Gun Fever (1958)
4/10
A Mark Stevens Vehicle
14 February 2023
Warning: Spoilers
This movie is apparently an attempt by Mark Stevens to establish his actor/director/writer chops. It's not completely void of entertainment value, as Larry Storch's Mexican character Amigo (yes that's his name; 2 stars deducted for that alone) accent is hilariously bad, so you can be the judge if it was intended to be funny or unintentionally ended up that way. In any event, it's a low-budget, age-old story of a man, Luke Rand, seeking to avenge the murder of his parents & others at a way station they ran. What Rand doesn't know is that the murderer is his partner Weller's father, and that little fact isn't revealed to him until they come close to finding him, at which point they have a falling out, but wind up rejoining forces for a common goal (perhaps a little 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend' thing going on). Also, Maureen Hingert as Tanana, does a good job as the widowed, wise, peacemaker-with-the-Sioux, now-interested in Weller, love interest, esp. The river scene & when she dispenses wisdom ('Some men have 2 faces').

There's another hilarious scene . . . When the vengeance seekers are trying to cross Sioux land, they meet face to face with the Chief & several braves. One of the braves tosses a spear at Rand, which he deftly dodges, then pulls out his six-shooter & blasts the hat/headdress off the spear-thrower, which causes the Chief (Eddie Little Sky) to burst out laughing. I doubt whether, in the entire history of the United States, anything even close to that actually happened, but it's funny nonetheless.

Trivia: George Selk, who played the livery stable man Moss Grimmick on 'Gunsmoke,' has a minor role. And the bartender is played by Bill Erwin, who later was on a 'Seinfeld' episode as cranky old man Sidney Fields. Weirdly, too, Erwin appeared in a 'Twilight Zone' episode as a man named Kramer.
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