Overview
In Old California is a 1942 American Western film directed by William C. McGann starring John Wayne, Binnie Barnes and Albert Dekker. Wayne plays Tom Craig, a Boston pharmacist who relocates to Sacramento during the Gold Rush.
Plot
Tom Craig (John Wayne), a pharmacist, arrives in Sacramento and gets into trouble with Britt Dawson (Albert Dekker) for carrying Lacey Miller (Binnie Barnes) across a mud puddle. Tom teams up with Kegs (Edgar Kennedy) and they are thrown off the river boat by Britt’s henchmen. Tom strikes a deal with Lacey to sell his pharmaceuticals in her store. Ellen Sanford (Helen Parrish) and Tom begin a romance. Tom and Kegs organize the settlers to stop Dawson’s land-grabbing gang. Tom proposes to Ellen as she leaves for San Francisco. Helga (Patsy Kelly), Lacey's lady's maid, gun in hand, marches Kegs off to get married. Whitey (Emmett Lynn), the town drunk, drinks Tom’s elixir tonic, which Dawson has poisoned, and dies in Tom’s store. The townspeople take Tom out to hang him, but he is saved when gold is discovered. Dawson shoots up Tom’s store, they fight, and Tom ends up in jail.
Lacey leaves Britt for the gold miners who are suffering from typhoid fever. Tom leaves Ellen, loads up medicine and with the townspeople depart for the gold fields. Britt and his brother Joe (Dick Purcell) plan to ambush the townspeople to steal the medicine. Joe shoots Britt and attacks the townspeople but Britt, who is only wounded, shoots Joe. Tom and the townspeople make it to the miners camp, thus saving them. Britt admits to poisoning Tom's elixir and dies. Back in town Tom and Lacey reunite.
Cast
John Wayne as Tom Craig
Binnie Barnes as Lacey Miller
Albert Dekker as Britt Dawson
Helen Parrish as Ellen Sanford
Patsy Kelly as Helga
Edgar Kennedy as Kegs McKeever
Dick Purcell as Joe Dawson
Harry Shannon as Mr. Carlin
Charles Halton as Mr. Hayes
Emmett Lynn as Whitey
Robert McKenzie as Mr. Bates (as Bob McKenzie)
Milton Kibbee as Ezra Tompkins (as Milt Kibbee)
Paul Sutton as Chick – Dawson's stooge
Anne O'Neal as Mrs. Tompkins
From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).