♪ Money for Nothing by Dire Straits ♪ ♪ MTV ♪
I remember the first time I saw it
Tried to find words to describe it...
[wind rustling] but I couldn't
Nothing had prepared me
no books, no teachers, not even my parents
I heard a thousand stories but none could describe this place
It must be witnessed to be understood
and yet, I've seen it, and understand it even less
than before I first cast eyes on this place
[music]
Some call it the American desert,
others, the Great Plains
but those phrases were invented by professors at universities
surrounded by the illusion of order
and the fantasy of right and wrong
To know it, you must walk it...
bleed into its dirt...
drown in its rivers...
then its name becomes clear
[fire burning]
It is hell,
and there are demons everywhere
[panting]
[music]
[rumbling]
[war cries]
[screams]
[crying]
[woman screams]
[war cries]
[panting]
Lakota Sioux: I said no
Will you let me go?
I will sell you
or I will kill you!
You speak English
How can you do this?!
You speak English and no, your people did this
[gunshot] [grunts]
[gasps]
But if this is hell, and I'm in it...
[gunshots] ..then I must be a demon too
and I'm already dead
[screams]
[music]
[wind blowing]
[sobbing]
[deep breaths]
[music]
[sobbing]
[sniffs]
[music]
[sniffs]
[sobbing]
[music]
THOMAS: Captain
BRENNAN: Yeah
You ready?
[music]
THOMAS: You coming?
BRENNAN: I'm thinking about it
Think on it quick
If I'm digging a hole,
I'd rather do it before the sun's high
I'm coming
[music]
[carriage rolling]
[gunfire]
[music]
Come on!
[music]
Woah!
Ya!
Pretty smart They won't fall for it again
Pretty soon they'll just shoot the horses
Horses is probably what they're after
Farmers ain't got nuthin' else worth taking
They'll shoot the horses anyway
then the farmer
Ya!
What's he doing? I don't know
I don't give a shit
[gunshot]
[booming gunshot]
Good shot
Yep
[clicks tongue]
[horse nickers]
DUTTON: So y'all just sat up there and watched?
BRENNAN: You looked like you had it figured
Well, thanks for the fucking help
Don't take the horse
Well, I figure I earned it
Thieves run in pretty big packs around here
If one of his pack sees it...
..you'd just be advertising for the next gunfight
[clicks tongue]
[music]
[sigh]
[deep breaths]
[music]
[music continues]
'MAN: come one, come all! I've got indian scalps today for sale'
MAN: The genuine article!
Comanche... Kiowa... Kickapoo... Scalps! For sale today!
MAN #2: Linson's magic elixir... ..cures consumption...
..$10
[music]
[shouting]
Woah...
[indistinct chatter]
'MAN: try and figure it out'
DUTTON: Can you take a wagon and a team?
LIVERYMAN: How many in your team?
Four. And I had two shipped here by train...
..a yellow and a buckskin
(Yellow and buckskin)
LIVERYMAN: You DUTTON Dutton? DUTTON: Yep
We got them in back
Most keep their wagons out back
See what you got here
Excuse us LIVERYMAN: 'scuse us, gentlemen
[laughs]
Hey, all this shit'll be stolen by morning
You ain't got no place you can keep it?
I'll keep it in the hay barn for ten dollars...
..of course, can't make no promises...
..it won't get robbed there either
Well, it's the promise I'm paying for
For twenty, I'll have someone sit with it
And how much for the horses?
Two apiece All right
DUTTON: here a decent hotel?
Just yourself?
Got my family. Six total
Yeah(?)
You don't want your family here
You should go to Dallas!
Down here's where they're meeting me
Best bet's the Calhoun All right
You're 77, 78, 79... 146 ..81 and 82 for the two already here
for the wagon
Liveryman: If you ain't settled up in thirty days,
everything goes to auction
[coins hit table]
DUTTON: What's the rule on firearms in this town?
This place'll pick you apart if you ain't got one
But if you pull your pistol in this town, mister...
you'd better know how to use it
[cheering]
'WOMAN: Hey, handsome!'
'WOMAN #2: is it my lucky day?'
WOMAN: Come on in for a shower and bath...
..I might let you bathe me
WOMAN #2: Forget about the bath, baby...
..you can come climb mama like a tree
PASSERBY: Watch where the hell you're going
DUTTON: Give it back
PASSERBY: give what back?
DUTTON: my wallet PASSERBY: I didn't take your fucking...
[music]
BOY: Pickpocket!
[shouting, clamouring]
MAN IN CROWD: Put that back! DUTTON: He took my goddamn wallet.
[clamouring]
[gunshots]
THOMAS: Farmer ain't scared to use that shotgun
BRENNAN: Farmer's gonna pick a fight he can't win before long
[indistinct chatter]
BRENNAN: Thomas, stand by that door
Don't let any of that bullshit spill in here
BRENNAN: That should answer any questions...
about how dangerous this journey will be
It will be that and worse, all the way to Oregon
[people speaking in german]
Does anybody speak English?
HAND RAISES MAN: I...
..I speak English...Josef
Does this group have a leader? [JOSEF POINTS]
[man stands; speaking in German]
but he doesn't speak english
[conversing in German]
No. No English
You have wagons?
And ox to pull them
'BRENNAN: Ox...'
Ox won't make the trip
Heat and no water will kill them
Sell the ox Get horses
We don't know horses
Where's your gear?
Gear?
Your supplies...
..your suitcases... ..what you take with you
In the room. In--in the back
BRENNAN: Show me
[speaking German]
What is all this shit?
Everything we brought from home
Well, you should have left it there
It won't make the trip
It must
This is everything we have
How am I supposed to load this on a wagon
and float it across the fucking river...
..and over mountains?
Captain, he ain't even got a pistol
No
Against your religion(?)
Against our laws; we were not allowed
None of you have firearms?
Do we need them?
[laughs]
Do you need them?
We're going to have to hire more men
to protect you...
..to help you hunt for food
Talk it over with your group and see what kind of money
they can come up with so we can hire them
More money...?
The price is two hundred per family
There's a new price
Our church warned us about people like you
You change rules You-you try to rob us
you think we're fools, just because...
You have no horses...
..no guns...you can't ride
You are a fucking fool!
for thinking you can travel two thousand miles
with no skills to survive it
Captain
[music]
[gags]
Take the train to Portland
You won't make this trip
We... we can't afford the train
Then I suggest you buy farms around here
Here is hot...here is dry
We come from mountains...
..mountains we know
[speaking German]
How much do more men cost?
Maybe a hundred apiece
maybe more. Let me check around
Okay. We...we leave in the morning?
We leave when you're ready
and you won't be ready in the morning
JOSEF (to group): All is okay
[music]
PASSENGER: You're staring out that window like there's a prize to be had
ELSA: You ain't half-wrong
Never seen a sunset
MAN: Sun don't set where you're from?
The pine trees block it
Tennessee...
How'd you know?
I know the pines
and I know the accent
Where you headed?
West
All by yourself?
With my family
I don't see much family...
..just see you.
They're, um...
our seats are in the back.
I just wanted to look out the window so i...
Sit here as long as you like
then just a little bit longer...
I question your father's judgment, though
If I had a daughter as pretty as you,
she would never leave my sight.
Don't do that
Don't hide from it
Beauty is meant to be admired.
Let me look...
Yeah.
Look at you.
Ah! Ow! [woman hits him]
All right, ma'am...
Ma'am, I get your point, ma'am
All right, ma'am!
FAITH: Elsa, let's go!
Good day to you, sir
You're going to be the death of me, I swear.
I was just looking out the window.
Mm-hmm. Window sure wears a fancy suit.
Excuse me. Excuse me, sir.
Oh, excuse me.
Excuse me, sir.
Where's John? With your aunt.
You left him with them(?) YOU left me no choice.
Sit.
Someday I'll only ride in the front of the train.
[Claire scoffs] 'That's a child's goal'
FAITH: A woman's goal is to never ride a train again
because she has a home she never wants to leave
I guess we're both a ways from our goal.
CLAIRE: Ought not let her talk to you like that
If she were my daughter...
FAITH: If you think you can make her listen, be my guest
[Claire leans forward] [Elsa gasps]
Traipse off into harm's way
and then back-talk your mother for saving you?
ELSA: I wasn't in harm's... [gasps in pain]
I'm sorry. Ahh!
It didn't worry me. You apologise to her.
I'm sorry, mama. Tell her to stop.
You proved your point.
You'll hit a stranger, but not your own daughter
when it's exactly what she needs
[Elsa sobbing]
Spare the rod, Margaret, and the freedom will ruin her...
..if it hasn't already.
[sniffs]
MARY ABEL: You had it coming.
[music]
[piano playing]
[indistinct chatter]
MAN #1: How's the pay? BRENNAN: Hundred a month.
MAN #2: It'll take four months to get there,
then we're stuck in Oregon for the winter.
We'll burn through the money waiting to get home.
BRENNAN: We'll send you back on the train.
MAN #1: Look, Captain...
'I've pushed cattle all the way to Omaha...'
..come across my fair share of these immigrant wagons.
These sons of bitches are trying to die.
'They can't swim... they can't ride...'
Bandits gon' plague you all the way to Nebraska
and when you get to Indian country...whoo!
Indians are on reservations.
MAN #2: They're on reservations till they ain't
and when they see you coming 'round the bend,
they gon' saddle up and pluck y'all like chickens
Mm-hmm
'MAN #1: it's dangerous enough around here'
I ain't gotta go two thousand miles looking for trouble
All the trouble I'll ever need is right outside that door
Thank you for supper
Mm-hmm.
We could have a look in the Elephant.
if they're in the Elephant when we find 'em...
..I don't want 'em.
BRENNAN: Look who it is.
That farmer's everywhere at once, ain't he?
Mm-hmm.
Mind if we speak?
Whatever you're selling I ain't buying.
Mind if we speak?
For your supper. For the intrusion.
I can pay for my own dinner.
Four horses to your wagon. What are you hauling?
Moving pretty fast.
My guess, it's empty and you're filling her up in town
then headed... (chuckles)
Mister, if we wanted to rob you...
..we'd have done it long before now.
We're leading a wagon train north.
Figured you might be headed the same way.
We could use some capable men with us...
..and you seem to be that.
That's all we're asking.
My family's meeting me here tonight.
We're headed up north tomorrow.
North where? Don't know.
You don't strike me as a man who travels without a plan
I got a plan
[chuckles]
You will make a man work for an answer, won't you?
DUTTON: I ain't got the answer myself.
yYou got all these folks hauling ass
west and north and they ain't never even seen the country...
..and they don't even know if it's worth the journey.
Not me.
I'm gonna keep heading north...
..till I find land that's worth the journey.
THOMAS: How many in your group?
Six
How many men?
We can help each other
I ain't looking for help
I'm worried enough about my own family
to be worrying about somebody else's
You got lucky in that field
You got lucky on the street
Hope you got enough luck left for those coming with you.
[music]
[door squeaks]
[bell ringing]
CONDUCTOR: Next stop, Fort Worth
Next stop, Fort Worth!
FAITH: Elsa!
I'm just looking outside
[music]
[train whistle blows]
The air was different
The air at home is heavy, like a musky soup
Here it is light...
..with a strange scent of pollen and smoke.
Like burning flowers
It smelled wild...untamed
It was beautiful!
[music]
[steam hisses]
CLAIRE: ust wait for everyone to get off.
FAITH: have you seen Elsa?
You lost her again.
[sighs]
If "possible" can describe a feeling, that's how I felt
The whole world felt possible
and I was ready for it
ELSA: Daddy!
Daddy! Daddy!
Daddy!
DUTTON: How did you get up there?
There's a door.
Well then, go back through it
Too many people now I have to wait
[Dutton exhales]
ELSA: Oh, I can't wait
Oh my god!
Be careful!
Whooh!
Come here. [Elsa giggling]
Oh.
[scoffs]
Ah!
DUTTON: If you don't stop growing I'm gonna have to stack bricks
on your head.
ELSA" You need a shave, Daddy. Mama's gonna throw a fit.
She might like it. [laughs]
That girl...
FAITH: How did you get down here?
I jumped
She is your daughter and you can have her
DUTTON: Hey, babe. I missed you
FAITH: You look like a ruffian
I was planning on a shave
You should've planned harder
I'll get one first thing tomorrow
Well... it's okay for now
Well, it looks like you survived the journey
Barely
The man beside me shit hisself in Mississippi
and I had to smell it all the way here
DUTTON: that doesn't sound like a whole lot of fun.
Dutton, your children are feral
Absolutely feral
Hello, Claire Hi
Sorry to hear about Henry
He was...
..a patient man
Nothing to be sorry about
It's the Lord's Will
Can't believe in Heaven then be sad when people go there
Yes, ma'am
[dog barks in distance]
[sniffs]
DUTTON: Mary Abel.
Claire.
Thank you
Elsa?
Elsa
This is a dangerous town I don't want you to wander
I don't wander
Honey, that's all you do...wander
And I don't want you doing it here
You promise me
I promise All right
Baby
[music]
Calhoun. Yes, sir.
[kissing noises]
[clicks tongue]
[shouting] [punching]
WOMAN: Whip his fucking ass!
Eat dirt, you asshole.
Get him!
What did she say?
Nothing, honey.
WOMAN: you call me a whore again, you son of a bitch.
COACH-DRIVER: You staying in Fort Worth long?
DUTTON: Not if I can help it.
You know... there's some real nice parts...
..you just ain't in one of 'em.
[clicks tongue] Yeah, I can see that.
Hotel Calhoun
Woah, whoa, whoa
Here we are
[music]
[dog barking in distance]
Claire, this is you
Mary Abel, let's go
[door closes, locks]
Losing her husband didn't soften her much
Hmph...you could soak that woman in buttermilk
for a month and not even soften her a bit
All right [door unlocks]
John, this is you and your sister
Where are you? Right next door, son.
Look after your brother. I will.
Yes, ma'am.
I said I will.
I know what you said.
What you didn't say is "yes, ma'am."
Women don't say that to each other
Oh, so you're a woman now?
Aren't ?
Oh...[laughs]..that child!
She ain't wrong.
Oh, so you're ready for her to start courting.
[laughs] Not a chance. Mm-hmm, that's what I thought.
[music]
[sighs]
How much did you spend on this room?
It's the last room we'll see for a while
You deserve it
A bath...imagine that
I wonder if there's hot water in the lobby
There's hot water
I read about a hotel in New York...
..where they pipe hot water straight into the room
You turn a faucet on and it comes right out.
[laughs] Can you imagine that?
For now, you're gonna have to imagine me
hauling buckets of water up those stairs
Mmm
Well... I can do that
All right
I'll be right back
[clicks tongue]
[door closes] [sighs]
[piano playing]
MELODI: Absinthe?
BRENNAN: Soda water.
Hmm. I don't know this water.
You probably use it to remove stains
Why do you drink it?
Because I don't drink alcohol
Why not?
Just don't
You don't gamble either
No [chuckles]
Do you dance?
Not anymore
Well, maybe you should go home and sleep
Now let me guess... you don't sleep either
Not much
So you sit here and drink your drink that isn't a drink
and you watch the people do all the other things you don't do
That's a fair observation
Why?
It's not money
Poor men stare across this room...
..like little puppies hungry for scraps
but you... you have money
I have enough
You don't want to be alone with your memories
That's why you don't sleep
It's why you sit here until you are too tired for memories
You're too smart to be working here
I make more money than bankers
[chuckles]
MELODI: I'm right where I'm supposed to be
What was her name?
Helen.
[music]
You've known no one since?
You can call me her name.
You can close your eyes
and you can call me her name
and you can be with her again
I can give that to you...
BRENNAN: Get the fuck off me
PATRON: Is he causing you problems?
MELODI: He pushed me
You know what I'm doing here?
Looking for a reason
You want to be my reason?
No, I do not
Then sit the fuck down
[whispers into her ear] HELEN
Didn't work.
[indistinct chatter]
[piano playing cowboy western song]
[faint laughter]
All I knew of sex was rumors
stories traded among friends as we tried
to imagine what that word really meant
now I knew...
FAITH: I've read a lot about Wyoming.
DUTTON: Well, there's not enough rain in the east
there's too much snow in the west
So...
No to Colorado...
No to Wyoming
Oregon
Washington
Plenty of rain...not much snow
Cool summers and mild winters
Kind of sounds like a song
To you it sounds like a song
James...
You don't think that I hauled 40 gallons of water
up those stairs just to get clean?
[giggles]
I'm wooing you.
[music]
Mm.
Whoo, those buckets of water sure must have been heavy.
they were, honey. mm, poor thing.
{WOMAN'S VOICE] WHOO!
[moaning]
so much I don't know about life
We learn to read, learn rules
learn scripture and manners,
and how to avoid saying or doing things
that make others uncomfortable.
All those things seem to be the opposite of life
seem to strangle it
But now, I'm sleeping on the edge of civilisation
and soon we leave the edge behind
Then no rules
Then, only life
What an adventure
for all of us
[music]
[panting]
[music]
[grunts]
[grumbling]
[grunts]
[silence]
[music]
[muffled scream]
[struggling]
[screams]
[man laughing]
She's a wild one!
My turn.
[grunts]
[coughs]
[gunshot]
[panting]
[moaning]
[crying] Mama!
DUTTON: Anybody else want to fuck with my family?
You?
[music]
[cows lowing]
RANCH AGENT: What the hell am I gonna do with these?
Sell 'em
To who? Farmers
Farmers don't use ox no more
They got these steam engines now that can pull a plow all day
All you gotta do is feed the furnace
Never seen one and neither have you
Swap me even
I'll swap you for mules
We need horses
These folks can't handle mules
they're real green
Green's their problem Not mine
I'll take a mix, but it needs to be half horses
All right.
But don't give me lip about the horses
They are what they are
They...cowboys got all the good ones these days
THOMAS: When you wanna pull out?
BRENNAN: Let's see what we can teach them first
I want to give them a chance
It's a job, Captain... we took it
All I got's my word... gon' see it through
Half these folks ain't gonna make it
We both know it
it's a free country and...
hell, this what they chose
We doing what we can
but we need to get moving
or winter's gon' kill us all
They're not ready
They ain't ever gon' be ready, Captain
Just 'cos they won't survive doesn't mean we can't try
Never say it did.
All right, mister
This right here... that's for the soil
and this, that's for the bank
Thank you
This is a rattlesnake
They hide under logs, and under rocks
at night if it's cold, they will look for warmth...
and if you are sleeping on the ground, that warmth is you
A bite will kill you
[Josef translates]
This is poison oak and poison ivy
It won't kill you You'll just wish you were dead
Do not touch it
Do not walk in it
[Josef continues translating]
What else?
Water.
Do not drink water from the ground.
When we camp, we will choose a latrine
away from our water source
JOSEF: What is a latrine?
Powder room
Water closet
Thomas, help me
Toilette
What in the hell is a toilette?
It's French for shitter.
When did you learn French?
I don't know French, I just...
know the French word for shitter.
How do you know the French word for shitter?
I used to fuck a girl from France!
Fine. that's all you had to say
Don't have to get angry about it
We should check them
I know
All of them
I know
[music]
The farmer
DUTTON: you need help, I'll give it
I'll take it. Thank you
Pays a hundred a month
No, I don't want your money I ain't working for you
I'm just riding with you
Fair enough
How many women in your group?
It's all women in my group and a five year-old boy
May need to borrow one of those women
Borrow them for what?
CLAIRE: Next
Spin.
You're done. Step over there
Next
Come on
Take it off
Arms up
Turn around Lift your hair
Oh, lord
You're done
Next
DUTTON: Turn around
Hey
THOMAS: Captain
BRENNAN: Put your clothes on
Do you have a wife?
[speaking German]
Bring her here
MAN: What?
Nothing
What did I do?
You didn't do anything
Thomas
What did I do?
What did we do?
No! What did we do?
You didn't do anything
You have smallpox and you're going to die
In three days you'll give it to everyone you meet
If you have a soul, you will leave the city and find a river
and lay down beside it and die in peace
If I see you again, I'll kill you myself
[explaining in French]
I don't have this thing you say
CROWD: Get the fuck out of town! Go on, get out of here!
I don't have this thing!
[clamouring]
[couple protesting in French]
BRENNAN: You ready to travel?
DUTTON: I've spent my last night in this town. I'm leaving now
We head north in the morning
We'll camp on the Trinity
See if we can teach these people how to drive a wagon
Where on the Trinity?
There's a big oak bent over like an old woman
Big boulder up against the trunk
Looks like it's crying over a grave
We'll meet you there
All right.
[music]
Elsa: I remember stories of the great war,
how it seemed man had lost all reason
That we'd become animals
Or perhaps we just surrendered to the fact
that animals is all we've ever been
[music]
But there are moments where I feel we are more...
where we have evolved beyond a search for the next meal
or the dominance to breed who we choose...
where we breathe fresh air deep
and can almost taste its Maker
[music]
I wish I could freeze this moment
I would live in it forever
swimming in the possible
while the mud of the real is stuck to the shore
[laughs]
[music]
We weren't poor
we weren't desperate
The road west is filled with failures
but failure isn't what drove him
It was a dream
and the dream is coming true
[music]