The Gun Hawk

THE GUN HAWK was advertised in theaters as a typical action packed shoot em up western, which must have disappointed the drive-in fans who were expecting that. What they saw instead was a thoughtful, superbly acted character study written by Jo Heims, who would later write PLAY MISTY FOR ME for Clint Eastwood. Rory Calhoun and Rod Cameron both prove they are excellent actors, bring nuanced performances to roles similar to those they had both played in countless B westerns. Rod Lauren, Ruta Lee, and Morgan Woodward provide excellent support. I think this movie got lost in the era between the 50's B westerns and the 60's spaghetti westerns, neither of which does it fit comfortably in, which is a shame. Highly recommended!

This B Western is surprisingly not too bad. Some half way decent acting, a few laughs, a fair story plot, some action and of course the very beautiful Ruta Lee. This movie develops the characters pretty well and there is definitely some interest in how they interact and how things will work out in the end. Rory Calhoun is always likeable despite his only ordinary acting ability. He somewhat sleep walks through most scenes and is mostly devoid of emotion, yet somehow he manages to make his role interesting. . Rod Lauren steals the movie as a young, upstart with a good heart. In a somewhat weird scene, Lauren jokes about jumping out a window or shooting himself. Some 20 years later, he committed suicide after being a suspect in his wife's brutal murder. Not the greatest movie, but good for a stormy, rainy night or a boring Sunday afternoon.

A gunslinger, chased by lawmen for a killing, makes his way to an outlaw hideout called Sanctuary. Along the way he teams up with a young punk who has a yearning for "a good fight and a bad woman". The law tries to take the gunman out of the compound but things took another turn. Average western.

Under a B western outward appearance this rare movie shows some interesting qualities. You would think of a B western if you consider the cast (Rory Calhoun, Rod Cameron, Ruta Lee) but that is not totally exact. This Gun Hawk ("El gavilán pistolero" in Spain) has got influence of many good genre works (the topic of a gunslinger who wants retire himself is a classical). The inexorable fate plays his cards never mind the human desire does. The movie es correctly made, the color photography with bright painted rooms, like in a theatrical decor, announcing the upcoming death, an the credit ballad music inspired at the cowboys song telling a story (Marcucci and Faith "A Searcher for Love") are excellent too. It has got some comedy notes, a bite out of the blue. I will said at last the village, Sanctuary, keeps similitude with a Spanish place, Guadalest, near Alicante at Mediterranean sea.

Sheriff Rod Cameron once offered Rory Calhoun a deputy's badge out of friendship, but Calhoun didn't want it. Now briefly in Cameron's town, he makes friends with hotblooded Rod Lauren and kills two men who kill his father, barfly John Litel. Now Cameron is after him for the murders, as Calhoun and Lauren make their way to a sanctuary town near the Mexican border.

It's the last movie directed by Edward Ludwig -- he would helm one TV episode three years later, then retire -- and there are a lot of troubles with it. Cameron moves and speaks as if his corset is hurting him, Jimmy Haskell's score makes this seem more like a long TV episode than an actual movie, and the script is busy and muddled. Ludwig directs as if the Production Code is still in effect. Saddest of all, it's John Litel playing Calhoun's drunkard father for a brief, inglorious moment on the screen.

On the plus side, cameraman Paul Vogel does some nice work shooting the Bronson Caves, but it's a movie that thinks it's saying something important but mumbles as it does so. With Ruta Lee and Morgan Woodward.