Guns of a Stranger

Marty Robbins was a great singer who was gifted with one of the greatest voices to ever grace any kind of music. He made a few films but most are just vehicles for his singing. This has him in a western role and is O.K. as long as you don't expect 'Shane' 'High Noon' or 'The Wild Bunch.' It was made in the 70's when sadly the western was in decline and would have probably gone down better in the 40's or 50's. Decidedly better than his other western movie 'Ballad of a Gunfighter'which must have had a budget of about 30 dollars and probably took as much at the box office. Marty's fans however will treasure having any movie by their man.

Marty Robbins shows up to help Chill Wills and his grand daughter, Dovie Beams, keep their ranch, despite the local land baron, his henchmen and the local banker.

It has all the earmarks of a vanity project for singer-songwriter Robbins, who sings the title song and about the one-hour mark, starts to sing a few songs in concert with his henchmen. Wills is there to attract the B-western fans in the audience, but his ability to speak a line makes everyone else look poor. Despite some attractive shooting locations -- Old Tucson, the Superstition Mountains area -- Donald H. Birnkrant shoots the actors, most of whom aren't worth it.

Robbins had a long and successful career in music, but trying to make a B western star of him in the 1970s was a futile and ridiculous effort.

Right from the opening scene in the saloon I thought, oh my goodness, this is like amateur hour. The costumes looked like they were designed for a "cowboy" that performs at little kid's birthday parties. Couldn't help but notice the perfectly smooth sheetrock walls. (Something not normally found in the old west.) I haven't mentioned the acting, since I didn't see any. I know they were trying, but my high school play had more convincing performances. Then the boy shows up practicing his shooting wearing the whitest pants I've ever seen. And apparently, no one in the west ever got dirty.

I really like westerns, but this was just an insult. I can't imagine why anyone would put money into producing this. Of course, it's obvious there wasn't much spent anyway.

I have to admit, I didn't watch the entire movie and maybe the part I didn't see was worthy of winning best picture of the year. But somehow, I don't think so.