William Boyd spends a nickel at a store and fights gangsters
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The 1932 film "Men of America" is about some people living in a small rural mountain town in California.
An "Old West" figure Smokey Joe runs a store which a local farmer and World War I veteran, Jim Parker,
visits frequently as he likes the store's pretty clerk Anne.
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1. Smokey Joe's Store
Smokey Joe Miller (Charles "Chic" Sale) is an Old West figure having fought Indians in 1887
and outlaws in 1899. In 1932 he runs a small store and post office in the rural mountain town of
Paradise Valley in California.
2. Smokey Joe at his store
The newspaper headline reads "Country Swept by Crime."
3. Jim Parker goes shopping
Anne is clerking but leaves and is replaced by Smokey Joe.
Jim buys some candy and empties his pocket onto the table.
4. Jim empties his pocket onto the table
He has to find a nickel to pay for the candy.
5. A knife, some screws and washers, and a nickel
Jim puts his finger on the nickel which has the faint outlines of an "Indian Head" or "Buffalo" nickel.
A gangster named Cicero leads a gang of 1930's desperados who have robbed a bank
and have arrived in California to hide out in a "hick town."
6. The Cicero gang out west
They were able to steal $50,000 in $1,000 bills but lost the smaller bills during a shootout.
7. Unspendable loot
The $1,000 bills can not be spent in the small town.
The men begin stealing food and other items from the local residents.
8. The townspeople discuss the thefts
Jim is out riding his horse when he sees a flash from a mirror.
9. Jim spots the gang's hideout
Two gang members attempt to rob a farmer and end up killing him.
10. Smokey Joe calls a meeting
Jim arrives and tells what he has seen. The gang sees Anne driving and stop her.
11. Gangsters kidnap Anne
Smokey Joe calls the sheriff but is told that the sheriff is out hunting votes.
The townspeople will have to solve their own crime problem.
They form an Old West posse.
12. Smokey Joe forms a posse
Smokey Joe, with his long experience and military veteran Jim are in front.
13. The "Men of America" riding
They encounter the gangsters driving a car.
14. Three men spot the car
The gangsters are armed with modern weapons including machine guns.
15. Gangster with "Tommy" gun
A gunfight ensues.
16. Jim and Smokey Joe ready
Most of the gangsters have been eliminated but Cicero is still alive.
17. Cicero holds Anne as a hostage
Jim climbs up a hill overlooking the gang's hideout and aims a rifle.
18. Jim aims
Jim manages to shoot Cicero and free Anne.
19. The men gather around the dead gangster
Crime does not pay in the new west either.
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Cast, Directors, Writers:
Charles "Chic" Sale as Smokey Joe Miller
William Boyd as Jim Parker Dorothy Wilson as Anne Ralph Ince as Cicero Writers: Samuel Ornitz, Jack Jungmeyer, Henry McCarty, Humphrey Pearson |
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