Gun Glory (1957)

★ 5.9 1h 29m IMDb

Western

An ex-gunslinger returns home; shunned by townsfolk he is the only one who knows how to stop a ruthless cattleman from driving his herd through their town.

Where to Watch

Netflix

Amazon Prime Video

Disney Plus

HBO Max

Max

Hulu

Paramount Plus

Apple TV Plus

Peacock

Showtime

Starz

Paramount+ with Showtime

Rent / Buy

Rent

Apple TV

Google Play Movies

Amazon Video

YouTube

Vudu

Fandango at Home

Buy

Apple TV

Google Play Movies

Amazon Video

YouTube

Vudu

Fandango at Home

Cast

Stewart Granger as Tom Early Died 1993 · Kensington, London, United Kingdom Stewart Granger (born James Lablache Stewart; 6 May 1913 – 16 August 1993) was a British actor, mainly associated with heroic and romantic leading roles. He was a popular leading man from the 1940s to...

Rhonda Fleming as Jo Died 2020 · Los Angeles, California, USA Rhonda Fleming (born Marilyn Louis; August 10, 1923 – October 14, 2020) was an American film and television actress and singer. She acted in more than 40 films, mostly in the 1940s and 1950s, and bec...

Chill Wills as Preacher Died 1978 · Seagoville, Texas, USA From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Chill Theodore Wills (July 18, 1902 – December 15, 1978) was an American film actor, and a singer in the Avalon Boys Quartet. He was a performer from early chi...

Steve Rowland as Tom Early, Jr. Age 93 · Los Angeles, California, USA Stephen Jacob Rowland (born September 3, 1932, in Los Angeles, California) is an American singer, columnist, record producer and actor. He grew up in Beverly Hills and now lives in Palm Springs, Calif...

James Gregory as Grimsell Died 2002 · Bronx, New York, USA James Gregory (December 23, 1911 – September 16, 2002) was an American actor. His best-known roles include Schaffer in Al Capone (1959), the McCarthy-like Sen. John Iselin in The Manchurian Candidate...

Jacques Aubuchon as Sam Winscott Died 1991 · Fitchburg, Massachusetts, USA

Director Roy Rowland

Cast Stewart Granger, Rhonda Fleming, Chill Wills, Steve Rowland, James Gregory, Jacques Aubuchon, Arch Johnson, Rayford Barnes, William Fawcett, Bud Osborne

John Chard 6/10 Jul 29, 2016

God Moves In Mysterious Ways.

Gun Glory is directed by Roy Rowland and adapted to screenplay by William Ludwig from Philip Yordan's novel, Man of the West. It stars Stewart Granger, Rhonda Fleming, Chill Wills, James Gregory and Steve Rowland. Music is by Jeff Alexander - with the title song "The Ninety and the Nine" song by Burl Ives - and cinematography is by Harold J. Marzorati.

What we have here is a very familiar tale. Granger is gunslinger Tom Early, who returns to his home town after a number of years to find his wife has died and his son (Rowland) is unsurprisingly miffed at his father having abandoned them. The townsfolk, also, are not exactly enamoured to have him back either, but since they are in the grip of terror brought about by violent cattle baron Grimsell (Gregory), a chance for Early to make peace with all is in the offering.

Granger was winding down his contract with MGM and this could hardly be seen has a triumphant fanfare finale. Yet for committed Western film fans there's still plenty to enjoy. Handsome is a word that springs to mind, Granger and Fleming positively ooze sexual beauty, the Calif locations (Bronson Canyon - Whoosh!) are magnificently brought to life via CinemaScope (Metrocolor), while costuming and set designs are most appealing.

The script is weak, though, and familiarity of story demands that elsewhere the pic needs to cover the shortcomings. Action scenes are all too brief, but the stunt work on show is impressive and the construction of shoot-outs, and a rockslide sequence, certainly stirs the blood. Elsewhere, Jacques Aubuchon's lecherous windbag act gets tiresome pretty quickly, and the overt religion angles are heavy handed (even the musical score is full of biblical swirls) - the latter of which a shame because Chill Wills as The Preacher turns in the best perf in the pic.

Hardly a must see movie, then, but Oater fans, and fans of the stars, are not short changed (Gregory does good villainy as well). Even if ultimately it comes off as a "going through the motions" movie that's very pretty but of little substance. 6.5/10