OK, whose pigtails did he pull this time?
I’m not sure why, but somehow I never engaged with Forty Guns (1957). It’s undeniably a quality movie, with fine acting and a tight plot, but I think in my mind the characters never quite presented as sympathetic. Griff Bonnell and his brother, Wes, with reputations as killers, are now working for the government, looking to serve warrants on men located in the town of Tombstone. Riding the hills surrounding the town are Jessica Drummond and her forty men. Naturally, it’s one or more of her men that interests them.
But arrests are inadequate, as the local judge is in Jessica’s pocket. But not in her pocket is her own brother, Brockie, a young man with no self-control and no respect for others, and that includes injuring the current marshal of the town, who is suffering from blurred vision, just for giggles. Even though he has a position in law enforcement himself, he engages in a little light banditry on the side.
Griff and Wes become the targets of Brockie and his buddies for breaking up their fun, and after some missed opportunities, Wes is killed on his wedding day by Brockie or someone connected to him, who is subsequently arrested. Jessica, even knowing that Brockie is no good, tries but fails to secure his release: the judge and jury can no longer be bought. As she confesses her failure to her doomed brother, he takes the opportunity to seize upon the deputy’s gun and, using his sister as a shield, try to shoot his way out of town, but he runs into Griff. Griff, by now romantically involved with Jessica, shoots Jessica in a non-critical, unspecified location, and then deliberately kills Brockie after disarming him.
And then Griff and Jessica ride off into the sunset.
There’s a lot to like about this movie, from the acting and story to the big tornado scene (I loved the blurriness), but there was little to really like about the characters. True, Griff and Wes are not vicious killers, but they’re tough men going about their business. Jessica is leading those forty men about, but at least a few she’s playing games with, and that doesn’t go over so well. It didn’t help that the guys looked a lot alike.
But you may have a different reaction. There’s nothing here that’s a real turnoff here. I just didn’t ever get hooked into it.
