The Fastest Gun Alive

There is always someone faster than you; an idea that drove a whole subgenre of westerns over the years, the fast draw. From Clint Eastwood to John Wayne to Randolph Scott, westerns have dealt with fast draw artists for as long as movies have been made. And if books, magazines, TV shows, and movies have taught us anything, it's lonely at the top. But unlike the stakes in The Hustler which is just pride on the line, the fast draw in a western is a life and death situation.

So with little work needed, the framework is there for an easy story to be told. Someone always wants to take on the best and prove that they are in fact, THE BEST. The Gregory Peck western The Gunfighter explored this idea in 1950 which was reused more than a few times, including 1956's The Fastest Gun Alive. What starts off as a near classic completely derails in the final scene though in an otherwise above average western.

Riding into a western town with the two members of his gang (John Dehner and Noah Berry Jr), hardened gunfighter Vinnie Harold (Broderick Crawford) walks up to a saloon and calls out for Clint Fallon, a man known as one of the fastest guns in the west. Unprompted with no other reason to see who is quicker, Vinnie guns down Clint and a legend begins to grow. Down the trail in a little town called Cross Creek, a quiet storekeeper, George Temple (Glenn Ford), lives with his pregnant wife (Jeanne Crain) while going day to day hearing the digs and criticisms all of the men in town. George doesn't drink and doesn't wear a gun.

But after four years living in Cross Creek, George has had enough and snaps, strapping on the gunbelt he told his wife he threw away long ago. He puts on a show in the street in front of the whole town, shooting two silver dollars in midair and blasting apart a beer mug before it can hit the ground when dropped. And so George becomes his own sort of legend among the townsfolk. But unknown to George and the town, Vinnie Harold and his gang are riding their way with a posse on their tail. Is there any way George can avoid the showdown with the unhinged Harold?

The script is a strong one that intentionally or not borrows elements from High Noon. One man can either save or destroy a town with one decision. But like in High Noon, the situation can be enfuriating as someone watching the movie. Late in the movie, George is forced to make a decision that could save the town, full of whiney weaklings who won't pick up a gun. There's at least 20 men in town who could carry a gun who are scared of three gunslingers. Team up and take them out for God's sake!

As the title character, Glenn Ford has never been better. I've seen many of Ford's westerns, and I'm going out on a limb to say this is his best career performance. The first 45 minutes or so has Ford's George in a slow burn as his place in life starts to rattle around in his head. He's as good with a gun as just about any man and feels the need to show it after years of people doubting him and laughing at him. A late twist and revelation puts a nice spin on the story. You think it's going one way, and then WHAM!, it takes a different route. This twist sets up the ending which had a chance to be one of the great endings in a western if it wanted to be.

But no, director Russell Rouse and scriptwriters Frank D. Gilroy have to add another twist on the ending. I won't spoil it here, I'll let the ending ruin the movie for you to on first viewing. Heading into this one last shootout, I'm already thinking about the very positive review I would be writing, and even at the end of the shootout, it's still in my head how great, how appropriate that ending is. But in that last scene, a completely unnecessary twist is made just so the movie can end with a happy ending. I was ready to give 'Fastest Gun Alive' a 3, maybe 3.5 stars, but that ending really disappointed me.

On the whole, everything else is nearly perfect, especially Broderick Crawford as the possibly psychotic Vinnie Harold who has a deep-seeded obsession with proving he's the fastest gun in the west. Crawford's presence is always dynamic onscreen, and his deep, booming voice was made for him to be a western villain. The rest of the cast is solid too, including Crain as George's worrying wife, and a great list of character actors including Leif Erickson, Rhys Williams, John Doucette, Russ Tamblyn (even getting an unnecessary, out of place dance sequence), Allyn Joslyn, Virginia Gregg and J.M. Kerrigan.

A good example of how a bad ending can ruin an otherwise nearly great movie, The Fastest Gun Alive could have been a classic in the vein of High Noon. Like I said, I was ready to give it at least 3 stars, minimum, but the ending was a complete disappointment especially when considering how everything has built to a certain conclusion. Too bad because Glenn Ford delivers a career-best performance in this B&W western.

The Fastest Gun Alive <---trailer (1956): **/**** Watch the movie broken down into 10-minute segments starting here (movie starts about 3 minutes in)