Tonight's Movie: Four Fast Guns (1960)

FOUR FAST GUNS (1960) was reviewed last month by Toby at 50 Westerns From the 50s.

Toby's enthusiasm inspired me to pull out my Darn Good Westerns Vol. 2 set and give the movie a look myself this week. I'm quite glad I did, as I found it a superior "B" Western -- no classic, to be sure, but creative and entertaining filmmaking on a shoestring budget.

James Craig plays gunslinger Tom Sabin, who kills a "town tamer" in self-defense and then takes his job in the unruly town of Purgatory. The local drunk (Edgar Buchanan) who sleeps in the sheriff's office warms to Sabin and helps him when needed.

Saloon owner Hoag (Paul Richards) doesn't want the town cleaned up and mails letters to three gunmen, offering a substantial fee to the man who succeeds in taking Sabin out. One of the men, Quijano, is played by Richard Martin of the Tim Holt Westerns, sort of an edgier spin on his womanizing Chito character; I was amused by the scene where he burst's into a lady's bath so she can read him the letter. This was Martin's last film.

Another of the gunmen is surly "Farmer Brown" (Blu Wright), and the last of the men, Johnny Naco (Brett Halsey), proves to be quite a surprise for Sabin, spinning the plot into unexpected directions in the film's final minutes.

Complicating matters throughout all of the above is Hoag's wife Mary (Martha Vickers), who finds herself falling for Sabin.

This film may have had a small budget but it has an engaging style. The economical yet dramatic presentation of Sabin's encounters with the first two hired gunmen called to mind the way Budd Boetticher staged the gunfights in SEVEN MEN FROM NOW (1956); sometimes not showing everything is more effective than putting it all on the screen. The movie is also very well-paced, running just 72 minutes.

I've always liked James Craig, who had a knack for working with children in MGM films such as LOST ANGEL (1943), OUR VINES HAVE TENDER GRAPES (1945), and BOYS' RANCH (1946). His 1944 MGM film GENTLE ANNIE, incidentally, is another unique Western which is worth seeking out.

Craig looks considerably more worn here than in his MGM days, just as he did in another good role in another good low-budget Western, MAN OR GUN (1958). While Craig's genial demeanor of his earlier films occasionally makes an appearance here, world-weariness, sadness, and a certain edginess dominate.

Martha Vickers is interesting as the saloon owner's wife with a yen for Sabin, though I felt that the script gave her short shrift in terms of helping us to understand why she married Sabin and has stuck with him, when he's clearly not a good man. Hoag and Mary are in the same scenes yet they virtually never interact, which is curious; possibly that's meant as a commentary on their relationship, or lack thereof. Mary's somewhat underdeveloped character is my only significant criticism of the film.

Vickers is best known for her spectacularly good performance as the disturbed Carmen Sternwood in THE BIG SLEEP (1946); I also fondly recall her from the musical THE TIME, THE PLACE AND THE GIRL (1946), which introduced me to the lovely song "Oh, But I Do." As with Richard Martin, this was Vickers' last feature film.

FOUR FAST GUNS was directed by William J. Hole Jr. and filmed in widescreen black and white by John M. Nickolaus Jr.

FOUR FAST GUNS is also available from VCI as a single-title DVD release.

Western fans should like this one. Recommended.