Gun Fury

A rancher and a reformed outlaw pursue a band of kidnappers through the Arizona desert in a good western that never received its just due. Most of Rock Hudson's early films were westerns and he essays the role of a determined cowboy in fine style as he and Leo Gordon search for an outlaw band for very different reasons. The picture is strictly a pursuit and revenge western with colorful characters and scenery making an ordinary plot tense and exciting. Phil Carey and Donna Reed are major players here but are supported by great character actors such as Lee Marvin and Neville Brand. Carey is at his best as a glib but vain outlaw leader who covets betrothed Donna Reed for himself. Pat Hogan is good in his familiar role as an Indian and Roberta Haynes is tough and fiery as a spurned border mistress.

Rock Hudson and Donna Reed are a couple finally together after the civil war, travelling on a stagecoach when it's hijacked by Phil Carey's outlaw gang. That's pretty much the story. What ensues is a lot of running around amid some beautiful Arizona desert scenery which is the real star here. Lovely cinematography, but weak script let's this Roaul Walsh western in 3D down. Hudson on the way up to greater things is clearly the main reason for making this but his acting hasn't quite met the standard he later achieves in Giant and he's out acted by Phil Carey who exudes more charisma here. Even Lee Marvin is more interesting in a small role. Neville Brand I thought was wasted and his usual screen villainy given little to do. Quite why Carey shows such an interest in Donna Reed, I simply don't know as they've never met before the stage hijac. She's hardly a femme fatale, just a regular girl unfortunate enough to have been there and this is a weakness in the plot. Had she been a former girlfriend of Carey's who has dumped him would have made more sense but his obsession with keeping her with the gang for no apparent reason is baffling, just a ploy for Hudson to chase after them across the scenery. The film later becomes predictable like a TV western, losing the earlier interest that had kept me watching, especially the performance of the underrated Leo Gordon. Should and could have ended better given the talent here.

With stars like Rock Hudson, Donna Reed and Lee Marvin, a script by Roy Huggins and direction by action film legend, Raoul Walsh, "Gun Fury" seemed like a sure thing. Boy was I disappointed.

The script relied on constant character stupidity to move the story along; Hudson and Reed had no chemistry together and Lee Marvin doesn't have his usual nutjob role to ratchet up the interest.

The scenery was spectacular and the score quite good in places. But this 82 minute film had me looking at my watch before the halfway point.

Rock Hudson was much better in "The Undefeated." If you want a good Donna Reed/Roy Huggins western, try "Hangman's Knot." Raoul Walsh made several better westerns like "Colorado Territory" and "The Tall Men."

Gun Fury marked the first loan out film that Rock Hudson did after he became a star at Universal. Rock did this one for Columbia just as his star was rising fast with the movie going public.

The film has the look and feel of a Randolph Scott western, it's just the kind of story that Scott was in fact doing at Columbia with Budd Boetticher. I would not be surprised if this wasn't something Scott might have had in mind for himself. Of course there would have been changes made as Scott was a much older man than the youthful Rock Hudson.

Donna Reed is Hudson's fiancé who is on a stagecoach west to meet her man. On the stage also is notorious outlaw Philip Carey traveling incognito because he plans to meet up with his gang and rob the stage later.

Carey is best known as the boss of those exuberant Texas Rangers in Laredo, but here he's a bad man, rotten through and through. He also decided to take Donna Reed as well because he's tired of the woman he has now, Roberta Haynes.

Carey thinks he's killed Hudson, but Hudson's quite alive and on his trail with a former Carey outlaw member Leo Gordon along with him.

Gun Fury shows how much the western grew up in the Fifties. This kind of story involving kidnapping and sexual abuse was definitely not for the Saturday matinée kiddie trade. Though Hudson and Reed are good, it's Philip Carey who really dominates the film.

He's got quite a collection of noted screen bad guys in his crew. Besides Leo Gordon, Neville Brand and Lee Marvin are also around.

Can't tell you how it ends, but Hudson and Gordon pick up an Indian along the way who proves to be of great assistance.

"Gun Fury" is a neat, leisurely-paced Columbia Western, originally shot in 3D, directed by Raoul Walsh. I was expecting something exciting or exceptional like "Colorado Territory" or "Pursued". Instead it turns out to be routine, ambling minor Western that just misses mediocrity. Rock Hudson ably plays Ben Warren, a pacifist Civil War veteran whose fiancé (Donna Reed) is kidnapped by an ex-Confederate villain & gang leader Frank Slayton (Phil Carey) after a stagecoach holdup. Aided by one of the gang members (Leo Gordon) and an Indian (Pat Hogan), Warren pursues Slayton and his gang through several confrontations. Lee Marvin intriguingly plays Blinky, the outlaw that later challenges Carey before Warren and his group show up.

Throughout "Gun Fury", Walsh does a nice job of contrasting Hudson's mild, freedom-loving mannerism with Carey's vicious, unalloyed sadism. There are also, as expected from Walsh, some nifty scenes of outdoor scenery in the reddish Arizona desert. Donna Reed and Rock Hudson are great together; Phil Carey does good job playing the villain. Overall, a nice little Western that is worth checking out.