Gunsmoke (1953)A young gun slinger tries to help a rancher and his daughter, save their land and cattle from an evil, wealthy land owner. Director:Nathan Juran |
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Gunsmoke (1953)A young gun slinger tries to help a rancher and his daughter, save their land and cattle from an evil, wealthy land owner. Director:Nathan Juran |
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| Complete credited cast: | |||
| Audie Murphy | ... |
Reb Kittredge
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Susan Cabot | ... |
Rita Saxon
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Paul Kelly | ... |
Dan Saxon
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Charles Drake | ... |
Johnny Lake
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Mary Castle | ... |
Cora Dufrayne
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| Jack Kelly | ... |
Curly Mather
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Jesse White | ... |
Professor
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Donald Randolph | ... |
Matt Telford
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William Reynolds | ... |
Brazos
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Chubby Johnson | ... |
Doc Farrell
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| Rest of cast listed alphabetically: | |||
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Philo McCullough | ... |
Abner Sneed
(scenes deleted)
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Kittridge is hired by the villans but turns to defend the rancher Saxon after learning the true situation. Kittrige wins Saxon's ranch with a cut of the cards but Saxon has other reasons for loosing the gamble. Telford and Lake try everything from bushwacking to setting a wildfire to stop the Saxon/Kittridge herd of cattle from reaching the railhead. Written by Carol Johnson <crj1@cornell.edu>
Like most westerns between 1945 and 1985, the hero begins as an outlaw. I always called this Saul/Paul syndrome. Americans love a bad guy gone good better than anything. That said, this formula western had a creative twist a lot of people who enjoyed the movie never noticed. It may be the only Western ever where the lead character chickened out of fistfights and still held his dignity. In this movie, Audie Murphy plays a man who has virtually one skill-gunmanship. He is not a champion boxer, fighter, cowhand; he can do one thing good, and he is thinking about his future. In fact, his character is much like what the later anti hero of the seventies strived to be. That said, this is a very action packed interesting movie, with bad guys, wise guys, and good direction.