The Gun and the Pulpit (1974)

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Ernie Parsons (Marjoe Gortner) is a gun fighter who escapes the hangman's noose. He is able to impersonate a preacher in a small Arizona town with no blue laws. The town really needs a gun slinger to protect themselves from the evil Mr. Ross (David Huddleston) and his gang. Ernie is aided by Slim Pickens in an eye-patch while he has his eye on Bambi Award Winner Pamela Sue Martin.This is a 1974 made for TV film with a fun simplistic plot without any twists. Marjoe Gortner has some pre-Hasselhof hair. Film has some humor. From IMDb:Head of Posse: Ernie Parsons, having been found guilty by a jury of your peers... Ernie Parsons: I didn't see any jury. Head of Posse: Well, they was around. Anyway, what difference does it make. You gunned down Windy Jones and he was one of our most beloved and respected citizens. Ernie Parsons: I heard he was the town drunk. Head of Posse: Well, now that he's dead, he's one of our town's most beloved and respected citizens.Available on a 70's 50 DVD multi-pack

In The Gun And The Pulpit, Marjoe Gortner stars as an outlaw running from a hanging party, who stumbles upon the body of a deceased preacher. Assuming his identity and his assignment, he ends up inciting the townspeople of an oppressed community against villainous big-wig David Huddleston and cleaning up the town of Huddlestons cronies.The endlessly glib Gortner, who was no doubt cast due to the fact that he was (no joke) a real life fraudulent Pentacostal minister, is charismatic and well cast as the gun-fighting conman and heads a great supporting cast of character actors including Slim Pickens and Pamela Sue Martin.This has probably the most clever script ever in a seventies TV movie western (by Academy Award nominated screenwriter William Bowers) with excellent tongue-in-cheek humor and wordplay in some fantastic scenes. One of which involves a miracle gunfight and an excellent cameo appearance by Geoffrey Lewis.Great fun.

Of the various Westerns included in the 2-Discer I rented in order to view THE JACKALS (1967), this made-for-TV outing seemed to me to be the least promising or, if you will, the most disposable. However, it seemed silly to me to consciously pass on it as long as it was in my hands and, funnily enough, it turned out to be the most satisfactory of the lot! The cast list was decent enough, actually – Slim Pickens, Geoffery Lewis, Jeff Corey and Estelle Parsons – so I had that to look forward to from the outset. However, it was the winsome performances of the youngsters – Marjoe Gortner and Pamela Sue Martin – which was the most pleasant surprise. The latter was familiar to me from THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE (1972) and her signature role of Fallon Carrington Colby in the TV-series DYNASTY (1981-84) but the former I only had vague knowledge of i.e. that he appeared in the disaster epic EARTHQUAKE (1974) and the notorious Euro-Cult item, STARCRASH (1979; which, incidentally, I recently acquired as a DivX). Gortner’s amiable personality – playing a hounded gunfighter opportunistically taking on the identity of a dead parson in a one-horse town – managed to carry the film throughout its brisk 74-minute running time.Frankly, the above-mentioned character actors don’t have all that much to do in the film – apart from Slim Pickens who appears as Gortner’s cynical observer of a sidekick – but Geoffrey Lewis scores as another famed gunfighter out to take Gortner in a face-to-face shootout which sees both duellists missing each other (out of respect for one another)!

I've seen this movie about 4 times, under various circumstances, including a night in the hospital when I couldn't sleep. I have always liked Marjo Gortner in his limited career, and this movie was a lot of fun. It reminds me of the old TV westerns like "Maverick" in its humour and characterizations. I can't believe it's not had 5 votes yet.