Across the Sierras (1941)

Bill saves his friend Larry from hanging and then tries to get him to join him in becoming a rancher. But Larry joins up with outlaw Carew and when Bill goes after him he accidentally ... See full summary »

Director:

D. Ross Lederman

Writer:

Paul Franklin (original screenplay)

Stars:

Bill Elliott, Richard Fiske, Luana Walters

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Bill Elliott	...	Wild Bill Hickok
Richard Fiske	...	Larry Armstrong
Luana Walters	...	Anne Woodworth
Dub Taylor	...	Cannonball
Dick Curtis	...	Mitch Carew
LeRoy Mason	...	Stringer
Ruth Robinson	...	Lu Woodworth
John Dilson	...	Dan Woodworth
Milton Kibbee	...	Sheriff (as Milt Kibbee)
Ralph Peters	...	Hobie

Storyline

Bill saves his friend Larry from hanging and then tries to get him to join him in becoming a rancher. But Larry joins up with outlaw Carew and when Bill goes after him he accidentally shoots and kills Larry. Planning to marry Ann, Bill now hangs up his guns. But when Carew comes looking for him he straps on Larry's gun and heads out to meet him.

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Plot Keywords:

code of the west | outlaw gang | wild bill hickok | revenge | 1870s | 

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Taglines:

IT'S FIGHT FOR RIGHT...WITH MIGHT! (original print ad-all caps)

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Genres:

Action | Music | Romance | Western

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

13 February 1941 (USA)

Also Known As:

Welcome Stranger

Filming Locations:

Columbia/Warner Bros. Ranch - 411 North Hollywood Way, Burbank, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

59 min

Sound Mix:

Mono Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Quotes

Wild Bill Hickok: Larry's been a mighty good friend to me since we ran away from school together. He comes from good, solid frontier stock. I'd be a pretty poor friend to sit by and watch him make a mistake which might be his last.
Ann Woodworth: You set a lot of store by that, don't you?
Wild Bill Hickok: What do you mean?
Ann Woodworth: Why, Larry coming from fine frontier stock - that whole Western code that everyone out here seems to live by.
Wild Bill Hickok: After a while, you'll get to believe it just like we do. You'll find that out here, it's the next best thing to a ...
[...]

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Connections

Followed by Prairie Gunsmoke (1942)

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Soundtracks

"I Gotta Make Music"
Written by Milton Drake
Played on a concertina and sung by Dub Taylor

User Reviews

Elements Of The Virginian

Bill Elliott played Wild Bill Hickok in many westerns so much so that he was billed as Wild Bill Elliott in films like Across The Sierras. But anything that any of these films have to do with the real Hickok is purely coincidental. Across The Sierras is one of thousands of westerns that take a real historical character and write a fictional story around him.

In the case of Across The Sierras it's more like they took a western classic and adapted into this film. Any western fiction fan or film fan will spot elements of The Virginian in the plot of this B western.

Elliott as Hickok has a young friend in Richard Fiske whom he is pulling out of trouble and warns him he's flirting with death or prison should Fiske not mend his ways. After Fiske starts hanging out with an especially murderous outlaw in Dick Curtis, Elliott accidentally kills Fiske and goes through grievous remorse. At the urging of Luana Walters Elliott considers becoming a peaceable man for real and hanging up his guns. But when Curtis challenges Elliott there's only one answer for a cowboy hero.

Across The Sierras has a few more adult themes in this than the normal B western market that Elliott was appealing to at this time. It holds up pretty well today.