QUICKEST DRAW IN THE WEST

This film from the 1970s titled "Quickest Draw in the West" is a Cold War-era propaganda film made by North American, highlighting their AGM-28 Hound Dog missile system. It was directed by one of North American's outstanding staff members, Cal Reed, and photographed by Paul Hipp, Donald Coones and Dave Weeks. The film was produced for The Strategic Air Command of the United States Air Force. (SAC) was active between 1947-1992 and was both a United States Department of Defense (DoD) Specified Command and a United States Air Force (USAF) Major Command (MAJCOM), responsible for Cold War command and control of two of the three components of the U.S. military’s strategic nuclear strike forces. Narrated by voice-actor John McIntire, the film uses the metaphor of a sheriff patrolling the Wild West and keeping it safe to promote American values as it is the "sheriff of The West" during the Cold War trying to keep the world safe from the Soviet threat. Additionally, the film highlights the advanced technology that the United States is armed with, thanks to its superior defense industry. This includes the Hound Dog and the Boeing B-52 "Stratofortress" launch platform, the principal bomber of the Strategic Air Command since the 1950s. Cowboy rides on horse through arid landscape that resembles that of Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona (0:27). Nature scenes from "The West," narration begins (1:35). Contrast between free world and the lands behind the Iron Curtain: barbed wire fences, barricades, and patrolmen in East Berlin (1:56). Horse-drawn carriage on empty road in East Berlin (2:11). Bystanders look solemnly at The Berlin Wall towards West Berlin while the narrator discusses Horace Greeley quote (2:18). Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate (2:41). Tourists ride on river boat down the Seine in the direction of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France (2:49). London’s Tower Bridge in England (2:59). New York City skyline (3:05). Niagara Falls (3:08). Mount Fuji in Japan (3:21). Japanese farmers cultivate a crop (3:22). The Queen’s Guard marches in front of the Palace of Westminster and the Houses of Parliament (3:28). Military tanks drive down a street during a parade in France (3:36). U.S. Air Force Boeing B-52 Stratofortress Plane lands on desert tarmac (3:56). Description of plane and its power (4:22). SAC B-52 in the air (6:17). Close-up of an launched Hound Dog cruise missile approaching a target (6:39). Observer looks through a theodolite type telescope (8:16). Kids looking up to the sky to see the cruise missile in the air (9:38). Cowboy from the opening scene looks up to the sky from his horse (10:34). The North American Aviation AGM-28 Hound Dog was a supersonic, turbojet-propelled, air-launched cruise missile developed in 1959 for the United States Air Force. It was primarily designed to be capable of attacking Soviet ground-based air defense sites prior to a potential air attack by B-52 Stratofortress long range bombers during the Cold War. The Hound Dog was first given the designation B-77, then redesignated GAM-77, and finally AGM-28. It was conceived as a temporary standoff missile for the B-52, to be used until the GAM-87 Skybolt air-launched ballistic missile was available. Instead, the Skybolt was cancelled within a few years and the Hound Dog continued to be deployed for a total of 15 years until its replacement by newer missiles, including the AGM-69 SRAM and then the AGM-86 ALCM.

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Transcription

[Music] [Music] way out west where a man is a man a horse is a horse and a fast draw can make for a long healthy life the west is a big territory beautiful wide and free and these days there's a lot more of the west than we used to think back in the 1800s [Music] you might say it stretches clear from a barbed wire fence way out there in east berlin [Music] where a gun is still a gun and the horse is still a horse [Music] and they don't quite know for sure what a man is of course that old quote from horus greeley to go west young man is still pretty well thought of over here [Music] yep the west really starts with a bang right here it stretches on for a pretty far piece cross a good bit of europe [Music] clear across the atlantic to our country the united states of america [Music] and over to that part of the world we used to call the far east [Music] now just like in the old west most good folks carry guns to protect themselves from the bad guys [Music] but we still need what you might call a good sheriff a man with a good fast draw that can kind of watch over the whole territory and brother that's a lot of territory well sir we got us a good one a big fellow and a real two gun man he wears that badge with a lot of authority and he keeps a real close eye on things carries a couple of equalizers that are the deadliest shooting irons you ever did see yes sir i guess everybody even those easterners and all the bad guys knows this fellow is the quickest draw in the west gotta draw like greased lightning with these sidearms of his he can knock the eye out of a squirrel at more than 500 miles the funny thing about our sheriff he hasn't got even one notch on his guns just knowing that he's well armed and that he can get real mean if he has to seems to keep things pretty peaceful and these are the big peacemakers hound dogs he calls him one of the most versatile and deadly weapons yet devised and the most capable by capable i mean that once these fellas are told where to go and how to get there there's nothing anyone can do to mess him up [Music] let's watch the sheriff and i'll show you what i mean he's headed out to the target range now for a little practice [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] hey [Music] [Applause] [Music] he's way up there now but that doesn't make any difference to the hound dog [Music] he lets him go anywhere at all they do just what he's told [Music] [Music] hmm [Music] they can stream up even higher out of sight going more than twice as fast as a 45 slug then drop in right on the nose [Music] or they can drop on down and barely skim over the ground follow every hump and hollow in the terrain [Music] [Music] this is real fancy shooting most of us country boys have never seen a sheriff before that can shoot around corners watch this it can look like it's going somewhere else kind of like a good boxer then at the right place and it knows the right place turn go for the bread basket no sir the bad guys can't see that punch coming when it lands it's too late [Music] here she comes through the gap [Music] up fanned over that hound dog is sure a deadly sidearm and it couldn't be in better hands [Music] yes sir our sheriff rides mighty tall in the saddle all over the west best thing is even though he can take on all comers he doesn't try to throw his weight around he doesn't have to [Music] you see folks look up to our sheriff all over the west even if they can't see him they know he's around keeping an eye on things and he sure is those equalizers the hound dogs help make the sheriff more than a match for anything that might come up somehow just knowing he's going to be there in case we need him makes us good guys sleep a little better at night all over the west [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] you

Sources

YouTube channel: PeriscopeFilm · video ↗ — title, year, format, description, catalog record, video

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