Plot
After being taken prisoner by Crazy Knife and a band of Cheyenne warriors, Wild Bill Hickok's life is spared by Chief Black Kettle, but when he is set free, it is without his horse and his boots.
Calamity Jane, driving a stagecoach, gives Hickok a ride back to the fort, where Lt. Stiles of the Army seems indifferent to Hickok's warning that the Cheyenne are now armed with repeating rifles. At the saloon, where Wild Bill renews an acquaintance with old friend Buffalo Bill, he spots a gambler named Lattimer cheating at poker and deals with him accordingly.
Crazy Knife and his men take Calamity Jane captive, and Lattimer turns out to be the one supplying them with the rifles. Hickok manages to save Jane, who loves him, and the fort ends up with a new officer in command, General Custer.
William Frederick Cody, known as Buffalo Bill, was an American soldier, bison hunter, and showman. He was born in Le Claire, Iowa Territory, but he lived for several years in his father's hometown in modern-day Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, before the family returned to the Midwest and settled in the Kansas Territory.
James Butler Hickok, better known as "Wild Bill" Hickok, was a folk hero of the American Old West known for his life on the frontier as a soldier, scout, lawman, cattle rustler, gunslinger, gambler, showman, and actor, and for his involvement in many famous gunfights. He earned a great deal of notoriety in his own time, much of it bolstered by the many outlandish and often fabricated tales he told about himself. Some contemporaneous reports of his exploits are known to be fictitious, but they remain the basis of much of his fame and reputation.
Little Big Man is a 1970 American Western film directed by Arthur Penn and based on the 1964 novel Little Big Man by Thomas Berger. While broadly categorized as a western, or an epic, the film encompasses several literary/film genres, including comedy, drama and adventure. The film follows the life of a white man who was raised by members of the Cheyenne nation during the 19th century and then attempts to reintegrate with American pioneer society. The film is a parody of the Western film genre, contrasting the lives of white settlers and Native Americans throughout the progression of the boy's life. It stars Dustin Hoffman, Chief Dan George, Faye Dunaway, Martin Balsam, Jeff Corey and Richard Mulligan.
The Battle of Warbonnet Creek was a skirmish characterized by a duel between "Buffalo Bill" Cody and a young Cheyenne warrior named Heova'ehe or Yellow Hair. The engagement is often referred to as the First Scalp for Custer. It occurred July 17, 1876, in Sioux County in northwestern Nebraska.
Charles H. "Colorado Charlie" Utter was a figure of the American Wild West, best known as a great friend and companion of Wild Bill Hickok. He was also friends with Calamity Jane.
Buffalo Girls is a 1990 novel written by American author Larry McMurtry about Calamity Jane. It is written in the novel prose style mixed with a series of letters from Calamity Jane to her daughter. In her letters, Calamity describes herself as being a drunken hellraiser but never an outlaw. Her letters also describe her larger-than-life cohorts.
The Plainsman is a 1936 American Western film directed by Cecil B. DeMille and starring Gary Cooper and Jean Arthur. The film presents a highly fictionalized account of the adventures and relationships between Wild Bill Hickok, Calamity Jane, Buffalo Bill Cody, and General George Custer, with a gun-runner named Lattimer as the main villain. The film is notorious for mixing timelines and even has an opening scene with Abraham Lincoln setting the stage for Hickok's adventures. Anthony Quinn has an early acting role as an Indian. A remake using the same title was released in 1966.
Richard Clarke, born in Yorkshire, England, was a United States frontiersman, Pony Express rider, actor, and armed forces member who was widely considered by the American public to be the original inspiration for Deadwood Dick.
Fort Hays, originally named Fort Fletcher, was a United States Army fort near Hays, Kansas. Active from 1865 to 1889 it was an important frontier post during the American Indian Wars of the late 19th century. Reopened as a historical park in 1929, it is now operated by the Kansas Historical Society as the Fort Hays State Historic Site.
Harry Guy Stockwell was an American actor who appeared in nearly 30 movies and 250 television series episodes.
Wild West shows were traveling vaudeville performances in the United States and Europe that existed around 1870–1920. The shows began as theatrical stage productions and evolved into open-air shows that depicted romanticized stereotypes of cowboys, Plains Indians, army scouts, outlaws, and wild animals that existed in the American West. While some of the storylines and characters were based on historical events, others were fictional or sensationalized.
Custer's Last Stand is a 1936 American film serial based on the historical Custer's Last Stand at the Little Bighorn River. It was directed by Elmer Clifton, and starred Rex Lease, William Farnum and Jack Mulhall. It was produced by the Poverty Row studio Stage & Screen Productions, which went bust shortly afterwards as a victim of the Great Depression. This serial stars many famous and popular B-Western actors as well as silent serial star Helen Gibson playing Calamity Jane, Frank McGlynn Jr. as General Custer, and Allen Greer as Wild Bill Hickok.
Buffalo Bill is a 1944 American Western film about the life of the frontiersman Buffalo Bill Cody, directed by William A. Wellman and starring Joel McCrea and Maureen O'Hara with Linda Darnell, Thomas Mitchell, Edgar Buchanan and Anthony Quinn in supporting roles.
Wild Bill is a 1995 American acid Western film about the last days of legendary lawman Wild Bill Hickok. The film was written and directed by Walter Hill, and based on the 1978 stage play Fathers and Sons by Thomas Babe and the 1986 novel Deadwood by Pete Dexter. It stars Jeff Bridges, Ellen Barkin, John Hurt, and Diane Lane, and was released by United Artists on December 1, 1995. It was a box-office bomb, grossing $2.1 million on a budget of $30 million, and received mixed reviews from critics.
Martha Jane Canary, better known as Calamity Jane, was an American frontierswoman, sharpshooter, and storyteller. In addition to many exploits she was known for being an acquaintance of Wild Bill Hickok. Late in her life, she appeared in Buffalo Bill's Wild West show and at the 1901 Pan-American Exposition. She is said to have exhibited compassion to others, especially to the sick and needy. This facet of her character contrasted with her daredevil ways and helped to make her a noted frontier figure. She was also known for her habit of wearing men's attire.
Pony Express is a 1953 American Western film directed by Jerry Hopper, filmed in Kanab, Utah, and starring Charlton Heston as Buffalo Bill, Forrest Tucker as Wild Bill Hickok, Jan Sterling as a Calamity Jane-type character, and Rhonda Fleming. The story is largely based on the 1925 silent film The Pony Express while the threat of a Californian secession is taken from Frontier Pony Express (1939).
Son of the Morning Star is a 1991 American two-part Western television miniseries released by Chrysalis based on Evan S. Connell's best-selling 1984 book of the same name. It starred Gary Cole and featured Dean Stockwell, Rosanna Arquette, Rodney A. Grant, Nick Ramus, Buffy Sainte-Marie, and Floyd Red Crow Westerman.
Wild Bill Hickok is a 1923 American silent Western 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. 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.
Badlands of Dakota is a 1941 American Western film directed by Alfred E. Green and starring Robert Stack, Ann Rutherford, Richard Dix and Frances Farmer. Its plot follows a sheriff and his girlfriend who cross paths with Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane.
