"WHAT HAPPENS in the next few minutes makes one of the most dramatic climaxes of any story you've ever seen!"
The Fastest Gun Alive is a 1956 MGM Western film starring Glenn Ford, Jeanne Crain, and Broderick Crawford directed by Russell Rouse.
George (Ford) and his wife Dora (Crain) have settled down in the peaceful town of Cross Creek under an assumed name. The other townsfolk are unaware that the mild-mannered teetotalling shopkeeper they know as George Temple is really George Kelby Jr., son of the notorious fast-drawing sheriff, George Kelby Sr.
Disrespected by the other townsfolk and tired of hiding his secret, George yields to his pride and demonstrates his astonishing skill as a quick draw artist. Soon after, he's horrified to discover that the outlaw Vinnie Harold (Crawford) is passing through town. Harold is obsessed with being known as the best gunfighter alive, and kills anyone he views as a competitor for that title. When George is reluctant to face him, Harold and his men threaten the whole town.
This film provides examples of:
- Badass Bystander: When it becomes clear that George isn't a real gunfighter and is afraid to fight Harold, his neighbor, Lou Glover, decides that he'll claim to be the fast gun Harold is after and face the gunman. This would-be Heroic Sacrifice shames George into action.
- Blasting It Out of Their Hands: When Swope is about to shoot Brian Tibbs, the saloon keeper, Harold shoots the gun out of his hand.
- Coffin Contraband: After faking George's death, the townsfolk place his gun inside the coffin full of stones they bury in his grave.
- Fake Ultimate Hero: Downplayed and done sympathetically. George is proud to show off his gunslinging skills and give the impression that he's a Retired Badass, but it turns out that while his father taught him the quick draw art, he's never been in a gunfight or killed a man before.
- Faking the Dead: The final reveal shows that George survived the fight and the town is claiming that he and Harold killed each other to keep more reputation-hunting gunmen from looking for the man who killed Vinnie Harold.
- Fastest Gun in the West: Vinnie Harold is obsessed with being the fastest gun alive and hunts down anyone rumoured to be faster than him and challenges them to gunfights. While hiding in Cross Creek,he hears that local storekeeper George Temple might be faster than him and becomes determined to force him into a gunfight. The trouble is while his father taught him the quick draw art, George has never been in a gunfight or killed a man before.
- Fat Bastard: Vinnie Harold has chubby jowls and, Pet the Dog moments aside, will destroy whole towns to find a man who threatens his title as the fastest gun alive. He also shoots an unarmed man during a bank robbery just to add to his legend as a dangerous man and is nasty to his companion Swope at times (although Swope probably deserves at least some of it).
- Fatal Flaw: George is a kind and honest man, but his desire to be taken seriously makes him show off his gunslinging skills and makes him a target of people like Harold who want to build Villain Cred. It's implied this has happened several times in the past.
- Hyper-Competent Sidekick: Outlaw Judson Swope is nearly as good of a gunfighter as his boss, Living Legend Vinnie Harold, and is also more intelligent and controlled than Harold.
- Internal Reveal: The audience has already seen George practicing shooting outside town, but his shooting skills are news to the townspeople.
- It's Personal: Bill Toledo, the sheriff in charge of the posse chasing Harold's gang, is the brother of a man they killed in their latest bank robbery.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: After Harold kills rival fast gun Fallon, the local sheriff orders them out of town. Harold wants to resist but sees that almost a dozen men have shotguns pointed at his gang, recognizes there's no point in resisting and leaves.
- Loose Lips: Vinnie Harold would have just left Cross Creek after stealing the horses if young Bobby Tibbs hadn't boasted that Cross Creek had its own fast gun and showed him the two silver dollars George Temple had shot out of the air. This pushes the paranoid Harold into demanding a showdown with George, and he plans to burn the town down if he doesn't get it.
- Mutual Kill: The townspeople tell the sheriff's posse that George and Harold killed each other, as described on the two men's side-by-side grave markers. Subverted when it's quickly revealed that George survived the fight and the deception is meant to keep more reputation-hunting gunmen from looking for the man who killed Vinnie Harold.
- My Greatest Failure: Despite his quick draw skills, George never tried to avenge the murder of his father and it weighs on him during the film, which takes place about a decade later.
- Nephewism: Harold was raised by his aunt, who tried to bring him up as a law-abiding churchgoer. It didn't take.
- Pet the Dog:
- Harold lets some women lower their arms during a bank robbery when one of them says she's getting tired of holding her hands in the air.
- Harold is interested and encouraging when he talks to a boy with a toy gun. Although he still uses the boy as a hostage, he keeps Swope from killing the kid's father. Swope comments that Harold doesn't hurt dogs or kids in general.
- Posse: After Harold and his gang rob the bank in Yellow Fork, Sheriff Bill Toledo forms up a posse and chases after them.
- Properly Paranoid: After George shows off his talents, his wife is very well aware that gunmen will be demanding a showdown with him unless they swear everyone to secrecy. Vinnie Harold's arrival proves these fears correct.
- The Reveal:
- The film introduces George as he practices shooting outside town, and the townspeople learn of his shooting skill several scenes later. Only in the church, after Vinnie Harold shows up, do we learn that the gun (and the notches in it) belonged to George's father, who taught him the quick draw art, and that George has never been in a gunfight or even shot a man.
- At the end of the film, the townspeople tell the sheriff's posse that George and Harold killed each other, showing grave markers that tell the same story. After the posse leaves, the film quickly reveals that George survived the fight and the deception is meant to keep more reputation-hunting gunmen from looking for the man who killed Vinnie Harold.
- Rewatch Bonus: The dialogue (especially between George and his wife) is deliberately ambiguous, hiding details of George's past until The Reveal. It takes on different meanings when rewatching the film.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Harold's accomplices, Wells and Swope, gradually grow alarmed about how much time is being diverted to set up a gunfight when there's a posse on their tail and run for it, with Swope waiting longer and leaving in a more stylish and dignified way than Wells. The posse still catches them.
- Showdown at High Noon: Harold insists on proving his quick draw skills this way.
- That Man Is Dead: At the end of the film, the townspeople tell the sheriff's posse that George Kelby, Jr. and Vinnie Harold killed each other, showing grave markers that tell the same story. After the posse leaves, the film quickly reveals that George survived the fight and is free to continue living under his new identity of George Temple, storekeeper. The deception is meant to keep more reputation-hunting gunmen from looking for the man who killed Vinnie Harold.
