The Quick Gun

The Quick Gun is a 1964 American Techniscope Western film directed by Sidney Salkow and starring Audie Murphy. It was the second of four films produced by Grant Whytock and Edward Small's Admiral Pictures in the 1960s.

The Quick Gun
Spanish release poster
Directed by	Sidney Salkow
Screenplay by	Robert E. Kent
Based on	The Fastest Gun short story by Steve Fisher
Produced by	Grant Whytock
Starring	Audie Murphy
Cinematography	Lester Shorr
Edited by	Grant Whytock
Music by	Richard LaSalle
Color process	Technicolor
Production company	Admiral Pictures
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date	April 1964 (1964-04)
Running time	89 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$400,000

The film's screenplay was based on Steve Fisher's short story The Fastest Gun that had previously provided the story for two other westerns Top Gun (1955) starring Sterling Hayden and Noose for a Gunman (1960) starring Jim Davis and Ted de Corsia as the villain; both for United Artists. Fisher at this time was also providing the screenplay's for a series of A.C. Lyles second feature Techniscope Westerns for Paramount Pictures.

Plot

In 1873, gunfighter Clint Cooper (Audie Murphy) returns to his hometown of Shelby, Montana after two years. He left Shelby in disgrace after killing the town's two hot-tempered but inexperienced young men in self-defense. The father of the young men, Tom Morrison (Walter Sande) feels that Cooper murdered them. Cooper plans to settle down in Shelby to claim his recently deceased father's ranch and marry his old girlfriend, Helen (Merry Anders), the town's schoolteacher.

On the way to Shelby he runs into his old gang, led by Spangler (Ted de Corsia), who plan on not only robbing the town but burning it to the ground and having their way with its womenfolk. Spangler believes his former friend Clint is himself intending to rob Shelby's bank full of money from large cattle sales. Spangler seeks Clint to join his band of 15 men with the motivation of revenging himself on the town that exiled him or else he won't leave alive. Clint breaks free, killing two of his pursuers.

Clint arrives in Shelby to find all of the town's young men have left on a cattle drive. He tries to warn the town of the impending robbery, but everyone except the sheriff, an old friend of his called Scotty (James Best), and old coot Dan Evans (Frank Ferguson) still hates Clint and wants him to leave. Despite this welcome, Clint eventually agrees to help Scotty defend the town against the gang, though Clint discovers that Helen will marry Scotty in a week's time. Meanwhile, Tom and his nephew Rick (Rex Holman) scheme to kill Clint by making it look like self-defense.

Cast

• Audie Murphy as Clint Cooper
• Merry Anders as Helen Reed
• James Best as Scotty Grant
• Ted de Corsia as Jud Spangler
• Walter Sande as Tom Morrison
• Rex Holman as Rick Morrison
• Charles Meredith as Reverend Staley
• Frank Ferguson as Dan Evans
• Mort Mills as Cagle
• Gregg Palmer as Donovan
• Frank Gerstle as George Keely
• Stephen Roberts as Dr. Stevens
• Paul Bryar as Mitchell
• Raymond Hatton as Elderly Man
• William Fawcett as Mike

Production

Murphy was paid $37,500 for his performance. The film was known as The Fastest Gun.

Quotes

Your guns have gotten too fast and too sudden. And from what I hear about your reputation, they have gotten a lot faster and suddener in the last two years. - Sheriff Scotty Grant

See also

• List of American films of 1964

External links

• The Quick Gun at IMDb
• The Quick Gun at the TCM Movie Database
• The Quick Gun at AllMovie
• The Quick Gun at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
• The Quick Gun at The Movie Scene
• Review of film at Variety