SYNOPSICS
The Gun Hawk (1963) is a English movie. Edward Ludwig has directed this movie. Rory Calhoun,Rod Cameron,Ruta Lee,Rod Lauren are the starring of this movie. It was released in 1963. The Gun Hawk (1963) is considered one of the best Western movie in India and around the world.
Gunslinger Rory Calhoun dispenses his own brand of justice in this action-packed Western adventure costarring Rod Cameron and Ruta Lee. It's been three years since gunfighter Blaine Madden (Calhoun) visited his hometown. So when he warns the Sully brothers to stop harassing the town drunk, they shoot the old man dead, not realizing he's Madden's father. Killing them both, Madden is badly wounded by the sheriff (Cameron) but escapes to an outlaw haven where the law fears to tread and prepares what may be his last stand. Written by Jo Heims (Play Misty for Me), The Gun Hawk was the final film directed by Edward Ludwig, whose nearly 50-year career spanned over 100 shorts, TV episodes and features, including the John Wayne hits The Fighting Seabees, Wake of the Red Witch and Big Jim McLain.
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The Gun Hawk (1963) Reviews
El gavilán pistolero
The Gun Hawk is directed by Edward Ludwig and collectively written by Jo Heims, Richard Bernstein and Max Steeber. It stars Rory Calhoun, Rod Cameron, Ruta Lee, Rod Lauren, Morgan Woodward and Robert J. Wilke. Music is by Jimmy Haskell and cinematography by Paul Vogel. Gunslinger Blaine Madden (Calhoun) is pursued by the law after a shoot out he was forced into results in him killing two men. With young protégée Reb Roan (Lauren) in tow, Madden makes his way to the town of Sanctuary, a place that ultimately holds the fate cards of the man known as El gavilán. Still trying to reform the world Ben? It's pretty stock formula on a thematic front, and for sure there's some creakiness in the script and from some of the actors around Calhoun, but there's a big pay off here. It's something of a rare little Western this one, out of Allied Artists it proves to be one of the better B Westerns from the company. The main interest value comes with the burgeoning relationship between the aged gunslinger and his hot headed punk companion. It's through this relationship that the finale gets its emotional wallop, something which lifts the picture out of the ordinary. Sanctuary. If you kill there you have no place else to go. On the outskirts of the relationship between Blaine and Reb there is the lawmen in pursuit, one is wise and has a soft spot for Madden, the other is angry and only sees death for Madden as a positive result. Into the mix comes Ruta Lee (ravishing in looks, staid in acting) as the love interest, though it's nice to report that this strand of the story never cloys and in fact enhances the Madden character arc. Robert J. Wilke and Lane Bradford file in for villain duties, with the former energetic and doing a nice line in brash outlaw who is destined for a fall. Back off. BACK OFF! In spite of being able to spot the obvious cheap aspects of the production, the tech credits are rather decent. There's some nice outdoor photography from the Bronson Canyon locale, set design is colourful and costuming is very pleasing. On the flip-side, though, Haskell's music becomes repetitious and therefore irritating, while the make-up department go over board for the key scene at the end. But with Calhoun turning in a very effective ghoulish performance and that finale of some great reward, The Gun Hawk is worthy of being better known and supported. 7/10
A rare fascinating western
Under a B western outward appearance this rare movie shows some interesting qualities. You would think of a B western if you consider the cast (Rory Calhoun, Rod Cameron, Ruta Lee) but that is not totally exact. This Gun Hawk ("El gavilán pistolero" in Spain) has got influence of many good genre works (the topic of a gunslinger who wants retire himself is a classical). The inexorable fate plays his cards never mind the human desire does. The movie es correctly made, the color photography with bright painted rooms, like in a theatrical decor, announcing the upcoming death, an the credit ballad music inspired at the cowboys song telling a story (Marcucci and Faith "A Searcher for Love") are excellent too. It has got some comedy notes, a bite out of the blue. I will said at last the village, Sanctuary, keeps similitude with a Spanish place, Guadalest, near Alicante at Mediterranean sea.
The man had promise
Two veterans of the B western movie genre Rory Calhoun and Rod Cameron team up for The Gun Hawk. Cameron plays an upright sheriff who saw some promise in Rory Calhoun and wanted to make him his deputy. But Calhoun preferred the dark side and became a notorious gunfighter. Calhoun is back in Cameron's town for some personal business. But a gunfight that resulted in the accidental killing of his father sends Calhoun on a vengeance quest rather than let the sheriff handle it. He kills the two shooters and now has Cameron and his deputy Morgan Woodward after him. Cameron wounds him in the right arm, Calhoun's shooting arm. But Calhoun has another scheme in mind. He's the kingpin in a town called Sanctuary, an outlaw town. Calhoun's also got his girl friend Ruta Lee there as well. He'll need her presence as his gun hand is out of commission. Both Cameron and Calhoun are shown to good advantage, Calhoun having the more complex part in The Gun Hawk. Also look for a nice performance by Rod Lauren as a young kid who both Calhoun and Cameron are courting. Yet another young man of promise. Definitely a must for fans of the B western.
El Galivan finds trouble wherever he goes
A gunslinger, chased by lawmen for a killing, makes his way to an outlaw hideout called Sanctuary. Along the way he teams up with a young punk who has a yearning for "a good fight and a bad woman". The law tries to take the gunman out of the compound but things took another turn. Average western.
Average Rory Calhoun Western With Rod Cameron Along For the Ride
Director Edward Ludwig helmed over a hundred films and television shoes during his 25 year career in Hollywood. He directed three John Wayne films: "The Fighting Seabees," "Wake of the Red Witch," and "Big Jim McClain," but he never made a western with Wayne. He drifted into westerns late in his career. He made 50 episodes of John Payne'a western series "The Restless Gun." When he called the shots on the standard issue Rory Calhoun oater "The Gun Hawk," he was no stranger to the actor, having directed him in 15 episodes. Actually, "The Gun Hawk" was the only western that Ludwig directed. This predictable Allied Artists release covers familiar ground that John Wayne's final western "The Shootist" handled with far greater spontaneity and creativity. All the themes that you'd find in a 1950s western are recycled in "Play Misty for Me" scenarist Jo Heims' screenplay based on a story by Richard Bernstein and Max Steeber. Some of the dialogue isn't bad. Calhoun plays a weary gray-haired gunslinger who runs afoul Rod Cameron, a lawman who is an old friend. Sheriff Ben Corey (Rod Cameron) and Deputy 'Mitch' Mitchell (Morgan Woodward of "Cool Hand Luke") are after troublemaker Blaine Madden (Rory Calhoun of "Apache Uprising") because he gunned down Joe Sully (Lane Bradford) and his friend. Sully and his pal killed Blaine's drunken father (John Litel of "The Sons of Katie Elder") during a crossfire in a back alley. Corey warned Blaine not to take the law into his own hands, but Blaine went ahead and did it anyway. Meantime, Blaine has picked up a protégé, 'Reb' Roan (hard-luck actor Rod Lauren of "Law of the Lawless"), and Reb comes in handy. Earlier, Sully and his pal tried to beat Reb up for cheating at cards and Blaine intervened. After Blaine shot and killed Sully and his pal, Corey winged the aged gunslinger in the right arm as he rode away. Reb managed to remove Corey's bullet, but he didn't do a good job, and the wound comes back to haunt our hero. Blaine returns to the town of Sanctuary, an outlaw haven hidden in the mountains, and you can only enter the town by riding through a tunnel in the rocks. The town has a credo that the leading lady summarizes later on after a duel. "A man comes here because he has no place else to go and when you kill here, you kill any chance of safety anywhere." She goes on after a moment to say, "So you must be very careful never to leave this place again because its doors will always be closed to you." The first thing that Blaine does when he returns to Sanctuary is oust a murderous outlaw, Johnny Flanders (Robert J. Wilke of "The Magnificent Seven"), from town after they slug it out in a knock-down, drag-out fist fight. Flanders violated the rule of Sanctuary when he shot his own partner in a dispute in the bar. Blaine resumes a relationship with Marleen (Ruta Lee of "Bullet for a Badman") after Corey abandons his efforts to leave Sanctuary with Blaine at gun-point. Corey had ridden into the outlaw haven to arrest the gunslinger, but the townspeople refuses to let him take Blaine back to stand trial. Eventually, Blaine decides to climb out of his death bed burning up with fever, and Reb helps him dress. The sour grapes finale pits Blaine against Reb in Sanctuary with Reb having an edge of the aged gunfighter, while Corey languishes just beyond the town proper. Corey sums up the irony about gun-toting Blaine. He never heard a shot fired in Sanctuary and he attributed that peacefulness to the ability of a lawman like Blaine to maintain that kind of tranquility. Rory Calhoun fans and western aficionados will savor this sagebrusher more than anybody just searching for a good movie. Mind you, "The Gun Hawk" ranks as an average oater bolstered by a strong cast, believable settings, and sturdy production values. This was Ludwig's last film and the action is sluggish throughout its 92 minute running time.