Note: despite the illustration, Kentucky Rifle was made in colour.

A wagon in a train headed for California breaks its axle, leading to it being temporarily left behind while volunteers work to repair it. Isolated in the wilderness, the small group of settlers come under attack from the Comanche. When the attack results in a stand-off, the settlers are offered a trade: the wagon’s cargo of Kentucky-made rifles for their lives.

While Hollywood’s treatment of Native Americans was evolving by the mid-1950s, with a lot of westerns taking a more sympathetic view of their place and treatment in history, there was still room in cinemas for a more old-fashioned, somewhat racist depiction. I think it is possible to note the damaging stereotypes included in these films, and to condemn the treatment of the continent’s first peoples in them, but to not judge the filmmakers of this generation too harshly. While we are viewing these films from the 2020s, and judging them by a more egalitarian perspective, these writers and directors were making them in the 1950s. While it is a bit trite to claim ‘they did not know any better’, it is perhaps fair to claim that the broad social expectations of the time were met by their film media. There are, of course, no actual Native Americans in Kentucky Rifle, simply white actors in make-up putting on silly voices.

Racial politics aside, there is a neat theatrical quality to the film. Characters largely stay close to the wagon, leading to a focus on character and dialogue over significant action or on-location vistas. There is a watchable internal conflict between the settlers: should they give in and hand over their arms, or should they hold out against a much larger force?

The acting varies. Lead Lance Fuller is reasonable enough, as is Chill Wills, and Cathy Downs. Henry Hull overacts terribly as the preacher Bently. Co-star Sterling Holloway is a little difficult to take. By 1955 he was a noted character actor with a knack for comedy. 11 years later Walt Disney Productions cast him as the voice of Winnie the Pooh, which retro-actively made it almost impossible to treat his live-action performances seriously. Close your eyes here and he is unintentionally hilarious.

This is a capable, albeit modest, western, with Carl K. Hittleman doing a serviceable job directing. The film stems from South Carolina distributor Howco Productions, established in 1951 and specialising in low-budget B-movies and packaged double bills. In 1995 it would have acted as sufficient disposable entertainment, but time – and changing attitudes – have not been kind.

1955 West is a review project to watch as many western features from 1955 as possible, in order to gain a ‘snapshot’ view of the genre at its height. According to Letterboxd, there were 72 westerns released that year; this is the 28th film reviewed. You can see all of FictionMachine’s reviews to date by clicking here.