''King of the Bullwhip'' is a 1950 American

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

film produced and directed by

Ron Ormond Ron Ormond (born Vittorio Di Naro, August 29, 1910 – May 11, 1981) was an American author, showman, screenwriter, film producer, and film director of Western, musical, and exploitation films. Following his survival of a 1968 plane crash, Ormo ...

starring

Lash LaRue Alfred "Lash" LaRue (June 15, 1917 – May 21, 1996) was a popular western motion picture star of the 1940s and 1950s. Biography Early life and education Born Alfred LaRue in Gretna, Louisiana in 1917, he was reared in various towns th ...

and Al "Fuzzy" St. John. It was the eighth of LaRue's films for Ormond's Western Adventures Productions Inc. The film was the second to be released by Howco, Ron Ormond's new film company composed of Ormond and

drive-in movie A drive-in theater or drive-in cinema is a form of cinema structure consisting of a large outdoor movie screen, a projection booth, a concession stand, and a large parking area for automobiles. Within this enclosed area, customers can view movi ...

owners Joy N. Houck and J. Francis White, and Ormond's first film as director. The screenplay is co-written by Jack Lewis and Associate Producer Ira S. Webb. Jack Holt and

Tom Neal Thomas Carroll Neal Jr. (January 28, 1914 – August 7, 1972) was an American actor and successful amateur boxer best known for his costarring role in the critically lauded film '' Detour'', for having a widely publicized affair with actress B ...

return from the previous film but in different roles. The film was shot at the

Iverson Movie Ranch Iverson may refer to: Computing * Iverson Award, an ACM honour for APL contributions * Iverson bracket, a mathematical notation * Iverson Notation, the syntactic basis of APL (programming language) Other uses * Iverson Movie Ranch, Chatsworth, Ca ...

Plot

US Marshal Lash and Deputy Marshal Fuzzy are sent to the stop a gang led by a

bullwhip A bullwhip is a single-tailed whip, usually made of braided leather or nylon, designed as a tool for working with livestock or competition. Bullwhips are pastoral tools, traditionally used to control livestock in open country. A bullwhip's leng ...

wielding masked bandit called El Azote who are terrorising the area through murder and armed robbery. Ambushed by a group of seven riders, Lash and Fuzzy evade them and make their way to Tioga City. Upon arrival in town Lash notices the local newspaper informed the town of the arrival of a marshal and deputy. This leads Lash to believe that someone at the newspaper let the news out as opposed to their usual clandestine arrival in order to kill them. After a fight in a saloon where Lash uses his whip on a thug, he meets Benson, the owner of the saloon. Lash informs Benson that they were waylaid by a gang of men. Lash decides to allay suspicion of their true identities by telling Benson they saw the bodies of a Marshal and his deputy that they buried. Benson notices Lash's prowess with a bullwhip in the fight and schemes to dress Lash as El Azote to reap profits and give El Azote the blame. Lash agrees as he feel this will get him closer to the identity of El Azote. Eventually Lash and Fuzzy's true identities as lawmen are discovered; they are captured, disarmed and tied up. Escaping their bonds by using their spurs, Lash and Fuzzy bring El Azote and his outlaw gang to justice; Lash using his whip, Fuzzy using his

slingshot A slingshot is a small hand-powered projectile weapon. The classic form consists of a Y-shaped frame, with two natural rubber strips or tubes attached to the upper two ends. The other ends of the strips lead back to a pocket that holds the pro ...

. The film features two climaxes. Lash and El Azote have a bullwhip fight to the finish whilst Fuzzy, who constantly regales all and sundry of his imaginary friendship and adventures with Buffalo Bill comes to face with the real Bill Cody...

Cast

Lash La Rue Alfred "Lash" LaRue (June 15, 1917 – May 21, 1996) was a popular western motion picture star of the 1940s and 1950s. Biography Early life and education Born Alfred LaRue in Gretna, Louisiana in 1917, he was reared in various towns th ...

... Marshal Lash La Rue *

Al St. John Al St. John (also credited as Al Saint John and "Fuzzy" St. John; September 10, 1892 – January 21, 1963) was an early American motion-picture comedian. He was a nephew of silent film star Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, with whom he often performed on ...

... Deputy Fuzzy Q. Jones * Jack Holt ... James Kerrigan *

... Benson * Dennis Moore ... Joe Chester *

Anne Gwynne Anne Gwynne (born Marguerite Gwynne Trice; December 10, 1918 – March 31, 2003) was an American actress who was known as one of the first scream queens because of her numerous appearances in horror films. Gwynne was also one of the most popula ...

... Jane Kerrigan * George J. Lewis ... Rio * Michael Whalen ... Thurman * Mary Lou Webb ... Mary Lou the Saloon Girl * Willis Houck ... Willis * Cliff Taylor ... Mr. Palmer *

Frank Jaquet Frank Garnier Jaquet (March 16, 1885 – May 11, 1958) was an American actor known for playing supporting roles with his career extended from 1934 to the mid-1950s. Biography In 1925, Jaquet was part of the Summer stock cast at the Elitch ...

... Joe the Bartender * Tex Cooper ... Buffalo Bill

Production

US Marine, Western movie fan and aspiring screenwriter Jack Lewis had met Lash Larue and suggested he had an idea for a screenplay for him. Larue told Lewis he had a new producer,

and to contact him. By chance Lewis had also met

when his motorcycle needed repair outside his farm. Ormond agreed to use the screenplay but advised Lewis to not give Larue any lines over ten words and to let St. John write his own comedy. The film was shot in five days for $40,000 with the climatic bullwhip duel filmed in one afternoon. ''King of the Bullwhip'' also used several sequences of action and chase footage from previous Ormond Larue films. By the time the film was released Lewis was back in the Marine Corps en route to the Korean War. Ormond offered Lewis screenplay credits on other of their films to keep his name active whilst he was in Korea, but Lewis turned the offer down. In addition to Ormond's father in law Cliff Taylor appearing in the film, Joy Houck's son Willis and Ira Webb's daughter Mary Lou make appearances. Buffalo Bill was portrayed by Judge Thomas "Tex" Cooper (1876-1951) who knew Buffalo Bill, had performed in the

Wild West Show Wild West shows were traveling vaudeville performances in the United States and Europe that existed around 1870–1920. The shows began as theatrical stage productions and evolved into open-air shows that depicted romanticized stereotypes of ...

s at the

World's Columbian Exposition The World's Columbian Exposition (also known as the Chicago World's Fair) was a world's fair held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. The centerpiece of the Fair, hel ...

and the

101 Ranch Wild West Show The Miller Brothers 101 Ranch was a cattle ranch in the Indian Territory of Oklahoma before statehood. Located near modern-day Ponca City, it was founded by Colonel George Washington Miller, a veteran of the Confederate Army, in 1893.Hoy, JimCatt ...

and was an actual

Sherman, Texas Sherman is a U.S. city in and the county seat of Grayson County, Texas. The city's population in 2020 was 43,645. It is one of the two principal cities in the Sherman–Denison metropolitan statistical area, and it is part of the Texoma region ...

sheriff. In Italy the film was known as ''Le Pistole Di Zorro''

Release

The film released in theaters December 20, 1950 in the United States. The film was available as a

manufactured on demand Build-on-demand or manufacturing on demand (MOD) refers to a manufacturing process where goods are produced only when or as they are required. This allows scalability and adjustable assemblies depending on the current needs of the part requestor or ...

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

from

Turner Classic Movies Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie-oriented pay-TV network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasting campus in the Midtown business district of At ...

. A new 2K scan and limited run

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of st ...

release is set for 2022 by Canadian independent distributor, Gold Ninja Video.

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, 0043711 1950 films American Western (genre) films 1950 Western (genre) films 1950 directorial debut films American black-and-white films Films directed by Ron Ormond 1950s English-language films 1950s American films