No Name on the Bullet

In this 1959 Western, directed by Jack Arnold, Audie Murphy rides into a small Western town and registers at the hotel under the name of John Gant—which causes everyone to freak out. No one recognizes him, but apparently his name proceeds him—a famous hired killer. Only the town doctor doesn't seem to know the name (he's spent time back East, so he's out of the loop). Everyone else is speculating who he's there to kill—which also means, who hired him and why? So it's a nice mystery, really low key and atmospheric. My kind of movie, for awhile. One guy is so freaked out he kills himself. Suicide is one of the more odd and disturbing—though not that common—elements to Westerns. It turns out that half the people in town are so caught up in unsavory behavior that they assume he's there to kill them. So they even start killing each other! It's really a nice setup, actually. Still, the ending is looking like it's going to come down to the usual showdown between good and evil (either hand-to-hand combat or a gunfight), but it actually plays out in a much more interesting way. Of course, I couldn't help imagine even more possibilities, due to such a good foundation—but that's just me, always wanting more. As it stands, this movie is way, way more satisfying than most of the 1950s Westerns I've seen.