A Pistola do Mal

An offbeat ,almost dusky western ,with two veterans of the genre ,Arthur Kennedy and Glenn Ford ,both at their best and giving their characters substance :who is really the"hero"?Even when the movie is over ,you will not know..

The subject is well known and was often treated in the past notably by John Ford : rescuing women captured by the Indians ,but the script is bizarre,including scenes which you would not expect ,which makes the two men's adventures an odyssey in miniature :the prisoners ,tied under the blistering sun ,and the birds of prey which gather à la Hitchcock's "the birds";the town where cholera is rampant;the pacifist man who does not understand why one can murder his fellow man.

Not very plausible (particularly the final stampede ) ,most likely a fable with an ambiguous "moral".

Presumed dead, aging Gunslinger Warfield (Glenn Ford) returns to Adamsville to find that wife Angie and two young daughters have been kidnapped by the Apaches. Owen Forbes (Arthur Kennedy) is the man giving out the news and also claiming Angie was to marry him after giving up on Warfield ever returning. An uneasy alliance forms as the two men set off to find the missing girls.

Directed by Jerry Thorpe and scripted by Charles Marquis Warren, Day Of The Evil Gun is a low budget mixture of more notable genre pieces. Tho the production value is low, it is however boosted by two enjoyable lead performances and the story is never less than interesting as our duo run into a number of feverish like encounters. In fact the film very much feels like a spaghetti Western at times, such is the odd ambiance that accompanies the men on their perilous odyssey. Fine support comes from Dean Jagger & John Anderson, while Harry Dean Stanton also weighs in with an appearance.

No great film by any stretch of the imagination, but certainly one that has a little more to it to keep it above average. 6/10

Since the first time that l'd watched this picture in early 80' l found it a real classic western on a low budge, but strong enough to put it in a high ground, Ford and Kennedy are fantastic in great shape if consider their ages, deserve a look in the river's fight sequence, Dean Jagger's role of an insany man is outrageous fine, the desert's scene when Nico Minardos come out is another unforgetable scene and quite unique in this genre, the desert landscape became another wall to be overcame, without forget Anderson & Stanton soldier's renegades on the desert's border town, the official release stop a long waiting for this charismatic picture!!

Resume:

First watch: 1981 / How many: 6 / Source: TV-Cable TV -DVD / Rating: 8.

Jerry Thorpe may have been something of a lightweight director but even lightweights can hit pay-dirt once in awhile and "Day of the Evil Gun", which he made in 1968, is a fine and somewhat unusual western. The story is not dissimilar to such earlier westerns as "The Searchers" and "Two Rode Together", (two men searching for a woman abducted by the Apaches), but it takes a few diversions along the way. The men in question are played by veterans Glenn Ford and Arthur Kennedy and the slightly grizzled cast also includes Dean Jagger, Paul Fix and John Anderson as well as a young Dean Stanton sans the Harry. It's no classic, I'll grant you but it's sufficiently different to be of interest and fans of the western won't be disappointed.

An ex-gunfighter searching for his kidnapped wife and children is joined by his peaceful neighbour. Accompanied by an eccentric scout and a trader, the men run into Apaches and bandits - encounters that eventually turn the neighbour into a cold-blooded killer.

Though a traditional western, Day of the evil gun has touches of the spaghetti western with its grittiness and violence. A reworking of the Searchers, it's a bleak film that starts slow and without much energy, but it gradually hooks you, especially with the two performances from Glenn Ford and Arthur Kennedy, who make an uneasy alliance, which adds some tension. I mean, they have enough to contend with- Apaches, Army deserters.

Day of the evil gun isn't a great western, but it's watchable and gets better as it goes on. The location adds to the grim mission our heroes are on.