''Flesh and the Spur'' is a 1956

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

film directed by

Edward L. Cahn Edward L. Cahn (February 12, 1899 – August 25, 1963) was an American film director. Early life and education Cahn was born in Brooklyn, New York. He went to work at Universal Pictures in 1917 while still a student at UCLA. Career H ...

. The film stars

John Agar John George Agar Jr. (January 31, 1921 – April 7, 2002) was an American film and television actor. He is best known for starring alongside John Wayne in the films ''Sands of Iwo Jima'', '' Fort Apache'', and '' She Wore a Yellow Ribbon''. In h ...

as Lucius Random,

Marla English Marleine Gaile English (January 4, 1935 – December 10, 2012) was an American film actress during the 1950s. Early years She was born Marleine Gaile English in San Diego, California. As a teenager, she worked as a model and performed locally. ...

as Wild Willow and

Mike Connors Krekor Ohanian (August 15, 1925 – January 26, 2017), known professionally as Mike Connors, was an American actor best known for playing private detective Joe Mannix in the CBS television series ''Mannix'' from 1967 to 1975, a role which earne ...

(billed here as Touch Connors) as Stacy Tanner. The film was released by

American International Pictures American International Pictures (AIP) is an American motion picture production label of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. In its original operating period, AIP was an independent film production and distribution company known for producing and releasing fi ...

as a

double feature The double feature is a motion picture industry phenomenon in which theatres would exhibit two films for the price of one, supplanting an earlier format in which one feature film and various short subject reels would be shown. Opera use Opera h ...

with ''

Naked Paradise ''Naked Paradise'' (sometimes credited as ''Thunder Over Hawaii'') is a 1957 drama film directed by Roger Corman. It stars Richard Denning and Beverly Garland. Corman later asked Charles Griffith, who worked on the script, to reuse his screenplay ...

''. The plot is about a young cowboy who searches for the killer of his twin brother.

Plot

Tanner is a desperate prisoner who escapes from jail and promptly murders an innocent farmer named Matthew Random. Stealing Random's horse and gun, the outlaw promptly makes his escape. Finding his twin brother murdered, Lucius Random (Agar) vows revenge and sets off to find the killer. Although he does not know the identity of the killer, Random knows that he is part of the nefarious "Checker Gang" and can be identified by the gun he stole from Matthew, which is one of a unique set of two that the brothers Matthew and Lucius owned between them.

Cast

as Luke Random/Matthew Random *

as Willow * Touch Connors as Stacey Doggett *

Raymond Hatton Raymond William Hatton (July 7, 1887 – October 21, 1971) was an American film actor who appeared in almost 500 motion pictures. Biography Hatton was born in Red Oak, Iowa. His physician father steered him toward a career in medicine. Howev ...

as Windy * Maria Monay as Lola *

Joyce Meadows Joyce Meadows, born Joyce Johanna Burger (born April 13, 1933) is a Canadian-American film and television actress. Life and career Meadows was born in Arrowwood, Alberta, moving with her family to Montana and then California. She worked as a ...

as Rena *

Kenne Duncan Kenne Duncan (February 17, 1903 – February 5, 1972) was a Canadian-born American B-movie character actor. Hyped professionally as "The Meanest Man in the Movies," the vast majority of his over 250 appearances on camera were Westerns, bu ...

as Cale Tanner *

Frank Lackteen Frank Lackteen (born Mohammed Hassan Lackteen August 29, 1897 – July 8, 1968) was an American film actor best known for his antagonistic roles. He appeared in nearly 200 films between 1915 and 1965, including several Three Stooges shorts. ...

as Indian chief * Mel Gaines as Blackie *Michael Harris as Deputy marshal *Eddie Kafafian as Bud *

Kermit Maynard Kermit Maynard (September 20, 1897 – January 16, 1971) was an American actor and stuntman. Early years Born in Vevay, Indiana, he was the son of Mr. and Mrs. William Maynard and a lookalike younger brother of actor Ken Maynard; they were f ...

as Outlaw

Production

The film was originally titled ''Dead Man's Gun''.Mark McGee, ''Faster and Furiouser: The Revised and Fattened Fable of American International Pictures'', McFarland, 1996 p71-72 Mike Connors also acted as

executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the making of a commercial entertainment product. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights ...

and raised the money with Charles Lyons from Armenian friends for the film's $117,000 budget. He recalled being called in to a meeting with AIP's

James H. Nicholson James Harvey Nicholson (September 14, 1916 – December 10, 1972) was an American film producer. He is best known as the co-founder, with Samuel Z. Arkoff, of American International Pictures. Early life Nicholson was born on September 14, 1 ...

, Samuel Z. Arkoff and

Alex Gordon Alexander Jonathan Gordon (born February 10, 1984) is an American former professional baseball left fielder who played his entire career for the Kansas City Royals of Major League Baseball (MLB) from 2007 to 2020. Prior to playing professio ...

. They showed him a poster of leading lady Marla English tied to a stake with fire ants crawling on her. Connors remarked that there was no such scene in the script. The AIP heads replied that the movie had been presold on the basis of Albert Kallis' artwork and that the anthill torture scene would be written in later.p.29 Weaver, Tom ''Mike Connors Interview'' in ''Eye on Science Fiction'' 2003 McFarland (This was a marketing ploy frequently used by AIP to promote films during pre-production, often before the screenplay had been written.) Alex Gordon recalled dropping ants on the bound and gagged Marla. However, the ants would promptly run away from her. The ungagged Marla finally asked Gordon "Look, you've got six ants there, isn't that enough??"

Release

The film was released on a double bill with ''

''. Although popular it was the last Western made by AIP who preferred to concentrate on genres more specifically targeted at the teenage audience.

retired soon after making the film.

Home media

On October 27, 2009,

Alpha Video Alpha Video (also known as Alpha Home Entertainment) is an entertainment company, based near Philadelphia, that specializes in the manufacturing and marketing of public domain movies and TV shows on DVD. Alpha Video releases approximately 30 ...

released ''Flesh and the Spur'' on

Region 0 DVD region codes are a digital rights management technique introduced in 1997. It is designed to allow rights holders to control the international distribution of a DVD release, including its content, release date, and price, all according to ...

DVD.

Notes

External links

*
''The Flesh and the Spur''
at

TCMDB Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie-oriented pay-TV network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasting campus in the Midtown business district of A ...

*
Review of film
at Variety {{DEFAULTSORT:Flesh And The Spur 1956 films 1950s English-language films Films directed by Edward L. Cahn 1956 Western (genre) films American International Pictures films Films with screenplays by Charles B. Griffith Films scored by Ronald Stein American Western (genre) films 1950s American films