alexandre michel liberman (tmwest) There have been quite a few westerns about the confrontation of father and son. There is even one, Winchester 73 where the son already has killed the father. There is "Duel in the Sun" with Lionel Barrymore-Gregory Peck where the father admires the son in spite of all the evil he does, there is "Broken Lance" with Spencer Tracy-Richard Widmark, also "The Halliday Brand "with Ward Bond-Joseph Cotten. Here it is Van Heflin-Tab Hunter. Tab plays the competitive, tough son, who is trying to outshine the father, it is quite a good performance, perhaps Tab's best, although sometimes he overacts. Although the action takes place in the old west the theme is very actual. It is common to hear so and so described as not tough enough to handle a job or a situation. The problem is that when a father creates a "tough" son he might be creating a monster. James Darren plays Davy Hackett, the nice son with good feelings, but looked down by the father Lee Hackett as being weak and also by breaking the family's laws by falling in love with what they call a "half breed" Clee Chouard (Kathryn Grant). This is an above average western, which goes deep into the character's feelings, worth seeing.

David_Brown This is an extremely powerful film, with another commanding performance by Van Heflin (Easily one of the most neglected actors of all-time). What you see is in Lee Hackett, is a man who is unaware of terms like LOVE (He essentially sees it as weakness). He is so hard, he even let has sons (Ed & Davy (Tab Hunter & James Darren)) call him Lee instead of dad. His biggest problem however, is actually not being hard, or even powerful, it is being an enabler. It is obvious to viewers that Ed (Tab Hunter) is a sociopath, who will kill and hurt other people just on a whim, and despite that, his father does whatever he believes necessary in order to keep him from being punished for his deeds. Spoiler Ahead: Even after Ed murders Deputy Motley, he says to him, "You fool, I could have gotten you off." It took the showdown against Ed, to realize how much Ed really hated him, and really wanted to have a duel against him, and he had no option but to kill him. I really like the ending where he asks Davy and his Indian woman Clee (Kathrym Grant)to help take your brother home, and they walk out of town, with Clee & Davy supporting Lee on each arm. What I see in the end of this film is hope. The hope being that Lee has finally cleansed himself of the prejudice, anger and hate that consumed him, and by calling Clee over to him (Along with Davy), I think he did.

Spikeopath Rancher and old school westerner Lee Hackett is determined to mould his two sons in his own tough gun-fighting image. Something that backfires when his eldest boy, Ed, becomes a murderer.Gunman's Walk on plot synopsis and summaries sounds like your standard B Western fare, and certainly the theme of parental influence is nothing new. But Phil Karlson's film, adapted from Ric Hardman's story, has many things going for it to keep it from being mundane and used solely as a time filler. It fuses together multiple issues, parenting, prejudice and ignorance during a time of change in the old Wild West, it's central character, Lee Hackett (Van Heflin), is seen as the link between old and new.He has primarily lived his life as a shooter and killer of Indians, something that he is not totally committed to shaking off, but here he is now, a most respected and feared member of the community, faced with his two sons both taking different paths. One, Ed (Tab Hunter), is full of bile and gun slinging machismo, represents the old West. The other, Davy (James Darren), doesn't need a gun to feel like a man, his affection for half Indian Clee Chouard (Kathryn Grant) clearly gives a point of reference to the new West. It gives us two sides of the coin with one Lee Hackett perched firmly on the fence, to which Van Heflin gives an emotionally driven standout performance.I wouldn't say that Gunman's Walk is undervalued as such (its director most definitely is though), it's possibly more like it's been tarred with that old saying brush called "B Western", a saying that unfortunately some use as being derogatory. Whilst if the truth be told the support to Heflin is rather flat (both Hunter & Darren are average at best). But some average support acting can't stop Gunman's Walk from being an intelligent and potent genre piece. I mean if only for Heflin and the catchy central song, "I'm A Runaway", then you should see this, but as it is, if you give it your undivided attention you hopefully will find it's really rather good and clever. 7/10

emdragon Van Heflin played second lead in a score of pictures over 3 decades. In this excellent western he gets to play the lead, and his performance is one of the greatest of his long career. He displays a completely believable fatherly range of emotion and makes the audience identify with his 'how the west was won' mentality. Phil Karlson's deft direction keeps the pacing of this picture very crisp and poignant. The settings and western scenes are also quite excellent. All of this has been said without mentioning Tab Hunter's taught performance, which is really the defining touch that makes this movie great. Surprisingly, Hunter was a teen idol especially developed by the movie studio to be just another screen image. He defied the studios by delivering this amazing performance as a wild and reckless young man growing up in the shadow of his father's hard nosed old western legacy, determined to leave his own stamp on the developing times in the west. Gunman's Walk may be the most underrated western in screen history. It almost feels like a real metaphor for the western motif, and the changing civilization that beckons just over the horizon.