''Pony Express Rider'' is a 1976 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 directed by

Robert Totten Robert Charles Totten (February 5, 1937 – January 27, 1995) was an American television director, writer, and actor, best known for directing many '' Gunsmoke'' episodes between 1966 and 1971. Career In addition to directing, Totten also co ...

and starring

Henry Wilcoxon Harry Frederick Wilcoxon (8 September 1905 – 6 March 1984), known as Henry Wilcoxon, was an actor born in Roseau, Dominica, British West Indies, and who was a leading man in many of Cecil B. DeMille's films, also serving as DeMille's associ ...

Maureen McCormick Maureen Denise McCormick (born August 5, 1956) is an American actress. She portrayed Marcia Brady on the ABC television sitcom ''The Brady Bunch'', which ran from 1969 to 1974, and reprised the role in several of the numerous ''Brady Bunch'' ...

and

Joan Caulfield Beatrice Joan Caulfield (June 1, 1922 – June 18, 1991) was an American actress and model. After being discovered by Broadway producers, she began a stage career in 1943 that eventually led to signing as an actress with Paramount Pictures. In th ...

. In 1860 young Jimmie Richardson joins the Pony Express to help find the man he believes killed his father.

Plot

The year is 1860. The United States is inexorably heading towards civil war.

Gold fever A gold rush or gold fever is a discovery of gold—sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals—that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, New Ze ...

excites prospectors with wild dreams.

Pioneer Pioneer commonly refers to a settler who migrates to previously uninhabited or sparsely inhabited land. In the United States pioneer commonly refers to an American pioneer, a person in American history who migrated west to join in settling and de ...

s are pushing the western frontier further. Against these events, is the story of two rugged frontiersmen. They are friends - Trevor Kingman is a rancher who lusts for power and Jed Richardson is a modest man who hopes to carve decency into the western wilds. Kingman's pursuit of political fame and fortune eventually splits the friends. The only link between them is the love that developed between Richardson's son, Jimmy D., and Kingman's daughter, Rose of Sharon. When a feud develops between the two families, Bovey (Kingman's son) - in a moment of anger - murders Jed. Jimmy D., despite his love for Rose, decides to avenge his father's death. He sets out after Bovey, racing through the wilderness plains across Native American-held country. By a chanceful opportunity Jimmy D. joins the

Pony Express The Pony Express was an American express mail service that used relays of horse-mounted riders. It operated from April 3, 1860, to October 26, 1861, between Missouri and California. It was operated by the Central Overland California and Pi ...

mail rider service. It is through the Pony Express that he is able to ride across hostile territory in his vengeance mission. Eventually, in uncharted territory, Jimmy D. gets his revenge.

Gibraltar Chronicle The ''Gibraltar Chronicle'' is a national newspaper published in Gibraltar since 1801. It became a daily in 1821. It is Gibraltar's oldest established daily newspaper and the world's second oldest English language newspaper to have been in pri ...

Television & Radio Guide; Dated 08/12/1984; Page 3

Cast

* Stewart Petersen as Jimmie D. Richardson *

as Trevor Kingman *

Buck Taylor Buck Taylor (born May 13, 1938) is an American actor and artist, best known for his role as gunsmith-turned-deputy Newly O'Brian in the CBS television series ''Gunsmoke''. He is the son of Florence Gertrude Heffernan and character actor Dub Tayl ...

as Bovey Kingman *

as Rose of Sharon *

Ken Curtis Ken Curtis (born Curtis Wain Gates; July 2, 1916 – April 28, 1991) was an American singer and actor best known for his role as Festus Haggen on the CBS western television series ''Gunsmoke''. Although he appeared on ''Gunsmoke'' earl ...

as Jed Richardson *

as Charlotte *

Slim Pickens Louis Burton Lindley Jr. (June 29, 1919 – December 8, 1983), better known by his stage name Slim Pickens, was an American actor and rodeo performer. Starting off in the rodeo, Pickens transitioned to acting and appeared in dozens of movies and ...

as Bob Jay *

Dub Taylor Walter Clarence "Dub" Taylor Jr. (February 26, 1907 – October 3, 1994),Dub Taylor, 87, Actor in Westerns, The New York Times, October 5, 1994, Section B, Page 12 was an American character actor who from the 1940s into the 1990s worked extens ...

as Boomer Riley *

Ace Reid Asa Elmer "Ace" Reid, Jr., (March 10, 1925 – November 10, 1991) was the creator of the cartoon ''Cowpokes'' and a Western humorist. ''Cowpokes'', at one time, ran in over 400 weekly newspapers across the United States. He produced many popula ...

as Bullfrog Fry *

Jack Elam William Scott "Jack" Elam (November 13, 1920 – October 20, 2003) was an American film and television actor best known for his numerous roles as villains in Western films and, later in his career, comedies (sometimes spoofing his villainou ...

as Crazy Charlie * Larry D. Mann as Blackmore *

James Almanzar James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguati ...

as Puddin * Bea Morris as Marquette Richardson *

Tom Waters Tom or TOM may refer to: * Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name) Characters * Tom Anderson, a character in ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' * Tom Beck, a character ...

as Button Forehand *

Cliff Brand In geography and geology, a cliff is an area of rock which has a general angle defined by the vertical, or nearly vertical. Cliffs are formed by the processes of weathering and erosion, with the effect of gravity. Cliffs are common on co ...

as Capt. Billings *

Bleu McKenzie Bleu or BLEU may refer to: * the French word for blue * '' Three Colors: Blue'', a 1993 movie * BLEU (Bilingual Evaluation Understudy), a machine translation evaluation metric * Belgium–Luxembourg Economic Union * Blue cheese, a type of cheese ...

as Yankee Bill * George Roland as Mr. Price *

Scott Petersen Scott Petersen (born July 4, 1970) is an American professional golfer. Career Petersen was born in Williston, North Dakota. He played college golf at the University of Tulsa and the University of Colorado. At Colorado, he was an All-American h ...

as David Richardson * Harold Lee Thompson as Buddy Rhodes * Delmer Buddy Totten as Bobby Charles Richardson * Donna Jamison as Glee Ann *

Dennis Lehane Dennis Lehane (born August 4, 1965) is an American author. He has published more than a dozen novels; the first several were a series of mysteries featuring recurring characters, including ''A Drink Before the War''. Of these, four were adapted a ...

as Cpl. Ross * Bill Conklin as Smiles

References

Bibliography

* Monaco, James. ''The Encyclopedia of Film''. Perigee Books, 1991.

External links

* 1976 films 1976 Western (genre) films American Western (genre) films Films directed by Robert Totten Films set in the 19th century Films set in Texas 1970s historical films American historical films 1970s English-language films 1970s American films {{1970s-Western-film-stub