The Broken Star | |
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Directed by | Lesley Selander |
Written by | John C. Higgins |
Produced by | Howard W. Koch |
Starring | Howard Duff Lita Baron Bill Williams Douglas Fowley Henry Calvin Addison Richards Joel Ashley John Pickard |
Cinematography | William Margulies |
Edited by | John F. Schreyer |
Music by | Paul Dunlap |
Production company | Bel-Air Productions |
Distributed by | United Artists |
Release date |
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Running time | 82 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
The Broken Star is a 1956 American Western film directed by Lesley Selander and written by John C. Higgins. The film stars Howard Duff, Lita Baron, Bill Williams, Douglas Fowley, Henry Calvin, Addison Richards, Joel Ashley and John Pickard. The film was released in April 1956, by United Artists. [1] [2]
A deputy marshall (Smeed) kills a ranch hand and steals a sack of gold. He claims it was a fair fight but the marshal of Arizona's Southern Territory (Forrester) has his doubts. Unknown to Smeed, there was a witness to the murder (Nachez). While the investigation unfolds, Smeed tries to cover up the evidence and eliminate people who can implicate him.
Another deputy (Gentry), who has always admired Smeed, defends him to his girlfriend (Alvarado) but is astonished when Alvarado translates the written eyewitness account (from the Spanish) by Nachez. Smeed kidnaps Nachez, taking him to a mine, where he kills him and hides the body. Gentry shows up at the mine but is over-powered by Smeed, tied up, and left to be buried in a cave-in caused by Smeed setting a charge.
The marshal arrives with his posse and hunts down Smeed inside the mine, using an alternate entry. In the meantime, Gentry, who survives the cave-in, unties himself and joins the hunt. The posse corners Smeed, who draws first, and is killed by Gentry. In the closing scene, Gentry (with his new bride, Alvarado), is presented with a new badge by Forrester and congratulated for being appointed to the position of marshal of Arizona's Northern Territory.
The Dalton Gang was a group of outlaws in the American Old West during 1890–1892. It was also known as The Dalton Brothers because four of its members were brothers. The gang specialized in bank and train robberies. During an attempted double bank robbery in Coffeyville, Kansas in 1892, two of the brothers and two other gang members were killed; Emmett Dalton survived, was captured, and later pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, although he later asserted that he never fired a shot during the robbery. He was paroled after serving 14 years in prison.
The Wild Bunch, also known as the Doolin–Dalton Gang, or the Oklahombres, were a gang of American outlaws based in the Indian Territory in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. They were active in Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma Territory during the 1890s—robbing banks and stores, holding up trains, and killing lawmen. They were also known as The Oklahoma Long Riders because of the long dusters that they wore.
Virgil Walter Earp was both deputy U.S. Marshal and Tombstone, Arizona, City Marshal when he led his younger brothers Wyatt and Morgan, and Doc Holliday, in a confrontation with outlaw Cowboys at the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral on October 26, 1881. They killed brothers Tom and Frank McLaury and Billy Clanton. All three Earp brothers had been the target of repeated death threats made by the Cowboys who were upset by the Earps' interference in their illegal activities. All four lawmen were charged with murder by Ike Clanton, who had run from the gunfight. During a month-long preliminary hearing, Judge Wells Spicer exonerated the men, concluding they had been performing their duty.
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Howard Green Duff was an American actor.
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William Matthew Tilghman Jr. was a career lawman, gunfighter, and politician in Kansas and Oklahoma during the late 19th century. Tilghman was a Dodge City city marshal in the early 1880s and played a role in the Kansas County Seat Wars. In 1889 he moved to Oklahoma where he acquired several properties during a series of land rushes. While serving as a Deputy U.S. Marshal in Oklahoma, he gained recognition for capturing the notorious outlaw Bill Doolin and helping to track and kill the other members of Doolin's gang, which made him famous as one of Oklahoma's "Three Guardsmen".
The Earp Vendetta Ride was a deadly search by a federal posse led by Deputy U.S. Marshal Wyatt Earp for a loose confederation of outlaw "Cowboys" they believed had ambushed his brothers Virgil and Morgan Earp, maiming the former and killing the latter. The two Earp brothers had been attacked in retaliation for the deaths of three Cowboys in the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral on October 26, 1881. From March 20 to April 15, 1882, the federal posse searched southeast Cochise County, Arizona Territory for the men they believed were responsible for the attacks on Virgil and Morgan. Several suspects had been identified and were charged, but were soon released by the court, owing in some cases to legal technicalities and in others to the strength of alibis provided by Cowboy confederates. Wyatt subsequently persued the suspecs with a federal warrant.
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Robert Havlin Paul was a law enforcement officer in the American Southwest for more than 30 years. He was sheriff of Pima County, Arizona Territory, from April 1881 to 1886. He was also a friend of Deputy U.S. Marshall Virgil Earp and his brother Wyatt Earp. At 6 feet 6 inches (1.98 m) and 240 pounds (110 kg), he was described as "larger than life". Others described him as "powerful, fearless and very lucky".
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