Listonixio Fresh and Exciting

AshUnow This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Brainsbell The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.

Erica Derrick By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

mark.waltz When a troubled stranger (Robert Mitchum) arrives in a western town looking for his estranged wife (Jan Sterling), he is made the sheriff to try and clean it up, finding out that his wife is involved in the local corruption. It all surrounds the one local theater (the "Palace" of course) where Sterling (dowdily dressed in an all black severe get-up and prim hairstyle) is obviously more than just the proprietor, possibly a madam as well. This film strikes interest when it deals with the human elements of Mitchum's strong but quiet surgeon, but it seems to have a different mood each of its characters, particularly Karen Sharpe's who sometimes brays her lines. Then, when an enormously fat man (Emile Meyer) shows up suddenly without a word, it is very predictable where the film is going. It is ironic to realize that Hollywood at this time viewed enormously large people either as comical or sinister, and there's no doubt to this one's character. The conflict between Mitchum and one villain in the Palace is the most memorable scene as Mitchum deals with the said villain in a most unique and unforgettable way.While this has the standard western look with sleepy town and dirt roads, the camera uses angles to traipse through it that gives it an interesting, almost 3D look. There are some particularly disturbing moments, such as one of the bad guys shooting a barking pup "just because. Henry Hull is excellent as the town's veteran lawman who can't handle the corruption. Early appearances by Angie Dickinson and Claude Akins will have you keeping a sharp eye out. That's "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?'s" Maisie Norman as Sterling's maid, not Juanita Moore ("Imitation of Life"), which I point out because I've confused them a few times too. I rank this among the psychological westerns influenced by "High Noon" that deserve repeat viewings to pick up Freudian references to many issues we still deal with today. The tense atmosphere keeps it engaging, and the interesting characters help it rise above the many other westerns which took on these themes.

TheUnknown837-1 If I would have to describe "Man with the Gun" in a word, I would sadly have to choose 'mundane.' I say 'sadly' because not only does the movie star the great Robert Mitchum, but because it does boast a good setup, a dark tone, and some good initiative-packed promise. But the movie suffers and condescends into being the average, dissenting B-movie Western and a little shy on entertainment value.The premise is a very similar one. Robert Mitchum plays the stereotypical lone gunslinger with a troubled past, a quick draw, a sharp choice of words, and a never-say-die attitude. He is hired by fearful yet reluctant townsmen as a "town-tamer" to clean up the riffraff in their establishment. The riffraff is the hired hands of a land-grabber who does not make a physical appearance until very late in the movie (a trait of the movie that I did like), who are tormenting a homesteader. This is a setup that was done many other times, sometimes worse, sometimes better such as in Clint Eastwood's classic "High Plains Drifter." There are some really good elements to "Man with the Gun" and some really mundane and pall parts as well. The good: the performances not only by Robert Mitchum, but also by the lovely, unsung actress Karen Sharpe. The tone is dark and a little nihilistic, and I appreciated the tactic of hiding the bad guy for the majority of the picture and to avoid the typical clichés of when the Western rancher runs in with the iron-figured gunslinger. The screenwriters also did put the effort into fleshing out the protagonist, however, they only succeeded about halfway. As a gunslinger, the character works, as a human being, the light is very dim.As for the bad parts: mostly the movie just seems really mundane and terrene. There isn't any real connection between any of the characters. None of them stand out. The action scenes are only moderately well-done and they are so spaced apart in favor of droll emptiness that when they do come, they don't heighten the flow of the picture very much. And overall, the picture just follows a rather predictable formula and foundation for a B-movie Western. It's not a bad movie, but it's rather dull, and the ending does not quite work.

Robert J. Maxwell Pretty much a generic Western. Robert Mitchum is a gunfighter named Clint Tollinger who rides into the Western town of Sheridan looking for his estranged wife and daughter. The towns folk learn of his presence and try to hire him to protect them from the porcine Dade Holman and his gang of thugs. They live out of town on a ranch but Holman runs the town and his goons are responsible for a number of killings. The malicious minions include such familiar faces as Claude Akins and Leo Gordon.Okay, okay. This calls for another "gunfighter tries to hang up his guns but is drawn back into violence" plot. But, nope. Mitchum accepts a position as deputy from the impotent old sheriff, Henry Hull, with the proviso that his methods not be interfered with.Aside from Mitchum's nonchalant acceptance of the dangerous job of taming the town, this is a calculated plot, borrowing from both "Shane" and "High Noon," most notably the former. Emile Meyer (Riker in "Shane") is carried over, and so is the meeting of community leaders in which they argue about hiring Clint Tollinger.Some notable features of the movie. Karen Sharpe plays a young woman attracted to Mitchum, despite her engagement to the fiercely independent John Lupton. She's strikingly attractive despite the complete absence of a glabella. Her features are as sharp as her name. She's petite and innocent, true, but looks as if, under the proper conditions, she might eat you alive. Mitchum himself has given some powerful performances, as in "Night of the Hunter" and "Farewell, My Lovely." Here, he doesn't. He strides through the picture with his stomach held in and pistol butts protruding from every place of lodgment, his face as expressionless as those of Mount Rushmore. But a must-see is Brooklynite Ted DeCorsia imitating Lescaux, a villainous Frenchman from New Orleans. Not that New Orleans wasn't quite cosmopolitan at the time. Edgar Degas visited relatives there. During the Civil War, the light-skinned free black community was well educated and prosperous, and the city supported bilingual newspapers. But you ought to hear DeCorsia try to wrap his speech organs around a French accent. It never quite makes it to France but the attempt leads him by a curiously circuitous route through Middle Europe until it reaches someplace like Serbia, at which point the weather changes for the worst, the roads turn to glue, and the effort lurches to an embarrassing halt.The production values are minimal. The town of Sheridan lacks local color. There is no sense of community in its appearance. The only places of business we see are strictly functional. They have signs over the entrances on the order of "Hay and Grain" and "Marshall" and "Palace" and "Sheridan Hotel" and "Red Dog." That's not necessarily a weakness. Howard Hawks' Western ambiance was functional as well, but the towns look lived in. There were PEOPLE on the streets and potted plants in the hotel lobbies and Mexican blankets on the bunks. Here, it seems as if money was saved by not hiring enough atmosphere people. It's a ghost town. The same can be said of the interiors. They seem to have been built yesterday. When Mitchum slams a door behind him, a long vertical crack appears in the plaster next to the hinges. The wardrobe is generic and so is the make up. Mitchum's hair is thoroughly jelled and not a strand is out of place. Karen Sharpe wears a cunning 1950s pony tail.Beginning with the title, it's evident that not a great deal of effort was put into the production, despite the presence of some reasonably good talent before the cameras. "Clint Tollinger", eh? Nobody is named Clint Tollinger. I spent sixty-five months in the Library of Congress and there never, ever was a cowboy or gun hand named Clint, Cole, Wade, or Matt. As a matter of fact, the four most commons names were Ebeneezer and Gouverneur and Chesterfield and Cadbury. All these statements are incontestable although they are outright lies.Perversely, I liked the thing. There was an adult element, even if only hinted at. Mitchum actually ENJOYS killing thugs and burning down their establishments. His eyes glow with pleasure. I thought -- half-hoped -- that the movie would go in that direction but it decided to play safe. Nevertheless, a not-disappointing Western, like all rituals, a fixed point in a changing and depressing universe.

Panamint Leo Gordon, dressed in black, shoots a little boy's dog just because it barks at him. "Town tamer" Mitchum at one point runs amok in a saloon. There are some very mean characters in this psychological western, which at least does show that meanness is a major human psychological trait. It also has a pretty good, if brief, "catharsis" moment at the end.Terrific supporting cast- bombastic Henry Hull (Jesse James '39, Return of Frank James '50), excellent but underused Maidie Norman, and an early Claude Akins bad-guy performance. You are guaranteed to notice a very young Angie Dickinson (and her long legs).Mitchum manages to somehow humanize a wooden character but its just a thankless role. Barbara Lawrence is terrific and noticeable and far outshines a boring attempt at "drama" by Jan Sterling. Not really Sterling's fault- the character is written poorly.A good example of film music composition by North. It features a melodic main theme, but also a separate striking dramatic theme. Notice when he brilliantly overlays one theme over the other as Mitchum's character seems to be cracking up.This is a black-and-white set-bound psychological Western, which in other movies can be a formula for dullsville. However, "Man With The Gun" moves at a good pace and is made worthwhile by a great cast. You definitely will enjoy their performances.