Themes: Out For Revenge, Sheriffs and Outlaws, Race Relations
Main Cast: Kirk Douglas, Anthony Quinn, Carolyn Jones, Earl Holliman, Brad Dexter
Release Year: 1959
Country: US
Run Time: 94 minutes
Plot
Just outside the small town of Pauley, a Native American woman is attacked by two riders on horseback, raped, and killed. Her husband, Matt Morgan (Kirk Douglas), the town marshal, has only two clues to their identity, a fancy saddle with the initials "C.B." that one of the men left behind, and the fact that his wife cut one of the two men deep across the cheek with a buggy whip. Morgan traces the saddle to Craig Belden (Anthony Quinn), an old friend and now a wealthy rancher in the town of Gun Hill, but he knows Belden well enough to know that he couldn't have had anything to do with attacking his wife. Morgan's arrival with Belden's saddle sets off ugly rumblings in Gun Hill, and when he confronts the rancher, he discovers that it was his son Rick (Earl Holliman) who had his horse and the saddle, and rode out with a cowhand friend of his, Lee (Brian G. Hutton) -- but they claim their horses were stolen. Belden tries to convince Morgan, and wants to believe himself that whoever stole the horses must have killed his wife, but when Morgan mentions the cut that one of the killers will have on his face, they both know the truth. He vows to take Rick and Lee back to Pauley to stand trial, while Belden swears he'll do anything it takes to protect his son. Belden is virtually all the law there is in Gun Hill -- the sheriff (Walter Sande) won't help Morgan serve his arrest warrants on the two men, or even let him use the jail to hold them until the last train that night; there's not a working man, a shopkeeper, or even a prostitute in the whole town that will go against the rancher, and Belden's foreman Beero (Brad Dexter) and his men will strongarm anyone who might start feeling brave. Only Linda (Carolyn Jones), a woman who has been both romanced and abused by Belden, will lift a finger on Morgan's behalf. The marshal is nothing if not resourceful, however, and Rick Belden is also too stupid for his own good, and manages to fall into Morgan's hands in short order. Very quickly, a standoff ensues, with Morgan holding Rick in one of Belden's buildings against virtually the entire town, while the deadline -- the last train out of Gun Hill that night -- approaches. People die and a chunk of Belden's holdings are destroyed, but Morgan is about to get Rick onto the train and off to trial when suddenly, one sudden act of violence destroys father and son in a matter of seconds. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
Review
Last Train From Gun Hill is one of John Sturges' less well regarded movies from the late '50s, for reasons that are difficult to fathom. That it should stand in the shadow of The Magnificent Seven (1960), with the latter's all-star cast and epic storyline, is understandable, but it also enjoys a less substantial reputation than Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957), which is ironic since Sturges himself never thought of the latter as much more than a somewhat profitable directorial assignment. In terms of its story, Last Train From Gun Hill offers striking parallels with Bad Day at Black Rock (1955), which is usually regarded as Sturges' masterpiece. Both movies' plots unfold around acts of violence committed for racist reasons; both involve lone heroes, trapped in isolated, unfriendly towns where they've come to do a job setting some injustice right, and end up fighting for their lives; and both involve villains who, despite enjoying the support of most of the townspeople around them, end up not only losing their respective battles but inadvertently causing the death of the person closest to them. Kirk Douglas has a role that is an ideal vehicle for the intensity that he can bring to the screen, as the aggrieved town marshal looking for the two men who raped and murdered his wife. And Anthony Quinn, playing a part filled with great moral ambiguity than was customary for this era in movies (especially Westerns), is his match as the basically decent man whose biggest crime was raising a rotten, cowardly, murderous son, but who will do anything to protect that son. Earl Holliman, graduating to major roles after supporting parts in movies such as Sturges' Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, gives one of his best performances as the spoiled, sniveling coward of a son, who ultimately evokes a slight degree of pity to go with the obvious contempt that he deserves. Carolyn Jones turns in one of her always on-target performances as a fallen woman seeking to restore her dignity and independence, and Brad Dexter -- who was so strangely invisible in The Magnificent Seven -- gives one of the best performances of his career as Beero, the tough, calculating foreman of Quinn's ranch. With a suspense element similar to that of High Noon -- the clock is ticking in the viewer's consciousness from the moment that Douglas' character vows to take Holliman's Rick Belden out of town and to trial on the last train, at 9:00 p.m. -- the result is a highly suspenseful film built around a fascinating array of characters. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
Two old friends, Matt Morgan (Douglas) and Craig Belden (Quinn), now find themselves on opposite sides of the law. Belden is a rich cattle baron and de facto ruler of the town of Gun Hill, while Morgan is a marshal living with his Native American wife (played by Ziva Rodann) and young son.
When Morgan's wife is raped and murdered, he sets off to find the killer. His one clue is a saddle that he recognizes as belonging to Belden. Assuming it was stolen from his old friend, Morgan travels to Gun Hill to pick up the trail, but once there he quickly realizes that Belden's son Rick (Holliman) is the killer.
Belden refuses to turn over his son, forcing Morgan to go against the entire town. He vows to capture Rick and get him on that night's last train from Gun Hill.
Rick is taken prisoner and held at the hotel. Belden sends men to rescue his son, but Morgan manages to defeat them. In the meantime, Belden's former lover (Jones) decides to help Morgan. She sneaks a shotgun to his hotel room.
Morgan presses the gun to Rick's head on the way to the train depot, threatening to pull the trigger if anyone attempts to stop him. One of Belden's men does exactly that and Rick is killed. As the train prepares to leave, a devastated Belden confronts Morgan in a final showdown. He is gunned down.
Trivia
A 1985 Hindi movie, Bhawani Junction starring Shatrughan Sinha and Shashi Kapoor, was said to be a remake of Last Train from Gun Hill.
