| Blue and Sam are riding through the desert when they see smoke. Crawling to
the edge of a canyon, Blue sees four men around a campfire, with a bloodied
Indian brave staked out to the ground. Blue tells Sam he is going down to cut
him loose, though Sam tries to stop him. Blue almost has the brave free when the
captors discover what he is doing. Sam fires a warning shot before they can
draw their guns. Blue scatters their horses. Then he helps the Indian on his own
horse and mounts up behind him, with Sam hurrying behind them, rifle still
ready. |
Sam tries to stop Blue from
interfering. |
|
Vaquero gives the call to supper. |
At the ranch, Vaquero rings the dinner triangle. Victoria tells him it’s not yet
time, that Blue and Sam haven’t arrived yet. Vaquero says that Mrs. Cannon
always had him ring the dinner bell at six o’clock. Victoria gently reminds him
that she is Mrs. Cannon now. John Cannon tells Mrs. Cannon that dinner
smells good as he makes his way to the table. Before he can sit down, Victoria
tells him she has put warm water in a basin and laid out a fresh shirt for him.
John is confused for only a second, then mumbles to Buck that he’s going to wash
first. Buck looks down at this own dirt and looks a little confused himself. |
|
While John cleans up, Victoria tells him that she feels that something is wrong
– maybe with Blue and Sam. John says matter-of-factly that anytime anyone sets
foot outside the compound, he runs the risk of an Apache arrow. Victoria says he
sounds like he doesn’t care what happens to his own son. He says that it’s none
of her affair and that Blue’s mother is dead. Then he moves a chair – “Here’s
where we always had it” – before leaving the room.
|
|
Victoria tries to reach John
at the gravesite. |
John stands at the grave of Annalee and Victoria joins him. How many wives do
you have, Mr. Cannon? Victoria asks. She looks at the grave site. “I think you
have two.” John says he made a bargain with her father – he didn’t promise
anything else. Victoria replies that marriage is its own promise. Can she call
him John now? He says she can call him anything she wants, still calling her
Mrs. Cannon. My name is Victoria, she says hotly. |
|
Reno calls from the roof that Blue and Sam are coming. Now the rescued brave is
lying across the horse. John looks him over and growls that they risked their
fool necks over a dead Indian, and left a trail of blood to their front door. He
could expect something like this from Blue but Sam should have known better.
Then the Indian groans. John looks stricken as he meets his son’s gaze. |
|
Victoria, Buck and Mano are tending to the brave in the bunk house. Buck says it
looks like he was pulled apart by a pack of wild cats. Victoria is angry at the
perpetrators, even though Blue has said that they were Don Sebastian’s men. And
Blue was right to help the Indian and his father was wrong and she is going to
tell her husband so. Yes, Ma’am says Buck and she snaps that he should call her
Victoria. |
The wounded brave is tended to in the bunkhouse. |
Victoria brings a tray of supper to Blue in his room. Victoria tells him that
what he did for the Indian was fine and right. She has also brought him a book
of poetry. Victoria tries to touch him but he pulls away. “Pa says when you miss
supper you miss it.” Victoria starts to say, “And your Ma says…” but Blue cries
out, “No! I don’t mean no disrespect, Ma’am, but you can never be my mother.
Never.” Victoria manages a small smile though she is upset and says softly that
'never' is like 'always' and there are no such things. When she leaves, Blue picks
up the book she has left.
|
|
Victoria is held hostage. |
Victoria visits Annalee’s grave again. She prays that “this dead lady” will know
that she is still loved, and she needn’t rise up every day to prove it. Victoria
only wants to do what Annalee would do – to be a wife and a mother. Suddenly,
she is grabbed by several Apaches. One holds her, a knife to her throat.
Manolito translates – Victoria won’t be harmed. All they want is Little Cloud.
John tells Mano to say that if they harm her in any way, every one of them is
going to die. Mano, through clenched teeth, tells him not to threaten the
Indians.
|
|
The
spokesman for the Apaches demands to know who hurt Little Cloud, a relative of Cochise. John tells Mano not to tell them that the men were
Don Sebastian’s, because of their pact. Mano is furious – he is more concerned
with his sister. He’ll go along with Mr. Cannon, but if the Indian hurts
Victoria, the first bullet will be for the Apache, the second one for him. |
|
Little Cloud revives enough to say something and the Indians release Victoria as
they reclaim their brave. Victoria immediately goes to Mano and slaps him hard.
“You will never talk to John Cannon that way again!” Blue goes to her, saying it
was all his fault. Victoria tells him she still thinks he was right before
running into the house. Mano rubs his sore face and laughs. He has told himself
a hundred times not to try to understand a woman. John wants to know what
Victoria was doing out alone when she knows the rule. Victoria tells him she had
to talk to Annalee. John is shocked. “You'll have nothing to do with Annalee –
nothing at all.”
|
|
Mano asks Victoria why she stays here doing this. |
The next day, Manolito watches his sister churning, obviously taking out her
feelings through the chore. He wants to know why she stays when she could live
in a castle and have everything. Can’t she see they don’t want her here? It’s
not their fault, it's Annalee’s, Victoria yells. The dead woman reaches out from
her grave – she is against her! But Victoria is going to win. Win what? asks
Mano. That piece of granite that you have taken for a husband?
|
|
Victoria storms into her bedroom. She pushes back the chair that John moved to
the spot where she wants it. She takes the photo of Annalee from the table and
opens a trunk to put it inside. Here she finds Annalee’s things. A scarf, a
glove, a feminine hat. I think I’ve found you out, she says. You
were a silly woman, just like me. She puts the hat on her head and
opens a purse. Inside is a diary. |
|
While she is reading John comes in and explodes. What does she mean,
going through Annalee’s things? Victoria apologizes and tries to cajole him –
aren’t Annalee’s things just like any other woman’s? John doesn’t think so. She
meant more to him than anything else in the world and she always will. This is
too much for Victoria. She yells at him, all the feelings she’s kept inside.
Nothing she does pleases him. John is obviously sorry but reminds her that he
married her only to bind her father’s agreement. And if the agreement isn’t
satisfactory . . . Victoria cuts him off, yelling that it’s not just unsatisfactory,
it’s impossible.
|
Victoria's frustrations finally explode.
|
|
Victoria and Mano greet Lord Ashbury. |
Suddenly shots ring out. A group of men ride through the gate, Apaches on their heels.
Victoria recognizes one of the riders and rushes into his arms with joy. He is
Anthony Grey, Lord Ashbury, a friend of the Montoya's that they knew in Europe.
|
Sam and Buck don't know what to
make of this newcomer. |
|
Tony has brought his own champagne and
suggests they have a glass while he tells them of his adventures in
finding them. Sam and Buck are nearly dumbfounded by the likes
of Lord Ashbury. |
Blue recognizes one of the Englishman’s group and greets him sarcastically, “Well,
look at the Indian skinner.” The man goes for him angrily until Sam pulls them
apart. The Mexican says it’s all Blue’s fault. The Apache found them and only
one got away – the rest are dead. Inside the house, Tony explains that they came
across the Mexicans running for their lives. “They rattled on in Spanish quite a
bit”, he says, and he couldn’t follow it. Manolito is worried. When Don
Sebastian hears that some of his men are dead he will blame John and say he
broke the pact. To Don Sebastian, that is worse than betraying his country.
There are angry voices outside and John rushes out. Blue and the Mexican are
fighting while the others cheer Blue on. John breaks up the fight and tells his furious son to clear off. |
|
Blue rebuffs Victoria's
assistance
after the fight. |
Afterward, Tony watches as
Victoria tries to help Blue clean his cuts, but Blue pushes her away, telling
her to leave him alone. Tony tells Victoria that this ranch is a far cry from the
life she and Mano and he led in Europe. He confesses that he fell in love with
her then. She can’t really like living out in the middle of nowhere. It can’t be
her life. But it is, she assures him happily. He confesses that he came to
America for her, to ask her to marry him. He doesn’t know what her marriage to
John means to her but it’s obvious to him it’s not a matter of sheer,
all-consuming joy. He tells her he can give her anything in the world she wants
and all his love.
|
|
Reno fires a warning shot from the roof. “Apaches!” John takes Mano out to talk
to them. Little Cloud is dead and Cochise wants all the Mexicans responsible for
it killed. They are to hand over the two that they’ve got and if they don’t, the
Apaches will come and get them. Sam says he’s not too keen to risk his neck for
the murdering Mexicans but he doesn’t want to hand them over, either. So now
they have a fight on their hands. John gives the orders to get the barricades
ready. Tony Grey is not happy. How can John risk all their lives? It’s more
sensible to sacrifice the two. John says that’s the same as murder. He has a
pact with Victoria’s father - he has no right to give up Montoya men to certain
death. "Have you the right to give them Victoria?", Tony demands. He wants to take
her and leave. John tells him that they would be taken as hostages and killed. Is that the only reason you don’t want me to go? Victoria asks. It's reason
enough, says John. She runs to her room and slams the door. |
|
Victoria discovers her bond with Annalee. |
While they wait at the barricade for the attack to begin Buck asks his brother
if its true that Victoria is leaving when the fight is all over.
He heard she was packing and might go off with “that English thing.” John
reminds him that the agreement doesn’t say Victoria can’t do whatever she wants
to. Inside, Victoria is indeed packing. But she finds Annalee’s diary again and
stops to read it. Annalee has written about doing just what Victoria is doing –
packing and returning home. She writes that she knows John loves her, but he
never shows it though she needs it. She must not make demands on him. This good,
kind, strong man believes that everyone else is also strong. She prays for
strength to keep her secret. |
|
The fighting has begun. The Apaches shoot flaming arrows which land on the water
tower and roof, setting them ablaze. Victoria joins the effort to douse the
flames when her skirt catches on fire. John hears her screams, grabs her and
puts her in the water trough. Reinforcements arrive in the form of Don Sebastian
himself with plenty of men, scattering the Apaches. |
Victoria's skirt is ablaze after helping
to douse the fire.
|
|
After ascertaining
that his daughter is still alive, he tells John that because of his mock
heroics in rescuing “some stupid Indian”, three of his men have been
killed and their horses and cattle taken. Blue steps up, accepting the
responsibility. John says that Blue did the right thing but Don Sebastian is not interested. He says
their arrangement is terminated. |
|
Don Sebastian |
Victoria greets her father in her wet, partially burned attire, her face dark
with soot. Don Sebastian orders her to get her things, she is leaving the ranch.
Victoria asks John what he has to say about it. He doesn’t hesitate. “Mrs. Cannon, I want
you to stay." |
John Cannon
|
|
Victoria beams with
happiness, only looking at her husband as she refuses Lord Ashbury’s offer to come with him. Don Sebastian demands to know how
she can stay with his enemy. Victoria tells him kindly that John Cannon is not
his enemy and that she didn’t become
Mrs. Cannon as part of his agreement. She would never have allowed that. When
she met John Cannon she knew she had found a very special man with whom she
could have an exciting life – the man she wanted to marry and this is why she
will stay. John looks relieved and Blue has a smile on his face. Tony says his
goodbyes – he will go back with Don Sebastian. Don Sebastian tells his
son-in-law that they still have an arrangement. Both men agree they like it. |
|
Victoria visits Annalee’s grave once again. John joins her and invites her for a
walk. She tells him that she thinks Annalee is at peace with her now, because
she helped her. How? asks John. “That is our secret – Annalee’s and mine,” says
Victoria. |
 Blue approaches them, Victoria’s poetry book in hand. He has memorized
a poem for Victoria, Sir Walter Scott’s “My Native Land,” which he recites for
them. He says it explains how he feels about “all this,” meaning the ranch and
the
land. Victoria agrees that it’s how they all feel about it.
(Synopsis by Ginny Shook)
|
|
MY
NATIVE LAND
Sir Walter Scott
Breathes there the man, with soul so
dead,
Who never to himself hath said,
This is my own, my native land!
Whose heart hath ne'er within him burn'd,
As home his footsteps he hath turn'd
From wandering on a foreign strand!
If such there breathe, go, mark him well;
For him no Minstrel raptures swell;
High though his titles, proud his name,
Boundless his wealth as wish can claim;
Despite those titles, power, and pelf,
The wretch, concentred all in self,
Living, shall forfeit fair renown,
And, doubly dying, shall go down
To the vile dust, from whence he sprung,
Unwept, unhonour'd, and unsung. |
|
Supervisory Producer:
Irving Elman
Production Manager: Kent
McCray
Music by Harry Sukman; Theme by David Rose
Director of Photography: Harold Stine, A.S.C.
Color Consultant: Edward P. Ancona
Unit Production Manager: Andrew J. Durkus
Assistant Director: Sherry Shourds
Stunt Coordinator: Henry Wills
Story Editor: Ward Hawkins
Art Direction: Hal Pereira, McClure Capps |
Edited by
Ellsworth Hoagland, A.C.E.
Set Decoration: Robert
Benton, Bill F. Calvert
Post Production Co-ordinator: Bill Wistrom
Casting: Russell Trost
Sound Recording: Joe Edmondson, Joel Moss
Make-up Supervision: Wally Westmore, S.M.A.
Hair Style Supervision: Nelly Manley, C.H.S.
Titles by CINEFX
Location Scenes filmed at Old Tucson, Tucson, Arizona
Filmed at Paramount Studios, Hollywood, California |
|
Victoria
Especially
good portrayals of these characters