MovieChat Forums > Warlock (1959) Discussion > Ungrateful towns....

Ungrateful towns....

posted 10 years ago by paule-rooney
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Clay says something about how things always play out the same way in the towns that he/Morgan clear up : the townspeople are always happy (even desperate) to hire them to put a stop to the trouble being caused, yet they always end up becoming unwanted, disliked or worse and then have to move on.
I don't really get that!
The town is being plagued by real troublemakers and no-one else is prepared to stand up to them. Clay/Morgan put themselves very much in harms way . Clay doesn't shoot anyone who doesn't try to shoot him first - he even spares Curly in this film when he outdraws him.
Geez - he's the kind of guy I would want in my town keeping the peace!

[–] Captain_Augustus_McCrae 9 years ago

This plot device reflects the reality of law enforcement in some Western towns. J.B. (Wild Bill) Hickok was let go from his city marshal job in Abilene, Kansas, once the Texas cow herds stopped coming. The city fathers hired a guy at 1/3 Hickok's salary, once the wild drovers were no longer presenting problems. In like manner, once the OK Corral shootout was over, the city fathers of Tombstone, A.T. let Virgil Earp go from his city marshal job; they got squeamish once the McLaury brothers and Billy Clanton were killed. The pattern seemed to be, hire a tough man to calm things down, dispense with his services once he's done what you hired him to do.

"It ain't dying I'm talking about, it's LIVING!"
Captain Augustus McCrae