Requiem for a Gunfighter ** (1965, Rod Cameron, Stephen McNally, Mike Mazurki, Dick Jones, Tim McCoy, Olive Sturgess) – Classic Movie Review 7697

Prolific director Spencer Gordon Bennet’s last film is the 1965 Technicolor Western Requiem for a Gunfighter, produced by Alex Gordon, and starring Rod Cameron, Stephen McNally, Mike Mazurki, Dick Jones, Tim McCoy and Olive Sturgess.

Requiem for a Gunfighter employs several older Western actors, including Tim McCoy (in his final film too), Bob Steele and Johnny Mack Brown. Dick Jones, 25 years earlier the voice of Pinocchio, also makes his final movie appearance, as gunfighter Cliff Fletcher. Mazurki brings a touch of humour. The snake that he puts in Cameron’s horse saddlebag is a prop, but it looks so real that viewers cannot tell.

It tells the old, old plot about a gunfighter, Dave McCloud (Cameron), arriving in a small town in Arizona territory and sorting out the outlaws, led by Red Zimmer (McNally), who rule the place by taking over as judge after they kill the present incumbent. Ruth Alexander writes the screenplay from a story by Evans W Cornell and Guy Tedesco. Although it is a routine B-movie Western, made on a very low budget of $194,000, it is worthwhile for the old-timers, caught just before they rode off into the sunset.

Sturgess recalls that Cameron, who starred in three syndicated TV series between 1953 and 1961 (City Detective, State Trooper and Coronado 9), was ‘making sort of a comeback. He was very gracious, very kind. You can see it in him in the scene when we are having dinner – his look. He was a professional.’

The main cast are Rod Cameron as Dave McCloud, Stephen McNally as Red Zimmer, Mike Mazurki as Ivy Bliss, Olive Sturgess as Bonnie Young, Dick Jones as Cliff Fletcher, Tim McCoy as Judge Irving Short, Chet Douglas as Larry Young, Bob Steele as Max Smith, Johnny Mack Brown as Enkoff and Chris Hughes as Billy Parker, with Lane Chandler, Dale Van Sickel, Margo Williams, Frank Lackteen and Ronn Delanor.

Requiem for a Gunfighter is directed by Spencer Gordon Bennet, runs 91 minutes, is made by Premiere Productions, is released by Embassy Pictures, is written by Ruth Alexander, from a story by Evans W Cornell and Guy Tedesco, is shot in Technicolor by Frederick West, is produced by Alex Gordon, and is scored by Ronald Stein.

Bennet shot it along with its double-bill co-feature The Bounty Killer (1965), both budgeted at $194,000 and both starring Rod Cameron. Bennet is the director of Killer Ape (1953) and the serials Batman and Robin (1949), Atom Man vs Superman (1950) and Superman (1948).

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7697

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