Gun Glory is an ironic title: Gunfighter Tom Early (Stewart Granger) returns to town after abandoning his wife and son for gambling and gunfighting; when he asks his son where his wife is Tom Early, Jr. (Steve Rowland) points over to her grave, under a nearby shade tree. When Junior tells his father that Early, Senior is a "legend" Granger says "a legend is a lie that just snowballs,"
Most Westerns are some combination of libertarian and populist and Gun Glory is no exception. A cattleman is planning to drive 20,000 head through town, effectively destroying the town, and the populace decides to strike back, led by the preacher (Chill Wills). Early provokes a stampede that wipes out the cattlemen and saves the town, though the preacher is killed and Early swears he will finish building the church.
There's a great deal else that goes on, of course, including the rescue of an abused woman (Rhonda Fleming) and a final shootout with the nefarious cattleman (James Gregory). The film was made at MGM with cinematographer Harold J. Mazorati and screenwriter William Ludwig, who were MGM stalwarts, using beautiful locations shot in Cinemascope. Rowland's direction is both effective and inobtrusive. Granger is nicely low-key in an unusual Western role, though my favorite Granger role is in Fritz Lang's oneiric period piece Moonfleet (1955).
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