After hooking up with old time gunfighter James Millican, younger gunfighter Rory Calhoun decides he'd better look for a different line of work himself. Especially after Millican dies holding off a pair of brothers out to get them. But it's not so easy when the only trade you know is a fast draw.
And in Red Sundown that's just what old time sheriff Dean Jagger needs to stop a range war between the local Ponderosa owner Robert Middleton and a bunch of smaller ranchers and farmers. Land titles aren't clear and Middleton's grabbing all he can.
Also keeping Calhoun in town is Jagger's daughter Martha Hyer, but there's a complication there with the presence of Middleton's mistress Lita Baron who has a history with Calhoun. Her function in the film and her relationship with Middleton make Red Sundown quite the adult western for its time.
In only an 81 running minute time Red Sundown packs quite a bit in what is an above average B western. I do love the way that kid actors David Kasday and Scotty Morrow function as a kind of Greek chorus commenting on the comings and goings in the town and showing the voice of public opinion in prevailing mores. Grant Williams the future incredible shrinking man makes his screen debut here playing a vicious punk gunfighter that Calhoun has to deal with.
Red Sundown is one of the best of Rory Calhoun's B westerns and definitely an above average film for the limited production values it got because of its low priority.
