Gunplay ** (1951, Tim Holt, Joan Dixon, Harper Carter, Mauritz Hugo) – Classic Movie Review 11,668

Harper Carter and Tim Holt in Gunplay.

‘Roaring action in Old Arizona, when Tim Holt and his lady ranch boss blast in on the man whose secret holds a whole town in terror!’

Prolific director Lesley Selander’s RKO Pictures 1951 cowboy film Gunplay stars Tim Holt and Joan Dixon, reuniting them from Selander’s Law of the Badlands (1951), which had been the cheapest Holt vehicle since WW2 but still recorded a loss of $20,000.

It is Tim Holt to the rescue when Sam Martin (Robert Bice) is killed, his young son Chip Martin (Harper Carter) identifies the killer, and no one has heard of him.

The film is written by Ed Earl Repp and was originally called Gun Notches.

It runs 61 minutes.

Filming took place in late 1950 and it was released on 24 April 1951 (US), taking $145,000 at the box office.

Joan Dixon is known for Experiment Alcatraz (1950), Bunco Squad (1950), Law of the Badlands (1951), Gunplay (1951), Hot Lead (1951), Roadblock (1951), Pistol Harvest (1951) and Desert Passage (1952).

Dixon’s career, while under contract at RKO Pictures, was controlled by studio boss Howard Hughes, who tried but failed to make her into a true star. She appeared in ten films, mostly Westerns, co-starring in a number of cowboy pictures with Tim Holt, though also a couple of good crime dramas, Experiment Alcatraz (1950) and Roadblock (1951).

The cast are Tim Holt as Tim Holt, Joan Dixon as Terry Blake, Harper Carter as Chip Martin, Mauritz Hugo as Curt Landry, Robert Bice as Sam Martin, Marshall Reed as Dobbs, and Cornelius Keefe [Jack HIll] as Sheriff.

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,668

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