The brother (House Peters Jr.) of rancher Bill Martin (Bill Elliott) is killed in a stampede started by cattleman. Bill returns to the Fargo country to take his brother's place and is welcomed by law-abiding cattleman MacKenzie (Jack Ingram)) and his daughter Kathy (Phyllis Coates). The leader of the ruthless cattle interests are townsman Austin (Arthur Space) and his henchmen Red (Myron Healey), Link (Robert J. Wilke) and Albord (Terry Frost). Bill has the idea of putting up barbed wire to keep the herds from been driven over the land cultivated by the farmers. He, aided by Tad Sloan (Fuzzy Knight), produces the wire by make-shift methods, but it proves effective. The cattleman charge in court that the wire is dangerous to their herds but lose the case. Austin orders his men to seize Bill, bale him in strands of the wire, and throw him on the stage of the town hall during a fall festival. Bill doesn't take kindly to this and it precipitates open war.
Practical Effects
Actual barbed wire bale human trap. Stuntman earned his paycheck.
Writing
Bill invents DIY barbed wire manufacturing like a deranged Elon Musk.
Director
Lewis D. Collins
Bill Elliott
Bill Martin
Myron Healey
Red Olsen
Phyllis Coates
Kathy MacKenzie
Fuzzy Knight
Tad Sloan
Arthur Space
Austin
Jack Ingram
Rancher MacKenzie
Robert J. Wilke
Link - Henchman
Terry Frost
Alvord - Henchman
Robert Bray
Ed Murdock
Denver Pyle
Carey
Tim Ryan
Sam
Florence Lake
Maggie
Stanley Andrews
Judge Bruce
Richard Reeves
Bartender
Gene Roth
Blacksmith
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Bill Elliott was 'Wild Bill Elliott' in over 100 Westerns. This was his penultimate film before TV took over.
The 1952 'Fargo' has zero connection to the Coen Brothers film—yet both involve crimes escalating from petty disputes in frozen nowhere.
US
