The Gun Runners

The Gun Runners

The Gun Runners

The Gun Runners

Sometimes you see a film and wonder why it was even made in the first place. A great example is "The Gun Runners". It's based on a Hemingway story and was already made a couple times before this...and the most famous is "To Have and Have Not"...one of Humphrey Bogart's better films. Now I have nothing against Audie Murphy, but I would never imagine wanting to see him starring in a movie instead of Bogart. After all, this IS Bogart...one of the finest actors who ever lived. The only big difference is that the film is partially set in Cuba, as the Cuban Revolution was in full swing. Sam Martin (Murphy) is in dire straights. His boat charter business is having a slow patch and creditors are threatening to seize his boat. Because he is so desperate, various crooks try to get him to agree to some illegal activities...such as running guns. But Sam is ademant...at least for a while. But when some rich guy (Eddie Albert) charters his boat and then asks him to take a side trip to Cuba, he's so desperate that he'll do it. What's next? See the film...or not! So how is this film different from the Bogie version? Well, apart from the Cuban angle, the changes are minor...such as Sam having a wife. As a result, the story is interesting like the original but not especially so. The basic story is still quite good. My advice is to watch one or the other....not both. And, of them, I'd pick the Bogart one simply because he was pretty amazing in the lead.

Most Decorated War-Hero of WWII...Audie Murphy...by 1958 had a Decade Long Career in Mostly Westerns, would Go On to 50 Roles in Movies and TV, took the Challenge of Comparison to Humphrey Bogart and John Garfield. Both Considered Class-A Actors, and Enjoyed Great Popularity. Murph was Never in Their League, but a Proven Fighter Nevertheless, was Up for a Choice Icon of Literature, Ernest Hemingway, and Americana and the 2 Aforementioned Top-Notch Performers Did Not Dissuade the "Medal of Honor" Recipient and the Opportunity to "Be All That He Could Be" as an Actor. Audie Murphy is Quoted Deep in His Career..."Acting was a battle I never won." This Version was Directed by the Great B-Movie Director Don Sieger, who Populated the Picture with a Talented Cast. And the Script was Written by Another Proven-Pro, Daniel Mainwaring. It's Got a Lot of Siegel's Style, of Pulp-Panache, He Could Get "Bang-for-the Buck", and Impressed Critics and Fans with His Hard-Boiled, In-Your-Face Action, that was Economy Film-Making at its Best. Murphy Did His Best and it's a Solid Outing. Film Critics were Never Kind to an "Audie Murphy" Movie, with the Exception of a Few Big Pictures Like His Autobiographical "To Hell and Back" (1955) and "The Red Badge of Courage" (1951). His Filmography is Full of Under-Rated, Low-Budget Gems, and those Critics, it can Now be Said, Historically, that His Huge Fan-Base was Right. Most of His Movies are Above Average and Murph Always Delivered. While this Film will Always Rank 3rd Behind "To Have and Have Not" (1944) and "The Breaking Point" (1950), but a Respectable 3rd. It is a Fine Film and is a Must-See for Audie Murphy and Don Siegel Fans. For All Others, it's... Worth a Watch.

This is a Don Siega LL film some it's always going to be interesting. Whilst I found it entertaining the casting was unusual to say the least Audy Murphy was a bit out of his depth in the Bogart part. Eddie Albert played against type as the villain.

It's too bad the budget was as low as it was, and that more care hadn't been invested in the casting, because this sticks closer to Hemingway's novel that the other, better-known versions like Howard Hawks'. As it is, it was not shot in Florida or Cuba, and when Captain Audy Murphy pulls his fishing boat into a Key West harbor it looks like nothing so much as Newport Beach, California, which is what it is. The print I saw was grainy and the filming lacking in any innovation. I know Don Siegel directed it and he could be a first-rate craftsman with no pretensions. Here, though, with the exception of Eddie Albert's evil character, nothing stands out. Audy Murphy was not much of an actor. He turned in an exceptional performance in "The Red Badge of Courage" but in all of his other work he seemed slightly embarrassed to be in front of a camera. His relationship with Everett Sloan as "the rummy" is without depth or understanding. Aside from Eddie Albert and his smiling, back-patting, treacherous depravity, none of the other characters shine. Even Albert's character is not the maniacal killer that Siegel grew so fond of later in his career. Albert only shoots one or two people, and he uses a short-barreled revolver, not Dirty Harry's 20 mm. canon. Patricia Owens is stunning in her modelesque way with her anthracite irises but she's there to provide Murphy's character with a home life, and too much screen time is given to her. The running time is short enough and the script could at least have had her remove some of her hampering outer garments to make up for the overabundance of her presence. Siegel's action scenes are always good, more brutal than what we usually run into, and the climax is no exception here. By today's standards, of course, it's tepid stuff; but then by today's standards, everything more than twenty years old pales. All in all, there's nothing at all memorable about this film. It could have been done twenty years earlier with B-list actors like Chester Morris or Stanley Clements or some other guy with a mustache and a contract.

Although babyface Audie Murphy is not cut out for this role, it's a pretty good B-film to watch....

***SPOILERS*** It's when non smoking drinking and gambling All-American boy Sam Martin, Audie Murphy, got hit by financial hard times like not being able to pay his bills that he turned to shady dealings with international gun runner Hanagan, Eddie Albert. It was Hanagan who wanted Sam, who knew the the treacherous waters that separates Cuba from the US mainland like the back of his hand, to sail his fishing boat into Havana Cuba that at the time, the Cuban Revaluation, was off-limits to American shipping. When there Hanagan without Sam's knowledge plans to unload hundreds of rifles machine guns and ammunition to the Cuban rebels fighting the Bistista Regime. With Sam a bit hesitant at first he agrees to sail both Hanagan and his Swedish girlfriend Eve, Gita Hall the former Miss Sweden 1952, to Cuba even if caught he risks not only losing his boat but ending up behind bars in a Cuban lock-up. What was to be a harmless night out partying in Havana turned into a night of murder when Hanagan shot and killed a Cuban policeman, for asking too many embarrassing questions, and cab driver, for knowing too much, before the evening was over. Back in Key West with his wife Lucy, Patricia Owens, Sam finds out from US Coast Guard Commander Welsh, Ted Jacques, about the murders in Havana and realizes that he unknowingly had a part in them! With a double murder rap hanging over his head and his beloved fishing boat about to be dispossessed by the local bank Sam has no choice to go along with Hanagan grand scheme to smuggle thousands of weapons into Cuba for the Cuban rebels lead by the incomparable and fearless "El Beardo" himself Fidel Castro! Being the back-stabbing and scheming swine that he is Hanagan had no intentions to go through with his deal in supplying the Cuban rebels with guns or anything else. All he wanted was their cash and then leave them out in the cold with crates of rocks and junk instead of the weapons that they paid him for. It was Sam's 1st mate the always drunk Harvey, Everett Slone, who in a rare moment of sobriety found out about Hanagan's plan and informed Sam about it. ***SPOILER ALERT*** With Sam now knowing just what Hanagan and his hoods lead by Buzurki, Richard Jeackel, had in store for him as well as Cuban rebel leader Carlos Romero, Carlos Contreras, his only hope of surviving was to go along with the rat-fink killer until he lets his guard down and then go for the kill! That's if Hanagan and his boys don't start to suspect that Sam is on to them and end up killing him first! P.S Strange casting of Everett Slone as the drunken rummy and Sam's 1st mate Harvey. Slone knows for his parts as a sophisticate villain, like in "The Lady of Shanghai", and conniving and unscrupulous wheeler dealer, like in "Patterns", seemed a bit out of place in that role.

When you cast Audie Murphy, Jack Elam and Richard Jaeckel in a movie, it's pretty much going to be a Western, even if you put it on the ocean. As the story played out I had the distinct impression that it resembled Bogart's "To Have and Have Not" so I guess I shouldn't have been surprised that just about every other reviewer mentioned it on this board. The main tip-off was Everett Sloan in the Walter Brennan role as the alcoholic sidekick to Murphy's Captain Sam Martin. It's too bad no one had the Lauren Bacall part, but both Patricia Owens and Gita Hall were easy on the eyes, even if they didn't get to sashay to a Hoagy Carmichael tune. In many of my reviews of Audie Murphy films I usually mention something about his boyish good looks but this time one of the characters actually did it. When Eva Wahlstrom (Gita Hall) sidles up to the Captain for the first time on his boat she exclaims "Oh, you have such a baby face". Sam's wife Lucy (Owens) also remarks similarly later in the picture, but more along the lines of her desire to keep him safe, and not lose his looks altogether on a dangerous mission. Regarding Sam and his wife, their scenes together as a syrupy sweet couple managed to bother me for some reason I can't explain. Maybe it was just his way of getting the blonde floozy's goat at Freddy's (Herb Vigran) gin mill. If so, looks like it worked. Well the Bogart film gets relocated from the French island of Martinique to Key West and Porto Bello in this tale of Cuban revolutionaries and illicit arms dealers. You usually don't picture Eddie Albert as a villain but he does a pretty good job here as gun runner Hanagan, out to make a quick buck trading in Thompson Machine Guns at a grand a pop. I thought that was a little steep for the late Fifties, but I guess if you're looking to overthrow a government, money's no object. Besides, a lot could go wrong, and it did. Funny, but even though Sam made it back to dry land in one piece, I couldn't help thinking that the story wasn't over with. The authorities came calling on just the hint that his boat made it to Cuba that one time, but now there would be dead bodies floating around the Gulf of Mexico and old Harvey with the loose lips whenever the sherry started flowing again. Maybe another remake will take care of that little problem.