Billy Two Hats (1975)

Gregory Peck is Arch Deans, a small-time outlaw who has robbed a bank with two partners and made off with $420, killing a man in the process.

Jack Warden is Sheriff Henry Gifford, determined to bring in Deans and his partners, partly because they killed a man over just $420.

In a small southwest town, Gifford manages to kill one of the outlaws and captures a second, a half-breed named Billy Two Hats (Dezi Arnaz Jr.).

But Deans makes a clean getaway with the money, and Gifford figures that will be the last he sees of him. After all, he reasons, no one’s going to come back for a half-breed.

No one, perhaps, except Deans, who values his friendship with the young boy. He rescues him from Gifford’s grip and the two start a desperate trek toward the border.

The journey is made more desperate because an old-timer with a Buffalo gun has managed to kill one of their horses. And in the fall from that horse, Deans has broken his leg.

Then there’s the small band of aging Apache warriors who haven’t been sapped of all their fight.

Gregory Peck as Arch Deans, wondering how he and Billy can escape their pursuers in Billy Two Hats (1975)

Dezi Arnaz Jr. as Billy Two Hats, hoping to be rescued in Billy Two Hats (1975)

Review:

Well-done little film — certainly different enough to be effective — if you can get past Peck with a thick Irish accent.

David Huddleston plays the old-timer who lends the sheriff a hand, and comes to realize he doesn’t value friendship nearly as much as Deans.

Sian Barbara Allen is a mail-order bride, stuck on a lonely ranch far from her home, who sees a chance for a fresh start in Billy, not knowing of his outlaw past.

This marked one of just a handful of appearances for Dezi Arnaz Jr. — son of Dezi Arnaz and Lucille Ball — in a feature film. It was his only Western.

But he turns in a solid performance as a young man who knows the drawback of the color of his skin and values the relationship he has with Deans.

The story behind the film’s title, shared by Billy with Esther, is pretty clever too.

Jack Warden as Sheriff Henry Gifford, a lawman hellbent on bringing two ‘cheap’ outlaws to justice in Billy Two Hats (1975)

David Huddleston as Copeland, the trading post owner who helps the sheriff in Billy Two Hats (1975)

Directed by:
Ted Kotcheff

Cast:
Gregory Peck … Arch Deans
Dezi Arnaz Jr. … Billy Two Hats
Jack Warden … Sheriff Henry Gifford
David Huddleston … Copeland
Sian Barbara Allen … Esther Spencer
John Pearce … Spencer
Dawn Little Sky … Copeland’s squaw
W. Vincent St. Cyr … Indian leader
Henry Medicine Hat … Indian
Zev Berlinsky … Indian
Antony Scott … Indian
Vic Armstrong … Henry Sweets Bradley

Runtime: 99 min.

Sian Barbara Allen as Esther Spencer, a woman frightened by her lonely existence in Billy Two Hats (1975)

John Pearce as Spencer, the man who agrees to take Arch Deans to town for a handsome price in Billy Two Hats (1975)

Memorable lines:

Sheriff Henry Gifford to Billy: “I don’t like no kind of law breaker, breed. But the kind I hate worst are the cheap ones. Cheaper than you and your friends, they just don’t come.”

Arch Deans: “Ah, never look back, Billy, when you’re leaving somewhere you don’t want to see again. Remember what happened to Lot’s wife.”

Spencer, explaining why he hit his wife: “Once she gets excited, she can’t hardly speak. So I give her a whack. Shakes her brain box up a bit.”

Spencer of his wife: “Damn woman. Enough to give a man a sore head just listenin’ to her.”

W. Vincent St. Cyr as the leader of the band of Apache warriors in Billy Two Hats (1975)

Dawn Little Sky as Copeland’s squaw, a woman who sympathizes with Billy in Billy Two Hats (1975)

Spencer, pinned under a wagon with Arch by Apaches: “How many do you think there are?”
Arch: “Four, I think.:
Spencer: “How do you know there are four?”
Arch, wryly: “I counted their feet and divided by two.”

Spencer: “Well, I’m not going to stay under here like a bug under a stone. I’m going back and get some help. Indians don’t fight in the dark. It’s against their religion.”
Arch: “Now, did they seem all that religious to thee?”

Dezi Arnaz Jr. as Billy Two Hats, concerned about his injured friend in Billy Two Hats (1975)

Gregory Peck as Arch Deans, watching out for trouble from a travois in Billy Two Hats (1975)

Jack Warden as Sheriff Henry Gifford and David Huddleston as Copeland, satisfied a buffalo gun has helped slow the outlaws in Billy Two Hats (1975)

Dezi Arnaz Jr. as Billy Two Hats with an injured Arch Deans (Gregory Peck) in Billy Two Hats (1975)