The Man Behind the Gun (1952)

Randolph Scott is Maj. Ransome Callicut, sent on an undercover mission to California to head off a possible revolt in the state.

Those plotting the revolt apparently want to make California a slave state and figure they’ll have the upper hand if they can gain control of the scarce water supply in Los Angeles.

When Sen. Mark Sheldon is assassinated, Callicut figures his suspects include pretty saloon owner Chona Degnon (Lina Romay), outlaw Vic Sutro (Anthony Caruso) and Southern sympathiser Bram Creegan (Morris Ankrum).

Even Capt. Roy Giles, commander of the local army garrison, isn’t above suspicion. After all, he’s from Virginia and has pro-South leanings of his own.

But Giles quickly proves his trustworthiness, and Callicut is able to recruit one of Sutro’s young guns — Joaquin Murietta — to assist in his efforts to pinpoint the leader of the revolt.

In addition to preventing a California revolution, Callicut and Giles have another common interest, pretty school teacher Lora Roberts (Patrice Wymore).

She’s traveled from the East to California to marry Giles, only to find they’ve grown apart during a long separation.

Randolph Scott as Maj. Ransome Callicut, an undercover government agent work to root out corruption in early California in The Man Behind the Gun (1952)

Patrice Wymore as Lora Roberts, a young woman who arrives in California to marry a captain and teach school in The Man Behind the Gun (1952)

Review:

Not one of Scott’s better Westerns. The plot’s a bit too convoluted, the comic relief that Dick Wesson and Alan Hale Jr. are supposed to provide never really clicks, and Callicut and his men wind up infiltrating the revolutionary camp way too easily.

That said, director Felix Feist pulls out all the stops during an action-packed climax that includes a long catfight between Lina and Lora, a cavalry attack on the bad guy’s camp and a horse chase right off the end of a partly demolished bridge.

This marked the final Western film for Patrice Wymore, who had become the last Mrs. Errol Flynn three years earlier. It was the final film for Lina Romay, who got her start in Hollywood in the early 1940s.

Robert Cabal, the young actor who plays Joaquin Murietta here, is best known as Hey Soos from the “Rawhide” TV series (1959-1965)

Lina Romay as Chona Degnon, a saloon singer used to turning heads, then using them for her advantage in The Man Behind the Gun (1952)

Roy Roberts as Sen. Mark Sheldon, a politician with a secret Maj. Callicut doesn’t know about in The Man Behind the Gun (1952)

Directed by:
Felix Feist

Cast:
Randolph Scott … Maj. Ransome Callicut
Philip Carey … Capt. Roy Giles
Patrice Wymore … Lora Roberts
Dick Wesson … Sgt. Monk Walker
Alan Hale Jr. … Cpl. Olaf Swenson
Lina Romay … Chona Degnon
Morris Ankrum … Bram Creegan
Roy Roberts … Sen. Mark Sheldon
Katharine Warren … Pheobe Sheldon
Douglas Fowley … Buckley
Anthony Caruso … Vic Sutro
Clandy Cooper … “Kansas” Collins
Robert Cabal … Joaquin Murietta

Runtime: 82 min.

Dick Wesson as Sgt. Monk Walker, one of Maj. Callicut’s sidekicks in The Man Behind the Gun (1952)

Anthony Caruso as Vic Sultro, a fast gun aligned with Creegan and his efforts to stop California statehood in The Man Behind the Gun (1952)

Memorable lines:

Maj. Callicut: “I was told when a man got this far West, nobody asks him questions. Just ride along with me and you’ll meet up with some interesting answers.”

Maj. Callicut, admiring Lora Robert’s spunk: “That little tenderfeet’s got calluses.”

Chona Degnon: “You are a very bad boy, huh?”
Maj. Callicut: “Just misunderstood.”

Monk Walker, about Callicut’s flirtations: “You rampaging rooster.”
Callicut: “I can’t make up my mind. That school teacher’s alright, but Chona’s a little more unique.”
Monk: “If you don’t stay out of the captain’s harem, you’ll be unique.”

Philip Carey as Capt. Roy Giles, the U.S. officer Callicut suspects of betraying the government cause in The Man Behind the Gun (1952)

Randolph Scott as Ransome Callicut, arriving in Los Angeles pretending to be a school teacher as Monk Walker (Dick Wesson) and Olaf Swensen (Alan Hale Jr.) look on in The Man Behind the Gun (1952)

Lina Romay as Chona Degnon and Douglas Fowley as her business partner Buckley (Douglas Fowley, middle) taking cover during a gun battle in The Man Behind the Gun (1952)

Morris Ankrum as Bram Creegan, one of the men wrestling for control of southern California in The Man Behind the Gun (1952)

Robert Cabal as Joaquin Murietta, a young bandit recruited by Maj. Callicut to put an end to a gun-running enterprise in The Man Behind the Gun (1952)

Lina Romay as Chona Degnon and Patrice Wymore as Lora Roberts, both exhausted after a catfight in The Man Behind the Gun (1952)