God's Little Acre

# I'm gonna tell you about God's little acre

# Fare ye well, fare ye well

-# Seeds of love are planted on God's little acre

-Fare ye well

-# The men worked and prayed to their maker

-Fare ye well

-# In a crock of gold they would be partaker

-Fare ye well

# Diggin' in the moonlight, Diggin' in the sun

# Diggin' in the ground Till the diggin' was done

# Come over to God's little acre, Come over to God's little acre

# Come over to God's little acre Come back home

-# If you got troubles Don't pay no mind

-Fare ye well

-# Everybody's got another kind

-Fare ye well

# Diggin' in the moonlight, Diggin' in the sun

# Diggin' in the ground Till the diggin' was done

# Come over to God's little acre, Come over to God's little acre

# Come over to God's little acre, Come back home

# Come back home

# Come back home... #

Watch it!

Why in a pluperfect hell did that dirt have to break loose up there, just as we were gettin' deep?

Ain't that somethin'?

Hey, Pa.

I'm gettin' kinda tired diggin' this hole. Can't we start a new one?

What for?

We've been diggin' in this one for two months already, Pa!

We ain't struck nothin' but a lot of hard work!

I've been diggin' in this land for 15 years. I aim to dig for 15 more.

You boys ain't found the patience I got.

We don't need no patience. What we need is a diviner.

There you go again, talking superstition.

All you talk about is diviners and conjurers and stuff like that.

Now you take me.

I'm scientific.

-So get us a diggin' machine and get the job done.

-I can't afford it.

Where are you going, son?

I'm quittin' for the day, Pa. I'm going to wash up and go to town.

Never get rich that way.

I don't aim to get rich. I'm too young.

I'm worried about that boy. Who does he go see in town?

< He ain't particular. Anything with skirts.

He ain't used to women. They can do him harm. He won't know until it's too late to stop the clock.

Hey, I brought you men some nice, cool lemonade.

Why, thank you, daughter-in-law!

What you got for dinner, honey?

- Same as yesterday, Buck. Bacon. - I'd like me some fried chicken.

When a man has a wife like Griselda, I don't know how he can keep his mind on food.

Now quit your teasin', Ty-Ty.

If the Lord has put a beauty like you in our house, I'll take my fill of lookin'!

You don't know how lucky you are!

Am I lucky? Cos I got a wife who don't love me?

What you two lovebirds got to argue about?

I never argue with Buck. Too busy daydreamin' about Will!

Quit throwin' his name up to me!

He snaps his fingers and you run!

Keep on this way and you'll wake up some fine day all by your lonesome!

You don't mean that, Griselda. You tell Buck you don't mean that.

Tell him I don't want to hear him mention Will Thompson again!

HORN TOOTS

Good morning, Pluto.

Good morning, Miss Griselda. Howdy, Charlie! Good morning to you, too!

He's a cute little fella, ain't he?

-Where's Ty-Ty?

-Right down there in that big hole.

Sure is hot. Phew! Ty-Ty!

Ty-Ty!

Ty-Ty!

Ty-Ty!

Ty-Ty!

Ty-Ty, which one of these holes are you in?

Right here, Pluto!

LAUGHTER

That ain't much of a neighbourly greeting!

Hey, how you boys makin' out? Strike anything lately?

No, nothing much, Pluto.

But we will pretty soon.

I feel it in my bones!

So do I.

What you folks lookin' for?

You've been comin' here for a year, and you seen me diggin', and you didn't know what I was diggin' for?

I figured you were lookin' for water.

Water?!

Pluto, you think I've gone clean out of my head?

-I'm diggin' for gold!

-Gold? In the state of Georgia?

Bright yellow gold!

Gold coins as big and round as a biscuit. Thousands of 'em.

-Is that a fact?

-Yeah, gold spoons, gold plates, gold forks...

-and gold thunder bugs, I shouldn't be surprised!

-Have you seen 'em? For a fact?

-Almost.

-Where?

I don't know exactly.

I ain't found any,

but they're there.

They're there.

My grandpa told me about it and willed it to me the day he died.

Well, maybe he might have been mistaken.

Are you makin' my dead grandpa out to be a liar?

-I wouldn't do that.

-I can't stand a liar!

You ain't found no gold yet. You need an albino to help you out.

-A man ain't got as much chance as a snowball in hell without an albino to help him find something.

-A what?

-An albino.

-What in a pluperfect hell is that, Pluto?

One of these all-white men. Looks like they made out of chalk. White as cotton.

Got white hair, white skin, white eyeballs even.

You fellas need one bad.

No, Pluto.

I'm scientific. I wouldn't have nothing to do with conjure.

I ain't talkin' about no conjure, Ty-Ty. I'm talkin' about an albino.

They got a secret power. They can see right through the ground. Like it was a glass of water.

Strictly scientific.

My God!

You got me convinced.

You got me convinced. Where's he at?

-Down by the swamp.

-Let's go!

-A real albino?

-As real as the day is long.

-You think we can catch him?

-Yeah. A leather plough line will do it.

Don't forget. This albino is a citizen and a voter.

If you tie him up, don't break the law. But if you do, mention me out. I'm the future Sheriff!

-How big is he?

-It's not how big that counts. It's his whiteness.

His blood is white, the wax in his ears is white.

I'm going to get that white man if I have to bust a gut! Buck, fix up the automobile for a little trip.

-Make sure the tyres is pumped up hard and tight and put plenty of water in the radiator!

-Yes, sir!

I'm sure grateful to you for that suggestion about the albino.

I'm tired of diggin' in weather like this. I sure am grateful

you came by today, Pluto. Yes, sir!

I've been missing an albino to show me exactly where that gold is buried!

-That white-haired boy can do it like you said?

-Sure. An albino can find almost anything.

He might walk right out into that field, look down at the ground and see where all that gold is buried.

-Right there?

-Anywhere.

Ty-Ty! What the devil you doin'? That's where your grandpa's buried!

No, this is God's little acre. Put this cross here to mark the spot.

It's been here 27 years.

Must be grown into...the ground!

-God's little acre?

-That's right.

The day I was married, I promised this piece of land to the church.

Everything that grows here they can have - cotton, corn, anything else.

If that ground's so sacred,

why did you take the cross out?

Cos it just occurred to me I never dug a hole in God's little acre in all these years,

but suppose that albino walks out on my farm and points to that land there?

Suppose the gold's been buried there all the time?

I'd be compelled by my conscience to give that gold to the preacher.

Or worse yet, maybe I wouldn't give him nothing.

I'm a religious man, but I wouldn't stand for that.

-What are you going to do with it?

-I'm going to move God's little acre.

To a spot where I don't stand out in the open... to sin and temptation.

God...

please forgive me.

I had to move your little acre.

I just had to.

To put myself out of temptation.

If I found gold way up there,

I'd be then sorely tempted not to turn it over to you.

You wouldn't want me to have temptation? I know that.

I don't mean to cheat you none.

Oh, no, I don't.

You can have anything that grows on this piece of ground - flowers or honey or anything else.

Daughter-in-law, is that watermelon cool and ripe and ready to eat?

It sure is, Pa.

Boys, let's all go in the house and get some of that nice, cool watermelon!

Come on, Pluto.

I can't. There's a mass of votes between here and the crossroads.

You're going to kill yourself runnin' for Sheriff. It ain't worth it.

There's something I want to talk to you about. Been pressin' on my mind.

-Just what did you want to talk to me about?

-It's about your girl, sir.

-Which one?

I got three. All beautiful. The glory of the world!

-I agree to that.

-Pluto, you know somethin'? Your eyes look just like watermelon seeds!

Mr Swint, your eyes are so small and your face is so round,

you look exactly like a watermelon with two seeds showing!

Now, Pluto...

About my girls...

Rosamund lives in Peachtree Valley.

She's too far away to do you any good. And she's married to Will Thompson.

Then there's Griselda. Of course, she's married, too.

I sometimes wonder if Buck is a right and proper husband for a girl as beautiful as Griselda.

Even if he is my own flesh and blood.

So...

that leaves my baby - Darlin' Jill.

But she's too young to go courtin'.

I don't want to court her.

I want to marry her.

You would, Pluto?

You mean it?

I'd cut off my right arm to marry her.

Have you taken a liking to her, Pluto?

I sure to God have and that's a fact.

-Only there's one thing kind of bothers me.

-What's that?

Well, I heard...

She's been teasin' and foolin' around with a lot of men, I heard.

Why, I'm tickled to death to hear that!

Darlin' Jill is the baby of the family and she's grown up at last!

She sure has. It's a pity God can't make a woman like Darlin' Jill and leave off before it goes too far.

He just didn't know when he made enough of a good thing.

He just kept on and on. And now look at her!

Pay it no mind, Pluto.

Darlin' Jill likes to tease, but that's only natural.

A woman's got to tease some before they settle down to babies.

Better to do it now than after gettin' married. She'll change.

-It's up to you to make her so happy that she'll leave off everybody but you!

-Pa!

-The car's ready. Why don't we just go?

-We're waitin' for Darlin' Jill.

Darlin' Jill won't get back till she rides Pluto's truck in some ditch.

It's 12 hours to that swamp and back.

I'd like to get that albino and get back here, so I can go to town.

Son, I'm mighty proud to hear you say you that.

Too many people sit on their butts and wait for their corn to grow!

Not me and not my sons. We're in a hurry to get rich.

Get in the car, Shaw.

-Pluto!

-Hmm?

-I want to ask you a favour.

-I can't do no favours without my car.

Darlin' Jill's going to bring your car back and when she does, I want you

-to drive her to Peachtree Valley.

-What about me, Pa? I want to go, too.

I don't want to hang around here waitin' for something to happen.

You stay here.

I'll go if I please to go.

-Can't wait to see Will again.

-Buck!

-She goes to see Will Thompson over my dead body!

I want you to stay here

and cook us a mess of food and wait for us to come back.

Tell Darlin' Jill to go and get Rosamund and Will and come back to the farm where she was born.

I want my whole family together when we turn that albino loose and locate my grandpa's gold

and make us all rich again. Will you help me, Pluto?

-I can if you'll let me be your son-in-law.

-That ain't up to me or Darlin' Jill. That's up to you.

-Start the car.

-Promise to stay here. I won't promise anything!

Now, Buck, why don't you use your charm

and ask her nice, like?

Ask her. It won't hurt you.

I'm asking you to stay, Griselda.

Are you askin' me or tellin' me?

-He's askin' you.

-Let him say it!

I'm asking you, Griselda.

All right.

I'll stay.

Let's go, Pa.

Don't forget to tell Darlin' Jill what I told you!

Pluto! Pluto, darling!

Hey, you big horse head,

-come here!

-Yes, Darlin' Jill. I'm comin', Darlin' Jill!

-I'm comin'!

-Stop!

Now close your eyes.

Well, what do I have to do that for, Darlin' Jill?

Cos I say so, you big horse head!

All right.

Now, come straight ahead.

Uh-uh-uh-uh!

Over that. That's it. Straight ahead.

Your pa been diggin' any holes around here?

I'm watchin' you. Don't worry.

OK. Come on, come on, come on.

Stop, stop!

Now, turn left.

Left, you big horse head!

Come on.

Now, right. OK, come on. Straight ahead.

Can't I just look a little bit?

-No. Keep your eyes closed and come on. I'm right over here.

-It's awfully dark.

Turn left. Now right.

Now, come straight ahead.

-That's not me, Pluto. That's the pump.

-Yeah, that's the pump.

Pump me some nice, cool water.

Oh, that's nice.

Yes, that's very nice.

-Is that goin' all over you?

-Yeah.

Oh! Darn my socks...

Oh, Darlin'... Agh!

Oh, darn my socks!

LAUGHTER

Darlin' Jill, I don't even know what I'm doin' here.

This ain't even the right state for me to get elected, let alone the right county. And it's hot!

Oh, Darlin' Jill!

No, no, Darlin' Jill! No!

Darlin' Jill, that's no place to keep keys.

Listen to me, please. Darlin' Jill...

-Will isn't anywhere.

-Let's go home. I'll count some votes.

Will's the kind of man, if he's anywhere around, you sure take notice of him. Come on.

< SOBBING

Rosamund, what in the world is the matter with you?

Jill...

Darlin' Jill...

I wasn't expecting you.

What's wrong?

I'm glad you came.

I thought I was going to die.

I must've been out of my head a little.

What did Will do? Where is he?

Oh, hello, Pluto.

I sure am glad to see you, too.

Let me take the clothes off this chair and you can sit down.

I've got to go home. That's a fact.

Shut up and sit down! Rosamund, tell me what happened. You can talk in front of Pluto.

Now, where's Will?

He's been drunk all week. He drinks whenever he can.

I wouldn't mind that. It's just he won't stay home with me no more.

He sleeps all day and goes out at night.

It ain't his fault.

The mill's been closed down for six months. He's got nothin' to do.

Ain't it ever going to open again?

I reckon not. They say it don't pay a dividend no more. It's bankrupt.

This whole town is bankrupt. We ought to all pack up and move away right now, but we don't.

Everybody looks up to Will and he won't move.

He says he's going to open the mill again somehow. He don't know how.

I'm glad I came. Pa wants you and Will to help him dig. He's got a sure way to find Grandpa's gold.

Darlin' Jill, there ain't no gold on that place!

If there was, don't you think they'd have found it before now?

Why can't Pa quit diggin' that land full of holes and try to raise corn or cotton like everybody else does?

I don't know about that, but Pa wants you and Will to come home.

Will? Will won't dig on no farm. He's not a farm boy.

Pa ought to know that by this time.

Besides, I don't even know if Will's coming home tonight.

-We'll sit here and wait for him. We'll spend the night.

-A mighty fine idea. We'll spend the night.

Not so fine as all that. I'm going to sleep on the bed with Rosamund. You make yourself a pallet on the floor.

Oh.

Darlin' Jill, you're here!

Stand up. Let me look at you in the light.

The baby's a full-grown woman!

Plump as a peach on a branch, ripe and ready to pluck!

Don't take on that way. We got company.

Pluto! How you doin'? Lookin' bigger and better than ever.

Mr Thompson, you look like everything's fine with you.

Well, it ain't.

Where are you goin'?

Tryin' to slip away, were you? Ain't that a sneaky thing to do? Come back here and keep me company!

How's Griselda?

She's still married.

You know, Pluto. I bought Griselda the first pair of high-heeled shoes she ever wore.

Will, the bed's made. Go to sleep.

When Griselda worked in the mill and walked around in them high-heeled shoes,

no man got a full day's work done.

Will, don't talk about it now.

That girl, Griselda, we almost got married.

She wanted me to go root and grub on a farm, but I wouldn't do it.

I'm a town boy. I gotta be where I can hear a factory whistle blow three times a day

and watch the crowds of girls come runnin' out of the company gate,

laughin' and screamin',

faces like...like flowers.

Will, you've got to realise something once and for all.

That mill ain't never going to open again. And Griselda's married.

You can't do nothin' about it. Come on. Get into bed.

Come on.

What's done is done.

Now go to sleep.

-I can't sleep.

-Well, you can rest.

I'll turn out the light, so it won't hurt your eyes.

-Felix...

-Yes, sir?

How's my albino?

Sleepin' like a baby, Mr Ty-Ty.

Mornin', Dave.

Did you sleep well?

Where am I?

You're with friends.

We went to a lot of fuss and bother to get you.

I sure hope that you appreciate it.

I'm hungry.

You'll get your breakfast in due time, but first you got work to do.

-What kind of work?

-It's easy. I'll show you.

You take this...this willow fork

and you hold it like...

like that...

..till she pulls you down,

scientifically speaking...

..right down to where the gold is surely located.

Gold? Are you lookin' for gold?

Why do you think we come clean down to the swamp to lasso you?

I still don't know.

You're a genuine albino, ain't ya?

Yeah, I reckon I am.

What would I be doin' with an albino, except to find gold?

I ain't going to do it.

-Why not, son?

-Cos I don't know how.

You don't know how?!

-You're a genuine albino and you don't even...

-Let him loose, Mr Ty-Ty.

Son, if you don't know how to divine gold, start learnin' right now.

These nice folks will be mad and we won't get no victuals this winter.

I just can't. I can't!

I'm sorry I got angry, son.

But I've been diggin' for gold for 15 years.

And I ain't going to give up.

I don't know what to do.

It's easy now. I'll show you.

Here...

You take this willow stick.

That's it. Turn your wrists up.

That's right. Put it out in front of you.

He can do it. You can do it!

Open the barn door!

It's pullin' you towards the gold!

Give him room, give him room!

Come on, Dave!

Hurry and find my grandpappy's gold!

I can't stand it much longer!

Here now, boy.

That's the way.

Is that where my grandpa's gold is?

Come on now!

Feel it, Dave.

Feel it, Dave. Feel it, Dave!

Come on, Dave, feel it!

Come on, Dave, feel it!

Feel it!

That's it.

There we go. Come on!

SHOUTS OF ENCOURAGEMENT

Stop!

Come on, Dave. Follow it. Follow it good.

Come on... Follow it, boy.

Follow it.

Yeah!

My grandpappy's gold!

Way down there deep in the ground! Would you believe it? Under my house all the time!

Buried 100 years. Longer than a man can live!

Now I'm...

about to find it.

Touch it, feel it.

And butt into it if I want to.

Praise the Lord!

Amen. Amen!

Maybe, Mr Ty-Ty, you'll stop diggin' and start farmin'!

Now wait a minute!

I don't want no bad luck. This is God's little acre, ain't it?

-And so is the gold.

-No, Buck.

I can't honestly say it is. The minute before Dave found the gold, something come over me.

And I decided to change the location of God's little acre.

Just about in time, I reckon.

Where's it now, Pa?

-The Lord ain't told me yet.

-Tell him to hurry.

-Don't talk like that!

The good Lord and your pa, we're old-fashioned.

We got to take our time.

Now, God...

I don't aim to take you nothin'. I swear I don't.

But with this unseasonable weather and all, you won't mind to have your acre in a cooler spot.

If you don't like this,

if you don't approve of what I'm doing, Lord...

..then strike me down dead right here where I stand!

Thank you, Lord.

Glory be. Amen.

-Hi, Harry.

-Hi, Will.

-Who's come in the car to your house?

-Rosamund's people.

-What they come for?

-Just a visit.

They ain't come to take you away?

I won't leave Peachtree Valley till they start the cotton mill again.

It's easy for you and Rosamund to leave. There's just the two of you.

We got big families. We ain't got the money to move somewhere else.

-You don't have to tell me.

-We got worried while we waited for you.

Hi, boys.

He ain't going to leave us, boys.

He's going to stay in town like he said.

Claude!

Claude!

Claude!

Where are you, Claude?

Hey, Claude!

-Is that you, Will Thompson?

-Who else?

-You drinkin' again?

-Let me in.

-Why do you come here?

-I want to get in.

-What are you lookin' for?

I'm lookin' for the day when the lights shine from all those windows.

The mill ain't going to open up again.

-The spindles are threaded, the power's connected. Someone needs to pull the switch.

-That's crazy talk.

-Go home before your wife has to come lookin' for you again.

-Don't tell me what to do. I know what I must do.

Why don't you go to Ned's bar and get yourself a drink? Have it on me.

Are we home, Pluto?

-No, but we ain't but a mile away.

-What are we stoppin' for?

Darlin' Jill, I just gotta have an answer.

Take the pins out my hair.

Will you?

God Almighty, Darlin' Jill, I just gotta know!

-You'll wake Will and Rosamund.

-They can't hear nothin'.

I'm not ready to get married to anybody yet,

least of all you.

You don't have to be ready. I'm ready enough for both of us.

I'll marry you any time - daytime, night-time, all the time.

I'm so crazy about you.

Your belly's too big.

You don't want to let a little thing like that come between us.

If your belly weren't so big, you couldn't be Sheriff.

-If you weren't going to be Sheriff, I wouldn't look at you.

-Don't tease me like that.

Just because I'm so crazy in love with you,

there's no reason to get me so riled up and provoked that I take my hands and...

-And just...

-And what? What would you do, Pluto?

I'd tan your hide. I'd tan your hide!

For a minute, I thought you was going to darn your socks again!

I'd tan your hide.

I'm home! Pa, where are you?

Right here!

My goodness! That's the biggest hole you've dug yet! Did you find anything?

We've dug a whole 20 feet since this morning.

The fastest digging in 15 years!

Welcome home, Rosamund. Will! I'm so proud you're here to celebrate our good luck. Boys, it's Rosamund!

Hi, Rosamund. Hi, Rosamund.

-Hello, Buck and Shaw.

-Griselda!

Griselda! The family's here!

Did you find any of that gold?

Hello, Will.

Hello, Griselda.

-It's been a long time.

-A real long time.

-It's good to see you.

-You look like you just stepped out of a calendar.

You look like hell, Will! What you been doin'?

Nothin', boys. Absolutely nothin'.

Same old lint-head! Same old lint-head!

What Will needs, Rosamund, is to occupy himself with somethin' useful.

Will, there's nothin' better for a man's body and spirit than diggin' down in God's good earth.

Rosamund, go in the house and help Griselda warm up the eats.

Pluto here is just about starvin'.

I sure am and that's a fact.

Come into the house. Nothin' makes a man hungrier than havin' his whole family around.

That is a tremendous hole you dug.

What's that?

Can it vote?

-That?

-Mm-hm.

-Why, that's that white man you put me on!

Great guns, Pluto! That's the albino we roped in the swamp.

-Did he divine for you?

-Like four and four makes eight. Go in the house with Rosamund.

-This is crazy - diggin' right beside the house. It'll topple over into that hole!

-It won't fall down.

We'll prop it up as we go along. If we strike gold, we'll be rich enough to build a house

three times this size!

What are you lookin' at, Darlin' Jill?

I'm lookin' at that albino. I've never seen one before.

He's just the same as you and me.

Can he talk?

-He'd talk your arm off if you give him half a chance.

-I want to see him. Call him up here.

I don't aim to have nobody fool with him. He's got to stay in a job for me all the time.

-Come into the house.

-I'm comin', Pa.

Hello there, albino fella.

My name is Dave Dawson.

I sure am pleased to meet you.

He sure didn't tell any lies about your colour!

You're white.

That's for sure.

It's a pretty colour, too.

I like it.

Thank you, ma'am.

That's the first kind words I've heard since your pa kidnapped me with a leather plough line!

Now that I got such a good look at you,

wouldn't you like to come up here and get a good look at me?

I don't mind.

Well, what do you say?

You're beautiful.

Won't you come on up here and say that again?

Ow!

That'll get him shy and scared, Darlin' Jill. He might run away.

I don't feel like chasin' him. >

He won't run away, Uncle Felix. I promise you that. Come on, come on!

Besides, we're only going to watch the moon rise over the pond. Come on, Dave.

Don't you like me?

Oh, gosh almighty!

I didn't know there was a girl as pretty as you in the whole country!

You're the prettiest girl I've ever seen!

And, uh...

And you're so soft.

And you talk like a birdsong.

And, uh... And you smell good, too.

I just love the way you talk.

Talk to me some more.

What do you want me to say?

How come you're so white all over?

Some people say it's cos I was made in the white of the moon.

I think you're wonderful-looking. I'm glad you're so different.

I get so tired of the same-looking people every day of my life! Would you like to kiss me?

Oh, uh... Yeah, I would if you'll let me.

I reckon I just couldn't help myself.

SCREAMS

Will you marry me?

I only said you could kiss me once. It was mean of Pa to wrap you on that plough line and bring you here.

But I'm awful glad that he did!

I reckon I am, too.

Do you want to kiss me again?

You bet I do!

How come they call you Darlin' Jill?

My name is Jill, and when I was little, everybody said I was a darlin'!

So they called me Darlin' Jill.

That's a perfect name for you. I couldn't think of a better name for you.

You are a darlin'!

Pluto!

Pluto!

Pluto! What's the matter, Pluto?

-You left all them good hominy grits on the table.

-I'm worried. Where's Darlin' Jill?

She was right here a minute...

Gone.

My albino's gone!

Uncle Felix has gone.

Now you got me worried.

Where do you think she is? Think she fell in one of these holes?

Don't worry. We'll find her.

I can't help it.

They've been gone more than half an hour.

An awful lot can happen in half an hour.

Just like what?

Well, like one thing... I don't know.

Maybe they just took off to another county and got married.

-Now you got me really worried. Darlin Jill's crazy enough to do anythin'!

-Darlin' Jill, come home!

Supper's waitin'!

I'm waitin'! Aaagh!

Pluto!

-Ty-Ty, help!

-Where are you?

-I'm down in a hole!

-Which hole are you in?

-This there deep one!

Have you got me, Ty-Ty?

I got you, Pluto. Come on. Come on, boy.

Why must you make these holes so deep?

Darlin' Jill!

Darlin' Jill!

Darlin' Jill!

-Dave!

-Where are you?

Darlin' Jill! Darlin' Jill!

I knew it. I just knew it.

My white-haired boy's gone!

Darlin' Jill!

-Took off and went home!

-Darlin' Jill! Don't run away to that swamp!

-Darlin' Jill!

-I never should've...

Darlin' Jill!

Darlin' Jill!

Well, dog my cat!

Did you find 'em? Well, did you?

Well, you know, Pluto,

in this pale moonlight,

you can't see a thing.

Seems like these boys would have more sense than to let Ty-Ty egg 'em into diggin' empty holes.

You're just a lousy lint-head! Lousy lint-head!

Ain't no more gold in that ground than in my socks!

Wise up and go to Atlanta and get a job that pays somethin'!

Soak your head in a gin bottle! In a gin bottle! Stop it, Buck, Will!

-Go back where you come from! Go back where you come from!

-Why don't you try and make me go?

We'll make you! We're going to make you, lint-head!

-We'll make you! > Ty-Ty!

-Drop that shovel, Buck!

Come on, you lint-head!

All you lousy farm boys think you're tough, huh?

All right, Buck!

-Get him, Buck!

-What in a pluperfect hell is goin' on down there?

Stop that! Stop that fightin', you hear me?

I won't have no fightin' on my land! Stop it!

By God!

Stop that! Get off there! Stop that fightin'! What's the matter with you two?

Just hold it!

What have you got to fight about? There's plenty of gold for us all!

We wasn't fightin' about the gold.

He acts like he's better than us!

Every time he comes here, he invites a beating!

Shame we can't keep a peaceful family. That's what I aim to have.

If I can't have it, I'll leave that gold and go back to grubbin' cotton.

Tell him to stop tom-cattin' around my wife!

-Is Griselda in this?

-I didn't say a word about her.

No, he don't say nothin'. He just looks and that's plenty.

-Looks don't hurt anybody.

-He's ready to start somethin'.

-You bet!

Griselda, get in the house!

Now, Buck, it's just your imagination.

Will ain't after Griselda. Are you, Will?

-I ain't made my mind up about that.

-I'll kill him!

You're going to kill nobody!

Not on my land or anyplace else!

Get up on the ground and cool off.

You get heated up in this hole. It takes fresh air to get it outta you.

Go on up the house. Go on, Shaw! Go on, Buck!

Tell him to go home.

Yeah, Pa, tell him to go home.

Buck's right. I oughta go home.

I hope you don't mean that. I'm going to need all the help I can get.

The house is going to topple right into this hole if you dig any more!

I gotta go home. I gotta get that mill started.

That ain't what you're thinkin' about.

You're thinkin' about Griselda.

Will, you're going to kill yourself

if you go on that way!

Hot night.

Yeah, it's hot.

I couldn't sleep.

I couldn't sleep either.

CLATTER

I guess we did the right thing -

bustin' up.

I guess so.

No, don't come any closer.

I just want to touch you, feel the touch of you.

It won't stop there.

I just know it won't.

Griselda...

WHISTLING >

Dave!

Are you sure you divined the gold in just the right place?

You saw the willow pointin' down, didn't you?

That's right. Yeah.

Willow don't lie.

Why should it?

Pure scientific.

Mr Ty-Ty, you oughta be out raisin' cotton.

You're a good farmer. You used to be.

Felix, I'm sorry. I've just got to go on diggin'.

I got the fever. You can't stop the fever.

If it's as bad as that, why don't you go up to Augusta and borrow some money from your son, Jim Leslie?

There wouldn't be no sense in that.

Why not, Mr Ty-Ty? I hear he's rich. I ain't heard of a cotton broker that's poor.

He wouldn't help me. He won't speak to me on the street.

If he won't speak to me on the street, he won't lend me money!

You're his pappy. Ain't you, Mr Ty-Ty?

I reckon so.

Jim Leslie ain't been a bad man. He been a good one. He's practically a stranger.

-Felix...

-Yes, sir, Mr Ty-Ty?

I just got a wonderful idea.

I'm going to call on Jim Leslie.

He's my son, you know.

He's a rich man. He's a cotton broker. And no son of mine

is going to stand by and let his kin go hungry.

Shaw! Get the car ready!

Hurry up!

Hey, what are you doing?

You don't reckon I'm gonna run away from here? I never been so happy in all my born days!

You get up from there and get going.

I don't have to do what you say. It ain't me that's talkin'. It's this gun. Now get going!

Head straight for your home. Back to the swamp!

You ain't going to shoot me, are you?

I ain't, but this gun might.

I don't want to go.

I'm sorry, son, but you got to go. It's the only way to save this farm. Now you get going!

That's Jim Leslie's, all right!

Sure as God made little Adam!

Well, we're inside.

He'll have a hard time throwin' us out now before I tell him what we're after.

Did you ever see such a pretty thing in all your life?

Don't touch anything, Darlin' Jill. I won't.

Everything looks so shiny.

-Looks like it's got goose grease on it somehow.

-Yeah.

-So clean. Just cleaned and cleaned every day of the year.

-Be careful.

Jim Leslie lives in fine style, all right!

I'm mighty proud of the way my boy has made his way in the world.

Oh, that's purty!

Big as a window sash!

Almost as beautiful as them new Coca Cola signs they're puttin' on the highway comin' into Georgia.

Oh, brother! The time and patience it must've took to do that!

Look at those leaves

on the trees. Almost like real!

I don't know.

What do you need a picture for?

You spend a half dollar on gasoline, drive into the woods and see the real thing.

Jill! Darlin' Jill!

Now you done it.

-Probably worth more money than we were going to borrow.

-Pick it up!

Evening, son.

What are you doing here?

Well, now, son.

You know you're pleased to see us.

-Don't put on that you're not.

-I didn't hear any doorbell.

We don't ring no bells in my family. We just walk in.

What did you come here for?

Well, it's important, son.

Money, I suppose. Why don't you dig it out of the ground?

Is that a nice way to talk to your only dad?

That's what you came for, isn't it?

Not at all.

All I need is the wherewithal to buy feed and seed for my share croppers,

so that I can dig down another 20 feet and locate my grandpa's gold.

There's no gold there. You know that as well as I do. You've been digging for 15 years!

You'll be diggin' holes the day you die.

All right, there's the money. Now take it and go on home.

Somethin' got into you, Jim Leslie.

At an early age.

You're different from the rest of us. I don't know why.

You act like you're ashamed of me.

I don't see how that can be because I'm your father.

You take on like you don't know who I am and where you're from.

Well, I'm sorry for you, son.

You married a widow.

Not because you loved her. You just had to have her.

Not because you got caught with the bases loaded by her pa. You married her to get a house and a fortune.

All you got left is a house full of breakable dishes!

Well, son...

I guess we'd better be going.

Pa, why don't you fix yourself a drink?

I don't take a drink, son.

There's some fresh fruit in the dining room. Why don't you go and help yourself?

I don't mind if I do.

You, too, Darlin' Jill, Griselda. Go on in.

-Is that the dining room way down there?

-That's right, Pa.

-I'm hungry.

Griselda, some time when you're in town, come up to see me. This is my office number. Call me.

-I wouldn't do that.

-Why not?

Because it isn't right. That's why.

I'm going to be lookin' for you. You're going to come up and see me.

-No, I'm not.

-I bet that's your only pair of shoes. Jim Leslie will buy you the whole shoe store.

I'm going to come out to that farm and bring you right back to this house.

You don't love Buck.

This pullin' and pawin' at Griselda has got to stop!

I've got to apologise for Jim Leslie, Griselda.

My family ain't known for their politeness to women. Come on.

I'll be comin' out there to get you one of these days, Griselda.

Thanks for the money, son.

Consider it a loan.

Did you get it, Pa? Did you get it?

I reckon I did. Look at this big wad of greenbacks.

Pa, you know what I'd like to get now? I'd like to get me a raincoat.

-What for?

-Well, it's fixin' to rain, Pa.

-It can't rain now. I don't want it to rain yet awhile.

I can't dig under water too well.

-If it does rain, I want to put on a raincoat.

-Peel off your clothes and let your skin take care of the rest.

God never made a finer raincoat than a man's skin. Let's go!

Ty-Ty, I'm kinda thirsty. Can we stop in town and get a quick beer?

It wouldn't be showin' a proper respect for Jim Leslie's money to spend it in a saloon.

Just one beer, Pa. One beer, Pa.

-I never been to a saloon in my life and I ain't going to start now.

-You can wait in the car, Pa.

TOOTS HORN

Hey there, good-lookin'! Yeah, you with the fancy hat!

Oh, big man! Are you honkin' for me?

Hello, Grandpa!

Grandpa, you want to dance with me?

Come on! Come on! Get the others and get this car rollin'. We're in a street of sin and shame!

-Go on up there and come back and tell us about it!

-Stop teasin'! Go fetch the boys out of that saloon.

Hey, Grandpa! Come on and buy me a drink.

Come on, Grandpa. I know what's wrong with you. You're bashful.

-Leave me be. Griselda, get me out of this!

-Leave our pa alone.

Your pa? Who did you think he was?

What do you mean honkin' your horn under my window?

I was only tryin' to get my family out of that saloon.

You made me come all the way down here for nothin'. I'll hoodoo you, you tight-fisted miser!

You girls get those boys out of that saloon right now!

Come on, leave me alone!

I told you not to mix beer with cognac.

I feel fine. Leave me alone. I feel fine!

Leave me alone.

-How did this happen?

-He tried to drink Will under the table, Pa, and I guess he lost.

-This is what a saloon can do to a man.

-I stuck to beer.

-It's all the devil's brew.

-All my life I've drunk plain well water. Get Will and Rosamund and we'll be on our way.

-Will!

Will Thompson!

Hey, Rosamund!

Come on, Will!

Rosamund, come on!

Give me the power! I'll turn on the power!

Give me the everlasting light of life, the power!

You beautiful girl...

-Keep your hands off of her, you lint-head!

-I'll kiss my girl all I want!

-Keep your hands off of her!

I'm sorry I had to do that, son-in-law.

Rosamund, you and Will have to go back to Peachtree Valley.

I don't seem to be able to keep my family together.

HORN TOOTS >

There you are, Darlin' Jill. I've been lookin' all over for you folks.

Uncle Felix told me you went to Jim Leslie's house. He said you'd be in the first bar drinkin' up his money.

I like Jim Leslie. I got his vote.

You horse head! Jim Leslie don't even live in the right county to make his vote count.

-Is that a fact?

-Pluto, I couldn't be happier to see you.

-Is that a fact?

-You come at just the right time. You drive Will and Rosamund back to Peachtree Valley.

Oh, no. Not again.

Come on, honey waffle.

Come on, Will. Let's get up.

Ty-Ty...

I'm going to pull the switch and light up the whole world tonight.

Yes, honey. Everything will be all right.

-Don't "yes" me like I'm a baby.

-I'm not, honey.

-I'm going to pull the switch... Leave me alone!

I'm going to pull the switch and light up the whole world, Ty-Ty. I'm tellin' you!

Pa... Pa, I'm afraid to go back home.

Will's not himself. He's never been this wild.

He's going to do somethin'. I know it.

For six months, I've been livin' from day to day hopin' that tomorrow would change him. But I need help.

Griselda, you're the only one he might listen to.

Rosamund, honey, Griselda can't go.

Pa, Pa, please. Make Griselda listen to me.

I ache for you, daughter, but Griselda has to make up her own mind.

Griselda? Don't ask me.

Who can I ask? Buck hates Will.

You hate him, too? No.

You know I don't.

You love him, same as I do. That's why you've got to help him. Griselda, I'm beggin' you.

< Please!

All right.

All right, I'll go with you till he sobers up.

Thank you, Griselda. Thank you.

Well, he's still sleeping, thank goodness.

Here it is dark, I wasted another day.

I haven't counted a single vote. I gotta be gettin' home.

Besides, this ice cream's gettin' too cold to eat.

Wait a while longer till he wakes up. He's fond of peach ice cream.

I gotta go, too. Buck'll be wild.

Stay a while. I don't want to be here alone with him.

Are you scared of Will?

Your own husband?

I reckon I am, the way he's been actin' lately.

-You waited till I woke up, didn't you?

-Yes, Will.

I'm turnin' on the power tonight.

Will, wouldn't you like some peach ice cream?

-Never worked in the cotton mill, did you?

-No, sir.

I gotta be gettin' home. I've got to get elected. It's mighty important, Will.

-Know what it's like in a company town when there's no work?

-No, sir.

-Well, I'll tell you.

Did you ever shoot a rabbit, go and pick him up,

and when you lifted him up in your hand, felt his heart poundin' like...I don't know what?

Have you?

Well, I have.

I have!

-Where are you goin'?

-To turn the power on.

-No!

Stop him!

Somebody please stop him!

Hiya, Will. What you going to do?

I'm going to break open the gates and turn on the power.

You mustn't do this, Will. You're going to get in trouble.

-I'm going to open the mill. I promised the whole valley.

-You can't do this alone. You'll get killed!

-Do you care?

-Of course. I would have waited for you if you'd asked me. All my life!

I would have waited.

All my life is now.

Don't shut me out, Griselda.

I won't shut you out, Will.

I won't shut you out.

It's been a long time since we've seen the inside of this building.

There's nothing here any more, Will.

It's all here, the same as the day I left. A waste!

Nothing but waste!

Griselda, when the power's on, the valley hums.

There's meat and potatoes on every table

and people have other things to laugh at.

When the power's off,

the valley's dead.

You see what I mean, Griselda?

You see why...

why I...

I got to turn on the power?

I've been talkin' about it too long.

Takes a man to turn on the power, not just a talker.

Just lookin' at you makes me feel like a man again.

How can I help you, Will?

Look at me. Just keep lookin' at me.

-Will, no.

-You sound like Rosamund.

-We both love you, Will.

-If I don't do it now, I'll never do it.

-Let's get outta here.

-Never been this close.

-Just think of me.

-You gotta go back to the house.

-Not without you.

-Go back to the house.

Hold on to her. Don't let her follow me.

Will!

CHEERING

It's the mill. He turned the mill on. Will turned the power on!

MACHINES ROAR

What are you doing there? This is crazy, Will!

ARGUING DROWNED OUT BY MACHINE NOISE

I'll shoot!

I didn't mean to hurt you, son.

What did I do? What did I do?

This is my job. Don't you see?

This is my job, Will Thompson!

Who'd go give an old man a job?

Don't you see?

Who's going to give me a job?

Get out of here, Will Thompson.

Go on, go on!

SHOUTING

SHOUTING STOPS

SIREN WAILS

I know!

Shaw, you get everybody a nice, cool glass of water, you hear?

Rosamund, why don't you just sit on the porch and rest a little?

What's the matter with you? Nothin'!

They didn't bury your husband! Please, Buck!

You don't want to talk about it? Nothing to talk about!

Have some regard for Rosamund.

Why did you chase after him? We'll cook dinner.

No-one's eatin' till I get an answer from her! Can't you talk?

Sure, but this isn't the time for it!

It's a shame you can't kill a man but once. Otherwise I'd be gunnin' for him right now!

You oughta be ashamed of yourself. You shut up!

You don't look ashamed for anything. You're a pair of loose fillies!

-If you ain't man enough to hold on to your wife, I'd hide my face! Stay out of it!

-Buck!

-Will's dead. Ain't that enough punishment?

-We're goin' on like this all the time

and we're gettin' further away from a happy life!

Hey, Pa! Why, I have the water here, Pa.

All of us ought to...

..sit down and think a little about livin'.

And how to do it.

-God didn't put us here to fight all the time.

-I don't want to hear no more about God.

If we don't have more love for each other, you'll have real sorrow, son. I tried to keep a peaceful family.

If you'd stop fightin', learn to smile and laugh just a little...

You talk like an old fool.

Maybe it sounds that way to you.

But you got the feeling of God in your heart.

You just can't find it.

What did God ever do for you?

I don't feel the way Buck does, but we ain't got a penny out of God's little acre.

You boys don't seem to catch on.

It's not important I get money out of it, but I can walk on it and feel God is there.

What's all this got to do with me and Griselda?

All you think about is the things you see or touch. That ain't livin'.

It's the things you feel down inside you.

If you felt more how Griselda feels inside her, no man could touch her.

That's just what I was gettin' at!

-What went on between you and Will?

-How will that make you feel better?

-I want to hear it from her!

-I'm not afraid to tell him.

-No!

-Stay out of it!

If I was you, when I went to bed tonight, I'd get down on my knees and try talkin' to God a little.

He can tell you things nobody else can and maybe how you ought to act with Griselda if you'll listen.

If there's anything in the world he's crazy about, it's seein' a man and a woman in love with each other.

And to forgive is part of lovin'.

When he sees that, he knows the world is runnin' along as slick as grease.

Buck will come along when he gets older. Try and be patient with him.

It takes some people a lifetime to learn some things and Buck is young.

I'm afraid he'll never learn. What is there to learn? Will wasn't bigger or stronger than me.

It wasn't the way he looked that made him different. It was the way he was made inside.

He could feel things and you can't!

You can't suck me in with that kind of talk. I want to know what you and Will did behind my back!

-Pluto, you were there. What happened?

-Nothing much.

What do you mean by nothing much?

Nothing much means nothing much.

Did you go deaf, dumb and blind to Peachtree Valley?

I was in that house the whole time. I saw nothin' more excitin' than coffee and cake and peach ice cream.

When that siren blew, we all knew that Will was dead.

That's a fact.

Now that's settled, let's go in and get some supper.

Come on, Rosamund.

We'll all get a good night's rest and tomorrow things will look a lot different.

I'm going back to Augusta. Do you care for a lift, Griselda?

I got a big, empty house. Plenty of room for you, too, Rosamund.

Look, son, you're welcome to stay for supper, but if you want to get back to Augusta, go on.

The girls are staying here.

All you've raised on this land is piles of dirt and empty holes!

-I'll strike a load soon.

-You've said that for years. Age didn't bring you sense.

I got sense you don't know about.

I hate the smell of this place. I've hated it since the day I was born.

Come and live with me in Augusta, Griselda.

You can have some new clothes, a new car, plenty of spending money.

Get in the house, Griselda.

-You can come live with me.

-Get your dirty hands off her! I'll kill you!

Pa!

-I love you, Pa!

-Feels like the end of the world has struck me!

Feels like...the bottom has dropped out from under me!

I feel like I'm sinking!

I can't help myself.

-Pa, don't talk like that.

-It's all my fault, Shaw!

Diggin' for gold...

Diggin' for gold!

-Never gave enough to my sons.

-It ain't true, Pa.

-Then they grow up big enough to kill each other!

God, give me strength.

Pa, please! >

Please, Pa!

Buck! I don't want any woman I can't hold on my own!

Go with Jim Leslie. I just happened to be around when you decided to get a husband. >

You get out of here. You get in your car, Jim Leslie.

Go back to Augusta where you belong.

If you ever show your face here again,

son of mine or no son of mine!

All right, Shaw.

Come on, Rosamund.

Darlin' Jill, Pluto,

Griselda.

We'll go in the house

and get some supper

and have a good night's sleep.

And maybe tomorrow will be a good day.

All right.

God...

give me strength...

..to spread out my arms to the end of my fields.

Let me fill up the holes

and make the land smooth.

You spared my sons.

I'll never dig another hole again.

Except to...

..to plant seeds for things to grow.

SIREN WAILS

Why, you big horse head of a Sheriff!

And you big horse head of a Sheriff's wife to be!

You plantin' well, Shaw.

Yeah, I'm plantin'!

Whoa!

-# Now I told you about God's little acre

-Fare ye well, fare ye well

# Now I told you about God's little acre

# Diggin' in the moonlight, Diggin' in the sun

# Diggin' in the ground Till the diggin' was done

# Come over to God's little acre, Come over to God's little acre

# Come over to God's little acre, Come back home

# Come back home, come back home

# Come over to God's little acre, Come over to God's little acre

# Come over to God's little acre

# Come back...ho-o-o-o-ome! #