The end of the picture really made me think about how this Western turned the traditional good guy/bad guy story on it's head, ending in the death of the hero in a virtually non-climactic finale with the saving posse arriving just a little too late. It's probably how a lot of real life stories ended in the old West, ignominiously and largely forgotten to history. Up till then, the film was strangely devoid of any real action, other than Billy's (Arch Hall, Jr.) confrontations with members of the Sam Bass gang. Even Wild Bill Hickok knew better, but you know, I thought he might have been right around the corner to make the save. Oh well.
I had the feeling the film was stretching for legitimacy with it's liberal name dropping of true Western legends like Texas John Slaughter, Wyatt Earp, Clay Allison, Red Cloud and Crazy Horse. None of them ever showed up, but you wondered if they would. Sam Bass (Rex Marlow) did, but again, the movie had him leading a lynch mob instead of facing down Billy on a dusty street. He didn't care much for Psalm 22 either.
Hey, I got a kick out of the sign in Poker Kate's saloon - 'Gentlemen Do Not Spit On Floors'. The punishment couldn't be worse than death.
Not really an altogether bad flick as the limited reviews on this board suggest. The ballad of Billy May even gave the story some additional atmosphere as it popped up from time to time in synch with the story. At least it's nowhere near as campy awful as the Arch Hall (Sr. and Jr. both) flick from 1962 - this one doesn't make you go "Eegah"!
I had the feeling the film was stretching for legitimacy with it's liberal name dropping of true Western legends like Texas John Slaughter, Wyatt Earp, Clay Allison, Red Cloud and Crazy Horse. None of them ever showed up, but you wondered if they would. Sam Bass (Rex Marlow) did, but again, the movie had him leading a lynch mob instead of facing down Billy on a dusty street. He didn't care much for Psalm 22 either.
Hey, I got a kick out of the sign in Poker Kate's saloon - 'Gentlemen Do Not Spit On Floors'. The punishment couldn't be worse than death.
Not really an altogether bad flick as the limited reviews on this board suggest. The ballad of Billy May even gave the story some additional atmosphere as it popped up from time to time in synch with the story. At least it's nowhere near as campy awful as the Arch Hall (Sr. and Jr. both) flick from 1962 - this one doesn't make you go "Eegah"!