The Last of the Fast Guns (1958)

Fantastic!

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Photographed entirely in Mexico in CinemaScope and Eastman Color by Pathé. Producer: Howard Christie. A Universal-International Picture. Copyright 1958 by Universal-International. No New York opening. U.S. release: 27 July 1958. U.K. release: 29 June 1958. Australian release: 2 May 1958. 7,370 feet. 82 minutes. Cut by Universal in Australia to 69 minutes so that the film would slot easily into the lower half of double bills.SYNOPSIS: Gunfighter Brad Ellison (Jock Mahoney) accepts an offer from wealthy John Forbes (Carl Benton Reid) to locate his brother who disappeared in Mexico thirty years ago. At Sam Grypton's (Edward Platt) hide-out for gunfighters he gets no clues. After a brush with bandits, Brad meets rancher O'Reilly (Lorne Greene), his daughter, Maria (Linda Cristal) and his foreman, Miles (Gilbert Roland) who are convinced Forbes died ten years ago, but Miles offers to help Brad's search.COMMENT: A lively, fast-moving western in which director George Sherman not only puts his action across with punch, but with style, making full use of his CinemaScope cameras to capture some impressively rugged terrain of Mexico's mountain wilderness. A tight, taut story, soundly acted. In fact, one of our favorite actors, Gilbert Roland, is back in the saddle with "Last of the Fast Guns". This silly title disguises a fascinating Mexican western. Not only lots of broodingly atmospheric scenery, but some rather interesting Mexican actors as well, including Eduardo Noriega who made such an impression in the Mario Lanza "Serenade"; George Trevino, well known to "I Love Lucy" fans as Desi's Cuban uncle; Francisco Reguiera, a film veteran of Mack Sennett comedies; and young Gilda Fontana, a former Hollywood starlet who switched to Mexico.

*** This review may contain spoilers ***The Last of the Fast Guns (1958) isn't a bad Western and the location is gorgeous, I think that's what pulls it through. At the start, two gunfighters shoot it out in town and the winner is invited to speak with an old man. He offers the winning gunfighter a job, to go look for his lost brother, who disappeared in Mexico. Jock Mahoney plays the gunfighter, he isn't very magnetic or interesting, but nonetheless he possesses the gunfighter creed.Mexican actor Gilbert Roland is here as well, the same as usual, being suave and smoking a lot. He works for Lorne Greene, who is gone for most of the picture. the gunfighter looks for the supposed-dead brother and finds a bit of a mystery. The ending was rather contrived, but it isn't a horrible picture.

"Last Of The Fast Guns" is an okay Western, not bad, but not worth some of the high grades I see here on IMDb from some of the people (I admit very few) who actually saw it. I just saw it again on Sunday (Encore Westerns), after a number of years, and the flaws I saw back then were even more obvious than before: 1: There is absolutely no chemistry between Brad Ellison (Jock Mahoney) and Maria O'Reilly (Linda Crystal). For the Western fan who knows who Linda Crystal was ("Two Rode Together", "The Fiend That Walked The West", "High Chaparrel" & "The Alamo") you get what I mean , and know Linda possessed incredible beauty and charm. For those who don't, think Salma Hayak and you get the picture. Thus, how could Linda be cast and have no chemistry? I do not get it 2: Having that title and (Spoilers ahead) no major gunfight, with Brad killing bad guy Miles Land (Gilbert Roland) with a lasso. 3: Not enough action. Go see "Son Of A Gunfighter" instead. Same theme (Including hiding out in Mexico from your past (Like Edward Forbes/Padre Jose (Eduard Franz) and others do (And which Brad will do at the end) , but more action (Including gunfights), and better 1,000 times chemistry between the American man and Mexican woman. Basically a fair western. 6/10 stars.

Future Tarzan star Jock Mahoney starred in several westerns in the 1950s along with the short-lived TV series "Range Rider" and later "Yancey Derringer." He plays a two-gun gunslinger dressed in black named Brad Ellison in this scenic western. Gilbert Roland, Lorne Green, and Linda Cristal co-star as friends and/or enemies. Basically, this is a track-down western with our lean, rugged hero on the trail of a dying man's brother who is willing to pay Ellison the kind of money that can change his life. Veteran western director George Sherman of "Big Jake" fame directed this 80-minute oater that never wears out its welcome. If you want to categorize "Last of the Fast Guns," then it falls into the decline of the western, rather like "The Magnificent Seven," as the wide open spaces have begun to shrink. Technically, based on the information that our hero shares with three other fast guns, "Last of the Fast Guns" takes place in the 1880s after the demise of Billy the Kid. "Johnny Concho" scenarist David P. Harmon penned this no-nonsense horse opera and his dialogue is exceptional. Rarely does anybody utter a line that isn't memorable. Although the characters may be thinly drawn, our hero undergoes a change by fade-out. A crippled man, John Forbes (Carl Benton-Red of "Escape from Fort Bravo"), waits in a dusty town to hire the survivor of a gunfight, and a reluctant Ellison agrees to ride south to Mexico and search for Edward Forbes. Essentially, "Last of the Fast Guns" concerns the journey as much as the ending. Once he crosses into Mexico, Ellison rides into the ranch of Michael O'Reilly (Lorne Greene) where he meets Miles Lang (Gilbert Roland of "Any Gun Can Play") who has spent his entire life searching for gold. Everybody that Ellison comes into contact with has a story about Edward Forbes, but nobody can tell our hero where to find this fellow or his grave. During his stay at the O'Reilly Ranch, Ellison saves Miles' life when a bad horse tries to attack him. No, our hero doesn't shoot the horse. Suffice to say that everybody survives this fracas. Miles agrees to accompany Ellison on his search as a way of thanking him for saving his life."Last of the Fast Guns" packs surprises and reversals. Western fans will love this oater.