|
|
When discussing famed movie cowboys, Many of you will immediately think of John Wayne or Clint Eastwood. However, how many of you would immediately think of Glenn Ford?
For my money Glenn Ford was a great actor, one of those brilliant all rounders that could do anything. He was great in contemporary pieces like 'The Blackboard Jungle' or 'The Big Heat', but it was in Westerns that Glenn Ford found his ideal niche and I'm going on record by saying that 'The Fastest Gun Alive', was the best of the lot.
Ford plays George Temple, who to all who know him, is a mild mannered, store owner in the secluded town of Cross Creek. His wife Dora (Jeanne Crain) is an expectant mother and in Cross Creek, they seem to have found their peaceful Shangri-La to live out the rest of their lives.
To a lot of the townsfolk, George seems withdrawn and secluded and is often the subject of mild ridicule from some of them, but if they knew the secret he harbours, they might, however, have thought twice about it.
One day a stagecoach arrives in town and aboard her is an old man with a great story to tell. In another town not far from Cross Creek, a gunfight had recently taken place between notorious outlaw Vinnie Harold, (Broderick Crawford), and known fast gunman Clint Fallon (Walter Coy), for no other purpose other than to massage the vanity of Harold to ensure he was the fastest gun alive.
On hearing the news, George becomes even more withdrawn, the result being even more derision from the townsfolk. The usually teetotal George, heads to the saloon where he drinks whiskey while the townsfolk continue to talk about the Harold/Fallon Gunfight and using guns in general, Unable to keep quiet any longer, he gives the tough talking townspeople a dressing down and a few lessons on how to wear and pull a gun effectively. When asked about how a store keeper that doesn't even wear a gun knows so much on the subject, George drops his bombshell secret in the movie's best scene.
"I'm the fastest gun alive. Faster than Wyatt Earp, faster than Billy The Kid, faster than Fallon and faster than the man that killed him".
As suspected, the towns people do not believe him and think that the whiskey he has been liberally imbibing has made him have delusions of grandeur. Pride dented, George retreats to his store and retrieves his hidden gun, much to the dismay of his wife who is desperate for him to keep his past secret.
Undeterred, George returns to the saloon and proceeds to demonstrate that he is who he claims to be, by shooting bullets through two silver dollars mid-flight and shooting a falling beer glass before it touches the floor. lesson learned, the towns people are humbled, but George, now knows that as soon as word gets around of his skills, Vinnie Harold, or some other moron like him, will be looking for him so they can prove who is the fastest gun alive.
George prepares to leave town but Dora, having lived through similar scenarios refuses to run again. The townspeople in order to protect George's anonymity and their town, make a pact that no one will ever mention what occurred. That is until an 'on the run' Vinnie Harold arrives in town and is told the story about the silver dollars by one of the young children of the town. Now wanting to prove once again who is the best, Harold approaches the church where the entire population of Cross Creek is congregated and threatens to burn the entire town to the ground if the so called 'fast gun' doesn't present himself for a showdown in the next five minutes.
It is here that we learn that George Temple's real name is actually George Kelby Jnr, Son of a sheriff gunned down in an ambush years before who taught his son all he knew about pulling guns to the point that the son even surpassed the father in skill.
Despite the pact they have made, the townspeople, not wanting to see their town turned into an inferno, try to force George on to the street to face him. George is forced to reveal another devastating secret to the townsfolk, that despite his skills, he has never pulled a gun on another man and the thought of doing so fills him with fear and terror. The thought of killing another man or being killed himself makes him sick to the stomach. So much so, that he couldn't bring himself to avenge his own Father's death. However, Vinnie Harold's deadline is almost up and a decision has to be made.
The Fastest Gun alive is probably one of the most atmospheric westerns ever made as it is more a character driven piece rather than your common all garden western movie. With the exception of Vinnie Harold and is cohorts, who have no redeeming qualities whatsoever, you can empathise with all the characters in this film to a degree.
The only gripe of the entire movie is the out of place dance sequence with Russ Tamblyn doing his acrobatic tumbling through a barn. Don't get me wrong, what you get from Tamblyn is pretty darn good, but why the hell was it in THIS particular movie.
Great movie, great plot and great acting and definitely Glenn Ford's shining gem in a career already gleaming with them.
Enjoy!!
score 10/10
MartynGryphon 22 June 2014
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw3037874/ |
|
18-2-2021 03:16:04