Themes: Love Triangles, Unrequited Love, White People Among Indians
Main Cast: Gary Cooper, Jean Arthur, James Ellison, Charles Bickford, Helen Burgess
Release Year: 1937
Country: US
Run Time: 113 minutes
Plot
One is immediately aware that The Plainsman is a Cecil B. DeMille production in the opening scene, wherein President Abraham Lincoln (Frank McGlynn Sr.), on the verge of signing crucial legislation which will determine the future of the American West, is dragged away from his Cabinet by a scolding Mrs. Lincoln (Leila McIntyre), who informs her husband that he'll be late for the theater! The story proper picks up in the years just following the Civil War, as crooked arms dealer John Lattimer (Charles Bickford) schemes to sell a huge shipment of repeating rifles to the Indians. Constantly thwarting Lattimer's schemes is lawman Wild Bill Hickok (Gary Cooper), who soon forms a strong alliance with Indian scout Buffalo Bill Cody (James Ellison). Rambunctious Calamity Jane (Jean Arthur) is crazy about Wild Bill, but he refuses to have anything to do with her, contemptuously wiping his mouth whenever he kisses her. He prefers the company of winsome Louisa (Dorothy Burgess), but gallantly steps aside when Louisa marries Buffalo Bill. Upon learning that a band of Indians armed with Lattimer's rifles have attacked a military garrison, Wild Bill tells General Custer (John Miljan), who in turn sends Buffalo Bill to the garrison with a consignment of weapons. Wild Bill then tries to arrange a peace conference with Indian chief Yellow Hand (Paul Harvey), but is sidetracked when he sees Calamity Jane being captured by two Indian braves. Riding to her rescue, Wild Bill is himself captured and tortured in the hope that he'll reveal the whereabouts of Buffalo Bill and his weapons. He refuses to talk, but Calamity, horrified at the agony endured by Wild Bill, tells all. Her breach of confidence leads indirectly to Custer's death at the Little Big Horn (not seen, but described by a young Indian played by DeMille's then son-in-law Anthony Quinn), whereupon Wild Bill disgustedly breaks off all communication with her. Hoping to make up for her past sins, Calamity warns Wild Bill that Lattimer has come to town a-gunning for him. Wild Bill makes short work of Lattimer, only to be shot in the back by the villain's snivelling confederate Jack McCall (Porter Hall). As he breathes his last, Wild Bill forgives Calamity for revealing the whereabouts of the ammunition; with tears in her eyes, Calamity plants a kiss on Wild Bill's lips that he'll never wipe off. As can be seen, accuracy is not the strong suit of The Plainsman; DeMille, like Buffalo Bill before him, was more interested in putting on a helluva good show than offering a dry history lesson. Unfortunately, the film often promises more than it can deliver, thanks to DeMille's insistence upon filming more of his big scenes indoors and relying far too heavily on grainy process screens. Still, the DeMille version of The Plainsman is infinitely more entertaining than the 1966 remake with Don Murray and Abby Dalton. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Roland Anderson - Art Director, Hans Dreier - Art Director, Dwight Franklin - Costume Designer, Joe de Young - Costume Designer, Natalie Visart - Costume Designer, Cecil B. DeMille - Director, Anne Bauchens - Editor, George Antheil - Composer (Music Score), Boris Morros - Musical Direction/Supervision, Victor Milner - Cinematographer, George Robinson - Cinematographer, Cecil B. DeMille - Producer, William Pine - Producer, A.E. Freudeman - Set Designer, Farciot Edouart - Special Effects, Gordon Jennings - Special Effects, Dewey Wrigley - Special Effects, Harry Lindgren - Sound/Sound Designer, Grover Jones - Screen Story, Courtney Ryley Cooper - Screen Story, Jeannie Macpherson - Screenwriter, Harold Lamb - Screenwriter, Waldemar Young - Screenwriter, Lynn Riggs - Screenwriter, Frank J. Wilstach - Book Author, Frank J. Wilstach - Short Story Author
With the end of the American Civil War, military industrialists are left with an oversupply of weapons. Some of the more unscrupulous ones view the Indians as possible new customers.
Having been just discharged from the Union Army, Wild Bill Hickok is making his way back west. On a paddle steamer, he bumps into his old army scout colleague, Buffalo Bill Cody and his new bride. Later, Calamity Jane is the driver of their stagecoach to Hays, Kansas.
Lattimer, an agent for the gun makers, has supplied the Cheyenne Indians with repeating rifles, which enables them to kill half of the troopers at an U.S. Cavalry outpost. Hickok finds out about rifles and reports it to General Custer. Custer sends out a resupply mule train to the fort with Cody as guide. Hickok tries to locate Yellow Hand, the Cheyenne chieftain, to find out why the Indians have gone to war.
When Calamity Jane is captured by the Indians, Hickok tries to bargain for her release but instead gets captured himself. In the only scene sympathetic to the Indian's plight, Yellow Hand states that the Indians are fighting because the white man has starting settling land promised to the Indian and is killing off the buffalo. Yellow Hand promises to release his captives if they tell him the location of the resupply train. After much prodding from Jane, Hickok professes his love for her just before he is about to be tortured. Calamity Jane then discloses the route of the resupply train in order to save Hickok from being burned alive. Yellow Hand holds true to his word by releasing his two prisoners.
The Indians attack the resupply train. Hickok sends Jane to get reinforcements while he fights alongside the besieged soldiers. After a desperate six-day siege on a river bank, the survivors are saved when Custer arrives with the cavalry.
Back in town, Hickok catches up with Lattimer and tells him to get ready for a gun duel. Instead of going himself, Lattimer sends three cavalry deserters in his place. Hickok kills all three deserters in the gunfight, but this makes him a fugitive from the law. Hickok flees to the Dakota Territory. Calamity Jane leaves for Deadwood separately when the townspeople find out that she was partly responsible for the attack on the supply train.
Custer sends Cody after Hickok. After meeting in the woods, the two friends capture an Indian and learn that Custer has been killed at Battle of the Little Bighorn and that the Cheyenne are moving to join the Sioux Indians in the Black Hills. They also learn that Lattimer is sending more rifles to the Indians, to be picked up in Deadwood. Instead of arresting his friend, Cody rides off to warn the cavalry, while Hickok goes to Deadwood to deal with Lattimer. Hickok kills Lattimer and detains Lattimer's henchmen for arrest by the cavalry. Hickok is shot in the back by Lattimer's informant while he is playing cards with the henchmen. The film ends with a heart-broken Calamity Jane cradling Hickok's body.
