Summary
In the untamed, dust-choked expanse of Rattlesnake Gulch, a nascent mining settlement in California, a formidable figure known only as "Colonel Billy" holds a paradoxical dominion. Despite her gender, she commands a grudging respect, bordering on outright fear, from the rough-hewn men who populate the camp, her reputation as a gunfighter preceding her every move. Yet, this very prowess alienates her from the women, who, fueled by whispers of her supposed "loose ways" during the frenzied Gold Rush, ostracize her completely. Her solitary existence finds a glimmer of warmth in an unlikely attachment to Faro Bill, a fellow prospector. The delicate balance of her fraught world is disrupted by the arrival of a quartet from San Francisco: Gerald Morton, an actor, accompanied by his wife Mabel, their infant, and the earnest preacher Albert Atherton. In a cruel twist of frontier humor, the townspeople orchestrate for Atherton to board with Billy, an arrangement intended as a jest but one that unexpectedly sows the seeds of transformation. Atherton, with his unwavering moral compass, begins to chip away at Billy's hardened exterior, urging her towards a path of redemption and societal acceptance. Just as this fragile metamorphosis takes root, Morton strikes a vein of gold, his discovery reverberating beyond the Gulch, drawing a fresh, unsavory tide of opportunists and lawless elements from the city. This sudden influx of chaos, threatening to dismantle the fragile order, ironically necessitates the very skills Billy had begun to shed, compelling her back into the role of the feared enforcer, a poignant testament to the enduring, cyclical nature of the wild frontier and the complex, often tragic, demands it places on its inhabitants.
Synopsis
Although a female, gunfighter "Colonel Billy" is feared by the men of Rattlesnake Gulch, a mining camp in California. The women, however, won't have anything to do with her because of stories about her "loose ways" during the Gold Rush. One day Gerald Morton, an actor, arrives at the camp from San Francisco with his wife Mabel, their baby and preacher Albert Atherton As a prank, the townspeople send Atherton to board with Billy, who is in love with a gold prospector named Faro Bill. Atherton convinces Billy to change her ways; however, Morton strikes gold, and the resulting news reaches San Francisco and attracts a new and different element to Rattlesnake Gulch, resulting in a need for Billy's skills to be used again.
Review Excerpt
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George D. Baker's As the Sun Went Down, a cinematic artifact from an era when the Western genre was still finding its spurs, offers a fascinating glimpse into the nascent complexities of frontier narratives. This film, though perhaps overshadowed by later, more grandiose productions, stands as a compelling study of identity, societal judgment, and the relentless pull of one's inherent nature. At its core is the enigmatic figure of "Colonel Billy," a woman whose very existence challenges the..."
