Zachariah

Zachariah is a 1971 American acid Western film directed by George Englund and starring John Rubinstein, Patricia Quinn and Don Johnson. Plot After finding a mail-order gun while riding in the desert, Zachariah and his best friend, Matthew the blacksmith, begin to play with it, and eventually decide to leave their small town and seek more colorful adventure as gunfighters. While following a criminal band called "The Crackers" into a saloon, Zachariah is challenged, and shoots the aggressor dead, demonstrating he has a quick talent for gunplay. He and Matthew strong-arm their way into joining The Crackers, but find they are inept at pulling off successful crimes, and leave them behind. A taunting fiddler alerts Zachariah to the legendary outlaw Job Cain, and soon he and Matthew seek him out at his home saloon hoping to join with him. Job, whose gun skills are kept sharp through musical drumming, challenges the boys to fire at each other to demonstrate their talent, but Zachariah refuses, sensing that it will lead to an eventual showdown between himself and his friend. He leaves the compound to seek answers elsewhere, but Matthew stays behind to join Cain's organization. Zachariah meets an Old Man living alone in the desert, who allows him to stay the night provided he leave his gun outside the house. He alludes to the pleasures to be found in a border town called El Camino, and Zachariah rides off for there the next day. El Camino is a virtual sin city, centered around the brothel/spa operated by Belle Starr, who insists she only sleeps with affluent gunslingers. Zachariah manages to charm her into intimacy, but ultimately chooses to leave her, finding that hedonism is not what he has been seeking either. Meanwhile, Matthew has risen into a positions of trust with Job Cain, but plots to ultimately surpass the gunslinger.