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You're back with the living,
are you, lad?
You're lucky to be alive, man.
Do you know who shot you?
No.
-Or why.
-l came near to killing you myself.
Returning from the lumber camp,
l almost ran over you in the mist.
Where is this place?
You're in Eldir in my workshop.
Okay, now.
Alex McGregor.
''Artist and artisan,'' they call it.
Maker of memorial monuments
and coffins.
You
brought the body here?
Body? What body?
There was a man.
Dead man
hanging from a tree.
You're the only body l saw there.
What be your name?
l am Caine.
Caine.
Well, what makes you think you saw
a corpse hanging from a tree?
No, l did.
l could not see his face.
He was a big man
with red hair
and clothes like those.
How strange, l didn't see it.
There's only one man in Eldir
who fits that description.
Toluca, l have to see Mrs.
Norman
straightaway about Mr.
Norman.
Did your husband ever express
any opinion on this matter?
We're in the middle
of a council meeting.
You'll find this a wee bit
more important.
Come in.
That's Mr.
Caine.
Mrs.
Norman, mayor of Eldir.
Mr.
Norman didn't want the job.
Noah Fleck
manager of the largest and
finest saloon in town.
Mr.
Norman's.
What's this all about, McGregor?
l found this fellow
two miles out of town.
Sheriff, needless to say,
he's been shot.
Who did it?
l do not know.
He says he saw a man
hanging from a tree, and.
Who was it?
From the description he gave me, it
sounds like your husband, Mrs.
Norman.
That's impossible.
lt couldn't be.
What kind of a
***-and-bull story is that?
lt is the truth.
Well, l don't believe it.
ls Mr.
Norman here?
My husband left town
early this morning.
Could you tell me
which way he went?
He went to Blackwater on business.
-He owns the bank there.
-He owns the bank here too.
He lets Mr.
Mercer here
call himself president.
lt was in the marsh
on the road to Blackwater
that l saw the hanged man.
Did you see the body, Mr.
McGregor?
To be perfectly honest with you
Mr.
Caine here has taken a muckle
grand shot to his brainpan.
Well then, that explains it.
A hallucination.
Yeah.
We all know those mists
out at the marshes play funny tricks.
Yes, people always imagine
they see strange things out there.
l was shot
after l saw the dead man.
-There was a white horse.
-Aye.
That'd be his horse.
Well, l'll send a deputy out to check.
Check the area.
Mr.
Caine, don't you think
it's possible you're wrong?
l was shot.
Perhaps
for seeing what l saw.
Yes, but no one--
No one would kill Jason Norman
much less hang him.
That's true.
There's no reason,
no motive for anyone to kill him.
Perhaps
someone
with a secret discontent.
Mr.
Caine, my husband was
not only the richest man in Eldir
but he was one of the finest persons
l've known.
Rich is right.
He not only made a fortune,
he married a fortune.
The point is, he spent his wealth
on this town and its people.
That's right.
There's hardly anyone here
who isn't indebted to him
for some reason.
He paid my wife's medical bills
all the years she was sick.
Even paid for her funeral.
Last month.
ls that a fact?
You know, l never knew that.
Jason has many charities
no one has ever known about.
Well, he could afford it.
He took everything he wanted
and the rest of us
got what was left.
He always wins, and we always lose.
You have both shown your mastery
of what you have been taught.
Master Kan.
Which-- Which one of us has won?
Won?
Must there not be one
who is the victor?
And one the vanquished?
When you were young
did you not stand by the fountain
and watch the bubbles rise?
They were very beautiful to see.
ln a sense, a victory for
the gossamer circles of liquid
over the insubstantial air
they imprison.
When you tried to grasp them,
what became of them?
They were gone.
They were
empty
without substance.
So, too, can victory be.
And defeat?
Does not the true value lie
in what one does with either?
Winners and losers,
losers and winners.
Now there's a conceptual antagonism
if ever l heard it.
Well, looks like we've got
a new order of business.
Question:
lf Jason Norman is dead,
which one of us killed him?
Jason is not dead.
Mr.
McGregor?
l want to repay you.
Well, that's dear of you.
Thought you had no money.
l can work for you.
Listen, fella, l've been thinking.
Being as it were
it might be a healthier thing if you--
lf you left Eldir.
A man has died
and he has been denied.
All right, if you're determined to stay,
l'll let you work it off by helping.
You can start with that wagon
right there.
Now look, sir
you can stay in that workshop
if you don't mind coffins.
And listen, laddie, be careful you don't
open one you can't put the top back on.
What do you want?
l am troubled.
Of all
you alone do not hold
Mr.
Norman in high regard.
''High regard.
''
l hate Jason Norman.
He's a liar and a cheat!
First met him in Tucson 1 5 years ago.
We were both down on our luck.
Between us, we had
enough for a grubstake.
We went up into the mountains
and we struck it rich.
Silver.
But Jason went down into Eldir alone
to file the claim.
His was the only name on it.
What did you do?
l went to the sheriff, Hodges.
He did nothing.
-Why?
-Because he's a crook!
He's been in Jason's pay
since the beginning.
And that story about Jason paying
for his wife's medical bills
that's just a cover-up.
You could have gone further.
Higher?
Well, l didn't.
l let Jason buy me.
There are a lot of other people in this
town had reason to kill Jason Norman
and others who will be
glad to see the last of him.
Caine!
There was nothing out there.
There was.
Well
l'll send a telegraph to Blackwater
to check on Jason's arrival.
lt won't get there
till tomorrow, anyway.
So there's no need to
trouble you anymore, Caine.
You can be on your way.
l am working here in Eldir.
Everything here was going smooth
until you came here
and started stirring things up.
l have done nothing.
You drunken fool!
-What are you afraid of, sheriff?
-Nothing.
Did you kill Jason?
Why would l kill Jason Norman?
Because you're afraid Jason Norman
knows how much money
you and your men
have stolen from him.
That's what.
How'd it go, lad?
l am puzzled.
What kind of
man was he?
He always wanted me
to work from life.
That's his last commission.
Himself.
l'll never be able to finish it
now that he's dead.
Could you not work from a likeness?
There'd be none.
He never
liked things like that around.
l do know one thing about him:
He was an educated man.
We shared a liking
a love of poetry.
Poetry's the only language
you can create in no time.
So you see, l knew him in a
different context on the path.
As far as what sort of man he was,
that's hard to say about anyone.
What kind of man are you, Mr.
Caine?
A man
like any other.
Are you now, lad?
l think not.
lt's getting late.
What's wrong with you?
A Chinaman
Caine, he calls himself,
came into town this morning.
Carol, he says that
Jason Norman is dead.
He can't be dead.
l know he can't be.
But why? Why would this Caine
say a thing like that?
l don't know.
But if he is
you did it.
What an awful thing
for a man's wife to say.
But it's the truth.
Without Norman's
money, you'd be out of business.
Jason told me he was gonna withdraw
all his money from the bank this morning.
That is a lie.
And you have other reasons
to hate Jason
and to kill him.
What do you mean?
Don't pretend you don't know.
And how about you?
Don't you have a reason to kill him?
What's on your mind, Caine?
There has been another hanging.
What?
Mr.
Fleck.
ln Mr.
McGregor's workshop.
You stay here.
Come on! Show me.
Another ***-and-bull story.
And here's the living proof
you're a liar.
What's going on?
Chinaman here says he saw you
hanging up there
dead.
Do l look dead?
A little elevated, perhaps,
but certainly not dead.
l don't know what
your game is, Caine
but it isn't gonna work.
l want you out of Eldir.
First thing in the morning.
l never saw that before.
What's that?
lngenious.
You don't suppose, perhaps, that's
the way they left Norman hanging?
l cannot say.
You'd better not.
One thing's for certain,
someone wants your silence.
You know what l mean?
One way or the other.
Jason Norman made Eldir
a good place to live.
Besides that, he gave it
a reason for living.
He brought music and playactors
inspired the people
to the arts of life.
Encouraged me to try
my hand at sculpting.
Gave me my first commission
on Mrs.
Olson's tomb.
lt's a strange land, Mr.
Caine.
lt takes the.
The temperance of mind
to see what beauty can be created
out of the raw, rough rock and earth.
Ugly.
And yet, to another such creature
might not this one appear beautiful?
So beauty differs from being to being.
Beauty is constant, as is the truth.
Seek and find what is the truth.
What is the truth of man, master?
lt has been said that
a man is three things:
What he thinks he is,
what others think he is
and what he really is.
Which of these do you
believe is the truth?
What he really is.
But if a man is wrong about himself
and others are wrong about him
who is left to say what he really is?
At what point in time
can a man be fixed and frozen
if he is to live and grow?
He must change.
As the lowly caterpillar
transforms itself
into a finer
and more beautiful creature.
Glad you took my suggestion
to leave, Caine.
Can't say l blame you.
Hold it.
You're going the wrong way.
lt is the way l have chosen.
Better follow him.
Make sure
he doesn't come back.
Get Blainey.
Norman's horse.
Over there.
Blainey!
Hold it!
Todd?
Blainey?
'' To J.
N.
from R.
N.
Till death do us part.
''
His horse is out in there somewhere.
Well, this puts it all together, Caine.
l just got an answer to my telegraph
to Blackwater.
Jason Norman never arrived there.
Then you believe me now?
l believe Jason Norman is dead
and you killed him.
Why? l do not know him.
You didn't have to know him
to rob him.
Now, the way l see it
you probably shot him in the back.
Only he managed to nick you
before he died.
l came here to tell you of his death.
McGregor brought you into town.
Caine, l'm arresting you
for the *** of Jason Norman.
l asked you here tonight
so you could serve as a grand jury.
What is it, sheriff?
l'm sorry, Mrs.
Norman.
l have evidence now
that your husband is dead.
And about time.
So you finally got up
enough nerve to kill him.
How about you, Mercer?
-What do you mean?
-l mean Jason and your wife!
A disgusting lie.
Carol was always after Jason,
but he didn't want her.
-He loved me.
-He hated you.
Carol couldn't face Jason's rejection.
lf anyone killed Jason, it was her.
Jason was going to Blackwater
to sell the bank.
And he and l were
going away together.
Mrs.
High-And-Mighty
had too much pride to admit that.
She preferred to see him dead.
Look, there's no need for any of this.
We've already got the man
who killed Jason.
-What are you doing here?
-Standing up for him.
Unless you have some great reason
l shouldn't.
All right.
You can stay.
Ladies and gentlemen
l'm asking you
to return an indictment
of first-degree *** against Caine.
-You.
You found Jason's body?
-No.
l doubt we ever will.
Not after he buried it in the marsh.
-Then there's no evidence Jason's dead.
-No, there is evidence.
Circumstantial
but enough to convict Caine.
Aye? l'd like to see that.
You can picture it for yourself.
Here's this penniless, stray Chinaman.
He spots an obviously well-to-do man
riding along a deserted road, alone.
He sees his chance for a quick killing.
And he does just that!
Only Jason gets a shot off
before he dies
wounding Caine.
The man was totally unconscious
when l found him.
Oh, sure, he passed out.
After he got rid of the body.
Then you happened along,
and he wakes up in Eldir
instead of long gone, as he figured.
Well, then he makes up that
fairy tale about Jason being hung.
He wouldn't do that.
He wanted to stir up
doubts and suspicions among us
to cover up for his own guilt.
And it worked, for a while.
But that's all theory.
Oh, l got facts to back it up.
When Caine left town this morning,
he returned to the scene of his crime.
And when my men moved in
to arrest him
he tried to kill them.
l tried to kill no one.
Then he came back into town,
still trying to brazen it out.
But this is the last nail in his coffin.
He took it from the body
of the man he killed.
lt's Jason's.
All those in favor
of returning an indictment
of *** in the first degree
so signify.
-Aye.
-Aye.
And in killing him
aren't you just trying to rid yourself
of your own personal demons?
-What is it, grasshopper?
-Demons! Demons trying to kill me!
There are no demons here.
See for yourself.
Only a bad dream.
Oh, master
why do l have such a dream?
All men have dreams
of different types, good and bad.
There are the vain dreams, futile,
based on baseless hopes.
There are the dreams
that spur and inspire
based on aspiration to a high ideal.
And there are the false dreams,
based on lies to oneself or others.
Which is mine?
The incense container
was the catalyst of your dream.
A fiction frozen to fact
that summoned forth
the demons of your dream.
My dream was false then.
False to you.
Therefore, a nightmare.
And yet, to the artist,
a good and true dream
for in that fabrication
he realized his inner ideal
of the perfect dragon.
Oh, Lord, l prayed to God
l wouldn't have to tell you this.
But we all have to face ourselves
for what we really are.
A scapegoat's what you're trying
to make out of him
to sustain the lies you all live by.
Now, didn't you all say yourselves
that no one would ever kill him?
Well, you're right about that.
What do you mean?
He killed himself.
Aye.
That morning, early,
l was returning to Eldir.
l was crossing the marsh,
and l saw him on his horse
putting a rope around his own neck.
l called out to him.
He just turned around and smiled.
His crop was waving in the air
and he brought it down
on the flank of his horse.
Well, every fella's got a right
to be left to his own laughter.
Each man carves himself
out of eternity
and for that, usually dies
by his own hand.
All right.
Let's say he died
by his own hand.
l went to take him down.
That's when l first saw Mr.
Caine here.
l shot at you, sir.
l tried to miss, but l never was
much good with one of those things.
Oh, glory be to God l didn't kill you,
lad, trying to save a dead man.
l took Jason and l buried him
with his horse's gear.
l set the dear thing free thinking
it would take to the hills
but he returned to search out
the man no person could ever find.
l thought what he'd done would never
be discovered, and that's the truth.
But how can you let a dead man lie?
Lie like you people do.
Why did you pretend to be hanged?
Sheriff paid me to do it.
He was
afraid if there was any investigation
it'd show him up for the crook
he really is.
l had Blainey and Todd set it up.
Why? Why did you do it, Alex?
l gave him a decent burial.
That's
more than he would have got here
with the words of gossip dancing
over his death, like it did his life.
Gossip's ***!
That's what killed him.
And what's that make us?
Nothing?
And everything we feel?
Nothing too.
Well, l don't believe it.
All this is just an attempt
to save Caine.
Absolutely! l'm here to save Caine.
l'm here to save all of us.
l found this in your husband's pocket.
Needless to say,
it's his last will and test--
Testament.
I do remember I woke this morn
As the sun cracked
In the dawning east
And felt as though I had been torn
From a night's unfinished feast
Standing alone in a dim-lit palace
As the taster of a king
Allowed to sip the wine-filled chalice
To hear the sounds
Of church bells ring
The bells of a church I could not enter
Come not close, but pass me by
For the gates of Heaven are its center
And the beggar at this banquet, I
Within this flood
The visionary gleamed
Where is it now
The glory I'd achieved?
He is not dead.
-Where is he?
-He is here.
He will always be here
until each of you buries him.
Alex?
lt's only fitting you should be here
for the end.
l had hoped for a beginning.
The day's over.
The dream's done.
Yours was not an empty dream.
lt was nothing.
Could you not leave it as it is?
lt would be.
Be a fitting monument?
My father gave this to me
when l was a wee lad.
l'd like you to have it.
You know, you walk too much
with your head down.
You ought to keep your eyes up
toward the sun.
[ENGLlSH]
