Religion and Gun Practice
{{short description|1913 film}}
{{Use American English|date=September 2021}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2021}}
{{Infobox film
| name = Religion and Gun Practice
| image = Release flier for RELIGION AND GUN PRACTICE, 1913.jpg
| caption = Release flier for Religion and Gun Practice
| director = William Duncan
| writer = William A. Corey (story)
William Duncan (scenario)
| producer = William Selig
| starring = Tom Mix
Rex De Rosselli
Myrtle Stedman
| studio = Selig Polyscope Company
| distributor = Selig Polyscope Company{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbfc.co.uk/release/religion-and-gun-practice-q29sbgvjdglvbjpwwc0ynjaynda|title=Religion and Gun Practice|website=bbfc.co.uk|language=en|access-date=2021-04-06}}
| released = {{Film date|1913|05|26}}
| runtime = 27 minutes, 46 seconds
| country = United States
| language = Silent
English intertitles
}}
Religion and Gun Practice: The Way of the West is a 1913 American silent Western film directed by William Duncan and starring Tom Mix, Rex De Rosselli and Myrtle Stedman.{{Cite book|last=Jensen|first=Richard D.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6LiwRzKdo7AC&q=religion+and+gun+practice+1913&pg=PR7|title=The Amazing Tom Mix: The Most Famous Cowboy of the Movies|publisher=iUniverse|year=2005|isbn=978-0-595-35949-3|location=Lincoln, NE|page=206}} Among other roles in similar films at the time, Tom Mix's role in Religion and Gun Practice established what would be the cowboy hero of the twentieth century.{{Cite book|last=Erish|first=Andrew A.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QivgDAAAQBAJ&q=religion+and+gun+practice+1913&pg=PA63|title=Col. William N. Selig, the Man Who Invented Hollywood|publisher=University of Texas Press|year=2012|isbn=978-0-292-72870-7|edition=1st|location=Austin, TX|pages=62–63}} The movie was played in theaters across the nation.{{Cite web|others=National Endowment for the Humanities|title=Chronicling America {{!}} Library of Congress|url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/search/pages/results/?date1=1777&sort=relevance&rows=20&searchType=basic&state=&date2=1963&proxtext=religion+and+gun+practice&y=0&x=0&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1|access-date=2021-05-13|website=chroniclingamerica.loc.gov}}
Plot
Tom Mix plays "a western outlaw reformed by a missionary's daughter." Kill Kullen and the missionary's daughter, Winona Judell, fall in love. She sets him back on the path of righteousness, and though her father disapproves of their desire to marry each other, she is persistent. Kill Kullen teaches her how to ride and shoot, and her father eventually yields.{{Cite news|date=1913-07-15|title=Amusements - The Orpheum|page=6|work=Daily East Oregonian|location=Pendleton, Oregon|type=Newspaper|url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn88086023/1913-07-15/ed-1/seq-6/#date1=1777&sort=relevance&rows=20&words=Gun+Practice+Religion&searchType=basic&sequence=0&index=6&state=&date2=1963&proxtext=religion+and+gun+practice&y=0&x=0&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1|access-date=2021-05-13}}
Filming
The movie was filmed by William Duncan and the Selig Polyscope Company in the facilities of what used to be the Lubin Film Company studio, in Prescott, Arizona.{{Cite web|last=Sharlot Hall Museum|date=n.d.|title=Movies Made in Yavapai County|url=https://oldhtmlarchive.sharlothallmuseum.org/history/movies.html|access-date=2021-05-13}} The location provided a landscape of hills and valleys, forest, and desert wasteland ("Slaughter House Gulch"), as well as iconic rock formations.
Cast
- Tom Mix as Kill KullenReddin, Paul. {{Google books|MPc5eEM0EmsC|Wild West Shows|page=193}}
- Rex De Rosselli as Wesley Judell
- Myrtle Stedman as Winona Judell
- Lester Cuneo as Finley Overmeyer
- Old Blue as Kullen's Horse (uncredited)
References
{{Reflist}}