A Man Called Gannon

At least I'm pretty sure i was made for TV. I thought i was a fine, tightly directed little Western about a down-on-his-luck cowpoke who's lost his herd (or ranch; it's been awhile since I've seen it)and goes to work for a woman ranch owner. I wish I could find a copy of this movie somewhere. It's left a lasting impression. I liked it more than Man Without a Star, its nominal predecessor. Anthony Franciosa, an actor of limited range, is at his best here. Michael Sarrazin as the would-be gunslinger he takes under his wing also is fine. An episode of The Virginian TV series, perhaps one featuring the character Steve,was derived from Man Called Gannon/Man Without a Star.

I won't say it's a bad western but what is useful to produce this remake? It looks like a tV western, especially if you see it in pan and f...scan. This is boring, cheesy, not crap but so useless. This is a bad late sixties - early seventies stuff. I expected some kind of gloomy, brutal, downbeat movie, not this kind at least. Cast seems OK but the characters bland, not convincing at all. I hardly fought against sleep till the end of this oater. The King Vidor's version also hardly interested me. OK, I admit that the relationship, the psycholigical link between Franciosa and Sarrazin can be a bit worth the view. But ONLY THIS. Not that bad ending too.

This is a remake of "Man Without A Star", which packed a lot more star power, and a much better story. In fact, the biggest star in this version may be Western favorite John Anderson.

It is about a man (gee, could his name be Gannon?) who takes on a naive young man as his protégé. Unlike the original, both these guys are not credible characters. They have too much of the modern cinema touch in them, the desire to kill, kill, kill. They are more like a dork's comic book version of the original.

Neither character is likable, and the movie is much like a spaghetti western in that it tries to make you hate one less than another, which is how to choose who you like.

That sort of "director and writer" control freak format not only destroys the art and story of what they concoct, but it takes us out of the story, and makes us realize we're just watching. We're no longer into the story. Instead, we're just keenly aware of the presence of the director, writer, and others. They may as well just let the film crew walk around in the background. That would be less humiliating to them, as it would at least be honest.

A look at this film, and one wonders why the two leads don't just conquer the world in one day, since the movie makes them such supermen, and also makes them totally unidentifiable.

Every scene just fails compared to the original, which makes it even sadder, because the original wasn't a "great" movie, but compared to this, it looks like the Seven Samurai.

Gannon (Anthony Franciosa) , a wandering cowboy with great skill with a revolver, saves a young man named Jess (Michael Sarrazin) from murder charges. He, attracted by the cowboy's personality, decides to accompany him on his adventures. The seasoned cowboy takes a young tender-foot under his wing. Together they settle in a new city where they become embroiled in a range war, and end up on opposite sides. Jess begins to work as a foreman on a ranch owned by a widow (Judi West) . However, the friendship of the two men will be put to the test when the pasture fencing war between ranchers takes place. The cowboy fighting for justice will tame his vital code he lives by and supporting other neighboring cattlemen who harassed them. As he, subsequently , changes sides, as he helps mistreated settlers who put barbwire to protect their herd . He battled an empire of barbed wire and bullets!...and then had to force a showdown with the kid he taught to shoot...and the woman he showed how to love!

This is a moving western dealing with the ordinary conflict between freedom and the need for order and settlements . The picture regards interesting issues such as the economical abuses by powerful owners including violence , and the sexual resources that the beautiful land lady, gorgeous Judi West, uses to get her purports . Nice and feisty acting by Anthony Franciosa as the sympathetic, impulsive cowboy is hired as a foreman for a powerful landowner , but he then helps ranchers to stop the egoistic cattle owner from taking over their lands , as well as the newcomer Michael Sarrazin who gives a passable acting as the young who learns quickly to shoot from his master gunfighter. A routine low-budget Western, made at the time when Hollywood tried to reactivate the genre after the success in Europe and then in the USA of the Western films by Sergio Leone and Clint Eastwood. Made in the twilight Western period and made in television style, the film failed in some aspects, being regularly narrated, with ups and downs, cracks, and poor editing with some unexpected cuts. In fact, it is a remake of the classic ¨Man without star¨ ór 'Lawless Prairie' directed in 1955 by King Vidor with protagonists Kirk Douglas and William Campbel whose friendship bears a remarkable relationship with that developed between Anthony Franciosa and Michael Sarrazin. They're well accompanied by a good support cast, such as: Susan Oliver, John Anderson, David Sheiner, James Westerfield and Gavin MacLeod of Love Boat.

It packs colorful and brilliant cinematography by William Margulies , being filmed on location in California and interiors at Universal City Plaza, Universal City, California. Besides , a lively, stirring musical score by Dave Grusin , adding a lot of Country ballads. The motion picture , based on a screenplay by the Western expert Borden Chase, and based on the novel "Man Without a Star" by Dee Linford was professionally directed by James Goldstone, showing a peculiar visual style, but being really flawed. James was a director and writer, known for Scalplock (1966) , ¨Jigsaw¨ ,¨A Man Called Gannon¨ , ¨They Only Kill Their Masters¨ , ¨Red sky at morning¨ , ¨Winning" or "500 miles" and ¨Swashbuckler¨ . Goldstone was also an ordinary TV movies director and subsequently made another catastrophe film , Roller-coaster (1977), much better than the disastrous and monumental bore ¨When time ran out¨ . Rating. 5.5/10. The flick will appeal to Western lovers.

A watered- down remake of 1955's "Man Without a Star." And this one lacks the 'star' power (Kirk Douglas) of the original. The routine stroy of mentor and young tender-foot seems just that-routine. Franciosa lacks the 'chutzpa' to bring this one off...watch the original instead.