James arness12/1/2023 The biggest thing that struck me about this little "BATJAC" western was the steady, deliberate pacing of the story and the focus on characters more so than on shoot-em-up, chase-em-down action. After being caught, convicted, and serving time for his part in the hold-up, he goes seeking his "friends" and his girl, bent on revenge. Arness is injured in the robbery, and subsequently left behind by his compatriots and, reluctantly, by his girl as well (Angie Dickinson, looking radiant in her first billable role). The plot, in short, involves Arness as one of three men who decide to hold up a bank. While perhaps not deserving of a spot among the great westerns, it surprised me because it was truly quite good and deserves more attention than it's received. I recently happened upon it on Netflix and decided to give it a try. This little B-Western with James Arness in one of his last non-Gunsmoke starring roles seems to have been heretofore almost forgotten, judging by the lack of ratings and reviews here. Andrew McLaglen made his directorial debut here and this is a harbinger of more good work by him on the big and small screen. Gun The Man Down is a no frills western which is good on plot and characters. He's also a believer in letting the bad guys shoot it out so he has that many less to deal with. Meyer is a firm believer in what Noel Coward said about only mad dogs and Englishmen going out in the noon day sun. Emile Meyer has a nice role here as a sheriff with Harry Carey,Jr. Angie Dickinson was 'introduced' in Gun The Man Down as a girl who'd like to be good, but has long forgotten how. Wilke and Megowan are both western veterans and Wilke is a long time favorite villain in westerns. Arness cuts a fine figure as a young outlaw who won't stand for a double cross. He has his own plans for them even if he has to serve a year for the robbery to do it. The posse gets to Arness and he's patched up, but he won't rat out his friends. Worse than just leaving Arness to die with a bullet in him as the posse was on his trail, Robert Wilke and Don Megowan also took Arness's woman Angie Dickinson with them. He was certainly riding the same horse in this film as he did as Marshal Matt Dillon. I'm betting this was probably filmed before Arness started Gunsmoke in 1955. John Wayne's Batjac Productions produced this tight B western starring James Arness as a young outlaw seeking revenge on his running buddies who left him to die.
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