Forty Guns

At the opening of Samuel Fuller’s Forty Guns, a posse of 40 men snakes through a Cochise County valley and toward the camera, the roar of horses’ hooves like thunder, the leader up front a proud-looking woman named Jessica Drummond (Barbara Stanwyck). Immediately, we know this valley belongs to Drummond and we know this film belongs to Stanwyck. Flanked by her 40 hired gunmen, Drummond runs the territory with an iron fist, often looking the other way when her brother Brockie (John Ericson) causes havoc. When U.S. marshal Griff Bonnell (Barry Sullivan) and his two brothers arrive in town to arrest one of Jessica’s men for mail robbery, Brockie and his pals view it as a threat, which ignites a conflict that will ultimately lead to multiple murders. While Wes Bonnell (Gene Barry) falls in love with the local gunsmith’s daughter, Louvenia Spanger (Eve Brent), a tornado forces Griff and Jessica to shelter together, sparking an attraction that will cause further complications. Fuller directs with the usual skillfulness, using B&W cinematography and sound design to dramatic effect, such as in the extended tornado scene (Stanwyck used no stunt double when dragged by the horse) or the suicide discovery, and famously having fun with the censors when Jessica inquires about Griff’s gun (“Can I touch it?” “It might go off in your face.”)  The tone is generally dark and anxious, but an early scene when Jidge Carroll sings “High Ridin’ Woman” with guitar while the visitors take baths has an unexpected sweetness, the calm before the storm.