a what?

Yankee Fakir (1947)

After coming into town, a traveling snake-oil salesman, Yankee Davis, (rather quickly) gets involved with the owner of the boarding house he checks into. (This guy was really forward with a woman he only just met!) When the woman's Border Patrol agent father is killed, Yankee sets the wheels rolling to find out who the killer is.

After a whole lot of nothingness, Mr. Davis wraps up the mystery. Getting back to hawking goods on his snake-oil wagon, he's called "Yankee Fakir." Huh?

I know fakir in Turkish means poor or needy.

According to the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, fakir means:

1) A Muslim religious mendicant.

2) A Hindu ascetic or religious mendicant, especially one who performs feats of magic or endurance.

Well, Mr. Yankee Davis was seemingly neither Muslim or Hindu. There was nothing religious about him. He wasn't a beggar, either.

So I'm not sure why they used the word "fakir" in the screenplay and in the title. This is not a word used everyday in the American language.

Whatever. One more thing about this film -- it was not a western. Just 'cause it takes place in southern Arizona wayback before automobiles, that doesn't mean it's a western. One again -- whatever. Not a great B-"Western" by any means. Fairly boring, sadly. Definitely below average.