The Quiet Gun (1957)

Hired gun Doug Sadler rides into a small Western town and immediately provokes the local sheriff, Carl Brandon, by tormenting a simpleminded local named Sampson. Brandon is further provoked... See full summary »

Director:

William F. Claxton

Writers:

Eric Norden (adaptation), Earle Lyon (adaptation),

Stars:

Forrest Tucker, Mara Corday, Jim Davis

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Forrest Tucker	...	Sheriff Carl Brandon
Mara Corday	...	Irene
Jim Davis	...	Ralph Carpenter
Kathleen Crowley	...	Teresa Carpenter
Lee Van Cleef	...	Doug Sadler
Hank Worden	...	Sampson
Tom Brown	...	John Reilly
Gerald Milton	...	Lesser
Lewis Martin	...	Steven Hardy
Vince Barnett	...	Undertaker
Edith Evanson	...	Mrs. Merrick

Storyline

Hired gun Doug Sadler rides into a small Western town and immediately provokes the local sheriff, Carl Brandon, by tormenting a simpleminded local named Sampson. Brandon is further provoked by a visit from city attorney Hardy, who announces that the town council is charging local rancher Ralph Carpenter with violations of morality for living with an Indian girl. Brandon, who is in love with Carpenter's estranged wife Teresa, realizes that there is something sinister behind both these events, but he is unsuccessful in preventing calamity from erupting. Eventually he must stand against his entire town in order to protect it and the law he represents.

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Plot Keywords:

rancher | sheriff | native american | outlaw | cowboy | 

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Genres:

Western

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

January 1957 (USA)

Also Known As:

Fury at Rock River

Filming Locations:

Iverson Ranch - 1 Iverson Lane, Chatsworth, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Regal Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

77 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

User Reviews

Self Righteous Wrath

The Quiet Gun was an understated and underrated little western from the B picture unit at 20th Century Fox. This film would have been a classic, but for parameters from the omnipresent Code that held its themes in check. An unclear script keeps it in B standards as well.

The villains are saloon owner Tom Brown and henchman gunfighter Lee Van Cleef who want to get Jim Davis off his ranch so they can have use of it to graze some rustled cattle. Davis is estranged from his wife Kathleen Crowley and now living with a young Indian woman Mara Corday. Apparently there are some laws on the books regarding miscegenation and these two get town attorney Lewis Martin all filled with self righteous wrath as well as the rest of the town. When Martin goes out to serve papers on Davis he gets shot for his trouble and only after Martin goes for a rifle.

Through all this town sheriff Forrest Tucker who is a friend of Davis smells more than self righteous wrath working here. It all gets resolved, but a lot of people die before it does.

The Quiet Gun is representative of the adult westerns that were becoming more and more common on the big and small screen. Films like this with a B picture cast though would more likely be on the small screen. This could easily have been the plot of a Gunsmoke episode. It also hints at certain things that ten years later could have been frankly discussed.

The film is a bit ahead of its time, but held in place by the Code to make it not as good as it could have been.