Tall Tale

Sampson, come on, get up.

Get up, boy. Come on, Sampson, get up.

Sampson, come on now. Get up.

Get up, Sampson.

Daniel, where were you?

Your father's fit to be tied.

There was a horseless carriage.

l knew it was something like that.

You and your flights of fancy!

What will we do with you?

We have enough to worry about,

what with all that's happening in town.

- Where's Pa?

- ln the barn, tending to Sampson.

Sorry, Pa.

Sorry ain't good enough.

Just lucky Sampson didn't break a leg.

Pa, there was a horseless carriage

right here in Paradise Valley.

This is a farm! Work's got to be

done when it's supposed to be done!

- l hate the farm.

- What was that?

l hate the farm!

l wish you'd sell it. l hate it!

- You don't know what you're saying.

- Yes, l do.

lt's nothing. lt's just a dried-up,

miserable piece of ground!

You hold your tongue!

There's wood needs splitting.

You go on. Get to it. Go on!

A man works and slaves to give

his son something worth having,

and he throws it back

like it don't mean beans!

He's just a boy, Jonas.

He's 12 years old.

Sun will be setting soon.

Trout will be near starving.

l ever tell you about the time

Pecos Bill wrestled John Henry

at the Upside Down Mountain?

At least 100 times, Pa.

That many?

Well... What about that morning

Pecos Bill spiked Paul Bunyan's

flapjacks with hot chilli peppers?

Bunyan's breath

came spurting out like fire.

Burned down an entire Arizona territory.

l reckon l told you that one, too.

What about the time old Pecos Bill

took on, single-handed,

50 of the toughest, meanest outlaws

this side of the Rockies?

A person would have to be a fool

to take on 50 men.

Them 50 varmints slapped leather,

but before you could say,

''Pass the peas'',

Pecos Bill emptied

both his six-shooters.

- Shot off their trigger fingers.

- Their trigger fingers?

lt was Sunday.

Pecos never killed on a Sunday.

- Pa, it's just a tall tale.

- That don't mean it ain't true.

- lt's crazy talk.

- Then Pecos Bill swung his lariat,

roped a passing twister

and rode off into the sky.

- Pa, Pecos Bill ain't real.

- He's out there.

Where there's still enough

elbow room for a man to wander.

He's out there, where the land's

still young and wild.

You don't believe me.

l swear to you

by the Code of the West.

Pecos Bill is as real as you and me.

Now, you know the Code of the West,

don't you?

Yeah, Pa, l know.

Respect the land,

defend the defenceless,

and don't you never spit

in front of women and children.

Do you want me to bow down

and sell like the rest of 'em want to?

lf it means staying alive, yes.

Why is it always you that's the hero,

you that sticks his neck out?

Because somebody's got to.

Jonas, no guns!

This isn't a story you tell to Daniel.

lt ain't that bad.

You're so quick to risk your life.

What about your family?

What about us?

That's why l'm doing this.

l'll be back before you know it.

Be careful.

l'm selling. Stiles ain't a man

to take no for an answer.

He can't make us sell.

Not if we all stick together.

My pa was a farmer.

l know what it's like to work the land

till your hands are blistered and raw,

hoping the weather won't turn bad,

praying the crop'll come in,

hanging on when it don't.

Oh, yeah...

l know what it's like to be a farmer.

And l got out.

Hallelujah!

Now l'm giving you all the same

chance l made for myself.

A way out.

50 dollars an acre.

Cold cash. With that kind

of pocket change, my friends,

you can buy yourselves

a nice new house in town.

Fill it with all the modern conveniences.

lndustry makes them things.

Factories going round the clock.

Oil wells to power 'em.

- That's the future!

- And then what?

And who might you be, friend?

The name's Jonas Hackett.

And you ain't no friend of mine.

What happens after Mr Stiles

and his partners from back east

are all done tearing and ripping

apart Paradise Valley

just like he did in Gravity Valley?

l'll tell you what happens.

Jefferson County will be next.

But, Jonas, 50 dollars an acre!

That's a lot of money.

No question about it.

This is the deed to my farm.

My farm!

lt's got my sweat in it.

My blood, too.

lt's where my children were born...

..where my father's buried

and it's where l want to be buried, too.

That's worth a lot more to me

than 50 dollars an acre.

lt's worth a lot more to me

than any price.

l ain't selling.

Goodnight, Jonas.

- Daniel?

- Howdy, Pa!

- l just heard you and Ma.

- Be quiet and listen to me!

Take this deed. Take it and don't

let anybody have it, no matter what!

- Pa...

- No matter what! Understand?

Now go! Go on!

- Pa, listen!

- Go, blast you! Go!

- He don't have it.

- The deed. Where is it?

l told you. l ain't selling.

Don't play games with me!

You had it at the meeting.

The kid!

He must have give it to the kid.

Find the brat. lf he gives you

any trouble, kill him.

Pa!

l've done all l can do.

lt's in the Lord's hands now.

Jonas is tough.

He'll pull through.

l'll tell you one thing.

l'm selling. Pulling out.

No piece of ground is worth dying over.

Where am l?

Stick 'em up!

Hands above your head. Now!

Zeb, search him.

Search him!

- Get out of this boat, boy!

- Hands above your head!

- What have we got here?

- That's mine! Give it back!

- That's his. He wants it back!

- Hands up!

l hear some jingle!

We got 16 cents. Hot spit.

Any gold in his teeth?

Open that mouth, boy.

Open it.

l count one... Wider!

Two... Four fillings.

Somebody ain't been brushing!

Grub...

Let me kill this one.

You killed the last two in a row.

That's 'cause l'm better at it than you.

What's fair is fair! How am l gonna

get good at it if l don't practise?

All right. Go ahead.

No!

Should l shoot him

right between the eyes?

So long, kid. Sorry to stunt

your growth!

Now, don't you move!

My trigger finger!

Somebody done shot off

my trigger finger!

- Who are you?

- l'm a ring-tailed roarer.

l draw faster, shoot straighter

and drink longer than any man alive.

- l ride cyclones...

- Got a name, don't you?

l'm getting to that.

l am the rip-snortingest cowboy

that ever rode north, south,

east or west of the Rio Grande.

l'm Pecos Bill.

- And l'm Santa Claus!

- Friendly cuss, huh, Widowmaker?

My name's Daniel Hackett.

Well, Dannel Hackett,

l believe them varmints

got something that belongs to you.

Come on, mister. Let us go.

We was only fooling!

We wasn't gonna hurt the boy.

Just one bullet.

That's all it would have been.

l ought to plug you two right now,

but l never kill a man on Sunday.

But today's Wednesday.

Wednesday?

Please don't kill poor harmless

old bandits like us!

So where you headed, Dannel Hackett?

- Where am l?

- Texas.

- Texas?

- Where did you think you was?

l don't know. All l remember is

falling asleep in Paradise Valley.

My boat must have gotten loose.

Drifted all the way down

from Paradise Valley?

l can't explain it, but it's the truth.

Where are you going?

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