The Great Mexican Train Robbery/dialogues

[Marston goes to the Agave Viejo ranch encampment.]

Marston: Where is Abraham Reyes?

Abraham: Here, amigo, here! Well...well...well, look who it is. The American bandit turned bounty hunter who is about to win the Mexican revolution!

Marston: I don't know about that, mister.

Abraham: No, but I do, Mr. John Marston. I do. A man like you -- or me -- with just a few men, I tell you I could rule the entire country. (standing on stump) Ay! Hermanos unidas! Set my people free! Libre México! Libre México! Viva la revolucion! (gets down from stump) Their energy...it is like food to me. I feel I was sent for them, and they were sent to me.

Marston: Good for you.

Abraham: When I rule these people, I will be fair and judicious and wise. How so you ask? Very simple...I know these people! I know this land. In short, I can make them better.

Marston: It must be pleasant to be a man so at one with his country.

Abraham: Ay, amigo, I don't do it for myself, John Marston. I do it for my people.

Marston: Well, exactly.

Abraham: Sarcasm, my friend...should be beneath a man such as you. Don't you think?

Marston: Very little is beneath a man such as me.

Abraham: Okay, well in that case, I assume a little robbery will be a pleasant day's work. All in a good cause of course. Come, my brother, let us strike while the iron is hot.

Marston: Okay.

Abraham: Follow me. We must hurry!

[They mount up and hit the trail.]

Abraham: You must tell me more, John. Are my sources correct? Have you come to Mexico to murder your two best friends?

Marston: Not exactly. We were friends once. A lot's changed since then.

Abraham: Now that we are friends, I hope you will give me some warning if you get the sudden urge to kill me.

Marston: You'll be the first to know when I kill you, I promise. So where are they?

Abraham: Who?

Marston: Williamson and Escuella!

Abraham: I am not sure exactly where. They are definitely in Mexico.

Marston: That much I know already. You told me you'd found them.

Abraham: And I will. I have my very best men working on it.

Marston: If I find out you're lyin' to me, Reyes, you'll really see the man I used to be.

Abraham: I will give you your friends, I promise. Just give me time. So how did you meet this Williamson and Escuella?

Marston: We ran in the same gang together. Under a fella called Dutch. We were all bad kids; lost, angry, and forgotten. He kinda saved us.

Abraham: And turned you into criminals?

Marston: Dutch didn't see it that way. We robbed banks, stole from the rich, and we gave the money to people who needed it more.

Abraham: So he was a revolutionary too? Like me?

Marston: I suppose. He saw that the system of power was rotten; that good people had been crushed for too long, and he believed that change could only succeed if it was brutal and relentless. Make America what he felt it was supposed to be.

Abraham: I like the sound of this, Dutch. Another violent idealist! Where is he now?

Marston: I don't know. But I gotta find him once I'm done with them two. In the end, he went insane. Lost faith in everything and everyone

Abraham: You have quite a story, John Marston. I really am a little jealous.

Marston: Jealous?

Abraham: Of its poetic potential, I mean. It would make an excellent corrido.

Marston: A bullfight?

Abraham: No, mi hermano! That is a corrida. No, a corrido is as Mexican as Mexico itself! A song, a story, a poem, a ballad! A musical tribute to a heroic man and their great deeds. There are over a hundred written about me.

Marston: Remind me to stay away from men with guitars.

Abraham: In a country where most people cannot read the newspaper, song is a powerful means of communication. We do what we can to battle the lies and propaganda of the government

Marston: I know. I've seen your posters.

Abraham: In the capital, they are already talking about my legendary escape from El Presidio. How I fought off a thousand Mexican soldiers with my bare hands!

Marston: Finally the people have the truth.

Abraham: I have to know. What did you think of Agustin Alende, John?

Marston: I saw enough to know he ain't a good man.

Abraham: It is bad enough he beats the people he swore to protect. But it is worse that he enjoys it.

Marston: Something must have made him that way.

Abraham: Cowardice made him that way, my friend. That and Sánchez, of course.

Marston: Who?

Abraham: General Ignacio Sánchez. Our country's kind and generous dictator. Everything comes from him. It is like a father who beats his son, and then the son his dog outside and rapes it.

Marston: That is a very specific example, Abraham.

Abraham: Allende es una marioneta...how do you say...a-a a puppet? Everything he does is controlled by Sánchez.

Marston: In America, they told us Sánchez was making things better here.

Abraham: Not far now. Chuparosa is just up ahead. We must hurry, the train will be leaving soon.

Marston: What's on that train that's so important?

Abraham: I received information that the army is transporting a vast quantity of supplies to distribute to their forces.

Marston: Do we have a plan?

Abraham: I will explain when we get there. But those supplies won't be arriving.

Marston: I figured as much.

Abraham: Today Allende will pay a high price for his treason.

[They reach town.]

Abraham: So listen, this train is filled with valuable supplies we need, but it is also filled with government troops. We'll set off a very loud distraction, you can board the train, and then you can disconnect the army cars. Huh?

Marston: Okay.

Abraham: Ok, but listen, we've got to get this done before the train rolls out of the station.

Marston: You make it sound so easy.

Abraham: Well...did I not promise you fun times, amigo? Eh? There are too many soldiers; we must surprise them. Here, take this knife. You can use it to kill the guards quietly. Wait until I distract them. Then get on that train as fast as you can, John!

[Later, John hands the stolen train over to Reyes.]

Abraham: You moved like a cat onto that train, John. Magnificent! Go ahead and blow the armored car and take whatever you need, my brother.

[He blows the car's roof hatch off.]

Abraham: Muy bien, John. Now take a look inside. Maybe Allende has another gift for us.

[Marston loots the train.]

Abraham: Not a bad day of robbing the establishment to give to the poor, eh, Mr. Marston?

Marston: Very noble, I'm sure, but I need to know where Williamson and Escuella are holed up.

Abraham: All in good time, amigo. I'm off to deliver these goods. I see you back at the ranch. Oh... My spies tell me they soon will have the information you need.