When Reality and Cinema Blend

Between the 1890s and the 1920s the outlaw Wild West died away. During that same period the movie industry, Hollywood, was coming to life. Inevitably the two met.

The Reel Thrilling Events of Bank Robber Henry Starr: From Gentleman Bandit to Movie Star and Back Again, by Mark Archuleta, relates one curious meeting between the industries of crime and Hollywood. It is a biography of Henry Starr, a bank robber who became a movie star before returning to bank robbery.

Henry Starr was born in the Indian Territory (today’s Oklahoma) in the 1870s. He was part-Cherokee and enrolled in the tribe. He turned to crime in his teens after being arrested for crimes he claimed he did not commit. He decided he might as well go to jail for crimes he actually committed and began robbing banks.

Archuleta shows how Starr, after a spree as a “gentleman bandit,” was caught, sentenced to death in the 1890s, and eventually pardoned after disarming a prisoner attempting a jail break. Despite vowing to go straight, he returned to crime, getting caught during a double-bank robbery in Stroud, Oklahoma.

Then Hollywood intersected with Starr. The famed lawman Bill Tilghman was making a documentary titled "The Passing of Oklahoma Outlaws." He featured Starr as one of the unsuccessful outlaws. Former desperados, including Emmet Dalton and Al Jennings, reinvented themselves as movie producers and actors, filming action movies of their criminal lives which highlighted the theme “crime doesn’t pay.” It became a movie craze.

After Starr was again paroled, he was convinced to star in a mockumentary of his own life. The theme illustrated the folly of crime. He became a successful actor. Ultimately, debt, largely through gambling, led him to resume robbing banks. The robbery led to his death.

Archuleta makes it clear that Starr, while personally charming and charismatic, was a flawed and dishonorable man. He shows how Starr received numerous fresh starts, including several paroles and a full pardon from President Theodore Roosevelt. Starr threw each opportunity away, eventually returning to crime each time. He was addicted to risk, drawing energy from the excitement of gambling and crime.

The Reel Thrilling Events of Bank Robber Henry Starr is a fascinating book. It captures the America of a bygone age, one making the transition from an agrarian to an industrial society. Anyone interested in either the Old West or the movie industry will find it irresistible.

“The Reel Thrilling Events of Bank Robber Henry Starr: From Gentleman Bandit to Movie Star and Back Again,” by Mark Archuleta, University of North Texas Press, July 2025,‎ 320 pages, $32.95 (Hardcover), $26.36 (E-book)

This review was written by Mark Lardas, who writes at Ricochet as Seawriter. Mark Lardas, an engineer, freelance writer, historian, and model-maker, lives in League City, TX. His website is marklardas.com.