The Unforgiven

Shoo, now! Shoo!

Ain't you got no better manners than to eat at the top of a house?

You, Guipago!

You!

Rachel!

What day is today?

Tuesday, I think, Mama. I'm not sure.

Butter tastes kind of wild to me. Must be the green in springtime grass.

- Guipago! - Rachel!

- Guipago! - Rachel, the bread!

Rachel, the bread! Tuesday's bread day! You gotta make the bread!

You ain't friends with me yet, are you? Well, neither am I.

Guipago... grey-haired old grass-eater.

You're only half-horse, you know that?

The other half is mean old Kiowa Indian. Yeah.

Rachel, honey, you'll break your neck! Both of you!

Whoa.

You ain't gonna let no skein of geese scare you?

They're only human.

Just fly a little higher than us folk, that's all.

Giddup, Guipago.

Howdy, mister.

We got food down to the soddy, if you care to partake.

- What's your name, girl? - Rachel.

- Rachel what? - Why, Rachel Zachary.

You're no Zachary.

Not a Zachary born,

but Ma says it's no different than if I were flesh and blood.

How do you know who I am? I never seen you before.

I am the sword of God.

The fire and the vengeance,

whereby the wrong shall be righted and the truth be told.

Well, I declare!

Just what did he look like, Rachel?

Like something blowed in by the wind.

He had a sabre.

- Who is he, Mama? - I don't know.

Some crazy old hunter, I suppose.

But he knows us. Or about us - me being a foundling and all.

Nothing so wonderful about that.

Everybody in Texas knew your ma and pa.

Or heard about them, anyway.

- But the way that he talked... - Prairie fever.

- What's that? - The worst thing you can get.

Loneliness. I was touched by it myself once or twice.

If it wasn't I had a daughter to talk to...

Go in the root cellar and get me some carrots and potatoes for the stew.

You!

How do, Miz Zachary?

I'd have come sooner, but I had a long way to ride. Seven years.

You can't kill me. The god of vengeance will blind your eye.

Death for death and blood for blood.

Mama?

Mama, who you talking to?

Git! How many times must I tell you to get off my house?

Sorry-looking carrots.

Mama, what's the matter? You got tears in your eyes.

No, I ain't.

I don't feel much like cooking with no men in the house.

And your brother Ben away so long.

I wish Ben were here right now. Right now!

It's a long ride to Wichita. And even longer back.

I can't wait, Mama. I just can't.

Look at your bread.

It's rising just beautiful, Mama.

Take it out before it gets too beautiful to eat.

- Shall I take some out to the boys? - No.

If those big lumps Cash and Andy want fresh bread, let 'em ride home for it.

- 25, 26, 27. Which counts up to 81 so far! - All we need is 150.

If I don't have them when Ben arrives, I'll strap a saddle to my back.

Ben promised to take me on the drive to Wichita and show me how to live.

You got a way to go. You ain't even shaved yet.

Ben says they have girls there which only have first names.

Ben says...

That'll be brother Ben.

- I see you made it. - Looks that way.

- How's Ma and Rachel? - Fine.

- How you doing? - Pretty good, brother.

I don't know about pretty, but you didn't go to Wichita to be good.

Whoo! What's her name, Ben?

- Tell the truth, I don't recall. - Don't recall?

By gee, if that ain't the way to live!

- Fine-looking bunch of riders. - I hand-picked 'em.

- Off the barroom floor. - They're sober now.

Boys, you can set down here.

No better shade within six miles.

The water is drinkable if you don't put nothin' in it.

Cash!

Cash!

The one with no whiskers, is he Injun or ain't he?

When I hire a man, I don't generally start out by insulting him.

What does he call himself?

- Johnny Portugal. - They change their names.

All I know, he's the best horse-tamer in Texas.

If the wind's right, I can smell Injun a mile off.

I hate to disappoint you, Cash. That smell's comin' off of me.

I ain't changed my duds since Wichita.

- What did you pay for the fancy soap? - One silver dollar.

Ain't nothing in Wichita less than one silver dollar.

Don't matter, though. Beef at the railhead's 30 cents.

30 cents! We must have a million pounds out there with our brand on it.

For the first time we're gonna be rich!

- Ben. - Rachel.

Ben!

Ben! Oh, Ben!

I'm so happy to see you! Oh, Ben!

Don't you cheat, you two.

Cash.

You can look now.

Well, what do you think?

I'm dreaming, ain't I? Ain't I, Ben?

- You must have paid a fortune. - Not a red cent. Nothing at all.

I made a bet with a man I could lift it off the floor by myself.

Cash. Andy.

Easy, now.

Must be getting weak. Did that in Wichita with one finger.

Look here, Rachel. See how it opens.

You're playing the wrong end, daughter.

What makes you so happy, Mama?

Because you ain't sick or dead or scalped or something worse.

Nothing could kill me except lightning - and then it'd have to hit twice.

I believe that.

What tune is that, Mama?

Mozart. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

- Sounds like angels. - What is it, Ma?

A pi-anna. Lord of mercy, a pi-anna!

Hallelujah, amen!

Ben Zachary must be counting on a golden year to buy a pi-anna.

- Giddy-up! - Pa! I wanna change my dress!

- What's the matter with that one? - Don't you want her to get married?

Take more than a fancy dress to catch a Zachary. Go ahead.

Papa! Papa!

Papa!

Give me that gun.

Papa!

- What's the matter, child? - You snakebit?

- An old man. - What old man?

He had only one eye and he wore a sabre. A long sabre.

Get back in the wagon. Put your hat on.

I seen him and he sure seen me, cos he got that one eye full, Mama!

~ Down in the valley you hear the wind blow

~ Roses like sunshine, violets like dew

~ Angels in heaven know I love you

God love you, Ben, for staying partners with a man like me.

It's been a burden doing business with an honest, decent man.

- And crippled. - Indian knife done that, Mattilda.

Indian squaw, Rachel, honey.

While he was tied captive by them Kiowa devils!

We licked 'em good last time. Us and our picayune neighbours.

- Four years ago Christmas, down there. - You flushed 'em and I shot 'em.

- Ain't showed a feather in four years! - Four good years for buzzards!

Groundhog, blue potatoes and all the alkali salt you can eat!

Froze to the saddle! A sunburn right through your clothes!

That twister two years ago, like a big black dog chasing his tail!

And the turnaround down in the spring, when the crick dried up and they all died!

Great God in the morning!

But now, this year, Mother, fat!

By the grace of God!

Fat as ever I've seen 'em in all my days!

Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

We did it together, Ben. Us Rawlins and you Zacharys.

What sayeth the Lord? The Lord sayeth "Be fruitful and multiply. "

Multiply! We old folks done all the multiplying we can!

You say. Therefore, Ben, Mattilda,

I'd like to see our two families joined together.

- Keep talking, Papa. - I don't mean you.

Not yet, anyway. Pull your dress down.

Who then, partner?

- He means me. - You?

Charlie?

Charlie, come here.

Speak up, Charlie. Tell my brother what you want.

Me?

- Nothing, sir. - You're a liar, Charlie.

Yes, ma'am. I supposin' I am.

Tell him, Charlie, or I'll tell him.

Ben Zachary, sir, I want to come courting.

- Courting who? - Rachel.

My baby sister?

She's a pretty big baby. And big enough, soon enough!

- Hush! You're getting drunk. - Drunk! Drunk don't tell lies.

Well, Ben, what say you?

- I'll think on it. - Huh! You'll think on it!

And that's all he'll ever do too, Papa.

The same goes with Cash Zachary.

I'm 20 years old and I've been waiting 20 years to get married!

Maybe you ain't asked the right Zachary.

- Do you love me, Andy? - I do, except you're tearing my coat.

- Do you want to marry me, Andy? - I'd like that just fine.

Except I promised myself I'd go to Wichita first.

What in the world for?

Well, I ain't never in my life had...

a glass of beer.

Oh. How long will that take, Andy?

- A month or two. - I can't wait. I just can't.

I found a grey hair in my head this morning.

Cash, you know you love Georgia.

- Do I? - He don't.

- Don't I? - I don't want him. I hate him.

Come here, Georgia.