The Gatling Gun

The more desperate his fight on the desert's scorching lands , the more adored he was in her arms ¡ Tough men, during hard times, battle for the ultimate weapon , as Indians , cavalry and renegade troops fight over Gatlin gun . Doctor Gatling invented a war machine to beat all arrows, and guns . While pursuing a traitor Pvt Sneed (Robert Fuller , one of the members in ¨The return of Magnificent Seven¨) the Lt. Malcolm (Guy Stockwell , Dean Stockwell's brother and starring in ¨It's alive¨ and ¨Tobruk¨) helped by Runner the Scout (Woody Strode starring in Black Sergeant and other John Ford films , furthermore in various S.W as ¨Keoma¨) along with his patrol find some people , as Luke Boland (Phil Harris) and his family, including his son Jim (Patrick Wayne , John Wayne son) and his gorgeous daughter Martha Boland (Judy Jordan ), who are holed up in a house. The Bolands join up with Malcolm's team . Rifle-toting Malcolm eventually puts the bridle on tight and struggles to win his soldiers respect while warding off violent Indians who besiege the group . One of Luke's friends, Tin Pot (Pat Buttram ) fiddles with the machine gun and after that , he devises a replacement for the firing pin . Malcolm along with a group of soldiers have to defend themselves surrounded by Indians until arrival reinforcements while using the Gatling machine gun . The angry Apaches led by Two-knife (Carlos Rivas usual in Indian roles as Chingachgook in ¨Deerslayer¨) are out on a rampage of killing , seeking vengeance against the white intruders, and with the aim for eliminate them and take the Gatlin machine gun

This is an average , conventional tale with action galore about a hard-bitten officer who goes to hell and back while assembling a detail of misfit cavalrymen to hold-off rampaging Indians and later on regaining the respect of his soldiers . Guy Stockwell and a top-notch secondary-star-cast as Robert Fuller , Barbara Luna , Patrick Wayne and John Carradine ; all of them shine lightly in this oater about a surrounded garrison . Director takes a regularly penned screenplay creating a cavalry-Indians tale that results to be ordinary , exploring the anguish of soldiers and including jarring burst of violence on its final when happens a massacre . It's the habitual theme about an unit stranded by enemies and their grueling efforts to break the siege, issue imitated many other times . This standard Western contains some nice moments though partially unsatisfying and disappointing for the reason of the low-budget and situations with no sense . Lousy cinematography in Techniscope by Jacques Marquette , Roger Corman's usual , it's urgent a fine remastering because the film copy is washed-out . Functional and atmospheric musical score by Paul Sawtell. The motion picture is middling directed by Robert Gordon . He's an expert on Western as Television series : ¨Bonanza¨, ¨Maverick¨, ¨Law of the Plainsmen¨, ¨The Texan¨, ¨Zane Grey¨ as cinema : ¨The rawhide trail¨, ¨Thunder and the pines¨, ¨Black eagle¨ and of course ¨The Gatlin Gun¨ or ¨King Gun¨, his last picture . Rating : 4,5 . Mediocre and forgettable movie .

A familiar cast of western regulars make up the players in The Gatling Gun. Sad to say that a badly written and/or a badly edited story fill this plot with more holes than a Gatling Gun could give a wooden wall.

A couple of troopers plus Reverend John Carradine and his seductive stepchild Barbara Luna steal a Gatling Gun from the army to give to the Apaches. One of the troopers is killed, but the other, Robert Fuller, is captured along with Carradine and Luna and Captain Guy Stockwell is assigned to bring The Gatling Gun and his prisoners back.

But the Apache chief Carlos Rivas still wants that weapon and the rest of the film is concerned with his efforts to get it even though he doesn't know that it doesn't have a firing pin.

The players here speak their lines truly without conviction. They all know that when the film is done it will grace their Thanksgiving table that year.

In many ways, this movie looks and feels much older than 1973, and I'm still not quite convinced that this is accurate. Yet, the social conscience of the 70's is there, if only in throw away lines and occasional, unexpected preachiness. The struggle for the WMD of the era, i.e. the Gatling Gun of the movie's title, involves a small band of US Cavalry, one "bad apple" (Robert Fuller playing effectively against type), and the Apaches, headed by the Spanish speaking chief "Two Knives." Thrown in the mix are the vixenish step-daughter of a self-righteous preacher (must have been a handful for that man of the cloth) and an All-American, sharp-shootin'"Annie Oakley Type" who in one brief scene appears in a dress and is described as "All Girl" (which she is!). Plus John Wayne's son, I think, and a couple of old codgers. Any and all of the characters vacillate here and there in their views on the treatment of the American Indian and their role in history but the Gatling Gun has the final word.

I admit, the only reason I picked this one, was to see Dr. Brackett (Robert Fuller) in a different uniform. I'll forego echoing what the other's here have posted, as I agree with all of them; it's just a so-so, typical below-grade Western.

I will comment on the cinematography, or lack thereof. This almost looks like it was shot in 16mm and not 35mm film. Whatever film stock they were using, didn't hold up over the decades. It's very washed out - the whites are too white and the dark too dark. The reds are very bright, which I believe, is a degradation of the film stock. So many films from the latter part of the 20th century suffer from this. Thanks Kodak!

Also, the clarity is lacking, it's borderline fuzzy, at least the copy being shown on my free-Western channel. Compare this film to One-Eyed Jack from 1960, and it's like night and day.

This really has a made-for-tv feel to it. Lots of dialogue and not a lot of panorama shots.

One positive - there's a redheaded chick in the flick and her hair looks great : )

2nd positive - Mr. Haney from Green Acres is in it !

Low-budget, by-the-numbers western, routine in every department: writing, direction, acting, you name it. The plot is nothing special: a ragtag detachment of soldiers must protect a new Gatling gun from falling into the hands of rampaging Indians. A somewhat decent cast gives this picture a bit more than just a passing interest, but not much more. Phil Harris looks out of place, John Carradine was at a point in his career where he took just about anything and everything that was offered to him--which explains why he's in this--Guy Stockwell looks tired, and the only even remotely energetic performance is given by veteran western actor and John Ford favorite Woody Strode. Listlessly directed and sloppily written, this cheap-looking film has a burst of action near the end that breaks the monotony, but not enough to make it worth sitting through. Skip it.