Gunman's Walk (1958)

A powerful rancher always protects his wild adult son by paying for damages and bribing witnesses, until his crimes become too serious to rectify.

Director:

Phil Karlson

Writers:

Frank S. Nugent (screenplay) (as Frank Nugent), Ric Hardman (story)

Stars:

Van Heflin, Tab Hunter, Kathryn Grant

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Van Heflin	...	Lee Hackett
Tab Hunter	...	Ed Hackett
Kathryn Grant	...	Clee Chouard
James Darren	...	Davy Hackett
Mickey Shaughnessy	...	Deputy Sheriff Will Motely
Robert F. Simon	...	Sheriff Harry Brill
Edward Platt	...	Purcell Avery
Ray Teal	...	Jensen Sieverts
Paul Birch	...	Bob Selkirk
Michael Granger	...	Curly
Will Wright	...	Judge

Storyline

Widower Lee Hackett (Van Heflin), a cattle rancher who is a product of the old west, tries to bring up his two sons, Ed (Tab Hunter)and Davy (James Darren), in his image, but Ed is wild and unruly. The two brothers are both attracted to Clee Chourard ('Kathryn Grant(I)') but she prefers Davy. Ed's efforts to outshine his father and brother and everyone else leads him into a career of a gunfighter, and a confrontation with his father.

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Plot Keywords:

horseback chase | biracial | horseback riding | horse | sioux indian | 

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Taglines:

SIX-FEET-TWO OF MAD-DOG KILLER (original poster-all caps)

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Genres:

Western

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Certificate:

Approved

Did You Know?

Trivia

The " Arizona wild Western Town" featured in "Gunman's Walk" was located on Columbia Corporation studio's Burbank back-lot facility, the property "titled" - The Columbia Ranch, 411 North Hollywood Way. In 1970, after a disastrous fire swept the back-lot, destroying a quarter of the primary back-lot facade building's property structures; all of the New York Street, European Street and Western (back-lot) Town had been totally destroyed. The studio broke apart the parcel of real-estate, selling the South-East corner, at Hollywood Way and Verdugo Avenue to a real-estate-developer, who built a super-chain-grocery-market, on a 'L'-mall- land-parcel with a parking lot.

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Goofs

When the Sheriff and Purcell Avery go to the doctor's to question Mr Sieverts, the office door is locked. The doctor unlocks the door to let them in and then locks it again once they're inside. As they leave, the doctor pulls the door open - without unlocking it first. For that to happen, the door would have to be a prop that was never locked in the first place.

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Quotes

Lee Hackett: You got to learn to respect the gun: knowing when to shoot is just as important as knowing how.

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Connections

Featured in Tab Hunter Confidential (2015)

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Soundtracks

I'm A Runaway
by Fred Karger & Richard Quine
Sung by Tab Hunter (uncredited)

User Reviews

intriguing Western with racial subplot

The plot seemed quite fresh (even after my second viewing), though on analysis it includes familiar themes: tension between brothers, conflict between son and father leading to tragedy. A lot of this is down to the way it portrays the steady - not to say rapid - deterioration of the elder son so that he becomes a murderer; Tab Hunter deserves a lot of credit for this; at first he seems to be just a bit of a tearaway, but at the end he looks really vicious.

I like Van Heflin. He was great as the tortured Athos in "The Three Musketeers" and the decent homesteaders in "Shane" and "3.10 to Yuma", but I'm not sure that he carries off being the tough patriarch who won the country from the Indians.

Viewing the film in the political correctness of 2007, I blinked at the verbal racial abuse inflicted on the native Americans; two days later, I'm still trying to think of another 1950s Western where it was so overt. (I'm talking of verbal abuse, rather than cowboys killing lots of Indians.) The film proceeds at a pleasing rate, except for the somewhat overlong shooting-at-bottles scene very early on.

I don't know if "I'm a Runaway" was ever a "proper" song, but it was quite catching, even when sung by Hunter, and for once I didn't object to a musical interlude in an action film.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

July 1958 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Slicks

Filming Locations:

Patagonia, Arizona, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

97 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.55 : 1