La Ballade des Dalton
Encyclopedia
La Ballade des Dalton is a Lucky Luke
adventure. A 1978
animated film from France
written by Goscinny and Morris
. Two different adaptations into book form were both published in French in 1978. The first, adapted by Guy Vidal, was in text form rather than comic strip
, and was accompanied by images from the film. The second was a comic strip adaptation by an uncredited Pascal Dabère and formed part of the book, La Ballade des Dalton et autres histoires (The Ballad of the Daltons and Other Stories).
begins to tell a tale of Lucky Luke and his sworn enemies the Dalton brothers
: Joe, William, Jack and Averell. Luke has, once again, as he has done many times before, thrown the four outlaws into jail. The prison
is also the abode of a guard dog named Rin Tin Can (Rantanplan
in the original French language
version).
No sooner have the Daltons entered the jail than they are met by a lawyer
named Augustus Betting. Betting informs the brothers that their Uncle Henry Dalton has died by hanging. However, over the course of his criminal career, Henry Dalton amassed quite a fortune, and has chosen to leave it all to his nephews on the condition that they kill the judge
and jury
who sentenced him to death. To make sure that the task is completed, Henry Dalton states in his will that his nephews must be accompanied by the only honest man that he has ever known, Lucky Luke. If the task is not successfully completed, the entire fortune will instead be given to charity.
The brothers then decide to tunnel out of the jail, but end up digging into the dynamite
storage building. When Averell lights a match, the building blows up. The Daltons, along with Rin Tin Can, are blown far away from the remains of the jail. Their disappearance along with Rin Tin Can leads the prison officers to believe the Daltons are now dead.
When Rin Tin Can recovers from the explosion, he assumes that the prison was stolen, and upon seeing only the Dalton brothers nearby, suspects them. He then follows them on their journey to find Lucky Luke. The brothers first hold up a travelling hardware merchant. When the merchant stops at the nearest town, Lucky Luke overhears his talk, confirming that the Daltons are indeed alive.
Luke heads out to find the Daltons, who offer to make a deal with him. If he refuses to help them, they will kill him. If he accepts, he gets a share of the inheritance (a ruse by the Daltons, who plan to still kill Luke if he helps them). Luke agrees to help supervise the killings and offers to help kill the judge and jury as well. However, he reveals to his horse, Jolly Jumper
, and to the audience, that he was only attempting to deceive the Dalton brothers when he said that.
Luke and the Daltons then cross the plains in search of the judge and jury. However, every time they find one of their intended victims, Luke manages to play some trick on the Daltons so that they believe their target has been killed.
Once they believe their task is done, the Daltons and Luke head off to meet Augustus Betting. However, also waiting for them are the judge and jury they thought had been killed. The Dalton brothers are accused of attempted murder, and with Luke having witnessed their intentions, the jury that had found Henry Dalton guilty, now finds his nephews guilty as well.
The Daltons are returned to the prison, along with Rin Tin Can. Henry Dalton's fortune is then given away to charity.
who can shoot faster than his own shadow. One of the most respected cowboys on the plains.
Henry Dalton — Deceased uncle to The Dalton Brothers. Amassed a fortune from his life of crime. Was found guilty and hanged for his crimes.
Ming Li Foo — A Chinese laundryman who runs a laundry in Grass City.
Sam Game — A former notorious gambler, who has become a clergyman. He runs his own church with a congregation, made up entirely of elderly women.
Thadeus Collins — The warden of a jail, whose entire prison population has tunneled out to freedom. Collins thought of his prisoners as his children, and their 'abandonment' leaves him in great anguish.
Bud Bugman — A train driver.
Snake Feather — (Plume de Serpent in the original French language version.) A Native-American witch doctor
.
Dr. Aldous Smith — A travelling quack doctor who claims to be in possession of a cure-all miracle elixir. The character's appearance is modeled after the actor, W.C. Fields.
Mathias Bones — An undertaker, usually accompanied by a vulture
, who is constantly looking out for his next customer. The appearance of this character is modeled on that of the actor, Boris Karloff
.
Tom O'Connor — An old miner who supposedly disappeared into his gold mine, and is presumed dead.
Lucky Luke
Lucky Luke is a Belgian comics series created by Belgian cartoonist, Maurice De Bevere better known as Morris, the original artist, and was for one period written by René Goscinny...
adventure. A 1978
1978 in film
The year 1978 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* February 1 - Bob Dylan's film Renaldo and Clara, a documentary of the "Rolling Thunder Revue" tour premieres in Los Angeles, California....
animated film from France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
written by Goscinny and Morris
Morris (comics)
Maurice De Bevere , better known as Morris, was a Belgian cartoonist and the creator of Lucky Luke. His pen name is an alternate spelling of his first name.-Biography:...
. Two different adaptations into book form were both published in French in 1978. The first, adapted by Guy Vidal, was in text form rather than comic strip
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
, and was accompanied by images from the film. The second was a comic strip adaptation by an uncredited Pascal Dabère and formed part of the book, La Ballade des Dalton et autres histoires (The Ballad of the Daltons and Other Stories).
Plot summary
The story opens in a Western saloon, where a young musician with a banjoBanjo
In the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...
begins to tell a tale of Lucky Luke and his sworn enemies the Dalton brothers
The Daltons (Lucky Luke)
The Daltons are fictional outlaws who regularly appear in the Lucky Luke comic book series and are recurrent villains. They were created by Morris and writer René Goscinny...
: Joe, William, Jack and Averell. Luke has, once again, as he has done many times before, thrown the four outlaws into jail. The prison
Prison
A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
is also the abode of a guard dog named Rin Tin Can (Rantanplan
Rantanplan
Rantanplan is a fictional hound dog created by Belgian comics artist Morris and French writer René Goscinny. Originally a supporting character in the Lucky Luke series, Rantanplan later starred in an eponymous series. Rantanplan is a spoof of Rin Tin Tin, as idiotic as Rin Tin Tin is clever...
in the original French language
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
version).
No sooner have the Daltons entered the jail than they are met by a lawyer
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
named Augustus Betting. Betting informs the brothers that their Uncle Henry Dalton has died by hanging. However, over the course of his criminal career, Henry Dalton amassed quite a fortune, and has chosen to leave it all to his nephews on the condition that they kill the judge
Judge
A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...
and jury
Jury
A jury is a sworn body of people convened to render an impartial verdict officially submitted to them by a court, or to set a penalty or judgment. Modern juries tend to be found in courts to ascertain the guilt, or lack thereof, in a crime. In Anglophone jurisdictions, the verdict may be guilty,...
who sentenced him to death. To make sure that the task is completed, Henry Dalton states in his will that his nephews must be accompanied by the only honest man that he has ever known, Lucky Luke. If the task is not successfully completed, the entire fortune will instead be given to charity.
The brothers then decide to tunnel out of the jail, but end up digging into the dynamite
Dynamite
Dynamite is an explosive material based on nitroglycerin, initially using diatomaceous earth , or another absorbent substance such as powdered shells, clay, sawdust, or wood pulp. Dynamites using organic materials such as sawdust are less stable and such use has been generally discontinued...
storage building. When Averell lights a match, the building blows up. The Daltons, along with Rin Tin Can, are blown far away from the remains of the jail. Their disappearance along with Rin Tin Can leads the prison officers to believe the Daltons are now dead.
When Rin Tin Can recovers from the explosion, he assumes that the prison was stolen, and upon seeing only the Dalton brothers nearby, suspects them. He then follows them on their journey to find Lucky Luke. The brothers first hold up a travelling hardware merchant. When the merchant stops at the nearest town, Lucky Luke overhears his talk, confirming that the Daltons are indeed alive.
Luke heads out to find the Daltons, who offer to make a deal with him. If he refuses to help them, they will kill him. If he accepts, he gets a share of the inheritance (a ruse by the Daltons, who plan to still kill Luke if he helps them). Luke agrees to help supervise the killings and offers to help kill the judge and jury as well. However, he reveals to his horse, Jolly Jumper
Jolly Jumper
Jolly Jumper is a horse character in the Franco-Belgian comics series Lucky Luke, created by Belgian artist Morris. Described as "the smartest horse in the world" and able to perform tasks such as chess-playing and tightrope walking, Jolly Jumper accompanies his master in their travels across the...
, and to the audience, that he was only attempting to deceive the Dalton brothers when he said that.
Luke and the Daltons then cross the plains in search of the judge and jury. However, every time they find one of their intended victims, Luke manages to play some trick on the Daltons so that they believe their target has been killed.
Once they believe their task is done, the Daltons and Luke head off to meet Augustus Betting. However, also waiting for them are the judge and jury they thought had been killed. The Dalton brothers are accused of attempted murder, and with Luke having witnessed their intentions, the jury that had found Henry Dalton guilty, now finds his nephews guilty as well.
The Daltons are returned to the prison, along with Rin Tin Can. Henry Dalton's fortune is then given away to charity.
Characters
Lucky Luke — A cowboyCowboy
A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the vaquero traditions of northern Mexico and became a figure of...
who can shoot faster than his own shadow. One of the most respected cowboys on the plains.
Henry Dalton — Deceased uncle to The Dalton Brothers. Amassed a fortune from his life of crime. Was found guilty and hanged for his crimes.
Ming Li Foo — A Chinese laundryman who runs a laundry in Grass City.
Sam Game — A former notorious gambler, who has become a clergyman. He runs his own church with a congregation, made up entirely of elderly women.
Thadeus Collins — The warden of a jail, whose entire prison population has tunneled out to freedom. Collins thought of his prisoners as his children, and their 'abandonment' leaves him in great anguish.
Bud Bugman — A train driver.
Snake Feather — (Plume de Serpent in the original French language version.) A Native-American witch doctor
Witch doctor
A witch doctor originally referred to a type of healer who treated ailments believed to be caused by witchcraft. It is currently used to refer to healers in some third world regions, who use traditional healing rather than contemporary medicine...
.
Dr. Aldous Smith — A travelling quack doctor who claims to be in possession of a cure-all miracle elixir. The character's appearance is modeled after the actor, W.C. Fields.
Mathias Bones — An undertaker, usually accompanied by a vulture
Vulture
Vulture is the name given to two groups of convergently evolved scavenging birds, the New World Vultures including the well-known Californian and Andean Condors, and the Old World Vultures including the birds which are seen scavenging on carcasses of dead animals on African plains...
, who is constantly looking out for his next customer. The appearance of this character is modeled on that of the actor, Boris Karloff
Boris Karloff
William Henry Pratt , better known by his stage name Boris Karloff, was an English actor.Karloff is best remembered for his roles in horror films and his portrayal of Frankenstein's monster in Frankenstein , Bride of Frankenstein , and Son of Frankenstein...
.
Tom O'Connor — An old miner who supposedly disappeared into his gold mine, and is presumed dead.