- 2 days ago
Paladin finds his friend Charlie Blackburn dead in his San Francisco hotel room (or "davenport"). When he takes Charlie's body back to his hometown of Alimo for burial, he discovers that neither he nor the deceased is welcome.
The investigation reveals that Charlie owned a valuable redwood stand, but his land was landlocked with no access route. Paladin had given him legal advice, but Charlie tried another approach to resolve the access issue, which ultimately led to his death. The murderer is identified as Keith Loring, a psychopathic killer who is protected by his wealthy timber baron father, Wynn Loring. Paladin recognizes Keith's mental illness and discusses the possibility of legally committing him. The conflict culminates in a fist fight between Paladin and Wynn Loring.
The investigation reveals that Charlie owned a valuable redwood stand, but his land was landlocked with no access route. Paladin had given him legal advice, but Charlie tried another approach to resolve the access issue, which ultimately led to his death. The murderer is identified as Keith Loring, a psychopathic killer who is protected by his wealthy timber baron father, Wynn Loring. Paladin recognizes Keith's mental illness and discusses the possibility of legally committing him. The conflict culminates in a fist fight between Paladin and Wynn Loring.
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TVTranscript
00:00You call yourself Charlie Blackburn's friend, Sheriff?
00:12Well, if his friends won't give him a decent burial, I'd better try his enemies.
00:30The End
00:35The End
00:40That will do very nice.
01:07I was up at dawn, drove halfway to the Presidio to pick zucchini blossoms as they opened with the first rays of the sun.
01:15Well, we shan't keep them waiting.
01:16Regarde.
01:17This bum-toe is really no use.
01:19I'm going to put it in the room.
01:22This bum-toe is in the room.
01:24Ah, really no use.
01:27It's good, right?
01:30Yes.
01:31Pardon.
01:32Hey, boy!
01:36I'm sorry.
01:37Mr. Paladin.
01:38Hey, Mr. Blackburn.
01:39He sleeps on your Davenport.
01:42He sleeps on my Davenport?
01:44Yes, with shoes on.
01:47No, no.
01:49No, no.
01:51Come on.
01:52Come on.
01:53Come on.
01:54The wine, the champagne, the wine.
01:55Come on.
01:56Come on.
01:57Well, Charlie Blackburn, get up.
02:19Get up or sober up.
02:23Charlie, you're pushing a good friendship a little bit too far.
02:26You're on my settee with your dirty boots?
02:28Now, come on.
02:29Get up, Charlie.
02:30Get up!
02:37He's dead.
02:38Hey, boy, get the police up here.
02:41Monsieur Paladin, my great masterpiece now will be garbage.
02:46Oh, console yourself, Andre.
02:50The sun will rise again tomorrow morning.
02:52There'll be more zucchini blossoms.
02:54But Charlie Blackburn won't see them.
02:57玩.
03:02Oh, my God.
03:06Don't look through it.
03:09I'll give you a hug, lad.
03:13Hemay they go through all night.
03:16We'll be there.
03:20Hey, who is it?
03:31Name is Charlie Blackburn.
03:40Uh, slow down.
03:42Oh.
03:44Sheriff, I brought Charlie Blackburn home.
03:46He ain't got any home around here.
03:52Fact is, he ain't no more welcome dead than was alive.
03:58Well, I understand, Sheriff.
04:00That's one of mankind's finer instincts, respect for the dead.
04:04Uh, where are you taking him?
04:06Well, if Charlie Blackburn's friends won't give him a decent burial,
04:09I'd better talk to his enemies.
04:11Get up now.
04:16Let's go.
04:46I beg your pardon?
04:51My father's in San Francisco, so I wouldn't know about it.
04:56But is this something he ordered?
04:58I believe it is.
04:59That's Charles Blackburn's body.
05:01Bury it.
05:02Bury it?
05:03I wasn't aware that Mr. Blackburn was one of our immediate family.
05:07He is now.
05:08I'll be back for the wagon.
05:16Oh, you're back, huh?
05:44Get rid of the body?
05:45Loring's are taking care of it.
05:48Wynn Loring wouldn't give Blackburn a time of day.
05:52Now, Sheriff, this may come as a great surprise to you.
05:54It costs as much as ten, even fifteen dollars to get a man shot in San Francisco.
06:00You, uh, going back to San Francisco?
06:04Where did Blackburn do business?
06:07Wreck Saloon.
06:15Wreck Saloon.
06:32Let's go.
07:02I've been made to understand you haven't finished your business here.
07:28Well, news travels fast in a limo.
07:31You know how it is in a small community.
07:34An outsider can't make a move that isn't watched.
07:36So I've noticed.
07:37My name's Keith Loring.
07:39In case I forgot to mention it while you were at the house the other day.
07:44This is Mr. Sims.
07:46Hal Sims.
07:47I've been led to understand he's somewhat famous for being fast with a gun.
07:55I've been admiring your gun.
07:57Beautiful craftsmanship.
07:58What I can see of it.
08:00The balance must be excellent.
08:03May I hold it?
08:03Don't touch it.
08:09Sims, put the gun away.
08:10You don't have to protect him from me.
08:12That's not the idea.
08:13I'm here to protect you.
08:16And me.
08:16From him?
08:21Well, now observe that he has excellent teeth.
08:24Am I in mortal danger of being bitten?
08:25Never mind that.
08:27Just do what I tell you.
08:28And don't let him get his hands on your gun.
08:30Sims takes his job very seriously.
08:33And the job?
08:34I work for his old man.
08:37Someone had to take steps.
08:40Brecker was running a hangout for timber pirates.
08:42Like Charlie Blackburn?
08:44He was the worst.
08:46Ask my father.
08:47He cost us thousands of dollars.
08:49Now this is probably just a vicious rumor.
08:53But I've heard it said in San Francisco.
08:57That if a man wants to be a logger in this county.
08:59He works for the Loring's or he pirates.
09:02That's logging like any other business.
09:07We offered Blackburn a fair price for his little stand of redwood.
09:11Wooden deal.
09:12What could we do?
09:13Let him cut a logging road through our timber?
09:15I told him he couldn't shoot his way across another man's land.
09:19I told him to get a lawyer file suit to set aside the deeds that had him landlocked.
09:26You may have told him he couldn't shoot his way across another man's land.
09:30But he was going to try.
09:32This is where he planned the whole thing.
09:36Got his gang.
09:37And did it happen?
09:38Fortunately I found out what Blackburn was up to in plenty of time.
09:42And from what I can see, justice triumphed.
09:46I'm glad you see it that way.
09:49Now Mr. Paladin.
09:51Paladin.
09:52Have a good trip back to the city.
10:13I've got a jug over in the office, buy a drink, one for the road.
10:31Well, Sheriff, you're just like everybody else I meet in this town.
10:34You keep trying to get me on that road.
10:36You don't haul bodies as a regular thing?
10:39No, hardly ever.
10:40But you haul this one over 40 miles.
10:42Seems to me you've got something else in mind besides having Charlie Blackburn buried in a Lehman.
10:47And what would you think that'd be, Sheriff?
10:50I was hoping you'd tell me.
10:51No, the game's more exciting if you tell me.
10:57You're after Wyn Loring.
10:59Because you think he had Blackburn killed down the city.
11:02There now.
11:03You see?
11:04You knew.
11:06Now, just a minute.
11:08Wyn Loring's had a lot of trouble raising that boy.
11:10But he stood up to it like a man.
11:13He could have thrown Keith out a long time ago.
11:15First time he got in the fix with a gun.
11:16He could have disowned him.
11:18A lot of fathers would have.
11:21You've got to hand it to Wyn Loring.
11:23He ain't a man to shun his responsibility.
11:26Well, that's good news, Sheriff.
11:28Because I got some to throw his way.
11:30Well, that's good news.
11:36Let's go.
12:06Now, I know why you gentlemen are here. You think I'm lost.
12:15You're not only lost, you're headed in the wrong direction.
12:18San Francisco's that way.
12:20Well, I have no quarrel with your geography, but I know where I'm going.
12:24The Loring House is that way.
12:26I repeat, mister. San Francisco's that way.
12:36San Francisco's that way.
13:06San Francisco's that way.
13:36Father?
13:50What fish?
13:52Charlie Blackburn.
13:53It would seem he beat you back from San Francisco.
13:56How'd it get here?
13:57A man named Paladin said it was up to us to bury Charlie.
14:01See to it, Sims.
14:01Now, won't that look as though you had something to do with Blackburn's death?
14:07I did.
14:11Mr. Loring, wait, I...
14:12I said bury him!
14:15You heard my father.
14:16See to it, Sims.
14:17Well, I can't do it by myself.
14:19I'll get some men.
14:20Don't bother.
14:21I'll help you.
14:31Who are you?
14:45What are you doing here?
14:47I'm enjoying your tobacco and your wine, and I believe I've earned the privilege.
14:53I said, who are you?
14:54I said, I'll help you with that.
15:07Paladin.
15:08Blackburn's man.
15:10My own man, Blackburn's friend.
15:12How'd you get in here?
15:13Your son and heir met me at the door.
15:15Told me you were expected momentarily from San Francisco, and asked me if I'd mind waiting.
15:20You've wasted your time.
15:21Mr. Loring, I don't believe so.
15:23Keith showed me through your house.
15:25It's beautiful.
15:26I congratulate you on your excellent taste.
15:31Not mine, Mr. Paladin.
15:33My wife's.
15:35This house, everything in it, it's her idea.
15:39This furniture came all the way from Europe, around the Horn.
15:43Mrs. Loring was a particular woman.
15:47John, rest her.
15:49Mr. Loring.
15:50What happened the other night in Brecker's Saloon?
15:55We have nothing to discuss, Mr. Paladin.
15:58Father, you're being rude.
16:00Keith, I told you to not before coming into my study.
16:04Mr. Paladin has made a long and tiring journey.
16:07He's a man of obvious culture and refinements.
16:10I think we should cooperate with him.
16:12Will you please get out of here?
16:14Sorry, Father.
16:16I choose to remain and answer Mr. Paladin.
16:18All right, then.
16:19I'll answer him.
16:23Brecker's Saloon.
16:25A few nights ago.
16:27As I heard it, there was a dispute among the lumberjacks.
16:30Some of theirs, some of mine.
16:32That's all there is to it.
16:33Father isn't really lying to you, Mr. Paladin.
16:35Keith!
16:36It's simply that he's a very busy man.
16:38Naturally, some of the details escape him.
16:39Keith, will you get out of here and let me handle...
16:42Don't shout at me!
16:45I'm only trying to help you answer, Mr. Paladin.
16:51Father has forgotten.
16:52There were six men killed in Brecker's Saloon.
16:55Only six.
16:56You're sure there weren't more?
16:57Positive.
16:59My gun was empty by then.
17:00Well, where was Sims while all this was going on?
17:05Oh, Sims had a predecessor.
17:07Axel in hand with a gun.
17:08With us over a year.
17:10Long enough to grow careless?
17:12I presume he was one of the men killed in Brecker's Saloon.
17:15The first.
17:16It was his gun.
17:17He was the closest.
17:19And how many fast gun nursemaids has Keith gone through?
17:23Only two before Sims came with us.
17:33The first one was shot defending Keith.
17:38He only shot one.
17:41He only shot one.
17:44Mr. Paladin, when you're up on top,
17:47every two-bit tin horn with no brains and big ideas
17:52is trying to shove you off.
17:54I've been lied to, swindled, cheated, shot at.
17:58That's how his mother was killed.
18:00With a bullet that was meant for me.
18:03You've got to protect yourself.
18:06You've got to give your boys some help.
18:08Or protect the men who make the mistake
18:10of trying to defend themselves against Keith.
18:13Protect the public.
18:15Make the town go along because you own them.
18:18Of course, a scheme like that has one great advantage.
18:24It gives the town something else to think about.
18:27Something other than how you own them.
18:31What you've done to men.
18:33Men like Charlie Blackburn.
18:36They killed my mother.
18:38You didn't know that?
18:39I knew it.
18:40It's all right if they kill my mother?
18:42No, it's not all right.
18:43It's not any more all right
18:45than what your father is doing about you.
18:57Father's choice is limited, Mr. Paladin.
19:00He isn't going to sign commitment papers on his only son.
19:04I am.
19:05You're not going to sign a thing.
19:06Whatever else Keith may be, he's still my son.
19:09He's my flesh and blood.
19:09You see, Mr. Paladin, that was your friend Blackburn's mistake.
19:15After the Brecker saloon shooting,
19:17he talked about how I wasn't normal.
19:19He was going to the city.
19:20Have the authorities put me away.
19:22But it makes a great deal of difference who's doing the talking.
19:25I'm not Charlie Blackburn.
19:32Sims!
19:34Sims!
19:35Sorry, Father.
19:36I don't think we can count on Sims.
19:38Sims.
19:39You!
19:46It was almost an accident, Father.
19:49The coffin slipped.
19:51Slipped?
19:52Well, maybe I did push it just a little
19:53at an unfortunate time for Sims.
19:56But I needed his gun.
20:00Leave it where it is, Keith.
20:05You'd shoot me.
20:06Only if I have to.
20:07Now, I want the gun.
20:12That makes a problem, doesn't it?
20:14Because I also want it.
20:16Hardly be keeping faith with Sims if I gave it up so easily.
20:20Keith!
20:22Turn around, Keith.
20:23Put your hands on the mantle.
20:24I'm afraid you're going to have to shoot me, Mr. Paladin.
20:30And you'd better shoot to kill, because if I get this gun out, I'll kill you.
20:33I promise you, you never will.
20:39Paladin!
20:39Don't move.
20:42What?
20:44Don't you realize you're only able to stay in this house to stay alive?
20:48Because of my will to protect you at all costs.
20:51That's the father's duty, isn't it?
20:52Maybe so, but don't count on it.
20:54Don't count on it anymore.
20:56Because if you ever use a gun again for murder,
20:58I'm going to close my eyes to any pity,
21:02any fatherly love I may have for you.
21:04And I'll only open them to see you swinging at the end of a rope.
21:08You don't mean that.
21:09Oh, yes, I do.
21:11You're right, son.
21:12There was a time when I didn't, but this time I do.
21:15I mean it more than any promise I ever made to your mother.
21:20Lacey, forgive me.
21:23But if you're going to use the gun, use it on me.
21:27At least, whatever happens to you afterwards, I won't know about it.
21:33Now let me have it.
21:39Now.
21:39Cheats!
21:44Cheats!
22:09Cheats!
22:39Cheats!
23:09You put that gun down on the end of the bar,
23:26and you walk away from it.
23:29Ain't nobody going to hurt you.
23:31I promised you that before, right here in this saloon.
23:35And I kept that promise.
23:37That was different, Sheriff.
23:38The gun I had then was empty.
23:40I have lots of bullets for this one.
23:42Shouldn't waste them.
23:44Listen to me, Keith.
23:45Why?
23:46Haven't I already heard everything you've got to say?
23:49Keith, I'm your friend.
23:51Well, that makes you special.
23:52Anybody can kill an enemy.
23:54Keith!
23:57Yes, Mr. Paladin.
23:58He's dead, Mr. Loring.
24:14Your mistakes, my bullet.
24:15Look.
24:23All right, Paladin.
24:26Use the gun again.
24:27This time, I'm the right man.
24:30I had Charlie Blackburn killed.
24:32I admit it.
24:33Use the gun!
24:35Murder shrieks out in the voice of the murderer.
24:37You'll be heard, Mr. Loring.
24:40If you shriek loud enough.
24:42A gun will travel reach the card of a man.
25:06A knight without armor in a savage land.
25:14His vast gun for hire heats the calling wind.
25:21A soldier of fortune is the man called Paladin.
25:28Paladin, Paladin, where do you roam?
25:35Paladin, Paladin, where do you roam?
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