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Gun Belt is directed by Ray Nazarro and written by Jack Dewitt, Richard Schayer and Arthur Orloff. It stars George Montgomery, Tab Hunter, William Bishop, Douglas Kennedy, John Dehner, James Millican, Hugh Sanders, Jack Elam and Helen Westcott.

Remade as 5 Guns to Tombstone in 1960, Gun Belt is for sure the much stronger film. Plot treads familiar ground as reformed outlaw gets roped into bad ways again via a frame up by his brother, and to compound matters his nephew is involved in the mess that follows. It essentially uses characters from the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral period of the Tombstone Law Versus Outlaws scheme of history. The makers retain some names, slightly change others, and of course add their own line of history.

It's a good old fashioned "B" Western that boasts a roll call of genre performers, and it's this what keeps Gun Belt from falling below average. Montgomery fronts up as the main man, a likeable presence in the genre, it's entertaining watching him weave his way through double cross after double cross. All of which culminates in a showdown where rat like trickery and bluffs form the denouement.

Nicely filmed in Technicolor, it's not a half bad production. When the story comes out of the town the Chatsworth scenery is very nice. Action scenes are competently staged as befitting a good old pro like Nazarro, with a pat on the back to the stunt workers who add perkiness to proceedings. As for the musical score, it's standard fare from Gertz. The acting is a mixed bag, and some such as Elam barely get anything to say or do, and Westcott's stock love interest character is barely in it. Leaving us with a decent but not great Western, one for the undemanding after a brisk and tidy time filler. 6/10

Former outlaw George Montgomery and his young nephew Tab Hunter are trying to make a go of ranching, but there are forces at work trying to bring Montgomery back into the outlaw trade. Like Don Corleone they keep dragging him back in. And they've even sweetened the pot somewhat by busting from prison his brother John Dehner to bring Montgomery in on a big Wells Fargo robbery planned by saloon owner Hugh Sanders.

Now just why Montgomery was so badly needed in this caper we never really find out, but Sanders is a real piece of work, hiring two sets of outlaws to do the job hoping that the outlaws will kill each other off and him left with the loot.

I have to say that I've rarely seen such double crossing among the cast in any film as I've seen in Gun Belt. With a little better writing this could have been a classic western. In fact with such worthies as Douglas Kennedy, William Bishop, and others in the cast who play some real nasty villains on the big screen, take your choice who will be king of the double crossers.

In fact the only one Montgomery does trust is the girl he's planning to marry Helen Westcott. Even Hunter is a mixed up stupid kid who doesn't know who to trust.

Gun Belt is a good western programmer with unrealized potential for greatness.

Matt Ringo (John Dehner) , an outlaw and father of the impetuous young man Chip Ringo (the beef-cake Tab Hunter), attempts to convince his brother Billy (George Montgomery) to carry out a robbery. But Billy Ringo has decided to hang up his guns, buy a ranch and marry Arlene Reach (Helen Westcott) . So Billy does the right thing and notifies the sheriff, none other than Wyatt Earp. As Ringo informs Marshal Wyatt Earp (James Millican) and his brother Virgil (Bruce Cowling) of their plan to rob a Wells Fargo express wagon. But things go wrong when a gunfight ensues at the robbery. Billy Ringo...Once more he strapped on his guns...once more the West felt his fury! . The Kid...Hot-headed, hot-triggered...the most-feared name history ever ran from!. The Girl...She was all the women who ever faced terror for their men! (original poster) The Outlaw...He grinned, gunned and plundered away the life-blood of a nation. The Law...Wyatt Earp - no badge ever had a quicker gun behind it! . Scorching Saga of the West!

This exciting Western packs thrills, pursuits, spectacular struggles, crossfire , and lots of gutsy action. A western from the 50s directed by Ray Nazarro starring George Montgomery and Tab Hunter, regulars of the genre. Brawling , sprawling , almost primitive action in which our starring is forced to join a criminal band in order to clear his name being accused of robbery and murder and going on the run, teeming across the screen by means of escapes, attacks, crosses, double-crosses and ambushes. The picture contains whirlwinds of manic action , fights , sustained energy and often commendable results. The film has a slickness and crude vigour, including impressive outdoors with rocky mountains stunningly photographed by Howard Greene, although a perfect remastering must be carried out . This is a distinctive Western saga with a special look at California outdoors . Features impressive as well as spectacular crossfire scenes punctuated with decent action sequences. There are several historical characters from the Western appearing here and there, such as: Ike Clanton, Matt Ringo, Billy Ringo, Virgil Earp and , of course, Wyatt Earp, but the film has no historical perspective, nor is it even mentioned the famous OK Corral duel of 1881 in which Wyatt Earp, his brothers Virgil and Morgan fought against the Clantons and the Ringos.

The starring is a famous actor who starred B-series called George Montgomery. This good-looking actor George Montgomery gives an acceptable acting in his usual style as a stubborn revenger who finds himself working for a gang of cattle rustlers engaged in a turf war with a rival gang of outlaws. He was born to Ukranian immigrants and was a heavyweight boxer previously becoming an actor. Besides was a magnificent craftsman and built and designed houses, plus a self-taught artist, creating bronze busts for famed actors. He starred movies around the world and various genres: adventures (Watusi,Steel claw) , Warlike (Battle of Bulge, Hell of Borneo) and specially Western (Seminola uprising, Fort Ti, Last of badmen, Great duel in Durango). In the film, the large group of familiar secondaries stands out, these include the following: John Dehner, William Bishop, Jack Elam, Douglas Kennedy, James Millican , Hugh Sanders , Bruce Cowling, and Willis Bouchey.

The motion picture was professionally but regularly directed by Ray Nazzarro, and nothing special. Ray was a crftsman who made a lot of Westerns in low-budget . By 1945 he fell into directing westerns for that studio, a genre and a studio in which Nazarro would spent the vast majority of his career. He worked steadily for the next 20 years, churning out dozens and dozens of Columbia's westerns, including many in the "Durango Kid" series with Charles Starrett, and was at the helm of a slew of Columbia's musical westerns and low-budget hillbilly musicals, which featured such acts as The Hoosier Hotshots. As he made Westerns as The Range Rider , The Kid from Amarillo , Fort Savage Raiders , Al Jennings de Oklahoma , Frontier Outpost , Streets of Ghost Town, Texas Dynamo , The Tougher They Come , Outcast of Black Mesa, Trail of the Rustlers ,Renegades of the Sage , Bandits of El Dorado , South of Death Valley , Cyclone Fury , Laramie , The Blazing Trail and many others . As the era of the B western ended, Nazarro journeyed to Europe, where he turned out some "spaghetti westerns" and was one of several directors to work on a bizarre and trouble-plagued Jayne Mansfield film, Einer frisst den anderen (1964) . He also returned to directing television series , a medium in which he had occasionally worked since the early 1950s again, mostly in westerns. This Western could have been a lot worse but that's no reason to watch it . Rating : 5.5/10 , average but passable and acceptable . Only for hardcore Western fans.

Those of us who love B westerns constantly come up with undiscovered gems from the 1950s. This isn't one of them. Gun Belt may be the least impressive of any Wyatt Earp western ever made, though in fact he's seen only in a supporting role, with a bit of historicity in that he's portrayed as deputy to his brother Virgil, which was actually the case. Nothing else about the film 'gets it right,' though - George Montgomery plays Billy (not John or Jim) Ringo, with Tab Hunter as his younger brother, "Kid Ringo." For reasons I can't imagine, they changed the name of Ike Clanton to Ike Clinton! If there's one interesting thing here, it's that some oft overlooked characters - Turkey Creek Jack Johnson,Curly Bill Brocious, and Texas Jack Vermillion - are on hand, the terrific TOMBSTONE the only other film to give them decent screen time. You may recognize the female lead, Helen Westcott, from the similarly titled Ringo movie GUNFIGHTER - though that was one of the greatest of all westerns. This one has corny dialogue, unbelievable plotting, and weak acting, particularly by Hunter, who couldn't deliver a line competently if the survival of the world depended on it. Even the vistas don't look so bright. Here's one that even die-hard western buffs can skip.

In this western, the specialist Ray Nazzaro, the most prolific western provider - with Lesley Selander - borrows some elements from director Ray Enright ; I mean westerns from the last forties where true celebrities of the conquest of the West history were used in terms of characters names. For instance, here, you have the Ringo brothers - from OK Corral myth - and also Wyatt Earp in a supporting character. I would have never imagined Ray Nazarro making his westerns this way. Plus, such a grade B western maker hired Tab Hunter, Jack Elam...George Montgomery is not a surprise though for this cute little and agreeable movie.