Westerns may have been dead at the box-office in the late 1970s, but the TV-movie market still kept grinding them out. Legend of the Golden Gun includes elements of fantasy in its formula tale of a young man (Jeffrey Osterhage) who becomes the protege of an aging gunman (Hal Holbrook) The plotline contrives to include cameo appearances by guerilla leader William Quantrill (who kills the hero's parents) and General Custer (portrayed a la Douglas MacArthur, corncob pipe and all, by Keir Dullea). That this film is meant to be tongue-in-cheek is indicated by a scene in a frontier saloon, which in the manner of Sardi's restaurant is decorated with the caricatures of famous outlaws and lawmen! TV-movie expert Lee Goldberg has further noted that Legend of the Golden Gun is constructed along the lines of Stars Wars--an appropriate decision, since Star Wars was partially inspired by the western classic The Searchers.
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