Customer Reviews

Fastest Gun Alive [VHS]

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

I saw this movie when it first came out as a young boy. I love westerns and always have. Glenn Ford has always been a favorite cowboy. I like the way he portrays a calm quite sort of man that never looks for trouble, but is always there to stand up for what is right. The fastest Gun Alive was one of the first western movies I saw and it still my favorite of all time.

The Fastest Gun Alive (1956), starring Glenn Ford, Jeanne Crain, and Broderick Crawford--directed by Russell Rouse--is the greatest B&W Western film ever made.

Why?

Because, across the critical board, it is THE BEST in every significant category: story/plot, acting, directing, editing, cinematography, score, et cetera & so on. Crafted with great skill and purpose, it focuses and sustains an exceptional level of dramatic intensity. It vaults gunslinging onto a significant psychological and moral stage, presenting difficult conflicts that urgently demand (and receive, superlatively) fitting resolutions in action. And no B&W Western's conclusion can reward its viewer(s) with a more gratifying sense of its rightness and its benevolence. The Fastest Gun Alive is peerless Western entertainment and an inspired work of art.

This film deserves a restored and remastered DVD release. If, at the time you are reading this review, it is still unavailable on DVD, please contact Warner Home Video and demand it.

I usually don't like westerns, but this one really caught my attention. It doesn't thrive on a lot of difficult sets and action. It's definately a thinker's western. Here you have a fighter who doesn't want to fight, a town with a secret and promise that they'll have a hard time to keep from breaking to save itself. Very suspenseful and very well done.

Glenn Ford played everything from a school teacher, a preacher, to an Aircraft carrier commander. But the western is where he made his name as far a public popularity! "The Fastest Gun Alive" rates up there with "Heaven With A Gun" and "The Last Challenge." All three of these Glenn Ford westerns are definitely worth the time, but this is not only my favorite of the three, it's my all time favorite of Glenn's classic work. The story grabs your attention from the very outset and just gets better as it moves to the end, which has a neat twist to it!

If you're a western fan, you won't be disappointed with this one!

Glenn Ford plays the son of a former gunfighter ,haunted by his father's reputation and his own inability to come to terms with it .He is himself an expert with a gun and fast on the draw but is trying to live anonymously as a storekeeper in a small frontier town.Enter Broderick Crawford as a swaggering psychopathic bully who wants to build a reputation as the Fastest Gun in the territory .This inevitably brings him into conflict with Ford and the local citizenry virtually force Ford into a gunfight as they exert presure amid accusations of cowardice.It is clear they are as blood lusting as Crawford under their veneer of respectability.

Their are thematic links with The Gunfighter and High Noon in this fascinating western which is brilliantly acted by its leads and a bevy of strong supporting players ,who include John Dehner ,Leif Ericson and Noah Beery Junior

Expertly shot in black and white this is a curio not a classic but it is compelling ,literate and engrossing

Glenn Ford does his usual fine performance in this western which also stars Broderick Crawford who was not so believable as the aging cowboy out to find out who is the fastest gun alive. More believable if Crawford was replaced which a much younger, compatible actor. It is, however, a fine movie to see because of Ford. END

If you want to see the fastest gunslinger, then you would enjoy this movie. Veteran actor, Glenn Ford gave a fine performance but I would have enjoyed it much more if his co-star gun fighter was much younger. Since I am a Glenn Ford fan, I do recommend this film. There's nothing like Glenn Ford fighting the bad guys. One of our last surviving legendary cowboys.