Fastest Gun Alive [DVD] [1956] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]

'I am the fastest gun alive'.

They don't make westerns like this anymore, more is the pity.

Story of a reluctant gunslinger, cute wife, charming townsfolk.

Cast excellent.

Glenn ford makes it twice into my my top four westerns which are

Shane, High noon, 310 to yuma and this one.

I had to get my copy from Australia but it arrrived very promptly in mint condition. This film should be in every public library and dvd store.

Another great Glenn Ford western ruined by bad production
Rubbish picture quality ,but still worth watching .
Another film that truely deserves to be remastered and released properly
This film can be obtained from the Warner Archive Collection-their copy is of a much higher quality than the region 2 version
and well worth the money(see Amazon.com) (I bought both versions before finding out)

As a small schoolboy I remember eagerly awaiting this taut little western showing on our black and white TV for the first time. My friends had the same sense of excitement. Perhaps it was the films evocative title, which suggested an action packed fest that gave it such appeal to younger viewers. No doubt it held the same interest to the audiences which flocked to the cinemas on its release in 1956 and made it one of MGM's better grossers that year. The director Russell Rouse was noted for his somewhat offbeat offerings, and this could certainly be placed in that bracket. Rouse memorably directed "Thunder in the Sun"(59), where Zebedee like bouncing Basques who would have been at home in the "Cirque Du Soleil", took on Apache Indians in one of the strangest westerns ever made.

"The Fastest Gun Alive" stars Glenn Ford as a mild mannered store keeper who harbors a dark secret. He happens to be very fast with a gun. When he imbibes of whiskey a tad too freely, he demonstrates his prowess with some pretty tasty shooting. There are even notches on his gun to prove he has killed. I hate show offs with notches in their gun! It is not long before a merciless gunman in the ample shape of Broderick Crawford turns up to find out if he really is "the fastest gun alive". Ford begins to regret his exhibition of shooting skills. A confrontation between the two protagonists appears inevitable, but there are some surprises in the story!

After watching the first half hour of the film, things did not look too promising, but it then quickly picked up. The plot throws in a few pleasant surprises. Our hero admits to being sick with fear, which is certainly unusual. I don't remember Shane or Josey Wales admitting to that! It also throws in a few surprises in its inventive plot, which adds to the interest. That fine actor Broderick Crawford appears as a very ill tempered heavy who is obsessed with shooting anyone he thinks might be faster with the gun than him. Crawford is required to do little more than look very grumpy and shout at everyone. A far cry from his oscar winning performance in "All the Kings Men". The support cast is strong, with Leif Erickson of "High Chapparal" fame and John Dehner being perhaps the most memorable. Nice Noah Beery jnr, who played Jim Rockford's dad in "The Rockford files", was miscast as a sidekick of Crawford's. He had played so many affable cowboy characters that it was hard to accept he was happy to torch a town. Perhaps strangest of all was the tumbling Russ Tamblyn who appeared to no purpose at all other than to give us one of the most entertaining brief dance routines in movie history, which in itself served no purpose whatsoever to the otherwise serious plot. Totally weird man! But once seen it is never forgotten. I cringed initially at a few of Ford's earlier scenes but he grew in stature and commanded the screen, giving a couple of very decent monologues.

It should be mentioned that the film is quite short at 92 minutes, and was made in black and white. Although the film started weakly it quickly went from strength to strength. Its main strength being originality, for which much of the credit should go to Frank Gilroy's excellent script. The competent music score was by Andre Previn, early into his illustrious career. The film does contain some obvious flaws, but is certainly worth a comfortable four stars in my humble opinion. No classic, but a very impressive small budget western.