Gun for a Coward *** (1956, Fred MacMurray, Jeffrey Hunter, Dean Stockwell, Chill Wills, Janice Rule) – Classic Movie Review 11,616

Jeffrey Hunter in The Searchers.

Director Abner Biberman’s 1956 Universal Pictures studios widescreen colour Western film Gun for a Coward stars Fred MacMurray, Jeffrey Hunter and Dean Stockwell.

Rancher Will Keough (MacMurray) faces feuding younger brothers, firebrand Harry (Stockwell) and moody Bless (Hunter), and rather a lot of the stock Western situations – stampedes, rustlers, shoot-outs. Hunter’s character Bless is the one accused of being the coward. His mother has been determined to turn him into a refined soul after husband was bitten by a rattlesnake when he was a young boy. This of course embarrasses Bless in front of the ranch’s other men.

Gun for a Coward is a useful, out-of-the-rut little Western with the psychological stuff of the first part giving way to the action of the second half so that fans of both kinds of Western will be satisfied.

There is vigorous acting from the underrated MacMurray and the rest, with Josephine Hutchinson outstanding in support as the brothers’ devoted mom, Mrs Hannah Keough, while the script by R Wright Campbell is suitably busy and tasty.

Also in the cast are Janice Rule as Aud Niven, Chill Wills as Loving, Betty Lynn as Claire, Iron Eyes Cody, Robert F Hoy as Danny, Jane Howard as Marie, Marjorie Stapp as Rose, John Larch as Stringer, Paul Birch as Andy Niven, Bob Steele as Burkee, and Frances Morris as Mrs Anderson.

George Robinson shoots in CinemaScope and Eastmancolor.

Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,616

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