The Toughest Gun in Tombstone (1958)

The Sloane Ranger!

The Toughest Gun in Tombstone is directed by Earl Bellamy and written by Orville H. Hampton. It stars George Montgomery, Jim Davis, Beverly Tyler, Gerald Milton and Don Beddoe. Music is by Paul Dunlap and cinematography by Kenneth Peach.

Solid "B" type Oater finds Montgomery as Matt Sloane, an undercover Arizona Ranger sent into Tombstone to rid it of its outlaw elements. He also has a vested personal interest since the man who killed his wife - and who has shot and injured his son - also resides within the outlaw group.

Standard rules apply here, clocking in at just 72 minutes in run time, the requisite fist fights, chases, shoot outs and good versus bad shenanigans fill out the play. There's some nifty cryptic detective work going on, even some stentorian narration suggesting the makers have been watching the noir crime movies of the era. The romantic angle is not over played, with a nice surrogate mother thread ticking along nicely, and the cast and tech crew perform capably within the confines of the low budget production limits.

With the opening broadly telling us about the "infamous" named characters operating in Tombstone, it should be noted this is of course not a history lesson, so don't expect one. While elsewhere after being told that President Chester A. Arthur has "ordered" the end of outlaws, it's a little disappointing that there wasn't more scope to expand upon the birth of The Arizona Rangers. But as it is this is sturdy and enjoyable fare for the genre fans to pass the time away with. 6/10