Gunsmoke (film)
1953 film starring Audie Murphy directed by Nathan H. Juran
- May 4, 1953 (1953-05-04)
Running time
Gunsmoke is a 1953 American Western film directed by Nathan Juran and starring Audie Murphy, Susan Cabot, and Paul Kelly. The film has no connection to the contemporary radio and later TV series of the same name. The film was based on the 1951 novel Roughshod by Norman A. Fox.
Plot
Murphy stars as Reb Kittridge, a wandering hired gun who is hired to get the deeds of the last remaining ranch not owned by local boss Matt Telford. That last ranch is owned by Dan Saxon. Though Reb has not yet accepted the job he is ambushed by Saxon's ramrod, ranch foreman Curly Mather, who kills his horse. Once in town, he is challenged to a gun fight by Saxon, but shoots Saxon in his gun hand instead of with a killing shot.
Saxon, a former wild outlaw who has settled down, senses Reb has good in him and when he hears Reb's goal in life is to own his own ranch he loses the deed of the ranch to Reb in a card draw. It is obvious he does this on purpose since he earlier won a similar contest by outdrawing his opponent's king.
Reb takes over the ranch and moving its cattle herd to a railhead for sale to the workers. Telford hires Reb's fellow gunslinger and sometime friend, Johnny Lake to stop the herd and Reb. Reb has also fallen in love with Rita, the rancher's daughter, who currently is in love with Mather.[2]
Cast
- Audie Murphy as Reb Kittridge
- Susan Cabot as Rita Saxon
- Paul Kelly as Dan Saxon
- Charles Drake as Johnny Lake
- Mary Castle as Cora Dufrayne
- Jack Kelly as Curly Mather
- Jesse White as Professor
- Donald Randolph as Matt Telford
- William Reynolds as Brazos
- Chubby Johnson as Doc Farrell
Production
The movie started filming in June 1952 under the title of Roughshod. It was the first of three Westerns Murphy made with Nathan Juran over two years.[3] Filming took place in Big Bear Lake, California.[4]
References
- ^ 'The Top Box Office Hits of 1953', Variety, January 13, 1954
- ^ Gossett, Sue, The Films and Career of Audie Murphy, Empire Publishing, Inc., 1996, pp. 47–48.
- ^ Don Graham, No Name on the Bullet: The Biography of Audie Murphy, Penguin, 1989 p 228
- ^ "Gunsmoke". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. Los Angeles, California: American Film Institute. Retrieved April 5, 2020.
External links
- Gunsmoke at IMDb
- Gunsmoke at the TCM Movie Database
- Gunsmoke at Letterboxd
- Gunsmoke at AllMovie
- Gunsmoke at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
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Films directed by Nathan Juran
- The Black Castle (1952)
- Gunsmoke (1953)
- Law and Order (1953)
- The Golden Blade (1953)
- Tumbleweed (1953)
- Highway Dragnet (1954)
- Drums Across the River (1954)
- The Crooked Web (1955)
- Hellcats of the Navy (1957)
- The Deadly Mantis (1957)
- 20 Million Miles to Earth (1957)
- The Brain from Planet Arous (1957)
- Attack of the 50 Foot Woman (1958)
- The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958)
- Good Day for a Hanging (1959)
- Flight of the Lost Balloon (1961)
- Jack the Giant Killer (1962)
- Siege of the Saxons (1963)
- First Men in the Moon (1964)
- East of Sudan (1964)
- Land Raiders (1970)
- The Boy Who Cried Werewolf (1973)
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