The Indians are on the warpath, the cavalry needs horses, but horse trader Henry Longtree (I. Stanford Jolley) is having trouble filling his government contracts.
Jim Baily (Denver Pyle), the man who’s supposed to be supplying him with horses, seems in no rush to do so, preferring to see the demand and price go up, even if it means risking the lives of settlers.
So Longtree decides to start getting horses from Johnny Rebel, a newcomer to the area, and his partner Ringo Pardo.
That doesn’t sit well with Bailey, who has an exclusive contract with Longtree.
And that means he finds himself as odds with Rebel. And with Anne James, the new owner of the ranch where he works. She’s returned from the East to learn more about her father’s mysterious death.
What few know is that Johnny Rebel is the new name being used by Johnny Savage, once a famed Western gunman.
Meanwhile, Bailey is drumming up more Indian trouble and spreading word of a potential livestock epidemic so he can gobble up land around Tri-City at rock bottom prices.
Johnny Carpenter as Johnny Rebel in I Killed Wild Bill Hickok (1956)
Denver Pyle as Jim Bailey in I Killed Wild Bill Hickok (1956)
Review:
Watch a face-to-face gun battle where the loser turns around and falls dead, from several bullets wounds in his back.
Watch our heroine scream out “Judge Parker’s been shot” just moments before the judge reels back in his carriage from a bullet wound.
Watch one of the easiest jailbreaks ever filmed. Once of the silliest death scenes ever filmed. Watch lots of stock footage, including rodeo clips which simply don’t fit.
In other words, this is a low-budget mess.
As for Wild Bill Hickok … get this, he’s a baddie, in cahoots with Bailey. And he doesn’t find death holding the dead man’s hand, or in a card game, for that matter.
Helen Westcott is the female lead. And, yep, she’s the same Helen Wescott who played Gregory Peck’s estranged wife in the brilliant 1950 Western “The Gunfighter.”
Tom Brown as Wild Bill Hickok in I Killed Wild Bill Hickok (1956)
Helen Westcott as Belle Longtree in I Killed Wild Bill Hickok (1956)
Directed by:
Richard Talmadge
Cast:
Johnny Carpenter … Johnny Rebel aka Johnny Savage
Helen Westcott … Belle Longtree
Tom Brown … Wild Bill Hickok
Virginia Gibson … Anne James
Denver Pyle … Jim Bailey
Frank “Red” Carpenter … Ringo Pardo
I. Stanford Jolley … Henry Longtree
R.J. Thomas … Tommy
Roy Canada … Nato
Harvey B. Dunn … Doc Reed
Bill Chaney … Tex
Bron Dellar … Arizona Kid
Phil Barton … Pancho
William Mims … Dan
Billy Dean … Bronco
Lee Sheldon … Kate Savage
Runtime: 63 min.
Roy Canada as Nato and Virginia Gibson as Anne James in I Killed Wild Bill Hickok (1956)
Frank Carpenter as Ringo Pardo, Johnny Rebel’s partner in I Killed Wild Bill Hickok (1956)
Memorable lines:
Wild Bill Hickok: “Henry, being patriotic is all right. As long as you’re rich enough to afford it.”
Johnny Rebel: “I don’t think this is quite the time to bore Ms. James with trouble talk.”
Henry Longtree, upon finding Doc Reed dead: “He always told me if anything happened to him to check deep in the sugar barrel. I’m going to see if he was makin’ sense.”
Johnny Rebel, craddling a dead woman’s body: “It’s always the innocent. Always the innocent who get it.”
Belle Longtree: “Without you, I’d have nothing to live for.”
Johnny Rebel, glancing toward Jim Bailey’s band of gunman: “Well, judging from the looks of that street, you stand a good chance of having nothing to live for.”
Helen Westcott as Bell Longtree, Johnny Carpenter as Johnny Rebel and I. Stanford Jolley as Henry Longtree in I Killed Wild Bill Hickok (1956)
Denver Pyle as Jim Bailey and Tom Brown as Wild Bill Hickok give directions to the Arizona Kid (Bron Dellar) in I Killed Wild Bill Hickok (1956)
){kind=link}