No Name on the Bullet

When John Gant , a softy-spoken, baby-faced Audie Murphy , rides into Lordsburg, the town's folk become paranoid as each leading citizen has enemies seeking revenge , only none of the citizens know who the intented victim is . As the notorious hired gun whose arrival in town means a mission to kill , but who ?. While a honest doctor : Charles Drake , and a humble sheriff : Willis Bouchey , hope to halt potential bloodshed , but is neighbour's guilty secrets suggest no shortage of possible targets . Meantime , they wait for him to make his move, and John Gant behaves easily . But there are inhabitants capable of using the services of a professional killer for personal vendetta. The strangest killer who ever stalked the West ! Everyone in Town Had a Guilty Secret That Marked Him for Death! Twenty-four "victims" had died before his lightning draw...until he came to the quiet town that had marked him for death! Everyone has enemies, and maybe Gant is in town for them. ... AUDIE...in the most unusual role of his exciting career!

Entertaining B-picture model , including action , thrills , fights , shoot'em up and packing some surprises . An intriguing , twisted story about a professional killer who arrives in a little town , then paranoia starts taking over and although no one knows who he is there to murder , they are all worried . Given the escalating paranoia , you might assume a McCarthyte parable about corruption lurking the community , yet the clever storyline points provocatively at establishment wrong doing. And including a stirring final stand-off that results to be thrilling , charged and riveting with the hired killer taking off surprising contenders using a hammer , too . The story is interesting and mysterious , a strong confrontation with a intrigue behind , including an enjoyable deneoument with twists and turns . An agreeable and slight tale well written by Gene L. Coon , and very interesting , containing some cliches , though paced in fits and starts , at times . Audie Murphy gives a pretty good acting as the cool, cultured gunman , this is undoubtedly Murphy's strongest showing on the saddle , too . Audie is well accompanied by a good support cast such as : Charles Drake , R.G. Armstrong , Joan Evans, Virginia Grey, Warren Stevens , Willis Bouchey , Edgar Stehli , Karl Swenson , Simon Scott , Whit Bissell , Jerry Paris , among others

Being colorfully photographed in Spectacular Technicolor by Harold Lipstein . As well as moving and thrilling musical score by Herman Stein and Irving Gertz though uncredited .This well-edited , compact motion picture was nicely produced by Howard Christie for Universal Pictures and compellingly directed by Jack Arnold in his best foray into the Western genre . Although he is indelibly associated with classy Sci-Fi , this is the fourth and finest effort in his 50s Westerns. Unfortunately , Arnold's final film of genuine worth before a further two decades of TV series , episodes and other minor assgnments . He reigns supreme as one of the greatest filmmakers of 50s science , achieving an important cult popularity with classics as ¨The Incredible Shrinking Man¨, "The Creature from the Black Lagoon," and its follow-up titled "Revenge of the Creature" that was a nice sequel . "Tarantula" was likewise a lot of amusement . This "The Incredible Shrinking Man" attained his greatest enduring cult popularity , it's a thought-provoking and impressive classic that's lost none of its power throughout the years . Arnold's final two genre entries were the interesting "Monster on the Campus" and the outlandish "The Space Children¨ . Rating : 7/10 . Decent and acceptable Western . Well catching for Western buffs .

When hired killer Audie Murphy rides into town, everyone gets nervous. Not so much because he's a killer, but because they all have something to hide. This is a wonderfully suspenseful, very low budget western, directed by Jack Arnold, from near the end of Murphy's period as Universal-International's resident cowboy star. His filmography may not be so distinguished as that of Gary Cooper or John Wayne, but it's an awful lot better than many have made it out to be. This fine-tuned gem is a heck of a lot better than North To Alaska.

Movies like No Name on the Bullet uncover the depth of talent in Hollywood. The roles are filled almost exclusively by familiar faces with unfamiliar names - R. G. Armstrong, Willis Bouchey, Edgar Stehli - with the result that one can concentrate on the story characters rather than being distracted by "star presence".

Without a top-heavy cast, the story itself also gains focus, and I think the story of No Name on the Bullet is fascinating. What happens when a notorious contract killer rides into town and...does absolutely nothing?

The one star of the movie, Audie Murphy, plays the gunman. I love Murphy, one of Hollywood's misspent talents. Does this also apply to the the character actors I refer to above? Not really.

Character players, though quite talented, rarely attain stardom - Edward G. Robinson, Claire Trevor and Claude Rains are notable exceptions - not through neglect or misuse but by some limitation of range or persona. Audie Murphy's talent was misspent because, though obvious, it was never developed, either by studios, who, myopically, only wanted to exploit his war hero status as a box office draw, or directors who, in Murphy's career, were usually "line directors," good for getting a movie in the can on time and on budget rather than for getting great performances out their players.

Which brings me to director Jack Arnold, who does a journeyman's job, but who I believe is the cause for what another reviewer wrongheadedly calls Murphy's shortcomings. Stilted lines and studied movement are the results of "hands-off" direction. This is OK for the character parts, where skilled players in simple roles don't need much direction, but not for lead roles. Watching Murphy I'm reminded of another sadly underdeveloped star, Alan Ladd, whose talents always shone under a great director, but who didn't get those directors consistently enough, in my opinion, to fulfill his promise. Coincidentally, both Murphy and Ladd died prematurely. Perhaps not coincidentally, both had drinking problems. I wonder if they might have been experiencing similar frustrations.

Since No Name on the Bullet contains complex secondary parts, it's fortunate, that the players cast for these parts are outstanding, so the characters are interesting. Unfortunately, the budget constraints force the runtime of the film to be far too short. The result is a number of unresolved character studies. I want to know more about the blacksmith, the ex-flame and the judge - and more about the gunfighter. I'd also like to see more denouement. The main plot ends too abruptly, as if the producers were saying, "That's all we can afford to give you, Folks." That said, I wouldn't call the ending dumb, again as the wrongheaded reviewer cited above asserts, just shortchanged.

Returning to my opening thesis, that watching a cast of talented character players carry a movie is a special treat, I highly recommend this little gem of a Western.

One of Audie Murphy's two best Westerns, along with "Duel at Silver Creek." Audie departs from his usual role as a Good Guy, to play a part that is more bad than good, but has admirable qualities as well (honesty & responsibility chief among them). He underplays this role, which is one of the reasons that the movie works so well. It has little action for a B Western, but the action comes in a surprisingly violent sequence. The plot avoids many of the usual Western clichés, instead providing thought provoking dialog. Why do the TV channels repeatedly show Audie's mediocre movies & avoid showing his best? I rate it 8/10.

What this taut, tense and very-well-acted psychological western drama lacks in subtlety, it makes up in voltage, I suggest. The director, Jack Arnold, is noted for his making something engrossing out of low-grade horror material ("Creature From the Black Lagoon"); here he has first-rate supporting actors, a good setting and an interesting story to work with. The script was supplied with story by Howard Amacker and screenplay by Gene L. Coon. Con, later a contributor to "Star trek" followed a pattern in his writing; he introduced a false premise on the part of the central character and then let him find out his mistake as the action progressed; such a premise can lead to "discovery' that take the viewer along, or to a script where a false set of values are imposed onto existing materials. Here the formula work rather well, as most viewers of the film have noted. In this plot line, the ethical central character is a doctor, played by Charles Drake. To his town there comes a man called Gant. he is recognized as a famous hired gun; his pattern is to goad a man into drawing on him, outdraw him legally, then having done his job, to ride away and collect his "bounty' on a desired death. The man who recognizes him, and many others, begin to fear as the quiet, soft-spoken Gant waits and says nothing about his target, that the gunman is after them. The town's sheriff tells the townsmen he cannot go after Gant, since the man's neither wanted nor doing anything wrong. The Doctor befriends Gant, underplayed with some skill by Audie Murphy, who calls him "the only other honest man in town"; Gant expresses his admiration to the Doctor's girl, sultry Joan Evans, as well. But the tension undermines the shell of appearance and the questionable courage of several in town. the town's banker, Whitner Bissell, after a mine and worried the cheated owner has hired Gant, takes a gun, and failing in nerve tower's shoot Gant kills himself. Warren Stevens, who took Gant's wife Virginia Grey away, nerves himself up even though he is a coward to face Gant, then runs away, taking Grey with him, as he always does. The rancher cheated of the mine, John Alderson, fears the banker has hired Gant to finish his theft and organizes a vigilante group. Gant faces them down, outdraws brave Sheriff Willis Bouchey, and goes back to his vigil. Others in town including Dutch, played by Simon Scott and the banker's partner Karl Swenson now begin worrying also; only the blacksmith, the Doctor's father R.G. Springsteen and the town character, Hank Patterson, and the storekeeper Russ bender remained unaffected. At last Gant zeroes in on his man, a retired Judge, Evans' father Edgar Stehli; his method is simple. Evans' visits him in his room to ask him to leave; he tears her blouse, and takes the piece of cloth to the Judge. The Judge is outraged, and despite the fact he is dying and crippled, tries to shoot Gant. The gunman evades him, and leaves him alive. As he departs, he is met by the blacksmith and Drake; thinking he has killed the Judge, Drake throws a weapon at his arm, crippling him. Gant accepts his fate, and rides off, leaving the town wondering who is the honest man, and who is the killer. The film's features cinematography by Harold Lipstein,costumes by the great Bill Thomas, music by Herman Stein, art direction by legendary Alexander Golitzen and Robert Emmett Smith, sets by Theodore Driscoll and Russel A Gausman and makeup by Bud Westmore. This is a powerful and meaningful film that almost works perfectly. Drake and Scott, Bissell and Grey and Stevens are particularly fine; Evans is beautiful and effective as the Doctor's girl, and Springsteen is powerful as his father, as are excellent actors Bouchey and Bissell. As the Judge Stehli is intelligent and moving as always. This is a film that has been a pattern for many psychological westerns to follow, including the Clint Eastwood "man with no name" series. Not to be missed.