Red River quotes

View Quote Teeler: A man can't eat this kind of food. After we lost another grub wagon, we should have turned back.
Dunson: Well, we didn't turn back and we're not goin' to. And even if we had, I couldn't replace what we lost. I'm broke. Got nothin' to buy it with. So you're on short rations and bad coffee. And you're gonna be until we finish the drive. And you're gonna finish it...Like it or not, that's it.

View Quote [to Meeker] All right, we rounded up some of your stock and some of Diego's and some of everybody else's around here...I haven't got the time or the inclination to cut 'em out. So I'll drive 'em to Missouri and give you two dollars a head when I get back.

View Quote Tess: I'll take care of Mr. Dunson. [Dunson is surprised she knows his name] I believe it's your beef we're eating.
Dunson: Who told you that?
Tess: The man you promised to kill.
Dunson: Did he tell you that too?
Tess: You're tired, aren't you? Tired, hungry and just a little bit irritable. You'll feel better after you eat. We'll talk then.
[Dunson notices her bracelet]
Dunson: How'd you get that away from him?
Tess: I stole it...
Dunson: So you stole that bracelet. How did you get it?
Tess: Would you really like to know, Mr. Dunson?
Dunson: How'd you get it?
Tess: I got it in the rain eight days ago, before he took your herd across that river and left.
Dunson: I'm wondering whether to believe you.
Tess: I don't care whether you do or not.
Dunson: I believe that.
Tess: You wanna hear more?
Dunson: Go ahead.
Tess: It was raining. If it hadn't rained, I wouldn't be here talking to you. He wouldn't be here where you could find him to kill him. You still intend to kill him, don't you?
Dunson: Nothing you can say is gonna...
Tess: I didn't say anything...
Dunson: So he went off and left ya. I didn't give him that much credit. Are you in love with him?
Tess: I thought you'd ask that. Can a woman love a man who'd go off and leave her?
Dunson: Well, she, she shouldn't...
Tess: I wanted to go with him, but he had work to do. He had to get your cattle to market. Said I wasn't strong enough to go and nothing I could do or say to make him change his mind. But I wanted to go with him. I wanted him so much that...
Dunson: That you felt like you had knives stickin' in ya.
Tess: How did you know that? I suppose other people have felt that way before.
Dunson: They have.

View Quote [to Bunk] You started all this...we're three or four hundred head short and you killed Dan Latimer...stealin' sugar like a kid. Well, they whip kids to teach 'em better.

View Quote It's all right. For fourteen years, I've been scared, but it's gonna be all right.

View Quote Matt: Well, here's your Red.
Dunson: It's quite a river.
Matt: Sure had a lot smaller herd the last time we crossed.
Dunson: One bull and a cow. Well, this looks like as good a place as any.
Matt: This will take us the rest of the day and part of the night. Why not cross fresh in the morning?
Dunson: We'll put 'em across now!
Matt: We've got a pretty tired bunch behind us.
Dunson: Tired men don't run away.
Matt: We can't keep 'em this wore out all the rest of the drive.
Dunson: No, but we can keep 'em this wore out until Cherry gets back. Then nobody'll want to run away.

View Quote Matt: I see a 'D' for Dunson, but my name's Matthew...I don't see any 'M' on that brand.
Dunson: I'll put an 'M' on it when you earn it.
Matt: That's fair enough. I'll earn it.

View Quote Matt: You didn't have to do that back there.
Dunson: You joined in.
Matt: Yeah, and I thought you were wrong.
Dunson: Well then why didn't ya...
Matt: Don't try and tell me what to think. I'll take your orders about work, but not about what to think.
Dunson: You think I'm to blame for that?
Matt: Just as sure as you're sittin' there.
Dunson: And so?
Matt: So I'll take your orders.

View Quote Tess: Now will you tell me something, Mr. Dunson?
Dunson: What?
Tess: Why do you want to kill him?
Dunson: Because he's a thief.
Tess: Do you think he thinks that?
Dunson: He should. I picked him up in the brush leading a cow. That's fourteen years ago. Taught him all I could. He knew what I was planning. Saw what I was building. He knew that someday, it'd all be his. His land, his cattle, the whole thing. Even talked of a woman as men will talk. A strong woman who could bear him sons, a woman like you.
Tess: Why did you want him to have a son?
Dunson: Because I built something. Built it with my own hands. And I can't live forever and live to see it grow. I thought I had a son. But I haven't and I want one.
Tess: I'm sorry for you, Mr. Dunson. Very sorry.

View Quote Teeler: Give me that gun. Somebody give me - I'll kill him. Let me go! He was gonna kill me! He wasn't gonna give me a chance - [Matt slaps him]
Matt: Turn him loose. Cherry, give me that gun. Here's what you've been trying for. All right, use it! Go on, you got what you wanted. What are you waiting for? If you don't want to live, all you have to do is - You're a lucky man, Teeler. This is how close it came.
Teeler: Matt, we're gettin' as crazy as he is. [Teeler returns the gun to Matt]
Matt: Keep it. You want to finish the drive?
Teeler: Where are we goin'?
Matt: Abilene.
Teeler: Who's headin' it?
Matt: I am.
Buster: What about Dunson?
Matt: He stays here. We're takin' the herd.
Teeler: That's good enough for me.
Matt: Groot? How about you?
Groot: You was wrong, Mr. Dunson. I've been with ya a lot of years. And up till now, right or wrong, I've always done like ya said. Got to be kind of a habit with me, I guess, 'cuz that's why I'm stayin' with ya.
Dunson: Go on with 'em.
Groot: Thanks. Thanks for makin' it easy on me. All right, men, I'll be comin' with you.
Matt: Throw 'em on the trail, start driving. Buster, you wait here till I get back. [He rides off to help round up the herd]
Cherry: If you come lookin' for me, Mr. Dunson, I'll be in Abilene.

View Quote Groot: That's awful good, Tom. Boys did all right.
Dunson: Yeah.
Groot: Why don't you tell 'em so, Tom?
Dunson: That's their job.
Groot: They're awful tired.
Dunson: I'll bet we won't have to count noses in the morning.

View Quote Melville: You gonna wait for Dunson, huh? I've been talkin' to some of your men. Isn't that check and the fact that you got here, isn't that gonna make any difference?
Matt: I don't think so, Mr. Melville.
Melville: I suppose I'm crazy but...
Matt: You want me to run away?
Melville: No, of course not. Couldn't, couldn't I talk to him?
Matt: I still have to talk to him after that.

View Quote Tess: Why does he [Dunson] think that way?
Matt: Because he got to a place where, see, he'd taken empty land used for nothin', made it the biggest ranch in the state of Texas. Fought to keep it...one bull and one cow, that's all he started with...After he'd done all that, gotten what he'd been after for so long, it wasn't worth anything...So he started this drive. Everybody said, 'you can't make it. You'll never get there.' He was the only one believed we could. He had to believe it. So he started thinking one way, his way. He told men what to do and made 'em do it. Otherwise, we wouldn't have got as far as we did. He started 'em for Missouri and all he knew was he had to get there. I took his herd away from him.
Tess: You love him, don't you? He must love you. That wouldn't be hard. [She kisses Matt on the lips] Did you like that?
Matt: I've always been kind of slow in making up my mind.
Tess: Maybe I can help. [They kiss again]
Matt: I don't need any more help but will you do that again? [They kiss again]