The Cherokee Kid, a notorious gunslinger, faces off in a showdown against The Undertaker in Larabee, Texas. A few unheard words are exchanged and they take their places. They both draw and the Cherokee Kid falls, much to the delight of land-grabber Bloomington. Bloomington is more than willing to give the Undertaker more than the stipulated reward, yet the Undertaker insists on allowing the Cherokee Kid to receive a proper eulogy, which will be done the next day at noon.
Several people attend the funeral, including Reverend Peel and his wife, who adopted and raised him, Nat Love and his gang, and several others. It is then that Juan Nepomuceno Cortina begins the eulogy.
The Cherokee Kid was born Isaiah Turner, he and his family lived in the Oklahoma territory. Many families in the area were being forced to sell their property for next to nothing so that the railroad could be built. When Isaiah's half-Cherokee father opposed them, he was murdered. Isaiah then followed his older brother Jedediah into the camp where the railroad men were and shot the man responsible for their father's death. When they returned home and told their mother what they did, she instantly scolded them, telling them not to mistake stupidity for courage. Their mother knew that the railroad men would come for Jedediah, and in a moment of final family bonding, she gave to the boys their father's favorite hat adorned with a distinct Cherokee feather. It was Isaiah who claimed the hat as he was placed in a woodbox while a plan to allow Jedediah to escape was put in motion in which their mother pretended to shoot him at a distance. Their mother held off the men as best as she could, until a younger Bloomington came in from the back door and shot her twice, though not before grazing his forehead with a bullet and leaving a scar. His assistant Bonner was tasked with finding Jedediah (which he never does), and fires in the air claiming he did so.
Isaiah then ran aimlessly not knowing where to go, until he wandered into the home of Reverend Peel and his wife, who decided to adopt him as they had no children. Fourteen years later, he grew into a tall, strong, yet clumsy and naïve young man who still clung to his desire for revenge. One day Isaiah saw a poster advertising Bloomington's arrival at Pinedale, where he would speak to the people as he was now running for governor. Isaiah decided to go and take revenge for the death of his family. After saying goodbye to his foster parents, and being told which way Pinedale was (Isaiah's lack of a sense of direction a running joke throughout), he sets out. Hiding out in a cabin, Isaiah gets into a comical scuffle with a man named Jake Carver in which he ends up using a turkey to accidentally kill him and inadvertently saves a prostitute from being raped. She then cooks the turkey for him out of gratitude, yet disappears the next day with all the leftovers. That day he is found by Jake Carver's gang, and after unsuccessfully passing himself off as him he then passes himself off as a childhood friend of his and claims that he had planned for them to rob a bank in Pinedale (thus tricking them into taking him there).
Arriving at Pinedale, Isaiah walks into a bank. After making small talk with one of the tellers in which he is told of the gifts given to clients depending on how much is deposited, he then loudly announces that the gang is there to rob the bank. The tellers instantly draw guns on them, with the teller explaining to Isaiah that the gun is the last gift given for the highest amount deposited. After coming across Bonner, and comically shooting him in the buttocks, Isaiah runs off into the crowd gathered to hear Bloomington and disrupts the speech after bringing up the night in which he killed his mother and was scarred. Trying unsuccessfully to shoot him, Isaiah runs off and hides in the wagon of Otter Bob (Burt Reynolds), a lonely man of the mountains. That night, a friendship began when Isaiah reveals that he knows how to read, and Isaiah at first barters transportation to El Paso for teaching Otter Bob to read, but then also adds that Otter Bob also teach him how to be a mountain man.
For 3 months they traveled together, and Isaiah eventually learned all of Otter Bob's tricks and methods. Bonner and his men were on Isaiah's trail, and eventually caught up to Otter Bob, who ended up sacrificing himself to save Isaiah's life. Isaiah escaped with a fatally wounded Otter Bob, leaving Bonner caught in a bear trap. Isaiah then holds Otter Bob as he gives his last words, then buries him before continuing alone. Along the way, he comes across Cortina who is buried up to his neck in the sand and saves him. That night, Cortina vows to follow Isaiah (who introduces himself as Bob) until he can repay his debt by saving Isaiah's life. Reaching El Paso, Isaiah and Cortina stop at a saloon where Cortina sits at a table to play cards and Isaiah goes to the bar for a drink. Bonner who is already there and sees Isaiah from the upstairs balcony of the saloon, sets a trap for him and pays a prostitute to distract him while he and several men surround and arrest him. Isaiah is led out as Cortina watches from a distance.
In jail, Isaiah is placed in the same cell as Nat Love, a famous gunslinger, and leader of a gang. Isaiah quickly expresses his awe and admiration, saying he would love to receive whatever tutelage he could from him. Nat simply tells him to enjoy the day as Nat is scheduled to be hung the next day. Bloomington arrives to gloat at Isaiah's capture, and Isaiah vows to come back from the grave for revenge if need be. When Isaiah mentions Jedediah's name, Nat instantly tells Isaiah that he was alive, grew up to be a good man and a gunslinger in his own right, but lost a duel to the Undertaker. Isaiah then vows to also kill the Undertaker as well. That night, Cortina arrives and breaks Isaiah out of jail, with Nat also escaping. When they're about to part ways, Isaiah shoots a man that had shot and missed Cortina, thus saving his life once more. Nat steals Isaiah's horse, with Isaiah having to ride with Cortina yet constantly falling off his horse as they followed Nat back to his hideout where he's met with open arms by his gang. Isaiah then manages to convince Nat to allow them to stay for a few days, and shortly after meets the rest of his gang: Stagecoach Mary, and a group of nuns who also serve as accomplices. During their time there, Isaiah is constantly mocked and disrespected by Nat's gang as he comically and dangerously tries to practice gunslinging. Nat Love takes matters into his own hands and forces Isaiah to shoot a can off his hand at gunpoint, telling Isaiah that he would kill him if he hit him. Isaiah then makes his first successful shot and is told by Nat to plan on dying whenever he shoots as someone. Isaiah then learns to ride a horse after Nat compares riding a horse to being with a woman, and Stagecoach Mary takes his virginity to give him a basis after some mockery from the men. Isaiah continues to work on his skills and excels quickly, much to Nat's wonder and admiration. One night Nat calls for a meeting in which he declares that Isaiah needs a gunslinger name. After some mockery from some of the gang members, Nat asks Isaiah what it is that he's proud of, as a man must have a name that he can be proud of. Isaiah instantly names his half-Cherokee father, who died fighting for his convictions. It is then that he is given the name "The Cherokee Kid".
The next day after a change in wardrobe, the Cherokee Kid and Cortina follow Nat and his gang as they go to rob a bank, this being Isaiah's final lesson. During the robbery, Nat tells Isaiah to pay attention to how it's done, and Isaiah learns quickly as he shoots his way out flawlessly during the getaway. Nat returns to his hideout as Isaiah and Cortina part ways with them, with the promise that they would meet again in the future. The Cherokee Kid then sets out to rob Bloomington's banks in an effort to become his leading priority, and to humiliate him. Bloomington desperately calls for as many mercenaries and bounty hunters as he can find, including the Undertaker. Bloomington offers a bag of gold coins to whoever can kill the Cherokee Kid, and the Undertaker quickly announces that the Cherokee Kid is his, disabling one of the men who challenges him.
Arriving in Larabee, Isaiah and Cortina are graciously welcomed by the Holsopple family as they arrive at their farm looking to buy fresh horses. They are asked to stay for dinner, much to the chagrin and disgrace of Abby, the farmer's daughter. During dinner, Abby knocks out Isaiah and Cortina with a frying pan, with the intention of turning them in and collecting the reward money to use to keep their land. Abby remains untrusting of the Cherokee Kid, naively believing that they're there to rob them. After escaping their restraints, Isaiah and Cortina tell Abby they'll come back, and after Isaiah remarks that Abby may like him, she gets her rifle and shoots at them in anger, missing all four shots and claiming that it's too dark to see.
The next day, a gunslinger unsuccessfully attempts to kill the Cherokee Kid after telling him that the Undertaker is looking for him. The Cherokee Kid then tells the gunslinger to tell the Undertaker that he wants to meet him the next day on the main street. Later that day Isaiah goes to see Abby once more, and after some banter, her attraction to him becomes slightly apparent. It is here that Cortina ends his eulogy as Bonner enters with some men demanding that the Cherokee Kid be put underground per Bloomington's orders. Everyone at the funeral keeps them at bay, claiming they will carry the casket themselves, to which Bonner relents.
Outside, the Undertaker gives his recount of the duel. It is through this recount that it is revealed that the Undertaker is in fact, Jedediah Turner, Isaiah's brother. The Undertaker recognizing The Cherokee Kid as Isaiah due to their father's Cherokee feather on his hat, and The Cherokee Kid recognizing The Undertaker as Jedediah due to his quoting of their mother. The duel takes place, and Isaiah falls. The Undertaker then opens the casket to reveal a still alive Isaiah who then opens fire on Bloomington, and thus keeping his promise to "come back from the grave". A major gunfight erupts with the Cherokee Kid, Cortina, Undertaker, Abby, Nat Love and his gang against Bloomington's men as Bloomington looks for a way to escape. In the gunfight Nat is killed, and Cortina is wounded. Isaiah and Jedediah re-affirm their brotherhood, claiming that to be the best day of their lives regardless of the outcome before taking out what's left of Bloomington's men together. In the aftermath, Isaiah then looks for Bloomington, cornering him in a barn. Bloomington goes as far as to offer him a partnership in an effort to save himself. Isaiah, disgusted, turns his back to him. Bloomington then tries to shoot him but is quickly shot by Isaiah who then stands over a wounded Bloomington and executes him in the same way his mother was killed. Isaiah turns around to see Bonner aiming at him, but is shot from behind by Jedediah.
Nat Love is buried and his gang (now fully respecting Isaiah) part ways. Isaiah and Jedediah engage in some banter as they plan to go west to get to know each other better and right more wrongs, to Abby's disapproval. Abby claims that since he has already reached all his goals being the Cherokee Kid is no longer necessary, but Isaiah claims he likes being a gunslinger. Cortina attempts to go his own way, but Isaiah reminds him that he has once again saved his life and Cortina somewhat reluctantly agrees to stay. As they turn to leave, they're shot at by Abby, who insists on going with them, and they ride off.
Jedediah Strong Smith was an American clerk, transcontinental pioneer, frontiersman, hunter, trapper, author, cartographer, mountain man and explorer of the Rocky Mountains, the Western United States, and the Southwest during the early 19th century. After 75 years of obscurity following his death, Smith was rediscovered as the American whose explorations led to the use of the 20-mile (32 km)-wide South Pass as the dominant route across the Continental Divide for pioneers on the Oregon Trail.
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.
Harry Alonzo Longabaugh, better known as the Sundance Kid, was an outlaw and member of Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch in the American Old West. He likely met Butch Cassidy during a hunting trip in 1883 or earlier. The "Wild Bunch" gang performed the longest string of successful train and bank robberies in American history. Longabaugh fled the United States along with his consort Etta Place and Butch Cassidy to escape the dogged pursuit of the Pinkerton Detective Agency. The trio fled first to Argentina and then to Bolivia, where most historians believe Parker (Cassidy) and Longabaugh were killed in a shootout in November 1908. However, after digging up their remains and performing DNA testing, the remains were not a match to Butch and Sundance and there are some, including Butch's relatives and descendants, that believe Butch survived the shootout in 1908 and lived under the alias William T. Phillips, a successful business man in Spokane, Washington until his death in 1937.
Gunfighters, also called gunslingers, or in the late 19th and early 20th century, gunmen were individuals in the American Old West who gained a reputation of being dangerous with a gun and participated in shootouts. Today, the term "gunslinger" is more or less used to denote someone who is quick on the draw with a handgun, but this can also refer to those armed with rifles and shotguns. The gunfighter is also one of the most popular characters in the Western genre and has appeared in associated films, television shows, video games, and literature.
My Name Is Nobody is a 1973 Italian/French/German international co-production comedy spaghetti Western starring Terence Hill and Henry Fonda. The film was directed by Tonino Valerii and based on an idea by Sergio Leone.
Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid is a 1973 American revisionist Western film directed by Sam Peckinpah, written by Rudy Wurlitzer, and starring James Coburn, Kris Kristofferson, Richard Jaeckel, Katy Jurado, Chill Wills, Barry Sullivan, Jason Robards, Slim Pickens and Bob Dylan. The film is about an aging Pat Garrett (Coburn), hired as a lawman by a group of wealthy New Mexico cattle barons to bring down his old friend Billy the Kid (Kristofferson).
Events from the year 1831 in the United States.
3 Godfathers is a 1948 American Western film directed by John Ford and filmed primarily in Death Valley, California. The screenplay, written by Frank S. Nugent and Laurence Stallings, is based on the 1913 novelette The Three Godfathers by Peter B. Kyne. The story is something of a retelling of the story of the Three Wise Men in an American Western context.
The Oklahoma Kid is a 1939 Western film starring James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart. The film was directed for Warner Bros. by Lloyd Bacon. Cagney plays an adventurous gunslinger in a broad-brimmed cowboy hat while Bogart portrays his black-clad and viciously villainous nemesis. The film is often remembered for Cagney's character rubbing the thumb and forefinger of his hand together and exulting, "Feel that air!"
Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter is a low-budget horror Western film released in 1966, in which a fictionalized version of the real-life western outlaw Jesse James encounters the fictional granddaughter of the famous Dr. Frankenstein. The film was originally released as part of a double feature along with Billy the Kid Versus Dracula in 1966. Both films were shot in eight days at Corriganville Movie Ranch and at Paramount Studios in mid-1965; both were the final feature films of director William Beaudine. The films were produced by television producer Carroll Case for Joseph E. Levine.
Billy the Kid is a 1941 American Western film, a color remake of the 1930 film of the same name. The film features Robert Taylor as Billy and Brian Donlevy as a fictionalized version of Pat Garrett renamed "Jim Sherwood" in the film. Directed by David Miller and based on the book by Walter Noble Burns, the cast also included Gene Lockhart and Lon Chaney Jr. The film was not as well received as the 1930 original, Billy the Kid, which had starred Johnny Mack Brown and Wallace Beery and been shot in an experimental widescreen process.
Three Godfathers is a 1936 American Western film directed by Richard Boleslawski and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer starring Chester Morris, Lewis Stone, Walter Brennan, and Irene Hervey. It was adapted from the novel of the same name by Peter B. Kyne. Three bank robbers find a newborn baby and his dying mother in the desert.
3 Bad Men is a 1926 American silent Western film directed by John Ford. Bob Mastrangelo has called it "One of John Ford's greatest silent epics." The film possibly inspired the title for Akira Kurosawa's 1958 film Three Bad Men in a Hidden Fortress, simply known as The Hidden Fortress in the rest of the world.
The Restless Breed is a 1957 Western film, directed by Allan Dwan and starring Scott Brady and Anne Bancroft.
Call of Juarez: Gunslinger is a first-person shooter developed by Techland and originally published by Ubisoft. It was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 in May 2013. In March 2018, the publishing rights for the game passed from Ubisoft to Techland. In December 2019, the game was ported to the Nintendo Switch by Techland. It is the fourth game in the Call of Juarez series, although narratively, it is unrelated to the three previous titles.
Shotgun is a 1955 American Western film directed by Lesley Selander and starring Sterling Hayden, Yvonne De Carlo and Zachary Scott.
Forsaken is a 2015 Canadian revisionist western film directed by Jon Cassar, from a screenplay by Brad Mirman. The film stars Kiefer Sutherland, Donald Sutherland, Brian Cox, Michael Wincott, Aaron Poole and Demi Moore. The film had its world premiere at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival on September 16, 2015. The film was released on February 19, 2016. One of the executive producers on the film was Doug Falconer.
Frontier Outlaws is a 1944 American Western film directed by Sam Newfield shot at the Corriganville Movie Ranch. It was the second film in Producers Releasing Corporation's Billy the Kid film series where Crabbe changed his name to "Billy Carson".
The Harder They Fall is a 2021 American Western film directed by Jeymes Samuel, who co-wrote the screenplay with Boaz Yakin. The film stars Jonathan Majors, Idris Elba, Zazie Beetz, Regina King, Delroy Lindo, Lakeith Stanfield, RJ Cyler, Danielle Deadwyler, Edi Gathegi, and Deon Cole. It is one of few Westerns whose principal cast members are all Black. Its characters are based on real cowboys, lawmen, and outlaws of the nineteenth-century American West.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
