weezeralfalfa I like westerns with a strong psychological component, along with some action. That is what this film delivers. The theme throughout is brother Bless's apparent cowardice or attempt to diffuse potentially explosive situations by peaceful means. Bless(Jeffrey Hunter) is much like Gregory Peck's character in "The Big Country", released the following year. Bless's mother takes up for him when others criticize him. Nonetheless, she wants him to move to St. Louis with her. She's tired of all the hassles involved in ranching. Audrey, brother Will's girlfriend, also takes up for him, saying he just has a different attitude than the others. Even older brother Will sometimes takes up for him.The most blatant example of cowardice is when a rattlesnake is near a reclining brother Hade. Will tells him to shoot it. He tries, but his gun shakes in his hand, and he gives up, so that Will has to shoot it. Later, brother Hade and cowhand Stringer make a fake rattlesnake tethered by a string, with a dried gourd as a rattle. this is put on Bless's chest while sleeping. He jumps in a panic when he awakens, and shoots the fake snake. Later, we discover that he had a traumatic experience with a rattlesnake when a boy. It bit his father, who died, and he ran away. Another example: brother Hade chose to stay in a spot during a shootout with rustlers, with stampeding steers all around. Bless moved to a safer place, but Hade didn't follow him, and got shot dead. He was criticized for not staying with his brother, even if it was more dangerous. Another example: Cowhand Stringer was sore because Bless checked out the details of his property, which was about to be foreclosed. Stringer wanted to fight, because he saw the brothers as taking advantage of him. However, Bless and Hade finally convinced him that they were doing him a favor in buying his land. Still another example: he tried to calm a potentially explosive situation involving Hade in a saloon. Some reviewers claim there is too much talk and not enough action. However, I cite the following examples of action.1)Will shooting the threatening rattlesnake 2)Will's encounter with the squatter nesters, shooting one. 3) The explosive situation in the saloon, where one man is shot 4)Bless riding a bucking bronco 5)Rustlers stampede their cattle, including several rustlers and Hade shot dead. 6)Stringer and Bless fight, followed by Will shooting Stringer.7)Will and Bless fight. The last 2 actions constitute the climax of the film. I won't reveal the subsequent ending.Janice Rule plays the main romantic interest for both Will and Bless. She was beautiful and had a lot of charisma as an 'all American' girl. She has to make up her mind whether she wants to marry an older, well established, man(Will)or an age mate who is still uncertain of his calling(Bless).Chill Wills was also present much of the time, as an old timer, with much wisdom. I believe that Fred MacMurray, as Will, should have been cast as the father, rather than an older brother. Although Fred still looked young at 49, he was only 5 years younger than Josephine Hutchinson, who played his mother, and 28 years older than Dean Stockwell, who played his kid brother.This film is available cheaply as a DVD in a set of 8 westerns.

TankGuy This western from 1957 was the second of two westerns that were shown on Sunday as part of channel 5USAs weekly western matinée, it was just another boring Sunday afternoon so I sat down to watch it,the storyline is like this, the Keough brothers, Bless(JEFFREY HUNTER),Will(FRED MACMURRAY)and Hade(DEAN STOCKWELL)run their dead father's ranch along with their mother.Bless,the middle child, has always had a fear of fighting, getting hurt and Rattlesnakes ever since he failed to prevent his father being killed by a Rattlesnake as a young boy. The boy's mother favours Bless over his two brothers and insists on treating him like a child, despite Will's attempts to turn him into a man, the mother wants to move to St Louis and take Bless with her, but she soon dies and Bless decides to remain on the ranch with his brothers. The brothers then begin a Cattle drive and Hade, the youngest boy becomes irritated with Bless' soft attitude on the trail but things soon come to a head after Hade is killed in a shootout with some rustler and Bless rides away from the trouble, Will and the other cowhands blame him for Hade's death and label him a coward, does Bless still have the chance to prove he is a man...GUN FOR A COWARD is an alright western, but Universal have done a lot better, as far as westerns are concerned it's just above average, although it could have and should have been much better. It's a bit too story driven and feels like more of a moral drama than a western, there's too much boring dialogue and corny romantic scenes and too little action. Though there are a couple of impressive action sequences, the Cattle stampede and shootout with the rustlers was fantastic and superbly shot and the Saloon fight at the end between Bless and Will was excellent but could have been done a little better. The camera-work was magnificent,especially the shots of the Cattle moving across the plains, but the version I watched on TV was 1:33:1 full screen and this made various parts of the film appear washed out looking and faded which was a little disappointing, if you ever want to watch the film then watch it on another channel in it's original 2:35:1 cinemascope format as channel 5 have a reputation for widening their films. I did love the storyline and the premise about a man trying his hardest to prove himself, the film also have a towering, strong moral to it which was a huge bonus as I myself can relate to this. The film was brilliantly scripted and I particularly liked the way it ended, SPOILER ALERT, Bless finally proves himself by beating Will in a fight and then gets to lead a posse out against the rustlers.GUN FOR A COWARD is certainly not a terrible film, it's a plausible and entertaining effort but just gets bogged down in too much dialogue and mushy scenes. The film's script, moral and cinematography build it up and make it worth watching and with a couple of exciting action scenes thrown it really isn't that bad, it's the perfect type of movie for a dull, quiet afternoon and I would be bold enough to say that it's worthy of a DVD release(a-hem Pegasus!).Overall, it's not the best western ever made, but it's far from the worst.7/10.

Robert J. Maxwell You have to admit: not much promise here. A Universal Studios cheapo production with a cartoon title -- "Gun For A Coward" -- that sounds like a prêt à cuire Audie Murphy number. John Larch, always a likable actor, as a bearded nasty. Directed by Abner Biberman, probably best known for his role as a slimy Wog in "Gunga Din." Wait. Can I take that back? I don't mean "Wog", of course; I mean Oriental gentleman.The whole line up suggests a crude moral tale in which a brave man, highly skilled with a six shooter, tries to hang up his guns and pretend to be a preacher or a farmer but must finally prove to the townspeople that he's a REAL MAN by killing someone. And nobody has any trouble telling who's good and who's bad because the good guys are all sympathetic and clean, while the bad guys wear black and are impolite.Fortunately, it's a bit better than that. There is one fist fight that reduces the saloon to shambles but little in the way of gunplay. Instead, the script focuses on the disparate temperaments of three brothers who run the Keogh Ranch -- perfectionist Fred MacMurray, peace-loving Jeffrey Hunter, and temerarious Dean Stockwell -- plus a rivalry between MacMurray and Hunter over Janice Rule. There's a good bit of tension and some grown-up dialog in the script. Also, a couple of clunkers in the romantic scenes. As director, Biberman does a professional job, only occasionally lapsing into absurd clichés: when two men are about to draw on each other, they spread their arms like penguins in ecstatic display.I'd like to be able to say the same for the performances but none really stands out. MacMurray hits his spots, says his lines, and projects his emotions like a bird dog on point. Hunter is handsome, brown as a Brazil nut, and adequate. Janice Rule, whom I've always considered one of the most beautiful actresses, and sexy too, of her period fails to rise above medium-rare. Dean Stockwell, as the willful youngster, is another performer I've always rather liked, though he's not at his best here. He was my supporting player in the superb "Blue Velvet", when he was a little nervous at taking the role of the surreal, gaudy, homosexual sadist, but I helped the kid over the rough spots. "Just relax!", I shouted at him, "Be yourself," and managed to duck the swing he took at me. Overall, not a bad flick. Or, at any rate, an improvement over what you might expect from the title.

revdrcac Fred MacMurray starred in a number of interesting color westerns in the 1950's. In this film, 3 brothers come face to face with violence, cowardice and personality conflicts. MacMurray , with his laconic sense of irony, shines in this film.Jeffrey Hunter has the key role of the the young brother. Hunter was a great actor, who is best remembered to day for his role in The Searchers. He performs well in this one and is a good match for this interesting role.This movie is only slightly above average, being aided by two fine actors at the top of their game. Worth a look for that alone ........