Better Late Then Never

I was totally surprised at how great this film.You could feel your paranoia rise as the film went on and as you gradually learned the details of the real situation.

Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

This is not a B movie, it's a b movie. Veterans Robert Lowery and Marie Windsor must have cringed every time they saw this 'vehicle' scheduled on the late, late, late show. This one screams 'cheese' from the opening credits. Ed Wood move over. Super cheap, nearly non-existent production values, somnambulistic direction and editing, canned music and shop worn props, all in slightly overexposed black-and-white. The plot, such as it is, deals with a revenge tale of gunslinger/trick shot artist Peggy Castle (here artfully utilizing both of her facial expressions; angry and more-angry), snarling her way through assorted heavies, hunting for the baddies who killed her parents and burned down the family homestead. She meets up with somewhat undercover Federal Marshal William Talman, and they grudgingly form a tepid bond which is meant to pass for an adult relationship but plays here more like the director (Richard Bartlett, in a bravura performance) didn't want to monkey around with all that lovey-dovey stuff. Don't want to give away the WOW ending but don't miss Marie Windsor's unscheduled appearance in one scene, simply walking onto a hot set and then visibly realising what she'd done, flouncing out again as though she forgot something or Lowery's hesitant, sleepy delivery of his lines in the 'face-off in the barroom' scene, he seems to be pausing for effect, and pausing and pausing, but what I think was really going on was he couldn't believe his career had come to this and wanted future film students to savor the beyond-atrocious dialogue. That Windsor's literal misstep and Lowery's near-trancelike delivery weren't edited out and both appear in the final cut, says all you need to know about Two-Gun Lady. And just think, these people got paid for this thing. I hope none of them took the points.

This is I assert a very important and influential movie, notwithstanding its inexpensive sets and generally impoverished feel. Its producers, writer and co-author Richard Bartlett, co-star and associate producer Earle Lyon and co-star/associate producer Ian MacDonald gave it a generally competent and intelligent feel. It is rather well-acted by Peggie Castle as Karen Marshall aka Kate Masters, William Talman as the marshal, Earle Lyon and Ian MacDonald as the Ivers, Robert Lowery as Big Mike, Marie Windsor as the unscrupulous Bess, Joe Besser as "Doc", Barbara Turner as Jennie Ivers, Norman Jolley and the rest of the cast. The importance of the film lies, I claim, in the fact that it is the first time in film history that a female central character was shown as being capable of committing physical violence as a volitional course of ethical action. in the same year that this film was produced, in "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" author Jack Finney had to explain to his hero that his fiancée was capable of and willing to help him during a fight; the usual Hollywood myth had the female standing and biting her knuckles while the male in an action film tried to fight three or four roughnecks. This is the film that changed that stereotype. The story-line is an unusually good one, I suggest. Castle was a child when she watched the Ivers take over the valley, goading her farmer father into a losing gun duel and murdering her mother before her eyes. She gets herself trained as a sharpshooter in the Annie Oakley model, her ultimate goal being to prepare herself to draw against the murderer, Jud Ivers. Ben Ivers, the father, has meanwhile been shot and paralyzed; and the marshal who is after the gang tries to talk her out of risking her life, committing homicide and ignoring the fact that his way is better; during the contest, he falls in love with her and she with him. It takes him walking up to her as she holds a gun on him to prove the rightness of his argument that, "learning to use a gun isn't learning to kill'. She won't kill him to have her way, but when the time comes, she has to have a showdown with her enemies, which leads to a surprising and very satisfying conclusion. Cinematographer for the film was Guy Roe; music was provided by Leon Klatzkin, who also conducted ably. Thomas Connolly did the set designs while Harry Reif was the set dresser; Henry Helfman made the costumes seem more expensive than they were. Richard Bartlett managed to keep the dialogue believable and the action moving at most points; minor errors do not matter to a film--this is by any standards an unusually well- acted "B" picture. Castle is very good, Talman quite good as both marshal and admirer. Lowery is powerful as a nice-guy barkeep and Windsor effective as saloon woman. Earle Lyon underplayed Ben Ivers with high-voltage; Ian MacDonald made an effective killer, and Joe Besser made his alcoholic partner memorable. By the time "Maverick" is produced, "Support Your Local Sheriff", "Cat Ballou" and "The Hallelujah Trail" are created, the insulting and unAmerican puritanic stereotype of the passive female--that kept so many fine actresses in Hollywood bondage to reactionary producer ""tsars' for decade--has been effectively shattered. This is one of the films that helped to do that; it is inexpensive and occasionally flawed, but it has a coherent story line and, to the objective appreciator, is always sincere and above-average

Ok it's not JOHNNY GUITAR (1954), but so what? I like it, anyway.An Annie Oakley-type trick-shot artist named Kate Masters (Peggy Castle) comes into town to put on a show at the local saloon. She also let's a couple of fresh rednecks know that she's not about to be pushed around by pulling a gun on them. A local drifter Dan Corbin (William Tallman) isn't too impressed with what's happening and he shoots up a poster of Master's show.But no matter. The real reason Master's is in town is she's looking for the ones who killed her father and burned down their farm when she was a little girl. She knows who did it and she reluctantly enlists the help of Corbin, who it turns out is a federal marshal who's been after the same people Masters been after, for a long time now. It's a local family, the Ivers, who aren't too friendly with their neighbors and have been suspected of cattle rustling.The ending quick-draw in the saloon between Ben Ivers (Earle Lyon) and Master's is a real hoot! She's pretty quick, although not quick enough not to get wounded in the draw. Ben in turn gets it with a rifle from his kid sister Jenny Ivers (Barbara Turner) who was angry at him for abusing her and shooting her lamb. Good thing she did him in, too. He was a real scumbag. Also notable for having my favorite 50s B movie scream queen Marie Windsor as the local saloon gal who has a big mouth and gets punished (permanently) for it. Her part in this film raises it up a couple of notches for me. I always enjoy seeing her up there on the silver screen, no matter how lousy the film is.Even though this was made by a little B movie outfit AFRC, it has no more of a cheap look than many of those oaters Republic, PRC or even bigger studios like RKO & Columbia put out in the late 40s, early 50s.6 out of 10 for keeping me enthused.

Amazing what will make it into release sometimes. This one ranks with anything that Ed Wood ever put together. Marie Windsor walked into a shot that she was not in and scurried off. It's in the finished film. Even the usually reliable B stalwart Robert Lowery comes off like an amateur. Fun to see in a theater full of college students.