Jack McCall, Desperado

Jack McCall Desperado is an interesting varient on the western story. It deals with the war of independence and the character of Jack McCall wrongly accused of being a spy.

Wild Bill Hickcock also makes an appearance as the friend of Jack's crooked cousin Bart.

The interesting blend of real people we have all heard of and their fictional and real lives make this a movie a little different from the ordinary western fair.

Also refreshingly different is the relationship between Rose, a girl who can take care of herself ie she holds up the jail to rescue Jack and tumbles from horses with a certain aplomb also!

All in all an unusual western in some respects that doesn't forget its origins and stays mainly true to formula.

Mixing the historical characters and locations with the myth has been done many times, and this fast-paced western is no different. Hickock is the villain of the piece, which itself is interesting, but there are unusual elements such as the leading lady, who isn't your usual run of the mill heroine who is there for the romantic scenes. She's up there with hero, the usual stalwart, George Montgomery, jumping off stagecoaches and getting involved in hold-up. A solid B western with an energetic shootout finale.

A good-looking Columbia Technicolor western with a Civil War backdrop that for some reason calls it's central antagonists Jack McCall and Wild Bill Hickok.

Aside from being set in the wrong decade, viewers who saw Porter Hall or Lon Chaney as McCall would be surprised to see this new handsome and upright incarnation by George Montgomery. Somebody involved in the production must have seen a photograph of Hickok, since Douglas Kennedy in the role has the only authentic Wild West moustache in the film.

For some unknown reason, in the 50s, there seems to have been an attempt to bring down the legend of Bill Hickok(see "I Killed Wild Bill Hickok, 1956). This entry plays fast and loose with history, with McCall as the framed good guy out to get villain Hickok. the time frame is all askew, starts in the Civil War and moves rapidly to Wild Bill's murder, which in reality took place in 1876, eleven years later. But that's not all; McCall was eventually hanged for his crimes, and not near as good-looking as Montgomery. Pass on this one.

This western is a pretty good time waster but not more; don't expect to learn the true life of Jack McCall, the assassin of Bill Hickock, who shot him in the back during a poker game.... Don't expect to see this here. Imagine the hero of a western killing one of his pals with a bullet in the neck. Especially for a western produced in the fifties, and - the worst of the worst - monitored by the awful Sam Katzman who did not care at all about authenticity and historical facts. But don't worry, it is a good western, agreeable to watch for western buffs. George Montgomery does his job, as usual. Don't avoid it. Forget the true Jack McCall's fate.