Open Range (2003)

Robert Duvall: Boss Spearman

Photos 

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Quotes 

• Charley Waite : [burying Mose and Tig]  Be right to say some words.

  Boss Spearman : You want to speak with the man upstairs, go on and do it. I'll stand right here and listen, hat in hand, but I ain't talking to that son or a bitch. And I'll be holding a grudge for him letting this befall a sweet kid like Mose.

  Charley Waite : Well, he sure as hell wasn't one to complain. Woke with a smile, seemed like he could keep it there all day. Kind of a man that'd say 'good morning' and mean it, whether it was or not. Tell you the truth, Lord, if there was two gentler souls in this world, I never seen 'em. Seems like old Tig wouldn't even kill birds in the end. Well, you got yourself a good man and a good dog, and I'm inclined to agree with Boss here about holding a grudge against you for it. I guess that means Amen.

• Charley : I'm not goin' to my maker without knowin' your given name. Mine ain't Waite; it's Postelwaite. Charles Travis Postelwaite. What's yours? Sure ain't Boss.

  [Boss hesitates] 

  Charley : I mean it, Boss. I'm asking you straight up.

  Boss Spearman : It's Bluebonnet.

  Charley : Bluebonnet?

  Boss Spearman : Bluebonnet, yeah.

  Charley : No middle name?

  Boss Spearman : No, just Bluebonnet Spearman. And don't you tell no one. I want to hear you swear an oath now, go on.

• [Charley Waite kicks Button off his horse. He falls into the river] 

  Button : What you do that for?

  Charley Waite : Cheatin' at cards.

  Button : I apologized to you for that.

  [to Boss Spearman] 

  Button : Eh, Boss? I apologized to him for that.

  Boss Spearman : Evidently he ain't over it yet.

• Boss Spearman : A man's trust is a valuable thing, Button. You don't want to lose it for a handful of cards.

• [Charley has explained his strategy for the upcoming fight] 

  Boss Spearman : Sounds like you got it all worked out.

  Charley Waite : Yeah, except the part where we don't get killed.

• Boss Spearman : I see they hobbled you.

  Percy : It's been a while since I was in a fight. I panicked. Fell back, like to have broke my foot.

  Boss Spearman : Ornery old fool.

  Percy : Well, or that damned Cuban cigar got me riled up.

• Boss Spearman : I aim to kill Baxter and those that done this, and if that marshal gets in the way, I'm gonna kill him too. So you best get your mind right about what's got to be done, Charlie.

  Charley Waite : I got no problem with killing, Boss. Never have.

• Boss Spearman : We come for justice, not vengeance. Now them is two different things.

  Charley Waite : Not today they ain't.

• Boss Spearman : It's a shame to go forever without takin' a taste of somethin'.

• Boss Spearman : We got a warrant sworn for attempted murder for them that tried to kill the boy who's laying over there at the Doc's, trying to stay alive. Swore out another one for them that murdered the big fella you had in your cell. Only ours ain't writ by no tin star, bought and paid for, Marshal. It's writ by us, and we aim to enforce it.

• Sue Barlow : So is it marriage that scares you two, or putting down roots?

  Boss Spearman : No. Who'd have him? All rangy and mangy like a rough old dog.

  Charley Waite : How about I hold your head under water for just a little while?

• Boss Spearman : It's a pretty day for making things right.

  Charley Waite : Well, enjoy it, 'cause once it starts, it's gonna be messy like nothing you ever seen.

• Boss Spearman : Man's got a right to protect his property and his life, and we ain't lettin' no rancher or his lawman take either.

• Charley Waite : You ever seen one this bad?

  Boss Spearman : Not since Noah and the Flood.

  Mose : Well, you should know, Boss, since you was there.

  Boss Spearman : What'd you say?

  Button : He said, "You should know since you was there."

• Boss Spearman : My friend and me got a hankerin' for Switzerland chocolate and a good smoke.

• Boss Spearman : I believe you have a friend of ours in your jail. His name's Mose Harrison.

  Sheriff Poole : Yeah, I got him here. He started a fight in the general store.

  Boss Spearman : Mose don't start fights. He just finishes them.

• Denton Baxter : You're nuthin'!

  Boss Spearman : Maybe so, but I'll still be breathin' in another minute.

• Boss Spearman : Mornin', boys!

  [holds up bottle of chloroform] 

  Boss Spearman : I brung your breakfast!

• Boss Spearman : We'll let the brains of the outfit do the thinking. Sue?

• Boss Spearman : Brought you a cigar, all the way from Havana, Cuba.

  Percy : You don't say. I've heard about them but I've never had one. Much obliged to you.

  Boss Spearman : What do you think?

  Percy : Better than them crappers I usually smoke.

• Boss Spearman : She ought not to sneak up like that.

  Charley Waite : She weren't sneaking. I scared that woman half to death.

  Boss Spearman : Scared me a little bit too.

• Doc Barlow : I'd say 'to good health,' gentlemen, but then I'd probably be out of business, wouldn't I?

  Boss Spearman : We'll drink to good health for them that have it coming.

• Boss Spearman : The name Butler mean anything to you?

  Charley Waite : You hear names when you're on the other side of things.

  Boss Spearman : He as fast as they say?

  Charley Waite : He's a killer.

  Boss Spearman : You know him if you saw him?

  Charley Waite : He ain't hard to recognize if you know what you're looking for.

• Boss Spearman : [to Button]  By God, if you're gonna pick your feet like a monkey, you do it down-wind.

• Sue Barlow : [checking injuries]  Are you the boy's father?

  Boss Spearman : No ma'am. His name's Button, and he works for me.

  Sue Barlow : It appears that's not very healthy.

• Denton Baxter : I'm dying.

  Boss Spearman : And for what? More cows? You killed a good man and maybe that boy out there out yonder. You get no sympathy for your death.

• Boss Spearman : It ain't right to walk away without a word.

  Charley Waite : Well what do you want me to tell her, Boss? We probably ain't gonna make it? Be a big fat comfort.

• Boss Spearman : Well, if I'm gonna get killed, I got a hankerin' to soothe my sweet tooth.

• [first lines] 

  Boss Spearman : [indicating a thunderstorm]  Think she'll get over this-a-way?

  Charley Waite : Might.

  Boss Spearman : Best bed 'em down.

• Boss Spearman : How much I owe you, doctor?

  Doc Barlow : We're even. I figured I made enough off the damage he did to Baxter's men.

  Boss Spearman : I wish he'd have made you wealthy.

• Boss Spearman : Charley, you all right?

  Charley Waite : I'm fine.

  Boss Spearman : Seems like you was, you know...

  Charley Waite : I said I'm fine. Just got some old feelings coming up.

  Boss Spearman : You know, we never asked each other much. That's always been okay with me. I figured it was okay with you. But you said some things the last couple of days. Things that seemed like they had kind of a history to them. Hey, Charley?

  Charley Waite : Don't stand behind me, Boss.

  Charley Waite : [scene change to night]  When I was a kid, a bunch of us would go into the woods with our peashooters. Nothing fancy, just enough to kill a bird or a squirrel, maybe something larger if we was lucky. Killed my first man in them woods. Held the paper on our farm, and after my pa died, he'd come around to get payment from my mom in any way he could. Weren't much older than Button when I shot him in the throat. Knew there'd be more killing, so I run off and joined the Army. War was on. They was only too happy to have me. My first skirmish was like hunting with my friends. We just sat up in some trees, and they came marching at us. Must have been a hundred of them dead after the smoke cleared. Went around and shot the rest who weren't. Those of us with the knack was made into a special squad so we could travel light and on our own into enemy territory. Orders were pretty simple. Make trouble wherever we could. With room like that, it wasn't long before we was killing men that weren't even in uniform. Seemed like that went on the rest of the war. After that, I come West. Lot of call for a man with them skills. And I put them to work for men just like Baxter. Every once in a while, I almost get through a day without thinking about who I am, what I'd done.

• Ralph : This is dark chocolate. It comes all the way from Switzerland, Europe. That's near France, see. They call it 'bitter sweet.' Melts in your mouth.

  Boss Spearman : You tried it?

  Ralph : No.

  Boss Spearman : How do you know it melts in your mouth?

  Ralph : Well, truth is, we can't afford it ourselves.

• Boss Spearman : [cocks shotgun]  One twitch, and you in hell.

• Boss Spearman : We'll drink to good health for them that have it comin'.

• Boss Spearman : It's a pretty day for makin' things right!

• Boss Spearman : I married once. Never knowed that did you Charlie? Had a wife and child. Sweet little spread too nothing much but we was young. Loved each other. Never had a cross word. They caught the typhus and died. After that home didn't seem much of a place to spend time. Believe I've chanced my mind on that now that I'm getting on in years. If Button lives and we survive Baxter I am to see to it there's a home he's sleeping in instead of a cold prairie.

• Boss Spearman : Much obliged to you, ma'am.

  Sue Barlow : You're very welcome, Mr. Spearman.

  Charley Waite : Thank you, Sue.

  [Boss and Charley walk towards town] 

  Sue Barlow : Take care of yourself, Charley.

  Boss Spearman : Are you just gonna go off like that without saying nothing?

  Charley Waite : Ain't nothing to say.

  Boss Spearman : I seen how you look at that gal and the way she looks at you. It ain't right to walk away without a word.

  Charley Waite : What do you want me to tell her, Boss? We probably ain't gonna make it? Be a big fat comfort.

  Boss Spearman : I don't know what you should tell her, Charley. I wish I'd have said more to my wife before she passed. This may be the last time she sees you in this world, Charley. Or you her. So tell her whatever you can. 'Cause she's entitled to more than just your backside walking away.

  [Charley returns to the house and knocks on the door, Sue opens the door] 

  Sue Barlow : Charley.

  Charley Waite : I'm not sure what's worth saying or not.

  Sue Barlow : Well, you don't have to say anything.

  Charley Waite : Yeah, I do. Boss is right about that. He's right about a lot of things. It's just... I'm not who you think I am, Sue. I've... been places. I've done things. Most of them, I'm not proud of.

  Sue Barlow : You know, I always hoped somebody gentle and caring might come along. Years pass. A small town and all. And your hopes begin to fade a little every day until you hardly remember what they were. I've seen who you are, Charley. The way you looked after that boy and the respect you give Boss. It might be little bits. But they're enough for a woman who looks.

  Charley Waite : Men are gonna get killed here today, Sue. And I'm gonna kill them. You understand that?

  Sue Barlow : Yes. I want you to have this. It's always brought me luck.

  Charley Waite : I... can't take your locket.

  Sue Barlow : It's not your choice when it's a gift.

  Charley Waite : It's a good likeness of you.

  Sue Barlow : It's my mother when she was young.

  Charley Waite : She's beautiful. I want you to know that if I don't ever see you again that I meant everything I said to you and I appreciate everything you said to me. Ain't nothing that happened in this old town been a surprise. Except you.

  [Charley walks toward town] 

  Sue Barlow : I'll be seeing you, Charley Waite.

  Charley Waite : [Charley speaks to Boss sarcastically]  Happy?

  Boss Spearman : Yeah. If you are.

• Boss Spearman : Charley.

  Charley Waite : You two wait here.

  Boss Spearman : Hold on, there, Charley. Hold on.

  Charley Waite : I ain't looking over my shoulder the rest of my days.

  Boss Spearman : Charley.

  Charley Waite : You said we was gonna kill them all. I aim to do just that.

  Boss Spearman : I meant kill them. Not murder them.

  Charley Waite : Splitting hairs, ain't you, Boss?

  Tom : Mister, I heard what you said. I won't come after you. I promise.

  Charley Waite : No, I expect you won't.

  Boss Spearman : [Boss steps between Charley and Tom]  I ain't gonna let you do it, Charley. You do this, you ain't no different than Poole or Baxter or that gunhand of his that murdered Mose.

  Charley Waite : Him killing Mose is how this started.

  Boss Spearman : We come for justice, not vengeance. Them is two different things.

  Charley Waite : Not today, they ain't. Step aside!

  Percy : [Percy joins Boss between Charley and Tom]  Listen to him, son. You done what you had to here because they give you no choice. Don't go making this into something bad.

  Boss Spearman : This ain't the way, pard.

  Tom : [Tom speaking to Boss]  Mister, thank you. Thank you.

  Boss Spearman : Didn't do it for you, boy. Just make peace with your bad deeds.