Review: Forty Guns

US marshal Barry Sullivan (and his brothers Gene Barry and Robert Dix) arrives in a western town pretty much run by matriarchal Barbara Stanwyck and her title band of ‘hired help’. The sheriff (Dean Jagger) is weak as piss and sweet on Stanwyck, so is of no help, whilst Stanwyck’s brother John Ericson is a mean young bastard who kills the myopic old marshal John Chisum (Hank Worden). Stanwyck uses her feminine charms to woo the law to her side of the fence, and seems to have a thing for Sullivan. Or maybe she just wants fifty-one guns, though Sullivan claims not to have shot anyone in years. But when Ericson shoots someone he shouldn’t have, Stanwyck finds herself in quite the pickle, and Sullivan might just have cause to slap on those irons after all.

 

Low-budget cult writer/director Samuel Fuller (“Underworld USA”, “Pickup on South Street”) doesn’t quite come up with the goods in this 1957 western that squanders a terrific showcase for Barbara Stanwyck by focusing too much on the lame Earp brothers surrogates. It’s obvious that Barry Sullivan, Gene Barry, and Robert Dix are all playing Earp brothers by other names (it’s even obvious from the setting, the way they dress, and the way they walk), and they are a pretty dull lot, Mr. Sullivan in particular is giant oak.

 

And that’s a shame because this B&W western looks terrific and stark, thanks to cinematographer  Joseph F. Biroc (“Hush…Hush, Sweet Charlotte”, “Flight of the Phoenix”, “Emperor of the North Pole”), and Stanwyck gives the film her all. Not many women at the time could convince in tough western roles, but Stanwyck towers over everyone here, dominating her every scene, in a film that ultimately doesn’t want a woman dominating the film. And yet, if you look at the role she’s playing, it’s clearly a male one. She’s playing the tough old bastard with a wayward, evil son, only this time it’s a tough middle-aged mother, not the father. Stanwyck insisted on doing her own stunts, which knowing what Stanwyck was like, I absolutely believe. A true professional, and just a fantastic, somewhat underrated star (Often called the best actress to never win an Oscar. I think there’s some definite truth in that). Full credit to both Biroc and Stanwyck for the tornado/horse fall scene (which Stanwyck’s stunt woman refused to do!), it’s absolutely terrific and the highlight of the film.

 

The film also features fine work from Dean Jagger and especially a surprisingly mean John Ericson (who I just learned was a Playgirl centrefold in the mid-70s!), in the best performance I’ve seen him give. It was a bit of a surprise to see an excellent Jagger in a weak and corrupt lawman role (he’s even too weak to own his corruption), but Ericson gives a performance I honestly never expected he had in him. In a smaller turn, western veteran Hank Worden is an immediate worry as the myopic town marshal, who has the misfortune to run into mean bastard Ericson (The character is John Chisum, normally seen in Billy the Kid stories, but is a world away from the character John Wayne played in “Chisum” in terms of intestinal fortitude).

 

The music score by Harry Sukman (“Underworld USA”, “Welcome to Hard Times”) is also top-notch, though the singer character played by Jidge Carroll (who doesn’t seem to have many more credits to his name so far as I can tell) is regrettable. There’s no reason for this film to be part musical, and Carroll’s singing is insufferably corny. Go paint someone else’s wagon, Jidge. What a stupid, stupid name Jidge is. Sounds like an unseemly kind of stain, doesn’t it?

 

It also gives the film a jarring tone between western-musical (with touches of comedy or light-heartedness at least), and the more harsh goings on with Stanwyck and particularly Ericson. And those darker aspects are where the real interest lies. I also think the film is far too short to work out all of this plot, and all of these characters. Look at most of the other films about the Earps like the more recent “Tombstone” and “Wyatt Earp”. As is, it feels lumpy (and it’s a screenwriting flaw, not a directorial one), and there’s way too many men taking baths in this for my liking. I also found the ending to be incredibly sexist. After spending the whole film building up Stanwyck as a tough broad who can handle her own shit and handle unruly men, she becomes another needy woman chasing after a fella. Ugh.

 

This is a well-directed, well-shot, and well-edited film that unfortunately doesn’t have the screenplay to match, and puts too much emphasis on the weaker members of the cast. Stanwyck and Ericson bring their A-game, though. Worth it as a curio, but it could’ve been a whole lot more.

 

Rating: C+