Plainview: Ladies and gentlemen... I've traveled over
half our state to be here tonight. I couldn't get away
sooner because my new well was coming in at Coyote
Hills and I had to see about it. That well is now
flowing at two thousand barrels and it's paying me an
income of five thousand dollars a week. I have two
others drilling and I have sixteen producing at
Antelope. So, ladies and gentlemen... if I say I'm an
oil man you will agree. You have a great chance here,
but bear in mind, you can lose it all if you're not
careful. Out of all men that beg for a chance to drill
your lots, maybe one in twenty will be oilmen; the rest
will be speculators-men trying to get between you and
the oilmen-to get some of the money that ought by
rights come to you. Even if you find one that has
money, and means to drill, he'll maybe known nothing
about drilling and he'll have to hire out the job on
contract, and then you're depending on a contractor
that's trying to rush the job through so he can get
another contract just as quick as he can. This is the
way this works.
Man: What is your offer? We're wasting time.
Plainview: I do my own drilling and the men that work
for me, work for me and they are men I know. I make it
my business to be there and see to their work. I don't
lose my tools in the hole and spend months fishing for
them; I don't botch the cementing off and let water in
the hole and ruin the whole lease. I'm a family man- I
run a family business. This is my son and my partner,
H.W. Plainview.
[indicates H.W]
Plainview: We offer you the bond of family that very
few oilmen can understand. I'm fixed like no other
company in this field and that's because my Coyote
Hills well has just come in. I have a string of tools
all ready to work. I can load a rig onto trucks and
have them here in a week. I have business connections
so I can get the lumber for the derrick; such things go
by friendship in a rush like this. And this is why I
can guarantee to start drilling and put up the cash to
back my word. I assure you, whatever the others promise
to do, when it comes to the showdown, they won't be
there...