Jack Elam

Con artist Latigo Smith is on board a train travelling across frontier-era Colorado, with his would-be fiancée, a rich and powerful woman named Goldie. Looking for a way to escape this situation, he manages to slip off the train at a jerkwater stop, and finds himself in Purgatory, a small town wherein two rival companies of miners, led by Taylor Barton and Colonel Ames, are in a frantic round-the-clock race to find "the motherlode" of gold buried somewhere under the town. After consulting the town doctor about getting an embarrassing Goldie-related tattoo removed, Latigo succumbs to a gambling compulsion and loses all his money at roulette. After hearing a rumor that an infamous gunslinger named "Swiftie" Morgan is in town, Latigo concocts a scam, using the amiable ne'er-do-well Jug May to impersonate the man. In the process of this, the new arrival attracts the attention of Patience "The Sidewinder" Barton, the hot-tempered daughter of Taylor, who wants nothing more than to escape the town and become a woman of refinement in New York City. When Latigo and the fake Swiftie side with the Bartons, Ames sends a telegram to the real gunslinger, informing him of the impostor. Swiftie soon arrives in town, and confronts Latigo, who has replaced Jug for the climatic gunfight. The show-down ends with Swiftie shooting himself when he is startled by one of the massive mining blasts that regularly rock the town. Latigo accidentally finds the motherlode for the Bartons by setting off a load of dynamite with which he was attempting to bluff the gunfighter. The blast also cures his tattoo problem. Latigo's gambling compulsion finally pays off when, financially backed by the Bartons, he wins big at roulette. Now almost as rich as Patience, he marries her, she gets to send her numerous daughters to school in New York, and Jug goes on to "star in spaghetti westerns."

A frontier town in the Old West springs up almost literally overnight when the rather klutzy and hotheaded Prudy Perkins discovers gold in a grave during a funeral. Her father Olly becomes mayor of the new settlement. He and the other members of the town council bemoan the twin facts that the place has become a drunken round-the-clock free-for-all, and that in order to ship out all the gold they are mining, they must pay a hefty fee to the Danbys, a family of ranchers/bandits who control the only route out of town. Most people are too busy digging to take time out to be sheriff, and those who are willing to put down their shovel quickly die. This all changes with the arrival in town of Jason McCullough, a calm and hyper-competent man from "back East" who is passing through town "on his way to Australia." While in the town saloon, he sees young Joe Danby gun a man down, essentially for fun. Needing money after discovering the town's ruinious rate of inflation, McCullough demonstrates his uncanny firearms ability to the mayor and town council, and becomes the new sheriff. He breaks up a street brawl and while at the Perkins house meets Prudy under (for her) mortifyingly embarrassing circumstances. McCullough then arrests Joe and tosses him in the town jail, which has everything a sheriff needs - except iron bars for the cell doors and windows. McCullough keeps the none-too-bright Joe "imprisoned" through the use of a chalk line, some dribbles of red paint, and applied psychology. In the process of all this, McCullough acquires a semi-willing deputy in the form of the extremely scruffy Jake, who was previously nothing more than the "town character." The arrest ignites the wrath of the patriarch of the Danby family; while the rest of the town immediately quiets down under McCullough's reign, "Pa" mounts various efforts to get Joe out of jail. None of them work and he then brings in a string of hired guns, who are equally unsuccessful. Meanwhile, Prudy spars romantically with McCullough, McCullough and Jake go on an unsuccessful search for gold, and, much to Joe's relief, bars are finally installed in the jail. The climax of the film sees Pa Danby summoning scores of his relatives to launch an all-out assault. The sheriff's first impulse is to just leave town and resume his trip to Australia, but when Prudy expresses her sincere approval of this sensible idea, he announces that it sounds cowardly and decides to stay. The rest of the townfolk announce their disapproval of his new plan, and officially vote to not help in any way. Thus the Danby mob rides in faced only by McCullough, Jake and Prudy. After a lengthy gunfight, McCullough bluffs his way to victory using hostage Joe and the cannon mounted in the center of town. As the Danbys are all marched off to jail, the cannon fires, smashing the town brothel and scattering the resident prostitutes and visting civic leaders. McCullough makes his peace with the townfolk, he and Prudy get engaged, and he carries her home. In a closing monologue, Jake directly informs the audience that they get married and McCullough goes on to become governor of the state, while he, Jake, becomes sheriff and then "one of the most beloved characters in western folklore."

In 1843, a former U.S. Senator leads a wagon train of settlers to Oregon, but his megalomania leads to growing dissatisfaction with his leadership. In the mid nineteenth century, Senator William J. Tadlock leads a group of settlers overland in a quest to start a new settlement in the Western U.S. Tadlock is a highly principled and demanding taskmaster who is as hard on himself as he is on those who have joined his wagon train. He clashes with one of the new settlers, Lije Evans, who doesn't quite appreciate Tadlock's ways. Along the way, the families must face death and heartbreak and a sampling of frontier justice when one of them accidentally kills a young Indian boy. —garykmcd Strongly motivated by the beautiful utopia he has been nurturing for so long, the autocratic U.S. Senator, William Tadlock, leaves the Congress to lead a wagon train of audacious pioneers from Missouri to the promised land of Oregon, in 1843. With the help of the experienced scout, Dick Summers, the slow and almost defenceless caravan of impatient settlers ventures into the long and rugged Oregon Trail, as martinet Tadlock's sacred rules and heightening self-involvement threaten to jeopardise the entire expedition. However, as leadership and conflict go hand-in-hand, the stern senator's leadership skills will be put to the test, when the horrid death of the Great Sioux Chief's young son demands justice. Can the visionary William Tadlock carry out the mission successfully? —Nick Riganas Missouri 1843: Former U.S. Senator Tadlock and scout Summers lead a trek of settlers to Oregon, through more than one thousand five hundred fifty miles of mostly Indian territory. Tadlock drives his people mercilessly. When his ambition costs some people's lives, his ability is questioned. —Tom Zoerner <Tom.Zoerner@informatik.uni-erlangen.de>

Jim Cole, his wife Angela, their children Charlie and Gypsy, niece Meg, and friend Sam Potts arrive in a small Wyoming town. Jim inherited a ranch and quit his job as a lawman to become a rancher. In town, banker Mr. Benson mentions a $675 mortgage on the property. Jim hesitates to take the land title, since it would take nearly all their savings, but eventually relents. Rancher Jed Curry initially owned the property but lost it to Jim's late uncle in a card game and wants it back. In the countryside, the Coles arrive at the ranch's cottage, which is a tumbled-down shack. The next morning, Jim builds a fence. Jed tries to persuade Jim to sell the land, to no avail. Jim returns to town the next day and asks Wilhelmina Peterson, who owns the general store, if she knows where he can buy cattle to breed with his prize bull Duncan. She asks her sidekick Hank to bring Jim to Hazel Squires' place. There, Hazel says that she can sell cattle for a buck each. When she goes to a pen to check on the pigs, she finds them all missing or dead; it is the work of Satan, a grizzly bear who invades ranches and kills livestock. Many tried to kill Satan, to no avail. During the night, Satan reaches the Cole place, killing Duncan, causing Sam's mule to flee, and badly injuring the family's dog. The next morning, while the doctor stitches up the dog, Jim and Meg go to the store for coffee. However, the Curry boys are there with cohorts and start harassing Jim. A fight starts, with the Curry sons driven out. Jed later chastises his sons, telling them not to antagonize Jim if they are to get his ranch. Needing a replacement bull but with no money to buy one, Jim gets a loan from the bank, giving Benson various possessions as collateral. He goes to the Squires ranch to purchase the bull and cattle for breeding. After learning of the loan, Jed warns Benson not to do it again and reminds him that he, as the bank's major stockholder, has the authority to do this. While working on the farm, the Coles and Sam see the mule appear. However, it is badly-injured, dying minutes later. Distraught, Sam and Jim vow to kill Satan. While tracking Satan through the woods, Jim and Sam are attacked, but escape by jumping off a cliff into a lake. While returning home from a dance social, the Coles find that Satan has killed most of their cattle. Again, Jim goes to Benson for a loan to buy replacement animals. However, this time, Benson refuses his request. Satan's depredations reach a crisis point, and Jed posts a $750 reward for anyone who can kill the bear. Because of this, bounty hunter Cass Dowdy appears in town with hunting dogs. Jim sent Cass to jail for two years for murder. Cass plans to hunt the bear just so Jim does not get the reward money and thus ruin him financially. Jim and Sam set a trap for Satan and doze off while waiting. Satan attacks again, driving off one of the horses and killing Sam. Dowdy's dogs are also killed by Satan. More traps are set up for Satan, to no avail. One night, Dowdy visits one of Jim's traps to sabotage it but is accidentally injured instead. The next morning, the two meet again and fight, with Jim winning and leaving Cass there. At home, Jim calms down a distraught Angela. The next morning, he finds that Charlie has gone after Satan alone. Jim follows Charlie into the woods. In the woods, Jim again runs into Dowdy, who almost kills him. However, Jim fights back and drives him away. At night, Satan attacks Charlie and chases him up a tree. Charlie jumps out of the tree and distracts Satan, while Dowdy fires at the bear to save the boy, but is fatally mauled. Jim then injures Satan and shoots him dead. After comforting a dying Dowdy, who sacrificed himself to save Charlie, Jim and Charlie return home.

A new foreman rejects the sexual advances of a frustrated rancher's wife, which leads to conflicts that could get him killed. Found injured by rancher Shep Horgan, Jubal Troop is offered a job as cowhand and soon gains Shep's trust. Mae Horgan, feeling she's been trapped into marriage with Shep, takes a shine to Jubal, although he is more interested in Naomi Hoktor who is travelling with a wagon train camped on Shep's land. Pinky, until now top hand and used to Mae's favours himself, doesn't think much of the new deal and trouble is inevitable. —Jeremy Perkins {J-26}

Rick Todd uses the dreams of his roommate Eugene as the basis for a successful comic book. Rick Todd and Eugene Fullstack share an apartment and have dreams for the future. Rick is an aspiring artist looking for a break. Eugene loves comic books, especially The Bat Lady series. He is so engrossed with her stories that he has nightmares and dreams of his own comic book characters. Their luck begins to change when Abby Parker is fired as the artist for the Bat Lady. Rick pitches his own comic book series and Eugene gets to meet Bessie Sparrowbrush, who, unbeknown to him, is the artist's model the Bat Lady. Rivalry and romance ensues for all four of them, with several song and dance numbers along the way.

Newcomer Will Lockhart defies the local cattle baron and his sadistic son by working for one of his oldest rivals. Mysterious Will Lockhart delivers supplies to storekeeper Barbara Waggoman at Coronado, an isolated town in Apache country. Before long, he's tangled with Dave Waggoman, vicious son of autocratic rancher Alec and cousin of sweet Barbara. But he sticks around town, his presence a catalyst for changes in people's lives, searching for someone he doesn't know...who's been selling rifles to the Apaches. —Rod Crawford <puffinus@u.washington.edu> Will Lockhart (James Stewart) arrives in the isolated town of Coronado with a delivery of supplies from Laramie. He has actually come to the town to look for information on who sold repeating rifles to a tribe of Apaches, who used them to kill many cavalry soldiers, including Lockhart's brother. The attack took place on the far edges of the sprawling Barb Ranch, owned by Alec Waggoman (Donald Crisp). Waggoman is losing his eyesight and is plagued by dreams of his son, Dave (Alex Nicol) being killed by a stranger. Waggoman knows Dave is reckless and immature and relies on foreman Vic Hansbro (Arthur Kennedy) to keep Dave in line. Dave causes trouble when, after a misunderstanding, he kills Lockhart's mules and burns his wagons. Waggoman agrees to compensate Lockhart, but Lockhart stays in town to further investigate the rifle sale. After another altercation between Lockhart and Dave where both men shoot the other in the hand, Lockhart discovers that Dave and Vic are behind the rifle sale. Later on, Vic is forced to kill Dave in self-defense and allows Waggoman to believe that Lockhart killed Dave. But Lockhart is determined to see the truth about everything be revealed. —Patrick Depew

During the Mexican Rebellion of 1866, an unsavory group of American adventurers are hired by the forces of Emporer Maximilian to escort a countess to Vera Cruz. After the American Civil War, mercenaries travel to Mexico to fight in their revolution for money. The former soldier and gentleman Benjamin Trane meets the gunman and killer Joe Erin and his men, and together they are hired by the Emperor Maximillian and the Marquis Henri de Labordere to escort the Countess Marie Duvarre to the harbor of Vera Cruz. Ben and Erin find that the stagecoach is transporting three million U.S. dollars in gold hidden below the seat, and they scheme to steal it. Along their journey, betrayals and incidents happen changing their initial intentions. —Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Mexico, 1866: After the American Civil War, Benjamin Trane, a former soldier of the US Southern States, and Joe Erin, a bandit, try their luck in Mexico, where the partisans of Benito Juárez and the supporters of Emperor Maximilian I are waging war. Both sides try to recruit the two adventurers. The Marquis Henri de Labordère, who represents the emperor, wins the men over and gives them a mission: they are to escort Countess Duvarre and her carriage to Vera Cruz. But they soon realize that there is a specific reason for this mission: while spending the night in a monastery, Ben and Joe discover that Countess Duvarre's carriage is transporting gold worth three million dollars. This gold is to be used to hire troops in Europe to keep Emperor Maximilian on the throne. However, the countess has other plans for the gold. She offers Ben and Joe a share in her plan and a share of the gold afterwards. Shortly before Vera Cruz, in Las Palmas, the countess meets with a captain who is to take her out of the country with the gold, but without Ben and Joe. But the Marquis beats her to it: he captures her and leaves the city with his soldiers and the gold. Ben, Joe, and the rest of the gang immediately give chase. At a bridge, the Juaristas attack the carriage. However, since the gold is no longer in the carriage, the gang now joins the partisans. —Arte Ben Trane and Joe Erin, two rival soldiers of fortune who team to fight for the highest bidder. The two men come to loggerheads when Trane's sweetheart Nina begs them to fight on the side of the rebels, while the wealthy Marquis de Labodere implores them to offer their services to Emperor Maximillian. Though they still haven't taken sides, Trane and Erin agree to escort the aristocratic Countess Marie Duvarre through hostile territory to Vera Cruz. It soon develops that the Countess is transporting a gold shipment to the Emperor's armies. Hardly the most patriotic of souls, she offers to split the gold with Trane and Erin, but they steal it for themselves instead. It takes a while (and several bloody armed confrontations) before the two protagonists do the right thing. Two nineteenth century soldiers of fortune, one survivor of the Civil War with a soft spot for sick horses and social justice, the other a charming and greedy trigger-happy killer, search for their next dollar down in Mexico at a time when the country is torn between Emperor Maxmillian and the nationalist peasant Army trying to overthrow him. Since the Emperor has the most cash, our hired guns agree to serve the Emperor by escorting a Countess to the city of Vera Cruz by passing through territory under rebel control. On the way to Vera Cruz, both fighters discover three million U.S. dollars in gold coins (intended to buy guns for the Emperor from France) hidden at the bottom of the stagecoach carrying the Countess, and she is not totally unaware of the fact either. She has her own plans too. All three plot against the other two to scoop the treasure away. Betrayal is not an issue. It's not even personal. It's just business. After a few gunfights and ambush scenes between Maxmillian's escorting Army and the peasant rebels, justice reigns, and Ben Trane emerges as the noble soul who triumphs over crass materialism despite the soft spot in his heart that Joe Erin took for weakness. —Gary Kencey

Joe Rolfe (John Payne) is a ex-con delivering flowers to the local businesses in Kansas City. When disgruntled ex-cop Timothy Foster (Preston S. Foster) cases a local payroll armored car for a holdup he takes into account the schedule of Rolfe and his deliveries as he plans his robbery. Foster contacts three crooks separately to help with the crime while keeping his own identity secret with a mask he blackmails them with past crimes and a guarantee of a $300 thousand-dollar payout for each. Pulling in Peter Harris (Jack Elam), Boyd Kane (Neville Brand), and Tony Romano (Lee Van Cleef), Foster as Mr. Big pulls off the robbery of the armored car right after one of Rolfe's deliveries by using a duplicate flower van. Rolfe is arrested and brutally interrogated by the police. Eventually cleared when the police find the duplicate robbery vehicle Rolfe is determined to clear his name and sets out to find the crew that set him up. He tracks Harris to a gambling joint in Tijuana Mexico and takes on his identity after Harris is killed and travels to a resort town of Barados Mexico to confront the rest of the crooks. Once there he meets Foster's daughter Helen (Coleen Gray) who has come to surprise her father. Rolfe and Helen develop an immediate attraction for each other and Foster attempts to keep them apart, as he knows Joe is an ex-con and is impersonating Harris. As the time for splitting up the money draws near Kane and Tony are aware Rolfe is not Harris and a dangerous confrontation with Mr. Big appears inevitable.