Title: 'Until the Iron Horse came, the Stagecoach was the 
only means of travel on the untamed American frontier. Braving 
all dangers, these Concord coaches -- the "streamliners" of 
their day -- spanned on schedule wild, desolate stretches of 
desert and mountainland in the Southwest, where in 1875 the 
savage struggle of the Indians to oust the white invader was 
drawing to a close. At the time no name struck more terror 
into the hearts of travellers than that of GERONIMO -- leader 
of those Apaches who preferred death rather than submit to 
the white man's will.'...

                  Opening to Stagecoach (1939)


I caught a big part of Stagecoach (1939)the other night and 
some dialogue within a certain context caught me by surprise.
I was so struck by some of the dialogue that I just had to 
locate a copy of the original Script for that film on the 
internet.

I thought about the fact that this film was 72 years old
(You can add another sixty-five years to that if you wish 
to go back to the temporal context of the plot in that film) 
and it occurred to me as to how the more things change, the
more they remain the same.

The plot of this film is really Chaucerian when you think 
about it. After the plot is set up properly a number of folks 
with diverse backgrounds and diverse purposes attempt to reach
the sacred city of Lordsburg. 

There is a minister and a drunken doctor and a pretty lady and
a hooker and a liquor salesman...
and they pick up other folks along the way including a 
criminal (Ringo) who just escaped from prison but had the 
same misfortune as Richard III in that his horse failed him 
at the wrong time and in the wrong place.

We all know that the Transcontinental Railroad had been 
completed by the end of the Civil War. But even ten years 
later the infrastructure for our railroads was not exactly
pristine so that in your wilderness travels you might find 
yourself riding in some dusty, rocky and undependable stage
coach. The coach might stop at some watering hole and drop 
somebody off and pick up someone else along the way.

And to complicate matters, as the set up demonstrates, 
a fellow named Geronimo had had enough; the Indian Wars 
were not yet over and animosity reigned supreme over the 
untamed West.

So the private corporation running the stagecoaches had 
to depend upon the Army/Cavalry as its escort service. Now 
sometimes the Cavalry would be dependable and cooperative. 
Other times the Cavalry might have to leave you in the lurch
so that the occupants and the drivers were forced to cross 
their fingers and hope for the best whilst the Army took off 
in another direction to stave off some Injun Attacks made upon 
other 'innocent' Americans!

Toward the beginning of the film, some Wells Fargo outfit 
delivers the cash payroll to the Tonto Bank operated by a 
delightful fellow who goes by the name of Henry Gatewood:

"Outside the Tonto Bank, we focus on the glass panels of 
the bank door. White letters on one side read: MINERS' AND 
CATTLEMEN'S BANK and on the other: CAPITAL $50,000 -- ASSETS 
$250,000. The bank is situated across from the Oriental Saloon 
and we can see the stagecoach reflected in the glass, with a 
crowd of people around it watching as fresh horses are hitched 
up."

 

Dissolve to the interior of the bank. The two Wells Fargo 
agents appear, heaving the large iron treasure box onto the 
counter in front of Henry Gatewood, a prosperous-looking 
gentleman, who stands behind the counter. He seems to be an 
important man who commands respect in this Arizona frontier 
town. A big, old-fashioned iron safe is in a corner behind 
the counter. At the front of the office there is a wicket, 
and an old cashier is doing some business with a couple of 
ranchers.

                WELLS FARGO AGENT
        Payroll, Mister Gatewood.

                GATEWOOD
        You know, ever since I opened this 
        bank, I've been trying to tell those 
        people to deposit their payrolls 
        here six months in advance. It's 
        good, sound business.

Gatewood begins to write a receipt as the Agent takes a 
package of money from the box and puts it on the counter.

                WELLS FARGO AGENT
                (pleasantly)
        It's good business for you, Mr. 
        Gatewood.

                GATEWOOD
        Here's your receipt. Fifty thousand 
        dollars.

He smiles affably.

                GATEWOOD
        And remember this -- what's good 
        business for the banks is good for 
        the country.

http://sfy.ru/?script=stagecoach_1939

So we learn that banks wanted their monies (that were really not their monies at all) as quick as possible so that more monies could be made off of the monies that were not theirs to begin with prior to the time that payroll would be made by the mining and lumber interests sustaining the area.

That would be kind of nice would it not? I mean to be able to use someone else's monies for six frickin months for free?

And risk those payroll funds that do not belong to you without giving proper notice to the slaves working in the mines and the forests?

What's good for business is good for the country!

Now even back in 1875 (and certainly 1939) the corporate interests as well as the governmental interests were most precarious. So disclaimers were always to be had:

 

LT. BLANCHARD
        We're going with you as far as the 
        noon station at Dry Fork. There's a 
        troop of cavalry there. They'll take 
        you on to Apache Wells. From Apache 
        Wells you'll have another escort of 
        soldiers into Lordsburg. You must 
        warn your passengers that they travel 
        at their own risk.

WE TOLD YOU THERE WOULD BE RISKS!

Human nature at work! Always always always pass the buck!

This is the American Way.

And these corporate interests and these banking interests 
were not worth shite without the Army (read government).  
But Gatewood wants no part of having to pay taxes in order 
to be shielded from the dangers of his locality. ha

Now we come to the most relevant prose of the movie. Gatewood is proselytizing like McConnell at a Kentucky town meeting and the only person who has only half an interest in the banker's pronouncements is the drunken doc:

GATEWOOD
                (off)
        I'll report him to Washington! We 
        pay taxes to the government and what 
        do we get? Not even protection from 
        the Army!

Peacock is now seen in close-up with Doc Boone just in shot, 
his hand rearranging the scarf so that it practically covers 
Peacock's face. While Gatewood continues to hold forth, Doc 
Boone cleans the dust from Peacock's face.

                GATEWOOD
                (off)
        I don't know what the government's 
        coming to! Instead of protecting 
        businessmen, it's poking its nose 
        into business.

Cut back to the same shot of Dallas and Gatewood.

                GATEWOOD
        Why, they're talking now about having 
        bank examiners...
                (he snorts)
        ...as if we didn't know how to run 
        our own banks.

The stagecoach is going really fast and a stiff breeze is 
coming through the windows. Dallas desperately tries to 
rearrange her hat, which is being blown about.

Cut back to Peacock and Doc Boone, who pulls a bottle from 
the sample-case and holds it up to Peacock ingratiatingly. 
Peacock does not protest. So Doc Boone takes a large swallow...
                GATEWOOD
                (off)
        I actually had a letter, from some 
        popinjay official, saying they were 
        going to inspect my books! I have a 
        programme, gentlemen, that should be 
        blazoned on every newspaper in the 
        country.

Gatewood now addresses his remarks to Lucy, as the most worthy 
of attention.

                GATEWOOD
        America for Americans! Don't let the 
        government meddle with business! 
        Reduce taxes! Our national debt is 
        shocking...
GATEWOOD
                (off)
        ...over a billion dollars! What the 
        country needs is a businessman for 
        President!

                DOC
                (amiably, holding up 
                a bottle)
        What the country needs is more bottle.

He points to the bottle.

                PEACOCK
        What?

                DOC
                (affably)
        Bottle!

Dallas, sitting next to Gatewood, has her eyes closed and 
her head leaning against the back of the seat.

                GATEWOOD
        You're drunk, sir.

Doc Boone's smile fades as he turns indignantly to Gatewood.

                DOC
        I'm happy, Gatewood. Woof!

http://sfy.ru/?script=stagecoach_1939

I am beginning to think that the RNC and the repub Congress and the silly clowns running for President have speechwriters who simply search the net for their inspirational prayers and speeches.

HA!

72 years later (or 136 years later depending upon the believability of the script) bankers still wish to make money off of other people's labors, bankers still do not wish to be audited by independent agents and bankers in the end do not wish be held accountable for anything except for false patriotism. HA!

State and federal prosecutors are pressing to complete a proposed settlement with the nation’s five largest home loan companies over alleged mortgage abuses, even though they’ve only initiated a limited investigation that hasn't examined the full extent of the alleged wrongdoing, according to interviews with more than two dozen officials and others familiar with the state and federal probes.

The deal with the mortgage companies would broadly absolve the firms of wrongdoing in exchange for penalties reaching $30 billion and assurances that the firms will adhere to better practices going forward, these sources told The Huffington Post. Negotiators met in Washington last week to hash out the settlement. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/11/foreclosure-fraud-investigation-questions_n_892661.html

Here is what pisses me off—I mean besides the fact that the felons wish to only pay a five billion dollar fine.

First, I am taken back to the Civil War when young boys were conscripted into service (read enslaved) whilst pigs like Grover Cleveland could purchase their way out of any real danger.

If you were conscripted and were without adequate funds, you went to war or you went to prison! I actually knew kids who went to prison rather than go to war.

These pricks are given the opportunity per a partnership of the State and Federal Governments to pay up and avoid prison.

That just pisses me off. Negotiations?

Where is Sam Waterston in all of this?
 

Second, these mortgage companies did far more damage than $30 billion dollars—hell that investment prick Madoff did more damage than that all by himself.

Third, the felonies took place from 2005 to the present date. These bastards paid themselves and the top tier management ten times this amount in bonuses and salaries and parachutes and dancing girls and wine!

If we have the goods on some top drug dealers in this country we simply go in and confiscate every motherfricking thing those drug dealers own BEFORE THEY ARE EVEN ARRAIGNED OR INDICTED!

The drug dealers are not allowed to have their own attorneys BECAUSE ATTORNEYS CANNOT BE PAID FRUIT COMING FROM THE POISONOUS TREE!

Okay, that's enough.

I just know that as I see and hear Gatewood I know...I mean I already know he is a no good hypocritical felon! ha

I cannot wrap this up without relaying the single greatest line of the entire movie:

                RINGO
        Well, I guess you can't break out of 
        prison and into society in the same 
        week.