McLintock! (1963)

Michael Pate: Puma

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Quotes 

• Gov. Cuthbert H. Humphrey : [speaking from the bench at the hearing for the Comanche tribe]  It seems, gentlemen, that although some of these chiefs speak English -- Chief Puma is quite at home with our language -- they have chosen Mr. McLintock to be their spokesman.

  George Washington McLintock : I speak for the Comanche, or rather I offer this translation.

  Gov. Cuthbert H. Humphrey : Proceed, Mr. McLintock.

  George Washington McLintock : [Puma looks at McLintock who puts his hand on Puma's shoulder, addresses the bench and reads]  The Comanche say: "We are an old people, and a proud people. When the white man first came among us, we were as many as the grasses of the prairie. Now we are few, but we are still proud, for if a man loses pride in manhood he is nothing. You tell us now that if we will let you send us away to this place called 'Fort Sill', you will *feed* us and care for us. Let us tell you this: it is a Comanche law that no chief ever eats unless first he sees that the pots are full of meat in the lodges of the widows and orphans. It is the Comanche way of life. This that the white man calls 'charity' is a fine thing for widows and orphans, but no warrior can accept it, for if he does he is no longer a man, and when he is no longer a man he is *nothing* and better off dead. You say to the Comanche, 'You are widows and orphans. You are not men,' and we, the Comanche, say we would rather be *dead*. It will not be a remembered fight when you kill us, because we are few now and have few weapons, but we will *fight* and we will *die* Comanche."

  Puma : Thank you, Big McLintock.

  Gov. Cuthbert H. Humphrey : Am I to gather the Comanche defy the government of the United States?

  George Washington McLintock : Yes, you may gather that the Comanche defy the United States government... or at least this commission.