Bill Williams is Templeton Houston, son of the late Sam Houston and a prosecutor in the state of Texas.
His latest case: the murder of an Indian agent. The accused: Chief Buffalo Horn, a longtime friend and father of pretty Ruth Red Hawk (Gloria Talbott), who hoped to marry Houston.
The chief swears he didn’t commit the crime. He even refuses to leave the Fort Smith jail when braves try to set him free.
But all the evidence says otherwise, including a murder weapon, a motive, an eyewitness and a family that won’t back up the chief’s alibi.
And so the chief is found guilty and sentenced to hang.
But his daughter won’t give up proving his innocence and starts by demonstrating that the eyewitness is nearly blind.
And so Templeton Houston decides to examine the case again, and this time, all signs point to those who would benefit from an Indian war, the very same people who have been promising to make him governor if he wins the case.
Bill Williams as Temple Houston, a prosecutor who finds himself in the middle of a shoot-out in Oklahoma Territory (1960)
Ted de Corsia as Chief Buffalo Horn, in jail and about to stand trial for murder in Oklahoma Territory (1960)
Review:
A far-fetched plot, a silly courtroom ending and a second-rate cast add up to a second-rate Western. Walter Baldwin, 71 at the time, is particularly wooden as the newspaperman who helps Temple.
Bill Williams had starred as Kit Carson in TV series “The Adventures of Kit Carson” from 1951 to 1955, but found that success difficult to duplicate in subsequent TV starring roles. Gloria Talbott makes for a very shapely Indian maiden, but is asked to deliver some pretty awful dialogue.
This was one of nine low-budget Western quickies Edward L. Cahn churned out between 1960 and 1961, and those marked only half of his output as director during those two years.
Gloria Talbott as Ruth Red Hawk, anxiously awaiting the verdict in Buffalo Horn’s trial in Oklahoma Territory (1960)
Walter Sande as Marshal Pete Rossly, working with Temple Houston to ensure justice in the town of Fort Smith in Oklahoma Territory (1960)
Directed by:
Edward L. Cahn
Cast
Bill Williams … Temple Houston
Gloria Talbott … Ruth Red Hawk
Ted de Corsia … Chief Buffalo Horn
Grant Richards … Bigelow
Walter Sande … Marshal Pete Rosslyn
X. Brands … Running Cloud
Walter Baldwin … Ward Harlan
Grandon Rhodes … George Blackwell
John Cliff … Larkin
Runtime: 67 min.
Grant Richards as Bigelow, hoping to start an Indian uprising to secure Cherokee land for the railroad in Oklahoma Territory (1960)
John Cliff as Larkin, Bigelow’s hired gun and the man who really killed the Indian agent in Oklahoma Territory (1960)
Memorable lines:
Temple to Buffalo Horn: “Buffalo Horn, we’ve known each other for a long time. I never expected lies from you.”
Buffalo Horn: “Yes, Temple, we have known each other a very long time. That is why you should believe me.”
Ruth Red Hawk: “Temple, all you can see are your facts. Temple, you are no longer a man because you’ve forgotten how to think with your heart.”
Ruth Red Hawk: “I always knew you were ambitious, Temple. But I never thought you’d climb to the governor’s chair over the dead body of my father.”
Walter Baldwin as newspaperman Ward Harlan watching a courtroom confrontation in Oklahoma Territory (1960)
Charles Stevens as Tom Badger, pointing out the guilty party for Temple Houston (Bill Williams) in Oklahoma Territory (1960)
Marshal Rosslyn: “How about Tom Badger, our eyewitness.”
Ruth Red Hawk: “Tom Badger? Your eyewitness? Well, he’s drunk so much poison liquor he has the eyesight of a bat in bright daylight.”
Chief Buffalo Horn: “The ways of the white man are strange. I try to understand them, but … You save me from the posse, then you put me in jail. You stop the men from hanging me, then you have me brought to trial and sentenced to hang. But, before the sentence can be carried out, you free me from jail. Very strange, the ways of the white man.”
Grant Richards as Bigelow and Grandon Rhodes as George Blackwell, conspiring to make Temple governor in exchange for a few favors in Oklahoma Territory (1960)
X Brands as Running Cloud, Buffalo Horn’s son, promising war if his father is put to death in Oklahoma Territory (1960)
Thomas Browne Henry as Judge Parker, being asked to move up the chief’s execution date in Oklahoma Territory (1960)
Gloria Talbott as Ruth Red Hawk being asked to identify a murder weapon by Temple Houston (Bill Williams) in Oklahoma Territory (1960)
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