Mit der Waffe in der Hand

Beautiful looking western in dazzling Technicolor is otherwise an ordinary affair but does have Rock Hudson and Donna Reed both on the cusp of bigger things. Donna made From Here to Eternity the same year as this and although it didn't really enhance her movie fortunes it raised her fame level easing her transition to TV fame as the perfect homemaker. Rock would break out of the B's the next year with Magnificent Obsession that turned him into box office gold for years. This film does have a good pace and a hissable villain in Phil Carey plus an early peek at Lee Marvin. For western fans or admirers of the stars this should be an enjoyable view.

This originally-filmed 3-D pot boiler features a darkly gorgeous Donna Reed partnering an equally handsome Rock Hudson- the latter displaying the macho charisma he hid behind for most of his career. But the thing is, he's good -and so's Donna. They play an engaged couple about to settle in California at the end of the Civil War. Rock has the odd good line 'Bullets are democratic- they don't only kill badmen' -no doubt an orphan from scriptwriter Kathleen George's novel TEN AGAINST CEASAR on which movie was based and a concept which would have found an echo in post-Korean and WWII veteran audiences.

Ex-Confederate Army cronies' embitterment and discontent is the excuse for stagecoach robbery, murder and kidnapping. Ben Warren [Hudson] is left for dead and his fiancé Jennifer Ballard [Reed] snatched under the unlikely pretext that gang leader Frank Slayton [Phil Carey] fancies her. The later elemental suggestion of suppressed carnality is best left as it was -suppressed. Donna Reed, despite torn blouse -is Rock's girl, and she remains so. Doesn't the Phil Carey know how things in Westerns work out? The plot of George's novel, TEN AGAINST CAESAR has been uncomplicated to a degree where an orangutan, given five seconds and a paintbrush, could have written the subsequence and denouement.

But credibility is not what this movie is all about.

It's about how parted Rock and Donna are re-united and triumph over -albeit manufactured -adversity ; it's about searing Arizona desert; the magnificence of 1950 Technicolor Western-making, and perhaps most of all about the making of desolation beautiful. I remember its flat screen release as a kid, was dying to see it but couldn't afford the admission. Had I seen it then I know how I would have reacted - I would have considered it good value and left the cinema, six-gun at the ready, seeking a showdown.

"Gun Fury" is a 1953 Western Starring Rock Hudson and Donna Reed as a couple traveling to California in the Southwest. After their stagecoach is held-up and Ben Warren (Hudson) left for dead, he is eventually able to go after the outlaws who have his fiancé.

Shot mostly outside in the Sedona, Arizona, region, this is a very picturesque Western. While the film begins slow it morphs into a chase movie with loads of Western action. The cast is great with Hudson in his prime and Leo Gordon as the ex-gang member, Jess, whom Ben starts to befriend. But it's Phil Carey who shines as the villainous Frank Slayton, an embittered ex-Confederate Southern "gentleman" who's still at war.

The antagonism between Slayton and Jess is interesting in that Jess feels Slayton goes too far in his outlaw activities and increasingly objects. Although Slayton doesn't put up with it, it's clear that he regards Jess as a partner - a partner he's willing to slay in a heartbeat if necessary.

Carey comes across as a malevolent version of Charlton Heston. His character is interesting: He justifies his crimes on the grounds that he's still at war even if the Civil War ended years ago. He wants Jennifer (Reed) because she's a genuine Southern Belle who reminds him of his former world, a world the war has forever destroyed.

Despite all these good things, there are some glaring script problems. Warren is said to be dead by one of the outlaws after the stagecoach heist, but later gets up and no injury is mentioned the rest of the movie (although he momentarily touches his head when he wakes and looks for blood on his hand, implying that he was perhaps head-grazed by a bullet). The worst plot issue is the problematic swap deal at the end.

If you can overlook such defects, however, "Gun Fury" is a worthwhile 50's Western for the many positive points noted above.

The film is short and sweet at only 83 minutes.

GRADE: B.

With stars like Rock Hudson, Donna Reed and Lee Marvin, a script by Roy Huggins and direction by action film legend, Raoul Walsh, "Gun Fury" seemed like a sure thing. Boy was I disappointed.

The script relied on constant character stupidity to move the story along; Hudson and Reed had no chemistry together and Lee Marvin doesn't have his usual nutjob role to ratchet up the interest.

The scenery was spectacular and the score quite good in places. But this 82 minute film had me looking at my watch before the halfway point.

Rock Hudson was much better in "The Undefeated." If you want a good Donna Reed/Roy Huggins western, try "Hangman's Knot." Raoul Walsh made several better westerns like "Colorado Territory" and "The Tall Men."

"Gun Fury" is a neat, leisurely-paced Columbia Western, originally shot in 3D, directed by Raoul Walsh. I was expecting something exciting or exceptional like "Colorado Territory" or "Pursued". Instead it turns out to be routine, ambling minor Western that just misses mediocrity. Rock Hudson ably plays Ben Warren, a pacifist Civil War veteran whose fiancé (Donna Reed) is kidnapped by an ex-Confederate villain & gang leader Frank Slayton (Phil Carey) after a stagecoach holdup. Aided by one of the gang members (Leo Gordon) and an Indian (Pat Hogan), Warren pursues Slayton and his gang through several confrontations. Lee Marvin intriguingly plays Blinky, the outlaw that later challenges Carey before Warren and his group show up.

Throughout "Gun Fury", Walsh does a nice job of contrasting Hudson's mild, freedom-loving mannerism with Carey's vicious, unalloyed sadism. There are also, as expected from Walsh, some nifty scenes of outdoor scenery in the reddish Arizona desert. Donna Reed and Rock Hudson are great together; Phil Carey does good job playing the villain. Overall, a nice little Western that is worth checking out.