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Gun for a Coward

Gun for a Coward (1957)

January. 30,1957
|
6
|
NR
| Western

A young cowboy, whose dedication to the principles of peace and reason has earned him a reputation for cowardice, overcomes his psychological aversion to violence after his elder brother unjustly censures him for not joining in a foolhardy gunfight in which their youngest brother is killed.

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Unlimitedia
1957/01/30

Sick Product of a Sick System

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Pacionsbo
1957/01/31

Absolutely Fantastic

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Senteur
1957/02/01

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

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Logan
1957/02/02

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

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weezeralfalfa
1957/02/03

I like westerns with a strong psychological component, along with some action. That is what this film delivers. The theme throughout is brother Bless's apparent cowardice or attempt to diffuse potentially explosive situations by peaceful means. Bless(Jeffrey Hunter) is much like Gregory Peck's character in "The Big Country", released the following year. Bless's mother takes up for him when others criticize him. Nonetheless, she wants him to move to St. Louis with her. She's tired of all the hassles involved in ranching. Audrey, brother Will's girlfriend, also takes up for him, saying he just has a different attitude than the others. Even older brother Will sometimes takes up for him.The most blatant example of cowardice is when a rattlesnake is near a reclining brother Hade. Will tells him to shoot it. He tries, but his gun shakes in his hand, and he gives up, so that Will has to shoot it. Later, brother Hade and cowhand Stringer make a fake rattlesnake tethered by a string, with a dried gourd as a rattle. this is put on Bless's chest while sleeping. He jumps in a panic when he awakens, and shoots the fake snake. Later, we discover that he had a traumatic experience with a rattlesnake when a boy. It bit his father, who died, and he ran away. Another example: brother Hade chose to stay in a spot during a shootout with rustlers, with stampeding steers all around. Bless moved to a safer place, but Hade didn't follow him, and got shot dead. He was criticized for not staying with his brother, even if it was more dangerous. Another example: Cowhand Stringer was sore because Bless checked out the details of his property, which was about to be foreclosed. Stringer wanted to fight, because he saw the brothers as taking advantage of him. However, Bless and Hade finally convinced him that they were doing him a favor in buying his land. Still another example: he tried to calm a potentially explosive situation involving Hade in a saloon. Some reviewers claim there is too much talk and not enough action. However, I cite the following examples of action.1)Will shooting the threatening rattlesnake 2)Will's encounter with the squatter nesters, shooting one. 3) The explosive situation in the saloon, where one man is shot 4)Bless riding a bucking bronco 5)Rustlers stampede their cattle, including several rustlers and Hade shot dead. 6)Stringer and Bless fight, followed by Will shooting Stringer.7)Will and Bless fight. The last 2 actions constitute the climax of the film. I won't reveal the subsequent ending.Janice Rule plays the main romantic interest for both Will and Bless. She was beautiful and had a lot of charisma as an 'all American' girl. She has to make up her mind whether she wants to marry an older, well established, man(Will)or an age mate who is still uncertain of his calling(Bless).Chill Wills was also present much of the time, as an old timer, with much wisdom. I believe that Fred MacMurray, as Will, should have been cast as the father, rather than an older brother. Although Fred still looked young at 49, he was only 5 years younger than Josephine Hutchinson, who played his mother, and 28 years older than Dean Stockwell, who played his kid brother.This film is available cheaply as a DVD in a set of 8 westerns.

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ptb-8
1957/02/04

This very enjoyable and rather surprising Universal western form 1957 has 5 terrific actors and a very good script. Even Fred MacMurray was good, but Chill Wills as the 'greek chorus' to Jeffrey Hunter's ethical dilemmas is an entertaining standout. However it is Jeffrey Hunter and Dean Stockwell's movie. Stockwell, just 20 and Hunter just 30 are magnetic in their conflicted brotherly dramas. A bit of pre-Psycho mother smothering sets the tone for some emotional blackmail by Mama who gratefully drops dead by reel 2. Then we get on with the girlfriend dilemma and the worry between two of brothers. It is all beautifully realized by Janice Rule, gorgeous and well cast as Audrey, the love interest that fractures brotherly love after the cattle stampede. I loved the music score and appreciated the production values. It is a good western, unusual and edited to just the right length.

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Robert J. Maxwell
1957/02/05

You have to admit: not much promise here. A Universal Studios cheapo production with a cartoon title -- "Gun For A Coward" -- that sounds like a prêt à cuire Audie Murphy number. John Larch, always a likable actor, as a bearded nasty. Directed by Abner Biberman, probably best known for his role as a slimy Wog in "Gunga Din." Wait. Can I take that back? I don't mean "Wog", of course; I mean Oriental gentleman.The whole line up suggests a crude moral tale in which a brave man, highly skilled with a six shooter, tries to hang up his guns and pretend to be a preacher or a farmer but must finally prove to the townspeople that he's a REAL MAN by killing someone. And nobody has any trouble telling who's good and who's bad because the good guys are all sympathetic and clean, while the bad guys wear black and are impolite.Fortunately, it's a bit better than that. There is one fist fight that reduces the saloon to shambles but little in the way of gunplay. Instead, the script focuses on the disparate temperaments of three brothers who run the Keogh Ranch -- perfectionist Fred MacMurray, peace-loving Jeffrey Hunter, and temerarious Dean Stockwell -- plus a rivalry between MacMurray and Hunter over Janice Rule. There's a good bit of tension and some grown-up dialog in the script. Also, a couple of clunkers in the romantic scenes. As director, Biberman does a professional job, only occasionally lapsing into absurd clichés: when two men are about to draw on each other, they spread their arms like penguins in ecstatic display.I'd like to be able to say the same for the performances but none really stands out. MacMurray hits his spots, says his lines, and projects his emotions like a bird dog on point. Hunter is handsome, brown as a Brazil nut, and adequate. Janice Rule, whom I've always considered one of the most beautiful actresses, and sexy too, of her period fails to rise above medium-rare. Dean Stockwell, as the willful youngster, is another performer I've always rather liked, though he's not at his best here. He was my supporting player in the superb "Blue Velvet", when he was a little nervous at taking the role of the surreal, gaudy, homosexual sadist, but I helped the kid over the rough spots. "Just relax!", I shouted at him, "Be yourself," and managed to duck the swing he took at me. Overall, not a bad flick. Or, at any rate, an improvement over what you might expect from the title.

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marcosilvas
1957/02/06

The "western" movies are usually about solitary cowboys trying to find (or sometimes loose?) themselves. Brave, fearless men of little words who shed their failure to adjust and an ethics of their own on the screen. In two words, solitary heroes. But this film is maybe, just maybe, about a little more than that. It's about many things, possibly. About the beginning of one of those heroes (the older brother's destiny, at the end?) and about another kind of failure to adjust, the middle brother's one. And it gives us a hint of how everything starts: inside the family. Good acting, not so brilliant direction (but who needs one, when the contents and the dialogs are superb?). A final word to compliment the work of the actors in the 3 main roles (Will, Bless and Aud). And hey, how can John Ford's The Searchers be any better than this movie? Not in a million years.

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