Gary Cooper plays Wild Bill Hickok; James Ellison plays his good friend Buffalo Bill. The latter is just married and hoping to settle down as a hotel owner. Or at least his wife Louisa is hoping to settle him down by having him become a hotel owner.
The Indians might interfere with those plans. Supplied repeating rifles by gun manufacturers who no longer have Rebel and Union armies to supply, they go on the warpath against the whites who are encroaching on their land. The cavalry calls on Buffalo Bill for scouting help. Naturally, he can’t say no.
Meanwhile, Wild Bill is dispatched to deal with Chief Yellow Hand, who’s behind all the trouble. Both he and Calamity Jane (Jean Arthur) wind up prisoners; the Indians nearly torture Wild Bill to death. Calamity Jane saves him, but only by divulging which route a cavalry supply detail is taking.
The detail is ambushed, of course. Wild Bill blames Calamity, though she partly redeems herself by summoning help in the nick of time. More than Calamity, Wild Bill blames the gun runners, led by a man named Latimore. He’s the next man Wild Bill plans to deal with.
Review:
Great fun and the best of Cecil DeMille’s Westerns, mixing rousing action sequences — the Indian attack on fortified troops is superbly done — with the budding romance between Calamity and Wild Bill.
Typical of a Demille film, this Western takes in a lot of ground, beginning with Lincoln’s assassination, including Custer’s Last Stand and ending with the killing of Wild Bill Hickok. Don’t use it as a history lesson.
But Copper and Arthur are splendid together. She’s the bullwhip-wielding, stage driving woman who likes Wild Bill better than any other man and just wishes he would like her back. He’s the frontiersman wary of a woman’s effect on a man and reluctant to admit any feelings for Calamity, though he carries a photo of the two of them together in his watch.
And it all leads up to one of the best endings you’ll find in a Western.
Anthony Quinn has a bit part as an Indian who informs Buffalo Bill and Wild Bill of Custer’s demise. It marked just his second credited film role.
Directed by:
Cecil DeMille
Cast:
Gary Cooper … Wild Bill Hickok
Jean Arthur … Calamity Jane
James Ellison … Buffalo Bill Cody
Helen Burges … Louisa Cody
Charles Bickford … John Lattimer
Porter Hall … Jack McCall
Paul Harvey … Chief Yellow Hand
Victor Varconi … Painted Horse
John Miljan … Gen. Custer
Frank McGlynn Sr. … Lincoln
Purnell Pratt … Capt. Wood
Anthony Quinn … Cheyenne Indian
Runtime: 115 min.
Memorable lines:
Cooper, to a gambler who’s been cheating: “I’m calling the hand that’s in your hat.”
Calamity Jane, as Wild Bill wipes off her kiss: “Oh, you four-flushin’ mule, you ain’t wiping it off, you’re rubbing it in.”
Louisa Cody, upon hearing talk of her husband’s exploits: “Does he kill like that?”
Wild Bill: “Ain’t a corpse-maker like him, honey!”
Wild Bill to John Lattimer: “Yellow Hand has been farming with your farming tools.” He shows him the pelt of a skunk. “You know what this is?”
Lattimer: “Skunk.”
Wild Bill: “Yes.” Then he slaps Lattimer with it.
Lattimer: “I’m not armed, Mr. Hickok. I’m not armed.”
Will Bill: “I’ll give you three minutes to fix that. I’ll be waiting outside.
Lattimer: “I’m just leaving town.”
Wild Bill: “You’re not leaving town unless dead men can walk.”
Jack McCall: “I’m going to be a big man in this country.”
Calamity Jane: “You’ll have to grow about a foot and a half.”
Wild Bill: “Keep your hands off your guns or there will be more dead men here than the town can afford to bury.”
Calamity, holding a dead Wild Bill in her arms: “That’s one kiss you won’t wipe off.”
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