What exactly is a dry-gulcher?
Is that slang for a hired gun in general, a bounty hunter,What?
"You think I was telling you the truth? Maybe...maybe."
Yes, it's slang for a hired killer, but one who specializes in ambushing from a distance, as in long-range sniper firing - a shooter hidden out of sight of his victims. (I'm guessing the name came from the shooter using a dry gulch to hide in, so his victims couldn't easily see where the shots were being fired from).
shareThank you very much, that makes sense.
"You think I was telling you the truth? Maybe...maybe."
I don't think it could be reserved for someone who could be legitimized so to speak as a sniper, that implies perhaps in some way that he would be employed gainfully and repeatedly in that function.
My two cents worth are, I think it came to mean anyone who would shoot you from hiding, certainly, but also would stoop to shooting you in the back. So a dry gulcher would be a craven, base coward with no sand in his craw at all.
Which is certainly true of Brando's character- shooting from a distance, never getting close- and his trademark seems to be getting people at very undignified moments (on the toilet, having sex).
share
Wrong sir.