Good concept, poorly executed.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

This movie can rightly be called a top western film.The Red Indian wife of a Marshall is raped and murdered and the main culprit is the son of a land baron. Almost single handedly the Marshall attempts to bring in the baddie(s) and is up against powerful forces and a mob.So can justice be done?Excellent locations, and the dusty salon loving town and its folk plus a magnificent steam engine more or less steal the show. I had the benefit of renting this film and watching it on my Tablet. Great viewing as the picture quality is first rate.Superstars take all the main roles and do not disappoint!8/10

Although I grew up in the 1950s loving Westerns...but at that time, who didn't...it's a rare Western nowadays that can hold my attention. However, this Western is clearly a cut above the average, and despite a few clichés, it's very watchable.Kirk Douglas is the sheriff who has an Indian wife and young son. The wife is raped and murdered by Earl Holliman, the son of a land owner (Anthony Quinn) who controls a huge ranch a couple of towns over. Douglas sets off to bring the rapist/murderer in, which won't be easy since Quinn controls everything in his town. The twist is that Douglas and Quinn were once closest of friends. We know, of course, that Douglas will be successful in his attempt to bring about justice (with a little revenge mixed in), but how will he do it. Well, it's pretty interesting.Kirk Douglas had an on-screen personality which was often too big for the movie screen. But he was best with he controlled himself and slightly under-played his roles...and that's what he did here. It's a very good performance.Although Anthony Quinn had been making movies for over 20 years, when he made this film he was yet to hit his stride as a confident leading actor. He does nicely here, although I would not consider his acting here particularly noteworthy.Carolyn Jones plays an odd character -- one who can't quite leave Quinn's character, even though he abuses her. I'm rarely impressed with Jones, but she's good here as the key to Douglas succeeding in his quest.Earl Holliman is another actor I've never been overly impressed with. I would say he usually did his job...as he does here. Definitely a supporting actor, and not a star.This is a Western worth watching, although it is certainly not in the realm of say a John Ford Western. Solid entertainment, though.

Last Train From Gun Hill announces its intentions early on as our hero Marshal Matt Morgan (Kirk Douglas) retells an embroidered tale about a showdown with trail criminals. His audience is a small group of young boys who have all heard the story before and know the story but enjoy the performance of the storyteller.Conversely we know the tale in the film well as one of Old West justice and we are certain that regardless of the obstacles presented to our hero he will triumph in bringing the bad guys to pay for what they have done.Director John Sturges may have been painting by the numbers in many of the films places. The casting is good, but with could have been better with another actor in as Greg Beldon- not that Anthony Quinn is not a powerful figure, but I'm not sure he fits as the father of the spineless Earl Holliman.John Sturges had made Gunfight at the O.K. Corral 2 years earlier, and that film had carved into stone the legacy of Western justice against the outlaws of the land. Perhaps Sturges was warming up his palette for The Magnificent Seven that would come just a year after Last Train from Gun Hill, although for my money Magnificent Seven covers over the gunslinger myth with such Teflon veneer that it almost feels like cowpoke porn.Last Train from Gun Hill automatically mythologizes its action with the initial set piece which includes children as ready participants and audience for the lore of the West, and this child-like way of viewing the narrative colors the entire story.Women characters in the film fall into easily classified categories. The good woman, the Indian wife of Matt dies at the outset and sets into motion the chain of events that force the Matt to confront the racial bias in the western community, forcing him to eventually choose between revenge for good, or allowing the bad elements to remain. The rest of the female characters from the start are broken into two kinds of one type. The saloon woman who services the men is played by Carolyn Jones, a character who formally worked in the saloon and now was pure at heart. Her back-story as the love of the morally conflicted Greg Belden diverts our attentions, but when it becomes clear that Belden has not the depth of character to sustain a healthy relationship, it is distinguished.The film ultimately is one of revenge for the betterment of the community, and that the mythic West still stands tall as a place where one regards the legacy over the truth. Still, it delivers a satisfying finale to the Douglas-driven angst of his character and reaffirms the poetic justice of the Old West.

Sometimes, in the crucial moments of our lives we have no choice whatsoever, it is as destiny has already established our course. That is what happens to Morgan (Douglas) and Belden (Quinn), when Belden's son (Holliman) commits a barbaric act of murder and rape, the victim being Morgan's wife. Morgan and Belden were friends,and nobody would think they would ever fight each other, but now everything changes. John Sturges directed famous westerns (Magnificent Seven, Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, Bad Day at Black Rock), and this one is good, but not quite on the same level. The colors in the film are very sharp, with what seems to be a predominance of green and this is in contrast with the intense drama, a more sombre color would be more appropriate, except at the sequence of the rape where it is excellent.