Feu sans sommation

'The Quick Gun' never exerts itself, but it's still a western that (only just) held my interest from start-to-finish.

The premise is watchable enough, which is fortunate as the acting, dialogue and fight scenes aren't great. All of the acting is on the wooden side, with the exception of Ted de Corsia who is pretty good as Spangler. The cast are all likeable, though don't quite give top performances in my opinion.

Dialogue-wise it's boring, there's quite a few moments with blocks of speaking. The combat isn't pleasing on the eye either, given its slow nature. The music and camera work is OK, I guess.

If you want to sit back and chill with a western that doesn't take much effort, then this is one for you. It's fine to watch, if underwhelming overall.

This is an enjoyable Audie Murphy western.

Simple story with some nice drama but the highlights of the film all belong to the 'Spangler' character. He is dynamic, boisterous, over the top and often hilarious (intentional or otherwise).

Nice way to spend an afternoon :)

This western from the Audie Murphy's second part of career is really lame, not precisely boring, but so tedious, predictable, despite a Ted De Corsia's presence, in a role that reminded me a bit some Dan Duryea's characters. The villain who seemed to be at first sight the hero's good pal. But it's watchable for Audie Murphy's fans. Forget NO NAME ON THE BULLET, in terms of Murph's characters, here, you feel that any Rory Calhoun, Dale Robertson or George Montgomery would have also done the job the same. The early sixties are recognizable if you watch closely enough the production design and story telling. This seems to evoke the AC Lyles' productions, involving old timers only. But strangely never Audie Murphy by the way. Very Strange that I just realize it now, when writing this review, that Audie Murphy never played in an AC Lyle's productions. With directors such as Lesley Selander, RG Springsteen, William Claxton....

The Quick Gun is directed by Sidney Salkow and written by Robert E. Kent. It stars Audie Murphy, Merry Anders, James Best, Ted de Corsia, Walter Sande and Rex Holman. A Techniscope/Technicolor production with cinematography by Lester Shorr and music by Richard La Shelle.

1964 saw three Audie Murphy Westerns released, Bullet for a Badman was rather good, Apache Rifles was just above average and The Quick Gun was quite frankly poor. Which is a shame since the premise and double pronged dose of villainy showed good promise on the page. Plot essentially sees Murphy as Clint Cooper, a gunman returning to the town of Shelby two years after he had left because of killing two men. Although he was forced into the fight, many of the town denizens consider him an evil force, a problem since he is trying to get the whole town to understand that a gang of outlaws are on their way to pillage all and sundry. With the father of the two men killed by Cooper after his blood, the gang on their way and very much having Cooper in their sights since they know him well, Cooper has got it all to do to win the heart of the gal he loves and settle down in peace on his deceased father's ranch.

Of course it's a narrative tailor made for a Murphy character, defend the town against all hostilities whilst proving himself as a just man. But it never amounts to much more than a few half hearted up-tempo scenes. There are a number of villains for Cooper to deal with, but they are weakly performed by the actors, marking them out as unconvincing, with Walter Sande as Tom Morrison laughable as we are expected to believe his old and bulky frame can give a lithe Murphy a good fist fight. This is one of the many false things that dominate the picture, the fights are ultra slow, the stunt doubles all too obvious and the town of Shelby itself is one of the most unconvincing I have seen in a B Western. The interiors are all pristine and pretty, often looking like how someone would decorate a Wild West themed restaurant, badly artificial.

There's a decent sequence involving flames and as ever, Murphy is watchable and likable even in the most tawdry of Oaters, but this really smacks of unprofessionalism by those around him. Making it hard to recommend to anyone but the staunchest of Audie's fans. 5/10

Love everything Audie Murphy does even with the character name changes from 1955 Top Gun but the plot was spot on and the over acting in this film was entertaining. Seems like a lot of remakes were being done then, must have been a lack of good film writers and slim pickens for Mr. Murphy to choose from but I liked the filmed nonetheless.