Four Guns to the Border

Four bank robbers run for the border. On the way, they run into leader Rory Calhoun's old friend Walter Brennan and his gorgeous daughter, Coleen Miller. Miss Miller and Calhoun fall for each other, despite Brennan's objection.

Richard Carlson takes one of his occasional trips behind the camera to direct this shaky A western. Brennan, of course, gives a fine performance, and the other performers are good, but it all seems to be too well calculated, from the occasional grace notes for the camera, to the arc of the plot. Perhaps tighter editing would have helped. With George Nader, Nina Foch, Jay Silverheels and Nestor Paiva.

I'm a western nut who's been watching horse-operas since the '50s and somehow I'd never heard of this before a TV showing here in England. The cast is superb, including Oscar-winner Walter Brennan in a more restrained performance than usual. Each of the four bank robbers has his own little quirks and it's fun to see Jay Silverheels in a more lively part than his legendary Tonto act, which was often so wooden you'd pick up splinters just from watching it. There's a familiar face playing the tiny role of the town barber - Paul Brinegar, who found TV fame five years later as trail-cook Wishbone on Rawhide.

Richard Carlson's direction is surprisingly effective. It's a darn shame he didn't do much else, though his 1964 low-budget Kid Rodelo was nowhere near as nifty a job as Four Guns, which must be filed as "underrated and worth a look." Both movies came from Louis L'Amour stories.

This dull shoot-'em-up, a typical run-of-the-mill, cowboys 'n' Indians, robbers vs.posse oater, has one remarkably fascinating aspect: a bare-bones plot punctuated by surprisingly sexual imagery, much of which can be interpreted as homoerotic. Some scenes are steamingly obvious in their depiction of passion, and others are so gratuitously injected that they can only be seen as surreptitiously symbolic. (There's even a totally irrelevant pussycat with kittens). The creators must have had a bang-up good time foisting such a naughty piece on mid-fifties audiences, and modern viewers should have just as much fun ferreting out each and every nuance! Fans who favor peeking below the Production Code will have a ball!

Four Guns to the Border is directed by Richard Carlson and collectively written by George Van Marter, Franklin Coen and Louis L'Amour. It stars Rory Calhoun, Colleen Miller, George Nader, Walter Brennan, Nina Foch, John McIntire, Charles Drake and Jay Silverheels. Music is by Joseph Gershenson and cinematography by Russell Metty.

A little ole devil of an Oater is this. The outlaw machinations and manoeuvres of Rory Calhoun's gang of robbers is kind of secondary to the sex angle of the plotting. The pic is ripe with sexual frustrations, born out by Colleen Miller's blossoming from tomboy daddies girl into a sex-kitten. There is nary a moment missed to sexualise the stunning Miss Miller, she gets wet a lot, and looks amazing with it, she suggestively licks a candy stick, and on it goes.

It would appear on the surface that these are cheap tactics to put horny Western fan's bums on seats, but there's a relevant thread running through the piece. That of awakenings, or growing up if you like. Be it Miller's discovering and curiosity about her sexuality, to the outlaw gang who seem perpetually stuck in a world of youthful exuberance, the constant "growing up" theme purposely nudging all observers.

"We haven't seen an Indian all day"

"Sometimes that's when they're closest"

Lest I forget to mention this is an action movie as well! Standard Oater conventions do apply in the action stakes, with Calhoun (a very under valued actor in the Western pantheon) exuding machismo at every opportunity. There's Apache attacks, fisticuffs, shoot-outs, deaths and chases, you know, the stuff we Western fans love in our 50s Oater diets. There's a running fun thread that sees Silverheels (who gets the best costume) and Nader taking each other on in friendly bouts of fighting, while a sub-plot involving Foch and Drake adds meat to the thematic stew.

Thoroughly enjoyable and not without some intelligence and racy merit as well, Four Guns to the Border is well worth checking out. 7.5/10

The Four Guns To The Border that are in the title is an outlaw gang headed by Rory Calhoun with George Nader, Jay Silverheels, and John McIntire as members. They're returning to Calhoun's home town where he was run out of years ago by sheriff Charles Drake. Calhoun's ex-girl friend Nina Foch wound up marrying Drake.

Calhoun's not going there for any revenge though giving Drake a beating does have its satisfactions. He's going to challenge Drake quite publicly and while he and Drake are fighting, the other three can rob an unguarded bank. It works, but then the outlaws meet up with old time outlaw Walter Brennan and his daughter Colleen Miller who are besieged by renegade Apaches.

They met up with Brennan and Miller earlier. Of course the young ones Calhoun and Nader get their hormones in an uproar. But Brennan's not having any daughter of his taking up with no outlaw.

Four Guns To The Border is a good no frills western with some of its plot taken from Three Godfathers. The outlaws prove to have more character than they realize. A good ensemble cast is gathered for this which as another viewer observed has no real good or bad guys. Or to put it another way the line of demarcation between the good and the bad isn't all that clear.

As good a film as Four Guns To The Border is, it's kind of story was being found on the adult westerns popping up with increasing regularity shortly.