In No Name on the Bulllet, Audie Murphy got to star in one of the most unusual and best westerns in his career when he was cast in this off beat tale of a hired killer. As John Gant, Audie reverses type and becomes a coldblooded, yet very philosophical hired killer.

His modus operandi is simple. He gets hired by someone to do someone else in and he goes to wherever his target is, baits him into a fight and then shoots him dead. It's pretty well known in the west that's how he operates.

So Murphy arrives in a particular town, everyone knows he's there to see that someone dies. The town grows crazy with panic and speculation as to who his target might be.

It's a nice original concept for a western and the credit has to go to scriptwriter Gene L. Coon who all Star Trek fans remember as the writer on the original series.

Some of the townspeople are blacksmith R.G. Armstrong, doctor Charles Drake, banker Whit Bissell, mine owner Karl Swenson, judge Edgar Stehli, bartender Charles Watts, and store clerk Warren Stevens. Just who has Audie come to dispatch.

All of these players fill out the roles of the panic stricken townspeople very well indeed. But it is Murphy's film and one of the best westerns ever done and I believe his personal best.

"No Name on the Bullet" is just such a great title for a Western; it conjures up so many images of gun fights, shoot outs and showdowns. I enjoyed the film with one reservation - I just can't get used to the idea of Audie Murphy portraying a heel. For me, it just doesn't work, just as Roy Rogers wouldn't have worked as the lead character. A baby face on the lead villain doesn't create the tension needed in a psychological Western.

That aside, the film works on it's premise - a hired gunman rides into town on a mission with a reputation that precedes him. His method is always the same, stay awhile, get the lay of the land, and let the town's nervous citizens take themselves and each other apart until the day of reckoning.

Fine performances are turned in by Willis Bouchey as Sheriff Buck Hastings, and Charles Drake as Dr. Luke Canfield who befriends gunslinger John Gant (Murphy) before he realizes who he is. As his contact with Gant is entirely amiable, including a game of chess, Canfield has a tough time acknowledging Gant's reputation as a cold hearted killer.

Gant plays his cards close and observes, as if waiting for the town to take out his intended victim for him. Along the way, crooked banker Pierce (Whit Bissel) commits suicide, and cowhand Ben Chafee (John Alderson) forces a confrontation with Pierce's partner Stricker (Karl Swenson). The finale allows Gant to dole out his own brand of justice without firing a shot, yet know that his career is over as he heads into sundown, the victim of a healer with a hammer.

Why this got the good reviews it did in the books I read, is a mystery. It's basically a "one- angle" story in which a hired killer enters a town and the whole place goes wildly paranoid wondering who is going to be the man's victim. That sounds fairly interesting but it didn't play that way, getting tiresome very quickly. Then again, some people like this kind of suspense-but nothing-happens type of story, sort of like the popular "High Noon."

Audie Murphy ("John Gant") is interesting to watch as the cool-attitude killer but I couldn't much else to get excited about here. The rest of the cast combined can't equal Murphy's effort here. This is more of a melodrama than a western, which may suit a lot of people, but I was looking for a good "western," which usually means a little more action than this dull film.