Kattiera Nana I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Acensbart Excellent but underrated film

InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

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

ccthemovieman-1 Why this got the good reviews it did in the books I read, is a mystery. It's basically a "one- angle" story in which a hired killer enters a town and the whole place goes wildly paranoid wondering who is going to be the man's victim. That sounds fairly interesting but it didn't play that way, getting tiresome very quickly. Then again, some people like this kind of suspense-but nothing-happens type of story, sort of like the popular "High Noon."Audie Murphy ("John Gant") is interesting to watch as the cool-attitude killer but I couldn't much else to get excited about here. The rest of the cast combined can't equal Murphy's effort here. This is more of a melodrama than a western, which may suit a lot of people, but I was looking for a good "western," which usually means a little more action than this dull film.

bkoganbing In No Name on the Bulllet, Audie Murphy got to star in one of the most unusual and best westerns in his career when he was cast in this off beat tale of a hired killer. As John Gant, Audie reverses type and becomes a coldblooded, yet very philosophical hired killer.His modus operandi is simple. He gets hired by someone to do someone else in and he goes to wherever his target is, baits him into a fight and then shoots him dead. It's pretty well known in the west that's how he operates.So Murphy arrives in a particular town, everyone knows he's there to see that someone dies. The town grows crazy with panic and speculation as to who his target might be.It's a nice original concept for a western and the credit has to go to scriptwriter Gene L. Coon who all Star Trek fans remember as the writer on the original series. Some of the townspeople are blacksmith R.G. Armstrong, doctor Charles Drake, banker Whit Bissell, mine owner Karl Swenson, judge Edgar Stehli, bartender Charles Watts, and store clerk Warren Stevens. Just who has Audie come to dispatch. All of these players fill out the roles of the panic stricken townspeople very well indeed. But it is Murphy's film and one of the best westerns ever done and I believe his personal best.

TxMike When you know Audie Murphy's story, decorated war hero, small man, his character here as hired gun John Gant shows how versatile he was, playing the hero or the villain equally well. This is a short movie, listed at 77 minutes but actually running a bit under that, and is the proper length to tell the story. His reputation is well known, and when he comes to this small town a number of the men have to worry. Gant takes his time, to see what will develop. As it turns out, his target is Judge Benson, who is now elderly and sick, confined to a wheelchair. But Gant is a professional, he has a job to do, but can even he shoot a man in a wheelchair?MAJOR SPOILERS FOLLOW. The pretty Joan Evans plays Anne Benson, the daughter to Judge Benson. Gant gets her in his hotel room, and all we see is him ripping her dress, exposing her in undergarments. We don't see what happens next. But, when Gant visits Judge Benson a few minutes later, he pulls a part of Anne's dress out of his pocket, showing it to the Judge, implying he had harmed her. The old man gets up, grabs a gun as Gant walks outside, prepared to "defend" himself. But the old man dies on his own, Gant has him cleaned without firing a shot.The irony is, the town doctor shows up a minute later, not knowing what transpired, as Gant turns hits Gant on the shoulder with a large hammer, wounding him and partially crippling his shooting arm. The Doc offered to look at it, but Gant took his fate in stride and rode off, to the END of the movie, knowing that his time had come too.

jacksflicks Movies like No Name on the Bullet uncover the depth of talent in Hollywood. The roles are filled almost exclusively by familiar faces with unfamiliar names - R. G. Armstrong, Willis Bouchey, Edgar Stehli - with the result that one can concentrate on the story characters rather than being distracted by "star presence". Without a top-heavy cast, the story itself also gains focus, and I think the story of No Name on the Bullet is fascinating. What happens when a notorious contract killer rides into town and...does absolutely nothing? The one star of the movie, Audie Murphy, plays the gunman. I love Murphy, one of Hollywood's misspent talents. Does this also apply to the the character actors I refer to above? Not really.Character players, though quite talented, rarely attain stardom - Edward G. Robinson, Claire Trevor and Claude Rains are notable exceptions - not through neglect or misuse but by some limitation of range or persona. Audie Murphy's talent was misspent because, though obvious, it was never developed, either by studios, who, myopically, only wanted to exploit his war hero status as a box office draw, or directors who, in Murphy's career, were usually "line directors," good for getting a movie in the can on time and on budget rather than for getting great performances out their players.Which brings me to director Jack Arnold, who does a journeyman's job, but who I believe is the cause for what another reviewer wrongheadedly calls Murphy's shortcomings. Stilted lines and studied movement are the results of "hands-off" direction. This is OK for the character parts, where skilled players in simple roles don't need much direction, but not for lead roles. Watching Murphy I'm reminded of another sadly underdeveloped star, Alan Ladd, whose talents always shone under a great director, but who didn't get those directors consistently enough, in my opinion, to fulfill his promise. Coincidentally, both Murphy and Ladd died prematurely. Perhaps not coincidentally, both had drinking problems. I wonder if they might have been experiencing similar frustrations. Since No Name on the Bullet contains complex secondary parts, it's fortunate, that the players cast for these parts are outstanding, so the characters are interesting. Unfortunately, the budget constraints force the runtime of the film to be far too short. The result is a number of unresolved character studies. I want to know more about the blacksmith, the ex-flame and the judge - and more about the gunfighter. I'd also like to see more denouement. The main plot ends too abruptly, as if the producers were saying, "That's all we can afford to give you, Folks." That said, I wouldn't call the ending dumb, again as the wrongheaded reviewer cited above asserts, just shortchanged.Returning to my opening thesis, that watching a cast of talented character players carry a movie is a special treat, I highly recommend this little gem of a Western.