| The Kansan | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | George Archainbaud |
| Written by |
|
| Produced by |
|
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Russell Harlan |
| Edited by | Carroll Lewis |
| Music by | Gerard Carbonara |
Production company | Harry Sherman Productions |
| Distributed by | United Artists |
Release date |
|
Running time | 79 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
The Kansan is a 1943 Western film directed by George Archainbaud. The film is also known as Wagon Wheels in the United Kingdom.
In the late 1800s, the small town of Broken Lance in Kansas was also connected to the Pacific Railroad. John Bonniwell, a sniper and Civil War veteran en route to a gold mine in Oregon, is in transit when he thwarts a Jesse James gang raid on the local bank. He kills three gang members and drives the others to flight, while himself, wounded by gunfire, ends up in the hospital. There, he is told that bank president Steve Barat had taken over the hospital costs for him. At the same time, he learns that Barat has gotten him elected sheriff of Broken Lance. John, who does not care about such a post, wants to cancel, but Eleanor Sager, who took care of him carefully in the hospital, changes his mind. The young woman is the owner of the only hotel in town. However, he quickly realizes that Steve Barat expects him to always act in his own way and to regard him as a compliant object of his machinations. In Broken Lance, Barat acts like its uncrowned king.
When he messes with Barat and makes it clear to him that he is unwilling to cover his dirty actions as an official, he realizes that this can amount to a life and death fight. The first trouble is already on the horizon when Barat charges an arbitrarily exorbitant fee, which the rancher John Wagoner is supposed to pay for driving his cattle across the banker's land. Although the herd owner has refused to pay, John has no intention of arresting him, as Barat requested.
When the Hatton gang raids town and starts a brawl in the Golden Prairie saloon, John arrests the gang members for causing disturbance. The next morning, however, they are free again, Barat has provided the bail. Shortly thereafter, Tom Wagoner is dead, the banker has hired the gang to murder him. While John is still investigating the circumstances that led to Tom's death, Barat fabricates a robbery on his own bank and persuades his brother Jeff to support him in his plan to discredit John. After John's return from the scene, he is informed of the mysterious bank robbery. At Eleanor's hotel, he meets Jeff with a suitcase and instinctively knows that something is wrong. However, he has no handle since Eleanor gives Jeff an alibi. When Eleanor confesses to Jeff that she loves John, Jeff gives himself a jerk and brings the suitcase with the money to John and admits his brother's plan. He does this because he genuinely loves Eleanor. When Steve finds out, he knows that the sheriff now has a real handle on him. However, he does not yet know that a telegram is on the way to Bonniwell stating that he has been charged with large-scale theft by the authorities in New York and that he has fled his arrest. Again, he turns to Gil Hatton, the head of the Hatton gang, who is supposed to raid the city with his gang and kill John. When Jeff learns of this plan, he issues a warning to John. John knows that the gang is using a certain bridge to get into town and has it undermined. His plan works, a large part of the gang is buried by the bursting bridge parts – Jeff is also killed in this action.
With the rest of the gang, who have entered the city by another route, a fierce battle ensues that ends with the death of their leader and finally breaks the gang's morale. John has yet to recover from his numerous wounds in the hospital while Barat has been extradited and awaits his punishment. When John hears music outside and wants to know from Eleanor what is being celebrated, she replies with a smile, in addition to the peace in Broken Lance, the people also celebrated their engagement.
Dodge City is a 1939 American Western film directed by Michael Curtiz and starring Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, and Ann Sheridan. Based on a story by Robert Buckner, the film is about a Texas cattle agent who witnesses the brutal lawlessness of Dodge City, Kansas and takes the job of sheriff to clean the town up. Filmed in Technicolor, Dodge City was one of the highest-grossing films of the year. This was the 5th of 8 movies that de Havilland and Flynn appeared in together.
The League of Gentlemen is a 1960 British heist action comedy film directed by Basil Dearden and starring Jack Hawkins, Nigel Patrick, Roger Livesey and Richard Attenborough. It is based on John Boland's 1958 novel of the same name, and features a screenplay written by Bryan Forbes, who also co-starred in the film.
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.
Backlash is a 1956 American western film directed by John Sturges and starring Richard Widmark, Donna Reed and William Campbell. It was produced and distributed by Universal Pictures.
Robbery is a 1967 British crime film directed by Peter Yates and starring Stanley Baker, Joanna Pettet and James Booth. The story is a heavily fictionalised version of the 1963 Great Train Robbery. The film was produced by Stanley Baker and Michael Deeley, for Baker's company Oakhurst Productions.
Do Butlers Burgle Banks? is a novel by P. G. Wodehouse, first published in the United States on 5 August 1968 by Simon & Schuster, Inc., New York, and in the United Kingdom on 19 September 1968 by Barrie & Jenkins, London.
Raymond William Hatton was an American film actor who appeared in almost 500 motion pictures.
Wild Rebels is a 1967 film directed by William Grefe and starring Steve Alaimo as Rod Tillman, a stock car driver who goes undercover as the wheelman for a motorcycle gang. The tagline for the film was "They live for kicks... love for kicks... kill for kicks".
Too Many Crooks is a 1959 British black comedy film directed by Mario Zampi and starring Terry-Thomas, George Cole, Brenda De Banzie, Sidney James, Bernard Bresslaw and Vera Day. It was written by Michael Pertwee and Christiane Rochefort from a story by Jean Nery.
The Great Northfield, Minnesota Raid is a 1972 American Western film about the James-Younger Gang distributed by Universal Pictures. It was written and directed by Philip Kaufman in a cinéma vérité style and starring Cliff Robertson. The film purports to recreate the James-Younger Gang's most infamous escapade, the September 7, 1876, robbery of "the biggest bank west of the Mississippi", in Northfield, Minnesota.
The Baker Street robbery was the burglary of safety deposit boxes at the Baker Street branch of Lloyds Bank in London, on the night of 11 September 1971. A gang tunnelled 40 feet (12 m) from a rented shop two doors away to come up through the floor of the vault. The value of the property stolen is unknown, but is likely to have been between £1.25 million and £3 million; only £231,000 was recovered by the police.
Wyoming Renegades is a 1955 American Western film directed by Fred F. Sears and starring Philip Carey, Gene Evans and Martha Hyer.
Law Men is a 1944 American Western film directed by Lambert Hillyer, and released by Monogram Pictures. This is the eighth film in the "Marshal Nevada Jack McKenzie" series, and stars Johnny Mack Brown as Jack McKenzie and Raymond Hatton as his sidekick Sandy Hopkins, with Jan Wiley, Kirby Grant and Robert Frazer.
No Safety Ahead is a 1959 British film directed by Max Varnel and starring James Kenney and Susan Beaumont. It was written By Robert Hirst and produced by The Danzigers.
Big Brother is a 1923 American silent drama film directed by Allan Dwan and written by Rex Beach and Paul Sloane. The film stars Tom Moore, Edith Roberts, Raymond Hatton, Joe King, Mickey Bennett, Charles Henderson, and Paul Panzer. The film was released on December 23, 1923, by Paramount Pictures.
In April 2015, an underground safe deposit facility in Hatton Garden, London, owned by Hatton Garden Safe Deposit Ltd., was burgled.
Cheyenne Wildcat is a 1944 American Western film directed by Lesley Selander and one of the 23 Republic Pictures Red Ryder features. The film, starring veteran western actor, Wild Bill Elliott as Red Ryder, was based on the comic strip "Red Ryder" created by Fred Harman (1938–1964), and licensed through a special arrangement with Stephen Slesinger. Costarring as Little Beaver, was actor Robert Blake.
Gunslingers is a 1950 American western film written by Adele Buffington and directed by Wallace W. Fox. It stars Whip Wilson, Andy Clyde, and Reno Browne.
Brian Henry Reader was a British gangster, who has been described as "one of the busiest crooks in the British underworld", and a "ringleader" of the Hatton Garden safe deposit burglary in 2015.
