Highly Overrated But Still Good

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

. . . THE MAN BEHIND THE GUN just another run-of-the-mill Western. THE MAN BEHIND THE GUN is about a Confederate Conspiracy to split off California south of San Luis Obispo as a Lazy Southern Racist Black Slavery state. At the time that Warner Bros. released THE MAN BEHIND THE GUN, Hollywood's biggest names at the other movie studios were spending more time in snitching out their Progressive Union Label benefactors to moronic alcohol-fueled Witch Hunters Hell-bent upon dredging up the South to "rise again" than they were in making films. This deplorable Real Life debauchery was spear-headed by Tinseltown's most bloated gas bag "star," who spent his nights riding up and down Wilshire Blvd. on Harleys with a few drunken co-stars, clubbing any guys within reach of their hogs who seemed "Gay" to them. THE MAN BEHIND THE GUN depicts an 1800s Los Angeles rife with such Thuggery, plots, and back-stabbing. Always prophetic, Warner Bros. uses THE MAN BEHIND THE GUN to warn America that this flick's wanton mayhem was happening in Real Life in the 1950s, and would pop up again in the 2010s.

I am a big fan of Randolph Scott and try to watch as many of his films as I can. Why? Because Scott had a nice style--easy-going and likable yet tough. However, I must also admit that for every exceptional film his made (such as "Ride the High Country") he made several that were not so special--and perhaps a few that were simply adequate. Considering how dull this film was in spots and how similar it was to several of his other films, I'd put "The Man Behind the Gun" in this last category. Like MANY of his other films, this one is about the Civil War and divisions between Northerners and Southerners. In about half of these films (or perhaps a few less) he is working for the North and in the others he's either an agent/spy for the South or an ex-soldier after the war trying to help oppressed Southerners. To me, it's like the writers were beating a dead horse and needed some originality. The only thing SLIGHTLY original about this is that it is set just BEFORE the war instead of during or after. Otherwise, a very typical sort of formula. And, if you care, a chance to see Alan Hale, Jr. in a supporting role. In addition, there's just too much singing in this film. Now if you are NOT a fan who's seen most of his films, this may not be that important and the film might be more watchable. At best adequate.

THE MAN BEHIND THE GUN (listed as 1952 in Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide) is a Warner Bros. western starring Randolph Scott and set in Los Angeles, California in the early 1850s. The script is okay, the pace is fast and it has a large, colorful cast. There are a number of interesting elements in it that are worth noting. The Southern California setting enables the script to name-check landmarks in the area: San Pedro, Santa Monica and the LaBrea Tar Pits—which two characters visit at one point. (No sightings of woolly mammoths, though.) They even mention San Luis Obispo, which is further up the coast. The plot involves manipulation of the water supply to L.A. with a corrupt politician trying to take control of it. As such, it looks forward to Roman Polanski's CHINATOWN (1974), 22 years later. There's even a direct casting connection. The actor who plays a California senator here, Roy Roberts, plays L.A.'s mayor in CHINATOWN.There are two significant Latino characters. One is female nightclub owner Chona Degnon, played by singer Lina Romay. She's the film's resident femme fatale and she tries to recruit Scott to help out with her gun-running sideline. She sings a couple of numbers, too. Some of you may remember her from her delightful live-action cameo in Tex Avery's cartoon, "Señor Droopy" (1950). The other Latino character is famed California bandit and folk hero Joaquin Murietta, well played by Robert Cabal, an actor I'm otherwise unfamiliar with. Other movies have been made about Murietta, including the TV movie, "Desperate Mission" (1971), starring Ricardo Montalban. Murietta is seen here on the cusp of his outlaw career and he becomes an ally of the hero. He's quite handy with both guns and knives and kills seven opponents, often quite casually.The cast includes Patrice Wymore (looking quite beautiful) as the fiancée of a military officer (Philip Carey) assigned to work with Scott. She soon finds herself falling for Scott, an undercover officer sent by Washington to put down a planned secessionist revolt. Wymore and Romay have a pretty convincing catfight at one point. Dick Wesson and Alan Hale Jr. (taking up where his dad, a longtime Warners contract player, left off) play ex-soldiers who'd served with Scott in the Mexican War and who act as his reluctant sidekicks here. They provide much of the (forced) comic relief. Dependable heavy Morris Ankrum has too small a part as a die-hard secessionist. Other dependable heavies in the cast include Douglas Fowley and Anthony Caruso.It's all mostly shot on studio sets, with location work saved for the action finale—a spectacular raid on the water pirates' camp. In a few sequences, the film uses stock footage culled from an earlier Warner Technicolor western. IMDb says it was SAN ANTONIO (1945). I'm more inclined to say it was DODGE CITY (1939)—and it's quite possible that the footage used in SAN ANTONIO was indeed taken from DODGE CITY as well. If anyone wants to watch all three of these films back-to-back just to get this straight, be my guest.This isn't the best Randolph Scott western I've ever seen, but it's certainly above average for him.

Randolph Scott is Major Ransome Callicut, who goes undercover as a school teacher in 1850s California to hopefully thwart separatist plotting as secessionist fervour starts to boil over.The Man Behind The Gun is directed by Felix E. Feist and adapted to screenplay by John Twist from a story by Robert Buckner. It is shot in Technicolor by Bert Glennon (Wagon Master) out of Bell Ranch, Santa Susana, California. Joining Scott in the cast are Patrice Wymore, Dick Wesson, Philip Carey, Lina Romay & Alan Hale Jr.It's true enough that material such as this, well more the themes and basic story, deserves a better movie than what this ultimately is. Yet to shout down this film for not being a finely tuned politico piece is a touch harsh one feels. This is after all, a modestly budgeted Oater out of Warner Brothers that comes at a time when Randolph Scott was knocking out Oaters for both WB and Columbia at a rate of knots! Scott was three years away from starting a run of films with Budd Boetticher that would finally realise his talents, whilst simultaneously giving the serious Western fan some gems to shout about from the saloon rooftops. So where does The Man Behind The Gun sit in the pantheon of 50s Westerns? Well a better director than Felix Feist would have helped since the material called for someone interested in the more psychological aspects of the characters. The afore mentioned Boetticher is a given of course, while another of Scott's 50s directors, André De Toth, would have enjoyed the intrigue and underhand core for sure.Still, given its short running time, Feist does manage to craft an action packed movie that's led by Scott's protagonist playing it rugged, sneaky and tough to get the job in hand done. There's gun fights, whip-cracking, chases, explosions; and even pretty gals scrapping it out in a crash of chairs, tables and pottery. For an 82 minute movie it doesn't fall short as an action piece. If viewed on those terms it holds up very well, even if there's so much going on it can be hard to follow at times. There's even nice dashes of humour, none more so than with the entertaining turn from Wesson. Be it whipping off some saloon gal's dress or playing it in drag, his Sergeant 'Monk' Walker gives the piece a lift when it threatens to be bogged down by good guy-bad guy character turns that come and go all too frequently. Scott is as ever straight backed and as cool as a cucumber, while Hale Jr, Carey and Wymore each leave a favourable impression.Yes it could have been a deep and potent piece, but that it's not does not make it a bad film. It's a ripper of an action movie backed up by a couple of strong turns from Scott & Wesson, even if the film that surrounds them is just a little chaotic at times! 7/10