Gunslinger (1956)

I'm honored to join Barry and Gill Jacob over on Twitter for the Corman-Verse Blogathon! This is a 3 day event featuring blog posts about the legendary director, producer, and actor, Roger Corman. For my contribution, I've chosen Gunslinger, a Western starring Beverly Garland as Marshal Rose Hood, Allison Hayes as Erica Page, and John Ireland as Cane Miro. This has the distinct honor of being the only film that caused Corman to go over schedule and it was also described by him as "one of the worst experiences of my life." Both Garland and Hayes were injured on set and Hayes was even determined to leave the shoot. Garland, on the other hand, stated that this was one of her favorite roles. Gunslinger has quite the feminist twist on what a gunslinger is. Gender roles are toyed with and the idea that a woman can do what a man does (and maybe do a better job) is a refreshing theme in the machismo dominated Western genre. If you're looking for John Wayne, you won't find him here. As a matter of fact, most male characters are portrayed as rather stupid and incompetent. One character says he can't be the town's new marshal because that takes book learnin'. Another character, known as Little Man, is emasculated by Hayes over and over again. Only Cane, the hired gunslinger intent on killing Rose, shows traditional masculinity. However, even he isn't immune from the fierce women in the town of Oracle Texas. 

Now that you have a good introduction to the film, let's get into it! This movie has already been given the Mystery Science Theater 3000 treatment. And for all you Joel purists, that particular episode was his penultimate before leaving. I plan on being kinder than the MST3K crew but there's nothing wrong with a little good natured roasting. So get yer boots and yer best hat on, get yer horses saddled up, and enjoy this humorous look at the marvelous mess of a film called Gunslinger.

Attack of the 50 foot saloon owner

The first topic I want to address is the violence. Corman was worried about the amount of violence in the film but was told by his Texas distributor that no one has ever made a film with too much passion and violence. All worries must have been thrown out the window because there's not much left of the population by the end of the film. Gunslinger's motto must be shoot first and don't bother to ask questions later because it doesn't matter. If you took a drink each time someone was shot, you'd end up in the hospital. So please be responsible and remember that drinking and Gunslinger don't mix. Who would've guessed that Oracle TX is such a lawless wasteland?

Tie me up! Tie me down!


The dialogue is Corman at his campiness! If there's one thing that I love, it's a snappy one liner and this movie does not disappoint. At one point, Erica tells Rose to get out of those pants and find herself a man. Another time, Rose tells Cane that he's not bad, he's just no good. But the absolute best line in the entire film belongs to the cowardly mayor's wife, Felicity Polk, who informs him that he needs to hurry up because she has a beef roast in the oven. Look, if that's not a reason to speed things along, I don't know what is. Mrs. Polk is not playing around. She knows that a good roast waits for no one.

The final point I'd like to make is, although I appreciate the feminism in Gunslinger, there's far too many instances of women tearing down other women. For example, Rose wants Erica to shut down the brothel...er, I mean SALOON, at 3 AM. It's not an unreasonable request but Erica informs her that they operate 24/7. Fair enough, considering people will visit these types of establishments at any time of the day and this was way before you could promote yourself on OnlyFans. Anyway, I can understand both sides but Rose goes into Karen mode and demands to speak to the manager. Bad bitch Erica is like girl, chill or I'll hire someone to kill you. Rose decidedly is not chill and Erica is not backing down. So what happens? Three of Erica's "dancers" tie up Rose with the intention of killing her but just end up ripping her blouse. Now why not channel some of that girl boss energy and team up? Take over the town, run out the men, own 51 percent of the company! 

They shoot horses, don't they? Yep, and everything else

 

Despite my gripes, I love Gunslinger for the silly romp that it is. There's far too much hate for it, which is a shame. Gunslinger isn't a good movie but we're all the better for it. It stays in its lane and never tries to be anything it isn't. Roger Corman understood the assignment and we were blessed with a slice of 1950s cinematic camp. To wrap things up, I'll leave you with this little nugget of wisdom, courtesy of Cane Miro: the good die first. If that's true, then Gunslinger will live on for a long, long time. Now excuse me folks, I have a beef roast in the oven that I need to check on.

Thanks again Barry and Gill for hosting this blogathon! Please click the links in this post to view their sites and read the other great entries from all of the participants.