Wild Bill Hickok (film)

Wild Bill Hickok is a 1923 American Western silent film directed by Clifford Smith and starring William S. Hart, Ethel Grey Terry, Kathleen O'Connor, James Farley, Jack Gardner, Carl Gerard, and William Dyer. It was written by William S. Hart and J.G. Hawks. The film was released on November 18, 1923, by Paramount Pictures.[1][2] It was the first film to depict Wyatt Earp, although in a very brief role, and the only film made before he died in 1929 that included his character, until Law and Order was released in 1932.[3][4] A print of the film exists in the Museum of Modern Art film archive.[5]

Wild Bill Hickok
Lobby card
Directed byClifford Smith
Produced byAdolph Zukor
William S. Hart
Written byWilliam S. Hart
J.G. Hawks
StarringWilliam S. Hart
Ethel Grey Terry
Kathleen O'Connor
James Farley
Jack Gardner
Carl Gerard
William Dyer
CinematographyArthur Reeves
Dwight Warren
Production
company
Famous Players-Lasky Corporation
Distributed byParamount Pictures
Release date
  • November 18, 1923 (1923-11-18)
Running time
70 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageSilent (English intertitles)

Plot

After the America Civil War ends, key military and government leaders meet in Washington D.C. Gunfighter Wild Bill Hickok (William Hart) goes to Dodge City where he hangs up his gun belt and takes over a card table. Local lawmen are unable to rid the town of lawless cowboys. Hickok's arch-enemy and gang leader Jack McQueen (Jim Farley) accuses Hickok of losing his nerve. Hickok visits General Custer and retrieves his sword, taking up his role as a fighter for what is right.

He returns to Dodge City and enlists the help of friends Wyatt Earp, Calamity Jane, Bat Masterson, Doc Holliday, Charlie Bassett, Luke Short and Bill Tilghman to chase the bad guys out of town. Hickcok falls for the wife of George Hamilton (Carl Gerard). Pursued for his crimes, McQueen leaves town and gets away; follows him and kills him. Hickok departs Dodge City in sorrow since the woman he loved was already married.[4]

Characters
Movie still of Bert Lindley as Wyatt Earp

William S. Hart, who played Wild Bill Hickok, and Wyatt Earp were best friends. Earp wanted Hart's help to make a movie that would improve what the public thought about him and his brothers. Based on what the press wrote about his actions at the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral and his job as a referee of the Fitzsimmons vs. Sharkey boxing match, Earp had a dubious reputation.[6] Earp wrote Hart in July 1925: "I am sure that if the story were exploited on the screen by you, it would do much towards setting me right before the public which has always been fed up with lies about me."[7][8]

Bert Lindley playing Wyatt Earp appeared very briefly in a crowd scene.[9]:259 This was the first movie that depicted Wyatt Earp, and the only one that included his character before he died in 1929. Hollywood didn't make another film that referenced his character until Law and Order in 1932.[3][7]

Cast

Marketing

The film premiered in New York city on November 18, two weeks before its public release on December 3, 1923.[4]

Despite his very small role, Earp was prominently featured in the promotional copy as "Deputy Sheriff to Bat Masterson of Dodge City, known as one of the three greatest gun-men that ever lived, along with Bat Masterson and 'Wild Bill' Hickok... Back in the days when the West was young and wild, 'Wild Bill' fought and loved and adventured with such famous frontiersmen as Bat Masterson and Wyatt Earp."[10] In reality, Earp was a virtually unknown assistant marshal in Dodge City when Wild Bill Hickok was murdered in 1876.[11]

Earp served as a technical adviser on the film.[11] Because the role of Earp's character in the movie is so small, Bert Lindley is not listed on some descriptions of the movie and this portrayal of Earp is often overlooked. Alan Barra, author of Inventing Wyatt Earp: His Life and Many Legends, overlooked this movie in his biography.[11]

Hart thought a great deal of Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson, and after Masterson's death in 1921, dedicated his next film, Wild Bill Hickok to Masterson.[7]

Reception

The film was not well received.[4] One reviewer described it as "rather dull and tedious."[12] The film's poor box office draw helped end Hart's already fading star.[10]

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References
  1. "Wild-Bill-Hickok - Trailer - Cast - Showtimes - NYTimes.com". nytimes.com. Retrieved 2 February 2015.
  2. "Wild Bill Hickok". afi.com. Retrieved 2 February 2015.
  3. Chennault, Nicholas (29 October 2014). "Wyatt Earp on Film". Great Western Movies. Retrieved 31 October 2016.
  4. Hornung, Chuck (2016-04-28). Wyatt Earp's Cow-Boy Campaign: The Bloody Restoration of Law and Order Along the Mexican Border, 1882. McFarland. p. 259. ISBN 9781476663449. Retrieved 30 October 2016.
  5. "Wild Bill Hickok". silentera.com. Retrieved 2 February 2015.
  6. Barra, Alan (November 26, 1995). "Backtalk: When Referee Wyatt Earp Laid Down the Law". The New York Times. Retrieved April 23, 2013.
  7. Bell, Bob Boze (September 29, 2015). "The untold story of how Wyatt Earp got ripped off by outlaws in the last outlaw town". True West. Retrieved November 5, 2015.
  8. Murray, Tom G. (June 1968). "Wyatt Earp's Letters to Bill Hart". SCVHistory.com. True West. Retrieved April 16, 2013.
  9. "Hutton Clears Up Wyatt Earp Movie Actor Provinance". January 26, 2012. Archived from the original on October 5, 2013. Retrieved May 3, 2013.
  10. Andrew, Paul (May 7, 2012). "Wyatt Earp's Last Film". True West Magazine. Archived from the original on May 25, 2012. Retrieved May 3, 2013.
  11. Barra, Alan. "Mything In Action". Metroactive. Retrieved May 3, 2013.
  12. Wild Bill Hickok at AllMovie
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