Totem

Make movie available on DVD as you can't buy this excellent movie on any format. Anyone who likes westerns should not miss this one. The psychological roles that Ford and Kennedy play make this movie definitely different and spellbinding for the viewer. What's interesting about this movie is the apparent role changes that take place between Glenn Ford and Arthur Kennedy. They switch from Ford as a reforming gunslinger to Kennedy a mild family man turning the opposite direction. The movie lived up to my expectations of both actors. I missed this movie when it was first released in 1968 and can not find it available in any format. So far, catch it on TV if you can in your area.

An ex-gunfighter searching for his kidnapped wife and children is joined by his peaceful neighbour. Accompanied by an eccentric scout and a trader, the men run into Apaches and bandits - encounters that eventually turn the neighbour into a cold-blooded killer.

Though a traditional western, Day of the evil gun has touches of the spaghetti western with its grittiness and violence. A reworking of the Searchers, it's a bleak film that starts slow and without much energy, but it gradually hooks you, especially with the two performances from Glenn Ford and Arthur Kennedy, who make an uneasy alliance, which adds some tension. I mean, they have enough to contend with- Apaches, Army deserters.

Day of the evil gun isn't a great western, but it's watchable and gets better as it goes on. The location adds to the grim mission our heroes are on.

An offbeat ,almost dusky western ,with two veterans of the genre ,Arthur Kennedy and Glenn Ford ,both at their best and giving their characters substance :who is really the"hero"?Even when the movie is over ,you will not know..

The subject is well known and was often treated in the past notably by John Ford : rescuing women captured by the Indians ,but the script is bizarre,including scenes which you would not expect ,which makes the two men's adventures an odyssey in miniature :the prisoners ,tied under the blistering sun ,and the birds of prey which gather à la Hitchcock's "the birds";the town where cholera is rampant;the pacifist man who does not understand why one can murder his fellow man.

Not very plausible (particularly the final stampede ) ,most likely a fable with an ambiguous "moral".

Presumed dead, aging Gunslinger Warfield (Glenn Ford) returns to Adamsville to find that wife Angie and two young daughters have been kidnapped by the Apaches. Owen Forbes (Arthur Kennedy) is the man giving out the news and also claiming Angie was to marry him after giving up on Warfield ever returning. An uneasy alliance forms as the two men set off to find the missing girls.

Directed by Jerry Thorpe and scripted by Charles Marquis Warren, Day Of The Evil Gun is a low budget mixture of more notable genre pieces. Tho the production value is low, it is however boosted by two enjoyable lead performances and the story is never less than interesting as our duo run into a number of feverish like encounters. In fact the film very much feels like a spaghetti Western at times, such is the odd ambiance that accompanies the men on their perilous odyssey. Fine support comes from Dean Jagger & John Anderson, while Harry Dean Stanton also weighs in with an appearance.

No great film by any stretch of the imagination, but certainly one that has a little more to it to keep it above average. 6/10

Ford's performance as Warfield anticipated by nearly a decade the western anti-heroes of Sam Peckinpah. It is a gripping and surprisingly well-produced oater (considering its modest budget). It really succeeds in evoking the terror of man alone against the wilderness. The villains - of which there are a number - appear two-dimensional and even sympathetic; e.g., Captain Addis and his men, reduced by massacre and desertion, perform almost heroically in their desperation (watch for Harry Dean Stanton's understated role as a cavalry sergeant). The Apaches are seen as brutal, but no more so than their white enemies or the surrounding deserts and moutains, which are haughtingly evoked in this first-rate western. Highly recommended.