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The Outcasts Of Poker Flat
The Outcasts Of Poker Flat Story Summary
Outcast Of Poker Flat Summary
The Outcasts Of Poker Flat Character Summary

The Outcasts of Poker Flat
Directed by	Joseph M. Newman
Produced by	Julian Blaustein
Screenplay by	Edmund H. North
Based on	Bret Harte
Starring	Anne Baxter Dale Robertson
Music by	Hugo Friedhofer
Cinematography	Joseph LaShelle
Edited by	William Reynolds
Production company
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date
Running time	81 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

The Outcasts of Poker Flat is a 1952 American Western film directed by Joseph M. Newman and starring Anne Baxter and Dale Robertson.^[1] The screenplay is based on a short story of the same name by Bret Harte. Harte's story has been brought to film at least five times, including in 1919 with Harry Carey and in 1937 with Preston Foster. Black jack cause of death.

Plot[edit]

Ryker, a murderous western outlaw, leaves death and destruction behind after a robbery in Poker Flat and leaves the loot with his wife, Cal, before riding off. A while later, the shaken town decides to banish all undesirables. They include gambler John Oakhurst, saloonkeeper and madam The Duchess and the town drunk, as well as Cal, who had been spotted with Ryker, even though no one knows they are husband and wife.

The others follow Oakhurst, not knowing what else to do. They come across young Tom Dakin and pregnant sweetheart Piney, who were headed for Poker Flat to be wed. In a snowstorm, John leads them to a remote cabin. They have no horses, so Tom takes off for Poker Flat on foot to get help, given $500 of the stolen money by Cal in case he needs to pay someone to form a rescue party.

Ryker turns up, also on foot. He is shocked to find Cal, becomes suspicious and beats her, as well as bullying the others and eating all of their remaining food. He shoots the drunk just for taking a bottle of whiskey. Cal develops a bond with Oakhurst and eventually reveals her situation to him. A fight begins after Ryker shoots and kills The Duchess in cold blood, and Oakhurst is able to strangle him to death. Some head back toward town, while Oakhurst and Cal go the other way.

Cast[edit]

Anne Baxter as Cal
Dale Robertson as John Oakhurst
Miriam Hopkins as Mrs. Shipton aka 'The Duchess'
Cameron Mitchell as Ryker
Craig Hill as Tom Dakin
Barbara Bates as Piney Wilson
William H. Lynn as Jake Watterson
Dick Rich as Drunk

References[edit]

^The Outcasts of Poker Flat at the American Film Institute Catalog

External links[edit]

The Outcasts of Poker Flat on IMDb
The Outcasts of Poker Flat at AllMovie
The Outcasts of Poker Flat at the TCM Movie Database

The outcasts of poker flat short summary

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The short story The Outcasts of Poker Flat seeks to explore the themes of unfair and biased judgments in the hands of inappropriate individuals in authority, behavioral effects on appearance versus reality and the power of nature to influence the fate of man using the California Gold rush of the 1850’s as a background setting.

The four “objectionable characters” of Poker Flat, Mr. John Oakhurst, the Duchess, Mother Shipton and Uncle Billy were banished from the town due to alleged immorality.

Mr. Oakhurst was a professional gambler, the Duchess and Mother Shipton were prostitutes and Uncle Billy was a drunkard. The secret committee of Poker Fat had decided to purge the town of sinners when the town lost several thousand dollars, tow horses and a prominent citizen (Harte 1). There was no indication in the story that the four were directly related to the above “losses”, the two men who were hanged prior to their banishment might have been, but the four were singled out due to the virtuous excitement of the townsfolk, specifically the secret committee, who had seen it fit to make an example out of the four at this time of so-called town purification.

As the story unfolds, there was no indication that the four committed acts that merited their banishment. They were no different than many of the townsfolk in the ‘Gold rush’ places of California who engaged in gambling, prostitution and drinking after a hard day’s work to relax and amuse themselves. According to Gaumbart, in Californian towns at that time where the gold rush was concentrated gamblers and drunkards of every kind and color abounded (2003). Even houses of prostitution can be found everywhere (Franzius 1997). The name Poker Flat suggest that the town itself is a sort of a gambling place. The only fault that Mr. Oakhurst had obviously committed was that he was a stranger who earned a substantial fortune in his winnings of poker games against the Poker Flat locals. The young prostitute herself, the Duchess, did not commit any crime that justifies her banishment while the rest of the town prostitutes were not.

The Duchess herself may have been a beautiful young woman, as the handsome Mr. Oakhurst had come to like her, and may have a large percentage of customers. Mother Shipton on the other hand, did not also commit any heavy crime unless she may have recruited young girls for prostitution as her name “mother” implied, like she may have been some sort of a prostitute matron. https://cleverpunk.amebaownd.com/posts/19682539. Uncle Billy was a drunkard suspected of sluice robbery. But one wonders why a drunkard and a sluice robber should be banished instead of being imprisoned. It is interesting to note that the secret committee, who pronounced judgment of the four, was composed of men whose decision making was based more on prejudice and revenge rather than on objectivity.

According to Webb the towns of California during the gold rush was composed of diverse individuals seeking to get rich quick. They mostly came form other towns and states and were concerned only of acquiring a fortune and then to eventually leave. Because of this absorption, they left the control of community public affairs to whoever was willing to assume the responsibility. And sure enough there were various men who fill these political positions. Unfortunately, those who assumed political responsibilities were mostly unscrupulous men of undesirable characters who busied themselves in acquiring wealth by plundering and taking advantage of the weak.

They were usually referred to as vigilance committees or secret committees and were elected by individuals whose fraudulent and villainous acts they supported and protected. They usually roamed around the town heavily armed and were ready to exact punishment according to the dictates of their marred conscience (Webb 1948). These may be the kind of secret committee members who judged the four unfortunate outcasts of Poker Flat. Take the case of how they arrived in a decis

Outcast Of Poker Flat Summary