Last Train from Gun Hill

Plot synopsis:
An attractive American Indian woman and her young son are in a wagon, passing through a secluded, wooded area. They nervously pass by two dismounted, shiftless cowboys who are killing time by guzzling whiskey. The woman glances apprehensively over her shoulder as the two men mount up and follow along. As the men draw even with the buggy, they begin harassing the woman, asking her to stop and have a drink with them. She picks up a buggy whip and lashes one of the cowboys, Rick Belden (Earl Holliman), across the face, then whips her horse into a dead run. With the drunken cowboys in hot pursuit, the speeding wagon careens over onto its side and throws the woman and boy out. The woman frantically orders the boy to flee as the leering cowboys strip off her clothes and assault her. The boy takes one of the cowboys' horses and escapes. He gallops into the nearby town where his dad, Marshal Matt Morgan (Kirk Douglas) is busy entertaining some local urchins with tall tales from the "old days." Morgan rushes out into the street to meet the distraught boy, who can't verbalize what just took place. Morgan mounts up on the horse with his son and races back in the direction of the overturned wagon. Morgan discovers the nude body of his wife, who has been raped and murdered. He tearfully recovers her body and returns to the waiting horse, when he notices that the animal carries a beautiful silver-trimmed saddle emblazoned with the initials "CB." Morgan recognizes the initials.Later that same day, Rick Belden is drinking whiskey at a saloon in the town of Gun Hill. One of the saloon girls notices the deep cut on his face from the whiplash he received earlier. She teases him, saying that it does her good to see him getting scratched for a change. Belden slaps her to the floor and drunkenly confronts the startled saloon patrons who object to his behavior. Before anything worse can take place, a ranch hand named Beero (Brad Dexter) enters the saloon and tells young Belden that his father wants to see him immediately. It seems that the hotheaded Rick took something of his father's without permission. The men return to the Belden ranch where Rick is confronted about the missing saddle by his father, Craig Belden (Anthony Quinn). Rick lies and claims that their horses were stolen along with the valuable saddle. When his father notices the deep laceration on his son's face, he beams proudly and makes light of it. Beero sarcastically remarks that Rick would do better to fight with men. An offended Craig Belden goads his weakling son into fighting Beero and defending the Belden family name. Rick tries to beg off, but Craig insists. Beero easily fends off the hapless Rick, knocking him to the floor twice before Craig stops the fight. Craig Belden is revealed to be a tough, self-made and ruthless patriarch whose blind tolerance of his son's outrageous behavior has already ruined the boy.Having identified the fancy saddle, Marshal Morgan explains to his deceased wife's Indian father that he and Craig Belden are old friends. The old man wants revenge, and Morgan vows to get it. He then boards the train to Gun Hill to return the saddle and ask Belden which of his men were involved in his wife's murder. On the train, he meets a woman named Linda (Carolyn Jones). She recognizes the saddle and warns him about Craig Belden and his powerful influence in Gun Hill. When the train arrives, Beero is waiting to take Linda straight to Belden's ranch. She declines and checks into a hotel instead. When Morgan steps off the train with the saddle, Beero confronts him. Morgan tells him to let Belden know he is coming. Morgan hires a rig and starts out for the Belden ranch. Beero has already ridden ahead and warned Belden that someone is on the way with his saddle. An enraged Belden arrives at the ranch house and is shocked to encounter his old friend Matt Morgan. They drink to old times and Belden discloses that although he has become prosperous, he lost his wife nine years ago. Now it is just him and his son. Morgan inquires how the saddle had gotten lost and Belden tells him that his son Rick and a friend named Lee Smithers had passed through Pawley (Marshal Morgan's town) a few days ago. He explains that they were drinking in a saloon on Sunday when someone stole their horses and saddles. Morgan tells him that his wife was murdered that same day, and that one of the murderers was using Belden's silver saddle. Belden offers to help in any way he can and asks Morgan how we will be able to identify the killers. Morgan explains that his nine-year-old son had been present that day, and that he had witnessed his mother lashing one of the men's cheek open to the bone. A sudden look of recognition crosses Belden's face, and Morgan sees it. He accuses Belden's son of the crime, explaining that neither of the town's saloons are open on Sunday, making Rick Belden a liar. Belden nervously tries to deny his son's involvement and warns Morgan to leave Rick alone and get out of town at once. Morgan replies that he will be on the last train out of Gun Hill at 9 PM, but that Rick and his friend will be going with him to stand trial.Back in town, Morgan gets no cooperation from the citizens of Gun Hill. They are terrified of Craig Belden, who owns half the town. The corrupt sheriff makes it clear that he won't help.Belden confronts his son and Lee, telling them just who it was that they killed. They claim that the death of Morgan's wife was an accident, and then dismiss her as "just an Indian squaw." Belden angrily banishes Lee from his ranch and warns Rick that Matt Morgan is no one to trifle with. Rick protests that he isn't afraid and rashly insists on going into town. Craig Belden insists that he take Beero and another man along.Morgan searches the town for Rick, but runs into immediate resistance. One of three men seated in front of a saloon remarks that he wouldn't arrest any man for killing an Indian; they would pay him a bounty instead. Morgan knocks him out with a forearm to the jaw. The other two men decline to test him. In the saloon, a friendly bartender warns him to leave Rick alone. The only person willing to help Morgan is former saloon girl (and Craig Belden's erstwhile mistress) Linda. She advises Morgan to look for Rick in the saloon across the street. Morgan stealthily climbs up the side of the building and sneaks in the window of an upstairs bedroom, where a startled saloon girl is sleeping. Simultaneously, Rick interrupts his card game and heads upstairs to pay a visit to the girl. Morgan gets the jump on him and knocks him out cold with the butt of his gun. He heaves Rick across his shoulder and starts down the stairs, gun drawn. Two saloon employees go for their shotguns before Morgan shoots them down. He orders Rick's cardplaying friends into a store room, but one of them ducks behind a table to fight back. Morgan fires through the table and wounds him, then locks everyone up in the store room. Out on the street, he runs into the corrupt sheriff, who doesn't challenge him but tells him he will never get away with it. Morgan goes into a hotel and forcibly coerces the reluctant manager into giving him a room. He handcuffs Rick to the bed and settles in to wait on the 9 o'clock train.Belden soon arrives with twenty men and tries to reason with Morgan. When it becomes obvious that Morgan is serious about putting Rick on the train, Belden orders his men to open fire through the windows of Morgan's hotel room. Shots rain in from the surrounding rooftops, but Morgan returns fire and kills two of Belden's men. He also shoves the bed holding Rick in front of one window, limiting Belden's options. Belden is afraid to rush the room and possibly wound his son.Belden enters the saloon and confronts Linda about not returning to his ranch. It is revealed that she has been away at a hospital recovering from a beating administered by Craig Belden. She complains that Rick constantly makes up lies about her, fueling Craig's jealousy. She asks Belden if he is finally willing to marry her, but he admits that Rick is the obstacle. She knows that Belden will always choose his son over her. On a saloon bet, Linda walks over to her hotel and goes up to the room where Morgan is holding Rick. He admits her to the room and quietly asks for her help. He needs a shotgun to make good on his escape plan. Undecided about helping him, Linda returns to the saloon and encounters a drunken Lee Smithers, who callously admits to raping and killing Morgan's wife. Linda throws her drink in his face and storms out. She notices a shotgun behind the bar.As dusk falls, Belden decides on a desperate move. He tells Morgan he is coming up to talk, man to man. Morgan agrees, but the unarmed Belden arranges for two of his gunmen to trail him up the stairs. While Morgan is distracted by his conversation with Belden, the two men creep down the hallway. One of them makes a noise and Morgan reacts just in the nick of time, shooting one of them and driving the other back down the stairs. Belden throws something at Morgan but misses. An angry Morgan drives him from the room.In the meantime, Linda slips behind the saloon bar and retrieves the shotgun, hiding it under her shawl. She takes it to Morgan, knowing she will pay a steep price. As Morgan calculates a way to get Rick to the train platform, Lee Smithers sets fire to the rear of the hotel, hoping to drive Morgan into the open. Morgan is forced to unshackle Rick from the bed, and a fierce struggle over the shotgun ensues. Morgan wins the battle, and as the hotel burns down Morgan handcuffs himself to Rick and descends the stairs with the sawed-off, double-barrelled shotgun pressed under Rick's chin. Belden and his men are stymied. Morgan warns that if one shot is fired he will decapitate Rick with the shotgun. Morgan and Rick mount a buckboard and start slowly toward the train platform. Belden, his gunmen, and Lee Smithers trail the wagon slowly down the street, waiting for an opening.Just as the train pulls in, Morgan shrewdly eases the wagon across the tracks in front of the train, separating himself and his prisoner from the rest of the crowd. Only Smithers is on the same side of the tracks as Morgan and Rick. Running out of time, Smithers makes his move. He taunts Morgan, daring the lawman to draw against him. Smithers finally pulls his gun and fires at Morgan, striking Rick Belden instead. Morgan lowers the shotgun and discharges a full load of buckshot into Smithers just before Rick falls from the wagon, mortally wounded. Still bound to his prisoner, Morgan falls with him. He unlocks the handcuffs and wearily walks away to board the train. Craig Belden runs around the train to discover his dead son on the ground. He grieves over him for a few moments before angrily calling out to Matt Morgan. Morgan tells Belden that it is over. There is nothing more to fight about. But Belden demands satisfaction. The two men square off, but Morgan stipulates that he won't draw first. Belden obliges, pulling his revolver before Morgan guns him down. As Belden dies, he asks Morgan for the name of his young son, Petey. With his last breath, he admonishes Morgan to "raise him right." The train pulls out with Morgan on board as Linda grieves over the fallen Craig Belden.

Tags: violence, revenge, murder, storytelling

Review:
Last Train from Gun Hill has the star power to help back up a storyline that is, on the surface, seemingly too straightforward: a Marshall (Kirk Douglas) finds that his wife has been killed.
When he finds out that it is the son of a cattle baron (Anthony Quinn), despite his old friendship with the baron, he decides to bring the son to justice, holding him by gunpoint in the town hotel until the train comes to take them off to jail- while the baron has his men outside with their guns poised.
But more impressive in the script, and through John Sturges's steadfast professionalism, is how there's the tension between law and the personal, the immediate draw of a gun draw to solve anything, and the bitterness of real vengeance (watch Douglas's Marshall tell Rick about how he'll be the only one to hear his own brain cry out as he hangs dying, perfectly acted).Although it's likely that Douglas and Sturges were in or made better westerns, this is the kind of work that doesn't age in much a way that cheapens the questions poised or the invigorating style.
Granted, when a big fire ends up happening, it looks very much like it's on a sound-stage and without a whole lot of suspense (save for the typical but strong 'who will get the gun first' moment between the Marshall and Rick in the bedroom), but it's the ambiance of the characters, the dread over this dangerous mix of volatile father and townsman- a better than average Quinn without being too hammy- and a good man driven to vengeance in bad-ass Douglas, and the determined woman (Carolyn Jones) that makes it so compelling.
There's even a slight feeling of unpredictability in the situation- in a town where reputation trumps what is good and decent, but also where emotions run high as can be, the stakes are high for chance.By the very end it feels like it should be more formulaic, and there are bits where the dialog does come off as brawny ol' western genre jargon (look simply at some of the quotes on the IMDb page as example).
In the opening, a brutal rape and murder occur; director John Sturges and the performers relay very effectively what happens, it's the horror in your mind.Kirk Douglas stars, and he is riveting.
After Douglas goes to Gun Hill, he sees old friend Anthony Quinn watch how Douglas and Mr. Quinn play their first scene and you'll see how good these two actors are.You always have to suspend disbelief in film watching, and a western is a little different.
After the movie went on, I decided to just accept that like I accept the rules you accept when you watch a western.Besides, Quinn and Holliman are far to good to replace.
Ms. Jones showed she should have been given more good film roles.So many westerns try build this suspense -- "Last Train from Gun Hill" should have you shaking in your cowboy boots.
********* Last Train from Gun Hill (1959) John Sturges ~ Kirk Douglas, Anthony Quinn, Carolyn Jones, Earl Holliman.
It has a strong cast headed by Kirk Douglas and Anthony Quinn and holds your attention from start to finish.Two cowboys, Rick Beldon (Earl Holliman) and Lee Smithers (Brian G.
Her son escapes, steals Rick's horse and rides to town to tell his father, who happens to be town marshal Matt Morgan (Douglas).Morgan distraught over his wife's horrible death, recognizes the saddle on Rick's horse as that of an old friend Craig Beldon (Quinn).
Morgan manages to capture Rick and......As in other Sturges westerns there is plenty of action, excellent photography and solid direction all leading up to a climatic gunfight.Also in the cast are Brad Dexter and Bing Russell as Beldon's top henchmen and Walter Sande as the town sheriff.
He goes on to find the men who did it to the town of Gun Hill and finds out that the other of the men is the son of his old friend (Anthony Quinn).
In Last Train From Gunhill, there is no possibility of compromise between the characters, no easy resolution:Craig Beldon (Anthony Quinn): `This is my son you're talking about.'Matt Morgan (Kirk Douglas): `No, Craig.
Unfortunately, the situation will not allow it.The other characters are well drawn too, including the sheriff who insists on `taking the long view'; the viscous son Rick who the viewer cannot help but feel some sympathy for because he is so dominated by the father, swept along in his wake; and the reckless ranchhand Lee, who is loyal to the son and not the father.The acting is great all around, particularly from Carolyn Jones, Quinn, and Douglas, the pairing of which was excellent.
When I think of these films the eyes of Trintignant in the final scene of The Great Silence come to mind, or the way, in this film, that Douglas yells the name of his wife or Quinn, at the train station, yells that of his son.
John Sturges a number of the best movies ever made - The Great Escape, The Gunfight at O.K. Corral, the Magnificent Seven, and here is a great movie he made that doesn't get mentioned with the all-time greats as it should.Kirk Douglas is outstanding as the uncompromising sheriff on a mission of revenge when his Native American wife is killed by the spoiled son of a lifelong friend.
Matt Morgan (Kirk Douglas) and Craig Belden (Anthony Quinn) are old friends who went on different career paths.
This turbulent adventure-drama is set against the rich,violent tapestry of Gun Hill.All the vast grandeur of the Southwest shown as never before possible with the greatness,the glory,the fury story of the untamed town.It's an exciting drama-vengeance with all the thrill and action of the Old West.It begins when the spouse of Sheriff Matt Morgan(Kirk Douglas)is raped and killed.Staunch Morgan aware the clue left, a signed saddle that belongs to Craig Belden(Anthony Quinn), an old partner but is nowadays a cattle baron in Gun Hill.Belden recognises his own son Rick(Earl Holliman)like one of the killers whom he refuse to hand over.Each owed the other his life and this was the moment of reckoning.The son is a captive hostage by obstinate Morgan at the mercy of the West's most notorious marshal-revenger.The sheriff living by the old rules-driven by vendetta-dueling to the death for have justice.He's surrounded in the town of the desperate and the damned ,where the baron cattle and the fastest gun owned everything.Morgan is determined to leave the town with murder suspect Rick and every single beating second the tension grows greater.This is a magnificent Western with a trigger-taut drama of the strangest friendship and posterior confrontation between a West's most upright lawman and its deadliest baron cattle.A story enormous in scope and unusual in concept.It's incomparably played by the greatest who ever into action : Kirk Douglas with a first rate performance though sometimes overdone and excessive melodramatic inclination and Anthony Quinn also gives a fine acting,they were two towering box office stars of the time.Besides extraordinary support cast,Earl Holliman as the son,he was one of the ¨sons of Katie Elder¨;Brad Dexter as Belden's hoodlum,he was one of the¨Magnificent seven¨ ; Brian G.
Hutton,as the son's companion ,posteriorly become successful director with¨The Kelly's heroes and When the eagles dare¨.It's filmed in glimmer Technicolor and Vistavision by Charles Lang.Evocative and appropriate musical score by the classic Dimitri Tiomkin.Dalton Trumbo wrote the script,the original story and signed by an inexistent Les Crutchfield but he was in the black list.The movie is produced by Hal Wallis,Paul Nathan and Bryna production,owner by Kirk Douglas.The motion picture is magnificently directed By John Sturges,author of various classic Western:Escape from Fort Bravo,Gunfight at the OK Corral,The law and Jake Wade,Magnificent seven, among others..
A classic movie with fine performances by Kirk Douglas & Anthony Quinn.A little bit of six degree trivia- the omnipresent Val Avery appears as the bartender screentesting for the same role in Nevada Smith.What great acting- to see rich characters finding their tough, most brutal instinct, but tempered by thoughts of an orphaned son (Douglas) or a dead wife(Quinn).
This movie can rightly be called a top western film.The Red Indian wife of a Marshall is raped and murdered and the main culprit is the son of a land baron.
That is what happens to Morgan (Douglas) and Belden (Quinn), when Belden's son (Holliman) commits a barbaric act of murder and rape, the victim being Morgan's wife.
In Last Train From Gun Hill a determined Kirk Douglas walks the line between justice and vengeance as a US Marshall who vows to leave the town of Gun Hill with the sniveling kid who raped and murdered his wife, despite the fact that the whole place is virtually owned by Anthony Quinn, the father of the killer!Direction, performances, and cinematography are all top-notch.This has a tense no-nonsense script with great dialog, lots of neat touches, and an exciting nail-biting climax, all very satisfying.
I am usually a huge fan of John Sturges directed films, love Bad Day at Black Rock and The Great Escape, but Kirk Douglas' overacting hurts some here.
Anthony Quinn does a good job in his role, which I think was a little underwritten.The best thing about Sturges movies is that they are never too long, and I don't know of any Hollywood director who built tension as well as he did.
This is not my favorite Western, but it's in my list of top 10.However, I would not put Kirk Douglas' and Anthony Quinn's other Western movie Gunfight at the OK Corral on this list, as this famous fight has been beaten like a dead horse!
Kirk Douglas was pretty good as the marshal, and Anthony Quinn played his role excellently, especially when his character was supposed to be nervous and hiding something.
The punk's father (Anthony Quinn) is a great shot in a nearby town, he looks like he is above the law and it's a old friend of the Sheriff.
It was one early western DVD release around 2003 and l got my copy right way,this movie l'd watched in 1981 on TV and the possibility to have it eternally amazed me,this solid and tense western have all elements to make a good picture,a strong reason to make justice even against his best friend...a fine supporting casting and a pretty woman who decided to do a right choice...suspenseful and remarkable western compatible the High Noon!
Kirk Douglas plays Marshal Matt Morgan, whose wife is attacked and murdered by Rick Belden(Earl Holliman) who turns out to be the son of an old friend(played by Anthony Quinn) Rick had left his distinctive saddle behind, and Matt goes to visit the senior Belden, who is happy to see him, until he learns the reason for the visit.
Being a rich cattleman now, he practically owns the town, and after Matt arrests Rick, takes measures to prevent his son being tried and likely hanged, no matter the cost...Exciting and well-acted film also has first-rate direction from John Sturges, and a good supporting performance from Carolyn Jones as Linda, the sympathetic(and cynical) woman who is also fed up with the corrupt Belden family.
If you consider the basic plot summary - murder, revenge, Marshall who is friends with cattle baron whose son is part of the problem, one man against them all - you might think that this would be a cookie cutter western.But it rises above the pack with the calibre of the acting, the subtle differences in the story and the quality of the production.Douglas is in fine form - physically and in talent.
In this western masterpiece, Kirk Douglas plays a sheriff who seeks vengeance against the men who murdered his wife.
His friend, played beautifully by Anthony Quinn, owns the town and will do everything in his power to make sure Douglas doesn't get on the last train from Gun Hill..
A super director, John Sturges; two macho leading men, Kirk Douglas and Anthony Quinn; plus a very interesting story makes for a better than your typical western.
Long time friend, Craig Belden(Quinn)is a rich land baron/rancher/town owner that must defend the actions of his young and restless son played by Earl Holliman.Also in the cast are the alluring Carolyn Jones and Brian G.
The Strong Acting from Kirk Douglas and Anthony Quinn with the Radiant Beauty of Carolyn Jones Cannot Save Another Clunker from Sturges and His Bland Direction.There is Some Tension from the Script, Borrowed from and Almost Identical to Other Recent Movies of the Era, the Shallow and By the Numbers Style of So Many Fifties Westerns Renders the Suspense Somewhat Anemic.The First Act is the Best and it All Goes Down (Gun) Hill From There.
The picture ends with the once close friends squaring up to each other in a climactic and inevitable fateful shootout.With more than a nod to Delmer Daves' "3.10 To Yuma" (the real one made in 1957) LAST TRAIN FROM GUN HILL is a splendid well structured dramatic western with equally splendid performances from Douglas and Quinn.
Craig Belden (Anthony Quinn) is a powerful cattle-rancher, the richest of Gunhill, simply the Boss...His son Rick (Earl Holliman) is weak, coward, a punk kid who just raped and killed Catherine Morgan (Ziva Rodann), a beautiful Indian woman ignoring that she is the wife of Matt Morgan (Kirk Douglas) the Marshall of the town...From a costly elegant saddle, Matt recognized that the rapist-killer of his wife is close to reach...
He decides to take the train to Gun Hill to see an old friend, Craig Belden, asking for help...The tragic moment of the film is when Craig (Quinn) realized that the murderer is his own son Rick...
The thing I like best about this western in which not a moment is wasted or boring, is the way John Sturges with minimal dialog shows the conflicts of the two leads.Because family issues are involved, I think a lot of non-western movie fans can and will appreciate what is happening in Last Train from Gun Hill.
Those are universal themes Sturges is dealing with.In the supporting cast I have to single out Earl Holliman as Quinn's spoiled son and Carolyn Jones, former love interest of Quinn who's got her own agenda working.The whole town of Gun Hill is against Douglas making the return train with the men he's seeking.
Although the stars are Kirk Douglas and Anthony Quinn, Carolyn Jones has interesting part as a beautiful woman who helps the hero..
Russian composer Dimitri Tiomkin provides "Last Train from Gun Hill" with another one of his brilliant, evocative orchestral scores that enlivens the drama.The stalwart hero, Matt Morgan (Kirk Douglas of "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral"), serves as marshal in the peaceful town of Pauley.
The wife is raped and murdered by Earl Holliman, the son of a land owner (Anthony Quinn) who controls a huge ranch a couple of towns over.
It's a very good performance.Although Anthony Quinn had been making movies for over 20 years, when he made this film he was yet to hit his stride as a confident leading actor.
Its a thriller, it's a story of friendship and a story of loyalty and revenge.Kirk Douglas plays Morgan a Marshall of a quite town, who's life is shattered when two roaming thugs rape and murder his wife, while his son watched helplessly.
Kirk Douglas and Anthony Quinn do well in this rather over looked Western from acclaimed director John Sturges.
"Last Train from Gun Hill" is a snarl - fest for Douglas and Quinn as they circle each other like dogs,seeking a weakness.Having never knowingly underacted they provide John Sturges with a rousing two - hander round which to build up his movie.
The casting is good, but with could have been better with another actor in as Greg Beldon- not that Anthony Quinn is not a powerful figure, but I'm not sure he fits as the father of the spineless Earl Holliman.John Sturges had made Gunfight at the O.K. Corral 2 years earlier, and that film had carved into stone the legacy of Western justice against the outlaws of the land.
The two outstanding veteran actors are very much alike in their character portrayals: Anthony Quinn, who plays Craig Belden, the rich owner of the town of Gun Hill, is a good friend to Sheriff Matt Morgan(Kirk Douglas) from Pawnee, OK, and has been his friend for years, until Morgan must take Craig's son Rick back to Pawnee because he has raped Belden's Indian wife, and lets Belden know that he must take Rick back.
Marshal Matt Morgan's Native American wife is raped and murdered.Two drunken cowboys are behind the deed.Matt seeks for revenge.He finds out the other cowboy is the son of his old friend, Craig Belden.Last Train from Gun Hill (1959) is directed by John Sturges and produced by Hal B.
Wallis.There is a great cast in this movie, starting with Kirk Douglas as Matt Morgan.This terrific actor turns 95 today, which is a very respectable age.I congratulate the man, who has done many, many roles in his career.Anthony Quinn makes a great co-star to Kirk, playing Craig Belden.Earl Hollimann makes a great villain as the son Rick.Brian G.
OK, so you have this town Marshal (Kirk Douglas) who's wife is raped and killed, so he goes after the bad guy's who it turns out that one of them is the son of he best friend (Anthony Quinn) from year gone by that he hasn't seen in a long time.
Should be a great story right, well, you haven't heard the punch line yet.I will just cut to the chase and tell you, it's all about Douglas getting Quinn's son on a train back to the marshals town to stand trial.
Kirk Douglas is a Marshall whose wife is murdered by 2 sons of a close friend played by Anthony Quinn.