Forty Guns

Take one fairly good western. Add some pretty cheesy dialogue (be careful, it might go off in your face), some even worse acting from the supporting cast and several basically awful musical sections with the singer wanders around town dispensing really, really enlightening character summaries. If I were Griff, I'd have shot him.

A really odd mix of high camp, abrupt violence, sexually charged dialogue and sentimental ballads. The strangeness makes it watchable, as well as the really nice widescreen cinematography, but the screenplay is kind of half-baked and uninteresting. Stanwyck is the highlight, but the rest of the cast range from merely average to downright awful. It's reminscent of Johnny Guitar, or The Furies (also starring Stanwyck), but not as good as either.

The first 30 seconds alone is worth the watch. Sure, the acting is often poor and the story is only semicoherent, but the pace is swift and the cinematography is stylist, energetic and inventive. A swooping crane-and-track shot is a highpoint. It's over the top, crude, perversely violent, and its portrait of the Old West is thought-provoking.

Not exactly sure what the h was happening in this movie, but there were some nice cinematic moments along w/ some hilariously strange ones. It's fast talking, feels like a noir, and has some pretty shoddy acting. YELLING YOUR LINES MEANS YOU'RE ACTING HARDER. A nice companion piece to the likewise sexually charged western, Johnny Guitar.

Magnificent cinematography and a really fun and well paced story. The two strong lead performances give it a nice character study feel.

998

Surprisingly not crude or exciting for Sam Fuller

"Can I feel it? Just curious." "It might go off in your face." Stanwyck and Sullivan's overripe dialogue is most amusing--they should have kept the working title "Woman with a Whip". If all Westerns were this campy, I might have been a fan. It's got everything--even a tornado (but...sappy songs??). Reportedly, it was Stanwyck herself dragged by the horse after her stunt double refused, saying it was too dangerous--a real pro. As usual, it's her movie, and when things turn serious, she shines.

I like Westerns. If I had to pick a film to watch and knew nothing about it except its genre, I'd probably pick a Western. Knowing that this film is from the genre's peak period, and is directed by Sam Fuller and stars Barbara Stanwyck as the sexually-charged landowner with those titular 40 guns at her behest... well, it's a no-brainer that this was going to be awesome.

Star Rating: ★★★★1/2

"Forty Guns" opens with magnificent widescreen visuals that promise an epic Western tale. However, as the narrative progresses, it seems to lose its early momentum, particularly during a courting scene that stretches believability—our hero downs a succession of stiff drinks and, almost inexplicably, love blooms. While the film remains an entertaining piece of the Western genre, its treatment of relationships—especially the notion that a formidable woman's desires can be distilled to being 'tamed

The dialogue is mostly snappy and this has a wild tornado scene, but the plotline feels a little too scattershot to make a cohesive film. I wish Stanwyck had a little more leeway to quip her way through her scenes.

watched: 2012, 2021

For me the highlight is the fantastic widescreen photography, making excellent use of low-angle shots. Particularly stunning are the opening sequence and the exciting tornado scene. The plot is a little standard, but still keeps you interested. I'm a bit tired of "death of the old West" motifs but it's not overbearing and the way the characters lament their roles is interesting. Probably the biggest flaw is acting. Stanwyck's terrific and Sullivan is okay, but the supporting cast is pretty weak

It's definitely nicely shot (did Leone see this?) but neither the plot, the characters nor the performances made me care.

Oddly little pulpy noir western. With musical bits.

Snappy dialogue and multiple beautiful shots.

Why if this ain't the most gosh darn Brechtian western I e'r did see...

I generally love Fuller, but I can't say that I liked this film a whole lot. I don't really like Barry Sullivan or Gene Barry all that much, and that puts a big damper on the film. I thought Stanwyck was good, but I never bought her relationship with Sullivan for even a second.

985

Coming from as provocative a director as Samuel Fuller, this is a distinctly underwhelming effort. It's mournful but muddled, lazily glossing over popular western themes of the times like sexual politics and the death of the gunslinger without saying much about either, and it offers little in the way of good action, characterisation or dialogue. Barbara Stanwyck is wasted in a criminally underdeveloped role.

Interesting western with Stanwyck playing the kind of strong, acerbic character she did well. Sullivan's a bit dry, though has a couple of badass moments/shots. Some of the innuendo is risque for a Code film. There's one stunt shot where it looks like Stanwyck was getting dragged by a horse (we see her face or at least seem to throughout) that I'm not sure how they did unless she actually did the stunt. The storm scene has great effects.

Strange in so many ways. The innuendo is off the charts here, as Fuller narrates the end of the old west. The gunfighter hates everything about the life he's made, while the female rancher who rules with an iron fist decides to give it all up for a man who may or may not like her. It's as if their desires (his for a peaceful life, hers for a life with him) stand in direct contrast to life in the old west. In this way, Fuller seems to be poking at American mythology about itself.

Sam Fuller's direction is great here with some real stunning photography, namely the titular riders. Unfortunately, you don't see these Forty Guns much as the meat of the film is a melodramatic tug-of-war between Stanwyck and Barry Sullivan. The sudden loss of life and coldness make this unique enough to make it stick in memory.