Horse Soldiers

The Horse Soldiers are supporting antagonists in Joe Camp's 1976 comedy film Hawmps?. They are Naman Tucker's henchmen.

They were portrayed by the late Robert Elliott, Chris Frey, Raymond Kochel, Bo Spafford, Jim Spahn, Bud Stout, and Dale Walker.

Role
As Hi Jolly gives Clemmons' first lesson in camel care, Tucker rides up and insults Tibbs’s men. Clemmons warns Tucker that if he insults the camel corps again, Clemmons will put him on report and transfer him into the camel project. To the cheers of Tibbs’s men, Tucker apologizes and rides away.

As Hi Jolly congratulates his comrade on raising the men’s morale, Clemmons faints. Over time, the soldiers continue their camel training, but the lessons do not go well. When the men finally learn to mount the camels, the animals run wild, dumping them in the dirt and water troughs. That night, the men bet Tucker he cannot lasso a camel. When Tucker lands the rope around the camel’s neck, the beast runs in panic, dragging Tucker behind. The next morning, the camel returns, still dragging Tucker, bleeding and bruised.

Sometime later, Hi Jolly is injured in a barroom brawl and cannot ride. Before the race, Jennifer gives Clemmons a thick book on camels and kisses him. Hawkins fires a cannon and the race is on. Tucker’s horses outpace Clemmons’s camels, but within a few days, Clemmons’ men catch up. However, Clemmons learns from Corporal Leroy that Tucker and his men are captured by an outlaw, Bad Jack Cutter, at Dagger’s Point. Clemmons insists on rescuing Tucker and his men. Along the way, Clemmons and Tibbs capture two other outlaws, steal their clothes and horses, then ride into town in disguise to meet Cutter, agreeing to join his gang. Later, they find Tucker and his men in jail and try to pull out the window bars using a horse. When the horse fails, a camel demolishes the entire jail. Tucker and his men run, leaving Tibbs and Clemmons to face the outlaws alone. A gunfight ensues but Clemmons’ men ride in on camelback, rescuing their leaders, and ride off before the outlaws can get to their horses.

Later, Clemmons’ troop races past Tucker and his men’s exhausted horses outside Dos Rios. As Clemmons celebrates his victory, a telegram arrives from Washington, D.C., reporting that Congress has approved construction of the transcontinental railroad and the camel project is therefore unnecessary. Clemmons is ordered to turn the camels loose, but Tibbs and the men protest, concerned that the camels will perish in the American desert.