It's odd that Columbia would be marketing this cheap 60-minutes in the middle of TV's cowboy craze, (1959) . Really, who's going to pay to see something they can get for free on Bonanza or Wagon Train. My guess is that the oater was done for drive-in's as a Technicolor second feature. Conjecture aside, the movie's a pretty dismal product. The locations never leave greater LA, while the acting goes from terrible (Rosita) to journeyman (the marshal) to somewhere in between (Reardon). Then too, the script meanders all over, like the writer's afraid he might leave out some western cliché, which goes from revenge to Indians to showdowns to romance, to a windstorm thrown in. Trouble is they're more cobbled together than successfully blended. Anyhow, Knapp tries hard to bring off his tough-guy role, but frankly his slender frame is anything but imposing, especially when he wrestles the brawny Colorados. He'd really do better as a college fraternity man. About the only reason to catch the hour are the nicely photographed colors of the San Fernando Valley at its most verdant.
Review of Gunmen from Laredo
