Theorizing that one could time travel within his own lifetime,
Dr. Sam Beckett led an elite group of scientists into the desert...
to develop a top secret project known as Quantum Leap.
Pressured to prove his theories or lose funding,
Dr. Beckett prematurely stepped into the project accelerator...
and vanished.
He awoke to find himself in the past,
suffering from partial amnesia and facing a mirror image that was not his own.
Fortunately, contact with his own time was maintained...
through brain wave transmissions with Al, the project observer,
who appeared in the form of a hologram that only Dr. Beckett can see and hear.
Trapped in the past, Dr. Beckett finds himself...
leaping from life to life,
putting things right that once went wrong...
and hoping each time that his next leap will be the leap home.
Lesson number one:
It never pays to get smart with me!
Hazlitt!
Ohh.
Almost had you there, Sheriff. Well, almost doesn't count!
He slipped. Looks like you slipped too.
Oh, boy. I'm an Indian.
Could be worse.
You could be a white man, eh?
A poet once said, "Stone walls do not a prison make,
nor iron bars a cage. "
But if this wasn't a cage, it was a pretty good imitation of one.
I, uh,
can't wait to get out of here.
That may be a while.
People around here...
have peculiar ideas about auto theft.
I stole a car? Like a pinto I had once.
He was a brave pony.
His name was Windwalker.
- I stole a truck. - You borrowed it.
I just got in.
It's not like we were going to keep it forever.
That would be theft. A lot of people can't tell the difference...
between borrowing and stealing. Aah!
Primitive cultures.
Think you can pull one of these out?
We can't break out of here. I's against the law.
Do you want to spend the next 10 years in jail?
Eating food off trays like in the nursing home?
No. Well,
then get us out of here.
How?
You're the big city man. You figure it out.
Where's George?
- Gone. - How?
I turned him into a raven.
He flew away.
- Why didn't you go with him? - I can only turn into a wolf.
I'm too big for the bars.
You stay where you are.
Yaah!
He's out.
Lesson number two... Don't mess with Indians.
Yeah.
You call me, Sheriff?
Come on!
Did you ever notice he looks like a sheep?
Come on.
Good morning.
Get in the truck! Okay.
Damn! I gotta go get the keys.
Just hot-wire it like you did before.
Hey! Hey! Stop him!
Forward, ho!
They're escaping! Stop 'em!
- Yeah, I think my nose is broken. - Probably an improvement.
I just hope Lucille still likes my face this way.
Will you stop whining about your nose and get on the radio.
I want those Indians stopped. Okay. Okay, Sheriff.
Hello, Billy? Word has it...
Oh, excuse me. I'm looking for Sheriff Taggart.
You found him.
I'm Suzanne Washakie.
I understand you have my grandfather and brother here.
- Nope. - I'm sorry?
They were. They escaped.
About 15 minutes ago. Oh, God!
My grandfather's a very sick man.
He needs to get back to the nursing home.
Your grandfather and your brother have stolen a pickup... twice,
assaulted two sheriff's officers and escaped from jail.
Now, I hate to say it, but when I find him,
the last place he's gonna go is to a nursin' home.
Sheriff, I'd like to come with you.
Sure.
You're a sworn deputy of the state of Nevada, aren't ya?
No.
Then you can't come.
There's an old Indian expression that says...
you should neverjudge a man until you've walked a mile in his moccasins.
I guess that applies to situations too.
But so far, I didn't enjoy being on the run.
Nevada.
Where the wind goes whistling down the plain
That's Oklahoma.
Pretty good though, eh?
Pretty horrible.
Hmm.
Damn white men can't make anything but more white men.
Keep going. Let me take a look at you.
Take a deep breath.
You've got emphysema, don't you?
Huh. I've gotta get you to a hospital.
Go on. You're not going anywhere. I gotta get you some oxygen.
Take me home.
Do you have oxygen there?
Okay then.
There's no oxygen there, Sam,
unless you count what's floating around free in the atmosphere.
Where's the nearest hospital? No hospital.
Uh, mmm.
It's about 50 miles behind you.
Wait! Wait! You can't run away.
I'm not runnin'away. I've gotta water the plants.
That truck is hard on my kidneys.
Oh.
What's goin' on here, Al?
Well, let's see.
Your name is George Washakie,
25 years old, grandson ofJoseph Washakie,
who's a full-blooded Shoshone Indian.
He's 71 or 72... Uh, 72 years old or so.
I don't know. His birth date is... is kind of hazy.
You haven't seen him since you were 14,
which happened to be yesterday...
when you helped him escape from his nursing home.
In a stolen truck. Yeah.
Uh, the nursing home, by the way... that's where your sister Suzanne put him until you arrived...
And she's a schoolteacher.
Now, we are in... Nevada.
Uh, and the year is... 1970.
License tag.
The date is...
November 22.
Ziggy says you're here to...
I'm here to save Joseph's life.
No.
No. You're here to help him die.
Al, I'm a doctor... Or I... I used to be a doctor. I can't help him die.
Right now, you're George Washakie, his grandson.
And you've taken him from the nursing home,
so he can go back to die where he was born.
Right. And along the way we stole a pickup truck,
we broke out of jail, and I slugged the sheriff!
You did what you had to do.
Sam, the state and your sister won't let him go back to the reservation.
They say it's too dangerous. They say the trip would kill him.
Well, they're right. Sam, he doesn't wanna spend the last year of his life...
confined to a nursing home in a hospital bed, lookin' like a pincushion.
He'll be alive. Maybe just being alive isn't enough.
A good life deserves a good death.
I think...
I think I should take you back and put you in the nursing home,
so you can be with your family and your friends.
What family? There's only you and Suzanne.
And you moved away.
What about your friends?
My friends are here.
The sun.
The sky.
The wind.
And the earth.
The shape you're in, your friends could kill you.
My brother the hawk.
All its life it flies where it wants.
Fights where it wants.
Loves where it wants.
Now, when it's near death,
do you think it wants to be put in a cage?
You've been too long among the white man, Togo.
"Togo." That's Shoshone for grandson.
To you, he's "Kenu," grandfather.
Al, I gotta take him back. Sam, the Indian reservation...
begins just over those mountains.
The cops can't get in there.
Al, he needs oxygen and proper medical care!
He's not gonna get it out there playin' Geronimo.
Sam, there is a man...
with a badge following you.
He doesn't like you. He doesn't like Indians.
IfJoseph goes back, the last thing he's gonna get is adequate medical care.
In fact, you'll be lucky if the both of you don't get shot!
Joseph!
Kenu,
I'll take you to the reservation.
But when we get there, you've got to see a doctor.
Okay.
But I don't know if I can help him.
Don't be such an idiot! They didn't just turn into ravens and fly away!
And tell Sheriff Baldwin over at Buffalo Run...
to send his boys down south toward Yuma.
And get the highway patrol to station a...
A unit near the Teton entrance to Interstate 70.
If they're not too busy having donuts!
He seems to get angry at more than just Indians.
Yeah, he's got a doghouse built for everybody.
Pull over! Pull over!
- All right. All right. All right. - I'll pull over.
Oh, hey there.
Hi. What can I do for ya?
Well... Got any buffalo hides?
You know, we just sold our last one.
We got some, uh, real nice blankets back here though.
I remember a lot of stores like this from when I was a kid.
So do I.
My dad... He used to buy me candy...
just like this every time we went into town.
Mmm. My favorite was red licorice.
I used to get a long piece of that. I used to get two sticks...
Shirley Mulcahey would get at one end, of cinnamon.
And I would start at the other end.
And then... And he would get two sticks...
Of peppermint.
Your father loved sweets all his life.
That's where you got your taste for 'em, eh, Togo?
Hey, you know, Sam, it's weird,
but George Washakie's father died when he was 21 too.
Just like... Me?
No, I'm talkin' to another Indian.
I always preferred cinnamon myself.
Anything else?
How about a fat woman and a narrow bed?
- I'm gonna remember that one, Sam. - Uh, that'll be 47.55.
All right. Okay. You... You can have whatever you want.
Oh, great, Sam! Why don't you go for five felonies while you're at it.
No! Uh, we're not gonna rob you.
I just... I... I want to trade you the gun for the blankets.
And the Winchester.
That old one on the wall.
Sam, I wonder if that one can even shoot.
- And one more thing. - What might that be?
Okay now, put the hose to your mouth...
and take a little breath, but not too much.
What you're trying to do is give yourself oxygen without shutting down...
your O2 respiration trigger mechanism.
Where'd you learn that, Togo?
Uh... Uh, TV.
Oh, Marcus Welby.
Marcus Welby?
For you.
You stole that. You stole all that stuff.
Your gun was worth much more than he said.
He tried to cheat us.
- Gun wasn't even ours. - Shh.
What're you listening to?
Best damn team in America. Fakes a handoff. He rolls right!
Redskins! Uh-oh. He's nearly hit at the seven. He looks. He throws...
Touchdown, Redskins!
I love it when they beat the Cowboys.
Go, Redskins!
- Yah! - Yah!
Kenu, can you hear me? Over.
Suzanne.
George, you've got to bring him back.
- I can't. We'll go to jail. - Whose fault is that?
You shouldn't have stolen that truck and taken Grandpa with you!
Kenu, come home.
I don't want you to die out there. I want you to be at my wedding.
You're getting married?
No, no, no. I... I just want you to be here if I do.
For the future.
Turn yourself in, George. I'll recommend the judge to go easy on ya.
Kenu, listen to him.
When was the last time a white man kept his word to us?
Didn't you learn anything in that college you went to?
No! I will not come back and die like a worm...
in some white man's hut.
No, no, no, no!
George!
Damn it. Hazlitt, go to our alternate channel!
Yes, sir.
- Sheriff, you there? - Where would the noon freight be by now?
Somewhere around Yellow Springs. Yeah, that's what I thought.
I'm on my way. And keep that damned Indian off the radio!
Call Sheriff Baldwin back at Buffalo Run and tell him to send his boys up here on the double.
If they get past Yellow Springs, we're gonna have a hell of a time trackin' 'em down.
Does this road go over the mountains?
No.
Then I don't know how we're gonna make it.
I do! Pull over.
Windwalker.
We go home together.
"We will return your horses as soon as we can.
"They're in good hands.
"P.S. We're not stealin' 'em. We're only borrowin' 'em.
Please feel free to use our truck."
It's a stolen truck! They can't trade it for somethin' else!
And now they've stolen two horses.
My God, if it's not one thing, it's another.
What are they gonna steal next?
You're lucky you've got your barn left.
Hazlitt, they've dumped the truck and taken two horses.
Up into the mountains near Tyrol Pass. I'm goin'after 'em.
Tyrol Pass.
Whoa.
You all right?
Didn't you leave anything in the store?
Not if I could help it.
Here. You open it.
This is terrific, Sam. He's painting society marks on.
You're part of a Shoshone war party.
I don't wanna be on the warpath. I wanna get him some medical help.
How's that paint coming? It's ready.
When I was in World War I, only the officers had ponies.
I could never get over...
how naked they look without their markings.
How could you tell what they had done?
How could you frighten your enemies?
It made no sense to me.
Here. You stole the horses too.
Sam, this is just terrific. It's like the past come to life.
You know, he just... He painted the hoof prints on there.
And that's to show how many horse raids they went on,
or how many horses they stole.
- I thought we just borrowed 'em. - The horses don't know that, eh?
That's a good one.
Ah.
- What are the handprints for? - For men killed in battle.
- Go on. - Uh, well, I, uh...
Go on, Togo.
I can see it in your eyes.
Now we are ready.
Sam, Ziggy did a topographical analysis. He says that's the best way to go.
I'm worried about him, Al. He looks all right to me.
- You're not a doctor. - Hey, don't count the old boy out. He might outlive you.
- Sam! - Togo!
George, can you hear me?
Damn.
Maybe I need glasses after all.
Where'd you get the rifle?
Traded for it!
Sam, are you okay? Where'd you get hit?
Yeah, I think it got me in the ribs.
Sam. Ah, you're lucky, Sam. It just took a little skin, maybe a little hunk of meat.
It burns like hell. That's good.
Lets you know you're alive.
Listen, we gotta try and get out of here...
before it gets dark and he traps us up here.
Okay, Grandfather? Kenu.
Give me... Give me a second.
Hey, you shoot like a white man.
Damn it!
Let's just rest here for a second.
That was tougher than a two-dollar whore.
That looks like a cave up there.
Can you make it?
Let's go.
Come on. Go, go.
I'm not sure he's gonna make it, Al.
Well, he better make it. Or else you're not gonna leap out ofhere.
You're gonna leap right into jail. ¿Comprende?
Togo,
there are voices in the night, eh?
Uh, yeah.
We need a fire.
Won't they see the light? Or the smoke?
Not if we make it small, and towards the back.
I'll go get some wood.
Hmm.
What? Matches.
Matches? Sam, don't tell me...
I don't have any matches.
Here. I'll show you an old Indian trick.
Sam, this is great!
We're gettin' to watch a bit of authentic Western history here!
Voilà.
Old Indian trick, huh?
Your dad used to fall for it every time.
You miss him, don't you?
Yeah, I guess I do.
Don't you think you'll ever see him again?
No, I don't think so.
No wonder you want me to go on living.
Death...
is a doorway.
And we are like the grasshopper.
When we die, we shed one skin...
and put on another.
And leap to a new life...
on the other side of the door. What if there's nothing beyond the door?
Then I would fight to hang on to this skin...
as hard as I could.
Because it would be all I had.
But it's not.
All of life...
is a series of leaps...
for us grasshoppers.
Eh? I guess you could say so.
Sometimes we see where we are going.
Sometimes we don't.
Have you ever leaped...
and not at least survived?
No.
The next time you leap,
remember that.
Is he talking to George, or is he talking to you, Sam?
And stop trying to make me hang on...
to my old skin.
Okay? Okay.
Now,
if we only had some hot dogs.
Freeze!
Damn it to hell.
Once we roamed from the deserts to the mountains.
Before the white man. Now there are fewer of us.
And fewer memories...
of what we once were.
That's all the more reason for you to stay alive,
to fight to stay alive.
So that you can pass on those memories.
No one wants to remember them.
They have no heart for it.
They are ashamed of what they are.
They go to the cities and take jobs in factories.
Or become schoolteachers.
Maybe they're just searching for something...
for themselves.
They don't know who they are,
because they've forgotten who they are.
How much further do we have to go?
That river...
marks the southern border of the reservation area.
And as far as Taggart can go.
Well, let's do it.
Joseph!
Why... Why did you let that mule kick me?
Just hold still.
Let me see if anything's broken.
Ow. Ooh.
Yeah, there's a break right there.
My father used to tell me tales...
of being chased by the soldiers...
in the Plains Wars of the 1870s.
I used to envy him.
Now...
I'm not so sure.
It's just a little further.
So's New York.
Kenu, when we get to the reservation...
To the reservation... No! No, Marcus Welby.
But there's so much I don't know,
that I can learn from you, that... that others can learn too.
There's only one thing you have to learn:
that freedom...
is the greatest gift we're born with,
and the hardest thing to hold on to.
The world is like a giant spider, Togo,
spinnin' its web.
Each strand we could easily break.
But if we let them wrap around us,
suddenly you are no longer free, but food for the spiders, eh?
Kenu!
It's gonna take a whole passel of husbands...
to handle a woman that stubborn.
You should have never taken him from the nursing home. Everything was fine there.
- Not for him. - Well, how would you know?
You haven't been around for 10 years.
Maybe I haven't.
But I've come to realize that... I didn't want to put him in a state home.
But even with the money you sent, we couldn't afford a private one. My apartment is too small.
And who's gonna take care ofhim during the day when I work?
- He takes good care ofhimself. - His emphysema's getting worse each day.
How long will he be able to do that?
I think that's the point.
No wonder we lost to the white man.
While you two were fighting, the sheriff came over the ridge.
- Get Kenu across the river. - George...
I'll be okay.
George,
are you going to scalp him?
No.
Oh, too bad.
If ever a man deserved scalping, he does.
Joseph!
Sam! Don't do it!
You've already got him!
I thought you were really gonna scalp him.
I was.
Yah! No!
Kenu!
Kenu.
Did you scalp him?
Kenu.
No.
I gave him a haircut instead.
In the movies, it would've hit my lighter,
and I'd be okay.
Maybe next time.
There is nothing worse...
than warm water.
You like football?
I, uh, don't watch it that much, Grandfather.
You should.
'Cause the Redskins are the best damn team in America.
Looks like rain.
Did we make it?
Not yet.
Help me get him up.
George!
You cross the river and I'll shoot!
All he wanted to do was to die in peace,
to die the way he wanted to.
He didn't wanna die inside of a building,
surrounded by people he didn't know, hooked up to machines.
He wanted to die surrounded by his friends.
By the sky. By the wind.
By the open spaces that he grew up with.
They were his family.
They were his friends.
All he wanted to do was...
die with dignity.
George!
Hang on, Kenu. Hang on.
Why are you crying, Togo?
I don't know.
Do you like the Redskins?
Best damn team in America.
Don't cry, Togo.
You're a good boy.
I'll tell your father when I see him.
It's just a little further, Kenu.
Just a...
We made it.
Kenu, we...
Thanks, Frankie, you were terrific.
If I'm lyin', I'm dyin'.
Oh, boy.