The Baron of Arizona
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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The Baron of Arizona is a 1950 American Western film directed by Samuel Fuller and starring Vincent Price and Ellen Drew.
It is a biopic of James Reavis, the conman who nearly stole the Arizona territory.
The film concerns a master forger's attempted use of false documents to lay claim to the territory of Arizona late in the 19th century. It is based on the case of James Reavis, whose scheme came close to success, but many of the film's details are fictionalized.
Plot
The notorious attempt by swindler James Reavis to claim the entire territory of Arizona as his own before it was granted statehood in 1912 is recounted years later by John Griff, who works for the Department of the Interior.
In 1872, Reavis went to great lengths to forge documents in Spain and create the illusion that he had a legal right to claim all of Arizona his own. He began by seeking out Pepito Alvarez to inquire about Sofia, an infant abandoned by Reavis many years before.
Reavis decides to take Sofia home with him, hire governess Loma Morales to refine her, then marry her, using fabricated proof that identifies Sofia as the rightful "baroness" of Arizona. A suspicious U.S. government, unable to disprove Reavis' claim, offers him $25 million for the rights to the land. He declines.
The surveyor general, Miller, is sure Reavis has somehow doctored the documents. He brings in Griff, an expert on forgery. In the meantime, Reavis orders settlers and families off "his" land. A displaced rancher, Lansing, tosses a bomb into Reavis' office. It still does not discourage him, so Pepito finally threatens to reveal that Sofia's parents were not Spanish land barons at all, but native Indians.
Reavis is revealed as a charlatan. He manages to talk his way out of a lynching, but ends up behind bars. After serving time, he is released and reunited with Sofia ala horse carriage in the rain.
Cast
- Vincent Price as James Reavis
- Ellen Drew as Sofia
- Vladimir Sokoloff as Pepito
- Beulah Bondi as Loma
- Reed Hadley as Griff
- Robert Barrat as Judge (as Robert H. Barrat)
- Robin Short as Lansing
- Tina Pine as Rita (as Tina Rome)
- Karen Kester as Sofia as a child
- Margia Dean as the Marquesa
- Jonathan Hale as the Governor
- Edward Keane as Miller
- Barbara Woodell as Mrs. Lansing
- I. Stanford Jolley as Mr. Richardson
- Fred Kohler Jr. as Demmings
- Tristram Coffin as McCleary
- Gene Roth as Father Guardian
- Angelo Rossitto as Angie – Gypsy (as Angelo Rosito)
- Ed East as Hank
- Joseph J. Greene as Mr. Gunther (as Joe Greene)
