Gunfighters

Nothing left to do but try again. Gunfighters (AKA: The Assassin) is directed by George Waggner and adapted to screenplay by Alan Le May from the novel "Twin Sombreros" written by Zane Grey. It stars Randolph Scott, Barbara Britton, Bruce Cabot, Dorothy Hart, Griff Barnett and Forest Tucker. Music is by Rudy Schrager and Gerard Carbonara and cinematography by Fred Jackman Jr. A gunman who has laid down his guns finds that circumstances test him to the limit... It's a familiar formula that any Western film fan can acknowledge as being over used, that's not to say that the right production isn't worth visiting as such, but expectation of something fresh can often lead to dissappointment. Built on solid foundations due to scorching location photography and Randolph Scott prepping himself for greater things in the next decade (see also The Walking Hills 1949), it's a pleasurable piece. It also - via the narrative - isn't afraid to be bold as regards the ultimate decisions made by Scott's Brazos character, giving the pic a darker edge and being all the better for it. Elsewhere, the villains are standard stuff but entertaining regardless, the twin beauties of Britton and Hart have interesting parts to play, and the action scenes are well put together - with the pursuit sequences exciting. Filmed in Cinecolor, it's nice to report this is one of the better photographed Westerns in that format, which is just as well because the Sedona locations are to die for. Not what you would term a keeper, but for Western fans of the era and Scott fans in general, it's worth its salt. 6.5/10

Randolph Scott is "Brazos", an accomplished man with a gun who finds himself accused of the murder of a man on a ranch. Can he prove he is innocent before the law, and the ranch-owner catch up with him? I usually find Scott a bit too sterile in these roles and here is no different. His style of acting is dignified and aloof - and somehow or other that just leaves the adventure element a bit flat. Add to the mix the almost twin-like sisters of "Bess" (Barbara Britton) and "Jane" (Dorothy Hart) and the romantic elements further contribute to the dullness of the whole thing. Bruce Cabot and Forrest Tucker try to inject a touch of menace into the proceedings, but sadly just to little too late to rescue this from mediocrity. Rudy Schrager's score is neither one thing nor the other, either - it dances a line between jollity and peril in an overblown and interfering fashion and all told, we are presented with nothing at all special, here.

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John Chard

CinemaSerf