Gun Fury (1953)

User Rating:

5.7/10   

Director:

Raoul Walsh

Writers:

Robert A. Granger (novel) and
Irving Wallace (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

11 November 1953 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Crime | Western

Tagline:

A WOMAN WRONGED...A MAN TO AVENGE HER!...and he rode south to do it!

Plot:

After a stagecoach holdup, Frank Slayton's notorious gang leave Ben Warren for deasd and head off with his fiancée...

Plot Keywords:

Gang | Stagecoach | Bride | Arizona | 1880s

Cast

Rock Hudson	...	Ben Warren
Donna Reed	...	Jennifer Ballard
Philip Carey	...	Frank Slayton (as Phil Carey)
Roberta Haynes	...	Estella Morales
Leo Gordon	...	Tom 'Jess' Burgess
Lee Marvin	...	Blinky
Neville Brand	...	Brazos
Ray Thomas	...	Doc
Bob Herron	...	Curly Jordan (as Robert Herron)
Phil Rawlins	...	Jim Morse
Forrest Lewis	...	Weatherby

Runtime:

83 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Spanish

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.75 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

UK:U | USA:Approved (certificate #16564) | West Germany:12 (f) (cut version) | West Germany:16 (nf) (original rating) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | Finland:(Banned) (1954) | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Coffee Pot Rock, West Sedona, Arizona, USA

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

Rock Hudson suffered an attack of appendicitis on the last day of filming.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Holiday (2006)

Action packed, fast moving, enjoyable western.

It is not as rewarding to do a typical western story as it is to for an unusual story. Gun Fury has a conventional story but the screenplay , besides being adapted from a good novel by Kathleen George has to its credit Roy Huggins and Irving Wallace. Huggins directed and wrote the script of "Hangman's Knot" an excellent Randolph Scott western and Wallace became a famous writer later on. The film also has Raoul Walsh as the director and that is quite an asset. The scenery and color are outstanding, and the fact that the film was made originally in 3D gives it some interesting scenes like objects being thrown at the spectator, also arrows, stones, even a threatening snake. Donna Reed plays a southern lady who is going to marry Rock Hudson. She is kidnapped, Hudson is almost killed and goes after her with an Indian (Pat Hogan) and Leo Gordon (Tom Burgess). On the way they meet Estella (Roberta Haynes) who is in love with the bad guy (Phil Carey), but has been rejected by him. Haynes gives a good performance, but considering she plays a Mexican, her Spanish is far from perfect. The real star of the film, even though Hudson is quite good in his role is Phil Carey, great as Frank Clayton, a man with no morals, who is madly in love with Donna Reed. An entertaining, action packed western, enjoyable from the first to the last scene.