The Last Gun (1964)

A gang of cutthroats led by a bald bandit named Jess descend on Sanderson, intent on stealing a gold shipment.

The townsfolk refuse to rally to the sheriff’s defense, save one shotgun-wielding old-timer.

Among those who turn the sheriff down is a peaceful storekeeper named Bill (Cameron Mitchell). He’s engaged to the judge’s daughter, who accuses him of cowardice over his reluctance to pick up a gun.

While waiting for the gold to arrive, Jess and his men terrorize the local womenfolk.

Each time, a masked gunman named Jim Hart shows up in the nick of time.

No one is quite sure who Hart is or where he comes from. Jess and his men start to suspect a newcomer to their merry band, Guitar (Carl Mohner).

But when it comes time for the final showdown, neither Guitar or the sheriff are around.

The masked gunman known as Jim Hart is.

Review:

This is more like a bad B-Western from the 1940s than your typical Spaghetti fare. Hart’s knack for knowing when a woman is in trouble, whether she’s in town, aboard a stagecoach or just going for a swim, is simply uncanny.

More Spaghetti-like is Guitar. He doesn’t seem like the sort who would side with a vicious killer like Jess. In fact, he intervenes on Bill’s behalf more than once. We won’t discover his true motives until the film’s final scenes.

To pretty the film up, we have Janet, Bill’s finance, if he can hold onto her with a macho character like Jim Hart around. Then there’s a saucy saloon girl named Dolores who has a scowl on her face at all times, but still manages to turn Guitar’s head.

Directed by:
Sergio Bergonzelli

Cast:
Cameron Mitchell … Bill/Jim Hart
Carl Mohner … Guitar
Celina Cely … Dolores (???)
Kitty Carver … Janet (???)
as Ketty Carver
Dony Baster … Tommy, young boy
Luigi Batzella … Morgan, banker
as Paul Solvay
Fanny Clair … Millie (???)
Lina Anna Alberti … Rosario
as Lina Albert
Calisto Calisti … Mr. Glenn, Janet’s father
Guido Maculani … Sheriff
as Harris Cooper
Ugo Fangareggi … Bow Tie
as Ugo Mudd

Also with: Mary Gordon, Vic Nojaski, John Mattius, Attilio Severini, Diego Pozzetto as Diego Wells, Cinzia Rancher, Luke Aary, Harris Cooper, Rosy March, Fausto Signoretti, Gino Marturano, Umberto Salomone

aka:
Killer’s Canyon
Lonely Gunslinger
Jim Il Primo

Music: Marcello Gigante
“Young Jim Hart” sung by Peter Tevis

Runtime: 97 min.

Memorable lines:

Saloon girl Sherry, as Janet passes: “That’s private property.”
Jack, a member of the outlaw gang: “Private property, huh? Well here goes a little trespassing.”

Sheriff to bandit leader Jess: “Stop clowning, Jess. I have little patience with your kind.”
Jess: “You know sheriff, I collect badgets.” Then he laughs maniacally.

Sheriff, about Janet: “Her father was the only one who was willing to help me after hearing that everyone else backed out. If only we had a few more men.”
Bill: “You seem to forget that Glenn almost lost his life, sheriff. What you’re looking for is a dead hero.”

Dolores’ mom, upon seeing her kissing Guitar: “You wench. If you want to make love, pick someone better than a common horse thief. Unless you want to be a widow before you’re married.”

Jess to Guitar, as he admires the lovely Dolores: “Stop playing that guitar. You’re driving me loco … And stop consuming that wench.”

Texas, as he knocks Bill down, then presses his boot against his face: “Had enough, storekeeper? This should keep you out of trouble. Mess with me again and I’ll squirt your brains through your ears.”

Sheriff to Guitar, as he comes out of the saloon: “Where have you been all day?”
Guitar: “Here.”
Sheriff: “Then why didn’t I see you?”
Guitar: “Because you’re wearing a badge, not a dress.”

Trivia:

* Cameron Mitchell was born Cameron McDowell Mitzell, the son of a pastor and a native of Dallastown, in York County, Pa. He died of lung cancer at age 76 in 1994.

* This was one of the first Spaghetti Westerns and one of two Mitchell would make abroad. He also starred in the better known “Minnesota Clay,” released later the same year.

* In his review on the Spaghetti Western database, Simon Gelton reports that Mitchell was unhappy about not being paid at the agreed-upon time. That apparently prompted the gimmick of the masked gunman. If Mitchell had to be replaced, the hero of the piece wouldn’t be recognizable. His source: Marco Giusti’s Dizionario del western all’italiana.

* Wondering about that Italian coda at the end. Here’s the English translation: From dawn to dusk the gunslinger feels master of the world … when he has to sleep he thinks only of love because he knows he is dying.

* HELP!!! There are four pretty young ladies in the film, and cast lists disagree on who plays what role. Most have Celina Cely and Kitty Carver as either Dolores (Guitar’s girl) or Janet (Bill’s girl). But the cast list also includes Mary Gordan, nearly the same pseudonym (Mary Jordan) used by dark-haired beauty Mariangela Giordano in “Djurado.” Could she be Dolores? And which actresses play the pretty blonde saloon girl who conspires with the banker? And the sheriff’s wife who’s nearly raped? HELP!!!

Janet with shopkeeper boyfriend Bill (Cameron Mitchell), who says he doesn’t believe in gunplay in The Last Gun (1964)

Texas, the bandit leader who allows Jess to take over his gang in The Last Gun (1964). Does anyone know who plays this part?

Jack, one of Jess’s men, about to attack a woman considered private property in The Last Gun (1964). Does anyone know who plays this part?

Sherry, the saloon girl who conspires with the banker in The Last Gun (1964). Does anyone know who plays this part?

Millie with her husband, the sheriff (Guido Maculani as Harris Cooper), worried about coming trouble in The Last Gun (1964)

Janet and the town doctor watching the final showdown in The Last Gun (1964)

Livio Lorenzon as Jess Lindahl,, irate over a gun battle gone wrong in The Last Gun (1964)

Cameron Mitchell as Bill, feeling the foot of one of Jess’s men in The Last Gun (1964)