While you don't generally associate Rock Hudson with westerns, earlier in his career he did several...including, amazingly enough, some where he played American Indians! Here in "Gun Fury" he is in a western...and fortunately he does NOT play a native!

When the story begins, Jennifer (Donna Reed) is on her way out west to meet her fiancé, Ben Warren (Hudson). However, a gang leader, Frank Slayton (Philip Carey) has set his eyes on Jennifer...and after robbing the stage and leaving Ben for dead, he absconds with the woman! His gang isn't thrilled with the idea...killing folks and stealing is fine...but why bring along this captive?! When Jess (Leo Gordon) argues with Slayton, his boss beats him senseless and leaves him behind! Soon, Ben and Jess band together to trail the gang, as both men want Slayton!

This is a very good film...with excellent acting, a taut script and enough different about this to make it stand out from the bazillion of other westerns out there. Also, the Sedona, Arizona scenery is amazing...a lovely backdrop to the story.

This western started fairly slowly as a Southern woman named Jennifer Ballard and three men travelled across Arizona on a stage coach. She is heading west to meet her fiancé, Ben Warren, and is surprised to find that he has ridden out to meet her at an over night stop. He joins the stage but soon afterwards it is ambushed by its own escort; it turns out the soldiers meant to be guarding the coach had been killed and replaced by a group of former Confederates who had turned to banditry after the war ended. Their leader is Frank Slayton, one of the passengers. During the struggle Ben is apparently shot and killed and the gang take Jennifer with them. The gang soon start to argue about the wisdom of taking Jennifer and when one of them tries to stop Slayton keeping her he is tied up and left to die. At this point we learn that Ben is not dead; he follows after the gang and soon finds Tom Burgess, the man left to die, he tells him that Jennifer is still alive and the two of them continue after the gang; they are later joined by an Indian whose sister was killed by Slayton and a Mexican woman who was abandoned by him... all four have a good reason to kill Slayton but only one of them will!

Despite the slow start this was a decent western with several exciting scenes. Rock Hudson did a good job as the heroic Ben however Philip Carey had a greater presence as the villainous Slayton. Actresses Donna Reed and Roberta Haynes were also pretty good as Jennifer and the feisty Mexican Estella Morales. Lee Marvin, who would later go on to become a major star has a role as one of the gangsters; he seems to have played many such parts at this point in his career. Filmed amongst some spectacular Arizona scenery the film looks great although the moments that were designed to show off the films original 3-D release were not too subtle... although it might just seem that way because I'd read it was shot in 3-D shortly before viewing it! The story went pretty much as one would expect although we were allowed to think that Ben had died for an impressively long time... if he hadn't been played by the star I'd have assumed he he'd been killed... I'm not sure why the villains thought he was dead though; after regaining consciousness he acted as though nothing had happened to him! If you like westerns this one is well worth your time.

Gun Fury marked the first loan out film that Rock Hudson did after he became a star at Universal. Rock did this one for Columbia just as his star was rising fast with the movie going public.

The film has the look and feel of a Randolph Scott western, it's just the kind of story that Scott was in fact doing at Columbia with Budd Boetticher. I would not be surprised if this wasn't something Scott might have had in mind for himself. Of course there would have been changes made as Scott was a much older man than the youthful Rock Hudson.

Donna Reed is Hudson's fiancé who is on a stagecoach west to meet her man. On the stage also is notorious outlaw Philip Carey traveling incognito because he plans to meet up with his gang and rob the stage later.

Carey is best known as the boss of those exuberant Texas Rangers in Laredo, but here he's a bad man, rotten through and through. He also decided to take Donna Reed as well because he's tired of the woman he has now, Roberta Haynes.

Carey thinks he's killed Hudson, but Hudson's quite alive and on his trail with a former Carey outlaw member Leo Gordon along with him.

Gun Fury shows how much the western grew up in the Fifties. This kind of story involving kidnapping and sexual abuse was definitely not for the Saturday matinée kiddie trade. Though Hudson and Reed are good, it's Philip Carey who really dominates the film.

He's got quite a collection of noted screen bad guys in his crew. Besides Leo Gordon, Neville Brand and Lee Marvin are also around.

Can't tell you how it ends, but Hudson and Gordon pick up an Indian along the way who proves to be of great assistance.