Gun Fury (1953)

After a stagecoach holdup, Frank Slayton's notorious gang leave Ben Warren for dead and head off with his fiancée. Warren follows, and although none of the townspeople he comes across are ... See full summary »

Director:

Raoul Walsh

Writers:

Irving Wallace (screenplay), Roy Huggins (screenplay),

Stars:

Rock Hudson, Donna Reed, Philip Carey

Cast

Cast overview:
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

Storyline

After a stagecoach holdup, Frank Slayton's notorious gang leave Ben Warren for dead and head off with his fiancée. Warren follows, and although none of the townspeople he comes across are prepared to help, he recruits two others who have sworn revenge on the ruthless Slayton.

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Plot Keywords:

stagecoach | gang | arizona | bride | kidnapper | 

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Taglines:

Her honor cried out for vengeance...and he rode South to get it for her!

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Crime | Western

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Spanish

Release Date:

11 November 1953 (USA)

Also Known As:

Mit der Waffe in der Hand

Filming Locations:

Coffee Pot Rock, West Sedona, Arizona, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

83 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.75 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Originally filmed in 3D.

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Connections

Referenced in The Holiday (2006)

User Reviews

Routine Western Action With Rock Hudson

"I'm sick of violence and force," says Ben Warren, the rich young rancher who is taking his fiancee Jennifer to California for their wedding. Like most Americans of his generation, he served in the Civil War and was disgusted by the slaughter. Now he is devoted to working his big spread and marrying his beautiful girl (played by Donna Reed).

Unfortunately, the barren South West is not remote enough from recent history. Men have crossed the Rockies to escape from the bitterness back East, but they have carried their violence westwards with them.

The film is the story of a stagecoach holdup which turns into an abduction, then a manhunt. Ben Warren (Rock Hudson) sets off after the bad guys who kidnapped his bride-to-be, and pursues them across the Arizona desert.

A standard horse opera, "Gun Fury" contains no more than the average complement of guns and precious little fury. There are absurdities in the storyline, like the holdup with fake cavalry escort, and the ease with which the 'good guys' recover from seemingly mortal harm (Ben is shot dead, apparently, but then gets up and carries on as if nothing happened, and Jess is almost dead from sunstroke but quickly rallies and rides after Slayton). The trade of Jennifer for Jess is silly, not least because Jess would never want to rejoin Slayton's gang.

One directorial quirk exhibited by Raoul Walsh is the way in which any character who throws something (knife, rock, pottery) has a victim's-point-of-view cutaway inserted. The viewer is, for an instant, seemingly the target of the missile. The purpose of this oddity is to exploit the 3-D format in which the film was originally shot.

The only other talking point is the presence of Lee Marvin and Neville Brand as bad guys in Slayton's gang.

Verdict - workmanlike western, but nothing special