Man With the Gun (1955)

The same year he delivered one of the indelible performances in American movies--the cracked preacher in The Night of the Hunter--Robert Mitchum played another stranger who comes to town bringing death. In 1955's Man with the Gun, however, Mitchum's on the side of good, even if his actions are viewed through a somewhat ambiguous lens. Clint Tollinger is known throughout the West as a "town tamer," the badass you call in when outlaws get the upper hand in a place. The good citizens of Sheridan City are terrified of a local cattle baron, so Tollinger's arrival is just what they want--at first. His no-nonsense approach to wiping out the bad guys is enough to give a person pause. Meanwhile, Tollinger is reacquainting himself with an old flame, now the local bordello madam (Jan Sterling, from Ace in the Hole), who doesn't want any part of him. Mitchum, all broad-shouldered jackets and sucked-in gut, strides through this with his typically confident appeal, although it must be said he doesn't get much heat going with Sterling. (One wonders what might have happened if one of the uncredited cathouse ladies, Angie Dickinson, had played Sterling's role.) Man with the Gun was directed and co-written by a very civilized man, Richard Wilson, who had worked at Orson Welles' side back in the days of the Mercury Theater and during Welles' early years in Hollywood. He makes this film a thoughtful entry in the post-High Noon era, when Westerns were allowed to be complicated and serious. The main problem is, Man with the Gun just doesn't have a great deal of oomph, despite its good intentions and literate approach. As a Mitchum Western, though, it's solid enough. --Robert Horton Amazon.com

"Robert Mitchum Series ... The Man with the Gun (1955) ... Allied Artists"

Allied Artists. presents "THE MAN WITH THE GUN" (5 November 1955) (84 mins/B&W) (Dolby digitally remastered) -- Our story line and plot, Our hero Clint Tollinger (Robert Mitchum) comes to town looking for his estranged wife Nelly Bain (Jan Sterling) --- He finds her running the local girls, one of them Angie Dickinson --- He also finds a town and Marshal Lee Sims (Henry Hull) afraid of their own shadow, scared of a landowner they never see who rules through his rowdy sidekicks --- The stranger is a town tamer by trade, and he accepts a $500 commission to sort things out --- Mitchum is brilliant, idiosyncratic, usually undervalued Westerns import his film noir persona to etch some compellingly dark character sketches --- Mitchum takes to his character well and always seemed to enjoy the darker more complex characters that some of his westerns would serve him up with --- Mitchum's regression from soft-spoken stranger to deranged murderer, with a host of dark emotions in between, is a marvel of expressive, physical acting at it's best --- This film keeps a very fast and exciting pace, it really keeps you on the edge --- Good supporting cast by Jan Sterling as Mitchum's saloon-gal wife, Henry Hull as an ageing marshal, John Lupton as an honest young farmer, and Emile Meyer as the town's leading citizen --- This oater is a Classic Western from the '50s not to be missed.

Under the production staff of:
Richard Wilson - Director / Screenwriter / Screen Story
Samuel Goldwyn, Jr. - Producer
N.B. Stone, Jr. - Screenwriter / Screen Story
Lee Garmes - Cinematographer
Emil Newman - Musical Direction/Supervision
Alex North - Composer (Music Score)
Gene Milford - Editor
Hilyard M. Brown - Art Director
Edward Boyle - Set Designer
Jerry Bos - Costume Designer
Evelyn Carruth - Costume Designer
John Keane - Sound/Sound Designer
Don L. Cash - Makeup
Sid Sidman - First Assistant Director
Anthony Carras - Sound Editor

SPECIAL FEATURES:
BIOS:
1. Robert Mitchum
Date of Birth: 6 August 1917 - Bridgeport, Connecticut
Date of Death: 1 July 1997 - Santa Barbara, California

the cast includes:
Robert Mitchum ... Clint Tollinger
Jan Sterling ... Nelly Bain
Karen Sharpe ... Stella Atkins
Henry Hull ... Marshal Lee Sims
Emile Meyer ... Saul Atkins
John Lupton ... Jeff Castle
Barbara Lawrence ... Ann Wakefield
Ted de Corsia ... 'Frenchy' Lescaux (as Ted De Corsia)
Leo Gordon ... Ed Pinchot
James Westerfield ... Mr. Zender (drummer)
Jay Adler ... Cal
Claude Akins ... Jim Reedy
Florenz Ames ... Doc Hughes
Joe Barry ... Dade Holman
Norma Calderón ... Luz
Thom Conroy ... Bill Emory
Angie Dickinson ... Kitty
Mara McAfee ... Mable
Burt Mustin ... Hotel desk clerk
Maidie Norman ... Sarah (Nelly's maid)

Hats off and thanks to Les Adams (collector/guideslines for character identification), Chuck Anderson (Webmaster: The Old Corral/B-Westerns.Com), Boyd Magers (Western Clippings), Bobby J. Copeland (author of "Trail Talk"), Rhonda Lemons (Empire Publishing Inc) and Bob Nareau (author of "The Real Bob Steele") as they have rekindled my interest once again for B-Westerns and Serials --- If you're into the memories of B-Westerns with high drama, this is the one you've been anxiously waiting for --- please stand up and take a bow Western Classics --- all my heroes have been cowboys!

Total Time: 84 mins on DVD ~ Allied Artists ~ (5/13/2008) September 25, 2008

Great Western

Man With The Gun is a great western. Mitchum is the brooding professional gunfighter just passing through, who reluctantly agrees to solve the town's problem with local ruffians and then refuses to quit when his methods draw criticism. Plenty of action. Black and white photography enhances the genre.

The overall plot is typical wherein a land baron seeks to gain more and more control of the territory and town and he uses the aforementioned ruffians to intimidate the townfolk. Mitchum makes the whole thing work and watchable. July 23, 2008

Beware of ramped up reviews

I enjoy westerns, Mitchum is one of my favorite underrated actors and, when it comes to movies I don't recall seeing OR hearing about, I am usually skeptical of strong reviews without the confirmation of well known amazon reviewers. This movie has a 'Top 500' reviewer and that sold me for an inexpensive bet. DON'T BITE!!You have to REALLY like Mitchum to justify this clunker. Maybe the issuers are building big reviewers just to take advantage of this kind of browsing. June 23, 2008

Mitchum can't save tedious, cliched B western

Slow, cliche ridden, poorly paced excuse for a B-Western can't be saved even by Mitchum's strong presence. Overblown musical score, undeveloped secondary characters, uninspired photography. There have been many great movies made with the theme of a town tamer brought in to clean up a tough town, only to be despised for doing his job -- amongst the legion of great films along these lines I'd recommend "Warlock", with Henry Fonda, Richard Widmark and Anthony Quinn. This movie is not in that class. Definitely avoid it unless you are in need of a Robert Mitchum fix. June 1, 2008

Big Bad Bob Mitchum ...again!

Bob Mitchum swaggers through another movie with his usual effortless authenticity that "method" actors could aspire to but never attain. I can't say enough about this mans ease in front of a camera and ability to sell me ANY part he ever played....and this is no exception. It IS an exceptionally well made (camera work by Lee Garmes and Score by Alex North)50s western and very enjoyable. Angie Dickenson's small roll as a saloon girl will be seen by sharp eyes and speaking of sharp...Karen Sharpe is quite beautiful in an early roll...while Claude Akins was already working on his "second Thug from the left"in this one. Beautiful black and white film...
enjoy! May 31, 2008

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