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Rating:  -
MAN WITH A GUN(1955)---Robert Mitchum, Jan Sterling, Karen Sharpe, Henry Hull, Emile Meyer, John Lupton, Barbara Lawrence, Leo Gordon
A "so-so" western with Mitchum playing a man who rides into town looking for Jan Sterling, with whom he had a daughter(it's never made clear whether they we married or not)---Sterling left Mitchum because she didn't like the way he made his living. Mitchum wants info on the daughter and learns that she took ill and died at around age 4 or 5. Sterling is the "Mother Goose" to a bevy of dance-hall girls who work the local "hot spot". Mitchum's "occupation" is, "town-tamer", meaning that he hires out to rid towns of the "bad guys" when the local law can't do the job(echoes of WARLOCK, although that's a far better movie than this one). Mitchum soon discovers that he has ridden into such a town. He is hired to "do his thing" and sets about doing so with ruthless efficiency. His proficiency at his job necessitates an ultimate showdown with the guy causing all the lawlessness. Of course, Mitchum triumphs, he and Sterling reconcile, Mitchum renounces "town-taming", and the sun shines brightly. As I said, this is a "so-so" film---not terribly good---but not all that bad either. It's best when Mitchum is "on the job" and showing the hooligans the "error of their ways". It bogs down in the scenes between Mitchum and Sterling. Henry Hull is good as the local sheriff who just isn't up to taking on the "baddies" alone, but is happy to help Mitchum deal with them. Leo Gordon is, as always, good as one of the miscreants who eventually pays the price for crossing Mitchum. The movie also has Angie Dickinson and Claude Akins in unbilled, bit-parts---Dickinson plays one of the dance-hall gals and, of course, Akins plays one of the bad guys. If you like westerns, you could do worse than watching this one.
Rating:  -
Excellent western classic. Robert Mitchum was a great actor; and sadly actors like him are no longer around to make the classic movies that are much better than what is being produced today.
Rating:  -
Man With the Gun is pretty much forgotten now, but caused a minor storm of media interest back in 1955 when Robert Mitchum turned down both Jett Rink in Giant (which had actually been written for him and which was subsequently substantially reworked) and Charles Laughton's intended version of The Naked and the Dead to make it instead.
Despite some obvious production problems and some harsh lighting that occasionally renders both Mitch and Jan Sterling in unflattering tones, it's a terrific dark western that more than stands comparison with his earlier Blood on the Moon as his `town tamer' sets to work on a town that never had the chance to grow up before getting run down by the local badmen before turning out to - possibly - be almost as bad as the men he despatches. Certainly his way of dealing with news of a death in the family - burning a saloon to the ground and goading its manager into trying to kill him - doesn't inspire much confidence in his stability.
As well as a good script and a surprisingly good supporting turn from the usually irritating but here well cast Henry Hull, it also boasts a strikingly good early Alex North score, which even includes an early workout for one of his tormented emotional cues that would later turn up in Spartacus.
Rating: -
As of December 24, 2008 Amazon lists the "stars" of this movie as Jay Adler and Florence Ames, which might cause people to overlook this great Robert Mitchum and Jan Sterling flick. I tried to use Amazon's "catalog update" form to correct this error, but got email saying they could not verify my suggestion, even though I sent them a link to the IMDB page which listed Robert Mitchum and Jan Sterling as the top credited actors.
Amazon is showing Adler and Ames are shown as the stars of the movie, even though they have only minor parts, because ALPHABETICALLY they are the first two actors. Mitchum and Sterling don't even make it on Amazon's list of actors because their names appear so late in the alphabet.
I'm hoping someone else can come up with a way to get Amazon to fix their catalog: I'd hate to think Amazon's error will cause people to miss seeing this fine film.
Rating: -
Allied Artists. presents "THE MAN WITH THE GUN" (5 November 1955) (84 mins/B&W) (Dolby digitally remastered) -- Our story line and plot, Our hero Clint Tollinger (Robert Mitchum) comes to town looking for his estranged wife Nelly Bain (Jan Sterling) --- He finds her running the local girls, one of them Angie Dickinson --- He also finds a town and Marshal Lee Sims (Henry Hull) afraid of their own shadow, scared of a landowner they never see who rules through his rowdy sidekicks --- The stranger is a town tamer by trade, and he accepts a $500 commission to sort things out --- Mitchum is brilliant, idiosyncratic, usually undervalued Westerns import his film noir persona to etch some compellingly dark character sketches --- Mitchum takes to his character well and always seemed to enjoy the darker more complex characters that some of his westerns would serve him up with --- Mitchum's regression from soft-spoken stranger to deranged murderer, with a host of dark emotions in between, is a marvel of expressive, physical acting at it's best --- This film keeps a very fast and exciting pace, it really keeps you on the edge --- Good supporting cast by Jan Sterling as Mitchum's saloon-gal wife, Henry Hull as an ageing marshal, John Lupton as an honest young farmer, and Emile Meyer as the town's leading citizen --- This oater is a Classic Western from the '50s not to be missed.
Under the production staff of:
Richard Wilson - Director / Screenwriter / Screen Story
Samuel Goldwyn, Jr. - Producer
N.B. Stone, Jr. - Screenwriter / Screen Story
Lee Garmes - Cinematographer
Emil Newman - Musical Direction/Supervision
Alex North - Composer (Music Score)
Gene Milford - Editor
Hilyard M. Brown - Art Director
Edward Boyle - Set Designer
Jerry Bos - Costume Designer
Evelyn Carruth - Costume Designer
John Keane - Sound/Sound Designer
Don L. Cash - Makeup
Sid Sidman - First Assistant Director
Anthony Carras - Sound Editor
SPECIAL FEATURES:
BIOS:
1. Robert Mitchum
Date of Birth: 6 August 1917 - Bridgeport, Connecticut
Date of Death: 1 July 1997 - Santa Barbara, California
the cast includes:
Robert Mitchum ... Clint Tollinger
Jan Sterling ... Nelly Bain
Karen Sharpe ... Stella Atkins
Henry Hull ... Marshal Lee Sims
Emile Meyer ... Saul Atkins
John Lupton ... Jeff Castle
Barbara Lawrence ... Ann Wakefield
Ted de Corsia ... 'Frenchy' Lescaux (as Ted De Corsia)
Leo Gordon ... Ed Pinchot
James Westerfield ... Mr. Zender (drummer)
Jay Adler ... Cal
Claude Akins ... Jim Reedy
Florenz Ames ... Doc Hughes
Joe Barry ... Dade Holman
Norma Calderón ... Luz
Thom Conroy ... Bill Emory
Angie Dickinson ... Kitty
Mara McAfee ... Mable
Burt Mustin ... Hotel desk clerk
Maidie Norman ... Sarah (Nelly's maid)
Hats off and thanks to Les Adams (collector/guideslines for character identification), Chuck Anderson (Webmaster: The Old Corral/B-Westerns.Com), Boyd Magers (Western Clippings), Bobby J. Copeland (author of "Trail Talk"), Rhonda Lemons (Empire Publishing Inc) and Bob Nareau (author of "The Real Bob Steele") as they have rekindled my interest once again for B-Westerns and Serials --- If you're into the memories of B-Westerns with high drama, this is the one you've been anxiously waiting for --- please stand up and take a bow Western Classics --- all my heroes have been cowboys!
Total Time: 84 mins on DVD ~ Allied Artists ~ (5/13/2008)
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