Shotgun

Shotgun is one of the best directorial efforts of Lesley Selander who has his name on about a gazillion B westerns, a large percentage of them the Hopalong Cassidy series. He brings a love of the genre to this ambitious Allied Artists films shot on location in Arizona with a fine trio of stars, Sterling Hayden, Yvonne DeCarlo, and Zachary Scott.

Guy Presscott should have left well enough alone because he decided to gun down marshal Lane Chandler on the street of his town. He also had his deputy Sterling Hayden in mind, but Hayden got one of Presscott's henchmen instead. After that Presscott goes about his usual villainy which includes selling guns to the Apaches.

Presscott took on the first mission because he blamed Chandler and Hayden for a stretch in prison. He should have nailed Hayden when he had a chance because now Hayden has a mission, to avenge the killing of the man who had rescued him from outlaw life.

Along the way Hayden picks up as traveling companions mixed racial Yvonne DeCarlo and cynical bounty hunter Zachary Scott. It's not a harmonious trio by any means. Scott has some really good lines in this film and gives one of his best screen performances.

The film has some beautiful Arizona scenery as it was shot in the desert country of Sedona. The final encounter with Hayden and Presscott features something I've never seen before or since in a western, a duel with shotguns. Really unique and original.

Try not to miss this one if it's broadcast.

Well directed by Lesley Selander ( unknown as a director to me ) it has two major merits; one, the casting of Sterling Hayden and Yvonne de Carlo, and two the use of the outdoors, and only marginally using interior shots. The editing is excellent and not one minute of the film is wasted. Hayden plays an outlaw turned good and Yvonne de Carlo plays an ex-saloon entertainer. Their pairing here is of a rough romance but the ending is inevitable. No spoilers on the plot except to say that Hayden is hunting down a batch of killers and finds de Carlo on the way. The film shows the Apache people in a slightly less offensive way than usual. There is a scene where de Carlo bathes in a stream hidden by foliage and there is no come on scene as depicted on the sensationalist original poster. It is true that Zachary Scott who has joined them takes a peek and gets very badly beaten up for it, but it is certainly no open season for Abby. De Carlo's character. On the contrary she is dressed in men's clothes all through the film, and there is never a female garment in sight. The BBFC shows the poster and it just shows how far Hollywood would draw in an audience, and to put it lightly exaggerate the subject matter. To sum up Hayden and de Carlo are perfect together and they both had the rare art of acting while being simply themselves. On screen that is, and it is not as easy as it seems.

Sterling Hayden was a good, macho actor with a nice screen presence. Because he was so good, even a rather routine western like "Shotgun" is worth seeing.

The film begins with the Marshall being gunned down by Thompson and his gang. Their weapon...a shotgun. Deputy Marshall Clay Harden (Hayden) is all set to retire...but he cannot allow himself to leave the Marshall unavenged. So, he tracks the gang members though the Arizona countryside as he picks them off one by one. Along the way, he meets a superfluous woman, a sleazy bounty hunter and a whole lotta Apache.

The film is lovely to look at, as it's in color and the Sedona countryside is spectacular. Less spectacular is the plot, as Yvonne De Carlo's role isn't especially necessary AND some of the dialog between her and Hayden is downright silly. Also silly is the duel at the end...a bit hard to believe. But the film, on balance has a bit more to like than dislike and if you enjoy the genre, give this one a look.

By the way, this film has a rattlesnake...if you are deathly afraid of snakes, better try another movie!

Even if you consider only his second part of career, this western is above the average stuff from this specialist in the gender. Of course Sterling Hayden contributes more than a part in the quality of this movie. The topic. In this film, Sterling Hayden's character has his first name CLAY and this is Hayden's last name in THE KILLING. That amused me. So, back to this western, yes we have the proof that Lesley Selander could make good films when he had the budget, especially after several decades of films and hundreds of them. He had plenty of time to learn how to direct westerns. The peculiarity here is the raw brutality of several scenes, very rude, rare for this period. But Ray Enright, another western specialist from the forties, gave us this kind of feeling too with some of his films. I almost forgot to speak of Yvonne De Carlo, the underrated great actress from Hollywood whose beauty was far far beyond the roles she had in her career.

A Deputy Marshal in Arizona (Sterling Hayden) goes after a ruthless killer (Guy Prescott) in the sunny wasteland, where he meets a spitfire (Yvonne De Carlo) and a suave bounty hunter (Zachary Scott).

"Shotgun" (1955) is an obscure 50's Western so my expectations weren't exactly great, but it's actually pretty unique and commendable. At first, I thought it was going to be a town-bound Western, but the movie was shot primarily in the spectacular desert wilderness of the heart of Arizona. Hayden is laconic and determined while De Carlo is spirited and beautiful; meanwhile Scott is smooth and Prescott shady.

I like the psychological examination of the characters. Although the villain is wholly corrupt, most of the others function somewhere in the grey area, which makes for interesting social dynamics. The depiction of the Apaches is thankfully believable with many of them being of Amer-Indian stock. Lastly, the showdown in the last act is well done and inventive.

The film runs 1 hour, 20 minutes, and was shot at Vasquez Rocks in the high country north of Los Angeles (the opening) but mostly in the Sedona, Arizona, area (Red Rock Crossing & Oil Creek) with town scenes done at Universal City, California.

GRADE: B.