Il pistolero di Dio

After a solid first hour, "Heaven With a Gun" thins out and becomes slightly more than routine. The movie could have used less sadism and sensationalism; while a topless Angelique Pettijohn is appreciated, gratuitous nudity tends to put off the very audience attracted to this kind of western. Carolyn Jones is nearly wasted, and I really wanted to know more about her prior relationship with Ford. Barbara Hershey does a fine job as the half-breed Hopi whom Ford protects. Ford and Hershey's relationship could have also used a little more sexual tension; and Hershey, to her credit, seemed ready to provide it.

Production values are good, if not spectacular, and director Lee Katzin, while no Sergio Leone, keeps things moving nicely.

"Heaven With a Gun" is a cut above most of Glenn Ford's later western. Too bad MGM didn't put a little more into the story and running time.

I give "Heaven With a Gun" a weak "7".

(1969) Heaven With A Gun WESTERN

Glenn Ford plays as a professional gunfighter, Jim Killian stopping by to a town with no sheriff, or judge for that matter, intending to open a church and to be a pastor. Forced by the hand to settle a dispute between sheep and cattle men, leading to some unfortunate circumstances.

I like Glen Ford Westerns but this film does not do anything for me. It is another one those films where the good guy does not do anything until it is too late, causing deaths of some characters I cared about. The movie also stars a rather young David Carradine and Barbara Hershey as the lonely Native American, Leloopa.

Solid acting (Noah Beery Jr, John Anderson, Glenn Ford, Barbara Hershey, and David Carradine) is compromised by formulaic direction and a script that zig-zags, forgets, remembers, and improvises, but the action occasionally rises, and the preacher-gunman conflict keeps things on track just enough to keep one watching till the end.

From the distance of 2010, 60s cultural interest is raised by the film's brief, gratuitous, and confusing nudity, as well as Barbara Hershey's hippie depiction of a half-Hopi girl, but the biggest surprise may be that this otherwise predictable western was produced as late as 1969. Except for those 60s flashes, I could imagine my parents and their siblings enjoying something similar in 1955, while I would have wished for a hero less earnest and boring than Ford.

Among the film's skewed lines, the oddest may be that the sheep-herder side of the range war is first identified with American Indians but is then shifted to a polygamous Mormon. I'd like to go back to 1969 and be 18 again, but no wonder I felt confused.

A late 60's western about ruthless cattle ranchers and their ranch hands who terrorize helpless sheep ranchers, with the action alternating between the range, the ranch, and the town, itself with a thriving saloon/brothel where a lot of the action is centered. Into this arrives an ex gunfighter turned preacher played by Glenn Ford who wants to bring peace. The script nearly does the film in, although the story and late 60's permissiveness keep one watching. As well, even though the screenplay verges on being ridiculous, the acting by Ford, John Anderson (as the ruthless big cattle rancher with a sadistic son played by David Carridine) and some other parts (J.D. Cannon chews some serious scenery as hired gun Mace) elevate the entertainment quotient, and the film's ending doesn't make one feel remorse about watching this.

I became a movie buff at age 13, (now 63), and would have crawled to the local theater over broken glass, to see any cowboy movie showing, if I had to. By the time I was 16 years of age, I was a devout Randolph Scott, Audie Murphy fan, but when I saw "Heaven With A Gun", Glenn Ford instantly became my number 1 cowboy hero, and me old mates Randolph and Audie had to take a back seat. For me, due to the humble, yet determined character Glenn Ford played so beautifully, this movie offered some great moralistic encouragement, and at the same time, stimulated an enthusiasm to believe in myself against all odds and "stick to my guns", as the expression goes. You will relate to this expression if you watch the movie. If anybody knows where I can buy this difficult-to-purchase movie, please let me know. (noel@youngnoel.com). I would do absolutely anything to add this movie to my collection. If you want to be truly entertained, this is a "Must-see" movie.