''The Quick Gun'' is a 1964 American

Techniscope Techniscope or 2-perf is a 35 mm motion picture camera film format introduced by Technicolor Italia in 1960. The Techniscope format uses a two film- perforation negative pulldown per frame, instead of the standard four-perforation frame ...

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

Sidney Salkow Sidney Salkow (June 16, 1911 – October 18, 2000) was an American film director (more than 50 motion pictures), screenwriter, and television director. Salkow was educated at the City College of New York, Columbia University, and Harvard Law Sch ...

and starring

Audie Murphy Audie Leon Murphy (20 June 1925 – 28 May 1971) was an American soldier, actor, and songwriter. He was widely celebrated as the most decorated American combat soldier of World War II, and has been described as the most highly decorated enli ...

. It was the second of four films produced by Grant Whytock and

Edward Small Edward Small (born Edward Schmalheiser, February 1, 1891 – January 25, 1977) was an American film producer from the late 1920s through 1970, who was enormously prolific over a 50-year career. He is best known for the movies ''The Count of Mon ...

's Admiral Pictures in the 1960s.Frank Miller, 'The Quick Gun', ''Turner Classic Movies''
accessed 4 June 2012 The film's screenplay was based on Steve Fisher's short story ''The Fastest Gun'' that had previously provided the story for two other Westerns, ''

Top Gun ''Top Gun'' is a 1986 American action drama film directed by Tony Scott and produced by Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer, with distribution by Paramount Pictures. The screenplay was written by Jim Cash and Jack Epps Jr., and was inspired ...

'' (1955) starring Sterling Hayden and '' Noose for a Gunman'' (1960) starring Jim Davis and

Ted de Corsia Edward Gildea De Corsia (September 29, 1903 – April 11, 1973) was an American radio, film, and television actor, best remembered for his chilling debut in ''The Lady from Shanghai'' (1947), as the ex-wrestler murderer Willie Garzah in the ...

as the villain, both for

United Artists United Artists (UA) is an American film production and film distribution, distribution company owned by Amazon MGM Studios. In its original operating period, it was founded in February 1919 by Charlie Chaplin, D. W. Griffith, Mary Pickford an ...

. Fisher at this time was also providing the screenplays for a series of A.C. Lyles's second-feature Techniscope Westerns for

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount ...

Plot

In 1873,

gunfighter Gunfighters, also called gunslingers () or in the late 19th and early 20th century gunmen, were individuals in the American Old West who gained a reputation of being dangerous with a gun and participated in shootouts. Today, the term "gunslin ...

Clint Cooper (Murphy) returns to his hometown of

Shelby, Montana Shelby is a city in and the county seat of Toole County, Montana, Toole County, Montana, United States. The population was 3,169 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. History Shelby was named in honor of Peter O. Shelby, General Manag ...

, after two years. He left Shelby in disgrace after killing the town's two hot-tempered but inexperienced young men in self-defense. The father of the young men, Tom Morrison (

Walter Sande Walter Sande (July 9, 1906 – February 22, 1972) was an American character actor, known for numerous supporting film and television roles. Films Born in Denver, Colorado, he was one of those stern, heavyset character actors in Hollywood no pe ...

) feels that Cooper murdered them. Cooper plans to settle down in Shelby to claim his recently deceased father's ranch and marry his old girlfriend, Helen (

Merry Anders Merry Anders (born Mary Helen Anderson; May 22, 1934 – October 28, 2012) was an American actress who appeared in a number of television programs and films from the 1950s until her retirement from the screen in 1972. Early life Anders was born ...

), the town's schoolteacher. On the way to Shelby, he runs into his old gang, led by Spangler (de Corsia), who plan on not only robbing the town, but also burning it to the ground and having their way with its womenfolk. Spangler believes his former friend Clint is himself intending to rob Shelby's bank full of money from large cattle sales. Spangler seeks Clint to join his band of 15 men with the motivation of revenging himself on the town that exiled him or else he will not leave alive. Clint breaks free, killing two of his pursuers. Clint arrives in Shelby to find all of the town's young men have left on a

cattle drive Droving is the practice of walking livestock over long distances. It is a type of herding, often associated with cattle, in which case it is a cattle drive (particularly in the US). Droving stock to market—usually on foot and often with the ...

. He tries to warn the town of the impending robbery, but everyone except the sheriff, an old friend of his called Scotty (

James Best Jewel Franklin Guy (July 26, 1926 – April 6, 2015), known professionally as James Best, was an American television, film, stage, and voice actor, as well as a writer, director, acting coach, artist, college professor, and musician. Duri ...

), and old coot Dan Evans (

Frank Ferguson Frank S. Ferguson (December 25, 1899 – September 12, 1978) was an American character actor with hundreds of appearances in both film and television. Background Ferguson was born in Ferndale, California, the younger of two children of W. Tho ...

), still hate Clint and want him to leave. Despite this welcome, Clint eventually agrees to help Scotty defend the town against the gang, though Clint discovers that Helen will marry Scotty in a week's time. Meanwhile, Tom Morrison and his nephew Rick (

Rex Holman Rexford George Holman (born 1935) is an American film and television actor and musician. Holman was born in Oklahoma. He began his screen career in 1959, appearing in the anthology television series '' The Millionaire''. In 1960, he made his f ...

) scheme to kill Clint by making it look like self-defense.

Cast

as Clint Cooper *

as Helen Reed *

as Scotty Grant *

as Jud Spangler *

as Tom Morrison *

as Rick Morrison * Charles Meredith as Reverend Staley *

as Dan Evans *

Mort Mills Mort Mills (born Mortimer Morris Kaplan; January 11, 1919 – June 6, 1993) was an American film and television actor who had roles in over 150 movies and television episodes. He was often the town lawman or the local bad guy in many popular w ...

as Cagle *

Gregg Palmer Palmer Edwin Lee (January 25, 1927 – October 31, 2015), known by his stage name Gregg Palmer, was an American film and television actor. He was known for playing Tom McLowery in the final season of the American Western (genre), western televis ...

as Donovan *

Frank Gerstle Francis M. Gerstle (September 27, 1915 – February 23, 1970) was an American character actor who appeared in supporting roles in numerous films, radio programs and TV shows following World War II. Biography Gerstle's notable appearances in ...

as George Keely * Stephen Roberts as Dr. Stevens *

Paul Bryar Paul Bryar (born Gabriel Paul Barrere; February 21, 1910 – August 30, 1985) was an American actor. In a career spanning nearly half a century, he appeared in numerous films and television series. Career Bryar appeared in nearly 220 fil ...

as Mitchell *

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. Howe ...

as Elderly Man *

William Fawcett William or Bill Fawcett or ''variation'', may refer to: People * William Fawcett (actor) (1894–1974), American actor who was awarded the ''Légion d'honneur'' * William Fawcett (author) (1902–1941), English journalist and writer on horses, hun ...

as Mike

Production

Murphy was paid $37,500 for his performance. Originally, the film was known as ''The Fastest Gun''.

Quote

"Your guns have gotten too fast and too sudden. And from what I hear about your reputation, they have gotten a lot faster and suddener in the last two years." - Sheriff Scotty Grant

References

External links