The Lone Gun

The Lone Gun is one of many little-known westerns from the 50s. This one stars Dorothy Malone and George Montgomery, so it's not lacking in star power. Montgomery was an interesting man with diverse interests. In addition to acting, he was a skilled wood-worker who ran a furniture business. He was also a self-taught sculptor who worked with bronze. He died in 2000 at age 84. I first saw Dorothy Malone with Humphrey Bogart in The Big Sleep. Her last film was Basic Instinct in 1992, but she's still alive, so maybe she'll appear in another film yet. Frank Faylen is also here. I remember him best from the Dobie Gillis tv show. He played Dobie Gillis' long-suffering dad. (I watched that show for beatnik Maynard G. Krebbs.)

onscreen as the movie starts:

The history of any frontier region... such as the great expanses of the new state of Texas.... offered many examples of the strange way in which a few men of great evil could dominate whole communities of well-meaning but passive citizens...

...And examples, too, of men of a different breed... men who rode out alone for law and order with badges on their vests and handcuffs in their pockets... playing a lone gun against great odds.

via youtube:

The Stalking Moon reports it as considered one of Montgomery's best.