Mark Stevens and Forrest Tucker are brothers who watch their father hang for allegedly stealing a horse in the film’s opening scene.
Stevens, the younger brother, takes the name Chip Coburn, vows vengeance and becomes an infamous outlaw known as Blue Chip, for the blue poker chips he wears on his vest.
Tucker adopts the name John Bravos and becomes a lawman. He sends his brother to prison for eight years.
When Chip gets out, Bravos offers this warning: If he turns outlaw again, he’ll track him down and kill him rather than see him hang like their father did.
Nevertheless, Chip has a scheme that should set him up with a ranch in the Tucson area. Only when he reaches Tucson, he discovers the rancher he was dealing with has died.
In his place is Ben Bodeen (Vaughn Taylor), a man who wants control of the entire valley. He also wants Chip’s former girl, Lou Crenshaw (Gale Robbins).
And when it looks like Chip might switch sides and hire out his gun to farmers hoping to settle part of the former Chisum range, Bodeen decides to frame the former outlaw.
He has his men raid the nearby farms; he makes sure one of his men is always dressed like the infamous Blue Chip.
Naturally, word gets back to Marshal John Bravos. He sets out for Tucson too, ready to fulfill his promise to his brother.
Along for the ride is another woman in love with Chip, Katy Porter (Gail Kobe).
Mark Stevens as Chip Coburn, vowing to turn his back on his outlaw ways in Gunsmoke in Tucson (1958)
Forrest Tucker as John Bravos, the lawman who vows to kill his brother if he goes outlaw again in Gunsmoke in Tucson (1958)
Review:
Odd little film with one of the strangest costumes choices you’ll find in a 1950s Western. Stevens’ outlaw garb includes a vest with blue poker chips across the chest on each side. Blue poker chips also adorn the front and back of his belt buckle, the one possession he inherited from his dad.
And make no doubt, Stevens is the star of this film. Tucker disappears for a large portion of it. Unfortunately, after a promising opening, the script yanks viewers all over the place in the most haphazard fashion.
Take the character of Lou Crenshaw, for instance. First, she’s arriving in Tucson as Bodeen’s girl. Moments later, she’s smooching with Blue Chip, telling him she’d rather settle down on a ranch with him.
Before he has time to acquire a ranch or anything else, she’s married to Bodeen. But still professing her love for Blue Chip. Then she’s getting kicked out by Bodeen — not for cavorting with Blue Chip — but for disrespecting her much older husband.
It all adds up to the least entertaining of the Westerns Stevens made in the 1950s.
Gale Robbins as Lou Crenshaw, waiting for Chip to make a big score before they settle down together in Gunsmoke in Tucson (1958)
Gail Kobe as Katy Porter, the good girl who refuses to lose faith in Chip Coburn in Gunsmoke in Tucson (1958)
Directed by:
Thomas Carr
Cast:
Mark Stevens … Chip Coburn
Forrest Tucker … John Bravos
Vaughn Taylor … Ben Bodeen
Gale Robbins … Lou Crenshaw
Gail Kobe … Katy Porter
Kevin Hagen … Clem Haney
John Ward … Slick Kirby
William Henry … Sheriff Blane
Richard Reeves … Notches Pole
John Cliff … Sheriff Cass
George Keymas … Hondo
Zon Murray … Bragg
Paul Engle … Young Chip
Anthony Sydes … Young Brazos
Runtime: 79 min.
Songs: “Gotta Have a Man”
performed by Gale Robbins in saloon
Vaughn Taylor as cattle king Ben Bodeen with his hired guns, Cass (John Cliff), Hondo (George Reymas) and Notches (Richard Reeves) in Gunsmoke in Tucson (1958)
Kevin Hagen as farmer Clem Haney with his family, standing up against Bodeen in Gunsmoke in Tucson (1958)
Memorable lines:
Father, as he’s about to be hanged: “A man has a right to a piece of land. Remember that, boys. Get it. Stay on it. Make it yours.”
Young Chip Coburn, after watching his father hang: “I’ll be back. I’ll be back. I’ll never forget.”
John Bravos: “I’ll kill you before I see you wind up at the end of a rope, Chip.”
John Brazos: “I sent you up for eight years once. I’ll do it again and longer, even if you are my brother.”
Chip: “You mean because I am your brother.”
John Ward as Slick Kirby, an old friend of Chip’s from their days in the Blue Chip Gang in Gunsmoke in Tucson (1958)
George Keymas as Honda, one of cattle king Ben Bodeen’s hired guns in Gunsmoke in Tucson (1958)
Ben Bodeen: “Did you have to say that?”
Lou Crenshaw: “No, I didn’t have to. I just felt like it.”
Bodeen: “I’m not being fooled. A man is given only one chance to be big in this life. He can’t let it slip through his fingers. I won’t share my bed with any saddle tramp.”
Saloon song lyrics, delivered by Lou Crenshaw: “I’m the kind of female / who has to have a he-male / I’m the kind of woman / love hungry woman / I’m the kind of woman / who’s got to have a man / I’ve had things like wedding rings / but now I’m getting wise / I want a wild and rugged man / that I can civilize.”
Mark Stevens as Chip Coburn, humored by the news that Lou Crenshaw (Gale Robbins) plans to marry a rich cattle king in Gunsmoke in Tucson (1958)
William Henry as Sheriff Blane, trying to convince Chip Coburn to become his deputy in Gunsmoke in Tucson (1958)
Anthony Sydes as young Brazos and Paul Engle as young Chip, brothers who watch their father hang in Gunsmoke in Tucson (1958)
John Cliff as Sheriff Cass, caught by surprise by Blue Chip Coburn in Gunsmoke in Tucson (1958)
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