''Forty Guns'' is a 1957 American Western film written and directed by

Samuel Fuller Samuel Michael Fuller (August 12, 1912 – October 30, 1997) was an American film director, screenwriter, novelist, journalist, and World War II veteran known for directing low-budget genre movies with controversial themes, often made ou ...

, filmed in

black-and-white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...

CinemaScope CinemaScope is an anamorphic lens series used, from 1953 to 1967, and less often later, for shooting widescreen films that, crucially, could be screened in theatres using existing equipment, albeit with a lens adapter. Its creation in 1953 by ...

and released by the

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Disn ...

studio. The film stars

Barbara Stanwyck Barbara Stanwyck (; born Ruby Catherine Stevens; July 16, 1907 – January 20, 1990) was an American actress, model and dancer. A stage, film, and television star, during her 60-year professional career she was known for her strong, realistic sc ...

Barry Sullivan Barry Sullivan may refer to: *Barry Sullivan (American actor) (1912–1994), US film and Broadway actor *Barry Sullivan (stage actor) (1821–1891), Irish born stage actor active in Britain and Australia *Barry Sullivan (lawyer) Barry Sullivan is ...

and Gene Barry.

Plot

In the 1880s, Griff Bonnell, and his brothers, Wes and Chico, arrive in the town of Tombstone in

Cochise County Cochise County () is a county in the southeastern corner of the U.S. state of Arizona. It is named after the Native American chief Cochise. The population was 125,447 at the 2020 census. The county seat is Bisbee and the most populous city ...

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

. Griff is a reformed gunslinger, now working for the

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

's office, looking to arrest Howard Swain for mail robbery. Swain is one of landowner Jessica Drummond's forty hired guns. She runs the territory with an iron fist, permitting the town to be terrorized and trashed by her brother, Brockie Drummond, and his boys. Brockie is an arrogant drunk and bully, but he goes too far by shooting vision-impaired town Marshal, Chisolm in the leg. Thereupon, Brockie and his drunken friends start trashing the town. Griff intervenes and pistol-whips Brockie with a single blow while Wes covers him with a rifle from the gunsmith shop. Aware of how close Brockie is to his sister, Griff makes it a point not to crack Brockie's skull. Jessica delivered Brockie when their mother gave birth for the last time. Wes falls in love with Louvenie Spanger, the daughter of the town gunsmith, so he decides to settle down and become the town's marshal. Griff becomes romantically involved with Jessica after she is dragged by a horse during a tornado. Two of Jessica's forty dragoons, Logan, and Savage, attempt an ambush of Griff in an alley. He is saved by youngest brother Chico, who was supposed to be leaving for California for a new life on a farm. Chico's shot kills Savage, after which Jessica's brother and hired guns try to turn the town against the Bonnell brothers. On his wedding day, Wes is gunned down by Brockie, who is really aiming at Griff (who leans forward to kiss the bride, thereby unknowingly saving himself). Brockie is jailed for the murder. He tries to escape by using his sister as a shield, daring Griff to shoot, and is shocked when Griff does exactly that. Griff's expertly-placed bullet merely wounds Jessica, and the cowardly Brockie then becomes the first man Griff has had to kill in ten years. Brockie's last words are "Mr. Bonnell, I'm killed!" Chico remains behind to take the marshal's job. Griff rides out, certain that Jessica hates him for killing her brother, but she runs down the dirt street after his buckboard – repeatedly calling out "Griff! Mr. Bonnell!" – and they appear to ride off together for California.

Cast

as Jessica Drummond *

as Griff Bonnell * Gene Barry as Wes Bonnell *

Robert Dix Robert Warren Brimmer (May 8, 1935 – August 6, 2018), known professionally as Robert Dix, was an American film actor. He appeared in 50 films between 1954 and 1974. Biographic data Dix was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of actor R ...

as Chico Bonnell * Dean Jagger as Sherriff Ned Logan * John Ericson as Brockie Drummond *

Hank Worden Hank Worden (born Norton Earl Worden; July 23, 1901 – December 6, 1992) was an American cowboy-turned-character actor who appeared in many Westerns, including many John Ford films such as '' The Searchers'' and the TV series '' The Lone ...

as Marshal John Chisholm * Jidge Carroll as Barney Cashman *

Paul Dubov Paul Dubov (October 10, 1918 – September 20, 1979) was an American radio, film and television actor as well as screenwriter. He frequently appeared in the works of Sam Fuller. Among Dubov's radio credits include the 05/02/1953 episode of Guns ...

as Judge Macy * Gerald Milton as Shotgun Spanger *

Ziva Rodann Ziva Rodann ( he, זיוה רודן, born Ziva Blechman ; 2 March 1933), known first as Ziva Shapir (), is an Israeli-American actress. She was a Hollywood film star and a frequent guest star on television series from the late 1950s to the late ...

as Rio * Neyle Morrow as Wiley * Chuck Roberson as Howard Swain * Chuck Hayward as Charlie Savage * Sandy Wirth as Chico's Girlfriend *

Eve Brent Jean Ann Ewers (September 11, 1929 – August 27, 2011), known professionally as Eve Brent and Jean Lewis, was an American actress known for her role as Jane in '' Tarzan's Fight for Life''. Biography Early years Born as Jean Ann Ewers in Hou ...

as Louvenia Spanger

Production

Fuller uses every opportunity to show off the widescreen format while employing extensive use of close-ups and one of the longest tracking shots ever done at Fox’s studio at that time – over three minutes long.

Harry Sukman Harry Sukman (December 2, 1912 – December 2, 1984) was an American film and television composer. Life and career Sukman was born in Chicago in 1912. He started his musical career in the 1920s, when he was a teenager. He composed music scores f ...

composed the score and conducted it as well. Jidge Carroll sings two songs onscreen in the film, the theme song titled "High Ridin' Woman," written by Harold Adamson and Harry Sukman; and "God Has His Arms Around Me," written by

Victor Young Albert Victor Young (August 8, 1899– November 10, 1956)"Victor Young, Composer, Dies of Heart Attack", ''Oakland Tribune'', November 12, 1956. was an American composer, arranger, violinist and conductor. Biography Young is commonly said to ...

and Harold Adamson. Both songs were later recorded by the western singing group, The Sons of the Pioneers, and released on their single for RCA (RCA 47-7079) on November 1, 1957. Fuller later repeatedly claimed that the ending he wanted involved Griff killing Jessica to get Brockie and the studio overruled him. The available script copies, written by Fuller, have the same ending as the film, so there is no way to independently confirm this, but it's considered likely Fuller meant what he said, and went along with the studio heads so the film could get made.

Reception

The film has received critical acclaim from modern day critics.

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

gives a score of 90% based on 20 reviews, with an average score of 8/10.

References

External links

* * * * *
''Forty Guns: High-Riding Woman''
an essay by Lisa Dombrowski at the

Criterion Collection The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films." Criterion serves film and media scholars, cine ...