Vin I never rode shotgun on a hearse before.
2nd most-quoted character in The Magnificent Seven (1960): in 20 of its 99 quotes
Most scenes with: Chris Adams (11), Bernardo O'Reilly (3), Chico (3)
Reminds me of that fella back home who fell off a ten-story building. As he was falling, people on each floor kept hearing him say, "So far, so good." Heh, so far, so good.
More lines from Vin
7 quotes Vin Vin I took a job in a grocery store. Fella says I'll make a crackerjack clerk. Crackerjack.
Vin You know, I've been in some towns where the girls weren't very pretty. Matter of fact, I've been in some towns where they were downright ugly. But this is the first time I've ever been in a town where there are no girls at all -- 'cept little ones.
Vin You don't happen to have an older, grateful sister, do you?
Vin We deal in lead, friend.
Vin The reason I understand your problem so well is that I walked into the same trap myself. Yeah. First day we got here I started thinking, maybe I could put my gun away. Settle down, get a little land, raise some cattle. The things these people know about me would work to my credit, it wouldn't work against me. I... just didn't want you to think you were the only sucker in town.
Vin Fella I once knew in El Paso, one day he took all his clothes off and jumped in a mess of cactus. I asked him the same question, why? He said it seemed to be a good idea at the time.
Scenes with Vin
12 scenes
[Driving an occupied hearse to a confrontation with local bigots]
Don't worry. We'll get there (to Boot Hill).
Vin Gettin' up there doesn't worry me. Stayin' there is what I mind.
Vin I did hear of a job below the border shooing flies away from a village, but I can't find out what it pays.
Twenty dollars.
Vin A week?
Six weeks. Whole job.
Vin Well, that's ridiculous. You heard of anything?
Yeah. Below the border shooing flies away from a village. Their village. (indicates Hilario and company)
Vin Twenty dollars.
You can come in right now.
Vin Nah, that wouldn't even pay for my bullets.
Ours is a poor village.
We understand. You can make much more as a grocery clerk. And it's good, steady work.
Yeah.
Vin How many you got?
[Chris holds up one finger; Vin shakes his head and holds up two fingers.]
Did you have any luck?
Found a man who would have been perfect. With gun or knife, couldn't ask for any better. But he wouldn't do it.
Hilario : The money, it was not enough?
He doesn't give a hoot about money.
A man in this line of work who doesn't care about money?
Men in this line of work are not all alike. Some care about nothing but money. Others, for reasons of their own, enjoy only the danger.
Vin And the competition.
If he is the best with a gun and a knife, with whom does he compete?
Himself.
[Chris and Vin approach O'Reilly, who is chopping wood on a farm for his breakfast.]
Morning. I'm a friend of Harry Luck's. He tells me you're broke.
Nah. I'm doing this because I'm an eccentric millionaire.
There's a job for six men, watching over a village south of the border.
How big's the opposition?
Thirty guns.
Harry tells me you faced bigger odds during the Travis County war.
Well, they paid me six hundred dollars for that one.
Vin He said you got that Selena thing cleared up in less than a month.
Paid me eight hundred dollars for that one.
Vin You cost a lot.
Yeah. That's right, I cost a lot.
The offer is twenty dollars.
[O'Reilly keeps chopping wood. Chris and Vin turn to leave.]
Twenty dollars? Right now, that's a lot.
[Chico rides into the village with Petra across his saddle bow.]
So that's where they were. You hid them.
Sure, they hid them, but she won't tell where. They're afraid -- she's afraid -- of me, you, him... all of us. Farmers. Their families told them we'd rape them.
Well, we might. In my opinion, though, you might have given us the benefit of the doubt. Well, just as you please.
Vin You know, as long as you were out there, why didn't you bring 'em all in?
What for? Leave them out there. Let Calvera find them. He'll take good care of them.
Bring them in. (to Petra) Show him where.
[Calvera meets Chris Adams and Vin as he rides into the village.]
I should have guessed. When my men didn't come back, I should have guessed. How many of you did they hire?
Enough.
New wall.
There's lots of new walls, all around.
They won't keep me out.
They were built to keep you in.
...
There won't be any trouble... if you ride on.
Ride on? Where am I going to get the food for my men?
Buy it or grow it!
Or maybe even work for it.
Hm, seven. Somehow I don't think you've solved my problem.
Solving your problems isn't our line.
Vin We deal in lead, friend.
So do I. We're in the same business.
Vin Only as competitors.
Why not as partners? Suppose I offer you equal shares.
Of what?
Everything. Down to the last grain.
And the people of the village? What about them?
I leave it to you. Do men of our profession worry about things like that? It may even be sacreligious! If God didn't want them sheared, He would not have made them sheep. What do you say?
Ride on.
...
If I leave here with empty hands, everyone in this village will answer to me when I come back.
You won't come back.
Why not?
Won't have any guns. Take them off right now and drop them.
Your gun has gotten you everything you have. Isn't that true? Hmm? Well, isn't it true?
Vin Sure. Everything. After a while, you can call bartenders and Faro dealers by their first names. Maybe two hundred of 'em. Rented rooms you live in, five hundred. Meals eaten in hash-houses, a thousand. Home, none. Wife, none. Kids... none. Propects, zero. Suppose I left anything out?
Yeah. Places you're tied down to, none. People with a hold on you, none. Men you step aside for, none.
Insults swallowed, none. Enemies, none.
No enemies?
Alive.
Now that's the kind of arithmetic I like!
Yeah. I did too, at your age.
Vin I guess right about now you kinda wish you'd given your crops to Calvera, huh?
Yes. And no. Both at the same time. Yes, when I think of what he might do. No, when I remember the feeling in my chest this morning as I saw him running away -- from us. That's a feeling worth dying for. Have you ever... felt something like that?
Vin Not for a long, long time. I, uh, I envy you.
[A faction of villagers, led by Sotero, wants to make peace with Calvera; the Seven discuss their next move.]
You want to go?
Well, there comes a time to turn Mother's picture to the wall and get out. The village will be no worse off than it was before we came.
You forget one thing. We took a contract.
Vin Not the kind any court would enforce.
That's just the kind you've got to keep.
Vin That's a noble thought, but the way things are right now... I don't know.
The odds are too high!
Much too high.
Then we go?
No. We lower the odds.
[The Seven return from a raid to find Calvera's men holding the village.]
You should not be surprised. My good friend Sotero, he, ah, arranged for them to come in. Comprende? Well, anyway, to business. I could kill you all. You agree? (a long pause) Well, you don't disagree. Anyway, I don't want to kill you.
Why so generous?
Practical. They hear about it up north, maybe some friends of yours make more trouble for me -- a man who never wants no trouble. We, ah, have a saying here: "A thief who steals from a thief is pardoned for one hundred years." All right, what does that leave? Only one thing. I pardon you. Ride on.
Just like that? (snaps fingers)
Si, just like that! (snaps fingers) I'll make it easy for you. You want food? (to henchmen) Give them food. Water? All right, water. Horses? Saddled and waiting. Guns? Your guns, your gunbelts you take off and you put here, now.
...
What I can't understand is why a man like you took this job in the first place. Why, huh?
I wonder myself.
Oh, come on, come on. Tell me why.
Vin Fella I once knew in El Paso, one day he took all his clothes off and jumped in a mess of cactus. So I asked him the same question. "Why?"
And?
Vin He said it seemed to be a good idea at the time.
Go get your clothes, your saddlebags. Anything you want, take. Your friends in there owe you at least that much.
[Calvera's men have escorted the Seven well outside the village and tossed their guns on the ground.]
Nobody throws me my own guns and says ride on. Nobody. (puts his gunbelt back on)
Vin Took me a long time to learn my elbow from a hat rack. Right now, I belong in that border town, sleeping on white sheets. (puts his gunbelt on) But I'll ride back to that village.
You're crazy. all of you! They won't lift a finger to help. Think of the odds!
Harry, nobody's asking you to go back.
Ride on, Harry. It's all right.
You bet your sweet life I will! (grabs his gear and mounts) Come on, Lee. If they want to get killed, let 'em.
Go ahead, Lee. You don't owe anything to anybody.
Except to myself. (dismounts and puts his guns on)
You're crazy! ALL of you!
[The surviving gunmen are preparing to ride out of the village.]
You could e-stay, you know.They would not be sorry to have you e-stay.
They won't be sorry to see us go, either.
(nods)
The fighting is over. Your work is done. For them, each season has its tasks. If there were a season for gratitude, they'd show it more.
Vin We didn't get any more than we expected, old man.
Only the farmers have won. They remain forever. They are like the land itself. You helped rid them of Calvera the way a strong wind helps rid them of locusts. You are like the wind, blowing across the land and... passing on. Vaya con Dios.
Adios.
