Last Train From Gun Hill

All aboard!!!
The title, "Last Train From Gun Hill," tells you so much about this wonderful film; a race against time, a sense of impending doom, something bad's gonna happen... you betcha!

That this film, one of my favorites from the 50's, is based around a somewhat unlikely scenario, plus a monstrous coincidence that no bookie in Vegas would give you odds on, doesn't matter. These are just what Alfred Hitchcock used to call a "McGuffin," a device or prop about which to arrange the action, and let the characters play out their stories.

It stars two powerful actors at the very top of their form; Kirk Douglas as "Marshal Matt Morgan," and Anthony Quinn as "Craig Belden." Morgan is by the book, straight as an arrow, incorruptible, the very personification of moral rectitude, and Belden is a rancher of the old school, he's had to fight tooth and nail for everything he has. The two men are old friends from way-back, each as unbending and unforgiving, in their own way, as the...

Superb Kirk Douglas Western - His Best
Kirk Douglas and director John Sturges had worked together in 1957's The Gunfight at The OK Corral, and Douglas and frequent co-star Burt Lancaster had made a memorable Wyatt Earp/Doc Holliday pair.

So when the pair reteamed for 1959's Last Train From Gun Hill, it stood to reason that it would be at least a good film. Well, it's a great film, Douglas' best Western, and one of the great Westerns in the great Western movie heyday in the 50's.

Douglas plays Matt Morgan, a town marshal whose Indian wife is raped and murdered by a young hoodlum from the town of Gun Hill. Morgan finds out that the punk is the son of Gun Hill's owner and boss Craig Belden. Morgan and Belden were saddle pals in the past, and Belden once saved Morgan's life. When Morgan sees that Belden is going to protect his son, Morgan overpowers the son, and holds up with him in a hotel, planing to take the son to justice on the last train out that evening.

This movies has everything-great...

Excellent Quality
I've seen this film several times over the past 25 years, and most recently on cable a few months back. I always thought that it owed much to "3:10 to Yuma," which I find much superior. However, director John Sturges' great scenic vistas of southern Arizona are greatly appreciated in this widescreen DVD. There is also great tension present as the film approaches it's climax. Solid performances by Kirk Douglas, Anthony Quinn, Carolyn Jones, Val Avery, John Anderson & Earl Holliman, make this an entertaining western in the "High Noon" tradition. I have to disagree with a previous reviewer, as the print used by Paramount for the DVD is excellent. After reading that review, I watched for "dust & speckles" in the print, and though I saw a few, I would rate this as a fine DVD (I just wish that there had been some extras, but it's a great buy, for the price). It's now part of my DVD library of westerns.

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