Directed by
Russell Rouse (Pillow Talk (1959)) who also co-wrote the screenplay, together with
Frank Gilroy on whose story The Last Notch the film is based, this is
a psychological Western thriller that examines the phenomenon of the quick-draw
gunfighter and the problems being successful creates for a gunfighter. The Fastest Gun Alive is unusual for the
atypical way it deals with the subject matter as well as for its surprise,
twist ending.
Glenn Ford plays George Temple, who lives with
his lovely, pregnant wife Dora (Jeanne
Crain) in Cross Creek. George and Dora having run a dry goods store for four
years since they left Cheyenne, Wyoming, but George carries a terrible secret
with him (CAUTION, SPOILERS AHEAD). He is actually the son of George Kelby who
was the sheriff of Abilene, Kansas until he was killed in a gunfight. George
refused to stand up to his father’s killer and, although he is a very fast
quick-draw himself, he has never faced another man. The gun he carries was his
father’s.
When word
reaches Cross Creek that a gunfighter and bank robber named Vinnie Harold (Broderick Crawford) had killed a man in
another town, and the man who witnessed it tells the story over and over again,
while the listeners in the saloon wonder who was the fastest gun of all, George
cannot stand it any longer. Fueled by whiskey he puts on a demonstration which
shows how fast he is and impresses everyone. But when George realizes that his
proficiency with a gun will inevitably draw challengers, he realizes he has to
leave town, while Dora has had enough of running and refuses to go.
Meanwhile,
Harold and his gang have robbed a bank in Yellow Fork and killed a bank
customer, prompting the town’s sheriff to mount a posse and go after them. On a
Sunday morning, two hours ahead of the posse, Harold and his gang ride into
Cross Creek and when he learns that the town has a fast gun who is in the
church along with the rest of the town, he threatens to burn down the town
unless George comes out to face him. George, who had laid his gun and gun belt
on the minister’s pulpit and sworn off ever carrying it again, is faced with
the decision of his life.
(FINAL
SPOILER) After the other two gang members flee, the showdown between George and
Vinnie Harold takes place in the street. In the next scene we see the sheriff
and his posse ride into town with the bodies of the two gang members, whom they
had caught and killed, just in time to witness the burial, in the church
graveyard, of Vinnie Harold and George Kelby. And in the final scene we see
George and Dora Temple looking at the two grave markers as George asks what is
in his coffin, and the answer is – just some rocks.
While not
an award winner, The Fastest Gun Alive
is usually ranked among the top 25 western films of the 1950s. See link below.
Labels:
drama, Jeanne Crain, period, thriller, western
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