Four Guns to the Border

Four bank robbers run for the border. On the way, they run into leader Rory Calhoun's old friend Walter Brennan and his gorgeous daughter, Coleen Miller. Miss Miller and Calhoun fall for each other, despite Brennan's objection.

Richard Carlson takes one of his occasional trips behind the camera to direct this shaky A western. Brennan, of course, gives a fine performance, and the other performers are good, but it all seems to be too well calculated, from the occasional grace notes for the camera, to the arc of the plot. Perhaps tighter editing would have helped. With George Nader, Nina Foch, Jay Silverheels and Nestor Paiva.

Distinguished by its overt, out in the open, relationships between Men and Women circa 1885 in the Old West. It is that Story flirtation that makes this one a bit different than most of the Westerns of the 1950's.

Behind the Women taming the wild Men of the Old West is a gang of bank robbers led by Rory Calhoun with John McEntire, and Jay Silverheels. They encounter Walter Brennan and his coming of age Daughter in tow and from the very first scenes this one sets itself up as a steamy, sexy Western.

"Didn't anyone tell you not to scratch yourself in front of other people? Dad Brennan asks the curvaceous and cute "Lolly" (Colleen Miller) as she awakens.

She is doused with water as Her blouse clings and the camera lingers from below on Her upper half.

You'd better sew up that dress," He tells the oblivious Gal after a roll around with Calhoun. And there's more.

She is Flirtatious with a Candy Cane and a Bottle of Sarsaparilla.

She goes out in a nighttime rainstorm in Her bed clothes and meets soaking wet with Calhoun in the barn.

There is dialog, once the gang gets to town about Men being hogtied by Women and Calhoun's ex-Lover is now His former Friend's Wife and She breaks up a fistfight by literally pulling a buggy whip on both of them.

This kind of Adults at play stuff was not available on The Tube and by 1954 it was obvious Movies had to offer something a bit different to get Folks off the couch.

The good Cast, color Photography, and the sexual stuff make this one stand out as an above average Entry in the crowded field of the Western Movies of that Decade.

The Four Guns To The Border that are in the title is an outlaw gang headed by Rory Calhoun with George Nader, Jay Silverheels, and John McIntire as members. They're returning to Calhoun's home town where he was run out of years ago by sheriff Charles Drake. Calhoun's ex-girl friend Nina Foch wound up marrying Drake.

Calhoun's not going there for any revenge though giving Drake a beating does have its satisfactions. He's going to challenge Drake quite publicly and while he and Drake are fighting, the other three can rob an unguarded bank. It works, but then the outlaws meet up with old time outlaw Walter Brennan and his daughter Colleen Miller who are besieged by renegade Apaches.

They met up with Brennan and Miller earlier. Of course the young ones Calhoun and Nader get their hormones in an uproar. But Brennan's not having any daughter of his taking up with no outlaw.

Four Guns To The Border is a good no frills western with some of its plot taken from Three Godfathers. The outlaws prove to have more character than they realize. A good ensemble cast is gathered for this which as another viewer observed has no real good or bad guys. Or to put it another way the line of demarcation between the good and the bad isn't all that clear.

As good a film as Four Guns To The Border is, it's kind of story was being found on the adult westerns popping up with increasing regularity shortly.

I'm a western nut who's been watching horse-operas since the '50s and somehow I'd never heard of this before a TV showing here in England. The cast is superb, including Oscar-winner Walter Brennan in a more restrained performance than usual. Each of the four bank robbers has his own little quirks and it's fun to see Jay Silverheels in a more lively part than his legendary Tonto act, which was often so wooden you'd pick up splinters just from watching it. There's a familiar face playing the tiny role of the town barber - Paul Brinegar, who found TV fame five years later as trail-cook Wishbone on Rawhide.

Richard Carlson's direction is surprisingly effective. It's a darn shame he didn't do much else, though his 1964 low-budget Kid Rodelo was nowhere near as nifty a job as Four Guns, which must be filed as "underrated and worth a look." Both movies came from Louis L'Amour stories.

Richard Carlson is more known as an actor than as a director, and that's unfair because he brought us very good surprises, unusual and charming stuff as this one now. Wally Brennan and Rory Calhoun are in the cast and several other figures such as Charles Drake, George Nader and John McIntire Universal Studios "home" actors. It is short, a bit over eighty minutes, good paced, never boring nor cheesy. So, a good moment to spend. Rory Calhoun is not really a good hero here, rather ambivalent dude and that suits him well. In real life, don't forget that he was a bad boy, former inmate in institution for young offenders. Charles Drake in a sheriff role, not far from the one he had in NO NAME ON THE BULLET, where he fought against a very ambivalent Audie Murphy in the lead. A rather good character study that concerns the outlaws around the female, daughter of Walter Brennan.