Crossroads USA (1952)

[Music] [Music] hello Mr C good to see Andy what's up I just stopped by to tell you I'm not going to be able to take that job you offered me here why not Andy I just can't I figured what we talked about might work into a pretty good deal for you thanks Mr Kars but I'm leaving town fact I'm on my way right now goodbye that okay that'll be um $2.80 even tell why I'm SI of this place I want to go where I can make some real money all right go and a mile up the road T now completely blocked off yeah I'll let you know when the roads open okay folks weling to wait inside you might be more comfortable yes thank you I can't get through down there Joe I want to use your phone okay your lights folks I'll have a lamp on in just a minute there that ought to do can I F her up this will probably be a blow to you but I just stopped the cigarette oh that's okay but the way you're headed the roads washed out oh brother those people in there are in the same fix why don't you join them okay D me and I'll pull on over right over [Music] there [Music] another reason for expanding the station make more room for people when the road's blocked and 20 [Music] yes [Music] Mr Marshall and I are sort of in the same business just different end retail's mine production's his he just did something that nobody ever did in these parts before he struck oil struck oil boy that's a kind of luck I'd like to hit all of a sudden so you think I was lucky huh oh weren't you for the past few weeks that's all I've heard luck luck luck I feel I earned what I got the hard way my break was a long time coming [Music] son it isn't easy to find oil it's even tough to find a place that looks like oil Land I'd been wrong plenty of times before but I had a certain peculiar feeling about this last place so you study the geology of the ground see if it looks like any other oil Land you've ever seen finally maybe you find a Shell fossil that gives you a real clue then with a little bit of dynamite you set off some charges under the ground the vibrations of the explosions are picked up on a seismograph and from this you can tell whether there's even a chance for oil down there a lot of work a lot of dollars a lot of engineering knowledge is represented in what you finally see towering against the sky so you start drilling and that's an experience like nothing else in the world you'd have to go through it to know all the Heartbreak it takes money men Machinery patience sweat and guts and of certain things like money you've only got so much and you know that while caring this kind of an operation the odds are 8 to one against you yep 8 to one that you'll go broke [Music] the day and night should drill you remember all those other times you've come up with nothing but still you go on even when you know you only have enough money left to drill 10 more feet just those 10 ft further then unless you hit it you're through with just another one of thousands of dry holes when you get the final answer too much has gone out of you in the long tough pool for you to have much feeling left one way or the [Music] other then there it is at last a lump of mud oily success well when you hit oil in a new part of the country a lot of oil company Representatives come flocking to bid for drilling rights in all the surrounding land public or private just on the strength of one world coming in I guess that brings us back to here we're pretty soon now your jobber might just might be bringing you oil and gas right out of my well could be who knows everyone around here is pretty excited things are going to really boom that seems to me this is a pretty good place for anybody looking for a start if there's going to be so much money floating around here how do I get some of them there are definite rewards for individual initiative and determination patience and courage yeah sure I know I've been hearing that htio Al your stuff till it bounces off my ears office boy to president you too can own a big convertible and marry the boss's daughter well that isn't the way it works see you get out of high school you get a measly little job for a few bucks a week at the end of 6 months who gets the promotion and the raise not you they give it to the boss's you you find out you're wasting your time trying to make it the hard way I know how hard it is to Keep On Believing in the right when you see people all around you doing wrong and profiting by it you've got to keep faith in certain things no matter what happens faith in God faith in your country and faith in yourself because if we ever lose that faith our way of life will be lost too light oh now how do we tell when the road's open again oh the highway patrol come along that's something I don't think I'll wait for all right line up over there not you kid you and I seem to think a like kid along lines of getting ahead I can use you and I'm your break prisk these solid citizens for me you can be well on your way to that big [Music] convertible [Music] nice going kid lucky no bones hit all you'll have is a stiff arm for a few days I better get back in the job you're going to be all right kid it's good boy Joe I have an idea we're all going to be better for what happened here tonight Mr Kars I've been thinking about that job I was wondering if it's still yours Andy a salary and after tonight what do you say to a nice bonus on any business you bring in [Music] we hope to hear great things of you Andy you have it coming to you come back and see us in a few months we'll have everything yes ma'am it'll be as nice a service station as you'll find at any Crossroads in the good Hall USA [Applause] n