Sarah’s Oil (2025)
Genre: Biography, Drama, History
Director: Cyrus Nowrasteh
Writers: Betsy Giffen Nowrasteh, Cyrus Nowrasteh
Release date: November 7, 2025
Stars: Zachary Levi, Naya Desir-Johnson, Sonequa Martin-Green, Garret Dillahunt
Plot: The remarkable true story of eleven year old Sarah Rector, an African American girl born in Oklahoma Indian Territory in the early 1900s, who believes there is oil beneath the barren land she’s allotted and whose faith is proven right.
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Sarah’s Oil (2025) | Transcript
(MACHINERY CREAKING, RATTLING)
(HOPEFUL MUSIC PLAYING)
OLDER SARAH: In 1907, when Oklahoma became a state, it became home to Jim Crow laws that denied Black people basic rights.
MAN: Sarah Rector?
OLDER SARAH: But since I was a descendant of Creek Freedmen, colored folks who had been slaves on the Creek Nation, I was entitled to a land grant.
As a child of the Creek Freedmen…
OLDER SARAH: My folks had received the same grant, and built our cabin on the allotment they received.
Now it was my turn to claim what was rightfully mine.
(MAN CHUCKLES)
You sign beautiful, young lady.
She could read, too.
Thank you.
This is the title to your land.
Keep it safe.
OLDER SARAH: I saw the land as an opportunity and compensation for my ancestor’s enslavement.
I had no idea what to do with it or whether it was good for anything.
All I knew was that it was mine.
I didn’t know it, but that deed would change my life forever.
Most people thought the land was worthless.
No good for anything but tornadoes and snakes.
(DOG WHINES) My Pa said we had to sell it…
(RUMBLING) …but I was determined to keep it.
Do you hear it, Blue?
(BLUE BARKS)
(LIQUID GURGLING)
OLDER SARAH: One day, that land called to me and told me its secrets.
I believe the Good Lord put it in my head.
(LIQUID SWIRLING) I heard it loud and clear, I heard it turnin’ and swirlin’ underground like a fastmoving river.
I knew what it was.
(GURGLING REVERBERATES) SARAH: “The big oil combines and independent wildcatters” “keep rushing to Oklahoma, “now that gushers have been discovered” “in the CushingDrumright field” “and on Indian territory!”
That’s not far from here.
“Don’t be surprised…”
(SIGHS) “…if Oklahoma starts producing millionaires” “like those in East Texas.”
What’s a millionaire?
Somebody got more money than us.
Daughter, if there was oil on that patch, they’d have never given it to you.
SARAH: They don’t know, Pa.
They just find it.
They found some on Indian land!
JOE: When the property tax come due, the state gonna want $30.
You got that?
SARAH: I will once we get oil.
I know we got oil.
JOE: You know?
(SCOFFS) How you know, girl?
I heard it.
(ROSE CHUCKLES)
You can hear it.
(JUNIOR CHUCKLES) Waves and waves of it.
There’s oceans down there.
That’s just the wind howlin’ and the earth creakin’ and grindin’.
Ain’t nothing to it.
God gave me ears to hear it, Mama.
Well, I like that a whole lot better than all that, “I, I, I, mine, mine, mine” talk we been hearin’.
He gave me that land for a reason.
(SOFT HOPEFUL MUSIC PLAYING)
Right?
(HONKS) (INDISTINCT CHATTER)
SARAH: Look, Pa!
No, Sarie. Come on. Come on.
OLDER SARAH: People would never guess it nowadays, but Muskogee was a boomtown back then.
Filled with oilmen, wildcatters, businessmen, lawyers, and speculators, not to mention grifters and thieves and the like.
“Condor Oil Company.”
Hmm?
OLDER SARAH: Everybody was out to grab their piece.
(DOORBELL BUZZES)
Includin’ me, I guess.
What you want in here?
Condor Oil.
That’s where you at, all right, but whatcha want?
Fella work for Condor oil.
There is no one here you can talk to.
Now be on your way.
Come on.
SARAH: Not a lot of Black folks downtown, Pa.
But that no reason to ever hang your head. You hear?
Mmhmm.
All right.
“J.J. Ransom Oil Company.”
(MAN SHOUTS) (JOE GRUNTING) Pa, are you okay?
(SIGHS) Still standin’.
Not so sure about this oil business though.
(WINCES)
“Pan-Oklahoma Petroleum.”
(SIGHS)
Well, isn’t that nice?
All right, come on.
You stay here. Hmm?
(GENTLE HOPEFUL MUSIC PLAYING)
(JOE CHUCKLES)
Hello.
WILCOX: The trash in Mr. Devnan’s office.
You forgot it yesterday?
Mmm. Mmm-hmm.
(INDISTINCT CONVERSATION)
(MAN CLEARS THROAT)
(WOMAN WHISPERS INDISTINCTLY)
Whites only, young lady.
Uh, I just want a cup of water.
I… I got a penny for a glass of water.
Take your penny and walk on out.
MAN: Oh, for heaven’s sake, Karla, give the girl a glass of water.
Fact, you know what?
Make it a glass of lemonade… and put it on my tab.
(KARLA SIGHS)
(SLURPS)
Thank you.
Hmm.
Thank you, Mister.
For the lemonade.
Oh, well, it’s my pleasure, little lady.
My name’s Sarah. Sarah Rector.
Is that right?
Go on, now.
Come on. Go.
Go on now. Shoo!
(DOOR OPENS)
(DOOR CLOSES) Why you gotta be so mean?
(KNOCK AT DOOR)
Are you new here?
Yes, sir.
Here.
(GRUNTS)
There’s another one over there.
That… That’s not true.
I ain’t here for the trash. I…
I actually came to ask if you’d dig for oil on my daughter’s patch.
Oh.
Uh…
She… She got 160 acres.
(DOOR CLOSES) And where might that be?
SARAH: I’m here to see my pa!
Get back here!
Okay. Okay.
That’s all right, that’s all right.
This must be your daughter.
(CHUCKLES) That be her.
How do you do, sir?
DEVNAN: Hello.
My name’s Sarah Rector, and I have 160 acres off the Cimarron Bend, and there’s oil on it.
(INHALES)
Well, how do you know that?
I just know, that’s all.
DEVNAN: Well… (CHUCKLES) Miss Sarah Rector, I’m “Big Jim” Devnan, and I’m a partner in this oil company.
And we’ve learned that blind faith is a funny thing.
Catches hold of you and twirls you around the dance floor till you’re dizzy drunk, then it leaves you high and dry, like a floozy on Saturday…
(JOE CLEARS THROAT)
(CLEARS THROAT)
All right, uh…
(CLICKS TONGUE)
Cimarron Bend, you say?
(SIGHS)
Okay.
Where is…
This horseshoe right here.
DEVNAN: Ah.
Miss Tant taught us to read maps at the Vernon School.
Did she now?
Get Trozer.
Yes, sir.
What do you say we take a little field trip?
(HOPEFUL MUSIC PLAYING)
SARAH: What’s that for?
DEVNAN: Uh, Bill scouts for Pan-Okie.
He’s got more instruments than you could even dream of, little girl.
Okay.
WILCOX: Now, Tom Slick just struck it on Frank Wheeler’s land.
Right here in Glenn Pool.
That’s only five miles from here.
They sho’ is gabbin’.
They found something.
Well, you go get the papers now.
You take your time.
I’ll go talk to little pickaninny and her pa, all right?
Yes, sir.
DEVNAN: Well… definitely gonna be a long shot drilling out here, for sure.
Looking for oil anywhere’s a long shot.
Yeah.
Well, Pan-Okie’s gonna have to shell out all the money for everything from the crew to the rig.
We get the roughnecks to erect the derrick… (GROANS) …then spud in, drill deep, then deeper and deeper yet, hundreds of feet down the earth.
(GROANS) It’s a mighty undertaking, mighty!
It could take months, little girl.
You gotta lease the land first.
You learn about that in school too, did ya?
Okay.
Standard contract.
Six-month lease starting from today.
Normally, two bits an acre.
I’ll see you 50 cents to start.
I can’t explain it, I’m just…
You bring out the generous in me.
$1’s standard.
Well, how about… how about 75 cents per?
$1 an acre. Six months.
What about the royalty?
(CHUCKLING) You know about the royalties too, do you?
The Osage are getting one-eighth.
Okay, little lady, here it is.
Final offer, $1 an acre, six-month lease, and I’ll give you eight points if there’s a gusher.
You mean an eighth?
That’s 12 and one-half points.
She good with numbers, too.
Mmm-hmm. Mmm-hmm.
Yeah, it’s adorable.
Eight points.
Take it or leave it.
I wanna read it first.
Okay. Sure, little girl.
You go ahead. You…
You read your contract.
(CLEARS THROAT)
JOE: What’s a… a royalty?
SARAH: It’s the money we get from the oil they find.
Hmm.
Huh. (SIGHS)
(UPLIFTING MUSIC PLAYING)
(MEN SHOUTING INDISTINCTLY)
OLDER SARAH: Pan-Okie started drilling with men and machines, a towering derrick, a boiler, and something they called a calf-wheel.
Oh, I felt like Dorothy and Toto seeing Oz for the first time.
I didn’t know if it would make me rich.
I didn’t even know what rich was.
My only thought was, would they find enough to help pay the $30 property tax to keep the land?
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
We come up dry.
There’s nothing there.
You and the girl can have it back.
What about the equipment?
Oh, it costs more to haul it off than just leave it, so you can keep that too.
Compliments of Pan-Okie.
OLDER SARAH: That day I learned a hard lesson.
Land is one thing, but oil is somethin’ else.
It’s hard to find, hard to drill, and even harder to hold on to.
My dream was over.
(FLY BUZZES)
(GLOOMY MUSIC PLAYING)
(ENGINE SPUTTERING)
(CLANKS)
(SIGHS)
Told him 100 times, repair this fossil.
It’s not like he can’t afford it.
Fix the vehicle… or get a new one.
Look at that!
It’s everywhere.
(SIGHS)
Help you, Mister?
That 160acre plot in your daughter’s name…
I’m here to purchase it.
What you want it for, Mister?
How about we discuss this man to man?
Go on around back, Sarie.
Now.
It’s my land.
MAN: You, uh, got the paper on it?
The deed.
The deed your girl signed.
Why you need it?
I’m here to make you an offer, Mr. Rector.
I gotta make sure things are, uh, on the up-and-up, as they say.
JOE: Hmm.
Maybe I ought to be asking you the same thing, as they say.
I’ll give you $2 per.
What do you think about that?
Well… think the county office told me it was worth 3.
Maybe 3.25.
(LAUGHS)
Going cagey on me? (LAUGHS) There’s one thing I cannot stomach even on a Sunday… it’s a cagey coon.
That so?
Well…
It’s my baby girl’s land.
I gotta get a profit from it.
So, good day.
Okay, fair enough.
Seeing as it’s your baby girl’s land, tell you what, let’s make it 6.
$6?
Final offer.
That’s a fair offer, Mister, uh…
Rasking.
Earl Rasking.
Come on, let’s shake on it.
I just need to smooth the way with my daughter first.
That’s my final offer.
More than you deserve.
Tell you that much. (CHUCKLES) JOE: Hmm.
(CHUCKLES)
(CAR DOOR OPENS)
And that is a whole lotta cash to walk away from.
But why is he here raining money after Pan-Okie tells us there’s nothing there?
They found something, and now they want it for their own selves.
That Earl weren’t from Pan-Okie.
I don’t trust anything he say.
He had eyes like a sneaky pig.
Well, why would he lie?
ROSE: I got an idea why.
JOE: Hmm…
(ROSE SIGHS)
Hey, look, Sarie, uh, a few days ago, I went over to the land office, tried to sell your plot.
Why’d you do that, Pa?
JOE: Just hold on.
Now, they say I can’t sell.
ROSE: Wanna know why white folk might lie to us?
SARAH: You smoke cigars, Mama?
(SIGHS) No.
They can do with the land what they want, long as they got this here.
The deed.
JOE: Hmm.
(SOLEMN MUSIC PLAYING)
(BLUE WHINES)
Hey, Rosie, put that light out.
Come here, Junior. Come on.
Come on. Come over here.
(WHISPERS) Come on, come on.
You keep real quiet, okay?
(BOTH SHUSHING)
(GROWLING)
They got guns.
(WHISPERS) What is this?
EARL: Joe Rector!
(KNOCKING AT DOOR)
(GROWLING)
EARL: I’m gonna find this deed if it’s the last thing I do.
Striking out.
Nothing.
Nothing!
(GROWLS)
(BARKS)
Blue!
No! Sarie!
Blue! Blue!
ROSE: Sarie! Sarie, no!
No!
Sarie! Rosie, we’ll get him.
(BARKING)
(ROSE EXCLAIMS)
(JOE GASPS) (WHIMPERS) Let’s scat.
(CAR DOOR OPENS)
(CAR DOOR CLOSES)
(ENGINE STARTS)
(CAR DEPARTING)
Come on.
(JUNIOR CRIES) (GRUNTS) How does killing her dog get me the deed?
You idiot!
(GROANS) Mutt was growling at us, Mr. Devnan.
Snapping and growling!
(SHOUTING) All I wanted was the deed!
EARL: We’ll go back and get it for you!
Now they know we want it!
(IN NORMAL VOICE)
Get him out of my sight.
Oh. (GASPS) Oh, my God. (PANTING) (CRIES)
(JOE SIGHS) Where… Where’d Blue go?
(ROSE SIGHS)
(JOE SIGHS)
(JUNIOR SNIFFLES) Off somewhere to die.
(SIGHS)
(JUNIOR CRYING)
Now what are you doing, girl?
That deed’s a curse.
They shot Blue like nothin’, and they’ll just as soon shoot us too, Mama.
I’m gonna dig it up and get rid of it.
No! Come on now.
(BREATHING HEAVILY)
Now, God gave you that land for a reason.
Said so yourself.
(CRYING) JOE: That’s right.
So, why give back what was given?
Hmm?
(WISTFUL MUSIC PLAYING)
SARAH: Blue?
Bluebonnet?
Blue?
(SIGHS)
OLDER SARAH: After that terrible night, I didn’t know what to do except look for Blue, hoping and praying she was still alive.
Pan-Okie was out to scheme me, that was clear.
I didn’t know what to do about that, either.
Then, Blue, wherever she was, led me to that oil camp, same way she’d chase a rabbit to its hole.
I wasn’t scared to go among those rough men.
I believed.
What are you doing here, little sister?
Looking for my dog.
Somebody shot her, and she dragged off by herself.
Ain’t that like a mutt?
(MEN LAUGHING)
MAN 1: Get outta here, little girl!
(INDISTINCT CONVERSATION)
MAN 2: Put me in a tight spot.
(CHUCKLES)
Well, this is what we call a predicament.
Brother, I think that’s checkmate.
Hey, Mister, remember me?
Bertrand Byron Smith…
(CHUCKLING)
…at your service, but you can call me Bert.
Uh, remind me, young lady, where did we meet?
Busy Bee Cafe.
You told the lady to give me a glass of lemonade.
Oh, that sounds like me.
You were circling names in the newspaper with a pencil.
(MAN 2 LAUGHING)
You got the right tiron, Señorita. That’s Bert.
Mining the obituaries for rich widows.
(LAUGHS) BERT: Hey!
You with an oil outfit?
Uh, well, I’m a wildcatter.
Wildcatter?
Yeah. Looks for oil, drills for it.
Usually in all the wrong places.
Hey!
There’s a treasure trove just awaiting to be plundered out there, and you know it.
Oceans of it.
(SNAPS FINGERS) Yes, ma’am, that’s right!
It’s just a matter of finding it.
And me?
I am a finder.
I’m a getter, a wildcatter, investor, speculator, businessman of free enterprise, and soon to be rich as King Midas himself.
I got oil all on my land.
Oh, is that right?
SARAH: Pan-Okie paid me a dollar an acre for a six-month lease.
They said it was dry and ditched me.
(CLICKS TONGUE, SIGHS)
That’s a shame.
Ain’t nothing worse than a dry hole.
Si, Señorita, it’s true.
They sent a swindler to con me into selling the land outright.
Offered me $6 an acre for a dry hole.
(CLICKS TONGUE) Those thieving bunch of skunks.
Mister, there’s a treasure trove of oil in there, and I’m looking for a partner to help me pluck it out.
(MAN 2 LAUGHS) (CHUCKLES) Well, good luck with that, honeybee, but you best be flyin’ on home now.
I’m no honeybee.
My name’s Miss Sarah Rector, and I’m offering you a business proposition, but you treat me like a child which isn’t very nice.
Especially since my dog just died.
Good day.
(STUTTERS)
Now, wait a minute.
Now hang on a second.
You didn’t say nothin’ about your dog.
You can’t just drop a dead dog on a man and walk away.
I’m sorry about your dog.
It’s all right.
(CLEARS THROAT)
Well, uh, tell me about your patch.
How’d you get it?
Federal decree, they call it.
Gave me 160 acres off the Cimarron Bend.
It’s bursting with so much oil, Pan-Okie tried to swindle me out of it.
True as a razor.
True as a razor, huh?
Well, it takes a lot more than optimism to get oil up out the soil.
Mace and I are not exactly a poor boy outfit, mind ya, but we ain’t got our own resources or equipment.
Pan-Okie left rigs, derricks, boiler, everything.
You wait right here.
You don’t move.
Grab your gear, we’re going.
We got a stake.
Help me out on this, Bert.
You actually believe…
Hey, hey, hey, I got a feelin’ about this, hermano.
Let’s go. Hustle up.
Whatever.
Yeah. (GRUNTS) (CHUCKLES) This here is, uh, my associate you met earlier.
Maciero Adolfo Hernandez, or Mace for short.
You ain’t got no problem with greasers, do you?
Mucho gusto, Señor Hernandez!
Mucho gusto, Señorita.
All right, let’s go take a looksee.
Hold on. We need to work out our terms.
I was thinking 5050…
I was thinkin’ the exact same thing.
So, we should have our lawyers meet.
That’s my lawyer.
A Texas handshake.
There ain’t nothing more bindin’.
We’re in Oklahoma.
It goes double for Okies!
(CHUCKLING) Here we go.
Now, lead the way, young lady.
(UPLIFTING MUSIC PLAYING)
BERT: Well, I’ll be!
You weren’t lying.
This is some grade-A equipment right here.
That’s some good ground, too.
Some damn good ground!
How can you tell?
That’s a classic anticline dome.
I mean, look at that, Mace, it’s like Aphrodite’s bosom just bursting out of Mother Earth’s corset.
(BOTH LAUGH)
You’re gonna hear things you’ve never heard before, Miss Sarita.
That’s right.
See oil, it’s got its own language.
Don’t yell at ya.
It don’t sing neither, but it’s got a voice if you got ears to hear.
Like the swoop of an eagle just flying low to the ground… or the huffin’ of a bull just rearing to charge.
Like an ocean rushing inside your ear?
Ain’t many can recognize its call.
What’s it sayin’?
I think it’s saying prospects.
Me too! That’s what I hear.
BERT: Is that right?
I mean, they just built this here.
OLDER SARAH: My partners insisted on getting my parents blessin’ before we started drillin’.
Bert said Pan-Okie had gone through the cap rock and down over 1,000 feet.
So, we started to drill.
Deeper and deeper.
You know, Mace told me that since Pan-Okie had abandoned the well.
That it was only right that I give the rig a new name.
(CHUCKLES)
Whoo.
ROSE: Here you go.
Oh, thank you kindly, Mrs. Rector.
ROSE: (CHUCKLING) You’re welcome, Mr. Bert Smith.
So, you fellas been looking for oil a while now, have you?
(BERT SIGHS) Oh, Mace and I, we’re your typical boom chasers.
Started with gold and silver.
Now oil.
We’ve seen it all, done it all.
And lost it all.
“Lost it all”?
Well, how do you do that?
Well, it gets inside of you.
Makes a man do foolish things.
I once made 70 grand on a gusher.
70 grand?
BERT: That’s right, and then I lost it all on the very next dry hole.
MACE: Mmm-hmm.
Miss Sarah, you make me a promise now.
You promise me you ain’t gonna end up like Mace and I.
When you hit it big, you’re gonna save your money, invest it, and end up rich like you deserve.
I’ll see to that…
(MACE CHUCKLES) …Mr. Bert Smith.
Indeed I will.
(SIGHS)
Well… what’s your guess, Mr. Boom chaser?
Anything here?
Oh, there’s oil here.
Ain’t no doubt about it.
Question is, how much?
We’re looking for a mother pool to make it worth the effort.
What’s a mother pool?
Needs to produce thousands of barrels a day for years to come.
Like a good milking cow.
(ALL CHUCKLE)
Somebody’s coming.
That’s him!
Big Jim of Pan-Okie.
Mace.
Yeah.
(SOLEMN MUSIC PLAYING)
Stay here.
BERT: Well, how do, friend?
How can I help you?
You can get off my property.
This is my land.
Working my rig with my tools.
Now, I’ll give you 20 minutes to pack up your things and leave.
It’s my land.
You left the equipment, said I could have it.
Your land. My mineral rights.
That contract passed.
Well, I got it for six months.
You check that date.
It’s smudged.
You erased the real date underneath.
That’s no better than kids cheatin’ at school.
September 9th was the expiration date.
This is my claim!
Well, it seems to be a difference of opinion.
Skedaddle.
We did some homework on your boy.
He’s a bunco man.
He’s a masher.
That’s a fella that cons women out of their money.
Don’t mind a word of what this liar says.
I’ll give you 20 bucks an acre.
The whole shebang.
What is that? 3,200 cash.
You sent a man to steal my deed and kill my dog!
I ain’t sellin’!
Well, you heard the little lady.
Your funeral.
(SINGING) Yes, we’ll gather at the river The beautiful, the beautiful river!
(CAR DOOR CLOSES)
(ENGINE STARTS)
What you thinkin’?
They want this tract real bad, and that means something.
We got oil?
Lots of it?
BERT: Oh, yeah, and they’re fixin’ to fight us for it.
(CREAKING)
SARAH: This horse.
MACE: That’s called a knight.
SARAH: It can hop over your pieces?
That’s right.
Look at you, you’re learning.
Just wanna make sure before I take your queen.
MACE: ¡Ay, mamá!
Really?
(CHUCKLES)
(MACHINERY SQUEAKING)
Hey, Mace, you hearing this?
MACE: I gotta get back.
(SQUEALING)
(HISSING, RATTLING)
(LOUDLY) Now, Mace! Now!
MACE: Hold on! I’m coming.
Now! Right now!
(SNAPS)
(BERT GROANS)
SARAH: Bert!
(SQUEAKING, RATTLING) Bert! Bert!
Sarah, stay back!
Sarah, stay back! Stay back!
Mace! Mace, kick it out!
Kick it out now!
(STRAINING)
(RUMBLING)
Bert, she’s gonna blow!
Sarah, get back! Get back!
Get inside, now!
(HISSING) (RATTLING)
(CRASHES)
MACE: Ah! Help me up, Bert!
Come on, Mace. Come on.
MACE: Right.
Come here.
(GRUNTS, EXCLAIMS)
There we go. Come on, Mace.
SARAH: Mace, are you okay?
(GROANS) Yeah.
Thank you, sweetheart.
Mace, talk to me.
What’s the damage?
She’s stuck, Bert.
(SIGHS)
Golly.
Okay, what’s wrong?
BERT: Well, it ain’t good.
We’re nearly 1,500 feet down, which is where we wanna be, but this might be the end of the road, Sarah.
We might be done.
Done? What do you mean?
Listen, when you lose equipment and tools that far down, it does damage, and most often times you just have to abandon the well.
Hey, we could dynamite it loose.
Yeah, and cave the whole thing in.
Or blast that oil out.
Hell, ride that gusher all the way to the bank.
First of all, that’s gonna require muchos explosivos, hermano.
Second of all, that’s a risky proposition.
You wanna risk caving this whole rig in on a slim maybe?
‘Cause I don’t think the juice is worth that squeeze, personally.
No wonder you guys came up with nothing but dry holes.
You give up so easy!
Could try a wall hook.
(SNAPS FINGERS) Yes, sir.
There’s an idea. A wall hook.
What is that, anyway?
A skinny pipe you drop inside the stuck pipe.
You twist it around, pull it free.
Now, here’s the thing, sometimes it works, sometimes it don’t.
BERT: And they’re hard to find, and on top of that, we’re gonna need more equipment, and all of it’s gonna cost us more money.
SARAH: Miss Tant says everything in life has value, moral value, spiritual value or economic value.
What do we got here of value?
Who the hell is Miss Tant?
(SIGHS) My teacher, and there’s no need to cuss.
You know what?
I think I have an idea.
Let’s go get him.
Howdy.
SARAH: Howdy.
Howdy, partner.
Got some real nice mud here.
Hoping you might be able to test it first.
CHEMIST: It’ll be $10.
Course.
See, here, it’s…
CHEMIST: 10.
BERT: Well, that’s 5.
All right, here we go now.
1, 2…
Would you settle for 8?
Nope.
BERT: All right. I might have a few more here. Hey.
There’s 9.
And there’s 10.
The sample, please.
It’ll be a couple hours.
And… I can’t have you waiting there.
Course you can’t.
Come on, Sarie.
Let’s go take a walk outside.
It is a beautiful day to be outside.
Bertrand Byron Smith.
You don’t remember, do you?
Ah…
You claimed to know my dear departed.
Said he referred to me as “the angel of his soul.”
He was gonna buy little oil leases in my name.
(CHUCKLING) Yes.
Yes, I remember you. Hi.
It was all applesauce, wasn’t it?
You were gonna come by and see me.
I was… I am.
Stay here.
I was…
I… I’m going to come visit you, I’ve just been very busy, you know…
(STUTTERS) …down at the church and the local… orphanage.
Do you think I just slip out of my bloomers for any man that comes along?
No, ma’am.
Well, take a lonely girl to dinner, don’t just disappear.
A woman’s husband dies, people act like she did, too.
(SIGHS) It’s a shame, really.
What happened to the sugar talk?
Or are you too busy babysitting?
Oh, no, no. No.
Just busy, like I said.
You said I was a song.
(SINGING) I’ll be along…
Don’t you fret I’ll be along, you won’t regret That’s more like it.
We’ll be seein’ you.
Has a magic about him, don’t he, darling?
(SIGHS)
I don’t wanna talk about it, I ain’t gonna say nothing.
Let’s go get your oil.
Okay, then.
CHEMIST: It’s a good sample.
All right?
(CHUCKLING) All right.
But it’s not easy oil, and it’s not good oil.
What I mean by “not easy” is it’s likely down a few more thousand feet.
A few more thousand feet?
You gotta be kidding me.
And when I say it’s not good oil, I mean it’s heavily tainted with saltwater.
So deep, so tainted, there’s likely to be little to no money there.
I’m sorry to convey bad news.
Come on, Sarah. Come on.
I can mail you a full report.
No. Don’t bother.
My advice is, tie it off and move on to the next.
All right.
How long we gonna sit here?
Well, as long as it takes.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
Hold on.
Hey there, buckaroo.
You going somewhere?
I don’t see how that concerns you.
Look at that. You just heading down to Pan-Okie with our sample, ain’t ya?
You better start talking, or I’ll break your neck right here, right now.
I can explain.
No, I can explain.
Well, then do it.
Tell me the damn truth!
I can explain…
Okay, okay, okay.
Pan-Okie pays me.
Yeah? And now tell me the truth about that sample.
It’s better than I said, but it’s preliminary.
I can’t say any more or Devnan will kill me.
Give me that.
This ain’t yours.
This yours, darling. Now let’s get out of this twobit town.
BERT: Whoo! I knew it!
Ooh, I knew that boy was acting shifty.
I could see it in his beady little eyes.
We gotta get it tested proper.
(CHUCKLING) That’s right, and I hear there’s, uh, some old cat supposed to be a geologist in this coon town up here, so…
I’m sorry.
I did not mean that.
I was not thinkin’.
That kinda talk’s automatic with some people.
I know, but that ain’t me, and I’m sorry.
I thought you were better than that.
I thought my color didn’t matter!
It don’t! It don’t, Sarah.
Please forgive me.
It says that in the good book.
That’s right. (CHUCKLES) That’s right. It does.
It surely does.
Where?
Where in the Bible it talk about forgiving?
I mean, a lot of places, you know.
Lot of places. There’s, uh…
Out at that lake!
You know, and the mount, where Jesus was at the, you know, doin’ all them fishin’ and loavin’ and all that stuff.
I doubt you ever been in a church.
I used to go to church before I got oil fever.
(SIGHS)
That’s Taft.
It’s a Black town.
My town.
(SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING)
(BERT GRUNTS)
Hello?
Hello to you.
BERT: Uh…
I been wild-cattin’ this young lady’s field, and we’d…
Got a sample here we’d love for you to take a look at.
That so?
Yes, that’s so.
I’m asking her.
Oh.
Where’s your people?
SARAH: Here in Taft.
My pa’s Joe Rector.
I know your folks.
Why didn’t you say so?
They know Mr. Bert’s helping me.
Hmm.
Looking for black tea on that spread of yours, are you?
Hmm?
Let’s see what you got.
(BERT HESITATES, CHUCKLES)
You don’t happen to know anyone from Pan-Oklahoma Petroleum, do you?
No, sir. I worked with independents mostly.
Poor boy operations, Injuns, and colored folks.
And, uh, are you a geologist?
Well, I’m no professor.
Didn’t study any of the prescribed courses at the recognized schools, if that’s what you askin’.
But I have studied the earth more, and I knows as much about it as any professional geologist now breathin’.
Well, I have no doubt about that.
Yeah.
It’ll be $5.
Of course. Uh…
Hang on. (CLEARS THROAT) Right, um…
There ya are.
Take about an hour, if you’d like to walk around town.
We’ll wait right here… if you don’t mind.
Suit yourself.
(SOFT HOPEFUL MUSIC PLAYING)
(INDISTINCT CONVERSATION)
MR. SHEP: Whoo-whee!
“Whoo-whee”? What’s that mean?
What you think it mean, white fella?
(CHUCKLES) All right, step right up to the counter, and I’ll tell you what we got.
Now, I can give you the technicals, like the college boys, the chemical breakdowns and all, if that’s what you want.
No, no. No. Just give us the meat. What have we got?
It’s your field, Sarah.
What’s your preference?
Meat’s good, please.
MR. SHEP: All right.
Now hold on to your hat, ’cause I’ve never seen anything like it.
It’s crude, all right, through and through, but it’s got a density that’s alarming.
Did you get a gravity reading?
Lightest sample I’ve ever taken.
How light?
I calculate just over 40 degrees.
(LAUGHING) Hot damn!
Quit cussing, Bert!
Well, listen to the man.
Go on, go on, tell her.
The crude is so pure, it has no real color once it’s separated from the mud.
You could tell by the smell.
Take a whiff.
(LAUGHS) That field you’re sitting on could be the richest in all Oklahoma.
You’re down deep enough, if I was a bettin’ man, I would say you have trainloads.
Oceans.
Yes, ma’am.
And I think it’s safe to assume that Pan-Okie knows we got quality oil.
MACE: Yeah, and we got a junked hole.
Only other play is to work another well.
Work…
Work another well?
This is the well, amigo.
There ain’t no other wells.
It’s no good, carnal.
We have been workin’ our entire lives for a strike like this.
For all we know, the whole well is skunked by now.
We need money, amigo.
Hard cash.
But how are we gonna get it?
Rob a bank?
(BERT CLEARS THROAT)
(SIGHS)
That is not fried chicken.
(BERT LAUGHS) No, sir, it ain’t.
That’s collateral.
The best kind there is.
That there represents riches beyond imagination.
I mean, that’s what you need for a bank loan, ain’t it?
Well, yes, sir.
And I’m assumin’ you can read a core sample report?
Well, is this your well, sir?
I wish it was, but no, it’s hers. Out there.
The colored girl?
The girl.
Now, her name is Sarah Rector, and you’re gonna be hearing a lot about her.
Here’s the thing, um, we need a wall hook.
They’re expensive, as you know.
I’m happy with a used one if I can find it, though.
How much do you need, Mr., um…
(CHUCKLES)
Smith?
BERT: About $1,000.
2, uh, at the most.
Well, you need a wall hook.
You expect me to loan on a clogged well?
That’s kinda risky.
Well, life’s all about taking risks, ain’t it?
Not for a bank.
(SIGHS)
BERT: Have a good day.
You have a good day too.
I didn’t mean it.
You just have to do more thinkin’ and praying.
Hey, ain’t no hole ever been unstuck through thinkin’ and prayin’.
Ask and ye shall receive.
(UPLIFTING MUSIC PLAYING)
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
Yeah, I got us a nice table…
(INDISTINCT CONVERSATION)
Well, hello, gorgeous.
(CHUCKLES) You look so lovely today.
Come on, now, I got a table for us just inside.
That lady at the store said that was handmade lace straight from Paree.
Oh, it’s beautiful.
And I said, “Well, that’s perfect “’cause this is for a lady “who is the finest lady “I have ever laid eyes on.”
(BOTH CHUCKLE) Oh, Bert.
Hi. I’m Sarah.
Bert’s business partner.
Remember me?
(CHUCKLES) (CHAIR SCRAPES) What are you doing in here, young lady?
Bert, what in the hell?
Hey, come on, Karla, ain’t no need to cause a ruckus.
(HUFFS) Has Bert properly presented our proposition, ma’am?
We need that equipment, you see, and it’s costly, but we’re sitting on some mighty pure dinosaur juice.
He said y’all need to put in near $1,000.
We need 2,000, and we need it today.
Bert was talking to this other gal, she’s nice and all.
Her dearly deceased left her loads of money.
Fatter than a Kansas hog.
Don’t think he likes her as much as you, though.
(GASPS, LAUGHS)
There’s little more to it than that…
(WHISPERS) Marshal. Are you gonna do anything about that?
…ain’t it, young lady Sarah?
Can’t a fella just eat his steak and eggs in peace, Karla?
What’s more to it, Bert?
Explain it to me.
What kinda proposition are you explaining to this fine lady of Muskogee?
(CHUCKLES) My God, she talks like you.
Darndest thing, ain’t it?
(WOMAN CHUCKLES) Uh, this is a conversation, Sarah.
This is not an ultimatum.
I thought we were here to talk business.
Maybe you have something else on your mind?
You got something else on your mind, sugar?
Yeah, uh, that this meeting has come to a close, ladies.
Not a meeting anymore, Bert.
It’s a partnership.
Well, ain’t that nice?
(CHUCKLES) BERT: Come on, get outta here.
All right, we got everything?
Fuse boxes, cord, blasting cap?
All there.
You planning on blowing up Muskogee?
(CHUCKLES) Yeah, something like that.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 765.
Lordy, that’s a lot of money for all this equipment.
MAN: Not for them’s that can afford it.
Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey.
She’s with me.
Yeah, I heard about you.
You ought to be ashamed.
Yeah, you’re that fella that’s been working that ni…
(GRUNTS)
(THUDS) Stupid hillbilly.
(SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING)
I ain’t like him, Sarah.
I ain’t.
I know.
(INDISTINCT CONVERSATION)
BERT: Well, hey.
What’s, uh…
See if she knows anything.
What’s the commotion?
Excuse us.
(SOFTLY) Come here, sweety.
SARAH: What’s wrong, Mama?
(GRUNTS)
What’s happenin’, Marshal?
Tomorrow’s paper. (SIGHS) Couple Creek Nation kids murdered in their sleep.
Murdered?
We’re out here spreading the word to the families that got land.
Do you know them?
No, ma’am.
(SARAH CRYING)
(SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING)
(SIGHS) Sarah does.
You got any idea who’d do this and why?
They got oil fields on tribal land.
You figure it out.
Who are you?
Let’s go, Marshal.
(SIGHS)
(VOICE SHAKING)
They was, uh…
They was in her class at school.
Killing kids to get a hold of they land?
I really am starting to believe this oil ain’t nothin’ but a curse.
(BREATHING HEAVILY)
My baby ain’t safe, is she?
I don’t know.
(CRYING) Nah.
(SNIFFLES)
Now, listen to me, Mr. Bert Smith, you better know.
You the one got us into this, and I don’t know if you are godsent or hellbound, but that girl is the salt of my earth and the sun in my sky.
Nothin’ happens to her.
Nothin’… happens to her.
You hear me?
Yes, ma’am.
(SOMBER MUSIC CONTINUES PLAYING)
(DOOR CLOSES)
(SIGHS)
What’d you give up for those pesos, cabrón?
Hey, this ain’t the time.
Hey, I sold my plot in Mesilla for the banknotes that got us here, remember?
Huh?
BERT: Yeah.
What’d you give those widows?
More than you own, I bet.
You know, that kinda deal gets you thrown in the jailhouse, and a necktie party for your Mexican amigo!
Hey, we needed money, and I got that money.
You’re welcome, partner.
Now let’s get this wall hook working so that engine starts purrin’, and then you can start yellin’ at me again when we’re covered in oil!
We all right?
We’re fine!
BERT: Fine!
Okay.
Just like an old married couple.
MACE: You started it!
(GASES HISSING)
BERT: Okay, we got the juice.
Start her up!
(LEVER CLANGING)
(MACHINERY CLANGING, WHIRRING)
(MACE EXCLAIMS IN SPANISH)
(LAUGHS) She’s purring, cabrón, she’s purring.
Whoo, boy! (CHUCKLES) Wow, look at that.
BERT: All right.
(MACHINERY CREAKING, CLANGING)
Kick it out! Kick it out!
Kick it out!
(GRUNTS)
(GRUNTING)
Shit!
(GASPS)
(MACHINERY RATTLES, STOPS)
Damn it.
(EXHALES WEARILY)
(INTRIGUING MUSIC PLAYING)
Mace, get that engine purrin’ again.
MACE: The drilling line’s stuck.
What difference does it make?
And rerig all them belts!
Everything’s gotta look like it’s workin’.
Finish your snack, Junior.
Mama’ll be right back.
All y’all stay up there.
And no guns neither.
There’s too many of ’em.
Sarah, don’t you move.
MAN: Well!
Would that be the young Miss Sarah Rector?
You can stop right there, Mister…
Caron. Edward Caron. Esquire.
Legal counsel for Pan-Oklahoma Petroleum.
I just have some papers here I’d like to serve the young lady.
(HORSE NEIGHING IN DISTANCE)
What’s all that about?
Oh. We bought up some acreage.
You know, we’re gonna start drilling.
(CLEARS THROAT) Now, in there you will find a legal filin’ to return all of Pan-Okie’s equipment, as well as the claim on all oil and proceeds derived from the use of said equipment.
And we also filin’ a claim to the land based on the sublease that Miss Sarah Rector signed with Pan-Oklahoma before she…
Well, before she unlawfully kicked us off the property.
(CHUCKLES SARCASTICALLY)
An 11yearold girl booted you outta here.
That must be so embarrassing.
Yeah.
We can, uh, make arrangements to come back and retrieve our equipment at a…
Any of you Pan-Okie goons steps foot on this land, and I mean workmen, accountants, or lawyers, and we’ll shoot you.
(EDDIE CLEARS THROAT)
This mean we’re done, Bert?
BERT: It don’t mean nothing of the sort. Now take that.
Listen to what I’m telling you. Stay here.
Say, could we, uh… could we speak in private for a moment?
(INTRIGUING MUSIC PLAYING)
All right. (CLEARS THROAT) My employer, who is seated in the car over there is prepared to make you a very generous offer.
BERT: Is that right?
EDDIE: Mm-hm.
You know as well as I do that this whole thing could be wrapped up in the courts for years and…
Why, nobody wants that.
Legal fees alone will gobble up any profit that little girl could ever dream of, and your profit right along with it.
Why don’t we, uh, have a little conversation?
(DOOR CREAKS) Get in.
Well, that’s a mighty fine invitation, sir, but I think I’m gonna have to pass…
SARAH: Stop it!
BERT: You ain’t got…
(GRUNTING) No! Let him go!
(BERT COUGHS, GRUNTS)
SARAH: Let him go!
All right, enough!
Come on.
What a wonderful business we’re in.
Drill a hole in the earth, and out comes oil.
You sell the oil, you spud more wells, pretty soon you got a field.
You sell stock, you capitalize, next thing you know, you’re a trust with wells all over the country.
And what’s a girl that age gonna do with all that scratch?
Buy Kewpie dolls?
The courts have concerns, you know.
Local judges are tired of dealing with the uneducated and underage ex-slave population.
State’s insisting on guardians.
White guardians.
Now, all we need is the deed and her signature on this.
You sell us the land outright in her name.
(SIGHS DEEPLY)
(SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING)
(SIGHS DEEPLY)
Fifteen points. All proceeds.
Well… (CHUCKLES) Well, you and I are cut from the same cloth.
Standard royalty.
Twelve and a half.
Listen here.
If you want me to welsh on this girl, you gotta make it worth it for me, and that’s fifteen points or you get nothing.
Just get us the paper we need and the signature, and then we’ll figure out something…
Have your boy write up in the deal it’s fifteen points, or you get nothin’.
Meanwhile, I gotta figure out how I can square it all.
DEVNAN: You do that, we got a deal.
Hey, just so we’re clear, I ain’t nothing like you.
Well, that’s fine… but you or your darkies ever point a weapon at me again, any weapon, you won’t live to spend a dime.
Get off’a this land.
SARAH: Bert!
Bert, are you okay?
ROSE: Come on, let’s go inside.
Let me take a look at them bruises.
I’m fine, I’m fine.
I think it’s best y’all head home now.
Take a rifle with you.
Oh, Lord have mercy.
They bring in lawyers and the like to come in here and steal the land from us.
I understand.
Bert, it’s like I said to you, I don’t want her ending…
If they want it, they can have it!
No, Mama! This is my land.
We ain’t givin’ in to thieves.
Please! Please.
JOE: All right, all right, all right. Come on.
ROSE: Joe. (CRIES) All right, all right, let’s get on back. Come on.
MACE: White guardians?
(MACE SCOFFS)
(MACE EXHALES)
So, what’s the play here, Bert?
You tell me.
I told you the deal is 15%, all in. You and me.
She gets nothing, hmm?
You heard her mama.
They want out.
The well is spiked.
The best thing we can do is let the big dogs come in, spud a new well, and get some proceeds to start rollin’ in.
You know, I’ve grown kinda fond of the kid.
It’s the same play as always, amigo.
We’re here to get rich.
So we steal it?
This ain’t…
This ain’t stealin’.
Then what do you call it, cabrón?
Mace, what world are you livin’ in, huh?
‘Cause the world I’m livin’ in, no colored girl’s gonna be allowed to keep a mother pool this size.
Yeah, we can change that.
With all the money and the influence that we have?
We start fooling around, she could end up dead in the bargain.
We’re doing her a favor!
(SCOFFS) Besides, I’m gonna make it up to her afterward.
Yeah, some amigo you are.
You and your Texas handshake.
Pendejo.
Whoa, whoa, whoa.
Blue!
(ROSE GASPS) (WHINES) Bluebonnet!
(SOULFUL MUSIC PLAYING)
Blue! Blue!
ROSE: Lord’s mercy.
Come on, come on, come on!
My God.
(BOTH LAUGHING)
My… my Blue.
How you feel, baby doll?
My dog’s returned from the dead.
I’m fine as a thistle.
(ROSE CHUCKLES)
If I’d have asked you before… what you would give to have old Blue back, what would you have said?
Everything, Mama.
I’d give everything to have her back.
You still feel that way?
It’s a sign.
I believe in signs.
BERT: All right, Sarah… go ahead and take… take a look at this here.
I’m gonna need you to sign that.
So…
Oh, y’all got a new dog, I see.
Same one.
She came back to us.
Well, that’s a sign.
(CHUCKLES)
This makes you the boss of my life.
(SPUTTERS)
In a manner of speaking.
That’s what a guardian is.
Uh…
You know, someone to help smooth your affairs.
Ain’t we her guardians?
Well, you is.
Uh, and you ain’t.
There’s two kinds of law in Oklahoma.
One for whites and one for us.
Yeah, it’s true, and it ain’t right.
But Pan-Okie, they’re gonna act on that.
Devnan told me as much.
So, I need you to trust me.
I need you to trust a man who knows the system.
A man who knows how to work the system.
(SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING)
This is so you can protect me… right?
BERT: Yes, ma’am.
That is precisely what I aim to do.
Well done, Sarah.
I’ll take that.
All right, well, the court is gonna have a hearin’ to make sure everything’s verified, and we’re all gonna need to be there. All of us.
Texas handshake?
Don’t mind if I do.
Thank you for trusting me.
Thank you for trusting me.
Thank you for your time.
(JOE SIGHS)
JOE: A man like that, no roots, chasing riches all his life.
Is he gonna do the right thing?
You saw him.
We shook hands.
Well, you sure did, Sarie.
But he himself told us he lost 70 grand on a gusher.
Then Devnan said he stole it on a silver deal.
Devnan’s a liar.
Sometimes there’s truth in lying mouths!
(SLAMS TABLE) Listen up now.
Now, I won’t have this, not at our own kitchen table!
Now, not one of us can see into that man’s heart, but there’s something we can do.
Tomorrow we can walk into that courtroom 10 feet tall, heads held high, ’cause they might have the money and the titles, but we have the dignity.
You may have to speak before the judge.
You best know that.
I don’t know what to say in front of all those people.
(MELLOW MUSIC PLAYING)
God’ll give you the words, baby.
God’ll give you the words.
(SINGING)
Do Lord, do Lord Do remember me…
OLDER SARAH: By the time of the court hearing, the white Guardians had become an issue of controversy.
Many were stealing their trustees’ land outright, and making deals with the big oil companies.
LEAHY: This hearing is regarding a task of great import, Mr. Smith.
Guardianship.
Its purpose is to allow the court to appoint a guardian…
OLDER SARAH: Word had spread about the treasure chest of oil hidden under my land.
People from all over attended, and newspapers from around the country were there to cover the story.
LEAHY: The state is asking you to act in the best interest of the young lady…
Sarah Rector. Is she present?
I’m here.
Well, come forward, young lady.
Your Honor, I volunteer my services on behalf of Miss Rector.
If she accepts.
LEAHY: Miss Barnard…
With the murder of two local Creek children and the numerous instances of grafter guardians robbing underage inheritors of all wealth in our state, it is only right that I represent this child.
Miss Bernard, please have a seat.
Come forward, young lady.
BERT: Come on in, Sarah.
Is that your signature?
Yes, sir.
Do you agree to Mr. Smith acting on your behalf in all financial and legal matters?
He’s a good man.
But why can’t my parents do it?
LEAHY: Miss Rector…
(SCATTERED MURMURING) Oh. They’re colored, and colored folks can’t be trusted with money.
Ain’t that right?
The state gave me that property on account of my ancestors.
I knew in my soul there was oil on it.
My folks believed me and so did Mr. Smith, even though Pan-Okie said it was dry.
It’s funny.
When the land had only weeds and lizards, it was all mine, but when people found out there was oil on it, they started thinking it’s theirs, and I have to get a white guardian.
All I’m asking is to keep what’s mine.
What was given fair and square.
Isn’t that what the law is for?
To tell right from wrong, so the world’s a better place?
MAN: Amen.
Amen!
Amen, that’s right!
LEAHY: All right, All right.
Quiet.
(GAVEL BANGING)
Quiet in the court!
Did your parents tell you what to say before you came to court today?
Yes.
What exactly they tell you to say?
The truth.
PEOPLE: Amen.
Amen.
(GAVEL BANGING)
This hearing is adjourned.
Guardianship retained by Mr. Smith.
(DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING)
Nobody but you, Lord.
Ain’t no judge, ain’t no marshal, ain’t no law.
PEOPLE: Amen! Amen!
(SINGING)
Nobody but you, Lord!
JOE: Sarah, come on.
Nobody but you PEOPLE: (SINGING) Nobody but you, Lord!
Nobody but you You brought me through, Lord Yeah, you brought me through Nobody but you, Lord Nobody but you WOMAN: When I was in danger…
So, what now? You’re gonna make a deal with Devnan?
With Pan-Okie?
Hey, they’re not the only ones gonna be stepping forward.
Be careful, amigo.
You ain’t got no vision, Mace.
Hey, Bert.
Hey.
Me and Rose was talking and, Miss Barnard here, we want you to give her a copy of them papers.
You know, so’s that we can keep track of all that’s goin’ on.
Yeah, that sounds fair enough to me.
I’ll need it all, Mr. Smith.
Ain’t no problem at all, Miss Barnard.
Thank you, but you can wipe that smirk off your face.
You are lookin’ at the first American woman elected to a state post when women don’t even have the right to vote.
So, be prepared for me to press you on this.
Is that clear?
It’s clear as crystal, Miss Barnard.
Thank you.
That was a mighty fine speech in there. You all right?
Miss Barnard.
She don’t like you.
She don’t trust you either.
Yeah, well, I need you to trust me.
That’s all I ask.
I suggest we sit down and go over your rights.
We ain’t got no rights.
Hearing just proved that.
Ma’am… respectfully, I disagree.
Well, looking real sharp today, Mr. Smith.
Well, thank you kindly, counselor.
I’m plannin’ on looking this good from now on.
Well, that’s what we wanted you to come up and talk about.
Fifteen points.
(SCOFFS) Not just for her land, but for every parcel around it.
Otherwise, there ain’t no point in goin’ upstairs.
Well…
Hell…
Um, you’re guardian for hers alone.
Which is where the 40.6 gravity is, and also why you’re takin’ a flyer and all them parcels around it.
While I’m sitting on pay dirt.
That’s… yeah.
Uh, Mr. Smith…
We are, uh… we’re interested.
Please.
And I want her safety guaranteed.
All it takes is your signature.
(TENSE MUSIC PLAYING)
JOE: Sarie.
SARAH: Bert!
BERT: Hey.
What’s goin’ on, kiddo?
You said you’d protect me.
You said you’d do right by me.
And I am.
I got me a plan cookin’.
By meeting with crooks?
Are you going to give my land to Pan-Okie?
Listen here, young lady.
The oil industry is tough custard, all right?
We’re dealing with some mighty devious folks over here.
So, we gotta be devious too?
When the game is rigged, it’s best you do the riggin’.
They got wells all around your property, Sarah.
They’re stealin’ oil right out from under us.
We were partners!
Friends.
A team.
You’ll get your share.
That’s not what it’s about!
Well, then, what is it about?
Your soul…
Mr. Bert Smith.
My what?
Your soul.
(PENSIVE MUSIC PLAYING)
(SIGHS)
Yippee.
(ROSE CHUCKLES)
Let’s get outta these Sunday clothes.
JUNIOR: Thank you.
Thank you, Mace.
JUNIOR AND SARAH: Thank you.
My pleasure.
JOE: You okay?
I saw something back there.
I wanna see what it is.
Hold on, I’ll come with you.
Better you stay with the family.
It’s likely nothing.
Okay.
Thank you, Mace.
You got it, Joe.
(TENSE MUSIC PLAYING)
HORACE: He spotted us.
(GUN COCKING)
What are you doin’ out here?
(HORACE CHUCKLES MENACINGLY)
Y’all need to turn around, leave these people alone.
(GUNSHOT ECHOES)
(HORSE NEIGHS)
(GUN COCKING)
(GROANING WEAKLY)
Creek Nation, south stream, now.
I want you to run, and you know where.
Open up!
EARL: Now!
I love you both.
Now, go now! Run!
JOE: Go on, now.
Junior, go!
Go!
ROSE: We’ll find you.
(BLUE BARKS)
HORACE: Open up!
Open up!
(BANGING ON DOOR)
Where’s the girl?
Where’s the girl at?
Don’t see how that’s your business!
(LOUD KNOCK)
(YELLS)
HORACE: They got guns!
Let’s scat.
(TENSE MUSIC CONTINUES)
Put your eyeballs back in your head.
Hey, it’s just I ain’t never seen no lady driver before, so…
This is Mr. Pharr.
He’s just arrived by train from the NAACP office in Chicago.
He writes for their newspaper, and I’m takin’ him to meet the Rector family.
Hey, you mind if I ride with you?
Mace was supposed to come pick me up, but I ain’t seen him.
All right! (CLAPS HANDS) Hello!
Mr. and Mrs. Rector!
It’s Kate Barnard!
Howdy.
(SPUTTERS) It’s Kate Bernard.
This is Mr. Gabriel Pharr… from the NAACP in Chicago.
Where’s Sarah? Where’s Mace?
And what are you doing with that rifle?
There was two men.
ROSE: Pan-Okie thugs.
JOE: They was asking for Sarie.
I had to shoot to get ’em to leave.
Where is Sarah?
I sent her off with Junior and our dog.
JOE: Creek territory.
And what about Mace?
Don’t know.
Mace?
Mace?
(SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING)
You didn’t deserve this, Mace.
It’s ’cause you put in with me.
Sarah’s next.
You know that, don’t you?
PHARR: And they won’t blink at killing you either.
I done gave ’em what they wanted.
They could’ve killed us any time.
No.
Not until she signed.
If she died before, then the rights return to the state, but after, they maintain legal claim to the land based on what you signed over.
Still, why kill her?
So I or someone like me can’t come charging back into court.
They outfoxed you.
Look, they don’t need her, and they don’t need you.
All they needed was the paper.
What if we go back to that judge?
What if we go back to that judge and we cancel the guardianship?
We give it to you?
Well, we would need Sarah for that.
Then we gotta find her before they do.
OLDER SARAH: We spent the night on Creek territory.
As Mama had instructed, we waited by the south stream hopin’ it wouldn’t be too long before my folks came to get us.
We were scared, tired, and thirsty.
(TENSE MUSIC PLAYING)
You seen the colored girl?
Well?
We just want the girl.
(SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING)
OLDER SARAH: I prayed like I’d never prayed before, or since.
Dear Lord…
OLDER SARAH: I could barely think of words.
All I remember saying was, “Help me, Jesus! Help me!”
Over and over like a heartbeat.
Junior.
Hm?
Go! Now!
Run! Go!
(TENSE MUSIC PLAYING)
(GUN COCKING)
(HORSEMEN HOLLERING)
OFFICER 2: Tribal police!
Don’t move!
You’re under arrest!
OFFICER 1: Tribal police!
OFFICER 2: No trespassing!
OFFICER 1: Put down your weapons!
Drop it now!
JIMSEYE: Put down your guns.
Put ’em down!
I see ’em too.
Sarah! Junior!
Mama!
JOE: Sarie.
Mama!
SARAH: Mama!
ROSE: Sarah!
SARAH: Mama!
JOE: Sarie.
ROSE: Junior!
JIMSEYE: Don’t move!
JOE: All right. All right.
(ROSE GASPING)
ROSE: My baby!
You’re under arrest for the attempted murder of Sarah Rector on Creek Nation territory.
And the murder of Mace Hernandez!
What?
Mace?
They murdered Mace?
I’m sorry, Sarah.
JOE: It’s all right.
I’m sorry for everything.
Your Honor, the young lady’s guardianship needs to be reexamined.
Is that so?
I’m afraid that is the case.
The Negro press is here, along with newspapers from every part of the country.
America is watching, Judge.
Her life remains in danger.
This cannot be delayed.
(EXHALES DEEPLY)
But she already signed it over to him.
Unless there’s some kind of error or ambiguity in here.
You’re not from around here, are you?
It’s Texas, right?
That’s right, ma’am. Texas.
Mr. Smith.
Yes, sir?
You signed indicating you were a full resident of Oklahoma.
Well, I’ve been around here a while.
You know, wildcatting and such.
Well, even though it’s not stated in the paperwork, full residency is implied.
Can you prove full residency?
Well, when you put it like that…
Uh, no. No, not actually.
(EXHALES)
Well, I’m afraid this guardianship is null and void, and the court cannot uphold it.
Miss Rector, come here.
We need to secure your safety by appointing you another guardian.
How would you feel about Miss Barnard?
SARAH: I’d like that.
Thank you, Judge.
Now, Sarah, there might be some reporters out there, so you just need to nod and smile.
Okay?
(REPORTERS CLAMORING)
I’ll be notifying Pan-Okie of the revised guardianship, but they will contest and I doubt very much if they’ll abide.
Be prepared for them to physically claim the property.
In disputes like this, possession becomes nine-tenths of the law.
Thank you, Your Honor.
BERT: Yeah, thank you.
LEAHY: I’ll alert the Marshal if that helps.
The Rectors are going to need attorneys, the best that there are.
Did you not hear the man?
This ain’t goin’ to court.
Pan-Okie’s gonna try and take that land, and there’s only one thing we can do to stop ’em.
Fortunately, that’s something I do know about.
(DOOR OPENS, CLOSES)
This brewed?
ROSE: Mm.
BERT: All right.
You think it’s gonna be safe out there tomorrow?
BERT: No.
No, I do not.
Is that why I see dynamite?
What’s that for?
Joe?
It’s him or us, Rose.
So, we goin’ to war here?
We buried that dynamite underground, ma’am.
About 1,000 feet underground, to be exact.
So, either that well is gonna cave in on itself, or…
Or what?
Or it’s gonna bring forth everything we’ve been hoping for.
(SIGHS)
BERT: Either way, if Devnan and his men cross the line, that’s the best chance we got.
(TENSE MUSIC PLAYING)
You can see we’re coming under a white flag.
We just wanna talk.
JIMSEYE: Just talk, huh?
DEVNAN: Yeah.
Wagon.
(MEN GRUNTING)
Sarah.
DEVNAN: Sir.
Okay. Come on.
SARAH: Okay.
ROSE: Come on.
Come on.
(ROSE BREATHING HEAVILY)
I’m back again.
Can’t deny a dog his dinner.
I claim legal right of entry based on papers signed by the guardian of this land.
Those papers have been nullified by Judge Leahy and you know it.
You are trespassing.
You people want a war?
JOE: No, sir.
Just go and get on your side of the fence.
That’s all we asking.
(ENGINE STARTING)
(ENGINE STOPS)
As a rule, I’m a peaceable man… but sometimes…
PHARR: Machine gun!
JOE: Get back.
Behind the car. Go.
ROSE: It’s okay, it’s okay…
Stay down, stay.
I want to.
Wha… (GASPS) It’s my well.
I’m the one to do it.
DEVNAN: Take all your men and clear off.
This is my property now, this is my well!
Be quick about it then.
Come on now.
DEVNAN: Don’t push me.
(EXHALES) Dear Lord… guide these hands so no one gets hurt.
DEVNAN: Give me that gun.
You boys aim at flesh.
You hear that?
They’re aiming at you.
Next flesh gonna be yours, Devnan.
Get down. Get down!
(DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING)
(LOW RUMBLING)
(MACHINERY CREAKING)
That roustabout’s skunking my well!
(RUMBLING STOPS)
(RUMBLING RESUMES)
(ROSE GASPS)
No.
(TRIUMPHANT MUSIC PLAYING)
BERT: Hey! Hey!
ROSE: Sarie!
That’s my gusher!
That’s my oil!
No, it ain’t!
Oh, the girl.
No!
Uh-uh, Devnan, I would not do that if I was you.
Look here.
See, uh…
We took the liberty of wirin’ up your wells too.
Just in case you wanted to do something foolish.
This is my land, Devnan.
And you know it.
Quiet!
(GASPS) Stop!
(DEVNAN GRUNTS)
Get off of me!
(TRIUMPHANT MUSIC RESUMES)
(WHOOPING)
(CHUCKLING) How about that?
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
(UPBEAT TUNE PLAYING)
MAN: Y’all be careful, there!
MAN: Get up there.
Looks like your wildcatting days are over.
Well, I ain’t so sure about that.
I might have made me some side deals that’s, uh, come back to bite me.
ROSE: Oh.
Huh.
Them kids of yours… they’re awful lucky to have a mama like you.
Thank you, Bert.
BERT: There you are.
Bert. Bert.
Bert, where are you going?
Away from here. That’s where.
The good part’s just starting.
Sarie, them widows up there, they own 250% of my share, and the law don’t look too kindly on something like that.
We’re partners.
No matter what the law says, I’ll help you.
You think I’m gonna take your money?
I ain’t gonna take your money.
I got better sense than that.
Besides, you taught me things.
Don’t you understand?
No.
(CHUCKLES SOFTLY)
You talked to me about my soul.
Ain’t nobody ever done that.
Ain’t nobody ever cared.
We’re treasure hunters, you and I.
Yeah, and we found it.
That’s right, we did… and I’m gonna take mine ’cause it don’t weigh nothing and I don’t need no bank to hold on to it for me.
I’m gonna put it right here, right next to Mace.
(MELLOW MUSIC PLAYING)
(SOBBING SOFTLY) Hey, now.
(CRYING) Please, don’t go.
Hey, it’s all right now.
It’s all right. No…
(VOICE BREAKING)
Ain’t no need for crying.
You know, there’s another treasure out there somewhere.
Can you hear it?
It’s just achattering and aglittering.
Just waiting for me to find it.
Just yearning to burst free.
Probably buried underneath that hill out yonder.
Can you see it?
I bet you can if you look real close.
Please don’t go, Bert. Please.
Hey, me?
(ENGINE STARTS) I’m a finder. A getter.
A wildcatter, investor, speculator.
Businessman of free enterprise and soon to be rich as King Midas himself.
True as a razor that is.
True as a razor.
OLDER SARAH: I never saw Bert again.
Years later, I came to understand his treasure wasn’t oil, gold, or silver, or anything hiding in Mother Earth.
It was prospects, the call, the adventure just beyond the horizon.
I did meet other folks.
John D. Rockefeller, the richest man in the world, came to town and we cut a deal.
I was a natural-born negotiator, or so he told me.
Mr. Rockefeller and his Standard Oil Company paid $36 million for the rights to my land and surrounding lots known as the Cushing-Drumright pool, and I got 12.5% royalty.
I moved to Kansas City and hosted cultural events where Duke Ellington and Count Basie performed, and the great boxer Jack Johnson put on exhibitions.
But the first thing I did with my money when I was 11 years old… was buy the Busy Bee Cafe, and open it to everyone.
As my mama said, “God gave you gifts,” “the only sin is not to use ’em.”
(MELLOW SONG PLAYING)
