Bill Bixby is Sam Lowell, a socialite from Boston who agreed to take the blame for impregnating a woman to spare his favorite uncle a scandal.
But his family disowned him as a result, and he finds himself penninless in Wyoming, forced to resort to trickery to win bets so he can earn enough to eat and drink.
Turns out he’s very good at outwitting unsuspecting betters, and cowboy George Dunning falls for Sam’s ploys more than once. Soon the two are friends.
After a night of drunken debaucery, Dunning explains why he’s in Wyoming. He’s a paid gun, hired by leading ranchers in Wyoming along with many like himself.
Those ranchers plan to take their small army of hired guns on an invasion neighboring Johnson County to kill off small ranchers, men they accuse of rustling.
Dunning wants no part of what they’re planning. He would like to find a way to make sure the rich cattlemen are brought to justice.
Sam Lowell comes up with plan that might do that and line his pockets at the same time.
Pretending to be sympathetic to the plight of the cattle kings, he convinces them to take him along on the expedition to document their heroic deeds and report them to a newspaper back East.
When the invasion takes a detour to deal with Nate Champion, one of their top targets, Lowell uses it as an opportunity to slip a message to Johnson County authorities about the cattlemen’s plans.
Not only is their surprise attack ruined, the cattlemen soon find themselves underseige by the citizens of Johnson County, who form their own army to deal with the invaders.
Bill Bixby as Sam Lowelll, about to embark on a dangerous scheme in The Invasion of Johnson County (1976)
Review:
This telefilm deals with the same historic events dealt with in 1980’s “Heaven’s Gate.” But the films couldn’t be more different in tone and focus.
In the latter, Michael Cimino makes sure we get to know some of the individuals on the cattlemen’s death list.
This movie could care less about those folks. It’s more interested in telling a light-hearted buddy tale with Bixby’s Sam Lowell and Bo Hopkins George Dunning as the buddies.
So instead of worrying about the fate of the folks on the hit list, viewers are supposed to be concerned about whether Bixby’s ruse will be discovered and whether Dunning will be able to avoid involvement with what amounts to a lynch mob.
When it comes to avoiding detection, Bixby’s character is as smooth-talking as they come. And he might be something of a shyster, but he’s a good-hearted shyster. Once the invasion is stalled, he switches his energy to making sure the cattlemen aren’t harmed.
Bo Hopkins as George Dunning, a hired gun disgusted by the job he’s been hired to do in The Invasion of Johnson County (1976)
Directed by:
Jerry Jameson
Cast:
Bill Bixby … Sam Lowell
Bo Hopkins … George Dunning
John Hillerman … Maj. Walcott
Billy Green Bush … Frank Canton
Stephen Elliott … Col. Van Horn
Lee de Broux … Richard Allen
M. Emmet Walsh … Irvine
Mills Watson … Sheriff Angus
Alan Fudge … Teschmacher
Luke Askew … Deputy Brooks
Runtime: 100 min.
John Hillerman as Maj. Walcott, leader of the effort to eradicate the small ranchers in The Invasion of Johnson County (1976)
Memorable lines:
Saw Lowell: “You’d kill a man for four dollars?”
George Dunning: “I know some who’d kill a man for four cents if he wasn’t pure in heart.”
George Dunning to poker player: “Put the gun down and spread you hand like the man said. Elsewise, I’m gonna have to spread your brain, assuming you got any.”
Maj. Walcott: “Do you see anything?”
Member of his party: “Our wagons.”
Maj. Walcott: “Are they here?”
Same man: “That’s right, major. They’re being capture along with our dynamite and everything else. How impregnable do you think these buildings would be to that?”
Maj. Walcott: “They wouldn’t dare.”
Same man: “Why not? We would.”
Stephen Elliott as Col. Van Horn, a cavalry commander reluctant to get involved in The Invasion of Johnson County (1976)
){kind=link}