VeteranLight I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Dotbankey A lot of fun.

Calum Hutton It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

Raymond Sierra The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

hoffmanaz Any resemblance in this film between historical accuracy and what you see in the picture isn't coincidental, it's downright unintentional. The fact that Sam Katzman produced it should have been a warning that this film would be made as cheaply as possible, with lots of stock footage borrowed from "Buffalo Bill" ("Pony Soldier" borrowed the same battle scenes) and Indian "war" dances. The fact is that Red Cloud (who lived into the 20th century) made numerous visits to the White House to plead the cause of his people. The Bozeman Trail, supposedly the reason for the U.S. Army to escort railroad builders, simply isn't true; no railroad was built into the area at that time. Red Cloud succeeded in getting the Bozeman trail forts abandoned, a detail not mentioned in the film. Lots of anachronisms, including a Wild West show taking place in the 1860s, Jim Bridger actually in his dotage by then, and demeaning references to Native people ("Redskins") unacceptable today. The fight between Bridger and the Indian in the river comes straight out of "Buffalo Bill" in which Joel McRae as Buffalo Bill fights Yellow Hand played by Anthony Quinn to the death. I wasted 1:15 watching this film; should have taken the time to read a book.

emsmith-07346 After building the entire plot and several key scenes around the introduction of the breech-loading Springfield "trapdoor" rifle, this movie fails to show a single round fired from the new rifles in the climactic battle with the Indians. Instead, the cavalrymen charge with sabers and wrestle in hand-to-hand combat, much too close to get off any shots. This is inexplicable in light of the general accuracy of the firearm details in the film: the cap-and-ball revolvers and 1860ish muzzle loading percussion rifles are period correct, as are the unadorned gun belts and of course the Springfields. I was even impressed with the Indians' reasonably dignified dialog, which was notably free of the "me see um" and "ugh" variety. Maybe the misleading title should be changed to "The Gun That Won the West Right After This Movie Ends."

bkoganbing William Castle who directed some interesting if gimmicky fright films is at the helm of The Gun That Won The West. This account of Red Cloud's war with the USA in the post Civil War years is one cheap production with some very bored actors giving some very pedestrian performances.The same criticism I had of the film Tomahawk where Van Heflin played Jim Bridger applies here as well. Dennis Morgan plays the famous frontier scout and mountain man whose best days in the 1860s were far behind him. Bridger was in his sixties suffering from a variety of health issues of which arthritis was the most prominent. Hardly a western hero at that point of his life. Nor was he ever involved with Wild West Shows which started a decade or so after the years this film was set in.Morgan and married friends Richard Denning and Paula Raymond are busy with a wild west show where the drunken and dissolute Denning is unable to perform in any number of ways. Still they get a mission and drop the wild west show and go to Dakota Territory to help the army conduct a string of forts. That does not sit well with Red Cloud and the Sioux and war breaks out.Denning's character is poorly written. For the first half of the film he's a drunken bum. Then for no apparent reason he becomes the real hero of the piece. As for Paula Raymond she follows Tammy Wynette's advice and stands by her man even though Morgan is more appealing.The title refers to the army's new Springfield Rifles. But The Gun That Won The West has lost its audience long before the film ends.

weezeralfalfa 1955 was a bang up year for Hollywood films featuring conflicts between European settlers or the US army and Native Americans led by Sioux Red Cloud in the Powder River region of Wyoming. Besides this film, "The Last Frontier" also dramatizes the conflict between this 'Indian' confederation and the US army, which built a series of forts along the Bozeman Trail through this region."The Tall Men", starring Clark Gable, dramatizes the first large cattle drive from Texas to Montana, passing through this region. All of these films include some historically-relevant aspects, along with major fabrications and/or anachronisms. In this era, 'Indians' were still nearly always scripted as the enemy: inconvenient obstacles to technological progress and the fulfillment of Manifest Destiny. Thus, none of these 3 films mentions the fact that Red Cloud's confederacy ultimately won a peace treaty in 1868 that stipulated that the US army would abandon its newly built forts along the Bozeman Trail and that this trail would be closed to European settler traffic. This treaty effectively lasted until 1876, when the discovery of gold in the Black Hills again brought European settlers in conflict with the Sioux and related tribes. The previous film "Tomahawk" provides a much more accurate account of this war.This story begins with alcoholic ex-frontiersman Jack Gaines(Richard Denning) and his beautiful wife(Paula Raymond) running a traveling wild west show through the eastern US. Storied mountain man and scout Jim Bridger is part of their show. Comes an army request that Bridger return to the West as a scout for Colonel Carrington and an influence with chief Red Cloud, in an endeavor to build a series of forts along the Bozeman Trail to protect workers building a railroad through this prime hunting grounds for the north plains 'Indians'. Bridger accepts, and Mrs. Gains convinces a reluctant Jack to accompany Bridger. To help accomplish this task, the army has commissioned the manufacture of a superior Springfield rifle. Unlike previous models, this one has a rapid breech-loading mechanism, and is accurate at long distances, thus making it a much more effective weapon against the 'Indians' than previous models.Once at Fort Laramie, Carrington's headquarters, Gains suggests they threaten Red Cloud with news of the new rifle. But Red Cloud says he will exterminate them before this rifle arrives. Later, Gains appeals to General Pope, who has replaced Carrington as commander at Ft. Laramie, after Carrington left for the Powder River region. Gains demonstrates the rifle to Red Cloud, who is impressed, but again says he will exterminate Carrington's forces before more of these rifles arrive. Wounded Gains rides to tell Carrington, and Bridger rides to tell Pope to direct his forces, with the new rifle, to attack Red Cloud before he attacks Carrington. A big battle ensues, the new rifle takes its toll, and the 'Indians' retreat. A now sober Gains is reunited with his estranged wife, and they talk about starting a ranch in this region.To me, the film appears to have been largely shot in the spectacular-looking Badlands region of SD, which includes the bison chases and kills. Apparently, some stock footage from "Buffalo Bill" was used for the Wild West show scenes. The real Jim Bridger would have laughed himself silly at Dennis Morgan as his stand in. The real Bridger was in his 60s during the Red Cloud War, and usually with long hair and bearded, not the '50s-looking, young, clean-shaven and shorn, bland,Morgan.Denning was OK as the fictional Jack Gaines. But, Wild West shows didn't begin until the '80s, whereas the rest of this story takes place 15-20 years earlier. Thus, this unnecessary aspect of the film should have been deleted. Roy Gordon was OK as the historically-correct Colonel Carrington, and Howard Wright was OK as ex-Civil War General Pope. The real Pope did spend some years involved in western 'Indian' wars, but apparently was not involved in this way. Paula Raymond made a beautiful and forceful Mrs. Gaines, but Robert Rice hardly makes a credible-looking Red Cloud. Young Man Afraid Of His Horses(probably a mistranslation) was a real lieutenant under Red Cloud during the Powder River War. However, Red Fox, later to gain fame in Buffalo Bill's traveling show, wasn't even born yet, and lived to see Nixon resign as President! Overall, the acting and dialogue is a bit wooden, and no major stars are included. This was the first year for Clover Productions, which mostly produced low budget fantasy films at this time, marketed by Columbia.The real Powder River War had nothing to do with railroad building, and everything to do with protecting settlers who were mostly heading for the recently discovered gold fields around Virginia City, MT. The 1866 model breech-loading Springfield was rushed to Carrington's forces, and did greatly improve the effectiveness of the army against the 'Indians', over the previous muzzle-loading version: the standard issue in the Civil War. However, ultimately the army brass decided to pull out of this area and concentrate its resources on protecting the transcontinental railroad, being built across southern Wyoming at this time. Incidentally, 'The Gun that Won the West' is usually considered to be the Winchester repeating rifles, also introduced in 1866, and the Colt revolvers, not this single shot army rifle.