Gun Belt (1953)

It's sort of an odd title for a Western, don't you think? Just "Gun Belt" - I get the idea but it sounds just a little off key. The picture's a little off key with it's characters too. The legendary lawman Wyatt Earp (James Millican) is a secondary character here, and other renowned names from the Tombstone Corral days are changed ever so slightly that just leave you scratching your head. Like Ike Clinton (William Bishop) for Ike Clanton, Jack Elam's Kolloway for Doc Holliday, and Matt Ringo (John Dehner) for Johnny Ringo. With a little research I might be able to come up with some more, but you get the idea.At the center of the story, hero Billy Ringo (George Montgomery) is framed for a bank robbery and the story involves a number of contortions with outlaws crossing and double crossing each other before Billy gets to clear his name. There's a third Ringo in the lineup as well, Billy's nephew Chip portrayed by a strangely unrecognizable Tab Hunter, even though he's not wearing a disguise or makeup to make him look any different. Maybe I just don't know Tab Hunter as well as I think I do, but I wouldn't have known who he was in this picture. At least the writers came up with that clever '3R' brand gimmick denoting 'Us Three Ringos'. That was creative.Oddly enough, I'm not finding some of these unknown older flicks on my usual standby Encore Westerns, but on cable station Antenna TV. Early Saturday and Sunday mornings around 5:00 AM is the place to be the last few weeks, so for now it looks like I'll keep tuning in. Last weekend it was the Durango Kid's turn in "Blazing Across the Pecos". No telling what might show up next week.

Former outlaw George Montgomery and his young nephew Tab Hunter are trying to make a go of ranching, but there are forces at work trying to bring Montgomery back into the outlaw trade. Like Don Corleone they keep dragging him back in. And they've even sweetened the pot somewhat by busting from prison his brother John Dehner to bring Montgomery in on a big Wells Fargo robbery planned by saloon owner Hugh Sanders.Now just why Montgomery was so badly needed in this caper we never really find out, but Sanders is a real piece of work, hiring two sets of outlaws to do the job hoping that the outlaws will kill each other off and him left with the loot.I have to say that I've rarely seen such double crossing among the cast in any film as I've seen in Gun Belt. With a little better writing this could have been a classic western. In fact with such worthies as Douglas Kennedy, William Bishop, and others in the cast who play some real nasty villains on the big screen, take your choice who will be king of the double crossers. In fact the only one Montgomery does trust is the girl he's planning to marry Helen Westcott. Even Hunter is a mixed up stupid kid who doesn't know who to trust. Gun Belt is a good western programmer with unrealized potential for greatness.

Those of us who love B westerns constantly come up with undiscovered gems from the 1950s. This isn't one of them. Gun Belt may be the least impressive of any Wyatt Earp western ever made, though in fact he's seen only in a supporting role, with a bit of historicity in that he's portrayed as deputy to his brother Virgil, which was actually the case. Nothing else about the film 'gets it right,' though - George Montgomery plays Billy (not John or Jim) Ringo, with Tab Hunter as his younger brother, "Kid Ringo." For reasons I can't imagine, they changed the name of Ike Clanton to Ike Clinton! If there's one interesting thing here, it's that some oft overlooked characters - Turkey Creek Jack Johnson,Curly Bill Brocious, and Texas Jack Vermillion - are on hand, the terrific TOMBSTONE the only other film to give them decent screen time. You may recognize the female lead, Helen Westcott, from the similarly titled Ringo movie GUNFIGHTER - though that was one of the greatest of all westerns. This one has corny dialogue, unbelievable plotting, and weak acting, particularly by Hunter, who couldn't deliver a line competently if the survival of the world depended on it. Even the vistas don't look so bright. Here's one that even die-hard western buffs can skip.

A low budget 50's western that is not really all that bad. George Montgomery is the hero and Tab Hunter as his nephew. Hunter is so young in this movie that he's almost unrecognizable. You keep looking at him and thinking is that Tab Hunter? The villain is a real scary bad guy whose name is Ike Clinton. Why Clinton? Why not Clanton? Were they going for historical accuracy? The marshall in the town is named Virgil Earp so its hard to say what they were trying to do history-wise. It's slow-paced, melodramatic and cartoony: everything it should be.