Collision Course

bkoganbing

Glenn Ford and Broderick Crawford had already co-starred in Convicted and Human Desire. For their third and final pairing in The Fastest Gun Alive, MGM gave them a whole flock of familiar character faces in support who are too numerous to mention. The two play a pair of men of whom destiny put on a collision course.

Broderick Crawford is a swaggering psychotic gunfighter who kills frequently to preserve his reputation as The Fastest Gun Alive. As the film opens he picks a fight with another fast gun, Walter Coy, and outdraws him with lightning speed. A later bank robbery by Crawford and his two sidekicks Noah Beery, Jr., and John Dehner puts a posse on their trail. To get fresh horses they stop off in a small town that doesn't even have a sheriff. It's also where Glenn Ford and wife Jeanne Crain operate the general store.

Unknown to everyone else the mild mannered Ford is also a fast gun, taught by his father who was a legendary sheriff. But Ford is a man with issues, different than Crawford's, but the issues that both these men have are what drives this film to a conclusion. When Crawford hears about Ford being a fast gun he feels compelled to see if it is true.

Glenn Ford did a series of excellent westerns in the Fifties and his career was heading toward its apex. He and Crawford are just wonderful in their contrasting characters. The editing in The Fastest Gun Alive is particularly noteworthy, especially in a church scene similar to the one in High Noon where all those familiar movie faces get to etch some good characterizations with only a few lines.

The Fastest Gun Alive is an absolute must for Glenn Ford and Broderick Crawford fans.

score 8/10

bkoganbing 25 November 2014

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw3130968/