A Masterpiece!

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

For a B Western, Top Gun provides top entertainment and makes a more-than-adequate contribution to its genre. The initial conflict uses the basic premise of the Western: lone male figure, having been subjected to privation and now alone and searching for spiritual peace, finds the ultimate show-down when confronted with evil, which he tries to set right -- despite the all-powerful forces of law and nature which try to stop him. The situation -- that a top gunman is revisiting his home town to warn the citizens of a raid by the very gang he used to belong to -- is set up quickly and convincingly, even uniquely -- in a graveyard. The ensemble cast of veteran actors works well to create the tension necessary to convey a well-crafted and believable script. Sterling Hayden exudes gravitas, if not exactly charm, and his masculine presence is undeniable, nearly coming off the screen, as it does in all his films. The sets are well-constructed, and the camera work is consistent and well-planned, if not exactly subtle. The script even provides a few memorable one-liners, as when John Dehner (the heavy) gleefully tells Sterling Hayden, "Rick, you ole catamount, may you live until I kill you."For Western fans, a gem; for Sterling Hayden fans, a treat (as the camera lingers on both his lumbering body and his rugged face for much of the film); and for cinephiles, a well-worth it adventure.

I'm a big fan of Westerns but this one.... whew, what a stinker! I think what turned me off almost right off the bat was the inane dialog. I think I could have written better dialog than this when I was in eighth grade. And the poor actors! Given this terrible dialog, none of them came across looking anything but ridiculous. Really, I'm not kidding. Some of this is little better than what you'd get in an Ed Wood film. The biggest tragedy is Sterling Hayden. He was probably THE "big" star in this movie which if you called it a B-Western, you'd be lavishing praise upon it. This is what should be called a B-minus Western perhaps. Pity Sterling Hayden, who appeared at other times along with Joan Crawford, Bette Davis, Frank Sinatra, and other major talents. For him to appear in a vehicle this poor must have been something he tried to downplay for the rest of his life.One annoying thing about this movie is all the men look like they haven't shaved in a week and their faces are all greasy. I know in the old West guys weren't always well groomed but to a man this is a movie that makes you want to just go 'EWWWW!' Really, this is a crummy Western. Denver Pyle also had to live this one down, especially after appearances in so many great Westerns. Bad, bad movie.

Western fans who like their stories brisk and to the point, should find enough reason to like this mildly interesting western with STERLING HAYDEN as a gunslinger who returns to his hometown after a prison stay and runs into trouble again when he finds corruption rampant and the town's citizens all have him wrongly responsible for a series of murders.KAREN BOOTH is the love interest and she gets to play a crucial role toward the climax when she saves Hayden from a gunman's bullet. WILLIAM BISHOP is a corrupt landowner who had something to do with the death of Hayden's mom and becomes his staunch adversary throughout the plot.The opening credits fail to mention ROD TAYLOR who plays a town bully interested in provoking Hayden into a gunfight. He makes a convincing braggart with hardly a trace of his Austrlian accent showing. But the real villain of the piece is JOHN DEHNER as the head of an outlaw gang that Sterling Hayden tries to warn the villagers about.It's a decent enough western with a theme similar to HIGH NOON in that the town's sheriff has trouble rounding up a posse to take care of the invading outlaws.Summing up: All of the principal players do a decent enough job but it's more or less a standard western with some conniving characters getting their comeuppance in time for Hayden and Booth to ride off into the sunset.

Having acted alongside Bette Davis and Joan Collins in 'The Virgin Queen' the previous year, the 25 year old Rod Taylor progressed from extra work to small acting roles in films like this one. Although he was born in Australia, you didn't notice his Australian accent.