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The Desperado
(1916) United States of America
B&W : One reel
Directed by Rupert Julian
Cast: Rupert Julian [the desperado], Zoe Beck (Zoe Rae) [the child], Jack Holt [the sheriff], Frank MacQuarrie
The Universal Film Manufacturing Company, Incorporated production; distributed by The Universal Film Manufacturing Company, Incorporated [Laemmle]. / Produced by Carl Laemmle. Scenario by Calder Johnstone, from a screen story by Hugh Johnson. / Released 22 March 1916. / Standard 35mm spherical 1.33:1 format.
Drama: Western.
Synopsis: A desperado, on the run from the law, sacrifices his own life to save the life of a little girl bitten by a rattlesnake. // [?] [From The Moving Picture World]? In the early days of Oklahoma, the incoming pioneers struggled mightily for existence. The scarcity of wood forced them to take lumber from the government preserve. To stop the depredations, the government issued a call for deputies, and as the fees loomed very large in that time of want, there was no scarcity of men to fill the places. Among the first to accept service was young Yeager, the son of a Virginian. From his association with rough companions the young man soon became the hardest drinker and gambler of the lot. In the county seat was a gambler by the name of Latrobe, a man of the West: cold, hard, and strictly “out for the money.” The gambler was successful in cleaning out young Yeager. From that time onward, Yeager changed and was known as the desperado. It was his vowed intention to “get” Latrobe and those who had helped the gambler to “fleece” him. At the time the story opens, the sheriff was being severely criticized because of his inability to catch the Yeager. He determined to use a trap and posted a notice where he knew the desperado would see it, accusing him of cowardice and boasting that he would not come to town. Yeager accepted the challenge, and entering the town, found himself in a trap. His main idea in making the trip was to kill Latrobe, and instead he found himself the target for half a dozen sharpshooters, but escaped after wounding several of his assailants. In the melee he was shot through the upper lip, and while searching for a water hole he came across a nester and his wife and little daughter. The nester told of his hard luck and stated that he wished he could invite the stranger to share their meal, but rations were too low. The desperado took a liking to the child and told the family that he only wanted to rest. He and the child became friend and she noticed his bleeding lip when she asked him to kiss her doll. Before leaving that night, the stranger gave the girl a bundle of bills and made her promise to keep the gift a secret until the morrow. Then he rode off through the night. The next day, while he tried to elude a posse following him, he was almost unseated when his horse dodged a striking rattlesnake. Dismounting to see if his horse was stricken, he noticed a child’s footprints nearby, then saw a wagon trail. He surmisesd that the child wandered away from its parents and was fearful that it might meet the rattlesnake. He searched nearby and finally found the child of the previous night. She had missed her doll and returned to search for it; at that point the snake had been disturbed — and had bitten her. She cried bitterly, “I have been bited!” He tied a tourniquet above the wound and, knowing that the action would mean his own death, sucked the wound with his bleeding lips. When the others found them, the child was out of danger, while the desperado, smiling in his death agony, was safe beyond the reach of the law. On a hillside there is a grave marked only by a stone on which has been engraved, “And Christ ain’t a-goin‘ to be too hard on a man who died for a little kid.”
Survival status: (unknown)
Current rights holder: Public domain [USA].
Keywords: Children - Covered wagons - Death - Dolls - Escapes - First-aid - Graves - Prayers - Self-sacrifice - Sheriffs - Snake bites - Snakes: Rattlesnakes - Tournaquets
Listing updated: 6 November 2022.
References: Edmonds-BigU pp. 85, 86-87 : Website-IMDb.
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