Santa Fe Trail (1940)

Errol Flynn: Jeb Stuart

Photos 

Quotes 

• Kit Carson Holliday : Jeb, I'm frightened. That boy is crippled for life. And that man on the train, he died for a principle. A man killed for a principle. One of them is wrong, but which one?

  James Ewell Brown 'Jeb' Stuart : Who knows the answer to that, Kit. Everybody in America is trying to decide.

  Kit Carson Holliday : Yes, by words from the East, and by guns from the West. But one day, the words will turn into guns.

• Kit Carson Holliday : Oh, Jeb, what does pride got to do with guns?

  James Ewell Brown 'Jeb' Stuart : Kit, the two things kind of come together down South. You can't pry them apart. Not even with guns.

• James Ewell Brown 'Jeb' Stuart : What do you mean trailing us halfway across Kansas?

  Windy Brody : Well, we don't want you to get lost. You see, I know every wrinkle of this here country like my own face.

  James Ewell Brown 'Jeb' Stuart : Well, you should. It's just as dirty!

• George Armstrong Custer : They're running! They're getting away!

  James Ewell Brown 'Jeb' Stuart : No they're not. We're going after them!

  George Armstrong Custer : Hey, wait a minute! They outnumber us three to one!

  James Ewell Brown 'Jeb' Stuart : Well, if it makes you nervous, don't count 'em.

• James Ewell Brown 'Jeb' Stuart : Say, who could I talk to in this kind of a town without arousing suspicion?

  Tex Bell : [thinks for a moment]  The town barber.

  Windy Brody : That's right! Anytime a barber can't talk to a stranger, he's liable to go crazy!

• Rader : You find the truth hard to take, hmm?

  James Ewell Brown 'Jeb' Stuart : Listen, Rader, I know the truth of this problem far better than you do. The South will settle it - in its own time and in its own way. But not through the propaganda of renegades like this John Brown or any of his followers.

• James Ewell Brown 'Jeb' Stuart : I told you before we started you had that curb chain on too tight. It's not the first time you've cut his tongue.

  Rader : Ever tried putting a curb on your tongue?

• George Armstrong Custer : You know, the first time I saw you at the graduation I thought of what Napoleon said when he first met Josephine.

  Kit Carson Holliday : What was that?

  James Ewell Brown 'Jeb' Stuart : He said, "I never knew this savage land they call America could breath such perfect beauty in mortal form."

  Kit Carson Holliday : Oh. Thank you. That's a lovely line.

  James Ewell Brown 'Jeb' Stuart : Yes, isn't it? George has been using it for years.

• George Armstrong Custer : You were going to tell me something more about Kansas.

  James Ewell Brown 'Jeb' Stuart : Yes, what do you do on Saturday nights for fun here?

  Kit Carson Holliday : Well, as I remember, half of Leavenworth takes a bath another the half gets drunk. And since there are only two bathtubs in town, things get kind of exciting around midnight.

• James Ewell Brown 'Jeb' Stuart : By the way, how did they ever came to name you Kit Carson Holliday?

  Kit Carson Holliday : Well, Mr. Carson and my dad were very good friends. And they were so sure I was going to be a boy that they named me before I was born.

  James Ewell Brown 'Jeb' Stuart : Oh, I see. Well, I'm certainly glad they were wrong.

  George Armstrong Custer : Me too.

  James Ewell Brown 'Jeb' Stuart : Me too.

  Kit Carson Holliday : Me too!

• James Ewell Brown 'Jeb' Stuart : Haven't you got any heart at all?

  Kit Carson Holliday : Yes, I have, and it's going to stay right where it is. I don't know a thing about you, Jeb Stuart. My brother thinks you're wonderful. But then he was dropped on his head when he was a baby.

• James Ewell Brown 'Jeb' Stuart : The boy is badly hurt. It's his father's madness really striking home now.

  George Armstrong Custer : Jeb, there's a purpose behind that madness. One that can't easily be dismissed.

  James Ewell Brown 'Jeb' Stuart : George, you've seen the needle on a compass, haven't you? It's got a whole car to swing around in but it always wobbles back to the North.

  George Armstrong Custer : What are you driving at?

  James Ewell Brown 'Jeb' Stuart : Just this. I've always known where your sympathies lay, but it never affected our friendship and it never will. But it isn't our job to decide who's right and who's wrong about slavery anymore than it is John Brown's.

  George Armstrong Custer : I guess you're right, Jeb. I'm sorry.

• George Armstrong Custer : They're getting away.

  James Ewell Brown 'Jeb' Stuart : No, they're not. We're going after them!

  George Armstrong Custer : Hey, wait a minute. They outnumber us three to one.

  James Ewell Brown 'Jeb' Stuart : Well, if it makes you nervous, don't count them. Come on.

• Kit Carson Holliday : Oh, Jeb, can't it be stopped now? Can't the slaves be free before it's too late?

  James Ewell Brown 'Jeb' Stuart : It will be stopped - when we hang John Brown. Then the South can settle our own problem without loss of pride at being forced into it by a bunch of fanatics.

  Kit Carson Holliday : Oh, Jeb, what has pride got to do with human lives?

  James Ewell Brown 'Jeb' Stuart : Kit, the two things kind of come together down South. We can't pry them apart. Not even with guns. I hope that's going to be the same way with us.

  [kiss] 

• James Ewell Brown 'Jeb' Stuart : The people of the Virginia have considered a resolution to abolish slavery for a long time. They sense that it's a moral wrong. And the rest of the South will follow Virginia's example. All I ask is time.

  John Brown : Time? Time? For 30 years, I waited for the South to cleanse it's soul of this crime. Since childhood I've been possessed with the fire of correcting this wrong. I tried peaceful agitation. As God as my witness, I tried. Peaceful means failed - long ago. Now I shall force a decision by bringing both side into armed conflict. Letters, words, talk, the time has ended for that! Strength and action are wanted now. Not a voice crying in the wilderness but a David armed with the power and the glory.

• James Ewell Brown 'Jeb' Stuart : What made you leave home?

  Mammy : Well, old John Brown said he is gonna give us freedom; but, shuckin's, if this here Kansas is freedom, then I ain't got no use for it. No, sah.

  Black Man in Barn : Me neither! I just wants to get back home to Texas and sit till Kingdom come.

• James Ewell Brown 'Jeb' Stuart : Hello, handsome.

  George Armstrong Custer : Oh, hi, Jeb.

  James Ewell Brown 'Jeb' Stuart : My! You're a dream tonight.

• James Ewell Brown 'Jeb' Stuart : Go away. You danced with your sister once already.

  Bob Holliday : I don't want her, I want you.

• Rader : I couldn't stand by and see my country torn apart by a mad man like Brown. I had to come here. This was something a lot bigger than myself.

  James Ewell Brown 'Jeb' Stuart : It couldn't have been the size of the reward you'll get for turning him in, could it?

• Rader : I suppose it takes one of you Southerners to handle a horse.

  James Ewell Brown 'Jeb' Stuart : Well, at least, we know how to harness them.

  Rader : You know how to harness negroes down south too I hear. With a strap across their back.