(by jpdoherty on 2 September 2009)

Paramount's LAST TRAIN FROM GUN HILL is one of Hollywood's great fifties westerns! Perhaps never reaching the lofty heights of such cinema triumphs as "The Searchers", "Shane" or "High Noon" it nevertheless remains a sturdy, stalwart and generally well admired example of the genre! From a lively story by Les Crutchfield it was fashioned into a fine screenplay by James Poe and expertly directed by John Sturges. It was also something of a coup having two heavyweight stars of the period like Kirk Douglas and Anthony Quinn playing the central roles. This not only guaranteed a constant jingle at the box office but was a delight to western fans too. Although they had been paired together three years before in MGM's "Lust For Life" ( the prestigious biopic of Van Gogh which brought Quinn a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his portrayal of Gauguin) here the two actors appear to be much more at home and vastly more appealing in their western setting. Produced by Hal Wallis (in association with Douglas' own Bryna Productions) it was beautifully photographed in VistaVision and Technicolor by Charles Lang Jr.
Douglas is Marshal Matt Morgan who arrives in the town of Gun Hill to find the man who raped and murdered his Indian wife. Sparks really start to fly when he discovers the culprit (Earl Holliman) is the son of his best friend Craig Beldon (Quinn). Knife edge tension follows, and for much of the movie, when inadvertently (and with a great deal of luck) Morgan manages to arrest young Beldon and hold him in a hotel room with the intention of taking him back in six hours time on the last train from Gun Hill. In the meantime Craig Beldon with 20 of his men surround the hotel. He must prevent Morgan from carrying out his plan at all costs and makes effort after effort to extract his son from Morgan's grasp. The picture ends with the once close friends squaring up to each other in a climactic and inevitable fateful shootout.
With more than a nod to Delmer Daves' "3.10 To Yuma" (the real one made in 1957) LAST TRAIN FROM GUN HILL is a splendid well structured dramatic western with equally splendid performances from Douglas and Quinn. The supporting cast are good too! Besides Earl Holliman there is the charismatic Brad Dexter as Beldon's foreman, Bing Russell (Kurt's dad) as his second in charge, Val Avery as the barman and Carolyn Jones as Quinn's reluctant lover. Adding greatly to this taut western drama is Dimitri Tiomkin's outstanding music. The main title under the credits is a brilliantly conceived rhythmic Mexican invention. With snarling Mariachi trumpets, staccato clipped percussion and biting strings the composer never wrote a finer main title for a western! But as with his previous score for Sturges' "Gunfight At The OK Corral" it has unfortunately never been preserved on a recording!
LAST TRAIN FROM GUN HILL is nicely presented on a DVD with good colour resolution and sharp and clear imagery but as is Paramount's wont there are no extras whatsoever - not even a trailer which I find to be doctrinaire!