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Great Film overall

Yo, there's no way for me to review this film without saying, take your *insert ethnicity + "ass" here* to see this film,like now. You have to see it in order to know what you're really messing with.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Above Average 50's Western with a few Edgy Things that Elevate beyond the mundane. Stewart Granger and Rhonda Fleming are Attractive Stars and Competent Actors. The Film was Shot in Cinemascope that adds to the Wide Open Landscape. The Colorful Setting is used to advantage and the Simple Story is Spiced with some Atypical Shacking Up and Lustful Scenes. That alone is against the grain of most Fifties Fodder and Preaching.Although, it must be said there is a Heavy Amount of Preaching in the Screenplay. Chill Wills as a Bible Toting Preacher is a Major Character and the Dialog often reverts to Philosophy from the Pulpit. It almost becomes too much but not quite.The Tension and Action are Amped Up in the Second Half as things become Violent and Explosive. The Solid Direction from Old Pro Rowland keeps things from becoming Clichéd and/or Standard Stuff.Overall, a Well-Done Entry in the Abundance of 1950's Westerns and is, Unlike the Majority of Output in the Decade, well Worth a Watch.

Stewart Granger plays a fast-draw gunslinger Tom Early in "Outriders" director Roy Rowland's scenic oater "Gun Glory" who comes back home to his sprawling ranch to resume where he left off before he started riding. Early gets a shock when he shows up and discovers that his wife is dead and his son (Steve Rowland) hates. Some of the people in the community abhor him even more. Principally, a crippled storekeeper Sam Winscott (Jacques Aubuchon of "Thunder Road") hates Tom with a passion. He hates him not only because Tom has a reputation, but also because he persuades the girl his former wife and he raised like a daughter, Jo (Rhonda Fleming of "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral"), to come and cook for Steve and he. Winscott has the temerity to make sexual advances toward Jo and he is shocked when she doesn't respond with affection. The action heats up when a cattleman, Grimsell (James Gregory of "PT-109"), plans to drive his herd across Early's land and through the town. Grimsell means to destroy the town. The first day that he rides into town, he makes his aims clear. As it happens, Tom Early is in town, too. Grimsell's gun hand Blondie (Rayford Barnes of "The Wild Bunch") challenges Tom to a duel. Tom blows him out of his saddle, and Winscott redoubles his efforts to besmirch Tom's reputation. Winscott's hate for Tom drives Jo right into Tom's arms. When Grimsell refuses to stand down and decides to plow the town under the hooves of his steers, he assembles an army of gunfighters. The local preacher (Chill Wills) gathers the townspeople and the farmers to confront Grimsell's gunmen, but the gunmen back shoot the preacher and scatter the townspeople. Gunn (Arch Johnson) nurses a special kind of hate for Tom because he gunned down Blondie. Gunn shoots down Winscott like a dog after Grimsell's gun hand massacre the townspeople and wound Tom's son in the leg.Seasoned MGM director Roy Rowland, who also helmed "Bugles in the Afternoon" as well as many episodes of "The Life and Times of Wyatt Earp," handles the action expertly and doesn't allow anything to interfere with the momentum of the plot. Sure, it takes 18 minutes for Tom Early to out draw his first adversary. Clocking in at a lean 89 minutes, Rowland doesn't waste a moment in this standard-issue oater, and "Oklahoma!" scenarist William Ludwig comes up with some memorable dialogue to keep the interpersonal relationships interesting. The theme of the gunfighter who cannot hang up his gun is done with skill and Stewart Granger acquits himself serviceably in the role. Rhonda Fleming is the woman who doesn't want him to sacrifice his life. Rowland would make a couple of westerns in Spain during the Spaghetti western crazy, and "Gun Glory" has all the marks of an exciting Spaghetti. To thwart Grimsell and his bunch, Tom Early resorts to dynamiting the terrain and stampeding the villain's cattle. Particularly striking is Harold J. Marzorati's cinematography; when he shoots a long shot, it's a long shot. Spectators who enjoy hell-bent-for-leather westerns with a lot of dust and tough talking will enjoy this sturdy if stereotypical saga. You can tell that this is a 1950s' western because Chill Wills warbles the title tune, which isn't too bad. This is an unusual western is some respects because it endorses the use of violence. Tom's son admits, "There are times when you have to use a gun. There's no other way."

I get the feeling that the producers of this mess were out to make the most painful, ridiculous Western ever made. "PAINFUL" is the best word I can think of to describe it.On the plus side you have nice color photography and beautiful and well-spoken Rhonda Fleming. My sympathy goes to Jacques Aubuchon (who played the cripple), who acted well enough in an annoying role, written so atrociously that no actor could give an enjoyable performance. The production values were quite good, which only served to highlight the terrible story and screenplay.Things I hated: Stewart Granger looked so little like a western figure, what with his British accent, neat tailored outfit, and silly immaculate always-white kerchief tied around his neck. It got tiresome the way the townspeople and his son were constantly haranguing and insulting Granger, and he never spoke up or replied back. I know we are supposed to suspend disbelief and appreciate Westerns as symbolic morality plays, but this one broke the spell with it laughably unrealistic and predictable scenes, the worst being at the end where Granger miraculously, speedily and single-handedly plants dynamite around a canyon pass that the bad guy's cattle will pass through, and then Granger plants himself in the perfect spot so he can shoot the dynamite from a very far distance to create rock slides to bury and spook the cattle and bad guys, seemingly destroying them all, save the two main bad guys. Next worst is everything about the plot, which is loaded with soap opera scenes. Nothing in the movie seemed believable: I couldn't believe what all the conflict was about. The bad guy was driving his herd through to market and wanted the cows to chew some grass along the way; I don't see why something couldn't have been worked out. You need a land ownership dispute for that? Don't bother to see it.

The story of peace-loving farmers and townspeople fighting for land, water, law and order, and the respect and ultimate subjugation of the long entrenched cattle interests and their hired guns had been worked over better in earlier (Shane) and probably later films as well. There's some good action scenes and the general layout of the story, excluding a disappointing ending, is well executed. Law and order and religion have established roots in the town, but the old order of cattle drives, cowboys, and gunslingers is still around as well. The clash of the two occurs in a nicely staged ambush scene where the townsmen ride right into a trap. Granger, an ex-gunfighter, plays the guy who is shunned by the very townspeople who need his expertise with a gun.