Friday, May 22, 2020

Movie review - "Gunslinger" (1956) **1/2 (re-watching)

Fun Western with a strong Charles Griffith script that could have done with another few days filming at least to be top shelf. It has one of Beverly Garland's best roles as the gal who inherits sheriff-ship from her husband. The opening is dynamic: her husband is killed then she kills one of his assassins, then at his funeral she plugs another one.

The conflict is strong - Alison Hayes as the saloon owner pays John Ireland to shoot Garland but he falls for her instead. That's a great situation and its helped by Ireland's big dick swagger and nice chemistry with Garland. The film supposedly rips off Three Hours to Kill but surely the inspiration was Johnny Guitar?

There's campy moments like the dancers in the saloon doing some numbers and then bashing up Garland. Jonathan Haze is excellent as a saloon guy who loves Hayes. Another movie where I kept wishing Corman had made later in his career when he was a better director and had mroe time.

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