An old-timer wanders into the saloon and starts asking for a drink. The patrons turn him down. He’s been here before, and they’re tired of his fumbling, bumbling presence. The young gunslinger at the bar orders a drink. “You already got one,” the older gunslinger says. “It’s for him,” the young gunslinger replies, nodding toward the old rummy. “Don’t bother,” the older gunslinger says. “With him, one is never enough.”

Directed by Edward Ludwig and written by Jo Heims, 1963’s The Gun Hawk feels more like a stage play than a movie. Partly because so much of the narrative is set-bound, with only a few scenes of men in hats riding horses across wild terrain, and partly because each scene is flush with character backstory posing as present-tense interaction.

The drunk in the saloon is the older gunslinger’s father. Blaine Madden (Rory Calhoun) turned his back on dear old dad’s dipsomania years ago, but he still gets peeved when the Sully Brothers (Lane Bradford and Glenn Stensel) get Pops (John Litel) drunk and use him as bait to draw Madden into a gunfight.

The Sullys lose, and Sheriff Ben (Rod Cameron) is forced to go after Madden and arrest him for murder. But Ben doesn’t want to—they’re old friends—but a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do, and Madden gets away with one of Ben’s bullets in his arm. Lucky for Madden, the young gunslinger, Reb (Rod Lauren), tags along like a lost puppy and helps him get the bullet out. Unlucky for Madden, the bullet damaged his gun arm and is slowly poisoning him. The gunslingers need a place to go and recuperate. They choose Sanctuary, a small town tucked inside the mountains run by a man known as the Gun Hawk.

Sanctuary has one rule: No killing. The man who thinks he’s tough stuff breaks this rule and pays the price when Madden shows up and rides him out of town. That’s when Reb learns the locals call Madden “El Gavilán”—Spanish for “the hawk.”

Meanwhile, up on the ridge overlooking Sanctuary, Sheriff Ben and Deputy Mitchell (Morgan Woodward) wait to make their move. Ben loves Madden like a son, and Mitchell, who loves Ben like a father, resents the hell out of Madden. Down in the town, Reb continues to idolize Madden while Madden looks for a way to keep Reb from following in his doomed footsteps. There is a woman, Marleen (Ruta Lee). She loves Madden, but it doesn’t amount to much. The boys have Freudian fish to fry.

The Gun Hawk is rich with story—all of this and more in 90 minutes!—and replete with well-rounded characters. Calhoun and Cameron, graduates of B-movies, bring a workman-like quality to the picture that keeps the wheels turning without losing their tops.

They also bring some pretty impressive eyebrows to the screen. Cameron looks a little bit like Randolph Scott—even holding himself in a similar manner—and Calhoun’s aging gunslinger is a Robert Mitchum vibe crossed with a Victor Mature visage. The similarities to other actors continue: Lauren looks and acts a lot like Ricky Nelson in Rio Bravo, while Bradford’s Joe Sully looks like Tracy Keats had him in mind when he was developing his demeanor. They aren’t called stock roles or characters for nothing.

And The Gun Hawk feels like a stock western but a cut above. Cinematographer Paul Vogel photographs the proceedings in widescreen and DeLuxe Color, giving the sets an expanse and texture that make them look better than a standard TV western of the time—even if the cutting doesn’t. One edit fades out on Madden and Reb exiting a room, only to fade up to one of them walking down the same hallway as if there should have been a commercial break in between.

But it’s not the edits that sink The Gun Hawk from great to good; it’s the pacing. The movie drags its feet into the third act, where a showdown between Madden and Reb, Sheriff Ben and Deputy Mitchell, and Sheriff Ben and Madden draws towards inevitability. The script deflates, and a movie where every scene is loaded with layered connections and conflicts suddenly turns dull and full of bloat. A pity. Everything was going so well.

The Gun Hawk (1963)
Directed by Edward Ludwig
Screenplay by Jo Heims
Story by Richard Bernstein, Max Steeber
Produced by Richard Bernstein
Starring: Rory Calhoun, Rod Lauren, Rod Cameron, Morgan Woodward, John Litel, Lane Bradford, Glenn Stensel, Ruta Lee
Allied Artists Pictures, Not rated, Running time 92 minutes, Opened Aug. 28, 1963

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