Gunsmoke (1955) s03e05 Episode Script

Potato Road

starring James Arness as Matt Dillon.
When the wind comes out of the west a hundred miles high and a thousand miles wide, it drives the settlers out like buffalo bums.
It leaves them cracked and empty, and wishing they'd never left Indiana.
And some of them really can't take it.
They start spinning around like poisoned wolves, baffled but dangerous in their hurt and anger.
Those are the hardest I have to go up against.
Matt Dillon, US Marshal.
Well! Where in the world have you been? Out hunting big bad men or something? No.
Just been talking to some pilgrims camped upriver.
Well, you wait'll you see what's camped in your office.
Oh, what's that? Well, I'm not gonna spoil it for you.
You'll have to see for yourself.
My goodness, Mr.
Dillon, I'm sure glad that you're back.
Hello, Doc.
There's the doggondest man waiting for you in your office.
What does he want? Well, he-he-he says that he wants you to come and arrest his pa.
Oh, I knew it'd be something silly.
Arrest his pa? Yeah.
Now what does he want me to do that for? I don't know.
He didn't say, except he said you better hurry, that it's serious.
Well, in that case, I better go talk to him, I guess.
Yeah, you do that; I'm gonna be down in Long Branch having a beer.
You let me know how it comes out, huh? All right, Doc.
Found him, huh.
Yeah.
Now go ahead and tell him what you come for.
I come for him.
Well, yeah, I know, he told me that.
Was it something about your pa? Pa needs arresting.
Arresting? What for? He killed a fella.
Shot him dead.
Now who is your pa? I'm Budge Grilk, Marshal.
Who'd your pa kill? Some stranger.
Just left him laying out there.
Dead.
Pa won't even bury him.
Well, laying where? Now, where'd this happen? Near home.
Well, where's home? Out yonder.
Oh, forever more.
Well, I don't know how to tell him how to get there.
Well, maybe you better show me the way, huh? That's what I come for.
All right.
I'll understand if you don't want to come along on this trip.
He's got me plumb swimmy-headed, but I'll go, just out of sake of habit.
All right.
Come on.
There's the house.
House? Can't everybody live in a big place.
No, I guess not.
Got a tater cellar, see? Be a good place to to keep somebody, wouldn't it, Marshal? Your pa gonna be over there? Ma'll be there.
Better not ride no further.
Makes ma mad.
She says it's impolite.
All right.
Come on.
Ma? Ma! She ain't She-she-she'll be out.
Good.
Ma, I got him.
That's her.
That there's him, that big'un.
Well, who's the other one? A fella named Chester.
He's hangin' around, so I brought him, too.
Ma'am, I, uh, I take it you know about your husband? I been married to him I mean about his killin' somebody.
Well you have to see pa when he gets here about that.
That ain't none of my affair.
Budge you take that gun on into the house.
You fellers, you stay out here.
I'll boil up some coffee for ya and bring it out to ya.
And, uh, you can sit down, if you want to.
Oh, don't bother with that, ma'am.
It ain't no bother.
Sit down, huh? She's crazier than he his.
Chester, I think they're half starved.
Marshal? Ma's fixin' to make you some coffee.
Yeah, she told us that, Budge.
Ma like folks come visit.
Sometime.
Hey, Marshal? Yes, ma'am? I want you to come see my house.
Come here.
That Chester fella- he can see it later.
Ma don't always ask people in, Marshal.
Only sometimes.
All right.
Mr.
Dillon, does that mean that I don't get any coffee? Don't you worry about that, Chester.
Come on in, Marshal.
Don't move, Marshal.
You do, I'll bust your heart open.
Get your hands up.
This gun is hard-triggered.
Budge! I got him, Ma! Well, come give me a hand here then! Go on, get down there.
Get in there! All right.
He got behind me with that knife, Mr.
Dillon.
I wasn't expectin' nothin' like that.
Come on, Budge.
Let's lock 'em up.
Lock us up where? In the tater cellar.
Tater cellar? Like I told you, 'member? All right, Budge, what's all this about? Pa'll tell you when he gets here.
Where is your pa? He's waitin'.
He'll be in tonight sometime.
You can see him in the mornin'.
Your pa never shot anybody, did he? No.
But he's gonna.
He sure is.
Eh, Ma? Yep.
Now, come on get out there to the tater cellar.
Go on, Chester, get! Tater cellar don't make much of a hotel, does it, Mr.
Dillon? No, it sure doesn't, Chester.
Damp.
Even them taters is moldy.
Well, it's mornin'.
Yeah.
You think they're gonna let us out? Now, Chester, I don't know.
I been thinking about it all night.
I don't know what they're doing, or what they're planning to do.
Yeah, beats me.
Imagine that old woman pulling a trick like that.
You think she'll really use that shotgun, Mr.
Dillon? I don't know.
She said she would.
Anyway, I couldn't shoot a woman, Chester.
Yeah, and she knows that, too.
That's darn smart of her.
She knows that.
Yeah.
Get 'em out here, Budge.
They can't put up a fight with nothin' but taters.
Come on out now! Now don't you try nothin'.
We both got guns.
Get up here in the light, where we can see ya.
That's the big'un.
The big'un there, Pa.
That's the marshal.
I reckon you know who I am, don't you? Yeah, I know who you are.
About the smartest man in this whole country.
That so? Well, you're one man oughta know that for sure.
Am I? I got you caught, ain't I? You mean 'cause I wouldn't shoot a woman? That make you smart? Tell him, Pa.
Go ahead tell him.
Shut up, Budge! Don't be telling me what to do! We got a plan, Marshal.
A real fine plan.
And it's all my thinkin'.
We're gonna rob the bank, Marshal.
The Dodge Bank.
Gonna hold it up and take all the money.
Oh, that's a pretty good plan.
Ain't it? Now you see how it's gonna work? Won't be nobody there to stop us.
'Cause we'll have you out here dead.
Dead and buried.
Now-now, look here Now you just hold steady, Chester.
What'd you think we got you out here for? Well, it don't make sense.
I mean Why not? Why not? Chester, don't argue with him.
It's no use- they're crazy.
Crazy? You call me crazy 'cause I'm gonna get rich? 'Cause I won't have to work this no good land no more? 'Cause I won't have to twist and rot and starve no more? Do you call that crazy? Yeah.
I call that crazy.
Go get Ma! We're gonna shoot 'em right now! Ma! Ma, come on out, if you want to watch us kill 'em.
Grilk, let me ask you What makes you think I'd be the only one after you if you robbed that bank? Well, everybody knows that once you get the marshal out of the way, the rest is easy.
Yeah, but there's a lot of people got money in that bank.
You're gonna have 50 men after you, at least.
Nah.
Me and Ma and Budge gonna shoot everybody in the bank.
That way, nobody'll know nothing about it till after we're gone.
You won't live to get as far as the street.
It's my plan, it ain't your'n.
Now you shut up.
She better hurry out here now if she wants to see this.
Mr.
Dillon, he means it.
They're really gonna shoot at us.
What's that woman doing? Putting on her best Sunday clothes? Ma likes to take her time.
She's worse than you are.
I ain't waiting.
I'll shoot the marshal.
You take the other 'un.
No.
Wait, Pa.
Ma? Ma?! Come on out now.
Come Pa? Pa? Oh, it's Calhoun.
What's he want here now? Wants to come visiting.
Dad blast him.
Budge, you take these two around the other side of the house.
Get on around now, hear? I always did hate a nosy neighbor.
Now go on and get 'round the side of the house before I shoot you right now! Mr.
Dillon Get! Mr.
Dillon? All right.
Now get on back there, go on! What you want here, Calhoun? Just come to visit a spell.
Well, we're too busy for visiting today.
Ain't nobody too busy for visiting.
Hold it! Pa! Just don't you take another step.
Well, you went and killed that nice Calhoun fella.
Sure did.
Doggone you, Budge.
I'm gonna whup you good.
Well, he was getting too nosy, Pa.
Yeah, and you're getting too smart.
Pa? Leave him alone.
He didn't mean nothing by it.
You're always sticking up for him, ain't you? He had no right to shoot Calhoun.
Now, get back on into that house.
Go on! Well, what's wrong with shooting Calhoun, Pa? We're leaving, ain't we? We don't have no use for no neighbors.
Come on, let's shoot these two.
You ain't got a brain in your head, have you, Budge? What do you mean, Pa? Now we can't leave Calhoun laying out there in the road.
We got to bury him now.
Time we get that done, Mall have supper ready.
We'll have to shoot these two later in the evening.
I hadn't thought of that.
Oh, you never thought about nothin'.
What's worse, gonna have to feed 'em now, too.
We can't let nobody go hungry that long.
You get in there and tell Ma to fix something.
Go on now! Get back into that potato cellar now, you two.
Go on! Budge'll bring you something to eat directly.
Get in there! Mr.
Dillon, I don't think I can take much more of this.
We'll get our chance, Chester.
How? When everyone brings the food.
Oh.
Well, the trouble is, they're the blooded-est men I'd ever seen.
They don't even think straight.
Yeah, it was pretty thoughtful of the old man not to want us to go hungry, wasn't it? Oh, yeah well, that is thoughtful.
Yeah, not to want to bury us on an empty stomach.
Here he comes.
Stay where you are.
What are you gonna do? I don't know, but we're gonna do something.
Well Ma dipped you up a little potato peelings.
Tater peelings for us? That sounds good.
Couldn't put any salt in it.
We're about out.
Aah! Pa? Pa! You got him, Mr.
Dillon, you got him.
Now, look, when you talk, you talk quiet.
Well, that thing ain't gonna do you much good.
Why? 'Cause I plumb forgot to load it, that's why.
He's right, Mr.
Dillon- it ain't loaded.
Joke's sure on you, ain't it? Not quite.
Just getting yourself into a peck of trouble, Marshal.
Pa sure gonna be mad at you.
Yeah, well, that's all right.
I'm kind of mad at him, too.
Now, where is he, inside? Nah.
He's lying, Mr.
Dillon.
He's always lying.
I said, where is he? Drug Calhoun's body out.
Gonna bury it.
Go on outside and see.
Be careful.
Maybe he ain't lying, Mr.
Dillon.
He ain't there.
Oh.
Well, why don't you sneak around by the front door, Chester? Maybe you can find out what's going on for sure.
Yeah.
You do that you're gonna get what's coming to you.
Ain't nothing coming to me but a long, happy life.
That kid of yours is about the dumbest critter I ever did see.
Oh, don't talk like that.
He might hear you.
It's high time he did, if you ask me.
Yeah, well, least-wise, he don't sit around all day pickling his brains with that stuff.
You want me to fetch you a clout beside the head? I'm not sure anymore whether I care or not.
I set fire to you, you'll care.
Now, Jake, I done you're bidding, and I done it all along.
You better keep on doing it, too, you want to stay one color.
Say you sure you're gonna shoot them fellers this evening? Sure.
I'd have done it this afternoon, hadn't been for that fool Budge.
But we got plenty of time.
Ain't no use exerting ourselves.
He's in there, Mr.
Dillon.
He's in the house, just sitting there pulling on his jug and abusing his wife.
All right, now where's Calhoun's body? It's around the other side of the house in the shade.
Come on.
Where you taking me? We're going up to the house.
Get up.
Pa! He was in there, sure, Mr.
Dillon.
I'm gonna get me something.
All right.
What's going on? Make him let me go, Pa.
I got a knife in his back, Grilk.
You drop that gun, or he's gonna die.
No, it won't work, Marshal.
It won't work at all.
I said drop the gun, or he's gonna die.
You ain't as smart as me, Marshal.
You don't understand nothing.
Let me loose, Marshal! Stand still.
He's not gonna shoot.
You just watch.
No, Pa, don't! Don't! I got him, Mr.
Dillon, I got him! I got him! He's dead, Chester.
He's dead? Pa? She'll be out here with that gun in a minute.
We better get around the corner.
Your husband shot at him, ma'am.
I I'm sorry.
Budge.
Poor Budge.
Ma'am, let me do that for you.
No, I'll do it.
I, uh Well, I sure never figured a man to shoot his own son.
Budge wasn't his son.
He was my son.
He hated Budge.
Always hated him.
Oh.
My first husband was Budge's pa.
He died.
That was his brother you killed.
I see.
He sure give me some terrible whippings.
Mrs.
Grilk, I I'm sorry.
Well, all that don't matter no more.
Well, what am I gonna do without Budge? I ain't got nobody now.
What am I gonna do? Well, I don't know, ma'am.
I I sure don't know.
Well, uh, we'll bury these other two for you.
You bury them two.
I'll bury my boy.
You know, Mr.
Dillon, I-I feel kind of sorry for her.
You gonna put her in jail for what she did? I don't think so, Chester.
Blaming her would be Well, it'd be kind of like blaming the night for being dark.
Come on.

Previous EpisodeNext Episode