Robert Mitchum credited as playing...
El Dorado Sheriff J.P. Harrah
- Sheriff J. P. Harrah: What the hell are you doin' here?
- Cole: I'm lookin' at a tin star with a... drunk pinned on it.
- Mississippi: [examining J.P.'s leg after he's been shot] I gotta cut this pant leg.
- Sheriff J. P. Harrah: Well, go ahead and cut it! Have you got a kni...
- [Mississippi pulls out his huge Bowie knife from its hiding place on his back]
- Sheriff J. P. Harrah: A knife? Uh, I suppose I've asked this before, but just who...?
- [looks at Cole instead]
- Sheriff J. P. Harrah: Who is he?
- Cole: Tell him your name, Mississippi.
- Mississippi: [sighs and looks up] Alan Bourdillion Trehearne.
- Sheriff J. P. Harrah: Well, no wonder he carries a knife.
- Sheriff J. P. Harrah: Cole, they laughed at me. Right in front of McLeod, they just laughed at me.
- Cole: They've been laughing at you for a couple of months. You just haven't being sober enough to hear it.
- Cole: What was the idea of diving under those horses?
- Sheriff J. P. Harrah: Diving under those horses?
- Mississippi: Yeah. A man can't shoot good when his horse is jumping, and a horse will not step on a man.
- Sheriff J. P. Harrah: He won't?
- Mississippi: He will?
- Sheriff J. P. Harrah: Alan Bourdillion Ter-who?
- Cole: Terhane.
- Mississippi: Trahearne!
- Cole, Sheriff J. P. Harrah: Trahearne.
- Mississippi: Yeah.
- Sheriff J. P. Harrah: Joe never was much good on that piano, was he?
- Bull Harris: No, and you shooting them strings out didn't help none either.
- Sheriff J. P. Harrah: Why aren't you laughing now? It's the same drunken sheriff, the same hat, the same outfit, why don't you laugh? Let me hear you laugh!
- Sheriff J. P. Harrah: [Cole has just been treated for a gunshot wound] Doctor, can he be moved?
- Dr. Miller: Sure, in a couple of hours, but don't go bouncin' him around.
- Maudie: He can stay here. I'll... I'll make him comfortable.
- Sheriff J. P. Harrah: Oh, I've got a fine bed over at my place. It's, uh, narrow and it's hard and it's uncomfortable, but, uh, he won't get bounced around.
- Sheriff J. P. Harrah: Bull, you go on shooting, we'll try to move up a little closer.
- Bull Harris: Just give me another gun and I'll play Marching Through Georgia.
- Sheriff J. P. Harrah: It'll be a nice quiet town after you leave, Cole.
- Cole: How do you know I'm leaving?
- Sheriff J. P. Harrah: We just don't need your kind around here.
- Sheriff J. P. Harrah: [bathing in the jail cell as several people enter] Good morning, good morning, good morning... I'd have more privacy in the El Paso railroad station.
- Sheriff J. P. Harrah: You know something Cole, I think we'd better get ourselves a new girl.
- Cole: Yeah.
- Maudie: You'd better not.
- Sheriff J. P. Harrah: Why not?
- Maudie: I'm girl enough for both of you.
- Maudie: You must like that man. Want me to tell you about him?
- Sheriff J. P. Harrah: You don't have to tell me about Cole.
- Maudie: I know I don't. That's why I want to. I met Cole right after my husband was killed. I did tell you that.
- Sheriff J. P. Harrah: Yeah, you told me.
- Maudie: Well, there I was stranded. A gambler's widow, not a chip to my name. Cole was awful good to me. Gave me a stake. Helped me get on my feet. Never would take a... I don't know, J.P., with Cole and me I guess it's a... I'll always think of him as a... , as a...
- Sheriff J. P. Harrah: He's a top hand.
- Maudie: I guess so.
- Sheriff J. P. Harrah: Yeah, well, Cole always was pretty lucky.
- Maudie: Have you known him a long time?
- Sheriff J. P. Harrah: Yeah, I've known him a long time, since before the war. We've, uh, we've travelled some together.
- Maudie: Sure, I know what that means. It means either you saved his life or he saved yours, or both. And neither one of you will talk about it. Men.
- Sheriff J. P. Harrah: Would you like it set to music, Maudie, with a full orchestra?
- Sheriff J. P. Harrah: Who are you?
- Mississippi: We met last night.
- Sheriff J. P. Harrah: Last night? When was that?
- Bull Harris: Watch it, the way your hand's shaking don't let it get near the trigger.
- Sheriff J. P. Harrah: Now don't you get on me, Bull.
- Bull Harris: I ain't started yet.
- Kevin MacDonald: What do you expect us to do?
- Cole: Why don't you ask the sheriff?
- Kevin MacDonald: The sheriff? Ya think I'm gonna wait on him?
- Sheriff J. P. Harrah: Just give me an hour, Macdonald. You can wait that long to die.
- Doctor Donovan: You know these wounds were made by buckshot don't you?
- Cole: I thought they were.
- Doctor Donovan: Who was using a shotgun?
- Cole: A certain young man... .
- Mississippi: I was using a shotgun, Doc.
- Doctor Donovan: You? I thought you was on their side.
- Sheriff J. P. Harrah: He was.
- Mississippi: I told you I was no good with a gun.
- Bull Harris: Trouble is, Doc, Cole was in front of the gun. The safe place is behind Mississippi when he shoots that thing.
- [talking about Jason, who's in jail]
- Joey: Would it be all right if I could see him, talk to him?
- Sheriff J. P. Harrah: Why sure, Joey. Just, uh, let me have that gun.
- Joey: Never mind.
- Kevin MacDonald: Are you backin' him up, Thornton?
- Sheriff J. P. Harrah: No, he isn't.
- Cole: Let's just say I'm on your side and this is no job for amateurs.