SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

Exoticalot People are voting emotionally.

Dorathen Better Late Then Never

Paynbob It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

Spikeopath The Stranger Wore a Gun is directed by Andre De Toth and adapted to screenplay by Kenneth Gamet from the story Yankee Gold written by John W. Cunningham. It stars Randolph Scott, Claire Trevor, Joan Weldon, George Macready, Alfonso Bedoya, Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine and Pierre Watkin. Technicolor/3-Dimension production, music is by Mischa Bakaleinikoff and cinematography by Lester White. Jeff Travis (Scott) was a spy for Quantrill's Raiders, but after disagreeing with the savagery he witnessed during The Lawrence Massacre, he decides to head off to Prescott, Arizona to start a new life. Unfortunately his reputation precedes him and it's not long before he is in the middle of robberies and murder as the hunger for gold rears its ugly head. As anyone who has seen it in its 2D print will attest, the 3D moments in this look rather bad, some films have been able to get away with it, but this is not one of them. However, mercifully this isn't a production that throws things at the screen every five minutes, or one that films every action sequence in depth perception. As it is, the 3D scenes are the least of the problems on show here, where were it not for the stoic Scott, the lovely Trevor and the novelty value of early turns from Marvin and Borgnine, then this would actually be a below average disaster. It's sometimes fun, but not always intentionally, and it looks very nice from a location perspective (Alabama Hills, Lone Pine), but the cast are saddled with a mediocre and unadventurous screenplay. The subject of Travis' past is briefly dangled, intriguingly so, with the fact that he is scarred from his "work" as a soldier of the Civil War grabbing the attention, but it's quickly dispensed with to pitch this interesting character into a cliché riddled "town rascals at work" plot. There's a boorish love triangle that's as pointless as it is obvious as to where it will end up, and Bedoya is irritatingly awful to the point his scenes are practically unwatchable. De Toth seems strangely off form on this one, you would tend to think the 3D filming had him losing his focus, but in this same year he crafted the hugely successful House of Wax in 3D. So he obviously had a knack for depth filming. He also this same year made Thunder Over the Plains with Scott, a significantly better Western than what is on offer here. In one fight scene between Scott and Borgnine, the director struggles to hide the fact that Borgnine has suddenly lost 50 pounds and Scott is 15 years younger! It's very poor from a director who undoubtedly had great talent. It's one for fans of the name actors only this one, a picture to tick off your lists, to be forgotten and consigned to Cinema Boothill. 5/10

zardoz-13 "The Stranger Wore A Gun" qualifies as a standard issue Randolph Scott horse opera from the 1950s, not as overall satisfying as the westerns that he starred in for director Budd Boetticher, but entertaining enough to watch if you consider yourself a completist Scott fan. Indeed, this sprawling outdoors action epic presents Scott in one of his least sympathetic roles, and the violence here at times turns unsavory courtesy of original "House of Wax" helmer Andre De Toth whose films often explore the dark side. Like Boetticher, De Toth worked with Scott on five films, so the two must have gotten along pretty well. Veteran scenarist Kenneth Gamet of several Randolph Scott westerns, including "Coroner Creek" and "Ten Wanted Men," based his screenplay on the story "Yankee Gold" written by "High Noon" author John W. Cunningham. Despite the fact that Scott, Gamet, and De Toth worked together on several films, "The Stranger Wore A Gun" still ranks as one of their less luminous efforts. Although De Toth shows his usual flair for physical action—riding, shooting, and fist-fighting, Gamet's script comes up lame because he gives the good guy characters—the father & daughter who run a stagecoach/freighting outfit—the short shrift. In fact, none of the characters are at all interesting, compared to the endlessly interesting characters in the Boetticher films.The action opens during the American Civil War with the renegade Confederate guerrilla leader, General William Clarke Quantrill (James Millican of "High Noon") and his raiders, as they loot and burn Lawrence, Kansas, in one of the worst atrocities of the war. Quantrill's chief spy, Jeff Travis (Randolph Scott of "Ride the High Country"), has gathered a herd of horses and prepared a list of names and addresses for men that Quantrill wants to see. When Travis learns that Quantrill wants his second-in-command, Jules Mourett (George Macready of "Gilda"), to kill everybody named on the list, our hero decides to quit Quantrill and fight the rest of the war in a regular outfit. Nevertheless, the murderous Lawrence raid attaches an odium to our protagonist that he never entirely manages to sweep under the rug. In the second scene, on board a Louisiana paddle wheel, Travis has to defend himself from people who want to kill anybody that rode with Quantrill. What Travis doesn't immediately know is that Mourett was on board when people made death threats against our hero, and Mourett furnishes a distraction that allows Travis an opportunity to escape. Travis guns down two men and plunges over the side. Travis' gambling companion, Josie Sullivan (Oscar winning actress Claire Trevor of "Key Largo") has kept the flame burning for our hero in her heart since the Civil War. She advises him to jump over the side, swim to the riverbank, and ride out to the Arizona territory where she will meet him. Realizing that he has no alternative, Travis heads west to Prescott, Arizona, the same day that the U.S. Army is moving the territorial capital out of town. As the villain, Jules Mourett is a well-tailored fellow who plans to become a millionaire before he leaves Prescott. He explains to Travis that thousands of thousands in gold flow through the mines to the capitol and the only thing that stands between him and his fortune is the Conroy Stage and Freight Lines run by Jason Conroy (Pierre Watkin of "Mysterious Island") and his beautiful daughter Shelby (Joan Weldon of "Them!") along with an obnoxious Mexican bandit Degas (Alfonso Bedayo of "Treasure of the Sierra Madre") and his gang that constantly interfere in Mourett's best laid plans. Bedayo is the actor who uttered the immortal line: "We don't need any stinking badges" from the Bogart movie. Consequently, when Travis shows up in Prescott, Mourett wants him to spy on the Conroys and learn when they are going to ship the gold. Conroy has thwarted Mourett's men, Dan (Lee Marvin of "The Big Heat") and Bull (Ernst Borgnine of "The Dirty Dozen"), by not telling the coachman where the gold is and substituting rocks for the gold in the strongbox. In one scene, the outlaws take the strongbox filled with rocks, while the gold coins were kept in a cloth satchel. Consequently, Travis masquerades as a detective from the Collier Detective Agency and convinces the Conroys to trust him with information about all the gold shipments. At one point, the Conroys change their minds about loading the gold, and Dan and Bull beat a coachman to death when he refuses to divulge the whereabouts of the gold. The biggest problem with "The Stranger Wore A Gun" is that the villain allows the hero to string him along for far too long. Further, the henchmen are just plain stupid. They can stop a stagecoach in the middle of the desert and ride off with the strongbox and neither has enough sense to check the contents of the box at the scene of the robbery. Meanwhile, the Conroys are so gullible that they accept Travis' explanation for why he is so late helping them with their problem. Moreover, neither Conroy thinks to verify Travis' identity with the Collier home office in Chicago. Eventually, the hero learns that the authorities do not have a bounty on his head, only that Josie made up the story so that she could exercise some control over him. The ending when Travis chooses which girl he will wind up with is one of the biggest surprises in the movie.The cast is top-notch, but villainous George Macready doesn't sneer enough to be truly menacing. Director Andre De Toth maintains a brisk pace throughout the film's terse 82- minute running time. Most of the dialogue is expository, except for when Travis swaps threats and ultimatums with the Lee Marvin bad guy. "The Stranger Wore A Gun" is about as generic a western as it title implies, but a sturdy cast and the lively action sequence bolster this otherwise routine oater.

wes-connors An enjoyable western, with a fair storyline. I especially liked the hot "fire scene". The confrontation between Randolph Scott and Ernest Borgnine was also fun - with Mr. Borgnine throwing junk at the camera! Borgnine and Lee Marvin are both fun to watch, in these early career roles. Claire Trevor is getting older, will Mr. Scott still choose her; or, will the sweet young thing give him a spin?"The Stranger Wore a Gun" was originally shot, by director André De Toth, in "3D"; this gives it a unique "look", I thought; and, some of the photography is very nice. I found the story difficult to follow, though. I really dig that statue in front of Juniper House. ***** The Stranger Wore a Gun (1953) André De Toth ~ Randolph Scott, Claire Trevor, Ernest Borgnine

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.