Así mueren los valientes

(Some Spoilers) Potent little morality play about a man who's left out in the cold and deserted by all those who he considered his friends after being hailed as a hero by those very same persons only days before.

The Dennis gang checking out the quite and peaceful little town of Plainview to pull off their next bank robbery get the surprise of their lives when the towns general store shopkeeper Jack Wright, Fred MacMurray, picks up the gun that Plainview's marshal, Harry Shannon,dropped after he was shot during the bank robbery and from some 70 to 100 yards away caught the gang's leader Alivn Dennis,John Pickart, with a slug right between the shoulder blades. Still alive Dennis is done in by local resident George Henderson, Jack Ferguson, who then finished the badly wounded bank robber off with a wild furry of shots from his rifle. Being looked upon as a hero at first the people of Plainview quickly changed their minds about Jack Wright when the Dennis gang, now lead by Alvin's younger brother Bob (Skip Homeier),let it be known that they were out to take revenge for Alvin Dennis' death.

Ambushing Henderson, who was made the new towns marshal, and gunning him down the gang later shot young Wally, James O'Hara,Jack's brother-in-law as he answered the door one evening mistaking them for Jack. The townspeople in a panic with the fear of the Dennis gang using them and their families as target practice, until they finally kill Jack, come to the conclusion in an almost unanimous vote, only old Doc Lacy(Walter Brenner) didn't vote with them,that Jack should leave town for his own safety as well as theirs.

Tense and heart-lifting, if not predictable, ending with Jack standing alone and with no one coming to his aid facing the Dennis gang at high-noon on the main street of Plainview. Fred MaMurray is perfect as the peaceful family man who's forced to risk his life against a ruthless gang of bank robbers with nothing more then a sense of justice and determination not to let himself be run out of the town that he was born raised a family and started a business in.

Just before the exciting conclusion of the movie Jack confronted the people of Plesentvile and with an emotional and stirring speech made them look deep into their hearts and souls about their abandonment of him when he needed them most when he was always there for them whenever they needed his help. You just knew what would happen in the movie "At Gunpoint" after that.

This film essentially begins with a small group of outlaws known as "the Dennis Gang" riding into the peaceful town of Plainview, Texas and robbing the local bank. Unfortunately, while trying to escape, one of the bandits named "Alvin Dennis" (John Pickard) is shot and killed by the owner of a general store by the name of "Jack Wright" (Fred MacMurray) and another local citizen named "Al Ferguson" (Irving Bacon). And since all of the money is recovered because of that, the local banker named "Mr. Livingstone" (John Qualen), along with the other members of the town, are quick to hail the two men as heroes. That is, until the gang returns the next night and kills Al Ferguson in cold blood. And it's this action that turns the entire town into a state of pure panic--which results with all of them wanting nothing to do with Jack Wright out of fear that they might draw the ire of the Dennis Gang if they return again. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this was a pretty good Western which had clear parallels to the outstanding film "High Noon" produced 3 years earlier with both Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly. But make no mistake, although I consider "At Gunpoint" to be an entertaining film, it is by no means as good as the aforementioned 1952 classic. Even so, I still enjoyed this movie for the most part, and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.

Fred MacMurray was not fond of his westerns, his most famous quote was that "the horse and I were never as one". But he rode no horses in At Gunpoint. MacMurray plays the town storekeeper who takes up a weapon and together with Frank Ferguson shoots Jack Pickard head of a gang trying to rob John Qualen's bank. He gets the outlaw leader and saves the money. The town acclaims him and Ferguson, but Ferguson is ambushed by the same gang outside town, MacMurray becomes the town leper.

Comparisons have been made with High Noon, but I think this resembles more 3:10 to Yuma and Johnny Concho. In those two westerns we had citizen heroes as opposed to cowboy heroes. There's no resemblance to John Wayne in MacMurray's role.

Even his wife Dorothy Malone wants him to leave, but MacMurray wants to stay. His only friend is the town doctor Walter Brennan.

This is a very good if somewhat unconventional western. Keep an eye on Skip Homeier as well. He's playing once again an evil punk.

The Dennis band (Skip Homeier , Jack Lambert and others) wishes to rob the bank of the sleepy and quiet town of Plainview, Texas . There the honest storekeeper Jack Wright (Fred MacMurray , though Joel McCrea was originally cast ) settles down for a peaceful existence and he runs his general store with wife Martha (Dorothy Malone) , brother-in-law and accompanied by their child Billy Wright (Tommy Rettig) . Then the gang steals the bank, killing a teller and the alerted Sheriff is shot , too . In the street, store keeper Jack Wright picks the dead marshal's gun up and shoots from a great distance, fleeing stealers , and the outlaws drop the loot and escape . As when his beloved sibling is murdered , Bob Dennis exacts vengeance , the killing marks the turning point of transition from a robber , to bent on vendetta . Later on , a new town Marshal abandones his employment , despite the disagreements of townspeople around him . Shortly after , Wright must face the bunch of deadly killers alone when the gang leader, an avenger outlaw and his hoodlums arrive in the town . Bob Dennis (SkipHomeier) has sworn revenge and he will early arrive to the small town to reckoning .

This classic and traditional western is plenty of suspense as the dreaded hour approaches and the protagonist realizes he must stand alone but his fellow town people for help , nobody is willing to help him . Just when the previous sheriff about to leave , comes a vengeful gunman and his henchmen , as our protagonist is deserted by the townspeople who fear the threatened return of the nasty bandits . It is still a run-of-the-mill entry in Western genre . The film has an interesting premise similar to the classy ¨High Noon¨by Fred Zinneman with Gary Cooper , Grace Kelly , as the intimate starring is also left , instead of showing support for him , the citizens' committee advises Jack to sell his store and leave town for good . At the end starts a small war between the revengers and the loner seller with unexpected results . Fred McMurray gives a decent acting as the peace-loving owner of a general store who became a town hero when he luckily killed the leader of a gang of bank robbers . This is one of a clutch of acceptable horse operas Fred made in the forties , in the late 50s and the early sixties , such as ¨Texas Rangers¨, ¨The trail of the lonesome Pine¨, ¨A gun for a coward¨, ¨Good day for a hanging¨ and this ¨At gunpoint¨. Although MacMurray also played other genres as drama , adventures , wartime , children films , such as : The happiest millionaire , The shaggy dog , Son of Flubber , The absent-minded profesor , The princess come across , The Caine mutiny , Dive bomber , Above suspicion , Murder he says , The miracle of the bells , Alice Adams , The apartment , and Noir film as the classy : Double indemnity . He is accompanied by an important plethora of notorious secondaries . As the movie contains a great support cast , plenty of familiar faces from vintage Westerns such as : Walter Brennan , John Qualen , Whit Bissell ,Irving Bacon , James Griffith , John Pickard, Jack Lambert ,Ray Barcroft ,Irving Bacon ,Harry Shannon and Frank Ferguson .

The motion picture was professionally directed by Alfred L Welker . He was a good craftsman who made films of all kinds of genres , especially ¨Noir¨ and Westerns , such as : 1953 Devil's canyon , 1953 The Last Posse , 1951 Sealed Cargo , 1947 Pirates of Monterrey , 1947 Repeat Performance ,1944 My Pal Wolf , 1944 I walked by night ,1942 Whispering Ghosts ,1942 The Mad Martindales ,1939 Sherlock Holmes vs. Moriarty ,1939 News Is Made at Night , 1939 It Could Happen to You ,1938 Up the River , 1938 Gateway , 1938 Kidnapped ,1938 City Girl , 1937 Big Town Girl ,1937 Wild and Woolly ,1937 We Have Our Moments , 1936 Love in Exile ,1934 You Belong to Me ,1933 Advice to the Lovelorn , among others . Rating : 6/10 . Acceptable and passable film that will appeal to Western aficionados .

Acting and production (including music) are top notch. Screenplay is well written. Entire cast is made up of major stars and great character actors which made this an entirely worthwhile "Saturday Matinée" in its day. Although not noted, this is a color film of about 81 minutes in length. There are some on-screen shootings & deaths ... but no blood; it could easily have received a "General Audience" rating.

A pirated VHS tape version of this film was distributed in the USA in 1992/1993 by "Dominican Releasing, Puerto Rico" under the title "SMOKIN' BARREL"; This version (shamefully) cut-out all original titles and credits and simply replaced them with the two-worded opening title "SMOKIN BARREL" and a two-worded closing title "THE END"; there was no other information. The quality of this tape, recorded in the EP mode, was extremely poor visually with blurred images and in high contrast; it was almost unviewable (although the sound was acceptable). The tape's box had numerous errors in the credits ... crediting Vaughn Monroe & child actor Billy Gray (I) as being in the film (they were not) ... and leaving off one of the two main stars ... Fred MacMurray ... as well as the actual child star Tommy Rettig. It also states the film is rated "R" (believe me, AT GUNPOINT is NOT an "R" film). Avoid "Smokin Barrel" ... but definitely see any other good quality legitimate versions of this very good film.