No Name on the Bullet

“Everything comes to a finish” is not only the final line of dialogue in Jack Arnold’s No Name on the Bullet but the film’s dominant theme, a palpable sense of doom and paranoia closing in on the small, tellingly named town of Lordsburg in the human form of assassin John Gant. One of the only villain roles ever played by baby-faced Audie Murphy, America’s most decorated World War II soldier turned actor, contract killer Gant arrives in town and makes himself at home for a while, leaving residents nervously wondering who his target is (the film’s not a whodunit, but a whowillgetit). This, we learn, is Gant’s modus operandi: when on assignment, he arrives in town, checks into a hotel, waits patiently for a couple of days, meets his target, and starts a fight so he can claim self-defense when the body inevitably falls. And Lordsburg is chock full of anxious “suspects” to face the barrel of Gant’s gun, including, among others, miner Earl Stricker (Karl Swenson), store clerk Lou Fraden (Warren Stevens), and another prominent citizen whose nerves unravel to the point of suicide. Charles Drake plays town doctor Luke Canfield, who establishes a respectful rapport with Gant and carries a flame for Anne Benson (Joan Evans), daughter of the town judge (Edgar Stehli) who has his own reasons for fearing Gant. Despite its full-color cinematography, the film is dark, especially for a western; Gant’s toying with the townsfolk is like a stray cat playing with a mouse before devouring it.