Wild and Woolly
About Wild and Woolly
Jeff Hillington, son of railroad man Collis Hillington, wants the Wild West he has read about and fits out his rooms that way. A delegation from Bitter Creek, Arizona, comes to New York for backing on a spur line. Collis sends Jeff west to look. Nell Larrabee tells the town to play the old West so Jeff will report well: a fake train holdup, a fake Indian raid, and blanks in Jeff's gun. The scheme turns real when Nell is kidnapped and the crowd is trapped in a dance hall ringed by Indians. Once Jeff understands, he breaks the raid, gets Nell out, and stops the man behind it. He marries her.
Cast & crew
More about Wild and Woolly
John Emerson directed. Anita Loos wrote the scenario from a story by Horace B. Carpenter. Douglas Fairbanks produced. Artcraft Pictures released it. Billy Shay was assistant director and editor. Victor Fleming and Harry Thorpe photographed it. Erich von Stroheim and Wilfred Buckland were technical directors. An alternate title is A Regular Guy. Copyright LP10954, June 16, 1917. Moving Picture World of June 23, 1917 said Fairbanks used the real town of Burbank instead of a studio western street. Wikidata also lists Fort Lee as a filming location.
Themes
Look
Victor Fleming and Harry Thorpe photographed it, with Glen MacWilliams as assistant. The Burbank street was used as the western town.
Preservation
A print survives and is on the Internet Archive.
Notes
- Douglas Fairbanks plays Jeff Hillington. Eileen Percy plays Nell Larrabee. A magazine synopsis spells the surname Larabee. AFI uses Larrabee.
- Walter Bytell plays the father; AFI credits him as Hollis J. Hillington, while the magazine synopsis uses Collis J. Hillington.
- Sam De Grasse is in the plot as the man whose scheme Jeff foils. Wikipedia's review summary names him in the kidnapping turn as Steve Shelby.
- AFI times the five-reel picture at 56 minutes. Wikidata lists 72 minutes.
- Monte Blue, Adolphe Menjou, and Bull Montana are on the Wikidata cast list.
Scenes
- Bitter Creek dresses itself as the old West and loads Jeff's revolver with blanks.
- The fake Indian raid turns into a kidnapping, and Jeff has to finish it with the town trapped in the dance hall.
Influenced by
- Wild and Woolly, a story by Horace B. Carpenter
Also available
- Internet Archive (silent-wild-and-woolly)
