[♪..., projector clicking...]
[music plays]
[train wheels clicking]
[music plays]
[train chugging]
[music plays]
[dog barking]
[tires skidding]
[music stops, car door shuts]
[flies buzzing]
[birds chirping]
[electronic beeping]
[camera shutter clicks]
- Domesticated fowl.
- It's a fuckin' chicken.
[vehicle approaching]
[music plays]
- Bucky: You remember that old joke about the chicken crossing
the road?
Well, there's at least one
version where it doesn't end too good for the chicken.
[music plays]
[vehicles passing]
I don't know about you, but I
don't see anything funny about dead animals.
When I was a boy, I always wondered if dead animals went
to heaven, but my foster mother
told me animals don't got souls.
[bird squawks]
Well, I tend to disagree.
[music plays]
The saddest part of the job are the pets ...
It just tears my heart out to see 'em that way.
If things were up to me, I'd give every one of these little
guys a proper burial to help 'em move on to a better place.
[music plays]
The county don't see it that way.
[gate clatters]
[music plays]
[music fades]
- Paper or plastic?
Well, Bucky, it sounds like you got a problem.
- I didn't say that.
- Well, what did you say?
- Well, it was like I told you, you know, Becky does want a
family and all, but I want the same thing.
I'm not sure I'm ready to be a father yet, that's all.
And heck, I grew up without a daddy.
- Well, have you told Becky how you feel?
Bucky, have you?
- No!
- Damn it, Bucky, the last thing you need is some little
brat running around your house.
You're still a damn kid yourself.
You should've never gotten married in the first damn place.
- But I love her.
- But that ain't no reason to get married.
That's six pounds, two ounces.
Now, if she wants to get pregnant, how the hell do you
plan on stoppin' her?
- I've done the research and
uh...
[electronic beeping]
...Kind of developed a technique.
- Excuse me?
- Technique-- it's kind of like a system that I worked out.
- O.K.
- They say that sperm cells can't live long under adverse
conditions.
- Go on.
- I just created my own adverse conditions.
- What the hell are you talkin' about?
- As little as a 10-degree rise in body temperature will kill
off most of your sperm cells.
- So what are you doing, Bucky,
microwaving your nuts every night?
Hand warmers.
- Put two of 'em in my underwear every day.
That's gotta lower my sperm count.
- Damn, Bucky, I think you done lowered your brain cell count.
- It seems to be working.
- How can you tell?
- Well, she ain't pregnant yet, we uh...
[electronic beeping]
Pretty much do it all the time.
- How much?
How much, Bucky?
- Oh, well, yeah.
Six pounds, two ounces.
- Yes!
[machinery whirs]
[flies buzzing]
- Man on radio: Come in cr-one.
Come in CR-1.
- Earl: Here, Bucky, I'll get that.
Go for Earl.
- Hey, Earl.
Paul wants you boys to meet him over on highway six near the
county line.
- Now?
- Damn straight, and don't be late.
- 10-4.
Shit.
[music plays]
Hey, Paul, is the county paying us to leave critters in the road
now?
- [clears throat]
Gentlemen, here's the situation.
Now, uh, America has more than four million miles of roads and
highways and they're all littered with road kill.
Modern day wildlife management, critter control by family
vehicle.
And for every dead carcass you find beside the road, you know
that there's 10 more you can't see off in the bushes somewhere
and it's getting out of hand.
- I don't get it, Paul.
What's this all about?
- Well, what it's about, Bucky, is the world is changing and we
got to change with it.
Now what you boys are about to witness is a mechanical marvel
of carcass removal technology.
Gentlemen, let me introduce you to the new CRT-3000.
[music plays]
It's powered by a 10-cylinder turbo diesel, stacked with a
two-cycle afterburner and
muffled exhaust that generates an environmental friendly
S.P.L. of less than 25...
[voice fades, becoming
indistinct on radio]
[parade music...]
- Woman: Bucky!
- Now wait just a goddamn minute!
[music stops]
There ain't but one son of a bitch in that thing.
- Paul: Well, I know, that's the beauty of the thing...
Or not.
That's what I wanted to talk to you boys about.
See, uh, if the committee goes with this plan we got no choice.
We cannot justify two salaries.
We just can't do it.
- That's a crock of shit, Paul.
[truck horn honks]
[electronic beeping and gears whirring]
[machinery clatters]
[explosion, electronic beeping]
- Did I mention the internal incinerator?
Well, anyway, boys, that's the
way it's got to be and it's really out of my hands.
I'm sorry.
- Hey!
First it was those goddamn biodegradable bags and it's shit
if we don't go computerized, and we put up with all that crap so
you can just go ahead and can our asses?
- Not "asses" as in plural, Earl.
"Ass" as in one.
- Well, that's bullshit, Paul.
- O.K., look, now if you want me to say who's staying and
who's going, I'll do it.
I thought maybe you'd want to
figure it out amongst yourselves.
[door shuts, ignition starts]
- Woman: The job is yours.
Don't even give it a second thought.
- I can't just take the job from Earl.
He's the one who got me the job in the first place.
I owe him.
- Your owe your family more.
Or do I need to remind you, we're in the family
manufacturing business.
We're gonna need some elbow room once the little one shows up.
I mean, if you're out of a job, we ain't never gonna get that
double-wide you promised me.
Not to mention a new dress for the talent competition.
It's gonna be so fantastic, me up there just a-singin'...
You know, I was thinking of getting a blue dress, you know,
kind of low-cut and sexy.
I mean, just a little bit...
[voice fades]
...Sex does sell.
[voice slows]: And no use
concealing what the good lord gave me.
'Cause remember last year...
[voice slows, indistinct]
[child crying and gurgling]
[child screams]
Bucky... Honey?
- Yeah.
- I don't know what my temperature has to do with
making babies, but let's just go
make sure.
- O.K., I'll be right there.
[wind chime jingles]
[music plays]
[machinery clanging]
- You know what?
I've been thinking about new trucks.
- Is that right?
- Yeah.
The way I see it...
You were never much to liking this job anyway, were ya?
It seems as how Becky and I got... You know, family plans
and all...
I was thinkin' maybe I ought to
take the county job.
Seems like the right thing.
- Is that so?
Give it a crank.
[chains rattle]
- Jimmy!
Jimmy!
[door slams shut]
♪ I'd love to
♪ have a woman like the one you ♪
♪ have...
- Woman: Eddie, where's Jimmy at?
- I don't know.
He ain't under here, I can tell you that much.
- Well, if you see him you tell him to get his skinny little
butt in there and clean up that
mess he made in the living room. Jimmy!
How much longer are you gonna be?
Bingo's at six.
- You ain't goin' anywhere
unless I get this damn fuel pump fixed.
[liquid splashes]
- Earl: Well, I see how you see
it, and I know, man, you want to start a family.
That is if you ain't already burned your nuts off.
But you gettin' the job would be the right thing.
But your old buddy here has been looking after you way too long
to see you do that to yourself.
- Do what to myself?
- You got to confront your problems, Bucky.
You want the easy way out.
You want the job just handed to you.
Well, life don't work that way, man.
Besides, man, if I just handed you the job, what would you
learn from that, huh?
What would you learn from that?
- It's a job, not learning.
- Man, a job comes, a job goes.
But life's lessons...
[chains creak and snap]
Shit!
- Jimmy!
[man singing on radio]
[dog whimpers]
[dog whimpering]
[explosion, woman screams]
- What the heck happened here, Ches?
- Figure old Ed, he busted the fuel line...
Looks like it sparked off something.
[sniffles]
- Funny old world, huh?
- Well, the work's over here.
[indistinct voices on radios]
- Oh, is that Roscoe?
- It's all right, Jimmy, you're gonna be O.K., son.
Sometimes... The good lord, he taketh away.
- Looks like he took ol' Roscoe away with a vengeance.
You get started, all right?
I'll be right back.
[music plays]
Hey, Lizzy.
You O.K.?
I'm sorry about Eddie.
It's going to be O.K.
[lizzie cries softly]
[music plays]
[indistinct voices on radios]
- You want to hustle it up here, Click?
Don't you see what this poor kid's going through?
Look at that.
Hasn't been a widow woman an hour and he's already sniffin'
out the territory.
[scoffs] Swear to God.
- Bucky: What's gotten into you?
- Earl: She's a woman in need,
Bucky, I was there to comfort her.
- She's a married woman.
- Was a married woman.
- Earl, what if that little boy
walked in and caught you "comforting" her, huh?
- Drive, Bucky.
- It ain't right, you gotta know that.
- Goddamn, look at that.
What do you say let's give her a lift?
- No, let's say we don't, huh?
- Hey, there, where you headed?
- Someplace called Walker Pass Road?
- What a coincidence.
We're headed that way too.
- No, we're not, we gotta get back to the pit.
- Take it easy, Bucky, that pit ain't goin' nowhere.
Hey, don't worry, we work for the county.
My name's Earl.
This is my partner.
We call him hot pants.
- Hi, hot pants.
I'm Tess.
- Well, we can take you down to Broke Sky Bridge, but we gotta
get back, we're on a tight schedule here.
- Here, let me get that for you.
- Thanks.
- Come on.
- Ches: I swear to God.
- Earl: Careful.
[gears shift]
- So, uh, walker pass road seems a bit out of the way.
What you got waitin' for you out there, your boyfriend?
No?
Your girlfriend?
- My grandmother.
- Are you Bernice's granddaughter?
- Apparently so.
- Well, you don't seem too sure.
- 'Cause I never met her.
I mean, I basically bounced around foster home to foster
home my whole life.
Never really had a family.
So, here I am.
- [chuckling] What the hell is this?
- [chuckles]
- Ding-a-ling-a-ling.
What else you got here?
- Knock it off! [chuckles]
[birds chirping]
- I know you didn't want me in your truck, but I mean,
sometimes it's a little scary being on the road alone.
I really appreciate you giving me a ride.
- Sure you're gonna be O.K.?
- Yeah, I made it all the way from Akron, didn't i?
- Say, how about me and you hook up a little bit later and,
uh, I could show you all the hot spots?
- [scoffs] Yeah, show me all
the hot spots you passed out drunk.
Thanks, Mr. Earl, county worker.
- Hey, you know, it's actually not as late as I thought.
We could run you up there, we could.
- No, that's O.K.
Thanks anyway.
[music plays]
- Earl: Hey, if you change your mind, I'm in the book!
[birds squawk]
Damn, Bucky, I don't know why you waste the Good Lord's time
asking him to bless a dick's full of rotten meat and bones.
- They're god's creatures.
They deserve a proper burial...
Not just thrown out in some
garbage out in the middle of nowhere.
- Well, if the county decides
on that mechanical marvel wonder truck, all this is history.
And you can blame that goddamn Paul.
He thinks he's a damn genius.
He's the worst goddamn partner
I ever had.
He couldn't work worth of shit.
And now he's a supervisor.
[birds squawk]
[keyboard clicks]
[electronic beeping]
[music plays]
78, not bad.
132?
[music plays]
Goddamn.
I think I figured it out.
- Figured what out?
- How to save our asses.
Now, we're gonna have to work our nuts to the bone for a few
weeks, but we can do it, Bucky.
Now, listen up.
Now, the county's gonna vote on that new truck in a few weeks,
so in the meantime, here's what
we do.
- You wanna run that by me again?
- Well, basically Earl wants to make the Burr County mechanical
marvel look bad... So's our own county supervisors will vote
against buying one for themselves.
- And you're gonna do that
by stealing dead animals in the middle of the night.
- Yeah... From Burr County.
So...
We can input all that in the
computer logs and take credit for it.
Our numbers go up and their's
go down, so...
Why buy a new truck, right?
- [laughs]
Well, that sounds nuts to me.
But, if you think it's that important to try to keep you two
together, I guess it's worth a try.
[crickets chirping]
When do you start?
[indistinct voices on tv]
- I'm supposed to pick him up at moose's at 11.
- Tonight?
- That's the plan, pickle.
- Oh...
[music plays]
Bucky baby.
[bug zapper zapping]
[music plays]
♪ I gave to you some more familiar pain ♪
♪ You gave to me cruel tenderness ♪
♪ I brought you gold and silver for your face ♪
♪ You taught me the hard way how to love ♪
♪ And if I ever get out of here alive ♪
♪ Don't call me baby, I'll call you ♪
♪ I'll get me all in step for that mourning dove ♪
♪ Taught me the hard way how to love ♪
♪ I brought to you nice clothes and honesty ♪
♪ So they might lead you to the truth ♪
♪ You gave me honesty behind your eyes ♪
♪ You taught me the hard way how to love ♪
♪ And if I ever get out of here alive ♪
♪ Don't call me, baby, I'll call you ♪
♪ I'll get me all in step for that mourning dove ♪
♪ Taught me the hard way how to love ♪
♪ Taught me the hard way how to love... ♪
- Shit.
- All right, we'll be right there.
- What now?
- Well water smellin' bad.
Possum might've fallen in there and drowned or something.
We better go check it out.
- Hold on, Bucky, hold on.
- What's up?
- Look, this is only about a
half a mile from the Burr County line.
Makes a lot more sense to check this out tonight after we finish
our rounds.
- Gonna put us there awful late, huh?
Dispatch says this guy is all kind of impatient.
- Well, that's all the better
reason to avoid the motherfucker.
Trust me, Bucky, this is better, man.
Take my word for it.
Well, are you gonna eat that or what?
- Bucky: Rufus, uh...
- Well, this gotta be it,
Bucky, it's the only house out here.
Just pull in, man, let's get this over with.
[wind chimes jingle]
Come on, Bucky, get the top off
this thing.
Damn, something crawled up and died here.
- God!
Yeah...
- You got somethin'?
- No.
Hold on, there's something there.
[strains] Oh!
- Come on, Bucky, get the damn thing out of there.
We don't want to be here all goddamn night.
- All right.
[liquid sloshing]
Hang on.
There's something...
I see...
Ain't no possum, that's for sure.
[groaning]
It looks like it's weighed or something.
Something kind of heavy.
You want to give me a hand here?
[music plays]
Oh, God!
[splash]
[Bucky panting nervously]
- All right, Bucky.
You go to the truck and get that blue tarp.
I'm gonna get that thing out of there.
Bucky, are you listening to me?
- We gotta go call Chester.
- No, no, no, man.
You can forget that shit right now.
- Earl, did you hook up with her the other night?
- What?
You think I had something to do with this?
- I don't think anything's up. We gotta go call the sheriff.
- No, hold on, hold on, Bucky.
Goddamn it.
All right, O.K., I'll tell you,
I'll tell you the gospel truth.
We did hook up the other night.
But she was plenty alive when she left my house the next
morning, Bucky.
- Well, then we got a call to make!
- It ain't that simple, Bucky.
My DNA's gonna be all over that.
They're gonna think I killed her.
- Not if we tell 'em that you didn't.
- Aw, man, with a record like mine?
Go get the fucking tarp!
- Goddamn it, Earl, we gotta
tell somebody about this!
- Bucky...
What, you want to see me fry for something I didn't do?
Go get the tarp.
[doors clatter]
- Move over, I'm driving.
- Where are we takin' her?
- Where do you think?
- Oh, no, Earl, we're not taking her there.
Are you out of your mind?
It's not for people!
- Exactly, Bucky, and nobody
ever goes out there but us.
[flies buzzing]
[chain rattles]
- [Bucky groaning]
This ain't right, Earl.
We shouldn't be mixing human spirits with animal spirits.
- It won't seem so bad come morning.
- No, she deserves a proper burial.
- Were things were different,
I'd say she'd have one.
But things ain't like that,
Bucky.
You understand me?
Now, after tonight, we never
tell nobody about this, do you hear me?
I mean nobody.
- How'd it go?
- It's all right, I guess.
- How much longer do you think
you can keep this up?
I mean, you look beat.
You ain't never gonna get any decent sleep.
[crickets chirping]
[music plays]
- Man: Here lies the body of
one of christ's beloved creatures.
Fine, decent man...
A leader of the community.
A loving husband and a dedicated father.
Now he is gone and we are here
to see that he receives a proper Christian internment which is
his rightful due as a righteous citizen of this community and an
active member of our parish.
Little Jimmy McClinton, to step forward now.
I'm going to ask you to sprinkle
these rose petals on your father's grave...
[Bucky sobbing]
A sign of love and a symbol of a new beginning.
Let's all join in prayer.
Thus says the Lord God,
all my people, I will open your graves and have you rise from
them and bring you back to the
land of Israel... [fades]
[flies buzzing]
[music plays]
- Thanks, Chester.
[sobbing quietly]
- What is the matter with you?
- Nothin'.
- Bullshit, man, you're making a scene.
Now get a hold of yourself,
Bucky, the last thing we need...
- Becky: Bucky?
- Hey, Becky.
That was a beautiful service,
wasn't it?
- Come on, Bucky, let's go home.
[music plays]
[wind chimes jingle]
[music plays]
- Hey...
You want to help me with this?
[clanging]
Help me with this?
[music plays]
- Damn, Rufus.
Why don't you air this place out?
- You are a venomous insect.
- Get your ass up.
- Get that thing on my knee first, you stupid fuck.
- I might hose you off first.
Get your ass up.
[music plays]
[crickets chirping]
- We better get to work.
Come on.
- Yeah, I just gotta clean up
this mess real quick, thanks.
- All right, hurry up.
- O.K.
[metal squeaking]
[birds chirping]
- That looks like a 12-pack to me.
[machinery grinding and banging]
[indistinct singing on radio]
- [spits]
There's a leg missing.
- Uh, it's in there, it's just
kind of twisted around.
Uh... Uh... Earl said that he wants 15 apiece.
Next time.
- So what he say?
[chuckles]
I guess that means no.
All right, let's get the hell
out of here.
- Becky: You're out of a job,
we ain't never gonna get that
double-wide you promised me.
[horn honks]
- Let's go, Bucky.
[flies buzzing]
Man, he's got this big-ass box
of cereal, man, one of these
economy five-pound jobs, right?
So he's gonna haul it back to
the fuckin' store where he got
it, and he takes it in and goes
up to the counter and sees
the clerk, and the guy looks in
the box and he says, "well, how
do I know you didn't put them
pack of gnats in there
yourself?"
[chuckles]
[birds chirping]
- She wasn't but a kid, Earl.
I mean... Maybe we should've
never put her in that pit.
It's eatin' at me, man.
It's like it's crawlin' under my skin or somethin'.
- Well, what the fuck, do you
think I'm made out of wood?
I mean, what do you want me to
say, Bucky?
It's done.
- It ain't right what we did,
Earl.
I just keep wondering what it
must be like for her out in
that pit.
- Listen to me, Bucky.
Dead is dead, and that's all.
It don't make a rat's ass
difference if she's a chicken or
a goose.
- It does too.
- Goddamn it!
Do you want people to find out
that we put a dead girl in
that pit?
Shit.
[music plays]
[loud horn honks]
- What the fuck you think you
doing?
Are you trying to kill us both?
[metal squeaking]
[both grunting]
[child laughs...]
- Earl: I'll show you all the
hot spots.
[child whimpers]
- What's wrong?
You didn't finish.
You want to tell me what's
wrong?
- I just didn't finish,
that's all.
- You finding me less
attractive now that I'm talking
like a mother?
- Oh, of course not, baby.
I'm just tired, that's all.
- Earl's plan's wearing
you out.
- Yeah.
And we're going again tonight.
- It's all right.
We'll make up for it tomorrow
night.
[music plays]
- Earl: After tonight, we never
tell nobody about this, you hear me?
I mean nobody.
[music plays]
[vehicle approaches]
- Shit.
[knocking on metal]
- Paul: Hey, what are you doing
in there, sleeping?
- No, just finishing up.
- Well, I thought I'd bring you
your check out, save you all the
trip.
- Thank you.
- So, uh...
This new truck situation, you
guys given that any more
thought?
- Well, Paul, I ain't heard
nothing from the county, and
until I do, I guess it's
business as usual.
Ain't that right, Bucky?
- Jesus christ.
[flies buzzing]
Looks like a big old damn
crockpot, doesn't it?
[chuckles]
Well, see you boys later.
- Becky: Bucky...
Bucky!
What's this?
- Uh, it's something I got at
work.
It was on the side of the road.
- Well, what are you planning
on doing with it?
- I thought of giving it
to you.
- What would I do with just one
earring?
- Yeah, I don't know what I was
thinking, um...
You know, maybe I'll just give
it to Earl or somebody because
he's got all those kind of weird
girlfriends and stuff.
[music plays]
Forgive me father, for I have
sinned.
It's been two years...
2-1/2 years since my last
confession.
Father... Well, first of all,
I've used the lord's name in vain.
- Yes.
- And I also have been less than honest with my loving wife.
- Are you having an affair,
my son?
[flies buzzing]
- No, father.
I've just been less than
completely up-front with her
about everything.
- Well, that's not good.
- I just want to confess all
those sins and any other sins
that I may have forgotten about
up to this point.
- Hmm.
- And... And that's all.
- That's it?
You know you can tell me, son,
that's what I'm here for.
Living with sin is like living
with the devil.
You don't want to live with the
devil now, do you, son?
- No, father, I don't.
- All right.
Say five hail Mary's and read
psalm 52.
In the name of the father, the
son and the holy spirit, amen.
- Thanks be to God.
[flies buzzing]
Father, would it be O.K. If I
asked you a question?
- Shoot.
- Well, if someone did
something and then someone else
did something else to protect
that person, then would it be a
sin to then go...
[whacking]
- Damn flies.
I'm sorry, you were saying...?
- It's nothing, all right?
Don't worry about it, it's
nothing.
- You better make that 10
hail Mary's.
[church bells tolling]
[machinery clanging]
- No, no, you keep it, Bucky.
- What for?
- I want you and Becky to go
down to George's tonight, get
you a couple of chicken fried
steaks and margaritas.
- It's all right.
- I'm serious, Bucky.
Look, I figure we'll take
tonight off and then we'll
hit it again tomorrow.
Come on, partner.
You could use a little break,
man.
[music plays]
[electronic phone ringing]
- Hello.
- Earl: Hey, Becky.
Sounds like you had one too many
margaritas.
- Earl?
- Yeah, let me talk to Bucky.
I want to see if our boy finally
relaxed and had a little bit
of fun.
- What are you talking about,
Earl?
He ain't even home yet.
I thought he was with you.
- Uh... Yeah, he was but he
just left and said he was gonna
stop and pick up some margaritas
and food and shit.
- Good night, Earl.
[music playing in bar]
[music plays]
[chain creaking]
[rain falling]
[metal rattles]
[music plays]
[thunder]
[music plays]
[wipers whooshing]
[siren wails]
- Man: Get your ass out of bed!
[men grunting]
[slap, indistinct shouting]
- Chester?
- What are you doing out here, click?
Are you workin' that graveyard shift?
- Graveyard?
- Becky told me all about it, you know, you're out here alone.
Where is old Earl?
- What are you doing out here,
Chester?
- I don't know.
Lannie called me and said
somebody ridin' around in one of his pastures.
- Really?
- Yeah.
I'll probably give it a quick look... It's an election year.
[chuckles]
I'll see you later, click.
[crickets chirping]
- Becky: Did it go all right with you and Earl?
- Bucky: Yeah, yes.
[clock ticking]
- I know what you did tonight.
I want to know what she looks like.
I bet she ain't nothin' but skin and bones, right?
I know you would've never met her if it weren't for
Earl Boggs.
Well, if this marriage means anything to you, you will settle
this thing once and for all.
Tomorrow before you come home,
I want you to go to her and I want you to tell her that it's
over, that it was a mistake, and you can't ever see her again.
- Honey, it's not what you think.
- You best go sleep on the couch.
- And in Ezekiel it says, "the son shall not bear the iniquity
of the Father."
And what this is saying, my
friends, is that we are born
with a clean soul, a fresh light.
The sins of those that came before us are not our burden.
We carve out our own destiny...
[Rufus wheezes and coughs]
Live a life of goodness without
sin, as an example for those that come after us.
- So how was George's last night?
- It was fine.
[whirring]
- Did Becky enjoy herself?
- She did, I guess.
- You guess?
- Well, hell, you should know,
Bucky, you were there, weren't you?
- She had a great time.
- And you're a goddamn liar.
I called your house last night about 11:00.
She tells me you ain't home from work yet.
So where were you, Bucky?
- I just needed some time alone.
- [scoffs] What, are you getting a piece of ass on the side?
- Oh, no, Earl.
Not everybody's like you, O.K.?
I just need some time by myself, sort some of these things out.
- Just what kind of things are you sortin' out, Bucky?
- Things like why you got us coverin' up a murder here, Earl.
I mean, doggone it, Earl, it's not too late.
We can still fix this.
We go down to the sheriff right now we can...
- Just stop it right there, Bucky.
We ain't goin' to nobody, especially the sheriff.
- I gotta know something, Earl.
Why are we protecting this old man, huh?
Why don't you tell me that?
- We ain't protecting Rufus.
- How do we know that he didn't
have something to do...
With Tess?
- 'cause I said so, that's why.
- That ain't good enough, Earl.
- I told you he didn't do nothin'.
Now drop it, Bucky.
- What if I don't want to drop it?
- He wouldn't have had nothin' to do with that girl.
- Maybe I ought to go over
there and talk to him myself right now.
- You stay away from that place.
- Well, then he certainly
wouldn't mind answering a few questions, now, would he?
- You don't go near him, you understand me?
You don't need to be steppin' in that pile of shit.
[loud horn honks]
[music plays]
You got to promise me you won't go out there.
- But Earl...
- No, Bucky, you gotta promise
me, damn it.
- O.K., all right, I promise.
Becky boo...
Pickle?
[knocking on door, Bucky gasps]
- Hey, Bucky.
- Hey, Chester.
- Becky here?
- Uh, no.
No, she ain't.
- Good, come on, I'll show you
something.
Come on.
[music plays]
What do you think?
I don't like to brag, but...
I outdid myself on this one.
[chuckles]
Could you just see her up there
on that stage, singing her heart
out, wearing this beauty?
You know how much it means
to her.
I was gonna surprise her
with it.
What time she gonna be home?
- I don't know.
Becky, uh...
She left me, I think.
- Well, hell, I'm sorry to hear
that.
Shoot, you know how much Elaine
and I think of y'all and
everything.
Hell... [clears throat]
This ain't got nothin' to do
with the little half-naked gal
I seen you and Earl with a while
back, does it?
Yeah, guess I'll...
Drop it off at her mother's
house.
See you later, click.
[music plays]
♪ Don't need fortune
♪ don't need fame
♪ Don't need pity
♪ or somebody else to blame
♪ Don't need passion,
♪ don't feel lust
♪ I just need
♪ somebody I can trust.
[music fades]
[child laughing]
[child screaming]
- [gasping]
[bird squawks]
[rabbit squeaks]
- Oh!
[gasps, panting]
- O.K., Bucky, put it out of its misery.
- [panting]
- Well, go on, do it.
[rabbit sniffling]
It's in pain, for Christ's sakes, Bucky.
You're doing it a favor.
Hit the son of a bitch!
Put it out of its misery!
Hit the fucker!
- God, Earl!
I can't do it.
- You fuckin' pussy.
Give me that.
[thud, Earl grunting]
Die, goddamn it!
[grunts]
Don't you ever make me do your
job for you again.
You hear me?
[music plays]
[crickets chirping]
[clock ticking]
[electronic phone ringing]
[beep]
- Hello.
- Paul: I guess congratulations
are in order.
The job's yours, uh, Bucky left
the truck out at the pit, the
keys are in the office.
I'll try and get you some, some
kind of temporary help, but that
won't happen till Monday, so you
might have to hit the road on
your own tomorrow, O.K.?
- We gotta talk.
- The job's yours.
- No, it ain't about the damn
job, Bucky.
Goddamn it!
I ain't gonna let you just walk
away from this mess we're in.
It don't work that way.
Now, I know it's been hard
on you, man.
That girl in that pit.
And even though I'll probably
live to regret it, I'm willing
to go with you, Bucky.
We'll pull her out of there and
give her the kind of burial you
see fit.
[clock ticking]
Are you listening to me, boy?
- I'm listening.
- Well, that's what you want,
ain't it?
A proper burial and all?
- I do.
- Well, all right, then.
Now, tonight everybody in town's
gonna be over watching that damn
talent show.
You meet me in front of Bob's
old place about 8:00, then we
head to the pit and take care of
business, O.K.?
- It still leaves a killer out
there on the loose, don't it?
- Just be there.
[wind chimes jingle]
[flies buzzing]
[knocking]
- Who in the hell are you?
- Bucky click.
County carcass removal.
- Yeah... [chuckles]
I'll be damned.
- Listen to me, liz, goddamn
it, there ain't nothing fucking
wrong!
- All right, all right, just
simmer down.
You don't have to yell at me.
I just want to see you.
I don't want to hear any more
excuses...
I am gettin' myself all dolled
up for you, so are we gettin'
together tonight or not?
- Yeah, I got some shit I gotta do...
So when I finish that...
I'll be over and pick you up, all right?
- You better.
Don't make me come lookin' for you.
- All right. Bye.
[phone beeps]
- Drink up, boy.
It's well water.
Ain't nothin' sweeter.
[gulping]
- Might we be able to open up a window, or two?
- Oh, no, no...
Lets flies in.
Hideous, diseased... Creatures.
Vermin.
- [woman yodeling]
Yee-ha!
- My partner and i, we two came
by the other night to...
Clean out your well.
I was kind of wondering, how
come you called us and not the sheriff.
- You have no idea how much
I wanted to.
Ah, the trouble with him,
it's always in his secrets.
Never face the facts, always denying the truth.
[choking tears]
Kept secrets from me.
Kept secrets from you.
You like that, boy?
You like keeping secrets?
- No, sir, but who...?
- To deny the truth is to deny who you are.
That's what it says in the bible.
- Yes, sir.
- I always told him, never keep from doing what you know is
right, and hell with what anyone else thinks.
But he just didn't see it
that way... Nah.
- Sir, who is "he"?
- My son.
Earl.
- [gasps]
[music plays]
- Where the fuck are you,
Bucky?
- Man: It is unbelievable what he can do with a rope.
Katch, come on up here.
[whistling and applause]
[music plays]
- You don't know much about
Earl Boggs, do you?
You see, I needed to raise a boy to some day be a man.
A man's man.
[music plays]
A man...
Who had a clean soul.
I almost succeeded with...
Earl, but...
He had too many outside influences.
Mostly tramps and whores...
Sometimes I think Earl was just jealous.
He had no idea what I needed.
More importantly, he had no idea what you needed.
- Huh, what he knew
what I needed?
[music plays]
- Get! [coughs]
Help me!
Don't leave me like this.
Help me, help me.
[grunts]
You listen to me, boy.
You listen good.
Earl lied to you.
Earl was a child...
He had all this hatred runnin'
through his arteries.
It was my duty to cleanse his soul.
It wasn't easy.
Didn't take to it at first,
and then he saw the path, he realized it was good for him.
Then you came into the picture.
You distracted him.
[tapping]
[music plays]
[no dialog, ♪...]
[tapping continues]
[glass shatters]
[thud, Rufus screams]
[indistinct screaming in house]
[muffled music in bar]
- Earl, we gotta talk.
We need to talk now, O.K.?
- So talk, Bucky.
I spoke with Rufus today.
- I told you never go out there.
- I had to Earl, I had to
find out...
- What the fuck did he
tell you?
- It doesn't matter, O.K.?
What matters is the two of us
going down to sheriff and
straighten things out 'cause I
can't live with what I done.
I can't!
- Look, I done a lot of
fucked up things in my life.
I am a fuck-up, but I never
killed nobody!
Goddamn it!
My business is my business!
I told you stay away from Rufus!
[grunts]
- I understand, Earl, but I
just want my life back, like
the way it was before we found
that girl.
But you're flat-out wrong asking
a man to throw away everything--
his wife, his home-- for, for
whatever it is you're hiding.
Now, I'll come by first thing in
the morning, Earl, and we'll go
set things straight with the
sheriff together.
Please, we gotta do this.
- Man: May I introduce to you,
Becky click!
[cheering and applause]
- Man in audience: Here we go,
Becky, here we go!
Whoo-hoo!
[music plays]
- Um...
[music stops]
[Becky stutters nervously]
[door opens and shuts]
[music plays]
- ♪ The call of my heart is callin' me home ♪
♪ He's takin' my hand and leadin' me back ♪
♪ where I belong
♪ It's been too long
♪ that I been gone
♪ Gotta make a new start
♪ 'cause the call of my heart ♪
♪ is callin' me home
♪ Just when I thought I had it ♪
♪ together I felt a change
♪ in the weather
♪ And it gave me the blues
♪ I thought of all the holidays ♪
♪ and the good times
♪ that we shared
♪ And if I must say,
♪ it made me wanna be with you
♪ It's been too long [too long] ♪
♪ that I've been gone
♪ [i've been gone]
♪ Gotta make a new start
♪ 'cause the call of my heart
♪ is callin' me home
♪ I gotta make a new start
♪ 'cause the call of my heart
♪ is callin' me home.
[music ends]
[whistling and applause]
[indistinct voice on P.A.]
- Oh, God, if you hadn't come I
could have never done it.
I ain't never sung in front of a
crowd this big before.
I mean, you know, in church, but
that's different.
Oh, honey, you don't know what
this means to me.
- Becky, please, I gotta tell
you something real important,
all right?
You're not gonna believe this.
Earl and me...
[voice fades under banjo music]
- Becky: You really don't think
he'll go with you?
- No, I don't.
Something ain't right with him.
I don't know what it is, O.K.?
He's changed.
- Well, maybe I should talk
to him.
[vehicle approaches,
crashing into trash cans]
[man singing on radio]
- Man: ♪ How do you like me now? ♪
- You promise me you stay away
from him.
- I promise.
[music plays]
[man singing on car radio]
[thud, glass shatters]
[horn honks steadily]
[steady honk stops]
[deer growling, thudding on car]
[Earl groans, glass shatters]
What do you want from me...?
[echo]
[Earl panting]
[water dripping echoes]
- Rufus: So let the water and
the blood cleanse ...
[voice overlaps]
[child laughing]
[Rufus continues praying,
voice overlapping]
[water dripping]
[child screams]
[glass shatters, phone rings]
[voices overlapping]
[phone beeps]
- Man: Earl... Earl!
Are you there?
Pick up, Earl!
[voices overlapping]
[Rufus laughing, gunshots]
[crickets chirping]
[woman coughing and gasping]
- No... No.
[alarm clock ringing]
[music plays]
- Becky?
Becky?
[music plays]
Becky?
[music plays]
Earl?
[Bucky panting]
[music plays]
Hello, Rufus?
Earl?
[flies buzzing]
Hello?
- Earl: Don't go in there.
- Where's Becky?
- I said don't go in there.
[liquid dripping]
[music plays]
I finally did what I should've
done a long time ago.
[music plays]
- I've been here before.
Why was I here?
- Your mama.
She asked me to look after you
for a couple of days.
- You knew my mama?
You never told me.
- I told her I'd take good care
of you.
It wasn't long before I was
passed out, drunk.
When I woke up, I heard Rufus
in there, prayin'.
And I knew that goddamn prayer
by heart.
[Rufus praying, indistinct]
I about begged him to open the
door.
I begged him, but he just kept
praying.
- Rufus: ... Let the water, the
blood, cleanse you ...
- I could hear you in there,
Bucky, you were just, you were
just splashin' around, you was
laughin' like nothin' was wrong.
[music plays]
And then it got real quiet.
Then you...
Then you started screamin'.
I tried to break the goddamn
door, Bucky.
[thudding on door,
child screams and sputters]
I tried to kick the goddamn
door in!
It was too late, man.
[choking tears]
It was my fault, it was my
fault.
I let her down, I let your
mama down, I let you down.
It was my fault.
- My mama knew what happened
to me?
- She never saw you again.
[thud]
You promised me you wouldn't go
out there, Bucky!
Why'd you go out there?
[gate rattles]
Get on out.
Get on down.
- What are you doin', Earl?
- I'm doin' what I'm supposed
to be doin'.
I'm takin' care of Bucky click.
- Earl, how come you never told
me about what Rufus done and
all that?
- Because you ain't got the
goddamn constitution to handle
something like that.
- How come you didn't ever do
something?
You know, report him, or...
- It ain't that goddamn easy.
We talkin' about family.
I spent my whole goddamn
childhood runnin' and hidin'
from Rufus, just hopin' he'd be
too drunk to find me.
And some days I was lucky,
and other days he got what he
wanted.
You should've never gone up
there, you promised me you
wouldn't go.
And now that you know the truth,
there ain't no goddamn way I'm
gonna let you live your life
with the same kind of pain that
I live mine.
So turn around.
- Earl, you can't do this.
- I said turn around, Bucky.
[music plays]
I should've never left you alone
with him, buck.
I'm sorry, Bucky, you gotta
believe me.
- I do believe you, Earl.
I just want things back the way
it used to be.
You know, me drivin', you
ridin', the two of us takin'
care of business.
- I know, Bucky, I know.
But it can't be that way.
It's over.
Don't look at me!
Here, put this over your head.
Put it over your head!
See, I promised your mama that
I'd take care of you, and I
can't let her down again like I
did that day.
[music plays]
- Earl?
- Yeah.
- I gotta know something.
Are you my father?
- I hoped I'd never cut out to
be no daddy.
[gunshot]
- [Bucky gasps]
Earl?
[music plays]
Oh, Earl!
God, no, Earl!
Oh, no!
Earl...
[music plays]
I don't know how long it was
before I finally called the
sheriff ... And I explained to him as best I could about
everything, even Tess, like I should've done a long time ago.
At least now she'll get a proper burial and be at peace.
There's a lot of things I
didn't know about Earl, but deep down I know he didn't kill
that poor girl.
With a new job, Becky got just about all she ever wanted,
except for one thing.
So we decided to petition the
county and give a home to little Jimmy McClinton.
At least this way his childhood
will be better than mine.
[music plays]
You know, Earl always said,
"dead is dead."
But I know now that's not true.
Some days I can feel him with
me, just like it used to be ...
Me drivin', Earl ridin' ...
Takin' care of business.
[music plays]
And even though it can't ever be that way again, I'm sure
everything will be just right.
[music plays]
♪ Whatever may come my way ♪
♪ I'll be fine
♪ Tomorrow is another day, I'll be fine ♪
♪ Life is short, life is hard ♪
♪ I'll be fine
♪ Every breath's a brand-new start ♪
♪ I'll be fine
With chorus: ♪ I'll work my fingers to the bone ♪
♪ My pockets held all that I own ♪
♪ I fell asleep where I lay down ♪
♪ A thousand welcomes I've worn out ♪
♪ I've learned enough that I can say ♪
♪ Hey, hey, whatever may come my way ♪
♪ I'll be fine
♪ Tomorrow is another day, I'll be fine ♪
[music plays]
♪ I've lost at love, I'll try again ♪
♪ I'll be fine
♪ I don't know where, I don't know when ♪
♪ I'll be fine
♪ I'm pullin' myself up off the mat ♪
♪ Lost my faith, got it back ♪
♪ I sat upon a mountaintop, thank the lord for all I got ♪
♪ The simple things are everything I need ♪
♪ Hey, hey, whatever may come my way ♪
♪ I'll be fine
♪ Tomorrow is another day, I'll be fine ♪
[music plays]
♪ This big old world one day will end ♪
♪ I'll be fine
♪ If those pearly gates will let me in ♪
♪ I'll be fine
♪ Dancin' on those streets of gold ♪
♪ I'll be fine
♪ Forever young is what I'm told ♪
♪ I'll be fine
♪ So whatever may come my way ♪
♪ I'll be fine
♪ Tomorrow is another day
♪ I'll be fine
♪ Life is short and life is hard ♪
♪ I'll be fine
♪ Every breath's a brand-new start ♪
♪ I'll be fine
♪ I'll be fine.
[music changes]
[music fades]