Fury at Gunsight Pass

An outlaw gang plots a bank robbery. Trouble is there's a double-cross in the works, plus a timetable and a wedding to contend with. Then too, not all the people in town can be trusted. So how will it all work out.

Money, money, who's got the money. $35 thousand stolen from the bank, but lost in the shootout that follows. This is a better-than-average western. Frankly, I had few expectations when I saw pedestrian Fred Sears as the director. He rarely adds anything on screen to the scripts. Here, however, he appears engaged with some good staging, especially in and around Vaszquez Rocks. Though I don't buy one guy (Brand) sticking-up a whole posse. And get a load of that windstorm, enough to blow Hollywood off the map, but it does add a lot to the climax. Note how there's even dust in the interiors—a good touch from somebody. I wonder if the big wind-blown cast got hazardous duty pay-- they deserved it. Anyhow, there're a number of sub-plots and lots of characters, plus a few twists, especially that overturned buckboard at the end. So bring your scorecard. Then too, no film with the great Neville Brand can afford to be passed up.

A group of bank robbers ride into Gunsight Pass. The robbery goes awry, part of the gang is captured, but the money isn't recovered. The men of Gunsight Pass quickly become a mob, ready for a lynching. As the prisoners are being escorted out of town (to avoid the vigilantes), the rest of the gang (lead by Neville Brand) ambushes the posse, frees their cohorts and returns to town to locate the loot. With a windstorm raging, they announce they'll start shooting civilians - one every 30 minutes - till the money is handed over.

An action-packed western with an interesting plot. What's unique that there isn't a main hero - not unless you count Richard Long - and it's just the town folk vs bank robbers. It's a well-made b western with some good suspenseful touches. The finale in the wind storm is a nail biter.

David Brian and Neville Brand are appropriately shifty as double-crossing bank robbers. Percy Helton and Katharine Warren are impressive as the crooked undertaker and his wife. Morris Ankrum is terrific as the town doctor.

The most interesting in this western is that there is no real lead hero, as we can see in other movies of this kind. There are many characters and some subplots, thanks to an intelligent script. It seems that it's difficult to say who the good guys are in this film where honesty seems very rare. It reminds me some Universal western of this period, bringing unusual plots, agreeable for a change. And not always predictable miles ahead. Produced by Wallace Mac Donald and not Sam Katzman, maybe this explains that.

I didn't plan to watch this film but found it channel surfing as it was starting. It caught my attention because as it opened you could see three people though a window of a bank talking, but couldn't hear what they were saying. This scene led into one where four outlaws were making plans to double cross their other four partners. For a 1956 black and white, low budget film, it had a lot of interesting sub-plots. I enjoyed the movie quite a lot, due I think, to the many strong character actors. Nothing great, but worth watching if you like the old shoot-them-up Western films.

It is clear that Sears made sci-fi horror films and that can be seen in a gun battle amid open coffins, and the body count is high. Richard Long and Neville Brand are excellent in their roles, on opposing sides in a long drawn out fight for some ' lost ' bank money. The ringleader of the gang that want the money is played by David Brian and he too gives a good performance. A woman is a catalyst in the film, but other than that there are few female actors in the story. It is the final twenty minutes or so of the film that its originality truly shows and no spoilers as to why that is. I urge viewers to be aware of this underrated Western, and it sometimes turns up on a UK television channel. I firmly believe that it should be given an outing on DVD.