Hell on the Border

For a second there,

I thought I finally done enough to see Glory.

But my senses is telling me you ain't no angels.

Well, you add a few wrinkles, take away a little hair,

why, it looks like we got Charlie Storm.

Cow rustler, spirit pusher.

Mr. Lawman, I'm not exactly well here right now.

Give me a little assistance getting out of this mire

and I'll turn myself in nice and peaceful like.

Well, why don't you just get down and walk out?

I'll arrange someone to get your mare.

Damn, if I could walk out of here on my own strength,

you'd be having this conversation with only my horse here,

not me.

What do you surmise, Bass?

One of us will have to bring him out of that pit.

Well, you heard the man.

If he could walk in that,

he'd be somewhere dancing with the savages.

Besides, I ain't dressed for this occasion.

See here,

what I was trying to say is...

I'd walk through,

carry him across my shoulders back to you for the iron.

So, you're gonna walk seven paces out there,

in mud that a horse can't walk in?

Yes, sir.

Well, if you say it, I wanna see it.

Marshal, you gonna let that nigger kill himself and me in the process?

You need to watch your mouth, old man.

And Mr. Reeves here, he may be a Negro,

but he's my posseman.

And he may be the one just saves your neck.

- I ain't going. - Oh, you going.

- Oh, I ain't going. - If'n he makes it out there to you,

you very well gonna get on his shoulders

and make your way back over here.

No, I won't. I'm good right here.

Above ground and breathing.

That little nigger, he's gonna sink,

and he gonna sink with me in it.

Quite frankly, I don't really care if you survive or not.

Right here it says "dead or alive."

And, Mr. Reeves,

why don't you try and not sink

before you get within arm's shot of this bank here.

I don't suspect mud is going to remove from my linens very well.

Marshal,

you better fix my obit right.

"The outlaw Charlie Storm,

the most wanted outlaw in the Indian Territory,

took a fight on with eight U.S. Marshals and sixteen possemen."

You sure you can get me out of this thing?

Well, I'll be.

Now, Charlie Storm. Charlie Storm.

Yep.

By the power vested in me...

from the federal judge Isaac Parker,

I place you under arrest.

Let's go, Bass.

What is it now?

Think I'ma help that mare.

Help it do what?

Help it out.

You know we can't wait on you.

Let's go, Charlie.

The outlaws here are unruly.

The only solution to that unruliness is the rule of law.

The law that you were brought here to dispense.

Judge Isaac C. Parker...

is there a man out of the ones that you sentenced

that didn't make a victim out of an innocent man or woman?

No, you can bring me the final pardon request

for the man that killed his friend.

Shouldn't I have a counselor with me?

I do not care to speak with you about your legal status.

The purpose of my inquiry today

is to endeavor to speak with you about softening your heart

in preparation for your inevitable meeting with God.

You shot your best friend in the back.

And it will not be long before you leave this world

and enter into eternity.

Now, I cannot have mercy on you,

but there is one who can pardon your offenses.

There is a savior whose blood is sufficient enough

to wash this stain from your soul.

Now, I beg of you to seek the salvation of His holy cross.

Because I cannot, and I shall not pardon your crimes.

May God have mercy on you.

I didn't realize at the fort there would be so much unruly activity.

Well, you know today is the day that Judge Parker is gonna send

six souls to meet their maker.

Six? At one time?

Judge Parker relishes on efficiency.

What kind of man hangs six men in the name of efficiency?

Sounds more like an outlaw than the law.

The law he is.

He passed the bar exam when he was 21.

He was a city attorney at 23.

He left the Democrats 'cause he opposed slavery.

Yeah.

All that speak he speaks.

Only thing I can remember is he hung six souls.

- Morning, Judge. - Morning.

It's Charlie Storm here. He's ready for his arraignment.

Marshal, your prisoner is covered in mud,

yet you remain pristine.

Well, you know a good marshal know how to bring his man in

without sacrificing his stature.

- You understand. - Very well.

Bring him to the jailer's. I'll arraign him tomorrow.

Before noon, around 11:00.

Y'all leave me the fuck alone.

You know the colored man Bass Reeves?

Eh, no, I can't say I do.

He broke away from his master during the war.

Learned the land, their native tongue before coming here,

and, well, Mr. Reeves has been a posseman for a few years now.

I reckon it's time for a promotion.

You want me to promote a Negro to deputy marshal?

Yes, I do.

Why do you incessantly push me

to do things that are sure to get me fired?

I'm doing no such a thing.

I'm your assistant, and I'm assisting you.

You'd do well just to listen.

You know as well as I do,

this country, as progressive as it pretends to be,

is not ready for a colored marshal.

These people, they can only handle so much change.

Bass and my Archie homesteaded land together.

He'd have told ya,

you won't find a man more capable with a pistol.

I'll tell ya you won't find a man more loyal to the law.

That's the kind of deputy you need.

Evening, Bass.

Evening, Jessie.

You know Judge Parker?

Yes, ma'am.

Evening, sir.

Evening.

I'll be seeing you.

You're one of our possemen, are you not?

Yes, sir.

How did you and that horse find the occasion

to be so stained by mud?

You'd have to ask Marshal Franks, sir.

As a federal judge,

I'm inquiring of you now, sir.

And, frankly, I expect nothing less

than a straight answer here.

With all respect due you,

Marshal Franks is the man I ride for.

I will give you $20 federal salary

if you speak plainly to me, sir.

Judge, there is not a dollar amount

that will cause me to betray my employer.

Oh, come on. I employ him.

He employs you.

So, technically, I employ you.

What does he pay you anyway?

What, $3 a week?

I'm offering you 20 to tell me about a horse.

I guess I just don't see it that way, sir.

Miss Jessie.

You care to hear something humorous?

I was with Franks today,

and he was spit-shine clean.

But his prisoner was covered about like you and that horse.

When I mentioned that fact to him,

he failed to even acknowledge you.

Or your name.

Good Lord, in Jesus's name,

let me know that I'm doing the right thing out here.

Wait.

I firmly believe that it's been appointed to men to live and die but once.

Yet before me stands the soul

that I know has departed from this place.

You killed my brother.

No, wait. I did no such thing.

Now, your brother, he did what he did.

He got justice.

Don't do this.

Oh, please, God...

Came back to apologize for being rude.

Are you Creek?

I'm not a boy.

I'm Rufus Buck.

Rufus Buck.

Lord above.

Jessie was right about you.

She didn't exaggerate at all.

I've never seen a man utilize his armaments

with such speed and efficiency.

I mean, you had that boy dead to rights and you just let him go.

Thank you.

What's wrong, sir?

Sir, I'm not a lawman.

And some of those folks was white.

You were witness.