Top Gun (1955 film)

Top Gun
Directed by	Ray Nazarro
Produced by	Edward Small
Screenplay by	Steve Fisher Richard Schayer
Story by	Steve Fisher
Starring	Sterling Hayden William Bishop
Music by	Irving Gertz
Cinematography	Lester White
Edited by	Henry Adams Dwright Caldwell
Production company	Edward Small Productions Fame Productions
Distributed by	United Artists
Release date	December 1955 (1955-12)
Running time	74 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Top Gun is a 1955 Western film about an ex-gunslinger (Sterling Hayden) who arrives in a small town warning of an impending attack by his old gang. The film features Rod Taylor in one of his first American roles.

Rick Martin returns home to Casper, Wyoming, where he is unwanted. A grave marker beside his mother's has Rick's name on it, and the town council orders Rick to leave town by midnight. Rick informs townspeople that outlaw Tom Quentin's gang is on its way, but his warnings go unheeded.

Rick still has friends in town, including Marshal Bat Davis and hotel owner Jim O'Hara. He rides to former sweetheart Laura Mead's ranch to ask her to marry him and move to California, but she is engaged to a wealthy council member, Canby Judd.

Rick learns his mother was cheated out of her ranch by Judd and murdered by him. After a fistfight, Judd hires gunfighter Lem Sutter to ambush Rick, but when Sutter ends up dead, Bat has no choice but to place Rick under arrest. Bat tries to head off Quentin on the trail, but is shot. Townspeople now beg Rick for help. He is able to kill Quentin in a fair fight, and Laura does likewise to Judd when he tries to shoot Rick in the back. Rick and Laura pack up and leave for California.

Filming started June 1955.

Female lead Karin Booth was married to the grandson of Allan Pinkerton—founder of the world-famous Pinkerton Detective Agency—and producer Edward Small announced plans to star her as a female Pinkerton detective, but no film seems to have resulted.