weezeralfalfa A wacky western. Of course, the idea of a woman on a white horse leading 40 men on brown horses through the wilderness, wherever she wanted to take them, is absurd. If on a regular basis, that would have cost a fortune for a rancher, unless maybe they were also wranglers on a large ranch. Perhaps an exaggerated feminist statement? The problem for Jessica(Barbara Stanwyck) is that the new man she realized is the man for her isn't among her 40. His name is Griff Bonell: one of 3 brothers who came to town mainly to pick up a deputy accused of stealing US mail. They would have trouble from Jessica's much younger trigger-happy brother(son?) Brockie, whom Jessica pampered, bribing governmental officials and juries to get him out of jail or acquitted for disturbing the peace or shooting someone, mostly. But this babying of her brother conflicted with her growing infatuation with Griff. This was especially true after Brockie shot brother Chico just after his wedding, right next to his bride, still in her wedding dress. Brockie was soon locked up for this murder, as well as the murder of the deputy accused of stealing mail. Crazy Jessica gave away all her immense property trying to bribe the judge, etc. to cancel the charges against Brochie. However, when he was being transferred to another prison, he got loose, got a gun, and, using Jessica as a shield, began shooting on the street, killing one man. Griff came out of a nearby building, and, using a support beam as a cover, shot Jessica, who clutching her abdomen, slumped to the ground, apparently dead, then shot Brochie, behind her, several times. Griff carried Jessica's body down the street, presumably to the doctor's. Looks like the film is going to end a tragedy. But, in the next segment, incredibly, we see Jessica strolling down the street, with no hint that she had been wounded! Soon, Griff is in his buckboard, starting on his way to California, alone. Jessica sees him and runs down the street, hopping into the buckboard: Presumably, a happy ending, after all....... As I see it, the theme of this film is similar to that of the prior "Calamity Jane" and the subsequent "Ballad of Josie", both starring Doris Day. The message in all 3 films is that it is ok for strong women to take on roles traditionally reserved for men, to show they can succeed. But, eventually, they should ease up on the throttle, and form a partnership with a man. Thus, the ideal course is to exercise your feminist rights, then regress a bit, back to being more of a traditional wife.......Like some others, I felt that Barbara was a bit long in the tooth to be Jessica. A woman perhaps 10 or so years younger would have been more believable......I especially liked the tornado segment, following Jessica's being dragged by her horse due to her spur being caught in the stirrup. Afterward, Jessica and Griff lay down, telling more about themselves, and strengthening their romantic feelings.......Of course, the beginning segment, where Jessica is leading her 40 men down the road where the 3 brothers are traveling in a buckboard looks rather spectacular. See it at YouTube.

Wuchak Released in 1957, "Forty Guns" is a B&W Western that revolves around an authoritarian rancher, Jessica Drummond (Barbara Stanwyck), who rules an Arizona county with her private entourage of hired guns. When two marshal brothers arrive to set things aright (Barry Sullivan and Gene Barry), the cattle queen finds herself falling for the former. Both have young brothers who are problematic. Eve Brent plays a curvy gun-maker.The movie has a number of positives: The opening sequence is great with its apocalypse of thundering horses led by Jessica on a lone white horse (symbolically?).The tornado sequence is well-done with Jessica getting dragged by her horse and her subsequent monologue after the storm, hooking up with Griff (Sullivan).Eastwood's renowned "Unforgiven" (1992) was obviously influenced by "Forty Guns": Both feature a remote town without justice or law and order, an existential wasteland. Crooked, murderous Sheriff Logan (Dean Jagger), embodying the breakdown of social order, is similar to Hackman in "Unforgiven"; and his suicide is very eerily done. A blind marshal (Worden) is a literal joke on "blind justice" and another symbol of the impotence of law & order.The long shoot-up of the town by the "wet-nose" Brock is grand mayhem. In "Unforgiven" the attack on the prostitute by two young cowboys (also referred to as "boys") serves as the same type of initial, youthful, anarchic transgression which has to be set straight.A gruesome, dressed-up corpse in a coffin, put on full display on the main street, with accompanying, hand-written vindictive placards, is also seen in "Unforgiven." In each it's a grotesque slap to decency and civilization.The town ambush of Griff by Charlie Savage (fitting name) next to a row of empty coffins is effective, particularly the straight-up vertical shot of the window with the assassin's rifle sticking out.While the "Woman with a Whip" song is dated, ill-fitting and corny, the score is otherwise suited to the content.The stylish, irreverent way the movie strays from Western tradition reveals it to be the precursor to the (mostly lame) spaghetti Westerns of the 60s.Other highlights include: The shot of Wes's widow in black against the sky; the leitmotifs of the foal and hearse, representing the extremes of birth and death; the comedy at the baths; the sexy female gunsmith seen through a rifle barrel, a jarring juxtaposition of the feminine and force, as is the case with Jessica.Because of these positives "Forty Guns" is often touted as a groundbreaking Western. While true, it's also a decidedly average 50's Western filled with unbelievable dialogue/characterizations and deliberately contrived scenes, not to mention the story's just dull and it's shot in B&W. Just because it strays from the mold of traditional Westerns doesn't make it a good movie.The film runs 79 minutes and was shot in Arizona.GRADE: C

Michael O'Keefe Well followed Samuel Fuller writes and directs this borderline corny sagebrush melodrama. Very apt cast with dialogue a bit sappy, but not without sexual innuendo. Barbara Stanwyck plays Jessica Drummond, a prominent landowner, with her own posse of forty hired henchmen and a theme song. (Really). With a milquetoast sheriff, Ned Logan(Dean Jagger), Drummond has made herself the law of Cochise County, Arizona. The sheriff and whole town knuckles under to her whims and demands as they thunder through the territory. A former gunslinger turned United States Marshall, Griff Bonnell(Barry Sullivan)rides into town with two of his brothers to restore law and order. Jessica becomes smitten with the new lawman, all the while he has eyes for an attractive young female gunsmith(Eve Brent).In a scene where Drummond is to be dragged down the middle of the street behind a horse, a stunt woman refuses. Miss Stanwyck, in her mid 40's, did the scene herself suffering a few minor lacerations. Also featured: John Ericson, Gene Barry, Robert Dix, Sandra Wirth and Chuck Roberson.

doug-balch Forty Guns 1957 Directed by Sam Fuller "Forty Guns" is "Johnny Guitar" for heterosexuals. The warning "For French Film Critics Only" should flash on and off over the opening credits. There is practically no character development, mostly because the plot jumps around so fast you can hardly keep track of it. The only thing you're sure of is you don't give a damn about anybody or care how it ends. It must have done great business in France. Oh I forgot, the French public has enough sense not to watch art movies, which only play to audiences at NYU's film school. Barry Sullivan currently has my vote for least charismatic gunfighter to ever appear in a Western (he unseated Yul Brenner). Boy were the sparks flying between him and 50 year old Barbara Stanwyk! Was that whiskey they were drinking, or geritol? Fuller claims Marilyn Monroe wanted to play Stanwyk's part. He should have taken her up on it and gone for pure camp. "Forty Guns" would probably still be selling out midnight shows in the West Village. When Sulllivan goes into his supposedly intimidating "long walk" (a pale ripoff of Robert Mitchum's fantastic scene in 1948's "Blood on the Moon") he looks like Fred MacMurray in "My Three Sons" coming after Chip for the car keys, not a gunfighter playing "chicken" with a henchman. "Forty Guns" did have one positive: it was short. A good thing, since you don't have Joan Crawford's bright red lipstick around to keep you awake. Yeah, yeah, it's one of Martin Scorsese's favorite movies. When are people going to wake up and realize that Scorsese likes a lot of bad movies? "Duel in the Sun" is on his must watch list too, remember? I actually like most of the movies Scorsese makes himself, but even his most ardent fans have to admit that he's a sadistic pervert. Do I have to rattle off the sick, violent scenes he's put in just about every movie he's made? I'm guessing that Marty found a kindred soul in Fuller when he saw the conclusion to "Forty Guns".