7.1/10
3,428
40 user 48 critic

Forty Guns (1957)

Showdown in Arizona between the Bonnell brothers, U.S.Marshals, and Jessica Drummond, the iron-fist rancher who controls the territory.

Director:

Writer:

Reviews
Learn more

People who liked this also liked... 

Western
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.8/10 X  

When the South loses the war, Confederate veteran O'Meara goes West, joins the Sioux, takes a wife and refuses to be an American but he must choose a side when the Sioux go to war against the U.S. Army.

Director: Samuel Fuller
Stars: Rod Steiger, Sara Montiel, Brian Keith
3:10 to Yuma (1957)
Drama | Thriller | Western
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.6/10 X  

Broke small-time rancher Dan Evans is hired by the stagecoach line to put big-time captured outlaw leader Ben Wade on the 3:10 train to Yuma but Wade's gang tries to free him.

Director: Delmer Daves
Stars: Glenn Ford, Van Heflin, Felicia Farr
Western
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.4/10 X  

Blaise Starrett is a rancher at odds with homesteaders when outlaws hold up the small town. The outlaws are held in check only by their notorious leader, but he is diagnosed with a fatal wound and the town is a powder keg waiting to blow.

Director: André De Toth
Stars: Robert Ryan, Burl Ives, Tina Louise
Levoton veri (1946)
Drama | Romance
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.8/10 X  

A love triangle of two sisters, both passionately desiring the same man.

Director: Teuvo Tulio
Stars: Regina Linnanheimo, Eino Katajavuori, Toini Vartiainen
Crime | Drama | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.5/10 X  

Fourteen-year-old Tolly Devlin sees four hoods beat his father to death. Twenty years later, the killers have risen to the top of the crime syndicate and Tolly has a plan for revenge.

Director: Samuel Fuller
Stars: Cliff Robertson, Dolores Dorn, Beatrice Kay
No Way Out (1950)
Crime | Drama | Film-Noir
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.5/10 X  

A black doctor is assigned to treat two racist White, robbery suspects who are brothers, and when one dies, it causes tension that could start a race riot.

Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Stars: Richard Widmark, Linda Darnell, Stephen McNally
Crime | Film-Noir | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.8/10 X  

A pickpocket unwittingly lifts a message destined for enemy agents and becomes a target for a Communist spy ring.

Director: Samuel Fuller
Stars: Richard Widmark, Jean Peters, Thelma Ritter
Verboten! (1959)
Thriller | War | Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.9/10 X  

A young American serviceman, stationed in Germany after the fall of the Third Reich, jeopardises his position with the Marshall Plan relief effort by breaking the non-fraternisatiom rule ... See full summary »

Director: Samuel Fuller
Stars: James Best, Susan Cummings, Tom Pittman
The Furies (1950)
Drama | Romance | Western
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.4/10 X  

A firebrand heiress clashes with her tyrannical father, a cattle rancher who fancies himself a Napoleon; but their relationship turns ugly only when he finds himself a new woman.

Director: Anthony Mann
Stars: Barbara Stanwyck, Wendell Corey, Walter Huston
Crime | Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.4/10 X  

Kelly, a prostitute, traumatised by an experience, referred to as 'The Naked Kiss,' by psychiatrists, leaves her past, and finds solace in the town of Grantville. She meets Griff, the ... See full summary »

Director: Samuel Fuller
Stars: Constance Towers, Anthony Eisley, Michael Dante
Drama | Romance | Western
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.2/10 X  

A reformed outlaw becomes stranded after an aborted train robbery with two other passengers and is forced to rejoin his old outlaw band.

Director: Anthony Mann
Stars: Gary Cooper, Julie London, Lee J. Cobb
5 Fingers (1952)
Drama | Film-Noir | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.8/10 X  

During WWII the valet to the British Ambassador to Ankara sells British secrets to the Germans while trying to romance a refugee Polish countess.

Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Stars: James Mason, Danielle Darrieux, Michael Rennie
Edit

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
...
...
...
Sheriff Ned Logan
...
...
...
Chico Bonell
Jidge Carroll ...
Paul Dubov ...
Judge Macy
Gerald Milton ...
Shotgun Spanger
...
Rio
...
Neyle Morrow ...
Wiley
...
Howard Swain
Chuck Hayward ...
Charlie Savage
Sandy Wirth ...
Chico's Girlfriend (as Sandra Wirth)

Comic-Con 2017: All Aboard the IMDboat

 | 

July 20 to 23, 2017

Get entertainment news, trailer drops, and photos with IMDb's coverage of 2017 San Diego Comic-Con featuring host and IMDboat captain Kevin Smith. Watch our exclusive celebrity interviews, and tune in to our LIVE show from 3:30 to 5 p.m. PDT on Saturday, July 22.

Browse Our Guide to Comic-Con

Edit

Storyline

An authoritarian rancher, Barbara Stanwyck, who rules an Arizona county with her private posse of hired guns. When a new marshall arrives to set things straight, the cattle queen finds herself falling, brutally for the avowedly non-violent lawman. Both have itchy-fingered brothers, a female gunmaker enters the picture, and things go desperately wrong. Written by Tamsin

Plot Summary | Add Synopsis

Taglines:

The Taming of the Arizona Territory !

Genres:

Romance | Western

Certificate:

See all certifications »

Parents Guide:

 »
Edit

Details

Country:

Language:

Release Date:

September 1957 (USA)  »

Also Known As:

Dragones de la violencia  »

Filming Locations:


Box Office

Budget:

$300,000 (estimated)
 »

Company Credits

Show detailed on  »

Technical Specs

Runtime:

Sound Mix:

(RCA Sound Recording)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1
See  »
Edit

Did You Know?

Trivia

Condemned in the US because of its brutal handling of the narrative, but praised in Europe for its stylistic vigor. See more »

Goofs

When the gunsmith is fitting Wes for a new rifle, she had him holding the stock from a model 1898 Mauser which would not have been invented for another 20 years. Then Wes also picks up a Winchester barreled action and looks through it to see the lady gunsmith, which is not possible due to there being no straight line of sight through the action. See more »

Quotes

Griff Bonnell: [on being offered her foreman's job] Why me?
Jessica Drummond: I need a strong man to carry out my orders.
Griff Bonnell: And a weak man to take them.
See more »

Connections

Referenced in Der Stand der Dinge (1982) See more »

Soundtracks

High Ridin' Woman
by Harold Adamson and Harry Sukman
Sung by Jidge Carroll
See more »

Frequently Asked Questions

This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.

User Reviews

"I never thought I'd love a gunsmith." "Any recoil?"
22 October 2012 | by (United Kingdom) – See all my reviews

I often record films off TCM or other film channels and I'll nearly always record westerns. Often I don't get past the first few minutes but every now and then I come across a real classic. I wasn't aware of this film or its cult status when I watched it so I was able to form an opinion without a prior bias.

Firstly I was impressed by the opening scene of Barbara Stanwyck and her forty horsemen thundering across the screen and richness of the black and white cinematography. The film itself immediately grabbed my interest and the dialogue was at times cheesy, at times full of sexual innuendo, but always interesting. It was only when it came to a scene where the Bonnell brothers are walking through Tombstone that I realised I was watching a single shot that went on and on and on. There's no merit in doing long tracking shots just for the hell of it but this was something that worked beautifully.

The composition of many shots and their realisation was quite magnificent and I would love to see this on a big screen now. One scene where a widow is shot from below and there is a long pan past the hearse to a singer under a tree and back again puts most modern music videos to shame.

It has to be said that this is also one of the silliest and campest films ever made with its emphasis, not to mention song, on a "high riding woman with a whip". The general fondling of firearms and sexual references are so blatant that it seems surprising that this film wasn't universally condemned by the usual suspects on its release.

I was also impressed by the cast who weren't what you might expect for a western. I especially liked Barry Sullivan's pre-Leone, pre-Eastwood portrayal of the gunslinger.

All in all a complete delight. I'm looking forward to watching it again.


8 of 10 people found this review helpful.  Was this review helpful to you?

Contribute to This Page

Create a character page for:
?