Here is Sam Fuller in top gear, as writer, director and producer, with a Western that is solidly crafted and brilliantly cast. Barbara Stanwyck is at her peak, although her peak lasted decades
Forty Guns (1957)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:9
Fresh:9
Rotten:0
Average Rating:8.1/10
Synopsis: Barbara Stanwyck (STELLA DALLAS) stars as Jessica Drummond, a rancher who runs her Arizona cattle ranch with an iron hand and a private army of 40 hired guns. The tough-as-nails matriarch has a... Barbara Stanwyck (STELLA DALLAS) stars as Jessica Drummond, a rancher who runs her Arizona cattle ranch with an iron hand and a private army of 40 hired guns. The tough-as-nails matriarch has a troublesome brother whom she nonetheless dotes on, and when he shoots the sheriff she comes to his aid, unable to say no. This instigates an all-out war, which is further complicated by the fact that the new Marshall, Griff Bonnell (Barry Sullivan) falls hard for Jessica, and she returns his feelings. A gem from auteur Samuel Fuller (THE BIG RED ONE) that reads as a noir dressed as a western, the film ingeniously invokes genre tropes to investigate the intricacies of sex and love; its conclusions are less than optimistic, but the film retains a fascinating, almost surreal allure. [More]
Starring: Barbara Stanwyck, Barry Sullivan, Dean Jagger, John Ericson
Starring: Barbara Stanwyck, Barry Sullivan, Dean Jagger, John Ericson, Gene Barry
Director: Samuel Fuller
Director: Samuel Fuller
Producer: Samuel Fuller
Reviews for Forty Guns
... sexual energy and psychotic violence that explodes onscreen in staccato editing, darting camerawork, and the maddest expressions of love this side of Duel in the Sun.
Stanwyck is as stunning and fiery as she was all the way back in Baby Face (1933), and she helps make this one of the best Westerns of its day.
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