The Dangerous Days of Kiowa Jones

The 1950s and early 1960s were the era of the TV westerns. Countless shows from Bonanza to Gunsmoke, The Rifleman to Rawhide and many more dotted the TV landscape. Audiences wanted to see them, and the studios and channels obliged them. By 1966 though, their popularity was waning a bit. A TV movie that was never picked up as a show, The Dangerous Days of Kiowa Jones, was unfortunately a tad bit too late.

A drifting cowboy on the trail to a job, Kiowa Jones (Robert Horton) stumbles across two prisoners at an isolated cabin guarded by Marshal Duncan (Gary Merrill), a peace officer slowly dying from fever and smallpox. Duncan enlists Jones' help, swearing him in as a deputy to help him transport the duo. The cowboy wants nothing to do with it, but goes along with Duncan's plan just the same. It's less than a day later though when the Marshal dies from the fever, leaving Jones to bring the two prisoners to justice in Fort Smith. There's a problem though. One of the prisoners, Bobby Jack Wilkes (Sal Mineo), has made a standing offer. Anyone who rescues him from the hangman's noose will be rewarded with $2,000. As if his impromptu job wasn't tough enough, now Jones has to defend his prisoners from every man in the territory who can carry a gun.

First shown on TV in 1966, 'Kiowa' wasn't picked up by a network. It's unfortunate because it certainly has some potential. I think the biggest positive is Horton as the titular Kiowa Jones. He had already starred in Wagon Train and A Man Called Shenandoah so he was familiar with audiences and the genre. In other words, he knew what worked. Horton was never a huge star on film or on television, and besides the oh so awful but oh so good The Green Slime, I'd never seen him in anything in either format. The best TV westerns had memorable lead characters, and I feel like Horton's Kiowa Jones certainly had the potential to be a pretty memorable lead.

Why is that you ask? Simple. Like I reviewed recently in A Man Called Gannon, there's something iconic and even a little romantic about the concept of a drifting cowboy. Everything he owns is on his horse with him. He rides from town to town and job to job, living on his own and by his own code of ethics and morals. Horton is able to put a fresh spin on it. His Kiowa Jones is a likable, easy-going cowboy who carries a rifle but doesn't wear a pistol. Thrust into the unlikely position as a deputy, he commits to it because he gave his word. Nothing else. It would be easy to ride out, leave the Marshal behind. He could even hand over his prisoners to any of the gunmen trying to free Bobby Jack. The best part? Kiowa wants nothing to do with the $1,000 reward he would earn by delivering the prisoners. His reasoning? He'd just get in trouble with it. He likes his easy-going lifestyle. That money would just be a hassle. I really, really liked what Horton did with the Kiowa Jones character.

Getting the prisoners to Fort Smith provides about as difficult as you would assume, but 'Kiowa' introduces a solid list of supporting characters along the trail. Doing what seems like a rift on Billy the Kid, Mineo is a scene-stealer as Bobby Jack. He cackles and laughs hysterically, defying Kiowa to just let him go. The dynamic between the two reminded me a little of Anthony Mann's The Naked Spur, albeit on a smaller, less dark level. Nehemiah Persoff is similarly a scene-stealer as Skoda, Kiowa's second prisoner and a gypsy who's accepted his fate with the hangman, predicting what comes with his tarot cards. In an interesting addition, Diane Baker plays Amilia Rathmore, a middle-aged, single, even a little plain woman traveling by wagon to her new teaching post. I especially liked the give and take between her and the trail-wise Kiowa.

On the trail, also look for Royal Dano as Otto, an aging family patriarch out for revenge against Bobby Jack, with his two sons (Lonny Chapman and Zalman King) along for the ride. Harry Dean Stanton and Val Avery make a quick appearance as two greedy bounty hunters tailing Kiowa, Bobby Jack and Skoda with dollar signs for eyes. Robert H. Harris plays Dobie, the hangman.  

Clocking in at 98 minutes, the story in 'Kiowa' is episodic, dealing with one issue at a time before moving on. It is a TV movie so the budget wasn't gigantic. The entire movie is spent on the trail so there's no need for extras or towns. Nighttime scenes are clearly indoor sets, but with my penchant for anything 1960s and/or westerns, there's a certain cheeseball charm to the lack of budget. The music is a little goofy at times, little too light-hearted, but it works. Mostly though, I liked this movie a lot for the casting. I loved Horton as Kiowa. It's a fun part, but there's a darkness to it as evident when the peaceful Kiowa is forced to kill a man. It's a surprisingly dramatic moment in a surprisingly good western. Too bad it was never picked up as a show, but this is a pretty good stand-alone flick on its own.

The Dangerous Days of Kiowa Jones (1966): ***/****