Wichita's Vera Miles in "Wichita" (1955)

Starring Wichita's, Vera Miles

"Wichita" is a 1955 American CinemaScope Western film directed by Jacques Tourneur and starring Joel McCrea as Wyatt Earp. The supporting cast features Lloyd Bridges, Edgar Buchanan, Peter Graves, Jack Elam and Mae Clarke.

The film's premiere was held in Wichita, Kansas, at The Wichita Theatre, 310 East Douglas, with the stars in attendance. Star, Vera Miles, had been Miss Kansas in 1948 and was third runner up in the Miss America pageant.

Plot:
In 1874, former bison hunter and entrepreneur Wyatt Earp (Joel McCrea) arrives in the lawless cattle town of Wichita, Kansas. After noticing the total lawlessness in Wichita, Wyatt Earp reluctantly accepts the Marshal's job and runs into the worst local troublemakers. His skills as a gunfighter made him a perfect candidate for marshal but he had refused the job until he feels morally obligated to bring law and order to this wild town. His least popular move is to take away the guns of everyone in town, no matter how important. Only when town banker Sam McCoy (Walter Coy) is hit with a personal tragedy does Earp's no-guns edict begin to make sense.

Cast:
Joel McCrea as Wyatt Earp
Vera Miles as Laurie McCoy
Lloyd Bridges as Gyp Clements
Wallace Ford as Arthur Whiteside
Edgar Buchanan as Doc Black
Peter Graves as Morgan Earp
Keith Larsen as Bat Masterson
Carl Benton Reid as Mayor Andrew Hoke
John Smith as Jim Earp
Walter Coy as Sam McCoy
Robert J. Wilke as Ben Thompson (as Robert Wilke)
Jack Elam as Al
Mae Clarke as Mrs. McCoy
Walter Sande as Clint Wallace

The film won a Golden Globe Award. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association awarded the film with "Best Picture - Outdoor Drama" in 1955.

It was filmed in California, mostly in Thousand Oaks.

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