I gave it a 7.5 out of 10

A Brilliant Conflict

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

Superlative cast given great dialogue in good story and well directed and photographed in turn give us a thoroughly admirable and enjoyable movie.Despite my interest, I had never even heard of this excellent Audie Murphy movie until accidentally seeing the listing at YouTube.Murphy is backed by another Irishman, the veteran and extremely talented Paul Kelly. The leading lady, Susan Cabot, is someone of whom I knew nothing until reading the IMDb bio. Now I see that she had a very unhappy life, which ended young and tragically.The only complaint I have about "Gunsmoke" is that Susan Cabot, despite being beautiful and talented, was outrageously padded, apparently a frequent flaw in Hollywood pictures of this era. (Even pre Weinstein.)Other players, including veteran Western performer Hank Mann who figured merely in the background, and the great Edmund Cobb, with a memorable windy stagecoach driver part, merely made this "Gunsmoke" even better.Not knowing whom to credit for the excellent writing, that is, whether the dialogue is from the novel by Norman A. Fox or by the screenplay writer D.D. Beauchamp, I will merely again express my admiration.Director Nathan Juran helmed beautifully, with no obtrusive gimmickry and a seamless progression of the action.I highly recommend this "Gunsmoke," but if you look for it on YouTube, some knucklehead has it dated 1958 so hunt carefully. You'll be glad.

Hired gun Audie Murphy hits town to help bad guy Matt Telford (Donald Randolph) take over Dan Saxon's (Paul Kelly) spread. After winning Saxon's ranch and cattle in a game of chance, Audie declines Telford's offer and keeps the ranch for himself. Murphy then decides to drive his newly won cattle herd to the railhead to meet the note payment on the ranch, with the help of Saxon, his daughter (Susan Cabot), and their former wranglers. Forced to get a new rent-a-gun, Telford hires Murphy's old cohort Johnny Lake (Charles Drake) to stop Murphy from reaching the rail line.Although "Gunsmoke" is pretty much 1950's drive-in fare, this one has Audie Murphy in top form. Directed by Nathan Juran in just his second film, this movie moves along at a nice clip. A strong script that avoids a lot of clichés, makes the dialog far better than average for this type movie. Murphy and and the familiar face veteran cast all deliver good performances and turn a what might have been a pretty standard medium budget horse opera into one of Audie's best films. Watch for Jack Kelly in his pre-Maverick television series days as malcontent foreman Curly Mather.Entertaining Western. Definitely worth a watch.

A couple of saddle pals, Audie Murphy and Charles Drake, go their separate ways after a job in the Johnson County War in Wyoming. Murphy heads for a job offer from cattle baron Donald Randolph. But like John Wayne who refuses a job from Ed Asner in El Dorado, Murphy decides to throw in with small rancher Paul Kelly. Of course that Paul has an attractive daughter in Susan Cabot has a great deal to do with it.El Dorado is only one of the other westerns that you can see plot elements from. I can count The Man from Laramie, Coroner Creek, and Destry Rides Again in which parts of those films are plainly visible in Gunsmoke.Audie Murphy was always one of the success stories of Hollywood and then unfortunately a tragedy. Our most decorated combat veteran could have had a choice of any number of careers after World War II. He had what only could be described as an instinct in that he chose a movie career. He turned out to be a natural for westerns. His product was always good. Too bad his career never took the path of a successful long running television series or going into A budget projects like John Wayne. Either of those paths might have led him to a longer career and life.In fact both leads in this film met tragic ends, Audie in a plane crash and Susan Cabot, a notorious Hollywood homicide at the hands of her son. Cabot, but for a decision to leave Universal to free lance, might also have gone a television route. Though she became a cult favorite with The Wasp Woman, cult parts are hard to come by and usually really type cast people.By the way, though it is not the only element of Desty Rides Again in this film, saloon girl Mary Castle gets to sing the Marlene Dietrich classic See What the Boys in the Backroom will Have in Gunsmoke. And why not? Since Universal produced Destry Rides Again and they own the song why not use it here as it costs them not a cent.I think western fans will not be disappointed in Gunsmoke.

Good shoot-em-up with Murphy as Reb Kittredge, a gunhand in between jobs. He is offered a job to run a cattleman out of the country so the evil Matt Telford can control the entire valley. In an odd turn of events Kittredge comes into ownership of the disputed acreage and begins a hazardous journey to get the bovine to market before the mortgage to Telford comes due. Of course, Telford does everything in his power to ensure the drive is unsuccessful. A side plot along the way involves Kittredge as one corner of a love triangle, pitting him against a hot headed, back shooting polecat for the love of a beautiful woman: gotta have that thrown in, eh? Pretty standard stuff, but I enjoyed the production.