This is one of those low budget, unrealistic Audie Murphy westerns. But there was an audience for them in the 1950s and '60s because he was a likeable commodity as a Medal of Honor war hero in WWII. In a sense, he was a poor man's John Wayne inasmuch as he basically played the same heroic, stoic character in most of his starring films. But his movies and characters were vastly underwhelming compared to Wayne's persona and bigger budget films.
This film plays like a TV western as various episodic scenes have little to do with one another. Rather than building toward something, it just moves on to different adventures.
But throughout, Murphy's character never gets mussed. He and Gene Autry must have shopped at the same store. Murphy's nice cowboy hat always looks clean and crisp and doesn't fall off. His permanent press shirt never gets a wrinkle. And he always looks spiffy in his neckerchief with the perfectly tied end always directly behind him. The most suspenseful scene may be when he's tying a neckerchief around the arm of the slightly wounded Joan Staley. Murphy's fashionable neckwear is not immediately visible and there is fear that he may have had to use it to stop her bleeding at the risk of his own sartorial splendor. But then he turns, revealing he is still perfectly attired so that the audience knows he had bandaged her arm with some other cloth that magically appeared from nowhere. Alas, Murphy's spiffiness remained intact.
When challenged, Audie Murphy had some acting chops. He performed well for John Huston in "The Red Badge of Courage" and again in "The Unforgiven." But his slew of low budget, formula westerns like "Gunpoint" are very low quality.
This film plays like a TV western as various episodic scenes have little to do with one another. Rather than building toward something, it just moves on to different adventures.
But throughout, Murphy's character never gets mussed. He and Gene Autry must have shopped at the same store. Murphy's nice cowboy hat always looks clean and crisp and doesn't fall off. His permanent press shirt never gets a wrinkle. And he always looks spiffy in his neckerchief with the perfectly tied end always directly behind him. The most suspenseful scene may be when he's tying a neckerchief around the arm of the slightly wounded Joan Staley. Murphy's fashionable neckwear is not immediately visible and there is fear that he may have had to use it to stop her bleeding at the risk of his own sartorial splendor. But then he turns, revealing he is still perfectly attired so that the audience knows he had bandaged her arm with some other cloth that magically appeared from nowhere. Alas, Murphy's spiffiness remained intact.
When challenged, Audie Murphy had some acting chops. He performed well for John Huston in "The Red Badge of Courage" and again in "The Unforgiven." But his slew of low budget, formula westerns like "Gunpoint" are very low quality.