Rawhide (TV Series)

Incident at Alabaster Plain (1959)

Eric Fleming: Gil Favor

Quotes 

• Gil Favor : A thousand miles from San Antonio to the railhead at Sedalia, Missouri. We got three thousand head of Texas cattle that don't want to go. When everything's right, we cover eight miles a day. But how often are things right? The weather's what hits you the hardest between the eyes. Boiling sun that dries up the water, brings the dust and sand. Storms that mill the cattle, touch off stampedes. The way the land lies can hurt you, too, wearing off pounds with every step the beeves take. But the way to even things up is to hire the best men in the business. I got 'em. Pete Nolan, scout. Rowdy Yates, new as they come, but he's got the makings. Joe Scarlet, swing. Jim Quince, flank. And the man who can make or break the drive - the cook, Wishbone. And the cook's louse - his name is Mushy. And somebody's gotta kick this whole kit and kaboodle along. That's me. Gil Favor, trail boss. I ride point.

• Gil Favor : [Sees Rowdy, Wishbone and Pete bound and gagged to a carriage]  What have the three of you done now.

  Jim Quince : Well, I'll be a blue nosed mule.

  Gil Favor : In a place like this.

  Wishbone : [Muffled]  Well, all I was trying to do was get some water, and... took my gun away from me...

  [Rowdy tries to talk over him but his speech is even more muffled] 

• Gil Favor : Young fella's gonna get his head shot off.

  Pete Nolan : What's that?

  Gil Favor : If I've told him once, I've told him a thousand times, stick to cattle, don't go dipping your bread in another man's bacon grease.

• Gil Favor : [a scene in which most of the men, Wish excluded, are topless as they wash, bathe and shave in preparation for the wedding party]  He's a fast gun and he's not for you. And all he said was he was gonna visit.

  Rowdy Yates : You just gonna stand back if he comes in?

  Gil Favor : That's right.

  Rowdy Yates : Mr Favor, I don't think you're as smart as I think you are.

  Gil Favor : What was that?

• Pete Nolan : What a place for God to stake out a claim.

  Gil Favor : Right here in the middle of nowhere.

  Rowdy Yates : How'd they get it here? There's nothing for miles.

  Pete Nolan : You know what I figure. I think maybe the Good Lord just had a long rope with a hook on it and just lowered it down.

• Rowdy Yates : [Last Scene]  Did I show you this, Pete?

  Pete Nolan : No.

  Rowdy Yates : Solid silver inlaid in ebony. Must have cost a lot of money.

  Pete Nolan : It's a rattlesnake. How do you like that.

  Rowdy Yates : I've seen more men engrave their initials on guns but never anything like that.

  Gil Favor : Rowdy!

  Rowdy Yates : Yessir!

  Gil Favor : Tell him about it tonight in your own time. Get back in the cattle business, mister. We got a herd to push!