A Night at the Red Ox - Recap

At Sweetwater’s Majestic Hotel, a woman unpacks her bag and removes a gun. Meanwhile, Jack and Shifty escort a drunken Fletcher out of the Red Ox and bet on whether he’ll make it to the street. The woman, Addie Burnett, watches them from her window. Inside, Bret is doing well at poker but Tom complains that the bills for the saloon are piling up. He takes his 10% of Bret’s winnings for the house. Jack reports a missing liquor problem and Tom explains that whoever is stealing it takes the whiskey and leaves the bottles so that the empties blend in with the rest. Mary Lou comes in and complains about the long hours, and Tom reminds her that she was going to bring over new ads. She finally remembers that Wesley at the livery said that Bret’s horse Lowball has a bad knee. Bret makes a hasty exit, leaving Tom with the bills, and Addie watches him leave.



Shifty leaves for the night and Tom tells Jack that his plan to catch the liquor thief can wait until morning. Once they’re alone, Mary Lou and Tom enjoy the quiet and he suggests she come up to his bedroom. Mary Lou apologizes, saying she’s too tired from work, but says she’ll take a rain check. They kiss one last time and Mary Lou leaves for her office. Tom starts counting his money but Addie comes in and interrupts him. She emerges from the shadows holding a gun and tells him that she’ll make sure he knows exactly what she wants.

At the sheriff’s office, Deputy Sturgess is dozing when Dowd comes down, unable to sleep. He wants to play chess and offers to teach Sturgess.

Addie opens the back door and lets in her four men. She sends them to search the saloon and make sure that they’re alone and all the weapons are accounted for. Tom tries to go for a gun but one gunman, Fletcher, tells him that he’d as soon kill Tom now as later. Tom considers but finally backs down and Fletcher takes the gun and forces him to sit down. Addie then ushers in the man she’s hired, Judge Nat Cobb, and tells him that she wants everything done just right. Cobb says that he will and then goes behind the bar and grabs a bottle of whiskey. When he starts to chat with Tom, admiring the saloon, Addie tells him to focus and Nat assures Tom that his end will be a memorable one.



Addie finally introduces herself but Tom has no idea who she is. Bret comes in, explaining that Lowball’s knee is too bad to ride out, and Addie’s men take him prisoner and remove his weapons. Fletcher complains that they have a witness but Addie figures that they deserve a witness for the trial. Addie addresses Tom as Thomas Blaylock and thanks Fletcher for tracking Tom down, but says that he has to let them hold the trial as she has planned despite the fact he’s there to avenge his brother. Bret introduces himself as Arthur Doodle and claims that he’s Tom’s attorney. He recognizes Judge Cobb as “Clear Conscience Cobb,” and was supposedly killed by a mob after he freed a man and was forced to flee town. While Bret meets with his “client,” Cobb suggests that they let Bret defend Tom and Addie agrees as long as the verdict turns out the same. Meanwhile, Bret figures that Tom must know something given the elaborate lengths that Addie has gone to, but Tom has no idea who Addie and her men are. He and Bret watch as Fletcher rigs up a noose for hanging.

Dowd tires to teach Sturgess chess, and the deputy tries to get out of it. The sheriff knows that he wants to go to the brewery for a drink and tells him to stay put.

Cobb begins the trial and Bret asks to hear the charges. The judge explains that Tom killed Winslow Jefferson Burnett, Addie’s father, and Delmar Mabry, Fletcher’s brother. Bret moves for a dismissal since there is no jury present, but Cobb refuses to grant it. Tom worries but Bret assures him that it’s all part of his plan to keep Cobb on their side until they can jump out through separate windows.



Somebody arrives at the door and Fletcher hears them. He runs out and captures Mary Lou and Rodney. Addie objects to him bringing in more innocent witnesses, but Fletcher insists that she’s the one who is confusing the issue by wasting time on a trial. They seat Mary Lou and Rodney as the jury and Fletcher tells them that they’ll die if they vote innocent. Tom and Bret realize they can’t escape without endangering their friends.

At the sheriff’s office, Sturgess takes a long time to make his move despite Dowd’s hints of what he shouldn’t do. He finally ends up jumping Dowd’s pieces and asking to be kinged.

Addie testifies that at the end of the Civil War, some Rebels refused to surrender. Her father Winslow was a doctor who tended both sides, earning the anger of many Rebel soldiers. Tom and his men took him away, broke every bone in his body, and shot Winslow in the head. Bret challenges the testimony, ignoring Tom’s objections, and asks her if she saw Tom take Winslow. Addie admits that she didn’t but her governess Susannah kept a diary and noted that Tom took her father away. She stands by Susannah’s testimony and Bret then challenges her as a 7-year-old at the time and an unreliable witness. Addie responds by saying that Fletcher witnessed her father’s murder and says that Tom will admit it if he’s an honest man.



As Addie talks to Fletcher, Cobb congratulates Bret on his technique... and warns that if the trial doesn’t go her way, Addie might start shooting others. Addie comes back to talk to Cobb and Bret returns to Tom.

Outside, Shifty sneaks up the back stairs, carrying a bag and naked except for a towel, unaware that Jack is watching him.

Bret tells Tom that he is shaking up the opposition and hopes to find an opening for them to escape, but his testimony will be the clincher. Tom promptly fires him as his lawyer and tells him to shut up. He figures that once Addie executes him, she’ll let everyone else go. Bret doesn’t understand and Tom refuses to explain further, and then suggests that Bret should believe Addie.



Jack captures Shifty as he enters the saloon through the upstairs window and drags him downstairs. As Shifty claims he came in to get a free bath, Fletcher and his men capture them and add them to the jury. He then testifies that Delmar knew there were some Union patrols tearing up the parish. Delmar went Yankee-hunting and his men, the Turnville brothers, came back later to report that Delmar and Winslow were killed. Fletcher’s father put a warrant out for Tom’s arrest. Bret ignores Tom and cross-examines Fletcher. He confirms that Delmar was coming back from a Union stronghold, and points out that Delmar’s men didn’t bother trying to bring him back for treatment. Next, Bret notes that there’s a $10,000 reward on the warrant and suggests that Fletcher might want it for himself. Finally, Bret asks what happened to the Turnville brothers and Fletcher says that he never saw them after that. They rode west, robbed two banks, and were shot dead.

Fletcher finally blurts out that Tom wanted revenge on Delmar and Winslow because of Tom’s wife. Winslow was having an affair with her and Delmar wanted the same. Tom snaps and punches Bret when he gets in the way. Rodney makes a run for the office but one of Addie’s men stops him by shooting the door ahead of him. They tie up everyone up to prevent any further escape attempts.



Sturgess thinks he hears a gunshot but Dowd tells him that someone will come to get them if they’re in trouble and tells his deputy to concentrate.

Fletcher is ready to string Tom up, and Tom asks for the chance to testify. Cobb agrees and Addie insists on questioning him. He testifies that he mustered out immediately after the War and rode home to be his wife, Katherine. By the time he got there, avoiding Union patrols, he discovered that renegades had got to her. They raped her and left her in the cellar, and she wouldn’t let Tom approach her. She had written that Winslow was watching over her while he was gone, and Tom went to get him so he could help. As they returned, renegades ambushed him. He couldn’t identify them in the darkness and shot one while Winslow rode off. By the time Tom doubled back, a Union patrol found Winslow and beat him near to death. With his dying breath, Winslow asked Tom to wire his sister to pick up Addie at the train station and get her there. When Addie asks if Tom shot her father, he admits that he did and that it was a blessing. He then took the sleeping girl to the station in a quilt and left her there, and never learned what happened to her after that... until now.



Mary Lou asks about Katherine and Tom tells everyone that she hung herself in the root cellar by the time he got back. Fletcher demands that they hang Tom immediately, but Addie asks what color the quilt was. Bret objects, saying it was 20 years ago, but Addie repeats her question. Cobb wants to put the question to the jury, but Tom correctly identifies it. Fletcher demands that the jury vote.

Sturgess takes so long to move that Dowd dozes off and won’t be woken up.

Fletcher tells the four jurors that if they don’t vote guilty, he’ll shoot them. He and ret objects but Addie stays silent. Shifty votes guilty since Tom will die regardless. Jack votes not guilty and Fletcher picks up the shotgun shell for him. Mary Lou and Rodney vote not guilty as well, and Bret adds his vote to theirs. Cobb points out that they have a hung jury and it’s up to Addie to break the tie. She hesitates and Fletcher tells her to tell them. Finally she says that Tom is not guilty. Cobb adjourns the court but Fletcher insists that he was promised the reward. He prepares to shoot Tom, but Cobb draws a gun, tells the other two men to untie everyone, and tells them to get out as Sturgess arrives to investigate the gunshot. Bret tells him that two men tried to rob the saloon and sends Sturgess after them.



Tom confirms that Fletcher is dead Mary Lou apologizes, saying that she never understood, and Tom suggests that they leave it alone. Rodney apologizes but Bret assures him that everyone gets scared when the lead starts flying. As they share a drink, Cobb comes over and suggests that they could make a lot of money working together. Bret politely declines, saying he already has a partner.

Addie sits alone and Tom comes over to talk to her. She says it doesn’t matter who killed her father anymore and Tom tells her she can’t find something that isn’t there. He offers to let her stay until she’s ready and she wonders if there’s any sense to it. Tom tells her that war kills more than just people. As Addie goes upstairs, Tom punches Shifty for stealing the whiskey, tells him to get it all back, and tells Jack to make sure it happens. Outside, Bret admits that the theatrical décor may have inspired him and asks Tom why he changed his mind and agreed to testify. Tom claims that he did what he had to, to get them out, and Bret isn’t sure if he told the truth. As Bret strolls off, Levi wakes up, unaware of the events happening a few feet away.



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