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

Orla Zuniga It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

Ortiz Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Billy Ollie Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

FightingWesterner Hired killer Audie Murphy follows a pattern of goading his target into taking the first shot, allowing himself to get off Scott free. At a stop-off in a small town, the well known Murphy arouses the paranoia of several key citizens, with each man believing he may be the next to die.The idea of a lurking gunman and his mystery target exposing the festering guilt and hypocrisy of a seemingly ordinary town is a good one and there's some really good scenes here.However, it's undone a bit by some disappointingly ordinary writing and some problems with the film's pace (even at a short seventy-seven minutes). It should have been more hard-boiled and suspenseful than it ultimately turned out to be.Still, it's not too bad. Audie Muphy is always fun to watch and the film's competently made.Co-star R.G. Armstrong must be some kind of vampire, as he looks about the same at ninety plus years old, that he did when he was in his forties!

Spikeopath John Gant is a hired assassin, whenever he rides into a town the whole townsfolk wonder who it is who is on his list. John Gant is a very shrewed assassin for he never gets arrested because he never draws first, he psychologically gets under his targets skins forcing them to shoot first, and John Gant always has witnesses. Today, John Gant has rode into Lordsburg, and from today things will never be the same again...In CinemaScope and Eastman ColorDirected by Jack Arnold, we open with a vision of sprawling hills and a vast landscape (DOP: Harold Lipstein), a man handsomely attired in pristine black clothing trots past on his shiny black horse, he gathers pace and gallops off over the hills, we next see him trotting into Lordsburg, elegance and grace oozing from his pores. This is John Gant, also known as Audie Murphy, and for me we are introduced to one of the greatest Western characters outside of the critics favoured lists of usual suspects.Audie Murphy had his critics, he himself hardly went out of his way to embrace stardom and pander to the ink scribblers, but here as Gant is a performance of icy cold wonderment that in my opinion proves any doubters wrong. Gant rides into Lordsburg and his mere presence sends the town into panic, friends and associates implode with suspicion whilst Gant just calmly floats amongst them with little leers and low speaking pearls of wisdom. As Gant forms a weird sort of friendship with Charles Drake's Dr. Luke Canfield, the picture gains some much needed heart, and once the finale arrives it helps to close the picture on a hugely rewarding note.The film reminded me very much of a Twilight Zone episode called The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street, it's a great story to work from {courtesy of Howard Amacker}, because it's morally suspicious and it has characters always on the brink of breaking the law through the sheer worry of their sins and dubious intentions coming back to get them. My only real complaints are that the film is far to short, not sure if it was down to budget or acting restrictions? But clocking in at just 77 minutes I personally feel that another 15 minutes was a must to fully flesh out the finale, and sadly the exterior filming of the gorgeous locale is sparse, which is most galling after the attention grabbing opening shots. However, the film still works a treat and comes highly recommended to even those who don't like Westerns. 8/10

ccthemovieman-1 Why this got the good reviews it did in the books I read, is a mystery. It's basically a "one- angle" story in which a hired killer enters a town and the whole place goes wildly paranoid wondering who is going to be the man's victim. That sounds fairly interesting but it didn't play that way, getting tiresome very quickly. Then again, some people like this kind of suspense-but nothing-happens type of story, sort of like the popular "High Noon."Audie Murphy ("John Gant") is interesting to watch as the cool-attitude killer but I couldn't much else to get excited about here. The rest of the cast combined can't equal Murphy's effort here. This is more of a melodrama than a western, which may suit a lot of people, but I was looking for a good "western," which usually means a little more action than this dull film.

waregw Audie Murphy is at his best in this western as the quiet gunslinger John Gant. The drama and personal emotions that this character brings to the screen only adds to the build up of John Gant. The friend ship that Gant and the Doctor (Charles Drake) develops is admirable in that they both have different values. When Gant compares himself to the Doctor the comparison is truly magnificent. Some of the lines will live forever. Thats my prescription physician you better have it filled, I might even have one for you store keeper. Thats sets the stage for who wants to die. Reminds me of the scene in Warlock. When Henry Fonds says "Well who's to do it".