Accused barn burner and conman Ben Quick arrives in a small Mississippi town and quickly ingratiates himself with its richest family, the Varners.
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Short filmTranscript
00:00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:00:03 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:00:06 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:00:10 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:00:13 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:00:17 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:00:20 [BIRDS CHIRPING]
00:00:22 [FIRE CRACKLING]
00:00:46 It was him.
00:00:48 He did it.
00:00:50 Then his hog got my corn again.
00:00:53 He had no fence that would hold it.
00:00:56 So I put it in my pen.
00:00:58 I told him he could have his hog back when
00:01:00 he paid me a dollar pound fee.
00:01:02 What'd he say to that?
00:01:03 He didn't say nothing.
00:01:04 But yesterday, I got his answer all right.
00:01:08 My barn burner!
00:01:10 A barn burner is the meanest, lowest creature there is.
00:01:14 I can't find against you, Quake.
00:01:15 There's no proof.
00:01:17 But I can give you some advice.
00:01:19 Leave this county and don't come back to it.
00:01:23 You're the judge.
00:01:25 That'll do.
00:01:26 Take your belongings and get out before dark.
00:01:28 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:01:31 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:01:34 [FOOTSTEPS]
00:01:37 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:02:03 The long, hot summer seems to know every time you're near.
00:02:16 And the touch of a breeze gently stirs all the trees.
00:02:23 And a bird wants to please my ear.
00:02:29 The long, hot summer seems to know what a flirt you are.
00:02:40 Seems to know your caress isn't mine to possess.
00:02:47 How could someone possess a star?
00:02:54 But you may long for me long before the fall,
00:03:05 long before the winds announce that winter's come to call.
00:03:13 And meanwhile, I'll court you.
00:03:22 And meanwhile, I'll kiss you.
00:03:28 Meanwhile, my lonely arms will hold you strong.
00:03:41 And meanwhile, the long, hot summer slowly moves along.
00:03:57 Oh, so slowly moves along.
00:04:01 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:04:04 [HORN BLOWING]
00:04:15 [HORN BLOWING]
00:04:31 [WATER FLOWING]
00:04:34 [HORN BLOWING]
00:04:58 [TIRES SCREECHING]
00:05:01 [HORN BLOWING]
00:05:26 You like a lift to town?
00:05:28 Never walk when I can ride.
00:05:30 Just push him out of your way.
00:05:34 Thank you, ma'am.
00:05:35 [ENGINE STARTING]
00:05:36 [LAUGHING]
00:05:39 I went shopping in those Memphis stores this morning
00:05:43 and just went wild.
00:05:45 Alligator bag, figure print, summer shoes,
00:05:48 which is all a lie considering we live in Frenchman's Bend
00:05:51 and nobody's going to see them but redneck farmers
00:05:53 and immediate family.
00:05:54 I don't care, though.
00:05:55 I got my morale to keep up.
00:05:57 You two country girls?
00:05:59 Country?
00:06:00 Our little town's the most nowhere place
00:06:02 in the whole state of Mississippi.
00:06:03 You can believe me when I tell you it laces
00:06:05 you in tight as a corset.
00:06:06 And as far as social amusements are concerned, there are none.
00:06:10 Well, that's all right.
00:06:11 I'm a quiet living man myself.
00:06:13 Oh, I only know one reason for living quiet.
00:06:15 That's if you're too old to live any other way.
00:06:18 In other words, you two girls just take your fun
00:06:20 where you can find it?
00:06:22 Don't jump to any conclusions, young man.
00:06:24 We're giving you a ride, and that's all we're giving you.
00:06:26 Where are you headed?
00:06:28 Well, I'll go as far as you go, ma'am.
00:06:30 Oh, you sound free as a bird.
00:06:32 Doesn't he sound free as a bird, Clara?
00:06:34 Clara's wondering what kind of a bird, aren't you, Clara?
00:06:37 Well, now, if you want a mind reader,
00:06:39 Clara here's a schoolteacher and mighty finicky
00:06:41 about her reputation.
00:06:43 She didn't want to pick you up.
00:06:44 I said, why not?
00:06:45 There's two of us and one of him.
00:06:47 And she said, because he looks mean and dirty.
00:06:51 Well, now, I'd say that lady's a real fine judge
00:06:53 of character.
00:06:55 Clara, you've got no regard for the safety of your purse
00:06:57 and the way you drive this old Lincoln car.
00:07:00 Honey, I'm getting a fallen kidney jolting around
00:07:02 this countryside with you.
00:07:03 [LAUGHTER]
00:07:07 [ENGINE ROARING]
00:07:10 [BIRDS CHIRPING]
00:07:13 [ENGINE ROARING]
00:07:16 [BIRDS CHIRPING]
00:07:44 [ENGINE STARTS]
00:07:47 Looks like Varner's the man to see around here.
00:07:49 You can find him over at our house most any time.
00:07:53 You two girls belong to Varner?
00:07:55 We two girls most particularly belong to Varner.
00:07:58 [ENGINE ROARING]
00:08:01 [ENGINE ROARING]
00:08:04 [BIRDS CHIRPING]
00:08:07 [ENGINE ROARING]
00:08:22 [ENGINE ROARING]
00:08:25 How's a man make a living around here?
00:08:36 Honest or dishonest?
00:08:38 Let me hear what's open.
00:08:40 Well, now, a fellow that's hard working and clean living
00:08:43 can plant cotton in the bottom land,
00:08:45 corn along the edge of the hills.
00:08:48 Of course, if he ain't so particular,
00:08:49 he can make whiskey in a homemade still.
00:08:51 And what he don't drink, he can sell.
00:08:54 Well, what happens if a federal man comes by?
00:08:57 Oh, they'd be known to come by or should
00:09:00 be known to disappear.
00:09:02 Yeah, not entirely.
00:09:05 No, not entirely.
00:09:07 Mr. Mann's shoes might show up or his hat,
00:09:10 maybe even his suspenders.
00:09:13 Or somebody else is wearing them.
00:09:15 You a federal man?
00:09:19 [BIRDS CHIRPING]
00:09:22 Let's say I'm a farmer, Dad.
00:09:26 Ah-ha.
00:09:27 Lest you say so.
00:09:30 Now, I used to follow that road over there.
00:09:31 You'd come to a tenant farm.
00:09:33 You could work if you ever mind to.
00:09:35 Belongs to a fellow named Varner.
00:09:38 What does?
00:09:40 What's your name, boy?
00:09:42 Quick.
00:09:43 Ben Quick.
00:09:46 Quick.
00:09:48 Sure now.
00:09:50 So that's him.
00:09:51 Heavenly days, there's Agnes Stewart.
00:10:09 She called up all nervous and fluttery this morning
00:10:11 to say she was coming over, and I forgot to tell you about it.
00:10:14 Jody!
00:10:15 [CAR ENGINE]
00:10:18 Jody, I'm home, and I spent all your money.
00:10:24 Well, it looks like you sure had a busy day, honey.
00:10:26 You just wait and see what I have for you.
00:10:29 I bought you a red and white pure silk tie,
00:10:31 and a box of brown sugar prolines,
00:10:32 and some maroon felt bedroom slippers.
00:10:35 And honey, I bought you all kinds of other things, too.
00:10:38 A whole bunch of new records, and some sports shoes.
00:10:41 All sorts of things.
00:10:42 Oh, honey, it ain't my birthday or anything.
00:10:45 Well, I just wanted you to know you was in my thoughts
00:10:46 up there in Memphis.
00:10:48 Now, you just sit down and close your eyes.
00:10:50 I'm going to model my purchases.
00:10:52 You want to know something, honey?
00:10:54 I hate this house when you're not in it.
00:10:56 Well, I'm in it now, and I'm gorgeous.
00:11:01 Oh, and wait till you see this new dress.
00:11:03 I saw the same one in the June Vogue magazine,
00:11:05 only without all these little bows in the back.
00:11:08 Sales girl said to me, Ms. Varner,
00:11:11 that dress was made in heaven for you,
00:11:14 on account of I'm so long wasted.
00:11:16 She said five customers had that dress on,
00:11:18 and I was the only one that did anything for it.
00:11:21 You like it?
00:11:24 What I like is you, honey.
00:11:26 There's more?
00:11:27 Sure is.
00:11:29 And all of it mighty pretty.
00:11:31 [SCREAMING]
00:11:32 Oh!
00:11:34 Oh, now.
00:11:35 Now, you come to your daddy.
00:11:37 Come on, now.
00:11:38 Now, you come to your daddy.
00:11:40 I got you.
00:11:41 I got you.
00:11:42 [LAUGHTER]
00:11:44 What else going on up there?
00:11:46 We don't go in much, stately quiet around here.
00:11:48 Where do you get so much energy on a day like this?
00:11:52 That party has been going on since Papa
00:11:54 left for the hospital.
00:11:55 I don't see how you can stand all that hooting and howling
00:11:57 and carrying on.
00:11:58 It would just turn me into a nervous wreck.
00:12:00 Oh, they're young, and they're in love.
00:12:02 They're young.
00:12:04 For your information, we're still on the green side
00:12:06 of 25 ourselves.
00:12:08 All the good it does is.
00:12:10 Oh, God.
00:12:11 That baby brother of yours, I tell you,
00:12:13 he's like a five-year-old kid.
00:12:15 You know what we were doing in there?
00:12:16 We were having a pillow fight.
00:12:18 I hit him so hard, I knocked the wind smack out of him.
00:12:21 Hello, Agnes, sweetie.
00:12:23 Hello, Eula.
00:12:24 You sure do look calm and collected on this hot day.
00:12:27 Well, I'm not.
00:12:27 I'm damp and cranky.
00:12:29 Oh, I know what you mean.
00:12:31 I'm going straight into a bubble bath myself.
00:12:33 Agnes, you bring a bowl by some one of these nights,
00:12:35 and we'll cook us up a party.
00:12:37 Hey, Eula?
00:12:38 Oh, if I'm not mistaken, that's my master's voice.
00:12:43 Bring a bowl by.
00:12:46 My phone rang just one time last week, just one time.
00:12:51 And this man with a deep, beautiful voice says,
00:12:55 can I interest you in the Encyclopedia Britannica?
00:12:58 Well, come on. Let's go upstairs.
00:12:59 And I'll give you a permanent.
00:13:00 And that'll cheer you up.
00:13:01 Clara, you've given me three permanents
00:13:03 in the last six months.
00:13:04 All my ends are split.
00:13:07 Oh, Clara, it's a nerve having all this time on my hands.
00:13:12 I want to rush home and fix supper for some big, handsome man
00:13:16 and put kids in a bathtub and broil steak and crank ice cream.
00:13:21 Think about what the night's going to bring.
00:13:24 Why, aren't there enough men to go around?
00:13:27 There's no shortage, just of the right kind.
00:13:30 Oh, I'm not fussy on that subject.
00:13:33 Neither am I.
00:13:34 Tell me just one thing.
00:13:36 Have you ever in your whole life been proposed to?
00:13:39 I have.
00:13:40 And you let him go?
00:13:41 No, I didn't let him go.
00:13:43 I watched him get scared off.
00:13:46 He came to call on me, and then he met my father,
00:13:49 and then he didn't come calling on me anymore.
00:13:52 Speaking of your father, when's that august personage
00:13:56 coming home?
00:13:57 Tomorrow.
00:13:59 And the forecast is storm and thunder.
00:14:03 Well, you come on over to my house for supper.
00:14:06 Alan's been asking about you.
00:14:08 He's sick and bad, being fed milk pudding,
00:14:10 all dreamy with temperature.
00:14:14 Thoroughly enjoying himself.
00:14:17 Just something to know what goes on in my brother's
00:14:19 temperature dreams.
00:14:22 I know what goes on in mine.
00:14:24 Don't swivel around.
00:14:32 There's someone coming, someone young.
00:14:36 It's probably a sewing machine, say, Ousmane.
00:14:39 Yes, but even if it is, don't say no, Ronald.
00:14:42 Let's at least talk.
00:14:43 Morning, lady.
00:14:49 Fine warm day here.
00:14:51 Isn't he pretty as a picture?
00:14:55 You all look like two butterflies
00:14:57 lit out on the grass.
00:14:58 Go again, Miss Clarell.
00:15:01 If it's work you're looking for, you can see the foreman
00:15:03 at the gin.
00:15:04 If it's food, they'll take care of you around the back door.
00:15:07 Well, now, you hadn't hit on it yet, lady.
00:15:09 What I'd like to see now is a man of the house.
00:15:11 Lucius!
00:15:14 What is it, Miss Clarell?
00:15:23 Would you tell Mr. Joder that there's a person
00:15:25 waiting to see him, please?
00:15:27 You could have said gentlemen.
00:15:30 Seen him on a whim.
00:15:31 Where did you find him?
00:15:41 Out on the road.
00:15:42 I gave him a lift this morning.
00:15:43 Oh, why'd you have to go and be so unfriendly?
00:15:46 Agnes, the last desperate resort is strangers.
00:15:49 We haven't come to that yet.
00:15:50 Oh, haven't we just?
00:15:52 Clara, you want to hear a cold clinical fact?
00:15:55 Every single girl we went to normal school with
00:15:58 is married and pregnant or about to be.
00:16:01 I'm residing with my mother and brother,
00:16:04 and you're still occupying the bedroom
00:16:06 you had when he was 13.
00:16:09 I know about you, Clara.
00:16:11 I know what's making me nervous.
00:16:14 Well, don't throw in the towel yet, Agnes, dear.
00:16:16 Those tranquilizers may see us through yet.
00:16:18 You Vanna?
00:16:22 Yeah, I'm warm, Father.
00:16:25 Turn that thing off, Hilda.
00:16:27 [LAUGHS]
00:16:29 What can I do for you?
00:16:31 My name's Quick.
00:16:32 Heard you had a farm to ramp.
00:16:34 And, Hilda, you hear me?
00:16:39 I'm going to come up there and kick that thing in.
00:16:40 [LAUGHS]
00:16:42 I told you.
00:16:45 How much family you got, boy?
00:16:47 You looking at it?
00:16:49 Well, a man usually puts six, seven hands in the field.
00:16:52 Well, one's all you get from me.
00:16:54 Jody, you got the stove to talk business in.
00:16:58 Well, for heaven's sakes, it's our passenger.
00:17:00 How do you do, ma'am?
00:17:01 Hello yourself.
00:17:02 Hey, here now.
00:17:03 You two know each other?
00:17:04 Uh-huh.
00:17:05 Well, how come?
00:17:06 The how come is, Clara and I obliged him with a ride
00:17:08 when his car broke down.
00:17:10 Yeah, well, we're talking business.
00:17:12 Come on, now.
00:17:13 Come on, now.
00:17:14 [LAUGHS]
00:17:18 How much rent you aiming to pay, boy?
00:17:20 How much rent you aiming to rent for?
00:17:22 Oh, half your crop.
00:17:25 You finish out of my stall.
00:17:26 No cash?
00:17:31 Mm-hmm.
00:17:33 That's food and tobacco at your prices.
00:17:34 That makes a dollar worth about six bits.
00:17:37 Take it or leave it.
00:17:38 I'll take it.
00:17:43 [LAUGHS]
00:17:46 [HUMMING]
00:17:50 [HUMMING]
00:17:53 [LAUGHTER]
00:17:57 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:18:06 Mister, you sure do leave your calling card.
00:18:12 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:18:16 Summertime, when the living is easy.
00:18:36 No, thank you.
00:18:38 When you gonna start working?
00:18:39 Lady, I never move and work on the same day.
00:18:44 Miss Quick, my daddy's coming home tomorrow.
00:18:46 Says quite a stall by this rug.
00:18:48 You track it, you clean it.
00:18:51 It's not a fuss to be making about a rug, lady.
00:18:53 It's the rug that's bothering you.
00:18:56 What else would it be?
00:18:57 Well, now, you correct me if I'm wrong,
00:19:02 but I have the feeling I riled you.
00:19:04 I mean, me being so mean and dirty and all.
00:19:07 Mister Quick, you being personal with me,
00:19:09 I'll be personal with you.
00:19:11 I spent my whole life around men who push and shove and shout
00:19:14 and think they can make anything happen just
00:19:16 by being aggressive.
00:19:17 And I'm not anxious to have another one around the place.
00:19:20 Miss Clare, you slam a door in a man's face
00:19:22 before he even knocks on it.
00:19:25 Would you have the rug at the house by 6, please?
00:19:27 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:19:30 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:19:34 Don't swallow seeds.
00:19:40 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:19:43 [INAUDIBLE]
00:19:55 Sam, warm him.
00:19:56 Marty, you behave with yourself.
00:19:58 I'll bet.
00:19:59 [LAUGHTER]
00:20:03 Warner's home.
00:20:15 Yeah, he don't look very peaky.
00:20:18 Anybody know what they cut out of him in that hospital?
00:20:21 The old man who wasn't in his pocketbook.
00:20:23 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:20:27 [HORN BLOWING]
00:20:30 Is that you, Will Barlow?
00:20:32 Come closer, you bloody doach.
00:20:35 This is more like the land of the liver.
00:20:37 Oh, I'm glad you made it home, you old piece of beef.
00:20:40 You'll get a little fatter, Minnie, and a little blonder.
00:20:43 And how about you?
00:20:44 I understand they cut and stitched you up.
00:20:45 Is anything left of you worth having?
00:20:47 You just put 18 cans of beer on ice and wait and see.
00:20:50 I'm coming back, Minnie.
00:20:52 Later.
00:20:54 [WHISTLING]
00:20:57 [CAR DOOR CLOSING]
00:20:58 My white hairs kind of had you fooled, huh?
00:21:00 Yes, sir.
00:21:01 Drive on.
00:21:02 [HORN BLOWING]
00:21:06 Welcome, Mr. Will.
00:21:19 Yeah.
00:21:20 Welcome to your home.
00:21:22 Here I am, back in your capable hands again, Lucius.
00:21:24 Yeah, back where I belong.
00:21:26 Hi, Daddy Varner.
00:21:28 Eula gal, ain't you dressed up to be held up?
00:21:30 I'm so honored, you.
00:21:32 [KISSING]
00:21:33 That's good.
00:21:34 Three months, I ain't even smell nothing
00:21:36 but the starch in her uniforms.
00:21:39 That's what I like.
00:21:41 There's bones there, but the bones is covered up
00:21:43 good with plenty of real women.
00:21:45 I was going to open you a little more,
00:21:47 and about time you was fixing yourself
00:21:48 some maternity dresses, Eula gal.
00:21:50 Now, you're embarrassing me, Daddy Varner.
00:21:52 Hello, Papa.
00:21:55 Well, well, well, there's a fulsome greeting.
00:21:57 Now, the hallelujah chorus.
00:22:00 Not dancing in the streets, not only son,
00:22:03 exactly pining his heart away for his daddy,
00:22:06 but simple and direct.
00:22:08 You said hello, didn't he?
00:22:09 Suppose we could get through the opening ceremonies
00:22:11 without civil war.
00:22:13 I'll be coming to you, Eula, your sister.
00:22:15 I know you will, Papa.
00:22:16 Jody's been an absolute living doll while you've been gone.
00:22:19 I'd call that a real fine recommendation,
00:22:21 except I already had me look around town before I come here.
00:22:23 What's happened?
00:22:25 We gone out of business, huh?
00:22:26 We retired?
00:22:27 We living off our income?
00:22:29 What did I see in town?
00:22:31 Two dead asleep clerks washing the store,
00:22:33 and no gin going at all.
00:22:34 Well, things may have slacked off a little bit today, Papa,
00:22:37 because I was home seeing to your arrival.
00:22:39 But we done all right.
00:22:41 You can look at the books if you'd like.
00:22:42 Where now?
00:22:44 I intend to.
00:22:46 I'm going to crawl over them books like a fly.
00:22:49 Fly paper.
00:22:51 You better bring me another loose piece.
00:22:53 Yes, I'm old self again.
00:22:55 Them doctors down at Jefferson, they guarded me.
00:22:58 And they took away just about every organ
00:23:00 they thought I could spare.
00:23:02 They didn't pare my spirit down none.
00:23:04 Thank you, Jody, for your kindly inquiries as to my health.
00:23:07 Next.
00:23:13 All right, sister.
00:23:16 You're on.
00:23:19 What do you want to know, Papa?
00:23:21 You still fixing to get yourself known
00:23:24 as the best looking, richest, old maid in the county,
00:23:27 or have you seen any young people lately?
00:23:29 Any young people seen you?
00:23:30 Been to any parties, any picnics, any barbecues,
00:23:32 any church bazaars?
00:23:33 Have you mingled?
00:23:34 Have you mixed?
00:23:35 Have you kept yourself up in that room all this time,
00:23:37 reading that poetry books, huh?
00:23:39 Hope this doesn't come as a shock to your nervous system,
00:23:41 Papa, but when you're away, I do what I please.
00:23:45 Well, I'm back.
00:23:47 Welcome home.
00:23:48 Closest!
00:23:53 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:23:56 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:24:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:24:27 You don't give me my due respect in front of my wife.
00:24:31 You've got a business too, Jody.
00:24:33 What about a little respect for that?
00:24:36 Ain't no use.
00:24:39 You and me just don't talk the same language.
00:24:43 It's what gives us our aches, our pains.
00:24:46 Now me, all the time in the hospital,
00:24:49 I didn't just lay there.
00:24:51 I was busy.
00:24:52 Yes, sir, I wheeled and I deal.
00:24:55 That's what I done, boy.
00:24:56 Now, what about you?
00:24:57 May wasn't so good.
00:24:59 June and July I made up for it.
00:25:02 That's to be expected.
00:25:04 Moved all I have of farm equipment.
00:25:06 Yeah?
00:25:07 Fresh out of inventory.
00:25:09 Including that old tractor?
00:25:11 That's right.
00:25:11 The one that don't go uphill?
00:25:13 Including that.
00:25:15 I rented off that tenement farm nobody around here would have.
00:25:19 And a fella come down here from Boston, Massachusetts.
00:25:23 He bought a lot of land and built this big fence around it
00:25:26 and started a goat ranch.
00:25:28 Only he plumbed in out of goats and went bust.
00:25:33 Yeah?
00:25:35 Yeah.
00:25:36 So Papa, now you got 2,000 acres more of good grassland.
00:25:39 Well, seems like you ain't been sitting
00:25:42 on your spine altogether.
00:25:44 How'd you rent that farm off?
00:25:46 On shares.
00:25:47 Problems or both?
00:25:49 Well, I had a little trouble with a man.
00:25:51 What's the name of this boy, unfortunately?
00:25:54 A fella named Quick.
00:25:55 Quick?
00:26:00 Been quick?
00:26:02 Yeah, yeah, from out west.
00:26:05 You knucklehead fool.
00:26:08 You empty-headed joker.
00:26:11 What are you calling me names for?
00:26:12 Quick!
00:26:14 Don't you keep a breast out of this, Abuela!
00:26:16 Do you know what quick means in this county?
00:26:19 Hellfire!
00:26:20 Ashes and char!
00:26:23 Flame follows that man around like a dog!
00:26:26 He's a bald burner!
00:26:29 I never do anything right, do I?
00:26:30 Not to my immediate recollection.
00:26:32 You want to hear something, I'll sweat around you.
00:26:34 All those months you were away in the hospital, I was dry.
00:26:38 Now I'm sweating again.
00:26:40 I ain't got time for your personal troubles.
00:26:43 You started talking with him, Mr. Ben Quick.
00:26:45 Yeah, and I gotta finish it before this house of mine
00:26:48 goes up in smoke!
00:26:49 I'm Varner.
00:27:07 You already met one Varner.
00:27:10 I'm the other.
00:27:12 Just driving by, thought I'd stop, see if you got any plans.
00:27:17 Well, that cabin ain't fit for hogs,
00:27:19 but I can get along with it.
00:27:22 Well, we can talk that over.
00:27:24 Boy, I hear you're a boy that gets in a little trouble
00:27:27 with your landlord.
00:27:28 The kind of trouble he might need
00:27:29 to handle the fire department.
00:27:33 You scared of me, mister.
00:27:34 Why don't you just come right out and say so?
00:27:37 Sir, why should I be scared of you?
00:27:42 Because I got a reputation for being a dangerous man?
00:27:45 You're a young dangerous man.
00:27:51 I'm an old one.
00:27:57 Yes, you don't know who I am.
00:27:58 I better introduce myself.
00:28:00 I'm the big landowner, chief moneylender in these parts.
00:28:04 Commissioner of elections, and veterinarian on the store,
00:28:08 and the cotton gin, and the grist mill,
00:28:11 one of the blacksmith shoppers considered
00:28:12 unlucky for a man to do his trading, or gin his cotton,
00:28:16 or grind his meal, or chew his stock, anywhere else.
00:28:20 Now, that's who I am.
00:28:22 You talk a lot.
00:28:24 Well, yes, I do, sir.
00:28:26 I'm done talking to you, except for passing you
00:28:30 on this piece of information.
00:28:32 I built me a new jail in my courthouse this year.
00:28:35 And if, during the course of your stay here,
00:28:37 something, anything at all should just happen to catch fire,
00:28:42 I think you ought to know that in my jail,
00:28:44 we never heard of the word "sabers corpus."
00:28:49 You'd rot.
00:28:51 Well, a smart man, he'd give me a job.
00:28:56 You're already working for me.
00:28:59 None of this weed scratching.
00:29:00 I'm talking about a job that'll give me
00:29:02 a white shirt and a black tie and three squares.
00:29:07 You've got a place in your store and several other spots
00:29:08 where you could use me.
00:29:10 And you'd be writing yourself a fire insurance
00:29:13 policy into the bargain.
00:29:14 I'll give it some thought.
00:29:16 Yes or no, mister.
00:29:17 Ain't no in between.
00:29:19 You're a mighty bushy tail for a beginner.
00:29:21 I'm in a hurry.
00:29:23 You're wasting your time.
00:29:25 Job's the top, so ready to take it.
00:29:27 But like you said, you're an old man.
00:29:29 I am now.
00:29:31 You bear that in mind.
00:29:33 Be respectful.
00:29:36 Yes, sir, Mr. Varner.
00:29:38 Now, just who do I have to kill?
00:29:40 Well, we won't start right off with murder.
00:29:45 Happens I just got handed me a third of Texas
00:29:48 horses on a foreclosure.
00:29:49 You get rid of them for me at a reasonable profit,
00:29:51 and we're in business.
00:29:52 [ENGINE STARTS]
00:29:56 Well, there's a cool breeze from the river, Alan.
00:30:12 But everything nice comes with you, Clara.
00:30:14 Hot broth, cool breeze from the river.
00:30:18 How's your school?
00:30:20 You mean that free-for-all I run in town?
00:30:23 Those 35 young Hellions who are making
00:30:25 their last stand against me?
00:30:27 Ha.
00:30:28 I wouldn't say it was a summer on the Riviera.
00:30:30 Well, it's unnatural to keep kids
00:30:32 in school in the summertime.
00:30:33 Well, in the winter, they got to help work on the crops
00:30:35 somewhere along the line.
00:30:36 They got to learn to read and write.
00:30:38 Besides, who knows?
00:30:40 I don't have much hope, but maybe I
00:30:41 have a young painter or a young poet cooped up there.
00:30:46 Oh, Alan.
00:30:48 I love this place.
00:30:51 Grace, dignity, beautiful things left undisturbed,
00:30:55 just the way they were 100 years ago.
00:30:57 Most people say I'm fighting the 20th century.
00:31:01 I suppose I ought to sell this place,
00:31:04 put it to corn and cotton, go out and get
00:31:06 a job like everybody else.
00:31:07 But I wouldn't be any good at it, hate it, make a mess of it.
00:31:10 Then don't do it.
00:31:12 There are enough hustlers around here as is.
00:31:14 You stand for something, you hold on to it.
00:31:16 Your father refers to me as decayed gentry.
00:31:20 That's because he is pea green with envy.
00:31:24 You listen here.
00:31:25 He would give anything in the world to have what you have.
00:31:28 Wouldn't he just love to have your shine and polish?
00:31:31 He can put up all those billboards and those neon signs
00:31:33 and those billing stations, but quality is one thing
00:31:36 he can't buy, and he knows it.
00:31:38 He has quality, Claire, and you.
00:31:44 Now that's what I came through this dusty summer day to hear.
00:31:48 Alan, I want you to be hale and hearty again.
00:31:50 I want you to be your courtly gallant self again
00:31:53 and come calling on me.
00:31:55 Very soon, ma'am.
00:31:56 Well, you better.
00:31:58 You know, girls get all fidgety and looked at sideways
00:32:00 and talked about when they don't have the gentleman colors.
00:32:04 Besides, I've missed you.
00:32:05 That boy's temperature has been hovering between 100 and 102
00:32:12 tens for three days, so none of that now.
00:32:15 I just brought over some of Lucius's broth.
00:32:18 Oh, he won't eat a bite I don't cook.
00:32:21 And I'm going to hustle you right along, because it's
00:32:23 way past son's nap time.
00:32:27 All right, Miss Stewart.
00:32:29 I'll give up the field for now.
00:32:32 Goodbye.
00:32:33 Goodbye, Alan.
00:32:35 Goodbye, Claire.
00:32:36 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:32:40 [HORSE NEIGHING]
00:32:47 Why, you old crook, you.
00:32:55 Them's horses out of hell.
00:32:56 That's right.
00:32:58 Them ponies never even had a rope on them.
00:32:59 You didn't tell me that was wild.
00:33:01 Well, you know that.
00:33:03 A client gives you the head, you wear a bloody hair, too.
00:33:06 Minnie, little John, I'm getting thirsty again.
00:33:29 Since when you been in the horse flesh business, Will?
00:33:32 It ain't no kind of business.
00:33:34 What you're watching is a plain old-fashioned swindle.
00:33:37 So of course, I ain't involved in it directly.
00:33:40 You mean you hide that boy out there, the flea son?
00:33:43 I hide that boy.
00:33:44 I tell you the truth, Minnie, I don't know why I hide him,
00:33:46 but I aim to find out.
00:33:48 OK, come on now.
00:33:48 Let's gather around in here, folks.
00:33:50 Come on, let's move in here.
00:33:52 John, come on now.
00:33:53 Bring your whole family down.
00:33:54 I don't want to strain my conscience.
00:33:55 Let's go.
00:33:56 We're going to get going.
00:33:57 Mr. Armstead, I heard what you had to say about them horses.
00:34:00 And all I can tell you is I wouldn't
00:34:02 hesitate to put my own cyst on one of them if I had a cyst.
00:34:05 Oh, you there.
00:34:06 Now, Miss Clara, how'd you like to be
00:34:08 the proud owner of one of them handsome-looking horses?
00:34:11 Well, I can see you've got no written all over your face.
00:34:13 But now, wait a minute.
00:34:14 Now, you stop and you think a minute.
00:34:17 Now, you can pack yourself a picnic basket,
00:34:19 and you can follow some woodsy trail.
00:34:22 You can ride off steam and bad temper
00:34:24 if you happen to be afflicted that way.
00:34:26 And if you see a young fella along the way
00:34:27 who happens to take your eye, well,
00:34:29 you can put him up behind you and ride double.
00:34:31 [LAUGHTER]
00:34:34 What's your answer, Miss Clara?
00:34:36 You were right the first time, Mr. Quick.
00:34:38 I got no written all over my face.
00:34:40 [LAUGHTER]
00:34:41 She told you.
00:34:41 That don't bother me none at all, folks.
00:34:43 A lot of women say no when they mean yes.
00:34:45 [LAUGHTER]
00:34:48 I just ain't fooling about these horses.
00:34:49 The man that buys one of these, he'll
00:34:51 get the best piece of horse flesh he ever
00:34:52 fought to drove for the money.
00:34:53 Naturally, they got spirit.
00:34:54 I ain't selling no probate.
00:34:55 Now, who's going to start it off with a beer?
00:34:57 I'll tell you what I'll do with you.
00:34:59 I'll give you $10 for that there fiddlehead.
00:35:01 $10?
00:35:02 Why, man, you couldn't buy that much dynamite for just $10.
00:35:06 There's no horse in there.
00:35:07 Can't run a mile in three minutes.
00:35:08 You put them out to pasture, they're
00:35:09 going to bore themselves.
00:35:11 Work them like hell all day long.
00:35:12 And every time you think about it,
00:35:13 and pretty soon, every jackrabbit one of them,
00:35:15 they're going to be so tame, you'll
00:35:17 have to put them out of the house at night like a cat.
00:35:19 [LAUGHTER]
00:35:20 [HORSE WHINNYING]
00:35:23 Who's going to start it off with a beer, huh?
00:35:26 Mimi, what are you doing?
00:35:29 I got a hum in my blood, and I feel
00:35:31 as if I'd swallowed a bee.
00:35:32 You swallowed five bottles of beer in a heart, son.
00:35:35 That's what you swallowed.
00:35:36 Who's going to give me $40 for that fiddlehead horse?
00:35:38 $10, take the leave.
00:35:40 $11.
00:35:41 That's weak, huh?
00:35:42 Shut up, son.
00:35:43 $13.
00:35:44 Wait a minute, what are you doing?
00:35:46 $15.
00:35:47 $15.
00:35:48 I got $15 bid on that fiddlehead horse.
00:35:51 Now, who's going to make it $20?
00:35:52 Kiss me, Will.
00:35:53 [HORSE WHINNYING]
00:35:56 I got a number of friends and associates here.
00:36:01 Hon, I'm your friend.
00:36:03 I'm your associate.
00:36:04 I have been for 10 years.
00:36:05 Well, then what's the matter?
00:36:07 Well, all this time, this summer, all I done
00:36:11 is put up 22 jars of picker lily,
00:36:14 and I put down a corned beef and a crop.
00:36:17 And I say to myself, Mimi, when is it all going to end?
00:36:22 It's going to end with me eating a corned beef.
00:36:25 You know I'm partial to it.
00:36:27 Yeah, midnight supper's after you
00:36:28 come sneaking up the back stairs.
00:36:31 I want to serve it to you right here, 6 o'clock.
00:36:34 Mimi, what are you trying to say?
00:36:39 I made plans, Will, matrimonial plans.
00:36:45 Now, you ain't ever heard me say the word matrimony.
00:36:49 Well, now, I'm willing to overlook that.
00:36:52 You know my married sister in Tallahassee?
00:36:54 Huh?
00:36:55 Well, she's making me up some hand-crocheted sheets,
00:36:59 and I've sent away for some flatware with the initial V
00:37:02 on it.
00:37:04 Mimi, I'm 61 years old.
00:37:10 Look, honey, it's no good you trying to tell me you're too old.
00:37:15 I happen to be in a position to deny it.
00:37:21 Just hand it right over there.
00:37:23 Thank you, thank you.
00:37:24 $22 from you, $25 from you, $32 from you, and $30 from you.
00:37:28 Thank you.
00:37:29 Thank you, gentlemen.
00:37:30 Now, don't forget what I told you now
00:37:31 about banging them horses over the head from time to time
00:37:34 till they get used to you.
00:37:35 I mean, they won't give you any trouble.
00:37:36 You mean that's all there is to it?
00:37:37 That's it.
00:37:38 They belong to us now, right?
00:37:39 Yeah, just get yourself a rope and go on in there
00:37:42 and take the horse that belongs to you.
00:37:44 All right, we'll need some rope.
00:37:45 Come on, Joe.
00:37:46 [HORSE NEIGHING]
00:37:49 You're not much of a prospect, Miss Clara.
00:37:54 You don't need my money, Mr. Quick.
00:37:56 You got everybody else's.
00:37:58 Yeah, but it's the holdout that challenges me.
00:38:01 Well, I'll tell you, Mr. Quick, the last time
00:38:02 I parted with my money to a pitchman, I was 12 years old.
00:38:06 And nobody's ever taken you since?
00:38:08 Nope, nobody ever will.
00:38:10 Well, life's very long and full of salesmanship, Miss Clara.
00:38:14 You might buy something here.
00:38:16 [HORSE NEIGHING]
00:38:19 [SHOUTING]
00:38:26 [CRASH]
00:38:27 [HORSE NEIGHING]
00:38:31 [SHOUTING]
00:38:34 [SHOUTING]
00:38:37 [SHOUTING]
00:38:40 [SHOTGUN BLAST]
00:38:42 [LAUGHING]
00:38:45 That's a musical horse.
00:38:46 [HORSE NEIGHING]
00:38:50 [SHOUTING]
00:38:52 [LAUGHING]
00:38:55 Ain't gonna hold and I try to catch him, Robert.
00:38:59 Boy, you got something that belongs to me.
00:39:05 You ain't no better than a crook.
00:39:08 Well, you ain't nothing better than a con man.
00:39:11 Sell my crooked merchandise.
00:39:13 Never mind the name calling.
00:39:15 Now, where's my share?
00:39:17 I got something for you, boy.
00:39:18 Come on.
00:39:21 Whoa, you!
00:39:27 Head off!
00:39:28 Head off!
00:39:28 [HORSE NEIGHING]
00:39:33 Whoa!
00:39:34 What are you?
00:39:35 What do I tell you?
00:39:37 [HORSE NEIGHING]
00:39:52 The man that built this place, his name's forgotten.
00:39:58 This was his dream and his pride.
00:40:00 Now it's dust.
00:40:06 Must be a moral there somewhere.
00:40:07 Looks like that's about all there is.
00:40:09 I don't know.
00:40:10 They got a legend about this place.
00:40:12 They do say there's money buried around here on the ground.
00:40:15 At the time, grand over on the country on the way to Richburg.
00:40:18 What's that got to do with me?
00:40:19 I've been watching you.
00:40:21 I like your push.
00:40:24 Yes, I like your style.
00:40:25 I like your brass.
00:40:28 It ain't too dissimilar from the way I operate.
00:40:31 You've been here a few days, you've gone up an inch.
00:40:34 That's because you listen to me.
00:40:35 Now you go on listening to me and someday
00:40:37 here in a wild burst of generosity,
00:40:39 I might just make you a president of this place.
00:40:42 Well, thank you for nothing.
00:40:43 It's falling apart.
00:40:45 You're a shrewd boy.
00:40:48 You'll find a way of getting some good out of it.
00:40:50 Mister, now you've been making me a lot of promises.
00:40:55 One of these days, I'm going to collect on it.
00:40:56 Surely.
00:40:57 I just ain't passing the time of day with you.
00:41:00 I'm aware of that.
00:41:02 Hm.
00:41:03 Come to supper with me, boy, at the big house.
00:41:10 You want a retreat?
00:41:11 Another one on the creek bridge.
00:41:19 Could be, you know, their poor unfortunates
00:41:22 could come out ahead on the deal after all.
00:41:24 If their money's worth and health,
00:41:26 they ought to exercise.
00:41:27 A night like this is good for them.
00:41:30 It stimulates his liver.
00:41:32 Oh, they'll catch those horses, Mr. Varner.
00:41:35 They'll catch them and make good work teams out of them.
00:41:38 You figure you know them redneck farmers better than me,
00:41:41 huh?
00:41:43 I suppose that's because the Stewart family's
00:41:47 been in these parts a little longer than the Varners.
00:41:50 About 200 years.
00:41:52 It's a long time to live in one place.
00:41:54 You don't believe in living in one place, Mr. Quick?
00:41:57 Well, my family moved.
00:41:59 Not that they wanted to.
00:42:00 They was encouraged by the local citizens.
00:42:02 You a haunted man or something?
00:42:05 Something, Miss Euler.
00:42:06 I'd like to hear a yes or no answer to that, boy.
00:42:11 Well, if he's haunted, he ain't caught.
00:42:14 Lucius, pass the drinks.
00:42:16 Who's for drinking some of my fine brandy?
00:42:18 Alan, you're partial to my brandy.
00:42:20 Let's see, how many years you been drinking it now, huh?
00:42:24 Five?
00:42:25 Six.
00:42:25 I've enjoyed your hospitality a long time, Mr. Varner.
00:42:28 Huh.
00:42:29 I sometimes ask myself, do we get the major part
00:42:32 of your attention, or are you brightening up
00:42:34 other parlors around the county?
00:42:37 That's Alan's personal business, Papa.
00:42:39 Don't you get yourself fussed, sister.
00:42:40 Alan knows a friendly inquiry when he hears it,
00:42:43 don't you, Alan?
00:42:44 When I hear one?
00:42:45 Sure, sure.
00:42:47 Friendly inquiry never bothered nobody, will it now?
00:42:50 As I understand it, when you ain't here with us,
00:42:53 you keep pretty close to your house with your mother.
00:42:57 Papa, I can't stand this.
00:43:00 I think you've forgotten, Mr. Varner,
00:43:01 that my mother is a widow.
00:43:03 She relies strongly on me.
00:43:05 Widow?
00:43:05 Your man ain't dead.
00:43:07 He just disappeared.
00:43:09 Just wandered off.
00:43:10 The end result is the same.
00:43:12 She's alone.
00:43:13 No, she ain't, Alan.
00:43:15 She's got you.
00:43:16 She sure has you.
00:43:19 I do my best.
00:43:20 Not around here, you don't.
00:43:22 [LAUGHTER]
00:43:25 Jody, you seem to enjoy my conversation tonight.
00:43:28 Guess I'll direct this a little bit at you.
00:43:30 Why, I didn't say nothing, Papa.
00:43:31 Ain't she being quick here?
00:43:33 He's going to work tomorrow in the store as a clerk
00:43:35 right alongside of you, boy.
00:43:36 He's going to receive the same identical wages,
00:43:39 the same benefits.
00:43:42 And that don't seem to strike you as quite so funny.
00:43:44 I don't.
00:43:49 Well, what I mean to say is, Jody, with Ben around,
00:43:52 you can sleep late mornings.
00:43:54 Then it's just late you feel you can afford to.
00:43:56 [LAUGHS]
00:44:02 Outside, everybody.
00:44:03 Take the evening air.
00:44:22 Alan, I apologize for what we are.
00:44:24 Don't, Claire.
00:44:25 It isn't necessary.
00:44:27 I wouldn't blame you if you left right now.
00:44:28 Other young men have with much less cause than this.
00:44:31 My people have stood off Indians, Yankees,
00:44:33 carpetbaggers.
00:44:35 The least they could expect of me is to stand up to a whiner.
00:44:39 All right, then.
00:44:40 Let's go have some more.
00:44:41 [SINGING]
00:44:47 [WHISTLING]
00:44:49 Oh, listen to that.
00:44:51 Those boys don't sound like a bunch of tomcats
00:44:53 yowling at the moon.
00:44:54 [WHISTLING]
00:44:55 [SINGING]
00:44:58 Isn't it terrible the way they come
00:44:59 prowling around here every night?
00:45:01 It's like that in town, too.
00:45:02 They follow me wherever I go.
00:45:04 Yeah, well, don't go anywhere, then.
00:45:05 And you stay put.
00:45:06 You stay right close to home.
00:45:07 Jody, they're harmless.
00:45:09 Only 16, 17 years old.
00:45:11 You call that harmless?
00:45:12 [SINGING]
00:45:15 [LAUGHS]
00:45:16 And now you quit it off, huh?
00:45:18 I'll pass among you with a shotgun.
00:45:22 Hey, Eula, come on.
00:45:23 Eula, come on.
00:45:24 Come on, Eula.
00:45:25 Come on, Eula.
00:45:26 Get out of the lab.
00:45:29 Yeah, they don't have to see her.
00:45:30 They can smell her.
00:45:31 [SINGING]
00:45:35 Tom Shortley, V.K. Bookwright, John Fisher.
00:45:37 Now, I know it's you out there.
00:45:38 Now, quit it.
00:45:39 [SINGING]
00:45:40 Would somebody please make him stop?
00:45:43 Just wait.
00:45:44 I'll stop him.
00:45:46 It's a madhouse around here.
00:45:49 Oh, yeah, just young boys and healthy young animals.
00:45:52 A trash.
00:45:53 A trash.
00:45:54 How come they don't come to anybody else's house?
00:45:55 They don't hide in anybody else's garden.
00:45:57 It's just us that get seen alive.
00:45:59 We're the ones that got Eula.
00:46:01 It's not her fault. It's yours.
00:46:04 They come here because they know you gonna laugh.
00:46:06 They know you gonna think it's funny, no matter
00:46:08 how crude and how vulgar.
00:46:10 I was young myself, wasn't I?
00:46:12 I used to hide in the greenery and hoot and bellows.
00:46:17 I'll bet you did.
00:46:18 I bet you stayed longest and yelled loudest.
00:46:22 Your mama listened.
00:46:39 Right, Jack.
00:46:39 All right.
00:46:45 Now, let's deal them off the top.
00:46:47 Is that the way you acquired your fortune,
00:46:54 or were you an acquirer in mind?
00:47:06 Those boys sure do make their desires plain, don't they?
00:47:10 Calling and calling, just like they thought Eula was
00:47:13 gonna get up and follow.
00:47:15 Wonder what would happen if she did.
00:47:17 That'd be quite a romp.
00:47:20 Now, why did I make such a fuss about it?
00:47:24 Because it offended you?
00:47:27 No, it didn't.
00:47:29 Now, that's the plain, unvarnished truth at last.
00:47:33 You know, Alan, there's no sense in pretending
00:47:34 the girls don't think about sex.
00:47:36 They do.
00:47:38 You ought to hear some of the conversations
00:47:39 between Agnes and me.
00:47:41 Oh, I'd like to.
00:47:43 Well, there's nothing wrong with being
00:47:45 anxious about your love life.
00:47:48 I am about mine.
00:47:48 Well, this is certainly not the way
00:47:57 I expected this conversation to be going.
00:48:00 I thought we were just gonna sit out here on the front post
00:48:02 and let the moon shine down on us
00:48:04 and just like those boys in the bushes,
00:48:06 let nature take its course.
00:48:08 Oh, Clara, nature is taking its course.
00:48:11 You're not the kind of girl to be howled at
00:48:13 and dragged off the porch into the bushes.
00:48:15 You're a nice, quiet, self-contained girl.
00:48:18 You'll see.
00:48:20 Everything you want's gonna happen to you.
00:48:29 Oh, hey, now, Alan.
00:48:31 You wanna see me?
00:48:34 Miss Manny Littlejohn said, where are you?
00:48:37 Oh.
00:48:39 Where am I, huh?
00:48:40 Yes, sir.
00:48:41 She said if you're not there in half an hour,
00:48:43 the place will be triple locked against you.
00:48:46 Triple locked, huh?
00:48:48 Well, you tell Miss Manny Littlejohn I'll be there
00:48:52 when I'm there.
00:48:54 I'll tell her.
00:48:57 I guess I have a late date.
00:48:58 You married?
00:49:03 You got a woman somewhere?
00:49:05 I live single.
00:49:06 Hmm.
00:49:09 Known a few, though, huh?
00:49:12 Yeah, my fair share.
00:49:15 Deal.
00:49:16 [GUNSHOT]
00:49:17 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:49:26 [FOOTSTEPS]
00:49:29 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:49:58 Well, your friend left early, without even firing a shot.
00:50:03 I was kissed goodnight, Mr. Crick.
00:50:05 Kissed and left.
00:50:06 That'd been me I'd have stayed till sun up.
00:50:08 Oh, now, aren't you reckless?
00:50:09 Aren't you?
00:50:10 No, I'm just skittish, Mr. Crick, just plain skittish.
00:50:13 Well, now, I have an answer for that.
00:50:15 Let's go get in that old Lincoln car of yours,
00:50:16 and we go and plow up the countryside.
00:50:19 Let's go holler off a bridge, good and loud.
00:50:21 I think there's been enough commotion around here
00:50:23 already tonight.
00:50:24 You want quiet?
00:50:26 Let's go find us a needle in a haystack.
00:50:28 Mr. Crick, those are all lovely, colorful suggestions,
00:50:31 but I'm afraid if I started out to follow you,
00:50:33 I would hear the starch in my petticoat begin to rustle,
00:50:35 and I'd know I was out of character.
00:50:37 Get out of character, lady.
00:50:38 Come on, get way out.
00:50:40 Sudden changes are not in my life.
00:50:42 You never know till you try.
00:50:45 Mr. Crick, there's a volume of Jane Austen
00:50:47 upstairs by my bed, and a glass of hot milk
00:50:49 that's getting cold.
00:50:50 You mean your friend would not like it
00:50:52 if we went off together?
00:50:53 The idea of you and me just wouldn't go down, would it?
00:50:55 I wish to discuss him with you.
00:50:57 Why not?
00:50:58 I respect him.
00:50:59 I admire his manners, and I admire the speeches he makes,
00:51:02 and I admire the big house he lives in.
00:51:05 But if you're saving it all for him, honey,
00:51:08 you've got your account in the wrong bank.
00:51:11 You can leave any time now.
00:51:15 Don't ask me twice.
00:51:27 Sister?
00:51:27 Oh, you are out here, alone, huh?
00:51:38 When did Alan leave?
00:51:40 About 10.
00:51:42 Early.
00:51:43 He's been ill.
00:51:45 Yeah?
00:51:46 You look a little pale yourself.
00:51:49 It's hot.
00:51:50 I haven't been sleeping very well.
00:51:51 How old are you, sister?
00:51:53 Don't you know?
00:51:55 I keep a lot of figures in my head.
00:51:58 Well, I have these.
00:51:59 I'm 23.
00:52:00 Your mama was 18 when I married her.
00:52:05 Just turned.
00:52:07 Papa, we going to talk about that again?
00:52:08 We are.
00:52:11 Oh, no, you never look at me.
00:52:14 My life comes and goes.
00:52:15 My birthdays come and go.
00:52:18 Do you know I'm really quite a lively, intelligent girl?
00:52:21 Sometimes I even make people laugh.
00:52:23 And yet you and I never seem to have
00:52:25 any other conversation but this one.
00:52:26 You're unmarried.
00:52:28 I've pointed that out before.
00:52:30 What do you do out here, you and Alan, huh?
00:52:34 We talk.
00:52:35 What gets said?
00:52:37 Any important?
00:52:39 He thinks I'm a nice, quiet, self-contained girl.
00:52:44 That ain't damn near enough.
00:52:47 Thousands of acres out there, millions of seeds
00:52:50 put down in the ground every year,
00:52:52 the seeds come up again.
00:52:54 Life goes on.
00:52:57 Where's my crop, huh?
00:52:59 What follows me?
00:53:01 What happens when I'm dead?
00:53:04 You'll probably have the biggest funeral
00:53:05 in the state of Mississippi.
00:53:07 Don't scare me now, just so long as there's plenty of varnas
00:53:09 to mourn me.
00:53:11 Jody and I'll be there.
00:53:12 You and Jody and Jody's kids and yours and their kids,
00:53:15 my descendant sister, a line, a long line with my face stamped
00:53:19 on it, my blood flowing in their veins.
00:53:22 All of that from the two of us?
00:53:25 You think I'm joking?
00:53:26 You listen here to me, sister.
00:53:31 OK, if your blood is so frail and so delicate
00:53:34 that it just calls out for Alan Stewart, amen.
00:53:39 Let it be him.
00:53:40 I'll give you a big wedding.
00:53:41 I'll build a house for you.
00:53:43 Put money in Alan's account at Jefferson First Trust Bank,
00:53:46 but it's going to be now, missy.
00:53:49 No more pussyfoot, no more holding hands.
00:53:51 And squeaking at front porch, swaying back and forth.
00:53:55 Six years, that's all I heard is squeaking.
00:53:57 Will you go and tell his mama to let go.
00:54:02 You tell her you're taking over because your daddy said so.
00:54:05 And if you should get no finance,
00:54:07 let me tell you, sister, it's going to be that other.
00:54:12 Which other?
00:54:14 That prize, blue ribbon, bull, that hand-grown,
00:54:18 hand-picked, hand-selected by me fellow named McQuint.
00:54:21 You can't mean him.
00:54:22 Can't I?
00:54:23 Listen, I'm going to get me some men in the Varner family,
00:54:26 some good, strong, strapping men.
00:54:28 Varners, that's what I want, Varners.
00:54:30 And more Varners, yeah, more Varners still.
00:54:32 Enough Varners to infest the countryside.
00:54:35 I'm going to see that happen, sister.
00:54:37 Before I die, I'm going to accomplish that, yes, ma'am.
00:54:40 By means of that quick, that big, stud horse.
00:54:45 You mean you'd sell me away like that?
00:54:47 We're not selling you.
00:54:48 Yes, sell me.
00:54:49 Without caring what I feel or what I think or what I am?
00:54:53 I'm trying to save you.
00:54:54 Is that what you call it?
00:54:57 Sister, you're going to give me grandsons.
00:55:01 I will, Ellen.
00:55:06 All quick.
00:55:09 But you're going to do it, Claire Ann Varner, you hear me?
00:55:14 You'll get that ring on your finger.
00:55:16 [SIGHS]
00:55:19 [GUNSHOT]
00:55:22 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:55:30 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:55:33 Here comes Jody.
00:55:52 What's going on?
00:55:59 Huh?
00:56:00 Well, they ain't come to do much buying.
00:56:03 Ten worth of candy, two cents worth of nails, maybe.
00:56:06 No, they just come to look.
00:56:08 What at?
00:56:10 We ain't running no side show.
00:56:12 They come to look at the new man.
00:56:15 Three days ago, never even knew his name.
00:56:18 But from now on, they're going to have
00:56:19 to be dealing with him for all the necessary living.
00:56:22 Oh, no.
00:56:23 They're going to deal with me, like always.
00:56:27 [SIGHS]
00:56:30 Come on, Jody.
00:56:35 Mr. Jody?
00:56:43 Mr. Jody, my little chaps at home
00:56:47 never even had shoes last winter.
00:56:51 We ain't got corn to feed the stock.
00:56:54 Them $30 my husband paid for that horse yesterday,
00:56:57 which he ain't even seen since then.
00:57:00 I earn myself sewing at night and baking cakes.
00:57:07 Oh, if that ain't the limit.
00:57:08 Now, you get greased and fleeced,
00:57:09 and then you come in here and later.
00:57:10 My dog?
00:57:12 Well, the trouble is we got an outsider here.
00:57:13 He don't know nothing, and he don't care nothing
00:57:19 about you and your worries.
00:57:20 No, sir.
00:57:22 He don't care about anything except advancing himself.
00:57:27 A lot of harsh things being said about me.
00:57:31 And if I was to answer each and every one of them,
00:57:33 well, that'd take up too much of your time.
00:57:36 All I can say, miss, is you took your complaint
00:57:38 to the wrong department.
00:57:40 Now, we under new management.
00:57:42 You got a $30 problem?
00:57:43 It's solved.
00:57:50 [door opens]
00:57:52 [door closes]
00:57:53 Goodwill.
00:57:54 Ain't nothing in the world like it.
00:57:57 You think you got a cozy nest here, don't you?
00:58:00 Well, you ain't going to take over from me, boy.
00:58:03 Well, off with the old, on with the new.
00:58:07 Same old store, same stand.
00:58:09 All we got is a new broom, morning.
00:58:12 Hi, Will.
00:58:13 Can't teach a old dog new tricks, morning.
00:58:16 Sure can't teach a young willing puppy just about anything.
00:58:20 Banquet, fetch me a Coke.
00:58:23 Give it time, though.
00:58:24 Penny on the water pays interest when the flood turns.
00:58:27 [laughter]
00:58:28 Thank you for your encouragement and kind support.
00:58:36 [music playing]
00:58:46 [footsteps]
00:58:50 Jody, aren't you ever going to work again?
00:58:52 You always going to be hanging around?
00:58:55 I can't do my nails or fix my hair
00:58:57 without having you hanging around.
00:58:59 Now, you take that Ben quick.
00:59:01 He's down at that store, working, sweating.
00:59:04 He's where you ought to be.
00:59:06 Who are you to tell me to work?
00:59:09 You ain't never out of a chair.
00:59:12 Only time I seen you break covers when they're sweeping,
00:59:15 cleaning the house, calling you to the dinner table.
00:59:19 Now, you got no call to be insulting.
00:59:21 As your wife, I just don't want to see
00:59:23 you get passed by that boy.
00:59:24 [laughter]
00:59:33 Now, Jody.
00:59:35 Come on.
00:59:35 No, Jody.
00:59:37 Come on.
00:59:38 I'm going to-- I'm going to visit myself elsewhere.
00:59:40 That's what I'm going to do.
00:59:41 I'm going to remove myself.
00:59:43 I know what I'll do.
00:59:44 I'll get me an education.
00:59:46 Clare's been after me for months and months,
00:59:47 saying it's never too late to learn.
00:59:50 No, Jody.
00:59:51 No.
00:59:53 I sure do wish you'd find yourself
00:59:55 some other form of recreation.
00:59:56 [music playing]
00:59:59 [door creaking]
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01:00:45 [whistling]
01:01:04 [whistling]
01:01:07 Well, it's a little late to be keeping store, isn't it?
01:01:17 No, I'm just moving these cotton dresses down front
01:01:20 so the ladies can see them when they first come in.
01:01:23 You seem to know a lot about women.
01:01:25 Well, I know what makes them spend their money.
01:01:29 Are you in to buy something, Miss Clare,
01:01:30 or are you just shopping around?
01:01:32 I was just passing.
01:01:35 Well, it's a warm night.
01:01:36 I've been drinking some beer.
01:01:37 You want some?
01:01:38 No, thank you.
01:01:40 Got a sweet tooth?
01:01:42 I can offer you rock candy and licorice whips, jawbreakers.
01:01:47 Do a big business in jawbreakers.
01:01:50 I'm growing them on you.
01:01:57 Well, sun bonnets, hand lotion, lilac water,
01:02:03 sprinkle remover, spotted dimity.
01:02:06 I just can't sell you, can I?
01:02:13 Well, do you have an aspirin?
01:02:14 I have a headache.
01:02:16 Oh, sure.
01:02:18 We got all kinds of nostrums and remedies.
01:02:21 Of course, I don't have headaches myself.
01:02:25 I don't have any problems.
01:02:27 Or scruples.
01:02:30 Nope, not those either.
01:02:33 Well, I have both.
01:02:35 You got a thin skin is what you got.
01:02:43 But the world belongs to the meat eaters, Miss Clare,
01:02:45 and if you have to take it raw, take it raw.
01:02:48 I couldn't live that way.
01:02:54 Well, let's just examine the way you do live, Miss Clare.
01:02:57 Now, you drive around in that old Lincoln car of yours like it had wings,
01:03:01 and you teach school,
01:03:03 and you sit out on your front porch with your skinny little friend drinking lemonade.
01:03:09 Now, what is all that when you see the rest of the world passing you by paired up?
01:03:15 What, 23?
01:03:17 Them's a golden years.
01:03:20 And you're being asked to play a waiting game.
01:03:24 Why wait?
01:03:26 Our school's out, Miss Clare.
01:03:34 Them blinds are drawn, nights falling.
01:03:37 Nobody here to see if you make a mistake.
01:03:40 You put them things down, Miss Clare, 'cause I'm gonna kiss you.
01:03:47 I'm gonna show you how simple it is.
01:03:50 You please me, and I'll please you.
01:03:53 I don't know what's troubling you.
01:03:58 It's all those boys hollering for Eula every night.
01:04:02 And Eula with her hair hanging down.
01:04:05 And Jody with his shirt off chasing her.
01:04:09 And the old man at 60.
01:04:12 He's calling on his lady love.
01:04:15 [music]
01:04:18 All right, you proved it. I'm human.
01:04:43 Yes, ma'am, you're human, all right.
01:04:46 I'm burned out!
01:04:52 Well, you hit on it.
01:04:59 I can see my white shirt and my black tie and my Sunday manners didn't fool you for a minute.
01:05:06 Well, that's right, ma'am. I'm a menace to the countryside.
01:05:10 All a man's gotta do is just look at me sideways and his house goes up in fire.
01:05:15 And here I am living right here in the middle of your peaceable little town.
01:05:19 Right in your old backyard, you might say.
01:05:22 Guess that ought to keep you awake at night.
01:05:39 Anything you break, you gotta pay for.
01:05:42 What are you doing here?
01:05:45 Taking a nap.
01:05:46 You hired me to tend your store, now I'm tending it. They don't need no supervision.
01:05:50 You and my daughter had some words, huh?
01:05:53 Yeah, a few.
01:05:54 She don't carton to you much, does she?
01:05:56 Ain't no love lost.
01:05:57 I don't need to slow you down, no.
01:06:01 I'll put you forth as a candidate.
01:06:04 Oh, yeah?
01:06:05 Now, just what office you got me running for?
01:06:08 I've opened a lot of doors for you, Ben Quick. Ever ask yourself why?
01:06:12 Am I a senile old man?
01:06:15 Am I a sentimental old fool?
01:06:18 I am not.
01:06:20 So?
01:06:22 I'm a man with a purpose.
01:06:24 Well, we all got some mission in life.
01:06:27 Get out of here, yours.
01:06:30 Now, just what do you think you'd like me to do, if you was able to make me do it?
01:06:36 Get married.
01:06:39 Have sons.
01:06:42 Well, I'll be damned.
01:06:45 More than probable, you will be. But first, you'll go into church and get married, yeah?
01:06:51 To my daughter.
01:07:05 That's the one you didn't figure, ain't it?
01:07:08 Yeah. That's the one.
01:07:11 Oh, yeah?
01:07:14 What about it?
01:07:18 Well, I'd say it's a mighty interesting notion.
01:07:20 Notion?
01:07:22 Notion? I'm talking about the survival of my family name.
01:07:26 I'm talking about the establishment of my immortality.
01:07:30 You, you want to put down roots, move to my house.
01:07:34 Live with all sleep on the clean sheets.
01:07:37 Study that skinny gal.
01:07:40 And what's in it for me?
01:07:45 Well, there's lands and monies.
01:07:48 On the day of the wedding.
01:07:51 More to come.
01:07:53 What lands? What monies? And how much more?
01:07:57 We'll have a meeting with my banker and my lawyer, you'll see for yourself.
01:08:01 I'll take that old Frenchman's ruin for a starter.
01:08:04 Yeah?
01:08:05 Yeah. Right now. Tonight.
01:08:08 I'll give it to you in writing.
01:08:11 Yeah, you do that.
01:08:13 Who says I picked the wrong man?
01:08:16 You and me got a deal, Vincqui.
01:08:19 And who says marriage is a maiden heaven?
01:08:22 Boy, hell wouldn't have this one.
01:08:24 Now, make no mistake about that gal.
01:08:26 She's delicate, but no way she's smart, like her mother before her.
01:08:31 She has quality. Quality.
01:08:35 Just close as you and me will ever get to it.
01:08:54 Move right in, boy. It's all yours.
01:08:57 I'm moving up in the world.
01:09:00 Miss Clare's room is in the back of the house.
01:09:18 Mr. Jody and Miss Eulen.
01:09:21 Here's your room.
01:09:22 The old man?
01:09:24 Never know where he is. Don't sleep so good no more.
01:09:27 Just roams around from room to room, sometimes three in the night.
01:09:31 I had five sisters and a brother...
01:09:48 and a mother and a father and an old maid, Ann.
01:09:51 And all together, we slept in a room about half this size.
01:09:56 Same as my family.
01:09:58 And look at us now, Lucius.
01:10:00 Big room, small room, all the same size alarm.
01:10:04 Bathrooms, end of the hall.
01:10:07 (Bell tolling)
01:10:35 Just so we don't crowd each other,
01:10:38 I'll shave nights and shower mornings.
01:10:41 (Water running)
01:10:45 (Water running)
01:10:48 (Door creaking)
01:11:17 Being here? Into the house?
01:11:20 Big house. Room for one more.
01:11:22 But he don't belong here. He's hired help.
01:11:26 More than that.
01:11:29 How much more than that?
01:11:31 I'm gonna be kind of brother to you, Jody.
01:11:34 I brought you home a big brother, so look out.
01:11:37 Boy's clever. He'll be up when you sleep and he's gonna be where you ain't.
01:11:41 Look alive, Jody.
01:11:43 You and a couple of race horses starting out even.
01:11:47 We'll see who is the fastest and who is the smartest.
01:11:50 Not exactly even, considering I'm your blood son.
01:11:54 - Don't open that can of beans. - I am opening it.
01:11:58 All right, eat what you got.
01:12:02 Exactly nothing.
01:12:05 (Gulping)
01:12:07 Am I your son?
01:12:16 Or ain't I your son?
01:12:19 You was born to me.
01:12:22 Ain't you got any affection for me?
01:12:25 Or regard for me? Just tell me that.
01:12:27 You trying to make yourself miserable?
01:12:30 Miserable? It seems like I walked around a miserable hole my life.
01:12:33 You ain't never been a popper.
01:12:36 No!
01:12:38 Except to tell me to stand up straight, you push, reach, stretch yourself.
01:12:42 I put down a big footprint.
01:12:46 I said, "Hill, step in. Fill it."
01:12:51 - You never did. - Well, I tried.
01:12:53 I tried to be what you wanted, but I ain't got it in me.
01:12:57 Where do you go looking for it, Papa, if you ain't got it in you?
01:13:00 Find a way, and you don't.
01:13:04 Papa, please.
01:13:07 You have Lucious dig you up some worms, Joe, damn.
01:13:15 You go fishing, boy.
01:13:20 [ Music ]
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01:14:07 Don't you lie there with your face in the pillar, Jody Vonna.
01:14:10 That's exactly what he expects you to be doing.
01:14:14 Jody, you had spunk once.
01:14:18 Remember, you used to throw brown paper bags full of water on his head from this very window.
01:14:23 Remember, I'd fill them up, and you'd throw them.
01:14:26 You were only seven years old then, and you were wonderful.
01:14:29 You weren't afraid then.
01:14:32 Jody, Jody, you remember John Wesley Pritchard.
01:14:36 You remember how he stood out in the schoolyard and said, "Clara Vonna has front teeth like a horse."
01:14:41 And I cried, and I said, "I'm going to get my big brother, Jody Vonna, to punch you in the nose," and you did.
01:14:47 Jody, I wouldn't have gotten through my girlhood alive if it hadn't been for you.
01:14:55 All of which makes you very dear to me, and I don't care what he did or said to you downstairs.
01:15:03 [music]
01:15:08 [door opens]
01:15:10 [door closes]
01:15:12 [music]
01:15:16 [moans]
01:15:28 [music]
01:15:33 [music]
01:15:37 You look mighty pretty with them reading glasses on.
01:15:50 You look pretty with them off.
01:15:56 You look mighty young there, Miss Clara, all curled up in your bed.
01:16:00 Like you just washed your hands and brushed your teeth and said your prayers like a little girl.
01:16:05 I'll bet you was a mighty appealing little girl.
01:16:08 I'll bet your hair hung in a tangle down your back.
01:16:11 I'll bet you knew where to look for robin's eggs and blackberries.
01:16:16 I'll bet you had a doll with no head on it.
01:16:20 There's a church bazaar coming up next week.
01:16:23 Now you wear a white dress and a ribbon in your hair, and I'll waltz you around under the moon.
01:16:29 [music]
01:16:33 Clara?
01:16:36 Clara?
01:16:42 Clara?
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01:48:01 Ben! Ben!
01:48:06 I'm sick of that sight.
01:48:11 I've seen about fifty fires like that, or maybe a hundred of them.
01:48:16 I've seen men with their shirts on fire.
01:48:21 Smelled horses cooking.
01:48:26 Was raised on that smell of gasoline around me. Cold oil, kerosene, anything that burned.
01:48:31 My old man used to keep them around the house in case he had a grudge he wanted to settle.
01:48:36 My old man.
01:48:41 Last time I seen him I was about ten years old.
01:48:46 Lying in a ditch crying my eyes out.
01:48:51 Praying that God would strike me dead.
01:48:56 That was the night that I'd run ahead to tell him, turn him in.
01:49:01 Warn his fireman that he was coming with his torch.
01:49:06 I remember
01:49:11 just lying there, choking on my own tears.
01:49:16 Remember that house burning and these men on horseback
01:49:21 and the sound of shots. My old man was running.
01:49:26 Maybe one of them shots killed him.
01:49:31 Or maybe he died in one of them fires he set.
01:49:36 I don't know. I've never seen him again.
01:49:41 How terrible that must have been.
01:49:46 It wasn't a terrible part come later.
01:49:51 Knocking around this whole countryside, floating around from town to town.
01:49:56 Looking in on other people's kitchen windows from the outside.
01:50:01 Boy, that man sure left his mark on me. I got his name and I can't run away from that.
01:50:06 Yes you can.
01:50:11 You know people are kinder than you think if you just tell them.
01:50:16 Well I wouldn't give them that satisfaction. I wouldn't tell them anything any time.
01:50:21 I'm a proud man, Miss Clara.
01:50:26 My name is quick no matter how much people hate it.
01:50:31 I was one of them. I hated it too.
01:50:36 No, you didn't.
01:50:41 You hated me.
01:50:46 I did.
01:50:51 You're a hard-headed, soft-hearted woman, Miss Clara. And I like you a lot.
01:50:56 You do, do you? Yes, ma'am, I do. All of a sudden, I do.
01:51:01 And if you can save my life, I guess I can return the favor.
01:51:06 I can let you go.
01:51:11 I don't need nothing to it. All I gotta do is just pack that old straw suitcase of mine and
01:51:16 say goodbye to millions. I won't even feel sorry for myself until I get about one mile
01:51:21 and a half out of Frenchman's Bend.
01:51:26 Well, you couldn't tame me, but you taught me.
01:51:31 (crickets chirping)
01:51:36 (crickets chirping)
01:51:41 (crickets chirping)
01:51:46 (men laughing)
01:51:51 (men laughing)
01:51:56 Hold it!
01:52:01 Now, hold on, you hear? Well, we can't let that firebug get away with it. We're gonna catch him.
01:52:06 The fire's out, thanks to you all. Yeah, well, what about Ben Quick? Yeah, what about him?
01:52:11 The fire's out? Yeah, but who started it? Old Jack has the name of Will Varner.
01:52:16 Well, I'll bet you'll draw it. That's who started it. I dropped my cigar in the hay.
01:52:21 That's right, Papa. Well, I guess our work's done, man.
01:52:26 You all come out here Sunday and we'll open us some kegs of beer and have a party.
01:52:31 Thanks, Will. Thank you, man. He's got friends like you. He ain't got no trouble.
01:52:36 Well, you all right? I heard you was in that bomb. Yeah, in and out. Now simmer down, Minnie.
01:52:41 You ain't a rich widder yet.
01:52:46 If you got a minute, Will, I'll be saying goodbye. You'll be doing what?
01:52:51 Yeah, I'm leaving as soon as I get my things together. What's the matter? Don't the room and board here suit you?
01:52:56 No, I got no complaints about that. Well, what is it then? Will, you and me, we've been in business only a little while.
01:53:01 Just one hot summer.
01:53:06 We started off on that horse flesh game. Get to the point.
01:53:11 Yeah, well, you know, as time goes by, it's just like it was. Now we sort of left off horses. We got started on people.
01:53:16 Now that's something different. Which people are you talking about? I'm talking about Clara, our daughter to Will Varner.
01:53:21 You want to stay in Hilles?
01:53:26 Papa, wild horses wouldn't drag me off this front porch.
01:53:31 Will, you know, in all this scheming we've been doing, we forgot something, you and me. I get preached to on Sunday.
01:53:36 Did I? I didn't take too easy to the idea. In fact, I've been a little long coming around to it.
01:53:41 But well, life's a pretty valuable thing and it ought to be treated with a certain amount of respect.
01:53:46 You're old enough to know that and I'm young enough to learn it.
01:53:51 Well, isn't that the truth? So I'll be seeing you around, Will.
01:53:56 First off, Buckle, nobody give you permission to call me by my front name. Will, that shout may be coming to you.
01:54:01 That's second. Don't tell me what life is like. Life around here's what I say it is.
01:54:06 You can't always have it your way, Will. I got influence. I'll dog you, boy. Wherever you go, I'll break you.
01:54:11 No, you won't. You'll miss me.
01:54:16 What are you grinning about? Huh? Now there's your gratitude.
01:54:25 There's your thanks. I put that boy where there was fast, easy money just to lay in there.
01:54:30 I put him in a garden, even let him dip his bread and honey, and he's got the all-out goal to tell me no.
01:54:35 So you run and you keep on running and you buy yourself a bus ticket and you disappear.
01:54:57 And you change your name and you die your hire.
01:55:02 And maybe, just maybe, you might be safe from me.
01:55:07 Boy, I know human nature, huh? Didn't I say that fella quick was made for my cliff?
01:55:26 Am I gonna be a grandfather? I am.
01:55:31 And, Minnie, sure is good to be alive this summer evening.
01:55:36 Yeah, alive with friends and family and a big, healthy woman to love you.
01:55:41 Oh, I like life, Minnie.
01:55:46 I like it so much I might just live forever.
01:55:51 I am.
01:55:56 (BELL RINGS)
01:56:01 (BELL RINGS)
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