you were back.
- Gracious lady.
The years touch thee but lightly.
- Your husband's looking better than ever.
- Yes, I think so, too.
Mr. Cravat, could I see you a minute?
Will you ladies forgive me?
Quite a surprise.
But of course, you're going to court?
I most certainly am.
I'll be with you in just one moment.
- This is to be a great day for Osage.
- Yes, indeed.
Not more than two.
Well, maybe three fingers.
Dixie Lee sentenced to...
When did all this happen?
It didn't yet,
but it will at 2:00 this afternoon.
- What will?
- The trial.
Trial?
Sabra.
Yes, Yancey?
- Why, what is it?
- What's all this about Dixie Lee?
I'm on my way to court now.
The charge is public nuisance.
- Prosecuting?
- Pat Leary.
- Who's defending her?
- Nobody in town would touch the case.
The Judge will probably appoint someone
as a formality.
- Where are you going?
- To court.
What for?
You can't take the case of that woman.
Why not?
You'd come back
and take that creature's part...
against every respectable woman
in Osage?
- Against me?
- I can't help it.
Anyone, no matter who,
has a legal right to fight for existence.
If you disgrace me,
make a laughingstock of me...
What's she to you?
- Proceed.
- And that, Your Honor...
the integrity of our fair city...
is threatened...
sullied by this shameless evil...
flaunting in our faces.
This woman,
a viper lurking in our midst...
a sinister menace to public decency.
Gentlemen...
if I were in the jury box...
if I were judge on the bench...
yea, even though I sat...
in the governor's chair...
I could say no less...
and duty compels
that the presence among us...
of this disgraceful criminal,
this scavenger...
this unspeakable human...
strikes at the very foundation
of the Southwest.
A disgrace...
to the fair name of our womanhood.
Your Honor, the prosecution rests.
Your Honor...
gentlemen of the jury...
I am the first to bow to achievement.
May I then, before I begin my poor plea...
respectfully call your attention
to that which I believe...
has never been duplicated before
in the history of Oklahoma.
Turn your eye to that figure
that has so deservedly held your attention.
This gifted person, Mr. Patrick Leary...
is the only man in the glorious
and brilliant Southwest...
nay, in this magnificent nation...
of whom it may actually be said
that he is able to strut sitting down.
- I object!
- Quiet.
- I object!
- Objection overruled.
- I note the exception.
- Proceed.
Gentlemen of the jury...
you have heard the prosecution's
cruel attack on this defenseless woman.
Bred in the gentle surroundings
of a pure home...
such as you would choose
for your own daughters...
this innocent girl,
bereft by death of her loved ones...
was left alone in the world.
In that hour of dark terror came a wolf
in sheep's clothing, gentlemen.
A wretch, posing as a friend...
false promises, lies, deceit so palpable...
that it would have fooled no one
but a young girl...
such as you, yourself, Mrs. Wyatt,
in your maidenly days.
Surely, you must remember.
Yes.
- Helpless, crushed by the...
- I object!
- Objection's overruled.
- I note an exception!
I note that my worthy opponent
is exceptionally able at noting exceptions.
Quiet. Proceed.
Gentlemen...
my only object in being here
is to try and get at the truth.
For that purpose, Your Honor,
I call as witness the defendant...
Miss Dixie Lee.
Miss Lee, you will take the stand.
Do you solemnly swear to tell the truth,
the whole truth...
and nothing but the truth,
so help you God?
I do.
You are under oath to tell only the truth.
You'll therefore answer my questions
to the best of your ability...
and in your own words.
At the death of your father
and your dear mother...
- just how old were you?
- I was 15.
Left in comfortable circumstances?
My father had been ill
as long as I could remember...
and my mother's health had broken
nursing him.
They left me without anything.
Now, it isn't my purpose to humiliate you,
Miss Lee, in front of these people...
but I must ask you to tell them
just what followed.
Tell the jury.
Well, I got work in the public library.
I met a man who said he loved me.
We were married secretly.
And then I found out that he already had
a wife and that our marriage was a fake.
- Did you continue on with this man?
- I never saw him again...
and after my baby died...
I left the city.
Did you make an effort
to secure employment...
so you could earn your own living?
Work of any kind?
Yes, I did.
Tell the court just what happened.
Well, I managed to get a position
as schoolteacher and then...
someone found out about me, and l...
And they blamed you instead of the man,
and you were forced to get out.
I object! That's leading the witness!
Objection sustained.
Strike out the question.
Did you try to secure other employment
in that town?
They wouldn't listen to me.
- I had to leave.
- What did you do?
Well, I got work in another town
as a nurse girl.
But the same thing again and again,
wherever I went, always the same.
In other words, refused
even the poorest kind of work...
to try and keep body and soul together.
- I object! Irrelevant and immaterial!
- You left out incompetent.
- Sir!
- Gentlemen, gentlemen!
That is all, Your Honor. Your witness.
No questions. Prosecution rests.
- Proceed.
- Thank you, Miss Lee.
Gentlemen of the jury,
you have heard only part of the truth.
My worthy opponent objects.
He is afraid of your knowing
all the pitiful facts of her life.
Gentlemen, an immortal soul
has been tortured on the rack...
and I ask you as men
with blood in your veins...
who have helpless women
in your own homes...
to think of one of your innocent,
dear ones...
wronged and oppressed,
like this poor defenseless woman.
Where could she turn in her cruel anguish?
Why, the very promises of God
are denied her.
Who was it that said:
"Come unto me, all ye that are weary
and heavy laden...
"and I will give you rest"?
She is indeed heavy laden...
with the persecution of her own sex...
why, gentlemen, a thief or murderer
may sin alone and is alone to blame.
But this woman is not alone.
Social order is her accomplice.
If she is guilty,
then all in this room are guilty.
I charge you,
judge not that ye be not judged.
Oh, set her free to go her way.
Let a wisdom higher,
far higher than ours...
pass judgment on her.
Your Honor, I rest my case.
Gentlemen, you have heard the evidence.
You may retire.
Gentlemen of the jury,
have you reached a verdict?
We have, Your Honor.
We find the defendant, Dixie Lee,
not guilty.
Not guilty?
You won by lies, with a trick,
and you know it.
Possibly a trick,
but I wouldn't say lies, sugar.
Don't you think the result
justifies the means?
Justifies?
You stay away five years,
come back and do a thing like this.
They've talked about you,
said everything about you...
and I wouldn't believe them.
But now, what do you expect me
to think of you and that woman?
You humiliated me.
All I've worked for to help things
in the town I've got to live in...
raise my children in, you've torn down.
I've tried to drive that woman
out of Osage.
Honey, if I know anything
about Dixie Lee...
she'll leave town after today...
but driving her out won't help matters.
Dixie Lees have been stoned
in the market place for 2,000 years.
You've got to drive the devil out first.
Can't you see, honey,
your conscience will be clear?
You haven't sent to prison a woman
instead of a real criminal...
social order, which you can't change, yet.
My only interest in Dixie Lee was to see
that she got one less kick.
You mean, what she said
about herself was true?
Every word, sugar.
At times I saw a look in her eyes...
I'll never forget.
It's a wonder to me
that she hasn't killed herself.
Maybe, if things had been different,
she might be like I am...
married, safe.
I'm thankful I've got you,
that we've got each other...
and our home.
Oh, sugar, I love you.
Hell and high water, all the way...
there's never been anybody but you,
and you know it.
Hold me close.
Oh, my boy.
That Bear Creek pool is a whopper.
Say, those Osage Indians
are sure striking it rich.
Gobs of money.
You mark my words...
this State is gonna be sprouting
a million barrels of oil a month, someday.
Sure, and $1 million
won't look much, either.
Correct it and print it.
Stand still, Donna...
or I'll never have this dress finished
for you to take back to school.
Sabra, darling, if you think I'm going
back to New York Finishing School...
wearing a homemade fizzle like this,
you're seriously mistaken.
What will you wear?
I'm not going back to school.
Do you suppose I'm going to let those girls
give me the laugh...
because we haven't struck oil?
- They think we're all millionaires out here.
- Donna, you're the most...
Why, even the Indians have more money
than we've got.
You ought to be punished, big as you are.
And the men in this family, editorials...
and maybe governor
at $100 a week, maybe.
And Cim, the rising young engineer.
I suppose he's out gassing
with Ruby again.
Well, now, I've spoken to him...
and I'll give him
another good talking to tonight.
Go on, sit down, over there.
I'll stitch this up.
Mother, I'm going out
to the Osage reservation.
I've studied enough geology,
and they need new engineers out there.
You're not fooling me for one moment,
young man. It's Ruby.
Well...
Why, I should think you'd be ashamed
of yourself...
mooning around with an Indian hired girl.
Ruby isn't an Indian hired girl.
She's the daughter of an Osage chief.
Osage, fiddlesticks.
She's just as important
in the Osage nation as...
well, as Alice Roosevelt is in Washington.
I've heard just about enough from you,
Cimarron Cravat.
And you might just as well know it,
that as soon as I'm on my own...
I'm gonna marry Ruby.
- Your father will put a stop to this.
- Dad knows.
It's all right with him.
Ruby's waiting, Mother.
Goodbye.
Well, that's a nice social problem,
an Indian in the family.
Well, I'm going to pick out the richest
white man in town and marry him.
Sure struck it rich, Louis.
Yes, boys. Money's coming in so fast
I don't know what to do with it.
- Isn't she a beauty?
- It's a crackerjack!
Hey, Cal, how do you like it?
It's a humdinger.
Latest thing out, folding glass front.
Show them, Irving.
- Thirty, I bet.
- Does 30 an hour.
- You don't say.
- How's the business, Cal?
Fine. They're building another addition
to the Bixby house.
- Say, that's great.
- It just couldn't be better.
Hey, boys, don't scratch that.
It's a new car, you know.
I must say, Mr. Levy,
your stock is quite up-to-date.
You'll have my orders in at once
for my new house?
I'll attend to it myself.
I hear you have a lovely new home.
Small place, 15 rooms. Goodbye.
Mr. Hefner! Gentlemen. How do you do?
- A lift?
- Thank you, I don't mind if I do.
Go ahead, and don't break anything.
Be seated. There.
- Three cylinders?
- No, two.
I've ordered a four-cylinder.
I'm gonna get one of those new
acetylene headlights...
so I can see around the corners.
- Now, Irving, careful. Not too fast.
- He might blare the horn.
Goodbye, boys. Goodbye.
Yes, sir. I've seen your complaint.
We'd like to inform you
that the Oklahoma Wigwam...
still prints all the news, all the time.
Knowing no law but the law of God...
and the Government
of these United States.
Yours very truly.
Well, Rickey, you don't stutter as much
as you used to, do you?
You noticed it, Mr. Leary?
I'm getting better all the...
What'd you mention it for?
Cravat is expecting me.
Yes, I'll tell him.
Mr. Cravat, Mr. Pat Leary is here.
All right, Mr. Leary.
Thank you, thank you.
Yance...
we've been rather opponents in the past...
but there's no reason
why we can't be friends.
No.
After all, you haven't gotten very far,
I mean, in a moneyed way...
with all your talk and editorials.
No, but I have a clear conscience.
I could throw another vote your way
to elect you governor.
Yes, you could.
Now, with you in the chair,
we've got the chance of a lifetime.
We can fix things
so we'd all make plenty of money.
Now, you see, the Indians...
they aren't competent
to take care of their own...
oil leases, and claims, and income.
That's understood.
Now, we'll have an agent
appointed for them...
- one that'll do just...
- Now, let me understand.
We'll have an agent appointed...
who will steal the money
from the Indians?
Well, just a matter of bookkeeping,
you know.
Mr. Leary, I've known
all about your scheme for weeks...
and I think it's the dirtiest,
filthiest piece of politics...
that ever came into
the State of Oklahoma...
and I'll smash you
and everybody connected with it...
- before I'm through with you.
- You ain't coming in, then?
Then I'll smash your chances
for governor...
and I can do it, too.
Yancey, you know about Cim and Ruby.
We can't live our children's lives
for them, honey.
Listen to this, the lead for tomorrow.
"The demagogues plan to rob them again.
"Stealing the vast ocean of oil gushing up
through the miserable, barren land...
"known as the Osage Indian reservation...
"again victimizing those duped and
wretched Americans, the Osage Indians.
"Their treaties broken, their land stolen...
"and now there's about to burst forth
the gaudiest...
"star-spangled piece of crookedness...
"ever played under the wing
of a double-dealing government."
- We can't print that.
- And why not?
This isn't the Cimarron country.
It's the State of Oklahoma.
You can't slur the government.
It's treason.
It's history.
I don't blame the government
for crooked politicians' tricks.
I'll show them.
I'll stop them if it's the last thing I ever do.
- But...
- Furthermore...
the time has come
to give the red man full citizenship...
so he can live as free
as the white man lives.
Citizenship for Indians.
Give them the vote.
The people here would mob you.
A prophet is never without honor,
save in his own country.
You could be one of the greatest figures
in this nation.
You are if you don't throw it away.
If you print that article,
you'll never be governor.
Never.
I've forgiven you many things
in the past 10 years, Yancey Cravat...
but I'll never forgive you that.
Oh, yes, you will, sugar.
Never is a long time.
Not while I'm alive, maybe...
but someday you'll be able to turn back
to the old files...
and read this article
and be glad it was printed.
No, I have some position
to maintain in this community.
- I have some voice in this paper.
- I know that.
Well, then I say you won't print it,
not in these columns.
When you take my name off
and put yours in its place...
you'll be editor of this paper.
Until you do that, sugar, I am.
Will you send Rickey in, please?
The proof's all right, Rickey.
Just think, our 40th anniversary.
Forty years.
Well, that's the longest time
I ever stayed in one place.
The longest time in one place.
Haven't you ever heard from the boss?
No. He doesn't write letters, Rickey.
The only news I've ever had
was from that captain...
who thought he saw him
at Chteau-Thierry...
with his hair dyed black.
He's alive somewhere, I know it.
Now, you just keep on
believing that, ma'am.
Have you decided on the editorial
for the anniversary number?
Yes, we'll reprint the one
on Indian citizenship...
from the 1907 file.
I have that one marked.
I'll never forget the flood of clippings...
that came in from all over the country...
and they called him
the nation's leading editor.
Yes, and since then,
Congress has granted all he asked for.
Yes, that's it.
I'm setting it up in 12 point.
- And use the same signature card.
- Yes, ma'am.
The card, s'il vous plat.
The card, monsieur.
I?
I printed them.
Quite an affair, ain't it, Sol?
Yes, nice.
The card, madame.
The card, s'il vous plat.
I'm on the committee.
Sorry, Mr. Levy,
about your not being on the committee.
You see...
we invited representatives
of our principal families.
One of my ancestors was a signer
of the Declaration of Independence.
That's all right.
A relative of mine, a fellow named Moses,
wrote the Ten Commandments.
Ladies and gentlemen...
as Chairman of the Oklahoma Progressive
State Committee, I greet you.
We are here to congratulate
our new member of Congress...
and to welcome our noted visitors...
the senators and congressmen
from Washington...
who will accompany us on a tour
of inspection to the Bowlegs oil field...
and also to announce the arrival
and the unveiling of a statue...
to commemorate the Oklahoma Pioneer.
And now it is my privilege to ask you...
to drink to the health
of our guest of honor.
My poor words could add nothing...
to the sterling achievements
of our fellow townswoman...
who has risen to eminence in Oklahoma...
and finally in the councils of the nation.
I therefore call upon the one
you are waiting to hear...
our new congresswoman, Sabra Cravat.
My friends...
today I stand before you
in a new responsibility.
Time has passed for many of us...
since we first met
in the early days of Osage.
Time that mellows our hearts
and tells us all the truth.
To many others among you...
including our distinguished guests
from Washington...
I appear more or less as a stranger.
I want you to know me and mine,
as we are...
to meet my family,
as if you were in my home.
First, my youngest, my daughter, Donna...
Mrs. Louis Hefner.
Hello, everyone.
Next, my firstborn...
my boy, Cimarron.
And now, one who has become
a member of our family by marriage...
my son's wife, a chief's daughter...
a full-blooded Osage Indian...
Ruby Big Elk, Mrs. Cimarron Cravat.
I greet you in words taught me as a child.
May you long travel the path of life...
in days that are calm and peaceful.
And my grandchildren...
Felice and Yancey II.
I'm sorry, this afternoon,
that I cannot present to you...
my husband...
but he's out of the city.
I know he would be glad
to be here to greet you.
As for myself...
I can only thank you
for the office you have conferred upon me.
The women of Oklahoma...
have helped build a prairie wilderness
into the state of today.
The holding of public office
by a woman is a natural step.
I pledge you that I will do my best.
That pt de foie gras was good,
wasn't it?
Now, what do you think
of women in politics?
I give up.
You know, I'm curious to see the subject
of this pioneer statue.
So am I.
I hear that the Governor's sending
his staff down for the unveiling.
Really? We must see it.
Congratulations, I enjoyed
every moment of it.
Thank you.
- This was worth the trip from Washington.
- So nice to see you.
The Osage nations, through me,
extends congratulations.
You're very kind.
Thank you.
Wonderful, Sabra.
I never heard anything like it.
- Your dress is so becoming.
- You like it?
I like your hat, too.
Well, I must be going. My feet hurt me.
The state bankers will be very pleased
to see you in Congress, Mrs. Cravat.
Thank you.
We're proud of a woman who has done
what you have done...
alone.
I feel as you have always felt.
Yancey is just out of town
for a little while.
Thanks, old friend.
Mother, you were sweet about Dad.
If you are ready, Sabra,
we will start at once.
Oh, yes. Yes, I'll be right with you.
We leave for Bowlegs
immediately, gentlemen.
It's a new empire.
Quite a pretty place isn't it, Mrs. Cravat?
All this up from raw prairie. Overnight.
Hello? Field office?
Send an ambulance. Quick! Osage, three.
Yeah, yeah, that's right.
What happened?
We've never had a closer call.
Gusher came in ahead of time.
They were lowering a torpedo
of nitroglycerin.
Before they could explode it, up came the
mud and oil, and the torpedo with it.
Narrow escape?
We'd all have been blown to bits,
everyone around here, too...
if it hadn't been for a man
who grabbed the torpedo...
cushioned it against his body
and prevented the explosion.
What nerve!
- He saved our lives. That's all.
- Was he badly hurt?
Jammed against a rake.
Chest crushed, pretty bad.
- Who was he?
- I don't know.
Just an old drifter who'd been hanging
around here since the new field opened.
Some of the fellas call him old Yance.
Yance.
Get back. Give him some room.
Get back. Come on.
Let me through! Let me through!
Sabra. Sabra.
Are you all right?
Wife and mother. Stainless woman.
Hide me. Hide me in your love.
Sleep, my boy.