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Chris O'Brien Movies

1955  
 
The Gun That Won the West was, of course, the Springfield Rifle, the "central character" in this inexpensive Columbia western. The plot concerns the efforts of the War Department to build up a chain of defense posts to protect railroad workers from Indian attacks. Dennis Morgan stars as real-life frontier scout Jim Bridger, who guides the Army through Sioux Territory. Though Bridger is a friend of Sioux chief Red Cloud (Robert Bice), there's no telling what might happen should the railroad men be left at the mercy of Red Cloud's duplicitous second-in-command, an Indian brave known as Afraid-of-Horses (Michael Morgan). With the aid of the newly developed Springfield, Bridger and his cohort Jack Gaines (Richard Denning) are able to keep the peace. In the tradition of previous Sam Katzman productions, a goodly portion of The Gun That Won the West is comprised of stock footage from previous westerns. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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Starring:
Dennis MorganPaula Raymond, (more)
 
1954  
 
Private Hell 36 was one of the last feature-length efforts by Filmmakers, a company created by producer Collier Young and his then-wife Ida Lupino. Young and Lupino also wrote the script for this grim crime melodrama, wherein two detectives Cal Bruner (Steve Cochran) and Jack Farnham (Howard Duff Lupino's future husband) are assigned to track down $300,000 stolen in a bloody hold-up. The two cops manage to locate $80,000 of the booty, whereupon Bruner, not the most ethical of men, suggests that he and Farnham split the money 50-50 and keep their mouths shut. When Farnham decides to turn honest and hand the money over to his superiors, Bruner responds with the business end of his revolver. The very small cast is rounded out by Dean Jagger as the detectives' boss and Dorothy Malone as Duff's understandably worried wife. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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Starring:
Ida LupinoSteve Cochran, (more)