As I write this, The Gun Hawk enjoys a meager 5.8 IMDb rating. As you can see from my own rating, I think this is way too low.
Sure, the movie has faults. It begins badly, with a cheesy title song, clumsy expositional dialogue in a sheriff's office, and a comedy-relief fight scene that's not funny. By that point I was thinking maybe I should turn it off. But soon after, it improved.
One thing that helps is the background score. Though others found it monotonous, I felt the slow, steady beat of low tones was extremely effective. It works especially well in a scene where Rory Calhoun comes upon the two men he's hunting and picks them off from the shadows.
Calhoun may not have been the greatest actor, but he knew how to deliver the goods as a jaded gunfighter. What makes the role unusually interesting is that after a certain point, Calhoun knows he's going to die. In fact, he knows it before we do, and once we figure it out, his actions - such as his seemingly unfeeling treatment of a longtime girlfriend - make sense.
There's also something fresh about the town of Sanctuary, where outlaws on the lam are safe from pursuit, as long as they keep their guns holstered. I'm not saying it's never been done before, but I've seen a lot of films in this genre, and the idea seemed new to me.
The movie's low budget undermines it in some respects. There are a couple of embarrassingly bad matte paintings, and some "outdoor" locations are obviously set on a soundstage. But as The Gun Hawk grinds remorselessly to its Greek-tragedy finale, it develops a surprising gravitas for such a small picture. And I think it'll stay with me after I've forgotten other, more expensive westerns with bigger stars.
Sure, the movie has faults. It begins badly, with a cheesy title song, clumsy expositional dialogue in a sheriff's office, and a comedy-relief fight scene that's not funny. By that point I was thinking maybe I should turn it off. But soon after, it improved.
One thing that helps is the background score. Though others found it monotonous, I felt the slow, steady beat of low tones was extremely effective. It works especially well in a scene where Rory Calhoun comes upon the two men he's hunting and picks them off from the shadows.
Calhoun may not have been the greatest actor, but he knew how to deliver the goods as a jaded gunfighter. What makes the role unusually interesting is that after a certain point, Calhoun knows he's going to die. In fact, he knows it before we do, and once we figure it out, his actions - such as his seemingly unfeeling treatment of a longtime girlfriend - make sense.
There's also something fresh about the town of Sanctuary, where outlaws on the lam are safe from pursuit, as long as they keep their guns holstered. I'm not saying it's never been done before, but I've seen a lot of films in this genre, and the idea seemed new to me.
The movie's low budget undermines it in some respects. There are a couple of embarrassingly bad matte paintings, and some "outdoor" locations are obviously set on a soundstage. But as The Gun Hawk grinds remorselessly to its Greek-tragedy finale, it develops a surprising gravitas for such a small picture. And I think it'll stay with me after I've forgotten other, more expensive westerns with bigger stars.