8mm Forum: Last Train from Gun Hill

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Posted by Paul Adsett (Member # 25) on October 30, 2006, 08:43 PM:

Last Train from Gunhill , 1958
Color, 100 mins, 2000 ft
Viacom

There are quite a few Westerns available on Super 8, and Last Train From Gunhill is one of the best. Kirk Douglas stars as Matt Morgan the courageous marshal determined to bring to justice the two men who raped and murdered his beautiful half- breed Indian wife. One of the guilty men turns out to be the son of Cole Belden (Anthony Quinn) who is a life –time friend of Morgan’s. Belden has made it to the top as a cattle rancher, and he owns the town of Gunhill and everything and everybody in it. Thus the conflict is set up between Morgan and Belden, as Morgan tries to arrest Belden’s son for murder, and Belden is torn between his friendship for Morgan and his instinct to save his son. Earl Holliman gives a persuasive portrayal of the cowardly rapist , and Brad Dexter is good as Belden’s chief ranch hand. Kirk Douglas is terrific as the good guy, but the stand out performance is by Quinn who steals every scene as the intensely ruthless Belden.
A very taught and different kind of Western, which all builds up towards the final showdown, timed for the last train leaving Gunhill.
The S8 print was distributed by Viacom, who turned out some astonishingly good S8 prints of many films, notably the Elvis Presley features. My particular print, which I got off eBay is very sharp indeed, but the color is somewhat faded. Still it is very enjoyable, and my audience thought it looked fine and enjoyed the movie very much. I can only imagine how stunning the print must have been when new.

Print A
Sound A

Posted by Robert Wales (Member # 502) on October 31, 2006, 07:13 AM:

I remember this print when it was new and it was as good as it gets for Super 8, as were all the Viacom titles of this era. I always felt this film, while set in the west, was more of a suspense film than a true western, so even if you're not a true western fan this title is highly recommended.

Posted by Jean-Marc Toussaint (Member # 270) on October 31, 2006, 07:22 AM:

Wow, Paul is on a reviewing spree! Doug has some serious work to do to update the index [Wink]

Thanks for another great article.

Posted by Dan Lail (Member # 18) on October 31, 2006, 04:51 PM:

Great review, Paul! I picked up a very good print of this on super eight from Julie Geisler. After watching it my wife(Jerrye) and I dicussed the same perspective as in your review. [Cool]

Posted by Douglas Meltzer (Member # 28) on December 19, 2015, 03:19 PM:

Additional Posts regarding this film can be found here.

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