Highly Overrated But Still Good

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

Dreadfully Boring

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

I'm guessing that B picture director Edward L. Cahn who was of the grind them out school of film making was stuck for a plot and in Gunfight he just remade a film he did five years earlier called Gun Brothers with Buster Crabbe. I can't believe there was such a demand for a remake.James Brown late of the Rin Tin Tin show plays a soldier fresh out of the army and looking for his brother who says he has a cattle ranch and he wants to go 50/50 with him. But Gregg Palmer is the leader of a notorious and murderous outlaw band who hold up the stagecoach carrying Brown and pretty Joan Staley going to work in the local saloon that they're headed for.In a short time Brown discovers what Palmer does for a living and the rest of the film is a conflict between the brothers each can't quite trust the other. But blood does prove thicker than water.Staley sings a pretty song and that's the highlight of Gun Fight. In fact though there's a lot of gun play there's no real gunfight in the sense of two guys just reaching for the weapons and shooting it out face to face.Gun Fight is definitely made on the cheap and the kind of thing you routinely saw on shows like Gunsmoke.

Gun Fight doesn't exactly have great production values. Nor does it have a well known cast. In fact, I don't think I've ever seen any of these actors in anything else (if I have their roles were inconsequential). It doesn't boast a great script, or great direction, either. So what does it have?Well, it's got a fairly good story (nothing especially original or outstanding, but a good, solid storyline) and a cast that is honestly doing their best to give good performances. It also has a short running time (69 minutes), so it doesn't drag at any point. Ultimately, Gun Fight is an anachronism in filmmaking circa 1960 (when it was filmed). It plays out more like a Western from 1941 than 1961 (when it was released). The style of storytelling (the direction, acting, dialogue, and plotting) is a much closer match to what Hollywood was putting out in the early 40's than in the early 60's, so it was already outdated when it was released. And yet, there is an earnestness about the movie that makes it hard to completely dislike or dismiss. No one will ever confuse Gun Fight with the great Westerns of the pre-Spaghetti Western era, but it isn't quite as bad as many people make it out to be.Gun Fight is mildly diverting and somewhat entertaining for fans of the genre who are looking for something new that they haven't seen before. It isn't far removed from the kind of Western that a Poverty Row studio might have made in the 40's, and maybe that's part of it's charm. With the right expectations Gun Fight can deliver an entertaining one hour and nine minutes. With the right expectations...

Had this been a grainy 1930's Western with someone like Buck Jones or Tom Mix in the lead it might have been almost interesting. As it is, I can't believe stories as bad as this were being made as late as 1960. Can you think of anything goofier in a Western flick than having the nominal hero Wayne Santley (James Brown) and his girlfriend Nora Blaine (Joan Staley) stand at a distance to simply watch a sheriff's posse take down brother Brad's (Gregg Palmer) gang in a shootout at their cabin? And what's the deal with the Trading Post - there's a nicely furnished room in back of the merchandise area that no one seems to be living in, just waiting for a couple like Wayne and Nora to show up? I don't know about you, but it looked to me like the actor playing Brad Santley was in pain throughout the story by the grimaced expression on his face most of the time. He probably had good reason with the tortured script that had him for and against his brother as the picture progressed. There's an anomaly, there wasn't much progress in the film at all to speak of, and only true Western movie addicts should give this one a try, and then only if you want to catch former 'Rin Tin Tin' TV hero, Lieutenant Rip Masters once again.

Okay Western.made on a minuscule budget with a no-name cast. Actually the script is better developed than expected with a few surprising twists and turns, though you may need a score card to keep up. Palmer and Brown make convincing brothers with lots of the right chemistry, while plug-ugly Ron Soble looks the bad guy part, but has problems in the acting department. Joan Staley is lively as Brown's girl even though she suffers from a severe case of blonde hair. I wish the producers had earmarked more money for some of the sets, especially in the last half. Blending those cheap exteriors with actual location shots is clumsy, at best. Nonetheless, there's plenty of action and intrigue along with a spirited cast, as the brothers try to overcome their differences and settle into a regular family life. All in all, it's one of the better small budgeters made during that period when Westerns were all over both the little screen and the big one.