Gunpoint (1966)

Audie Murphy is Chad Lucas, a lawman on the trail of outlaws who have been bleeding the town of Lodge Pole dry through their thievery.

He suspects an outlaw named Drago is leading the gang. He’s been committing holdups in Colorado, then slipping across the border into the Territory of New Mexico, knowing the law can’t follow.

Lucas also suspects local saloon owner Nate Harlan (Warren Stevens) knows more about the holdups than he’s letting on.

Well, bandits have done it again, stealing a money shipment vital to Lodge Pole’s fiscal health.

And in making his escape after being spotted in the saloon, Drago grabs pretty blonde saloon singer Uvalde (Joan Staley) as his human shield.

Lucas sets out in chase, this time borders be damned. Harlan rides along too; Uvalde is his girl.

Complicating matters: She used to go by the name Bonnie, back when she was Lucas’s girl. Back when he was a young man who headed off on a cattle drive and didn’t return for two years.

Audie Murphy as Chad Lucas, on the trail of outlaws, a stolen payroll and a girl in Gunpoint (1966)

Warren Stevens as Nate Harlan, the saloon owner and Uvalde’s fiance in Gunpoint (1966)

Review:

After a ridiculously hokey narrative opening, this settles down into a satisfactory Murphy film. Not one of his best, but one worth watching.

Just know you’ll be watching lots of stock footage to flesh out the action scenes. And that Murphy suffers from a vision problem caused by a grazing wound to his head that seems like an unnecessary plot device.

Denver Pyle gets perhaps the best role, as a deputy named Cap. A former Civil War officer, he’s got plenty of advice to provide. But he’s mostly ignore by Lucas and has come to resent that.

Also along in the quest to catch Drago and recapture the money and Uvalde are Mark Emerson, the young son of a respectable businessman killed by the outlaws; and a Mexican named Nicos, the best Indian fighter of the bunch.

Murphy made only four more films after this one, including his only Spaghetti Western venture, “The Texican,” also released in 1966.

Joan Staley as Uvalde, the former flame Chad Lucas once left behind in Gunpoint (1966)

David Macklin as Mark Emerson and Denver Pyle as Cap, part of the group tracking the outlaws with Chad Lucas in Gunpoint (1966)

Directed by:
Earl Bellamy

Cast:
Audie Murphy … Chad Lucas
Joan Staley … Uvalde
Warren Stevens … Nate Harlan
Denver Pyle … Cap
Edgar Buchanan … Bull
David Macklin … Mark Emerson
Nick Dennis … Nicos
Royal Dano … Ode
Kelly Thordsen … Ab
Morgan Woodward … Drago Leon
Robert Pine … Mitch
William Bramley … Hoag
John Hoyt … Mayor Osborne
Ford Rainey … Tom Emerson
Mike Ragan … Zack
Roy Barcroft … Dr. Beardsley

Runtime: 86 min.

Morgan Woodward as Drago Leon, the outlaw whose gang robbed the train in Gunpoint (1966)

Nick Dennis as Nikos, part of Chad Lucas’s posse in Gunpoint (1966)

Memorable lines:

Drago: “Come on. They say there’s a new girl over at Nate Harlan’s place. They tell me all the studs are going to be fighting over that filly.”

Chad Lucas: “Plenty of rest. That’s your favorite prescription. I bet if I was going on my honeymoon, you’d tell me to get plenty of rest.”

Nate Harlan, presenting Uvalde to his customers: “Now, just so nobody gets the wrong idea, Uvalde belongs to my private collection. She’s on display or admiration only. She goes back into the vault at night.”

Nate Harlan: “Those Apaches don’t have much respect for law and order, sheriff. You might as well get rid of that tin star.”
Chad Lucas: “I’ll just keep it a while longer. I just might want to pin that big mouth of yours with it.”

Ode: “I didn’t know you can read.”
Bull: “I can read (sheriff’s) badges. That’s what I learned to read on when I was in jail.”

Audie Murphy as Chad Lucas, returning wounded after he and deputy Cap (Denver Pyle) failed to stop a railroad holdup in Gunpoint (1966)

Morgan Woodward as Drago kidnaps Uvalde (Joan Staley) as Chad Lucas (Audie Murphy) looks on in Gunpoint (1966)

Edgar Buchanan as Bull and Royal Dano as Ode, ranchers Chad Lucas and his comrades run across in Gunpoint (1966)

Kelly Thordsen as Ab, one of the ranchers Chad Lucas and his friends encounter in Gunpoint (1966)

Joan Staley as Uvalde and Warren Stevens as Nate Harlan, fearing the worst when trouble comes in Gunpoint (1966)

Audie Murphy as Chad Lucas, closing in for a showdown with Drago in Gunpoint (1966)