Make Way for Mitchum

[setsuled]

A frontier town is ruled by a murderous gang. Robert Mitchum comes to sort them out in 1955's Man with the Gun. It's not a bad film but I'd put it pretty far down the list of good '50s Westerns. It's always nice watching Robert Mitchum anyway.

He plays Clint Tollinger who rides into town wearing what looks distinctly like a modern sport coat.



Costumes are certainly one of the weak points of this film. Alex North's score is also pretty weak, or at least its juxtaposition with the action is.

Director Richard Wilson fragments the scenes too much with excessive close-ups but there are nonetheless decent action sequences. Mitchum shows he can mount and ride a horse quickly while giving a performance and I readily believe he's a marvellously quick draw.



Tollinger is a "town tamer", a hired gun whose job is to clean up towns like this. In this case, though, he was visiting just to see an old flame, the manager of a dance hall troupe of girls and possibly the madam of their brothel. She's played by Jan Sterling who's moderately attractive and gives a moderately good performance.

Man with the Gun is available on ScreenPix.