Pistole roventi

After a violent robbing, a posse is created to pursue the cutthroats. As a Colorado sheriff called Chad : Audie Murphy, and a suspicious deputy : Denver Pyle along with a gambler : Warren Stevens, chase a band of train robbers who have abducted a woman, Joan Staley, an old flame of the obstinate marshall. Things go wrong when the posse goes into New Mexico, a territory where sheriff Murphy doesn't have jurisdiction. The ominous gang is led by a ruthless nasty, Morgan Woodward, and all them are attacked by Apache Indians. The story of a town with a gun in its back !.

Passable but neither notable, not extraordinary, but a run-of-the mill Audie Murphy Western from his worst and final period. That's why Audie was in his fall, in late sixties when he made low-budget westerns as " Texas Kid, 40 guns to Apache Pass, Legend of Sam Guard, Apache rifles" . While in the 50s Murphy played better and more budgeted Westerns such as : "Night passage, Column South, Duel at Silver Creek , Ride a crooked trail , The Red badge of courage , Cimarron Kid" . Besides, Audie made some other notorious non-Western films as "The American" and his self-biography : " To hell and back" . Murphy was the most decorated soldier in WWII and in "Gunpoint" Audie gives a cool acting as a determined sheriff who seeks for justice, but he is partially blinded, spoiling his attempts to shoot and defenceless against enemies . Here Audie is well accompanied by a good cast, many of them familar faces in Western genre, such as : Warren Stevens, Denver Pyle, John Hoyt, Edgar Buchanan, Roy Barcroft, Mike Ragan, Robert Pine's film debut and Morgan Woodward as the cruel villain.

It contains a thrilling and moving musical score by Hans J. Salter, Universal Pictures's regular. As well as atmospheric and functional cinematography by William Margulies. The motion picture was professionally directed by Earl Bellamy. This prolific filmmaker shot hundreds of television episodes and some films. As Earl made episodes of known and popular TV series such as : " V , Blue Thunder, Fantasy island, Get Smart, young Daniel Boone, Lassie, Fury, Masquerade, US Marshall, I spy, Resltless gun, Mike Hammer, Crusader" . And a few feature films , such as : " 3 guns for Texas, The toughest gun in Tombstone , Seminola uprising , Fluffy , Incident at Phantom Hill , Walking tall 2" , among others. Rating 5.5/10 . Acceptable and passable. The flick will appeal to Audie Murphy fans.

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

Audie Murphy's western films of the 1950's were entertaining, action-filled and capitalized on his likable, resolute personality. The budgets for those '50's films were higher than his subsequent films in the 1960's. This average film has that weakness, but is still entertaining when viewed in that context.

This film's mediocre budget and production values disappoint, while still showcasing those aspects of Audie Murphy's talent that always appealed to his many fans. I especially liked the casting in this one, with western favorites Royal Dano and the crusty old Edgar Buchanan.

For fans of Murphy, this one is a must see...... for others, watch it in context and you will be surprised. Worth a closer look .........

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.

Director Earl Bellamy built a TV career, and it shows: GUNPOINT looks and sounds like a low budget TV flick - which by 1966 was still lower than a film budget - with very poor lighting that reveals electricity- rather than sun-made shadows, among other technical shortcomings. Bellamy is not shy to use archive footage to show a spectacular horse stampede down a mountain.

Although he does not extract memorable performances from the cast, Audie Murphy shows his usual steadiness, hiding the skeletons in his cupboard - he had robbed a bank but the judge gave him a chance - until lovely Joan Staley turns up as the local saloon singer and love interest to saloon owner Warren Stevens, who plays hot and cold throughout, seemingly loyal to Audie one moment and not so the next.

It is always a privilege to watch character actor Edgar Buchanan, pity that he has less than 90 seconds on screen as head of a camp of mean rawhiders who doubt Audie's status as sheriff and posse leader. Denver Pyle is also quite good as the two-faced deputy sheriff who feels so disrespected by Audie that he drops a boulder on him... thankfully, Audie's sharp reflexes have him jump to safety and his trail scout get squashed.

Bellamy and screenwriter Willingham throw everything into the script, even marauding Indians, so it is a relief to see Audie and Staley (nothing stale about her shape!) walk off into the sunset.

Watchable time killer. 6/10.