Le tueur du Montana

Like most westerns between 1945 and 1985, the hero begins as an outlaw. I always called this Saul/Paul syndrome. Americans love a bad guy gone good better than anything. That said, this formula western had a creative twist a lot of people who enjoyed the movie never noticed. It may be the only Western ever where the lead character chickened out of fistfights and still held his dignity. In this movie, Audie Murphy plays a man who has virtually one skill-gunmanship. He is not a champion boxer, fighter, cowhand; he can do one thing good, and he is thinking about his future. In fact, his character is much like what the later anti hero of the seventies strived to be. That said, this is a very action packed interesting movie, with bad guys, wise guys, and good direction.

A couple of saddle pals, Audie Murphy and Charles Drake, go their separate ways after a job in the Johnson County War in Wyoming. Murphy heads for a job offer from cattle baron Donald Randolph. But like John Wayne who refuses a job from Ed Asner in El Dorado, Murphy decides to throw in with small rancher Paul Kelly. Of course that Paul has an attractive daughter in Susan Cabot has a great deal to do with it.

El Dorado is only one of the other westerns that you can see plot elements from. I can count The Man from Laramie, Coroner Creek, and Destry Rides Again in which parts of those films are plainly visible in Gunsmoke.

Audie Murphy was always one of the success stories of Hollywood and then unfortunately a tragedy. Our most decorated combat veteran could have had a choice of any number of careers after World War II. He had what only could be described as an instinct in that he chose a movie career. He turned out to be a natural for westerns.

His product was always good. Too bad his career never took the path of a successful long running television series or going into A budget projects like John Wayne. Either of those paths might have led him to a longer career and life.

In fact both leads in this film met tragic ends, Audie in a plane crash and Susan Cabot, a notorious Hollywood homicide at the hands of her son. Cabot, but for a decision to leave Universal to free lance, might also have gone a television route. Though she became a cult favorite with The Wasp Woman, cult parts are hard to come by and usually really type cast people.

By the way, though it is not the only element of Desty Rides Again in this film, saloon girl Mary Castle gets to sing the Marlene Dietrich classic See What the Boys in the Backroom will Have in Gunsmoke. And why not? Since Universal produced Destry Rides Again and they own the song why not use it here as it costs them not a cent.

I think western fans will not be disappointed in Gunsmoke.

Today was the Celebration of the Débarquement de Provence (in France ...), and I saw an excellent five minutes report on Audie Murphy and his act of war in Ramatuelle. So I decided to watch Gunsmoke I just bought a few days ago, thinking I was going to see a classic Murphy western. But from the first minutes, I discovered a very impertinent Murphy and not looking as fresh as in his other westerns, almost dirty and moving very fast. And permanent twisty action and hit dialogues, even though the subject is well known in westerns, it turns to be very original in its construction with permanent moves sometimes every twenty seconds. The whole casting is good, Susan Cabot, Paul Kelly, Charles Drake, Mary Castle, ... Produced by Aaron Rosenberg (Gunsmoke is not far from Anthony Mann's westerns produced by Rosenberg) and directed by Nathan Juran (who directed two other fine Murphy westerns, Tumbleweed and Drums Across The River), a very tense and unforgettable western.

Good shoot-em-up with Murphy as Reb Kittredge, a gunhand in between jobs. He is offered a job to run a cattleman out of the country so the evil Matt Telford can control the entire valley. In an odd turn of events Kittredge comes into ownership of the disputed acreage and begins a hazardous journey to get the bovine to market before the mortgage to Telford comes due. Of course, Telford does everything in his power to ensure the drive is unsuccessful. A side plot along the way involves Kittredge as one corner of a love triangle, pitting him against a hot headed, back shooting polecat for the love of a beautiful woman: gotta have that thrown in, eh? Pretty standard stuff, but I enjoyed the production.

Gunsmoke is directed by Nathan Juran and adapted to screenplay by D.D. Beauchamp from the novel Roughshod written by Norman A. Fox. It stars Audie Murphy, Susan Cabot and Paul Kelly. Music is supervised by Joseph Gershenson and cinematography by Charles P. Boyle.

A safe recommendation to Western fans who just want to be entertained by an Audie Murphy picture of no pretensions. Nicely filmed out of Big Bear Valley, San Bernardino National Forest, it's an unassuming film that follows familiar B Western plotting. Bad guy has reform in him and finds it when he ends up fighting for the underdog and falling in love with the daughter of said underdog. Characters are well defined, pace is brisk and the action is well constructed by Juran (latterly 7th Voyage of Sinbad/Jack the Giant Killer). Enjoy the shoot-outs, the cattle drive, the wagon down the hill sequence (those stunt workers rock!), and get on board with the devilishly handsome Murphy and the heart achingly sexy Cabot (check out how she carries off a red number during one scene as she gets the boys all hot and bothered).

It's not original and it doesn't bring any psychological smarts to the narrative, but it plays the clichés well and all involved deliver a professional and good looking picture. 7/10