Review of Shotgun

Sedona, Arizona was the setting for the action in "Shotgun", which surprised me for a while because a lot of the rock formations reminded me of Monument Valley in Utah. However, all that green vegetation in the landscape pretty much settled the issue, as Monument Valley is mostly desert with not much more than patches of scrub brush. This is a fairly serviceable Western with a standard plot and a revenge seeking deputy marshal out to track down the gang and its leader that murdered his longtime friend and U. S. Marshal Mark Fletcher (Lane Chandler). The story hints that Clay Hardin (Sterling Hayden) once found himself on the opposite side of the law, but now, about to retire his badge, takes it upon himself to bring in outlaw Ben Thompson (Guy Prescott). In his quest, he takes up with a woman of dubious reputation (Yvonne De Carlo) and bounty hunter Reb Carleton (Zachary Scott), who takes advantage of the team up to secure a potential payday. Eventually tracking outlaw Thompson to the camp of renegade Apache Delgadito (Paul Marion), the Indian warrior oversees a shotgun duel between them meant to test the courage of both men. With only one live cartridge available to each man, Thompson opts to shoot Hardin's horse out from under him, but finding his advantage gone, turns coward and tries to make a break on horseback. Delgadito settles the matter with what must have felt like a stabbing sensation to the back of Thompson. That spear throw was worthy of an Olympic javelin champion. The pairing of Hardin and former saloon gal Abby (De Carlo) didn't ring very true for this viewer given all that went before, but the picture called for that final ride into the sunset, so I'll take it with a grain of sand.

P. S. My summary line has bounty hunter Reb Carleton describing Clay Hardin to De Carlo's character Abby, a bit of dialog I found somewhat more appropriate than Reb's remark to Hardin when they decided to follow a stream through the desert - "You're the stud duck in this pond."