A punta de pistola

The old sheriff has been killed during Morgan Woodward's raid and carrying off of lots of money in gold. His deputy, Audie Murphy is appointed sheriff. He takes off with a posse.... and everyone has an axe to grind.

It's Murphy's last western in his long deal with Universal, and the problem is that the 'shaky A' western he starred in had run its course. There was a new western in town, the Spaghetti Western, where there are no good guys; if you rooted for Clint Eastwood, it's because he got done dirt at the beginning of the movie, and Eli Wallach and Lee van Cleef are worse. Murphy's west was corrupt and violent, but Murphy himself was mostly clean, and he would restore order by the end of the movie, and get the girl, here ex-Playboy centerfold Joan Staley. So he goes and gets the job done, despite Warren Stevens and Edgar Buchanan and Denver Pyle, and hooray! But people didn't want that any more.

There's a certain tiredness to the movie, despite some nice camerawork by William Margulies.

One of Audie Murphy's last westerns. It's the usual assembly-line job most of whose more spectacular moments are stock footage but it's all perfectly competent, well-acted and in Joan Staley has a robust leading lady who can convincingly ride a horse. (The women in westerns tend to be either schoolteachers or saloon girls; Miss Staley is the latter, and she's plainly ridden more than just horses in the past.)

I couldn't get past the opening of this movie. I understand that most Westerns, except Hondo, have their ridiculous parts. Guns being shot out of the hands of the bad guys by someone shooting from the hip is especially annoying. This movie took the Gold however in the first few minutes when a rider on horseback threw knives at the occupants of the locomotive's cab, killing them. At that point I said we are done here. I am almost positive that the knives were shown striking them in the front even though the rider was approaching from the rear. I find that when things start out bad in a movie that they don't usually get better.

As I said before I'm a great appreciator of Audie Murphy's B-Movie, even this one was one of the latest of his long career, is self-evident that Murphy already older and the film's quality is no longer were in the same level with the previous one, however this an interesting movie as well, He Plays a Sheriff Chad Lucas in charge to deliver a large amount of money carry by train to the Bank, he and his Deputy Cap (Denver Pyle) has been escorted by horses, meanwhile the Drago's gang already obstructed the railroad falling down the water reservoir, he gets up on a train's roof but he was hit by a bullet and felt down almost dying, then he settles a posse to chase Drago's gang who escape taking a his former fiancée Uvalde (Joan Staley) bringing together the newest Uvalde's lover Nate Harlan (Warren Stevens), in the way they fight with Indians until meeting a three horse's hunter leading by the fabulous Edgar Buchanan, what a character, this is the best part of the movie nearby a beauty waterfall's spot, also a little reference to Greek Nicos (Nick Demos) actually a colorful character who improve the movie widely , fine entertainment!!

Resume:

First watch: 2020 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 7

Gunpoint is directed by Earl Bellamy and written by Mary and Willard Willingham. It stars Audie Murphy, Joan Staley, Warren Stevens, Edgar Buchanan, Denver Pyle, David Macklin, Nick Dennis and Royal Dano. Music is by Hans J. Salter and Technicolor cinematography by William Margulies.

It's early 1880s Colorado and lawlessness is rife, mostly perpetrated by The Drago Gang who were able to enact their crimes and escape afterwards to the sanctuary of their New Mexico stronghold. One man, however, is not going to go down without a fight, the sheriff of Lodgepole, Chad Lucas (Murphy).

There's a school of thought that Audie Murphy's 1960s Westerns are far weaker than his 1950s ones? Which with one or two exceptions is rightly the case. The decade brought a wind of change in the Western genre, for soon Spaghetti would offer something new on the menu and revisionism was not far away either. With most of Audie's 60s output hindered by budget restrictions and a battle against the changing tide, one has to just hope there's enough on offer to not waste your time.

Gunpoint is a right mixed bag that shows the best and worst of Audie's genre output of the decade. Murphy is just fine in is characterisation, his fans suitably catered for, while around him is a stoic and reliable group of Western performers. There's some nifty stunt work on show, plenty of action (property destruction, horse pursuits, shoot-outs etc), and the location photography out of Utah (St. George/Snow Canyon State Park) is gorgeous. While there's also a splendid old fashioned locomotive to enjoy as well.

Narratively it's not high end, though a turn of events suggesting our hero to shockingly be a bully of sorts - which gives him emotional conflict - is a smart addition. Unfortunately the good in the production is off set by poor rear protection and polystyrene props etc, which while still carrying nostalgic value, comes with a hint of sadness of where these productions had landed at. Still, this is far from a waste of time, it holds all the requisite genre tropes for fans of Audie and the "B" Westerns we loved so much in the 50s. 6.5/10