Forty Guns (1957)

Barry Sullivan is Griff Bonnell, a fast gun looking to start a new life on a farm in California. Then he winds up in a town where the sheriff, who’s going blind, is running scared.

Seems a young punk is giving him trouble. When the punk guns down the sheriff, who won’t draw, Bonnell steps in. Soon, he’s the law in these parts, with his brothers, Wes (Gene Barry) and Chico (Robert Dix).

But these parts are run by lovely Jessica Drummond (Barbara Stanwyck), who rides a white stallion at the head of 40 armed gunmen. And that young punk is none other than her brother, Brockie (John Ericson).

Jessica is used to running everything in these here parts. But she soon finds herself trapped between a brother who’s out of control and a man who she can’t control.

It doesn’t help that she’s fallen in love with the latter.

Barry Sullivan as Griff Bonnell, pitted against a tough lady rancher not used to bending to any man in Forty Guns (1957)

Barbara Stanwyck as Jessica Drummond, sitting at the head of her table of 40 men in Forty Guns (1967)

Review:

Hysterical little film with an exceptional opening, some violent surprises, and a tornado thrown in for good measure.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t quite work, partly because it’s tough to imagine a woman as tough as Jessica Drummond is supposed to be succumbing to the charms of Griff Bonnell so easily or so submissively.

Dean Jagger has one of the most interesting roles, as a lawman more than willing to do Jessica’s bidding, hoping that one day she’ll realize how much she matters to him.

The next year, Gene Barry would embark on a successful stint as TV’s “Bat Masterson.”

This marked Barbara Stanwyck’s final big screen Western. In 1965, she’d embark on the role for which she’s best remembered, as Victoria Barkley on the TV series “The Big Valley” (1965-1969).

Gene Barry as Wes Bonnell, who finds love in an unlikely place — the gunsmith shop — in Forty Guns (1957)

Robert Dix as Chico Bonnell, after helping spoil a planned ambush of his older brother in Forty Guns (1957)

Directed by:
Samuel Fuller

Cast:
Barbara Stanwyck … Jessica Drummond
Barry Sullivan … Griff Bonnell
Dean Jagger … Sheriff Logan
John Ericson … Brockie Drummond
Gene Barry … Wes Bonnell
Robert Dix … Chico Bonnell
Jidge Carroll … Barney Cashman
Paul Dubov … Judge Macy
Gerald Milton … Shotgun Spanger
Ziva Rodann … Rio
Hank Worden … Marshal John Chisum
Neyle Morrow … Wiley
Chuck Roberson … Howard Swain
Chuck Hayward … Charlies Savage
Eve Brent … Louvenia Spanger
Sandy Wirth … Chico’s Girlfriend

Runtime: 79 min.

Theme song: “High Ridin’ Woman”
Sung by Jidge Carroll

John Ericson as Brockie Drummond, the younger brother who causes so many problems in Forty Guns (1957)

Dean Jagger as Sheriff Logan, the man willing to do almost anything for Jessica Drummond in Forty Guns (1957)

Memorable lines:

Griff Bonnell: “Start running, John. Run before your eyes give out all the way.”
Marshal John Chisum: “What if the doc can’t make me see?”
Griff: “Then you’ll be blind instead of dead.”

Wes Bonnell: “She even looks good in overalls.”
Chico Bonnell: “Who?”
Wes: “Built like a .40-.40. I’d like to stay around long enough to clean her rifle.”

Jessica Drummond: “I don’t want an unbranded calf in my corral because of your carelessness and I’m tired of paying for your mistakes.”
Brockie Drummond of Rio, his latest conquest: “Did she go to you?”
Jessica: “Of course she did. They all do. At this rate, you’ll wind up with a woman in every posada and a calf in every corral. Give me your gun.”
Brockie: “Sometimes a man’s gotta blow off a little steam.”
Jessica: “If you can’t handle a horse without spurs, you have no business riding.”

Wes Bonnell: “I never kissed a gunsmith before.”
Louvenia Spanger: “Any recoil?”

Eve Brent as Louvenia Spangler, the lady gunsmith who wants to fit Wes Bonnell with the perfect rifle in Forty Guns (1957)

Gerald Milton as Shotgun Spangler, watching the Bonnell brothers dispense justice in Forty Guns (1957)

Jessica Drummond: “I’m not interested in you, Mr. Bonnell. It’s your trademark.” She gestures toward his gun. “May I feel it?”
Griff Bonnell: “Uh-uh.”
Jessica Drummond: “Just curious.”
Griff Bonnell: “It might go off in your face.”
Jessica Drummond: “I’ll take the chance.”

Jessica Drummond, showing Griff Bonnell a hideout: “I was bitten by a rattler in there when I was 15.”
Griff Bonnell: “Bet that rattler died.”

Griff Bonnell: “What’s the matter? You look upset.”
Jessica Drummond: “I was born upset.”

Jessica Drummond to Griff Bonnell: “If a town has got to have peace, let somebody else build it on graves. You want the only evidence of your life’s work to be bullet holes in men?”

Hank Worden as Marshal Chisum, receiving advice to leave town from Griff Bonnell (Barry Sullivan) in Forty Guns (1957)

Jidge Carroll as Barney Cashman, who writes a ballad about Jessica Drummond in Forty Guns (1957)

Gene Barry as Wes Bonnell (center) being congratulated on his marraige to Louvenia (Eve Brent) by Griff Bonnell (Barry Sullivan) in Forty Guns (1957)

Barry Sullivan as Griff Bonnell and Gene Barry as Wes Bonnell talking to younger brother Chico (Robert Dix) in Forty Guns (1957)

Barbara Stanwyck as Jessica Drummond, caught in a twister of her own making in Forty Guns (1957)

Barry Sullivan as Griff Bonnell, showing up at Jessica Drummond’s ranch with a warrant for one of her cowboys in Forty Guns (1957)