NAKED GUN (1956)

NAKED GUN (1956). Director: Eddie Dew. 

Insurance agent Breen Matthews (Willard Parker) comes into the wild west town of Topaz with a chest of treasure from the late members of the Salazar family. The town is essentially run by the hanging Judge Cole (Billy House) and saloon owner Joe Barnum (Barton MacLane). Barnum sells his bar to unsuspecting newcomers, who are then hung on trumped up charges by Cole, after which Barnum reclaims his bar and keeps the money from the sale. The latest sap is Sonny Glenn (Tom Brown), who has a reputation as a card shark which may or may not be deserved. His main squeeze is the hard-boiled Susan (Veda Ann Borg), and into Topaz comes another female, Louisa (Mara Corday), who is the niece of Sheriff Jackson (Morris Ankrum) and hopes to sing in the saloon. Then the treasure chest is stolen, a certain party is hung, and anyone participating in such a foul deed winds up stabbed to death as Naked Gun turns into a western slasher!

Mara Corday has at Veda Ann Borg

One of the most notable things about Naked Gun is that it has an absolutely incredible B movie cast. Veda Ann Borg of The Shadow, Morris Ankrum of Earth vs the Flying Saucers, Mara Corday of Tarantula, Tom Brown of The Adventures of Smilin' Jack, Chick Chandler of Soldiers of Fortune and The Lost Continent, Rick Vallin of Batman and Robin and Barton MacLane of Unknown Island. Willard Parker was Rosalind Russell's leading man in What a Woman and also starred in The Earth Dies Screaming and he's fine as the laconic hero in this. The whole thing has a TV show-type feel and is directed with little inspiration, but the actors are game enough and there's a zesty, if too brief, cat-fight between Corday and Borg at the halfway point. Billy House makes an unusual hanging judge and isn't quite satisfactory in the role, but Timothy Carey as a gunman is as quirky, twitchy  and charismatic as ever. 

Verdict: Surprising just how entertaining this B western really is. ***.