TrueHello Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

filippaberry84 I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Kien Navarro Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Portia Hilton Blistering performances.

audacious1 This western is well directed and smartly acted by all involved, but the stand out performance is Tab Hunter's role as the oldest son, Ed. The story begins at the point of our witnessing the finality of Ed's hatred and idolatry of his father, a hard-as-nails, always-has-to-be-better-than-his-sons kind of man. Ed is wound so tight that he has little give for anyone. This performance reminds me of Denzel Washington's Oscar winning role in Glory. As the story goes along, more and more nuances are revealed that show the depth of the character. I watched Glory three times before I caught the depth in that character that deserved an Oscar. I have watched Gunman's Walk twice and saw more depth in Hunter's character the second time. It's a fascinating role (maybe Hunter was drawing from the anger he felt for having to hide himself within the Hollywood treatment he underwent) and I don't think anyone could have played Ed any better. It is a shame when such levels of acting come out of actors not expected to do so brilliantly, because they don't get their just recognition, kind of like Val Kilmer's Doc in Tombstone. Hunter was the beefcake, male blond beauty presented in such a manner by Hollywood. He wasn't expected to actually act well, they didn't even consider it (and he didn't do very well with most of the movies they put him in). When you read the biography of Hunter given here on IMDb, Gunman's Walk isn't even mentioned. The focus is on his Hollywood image. Hunter's Ed is well worth the look. Heflin's Lee (everyone calls him Lee, including his sons) is very well acted and, but for Hunter's performance, shines as the gregarious, tough, but flawed father who had no idea how to raise his sons. In the scenes the two are together, the tension is always there and they play off each other well. All the acting is done well (Bert Convy's ability to ride a horse well is suspect, though). The movie is tightly directed, the action is constant, and there are no scenes that will lull you to sleep. If you like westerns with tense action and flawed characters, you won't be disappointed with Gunman's Walk.

happytrigger-64-390517 As I love American B movies, Phil Karlson has always been one of my favorite director, with tough thrillers and westerns with very nasty fights and anti corruption subjects ("The Phenix City Story", "Walking Tall"). And always great tough actors, William Bishop, George Montgomery (wahh "The Texas Rangers"), John Payne, Richard Widmark and Joe Don Baker, around 15 B masterpieces. Some are still very hard to find.Twenty five years ago, I really wanted to see "Gunman's Walk", absolutely invisible. And the only way was to go to a museum and pay for the projection. This is how I discovered this pure treasure, a very strong story of a father facing a psychopathic son, incredibly played by Tab Hunter, completely possessed by madness, he is really scary. Lot of tense psychological details. The cinemascope by Charles Lawton Jr is pure genius and inventive, it is quite rare in westerns.When producer Harry Cohn saw that movie, "he was literally crying". And Harry Cohn said to Phil Karlson : "you're going to be the biggest director in this business and I'm going to make sure you are." Harry Cohn went to Phoenix, Arizona and died. (Phil Karlson in his only interview I know in the super book "King of the B's").

David_Brown This is an extremely powerful film, with another commanding performance by Van Heflin (Easily one of the most neglected actors of all-time). What you see is in Lee Hackett, is a man who is unaware of terms like LOVE (He essentially sees it as weakness). He is so hard, he even let has sons (Ed & Davy (Tab Hunter & James Darren)) call him Lee instead of dad. His biggest problem however, is actually not being hard, or even powerful, it is being an enabler. It is obvious to viewers that Ed (Tab Hunter) is a sociopath, who will kill and hurt other people just on a whim, and despite that, his father does whatever he believes necessary in order to keep him from being punished for his deeds. Spoiler Ahead: Even after Ed murders Deputy Motley, he says to him, "You fool, I could have gotten you off." It took the showdown against Ed, to realize how much Ed really hated him, and really wanted to have a duel against him, and he had no option but to kill him. I really like the ending where he asks Davy and his Indian woman Clee (Kathrym Grant)to help take your brother home, and they walk out of town, with Clee & Davy supporting Lee on each arm. What I see in the end of this film is hope. The hope being that Lee has finally cleansed himself of the prejudice, anger and hate that consumed him, and by calling Clee over to him (Along with Davy), I think he did.

Spikeopath Rancher and old school westerner Lee Hackett is determined to mould his two sons in his own tough gun-fighting image. Something that backfires when his eldest boy, Ed, becomes a murderer.Gunman's Walk on plot synopsis and summaries sounds like your standard B Western fare, and certainly the theme of parental influence is nothing new. But Phil Karlson's film, adapted from Ric Hardman's story, has many things going for it to keep it from being mundane and used solely as a time filler. It fuses together multiple issues, parenting, prejudice and ignorance during a time of change in the old Wild West, it's central character, Lee Hackett (Van Heflin), is seen as the link between old and new.He has primarily lived his life as a shooter and killer of Indians, something that he is not totally committed to shaking off, but here he is now, a most respected and feared member of the community, faced with his two sons both taking different paths. One, Ed (Tab Hunter), is full of bile and gun slinging machismo, represents the old West. The other, Davy (James Darren), doesn't need a gun to feel like a man, his affection for half Indian Clee Chouard (Kathryn Grant) clearly gives a point of reference to the new West. It gives us two sides of the coin with one Lee Hackett perched firmly on the fence, to which Van Heflin gives an emotionally driven standout performance.I wouldn't say that Gunman's Walk is undervalued as such (its director most definitely is though), it's possibly more like it's been tarred with that old saying brush called "B Western", a saying that unfortunately some use as being derogatory. Whilst if the truth be told the support to Heflin is rather flat (both Hunter & Darren are average at best). But some average support acting can't stop Gunman's Walk from being an intelligent and potent genre piece. I mean if only for Heflin and the catchy central song, "I'm A Runaway", then you should see this, but as it is, if you give it your undivided attention you hopefully will find it's really rather good and clever. 7/10