Last Train from Gun Hill

John Sturges a number of the best movies ever made - The Great Escape, The Gunfight at O.K. Corral, the Magnificent Seven, and here is a great movie he made that doesn't get mentioned with the all-time greats as it should.

Kirk Douglas is outstanding as the uncompromising sheriff on a mission of revenge when his Native American wife is killed by the spoiled son of a lifelong friend. Anthony Quinn is excellent as the hardbitten rancher who respects Douglas' character more than anybody (and whose life he saved in their youth), but who behaves one as a protective father, and two as a man who is rich and powerful, and used to getting what he wants. Carolyn Jones is also great as a woman caught in the middle of the two men.

No cop-outs, no easily resolutions. Just a great movie with a great cast.

Don't miss the beginning of this film. Not only is it essential to the whole picture, but it is also a great example of how a filmmaker can show a brutal crime without showing the details on-screen. In the opening, a brutal rape and murder occur; director John Sturges and the performers relay very effectively what happens, it's the horror in your mind.

Kirk Douglas stars, and he is riveting. My favorite of Mr. Douglas' scenes is when he describes a hanging to Earl Holliman - it's an "award-worthy" performance; but won none or few, no doubt. The others all perform amicably, too. After Douglas goes to Gun Hill, he sees old friend Anthony Quinn… watch how Douglas and Mr. Quinn play their first scene and you'll see how good these two actors are.

You always have to suspend disbelief in film watching, and a western is a little different. Westerns have their own world, which you accept, or don't. I could not really accept Mr. Quinn and Earl Holliman as father and son, at first. I think it could have been helped if Quinn had done something different with his hair; he never seemed concerned about thinning or gray hair, so I can't fathom the hair… it made him look younger than usual. After the movie went on, I decided to just accept that like I accept the rules you accept when you watch a western.

Besides, Quinn and Holliman are far to good to replace. Then, add Carolyn Jones... Now, I figured, at first, she would have the standard "look pretty and kiss the hero" role -- but, that was not so; actually, she was given a real good part and had a chance to perform a meaningful acting role. Ms. Jones showed she should have been given more good film roles.

So many westerns try build this suspense -- "Last Train from Gun Hill" should have you shaking in your cowboy boots.

********* Last Train from Gun Hill (1959) John Sturges ~ Kirk Douglas, Anthony Quinn, Carolyn Jones, Earl Holliman

Top-notch western drama of a sheriff on a vengeance quest to track down the men who murdered his wife. Kirk Douglas and Anthony Quinn are excellent as erstwhile friends who are on opposite sides of the dilemma facing them. The film is as much a mystery as a western and several interesting characters intersect the main plot which plays out at the town's train station at the close. Douglas, always intense and edgy is matched by Quinn's stubborn refusal to make the right moral choice. Carolyn Jones and Earl Holliman head a good cast of supporting actors in the tense drama which increases as the plot angles play out. Beautiful western vistas add to a great classic story.

Last Train from Gun Hill has the star power to help back up a storyline that is, on the surface, seemingly too straightforward: a Marshall (Kirk Douglas) finds that his wife has been killed. When he finds out that it is the son of a cattle baron (Anthony Quinn), despite his old friendship with the baron, he decides to bring the son to justice, holding him by gunpoint in the town hotel until the train comes to take them off to jail- while the baron has his men outside with their guns poised. There's a touchy element to who the son (played as a snidely little kid in Earl Holliman) killed, which was that the Marshall's wife was a Native American. But more impressive in the script, and through John Sturges's steadfast professionalism, is how there's the tension between law and the personal, the immediate draw of a gun draw to solve anything, and the bitterness of real vengeance (watch Douglas's Marshall tell Rick about how he'll be the only one to hear his own brain cry out as he hangs dying, perfectly acted).

Although it's likely that Douglas and Sturges were in or made better westerns, this is the kind of work that doesn't age in much a way that cheapens the questions poised or the invigorating style. It's a fairly violent film too, with a couple of deaths by the train tracks at night all the more effective from the taunting build-up and the pay-off in one shotgun fired off, and always the threat much more tension-filled than the result. Granted, when a big fire ends up happening, it looks very much like it's on a sound-stage and without a whole lot of suspense (save for the typical but strong 'who will get the gun first' moment between the Marshall and Rick in the bedroom), but it's the ambiance of the characters, the dread over this dangerous mix of volatile father and townsman- a better than average Quinn without being too hammy- and a good man driven to vengeance in bad-ass Douglas, and the determined woman (Carolyn Jones) that makes it so compelling. There's even a slight feeling of unpredictability in the situation- in a town where reputation trumps what is good and decent, but also where emotions run high as can be, the stakes are high for chance.

By the very end it feels like it should be more formulaic, and there are bits where the dialog does come off as brawny ol' western genre jargon (look simply at some of the quotes on the IMDb page as example). But if you happen to come across it on TV one Sunday afternoon, as I did, it's worth the time to sit and get absorbed by a well done star vehicle.

I just saw this film recently on cable and was reminded of how well made it was. I'm a fan of the late director John Sturges' work and I own both "The Magnificent Seven" & "The Great Escape" on DVD. "Last Train from Gun Hill" does'nt get the same mention along with the well deserved recognition of these other films of the director. I'd rank it among the best classic westerns of the 50's & 60's period of great Hollywood movies. The story benefits from starring two great actors in Kirk Douglas and the late Anthony Quinn. Earl Holliman showed great promise in an early role as the spoiled rotten son of Mr. Belden. I'm surprised that he did not become a bigger star as a character actor throughout his career. And the late Carolyn Jones turned in a strong performance too as Linda. Definitely up there in the same ranking of great classic westerns and one of the best efforts of John Sturges. I will buy this DVD as well to add to my movie library! Lorenzo the tbirdman