The Quick Gun (1964)

Gunslinger Murphy helps an ungrateful town fight off a raid by his former gang.

Director:

Sidney Salkow

Writers:

Robert E. Kent (screenplay), Steve Fisher (story)

Stars:

Audie Murphy, Merry Anders, James Best

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Audie Murphy	...	Clint Cooper
Merry Anders	...	Helen Reed
James Best	...	Scotty Grant
Ted de Corsia	...	Spangler
Walter Sande	...	Tom Morrison
Rex Holman	...	Rick Morrison
Charles Meredith	...	Reverend Staley
Frank Ferguson	...	Dan Evans
Mort Mills	...	Cagle
Gregg Palmer	...	Donovan
Frank Gerstle	...	George Keely
Stephen Roberts	...	Dr. Stevens
Paul Bryar	...	Mitchell
Raymond Hatton	...	Elderly Man
William Fawcett	...	Mike

Storyline

Returning home after a two year absence Clint, known for his fast gun, is caught by Spangler's gang where he learns they are heading for the same town where they plan to rob the bank. He escapes and although he is not welcome, he warns the few townsmen not away on cattle drives. Two years ago he had to kill two of the Morrisons. When the remaining two Morrisons come after him he kills them and just before the Spangler gang attacks and his gun will be needed, he is jailed.

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Plot Keywords:

gun | gunslinger | gunfight | tough guy | sheriff | 

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Taglines:

Here Is All The Raw Rampaging Fury Of The West!

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Genres:

Western

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

April 1964 (USA)

Also Known As:

In Montana ist die Hölle los

Filming Locations:

Bell Ranch, Santa Susana, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Robert E. Kent Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

87 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

Clint has the left sleeve of his shirt torn and his arm ripped open with a baling hook, leaving blood all over him. However, after the fight, when he is sitting in jail, his shirt is ripped, but there is no blood on it and no evidence of a wound.

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Quotes

Tom Morrison: You make thim draw first. You understand that? I want him dead legal.

User Reviews

Cheap (and really looks it), dull western

Director Sidney Salkow made quite a few westerns over the course of his career, and the one thing they have in common is that none of them are particularly good. If you want to see why, then watch this picture. Salkow has no sense of pacing whatsoever (a trait even more evident in his "Sitting Bull" from 1954, which has to be among the most disjointed pictures ever made). Stuff happens, then nothing happens for a while, then stuff happens again, then nothing happens for a while again, and so on, and so on, and so on. That describes this picture pretty much to a T, and what's even worse is that, unlike many of Salkow's other westerns, this one actually has a cast of experienced western actors in roles both large and small: James Best, Frank Ferguson, Rex Holman, Rick Vallin, Frank Gerstle and Mort Mills, among others, have done good work in other westerns, and Audie Murphy is earnest as always, but there's not much they can do with this. They try hard, but Salkow's limp direction and the drivel they're forced to recite kill whatever small chances there may have been of making something out of nothing. Even though the plot is somewhat tired, good--or even halfway competent--writing could have made this picture at least watchable. The writing here is laughable hack work, just cliché piled on top of cliché, overheated dramatics, eye-rolling villainy--it seems more like a William S. Hart western from 1915 than an Audie Murphy western from 1964. The last part of the picture picks up a bit--"picks up" being a relative term, considering that virtually nothing has happened up to that point--when the outlaw gang attacks the town, but even that isn't in the least exciting. Salkow's tenuous skills as a filmmaker completely evaporate when the "action" starts (again, check out his 1954 "Sitting Bull") and this picture is no exception--a few desultory gunshots and a bad guy falls off his horse, another gunshot or two and a townsman falls down (it's hard to tell if it's because he was "shot" or if he just dropped from exhaustion--the outlaws and the townsmen in this picture have to be among the OLDEST people to engage in a gun battle in the history of westerns) and the same thing is pretty much repeated for the next eight or ten minutes. There's no sense of excitement, danger, or anything other than boredom. In the end, of course, everything works out exactly as you knew it would, but it's not really worth sitting through this dull, lumbering mess to have your suspicions confirmed.