jacobs-greenwood 44 year-old James Stewart plays a man in his early 20's through his mid-40's (and beyond?), something he was asked to do quite often throughout his career. His characterization is good, though he is clearly not youthful enough physically to play the title character in the first third of the film. Chameleon actress Jean Hagan, on the other hand, ages much more believably (perhaps because she was only 30 at the time;-)In any case, the film is about a young man, "Marsh" Williams, who returns home after two "hitches" in the Navy to find that he must earn his eighth of the family farm by working it for two years, before his father (Carl Benton Reid) will give him the deed to it. That's what his other seven brothers, including the oldest (James Arness), are doing, or plan to do when they're old enough. Marsh isn't interested, though, because he's impatient to marry his childhood sweetheart Maggie (Hagan). So, he gets a job laying track for the railroad that pays him 40 cents an hour for a 10 hour day. However, wanting to have "more" sooner, he decides to join a couple of still makers (one of which is the recognizable character actor Porter Hall) and creates a growing business making moonshine, all without his wife's knowledge. When his operation is raided, a man is killed and Williams is sentenced to 30 years of hard labor (the good old days;-)In prison, he becomes associated with "Dutch" Kruger (Paul Stewart) which leads to trouble when Kruger and some other inmates knife a squealer. Even though Williams didn't participate, he's caught with a knife in his possession and gets sent to work on the chain gang with the other perpetrators. After a while of this arduous work, and having to spend some time in the infirmary when his appendix burst, he and his "group" are transferred to another prison run by Warden Peoples (Wendell Corey). Peoples discovers Williams is a hard case with a strong will who won't even read his wife's, let alone write her or his family back, because he wants them to forget about him. But he gains some respect for him when Williams kills a rattlesnake that might have bitten the warden. However, when Williams shows disrespect to him before the rest of the inmates, Peoples decides that he'll break Williams' will by putting him in "the box". But the warden must release Williams after a record 30 days, no one else had ever lasted more than a week, at the prison doctor's insistence.It turns out that Williams was able to withstand eating no more than bread & water while sitting in a dark crate for a month by thinking of a new way to design guns, ones which are lightweight and can fire multiple rounds before having to be reloaded.The rest of this most interesting story is about how this man came to earn his name, which is the title of the film, while he was a prisoner that was allowed to make a gun!

utgard14 This is one of my favorite Jimmy Stewart movies and I feel it's also one of his most under-appreciated. It's a biopic of David Marshall Williams, the inventor of the M1 carbine rifle. Williams was a moonshiner who went to prison for killing a federal agent (a deputy sheriff in reality but changed to a fed here for some reason). While in prison, he works on a new kind of repeating rifle that would be the basis for the carbine invented later.Stewart dominates the movie and his performance keeps you interested throughout. Jean Hagen and Wendell Corey offer fine support. This is a pretty straightforward and simple biographical movie. There are no bells and whistles. But there's something about it that always appealed to me. Jimmy Stewart fans will love it, I'm sure.

whatshisfacesoutpost This movie is a great movie for those who are into guns. Weather it be gun collecting, or just history. This movie portrays the actual real life story of how the winchester carbine was brought about. It is correct in it's history, and very interesting. Jimmy Stewart does an excellent job of portraying the feelings of a prisoner who may be wrongly convicted. It was never determined who actually killed the agent. This man made a rifle to help the American fighting man of the armed forces. Lighter, faster and more reliable than anything up to it's time. This was done inside a prison, with nothing but a file. When it was found out what he was doing, the warden of the prison eventually stands behind him and helps him in his efforts. If you are not interested in guns it is still a informative movie with a great human interest story!

dahlslines I joined the Navy in 1951. I saw Carbine Williams before I joined in Tacoma, Wa. I saw it in San Diego ,Ca. before I left for Korea Then it was shown aboard the carrier Kearsarge while in the Sea of Japan.I cant remember where I saw it the next few times but I remember I saw it a total of eight times and enjoyed it more each time I saw it. I was especially happy when Marsh was pardoned for his crime.They didn't know for sure if he shot the government man ,but since he was considered the best shot in the group he was blamed and convicted. It was just a movie with a lot of heart.I would watch it again if I could find a copy. If anyone knows where I can get a copy of this movie I would be very happy.