The Ballad of a Gunfighter

Am I the only one who spotted Clint Eastwood? Watch as Marty Robbins is walking across the street and bumps into a stranger. You only get a side view, but that stranger was Clint Eastwood! I am sure of it. Overall, I really liked the movie. I was watching late night TV and it came on so I watched it. So happy to see Secora, Feleena, and the outlaw. And a surprise ending with a twist. Loved it.

It's been a long time since I have watched this movie, but I remember how enjoyable it was. I would recommend this to any true western movie or real country (nothing newer than 1980, please, except Chris LeDoux) fan.

But also a Marty Robbins song that forms the basis of this curio Western. There's no point beating around the bush here, this is a bad film that's full of auto-cue acting, lame clichés and bizarre moments. Robbins as it happens is not half bad, but you can see he's not totally comfortable with performing this way.

The plot has Robbins as a Robin Hood type outlaw who gets involved in a love triangle whilst coming to realise his partners in crime are not to be trusted. Cue chases, fist fights, rickety sets, a bit of outrageous gymnastics and finally the El Paso song, which is the best part of the picture!

Filmed in Eastmancolor, the available print out there is poor, so bad in fact I personally chose to fade the colour out and watch in black and white. All told The Ballad of a Gunfighter is an oddity, but very hard to recommend with any sort of confidence. 3/10

A little bit of trivia about this movie.... It says "a feud between 2 outlaws" and yet in the credts only one is shown. The character of Sam, which was a main character never shows up in the credits. This was a result of a salary dispute and what would appear to be revenge from the studio. The actor's name was Jack Carney who also did his and Mr. Robbins stunts for the movie, and as the story goes, he was never properly paid for the role, but when he complained he was removed from the credits. He was a good actor and a good man and while there is always folklore in these old stories, the fact remains that he is there as big as life in the movie, but missing when the credits role.

Ballad of a Gunfighter(1964) is clearly a vehicle for Marty. The script was clearly written to match the lyrics of his popular song "San Angelo."

Marty plays a former Confederate soldier who turns outlaw. He only robs from the rich Yankees, and then gives the money to the poor people. A real western Robin Hood story. But Marty soon comes into conflict with a band of nasty outlaws who who prefer to,keep,their I'll gotten gains themselves. Then the governor suddenly offers amnesty to any outlaw willing to join the Texas Rangers. What? That has to be done to make the plot make the lyrics of the song, even if it is a ridiculous idea. At one point, Marty's stuntman engages in a long fistfight with the stuntman of the main bad guy. It's obvious that it's not the actors doing the action, except for the closeups. The fight is poorly done.

The color is not very good and gives the film the look of a spaghetti western, even though it was filmed in Utah.

Joyce Redd plays Secorro, Marty's love interest. This was her only acting credit and not much info is available about her.

Marty and Joyce are no actors and this film is of interest only to Marty Robbins fans as a curiosity. If you listen to the song "San Angelo," you will know the entire plot of "Ballad of a Gunfighter."

This movie includes most every cliche from every prior western movie. And yet it also includes a bit extra that makes it worth a look. The main advantage is the impish charm of Marty Robbins – his performance is good enough to make me wonder why he didn't have more of a movie career. I think he could have gone much farther.

The main disadvantage is that Marty Robins doesn't personally sing. I bought this movie with the expectation that he sing at least once, but that didn't happen. What genius decided it would be a good idea to make a western starring Marty Robins that didn't include at least one song performed by the man himself? A smart movie maker would have found some excuses for 3-4 songs at least.