The Man Behind the Gun

DVD review by the Movie Snob

The Man Behind the Gun (C-). Back in the day, Randolph Scott was apparently a pretty popular Western movie star. Today, he is apparently largely forgotten. Personally, I had never heard of him until I read an essay in praise of some of his movies for their moral ambiguity. (The essay also pointed out a scene in Blazing Saddles that would have sailed over my head, in which the heroes invoke Randolph Scott to shame the cowardly townspeople.) Anyhoo, I found a cheap DVD of three of Scott's movies. This, the first one, is not very good. Scott plays an Army major sent to southern California on a secret mission to prevent that part of the state from seceding and becoming a slave state. It's just so-so. But props to a young and skinny Alan Hale, Jr. as one's of Scott's sidekicks, before he went on to fame and fortune as the Skipper on Gilligan's Island.