Yankee Davis is a traveling snake oil salesman who arrives in the peaceful town of Mystic, Arizona looking for new rubes to con. Instead, he falls in love with an innocent small-town girl, Mary Mason. When Mary's father, a border patrolman, is shot, Davis decides to catch the killer to prove his worthiness to her. He asks an eccentric old prospector, "Shaggy" Hartley, to pose as a rich man and offer a reward for clues about the murder. The unusual pair then learn of a vast conspiracy that they could never have suspected...
Yankee Fakir features a rare leading role for character actor Douglas Fowley. With hundreds of credits ranging from the frustrated director in Singin' in the Rain (1952) to one of the scientists in Cat-Women of the Moon (1953), Fowley's versatility was second to none. He is probably best known for playing Doc Holliday for six years on The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp TV series (1955-1961). Married eight times, he is also the father of record producer and manager Kim Fowley. Actress Joan Woodbury, who gained fame with her sexy dance in 1937's Charlie Chan on Broadway, is best remembered for her roles in King Of The Zombies (1941) and The Ten Commandments (1956). Frank Reicher played Captain Englehorn in the classic King Kong (1933). Director W. Lee Wilder was the younger brother of the legendary Billy Wilder, and made the low-budget sci-fi thrillers Phantom from Space (1953), Killers from Space (1954) and The Show Creature (1954).