Day of the Evil Gun

1968
Approved
1h 35m

IMDb RATING

6.4/10

1.6K

YOUR RATING

A woman and two children are kidnapped by Apaches. The husband of the captured woman enlists the help of his neighbor to find the Apaches that seized his family; not knowing his neighbor has unknown reasons of his own for helping him.

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Classical Western Quest Western

A woman and two children are kidnapped by Apaches. The husband of the captured woman enlists the help of his neighbor to find the Apaches that seized his family; not knowing his neighbor has... Read allA woman and two children are kidnapped by Apaches. The husband of the captured woman enlists the help of his neighbor to find the Apaches that seized his family; not knowing his neighbor has unknown reasons of his own for helping him.A woman and two children are kidnapped by Apaches. The husband of the captured woman enlists the help of his neighbor to find the Apaches that seized his family; not knowing his neighbor has unknown reasons of his own for helping him.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.4/10

1.6K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Trivia
Glenn Ford and his son Peter Ford had a difficult relationship during the shooting of the film. His son later confessed that it was a bitter time for both of them. Ford had just gotten a difficult divorce and behaved in a strange way with his son: one day he was friendly and the other, nasty. Glenn Ford's son compared his father to Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

Goofs
During the fight with the Apaches in the Mormon ghost town, Forbes shoots out of a window with his pistol right next to his face. In actuality, the recoil of the weapon would have carried it right back into his nose like a punch. In the same scene, Captain Addis shoots a shotgun from a window in a similar fashion, a weapon with even more recoil that, in reality, would have slammed into his face and probably given him a black eye.

Quotes
[during an cholera epidemic]
Dr. Eli Prather: Don't talk to me, I'm busy killin' people.

Connections
Referenced in Sandra: The Making of a Woman (1970)

Soundtracks
Come Wander With Me
(uncredited)
[theme reuses from the Twilight Zone's episode]

User reviews38

Review

Featured review

8/10

Impressive and hard edged minor Western

It is not credited as such but this is essentially a retread of The Searchers ,and the two movies share a common plot -the hunt for relatives stolen by Indians Glenn Ford plays a noted gunman trying to turn his back on his former violent profession and who joins his neighbour ,Arthur Kennedy ,in the hunt for Kennedy's wife and two children who have been taken by Apaches.Complicating the matter is the fact that both men are in love with the woman in question. They are helped in their quest by a demented Indian trader -played by Dean Jagger in a way that seems to be a conscious tip of the hat to Hank Worden's performance in a similar role in The Searchers .The mission proves a fraught one -they are tortured by bandits ,encounter renegades and endure Indian raids en route to finding the people they seek

The men undergo personality changes as the trek unfolds ,with the previously peaceable Kennedy displaying a new found relish for the killing fields and events build to a personal confrontation between the two men Performances are superlative ,the script by Charles Marquis Warren and Eric Bercovi is pointed and candid .Jerry Thorpe directs capably if somewhat anonymously

This was designed for TV but wisely was given a cinema release .I urge all western lovers to see it