Flesh and the Spur

Although highly talky and doesn't really have a lot of action, I sort of liked this movie mainly because it immediately puts you into some kind of low-budget independent cinema right from the start.. I mean, look at how the titles are set up! Although John Agar isn't my favorite actor (and hey! Neither is Touch Connors!) I sort of liked their on and off relationship with each other (admiring their guns wink wink) and there's some female candy to look at. But other than that, the plot is pretty straightforward and nothing you've seen before (eg brother tries to get revenge for his other brother's killing) and there's a lot of stretches of winded talking and talking, and it REALLY gets monotonous during the middle. So I would proceed at your own risk.

One of the infamous Checker gang escapes from prison and on the run shoots John Agar down and takes his weapon with him. As Agar's dad had two long barreled weapons made he gave one each to his twin sons. And it's John Agar out looking for the guy who killed his brother John Agar.

During his search for the Checker gang Agar collects a curious crew around him. Michael Connors a wanted outlaw with an edge to him, talkative trick shot artist Raymond Hatton, and exiled Indian princess Marla English.

Flesh And The Spur was strictly for the drive-in trade. Those matched long barreled pistols that are harped on have a homoerotic twist to them that you couldn't miss. Sometimes you think Agar is more interested in that matched set than in getting his father's killer.

All these folks have done better work, especially Hatton whose credits go back to the earliest of silent films.

John Agar searches for the man who gunned down his brother, with a discarded gun his only clue. Along the way he hooks up with macho Mike Conners, an exiled Indian woman, and a snake oil salesman.

The characters spend way too much time talking and not enough time doing the things that make a western good! It picks up near the end but it's too late by then to salvage the picture.

The best thing about Flesh And The Spur, besides the title, is the saloon brawl between a cowpoke and Conners, in which they use spurs as weapons.

John Agar was a talented actor. This just comes to show how far his career had descended since being declared persona non-grata by Hollywood for his drinking and hell-raising.

Co-writer Charles B. Griffith was responsible for some of the best of Roger Corman's micro-budget films (The Little Shop Of Horrors, A Bucket Of Blood, Attack Of The Crab Monsters) and one of his most successful, Deathrace 2000. It's too bad he couldn't breath much life in this script.

The featured song, "My Brother And I" is by Ross Bagdasarian, who a year or so later bought a multiple speed recording device, adopted the stage name David Seville, and invented The Chipmunks!

"Flesh and the Spur" is a low-budget 50s western and you know it had a low budget because it stars John Agar and 'Touch' Connors (Mike Connors' name before the graduated up to GOOD roles). It's far from well made but not horrible.

The film begins with one of the Random twins being murdered by some thug for his horse and gun. His identical twin (Agar) vows to find the man with the fancy gun that belonged to his brother and kill him. Soon after, he meets Stacy (Connors) and there is every indication that Stacy is bad. When they meet an Indian girl(?), she informs the twin that Stacy is bad...and he ignores her. In fact, never have I seen so many warning signs that someone is bad...but his new friend insists he's just peachy. What's next? Who cares...the film lost me due to some really wooden acting by Agar as well as the worst Indian character I've seen since William Shatner starred in "White Comanche". The lady sounds like she just graduated from charm school...and sounds about as Native American as the Kaiser!! A silly, dull and indifferently acted film (at best).

The titles to this movie says it was filmed in "Pathe Color." The version I saw was black and white.

That pretty much tells you all you need to know about this movie.