User Reviews

The end of the picture really made me think about how this Western turned the traditional good guy/bad guy story on it's head, ending in the death of the hero in a virtually non-climactic finale with the saving posse arriving just a little too late. It's probably how a lot of real life stories ended in the old West, ignominiously and largely forgotten to history. Up till then, the film was strangely devoid of any real action, other than Billy's (Arch Hall, Jr.) confrontations with members of the Sam Bass gang. Even Wild Bill Hickok knew better, but you know, I thought he might have been right around the corner to make the save. Oh well.

I had the feeling the film was stretching for legitimacy with it's liberal name dropping of true Western legends like Texas John Slaughter, Wyatt Earp, Clay Allison, Red Cloud and Crazy Horse. None of them ever showed up, but you wondered if they would. Sam Bass (Rex Marlow) did, but again, the movie had him leading a lynch mob instead of facing down Billy on a dusty street. He didn't care much for Psalm 22 either.

Hey, I got a kick out of the sign in Poker Kate's saloon - 'Gentlemen Do Not Spit On Floors'. The punishment couldn't be worse than death.

Not really an altogether bad flick as the limited reviews on this board suggest. The ballad of Billy May even gave the story some additional atmosphere as it popped up from time to time in synch with the story. At least it's nowhere near as campy awful as the Arch Hall (Sr. and Jr. both) flick from 1962 - this one doesn't make you go "Eegah"!

Originally saw this on base when I was in the service.

It's color was good with some great scenery. Everything else was low- budget: full of clichés and lousy acting. The "hero", Billy May, couldn't seem to do anything heroic. I'll explain.

Billy's dad is friends with the Sioux and living with them somewhat near Deadwood. Billy finds out his dad is alive (thought he died in the Civil War) and nearby, so he goes visiting. The joyous reunion between father and son is understated - EXTREMELY understated!

Naturally, the chief's daughter falls for Billy with just one glance. When Billy starts back to town, she follows him. Billy senses he's being followed, waits for her, then sends her back to the camp.

On the way, she waters her horse and is accosted by two baddies. They drag her into the brush. This is where a hero should come to save her honor... Nope! She gets raped!

He DOES manage to find her, bring her to town laying, unconscious, in the back of a buckboard (where'd that come from???) to be treated by the white man's doctor. Then he's mistaken for Billy the Kid, almost gets into a gunfight with Wild Bill Hickok, until Wild Bill finds out he's the son of his good friend, Boone May.

A young farm boy, wanting to make a reputation for himself and get away from the farm, attempts to take Billy. But the boy loses. The townsfolk, urged on by the saloon owner, take after Billy to lynch him. Billy, law- abiding as he is, can't just take the nearest saddled horse, he HAS to go to the livery stable (other side of town), get his horse and saddle it, all while holding off the blood-thirsty mob. Oh, and did I mention the twenty-something shots from his first pistol before having to throw it (to no effect) at the crowd? Then he started using his SECOND pistol, also loaded with twenty-something rounds!

(Memorably wooden delivery of a line here as he turns to his right to enter the stable and finds the twin barrels of a 12-gauge shotgun staring from the hands of the livery owner, "one - false - move - and - I'll - blow - your - head - off.")

The Indian princess, now fully recovered from her rape, learns of Billy's plight, takes the buckboard and rides, and rides, and rides, and...boy! Camp seemed a lot closer! She tells her dad and he takes Boone May and the pride of the Sioux Nation (all 15 of them) racing, racing, racing....PHEW! Need a breather... racing to save Billy.

Meanwhile the mob's taking Billy to the cottonwood on the edge of town to lynch him. Once there, the preacher steps forward and tells the crowd, "Over my dead body."

The rescuers come into the clearing and rein in. The camera pulls back slowly to reveal... the preacher laying in the dirt, unmoving. The camera continues to pull back until you see a pair of boots twisting slowly.

They bring up a Conestoga wagon that had accompanied them from the camp. They cut the rope, lay Billy's head in the princess' lap and I swear I thought she was going to kiss him, or one of her tears would fall on his face and he'd start coughing. But NO! That sucker was DEAD!

I thought this movie was utterly hilarious! Years later I tracked down a copy. It was very contrasty (copy of a copy of a ....) and the ending was cut to pieces. I was so disappointed.

The beginning of this film blew me away, as it was nothing like I expected. Considering it was written by Arch Hall, Sr. and starred Arch, Jr., I expected total crap--as they had a reputation for making super-schlocky pictures. Don't believe me, how about "Eegah" and "The Nasty Rabbit"!! These are dreadful films and their only really decent film together, "The Sadist", was still super-duper low-budget. So whens this film began with sweeping music followed by a very professional sounding song, I was shocked--this looked like a real western!! As for the movie itself, it seemed like a constant string of clichés--myths of the old west that were pieced together by someone who apparently knew nothing of the period (that would be Arch, Sr.). Relatively unimportant pipsqueaks like Billy the Kid were raised to mythic proportions in the film. So, when someone mentions the Kid, people acted like they would today if someone said that Osama Bin Laden was standing behind them! And, for that matter, they then throw in a few comments about Wild Bill Hickcok, Wyatt Earp semi-mythical characters of the age. Who cares if the names, dates and places are wrong!! I guess Hall's attitude was just keep throwing characters and clichés into the film and hopefully something will stick! This and the dialog are the weakest points in the film.

The film begins with a pretty good scene. A dealer in pussycats (I am not kidding) is captured by Indians. You aren't sure whether or not they mean him or his cats harm, but the situation is pretty menacing. Then, out of the blue, Arch, Jr. arrives and disperses the Indians. The old guy wants to see Arch blast the guys, but Hall is a nice guy and just tells them to 'git'.

The two men then head to town where soon Arch is mistaken for Billy the Kidd following a shootout (another old west cliché--these actually rarely, if ever, happened like they do in films). Then the film takes a bizarre direction for a spell. Arch is taken prisoner by some Indians and learns that his father (assumed killed in the Civil War) is actually alive and working with the Indians to kill Union soldiers! This was pretty ridiculous, but at least I must admit that the plot twist took me by surprise. Now there WERE a lot of films that had somewhat similar post-Civil War plots--but NOT 16 years after the fact! While at the Indian camp, a young Indian girl falls for Arch. He does not reciprocate but you know something is brewing, as the ballad singer begins singing about their love blooming!! Later, she follows Arch but he sends her back to her people. On the way, she is raped by a couple dirt-bags, so it's up to Arch to kick settle the score. I really liked this scene, as it was not the traditional clichéd shoot-out--more just Arch plugging a guy who needed killing. Then, moments later, he catches the other and dispatches him to Hell as well. This is the highpoint of the film and is actually done very well.

A bit later, Wild Bill Hickok comes to town and he and Arch nearly have a shootout. Why is really, really vague--as Hickok is a lawman and Arch certainly is not the criminal type. It just seemed like the town was itching to watch yet another killing. But their wait isn't for naught, as just moments later a really, really DUMB young guy sneaks up on Arch and threatens him--seconds later this 15 year-old is eating lead. Then, as no one knew what to do next, the whole town starts arguing about whether or not the killing was justified and everybody starts shooting at each other! Why? I dunno. And it all ends on a bit of a sad note--you can watch the film yourself if you want to know more.

Overall, despite the many clichés and bizarre plot that seemed to feature EVERYTHING a western could feature all in one film, it wasn't too bad. Not great, but not horrible. A time-passer, but for a Hall film, that's awfully good! By the way, though Hall, Jr. never will be accused of being a great actor, after seeing almost all his films I have noticed that he got progressively better. While he was awful in "Eegah", by the time he made "Deadwood '76", he was a pretty fair actor (though he could have used a haircut) and it's a bit of a shame that this was his last film. Apparently he retired and is no longer acting and lives in Florida. I'd sure love to meet him one day, but despite us both living in the same state, it's a pretty big place!

Finally, in you get a chance to see the film, take a look at Fancy's mustache. It looks like he glued it on upside-down!

I never minded Arch Hall Jr. On screen. He's not a horrible actor. He just doesn't have real screen charisma, and even his worst movies aren't among the big disasters to me that their reputations have them to be. They are enjoyable in a low-budget campy way, and this Western has elements that makes it fun to watch even if it's still not the most original of stories. Hall play someone who is mistaken for Billy the Kid, simply because his name is Billy and some kid has mistaken his identity. This has him on the run, hiding out with some Native Americans who liked him, especially a Native American girl Who falls in love with him.

One of the reasons why this is enjoyable is that the location but it is very good, starting off with what looks like salt formations after the opening credits. There are long stretches when there's mostly action and very little dialogue, so there's not much opportunity to chastise hall for his acting. A theme song helps create a mood, and there are two interesting supporting characters as well. Fans of John Waters films will recognize Liz Remay in a small role. I doubt this would interest anybody outside of clastic western fans, but it's certainly not a horrible film.

Arch Hall Sr. Gets to play father to his son in this film, having produced it. While the photography is better than average for a low budget movie, I couldn't imagine this on really big screens because the tography tends to blur at times. Hall Jr. Also got to write the screenplay and story for this, and he didn't do a bad job. They did the most they could with a low budget, and it's surprisingly easy to watch.

Deadwood '76 tells the half-baked tale of young Billy May, a Civil War vet who in three days time is mistaken for Billy the kid, buys and sells a gold mine, captured by Indians, reunited with his estranged (and strange) Confederate father, avenges the rape of his new girlfriend, forced by the town of Deadwood to square off with none other than Wild Bill Hickock, and hung by an angry mob!

This was the final film of Arch Hall Jr., who is fondly remembered by fans for starring in half a dozen fairly entertaining drive-in movies of the early to mid-sixties, his best being the titular character in the taut thriller, The Sadist.

Despite some bad acting by mostly bit players, this is entertaining at times and it tries hard to create a tale of western mythology but it's done in by a very (and I mean VERY) unsatisfying ending.

I would have preferred that the end have Billy's father and his Indian followers massacre the town in response to Billy's death, as it was stated earlier in the film that it was his plan to do just that as part of the elder May's plan to resurrect the Confederacy!

Co-stars Robert Dixon (Bill Hickock) and John "Bud" Cardos (Hawk Russell the rapist cowboy) were reunited along with cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond five years later in another drive-in western, Five Bloody Graves.