Gunslinger (1956)

The Gunsligerette

Gunslinger is directed by Roger Corman and written by Charles B. Griffith and Mark Hanna. It stars John Ireland, Beverly Garland, Allison Hayes, Martin Kingsley, Jonathahn Haze and Chris Alcaide. Music is by Ronald Stein and cinematography by Frederick E. West.

When the sheriff of Oracle, Texas, is murdered by outlaws, his widow Rose Hood (Garland) takes over as Marshal and sets about cleaning up the town...

As Roger Corman started out directing, a few years before he would turn his hand to the Edgar Allan Poe adaptations that would find him respect and leave his mark on cinema, he ventured into the realm of the Western. None of these Westerns were particularly good, in fact they are some of the lowest rated Westerns on IMDb, with Gunslinger currently at the bottom of the pile with a 2.8/10 weighted average! Yet, and it's really not a movie you would want to revisit often - if at all, there's a quirkiness and feminist angled bravery about the whole thing that earns a tiny bit of respect.

The problems are many. It's over talky and slow, and what action there is is so badly staged it comes off like an amateur playhouse production. Then there's the acting. Ireland kind of escapes criticism because he walks around in a dazed state, it's like he can't believe what he is doing there, you can see him thinking to himself that he was working for Howard Hawks and Anthony Mann not long ago! Garland is OK, spunky and at least correct in line deliveries and visual reaction to situations, and Hayes is sexy enough to get away with the incredulity of it all. The rest, however, are desperately poor, with some of them resorting to auto-cue type acting.

Visually it's also poor, with barely dressed sets looking as fake as fake can be, especially when they shake as actors bump into them. Filmed in Pathecolor, the exteriors are sadly lifeless, the colours bland, and this in spite of the decent DVD print that I viewed. The sped up horse riding sequences raise a chuckle, while goof spotters will have a field day here. All told, with a weak and preposterous finale sealing the deal, it's a well below average "Z" grade Oater. One that's fun for the wrong reasons, but still! The sight of Garland blasting away with shotgun in hand, with star badge on chest, is a sexy image I shall not forget in a hurry! 3.5/10

_**When the town marshal is better-looking than the saloon girls**_

After her lawman husband is murdered in Oracle, Texas, Rose Hood (Beverly Garland) takes over the job of marshal to track down those behind the slaying. Meanwhile the saloon owner (Allison Hayes) wastes no time in hiring a hitman to take her out (John Ireland).

"Gunslinger" (1956) is the sixth film directed by trailblazing Indie filmmaker Roger Corman (his seventh if you count his uncredited work on “The Beast with a Million Eyes”). Like his debut flick from the year prior, “Five Guns West,” it’s a quickie B Western shot in color, but this one’s superior due to its originality, filmed in seven days (instead of his usual six).

It was a troubled shoot with it raining five of the days and the corresponding mud. Corman described it as "one of the worst experiences of my life” with Hayes (Erica) wanting to leave the film after falling off her horse due to it slipping in the mud and breaking her arm. Meanwhile the unique love scene in the tree was plagued by biting red ants.

With a female protagonist and antagonist, not to mention overblown melodrama that borders on caricature, this Western is reminiscent of “Johnny Guitar” (1954), although not quite as surreal or exceptional. Corman doesn’t fail to continuously throw-in entertaining bits, like the dancing saloon girls, a knock-down drag-out catfight and the Little Man’s cute-but-doomed love for Erica (Jonathan Haze). Not to mention, the loveliness of the two stars doesn’t hurt, especially the stunning Allison Hayes (whose maliciousness detracts from her beauty).

Despite the difficult production, Beverly considered it one of her favorite roles, and understandably so since it was (I think) the first female marshal/sheriff role in a movie Western. She did a smashing job.

The film runs 1 hour, 23 minutes, and was shot at Jack Ingram Ranch in Topanga Canyon, Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California.

GRADE: B