bkoganbing Fred MacMurray was not fond of his westerns, his most famous quote was that "the horse and I were never as one". But he rode no horses in At Gunpoint. MacMurray plays the town storekeeper who takes up a weapon and together with Frank Ferguson shoots Jack Pickard head of a gang trying to rob John Qualen's bank. He gets the outlaw leader and saves the money. The town acclaims him and Ferguson, but Ferguson is ambushed by the same gang outside town, MacMurray becomes the town leper.Comparisons have been made with High Noon, but I think this resembles more 3:10 to Yuma and Johnny Concho. In those two westerns we had citizen heroes as opposed to cowboy heroes. There's no resemblance to John Wayne in MacMurray's role.Even his wife Dorothy Malone wants him to leave, but MacMurray wants to stay. His only friend is the town doctor Walter Brennan.This is a very good if somewhat unconventional western. Keep an eye on Skip Homeier as well. He's playing once again an evil punk.

alexandre michel liberman (tmwest) Who saw Alfred Werker 's two remarkable westerns "The Last Posse" and Three Hours to Kill" will not be deceived by "At Gunpoint", which basically has the same story as High Noon, but in a totally different style. And the difference in style is huge; High Noon used the myth of the west, from the cinematography to the hero and the ballad, everything was keyed to what we would expect in a standard western, but this time done better. Werker, on the opposite, uses a realistic style, his hero is a shopkeeper who just wants to live a decent life. He is no Wiil Kane. By showing typical town people, their fears, and their decisions when faced by a crisis, Werker manages to make a good western, without the clichés of the fifties. But he throws down the drain the beauty of the myth of the West. We can adapt John Ford's theory and say "When the legend is bigger than the truth, film the legend" and wonder if Werker would have followed he would not have improved the film. But he also might have ruined it.. You will enjoy At Gunpoint as long as you don't compare it to High Noon.

Spikeopath The Dennis gang ride into the town of Plainview and set about robbing the bank. However, during their escape Alvin Dennis (John Pickard) is shot and killed by a one in a million lucky shot by mild mannered store keeper Jack Wright (Fred MacMurray). Further compounding the gang's misery is that Alvin was carrying the money and so the town have managed to reclaim what was briefly taken from them. Jack, in spite of his protestations, is hailed a hero by all and sundry, even picking up a substantial reward. But led by a hate filled Bob Dennis (Skip Homeier), the Dennis gang are plotting revenge and have Jack firmly in their sights. Jack is about to find out just who his friends are in the fickle town of Plainview.Yeah yeah yeah, At Gunpoint (AKA:Gunpoint!) is for sure a variation on the High Noon theme, and yes it proudly stands in its pulpit sermonising a moralistic viewpoint. Its central theme one that has been used a number of times in Westerns both prior and post this Allied Artists Pictures release. But so what? If a story, and the potent universal messages at its core, is worth telling, then tell it. As long as it's told well and not bogged down by poor technical aspects, then that surely is enough for the discerning genre fan? At Gunpoint is directed by Alfred L. Werker and is written by prolific Western story teller Daniel B. Ullman. It's a Technicolor/CinemaScope production with Ellsworth Fredericks on photography duties, and the wonderfully named Carmen Dragon provides a bracing score. Supporting MacMurray and Homeier are Dorothy Malone as Jack's increasingly fretful wife, Walter Brennan as a loyal Doctor friend who likes a tipple, while Whit Bissell is a welcome secondary character addition.So many good things to recommend here, it may be a simple fable, but it's lit up by high quality acting and thrives on the moody atmosphere constructed by Werker. MacMurray was always hit and miss, particularly in the Western genre, but when he got it right, or perhaps when he had an understanding director? He was real value for money. Such is the case here. His Jack Wright is an honest man reluctantly put up on a pedestal, thus he quickly becomes a scared man. Naturally fearful for his wife and child, he doesn't hide that he himself is no hero, and has no wish to become one. MacMurray perfectly plays it restrained, thus it is heartfelt and believable. Homeier was always best when playing a snarly villain and here he delivers just that, a villain hell bent on revenge, an avenging brother whose actions speak louder than words. Werker was an old pro, a jobber director, and here he was coming to the end of a career that would span 32 years. He offers up some nice tonal delights here. Witness the dusty storm that descends upon Plainview, it coincides with the town residents having a change of attitude. Then there's his framing of the Dennis gang as they come for revenge, it's impossible not to think of them as the four horsemen of the apocalypse. While the final shoot out, and the twist in the horse tail, is awash with tension and crowned by a remarkable bit of stunt work. This a fine film that belies its "B" movie roots. One that will hopefully find more fans as the years roll by. 8/10

sol (Some Spoilers) Potent little morality play about a man who's left out in the cold and deserted by all those who he considered his friends after being hailed as a hero by those very same persons only days before. The Dennis gang checking out the quite and peaceful little town of Plainview to pull off their next bank robbery get the surprise of their lives when the towns general store shopkeeper Jack Wright, Fred MacMurray, picks up the gun that Plainview's marshal, Harry Shannon,dropped after he was shot during the bank robbery and from some 70 to 100 yards away caught the gang's leader Alivn Dennis,John Pickart, with a slug right between the shoulder blades. Still alive Dennis is done in by local resident George Henderson, Jack Ferguson, who then finished the badly wounded bank robber off with a wild furry of shots from his rifle. Being looked upon as a hero at first the people of Plainview quickly changed their minds about Jack Wright when the Dennis gang, now lead by Alvin's younger brother Bob (Skip Homeier),let it be known that they were out to take revenge for Alvin Dennis' death.Ambushing Henderson, who was made the new towns marshal, and gunning him down the gang later shot young Wally, James O'Hara,Jack's brother-in-law as he answered the door one evening mistaking them for Jack. The townspeople in a panic with the fear of the Dennis gang using them and their families as target practice, until they finally kill Jack, come to the conclusion in an almost unanimous vote, only old Doc Lacy(Walter Brenner) didn't vote with them,that Jack should leave town for his own safety as well as theirs. Tense and heart-lifting, if not predictable, ending with Jack standing alone and with no one coming to his aid facing the Dennis gang at high-noon on the main street of Plainview. Fred MaMurray is perfect as the peaceful family man who's forced to risk his life against a ruthless gang of bank robbers with nothing more then a sense of justice and determination not to let himself be run out of the town that he was born raised a family and started a business in.Just before the exciting conclusion of the movie Jack confronted the people of Plesentvile and with an emotional and stirring speech made them look deep into their hearts and souls about their abandonment of him when he needed them most when he was always there for them whenever they needed his help. You just knew what would happen in the movie "At Gunpoint" after that.