The Stranger Wore a Gun (1953)

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

The picture opens with the historically infamous attack on Lawrence, Kansas by Quantrill's Raiders in 1863, and the shadow of that event hangs over the character of Lieutenant Jeff Travis (Randolph Scott) for the remainder of the story. Travis was a Confederate spy who supplied Quantrill with information but became disillusioned with the wanton destruction and murder of innocent men and boys during the Lawrence massacre, finishing out the Civil war as a regular soldier.Another holdover from the Quantrill band attempts to take advantage of Travis's talents upon relocation to Prescott, Arizona, becoming more lawless since the capital of the territory is being moved to Phoenix. Jules Mourret (George Macready), who helped save Travis's hide in an earlier incident aboard a riverboat, figures he would be perfect as a plant in the employ of the Conroy Stage Line. The company transports gold bullion, and inside information would make for more effective strikes against the company.If not for the presence of screen villains like Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine and Alfonso Bedoya, the story barely generates enough interest to sustain itself, as evidenced by a fair amount of other reviewers on this board. What might have been an interesting dynamic between Claire Trevor and Joan Weldon as the women angling for Travis's attention also fails to go anywhere. True, Travis chooses Josie (Trevor) by film's end, but in the telling, muddled by ineffective gunplay between the rival Degas (Bedoya) and Mourret gangs, one is tempted to take Randoplh Scott's advice midway thought the picture - "I need a drink. Maybe five or six".

I sometimes like to watch films that just don't work because it shows you why other films work so well. Ninety percent of a good film is due to casting. "The Stranger Wore a Gun" is badly miscast. Scott was a straight-forward actor and here he is asked to deal with complications that are beyond his range. Macready was a great villain but not a western villain. He was too silky in voice and manner. He was a gentleman villain whose evil was best expressed over a Chateaubriand and a fine red - not a whiskey. Alfonso Bedoya could act but here he is given the role of a stereotypical buffoon. In "The Treasure of Sierra Madre" he was a deadly dangerous buffoon but not a clown as in this film. The script is so poor that even fine actors like Earnest Borgnine and Lee Marvin are uninteresting. If they can't lend color to a script, then you know it is a stinker. The story is an odd one. This is not always death to a film but in this case it seems that no one really knew the point of telling the story. Was it supposed to be entertaining? Did it have some moral or human truths to tell? If so, they were lost on me.It seems incredible that the experienced cast and crew made such a film but it is indicative of the fact that films, no matter who makes them, have elements that are beyond the control of their makers. No wonder directors are often so worried about how their test audience will respond to their film. And if you go for art, you run the risk of making junk. If you go for a B grader, you at least get a watchable Saturday afternoon potboiler. I think "The Stranger" went for something more than a matinée western that was the stock in trade of Randolph Scott and finished up with something that was neither fish nor fowl.

An enjoyable western, with a fair storyline. I especially liked the hot "fire scene". The confrontation between Randolph Scott and Ernest Borgnine was also fun - with Mr. Borgnine throwing junk at the camera! Borgnine and Lee Marvin are both fun to watch, in these early career roles. Claire Trevor is getting older, will Mr. Scott still choose her; or, will the sweet young thing give him a spin?"The Stranger Wore a Gun" was originally shot, by director André De Toth, in "3D"; this gives it a unique "look", I thought; and, some of the photography is very nice. I found the story difficult to follow, though. I really dig that statue in front of Juniper House. ***** The Stranger Wore a Gun (1953) André De Toth ~ Randolph Scott, Claire Trevor, Ernest Borgnine

Randolph Scott plays Jeff Travis, who worked as a spy during the Civil War for the lawless Quantrill's Raiders. One of the last jobs Travis took part in resulted in innocent victims being slaughtered. Travis leaves Quantrill and heads west to Arizona, where he takes a job spying for a stage company trying to protect their gold shipments. In reality the stranger with gun savvy is working with a strong willed loyalist(George Macready) to the Confederation trying to discover where scads of gold is being hid.Scott is his typical stoic self and has strong support from the alluring Claire Trevor and Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine, Joan Weldon and Alfonso Bedoya.