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The Fastest Gun Alive

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The Fastest Gun Alive
Theatrical release poster
Directed byRussell Rouse
Screenplay byFrank D. Gilroy
Russell Rouse
Based on"The Last Notch"
1954 teleplay
by Frank D. Gilroy
Produced byClarence Greene
StarringGlenn Ford
Jeanne Crain
Broderick Crawford
Russ Tamblyn
Allyn Joslyn
CinematographyGeorge J. Folsey
Edited byHarry V. Knapp
Ferris Webster
Music byAndré Previn
Production
company
Distributed byLoew's Inc.
Release date
  • April 12, 1956 (1956-04-12) (United States)
Running time
89 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$1,383,000 [1]
Box office$3,535,000 [1][2]

The Fastest Gun Alive is a 1956 American western film directed by Russell Rouse and starring Glenn Ford, Jeanne Crain, and Broderick Crawford. It was produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

Plot

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George Kelby Jr. (Glenn Ford), the son of a notorious "fast gun," moves to the quiet town of Cross Creek with his wife, Dora (Jeanne Crain), under assumed identities. Now known as George Temple, he runs a general store and leads a life of routine and anonymity, portraying himself as a mild-mannered, unarmed shopkeeper. He told Dora that he discarded his gun long ago, but unbeknownst to Dora, he secretly practices his shooting skills. Now, Cross Creek is the Old West, where menfolk admire men who are cattlemen or farmers; men who can work with their hands; and, yes, men who carry guns and know how to use them. Here, unassuming George will confront his own devils.

Trouble begins when news spreads that Vinnie Harold (Broderick Crawford), a feared gunman, has killed Clint Fallon (Walter Coy), reputedly the "fastest draw in the west." The saloon buzzes with loud discussions of legendary gunfighters, prompting George to astonish the townsfolk with his intimate knowledge of guns and bold claim of being faster legendary lawmen Wyatt Earp, Fallon, and Harold, the man that killed him. His statements are met with skepticism; no one believes that this peaceful shopkeeper is capable of such skill.

Humiliated by their disbelief, George retrieves his hidden gun, confessing to Dora that he never threw it away. Ignoring her pleas to let the matter rest, George declares: "They think I just sell dresses and candy … They’ve got to know who I am." He returns and proves his prowess by performing impressive feats of marksmanship, leaving the townsfolk awestruck.

The situation escalates when Harold and his gang arrive in Cross Creek, fleeing a posse after a bank robbery. Hearing about George's display of skill, Harold becomes fixated on challenging this "fast gun," despite being pursued by a posse. He threatens to burn the town to the ground if George does not face him. In a dramatic moment in church, George confesses to the townspeople that he has never been in a gunfight and is terrified of facing Harold. The notched gun that he carries belonged to his father, a legendary fast-draw lawman who taught him the craft but never managed to pass on the courage to use it in battle.

With no alternative, George reluctantly straps on his gun and steps out to face Harold in a showdown. The two men duel, and when the posse arrives in town, they find the townspeople burying both Harold and George. The townsfolk report that the men killed each other in the shootout. Harold and George’s tombstones both bear the date November 7, 1889.

After the posse leaves, the truth is revealed: George survived. The townspeople buried a coffin filled with stones along with George’s gun, allowing him to shed his infamous legacy and return to a quiet life with Dora in Cross Creek.

Cast

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Credited are:

Notable uncredited actors are:

Production

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The film was based on a 30 March 1954 episode of The United States Steel Hour directed by Alex Segal starring Harry Bellaver and Royal Dano.[3]

Russ Tamblyn, who had gained renown for his energetic dancing in MGM's Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954), performs a dance routine during a hoedown early in the film that includes a "shovel" dance, i.e. dancing on shovels used as stilts.

Roderick "Rodd" Redwing was Glenn Ford's gun coach and technical advisor for this film. Gun tricks were developed by Rodd Redwing with help from Jim Martin, a four-time California Fast Draw record holder.

Demonstrating his prowess with a gun, the Glenn Ford character asks a citizen to hold a glass of beer away from his body and then let it drop. He shoots it before it hits the ground. The scene is shot from behind the glass of beer with Ford facing directly into the camera, but is actually the result of trick photography. (This scene later came back to haunt Ford when, while in the service and on the pistol range, he was forced to prove his "fast draw" skill by an instructor who had seen the movie. Ford once recounted during a The Tonight Show interview how he had to stand there for hours until he succeeded in drawing his pistol and hitting the target.)[citation needed]

Home media

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The film was released in 1994 & 1999 by MGM Home Entertainment on VHS, then re-released in 2010 & 2017 by Warner Home Video (Warner Archive Collection) on DVD.

Reception

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Box office

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According to MGM records, the film earned $2,246,000 in the US and Canada and $1,289,000 elsewhere, resulting in a profit of $1,292,000.[1]

Critical response

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When the film was first released, The New York Times film critic, Bosley Crowther, praised the film and the actors, writing, "Although it is more concerned with mood and motivation than with gunplay, The Fastest Gun Alive, which crashed into the Globe yesterday, emerges as an engrossing and, on occasion, a comic and tricky adventure ... Although it takes a mite too long to reveal the reasons for his actions, Glenn Ford's characterization of a man driven by fear and a desire for a peaceful life is both sensitive and forceful ... John Dehner does a professionally-smooth and funny job as one of his callous sidekicks; Jeanne Crain adds a tender and compassionate stint as Mr. Ford's understanding wife, and Leif Erickson, Allyn Joslyn, Rhys Williams, J. M. Kerrigan, Chris Olsen, the child actor, and Russ Tamblyn, who contributes an acrobatic dance reminiscent of his chore in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, weigh in with competent performances as Cross Creek's leading lights."[4]

Recently, film critic Dennis Schwartz praised the film, writing, "Though the story gets lost for too long in too much psychological explaining, it redeems itself with a fine action-packed tense ending. Rouse does a nice job keying in on the reactions of the townsmen, stages some fine action sequences and the performances are solid (especially by Ford and Crawford)."[5]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c The Eddie Mannix Ledger, Los Angeles: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study.
  2. ^ 'The Top Box-Office Hits of 1956', Variety Weekly, January 2, 1957
  3. ^ "The Last Notch". IMDb. March 30, 1954.
  4. ^ Crowther, Bosley, The New York Times, film review, July 13, 1956. Last accessed: February 11, 2011.
  5. ^ Schwartz, Dennis. Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews, film review, August 5, 2019 Last accessed: November 14, 2023.
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