Day of the Evil Gun
Tags: violence

Plot synopsis:
Angie Warfield and her two children are kidnapped by Apaches. Lorne Warfield (Glenn Ford), who had been away a long time, sets out to rescue his family, with the unwanted help of his neighbor Owen Forbes (Arthur Kennedy). Warfield is a former gunman trying to forget his violent past. Forbes, a decent, humane rancher, is also in love with Warfield's wife and feels guilty that he did not try to prevent the kidnapping.
An Indian trader (Dean Jagger), who feigns insanity (as the Indians will not kill a crazy person), reluctantly provides Warfield with some information. Next, Warfield and Forbes are captured by the Apaches and staked out on the ground to die. However, Mexican bandit DeLeon (who has dealings with the Indians) believes Warfield's story that he hid his money before he was caught and cuts him loose. Warfield manages to kill him and frees Forbes. They detour to a town where a doctor is being overwhelmed caring for the victims of cholera. They buy supplies, and Forbes learns the location of the Apache camp. On the way, they enter a deserted Mormon settlement, where they encounter a detachment of Union soldiers led by "Captain" Jefferson Addis. However, all is not what it seems. It turns out that Corporal Addis and the rest killed the real captain so that they could trade two wagons full of weapons and ammunition to the Apaches in return for an army payroll the latter recently captured. The Apaches, however, have other ideas; they attack. During the battle, Warfield arranges it for them to steal a wagon. That leaves deep tracks it is easy for him to follow to the Indian camp. Warfield and Forbes rescue the captives.
Safely back home, Forbes challenges Warfield (who is now unarmed, having traded his gun to a storekeeper for clothing for his family) to a duel for the woman, but Warfield just turns and walks away. Forbes throws him a pistol, but Warfield refuses to pick it up. Forbes then shoots Warfield in the leg. Before Forbes can finish him off, he is shot and killed by the storekeeper using Warfield's gun.

Review: Pretty unknown and still waiting to be recognized even by movie buffs this little gem has definitely not yet the reputation it deserves."Directed with lazy assurance" as the TIME OUT FILM GUIDE correctly writes, by veteran director Jerry Thorpe, and played with laid back gusto by all involved, this western offers a very grim and dark view on the "old west", more influenced by the Italo-western (which was in full bloom in the later 60ies) than the classic US-flick.
Gunfighter FORD, aged, bored, tired and with "have-seen-it-all" eyes, comes back home just to find his wife and 2 small daughter carried away by Apaches.
Arthur KENNEDY claims his wife was about to marry him and after an incredibly tough fist-fight they team up (unwillingly) to rescue them.What follows is an odyssey through some very bizarre situations, staged with the aforementioned lazy assurance, situations, which one does not happen to see in many other US-western: everything is dark, depressing, cynical and void of any sympathy.
Kennedy is fine, too, and also very worth mentioning is the character played by Nico Minardos, whom you would more expect to find in any Quentin Tarantino movie than in a B-western from the later 60ies.
All in all a very watchable outing, made by experts, each of whom must have had a dozen or more western to his credit at the time, when they teamed up to put DAY OF THE EVIL GUN on celluloid.Watch out for this and don't miss it, it's very well worth a viewing !.
Presumed dead, aging Gunslinger Warfield (Glenn Ford) returns to Adamsville to find that wife Angie and two young daughters have been kidnapped by the Apaches.
Owen Forbes (Arthur Kennedy) is the man giving out the news and also claiming Angie was to marry him after giving up on Warfield ever returning.
An uneasy alliance forms as the two men set off to find the missing girls.Directed by Jerry Thorpe and scripted by Charles Marquis Warren, Day Of The Evil Gun is a low budget mixture of more notable genre pieces.
In fact the film very much feels like a spaghetti Western at times, such is the odd ambiance that accompanies the men on their perilous odyssey.
Fine support comes from Dean Jagger & John Anderson, while Harry Dean Stanton also weighs in with an appearance.No great film by any stretch of the imagination, but certainly one that has a little more to it to keep it above average.
The psychological roles that Ford and Kennedy play make this movie definitely different and spellbinding for the viewer.
What's interesting about this movie is the apparent role changes that take place between Glenn Ford and Arthur Kennedy.
Good western with Ford playing a gunman trying to put his guns down and come home to the wife and kids.
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.
A retired gunslinger faces long odds as he rides the trail to an Apache encampment to rescue his wife and two daughters who were kidnapped by the red raiders.
Glenn Ford stars in this gritty western and beautiful Mexican scenery helps when the action flags.
Arthur Kennedy, who lays claim to Ford's wife, tags along and the two men form an uneasy alliance as they search for the hidden camp.
Ford's tough character displays a steely resolve to find his family and Kennedy plays his heavy with relish but sounds more like a Boston police captain than a rancher in the old west.
I was really charged with disgust at the way the two men rescued the wife and two kids from the Indian camp at the end of the movie.
Conveniently the three captives are in a perfect position to be rescued -- at the edge of the Indian camp (so the two men can sneak up behind them to untie them) and right next to the horse corral (so Glen Ford can stampede the horses so the Indians can't pursue) and near the ammunition wagon and an oil lantern (so Glen can blow it up) and an empty horse-driven wagon (so Arthur Kennedy can drive the family away).
Released in 1968, "Day of the Evil Gun" stars Glenn Ford and Arthur Kennedy as two older men pursuing the Apaches who kidnapped the wife and daughters of the former.
Unfortunately, the trail is two months cold and they run into numerous problems, like being staked out in the desert and being hindered by a curious group of remote soldiers."Day of the Evil Gun" has a quality late 60's Western vibe, so if you favor Westerns from this period, like 1966' "Duel at Diablo" and 1970's "Two Mules for Sister Sara," it's worthwhile, but it's mortally hampered by several unbelievable scenes, particularly the "yeah right" climatic rescue sequence.
It's unfortunate because with just a little tweaking this would've been an effective Western.The film runs 95 minutes and was shot in Durango, Mexico.
Like Gregory Peck in The Gunfighter Glenn Ford in Day Of The Evil Gun is a gunfighter who deserted his wife and two daughters and has now come home.
On the way there they come into a charming, but coldblooded Mexican bandit in Nico Minardos, a cholera epidemic in a town with an avaricious store owner in James Griffith and some army deserters who are an outlaw gang with John Anderson in charge.During all this time Kennedy who has lorded his moral superiority over Ford develops into quite a killing machine himself.
Jagger has only one scene in the film, but he plays an itinerant peddler who pretends he's crazy so that the Apaches will deal with him.
The malady whatever it was also affected the crew on Guns For San Sebastian shooting at the same time.Peter Ford who played one of the army deserters also said his father was pleased to be working with Arthur Kennedy again, they had been together on one of Ford's best films Trial.
An offbeat ,almost dusky western ,with two veterans of the genre ,Arthur Kennedy and Glenn Ford ,both at their best and giving their characters substance :who is really the"hero"?Even when the movie is over ,you will not know..The subject is well known and was often treated in the past notably by John Ford : rescuing women captured by the Indians ,but the script is bizarre,including scenes which you would not expect ,which makes the two men's adventures an odyssey in miniature :the prisoners ,tied under the blistering sun ,and the birds of prey which gather à la Hitchcock's "the birds";the town where cholera is rampant;the pacifist man who does not understand why one can murder his fellow man.Not very plausible (particularly the final stampede ) ,most likely a fable with an ambiguous "moral"..
Since the first time that l'd watched this picture in early 80' l found it a real classic western on a low budge but strong enough to put it in a high ground,Ford and Kennedy are fantastic in great shape if consider their ages,deserve a look in the river's fight,the Dean Jagger's role of an insany man is outrageous fine,the desert's scene when Nico Minardos come out is another unforgetable and quite unique in this genre,the desert landscape became another wall to be overcame,without forget Anderson & Stanton soldier's renegades on the desert's border town,the official release stop a long waiting for this charismatic picture!!Resume:First watch: 1980 / How many: 6 / Source: TV-Cable TV-DVD-R-DVD / Rating: 8.
Jerry Thorpe may have been something of a lightweight director but even lightweights can hit pay-dirt once in awhile and "Day of the Evil Gun", which he made in 1968, is a fine and somewhat unusual western.
The story is not dissimilar to such earlier westerns as "The Searchers" and "Two Rode Together", (two men searching for a woman abducted by the Apaches), but it takes a few diversions along the way.
The men in question are played by veterans Glenn Ford and Arthur Kennedy and the slightly grizzled cast also includes Dean Jagger, Paul Fix and John Anderson as well as a young Dean Stanton sans the Harry.
"Day of the Evil Gun" is the sort of western you probably wouldn't have seen before the 1960s.
Again and again, the two anti- heroes meet up with folks who end up being pretty much awful people...a true late 60s sort of plot, that's for sure.When the film begins, Lorn (Glenn Ford) returns home after being absent for a couple months--only to find his homestead deserted.
Day of the Evil Gun. Not bad little western starring Glenn Ford as Lorne Warfield, a gunfighter who has had his belly-full of killing and just wishes to carve out a new life with his wife and two daughters.
Arthur Kennedy has the best role of the film as Owen Forbes, a man in love with Warfield's wife and resents the man for walking out on his family.
Warfield is always looking over his shoulder in regards to Forbes but will have to form a partnership with him in order to somehow survive an accompaniment of ordeals along the way such as Army deserters wishing to make a trade with those Apaches who have kidnapped Warfield's family.
They'll have to contend with Mexicans, also.The film is excellently photographed by cinematographer W Wallace Kelley, especially many numerous long shots which really open wide the hot desert landscape Warfield must ride(..and walk)along the way.
But Kelley's marvelous camera-work during the Apache attack on the small town filled with betrayed Army deserters led by John Anderson's Jefferson Addis, is wonderful to behold.
When you have Glenn Ford and Arthur Kennedy as your leads, a film would be hard to dislike.
"Captivating" tale of two men on a long, difficult, quest into hot Western desert to find out if "their" wife and children are still alive.
Along the the way they encounter a not-so-crazy trader who knows much more than he lets on, Mexican bandits who wheel and deal, soldiers playing a high risk game with the Apache, a cholera epidemic, and the pair of husbands are nearly killed several times.
The first-rate cinematography of the desert and the high shots of towns and Indian-soldier battle scenes make for great viewing.
Day of the Evil Gun (1968) is an enjoyable pulp western with two over the hill actors in the lead.
Glenn Ford became a star in the forties and fifties with Film Noirs like Gilda (1946) and The Big Heat (1953), westerns such as 3:10 to Yuma (1957) and The Fastest Gun Alive (1956) and with the classic social drama The Blackboard Jungle (1955).
Arthur Kennedy had built up an image of sympathetic bad guy in westerns like Rancho Notorious (1952) and The Man From Laramie (1955) and in drama's like The Lusty Men (1952) and Some Came Running (1958).The plot of Day of the Evil Gun is a variation on The Searchers.
Glenn Ford is looking for his kidnapped wife and his two children.
He gets unwanted help from the lover of his wife, played by Arthur Kennedy.
On their search they meet some colorful characters, all played by some of the best standard supporting actors Hollywood had to offer in that period: Dean Jagger, John Anderson, Royal Dano, Nico Minardos and a very young Harry Dean Stanton.
The screenplay may be formulaic, but they provided an efficient story-line with lively characters and enough surprises to keep it entertaining all the way.Glenn Ford would continue to act until the early '90 in films and TV.
Arthur Kennedy would also keep on working until his death in 1990, but nothing memorable.Day of the Evil Gun may not belong in the section of the great classic westerns, but fans should check it out because it contains some good set pieces, especially the vulture scene.
Day of the Evil Gun was released in the period when the Italian westerns were dominating the box office in Europe.
"I'll be the same man when this is over," claims Owen (Arthur Kennedy), Lorne's side-kick in "Day of the Evil Gun".
Along the way they get into several adventures involving a grungy town without pity, Apaches (a highway robbery chase sequence is a hoot), Mexican riff-raff and a group of self-described blue-coat "renegades" (has a more heroic ring than "deserters")."Day of the Evil Gun" is a laconic western that aims just high enough and succeeds entirely.
Then, too, the movie is buoyed by the presence of Glenn Ford, late in his career, adding conviction to the story, while not too sluggish in the action scenes; also, the ever-welcome, somewhat bedevilled Arthur Kennedy; and Dean Jagger in a delightful cameo as a crazy trinket salesman (crazy like a fox).I doubt that B-western writer Charles Marquis William pays much attention to historical reality.
Tension between the two main protagonists is established early in this story, as Lorn Warfield (Glenn Ford) returns home after a lengthy absence, only to be told by Owen Forbes (Arthur Kennedy) that his wife and two daughters were attacked and taken hostage by Apaches.
In any event, Dean Jagger acquitted himself well as the nutty Noble.It goes without saying that Warfield and Owens succeed in their mission, though as others on this board have rightly noted, the rescue of Angie Warfield (Barbara Babcock) and her two daughters occurred without the slightest of hitches amid a fully armed camp of hostile Apaches.
The 'evil gun' connection doesn't come into play until the very end of the story when shopkeeper Wilford (Parley Baer) accepts Warfield's holstered weapon in exchange for new dresses for the freed women.
Right before gunning down the aggrieved Owens about to shoot his defenseless partner and rival, Wilford manages to answer his own rhetorical question - "I'll never know how one man can kill another"..
I'm a huge fan of Glenn Ford and Arthur Kennedy.
Our heroes learn from one of the citizens dying from cholera that the Apache camp where the wife and daughters are being held is two and a half days west.
Ford and Kennedy rappel down a cliff side in full view of the Indian camp without drawing attention.What?
No one is protecting the Apaches' horses, when Ford drives them away and Kennedy piles the ladies onto the ammo wagon and escapes.
Ford is a tired gunfighter who returns home to find his wife and two children kidnapped by Apaches.
Kennedy is his rival who claims that she was just about to marry him.The mismatched pair team up to retrieve Ford's family, but it's allmighty hard a-trackin' them through this here desert.
Critics have compared Jerry Thorpe's "Day of the Evil Gun" unfairly with John Ford's classic John Wayne western "The Searchers." These two westerns concern the long, arduous, often dangerous quest to find and rescue wives and daughters who have been kidnapped by murderous Apaches.
Glenn Ford is cast as Lorn Warfield, a gunfighter who vanished for three years after he killed a man in a duel, but who has returned now to search for his wife and children.
At the same time, a neighbor, Owen Forbes (Arthur Kennedy of "Lawrence of Arabia"), who had watched from afar, has fallen in love with Warfield's wife, Angie (Barbara Babcock), and he is determined to find her for himself since he doesn't believe that Lorn deserves her after all she has endured without him by her side.
The finale when they return to the same town that they left finds Forbes prepared to kill Warfield after the latter has traded his revolver to buy clothes for his wife and daughters.
Neither Glenn Ford at age 52 nor Arthur Kennedy at age 54 looked like they were in shape to be trudging all over Mexico in pursuit of their abducted loved ones.
Veteran western character actor John Anderson and up-and-coming character actor Harry Dean Stanton show up briefly as cavalry deserters.
Typically, Apaches as well as Native Americans in general rarely harmed people who were lunatics, and Jimmy Noble (Dean Jagger) has been posing like a lunatic for so long that he almost lets Warfield burn his wagon loaded with trade goods.
Altogether, "Day of the Evil Gun" is no "Searchers." The showdown in the abandoned town between the Apaches and the Army deserters reminded me more of John Sturges' "The Law and Jake Wade." Lenser W.
Wallace Kelley, no stranger to westerns since he had photographed five oaters previous to "Day of the Evil Gun," makes this tale look better than it has any right to look.
The film was shot on location in Durango, Mexico, in locales that you have seen before in "Major Dundee." The shot of Glenn Ford and Arthur Kennedy riding double on a horse at dusk looks spectacular.