"Gun Fever" reminded me of what might qualify as a pre-Spaghetti style western. The villainous Trench reminded me of Italian actor Livio Lorenzon, and Trench had all the earmarks of a laughing Spaghetti western outlaw. Larry Storch of "F-Troop" fame made a fantastically nasty Mexican. I've never seen him like this. One of John Lupton better roles as a conflicted son suffering from lung illness. His tragic character called to mind Doc Holiday. I cannot figure out if he lived because everybody was smiling at each other at the end. Mark Stevens got his money out of the wind machine. That was the windiest (not in dialogue) western I've ever seen. It made the campfire scenes different because you know that they were probably on a sound stage. Most of this revenge-themed looked like it was lensed outside a studio with few interiors. Trench had an interesting way of wearing his six-shooters on the front of his thighs. All told, "Gun Fever" ranks as an above-average, serious as all get out, black & white western. Any time a son sets out to kill his no-account father, that's heavyweight material. The wild kid who served as Trench's sentry atop the mountain looked like a Spaghetti western hero. The only scene I didn't like was the Indian wife going to skinny dip in the river or lake. I liked the laconic dialogue. This western knew when to leave something hanging. If it were a Spaghetti western, Trench would have assembled an army and his stronghold would be the final arena for half of the stunt men in Spain and Italy. I have several Mark Stevens' movies, but this is my first with him behind as well as in front of the camera.
