This was my first look at Macdonald Carey and I can't say I was very impressed with his role as the gunman who cleans up Dutch Flats. He showed none of the charisma of a Western hero, and it didn't help that the mystique of his quick gun hand was regarded as some kind of supernatural hex placed on his Colt Wesson .44. The film could have gotten a little more mileage out of that plot element but it really didn't get the right treatment. I got the same impression as a prior reviewer on this board, and quite independently came up with a 'Twilight Zone' type link between the gun and the spooky music that celebrated each victim. The romantic link with Audrey Totter's character also didn't seem quite right to me; at least Smith (Carey) figured out that she was really the one pulling the strings against the Corleys. You know what really struck me as supernatural though? How did old man Corley know Smith/Yancey gunned his boys down when he just got in to town?
Review of Man or Gun
Man or Gun
(1958)
"By the looks of you, I'd say you hired a gunman."
10 March 2008
Warning: Spoilers