The Stranger Wore a Gun

1953 "THE SCREEN'S GREATEST OUTDOOR STAR"
5.9| 1h22m| NR| en
Details

Having been a spy for Quantrill's raiders during the Civil War, Jeff Travis thinking himself a wanted man, flees to Prescott Arizona where he runs into Jules Mourret who knows of his past. He takes a job on the stage line that Mourret is trying to steal gold from. When Mourret's men kill a friend of his he sets out to get Mourret and his men. When his plan to have another gang get Mourret fails, he has to go after them himself.

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Reviews

Glimmerubro It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.
FuzzyTagz If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.
Mandeep Tyson The acting in this movie is really good.
Fleur Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.
campbell-russell-a I sometimes like to watch films that just don't work because it shows you why other films work so well. Ninety percent of a good film is due to casting. "The Stranger Wore a Gun" is badly miscast. Scott was a straight-forward actor and here he is asked to deal with complications that are beyond his range. Macready was a great villain but not a western villain. He was too silky in voice and manner. He was a gentleman villain whose evil was best expressed over a Chateaubriand and a fine red - not a whiskey. Alfonso Bedoya could act but here he is given the role of a stereotypical buffoon. In "The Treasure of Sierra Madre" he was a deadly dangerous buffoon but not a clown as in this film. The script is so poor that even fine actors like Earnest Borgnine and Lee Marvin are uninteresting. If they can't lend color to a script, then you know it is a stinker. The story is an odd one. This is not always death to a film but in this case it seems that no one really knew the point of telling the story. Was it supposed to be entertaining? Did it have some moral or human truths to tell? If so, they were lost on me.It seems incredible that the experienced cast and crew made such a film but it is indicative of the fact that films, no matter who makes them, have elements that are beyond the control of their makers. No wonder directors are often so worried about how their test audience will respond to their film. And if you go for art, you run the risk of making junk. If you go for a B grader, you at least get a watchable Saturday afternoon potboiler. I think "The Stranger" went for something more than a matinée western that was the stock in trade of Randolph Scott and finished up with something that was neither fish nor fowl.
Claudio Carvalho During the American Civil War, the Quantrill's raiders use the spy Jeff Travis (Randolph Scott) to plunder the city of Lawrence, in Kansas, and Travis leaves Quantrill when he sees the massacre of the town. After the war, Travis believes that he is a wanted man and he heads to Prescott, in Arizona, to start a new life. However, the powerful Jules Mourret (George Macready), who apparently is a businessman but actually is the leader of a gang of thieves, knows his past and forges documents with a fake identity to give a job in the local Conroy Stage and Freighter Line. Mourret is unsuccessful trying to steal the money and gold transported by the company but is frequently lured by Jason Conroy (Pierre Watkin); he intends to use Travis to get inside information about the transportation of gold. When one of Mourret's men kills the driver of the wagon, Travis schemes a plan to get rid of the gang. "The Stranger Wore a Gun" is only an average Western and is disappointing considering the names of Randolph Scott, Lee Marvin and Ernest Borgnine in the cast. The story is weird and the motives of the ambiguous character performed by Randolph Scott are absolutely confused, but in the end this movie entertains. My vote is six.Title (Brazil): "O Pistoleiro" ("The Gunman")
krorie Having been shot in 3-D, expect a lot of guns to be pointed at you and sometimes shot, fire coming at the camera, and even rock formations in Lone Pine to appear to have shelves. Outside of this minor distraction, the story is a good one concerning the aftermath of Quantrill's Raiders involving one of his spies, Jeff Travis (Randy Scott), who is determined to run away from his past and begin a new life. Following a fracas on a riverboat, he ends up in Prescott, Arizona, just as the capital of the territory is being moved to Phoenix because of the lack of law and order in the town. Somewhat of a mentor to him as well as lover is the soiled dove Josie Sullivan, played knowingly by Claire Trevor. He rides into Prescott loaded for bear, hence the title "The Stranger Wore a Gun." That he can't shake his past even in an out of the way western hamlet becomes obvious when both Josie and Jules Mourret (George Macready), another ghost from yesterday, turn up there. It's not quite clear where the stranger is heading until a close pal is murdered by Jules' henchmen. To muddy the water a damsel in distress appears, pretty Shelby Conroy (Joan Weldon), who seems shy and innocent. The stranger begins falling in love with her to the displeasure of Josie. Newcomer Jules is holding a Mexican gang at bay led by the colorful Degas (Alfonso Bedoya). The stranger begins playing one gang against the other to almost be gunned down in the crossfire.Two of Jules' henchmen would go on to win Academy Awards a few years later, Lee Marvin as Dan Kurth and Ernest Borgnine as Bull Slager. Borgnine wears one of the loudest cowboy outfits ever, including a green shirt. He looks like a dude from the east. This doesn't stop him from being the sadistic bully he usually played in those days. Marvin too is his usual twisted demented character fans loved to hate. To see these two in action is worth the price of admission.Postscript: Look for Tap Canutt, son of famous stunt man Yakima Canutt, in a bit part. He was also one of the stunt men for the film.
Michael O'Keefe Randolph Scott plays Jeff Travis, who worked as a spy during the Civil War for the lawless Quantrill's Raiders. One of the last jobs Travis took part in resulted in innocent victims being slaughtered. Travis leaves Quantrill and heads west to Arizona, where he takes a job spying for a stage company trying to protect their gold shipments. In reality the stranger with gun savvy is working with a strong willed loyalist(George Macready) to the Confederation trying to discover where scads of gold is being hid.Scott is his typical stoic self and has strong support from the alluring Claire Trevor and Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine, Joan Weldon and Alfonso Bedoya.