Les Brigands de l'Arizona

Ray Nazzaro directs THE LONE GUN. Not too memorably, though I can sympathize with the fact that his budget cannot have allowed him room for more inventiveness and better production values.

The really interesting and eye-catching detail here is the appearance of a very young Dorothy Malone who would soon rise to stardom with the film WRITTEN IN THE WIND. Here, however, she plays a minor part, though the absence of female competition signals from the outset that she will ride off into the sunset with George Montgomery in the end.

There is an evil brotherly trio headed by the nefarious looking Neville Brand, and that trio is running the town ragged with its crimes, especially cattle rustling and, of course, some homicide for credible measure.

A couple of noteworthy details: 1. A fight on horseback among rocks, in which neither Montgomery nor the dastardly bros seem to care if they get into the line of fire; 2. Homeier as a kind of humorous Doc Holliday to sheriff Montgomery.

Forgettable cinematography and turgid dialogue. 6/10.

In The Lone Gun, George Montgomery rides into town and immediately inherits the job as marshal after he handles the Moran brothers, the local toughs who are into a lot of the crime in the area. The Morans are played by tough guy actors Robert J. Wilke, Douglas Kennedy, and Neville Brand.

Among their criminal enterprises is cattle rustling and they've got a perfect hideout on the spread of brother and sister Dorothy Malone and Skip Homeier. Homeier is into the Morans on some gambling debts and they're holding that over his head.

The other main character in this western is tinhorn gambler Frank Faylen who has a ready wit and a fast shuffle for all occasions. He and Montgomery form a Wyatt Earp/Doc Holiday like partnership. Faylen also took the Morans for plenty so they have it in for him as well.

The Lone Gun is an entertaining western in which all the players acquit themselves well in their performances. The story moves well and the direction is taut. A good one for B western fans.

George Montgomery is an ex-marshal when he rides into town and soon he puts on the badge and is seen tackling the villains played by Douglas Kennedy , neville Brand and Robert wilke. An efficient western, the lone gun progresses with tautness and ends with a well-done action finale.

The Lone Gun is directed by Ray Nazarro and written by Don Martin, Richard Schayer and L. L. Freeman. It stars George Montgomery, Dorothy Malone, Neville Brand, Frank Faylen, Skip Homeier, Robert Wilke, Douglas Kennedy and Fay Roope. Music is by Irving Getz and cinematography by Lester White (color by Color Corporation of America).

"The history of any frontier region . . . such as the great expanses of the new State of Texas . . . offered many examples of the strange way in which a few men of great evil could dominate whole communities of well meaning, but passive citizens...

...And examples, too, of men who rode out alone for law and order, with badges on their vests and handcuffs in their pockets . . . playing a lone gun against great odds"

It is pretty much as one would expect for a 50s "B" Western, there's nothing remotely new here, it's a good old honest Oater where a good man takes up a law badge in a town that doesn't deserve him, he takes on the bad guys and there's a pretty lady on his mind. Cue fisticuffs and shootings (including a particularly cold blooded murder), some nifty ambush sequences, a tension packed poker game and some neat dialogue - "one yell and you'll be waking up in a devil's cookhouse".

Cast are fine, with Montgomery doing his usual reliable and likable guy act, Brand doing another in his line of scumbags - backed by Kennedy and Wilke, and even though she's saddled with the token lady role that's sparsely written, Malone leaves a nice impression regardless. Bonus is Faylen, who as card conman Fairweather, shines in a cheeky chappie role, with quips and a glint in his eye even when he's in danger, Faylen enjoys himself in creating this fun character. Some good stunt work rounds it out as a safe and enjoyable Oater for fans of such. 6.5/10

Tidbib: Bizarrely the end credits have Wilke and Kennedy listed as playing each others roles?!

The lines which open the movie are overkill blah-blah-blah : the story which is about to be told has been treated countless times,before and afterward.

But this is an action-packed entertaining western ,very short (about 70 min) ,which makes the best of a low budget .Frank Faylen steals the show from cardboard Montgomery and reveals himself a smart gambler as well as a fine cook and eventually an efficient deputy ; the card games provide the movie with its best scenes :the poker game with Malone's naive brother and the wrong man reading the cards in his cell ; Malone (whose best parts are Sirk's "Written on the wind" -AA- and "tarnished angels" )is a nice cow-girl but her part is insignificant and conventional.

Watch it for Faylen.