Man with the Gun
Encyclopedia
Man with the Gun is a 1955 Western film starring Robert Mitchum
. The film was released in the United Kingdom
as The Trouble Shooter and is also sometimes entitled Deadly Peacemaker. The supporting cast includes Jan Sterling
, Henry Hull
, Barbara Lawrence, Leo Gordon
, and Claude Akins
. The harrowing black-and-white
film, which opens with Leo Gordon's character shooting a little boy's dog in front of the child, was shot in a standard square-screen format, written by N. B. Stone, Jr. and Richard Wilson, and directed by Richard Wilson.
A group of gunmen shoots up a poster warning of the gun ordnance at the edge of town. As they ride in, they yell that they are looking for Tollinger. Forewarned by the shots, he gets the drop on them from the loft of the town stable with a rifle. He orders them to drop their guns and they do so. One trades small talk with him while reaching for a derringer in his hat, but Tollinger shoots him.
At a social event, one of the town women advises Tollinger that his job won't be finished until the dance hall girls also leave town. She criticizes them for dancing and carrying on, unaware that Tollinger is an old friend to the madam who manages them. But not all is well in their relationship. When Tollinger warns Nelly Bain that her girls also have a curfew, she replies that she knows what happens in a "tollinger-tamed town". She tells him she and the girls will be moving on further west, and asks him for suggestions. She asks for the name of any town where he won't be. But there's a hidden history between the two of them, and everything isn't what it seems.
Two gunmen from a large cattle spread ride into town to tell Tollinger that they've detained Jeff Castle for trying to build a house on disputed land. They appear to have set a trap, inviting Tollinger to the ranch to pick him up, where they will have the advantage. Tollinger arrests the two for carrying guns in town. Some of the town's citizens suddenly have second thoughts, worrying that others from the ranch will come in and shoot up the town. But the arrest proves a good tactical move; the other ranch hands deliver Castle into town, trading him for the two prisoners.
Nelly Bain tells Tollinger something she's kept from him since he arrived in town, that their daughter had died, and Tollinger takes it badly. His patience and calm demeanor suddenly gone, he resolves to clean up the town the quick and dirty way; he burns the saloon, which is owned by Dade Holman, the cattleman who had sent the gunmen.
Robert Mitchum
Robert Charles Durman Mitchum was an American film actor, author, composer and singer and is #23 on the American Film Institute's list of the greatest male American screen legends of all time...
. The film was released in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
as The Trouble Shooter and is also sometimes entitled Deadly Peacemaker. The supporting cast includes Jan Sterling
Jan Sterling
Jan Sterling was an American actress.Most active in films during the 1950s, Sterling received a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in The High and the Mighty , and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for the same performance...
, Henry Hull
Henry Hull
Henry Watterson Hull was an American character actor with a unique voice, most noted for playing the lead in Universal Pictures's Werewolf of London .-Life and career:Hull was born in Louisville, Kentucky...
, Barbara Lawrence, Leo Gordon
Leo Gordon
Leo Vincent Gordon was an American movie and television character actor as well as a screenplay writer and novelist. He specialized in playing brutish bad guys during more than forty years in film and television....
, and Claude Akins
Claude Akins
Claude Marion Akins was an American actor with a long career on stage, screen and television.Powerful in appearance and voice, Akins could be counted on to play the clever tough guy, on the side of good or bad, in movies and television. He is best remembered as Sheriff Lobo in the 1970s TV series...
. The harrowing black-and-white
Black-and-white
Black-and-white, often abbreviated B/W or B&W, is a term referring to a number of monochrome forms in visual arts.Black-and-white as a description is also something of a misnomer, for in addition to black and white, most of these media included varying shades of gray...
film, which opens with Leo Gordon's character shooting a little boy's dog in front of the child, was shot in a standard square-screen format, written by N. B. Stone, Jr. and Richard Wilson, and directed by Richard Wilson.
Plot
Clint Tollinger arrives in town, and is recognized as the "man in grey", a gun for hire who had a reputation for cleaning up other towns. After 14 killings in a year are followed by a night shooting and the burning of a house under construction, and the town marshall tells the town council he's not sure what can be done, the council hires Tollinger as their new "town tamer". The marshall deputizes Tollinger, then tells him he is on his own. Tollinger begins by warning two known gunmen to leave town. He then begins to disarm everyone in the town. Then in an unseen confrontation he kills the two gunmen he'd previously warned to leave town.A group of gunmen shoots up a poster warning of the gun ordnance at the edge of town. As they ride in, they yell that they are looking for Tollinger. Forewarned by the shots, he gets the drop on them from the loft of the town stable with a rifle. He orders them to drop their guns and they do so. One trades small talk with him while reaching for a derringer in his hat, but Tollinger shoots him.
At a social event, one of the town women advises Tollinger that his job won't be finished until the dance hall girls also leave town. She criticizes them for dancing and carrying on, unaware that Tollinger is an old friend to the madam who manages them. But not all is well in their relationship. When Tollinger warns Nelly Bain that her girls also have a curfew, she replies that she knows what happens in a "tollinger-tamed town". She tells him she and the girls will be moving on further west, and asks him for suggestions. She asks for the name of any town where he won't be. But there's a hidden history between the two of them, and everything isn't what it seems.
Two gunmen from a large cattle spread ride into town to tell Tollinger that they've detained Jeff Castle for trying to build a house on disputed land. They appear to have set a trap, inviting Tollinger to the ranch to pick him up, where they will have the advantage. Tollinger arrests the two for carrying guns in town. Some of the town's citizens suddenly have second thoughts, worrying that others from the ranch will come in and shoot up the town. But the arrest proves a good tactical move; the other ranch hands deliver Castle into town, trading him for the two prisoners.
Nelly Bain tells Tollinger something she's kept from him since he arrived in town, that their daughter had died, and Tollinger takes it badly. His patience and calm demeanor suddenly gone, he resolves to clean up the town the quick and dirty way; he burns the saloon, which is owned by Dade Holman, the cattleman who had sent the gunmen.
Cast
- Robert MitchumRobert MitchumRobert Charles Durman Mitchum was an American film actor, author, composer and singer and is #23 on the American Film Institute's list of the greatest male American screen legends of all time...
as Clint Tollinger - Jan SterlingJan SterlingJan Sterling was an American actress.Most active in films during the 1950s, Sterling received a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in The High and the Mighty , and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for the same performance...
as Nelly Bain - Karen Sharpe as Stella Atkins
- Henry HullHenry HullHenry Watterson Hull was an American character actor with a unique voice, most noted for playing the lead in Universal Pictures's Werewolf of London .-Life and career:Hull was born in Louisville, Kentucky...
as Marshal Lee Sims - 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 Saul Atkins - John LuptonJohn LuptonJohn Rollin Lupton was an American film and television actor.Upon graduation from New York's American Academy of Dramatic Arts, Lupton secured immediate stage work. Then he was signed as a contract player at MGM in Hollywood...
as Jeff Castle - Barbara Lawrence as Ann Wakefield
- Ted de CorsiaTed de CorsiaTed de Corsia was a radio and movie actor.He is probably best remembered for his role as a gangster turned state's evidence in The Enforcer...
as 'Frenchy' Lescaux - Leo GordonLeo GordonLeo Vincent Gordon was an American movie and television character actor as well as a screenplay writer and novelist. He specialized in playing brutish bad guys during more than forty years in film and television....
as Ed Pinchot - James WesterfieldJames WesterfieldJames A. Westerfield was an American actor.Born in Nashville, Tennessee, he starred in more than 50 films during his lifetime...
as Mr. Zender (drummer) - Jay AdlerJay AdlerJay Adler was an American actor in theater, television, and film.Born in New York City, New York, he was the eldest child of Yiddish theater stars Jacob and Sara Adler, and the brother of the more famous Luther and Stella.Jay Adler died at age 81 in Woodland Hills, California and was buried in the...
as Cal (uncredited) - Claude AkinsClaude AkinsClaude Marion Akins was an American actor with a long career on stage, screen and television.Powerful in appearance and voice, Akins could be counted on to play the clever tough guy, on the side of good or bad, in movies and television. He is best remembered as Sheriff Lobo in the 1970s TV series...
as Jim Reedy (uncredited) - Florenz Ames as Doc Hughes (uncredited)
- Joe Barry as Dade Holman (uncredited)
- Norma Calderón as Luz (uncredited)
- Thom Conroy as Bill Emory (uncredited)
- 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 Kitty (uncredited) - Mara McAfeeMara McAfeeMara McAfee was an American Pop artist and illustrator best known for her satirical depictions of historical figures, contemporary subjects, and high art traditions...
as Mable (uncredited) - Burt MustinBurt MustinBurton Hill "Burt" Mustin was an American character actor.-Early life:Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to W. I. and Sadie Mustin, Mustin was a 1903 graduate of the Pennsylvania Military College , earning his degree in civil engineering...
as Hotel desk clerk (uncredited) - Maidie Norman as Sarah (Nelly's maid) (uncredited)
- Robert Osterloh as Virg Trotter (uncredited)
- Maudie PrickettMaudie PrickettMaudie Prickett was an American film and television character actress.Born in Portland, Oregon, Prickett often portrayed maids, busybodies, spinsters, and nosy neighbors...
as Mrs. Elderhorn (uncredited) - Stafford Repp as Arthur Jackson (uncredited)
- Amzie Strickland as Mary Atkins (uncredited)