The Fastest Gun Alive (1956)

You might have thought that after having to make a few moonlight flits with wife "Dora" (Jeanne Crain) after it was discovered he was a renowned gunslinger, "George" (Glenn Ford) might have learned to keep his trap shut. Sadly, though, the demon drink is not always his friend and when he blabs about his ertwhile skills with a six-gun, he attracts the unwanted attention of hard-man "Vinnie" (Broderick Crawford) who is determined that there is no man better than he with a gun. Teamed up with a trio of bank-robbing ne'er do wells, he arrives in their sleepy town of Cross Creek and gradually his interest in escaping the pursuing posse is supplanted by his determination to provoke the now unarmed "George" into a duel. As the tension mounts, we learn a little of just what convinced him to seek a more peaceable life with a wife who knows of his past, and who is wholly supportive of his new life and appreciative of it's difficulties in the face of a gossiping town and a shrewd and vengeful foe who knows exactly which buttons to push to antagnosie both the town and the couple. Though Ford takes top billing and acquits himself fine and Crain has more of a part to sink her teeth into too, it's really Crawford who impresses here with his almost megalomaniacal portrayal of a natural born killer and as the latter stages of this - once we have forgotten the images of Russ Tamblyn dancing on a pair of shovels - develop, the almost glisteningly sweaty tension increases towards a conclusion that isn't anywhere near the fait accompli that you might have expected at the outset. I always enjoy a good baddie in a western, and Crawford delivers strongly here.