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11 out of 11 people found the following comment useful :-
Original B-western, 15 March 2004
6/10
Author: pzanardo (pzanardo@math.unipd.it) from Padova, Italy

Two tough women, one good one bad, dominate "Gunslinger", a nice B western, early work by Roger Corman. In spite of being so patently low-budgeted and made in a rush, the movie have several things to its credit. First of all, a considerable originality for the 1950s. The woman marshal Rose (Beverly Garland) is an uncommon character in western movies, all the more her outstanding guts and toughness. The early scene, when she shoots dead the killer during her husband's funeral service, is a shocker which, in some sense, sets the gutsy standard of the film. Personally, I never saw such an unexpected scene elsewhere. Fine stuff. Rose's counterpart is the cruel Erica (Allison Hayes), always ready to murder anyone interfering with her dirty schemes. She is uncommonly bad for a female character. These two beautiful mortal enemies are related in a love triangle with the gunslinger Cane Myro (John Ireland). I like this character, entangled in a Greek-tragedy-like strait of being hired to kill the woman he loves. John Ireland, slouching along with his dark suit, cold eyes, sad fixed grin, cynical sense of humor, is perfect for the role. In my opinion he makes a first-rate job, even too good for an unpretentious B-movie. The romantic scenes with Myro and Rose have an intensity which makes a fine contrast with the merely carnal interchange between Erica and the gunslinger. A remarkable sexy aura permeates a number of scenes, mainly thanks to three sensational saloon-girls. Even the final general killing, though far-fetched, has the merit to be non-standard. The tough, dry dialogue is praise-worthy, Garland and Hayes act adequately, and there is some good camera work (rarely, to be honest). Several sub-plots give a fast pace to the narration. It is almost impossible to get bored. After all, that's the main purpose of a B-movie, isn't it?

Unfortunately, sometimes "Gunslinger" is non-standard for goofiness, as well. An early take is so mistaken that I even suspect to be a director's deliberate choice. We see the pony-express starting from a stage-post, in theory some ten days far from Oracle, the village where the action takes place. Few seconds later he rides close to a big tree, under which we see the funeral service of the murdered marshal, in Oracle! And we have many takes of rushing horses, patently in "fast-motion". What's the point of such useless stupidity? Two potentially exciting scenes, namely the fist-fight between Rose and Erica and the attempt of the three saloon-girls to lynch Rose, are marred by a very poor editing. We find several faults in the cut of the movie, as well.

Anyway, I go back to my main point. The two pretty tough girls are exciting, the romance is pleasant, the flick is entertaining and presents some interest for a study of B-movies.

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10 out of 10 people found the following comment useful :-
Funslinger more likely!, 11 April 2007
4/10
Author: Juha Hämäläinen from Finland

Being a big fan of Corman's horror movies I expected from his western a bit more than I got. Well, I was entertained all right. I had almost as many laughs as watching Mel Brooks' Blazing Saddles.

See the spectacle of mobile tire tracks on the prairie of the old west. You can kill time by counting them if there happens to be an otherwise boring scene going on. And the horses seem to have gears in them too, considered the fast-forward chases. See also the swinging bar room queens of the traditional wild west saloon doing a number that reminds of a certain fashionable dance from 1920's, here decades before the style was invented. Hope the saloon around them won't crumple.

In the middle of all this mayhem the main actors do a decent job. Ireland, Garland and Hayes are all truly fine. A special praise for them for doing the best they could with the material that seems mostly having been lifted from 'Johnny Guitar', but doesn't quite impress the same way. But there is really nothing wrong with a laughable western like this. Just like a really bad old horror movie, it might fail one way but succeeds to give joy anyway. That is one of the reasons Corman's work appeals to me and that is why I dare to recommend you to experience this movie if you get the chance.

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9 out of 9 people found the following comment useful :-
Yee-ha!, 14 November 2000
5/10
Author: blazing_l from Queens, NY

Beverly Garland is the only reason I gave this a good rating. She acts very well and is very pleasing to watch.

Other than that, typical Roger Corman production. Lots of mediocre actors, lack of continuity, lots of women displaying themselves, making out, and humorous scenes when not meant to be humorous. I love Bev's stoic reaction in the beginning. Plus, the whiny barkeep guy was so kooky and annoying. He got his just desserts. Interesting situation: boy meets girl, boy was hired to kill girl, boy falls for girl, girl falls for boy, boy and girl get into shootout.

We do have fun.

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9 out of 9 people found the following comment useful :-
Roger Corman's magnum opus!, 21 December 1999
4/10
Author: Brian Manville (Sterno-2) from Frederick, MD

I'll admit that I don't expect much from a Roger Corman film. Generally, I expect a lot of walking and bad scripts. Yet in this case, I am pleasantly surprised.

The Gunslinger is a story of a woman (played by the spunky Beverly Garland) who takes over as sheriff after her husband is brutally murdered. Ms. Garland is a pretty good shot herself, killing one of the murderers the next day at her husband's funeral. Her first task is to shut down the local bar that is violating the town curfew. The bar's owner is trying to buy land in anticipation of being bought out by the (hoped-for) railroad. However, Ms. Garland is a thorn in her plans, and the bar matron hires a man to kill Ms. Garland.

Because of Ms. Garland's plays her role honestly and realistically, there is absolutely no temptation to go to Suzanne Somers "She's the Sheriff" jokes. With the exception of a couple of faux pas (the apartment door that opens OUT from the inside, jeep tracks, and the two horsemen waiting on screen for their cue to ride around a corner), the movie becomes quite passable as movie fare. However, Corman could not resist padding his film with horse riding scenes, much like he does walking in other films.

Sterno says The Gunslinger is a horse opera worth your time.

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13 out of 18 people found the following comment useful :-
This movie did not like itself, 19 February 2002
Author: Inthegoodlife from Jacksonville, FL

Gunslinger is a dreary movie that feels more like an exercise in self-persecution then a typical western. The plot is about a sheriff's wife who takes over after her husband is gunned down. She has until the new marshall comes to town to find out who killed her husband and to crack down on the town's lawless element. The leader of the lawless element, Erica Page, played by Allison Hayes, hires a hitman, played by John Ireland, to kill the lady sheriff, played by Beverly Garland. He falls in love with her instead. A lot of nice elements are floating around in this movie but are not properly exploited. John Ireland stumbles around (fitting as he is a drunk) but never is given enough dramatic moments to make his character dynamic. He's instead forced to play the drunk with a heart sort of made of gold. Even that angle completely loses credibility by the end. He comes off as more of a whiner and complainer then a cold blooded hitman. His character is also way too sympathetic and is virtually a hero up until the end. Beverly Garland fits in almost too well in her role as the new sheriff, Rose. She seems almost too comfortable and settled in her 'strong woman can compete in a man's world' role and loses credibility. It could have been nice to see moments of uncertainty and self-doubt which would naturally occur when going from a sheriff's wife to a sheriff in an instant but the movie never touches on it. The backbone of Gunslinger is Allison Hayes. Her portrayal of Erica Page is cold blooded and inhuman, a perfect bad girl. Jonathan Haze as Jake has his moments but is a little stiff. He and Jerry Lewis on the same stage would have been something interesting to see. Psychology flies around like a ping pong ball in Gunslinger but isn't played up enough. Ireland's character could also have been given more moments to show some crazy cool but he mostly just fumbles around in his vendetta against the mayor of the town. Too many sub plots also hurt this movie as just about everyone has an issue. It would take many hours to properly elaborate on all the elements the movie presents so some are skimmed over (such as how Erica Page convinced Jake she was in love with him). The main plot, the Beverly Garland/John Ireland love interest, is also itself overshadowed by the Cane Miro/Mayor Polk conflict, which unnecessarily takes up screen time. Featuring a cast who deserved better, Gunslinger is not very dramatic, pretty sadistic and very, very dreary.

3.2/10

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6 out of 7 people found the following comment useful :-
Interesting but Flawed, 21 February 2005
4/10
Author: bensonmum2 from Tennessee

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

- When the local sheriff is killed, his wife takes over until and is determined to clean-up the town. Not everyone in town, however, is happy with what she's doing. When the sheriff orders a curfew in town, the local saloon owner (also a woman) hires a killer to take care of the sheriff. There's no way the saloon owner could know that the sheriff and the killer would fall in love.

- Gunslinger is an example of what happens when you have a fairly interesting concept and combine it with poor execution. There's a good movie here somewhere trying to get out. In more capable hands or with a larger budget, Gunslinger might have been an entertaining look at the role of women in the Old West. As it is, Gunslinger is a sloppy mess of a movie.

- There are just so many things wrong with the movie: a supporting cast with no acting ability, stilted and unnatural dialogue, and sets that look like sets. But the biggest offender is the editing. I was amazed at how many times a scene would begin with the actors (and horses for that matter) obviously waiting for Corman to yell "Action". The best is the scene of two riders on horseback just standing beside a building. All of a sudden, they take off and come racing around the corner like they had been riding hard for several miles. Or, take the example of people who can seemingly transport themselves across town. We see a man enter a building and a second later emerge across town to mount his horse.

- It's not as if Corman didn't have a few decent actors to work with. While none were great stars, Beverly Garland, John Ireland, and Allison Hayes were all capable of turning in a good performance. But, in Gunslinger, they're not given much to work with.

- I have now seen both the MST3K and non-MST3K versions of the movie. I would strongly recommend going the MST3K route.

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4 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :-
Good cast, Directror, and novel idea begot routine western action., 12 November 1998
5/10
Author: bux from Tecumseh ok

When the town sheriff is gunned down, his wife Garland pins on the badge. Hired killer Ireland is sent to off her, but instead falls in love with her. Corman, directing a great cast, culled from Poverty Row, seems to do nothing with the delicious plot that is bubbling away here. What we end up with is characters we don't care about, walking through a very stiff script. It shoulda been better...it coulda been a contendah!

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5 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
Someone shot the sheriff...but he did not shoot the deputy..., 30 January 2005
2/10
Author: Diana from United States

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Beverly garland was born in the wrong time. She was an actress ahead of her time, bringing power and grace to even such lame flicks as the Corman films she starred in. In Gunslinger, she's the town sheriff's wife. He gets offed, so she takes over his job to pursue his killers. She's better than the material she's working with, by far. The movie is gray, stilted, and mostly boring. There's some(unintentional)humor with the tire tracks everywhere, people running behind one building to emerge suddenly in front of another (I've heard of false fronts, but this is ridiculous!), and the truly stupid plot line of the newly widowed sheriff falling in love with the guy hired to kill her. Even if she hadn't loved her husband, it had only been something like a week or two since he'd died! And she ends up shooting the guy to death in the end, anyway. No luck with men, this one.

The villain of the piece is another woman, the saloon owner. She's scheming to buy up a bunch of land just in case the railroad goes through and makes her rich. Her plan of action if it doesn't is pretty lame-she'll just steal as much from the town as she can and skedaddle. Hell, it's just her and her hired gun at the end against an entire town. Are you telling me these people aren't armed? Look what happened in real towns of the Old West when bank robbers came in to rob the bank, then were cut down in a hail of bullets by the armed and dangerous town folk.

There'a a lot of pointless talking and riding around, interspersed with a few lame shoot outs. The ending is as grim as usual in a Corman flick, although thank goodness it lacks the moral proselytizing at the end that was in It Conquered the World. The sheriff turns over her badge to Sam Bass and rides off into the sunset, although the movie was so gray that you never saw the sun.

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5 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
Roger Corman goes West, 14 April 2001
Author: Mike Sh. (michaelshannon123@comcast.net) from Lowell MA

Roger Corman, alternately lionized as a visionary filmmaker limited by low budgets and tight production schedules, and berated as an overrated producer of shoddy cliche-ridden movies, tries his hand at a Western. Here he seems to be trying to make a brooding adult Western of the Anthony Mann type, but as good as John Ireland is, he just ain't no James Stewart. The bargain basement production values don't help (it's obvious that this movie was made very quickly on a shoestring budget), and the overall look and feel of the film is oppressively gloomy. (Apparently this was due in part to bad weather during filming.)

On the plus side, this movie does have Beverly Garland (r-r-r-owrr!) and Alison Hayes (va-va-va-voom!). These two will help distract the viewer's attention from the sight of Bruno Vesota waddling about and looking shifty.

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3 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :-
Interesting Early Corman Effort!, 10 January 2003
5/10
Author: (bsmith5552@rogers.com) from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

"Gunslinger" was an early "B" western drama from Producer/Director Roger Corman. Shot in color on a shoestring budget, it is nevertheless an interesting little western.

When Rose Hood's (Beverly Garland) husband the Marshal is murdered, she is forced to strap on a gunbelt and take over his job. The local saloon madam Erica Page (Alison Hayes) feels threatened, she sends her lovesick bartender Jake (Jonathon Haze) to hire a gunslinger to kill the marshal. All in black gunfighter Cane Miro (John Ireland) rides into town to take on the job. It seems that Cane also has an axe to grind with the town's mayor (Martin Kingsley). Of course Cane becomes attracted to Rose and she to him. Cane is torn between the two women. But he ultimately succumbs to his dark side and the finale involves the final shootout between Rose and Cane.

Corman adds a few little twists that make this film a cut above your average "B" western. First there is a female villain in Erica and a knock down drag out fight between herself and Rose. Next there is a sequence where the three saloon girls try to lynch Rose. There is also an excellent scrap involving Ireland and Chris Alcaide playing the deputy Joshua.

The acting is above average for a Corman picture of this period. Garland, always one of my personal western gals, is good in the lead. Ireland, always under rated, is excellent as the title character. Alison Hayes makes a chilling villain and Corman regular Haze is quite good as the simple minded Jake.

This film is certainly worth a look.

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