Wild Bill Elliot Western

The roughest, toughest screen cowboy of all, Wild Bill Elliott was ironically known as the "peaceable man," the quick-triggered hero of dozens of B-Westerns. Breaking into the movies in 1925, he played mostly bit parts until winning the title role in the Columbia serial The Great Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok (1938). Within two years, Elliott was named one of the Top 10 Western stars, a position he'd hold for the next 15 years. A master of the cross-draw, Elliott closed out his shoot-'em-up career with 11 oaters for Monogram/Allied Artists and this action-packed double feature captures Wild Bill at his steely-eyed best. Fargo (1952): A no-nonsense drifter (Elliott) takes on the crooked cattlemen who murdered his brother. The Homesteaders (1953): A two-fisted settler (Elliott) rides herd on a wagon train of dynamite, unaware his best friend has betrayed him to a local mine owner who intends to hijack his load.

• western