The Daughters of Joshua Cabe (1972)

Buddy Ebsen is Joshua Cabe, a man who’s dedicated his life to homesteading a valley in Wyoming.

New homestead laws threaten to take most of that valley away, if Cabe can’t get his three daughters to return from the East to file on the land and live there for a year.

Worse yet, there’s a rival homesteadeer named Amos Wetherall, who has four sons. And the Wetherall family is just waiting to move into Cabe’s valley.

So Cabe heads to St. Louis to find those daughters. But he discovers one in a convent and learns the other two are married and living in New York.

So he improvises, setting about finding three new daughters.

He winds up recruiting a prostitute (Lesley Ann Warren), a prison inmate (Karen Valentine) and a pick-pocket (Sandra Dee).

But will they adjust to life in the West? And what will happen if the Wetherall clan finds out about Cabe’s counterfeit daughters.

Review:

The tagline for the film: Joshua Cabe needed three daughters, fast. What he got were three fast daughters! .

The film isn’t as bawdy as that might imply. But it;s a fairly entertaining, mostly predictable TV Western, with a broad dash of humor courtesy of the three quarreling sisters

Cabe and partner Jack Elam manage to fight their way out of jams pretty darn easy, considering their age.

Among the daughters, Valentine, in particular, is a hoot. Of course, she’s the only one of the three who’s used to using a six-shooter.

Two more “daughters” movies would follow — “The Daughters of Joshua Cabe Return” in 1975 and “The New Daughters of Joshua Cabe” (1976).

Directed by:
Philip Leacock

Cast:
Buddy Ebsen … Joshua Cabe
Jack Elam … Bitterroot
Karen Valentine … Charity
Lesley Ann Warren … Mae
Sandra Dee … Ada
Leif Erickson … Amos Wetherall
Don Stroud … Blue Wetherall
Michael Anderson Jr. … Cole Wetherall
Paul Koslo … Deke Wetherall
Ron Sobie … Arnie
Henry Jones … Codge Collier

Runtime: 73 min.

Memorable lines:

Convert sister: “I didn’t expect to be asked to supply you with daughters.”
Joshua Cabe: “I only need two. I already found one.”
Sister: “Heaven knows, there are many unfortunate girls in the world in need of a home.”
Joshua: “No blooded stock. I only want scrubs. No cause to fret over scrubs.”

Charity, explaining to Ada how remote their new home will be: “I hear tell they have Indians who try to scalp you.”
Joshua: “Our Indians only scalp mouthy women.”

Charity, inquiring why Bitterroot thinks he’s too old to marry at age 53: “Well, I read where a man is given three score and 10.”
Bitterroot: “And this country makes a man fight for every day of it. You get older faster.”

Amos Wetherall: “Man draws a gun to use, not to scare a pilgrim.”