Red River quotes

View Quote Mr. Melville: There's three times in a man's life when he has a right to yell at the moon: when he marries, when his children come, and when he finishes a job he had to be crazy to start.

View Quote Simms Reeves: Plantin' and readin', plantin' and readin'. Fill a man full of lead and stick him in the ground and then read words at him. Why, when you killed a man, why try to read the Lord in as a partner on the job?

View Quote Title card: Among the annals of the great state of Texas may be found the story of the first drive on the famous Chisholm Trail. A story of one of the great cattle herds of the world, of a man and a boy - - Thomas Dunson and Matthew Garth, the story of the Red River D.

View Quote Buster: He's gettin' worse every day. Sometimes, I think he's goin' plum out of his head.
Groot: You know, Matt, things ain't right. It's him. He's gotta get some sleep and if he don't, somethin's gonna happen.

View Quote Cherry: That's a good looking gun you were about to use back there. Can I see it? [Matt hands his gun over] And you'd like to see mine. [Cherry hands it to Matt] Nice! Awful nice! You know, there are only two things more beautiful than a good gun: a Swiss watch or a woman from anywhere. You ever had a good Swiss watch?
Matt: Go ahead! Try it!
[Cherry fires a shot and knocks a can into the air. Matt also hits the can in the air with a shot of his own]
Cherry: Hey! That's very good!
[Matt shoots at another can, knocking it into the air. Cherry hits it in the air with a shot of his own.]
Matt: Hey! Hey! That's good too! Go on! Keep it going!

View Quote Cherry: Why drive 'em to Missouri? Why not turn west at the Red and head 'em for Kansas?...There's a railroad in Kansas, too...I saw the one in Topeka, and there's one in Abilene...
Buster McGee: Abilene, that's further west!
Matt: Did you see it in Abilene?
Cherry: I didn't get there. I met a girl in Kansas City. She fancied she could sing. She had...
Matt: You know, if we could head west at the Red...
Groot: We'd save ourselves a heap of...
Dunson: We're goin' to Missouri. I've seen buyers and cash in Sedalia. [To Cherry] What have you seen in Abilene?
Cherry: Not a thing. Just the girl told me...
Dunson: We're goin' to Missouri. [Dunson walks off]
Cherry: [To Matt about Dunson] I suppose if I tangled with him, I'd have to take you on too.
Matt: You'll find him a handful by himself.

View Quote Dunson: And there as they stand, there isn't a head worth a plug three cent piece...It all happened while you were away, Matt. More cattle than a man could gather elsewhere in two lifetimes. And I'm broke. Unless we can move 'em, I'm broke...I'm not gonna take it haunch-backed like the rest around here. There's no market for cattle in Texas...Then I'll take 'em where there is a market, if it means drivin' them a thousand miles.
Matt: Missouri?
Dunson: Yeah.
Matt: That's what I figured.
Dunson: And have you two been doin' a lot of figurin'? While you were at it, did you figure out the best way to get 'em there?
Matt: Which trail to take? Yeah.

View Quote Dunson: Don't ever trust anybody until you know 'em.
Matt: I won't - after this. Thanks for telling me.

View Quote Dunson: Get down off them horses. I don't favor lookin' up to the likes of you...That's better. You should be crawlin'. Cherry, I sent you out after three of 'em. You brought back two.
Cherry: Bill Kelsey figured he'd rather fight. Made a good one of it for a while.
Dunson: Laredo, Teeler, you signed on for the drive and you signed on to finish it.
Laredo: That's right, we did.
Dunson: You stole beans and flour, and cartridges. Besides bein' deserters, you're common thieves.
Laredo: The law might see it different...
Dunson: I'm the law. You're a thief! You too, Teeler. Anything more?
Teeler: I know what you're gonna do to us, but first I wanna tell ya somethin'.
Dunson: Go ahead.
Teeler: You're crazy. You've been drinkin' and you ain't been sleepin'. If you ain't crazy, you're a skin close to it.
Dunson: You through?
Teeler: No. You wanna get this herd to market. Well, so do all of us. There's a good way to Abilene, but you won't listen to that. No. You want to drive to Missouri when you got the high, low, and jack against ya. I ain't through yet. This herd don't belong to you. It belongs to every poor hopin' and prayin' cattleman in the whole wide state. I shouldn't have run away. I should've stayed and put a bullet in ya. I signed a pledge, sure, but you ain't the man I signed it with.
Dunson: You finished?
Teeler: Yeah. Now you can get your Bible and read over us after you shoot us.
Dunson: I'm gonna hang ya.
Matt: No. No, you're not.
Dunson: What?
Matt: You're not going to hang them.
Dunson: Who'll stop me?
Matt: I will.

View Quote Dunson: I said 'Brand him.'
Matt: He's wearing a Meeker iron.
Dunson: I can't see it.
Matt: [To Teeler] Brand him.
Teeler: All right, but the next one up's another Diego.
Matt: Brand him. Put the iron on all of 'em, Teeler. Anything you see, slap it with a 'Red River D' and burn it deep.
Dunson: Why not?
Matt: You're gonna wind up branding every rump in the state of Texas except mine.
Dunson: Hand me that iron, Teeler. You don't think I'd do it, do ya?
Matt: I don't.
Dunson: Matt, I'm goin' to Missouri with every steer, cow, and bull that I can lay my hands on.
Matt: I think Meeker might be real pleased to see our brand on his stock.
Dunson: That I'll argue with Meeker.

View Quote Dunson: Tell Don Diego, tell him that all the land north of that river's mine. Tell him to stay off of it.
Mexican: Oh, but the land is his.
Dunson: Where did he get it?
Mexican: Oh many years ago by grant and patent, inscribed by the King of all of Spain.
Dunson: You mean he took it away from whomever was here before. Indians maybe.
Mexican: Maybe so.
Dunson: Well, I'm takin' it away from him.
Mexican: Others have thought as you, senor. Others have tried.
Dunson: And you've always been good enough to stop 'em?
Mexican: Amigo, it is my work.
Dunson: Pretty unhealthy job.

View Quote Dunson: There they are, Matt. Fourteen years of hard work. And they say we can't make the drive.
Matt: They could be wrong.
Dunson: They'd better be.

View Quote Dunson: This is it. This is where we start growin' good beef...Everything a man could want. Good water and grass and plenty of it.
Matt: Who does it belong to?
Dunson: To me! Some day, that'll all be covered with good beef. And I'll put a mark, a brand on 'em, to show they're mine too.
Matt: What kind of a mark?
Dunson: I've been thinkin' about that. There'll be two lines, like this, like the banks of a river. It'll be the Red River brand.

View Quote Dunson: What would you say if, if I offered ya half of everything I own for a son?
Tess: Your son?
Dunson: You can have a son, can't ya? That's all that matters.
Tess: By Dunson out of Millay? Half of everything you've got.
Dunson: That's right.
Tess: I'll have your son, Mr. Dunson, if you'll stop now. Stop now and go back where you came from. I'll have your son.
Dunson: Yeah, I thought so.

View Quote Dunson: When did you fall in love with him?
Tess: It was under a wagon, in six inches of mud. When did, when did you...when did you fall in love with her?
Dunson: Who?
Tess: The girl you told me about. The one you left, walked out on.
Dunson: 'I told you about'? Did he tell you...?
Tess: No, no, you told me. You knew how I felt when he left me. She must have felt the same way when you left her. That's right, isn't it? Or can't you remember?
Dunson: I can remember.
Tess: Oh I, I hope so, because, because I want you to think about it while I ask you something. I want you to think hard.
Dunson: What?
Tess: I want to go on with you.
Dunson: That won't do any good. Nothing you can say or do...
Tess: And though I know you told me that, oh please, I want to go with you. Please.
Dunson: All right.
Tess: Thanks. Thanks a lot.