Mani in alto!

Gun Belt is directed by Ray Nazarro and written by Jack Dewitt, Richard Schayer and Arthur Orloff. It stars George Montgomery, Tab Hunter, William Bishop, Douglas Kennedy, John Dehner, James Millican, Hugh Sanders, Jack Elam and Helen Westcott.

Remade as 5 Guns to Tombstone in 1960, Gun Belt is for sure the much stronger film. Plot treads familiar ground as reformed outlaw gets roped into bad ways again via a frame up by his brother, and to compound matters his nephew is involved in the mess that follows. It essentially uses characters from the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral period of the Tombstone Law Versus Outlaws scheme of history. The makers retain some names, slightly change others, and of course add their own line of history.

It's a good old fashioned "B" Western that boasts a roll call of genre performers, and it's this what keeps Gun Belt from falling below average. Montgomery fronts up as the main man, a likeable presence in the genre, it's entertaining watching him weave his way through double cross after double cross. All of which culminates in a showdown where rat like trickery and bluffs form the denouement.

Nicely filmed in Technicolor, it's not a half bad production. When the story comes out of the town the Chatsworth scenery is very nice. Action scenes are competently staged as befitting a good old pro like Nazarro, with a pat on the back to the stunt workers who add perkiness to proceedings. As for the musical score, it's standard fare from Gertz. The acting is a mixed bag, and some such as Elam barely get anything to say or do, and Westcott's stock love interest character is barely in it. Leaving us with a decent but not great Western, one for the undemanding after a brisk and tidy time filler. 6/10

In this western, the specialist Ray Nazzaro, the most prolific western provider - with Lesley Selander - borrows some elements from director Ray Enright ; I mean westerns from the last forties where true celebrities of the conquest of the West history were used in terms of characters names. For instance, here, you have the Ringo brothers - from OK Corral myth - and also Wyatt Earp in a supporting character. I would have never imagined Ray Nazarro making his westerns this way. Plus, such a grade B western maker hired Tab Hunter, Jack Elam...George Montgomery is not a surprise though for this cute little and agreeable movie.

Former outlaw George Montgomery and his young nephew Tab Hunter are trying to make a go of ranching, but there are forces at work trying to bring Montgomery back into the outlaw trade. Like Don Corleone they keep dragging him back in. And they've even sweetened the pot somewhat by busting from prison his brother John Dehner to bring Montgomery in on a big Wells Fargo robbery planned by saloon owner Hugh Sanders.

Now just why Montgomery was so badly needed in this caper we never really find out, but Sanders is a real piece of work, hiring two sets of outlaws to do the job hoping that the outlaws will kill each other off and him left with the loot.

I have to say that I've rarely seen such double crossing among the cast in any film as I've seen in Gun Belt. With a little better writing this could have been a classic western. In fact with such worthies as Douglas Kennedy, William Bishop, and others in the cast who play some real nasty villains on the big screen, take your choice who will be king of the double crossers.

In fact the only one Montgomery does trust is the girl he's planning to marry Helen Westcott. Even Hunter is a mixed up stupid kid who doesn't know who to trust.

Gun Belt is a good western programmer with unrealized potential for greatness.

Clintons? Hmmm. Ike Clinton. Wyatt Earp. Well they got that name right. Several Ringo brothers! Well it was supposed to be fiction. I suppose it was par for the course for the early 1950s. Aimed mainly at Saturday afternoon kids movies. So .... who cares about accuracy. I recommend a viewing of Tombstone or Wyatt Earp for a reasonable coverage of the Earp, Clanton, Ringo and Curly Bill etc events in Tombstone, AZ. OR the old 1950s TV series The Life and Times of Wyatt Earp. Not all of it historically accurate, but exponentially better. 🙂

Those of us who love B westerns constantly come up with undiscovered gems from the 1950s. This isn't one of them. Gun Belt may be the least impressive of any Wyatt Earp western ever made, though in fact he's seen only in a supporting role, with a bit of historicity in that he's portrayed as deputy to his brother Virgil, which was actually the case. Nothing else about the film 'gets it right,' though - George Montgomery plays Billy (not John or Jim) Ringo, with Tab Hunter as his younger brother, "Kid Ringo." For reasons I can't imagine, they changed the name of Ike Clanton to Ike Clinton! If there's one interesting thing here, it's that some oft overlooked characters - Turkey Creek Jack Johnson,Curly Bill Brocious, and Texas Jack Vermillion - are on hand, the terrific TOMBSTONE the only other film to give them decent screen time. You may recognize the female lead, Helen Westcott, from the similarly titled Ringo movie GUNFIGHTER - though that was one of the greatest of all westerns. This one has corny dialogue, unbelievable plotting, and weak acting, particularly by Hunter, who couldn't deliver a line competently if the survival of the world depended on it. Even the vistas don't look so bright. Here's one that even die-hard western buffs can skip.