Maverick (1957) s01e01 Episode Script

1
MIKE: Will you listen to me,
you mule-headed Maverick?
- I'm listening.
- He hates you.
It was him that tried to kill you, and he'll
do it again. You've got to get out of here.
It took me a long time
to get a coat like this.
It's a small rip.
A few stitches, it'll never show.
I'll send you the new one
as soon as it's finished.
- Mike, you've convinced me.
- Well, have I now? I'll get your horse.
- I'll even ride to the end of town with you.
- I'm staying.
What?
A man like King has got to be stopped.
I'm gonna stop him.
I don't know how,
but I'm gonna stop him.
Well, the coat will never be finished
in time for the funeral.
[CHATTERING]
Thank you, sir.
Don't bother to sign,
we haven't anything.
I'd like something comfortable in the front,
with a view of the street.
We're completely out of accommodations.
I suggest you try
one of the miner's boarding houses.
I wonder if you'd mind, uh,
keeping this safe for me, please.
We'll take care of it, Mr. Maverick.
Oh. Oh, certainly.
[PIANO MUSIC PLAYING]
Well, now.
MAN:
You broken-down moocher.
Beat it.
Mr., uh?
Thayer, sir. Joshua Thayer.
It's against my principles to drink alone.
Would you care to join me?
I'd be delighted, sir.
Double it is, one dollar.
Walter? Ahem, whiskey, my boy.
How many times have I tried
to throw you out of here?
My guest ordered whiskey.
I'll have the same.
- That's very kind of you, sir.
- Maverick. Bret Maverick.
It's extremely kind of you, Mr. Maverick,
but why do you bother?
No one else does.
Percentage. I'm a gambler.
Then you ought to be able to recognize
an ace-deuce when you see one.
There's always a natural on the bottom.
I understand there's usually
a big game here Saturday nights.
Upstairs.
- What's the matter? Rigged?
- Doesn't have to be.
People in this town are so used to losing
to Mr. Phineas King
they do it instinct--
Ahem, instinctively.
Phineas King,
the one who owns the mine?
And everything else in Echo Springs
including this, uh--
That very excellent whiskey.
BRET:
Would you give my friend another drink?
JOSH:
Thank you, sir.
None for me. Double or nothing?
[DICE RATTLING]
- Good night, Mr. Thayer.
- Good evening, sir.
KING:
Thank you, gentlemen. Thank you.
Now, if any of you think I was trying
to run one, just look at the cards.
We all know you never bluff, Phineas.
Oh, incidentally,
Stoller was in the bank again
trying to raise money
on that mine of his.
- Did you give it to him?
- Of course not. You told me--
All I said was that his mine is worthless,
and it is.
If it weren't,
I would have absorbed it long ago.
[MEN CHUCKLE]
But you run the bank,
continue to make your own decisions.
[CHUCKLES]
- But be careful how you handle my money.
- Ha-ha-ha.
What's your business,
Mr. Maverick, mining?
- Grass inspector.
- You inspect grass?
The kind that's always greener
in the other fellow's yard.
[CHUCKLES]
And you stop to do a little mowing too,
occasionally, I presume?
When it's green enough.
[LAUGHS]
- Well, we can't say he didn't warn us.
MAN: Ha, ha.
Anybody open?
[KNOCKS]
Maintain.
I'll, uh, bet 10.
- Call.
- Call.
- Cards?
- Two.
Give me one.
I'll have three, please.
Three.
Ahem, well,
nothing ventured, nothing gained.
Three for me. Ahem.
Ah.
- Richard?
- I'll check the bet.
Check.
I bet 300. Ahem.
Uh-uh.
- Too rich for me.
- I'm out.
Anybody argue with a 10 full?
On a three-card draw.
How do you like that?
Oh, excuse me, I, uh--
Folding on three aces?
Why, you're a very conservative
poker player, Mr. Maverick.
[CHUCKLES]
I just hate to be second best, Mr. King.
[KING CHUCKLES]
The boy will have his little joke.
[ALL CHUCKLE]
KING:
Well, I'll keep the opener moving.
I bet 500.
I've had it.
Cards, Maverick?
Three. I'd like a cut.
[CARDS FLIPPING]
Three for me.
Your bet, Mr. King.
I bet $1000.
I'm out of money.
Oh, that's too bad.
I didn't say broke, Mr. King,
I said out of money.
I've got $4000 in the hotel safe.
I'll settle up after the hand.
[CHUCKLES]
I've heard that story before.
I prefer to see the money.
Oh, Mike, get me a piece of paper
and a pencil.
Go downstairs and get the money,
if there is any.
Write the clerk a little note, please.
You know, just to keep everything open
and aboveboard. Thank you.
- Here it is. It says 4000.
- Thank you.
One thousand, do you call or not?
I call and raise 3000.
Do you call the bet, Mr. King?
Oh, ha, ha. Well, if you don't mind,
I'd like to see the money.
You call the bet
and I'll open the envelope.
[CHUCKLES]
By Jonathan, Mr. Maverick,
I got to hand it to you.
You're a very smart poker player.
Looking right down my throat,
weren't you?
I could almost see what you had for lunch,
Mr. King.
Ha, ha. Well, Mike, uh,
settle up with, uh, Mr. Maverick, will you?
I think I've had enough tonight.
Ha, ha.
It's been a very interesting evening.
[CHUCKLES]
[CHUCKLES]
Whatever you're drinking, lad,
is on the house.
First time anyone tucked King's tail between
his legs and tickled his chin with it.
Tell me, lad, was the money
in the envelope or wasn't it?
Mike, there's two things
a gentleman doesn't discuss.
The ladies he's known and his poker.
[CHUCKLES]
MAVERICK: Be seeing you.
- That you will, lad.
You dropped something, mister.
Who was that?
I never saw him before.
What'd he give you?
I'll be right back.
[FOOTSTEPS]
Anyplace in town
I can get a bite to eat this late?
The only place open
is that Chinese joint down the street.
What do you think about this, Maverick?
It's a heck of a way
to ruin a good deck of cards.
Did you check out?
No, I guess I should have,
but I got a serious vice, curiosity.
I'd like to find out
why anyone would want me out of town.
- But you were at the desk.
- Just paying two weeks rent in advance.
Maverick?
I'd have been mighty disappointed in you
if you hadn't.
BRET: Oh.
- Oh, you're awake. Good.
Water? You got a drink of water?
Who are you?
Edie Stoller.
Papa and I found you in the ditch last night.
In case you're wondering who you are
your name's Bret Maverick
and you come from Chicago.
It's printed on the inside of your coat.
Thanks. That clears up a lot.
Now, if you'll tell me where I am
and what I'm doing here--
Where else would you be
in the condition you were in?
Honestly, I thought you were gonna die.
Papa said if you woke up, I wasn't suppose
to ask you questions till you felt better.
But you do feel better, lots better,
don't you?
Now, tell me, what happened?
You were set upon by thieves, weren't you?
- Thieves?
- Outlaws.
Big hairy men
with bandannas over their faces.
No. They were attacking her,
weren't they?
- Her?
- Your fiancée.
The girl you came west to marry.
- Are you married?
- No. No, I'm--
Good, then they were after your money.
- My money? My money. Ooh.
- Oh, they didn't take it.
Papa's got it for you.
Thousands of dollars.
Wait a minute.
If you were robbed,
why wouldn't they take the money?
You did the robbing, that's it.
- What?
MR. STOLLER: Edie?
[GASPS]
That's Papa back from the mine.
Scooch down and cover up
and go to sleep.
You're sure you're not married?
Good, go to sleep.
Besides, educated women
don't make good wives
unless you make their feet small
like the Chinese
so they can't run away with a French duke,
isn't that right, Mr. Maverick?
It's logical.
You wouldn't marry that kind of woman,
would you?
Edie, clear the table.
Well, I just bet you that Mr. Maverick
would much rather have a woman
who could cook and sew
and keep house and clear the table.
- Edie.
- All right.
Send me to Boston,
let me marry a French duke
and lose my citizenship.
He doesn't care.
Well, if I'm gonna drive you to town,
we'd better get started.
- If you're still of a mind to go.
- Oh, thank you.
I never had a town pulled out
from under me before. I don't like it.
There are lots of other towns.
And vengeance is a poor reason
for doing anything.
You weren't robbed,
what are you going back for?
Answers, Mr. Stoller. If someone's
that mighty anxious to get rid of me
I'd like to know who and why.
All right, out.
Close the door.
- You, say "ah."
- Ah.
I'm gonna ask you just one time, mister.
Who paid you to bushwhack me?
- Mike. Big Mike.
- Big Mike?
Ah.
Why, Mr. Maverick, uh
[SIGHS]
[DOOR OPENS]
Well, Bret, my boy, it's good to see you.
[GRUNTS]
That anger looks almost real.
It's good and real.
Come now, Mike,
your boys were much rougher on me.
My boys?
Pinky and I just came
to an understanding.
Why'd you have me bushwhacked?
I'll make a bargain with you.
I'll tell you why
if you'll forget who told you.
Then it doesn't end with you.
Now, would I be beating you up
for any purpose of me own?
Is it a deal?
All right, go ahead.
Well, do you mind
putting that thing down first?
I talk better when I'm not expecting
to get a bullet in me chest.
I gave you my word.
I'll keep it.
I don't know why but I believe you.
[GRUNTS]
[LAUGHS]
Oh, I'm sorry, Iaddybuck
but I just had to return
that lovely greeting you gave me.
I'd have been disappointed in you
if you hadn't.
However, it makes me feel sort of stupid.
Any man who can make his way
this far back ain't stupid.
Now
as to who wanted you out of town,
it was Phineas King.
Phineas King?
Don't go busting in on him like you did me,
he'll kill you. Or have it done for him.
Sure, Phineas King.
Well, if you know why,
I wish you'd tell me.
Because your Mr. King is a card cheat,
and he knows I know it.
Oh, you're crazy.
He owns the town and $5 million.
Maybe so, but he still cheats
the way some men drink,
because they have to.
I don't believe that.
Cut.
You're holding three 10s
to my pair of queens.
MIKE:
Hmm.
Remind me not to play poker with you.
You play with King.
He does it even better.
- There's a Mr., uh--
- I know, Maverick. Tell him to come in.
Sit down, sit down. Ahem.
- Have a cigar.
- No, thanks.
Well, Mr. King, you've gone to considerable
trouble to have me moved out of your town.
What are you talking about?
A man doesn't have to be bright to figure
that when he's dragged into an alley
beaten up and dumped into a ditch,
somebody doesn't want him around.
- And you think I did that?
- That's right.
Now, look here. I don't know whether
you've gotten in any trouble or not
-but please don't come into my office--
- I know why you did it.
You have to win at everything, don't you?
The town is yours, the mines,
$5 million
but you can't stop there,
now it's poker.
- Oh.
- You got to win at that too.
Not for the money, just win.
What are you trying to say?
That you're a cheat, Mr. King,
and you know I know it.
You've got me all wrong.
Now, I don't know--
I'm not leaving, Mr. King, not yet.
Not till the tailor fixes me a new coat.
I'll have him send you the bill.
- You mean kill him?
- I didn't say that.
There's only one way
to get rid of a man permanently.
Do what you're getting paid to do
and don't bother me with the details.
You listen to me,
I don't mind doing your dirty work
when there's a profit to be made
and nobody's hurt too bad.
But I've never murdered a man
and I'll not start now.
Not for you
or all the silver in this territory.
If you want Maverick killed,
you get somebody else to do it, not me.
That place you run
may be called Big Mike McCombs
but bear in mind,
I can always hire someone else.
Well, now,
maybe that might not be too bad either.
The sawdust has been getting awful dirty
around the joint anyhow.
JOSH:
Oh, no. Ugh.
Kind of wandered off the trail a little,
haven't you, Josh?
What are you doing here?
- Well, you're in my room.
- So are you.
I mean, I--
I thought you left town.
The word got around you
You're all right.
- I'm all right.
- Yeah.
Well, the room was paid for
and I didn't like to see it go to waste.
Well, I mean, I
- Oh, you understand.
- Sure.
[JOSH SIGHS]
Well, I'll get out of your way.
- Better stay where you are.
- You want your room.
- It's your room. I'll get another one.
- Oh, you're too decent, Bret.
You'll never make it in this town.
You're a Iamb among wolves.
That your trouble?
Part of it.
You know what I was?
I was a judge once.
A judge.
Could have gone far
if I'd learned to say yes to the right people
and no to the bottle.
Trouble is, the right people
are always the wrong people.
I thought I saw an 11
under that acey-deucey.
You shouldn't have come back, Maverick.
Phineas King is wrong people.
See you, Josh.
MIKE: Where have you been all afternoon?
- Getting measured for a new coat.
- Come on, I'll buy you a drink.
- Not here, we'll go some place else. Come on.
- Where's your horse?
- At the livery stable. Why?
I'll get it. Go pack and meet me here
in 10 minutes. You're leaving town.
- Who says so?
- I say so. I hate funerals and love postcards.
Drop me one, I'll write back
and tell you about--
[CARRIAGE APPROACHING
THEN GUNFIRE]
Look out!
Are you all right, lad?
[MIKE GRUNTS]
You set me up for a target.
MIKE:
Oh, no, not again.
MIKE: Will you listen to me,
you mule-headed Maverick?
- I'm listening.
- He hates you.
It was him that tried to kill you and he'll
do it again. You've got to get out of here.
It took me a long time
to get a coat like this.
It's a small rip.
A few stitches, it'll never show.
I'll send you the new one
as soon as it's finished.
- Mike, you've convinced me.
- Well, have I now? I'll get your horse.
- I'll even ride to the end of town with you.
- I'm staying.
What?
A man like King has got to be stopped.
I'm gonna stop him.
I don't know how,
but I'm gonna stop him.
Well, the coat will never be finished
in time for the funeral.
MAN: "Notice. I want everyone in the town
of Echo Springs to know
that Phineas King did not make
any attempt to kill me today.
Bret Maverick."
[ALL LAUGHING]
Sue him, you nincompoop!
Drag him into court.
BIXBY: On what grounds?
- Libel, defamation of character.
Libel? What Maverick says in that ad
is absolutely true.
You did not make any attempt
to kill him today, did you?
Why, certainly not, but--
And you'd better make it your business
to see that nothing does happen to him
because the day that ad
doesn't appear in the paper
you're gonna have the whole town
on your doorstep demanding to know why.
By heaven, you're right.
But I still control this newspaper.
I can have that ad refused. Hmm.
Can you?
Well, can't I?
Hmm.
I'm worried about old Josh over there.
You know, I've been thinking.
Election's coming up.
Supposing a couple of us
were to write his name in for judge
throw him a vote or two
make him feel important,
like somebody cared.
Wouldn't influence anything
but it just might give him a reason
to stop drinking.
It's a nice thought.
It's a real nice thought.
- I'll give him my vote.
- Good.
- Don't tell anybody about it.
- Oh, no.
- Wouldn't want him to think it's a gag.
- No.
Just between you and me.
You and me? Funny.
[CHUCKLING]
We'll keep it between you and me,
just the two of us.
All right.
- Why not? Just you and me.
- Why not?
- Between you and me.
- Sure.
[MOUTHS]
You and me?
- You and me, huh?
- Sure.
[MURMURING]
[PIANO MUSIC PLAYING]
Oh, well, this is your night again,
Richard.
Ha, ha. I anticipate a very close election.
[MEN LAUGH]
- Here's to you, judge.
- Well, another election, same old thing.
- Could be worse.
- Yeah? How?
[MAN 1 CHUCKLES]
Ha. The fools, they actually think
they're electing somebody.
- Maybe they are.
- Wishful thinking, laddybuck.
They might as well print it in the X's
alongside Bixby's name
-and save the trouble of writing.
- Ah, you're right.
MAN 2: Here. Here he is.
- Well, gentlemen, here it is.
MAN 3: Let's see what it is.
MAN 4: Open up.
MAN 5:
Post it up there.
MAN 4:
Come on, open it up.
Go on, put it up there.
Let's show Judge Bixby
what the town thinks of him.
[LAUGHS]
[CROWD MURMURING]
[CHUCKLING]
[MEN CHATTERING indistinctly]
Josh! How about that?
[CLAMOR]
All right. Quiet down. Quiet down.
[WHISTLES]
- Here, let me say something.
- Thank you very much. I didn't know I--
Men, men,
I know you made a good choice.
Josh here knows the law
and how to use it.
I believe Echo Springs
has elected a wise and honest judge.
[MEN CHEERING]
Thank you. Thank you.
JOSH:
I'm a drunk, Bret.
A busted miserable vagrant.
A no-good polluted bum.
And you made me a judge. Why?
- You're none of those things--
- Oh, don't con me.
I got mind enough left to know
that there's got to be an angle.
Well, whatever it is,
there's something you've got to know.
No one has ever bought me,
no one ever will.
I didn't buy you, Josh.
You're on your own.
Strictly?
You don't owe me a thing.
By the way, how good are those two books
on mining law you loaned me?
Oh, they're not very up-to-date.
One of them goes back about 16 years
and the other one about 25.
Pretty obsolete, huh?
Well, I don't know.
Law has been around
as long as human nature.
Neither of them
have ever changed very much.
- Yeah, well, good night, Josh.
- All right.
You were a judge
from the moment I met you.
I'm glad they finally made it official.
Good night.
- Then your mine, Stoller, is here.
- Yeah.
- Yours, Kriedler, here.
- Mm-hm.
And this is yours, Jackson.
- And, Lawson, this is yours.
- That's right.
- You're all adjacent to King's holdings.
- Sure, it's all the same hill.
Only, King gets the corn
and we get the shucking.
What's your proposition, Maverick?
- I know how you--
- Anybody want some cake?
Uh, later, Edie,
when we're through talking.
Oh, you can eat and talk too,
you always do.
- Let's have it, Maverick.
- I know how you can beat King.
I know how you can increase
the yields of your mines
to equal, if not out-produce,
King himself.
How do we do it, Maverick?
Well, first, we form a company.
Then when the
KING:
They wouldn't have the nerve.
- They're mining your ore.
- And stealing my money.
Wholesale, judging by the deposits
in the bank last month.
I told you so.
I've got an instinct about people.
That Maverick's a crook.
I'll have them all behind bars.
Mining my silver, the thieves.
And you, what am I paying you for?
You're supposed to be my lawyer, stop him.
Get an injunction out
against every one of them.
Take them into court. Hang them.
Then, as the result of your professional
exploration surveys
soundings and et cetera,
you are certain beyond any doubt
that the New Hope interests are,
in actuality
mining through Mr. King's property?
Obviously.
Thank you. That is all, Your Honor.
You may question the witness,
Mr. Maverick.
No questions, Your Honor.
Ahem, you may take your seat.
Mr. Maverick,
are you certain you do not need
to be represented by trained counsel?
Quite certain, sir.
But so far, Mr. Maverick
you have not challenged the statement
of a single witness.
I can't,
their statements are unchallengeable.
Well, then, call your witnesses.
I can't do that either. We haven't any.
Then you admit
you're stealing Mr. King's ore.
Now, hold on there. Stealing means taking
something that you have no right to
and we have every right
to mine that ore
regardless of whose property
we go through.
You have the right to legally penetrate
into land owned by Phineas King
remove the ore from that land
smolder and pocket the silver
extracted from that ore? Mr. King's ore?
Mr. King has no claim
to the silver we mine.
According to the law, the answer is yes.
According to the law, you say?
The federal mining laws of this country,
specifically the apex law.
The apex law.
"To any prospector who first locates
an outcropping mineral vein
such surface indication of the ore
to be known as the apex of the vein
said owner is guaranteed the right
to follow that vein downward
even when it leads unto the holdings
of claims located beside it."
[MEN LAUGHS]
MAN 1: I knew he'd do it.
MAN 2: He told him.
That's all we're doing, Your Honor.
Following our original veins,
which according to this law and that map
we have every legally guaranteed right
to do.
[CHATTERING]
BIXBY:
Your Honor.
Your Honor.
Your Honor
this is as foul and deliberate a piece
of legal hocus-pocus
as I have ever witnessed.
Veins are never continuous.
They're always broken or cut off
and terminated by worthless rock.
This shabby charlatan
is using a ridiculous archaic conception
disproved by every mining authority
in existence.
The apex law is outmoded.
It's a useless piece of legal shale,
absolutely and utterly obsolete.
But never repealed.
We stand on the law, Your Honor.
[MEN LAUGHING AND CHATTERING]
This court is recessed
until 10:00 tomorrow morning.
[SIGHS]
[KNOCK ON DOOR]
- Come in.
- Evening, judge.
Hello, Phineas.
- You know, I got a little bit worried, Josh.
- Hmm.
Your decision tomorrow
can cost me an awful lot of money.
It's costing me an awful lot of sleep.
Well, of course, I realize that you're
obligated to Bret Maverick but, uh--
Oh, no offense, no offense,
it's perfectly natural.
- After all, he did get you elected.
- And a lot more.
And if ever I can do him a favor,
I'll do it
outside a courtroom.
You know that claim of his is as asinine
as the law he's evoked to support it.
I'll acquaint you with what I know
tomorrow morning at 10:00, Phineas.
I see.
Well, that's a long time to wait
considering what's at stake.
Josh.
No, thanks.
Well, suit yourself.
Ah.
You know,
I'm liable to lay awake all night, worrying.
I'd give almost anything
to get a good night's sleep.
Maybe even $100,000.
A hundred thousand dollars?
Mm-hm.
Think it over.
Just keep running with your research.
Good night.
Please rise.
DEPUTY:
Be seated.
[CLEARS THROAT]
It is the decision of this court
that there is no legal cause
for an injunction against the operations
of the New Hope Mining Company.
[MEN CHEERING]
MAN:
We won!
[GAVEL POUNDING]
Don't worry.
- On King's face?
- Yeah. Ha-ha-ha.
I've done dang
a few smart things in my life
but when I pulled this young fellow
out of the ditch, I sure did us a favor.
- You sure did, all right. Ha, ha.
- Excuse me.
- Yeah.
- Sure, go ahead.
I believe you did.
BRET: What's the trouble?
- I just came from the railroad station.
Guess who just boarded the train
for the territorial seat?
- Bixby.
- How'd you know?
King's bound to appeal to higher courts
to reverse Thayer's decision.
- Bixby's out to put the pressure on.
- Ah, fat chance they got.
Very fat, Mike. They'll win it.
Any news from Bixby
on the mail train this morning?
- No, Mr. King.
- No.
Sitting here helpless while Maverick
and those crooks are robbing me blind.
Not only that,
they're stealing all my miners.
Ten hours a day instead of 12
and 10 cents more an hour,
and with my money!
Well, until we get a decision,
we could meet the competition.
- Raise wages.
- Raise wages.
- Reduce hours.
- Reduce hours? Me? I will not.
It's bad enough being robbed
without giving money away.
- Besides, it's immoral.
-Immoral?
Working 10 hours a day.
You can only sleep eight hours.
What do they do with the other six?
I've got it, Fennelly.
We've got them licked.
Harris!
And your total profit thus far
is slightly in excess of $600,000.
[MEN CHUCKLING]
And not a word from Phineas, not a peep.
- What can he do?
- That's against me, what can he do?
- Ha-ha-ha.
- Six hundred thousand.
[TRAIN WHISTLE WAILING]
Oh, that's trouble. Big trouble.
The mines. They're flooding the mines.
The water's coming down in sheets.
- Coming down from where?
- The Silver Lady, all King's tunnels.
- King flooded his own mine?
- Right into ours.
There's your answer.
Now we know what he can do.
Flood our mines and keep them closed
until he gets that court decision.
[indistinct ANGRY CLAMOR]
[CHUCKLES]
Listen to this one. The lady said,
"No, I ain't going buggy riding--"
- You read that one yesterday.
- Yeah, yeah, I guess I did.
You've been hanging around here
so much lately, why, I forget.
Not much else to do.
Mine shut down, town wearing black crepe.
Yeah, it's getting ugly. A lot of bad feeling
building up towards your friend, Maverick.
Well, why Maverick?
King flooded the mines.
Maverick started it and they blame him.
It don't take long
for hungry men to get violent
and when that happens,
they'll go after his scalp first.
[TELEGRAPH MACHINE CLICKING]
Bad news, Mike. Listen.
"Verdict today assured.
Maverick and New Hope finished.
Returning noon train tomorrow. Bixby."
Willy? Willy?
Ah, where is that Willy?
Willy!
[MUMBLES]
"Verdict today assured
Maverick and New Hope.
Finished. Returning noon train tomorrow.
Bixby."
OPERATOR: So help me, well,
the next time I find you asleep, you're fired.
Now, you get that message
over to Mr. King's office right away.
[indistinct ANGRY CLAMOR]
Come on down!
We've got him, boys.
Bret Maverick will be lucky
to leave this town alive.
Bret! Bret!
- Don't shout, you make me nervous.
- You've got reason to be nervous, boy.
That mob's meat eaters
and you're the meat.
You got to get out of this town.
I tried. They got the place surrounded.
[SIGHS]
Did they get a wire from Bixby yet?
I couldn't snatch it like you wanted,
but I did fix it a little.
- King won all right.
- Fix it? How?
Well, now it reads like maybe King lost.
Are you sure he'll think that?
Oh, he'll think it,
but only till tomorrow till Bixby gets here.
I thought it'd give you time
to pack up and get.
Mike, did anyone ever tell you
you were beautiful?
- Huh?
- Come on.
MAN 1: Come on down!
- Quiet!
There he is. They got him.
All right now. All right now.
[MIKE SHOUTS indistinctly]
All right, boys, what's the problem?
- Don't con us, you're leaving town.
- You got yours, now we're gonna take ours.
MAN 2: Who closed the mine
and threw us out of work?
MAN 3: You're getting rich and we starve!
- Here, look at this.
It's a thousand-dollar bill.
Listen to me and when I get through,
if there's a man among you
who doesn't like what I said,
he can come up and claim this bill.
Go on, Maverick! Tell us what suckers
you made out of us
while you were getting rich enough
to wave that in our face!
I'm not rich.
I've never been in this for the money.
This started out as a battle for rights.
Yours, mine, everyone's.
But it's gotten out of hand,
and both Phineas King and I realize it.
And I'll tell you something else.
I was wrong about Phineas King.
He's a fine man.
[MOUTHS]
Me?
Wait. He fights, and he fights hard.
But not at the expense
of defenseless employees
whose interest
is always the first consideration.
I'll tell you something even more important.
The mines are going to open.
[CHEERING]
What does he mean,
the mines are going to open?
As you all know,
the issue is still in the courts.
How long it will take to get a decision
is always unpredictable.
You men have to work
and you're going to work.
Because Phineas King and the New Hope
Company of independent miners
are about to merge.
[MEN CHEERING]
Merge? What's he talking about merge?
Yes, sir, we're gonna be partners.
And that's not all.
At Mr. King's insistence
all the reforms innovated
by the New Hope Company
including the 10-cent-an-hour raise
and the shorter hours,
are to be included in the agreement.
[MEN CHEERING]
He wouldn't have it any other way.
I'm going over to Mr. King's office now
and draw up the papers.
When you see us together in that window,
you'll know it's official.
[MEN CHEERING]
I got your horse waiting around the back.
[MEN CHATTERING]
Mergers, raises, shorter hours,
and I'm to agree to that?
Oh, if he asks me
if he dares to come up here and ask me,
so help me, I'll kill him.
[KNOCK ON DOOR]
- No, Phineas, stop.
- No, Phineas, you can't do that.
- Come in.
- Telegram, Mr. King.
Now, wait a minute. I'm sorry I'm late.
I didn't know it was that important.
- Here.
- What does it say? Read it.
What do you think I'm gonna do,
you nincompoop?
"Verdict today assured
Maverick and New Hope. Finished."
- They upheld Maverick?
- We're finished?
"Returning noon train tomorrow. Bixby."
- Enjoying the show, Phineas?
- Why you--?
- You heard. How does it sound?
- Like the rattle of a diamondback.
If you think you can blackmail me
into that kind--
Wait a minute, I've just given those men out
there a mighty glowing description of you.
You wouldn't wanna disillusion them.
If I were to tell them you backed out now--
Backed out? I promised them nothing.
I'd just as soon merge
with a nest of rattlesnakes
as you and your thieving conspirators.
You lose more every day those mines
remain closed than this agreement
-would cost you in a month.
- It's worth it.
Worth it?
To see men out of work?
Families going hungry?
Your fortune is built on their discoveries,
they're entitled to some consideration.
Yeah, sure.
Half of everything I own, I suppose.
Nothing of what you own.
All they ask for in this contract
is just enough to get along.
Five percent of the future profits
of the combined companies.
What? Five percent?
Oh, and who gets the other 95 percent,
you?
I'm pulling out of Echo Springs tomorrow.
Thought that might be an added inducement.
Ha, ha, I wish I could believe that.
Well, what'll it be, Phineas? Do you sign?
Or do we go out there
and tell those men you refuse
and wait for the decision
of the higher court?
Ahem, well
The decision.
Oh, yeah. Yes, yes, of course, I'm
Hmm. Yeah.
[CLEARS THROAT]
[WHISPERS]
What do you think we ought to do?
- For once, it's imperative that you--
- Oh
Five percent isn't such a bad proposition
after all.
I knew you would see it that way.
- Oh, yes.
- Here he is.
Here he is, men. Here's our man.
[ALL CHEERING]
[MURMURING]
I'm sure sorry to see you go, Bret.
Thank you, John.
I kind of hate to leave.
- I'll take that, Maverick.
- Thank you, Lawson.
I'll be leaving too in a few days,
Mr. Maverick.
Nothing to keep me here now.
Think you'll ever be in Boston?
I might, Edie. I just might.
Here's where I'll be.
Doggone it, Maverick, now that
you're leaving, I don't want you to go.
Stay here and take care of things for me,
will you?
I'll make you a big man.
Thanks, no, Phineas. The bigger I'd get,
the smaller the town would get.
- I'd like to leave it the size I found it.
- But a lot better than you found it, Bret.
- Goodbye, Bret.
- Good luck, Josh.
- So long, everybody.
- Bye, Bret.
MAN 1: So long, Bret.
MAN 2: Goodbye.
If you see Big Mike,
tell him goodbye for me.
JOSH: Right.
MAN 3: We'll do that.
MAN 4: Good luck, Bret.
MAN 5: So long.
BIXBY:
Phineas!
Well, I see you got rid of Maverick.
No trumpets for the returning hero?
- You're fired.
- Fired? Ha, ha, very funny.
After I got that apex decision reversed
in your favor.
- Reversed?
- Certainly. Didn't you get my telegram?
Sure, I got your telegram, you blockhead.
Here it is. Read it.
"Verdict today assured.
Maverick and New Hope finished."
That isn't the way I read it.
Well, there are a couple
of misplaced punctuation marks.
Well, I'll be a son of a gun.
Remember that poker game
where he raised me with the envelope?
- Yeah.
- What do you think he had in it?
- How would I know?
- No, you wouldn't.
It was guts. Nothing but guts.
And you're still fired.
MIKE:
Mind if I ride along with you?
- How far?
- Wherever you're going.
Any particular reason?
Whatever it is,
something's bound to be happening.
I just couldn't bear to miss it.
[MIKE LAUGHS]
[English - US - SDH]