bkoganbing The first half of the 60s were the years that Arch Hall, Sr. tried very hard to make a teenage movie heartthrob of his son Arch Hall, Jr. The Halls gave us such films as The Sadist, The Choppers, and Eegah and they gave up. But the Halls had one more film in them. I can hardly call Deadwood 76 a comeback film since they hardly made it with what they had already put out. Personally I think Arch Hall, Sr. instead of Ed Wood belongs with that dubious distinction of putting out the worst films in cinema history. Hall was also the inspiration of the Robert Mitchum-Jack Webb film The Last Time I Saw Archie. If he was half the conman Mitchum portrayed his whole life story would be worth a film.Junior Hall plays young fast gun drifter named Billy whom he's not adverse to using William Bonney's nickname and reputation. He kills a few of Sam Bass's boys and Deadwood starts anticipating what it would be like if 'Billy the Kid' meets up with their most famous citizen Wild Bill Hickok. Hall Sr. plays the part of a preacher in Deadwood 76.The Halls movie careers came to a merciful end after Deadwood 76. It's pretty bad in keeping with the Hall tradition. It's pretty bad all around in every film category possible.

chuckie_blanco 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.

classicsoncall 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"!

ethylester I could easily not have watched this movie and been fine. Take it or leave it. Cheezy western flick with pretty stereotypical characters. More like a Disney movie than anything else. It is about a guy, who everyone thinks is Billy The Kid, who can shoot really fast. People bet on him and force him to duel with other guys like Wild Bill Hiccock. He makes friends with some Natives because he is also trying to mine for gold. He finds out that his father is an Indian Chief. But he doesn't care and goes on shooting people. It's a pretty boring story.Not recommended unless you love Arch Hall Jr. and shots of his manly cleft chin. Good movie to fall asleep to.