[GRUNTING]
This is it. Bye for now.
BOY: Bye.
Howdy.
Good piece of land.
It was.
- Still is. TRAVIS: Hey, buck!
Yeah, yeah.
Travis is calling you.
Do I know you?
Well, ought to.
How did you lose that arm there, boy?
Woke up in Chickamauga one morning without it.
Somebody deal you a losing hand there...
Buckaboo?
Jack?
Now tell me, you found yourself a one-titty woman...
or you just take that one hand there and whup it back and forth?
Jack!
[BOTH LAUGHING]
TRAVIS: It's Sommersby!
Oh, my Lord.
Get on down here!
[ALL SHOUTING INDISTINCTLY]
TRAVIS: The hero has returned!
MAN: Good to see you, Jack.
[ALL CONTINUE CHATTERING]
Good to see you back!
MAN: Jack! - What are you doing here?
- It's me, Brian. Brian Brown. - Brian, yeah, Brian.
MAN: You remember Brian. - You got whiskers now, boy!
CLEMMONS: Ever think you'd see him again? Ha-ha-ha.
[SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY]
LAUREL: Whoa there, boy. What's after you, huh?
- Your husband. - Who? What did you say?
- He's coming, ma'am. - Who?
Mr. Sommersby.
LAUREL: Get in the house!
Come on! Come on!
[ALL LAUGHING]
JACK: Look at you!
You old man, now look!
By God, there's another good man the damn Yankees didn't get!
Come on over here and say hello to Will.
Will.
Look here who I got here. Jack Sommersby.
"They, uh“"
They sent him back to me like that from Vicksburg.
- Will's a hero. Ain't that right? - Hello, reverend.
Well, well, well.
Welcome home, Jack. We thank the Lord for bringing you back.
Thank you, sir.
Is Laurel all right?
Well, she's gonna be surprised now, ain't she?
- Six years is a long time without any word. - Well.
ESTHER: Come on, where is he now?
Look at you! You look like a sack of bones.
[ALL CHUCKLE]
Well, kind of hard to get Esther dumplings where I've been.
Oh, Lord, Mr. Jack. You're home, you're home, you're home.
Everybody here is missing somebody.
Both Ezzel boys and their daddy got killed...
and everybody that ain't dead is leaving.
This town finished, Mr. Jack.
Ain't nothing left here but hard ground and nobody to work it.
[PEOPLE CHATTERING]
MAN: Y'all hush up, now.
Go say hello to your daddy, son.
Go on now.
Hello, Robert.
I'd forgotten how beautiful you were.
[ALL CHEERING]
[DOG BARKING]
JACK: Jethro!
Hey, boy)'-
[BARKING]
Hey. Hey-
Come on, boy. Come on.
BUCK: Hey, Jack!
I hear old Tom Clemmons' pig will be swallowing a stick tonight!
[PEOPLE LAUGHING AND CHATTERING]
JACK: I was down there in the weeds, kind of waiting...
for the damn smoke to get blowed away.
And the next thing I know... Thank you, darling.
Next thing I know, there's this, uh, big old rifle butt...
floating down out of the sky there, just kind of taking its time...
like I had all day to get away from it.
Hmm.
When I come to, I was on my way to prison in Elmira.
BUCK: I heard that was the worst one. - Yeah, well.
I couldn't even remember my own name at that point.
MAN: Hmm.
What'd you do to your hand there, Jack?
Oh, a guard stomped on it.
Don't hold things too good now.
- You can still hold a straight flush, can't you? ALL: Ha, ha.
DICK: And the other things that are important. - Ha-ha-ha.
What'd you do in prison?
Starve, froze, like everybody else.
[BAND PLAYING COUNTRY MUSIC]
Evening, folks.
Better take some of this while you can.
I guess you don't remember me, sir.
Joseph.
Joseph!
Yes! Yes, I do remember. Yeah.
My daddy paid $100 for you.
Yes, sir.
Why don't you come on in now?
BUCK: Jack! Hey, Jack!
Yeah, all right.
No, thank you, sir.
We just come by here to say welcome home.
JACK: Thank you.
BUCK: Hey, Jack!
Quit wasting time! Get yourself over here. We got a present for you.
JACK: What do you got? BUCK: Panther piss.
- I ain't seen you pass water all night. JACK: Can't do it.
One sip, I'm staggering like a new calf.
CLEMMONS: You're still a rebel, ain't you?
Best not get too friendly with the niggers.
We had to chase a bunch off.
That one has been living on your land.
Next thing you know, they'll be moving up to the big house.
What?
What's the matter with you, Jack?
Nothing, I don't...
You ain't acting yourself, Jack.
What'd them goddamn Yankees do to you, boy?
Hit me on my head.
Yeah, well...
It's all right.
- I love you. - I love you too.
Sit down. I'm gonna dance with my wife.
Travis, take him.
TRAVIS: Let him be.
[BAND CONTINUES PLAYING COUNTRY MUSIC]
[BOTH LAUGHING]
LAUREL: Orin. ORIN: Miss Laurel.
Orin.
Good to see you.
Welcome back!
Thank you. Thank you.
Grab a gal here and shake a leg.
I tend to hop a little bit better than I shake now.
Dick made me a good foot. Got everything but toes that wiggle.
DICK: Ain't got no toes...
ain't gotta worry about stomping them.
Well, uh, be careful you don't catch a chill, Miss Laurel.
Y'all have a good time.
Shall we?
[MEN SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY]
JACK: Good night now, Buckaboo.
You know where that handkerchief is I brought home?
It was filthy. I told her to burn it.
Damn.
Hate to lose that thing.
Carried that nearly six years.
Why?
The last thing you gave me before I left.
What happened here?
Oh, Yankees.
They got the silver, the carpets...
and mostly anything else that they could carry.
I did save Granny's brooch, though...
by, uh...
By sitting on it, in a manner of speaking.
That's where you were sleeping before you left.
- Yes. Well. - Good night.
Good night.
[DOOR CLOSES]
I swore, if I ever made it home...
I'd shave this damn thing off.
Would you do it for me?
Mm.
Are you sure? Hmm?
- Am I home? - Heh.
All right.
That's the first thing I remember about you.
Coming back that time from wherever you'd been...
looking all brown and bearded.
Looking more like some kind of a wild animal than a man.
Is that what you wanted?
Something wild?
Maybe.
Maybe just something a little...
dangerous.
A little different.
A little rich?
[CHUCKLES]
Make $900 and lose 1000, you are not rich.
It was never the money.
Couldn't have been love, could it?
It could have been.
If you'd have been the least...
little bit...
kinder.
What do you think?
I'm thinking...
who is this man sitting in my kitchen?
[CHUCKLES]
Well, good night.
Good night.
I guess we have to get used to each other again, don't we?
I guess so.
Yeah, well...
Good night.
[DOOR CLOSES]
[WHINNIES]
[LITTLE ROB SHOUTING INDISTINCTLY IN DISTANCE]
- You're getting ahead of me again. - Heh.
Not quite.
- So where is he? - He wanted to see the farm.
Hope he doesn't see too much. Liable to keep on riding.
- He wouldn't do that. - No.
But I have heard stories of men who come home after being away...
and finding their wives married again...
and realizing it wasn't nobody's fault. And that, uh...
-...she'd just fallen in love with... - Orin, please. I'm sorry.
I know you're hurting, and I wish to God that I was not the cause of it.
But we weren't married yet. He's my husband, he's come home now.
That's right. That's right.
But if he ever...
lays a hand to you again, I'll have to break it.
Orin, please.
LITTLE ROB: Jethro?
[CHICKENS CLUCKING]
ORIN: Well...
Lord...
take him to that better place where the sun always shines...
and he'll have bigger fields to run in. Amen.
ORIN: Jack.
What are you doing?
Not too damn much. What are you doing?
Try and get a little hoeing done.
Yeah, well, you can take a break.
Not gonna be any cotton on this land.
I put a little bit of work in these fields.
You and about 40 more slaves, maybe we'll get a crop in here.
What, you calling me a nigger?
Hell, Orin, I ain't...
Look, I know what you done around here and I appreciate it.
What I've done, I haven't done for you.
- She's made her choice. - No.
She had no choice.
You know, if it'd gone the other way, if she wanted you...
I don't think I would have hung around here, watched.
Not me.
No.
But then, you never were one to hang around, were you?
I told Orin I'd marry him next year, if you didn't come back.
He's put a lot of hard work in here, and we owe him.
Now, I want you to be nice to him.
You've gotta try and put yourself in his shoes.
JACK: Shoe. - Heh.
Come on, now. It's hard for him getting this close and all...
He ever get this close to you?
[SNICKERS]
I guess he did.
- Did he kiss you? - No.
- He didn't? Hmm. - No.
Did you want him to?
Mm-mm. I don't know.
- Don't know? - No.
Did he want to kiss you?
I guess he did.
Let me get the sugar.
All right.
Why didn't he?
Because I never said that he could.
- You say he couldn't? - No.
Well, let me get this straight. He wanted to...
but you didn't know.
So he didn't ask, and you didn't say.
So he didn't, and you weren't.
But he's not here, and I am. And I want to.
So I'm gonna go ask.
- Where are you going? - To ask Orin if I can kiss my wife.
[LAUGHING]
Stop it!
[CHUCKLES]
You got a very beautiful smile there, Mrs. Sommersby.
Hope to see a whole lot more of it.
Well, you will.
LAUREL: Where'd you find that?
Heh. It was in the trunk.
You remember?
You sewed this the whole first month we were married, didn't you?
When I finally tried it on, it was too small.
You threw the damn thing in there and said you're never gonna sew again.
- I don't think you ever did. - How'd you remember that?
Well, I forgot a whole lot of important things.
Other ones...
never leave my mind, never will.
- What are you doing? - Come on, arms up.
Been in a trunk for nine years. It needs some washing.
- Ugh. - Heh.
You remember making our son?
The night it happened?
- Yes. - You were drunk.
Yeah, well, I'm sorry.
Seems like after that, you never much wanted me anymore.
Well, seems a whole lot different now.
So...
you want to sleep in the other room?
No.
Good. Heh.
[BOTH LAUGHING]
What's wrong?
I just don't remember how I was with you.
How to be.
You don't have to remember that.
Jack...
Say it again.
Jack.
[MOANS]
Oh, Jack. Jack.
JACK: Hey, boy!
Let's go to town, get shoes!
Do I have to?
No, you can stay here and help me shovel out the chicken coop.
JACK: Come on.
LITTLE ROB: Where in the world are we going?
- Mama don't let me drive. - Well...
I guess we got to mind Mama, don't we?
- Say, "ha." - Ha.
- Say it louder. - Ha.
Don't say it to me, boy. Say it to him.
- Ha! JACK: Ha-ha-ha.
- Say it again. LITTLE ROB: Ha!
JACK: Morning!
Move around there.
Whoa!
Whoa. Whoa, whoa, whoa.
[EXHALES]
You're real good, boy.
Thank you, sir.
There's a lot of dead men's footprints on this wall.
That's the one I'm looking for.
I'm truly glad you didn't follow them, Jack.
You'll look just fine once you get your lips back.
Let me have that foot.
There's something about whiskers that makes a man's lips...
just shrink right on up.
I'll be damned.
Your foot shrunk.
Foot's two sizes smaller now.
That ain't mine.
Heh. You must have been drunk.
Sure it's yours. See? I wrote your name right here at the bottom.
How in the hell do you suppose that could have happened?
JACK: You know what I see?
DICK: No. - I see the future. Right there.
Tobacco?
FARMER: You mean smoking it, or growing it?
You can't grow it this far north.
MAN: Too cold! - Yes, you can. Yes, you can.
It's called burley.
MAN: Burley? - They want it. And we can grow it.
Jack! You ever planted anything in the field, except your foot up somebody's backside?
[ALL LAUGHING]
I don't think I have. But I didn't shoot my first man before I had to, either.
You want to hear what I have to say?
[ALL CHATTERING]
All right.
Here's what I'm offering.
I'll give you a piece of my land, each and every one of you.
I'll give you tools, fertilizer.
And you keep half of the crop when it comes in.
I'll take my share of the crop and pay off the mortgage.
When the title clears...
you can buy that land you work for a fair price.
[ALL CHATTERING]
Are you talking about selling your own land?
- Yeah. - Your dad would've died before he sold land.
He did, didn't he?
[ALL MUTTERING]
John Greene.
- How long you been sharecropping? 10 years? JOHN: Fifteen.
Fifteen years! You ever get a chance to buy that land you've been working?
Ha, ha. Hell, no.
Hell, no. This is it. This is your chance, boy.
Take it!
[ALL MUTTERING]
What about y'all? You want in?
I'm not helping niggers.
You're saying that those who, uh, work the land...
I can't hear you.
You're saying those who work the land get to buy it?
Yes, sir.
That means coloreds and all?
Nobody squats on my land.
You wanna stay, you have to pay for it just like everybody else.
MRS. BUNDY: I ain't living next to no niggras!
[ALL CHATTERING]
- You ain't, no? Well. Hmm. MRS. BUNDY: No, I'm not.
Where you gonna live, Mrs. Bundy? In the poorhouse?
I'd just as soon!
We take care of our own!
That's good. You gonna take care of her?
Do that. You go work your fields 12 hours and then work hers.
ORIN: I got a question. - Go ahead.
Tobacco seed.
We all know it's worth about 2000 times its weight in gold.
You got no cash.
- You got no collateral. - That's true.
Your house, your land, that's all mortgaged.
You don't have tools, you don't even a mule.
Where you gonna get money for tobacco seed?
[ALL CHATTERING]
That's God's own truth.
Thank you, Orin, for bringing that up. Appreciate your concern and confidence.
I was getting around to that.
MAN 1: We're waiting to hear that.
MAN 2: ls the seed gonna fall out of the sky, Jack'?
Hell, we're all...
We're all sitting on a little something.
[ALL MUTTERING]
- Aren't we? WOMAN: We don't have anything to sit on.
There's nothing you can do with that thing.
But just maybe, we put all it together, all those little things together...
we got something then. We got something.
No, sir, won't work.
JACK: Maybe we can get started. All of us.
There's something we can do. I don't know any other way to do this.
I got a file of Confederate money in the outhouse. You want it?
Thanks a lot. I don't see any way out of this except what I'm saying now.
BUCK: Want me to sell my other arm? JACK: Buck, listen to me now.
[ALL CHATTERING]
Well I got a ruby brooch worth $1000.
It's been in my family for 100 years, but I can't eat it.
And neither can my family.
Anybody got a better idea than Jack's? I'd sure like to keep my brooch.
Maybe y'all think I'm doing this because he's my husband. You're wrong.
This is not just some idea to put cash back in Jack Sommersby's pocket.
This is for all of us.
Besides...
it sounds to me like this idea just might go, don't you think?
MAN 3: I think so.
[ALL MUTTERING]
MAN 3: I think we don't have any other option.
JACK: Thank you, John.
- Pretty pitiful chicken scratching. JOHN: Not bad for your left.
Well, it is me.
- I hope you can get something for it. JACK: We'll get a lot of seeds for that.
- Thank you. MAN: Belonged to my granddaddy.
Went all the way through the War of 1812 with it.
LAUREL: That's beautiful. You won't regret it.
I'm regretting this already.
[ALL SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY]
- Ow! - Stop shooting at them chickens.
JACK: All right. What we got here?
Hmm!
Look at that. Never seen nothing like that before.
My grandmother's daddy gave it to her the day she married.
- Well. Uh-huh. - He was a toolmaker for her people.
- How many acres you want to work? - I was thinking about 10.
- Ten. Ten, it is. - Say there, we get to buy it?
Yes, sir.
You will be coming back, won't you, sir?
REVEREND: Godspeed, Jack.
Thank you, sir.
Mind your mama, now.
Bye.
- Sir? - Yeah.
This is real sharp.
Thank you, son.
I'll make a good trade for it.
Bye, sir.
JACK: Walk on, there! Walk on.
Home soon!
Bye!
You folks will take that side. We'll take this side.
All right, folks. Let's go to work!
We have two paces right here.
[PEOPLE CHATTERING]
Mark your way down, John?
Go take it over there.
Eight, nine, ten!
JOHN: Mark it all the way down at the end.
[ALL SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY]
[GRUNTS]
Try not to be hoeing the rocks. Make my job a little bit easier.
The ground's about ready. We have to plant soon...
He'll be here.
Yes, ma'am.
ORIN: How do we know if something's true?
My Bible says, "By their fruits ye shall know them."
Amen.
ORIN: A good tree...
bears good fruit.
An evil tree, rotten.
And you don't have to wonder which it is.
You just look...
and you shall know.
- Good morning, Mrs. Bundy. - Hmm.
Mr. Hines.
MAN: Go, John. Ask her.
Any news, Miss Laurel?
No, not yet.
[THUNDER RUMBLING]
Come on, Clarice.
[PUPPY BARKING]
[LAUGHS]
Here, boy.
Where'd you come from?
[DOOR OPENS]
- Sir. - Heh.
- Did you get a good price for my knife? - We did real good.
So good, I had something left over to buy him.
I think Mom's gonna be pleased to see you.
Hello.
Where you been?
Well...
I had to go all the way to Virginia!
But damn it, I got it!
- Let's see it. - Look at this.
Lookie, lookie, lookie.
It don't look like much, does it?
The seeds or me?
[CHUCKLES]
Come on. Look at it.
- Look at it. - You look at it.
Be careful now.
Where have you been?
[ALL SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY]
MAN: Let's put these babies to bed now.
Nice and cozy.
[MOANING]
[CRYING]
I'm sorry. Did I hurt you?
No.
- You all right? - Yes.
MAN 1: I'll be damned. MAN 2: Look at that.
JACK'. "Then Hector lifted..."
stout helmet and set it on his head.
And like a star, it shone.
And forth from its stand...
he drew his father's spear...
heavy, great...
"...and strong."
When's he gonna shoot some Greeks?
Well, I don't know.
It's all the way back here.
[JOSEPH & JACK SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY]
Let's go. Let's go! Let's go!
[BOTH LAUGHING]
[GRUNTING]
[MOANING]
MAN: All right.
That'll be a good start for you.
[GRUNTS]
LAUREL: How you doing? Ls your back holding up?
JOHN: Should be further along by now.
The ground's all give out from cotton.
- We gotta fertilize them, boys. MAN: Mm-hm.
[FLIES BUZZING]
The whole damn house is falling apart.
[LAUGHING]
What?
- Us. - What about us?
I was just thinking how we used to be, all rich and stupid.
Speak for yourself.
Now this house is falling apart...
we're broke, and I've never been so happy.
You certainly have changed, haven't you?
For the better?
So much better it scares me sometimes.
You never used to read Homer.
Yeah, well, there was a...
There was a man...
I was penned up with in Elmira.
He used to be a schoolteacher.
He had this old...
beat-up copy of Homer.
He used to read it to us.
Gave it to me.
I took up the reading when he died.
How did it happen?
He just died, that's all.
You don't have to talk about it.
All right.
Hang on. Snap it.
Good. All right.
LITTLE ROB: Come here, little Jethro.
JACK: See all these flowers here?
Every one of them's gotta go.
Every single one of them.
See these shoots? You gotta take them off too.
[JACK SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY]
[SIGHS]
DOCTOR: I said to use the fertilizer in the field, Jack.
[LAUGHS]
When is it coming?
Oh, September, August maybe.
Don't tell me you haven't known about this for some time, missy.
- Yeah, maybe I did. - Oh, yeah.
Why didn't you tell me?
Go on now. I need to get some rest. Go on.
Come on, Mr. Jack. Come on.
Joseph.
- Oh, sweet Jesus. - What the hell is it?
I believe it's a hornworm, sir.
Hornworm?
Look at this. Crawling all over them.
They gonna eat us up, sir.
You know what to do?
No, sir.
Maybe Mr. Orin know.
- Damned if I'll ask him. - You gotta ask him.
I said no!
Howdy. How are you?
Not too damn good. How are you?
Well, I think I'd be all right if I could get some work.
Heh, well, we got a field full of that, don't we?
This Jack Sommersby's place?
- Yeah. - Jack around?
[MEN SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY]
JACK: You want a piece of this?
- Get out! - Agh.
Thanks for coming.
LAUREL: Who were those men?
- What men? - The men in the field.
- I don't know. - What did they want'?
- Trouble. - What kind of trouble, Jack?
- For God's sake, how many kinds are there? - I saw you.
- Forget about it. - I saw you!
I said forget about it!
There are goddamn worms out there eating us!
Gotta worry about something, worry about them!
[DRIFTERS SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY]
DRIFTER: Hey, friend?
You got some water around here? Fresh water?
ORIN: Howdy. DRIFTER: Morning.
Got any water?
ORIN: You look like you run into some trouble.
Heard you had a problem.
Yeah.
You want to keep pulling them off like you are...
but then just go like this.
I got a big barrel at the end of the row. Fill up from that.
And then when you get done with that, I can mix you up some more.
- That keeps them off? - Yeah.
- What's in there? - Why, it's soap, mostly.
- Soap? - Yeah.
- Hamilton Sayer gave me the recipe. - Uh-huh.
Ham Sayer. He got that piece of land over by the church.
Yeah, I'll have to shake his hand next time I see him.
Mm-hm.
Why don't you take this, and I'll take that.
Job ain't done till they're all dead and buried.
Thank you.
[LAUGHING]
- Orin. What's wrong? - You tell her to get, first.
Go on now, Esther.
Six years I've worked this place...
for you.
Man comes here, says he's your husband.
You say I have to make way.
I make it.
I eat my heart like a piece of spoiled meat, but I make way...
for you.
Then I run into these drifters...
that just been at your place, looking for work.
And one of them's got his neck cut.
Said that somebody claiming to be Jack Sommersby tried to kill him.
- No. - I said, "Why'd he try to kill you?"
He said because he knew it wasn't Jack.
Said he'd been with the real Jack when he got his chest tore up at Wilson Creek...
and this man didn't have a mark on him.
And just now, out in the field...
he didn't know who Ham Sayer was.
Best friend he ever had!
Didn't know Ham Sayer.
But you've known all along, haven't you?
Hmm?
He might've fooled us but he didn't fool you.
Why, Laurel?
Why'd you do it?
Why'd you take him into your house?
Into your bed?
And why in God's name are you carrying some stranger's child...
when all I ever wanted in this world was to honor you?
You are living in mortal sin, Laurel Sommersby.
Do you hear me?
You and this child are in danger of spending eternity...
in everlasting damnation!
- Get out! - Come here.
Come over here.
See what these are?
They are a sign of the rottenness that is eating at this place.
- You get out. - Huh?
Take your lies and damnation with you.
Look...
and you will know.
JACK: So who do you think I am?
What?
I'd like to know one thing.
Whoever you think I am...
do you love me?
- You're drunk. - Yeah, I'm drunk. I know.
That's not the point. The point is...
that I love you. Now, do you love me?
If you loved me, you would stop this sinning and you'd leave me alone.
- No. No, I will not. - Jack would.
- He sure would. - Did you know him?
Is he dead? For all I know, you killed him and left him in some ditch.
He's right here in front of you. Right now.
A little banged-up maybe, but I'm here.
- Stop it! - Shh.
- Stop it! - You'll wake the boy.
Stop it. You're making me crazy!
You get out of this house!
No. No, I ain't leaving.
I'm home now. I ain't gonna leave again.
You are not my husband.
[GUN COCKS]
May God strike me dead...
if I am not.
[GLASS SHATTERS]
KLANSMAN 1: I'd let it burn, sir!
[HORSE NEIGHS]
JACK: Who the hell are you?
KLANSMAN 2: We are the Knights of the White Carnelia.
We are God's hand, and he is our eyes...
and we are his vengeance!
[MAN GRUNTS]
JACK: Joseph.
Can you talk to me?
You all right?
Why was this man beaten?
KLANSMAN 2: You have broken the law, and he has paid for it.
JACK: What law?
KLANSMAN 1: A nigger can't own land. - By law, he can own what he pays for.
Hey. Don't I know you?
You're on my land, aren't you?
Ain't you that teacher fella from over in Clark County?
Maybe you better cut bigger holes in that sheet, mister...
- ...to see who you're looking at. - Your master ain't listening, nigger.
Should I shoot you to make him hear me?
You got the gun. You do what the hell you like.
[GUN CLICKS]
The war's over, boys.
Don't do it.
LAUREL: Jack!
KLANSMAN 3: Stay back!
KLANSMAN 1: If he don't let go of it, shoot them both!
- I got him! BUCK: Hey.
I didn't come to kill no white man.
Buck? The hell are you doing here?
Shit! I told you!
- Miss Laurel! - Mom! Mom!
[ALL SHOUTING]
JACK: Get out of here! Get out!
[ALL CONTINUE SHOUTING]
[PEOPLE SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY]
JOSEPH: Is it still my land?
JACK: You own what you pay for.
JOSEPH: Well, I'm paying.
JACK: Go on now.
ESTHER: Come on. It's all right.
LITTLE ROB: I was scared! I thought they were ghosts. Were you scared too?
JACK: Yes, I was. I was truly scared.
But you saw them. Just men.
- Maybe they weren't even that. LITTLE ROB: They won't come back?
JACK: Heh. Why would they come back? We're not scared anymore.
No, sir, we are not! Now.
You want to finish this story? This is the part...
where they gonna shoot those Greeks. Yeah? All right.
Here we go. I like this part too. I'll read it to you.
"Now the Trojans... " Hi, there.
"The Trojans, like ravening lions, rushed upon the Greek ships..."
for the heart of Zeus was with them...
and their spirits filled like sails in the morning.
And the weariness of their legs departed...
and the mighty shields grew light on their arms.
"And they knew that victory would be theirs."
[CLEARS THROAT]
ORIN: You killed that dog, didn't you?
Poor old Jethro.
See, he knew you for a stranger.
So then you had to kill him.
Nice torch. Save it from last night?
Who are you, you son of a bitch?
Hmm?
Tell me who you are, or I'm gonna burn this place down.
- I'm the man she wanted. - No.
You're a liar.
You're a liar...
and you're a thief is what you are.
You are a goddamned yellow hypocrite, hiding under a bed sheet!
[BOTH GRUNTING]
LITTLE ROB: Sir?
Mama's having the baby.
Congratulations, Mr. Jack.
Thank you.
What happened to you?
Oh, I fell off a ladder. I'm all right. I'm all right.
- God. - Oh. Ha, ha.
- Can I hold her? - Yeah.
- Okay? Yeah, yeah, yeah. - Yeah.
- Yeah. Yeah, yeah. - Heh.
Shh. Shh.
[BOTH LAUGH]
- Let's call her Rachel, after your mama. - Yes.
So do you think she knows I'm her daddy?
I'm sure she does.
[BABY comma]
[LAUGHING]
JOHN: Looks like we have a fine crop.
[PEOPLE SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY]
How's the smoke there, reverend?
- Mm. Mighty smooth. - Ah.
How much you reckon we're gonna get?
It depends. I'll be happy with eight dollars on a hundred weight.
Mm-hm.
That get you a new spire on the church?
REVEREND: Verily I say unto you...
whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God...
as a little child...
he shall not enter therein.
And he took them in his arms...
put his hands upon them and blessed them.
Name this child.
- Rachel Caroline. - Rachel Caroline.
REVEREND: Rachel Caroline, I baptize thee...
in the name of the Father and the Son...
and the Holy Ghost.
ALL: Amen.
[BELL RINGING]
[ALL CHATTERING]
- Nothing to do with me. - You must be proud.
MAN: John Robert Sommersby?
Yes, sir.
Federal marshals, Mr. Sommersby. We have a warrant for your arrest.
My arrest? For what?
For the murder of Mr. Charles Conklin of Jackson, Mississippi.
- Five minutes, Mrs. Sommersby. - Thank you.
I want you to tell me.
I don't care what the answer is, I'll stay by you...
as long as it's the truth.
Did you do this?
No, I did not.
All right, then.
I'll get our things together.
JOHN: We're coming with you, Jack!
JACK: Thank you, John.
They're so afraid, they gotta handcuff me.
- I'll be back. MAN 1: You're a good man!
MAN 2: We're behind you! WOMAN 1: Take care!
I always did have a hankering to go see Nashville.
Proud to have you with me, Dick.
I'll be back, now.
MAN 3: I wish I knew why you was arresting this man.
Stand clear! Federal marshals.
God bless you, now. You promise to come right back.
I'll be back. We'll be back!
MAN 1: We'll be with you in two days! Don't worry!
WOMAN 2: We'll see you in Nashville, Jack!
[SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY]
Did you bring the Acts of Assembly?
BAILIFF: All rise, please.
Oyez, oyez. The Honorable Barry Conrad lssacs is now sitting.
This court shall come to order!
All having suits to prosecute or pleas to enter shall come forward...
and they shall be heard.
[PEOPLE CHATTERING]
Uh, well, we were playing a game of five-card...
and Charlie, Mr. Conklin...
saw Sommersby slip a card off the bottom of the deck.
Then he jumped up and called him a damn cheat.
And what happened when you got outside?
Mr. Conklin hit Sommersby in the stomach.
He went down like a sack of potatoes.
Then Sommersby got up with a gun in his hand.
Charlie hollered, "Don't shoot, Sommersby."
But he shot him like a dog, and he run off.
Now, is the man you refer to as Sommersby...
here in this courtroom?
That's him.
Let the record show witness identified the defendant.
WITNESS: I was standing on the corner across the street.
I couldn't see too well, because it was rather dark.
And I saw...
a man lying on the ground. And then he gets up.
And I see he has a gun in his hand.
And I heard this other man say:
"Don't shoot, Sommersby."
And he shot him.
And the man fell to the ground.
"Don't shoot, Sommersby."
DAWSON: Mr. Goldman...
- ...did you see him sign this register? - Yes, sir.
Is that his signature right there?
- Yes, sir. - Did there appear to be anything...
wrong with his hand?
No, sir.
The jury will observe this register from the Grand Hotel...
and the signature of J. Sommersby, and compare it...
to that of the signature on a bank mortgage...
signed by Mr. Sommersby seven years before.
The signatures are without a doubt identical.
ISAACS: This court is adjourned until tomorrow morning...
at 9:00... LAUREL: Wake up.
When we'll hear arguments for the defense.
BAILIFF: All rise.
How'd we do?
Did just fine, son.
MARSHAL: Mr. Sommersby...
will you come with me, please?
[ALL CHATTERING]
I know what you're thinking.
Orin, what are you doing here?
Watching over you.
We don't need watching, thank you.
The way things are going, he's gonna hang.
I can make sure he don't.
How?
You gotta tell them who you are.
If you tell them who you are, they'll have to let you go.
- I can't. - Yes, you can.
Who am I supposed to say I am?
Just who you are.
Do you really wanna know?
Yes.
Are you sure?
Yes.
I'm...
Jack Sommersby.
Pleased to meet you.
[CHUCKLES]
"H 93'"
[WHISTLES]
What'd I do?
You... You stubborn fool!
I'm not gonna let you do this.
I accept your offer.
Mr. Webb?
- Is the defense ready? - Yes, Your Honor.
The defense calls as its first witness...
Mrs. John Sommersby.
Webb, what the hell is this?
BAILIFF: Place your left hand on the Bible.
Do you swear the evidence you give be the truth and nothing but the truth...
so help you God?
- Yes, I do. - Please be seated.
- Please tell us your name, ma'am. - Mrs. John Sommersby.
Mrs. Sommersby, here are the hotel register and the mortgage paper...
the prosecution has submitted as evidence.
Do you recognize the signatures there?
Yes, they're my husband's.
WEBB: Could you point your husband out to the court?
No, I cannot.
WEBB: And why is that, ma'am?
Because my husband is not in this room.
[ALL CHATTERING]
Objection.
- Objection! - Come here, Webb. Webb!
DAWSON: Your Honor, this is absurd!
- Silence! Silence! - You Honor!
- Webb! - This is...
- Silence! - Webb!
I'm talking to you!
- Sit down, sir! - Laurel. Laurel, don't.
- Don't do it. You don't have to do it. - Sir!
You will sit down, or I'll have you seated.
Your Honor, this is a purely theatrical device designed by the defense...
to throw these proceedings into confusion.
Overruled, for the moment.
Mrs. Sommersby, are you saying the defendant is not your husband?
As clearly as I can, Your Honor.
Ma'am, are you saying the defendant is an impostor?
Yes, I am.
Your Honor, this is absurd! It's absurd, Your Honor.
Quite possibly, Mr. Dawson.
However...
we cannot continue to try a man for a capital crime...
if he is not the man in question, can we?
All right. Proceed, Mr. Webb.
Thank you, Your Honor.
And when did you realize this man was not John Sommersby?
Well, it was the little things. You know, at first, he looked different.
But so did everybody coming back from the war.
He couldn't remember a lot of things he should have.
- His own dog didn't know him. - Oh!
A dog. It's a dog, y'all!
ISAACS: Sustained.
He never talked about his father, and he'd been the world to Jack.
DAWSON: Uh, Your Honor! Your Honor, please.
Please!
Let's get our cows over their buckets, Mr. Webb.
Please continue, Mrs. Sommersby.
And after that, when we were...
together in a private way...
I knew it wasn't Jack.
A woman would know her own husband, Your Honor.
I'm sure most husbands would like to think so, Mrs. Sommersby.
But when you realized this man was not your husband...
why did you allow people to believe he was?
People believe what they want to sometimes.
Everybody wanted Jack to be alive and home...
and when this man showed up, looking like him, acting like him...
it weren't hard just to let it be him.
But there were signs anyone could notice if they had a mind to.
For instance, Mr. Mead, our shoemaker, fit him for a pair of boots...
and saw that his foot was two sizes smaller than Jack's.
Got them templates mixed up, that's all.
LAUREL: Another thing, one day these men came looking for work.
Drifters. They'd been in the Army with Jack when he was wounded.
- Pop? - And they said this man wasn't him.
Why is she saying that about you?
I don't know, son.
Tell her it's you. All right?
LAUREL: I'd never seen him look like that.
- So I knew. - Yeah.
All right. You go back and sit down now.
LAUREL: Well, Jack, whoever he is...
pulled a knife, so they couldn't expose him.
WEBB: I see.
[PEOPLE MUTTERING]
WEBB: Mrs. Sommersby, I have here a promissory note...
offering an option to purchase land, given to a Mr. Joseph...
signed by the defendant. Is that your husband's signature?
No. He couldn't sign like Jack, so he made up a story about a bad hand.
[ALL CHATTERING]
Your Honor, this witness will say anything...
to save her husband. I move we strike her testimony.
Mr. Webb.
Can you offer any support to the claims of this witness?
I can, Your Honor, and do.
The defense calls Mr. Matthew Folsom.
Mr. Folsom. What is your occupation?
I have a farm of some 2000 acres in Clark County.
Do you see the defendant?
Yes, sir.
Can you identify him?
Yes. His name's Horace Townsend.
WEBB: Horace Townsend.
Uh, how do you come to know the defendant?
He was the schoolteacher in Redthorn for a while.
- He taught my children for a year or so. WEBB: Uh-huh.
Please continue, Mr. Folsom.
I don't know where he come from, but he sweet-talked his way into the job.
He knew a lot of fancy stuff and Greek writing and all.
Anyhow, he talked us into some scheme to build a new schoolhouse.
We gave him everything we had and then some. More than $1200.
He run off with every cent.
WEBB: So, Mr. Folsom...
are you quite sure that this man is Horace Townsend?
Oh, I'm sure. There's a whole bunch of folks in Clark County...
be pleased to see Yellow Horace Townsend in jail.
Uh... Thank you, Mr. Folsom. Your Honor...
FOLSOM: Heard he moved on south...
got some girl in the family way and ran out on her.
Joined the Army, ran out on them. That's why they call him Yellow Horace.
At Sharpsburg, when our boys were in a bad fix...
he ran out and left them to it. The Yankees found him behind the bushes.
We lost track of him after that. But I knew him as soon as I saw him.
- What you're saying is... - What I'm saying...
is that man is a liar, a thief and a deserter.
His name is Horace Townsend.
Thank you, Mr. Folsom.
WEBB: Your Honor...
I believe the defense has proven beyond a doubt...
that this is a case of wrongful arrest, and move...
Your Honor, may I speak?
You may not.
- And move that a mistrial be declared. - If I dismiss my attorney...
- ...may I then speak? - You have the right to...
- You are dismissed. - ...but I don't see why you don't need to.
On the basis of that man's testimony, I'm about to rule on a mistrial.
Mr. Webb is trying to prove I'm not who I am.
I don't see how I could win anything that way.
You could win your life, sir.
Without my name, I don't think I have a life...
Your Honor.
Very well.
Continue, sir.
Thank you, Mr. Webb.
- Mr. Sommersby, I must... - I said, thank you.
- Mr. Folsom. - That's me.
You testified that you knew me as soon as you saw me.
Yes.
Did we ever meet...
since the time that you said that I lived in Redthorn?
I don't believe so.
No?
Huh.
I do believe so.
I believe the last time we met, you were sitting on a horse...
dressed up like a bed.
Didn't you and your White Knights burn a cross in front of my house...
and beat a black man half to death, because he tried to farm for himself?
- I did not. - You did not.
Didn't your leader point a gun at me...
and say that you and your Knights...
- ...are the only law in Tennessee? - Wouldn't know.
You don't recognize the authority of this court at all, do you?
Which is the reason you can lie about me.
You are the liar.
The reason... Real reason you are here...
is to stop Jack Sommersby from selling land to a colored man...
who'd then be a property-owner on a level with yourself.
You may go to hell, Townsend!
You will watch your tongue in my court, Mr Folsom.
And you will watch your tongue in my presence!
You sit up there in judgment of nobody!
In two years, when the Yankees are gone...
you will be back in the field where you belong!
Quite possibly, Mr. Folsom.
But in the meantime, you are in contempt of my court...
and I sentence you to 30 days in county jail. Bailiff.
Sentence me? You nappy-headed son of a bitch!
Sixty days!
[PEOPLE CHATTERING]
- Get your hands off me! ISAACS: Show Mr. Folsom...
- ...the way to our uncomfortable facilities. - You're a dead man!
The jury will disregard the testimony of that witness.
Mr. Towns...
How shall I address you, sir?
Jack Sommersby, Your Honor.
Can you offer evidence to that effect?
How many of y'all are here from Vine Hill?
- How many willing to swear I'm Jack? - I will!
- I'll swear!
[ALL CHATTERING]
We could bring them all up here, one by one, Your Honor.
Or what we could do, if you want...
is bring Mrs. Sommersby back up here, and find out how this thing got started.
Now, Laurel, you really believe I'm not your husband?
- Yes, you are not. - Mm-hm.
- But you let everybody believe that I was. - Yes.
Why is that?
Because I guess I wanted you to be him as much as they did.
Mm-hm. Why, Laurel?
Because I was worn out from work, I was lonesome.
- I didn't want my son... - You mean, our son?
No. I didn't want my son growing up without a father.
Ah, I see. So even when I first come home, from then, you had doubts about me?
- Yes. - Yes.
- Because I was mean to you? - No.
That's where you went wrong.
Jack Sommersby never said a kind word to me in his life.
Objection, Your Honor! Is this a court of law?
May I humbly remind you that this is a murder trial?
And may I remind you this court will not try a man for murder...
as long as his identity is in question.
Now, please sit down, sir.
- Please, continue, sir. JACK: Thank you.
But I must warn you, you proceed at your own jeopardy.
Heh, Laurel.
I think all these people are flat stumped right now.
These people have known you since you was born. Haven't you?
They may not know everything that you'd do...
but they sure as hell know what you wouldn't.
They know you wouldn't let a man sign contracts with them...
if he wasn't Jack Sommersby.
It wouldn't be worth the paper it's printed on.
Meaning...
they wouldn't own anything.
[PEOPLE MUTTERING]
You thought of that?
No, I...
What about our children?
What about them? If I wasn't Jack Sommersby...
what would that make them?
What about our little Rachel?
"Bastard" is not a very pretty word, Laurel.
Is that what you want?
No.
What about you?
You think you can just go home now with your illegitimate child...
and your thief lover...
and tell all these good folks...
you've been lying to them this whole year?
I think they know you better.
Maybe they don't know me as well as they think.
Well...
Ha, ha. Now nobody knows either one of us.
Twist this around as much as you want...
but you and I both know you are not Jack.
Well everybody here knows who I am.
I know who I am. The only people who don't are you and Orin.
[SCOFFS]
You make some kind of a deal with Orin?
Don't be ridiculous.
This man shows up here...
with a skunk in a sheet...
telling everybody I'm not who I am. What does he expect in return?
Stop this.
You stop it! Tell me, what'd you promise him?
I promised him everything would be the way it was before you came.
Mm-hm. Everything would be the way it was before.
Except you'd be promised to a man...
you don't love.
And I would be some piece of scum named Horace Townsend...
probably serving a few years for fraud.
At least you wouldn't hang.
I wouldn't have to. I'd be dead already.
You care for me, Laurel?
- Yes, of course I do. - Then why are you doing this?
Because you are not Jack Sommersby.
- How do you know? - A woman knows her husband.
- You've got no proof. - I don't need any.
- Nobody here believes you. - I don't care. I know how I feel.
- That's all that matters? - Yes!
God, you are a hardheaded woman, Laurel!
And you are a stubborn idiot. You are not Jack, so why do you pretend you are?
How do you know I'm not?
- I know. I know because... - How do you know? How do you know?
I know because I never loved him the way that I love you.
So tell me, Laurel, from your heart...
am I your husband?
Yes, you are.
Thank you.
No more questions, Your Honor.
Mr. Dawson?
You may step down, Mrs. Sommersby.
Do you have any more witnesses, Mr. Sommersby?
No, sir.
Would you kindly approach the bench, sir?
I'm afraid you've argued most effectively.
Your identity not being in question leaves little doubt about your guilt.
Don't you have anything else to say about that?
Mr. Sommersby?
[AUCTIONEER CHANTING]
JOHN: What's it say, reverend?
How much did we get?
I said eight, hoped for 10...
[LAUGHS]
."Got 12?
[LAUGHING]
Now, how much we get for the whole crop?
Um, just over $10,000.
God Almighty! Come on, woman.
Come here. Dance around here!
Jump around! Jump around.
- We did it. We did it. - Ha-ha-ha.
You and me.
Now, how are the kids?
They're fine.
Rachel's all fat and sassy.
Robbie?
He's having a hard time of it.
He don't understand.
I don't understand. What am I supposed to tell him?
You tell him his daddy never killed anybody.
What about Horace Townsend?
[MAN SHOUTS]
Horace Townsend.
Yeah, I knew Horace Townsend...
very well.
Everything they said about him in the courtroom there...
it was true.
I hated the bastard.
The only piece of luck he ever had was...
being locked up.
Some man looked just like him.
Could have been brothers.
Probably were.
[CHUCKLES]
I guess after spending four years in that cell together...
they knew everything there was to know about each other.
Anyway, he's dead now.
Who?
- Horace. - You didn't kill him?
No.
No, he got stabbed...
that night he killed Conklin.
Bled to death.
I buried him on a hill...
under some rocks.
You mean you buried Jack, don't you?
[SCOFFS]
I mean I buried Horace.
For good, Laurel.
You've got to tell them. You've gotta tell that judge.
- He'll understand. - Don't do this.
No. You want to hold me, then hold me today and every day after that!
You say that you love me, then you show me!
Be a father and grow old with me. That's what love is!
- You think I don't want that? - Then you come home.
You don't understand. If I'm Horace, we got no home.
- I don't care. - I do care!
I will not be Horace Townsend again!
You'd rather die?
No, no, no.
I would rather be home.
If you know some way for Jack Sommersby to walk out of here, I'll do it.
There's nothing I can say, is there?
Do you know...
how many nights I stayed up in our bedroom...
just looking at you...
thinking...
what a miracle it is to be here?
I used to wonder what I'd ever done to deserve...
being there in a room with you.
I still do.
Being your husband...
has been the only thing I've ever done that I'm proud of.
We don't have much time now. You bring it?
Yes, it's right here.
Oh, God! I ironed this thing four times.
- It's fine. No. - It's all wrinkled up.
It looks terrible.
My fingers are shaking.
Let me help you.
You know, I feel...
that if I know you're gonna be there with me, I can do this thing right.
Please don't ask me that. I can't. I will not watch you die.
[DOOR OPENS]
MARSHAL: It's time. - You wait a minute!
I'm sorry, sir.
You keep that for me...
for better or for worse.
Forgive me the worse.
It was always you.
I knew the first moment I saw you.
It was always you, my love.
SOLDIER 1: Company! SOLDIER 2: Attention!
God bless you, Jack.
"You, John Robert Sommersby..."
having been found guilty of the murder of Charles Conklin...
are hereby sentenced to be hanged by the neck until dead.
Sentence to be carried out immediately.
"May God have mercy on your soul."
[SOBBING]
"Because he hath set his love upon me..."
therefore will I deliver him.
I will set him on high, because he hath known my name.
He shall call upon me, and I will answer him.
I will be with him in trouble.
I will deliver him...
"...and honor him and show him my salvation."
God bless you, Jack.
Excuse me.
Pardon me.
Excuse me. Please, I have to get through.
No, don't. I'm not ready yet.
No, don't. Not yet!
Please! Let me through!
Don't, please!
Laurel!
Jack! I'm here!