The King and Four Queens

The King and Four Queens is a 1956 American DeLuxe Color western adventure comedy/mystery film starring Clark Gable and Eleanor Parker and filmed in CinemaScope. Directed by Raoul Walsh, the film is based on a story written by Margaret Fitts, who also wrote the screenplay along with Richard Alan Simmons. This film was the first (and last) project from Clark Gable's own production company, GABCO. His partners in the project were movie star Jane Russell and her husband, Bob Waterfield, owners of Russ-Field Productions, and the film is often listed as a Russ-Field-GABCO production. Plot The story involves a middle-aged cowboy adventurer who learns that a stolen fortune remains buried on a ranch that serves as home to four gorgeous young widows and their battle-axe mother-in-law. The drifter turns on the charm to find the money. Dan Kehoe, escaping from a posse, finds his way to a small frontier town. In the saloon, he learns of a nearby town, Wagon Mound, that has been deserted, except for one family: the McDades. Some time ago, the four outlaw McDade sons had returned with the loot from a robbery, but were followed, and were trapped in a burning barn. However, only three burned bodies were recovered from the wreckage of the barn; nobody knows which of the four may have survived, or where their $50,000 in gold is hidden. While treasure-hunters are interested, they are shot at if they approach. Pretending to be escaping pursuers, Kehoe approaches the McDades, and is shot and slightly wounded. The McDade women, who prove to be the brothers' mother and wives, take him in and bandage him. The presence of a man in their midst provokes the younger women to look to their appearance, but their mother-in-law angrily points out that one of them is still married, and until it is determined which one it is, they must all act married. She also insists that Kehoe must leave the next day. Kehoe tells Ma McDade a story suggesting that he may have met the surviving son in jail, but did not see him well enough to identify him. This piques her interest. Over the course of the next day, all four of the widows are varyingly flirtatious with Kehoe, who learns that the mother keeps a constant lookout for a signal from her surviving son, and will ring the large bell to let him know when it is safe to approach town.