"The Taming of the Arizona Territory!"
An authoritarian rancher rules an Arizona county with her private posse of hired guns. When a new Marshall arrives to set things straight, the cattle queen finds herself falling for the avowedly non-violent lawman. Both have itchy-fingered brothers, a female gunman enters the picture, and things go desperately wrong.
Barbara Stanwyck
Jessica Drummond
Barry Sullivan
Griff Bonell
Dean Jagger
Sheriff Ned Logan
John Ericson
Brockie Drummond
Gene Barry
Wes Bonell
Robert Dix
Chico Bonell
Jidge Carroll
Barney Cashman
Paul Dubov
Judge Macy
Gerald Milton
Shotgun Spanger
An authoritarian rancher rules an Arizona county with her private posse of hired guns. When a new Marshall arrives to set things straight, the cattle queen finds herself falling for the avowedly non-violent lawman. Both have itchy-fingered brothers, a female gunman enters the picture, and things go desperately wrong.
I was born upset. Forty Guns is written and directed by Sam Fuller. It stars Barbara Stanwyck, Barry Sullivan, Dean Jagger, John Ericson, Gene Barry, Robert Dix, Eve Brent and Ziva Rodann. Music is by Harry Sukman and cinematography by Joseph F. Biroc. It's all going to kick off in Arizona between the Bonnell brothers, U.S.Marshals, and Jessica Drummond - the tough no nonsense lady rancher who controls the territory. So what do we have here then? Just another recycled Western plot that is basically the Earp's/Clanton's feud that culminated in the Gunfight At The O.K. Corral? Well no, not really, for this is Sam Fuller on devilishly twisty form. Fuller gives this particular Western a film noir make over, both in look and dialogue innuendo. Pic is filled with outstanding sequences, be it shocking deaths, bravado pumped show downs or chiaroscuro framing of key characters, no frame is wasted in this piece - visually or aurally. From a psychological stand point it's a right hornets nest, a meaty broth of cynical observations on love, power and that bastion of American cinema - the Western. The action construction on offer is electrifying, if Fuller isn't dallying with various camera techniques to keep the story on the hop, he's being kinetic with is action filming. All of which is in the Scope format, with the ace Biroc weaving some monochrome magic. Probably now it has risen above being just a cult Western classic, Fuller's standing in the decades that would follow this release have ensured that to be the case. Yet it is noted that this holds no surprises in how story eventually pans out, which is disappointing given the noir pulse beats driving it forward. In fact a charge of schmaltz at pics end is justified and stops this being the masterpiece many of us yearn it to be. Still, tis a superb genre piece of some considerable substance. A film that begs to be revisited on more than one occasion. Thank You Samuel. 8/10
I don't think there was ever a woman as at home in a western at Barbara Stanwyck and even though I didn't love the direction of travel this one takes, she is still near the top of her game with this. Her "Jessica" runs a vast Arizona spread from the back of her brilliant white stallion with some help from a pliable sheriff and her own private army. Then marshall "Griff" (Barry Sullivan) arrives with his two brothers to impose some emblance of law and order on the place and to arrest her wayward younger brother. Initially, she is happy to see these interlopers dispensed with by said trigger happy sibling "Brockie" (John Ericson) but when that doesn't quite go to plan, she becomes intrigued by this enforcer who does not use a gun - but who has two brothers slightly less scrupulous on that front. The pair seem destined to clash heads, but whose tactics will prevail in the end? This film isn't great, no, but there are some stand out features - not least a fairly convincing whirlwind and a Dean Jagger whose sheriff has the spine of a drunken jellyfish. There is plenty of action throughout, too, and the cinematography makes full use of the grand scale scenery to help imbue her role as the baroness of all she surveys with quite a bit of feisty determination. Sullivan? Well I reckon there were reasons why he never quite made the top flight, and though he does enough here he doesn't really bring much charisma to the party which does make you wonder why "Jessica" would see him as her ideal anything, let alone man. I'm not sure we really needed the softly sung ballads from Jidge Carroll as they didn't exactly help the pace of the film, but all in all this is stylishly put together piece of cinema that sees it's star not afraid to do a few of her own stunts and features just the odd risqué line in the script.
After crossing the border illegally for work, Miguel, a hard-working father and devoted husband, finds himself wrongfully accused of murdering a former sheriff’s wife. After learning of his imprisonment, Miguel’s pregnant wife tries to come to his aid and lands in the hands of corrupt coyotes who hold her for ransom. Dissatisfied with the police department’s investigation, the former sheriff tries to uncover the truth about his wife’s death and discovers disturbing evidence that will destroy one family’s future, or tear another’s apart.
Ross Bodine and Frank Post are cowhands on Walt Buckman's R-Bar-R ranch. Bodine is older and broods a bit about how he will get along when he's too old to cowboy. Post is young and rambunctious and ambitious for a better life than wrangling cows. When one of their fellow cowboys is killed in a corral accident, Post suggests a way into a better life for himself and his friend: robbing a bank. Bodine reluctantly joins in the plan and the two contrive to rob the local bank. They make good their escape initially, but Walt Buckman and his two sons, John and Paul, are incensed at this betrayal by their own trusted employees. John and Paul set out to bring Bodine and Post to justice.
Searching for a doctor who can help him get his son to speak again--the boy hadn't uttered a word since he saw his mother die in the fire that burned down the family home--a Confederate veteran finds himself facing a 30-day jail sentence when he's unfairly accused of starting a brawl in a small town. A local woman pays his fine, providing that he works it off on her ranch. He soon finds himself involved in the woman's struggle to keep her ranch from a local landowner who wants it--and whose sons were responsible for the man being framed for the fight.
A small-town sheriff in the American West enlists the help of a disabled man, a drunk, and a young gunfighter in his efforts to hold in jail the brother of the local bad guy.
A man and his partner arrive at a small Western town to kill its most powerful man because the former blames him for his wife's death.
While moving a group of Apaches to a Native American reservation in Arizona, an American scout named Sam Varner is surprised to find a white woman, Sarah Carver, living with the tribe. When Sam learns that she was taken captive by an Indian named Salvaje ten years ago, he attempts to escort Sarah and her half-Native American son to his home in New Mexico. However, it soon becomes clear that Salvaje is hot on their trail.
Karl Westover, an inexperienced farm boy, runs away after unintentionally killing a neighbor, whose family pursues him for vengeance. He meets Barbarosa, a gunman of near-mythical proportions, who is himself in danger from his father-in-law Don Braulio, a wealthy Mexican rancher. Don Braulio wants Barbarosa dead for marrying his daughter against the father's will. Barbarosa reluctantly takes the clumsy Karl on as a partner, as both of them look to survive the forces lining up against them.
An outlaw band flees a posse and rides into Refuge, a small town where no one carries a gun, drinks, or swears. The town is actually Purgatory, and the peaceful inhabitants are all famous dead outlaws and criminals such as Doc Holiday and Wild Bill Hickok who must redeem themselves before gaining admittance to Heaven... or screw up and go to Hell.
Jim Douglass arrives in the small town of Rio Arriba in order to witness the hanging of the four men he believes murdered his wife. When the convicts escape, Jim tracks them into Mexico, determined to see that justice is done. But the farther Jim goes in his quest for vengeance, the more merciless he becomes, losing himself in an unrelenting spiral of hatred and violence.
With his bronco-busting career on its last legs, Junior Bonner heads to his hometown to try his luck in the annual rodeo. But his fond childhood memories are shattered when he finds his family torn apart by his greedy brother and hard-drinking father.