Four Fast Guns

James Craig rides into Purgatory when they're taking up a collection for a town tamer. He takes the pot, then has troubling doing the job. The problem seems to be wheelchair-bound Paul Richards, who runs one of the saloons and spends most of his time playing the piano and reading poetry. Craig can't bring himself to shoot an educated, kindly, helpless man despite the waves of lust sent off by Richards' wife, Martha Vickers. So Craig moves into the dilapidated Marshal's office with Edgar Buchanan, and begins to renovate the place while four hired guns come into town seriatim to earn Richards' money.

The comedic elements work pretty well in this film, especially when Richard Martin shows up in the movie, playing a Mexican. The serious elements..... well, I'm sure they're there, I just can't take any of it particularly seriously when we don't see any gunfights, just people knocking memorials into the ground, while the good townfolk who want Craig to shoot a cripple mock him for cowardice.

Perhaps it has something to do with the fisheying of he image whenever cinematographer John Nickolaus moves the camera. Perhaps it's all a burlesque of the psychological and symbol-laden A westerns that the 1950s threw up occasionally. That would explain why they decided to call the place Purgatory, when the two towns that actually bear the name are in New England.

The title might vaguely ring a bell as the final film of Martha Vickers; who fifteen years earlier had a father in a wheelchair in 'The Big Sleep' and this time has a husband similarly challenged.

Despite being shot in CinemaScope, the general monochromatic drabness of the town of Purgatory (which the script is fond of reminding us the town is called, and doubtless inspired the name of the town in 'Support Your Local Gunfighter') captures the cramped bleakness and propensity for violence that probably characterised the authentic Old West.

The false town tamer (James Craig who had killed the real one and takes his place) has to wipe out the town from a crippled saloon owner who seems to hire any gunslinger in the whereabouts. We see Craig killing one by one all those supposed to kill him. Until the last one who happens to be his one kid brother (Brett Halsey)!

An odd little Western in which the four fast guns of the title include Sabin and the three men hired to kill him. Not the fastest pace, but not dull either. It's quite interesting with some nice flourishes such as three fast guns coming to take care of James Craig's false lawman, and one of them generates a twist, the rather bleak look of the town, it's inhabitants and the landscape - there's an air of brutishness prevalent and only the humour by Edgar Buchanan as the deputy lightens things. The most interesting element is Paul Richard's character- a disabled villain who has a penchant for poetry and piano playing. But there's a twisted aura about him, especially when he plays a discordant note when something annoys him. It's an interesting and above average western which can appear boring but it isn't. It reminds me of Terror in a Texas Town, another odd western with that bleakness.

What a great surprise to watch first a B western in a splendid LBX copy, with a great acting and directing for this kind of production. I hardly know the actors bt who cares? The topic is classic as thousands of other westerns, but that's the least of my problems with this movie. And it is short, sharp, very pleasing to watch. The director was a producer I guess but he did not let a major mark in Hollywood history. I really enjoyed this film and highly advise it to every western buff, and keep in mind that's a rare item, not widely known so don't miss your luck to see it. I have hundreds and hundreds of this kind of westerns in my collection, but not necessarily of this quality.

Four Fast Guns is an interesting if not completely successful B western, done at a time when these kinds of films and stories were finding more of a home on the small screen. I could have seen this one as an episode on The Virginian for instance which was a 90 minute show.

James Craig has an encounter with a 'town tamer' on the trail and when he gets prodded into a fight he kills the prodder. Craig goes on into the town with the name of Purgatory and proceeds to take the job of town tamer.

Who Purgatory wants to eliminate is Paul Richards, once a fast gun himself, but now limited to running the saloon and all the organized outlawry in the area. Richards is limited also because he's in a wheelchair due to a broken back. And apparently he's also limited as far as wife Martha Vickers is concerned.

Richards sends a series of gunmen against Craig, Four Fast Guns to be precise. Three come up short, but the fourth is Brett Halsey who presents some unique problems no one foresaw on both sides.

The B western had certainly moved way beyond the Saturday matinée kiddie trade. You wouldn't have a Roy Rogers western dealing with something like impotence. Four Fast Guns probably would have been more explicit but for the Code.

Four Fast Guns was done on the cheap so it won't get a higher rating from me. Still it's an interesting work.