Forty Guns

Released by: Eureka (Masters of Cinema)
Released on: June 15, 2015
Director: Samuel Fuller
Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Barry Sullivan, Gene Barry, Robert Dix, Dean Jagger, John Ericson, Hank Worden, Eve Brent
Year: 1957
Region: B

The Movie:

Griff, Wes, and Chico Bonnell are three brothers who arrive in the lawless western town of Tombstone, Arizona to perform a duty for the government: A former gunslinger, Griff is now a federal agent looking to arrest Howard Swain for robbery. There's just one big problem: Howard works for town matriarch Jessica Drummond, who rules her county with an iron fist, her powered sewed up by the forty hired guns of the film's title. Her power starts to fall apart, however, when her brother Brockie wounds a defenseless man—who also happens to be the town's marshall—and refuses to be caged. Griff cannot stand by and let it happen; he takes the law into his own hands, not figuring on Jessica falling in love with him and reforming, or a rival trying to cut in on his action. Meanwhile, Wes also falls in love, but his marriage is cut short by an assassin's bullet. The assassin? None other than Brockie himself. Things go from bad to worse, leading to a shootout in the ol' town tonight.

Samuel Fuller began his career in journalism before jumping ship to focus on screenwriting and novels. After serving in World War II, he was approached by Robert Lippert, for whom he directed I Shot Jesse James (1949) and The Baron of Arizona (1950), though it was his third film, The Steel Helmet (1951), that really brought him to Hollywood's attention. Darryl F. Zanuck soon signed him to a seven-film deal with 20th Century Fox; many of these films were made on low budgets, but they all had one thing in common: Fuller's keen, stylistic eye. More importantly, he wasn't afraid of tackling difficult subject matter such as race and prostitution, nor was he reticent about showing the inherent violence in many situations.

Among Fuller's films for Fox was Forty Guns, which had begun life as The Woman With a Whip! In addition to co-producing it, Fuller also wrote it. Unfortunately, the script isn't one of its strong points. The story is muddled and confusing, character motivations are often unbelievable, and the relationship between Jessica Drummond and Griff Bonnell is ridiculous. Yet, the film's reason for being is hardly its script. Rather, it's Fuller's direction. Right from the start, the director manages some extraordinary scenes. The film opens with Griff and his brothers in a wagon, with the forty hired guns nearly running them down in an effort to get from one place to another quickly. The scene in which a tornado strikes while Griff and Jessica are riding together through her property looking for Brockie is another terrific scene and has some strikingly realistic aspects.

Some film historians have referred to Forty Guns as a Gothic Western. They aren't entirely wrong. While the film isn't Gothic in the truest sense of the word, and it certainly isn't horror oriented, some of the nighttime scenes in the Drummond mansion do bear a certain moody atmosphere, with deep shadows and sinister shenanigans. The romantic subplot is also perfectly in keeping with the Gothic romance novels so popular at the time, though the male/female lead roles are reversed, with Griff the hero who comes from elsewhere to the large estate presided over by the secretive and elusive Ms. Drummond.

While the film may be nonsensical at times, it certainly isn't dull, and the performances are generally good, especially Barbara Stanwyck, who towers over it as the matriarch she was soon destined to repeat on television in The Big Valley (1965-69) and The Colbys (1985-1987).

Video/Audio/Extras:

Eureka has released Forty Guns in a dual-format (Blu-ray and DVD) collection. The Blu-ray features a stunning new transfer in 1080p high-definition—in its original 2.35:1 theatrical aspect ratio—with an MPEG-4 AVC encode. Though placed on a 25GB disc, the film is relatively short (80 minutes, to be exact) and the extras, while interesting, don't take up too much space. The result is a film that looks splendid on BD, with little noise and artefacting. Some reviews have accused the film of looking waxy, an issue we here at Rock! Shock! Pop! did not notice. If anything, the real winner in this transfer is the video quality; to see just how great it looks, take a gander through the screen caps below. Detail is fantastic. The depth of field is so phenomenal that there's a great deal of detail even in the deepest part of the frame, resulting in an almost three-dimensional look at times. Detail up close is even better, though Stanwyck, were she alive today, probably wouldn't appreciate just how evident her facial fuzz is in the format. The interiors of the mansion in which her character lives are particularly vibrant, though exteriors benefit as well: the countryside where much of the film was shot (mostly California, with some minor location shooting in Arizona) appears as crisp and gorgeous as it must have in real life, and the scene in which a tornado devastates the countryside looks surprisingly good despite some dated effects. The widescreen cinematography and Fuller's eye for exquisite framing are perfectly showcased by Eureka's fantastic Blu-ray presentation.

The film's audio, while not quite the match of its video, is still strong. The BD's primary track is the film's original soundtrack, presented in lossless LPCM Mono. Despite being monaural, it's fairly robust; sound effects (gunshots throughout, wind and flying brush during the tornado sequence) have a decent amount of pop, Harry Sukman's score is vivid, and dialogue is consistently clear. (Eureka has also wisely included English subtitles for the deaf and hearing impaired.) In addition to the primary track, there is also a commentary, though it's a little different from the standard. Rather than being provided by a film historian, the commentary is composed of an on-stage interview of Fuller by Ken Wlaschin and an audience of fans, who had gathered at the National Film Theatre in London in 1969 to hear Fuller speak. Both Wlaschin and the audience ask Fuller questions, and the director discusses every aspect of his lengthy career. It runs just a few minutes shy of the film's entire length and is interesting for being one of the few commentaries on a classic film to serve as a primary source of historical information rather than a secondary source.

The disc also contains a featurette, running approximately 17 minutes in length, which was shot for French television. It features French film historian Jean-Louis Leutrat on the famed director and is recorded in Dolby Digital 1.0 with English subtitles. It's interesting if a bit pretentious, with some distracting direction. Still, it's short enough to warrant a look without causing too much strain on one's attention span.

Finally, the film's original theatrical trailer is included. Running a little over two minutes, it really doesn't give much indication as to the film's plot. In fact, it's downright misleading as to who the forty guns are, as well as in its claim that the film is Eve Brent's introduction to cinema! Still, it's fun in the way '50s movie trailers are, and Eureka should be commended for including it.

The Final Word:

Forty Guns may not be Fuller's best film, but it's an interesting exercise in style nonetheless, and the transfer on Eureka's Blu-ray presentation is among the best ever for a low-budget film of the 1950s. It looks fantastic, sounds good, and features some nice extras, particularly a commentary of Fuller himself speaking before a live audience.

Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!