Wild Bill Hickok Rides (1942)

Bruce Cabot is Wild Bill Hickok, headed to the Powder River Valley to visit his best friend Ned Nolan and their adopted daughter Janey.

Turns out Ned owns a key piece of property in Powder River, one that controls the water supply for all the surrounding ranches.

Also headed to Powder River, Wyoming, is business tycoon Harry Farrel (Warren Williams) and lady gambler Belle Andrews (Constance Bennett).

Belle’s looking for a profitable place to open a new saloon / gambling house after her’s burned down in the Great Chicago Fire.

Farrel has a more sinister plan. He wants to gain control of the Nolan ranch and use it as base for a massive land grab that will give him control of the entire valley.

When Ned Nolan (Russell Simpson) refuses to sell, Farrel has his framed for murder. There’s also a $40,000 loan coming due on his property that might prove helpful in acquiring it.

Farrel assigns Belle the task of distracting Wild Bill. Problem is, she’s beginning to fall for the handsome galoot. And she’s tiring of Farrel’s chicanery.

Bruce Cabot as Wild Bill Hickok, meeting Belle Andrews on a train ride to Wyoming in Wild Bill Hickok Rides (1942)

Constance Bennett as Belle Andrews, surprised to learn she and Wild Bill have the same destination in Wild Bill Hickok Rides (1942)

Review:

A breezy, action-packed, entertaining early 1940s Western that opens with the Great Chicago Fire and closes with the destruction of a large dam and the resulting flood.

From a special effects standpoint, the former is much more impressive than the later. But there’s plenty of more typical Western action in between, including Wild Bill saving five screaming lasses bouncing around in a runaway buggy.

Bruce Cabot has a fun time as Wild Bill, even contributing to the film’s humor from time to time. Ward Bond plays a crooked sheriff working for Farrel.

Constance Bennett is actually top-billed here. A star of the 1930s, she married more often (five times) than she appeared in sound Westerns. At the time this was filmed, she was on husband number four, Gilbert Roland, a six-year union during which they had in two children.

Betty Brewer’s character, the adopted daughter Janey, was 18 when the film was made but plays a character who’s supposed to be much younger. She dotes over Wild Bill more than Belle. She had credited roles in just six films.

Betty Brewer as Janey, thrilled for a reunion with Wild Bill, one of her adopted dads in Wild Bill Hickok Rides (1942)

Russell Simpson as Ned Nolan, Wild Bill’s partner in a Powder Valley ranch in Wild Bill Hickok Rides (1942)

Directed by:
Ray Enright

Cast:
Constance Bennett … Belle Andrews
Bruce Cabot … Wild Bill Hickok
Warren William … Harry Farrel
Betty Brewer … Janey Nolan
Walter Catlett … Sylvester Twig
Ward Bond … Sheriff Edmunds
Howard Da Silva … Ringo
Frank Wilcox … Martin
Faye Emerson … Peg
Lucia Carroll … Flora
Julie Bishop … Violet
Russell Simpson … Ned Nolan
J. Farrell MacDonald … Judge Hathaway
Lillian Yarbo … Daisy
Cliff Clark … Kersey
Trevor Bardette … Sam Bass
Elliott Sullivan … Bart Hanna
Dick Botiller … Sager
Ray Teal … Beadle

Runtime: 81 min.

Warren William as Harry Farrel, determined to control the Powder River Valley in Wild Bill Hickok Rides (1942)

Ward Bond as Sheriff Edmunds, the crooked lawman working with Harry Farrel in Wild Bill Hickok Rides (1942)

Memorable lines:

Belle Andrews, to the three scantily clad gals sitting around her in the aftermath of the Great Chicago Fire: “When you girls were saving your hides, why didn’t you grab something to cover them with?”

Belle Andrews, after Wild Bill stops her runaway buckboard: “Saving our lives seems to be a habit for you, Mr. Hickok.”
Wild Bill Hickok: “Always a pleasure, Miss Andrews.”

Belle Andrews, assigned the task of distracting Wild Bill while Harry Farrel tries to cheat Ned Nolan: “Don’t worry. I’ll bring his guns back to you with ribbons on them … I’ve taken care of bigger men than him.”

Walter Catlett as Sylvester Twig, newspaperman and barber, surprised to learn Wild Bill is sitting in his barber’s chair in Wild Bill Hickok Rides (1942)

Howard da Silva as Ringo, the prosecuting attorney, questioning Janey during Ned Nolan’s trial in Wild Bill Hickok Rides (1942)

Harry Farrel, threatening Belle when she balks at his orders: “The boys on boot hill are likely to have a very pretty woman for company. And if you don’t know what I mean, boot hill is the local graveyard.”

Wild Bill Hickok to Sheriff Edmunds: “There’s a mister in front of my name. When you talk to me, use it.”

Daisy, Belle’s maid, as she holds a gun on harry Farrel: “Go ahead and shoot him, Miss Belle. He’d look mighty pretty with a lilly in his hand.”

Bruce Cabot as Wild Bill, about to break Ned Nolan (Russell Simpson) out of jail in Wild Bill Hickok Rides (1942)

Constance Bennett as Belle Andrews, smoke smudges on her face, watching her Chicago gambling house burn in Wild Bill Hickock Rides (1942)

Ray Teal as Beadle, a Farrel man whose testimony helps convict Ned Nolan in Wild Bill Hickok Rides (1942)

J. Farrell MacDonald as Judge Hathaway, sympathetic to Ned Nolan’s plight in Wild Bill Hickok Rides (1942)

Betty Brewer as Janey and Russell Simpson as Ned Nolan, listening to testimony at his trial in Wild Bill Hickok Rides (1942)

Bruce Cabot as Wild Bill Hickok, distracted by Belle Andrews (Constance Bennett), just as Farrel intended, in Wild Bill Hickok Rides (1942)