Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Admirable film.

it is finally so absorbing because it plays like a lyrical road odyssey that’s also a detective story.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

This film is a low-budgeted re-working of the classic film "High Noon". Instead of the hero being the sheriff, however, Rick Martin's a gunman who is thoroughly hated by his old home town and he returns to try to save them from a band of sociopaths headed their way. At first, they are very hostile towards Martin and make his stay short and nasty--and refuse his offer of help. But when the gang approaches, the town shows itself to be gutless again and again...and folks somehow think Martin is going to help them regardless of his reception.This film would have been a lot better had it not been so much like "High Noon". It's not a remake but coming just a few years after, you cannot help but make the comparison...and in every way it comes up a bit short. A decent time-passer made a bit better by Hayden's strong performance.

I liked Top Gun. It held my interest. Predictable plot, decent character development and story line. It is pretty similar to High Noon in that the town people appear weak and scared to stand up to a villain. This movie has some quality actors who really did not get a chance to share all of their talents. Also some of the actors did not receive credit for their roles. Denver Pyle was a good looking man in his younger days. John Dehner, Rod Taylor are outstanding in their roles. Sterling Hayden did the best that he could with poor material. It is hard to imagine him as a gunslinger. Laura, played by Karen Booth, was a nauseating character. She seemed flattered that two men may have been fighting over her. Ugh. Finally, How can people travel without luggage? Especially women.

A first rate cast lends this brisk 73 minute western a bit more weight than it perhaps deserves, but the story is engaging enough. The always reliable Sterling Hayden is fine as Rick Martin, a cowpoke with a troubled past who returns to his home town just in time to save it from the marauding gang of villain Tom Quentin (John Dehner, who is excellent). Most of the townsfolk are a cowardly lot, with only a handful of manly men (including James Milligan and Regis Toomey) willing to strap on their holster and defend the old homestead. Even worse, conniving landowner Canby Judd (William Bishop) has his beady eyes set on winning the hand of Martin's old flame Laura (Karen Booth). Add in some surprisingly adept cinematography from Lester White, and the end result is a very enjoyable second feature.

An awful western. The trite screenplay and minimal sets are especially bad. That it has a top notch cast makes it particularly laughable, and the acting was surprisingly poor; maybe the cast members were sickened by the embarrassing script and direction. Big disappointment as I am a big Westerns fan.To give one example of how lame the movie is, I mention this laughable "gem:" the hero (Hayden) tries to gain the confidence of the leader of the outlaws (Dehner) by offering to tell him where $50,000 in money is hidden in the town they just shot-up. Dehner seriously replies: we're so bad there is no town we can go to spend it! Hayden then has to tell him of a wide open town. Good grief!Karin Booth shined though. Very beautiful woman.I'm surprised that the TV Guide and MSN movie web sites gave it relatively high ratings (2-1/2 of 4 stars; and 3 of 5 stars). I wonder if they really saw the movie they reviewed. (The MSN site incorrectly said that the Booth character was married to the main bad guy. Not so, just engaged.)