Michael Morrison 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.

Spikeopath Gunsmoke is directed by Nathan Juran and adapted to screenplay by D.D. Beauchamp from the novel Roughshod written by Norman A. Fox. It stars Audie Murphy, Susan Cabot and Paul Kelly. Music is supervised by Joseph Gershenson and cinematography by Charles P. Boyle.A safe recommendation to Western fans who just want to be entertained by an Audie Murphy picture of no pretensions. Nicely filmed out of Big Bear Valley, San Bernardino National Forest, it's an unassuming film that follows familiar B Western plotting. Bad guy has reform in him and finds it when he ends up fighting for the underdog and falling in love with the daughter of said underdog. Characters are well defined, pace is brisk and the action is well constructed by Juran (latterly 7th Voyage of Sinbad/Jack the Giant Killer). Enjoy the shoot-outs, the cattle drive, the wagon down the hill sequence (those stunt workers rock!), and get on board with the devilishly handsome Murphy and the heart achingly sexy Cabot (check out how she carries off a red number during one scene as she gets the boys all hot and bothered).It's not original and it doesn't bring any psychological smarts to the narrative, but it plays the clichés well and all involved deliver a professional and good looking picture. 6.5/10

Tweekums I didn't know much about this western before sitting down to watch it; to be honest I thought it might just be a half decent way to kill an hour and a half (including adverts). The opening was promising; two men, Reb Kittredge and Johnny Lake, ride into view followed by the pursuing cavalry, after giving them the slip they decide to go their separate ways; Johnny to go and find work on a sheep farm and Reb to seek employment as a hired gun for a man called Telford. Shortly after they split Reb is bushwhacked and has his horse shot from under him; his attacker flees but leaves two distinctive cartridges behind. Now horseless Reb starts walking towards town; luckily he is able to catch the passing stagecoach where he meets the beautiful Rita Saxon... unfortunately for him it is clear that she doesn't like him! It turns out Reb is being hired to help ensure that Rita's father, Dan Saxon, loses his ranch to Telford. It seems Telford is playing dirty from the start; telling Saxon that Reb is going to be gunning for him; he draws his gun on Saxon but rather than killing him Reb shoots it out of his hand. He then decides that Telford's offer isn't enough and before he can raise it he has a wager with Saxon; the result of which is that Reb now owns the ranch... but if he wants to keep it he will have to get the cattle from the ranch in Montana to Yellowstone; and Telford will do anything he can to stop him including hiring his old friend Johnny.This was a decent film; it is under eighty minutes long but that just means no time is wasted on unnecessary subplots and excessive dialogue. The action scenes were pretty exciting; especially the cattle stampede and when a wagon had to be driven down a particularly steep mountainside; of course there are a few good shoot-outs and everything works out for the best in the end. Audie Murphy was fine as Reb; he might not look that tough but he talked the talk and handled the action scenes in a way that makes the viewer believe in the character. Susan Cabot put in a feisty performance as the beautiful Rita and Jack Kelly was suitably treacherous as Reb's rival for Rita's affections. The locations are often important for a western and the scenery this was set in was suitably impressive with rugged terrain and snow-capped mountains in the background. Over all I'd recommend this to western fans of all ages as there is a good story, plenty of excitement and nothing to offend.

Henchman_Number1 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.