- 6 hours ago
Judge Priest – Vintage Courtroom Classic is a timeless drama set in the post-Civil War American South, blending heartfelt storytelling with light humor and strong moral themes. The film follows Judge Priest, a wise and compassionate small-town judge who believes in fairness, tradition, and common sense over strict legal formalities. As he presides over local disputes and personal conflicts, deeper truths about honor, loyalty, and justice slowly unfold.
With its charming performances, rich Southern atmosphere, and thoughtful courtroom moments, this classic film captures the spirit of early American cinema. A must-watch for fans of vintage drama, old Hollywood storytelling, and character-driven films from the Golden Age of cinema.
With its charming performances, rich Southern atmosphere, and thoughtful courtroom moments, this classic film captures the spirit of early American cinema. A must-watch for fans of vintage drama, old Hollywood storytelling, and character-driven films from the Golden Age of cinema.
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Short filmTranscript
00:00:02Here, here, here, fourth court order.
00:00:31Here, here, here, here, here, here, here.
00:01:00Here, here, here, here, here, here.
00:01:30Here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here.
00:01:45Your Honor, there is no doubt in the mind of the Commonwealth that this prisoner is a confirmed chicken thief.
00:01:54He has no place in this God-fearing community.
00:01:57He is a migrant.
00:02:00He cometh from no man knows whence.
00:02:04Since arriving in our midst, he has been known to do no honest work.
00:02:10The Commonwealth of Kentucky asks, yea, demands that he be a judge guilty
00:02:17and sentenced to six months on the chain gang.
00:02:29Hey, hey boy, wake up there.
00:02:31Wake him up there.
00:02:33If anybody is going to sleep in this court, it'll be me.
00:02:36Hey, wake up.
00:02:37Yes, sir.
00:02:38Come here, boy.
00:02:40Here.
00:02:41Come on over here, right there.
00:02:45What's your name?
00:02:48Jeff Poindexter.
00:02:51Poindexter?
00:02:52Who gave you that?
00:02:54Mr. Ranney.
00:02:55Ranney?
00:02:57You mean Major Randolph Poindexter from down at Pine Bluff?
00:03:02Yes, Pine Bluff.
00:03:03Oh.
00:03:05Oh.
00:03:07Well.
00:03:09Looks like you, uh, Poindexters is always getting mixed up with some chicken somehow.
00:03:16Hey, Sergeant.
00:03:17It seems like, uh, I recollect, uh, you and Major Ranney having some, uh, connection with the flesh of the
00:03:25fowls at one time.
00:03:27So good if we didn't.
00:03:28You know, Major Ranney was the fathenest soldier that ever chased to yank up a tree.
00:03:33You know, Billy, you and me puttin' your stars that day when we went forgin' for a snack after the
00:03:39Battle of Chickamoggy.
00:03:41Chickamoggy?
00:03:43No.
00:03:43No.
00:03:44It was, uh, it was the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain.
00:03:47There's no such a thing of a Chickamoggy.
00:03:49Oh, you're both wrong.
00:03:50I'm not wrong.
00:03:51It was the summer of 63.
00:03:53But we were just outside of Nashville.
00:03:56No, Philly's right.
00:03:58I remember.
00:03:59For us by there, Richard.
00:04:01Your Honor, the Commonwealth objects to this digression.
00:04:05Now, now, now, Senator.
00:04:07You know, now, now the point is that, uh, that the Major, uh, he acted the part of the, of
00:04:13a gentleman and a soldier.
00:04:15And he removed the temptation from out of our path by eatin' up all the fat hens in the whole
00:04:23bunch
00:04:23and leavin' us nothin' but a lot of old skinny Domineck roosters.
00:04:28You remember, boys?
00:04:29Fun to think of it, Billy, they were Plymouth Rocks.
00:04:31There was no such a thing.
00:04:32There was Yankee Dickens.
00:04:34There was Rhode Island Reds.
00:04:35I know what I could do.
00:04:37No, Plymouth Rocks.
00:04:39Your Honor.
00:04:39Your Honor.
00:04:40Your Honor.
00:04:42Your Honor.
00:04:43Is this a court of law?
00:04:44Yes, I know that.
00:04:45I ask you, is this a court of law?
00:04:49Now, now, now, Senator, I wouldn't, I, I, don't get on your high horse that way.
00:04:54You know, we ain't in a great big hurry.
00:04:57But, uh, incidentally, what are you, what are you charged with there, boy?
00:05:00Nothin', Judge, but I wasn't let them chickens showin' up.
00:05:05I was just fishin'.
00:05:07Fishin'?
00:05:08Why was you fishin'?
00:05:09Down in Sleepy River.
00:05:12He, he, he, he.
00:05:13Ain't no fishin' Sleepy River.
00:05:14There are some.
00:05:16Ain't neither.
00:05:16Full of catfish.
00:05:18Hey.
00:05:18Talks right to me.
00:05:20Yeah?
00:05:20Well, this is why I thought, cause I catch bull-ass catfish in there.
00:05:24I know.
00:05:26There's your proof he's lying.
00:05:30Here, come in.
00:05:30What, what, what do you use for bait?
00:05:32Oh, I got a hunk of beef liver.
00:05:35Beef liver?
00:05:36Yeah, I have to take the beef liver, put it on there and chunk it out there.
00:05:41Let them out of the first piece for nothin', see?
00:05:43And then you put some more on that and chunk it out there.
00:05:47And then they think they gonna get there for nothin' and you just touch,
00:05:50you catch them longer, you got some liver.
00:05:52And I could run there all the time and I don't care nothin' with them there.
00:05:56Well, I don't tell them what I'm doing in this town in the hall.
00:06:02Yeah, I remember.
00:06:05Oh, tell them there.
00:06:06I bet much better I'm home.
00:06:08Yo, sir.
00:06:10Yo, sir.
00:06:11I'm so nervous in your night.
00:06:13I got to take down the judge's clothes.
00:06:17Got to take them in the house.
00:06:21Yes, Lord.
00:06:23Got to get out that old ironing board.
00:06:28Fix them up for the judge to wear.
00:06:33Mmm.
00:06:35Yes, Lord.
00:06:37That's what I was want to do.
00:06:45Praise the Lord, Mr. Room.
00:06:47Is you ahead or is you in?
00:06:49Hiya, Aunt Dilsey.
00:06:50How come you here?
00:06:52Did judge say you up there at that college learnin' to be a lawyer, man?
00:06:55Aunt Dilsey, I got stomach trouble.
00:06:57Long help you, white child.
00:06:58What them ages been feedin' you?
00:07:00Not a darn thing.
00:07:01That's the trouble.
00:07:02What have you got for supper?
00:07:03Mr. Room, you stay here.
00:07:06Us is going to kill the hot, deafness, loose in the yard
00:07:09and a great big bowl of milk gravy and grits.
00:07:12And waffles.
00:07:13Don't you worry now, honey.
00:07:14You's home now.
00:07:15Mr. Room's home.
00:07:17Mr. Room's home.
00:07:18Mr. Room's home.
00:07:18Mr. Room's home.
00:07:20Mr. Room's home.
00:07:20Mr. Room's home.
00:07:20Mr. Room's home.
00:07:20Hey, Uncle Billy.
00:07:23Hiya.
00:07:24Well, if it ain't wrong.
00:07:27Well, salt me down.
00:07:29What happened up there?
00:07:30Did them Yankees kick you out of that law school?
00:07:32Sure they did.
00:07:33With a diploma.
00:07:34You're now lookin' at a full-fledged member of the bar.
00:07:39Let me look.
00:07:42Full-fledged, my gizzard.
00:07:44Yeah, lawyer.
00:07:45You know, you better get your britches half-souled,
00:07:48cause you're gonna sit around a long time before you get your first client.
00:07:51Well, I don't mind, Uncle Billy.
00:07:54You know what happened to me before I got my first client, don't you?
00:07:57Lord, I sat through two Republican administrations before I...
00:08:07Who are you playin'?
00:08:09Oh, I'm just doin' a little practicing here for the championship.
00:08:12I got Jeff here.
00:08:14He's doin' the retrievin' for me.
00:08:16Oh.
00:08:16Uh, me and Herman Felsberg is gonna play against Jimmy Bagby and Doc Lake.
00:08:21Two of them balls down there, will ya, Jeff?
00:08:22Two again?
00:08:23Mm-hmm.
00:08:23Remember the last time?
00:08:25Mm-hmm.
00:08:26I'm gonna show you what had happened to Jimmy Bagby now.
00:08:28He's, uh...
00:08:30Just wanna show you how far can...
00:08:32Ooh, look at...
00:08:33Ha!
00:08:34Look at that, yeah!
00:08:35You got all that, Jeff?
00:08:37Yeah.
00:08:37Look at that.
00:08:40Yes, I've never seen shoes with buttons on them before.
00:08:44I've seen pants, but...
00:08:49Oh, say, that's fine.
00:08:52Uh, uh, just, uh, take your button shoes with ya and just step that off and see just how fur
00:08:58it is.
00:08:59I think that's about a record.
00:09:01One, two, three, four.
00:09:10Hello.
00:09:11Hello.
00:09:15Glad to see me?
00:09:17Well, I thought you were still up north.
00:09:19Uh-uh.
00:09:20I got in this morning.
00:09:22How'd you know I was back here?
00:09:24Well, I didn't, but Uncle...
00:09:27My, you look pretty with those things.
00:09:30Mm-hmm.
00:09:31Isn't this a lovely spray?
00:09:32Mm-hmm.
00:09:35Now, young lady, I wanna ask you a question.
00:09:37Please let me down, Rome.
00:09:38Miss Gillespie, will you please tell this court why you didn't answer my letters?
00:09:42I've got to go in. Really, I have.
00:09:43Now, tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you...
00:09:47You know why.
00:09:49All I know is that you've changed since I went away.
00:09:53Well, that isn't it, Rome.
00:09:55It's...
00:09:56It's just that we've grown up.
00:09:59You mean you don't like me anymore?
00:10:01Oh, Rome.
00:10:03Well, if my mother or anybody has said anything...
00:10:06Oh, Ellie, me, I mean...
00:10:08Well, I'm old enough to choose my own friends.
00:10:10Please let me go.
00:10:11We've got to get this thing settled, once and for all.
00:10:14I've got to go in. Really, I have.
00:10:16All right, then. I'm coming back tonight and find out what it's all about.
00:10:19You can. I have an engagement.
00:10:22Who with?
00:10:23Fleming Talley.
00:10:26Well, how about tomorrow night?
00:10:27Oh, Rome, it's no use.
00:10:30All right.
00:10:31That's the way you feel about it?
00:10:32You can sit right there until we understand each other.
00:10:37That's all right. That's all right.
00:10:38We don't need no more practice for them old men, no.
00:10:42Besides, that exertion calls for a jeweler.
00:10:46That's all right.
00:10:47You're going to wait for that young gentleman before you...
00:10:50Wait for him?
00:10:51Yes.
00:10:52Unless young folks has changed since I was skirmishing around.
00:10:56He won't be back for quite a while.
00:10:58What?
00:11:00Look at that goat.
00:11:02Ain't that a pretty sight?
00:11:04What, that goat?
00:11:06There ain't nothing pretty in the world than two young folks in love in the spring.
00:11:11What about that goat?
00:11:23It's in my mid-bed?
00:11:25In my mid-bed?
00:11:26Ah.
00:11:28Yeah.
00:11:30Act like you so.
00:11:32That's you always.
00:11:34Don't look.
00:11:36Why, William Creek.
00:11:38Oh, hello, Carrie.
00:11:39This is a fine how-do-you-do.
00:11:41What will the neighbors say?
00:11:43I'm ashamed of you.
00:11:45What's ailing you now?
00:11:47That gum goat come in here and eat up my mint bed there.
00:11:51I bet he must have been the ruination of a million juleps.
00:11:55You and your precious mint juleps.
00:11:57A circuit court judge.
00:11:59Where's your dignity?
00:12:01Dignity?
00:12:03I don't reckon the priest family will ever have to worry about dignity, Carrie.
00:12:07Not as long as you're alive and kicking.
00:12:09Well, it's a good thing somebody in this family has pride.
00:12:13I always told my brother when he married you,
00:12:16that he saved the family name.
00:12:18Well, if he were living,
00:12:19he wouldn't be fooling around the front yard with a goat.
00:12:22That's not what I came for.
00:12:24Have you seen Rome?
00:12:26Oh, Rome? Rome?
00:12:28Oh, it appears like I did see that son of yours around here a while ago.
00:12:32I expect he's downtown, though, now.
00:12:34You know, strutting around, showing off his button shoes.
00:12:38Now, don't you play pass them with me.
00:12:39As if I didn't know you'd been encouraging that,
00:12:43that girl over there,
00:12:45to set her cap for Rome.
00:12:47Carrie, Carrie.
00:12:49If I didn't know that you had the biggest heart of any woman in the world,
00:12:52I'd think there's the most suspicious creature that's ever come down the pipe.
00:12:56Never mind that.
00:12:57You come up on the porch.
00:12:59I want to talk to you.
00:13:05if I didn't know that's the way you felt about it,
00:13:08I wouldn't have hurried home so fast.
00:13:10I'm sorry, Rome.
00:13:12After all, you have your career,
00:13:14and your family,
00:13:15and everything in the world that matters to you right here.
00:13:18I don't think you care what matters to me.
00:13:20That's not fair, Rome.
00:13:22After all, I'm...
00:13:23I'm only telling you for your own good.
00:13:30William, I'm not a woman to beat about the bush.
00:13:33This business of Rome and that girl next door
00:13:35has got to stop.
00:13:37What do you got against Ellie Mae?
00:13:40She's an awful sweet girl, it seems to me.
00:13:42She's got gumption,
00:13:43and she teaches school,
00:13:44and supports herself.
00:13:46I don't want to be unkind.
00:13:47She may be a very nice girl and all that,
00:13:50but after all,
00:13:51Rome is one of the Kentucky priests,
00:13:53and the name of priest
00:13:55means something in Kentucky.
00:13:58Well, I've never heard that it meant intolerance.
00:14:02It means good stock and family pride.
00:14:05You know the kind of stock she comes from.
00:14:09Yeah, her, uh...
00:14:12Her ma come to this town, Fenlis,
00:14:14and died giving birth to Ellie Mae.
00:14:18I remember the night.
00:14:19She was a free little woman.
00:14:22It wasn't any bigger than Ellie Mae is now.
00:14:25And just as pretty.
00:14:26But who was her father?
00:14:30Well, uh...
00:14:31Nobody don't, uh...
00:14:33rightfully know.
00:14:34Well, a family may not mean anything to you,
00:14:37but it means a whole lot to me.
00:14:39I'm not going to have my grandchildren
00:14:41come into the world under a cloud.
00:14:44You, uh, haven't by any chance
00:14:46picked, uh, hard Maydew
00:14:48as a grandpappy, have you?
00:14:49Oh, I know you've never liked Senator Maydew,
00:14:52but you can't say anything against his folks.
00:14:55They've got money,
00:14:56they're an old family,
00:14:57and Virginia's a lovely girl.
00:15:00She's always been crazy about Rome.
00:15:02He could do a lot worse.
00:15:05Well, I guess, uh,
00:15:07me and Rome,
00:15:08we ain't got anything to say about it.
00:15:11I knew you'd come around to my way.
00:15:15You gonna, uh...
00:15:16You gonna stay for supper, ain't you, Carrie?
00:15:18Not tonight, thank you, William.
00:15:19The daughters of the Confederacy
00:15:20are having a chicken supper at Cape Maydew,
00:15:23and I'm late already.
00:15:25Looks like you daughters
00:15:26get more ferocious every year
00:15:28towards Yankees and, uh, fried chicken.
00:15:30You got your badge on there.
00:15:32Yes.
00:15:33Mighty pretty.
00:15:34Good night, William.
00:15:36Sometimes I, uh,
00:15:38I think you women
00:15:39got more badges and medals
00:15:41out of the soldiers' bed.
00:15:43Good night, Carrie.
00:15:47Listen to that old
00:15:48Whipple world
00:15:48calling his mate.
00:15:51Him and his kin
00:15:52has been
00:15:53nesting around here
00:15:55for now and 30 years.
00:15:56It's a lonesome kind of sound,
00:15:58isn't it, Uncle Billy?
00:16:00Hmm?
00:16:01It is so.
00:16:03You know, the good Lord
00:16:05never meant for nobody,
00:16:06either man or
00:16:09bird
00:16:09to live by themselves.
00:16:11Uncle Billy,
00:16:12why didn't you come
00:16:13and live with us
00:16:14after Aunt Margaret died?
00:16:16Oh, I...
00:16:18I never could stand
00:16:19him all's cooking.
00:16:26All for fine
00:16:28sling over there
00:16:29on that other porch.
00:16:31I wouldn't be surprised
00:16:32if they ain't pretty good.
00:16:34Sitting in it now.
00:16:36She's got another fella
00:16:37tonight.
00:16:41Hell, he may
00:16:42sure always put it.
00:16:44Fella gets hurled,
00:16:45certainly have to do
00:16:46some prancing,
00:16:47ain't it, can't?
00:16:48Sit around
00:16:48and look glum all the time.
00:16:53There he is now.
00:16:54Who?
00:16:55That phlegm tally.
00:16:57The barber?
00:16:58Yeah.
00:17:01Gives off
00:17:02a poor shave
00:17:03in that time.
00:17:05Whoa!
00:17:07Whoa, bird.
00:17:17Yeah, I am, honey.
00:17:19Yes, yes, yes, yes.
00:17:23Yes, yes.
00:17:24Hear me, hear the news.
00:17:25Yes, yes, yes.
00:17:30Yes, yes, yes.
00:17:32Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
00:17:37Son, there ain't nothing
00:17:39to get your mind off
00:17:40women folks like work.
00:17:41Will you run back
00:17:42into my library there
00:17:43and get my old
00:17:44Kentucky Code of Statue?
00:17:46It's an old calfskin book
00:17:48up on the top shelf there.
00:17:53It gets me, that brand there.
00:17:56Long years.
00:17:57I'm just gonna see
00:17:58if I can't stop them.
00:18:01Gabby arrives
00:18:02and Joe Harringer.
00:18:03You know,
00:18:04the boys that work for me
00:18:05down at my barber shop.
00:18:07Well, they comes to me tonight
00:18:08and wants me to go over
00:18:09to Old Town.
00:18:11Some high-flying gal
00:18:13over there.
00:18:14But I tell them no.
00:18:16I can have all the fun
00:18:18I want right here at home.
00:18:20Now, guess who
00:18:22I was talking about?
00:18:24Couldn't I?
00:18:25Couldn't I make you
00:18:26some lemonade?
00:18:27Lemonade?
00:18:28Sure, honey.
00:18:30And I got something
00:18:31to sweeten it with.
00:18:32Right out of the mountains
00:18:33and kick it like a mule.
00:18:36He he he.
00:18:45Yeah.
00:18:47Oh, yeah.
00:18:48You see anything
00:18:50of Mr. Slim Kelly?
00:18:53The barber man around here?
00:18:56No.
00:18:56What'll he be doing
00:18:57around here?
00:18:58Huh?
00:18:59I don't know, Judge, but they're headed this way for him.
00:19:05What are you talking about?
00:19:06Who's they?
00:19:09Some lady's papi and a two-bar shotgun.
00:19:14He said Miss Talley's been messing around.
00:19:18He sure is in a killing mood.
00:19:22You mean that he's going to annihilate him?
00:19:29Uh, no, he's going to shoot him, that's all.
00:19:36Well, there ain't a thing that I can do about it.
00:19:39My job don't stop until they've got him all laid out in the morgue.
00:19:46Full of buckshot, cold and dead, and ready for burial.
00:19:52Then I steps in.
00:19:55But, uh, you, you, Judge, you, you, uh, the law.
00:20:01Oh, I can't do a thing about it, as I said before, until the shooting is over.
00:20:06And, uh, then I'll certainly see that the, uh, murderer gets a fair trial.
00:20:29Uncle Billy, I couldn't find that book anywhere.
00:20:31What book?
00:20:32That Kentucky law book.
00:20:33Oh.
00:20:35Maybe I didn't have one.
00:20:40Ellie Mae's waiting for you over there.
00:20:42What?
00:20:53Maybe I didn't have one.
00:20:55Maybe I didn't have one.
00:20:57Maybe I didn't have one.
00:20:58Maybe I didn't have one.
00:21:01Maybe I didn't have one.
00:21:01Maybe I didn't have one.
00:21:01Maybe I didn't have one.
00:21:02Maybe I didn't have one.
00:21:02Maybe I didn't have one.
00:21:06Maybe I didn't have one.
00:21:16That dumb hook-a-wheel.
00:21:21Might have pulled company on a night like this.
00:21:28Good night, Dad.
00:21:46Good night.
00:22:08Just to calm and fly away.
00:22:16When the lights are low.
00:22:22If good night, while the light and love will fall.
00:22:57It's been a long time, honey, since you and the babies.
00:23:20It's been an awful late spring, but I don't know when I've seen the flowers looking better this time of
00:23:31year.
00:23:34It's been a long time.
00:23:47People are funny things.
00:23:50They always got their eyes set on something.
00:23:56Rome, he's got his eyes set on Ellie Mae.
00:23:59Carrie, she's got her set on O'Hard Maydo's door, Rome.
00:24:06O'Hard, he's got his eyes set on my job.
00:24:11Some of them are going to be disappointed.
00:24:16Them honeysuckles sure do smell sweet.
00:24:21Seems like I just can't get my nose full enough of them.
00:24:42With that burn, honey, there's Bob Gillis over that grave.
00:24:54It's at Ellie Mae's mother's.
00:24:57You look good, you're a pretty boy, though.
00:24:59I just say you did.
00:25:06Hi, Jimmy.
00:25:07Hello, Billy.
00:25:09What are you doing there?
00:25:11Figuring on getting called to the colors again?
00:25:14Hello, Gillis.
00:25:16Bob.
00:25:19You never know what them yanks is going to do.
00:25:22We'll lick them once and I'm keeping old Deadeye ready in case we've got to do it again.
00:25:28Say, better look at old General Forrest there.
00:25:33Think he's going to need a little shoeing pretty soon.
00:25:36Well, I'm mighty busy right now, Billy, shoeing them two horses over there.
00:25:40Hey, Bob.
00:25:41We better take a look at the judge's horses somehow.
00:25:53Have a snifter?
00:25:55Good corn.
00:25:56You can smell the feet of the boys and plowdy.
00:26:04That breath of yours is like a hot mince pie.
00:26:07Where you going?
00:26:08I'm fishing.
00:26:10Sleepy river.
00:26:11Sleepy river?
00:26:11Why don't you fish in the trough there?
00:26:14Need shoeing?
00:26:15No.
00:26:16All right for a while yet.
00:26:18Hey.
00:26:19Bad scar you got there.
00:26:21Bullet?
00:26:22Yeah.
00:26:24Get that in the wall?
00:26:25No.
00:26:29Folks say you come up north.
00:26:32Must have got that up there.
00:26:40We'll talk to Jeff before he's finding out anything.
00:26:45Hey, wake up here.
00:26:47Somebody will come along and steal a horse and leave you sitting here holding on.
00:27:03Come on.
00:27:03All right.
00:27:04Come on with that beef liver now.
00:27:05Oh, there's a bait bag over there's a cute little head and a little.
00:27:19Oh, dear, don't tell me you ain't got it.
00:27:23It looks like you got a little and walked off by itself.
00:27:28Oh, Lord.
00:27:31I'm going to catch any catfish that ain't got no bait.
00:27:35Take this dime now and hurry on back to town and get me that beef liver.
00:27:39All right, sir.
00:27:40Hurry up now.
00:27:41All right.
00:27:42I'm actually running now.
00:27:48You gonna put your shoes on?
00:27:49I'll let them save them in case my feet wear out.
00:27:54And then I'll have them.
00:27:57What's sitting around as you do?
00:27:59It won't be your feet that'll wear out.
00:28:08Not alone.
00:28:11Master Jesus brought me a note.
00:28:15He's on me on the wall.
00:28:19He's telling me for my Sunday's road.
00:28:25Oh, he's coming to catch me too.
00:28:32Master Jesus broke me your nose.
00:28:39He walked it in a star.
00:28:45Say he gonna watch me wide and slow.
00:28:55I got a hat in this good old footy vest hanging up in there doing nothing.
00:29:01That's fine, Grant.
00:29:02Well, plate take you.
00:29:04I thought I told you to stay away from that vest.
00:29:05Yeah, but, Judge, it got hung up on my...
00:29:07Yeah, you got my coat on there, too.
00:29:09Yes, but this old skunk coat...
00:29:11Skunk coat?
00:29:11I mean, possum.
00:29:12What do you mean, possum?
00:29:13Uh, rabbit.
00:29:14Rabbit?
00:29:15Say, listen, every inch of that is raccoon.
00:29:17Better be raccoon.
00:29:18I took it off a rich Yankee.
00:29:20Now you get in there and put them things away from there.
00:29:22Better get on over to that festival there, Dils.
00:29:24I guess they might be needing you, too.
00:29:30How are you, Judge?
00:29:31Just out of the way, just out of the way.
00:29:33I'm afraid it takes ice cream and cake to get you old soldiers out of the church.
00:29:37If the Lord ever gets in the jam, why, uh, he knows who to call on.
00:29:42That's right.
00:29:43Going to church isn't everything there is to it.
00:29:46Evening, Senator.
00:29:47Good evening, Reverend.
00:29:48Good evening, Judge Brees.
00:29:50Good evening, Rod.
00:29:55There's one of our best churchgoers.
00:29:58Yes, it's surprising, uh, how far some men will go to get a few votes.
00:30:05Too bad we, uh, we didn't get rid of him and get him off up to Congress, sir, after him
00:30:10spending that, uh, term in the State Senate.
00:30:14I understand he thinks you deprived him of that honor.
00:30:17Me?
00:30:18Hmm.
00:30:19Great Democratic Party and Thomas Jefferson.
00:30:22The Reverend of the Senator doesn't see it that way.
00:30:25Tell me that his cases in your court have taken on the appearance of a personal feud.
00:30:31Now that he's a candidate for your job.
00:30:35Oh, I wouldn't see that, Ashby.
00:30:37But I am going to have to get out and do some mighty tall lectioneering, you know.
00:30:42Rod is, uh, he's a spellbinder and, uh, in a silver tongue from way back.
00:30:47I'm just, uh, yeah, an old country jeep who's kind of a baby kisser.
00:30:54I ain't got much to offer the boys in the, in the way of rhetoric.
00:30:58I understand he doesn't approve of your grammar.
00:31:00My grammar.
00:31:02First thing I learned in politics was when to say ain't.
00:31:14Speaking of ice cream, did I have to tell you about Shiloh?
00:31:17Yeah.
00:31:19Wait a minute, Doc.
00:31:20Wait a minute.
00:31:20I want you to hear this.
00:31:21Well, come here.
00:31:22Come on, come on back here.
00:31:23I want you to hear this.
00:31:24It was the eve before Shiloh, and them orders had to get across the river to General Beauregard.
00:31:29What'd I do?
00:31:30I took off my clothes, and I stuffed the orders in my mouth, and I plunged in.
00:31:34It was pitch dark.
00:31:36Well, sir, I was going...
00:31:38Good evening.
00:31:41Are you swimming again, Jimmy?
00:31:46Where was I?
00:31:47Where was I?
00:31:47Where was I?
00:31:48Right in the middle of the river.
00:31:49Yes, sir.
00:31:50There you're swimming and 12 miles to go.
00:31:52And there I was, swimming and swimming.
00:31:54Diving under and around.
00:31:56Yankee gunboats.
00:31:57Yankee boats all around me.
00:31:58Surrounded by Yankee gunboats and mean dodging.
00:32:01Right in the...
00:32:01Gunboats?
00:32:02Yes, sir.
00:32:04Putting them gunboats in there is a new tack, ain't it, Jimmy?
00:32:11Hello, Rome.
00:32:12Hello.
00:32:13Now, don't you young people think you have to entertain us old folks?
00:32:17That's right.
00:32:18Run them now.
00:32:19They're getting ready for the candy pool.
00:32:21Perhaps Rome has other plans.
00:32:22Oh, no, he hasn't.
00:32:29I declare, Virginia gets prettier every time I see her.
00:32:34And I know you're happy to have Rome at home again.
00:32:37Oh, he's such a nice boy.
00:32:39Don't they look fine together?
00:32:41Look at them horrors.
00:32:44Ah, yes.
00:32:46Youth, beauty.
00:32:48Why, I remember when I first crossed the threshold of my young manhood and listened to the sweet murmurings of
00:32:55my heart.
00:32:56Oh.
00:32:59Oh.
00:33:01Oh.
00:33:01Oh.
00:33:02Yes, yes, yes, yes.
00:33:05Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
00:33:07Wait a minute.
00:33:10Double portion, please.
00:33:12You have a full portion there.
00:33:14Oh, but we can pay for it.
00:33:16Can't we, Rome?
00:33:25Now.
00:33:31Gentlemen, I propose to conduct my campaign on a dignified basis.
00:33:36No personality.
00:33:38Others may censure the homespun manners of Judge Priest on the bench.
00:33:43Not I.
00:33:46Others may question the methods by which he has held politically in control of the county for a quarter of
00:33:52a century.
00:33:54Not I.
00:33:56Oh, gentlemen, merit alone will count in the forthcoming election.
00:34:05Where have you been keeping yourself, Rome?
00:34:08I think you've forgotten where I live.
00:34:11Nothing like that.
00:34:13Mother and Daddy are always teasing me about you.
00:34:16I tell them you don't care anything about me.
00:34:20Bet you have a girl up north.
00:34:22Well, even if I did have, haven't you got every boy in town on your string?
00:34:26Oh, those stick in the mud.
00:34:28They make me tired.
00:34:31Besides,
00:34:33I've been waiting for somebody else.
00:34:35Mm-hmm.
00:34:41Attention!
00:34:44Say.
00:34:45What is the prettiest gal at the festival here?
00:34:50Movement around here by herself, huh?
00:34:53You want some tapit, Judge?
00:34:55My boy.
00:34:57I am much of a tapit puller.
00:35:06On second thoughts, you can give me a water of that, too.
00:35:10All right. Put the butter on your hands first.
00:35:27Hello, little boy.
00:35:29Oh, no.
00:35:31You ain't doing that right.
00:35:33What's the matter with him?
00:35:34Here. Let me see your hand.
00:35:36You ain't got no butter on there. No wonder.
00:35:39Here. Here. Let me show you.
00:35:40Put mine in here. Let me show you.
00:35:42Here. Go on up there.
00:35:43Run on up there and put some old stick em on your hand there.
00:35:46Come on. Right up there.
00:35:47All right, Uncle Billy.
00:35:48That's it. Now, here.
00:35:49Put that right over in there, now.
00:35:51Now, here. Here. Here. Here.
00:35:53Now, that's the thing. Candy pulling.
00:35:55You got to keep your mind right on there. Right on there.
00:35:57Look at this. That's how you're getting it all on your hand.
00:35:59Keep your mind on what you're doing there, now.
00:36:01Oh, you pulling candy with the champion candy puller of this neighborhood, now.
00:36:07That all right in here.
00:36:08Come on.
00:36:18Who's gonna have a great partie with the champion.
00:36:19I know why my house's here.
00:36:20Who майغ snob in here!
00:36:20I'm all right!
00:36:20I lived here!
00:36:23I lived here.
00:36:26When I was punched as a storm magnet,
00:36:28we were saving,
00:36:28he never cared for the storm!
00:36:29When I jumped,
00:36:29he never killed!
00:36:29Yeah, I'm so scary!
00:36:35metres!
00:36:37I think this is your fault.
00:37:19I think this is your fault.
00:37:35My lady, oh, we know all you may, we will sing one song of my old Kentucky home, of my
00:38:02old Kentucky home.
00:38:05We will sing one song of my old Kentucky home, of my old Kentucky home, of my old Kentucky home,
00:38:08of my old Kentucky home.
00:38:35Sure does.
00:38:37Hello, large.
00:38:39How are you, George?
00:38:40You ain't been in lately, have you?
00:38:46Good morning, Mr.
00:38:57Hello.
00:38:58Nice day.
00:38:59Yeah.
00:39:00Oh, Phlym.
00:39:00Here she comes.
00:39:07And does she like her, Phlym?
00:39:12Hey, Phlym.
00:39:13When are you two getting hitched?
00:39:15Don't know if I heard nobody talking about rash.
00:39:20You ain't scared of no shotgun wedding, are you?
00:39:24Not as long as she ain't got no paw.
00:39:38Say, that fellow's gonna make himself mighty unpopular around here.
00:39:42That's right, Judge.
00:39:43Yeah.
00:39:43There's about 2,000 male citizens here that's gonna be mighty sore at him.
00:39:47Yeah.
00:39:48When they find out that he punched you in the jaw before they could.
00:40:00Yes, he's gonna be awful unpopular around here.
00:40:08Don't see you around much.
00:40:11No.
00:40:12Try to keep to yourself, don't you?
00:40:14Yeah.
00:40:24Joe, get some old beer while I unlocks with that 14 ball down there in the corner.
00:40:28I'll pay you third.
00:40:32Hey, Phlym.
00:40:33Your ass is out there.
00:40:34Yeah?
00:40:35Yes.
00:40:36Come on, let's get it.
00:40:36Don't hold your horses now.
00:40:38He'll be heading through you in a minute, going home.
00:40:41You fellas with me?
00:40:42Sure.
00:40:43Sure with you.
00:40:51Again.
00:40:52No.
00:40:55No.
00:41:08No.
00:41:09No, he got him.
00:41:11He got him.
00:41:13You got him.
00:41:14No, he got him.
00:41:16No, no.
00:41:16No, no, no, no.
00:41:21He cut flesh, we saw him.
00:41:23With a knife?
00:41:23Yeah, we saw him to look at that.
00:41:25Hey, boy!
00:41:27That's what's going on!
00:41:28Well, that's a fine thing to get a duck out.
00:41:39Hey, Uncle Billy!
00:41:42Uncle Billy!
00:41:43Uncle Billy!
00:41:44Uncle Billy!
00:41:46You're dead on me!
00:41:47Oh, no, no!
00:41:48You're dead on me!
00:41:49Can you get out of here?
00:41:52You're already out of here!
00:41:54Get out of here!
00:41:56Oh, no!
00:41:57Oh, no!
00:41:58Get away!
00:41:59Get away!
00:41:59Get away!
00:42:00He missed it!
00:42:01He missed it!
00:42:02He missed it!
00:42:03He missed it!
00:42:04Rome, please, will you?
00:42:06Keep still!
00:42:07Keep still!
00:42:08Keep still!
00:42:09Keep still!
00:42:09Keep still!
00:42:12We're sensing!
00:42:14Let me talk to you.
00:42:16Golly, I don't see how the South ever lost the war
00:42:18with a guy that could argue like you did!
00:42:20Uncle Billy!
00:42:21What is the matter?
00:42:22You've already made me lose a game!
00:42:23Uncle Billy!
00:42:24I got a client!
00:42:25Oh, well, who is it?
00:42:26What's the matter with him?
00:42:27Gillis!
00:42:27You know, Mr. Bagby's man!
00:42:29What's that, Bob?
00:42:30What's he doing?
00:42:30He cut up phlegm tally!
00:42:32Yeah?
00:42:32Uh-huh!
00:42:33And right after he gave himself up, he sent for me!
00:42:35Well, I'll be kicked by a mule!
00:42:37Did you cut him bad?
00:42:38Well, I can't tell yet!
00:42:39Gee, Uncle Billy, he sent for me!
00:42:41It'll be the biggest case in your whole court session
00:42:44and I'll be defending him!
00:42:46Well, I wouldn't gloat too soon now!
00:42:49Oh, don't you worry!
00:42:50Hey, Ellie Mae!
00:42:51Gee, yeah!
00:42:52I'm going to get down to that jail
00:42:54and see what that fella's got to say for himself!
00:42:56I'm going to...
00:42:57See, tell him!
00:42:58Darned, Robert, they robbed us out of that!
00:43:00Herman, now, uh, you better get on down there with me
00:43:03because, uh, you'll liable to get a chance to, uh, go his bail!
00:43:08Ellie Mae!
00:43:10Ellie Mae, I got a client!
00:43:12Oh, Rome, I knew you would!
00:43:14Come on over!
00:43:15I want you to talk to Uncle Billy and tell you all about it!
00:43:17That's sort of novelty, Herman!
00:43:18The barber getting cut up!
00:43:20If you ever cut him up,
00:43:21couldn't have cut him much if he used the barber's razor!
00:43:26Where's Rome?
00:43:28I won't have it, that's all!
00:43:29He's getting mixed up with that kind of people!
00:43:32Oh!
00:43:33What's he done now?
00:43:34Well, he's done enough!
00:43:39Mother, what's the matter?
00:43:40Something wrong?
00:43:41If you're in the habit of discussing your affairs before strangers,
00:43:45I'm not!
00:43:46Well, Ellie Mae's not a stranger!
00:43:48Excuse me, Rome, I'll go!
00:43:49No, wait!
00:43:50All right!
00:43:50I have nothing to hide!
00:43:53Carrie!
00:43:54What's the matter?
00:43:54Have you...
00:43:55Have you been out in the sun too much?
00:43:57You shut up, William Priest!
00:43:58I hold you responsible for everything that's happened!
00:44:01Are you going to defend that man?
00:44:04Mr. Gillis?
00:44:05You bet I am!
00:44:07Oh, no, you're not!
00:44:08Mother, what do you mean I'm not?
00:44:10I suppose you know what's behind this drunken brawl?
00:44:13No?
00:44:14Well, then I'll tell you!
00:44:15They were fighting over that girl in a saloon!
00:44:19Mother, that's not so!
00:44:21Carrie, you can accumulate more misinformation in a shorter time than anybody who told you all this rigmarole!
00:44:29Virginia Maydew!
00:44:31Who?
00:44:32Virginia Maydew!
00:44:33Oh!
00:44:33She got it straight from her father!
00:44:36And brought it straight to you?
00:44:37She wanted to warn Rome!
00:44:41I know you've never liked me, Mrs. Priest!
00:44:44I know you've tried to stop Rome from going with me!
00:44:46And I know you think I'm not good enough for him!
00:44:48Well, let me tell you something!
00:44:51If Rome were half as mean as you are, he wouldn't be good enough for me!
00:44:56Well, of all things!
00:45:02Cat, looks like you run sacking!
00:45:04Oh, no, I don't!
00:45:05If Rome's father were alive, he'd back me up!
00:45:09Rome's already got himself talked about all over town with this girl!
00:45:12And I'm not going to have him publicly defending her in court!
00:45:17Well, Rome, see how your mother feels about it!
00:45:21So, looks like you lost your first client!
00:45:26It's certainly hard to get, too!
00:45:29No, Uncle Billy, I haven't lost anything!
00:45:31Rome!
00:45:32Mother, I think I'm old enough to know my own mind!
00:45:35I said I'd defend, Mr. Gillis, and I'm going to go through with it!
00:45:57Court nuns, old order!
00:46:00We're going to have a long session, please!
00:46:06May it please the court!
00:46:10I would point out that for many years
00:46:14a political and personal difference
00:46:17has existed between your honor and myself.
00:46:20Now that I am a candidate for the exalted office
00:46:23which you have held for so many years,
00:46:27those differences have reached a point
00:46:29where, for the protection of the people,
00:46:33I must demand an impartial trial judge.
00:46:39Perhaps I'm getting deaf,
00:46:42but the fact had never reached me before.
00:46:46Are you insinuating that you won't get full justice in this court?
00:46:51I maintain that my language was sufficiently plain for any comprehension,
00:46:56however obtuse.
00:46:57And I will make it even franker.
00:47:00Our charge, in the presence of two witnesses,
00:47:03you took sides with the defendant, Gillis,
00:47:05in a prior attack upon this plaintiff.
00:47:09I've been sitting on this bench for nigh on twenty years,
00:47:14and nobody has ever asked me to step down.
00:47:17I'll file an impartial with a prejudice.
00:47:20That won't hardly be necessary.
00:47:22Then I call upon you, Judge Priest, to vacate the bench during this trial
00:47:26and yield your place to a qualified judge.
00:47:44I, uh...
00:47:47I'm...
00:47:48I'm not denying, Senator, that you...
00:47:52Well, you kinda took my breath away.
00:47:56I guess I had, uh, just...
00:47:59sort of...
00:48:01got the habit that I was...
00:48:03took for granted here...
00:48:05on this bench.
00:48:09Gosh, I was...
00:48:11not putting your raise in this...
00:48:14in this courtroom.
00:48:14Well...
00:48:16when I quit fighting...
00:48:19sixty-five...
00:48:26for what...
00:48:28we thought was right...
00:48:31I kinda calmed down...
00:48:34found out I...
00:48:35I couldn't lick the whole United States...
00:48:40come back here...
00:48:42to my hometown.
00:48:44And I put up my shingle.
00:48:47It wasn't long...
00:48:48before I was sittin' on that bench.
00:48:53Maybe I did have a hanker...
00:48:57for the spirit...
00:48:59of the law...
00:49:03not the letter.
00:49:06But as far as I know...
00:49:08nobody ever found...
00:49:10cause to...
00:49:11complain...
00:49:13till now...
00:49:18now you, uh...
00:49:20you jury...
00:49:21you forget everything that I've said...
00:49:26and, uh...
00:49:27my feelings has, uh, no place...
00:49:31in the, uh...
00:49:32in the records of...
00:49:34of this trial.
00:49:35now...
00:49:37now if you'll...
00:49:38excuse me...
00:49:40either side...
00:49:41there's...
00:49:42any objection...
00:49:44I'd like to...
00:49:45ask the...
00:49:47honorable...
00:49:48Floyd...
00:49:49Fairley...
00:49:50if he won't...
00:49:52come up here...
00:49:55and take...
00:49:58take my...
00:50:01my place...
00:50:02on...
00:50:02on the bench.
00:50:17there's...
00:50:18there...
00:50:21do....
00:50:26where do?
00:50:28What happened then?
00:50:34Gentlemen of the jury, in plain language,
00:50:38the defendant here burst in upon these three worthy citizens.
00:50:42I object, Your Honor.
00:50:44I do not have my client ever burst into any place or anything.
00:50:49Objection sustained.
00:50:51So be it, Your Honor.
00:50:54Nevertheless, I shall demonstrate that my young friend's client here
00:50:57did burst into something.
00:51:00And armed with a lethal weapon, to wit a dark dagger
00:51:03or knife of deadly length and deadly sharpness,
00:51:06he burst into Mr. Talley's quivering flesh.
00:51:10I object, Your Honor.
00:51:12Objection sustained.
00:51:15Your Honor's humble servant bows to Your Honor's august roulette.
00:51:22In due time,
00:51:24Mr. Talley's scarred and mutilated person
00:51:27will bespeak the verity of my claim
00:51:29with a silent eloquence
00:51:31far exceeding the powers
00:51:32of my poor tongue.
00:51:48We was playing bottle pool when he come in and attacked at me.
00:51:51Didn't you attack him with a billiard cue?
00:51:54Not until after he come at me
00:51:55with a knife.
00:51:59Well, it's just like Phlegm says.
00:52:03We wasn't paying him no mind
00:52:04and to be come looking for Phlegm.
00:52:07But weren't you three all armed with billiard cues?
00:52:11Well, never heard of nobody playing pool without him.
00:52:20It's just like Phlegm and Joe says.
00:52:22He come in looking for trouble.
00:52:24You don't like the defendant, do you?
00:52:26Who does?
00:52:36Your Honor,
00:52:37the defense is through with the witness.
00:52:41I should think my young Leonard colleague
00:52:44would be glad to be through with the witness.
00:52:50There, Your Honor.
00:52:52The prosecution rests.
00:53:13Before the defense proceeds,
00:53:16this court recesses for half an hour.
00:53:25I don't know why you did it, Mr. Gillis.
00:53:28The judge priest told me
00:53:29what happened in the barber shop.
00:53:31Oh, you've got to tell the jury.
00:53:33They'd never conviction a million years
00:53:35if they knew you were defending a girl's name.
00:53:37Don't you see?
00:53:37You can't think of me now.
00:53:39You've got to think of yourself.
00:53:41Look, Mr. Gillis,
00:53:43I don't want to bring Ellie Mae's name
00:53:44into this thing any more than you do.
00:53:46But she's right.
00:53:48They can give you ten years for assault.
00:53:50The way Mae Doe's working on the jury,
00:53:51they'll give you the limit.
00:53:53Well, you've got to tell the truth, Mr. Gillis.
00:53:55Don't you see?
00:53:55You've got to.
00:53:57I ain't going to tell them anything.
00:54:04Yes, sir.
00:54:05Tally lied all the way through.
00:54:07And Herringer and Gab Rides,
00:54:08they lied too.
00:54:09It was three against one
00:54:11in Billy Gaynor's back room.
00:54:12And it's three against one
00:54:13in this here courtroom.
00:54:15Have you ever been
00:54:16in any other cutting scrape
00:54:17in town before?
00:54:18No, sir.
00:54:20That's all.
00:54:21One more.
00:54:30Where do you come from,
00:54:32Mr. Gillis?
00:54:33I ain't a saying.
00:54:35You aren't exactly what we
00:54:36southerners would call
00:54:37a sociable person, are you?
00:54:39I mind my own business.
00:54:40Very nice.
00:54:41Except when you go looking for trouble.
00:54:42I don't go looking for trouble.
00:54:44But I ain't the one
00:54:45to run away from it.
00:54:47How long have you had
00:54:48a grievance against, Mr. Tally?
00:54:50We had a run-in a few days
00:54:52before he jumped me.
00:54:53Oh, a run-in, eh?
00:54:54And what was this run-in about?
00:54:57Well, well, come on,
00:54:58tell the jury.
00:54:59What did you hate him for?
00:55:00I had to say him.
00:55:00Then you didn't have
00:55:01any reason for nighting.
00:55:02I didn't say that.
00:55:03Well, make up your mind.
00:55:04Why did you hate him?
00:55:04I had to say him.
00:55:08That's all, Your Honor.
00:55:12Anything, Father?
00:55:13That's all, Your Honor.
00:55:14The defense rests.
00:55:23This court will adjourn
00:55:24till tomorrow morning.
00:55:26It is our hope
00:55:28that the summations
00:55:29will be brief
00:55:30so that we may all
00:55:32attend the reunion ceremonies
00:55:33which begin at noon.
00:55:39Where will they
00:55:41begin?
00:55:43They
00:55:43say, this is a pleasure.
00:55:46Well, I don't get a chance
00:55:48to do this often.
00:55:49You certainly
00:55:50doesn't, Your Honor.
00:55:52Here, Zip.
00:55:53Make the Reverend
00:55:54comfortable there.
00:56:01It looks like you
00:56:03kind of caught me
00:56:04red-handed there.
00:56:09could I, uh, you know,
00:56:12kind of inveigle, uh,
00:56:14been a long, tiresome day
00:56:16and, uh, it's, uh,
00:56:18mostly mint.
00:56:20No, thank you, William.
00:56:21I appreciate your subtlety.
00:56:24You know, I kind of thought
00:56:25that, uh, that, uh, that you'd be
00:56:27working on your Memorial Day
00:56:29address, uh, uh, tomorrow.
00:56:32Well, that'll take care of itself.
00:56:35What I'm worried about
00:56:36is this poor devil of Gillis.
00:56:37You know Gillis?
00:56:39My trade takes me
00:56:41into queer quarters sometimes.
00:56:43Well, you know,
00:56:45I feel just as sorry
00:56:46for that fellow Gillis
00:56:47as you do.
00:56:48and, uh, uh, I'm, I'm
00:56:51plumb out of it.
00:56:53Hard got the best of me.
00:56:56He sure did.
00:56:57Case is closed.
00:56:59It's all settled.
00:57:00And I don't think Hard will,
00:57:02uh, he'll be fool enough
00:57:04to reopen the case
00:57:05for nobody or nothing.
00:57:12William,
00:57:13I have a duty to perform.
00:57:15a Christian's duty.
00:57:18I'm going to violate
00:57:20the sacred confidence
00:57:21of another.
00:57:22I'm going to break
00:57:23a pledge of secrecy
00:57:25because it's the only course
00:57:27that I see
00:57:28that lies before me.
00:57:31I'm listening, Ashby.
00:57:34Twenty-five years ago.
00:57:36See, Judge, it's sure been
00:57:40hard misery.
00:57:44Reckon folks ain't been
00:57:46acting just right.
00:57:48Maybe his stomach's
00:57:50been complaining
00:57:52and he needs a toddy
00:57:55this night.
00:57:57Yes, Lord.
00:58:00Yes, Lord.
00:58:01Because tomorrow
00:58:02he's got to be like
00:58:04Mr. Samson
00:58:06saving Daniel
00:58:08from the lion's den.
00:58:15Saving Daniel
00:58:17from the lion's den.
00:58:20Yes, Lord.
00:58:22Yes, Lord.
00:58:24The judge should do it
00:58:26a toddy right now.
00:58:28Yes, judge.
00:58:30Yes, you'll see
00:58:31soon as I catch me
00:58:33some men.
00:58:35Oh, Jeff!
00:58:36Jeff!
00:58:38Come on, come on.
00:58:39Hurry up here.
00:58:40Come on here
00:58:40when I'll holler at you.
00:58:41Where you been?
00:58:42Well, I was...
00:58:43Hey, listen, you want to
00:58:44earn that old
00:58:45coon skin coat of mine?
00:58:46I have that coon coat,
00:58:48Judge.
00:58:48Thank you, Lord.
00:58:49Yeah, yeah, wait a minute.
00:58:50Come back here.
00:58:50You can if you do
00:58:51everything I tell you to.
00:58:53Do you know a gentleman
00:58:54by the name of
00:58:55Mr. Hart Maydew?
00:58:57Yes, that mean man,
00:58:58that coat, huh?
00:58:59Yeah, well, now you see
00:59:00that he gets out,
00:59:01but don't you let him
00:59:02know how he got there,
00:59:03see?
00:59:04That's all I got to do, sir.
00:59:05Say, wait a minute,
00:59:06can you play Dixie
00:59:08on that thing there?
00:59:09Well, I couldn't coat.
00:59:10Yes, I played Dixie
00:59:11with marching through Georgia.
00:59:14Well, where have you?
00:59:14Marching through Georgia.
00:59:16Yeah, I got you
00:59:17out of one lynching.
00:59:19Yes, but I couldn't coat.
00:59:21I didn't know
00:59:21what I was going to get there.
00:59:22If you're playing
00:59:22marching through Georgia,
00:59:23I'll join the lynchers.
00:59:29and I'll see you.
00:59:32Hello, killer.
00:59:36What do you all got
00:59:36in your van, please?
00:59:37Oh, the chicken.
00:59:38Chicken.
00:59:39Well, that's what I got.
00:59:41That's what you're just like,
00:59:43That's what you're just like.
01:00:01I'm telling you, sir, we've lost the bass drum.
01:00:04How could you lose a bass drum?
01:00:06Someone stole it.
01:00:07We need it for the parade.
01:00:24We need it for the parade.
01:00:54You may begin your summation, Mr. Prosecutor.
01:00:58May it please, Your Honor.
01:01:01Since adjournment yesterday, certain information has come into the hands of the Commonwealth,
01:01:04which, in the interest of justice, impels me to reopen the case.
01:01:09The Commonwealth is asked to recall the defendant, Gillis, for further cross-examination.
01:01:14Very well, Mr. Maydew.
01:01:16Proceed.
01:01:17Robert Gillis, take the stand.
01:01:33Your Honor, as I recollect our procedure, for the time being, I'm an ordinary member of the bar.
01:01:42In good standing?
01:01:43Not ordinary, sir, but absolutely in good standing.
01:01:49Thank you, sir.
01:01:51Thank you, Conor.
01:01:53Then I have the honor of announcing myself as associate counsel for the defense.
01:02:04Seeing as the case has, uh, been, uh, reopened.
01:02:16Mr. Gillis, were you always a man of turbulent and violent nature?
01:02:22I always left them alone as left me alone.
01:02:25Is that so?
01:02:26Sir, what was the name of the man you once upon a time murdered?
01:02:33I, I never looked on it as, no, no, it wasn't murdered.
01:02:37The man was killed, wasn't he?
01:02:38Yes.
01:02:39And they struck you in jail, didn't they?
01:02:40Yes.
01:02:41And they charged you with murder, didn't they?
01:02:42Yes.
01:02:43And the jury found you guilty, didn't they?
01:02:45Yes.
01:02:45Were you sentenced to be hung?
01:02:47No, I, I went up for life.
01:02:49Did you escape or were you pardoned?
01:02:51I ain't a saying.
01:02:52And I won't tell you no more no matter what you ask me.
01:02:54You don't need to.
01:02:59Judge Priest, your witness.
01:03:03No questions, Your Honor.
01:03:06But Uncle Billy,
01:03:07hasn't the defense any evidence to offer in rebuttal, Judge Priest?
01:03:13One character witness, Your Honor.
01:03:16Mr. Clerk, will you kindly call Reverend Ashby Brand?
01:03:20Run.
01:03:27Do you seldom swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing worth the truth, in case
01:03:29there's not plenty in this court?
01:03:30I do.
01:03:39Reverend Brand, before you come to this town, what was your occupation?
01:03:44In my early manhood, before I took holy orders,
01:03:47I had the honor to be a captain of artillery in the late war.
01:03:52In the war of the rebellion?
01:03:56No, sir.
01:03:57The war for the southern confederacy.
01:04:00Yes, sir.
01:04:01That's right.
01:04:03He's right.
01:04:05Oh, my, my error, my error.
01:04:07One moment, please.
01:04:09Your Honor.
01:04:15I yield to no man in love and everlasting devotion
01:04:18to that sacred lost cause
01:04:21for which my people fought and bled.
01:04:24But though I cherish all those dear and everlasting memories
01:04:29which even the bare mention of that great conflict
01:04:33must awaken in every true Kentuckian's bosom,
01:04:36I fail to see any possible connection
01:04:40between this reverend gentleman's military record
01:04:43and the guilt of this man, Gillis.
01:05:10I think the court will commit no grave legal error
01:05:13by allowing a minister of the gospel
01:05:16to tell his story in his own way.
01:05:24Miendo on, Reverend Brand.
01:05:27As many of you know, I am a Virginian.
01:05:32On the day my state seceded from the Union,
01:05:36I enlisted.
01:05:37I was a private in Penn's Virginia Battery.
01:05:42By the latter end of the third year,
01:05:45I was in command of that battery.
01:05:48All the officers racking me
01:05:50had been killed or disabled.
01:05:53We lost heavily at Chancellorsville.
01:05:57At Fredericksburg,
01:05:58we were almost wiped out.
01:06:01We kept our field pieces.
01:06:04We kept our pieces until the end.
01:06:07But we had not sufficient men to man those guns.
01:06:11No anywhere to turn for more men.
01:06:14There were no more men left to come in.
01:06:18The Confederacy in 64
01:06:22was robbing both the cradle and the grave
01:06:25for cannon fodder.
01:06:27Well, sir,
01:06:29I got temporary leave
01:06:31and went to Richmond
01:06:32to see our war governor.
01:06:34I said to him,
01:06:36Sir,
01:06:37I've come to you to ask for men
01:06:39to serve my guns.
01:06:41He laughed and said,
01:06:43Tell me where they're to be found.
01:06:46I said among the chain gangs
01:06:49from the state penitentiary.
01:06:54He said,
01:06:55You've come too late, young man.
01:06:56I've freed every convict
01:06:58that might conceivably be trusted with freedom.
01:07:02There are left only the lifers.
01:07:05And I dare not turn the loose.
01:07:08They are working under guard,
01:07:09building defenses for you to fight behind.
01:07:13He opposed me,
01:07:14but I argued with him.
01:07:17Finally,
01:07:18I won.
01:07:20He gave me authorization,
01:07:22signed it,
01:07:23and with his own hand
01:07:25affixed the seal
01:07:27of the sovereign state of Virginia.
01:07:31I rode back to the line, sir,
01:07:33and I found my chain gang.
01:07:36I told them to drop that tool
01:07:38and line up before me.
01:07:40I told them,
01:07:42If you go with me,
01:07:44you go to face a hell
01:07:45of destruction and suffering and death.
01:07:50But I said,
01:07:51If you do go,
01:07:52you go as free men,
01:07:55as soldiers of the Confederacy.
01:07:59Your past will lie behind you,
01:08:01and your future,
01:08:03if you survive,
01:08:05is in your own hands.
01:08:07And I promise you this much.
01:08:10If you stand fast,
01:08:12if you do your duty,
01:08:15if bravely and honorably
01:08:17you acquit yourselves as men,
01:08:20then such of you
01:08:21as live through to the end,
01:08:23and some of you will live,
01:08:26are not to come back to this.
01:08:29It's for you to decide.
01:08:32Those who remain behind,
01:08:34stand fast.
01:08:36Those who come with me,
01:08:39advance one pace.
01:08:43Gentlemen of the jury,
01:08:46I tell you,
01:08:47they came at me
01:08:48like a wave from the sea.
01:08:51Every one of them.
01:08:53And as time went on,
01:08:55they won for themselves
01:08:56the name
01:08:57of the Battalion from Hell.
01:09:16Those men,
01:09:18those fellows,
01:09:20with the scars of their shekels
01:09:22still on their legs,
01:09:23they fought for the South like men,
01:09:27none better.
01:09:27And they died like men,
01:09:30most of them.
01:09:33I was one of those men
01:09:35of whom I wish to speak
01:09:37a special word of tribute.
01:09:39He stood out
01:09:41for his courage
01:09:42and his fidelity.
01:09:45For his worth
01:09:46as a soldier and a man.
01:09:49Most of all,
01:09:51for his invariable truthfulness
01:09:54under all circumstances.
01:09:57He was from the mountains
01:09:59of my own state,
01:10:01a man who spoke little
01:10:03but did much.
01:10:06I saw him once
01:10:07go out under fire
01:10:08during a battle
01:10:10to rescue at his own risk
01:10:12a wounded Union officer
01:10:15who lay there helpless
01:10:16between the lines.
01:10:19another time
01:10:21our stars and bars
01:10:23was wrested from our hands.
01:10:26We fought breast to breast
01:10:28that day.
01:10:29This man of whom I'm speaking
01:10:31threw himself
01:10:33on a riderless horse
01:10:34and rode into the thicket
01:10:36and by the grace of God
01:10:38came galloping back
01:10:40from the jaws of death.
01:10:42our colors
01:10:44clutched in his hand.
01:10:52And another day
01:10:53when every man
01:10:55who served his gun
01:10:56excepting him
01:10:58was down.
01:10:59I saw him
01:11:00when the Union infantry
01:11:02charged
01:11:03setting a scantle
01:11:04his useless gun
01:11:06and with a rammer
01:11:07for his only weapon
01:11:09waiting for the enemy
01:11:10to come within reach.
01:11:12The counter charge
01:11:13from our infantry
01:11:14saved him.
01:11:21But he had stood fast
01:11:23and he was alone.
01:11:25After the surrender
01:11:27I kept his secret
01:11:29and kept it
01:11:31to this very hour.
01:11:34Though I've seen him
01:11:35daily at his work
01:11:37watching over his daughter
01:11:39providing for her education
01:11:41through me
01:11:44and all unknown
01:11:46to LMA.
01:11:57Gentlemen
01:11:59as a soldier
01:12:00I knew that man
01:12:02as Roger Gillespie.
01:12:04You know him
01:12:05by the name
01:12:07he now wears
01:12:09Robert Gillis.
01:12:11Hooray!
01:12:11My job, David!
01:12:13The Southern
01:12:13could penetrate
01:12:14and form pure!
01:12:21Hooray!
01:12:27Get out of the way!
01:12:29Can't you see
01:12:29that poor helpless child
01:12:31needs a mother?
01:12:32Hooray!
01:12:33Hooray!
01:12:34Hooray!
01:12:35Hooray!
01:12:36Hooray!
01:12:38Hooray!
01:12:38Hooray!
01:12:39Hooray!
01:12:40Hooray!
01:12:40Hooray!
01:12:41Hooray!
01:12:42Hooray!
01:12:43Hooray!
01:12:45Hooray!
01:12:47Hooray!
01:12:49That's fine!
01:12:50That's right, Nick!
01:12:51That's great!
01:12:51Keep on going,
01:12:52keep going!
01:12:53You can have that
01:12:53point then!
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