Bardlerx Strictly average movie

Freaktana A Major Disappointment

Breakinger A Brilliant Conflict

Jakoba True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

Edgar Allan Pooh . . . THE MAN BEHIND THE GUN just another run-of-the-mill Western. THE MAN BEHIND THE GUN is about a Confederate Conspiracy to split off California south of San Luis Obispo as a Lazy Southern Racist Black Slavery state. At the time that Warner Bros. released THE MAN BEHIND THE GUN, Hollywood's biggest names at the other movie studios were spending more time in snitching out their Progressive Union Label benefactors to moronic alcohol-fueled Witch Hunters Hell-bent upon dredging up the South to "rise again" than they were in making films. This deplorable Real Life debauchery was spear-headed by Tinseltown's most bloated gas bag "star," who spent his nights riding up and down Wilshire Blvd. on Harleys with a few drunken co-stars, clubbing any guys within reach of their hogs who seemed "Gay" to them. THE MAN BEHIND THE GUN depicts an 1800s Los Angeles rife with such Thuggery, plots, and back-stabbing. Always prophetic, Warner Bros. uses THE MAN BEHIND THE GUN to warn America that this flick's wanton mayhem was happening in Real Life in the 1950s, and would pop up again in the 2010s.

alexandre michel liberman (tmwest) When you think this film was made in 1953, after "High Noon"(1952) and at the same year as "The Naked Spur" you might think the world was going though two different eras of evolution. Even though this film is in color, which was a characteristic of "A" westerns there are flaws in the script that make it laughable, like Randoph Scott showing his card to Philip Carey, followed by a complete reversal of roles. That scene was more appropriate for Gilbert and Sullivan. What is incredible is that Randy made his excellent western "Hangman's Knot" one year before and had so many great westerns ahead of him, specially with Boetticher. Robert Cabal as Joaquin Murietta is a caricature. Even the action scenes are second rate with people being killed with less fuss than you kill a mosquito. Poor direction and a poor script makes this one of Randy's worst films.

Brian Camp THE MAN BEHIND THE GUN (listed as 1952 in Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide) is a Warner Bros. western starring Randolph Scott and set in Los Angeles, California in the early 1850s. The script is okay, the pace is fast and it has a large, colorful cast. There are a number of interesting elements in it that are worth noting. The Southern California setting enables the script to name-check landmarks in the area: San Pedro, Santa Monica and the LaBrea Tar Pits—which two characters visit at one point. (No sightings of woolly mammoths, though.) They even mention San Luis Obispo, which is further up the coast. The plot involves manipulation of the water supply to L.A. with a corrupt politician trying to take control of it. As such, it looks forward to Roman Polanski's CHINATOWN (1974), 22 years later. There's even a direct casting connection. The actor who plays a California senator here, Roy Roberts, plays L.A.'s mayor in CHINATOWN.There are two significant Latino characters. One is female nightclub owner Chona Degnon, played by singer Lina Romay. She's the film's resident femme fatale and she tries to recruit Scott to help out with her gun-running sideline. She sings a couple of numbers, too. Some of you may remember her from her delightful live-action cameo in Tex Avery's cartoon, "Señor Droopy" (1950). The other Latino character is famed California bandit and folk hero Joaquin Murietta, well played by Robert Cabal, an actor I'm otherwise unfamiliar with. Other movies have been made about Murietta, including the TV movie, "Desperate Mission" (1971), starring Ricardo Montalban. Murietta is seen here on the cusp of his outlaw career and he becomes an ally of the hero. He's quite handy with both guns and knives and kills seven opponents, often quite casually.The cast includes Patrice Wymore (looking quite beautiful) as the fiancée of a military officer (Philip Carey) assigned to work with Scott. She soon finds herself falling for Scott, an undercover officer sent by Washington to put down a planned secessionist revolt. Wymore and Romay have a pretty convincing catfight at one point. Dick Wesson and Alan Hale Jr. (taking up where his dad, a longtime Warners contract player, left off) play ex-soldiers who'd served with Scott in the Mexican War and who act as his reluctant sidekicks here. They provide much of the (forced) comic relief. Dependable heavy Morris Ankrum has too small a part as a die-hard secessionist. Other dependable heavies in the cast include Douglas Fowley and Anthony Caruso.It's all mostly shot on studio sets, with location work saved for the action finale—a spectacular raid on the water pirates' camp. In a few sequences, the film uses stock footage culled from an earlier Warner Technicolor western. IMDb says it was SAN ANTONIO (1945). I'm more inclined to say it was DODGE CITY (1939)—and it's quite possible that the footage used in SAN ANTONIO was indeed taken from DODGE CITY as well. If anyone wants to watch all three of these films back-to-back just to get this straight, be my guest.This isn't the best Randolph Scott western I've ever seen, but it's certainly above average for him.

justincward The explosion of TV channels must be eternally grateful to the Randolph Scott Western production line, because any any moment there must be one of what seems like a hundred Randolph Scott movies playing on at least one no-budget station."Man Behind The Gun" is a typical early 1950's period melodrama with pre-WWII production values that relies on a historically-topical murder mystery plot peppered with action scenes to disguise the script's complete absence of character development, and thus lack of suspense. In years to come the role of these films would be taken over by TV shows like 'Gunsmoke', 'Bonanza', etc - and these actually did the job better. Randolph Scott, looking particularly grizzled in this, is the good guy, struggling against the bad guys against whom he will eventually prevail. There's no more interest in what he goes through emotionally than in what his horse is feeling, unless you count wondering whether he'll sort out the initial misunderstanding with the female lead by the end. The music is a stronger indication of the emotional state of the 'characters' than the acting is. But it's fine if that floats your boat; and I wouldn't berate you for enjoying 'Diagnosis, Murder', either.Workmanlike, pedestrian, and ageing rapidly. 3 stars for being competently put together; 0 for artistic endeavour.