The Gun That Won the West

The Gun That Won the West (1955)

** (out of 4)

Director William Castle and producer Sam Katzman teamed up for this cheap Western that takes place after the Civil War as the government wants to build some forts but it is in Sioux territory so they recruit Jim Bridger (Dennis Morgan) to lead the project. It doesn't take long for the project to run into trouble with the Indians.

THE GUN THAT WON THE WEST has an epic title but of course that's certainly not what was delivered. If you know anything about Castle or Katzman then you know they were masters at working on low-budgets and delivering cheap entertainment. That's not to say that their cheap movies weren't entertaining at times but there's no doubt that movies like this were meant to be rushed into theaters to make a quick buck.

In all honesty, if you're a fan of these type of "B" Westerns then you should get some mild entertainment out of this. I think the most impressive thing for me was how many extras were on hand here. This was especially true for the Indian characters as their group was quite large during certain scenes and I was surprised because of the budget. The story itself is pretty typical and there's certainly nothing original going on.

For the most part Morgan was mildly entertaining as was Richard Denning and Paula Raymond. There's certainly nothing great about the performances or the characters but, then again, we're watching a "B" movie. Castle keeps the film moving along well enough so fans of his will enjoy this.

In the late 1860s, Colonel Carrington (Roy Gordon) and his command are assigned the job of constructing a chain of forts along the Bozemann trail. But then they are besieged by Sioux - of Wyoming. Carrington recruits former cavalry scouts Jim Bridger (Dennis Morgan) and "Dakota Jack" Gaines (Richard Denning) to lead the project in Indian territory . Bridger and Gaines are friendly with Sioux Chief Red Cloud (Robert Bice) , and they feel a peace treaty with the Indians can be made. Later on , there is a meeting between US cavalry and Indians into signing a treaty. If an Indian war breaks out, the cavalry is depending on getting the weapon that stopped the last great Indian raid , a new type of arm : Springfield rifle. Bridger, Gaines and Gaines wife, Maxine, arrive at the fort for the conference in which dealing with the peace treaty . But thing go wrong when Gaines, in a drunken fit, attempts to intimidate the Indians . Along the way they must fight off enemies , hunting American Buffalo and rampaging Sioux who are also after them . The Story of the Unconquerable! .When a new kind of weapon wrote history in the Old West¡

The film packs thrills , fights , noisy action , crossfire , Indian charges , including Sioux habits with their rites and ceremonies and being enough entertaining . An ordinary and tolerable Cavalry Western in which explorer James Bridger is saddled with the risked assignment of steering a Cavalry regiment through hostile Indian territory surrounded by hostile Sioux . It's a medium budget film with comfortable actors , technicians , functional production values and passable results . Being freely based on historical events as Red Cloud's War 1866-68 and appearance by some legendary roles as the famous explorer James Bridger and Indian leader Red Cloud who was actually the only major Indian chief who vanquished a war against the US Army .Moving and action-packed Western with a simple , standard story that engages the viewer until the last scene when cavalry comes to the rescue in the nick of time by a river . Starred by a trio of little known actors as Dennis Morgan as Jim Bridges , Paula Raymond as Mrs. Maxine Gaines and her drunk husband performed by Richard Denning as 'Dakota' Jack Gaines . Second-class support cast with unknown secondaries as Roy Gordon and Robert Bice as Chief Red Cloud who threatens war if his territory is invaded by any troops building forts .

It contains an atmospheric and adequate musical score , as well as faded and tarnished cinematography Henry Freulich with a very bad print , being utterly necessary a perfect remasterizing . Produced in low budget by by Sam Katzsman , due to a combination of astute marketing and the fact that he ground out films so quickly and cheaply that he could cash in on a fad before it faded away, Katzman's movies seldom if ever lost money , taking a lot of stock footage here and there .William Castle used battle footage from Last of the Comanches (1953) , Buffalo Bill by William A Wellman and other films from Columbia Pictures at charge of production .This low-budgeted motion picture was profesional but regularly directed by William Castle . He was an expert craftsman with some of the all-time great schlock names serving as the producer Sam Katzman and fondness for gimmicks as proved in his successful terror films such as House of haunted hill , The Tingler , Mr Sardonicus , Strait-jacked , Homicidal , Macabre and 13 Ghosts . Castle emulated Alfred Hitchcock , this included the practice of appearing in the trailers, and even making cameo appearances in his films . Furthermore , he made several Western such as 1955 Duel on the Mississippi , 1955 The Gun That Won the West ,1955 El Americano , 1954 Masterson of Kansas , 1954 The Law vs. Billy the Kid , 1954 Jesse James vs. the Daltons , 1954 Battle of Rogue River , 1953 Fort Ti , 1951 cave of outlaws. Rating : 5/10 . So-so and average Western oater .

Any resemblance in this film between historical accuracy and what you see in the picture isn't coincidental, it's downright unintentional. The fact that Sam Katzman produced it should have been a warning that this film would be made as cheaply as possible, with lots of stock footage borrowed from "Buffalo Bill" ("Pony Soldier" borrowed the same battle scenes) and Indian "war" dances. The fact is that Red Cloud (who lived into the 20th century) made numerous visits to the White House to plead the cause of his people. The Bozeman Trail, supposedly the reason for the U.S. Army to escort railroad builders, simply isn't true; no railroad was built into the area at that time. Red Cloud succeeded in getting the Bozeman trail forts abandoned, a detail not mentioned in the film. Lots of anachronisms, including a Wild West show taking place in the 1860s, Jim Bridger actually in his dotage by then, and demeaning references to Native people ("Redskins") unacceptable today. The fight between Bridger and the Indian in the river comes straight out of "Buffalo Bill" in which Joel McRae as Buffalo Bill fights Yellow Hand played by Anthony Quinn to the death. I wasted 1:15 watching this film; should have taken the time to read a book.

William Castle who directed some interesting if gimmicky fright films is at the helm of The Gun That Won The West. This account of Red Cloud's war with the USA in the post Civil War years is one cheap production with some very bored actors giving some very pedestrian performances.

The same criticism I had of the film Tomahawk where Van Heflin played Jim Bridger applies here as well. Dennis Morgan plays the famous frontier scout and mountain man whose best days in the 1860s were far behind him. Bridger was in his sixties suffering from a variety of health issues of which arthritis was the most prominent. Hardly a western hero at that point of his life. Nor was he ever involved with Wild West Shows which started a decade or so after the years this film was set in.

Morgan and married friends Richard Denning and Paula Raymond are busy with a wild west show where the drunken and dissolute Denning is unable to perform in any number of ways. Still they get a mission and drop the wild west show and go to Dakota Territory to help the army conduct a string of forts. That does not sit well with Red Cloud and the Sioux and war breaks out.

Denning's character is poorly written. For the first half of the film he's a drunken bum. Then for no apparent reason he becomes the real hero of the piece. As for Paula Raymond she follows Tammy Wynette's advice and stands by her man even though Morgan is more appealing.

The title refers to the army's new Springfield Rifles. But The Gun That Won The West has lost its audience long before the film ends.

After building the entire plot and several key scenes around the introduction of the breech-loading Springfield "trapdoor" rifle, this movie fails to show a single round fired from the new rifles in the climactic battle with the Indians. Instead, the cavalrymen charge with sabers and wrestle in hand-to-hand combat, much too close to get off any shots. This is inexplicable in light of the general accuracy of the firearm details in the film: the cap-and-ball revolvers and 1860ish muzzle loading percussion rifles are period correct, as are the unadorned gun belts and of course the Springfields. I was even impressed with the Indians' reasonably dignified dialog, which was notably free of the "me see um" and "ugh" variety. Maybe the misleading title should be changed to "The Gun That Won the West Right After This Movie Ends."