The Raiders (1963)Wild Bill Hickok, Buffalo Bill and Calamity Jane help a Texas rancher against the railroad. , against the railroad. Director:Herschel DaughertyWriter:Gene L. Coon |
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The Raiders (1963)Wild Bill Hickok, Buffalo Bill and Calamity Jane help a Texas rancher against the railroad. , against the railroad. Director:Herschel DaughertyWriter:Gene L. Coon |
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Cast overview: | |||
Brian Keith | ... |
John G. McElroy /
Narrator
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Robert Culp | ... | ||
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Judi Meredith | ... | |
Jim McMullan | ... | ||
Alfred Ryder | ... |
Capt. Benton
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Simon Oakland | ... |
Sgt. Austin Tremaine
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Ben Cooper | ... |
Tom King
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Trevor Bardette | ... |
'Uncle Otto' Strassner
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Harry Carey Jr. | ... |
Jellicoe
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Richard H. Cutting | ... |
Jack Goodnight
(as Dick Cutting)
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Addison Richards | ... |
Huntington Lawford
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Cliff Osmond | ... |
Private Jean Duchamps
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Paul Birch | ... |
Paul King
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Richard Deacon | ... |
Commissioner Mailer
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Michael Burns | ... |
Jimmy McElroy
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A group of seven West Texas ranchers, poverty-stricken by the just-concluded war-between-the-states, headed by John G. McElroy (Brian Keith'), a former colonel in the Confederate army, attempt to drive their cattle herds from Texas to the rail-head at Hays City, Kansas. They encounter trouble at the borders of the Six Nations Indian country in the Territory of Oklahoma. Convinced that they must have an extension of the rail-line into Texas, they continue to Hays City to demand it. The manager of the Kansas & Pacific Railroad is behind schedule in building tracks to Puueblo, Colorado and refuses to do anything for the Texans. The irritated Texans start a war of attrition against the railroad which bring them into conflict with Wild Bill Hickok (Robert Culp) and "Buffalo Bill" Cody (Jim McMillan), who are employed by both the railroad and the U.S.Army, and "Calamity Jane" Canary, who has an equipment-freighting contract for the railroad's construction work. Written by Les Adams <longhorn1939@suddenlink.net>
The Raiders was one of the last films you will see made taking what was standard historical interpretation at the time point of view that the Reconstruction period was when the sadistic and moneygrubbing carpetbag governments squeezed the last ounce of pride from the fallen Confederacy. The Civil Rights revolution put an end to all of that.
The Raiders starts out as a cut down version of The Texans or Red River with Brian Keith trying with his fellow cattlemen to get that big herd to Missouri. Only they have far less success than Randolph Scott or John Wayne in those other classics. Beaten and beat Keith and his comrades go to Fort Hays and see temporary commander Alfred Ryder and railroad man Addison Richard. They veto a southern route and Keith says no southern route, no railroad at all.
At this point the film switches to something like Cecil B. DeMille's The Plainsman where Robert Culp, James McMullan, and Judi Meredith play Wild Bill Hickok, Buffalo Bill Cody, and Calamity Jane Canary respectively. Culp takes the lead in trying to avoid some big trouble, but Keith is proud and angry and Ryder is a tin soldier martinet who carries a Texas Minie Ball in his leg from the late Civil War. In fact Ryder has the juiciest role in the film.
I'm guessing this was a pilot for a possible TV series that Culp, McMullan and Meredith would have starred in. The Civil Rights Revolution and changing attitudes would make this kind of film unacceptable. You rarely saw southern heroes after The Raiders came out.
As it is it's no different than a lot of what was on television because it was meant for television. It might worked in 1953 even, but not in the Sixties.