The Quick Gun

I've been watching some old Westerns on TV, in part because they're the only movies I can get on broadcast TV, and also out of fascination—that there are so many of these Fifties and Sixties Westerns—no wonder I hated them, growing up. They're all variations on the themes of bullying, fear, courage, stupidity, and worshiping the ability to draw a gun faster than the person you are shooting. There's occasionally discussion of morals, wrong, and right—but nowhere near as much as discussion of speed. If you wonder why the USA is known for, as much as anything, sports and gun violence, these old Westerns are a good place to start. This a 1964 Audie Murphy picture, directed by Sidney Salkow. I got sucked into this one because our hero is returning to Shelby, Montana, which I know from being one of the stops on the Amtrak. The town may as well, however, be called “Hell,” because a signifiant part of the tough guy population is gone on a cattle drive, and a large outlaw gang is on their way there to take the cattle money and rape the women. Audie M. is returning because his old girlfriend, Helen, the schoolteacher, is there—but it turns out the reason he had left in the first place was because he killed a couple of guys—and of course their dad wants to kill him. The ex tells him she's getting married to the Sheriff—who's played by James Best, who is a great old actor—young here, and very compelling. He can tell Helen is still in love with Audie, so he calls off the wedding—not even jealous! Then when the preacher pleads with him to try to go to reason with the outlaws, he does, and they just shoot him, unceremoniously. Not very smart—everyone saw that coming. Anyway, the movie plays out in absurd Western action fashion, in the last five minutes, and is ultimately a story about the love of the gun.