Day of the Evil Gun (1968)

Glenn Ford is gunman Lorne Warfield, who returns home after a two-year absence to find that his wife and two daughters have been captured by the Apache.

He sets off to find them, accompanied by Owen Forbes (Arthur Kennedy), a well-to-do rancher who planned to marry Warfield’s wife — she was convinced he had been killed and would never return.

Theirs is an uneasy alliance, and Warfield does his best to shake Forbes. But he’s a stubborn man, one quick to buy whatever he needs, one quick to criticize Warfield’s violent way of life, but one who kills to survive and learns it’s easy to keep on killing.

Warfield, meanwhile, has come to rely more on wits than violence. He’s ready to settle down to a life without a gun, but first he’s determined to rescue his family.

That won’t be easy. They’ve been taken far into the hills to an Apache stronghold, perhaps to be killed as part of a sacred ritual.

The big question: If the rescue is successful, which future will his wife choice for herself and her two children.

Glenn Ford as Lorne Warfield, a former gunman desperate to find his kidnapped family in Day of the Evil Gun (1968)

Arthur Kennedy as Owen Forbes, his resentment of Lorne Warfield growing in Day of the Evil Gun (1968)

Review:

If the rescue proves too easy to believe and the ending a might trite, the trek Warfield and Forbes make to the Apache camp is an interesting one. They’re helped along by an Indian trader who pretends to be mad (Dean Jagger as Jimmy Noble) and a shopkeeper in a town plagued by cholera.

They survive torture at the hands of one Apache band, and manage to help a band of cavalry renegades fight off another band of Indians determined to get two ammunition wagons the renegades have stolen.

Besides Jagger, lots of familiar faces show up along the way — John Anderson, Royal Dano, James Griffith, Paul Fix.

But the role of the wife is a decidedly minor one for Barbara Babcock. In fact, a photo Forbes carries of her probably gets more screen time than she does.

Dean Jagger as Jimmy Noble, the man who pretends to be crazy in order to trade with the Apache in Day of the Evil Gun (1968)

Nico Minardos as Louis Jose DeLeon, the man Warfield tricks into helping him escape an Apache camp in Day of the Evil Gun (1968)

Directed by:
Jerry Thorpe

Cast:
Glenn Ford … Lorne Warfield
Arthur Kennedy … Owen Forbes
Dean Jagger … Jimmy Noble
John Anderson … Capt. Jefferson Addis
Nico Manardos … Louis Jose DeLeon
Harry Dean Stanton … 1st Sgt. Parker
Paul Fix … Sheriff Kelso
Pilar Pellicer … Lydia Yearby
Parley Baer … Wilford
Royal Dano … Dr. Eli Prather
Ross Elliott … Rev. Yearby
Barbara Babcock … Angie Warfield
James Griffith … Storekeeper

Runtime: 93 min.

Royal Dano as Dr. Eli Prather, the man battling a cholera epidemic in his town in Day of the Evil Gun (1968)

James Griffith as the storekeeper threatened into providing information on the captives whereabouts in Day of the Evil Gun (1968)

Memorable lines:

Owen Forbes: “You can’t stand me, can you? Because I belong somewhere. Cause I have roots and you don’t.”
Lorne Warfield; “They won’t do you much good out here.”

Owen Forbes: “I want my money, you thievin’ preacher’s son”
The comment earns a scowl from Lorne Warfield.
Forbes: “Yes, I know what you could have been and what you are.”

Owens Forbes, after Lorne Warfield has snatched a photo of his family and torn Forbe’s image from the corner of it: “It’s my picture.”
Lorne Warfield: “It’s my wife.”

Doctor to Warfield, as he deals with a cholera outbreak: “I don’t have time for you. I’m too busy killing people.”

Owen Forbes: “He’s not a captain. They’re deserters.”
Capt. Addis: “Renegade’s a better word. It implies a spirit of adventure.”

John Anderson as Capt. Jefferson Addis, a renegade planning to trade the Apache weapons for a payroll wagon in Day of the Evil Gun (1968)

Harry Dean Stanton (left) as Sgt. Parker, second in command among the renegade soldiers in Day of the Evil Gun (1968)

Pilar Pellicer as Lydia Yearby, the captured pastor’s wife returned by the Apache in Day of the Evil Gun (1968)

Barbara Babcock as Angie Warfield, staked out for sacrifce by the Apache in Day of the Evil Gun (1968)

Arthur Kennedy, explaining his plans to marry Angie Warfield in Day of the Evil Gun (1968)

Glenn Ford as Lorne Warfield, trying to survive an Apache attack in Day of the Evil Gun (1968)