Four Guns to the Border

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!

This is a really enjoyable movie, a tale of romance, self discovery and of course Native Americans. The performances are convincing and quite passionate, which really help sell the story to the audience. However the star of this movie is actually the musical score. It is tremendous. The music underscores the action on screen as well as any movie I have ever watched. Highly recommended.

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.

Decent Universal International production full of action , violent characters , thrills and lots of shots . A good example of B-Hollywood western genre mostly filmed in studios and including gorgeous exteriors . An outlaw gang (Rory Calhoun ,George Nader ,John McIntire , Jay Silverheels) on the lam encounters former associate Simon Bhumer (Walter Brennan) and his beautiful daughter (Colleen Miller), who's drawn to their leader Cully. They get together at a desert inn where scheme a robbing . As the band heads for the border after a bank heist, they encounter a band of renegade Apaches. One for all and all for trouble!

This is an exciting film , plenty action , thrills , fights , gun-down and breathtaking outdoors . One of a long series of colorful , double-features made at Universal International studies in the Fifties , films which made starts on of male actors : Rock Hudson , Audie Murphy , Ray danton , George nader and female actresses as : Rhonda Fleming , Yvonne De Carlo , Mauren O'Hara , , besides the stars of this Western : Rory Calhoun , George Nader and Richard Carlson himself . Well-made action sequences with rousing attacks and spectacularly made shootouts . Charismatic performance for whole casting .The rough outlaw Rory Calhoun and Colleen Miller as the luscious daughter Lolly deliver a nice loving chemical , in fact the best scenes happen at a stormy night, when Cully/Rory and Lolly/Colleen almost have an affair, including some erotic shots . Support cast is pretty good , such as the good-looking George Nader , the eternal secondary Walter Brennan playing an old gunfighter who still has a fast draw and now planning to retire on a farm, Nina Foch , the veteran John McIntire , Charles Drake , Nestor Paiva , Mary Field , Jay Silverheels as a half-breed bandit though he was better for his character as Tonto in the long -running Lone Ranger series .

The motion picture was well directed and in traditional style by Richard Carlson . Richard was a notorious actor who even played two classic movies such as It came from outer space and Creature from the black lagoon . He subsequently accepted charge of directing a silly pseudo-scientific premise entitled Riders to the Stars (1954), a low-budget enterprise bogged down at the expense of drama. In the course of the next twelve years, he directed some better second features, including the westerns Four Guns to the Border (1954) , The saga of Hamp Brown and Kid Rodelo (1966), many of them starred by Rory Calhoun , as well as a number of television episodes. He also wrote the occasional TV script, as well as contributing articles on non-fiction subjects to several magazines .

Distinguished by its overt, out in the open, relationships between Men and Women circa 1885 in the Old West. It is that Story flirtation that makes this one a bit different than most of the Westerns of the 1950's.

Behind the Women taming the wild Men of the Old West is a gang of bank robbers led by Rory Calhoun with John McEntire, and Jay Silverheels. They encounter Walter Brennan and his coming of age Daughter in tow and from the very first scenes this one sets itself up as a steamy, sexy Western.

"Didn't anyone tell you not to scratch yourself in front of other people? Dad Brennan asks the curvaceous and cute "Lolly" (Colleen Miller) as she awakens.

She is doused with water as Her blouse clings and the camera lingers from below on Her upper half.

You'd better sew up that dress," He tells the oblivious Gal after a roll around with Calhoun. And there's more.

She is Flirtatious with a Candy Cane and a Bottle of Sarsaparilla.

She goes out in a nighttime rainstorm in Her bed clothes and meets soaking wet with Calhoun in the barn.

There is dialog, once the gang gets to town about Men being hogtied by Women and Calhoun's ex-Lover is now His former Friend's Wife and She breaks up a fistfight by literally pulling a buggy whip on both of them.

This kind of Adults at play stuff was not available on The Tube and by 1954 it was obvious Movies had to offer something a bit different to get Folks off the couch.

The good Cast, color Photography, and the sexual stuff make this one stand out as an above average Entry in the crowded field of the Western Movies of that Decade.