Audie Murphy plays Clint Cooper, who returns to his old hometown of Shelby after a two-year absence to claim his dead father’s ranch.
But he finds a cool reception in Shelby. He killed a member of the Morrison family before leaving town and he’s a gunman now, a man usually followed by trouble, a man with no place in a peaceful town.
Then there’s the fact that his former lover (Merry Anders as Helen Reed) has moved on with her life, getting engaged to one of Clint’s old friends, Sheriff Scotty Wade (James Best).
Problem is, Shelby isn’t going to remain quiet for long. Its bank is bulging with cattle money, and outlaw Jud Spangler wants that money.
Cooper warns the sheriff and townsfolk of the coming trouble. Begrudgingly at first, they follow his advice on how best to defend the town.
But the Morrison family wants Cooper dead and others can’t forget that Clint was once a member of the Spangler gang.
Is he a man who can be trusted?
Audie Murphy as reformed gunfighter Clint Cooper in The Quick Gun (1964)
Ted de Corsia as outlaw leader Jud Spangler in The Quick Gun (1964)
Review:
By this point in his acting career, Murphy was making Westerns exclusively. Some of them are low-budget gems.
This is watchable, but it isn’t one of those gems in spite of a high body count, a crazed outlaw in Spangler and flaming barricades.
Oh, and the ending is lifted almost entirely from “Top Gun,” a 1955 Sterling Hayden film with a similar theme of gunman returning to his old hometown.
James Best would go on to become best known as Sheriff Rosco Coltrane in the hit TV series “The Dukes of Hazzard.”
Merry Anders as Helen Reed, the sheriff’s fiance and Clint Cooper’s former flame, in The Quick Gun (1964)
James Best as Scotty Grant, sheriff of Shelby, in The Quick Gun (1964)
Directed by:
Sidney Salkow
Cast:
Audie Murphy … Clint Cooper
Merry Anders … Helen Reed
James Best … Scotty Grant
Ted de Corsia … Jud Spangler
Walter Sande … Tom Morrison
Rex Holman … Rick Morrison
Charles Meredith … Rev. Staley
Frank Ferguson … Dan Evans
Mort Mills … Cagle
Gregg Palmer … Donovan
Frank Gerstle … George Keely
Stephen Roberts … Dr. Stevens
Paul Bryar … Mitchell
Raymond Hatton … Elderly man
William Fawcett … Mike
Runtime: 87 min.
Walter Sande as vengeance seeking Tom Morrison in The Quick Gun (1964)
Rex Holman as Rick Morrison informs his uncle that Clint Cooper has returned to Shelby in The Quick Gun (1964)
Memorable lines:
Spangler: “You think you’re gonna get that money without me, well you’re wrong boy. I don’t like to kill friends.”
Clint: “That makes us even, Spang. I’m kind against dying.”
Spangler: “There ain’t 10 men in that whole town know which end of a gun does the shooting.”
One of his men: “Yeah, well I’d sure hate to find out by having them practicing on me.”
Spangler, grabbing the man by the neck: “Listen to me. I’ll tell you just when to get shot and when not. You understand me!”
Spangler to Helen: “No offense, princess. But the way I look at it is women gets old and fat, but money always stays the same.”
Shelby hotel owner Dan Evans (Frank Ferguson) and the Rev. Staley (Charles Meredith) in The Quick Gun (1964)
Audie Murphy as Clint Cooper tries to talk sense into the vengeance seeking Morrison family in The Quick Gun (1964)/
Spangler to Helen: “Something for you to remember, princess, case anyone starts dealing from the bottom of the deck. My men here ain’t got no religion about killing a woman.”
Dan Evans: “You sure called the turn on Spangler coming after us.”
Clint: “All you have to do is think like a corkscrew.”
Clint Cooper to Spangler: “After today, you couldn’t raise enough men to rob an old folk’s home.”
Ted de Corsia as Jud Spangler and his right-hand man Cagle (Mort Mills) dscuss their next move in The Quick Gun (1964)
Merry Anders as Helen Reed comes to the defense of Clint Cooper (Audie Murphy) in The Quick Gun (1964)
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This film starts ok but declines. After killing the Harrison brothers years ago Clint returns home and runs into the villain Spangler who he used to run with on the way to town.
Spangler and his gang are about to attack and rob the bank and he asks Clint to join up which he declines by kicking hot coals in his face! Off to a good start. Clint escapes and Spangler sends two henchmen to fetch him-Clint kills ‘em both. Movie still going ok.
Meanwhile, Mr.Harrison wants revenge for the murder of his sons by Clint years earlier. Decent amount of gunplay and high body count to come but mostly a turkey which you realize early on viewing the editing of the bar fight.
The Harrison family shows up for revenge at the bar and its painfully obvious when they switch to stuntmen. I mean…do you even need stuntmen for this level of action? During the same fight Clint stands with an unclenched fist and a limp wrist patiently waiting 4 seconds for a punch to the face. Thats gotta hurt.
When you meet the female lead she has a total 60’s hairdo with plenty of spray keeping it up and is wearing gold hoop earrings…oh boy. Shes has finally agreed to marry Clints old pal the sheriff and there’s plenty of filler with love triangle and town angst about the imminent attack. The town builds a barricade to fend off the gang.
Then, during the barn fight…again with the stuntmen and some overacting-sheesh. At least the Harrisons were gonna hang and torture Clint which led to a ice-hook fight!
The sheriff is so stupid he locks up Clint for killing the Harrisons in the brawl even though it was self-defense AND he’s the best gun they’ve got AND Spanglers gang is literally on the way! Then he goes to try and talk the villains out of attacking- very bad idea. Bye-Bye sheriff.
During the attack the whole town gets massacred. In fact one bad guy breaks thru the barricade, fires one bullet, and 2 guys 30 feet from each other both drop simultaneously! What a crack shot. Then all the towns people you’ve seen shot spread out across the barricade during the battle apparently crawled into a convenient camera shot pile to die, one even with his eyes open. The horror! In the end only 3 out of 30 men in the film are breathing-rough night.
Having seen him in multiple westerns how Audie Murphy became a leading man is beyond me.Certainly nowhere near a Wayne or Eastwood, or even Randolph Scott or Jimmie Stewart.
Highlights are the body count, Spangler, his gang, and those pesky Harrisons. Lowlight is the soundtrack-sounds like it was a leftover from a 50’s tv show.
I referred to the Morrisons as the Harrisons throughout review. My bad.