Plot Synopsis (continued)
A lone, wounded rider (William Self), a wrangler half-dead
from starvation and a throat wound from an attempted hanging, appears
on horseback. He ominously tells the men of how he rode as "point" man
for two thousand head of cattle owned by "old man Carver." When
their herd crossed "the big Red," they were jumped by about
a hundred men - border bandits who stampeded the cattle and picked
off the men one by one: "We didn't have a chance, not a chance." He
suggests that they take an alternate safer route, going north at
the Red River toward Abilene, Kansas where the railroad had been
extended (the same trail and market railhead that Cherry had already
eluded to).
Three of the men (mostly anonymous individuals until
this juncture in the film), including Naylor (Glenn Strange) and
Fernandez (Paul Fierro), openly challenge Dunson in a showdown, because
they are convinced they should drive the herd to Kansas instead of
Missouri. They threaten to leave the drive:
"We started a drive we'll never finish." Dunson reminds them
that leaving would violate the honorable commitment that they made
when they signed on to finish the drive ("You agreed to finish
this drive. I'm gonna hold you to it"). When they are poised to
draw their guns against Dunson, Matt, Cherry, and Groot side with their
unarmed leader. Groot tosses a loaded-cocked rifle to Dunson, and both
Matt and Cherry draw their blazing guns. After the cold-blooded execution
of the three "quitters," Dunson turns and defiantly asks
the rest of the men:
All right. Anybody else? Say it now, 'cause I don't
want ever to hear it again. I don't like quitters, especially when
they're not good enough to finish what they start. Now go on! Speak
up! Say it and you can join your friends here...
He announces that he will "read over 'em in the
morning." After the tyrannical assertion of power, Simms (Hank
Worden) speaks about Dunson's violent practices:
Plantin' and readin', plantin' and readin'. Fill
a man full of lead and stick him in the ground and then read words
at him. Why, when you killed a man, why try to read the Lord in
as a partner on the job?
Although Matt assisted in the killing, he questions
his father's judgment and dictatorial rule and declares his behavior "wrong" -
progressively distancing himself from Dunson's moral values:
Matt: You didn't have to do that back there.
Dunson: You joined in.
Matt: Yeah, and I thought you were wrong.
Dunson: Well then why didn't ya...
Matt: Don't try and tell me what to think. I'll take your orders
about work, but not about what to think.
Dunson: You think I'm to blame for that?
Matt: Just as sure as you're sittin' there.
Dunson: And so?
Matt: So I'll take your orders.
As an indication of his weakening moral authority,
Dunson is also physically injured. He was hit during the shootout
with the rebels - his slightly injured lower leg is treated by Groot.
Dunson's pal takes delight in cleansing the stinging wound with two
generous doses of whiskey, and he is critical of the murders caused
by his stubborn wagonmaster:
Groot: It isn't as bad as it should be.
Dunson: You too? What have ya got to say?
Groot: Nothin'. If I did, you wouldn't listen to it.
Three more men feel that they are being driven too
hard by Dunson. Teeler, Kelsey and Laredo (Dan White) desert the
drive during the night, stealing beans, flour, and cartridges during
their sneaky getaway. Dunson, who now sleeps uneasily with a gun
in his hand, is told of the defection. Gunslinger Cherry is sent
after them to bring them back.
The next page of the diary describes the continuation
of the relentless drive until they finally reach the Red River [actually
the San Pedro River]:
Secretly the rest of the men hoped Teeler, Laredo
and Kelsey would succeed but not Dunson. He ordered the herd to
move on and move they did with Dunson driving them at every step.
The Red River was not far ahead and he meant to reach it by nightfall.
By the Red River's edge, Matt and Dunson share a nostalgic
memory of years earlier when they first crossed the Red, but their
conversation quickly turns negative:
Matt: Well, here's your Red.
Dunson: It's quite a river.
Matt: Sure had a lot smaller herd the last time we crossed.
Dunson: One bull and a cow. Well, this looks like as good a place
as any.
Matt: This will take us the rest of the day and part of the night.
Why not cross fresh in the morning?
Dunson: We'll put 'em across now!
Matt: We've got a pretty tired bunch behind us.
Dunson: Tired men don't run away.
Matt: We can't keep 'em this wore out all the rest of the drive.
Dunson: No, but we can keep 'em this wore out until Cherry gets back.
Then nobody'll want to run away.
Dunson and Matt mark the river's areas of quicksand
and then begin the arduous task of bringing the herd across the Red
River. The filming of the river crossing is impressive and imbued
with enormous scope - authentic-feeling, point-of-view shots (from
the inside of Groot's chuckwagon, for example) put the viewer right
at the center of the adventurous action, as the cowboys accomplish
the difficult, strenuous work. [The moving herd of cattle evokes
and is associated with the flow of the streaming river.] After the
four hour crossing in which only thirty to forty head are lost, Groot
thinks the men need supportive congratulations, but Dunson is still
suspicious and unforgiving of his men's trustworthiness:
Groot: ...That's awful good, Tom. Boys did all right.
Tom: Yeah.
Groot: Why don't you tell 'em so, Tom?
Tom (coldly): That's their job.
Groot: They're awful tired.
Tom: I'll bet we won't have to count noses in the morning.
Dunson's crazed behavior seems to overstep the bounds
of rational behavior, and Buster notices the degrading changes in
him: "He's gettin' worse every day. Sometimes, I think he's
goin' plum out of his head." Groot agrees with the assessment,
due to Dunson's sleeplessness and excesssive drinking: "You
know, Matt, things ain't right. It's him. He's gotta get some sleep
and if he don't, somethin's gonna happen."
The next day, after the herd is taken across the Red
River, two of the three surviving rebel deserters - Teeler and Laredo
- are brought back to camp by Cherry (Kelsey resisted and was killed).
They ride up to a seated Dunson. The men - more respected and established
individuals than the previous group of defectors - are summarily
tried for thievery and desertion (a combination of the crimes previously
committed by Bunk and the three other rebels):
Dunson: Get down off them horses. I don't favor lookin'
up to the likes of you. (They comply.) That's better. You should
be crawlin'. Cherry, I sent you out after three of 'em. You brought
back two.
Cherry: Bill Kelsey figured he'd rather fight. Made a good one of
it for a while.
Dunson: Laredo, Teeler, you signed on for the drive and you signed
on to finish it.
Laredo: That's right, we did.
Dunson: You stole beans and flour, and cartridges. Besides bein'
deserters, you're common thieves.
Laredo: The law might see it different...
Dunson: I'm the law. You're a thief! You too, Teeler. Anything more?
Teeler: I know what you're gonna do to us, but first I wanna tell
ya somethin'.
Dunson: Go ahead.
Both of the men defend themselves, believing that their
complaints are justified. Teeler thinks Dunson is crazed, corrupted
and hard-driven for refusing to change their treacherous route to
the shorter Chisholm Trail to Kansas. The main basis of their argument
and claim is that Dunson isn't the same man that began the drive,
and that the herd doesn't really belong to him. Dunson confirms their
accusations - blindly announcing that they will be hanged:
Teeler: You're crazy. You've been drinkin' and you
ain't been sleepin'. If you ain't crazy, you're a skin close to
it.
Dunson: You through?
Teeler: No. You wanna get this herd to market. Well, so do all of
us. There's a good way to Abilene, but you won't listen to that.
No. You want to drive to Missouri when you got the high, low, and
jack against ya. I ain't through yet. This herd don't belong to you.
It belongs to every poor hopin' and prayin' cattleman in the whole
wide state. I shouldn't have run away. I should've stayed and put
a bullet in ya. I signed a pledge, sure, but you ain't the man I
signed it with.
Dunson: You finished?
Teeler: Yeah. Now you can get your Bible and read over us after you
shoot us.
Dunson: I'm gonna hang ya.
Matt: No. No, you're not.
Dunson: What?
Matt: You're not going to hang them.
Dunson: Who'll stop me?
Matt: I will.
In a classic confrontation scene to render Dunson powerless,
Matt finally leads a mutinous attack against his tyrannically mad,
arrogant father and refuses to hang the two men for desertion when
ordered to. Matt openly defies his hard, inflexible father and forcibly
assumes control. Dunson stands to face down his son. Cherry shoots
at Dunson's trigger hand before he can reach for his gun, slightly
wounding it so that he can't draw his gun from its holster. When
his gun falls to the ground, Dunson reaches for it with his left
hand, but Buster, one of the herd riders, shoots at the gun to send
it skittering away from Dunson's feet. Dunson is outnumbered by the
group of men who have joined together to support Matt.
Matt takes charge of the drive - he knows that rerouting
the herd on a different, shorter route to Abilene, Kansas, where
the railroad has already extended its line, will exact less of a
toll on both the cowdrivers and the cattle. Dunson and Matt are driven
apart by their opposing views, yet Matt's decision will lessen the
threat to the success of the enterprise. His dutiful obligations
to the men and his conscious control over his emotions allow cooler
heads to prevail. Matt saves Dunson from retaliatory, personal anger
by Teeler.
Teeler: (To Cherry) Give me that gun. Somebody give
me - I'll kill him. (Others grab Teeler) Let me go! He was gonna
kill me! He wasn't gonna give me a chance - (Matt slaps him hard
across the face.)
Matt: Turn him loose. Cherry, give me that gun. (Cherry hands a gun
to Matt, who tosses it to Teeler.) Here's what you've been trying
for. All right, use it! Go on, you got what you wanted. What are
you waiting for? (He stalks Teeler, taunting him to fire.) If you
don't want to live, all you have to do is - (He calms down.) You're
a lucky man, Teeler. (Matt looks down at his hands.) This is how
close it came.
Teeler: Matt, we're gettin' as crazy as he is. (Teeler returns the
gun to Matt.)
Matt: Keep it. You want to finish the drive?
Teeler: Where are we goin'?
Matt: Abilene.
Teeler: Who's headin' it?
Matt: I am.
Buster: What about Dunson?
Matt: He stays here. We're takin' the herd.
Teeler: That's good enough for me. (The others agree.)
Matt: Groot? How about you?
The men follow Matt - even Groot defies the trail boss
to his face, telling him that he was "wrong" for the second
time in the film. Though steadfastly loyal, Groot is permitted to
join the rest of the men in the mutiny, and side with Matt:
Groot: You was wrong, Mr. Dunson. I've been with
ya a lot of years. And up till now, right or wrong, I've always
done like ya said. Got to be kind of a habit with me, I guess,
'cuz that's why I'm stayin' with ya.
Dunson: Go on with 'em.
Groot: Thanks. Thanks for makin' it easy on me. All right, men, I'll
be comin' with you.
Matt: Throw 'em on the trail, start driving. Buster, you wait here
till I get back. (He rides off to help round up the herd.)
Cherry: If you come lookin' for me, Mr. Dunson, I'll be in Abilene.
After the cattle are moving, Matt walks over to his
wounded, abandoned father - now standing alone and leaning on his
horse - in a short farewell scene. Matt has a few final words with
him before leaving him with a horse and supplies. To exact his cold-blooded
revenge, Dunson (while not even looking at him) calmly and verbally
threatens to hunt Matt down and kill him:
Matt: If there's any chance at all, we'll get your
herd to Abilene.
Dunson: Cherry was right. You're soft. You should've let
him kill me, 'cause I'm gonna kill you. I'll catch up with ya! I
don't know when, but I'll catch up. Every time you turn around, expect
to see me. 'Cause one time you'll turn around and I'll be there.
I'll kill ya, Matt.
As the two men switch roles and Matt takes the dominant
leadership upon himself, the camera remains positioned behind Dunson
as he watches his own herd and men ride off.
The next diary page describes how Matt takes leadership
responsibility for bringing the herd to market - with the "spectre" of
Dunson's vengeful promise behind him:
So Matthew Garth had the responsibility of a great
herd - - and onward they went with the spectre of Dunson behind.
He had promised revenge and Matt knew nothing in the world would
stop him from fulfilling that promise. The time was coming...
Haunted, Matt fears Dunson's approach and calculates
with Groot how many days it will take Dunson to reach them - possibly
two weeks. He also voices his own self-doubts about the rebellious
confrontation with his father: "I've been wondering too. The
way he looked when we left him. It all happened so fast. I hadn't...I
hadn't started out...I couldn't let him hang Teeler and Laredo...I
don't know. He was wrong. I hope I'm right. I hope there's a railroad
in Abilene."
Complications soon enter the cattle drive - Comanche
arrows only a day old are pulled from a cow's carcass on the prairie,
and Matt offers his men an impossible choice: "Which would you
rather have? What's behind, or what might be ahead?" Buster
and Cherry are sent ahead on the trail - far enough to "give
warning." Matt and Teeler both have restless nights, dreams
and nightmares of Dunson's revenge: "How can a man sleep with
Indians out ahead and him behind us?"
From up ahead, Buster reports on a wagon train that
has "women and coffee...I had pie and biscuits and beans and
coffee and a lot of whiskey all in the same day." The wagons
are located about fifteen miles away headed westward from New Orleans
to Nevada to set up a gambling establishment: "They got a big
long bar and they got dice tables. They got dancing girls and mirrors."
Cherry decided to remain with the wagon train - and its prostitutes.
To placate his men, Matt re-routes the cattle drive two days out of
its way in the direction of the wagon train. Soon, all the expectant
cowhands are riding "point" and no one is left riding "back
in the drag." As they approach closer to the wagons, gunfire is
heard over the next ridge. |