Forty Guns (Samuel Fuller)
The idea of Barbara Stanwyck
galloping around the prairie in a stetson, cracking a whip, is disappointingly
underplayed in Forty Guns. Also the potential Freudian and feminist elements are
never explored past the surface (though the two female stars are as spunky as
the men are handsome, Jessica Drummond is only waiting for a man to take
charge). If you want a western with Freudian subtext and lesbians in spurs & chaps then see the superb Johnny Guitar instead.
It's still good fun and camp enough to
make the already short running time whiz by. Stanwyck is always
never less than watchable and Barry Sullivan's rugged presence does the job it's
intended. The dialogue is sparky if a little ropey "I've never kissed a gunsmith
before" "I need a strong man to carry out my orders... And a weak one to take
them". And the visual effects are a bit of a treat: a big close-up of
Sullivan's eyes, during a shoot-out, diminishs the desired
dramatic effect as it causes us to titter but it's still a thrill. As is the scene when the burgeoning
lovers spy each other lovingly through the barrel of a gun! (how romantic)
But the absolute
highlight here is the two songs - both of which are unexpectedly and quite
spectacularly sung in character. The Woman With a Whip number is especially ripe
as it's sung by one of the male leads as his mates watch on, smiling
nonchalantly, as they soap themselves in their bath-tubs! The other song, sung
as a funeral rite, initially startled and surprised me in it's bravado of having
a man sing a love song where the object of desire is another man. Of course the 'He' of his affections had to be God [damn!] but a guy can project can't he??
All this (vaguely homoerotic) campery had me
thinking... Forty Guns is probably only two songs shy of an all-out musical! Now
that would have been a lot more intriguing.
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