Fools' Parade is a 1971 American crime drama[1] period film directed by Andrew McLaglen,[2] starring James Stewart and George Kennedy, with supporting roles by Strother Martin,[3] Kurt Russell, William Windom, Mike Kellin and Anne Baxter.

[4][5][6] In 1935, the one-eyed murderer, Mattie Appleyard, who refers to his obviously unmatched glass eye with the persona, "Tighe", bank robber Lee Cottrill, and a young convict named Johnny Jesus are released on the same day from the West Virginia State Penitentiary, located in the fictional town of Glory.

Appleyard is issued a check for $25,452.32 for his 40 years of prison work, a substantial amount during the Great Depression.

All three of the released men are escorted by prison Captain and Sunday School teacher, "Doc" Council, to the local train station in the fictional Glory, West Virginia.

Council tells Grindstaff that this blood money will go, in part, toward missionary funding and vacation bible school.

Council and his accomplices, Steve Mystic and a "nice religious boy" and cracked ice-sucking radio singer named Junior Kilfong, travel to another train stop down the line to kill Appleyard, Cottrill and Johnny Jesus at night.

While waiting at the rendezvous, Cottrill is talked into boarding a houseboat owned by a down-on-her-luck prostitute named Cleo for a drink of whiskey.

Davis Grubb, author of Fools' Parade, was born and raised in Moundsville, where most of the filming took place.

[7] Tony Mastroianni of the Cleveland Press said that it "leans heavily on Stewart's skill, personality and built-in folksiness.