SYNOPSICS
The Man Behind the Gun (1953) is a English movie. Felix E. Feist has directed this movie. Randolph Scott,Patrice Wymore,Dick Wesson,Philip Carey are the starring of this movie. It was released in 1953. The Man Behind the Gun (1953) is considered one of the best Western movie in India and around the world.
Posing as a schoolteacher, undercover government agent Ransome Callicut arrives in 1850's California to gather intelligence about an insurrectionist plot to have the southern part of the state secede to become a slave state. When he discovers a hidden cache of weapons, he reveals his true identity and assumes command of the local army post. Aided by sidekicks Monk Walker and Olaf Swenson he battles political assassination and other intrigues to unmask the ringleader of the plot and keep the Golden State in the Union.
The Man Behind the Gun (1953) Reviews
He wasn't born, he was issued!
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
Middle of the Road Scott Western!
"The Man Behind the Gun" is another of a series of 80 minute little westerns churned out by Randolph Scott during the 1950s. As with most of these films, there's plenty of action and a stellar supporting cast. Major Rance Callicut (Scott) poses as a disgraced army officer who is sent to work undercover to foil secession threats which would take Southern California out of the Union. The time is the 1850s. On the stagecoach to Los Angeles he meets Lora Roberts (Patrice Wymore) who is on her way to LA to marry army Captain Roy Giles (Philip Carey). Also on board is bandit Vic Sutro (Anthony Carouso) whose holdup attempt is foiled by Callicut. With his two side kicks, Sgt. Monk Waller (Dick Wesson) and Cpl. Olaf Swenson (Alan Hale Jr.) Callicut at first posing as a school teacher, sets out to discover who is behind the troubles. He learns that there are two opposing factions, one headed by Bram Cregan (Morris Ankrum) and the other by Senator Mark Sheldon (Roy Roberts). Calicutt is not trusted by Giles, who tries to arrest him before learning his true identity. Calicutt becomes attracted to the lovely Lora (of course). Also in the mix is saloon owner Buckley (Douglas Fowley) and his singer Chona Dregnon (Lyna Romay). Calicutt is assisted by a young Mexican bandied, Joachim Murietta (Robert Cabel) whom he had earlier befriended. When Senator Sheldon is shot, and Cregar rescued from the hangman's noose, Calicutt thinks he has it all figured out...or does he? As in most of Scott's westerns there is a major shoot out and plenty of fast paced action. Alan Hale Jr. basically picked up where his late father left off playing similar roles until he hit it really big as the Captain in TVs "Gilligan's Island". As an item of interest, Hale Sr. had appeared with Scott in one of his last films, "Colt 45" (1950). Patrice Wymore was one of Errol Flynn's wives. Not one of the best Scott westerns but entertaining nonetheless.
Vigorous Randolph Scott western with unusual setting
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.
The man behind the masquerade
In contrast to most reviewers, I found this one of the most interesting Randolph Scott westerns I have seen. However, it could have used a better descriptive title. For a start, "The man behind the masquerade" would apply to several of the main characters, including Randy. The plot centers around two things: the secret effort of the US army to infiltrate and break up a pre-Civil War secession movement in southern CA, and the shiftings in the romantic quadrangle between Randy, as Major Callicut, Captain Giles(Phillip Carey), Lora(Patrice Wymore) and Chona(Lina Romay). The two female leads are cast as opposites in personality as well as looks. Chona is a worldly Mexican spitfire singer in an L.A. nightspot, whereas Lora is a straight-laced rosy-cheeked striking blond school teacher from the East. Randy is clearly smitten by both, as is Captain Giles, who will unexpectedly be working with Randy to squash the secession movement. Lora is engaged to Giles, but she soon cools toward him, while warming up to Randy, whom she met on the stage to L.A. Meanwhile, Giles has been dallying with Chona, in Lora's absence. Now, Chona is angry that Giles has stopped seeing her, after Lora's arrival. She briefly hints at a romance with Randy, but this fades after he discovers that she is in with the rebels and she discovers that he is a secret agent for the army. Chona eventually initiates a spirited but remarkably inept cat fight with Lora over Giles. It ends in a draw, but tragedy soon strikes one. Meanwhile, Creegan, a vocal supporter of an independent southern CA, as a slave state, is at odds with Senator Sheldon, supposedly a staunch supporter of a united free CA. However, Sheldon also has plans for an independent southern CA, with himself as kingpin. But first, he wants to relieve Creegan of his monopoly of the water supply for L.A. It takes Randy a while to figure out that it is the supposedly deceased Sheldon, not Creegan, that he must subdue. Dick Wesson And Alan Hale Jr. are Randy's sidekicks, providing occasional comic relief. Wesson served other supporting roles during this period, usually as an effeminant daffy character.(examples: "Desert Song" and "Calamity Jane"). Here, he masquerades as a woman in one scene, but is laughingly unconvincing, with his moustache and unshaven face! He usually sports a bull whip which, among other things, he uses to remove the dress from the derriere of a saloon girl! Hale is easily confused with his father, who played similar supporting roles, especially in Errol Flynn movies. Patrice Wymore was the last official Mrs. Errol Flynn. She would interrupt her rather short Flynn-promoted film career to tend her ailing husband, whom she eventually divorced. Unfortunately, her daughter by Flynn turned out to have Flynn's addiction to drugs and died a beach bum cocaine and rum addict, reduced to stealing coconuts to support her habit. Lina Romay was primarily known as a Latin singer. She should not be confused with the younger actress of mostly horror and pornographic films, with the same name. In some respects, this film reminds me of the earlier Wayne western "Tall in the Saddle". Again, Wayne simultaneously becomes tenuously involved with a raven wildcat and a cool blond from the East. Again, Wayne is initially misled as to who the real villain is he is looking for. This was a B&W film, in contrast to the Technicolor treatment the present film was given. Color films rapidly took over Hollywood in the '50s, largely because of increased competition from TV and reduced complexity of making color films. Color TVs didn't become common until the '60s. Thus, color served as another reason for people to go to theaters.
Mundane handling of lively elements makes this Randolph Scott western dull going.
All the things that made the Scott movies the most agreeable matine fare are present - an opening shoot out in foggy San Francisco streets, a stage hold up, historical plotting about stealing the L.A. water supply (well before CHINATOWN), false identity, opening an empty grave and hard riding and shoot outs in the great out of doors. On top of that it's delivered in Technicolor by some of Warners' most assured technicians, complete with stock shots from the Flynn movies and snatches of earlier Warner scores. The reason it's so mechanical must be the routine direction of Felix Feist who fades away as Scott takes on sure hands Andre de Toth and Budd Boetticher as directors. The scene with Lina Ronay against the studio sky is particularly lack lustre. Randy grins his way through events and is doubled in the final river punch out while villain Roy Roberts does his own stunts - like I mean - really!