Product Details

• Actors: Glenn Ford, Jeanne Crain, Broderick Crawford, Russ Tamblyn, Allyn Joslyn
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: MGM (Warner)
• VHS Release Date: April 25, 1994
• Run Time: 95 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 630307278X
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #268,244 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Gunfighter as Human, November 19, 2003

By 

Martin Asiner (jersey city, nj United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Fastest Gun Alive [VHS] (VHS Tape)

The image of the western gunfighter has been indelibly etched by the likes of John Wayne in the forties and Clint Eastwood in the sixties as a supremely confident and capable shootist. It is rare for Hollywood to buck this trend but in THE FASTEST GUN ALIVE director Robert Rouse peels away the layers that all too often separate celluloid fiction from brute fact. Glen Ford is George Temple, a one time fast draw expert who has spent years trying to live down a wall of self-imposed isolation that he feels would be needed each time another quick draw wannabe wants to put him to the test. He has learned to camouflage his unwanted skill over the years. He has married an understanding woman (Jeanne Crain), who suffers in silence along with him each time he has to struggle to contain the itch to show off a talent that she knows will eventually kill him. The first half of this superb film is a study in how one man chooses to live a life to which he is clearly unsuited. He runs a small store in a small town surrounded by folk who have no idea who or what he is. The focus is on character development, no small feat in the gunfighter genre. In the next town, a bank robbery led by Broderick Crawford yanks Temple out of his comfortable pseudo-existence. Crawford hears of Temple's speedy draw and pauses in his escape from a posse to challenge Temple in a showdown. It is almost beside the point that any desperado would chance getting caught by the law merely to add a notch to his gun. From the first reel to the last, both Temple and the bank robber are on tracks that do not permit any deviation. In an odd sort of way, both men share more than speed with a pistol. Each is driven by the gun: Crawford, to venerate it, and Temple to negate it. The climactic showdown is the cracklingly effective sort of western legend that has been all too often obscured by the fake glories of the movie cowboy. Glen Ford is a movie cowboy here too, but he makes you think that just maybe this is the way that shootouts at high noon must have been like. This gem is rarely seen except on cable. Catch it and see how a small part of the west was won.

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Different but very good western., October 12, 2000

By 

D. R. Schryer (Poquoson, VA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Fastest Gun Alive [VHS] (VHS Tape)

To his friends and neighbors George Temple (Glenn Ford) is a mild-mannered store keeper who doesn't wear a gun. But, unknown to all but his wife (Jeanne Crain), George is obsessed with guns because in his youth he lacked the courage to go up against his lawman father's killer. Through years of secret practice George has become the fastest draw in the west, but he is still afraid of drawing against a man. When a ruthless gunman (Broderick Crawford) comes to town and threatens to burn it down Temple is forced to overcome his fears and try to stop him. This finely-crafted western deserves more recognition than it has received. If you like westerns, please try to catch this one.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ford's Best Western, February 10, 2005

By 

Terence Allen (Atlanta, GA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Fastest Gun Alive [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Glenn Ford was one of our alltime great Western movie actors. In his heyday, he was great at combining fragile humanity with raw strength and brute force.

In The Fastest Gun Alive, Ford plays a reformed gunfighter who is desperately trying to live down his reputation in a small town, living a very quiet, peaceful existence. But events unfold that reveal his identity, and soon Broderick Crawford, a fast-draw outlaw, coems to town to match skills with Ford.

Everyone is excellent in this film, but great movies like this are made with a great script and a great perfomance by the lead, and Ford is at the top of his game.