The film opens with a series of shots of a group out outlaws attacking trains and towns while a voice-over informs us that they are the Drago Gang; scourge of Colorado. They strike without warning before retreating into New Mexico Territory outside the jurisdiction of Colorado lawmen. Chad Lucas, Sheriff of the border town of Lodgepole, believes they will be the next victims as a train is due to deliver money for the bank. He and Cap, his deputy, ride out to prevent a robbery but the gang are there first preparing to stop the train. He tells Cap to return to town while he rides ahead to warn the train. He catches up with it and makes his way along the roof towards the engine… not knowing that Cap has followed him! The man he trusted shoots him in the back of the head and leaves him for dead. Once the robbery is over Cap returns to town; claiming to have searched for Chad. Just as he is about to be made the new sheriff Chad staggers in; he is keen to head south into New Mexico but is told they will signal for a US Marshall. Somebody stops the signal being sent so he is given permission to lead a posse south. His first stop is the casino run by Nate Harlan. Drago is there but flees grabbing singer Uvalde as a hostage. They give pursuit along with Harlan; following Drago through Apache territory and over mountains until they finally confront him in is hideout. His task isn't made easier by the fact that he doesn't know of Cap's treachery or the enmity he holds towards him and even when it looks like Chad's worries are over he finds himself in a fight over Uvalde… or Bonnie as he knew her from many years before.

One always knows what you are getting with an Audie Murphy western; plenty of action from start to finish and a good solid hero. The action here includes the attack on the train, a fight against angry Apaches, climbing over a mountain, stampeding horses and a good final shootout. As with many westerns there is a love triangle; it is a little cliché but still adds some interest to the story and provides an excuse to have a beautiful woman, in this case Joan Staley, riding with the posse once they've rescued her. The scenery is pretty impressive; it was tiring just watching them trying to take their horses over the mountain. I found the film to be almost indistinguishable in style from similar films made ten to fifteen years before but that didn't spoil it; if you have a formula that works why fiddle with it?!

The old sheriff has been killed during Morgan Woodward's raid and carrying off of lots of money in gold. His deputy, Audie Murphy is appointed sheriff nd takes off with a posse.... and everyone has an axe to grind.

it's Murphy's last western in his long deal with Universal, and the problem is that the 'shaky A' western he starred in had run its course, and there was a new western in town, the Spaghetti Western, where there are no good guys; if you rooted for Clint Eastwood, it's because he got done dirt at the beginning of the movie, and Eli Wallach and Lee van Cleef are worse. Murphy's west was corrupt and violent, but Murphy himself was mostly clean, and he would restore order by the end of the movie, and get the girl, here ex-Playboy centerfold Joan Staley. So he goes and gets the job done, despite Warren Stevens and Edgar Buchanan and Denver Pyle, and hooray! But people didn't want that any more.

There's a certain tiredness to the movie, despite some nice camerawork by William Margulies.

Gunpoint is directed by Earl Bellamy and written by Mary and Willard Willingham. It stars Audie Murphy, Joan Staley, Warren Stevens, Edgar Buchanan, Denver Pyle, David Macklin, Nick Dennis and Royal Dano. Music is by Hans J. Salter and Technicolor cinematography by William Margulies.

It's early 1880s Colorado and lawlessness is rife, mostly perpetrated by The Drago Gang who were able to enact their crimes and escape afterwards to the sanctuary of their New Mexico stronghold. One man, however, is not going to go down without a fight, the sheriff of Lodgepole, Chad Lucas (Murphy).

There's a school of thought that Audie Murphy's 1960s Westerns are far weaker than his 1950s ones? Which with one or two exceptions is rightly the case. The decade brought a wind of change in the Western genre, for soon Spaghetti would offer something new on the menu and revisionism was not far away either. With most of Audie's 60s output hindered by budget restrictions and a battle against the changing tide, one has to just hope there's enough on offer to not waste your time.

Gunpoint is a right mixed bag that shows the best and worst of Audie's genre output of the decade. Murphy is just fine in is characterisation, his fans suitably catered for, while around him is a stoic and reliable group of Western performers. There's some nifty stunt work on show, plenty of action (property destruction, horse pursuits, shoot-outs etc),and the location photography out of Utah (St. George/Snow Canyon State Park) is gorgeous. While there's also a splendid old fashioned locomotive to enjoy as well.

Narratively it's not high end, though a turn of events suggesting our hero to shockingly be a bully of sorts - which gives him emotional conflict - is a smart addition. Unfortunately the good in the production is off set by poor rear protection and polystyrene props etc, which while still carrying nostalgic value, comes with a hint of sadness of where these productions had landed at. Still, this is far from a waste of time, it holds all the requisite genre tropes for fans of Audie and the "B" Westerns we loved so much in the 50s. 6.5/10