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Biography - Wild Bill Hickok [VHS]

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The American west generated many legends, but none is greater than that of Wild Bill Hickok. What makes that of Hickok greater than most other legends is that he was gunned down at a relatively young age. Supposedly his assailant was exacting revenge for the death of his brother at the hands of Hickok, although that has not ever been verified. Furthermore, the legends about Hickok are largely true. As a lawman, he did engage in gunfights with lawbreakers, and he was never willing to state precisely how many men he had killed in the name of the law.
What was surprising about Hickok is that he was very much a literary man. As a young man, he was a voracious reader, which makes him even more unusual. Given his many skills, it is quite likely that he could have been successful in several other areas. One does not think of gunfighters as being terribly literate and this stereotype is reinforced by the media. When I was young, the cowboys I saw on the screen were never portrayed as being very literate. This is another fact refuting the notion that those who settled the west were semi-literate people who were failures in the east. So many of the settlers were very educated and went west because they wanted adventure and a chance for success.
This is a tape that sets the record straight about an American legend. What sets Hickok apart is that the legends are largely true. He was a soldier, scout, lawman, gunfighter and somewhat of an intellectual. The tape is an excellent introduction to the organized chaos that the west sometimes was.