Roy O'Bannon is an energetic but poorly focused early American go-getter; always visualizing himself as a master of whatever his chosen endeavor despite his lack of any notable accomplishments.When we first meet Roy he is pursuing the glamour of life as an outlaw in the Nevada territory, and trying to motivate his gang for their latest train robbery. Are you nervous? he asks a new member, oblivious to the man's lack of respect for him, It's alright to be nervous when you're new. You'll be okay. I'll keep an eye on you. He has put a lot of time into planning the robbery, and into choosing his favorite line to threaten the passengers with, Reach for the sky Ladies and Gentlemen! He has even allowed time to flirt with an attractive female passenger and show off his monogrammed, pearl-handled pistols. However, he has not planned on interference from a Chinese Imperial Guard riding the train to Carson City in search of an abducted princess. When the robbery goes badly awry, the new guy takes the gang over from Roy and leaves him for dead in the desert.Unwilling to give in to discouragement however, Roy embarks with enthusiasm on a new career as a rescuer when fate (or as Roy sees it, karma) causes his path to cross once again with the now stranded and lost Imperial guard. Roy is impressed with the man's martial arts skills and enchanted by the romance of rescuing a princess from kidnappers. It's so mysterious! he says with genuine wonder. He befriends Chon Wang, whose name sounds a lot like John Wayne when Roy says it, and he commits himself to his new friend's mission, insisting his motives are unrelated to the gold ransom being offered for the princess. I've ridden with some terrible men; people I couldn't trust, he tells John, But when I look at you there's something different about you. He takes John under his wing and seems to take great joy in supplying his Wild West education. He tries to teach him how to use a gun, and expounds at some length on technique and showmanship even though Roy himself can't hit a tomato can at ten paces. He makes sure John is outfitted to look like 'a real cowboy' complete with a red bandana and hat worn at a 'rakish angle', and advises him to greet strangers by saying, Howdy Partner! In John, Roy has finally found someone who actually needs him, and he faithfully guides him both across the lands of the western frontier and through the customs and attitudes of the western world that are equally unfamiliar to him. You're not in the east, you're in the west, he says when John reacts inappropriately to a situation, The sun doesn't rise here, it sets here. In fact, his way with words is Roy's greatest talent. The only thing I'm good at is talking, he confesses in one rare moment of self-examination, but he is more than good at it. Roy is about a century ahead of his time in appreciating the power of a carefully worded phrase. He and John are accompanied by a beautiful Indian woman given to John in marriage after he saves her young brother from a hostile tribe. John has little interest in her, so Roy uses highly calculated diplomacy to try and take John's place in her esteem. The thing about your husband, he tells her, And this is nothing against him because I really like him. He comes from a very male dominated society. Roy's second greatest talent though, is getting into trouble, and before they make any progress in finding the princess he drags John through a series of misadventures including a bar fight, a duel, and a drunken detour through a house of ill-repute where Roy seems to be a regular. As the two unlikely friends bond, Roy kindles in John a spirit of individualism, and in return he is influenced by John's sense of honor. With that combination, and with some miraculous good luck, the two of them manage to defeat the bad guys, save the princess, and live happily... until their next adventure.When John, now the sheriff of Carson City, gets word from China that his father, the Keeper of the Imperial Seal, has been murdered and the seal stolen, he and Roy team up again to recover the seal and bring the killers to justice. By now Roy has left the Wild West behind and gone to New York City to live the life of a wealthy investor, using his own reward money from rescuing the princess along with the share John has entrusted to him. Left again to his own devices, however, Roy has sunk back down to his usual level of success. By the time John rejoins him, Roy has lost all of the money, is waiting tables in a fancy hotel where he occasionally beds wealthy female guests for extra cash, and is down-hearted about his status as a 'thirty-year-old waiter-gigolo.' Where's the future in that? he asks. When he hears about John's latest plight he responds readily to the call of another noble adventure, which this time takes them overseas.The man who killed John's father is actually a British Royal conspiring with a member of the Chinese Imperial Family to steal their respective thrones. Roy and John arrive in London, where Roy is preceded by his own fame thanks to a series of dime novels that have been written about him, touting and somewhat embellishing his adventures out west. Also on the trail of the killer is John's younger sister Lin, who is as skilled a fighter as her brother but much prettier. At Roy's first sight of her he falls hopelessly in love. She's going to be the savior of the house of O'Bannon, he says.From then on his attention is divided between helping John and wooing Lin, a task made especially difficult by John's complete lack of approval. When Roy asks John to 'talk him up' to his sister, John paints her a very different picture than Roy expects. Roy is the kind of friend you never introduce to your other friends, or bring home to your family, he tells her, unaware that Roy is eavesdropping. He drinks, smokes, and he gambles... he never speaks the truth. Although Lin jumps to Roy's defense saying, He has a good heart, Roy is crushed by this betrayal from his one true friend. Fortunately however, he's not one to pout, and John manages to mend their friendship by offering him a heartfelt apology and a naked pillow fight with some British tavern girls. Nevertheless, seeing Roy so deeply hurt helps to convince John that his feelings for Lin are sincere. Soon after this, they are ambushed and captured by the bad guys, and once again in mortal danger, John is reminded of Roy's loyalty as a friend. He gives him his consent along with a stern warning not to break her heart.Before Roy can pursue Lin, however, he and John must rescue her from the murderous conspirators. In the end they save not only Lin but the Royal Family as well, and for this Queen Victoria dubs them 'Sir Roy OBannon' and 'Sir John Wayne.'The last we see of the knights they are discussing their future. Roy has by now confessed that he himself wrote the Roy O'Bannon novels, We were actually second to the Bible that year. Now he wants to try out his storytelling talents on the new thing called moving pictures, and make John an action star. I think the kung fu thing could be huge, he says as he and John and Lin head off to California. Show less «