Monday, May 6, 2019

GUN STREET 1961 (AMAZON PRIME)

One of the best westerns to be directed by Edward L. Cahn.

James Brown stars as Sheriff Chuck Morton, a cynical man who is tired of being Sheriff and resentful of many people around him.

A letter arrives at the Sheriff's office that a killer has escaped from jail and is on the loose. Morton knows this particular killer and had warned people about him when he was arrested a few years back, but nobody wanted to hang him, they felt sorry for him.

The killer has vowed to return and get even with everyone who helped send him to prison. Morton and his Deputy, Sam Freed (John Clarke), try to keep everything under control while looking for the killer and trying to protect cowardly townsfolk at the same time.

This is what I consider to be an angry film in the context that the Sheriff if resentful and cynical and the dialogue points this out very clearly. You get the feeling watching this that you are seeing a real man who is tired of the problems people cause him as a law enforcement agent.

Jean Willes is Joan Brady, the woman who loves Morton and it's always nice to see Willes in anything. The romance between her and Morton is really played down as it must take a back seat to the escaped killer and everything else going on in this small town.

A good, well made western whose cast also includes Med Flory, Peggy Stewart and Warren Kemmerling.

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