The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp

Of all the problems which faced the frontier Marshal,

the matter of cattle stealing, or rustling,

was the most dangerous.

It was not a crime confined to hoodlums

or fly-by-night cattle spreads.

Many of the biggest cattlemen of the day were involved.

To Marshal Wyatt Earp, a rustler was a rustler,

big or small. And this belief plunged him

into the notorious Rep Cantwell case.

Dodge City erupted in bitter words

and deadly gunfights.

All the drinks are on me, boys.

2,000 head and a rough trail,

but they're all fat and sassy.

- Good job. - Yeah, drink it right up.

- Mr. Cantwell. - Oh, howdy, Marshal.

Take a chair and I'll buy you the best milk in the house.

Mr. Cantwell, I'd like to see you alone

in the back room, if I may.

Oh, some of my boys in trouble?

Well, here, I'll bail them out.

No, sir.

It can't wait?

No?

Well, excuse me, gentlemen.

He's sure a good spender though, I'll tell you.

Come on, drink it up.

Well, what have they done?

Mr. Cantwell, I have a warrant for your arrest.

What?

Five members of the Cattlemen's Association

have accused you of rustling.

You calling me a rustler?!

Well, sir, I caught two of your boys just outside of town - with warm irons.

Why, you!

Look, I wanted to do this quietly.

Who named against me? Just name 'em.

Your lawyer can read the complaint.

Now I want you to walk over to Judge Tobin's office and post your bond.

Me accused of rustling...

There's gonna be some fighting about this.

I'll find out who signed against me.

The boss is in trouble, ma'am.

Mr. Cantwell in trouble?

There's talk that Earp and Shotgun Gibbs

jumped one of his wagons outside of Dodge.

And there's also talk he's been accused of rustling.

Smiley, that's absurd.

You reckon Mel Doniher signed a complaint or something?

Mr. Doniher?

Oh, he wouldn't do a thing like that.

Just because he and Mr. Cantwell have been...

Is Mr. Doniher in town?

Here at the Dodge House, ma'am.

- I'll look into it. - Would you do it quick, ma'am?

Some of us Bar Q boys are getting a mite edgy.

Here's bail for myself and my men.

Now can I see the names on that complaint?

Please, Judge, not until he's formally arraigned.

Wyatt really means we want you to cool off, Rep.

Cool off?

I'll get the names.

I warned you there'd be shooting about this.

There will be shooting. Why can't you ease up on this thing?

Five men signed the complaint, Jim!

Ole Rep stole a few mavericks in his day,

like a lot of other cattlemen I know.

The law says it's a felony, Mr. Mayor.

Sure, but the men accusing him, they've rustled stock same as him.

The Cattlemen's Association had the law passed.

If they don't want their members treated the same as hoodlums,

then they should have the law repealed.

You want shooting in the streets over this?

I agree with Wyatt.

Those ranchers'll lynch a little rustler.

When the truth hits them, they threaten gunplay.

I think the question of who's a cattle thief should be settled in open court!

I can't understand why you did it.

You and Rep have been my dearest friends since Dave was killed.

Why, Mel?

Because you're gonna marry Rep.

- He hasn't asked me. - He will.

Not now, not with this rustling business to contend with.

You've put your brand on stray cattle

and so have those men who signed the complaint with you.

- Well, it's done now. - You can go to Judge Tobin

and withdraw the complaint.

Big-hearted Mel.

You were jealous and I'm flattered, Mel.

But Rep and his boys'll go to shooting.

All right. Let 'em.

Emily, he's no good.

I stopped those sharp tricks years ago

and Rep's kept right on.

I ain't much better.

Mel... Mel, you've got Rep all wrong.

His foremen and his cowhands do the stealing.

He's too easy with them.

He sure is.

He sent me some steers

after the drought wiped me out last summer

and half of them had doctored brands.

Do you think Rep would do a thing like that?

He just told his foreman to lend me so many head

and the boys palmed off the rustled steers.

All right.

I'll talk to the Judge.

Thanks, Mel.

You and the Judge are just heading for needless trouble there.

How's that, Mr. Gibbs?

Well, there's maybe 50,000 head of cattle there

driving towards the railroad.

I ain't never seen a cow outfit yet

that didn't steal a lost dogie or

put its own brand on a Maverick.

Well, you miss the point.

Yeah, I reckon I do.

Judge Tobin and I think the law against rustling is too severe.

By enforcing it against the big fellas,

maybe we can show them all up as hypocrites.

Yeah...and show me up, too.

You're a rustler?

Well, you see,

I found Roscoe on the prairie when he was just a Colt.

He'd been brush branded,

but I knowed the hair'd grow out and cover it up.

Why, Mr. Gibbs.

Well, now, I've got my side of it, too.

If I hadn't have found Roscoe,

he'd have died in the next blizzard.

But strictly speaking,

I'm a rustler.

Mr. Gibbs, your secret is safe with me.

Now it ain't funny, Wyatt.

Rustling's a fighting word.

Mayor Kelly's plumb right.

You oughta drop that case agin Cantwell.

Now don't start anything

and don't take any name-calling either.

And leave Mel Doniher to me.

I have an idea his name is on that complaint.

Kevin!

Get down there.

Nick, run and get McCarty.

How'd this happen?

Tony joshed Buck about being a rustler.

Mel, Tony Levin and the Bar Q hand just shot it out.

Both hit.

Put on your gun belt, Mel. Them Bar Q'ers are after us.

I was gonna drop charges.

Too late now. Shooting's commenced.

Take them on over to the jail. I'm gonna see Judge Tobin.

Come along!

You, um, say you disarmed most of 'em?

Rep Cantwell and Mel Doniher are still out gunnin' for each other.

Doniher? He's one of the men that signed the complaint, isn't he?

Yes, sir. And he got the four others to sign it, too.

They'll be here tonight.

Wyatt, maybe we bit off more than we can chew.

Well, you can't back down now, Judge.

I'll try and find Cantwell and Doniher.

If we put 'em in jail for gun totin'

their men may quit fighting, I hope.

You hope.

Well, I told you, didn't I?

If you'd have listened to me, I'd have got to the heart of the shindy.

The heart?

The widow Morrison.

What's she got to do with it?

Rep and Mel have both been courting her.

Rep won out so Mel cooked up

this stupid rustling complaint.

She's over at the Dodge Hotel.

You'd better go over there and talk to her quick.

She might be able to stop this quarrel.

But the first thing we've gotta do

is dismiss this case against Rep.

I don't know.

You do that and you'll have your cowhands

thinking they can scare the court.

Oh, come off your high horse, Wyatt!

This is just plain stubbornness and you know it.

Mr. Kelly, you want my star again?

Now now, gentlemen.

Fine time to talk about turning in your star.

Doniher is waiting for his friends

and they'll take Cantwell and the whole town apart.

Well, I'm tucking in my shirttail.

You tuck in yours, Mr. Mayor.

Wyatt thinks I'm just a politician,

but I'm trying to use a little common sense.

I know, Jim, I know.

I've gotta give him a chance to restore law and order.

How long you figure on giving him, Judge?

Not long. Until tomorrow.

- Too long, believe me. - I said until tomorrow.

And Mel was going to call it off

until some of his men got hurt.

He promised me he would.

Mel Doniher started the trouble.