Le salaire de la violence

Van Heflin played second lead in a score of pictures over 3 decades. In this excellent western he gets to play the lead, and his performance is one of the greatest of his long career. He displays a completely believable fatherly range of emotion and makes the audience identify with his 'how the west was won' mentality. Phil Karlson's deft direction keeps the pacing of this picture very crisp and poignant. The settings and western scenes are also quite excellent. All of this has been said without mentioning Tab Hunter's taught performance, which is really the defining touch that makes this movie great. Surprisingly, Hunter was a teen idol especially developed by the movie studio to be just another screen image. He defied the studios by delivering this amazing performance as a wild and reckless young man growing up in the shadow of his father's hard nosed old western legacy, determined to leave his own stamp on the developing times in the west. Gunman's Walk may be the most underrated western in screen history. It almost feels like a real metaphor for the western motif, and the changing civilization that beckons just over the horizon.

Naughty blond Tab Hunter (as Ed Hackett) and nice brother James Darren (as Davy) clash with not only each other, but also their rancher father Van Heflin (as Lee). This interesting western focuses mainly on Mr. Hunter's character. The dependable Frank Nugent adapted it from a story by new writer Ric Hardman. The thesis appears to show how the philosophy, which built the "old west", does not survive through the next generation; it must adapt, or die. Hunter is disarming at first - which turns out to be exactly the point. He and Mr. Heflin, an asset in most every film, are very good. Their performances "tell" the story.

Unfortunately, Mr. Darren hasn't much to do but stand around. His important character might have been better developed by having father Heflin reveal he sired Darren with what he refers to as a "squaw" - then decided the baby could pass as white. This would fit in nicely with the subplot involving attractive Kathryn Grant (as Clee Chouard), passing herself off here as what they are calling a "half breed". She has less to do than Darren does. "Gunman's Walk" misses some opportunities, but what's here is good. Director Phil Karlson and photographer Charles Lawton Jr. create a beautiful landscape for the characters.

****** Gunman's Walk (7/15/58) Phil Karlson ~ Tab Hunter, Van Heflin, James Darren, Kathryn Grant

The plot seemed quite fresh (even after my second viewing), though on analysis it includes familiar themes: tension between brothers, conflict between son and father leading to tragedy. A lot of this is down to the way it portrays the steady - not to say rapid - deterioration of the elder son so that he becomes a murderer; Tab Hunter deserves a lot of credit for this; at first he seems to be just a bit of a tearaway, but at the end he looks really vicious.

I like Van Heflin. He was great as the tortured Athos in "The Three Musketeers" and the decent homesteaders in "Shane" and "3.10 to Yuma", but I'm not sure that he carries off being the tough patriarch who won the country from the Indians.

Viewing the film in the political correctness of 2007, I blinked at the verbal racial abuse inflicted on the native Americans; two days later, I'm still trying to think of another 1950s Western where it was so overt. (I'm talking of verbal abuse, rather than cowboys killing lots of Indians.) The film proceeds at a pleasing rate, except for the somewhat overlong shooting-at-bottles scene very early on.

I don't know if "I'm a Runaway" was ever a "proper" song, but it was quite catching, even when sung by Hunter, and for once I didn't object to a musical interlude in an action film.

Very good western,where one more time the villain (Tab Hunter) is much more interesting than the good (James Darren) and his bland girlfriend . The a- man -had-two-sons subject was plundered since the Bible was written ,but,unlike "East of Eden" ,in the boys rivalry for the love of their fathers,it's the one the old man likes best who turns out badly."I wish you could be like your brother" he says to dutiful Davy.The relationship between Ed and Lee Hackett is much subtler than it at first appears.Good use of cinemascope,notably in the scene when Ed Hackett catches a beautiful white mare.The ending is a bit too predictable but it is a thoroughly enjoyable western.

Rancher and old school westerner Lee Hackett is determined to mould his two sons in his own tough gun-fighting image. Something that backfires when his eldest boy, Ed, becomes a murderer.

Gunman's Walk on plot synopsis and summaries sounds like your standard B Western fare, and certainly the theme of parental influence is nothing new. But Phil Karlson's film, adapted from Ric Hardman's story, has many things going for it to keep it from being mundane and used solely as a time filler. It fuses together multiple issues, parenting, prejudice and ignorance during a time of change in the old Wild West, it's central character, Lee Hackett (Van Heflin), is seen as the link between old and new.

He has primarily lived his life as a shooter and killer of Indians, something that he is not totally committed to shaking off, but here he is now, a most respected and feared member of the community, faced with his two sons both taking different paths. One, Ed (Tab Hunter), is full of bile and gun slinging machismo, represents the old West. The other, Davy (James Darren), doesn't need a gun to feel like a man, his affection for half Indian Clee Chouard (Kathryn Grant) clearly gives a point of reference to the new West. It gives us two sides of the coin with one Lee Hackett perched firmly on the fence, to which Van Heflin gives an emotionally driven standout performance.

I wouldn't say that Gunman's Walk is undervalued as such (its director most definitely is though), it's possibly more like it's been tarred with that old saying brush called "B Western", a saying that unfortunately some use as being derogatory. Whilst if the truth be told the support to Heflin is rather flat (both Hunter & Darren are average at best). But some average support acting can't stop Gunman's Walk from being an intelligent and potent genre piece. I mean if only for Heflin and the catchy central song, "I'm A Runaway", then you should see this, but as it is, if you give it your undivided attention you hopefully will find it's really rather good and clever. 7/10