'Three Hours To Kill' (1954) / 'Gunman's Walk' (1958)
Mar 3, 2024 1:52:10 GMT
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Post by petrolino on Mar 3, 2024 1:52:10 GMT
'Three Hours To Kill' (1954 - Alfred L. Werker)
In the low budget western 'Three Hours To Kill' (1954), Jim Guthrie (Dana Andrews) somehow survives a town's attempt to lynch him for a crime he didn't commit. Guthrie returns to town intent upon finding answers and recapturing the hand of his lost fiancée Laurie Mastin (Donna Reed).
"Three Hours to Kill is a tidy genre piece, a 75-minute western with its own time limit. Jim Guthrie has three hours to take care of business or get out of town. Period."
- Jamie S. Rich, DVD Talk
Dana Andrews & Dianne Foster in 'Three Hours To Kill'
Director Alfred Werker got his break working alongside Del Andrews in the 1920s, one of the pioneers of the western. Riding high on the box-office success of 3-D western 'Devil's Canyon' (1953) which was shot in Natural Vision 3 - Dimension, Werker was keen to get his teeth in to a character piece like 'Three Hours To Kill'. His tight, economical camera set-ups enable a steady pace which keeps the storyline chugging. Interesting camera placements abound, adding weight and dimension to a whodunnit morality play. At times, the township appears almost like a miniature which lends it an eerie quality, with select shots utilising mirrors and windows, or being staged behind objects.
"Alfred Werker (“The Last Posse”/”Devil’s Canyon”) does a good directing job with this superior B-western even if filled with plot holes. It’s about a stagecoach driver guard, Jim Guthrie (Dana Andrews), who is framed for a murder he didn’t do and nearly lynched by a drunken mob. It’s based on the story by Alex Gottlieb and is written by Richard Alan Simmons, Roy Huggins and Maxwell Shane."
- Dennis Schwartz, Movie Reviews
- Dennis Schwartz, Movie Reviews
'Spell Of The Freight Train' - Charley Pride
When Dana Andrews leans in to the camera to introduce a flashback, he reminds viewers of past screen lives lived. Few actors have captured all-encompassing obsession on camera with the intensity of Andrews who excelled during this period at playing haunted avengers, their scars a reminder of their past (in this case quite literally). Jim Guthrie is driven to extremes by his own compulsion and his eventual fate is unforgiving. Andrews is surrounded here by dynamic western character players.
Saloon girl Polly (Carolyn Jones) to gambler Marty Lasswell (Laurence Hugo) : “I’m glad you decided to go. I wouldn’t have mourned for you if you stayed. I don’t look so good in black.”
Dana Andrews mans the camera on the set of Mervyn LeRoy's feminist western 'Strange Lady In Town' (1955)
Jim Guthrie follows a close shave with ... a close shave ...
Henry King's 'The Gunfighter' (1950) and 'Three Hours To Kill' are said to have been sources of inspiration to screenwriters Charles B. Griffith and Mark Hanna when they wrote the screenplay for Roger Corman's low budget western 'Gunslinger' (1956). In 1957, Corman optioned a television play called 'The Stake', with plans to film it with Dana Andrews in the lead role. Sadly, 'The Stake' never made it to production.
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'Gunman's Walk' (1958 - Phil Karlson)
In the western 'Gunman's Walk' (1958), wealthy patriarch Lee Hackett (Van Heflin) struggles to instil some old-fashioned values in to his sons Davy (James Darren) and Ed (Tab Hunter). Ed resents his father's attempts to mould him in his own image, while Davy abhors his father's prejudice. With the old west radically changing, Lee re-asserts himself upon the town he built and bought by frequently taking the law in to his own hands.
"Phil Karlson's Gunman's Walk weaves the story of these conflicts as adeptly as he's done in the Noir style. The tension mounts as the 'bad seed' can only be dealt with in one way. The result? - an excellent 50's western."
- Gary W. Tooze, DVD Beaver
James Darren, Robert F. Simon, Tab Hunter & Van Heflin in 'Gunman's Walk'
The 1950s were notable for a steady stream of expansive, family-based horse operas as well as taut, low-key, psychological westerns. With 'Gunman's Walk', filmmaker Phil Karlson successfully combines elements of the two. Karlson always had an eye for a shot and there's some tremendous ones in 'Gunman's Walk'. The main incident that invokes a downward spiral, and the way in which it is filmed along a cliff, is truly shocking, showcasing Tab Hunter's skills as a horse rider.
"Gunman's Walk" is another obscure Western gem that has been given new life through a Blu-ray release by German-based Explosive Media. The 1958 production was filmed in CinemaScope, the widescreen process that studios relied on to combat the newly-evolved threat of television. Director Phil Karlson makes the most of the format and captures the grandeur of the open plains of Arizona and mountainous regions of California for a story of a dysfunctional family that manages to fracture even further despite the abundance of wealth it enjoys."
- Lee Pfeiffer, Cinema Retro
'Passin' Through' - Bobby Bare
Like Mississippian Dana Andrews, Oklahoman Van Heflin became a crime cinema icon in the 1940s for his intricate work in film noir. In the 1950s, Heflin worked extensively in westerns, bringing an unerring complexity to his interplay in challenging pictures like Budd Boetticher's 3-D western 'Wings Of A Hawk' (1953), George Stevens' 'Shane' (1953), George Sherman's 'Count Three And Pray' (1955), Delmer Daves' '3:10 To Yuma' (1957) and Robert Rossen's 'They Came To Cordura' (1958). I found myself going back and forth between liking and disliking Lee Hackett while watching 'Gunman's Walk', similar to how I felt recently watching Jodie Foster's performance as Chief Liz Danvers in the television series 'True Detective : Night Country', which is testament to the talents of both performers.
"Gunman's Walk" is not only outstanding on the entertainment level, it also presents what could be clichéd material in a superbly directed and written comment on many issues. The story is an action Western first. Van Heflin, easily one of the greatest of all Western actors, plays a rugged Western hero of the old pioneer days, who participated in many wars against the Native American. Unlike the more sugar coated stories of many Westerns, he is not forgiving of his enemy, and his character is still much the same man when he enters a new era. Heflin's character is now a big man in his territory, respected and feared by all. Heflin gives this character an incredible likability, which in retrospect, makes him even scarier."
- Drystyx, The Internet Movie Database
Quentin Tarantino and Kim Morgan discuss 'Gunman's Walk', an influence on 'Tanner', a fictitious movie starring Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) in 'Once Upon A Time In Hollywood' (2019)
'Three Hours To Kill' and 'Gunman's Walk' are currently screening in the U K on the channel FilmFour.
