Blood and Sand Page #3

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Things have been going great

for you lately, haven't they?

Yes, I had a good season.

I look forward to a better one.

Oh, that is good.

- I suppose your cuadrilla

- It's full up just now.

Oh. Oh, well,

I've had a lot of experience.

I've spent most of my life

in the bull ring.

I know all the critics.

Maybe you could use a sword handler...

or a-a servant in the house, anything.

Why not?

Come and, uh

Come and see me tomorrow.

Thanks.

[Coins Rattling]

##[Guitars]

Good evening, senor.

- Is there anything I can get you?

- Yes. I want your band.

- My band?

- Yes, the whole band.

## [Singing In Spanish]

##[Continues]

##[Continues]

##[Continues]

Juanillo.

## [Ends]

And all the way on the train from Madrid,

I kept worrying and thinking...

"Perhaps she's tired of waiting.

Perhaps she's gone away.

Perhaps she's even forgotten me."

Oh, you couldn't possibly think that.

You know, I even thoughtYou know the first

thing I asked my mother when I got home?

"Pedro Espinosa's little girl the one

with the skinny legs and the funny face

has she, by any chance,

gotten married yet?"

Oh!

I can't get over it.

I never thought

that you'd grow up to be so

so very nice to look at.

Juan, why did you never write to me?

Write? Well, you see

This may sound silly to you,

but I didn't wanna write...

until I could sign

my first letter to you...

"Juan Gallardo, Matador de Toros."

- You haven't had your alternativa yet?

- No, but I haven't done badly.

Do you know

what I cleared last season...

over and above traveling expenses,

renting costumes and all that?

4,000 pesetas.

- 4,000?

- Yeah.

And that's nothing to what I'll make

later on once I've been recognized.

Of course, I'm not entirely

overlooked now, mind you. Not at all.

They're beginning to find out who I am.

Take a look at that.

My first press notice,

and by Curro himself.

Pretty nice, don't you think?

Have you read it?

- Of course.

- And you like it?

I think it's wonderful.

- No, read it.

- I have read it.

- Read it aloud.

- Juan, I know why you never wrote to me.

It's because you haven't learned

how to write or read.

- Is that it?

- Read what it says.

- What for? I've just

- Read it!

"And here is a newcomer,

a flat-footed novillero from Sevilla...

"taking money under false pretenses.

"He has nothing to recommend him

but a certain stupid animal courage...

which makes his work in the ring

look more like suicide than battle."

[Sighs]

When will we be married?

There's more. Read it.

"He is definitely fifth-rate."

Oh, Juan, when will we be married?

Read the rest.

"It's useless to predict a future for him.

"He will probably be killed in the ring...

long before he advances

from novillero to matador."

Well, I I guess I came back

a little too early.

But you saw me fight bulls

a long time ago.

It's not like thatwhat it says.

- It doesn't matter.

- But it matters to me!

Juanillo, why don't you throw it away

and forget all about it?

No, no. I'm gonna save this.

And someday I'll make that Curro

eat his words.

Someday I'll come back to you

with a whole trunkful of clippings.

And when you marry me,

you'll marry the first torero in Spain.

Not the second or the third, but the first!

The greatest!

I'll go now, Carmen.

- What's in the package?

- Nothing.

- Is it for me?

- Well, it's-it's just something that I

- But, uh

- What is it?

It's nothing, Carmen. I

Oh!

[Audience Cheering]

- [Chattering]

- [Baby Crying]

No, you cannot see him now.

The room is crowded as it is.

But if the matador could only

see his godson just for a minute

Don't you know any better than to bring

your brats here today of all days...

when Senor Gallardo is about to make

his first formal appearance...

in his hometown?

- Just for one minute?

- Wednesday. That's the day

Don Juan sees his godchildren.

Do you think you're the only one?

Already, he's godfather

to half the infants in Sevilla.

Presently,

we'll have to hire an armory!

Oh. How do you do, gentlemen?

Please come right in.

- Come right in. Yes.

- [Spanish]

[Chattering]

[Chattering Stops]

- [Chattering Resumes]

- Why can't we go in there?

Not today!

[Curro]

I, Curro

I was present the afternoon

of our Juan's formal presentation...

as a matador in Madrid.

He fought a Miura bull

as big as a cathedral.

Never in my life have I seen

such sincerity...

such purity, such lightheartedness...

and, above all, such serene valor.

Let me read you what I wrote

that night in the Heraldo.

I have the clipping right here with me.

"Rejoice, ye faithful.

"There's an end to the decay

of our great art.

"We are on the eve

of a great renaissance.

"Cid Campeador has returned...

"to bring back the glory of Spain.

The arena has come back once more

to passion and dignity."

- Ol. Ol.

- At last, Sevilla has a matador.

The greatest matador of all history.

A saint.

The first man of the world.

The day he was born,

there was salt in the air...

a great quantity of salt.

Ol. Ol.

You should have seen him at the corrida

of the Feast of the Anunciacin.

He was so near the bull, next day...

Garabato spent hours picking

the bull's hairs out of Juan's clothes.

Ol. Ol.

[Gasping, Murmuring]

[Man]

Gorgeous! It must cost a fortune!

I don't know whether Juan

mentioned it to you or not...

but it was I who financed

his early career.

- For years, I had to support his whole family.

- Really?

What a corrida.

Ah, his cape work was magnificent.

You would have given a thousand pesetas

to see Juanillo with that bull.

I tell you, he had it on a string.

Don Jose, you never saw

such arrogance and grace.

- Yes, I did, once.

- What corrida was that?

That was a dozen years ago when I saw

a very little boy fight a very big bull.

Curro, that was the night you and I met

and split that bottle of wine together.

- Remember?

- Yes, I've carried the scar ever since.

My most prized possession, gentlemen,

since it was given me by Juan Gallardo.

[Laughing, Chattering]

I didn't see you again until you fought

as a novillero in Madrid.

Oh, yes. You wrote a piece

in the paper about me.

You said I was definitely fifth-rate.

I know. But the next time I saw you

in the ring, you were a different man.

- Something must've happened to you.

- I got married.

[Chattering]

Yes, those were the lean days...

when I fought both bulls

and hunger at the same time.

Curro, have you ever been hungry?

Never. I've frequently been thirsty.

Well, I can tell you this.

The gore of hunger is worse

than the horns of a bull.

My friends have said to me, "Juanillo,

life's been very magnificent to you.

How does it feel to be way up there

on top of the ladder?"

Then I think of all the good things

that have happened to me...

and one thing stands out

above everything else.

I can buy all the food

my belly can hold...

and my friends' bellies, and I don't have

to ask the price of anything anymore.

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