The Ballad of Josie (1967) Movie Script
[orchestra playing]
The Ballad of Josie
A story to remember
A pretty girl, a sturdy girl
Made of solid timber
She set her sights
and fought her fights
'Cause justice was her aim
And Arapahoe County
has never been the same
She didn't wear
no fancy duds
And worked like any man
She faced a lot of danger
And still she never ran
For Josie had
some high ideals
And never did she lose 'em
And she also had
some rough words
In case she had to use them
The Ballad of Josie
The Ballad of Josie
A story to remember
A story to remember
A pretty girl, a sturdy girl
Made of solid timber
She set her sights
and fought her fights
'Cause justice was her aim
And Arapahoe County
has never been the same
The Ballad of Josie
The Ballad of Josie
A story to remember
A story to remember
The Ballad of Josie
The Ballad of Josie
[piano playing]
[laughing, overlapping chatter]
Luther. [snaps fingers]
[woman screams]
Get goin'.
Luther.
We've had about all of you
we can handle for tonight,
Whit Minick.
Take your hands off me.
Another nickel's worth
more out of you,
you spend the night in jail.
Now get on home to your wife...
and stay there.
[laughter, chatter continues]
All right,
back inside, everybody.
Come on. You've seen Whit Minick
go through a window before.
[running footsteps]
He's on his way, Ma.
Careful.
Oh, sorry.
Go on. Get going.
[door thumping]
Josie, open the door!
[banging on door]
Josie!
Any time, Whit Minick.
Any time.
You keep away from me.
[objects crashing]
Watch--Will you watch
what you're doing!
- Stop it!
- I only had a few!
I'm telling you.
[objects clatter]
Will you stop it?
All right, Josie!
Why you gotta hit--
No! Don't break the--
Whit!
Whit, stop it.
Josie, open that door!
Do you hear me?
This is your husband speaking.
Will you open that door?
[banging]
Whit!
Whit, get up.
Whit--Evening, Fonse.
- Howdy.
- Whit,
will you please get up there?
[spur grinding]
[ding]
Whit.
[birds chirping]
[clears throat]
We are gathered here
today to say good-bye
to one who has wandered
in our midst
for a decade or more
as a friend
and a fellow citizen,
Whit Minick.
We offer our sympathy
to Whit's father here
in his hour of grief
and to the widow Minick
and her poor little boy.
We're here
to say good-bye to Whit.
I recall Whit Minick, the man.
Why, I can see you, Whit,
as if it was yesterday,
stagger--or walking
down Main Street,
and kind of a grin on his face,
and we'd pass.
I'd turn to Whit
and say, "Hi, Whit,"
and he'd say, "Hi,"
and be on his way,
but that was Whit for you.
One always look--
one that was always
ready to say hi.
Look at 'em all sweat
trying to make up their minds.
Why, th-there wasn't a...
About what?
...a widow or an orphan--
Whether to put her in jail
or pay her a bounty.
It can go either way.
I can hear him now.
"Hi."
Amen.
Take this.
How is she doing?
Not crying.
Not smiling either.
She must feel terrible.
Not having a man
is bad enough,
but to have one
and then lose him--
You don't lose
a man like Whit Minick.
You escape him.
Must have caught him coming in.
Timing had to be just right.
There he is, drunk as $700.
Step in.
Rotate hips.
He lunges. Zip! Zam!
- [cork pops]
- Whammo!
Oh, girls,
I give you Josie Minick!
But Miss Annabelle
says you gotta eat, Ma.
Honey, Mama's not hungry.
Look what I brought you.
You want it?
Can I?
Mm-hmm.
I'll take care of you, Ma...
maybe go up to Little Bighorn
and fight Injuns.
As I was saying, gentlemen,
this is a matter of the law,
and it doesn't matter one way
or the other to the law at all
that Josie Minick had reached
the absolute end of her rope.
It doesn't matter to the law
whether she
had suffered 10 years
or 10 minutes of misery
at the hands of the deceased.
Now, we all have to deal
with a louse now and then,
and it's the law that tells us
how far we can go
and where we have to stop.
I assure you, gentlemen,
that society itself
would crumble and fall
if we fail to stop
where the law says we must...
or if we try to take the law
into our own hands.
So I want you to forget
that Whit Minick was a louse,
he welshed on his bets,
he was a miserable father
and a worse husband.
I want you to forget all that.
Let's look at it this way.
You gentlemen are all married,
most of you,
and the little woman is
going to get out of sorts
every now and again.
It's bound to happen.
What would you do
next time that happens
if the Territory of Wyoming
allows her to pick up
a pool cue, huh?
Guilty.
Not sure.
Not guilty.
One guilty, one not guilty,
six not sure.
All right, I'm the guilty.
And I'm the not guilty.
Only man with any guts
on this jury is me.
It beats me how you and I
can cow-ranch next to each other
all these years
and never a cross word
and never agree on a damn thing.
Well, I got a white-faced bull
I don't agree with either, Arch,
but I figure it ain't worth
my time to try to convert him.
[laughs]
Well, what do we do now?
We get down to cases.
Whatever the verdict,
Mrs. Minick,
the question of Luther
will still have to be faced.
Now let us recognize
certain facts.
I've been the sole support
of the three of you
for some 10 years now,
and you must recognize that
my obligation to my grandson
is somewhat different
than to you.
Mr. Minick,
we don't need your obligations.
I have two hands and a house,
and I am willing--
There's nothing wrong with
your two hands, Mrs. Minick,
but mine happen to hold
the mortgage on that house,
so until and unless you are
able to provide for Luther,
I think he'll be better off
with me in Cheyenne,
and I suspect
the court will agree.
Judge!
I'm afraid he's right, Josie.
That's the way it's got to be,
but I think it's a little
foolish chewing on all this
before we've decided whether
she's gonna go to jail or not.
Well, I think we'd better
get back in there.
[distant murmuring]
Fonse.
No peeking at my hand, Doc.
Not guilty.
Not sure.
Not sure.
Not guilty.
Well, that's two guilty
and four not guilty
and two not sure.
We're gaining.
Well, I ain't gonna vote
to hang no woman.
Oh, who in the heck
says we're gonna hang her?
She killed somebody.
You vote guilty,
you're gonna hang her.
We ain't gonna hang nobody,
not even you.
All we're gonna do
is kind of put her away
in the pokey
for a couple of weeks.
For what good reason, Arch?
The man needed killing.
Now who says?
Now you says.
You called Whit Minick
seven kinds of a no-account.
You called him a welsher
and a wife-beater
and a yellow-livered coyote,
and everybody heard you, too,
over at the Stockman's.
Wouldn't have hit him
with no pool cue.
You can't fault a man
for jostling his woman round
a little bit in his own home.
Woman needs it now and then.
There's a principle involved.
You think you're the only one
who's got principles?
I--
Uh, gents?
Judge says you can't
get a verdict by 6:00,
we're gonna take you to
supper at the Trail's End.
[gavel bangs]
Court'll come to order.
[gavel bangs]
Well, now,
just don't count your chickens
before they're hatched.
You may like it in Cheyenne.
I won't like Cheyenne.
I like it here.
Don't they think
you can take care of me?
Of course they do, Luther.
It's just that
u-until Mama gets settled,
you're better off with Grandpa.
Whoa.
We could go to Montana
and fight Injuns.
We could go cow ranching
at Willow Creek.
I can ride,
and I could learn to rope.
It's Grandpa.
I'll think about it,
sweetheart.
I assume you'll be staying here
for the time being, at least.
Yes, sir.
'Course, in an emergency,
I'm only half a day away.
Please remember that.
Thank you.
Good-bye.
Come on, Luther.
Good-bye.
You be a good boy for Mama.
Be a good boy.
I love you.
[clicks tongue]
Remember Willow Creek!
Ohh.
"Pay to the order
of Josephine Minick,
the sum of--"
[whistles]
$1,000 is
kind of an awkward sum.
It's too big to fritter away
and too little
to really go to Hell on.
- [laughing]
- You know, it made good sense
for your husband's pa
to take out insurance.
It's a wise father
that knows his own son.
Do you know what
I would do with this?
I'd buy me a $40 corset,
a perky French bonnet
and a new dress,
and then I would
go down to Denver
and join all 46 churches.
Bet you 16-to-3 that I'd
have a man by snow time.
You already got one.
It's a more or less
unmentionable arrangement.
All the comforts and none
of the responsibilities.
Renfrew, you are so jealous,
you are purely grinding
your back teeth down to a nub.
Just the same,
if I had to spend 10 years
with Whit Minick--
Well, let's face facts.
She either stays here
and knits tea cozies
and joins
my torchbearers committee
to work for women's rights,
or she can hunt up another man.
There's just two ways to...
[door opens]
go.
[sighs]
Sure was a surprise to me.
All dressed up...
No place to go. Sad thing.
Sure is.
Mm-hmm.
Look out!
[squeals]
Wait!
Ed, I need that horse and buggy.
I'm sorry, Miss Josie.
It's the law.
But what am I supposed to do?
You in trouble with the law
again, Josie, hmm?
Well, I seem to be.
He can't give me
my horse and buggy.
- Hmm?
- Probate or some such.
I don't know the fancy words.
If I did, I wouldn't be
busting my back around here.
I wanted to go out
to our place at Willow Creek.
Oh, I thought Whit let that go.
No. He wanted to,
but it was half mine,
and I wouldn't let him.
Well, if it ain't Josie Minick.
Mr. Ogden.
Congratulations.
Where are you going?
Um, up to Willow Creek.
Gonna stop by and
have a look at Josie's spread.
Up you go.
[clicks tongue]
What you gonna do
out on Willow Creek?
Raise beef.
Now don't josh me.
Well, a woman's
gotta turn her hand at something
with a boy to raise and all.
Isn't that right, Josie?
You're gonna be neighbors.
[chuckles]
He's pulling my leg.
I think.
What are you up to
out at Willow Creek?
Oh, I just thought I'd go out
and take a look around.
It's been a long time.
Nice, isn't it?
[sighs]
I kind of forgot what spring
was like in the country.
Well, I guess
you didn't get a chance
to get out here too often.
You got any plans, Josie?
No. Not really.
You know, I don't think
it's gonna do you any good
sitting around Annabelle's
with the girls.
Got any suggestions?
No, but I'll think on it
if you want me to.
Whoa. Whoa. Whoa.
There it is.
It's a nice place, Josie.
Oh, it could have been.
We just never really
got it started, Jase.
We built the house...
proved it up...
but then...
Yeah, I know.
[sighs] Come on.
- Whoa.
- Thank you.
Oh, Jase!
Oh, look at this mess!
Looks like some saddle tramp's
been taking advantage
of your hospitality.
Every winter.
Oh, dear, it's filthy!
Josie, you know, those cows
out there belong to Arch Ogden.
He surrounds you on three sides,
and he's had his eye
on this patch of ground
for quite a while.
He needs the grazing space.
You know, if you
go about it just right,
you can get
a good price out of him,
good price.
Well, I hadn't thought
about selling, Jase.
Well, what are you
going to do with it?
Well, now, there's no reason
I can't use it
for the same purpose, is there?
- Grazing space?
- Uh-huh.
For what?
For cows, my own cows.
Your own cows?
That's right.
A woman running a cow ranch?
[laughs]
Well, now,
what's so wrong about that?
Well, Josie, you didn't
take me seriously back in town.
I mean, I was just kidding Arch
about what I said, you know.
I know that, Jase.
It was Luther's idea.
- Hmm?
- It was.
He said to me,
"Mama, we can either
go to Montana and fight Injuns,
or we can raise cows
at Willow Creek."
And this seems to be
the most practical.
Not by much, it isn't.
Now, what do you mean,
not by much?
There's no reason
why I can't have
my own cows grazing on my own--
Now, Mrs. Minick, there are
a whole lot of reasons
why you can't have
your own cows out here,
and one day we'll sit down
and talk about 'em.
Well, there's no time
like the present.
But unfortunately,
I have to go.
Oh, you do?
Yeah. I got friends
coming for supper.
- Oh, supper?
- Mm-hmm.
Well, we better get a move on.
Well, we don't have to
gallop at it, you know.
I'm sorry, Jase.
You should have told me
you had company coming.
Oh, that doesn't matter.
Well, it's so out of your way
to take me back to town.
No, no, it's nothing special.
It's just a dull
political meeting--
Wyoming statehood.
Hey, you mind a little
cigar smoke and politics?
Well, to tell you the truth,
it sounds awful.
I'll feed you
better than Annabelle,
and that's
a money-back guarantee.
That sounds good.
[chuckles]
You're sure I won't be
in the way, now?
No, no. They're all
your friends, too, Josie.
Get up! Get up!
Yes, sir, there's nothing
like a pretty woman
to cheer up a dull
political meeting.
[clicks tongue]
Josie, I understand
why you're upset
about this cow ranch business.
I'm not upset.
They're upset.
I want to make sure
you're not mad about that trial.
Of course not.
You should never
pay too much attention
to what a prosecutor says.
You know,
if I don't make the right noises
in that courtroom,
they figure
I haven't earned my pay.
I never tried a case I wanted
to lose as much as that one.
I want you to know that.
Ah, he's all heart,
that Charlie is.
Heh. Jase!
I don't want her
feeding a grudge!
Charlie,
I'm not feeding a grudge.
I just want to find a way
to feed Luther and me.
That's all.
Now, don't you worry.
We'll take care of you, Josie.
I don't want
to be taken care of.
Don't you understand that?
Who's going
to foreman for you...
Annabelle Pettijohn?
[chuckles]
[laughs]
I don't think that's
very funny, Mr. Pruitt.
Oh, didn't mean it to be.
It ain't funny at all.
It's nutty, that's what it is.
- Nutty?
- Nutty!
Sheriff, so help me--
Josie Minick,
you remember your place.
And what place is that?
It ain't on a cow ranch,
for one thing.
What is so wrong
about a woman on a cow ranch?
I'm strong, and I'm
able to do anything--
Tut-tut-tut, Josie.
Take it--
- Please don't tut-tut me.
- Stop.
Sit down, Fonse.
You're getting in
over your head.
You don't even know
what we're talking about.
Excuse me, Mr. Meredith.
Dinner is served.
Thank you, Ben.
Thank you very much.
Josie.
Shall we go on in, gentlemen?
Here we are.
Right here.
- Oh, Fonse!
- Come on, Doc.
Eh.
Now...
Well, somebody's got...
Yes, sir.
Nothing like a pretty woman
to cheer up
a dull political meeting.
Josie, I had a notion that you
might be able to give us
a woman's point of view
on a political question.
Charlie, would you like to...
Thank you, Jase.
Josie, we want
the Territory of Wyoming
to be admitted
into the Union as a state.
Right, but to go in as a state,
we gotta get our ladies
to give up the vote.
You see, if we go in
with the ladies voting,
well, then the rest of the women
in the other 43 states
are liable to get kinda jealous.
You see the problem?
So we have to ask our ladies
to give up the vote,
just temporarily,
you understand,
and then we'll give it back
to them once we get in.
Are you going to ask us
or tell us?
What kind of question is that?
You told me to remember
my place, Mr. Pruitt.
I'm only asking.
I was talking
about cow ranching.
Ahem. Yeah.
Well, Josie, you see,
the ladies have kind of got us
between a rock
and a hard place, you know?
Well, now, Charlie here is
going back to Washington
to speak his piece,
but he wants to go
feeling that he has
the cooperation of the ladies.
Now, what do you think
of our chances?
Not much.
I'm getting fed up to the gills
with crusadin' females.
One thing you
can't kick under the rug,
women are people.
In this territory,
women are also voters,
and if you want
to stay in office,
you've got to learn
to live with that fact.
If Josie Minick here
wants to go cow ranching
or if she wants to go
fighting Indians at the Bighorn,
there's nothing
in our constitution
says she can't do it.
You're gonna tell 'em that
in Washington?
They already know it.
Annabelle sends them
a telegram every Friday.
You know what our motto is?
"Cedant arma togae."
Let arms yield to the gown.
Go forth, Josie.
Go forth and conquer.
The world is your oyster,
especially in Wyoming.
Thank you, Charlie.
Not enough room for both of us.
Get going.
[mooing continues]
[mooing continues]
Hi, Jase.
That cow's been bedded down
in the back room,
thinks she owns the place.
Say, I got something
to show you.
Watch this.
All it needed was priming.
It's good as new.
The roof's tight.
Put new glass in my windows
for $7.00.
Come on in.
Come on.
Looks a little different, huh?
'Course, the floor's rotted out
in a couple of places,
but I can fix that.
Oh, when the court
releases my furniture, Jase,
I'm gonna have it all
sent out from town.
Won't that be nice?
Oh, Jase, if I can just
get this place to pay...
I'll have my son back soon.
Would you like some coffee?
[skittering]
Well, say hello to Columbine.
We got a friend here
I want you to meet.
She lives under the floor.
She won't hurt you.
Got an owl in the attic, too.
I'll get the coffee.
Well, it's a fine place
you got here, Josie.
Wait till you see it
when I finish--
It's a fine place
for owls and skunks and--
but not for a fool woman
who thinks she can go
cow ranching all by herself.
What did you say?
You heard me.
I said, "Fool woman."
I do not intend to have you
cow ranching alone,
not today or tomorrow
or next year or ever.
- You don't intend to have--
- That's right.
Well, then just what do you
want me to do, Jase?
Sit on a shelf
at Annabelle Pettijohn's
or take upstairs employment
at a saloon?
- I never said such a thing.
- I said it,
but you'd approve
of that, wouldn't you?
It's perfectly all right
for a woman
to take that kind of a job,
isn't it?
To you, a woman is a--
is a species of idiot
to be kept
in a back closet somewhere
and spoon-fed
three times a day.
That's what--
All right, Josie,
that's enough.
- Now, you listen to me.
- Fine.
I got no prejudice
against women,
not entirely, anyhow.
There are places
that women belong
and there are places they don't.
I am so sick and tired--
And one of the places they don't
is all alone on a cattle spread
with Indians and wolves
and drunk saddle tramps
and cow thieves and roundups.
That means roping
and branding and castrating.
And then there's blizzard kill
and Texas fever
and locoweed and bronc busting
and riding line
and fence mending
and a couple of hundred
other things
that'd back a man up against
the wall, much less a woman.
What do you mean,
"Much less a woman"?
Well, I ain't about to
explain that remark to you,
not now or not ever,
but you're not
gonna blow $1,000 on beef
and go ranching out here
in the coulees
all by yourself.
- It's my money, and--
- That's it, and that's it!
Get out!
Damn!
Aah!
[screams]
[groans]
[sobbing]
And I can help
with the advertising.
I can take care
of customers for you.
There's just no limit
to what I could do.
I just had a thought.
My wife's in Omaha visiting
her sister and I'm alone--
Please, Mr. Fremont.
I really do need this job.
I'll work the first week
for nothing.
I got a better idea.
How about you and I go--
Mr. Fremont.
Hey, Josie,
if all you want is a job,
they need a waitress
down at the Trail's End!
[door slams]
A woman in a bank?
Yes, sir.
You mean handling
the money and all?
Oh, I'm true blue, Mr. Hovitt,
honest as the day is long,
and if you'll just
give me a chance--
Just thought of something.
Nick's looking for a waitress
down at the Trail's End.
Thank you.
Got a great piece of news.
I can have the job?
Slim Trent just told me
they need a waitress--
At the Trail's End.
You heard.
[sighs]
Yes, I heard.
Thank you.
[overlapping chatter]
[piano playing, laughter]
How you doing tonight?
[chatter continues]
[no audible dialogue]
[laughing]
Come on now.
Bring those over here.
To the table over here.
I'll be right there.
[laughing]
Bring those orders over here.
Just stack it up on me.
Ohh!
Oh, I'm sorry!
Oh, I'm sorry!
[groaning]
[chatter continues]
[laughing]
Sorry!
I'm sorry.
I-I'm sorry, Nick.
You should be.
Piece of white cake
for the corner table.
Piece of--
[dish shatters]
Piece of white cake.
Uh...
coming.
[blows]
[laughing]
Oh, here she comes.
Ow!
Ow. Ow!
[laughing]
Pick 'em up!
I'm sorry.
[yelps]
[laughing]
You did real good, Josie.
Evening, Josie.
I see you got through
your first day
in fine style, hmm?
What's yours?
Eh, coffee.
Cream and sugar?
Real good waitress
you got there, Nick.
[baby crying]
Oh, uh...
[crying continues]
[shushing]
Whoop.
Good morning.
I got a political meeting
in Cheyenne this afternoon.
You happen to be
going in that direction,
I'd be mighty proud to take you.
[crying continues]
[crying stops]
I'll take that, Josie.
I--
[crying resumes]
Ahem.
[sighs]
Looks like it's
gonna be a long ride.
I'm sorry for blowing up
at you like I did, Josie,
out at the ranch, I mean.
You know, they say
that the admission of ignorance
is the beginning of wisdom.
I don't know
a damn thing about women.
I never did.
You gotta take that
into account.
Well, I said my apologies.
Well, I don't intend
to say mine.
Cried all over my pillow with
what you did to me last night.
Heh. Well, you got to admit,
you were pretty hard on me.
I meant to be.
Are you quitting, Josie?
Are you running off
to Grandpa Alpheus?
Are you licked?
Maybe.
Say, you know, I got some--
I got some fried chicken
back here,
and I got a place in mind
that we can eat it.
Mrs. Minick, I just invited you
for some fried chicken.
Now, the least you can do
is say yes or no.
I'd be delighted.
'Course, now that
I think about it,
it's not a good idea to eat
when you're all riled up.
You know, when you get mad,
all them juices
just churn around
down there something fierce,
and then, uh, the chicken
will just sit there
and get kind of soggy
and lie there,
and oh, no. No, no.
I wouldn't want to--I wouldn't
want to force any food on you
if your stomach's
gonna fight it, unh-uh.
Oh, no.
I said I'd be delighted.
Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!
Here we are.
Why are we stopping here?
This is where we're gonna
have our picnic. Come on.
There you are.
Oh, my goodness.
[horse neighs]
Look.
Look at this.
Well, this, Mrs. Minick,
is everything I had once.
This was my home
when I first came out here.
The Indians burned me out.
Really, Jase?
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
I was kind of a colossal failure
back in Ohio,
and I took what I had left,
and I came out here
with a woman...
...and I sort of
did it again.
She left me, and I spent
the whole winter out here
with nothing to eat
but snowshoe rabbits
and chicken mash.
But I stayed.
Well, that's
the important thing, isn't it?
You stayed.
Yeah, I guess so.
Well, I had--
I had good friends, too.
You remember
old man Pettigrew in the bank?
- Mm-hmm.
- Well, he was one of 'em.
He gave me a loan, a cash loan.
He didn't have to, but he did,
and it got me back on my feet.
Do you know that that's
the first place I ever saw you?
In the bank.
Your hair was different then.
It was down, huh?
- Yes.
- Yeah.
And you had on
a blue polka-dot dress
with a white collar,
and it kind of set off
your yellow hair.
- [gasps]
- And your boy was with you.
Oh, he couldn't have
been more than two then,
and he was, uh--he was
destroying a peppermint stick.
[laughs]
That--That's six years ago.
Yeah. Yeah, I guess it is.
Well, old man Pettigrew
has been dead for four.
Sure.
Gosh, how can you remember
all that so well?
Well...
[sheep bleating]
Uh-oh.
I was afraid of that.
Hmm.
That's one calamity
I missed out on.
This was still cow country
when I pulled out.
Oh, look, Jase!
Look at the baby!
Ohh!
Oh, look at him!
Is he precious?
Oh, he the good boy?
Ooh, he the good boy.
Heh.
He probably lost his mommy, huh?
No. It's the other way
around most likely.
You know that the only one
of the Lord's creatures
too stupid to recognize
its own young one
is a mother sheep?
Don't you say that.
No, I mean it.
That could be the only
black lamb in the whole flock,
but if she can't sniff its tail,
she wouldn't know it
from a goat.
- I don't believe it.
- Now what are you gonna do?
You gonna eat or open up
an orphanage? Come on.
You have no heart.
Ah...
Oh, what a baby.
Oh, yeah.
Oh, yes, he's a beauty.
Yes, he's a beauty.
Hmm.
He probably thinks
you're his mommy.
Ah, dear. Heh heh heh.
He wouldn't know any better,
you know that?
Boy, if my friends
saw me doing this,
they'd run me
out of town on a rail.
If I had thought about it,
we would have stopped to eat
north of the dead line.
The what?
The dead line.
Passed it about 10 minutes back.
Sheep to the south.
Cattle to the north.
I don't know anything
about a dead line.
Well, there's nothing
complicated about it.
You see, the cow men
opened up this territory,
and then the sheep men
tried to move in.
Well, we had us quite a debate.
We burned up a lot of powder
and a lot of lead,
and we buried a few,
and then finally
we drew us a line
across the southeast section
of the state.
The sheep stay on one side
and the cattle on the other.
There. Look at that.
Ooh, thank you.
May I have that napkin?
Here.
Well, anyway, that little guy
there is gonna grow up
to be one of those dumb,
miserable critters over there.
If they're so dumb, why does
anybody bother with them?
Now tell me that.
Money.
You know,
it takes money, capital,
brains, sweat to raise cattle,
but any idiot
with a two-bit dog
and a Winchester
can raise sheep.
Hmm.
[bell dings]
Hup. Whoa.
Hyup!
Mom! Mommy!
Mom!
Oh, Mom!
I missed you something fierce.
I'm so glad you come.
Ooh, let me see you!
Oh, you look good.
You look so good!
You're gonna stay,
ain't you, Ma?
Oh, honey--
You're welcome to stay
if you like, Mrs. Minick.
Oh, thank you very much.
[grunts]
Let Mama take that.
Look at me.
I must say, I was rather
surprised at your coming here.
Thank you.
Well, I want to find
something to do, Mr. Minick.
You know I want to make
a home for Luther and me.
Mrs. Minick,
Luther has a home,
and until such time as you
are able to provide for him,
he will remain here.
Now, as to your own plans,
if you intend to live here,
well and good.
There are plenty of duties
to perform around the house
if you choose.
In that case, I shall give
my housekeeper notice.
Well, if that
doesn't appeal to you,
there may be a position
clerking
at the mercantile company.
The hours are 7:00
in the morning
until 7:00 at night,
with a half-hour for lunch.
Salary is $50 a month,
less an agreed sum for
your room and board here.
[footsteps on stairs]
I put your suitcase away.
Want me to help you unpack?
That about covers
the prospects, Mrs. Minick.
I, uh, suggest
you think it over.
Now, if you'll excuse me...
Well, now tell me,
how do you like
living with Grandpa, huh?
It's awful.
Is it?
Well, honey, Grandpa invited
Mama to live here, too.
Would you like that?
Oh, no, Ma.
Please take me home.
Please.
Oh, Luther! Luther!
Oh, God, baby.
Oh, plea--
[bell dings]
[horse snorts]
Hi, Debbie.
What have you been up to, Jase?
Buying a new saddle.
You know what I mean.
[chuckles]
I got a brand-new Parcheesi set.
[horse neighs]
You fond of Parcheesi, Jase?
[chuckles]
There's Parcheesi
and backgammon,
Round The World
With Nellie Bly...
cribbage.
Maybe you know
some two-handed games.
Jase!
Welcome home!
[sighs]
Thank you, Jase.
Well, I didn't
expect you back so soon.
Well, uh, something came up.
Good-bye!
Well, not--not bad news,
I hope.
Well, it depends
on how you look at it.
Thank you very much.
Excuse me, Jase.
Hey, wait a minute.
Give me that.
- Oh, no, I can manage, Jase.
- No. No.
That won't do at all.
Now, come on.
Now, I told you,
Jase, I can do it.
Now, you look silly
toting that bag in a town
- full of able-bodied men.
- I can just manage.
Now gimme.
Now, where are we going?
To the stable.
- Say, Ed?
- Yes'm.
Is that a hack horse?
Yes'm.
Good. You'll just do fine.
And I'll want him
for the rest of the day.
Now, he ain't harness broke,
and I got no buggies.
Saddle him up, Ed.
But I ain't got
no sidesaddle, Miss Josie.
I told you that before.
I'll be back shortly.
You just get him ready.
Oh. Thank you.
Mr. Simpson!
Oh, hi, Josie. Heh.
How are things down in Cheyenne?
Oh, fine,
thank you, Mr. Simpson.
I'd like a pair of Levis,
please.
Right.
Uh, let me see.
What size is Luther now?
Oh, not for Luther.
For me.
Uh, how's that again?
I'd like a pair of Levis for me.
- Pants?
- Mm-hmm, pants.
Josie.
Oh, thank you.
See if you can find
a pair of boots,
Mr. Simpson, size seven.
Oh, don't have no ladies' boots.
Well, feet are pretty much
the same, aren't they?
Well, I never checked, Josie.
I'm a bachelor.
Well, why don't we try,
Mr. Simpson, huh?
A boys' size, maybe?
Size seven.
Yes, ma'am.
Size seven.
Thanks.
Oh, I almost forgot,
Mr. Simpson.
I want one of
those blue shirts, too,
36 bust.
Bust?
Oh, d-don't come in busts.
Necks and sleeves, no busts.
What's she up to?
I-I don't know.
What do you think,
Mr. Simpson?
Think they fit all right?
Well, I don't think
you're exactly
what the manufacturer
had in mind.
[sighs]
Uh, don't forget
that blue shirt.
No busts. Ain't got
a bust in the house.
No busts.
What size you say
that was, Josie?
36 bust.
No busts!
Here. Try this.
Thanks.
The Presbyterians hear
about this, I'm through.
Josie, what are we
trying to prove, anyway?
Huh?
You haven't still
got that crazy notion
about cow ranching, have you?
Mr. Simpson,
how much do I owe you?
Well, that'll be 11.65.
And, Mr. Simpson,
uh, if you don't mind,
I'd like to leave
all my things here
and my suitcase,
and I'll pick everything up
later, all right?
Thank you very much. Good-bye.
[sniffs]
[door closes]
[neighs]
All set, Ed?
Yes'm.
[screams]
[grunts] I think
I need your help, Ed.
Yes, ma'am.
Heading south?
Now, what in tarnation
do you reckon she's up to?
Chickens.
What do you mean chicken?
A chicken is a domesticated bird
grown for its eggs,
meat and feathers,
goes back in human history--
Doc, will you?
You know what he means.
How you know Josie's
in the chicken business?
I'm bound by my oath
to respect the confidence
of my patients.
Whoever heard of a chicken ranch
in this part of the country?
Educated guess.
Annabelle come right out
and say it was chickens?
Eh, not exactly.
What'd she say?
Well, she kind of made a slip,
and I jumped on it
like a duck on a june bug.
I was taking her blood pressure
at the time,
and her heart did flip-flops
when she realized
she let the cat out of the bag.
She used the word "flock."
[felt rips]
Flock?
That's what she said.
"Flock."
Now, what you gonna raise
in this part of the country
that comes in flocks
except chickens?
Geese maybe or ducks?
You sure she said "flock"?
Positive.
Geese come in gaggles.
[chuckles]
What's she gonna do,
trail-drive
a flock of fricassee hens
south of the railhead
every fall?
[laughs]
That ain't funny.
Don't know as I'd cotton
to a chicken ranch
in the middle of my range.
Well, it's not your range,
it's hers,
all 480 acres of it.
Let her have her chickens.
It's not chickens.
It's not chickens?
- Then what--
- [lamb bleating]
That ain't what you think,
fellas. That's a chicken.
[bleating]
Now, you ought to know
better than that, young fella,
walking into a cow-town saloon
without no invitation.
She got no education yet.
It's too young for some.
Why, thank you, sir.
[sighs]
Long dry run up from the south.
[bleats]
[flock bleating]
Good Lord Almighty!
What in the name
of the Kingdom of God
do you think you're up to?
Why, sheep.
These here are sheep.
You're damn right they're sheep!
Turn 'em around!
Get 'em out of here, before--
Oh, we ain't headed that way.
We's headed up yonder.
You ain't going nowhere!
You know,
I believe this little feller
would be better off
on the ground.
Well, just set him down.
He'll find his mammy directly.
I'll wring his scrawny neck!
Back up.
Dog!
Get him! Get him!
[barks]
[snarling]
Let me up!
Cow fella down yonder
don't like sheep critters.
Mostly they don't.
Now get this cur dog off
of me before I bust his head.
No offense, boy.
He's a right little mean dog.
What's his name?
Dog. We just call him Dog.
[Arch groans]
Butter wouldn't melt
in her mouth.
Go on.
Say something nice.
Mrs. Minick, there has
never been a woman
hung in the whole history
of Arapahoe County.
Now, if you'll
get down from there
and let me talk to you,
you might not be the first.
Josie, do you hear me?
Now, you get down
off that horse!
[whistles a tune]
Josie, you listen to me!
Josie!
Three cheers for the first
female sheep rancher
in southern Wyoming!
Hip hip...
Hooray!
- Hooray!
- Hooray!
Hooray!
- Hooray!
- Hooray!
- Hooray!
- [laughs]
I smell like
a damn sheep already.
And if it hadn't been for you,
we'd have been sensible
and hung her.
Can't hang a person
for manslaughter.
We'd have found a way.
Now she's your doing,
and she's all yours,
her and her stinking sheep
and her crowbait herders,
that whole outfit.
Now you get rid of her,
or I will.
Baa, baa, black sheep,
have you any wool?
Yes, sir, yes, sir,
a whole town full
[continues humming]
[bleating]
And did you see what happened
when you drove those things
through town?
Now, nobody likes it,
and nobody's gonna have
any sheep around here,
- and I'm telling you that!
- Well, I did,
and I don't much care.
I don't care what you say.
They're staying.
No, they're not!
[barks]
[snarls]
There ain't
no question about it.
We should have hung her
when we had the chance.
Arch, more brandy?
Yeah.
Maybe she ain't coming.
She'll be here.
Don't you worry.
You're one hell of a judge.
That's all I got to say.
Not my doing.
It's the law.
Ahh! There's ways
of looking at the law.
There's only one way
to look at this one.
Well, that's the trouble.
We ain't got a leg to stand on.
There's no legal status
for the dead line.
It's lawful to raise sheep
wherever you want to.
If she wants
to take us to court,
why, she'll beat us hands down.
You let me pick the jury,
and she won't.
We're not about
to let you pick the jury.
Crawfishers,
every last one of you.
It's a democracy.
What this country needs
is a good king.
It ain't gonna get
to court, anyway.
Ah, it's just as well.
She gets us into court,
Jase will argufy all night long
to turn her loose.
If I had my way--
You can't use a club
on a woman.
That's all there is about it.
You gotta
sweet-talk her out of it.
[horse galloping]
And that's just
what we're gonna do.
Arch...
Oh, I ain't making
no promises. Let her in.
[knock on door]
Evening, neighbor.
Well, come in. Come in.
Come right on in here,
and see all your good friends.
- Yes, sir. There we are.
- Hello, Josie.
Matter of fact,
your name happened to come up
in the conversation
just a little bit ago.
- Well, if it's about my sheep--
- Well, now, there you are.
You see,
you put your finger right on it.
Now, what we propose to do
is just to sit down
and thrash this thing out
like grown-up men and women.
I have no intention
of giving up--
Well, now, let's not bash
our heads right off the bat
without any preliminaries
or anything.
- Am I right, Judge?
- Right.
Now, there are ways of talking
a thing like this out,
of turning the--
well, the sweet light of reason
on a question
over a good drink of--
Uh, would you like
some sherry or something?
- What are you havin'?
- Brandy.
Yeah, but I got
some real nice sherry
- that I think you'd like.
- Brandy'll do just fine.
Oh, you taking on like a man,
you can drink like one.
Arch.
Fine with me.
Cheers.
[coughs]
Now, Josie, uh, what we
want to do is to help you.
Before we get off
on the wrong track,
let's understand that.
We want to help you.
Help me what?
Get rid of them sheep.
Now, wait a minute, Arch.
Wait a minute.
Now, Josie,
maybe I didn't make myself
too clear
about the dead line and all.
There's no such thing
as a dead line.
Now, we done populated
an entire corner of a cemetery
with folks who subscribed
to that notion.
Arch!
Now paste that
in your bonnet, woman.
I'll give you something
to paste in yours...
- Oh, hold--
- man!
Now, let's all simmer down.
There's nothing we can't solve
with sweet reason, right?
If only the lady
will give a little--
Never mind the lady.
Well, that's
the first thing you've said
since you come in here
I agree with.
Arch, will you shut
your big mouth?
You want to step outside?
Now hold on!
Shut up, both of you!
Now who are we fightin' here?
Me, and I'm fightin' back.
I've got 480 acres
and a flock of sheep,
and I mean to keep both of 'em.
Now give me another brandy.
We're gonna have to send you
home by Wells Fargo.
Never mind
how I'm gonna get home.
I just came here because I mean
to tell you what I plan to do.
Well, what you're gonna do,
woman, is listen.
Arch, so help me--
Oh, hear! Hear! Hear!
Order in the court.
Josie Minick, you listen to me.
I'm through listening!
You're getting us all
in a messy fight!
You understand that?
Now, women are not
put together to fight.
Fighting's for men to do,
and so is ranching!
Damn it!
Shut up, all of you.
Forget I'm a woman!
I'm a human being,
and I can take care
of myself and my son
without anybody's charity.
I can think, and I can work,
and I'm not gonna sit
at Annabelle Pettijohn's
and wait for some nice man
to come and rescue me.
I don't want a man,
and I don't need a man.
I've got myself,
and I've got my sheep,
and I'm gonna
bring 'em through to spring,
and I'm gonna sell my lambs
and my wool,
and I'm gonna double my money,
and nobody--do you get that--
nobody, not a damn one of you,
is gonna get in my way.
[glass shatters]
Josie, why?
Get out of my way,
Jase Meredith.
Good morning.
Good morning.
Smell the nice hot coffee?
[wheezes]
[sighs]
Thank you, Annabelle.
Ah, come on, Josie.
Let's up and at 'em.
Here we go.
No!
Oh! Oh!
Oh! Oh, what is that?
Ooh! Help me.
Oh! Oh. Ooh.
Ooh. [panting]
That's all right.
- It's perfectly normal.
- [gasps]
Ooh. [sighs]
Well, Jase says you really
gave 'em what for last night.
You don't look well.
Put something in your drink,
most likely.
[sniffs]
Brandy.
Wouldn't put it past 'em.
Well, the sheep are bad enough,
Lord knows,
but a woman with sheep!
[sighs]
Woman.
I'm not gonna budge an inch.
Hoo!
Well, guess they
haven't told you, then.
Ooh.
What?
Jase and his crew
are down there right now
rounding up your sheep.
Mm-hmm.
What?
What?
Annabelle, fetch my pants.
[exhales]
Steady, Josie.
How's that?
Well, I'd hardly say you was
the fastest gun alive.
Speed won't matter.
I'm countin' on surprise.
Oh, they'll be expecting this.
You put a woman in pants,
the rest is bound to follow.
All right, Mr. Simpson.
Let's load her.
I did.
Oh!
Mr. Simpson.
[sighs]
[yelling]
[bleating]
Hey, get them together!
Ho! Ho!
Mooney!
Mooney, get those
damn things together.
[neighs]
I never seen cow fellas
work so hard 'afore.
Look yonder there.
Boss feller.
I say he makes it.
- Whole dime?
- Uh-huh.
You're on.
[neighs]
I thank you.
Mooney!
Well, we're still
gathering 'em up.
I can see that.
Heh heh. You may never
live this down.
Well, I already come
to that conclusion.
Now just get 'em going,
will you?
All right, boys,
take them over the ridge!
Hey! Hey! Hey!
Take them over the ridge.
[yelling continues]
Go on. Hyup.
You reckon it's about time?
I'd say so.
Dog...
go.
[barking]
Now get that dog out of there!
He'll scatter the sheep!
You know, old Dog
knows what he's a-doing.
Get him out of there!
Mooney,
get those sheep back there!
[barking]
Hyah! Hyah!
Hey!
Now call off that fool dog.
Wouldn't make no sense.
We just called him on.
He's confused enough
with all that sashaying
out yonder.
Get off my land, all of you!
Now, you listen to me.
You turn that horse around,
and head back to Annabelle's,
and climb back in bed
where you belong,
and let me handle this.
I said you get off my land,
and you take your men with you,
and I mean it.
I got enough troubles
without you.
Now, scoot right this minute,
or I'll turn you over my knee
and paddle those men's britches.
Hey, boss!
What's the story?
Where are we going?
I'll get back to you
in a minute.
Ohh!
Might--Might move
out of range.
I mean it, Jase Meredith.
Get off my land.
What in the Devil
do you think you're doing?
Don't you get off that horse.
Josie, now,
you're gonna hurt someone!
Put that thing away!
You can take your men
and your horses
and your ideas about
what a woman can and can't do,
and you get off my land!
Josie, I am
only trying to look--
Out!
I am only trying to look
after your investment.
Now, if I don't move
these crazy sheep out of here,
somebody else is
gonna move in with clubs.
Out.
[sighs]
Bratsch,
Klugg...
...don't just sit there.
Gather up my sheep.
You'd hardly think
she could shoot that thing.
Oh, that woman gets crazy
every so often.
Yeah. They're prisoners
of their juices.
Well, if I ever have anything
to do with that outfit again,
you got permission
to bust me in the nose.
- Boss.
- Hmm?
Wait here.
You got her outvoted by some.
I come prepared is all.
You give me some time,
Arch, I--
No, you had all the time
that you're gonna get.
Now just move out of the road.
Look, let me get her up here.
You talk to her direct.
I'm sure she'll understand.
No. I don't palaver
with Injuns or women.
They either get out of the road,
or they get stomped on.
Now, that's the beginning,
the middle,
and the end
of this conversation.
There ain't gonna be
a sheep alive
in that hollow by nightfall.
I guarantee you that.
Now go on back, and tell
your lady what I said.
[bleating continues]
He's not bluffing.
Get out of the line of fire,
all of you.
- Well, what about you?
- Never mind.
I'm going down and try to talk
some sense into her.
I never figured I'd be going
to war with no mutton militia.
Well, nobody's
asking you to, Mooney.
I just volunteered.
I'm staying with Jase.
I stink like a sheep.
Might as well join 'em.
- Me, too!
- What do you say?
- You bet!
- Count on me!
All right.
Well, let's get on down
to the house and make a line.
Come on.
All right, spread out,
and find some cover.
You mind telling me
what the hell's going on?
We took a vote.
We decided there won't be
any clubbing today
or any day, for that matter.
Now, Arch, if you
want to take your army
back to the Stockman's,
I'll buy you all a beer.
Now, do you know what you
just said, Jase Meredith?
Now, if you want
to go to shooting,
you just start.
We'll be glad to oblige.
All right, Jase, we'll wait...
right on that hill.
Hah!
[men goading horses]
I thought I told you to--
You see those men
up on that hill?
You see the clubs
they're carrying?
Now, do you still
want to go it alone?
You still want to take
man-sized strides
in them britches?
Now get down in the house.
Josie.
I'm sorry I said that.
You're thinking,
"What will happen
if Wyoming is admitted
as the only state in the Union
which allows
its ladies to vote?"
You're thinking, no doubt,
"What will the ladies
of the other
43 great sovereign states
have to say about that?"
You can see
in your mind's eye, perhaps,
the suffragette marches,
the militant
female demonstrations.
Gentlemen,
we're not going to allow
any of those things to happen,
because our ladies will give up
their franchise voluntarily.
That's right, gentlemen.
If this distinguished body,
in its considered judgment,
decrees that they must
as a condition for statehood,
the women of Wyoming Territory
will give up
their rights to vote.
Because, gentlemen,
the pioneer woman
stands beside her man,
building together an edifice
upon which fair Columbia
can look with pride.
Gentlemen, I tell you
with all my heart--
Excuse me, Mr. Lord.
An urgent message for you from--
Where is it?
Rapa--Rapa--
- Hoe.
- Huh?
Hoe. Arapahoe.
[harmonica playing]
Three nights they've
been sitting up there now.
[harmonica playing faintly]
The trouble with that man
is you back him into a corner,
he's gonna sure as hell
do some crazy fool thing.
Yeah.
If it was anybody but Arch,
anybody but her...
I, uh, don't usually
hand out free advice, but--
No, I'm way ahead
of you, Mooney.
[bleating]
Hyah.
Cow fella up yonder
fitting himself
into a wet sweat.
Cow fellers tend to.
He'll cool off in time.
Hah!
What does that mean?
Only one way
to cool a cow fella off.
Old John Tewksbury knew how.
For a fact, he did.
John who?
Tewksbury, down in Arizona.
What's the score so far?
Well, it seems to me it's
18 Grahams and 4 Tewksburys.
Grahams is the cow fellas.
- Proud.
- Real proud.
- Tall in the saddle.
- Easy to hit.
You mean 18...
Cooled off.
Dead?
Yep, 18 and 4,
and I can't recollect
if that's countin'
the two that went down
at the siege.
- Them two at the well.
- Fetchin' water.
Went down twixt the cow fellas
and the sheep fellas.
Never could figure out
if they was kinfolk
come to join in the fight
or just strangers
passing through.
Oh, that's awful.
Yes, ma'am, it surely was.
Them being dead that way,
never could figure out
who'd have to bury 'em.
18 and 4 and 2 strangers.
That's the way
it'll likely be scored.
You see, old John Tewksbury
and his kinfolk
was surrounded by--
It's not going to happen here!
You don't think so?
Hardly any strangers
pass through here much anyhow.
There's not
gonna be any killing,
and that's all
there is about it.
I won't have it.
You don't want
no killing, ma'am?
Well, what for you truck sheep
critters into cow country for?
[playing harmonica]
[bleating]
Would you like some coffee?
No, thanks.
Where are you going?
[sighs]
You follow the coulees
south to Arch's fence line,
you climb up the hill,
and you get on the road to town.
- I'm not leaving--
- And no back talk.
You're going to Annabelle's,
and you're gonna stay there
till all the feathers
are settled
and the gun smoke's blown away.
There's not gonna be
any gun smoke, Jase.
- Oh?
- Because I'm going to give up.
I'm gonna wave the white flag
or whatever it is that you do.
Oh, are you?
And then what?
Are we gonna
make Arch Ogden king?
We gonna call him
"Your Majesty"
and give him
everything he wants?
Well, you can, but I'm not.
I'm staying right here.
I won't have men
shooting holes in each other
because of me.
Huh?
And I'm the one
who started all this trouble,
- and I've got to put a stop--
- Trouble? What trouble?
Oh, please
don't make jokes, Jase.
All right, Josie, no jokes.
I won't joke with you, and you
won't kid me about quitting.
We got a tiger by the tail,
and we're not gonna let him go.
I won't leave you out here
with the--the feathers
and the gun smoke.
Women are not
put together to fight.
There must be
something I can do, Jase.
What can I do?
There is something.
[bleating]
If you'd have sat down,
all of you,
and put your chins in your hands
and wracked your ignorant brains
for six consecutive weeks,
you couldn't have
come up with a more perfect,
tailor-made,
custom-built, foolproof way
to hold off statehood for this
miserable piece of wilderness
for the next 4,000 years.
[crowd clamoring]
'Course, it's not
a complete disaster yet.
We've only got a little ground
to get back to be where we
were when Columbus landed.
We weren't trying to offend
the ladies, Charlie. We only--
Who said anything
about offending 'em?
You didn't offend
the ladies, Fonse.
You declared war on 'em!
That's what you did.
You declared war on 'em.
Look!
Go on! Look!
[overlapping chatter]
Three cheers for
Josie Minick! That--
There he is.
[overlapping yelling]
Get him!
Get down.
Get right down
off that horse, Mr. Ogden.
How do you feel now
with your guns and your clubs
and your army of thugs
riding down there
on that helpless woman
out in the coulees?
[shouting]
Hail the conquering hero.
You got one minute,
Charlie, and that's all.
You're gonna give me 20 years
if you lay a finger
on that girl out there,
and if there's
any bodily harm done or death,
you're gonna give me
all you've got left
at the end of a rope.
You're taking this
kind of personal, ain't you?
Personal? Hell!
This is political.
What?
You know perfectly well
the whole future
of this territory
just happens to be hanging
on what happens to Josie
out there in the coulees.
If the ladies
walk out on us, Arch,
we don't have a chance
in a thousand at statehood,
and you know it.
Sure, I know it,
and you know what I say?
The hell with it.
That's what you say?
So be it. Now I'll
tell you what I say,
and you better
pay attention to this.
Either you plaster the seat
of those fat pants of yours
in your saddle and hightail it
out there to that hollow
and call off your dogs,
or I'm gonna hit you
with so many charges,
it'll take 127 lawyers
to read 'em.
Oh, we'll see about that.
We damn well will see about it.
You got an hour, Arch.
You better make use of it.
Doc, will you?
[yelling continues]
United we stand
and divided we fall.
Are we gonna
let Josie Minick down?
Are we gonna--
There's Josie!
- [shouting]
- Why, it's Josie!
- Josie!
- Josie!
[yelps]
Put me down!
Put me down, please!
Congratulations.
We want Josie!
We want Josie!
- Speech! Speech!
- Yeah, Josie!
Listen to me, everybody!
- Josie!
- The men, too!
Listen!
I don't want to talk
about women's rights.
I don't even want to talk
about sheep or the constitution
or statehood
or any of those things.
I just want to talk
about Jase Meredith and Mooney
and all those other men
out there.
Do you know what they're doing?
They're looking into guns
on those hills,
ready to get killed
because of me and my sheep.
And I'm gonna tell you
something, Arch Ogden.
You're through
running things around here.
You're not gonna run me or
Jase Meredith or anybody else!
Do you understand that?
And if you so much
as lay a hand on him,
I swear to God I'll--
- Let go of me!
- [crowd shouting]
I want to talk
to the men in this town.
I'm gonna say some things
you ladies
might not like to hear,
so I invite you all
to leave right now.
[shouting]
We got a war on our hands!
A war!
This was cow country
when we come here,
it is now,
and it's always gonna be.
That's a lie!
Ain't nothing gonna change that,
least of all no woman!
- Now is the time to stand...
- You get those. Whoop!
and join me in a holy crusade!
[crowd shouting]
I'm sorry.
We're gonna march
out in a body to that coulee
and end this sheep business
once and for all.
- Oh, no, you're not!
- [crowd shouting]
Ain't no room
in this town for sheep
or for no woman rancher
out in the coulees.
[overlapping chatter]
And there ain't a red-blooded,
100% patriotic man...
- Come on.
- that's gonna stand by
and see either one
of them things happen.
[yelling]
Now stand up!
Be counted!
You're either with me, or...
you're against me.
Now, how many of you men
are gonna give me
a resounding vote of supp--
[yelling]
The pioneer woman
stands beside her man.
[crickets chirping]
You're in charge.
But, Arch--
Shut up.
I'm through talking.
Hah! Hah!
Jase!
Water!
The barn! Water!
[sheep bleating]
Where's the water?
The dang pump won't work!
The dang pump won't work
and the barns are burning.
Don't that beat all?
Let's give the boss a hand!
Leave him be!
It's his fight.
Gets a little slick
on them sheep critters.
Arch?
Arch?
Arch?
I'm still on the boss man.
Dime?
Dime.
You're on.
Jase?
Jase?
Some of you men carry this ram
back up on his hill.
[sighs]
We got ourselves
a winner, Bratsch.
Mm, I reckon.
Let's get him into the house.
[women shouting]
Doc, let us out!
[yelling continues]
Let us out!
Let us out!
Let us out!
Get the Sheriff!
- Where have you been?
- Get us out of here!
There's Charlie.
Charlie, get us out of here.
[yelling continues]
It's daybreak.
Huh?
The girls.
Hurry up!
Yes, sir.
[bleating]
What happened?
Boss man and cow fella
had a fracas.
Barn went that-a-way.
Where's Jase?
Stove up considerable.
Carried him in yonder.
Jase.
Morning, Josie.
Have some breakfast.
Jase, are you all right?
Oh, I'm fine.
Oh, thank God.
The barn's not so good, though.
I don't care about the barn.
Oh, Jase, I told you
we should have given up.
Mm.
I've got to get rid
of those sheep out there.
Charlie Lord told me so
in no uncertain terms.
Charlie Lord?
Yes.
Jase, you don't know it,
but I started a riot last night,
and I spent the night in jail.
You what?
Yes.
Men and women
all over the territory
are fighting because of me,
and you know
where they're fighting?
Where?
In their bedrooms.
- Bedrooms?
- Yes!
- [footsteps]
- [door opens]
Boss, you better get out here.
They're coming.
Jase.
You know something,
Josie Minick?
You're worse than that Greek gal
that caused all the fighting
twixt her folks and the Trojans.
That ain't what
I come to say, howsomever.
What did you come to say, Arch?
Now, I'll do my business
with the lady, Jase.
You gonna get rid of them sheep?
- I thought that--
- Now, wait a minute.
Jase, you wanna take up
where we left off last night?
That's fine with me.
You get down
off of that horse,
and we'll go at it.
You know something,
Jase Meredith?
You're a worse calamity
than these damn sheep.
For a plug nickel--
Anytime, Arch.
Arch, get on with it!
We're gonna settle
this sheep business,
Mrs. Minick,
right here and now.
I'm listening, Mr. Ogden.
Sheep and cows
purely don't get along.
Anybody with brains
someplace other than their--
Arch, never mind that.
Most folks understand
that fact of nature.
Sheep and cows don't mix.
You can have one or the other,
but you can't have both,
so either we all
get rid of our cattle,
or you...
consider...
selling off your sheep.
I'll pay you for the flock
and for the wool
and for the spring
lamb crop, too.
I'll rebuild your barn...
and I'll sell you
first-rate breeding cows
and bulls at rock-bottom prices
so you can get
into the cattle business
alongside the rest of us.
You mean that?
Oh, I said it once.
I ain't gonna say it again.
I ain't telling you,
Mrs. Minick.
I'm asking you,
not as a woman,
man to man,
rancher to rancher,
strictly business.
She'll take
your proposition, Arch.
All right, let's go.
[gasps]
Jase.
Got a piece of advice
for you, Columbine.
You don't want to get
too independent.
Some is good.
Too much is miserable.
You can only go so far,
because first thing you know...
[knock on door]
There's a knock on the door,
and you want to be
listening, Columbine.
You sure do.
Come in.
You're beautiful.
You're just beautiful.
Well, Jenny McCardle
said to buy a $40 corset,
new French bonnet, a new dress,
join 46 churches.
She said I'd have me
a man by snow time.
Who needs 46 churches, huh?
[laughs]
- Oh, put me down.
- Huh?
I forgot something.
Now I'm ready, Mr. Meredith.
- Oh!
- [laughs]
Where are we going?
Steaks are on over at my place,
and you may never
get back alive.
[marching band playing]
[overlapping chatter, cheering]
I know it seems as though
My dreams will fade
Like the morning dew
But wait till tomorrow
Tomorrow
I'll make them all come true
The Ballad of Josie
A story to remember
A pretty girl, a sturdy girl
Made of solid timber
She set her sights
and fought her fights
'Cause justice was her aim
And Arapahoe County
has never been the same
She didn't wear
no fancy duds
And worked like any man
She faced a lot of danger
And still she never ran
For Josie had
some high ideals
And never did she lose 'em
And she also had
some rough words
In case she had to use them
The Ballad of Josie
The Ballad of Josie
A story to remember
A story to remember
A pretty girl, a sturdy girl
Made of solid timber
She set her sights
and fought her fights
'Cause justice was her aim
And Arapahoe County
has never been the same
The Ballad of Josie
The Ballad of Josie
A story to remember
A story to remember
The Ballad of Josie
The Ballad of Josie
[piano playing]
[laughing, overlapping chatter]
Luther. [snaps fingers]
[woman screams]
Get goin'.
Luther.
We've had about all of you
we can handle for tonight,
Whit Minick.
Take your hands off me.
Another nickel's worth
more out of you,
you spend the night in jail.
Now get on home to your wife...
and stay there.
[laughter, chatter continues]
All right,
back inside, everybody.
Come on. You've seen Whit Minick
go through a window before.
[running footsteps]
He's on his way, Ma.
Careful.
Oh, sorry.
Go on. Get going.
[door thumping]
Josie, open the door!
[banging on door]
Josie!
Any time, Whit Minick.
Any time.
You keep away from me.
[objects crashing]
Watch--Will you watch
what you're doing!
- Stop it!
- I only had a few!
I'm telling you.
[objects clatter]
Will you stop it?
All right, Josie!
Why you gotta hit--
No! Don't break the--
Whit!
Whit, stop it.
Josie, open that door!
Do you hear me?
This is your husband speaking.
Will you open that door?
[banging]
Whit!
Whit, get up.
Whit--Evening, Fonse.
- Howdy.
- Whit,
will you please get up there?
[spur grinding]
[ding]
Whit.
[birds chirping]
[clears throat]
We are gathered here
today to say good-bye
to one who has wandered
in our midst
for a decade or more
as a friend
and a fellow citizen,
Whit Minick.
We offer our sympathy
to Whit's father here
in his hour of grief
and to the widow Minick
and her poor little boy.
We're here
to say good-bye to Whit.
I recall Whit Minick, the man.
Why, I can see you, Whit,
as if it was yesterday,
stagger--or walking
down Main Street,
and kind of a grin on his face,
and we'd pass.
I'd turn to Whit
and say, "Hi, Whit,"
and he'd say, "Hi,"
and be on his way,
but that was Whit for you.
One always look--
one that was always
ready to say hi.
Look at 'em all sweat
trying to make up their minds.
Why, th-there wasn't a...
About what?
...a widow or an orphan--
Whether to put her in jail
or pay her a bounty.
It can go either way.
I can hear him now.
"Hi."
Amen.
Take this.
How is she doing?
Not crying.
Not smiling either.
She must feel terrible.
Not having a man
is bad enough,
but to have one
and then lose him--
You don't lose
a man like Whit Minick.
You escape him.
Must have caught him coming in.
Timing had to be just right.
There he is, drunk as $700.
Step in.
Rotate hips.
He lunges. Zip! Zam!
- [cork pops]
- Whammo!
Oh, girls,
I give you Josie Minick!
But Miss Annabelle
says you gotta eat, Ma.
Honey, Mama's not hungry.
Look what I brought you.
You want it?
Can I?
Mm-hmm.
I'll take care of you, Ma...
maybe go up to Little Bighorn
and fight Injuns.
As I was saying, gentlemen,
this is a matter of the law,
and it doesn't matter one way
or the other to the law at all
that Josie Minick had reached
the absolute end of her rope.
It doesn't matter to the law
whether she
had suffered 10 years
or 10 minutes of misery
at the hands of the deceased.
Now, we all have to deal
with a louse now and then,
and it's the law that tells us
how far we can go
and where we have to stop.
I assure you, gentlemen,
that society itself
would crumble and fall
if we fail to stop
where the law says we must...
or if we try to take the law
into our own hands.
So I want you to forget
that Whit Minick was a louse,
he welshed on his bets,
he was a miserable father
and a worse husband.
I want you to forget all that.
Let's look at it this way.
You gentlemen are all married,
most of you,
and the little woman is
going to get out of sorts
every now and again.
It's bound to happen.
What would you do
next time that happens
if the Territory of Wyoming
allows her to pick up
a pool cue, huh?
Guilty.
Not sure.
Not guilty.
One guilty, one not guilty,
six not sure.
All right, I'm the guilty.
And I'm the not guilty.
Only man with any guts
on this jury is me.
It beats me how you and I
can cow-ranch next to each other
all these years
and never a cross word
and never agree on a damn thing.
Well, I got a white-faced bull
I don't agree with either, Arch,
but I figure it ain't worth
my time to try to convert him.
[laughs]
Well, what do we do now?
We get down to cases.
Whatever the verdict,
Mrs. Minick,
the question of Luther
will still have to be faced.
Now let us recognize
certain facts.
I've been the sole support
of the three of you
for some 10 years now,
and you must recognize that
my obligation to my grandson
is somewhat different
than to you.
Mr. Minick,
we don't need your obligations.
I have two hands and a house,
and I am willing--
There's nothing wrong with
your two hands, Mrs. Minick,
but mine happen to hold
the mortgage on that house,
so until and unless you are
able to provide for Luther,
I think he'll be better off
with me in Cheyenne,
and I suspect
the court will agree.
Judge!
I'm afraid he's right, Josie.
That's the way it's got to be,
but I think it's a little
foolish chewing on all this
before we've decided whether
she's gonna go to jail or not.
Well, I think we'd better
get back in there.
[distant murmuring]
Fonse.
No peeking at my hand, Doc.
Not guilty.
Not sure.
Not sure.
Not guilty.
Well, that's two guilty
and four not guilty
and two not sure.
We're gaining.
Well, I ain't gonna vote
to hang no woman.
Oh, who in the heck
says we're gonna hang her?
She killed somebody.
You vote guilty,
you're gonna hang her.
We ain't gonna hang nobody,
not even you.
All we're gonna do
is kind of put her away
in the pokey
for a couple of weeks.
For what good reason, Arch?
The man needed killing.
Now who says?
Now you says.
You called Whit Minick
seven kinds of a no-account.
You called him a welsher
and a wife-beater
and a yellow-livered coyote,
and everybody heard you, too,
over at the Stockman's.
Wouldn't have hit him
with no pool cue.
You can't fault a man
for jostling his woman round
a little bit in his own home.
Woman needs it now and then.
There's a principle involved.
You think you're the only one
who's got principles?
I--
Uh, gents?
Judge says you can't
get a verdict by 6:00,
we're gonna take you to
supper at the Trail's End.
[gavel bangs]
Court'll come to order.
[gavel bangs]
Well, now,
just don't count your chickens
before they're hatched.
You may like it in Cheyenne.
I won't like Cheyenne.
I like it here.
Don't they think
you can take care of me?
Of course they do, Luther.
It's just that
u-until Mama gets settled,
you're better off with Grandpa.
Whoa.
We could go to Montana
and fight Injuns.
We could go cow ranching
at Willow Creek.
I can ride,
and I could learn to rope.
It's Grandpa.
I'll think about it,
sweetheart.
I assume you'll be staying here
for the time being, at least.
Yes, sir.
'Course, in an emergency,
I'm only half a day away.
Please remember that.
Thank you.
Good-bye.
Come on, Luther.
Good-bye.
You be a good boy for Mama.
Be a good boy.
I love you.
[clicks tongue]
Remember Willow Creek!
Ohh.
"Pay to the order
of Josephine Minick,
the sum of--"
[whistles]
$1,000 is
kind of an awkward sum.
It's too big to fritter away
and too little
to really go to Hell on.
- [laughing]
- You know, it made good sense
for your husband's pa
to take out insurance.
It's a wise father
that knows his own son.
Do you know what
I would do with this?
I'd buy me a $40 corset,
a perky French bonnet
and a new dress,
and then I would
go down to Denver
and join all 46 churches.
Bet you 16-to-3 that I'd
have a man by snow time.
You already got one.
It's a more or less
unmentionable arrangement.
All the comforts and none
of the responsibilities.
Renfrew, you are so jealous,
you are purely grinding
your back teeth down to a nub.
Just the same,
if I had to spend 10 years
with Whit Minick--
Well, let's face facts.
She either stays here
and knits tea cozies
and joins
my torchbearers committee
to work for women's rights,
or she can hunt up another man.
There's just two ways to...
[door opens]
go.
[sighs]
Sure was a surprise to me.
All dressed up...
No place to go. Sad thing.
Sure is.
Mm-hmm.
Look out!
[squeals]
Wait!
Ed, I need that horse and buggy.
I'm sorry, Miss Josie.
It's the law.
But what am I supposed to do?
You in trouble with the law
again, Josie, hmm?
Well, I seem to be.
He can't give me
my horse and buggy.
- Hmm?
- Probate or some such.
I don't know the fancy words.
If I did, I wouldn't be
busting my back around here.
I wanted to go out
to our place at Willow Creek.
Oh, I thought Whit let that go.
No. He wanted to,
but it was half mine,
and I wouldn't let him.
Well, if it ain't Josie Minick.
Mr. Ogden.
Congratulations.
Where are you going?
Um, up to Willow Creek.
Gonna stop by and
have a look at Josie's spread.
Up you go.
[clicks tongue]
What you gonna do
out on Willow Creek?
Raise beef.
Now don't josh me.
Well, a woman's
gotta turn her hand at something
with a boy to raise and all.
Isn't that right, Josie?
You're gonna be neighbors.
[chuckles]
He's pulling my leg.
I think.
What are you up to
out at Willow Creek?
Oh, I just thought I'd go out
and take a look around.
It's been a long time.
Nice, isn't it?
[sighs]
I kind of forgot what spring
was like in the country.
Well, I guess
you didn't get a chance
to get out here too often.
You got any plans, Josie?
No. Not really.
You know, I don't think
it's gonna do you any good
sitting around Annabelle's
with the girls.
Got any suggestions?
No, but I'll think on it
if you want me to.
Whoa. Whoa. Whoa.
There it is.
It's a nice place, Josie.
Oh, it could have been.
We just never really
got it started, Jase.
We built the house...
proved it up...
but then...
Yeah, I know.
[sighs] Come on.
- Whoa.
- Thank you.
Oh, Jase!
Oh, look at this mess!
Looks like some saddle tramp's
been taking advantage
of your hospitality.
Every winter.
Oh, dear, it's filthy!
Josie, you know, those cows
out there belong to Arch Ogden.
He surrounds you on three sides,
and he's had his eye
on this patch of ground
for quite a while.
He needs the grazing space.
You know, if you
go about it just right,
you can get
a good price out of him,
good price.
Well, I hadn't thought
about selling, Jase.
Well, what are you
going to do with it?
Well, now, there's no reason
I can't use it
for the same purpose, is there?
- Grazing space?
- Uh-huh.
For what?
For cows, my own cows.
Your own cows?
That's right.
A woman running a cow ranch?
[laughs]
Well, now,
what's so wrong about that?
Well, Josie, you didn't
take me seriously back in town.
I mean, I was just kidding Arch
about what I said, you know.
I know that, Jase.
It was Luther's idea.
- Hmm?
- It was.
He said to me,
"Mama, we can either
go to Montana and fight Injuns,
or we can raise cows
at Willow Creek."
And this seems to be
the most practical.
Not by much, it isn't.
Now, what do you mean,
not by much?
There's no reason
why I can't have
my own cows grazing on my own--
Now, Mrs. Minick, there are
a whole lot of reasons
why you can't have
your own cows out here,
and one day we'll sit down
and talk about 'em.
Well, there's no time
like the present.
But unfortunately,
I have to go.
Oh, you do?
Yeah. I got friends
coming for supper.
- Oh, supper?
- Mm-hmm.
Well, we better get a move on.
Well, we don't have to
gallop at it, you know.
I'm sorry, Jase.
You should have told me
you had company coming.
Oh, that doesn't matter.
Well, it's so out of your way
to take me back to town.
No, no, it's nothing special.
It's just a dull
political meeting--
Wyoming statehood.
Hey, you mind a little
cigar smoke and politics?
Well, to tell you the truth,
it sounds awful.
I'll feed you
better than Annabelle,
and that's
a money-back guarantee.
That sounds good.
[chuckles]
You're sure I won't be
in the way, now?
No, no. They're all
your friends, too, Josie.
Get up! Get up!
Yes, sir, there's nothing
like a pretty woman
to cheer up a dull
political meeting.
[clicks tongue]
Josie, I understand
why you're upset
about this cow ranch business.
I'm not upset.
They're upset.
I want to make sure
you're not mad about that trial.
Of course not.
You should never
pay too much attention
to what a prosecutor says.
You know,
if I don't make the right noises
in that courtroom,
they figure
I haven't earned my pay.
I never tried a case I wanted
to lose as much as that one.
I want you to know that.
Ah, he's all heart,
that Charlie is.
Heh. Jase!
I don't want her
feeding a grudge!
Charlie,
I'm not feeding a grudge.
I just want to find a way
to feed Luther and me.
That's all.
Now, don't you worry.
We'll take care of you, Josie.
I don't want
to be taken care of.
Don't you understand that?
Who's going
to foreman for you...
Annabelle Pettijohn?
[chuckles]
[laughs]
I don't think that's
very funny, Mr. Pruitt.
Oh, didn't mean it to be.
It ain't funny at all.
It's nutty, that's what it is.
- Nutty?
- Nutty!
Sheriff, so help me--
Josie Minick,
you remember your place.
And what place is that?
It ain't on a cow ranch,
for one thing.
What is so wrong
about a woman on a cow ranch?
I'm strong, and I'm
able to do anything--
Tut-tut-tut, Josie.
Take it--
- Please don't tut-tut me.
- Stop.
Sit down, Fonse.
You're getting in
over your head.
You don't even know
what we're talking about.
Excuse me, Mr. Meredith.
Dinner is served.
Thank you, Ben.
Thank you very much.
Josie.
Shall we go on in, gentlemen?
Here we are.
Right here.
- Oh, Fonse!
- Come on, Doc.
Eh.
Now...
Well, somebody's got...
Yes, sir.
Nothing like a pretty woman
to cheer up
a dull political meeting.
Josie, I had a notion that you
might be able to give us
a woman's point of view
on a political question.
Charlie, would you like to...
Thank you, Jase.
Josie, we want
the Territory of Wyoming
to be admitted
into the Union as a state.
Right, but to go in as a state,
we gotta get our ladies
to give up the vote.
You see, if we go in
with the ladies voting,
well, then the rest of the women
in the other 43 states
are liable to get kinda jealous.
You see the problem?
So we have to ask our ladies
to give up the vote,
just temporarily,
you understand,
and then we'll give it back
to them once we get in.
Are you going to ask us
or tell us?
What kind of question is that?
You told me to remember
my place, Mr. Pruitt.
I'm only asking.
I was talking
about cow ranching.
Ahem. Yeah.
Well, Josie, you see,
the ladies have kind of got us
between a rock
and a hard place, you know?
Well, now, Charlie here is
going back to Washington
to speak his piece,
but he wants to go
feeling that he has
the cooperation of the ladies.
Now, what do you think
of our chances?
Not much.
I'm getting fed up to the gills
with crusadin' females.
One thing you
can't kick under the rug,
women are people.
In this territory,
women are also voters,
and if you want
to stay in office,
you've got to learn
to live with that fact.
If Josie Minick here
wants to go cow ranching
or if she wants to go
fighting Indians at the Bighorn,
there's nothing
in our constitution
says she can't do it.
You're gonna tell 'em that
in Washington?
They already know it.
Annabelle sends them
a telegram every Friday.
You know what our motto is?
"Cedant arma togae."
Let arms yield to the gown.
Go forth, Josie.
Go forth and conquer.
The world is your oyster,
especially in Wyoming.
Thank you, Charlie.
Not enough room for both of us.
Get going.
[mooing continues]
[mooing continues]
Hi, Jase.
That cow's been bedded down
in the back room,
thinks she owns the place.
Say, I got something
to show you.
Watch this.
All it needed was priming.
It's good as new.
The roof's tight.
Put new glass in my windows
for $7.00.
Come on in.
Come on.
Looks a little different, huh?
'Course, the floor's rotted out
in a couple of places,
but I can fix that.
Oh, when the court
releases my furniture, Jase,
I'm gonna have it all
sent out from town.
Won't that be nice?
Oh, Jase, if I can just
get this place to pay...
I'll have my son back soon.
Would you like some coffee?
[skittering]
Well, say hello to Columbine.
We got a friend here
I want you to meet.
She lives under the floor.
She won't hurt you.
Got an owl in the attic, too.
I'll get the coffee.
Well, it's a fine place
you got here, Josie.
Wait till you see it
when I finish--
It's a fine place
for owls and skunks and--
but not for a fool woman
who thinks she can go
cow ranching all by herself.
What did you say?
You heard me.
I said, "Fool woman."
I do not intend to have you
cow ranching alone,
not today or tomorrow
or next year or ever.
- You don't intend to have--
- That's right.
Well, then just what do you
want me to do, Jase?
Sit on a shelf
at Annabelle Pettijohn's
or take upstairs employment
at a saloon?
- I never said such a thing.
- I said it,
but you'd approve
of that, wouldn't you?
It's perfectly all right
for a woman
to take that kind of a job,
isn't it?
To you, a woman is a--
is a species of idiot
to be kept
in a back closet somewhere
and spoon-fed
three times a day.
That's what--
All right, Josie,
that's enough.
- Now, you listen to me.
- Fine.
I got no prejudice
against women,
not entirely, anyhow.
There are places
that women belong
and there are places they don't.
I am so sick and tired--
And one of the places they don't
is all alone on a cattle spread
with Indians and wolves
and drunk saddle tramps
and cow thieves and roundups.
That means roping
and branding and castrating.
And then there's blizzard kill
and Texas fever
and locoweed and bronc busting
and riding line
and fence mending
and a couple of hundred
other things
that'd back a man up against
the wall, much less a woman.
What do you mean,
"Much less a woman"?
Well, I ain't about to
explain that remark to you,
not now or not ever,
but you're not
gonna blow $1,000 on beef
and go ranching out here
in the coulees
all by yourself.
- It's my money, and--
- That's it, and that's it!
Get out!
Damn!
Aah!
[screams]
[groans]
[sobbing]
And I can help
with the advertising.
I can take care
of customers for you.
There's just no limit
to what I could do.
I just had a thought.
My wife's in Omaha visiting
her sister and I'm alone--
Please, Mr. Fremont.
I really do need this job.
I'll work the first week
for nothing.
I got a better idea.
How about you and I go--
Mr. Fremont.
Hey, Josie,
if all you want is a job,
they need a waitress
down at the Trail's End!
[door slams]
A woman in a bank?
Yes, sir.
You mean handling
the money and all?
Oh, I'm true blue, Mr. Hovitt,
honest as the day is long,
and if you'll just
give me a chance--
Just thought of something.
Nick's looking for a waitress
down at the Trail's End.
Thank you.
Got a great piece of news.
I can have the job?
Slim Trent just told me
they need a waitress--
At the Trail's End.
You heard.
[sighs]
Yes, I heard.
Thank you.
[overlapping chatter]
[piano playing, laughter]
How you doing tonight?
[chatter continues]
[no audible dialogue]
[laughing]
Come on now.
Bring those over here.
To the table over here.
I'll be right there.
[laughing]
Bring those orders over here.
Just stack it up on me.
Ohh!
Oh, I'm sorry!
Oh, I'm sorry!
[groaning]
[chatter continues]
[laughing]
Sorry!
I'm sorry.
I-I'm sorry, Nick.
You should be.
Piece of white cake
for the corner table.
Piece of--
[dish shatters]
Piece of white cake.
Uh...
coming.
[blows]
[laughing]
Oh, here she comes.
Ow!
Ow. Ow!
[laughing]
Pick 'em up!
I'm sorry.
[yelps]
[laughing]
You did real good, Josie.
Evening, Josie.
I see you got through
your first day
in fine style, hmm?
What's yours?
Eh, coffee.
Cream and sugar?
Real good waitress
you got there, Nick.
[baby crying]
Oh, uh...
[crying continues]
[shushing]
Whoop.
Good morning.
I got a political meeting
in Cheyenne this afternoon.
You happen to be
going in that direction,
I'd be mighty proud to take you.
[crying continues]
[crying stops]
I'll take that, Josie.
I--
[crying resumes]
Ahem.
[sighs]
Looks like it's
gonna be a long ride.
I'm sorry for blowing up
at you like I did, Josie,
out at the ranch, I mean.
You know, they say
that the admission of ignorance
is the beginning of wisdom.
I don't know
a damn thing about women.
I never did.
You gotta take that
into account.
Well, I said my apologies.
Well, I don't intend
to say mine.
Cried all over my pillow with
what you did to me last night.
Heh. Well, you got to admit,
you were pretty hard on me.
I meant to be.
Are you quitting, Josie?
Are you running off
to Grandpa Alpheus?
Are you licked?
Maybe.
Say, you know, I got some--
I got some fried chicken
back here,
and I got a place in mind
that we can eat it.
Mrs. Minick, I just invited you
for some fried chicken.
Now, the least you can do
is say yes or no.
I'd be delighted.
'Course, now that
I think about it,
it's not a good idea to eat
when you're all riled up.
You know, when you get mad,
all them juices
just churn around
down there something fierce,
and then, uh, the chicken
will just sit there
and get kind of soggy
and lie there,
and oh, no. No, no.
I wouldn't want to--I wouldn't
want to force any food on you
if your stomach's
gonna fight it, unh-uh.
Oh, no.
I said I'd be delighted.
Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!
Here we are.
Why are we stopping here?
This is where we're gonna
have our picnic. Come on.
There you are.
Oh, my goodness.
[horse neighs]
Look.
Look at this.
Well, this, Mrs. Minick,
is everything I had once.
This was my home
when I first came out here.
The Indians burned me out.
Really, Jase?
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
I was kind of a colossal failure
back in Ohio,
and I took what I had left,
and I came out here
with a woman...
...and I sort of
did it again.
She left me, and I spent
the whole winter out here
with nothing to eat
but snowshoe rabbits
and chicken mash.
But I stayed.
Well, that's
the important thing, isn't it?
You stayed.
Yeah, I guess so.
Well, I had--
I had good friends, too.
You remember
old man Pettigrew in the bank?
- Mm-hmm.
- Well, he was one of 'em.
He gave me a loan, a cash loan.
He didn't have to, but he did,
and it got me back on my feet.
Do you know that that's
the first place I ever saw you?
In the bank.
Your hair was different then.
It was down, huh?
- Yes.
- Yeah.
And you had on
a blue polka-dot dress
with a white collar,
and it kind of set off
your yellow hair.
- [gasps]
- And your boy was with you.
Oh, he couldn't have
been more than two then,
and he was, uh--he was
destroying a peppermint stick.
[laughs]
That--That's six years ago.
Yeah. Yeah, I guess it is.
Well, old man Pettigrew
has been dead for four.
Sure.
Gosh, how can you remember
all that so well?
Well...
[sheep bleating]
Uh-oh.
I was afraid of that.
Hmm.
That's one calamity
I missed out on.
This was still cow country
when I pulled out.
Oh, look, Jase!
Look at the baby!
Ohh!
Oh, look at him!
Is he precious?
Oh, he the good boy?
Ooh, he the good boy.
Heh.
He probably lost his mommy, huh?
No. It's the other way
around most likely.
You know that the only one
of the Lord's creatures
too stupid to recognize
its own young one
is a mother sheep?
Don't you say that.
No, I mean it.
That could be the only
black lamb in the whole flock,
but if she can't sniff its tail,
she wouldn't know it
from a goat.
- I don't believe it.
- Now what are you gonna do?
You gonna eat or open up
an orphanage? Come on.
You have no heart.
Ah...
Oh, what a baby.
Oh, yeah.
Oh, yes, he's a beauty.
Yes, he's a beauty.
Hmm.
He probably thinks
you're his mommy.
Ah, dear. Heh heh heh.
He wouldn't know any better,
you know that?
Boy, if my friends
saw me doing this,
they'd run me
out of town on a rail.
If I had thought about it,
we would have stopped to eat
north of the dead line.
The what?
The dead line.
Passed it about 10 minutes back.
Sheep to the south.
Cattle to the north.
I don't know anything
about a dead line.
Well, there's nothing
complicated about it.
You see, the cow men
opened up this territory,
and then the sheep men
tried to move in.
Well, we had us quite a debate.
We burned up a lot of powder
and a lot of lead,
and we buried a few,
and then finally
we drew us a line
across the southeast section
of the state.
The sheep stay on one side
and the cattle on the other.
There. Look at that.
Ooh, thank you.
May I have that napkin?
Here.
Well, anyway, that little guy
there is gonna grow up
to be one of those dumb,
miserable critters over there.
If they're so dumb, why does
anybody bother with them?
Now tell me that.
Money.
You know,
it takes money, capital,
brains, sweat to raise cattle,
but any idiot
with a two-bit dog
and a Winchester
can raise sheep.
Hmm.
[bell dings]
Hup. Whoa.
Hyup!
Mom! Mommy!
Mom!
Oh, Mom!
I missed you something fierce.
I'm so glad you come.
Ooh, let me see you!
Oh, you look good.
You look so good!
You're gonna stay,
ain't you, Ma?
Oh, honey--
You're welcome to stay
if you like, Mrs. Minick.
Oh, thank you very much.
[grunts]
Let Mama take that.
Look at me.
I must say, I was rather
surprised at your coming here.
Thank you.
Well, I want to find
something to do, Mr. Minick.
You know I want to make
a home for Luther and me.
Mrs. Minick,
Luther has a home,
and until such time as you
are able to provide for him,
he will remain here.
Now, as to your own plans,
if you intend to live here,
well and good.
There are plenty of duties
to perform around the house
if you choose.
In that case, I shall give
my housekeeper notice.
Well, if that
doesn't appeal to you,
there may be a position
clerking
at the mercantile company.
The hours are 7:00
in the morning
until 7:00 at night,
with a half-hour for lunch.
Salary is $50 a month,
less an agreed sum for
your room and board here.
[footsteps on stairs]
I put your suitcase away.
Want me to help you unpack?
That about covers
the prospects, Mrs. Minick.
I, uh, suggest
you think it over.
Now, if you'll excuse me...
Well, now tell me,
how do you like
living with Grandpa, huh?
It's awful.
Is it?
Well, honey, Grandpa invited
Mama to live here, too.
Would you like that?
Oh, no, Ma.
Please take me home.
Please.
Oh, Luther! Luther!
Oh, God, baby.
Oh, plea--
[bell dings]
[horse snorts]
Hi, Debbie.
What have you been up to, Jase?
Buying a new saddle.
You know what I mean.
[chuckles]
I got a brand-new Parcheesi set.
[horse neighs]
You fond of Parcheesi, Jase?
[chuckles]
There's Parcheesi
and backgammon,
Round The World
With Nellie Bly...
cribbage.
Maybe you know
some two-handed games.
Jase!
Welcome home!
[sighs]
Thank you, Jase.
Well, I didn't
expect you back so soon.
Well, uh, something came up.
Good-bye!
Well, not--not bad news,
I hope.
Well, it depends
on how you look at it.
Thank you very much.
Excuse me, Jase.
Hey, wait a minute.
Give me that.
- Oh, no, I can manage, Jase.
- No. No.
That won't do at all.
Now, come on.
Now, I told you,
Jase, I can do it.
Now, you look silly
toting that bag in a town
- full of able-bodied men.
- I can just manage.
Now gimme.
Now, where are we going?
To the stable.
- Say, Ed?
- Yes'm.
Is that a hack horse?
Yes'm.
Good. You'll just do fine.
And I'll want him
for the rest of the day.
Now, he ain't harness broke,
and I got no buggies.
Saddle him up, Ed.
But I ain't got
no sidesaddle, Miss Josie.
I told you that before.
I'll be back shortly.
You just get him ready.
Oh. Thank you.
Mr. Simpson!
Oh, hi, Josie. Heh.
How are things down in Cheyenne?
Oh, fine,
thank you, Mr. Simpson.
I'd like a pair of Levis,
please.
Right.
Uh, let me see.
What size is Luther now?
Oh, not for Luther.
For me.
Uh, how's that again?
I'd like a pair of Levis for me.
- Pants?
- Mm-hmm, pants.
Josie.
Oh, thank you.
See if you can find
a pair of boots,
Mr. Simpson, size seven.
Oh, don't have no ladies' boots.
Well, feet are pretty much
the same, aren't they?
Well, I never checked, Josie.
I'm a bachelor.
Well, why don't we try,
Mr. Simpson, huh?
A boys' size, maybe?
Size seven.
Yes, ma'am.
Size seven.
Thanks.
Oh, I almost forgot,
Mr. Simpson.
I want one of
those blue shirts, too,
36 bust.
Bust?
Oh, d-don't come in busts.
Necks and sleeves, no busts.
What's she up to?
I-I don't know.
What do you think,
Mr. Simpson?
Think they fit all right?
Well, I don't think
you're exactly
what the manufacturer
had in mind.
[sighs]
Uh, don't forget
that blue shirt.
No busts. Ain't got
a bust in the house.
No busts.
What size you say
that was, Josie?
36 bust.
No busts!
Here. Try this.
Thanks.
The Presbyterians hear
about this, I'm through.
Josie, what are we
trying to prove, anyway?
Huh?
You haven't still
got that crazy notion
about cow ranching, have you?
Mr. Simpson,
how much do I owe you?
Well, that'll be 11.65.
And, Mr. Simpson,
uh, if you don't mind,
I'd like to leave
all my things here
and my suitcase,
and I'll pick everything up
later, all right?
Thank you very much. Good-bye.
[sniffs]
[door closes]
[neighs]
All set, Ed?
Yes'm.
[screams]
[grunts] I think
I need your help, Ed.
Yes, ma'am.
Heading south?
Now, what in tarnation
do you reckon she's up to?
Chickens.
What do you mean chicken?
A chicken is a domesticated bird
grown for its eggs,
meat and feathers,
goes back in human history--
Doc, will you?
You know what he means.
How you know Josie's
in the chicken business?
I'm bound by my oath
to respect the confidence
of my patients.
Whoever heard of a chicken ranch
in this part of the country?
Educated guess.
Annabelle come right out
and say it was chickens?
Eh, not exactly.
What'd she say?
Well, she kind of made a slip,
and I jumped on it
like a duck on a june bug.
I was taking her blood pressure
at the time,
and her heart did flip-flops
when she realized
she let the cat out of the bag.
She used the word "flock."
[felt rips]
Flock?
That's what she said.
"Flock."
Now, what you gonna raise
in this part of the country
that comes in flocks
except chickens?
Geese maybe or ducks?
You sure she said "flock"?
Positive.
Geese come in gaggles.
[chuckles]
What's she gonna do,
trail-drive
a flock of fricassee hens
south of the railhead
every fall?
[laughs]
That ain't funny.
Don't know as I'd cotton
to a chicken ranch
in the middle of my range.
Well, it's not your range,
it's hers,
all 480 acres of it.
Let her have her chickens.
It's not chickens.
It's not chickens?
- Then what--
- [lamb bleating]
That ain't what you think,
fellas. That's a chicken.
[bleating]
Now, you ought to know
better than that, young fella,
walking into a cow-town saloon
without no invitation.
She got no education yet.
It's too young for some.
Why, thank you, sir.
[sighs]
Long dry run up from the south.
[bleats]
[flock bleating]
Good Lord Almighty!
What in the name
of the Kingdom of God
do you think you're up to?
Why, sheep.
These here are sheep.
You're damn right they're sheep!
Turn 'em around!
Get 'em out of here, before--
Oh, we ain't headed that way.
We's headed up yonder.
You ain't going nowhere!
You know,
I believe this little feller
would be better off
on the ground.
Well, just set him down.
He'll find his mammy directly.
I'll wring his scrawny neck!
Back up.
Dog!
Get him! Get him!
[barks]
[snarling]
Let me up!
Cow fella down yonder
don't like sheep critters.
Mostly they don't.
Now get this cur dog off
of me before I bust his head.
No offense, boy.
He's a right little mean dog.
What's his name?
Dog. We just call him Dog.
[Arch groans]
Butter wouldn't melt
in her mouth.
Go on.
Say something nice.
Mrs. Minick, there has
never been a woman
hung in the whole history
of Arapahoe County.
Now, if you'll
get down from there
and let me talk to you,
you might not be the first.
Josie, do you hear me?
Now, you get down
off that horse!
[whistles a tune]
Josie, you listen to me!
Josie!
Three cheers for the first
female sheep rancher
in southern Wyoming!
Hip hip...
Hooray!
- Hooray!
- Hooray!
Hooray!
- Hooray!
- Hooray!
- Hooray!
- [laughs]
I smell like
a damn sheep already.
And if it hadn't been for you,
we'd have been sensible
and hung her.
Can't hang a person
for manslaughter.
We'd have found a way.
Now she's your doing,
and she's all yours,
her and her stinking sheep
and her crowbait herders,
that whole outfit.
Now you get rid of her,
or I will.
Baa, baa, black sheep,
have you any wool?
Yes, sir, yes, sir,
a whole town full
[continues humming]
[bleating]
And did you see what happened
when you drove those things
through town?
Now, nobody likes it,
and nobody's gonna have
any sheep around here,
- and I'm telling you that!
- Well, I did,
and I don't much care.
I don't care what you say.
They're staying.
No, they're not!
[barks]
[snarls]
There ain't
no question about it.
We should have hung her
when we had the chance.
Arch, more brandy?
Yeah.
Maybe she ain't coming.
She'll be here.
Don't you worry.
You're one hell of a judge.
That's all I got to say.
Not my doing.
It's the law.
Ahh! There's ways
of looking at the law.
There's only one way
to look at this one.
Well, that's the trouble.
We ain't got a leg to stand on.
There's no legal status
for the dead line.
It's lawful to raise sheep
wherever you want to.
If she wants
to take us to court,
why, she'll beat us hands down.
You let me pick the jury,
and she won't.
We're not about
to let you pick the jury.
Crawfishers,
every last one of you.
It's a democracy.
What this country needs
is a good king.
It ain't gonna get
to court, anyway.
Ah, it's just as well.
She gets us into court,
Jase will argufy all night long
to turn her loose.
If I had my way--
You can't use a club
on a woman.
That's all there is about it.
You gotta
sweet-talk her out of it.
[horse galloping]
And that's just
what we're gonna do.
Arch...
Oh, I ain't making
no promises. Let her in.
[knock on door]
Evening, neighbor.
Well, come in. Come in.
Come right on in here,
and see all your good friends.
- Yes, sir. There we are.
- Hello, Josie.
Matter of fact,
your name happened to come up
in the conversation
just a little bit ago.
- Well, if it's about my sheep--
- Well, now, there you are.
You see,
you put your finger right on it.
Now, what we propose to do
is just to sit down
and thrash this thing out
like grown-up men and women.
I have no intention
of giving up--
Well, now, let's not bash
our heads right off the bat
without any preliminaries
or anything.
- Am I right, Judge?
- Right.
Now, there are ways of talking
a thing like this out,
of turning the--
well, the sweet light of reason
on a question
over a good drink of--
Uh, would you like
some sherry or something?
- What are you havin'?
- Brandy.
Yeah, but I got
some real nice sherry
- that I think you'd like.
- Brandy'll do just fine.
Oh, you taking on like a man,
you can drink like one.
Arch.
Fine with me.
Cheers.
[coughs]
Now, Josie, uh, what we
want to do is to help you.
Before we get off
on the wrong track,
let's understand that.
We want to help you.
Help me what?
Get rid of them sheep.
Now, wait a minute, Arch.
Wait a minute.
Now, Josie,
maybe I didn't make myself
too clear
about the dead line and all.
There's no such thing
as a dead line.
Now, we done populated
an entire corner of a cemetery
with folks who subscribed
to that notion.
Arch!
Now paste that
in your bonnet, woman.
I'll give you something
to paste in yours...
- Oh, hold--
- man!
Now, let's all simmer down.
There's nothing we can't solve
with sweet reason, right?
If only the lady
will give a little--
Never mind the lady.
Well, that's
the first thing you've said
since you come in here
I agree with.
Arch, will you shut
your big mouth?
You want to step outside?
Now hold on!
Shut up, both of you!
Now who are we fightin' here?
Me, and I'm fightin' back.
I've got 480 acres
and a flock of sheep,
and I mean to keep both of 'em.
Now give me another brandy.
We're gonna have to send you
home by Wells Fargo.
Never mind
how I'm gonna get home.
I just came here because I mean
to tell you what I plan to do.
Well, what you're gonna do,
woman, is listen.
Arch, so help me--
Oh, hear! Hear! Hear!
Order in the court.
Josie Minick, you listen to me.
I'm through listening!
You're getting us all
in a messy fight!
You understand that?
Now, women are not
put together to fight.
Fighting's for men to do,
and so is ranching!
Damn it!
Shut up, all of you.
Forget I'm a woman!
I'm a human being,
and I can take care
of myself and my son
without anybody's charity.
I can think, and I can work,
and I'm not gonna sit
at Annabelle Pettijohn's
and wait for some nice man
to come and rescue me.
I don't want a man,
and I don't need a man.
I've got myself,
and I've got my sheep,
and I'm gonna
bring 'em through to spring,
and I'm gonna sell my lambs
and my wool,
and I'm gonna double my money,
and nobody--do you get that--
nobody, not a damn one of you,
is gonna get in my way.
[glass shatters]
Josie, why?
Get out of my way,
Jase Meredith.
Good morning.
Good morning.
Smell the nice hot coffee?
[wheezes]
[sighs]
Thank you, Annabelle.
Ah, come on, Josie.
Let's up and at 'em.
Here we go.
No!
Oh! Oh!
Oh! Oh, what is that?
Ooh! Help me.
Oh! Oh. Ooh.
Ooh. [panting]
That's all right.
- It's perfectly normal.
- [gasps]
Ooh. [sighs]
Well, Jase says you really
gave 'em what for last night.
You don't look well.
Put something in your drink,
most likely.
[sniffs]
Brandy.
Wouldn't put it past 'em.
Well, the sheep are bad enough,
Lord knows,
but a woman with sheep!
[sighs]
Woman.
I'm not gonna budge an inch.
Hoo!
Well, guess they
haven't told you, then.
Ooh.
What?
Jase and his crew
are down there right now
rounding up your sheep.
Mm-hmm.
What?
What?
Annabelle, fetch my pants.
[exhales]
Steady, Josie.
How's that?
Well, I'd hardly say you was
the fastest gun alive.
Speed won't matter.
I'm countin' on surprise.
Oh, they'll be expecting this.
You put a woman in pants,
the rest is bound to follow.
All right, Mr. Simpson.
Let's load her.
I did.
Oh!
Mr. Simpson.
[sighs]
[yelling]
[bleating]
Hey, get them together!
Ho! Ho!
Mooney!
Mooney, get those
damn things together.
[neighs]
I never seen cow fellas
work so hard 'afore.
Look yonder there.
Boss feller.
I say he makes it.
- Whole dime?
- Uh-huh.
You're on.
[neighs]
I thank you.
Mooney!
Well, we're still
gathering 'em up.
I can see that.
Heh heh. You may never
live this down.
Well, I already come
to that conclusion.
Now just get 'em going,
will you?
All right, boys,
take them over the ridge!
Hey! Hey! Hey!
Take them over the ridge.
[yelling continues]
Go on. Hyup.
You reckon it's about time?
I'd say so.
Dog...
go.
[barking]
Now get that dog out of there!
He'll scatter the sheep!
You know, old Dog
knows what he's a-doing.
Get him out of there!
Mooney,
get those sheep back there!
[barking]
Hyah! Hyah!
Hey!
Now call off that fool dog.
Wouldn't make no sense.
We just called him on.
He's confused enough
with all that sashaying
out yonder.
Get off my land, all of you!
Now, you listen to me.
You turn that horse around,
and head back to Annabelle's,
and climb back in bed
where you belong,
and let me handle this.
I said you get off my land,
and you take your men with you,
and I mean it.
I got enough troubles
without you.
Now, scoot right this minute,
or I'll turn you over my knee
and paddle those men's britches.
Hey, boss!
What's the story?
Where are we going?
I'll get back to you
in a minute.
Ohh!
Might--Might move
out of range.
I mean it, Jase Meredith.
Get off my land.
What in the Devil
do you think you're doing?
Don't you get off that horse.
Josie, now,
you're gonna hurt someone!
Put that thing away!
You can take your men
and your horses
and your ideas about
what a woman can and can't do,
and you get off my land!
Josie, I am
only trying to look--
Out!
I am only trying to look
after your investment.
Now, if I don't move
these crazy sheep out of here,
somebody else is
gonna move in with clubs.
Out.
[sighs]
Bratsch,
Klugg...
...don't just sit there.
Gather up my sheep.
You'd hardly think
she could shoot that thing.
Oh, that woman gets crazy
every so often.
Yeah. They're prisoners
of their juices.
Well, if I ever have anything
to do with that outfit again,
you got permission
to bust me in the nose.
- Boss.
- Hmm?
Wait here.
You got her outvoted by some.
I come prepared is all.
You give me some time,
Arch, I--
No, you had all the time
that you're gonna get.
Now just move out of the road.
Look, let me get her up here.
You talk to her direct.
I'm sure she'll understand.
No. I don't palaver
with Injuns or women.
They either get out of the road,
or they get stomped on.
Now, that's the beginning,
the middle,
and the end
of this conversation.
There ain't gonna be
a sheep alive
in that hollow by nightfall.
I guarantee you that.
Now go on back, and tell
your lady what I said.
[bleating continues]
He's not bluffing.
Get out of the line of fire,
all of you.
- Well, what about you?
- Never mind.
I'm going down and try to talk
some sense into her.
I never figured I'd be going
to war with no mutton militia.
Well, nobody's
asking you to, Mooney.
I just volunteered.
I'm staying with Jase.
I stink like a sheep.
Might as well join 'em.
- Me, too!
- What do you say?
- You bet!
- Count on me!
All right.
Well, let's get on down
to the house and make a line.
Come on.
All right, spread out,
and find some cover.
You mind telling me
what the hell's going on?
We took a vote.
We decided there won't be
any clubbing today
or any day, for that matter.
Now, Arch, if you
want to take your army
back to the Stockman's,
I'll buy you all a beer.
Now, do you know what you
just said, Jase Meredith?
Now, if you want
to go to shooting,
you just start.
We'll be glad to oblige.
All right, Jase, we'll wait...
right on that hill.
Hah!
[men goading horses]
I thought I told you to--
You see those men
up on that hill?
You see the clubs
they're carrying?
Now, do you still
want to go it alone?
You still want to take
man-sized strides
in them britches?
Now get down in the house.
Josie.
I'm sorry I said that.
You're thinking,
"What will happen
if Wyoming is admitted
as the only state in the Union
which allows
its ladies to vote?"
You're thinking, no doubt,
"What will the ladies
of the other
43 great sovereign states
have to say about that?"
You can see
in your mind's eye, perhaps,
the suffragette marches,
the militant
female demonstrations.
Gentlemen,
we're not going to allow
any of those things to happen,
because our ladies will give up
their franchise voluntarily.
That's right, gentlemen.
If this distinguished body,
in its considered judgment,
decrees that they must
as a condition for statehood,
the women of Wyoming Territory
will give up
their rights to vote.
Because, gentlemen,
the pioneer woman
stands beside her man,
building together an edifice
upon which fair Columbia
can look with pride.
Gentlemen, I tell you
with all my heart--
Excuse me, Mr. Lord.
An urgent message for you from--
Where is it?
Rapa--Rapa--
- Hoe.
- Huh?
Hoe. Arapahoe.
[harmonica playing]
Three nights they've
been sitting up there now.
[harmonica playing faintly]
The trouble with that man
is you back him into a corner,
he's gonna sure as hell
do some crazy fool thing.
Yeah.
If it was anybody but Arch,
anybody but her...
I, uh, don't usually
hand out free advice, but--
No, I'm way ahead
of you, Mooney.
[bleating]
Hyah.
Cow fella up yonder
fitting himself
into a wet sweat.
Cow fellers tend to.
He'll cool off in time.
Hah!
What does that mean?
Only one way
to cool a cow fella off.
Old John Tewksbury knew how.
For a fact, he did.
John who?
Tewksbury, down in Arizona.
What's the score so far?
Well, it seems to me it's
18 Grahams and 4 Tewksburys.
Grahams is the cow fellas.
- Proud.
- Real proud.
- Tall in the saddle.
- Easy to hit.
You mean 18...
Cooled off.
Dead?
Yep, 18 and 4,
and I can't recollect
if that's countin'
the two that went down
at the siege.
- Them two at the well.
- Fetchin' water.
Went down twixt the cow fellas
and the sheep fellas.
Never could figure out
if they was kinfolk
come to join in the fight
or just strangers
passing through.
Oh, that's awful.
Yes, ma'am, it surely was.
Them being dead that way,
never could figure out
who'd have to bury 'em.
18 and 4 and 2 strangers.
That's the way
it'll likely be scored.
You see, old John Tewksbury
and his kinfolk
was surrounded by--
It's not going to happen here!
You don't think so?
Hardly any strangers
pass through here much anyhow.
There's not
gonna be any killing,
and that's all
there is about it.
I won't have it.
You don't want
no killing, ma'am?
Well, what for you truck sheep
critters into cow country for?
[playing harmonica]
[bleating]
Would you like some coffee?
No, thanks.
Where are you going?
[sighs]
You follow the coulees
south to Arch's fence line,
you climb up the hill,
and you get on the road to town.
- I'm not leaving--
- And no back talk.
You're going to Annabelle's,
and you're gonna stay there
till all the feathers
are settled
and the gun smoke's blown away.
There's not gonna be
any gun smoke, Jase.
- Oh?
- Because I'm going to give up.
I'm gonna wave the white flag
or whatever it is that you do.
Oh, are you?
And then what?
Are we gonna
make Arch Ogden king?
We gonna call him
"Your Majesty"
and give him
everything he wants?
Well, you can, but I'm not.
I'm staying right here.
I won't have men
shooting holes in each other
because of me.
Huh?
And I'm the one
who started all this trouble,
- and I've got to put a stop--
- Trouble? What trouble?
Oh, please
don't make jokes, Jase.
All right, Josie, no jokes.
I won't joke with you, and you
won't kid me about quitting.
We got a tiger by the tail,
and we're not gonna let him go.
I won't leave you out here
with the--the feathers
and the gun smoke.
Women are not
put together to fight.
There must be
something I can do, Jase.
What can I do?
There is something.
[bleating]
If you'd have sat down,
all of you,
and put your chins in your hands
and wracked your ignorant brains
for six consecutive weeks,
you couldn't have
come up with a more perfect,
tailor-made,
custom-built, foolproof way
to hold off statehood for this
miserable piece of wilderness
for the next 4,000 years.
[crowd clamoring]
'Course, it's not
a complete disaster yet.
We've only got a little ground
to get back to be where we
were when Columbus landed.
We weren't trying to offend
the ladies, Charlie. We only--
Who said anything
about offending 'em?
You didn't offend
the ladies, Fonse.
You declared war on 'em!
That's what you did.
You declared war on 'em.
Look!
Go on! Look!
[overlapping chatter]
Three cheers for
Josie Minick! That--
There he is.
[overlapping yelling]
Get him!
Get down.
Get right down
off that horse, Mr. Ogden.
How do you feel now
with your guns and your clubs
and your army of thugs
riding down there
on that helpless woman
out in the coulees?
[shouting]
Hail the conquering hero.
You got one minute,
Charlie, and that's all.
You're gonna give me 20 years
if you lay a finger
on that girl out there,
and if there's
any bodily harm done or death,
you're gonna give me
all you've got left
at the end of a rope.
You're taking this
kind of personal, ain't you?
Personal? Hell!
This is political.
What?
You know perfectly well
the whole future
of this territory
just happens to be hanging
on what happens to Josie
out there in the coulees.
If the ladies
walk out on us, Arch,
we don't have a chance
in a thousand at statehood,
and you know it.
Sure, I know it,
and you know what I say?
The hell with it.
That's what you say?
So be it. Now I'll
tell you what I say,
and you better
pay attention to this.
Either you plaster the seat
of those fat pants of yours
in your saddle and hightail it
out there to that hollow
and call off your dogs,
or I'm gonna hit you
with so many charges,
it'll take 127 lawyers
to read 'em.
Oh, we'll see about that.
We damn well will see about it.
You got an hour, Arch.
You better make use of it.
Doc, will you?
[yelling continues]
United we stand
and divided we fall.
Are we gonna
let Josie Minick down?
Are we gonna--
There's Josie!
- [shouting]
- Why, it's Josie!
- Josie!
- Josie!
[yelps]
Put me down!
Put me down, please!
Congratulations.
We want Josie!
We want Josie!
- Speech! Speech!
- Yeah, Josie!
Listen to me, everybody!
- Josie!
- The men, too!
Listen!
I don't want to talk
about women's rights.
I don't even want to talk
about sheep or the constitution
or statehood
or any of those things.
I just want to talk
about Jase Meredith and Mooney
and all those other men
out there.
Do you know what they're doing?
They're looking into guns
on those hills,
ready to get killed
because of me and my sheep.
And I'm gonna tell you
something, Arch Ogden.
You're through
running things around here.
You're not gonna run me or
Jase Meredith or anybody else!
Do you understand that?
And if you so much
as lay a hand on him,
I swear to God I'll--
- Let go of me!
- [crowd shouting]
I want to talk
to the men in this town.
I'm gonna say some things
you ladies
might not like to hear,
so I invite you all
to leave right now.
[shouting]
We got a war on our hands!
A war!
This was cow country
when we come here,
it is now,
and it's always gonna be.
That's a lie!
Ain't nothing gonna change that,
least of all no woman!
- Now is the time to stand...
- You get those. Whoop!
and join me in a holy crusade!
[crowd shouting]
I'm sorry.
We're gonna march
out in a body to that coulee
and end this sheep business
once and for all.
- Oh, no, you're not!
- [crowd shouting]
Ain't no room
in this town for sheep
or for no woman rancher
out in the coulees.
[overlapping chatter]
And there ain't a red-blooded,
100% patriotic man...
- Come on.
- that's gonna stand by
and see either one
of them things happen.
[yelling]
Now stand up!
Be counted!
You're either with me, or...
you're against me.
Now, how many of you men
are gonna give me
a resounding vote of supp--
[yelling]
The pioneer woman
stands beside her man.
[crickets chirping]
You're in charge.
But, Arch--
Shut up.
I'm through talking.
Hah! Hah!
Jase!
Water!
The barn! Water!
[sheep bleating]
Where's the water?
The dang pump won't work!
The dang pump won't work
and the barns are burning.
Don't that beat all?
Let's give the boss a hand!
Leave him be!
It's his fight.
Gets a little slick
on them sheep critters.
Arch?
Arch?
Arch?
I'm still on the boss man.
Dime?
Dime.
You're on.
Jase?
Jase?
Some of you men carry this ram
back up on his hill.
[sighs]
We got ourselves
a winner, Bratsch.
Mm, I reckon.
Let's get him into the house.
[women shouting]
Doc, let us out!
[yelling continues]
Let us out!
Let us out!
Let us out!
Get the Sheriff!
- Where have you been?
- Get us out of here!
There's Charlie.
Charlie, get us out of here.
[yelling continues]
It's daybreak.
Huh?
The girls.
Hurry up!
Yes, sir.
[bleating]
What happened?
Boss man and cow fella
had a fracas.
Barn went that-a-way.
Where's Jase?
Stove up considerable.
Carried him in yonder.
Jase.
Morning, Josie.
Have some breakfast.
Jase, are you all right?
Oh, I'm fine.
Oh, thank God.
The barn's not so good, though.
I don't care about the barn.
Oh, Jase, I told you
we should have given up.
Mm.
I've got to get rid
of those sheep out there.
Charlie Lord told me so
in no uncertain terms.
Charlie Lord?
Yes.
Jase, you don't know it,
but I started a riot last night,
and I spent the night in jail.
You what?
Yes.
Men and women
all over the territory
are fighting because of me,
and you know
where they're fighting?
Where?
In their bedrooms.
- Bedrooms?
- Yes!
- [footsteps]
- [door opens]
Boss, you better get out here.
They're coming.
Jase.
You know something,
Josie Minick?
You're worse than that Greek gal
that caused all the fighting
twixt her folks and the Trojans.
That ain't what
I come to say, howsomever.
What did you come to say, Arch?
Now, I'll do my business
with the lady, Jase.
You gonna get rid of them sheep?
- I thought that--
- Now, wait a minute.
Jase, you wanna take up
where we left off last night?
That's fine with me.
You get down
off of that horse,
and we'll go at it.
You know something,
Jase Meredith?
You're a worse calamity
than these damn sheep.
For a plug nickel--
Anytime, Arch.
Arch, get on with it!
We're gonna settle
this sheep business,
Mrs. Minick,
right here and now.
I'm listening, Mr. Ogden.
Sheep and cows
purely don't get along.
Anybody with brains
someplace other than their--
Arch, never mind that.
Most folks understand
that fact of nature.
Sheep and cows don't mix.
You can have one or the other,
but you can't have both,
so either we all
get rid of our cattle,
or you...
consider...
selling off your sheep.
I'll pay you for the flock
and for the wool
and for the spring
lamb crop, too.
I'll rebuild your barn...
and I'll sell you
first-rate breeding cows
and bulls at rock-bottom prices
so you can get
into the cattle business
alongside the rest of us.
You mean that?
Oh, I said it once.
I ain't gonna say it again.
I ain't telling you,
Mrs. Minick.
I'm asking you,
not as a woman,
man to man,
rancher to rancher,
strictly business.
She'll take
your proposition, Arch.
All right, let's go.
[gasps]
Jase.
Got a piece of advice
for you, Columbine.
You don't want to get
too independent.
Some is good.
Too much is miserable.
You can only go so far,
because first thing you know...
[knock on door]
There's a knock on the door,
and you want to be
listening, Columbine.
You sure do.
Come in.
You're beautiful.
You're just beautiful.
Well, Jenny McCardle
said to buy a $40 corset,
new French bonnet, a new dress,
join 46 churches.
She said I'd have me
a man by snow time.
Who needs 46 churches, huh?
[laughs]
- Oh, put me down.
- Huh?
I forgot something.
Now I'm ready, Mr. Meredith.
- Oh!
- [laughs]
Where are we going?
Steaks are on over at my place,
and you may never
get back alive.
[marching band playing]
[overlapping chatter, cheering]
I know it seems as though
My dreams will fade
Like the morning dew
But wait till tomorrow
Tomorrow
I'll make them all come true