Four Fast Guns

The false town tamer (James Craig who had killed the real one and takes his place) has to wipe out the town from a crippled saloon owner who seems to hire any gunslinger in the whereabouts. We see Craig killing one by one all those supposed to kill him. Until the last one who happens to be his one kid brother (Brett Halsey)!

An odd little Western in which the four fast guns of the title include Sabin and the three men hired to kill him. Not the fastest pace, but not dull either. It's quite interesting with some nice flourishes such as three fast guns coming to take care of James Craig's false lawman, and one of them generates a twist, the rather bleak look of the town, it's inhabitants and the landscape - there's an air of brutishness prevalent and only the humour by Edgar Buchanan as the deputy lightens things. The most interesting element is Paul Richard's character- a disabled villain who has a penchant for poetry and piano playing. But there's a twisted aura about him, especially when he plays a discordant note when something annoys him. It's an interesting and above average western which can appear boring but it isn't. It reminds me of Terror in a Texas Town, another odd western with that bleakness.

James Craig rides into Purgatory when they're taking up a collection for a town tamer. He takes the pot, then has troubling doing the job. The problem seems to be wheelchair-bound Paul Richards, who runs one of the saloons and spends most of his time playing the piano and reading poetry. Craig can't bring himself to shoot an educated, kindly, helpless man despite the waves of lust sent off by Richards' wife, Martha Vickers. So Craig moves into the dilapidated Marshal's office with Edgar Buchanan, and begins to renovate the place while four hired guns come into town seriatim to earn Richards' money.

The comedic elements work pretty well in this film, especially when Richard Martin shows up in the movie, playing a Mexican. The serious elements..... well, I'm sure they're there, I just can't take any of it particularly seriously when we don't see any gunfights, just people knocking memorials into the ground, while the good townfolk who want Craig to shoot a cripple mock him for cowardice.

Perhaps it has something to do with the fisheying of he image whenever cinematographer John Nickolaus moves the camera. Perhaps it's all a burlesque of the psychological and symbol-laden A westerns that the 1950s threw up occasionally. That would explain why they decided to call the place Purgatory, when the two towns that actually bear the name are in New England.

Four Fast Guns is directed by William J. Hole Jr. and written by James Edmiston & Dallas Gaultois. It stars James Craig, Martha Vickers, Edgar Buchanan, Brett Halsey and Paul Richards. Music is by Alec Compinsky and cinematography by John M. Nickolaus Jr.

After killing in self defence the town tamer who was on his way to clean up the town of Purgatory, gunman Tom Sabin (Craig) finds himself offered the position himself. With the financial rewards too great to turn down, Sabin agrees and finds a town being ruled and pillaged by wheelchair bound Hoag (Richards). Hoag has the financial pull to hire the best gunmen around to do his bidding, and soon enough Sabin finds he must out gun the men sent to kill him. Tricky enough as it is, more so when one of them turns out to be a familiar face.

Efficient and shot in black and white for noirish effect, Four Fast Guns kind of gets in and does its job with the minimum of fuss. The problem is is that it really offers up nothing new in the genre, with the attempt to blend an airy comedic tone with the drama never sitting comfortably together. There's a standard love triangle stitched into the quilt, which works whilst going exactly where you expect it to go, and the high points of the film come by way of the gun play show downs and Edgar Buchanan's ebullience. Acting performances are adequately of a low budget B Western standard, photography is pleasing (Darn Good Westerns DVD print is nice) and the brisk running time doesn't allow for pointless filler.

Enjoyable enough while it is on, instantly forgettable once it's over. 6/10

The film's striking poster, the title, it just kind of drew me in. Four Fast Guns started off kind of slow for me but oddly enough as the film progressed I was actually starting to become involved. The basic story is kind of fun, but as is often times the case with these old westerns, and maybe with the old west in general, there are so many contradictions to how and when the law is actually enforced. This is something I have noticed about many westerns, and this one in particular. I don't recall ever seeing James Craig before, and while he does a decent job here, I do think he lacks the charisma to carry the lead role here. Who knows though, perhaps he was so focused on being the stoic, unfeeling, tough-guy cowboy that he forgot to bring the rest? Anyway, the remainder of the performances are nothing special but adequate. It's kind of a slight film and yet I did find it kind of entertaining. Check it out and see for yourself.

Four Fast Guns is an interesting if not completely successful B western, done at a time when these kinds of films and stories were finding more of a home on the small screen. I could have seen this one as an episode on The Virginian for instance which was a 90 minute show.

James Craig has an encounter with a 'town tamer' on the trail and when he gets prodded into a fight he kills the prodder. Craig goes on into the town with the name of Purgatory and proceeds to take the job of town tamer.

Who Purgatory wants to eliminate is Paul Richards, once a fast gun himself, but now limited to running the saloon and all the organized outlawry in the area. Richards is limited also because he's in a wheelchair due to a broken back. And apparently he's also limited as far as wife Martha Vickers is concerned.

Richards sends a series of gunmen against Craig, Four Fast Guns to be precise. Three come up short, but the fourth is Brett Halsey who presents some unique problems no one foresaw on both sides.

The B western had certainly moved way beyond the Saturday matinée kiddie trade. You wouldn't have a Roy Rogers western dealing with something like impotence. Four Fast Guns probably would have been more explicit but for the Code.

Four Fast Guns was done on the cheap so it won't get a higher rating from me. Still it's an interesting work.