Gun Fury (1953) Reviews

• Action packed, fast moving, enjoyable western.

  tmwest2005-08-12

  It is not as rewarding to do a typical western story as it is to for an unusual story. Gun Fury has a conventional story but the screenplay , besides being adapted from a good novel by Kathleen George has to its credit Roy Huggins and Irving Wallace. Huggins directed and wrote the script of "Hangman's Knot" an excellent Randolph Scott western and Wallace became a famous writer later on. The film also has Raoul Walsh as the director and that is quite an asset. The scenery and color are outstanding, and the fact that the film was made originally in 3D gives it some interesting scenes like objects being thrown at the spectator, also arrows, stones, even a threatening snake. Donna Reed plays a southern lady who is going to marry Rock Hudson. She is kidnapped, Hudson is almost killed and goes after her with an Indian (Pat Hogan) and Leo Gordon (Tom Burgess). On the way they meet Estella (Roberta Haynes) who is in love with the bad guy (Phil Carey), but has been rejected by him. Haynes gives a good performance, but considering she plays a Mexican, her Spanish is far from perfect. The real star of the film, even though Hudson is quite good in his role is Phil Carey, great as Frank Clayton, a man with no morals, who is madly in love with Donna Reed. An entertaining, action packed western, enjoyable from the first to the last scene.

• Be prepared for a rough ride…

  Nazi_Fighter_David2005-12-31

  "Gun Fury" is a little colorful Western that was originally shown in 3-D… The film shows outdoor scenes, set against spectacular Arizona scenery… Walsh introduced his main characters quickly: Ben (Rock Hudson) is a California-bound settler interested only in the future… He spent five years fighting somebody else's quarrel… The woman he intends to marry is meeting him in Haynesville…They will go on to his place from there… Jennifer Ballard (Donna Reed) has never been so happy… She just can't believe that she is really with Ben… She has waited for him so long… Frank Slayton (Phil Carey) is a ruthless 'Southern gentleman' who fought the war and saw 'his' world die…For him, Jennifer brought back things he hadn't thought of in years: Richmond, the ladies in fancy dresses, garden parties, dances… Jess (Leo Gordon) was not trying to run things… But he refused to let Slayton drag Miss Ballard along… Walsh's direction was simple, direct and muscular, wary of self-consciously picturesque or poetic camera angles… Always a popular entertainer he was one of the more able, resilient and versatile Hollywood directors…

• Tough, solid, overlooked western drama

  NewEnglandPat2003-04-11

  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.

• Routine Western Action With Rock Hudson

  stryker-51999-02-20

  "I'm sick of violence and force," says Ben Warren, the rich young rancher who is taking his fiancee Jennifer to California for their wedding. Like most Americans of his generation, he served in the Civil War and was disgusted by the slaughter. Now he is devoted to working his big spread and marrying his beautiful girl (played by Donna Reed). Unfortunately, the barren South West is not remote enough from recent history. Men have crossed the Rockies to escape from the bitterness back East, but they have carried their violence westwards with them. The film is the story of a stagecoach holdup which turns into an abduction, then a manhunt. Ben Warren (Rock Hudson) sets off after the bad guys who kidnapped his bride-to-be, and pursues them across the Arizona desert. A standard horse opera, "Gun Fury" contains no more than the average complement of guns and precious little fury. There are absurdities in the storyline, like the holdup with fake cavalry escort, and the ease with which the 'good guys' recover from seemingly mortal harm (Ben is shot dead, apparently, but then gets up and carries on as if nothing happened, and Jess is almost dead from sunstroke but quickly rallies and rides after Slayton). The trade of Jennifer for Jess is silly, not least because Jess would never want to rejoin Slayton's gang. One directorial quirk exhibited by Raoul Walsh is the way in which any character who throws something (knife, rock, pottery) has a victim's-point-of-view cutaway inserted. The viewer is, for an instant, seemingly the target of the missile. The purpose of this oddity is to exploit the 3-D format in which the film was originally shot. The only other talking point is the presence of Lee Marvin and Neville Brand as bad guys in Slayton's gang. Verdict - workmanlike western, but nothing special

• Rock and Donna on the way up

  jjnxn-12013-05-11

  Beautiful looking western in dazzling Technicolor is otherwise an ordinary affair but does have Rock Hudson and Donna Reed both on the cusp of bigger things. Donna made From Here to Eternity the same year as this and although it didn't really enhance her movie fortunes it raised her fame level easing her transition to TV fame as the perfect homemaker. Rock would break out of the B's the next year with Magnificent Obsession that turned him into box office gold for years. This film does have a good pace and a hissable villain in Phil Carey plus an early peek at Lee Marvin. For western fans or admirers of the stars this should be an enjoyable view.