The Intruder (1962) Movie Script
What do you say to the nice young man?
Aren't you gonna say something?
Shake? Thatta girl.
That's fine!
Bye.
All right, all right, I'm a' coming...
- What can I do for you ?
I'm looking for a room.
Overnight? No, it'll be at least a week.
Maybe two or three.
Billy Lee!
Charge'll be $2.50
We always make reduction for our
permanent temporary guests.
Well, that's very nice of you.
- Put your name and address here.
Billy Lee! You wake up!
I was just resting.
Well, I'd thought you'd taken root.
Go on up to 104 and get it aired out.
and see if Mabel's dusted, too.
Well, ma'am.
Move!
I swear I believe that boy has got
nigger blood in him somewhere.
You don't have to go to all this trouble.
It won't take a minute.
I suppose you are a salesman...
You might say
I'm in social work.
I've come to do what I can for the town.
The integration problem.
Oh, that, but that's all over.
I mean the've got 10 niggers enrolled
already in the school.
And they're startin' Monday.
Yes, I know.
And do you think it's right?
No, I sure don't!
And neither does nobody, but it's the law.
Whose law?
It's ok, you can come up now.
D'you want Billy Lee to tote your bags?
Oh, no. I've got them.
Suit yourself.
Right this way.
Come on baby. I'm on fire.
Stop Sam.
You will tear my robe.
Oh, honey for God's sake, please.
- Stop it.
Anything you want just let me know.
Thank you very much.
Oh, there is one thing...
What's that?
Privacy.
I 'd like to take care of the room myself.
I guess we can arrange that.
Good.
We're gonna be friends, aren't we?
Don't see any reason why not.
Now you stop that carryin' on right this instant!
You hear me now?
Why, lookie here - a peeping Tom.
Why, Sam Griffin, you haven't got
the modesty of a hog!
When I have to?
You gonna let her talk to me that way, honey?
Shut up!
She's mad 'cause I won't give her a kiss.
Now you listen, Sam,
I've got a new guest...
right down the hall
And he is a gentleman.
So am I, I've just got this terrible case of sex appeal,
Not a thing I can do.
I'm sorry. Mrs. Lambert...
We won't cause you any trouble...
Sam, I'm gonna kill you...
Mr. Russell, I am sorry to
interrupt your meditation,
but your root beer is ready.
Man, you're mean!
Hi.
Hi!
You are authorized to make
bussiness transactions?
Sir?
I give you two dollar bills, you give me
a cup of coffee and nineteen dimes for the telephone?
All right!
Flip you, double or nothing.
Just put 10 cents on the counter.
Boy, you're the meanest girl on the face of the earth!
Be careful, mister, she's liable to bite
your head off.
Thank you very much.
See you at school.
Are you really the meanest girl
on the face of the earth?
That's what people tell me.
Oh, they're wrong, you don't look mean at all.
Thank you.
- Do you go to school around here?
- Uh-huh.
I didn't know they had a college in Caxton.
They don't.
You don't go to high school, do you?
My, my, they do grow things fast here, don't they?
You know, I've heard an awful lot about southern hospitality
The question is, does it really exist?
Well sure, I guess so.
No, I mean, really. see here's the thing...
I've just moved into Caxton
and I'm anxious to meet some young people here.
But I don't have any contacts.
Now, isn't that a sad story?
Hi, Dad.
I'll check you later.
Late again?
Sorry, Al.
That's okay, Dad.
How's it going, Tom?
Oh, all right, I guess.
Kind of surprised, though.
Looks like the school's gonna
open without any trouble.
Well, I hope so.
Goodbye Mr. Hames.
Goodbye honey.
Nice having you work for me.
See you later, Ted.
Do you think it's all right for a girl my age
to go out with older men?
Hmm?
Oh, never mind.
Hi, Mom.
Sorry, honey.
Well, you could have called.
- I had a lovely roast.
- I know.
I'm a terrible husband.
Oh, sit down, I'll fix you something.
- What's wrong?
- Well...
It isn't anything, actually, but...
I had a kind of funny
phone call a few minutes ago...
It upset me.
Who was it, a salesman?
No. Somebody making a survey or something.
Well?
Well ..
He wanted to know what I thought
about my daughter sitting in a
classroom with a bunch of nigras.
What did you say?
Well, I didn't know exactly what to say...
But I told him the truth--that I didn't like it.
He give a name?
I don't remember.
Cramer, that's his name. Adam Cramer.
Made sense, too.
Best sense I've heard in a year.
Where's the coffee?
Sit down, Dad, I'll get you some...
First thing you get around this house
you gotta ask for it.
What's the matter with you?
Mad 'cause we got somebody in town
with a little gumption?
Afraid you're gonna get showed up?
Look, I'm tired.
From what?
Sittin' around on your dead rump all day?
- Oh, Dad!
- It's the truth!
Everyone knows it.
River could bust loose and flood the whole damn town.
And whattaya think he'd do?
Write editorials!
It takes work and muscles, boy,
to stop a flood...
And that's what we got on our hands--
a great big, black flood!
You cut out that kind of talk in front of Ella!
Well, I guess that's what happens...
When you get old and sick.
People treat you like dirt...spit on you.
Waitin' around for you to die.
All right.
Let's forget it.
Ruth, get my medicine.
Your husband is doing his best to
give me a heart attack.
What about you, Ella?
What do you think about sitting in a room
with a bunch of big buck niggers?
Ella thinks the same way I do.
She doesn't like it.
But it's a law.
Can't you get that through
your thick skull?
A law!
Well what has he got his back up about?
Good morning.
- Morning. How's your social work coming along?
We're off to a fine start.
Good morning, good morning, Mother Lambert. My but you're
looking as pretty as ever this morning. Gimme a little kiss.
Hello there, is this the gentleman you were telling us about?
Mr. Adam Cramer,
Mr. and Mrs. Griffin.
- Happy to know you, Adam.
- Pleased to meet you.
Hope we didn't disturb you any
last night.
Oh no, no. Not a bit.
- Had your breakfast yet?
- Not I haven't.
Neither have we and we were just headed
down to the Palace.
If you'd care to join us,
you're welcome, isn't he, honey?
Yeah, sure.
Come on, treat's on Sam Griffin.
You've convinced me.
Hoo-wee! Gonna be another scorcher.
Just down the street here, Adam.
Not much to look at, the the food?
Terrible.
Didn't make too many demands on you last
night, did I honey?
Sam...
Right in here.
How do you do there?
Good morning, Gertie, let's have three orders of primastan
covered with forder's oil
and a little soomus on the side.
- Scrambled eggs and coffee. How 'bout you, Adam?
- Same.
Make it three.
Don't forget the forder's oil!
Gets her every time.
- Where are you from, Adam...?
- Los Angeles
L.A, no kidding, why
that's Vi's home town!
Small world, huh?
How about that, honey,
say you two ought to be thick as thieves.
I was in California, once--promoter at the fairgrounds.
Doing?
I was pushing pens,
same I'm doing here.
- I made 300 bucks a day.
- I take it you're a salesman?
That's a fancy way to put it.
Pitch man'd be more like it.
Say, I'm working a dime story over in Faragut today
Why don't you come on over? It's only 40 miles.
I'd like to. Your work sounds fascinating.
What's your line, Mr. Cramer?
Social reform.
Mmm. Be in town long?
Quite a while, yes.... you?
Oh, all summer.
We like it here, don't we, honey?
Sure, Sam.
Caxton's a fine place, real fine people.
- Something wrong, Vi? Oh, no, Sam. I got a headache.
I think I'll... I'll go back to the room and lie down.
I'll go with you, baby. No, no, please, I'm all right.
Don't get up.
Is a pleasure to have met you, Mrs. Griffin.
We're gonna be friends, aren't we?
Why, heck, you're friends now.
I'll be all right, Sam.
- God, she's something, ain't she?
- Very attractive.
Wondeful woman, Adam.
Really wonderful.
Hate to leave her alone so much of the time.
She kinda gets bored.
Well, if there's anything I can do just...
Faragut's only a one night view..
That's the kind of absence that makes the
heart grown fonder if you get what I mean.
Where are them eggs?
- Hi - You are the driver?
- Sure am.
You know where nigger town is?
- Yes, sir.
- You take me there?
- Take me to 22 Myrtle Wood lane.
-Are you through here?
For the moment...
- All right, think we'll win?
-Don't we always?
Beautiful horse.
- Who are you?
- My name is Adam Cramer.
Your housekeeper said this'd be a good
time for us to talk.
Well, what's on your mind?
Quite a bit, sir,
I think you'll be interested
Well, you tell me all about whatever it is you're selling...
In a letter.
- Keep on working him, Ray.
- Yes sir.
Mr. Shipman?
I'm not selling anything.
Then what are you after?
A little courtesy for one thing.
Mr. Shipman, I've traveled all the way from Washington DC
to talk to you.
- Washington?
- Yes sir. D.C.
- Well, let's go over here to the shade.
- Good.
Lovely place you have.
Thank you.
Well now, what is it you want to know?
Well sir, you see, I represent
the Patrick Henry Society.
And what we'd like to know is just how you stand...
are you for integration
Or against it.
Well, that's a stupid question, young man.
I'm a southerner.
Sit down, sit down.
-Thank you
So were my folks.
That is, you're against it?
Well, of course I'm against it.
What's the matter with you?
Well, I just like to get it straight.
You see, sir,
our organization agrees with you.
We believe this ruling to be one of the greatest
wrongs the government's ever perpetrated.
Yes, a shame all right, but what can we do?
Fight!
We did. We lost.
It's a law now!
Whose law?
I thought this was a democracy
and I thought a democracy was based
on the collective will of the people.
Sure, of course, sure.
And is it the collective will of the people
That negroes should be allowed to mix
with whites right under the same roof?
Study with them.
Eat with them.
Maybe even sleep with them?
Is it the collective will of the people, that niggers
should be allowed to take over the whole world?
Because that's what's going to happen, Mr. Shipman.
You think it can be stopped?
With your help, I'm sure.
Legally?
Start talking, my boy.
Hello, Uncle Roy.
Here's your tobacco.
How many times you gonna iron that shirt?
Well, you wanna look nice, don't you?
Hey man, dig... Integration, black and white... How 'bout that?
Why don't you shut up. And turn that junk off.
What you talkin' about junk?
That's music, man.
I said, turn it off.
Joey...
I'm sorry, Mom. I'm just bushed.
Hey, you really gonna make him go
to the white school tomorrow?
Why, I'm not making him go, am I, Joey?
No, ma.
Well, it's too bad I ain't old enough. I would't be scared, that's all.
- Who's scared?
- You are!
Man, do you know what you ought to do?.
I'll tell you what you ought to do.
Get yourself a gun...
Play it cool, see? First grey stud looks at
you sideways...
You're just talk.
I don't think Daddy would approve of this
kind of thing going on.
I know Mr. Shipman wouldn't approve
of this kind of thing going on in his car.
- Good morning.
- Good Morning.
Would the children step forward, please.
I'm not going to bore you with a long sermon.
I just want to let you know that I know
how you feel-- everyone of you.
I know because I can see it on your faces.
Be strong, children!
Not muscle and pride strong, man-strong.
Let your strength be shown in meekness.
When you win this fight.
Not only for yourself,
but for all our people.
Let us pray.
Lord, in thy mercy protect these 10 lambs.
When they walk in the valley of the shadow...
Comfort them.
And when they falter, give them strength.
When they despair, give them hope.
And let them do thy will.
Amen.
What'd you say, Uncle Roy?
I said you negroes gonna cause some of us
niggers to get killed.
God Almighty!
Hey, Tom, come here.
There's your invaders...
Not much of an army, is it?
Hey, niggers!
Why don't you go on home?
This is a white school!
For white people!
What's the trouble here?
Well, just what do you think?
I'll tell you something right here and now.
It may be hot tonight, but it's gonna get hotter,
for a lot of people
This here little town is gonna burn.
What I mean is that
it's gonna burn the conscience of the country
and put forward a light
that everyone and everybody's gonna see and feel.
This town I'm talking about!
Caxton!
People... something happened today.
Ten Negroes went into the Caxton high school
and sat with the white children there.
Nobody stopped them.
Nobody turned them out .
And you know what they're saying that means?
They're saying that you all don't give a darn whether
the whites mix with the blacks
Because you didn't fight against it!
Well, I say, how can somebody fight
what he doesn't see?
They've kept the facts away from you.
They've cheated and deceived...
everyone of you.
They filled your heads with filthy lies.
and kept you in the dark.
So that when you finally do wake up
Why, we're sorry,
but it's just too late
Now I'm associated with the...
Patrick Henry Society.
Which is an organization...
dedicated to giving the people the truth.
What I'm gonna tell you...
is gonna make your blood boil.
Because I'm gonna show you that
the way this country is gonna go
depends entirely
and wholly and completely on you!
Now, you all know,
that there was peace and quiet,
in the south.
Before the NAACP started stirring up trouble.
But what tou don't know is that this so-called
"advancement of colored people"
is now , and has always been...
nothing but a communist front
headed by a Jew who hates America...
And doesn't make any bones about it, either.
Well, the Commies didn't waste a second.
They knew only too well, friends,
that the quicker way to cripple a country
is to mongrelize it.
So they poured all the millions of dollars
the Jews could get for them
Into this one thing:
Desegregation.
They went to the courts.
Now Judge Silver...
Who is a Jew...
and is known to have leftist leanings.
Who said so?
The record says so. Look it up.
Abraham Silver, for one thing, belongs
to the Quill and Pen society
which receives it's funds indirectly from Moscow.
So what did the judge do?
Went right ahead and ordered integration for the Caxton high school.
Your mayor and the governor...
could have stopped it, but they didn't have the guts!
All right.
Now you may think,
the problem...
Is simply whether we're going to allow
ten Negroes to go to our schools.
That's only a small part
I'm in a position to know...
Because the Patrick Henry society...
had studied the whole thing.
The real problem,
whether you like it or not.
is whether you're gonna sit back
and let desegregation spread throughout the
entire South.
And it's an indisuptable fact...
That there could be no other result!
The Negroes will literally
and I do mean literally...
control the South!
The votes will be theirs!
You'll have black mayors and black policemen
the way they do in Chicago and New York already!
Like as not a black governor?
And black doctors to deliver your babies?
If they find time that is.
And that's the way it'll be!
Did you ever stop to think about that
When you let those ten into your school, did you?
Now, let me ask you,
Do you people want niggers taking over?
And are you willing to fight this thing down to the last ditch
And keep fighting until it's over?
And I'm willing to fight with you.
Why, Mr. Cramer?
Why?
Because I'm an American, sir, and I love my country.
and I'm willing to give my life, if that be necessary,
to see that my country
stays free!
White!
And American!
Hey, look at that!
- What is that?
- I don't know.
- Danian, what is it?
- I don't know.
Come on! Let's get them!
Let's get out of here, quick!
Take it easy, nigger. You're not going anywhere.
Are you looking for trouble?
No, sir we're on our way to our house.
Please don't do it. We have't done anything.
Who gave you permission to ride through
Claxon, nigger?
Do not you know that this is reserved for whites?
We haven't do anything!
You're dirtying up our streets!
Look at them darkies in the back!
Danian, please.
Please.
Please.
All right, I'm sorry.
We're going.
That's what you say,
but I think you're lying, nigger!
I don't like to nobody!
You talk back to me, nigger?
Come on, let's go...
- Come on, kill yourself.
Take one step, one move
Why?
All right.Break it up!
Who says?
I say your miserable little toad!
Now if the rest of you people don't want to spend this
night in jail, get out of here.
Now!
Get in the car and get out of here
as fast as you can.
All right, all right, what's going on here?
Oh, nothing, sheriff, the good citizens
was just having a little fun, that's all
What kind of fun?
Best kind.
- Attacking Negroes.
He's lying, Sheriff, we didn't attack anybody.
There seems to be a difference of opinion here.
Opinions got nothing to do with it, Sheriff.
The fact is a family was terrorized on the streets of Caxton
What the hell, it was just a bunch of coons, Sheriff!
Who did this here terrorizing?
Do you want me to arrest everybody, Tom?
All right, it's all over, let's go home!
Last night, the law was broken.
A young northerner named Adam Cramer
delivered an inflammatory speech on
the steps of the County Couthouse..
Hi Tom, how you makin' it, boy?
- Hello Vern, you met eh...?
YES, I've had the pleasure...
-How are you?
- What do you want? Nothing, just a little order of business.
You do run ads, don't you?
If they meet our standards.
By God, Tom, you're still the crankiest man
of a morning I ever did see.
-Well, sir?
Doesn't meet our standards.
-I'd suggest that you...
I'd suggest you get hell out of this office, Cramer.
No, no, it's all right, Vern...
Mr. McDaniel is upset about what happened last night
and he holds me responsible.
You are responsible!
I'm sorry you feel that way about it, sir.
Because you and I are fighting on the same side.
I'll meet you later, Vern.
He's taken you in, has he?
Now look, Tom, Cramer may be young and he maybe an outsider
and all of that, but...
by damn you gotta admit he's
on the right track.
You heard his speech last night?
Yes, I heard it
I saw what happened afterwards, too.
Don't prove a thing, probably that
there nigra was uppity.
That Negro wasn't uppity.
He was just passing through town.
which is his legal right.
Oh now, come on. Tom, come on.
You just mad because it took somebody from out
of town to show us how we been falling down on our job.
Well, I was mad in the beginning, too.
But there's no two ways about it.
This here thing has gotta be stopped.
And it's gotta be stopped right now.
How? By attacking Negroes in the streets?
If that's what it takes, yes.
Vern, do you know what you're saying?
YES, I know what I 'm saying-
but I don't think you do.
I'm saying that we fought this thing fair and above
board and it didn't get us anywhere.
Now we're gonna have to fight it their way.
There's nothing to fight anymore, Vern.
Law says we got to have integration.
I believe in obeying the law.
Cramer apparently doesn't.
I don't like him.
I don't trust him.
And I'm certainly not gonna run his stinking ad!
Doggone...
Ain't you forgetting something, Tom?
What's that?
Why, I own the controlling stock in the Messenger.
You're working for me.
That's the way it is?
That's the way it is. Doggone it.
Who is it?
Adam Cramer, your neighbor.
What do you want?
A cup of coffee and a little
conversation, maybe.
Just a minute.
Hi.
Hello.
Sam said I should drop in on you.
That he was spending the night in Faragot,
thought maybe you could use a little company.
But if not
I'll go back to my room.
I think that'd be a pretty good idea.
Is that what you want me to do?
Yes
Why?
Well look, I'm getting ready to bed... I...
At 10:15?
I thought you were a night owl.
Please!
Oh, come one. Sam would be very put out with you if he
heard that you weren't hospitable to a friend.
I don't consider you a friend, Mr. Cramer.
Unkind.
Definitely unkind.
I just want a little ole cup of coffee.
Ok.
Why'd you say that?
Say what?
Taht I wasn't a friend.
I don't know. I'm tired.
It's hot. I told you.
The way you act,
you're not afraid of me, are you?
No.
Don't have to bite my head off.
How do you stand it, anyway?
I don't know what you're talking about.
Well, you know, this town...
I should think you get awfully lonely...
Especially with Sam leaving you half the time.
I stand it just fine, Mr. Cramer.
Where you born with that chip on your shoulder
Or did somebody put it there?
Look, if you don't like my personality,
you don't have to subject yourself to it.
What are you after, anyway?
A cup of coffee.
Afterwards you have to go.
-Oh, thank you.
Mr. Cramer, I didn't know you were... a religious man.
You have to admit, it's dramatic.
Mmm-hmm. So is a lynching.
That's old fashioned.
Otherwise you wouldn't mind?
Mrs. Griffin, that's a terrible thing to say.
These people like me.
I'm here to save lives not to take them.
And I'm the Empress of China!
I know what you're doing here,
but why.
Who can say?
Great times call for great men.
You're a great man?
Not yet.
You don't want to talk politics, do you?
I've already told you all you need to
know about me.
You despise me, but you're attracted to
me, isn't that right?
Isn't it?
If you don't mind I'll take off my coat,
it's getting awfully hot in here.
Aren't you hot?
I hope you know these bulbs are giving off a lot of heat.
Look at the difference.
See?
Hoo-wee! We're down 5 degrees, I'll bet.
You're not very comfortable, are you?
It does get lonely for you,
doesn't it, Vi?
I know it does. I feel that way myself
a lot of the times.
- I almost go crazy sometimes.
Because there isn't anybody who feels things
the way that I do.
I think how wonderful it'd be to
meet a person...
like that and be with that person.
Not for long, just a little while.
Just a little while...
Adam, no.
Adam, please.
Please, please what?
You want me to leave?
-You want me to leave? You want me to l...
Oh you want it, you know you want it.?
Well, that settles it.
We're taking Ella out of school tomorrow.
We're doing nothing of the kind.
Why, Tom, what's got in to you?
I don't know what you're thinking anymore.
I 'm not sure, either.
Ruth, tell me something.
How do you feel about this question?
Well, I 'm not sure I know what you mean.
About integration.
Why, I think it's a terrible thing.
Why?
Why?
Because it just isn't right, that's why.
Tom, are you in favor of it?
Yes.
-Well why didn't you...
-Because I didn't know.
I don't think I knew really until now.
One thing Adam Cramer has done for us...
he's made us face ourselves.
Well, what are you going to do?
I don't know.
I'm not sure...
I'm not sure of anything.
Except this is right...
And we're got to face up to it.
Why'd you pull him in for, Rudy?
He smarted off at me, daring me
to take him to jail.
Yeah, but you know he didn't have anything to
do with that bombing.
Maybe you know... I don't.
How are you, Vern?
I might as well tell you right off the bat
I don't cotton to any of this.
I strung along with you because
I figured you were smart,
but smart people don't end up here.
Oh, I'm not ending up here, Vern.
This is just the beginning.
Never underestimate the value of a jail sentence.
Remember Socrates,
Lenin, Hitler...
The bail is $ 10,000,
what if I don't put up the money?
Forget it, Very. I don't want your money, yet.
Haven't I told you that?
Where you gonna get it?
Thank you, thank you very much.
I want to thank the Rev. Neeson,
and Mr. Carey and Mr. Donogan,
for what they done for me.
Our friend, Vern
Shipman offered to get me out of jail,
But I told him no.
I told him...
Lookie here, the people... will see to it.
Now listen, he's a good man, but he didn't believe me.
I want you to know, I'm mighty glad
to show him I was right.
He knows for sure now, the people of Caxton
won't stand still for no injustice.
What the Sheriff thought was that I was responsible
for the dynamiting up in the Badlands.
Why I couldn't believe he was serious. I said to him...
"Sheriff, whoever planted that bomb, it wasn't nobody
in the Patrick Henry Society.
We got brains enough to know...
That killing a nigger preacher
and blowing up a church...
wouldn't do us nothing but harm.
Throwing a scare into the niggers is good,
But we got to be very,
very careful.
- Right?
- Yeah, that's right.
Now I ain't condemning anybody.
Whoever planted that bomb was doing
what he thought was right.
But he was wrong.
I hope you all see that now and go about acting
according to the rules of society.
Well, I don't know anything about that, but I know one thing.
Ain't gonna be one solitary nigger
to have enough guts to step into our school now.
It's all over!
Hello, Adam.
Sam, how are things?
- Ok , I guess.
-Good.
How'd you do in Faragut?
Sell 'em any... what is it... pens?
Well, I'm glad to hear it.
Is there something you want to see me about, Sam?
Tell you the truth, I'm kind of pooped... I thought maybe...
Look, Adam, I know this ain't none of your business
and I got no right bothering you with it,
But I've got to talk to somebody about it,
I just got to. I'll go crazy if I don't.
What is it, Sam? What's the matter?
She's gone!
- Who?
- Vi! She's gone, left me. run out!
What happened?
I don't know.
I got back from Faragut about 2 o'clock,
with a present for her.
I got up to the room;
she was gone.
Just a note saying she loved me but was no good for me
I should forget her.
Oh, I'm really very, very sorry.
Do you have any idea why she'd do a thing like that?
Yeah, I think maybe I can guess part of the reason.
I never told anyone this...
But I consider you a friend, Adam.
Before I met Vi, she... well she
knew a lot of men.
it was like a disease with her.
Doctors got a name for it,
but they can't cure it alone.
When I met Vi, I fell in love with her
I knew she was a good woman
I thought maybe I could help her,
Five years we've been happy.
Now this...
I figure she got in some trouble.
What sort of trouble?
Man trouble.
Might be some fella come along,
caught her at a weak moment... she...
What do you think, Adam?
You think that could be it?
Well... it's possible, I guess, but I...
just can't bring myself to believe it.
Mrs. Griffin, she doesn't seem the type, you know what I mean?
It was a man.
But who?
You!
-Oh, Sam...
-Don't bother thinking up a lot of lies. I know what happened.
This is an old hotel, the walls are thin...
Mrs. Lambert heard you!
I wasn't gonna deny it, Sam.
The reason I didn't tell you before was... was because...
I didn't want to hurt you anymore than you've been hurt already.
Really, honest, that's the truth.
Blame me if you want to,
But Sam, I'm going to level with you...
It was a lot my fault, no sure, I won't pretend it wasn't.
I went to your room, just to say good night,
and we were talking, just talking...
And I don't know, suddenly everything
started to go wrong!
- Can you understand?
- I understand.
So... so I slept with her. Okay, I admit it,
but you've got to know this.
No matter how much you blame me and hate me...
And, and, and want to shoot me
It wasn't all my fault!
And there's another thing,
Mrs. Griffin said I was't the first.
I mean, since you've been married, she's slept
with plenty of others.
And she said she knew it didn't matter because
you'd never catch on.
Sam, I'm forcing myself to tell you this...
it's the truth!
Liar!
Listen to me, Sam. I'm telling the truth. I'm not lying.
You missed your calling, boy
You'd have made a fine push man, you know just
how to work on peoples' weak spots.
But you know something?
I'm gonna find her and I'm gonna get her back
and when I do we'll be closer than ever.
So in a way, you've really done us a big favor... friend.
You know something?
We're in the same line, you and me.
We're both selling something.
But I've been at it longer, I can
see where you're making mistakes.
And right now those mistakes are beginning
to pile up on you
and in a little while they're gonna smother you.
-Get outta here.
I've been studying your pitch, it's not bad, you've got technique,
but you know what's wrong?
You're too clever, Adam.
You got no room in your head for intelligence.
But if you were intelligent, you'd be able to see
that you started something you can't control.
You think you're the boss now?
Wake up, boy, that mob's the boss.
What do you know, you big boob?
Did you tell them to blow up the church?
I'm sick of listening to you rave, now
get out of here before I pull the trigger.
Oh, people are wonderful! You couldn't pull that trigger
if your life depended on it!
'Cause deep down inside, you're gutless, Adam.
You know you're a gutless.
That's what you're doing this:
To prove to yourself that you're not.
I'll give you 5...
...if you're not out of here by then
I'll pull the trigger.
One.
Two.
Three.
Four.
Five.
See what I mean, boy?
Course you never wanna be too sure of anything, either.
Rule of the trade.
Get away from me.
No, boy, I don't think I'll do that.
I think I'll stick around for a while.
You won't see me, likely, but I'll be here.
I've always did like fireworks.
- Ms. Green?
- That's right.
My name is McDaniel,
I think we met once, I'm the editor of the newspaper...
You come here to gloat, Mister?
Get on back to town and
put it in the paper.
Us niggers give up--you won't
have to kill anymore of us.
-Pop!
-Mr. Green,
I know you have no reason to trust me,
and I have no right to expect you to...
but I'm on your side.
- Yeah...
Please... Please believe me.
I understand how you feel,
I know it's hard.
And I can't promise you that nobody else will get hurt.
Maybe they will. I don't know.
But you mustn't give up now.
Your boy and the other children have gotta go to
school this morning. Means everything.
That's easy to say, but what have you got
to lose, white man?
My job, my home, maybe my family.
Is that enough for you?
Joey...
Don't try to stop me, Pop,
you know he's right, and so do I.
We can't give up now.
We'd better hurry.
This'll be okay. Thank you very much.
Come on.
-McDaniel-- -Yes -
You got anything to say?
- About what?
We seen you, McDaniel, and
we want an explanation.
Well, we're waiting.
Please, get out of my way.
- Hold it! -What do you want?
- Like the man said, an explanation.
Yeah, you tell us McDaniel. How come you
walked that bunch of black niggers to our white school?
I don't see that anything I do is any business of yours.
Figured you was against all this,
And we seen you taking them jigs to school,
We were kind of a surprise, see?
That's why we figure you ought to do some talking.
Yeah, whatta you got to say for yourself now?
Which one of them niggers paid you off?
It ain't polite not to answer a civil question.
Now Abner here wants to know who paid
you to betray your people.
Yeah, let's teach him a lesson now!
Why don't you get 15 or 20 more people, Carey?
Then you'll feel really safe.
Teach him, Bart!
Shut your mouth, nigger lover!
You're awful good with the questions,
how are you with the answers?
Where were you
when that preacher was killed, Carey?
Shut up or you're gonna get the same thing!
Where were you?
Kill him, kill him!
I'm sorry, honey.
I guess I just wasn't cut out to be a hero.
Am I gonna lose the eye?
No, don't... don't get them yet.
I want to know.
You've already lost it, Tom.
They did a good job, didn't they?
Father!
I'm all right.
It's all right.
You'd better go home sweetie, it's late.
We musn't upset your father. He's gonna be all right.
I'll be along in a little while.
I'm sorry, honey.
Don't be.
I'm not. Not in the least.
It's the best thing you've ever done and I'm proud of you.
I wish I could tell you that I know why
you did what you did.
And why you fell the way you do, but...
I can't lie to you, Tom.
I don't believe in integration.
But I believe in you.
And if this means so much to you
that you're willing to risk everything
Even your own life for it, then I
know it must be right.
So I'm going to try and understand.
I'm gonna try very hard, darling.
I only ask you to give me a little time.
I love you, honey.
Tell me it's not to late for us.
It isn't.
It never is.
May... Maybe you'd better get the doctor now.
Well, how is he?
Dammit, you going deaf? I asked you a question!
Well?
He has four ribs broken and...
And what?
Internal injuries and...
he lost his eye.
- He was lucky.
- Luck?
Yes, in my day, they'd a strung of man up for doing what he done.
And I'd of been on the end of the rope, too.
What's the matter with him, anyhow?
How'm I gonna face my friends?
I've never been so embarrassed in my life.
Oh, shut your filthy, stinking mouth!
If you're interested in saving your father's life
you'd better listen and listen carefully.
I'm gonna have to say some things
I don't want to say.
The men who beat up Mr. McDaniel this morning
are desperate.
Do you understand? Desperate. You saw what they did.
Now the reason for that... listen to me...
Never mind the reason...
Just understand this. They'll kill your father if we don't do something.
They'll go right into that hospital.
And there'll be so many of them the Sheriff won't know
what to do. They'll blow his head off.
Listen carefully...
If you want to save your father's life...
This is what you're gonna have to do...
Man, the science teacher today...
She wants us to study frogs, man, I don't know.
-Oh, you're just afraid to touch 'em, that's all
I don't know about you, but...
I can't tell 'em apart.
Excuse me, but are you Joey Green?
That's right.
Well, I'm Ella McDaniel.
Tom McDaniel's daughter?
Oh, I heard about what happened yesterday.
I hope he's better.
-Is he?
-Yes, he's a lot better.
I wish you'd thank him for us, Miss.
He did a real fine thing.
He's a fine man.
I know.
Well, better get going.
The bell's about to ring.
Oh, wait a second... I wonder if you'd do me a favor?
Sure, if I can.
Well, it isn't much.
See, I'm working down in the storage room
and I've got to get some things, and
well, I could use a little help.
Well, I have to ask Ms. Sangoff, wait right here though
- Oh, I spoke to her...
She doesn't mind, it'll just take a few minutes.
I wish you could help me with some things.
Well, okay.
Well, come on.
Come on.
Wait here a second until I put the
other light on.
Okay.
All right.
Over here.
Up here, it's these two boxes.
-Okay.
-Miss McDaniel?
Miss McDaniel?
What's the matter, Uncle John,
Won't he let you beat him?
- It happened!
-Danny, we don't know what you're talking about.
Tell us. What happened?
A nigger
tried to rape a white girl.
You know the one they call Joe Greene?
Happened 20 minutes ago.
Ella McDaniel, you know her. The fella who's
in the hospital's daughter.
I knew it would happen!
Where is that feller?
Principal's office--they got him locked up there.
Well, this is precisely what we've been afraid of, isn't it?
Are we going to do something about it?
All right, go get all members of the society.
Tell them to be here as quickly as they can.
Right now.
Tell them what happened at the school
and they'll come.
Danny, you go on back, round up
as many kids as you can,
Buck a head - guaranteed.
- This better work!
- It will.
If you keep your mouth shut and don't
start thinking on you own, it will.
But McDaniel's gonna talk, I know it.
Probably so after what you did to him, you idiot.
- What are you gonna do?
- End this thing!
How?
That's the last question I want to hear from you.
From now on, I'll do all the thinking, Understood? Understood?
Now get out of here and get us some people fast.
Hello, Vern?
Adam. I've got some news for you.
Calmly, Ella, tell us once again, exactly what happened.
I know it's hard for you to talk, but it is a very serious charge
you've made and we've got to get our facts straight.
You understand that, don't you?
Ella, please!
I told you!
Ella, why did you want those pants at that particular time?
Because we were out...
I understand that, but why didn't you get Mrs. Ziegried
to get one of the boys to do it for you?
Oh, I do not know...
I 'd like to be excused now if you don't mind.
Very well, Mrs. Ziegfried, you're excused
Wait a minute.
Ella, is there anymore you want to tell us?
All right, you can go.
I called your house,
but your mother isn't there
You want to call her at the hospital?
Perhaps in that case
Mrs. Ziegfried will drive you home.
I don't believe it. I don't believe any part of it,
do you?
I don't know what to think.
If it'd been any other girl, I'd say she's lying.
But Tom McDaniel's daughter...
Oh, I don't care whose daughter..
We both know Joey
Green is too smart to do anythin so stupid.
Ella is lying.
Well, it doesn't much matter now.
It's her story. Convince any jury.
Humboldt boy said he saw Green sneak down after her.
I'm afraid we're beaten.
Hello, get me the Sheriff, right away!
Go get Joey Green.
Hello, Rudy! Rudy this is Ronney Patton--
Now listen carefully
I want you to get as many men as you can and
get over to the school right away.
We have a problem with one of our students.
Yes, one of the colored students.
Rudy, we've got a mob outside!
Lock the door.
And don't be frightened, I just talked to
Sheriff Parkhouse. He'll be here in a minute.
There's nothing to worry about.
I didn't do it, Mr. Patton.
I know you didn't, Joey
Patton! You give us him, Patton!
What do you want?
You know what we want!
We want the nigger who raped a white girl
in the school!
and we know it's there.
Exactly 5 minutes and if that nigger ain't out here by then
we're coming in to get him.
That right?
Tell me, how would you explain it?
I think somebody must have put her up to it.
It's the only thing I can think.
Adam Cramer?
You're on our side, aren't you, Mr. Patton?
Yes, Joey - I am.
Well, you figure we're whipped now?
One minute, Patton!
Remember, no violence!
We gave Sheriff Parkhouse our promse to bring
him to jail.
We're not a mob, we're a citizen's committee.
You tell 'em, Carey.
Remember, no violence.
There isn't any need for it.
Don't worry, they'll see what they cause,
they'll see how we take care of it.
Come on, let's go get the nigger!
I wouldn't bother with that, Mr. Patton
I think Sheriff Parkhouse gonna be a little late.
Joey, you come with me. My car's in the back
I'll drive you to Paragut.
No, that's what they want.
Joey.
Did you people want to talk to me?
You Joseph Green?
That's right.
Do you admit that you tried to
rape one of our white girls today?
- No, I don't.
- What do you mean "No, you don't"?
I mean I didn't try to rape anyone.
- You're lying, nigger!
- Now you be still!
We're gonna listen to
what this boy has to say for himself.
So you claim you're innocent.
Is that right?
That's right.
Didn't anybody ever teach you to
address to a white man as "sir"?
Now let that be your first lesson.
Got blood on your mouth, boy. Wipe it off.
Well, what do you say?
- Thank you. Thank you what?
Thank you, sir.
Now I'm gonna ask you just one more time, boy.
And I want you to think before you answer.
You think real hard.
'Cause if you tell us the truth,
you got nothing to be afraid of,
but if you lie to us...
You gonna be in more trouble than you ever dreamed of.
Were you in that basement?
I was in the basement.
With a white girl.
Yes, sir.
I think we should take him to jail now.
You were alone with a
white girl in the basement of the school.
But you didn't try to do anything?
Is that what you're saying?
Is that what expect us to believe it, nigger?
Respect!
Only a coward would hit a defenseless boy.
Is that what you're calling me, Patton?
Yes, that's exactly, what I'm calling you
You're a miserable, yellow coward, Mr. Shipman
Just like every cheap bully in the world.
And that goes for you too, Mr. Adam Cramer.
And everyone arround here!
Now, do I make myself perfectly clear?
We'll wait in my office until the Farugut Police arrive.
If you want to avoid a jail sentence, I would
advise all of you people to leave at once.
Do you admit it?
Well, that's too bad, you give us no choice.
Where do you think you're going, nigger?
Hold on there a minute.
Hello, Adam.
Ella?
Like I said, you never wanna be
too sure of anything.
Who are you?
The name is Griffin. Sam Griffin.
- Well, what do you want?
- Nothing now.
Then move aside.
We got important business to attend to.
What kind of business, Mr. Shipman?
You folks aiming to do something to this boy.
Look, Griffin, I don't know who you think you are
and I don't know why you brought this girl here.
Because if you do, I think maybe
there's something you ought to hear.
It just might affect this business you're on.
Tell them Miss McDaniel.
Tell them what you told me.
It was a lie!
What's that?
What are you talking about?
It was a lie.
Everything. Everything I said about Joey. All of it.
What the devil do you mean?
She means her father told to cover up for the nigger,
and that's what she is doing!
Girl! You listen here to me.
Why would a girl go ahead and tell a story like that if it wasn't the truth?
The fact is she was put up to it by
our friend Mr. Cramer here. Aint' that right, Adam.
Vern, this guy is crazy.
Shut up! You go on!
Your boy was going desperate, Mr. Shipman.
He was on the verge of losing
everything he built up.
So he threatened the girl,
told her he'd kill her father.
Vern, don't listen to him,
This man is crazy, I tell you.
Is that right, girl?
He promised me there
wouldn't be any trouble,
he said nothing would happen to the boy
except he might be expelled.
I'm sorry!
I'm so sorry!
I didn't mean for this to happen!
All right now, you go on back to the car,
it'll be all right.
Ella...
Right now you good people are probably telling yourselves
you were going to take this boy down to jail
and see a little justice done
but that ain't the truth.
You were gonna kill this boy.
You know it and I know it.
You'll know it all the rest of your lives.
And you. You're thinking everything would have been just fine if
you and me hadn't had our little personal difficulties.
That ain't the truth, either.
You began losing your grip on these people
the second you got it.
'Cause nobody, nobody can have the kind of power
you thought you had Mr. Cramer.
Lies.
Lies!
I swear to God this man's lying to you!
Are you all crazy?
Tell them the truth, come on! Tell them the truth.
All about your Jew wife, maybe they'd
like to hear about that, eh?
Tell them about the nigger women
you kissed on the mouth. You did!
I've got proof. Proof! You hear me? You hear what I'm saying?
Griffin, you don't think for a minute you're
fooling these people, do you?
Because if you do, you're wrong,
They're too smart for you and your filth.
Believe me, I know them, I know they're too smart.
They're with me, Griffin! They're with me, Griffin!
With me!
They'll laugh at you, because you are nothing. Nothing!
Folks, they think they've got us scared, but they haven't.
We aren't gonna give up now.
Not now!
No sir, not ever.
You hear that, Griffin?
Patton, you hear what I'm saying? You hear what I'm saying!
You talk to them. They'll listen to you, Vern.
Hey, Vern! A meeting tonight. The Palace Cafe. 7:30.
Patton, you and your nigger better listen to this!
We're gonna show you you can't stop justice and right
no matter what you do!
This is just the beginning!
Only the beginning!
Adam Cramer.
Boy...
Your'e gonna get grass stains all over those trousers
you don't get up.
Come on.
That's better.
I figure your work in this town's about over.
If you hurry, you can catch the bus to Faragut. They got trains there.
If you're a little light on traveling money,
I'd be proud to...
You're sure now?
Oh, almost forgot.
These belong to you.
I wouldn't want to steal from you, boy.
Aren't you gonna say something?
Shake? Thatta girl.
That's fine!
Bye.
All right, all right, I'm a' coming...
- What can I do for you ?
I'm looking for a room.
Overnight? No, it'll be at least a week.
Maybe two or three.
Billy Lee!
Charge'll be $2.50
We always make reduction for our
permanent temporary guests.
Well, that's very nice of you.
- Put your name and address here.
Billy Lee! You wake up!
I was just resting.
Well, I'd thought you'd taken root.
Go on up to 104 and get it aired out.
and see if Mabel's dusted, too.
Well, ma'am.
Move!
I swear I believe that boy has got
nigger blood in him somewhere.
You don't have to go to all this trouble.
It won't take a minute.
I suppose you are a salesman...
You might say
I'm in social work.
I've come to do what I can for the town.
The integration problem.
Oh, that, but that's all over.
I mean the've got 10 niggers enrolled
already in the school.
And they're startin' Monday.
Yes, I know.
And do you think it's right?
No, I sure don't!
And neither does nobody, but it's the law.
Whose law?
It's ok, you can come up now.
D'you want Billy Lee to tote your bags?
Oh, no. I've got them.
Suit yourself.
Right this way.
Come on baby. I'm on fire.
Stop Sam.
You will tear my robe.
Oh, honey for God's sake, please.
- Stop it.
Anything you want just let me know.
Thank you very much.
Oh, there is one thing...
What's that?
Privacy.
I 'd like to take care of the room myself.
I guess we can arrange that.
Good.
We're gonna be friends, aren't we?
Don't see any reason why not.
Now you stop that carryin' on right this instant!
You hear me now?
Why, lookie here - a peeping Tom.
Why, Sam Griffin, you haven't got
the modesty of a hog!
When I have to?
You gonna let her talk to me that way, honey?
Shut up!
She's mad 'cause I won't give her a kiss.
Now you listen, Sam,
I've got a new guest...
right down the hall
And he is a gentleman.
So am I, I've just got this terrible case of sex appeal,
Not a thing I can do.
I'm sorry. Mrs. Lambert...
We won't cause you any trouble...
Sam, I'm gonna kill you...
Mr. Russell, I am sorry to
interrupt your meditation,
but your root beer is ready.
Man, you're mean!
Hi.
Hi!
You are authorized to make
bussiness transactions?
Sir?
I give you two dollar bills, you give me
a cup of coffee and nineteen dimes for the telephone?
All right!
Flip you, double or nothing.
Just put 10 cents on the counter.
Boy, you're the meanest girl on the face of the earth!
Be careful, mister, she's liable to bite
your head off.
Thank you very much.
See you at school.
Are you really the meanest girl
on the face of the earth?
That's what people tell me.
Oh, they're wrong, you don't look mean at all.
Thank you.
- Do you go to school around here?
- Uh-huh.
I didn't know they had a college in Caxton.
They don't.
You don't go to high school, do you?
My, my, they do grow things fast here, don't they?
You know, I've heard an awful lot about southern hospitality
The question is, does it really exist?
Well sure, I guess so.
No, I mean, really. see here's the thing...
I've just moved into Caxton
and I'm anxious to meet some young people here.
But I don't have any contacts.
Now, isn't that a sad story?
Hi, Dad.
I'll check you later.
Late again?
Sorry, Al.
That's okay, Dad.
How's it going, Tom?
Oh, all right, I guess.
Kind of surprised, though.
Looks like the school's gonna
open without any trouble.
Well, I hope so.
Goodbye Mr. Hames.
Goodbye honey.
Nice having you work for me.
See you later, Ted.
Do you think it's all right for a girl my age
to go out with older men?
Hmm?
Oh, never mind.
Hi, Mom.
Sorry, honey.
Well, you could have called.
- I had a lovely roast.
- I know.
I'm a terrible husband.
Oh, sit down, I'll fix you something.
- What's wrong?
- Well...
It isn't anything, actually, but...
I had a kind of funny
phone call a few minutes ago...
It upset me.
Who was it, a salesman?
No. Somebody making a survey or something.
Well?
Well ..
He wanted to know what I thought
about my daughter sitting in a
classroom with a bunch of nigras.
What did you say?
Well, I didn't know exactly what to say...
But I told him the truth--that I didn't like it.
He give a name?
I don't remember.
Cramer, that's his name. Adam Cramer.
Made sense, too.
Best sense I've heard in a year.
Where's the coffee?
Sit down, Dad, I'll get you some...
First thing you get around this house
you gotta ask for it.
What's the matter with you?
Mad 'cause we got somebody in town
with a little gumption?
Afraid you're gonna get showed up?
Look, I'm tired.
From what?
Sittin' around on your dead rump all day?
- Oh, Dad!
- It's the truth!
Everyone knows it.
River could bust loose and flood the whole damn town.
And whattaya think he'd do?
Write editorials!
It takes work and muscles, boy,
to stop a flood...
And that's what we got on our hands--
a great big, black flood!
You cut out that kind of talk in front of Ella!
Well, I guess that's what happens...
When you get old and sick.
People treat you like dirt...spit on you.
Waitin' around for you to die.
All right.
Let's forget it.
Ruth, get my medicine.
Your husband is doing his best to
give me a heart attack.
What about you, Ella?
What do you think about sitting in a room
with a bunch of big buck niggers?
Ella thinks the same way I do.
She doesn't like it.
But it's a law.
Can't you get that through
your thick skull?
A law!
Well what has he got his back up about?
Good morning.
- Morning. How's your social work coming along?
We're off to a fine start.
Good morning, good morning, Mother Lambert. My but you're
looking as pretty as ever this morning. Gimme a little kiss.
Hello there, is this the gentleman you were telling us about?
Mr. Adam Cramer,
Mr. and Mrs. Griffin.
- Happy to know you, Adam.
- Pleased to meet you.
Hope we didn't disturb you any
last night.
Oh no, no. Not a bit.
- Had your breakfast yet?
- Not I haven't.
Neither have we and we were just headed
down to the Palace.
If you'd care to join us,
you're welcome, isn't he, honey?
Yeah, sure.
Come on, treat's on Sam Griffin.
You've convinced me.
Hoo-wee! Gonna be another scorcher.
Just down the street here, Adam.
Not much to look at, the the food?
Terrible.
Didn't make too many demands on you last
night, did I honey?
Sam...
Right in here.
How do you do there?
Good morning, Gertie, let's have three orders of primastan
covered with forder's oil
and a little soomus on the side.
- Scrambled eggs and coffee. How 'bout you, Adam?
- Same.
Make it three.
Don't forget the forder's oil!
Gets her every time.
- Where are you from, Adam...?
- Los Angeles
L.A, no kidding, why
that's Vi's home town!
Small world, huh?
How about that, honey,
say you two ought to be thick as thieves.
I was in California, once--promoter at the fairgrounds.
Doing?
I was pushing pens,
same I'm doing here.
- I made 300 bucks a day.
- I take it you're a salesman?
That's a fancy way to put it.
Pitch man'd be more like it.
Say, I'm working a dime story over in Faragut today
Why don't you come on over? It's only 40 miles.
I'd like to. Your work sounds fascinating.
What's your line, Mr. Cramer?
Social reform.
Mmm. Be in town long?
Quite a while, yes.... you?
Oh, all summer.
We like it here, don't we, honey?
Sure, Sam.
Caxton's a fine place, real fine people.
- Something wrong, Vi? Oh, no, Sam. I got a headache.
I think I'll... I'll go back to the room and lie down.
I'll go with you, baby. No, no, please, I'm all right.
Don't get up.
Is a pleasure to have met you, Mrs. Griffin.
We're gonna be friends, aren't we?
Why, heck, you're friends now.
I'll be all right, Sam.
- God, she's something, ain't she?
- Very attractive.
Wondeful woman, Adam.
Really wonderful.
Hate to leave her alone so much of the time.
She kinda gets bored.
Well, if there's anything I can do just...
Faragut's only a one night view..
That's the kind of absence that makes the
heart grown fonder if you get what I mean.
Where are them eggs?
- Hi - You are the driver?
- Sure am.
You know where nigger town is?
- Yes, sir.
- You take me there?
- Take me to 22 Myrtle Wood lane.
-Are you through here?
For the moment...
- All right, think we'll win?
-Don't we always?
Beautiful horse.
- Who are you?
- My name is Adam Cramer.
Your housekeeper said this'd be a good
time for us to talk.
Well, what's on your mind?
Quite a bit, sir,
I think you'll be interested
Well, you tell me all about whatever it is you're selling...
In a letter.
- Keep on working him, Ray.
- Yes sir.
Mr. Shipman?
I'm not selling anything.
Then what are you after?
A little courtesy for one thing.
Mr. Shipman, I've traveled all the way from Washington DC
to talk to you.
- Washington?
- Yes sir. D.C.
- Well, let's go over here to the shade.
- Good.
Lovely place you have.
Thank you.
Well now, what is it you want to know?
Well sir, you see, I represent
the Patrick Henry Society.
And what we'd like to know is just how you stand...
are you for integration
Or against it.
Well, that's a stupid question, young man.
I'm a southerner.
Sit down, sit down.
-Thank you
So were my folks.
That is, you're against it?
Well, of course I'm against it.
What's the matter with you?
Well, I just like to get it straight.
You see, sir,
our organization agrees with you.
We believe this ruling to be one of the greatest
wrongs the government's ever perpetrated.
Yes, a shame all right, but what can we do?
Fight!
We did. We lost.
It's a law now!
Whose law?
I thought this was a democracy
and I thought a democracy was based
on the collective will of the people.
Sure, of course, sure.
And is it the collective will of the people
That negroes should be allowed to mix
with whites right under the same roof?
Study with them.
Eat with them.
Maybe even sleep with them?
Is it the collective will of the people, that niggers
should be allowed to take over the whole world?
Because that's what's going to happen, Mr. Shipman.
You think it can be stopped?
With your help, I'm sure.
Legally?
Start talking, my boy.
Hello, Uncle Roy.
Here's your tobacco.
How many times you gonna iron that shirt?
Well, you wanna look nice, don't you?
Hey man, dig... Integration, black and white... How 'bout that?
Why don't you shut up. And turn that junk off.
What you talkin' about junk?
That's music, man.
I said, turn it off.
Joey...
I'm sorry, Mom. I'm just bushed.
Hey, you really gonna make him go
to the white school tomorrow?
Why, I'm not making him go, am I, Joey?
No, ma.
Well, it's too bad I ain't old enough. I would't be scared, that's all.
- Who's scared?
- You are!
Man, do you know what you ought to do?.
I'll tell you what you ought to do.
Get yourself a gun...
Play it cool, see? First grey stud looks at
you sideways...
You're just talk.
I don't think Daddy would approve of this
kind of thing going on.
I know Mr. Shipman wouldn't approve
of this kind of thing going on in his car.
- Good morning.
- Good Morning.
Would the children step forward, please.
I'm not going to bore you with a long sermon.
I just want to let you know that I know
how you feel-- everyone of you.
I know because I can see it on your faces.
Be strong, children!
Not muscle and pride strong, man-strong.
Let your strength be shown in meekness.
When you win this fight.
Not only for yourself,
but for all our people.
Let us pray.
Lord, in thy mercy protect these 10 lambs.
When they walk in the valley of the shadow...
Comfort them.
And when they falter, give them strength.
When they despair, give them hope.
And let them do thy will.
Amen.
What'd you say, Uncle Roy?
I said you negroes gonna cause some of us
niggers to get killed.
God Almighty!
Hey, Tom, come here.
There's your invaders...
Not much of an army, is it?
Hey, niggers!
Why don't you go on home?
This is a white school!
For white people!
What's the trouble here?
Well, just what do you think?
I'll tell you something right here and now.
It may be hot tonight, but it's gonna get hotter,
for a lot of people
This here little town is gonna burn.
What I mean is that
it's gonna burn the conscience of the country
and put forward a light
that everyone and everybody's gonna see and feel.
This town I'm talking about!
Caxton!
People... something happened today.
Ten Negroes went into the Caxton high school
and sat with the white children there.
Nobody stopped them.
Nobody turned them out .
And you know what they're saying that means?
They're saying that you all don't give a darn whether
the whites mix with the blacks
Because you didn't fight against it!
Well, I say, how can somebody fight
what he doesn't see?
They've kept the facts away from you.
They've cheated and deceived...
everyone of you.
They filled your heads with filthy lies.
and kept you in the dark.
So that when you finally do wake up
Why, we're sorry,
but it's just too late
Now I'm associated with the...
Patrick Henry Society.
Which is an organization...
dedicated to giving the people the truth.
What I'm gonna tell you...
is gonna make your blood boil.
Because I'm gonna show you that
the way this country is gonna go
depends entirely
and wholly and completely on you!
Now, you all know,
that there was peace and quiet,
in the south.
Before the NAACP started stirring up trouble.
But what tou don't know is that this so-called
"advancement of colored people"
is now , and has always been...
nothing but a communist front
headed by a Jew who hates America...
And doesn't make any bones about it, either.
Well, the Commies didn't waste a second.
They knew only too well, friends,
that the quicker way to cripple a country
is to mongrelize it.
So they poured all the millions of dollars
the Jews could get for them
Into this one thing:
Desegregation.
They went to the courts.
Now Judge Silver...
Who is a Jew...
and is known to have leftist leanings.
Who said so?
The record says so. Look it up.
Abraham Silver, for one thing, belongs
to the Quill and Pen society
which receives it's funds indirectly from Moscow.
So what did the judge do?
Went right ahead and ordered integration for the Caxton high school.
Your mayor and the governor...
could have stopped it, but they didn't have the guts!
All right.
Now you may think,
the problem...
Is simply whether we're going to allow
ten Negroes to go to our schools.
That's only a small part
I'm in a position to know...
Because the Patrick Henry society...
had studied the whole thing.
The real problem,
whether you like it or not.
is whether you're gonna sit back
and let desegregation spread throughout the
entire South.
And it's an indisuptable fact...
That there could be no other result!
The Negroes will literally
and I do mean literally...
control the South!
The votes will be theirs!
You'll have black mayors and black policemen
the way they do in Chicago and New York already!
Like as not a black governor?
And black doctors to deliver your babies?
If they find time that is.
And that's the way it'll be!
Did you ever stop to think about that
When you let those ten into your school, did you?
Now, let me ask you,
Do you people want niggers taking over?
And are you willing to fight this thing down to the last ditch
And keep fighting until it's over?
And I'm willing to fight with you.
Why, Mr. Cramer?
Why?
Because I'm an American, sir, and I love my country.
and I'm willing to give my life, if that be necessary,
to see that my country
stays free!
White!
And American!
Hey, look at that!
- What is that?
- I don't know.
- Danian, what is it?
- I don't know.
Come on! Let's get them!
Let's get out of here, quick!
Take it easy, nigger. You're not going anywhere.
Are you looking for trouble?
No, sir we're on our way to our house.
Please don't do it. We have't done anything.
Who gave you permission to ride through
Claxon, nigger?
Do not you know that this is reserved for whites?
We haven't do anything!
You're dirtying up our streets!
Look at them darkies in the back!
Danian, please.
Please.
Please.
All right, I'm sorry.
We're going.
That's what you say,
but I think you're lying, nigger!
I don't like to nobody!
You talk back to me, nigger?
Come on, let's go...
- Come on, kill yourself.
Take one step, one move
Why?
All right.Break it up!
Who says?
I say your miserable little toad!
Now if the rest of you people don't want to spend this
night in jail, get out of here.
Now!
Get in the car and get out of here
as fast as you can.
All right, all right, what's going on here?
Oh, nothing, sheriff, the good citizens
was just having a little fun, that's all
What kind of fun?
Best kind.
- Attacking Negroes.
He's lying, Sheriff, we didn't attack anybody.
There seems to be a difference of opinion here.
Opinions got nothing to do with it, Sheriff.
The fact is a family was terrorized on the streets of Caxton
What the hell, it was just a bunch of coons, Sheriff!
Who did this here terrorizing?
Do you want me to arrest everybody, Tom?
All right, it's all over, let's go home!
Last night, the law was broken.
A young northerner named Adam Cramer
delivered an inflammatory speech on
the steps of the County Couthouse..
Hi Tom, how you makin' it, boy?
- Hello Vern, you met eh...?
YES, I've had the pleasure...
-How are you?
- What do you want? Nothing, just a little order of business.
You do run ads, don't you?
If they meet our standards.
By God, Tom, you're still the crankiest man
of a morning I ever did see.
-Well, sir?
Doesn't meet our standards.
-I'd suggest that you...
I'd suggest you get hell out of this office, Cramer.
No, no, it's all right, Vern...
Mr. McDaniel is upset about what happened last night
and he holds me responsible.
You are responsible!
I'm sorry you feel that way about it, sir.
Because you and I are fighting on the same side.
I'll meet you later, Vern.
He's taken you in, has he?
Now look, Tom, Cramer may be young and he maybe an outsider
and all of that, but...
by damn you gotta admit he's
on the right track.
You heard his speech last night?
Yes, I heard it
I saw what happened afterwards, too.
Don't prove a thing, probably that
there nigra was uppity.
That Negro wasn't uppity.
He was just passing through town.
which is his legal right.
Oh now, come on. Tom, come on.
You just mad because it took somebody from out
of town to show us how we been falling down on our job.
Well, I was mad in the beginning, too.
But there's no two ways about it.
This here thing has gotta be stopped.
And it's gotta be stopped right now.
How? By attacking Negroes in the streets?
If that's what it takes, yes.
Vern, do you know what you're saying?
YES, I know what I 'm saying-
but I don't think you do.
I'm saying that we fought this thing fair and above
board and it didn't get us anywhere.
Now we're gonna have to fight it their way.
There's nothing to fight anymore, Vern.
Law says we got to have integration.
I believe in obeying the law.
Cramer apparently doesn't.
I don't like him.
I don't trust him.
And I'm certainly not gonna run his stinking ad!
Doggone...
Ain't you forgetting something, Tom?
What's that?
Why, I own the controlling stock in the Messenger.
You're working for me.
That's the way it is?
That's the way it is. Doggone it.
Who is it?
Adam Cramer, your neighbor.
What do you want?
A cup of coffee and a little
conversation, maybe.
Just a minute.
Hi.
Hello.
Sam said I should drop in on you.
That he was spending the night in Faragot,
thought maybe you could use a little company.
But if not
I'll go back to my room.
I think that'd be a pretty good idea.
Is that what you want me to do?
Yes
Why?
Well look, I'm getting ready to bed... I...
At 10:15?
I thought you were a night owl.
Please!
Oh, come one. Sam would be very put out with you if he
heard that you weren't hospitable to a friend.
I don't consider you a friend, Mr. Cramer.
Unkind.
Definitely unkind.
I just want a little ole cup of coffee.
Ok.
Why'd you say that?
Say what?
Taht I wasn't a friend.
I don't know. I'm tired.
It's hot. I told you.
The way you act,
you're not afraid of me, are you?
No.
Don't have to bite my head off.
How do you stand it, anyway?
I don't know what you're talking about.
Well, you know, this town...
I should think you get awfully lonely...
Especially with Sam leaving you half the time.
I stand it just fine, Mr. Cramer.
Where you born with that chip on your shoulder
Or did somebody put it there?
Look, if you don't like my personality,
you don't have to subject yourself to it.
What are you after, anyway?
A cup of coffee.
Afterwards you have to go.
-Oh, thank you.
Mr. Cramer, I didn't know you were... a religious man.
You have to admit, it's dramatic.
Mmm-hmm. So is a lynching.
That's old fashioned.
Otherwise you wouldn't mind?
Mrs. Griffin, that's a terrible thing to say.
These people like me.
I'm here to save lives not to take them.
And I'm the Empress of China!
I know what you're doing here,
but why.
Who can say?
Great times call for great men.
You're a great man?
Not yet.
You don't want to talk politics, do you?
I've already told you all you need to
know about me.
You despise me, but you're attracted to
me, isn't that right?
Isn't it?
If you don't mind I'll take off my coat,
it's getting awfully hot in here.
Aren't you hot?
I hope you know these bulbs are giving off a lot of heat.
Look at the difference.
See?
Hoo-wee! We're down 5 degrees, I'll bet.
You're not very comfortable, are you?
It does get lonely for you,
doesn't it, Vi?
I know it does. I feel that way myself
a lot of the times.
- I almost go crazy sometimes.
Because there isn't anybody who feels things
the way that I do.
I think how wonderful it'd be to
meet a person...
like that and be with that person.
Not for long, just a little while.
Just a little while...
Adam, no.
Adam, please.
Please, please what?
You want me to leave?
-You want me to leave? You want me to l...
Oh you want it, you know you want it.?
Well, that settles it.
We're taking Ella out of school tomorrow.
We're doing nothing of the kind.
Why, Tom, what's got in to you?
I don't know what you're thinking anymore.
I 'm not sure, either.
Ruth, tell me something.
How do you feel about this question?
Well, I 'm not sure I know what you mean.
About integration.
Why, I think it's a terrible thing.
Why?
Why?
Because it just isn't right, that's why.
Tom, are you in favor of it?
Yes.
-Well why didn't you...
-Because I didn't know.
I don't think I knew really until now.
One thing Adam Cramer has done for us...
he's made us face ourselves.
Well, what are you going to do?
I don't know.
I'm not sure...
I'm not sure of anything.
Except this is right...
And we're got to face up to it.
Why'd you pull him in for, Rudy?
He smarted off at me, daring me
to take him to jail.
Yeah, but you know he didn't have anything to
do with that bombing.
Maybe you know... I don't.
How are you, Vern?
I might as well tell you right off the bat
I don't cotton to any of this.
I strung along with you because
I figured you were smart,
but smart people don't end up here.
Oh, I'm not ending up here, Vern.
This is just the beginning.
Never underestimate the value of a jail sentence.
Remember Socrates,
Lenin, Hitler...
The bail is $ 10,000,
what if I don't put up the money?
Forget it, Very. I don't want your money, yet.
Haven't I told you that?
Where you gonna get it?
Thank you, thank you very much.
I want to thank the Rev. Neeson,
and Mr. Carey and Mr. Donogan,
for what they done for me.
Our friend, Vern
Shipman offered to get me out of jail,
But I told him no.
I told him...
Lookie here, the people... will see to it.
Now listen, he's a good man, but he didn't believe me.
I want you to know, I'm mighty glad
to show him I was right.
He knows for sure now, the people of Caxton
won't stand still for no injustice.
What the Sheriff thought was that I was responsible
for the dynamiting up in the Badlands.
Why I couldn't believe he was serious. I said to him...
"Sheriff, whoever planted that bomb, it wasn't nobody
in the Patrick Henry Society.
We got brains enough to know...
That killing a nigger preacher
and blowing up a church...
wouldn't do us nothing but harm.
Throwing a scare into the niggers is good,
But we got to be very,
very careful.
- Right?
- Yeah, that's right.
Now I ain't condemning anybody.
Whoever planted that bomb was doing
what he thought was right.
But he was wrong.
I hope you all see that now and go about acting
according to the rules of society.
Well, I don't know anything about that, but I know one thing.
Ain't gonna be one solitary nigger
to have enough guts to step into our school now.
It's all over!
Hello, Adam.
Sam, how are things?
- Ok , I guess.
-Good.
How'd you do in Faragut?
Sell 'em any... what is it... pens?
Well, I'm glad to hear it.
Is there something you want to see me about, Sam?
Tell you the truth, I'm kind of pooped... I thought maybe...
Look, Adam, I know this ain't none of your business
and I got no right bothering you with it,
But I've got to talk to somebody about it,
I just got to. I'll go crazy if I don't.
What is it, Sam? What's the matter?
She's gone!
- Who?
- Vi! She's gone, left me. run out!
What happened?
I don't know.
I got back from Faragut about 2 o'clock,
with a present for her.
I got up to the room;
she was gone.
Just a note saying she loved me but was no good for me
I should forget her.
Oh, I'm really very, very sorry.
Do you have any idea why she'd do a thing like that?
Yeah, I think maybe I can guess part of the reason.
I never told anyone this...
But I consider you a friend, Adam.
Before I met Vi, she... well she
knew a lot of men.
it was like a disease with her.
Doctors got a name for it,
but they can't cure it alone.
When I met Vi, I fell in love with her
I knew she was a good woman
I thought maybe I could help her,
Five years we've been happy.
Now this...
I figure she got in some trouble.
What sort of trouble?
Man trouble.
Might be some fella come along,
caught her at a weak moment... she...
What do you think, Adam?
You think that could be it?
Well... it's possible, I guess, but I...
just can't bring myself to believe it.
Mrs. Griffin, she doesn't seem the type, you know what I mean?
It was a man.
But who?
You!
-Oh, Sam...
-Don't bother thinking up a lot of lies. I know what happened.
This is an old hotel, the walls are thin...
Mrs. Lambert heard you!
I wasn't gonna deny it, Sam.
The reason I didn't tell you before was... was because...
I didn't want to hurt you anymore than you've been hurt already.
Really, honest, that's the truth.
Blame me if you want to,
But Sam, I'm going to level with you...
It was a lot my fault, no sure, I won't pretend it wasn't.
I went to your room, just to say good night,
and we were talking, just talking...
And I don't know, suddenly everything
started to go wrong!
- Can you understand?
- I understand.
So... so I slept with her. Okay, I admit it,
but you've got to know this.
No matter how much you blame me and hate me...
And, and, and want to shoot me
It wasn't all my fault!
And there's another thing,
Mrs. Griffin said I was't the first.
I mean, since you've been married, she's slept
with plenty of others.
And she said she knew it didn't matter because
you'd never catch on.
Sam, I'm forcing myself to tell you this...
it's the truth!
Liar!
Listen to me, Sam. I'm telling the truth. I'm not lying.
You missed your calling, boy
You'd have made a fine push man, you know just
how to work on peoples' weak spots.
But you know something?
I'm gonna find her and I'm gonna get her back
and when I do we'll be closer than ever.
So in a way, you've really done us a big favor... friend.
You know something?
We're in the same line, you and me.
We're both selling something.
But I've been at it longer, I can
see where you're making mistakes.
And right now those mistakes are beginning
to pile up on you
and in a little while they're gonna smother you.
-Get outta here.
I've been studying your pitch, it's not bad, you've got technique,
but you know what's wrong?
You're too clever, Adam.
You got no room in your head for intelligence.
But if you were intelligent, you'd be able to see
that you started something you can't control.
You think you're the boss now?
Wake up, boy, that mob's the boss.
What do you know, you big boob?
Did you tell them to blow up the church?
I'm sick of listening to you rave, now
get out of here before I pull the trigger.
Oh, people are wonderful! You couldn't pull that trigger
if your life depended on it!
'Cause deep down inside, you're gutless, Adam.
You know you're a gutless.
That's what you're doing this:
To prove to yourself that you're not.
I'll give you 5...
...if you're not out of here by then
I'll pull the trigger.
One.
Two.
Three.
Four.
Five.
See what I mean, boy?
Course you never wanna be too sure of anything, either.
Rule of the trade.
Get away from me.
No, boy, I don't think I'll do that.
I think I'll stick around for a while.
You won't see me, likely, but I'll be here.
I've always did like fireworks.
- Ms. Green?
- That's right.
My name is McDaniel,
I think we met once, I'm the editor of the newspaper...
You come here to gloat, Mister?
Get on back to town and
put it in the paper.
Us niggers give up--you won't
have to kill anymore of us.
-Pop!
-Mr. Green,
I know you have no reason to trust me,
and I have no right to expect you to...
but I'm on your side.
- Yeah...
Please... Please believe me.
I understand how you feel,
I know it's hard.
And I can't promise you that nobody else will get hurt.
Maybe they will. I don't know.
But you mustn't give up now.
Your boy and the other children have gotta go to
school this morning. Means everything.
That's easy to say, but what have you got
to lose, white man?
My job, my home, maybe my family.
Is that enough for you?
Joey...
Don't try to stop me, Pop,
you know he's right, and so do I.
We can't give up now.
We'd better hurry.
This'll be okay. Thank you very much.
Come on.
-McDaniel-- -Yes -
You got anything to say?
- About what?
We seen you, McDaniel, and
we want an explanation.
Well, we're waiting.
Please, get out of my way.
- Hold it! -What do you want?
- Like the man said, an explanation.
Yeah, you tell us McDaniel. How come you
walked that bunch of black niggers to our white school?
I don't see that anything I do is any business of yours.
Figured you was against all this,
And we seen you taking them jigs to school,
We were kind of a surprise, see?
That's why we figure you ought to do some talking.
Yeah, whatta you got to say for yourself now?
Which one of them niggers paid you off?
It ain't polite not to answer a civil question.
Now Abner here wants to know who paid
you to betray your people.
Yeah, let's teach him a lesson now!
Why don't you get 15 or 20 more people, Carey?
Then you'll feel really safe.
Teach him, Bart!
Shut your mouth, nigger lover!
You're awful good with the questions,
how are you with the answers?
Where were you
when that preacher was killed, Carey?
Shut up or you're gonna get the same thing!
Where were you?
Kill him, kill him!
I'm sorry, honey.
I guess I just wasn't cut out to be a hero.
Am I gonna lose the eye?
No, don't... don't get them yet.
I want to know.
You've already lost it, Tom.
They did a good job, didn't they?
Father!
I'm all right.
It's all right.
You'd better go home sweetie, it's late.
We musn't upset your father. He's gonna be all right.
I'll be along in a little while.
I'm sorry, honey.
Don't be.
I'm not. Not in the least.
It's the best thing you've ever done and I'm proud of you.
I wish I could tell you that I know why
you did what you did.
And why you fell the way you do, but...
I can't lie to you, Tom.
I don't believe in integration.
But I believe in you.
And if this means so much to you
that you're willing to risk everything
Even your own life for it, then I
know it must be right.
So I'm going to try and understand.
I'm gonna try very hard, darling.
I only ask you to give me a little time.
I love you, honey.
Tell me it's not to late for us.
It isn't.
It never is.
May... Maybe you'd better get the doctor now.
Well, how is he?
Dammit, you going deaf? I asked you a question!
Well?
He has four ribs broken and...
And what?
Internal injuries and...
he lost his eye.
- He was lucky.
- Luck?
Yes, in my day, they'd a strung of man up for doing what he done.
And I'd of been on the end of the rope, too.
What's the matter with him, anyhow?
How'm I gonna face my friends?
I've never been so embarrassed in my life.
Oh, shut your filthy, stinking mouth!
If you're interested in saving your father's life
you'd better listen and listen carefully.
I'm gonna have to say some things
I don't want to say.
The men who beat up Mr. McDaniel this morning
are desperate.
Do you understand? Desperate. You saw what they did.
Now the reason for that... listen to me...
Never mind the reason...
Just understand this. They'll kill your father if we don't do something.
They'll go right into that hospital.
And there'll be so many of them the Sheriff won't know
what to do. They'll blow his head off.
Listen carefully...
If you want to save your father's life...
This is what you're gonna have to do...
Man, the science teacher today...
She wants us to study frogs, man, I don't know.
-Oh, you're just afraid to touch 'em, that's all
I don't know about you, but...
I can't tell 'em apart.
Excuse me, but are you Joey Green?
That's right.
Well, I'm Ella McDaniel.
Tom McDaniel's daughter?
Oh, I heard about what happened yesterday.
I hope he's better.
-Is he?
-Yes, he's a lot better.
I wish you'd thank him for us, Miss.
He did a real fine thing.
He's a fine man.
I know.
Well, better get going.
The bell's about to ring.
Oh, wait a second... I wonder if you'd do me a favor?
Sure, if I can.
Well, it isn't much.
See, I'm working down in the storage room
and I've got to get some things, and
well, I could use a little help.
Well, I have to ask Ms. Sangoff, wait right here though
- Oh, I spoke to her...
She doesn't mind, it'll just take a few minutes.
I wish you could help me with some things.
Well, okay.
Well, come on.
Come on.
Wait here a second until I put the
other light on.
Okay.
All right.
Over here.
Up here, it's these two boxes.
-Okay.
-Miss McDaniel?
Miss McDaniel?
What's the matter, Uncle John,
Won't he let you beat him?
- It happened!
-Danny, we don't know what you're talking about.
Tell us. What happened?
A nigger
tried to rape a white girl.
You know the one they call Joe Greene?
Happened 20 minutes ago.
Ella McDaniel, you know her. The fella who's
in the hospital's daughter.
I knew it would happen!
Where is that feller?
Principal's office--they got him locked up there.
Well, this is precisely what we've been afraid of, isn't it?
Are we going to do something about it?
All right, go get all members of the society.
Tell them to be here as quickly as they can.
Right now.
Tell them what happened at the school
and they'll come.
Danny, you go on back, round up
as many kids as you can,
Buck a head - guaranteed.
- This better work!
- It will.
If you keep your mouth shut and don't
start thinking on you own, it will.
But McDaniel's gonna talk, I know it.
Probably so after what you did to him, you idiot.
- What are you gonna do?
- End this thing!
How?
That's the last question I want to hear from you.
From now on, I'll do all the thinking, Understood? Understood?
Now get out of here and get us some people fast.
Hello, Vern?
Adam. I've got some news for you.
Calmly, Ella, tell us once again, exactly what happened.
I know it's hard for you to talk, but it is a very serious charge
you've made and we've got to get our facts straight.
You understand that, don't you?
Ella, please!
I told you!
Ella, why did you want those pants at that particular time?
Because we were out...
I understand that, but why didn't you get Mrs. Ziegried
to get one of the boys to do it for you?
Oh, I do not know...
I 'd like to be excused now if you don't mind.
Very well, Mrs. Ziegfried, you're excused
Wait a minute.
Ella, is there anymore you want to tell us?
All right, you can go.
I called your house,
but your mother isn't there
You want to call her at the hospital?
Perhaps in that case
Mrs. Ziegfried will drive you home.
I don't believe it. I don't believe any part of it,
do you?
I don't know what to think.
If it'd been any other girl, I'd say she's lying.
But Tom McDaniel's daughter...
Oh, I don't care whose daughter..
We both know Joey
Green is too smart to do anythin so stupid.
Ella is lying.
Well, it doesn't much matter now.
It's her story. Convince any jury.
Humboldt boy said he saw Green sneak down after her.
I'm afraid we're beaten.
Hello, get me the Sheriff, right away!
Go get Joey Green.
Hello, Rudy! Rudy this is Ronney Patton--
Now listen carefully
I want you to get as many men as you can and
get over to the school right away.
We have a problem with one of our students.
Yes, one of the colored students.
Rudy, we've got a mob outside!
Lock the door.
And don't be frightened, I just talked to
Sheriff Parkhouse. He'll be here in a minute.
There's nothing to worry about.
I didn't do it, Mr. Patton.
I know you didn't, Joey
Patton! You give us him, Patton!
What do you want?
You know what we want!
We want the nigger who raped a white girl
in the school!
and we know it's there.
Exactly 5 minutes and if that nigger ain't out here by then
we're coming in to get him.
That right?
Tell me, how would you explain it?
I think somebody must have put her up to it.
It's the only thing I can think.
Adam Cramer?
You're on our side, aren't you, Mr. Patton?
Yes, Joey - I am.
Well, you figure we're whipped now?
One minute, Patton!
Remember, no violence!
We gave Sheriff Parkhouse our promse to bring
him to jail.
We're not a mob, we're a citizen's committee.
You tell 'em, Carey.
Remember, no violence.
There isn't any need for it.
Don't worry, they'll see what they cause,
they'll see how we take care of it.
Come on, let's go get the nigger!
I wouldn't bother with that, Mr. Patton
I think Sheriff Parkhouse gonna be a little late.
Joey, you come with me. My car's in the back
I'll drive you to Paragut.
No, that's what they want.
Joey.
Did you people want to talk to me?
You Joseph Green?
That's right.
Do you admit that you tried to
rape one of our white girls today?
- No, I don't.
- What do you mean "No, you don't"?
I mean I didn't try to rape anyone.
- You're lying, nigger!
- Now you be still!
We're gonna listen to
what this boy has to say for himself.
So you claim you're innocent.
Is that right?
That's right.
Didn't anybody ever teach you to
address to a white man as "sir"?
Now let that be your first lesson.
Got blood on your mouth, boy. Wipe it off.
Well, what do you say?
- Thank you. Thank you what?
Thank you, sir.
Now I'm gonna ask you just one more time, boy.
And I want you to think before you answer.
You think real hard.
'Cause if you tell us the truth,
you got nothing to be afraid of,
but if you lie to us...
You gonna be in more trouble than you ever dreamed of.
Were you in that basement?
I was in the basement.
With a white girl.
Yes, sir.
I think we should take him to jail now.
You were alone with a
white girl in the basement of the school.
But you didn't try to do anything?
Is that what you're saying?
Is that what expect us to believe it, nigger?
Respect!
Only a coward would hit a defenseless boy.
Is that what you're calling me, Patton?
Yes, that's exactly, what I'm calling you
You're a miserable, yellow coward, Mr. Shipman
Just like every cheap bully in the world.
And that goes for you too, Mr. Adam Cramer.
And everyone arround here!
Now, do I make myself perfectly clear?
We'll wait in my office until the Farugut Police arrive.
If you want to avoid a jail sentence, I would
advise all of you people to leave at once.
Do you admit it?
Well, that's too bad, you give us no choice.
Where do you think you're going, nigger?
Hold on there a minute.
Hello, Adam.
Ella?
Like I said, you never wanna be
too sure of anything.
Who are you?
The name is Griffin. Sam Griffin.
- Well, what do you want?
- Nothing now.
Then move aside.
We got important business to attend to.
What kind of business, Mr. Shipman?
You folks aiming to do something to this boy.
Look, Griffin, I don't know who you think you are
and I don't know why you brought this girl here.
Because if you do, I think maybe
there's something you ought to hear.
It just might affect this business you're on.
Tell them Miss McDaniel.
Tell them what you told me.
It was a lie!
What's that?
What are you talking about?
It was a lie.
Everything. Everything I said about Joey. All of it.
What the devil do you mean?
She means her father told to cover up for the nigger,
and that's what she is doing!
Girl! You listen here to me.
Why would a girl go ahead and tell a story like that if it wasn't the truth?
The fact is she was put up to it by
our friend Mr. Cramer here. Aint' that right, Adam.
Vern, this guy is crazy.
Shut up! You go on!
Your boy was going desperate, Mr. Shipman.
He was on the verge of losing
everything he built up.
So he threatened the girl,
told her he'd kill her father.
Vern, don't listen to him,
This man is crazy, I tell you.
Is that right, girl?
He promised me there
wouldn't be any trouble,
he said nothing would happen to the boy
except he might be expelled.
I'm sorry!
I'm so sorry!
I didn't mean for this to happen!
All right now, you go on back to the car,
it'll be all right.
Ella...
Right now you good people are probably telling yourselves
you were going to take this boy down to jail
and see a little justice done
but that ain't the truth.
You were gonna kill this boy.
You know it and I know it.
You'll know it all the rest of your lives.
And you. You're thinking everything would have been just fine if
you and me hadn't had our little personal difficulties.
That ain't the truth, either.
You began losing your grip on these people
the second you got it.
'Cause nobody, nobody can have the kind of power
you thought you had Mr. Cramer.
Lies.
Lies!
I swear to God this man's lying to you!
Are you all crazy?
Tell them the truth, come on! Tell them the truth.
All about your Jew wife, maybe they'd
like to hear about that, eh?
Tell them about the nigger women
you kissed on the mouth. You did!
I've got proof. Proof! You hear me? You hear what I'm saying?
Griffin, you don't think for a minute you're
fooling these people, do you?
Because if you do, you're wrong,
They're too smart for you and your filth.
Believe me, I know them, I know they're too smart.
They're with me, Griffin! They're with me, Griffin!
With me!
They'll laugh at you, because you are nothing. Nothing!
Folks, they think they've got us scared, but they haven't.
We aren't gonna give up now.
Not now!
No sir, not ever.
You hear that, Griffin?
Patton, you hear what I'm saying? You hear what I'm saying!
You talk to them. They'll listen to you, Vern.
Hey, Vern! A meeting tonight. The Palace Cafe. 7:30.
Patton, you and your nigger better listen to this!
We're gonna show you you can't stop justice and right
no matter what you do!
This is just the beginning!
Only the beginning!
Adam Cramer.
Boy...
Your'e gonna get grass stains all over those trousers
you don't get up.
Come on.
That's better.
I figure your work in this town's about over.
If you hurry, you can catch the bus to Faragut. They got trains there.
If you're a little light on traveling money,
I'd be proud to...
You're sure now?
Oh, almost forgot.
These belong to you.
I wouldn't want to steal from you, boy.