McCabe & Mrs. Miller Page #6

Synopsis: Set in winter in the Old West. Charismatic but dumb John McCabe arrives in a young Pacific Northwest town to set up a whorehouse/tavern. The shrewd Mrs. Miller, a professional madam, arrives soon after construction begins. She offers to use her experience to help McCabe run his business, while sharing in the profits. The whorehouse thrives and McCabe and Mrs. Miller draw closer, despite their conflicting intelligences and philosophies. Soon, however, the mining deposits in the town attract the attention of a major corporation, which wants to buy out McCabe along with the rest. He refuses, and his decision has major repercussions for him, Mrs. Miller, and the town.
Genre: Drama, Western
Director(s): Robert Altman
Production: Warner Bros. Pictures
  Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 1 win & 3 nominations.
 
IMDB:
7.7
Rotten Tomatoes:
89%
R
Year:
1971
120 min
601 Views


for killing a Chinaman?

$50, maximum.

The inspector is working for the company.

Four times out of five it's an accident.

You could do this here with your own zinc.

All you've got to do is give the bugger

a box of this stuff...

put him down the hole,

up to the rock face...

and there's your zinc.

Sixty-five cents a ton.

You must be Butler.

- Sir?

- I'm John McCabe.

We have business to talk over.

Do you smoke cigars?

Yes, I do. Have one of mine.

- Shall we step in the bar, for privacy?

- No, we're fine here.

- Sheehan, serve a bottle on me.

- Bottle.

About that deal...

You know, when them gentlemen

came up here and made me that offer...

there was a whole lot of things

that we didn't take into consideration.

How much did they offer you?

Well, $5,500.

They came up $750 from that,

so it's $6,250 they offered me.

$6,250.

Yeah, but how much did you ask them for?

We never got around to that because...

I might have mentioned...

something like $12,000, $10,000.

It was just to get them bargaining.

And, well, just so they'd talk sense.

Yeah, but how much did you really want?

That depends.

I mean, they talked about all my holdings.

$8,000?

$8,000.

Well, $7,500. Probably more like it.

- You weren't far apart, were you?

- That's what I'm trying to tell you.

I don't know what

they mean by "all my holdings."

All my holdings. Does that mean

my horses, my clothes, my underwear?

Well, the fact is...

Sh*t, I'd make a deal for $6,250.

If they don't count

my personal property in that.

That's provided that

they buy my inventory separately.

- How much is that?

- Well, $350.

$300.

So, you've got your $300, and $6,250.

That's $6,550.

Let's make that an even $6,500,

and you've got yourself a deal.

I don't make deals.

What are you doing here,

if you don't make deals?

I came up here to hunt bear.

I hear it's very good around here.

Get off it.

Bear.

You don't work for Harrison Shaughnessy?

Sometimes.

But only when they can't make a deal.

Look, that's what I'm trying to tell you.

This here deal can be made.

Not with me.

Well, I guess what I've got to do

is get in touch with this fellow, Sears.

I'll see you boys later.

McCabe.

Were you ever called "Pudgy"?

A long time ago. Why?

My best friens best friend

was Bill Roundtree.

Did you kill him?

I was in a poker game when he got shot,

but I didn't kill him.

- Are you calling his best friend a liar?

- Wait, I ain't calling nobody a liar.

Bill Roundtree got caught

marking the queens.

- He went for his gun and he got shot.

- I'm going to count to 10.

If you're not on the bridge when I finish,

I'm going to get very cross with you.

I just want you boys to know

that I ain't wearing no gun.

Patty, come here.

Who the hell was this Bill Roundtree?

- Well, he was real well-known.

- I mean, who said he shot him?

I told you. Everybody.

- He shot him with a derringer.

- That man?

That man never killed anybody.

All the time making me feel

like I'll make a fool out of myself.

Now we'll see who the fools is.

Son of a b*tches.

I never did fit in this goddamn town.

I hate when them bastards

put their hands on you.

I tell you, sometimes,

when I take a look at you...

I just keep looking and looking.

I want to feel your body against me

so bad, I think I'm going to bust.

I keep trying to tell you

in a lot of different ways.

If just one time you could be sweet

without no money around.

I think I could...

Well, I'll tell you something.

I've got poetry in me.

I do. I've got poetry in me.

I ain't going to put it down on paper.

I ain't no educated man.

I got sense enough not to try it.

I can't never say nothing to you.

If you'd just one time

let me run the show, I'd...

You're just freezing my soul,

that's what you're doing.

Freezing my soul.

Well, sh*t! Enjoy yourself, girl.

Go ahead and have a time. What the hell.

It's just my luck. The only woman's ever

been one to me, is just a whore.

But what the hell,

I never was a percentage man.

I suppose a whore is

the only kind of woman I'd know.

Excuse me, ma'am.

Is this fellow, Eugene Sears, still here?

No, he left this morning.

Another fellow was with him,

by the name of Ernie.

- Mr. Hollander.

- Hollander. That's right.

I wonder if he's still here?

- No, he went with him.

- Well, thank you all the same.

The law is here to protect

a little guy like yourself, McCabe.

And I'm at your service, free of charge.

- Free?

- That's what I said.

You don't have to pay me anything.

It would be an honor for the next senator

from the state of Washington...

to be your servant

before the scales of justice.

- That's mighty decent of you.

- When a man, McCabe...

When a man goes into the wilderness...

and with his bare hands,

gives birth to a small enterprise...

nourishes it and tends it while it grows...

I'm here to tell you that no sons of b*tches

are going to take it away from him.

Now ain't that right?

You're damn right it's right.

You take that company,

Harrison Shaughnessy.

They have stockholders.

Do you think they want their stockholders

and the public...

thinking their management

isn't imbued with fair play and justice...

the very values that make this country

what it is today?

Busting up these trusts and monopolies...

is at the very root of the problem

of creating a just society.

McCabe, I'm here to tell you that

this free enterprise system of ours works.

And working within it,

we can protect the small businessman...

and the big businessman as well.

Well, I just didn't want to get killed.

Until people stop dying for freedom,

they ain't going to be free.

I can see it now, on the front page

of The Washington Post...

right next to a picture

of William Jennings Bryan:

"McCabe strikes a blow for the little guy."

You will become a famous man, McCabe.

We can find ourselves having dinner

with William Jennings Bryan.

I don't know.

- You're going to be a hero!

- Come on.

You're going to stare them down

and make them quake in their boots.

What do we do? Get the Marshal?

You don't need the Marshal.

We're going to do this through the courts.

I guess what you're saying is...

we get this in the papers

and in the courts and all that...

Well, they just can't afford to kill me.

Is that right?

You're damn right that's right.

They won't be able to lift

one little finger against you.

There's a time in every man's life,

Constance...

when he's got to stick his hand

in the fire...

and see what he's made out of.

What are you talking about?

I'm talking about busting up

these trusts and monopolies, that's what.

Somebody's got to protect small business

from big companies, and I'm the man.

Just because we've never talked about it

don't mean I ain't got certain principles.

It means nothing to you,

but I've got a reputation in this town...

What's Presbyterian Church to you?

You just got to sell out!

Just sell out and go someplace

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Robert Altman

Robert Bernard Altman (February 20, 1925 – November 20, 2006) was an American film director, screenwriter, and film producer. A five-time nominee of the Academy Award for Best Director and an enduring figure from the New Hollywood era, Altman was considered a "maverick" in making films with a highly naturalistic but stylized and satirical aesthetic, unlike most Hollywood films. He is consistently ranked as one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers in American cinema. more…

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Submitted on August 05, 2018

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