This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Filmed at Vasquez rocks and on a sound stage - obviously two different places as the by play shifts from scene to scene. Different scenes; wagon train, axle building, sound stage and location shots all have a different color quality, as if different brands of film were used at each location.The best actors are in the roles of sidekick, Preacher and wagon master, while the lead actor seems to be asleep and the Indians a far from fierce...TV shows of the time had better action and stage sets... Wagon Train, with Ward Bond had better sets, action and acting. Chill Wills and Henry Hull should have thrown the script back in writer's face...Strangely enough, some of the best scenes are the wood work and minor blacksmithing required to put the axle on the wagon.I suspect those scenes were borrowed from another movie, just as some of the wagon train scenes were borrowed.

Out of the several hundred Westerns in my DVD collection, this one has to be the very worst. Totally incompetent. Hittleman must have been a better salesman than a movie maker to have even managed to raise what little money would have been needed to make this awful mess. It's devoid of even the campy charm that Ed Wood might have put into it. Wills, Downs, Holloway, & Cagney must have been hurting for money to have agreed to appear in something this bad. Released in 1956, the same year as George Stevens' Giant, Chill Wills must have been been rather amazed to find himself in two such different movie productions in the same year. I only wish that I could get back the time I wasted watching this trash.

Kentucky Rifle is one of those movies that is immediately recognizable as having been made in the 1950's. The "western" accent used in the movies and television matches nothing I have ever heard anywhere else. The gritty version of the west was just starting to emerge at the time this movie came out, but it wasn't completely there yet. Not completely void of a story, Kentucky Rifle gives us a simple plot that literally and figuratively goes nowhere. A wagon with a broken axle is left behind a wagon train that must keep its schedule. The wagon contains crated Kentucky Rifles that are of financial interest and a matter of personal honor to Jason Clay (Lance Fuller). Comanche Indians also have an interest in obtaining the rifles. From the start of the movie until the end we only see the characters arguing and reasoning for and against trading the rifles to the Comanches for safe passage once the wagon is repaired. Thankfully the philosophical dialogue is kept brief, and the action is given more weight in this production. Both Jason Clay and Tobias Taylor (Chill Wills) encounter the Comanches and work to keep the group of travelers together and alive for most of the movie. The wagon stays put the entire time. The most important attribute of the story is the will and leadership of Clay and Tobias, and the decisions they are forced to make.Kentucky Rifle is not a total disaster, but it is hardly worth seeking. Enjoy it in a DVD collection like I did. I rated it with a generous 5, but I have a positive bias when it comes to westerns.

This is an awful western. The plot reminds me of "The Last Wagon", but it is far from having the polish of that film. The cast includes Cathy Downs and veteran character actor Chill Wills and is largely wasted. Chill Wills' performance is particularly annoying. He spends much of his time spewing almost unintelligible praise for the Kentucky rifle. While the Kentucky rifle was surely a fine weapon, it is not exactly the gun that won the West.The premise for this film is dumb. A wagon loaded with Kentucky rifles belonging to star Lance Fuller breaks down. The Comanches want the rifles. The Indians offer a deal. The guns for their lives. Surprisingly, those in the wagon are willing to make a deal. The Indians waste no time betraying the foolish Whites, but they don't get the rifles. After a battle in which many of the Indians are killed by the sure firing Kentucky rifles the Indians promise to allow the wagons to proceed in safety. This time they keep their promise.Technically, this film has serious problems. Much of it was filmed indoors, and the sets have a cheap look to them. The artificial rocks have a particularly phony look about them. The lighting is confused. Daytime scenes turn to shadows without warning. This aspect of the film reminds me of "Plan Nine from Outer Space".I rented this film twice. I wanted to see if it was as awful as I remembered it from the first time. It was.