The Fastest Gun Alive
| The Fastest Gun Alive | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Russell Rouse |
| Produced by | Clarence Greene |
| Screenplay by |
Frank D. Gilroy Russell Rouse |
| Based on | the story "The Last Notch" 1954 teleplay by Frank D. Gilroy |
| Starring |
Glenn Ford Jeanne Crain Broderick Crawford Russ Tamblyn Allyn Joslyn |
| Music by | André Previn |
| Cinematography | George J. Folsey |
| Edited by | Harry V. Knapp Ferris Webster |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
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Release date
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Running time
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89 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $1,383,000 |
| Box office | $3,535,000 |
The Fastest Gun Alive is a 1956 Western film starring Glenn Ford, Jeanne Crain, and Broderick Crawford.
Son of a notorious fast-drawing sheriff, George Kelby Jr. (Ford) and his wife Dora (Jeanne Crain) settle down in the peaceful town of Cross Creek under assumed identities to avoid having to continually face men out to become famous for shooting down the "fastest gun alive". Now known as George Temple, he becomes a mild-mannered teetotalling shopkeeper, little respected by the other townsfolk.
One day comes news that outlaw Vinnie Harold (Crawford) has gunned down Clint Fallon (Walter Coy, reputedly the "fastest draw in the west." George listens to the townsmen talk about Wyatt Earp, Wes Hardin, and other so-called "fast guns". They are also laughing at George, seeing him as nothing but a "ribbon clerk".
His pride stung, George retrieves a gun from hiding (he told his wife he had tossed it into a river years ago) and—over her desperate pleading not to destroy the peaceful life they have built—says "they have to know who I am." The men are astonished at seeing George wearing a gun, believing him to be drunk. He sets about destroying the myths these men have about gunmen, displaying a detailed knowledge of guns and gunmen they never suspected he had. George then blurts out his secret that he is the fastest gun alive, "...faster than Earp, faster than Hardin, faster than Fallon, and faster than the man who killed him."
With the citizens understandably skeptical, George takes them into the street and gives them a demonstration of his skill. First, with only two shots, he hits two silver dollars tossed into the air on the count of three. Following that, he shoots a beer glass full of beer dropped from Harvey Maxwell's (Allyn Joslyn) hand at 20 feet, hitting it almost immediately after it left the man's hand.
Later, while everyone is in church, where they have taken an oath not to tell George's secret, Harold rides into town. A local boy tells him about George's display of gun skill. Though he is on the run—and over the objections of his fellow bank robbers, Taylor Swope (John Dehner) and Dink Wells (Noah Beery, Jr.), who just want to escape the law—Harold is intent to remain in town until he can see this George Temple face-to-face.
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Wikipedia