Four Fast Guns

There are so Many Westerns Shown on Big and Small Screens in the 1950's that for the Sanity of Film-Buffs Everywhere,

is in Desperate Need of a Serious Culling from the Innumerable Herd, and Separated from the Routine, Unremarkable, Fodder, Band-Wagon Riders and Cash-Grabs.

An Individual, with the Patience of "Job", Time-to-Spend, and a Keen-Eye could Job-a-Work the Tremendous Task of Tedium by Starting with the "Big-3" Directors...

The Western-Movies of Anthony Mann...Budd Boetticher, and John Ford...

The Collective Films of the 3 would do Any List Proud Titled...

"Great Westerns From The Decade of Westerns...The 1950's"

After the Said Round-Up of A-LIst-Productions, where Budgets were Big and could Finance "Tall-In the-Saddle" Talent.

The List Should Also Corral the Not-to-be-Forgotten, "B-Movies" without Prejudice,

Respecting the Work as "Primitive-Art" on Equal Terms with its Big-Brother Films.

"Four Fast Guns" Should be Included on that List of the "B's",

because it is Lost Among the Aforementioned Herd, and Needs to be "Wrangled" and Named as a "Hidden-Gem".

Made with a Very Limited Budget, with No Name Stars, Filmed in B&W (Widescreen), Relying on Adult Themes, a Certain "Realism" Lacking in Most, a Solid, No-Filler Script, and a Visceral Display of "Gun-Fights",

and You Have the Short-Story Version of a "Tale of the Old West" that is Entertaining, Twisty, and to the "Gun-Point"...Should Please Western-Movie-Fans.

Interesting Diverse Characters Straight Out of Dime-Novels, Larger-Than-Life Names and Personas, with Rumpled and Unironed and Dusty Outfits of the Saddle, and Showdowns Staged with Maximum Thrills and Minimum Frills.

Edgar Buchanan, as the Drunk and Comedy Relief (BIG Surprise), is the Only Diversion in this Violent Kill or be Killed Story.

Martha Vickers, 15 Years after She Got "High" and Flirted with Bogart in "The Big Sleep" (1945),

is the Wife of a Crippled, Piano-Playing, Poetry-Reading Villain (Paul Richards). She, with an Independent, but Loyal Streak.

Haggard but with a "Fast-Gun" James Craig as the "Town Tamer,

All Combine to Deliver the "Dry-Goods" in Stylishly-Gritty Fashion.

James Craig rides into Purgatory when they're taking up a collection for a town tamer. He takes the pot, then has troubling doing the job. The problem seems to be wheelchair-bound Paul Richards, who runs one of the saloons and spends most of his time playing the piano and reading poetry. Craig can't bring himself to shoot an educated, kindly, helpless man despite the waves of lust sent off by Richards' wife, Martha Vickers. So Craig moves into the dilapidated Marshal's office with Edgar Buchanan, and begins to renovate the place while four hired guns come into town seriatim to earn Richards' money.

The comedic elements work pretty well in this film, especially when Richard Martin shows up in the movie, playing a Mexican. The serious elements..... well, I'm sure they're there, I just can't take any of it particularly seriously when we don't see any gunfights, just people knocking memorials into the ground, while the good townfolk who want Craig to shoot a cripple mock him for cowardice.

Perhaps it has something to do with the fisheying of he image whenever cinematographer John Nickolaus moves the camera. Perhaps it's all a burlesque of the psychological and symbol-laden A westerns that the 1950s threw up occasionally. That would explain why they decided to call the place Purgatory, when the two towns that actually bear the name are in New England.

The film's striking poster, the title, it just kind of drew me in. Four Fast Guns started off kind of slow for me but oddly enough as the film progressed I was actually starting to become involved. The basic story is kind of fun, but as is often times the case with these old westerns, and maybe with the old west in general, there are so many contradictions to how and when the law is actually enforced. This is something I have noticed about many westerns, and this one in particular. I don't recall ever seeing James Craig before, and while he does a decent job here, I do think he lacks the charisma to carry the lead role here. Who knows though, perhaps he was so focused on being the stoic, unfeeling, tough-guy cowboy that he forgot to bring the rest? Anyway, the remainder of the performances are nothing special but adequate. It's kind of a slight film and yet I did find it kind of entertaining. Check it out and see for yourself.

OK, it's definitely not True grit, the acting is not great but the story has solid background.

It's good for a low budget movie and will be enjoyed as a Sunday afternoon Western.

Sadly, since the early 1980's the Western movie has been frowned upon and assigned to the B shelf ever since, there were some exceptions, though the investment which such movies enjoyed in the 50's, 60's and the early 1970's is now sadly a thing of the past.

For this very reason even the lesser quality B Westerns are enjoying somewhat of a come back among true Western fans.

Overall it's not a bad movie, the script is actually quite good, acting on the other hand is below average, with few exceptions. Direction and production seem to have suffered due to lack of funding.

All in all, a 6 out of 10, Not unmissable, but still worth seeing!.

The false town tamer (James Craig who had killed the real one and takes his place) has to wipe out the town from a crippled saloon owner who seems to hire any gunslinger in the whereabouts. We see Craig killing one by one all those supposed to kill him. Until the last one who happens to be his one kid brother (Brett Halsey)!

An odd little Western in which the four fast guns of the title include Sabin and the three men hired to kill him. Not the fastest pace, but not dull either. It's quite interesting with some nice flourishes such as three fast guns coming to take care of James Craig's false lawman, and one of them generates a twist, the rather bleak look of the town, it's inhabitants and the landscape - there's an air of brutishness prevalent and only the humour by Edgar Buchanan as the deputy lightens things. The most interesting element is Paul Richard's character- a disabled villain who has a penchant for poetry and piano playing. But there's a twisted aura about him, especially when he plays a discordant note when something annoys him. It's an interesting and above average western which can appear boring but it isn't. It reminds me of Terror in a Texas Town, another odd western with that bleakness.