Kevin Costner credited as playing...
Charley Waite
- Charley Waite: [burying Mose and Tig] Be right to say some words.
- Boss Spearman: You want to speak with the man upstairs, go on and do it. I'll stand right here and listen, hat in hand, but I ain't talking to that son or a bitch. And I'll be holding a grudge for him letting this befall a sweet kid like Mose.
- Charley Waite: Well, he sure as hell wasn't one to complain. Woke with a smile, seemed like he could keep it there all day. Kind of a man that'd say 'good morning' and mean it, whether it was or not. Tell you the truth, Lord, if there was two gentler souls in this world, I never seen 'em. Seems like old Tig wouldn't even kill birds in the end. Well, you got yourself a good man and a good dog, and I'm inclined to agree with Boss here about holding a grudge against you for it. I guess that means Amen.
- Mack: Shame what this town's come to.
- Charley Waite: You could do something about it.
- Mack: What? We're freighters. Ralph here's a shopkeeper.
- Charley Waite: You're men, ain't you?
- Mack: I didn't raise my boys just to see 'em killed.
- Charley Waite: Well you may not know this, but there's things that gnaw at a man worse than dying.
- [Charley Waite kicks Button off his horse. He falls into the river]
- Button: What you do that for?
- Charley Waite: Cheatin' at cards.
- Button: I apologized to you for that.
- [to Boss Spearman]
- Button: Eh, Boss? I apologized to him for that.
- Boss Spearman: Evidently he ain't over it yet.
- Charley: I'm not goin' to my maker without knowin' your given name. Mine ain't Waite; it's Postelwaite. Charles Travis Postelwaite. What's yours? Sure ain't Boss.
- [Boss hesitates]
- Charley: I mean it, Boss. I'm asking you straight up.
- Boss Spearman: It's Bluebonnet.
- Charley: Bluebonnet?
- Boss Spearman: Bluebonnet, yeah.
- Charley: No middle name?
- Boss Spearman: No, just Bluebonnet Spearman. And don't you tell no one. I want to hear you swear an oath now, go on.
- [Charley has explained his strategy for the upcoming fight]
- Boss Spearman: Sounds like you got it all worked out.
- Charley Waite: Yeah, except the part where we don't get killed.
- Boss Spearman: I aim to kill Baxter and those that done this, and if that marshal gets in the way, I'm gonna kill him too. So you best get your mind right about what's got to be done, Charlie.
- Charley Waite: I got no problem with killing, Boss. Never have.
- Boss Spearman: We come for justice, not vengeance. Now them is two different things.
- Charley Waite: Not today they ain't.
- Boss Spearman: It's a pretty day for making things right.
- Charley Waite: Well, enjoy it, 'cause once it starts, it's gonna be messy like nothing you ever seen.
- Sue Barlow: So is it marriage that scares you two, or putting down roots?
- Boss Spearman: No. Who'd have him? All rangy and mangy like a rough old dog.
- Charley Waite: How about I hold your head under water for just a little while?
- Charley Waite: Weren't the only thing he said. Most time, a man will tell you his bad intentions if you listen, let yourself hear.
- Charley Waite: You ever seen one this bad?
- Boss Spearman: Not since Noah and the Flood.
- Mose: Well, you should know, Boss, since you was there.
- Boss Spearman: What'd you say?
- Button: He said, "You should know since you was there."
- Sue Barlow: You are coming back, aren't you? Then I'll be waiting for you Charles Postlewaite.
- Charley Waite: [to Boss, who is riding away] You bucket mouth! Can't keep nothing private.
- Boss Spearman: The name Butler mean anything to you?
- Charley Waite: You hear names when you're on the other side of things.
- Boss Spearman: He as fast as they say?
- Charley Waite: He's a killer.
- Boss Spearman: You know him if you saw him?
- Charley Waite: He ain't hard to recognize if you know what you're looking for.
- Boss Spearman: She ought not to sneak up like that.
- Charley Waite: She weren't sneaking. I scared that woman half to death.
- Boss Spearman: Scared me a little bit too.
- Boss Spearman: Charley, you all right?
- Charley Waite: I'm fine.
- Boss Spearman: Seems like you was, you know...
- Charley Waite: I said I'm fine. Just got some old feelings coming up.
- Boss Spearman: You know, we never asked each other much. That's always been okay with me. I figured it was okay with you. But you said some things the last couple of days. Things that seemed like they had kind of a history to them. Hey, Charley?
- Charley Waite: Don't stand behind me, Boss.
- Charley Waite: [scene change to night] When I was a kid, a bunch of us would go into the woods with our peashooters. Nothing fancy, just enough to kill a bird or a squirrel, maybe something larger if we was lucky. Killed my first man in them woods. Held the paper on our farm, and after my pa died, he'd come around to get payment from my mom in any way he could. Weren't much older than Button when I shot him in the throat. Knew there'd be more killing, so I run off and joined the Army. War was on. They was only too happy to have me. My first skirmish was like hunting with my friends. We just sat up in some trees, and they came marching at us. Must have been a hundred of them dead after the smoke cleared. Went around and shot the rest who weren't. Those of us with the knack was made into a special squad so we could travel light and on our own into enemy territory. Orders were pretty simple. Make trouble wherever we could. With room like that, it wasn't long before we was killing men that weren't even in uniform. Seemed like that went on the rest of the war. After that, I come West. Lot of call for a man with them skills. And I put them to work for men just like Baxter. Every once in a while, I almost get through a day without thinking about who I am, what I'd done.
- Boss Spearman: It ain't right to walk away without a word.
- Charley Waite: Well what do you want me to tell her, Boss? We probably ain't gonna make it? Be a big fat comfort.
- [first lines]
- Boss Spearman: [indicating a thunderstorm] Think she'll get over this-a-way?
- Charley Waite: Might.
- Boss Spearman: Best bed 'em down.