Gun the Man Down
Encyclopedia
Gun the Man Down is a 1956
western
film distributed through United Artists
and starring James Arness
and Angie Dickinson
in her first leading role. The movie was produced by John Wayne
and his brother Robert E. Morrison for Wayne's company Batjac Productions
and was also the first theatrical feature directed by Andrew V. McLaglen.
's first starring role. She would go on to star in successful films such as Rio Bravo opposite John Wayne
and Dean Martin
, Ocean's Eleven
with Frank Sinatra
and Dean Martin
, Captain Newman, M.D.
opposite Gregory Peck
, The Killers
(in which she's slapped in the face by villain Ronald Reagan
) and Point Blank, both opposite Lee Marvin
, and The Chase
with Marlon Brando
and Robert Redford
.
James Arness
was later recommended by Gun the Man Down producer John Wayne
for the role of Marshal Matt Dillon
in the television version of Gunsmoke
, a part Arness played for the next twenty years. Wayne introduced the series in a film clip shown immediately before the initial episode while seated at a table in cowboy garb speaking directly to the camera. Arness had earlier portrayed the Frankenstein-like "carrot monster" glimpsed in the conclusion of Howard Hawks
' 1951 version of The Thing
. Arness' brother was actor Peter Graves
.
Andrew V. McLaglen, the movie's director, was the son of actor and former boxer Victor McLaglen
, and went on to direct ninety-six episodes of Gunsmoke starring James Arness as well as five movies starring Gun the Man Down producer John Wayne, among many others. Gun the Man Down also remains notable for being the first movie McLaglen directed.
1956 in film
The year 1956 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* October 5 - The Ten Commandments opens in cinemas and becomes one of the most successful and popular movies of all time, currently ranking 5th on the list of all time moneymakers * February 5 - First showing of documentary films by...
western
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
film distributed through United Artists
United Artists
United Artists Corporation is an American film studio. The original studio of that name was founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks....
and starring James Arness
James Arness
James King Arness was an American actor, best known for portraying Marshal Matt Dillon in the television series Gunsmoke for 20 years...
and Angie Dickinson
Angie Dickinson
Angie Dickinson is an American actress. She has appeared in more than fifty films, including Rio Bravo, Ocean's Eleven, Dressed to Kill and Pay It Forward, and starred on television as Sergeant Suzanne "Pepper" Anderson on the 1970s crime series Police Woman.-Early life:Dickinson, the second of...
in her first leading role. The movie was produced by John Wayne
John Wayne
Marion Mitchell Morrison , better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height...
and his brother Robert E. Morrison for Wayne's company Batjac Productions
Batjac Productions
Batjac Productions is an independent film production company founded by John Wayne in the early 1950s as a vehicle for Wayne to produce as well as star in movies. Its first release was Big Jim McLain with Warner Brothers in 1952, and its final film was also with Warner Brothers, McQ, in 1974...
and was also the first theatrical feature directed by Andrew V. McLaglen.
Plot
Three outlaws rob a bank, but one of them is wounded. His two partners kidnap his girlfriend take his share of the money and run off, leaving him to be captured by the sheriff. Years later, after he gets out of prison, he goes in search of his double-crossing partners and his girlfriend. He finds them in a semi-deserted, run-down town, but instead of killing them right away, he decides to play cat-and-mouse with them first.Cast
- James ArnessJames ArnessJames King Arness was an American actor, best known for portraying Marshal Matt Dillon in the television series Gunsmoke for 20 years...
as Rem Anderson - Angie DickinsonAngie DickinsonAngie Dickinson is an American actress. She has appeared in more than fifty films, including Rio Bravo, Ocean's Eleven, Dressed to Kill and Pay It Forward, and starred on television as Sergeant Suzanne "Pepper" Anderson on the 1970s crime series Police Woman.-Early life:Dickinson, the second of...
as Janice - Robert J. WilkeRobert J. WilkeRobert J. Wilke was a prolific American film actor noted primarily for his villainous roles, mainly in westerns.Wilke started as a stuntman in the 1930s and his first appearance on screen was in San Francisco...
as Matt Rankin - Emile MeyerEmile MeyerEmile Meyer was an American actor usually known for tough, aggressive, authoritative characters in Hollywood films from the 1950s era, mostly in westerns or thrillers...
as Sheriff Morton - Don MegowanDon Megowan-Career:Born in California USA, Megowan starred in the Sci-Fi movies: The Werewolf in the role of sheriff Jack Haines, and in The Creation of the Humanoids as a captain in the army who must stop the Humanoids....
as Ralph Farley - Michael Emmet as Billy Deal
- Harry Carey, Jr.Harry Carey, Jr.Harry Carey, Jr. is an American film actor. He appeared in over 90 films. He is mostly remembered for appearing in Western films — notably those by his friend John Ford — and in television programs.-Early life:...
as Deputy Lee - Pedro Gonzalez-GonzalezPedro Gonzalez-GonzalezPedro Gonzalez-Gonzalez was an American character actor best known for his appearances in a number of John Wayne movies....
as Hotel man - Robert Hinkle as Second sheriff
- Frank Fenton (uncredited)
Production notes
Gun the Man Down remains arguably most notable for containing actress Angie DickinsonAngie Dickinson
Angie Dickinson is an American actress. She has appeared in more than fifty films, including Rio Bravo, Ocean's Eleven, Dressed to Kill and Pay It Forward, and starred on television as Sergeant Suzanne "Pepper" Anderson on the 1970s crime series Police Woman.-Early life:Dickinson, the second of...
's first starring role. She would go on to star in successful films such as Rio Bravo opposite John Wayne
John Wayne
Marion Mitchell Morrison , better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height...
and Dean Martin
Dean Martin
Dean Martin was an American singer, film actor, television star and comedian. Martin's hit singles included "Memories Are Made of This", "That's Amore", "Everybody Loves Somebody", "You're Nobody till Somebody Loves You", "Sway", "Volare" and "Ain't That a Kick in the Head?"...
, Ocean's Eleven
Ocean's Eleven (1960 film)
Ocean's 11 is a 1960 heist film directed by Lewis Milestone and starring five Rat Packers: Peter Lawford, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., and Joey Bishop....
with Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
and Dean Martin
Dean Martin
Dean Martin was an American singer, film actor, television star and comedian. Martin's hit singles included "Memories Are Made of This", "That's Amore", "Everybody Loves Somebody", "You're Nobody till Somebody Loves You", "Sway", "Volare" and "Ain't That a Kick in the Head?"...
, Captain Newman, M.D.
Captain Newman, M.D.
Captain Newman, M.D. is a 1963 film starring Gregory Peck, Tony Curtis, Angie Dickinson, Robert Duvall, Eddie Albert and Bobby Darin. It was directed by David Miller and filmed on location at Fort Huachuca, Arizona....
opposite Gregory Peck
Gregory Peck
Eldred Gregory Peck was an American actor.One of 20th Century Fox's most popular film stars from the 1940s to the 1960s, Peck continued to play important roles well into the 1980s. His notable performances include that of Atticus Finch in the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird, for which he won an...
, The Killers
The Killers (1964 film)
The Killers, sometimes marketed as Ernest Hemingway's The Killers, is a 1964 crime film released by Universal Studios. It is the second Hollywood adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's short story of the same name, following a version made in 1946 starring Burt Lancaster and Ava Gardner. It was directed...
(in which she's slapped in the face by villain Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
) and Point Blank, both opposite Lee Marvin
Lee Marvin
Lee Marvin was an American film actor. Known for his gravelly voice, white hair and 6' 2" stature, Marvin at first did supporting roles, mostly villains, soldiers and other hardboiled characters, but after winning an Academy Award for Best Actor for his dual roles in Cat Ballou , he landed more...
, and The Chase
The Chase (1966 film)
The Chase is a 1966 American drama film directed by Arthur Penn, about a series of events set into motion by a prison break. Since one of the two escapees is Charlie "Bubber" Reeves , the escape causes a stir in a nearby town where Bubber is a well-known figure.The film deals with themes of racism...
with Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando, Jr. was an American movie star and political activist. "Unchallenged as the most important actor in modern American Cinema" according to the St...
and Robert Redford
Robert Redford
Charles Robert Redford, Jr. , better known as Robert Redford, is an American actor, film director, producer, businessman, environmentalist, philanthropist, and founder of the Sundance Film Festival. He has received two Oscars: one in 1981 for directing Ordinary People, and one for Lifetime...
.
James Arness
James Arness
James King Arness was an American actor, best known for portraying Marshal Matt Dillon in the television series Gunsmoke for 20 years...
was later recommended by Gun the Man Down producer John Wayne
John Wayne
Marion Mitchell Morrison , better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height...
for the role of Marshal Matt Dillon
Marshal Matt Dillon
Marshal Matt Dillon is a fictional character featured on both the radio and television versions of Gunsmoke. He serves as the U.S. Marshal of Dodge City, Kansas who works to preserve law and order in the western frontier of the 1870s. The character was created by writer John Meston, who...
in the television version of Gunsmoke
Gunsmoke
Gunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman MacDonnell and writer John Meston. The stories take place in and around Dodge City, Kansas, during the settlement of the American West....
, a part Arness played for the next twenty years. Wayne introduced the series in a film clip shown immediately before the initial episode while seated at a table in cowboy garb speaking directly to the camera. Arness had earlier portrayed the Frankenstein-like "carrot monster" glimpsed in the conclusion of Howard Hawks
Howard Hawks
Howard Winchester Hawks was an American film director, producer and screenwriter of the classic Hollywood era...
' 1951 version of The Thing
The Thing from Another World
The Thing from Another World , is a 1951 science fiction film based on the 1938 novella "Who Goes There?" by John W. Campbell . It tells the story of an Air Force crew and scientists at a remote Arctic research outpost who fight a malevolent plant-based alien being...
. Arness' brother was actor Peter Graves
Peter Graves
Peter Graves may refer to:* Peter Graves , American actor* Peter Graves, 8th Baron Graves , English actor and peer* Peter Graves , English cricketer...
.
Andrew V. McLaglen, the movie's director, was the son of actor and former boxer Victor McLaglen
Victor McLaglen
Victor Andrew de Bier Everleigh McLaglen was an English boxer and World War I veteran who became a successful film actor.Towards the end of his life he was naturalised as a U.S. citizen.-Early life:...
, and went on to direct ninety-six episodes of Gunsmoke starring James Arness as well as five movies starring Gun the Man Down producer John Wayne, among many others. Gun the Man Down also remains notable for being the first movie McLaglen directed.