Gun Glory#Comic book adaptation

{{Infobox film

| name = Gun Glory

| image = File:Gun Glory poster.jpg

| caption =

| director = Roy Rowland

| producer = Nicholas Nayfack

| screenplay = William Ludwig

| based_on = {{based on|Man of the West
1955 novel|Philip Yordan}}

| starring = Stewart Granger
Rhonda Fleming

| music = Jeff Alexander

| cinematography = Harold J. Marzorati

| editing = Frank Santillo

| studio = Metro Goldwyn Mayer

| distributor = Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

| released = {{film date|1957|7|19|New York City}}

| runtime = 89 minutes

| country = United States

| language = English

| budget = $1,707,000{{Citation | title = The Eddie Mannix Ledger | publisher = Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study | place = Los Angeles}}.

| gross = $2,550,000

}}

Gun Glory is a 1957 American Metrocolor Western film directed by Roy Rowland starring Stewart Granger and Rhonda Fleming.

Plot

Tom Early rides into a Wyoming town where he once lived with his wife and son. In the general store, owner Wainscott is annoyed when he believes clerk Jo is flirtatious with Early.

At his old ranch, Early finds his wife's grave and his 17-year-old son, Tom Jr., an immature man embittered by his father's having abandoned him and his mother.

Jo takes a job as housekeeper at Early's ranch. She resists the advances of Tom Jr., whose resentment of his father grows. When they attend church, Wainscott turns the preacher's congregation against them, insinuating Jo is living in sin with Early.

The townspeople need help, though, when gunmen working for the villainous cattleman Grimsell ambush one of their own. A posse, ineptly led by the preacher, is formed and goes after the gunmen. The preacher leads them into an ambush, and half the posse become casualties. By the time Early, who had been doing something else, gets to the ambush site, the preacher is dying and Tom Jr. is wounded in the leg, their horses gone. The preacher sends Early away with his son, knowing he is mortally wounded he takes Tom Jr. home, and he and Jo patch him up. Early then sets out after the gunmen.

Locating a trail in a pass Early knows the cattle drive must take, he uses dynamite to start a rockslide when Grimsell moves the herd down the trail. The cattle stampede to escape the rockslide and some of Grimsell's men are killed by falling rocks and the cattle. Grimsell and one of his men, Gunn, follow Early back to his ranch, getting there first.

Grimsell tries and fails to intimidate Jo and Tom Jr., giving Early time to disarm and thrash Grimsell. In a showdown, he fights with Gunn and beats him. Gunn, lying on the ground, tries to shoot Early in the back but Tom Jr. comes to his rescue, shooting Gunn down. Grimsell rides off, defeated.

Reconciled, Early and Tom Jr. acknowledge their kinship. Jo and Early decide they like each well enough to stay together, raise Tom Jr., improve the ranch, and finish building the church, as Early had promised the dying preacher he would do. They kiss to seal the bargain, their marriage implied.

Cast

Stewart Granger as Tom Early
Rhonda Fleming as Jo
Chill Wills as Preacher
Steve Rowland as Tom Early, Jr.
James Gregory as Grimsell
Jacques Aubuchon as Sam Wainscott
Arch Johnson as Gunn
Rayford Barnes as Blonde

Production

The film was based on an original story by Cyril Hume according to one account. Another says it was based on the novel Man of the West by Philip Yordan which Ben Maddow says he wrote under Yordan's name. Maddow also claims to have written the script. Yordan said "But if you read the screenplay, you'll see it fits the hero character that I've always written. I've always written the one character. The hero. A man with a cold, hard, bad past—and I never like to go into the past—with his own set of morals and everything else."{{cite book|url=https://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft0z09n7m0&chunk.id=d0e17295&toc.depth=1&toc.id=d0e17295&brand=ucpress|page=360|last= McGilligan|first= Patrick|title= Backstory 2: Interviews with Screenwriters of the 1940s and 1950s.|publisher=University of California Press|year=1991}}

It was one of a series of Westerns MGM started making following the success of The Fastest Gun Alive.https://archive.org/details/variety206-1957–04/page/n254 {{Dead link|date=February 2022}}

Robert Horton was originally announced as star.{{Cite news|author=Scheuer, P. K.|title=Bob horton's stock up; newton as 'desert rat;' psychologists quiz fans.|date=Nov 8, 1952|work=Los Angeles Times|id={{ProQuest|166391170}}}} Then Stewart Granger was assigned to star. The film was made towards the end of Granger's contract with MGM and he felt they assigned him to this low-budget film to punish him for not renewing with the studio.[https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/2790/gun-glory#articles-reviews Rob Nixon, 'Gun Glory – TCM Article', Turner Classic Movies]

He appeared opposite Steve Rowland, the son of the director.{{Cite news|author=Schallert, E.|title=Rowland finally gets break with father; new refugee story listed.|date=Oct 26, 1956|work=Los Angeles Times|id={{ProQuest|167009892}}}}

Burl Ives was to play the preacher but had to withdraw and was replaced by Chill Wills.{{Cite news|title=LLOYD'S CAREER WILL BE FILMED|author=THOMAS M PRYOR|date=Nov 6, 1956|work=New York Times|id={{ProQuest|113693862}}}} However the music recorded by Ives for the film was retained in the finished production.

Location

The film was shot on locations in Humboldt County, California.{{cite web|last1=Hesseltine|first1=Cassandra|title=Complete Filmography of Humboldt County|url=http://humboldt.filmhumboldtdelnorte.org/filmography|website=Humboldt Del Norte Film Commission|accessdate=12 October 2017}}

Reception

According to MGM records, the film earned $1,125,000 in the US and Canada and $1,425,000 overseas, making a loss of $265,000.

In France, it recorded admissions of 889,516.[http://translate.google.com.au/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=http://www.boxofficestory.com/&prev=search Box office information for Stewart Granger films in France] at Box Office Story

Comic book adaptation

Dell Four Color #846 (October 1957){{Grand Comics Database issue|id=13751|title=Dell Four Color #846}}{{Comic Book DB|type=issue|id=313547|title=Dell Four Color #846}}