Not to far back this year I got touched for another five dollars thanks to a western collection from Universal on DVD. No big hurt on the pocket book but the fact that there were only 2 of the 8 westerns in the set I needed means I’ve been double dipped by the studio who had the other 6 on another set I’d picked up previously. The titles I needed for the movie room here both featured Fred MacMurray in the leading role. Gun For a Coward and this release that paired Fred with leading lady Dorothy Malone. It’s a title I wasn’t really familiar with.
It’s a fairly standard oater of men on the run from an angry posse who find themselves in an abandoned town with tempers running a might high over just which cowpoke’s brand is on Miss Malone and the threat of what’s out there on the outskirts of town as the darkness closes in on them. Leading the gang is the wanna be tough guy and quick tempered, John Larch who seemingly commands the group that includes the youngster, John Gavin, a “half breed” portrayed by Sydney Chaplin and the quiet, deadly Fred MacMurray who Larch is very careful not to push too far. Miss Malone has made the journey as the personal property of Larch though that is going to be put to the test as the film’s running length of eighty minutes plays itself out.
Larch rather crudely points out, “When I own a piece of land, I don’t aim to have a neighbor cultivate it for me.”
Evading the posse, the gang heads into desert lands to the point of losing a horse and barely stumbling into the abandoned town of Quantez in need of rest and water. It’s in the cooped up setting of the saloon that tempers and constant showdowns will begin to take a toll on MacMurray and company. Miss Malone who does little more than shriek for the first half hour of the film begins to see Larch for what he is, a cold blooded killer and begins to play off the other members of the gang with the promise of romance in exchange for freedom. Larch isn’t having any of it and finds the much more handsome Gavin as his main nemesis while MacMurray is always standing by, wisely talking down any showdown that may decrease their number.
Did you happen to notice Michael Ansara’s name in the credit sequence? Me too and that can only mean one thing, marauding Indians. Ansara was one of those actors like Michael Pate who more often than not, seemed to be cast as the leader or member of a warring tribe dead set on erasing any trace of whites from their lands. Here he’s biding his time for the battle that is sure to come and will leave Malone with just one suitor.
This western tale plays rather long as the script squeezes too many showdowns into the soap opera portion of our plot. On the plus side, there’s an old time wanderer played by James Barton who breaks things up and adds some depth to the MacMurray character. Fred plays it cool and comes off looking good in one of those roles that history kind of overlooks him playing thanks to his TV persona and Disney films of the later portion of his career. Dorothy Malone gives us the usual Dorothy Malone character which is to say I’m never too impressed with the blonde haired beauty. I just find to many of her roles as clichéd.
Baddie, John Larch gets a more meaty role here than he would sometimes play and plenty of screen time to boot and I find that a bonus as I have always liked his work in both film and the many television episodes he’d play in over the course of a near forty year career.
Quantez was released under the Universal-International banner, a logo that always seems to conjure up two images primarily for yours truly, welcome western adventures and sci-fi monsters of the fifties. Works for me.
Mike's Take On the Movies 
I really like the film, but then I’m generally a sucker for these chamber piece setups with limited casts and lots of tension. Aside from that, this movie benefits enormously from some rather magnificent photography and lighting by Carl Guthrie.
When the film broke loose from it’s saloon setting, there was some nicely filmed chase scenes and the final showdown with Ansara’s group kind of fun but ends kind of pat. Liked it but maybe just a little to much talking. But then I generally like most any western.
Whenever I see the name John Larch, I always think of his role as the chief of police in ‘Dirty Harry’…I can’t imagine him in anything else. And Dorothy Malone…I remember her small part in ‘The Big Sleep’, but good lord, I never knew she was in ‘Basic Instinct’!
Malone was a sexy gal and loved that early role in The Big Sleep. I remember when Basic Instinct was first out and was like WOW, she’s still around.
And still around NOW, which is cool. I’ve seen a few photos of her from the 1960s…I really like her look from that era. And an off-topic question: do you watch a movie a day, or do you watch 4-5 in one sitting, and spread the reviews out over a week?
Generally one a day if averaged out. Sometimes I might sneak in a couple.
I’m glad Colin mentioned Carl Guthrie-it’s almost as if his “natural lighting” of the interiors
influenced Eastwood and Bruce Surtees on how they wanted their Westerns to look.
I’m glad that many of these Universal Fifties Programmers are now appearing on Blu Ray
in Germany from Koch Media.
As most of QUANTEZ takes place in a ghost town it was an odd choice for a high def upgrade.
GUN FOR A COWARD-(which I actually prefer) is a major upgrade on Blu Ray.
I also highly endorse the Koch Blu Ray’s of STAR IN THE DUST and the just released RAW EDGE.
I’ve seen ads on line for that company’s releases on video. Don’t have any as I would imagine it’s not a North American company and no rights to films in our market over here.
Koch are a German company-they have an on-going deal with Universal to release many of their most sought after films.
Koch Blu Ray’s are normally region B
Elephant Films-France also have struck a deal with Universal-next year they are releasing ULZANA’S RAID and NIGHT PASSAGE
on Blu Ray.
Those would be nice to acquire on blu. Have them both on DVD but Ulzana especially would be nice to upgrade. Night Passage was always my fave Audie Murphy western growing up… The Utica Kid.