 511 - THE GUNSLINGER (RHINO
VHS)
Genre: Low Budget Western (1956, Color)
Synopsis: In this western, which is yet another Roger Corman atrocity against humanity, the marshal of a small frontier town
(Pop: 8) is gunned down by a couple of hired killers. His wife, Rose, is able to kill both of the hired guns and becomes the interim marshal until the new marshal can get to town on Saturday.
So, in the next few days, Rose has the intention of finding out who hired the killers of her husband before giving up the badge.
Soon we find out that the local saloon owner, Erica, is the one behind the killing of the marshal because she owns a lot of land in town and hopes that the new train route will come through town, making her rich.
(Exactly why she had to kill the marshal over this completely legal way of making money is a total
mystery.) Erica sends for another hired gun to kill the female marshal if the news on Saturday says the train is going elsewhere. (I guess she
just really likes to
kill a marshal anytime things don’t go her way.) This new hired gun, Cane, has a thing for Rose the
interim marshal, plus is getting some action from Erica as well.
Rose has apparently gotten over the murder of her husband very quickly, because she takes a liking to Cane.
This hired killer Cane also has a vendetta against his former Confederate general because he blames him for losing the Civil War. (Uhmmm,
yeah, Cane... I hate to be the one to tell you this, but one guy alone
didn’t lose that
war.)
Eventually, after a week that seems like a year finally passes, the Saturday news comes that the railroad is not coming through the little town of false fronts, and so
it’s time for Erica to kill a marshal.
The whole thing ends with a bloodbath that kills almost everyone in the town, and the new marshal arrives
just in time to bring law to himself and probably one other
guy in the town (Pop: 8 2).
Don’s Review: The first of only two
Westerns seen on MST, this is another bad Roger Corman directed
movie. While the riffing is game and the host segments are enjoyable, this extremely lame Corman flick can suck the life out of any party.
It’s too bad that this
lame movie had to be the feature in Joel’s second-to-last show.
Don’s Rating: 
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