Emperor of the North

Easy. Easy. Easy. Hold it.

Hold it. Hold it right there.

Spout it okay?

Okay.

How far down? - Just about half.

Three quarters is enough. - Okay. Three quarters.

Almost there? - It's just about three quarters.

Let's get her goin'. - Okay.

Ready to go, Shack.

Goddamn bo.

All right. Bring 'er back. Come on.

Back, you old bastard. Come on. Come on.

Hold it.

Now.

Jump him.

Hey, kids, get that damn chicken. - Geez.

Get the chicken. Get it. Grab him.

I'll get it.

Damn.

Get out.

Huh.

Son of a bitch.

Hey, look. It's the 19. - Hi, engineer. Hi.

Who are you callin' a fool?

You call me a fool, I'll push your face in for ya.

Oh, I get a hold of that Shack, I'm gonna bust his ass bad.

You ain't gonna light up here?

Well, why not? - Well, you'll burn us down.

Don't make no difference, kid.

We're gone, no doubt about it.

Ah, it's nothin' but a old pig car.

Uh, pigs eat corn. This here's hay.

Well, it's nothin' but a old steer car.

Ah, so long, kid.

You croak first, I'll pray over ya.

Ah, don't pull that crap. Let me tell you somethin'.

What do you mean, 'So long'?

Well, they'll be loadin' steers in here in a couple of hours.

Well, what of it?

Steers got horns, kid. You don't have any.

Ah, they wouldn't do that to us.

What do you mean, 'us'? - I'll call a cop.

Ninety days on the rocks ain't horns.

It ain't the rocks, kid- not in this part of the country.

And it's not 90 days either. You're paroled to the bottom of a pit

while the sheriff pockets the two dollars that he's paid every day for your keep.

And that's no ghost story. This country's in the midst of an economic depression.

Two dollars a day is a lot of money.

Even the law is sweatin' hard times.

Country's gone to hell.

Ah, they couldn't get away with it.

Not with old Cigaret, they couldn't.

Old Cigaret?

You remember Hee-haw Mike, all right. - Oh, the old-time yegg.

Well, uh, I ain't tryin' to scare ya

but you ain't seen Mike around, I guess.

I heard he got his neck broke down in Texas.

Ya heard right.

You the guy that chilled Mike?

Now ya know me.

How was Texas?

Still there. So's he.

Hee-haw Mike got it in Frisco. Shot full of holes by nobody knows.

Well, how we gonna get outta here?

Well, don't worry, kid. I won't leave you to face it alone.

We'll die game, you understand?

Come on. Come on. Hey, hey. Damn.

Hey, hey, hey, hey.

You Rhode Island Red son of a bitch.

Them horns won't take us alive, kid.

You loony. Geez, you'll get us-

Hey, Captain.

Goddamn.

Oh, he's gonna be a mean son of a bitch now.

What was he before?

Get outta here, you.

Jesus Christ.

Close it. And lock it.

Goddamn bo son of a bitch.

Mr. Logan, number 19's on fire. - Holy mackerel.

Don't you understand? The 19 is on fire.

The 19's on fire.

Son of a bitch. You ain't cuttin' out on me.

Come on. Get some water up there. Bring some water.

Come on.

- On your feet, bo. - Oh, hey. Aw, come on, you guys.

Oh, wait a minute. Hey, wait. Wait. - Move.

Oh, wait a minute. Aw, come on, you guys. - That oughta keep you.

Yardlet. Yardlet. Get them fire extinguishers.

Wait. Wait.

Get some water buckets. Water buckets.

Wait. Wait. Sand pails. Sand pails.

I got a train on fire.

George, get that fire extinguisher. Come on.

Get it next to that oil tank, and the whole yard'll go up. Holy smokes.

What the hell are ya playin' around for?

Damn. All right. Brake it.

Slow her down. Get ready to kick it.

Get some hand pumps.

Hand pumps.

Come on. Come on. Brake it.

Goddamn y- - Okay. Stop her.

Come on, Bill. Get out. Everybody.

- Okay. Kick it. - Get all the buckets you can.

Hurry. - Kick it.

Okay. Hold it.

Come on. That's straw in that car. Get that fire out.

Who forgot to grease those journal boxes?

Next time I pick up an empty, I'm not gonna have it burned

'cause some damned yardlet forgot to grease the journal box.

Now you clean all those housings. Oil the bearings, wedges, everything.

You don't ever hand me another fire.

Th-That's not what happened. - I don't care.

You never let it happen again. Never. Say it.

It'll never happen again.

Now you get that engine down to the tower

and you fill it with water, you understand?

Bastard. I'll fix him, so help me, God.

Get your goddamn hands off me. - Wait a minute. Cool off.

We're tryin' to tell you somethin'.

What to you want for Christmas, Leach? I'll tell you what:

The one thing that's never been done to the Shack-Think, Leach.

A tramp haulin' that son of a bitch off his high almighty-

A miserable bastard hobo ridin' his train.

Ah, it'll never happen.

Maybe it has.

Look. Any you fellas Baptists? Well, my old man's a Baptist.

I'm tryin' to get home to see him.

He's dyin'.

You're goin' for a year on the rocks. - Up yours.

You gonna let that loudmouth talk like that to you?

Yeah. He's right. Look here, you little squirt. - Cut it.

How'd you make that train? - Easy. It's like any other.

Nobody makes that one. - It's a local. It's nothin'.

Nineteen ain't just a local. - Haven't you heard of the Shack?

The 19 belongs to him. - So?

So you ain't gonna live through the night.

It was easy. Train come off a curve. I found a blind.

Well, I just laid down there. I see the train man, his coattails flyin'.

Of course, I was curious, so I jump on to give the big man a stare in the face.

And you can figure, we didn't gab much.

He's wavin' his hammer and swearin' like a big-ass Baptist

so I just ditched him, settled down in the empty.

Had him beat all to hell too. Well, this sorry lookin' bo

come draggin' his ass through the transom,

got us both locked in.

So I had to burn my way out. He's cinders now. That's for sure.

Leach, like I told ya.

You're gonna get a Christmas present in October.

Damn.

Well, we're bettin' on a sure thing. Let's put it to 'im.

What time does Shack's train pull out?

7:00 in the morning.

I wouldn't miss this. I've been waitin' for years.

You ain't alone. Hey, don't forget Cracker.

He oughta be good for an easy 20.

- You're tellin' me. - Yes, sir.

It's like money in the bank.

I don't know. Somethin' ain't right.

Stop worryin'.

You said it yourself. We're bettin' on a sure thing.

Yeah-like bettin' on yesterday's horse race.

You keep your mouth shut

till we've had our fun and we collected our money.

And you get your ass down to that junction. You tell your bo friends

that we got a new king of the road.

My friends, the most effective means of preventing such evils

in this work relief program

Will be the eternal vigilance of the American people themselves.

I call upon my fellow citizens everywhere

to cooperate with me in making this the most efficient

and the cleanest example of public enterprise

the world has ever seen.

Smile? - It is time to provide a smashing answer

for those cynical men who say that a democracy

cannot be honest, cannot be efficient.

If you will help, this can be done.

I therefore hope that you will watch the work in every corner of the nation.

Feel free to criticize.

Tell me of instances where work can be done better

Or where improper practices prevail.

Neither you nor I want criticism

conceived in a purely fault-finding or partisan spirit.

But I am jealous of the right of every citizen

to call to the attention of his or her government

Examples of how the public money can be more effectively spent

for the benefit of the American people.

Never since m...

Smile.

A-no1.

I heard ya comin'. Y... You beat the Shack.

Rode in on 19, eh? - Well, that's not exactly it.

Mmm. Say, it figured. You had to try him sometime.

Twenty miles in an empty stockcar ain't exactly tryin' him.

That's just coppin' a feel. - Ah, you're still A-no1.

Ah. - Wha...