La flèche brisée (1950)

James Stewart: Tom Jeffords

Photos 

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Quotes 

• [last lines] 

  Tom Jeffords : His words meant very little to me then, but as time passed, I came to know that the death of Sonseeahray had put a seal upon the peace. And from that day on wherever I went - in the cities, among the Apaches, in the mountains - I always remembered my wife was with me.

• Tom Jeffords : Cochise can't even read a map, but he and his men know every gulley, every foot of every mountain, every waterhole in Arizona. His horses can go twice as far as yours in a day, and his men can run on foot as far as a horse can run. He can't write his name, but his intelligence service knows when you got to Fort Grant and how many men you got. He stopped the Butterfield Stage from running. He stopped the U.S. Mail from going through. And for the first time in Indian history, he has all the Apaches from all the tribes fighting under one command.

• Gen. Oliver 'The Christian General' Howard : The Bible I read preaches brotherhood for all of God's children.

  Tom Jeffords : Suppose their skins weren't white. Are they still God's children?

  Gen. Oliver 'The Christian General' Howard : My Bible says nothing about the pigmentation of their skin.

• [first lines] 

  [opening narration] 

  Tom Jeffords : This is the story of a land, of the people who lived on it in the year 1870, and of a man whose name was Cochise. He was an Indian - leader of the Chiricahua Apache tribe. I was involved in the story and what I have to tell happened exactly as you'll see it - the only change will be that when the Apaches speak, they will speak in our language. What took place is part of the history of Arizona and it began for me here where you see me riding.

• Cochise : You should always wipe your hands on your arm after eating, tall one. The grease is good for them.

  Tom Jeffords : Ah, among the white men, we wash it off.

  Cochise : What a waste!

• Tom Jeffords : They found a pouch on one of the wounded men, and in the pouch were three Apache scalps. So they dug a pit in the ground and they rubbed his face with the juice of the mescal plant. And they made me watch the ants come.

• Tom Jeffords : When the Indian wishes to signal his brother, he does so by smoke sign. This is the white man's signal. My brothers far away can look at this and understand my meaning. We call this mail. And the men who carry the mail are like the air that carries the Apache smoke signals.

• Tom Jeffords : The story started when I saw some buzzards circling in the sky. The buzzard is a smart bird. Something or somebody was getting ready to die. I figured it was a hurt deer or a rabbit or a snake.

  [Jeffords spots a wounded Apache youth staggering in a ravine] 

  Tom Jeffords : Not a rabbit, not a deer... his kind was more dangerous than a snake. He was an Apache. For ten years we'd been on a savage war with his people - a bloody, no-give-no-take war.

• Geronimo : You speak our tongue?

  Tom Jeffords : A little.

  Geronimo : White men pay many dollars for the scalp of an Apache. You know that.

  Tom Jeffords : I know.

  Geronimo : Then why did you not take his scalp?

  Tom Jeffords : If I kill an Apache, it will not be for scalp or money.

  Geronimo : Why not? My people and your people are at war.

  Tom Jeffords : It is not my way to fight.

  Geronimo : It is the way of all white eyes!

  Tom Jeffords : It is not my way!

  Nahilzay : You are a woman, maybe!

  Tom Jeffords : It is well-known that Apaches do not take scalps either, and they are not women.

• Geronimo : Why are you here in our mountains?

  Tom Jeffords : I look for gold and silver.

  Geronimo : For what?

  Tom Jeffords : For 'yellow iron.'

• Tom Jeffords : [narrating]  They wanted to kill me, alright, but they let me go. I learned things that day: Apache mothers cried about their sons. Apache men had a sense of fair play.

• Tom Jeffords : [narrating]  Two men were killed and for three others it was much worse because they were only wounded. But this was war and there was terrible cruelty from both sides. They found a pouch on one of the wounded men and in the pouch there were three Apache scalps. So they dug a pit in the ground and they rubbed his face with the juice of a mescal plant... And they made me watch the ants come.

• Tom Jeffords : Why do you leave? Stay, please.

  Sonseeahray : It is not fitting... I should have run away quick before.

  Tom Jeffords : Why?

  Sonseeahray : I am not married.

• Gen. Oliver 'The Christian General' Howard : [eating]  Why, this is delicious! What is it?

  Tom Jeffords : Pony. In your honor, General.

  Gen. Oliver 'The Christian General' Howard : Pony? What kind of meat's that?

  Tom Jeffords : A pony is a small horse, General.

  Gen. Oliver 'The Christian General' Howard : [sighs. Takes another bite] 

• Tom Jeffords : Now, I was told that Apache boys and girls often pick those that they want to marry. Well, how can they do that if they can't get acquainted?

  Sonseeahray : Oh, they get acquainted. There are ways.

  Tom Jeffords : What ways?

  Sonseeahray : They meet by accident where no one sees them. Like my mother could see me here with you.